Chardon church of Christ

The Reality of Jesus

The Reality of Jesus 

Luke 21:1-12

Let me start out with a riddle ~~

A man lives on the 10th floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator down to the ground floor in order to leave the building. When he returns home he takes the elevator to the 6th floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He does this everyday, unless it’s raining. If it rains, he rides the elevator all the way to the 10th floor. Why does he do this? (the reason the man would only go the 6th floor on his return home, was because that was the highest button he could reach on the elevator control panel. He was a short man. On days that it rained, he had his umbrella with him, so he could use the umbrella to punch the button that indicated his floor.)

OR, A man rode into town on Friday. He stayed for three nights and then left on Friday. How is that possible? (The man’s horse was called Friday.)

Mr. Black asks for tea and gets $5,000. Then he asks for eyes, but Mrs. White can’t give him any. Who is Mr. Black and what is Mr. Black doing? (Mr. Black is a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune.)

Did you ever play those kind of mind games. Some of you will sit and contemplate possibilities for hours in order to figure them out, others will simply wonder who thought this up. It is called “Lateral Thinking.”

Let’s try one more. On Friday night, a man dies. He’s buried that same night. On Sunday morning, His friends arrive at the grave, only to discover His body is gone. What happened?

One of the problems of Jesus’ resurrection, is that some people try to make sense out of everything that happened. They try to understand exactly how Jesus could die and then come back to life again.

Does it make sense that a man can be dead for 3 days and come back to life? No, it doesn’t make any sense.

But, let me ask you, how much of life makes sense? Look at the headlines over the past months and how our “regular DAILY ROUTINES” have dramatically CHANGED.

Do you wonder, where is God in all of this? What’s His will? What do we, who claim to confront death with a different heart, a Christ-centered heart, think and more importantly, what is it we do?

What do we make of it all?

Lots of questions, and sometimes, not a lot of answers.

Yet, there is one answer I do have for you. It is the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

All over the world people are celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, alive forevermore!

This is something we do EVERY Sunday as we gather around the Lord's Table. Every time we take the bread & drink the cup, we proclaim, “I know, I know that Redeemer Lives, I know I know Eternal Life he gives.”

So we serve a risen Savior, & we look forward to that day when we shall stand with Him in a glorious heavenly home which He has prepared for all who have loved & served Him.

We treasure the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day ... and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

You know, as much as I love life, I too, long for the day when we shall see Him, & be with Him, & with all those people of God who have gone on before.

In preparing this sermon, as I remembered some of the people & events of the past, for some reason my thoughts went back to a time when my family was on vacation in Disneyworld.

I can also remember thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice if time could stand still - if we could stay exactly as we are & remain as happy as we are right now?"

But, of course, that didn't happen. In fact, it would be useless even to wish for that, because we can't stop the inevitable.

The chief priests & Pharisees found that out. After they had crucified Jesus they came to Pilate, & Matthew 27:63-66 tells us, 'Sir' they said, 'We remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After 3 days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day.

'Otherwise, his disciples may come & steal the body & tell the people that He has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.'

'Take a guard,’ Pilate answered, ‘Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.’ So they went & made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone & posting the guard.

I don't know if you see the humor in that, but I think God did. Can't you just see the hosts of heaven looking down, watching the priests & Pharisees issuing orders, & those soldiers grunting & straining to roll the stone into place, putting the seal of Rome on it, & then standing guard to make sure that nothing happened?

It’s Friday
Jesus is praying
Peter’s a sleeping
Judas is betraying
But Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
Pilate’s struggling
The council is conspiring
The crowd is vilifying
They don’t even know
That Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The disciples are running
Like sheep without a shepherd
Mary’s crying
Peter is denying
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s a comin’

It’s Friday
The Romans beat my Jesus
They robe him in scarlet
They crown him with thorns
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
See Jesus walking to Calvary
His blood dripping
His body stumbling
And his spirit’s burdened
But you see, it’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The world’s winning
People are sinning
And evil’s grinning

It’s Friday
The soldiers nail my Savior’s hands
To the cross
They nail my Savior’s feet
To the cross
And then they raise him up
Next to criminals

It’s Friday
But let me tell you something
Sunday’s comin’

It’s Friday
The earth trembles
The sky grows dark
My King yields his spirit

It’s Friday
Jesus is buried
A soldier stands guard
And a rock is rolled into place

But it’s Friday
It is only Friday
Sunday is a comin’!

Can you imagine the God who put the sun into space being thwarted by a mere stone in front of a tomb? Can you imagine the God who created the power of the atom being stopped by a few Roman soldiers armed with swords & spears?

Matthew 28:2-4 says, "There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven &, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone & sat on it.

“His appearance was like lightning, & his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook & became like dead men."

What a scene! God spoke, & instantly an angel descends, the earth shakes, the stone rolls away, & the soldiers are paralyzed with fear.

The stone was only rolled away so that those coming could see in not for Jesus to get out. He was no longer in there anyway.

You see, the chief priest & Pharisees were trying to seal up the Son of God. But there was no way that they could succeed in doing that.

But sometimes it almost seems as if we, too, are trying to seal up Jesus. We put Him in a little corner of our life & say, "Lord, you're welcome to stay, but please don't try to change the way I think or act or speak. Just stay in your corner & everything will be fine."

PROP. But we dare not forget that this life is a preparation for eternity - an eternity in which we will be among the saved or the lost forever.

THE RESURRECTION PROCLAIMS THE POWER OF GOD

The message of this Sunday is that soldiers & seals & stones can never stop the plan of God. God marches on & His plan will be accomplished. We believe that because the tomb is empty & because Jesus Christ is alive.

I wasn't there. I didn't see what happened. But I believe in the resurrection with all my heart.

ILL. I wasn't there when the Germans surrendered in WW 2 either. But I believe we won & I have two good reasons for believing that.

First of all, through the years I have seen & heard the testimony of those who were there. They fought the battles. They won the victory, & they passed the good news on. But I also believe because I realize that if we had not won that war our world would be greatly different today. We would not be a free country. Our nation would be vastly different if Germany had won.

I wasn't there when Jesus rose from the dead. But I believe it with all my heart, & I have two good reasons for believing that He arose.

First of all, I believe in the resurrection because eyewitnesses have told us that it is true.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 the Apostle Paul wrote, “For what I received I passed on to you... that Christ died for our sins ..., that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day ..., & that He appeared to Peter & then to the Twelve.

“After that He appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time. . . Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles, & last of all He appeared to me also....”

I believe it because the Apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:1-2, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched – this we proclaim. . .”

In other words, the apostle John is saying, "I want to tell you what we saw, what we felt, what we experienced. I want to tell you about Jesus."

SUM: I believe that Jesus rose from the dead because reliable people who saw what happened passed it on.

But maybe more important than that, I believe it because our world is greatly different because Jesus is alive.

In 1 Corinthians 15:14 Paul wrote, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”

ILL. Did you ever see the cartoon of two Roman soldiers standing by the empty tomb? The stone was rolled away & one soldier was looking very worried because they had failed in their responsibility. But the other one shrugged & said, "Don't worry about it. A hundred years from now, no one will remember."

But a hundred years went by & people still remembered. And now, some 2,000 years later, God's people still gather & remember. And if the Lord tarries another 2,000 years, God's people will still be meeting to remember, because Jesus is alive!

And in the lives of those who belong to Him, sin & death have been conquered & the victory has been won. Our world is different because Jesus is alive!

THE RESURRECTION CHANGES THE WAY WE LOOK AT LIFE & DEATH

The resurrection also changes the way we look at life & death. When God talks about death in the Scripture He uses different words than we normally use.

Jesus talked about death as being like a wedding.

ILL. I've been to a lot of weddings & so have many of you. We have seen beautiful brides coming down the aisle. In fact, in all my years of performing wedding ceremonies I have never seen an ugly bride.

Jesus told us that the church is like a bride waiting for the coming of the bridegroom & that glorious moment when she will be with Him for ever & ever.

He also tells us that death is like sitting down to a banquet with God. God has invited us to His banquet. It will be a time of joy & happiness & fellowship. Jesus also says, "Death is like going home."

At the end of a busy day it is wonderful to be able to say, "I’m going home." It is wonderful to be able to go home & relax, to feel the love & warmth of home, & to know that you have a share in all that happens there.

Death is also like a graduation.

ILL. I recall my graduation from Kent State University many years ago. It was a hot May afternoon & I remember walking up on the stage & receiving my diploma from the president. I remember that, "He shook my hand & looked into my eyes & said, 'Now go out and teach the world.'"

"I will never forget that, & I remember walking off the stage, clutching my diploma & thinking, 'This really represents a lot of papers that were written & a lot of tests that were taken. Years & years of study were represented in this one little piece of paper.'"

"I looked at my diploma & just kept looking at it. 'There in the center of it was my name. I graduated. I did it!' Then I turned to the person next to me & said, “WOW ... we DID IT!”

"He opened up his folder & it was empty. I asked, 'Where is your diploma?' He said, 'Well, I’m not really graduating today. I am just going through the motions. I haven't handed in all my papers, or taken all my tests.

'The school is giving me a few extra weeks. Then, if I have all my papers in, & if I have passed all my tests, I will receive a diploma. But today I’m not really graduating.'"

This caused me to think to himself, "We studied together, we spent time together, & one graduates & the other one doesn't."

You see, some people graduate & some do not. Some homes are peaceful, while others are not. Some marriages succeed, but others do not. Some banquets are occasions of joy, but some are not. Even at Calvary while Jesus was hanging on the cross ... one thief was saved and the other was not.

In the same way, while the cross is a blessing for those who come & accept Jesus’ sacrifice, it is a curse for those who turn away & never acknowledge Who is there.

The empty tomb is the greatest source of joy for those who know Jesus and follow his example. But it is also the greatest source of judgment & condemnation for those who do not follow Him.

No, you can't stop God. Not with stones in front of tombs or soldiers. You can't stop what God is doing in our world because God will be victorious & you will either be on His winning side or you won't.

That is the message today. God is preparing us for something much better.

Just as He prepares a tiny little fetus inside the womb of a mother. Just as He knits together bones & flesh ? just as He makes eyes to see & ears to hear & a mouth to speak ? preparing that little body to be born into a new world, He's preparing us for a new world - a better world, a greater world.

INVITATION: So we offer His invitation, realizing that maybe there is someone here who has never been baptized . We plead with you not to let this moment escape - not to let this moment pass by.

If you are without Jesus in your life, then please call one of us and let us know of your need.

We can pray for you, study with you, and/or arrange for baptism for the remission of your sins and then to arise to walk in the newness of life. God's invitation is offered to you.

At this time let us sing our song of INVITATION!

That's All I Want

That’s All I Want
Psalms 23 ; Philippians 4: 11 – 12

For those of us who grew up in the country... we probably knew of someone who raised sheep. One large rancher of sheep once said that there are three levels of stupidity in this world. There’s dumb. There’s dumber. And then there’s sheep. He then said that if someone says that sheep are as dumb as a brick, they are actually insulting the brick!

Jesus often refers to people – to us – as sheep.
In John 21, Jesus tells Simon Peter to feed His sheep.
In Matthew chapter 9, it says that when Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
When Jesus compares us to sheep, He’s not exactly giving us a compliment. He’s saying that we are helpless, we are foolish, we are stubborn, we are disagreeable. We need constant supervision. Because a sheep without a shepherd cannot take care of itself.
Sheep without a shepherd will die.

God comes near to us by revealing Himself to us, but we must look for the Lord. Hebrews 11:6 says that we should "sincerely try to find Him."
Jeremiah 29:13 states that "when you search for the LORD with all your heart, you will find Him."
It is our sin that has alienated us from God... and so it is necessary, therefore, that we turn from our sin and look back to God for salvation.
We need to stop looking to the world for answers and turn back to GOD for understanding and guidance.

James 4:8 promises that if we come near to God He will come near to us. Let us draw near to God and live.
For nearly 30 centuries the 23rd Psalm has been one of the best known & most beloved passages in the Bible.

A Sunday school teacher who asked her group of children if any of them could quote the entire 23rd Psalm. A little 4½-year-old girl raised her hand. A bit skeptical, the teacher asked if she could really quote the entire psalm.
The little girl nodded her head, came to the front of the room, curtsied, & said: "The Lord is my shepherd, & that’s all I want." She then curtsied again & sat down.
So, the title of our lesson this morning is THAT’s ALL I WANT!

Like the little girl, we may not be able to quote it completely, but we do treasure it, & often read it in times of stress or sorrow... because it speaks to the heart.

An old time minister once stated that "This Psalm has flown like a bird up & down the earth, singing the sweetest song ever heard. It has charmed more griefs to rest than all the philosophers of the world.
"It will go on singing to your children, & to my children, & to their children till the end of time. And when its work is done, it will fly back to the bosom of God, fold its wings & sing on forever in the happy chorus of those it had helped to bring there." Wow!

There are only about 115 words in this well-known Psalm. Yet these 115 words reach to the very depths of our being & sustain us in hours of difficulty & trial like we are currently experiencing. You may feel like my grandsons who just the other day stated to me that this current reality is like a weird dream and they are waiting to wake up from it at any time.

I would like us to look at this psalm this morning to see 3 great reasons to be thankful to God.
The Psalm begins with these familiar words, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want."
When someone says, "I shall not be in want," we need to sit up & take notice because this is an age of discontentment and concern.
Yesterday I saw a quote that read... “Stay individually apart and move closer to God” and currently the motto of the nation is
#IN THIS TOGETHER!

Listen to the Apostle Paul from Philippians 4 verses 11 – 13 ,
11Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content.
12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

How can we experience contentment in spite of our surroundings? A good place to begin is not by complaining about what we don't have, but by always being thankful for what we do have.
There should be a spirit of thankfulness in us that brands us as belonging to Him.

