Chardon church of Christ

1st Corinthians 15:33

INTRO: Good morning church. I am going to start this morning with an off-color story. Please bear with me.

After years of his wife's pleading, this good ol’ boy who was very wealthy, finally goes with her to Church on Sunday morning. He was so moved by the preacher's sermon that on the way out he stopped to shake his hand. He said, "Preacher, that was the best <expletive deleted> sermon I ever did hear!" The preacher replied, "Oh!! Why, thank you sir, but please, I'd appreciate it if you didn't use profanity." The man said, "I'm sorry Preacher, but I can't help myself, it was such a <expletive deleted> good sermon!" The preacher said, "Sir, PLEASE, I cannot have you talking this way!" The man said, "Okay Preacher, but I just wanted you to know that I thought it was so <expletive deleted> good, that I put $5000 in that there collection plate." And the preacher said, "No <expletive deleted> way!"

Please turn with me to 1st Corinthians, chapter 15, and we want to read verse 33.

The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church in the city of Corinth. The assembly in Corinth, which consisted of Jews and Greeks, was exposed to the influences of the surrounding world in two ways: the first was that many of the Christians originated from a heathen background (1st Corinthians 6:9-11) and second, they were continually exposed to their evil surrounding. We learn by the epistle that the sexual immorality of the city of Corinth had influenced some of the assembly (1st Corinthians 5:1). In his letter Paul dealt with some very important subjects. It's regretful that the congregation in Corinth made some mistakes. However, that presented an opportunity for the inspired apostle to address important matters that we need to know about even today.

In 1st Corinthians 15:33 he wrote, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”[KJV] Notice that this verse contains a very strong warning to Christians.

That warning is “be not deceived”. If my memory is correct, Paul wrote three passages that begin with the same words. He dealt with some very strong matters that have to do with this warning, and Christians should to pay very close attention to these.

There are a number of warnings that are very similar given throughout the Bible.
For example, in Luke 21:8, Jesus said, “Take heed that you not be deceived.”
Also, in 2nd Thessalonians 2:3, the Bible says, “Let no one deceive you by any means…” There are numerous warnings given in the Bible that have to do with being deceived. We don’t like to think it… but we are all subject to deception.

As we look at the passages that warn us against being deceived, we find there are at least two ways in which we can be deceived. First, the Bible teaches that we can deceive ourselves. In this regard, 1st Corinthians 3:18 says, “Let no man deceive himself…” . The Bible warns us in a general way against being deceived, and specifically the Bible teaches us not to deceive ourselves.

Second, we can be deceived by other people. Ephesians 5:6 says, “Let no man deceive you with vain words:…”. Not only does the Bible warn us against deceiving ourselves, the Bible warns us not to allow other people to deceive us.

To illustrate how easy it is for us to be deceived by other people just consider the scams we hear about every day. A few years ago, I was speaking to a friend, and she had received an email, and responded to it unfortunately with all kinds of personal information. After she thought about it for a while and realized what she had done, she had to close down her checking account and close out several credit cards.

She told me, “I guess I'm just too trusting”. I thought, well, it's good to trust people, but we also have to use careful judgment. We realize that there are people who are out to get information and they'll use just about any means of deception to accomplish that. This happens all around us, and it's sad. It is really upsetting to hear of an elderly person being taken advantage of financially. That happens all the time. It's sad that happens, but it's very easy to be deceived. The Bible warns us over and over again about deceiving ourselves, as well as allowing someone else to deceive us.

In our lesson this morning we want to examine the warning given in the verse we read just a few moments ago, 1st Corinthians 15:33. This verse teaches us not to be deceived by the influence of others. The Bible specifically tells us in this verse, evil communications or evil companionships corrupt good manners. The word ēthos (ay'-thos) in the Greek is variously translated as manners, morals, or character.

This is a very strong warning given to us and we need to reflect upon it on a regular basis.

I. The context - 1st Corinthians 15:33. Let's first look at this verse in its context. That's something we always need to do when we study scriptures. We always study them in their proper context.

A. In this chapter, 1st Corinthians 15, which is a long chapter of 58 verses, the Apostle Paul wrote at length about the resurrection. That's the main subject that's being dealt with. Why do we think it was necessary for Paul to write to this church about the resurrection? Remember, he had been there I believe, for about a year and a half. I feel certain that Paul taught these people the truth about the resurrection. That is a key part of the Gospel and it had to be one of Paul's main doctrines that he emphasized in his teaching, the fact that Jesus was resurrected and that the resurrection will occur when the Lord returns.
B. I'm positive these people had been taught about it. However, look at verse twelve. Here is a question that helps us understand why it was necessary for Paul to write to this assembly about the resurrection. 1st Corinthians 15:12, “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” [NKJV] That question shows that there were some people in the congregation saying that there is no such thing as the resurrection. That there is no resurrection of the dead.

1. These people, the ones teaching that ungodly doctrine, were the evil communications that are dealt with in verse 33. The warning was against the influence of evil communications because they corrupt good character.
2. The communications under consideration in chapter 15 have to do with those people teaching that there is no resurrection of the dead. Let's illustrate the influence that particular doctrine can create.

C. Next Paul presents his line of reasoning. As we consider this, we can't help but conclude that if there is no resurrection, then Christianity serves no good purpose. That's just how important this matter is.

1. Look with me, starting at verse 13. “13. But if there is no resurrection of the dead, (as some were teaching) then Christ is not risen. 14. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain. 15. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise.” Now continuing in verse 16.
2. “16. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” That line of reasoning points out to us that, if there is no resurrection, then Christ is still in the grave, and we have absolutely no hope.
3. Look at verse 32. The end of this verse says, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” That in a nutshell is the philosophy being followed by those who say that there is no resurrection. If there's no resurrection, then Christ was not raised. We have no hope. Those who died in the Lord died in vain, because they were looking forward to something that would happen when Christ comes back. If there is no resurrection, then let's just live for today, eat and drink, because tomorrow we die.

D. Paul showed that the resurrection which will take place when the Lord returns, is real. Paul began this chapter by reminding them starting in verse 3, that he had delivered this information before, presenting proof that Jesus arose from the grave. He talked about the gospel message that he had preached in Corinth.

1. The facts that Jesus died according to the scriptures, He was buried, and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, and he… was… seen. Jesus was seen by many credible witnesses after His resurrection, and Paul listed a number of them. He mentioned the apostles. He mentioned several individuals, and he even said, last of all, He was seen of me also.
2. Remember, when Paul was traveling to Damascus, he met the Lord. In Acts 22:14 Ananias tells Paul “The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. `For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.”. Paul had seen the Lord and he presented all that evidence at the beginning of the chapter before he dealt with the problem of those who were saying that there is no resurrection.

E. As Christians we are looking forward to the resurrection and that should motivate us to serve the Lord faithfully. Look at the conclusion of this entire chapter in the very last verse, verse 58. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

1. We know that the Lord will return one day, and when He does, the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep will take place, then the judgment for all. That should be a great motivation to serve the Lord to the very best of our ability, to be steadfast, to be unmovable, and to always abound in the work of the Lord.

F. The point here is we need to examine our associates very carefully because they will influence us. They will either influence us in a positive direction or they will influence us in a negative direction.

1. Ephesians 5:11 tells us that we are to, “… have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.”
2. Is it possible to avoid contact completely with people who are not members of the Lord's body? No, and the Bible acknowledges that. However, we have to be careful about our associates because they will influence us one way or another. I don't know about you, but I need all the positive influence I can get. I suspect we all feel that way.
3. It's a whole lot easier to be good when you're around good people, and unfortunately it's also easy to not be so good when you're around people that are not so good.

G. As Christians we want to have a positive influence on other people, but we have to understand that we can also be influenced. In 1st Corinthians 15, to whom was Paul writing? He was writing to the Christians in Corinth. What was his warning? Do not be deceived.

1. It was possible for those people to be deceived by the influence of evil companionships. It's also possible for us to be deceived.
2. We need to pay close attention to this very serious warning. Let's turn our attention now to an illustration of what we've been talking about from the Old Testament.

II. Old Testament Illustration – you have probably heard as I have that we should pay close attention to the Old Testament scriptures because they often illustrate principles that are revealed in the New Testament. The Old Testament is a wealth of illustrations. What about this matter of avoiding evil influence? Let's look at Genesis chapter 13.

A. In Genesis 13, we read about the time when Abram and Lot parted company. Lot was Abram's nephew. Abram's brother, Lott's father, had passed away, and it seems that Abram took Lot under his wing and for all practical purposes, adopted him. They were very close. The Lord blessed both men and they both had large flocks and herds of animals. So much so that the land could not support all of the animals, and that resulted in the herdsmen of both men striving with each other.

1. Let's see how that was dealt with in Genesis 13:8-9. “8. So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9. "Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.''”

2. It was necessary for these two men to part company, Abram, being the grand old gentleman that he was, told Lot… It's necessary for us to separate. The land just simply cannot support all of our animals. You go the direction you want to go, and I'll go the other direction.

3. Continuing in Genesis 13:10-12. “10. And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. 11. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.”

a. Lot made a decision. He chose the plain of Jordan because it was well-watered, yet there was something he overlooked. Look at verse 13. “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.”
b. At this point in the narrative we don't know what sins were committed by the people of Sodom. At this point, we only know that they were exceedingly wicked and sinners before the Lord. That's the way the Bible describes the spiritual condition of the people living in Sodom.
c. Lot was attracted to that plain because was well-watered. There would be plenty of water there for his animals, and seemingly overlooked the condition of the people in Sodom.

4. We might wonder if Lot knew about Sodom or not. If he knew, could he have possibly thought that he and his family would not be influenced by their wickedness?

B. We read about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. I'll not take the time to read the whole thing. I assume you're familiar with it. Verse 1 tells us two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and met Lot sitting in the gate. Lot asked these angels to come into his home. They said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house”. By that time, I suspect Lot knew what was taking place among the people there.

1. The people gathered around Lot's home and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”
2. Lot tried to reason with the people. He said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!”
3. He knew that what they wanted to do was wicked. He offered to give them his two daughters, but the mob refused.

a. I suggest to you, as one commentator said, that “Lot was most reprehensible in this heartless offer to sacrifice his daughters to the lust of the mob gathered at his door. His pleading the obligations of hospitality as an excuse for so doing—was weak, and sinful”.
b. What he was doing was trying to avoid one sin by committing another one. His "righteousness" must be understood in a relative sense only.
c. The situation became so desperate that the angels struck the mob with blindness. The Bible says the mob wearied themselves to find the door.

4. Even after being stricken with blindness, they were still trying to get to the door and get inside. The angels learned what they needed to know—the wickedness of the people of Sodom. Earlier, God had agreed to Abram that if just five righteous souls could be found there, the city would be spared. Who escaped? Lot, his wife and two of his daughters. That comes to a total of four. There weren't five righteous souls in this entire city.

C. We read about the destruction of Sodom and the cities in the plain. God rained fire and brimstone upon those cities. Lot, his wife, and two of their daughters escaped. The angels gave them some instructions and said, don't look back. Get out of the city. Get away.
D. These four that we just mentioned, Lot, his wife and the daughters, apparently did not participate in those sins that were so prevalent in Sodom. However, it seems that they were influenced to some extent by the wickedness of the people there.

1. Now Genesis 19:15 is says, “When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.''”
2. But Lot lingered—so the angels “…took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters,… and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” The influence of that place was strong.
3. So strong that look what happens next. Lot was told, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains” Lot replied, “Please, no, my lords!”. He argued the mountains were too dangerous and begged to go to another city. “See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”
4. Lot was given permission to go there and in verse 23, “The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.” Then the Lord overthrew those cities and all the inhabitants of the plain save for Zoar.
5. Verse 26 says “But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Her turning back to the destruction led to her being lost. Jesus said in Luke 17:31-32 speaking of the day when the Son of Man is revealed, “…likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot's wife.”

E. Then we find that Lot and his daughters left Zoar and escaped to the mountains where they participated in some shameful activity. Genesis 19:30-38. Lot's two daughters got their father drunk. They had relations with him, and they bore children conceived with their father.
F. Did Lot and his family actually participate in the wicked acts that were so prevalent in Sodom? No, but I think we can surely see that the evil influence from the wickedness in Sodom rubbed off on them to some extent.

1. This tragic, pitiful episode stands as proof that Lot and his family had been in Sodom too long. They had indeed been delivered OUT OF Sodom, but Sodom was still IN them to a certain degree.
2. By the way, the children that they bore had nations of people named after them, the Moabites and the children of Ammon, and they were enemies of the Israelites.

G. The things that happened to Lot and his family illustrate the truthfulness of the principle that's revealed in 1st Corinthians 15:33. Evil communications, corrupt good character. Let's never be deceived into thinking otherwise.

CONCLUSION:
I'm sure you are as aware of this as I am. There has been for some time, and is even now at this very hour, a great effort being made to try to get people to believe in all types of perverted behavior. We're surrounded by it.

God help us to make wise decisions, especially when other people are involved. May God help us to choose our associates carefully. We will be influenced by the choices that we make.

Choose caution and be very careful. God help us to think about these things very seriously.
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg

2 Timothy 3:14-17

A Christian writer recalls a time when he was scheduled to attend a lectureship on the campus of Ohio State University.
As he was being driven to the lecture,
he passed the new Wexner Art Center
and the driver told him,
“This is a new art building for the university.
It is a fascinating building
designed in the post-modernist view of reality.”

Post-Modernist view of reality?... what does that mean?
Well, apparently the building had no pattern.
There were staircases that didn’t go anywhere.
And there were pillars that didn’t support anything.
And the architect was praised (by somebody)
for designing a building to reflect how he saw life.

He saw life as going nowhere
and as being mindless and senseless.
The Christian writer turned to his driver and asked,
“Did they do the same thing with the foundation?”

To that the driver laughed and said “Oh no.
You can’t do that with a foundation.”
Then the writer commented “You can get away with the infrastructure of a building being mindless and senseless.
But once you start tampering with the foundations of a building, you begin experiencing serious side-effects.

I’ve talked with contractors who’ve refurbished old homes
and they tell me that they don’t care what the rest of the house looks like - as long as the roof and the foundation are sound, they’ll invest their time and money in it.
But otherwise, they won’t touch it.

That’s what our text this morning ^2nd Tim. 3:14-17 is talking about:
If you want to GROW HIGHER in your faith,
you’ve gotta have a good foundation.
If your foundation is NOT sound,
then the rest of your faith will crumble…
Beginning in verse 14 of 2 Tim. 3
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whoma you learned it
15and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17that the man of Godb may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Paul was writing to his young co-worker Timothy
and told Timothy NOT to neglect his foundation.
“… Continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed,
knowing how from childhood
you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.
ALL SCRIPTURE is breathed out by God.”

