Responding to Jesus (Week 3)
2020: A Year of Celebration!
“Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath: Enter His Rest!”
Key Verses: Matthew 12:1-14
Who are we celebrating? We are celebrating Jesus and in doing so we are going to do one thing all year long: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS!
Our theme verse for 2020 is John 12:32 (ESV), which proclaims, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” This verse explicitly points to the fact that Jesus would be lifted up on the Cross of Calvary, as the very next verse says, “He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” The implications of this verse go beyond Jesus’ death and influence every area of our lives: we live in response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross by exalting Him (lifting up His Name) in every aspect of our lives!
If you were here the last two weeks, you might remember that we talked about our responses to Jesus’ call are: 1) to believe in who He is and what He did to save lost sinners, 2) to exalt the name of Jesus above all other names and authorities, 3) to gather to Him and listen closely to His teachings, and 4) to follow Him and obey His commands. If you missed either of these previous messages, you can check out the videos and the blog notes on our website, www.newcastlefbc.com.
Here is the main point of today’s sermon: A person cannot experience the promised rest of God through either human effort or religious legalism; the rest of God can only be attained through a personal response to the gracious invitation of Jesus Christ, made possible through His shed blood on the Cross of Calvary. It is only by faith in Jesus that anyone can enter the rest of God.
Listen to Jesus’ gracious invitation, from Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor [tired, weary] and are heavy laden [burdened], and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly [humble] in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Last year, I spent eight weeks preaching this promise for rest, and I am again teaching it on Wednesday nights in the Chapel. You can go back and listen to all eight of those sermons on our webpage and you are personally invited to attend my Wednesday night class.
Immediately following Jesus’ gracious invitation, Jesus illustrates His authority to do what He promises by demonstrating how He fulfills the Law of God in which sabbath, the ancient biblical principle of finding rest in God, is found. Unfortunately, sabbath understanding had become reduced to what you can and cannot do on a certain day of the week—Saturday for the Jews and now Sunday for many Christians, but even that is argued about, like everything else. Jesus gets us back to the heart of the matter. Let’s watch and listen to Jesus in Matthew 12:1-8,
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? [ref. 1 Samuel 21:1-6] 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ [cf. 1 Samuel 15:22-23; Psalm 40:6-8; Isaiah 1:11-17; Jeremiah 7:21-23; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8] you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
Jesus states two major truths about Himself: 1) in v. 6 “something greater than the temple is here” and 2) in v. 8, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Jesus is declaring His authority to fulfill His promise to give rest, within God’s Law (though not according to man’s additional 600 codified rules). Jesus is the fulfillment of Sabbath and the rightful, authorized Lord over it (not just Sabbath, but all of the Law as we saw in the Sermon on the Mount).
Jesus is the One to which the temple pointed. The story illustrates this in Matthew 12:9-14,
[Jesus] went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.
Jesus’ action to heal the man with a “withered hand” on the Sabbath was Jesus fulfilling the original sabbath principle of God—to demonstrate trust in God to bring about rest for His creation, as it was originally intended. In healing this man, Jesus was pointing to the consummation of all things, when there would be no more withered hands in the new heaven and new earth (Revelation 21-22). The seventh day principle upholds our faith in the finished work of the Cross and our hope in the return of Christ to complete all things in Him. As it was in the beginning, so it will be in the end. Even though your current life circumstances under the sun do not invite rest, you declare your faith in this hope every time you rest in the Son, Jesus Christ!
While this could become a major off ramp opportunity for me to teach the whole “rest motif” of scripture from Genesis to Revelation, I will not do that, but I will say this: Jesus is reminding us that from “the beginning” God’s intended purpose of the seventh day (Genesis 2:1-3) and the future commands to honor the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15) are to demonstrate God’s sovereign rule over all things (time, land, people) and our right response to trust Him by resting in Him and His work, instead of the work of our hands! To do otherwise is the definition of vanity of vanities, to chase after the wind, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes.
God’s rule over all creation is not ushered into the world by us slaving away—the anxious toil of Psalm 127:1-2—as if we were still in Egypt working under heavy taskmasters who make impossible demands of us, and in so doing ignoring the damage our lack of sabbath rest is doing to us, our families, and our culture. The Kingdom of God is ushered in through us resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus Christ being lifted upon the Cross that anyone can come to God and “find rest for their souls” (the ancient promise of Jeremiah 6:16, quoted by Jesus in Matthew 11:29). To sabbath is to publicly protest against the Pharaohs of this world and the gods of commerce that they serve, and to declare your loyalty (faith) in the God who not only modeled and commands rest for His people, but died so that we can enter it.
A thousand years before Jesus, the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Whose work will bring the exaltation of God to the nations and bring the blessing of salvation to the people of all nations? Let’s be clear, not your anxious toil… God’s finished work on the Cross of Calvary!
The dying blow to any missionary or pastor, church or gospel ministry is to put that burden square on themselves or on their people. As Paul said in Galatians 3:1-9,
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
We are all “weary” from the universal human experience of trying to make life work for us in a fallen world. And many of us are “heavy-burdened” by working hard to meet the requirements and/or expectations that religion and churched people put on us. Whether you are weary or heavy-burdened, sick or tired, or just plain old sick of being tired, you can “be still/cease striving” from all further humanistic or legalistic efforts to please God and be pleasing to people.
Collapse into the arms of Jesus Christ, who graciously invites you: “Come to Me, [all y’all]…”
Jesus’ actions on that Sabbath in Matthew 12:1-14 were not in rebellion to the sabbath commandment, but it was a scathing rebuke of the religious leaders addition of “works of the Law” by which no one can be saved [ref. Gal. 3:10-14, Paul’s way of saying, “legalism” because there was no Greek word for the concept]. As Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, He did not come to abolish the Law, but in fulfilling it to remove the addition of these “works of the Law” (i.e. religious legalism). In adding “works to the Law”, as they did in so many other places, they missed the real purpose of God’s Law, as Jesus said to them, “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless” (Mt. 12:7; cf. Hebrews 10:5-10). They missed the invitation of God to yoke with Him through faith, as Abraham had done in faith (ref. Galatians 3; cf. Hebrews 11). In doing so, they cut themselves off from God and put heavy burdens on others. Jesus came to offer them a new way to walk in the ancient paths of God—and that way is Himself, empowered daily by the Holy Spirit.
Instead of teaching people to walk with God through faith, the religious leaders had cut them off from the life in God’s Spirit by burdening them with teachings and additional commandments that were far too heavy for even them to shoulder.
Listen to Jesus’ scathing rebukes of these religious leaders in Matthew 23:4, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” Again in Luke 11:46, “And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers.”
It is only in Christ that we can enter rest. As the author of Hebrews 4:8-11 explains, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
Why does the author of Hebrews say we must “strive to enter that rest” and Psalm 46:10 state, “Cease striving and know that I am God”? Is there a contradiction in the scriptures? No, allow me to answer this by using Paul’s words from Romans 12:1-2, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
This is essential to you being able to apply this lesson: The rest of God is not first to be found in our outward rhythms of work and rest, but preeminently in the inward movements of our heart and mind to trust God (faith) and move closer and closer to Him every day. I am prescribing rest to you through the life of obedience that comes from faith empowered by the Holy Spirit, not the “works of the Law” empowered by the flesh. If you are finding physical and mental/emotional rest difficult (i.e. taking a day off from working and ceasing from worrying), then how much more must you start with rest for your soul. It is only in Christ that you soul; hence, your brain and heart will be delivered and rescued from the deceptions of the world, the wickedness of our own desires, the lies of humanism, and the corruption of religious legalism. These are all yokes!
Listen to the Message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Responding to Jesus (Week 2)
“Jesus is Master: Follow Him and Obey His Commands!”
Who are we celebrating? We are celebrating Jesus and in doing so we are going to do one thing all year long: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS! We are not lifting up the name of FBC although we will celebrate. We are not going to pat ourselves on our collective back: we are not here because of us or our great ability. We are here as a church because of Jesus and His great ability.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
“He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.”
Building upon this teaching, and not repeating it, we are going to focus on the next implication of Jesus being lifted up: Follow Him and Obey His Commands!
“Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
“And immediately they left their nets and followed [Jesus]. And going on a little farther, [Jesus] saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately [Jesus] called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.”
Jesus’ call to follow Him is not only a practical one, but it is also a comprehensive call. What I mean by comprehensive is that this decision affects how you are going to live your life, work your job, raise your family, and invest your time and money. It is complete!
Jesus’ invitation, “Follow Me” is a short phrase including the Greek word δεῦτε which for these original followers of Jesus, Israeli fishermen, carried the implications of the Hebrew word and concept of הלך (hālakh). While the use of this concept does not jump out at us today, it carried a tremendous amount of practical and comprehensive connotation to those first invited. As the Lexham Theological Workbook explains of hālakh:
This word can refer to literal walking, i.e., traveling by foot (e.g., Genesis 9:23; Deuteronomy 11:19). It sometimes also refers to forms of literal travel that are not on foot, such as the motion of Noah’s ark on the waters (Gen 7:18). It has a common metaphorical sense that pertains to one’s manner of living. To walk (hālak) in a certain lifestyle or custom is to habitually practice it (e.g., 1 Kings 16:19; Isa 33:15; Psalms 1:1; 81:13).[1]
Jesus was not just inviting these early followers to take a walk with Him, He was inviting them to take on His lifestyle and go on a life transforming journey with Him. To put it in our language, Jesus was saying, “Come with me and learn how to talk the talk and walk the walk.” This is more comparable to a young person’s decision to join the military, rather than find a job or go to college—it is an all-consuming decision to take on the way of Jesus (hālakh). The mannerisms of Jesus, the lifestyle of Jesus, the language of Jesus, the mission of Jesus! That is why Jesus says, “and I will make you become fishers of men”. More than a play on words, it is the promise of the Holy Spirit to transform their stories to the glory of God by putting them to the plow (in His easy yoke, ref. Matthew 11:28-30) of His harvest fields!
In the same way, Jesus is calling you “follow” Him. By God’s grace, I pray for you to respond to Jesus’ call today!
But before I go any further. Let’s make sure you and I are hearing the same thing. When I say the word “follow,” what do you hear? Scott Underwood helps us answer how our culture hears it:
It seems to me that the world/culture/society has hijacked the word “follow”. Social media and social networking sites have cheapened the word, making it mean nothing more than “keep tabs on” or “keep track of”. I can follow a company on LinkedIn, bands on Spotify, or companies, bands and people on Twitter, Facebook or various other social media platforms. I can follow as many or as few as I want. With even less commitment from us, it means that we are following by having someone send us info on something we are interested in. I don’t have to do anything. And when someone or something I follow does something I don’t like; I can just unfollow them. No commitment, no relationship, nothing. On the other end of the spectrum, we often hear the term “follow” applied in a weird or uncomplimentary way toward people that follow cult leaders – Charles Manson, Scientology, etc.. The people who have pledged their lives to live out the wishes and precepts of an individual or another are often described as followers, which is a very different definition than the social media following. Of the two extremes, I think the cult leader portrayal is closer to the biblical understanding. The problem with the cult situation is not the followers – it’s the object (person or group) of their worship. He or she can’t be trusted. Like you have said many times before, the person who is worshiped is not worthy of that worship, and the worship itself will crush them. When we follow a worthy God in a way that pledges our lives to live out His wishes and precepts, we can truly be thought of as followers. To keep tabs on Him with the understanding that we can unfollow Him when he asks too much of us surely is not the way He has intended.[2]
Truly “following” Jesus means we will submit our lives to His life. In following Jesus, we come to Him as our Lord (check out last week’s sermon) and Master/Teacher (John 13:13)!
The Holy Spirit then starts God’s work in us to conform us to Jesus’ likeness and to transform our stories to bring glory to God by bearing much fruit; hence, proving ourselves to be His disciples (John 15:8). God saved you to do good works which He prepared in advance for you to walk in—to do! (Ephesians 2:10). Again, this is the 2nd half of Mark 1:17, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Here is another illustration from the Bible of what happens when someone follows Jesus in a practical and comprehensive way. This time, not a fisherman, but a tax collector. Think of an accountant for the IRS or government employee as I read to you Mark 2:14-17,
And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus continues by calling Zacchaeus, who in response to Jesus’ invitation changes the way he does his family business and gets right with people he has victimized by paying them back restitution for his previous crimes (Luke 19:1-10). Jesus challenges the rich young ruler on the one thing he won’t give up in order to follow Him (Mark 10:17-22). He tells others that they shouldn’t return to their lives to bury their father or tend to personal business (Matthew 8:18-22). Following Jesus changed the daily lives of all these early followers because they knew Jesus was calling them to make a practical and comprehensive decision. Not just mental assent to an idea or an emotional decision to a felt need. The faith decision is mental and emotional, but it is also practical and comprehensive. Jesus never said it was anything but all this—He calls us to join with Him in His relationship with the Father and that is eternal life!
Listen to Jesus make this very clear in Luke 14:26-33,
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
If Jesus is your Lord and your Teacher/Master (as He says He is in John 13:13), then follow His commands! Listen closely and obey His commands. As He says in Luke 6:46-49,
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.
When you obey Jesus’ teachings you are lifting up Jesus Christ—the exalted One who was crucified, resurrected and ascended to the right hand of the Father—and through your submission to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will draw people to Him, to the glory of the Father.
“Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
If you don’t know where to start, then this is the right time to start. I am teaching a class on how to do this on Wednesday nights. Join me as I follow Jesus. Open up your Bible with a Christian and go verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the Gospel of Matthew and start doing what Jesus commands. Submit to God, read your Bible, pray for guidance, and obey with God’s help.
This is a decision for your head, heart, hands and feet. As the earliest followers of Jesus heard in the command of “Follow Me”, they were taking on the walk (hālak) of Jesus, meaning they were changing their lifestyle and their customs to now habitually practice the commands of Jesus.
This is how the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ keeps getting told, sermon after sermon, good work after good work, person after person. It is all a work of God’s grace in and through you! It is a visible witness—a shining of His Light!
Listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] “Travel,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
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Responding to Jesus (Week 1) Supplement
Jesus is Quoting Numbers 21:4-9 in John 3:13-15
“No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
To know what Jesus is talking about I have to take you back to the historical event Jesus is referencing from Numbers 21:4-9. While you read this I want you to take a look at the two pictures on the screen. Look closely: What is in the center of each patch—EMT and Medical Corps? It is called a “caducea” or a version of one. You see snake(s) wrapped around a pole. While most understandings of the origin of the caducea are from Greek mythology, there is a Bible story that is far more ancient (by thousands of years) than these mythological origins.
Images were found on www.bing.com (accessed 1/8/20).
Numbers 21:4-9 reads,
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
Jesus was lifted up on the Cross, like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, to save the people, though this time, not just the Israelites. Jesus was lifted up on the Cross, not to heal venomous snake bites, but to deliver us from the effects of the Fall, all of us have been affected by that original serpent in the Garden, Satan, who tempted the first people to sin.
You see this idea clearly expressed in Romans 5:12-17,
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Our response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross starts with putting our faith in Jesus Christ for eternal life. That is and always will be our most important response to Jesus being lifted up—Faith! And not just any faith—the object of your faith must be Jesus Christ! This is God’s grace for our lives as Jesus draws you to Himself according to God’s will and for God’s glory.
It is amazing to me how our culture continues to capture these biblical images without understanding their origin or meaning. It is my hope that more people will realize that every EMT is putting on display the grace of God in their life-saving work. Every doctor is putting on display the life-saving work of Jesus Christ in their medical practice. All healing in this life is a good gift from God, but temporary. Whereas eternal life is the ultimate healing, only possible through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross.
From this time forward, whenever you see the caducea, may you think of Jesus lifted up so that all people will be drawn to Him. May you see the common grace of God declaring the finished work of Jesus Christ for all who are in need of healing.
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Responding to Jesus (Week 1)
“Jesus is Lord: Gather to Him and Listen Closely!”
Who are we celebrating? We are celebrating Jesus and in doing so we are going to do one thing all year long: LIFT UP THE NAME OF JESUS! We are not lifting up the name of FBC although we will celebrate. We are not going to pat ourselves on our collective back: we are not here because of us or our great ability. We are here as a church because of Jesus and His great ability.
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
First, we lift up Jesus Christ by putting our faith in Him—to believe in Jesus and the Good News of what He accomplished for the world through His finished work on the Cross (the Gospel). Listen to the words of Jesus the Christ, from John 3:13-17,
No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness [reference to Numbers 21:4-9], so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Jesus was lifted up on the Cross, like Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, to save the people, though this time, not just the Israelites. Jesus was lifted up on the Cross not to “condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Our response to Jesus being lifted up on the Cross starts with putting our faith in Jesus Christ for eternal life, and His being lifted up also calls us to exalt the name of Jesus by lifting His Name above all other names! Listen to Paul explain this in Philippians 2:5-11,
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
As we hear in this scripture, Jesus is not only the Savior, He is the Lord, to the glory of the Father! As Paul says in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Jesus came into the world to glorify God through His obedience to the point of death on the cross. In His submission, He rescued humanity by defeating sin once and for all through His vicarious death on the cross and His victorious resurrection from the tomb.
We are called to respond to Jesus being lifted up by exalting Jesus above all other authorities in our lives. If Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father, then He is preeminent before all things—that means if you call Him Lord, He must come first in your everyday life! Listen to Paul explain who Jesus is and His Lordship as God over all creation, from Colossians 1:15-20,
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
This is who Jesus is! Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14; 19:16).
Is Jesus your Lord? There is only one way for you to know: Jesus will gather you to Himself!
Jesus’ promise of John 12:32 is that His death on the Cross “will draw all people”. This is Jesus’ promise! When you respond to the crucified Savior lifted upon the Cross, you are simultaneously called to submit to the Exalted King of kings and Lord of lords, on whom God bestowed “the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
This is the Good News! This is God’s Grace! As Paul said in Ephesians 2:4-10,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Jesus will lift you up with Him in the heavenlies, just as He was lifted up by His Father at His ascension (Acts 1:6-11). As Luke records in Acts 1:9, “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, [Jesus] was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
There is only one way to salvation and it goes through the Cross, and upon being drawn to Jesus you will have a change of mind. You will have a new perspective on yourself, others, and on life itself, because Jesus is Lord. Listen to Paul in Colossians 3:1-3,
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Upon being drawn to Jesus you will have a change of mind (perspective) and a change of heart (loyalty). You will listen closely to His words, His teachings, His commands, because Jesus is Lord! Listen closely to these words from Jesus Christ in Luke 6:46-49,
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.
God’s grace gives you eternal life through faith in the One who is exalted and lifted up. God’s grace empowers you to live your everyday life with a new mind and a new heart. This is important because when you obey Jesus’ teachings, then you are exalting Jesus Christ—the lifted up One who is crucified and risen, who is the Light of the world—and through your exaltation of Jesus Christ all people will be drawn to Him, to the glory of the Father.
As Jesus taught in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
The good works that flow out of your life, flow out of faith, from a new mind and a new heart that are being transformed after being drawn to Jesus Christ—crucified, risen, and coming again! This is how the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ keeps getting told, sermon after sermon, good work after good work, person after person.
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Celebrating Jesus at Christmas (Week 5)
A Cord of 3 Strands: Faith, Hope & Love
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 13:13
The Bible is our source of wisdom and knowledge. It is God’s word.
1 Corinthians 13:13
“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
This verse helps put them together:
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. 10 For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. 11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
When we help each other, things are much better, whether just helping a friend or stopping someone from bullying others.
Faith, hope & love is what holds our lives together!
Faith and Grace
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace – There is nothing you can do to make God love you more. There is nothing you can do to make God love you less.
A good father demonstrates a secure love to his children.
It is the parent’s responsibility to discipline them when they are disobedient. But nothing you do can stop me from loving you…
We discipline you as children to teach you how to submit, so you understand how to submit to God.
Grace is about the power of our relationship with God. It holds the cord of both ends of our life together.
We do not earn God’s love by our works, it is only by His Grace!
Faith is a gift from God that activates His grace in our lives.
Hope is Knowing
While faith is enough for salvation, it is not all we need to live a Christian life. You need hope: Knowing what you believe is going to happen in the future.
Hope is our life bread. Hope is believing that tomorrow will be better than today. It is believing that God is going to do what He promised to do. It is what lets us demonstrate God’s love to the world.
Romans 5:2-5
“and we exult in hope of the glory of God.3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
4 and perseverance, proven character;
and proven character, hope;
5 and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
It comes from us persevering through hard times.
Hope is Faith in Action!
Remember the saying: “Don’t tell God how big your storm is, tell your storm how big your God is.”
We are the hope of the nations. We bring hope.
When things get rough, hang on to Jesus!
You don’t need to go through tough times alone!
God will provide! We should never feel the full weight of responsibility.
God is the rock – not us!
He will fulfill all of His promises to us!
Then we can love others in the same way that God loves us!
Love is the Greatest
Your life needs to be a 3-cord rope!
Faith, Hope & Love!
When we unweave the 3 strands, life begins to feel uncertain, empty.
We must stay in rhythm with God. Develop habits in your life that keep you in God’s rhythm.
When we are in a positive rhythm with God it is easier to feel God. When we are not, life becomes a vicious circle.
Sin: I want what I want and I want it now! You are in my way so I am going to remove you rather than love you.
Love: Giving what is needed.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Nine qualities woven together by the Holy Spirit that are graced to us when we believe.
Galatians 5:22-26
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
When we get to Heaven, it will all change…
We won’t need Faith any longer, since what we believe in will already be revealed in all its glory!
We won’t need Hope any longer, since we hoped for will have already happened!
In Heaven there will only be LOVE.
You can listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Celebrating Jesus at Christmas (Week 4)
“Jesus is our Peace!”
Key Verses: Luke 2:1-20, emphasis on verses 13-14 (NASB)
“And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,“Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (emphasis added)
The Christ of Christmas brought to this world the good news of a great joy which is peace with God, peace with one’s self, and peace with other people!
Listen to Jesus in John 14:27,
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
Jesus does not offer us the peace of the world (which at best is a cease fire, but not the end of hurt feelings and tensions), but Jesus offers us His peace. Jesus says, “My peace I give to you…” and the peace of Jesus is the end of strife between us and God, and the end of the enmity “among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). Enmity is when there is strife/discord/hostility between two parties.
As Paul teaches us in Ephesians 2:13-18,
But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
How do we receive the peace of Jesus Christ?
You can have peace with God by inviting Jesus to be the Lord of your life. By taking our faith off of ourselves, off of anything or anyone else, and putting our full trust on Jesus for this life and the life to come. There is no other way to peace. The catastrophic damage caused by trusting in yourself as Savior, trusting in a career, a person, an achievement, a goal, a degree, a job, or in anything or anyone is so prevalent and rampant around us that there is no peace to be found. Only in Jesus, can we have peace!
Listen to Romans 5:1-8, where the Apostle Paul teaches us of this peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ,
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
But this is not just a promised peace between us and God, as we have already seen. We bring the Peace of Jesus into our everyday lives by bringing our peace with God to other people.
How do we have peace with other people when other people can be so “unpeaceful”?
To do this you first must be at peace with God and then with yourself. The Apostle Paul emphasizes this to the New Testament church in Philippi. He teaches in Philippians 4:6-9,
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
This kind of peace – from God and internal to us – is one that will stand guard (military imagery!) in our hearts and minds, so that we can face even the worst of life situations. This keeps us off the roller coaster of the world’s concept of peace and stable in God. Listen to Jesus in John 16:32-33 explain how:
Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
We have this promise to anchor our souls in life’s storms so that the peace of God perseveres in us and through us, first from God, then into our own self, and then out to our neighbors. Only then are we ready to do what Jesus commands in the Greatest Commandment found in Matthew 22:37-40,
And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the great and foremost commandment. “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
You can’t love your neighbor with God’s love, and live at peace with him/her, unless you are first at peace with God and loving your “neighbor as yourself” which means giving them the peace you first received. This peace, like joy, is a grace from God, given to us as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
Here is what I want to know: How can I walk in this peace every day?
By trusting that Jesus is who He says He is—knowing the promises of God and persevering in them! Listen to Jesus teach us about why He came that first Christmas morning. From John 10:10-18,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.
Jesus came to earth to bring us into God’s care and protect us from the true dangers of this world (the thief, the wolf). Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He will walk with you no matter the storm or situation, relationship struggle or financial woe. The Lord is with you and He brings His peace with Him wherever He goes. Invite Jesus to walk with you and talk with Him along the way so that He can bring His peace to your mind and heart in each and every situation.
Do you know His voice? His leading? Do you know the peace that comes from abiding in His presence?
1 The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Did you hear the final promise?
This promise is the promise of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, walking with you throughout your life on earth and taking you home to dwell with Him for eternity. This is why Jesus came to earth, so that we who put our faith in Jesus can have peace with God, peace with ourselves, and peace with other people.
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace.In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Celebrating Jesus at Christmas (Week 3)
“Jesus is Joy!”
Key Verses: Luke 2:8-12, (NASB)
Christmas is a season of joy, but what does it mean to have joy when so many aren’t happy? How can we experience the promised joy of Christmas? Let’s look at the Bible to learn how to find true joy and live with it in our everyday lives, this season and into the New Year.
A Christmas Scripture reading from Luke 2:8–12,
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
This is the gift of Christmas! Listen to the words of the famous hymn, “Joy to the World”:
[Verse 1]
Joy to the world, the Lord has come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing
[Verse 2]
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
[Verse 3]
No more let sins and sorrows grow
Nor thorns infest the ground
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found
Far as, far as the curse is found
[Verse 4]
He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love, and wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders of His love
Joy is an important promise of the Bible, so important that we must memorize it and persevere in the promise of joy as greater than our happiness or sadness, our situations and circumstances. Joy is rooted in the Christmas story because joy comes from God in fulfillment of His promise to bring “Joy to the world [because] the Lord has come!”
Here is today’s BIG IDEA: Joy is the gift of the Lord’s Presence!
Listen to Psalm 16:5-11 to hear this big idea in Scripture:
The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. (emphasis added)
We know this big idea is true because its converse is a daily reality for so many. Listen to what happens when God removes His presence. From Lamentations 5:15, “The joy of our hearts has ceased; Our dancing has been turned into mourning.” (emphasis added) The gift of joy ceased because God had removed the gift of His presence from Jerusalem. And we know that God would not restore Jerusalem for 70 years, but until that time He let the land lay barren as judgment for the rebellion of His chosen people. The author of Lamentations is Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, but even in the midst of judgment, God does not leave His people without hope. He gives Jeremiah this promise of hope found in Lamentations 3:22-26,
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the Lord.