So with the 23rd Psalm in mind, notice 3 great reasons to be thankful.

I. IN THIS LIFE THE GOOD SHEPHERD GIVES US ALL WE NEED
The first one is this: "We can be thankful because in this life the Good Shepherd gives us all we need."

One overriding principle of the 23rd Psalm is that sheep can't make it without a shepherd. And the only reason that David could say, "I shall not be in want," is because David could first say, "The Lord is my Shepherd."

B. Now let's look at what David says the Good Shepherd does for his sheep.

Vs. 2 tells us that "He makes me lie down in green pastures." The good shepherd leads his sheep to a lush pasture where they have plenty to eat & their stomachs are soon full.
Here is a picture of sheep so completely satisfied that there isn't the least desire for anything more. They are so content they lie down in green pastures.

The Lord has provided us with plenty, also. There are few of us who ever go hungry. In fact, we have so much to eat that dieting is a constant discipline or, maybe more accurately, a constant discussion.

But did you notice the wording? David said, "He makes me lie down." Sheep sometimes have to be forced to lie down.
I have read that in order for sheep to lie down 4 things are required:
1. First of all, they have to be full. Hungry sheep stay on their feet searching for another mouthful of food.
2. Secondly, they must be unafraid. They will not lie down if they're fearful. The least suspicion of wolves or bears & they stand ready to flee.
3. Thirdly, they must be content. If flies or fleas are bothering them they will not lie down. They must be comfortable before they will lie down.
4. Finally, sheep will not lie down unless there is harmony in the flock. If there is friction over the butting order among them, then they simply cannot relax & lie down.

There are times that God also makes us lie down. We rush about, trying to meet this engagement & fulfill that obligation. And in our hurry & scurry we tend to miss the things that are most important.
So once in a while God has to say, "You need to lie down," by allowing an illness, or heartbreak, to make us stop & reevaluate our priorities.

C. David then says, "He leads me beside quiet waters." (vs. 2) Sheep are frightened by swiftly moving water. They're poor swimmers, & get bogged down with their heavy wool just as we would if we tried to swim wearing wool overcoats.
So when the shepherd comes to a flowing stream, a good shepherd builds a dam & makes a quiet little pool where his sheep can drink from still waters.

David said the same thing in the 32nd Psalm, "Surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach me. You are my hiding place, you will protect me from trouble & surround me with songs of deliverance" (Psalms 32:6-7).
We must remember this promise of “quiet waters” is for those who are following where He is leading.

D. Back in the 23rd Psalm David goes on to say, "He restores my soul." (vs. 3) A lost sheep cannot find its way home, so the shepherd has to restore the sheep that have strayed away or it is lost forever.

There is a story told of a little boy who worked in his parent's carpentry shop in Jerusalem. The boy begrudges his job which is to assist in building crosses. The parents insist that he help because Rome has given them a contract for construction of crosses.
One day the boy is weeping. "What is wrong?" his parents ask. He tells them that he went to the market place & there he saw Jesus of Nazareth, & Jesus was carrying MY cross! The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha & nailed Him to MY cross."

The parents insist, "Oh no, son, that wasn't our cross. Other people in Jerusalem build crosses. That wasn't our cross."
"Oh yes, it was! When you weren't looking, I carved my name on the cross that we were making. When Jesus was carrying His cross, He stumbled right beside me, & I looked, & my name was on His cross!"

And as we reflect on the scenes of Calvary we can also see our name written on that cross. BECAUSE, Jesus died in our place. He went to the cross to restore our souls.
That is why the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2 verses 24 & 25,
"He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins & live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.
“For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd & Overseer of your souls"

E. David continues on in Psalm 23:3, "He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake."
The Bible clearly teaches that there are 2 paths we can take. One leads to destruction, & Satan tries to lead us along that path. It is such a broad & smooth road. It often seems like the logical way to go.

The other is the path of righteousness that leads to the glory that God is preparing for us. Sometimes this way is narrow & difficult & filled with obstacles. But the good Shepherd knows which way His sheep are to go, & He leads them on that path of righteousness.

SUM. So here is something for us to be thankful for. Thank God that in this life He provides us with everything we really need!

II. IN THE FACE OF DEATH THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROTECTS US FROM EVIL
Secondly, David says, "Be thankful, because in the face of death the Good Shepherd protects us from evil."
A. Listen to David as he says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." (Psalm 23:4) The fear of death can really disturb us.

Hebrews 2:15 speaks of people who "all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."
The Bible clearly states that death is Satan's weapon, the last enemy to be defeated. But David said, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Why? Because "You are with me."

ILL. A 1st grader stood in front of his classroom to tell about "What I want to be when I grow up." He said, "I'm going to be a lion tamer & have lots of fierce lions. I'll walk into the cage & they will roar."
He paused for a moment thinking through what he had just said, & then added, "But of course, I'll have my mommy with me."

I'm convinced that when death roars its worst at us, we need not fear, for our Savior is with us. Whether we brush the edge of the valley of death or actually walk through it, He promises, "I'll be there with you."

B. In fact, David goes on to say, "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." (Psalm 23:5)

Not only is that a promise of peace & protection while we are alive, it is also a promise that at the moment Satan is doing his worst to you in death, God is preparing a welcoming feast for you in Heaven! What a picture of victory & joy!

SUM. So when you pause to think about what to be thankful for, thank God that in the face of death the Good Shepherd promises protection from evil.

III. AT THE JUDGMENT, THE GOOD SHEPHERD PROMISES ETERNAL LIFE
A. Finally, listen to this, "You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness & love will follow me all the days of my life, & I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:5-6)
What a picture! When we stand before God on Judgment Day, His mercy will be there. If God gave us justice, we'd be punished for our disobedience. But because of Jesus we have confidence in His mercy.

ILL. There is a touching story about a famous actor who was the guest of honor at a prestigious social gathering. During the evening he received many requests to recite favorite excerpts from a variety of literary masterpieces. Which he gladly did.
Then an old preacher who happened to be among the guests asked the actor to recite the 23rd Psalm. The actor agreed to do so on the condition that the old preacher would recite it also.

The actor began his oration of the famous Psalm, & it was everything you could expect from such a polished performer.
The phrases were elegant, his voice rose & fell to give each thought it's proper dramatic emphasis. And when he finished, the crowd broke into a lengthy applause.

Then, as had been requested, the old preacher rose. His voice was rough & broken from many years of preaching, & his enunciation was anything but polished. But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room.
Later, when someone asked the actor what made the difference, he replied, "I know the psalm, but he knows the Shepherd."

CONCL. This morning, if the Lord is not your Shepherd, then I want you to know that He has come looking for lost sheep today.
And if you can't find your way home, He'll lead you back & He'll redeem you from all your sins. He'll put you on the path of righteousness. He'll cause your cup to overflow, & goodness & mercy will follow you all the days of your life.

And one day... maybe not too far away I think, we will "dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Are you ready for that?

If you're not ready, then I urge you to contact one of the church members so we can pray with you and/or baptize you for the remission of your sins. I pray that we look for the LORD before it is too late.. and that we call on him now, while he is near. — Isaiah 55:6

Sermon Contributor
Jeff Strite

I'm Doing Fine

I’m Doing Fine
Luke 22: 31 – 34

In light of how we are living daily as our “current reality” due to the world wide statistics related to the Coronavirus and how those statistics have affected our daily routines.
I am sure there a number of people who ask, “How are you feeling?” And most of the time we answer, “I’m feeling fine.” In fact, I sometimes say, “I’m feeling great!”
Forgetting our aches & pains, we as Christians try rejoicing with the happy poet who looked at the beautiful flowers & listened to the singing birds, & then ended his poem with the words, “All is right with the world.”
But wait a minute, all is not right with the world. With all the confusion about the coronavirus, & the political turmoil going on in our nation, how can any of us say, “All is right with the world”?

ILL. I may have told you this story a few years ago, but it fits so well with this message that I’m going to tell it again. You see, I’m afraid that too many of us tend to be like the fellow who showed up for a court hearing about an accident in which he had been involved.
His arm was in a cast, there were bandages all over him, & the exposed parts of his body were clearly bruised & scratched.
Looking rather surprised, the judge asked about his injuries. He replied, "Judge, I'm not doing very well. I have cuts & stitches all over me, & I'm feeling awful."
The judge said, "I don't understand. The accident report filed by the Officer says that at the time of the accident you told him you were just fine."
"Well Judge, I know that is what I said, but let me explain. I was driving my pickup & pulling a trailer.
In the back of the pickup was my old dog Shep,
& my mule was in the trailer.
All of a sudden an 18 wheeler sideswiped me, knocking me off the road."
"My pickup & trailer rolled over & over, & we ended up at the bottom of a big embankment. The next thing I remember, a police officer was picking his way through the wreckage. I saw him stop & examine my mule, then he pulled out his pistol & shot my mule between the eyes."
"Next, he got to where Shep was lying, & after examining him, he shot old Shep, too. Then he walked over to me & asked, "How are you?" And I said, "I'm doing just fine."
We may think that is a ridiculous story, & it is, & we may understand why someone says, “I’m doing fine” even while experiencing physical aches & pains.

But when it comes to our spiritual life, most of us would probably assume we’re “doing fine,” when in reality we’re not doing so well. We’re finding it difficult to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
Our text for this morning is found in Luke 22: 31 – 34
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

What if we had a test that could measure the level of our commitment to Christ, & of our discipleship?
Well, John 13: 31 – 38 gives us some characteristics to live by.
when we begin in vs. 31 of John 13, Jesus begins to talk about what it means to be His disciple. And he mentions 3 characteristics of what it takes to follow Him.

I. A DESIRE TO GLORIFY GOD
A. First of all, Jesus tells them that a mark of discipleship is a desire to glorify God. Listen to vs. 31: "After Judas had left, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified & God is glorified in Him.’"
Jesus is saying, "I’m going to be glorified," & it is evident that He is talking about His own crucifixion. But how can any glory come out of that? How can glory come out of the Son of God hanging on an old rugged, bloody cross? How can glory come out of suffering & death?
There is just one way. On the cross Jesus defeated Satan. On the cross He became the sacrifice to redeem us from all the sins that separate us from God. On the cross He built a bridge between man & God so that we could be together again.

B. "I am going to be glorified," He said. "But there is more. God will also be glorified through Me." What a strange statement! How could God be glorified through Jesus Christ? Well again, the answer is found in the cross.
On the cross Jesus reveals once again what God is really like. On the cross we see the love & mercy of God, the grace & justice of God. On the cross we see the righteousness, the holiness, & the power of God. It is all displayed there, & Jesus willingly gave Himself upon the cross so that we may see all that.
Jesus is telling us, "Whenever we show the world the love & mercy & grace of God in our lives, then God is being glorified through us."
We need to Live in a Way That Glorifies God
For us older ones of the congregation you may remember that Dan Blocker played the character, Hoss, on the TV series Bonanza. When he died unexpectedly in real life, the character Hoss died also. The producers knew they could not replace him. The story was that woman was caught in a flood. Hoss held her above the water with one hand and held a branch with the other to keep them from being washed away. He drowned in the flood, but he never let go. He died, but she lived.
Fans mourned for the fictional character, and many they agreed it was a fitting way for Hoss to die.
What is the soil of your heart like? Is it growing and producing fruit for the Kingdom of Heaven – are you using your life for eternity?

1. Quote: “I will not waste my life! I will finish my course and finish it well. I will display the Gospel of the grace of God in all I do. I will run my race to the end.” - Paul”
2. “God created me—and you—to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion—namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life.”
3. “You get one pass at life. That’s all. Only one. And the lasting measure of that life is Jesus Christ.”
APPL. So how are we doing? Are we busy trying to glorify ourselves, or are we trying to glorify God? That is the first test.

II. AN UNFAILING LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER
The 2nd mark of discipleship is found in vs. 34. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
God's Word says that the world will know we are Christians by our love, not by the amount of money we have given, or by our knowledge of God’s Word. Christ wants His followers to be known for their love, by how they minister to one another.
Maybe it's helping people in your life know about God & His Son... and the importance of reading and following the Bible.
Or, maybe it's in comforting someone who is hurting from the loss of a loved one,
or helping those who are struggling with our current situation!
Let's get back to the place where people can truly say about us, "Behold those Christians, how they care for and love one another!"

III. AN UNSWERVING LOYALTY TO JESUS
So the 1st mark of discipleship is a desire to glorify God, & the 2nd mark is an unfailing love for one another. The 3rd one is an unswerving loyalty to Jesus.
Look with me at vs's 36-38: "Simon Peter asked Him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus replied, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.’ Peter asked, ‘Why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’
"Then Jesus answered, ‘Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!’"

A. How loyal are we? Do we have an steadfast loyalty to Jesus?
You see, there is a difference between proclaiming your loyalty & practicing it. Peter was always proclaiming his loyalty, but not always willing to practice it. And I think we’re very much like he was.
"You're going to die, Lord?" he asks.
"Well, if you die, I'll die with you."
It is easy to say, "I would die for the Lord."
But when they are getting out the nails to drive through your hands & feet, it's a whole different situation.
"Are you really willing to die for Me, Peter? Let me show you how loyal you are. Before morning comes, you will deny Me not once, but 3 different times."
"Going to be loyal to Me?" the Lord asks. "Okay, Peter, watch & pray with Me,” as they’re entering the Garden of Gethsemane. “I'm going to go a little further into the Garden to pray. Watch & pray." But Peter, along with the rest of the apostles, quickly fell fast asleep.
"Going to be loyal to Me, Peter? Then how close will you follow Me?" Luke tells us that when the soldiers arrested Jesus & took Him out of the Garden of Gethsemane that Peter followed at a distance.
Well, I’m not surprised. I have a feeling that if I had been there I would have been exactly like Peter. And maybe you, too.
He followed at a distance. And when you follow Jesus at a distance you usually end up in the wrong crowd. That is exactly what happened to Peter. He ended up that night in the High Priest's courtyard just outside where Jesus was being put on trial.