Now what Paul’s saying is this:
The Sacred writings (the Scripture) is your foundation.
And you know you can trust that foundation…
because it belongs to God.
The Bible is God’s book - it is “God Breathed!”

What does that mean?
It means that there is no other book
that’s equal to the Bible that you have in your hands.
God has breathed into the Bible and gave it a life of its own.

Do you remember when God created Adam?
What did God do to Adam before Adam became a living being?
Genesis 2:7 “The LORD God formed the man of dust
from the ground and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life,
and the man became a living creature.”

When God BREATHED into Adam…
he became a living creature.
And God breathed the Bible
and it became a living Book!
It is alive with power!
And when we read it,
it touches and shapes us,
and gives us life.

Hebrews 4:12 “… the word of God is living and active,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit,
of joints and of marrow,
and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

And in Isaiah 55:10-11 we read
“… as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there
but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower
and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be
that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

THE BIBLE IS A LIVING BOOK
In 1941, J.B. Phillips translated the New Testament
into the modern English language.

Today, English-speaking Christians
have dozens of Bible translations to choose from.
There is no one-to-one correspondence of words
between different languages,
so translation is an art as well as a science.

In Phillips’ day, there were very few translation options,
but today we would recommend a translation
done by a notable team of scholars,
like the King James Version,
American Standard Version,
or the English Standard Version,
as a reliable Bible for reading and study.

Following the work of translating the New Testament
JP Phillips wrote: “Although I did my utmost
to preserve an emotional detachment,
I found again and again
that the material under my hands was strangely alive:
it spoke to my condition in the most uncanny way.”

God’s written Word is a powerful force.
And frankly, all we need to do is speak its words,
and when we do speak the words of Scripture
people become convicted
and are faced with the need to change.

Even Satan (himself) couldn’t deal with the power of God’s word. Do you remember the story of Jesus
fasting in the Wilderness 40 days and 40 nights.
The devil found Jesus and tried to tempt Him.
And do you remember the words Jesus spoke
that stopped Satan in his tracks?

Every time Jesus was tempted… He said “It Is Written…”;
“It Is Written”; “it is written.”
Jesus didn’t say to Satan: “I TELL YOU”.
He said “IT IS WRITTEN.”
If that statement protected Jesus (the Son of God),
you know it can do the same for us.
It’s hard to comprehend the forcefulness of God’s words.
YOU may not understand
the power of words in the book you hold,
and I may not fully understand its power,
but… it’s there!!!
And we can trust it.

Now Paul takes this one step further:
he basically implies
that we need to know what the Bible says
in order to know what is right and wrong,
because the Bible is the foundation of your morality.

Repeating today’s text:
“All scripture is breathed out by God
and is profitable for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.”

There was a man who told of visiting
his grandmother’s home as a boy.
She would buy a jigsaw puzzle…
and then throw away the box,
and he would try to put the puzzle together –
but he had no idea whether the puzzle was of a barn,
or an antique car.
Without the picture on the box
he had no idea how the puzzle fit together.

The Bible is the picture on the box
that helps us see how the picture should fit together.
The Bible sets the tone of what is moral –
and what is not moral.
And we should never read Scripture
and then ask ourselves whether or not we AGREE with it.

An old -time minister encouraged his congregation
to read the entire Bible.
The more they read…
the angrier they got,
because a lot of what they read
(particularly in the Old Testament)
didn’t sound like the God they wanted to worship.

But the more each person read,
the more they realized –
they had wanted God to be like them.
They wanted a God they could agree with.

It had never occurred to them
that God was calling them to be like Him.
A God who could change their thinking and their lives.

Once a man was being chased by a tiger.
He was running as fast as he could,
but the tiger was getting closer and closer.
Eventually, the man reached the edge of a cliff
with the tiger still behind him.

He looked down and saw a branch
growing out of the side of the cliff
just a few feet down.
He jumped off the cliff and grabbed the branch.

Just then, a mouse came out of a hole near the branch
and began to chew on it.
The man was scared to see
that the branch was getting loose
and he would surely fall to his death if he let go.
So, he looked up to the sky and yelled,
“Dear God, please help me. Please save me.
I will do anything you ask me to do.”
Suddenly, a voice came booming from the sky and questioned, “You will do anything I ask?”

The man was shocked to hear the reply
and replied back,
“I will do anything but please save me.”
The voice from the sky replied,
“There is only one way to save you,
but it will take courage and faith.
Can you do what I ask?
Do you have faith?”

The man was sooooo scared seeing
that the branch was getting loose
and the tiger was still growling at him
from the top of the cliff.
So, he replied, “Please God,
tell me what to do.
I will do whatever you say.
Your will is my will.”

The voice from heaven said,
“All right then, let go of that branch.”
After a long silence,
the man looked down again
at the thousand-foot drop and certain death,
and then he slowly looked up again and yelled,
“Is anyone else up there??”

Now, the Bible repeatedly tells us we have a choice.
We can choose to listen to the wisdom of men,
or we can choose to listen to GOD.

Psalm 1:1-2 tells us to be careful who we listen to:
“Blessed is the man who walks not
in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law
he meditates day and night.

And Jesus said that we should be careful to listen to HIM. Matthew 7:26-27 “Everyone who hears these words of mine
and does not do them
will be like a foolish man
who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell,
and the floods came,
and the winds blew and beat against that house,
and it fell,
and great was the fall of it."

YOU HAVE A CHOICE OF WHO YOU LISTEN TO!
But even people who are smarter than you and I
have made the mistake of listening to someone other than God… and thus not listening to God.

From what I understand…
Harvard University has recently suffered a great deal of problems. There’s been campus unrest,
and charges of plagiarism
that have led the University’s president to resign.
And you have to wonder
what led to the troubles Harvard now has.

It’s as if this once great college has lost its bearings
and doesn’t seem to know what kind of decisions to make.
Well, part of the reason Harvard is in its present mess,
is because they’d gotten used to listening to someone
other than God.

You see, Harvard was once a divinity school,
established to train preachers for the pulpit.

When Harvard was founded,
its motto was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae –
“Truth (God’s truth) for Christ and the Church.”
Its original crest showed three books –
and one of them was face down
to symbolize the limitation of human knowledge.

But over the years,
that 3rd book has been turned FACE UP
to represent the unlimited capacity of the human mind.
And the motto has been changed to one word
“Veritas” meaning (“Truth.”)
Not God’s truth… but man’s truth.

That’s part of the reason Harvard is in trouble.
Once they abandoned God’s Word as their foundation
morality is now based on man’s opinions–
rather than facts.

And that’s why our culture is in such a mess.
God’s truth has been so ignored
that we’ve gotten to the point
where educated people can’t tell you
what a woman is;
Can’t accept the fact that men can’t get pregnant;
Can’t understand why men (pretending to be women)
can’t compete in women’s sports.
IT’S INSANITY!

Without God’s moral compass (the Bible)
mankind… is lost.

Now, by contrast,

there was a study done a few years back
that found that people who study
or meditate on scripture 4 or more times a week
are stronger in their faith than those who don’t.
They called it the rule of four:
They found that people who read OR study
the Bible 4 or more times a week were

• 228% more likely to share their faith with others
• Over 400% more likely to memorize scripture
• 59% less likely to view pornography
• 30% less likely to struggle with loneliness

In other words,
the Bible shapes the morality and strength of believers.
All you have to do is read it JUST 4 TIMES A WEEK.
Lastly,
we need to build our lives on the foundation of Scripture
to assure ourselves of our salvation.

In our text Paul tells Timothy:
“… Continue in what you have learned
and have firmly believed,
knowing how from childhood
you have been acquainted with the sacred writings,
which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.”

The sacred writings (the Bible)
are the foundation of our salvation.
Scripture makes us WISE for salvation
through our faith in Christ Jesus.
So (Timothy) was to continue in what he’d learned
and had firmly believed.
Otherwise, he would NOT be wise for salvation in Jesus.

If he lost the foundation of his faith
(that he found in Scripture) –
if he abandoned the Bible as the foundation of his faith –
he wouldn’t know anything about Jesus
because everything he (& you and I) know about Jesus
was right here (in the Bible).
Timothy KNOW your Bible…
because if you don’t know your Bible,
you could lose out on knowing Jesus.
And that would be a great tragedy!!!

CLOSE: By contrast…
the message found in Scripture can lead people to salvation.
Almost everyone has heard the story of
the Mutiny on the Bounty.
The Bounty was a British ship
which set sail for the South Seas in 1787.
The crew had been sent to the Pacific
to plant fruit trees on some of the islands
so other ships could use them later.

After 6 months on one of these islands
the sailors mutinied.
They liked the climate,
and the native girls
and the ease of island life,
and so they set Captain Bligh adrift at sea
and set about living the island life.

Unfortunately for them
Bligh made it home
and an expedition was launched,
and 14 of the mutineers were captured and tried.
However, 9 mutineers,
along with 6 native men and 12 Tahitian women
settled on Pitcairn Island in 1790.

Eventually one of the sailors soon began distilling alcohol,
and the little colony went downhill from there.
Disease and murder took the lives
of all the sailors… EXCEPT one.
The ONE sailor who survived was Alexander Smith.

He became bored
and searched thru the belongings of the dead men of the ship,
and in an old chest from the Bounty,
he found… a Bible.
He began to read it and then to teach it
to all the others he came in contact with.

The result was that his own life
and the lives of all those in the colony were changed.
20 years later a British ship found the colony
and were amazed that
the little community of survivors
were happy and industrious.

They found there was no jail,
no whisky,
no crime,
and no laziness.
All they saw were people who had built their lives on
the foundation of God’s word!

May we strongly move forward together as a congregation… remembering the words given to Joshua
in Joshua 1: 7 – 8
7Only be strong and very courageous,
being careful to do according to all the law commanded you.
Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left,
that you may have good successa
wherever you go.
8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth,
but you shall meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful
to do according to all that is written in it.
For then you will make your way prosperous,
and then you will have good success.

Sermon Contributor : Jeff Strite

Revelation 2:10-11

INTRO: Good morning church. This morning turn to the book of Revelation chapter 1 and we will start by reading a few verses to set the groundwork for our lesson.
Revelation 1:9-11, “9. I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11. saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,'' and, "What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamos, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.''”

The Apostle John was instructed by the Lord to write down the things that he saw in a book. He was to send that book to the seven congregations in the area known as Asia. In chapters two and three, the Lord sent a message to each of these churches, and the verses we will read next are from the message that the Lord had John send to the church in Smyrna.
Revelation 2:10-11, “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”
Our lesson for this morning is based on the Lord's instruction in that message… to be faithful. I thought since we are entering a new year it would be a good time for us to remember that we can, and we must, be faithful in 2024. That's the title of our lesson, and we want to emphasize the need for faithfulness. I hope as we go through the lesson, we'll see why faithfulness is such an important matter.

I. The first point we need to make is that faithfulness can be affected by difficult circumstances. The Bible makes this very clear.

A. To illustrate the point, let's consider the message to the church in Smyrna.

1. If we look at the information that was sent to that church, we see that this congregation was facing great tribulation. Although it would end in a relatively short time, it was going to continue for a while.
2. The Lord taught in the parable of the sower that tribulation can cause a believer to stumble and fall. Remember how the sower went forth to sow his seed? And as he did so, the seed fell upon four different types of soil.

a. Then the Lord explained what he meant in that parable. In Matthew 13: 20-21, He explained what happened when the seed was sown on stony ground. As Mark explained a few weeks ago this was where a thin layer of soil covered a rocky area. Matthew 13:20-21. “20. "But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21. "yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.”
b. The Lord is talking about someone who hears the gospel, receives it, and allows the gospel to produce fruit in their life. They become a believer. Then after a while, they face some type of tribulation because of the word of God. The end result is they are offended or they stumble and fall away.

3. The Lord made it very clear in this part of His parable that tribulation can cause a believer to stumble. Keeping in mind what we've already talked about. The church in Smyrna was facing tribulation. What could be the result of that tribulation? It could have caused some of the believers to fall away.
4. What was the Lord's counsel? You be faithful. If you want to receive a crown of life, it's necessary that you remain faithful. Regardless of the tribulation that the church in Smyrna was facing, the Lord called upon that congregation to be faithful unto death, and they would receive a crown of life.

B. We're illustrating the point that faithfulness can be affected by difficult circumstances. I believe the message to the church in Smyrna makes that point very clear. We have seen that same thing in Jesus’ explanation of His parable of the sower. What I would like to do now is look at two of God's greatest servants who were affected by difficult circumstances.

1. If we were to make a short list of great servants of God, I know two men who would be on that list. One would be Elijah, the other would be John the Baptist. There would be others, but I think on a short list of great servants of God, great men of faith, we would include Elijah and John.

a. Let's consider Elijah. Elijah was one of two men who left this earth without going through the dying process. The Bible teaches in 2^nd Kings 2:11 that Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. That would have been a sight to behold, and Elisha was there to see it. The other man who left the earth without going through the dying process of course was Enoch. The Bible teaches that he was transformed, that he should not see death.
b. Elijah went up into heaven by a whirlwind, and that ought to impress us with God’s attitude toward this man.

i. According to Matthew 17, there were two great Old Testament characters that appeared with the Lord when He was transfigured. One was Moses, and the other was Elijah.
ii. Moses represented the law. Elijah represented the prophets. Jesus was transfigured before three of His disciples, Peter, James and John. His countenance was changed, and those men were there to observe and hear God speak from heaven, identify Jesus as His beloved son, and saying, “hear ye, him”.
iii. At one time, God's people were to listen to Moses. At one time, God's people were to listen to the prophets. But now God's people are to listen to His beloved son.

c. When you study the life of Elijah in the book of 1^st Kings, you will see in chapter 18 that he challenged and defeated the prophets of Baal. Elijah challenged those false prophets, and he won a great victory on that day. He showed the children of Israel that Jehovah is the one true God and Baal is not. I think about Elijah out there all by himself against 450 false prophets. But God was with him, and God showed the people He is the one true God.
d. We have said that faithfulness can be affected by difficult circumstances. Let's look at 1^st Kings 19:1f. “1. And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. 2. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.'' 3. And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.” “4. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”

i. Jezebel threatened to take Elijah's life. I suspect we can believe that Jezebel was quite serious when she made that threat. It was not much later when she had Naboth put to death so that her husband Ahab could have his vineyard. She used some underhanded means to have him killed.
ii. Jezebel was a wicked person and she threatened to take Elijah's life. This is the same man who stood up against 450 false prophets. What does he do now? After he learned of Jezebel's threat, he went out into the wilderness, sat down under a tree, and wanted his life to come to an end.