Because God’s lovingkindnesses never cease and His compassions never fail, and they are new every morning, I can go through each day with joy. That is why I start every day with the singing of “This is the Day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it” and why I start each morning with a set apart time of Bible reading, prayer, and listening to God so that I cultivate an immediate awareness of God’s presence in my life. How can you start your day becoming aware of the presence of the Lord? Is there a favorite song you could sing?
While the people of Israel would experience a return to Jerusalem, they would not experience the fullness of this promise until the declaration of the angel that first Christmas morning: Jesus Christ is the Person of the promise and He promises to give His joy to us! Listen to Jesus’ words from John 15:8-11,
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. (emphasis added)
Jesus is joy! Jesus is the gift from God to bring about the salvation of the LORD! This is why we can sing, “I’ve got joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.”
The joy of Jesus is different and distinct from happiness or sadness. Joy is not an emotion; it is a gift from God to every person who receives His Son Jesus Christ and puts their trust in Him for their salvation. Just like with our salvation, joy is not something we earn or work for. Joy is what we have in a personal relationship with Jesus! Joy is a grace of God and the grace of God brings joy! Joy is something you have, but it is also a presence at work in you.
So, in my life, I not only start my day with time with the Lord to become aware of His presence tangibly and practically, but I am also learning to practice His presence throughout my day, as I go… That means I am learning to pay attention to the work of the Holy Spirit – eyes open to the presence of God in and through me, in and through others. How about you? Are there ways you can start practicing paying attention to the presence of God in your life and in the activities and events of your days? Are you aware of God’s presence in you as you go about your day?
But we have to do more than know we have joy; we are commanded to be a joyful people! That takes the grace of God, too. Let me be honest, I know that this seems to be an incredibly insensitive command of God because we all experience so much pain and grief on this side of Heaven. I get it…there are times for grief and lament in our lives. I am not leading us to a Pollyannaish faith or a “happy-clappy” Christianity. Remember how James 1:2 commands us, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials…”
I am teaching us that this command of God is not insensitive, it is a part of His lovingkindness and compassion from a loving Father to His children, that are new every morning. Our joy is us coming in agreement with who God is, not us coming in agreement with the evil of this world and the depravity of a fallen creation. Listen to Jesus talk about the importance of joy to His disciples from John 16:20-22,
Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
Just as Nehemiah said at the rebuilding of Jerusalem after such a long period of suffering and hardship: “Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
Did you hear that? Joy is strength! When we manifest the presence of God in our situations and circumstances, we are bringing the God of the universe to bear on whatever we are facing! This is us facing the giants of our lives and this world with faith, hope, and love!
After a period of deep grief over his sin and a painful loss of a child, King David cries out to God in Psalm 51:11-12, “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.”
Are you seeing the intimate connection between joy and God’s presence? This is why we need to learn to be aware of God’s presence through the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives as we go about our day. Paul teaches us that joy is in the “Fruit of the Spirit” that God gives to us when we first believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God manifests joy in us and we are to manifest what we have and who we are in Christ by putting aside our flesh and passions so that we can walk in submission to the Holy Spirit. There is power in a submitted obedient life and one of the greatest powers God gives us through His Holy Spirit is the ability to be joyful! Paul teaches us in Galatians 5:22-23,
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
We are strengthened to live faithfully to God’s commands by the joy of our salvation – the presence of God in us. When we lose our joy we find obedience to be burdensome and incongruent with our circumstances. When we walk away from God and sin against Him and disobey His commandments we lose the awareness of the joy of our salvation and do not manifest the presence of God as we once did – we find it hard to practice His presence and sing worship songs. This becomes a vicious cycle that rational thought actually reinforces. But this is why we must sing every day and why we must read our Bible every day and why we must pray. Only the Holy Spirit can lead us to rejoice always, again I say rejoice! Joy changes everything!!!! Joy is a discipline of the Christian life…
There is power in rejoicing, which is the outward expression of joy, because joy is the manifestation of the person of Christ in you – you are putting Jesus on display for all to see. Rejoicing is a declaration of your faith, hope, and love! Rejoicing has power over darkness and dominion over evil spirits because it is bringing the presence of Jesus to your situation. That is why Paul says, “Rejoice always” in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and again, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). There is so much power in joy – it is an atmosphere changer! Both in you and outside of you – a truly joyful person is infectious!
Friends, I know there is every reason to weep or lament. I read the news, too. I work with people every day, in some of the hardest situations of life. I am living in the real world, right there with you. We are commanded to be joyful, not because there isn’t suffering in the world, but because there is hope in the new heaven and new earth, in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the dead, in the communion of the saints, and in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our faith and hope call us to rejoice, especially in the midst of our weeping and lamenting. Because our suffering does not tell the whole story – Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection does!
The Christmas story is the beginning of the “good news of great joy which will be for all the people” (Luke 2:10b). Joy doesn’t come from singing a Christmas carol, but believing in the truth it proclaims: “Joy to the World [because] the Lord has come”! The key to experiencing the joy is found in the first verse of this famous hymn: “Let every heart prepare Him room”.
You can listen to this message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Celebrating Jesus at Christmas (Week 2)
3 Wise Men and a Baby
Cast
Angel #1 : Grace Logan
Kid #1 & Kid #2 : Maxwell Richardson & Josiah Plumhoff
Inn Keeper : Caden Upchurch
Inn Keeper’s Wife : Kaitlyn Giddings
Joseph : Dylan Bunner
Mary : Nora HamiltonAnimals : Addy Durham, Brenna Evans, Lucy Kinnaird & Anna Plumhoff
Shepherd #1 : Jacob Hamilton
Shepherd #2 : Aubrey Whitaker
Shepherd #3 : Emma Durham
Multitude of Angels : Willow & Alana Ingalls, Helen Estelle, Bella & Lily Dailey
Gaspar : Jonah Kinnaird
Melchior : Caleb Kinnaird
Binky : Danny Hurst
You can listen to the production here:
You can watch the video version by clicking HERE.
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Celebrating Jesus at Christmas (Week 1)
“Jesus is Hope!”
Key Verse: Luke 2:1-7, NASB
Christmas is the proclamation of the coming of the Living Word, God’s one and only Son Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World, the divine herald of God’s Gospel, and the Eternal King of God’s Everlasting Kingdom. 2,019 years ago something happened that changed not only time as we know it, but shifted the hope of the nations for all time. What happened was that the most influential person in history was born and the Bible records it from first-hand witness accounts.
Allow me to read a selection of the Bible’s account of the Christmas Story. From Luke 2:1-7.
Does listening to this familiar story thrill you with the hope of the Christmas Story or weary you with the burden of the Christmas Season?
Why do I mention time? Because time is important and in fact I believe a right view of time is so important that a proper understanding of the Christmas story “in time” is essential to learning how to live with hope in our everyday “in real time” lives. I will teach you what I mean by this and then apply with 3 practical applications that will start helping you live with the hope God intends for you to live your everyday lives in light of the Christmas Story.
The key to understanding the hope of the Christmas story lies in the fact that it is a real story in real time. Listen to Luke 2:1-2, “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” This same key is highlighted in Matthew 1’s “Genealogy of Jesus” summarized in Matthew 1:17, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.”
What am I talking about and why is this important? Both Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts of the Christmas story start with time markers. Luke’s from a Gentile historian’s perspective (the historical witness of rulers and their activities) and Matthew’s from Israel’s religious perspective (by genealogy). But both serve the same purpose: to put the Christmas story “in time”! This is important because the promise of God for the Christmas miracle, the coming of Jesus, was foretold many times over the course of hundreds of years by many prophets of God. God gave His people a promise so that they wouldn’t despair. Faith and Hope are intertwined in time!
Listen for the key to living with hope in Isaiah 40:30-31: “Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
I emphasize the words, “yet those who wait on for the Lord,” but this time hear those words from the NIV, as the key word shifts to illuminate the depth of the original Hebrew word that the Prophet Isaiah used to make the point: “But those who hope in the LORD…”. And from Young’s Literal Translation, “But those expecting Jehovah…” All these translations are correct, none more than another because the Hebrew word carries all of these meanings: to wait on; to hope in; and to expect.”[1] There is a deep truth about the biblical concept of hope (found in OT and NT) that I want you to understand. Listen to this definition of biblical hope:
In the Gospels, the theological concept of hope is expressed in terms of waiting (προσδέχομαι, prosdechomai) for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43). In the Letters, hope is directly related to and grows out of faith in God. While faith takes God at his word, believing that he will do as he has promised, hope is the anticipation of the fulfillment of God’s promises (Rom 4:18–21; Heb 6:11–18). Hope originates with God (Rom 15:13), is based on his calling (Eph 1:18; 4:4), and is facilitated by Scripture (Rom 15:4). Specific objects of hope include the future resurrection (Acts 23:6; Rom 8:20–24); the Parousia (Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2–3); and eternal life (Titus 1:2; 3:7). Hope’s opposite is expressed in terms of unbelief (Heb 3:6–12), grief or despair (1 Thess 4:13), and shame or disappointment (Rom 5:5; Phil 1:20).[2]
Isaiah wrote 700 years before the Christmas miracle of the incarnation, the coming of Messiah, the great rescue of God for His people and all the people of all nations. He commanded God’s people to wait for it, to hope in it, to expect it! Isaiah pointed to the Messiah in more detail and with such exactness that his prophecies have been quoted by the Church throughout history to point to the fulfillment of God’s promises through Jesus Christ. The people of God knew these promises, they knew the prophecies of Messiah, but they still sought salvation from Egypt instead of trusting in God to rescue them. That led to their destruction and deportation.
Because of our perspective today (hind sight is 20/20), we see now what God’s people couldn’t seem to hang onto for 700 hundred years even though God had told them everything they needed to have hope—God had promised and their hope was to be in His promises and not in their own abilities to rescue and deliver themselves from their situations and circumstances. When we don’t wait on the Lord and we take matters into our own hands, we more times than not make it worse and cause ourselves greater worry and anxiety. We are to wait on the Lord to keep His promise for rescue and deliverance; for the Kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven.
Isaiah’s words in Isaiah 40:30-31 give us direction on how we are to remain hopeful in our everyday situations:
- We WAIT on the Lord to keep His promises through hard times;
- We HOPE in the Lord to accomplish His good purposes even when evil seems to be having its way; and
- We EXPECT the Lord to act in and through us in our situations and circumstances. This is the way of hope in our everyday lives.
The Gospel story of Jesus Christ starts with a time marker of Jesus’ birth (for both Jewish and non-Jewish listeners) because God wants us to see the importance of how God works in real history with real people who have real faith. The key to all of those great stories of the Bible is that the people of faith waited on the Lord, not always perfectly, but they lived by faith and trusted in the Lord’s promises.
Christmas is a story found in real time! Can you empathize with how difficult it must have been for the Israelites to wait on God through their circumstances? Waiting is hard! Because it’s not a passive waiting; it is a faithful, trusting, expecting waiting. Hope requires faith! The problem for us is not that we have learned to read the Bible with eyes of faith, but that we have not yet learned to look at the events of our lives the same way we read the Bible stories. So, we have created a disconnect between the hope we read about and the hope we experience.
Just as God gave us the prophecies of Jesus from Isaiah 700 years before the promise was fulfilled and just like there were 400 years between Malachi and John the Baptizer (i.e. the intertestamental period), God’s people have a long history of having to wait on God’s promises and even at times, waiting through God’s silence to us in our situations. It’s what we do in the waiting that determines whether or not we will experience hope or despair in our circumstances.
Truthfully, it is not the events that bring despair or depression in our lives, it is our interpretation of the events. I invite us to look at our daily circumstances with biblical hope.
Here’s how to have hope, not only this Christmas season, but from this day forward:
- DEVELOP A FAITH PERSPECTIVE ON EVENTS:
As Isaiah taught us, we WAIT on the Lord to keep His promises through hard times. To do this, we must know the promises and persevere in the promises. That means our faith must become personal and intimate. It must work its way into the very nuts and bolts of our everyday working and playing lives. So often, in the past, we have allowed world events, national politics, community gossip, church challenges, family situations, work circumstances, and health struggles to determine our perspective on life. That is backwards! Your faith in Jesus Christ and what He has promised is the shaper of our conversations and how we interpret life. Faith shapes perspective: This is the way to hope!
As Paul taught us in Romans 5:1-5, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
What shapes your daily conversations? How do you interpret your situations and circumstances? Is your faith in Jesus Christ worked into the very fabric of your whole life or is it compartmentalized into a Sunday morning religious observance?
- REMEMBER THAT THE PROMISES OF GOD ARE GREATER THAN OUR PROBLEMS!
As Isaiah taught us, we HOPE in the Lord to accomplish His promises even when evil seems to be having its way and our problems seem bigger. Your faith in Jesus Christ brings hope by giving us God’s promises to hang onto when all the evidence of this life points away from an all-good, all-loving, and all-powerful God. Hope is not wishful thinking, like I hope it snows for Christmas. Hope is a certainty that faith in God and His promises is not displaced because He who promises is worthy of all trust!