Now, the Apostle John was in the courtroom with Jesus, but Peter was out in the courtyard with all those who had a part in arresting Jesus. One of them asked him, "You're one of the Nazarene's followers, aren't you?" "Not me," Peter said.
SUM. Three times he was asked. And three times he denied even knowing Jesus. Peter found out that it was a lot easier to proclaim his loyalty than to practice it!

ILL. A mother wrote, “My 3-yr-old was on my heels everywhere I went. And whenever I stopped to do something & then turned back around, I’d almost trip over him. Time & again I patiently suggested fun activities to keep him occupied.
"But he simply smiled an innocent smile & said, ‘Oh that's all right, Mommy. I'd rather be in here with you.’ Then he continued to bounce happily along behind me. After stepping on his toes for the fifth time, I began to lose patience.
"When I asked him why he was acting this way, he looked up with sweet green eyes & said, ‘Well, Mommy, my Sunday school teacher told me to walk in Jesus' footsteps. But I can't see Him, so I'm walking in yours.’"
CONCL. This morning, are you walking in the footsteps of Jesus? Is your life - is my life, one that brings glory to God? Is your life one that is filled with love for the family of God, for His people? Is your life one of unswerving loyalty to Jesus?
It doesn't make any difference how many crosses we may wear, how many bumper stickers we have on our car. What really matters is our commitment to follow Jesus. Yet, like Peter, all too often we fall short in this.
Do you remember what happened that night? After the third time that Peter denied Jesus the rooster crowed, just as Jesus said it would. I suppose when that rooster crowed, suddenly Peter realized exactly what he had done.
He had so boldly proclaimed, “I’ll die with you.” But when he was confronted with danger he denied Jesus again & again. Then he ran out of the courtyard & wept.
Sometimes I’m afraid that’s the way we react, too. We have fallen short. We’ve not always been what we ought to be - & we realize it. We’ve been so bold & so open in some ways. Then suddenly we see ourselves as we really are.
In fact, the Bible says, “All have sinned & fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) There are none perfect, no, not one – with the exception of Jesus.
But you see, we know a lot more about Peter than just that. We know that he became a leader of the church as it began in Jerusalem & spread throughout the world. We hear a great deal more about Peter & his life - & about Paul, too.
Paul? Yes, the great persecutor of Christians who became one of the greatest Christians of all time. Why? Well, because Jesus gave Paul a second chance, too.
And how Jesus treated Peter & Paul He now offers to treat us. Just because you fell short doesn't mean that He has stopped loving you. That's the whole idea behind the cross. We can start all over & begin anew.
Are you willing to start again? That is what Jesus is asking. And it’s my decision to make - & it's your decision, too.

INVITATION - So He invites & He waits. "Do you want to be My disciple? Here are the marks. Are you willing to display them so that the world can know that you are My disciple?" I pray this morning that you will decide for Jesus. If you have a desire to be baptized or for the prayers of the congregation you can contact us at (440)667-8626 or (440)729-3039.

Sermon Contributor
Melvin Newland

The Tiny Voice

The Tiny Voice
1 Kings 19: 1 - 8

Ever since there’s been a Post Office, it seems that children have written letters to God. Here are just a few of them:
One girl: “Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.”
Nan observed: “I bet it is very hard for you to love everybody in the whole world. There are only four people in our family and I can never do it.”
Norma asked “Did you mean for giraffes to look like that or was it an accident?”
Mickey said: Dear God, if you watch in church on Sunday, I will show you my new shoes.”
Another child: “I read that Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday School they said you did it. I bet he stole your idea.” Sincerely, Donna
Larry “Dear God, Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother.”
And my favorite: “Dear God, I think about you sometimes even when I’m not praying”
When children write letters like that, they reveal what we call a “child-like” faith. They may not understand the things - about life – that goes on around them, but they never doubt that God is there and that He cares for them. But as we get older ... things change. Life can disappoint us, dreams get damaged. We experience pain and loss and rejection. And People... hurt us. When things like that happen, we tend to lose the innocence and trust we had as children. That’s why Peter wrote to adult Christians: “Cast all your anxieties upon Him because He cares for you.” I Peter 5:7
You see, as Christians we need to focus on the faith we had as children because – God hasn’t changed. He’s still the same God we knew as children, and He still cares for us.
Today we’re introduced to a man who was one of great men of faith in Bible: He performed miracles; brought the dead back to life; ascended into heaven in a fiery chariot; and to this day Jews speak of him with reverence as the most prominent prophet of the Old Testament era. But... he was also a man who struggled with this idea that God cared for him.
Just days before, Elijah had preached one of the greatest sermons of his life. He had confronted 400 prophets of Baal on the Mt. Carmel and exposed them as the false prophets they were. And because of Elijah’s faith and obedience, God sent fire down from heaven to consume the sacrifice Elijah had placed on the altar. Then a few hours later God sent a downpour of rain on a land that hadn’t had rain for 3 years because God had brought judgment on the land of Israel and upon the evil King and Queen who ruled it.
Those were exciting days for Elijah. But not everybody was pleased by what Elijah did that day. One of the people who was upset was the Queen... Jezebel. She was furious! Elijah had embarrassed her and, of course, he had also killed her favorite hand-picked pagan priests. So, she was out for blood – Elijah’s blood. And she sends Elijah a message that essentially said - by that time tomorrow he’d be dead. And everybody knows, Jezebel’s good for that because she’s killed off a lot of prophets of God before this.
So Elijah runs away - he runs away like a dog with its tail between its legs. He runs and he runs and he runs until he’s so exhausted that he just collapses under a broom tree. And he just lies there, so embarrassed by his cowardice that he wants to die.
Elijah... this great man of faith - this man of miracles and great deeds - lost his childlike faith that God cared for him.
Now, in the book of James we’re told that “Elijah was a man just like us.” (James 5:17) He was just like you. And he was just like me. Now, granted, he did things you and I could only dream of doing (the miracles, raising the dead, etc.), but he was still governed by the same kinds of passions and emotions as we are. And that’s something God wants us to remember. You see, God could have just told us the cool stuff in Elijah’s life – the miracles, the battles he waged, and the prayers God answered... but no. God also saw fit to include the story of this great man becoming so afraid that he ran for his life. But one of the reasons God included this part of Elijah’s story in the Bible is because we need to realize that God cared for him just like He cares for us.
Notice what God does first for Elijah: “And (Elijah) lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’”
Think about this. Elijah has lost his faith and he’s very verbal about the idea that he doesn’t think God cares anymore and that God hasn’t lived up to His part of the bargain. Some might think that God would be upset with that and tell Elijah “What’s wrong with you? Where’s your faith? Get up on your feet and act like a man!!”
Is that what God did? No! Instead, God sends an angel to make sure he has food and drink... and then he lets Elijah sleep. Then the angel returns a 2nd time to feed him. What’s going on here? Why would God just step back... and do nothing? Why didn’t God try to reason with Elijah and give him a lesson in faith? Why just let him sleep? Well, God did that because that’s what Elijah needed. There’s times we don’t need answers; times we don’t need theology; times when explanations are worse than worthless. Sometimes what we need is to just to back off. We need to rest.
ILLUS: As I looked at this passage it seemed like Elijah ran because he’d panicked... so I did an internet search about panic and this is what I found: “Panic attacks are periods of extreme fear that cause physical symptoms such as a racing heart rate, sweating, or trembling. Panic attacks are often also accompanied by a feeling of an impending threat of harm or even death.”
How do you deal with panic? Well, according to the Mayo Clinic, one of the ways to deal is: “Make sleep a priority.”
Another source said that “Not getting enough sleep (is amongst the things that) can trigger or worsen anxiety.”
So God gave Elijah what he needed: time to rest, time to sleep. Why? Because God cared for Elijah
But sleep wasn’t going to be enough. Sleep alone was not going to take care of the fundamental problem that caused Elijah’s anxiety. Elijah desperately needed to know that God cared for him. Now that may seem odd for Elijah - this great man of faith and miracles – to have this crisis of faith. But we need to remember that he was a man just like us. Yes, he’d experienced God’s power and influence, but in the face of a very real threat... Elijah had forgotten all that God had done for him in the past, and now he was frozen in faithlessness that threated to destroy him. And what was causing this crisis of faith for Elijah were two lies. And these 2 lies had convinced him that God didn’t care anymore for him.
The 1st lie was this – God NEEDS me! Elijah had come to believe that he was indispensable to God.
In our text today God asks Elijah "What are you doing here, Elijah?" And Elijah replied "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” I Kings 19:10
What was Elijah saying? He was saying “I’m the only one who stands in the gap! I’m important!! If something happens to me - well God, you’re going to be in trouble!!!! Essentially Elijah was telling God that he was indispensable!!!!
ILLUS: It kind of reminds me of the story of a preacher was teaching a children’s Sunday School class. He was teaching them about the 23rd Psalm and he’d spent a lot of time talking about sheep. What they were like, how they ate, how they interacted with the shepherd and so on. Then he pointed out that the kids in the class who were Christians were kind of like the “sheep of the flock.” Then he asked, "If you are the sheep then who is the shepherd?" Now, in that church, they referred to preachers as “Pastors” – which is another word for shepherd, and so he was expecting the kids to say that HE was the shepherd of the flock. But apparently he’d failed to set the question up properly, and one little boy answered his question: “Jesus Is The Shepherd.” Now that shocked the preacher (because it was true) and he was so flustered, he almost couldn’t help himself. He blurted out “Well then, who am I?” And the little boy said “Well, I guess you must be a sheepdog.”
You see, Elijah had come to the conclusion that he was an important man. God needed him!!! God didn’t have anybody else to rely on. But God set him straight: “I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” I Kings 19:18
In other words – “Elijah, you’re not the one left, and I do have a backup plan. I’m the shepherd... you’re my sheepdog.” But Elijah had forgotten that. He’d forgotten who God was, and he’d forgotten who HE was.
And when WE forget that God is the shepherd and we’re the sheepdog, we can tend to get depressed, because we will begin to believe that everything depends upon us (in our lives/families/jobs/church). We forget to trust God and believe success is totally dependent upon our efforts.
And when things don’t go right...we can be overwhelmed because our faith has centered on ourselves. And when our focus is centered on us... we’ll be disappointed. We can’t do it all by ourselves and any effort based on that concept is doomed to lead us to anxiety, depression and even panic.
So, that was the first lie... that God needed Elijah. Any one of us can fall into the same trap. We just need to remember that God doesn’t need you or me to get things. He just allows us to come along for the ride so we can sense the thrill of His power in our lives.
But Elijah had bought into a 2nd lie that was just as bad. This 2nd lie is actually summed up in a popular saying. I’ll quote the first half and you complete it: “God helps those who (help themselves).” Now don’t ever quote that as if it were true – it’s not. It’s totally false, it’s unbiblical. God doesn’t help those who help themselves, He helps those who obey Him and follow Him.
But, in that false teaching (that God helps those who help themselves) is the deceptive implication that “If I do my part GOD HAS TO do His.” It’s kind of like an unwritten contract - I did my thing... now God owes me. But IF God doesn’t do what I want Him to do, when I want to do it, it’s obvious - that He doesn’t care, or doesn’t have the power to do so to protect me.
That’s what’s dogging Elijah’s thoughts here. He thought his victory against the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel had been the knockout blow for King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a boxing match, but every once in a while an inexperienced boxer can throw his best punch and drop his opponent to the mat... only to see the other boxer leap back to his feet and come back like he’d never been touched. That’s what had happened to Elijah. He’d thrown his best Sunday punch thinking this would end the conflict for all time... but apparently someone forgot to the Jezebel. Jezebel comes back at him with a serious threat.
She’s a scary woman and she’d put a number of God’s prophets to death, and now she’s threatened him. As a result, Elijah began to doubt God’s power.
So, God says “HEY Elijah ... let me show you something” and “The LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.” I Kings 19:11-12
God’s saying two things here: First God was saying “Not only am I big enough to tear this mountain apart I’m big enough to take out Jezebel anytime I please. It’s just that your calendar and my calendar aren’t on same page. I can and I will take care of Jezebel when I’m ready... I’m just not ready yet. But when God is ready, you wouldn’t want to be on His bad side. Even Thomas Jefferson, not a particularly religious man, noted “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
So, there was this massive wind, and an earthquake and fire followed by... the sound of a low whisper.” What’s that all about? Well... too often people view God as a harsh and unsympathetic to their needs. They see Him as swift, powerful and merciless in judgement, like what was symbolized by the wind, earthquake and fire. But notice, God wasn’t in those things. God WAS in the whisper. The whisper was God’s way of saying: I understand, and I care, and I will take care of you.

CLOSE: That whisper sort of reminds of the story of an incident back in 2003. There was a 13-year-old girl named Natalie Gilbert who was scheduled to perform the National Anthem at NBA basketball game. She had a beautiful voice and had sung the anthem at numerous other public events in the past... but as she began to sing the familiar words of The Star-Spangled Banner -- she froze. The words wouldn’t come.
So, she stood silent, shocked and facing the humiliation of being in front of a live TV audience not able to sing the familiar song.
Just then, the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers (Maurice Cheeks) walked up beside her. He put his arm around her shoulders and began to whisper the words into her ear. When that didn’t completely help, he began to sing along with her and used his right hand to invite the watching fans join her in the song. As one early morning news show noted: “A little girl, an off-key coach, and 20,000 people finished it together.”
What happened that night was a coach caring so much for a scared little girl, that he whispered the words she needed to hear in her ear. He later commented: "I just didn't want her to be out there all alone"
One last thing: we have something Elijah did not. We have the same still voice whispering in our ear from a God who cares deeply for us... but Elijah couldn’t look upon God. We can. When God took on flesh and died on the cross for us, and rose from the grave in victory, we can now look upon the face of Jesus and know He cared for us. As Hebrews 12:2 declares “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
INVITATION

How Do You Want To Be Remembered?