2. Years after Elijah, John the Baptist came, and according to Luke 1:17, it was “… in the spirit and the power of Elijah… ” Isaiah had prophesied about the coming of John and Malachi did as well. Malachi concluded his book by calling upon the children of Israel to look for the coming of Elijah. That prophecy was concerning John.

a. John was the Lord's forerunner, and he did his work well. Jesus commended John in Matthew 11:11, “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist;…” That's quite a high endorsement, wouldn't you say? That was the Lord's assessment of John.
b. I would like to make this interesting observation. John did not go to the cities where the people lived to preach. He preached out in the wilderness. The people left the comforts of the cities to go out to hear him. When they went to hear him in the wilderness, they were not disappointed. John told it like it is. Many people turned from their evil ways and were looking forward to the coming of Christ.
c. Let's back up to Matthew 11:2-3. John was in prison. He was facing difficult circumstances and he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus a question. Matthew 11:2-3 “And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?''”

i. Whenever I think of that question that John asked, it makes me sad. This is the same man that the Lord highly endorsed. This is the same man who preached his heart out, in the wilderness and led many people to God.  Now he was facing some difficult circumstances. He was in prison, not as a thief or a robber or a murderer. He had told Herod he had no right to his wife. Consequently, he was put in prison and eventually he was beheaded. Those difficult circumstances affected the faith of John.

ii. The Lord responded to those two disciples of John in Matthew 11:4-6, “… "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: "The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. "And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.''” In other words, the Lord said, you go and tell him about what I'm doing. Those actions prove that Jesus is the son of God.

iii. Yes, He is the one who was to come and no, there's no need to be looking for someone else. John, you've just got to hold on… and he did.

C. Thinking about the church in Smyrna, about Elijah, and about John, these illustrate how faithfulness can be affected by difficult circumstances.
D. We hope that would not be the case for us, but I think we've already seen that 2024 is going to have its share of challenges. We must not allow these challenges to affect our faithfulness to the Lord. Yes, we all have concerns.

1. We are concerned about the effects that RSV, COVID and Flu are having on people and congregations.
We are concerned about social unrest, and the divisions we see developing.
We are concerned about the political climate, both here and abroad.
We are concerned about wars and strife in many places.
We are concerned about the breakdown of social order, focus on self over others, growth of hatred and discrimination in all its forms.
2. Difficult circumstances can affect the faithfulness of God's children, but, we can be faithful to God, and we must be faithful to God this year, regardless of the challenges that we might face.

II. We do need to ask the question, exactly what is faithfulness? Jesus said something in Matthew 24 that helps explain exactly what faithfulness is. Let's turn to Matthew 24:42 and read a few verses, Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.” Then at verse 44f “"Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him. "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? "Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.”

A. These words Jesus presented are to help us be prepared for His return. He said, be ready. He went on to say that in such an hour as you think not, the son of man will come. In other words, we do not know when the Lord is coming back. We know he's coming back, but we don't know when. The Lord calls upon His followers to be ready, to be prepared. He even said, “watch”.
B. A man put his servant in charge of taking care of his household. That would include taking care of his fellow servants. If that servant was faithful, he would fulfill his responsibilities to his master, and then his master would bless him abundantly. While the master was away the servant would be free to decide if he would fulfill his responsibilities or not. If he was faithful, a faithful servant, he would do what his master instructed him to do. As Rob reminded us our decisions have consequences.
C. From a practical perspective then, faithfulness is fulfilling our responsibilities to the Lord until He returns. I've heard many definitions of faithfulness over the years, but I think that's just about as practical a definition as we can possibly find. Faithfulness is fulfilling our responsibilities to the Lord until he returns.

III. Now, there are things revealed to us in the Bible that will help us to be faithful. Let's consider some of them.

A. First, we need to keep in mind that God is faithful. The other day in preparing the lesson, I took my concordance out and looked up the word faithful. It's found many times in the Bible. Many of those passages that mention faithfulness are describing or declaring the faithfulness of God.

1. 1^st Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” That's plain and to the point, isn't it? God is faithful.
2. Next 1^st Corinthians 10:13. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” The middle part of this verse very clearly states that God is faithful.
3. Let's also look at Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” By the way, this statement is made just before chapter eleven, the great faith chapter of the Bible. “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” That's an admonition given to Christians. We're being told to be faithful… and what should motivate us to be faithful? The verse says, “... for He who promised is faithful.” We see how God's faithfulness should affect our faithfulness.
4. We don't have to question whether God is faithful because the Bible declares repeatedly that He is faithful. When God says something, we can count on it. The Bible also says that God cannot lie. If He could lie, then He couldn't be faithful. Our God is faithful, and He cannot lie. Keeping God's faithfulness in mind will help us to be faithful.
5. The difficult circumstances people face can cause them to take their focus off God. When we lose that focus, we lose track of the fact that God is faithful. We always need to keep in mind that regardless of circumstances that we're facing, God is faithful.

B. Second, this is something else that we need to keep in mind that will help us to be faithful—Christ is faithful. Let's look at Hebrews chapter 3. Christ has already been compared to the angels, showing that He is superior. Jesus is God's spokesman today. There have been occasions when God delivered messages through the angels. The writer of Hebrews went to great lengths to show that Jesus is far superior to the angels. Moses at one time was God's spokesman, but Jesus is far superior to Moses.

1. Hebrews 3:1-2, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” To his credit, Moses was faithful, but was Moses perfect? No, he wasn't. You will all remember that on one occasion God told him to speak to the rock, and he struck the rock instead. Jesus never violated the will of His father. He came to do the will of the father, and He was faithful in all ways.
2. Much in the book of Hebrews has to do with the Lord's priesthood, showing that Jesus is the great priest. He's superior to the priests in the Old Testament. He's our merciful and faithful high priest.

C. Third, we need to keep in mind, as Christians we have the responsibility of being faithful. We've already touched on that several times, but let's be just a little bit more direct.

1. Look at 1^st Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.” A steward is someone who's given the responsibility of taking care of someone else's possessions. The Lord has given us our blessings, and we are responsible for being faithful in using those blessings.
2. A steward has one main requirement and that is to be found faithful. There are many passages in the Bible that teach us to be faithful. This is one that I believe is very clear and to the point… “it is required”

D. The fourth thing that we need to keep in mind is that the Lord will bless His faithful followers.

1. Going back to Matthew and the parables. Looking at the Lord's parable of the talents in chapter 25, consider the way two of the servants used what they were given.
2. These were stewards of what their master had entrusted to their care. Remember how the master divided up his goods among his servants before he took a long trip?
3. They would be responsible for how they used his goods. When he came back, he reckoned with all of them. One man received five talents. Another man was given two talents. Another man was given one talent. In verse 15 we read, “to each according to his own ability”.

a. Each man was blessed according to his individual ability. Now a talent was a unit of measurement for weighing precious metals, usually gold and silver. It was a weight - not a monetary value. One can see that the master bestowed the weight of blessings and hence responsibility, based on his understanding of the ability of the servant to handle it.
b. We're talking about two of those servants and we should note that these were not like the virgins who WAITED for the Lord’s appearing… these servants were EMPLOYED until his return.

4. Matthew 25:20f, “20. "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, `Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.' 21. "His lord said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.' 22. "He also who had received two talents came and said, `Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.' 23. "His lord said to him, `Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'” The Lord will bless His faithful followers when He returns.
5. Remember what Revelation 2:10 says, “… be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life”…eternal life. In the opening verses of Revelation, Christians are described as kings and priests. When we think of a king, we think of someone wearing a crown, don’t we? What's the crown that will be given to the Lord's faithful followers? It's a crown of life.
6. In Revelation 14:13 we don't find the word faithful, but the concept is certainly there. “Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: `Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' '' "Yes,'' says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.''” That's a description of faithfulness, dying in the Lord.

a. Heaven is described as a place of eternal rest. Now is the time to work. The time to rest will be later.
b. John helps us to understand the beauty of heaven in the book of Revelation. Much of what is written is figurative, but what's written ought to cause us to appreciate the beauty and the splendor of heaven. It's a place of rest.

CONCLUSION: Let us keep these things in mind and that will help us to be faithful. God is faithful. Christ is faithful. Christians must be faithful, and the Lord will bless His faithful followers.

We've already seen that this year is going to have its challenges. If what we are concerned about takes place that's going to affect us. Regardless of the challenges that we might face, we can be faithful in 2024. We can, because the Lord instructed us to be faithful, and He's not going to require us to do anything that we cannot do. When He tells us to be faithful, it's within our power to be faithful.

Not only can we be faithful, but we must be faithful. Oh, how we long to hear those words from our blessed Lord. Well done, good and faithful servant. Did you notice that the five- talent man and the two-talent man were not told that they were perfect? They were told that they were faithful.

We have likely all heard this in some form. People say; “I don't believe I can be good enough because I'm not perfect”—talking about being a Christian. The Bible does teach us to be perfect, but except in the sense of being complete in the sight of God,

We're to grow up and mature in His service. When it talks about perfection, it’s talking about a state of completion or maturity. We know of only one individual who was perfect, and He was nailed to a cross because of our imperfections. We don't have to be perfect to be faithful. While the Lord does not require us to be sinless, (we all err), He does require us to be faithful.

God requires faithfulness, He does not require perfection. We're required to do our level best to live above sin… but we give into temptation at times, and we do sin. Thankfully, the Lord has made it possible for us to seek forgiveness.

When Christians repent and ask for forgiveness, God will give it to us graciously. I'm thankful that God requires faithfulness and not perfection.

Regardless of the challenges that might come our way, we can and we must be faithful to God in 2024. We've made this observation several times this morning. It should go without saying that if we strive to be faithful in 2024, guess what we'll strive to do in 2025? Assuming we are indeed blessed to see that year, it'll become a way of life for us.

Remember, difficult circumstances can affect faithfulness. God has given us the information that will help us to overcome.
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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg

Ephesians 6:10 – 20

OPEN: It was an early morning in Los Angeles, CA several years ago. A motorcycle policeman named Bob Vernon saw a red pickup truck speeding through a stop sign, and he turned on his siren and gave chase. When the pickup pulled over, and Vernon approached the driver’s side door to ask for ID. But what the police officer didn’t know was that driver had just engaged in an armed robbery at a convenience store and had a sack of stolen money on the seat beside him.

No sooner had Vernon approached the driver and said “Good morning, sir, may I see your ...” than the driver pulled his gun and fired into the policeman’s chest from just 4 inches away. The force of the blast pushed the policeman backwards 7 feet where he fell to the ground.

Believing that the officer was dead, the driver prepared to drive away... but then, Vernon stood up, pulled his service revolver, and fired twice. The 1st bullet went through the open window and smashed the windshield. The 2nd tore through the door and ripped into the driver’s leg. The driver began to scream “Don’t shoot!” and he threw his gun and the money out the pickup window and was placed under arrest.

But now, wait a minute! That robber had just shot Vernon in the chest from 4 inches away. There was no way that police officer should have been able to recover from that. Except that Vernon was wearing a Kevlar vest. It was only 3/8 of an inch thick... but strong enough to stop a bullet.

Bulletproof vests have saved countless lives of police officers in the line of duty. Here are some examples that I found. Just a few in 2015, a Union city police officer was shot in the chest by a suspect, but survived thanks to his bulletproof vest. In 2019, a Denver police officer was saved by his bulletproof vest in a shootout with a suspect. In 2023, a North Carolina state highway patrolman was shot in the chest, but his life was saved because of the bulletproof vest he was wearing.

The one I found interesting was, in 2014, the army presented back to Sergeant Timothy Gilbo the bulletproof vest he was wearing. They gave it back to him at a special ceremony because that bulletproof vest saved his life. While on duty in Afghanistan, he was shot at point blank range, but the bullet struck the bottom edge of his plate.

In our text today, Ephesians six, Paul tells us to put on. Each of us need to put on our own personal vest.
- Ephesians 6:10-11 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

In the examples I mentioned earlier, these particular men were able to stand up and stand firm because they had put on their own personal protective armor. The scripture says that each one of us have armor that allows us to stand up and stand firm.

The problem for a lot of church-goers, is that there’s kind of a “disconnect” going on. This passage seems to imply that there’s a fight going on - that we are engaged in something of a holy war - and that whether we win or lose may depend on how prepared we are. But many church-goers often don’t grasp the reality that we are to be on guard daily.

I don't know about you. I remember a while back when I was Cub Scout leader with my wife, we were at a Boy Scout camp, Beaumont, I believe it is.

There is a real cool Boy Scout fort there. When the twins were younger, the Boy Scouts challenged our scouts to a snowball fight. Well, the Boy scouts are, if you don't know, they're like age 7th grade to seniors. We were third grade to 6th grade. But we challenged, and they were all excited.

Well, I have to tell you that us leaders also got involved. When the first snowball that whacked off the wall above me, I realized they mean business! This isn't just a friendly game of snowball play. And then when you get pelted in the back, you realize, oh, my goodness, this is serious. I'm sure we've all been in that situation where you start to think that this is just for fun, and all of a sudden you realize, ooh, they mean business.

In the Bible study, we are in James, chapter five, and we were talking about job as an example of patience and perseverance. You think about all that he went through. He knew as he started to lose family members and wealth and so on, something was going on, and it was serious.

When we read all the examples in the Bible, God is saying there's a serious tone. When Jesus was speaking in Matthew, chapter five, as he started to speak to the individuals, blessed are you that do this and that. It was serious business. Now there was a warfare going on. And that's what we realize, that we are at war.

ILLUS: A mother told of calling her son – who was deployed to Iraq, to say hello one weekend. She asked if he had to work on Sundays and he replied: “Mom, we have to work every day... it’s a war.”

WE ARE AT WAR! We are called to be prepared to engage our enemy every day of the week – not just on Sundays, as some Christians do. We think that we are part of the secular world. Monday through Thursday, Saturday, Sunday is our day of making focus and time back to God. But we need to realize that in reverse. We're at war every day of our lives.

And - if ever WE forget that we are at war with our enemy - there will come a time when we’re not going to be wearing our armor and we are gonna get hurt! So, don’t forget – you are at war, and you have an enemy!

But, who is our enemy? Who are we fighting? In our day and age, many people would say the dreaded cold virus or the flu virus or the COVID virus or politics or the nuclear weapons that we read of nowadays.

We have all been personally, we're professional hand washers, aren't we? Since 2020, we can sing happy birthday to you. I know that they said the different songs that you sing. I watch my grandson as he's getting ready to be a nurse. I shouldn't pick on them, but I got to say this. My daughter's a nurse, and my grandson's going into nursing, and when they wash, they do a great job. But I have to take a paper towel or something and dry all the area around the sink afterward.

Listening to the news, or just reading comments written on various social media sites you can draw the conclusion that...
Many Christians may believe that their enemies are the folks in some “other” political party. Or that their enemies are folks who don’t dress or look like them. Or that the enemy are folks who don’t agree with them in a certain event like what is currently happening here in Chardon over the carrying of a thin blue line flag at a football game.

But in reality, God tells us that those OTHER FOLKS are not our enemies. These OTHER FOLK may be really annoying to us at times, but they are not our enemies.