God delivers on time, every time! Paul taught us the reality of how to live this way. He said in Philippians 4:6-9, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
We need a persevering faith that comforts us with not only the assurance of our salvation, but also the assurance of Jesus’ promise for the abundant life (John 10:10). There is no hope outside of the rest you gain from the assurances that God and His promises are right and true, every time and on time—in His time.
When you walk in the assurance that the PROMISES OF GOD are BIGGER THAN the PROBLEMS OF YOUR LIFE then you will experience the PEACE OF GOD.
But conversely, when you allow the PROBLEMS OF YOUR LIFE to LOOM LARGER THAN then PROMISES OF GOD then you will experience the ANXIETY OF THE MOMENT.
Every time you feel the emotion of anxiety, it’s an opportunity to turn it around and go to God with thanksgiving in your heart for who He is and His promises for your life! Don’t let anxiety condemn you, but allow the conviction you feel at the normal human emotion of anxiety to move you to God. Do you know the promises of God so that you can rest in Him? How do you work them into your heart and mind so that they can bring about the promised peace of God? What shapes your emotional well-being—your circumstances or His promises?
Your FAITH in Jesus Christ is the foundation of who you are (your identity!). The HOPE you have in the promises of God will shape your perspective and your perspective will shape your emotional well-being. What makes all this visible, is the LOVE of God put on display through your life during the hard and challenging times. That leads us to the final application:
- LIVE THE ABUNDANT LIFE OF LOVE!
As Isaiah taught us, we EXPECT the Lord to act in and through real people in real situations and circumstances. I am here to tell you that you can be the solution to the situation. When all hope seems to be lost, be the hope by loving the people around you instead of reacting with anxiety and fear. Be the person that God uses to bless people by how you walk through your situations and circumstances. The world does not need any more doomsdayers, gossips, or troublemakers. Our nation has reached its quota on all of these and the church is called to be different than the culture, not co-opt it.
How can we be different? Biblical Hope! We hope in the promises of God! Just as we celebrate whole-heartedly the first coming of Christ every Christmas, we resolve to whole-heartedly hang on to the promises of God that Jesus will return; His second coming is imminent and the Kingdom of God can’t be thwarted by evil. We can love today because we know Love wins!
Our church is called to be the light of Jesus Christ to East-Central Indiana, not just a representative gathering of a growing minority of people called Christians who happen to live in East-Central Indiana. We are called to transform stories so that we will see thriving communities. That will only happen through LOVE! And the only way LOVE will happen in the hard times and difficult meetings and in controversial polarizing conversations is if each of us has our lives built on the foundation of the assurance of our faith in Jesus Christ, pillared by our hope in the persevering promises of God, and put on display by the Love that God first loved us!
As John, the Beloved of Jesus, taught us in 1 John 4:9-11, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Christmas is a wonderful time to practice loving people in practical ways. Many people are weary and heavy-burdened during Christmas because they have forgotten that Jesus is the reason for the season. Their hope has been displaced from the reason of the season to the hustle and bustle of the season.
Let us give the greatest gift of all—the Hope of Jesus Christ through practical and intentional acts of love. You will spend a lot of time and money on giving gifts this season, but why not invest a lot of time and money on becoming the gift of God to our communities.
It has been said, “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air…but only for one second without hope.”
Listen to Pastor Jerry’s message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
Footnotes:
[1] “קָוָה (qāwâ). vb. to wait, hope. In its basic sense, the term describes the act of waiting. It may indicate the act of expectation when a particular outcome is anticipated (often rendered “look for”) or the act of hoping when the expected outcome is desirable or beneficial” (Aaron C. Fenlason, “Hope,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series [Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014]).
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Grow: Mentor & Discipleship (Week 3)
Speaker: Dan Buschow
#RIPPLESTARTER
II Timothy 2:2 These thing you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who are qualified to teach others.
I Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
We must be willing to fight for each generation!
Are You Ready?
Growth and Discipleship
- Being Christ-Centered – Christ is in the middle of everything in your life – Spiritual Discipline
- Being Christ-like – Having and Displaying to your qualities of Christ – Kindness – Forgiveness – Sincerity – Caring – Accepting
Great Commandments
- Mark 12:30 –Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Are You?
- Mark 12:31 – The second and greatest is this, Love your neighbor as yourself. Do You?
Great Commission
- Mark 16:15 (TLB) Go into all the world and preach the good news to everyone, everywhere.
- 28:18-20 – Go and make disciples of every nation.
21 Day Challenge
- Learn to have a daily quality quiet time.
- Learn to share your story in world.
- Learn to live a life of joy.
- Learn to be accountable to someone so you can be accountable for some one.
Ignite Passion, Purpose, and Faith in someone in their world!
Heb. 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Four PRACTICAL WAYS TO BE A #RIPPLESTARTER
1. Desire to make a Connection
- Look Up
- Look Around
- Use Your Sling Shot
2. Discipline to have a Conversation
- Make the phone call, Send a text/private message, Email
- Set a time and place
3. Delight when you find Common Ground
- Ask questions
- Look for where you are connecting
REMEMBER – #Ripplestarters ignite passion, purpose, and faith!
4. Determination to be Consistent
- Cup of Coffee
- Season of Life
- Life-long Relationships
Think About This…
You cannot have a life-long relationship until you have a cup of coffee!
Let’s Start some RiPPLES
Wake Up
Stand Up
Speak Up
Rise Up
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Listen to Dan’s Message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Mentor & Discipleship (Week 2)
Ephesians 5:1-2; I John 3: 23-24; 1 Peter 3:8
INTRODUCTION:
English cleric Charles Caleb Colton said: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. And behavioral science has proven that children learn through imitation. This is normally a song played on Father’s Day, but this should be one to serve as a reminder for all of us.
VIDEO CLIP: Phillips Craig & Dean – I Want To Be Just Like You
The word ‘imitate’ according to dictionary.com is a verb meaning:
“to follow or endeavor to follow as a model or example; to make a copy of; reproduce closely; to have or assume the appearance of; simulate; resemble.”
God does not want flattery from us. Rather, He wants us to truly be one of His children, reflecting all of His character, especially His love. It is important to realize that this is not just Paul’s message, but a cascading message from all the writers of the New Testament…from the disciples and their first-hand experiences with Jesus to James, the little brother of Jesus. Let’s stand for the reading of God’s word as we hear from three of them:
The Apostle Paul: Ephesians 5:1-2
“Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God..”
John, the beloved: 1 John 3:23-24
“And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.”
Simon Peter: 1 Peter 3:8
“Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted and keep a humble attitude.”
Let’s break down what each of these writers were saying and look at the common theme.
I. Ephesians 5:1-2: Be Imitators of God
ILLUSTRATION: Blind Auditions on “The Voice” (Darius Rucker cover)
- Talk the Talk
- Walk the Walk
Acts 19:13-16:
“ A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, “I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, “I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?” Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered.”
- No longer living a life filled with fear
-
- No more “What if….”
-
- The world calls it finding your center
-
- (Actually putting God on the throne of your heart!)
-
- Profound sense of connection
- Willing to make yourself available
- Willing to allow yourself to be transparent/vulnerable
II. 1 John 3:23-24: Prove that you know Him
- More than a head knowledge
- believing that His name contains power
- demonstrates trust in the One by which we are saved
- more than a moral or spiritual guide, but God’s Son
- A heart knowledge of relationship
- God delights to hear and answer His children’s requests
- The more we are in relationship w/ Him, our wants & desires align w/His desire for the very best for us.
Psalms 37:3-5
“Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.”
- The person who is obedient lives in God, and God in him.
- This is the expression of our spiritual life.
- The Spirit of God lives in us, helping us, guiding us
- Will we mess us? YES, but the Spirit is there to adjust or straighten us up.
- This is a conscious and spiritual decision
- Daily we decide if we will follow the flesh or the Spirit
- As you spend more time, you become more like Him
III. 1 Peter 3:8: Be of One Mind (Unity)
The word “finally” does not mean the last thing that you do. Rather it was his “in conclusion” statement, summarizing all that he had been telling them to do as a true follower of Christ.
Barclay Study Bible:
“The New Testament never treats this agreeing in Christ as an unnecessary though highly desirable spiritual luxury, but something essential to the true being of the Church…Such unity will only come when Christian are humble and bold enough to lay hold on the unity already given in Christ and to take it more seriously than their own self-importance and sin,… to make it an incentive for a more earnest seeking in fellowship together to hear and obey the voice of Christ.”
This Unity/Harmony can only be accomplished by these things:
- Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep
- Roman 12:15
- Not feel sorry for, but putting ourselves in their place
- 1 Corinthians 12:26 (one hurts/all hurt)
- It is only when we die to self that we can live to others.
- Having the empathy of God, knowing that God knows how they feel, even if we have never experienced what they are going through.
- Begins in the church and extends out to the world.
- Even family can be mean and hurt us, but we are to love them as God first loved us.
- But reflect on how many times we have hurt the heart of our Father in heaven, yet He still loves us.
- ’eusplagchnos’ (pronounced: use plock nos) gut feeling
- It is the kind of emotion that is from the very depths of our being.
- Cannot be cold, calloused or cynical
- ties into sympathy and compassion
- Humility is arguably the most essential, all-encompassing virtue of the Christian life
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”
Conclusion:
As we share our lives in discipleship, the invitation should be this: Follow me as I follow Christ and He will be the one that will transform us into His image. Living life together is what helps us see the reality of God’s love. Yes, it can be messy. Yes, sometimes we may get hurt or fall down. But when we are walking together, we know there is someone there to help pick us up. And Jesus is not asking us to do anything that He was not willing to do for us.
1 John 3:16:
“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
He left heaven, to come to earth for us, humbling Himself in every way, even putting His own will aside. He spent three years, investing in those disciples. He mentored and trained them in the ways of God’s love, teaching them to look past what the world sees, and see them with the eyes of God.
He called them out, lovingly rebuking them to focus their attention to where their hearts were. He demonstrated His love when He washed their feet. He took on the sins of the world and paid a debt that was not His. He could have said, “Father, I just can’t do this!” But His love for us is what drove Him and held Him on the cross for you and me!
And when He rose again, He spent 40 days with His followers reminding them of all He had taught and urging them to take the gospel message into all the world so that they might experience God’s love, making sure to disciple them so they could carry the message on for generations to come.
And it doesn’t stop there. We are given the task to carry on with this process. We have a message of love, grace and hope that we are to share, no matter how old we are! I wish that the more mature Christians had the same zeal and excitement that many young Christians have. There is a fire in their hearts that is consuming them. But all to often, we let that fire burn down to where it is just keeping us warm and secure and not burning bright to draw others in. It’s time to stoke the fire, fan the flame and ask God to revive and use us for His glory.
Listen to Pastor Ken’s message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Mentor & Discipleship (Week 1)
Introduction:
‘Mentor’ is defined as: “a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.” It is a word that is become more and more prevalent in our society. Even what used to be called Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Henry County is now called “Believe and Achieve Mentoring”, encouraging adults in our community to invest in the lives of young people who need positive role models.
Businesses and churches are bringing in interns to help train or mentor them and let them see if this is the job or ministry they want to go into as a career.
The word ‘disciple’ when defined as a noun is: “any follower of Christ; a person who is a pupil or adherent of the doctrines of another; a follower.” And as a verb is: “to teach; train”.
The relationship between Paul and Titus is a great example of what it means to disciple someone. Much like Timothy, Paul called Titus “my true son in our common faith.” (Titus 1:4). He was a Gentile, saved under the ministry of Paul with the Gospel message of salvation by grace through faith alone. He traveled with Paul and was trained, mentored, discipled by him. Paul was investing in his life, so that he would be able to go and do the same thing with others.
In fact, in the scriptures we are reading today, we find Titus on special assignment to the churches in Crete. Some commentators refer to him as Paul’s secretary of state, being able to go in and carry Paul’s message of order and direction. And in chapter two, Paul is very specific to everyone about what they ALL are to do in order to make sure the Gospel message and the Word of God is not defiled. So let’s stand for the reading of God’s Word as we hear what those assignments are for us.
“As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching. Teach the older men to exercise self- control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.
Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.
In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us.”
Titus 2:1-8
My Barclay’s Study Bible calls this section “The Christian Character”. It describes our Christian moral or ethical qualities that must be taught, because they do not come naturally to us. Let’s look at the area of responsibilities for each group.
I. Titus’s job
“As for you, Titus, promote the kind of living that reflects wholesome teaching.”
Titus 2:1
- He was sent to appoint the church leaders (Titus 1:5-15)
- Given specific instructions on who could and could not be called to serve the church.
“And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us.”
Titus 2:7-8
Just like Timothy, he was sent to live it out in front of people so that they will follow by his example and not just his words.
II. Older Men
“Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.”
Titus 2:2
- Not just referring to wine/alcohol/strong drink
- Level-headed, processing things from life experiences
- Willing to share past failures and successes
- Self-indulgence in any area costs far more than what they are worth.
- Not because of age, but because of character
- Not because of title, but because of integrity
- Not a gloomy killjoy, but lives life in light of eternity
- No inconsistencies in his life, but the guy you see in church is the guy you see in the community.
- Not claiming to be perfect or have all the answers, but is striving to be like Christ in all areas of his life
- Have sound Faith biblically grounded, consistent walk
- Filled with Love; always to be our first response
- With Patience/Steadfastness/Endurance/Fortitude; understanding that things take time and willing to serve to see it through
III. Older Women
“Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers. Instead, they should teach others what is good.”