How Do You Want to Be Remembered?

2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8

It was January, 2003, & the Ohio State Buckeyes were playing the #1 ranked Miami Hurricanes for the NCAA National College football championship. The Buckeyes were considered "underdogs" because Miami had a 34-game winning streak - meaning that they had defeated every team they had played in nearly 3 full years!

Just before they left the locker room, Jim Tressel, head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, gathered his team for one final talk. And he closed his pep talk by asking them just one question, “How do you want to be remembered?”

That pep talk must have worked, because when the game was over, the Buckeyes had pulled off one of the greatest upsets in recent memory, defeating Miami, ending their 34-game winning streak, & winning a national championship!

Now let me ask you: “How do you want to be remembered?” What do you hope people will say about you after you are gone? How will people who knew you best summarize your 60 or 70 or 80 years of living?

ILL. Ray Pritchard tells about visiting his brother Andy, who lives in Florence, ALABAMA. While there, Andy wanted to show him an old graveyard out in the county.

They drove along a remote county road & finally stopped near the ruins of a pre-Civil war plantation. Ray says, "We got out & walked into the woods for about a quarter of a mile. There we found the cemetery for the plantation.

"We climbed over a low wall & began inspecting the gravestones, most of them about 150 years old or older. Many of the markers contained phrases like, “Loving father,” “Beloved mother,” “Darling son,” “Rest in Peace,” “Asleep in Jesus,” & so on.

"Eventually we came to the grave of the man who had owned the plantation for many years. Under his name there was the date of his birth & the date of his death. Then there was a five-word statement that summed up his whole life: “A man of unquestioned integrity." Just five words. Nothing more, nothing less.

Suppose it was your tombstone. What words would your friends choose? How do you want to be remembered?

Here is Paul’s answer to that question. Writing from a Roman jail, with the certain knowledge that he would soon be dead, he looked back at his journey with Christ, & then he looked forward to what would happen after he died.

Here is what he wrote: (2 Timothy 4:6-8). “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, & the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

"Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

In order to die well, you have to finish well. Our text tells us how that happens.

ILL. Finishing well doesn’t happen by accident. Most serious marathon runners would recognize the name John “The Penguin” Bingham. He is both a runner & someone who knows how to motivate others to run.

What is his secret? Well, he wrote, “As I stand at the starting line, I know that somewhere out there is a finish line."

"Somewhere out there is a finish line" for all of us. Most of us probably think the finish line is a few years down the road.

All I know is that the finish line of life is “out there” somewhere. And it may come sooner for me than I expect.

But whether sooner or later, it is bound to come because Hebrews 9:27 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”

I have an appointment with death. That’s one appointment I won’t miss & can’t postpone.

As Paul approached his own death, he drew some conclusions about his own life & what would happen next. Based on his words, I would like us to consider three questions.

I.  WHAT KIND OF DEPARTURE WILL YOU HAVE?

The first question is, "What kind of departure will you have?" In our scripture text that I read earlier, Paul looks death in the face & says, "I'm ready." "I am already being poured out like a drink offering."

1. A drink offering was a type of sacrifice. Both Old Testament Jews & their pagan counterparts were familiar with drink offerings.

A worshiper would approach the altar of hot coals with a goblet of wine. As a prayer or special vow was spoken the wine would be poured on the coals. The wine instantly evaporated giving off a cloud of smoke & a sweet rich fragrance.

The Romans often ended a meal or banquet with such an offering. It marked the time to move on, & pouring out that last goblet symbolized giving all you have to God. That is how Paul viewed his coming death.

It is as if he was saying: "The day is ended; it is time to go; & my life must be poured out as a sacrifice to God." His executioners might think they were taking his life. But Paul viewed his death as an offering he was giving to God.

He knew his death was close at hand. He was on death row in Rome, & he would never be set free.

It was Paul’s way of saying, “Don’t weep for me, Timothy. Know this: When I die, I will die smiling." Paul had already given everything to Jesus. The only thing left to give was his life - & that he was gladly giving.

1. Paul then wrote "the time has come for my departure." This word “departure” has 4 word pictures behind it.
2. For example, it was a term sailors used for casting off the lines that tied a ship to the dock, & setting sail.
3. It was also a military term. When soldiers broke camp & moved on, this was the word that was used to describe the taking down & folding up of their tents.
4. It was also used in the court system. When a prisoner was set free, this word was the one used to describe that release.
5. Finally, it was a word used to describe the action involved at the end of the day when a farmer removed the plow & took the heavy yoke off the neck of his ox so that it might enter its shelter & rest.

Was Paul afraid to die? Not at all. He viewed his death as simply being set free & going home to be with his Lord. Now how about you? Do you have that same confidence about your own death?

II.  WHAT KIND OF LEGACY WILL YOU LEAVE?

A 2nd question is: "What kind of legacy will you leave?"

ILL. Jeff Van Wyk wrote: "I visited the home of Elvis Presley in Graceland, TN. After so many years since his death, I was amazed at the crowds of people that still take the tour & listen to his life’s story.

The story will never change, because he has lived his life & what he achieved, whether good or bad, will be told over & over again.

What will your legacy be? What story will be told about your life after you have died? If your answer is "I don't know" you still have the opportunity to change that. It is your decision, & you need to make it now.

1. In vs. 7, Paul looks at his past & says, in effect, “My life hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it all.”

Then he uses three … word pictures from the athletic world.

1. The first one is: "I have fought the good fight." Life can be a battle. Think of the words used to describe some of the events in Paul's life - "trouble, distress, tribulation, trials, & hardships."

But now the struggle is almost over. Soon Paul's Commander-in-Chief will grant him an Honorable Discharge from the battles of life. By God’s grace Paul had fought well, & his battle would soon be over.

2. Next, Paul writes: "I have finished the race." You see, life - the Christian life especially - is a marathon, not a sprint. Winning, in this case, means not giving up. Finishing is victory. It is not about how fast we go or how many we pass along the way, but do we finish well?

Paul could look back & say, “It wasn’t easy, it was often hard, & sometimes I wondered if I would make it, but now I can see that Jesus led me all the way."

3. Thirdly, Paul declared: "I have kept the faith." This simply means he refused to compromise the truth. When other people fell away, Paul preached the Word. When the world was against him, Paul paid no attention.

When it would have been easy to edit his message to save his own life, Paul proclaimed the whole counsel of God.

He didn't back down, he didn't compromise, & he would not preach what people wanted to hear. He kept the faith!

In our text Paul speaks of the present. He looks death in the face & says, “I’m ready.” He looks back at a lifetime of struggles & knows it was worth it. Finally, he looks at the future & says, “I can’t wait.”

III. WHAT REWARD IS IN STORE FOR YOU?

My final question this morning is: "What reward is in store for you?" In Vs. 8 he wrote: “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

Did you hear that - "The crown of righteousness"? In the ancient Olympic games, a winner received a laurel wreath - not a gold medal. The wreath had little value in & of itself. It’s worth came from the occasion & who presented it.

Paul will receive his crown directly from Jesus, his Savior & Lord.

The glory of Heaven is not that there are gates of pearl & a golden street. It is the presence of the Lord. Jesus said, “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:3)

For one who loves Jesus the presence of God is the ultimate reward.

ILL. In one of his books, A.M. Hunter relates the story of a dying man who asked his Christian doctor to tell him something about the place to which he was going.

As the doctor considered a reply, he heard a scratching at the door, & suddenly he had his answer. "Do you hear that?" he asked his patient. "It’s my dog. I left him downstairs,

but he has grown impatient, & he has come up & hears my voice. He has no notion what is inside this door, but he knows that I am here."

"Now then, isn’t it the same with you? Even though you don’t know or understand everything that’s on the other side, you do know WHO is there. And that makes all the difference.”

Now I'm going to read vs. 8 once again, & I especially want you to notice the last part. “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

”All" is a big word! And there’s room in it for you, & for me, too!

ILL. As a golfer, Paul Azinger was at the top of his game. In 1987 he was named the PGA player of the year. Six years later he won the coveted PGA champion-ship. At the age of 33 he had a remarkable ten tournament victories to his credit. But the very next year Azinger was diagnosed with cancer.

He wrote of his experience: "A feeling of fear came over me. I could die from cancer. Then another reality hit me. I’m going to die anyway, whether from cancer or something else. It’s just a question of when. Golf suddenly became meaningless to me. All I wanted to do was live."

As Azinger faced the possibility of his own death, he remembered something that a minister had said. "Zinger, we’re not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We’re in the land of the dying trying to get to the land of the living."

Well, Azinger beat the cancer. He recovered from chemotherapy & returned to the PGA tour, & now at 59 is an honored veteran of the golf world. But the minister’s words impacted his perspective.

Azinger wrote, "I’ve made a lot of money since I’ve been on the tour. I’ve won a lot of tournaments. But that happiness is always temporary.

"The only way I have ever found true contentment is in my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I’m not saying that nothing ever bothers me, & I don’t have problems, but now I’ve found the answer - the answer to the six-foot hole."

So, the word of the Lord today is: Keep on fighting, keep on running, keep on believing, for the best of all is yet to come. It won’t be long, just a little while & the Lord Himself will return, or we'll go to meet Him, & all our struggles will be over.

This battle won’t last forever, this long road will come to an end, & this old world full of “dangers, toils & snares” won’t last much longer. Hold on to your faith. Keep believing & stay strong. Put on the whole armor of God. And never give up. There’s a finish line out there, & it’s closer today than ever before.

INVITATION

What If Jesus Had Never Come?

What If Jesus Had Never Come?  
1 John 5: 11 – 12 & Colossians 1: 15 – 16

Years ago, there was a very wealthy man who shared a passion for art with his son. Together they traveled around the world, adding only the finest art treasures to their collection. Priceless works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet & many others adorned the walls of the family estate.
The widowed father looked on with satisfaction as his only child became an experienced art collector. But the day came when war engulfed the nation, & the young man left to serve his country. After only a few months, his father received a telegram that his beloved son had been killed while carrying a fellow soldier to safety.
One morning a knock came at the door of the old man’s home, & when he opened it, he was greeted by a soldier with a large package. The soldier introduced himself by saying, “I was a friend of your son. I was the one he was rescuing when he died. May I come in for a few moments? I have something to show you.”
“I’m an artist,” said the soldier, “& I want to give you this.” As the old man unwrapped the package, it revealed a portrait of his son.
Though the art critics would never consider it a masterpiece, the painting did feature his son's face in striking detail, & seemed to capture his personality. And because of that it became more precious to the old man than any of the others in his collection.
A few years later the old man became ill & passed away. The art world was in anticipation! According to his will, all of his art works would be auctioned. The day arrived, & art collectors gathered to bid on some of the world’s most spectacular paintings.
The auction began with a painting that was not on any art collector’s wish list. It was the painting of the man’s son. The auctioneer asked for an opening bid. The room was silent. “Who will open the bidding with $100?” he asked. Time passed with not a sound from those who came to buy.
From the back of the room someone called out, “Who cares about that painting? It’s just a portrait of his son. Let’s get on to the important paintings.” There were other voices which echoed in agreement. But the auctioneer replied, “No, we have to sell this one first. Now, who will take the son?”
Finally, the old gardener of the estate said, “I knew the boy, & I’d like to have it, but I can only bid $50.” “I have a bid for $50,” called the auctioneer. “Will anyone go higher?” After a long silence, the auctioneer said, “Going once. Going twice. Gone.” The gavel fell.
Cheers filled the room & someone was heard to say, “Now we can get on with the auction!” But the auctioneer looked at the audience & announced that the auction was over.
Stunned disbelief quieted the room. Then someone demanded, “What do you mean it’s over? We didn’t come here for a picture of the old guy’s son. What about all the other paintings? There are millions of dollars worth of art here! What’s going on?”
The auctioneer replied, “It’s very simple. According to his will, the father stipulated that whoever gets the son gets it all.”
In essence, this story reminds us of God’s greatest gift – Jesus, His Son. And the message that this story proclaims is still true - whoever has the Son gets it all. Well, listen to what the Bible says:
“God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:11-12)
Yes, if we have God’s Son, Jesus, we have life – eternal life! But this evening I want to say that through Jesus God has given us even more - so much more!

I. The Life of Jesus LEADS US TO KNOW WHAT GOD IS LIKE

A. First of all, The Life of Jesus gave us a living picture of who God is. Christ’s coming put a face on God so that we can know what God is like.
The Bible says, “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven & on earth, visible & invisible...” (Colossians 1:15-16)
God came to earth wrapped in a human body. God came to live among us so that we might know what He is truly like. He came to teach us. He came to die for us that we might be forgiven.
He rose from the dead to help us know that we too will be raised. He ascended to the Father to intercede for us. He promised to return so that eternal hope would burn in our hearts. He opened the doors of heaven.

B. Imagine what the world would be like if God, as Jesus, had never come to earth. We would not have the music that speaks of the love of God and our praise to God.
Harvard & Yale & many other colleges would not exist, because they were started as Christian institutions of higher learning.
Most of our hospitals would not exist, because they were begun by people who had hearts full of compassion for those who were ill, due to their personal experience with Jesus Christ & being transformed by His love.
Our way of dating historical events would be completely different, since all of history is divided into the things which occurred before Christ came & the things which occurred after Christ came.
We would have only a partial Bible, & we would have no hope. There would be no churches.