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12 “... we are NOT contending against FLESH AND BLOOD (mortal people), but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

You’re fighting “Spiritual hosts of wickedness!” You can’t even SEE who you’re fighting!!! But then – you can’t see this Covid virus thing either. You can see (and even experience) the damage and death it inflicts - but you can’t see the virus. There are medical teams across the world fighting and coming up with cures for these. It could even include cancer, heart attacks, heart disease. They're committed to coming up and fighting against that enemy until it is defeated.

That’s what Paul is telling us here. You can’t see the enemy, but you better believe it’s there. You may not be able to see Satan, but you can see the death, disaster and damage and he has inflicted on people’ lives. I like to read in one Peter five and eight, be sober minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking who may he may devour. We are assured in scripture that there is Satan. We mentioned the book of Job. It talks about Satan kind of walking around and having a conversation with God. “Well, he only serves you because he has it so well”. It's basically what Satan was saying, wasn't it? “Look, he has nothing to worry about. You treat him so well.”

We as Christians, sometimes we get too comfortable. Basically, I think he's saying, Job looks like he's comfortable. Let's put a little heat under him, as we would say Christians today, we have a little heat put under us. It might be for a reason, a testing. Sometimes people turn away from God.

I had a roommate way back in Ohio state, back in the 70s, early seventy’s, that said he lost a brother. Way back. He prayed to God and his brother died anyhow. He turned from God and thought, why would God do that to him? Therefore he was mad at God. Well, I'm thinking there's somebody I want on my side.

I don't know if I want to stand face to face against God. It was bad enough when David stood against Goliath. I don't think any of us want to stand personally face to face with God.

We all will. We know. We're told. But I would rather have God on my side when I have to stand face to face with Him than to oppose Him. So we look at this, and we look at what Job was facing and the times of trials.

Jesus talks about how there's certain things, the silver and gold, have to be refined to be pure at the end and compared it to our lives. The trials and tribulations we go through. So that brings us to verse 13 of our text. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand, withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. That brings us, of course, to our armor.

So you MUST make up your mind to not give up the fight until he is defeated. And you do that by being prepared to fight ... with the proper armor.
That brings us, of course, to our armor.

The first 5 pieces of armor are these:
Belt of Truth. Someone has noted that this “belt” was a sash that designed to keep every part of the armor in its place.
One commentary believes that what Paul’s telling us that it is our honesty and sincerity and TRUTHfulness that holds our armor together. Thus, if we’re faking our faith, all the rest of armor will fall apart. If we’re hypocrites, our armor will be useless.
Think about that belt, gentlemen, Ladies probably, too, but I know, gentlemen. If you ever get a pair of pants and they're a little bit big on you and you don't put the belt in, how embarrassing it is when you're trying to walk and your pants are sagging and you're trying to hold your pants up and just things have a little bit of trouble.
I deliberately did not wear a belt today. You probably noticed I keep doing this number just to kind of remind myself of that example, how uncomfortable it is because the belt holds things in place. I remember that song years ago. There was a guy, American idol or something, that says, “looking like a fool with the pants on the floor. Pants on the floor or pants on the ground or floor or whatever, looking like a fool.”
I can picture that because I grew up and some kids liked to do that. In high school, we always had to tell the kids to pull the pants up, and they did look kind of silly, when they start to try to run. Got to hold their pants on and so on.

Breastplate of Righteousness. Not our righteousness, but Christ’s. This is the ultimate in Kevlar vests. Christ’s righteousness protects our breast area - that’s where you heart is, and thus the righteousness of Jesus protects your heart.

Sandals of Peace. It literally says “as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” (Ephesians 6:15)
There is a story about two friends who were walking through the desert.
Halfway through the journey they had an argument and one friend slapped the other in the face. The one who was slapped felt hurt, but without saying anything he wrote in the sand: "Today my best friend slapped me in the face."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped began to drown and his friend saved him.

When he recovered from the ordeal, he wrote on a stone: "Today my best friend saved my life." His friend asked him, "Why, after I hurt you, did you write in the sand and now you write on a stone?"

The man, smiling, replied: "When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away. And when something great happens, we should engrave it on the stone of the memory of our heart, where no wind can erase it."

As Christians we need to take our stand on the Gospel. Nothing else matters if we don’t do that.
Romans 1:16 declares: “I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL (I will proudly proclaim the death, burial and the resurrection of Christ), because it is the power of God unto salvation ...”

Shield of Faith. Your FAITH in Christ is your shield. Verse 16 of our text says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

Flaming darts. I don't think many of us, unless reading this verse, think of being attacked on a daily basis, symbolically by flaming darts of the Satan. If you don’t TRUST Jesus - if you don’t rely on Him – if you don’t have a shield, and really think of Jesus and focus in our lives having a prayer service and having time dedicated to God in Christ daily, I don't think we'll stand a chance because Satan will take us out.

Helmet of Salvation. It always amazed me how many policemen wear that vest, but they don't wear headgear. And I always wondered about that, because if you ever watched a SWAT squad go in, they're all they got the helmet, the shields and everything.

When you look at that group, sadly enough, when I was a kid growing up, we actually opportunity to see that. The individual across the street, the mom was smart enough to throw the little kid who we used to babysit, out the window onto a fuel oil tank. He slid down, came running over. And to hear this kid who was about seven years old, to say, my dad's got a gun on my mom and is threatening to shoot her.

The police were called and we got to watch, I mean, little Newbury, Ohio, and watch an entire SWAT team surround that house. And they all had the helmet, all the gear on. We think about how we protect. A helmet protects your head. That’s where your brain is located and your brain controls how you think. This helmet protects my thinking because now I’m a forgiven man, I am a changed man, I am a saved man. That’s the helmet of my salvation!!! His salvation is reflected in my life because I now know that his salvation now defines WHO I am.

Some have noted that most of this armor is “defensive.” The belt, the breastplate, the sandals, the shield and the helmet - they’re all designed to “PROTECT me.” But, not just me. This armor is also designed to protect those around me. Back in the days of Rome, other armies had swords and shields and helmets and such. But the Roman legions had an advantage – they fought as a unit and they protected each other. Their shields would interlock, and they marched as ONE BODY into battle.

I remember in football, sometimes the kickoff return team, when I was at Berkshire, we used to ask the kids, the front line, to join arms real quick. The front five would quickly join arms and just run, just like a bulldozer, straight ahead. They would try to bend over and so on and take out the opposition. And sometimes the kickoff team running down would see that group coming, running at them, and they would try to go round them. Well, that's what we wanted.

We tell the running back to get as close as he could right behind them. Now, that was way back years ago. I think there's a lot more finesse and strategy to football nowadays. But back in the late 70s, early 80s, it was kind of effective. We call them the hammerheads.

And you and they just kind of join together and go right on out there. We know today, though, that we need each other. That’s why Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us “24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

We NEED each other if we’re going to fight against Satan. We NEED to have each other’s backs. We NEED to fight as ONE BODY if we’re going to defeat our enemy.

Some people may get defensive if you come up and say, hey, I noticed that you could do this a little bit better, or I wanted to encourage you. I take it as a total compliment, and that I know that somebody's looking out for me. And that's what I tried to say last week with Penn and Teller. Penn is an atheist, big guy. But he said, “it is a shame if you know Christ and you don't share it.”

Like, what would you have against somebody for not sharing the saving power of Christ with them? You must not like them very well if you don't share that knowledge that you have. We need each other. We need each other to bond together against Satan. We all need each other to have each other's backs, as we would say, we need to fight as one body if we're going to defeat our enemy.

And that brings us to our weapons... because you can’t fight without a weapon. And Paul describes our weapons in this way:
The 1st weapon is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17) You just gotta have a sword, but this isn’t just any old sword. This is the Word of God – the Bible!
This is your weapon. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

There’s power in this book, and that’s because it’s the sword of the SPIRIT. The power comes from the words the Spirit has infused into your Bible. God even says “my word that goes out from my mouth... will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)

Every time you quote Scripture... you unleash the power of God’s Spirit in a conversation. Just a little tidbit. I'm not sure where they stand, but if you follow a little bit the Athletics, CJ Stroud always gives praise to God anytime they interview him at the end of the game. They interviewed him after a good victory. He gave thanks and glory to God. The channel, the news network, cut that part out of the interview, did not have it.

Yesterday Baltimore played them. Baltimore won. I've never heard John Harbaugh say he was a Christian or whatever, but he deliberately, in response to stick up for Stroud, who he just beat, took a Bible and read a Bible verse as they came in to praise him for his victory. And it was almost like, you got a lot of flak. Let’s see them cut this out this week.

And it basically was saying almost when Shroud said that you give all power and glory to God, and I forget the verse I should remember, but it was basically all power and glory comes through God our savior and so on. And I found that interesting, that even in sports they're starting to catch on, people dropping that out. So may we use God's word in all situations. Every time we quote scripture, we unleash that power.

2nd weapon: “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:18-19)

There are people who don’t think of prayer as a weapon, but Paul believed it was. He said “pray that words may be given to me.” He believed their prayers had power to give him an edge in what he was doing.

ILLUS: Think about it this way. In the US military, there’s someone called a “forward observer.” Basically he calls in the location of a target for artillery or airstrikes. This is a powerful weapon, because he’s calling in the big guns. Think of prayer as calling in an airstrike. When you pray, you’re calling in the big guns. You’re not just doing what you can do; you’re unleashing the power of heaven to do what God can do.

ONE LAST THING: Notice that Paul asked the church PRAY that “words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel”

Paul wrote: “Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him (the devil) to do his will.” II Timothy 2:23-26

Did you catch that? We’re not to get into arguments and controversies with other folks. Our goal is NOT to win arguments about politics.
Our goal is not to share insulting memes about folks with disagree with. Our goal is not to win arguments, our goal is to win souls for Jesus Christ!

We’re told that when Paul was arrested and jailed in Rome he converted a number of the Praetorian Guard. How could he do that? He was chained to those prisoners every day and held inside a prison day after day. But that’s not the way Paul thought about the situation. He didn’t see himself chained to guards... he saw the guards chained to HIM and they couldn’t get away, as day after day he witnessed to them about Jesus. They weren’t his enemies – they were his audience, and he worked at winning them to Christ.

Sermon Contributor: Jeff Strite

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Good morning.

It's good that we have chosen to be here this morning to worship God. And we didn't plan for that, but we remember that song, there's power in the blood. We made a choice, didn't we? We chose to be here. We made a choice to be here.

I chose, I was telling people, I chose not to take my usual route. I chose to avoid the king's mountain road because it has valleys and it's shaded. And I was cautious about ice. So I chose to use to come all the way out to route 44 and come down. And this morning we talk about some choices, choices that we made.

You chose this morning to get out of bed eventually. You chose about breakfast, what to eat or what not to eat or whether to eat, what to drink or what not to drink. We have choices about food. We have choices about this rather big sweater, choices about clothes. We spend a lot of our time making choices.

Choices great and small. What will we wear out or in? Will we shop? Will we shop online? Or will we shop in person?

Will we work hard at our job? Or won't we, when we are not at our paid job? How will we spend our time? How will we spend our free time? We are commanded, of course, to in the King James, new King James, to redeem the time.

The english standard says, make the best use of the time. We face many choices, each with consequences. Some choices have short term consequences. I almost said, what's having your pepperoni pizza? What to have on your pizza has some consequences, perhaps indigestion and some heart disease further down the line.

But other choices we can make or not make will impact us for eternity. We'll turn over to Luke, chapter 14.

Luke, chapter 14. We could spend. Of course, this is a huge kind of subject. We could talk for many hours and days about making choices. But I want to present some of the choices that some of the basic choices that we make, and our first choice that we're going to examine here actually has to do with a little bit what we were talking about in Bible study, about people who choose to indulge themselves or at least promote themselves.

So Luke chapter 14, verse seven says, so he Jesus told a parable to those who were invited, when he noted how they chose the best places, saying to them, when you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him. And he who invited you and him come and say to you, give place to this man. And then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you were invited, go and sit down in the lowest place. So that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, friend, come up higher.

Go up higher. Then you will have glory in the presence of all those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. This kind of teaching is found in many different parts of the scripture. But what do we have?

Recently, the Golden Globe awards and a lot of talk was made about, well, look at the faces Taylor Swift was making and such. Well, I just pick on her because everybody knows who she is these days. But if you ever go to an award show or a professional sporting event, you'll probably see people who think pretty highly of themselves. They think pretty highly of themselves. They're stuck on themselves.

They think they're better than others. I can tell you, and I'm not picking anyone in particular, but through different years and different classes, yeah, I can tell you that there's an ego involved with most. I imagine it's true of most schools, with most Kent state gymnasts, that they act like you're doing you a favor when they sign your poster, because they're used to performing. They're used to showing off in front of people. And some doctors and medical people do this as well, of course.

Well, I'm a doctor now. I'm not that kind of doctor, but I'm a doctor, therefore you should do whatever I say. Ray Stevens had a song about that years back when they tell people, strip down naked, boy. Cough and sneeze, jump up on that table on your hands and knees. And so we do, it, essentially, is what the song says, because you do everything the doctor tells you.

Who do you think they are? Well, that's what the song says. But you hear that? We live in a classless society. We talked about that this morning.

We don't. There is a pecking order in our society now. It's forbidden, by the way, by the US Constitution. The United States Constitution is not allowed to recognize titles of nobility. So barons, earls, dukes, vicounts, looks like this count.

But all that means nothing here, sir. He's an actor. But Sir Anthony Hopkins is a knight. He was knighted. But his, sir, his title means nothing to the state of.

He usually is acting in California. So it means nothing to California and it means nothing to the US government. So we say, we don't have classes here. We live in a classful society. Well, that's not quite true.

There is a pecking order in our society. And what do we often do? Well, we look at what the next person has or doesn't have. We do what Paul tells us not to do. In two corinthians, chapter ten, verse twelve, we compare ourselves with ourselves.

We compare ourselves among ourselves. Well, indeed, I'm better than this person over here. It is not wise to choose to think better of ourselves than others. And we've read that, I'm sure I've probably read to you before. But the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, or the tax collector, of course, makes this point.

We won't have time to read it this morning. But what are we told? The Pharisee looked upon him. He prized himself, and he looked on others with contempt, or he despised others, and thank God that he was not like this other man. Over here, we are told repeatedly we can choose how to think of ourselves.

Let's turn over to Romans, though, for a shorter version of that same teaching. Again, that in and of itself could be a lesson. But Romans, chapter twelve, verse, verse three. Romans twelve, three. He says, for I say.

Paul says, my inspiration, he says, for I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you. Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. As God has dealt to each one a measure of faith, we must choose to avoid pride and humbly submit to God. We've been studying Daniel. Consider Nebuchadnezzar, when he admired chapter four, the whole chapter four of Daniel.

He admired all the things he had been built. Look at Babylon. And he says, look at all the city I built for my magnificence and my glory. And we all know what happened to him. God humbled him rather dramatically.