Titus 2:4
Illustration: According to Barclay’s Study Bible, this was the most honored and responsible positions in the church, for they were natural advisors of the young of both sexes. Their years have brought serenity, sympathy and understanding. When we realize we are active in sacred things every moment of our lives, the embitterment, argumentativeness, touchiness, and intolerance will vanish overnight.
- Everything we do, brings glory to You, God!
- Same as older men…self-controlled by Holy Spirit
- A woman of integrity and good reputation
- The hiss of gossip should tell us it comes from the snake and not the Savior
- Human nature would rather repeat gossip than a story giving credit to someone or to God.
- Christian responsibility to use experiences to guide and encourage, not tear down and discourage.
- over-indulgence in any area can cause us to lose focus
- we want the world to see a difference in us.
IV. Younger Women
History behind this from Barclay’s Study Bible:
In the Greek world, the home was the only place for respectable women. No trade or profession was open to her; and if she tried to earn a living, she was driven to prostitution. If the women of the ancient Church had suddenly burst every barrier and limitation which the centuries had imposed upon them, the only result would have been to bring discredit on the church and to cause people to say that Christianity corrupted womanhood…in that sense, this passage is temporary.
BUT there is also a sense in which it is permanent. There is no greater task, responsibility and privilege in this world than to make a home…It has been said that consecration is that which makes drudgery divine; and there is no place where consecration can be more necessarily and beautifully shown that within the four walls of the place we call home.”
The Communicator’s Commentary goes on to say:
“I don’t believe the principles of the importance of being a good wife and mother ever change. BUT, the application, of necessity, must change from time to time and from place to place…Contemporary women are fortunate indeed to have more options than Paul or Titus could have imagined.””
- Self controlled by the Holy Spirit
- by being the hands and feet of Jesus to her family first
- Your reputation precedes you
- Katie made reference to this last week, packing for the trip, having a pen in her purse, etc.
- In word and in deed
- Works both ways.
- This principle must always be viewed in the context of mutual submission to each other, growing out of their mutual submission to Christ that Paul laid:
“And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.”
Ephesians 5:21-21
Why? So that evil could not be spoken about the Word of God.
V. Young Men
“In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely.”
Titus 2:6
You were recognized as a man in this culture when you reach age 30
Question: How many times have you heard that men have a one-track mind? Some might even say this…
Illustration: You had one job!
“Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.”
Proverbs 16:32
- Time of youth is a time of DANGER! It tends to be more reckless
- Temptations are stronger, blood runs hotter and passions speak more commandingly
- False confidence from lack of experience
- More energy = more opportunities for going wrong
- Most were not married yet, so no home/family obligations
- While we can’t keep them from making the same mistakes
- we can share and hope they learn from them
Conclusion:
Christianity is always a liberation movement! The Power of Christ broke the power of slavery, the oppression of women, the oppression of people groups (Jews/Gentiles), and now the oppression of a “Me-First” society. We cannot be in unity unless we are putting Christ first in our lives and then putting others ahead of our wants and desires.
We should all know by now that we are commanded to “…go and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19). This is a command to every one of us who call Jesus our Lord and Savior. But how can we go out to others when we haven’t finished doing that right here in our own home and church. One group is not more important than the other. They are all to be built up so they can train the next group. And how will they know unless we tell them?
“For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:26-28
Listen to Ken’s message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Discovering Love (Week 3)
“Our Response to His Rescue: Loving God With All Our Hearts”
2) Young Life [deficit, busiest time of year, emotional stress of caring for so many kids and leaders] = STRESS
Story: Jonah and his retainer!
How does it feel when you do something for someone you love and they overlook it? How does it feel when YOU know what you’ve done, how you’ve taken care of them, and they don’t realize of acknowledge it, or even worse, believe that someone else or they themselves did the thing you actually did?
wants us to love him in return. He wants our full attention, our passion, our appreciation, our deepest love. He wants us to love him with all our hearts, all our minds and all our strength- with everything we have.
does it mean? What does it look like to love God like that, to that extent?
a new place, a land that He promised would become their new home.
God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.” The context for the commands he gives is that He is the one who rescued them, gave them the life they’re entering. It is the memory of what God has done for us that motivates us to obey and trust His commands.
[**how would MY life be different? what has God done for ME?]
thinking. I don’t think she had a pushy attitude, I don’t think she was thinking “I’ll show them, I can be here just as much as they can”. No, I don’t think she was considering who else was there at all. I think her sole focus was getting to Jesus. He was the only one she saw.
appearance. When this woman brought in the alabaster jar, and opened it up, the smell would have filled the room, drawing even more attention to what she was doing. Rabbis weren’t even supposed to talk to women in public, and they definitely weren’t supposed to touch a woman, let alone a prostitute. She slips in behind him, on the floor, low as she can get, and starts to pour the perfume out onto his feet. And as she does, she begins to weep.
Listen to Katie’s Message here:
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Grow: Discovering Love (Week 2)
“Growing a Culture of Compassion”
Scott Underwood
- Intro and the muppets
- Elders and trustee make up the officers, whose job it is to lead the church, in conjunction with all the ministry team leaders.
- We meet once a month as officers and then again as elders
- Despite our differences, Chris and I sit together most meetings and have earned a certain reputation.
- Picture of the Muppets
- The specific job of the Elders is lead the church in following Jesus, taking care of the flock and equipping them for acts of service
- We take a couple times of year to share our hearts so you know more about us
- Today we are going to talk about the second half of Ken’s sermon from last week and then share a little bit on where we think the church is today and is going
- The title of today is Discovering Love – Growing a Culture of Compassion
As a starting point, what is going on in the heart of the expert of the law? How does that relate to what sometimes goes on in our heart? How do we test God?
I would say that every time we know we are supposed to do something and we don’t do it, we are testing God. “I know that you have said that I am supposed to forgive this person, but I haven’t, and there don’t seem to be any consequences, so why should I obey?” It sounds a little like Satan in the Garden. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
If we truly believed him, we would obey his commands, not look to test Him.
After Jesus answered him the first time, the expert dove in again, this time to “justify himself.” Now, I thought I knew what the word “justify” meant, but I looked it up in the dictionary to make sure I did. Here’s what I found . . .
- Secular definition – show or prove to be right or reasonable
- Theological definition – declare or make righteous in the sight of God.
Whether Luke meant either of the two definitions, both are convicting. The first one implies an interaction with Jesus where the person administering the test wants to argue with the answer of Jesus. The second one suggests the attempt of the expert to “check the boxes” of his own righteousness, apart from grace of Jesus or the obedience in his heart to Jesus’ teachings.
Before we even get to the story of the Good Samaritan, Luke has taught us lessons about humility and self-justification.
So now Jesus tells the story of the GS. I have to believe when Jesus started into the story instead of giving a simple answer, the expert in the law started to get nervous.
After the sections about the Levite and the priest passing by the injured man, Jesus gets to the section about the Samaritan. I know that Jerry covered this story before he left, but it certainly bears repeating, especially in our current political and economic climate. As you may know, to make the hero of the story a Samaritan was offensive to all of the Jews that were listening. It would be like going to a Trump rally and making a Democrat the hero of the story, or going to a Democratic rally and making President Trump the hero. Not popular, and not a good start for Jesus. The fact that he contrasted the Samaritan against people of their own “parties” was further insult.
But on he went with the story. And as he told the story of the Samaritan’s encounter with the injured man, he said something that I think is the key to the whole story. The second half of verse 33 said, “and when he saw him, he took pity on him.” First, he saw him – really saw him. Not as an impediment to the completion of his daily tasks or an obstacle to be avoided, but saw him in his injured condition. The priest and the Levite saw the injured man too, but never really saw him in his true condition.
And then the Samaritan “took pity on him.” Pity is a weird word in 2019. It often has a negative connotation – “I don’t want your pity” or “Don’t pity me.” Even worse, to be considered “pitiful”.
But pity is simply another word for compassion. And we find Jesus being compassionate on numerous occasions –
- He had compassion on a large crowd and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14)
- He had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him (Matthew 20:34)
- He had compassion on the people at the feeding of the 5,000
- He had compassion on the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless (pitiful), like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36 and Mark 6:34)
As a side note, 2 Corinthians 1:3 praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort. Jesus is just simply doing the Father’s will by being compassionate.
Many of us are already compassionate, especially to those who close to us or like us. But here’s a harder question – How we doing with those people who not close to us or not like us or maybe even enemies to us? Dems vs Republicans, white vs black, liberals vs conservatives, illegal immigrants, LBGTBQ, pro life vs pro choice, criminals, etc. Do we have compassion on these people, or do our politics or preferences come before the words and deeds of Jesus?
If we get the compassion right, we have a much better chance of getting the love and service right, even if we don’t do it perfectly.
If we get the compassion right, we have a much better chance of getting the love and service right, even if we don’t do it perfectly. If we see thru the eyes of Jesus and our heart is with His heart, we have the Holy Spirit to help us get it right. When we look at this story, the man who was beaten had a variety of needs. Hope, transportation, medical care, food and lodging among others.
As a brief commercial for next week’s Gary Chapman The Five Love Languages workshop, it’s interesting to note that the injured man’s needs loosely line up with the 5 love languages. He needed
- Words of affirmation (hope)
- Physical touch – bandaged his wound, pouring on oil and wine
- Receiving Gifts – paid for the inn and care
- Quality time – he went with the man to the inn and took care of him
- Acts of service – the whole thing
If you know anything about the concept of the love languages, they are based on the idea that you need to understand and care about the other person’s preferred love language and then adjust yourself to meet them where they are. Buying and giving expensive gifts (because it’s easy for you to do) may do nothing to show your significant other love. You have to do what they want and value, even if it costs you everything.
In the story, The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, we learn about a young couple, who like so many others, are struggling financially. As they have been saving for Christmas presents for each other, they find that they have not been able to scrape together much more than a few cents. They really only have two things of value – the husband’s inherited gold pocket watch and the wife’s beautiful long hair. As the couple struggles to buy each other a treasured present, the husband sells the watch to buy the wife an ornate comb for her beautiful hair, and the wife sells her hair to a wig maker to buy her husband a chain for his treasured pocket watch. Now, whether that was their love language or not, the thought behind giving up what you value to give someone else what they value is clearly evident. It’s about the heart.
But let’s go back to the Good Samaritan – It’s also interesting that the story doesn’t involve our present day go-to maneuver, the “I’ll pray for you and walk away” maneuver. I believe that many times we are put in that situation specifically to meet the presenting need. If we don’t want to help, our prayer then becomes, “God please send someone who isn’t me to help this person.”
A questions for all of us If we are able to meet the need – what or who are we praying for? Someone who has the gift of service or more time or something else?
James 2: 14-17 (NLT) says, 14What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
17So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
In our emphasis on prayer, I fear that we have erred too far on the “I’ll pray for you” end of the spectrum and missed our opportunities to meet the needs right then and there.
There are many reasons for not meeting the need, but if often comes back to one foundational problem – putting our own needs/wants over the needs of others, and often over the call and example of Jesus. And now we are back to a question that would fit right in with our expert in the law from the Good Samaritan story.
If there are no immediate, visible consequences from our disobedience, why not serve ourselves first?
Well, if you believe Jesus, there are consequences and promises –
Mark 8:35 (NLT) – If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.
Mark 10:28-31 (NLT) – 28Then Peter began to speak up. “We’ve given up everything to follow you,” he said.
29“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. 31But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.g”
As elders, we are encouraging us all to live a life that follows Jesus. Notice I didn’t say be a better Baptist or church member or even a Christian. Many people can be a Baptist, Christian or church member without following Jesus on a daily basis. Many can be those things with very few signs of the compassion of Jesus in their lives.
- I do what I want
- I am competitive
Our culture (in the body of Christ) should revolve around the Promises of God.
Listen to the Elders’ message here:
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Grow: Discovering Love (Week 1)
Discovering how Love is our ‘Miracle Grow’
As we delve into these words from Moses, it is vital that we realize he was taking to heart the importance of what he was about to teach them. There is a sense of urgency that can be seen even in the previous chapters. He was speaking to the group that had wandered around in the desert for 40 years, many of whom had never really had encounters with other nations or the enticements that those civilizations would have to tempt them to abandon all they had known and just join in to the culture.
He was telling them that THEY had to set the tone, following after God in all areas of their lives…heart, soul, mind and strength (Might). They had to determine in their hearts Who they would follow and what guidelines would lead their lives. They had to prepare their hearts (the soil) and keep focused (proper feeding of their hearts) in order for God to bless them and help them grow as His children.
The same is true today. We have to be reminded that we must keep God first in all that we do. If we truly love someone, we desire to listen and obey, to cherish and serve and to demonstrate our love in all that we do.
Illustration: Planting a garden.
- Prepare the soil (remove grass, weeds, rocks)
- Plant the seed
- Continue to feed and water (Miracle Grow)
- Continue to remove grass & weeds
- Then you will see the fruit (not overnight)
Just like the garden, we have to prepare our hearts…we have to choose to obey…we have to maintain the soil of our hearts in order to grow. All this happens when we open up our ears to hear the truths of God’s Word. And all of these truths are based on what is known as the GREATEST COMMANDMENT.