C. Without Jesus, Mary Magdalene would have died in her sin. Matthew, the tax collector, would still have been considered a traitor by his countrymen. Peter, James & John would have done nothing more with their lives than fish for a living.
The people who needed healing during that time would still have been broken in body & spirit. The lame would still have been lame; the blind would have remained in darkness; the deaf would have lived in silence.

D. We would never have heard the words: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
Or, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) And “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
This is why we sing about Emmanuel - “God with us”. He was with us over 2000 years ago, & He is with us now. We have a God who cared enough to come. As far as I know, No other religion in the world can make that claim.
He showed us what God was like. His nature is love. He was a friend of sinners. He showed love & compassion to the outcasts of the world. He healed the sick & raised the dead.
He taught us not to use the values of this world to determine our worth, for He said, “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16)
ILL. Some of you have seen “The Antique Road Show” on television. Often people who have paid a few dollars for an item at a garage sale come asking for an evaluation of its worth.
Then we see the look of shock & joyful surprise when they learn the item is worth much, much more than they paid.
When I see that happen, I think of how God takes people who are not seen as valuable by the world & places a very high value on them, because that is the kind of God He is.
The outcasts of society seemed to be His specialty. The sinful & sick, the poor & weak were the people He pulled out of the trash & transformed into a treasure.
SUM. And because Christ showed us what God was like, we want to be like Him.

II. CHRIST REVEALS THAT OUR SINS CAN BE FORGIVEN
Secondly, Christ reveals that our sins can be forgiven.

A. Think for a moment of the worst thing you have ever done. And then think of what it would be like if Jesus had not come. We would have no relief from guilt. It would always be hanging over our heads.
But since Jesus came, we know the freedom that forgiveness brings. We can forgive ourselves & others because we have experienced the forgiveness that Jesus Christ came to give us.

B. But if Jesus had never come, we would have only commandments to follow, & we would never hear these great words of the New Testament:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17)
We would be missing a Savior. There would be no talk of reconciliation with God, only laws to be obeyed. “Grace” would not be a word in our vocabulary.
We would talk about “justice,” & people “getting what they deserve,” rather than finding mercy & forgiveness with God.
If Jesus had not come, the woman caught in adultery would never have heard the words: “Neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11)

C. But it is about more than just forgiveness, it is also about transformation. Christ came not only to cleanse us, but to change our hearts & our lives.
The Bible says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord . . .” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
It is God’s desire that we are being transformed into His character, His likeness, more & more with each passing day. His Holy Spirit is working in us to reproduce His image in us.

III. CHRIST GIVES US THE HOPE OF HEAVEN
All of this is for one grand purpose, which leads to the third & final point - Christ gives us the hope of heaven.

A. Heaven was made possible by Jesus. Think what the world would be like if there was no hope of heaven. What would you say at the funeral of a loved one if Jesus had not come?
The Bible says, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)
There would be no hope of hearing the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:21)
There would be no hope of a resurrection. There would be no eternal life. Nothing to anticipate - except the closing of the casket & the coldness of the grave.

B. But because Jesus came, all that has changed. We live in joyful anticipation of what is yet to come.
Christ has given us the gift of heaven. At this point it is still wrapped. But the package has our name on it. And we wait longingly for the day when we will enjoy the gift of heaven in all its unwrapped wonder, & when we will hear the words:
“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)
ILL. About 100 years ago, someone published a remarkable story entitled “If Christ Had Not Come.” The story told of a minister falling asleep in his study and dreaming of a world into which Jesus had never come.
He walked outside & saw no church building.
When he came back into the house & sat down in his library, he realized that every book about our Savior had disappeared.
Then the doorbell rang & a messenger asked him to visit a friend’s dying mother. When he entered their home, he saw his friend sitting & weeping, & he said to him, “I have something here that will comfort you.”
He opened his Bible to look for a familiar passage from the Gospel of John, but was shocked to see that his Bible ended with the book of Malachi.
There were no Gospels & no promises of salvation, hope, or the resurrection. All he could do was bow his head & weep with his friend in bitter despair.
Two days later he stood beside her coffin & conducted her funeral service, but there was no message of comfort, no words of a glorious Resurrection, no promise of a home awaiting her in heaven. There were only the words: “ashes to ashes & dust to dust”, & one long, sad, eternal goodbye.
Finally he realized, in his dream, that Christ had never come, & he burst into tears, weeping bitterly.
Then suddenly he awoke, & a shout of joy & praise burst from his lips as he heard the following words being sung:
"I’d rather have Jesus than Silver or Gold, I’d rather be His than have riches untold...
I’d rather have Jesus than have houses or lands, I’d rather be lead by His nail-pierced hands...
Than to be the king of a vast domain, or be held in sin’s dread sway...
I’d rather have Jesus than anything, this world affords today!
Yes, because Jesus came, we can know what God is like. We can experience the forgiveness of our sins & the transformation of our hearts & lives. And we can have the hope & confidence of eternal life & a heavenly home. What better gifts could we ever imagine than that which God has given?
INVITATION

Based on a sermon given by
Melvin Newland

When Things Go Wrong

When Things Go Wrong
Genesis 37: 1 – 28

Years ago there was a TV show called “The Honeymooners”. Jackie Gleason was its star, & Art Carney played his best friend & neighbor, Ed Norton.
Ed was a happy-go-lucky, but fairly slow thinking, worker in the sewer systems of the city. And Ed once summed up his “philosophy of life” with these words:
“When the tides of life turn against you, & the current upsets your boat, Don’t waste tears on what might have been, just lie on your back & float.”
This morning I want to talk about someone who repeatedly saw the tides of life turn against him - whose boat was upset more than once - someone whose difficulties would have crippled the faith of a weaker person.
But he didn’t sink - & he didn’t even float. He rose above the waves of adversity. He overcame his difficulties because his “philosophy of life” was nobler & wiser than Ed Norton’s. Who was he? His name was Joseph.
In some ways it is rather amazing that Joseph, the son of Jacob, ever amounted to anything. His father, Jacob, with 2 wives & 2 concubines fathered 12 sons & an unknown number of daughters. Joseph had 10 older half-brothers & one full brother younger than he.
His mother, Rachel, who was Jacob’s favorite wife, had died a few years before, giving birth to his younger brother, Benjamin.
Because Joseph was Rachel’s first child, & had been born in Jacob’s old age, it was obvious to his 10 older half-brothers that Joseph was “Daddy’s favorite”.
And this favoritism became painfully obvious in their eyes when Jacob gave Joseph a very fancy coat of many colors.
We sometimes talk about sibling rivalry & dysfunctional families. Well, it is clear here that his half-brothers were absolutely hostile to Joseph. Genesis 37:4 reports, "And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers. So they hated him & could not speak to him on friendly terms."
Joseph had another problem. Not only was he his father's favorite son, but he appears to be a rather naïve 17-year-old teenager – naive in not realizing how much his half-brothers hated him.
Consider two dreams Joseph had. In Genesis 37:7-8 he told his half-brothers, "We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose & stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine & bowed down to it."
“His brothers said to him, ‘Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?’ And they hated him all the more because of his dream & what he had said.
Then in vs. 9 he told them, "I had another dream, & this time the sun & moon & 11 stars were bowing down to me." By this time the hostility was so evident that even his father Jacob felt that it was necessary to rebuke Joseph.
Now, if you have studied the life of Joseph, you know those dreams were prophetic. The dreams came from God, & they showed what God planned to do in Joseph’s life. But the fact that Joseph thought his brothers would be excited about these dreams shows us just how sheltered & naïve Joseph really was.
The rest of this story is a familiar one. The older brothers were tending their father's flocks some distance away from home & Jacob had not heard anything from them. So Jacob sent Joseph to see about them. And, of course, Joseph wore his fancy coat for the trip.
I wonder how you would have felt if you were one of Joseph's brothers & saw him wearing that coat? Well, when they saw him coming, that coat of many colors was like a red flag waving in their faces. So they plotted against Joseph.
Most of them wanted to kill him. But Reuben, the oldest brother, suggested that instead of killing him that they throw him into a deep reservoir & just leave him there to die. That way they wouldn’t be guilty of shedding his blood. Vs. 22 says that “Reuben said this to rescue him from them, and take him back to his father.”
So when Joseph got to their camp they seized him, stripped off his coat, & threw him into a reservoir. But then, as they were eating, they saw a slave caravan passing by on its way to Egypt.
Judah, another brother, had a bright idea. "Let's sell him to these people. We'll save ourselves from the guilt of murder, & we'll even make a little money on the side." So vs. 28 tells us that they “pulled Joseph up out of the cistern & sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt."
Wow! How quickly things can go wrong. One moment, Joseph was the pampered son of a prosperous farmer & herdsman with bright hopes of a happy future. The next moment, he was a slave. "They took Joseph into Egypt."
APPL. One reason we remember Joseph is the fact that his story is so relevant today. We have all experienced things going wrong in school, at work, in marriage, in our health, & in our hopes.
Joseph lost his fancy coat, his pampered position, & his freedom. So when things go wrong, Joseph is a good example to consider.

I. WHEN THINGS GO WRONG WE MAY OR MAY NOT BE RESPONSIBLE
One thing we learn from Joseph is that when things go wrong, we may or may not be responsible. Sometimes we are, sometimes we aren't. In one way Joseph was, & in another way he wasn't.
The cause of his trouble was the hatred of his brothers. That hatred was fanned by two flames.
One was his lack of sensitivity to the feelings of his older brothers. The other was the unmistakable & unconcealed favoritism of his father.
And you can make out a good case for the fact that the first trouble was caused by the second. If Jacob had shown more sense in dealing equally with all his children, as every father should, Joseph would never have supposed that he was anything more than the little brother of the big boys.
APPL. But, be that as it may, the story suggests that when things go wrong we may or may not be responsible.

A. Sometimes we are. Whenever our difficulty arises from a condition which is the consequence of our own choices, we are responsible.
A girl falls in love. She romanticizes her sweetheart. She ignores or downplays his faults. We say that "love is blind," but it is often a self-induced blindness in which she convinces herself that he will change after they are married.
He proposes & she supposes that life with him will be blissful. So, they are married.
Gradually, or sometimes suddenly, the romance fades, & she finds that life is not like what she thought it would be. He is not about to change, & things go wrong. But say what you like, in a very real sense she is responsible. It was she, & no one else, who said "Yes."
That is why God gives guidelines about friendship & marriage. He wants to help us make right choices. And we ignore them to our own dismay.

B. But sometimes we are not responsible.
ILL. We work hard & save for our old age & inflation cuts our savings in half. We study hard & earn a degree & get a good job. Promotions come & the future looks bright. But then the economy changes, & our job is gone, & we find ourselves having to start all over again.
Jeremiah 31:19 says, "The fathers eat sour grapes, & the children's teeth are set on edge.”
Maybe you have heard this interesting statement, "He met misfortune like a man... he blamed it on his wife."
Our human tendency is to evade responsibility, but it is true that sometimes, when things go wrong, we are not responsible.

II. WHEN THINGS GO WRONG WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULT
So, when things go wrong, we may or may not be responsible for the cause, but we are responsible for the result, & the result often depends upon how we meet the situation.

A. I wish we knew what went on in Joseph's mind as he was being taken as a slave down into Egypt. He could have reacted bitterly toward God.
He could have said, "So this is the way you run things. What have I done to deserve this? I was trying to do what my father told me to do. I was out looking for my brothers & report back home. I was doing my duty, & this is the result."
"God, I'm through with you. I've always tried to follow your rules & do what is right, but look at what it has gotten me. From now on I’m going to do what I want!"
SUM. When things go wrong, many people take that attitude. They blame God & quit. They go their own way, & God no longer has any place in their lives.

B. But there are others who say, "I may not be responsible when things go wrong, but I am responsible for what I do about it." So, they meet the situation, not with bitterness or cowardice, but with courage & determination.
That is what Joseph did. And even as a slave, he soon received honors & responsibilities. Then Potiphar's wife tried to entice Joseph to sin. But what did Joseph do? He steadfastly refused to defile himself & sin against God.
Again, things went wrong. Because he did the right thing, he was lied about by his temptress, arrested, & imprisoned. While doing what was right the first time he had been sold into slavery, & now he has been put into prison! Why should he remain faithful to God?
Can you hear him talking to himself in prison? "I may or may not be responsible for what has happened, but I am responsible for what I do about it."
He refused to become bitter & blame God. Instead, he met his trials with courage & a determination to keep doing what was right. So finally, when the time came, he was ready to fulfill the role in history that God had prepared for him.

III. THE RESULT CAN BE BETTER THAN WE EVER DREAMED POSSIBLE

A. There is a third thing that we can learn from Joseph. First, when things go wrong we may or may not be responsible. But second, we are responsible for what we do about it.

B. Third, with God's help the result can be better than we ever dreamed possible.
For example, Joseph's predicament turned into a tremendous personal blessing. He ultimately became Prime Minister of Egypt & his rise to power was directly related to his so-called "bad luck."
Had he never been sold into slavery, he would never have met Potiphar.
Had he never met Potiphar, he would never have been put in prison.
Had he never been put in prison, he would never have met Pharaoh's baker.
Had he never met Pharaoh’s baker, he would never have been asked to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams.
Had he never interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, he would never have been made Prime Minister of Egypt..