He ate grass like an ox for seven years. We must not think of ourselves more right, more highly than we ought to think. But, of course, one of the ways that people often do that is you surround yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear. Which takes us to our next point. Turn over, please.

To proverbs, chapter twelve.

We must choose to think of ourselves realistically, is the way I like to put it, to think of ourselves realistically. When we compare what we are to what and who God is, we should in fact be humble. If we were for us, ourselves, we are going to be humble that way. But too many people don't. Too many people, they think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.

And they surround themselves with people who flatter them, people who tell them what they want to hear. So we need to heed, among other passages, of course, what we see here in proverbs, chapter twelve, verse 26, it says, the righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray. Or one is righteous to guide to his neighbor in the ESV, believe us. Choose our friends carefully.

Choose our friends care. Now, we get on kids a lot for this. We had posters like this up in school that usually have a cartoon character like Garfield or something on it says, choose your friends wisely. So we get on kids about this all the time. But this applies whether you're eight years old or whether you're 108.

Choose your friends wisely. Your friends can have a drastic impact on you. Now, we're supposed to be, we shouldn't be friendly towards anyone because we should be suspicious of everything. No, we must be polite and friendly, loving and generous to all, as Jesus was. But Jesus, what did he do before he chose his disciples?

He prayed like Jesus. We must carefully choose our friends, our closest friends, especially our closest associates. We must choose people who will not put stumbling blocks in our way. In other words, they will not make it harder for us to be faithful to God, who will not encourage or attempt to lead us away from God.

But here's a non threatening sort of example of that. And of course, around here, I suppose in Chardonna, that would have that kind of effect, but it certainly does in southeast Ohio. You might have garden clubs here. Somebody mentioned they were gardeners, some of the women nearby, it was in a village. Some women started a small garden club to put to hang planters along the streets, and they would meet.

This wasn't meeting a group that had a lot of meetings. They met only three or four times a year, and they held a potluck and they planned their projects for the next season. Well, this is a village, and it's a peaceful village. So what happens? Retirees move there.

Several well to do retirees moved into the village and joined the group, and the locals appreciated the money the retirees brought to the group. Look at the projects we can do now. But you might imagine things changed. It wasn't long until the retirees decided that the meetings, we didn't plan that, but we mentioned that this morning. The meetings should be moved to the country club so they could have an expensive fancy lunch, which many of the original members could not hope to afford.

And the group, the founders, if you will, they wanted the informal setting of the potluck where they were comfortable, and so they associated with people, but they led them in a direction. They took the association, the gardening club, if you want, in a direction they hadn't intended to go and say, okay, well, start your own club, which is what they probably did. But when it comes to spiritual matters, choosing the wrong friends can lead to some very serious problems. Turn over to, you've probably thought of this one, but turn over to one corinthians, chapter 15. While you're turning there, think of some examples from history of people who may not have been wrong initially, if you will, but they chose the wrong friends, and choosing the wrong friends put them in very serious trouble.

Think of, for example, from american history. President Ulysses S. Grant Miles counts an honest man, but he chose his friends very, very poorly. As a result, his presidency was racked by corruption. When he became president after the civil war, his presidency was racked by corruption, and then later on, his family was bankrupted.

After the war, he chose the wrong friends, and it cost him a lot physically. Look in the Bible. Look at King Rayabelle. He listened to the wrong people, and what did it do? It cost him his kingdom.

That's first kings, chapter, chapter eleven, chapter twelve. It cost him his kingdom. He listened to the wrong advice. And how many other kings after him accumulated? People who told them what prophets, told them what they wanted to hear, didn't tell them what they needed to hear about reforming their lives.

So one corinthians, chapter 13, verse 32. This is one of those, this is one of those verses that, if you will, improves quite a bit when you don't. No disrespect. Attended to the. It's been very valuable.

But King James Version, new King James says, do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits. Now the King James is in the old King James says evil companions ruin good manners or something like mean. It makes it sound like don't put your elbows on the know. Make sure that you use the right number of fingers when you're grasping the teacup.

We're not talking about table manners here. We're talking about your habits. Or the english standard version says, do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. So we're not talking about get your elbows off the table or whether or not you wash your hands after you eat and everything else.

We're talking here about very serious, moral overarching spiritual issues. Your friends can lead you into things a whole lot more serious than using the wrong fork dinner. They can lead you into sin, and they can lead you into eventually, of course, they can lead you into damnation.

So that's number two. Number one, don't choose to think of yourself realistically. Choose to think of yourself humbly. The second point, again, is choose your friends wisely. That's another way, of course, that again, those two are often mutually reinforcing.

People choose bad friends who reinforce their bad habits and bad morals and make them feel good about doing bad, so to speak. But the most fundamental choice of all is a choice that was actually asked by a pagan in the Bible. Turn to Matthew, chapter 27. Matthew, chapter 27. Our circumstance, our immediate circumstance is very different.

But fundamentally we have the same question in front of us that Pontius Pilate asks. Pontius Pilate asks, here, Matthew 27 22 says, pilate said to them, what then shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?

I don't think it's in this book. I know it's in some books. There's a song about that. What will you do with know? I don't know how to sing it, to be honest, but that's the question we face.

What will we do with Jesus? Hopefully we've all heard this passage. Turn over to Joshua, chapter 24. We have a fundamental choice of deciding what we're going to do with Jesus. God has given us, as we call it, free will.

He's given us that choice to choose to serve God, to serve Christ, to accept Jesus as Lord and savior or not. Joshua, chapter 24. Joshua, chapter 24. Since I finally get there, verse 15 says, and if it seems evil to you, Joshua here says, to serve the Lord. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served over the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

But as for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. Remember, Moses had left them with that choice. Toward the end of the book of deuteronomy, he says, I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. And Moses appealed to them. And he said, therefore choose life, that you and your descendants might live.

We have choices, and that's the most fundamental and most important choice. Much more important than are we going to stop at McDonald's or Wendy's on the way home? This choice has eternal consequences. Do you know that? God makes choices, too.

Turn over to first kings, chapter eleven. You see, God makes choices. How does God choose? On what basis does God make choices? Where you're turning, I think about on what basis do we often make choices?

Well, let's see. I'll pick this sweater because I like the pattern. Actually, kind of don't. Somebody bought it for me. But I'll buy this sweater because I like the pattern.

I'll choose to go to this school or that school because I'll pick on you. I choose to root for Alabama because I was raised there. I choose to root for Kent State because that's where I went to school. You get that? You make choices and you make choices sometimes based on what appearance, based on where you grew up.

What basis does God make choices? First kings, chapter eleven, verse 33.

Verse 34. This is in the middle of God's sadly concluding about Solomon. He was not faithful. And he says, however, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose. In other words, God chose who?

He chose David. So whom I chose, why? He says, why? Right here. Because he kept my commandments and my statutes.

God chose David. Now, did David do it perfectly? We know the answer to that. No, he didn't. But David did his best, as we would say down south, his level best.

He did his level best. He did his best to follow after God. David was blessed for his choice and his family was blessed. You said, okay, that's the Old Testament. Are things different today?

Turn to second Thessalonians. Second Thessalonians. Now this. We talk about God's choices while you're turning there. When you talk about God's choices in the New Testament, there's a lot of confusion about that.

There are a lot of people who will tell you that God chooses us and there's nothing we can do about it. That was John Calvin right there, that God chooses us. There's nothing we can do about it. So why bother making any effort? That's not what the Bible teaches.

That's a long story, but it's not what the Bible teaches. But let's start. Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse 13. Verse 13. He says, but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you are taught, whether by word or by our epistle.

So on what basis does God choose people? The same basis he chose David. It's based on a person's choice. To what? Verse 15.

Stand fast and hold the traditions which we are taught. In other words, to go back and use the language that he used with David. Fear God and keep his commandments. It's not based on a person's wealth, health, good looks, lack of good looks, education, race, social status, number of I'll pick on people. I heard people mentioning social media.

I'm not on it. Number of Facebook followers, number of pictures uploaded, Instagram, size of one's bank account, which county in Ohio you choose to live in, et cetera, et cetera. It's based on a person's choice to fear God and obey the gospel. And he said, well, God chose us. Well, does that mean we don't have to do anything?

If that's true, why did Paul just write? The Thessalonians hold fast to traditions. In other words, they needed to hold fast to traditions. God knows who is going to follow him. He doesn't make that choice for you.

We just talked about that. It's up to us to choose, but God chooses those who are going to follow him. Acts, chapter ten, verse 34. It says here, it says, peter opened his mouth and said, in truth, I perceive that God shows no partiality. That's acts 1034.

God is no respecter of persons. In the king James, God shows no partiality. But in every nation, anyone or whoever fears him and works righteousness, or whoever does what is right is accepted by him. God hasn't changed. God chooses those who choose him.

Now, I'm not a big fan of a lot of these so called spiritual scriptural signs because some of them tend to boil very complicated, very important truths down to just sort of phrases, empty phrases and plastics. But one of the best ones I've seen was, if you were close to God once and you're not now, who moved?

God we can read does not change. If you were close to God once and you're not anymore, God didn't move. You're the one who moved. And that has, as we said, consequences. What kind of consequences?

Turn over a couple more passages here to Isaiah, chapter 66. Actually, we're going to have, like, four different references here. But the first one here is Isaiah. Isaiah 66.

God does not enjoy. Of course, the scripture makes that clear. God does not enjoy inflicting punishment, but he will choose to do so because he is God. He is love. We sang that.

But he is also holy, and as such, he must, and he will punish sin. So Isaiah 66 four says here, God says, so I will choose their delusions and bring their fears on them. Why? Because when I called, no one else answered, or no one answered. When I spoke, they did not hear.

But they did evil before my eyes, and they chose that of which I do not delight. So they chose, it's sort of the word they, but that's what it's talking about. The people of Judah, in this case, they chose to disobey God. They chose to do and live in the ways that are wicked, that are not according to the word of God.

And a lot of people think, well, we do have that one. We do sing occasionally, I know, because we have the same songbook. 632, time enough. Yes, that essentially, well, I'll live the way we talk about that Bible, say, I'll live the way I want to live for now and then some future time when I'm older, when things get rough, then I'll choose the heavenly way. The Bible has an answer for things, of course, but it has a direct answer for that.

Turn to proverbs, chapter one. Now, a lot of people think that, well, I can sort of have cruise control in our cars that I never use, but we have cruise control in our cars. We can just sort of go through life on spiritual cruise control and never have to pay attention to our relationship with God. And, well, then when times get tough, then all of a sudden we can grab the wheel, so to speak, and get ourselves back on course. That doesn't work that way.

Proverbs 127. God here, through Solomon's wisdom, says, when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, on God and God's wisdom, that is. But I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Why?

Verse 29. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. We're familiar with the probably most famous passage in proverbs one seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom or the beginning of knowledge. There are a couple of similar ones.

You need to choose that. And that's basically the first ten chapters of proverbs telling you that over and over again. Choose wisdom, get wisdom, seek wisdom. Choose wisdom over foolishness. But back here, verse 29.

They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel. Verse 30. And despised my every rebuke. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies, for the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil.

So they made their choice. We have a saying down south and up here. You made your bed, now lie in it. Essentially is what this almost boils down to, that you have sinned, or as the Bible puts it, you've sown the wind, you're going to reap the whirlwind that do not count on, as I said, God is not a safety net, so to speak, that all of a sudden you just sort of roll him out, so to speak, when you think that there's going to be a risk involved. God needs to be your master.

You need to choose to make God and keep God as your lord and savior. If he's always your lord and savior, then of course, yes, God is love, and he cares for you. But too many people see him as a last ditch safety net that, well, I can choose to follow him at any time. Psalm 632, some future time when I am old or, well, when the wolf is howling at the proverbial door, well, you may not get that chance. You may not get that chance.

One more reference. Turn to first Peter, chapter four. First Peter, chapter four.

Say, okay, well, obviously, people of the world, people who don't even claim to worship God, who don't even claim to follow Christ, that's who the Bible's talking about, right? As long as we, a lot of people believe this, as long as people have. They call themselves christians, they're good. I've seen the commercials that are airing during the news up here. They have.

What was it? I forget what. It's Franklin Graham, I believe Billy Graham's son, that says, oh, you need to choose Jesus. So pray this prayer with me. And then he leads you right there in prayer.

Right there. Tv commercial in the middle of 19 news leads you right there in prayer. And then he has a little phone number at the bottom. Now, if you pray that prayer, then give this phone number a call. Well, you want to bet I haven't done it?

Of course. Well, you want to bet he's going to ask you for money, but that's not the way it works. That okay, I prayed the prayer. I'm good. One Peter, chapter four, verse 17 says, for time has come for judgment to begin at the house or the household of God.

In other words, people who call themselves christians, or maybe of course, have been christians, will be judged. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now we're talking about people of the world. What will be the end of those who have never made any attempt to follow the gospel of God. But notice again, we don't get out of it, so to speak.

It begins with us first and keep going. The next verse. Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? Now we know the answer to that. The Bible makes it clear what the answer to that is.

They have no hope. We must choose. Every day we make choices. We must choose to keep the commandments of God, to keep the commandments of Christ, to keep the word of God. Each one of us every day actually must answer the same question that Pilate asked.

What are you? What am I? What are we going to do with Jesus today? What are we going to do with Jesus today? Are we going to live for him or not?

Are we going to follow him or not? We're going to follow his example or not? Are we going to live in the way he's commanded? Or are we going to live in a way that would bring shame and reproach upon his name? Our choice on this matter has eternal consequences.

So let's then choose to think of ourselves realistically, to have a humble attitude, to know that, to choose to acknowledge that we are flawed, we are sinners, we need help. Let's choose to have the right friends, friends who are going to help us and encourage us to have the right view of ourselves and encourage us to follow after Christ. And finally, let's choose. And by the way, that's an individual choice. Each one of us must choose to follow Jesus.

That's another one. We do say, I have decided to follow Jesus. Have you decided to follow Jesus? You say, okay, yes, you have. If you need to decide to follow Jesus, how do you do that?

Well, you hear and believe that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. Then you're willing to confess your faith in him before men, and you're willing to repent of your sins and put him on a baptism. You say, well, I've done that. I've made that choice. But each and every day are you deciding to follow Jesus?

Remember, that's an individual choice. Paul tells us in Romans, each one of us will give an account of himself or herself to God. There are some groups, like Kirtland, Ohio, like the Mormons, who believe that you can be baptized for somebody else. Doesn't work that way. That well.

The number of people I've heard say this, well, my grandfather was a preacher and his father and my father was a preacher. Well, that's wonderful. Hopefully you've got some wonderful spiritual instruction from them. But guess what? Your grandfather accounts for whom to God himself.

Your father accounts for whom to God himself. Yes, you might account for the way he trained you up, but ultimately who answers for you to God? You do. So it's an individual.