The Greatest Commandment: Deuteronomy 6:1-9
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the decrees —that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Moses broke it down into these three areas:
- I have to teach them to you;
- You have to hear and apply to your life; and then
- You have to teach them to the next generation.
I. I have to teach them to you. (vs 1-3)
- This command sets the tone for all rules and statutes.
- God told me I had to teach you!
- Everything hinges on what I am about to tell you.
As defined by Easton’s Bible Dictionary:
“Fear of God – a designation of true piety*. It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather a filial** reverence.”
*piety: Reverence or dutiful respect
**filial: of, relating to, or befitting a son or daughter
This is what God, your Father is commanding/asking you to do – You and generations to come
“…you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I commanded you,…” Deut. 6:2
Keeping ALL! This means not just knowing them, but doing them.
For how long?
“…all the days of your life,…” Deut. 6:2
B. God will bless and prosper you.
“and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” Deut 6:2-3
…multiply you greatly
- This promise is not just for the people of Israel
- From the beginning of creation, it has been God’s desire for us to be fruitful and multiply. He loves to bless His children. But we have to follow Him and His commands.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Matthew 6:33
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:46-47
“ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Illustration: Mission & Vision Statements (Show slides)
…the land will be blessed and thrive.
Same promise for us today!
“ And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
II. Hear what I teach you. (vs 4-6)
- He is Number 1!!!
- nothing comes before Him
Rhetorical question in Miriam’s Song:
“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Exodus 15:11
You are the one who places Him there, no one can do it for you.
B. Love with everything you have
- not the first time they heard this charge.
Deut. 4:29
- heart, soul, might (mind & strength) – with every fiber of our being.
- keep these words in your heart
“I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Psalms 119:11
- It has to become our native language.
VIDEO SONG: Native Tongue by Switchfoot
III. Now that you have heard, it is YOUR responsibility to teach
“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:7-9
- Memorizing scripture
- Surround them with music, stories, & videos that have strong Christian values
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8
B. Carry them with you
“My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.”
Proverbs 7:1-3
- Our values bracelets are a form of this
- Christian jewelry is another form
Show Slide: Deuteronomy 11:18
*Moses started his talk with this and shared it again because it was so important.
Illustration: Will & Christy Ragle’s Home.
- Intended to encourage family members
- Became a witness to Comcast guy
Conclusion:
As I told you two weeks ago, people are watching everything you do and say. This is especially true at home with our children. And like it or not, once you have heard the truth of God’s Word, you can no longer say, “I didn’t know.”
That is why Moses emphasized “HEAR WHAT I AM SAYING…” Maybe I should have started this message out the same way. So here is a reminder of the things I just told you…
- I just taught you the greatest commandment;
- You were told to hear what I was teaching you, to love God with all you got and the benefits of doing so; and
- It is your responsibility to teach your children.
We are here to help you, but you spend a lot more time with them than we can. You create the atmosphere in your home and car in which your child and those who are with you or visit you will either flourish or wither away.
We are here to help you with tools to help keep the soil healthy. And the first priority is follow the greatest commandment.
For loving God with all you have…
He will fill you with His love so that…
you can in turn love others as He first loved you!
Listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Spiritual Growth with Joe Bruce (Week 5)
Joe’s Garage
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Grow: Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth (Week 4)
Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth.
1 Timothy 4:14-16 & Psalms 116:17-19
“Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you. Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress. Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.”
1 Timothy 4:14-16
INTRODUCTION:
Over the last month, you have been reminded of the words given by a very wise man of God (Paul) to his young disciple (Timothy), reminding him of the importance of staying in God’s Word. It is through the Word that he will be able to grow in the ministry to which he was called.
Sermon #1: Need for daily nourishment, daily spiritual exercise and living a life of integrity.
Sermon #2: We are to command and teach the Word, set an example on both the outside and inside of our lives, and devote ourselves to the Scripture, to exhortation (encouraging others), and teaching how to live it out.Sermon #3: Proper food for growth, Knowing that our food source is God’s Word as milk, bread, meat & honey (dessert), and the Evidence will be good fruit.
This week, Paul continues to encourage spiritual growth in these five areas:
1) Focus
2) Mediate
3) Dedicate
4) Integrity
5) Stay true
I want to invite you to follow these same practical steps. It is something that I am still working on every day of my life. I am not asking you to follow me, but rather join me as I follow Christ. It is my desire to show you through God’s Word how we can each be successful in doing this. Not merely present you with a sermon full of platitudes that is someone else’s trite or stale remarks, for while God’s Word has been around for a long time, it is never stale or trite. Just as He provided fresh manna every morning for Israel in the desert, His Word provides fresh food for our lives every moment of every day! And here is a fresh serving for you today!
I. FOCUS
QUOTE: “The office of ministry is a gift, it is the gift of Christ.
…Do not neglect the ministry gift given to you.”
Matthew Henry Commentary
- Ministry gifts will wither if neglected.
- Spiritual ATROPHY (Not apathy, even though it can cause it)
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11-13
II. MEDITATE
“Give your complete attention to these matters” (v.15a)
- average pastor spends 13-18 hours for one message
- In the book of Acts, the apostles called the 7 deacons to serve the needs of the church so they could spend time in prayer and the study of God’s Word. (Acts 6)
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
Philippians 4:8
- Kevin said last week “G.I.G.O” when talking about food
- Same is true in our thought life.
- This is why we need to fast and pray (clear our head)
QUOTE: Brooke Obie, Guidepost Magazine, says the benefits of fasting are:1) Soul Cleansing,2) New Desire for God,
3) A Deeper Praise,
4) A Sensitivity to God’s Voice, and
5) A New Satisfaction. A small price to pay for what you have gained.
- Like love, meditation must be both an inward & outward journey
III. DEDICATE
“…Throw yourself into your tasks so that everyone will see your progress.” (v.15b)
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:13
- Just like in a physical workout, you have to put the effort into your spiritual workout.
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Philippians 2:12-13
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:1-2
- The only problem with a living sacrifice is it keeps getting up off the altar!
- You have to be the one to place yourself there, which requires dedication and commitment!
IV. INTEGRITY
“Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching.” (v.16a)
“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
Ephesians 4:1-3
- We are all called to live this way, not just those in leadership.
- You are a living example of Jesus that those around you will see!
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.””
Lamentation 3:22-24
- Just like every day is a fresh new day with God, we have to be open to learning more from His Word as the Holy Spirit will reveal something new from the same scriptures we may have read before!
- We have to keep growing so we can offer fresh food to those God brings into our lives…and show them how they, too, can find this source of Life!
V. STAY TRUE
“Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.” (v.16b)
- Self care in our spiritual life is important, for if we are not healthy, how can we correctly lead others.
“ and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalms 1:2
“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” Colossians 4:2
[ILLUS: Sabbatical season]
- While we can’t make the decision for them, it is natural for people to look for an example to follow.
- Kids imitate parents; young athletes imitate pros.
- Like it or not, people are watching our lives. We need to reflect Jesus in everything we do.
QUOTE: John Maxwell: “The more you walk, the less you have to talk. Live the Life in front of those you seek to influence. Our leadership is more caught than taught. People would rather see a sermon than hear one.”
CONCLUSION:
I have said it before and I will say it again and again. All of these simple truths are from God’s Word. They are here for us as believers to follow, not pick and choose what we want or don’t want to do. As a disciple of Christ, we are to follow His commands. I have challenged you every week with this proclamation:
“I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people…”
Ps. 116:17-19
You have to be the one to make the choice.
You are the one that chooses to listen and obey or ignore and turn away.
What will you do today?
Listen to Ken’s message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth (Week 3)
Disciplines Needed for Healthy Spiritual Growth
Good morning…
Who likes eating?
You can all tell I like eating. I like being fed a good meal.
Today I want to talk to you about the discipline of feeding & how incredibly important that is for our growth.
It may make you hungry… but I’m going to need you to focus & I promise to get you out of here no later than 12:30.
You may not have known that eating is a spiritual discipline but if you want to grow closer to Jesus… in every season of life… you can’t get there without being fed.
We’re going to look at Psalm 1 today & learn what we can about this discipline that is needed for healthy spiritual growth.
When you’ve found your place in Psalm chapter 1, please stand out of reverence for God’s word.
Psalm chapter 1
I’d like to read this Psalm again, this time in the NLT
Psalm 1 (NLT)
1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
4 But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. 5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. 6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
This is one of my favorite psalms & one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible.
In this Psalm we get a great lesson on the spiritual discipline of being fed.
We get a great picture of how we can Grow Closer to Jesus in every season of life.
We get two images of two different types of people in Psalm 1.
The first picture is of a healthy, growing believer.
The second picture is of someone who is not a healthy, growing believer.
Both of these pictures in the Psalm teach us an important lesson, to be a healthy, growing believer you need to be fed, you need to be nourished by God.
As physical beings we need physical food, physical nourishment to grow, stay healthy, stay alive.
But we’re more than physical beings, we are spiritual beings too & we can’t just be fed physically, we need spiritual nourishment.
The scriptures call our relationship with Jesus a walk or a journey, if you don’t get refueled it’s extremely difficult to make the journey.
Verse 1 begins a contrast between the first person & the second.
Psalm 1:1-2 (CSB)
1 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! 2 Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.
What we can see from the contrast of these two verses is that both types of people are getting fed.
Everyone is getting fed with something…
The question is… are you getting fed with something that is good for you, that will help you grow?
The person who is NOT a healthy believer is being fed with wicked advice, sinful words & mocking directed at God.
Garbage in garbage out.
If we’re fed with garbage like this, we won’t grow closer to Christ, we won’t be nourished for our journey with Him.
Psalm 1:4-6 (CSB)
4 The wicked are not like this; instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.
If you’re not getting fed with the good stuff from God, it leads to a ruined life.
That is why we’re warned in
Colossians 2:8 (CSB)
8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ.
What are you getting fed with?…
The first person isn’t like the wicked person though, he’s a healthy believer.
The psalmist says the healthy believer is like a healthy tree planted by a flowing stream or river.
Psalm 1:3 (CSB)
He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
The picture of a flourishing tree was a common symbol of a healthy believer.
It pops up in other places of scripture in
Jeremiah 17:8 (CSB)
8 He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.
It’s also in
12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon. 13 Planted in the house of the Lord, they thrive in the courts of our God. 14 They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green,
It’s interesting in these two verses that both mention growing fruit in old age or never stopping fruit production.
That is the goal to never stop growing, never stop bearing fruit for Jesus.
So this is what we are supposed to be like as believers, like a flourishing tree.
How do we get like that?
The success of the thriving trees in these passages is all dependent on how close the tree is to it’s source of nourishment
If you look at verses 2 & 3, Psalm 1 tells us how we can be like this tree,
- We have to be planted by flowing streams/delight in God’s word & meditate on it often
- Then we’ll never wither
- Then we’ll produce fruit
Kinds of Spiritual Food
That’s like an adult man hanging out in the kiddie end of the pool with water wings & a floatie. We laugh but, this is real, there are Christians like this. Why would you want to go back to formula when you could be having something good & tasty? I’m hear to tell you, I’ve smelled Kevin Michael’s formula, it smells disgusting. Anyone else smell the baby formula before you give it to your child? Disgusting! Can I get an amen? I’d have to be pretty darn starving to even consider drinking that nonsense. Kevin M loves it, he can’t get enough of it, it fills his tummy & that’s good he’s a baby. He doesn’t know how good food can taste yet, but the milk is getting him ready.
The third is meat:
Hebrews 5:14 (CSB)
The fourth type of food is honey:
Psalm 19:9-10 (NLT)
9 Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. 10 They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.
The Bible is comfort food:
Some of the things that will happen to you if you go without eating for three days:
- You’ll be ravenous then not so much
- Your breath may smell
“Research has shown that breath acetone is reliable indication that you have gone into fat burning mode. You release ketone bodies through your breath—and the smell is often unpleasant” 1
- You’ll lose weight
- Your body starts running on emergency power
“Researchers at Yale found that “During times of starvation, the body preserves two organs and then shrinks the rest,” 2 It runs on emergency power.
Galatians 5:22-23 (CSB)
Listen to this message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth. (Week 2)
Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth.
1 Timothy 4:11-13; Psalms 116:17-19
I. “Command and teach these things.” (v 11)
II. “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
III. “…devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”
Listen to this message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Grow: Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth. (Week 1)
Grow: Disciplines needed for healthy spiritual growth.
1 Timothy 4:6-10; Psalms 116:17-19
If you explain these things to the brothers and sisters, you will be doing your duty as a worthy servant of Christ Jesus, one who is fed by the message of faith and the true teaching you have followed. 7 Do not waste time arguing over godless ideas and old wives’ tales. Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness. 8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward both in this life and the next. 9 This is true, and everyone should accept it. 10 We work hard and strive in order that people will believe the truth, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and particularly of all those who believe.
1 Timothy 4:6-10
I. “…one who is fed by the message of faith and the true teaching you have followed.” (1 Timothy 4:6b)
- Good (true) teaching you have followed
The importance of learning from others’ examples. Putting into practice the things we have learned.
Illustration: Common courtesy vs self-centered focus
- Nourishment in this context can be defined as the DAILY study of Scriptures with time for reflection and meditation
- We cannot exist on “Jack in the Box” or “McDonalds” fast food style of spiritual nourishment.