C. You see, sometimes success is nothing but failure turned inside out, & no one needs to be defeated because out of every situation he/she can emerge a better person if he/she has the will to do it.
ILL. Someone said, "If life gives you a lemon, then make lemonade!"
An oyster takes a grain of sand which irritates it, & so the oyster tries to get rid of it. When it cannot, it takes that grain of sand & makes a pearl.
Thomas Edison, when he was a boy, received a blow on his ear which made him deaf. But he said later that his deafness kept out distractions & helped him concentrate, & that ability to concentrate was largely responsible for his success in his experiments.
ILL. In one of George MacDonald's books he tells of a woman who experienced sudden sorrow. "I wish I'd never been made," she complains bitterly. To which her friend quietly replies, "My dear, you're not made yet! You're only being made - & this is part of the Maker's process."
APPL. What happens to us is never the most important thing. The most important thing is how we react. Joseph teaches us that even the worst difficulties can produce great results.

D. But the story doesn’t end with Joseph's becoming Prime Minister. Because he was elevated to that high position, he was able to save not only the people of Egypt, but also his brothers, their families, & his elderly father, too.
The famine in Palestine drove his family to Egypt in search of food. And Joseph, through his influence, provided homes & land for them in Egypt.
APPL. When things go wrong, we often have a chance to help not only ourselves but to render a service to others, too.
ILL. A man was in an automobile accident & his eyes were injured. The surgeon told him that he could save one eye, but the other eye would have to be removed & a glass eye inserted. It was a terrible moment for him. But finally he smiled & said, "All right, but if you have to put in a glass eye, please put a twinkle in it."
Do you know people like that? See what life did to them, & what they have done with life. They have taken the lemon, & made lemonade!

IV. WHEN THINGS GO WRONG GOD IS ALWAYS STANDING BY TO HELP
When something goes wrong we may or may not be responsible for the cause, but we are responsible for the result. Meeting the situation with determination & courage, the result can be good.
But, most importantly, our courage & determination can feed on the assurance that God is our friend & is always standing by to help.
Do you remember that dramatic scene in the last chapter of Genesis? Joseph had brought his family to live in Egypt. The brothers who sold him into slavery were now completely in his power.
Finally, their father Jacob dies, & after his death, the brothers are very afraid. Fearing the worst, they throw themselves down before Joseph & beg his forgiveness.
Joseph answers, "Do not be afraid... You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." (Genesis 50:20)
What an example Joseph sets for us today! To believe when things go wrong, that it is not God's doing, but man's misdoing.
To believe when things go wrong, that there is a loving God who really desires the best for us.
To believe when things go wrong, & despite what others do, that God can bring good out of the evil that has been done.
To believe when things go wrong, that God still loves us & has a purpose He wants to accomplish with our life.
INVITATION

Based on a sermon given by
Melvin Newland

Overview of the Bible - Part 2

Overview of The Bible

INTRO: Good evening. It’s good to see you back this evening.

This morning we started a lesson giving an overview of the Bible. We thought it might be a good lesson to encourage us to look deeper into things in God's word, and to excite us about this wonderful book. We mentioned that although the story of the Bible is a fascinating story it is also a very simple story and that in reading it once over some people perceive it as being so simple they think that they really don't have to spend much time in it.

Indeed the principles of the Bible are very simple. But the supporting structure of those principles, the nature of God, His desires for us, and the requirements we need to meet are more complex. It is in the studying of God’s word that we find the answers to our questions and the complexity quickly dissolves with our understanding. But it takes some time and effort to do that.

Knowledge abounds in this world. People have more and more things to know about than ever before. Technology. Art. Health. Business. Music. Ecology. Accounting. Fitness. Relationships. Architecture. History. Math. Physics. Botany. Computers. Engineering. Films. Medicine. Economics. Genetics. To name a few. Yet it has been said people know less about the Bible than their great grandparents who followed a plow around a field for twelve hours a day.

Let us review what we studied this morning.

I. Before the Beginning: In Proverbs Chapter 8 we found that the story of the Bible actually starts far before creation. The eternal wisdom of God’s word existed;

• “Before His works of old.
• From everlasting, from the beginning,
• Before the earth was.
• When there were no depths, it was brought forth,
• When there were no fountains abounding with water.
• Before the mountains were settled,
• Before the hills;
• While as yet God had not made the earth, nor the fields,
• Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
• When God established the heavens, it was there:
• When He set a circle upon the face of the deep,
• When He made firm the skies above,
• When the fountains of the deep became strong,
• When He gave to the sea its bound,
• That the waters should not transgress his commandment,
• When he marked out the foundations of the earth;
• Wisdom was by Him as a master workman;” [para]

A. The word of God tells us that before the world was even created, God had determined to save an elect people, a chosen people as Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:4 - “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,”

B. Before anything was even formed in this world, before the foundation of the earth, that doctrine, that precept was in place. God knew that there would be people who would serve Him, who would be considered His elect, His chosen people.

C. David explains that there were going to be a class of people who do not permit their opinions to stand in the way, to stand between them and the word of God. These are people that will not let their personal convictions stand between them and the word of God and their hope of heaven. They will not form preconceived religious ideas about truth. These people would let God's word conform them.

II. The Beginning: We read in Genesis of the creation and there we see the authoritative power, the omnipotence of God as He spoke words and things formed, the elements obeyed Him, and the world came to be as we now know it.

A. We find that God created man in His own image, and because He created them in His own image He knows—we can conform to His image! We were made that way.

B. We also learned that we were given a free-will. We are not programmed robots but are free to make choices, even bad ones as we saw in the story of Adam and Eve. Satan comes on to the scene and we see how easily we can change our understanding of God’s word if it suits our desires. Free-will allows us to disobey and bring about disaster.

III. God’s Plan: God knew all this and He has a plan to save man which we saw start to be revealed in Genesis 3:15. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.''” As we continue to read through our Bible we find statements of hope, statements that reveal a plan to redeem these sinners, these sinful people that have violated God's command.

A. If we had read on in Genesis 6:5-7 we would have seen this ability to choose almost ended our existence. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth” Fortunately were was one who did not make the wrong choices, his name was Noah and “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Here we learn of salvation through God’s grace.

B. In Genesis 12:1-4 we find God making a promise to Abraham and God says in that promise that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

1. We read from the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:5-9 – “just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'' Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing (foreseeing is significant here) foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed.'' So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”
2. It is revealed to us that these promises that God made early on in the pages of Genesis, had to do with Christ.
3. The Law: We learned that we are to strive for perfection, to be holy 1st Peter 1:15-16 – “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy.''”
4. To get mankind to the point where they understood God's expectation of holiness and moral perfection, and to help them to feel the remorse, the guilt, to have this mournful spirit that Jesus would talk about in the Beatitudes, to get them to that point He brought law to them, the eternal existing law.

C. God revealed this in what is known as the Mosaic Law. Exodus 20:1 Moses is at Mount Sinai and he receives the Ten Commandments. In Hebrews 8:4-6 the author of Hebrews tells us that these laws that God had given through Moses were a “shadow of the heavenly things”. Hebrews 10:1 the author tells us “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things...”

1. The laws didn't represent the end where God wanted to bring men, but was a step. They were a tutor to get man to where he needed to be.
2. Furthermore, we are told in Hebrews 7:18-19 “For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”
3. The law lacked something. The Law of Moses was lacking in that he says it could not make a man perfect and that's what God was after. Perfection, absolute moral perfection and the Mosaic Law could not do this. This was its unprofitableness.

IV. The Savior: In God’s word we find that God had always planned before the foundation of the world to bring Christ into the world. We can read about the Christ all throughout the Old Testament scriptures.

A. We read from Isaiah 9:6 where the Prophet of God said to us; “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.” And you know the rest.

1. The Christ would come into the world and He would preach the gospel of peace with God. He would also be crucified by the very ones He was trying to guide to righteousness so that they could attain eternal life.
2. Three days later, Christ rose from the grave. He was resurrected and He ascended into the heavens. All of this was foretold, it was written. All this was in the mind of God before one particle of dust came together on the Earth, before we were created.

B. Christ ascended into the heavens and He brought a new law. We read from Galatians Chapter 3 that it was the object of the Mosaic Law to serve as a tutor, to bring us to Christ and to understand the need to be forgiven of sin so we might not be separated from God.

C. In Jeremiah 31:31ff we read; “"Behold, the days are coming,'' says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah ”

1. Scripture foretold of this new law that would come. This new law would be different than the old law Moses delivered.
2. Jeremiah tells us that through the law of Christ, the new covenant, men would be forgiven. Verse 34 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.”

V. The Kingdom: Now let is continue in our Overview. We find Jesus at Matthew 4:23 preaching this Gospel of the Kingdom, this new covenant, this new law. It is referred to in Galatians 6:2 as the law of Jesus Christ. Not only is there a new law that was given, there is also a kingdom that was established. No longer would there be a man on earth as king over this kingdom that was ruled by the Mosaic Law. There would be a new kingdom, as God had promised all throughout the Old Testament scriptures. Daniel 2:44-45 is probably one of the more memorable ones where Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of his dream. “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” During the days of the Roman kings, God will establish a kingdom that will never, ever be destroyed.

A. Jesus said in Mark 9:1 that “I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power” Therefore they knew that during their lifetime, the kingdom of God would be established.

B. In Acts Chapter 2 we find the prophecy regarding the coming of the Kingdom of God fulfilled. Peter quotes from Joel in Acts 2:16-21. God speaking through Joel “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams and on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.”

1. Then in verse 21 still quoting from Joel; “And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Then in Acts 2:33 Peter proclaims concerning Jesus; “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.”
2. All those who would call upon God, now have the opportunity be saved. Now people can be forgiven. This is the perfect law of liberty. People can be saved from the consequences of their sins.

C. When we read the book of Acts, we find statements that help us to realize that after Acts chapter 2 the Kingdom of God had been established. At 1st Thessalonians 2:12 the apostle Paul speaks of people being called into His own kingdom. At 2nd Thessalonians 2:14 Paul tells us that it is the Gospel that calls people into His kingdom, the Church of our Lord and Savior.

1. He tells us at 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 that “...God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,” Again, we see the eternal wisdom of God, the eternal word of God.
2. Before the world was even created, before any of us even placed a foot on the earth, before you faced your first temptation, before you found yourself in the midst of great sin, before you had determined to justify things that you were doing as right, when in all reality, according to the eternal word of God, it was wrong. Before any of that took place in your life, this word stood firm where it always has been and always will be.

D. And as the kingdom was established, God gave the instructions as to how people could enter into that kingdom. The instructions are not, as some people may think. How are we to think about what the entrance to the kingdom of God is? Should I come up with some method on my own? Should I listen to some preacher out there tell me “just say the sinner's prayer” and you will have entrance into the kingdom of God? Nowhere do I find either of those in the Scriptures.

1. In Luke 3:8 we have a statement made by John the Baptist that helps us understand some things about this eternal word, about entrance into the kingdom of God. John said; “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”
2. The people thought in their minds that their relationship, their blood kinship to Abraham gave them an automatic ticket into the kingdom of God. John says; do not begin to say to yourselves. In other words, let's see what the Lord has to say about this.
3. Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 is a great example for us. Here is a man who is not only a Pharisee but is known as a "ruler of the Jews," a title reserved in Rabbinic literature “for a great man”. This is not a man who was deficient in understanding the Mosaic Law. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4. Jesus says “unless” or in some translations “except”. That means if and only if, it is a conditional statement. There are conditions.
5. Jesus tells this Pharisee who is of the seed of Abraham, there's something that you are lacking. You're not in the kingdom of God. The Pharisee, the ruler among the Jews, the person of God who knows the Mosaic Law like the back of his hand, has not met the requirements of entering into the kingdom of heaven.
6. Remember as we started this sermon John 1:12-13 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

E. These are the elect of God; the one's God had foreknowledge of before the foundation of the world. These will have a transformation of their thinking. They are people who will be born again, not literally from their mother's womb, but they will be transformed in their thinking into a new person. No longer will they cling to fleshly desires and all the things that come with this wicked world.

1. They will have a transformation of thinking that comes through an understanding of studying God's word. These are the ones that will be the elect generation, the righteous class, the breed of God's people, they are eternal people.
2. In Acts 2:38 when the church is established, the kingdom of God established, we see the people asking; “what shall we do?” That is, what must we do to be saved?
3. Peter gives them the answer, repent of your sins. Just as Adam and Eve broke the commandment of God, you also have broken God's commandments, in your living by your own convictions, by your own opinions, by your own pre-conceived religious ideas, repent of those things and turn to the riches of God's true word. “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” Peter goes on; “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

VI. The Gospel Call: The gospel call, the plan of God before there were even people. In that gospel call on that day there would be some, 3000 people that would answer. But there were many more there that day. Now, as we look at the pages of the Book of Acts, we find the church growing. People heard that gospel, and they conformed their lives to it. They were born again. They were transformed and they stopped living the way that they had been living, and began to live a new life. They would be like the Apostle Paul, as he said in Galatians 2:20 – “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me”.

A. In Acts 4 the Sadducees put the apostles in custody then it says in Acts 4:4 – “However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

B. There are many things to see in the book of Acts. Let’s look at Acts chapter 8 where we find Phillip preaching to the Samaritans. There was a man called Simon who practiced sorcery in the city and in Acts 8:11 it says “And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time.” Then in Acts 8:12-13 – “But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done.” These people, these Samaritans, did exactly what the people did on the day of Pentecost in order to be added to the kingdom of God.

VII. The Lessons: As you go through the pages of God's eternal word, you find not only instructions, not only laws, but the lives of individuals are revealed. Lives like those of Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. We find of the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles, men like Barnabas, like Philip the Evangelist who we just read about in Acts 8. We read about these people, and these men and women who made a conscientious decision. They heard the words of God and they decided to put aside their “I think”, they decided to put away things that they had learned through the years from previous generations, traditions.