So I leave you with that thought. What choices are you making today? Are you going to make the biggest right choice to decide to follow Jesus or not follow Jesus? If you've decided to follow Jesus, what do you need to do to make that happen? Do you need to put him on a baptism?

We'll be willing to help you with that. If you have put him on a baptism but you're now making wrong choices, then we would certainly be willing to pray with you and for you and help you to get back to making the right choices. If there's any need you have, make it known as we stand the sing.

<auto transcribed>

Mark 4

We’re going to be in Mark 4 this morning.
What I want you to keep in mind as we read Mark 4
is that Jesus is teaching a kingdom principle.
And the people he’s talking to on the shoreline –
a lot of them are farmers.
They will understand the parable of the Seed very quickly.

A old time minister made a trip to Israel a couple years ago,
and one of the places he visited was Jesus’ childhood hometown - Nazareth. On the outskirts of modern Nazareth
they found (and rebuilt) an ancient watch tower.
In addition they added a model of a traditional home of the era, plus a workshop and other buildings that would have existed in days of Jesus.
But what caught his attention was the remnants of some ancient farmland.

If you were fortunate enough back then to have inherited “bottom land” down in the valley
you might have become a wealthy man.
But this section of Nazareth was built into the hillside
and had “terraced” farms.
People in this area only had “farms that were little bigger than a good-sized garden.

This land had a mixture of shallow ground
where there was rock just about an inch under the soil,
as well as some sections where the ground was fertile
and would yield a good crop.
Seemingly everywhere there were a fair amount of weeds
and though you might pull a lot of them...
there’d still be a fair amount still growing alongside the crops.

In addition, the owner would access his particular plot by a path that ran between his land and his neighbor’s.
Now, with the right tools, you MIGHT be able to make ALL the ground useful. But Nazareth was a poor community with limited resources, so farmers did what they could with what they had.
As a result, the “farmers” threw their seed everywhere,
hoping some of it would grow.

Their land was precious (since there wasn’t much of it),
but the seed was comparatively cheap.
So as Jesus told the parable,
he described the four types of ground every farmer had to deal with. Only a ¼ of the ground was useful –
and it was apparently hard to tell which land would be fertile,
and which was not.
But the fertile land would give a high yield and was worth the trouble.

And when you think about the parable of the Seed,
when Jesus describes what happens to the Seed,
he’s describing what happens to it in real life.
Mark 4:Verse (3) Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:
“Hearken” and “Behold” – he’s using two Words to communicate that whatever you are doing you need to stop right now and listen to what I’m about to say.
Pay attention.

Notice also that the sower “went out”.
This was a purposeful decision.
What is my point?
When it comes to sowing the Word,
it’s not something we do haphazardly.
We do it on purpose and WITH PURPOSE.

When you do something on purpose you make time for it.
It’s not a passing fancy.
You make time because you are doing it for a reason.

Verse (4) And it came to pass, as he sowed,
some fell by the way side,
and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.

When a sower sows he reaches into his bag and flings out the Seed. He’s scattering the Seed.
He does not go back and plow the ground until later.

Verse (5) some fell on stony ground,
where it had not much earth;
and immediately it sprang up,
because it had no depth of earth:

(6) But when the sun was up,
it was scorched;
and because it had no root, it withered away.

(7) And some fell among thorns,
and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.

(8) And other fell on good ground,
and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased;
and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty,
and some an hundred.

(9) And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear.

In the New Testament it says that
“I (Jesus) am come that they might have life
and have it more abundantly.”
And in Timothy it says
God wants all men to be saved
and come a knowledge of the truth.

Remember back in Mark 4:9 it says
“let them who have ears to hear, let them hear”?

Let them hear. EACH OF US has ears, right?
So, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US
are either making a decision to hear or not hear.
Why are their eyes seeing and their ears hearing?
It’s because they are letting them see and letting them hear.

So when we read these verses in Mark 4,
Jesus is not the one preventing them from seeing.
Jesus is not the one preventing them from hearing.
They are not seeing and they are not hearing
because of the hardness of their hearts.

Satan can steal the Word when we refuse to hear.
Do you see this?
What does Jesus say in verse 9?
“He that has ears to hear, let him hear.”
In other Words, let him hear and let him hold on to it.

So, if this is the criteria for hearing
then what we see here in verse 15
are those who have heard the Word but refused to hold on to it.

15 Some people are like seed along the path,
where the word is sown.
BUT… As soon as they hear it,
Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

(16) And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the Word,
immediately receive it with gladness;
(17) And have no root in themselves,
and so endure but for a time:
BUT afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth
for the Word's sake, immediately they are offended.

Again, these individuals did not trust the Seed.
One of our greatest problems as Christians
is that we read the Bible but we truly don’t believe what we read.
When we don’t believe what we read,
when persecution comes and people come against you
and disagree with what the Bible says,
you are not going to fight for what the Bible says.

The person who has not root in himself
has no scriptural foundation.
Why?
BECAUSE He has ears but is not hearing.

(18) And these are they which are sown among thorns;
such as hear the Word,
(19) And the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches,
and the lusts of other things entering in,
choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful.

Again, they did not trust the Seed.
They did not trust that the Word would do for them
what the Word says it will do.
And so the world came in and replaced the Word.

There are many of us in the Body of Christ today
where the world has replaced the Word.
We may not know it because we still go to church every Sunday. We give our offerings and participate in the worship.
And so we think everything is okay.

BUT verse (23) tells us
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

Remember that one of the reasons that the Word did not produce was because there was NO ROOT in the person.
There was nothing that allowed the Word,
the Seed, to take root.
The more that you spend time in the Word,
confessing the Word, and worshiping,
you’re starting to build a place in you
where the Word can take root and then sprout out of you.
Several years ago this advertisement was placed in a New England area newspaper:
"Unknown item for sale.
We know it's valuable; we just don't know what it is.
If you can identify it, we'll sell it for $250.”

Sometimes it’s hard to decide what something is worth.
I have been told that when you’re selling something
you can ask whatever you like.
But something is only worth
what someone else is willing to pay you for it.

ILLUS: Years ago,
a man was browsing at Music City Thrift Shop Nashville.
He found an old yellowed rolled-up document that had the Declaration of Independence written on it.
It was priced at $2.48, so he bought it.
But he was curious about it because it looked so old,
and so he did some online research
and then sent it to someone he trusted to evaluate it.

It turned out to be one of the 200 “official copies”
of the Declaration that had been commissioned
by John Quincy Adams in 1820.
The firm that examined it
determined he could sell it for about $250,000

The man ended up selling it to an investment firm
for almost ½ a million dollars.
So, how much was that old yellowed scroll worth?
Well... it was worth whatever someone was willing to pay for it.

Now, here’s a question: What are YOU worth?
Jesus compared your worth to a lost sheep,
a lost coin
and a lost Son.
The Bible says you were worth so much
that God gave His only begotten Son
that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life.
That’s how much you are worth to God.
But not everybody agrees.
Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis) once said:
“In the depths of my heart
I can’t help being convinced that ALL my dear fellow-men,
with a few exceptions, are worthless.”

And in the days of Jesus,
the Pharisees would have agreed with Freud.
They often condemned Jesus for hanging out with the losers in society saying: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” Mark 2:16

And even today, there are way too many congregations
that will allow only certain kinds of folks
to come to their church buildings and sit in their pews.

So, the question today is this:
Do we agree with God (as to value of men and women)
or with Sigmund Freud?
And how do you know if you agree with God or Freud?

Well you can tell by understanding how much the lost and the struggling are worth to you.
What does this parable tell us?
Well, first – it’s telling us that the sower is doing his job.
He’s throwing the seed EVERYWHERE
and he’s doing what he’s expected to do.
He’s not wasting his time
and he’s not wasting the seed.
He’s doing his JOB!

But who’s the sower?
Who is this person in the parable
who’s throwing all that seed around?
Well, we’re not told, but I’ve got a pretty good idea.
I think it’s YOU... and it’s ME.
It’s the Preachers, the Elders, the Teachers,
and everyone else who makes up the church.
Anybody who LOVES Jesus is the sower of the seed.
So, it’s YOUR job.
And it’s MY job to sow the seed.

Some may ask: what exactly is that seed?
Well, Jesus said: “The sower sows the word.”
Verse 14 of the text.

So the seed is THE WORD. But what “word exactly?”
In Verse 17 (shortly after Jesus had been tempted in the desert by Satan) we’re told
“From that time on Jesus began to preach,
‘REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”

Later, when Scribes and Pharisees complained about Jesus eating with tax collectors,
Luke 5:32 tells us that Jesus said
“I have not come to call the righteous
but sinners to REPENTANCE.”

And when Jesus rose from the dead
he talked with a couple of men on the Road to Emmaus
and we’re told: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written,
that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that REPENTANCE and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:45-47

And then, when Peter preached his powerful sermon at Pentecost and 1000s of people were baptized into Christ,
we are told that Peter’s sermon was so powerful that the crowd asked him what they needed to do to obtain God’s forgiveness.
And do you remember what he told them?
That’s right: “REPENT and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

So, what’s the WORD? The word was REPENT!!!!
Change! Turn toward God!
Quit trying to pretend you can do your life without God!
The seed we have been asked to sow ... is REPENT!

If we don’t sow THAT seed,
if we don’t call people to repent of their sins,
then we’re not going to have the harvest Jesus called us to have.

ILLUS: There’s a magic team called Penn & Teller.
Penn Jillette is the BIG guy. He’s also an atheist.
Some time back he said this:
“I don't respect people who don't evangelize.
I don't respect that at all.
If you believe that there's a heaven and hell
and people could be going to hell
or not getting eternal life or whatever,
and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward....
How much do you have to hate somebody
to believe that everlasting life is possible
and not tell them that?”

Why did Penn say that?
Because, after a show somebody offered him a Bible
and told him about Jesus.
Penn didn’t convert to Christ at that moment
(he’s still an atheist last I knew),
but he was very gracious with that man...
because he RESPECTED a Christian
who cared that much about him
to tell him about Jesus.
He understood that if heaven and hell were real
you really had to hate someone
if you weren’t willing to tell them about Christ.

ILLUS: If you are a faithful sower of the seed –
just like the guy in Jesus’ parable –
you’re gonna be scattering the seed EVERYWHERE.

Folks, we ought to be using social media to talk about Jesus every chance we get.
We ought to be sharing videos and articles and pictures about what Jesus means to us and how important it is to place our faith in God.
It’s free, it’s easy
and it’s one of the most significant ways we can use
to “cast the seed” into the world around us.

But too often Christians don’t do stuff like that.
Too often, they’re like a farmer that walks into the field and throws a couple handfuls of seed out on the ground
and he just walks away because he thinks he’s done his job.

But you know he hasn’t.
Frankly - you haven’t done your job until you are committed to throwing as much seed on as much ground as you possibly can.
You are part of a team.
And if you don’t do your part, the team suffers;
the seed doesn’t get spread to every place it could bring a harvest;
and people that didn’t have to go to hell... go to hell.

So how much is the salvation of those around you...
worth to you?
And how determined are you to tell the lost about your Jesus?

CLOSE: I want to close with the true story of a Christian who was his honeymoon in the Bahamas.
He said a man walked up to him and said,
"Would you like to buy some cocaine?
You can tell everyone how much you really enjoyed the Bahamas."
He replied with a curt "No!"
But then he began to think about how Jesus would have responded if someone came up to him selling drugs.
Later that day, someone else came up to him selling drugs and that gave him a chance to share Jesus with them in a most creative way.

After the drug dealer told him that he had the "good-stuff,"
the Christian asked him, "What have you got?"
Once he said "Cocaine!" the Christian man said the following:
"Is that all you have?
I'm disappointed!
I was hoping you would have something better than that.

You see, I've got the real thing!
What I have is all natural, pure and very powerful.
And it makes me feel great all day and all night.
And get this, it may be illegal in some countries,
but not in this one, so you can't get arrested for having it!"

By this time the drug dealer was very curious and asked this guy... “what is this incredible "stuff" you’re was talking about?”
The Christian replied,
"I'm talking about having Jesus in your heart!
It's awesome what he will do for you
when you get him inside of you!
No drug in all the world is as good as having Jesus in you."

The man STOPPED SMILING and got this real serious look on his face and said, "I want what you have. How do I get it?"
Would you know what to tell him?
Here’s the deal.
Too often people immerse themselves in all kinds of things they consider important.
Their jobs, the political affiliations,
various forms of entertainment
or even drugs and alcohol.
But somewhere in the backs of their minds is often a feeling that this can’t be all there is to life.
Somehow what they’ve made the focus of their lives isn’t quite as satisfying as they once thought it would be.
If you listen to them closely you can hear their dissatisfaction.
It’s at times like these that you have the opportunity to talk to them about that which can really satisfy.
It’s at times like these that you can make them hunger and thirst for Jesus.
Times when you can convince them Jesus is better than anything they’ve ever had.
Those are the times to cast the seed.

INVITATION

Philippians 3:13-14

INTRO: Good morning church. I hope everyone had a wonderful time this holiday. I thought I’d start this morning with a story about a Sunday school teacher in a community church who had been telling her class about the Birth of Jesus. The teacher then asked, "Who do you think the most important woman in the Bible is?” Little Johnny raised his hand and said, “Eve.”
Surprised the teacher asked him why he thought Eve was the most important woman in the Bible. Johnny replied, “Well, they named two days of the year after Eve. You know, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.”

Turn in your Bibles with me this morning to the book of Philippians. What do you think about when you think of New Year’s Eve? That is, what does New Year’s Eve mean to you? Well today is New Year's Eve, and I invite you to open your bibles to Philippians 3:13-14 as we contemplate New Year's Eve.

The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, and he's writing about his own past. Paul writes, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

As we know, the Apostle Paul had a past that was dismal in comparison to a lot of the pasts that we who are here this morning have. In fact, I would dare say that most of us have a relatively timid and tame past compared to the Apostle Paul.

Paul was one of the men at the stoning of Stephen, and they laid their garments at his feet, then picked up rocks and killed Stephen as he was preaching about Jesus Christ. In 1st Timothy 1:13 Paul in describing his own behavior, said, “… I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man;…” Then he says, “but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

Paul also writes in 1st Corinthians 15:9 – “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

And in Galatians 1:13 Paul writes, “For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.”

We hear about people today who do some horrible things to churches, and we just shake our heads in disbelief that someone would do that. Yet, here is Paul, openly confessing that at one point in his life that was exactly who he was, a man who tried to destroy the church.

It would have been very easy for Paul to wallow in self-pity and to think about how terrible his life had been and how awful he was to people who he now called brothers and sisters. No doubt that plagued his mind at times and he did write about it on occasion, but Jesus helped him to overcome all these things of his past.