II. “…Spend your time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness. 8 Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward both in this life and the next. .” (I Timothy 4:7b-8)
III. “This is true, and everyone should accept it. We work hard and strive in order that people will believe the truth…” (I Timothy 4:9-10a)
Conclusion:
When we confessed our sins and surrendered our lives to Jesus, we made a commitment to do whatever He asked us to do.
When we stepped into the baptismal water, we made a public confession that we had confessed our sins, had made Jesus Lord of our lives, and that we would strive to do our best to follow Him in all areas of our lives.
Then why is it that we struggle to grow in our faith and go share with others about our wonderful Savior? Too often, the answer is we have not being doing our spiritual exercises, so we are soft and flabby, rather than strong and courageous.
We can improve our spiritual health by daily reading God’s Word, surrounding ourselves with positive, encouraging music and teachings, and by living exemplary lives, which will then clearly point others to Jesus! I challenge you to make the same proclamation that the Psalmist David did…
“ I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people— in the house of the Lord in the heart of Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!”
Psalms 116:17-19
Fulfill your vows! Encourage and hold your brothers and sisters accountable to their promises…not to programs or activities, but to serving one another in love and sharing this message of hope to a world that needs it!
Listen to the message here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Go: Live Eternally Today! (Week 6)
“Go in Love to Grow Closer to Jesus in Every Season of Life!”
Dear First Baptist Church Family, It is with great expectation of what God is doing in us as members of the Body of Christ, and will do in and through us at FBC, that I send you this letter one week out from departing on my 3-month Sabbatical. The theme word for this time of Sabbath rest is GROW! Over the last year, you have heard me teaching on our mission and vision, our faith and values, our 7 big words and our 7:1 Initiative. All of this has been in preparation for fulfilling the 2020 Vision Initiative and being strategically prepared to enter 2020 on mission for Jesus. As I prepare to leave you for this prolonged time of Sabbath rest, I have no new word or teaching for you because I have already told you everything that is necessary for our fellowship at FBC to mature in Christ and become His Church. I only ask you to do this one thing: GROW! Grow in these areas:
- Our mission: transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Our vision: we desire to see communities thriving to the glory of God!
- The 7 Big Words designed to unite us on what it means to be His Church: GATHER, FOLLOW, REST, BELONG, LOVE, SERVE, and GO!
- The “7:1 Initiative” to help you grow personally. Research shows that people feel a church is “theirs” when they have 7 people they are in relationship with and have 1 place to serve where they can help make a difference. To that end, I invite you to take part and grow with at least 7 other people and find 1 place to serve. God designed you for this!
- The four core values: “Loving others as God first loved us” (red); “Developing people for a life of service” (blue); “Living and giving generously” (yellow); and “Growing closer to Jesus in every season of life” (green). Walk firm in your faith in all these ways.
I have seen you walk in these ways. Excel even more! Regardless of your season of life, you are called to GROW closer to Jesus! This is all I ask of you over the next 3 months: GROW!
- GROW in your individual walk with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit!
- GROW in your vital relationships by giving the love of Jesus Christ!
- GROW as a Church Family by living as one people to the glory of the Father!
Thank you for the overwhelming support and exceeding joy I have received from you as I prepare to “enter the rest of the Lord” in a unique way. This is a gift from God that I do not deserve, but that I receive with a thankful and humble heart! Thank you, Jesus, for calling me to grow in you through a set apart season of Sabbath rest. As Hebrews 4:9-11a states, “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest.”
Listen to the message for Week 6 here:
You can watch the Video HERE.
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Go: Live Eternally Today! (Week 5)
“Living and Giving Generously!”
Good morning and welcome to your missionary training session. I’m so glad you all decided to come for missionary training. Now, before we begin, does anyone feel like they are in the wrong session? Like being in the wrong class in college or high school – “I didn’t sign up for missionary training.” No? Great, because if you signed up for Heaven with Jesus then you signed up to live eternally today, which means this missionary training is for you.
Let’s start out by learning from missionaries who have been in the field. Over the years, I have spent time with numerous cross-cultural missionaries and there is a dominant thread through most of them, though not all of them, and that is a generous lifestyle.
Missionaries are people who, in response to God’s grace in their lives, are leaving behind much of what is familiar and expected of them by their home culture so that they can go to others and give what God first gave to them. Their generosity is a lifestyle! It is about giving grace.
Many of the missionaries I have talked to in depth have done their work in the foreign mission field by getting to know the people and meeting them where they are. They spend a lot of time on the front porch with their neighbors, working in their neighborhood, and setting up ways that they can be generous to their new community. They are focused on building relationships.
Even if missionaries don’t have the financial means to be generous with money, many times they are generous with what they do have to give. They are generous with their time, their skills and talents, their home and vehicles, with their very lives. If they have money, it is simply part of the package and not the dominant part of the conversation of what it means to live and give generously.
I am talking about this because this is the most practical teaching on what a missionary does and how we can live in such a way that we will experience communities thriving to the glory of God.
What works for foreign missionaries works here in local missions. Here is the good news: you don’t need to go to language school or have to do the incredibly hard work of learning new cultures and customs. You just have to be willing to be as intentional here as you would be there!
This morning I simply want to read to you the gospels of Jesus Christ to make this point because Jesus’ whole lifestyle illustrates the point. Listen to Paul’s summary statement of Jesus’s example from 2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.”
How did Jesus make us rich? Listen to Titus 3:4-7, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Jesus accomplished this for us by making Himself poor. As Paul teaches in Philippians 2:5-8, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Paul encourages us to have the same attitude as Jesus did: a willingness to empty ourselves for the sake of another. A willingness to sacrifice what we want to help another. A willingness to put aside a comfort to comfort another in the name of Jesus. Why do we do this?
The missionary martyr, Jim Elliot from the 1950s, is frequently quoted, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Generosity is very much about perspective. When we realize what we have been given in Christ—heavenly riches, then it becomes easier to give away what we cannot keep—worldly wealth. The more and more we focus on living eternally today, the more and more the value of things upon this earth lose their appeal. Some people argue that we can be so heavenly minded we are of no earthly good, but I would have to disagree. The more eternally minded you are, the greater you bring Heaven to earth for its good!
Listen to Jesus express this: In Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
In Matthew 19:21-23, Jesus is responding a man who has asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. After the man says that he has kept all the commandments, Jesus demonstrates to him that he has not kept the most important commandment. “Jesus said to him, ‘If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’ But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus said to His disciples, ‘Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’”
Here is the mastery of what Jesus said: when you love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength, you will hold nothing back from Him that He asks of you. You know you belong to God when all that you have belongs to God! Generosity begins by knowing that all that you have belongs to God and all that you have is by grace for grace.
Does all that you have belong to God? I encourage you to demonstrate this to God in the way you live and give generously to meet the needs of your neighbors! God will give you many an opportunity to demonstrate that you have eternal life by the way you do this. If you are not in the spiritual habit of returning to God what is already His, then you need a new perspective.
Generosity is an outflow of devotion to the God who is our all in all! We are generous to that which we are devoted to… Paul says that we should have a distinct response to Jesus becoming poor for us. Listen to Philippians 2:14-18, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.”
Allow me to illustrate this in a simple way that works for me in my life. I say that I am willing to die for my wife because I’m that devoted to her. Don’t tell your spouse you are willing to die for them and then not be willing to die in little every day ways; like being polite, doing chores, offering forgiveness, etc. Every time you put yourself first and choose not to serve your spouse, you are demonstrating your true allegiance: to yourself and not to God! Jesus died so that we could be rich! What are the little things you need to die to daily so that you can help others be rich?
One last scripture to end today’s message: 2 Corinthians 9:6-12, “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness endures forever.” Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.”
One of the best daily disciplines for the generous lifestyle is to take time every day to count your blessings! Why? Because thankful people are generous people! When you know that all that you have is from the Lord and will return to the Lord, then it would be foolish to not use the things to show others the way to Jesus.
So, count your blessings! And then go be a blessing. Let your generosity flow out of grace, out of the recognition that all that you have is God’s and from God’s hand. Give it back to God by living and giving generously to meet the needs of your neighbor.
Just remember what Christ has done for you… yet while you were still far away from God, God demonstrated His generous love to you by sending His Son Jesus Christ as the gift of all gifts so that through His poverty you could become rich!
Listen to the message for Week 5 here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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Go: Live Eternally Today! (Week 4)
“Filled Up to Go Out!” (Continued)
There are signs in our parking lot as you leave this location that say, “As you leave this place, be the hands and feet of Christ to our community.” This sermon series called, “GO: Living Eternally Today!” is about encouraging you, equipping you, and empowering you to live your life for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). That means you are being sent from this place to go out and live and give generous to your neighbors.
We all area called to be a WITNESS for Jesus! This calling comes with your salvation! It is not a second special call. It is part of who you are as a Christian and as part of this calling Jesus insists that you shouldn’t go alone! That is the emphasis of our Scripture lesson for last Sunday and today. In Acts 1:8 Jesus promises, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
(DR Team Testimonies)
Jesus teaches us that Holy Spirit is our Helper which is why He tells to not go without Him!
- John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
- John 14:25-26, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
- John 15:26-27, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
- John 16:7-8, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
- John 16:13-15, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
Honestly, Jesus knows that we can’t answer His call as a witness without a Helper. That is why He gives us the image of getting in His yoke! So that we are connected to Him because it is through our relationship with Him that we are filled with the Holy Spirit—the Helper, and not just once at the time of our conversion when we are sealed for the day of judgment, but we are to be daily refreshed with the filling of the Holy Spirit.
The Mission Field, even in your own local community, is like going on a backcountry fishing trip. You don’t always know where the best fishing hole is and which bait to use on different fish. The Holy Spirit is like a fishing guide who knows the lay of land, where the fish are, how and when to fish for them, what bait works best, etc. Who would hire a fishing guide to take them into the backcountry of the wilderness where there are chains of lakes just waiting to be fished, and then not listen to what they say? A good guide takes a novice and helps them be successful in why they went in the first place: to catch fish! The guide is key—the guide teaches and then reminds of what He has already taught as he guides you into action! Don’t go alone!
I use the fishing imagery because Jesus used it first. In Mark 1:17, Jesus invites and promises, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Why did Jesus promise you the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8? TO MAKE YOU BECOME… It is the promised work of the Holy Spirit to fulfill in and through us the promise of Jesus Christ to all who follow Him! This is what Paul meant when he stated in Philippians 2:13, “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
This is why Paul can say to us in Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Because Paul knows that to be a Christian is to have the Holy Spirit and it is through the filling of the Holy Spirit that God brings us to completion, one day at a time. It is a process that you cannot go at alone! We each must go on the journey God calls us to, in the yoke of Jesus!
As Paul rebuked the early church followers who thought they could do the Christian life apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. From Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” We can’t abandon the Helper once He gets us to the right fishing hole.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:17-18, “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” Listen to a pastor clearly explain what this means:
To be filled with the Spirit means to have the Spirit pervading, saturating, and infiltrating us with His holy and glorious presence in every chamber and corner of your being, leading and influencing every purpose, every affection, every thought, every action, every utterance. That’s what being filled means. The tense of the verb is the present, which indicates that the process of being filled must be continuous and constant. So another way of saying what Paul is saying is this, “Be continually getting filled.” In other words yesterday’s filling will not do for today. We must be like a cup that is kept full of water by being kept constantly under an ever-flowing faucet. Notice the word “with.” If we literally translated the passage it would read, “be filled in the Spirit.” The thought is that every part of the believer’s life is “in the Spirit.” If we are believers in Christ we are “in the Spirit.” That means the Holy Spirit surrounds us and rests upon us with His glorious and holy presence. Paul’s thought is to let this water of life to flow in and through us to expel and push out everything else until we are completely full of the Holy Spirit.[1]
You have been chosen and saved by God’s grace and it is that same grace of God that is working in you that empowers you to live as a witness of God to our world, starting in our communities. The question is not whether or not you are called to be a missionary—if you have been saved, you have been called! The question is are you being filled up to go out? It is the Holy Spirit of God within us that compels us to go and guides us along the way.
Don’t go alone! Don’t leave this place without being filled with the Holy Spirit!
How? By asking God! Jesus taught us this in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Ask God to immerse you with His presence and His power in every part of your life; hold nothing back; surrender it all and come to Jesus with all your weariness and all of your burdens.
Listen to the Message for Week 4 here:
You can watch the video HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Pastor Tom Preble’s 2019 sermon, “Devotion to the Essentials Gives Birth to Revival Families”.
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Go: Live Eternally Today! (Week 3)
“Filled Up to Go Out!”
When you are going to drive your car out of town on a journey, what are two things that you need to do to make sure your car will make it to the destination? You need to fill it up with gas AND you need to know where you are going! This is even more true when you live the Great Commission life. You need to fill up to go out. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit is both your power source and your guide along the way. As I teach this to you this morning, I really want you to think about the yoke imagery of Jesus Christ from our REST series, based on Matthew 11:28-30. During that series we learned that we are to get in the yoke with Jesus and learn from Him and become like Him. In doing that, we find that His yoke is well-suited (“easy”) because it is uniquely fitted and the burden is light. It is the Holy Spirit working in and through us to do the work Jesus is guiding us in as we submit to the direction and guidance of the senior ox, Jesus, in our oxen team. Learning to walk in the Spirit is learning to submit to the easy yoke of Jesus! We are called to live our whole lives in rhythm with Jesus, in His yoke and under the power of His Spirit. Jesus taught us this will give rest to our soul!