A. We read in God’s word about traditions don’t we? As you read through the early pages of the New Testament, we see many traditions. For example “Why don't your disciples wash their hands before they eat?” People had convictions within themselves about certain things like that. The righteous heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. They believe that message. They confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. They were willing to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins.

B. They wanted to live faithfully all the days of their lives, because this is what the word of God taught and teaches today. The righteous. But as we go through the word of God, we read about other people. We read about people like Cain who killed his own brother. We read about men like Korah from Numbers 16 and how he wanted to have the authority and power that Moses and Aaron had. As we read through the early pages of the Bible and we see people like Korah who said things like he said to Moses and Aaron “Why then do you exalt yourselves above the congregation of the Lord” We wonder at their arrogance, and their thinking.

C. In the Old Testament, we find something going wrong and we find God coming down out of the heavens and filling His tabernacle. Moses would go into the tabernacle and commune with God about what went on. If I’m one of those stirring up trouble, I would be terrified, because when God is angry, His wrath is fierce. Even though God had done all of these things, all of these great blessings, all these wonderful miracles, Korah steps out of line and says, What makes you so special?

D. In the New Testament we see Diotrephes, another one. In 3rd John we find Diotrephes wanted to have the pre-eminence of men. He wanted the pre-eminence that belonged to Christ, putting himself between man and God as it were, repudiating the word of the apostles, making a man to be the head on earth of the church! There are examples all throughout history in the Bible where we see righteous people and unrighteous people.

CONCLUSION: Each of us should consider, where do I stand in this? Where do we see our self in the pages of this Word which existed before we even came into the world? I believe we all have some ideas, don't we? Ask yourself, are the religious things about you in line with God's word or are you doing this because it's what you think?

People get confused about love, the love of Jesus. People get confused about the grace of Jesus. People get confused about how peace works. People get confused about how faith works. People are confused about this book that's very plain, very clear. In all reality it's simple but it takes some time digging into it to understand it.

People are confused because they won't open God’s word and study it. They just keep saying, this is what I think, and I'm good! In the end, as Jesus said in Matthew 7, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. And they said, oh, wait a minute. But we did all these things in your name, Jesus, we loved you, and we did all of these things. He says depart from me I never even knew you. [para]

“You who practice lawlessness”. Why did He say that? Was Jesus an ugly guy who was just mean and nasty? No, He says this word existed before you even came into the world and you did not conform your life to it. I gave you opportunity, I loved you, I gave everything for you. But you wouldn't conform your life to My Word.

So the question is this evening for each of us, where are we? Have we deceived ourselves? In what way do we approach this word? If I approach this word, trying to prove some conviction I have, forget it. It's not going to work. This word is pre-existent and it transforms the way I think. That's the way I should approach it.

I learned how to read so I start reading it. I start learning from it. I start to conform my convictions around it. I don't try conform the Bible to my convictions, I conform my convictions to the Bible and I will be blessed eternally and my hope will be realized one day.

The Bible overview today was very short, very simple. I hope each of us is encouraged to look deeper into the things of God's word, to understand its principles. We have one life to live and that's it. We have the one chance of this life to get it right. He's given us the right way, right here in His word. I'm not going to die and be able to come back and say, can I have a mulligan? No. Too late. You had your chance.

If there somebody here who is not a member of the body of Christ and you have come to believe in your heart that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the son of the living God, and you're willing to confess that faith and repent of your sins we'd be glad to assist you as you are baptized into the body of Christ. You will then as a Christian take up your cross daily and follow by faith, studying His word and growing in understanding.
If you’re a child of God already and your faith has been weak to where you have gone astray, if there is sin between you and God, I would like to encourage you to deal with it.
God is gracious; God is willing to forgive you. We as your brothers and sisters in Christ will pray for you, pray with you and do the very best we can to encourage you.

If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way, you are invited to come forward and make your need known while we stand and sing the song of invitation.

Invitation song: # ???
Reference Sermon by: John Robertson

Overview of the Bible - Part 1

Overview of the Bible

INTRO: Good morning to everyone, it's good to see you this beautiful, sunshiny morning. It is a blessed day to be here in the house of God with the saints of the Lord and look forward to another study of God's word with you.

I was listening to some old songs by the Chuck Wagon Gang the other day and one caught my attention. Now there are some here way to young to recall the Chuck Wagon Gang and likely not many recall the old song “Dust on the Bible”. Let me read a few verses.

I went into a home one day just to see some friends of mine
Of all their books and magazines, not a Bible could I find
I asked them for the Bible, when they brought it what a shame
For the dust was covered o'er it, not a fingerprint was plain

Dust on the Bible, dust on the Holy Word
The words of all the prophets and the sayings of our Lord
Of all the other books you'll find, there's none salvation holds
Get the dust off the Bible and redeem your poor soul

I thought it would be good to have for a lesson an overview of the Bible. It might be a good lesson to encourage us to look deeper into things in God's word, and to excite us about this wonderful book that directs us in the paths of righteousness so that our hope of heaven may one day be fulfilled. Mark had a wonderful sermon recently on the “The Prayer of Jabez” taken from something recorded in the middle of 9 chapters of genealogy in 1 Chronicles. It was a pearl in the middle of endless names that God saw fit to put there yet how many of us discovered it? As we have said many times, lessons often come from the desire to learn and so I hope this will encourage that desire. The title, Overview of the Bible, may sound as though we'll be here for the next couple of days, non-stop. But this is just going to be a very broad overview that hopefully will give us a taste for wanting to look deeper into the things of God's word.

The story of the Bible is a fascinating story and it is really a very simple story. In fact, sometimes it is perceived as being so simple that someone may think that they really don't have to spend much time in it because of the elementary principles. Such as having faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, confessing that faith, repenting of our sins, being baptized for the remission of sins and being saved by God's grace.

All of these things are found in the word of God, but in their own way they are more complex than we may believe at first. Once we dig in and read however, then the complexities of these issues quickly dissolve, but it takes some time and effort to do that. It sometimes seems to me that people lack an interest in the Bible itself.

People are fascinated with movies and with books to the point they'll watch a favorite movie over and over again. They’ll read novels over and over and they can tell you everything about those novels. Yet when it comes to the book that can guide us to an eternal heavenly home, it seems that there's a lack of understanding, a lack of knowledge. That’s a neglect that needs to be repaired.

Though it is a book that directs us to righteousness man neglects it, though its pages explain our existence, man rejects it, though the words reveal an act of love and compassion unparalleled in human history, when Christ, the son of God, gave his life on the cross so that we might have eternal life, man rejects the words of God. In John 1:10-13 John writes speaking of Jesus; “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

John writes that even though Christ was their creator, many people rejected him. I do not believe that this defines anyone present this morning, but rather we would be a people that are very interested in the word of God.

I. Before the Beginning: In our overview of the Bible this morning you might well think, we will start with creation, but the story of the Bible actually starts far before creation. In fact, it considers eternity.

A. When we think about God, we see One who is eternal, eternal in the heavens, a God that has always existed. In fact, we read in this Bible that His word always existed. I want to read to you from Proverbs Chapter 8. This is a fascinating reading and if you haven't read this or it's been a while since you've read it, follow along with me and think about the importance of these words in relationship to the story of the Bible. At the beginning of the chapter we read “ Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors: "To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.” Proverbs 8:1-4 tells us that the wisdom and understanding of God’s word is under consideration here.

B. Now Proverbs 8:22-31 – “"The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primeval dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him, as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.”[NKJV]

1.The word of God has always been around. Even before one particle of dust or rock or drop of water was put upon this earth, there was the eternal word of God, complete in every way. The mind of God was there. We think about things eternal and that even before the world started, we see the word of God was.
2. Think about what it actually had to say even before each of us were put upon the face of this earth. The word of God tells us that before the world was even created, God had determined to save and elect people, a chosen people as Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:4 - “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,”
3. At Romans 8:29-30 the apostle Paul writes; “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
4. Before anything was even formed in this world, before the foundation of the earth, that doctrine, that precept was in place. God knew that there would be people who would serve Him, who would be considered His elect, His chosen people. God knew that there would be people to do that before He even formed the earth that we live on. Before one man, before the man Adam and the woman Eve were even created this was known by God.

C. David helps us to understand the concept or the doctrine of fore-destination or predestination. The King James Version uses the word predestination. It's a good word, it says what it says. David helps us to understand the idea of God's foreknowledge of people who would serve him and people who would not serve him. In Psalms 14:5 when David wrote; “... For God is with the generation of the righteous.” that word generation comes from a Hebrew word translated into the Greek not as a period of time but as characterized by “quality”, “condition” or “class” of men. Liddell and Scott said that it means a person in a family, race, or stock, of horses a breed or kind, a race.

1. What David is saying, what the Apostle Paul is saying, what God is saying, is that before the foundation of the world, God knew that there would be a class of people, there would be a breed of people, there would be a family of people, who would conform their lives to the image of Jesus Christ. They will serve the Lord come what may in this life, no matter what hardship, no matter what difficulty, no matter what they face, they're going to serve the Lord with all their heart, mind and soul.
2. These are going to be people who do not permit their opinions to stand in the way, to stand between them and the word of God. These are people that will not let their personal convictions stand between them and the word of God and their hope of heaven. They will not form preconceived religious ideas about truth.
3. They'll let the truths of God's word conform their thinking and their minds. They will be as one, not only with other people of that class or family or generation—they will be one with God. Conform to an image of God, and God has always known about these special people. Before any dust particle or any water was on the Earth, God knew that there would be those who submit to His authoritative, eternal word.

D. As we continue this morning, let’s keep that idea in our minds so that we can understand the Bible; understand its objectives, where it's headed and where it wants to take us. If I understand that before I was created, before I came into this world, before you came to this world, that the word of God already existed, then I will understand that it's up to me to catch up to it, it doesn't catch up to me.

II. The Beginning: Now let’s read Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In Psalms 33:6-9 tells us; “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.”

A. Here we see the authoritative power, the omnipotence of God as He spoke words and things formed, the elements obeyed Him, and the world came to be as we now know it.
B. In Genesis 1:26 we find that God created man in His own image, He created male and female and because He created them in His own image He knows—we can conform to His image! We were made that way.
C. As we continue to read through the early pages of the word of God, we find that it was not long before man disobeyed these precepts, these eternal existing laws, that were in place before Adam and Eve even came upon the face of the earth. In Genesis 2:16-17, God said that; “16. ... "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17. "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.''”

1. In Genesis 3:1 Satan comes on to the scene. I know that you've heard this, most people have read through this so many times, but read through it with me and follow the line of thought. Genesis 3:1- “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?''” When I read that I wondered, why did he say that? At Genesis 2:16-17 God says; “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat”. This is given in the form of a command, a law. We recognize this.
2. Satan asks, “Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?” His approach is that of a question. The purpose of this query was to focus upon the restriction and prohibition which God had made regarding a certain tree. “And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'”
3. The glaring error on Eve's part is her mishandling of God's Word. She added to it saying; "nor shall you touch it". Thus, the groundwork for the fall was laid through adding to and altering the Word of God. “the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die” and you know the rest of the story.

D. The woman saw the fruit that it was good, and she ate it because she was tempted of Satan to do so. Then Adam followed suit and he also ate. Mankind fell from the very start, the very first two human beings to ever exist upon the face of the earth God created, sinned. They violated the commandment of God.

III. God’s Plan: God's plan at that point “kicks in” as we might say. Remember now, these words were in existence from all eternity.

A. Here we find God starts to reveal His plan to save man. In Genesis 3:15 we see the first ray of hope for Adam and Eve as they are cast out of the garden. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.''” As we continue to read through our Bible we find statements of hope, statements that reveal a plan to redeem these sinners, these sinful people that had violated God's command.
B. In Genesis 12:1-4 we find God making a promise to Abraham and God says in that promise that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
C. In Second Samuel 7:12-15 we find the prophet Nathan telling David that it would be through his seed, that God would establish an eternal kingdom that would never, ever end.
D. When we turn to the pages of the New Testament, we find the meaning of these promises that were made of Genesis Chapter Twelve and Second Samuel Chapter 7.

1. We read the Apostle Paul’s writing in Galatians 3:5-9 – “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'' Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing (foreseeing is significant here) foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed.'' So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”
2. We turn over to verse sixteen, the same chapter. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds,'' as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed,'' who is Christ.” At that point, it is revealed to us that these promises that God made early on in the pages of Genesis, had to do with Christ. With Jesus Christ coming into the world and serving as a living sacrifice, so that man could have hope, because man sinned.

IV. The Law: Because of the revealed Word of God there would be generations upon generations upon generations of individuals who would come to see the need to be forgiven of trespasses. God is omnipotent, God is omniscient, God is the all knowing, all seeing God. He is creator of all things. He is all powerful, and man must come to see Him for what He is and meet His demands of absolute moral perfection.

A. “Therefore you shall be perfect”, Jesus said in Matthew 5:48, “just as your Father in heaven is perfect”. In Leviticus 11:44 God says “...you shall be holy; for I am holy...”

1. The Apostle Peter quotes this in 1st Peter 1:15-16 – “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy.''”
2. To get man to the point where they understood God's expectation of holiness and moral perfection, and to help them to feel the remorse, the guilt, to have this mournful spirit that Jesus would talk about in the Beatitudes, to get them to that point He brought law to them, the eternal existing law.

B. He would reveal it to man first by the way of Moses in what is known as the Mosaic Law. Galatians 3:23 the apostle Paul writes; “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” This law was to bring people to faith and help them to see the magnitude of their sins, the horrendous state of their soul, the desperate need they had for the forgiveness of their sins. It was to prepare us to understand the need, and without the laws of God we would not see the state of desperation we are in.