He became a very powerful gospel preacher, and wrote numerous letters to congregations. We now have those letters as several books in the New Testament. We can turn to those for solace and comfort in times of difficulty and trouble, precisely because the Apostle Paul had those experiences.

When Paul wrote those words in Philippians 3:13-14, I strongly suspect he was thinking about all the things that had happened in his past. Paul says, “… forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Those words should be a wonderful encouragement to everyone. Let them be the guide for our thoughts on this New Year's Eve morning.

Looking at Paul’s words, I find three things I would like us to consider. First, I'm going to forget the things that are behind me. Second, I'm going to reach forward to the things that are ahead. Third, I am going to press toward the goal. Let’s take these one at a time and think about how we can accomplish them.

I. First, on New Year's Eve, I will forget the things which are behind me.

A. When Paul said forget, he didn't mean to forget everything. Obviously, he didn't forget everything literally. We in fact don't forget the negative events in our life. They continue to haunt us from time to time.

1. David certainly did not forget his sin with Bathsheba. He wrote about his repentance in Psalm 51.
2. Moses didn't forget the sins of the people wandering in the wilderness. He wrote about that in Psalm 90.
3. We use these past experiences to learn so that we can grow.

B. When Paul says forgetting about the things which are behind, what does he mean by that? I suggest He means that I forget, in the sense that I stop letting those things affect my identity. That is, I'm not going to let my past define me. That's not going to be who I am.
C. Instead, I am going to be defined in the present, and in the future, with the identity of Jesus Christ.

1. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” That's my identity as a Christian.
2. I could point to numerous things within my own past and say; look at this horrible thing that I did. Look at this terrible deed I had committed. Look at all these horrible things that I said… and all of that could be brought against me.

a. I have no doubt Satan wants me to bring up those things and wants to bring them against me. He is the great accuser, after all.
b. Jesus Christ does not want me to identify with those things because He knows that I am something greater than the past sins that I have committed.
c. In fact, I am a person made in the image of God and redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. That is what defines me today.

3. That is why the apostle Paul writes and understood very well what he was writing because of his own past, when he said in 2nd Corinthians 5:16-17, “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

a. How fantastic it is to understand that I am a new creation in Christ and that my old sins do not identify me, but rather that Christ is my identity, forgetting the things which are behind.
b. When we are forgiven, God forgets those past things. We don't. We tend to hang on to them. Occasionally we'll slip into a pity party and moan and groan about our past. God doesn't do that. He forgets the things that are forgiven. In Psalm 103:12, the Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
c. In Jeremiah 31:34, it says, “No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, `Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,'' says the Lord. "For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.''” God forgets the forgiven past.
d. “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19.
4. God does not hold those things against the forgiven Christian, though we often hold them against ourselves.

D. On this New Year’s Eve, let us resolve to leave the past in the past and forget the things which are behind by not letting those things create our identity. Let us do as Paul says, and as we forget the things that are behind, we also should look forward to what is ahead of us.

II. Second, on New Year’s Eve – I will reach forward to the things that are ahead.

A. Forgiveness enables us to go forward. If we didn't have forgiveness, we would be weighed down by our sins, and there wouldn't be anything that we could do about that. There would never be any hope for us… if we did not have forgiveness.

1. As Christians we do have forgiveness, and because we have forgiveness our identity isn't tied to our past. We can look forward to the things that are ahead. With forgiveness, we have a clean slate.
2. I’m sure when you were in school you would have had a chalkboard or a whiteboard. We would take chalk, and write on the chalkboard, or would take a marker and write on the whiteboard. After a while, and all that writing, the whiteboard would get kind of dark. The blackboard or chalkboard would look a little gray.
3. You could tell that it had been used repeatedly because of the tint of the board. Then we would have to clean those boards. They would get so dirty. We would take a sponge and clean water to wash the chalkboard or a special cleaning fluid to clean the whiteboard and then wipe it down. I remember the whiteboards would look brand new after cleaning and you couldn't tell that anything had ever been written on it.
4. At that point, it was a clean slate, as we like to say, perfectly clean, like new. Maybe some of teachers have come back from summer break and seen how clean and spotless the blackboards or whiteboards are. If they could only stay that way.

B. With God, we can stay that way. With forgiveness, we have a clean slate, and it stays clean. It's like that clean water or special cleaning fluid I talked about, metaphorically speaking. It's the blood of Christ, non-metaphorically speaking, that cleanses our sins and wipes them away completely and entirely so that we have a fresh, clean, new start.

1. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalm 32:1-2.
2. Romans 4:7-8 says it this way “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” … Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute sin. What does this mean?

C. It means we can start fresh without the guilt of our sin holding us back. We can reach forward to engage in the mission that Christ has called us to—to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10.

1. Jesus wants us to focus on that mission; “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you”. Matthew 28:18-20
2. But how can I do that when I have such a horrible past? How can I do that when I've committed so many sins? You can do it because God says you're forgiven and we can go forward.
3. Oh, but they'll think I'm a hypocrite. Folks, it doesn't matter what they think. God says you're forgiven. That means we can engage in the work that God has called us to do without reservation. It doesn't matter what other people think. It only matters what God thinks.
4. God wants us to engage in the work to fulfill the mission, to make disciples of all nations, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15-16.

D. We reach forward in the fellowship and the unity that we have together with one another in the body of Christ, which is the church of Jesus Christ.

1. Why do we engage in the mission of evangelism? To bring others into the body of Christ so that they may have the wonderful blessings we experience as well. The fellowship that we have with God, with Christ, and with one another.
2. This is the Paul's point in Ephesians 2:11f when he says, “11. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands 12. that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” We've been brought near, to fellowship with God's people, for He is our peace.
3. Verse 14f, “14. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, 15. having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,” What is Paul saying here? He's saying at one time God only worked with the nation of Israel and that was His primary focus.
4. He had a covenant relationship with that nation, but He didn't have such a relationship with all the other nations. Then in Christ, all the other nations, the Gentile nations have been brought near to the covenant relationship that God had with Israel through Abraham.
5. It's no longer the case that physical Israel is God's chosen special people, but anyone who through faith and obedience, would come to Christ, accept the purchase of their souls by the blood of Christ, be baptized into Him, identify with Him… they can come near as well. They can be reconciled. He's made peace, you see, with all of these.

E. God wants everyone to have peace with Him. He wants everyone to be part of the body of Christ, so that we would no longer be strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.
F. What then is our task as we reach forward?

1. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians wrote, 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 – “6. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building.”
2. They were one in mutual love and respect for each other, one in purpose, one in status as God's servants, and one in their reliance upon the Lord who would reward both.
3. Between us we have the work of visiting, giving, preaching, encouraging, uplifting , helping each other grow in knowledge and understanding, and countless other jobs to make sure the church and its work is successful. For that to happen we first must all work together and each do what we can to help.

G. On this New Year’s Eve, let us resolve to reach forward to the things that are ahead, engaging in the mission that Christ has brought for us to do and engaging in the fellowship that He wants us to participate in. As we are busy doing God’s will, what He has for us to do, we also should look forward to what is ahead.

III. Third, on New Year’s Eve – I will press toward the goal.

A. We all have a common destiny. In 1st Peter 1:3-5 Peter talks about this destiny. He says, “3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4. to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5. who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

1. What is that common destiny? It's this inheritance, this incorruptible inheritance. It's this place that does not fade away.
2. It's this hope of being in heaven together forever with God and Christ and all the saints.

B. Paul writes about this destination in 1st Thessalonians 4:13f, “13. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”  We have a great destiny awaiting us, and we press toward the goal of that wonderful destiny.

1. This common destiny encourages us to keep going forward toward that goal, and it should motivate us to encourage others as well.
2. Look at 2nd Corinthians 4:16-18 for example and think about the great encouragement that we have here. “16. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
3. “the inward man is renewed day by day …” A Christian is not overly disturbed by the erosion and decay of physical life, because their soul is feasting upon that Bread which came down from heaven, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Our inner spiritual life, which is the glory of the "new creature" in Christ, does not diminish or fade. For those who are without this treasure, the decay of the outward is the decay of everything.
4. When Paul writes “our light affliction” this cannot mean, literally, that they are in any sense "light"; except IN COMPARISON with the ultimate glory of Christians, they are light.
5. We have working for us a far more enduring weight of glory, and that's what we're waiting for. That's what we're anticipating, that's what we're hoping for. That's what encourages us to continue to move forward.

C. The apostle Paul, after talking about the resurrection in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 talks about the wonderful spiritual body that we're going to have when Christ comes back again. He talks of the fact that Christ was raised from the dead and is the first fruits of our expectation of being raised from the dead as well. He ends that chapter talking about how Christ has overcome death with victory, and that we have that victory.

1. Then he says this, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain...” 1st Corinthians 15:58. We press toward the goal because we anticipate the second coming of Jesus.
2. I notice in 1st Thessalonians 5:4f “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” He continues, “6. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10. who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.”

D. We anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ. We look for it. We expect it. In it we have placed all of our hope. On this New Year’s Eve, let each of us resolve to press on toward the goal.

CONCLUSION:
The Apostle Paul's words in Philippians 3:13-14 are so full of meaning. Precisely because Paul had a past, a very serious past, and because he had been forgiven of his sins, he could press forward to those things that are ahead, he could press toward the goal.

Brethren, he says, “I do not count myself to have apprehended but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to the things that are ahead, I press toward the goal of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Let's resolve to do that very thing on this New Year's Eve.

Forget the things that are behind. Do not let those things identify you.
Reach forward to the things that are ahead, focusing on the mission that Christ has called us to, focusing on the fellowship that He wants us to engage in and pressing toward the goal, letting the hope of heaven and the resurrection inspire and motivate us to move forward into this New Year, unabated by the cares and difficulties of the past, with confidence… and joy… and peace… and love for one another.

Do you need the forgiveness that only Christ can give?

Do you need the hope of a wonderful future unburdened by the sins of your past?

Then why not identify with Christ today?

Become His by hearing His word and believing it, repenting of your sins, confessing Him as Lord and being baptized to identify with Him and have your sins forgiven.

Having done that, you too can reach forward as you go into this New Year.

I couldn't think of a better way for someone to put behind the old year and to start the New Year than by identifying with Christ Jesus in baptism.
If you need to do that, we stand ready to help you.

If you need the prayers of the church to put aside those old past sins and to reach forward toward that which is new, then now is a good time to ask for those prayers as well.

We will pray with you and for you that the old things can be put away, because Christ makes all things new. Why not give your life to him today while we stand and while we sing?
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Reference Sermon by: Kevin Cauley

THE SACRIFICES WE MAKE
Matthew 2:13 – 15

There was a Christmas play where a little boy desperately wanted to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out,
his biggest rival was given that part,
and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead.
He was really bitter about this.
So, during all the rehearsals
he kept plotting in his mind what he might do to get even with his rival who was Joseph. Finally, the night of the performance,
Mary and Joseph walked across the stage.
They knocked on the door of the inn,
and the inn-keeper opened the door and asked them what they wanted. Joseph answered,
“We’d like to have a room for the night.”
Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door open wide and said, “Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house.”
WHAT!!! THAT WASN’T IN THE SCRIPT
For a few long seconds poor little Joseph didn’t know what to do. Then finally, an idea occurred to him.
He pretended to look inside “the inn” and then –
turning to Mary he said:
“No wife of mine is going to stay in dump like this.
Come on, Mary, let’s go to the barn.”
Now, did Joseph ever say anything like that in the Gospels? NO! In fact I’ve done a study on the nativity stories in Matthew and Luke, and I found that Joseph never said anything, anywhere in the Gospels. Not a single word.
In Matthew 1:18-24 we’re told:
“Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man
and did not want to expose her to public disgrace,
he may have had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son,
and you are to give him the name Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—
which means, ‘God with us.'
When Joseph woke up,
he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.” Matthew 1:24

JOSEPH NEVER SAID A WORD.
He simply obeyed God and took Mary to be his wife.
In Matthew 2:13-15 we’re told that “When (the Wisemen) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.
"Get up," he said,
"take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.
Stay there until I tell you,
for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
So, he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.” Matthew 2:15
AGAIN, JOSEPH NEVER SAYS A WORD.
He simply obeyed God and went to Egypt.

Then, in Matthew 2:22 we read
“When he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there,
and being warned in a dream
he withdrew to the district of Galilee.” Matthew 2:22
AGAIN, JOSEPH NEVER SAYS A WORD.
He simply obeyed God and went to Nazareth.

Joseph was kind of like the “silent partner” in the story.
He never speaks up, never complains.
He just does what he’s told.
And you gotta believe that couldn’t have been easy.

One preacher put it this way:
Joseph didn’t expect to raise a boy that he actually wasn’t the father of. He didn’t expect to be traipsing around countryside on the run from Herod’s soldiers.
He didn’t expect to live in Egypt.
And he didn’t expect to be responsible for the training and protection of Son of God.

I mean, before Mary got pregnant, his future was predictable.
He was a skilled craftsman…
known for his honesty & righteousness.
He knew what to do and when to do it.
His life was comfortable.
He did not have the typical 9 to 5 workday, but his town and his family would support him as he did what husbands and fathers were supposed to do.

He was just an ordinary guy, from an ordinary family,
living in an ordinary town, with an ordinary job.
BUT THEN JESUS CAME ALONG
and life got complicated real quick.
For the next 5 years his family was constantly on the move.

In Bethlehem they ended up staying in seclusion;
then they probably lived with relatives for a couple years.
Then Joseph had to take his family into a foreign country for about 2 years.
And if Herod ever found them… well,
that would not have been a good thing!
When Joseph proposed to Mary…
that wasn’t what he signed up for.
But because of Jesus,
Joseph’s life became unpredictable and confusing.
He literally SACRIFICED his future for Jesus!

The question is: was it worth it for Joseph to do that?
Was it worth it for him to sacrifice his future for Jesus?
Well… yeah! First, God knew Joseph by name.
Joseph may not have said much
but God mentioned Joseph’s name about 15xs in the Gospels.

And every time the story of Jesus’ birth is told… there’s Joseph; And God tells us “Joseph (Mary’s) husband was a righteous man…” (Matthew 1:19).

Not many men are called righteous men in Scripture:
in a brief search I only found 3 men who were called
“righteous men”: Abel, Noah, Abraham… that’s about it.

Joseph was one of a very select group of men that God wanted you and I to know about… because they were righteous.
God was saying – “Try to be like these guys
because those men are the kind who impresses Me!”;

so Joseph was a “righteous man” - and that’s probably why God chose him to be the earthly step-father for Jesus.
God knew Joseph could be trusted to do what God wanted done. God spoke, and Joseph obeyed;
and lastly, God supplied for Joseph’s needs.

When Joseph and Mary had to go down into Egypt…
a journey of about 430 miles.
And God supplied financial help they needed to survive –
the Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

As Psalm 34:19 says “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”

So, it WAS worth it for Joseph to go through all he did to be used by God. But – make no mistake –
Joseph sacrificed because Jesus was in his life.
AND let’s face it, everybody that Jesus touches…
is called to sacrifice.

Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

If Jesus is IN our lives, we are called to a life of sacrifice –
to DENY ourselves; to PICK UP OUR CROSS every day;
and to FOLLOW JESUS!
In fact, Jesus said
“Whoever does NOT take his cross and follow me
is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 10:38-39

WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! Jesus calls me to “a life of sacrifice” for Him? What’s that all about?
Well it’s ALL about the difference between worldly thinking…and Jesus thinking!
ILLUS: Someone once noted that there used to be bumper stickers with the words:
‘Drive carefully – the life you save may be your own.’
And that is the wisdom of men in a nutshell.

By contrast God says, ‘The life you save is the life you lose.’
The life you clutch, hoard, guard, and play safe with
is in the end a life worth very little to anybody,
including yourself;
and only a life given away for love’s sake is a life worth living.”

Sigmund Freud once said “In the depths of my heart I can’t help being convinced that my dear fellow-men,
with a few exceptions, are worthless.”
And what Jesus is saying is:
“I’m calling you to be one of those ‘exceptions.’
I’m calling you (Jesus says) NOT to be worthless,
but to be FILLED WITH WORTH!

Now, here’s the deal – you and I - our lives have a plan!
When you became a Christian,
you signed on to being used by God.
So now you and I have a purpose in our lives.
Our lives have meaning and value…
because God has given us purpose.

Ephesians 2:10 “We are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.”

When you first became a Christian,
God started working on you (we’re His workmanship).
God created you in Christ Jesus to do good works that He had prepared beforehand JUST FOR YOU to walk in them.
That means we’ve got a reason to get up in the morning.
We have something important to do for God.
We are valuable to God.

Earlier in the sermon I listed some of the important sacrifices that Joseph made when Jesus came into his life.
But what’s interesting about Joseph’s story is…
he never complained!
God spoke, Joseph listened… and then Joseph obeyed.

His whole life was turned upside down,
but he simply trusted and obeyed.

The Wisemen left their homes and families and traveled several hundred miles to a foreign country.
It would have been so much easier for them to send a letter of congratulations;
The shepherds left their flocks and traveled several miles on foot to find Jesus.
And yet, none of these folks ever complained. Why not?

ILLUS: Have you ever seen a man and woman who are in love with each other?
They sacrifice all kinds of time just to be with the one they love. They’ll sacrifice all kinds of money to buy things for that person. If they can make something with their hands…
they spend hours creating something special just for that person.

And yet, if you were to ask them about their SACRIFICES
they’d be shocked!
They didn’t view the time and the money and effort as being a sacrifice - they saw them as gifts of love.

But on the other hand –
if they DIDN’T SACRIFICE that time, money,
or effort for that “special someone” –
if they viewed their efforts as a burden or an obligation –
you might get the impression that they didn’t actually love that person.

Do you remember after Jesus rose from the dead
he sat down to eat with His disciples?
John 21:15-17
Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John,
do you love me …?’
And Peter said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’
And Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’’

Jesus said to him a second time,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Peter said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."
And Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep."

Jesus said to him the third time,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me?"
Peter replied: "Lord, you know everything;
you know that I love you."
And Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.”

Feed my sheep!
Take care of my sheep!
And that’s exactly what Peter did.
From that day on, Peter was on-fire for Jesus,
and he sacrificed the rest of his life to serving Jesus and taking care of His sheep.

But I doubt he’d have seen his efforts as being a sacrifice,
an obligation, or a burden.
Peter did what he did because…he loved Jesus.

DO YOU LOVE ME? Jesus had asked.

CLOSE: We may often ask ourselves…
What have I sacrificed for Jesus?

But this morning I’m going to ask you to imagine Jesus asking you: Do you love Me?
And if you say yes, imagine Jesus saying:
If you love me feed my lambs;
tend to my sheep;
feed my sheep.
If you love me, do whatever you’ve gotta do to take care of my church - my people… IF you love me.

LLUS: The story is told that, during World War II,
a building in Strasbourg France was destroyed by bombings.
After the attack, the members of that town took stock of the damage.
One of the great sources of pride for that area had been a statue of Christ which had been sculpted by a great artist centuries before.
It was a beautiful work of art.
It showed Jesus standing in front of you with his hands stretched out. And the statue was still intact… except for one thing.
When the bombs fell, a beam from the ceiling fell and sheared off Jesus’ hands.

There was another sculptor in Strasbourg who heard of that damage and said he could repair the broken hands as a gift to the village.
The area leaders met to consider the offer and decided…
not to accept.
They felt the statue without its hands would remind them that EACH ONE of them INDIVIDUALLY were hands of Christ,
and that Jesus expected His work to be done through them –
His people.

INVITATION

Sermon Contributor: Jeff Strite

TEXT: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:21-23, 2:1-15; Luke 2:8-20

This time of year brings the question : WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR?
We ask children, grandchildren, spouses, and friends to give us a list of items they might like for Christmas.
I would like to start my lesson this morning by asking you ….
if you could ask for just one thing this year …
no matter the cost…
what would it be?

I decided to look on the internet for some “EXPENSIVE” gift ideas
and this is some of the things I came up with…

• Your Own Private Islands
• A Luxurious London Mansion
• A Trip To Near Space
• A NEW CAR of your choice
• 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO
• All Expense Paid Vacation All Around the World
• Neiman Marcus Limited Edition Motorcycle
• Viktor&Rolf Perfume
• Lange 1 Tourbillon 25th Anniversary Watch
• The World’s Most Expensive Bottle Of Wine
• ETC

I WILL GIVE YOU MY ANSWER AT THE CONCLUSION OF TODAY’s LESSON 😊

I’m sure that as you look around this week
you will see more & more signs of Christmas rapidly approaching.
And what I want us to consider this morning is–
“Signs sent by God.”

The Bible contains numerous passages that are signs from God. These signs can take various forms and are often seen as a means through which God communicates with humanity.
Here are some examples:

1. Natural Phenomena: The Bible describes instances where God uses natural events to convey messages.
For example, the parting of the Red Sea during the exodus of the Israelites is seen as a miraculous sign
(Exodus 14:21-22).
2. Dreams and Visions: God communicates with individuals through dreams and visions.
In the Old Testament, Joseph and Daniel are known for interpreting dreams,
and in the New Testament, Joseph (the husband of Mary) receives messages from God in dreams.
3. Miracles: Miracles, such as the healing of the sick,
raising the dead, and turning water into wine,
are often considered signs of God's intervention
and there were miracles performed by Jesus in the New
Testament).
4. Prophecy: The fulfillment of prophecies is often seen as a sign of God's guidance and involvement.
The Old Testament contains numerous prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.
5. Symbolic Acts: God sometimes instructs individuals to perform symbolic acts to communicate a message.
For example, the prophet Hosea marrying a prostitute is considered a symbolic act representing God's relationship with an unfaithful Israel (Hosea 1:2-3).
6. Burning Bush: In the book of Exodus, God appears to Moses in the form of a burning bush, which is not consumed by the fire. This is considered a significant sign, and God speaks to Moses from the bush (Exodus 3:1-4).
7. Pillar of Cloud and Fire: During the exodus, God led the Israelites with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, symbolizing His presence and guidance (Exodus 13:21-22).

God was in the business of providing signs from the very beginning.
After the flood, when the rainbow appeared,
God told Noah it was a sign that He would not flood the entire earth like that again.
So, whenever we see a rainbow, that sign reminds us of His promise.
Through Moses & Aaron
God gave very dramatic signs to Pharaoh to force him to set the Israelites free.
And in the wilderness during the next 40 years God provided multiple signs of His power
and His guidance
& of His love for His people.

I. PROPHECY
A. He gave the Prophets (& later the Apostles) the ability to perform signs & wonders.
Since God is in the business of giving people signs,
it makes sense that he would give a sign when it came to the most important birth in human history.

Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child & will give birth to a son, & will call him Immanuel."

A prophecy is a foretelling of a future event.
The Prophet was given insight regarding something previously unknown.
The fulfillment of prophecy would be proof & a sign that God could be believed & trusted.
Sometimes a prophecy was fulfilled soon after it was made.

Sometimes the fulfillment was hundreds of years later,
like this one. This prophecy was written 700 years before it was fulfilled.

B. We are familiar with the angel telling Mary what was going to happen, & her response.
But when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant,
he thought she had been unfaithful to him.
Then an angel appeared to him, assuring him that Mary had done no wrong.

Matt. 1:21-23 tells us the angel told Joseph, "She will give birth to a son, & you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child & will give birth to a son, & they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us”.

So, both Mary & Joseph received signs that confirmed what they were told.
There are other prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus.
When the Magi came to King Herod,
they told him they were there to worship the newborn king.
This disturbed Herod, so he asked the chief priests & teachers of the law where the Christ was to be born.
Matt. 2:5-6, “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied,
“for this is what the prophet has written:
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
This prophecy is from Micah 5:2.

Interestingly, there's an added line at the end of this verse in Micah that reads, "whose origins are from old, from ancient times."
Some translations have, 'from eternity' or 'from everlasting' which raises the question,
“How could there be someone coming in the future who has ancient origins?”

But it makes sense when you're talking about Jesus.
His birth was not his beginning.
It was his beginning in human form,
but Jesus existed long prior - from the very beginning.

It set out the odds of any one man in history fulfilling even 8 of the 60 major prophecies fulfilled by the life of Jesus.
The probability that Jesus could have fulfilled even 8 such prophecies would be 1 in 100 quadrillions (100,000,000,000,000,000).
That's 1 with 17 zeros after it.
It has been estimated that if you had that many silver dollars it would be enough to cover the face of the entire state of Texas two feet deep.

A mathematician satated, "I've been to Texas. Who in his right mind would suppose that a blindfolded man, heading out of Dallas by foot in any direction, would be able,
on his very first attempt, to pick up one specifically marked silver dollar out of that many?"

So, I think that would confirm it. The signs are there to provide the evidence that Jesus is the only one who could be the fulfillment of prophecy.

II. THE BABY IN THE MANGER
Luke 2:8-20 says, "There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
An angel of the Lord appeared to them,
& the glory of the Lord shone around them,
& they were terrified.

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;
he is Christ the Lord.
“This will be a sign to you:
You will find a baby wrapped in cloths & lying in a manger” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God & saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
& on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

“When the angels had left them & gone into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem & see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off & found Mary & Joseph, & the baby,
who was lying in the manger.
“When they had seen him,
they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, & all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
But Mary treasured up all these things & pondered them in her heart.

“The shepherds returned, glorifying & praising God for all the things they had heard & seen, which were just as they had been told."

A. We see their first reaction was fear. Not fear over the announcement but fear over the angels appearing.
In fact, it says the shepherds were terrified. The way the Greek reads it signifies being seized with a mixture of reverent fear & awe.
And who wouldn't be?
it's not like angelic appearances were commonplace.
In fact, God had pretty much been silent for the previous 400 years, so I'm sure this came as quite a shock to them.

Not only because of what they were seeing but also because it was happening to them.
Shepherds were certainly not considered to be in the upper echelon of society.
An angelic appearance would've been expected to happen to the religious leaders but not to a bunch of shepherds.
This was the greatest announcement in the history of mankind, & it was given to those least likely to receive it.

The angel calms them down & tells them not to be afraid.
He gives them the good news.
"A Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

That's the good news that will turn our fear - fear of trouble,
fear of the unknown, fear of death into joy –
joy of salvation, joy of the presence & power of the Lord,
joy of a future inheritance in heaven.

B. Then we see that the angels gave the shepherds a sign.
They would find a baby wrapped in cloths & lying in a manger. That would be a distinct sign.
You wouldn't normally find a newborn in a smelly stable.
So this sign would be unmistakable.

God is in the business of providing unmistakable signs. Unfortunately, some people pass God's signs off as just some weird coincidence.
But the shepherds didn't do that.
They believed & were excited.
"Let's go to Bethlehem & see this thing that has happened ".

Notice they didn't say, 'let's go see if it's true'.
They said, 'this thing that has happened'.
They didn't need the sign to believe.
The sign was a confirmation.
You'll see this principle in other places.
When the disciples asked Jesus for a sign,
it was to understand something,
or to know what to look for regarding what they would experience.

The religious leaders asked for signs out of skepticism & unbelief. Asking for a sign when we need clarification is one thing,
but demanding a sign in order for God to prove Himself is not good.
There are many examples of religious leaders who asked for signs out of skepticism and unbelief,
but here are some of the most prominent ones:

• Pharisees and Sadducees: These were two rival sects of Judaism in the first century AD.
They often challenged Jesus with questions that tested his authority and knowledge of God’s will.
For example, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven, to interpret the law, to predict the future, and to reveal his relationship with God .
They did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah or the Son of God,
but rather as a clever teacher or a false prophet.

• Satan: He is the enemy of God and his people, and he tries to deceive them with lies and temptations.
  He is also called the accuser, the deceiver, the dragon, and the devil.
  He asked Jesus for a sign when he tempted him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11).

• Judas Iscariot: He was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, but he betrayed him for thirty pieces of silver.
He was motivated by greed and hypocrisy, rather than by love or faith.
He asked Jesus for a sign when he agreed to hand him over to the Jewish authorities (Matthew 26:14-16).
He did not care about Jesus’ mission or message, but only about his own gain.

These are just some examples of biblical religious leaders who asked for signs out of skepticism and unbelief.

They all faced different consequences for their actions:
some were rebuked by Jesus (Matthew 16:6),
Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

some were rejected by God (Matthew 26:24),
The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

and some were destroyed by Satan (Revelation 12:10).
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.

We can learn from their mistakes and avoid falling into their traps.
We can trust in Jesus’ words and deeds as sufficient signs of his identity and authority.
We can also examine our own hearts and motives when we ask for signs or doubt God’s promises.
Do we seek God out of love or fear?
Do we believe in Jesus as the Son of God?
Do we follow him with faithfulness or disobedience?

The shepherds believed the angel,
followed the sign & saw the evidence.
Because they did this,
they experienced a joyous event
that undoubtedly changed their lives forever.
Those who ignore the signs miss out on the joy that would change their lives forever too.

ILL. Someone once said, “Although there is truly nothing more desirable than knowing Christ, many people just can’t see it. Their eyes haven’t been opened.
They look into the manger, & they don’t see a king.
They don’t see the Savior of the World.
They don’t see “the Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace”.

All they can see is a baby, an ordinary human being.
And so, they pass by the child in the manger
& instead seek after the presents.

Going back to the question asked in the beginning of the lesson today…
What one gift would ask from GOD?

INVITATION: Which do you value more,
the toys & trinkets of this life
that will eventually crumble into dust,
or a relationship with Jesus Christ that will last forever?
Do you want to find what you're looking for?
Follow the signs to Jesus.