Last week, we learned that the Holy Spirit empowers real people to have a real faith to make a difference in real history! Jesus calls each of us to “real-life” missions. In the same way that He sent those first seventy followers on a real-life training mission, so Jesus is sending you out to make a real impact! While some people use a passport to get to their mission field, a passport is in no way a prerequisite to live on mission for Jesus! What is a prerequisite for you to bear fruit for Jesus Christ on the mission field is the filling of the Holy Spirit!
In the Scripture lesson for today Jesus tells His followers to fill up to go out: Acts 1:7-8 narrates, “[Jesus] said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Jesus is calling us to go be His disciples in real tangible ways with real people in a very real community that needs hope. We are not called to be doomsdayers, but hope-bearers!
According to Acts 1:7-8, there are no boundaries to sharing the gospel: We are not to worry about times or seasons of history, whether culture is friendly and accepting of our message or hostile and denying it! Whether those in authority are for us or against us and regardless of whether the laws of the land forbid or permit. Also, we are not to let nation-state boundaries or imperial policies prevent us from living as citizens of Heaven here on earth. In short, as the sermon series title says, we “Go: Live Eternally Today!” In the New Heavens and New Earth there will be no closed gates as all whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of Life will enter and dwell in the House of the Lord forever (Revelation 21:25-27; Psalm 23:6; John 14:1-6).
Don’t close out people that God won’t close out! We are to be a witness to all people!
Jesus’ Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:14-20) and Jesus’ promise of Acts 1:7-8 directs and empowers us to go to every corner of the earth sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed, starting where you are and as you go along the way. Your mission field begins in your Jerusalem! The “Jerusalem” of Acts 1:8 is your current location. Real-life discipleship happens in real-life mission opportunities every day where you are. You grow in Christ by being faithful here. Faithfulness is not for some far-away place. Faithfulness begins at home, but it doesn’t end there—Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth!
The mission of God begins around your kitchen table, but it must leave the front door of your home and go to work with you, go to the store with you, go to school with you, go on vacation with you, go on work trips with you… As you go, live out the Great Commission by making disciples, immersing them in the presence and power of the Trinitarian fellowship, and teach them in word and deed all that Jesus has given us to find abundant life and rest for our souls.
Are you willing to go? How can you look for everyday life opportunities to go? Maybe you are already going and didn’t realize it…maybe you could start this week!
Before you leave today and go into the mission field of our communities, I want you to know something important: Jesus insists that you shouldn’t go alone! In Acts 1:8 Jesus promises, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Don’t go out alone! As you go today into the real-life discipleship of being on mission as you go where ever you go, you are not to go alone or in your own strength. Jesus has given you His Holy Spirit to go with you. Some of you may remember this image that I have shared with you in a previous teaching on the Holy Spirit:
Jesus teaches us that Holy Spirit is our Helper which is why He tells to not go without Him![1] Honestly, Jesus knows that we can’t get to this destination without both a full gas tank and a Helper to get us there. That is why He gives us the image of getting in easy yoke! So that we are connected to Him because it is through our relationship with Him that we are filled with the Holy Spirit—the Helper, and not just once at the time of our conversion when we are sealed for the day of judgment, but we are to be daily refreshed with the filling of the Holy Spirit.
The Mission Field, even in your own local community, is like going on a backcountry fishing trip. You don’t always know where the best fishing hole is and which bait to use on different fish. The Holy Spirit is like a fishing guide who knows the lay of land, where the fish are, how and when to fish for them, what bait works best, etc. Who would hire a fishing guide to take them into the backcountry of the wilderness where there are chains of lakes just waiting to be fished, and then not listen to what they say? A good guide takes a novice and helps them be successful in why they went in the first place: to catch fish! The guide is key—the guide teaches and then reminds of what He has already taught as he guides you into action! Don’t go alone!
I use the fishing imagery because Jesus used it first. In Mark 1:17, Jesus invites and promises, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
Why did Jesus promise you the Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8? TO MAKE YOU BECOME… It is the promised work of the Holy Spirit to fulfill in and through us the promise of Jesus Christ to all who follow Him! This is what Paul meant when he stated in Philippians 2:13, “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
This is why Paul can say to us in Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Because Paul knows that to be a Christian is to have the Holy Spirit and it is through the filling of the Holy Spirit that God brings us to completion, one day at a time. It is a process that you cannot go at alone! We each must go on the journey God calls us to, in the yoke of Jesus!
As Paul rebuked the early church followers who thought they could do the Christian life apart from the work of the Holy Spirit. From Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” We can’t abandon the Helper once He gets us to the right fishing hole.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:17-18, “So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.” Listen to a pastor clearly explain what this means:
To be filled with the Spirit means to have the Spirit pervading, saturating, and infiltrating us with His holy and glorious presence in every chamber and corner of your being, leading and influencing every purpose, every affection, every thought, every action, every utterance. That’s what being filled means. The tense of the verb is the present, which indicates that the process of being filled must be continuous and constant. So another way of saying what Paul is saying is this, “Be continually getting filled.” In other words yesterday’s filling will not do for today. We must be like a cup that is kept full of water by being kept constantly under an ever-flowing faucet. Notice the word “with.” If we literally translated the passage it would read, “be filled in the Spirit.” The thought is that every part of the believer’s life is “in the Spirit.” If we are believers in Christ we are “in the Spirit.” That means the Holy Spirit surrounds us and rests upon us with His glorious and holy presence. Paul’s thought is to let this water of life to flow in and through us to expel and push out everything else until we are completely full of the Holy Spirit.[2]
You have been chosen and saved by God’s grace and it is that same grace of God that is working in you that empowers you to live as a witness of God to our world, starting in our communities. The question is not whether or not you are called to be a missionary—if you have been saved, you have been called! The question is are you being filled up to go out? It is the Holy Spirit of God within us that compels us to go and guides us along the way.
Don’t go alone! Don’t leave this place without being filled with the Holy Spirit!
How? By asking God! Jesus taught us this in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
Ask God to immerse you with His presence and His power in every part of your life; hold nothing back; surrender it all and come to Jesus with all your weariness and all of your burdens.
Listen to the message for Week 3 here:
You can watch the video HERE.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] John 14:16-17, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:25-26, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 15:26-27, “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 16:7-8, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:13-15, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
[2] Pastor Tom Preble’s 2019 sermon, “Devotion to the Essentials Gives Birth to Revival Families”.
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Go: Live Eternally Today! (Week 2)
“Real Life Discipleship!”
I love to backpack! Whether it is a short hike around Westwood Lake or a longer backcountry trip, it is my favorite outdoors activity. In 1 month, I will be spending a week on the Appalachian Trail through the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. I can’t wait! But your first hike shouldn’t be a week-long backcountry trip. For numerous reasons: breaking in your hiking boots so you don’t get blisters and hot spots, fitting your backpack so it doesn’t rub your hips raw, learning the right amount of food and water to pack, knowing what to pack and how to pack your backpack for a long hike. Those are logistics, then there is fitness and preparation. When I hiked rim to rim of the Grand Canyon, I trained and planned. When I summitted Half Dome in Yosemite, my wife and I trained and made sure we had the correct gear. When Daniel, Brandon, and I do sections of the AT each year, we trip plan looking at mileage and elevation, water resupply, and other essential aspects of backcountry hiking. You can read about this, you can study it, but honestly there is only one way to learn how to thrive in the backcountry and that is doing it—training. You have to go and hit the trail and make mistakes along the way.
This six-week series is focused on equipping you to “Go” into your everyday life to live out the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20. Last week we focused on who Jesus is sending out and why. Starting today, we will take the rest of the series to talk about the what’s and the how’s of living and giving generously. Like getting ready for a big backcountry trip, you have to know some things and prepare, but mostly you have to go out and train.
Before Jesus ever gave His disciples the Great Commission, He would send them out on real-life training missions. Just like Regan is doing an internship with Kevin this summer before she returns to IWU, so Jesus would send out His disciples as part of their training and growth. There was no graduation or ordination to wait for, there was just today—today is the day of salvation! Let’s look at an example of this from the life of Jesus as He trains up His followers.
Turn with me to Luke 10 and we are going to read through this historical account of Jesus and His disciples found in verses 1-24. Read Luke 10:1-24 from NASB.
This is not the first time Jesus sends out His disciples on mission (cf. Luke 9). In fact, following Jesus comes with a lifestyle of living and giving generously! Jesus does not save us for eternity tomorrow, but to live eternally today! You are not to spend your whole life studying Heaven in preparation to go their one day, you are to bring heaven to earth in little ways every day. Just like the best way to prepare for a big hike is by walking around your own neighborhood first.
Responding to Jesus in faith comes with the call to living on mission—the Mission of Jesus Christ as He describes in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
And again in Matthew 20:28, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” We join in His work to transform stories through the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Glory of the Father!
This is the pattern of Jesus and we have been teaching this through the 7 Big Words: Jesus GATHERS [Big Word #1] His followers out of the world and to Himself to learn to live like He lived, teaching them to FOLLOW [Big Word #2] Him and to focus their lives on Him and to learn how to be like Him so that they can find REST [Big Word #3] in their life. Jesus models the mission to His followers as they go along the way and teaches them to BELONG [Big Word #4] to His new family, the Church. Jesus called us (His Church) out of the world to send us back into the world to LOVE [Big Word #5] people as He first loved us and to SERVE [Big Word #6] people as He set the example for us to be servants. Finally, Jesus tells His disciples to GO [Big Word #7] in His authority to do what He does under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. As we see this in Matthew 10:1 at the calling of the Twelve, “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.” “Living and Giving Generously” is the way of Jesus to live eternally today! Living eternally today is not only a lifestyle choice, but it is a means of grace where God works through you to declare His love for the world. We are able to live a generous life because our hope lies in Christ, and we are not preoccupied with the things of the world. Living and giving generously is the proclamation of our rescue from slavery to the world!
Living and giving generously is a revolution against Satan who Jesus saw falling from Heaven (Luke 10:18) when this first group of disciples (still incomplete in their fellowship and imperfect in their faith) walked in the authority of Jesus throughout their communities. And Jesus told them very clearly to not rejoice at what they did, but rejoice in their relationship with the Father through the Son. We rejoice in whose family we belong to—we are children of God!
We are image bearers of God, we are to live a certain way because of the status we have from our Father. We have authority because we are under His authority!
Our doing flows out of our being—out of our redeemed status as sons and daughters of God! The fruit on our branches comes from abiding in the vine! We reap what we sow and we are called to sow a faith relationship with Jesus and reap the works that flow from faith!
Relationship is the essential aspect of the sending of the 70 that we often miss and to our detriment as the people of God. Jesus sends those who are in relationship with Him (the 70) to walk in the authority of His Name—the banner over the 70 is His love! Apart from His love, the 70 can do nothing! The same is true for us…
We live out our relationship with Jesus in real life every day!
Missional living—Great Commission obedience—is grounded in the authority that can only come from being in union with Christ. Only one who is immersed in the trinitarian fellowship of God can baptize anyone in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Only one who has learned to obey the commandments of Jesus by finding rest for their soul in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ can replicate an obedient disciple of Jesus Christ.
You can teach people what you know, but you can only replicate what you are. Ultimately, we are to rejoice in this—in people; people are the only works we leave behind. Not our name, but His name! The greatest legacy you can leave your family is not a large bank account or a building that will fall down, but a faith passed on. I love taking my kids on hikes. My son and I trail run and hike together. My daughters enjoy hiking and we love to do this as a family. We do small hikes, day hikes, overnight camping trips, and one day we will backcountry together. I am passing on my love of hiking by doing it with them.
We are called to bring thriving to our communities to the glory of God today and every day that is called today is a day to bring witness to the transformation of your own soul to the glory of God. We are called to go and replicate what we are in Christ. To pass Him on.
Making disciples starts with you having a relationship with Jesus that transforms your story first!
The Holy Spirit uses real people with real faith to make a difference in real history!
Jesus calls us to “real-life” discipleship. In the same way that He sent those first seventy followers on a real-life training mission, so Jesus is sending you out of service every Sunday on real-life training missions! While some people use a passport to get to their mission field, a passport is in no way a prerequisite to live on mission for Jesus!
Jesus is calling us to go be His disciples in real tangible ways with real people in a very real culture that needs messengers of hope.
Where is Jesus sending you? To whom is Jesus sending you? What are you replicating?
Jesus promised we would have help as we do on these real-life training missions. From Acts 1:7-8, “[Jesus] said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
We will unpack this more next week, but for now I simply want you to hear this: as you go today into the real-life discipleship of being on mission as you go where ever you go, that you do not go alone. Jesus has given you His Holy Spirit to go with you.
Your community is your Jerusalem! This is where real-life discipleship happens in real-life mission opportunities every day. Revival is coming! Where will it begin?
The mission of God begins around your kitchen table, but it must leave the front door of your home and go to work with you, go to the store with you, go to school with you… As you go, make disciples immersing them in the presence and power of the Trinitarian fellowship and teach them in word and deed all that Jesus has given us to find abundant life and rest for our souls.
Listen to Week 2 here:
You can watch the video HERE.
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