C. Exodus 20:1 Moses is at Mount Sinai and he receives the Ten Commandments. In Hebrews 8:4-6 the author of Hebrews tells us that these laws that God had given through Moses were a “shadow of the heavenly things”. In Hebrews 10:1 the author tells us “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things...”

1. They didn't represent the end where God wanted to bring men, but they were a step. They were a tutor to get man to where he needed to be.
2. Furthermore, he tells us at Hebrews 7:18-19 “For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”
3. The law lacked something. The Law of Moses was lacking in that he says it could not make a man perfect and that's what God was after. Perfection, absolute moral perfection and the Mosaic Law could not do this. This was its unprofitableness.

V. The Savior: God had always planned before the foundation of the world to bring Christ into the world. We can read about the Christ all throughout the Old Testament scriptures. There are many, many prophecies, words that speak about the coming of Jesus and what He would represent.

A. Maybe the most memorable statements which people recall are in Isaiah 9:6 where the Prophet of God said to us; “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

1. The Christ would come into the world and He would preach the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of peace with God. He would also be crucified by the very ones that He created, by the very ones that He taught, by the very ones that He loved, those He was trying to guide on the paths of righteousness so that they could attain eternal life. They would slay Him on a cross.
2. Three days later, Christ rose from the grave. He was resurrected and He ascended into the heavens. All of this was foretold, it was written. All this was in the mind of God before one particle of dust came together on the Earth, before we were created.
3. Think about this, before you stepped a foot onto this earth, before you took a breath of life, this was all in place. You grew from being a one moment old child to where you are right now, and you learn things from this book about God the Father and His eternal word which has been in existence before you ever were.

B. Christ ascended into the heavens and He brought a new law. We read from Galatians Chapter 3 that it was the object of the Mosaic Law to serve as a tutor, to bring us to Christ, to bring us to faith and help us to see our need to be forgiven of sin, to paint a picture of the horrendous nature of sin and the state that it puts one in to be separated from God, Isaiah 59:1-2.
C. Starting in Jeremiah 31:31ff we read; “"Behold, the days are coming,'' says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah ”

1. Scripture foretold of this new law that would come. This new law would be different than the old law Moses delivered. The law that Moses delivered was unprofitable in that it could not prefect anyone, that is, forgiving people of their sins. But that would not be the case with the law of Christ.
2. Jeremiah tells us that through the law of Christ, the new covenant, men would be forgiven. Verse 34 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.”

CONCLUSION: As we bring this mornings portion of our overview to a close let me go back to what led me to present this and that is “Dust on the Bible”. Why are people ignorant of the Bible? Some do not study it. Some do not want to understand it. Some have minds that are cluttered with other things. Some have not learned to rightly divide it. And unfortunately some are prejudiced against it.
It is impossible to have a saving scripture knowledge without regular study (Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15). We do not expect to learn math, English, science, history or literature without cracking a book. The Bible is no different.

There are religious people that do not study Scripture. Instead they rely on the traditions of their parents and the views of their preachers. Many could not point to the Bible as authority for what they believe (cf. Colossians 3:17). Christ’s words are hauntingly real in our generation, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures” (Matthew 22:29). Some spend more time with Swindoll or Lucado than they do Peter and Paul. As strange as it sounds, we need to put the Bible back into our religious curriculum.

Scripture speaks of those who are willfully ignorant (2 Peter 3:5). The Bible condemns sins; therefore, sinners do not enjoy reading it. Deeds of darkness do not enjoy exposure to light. Woodrow Wilson said, “A man has deprived himself of the best there is in the world, who has deprived himself of a knowledge of the Bible . . . I have a very simple thing to ask of you. I ask every man and woman in this audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great Book.”

Jesus spoke of thorny-ground where the seed of the Word was choked. One of those thorn bushes was the “cares of this world” (Matthew 13:22). Good, moral people sometimes get too busy with family, food, finances, and fun to give the Word space to grow. Even among Bible readers, ignorance can remain if they fail to meditate on the Bible’s precepts (Psalm 1:2). No knowledge on this earth, not now or ever, is as important as Bible knowledge.

We use sunglasses to dim the intensity of the sun. There are those that put shades on their mind’s eye to dim the Gospel light. They come to the Bible with their minds already made up as to what it says. Like the ancient Jews (Matthew 13:15), they make it fit their beliefs rather than fitting their life to it. This makes proper interpretation impossible.

If there somebody here who is not a member of the body of Christ and you have come to believe in your heart that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the son of the living God, and you're willing to confess that faith and repent of your sins we'd be glad to assist you as you are baptized into the body of Christ. You will then as a Christian take up your cross daily and follow by faith, studying His word and growing in understanding.
If you’re a child of God already and your faith has been weak to where you have gone astray, if there is sin between you and God, I would like to encourage you to deal with it.
God is gracious; God is willing to forgive you. We as your brothers and sisters in Christ will pray for you, pray with you and do the very best we can to encourage you.

If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way, you are invited to come forward and make your need known while we stand and sing the song of invitation.

Invitation song: # ??? Reference Sermon by: John Robertson

How Does It Look to You Now?

How Does It Look to You Now?  

Haggai 2:3-7 , Philippians 2:13

Our scripture text this evening is from Haggai, the third book from the end of the OT. And in chapter 2, vs's 3-7 the prophet Haggai is delivering a message from God to the people of Israel. He says:

"`Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' declares the Lord.

‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,' declares the Lord, ‘& work. For I am with you,' declares the Lord Almighty.

‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' This is what the Lord Almighty says:

‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens & the earth, the sea & the dry land. I will shake all nations, & the desired of all nations will come, & I will fill this house with glory,' says the Lord Almighty."

Now the subject God is talking about here is an important one, & we'll get to it a little bit later in this sermon.

But right now I particularly want us to notice the question in the middle of the third verse, "How does it look to you now?" That is a good question to ask periodically in our lives: "How does it look to you now?"

Look back over 2019, how does it look to you now? Now we can look back & see all the hopes & dreams, disappointments & sorrows of 2019.

We can also ask this question about 2020. As we look forward, some prophets of doom tell us that this year is going to be a bad year. But others say that 2020 will be a great year!

So what do you see?

ILL. Behavioral scientists have discovered that we usually see things that we prepare ourselves to see, & that this is all centered in a network of nerve cells called the "Reticular Activating System." And everybody here today has a "Reticular Activating System." Did you know that?

The Reticular Activating System works like this. Once something has been brought to our attention & we have been prepared to see it, we'll see it virtually everywhere we go.

For example, if you decide to buy a new car & you make up your mind that you are going to buy a certain brand, a certain body style, & a certain color, all of a sudden you'll see those cars everywhere.

You'll see them on the roads, in TV advertisements, in newspapers & magazines. They're everywhere.

Now what has happened? They were always there, but the moment you focused your attention to see them, your Reticular Activating System kicked in, & suddenly you saw them everywhere.

It happens in other areas of life, too. We see what we are prepared to see. If we're prepared to see doom & gloom, that's what we'll see. If, on the other hand, we have prepared ourselves to see sunshine & opportunities, then that is what we are going to see.

So let's ask the question, "How does it look to you now?" & consider it in 3 different areas.

I.  HOW DO YOU LOOK TO YOURSELF?

First of all, how do you look to yourself? When you look in the mirror, what kind of person looks back - someone who is weak, who isn't worth very much?

Or do you see an eager, optimistic person who can hardly wait for each day to begin because there are so many things to do? What do you see when you look at yourself?

I hear people say things like, "Why, I can't do that." Or, "That's just too hard." Others say, "I know I'm hard to get along with, but that's just the way I am. Lord knows, I've tried, but I can't seem to change."

But the Bible says that when God's Holy Spirit comes to live in our lives He can bring about dramatic & drastic changes, if we will let Him.

When He came into the life of Saul of Tarsus, who was persecuting the church, He changed Saul into the gentle & yet strong Apostle Paul. And He can make the same kind of changes in our lives, too.

But a lot depends upon what we see. How do you look to yourself? Let me challenge you from Scripture to see yourself the way God sees you.

In Philippians 2:13 God says something that ought to influence how we see ourselves. " ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Paul is saying that we are a part of God's investment - bundles of unlimited opportunity & potential. God wants to change us, & then through us He wants to influence & change the world.

So don't go around saying, "Well, that's just the way I am. God can change you, if you'll let Him have His way in your life.

ILL. Someone said, "Life can be hard if lived by the yard. But it is a cinch by the inch." So place your life in God's hand & live it one inch at a time.

ILL. Some years ago two young brothers decided to pour kerosene in the pot bellied stove in their school room because it was cold & they wanted to warm things up.

They poured what they thought was kerosene on the fire, but it was gasoline, & the stove exploded. It killed one boy & left the other with badly burned legs. Doctors told his parents that they must amputate his legs right away or his whole body could become infected.

The parents said, "Let's wait a day." The next day the doctors said, "His legs must be amputated." The parents said, "No, let's wait another day."

This went on for several weeks, until finally the doctors discovered that the legs were healing, but that the left leg would be 2 1/2 inches shorter than the right leg. The doctors said, "He will keep his legs, but he'll never be able to walk."

Within a few weeks the boy was standing up & hobbling around on crutches. The doctors changed their prediction. "Well, he may be able to walk, but he'll never be able to walk without crutches."

But within a few more weeks he was walking without crutches. So they said, "Well, he may be able to walk without crutches, but he'll never be able to run." But then he broke into a wobbly jog & soon he was running.

That boy was Glenn Cunningham, who, in the 1930's, won gold medals & set world records in track, & in his day was called, "The fastest human being on two feet."

You see, with God everybody has potential. God can even take crippled bodies & shattered lives,

& with them change the world. So how does it look to you when you look in the mirror? What do you see?

II.  HOW DOES THE WORLD LOOK TO YOU?

The second question is, "How does the world look to you?" The Bible teaches us that God so loves the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him, might have everlasting life.

God loves the world, & sees each of us as channels through whom His message of love might travel. So what do you feel when you look at the world? Are you concerned at all?

ILL. Tim Hansen in his book "Holy Sweat" tells about trying to teach a group of boys in High School who were totally uninterested in what he was teaching. So he decided that he was going to get their attention one way or another.

He tried every way he could think of to get them to listen. But day after day they just defied him to get them interested in anything. Finally, he went to the chalkboard & in desperation wrote the word, "APATHY" in great big 3-foot letters across the blackboard. Then he turned around & looked at his class.

He said that there was one big senior boy, sitting at his desk, squinting at those letters - reading them out aloud, "A P A T H Y." The boy scratched his head for a moment, & then read it out loud again, & tried to pronounce it - "A-pa-thy."

Pretty soon the boy turned to his buddy & said, "A-pa-thy. What's that mean?" His buddy shrugged his shoulders & answered, "Who cares?"

I wonder if we exhibit that attitude sometimes when we look at our world today? Do you see it as an opportunity to share the love of God, or do you care? What do you see when you look at the world around you today?

III. HOW DOES THE CHURCH LOOK TO YOU?

Finally, how does the church look to you today? Let's look again at the passage in the Book of Haggai that I read to begin this sermon. In it God instructs Haggai to speak to Gov. Zerubbabel, to the high priest, & to all the people.

The occasion is this. After years of exile in Babylonia, their new Persian rulers had set the Jews free - free to return to their homeland, to rebuild Jerusalem & Solomon's temple that the Babylonians had destroyed.

So after they return, God says to the prophet Haggai, "Speak to them & ask them, 'How many of you remember what the Temple was like before it was destroyed?'"

There were some who could remember when the temple stood in all of its glory, when people came & worshiped, sacrifices were offered, when prayers rose up to God. Those had been exciting times of worship & fellowship as people came together in God's house.

Then God asks, "How does it look to you now?" And what they saw was just a pile of rubble, because the temple lay in ruins.

But then three times God says, "Be strong." "Be strong," to Zerubbabel. "Be strong," to the High Priest. "Be strong," to all the people.

He said, "Here is the reason you can be strong, I'm with you. I’ve made a covenant with you. My spirit remains among you. Do not fear, for I'm going to shake the heavens & the earth. I'm going to shake the sea & the dry land. I'm going to shake all the nations."

Then He said, ⁷ I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. (Haggai 2:7)

Now, what about the church? As you look around, what do you see? Do you see just a beautiful building, or do you see a room full of people with the potential to make a difference in the lives of men & women, boys & girls, for the glory of God?

2020 is unfolding before us. The way we see it, with God's help, is the way it can be. God is alive & on His throne. Nothing is impossible with Him. He waits for a willing church to answer His call, to respond to His challenge, to reach out to a world that desperately needs to hear His message.

ILL. A nurse who used to work with young children in the pediatric ward of a hospital said, "When I worked in the pediatric ward, before I listened to the little ones' chests, I would plug the stethoscope into their ears & let them listen to their own hearts. Their eyes would always light up with awe.

"But I never got a response to equal 4year old David's. I gently tucked the stethoscope in his ears & placed the disk over his heart. 'Listen,' I said. 'What do you suppose that is?'

"He drew his eyebrows together in a puzzled line & looked up as if lost in the mystery of the strange tap tap tapping deep in his chest. Then his face broke out in a wondrous grin. 'Is that Jesus knocking?' he asked."

Somewhere, maybe in Sunday School, David had heard that scripture where Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts, knocking & asking for admission.

INVITATION: If you are here this evening and haven’t opened your heart and life to Jesus and his pattern of life

Repenting of your sins

Confessing he is the Son of the Living God

Being baptized for the remission of your sins

And then walking a new life

It is my privilege to extend His invitation, with the assurance that He can take whatever you are right now & change you in ways that you never thought possible. We extend His invitation & pray you will respond…

as we stand and sing the song of invitation

Contributing Sermon Given

By Melvin Newland