Chardon church of Christ

God Who Makes the Broken Beautiful

God Who Makes the Broken Beautiful

Genesis 1

 

INTRO:

Our sermon this morning is going to begin in the Old Testament Book of Genesis.   This marvelous chapter is not just history, because it provides information concerning events that antedate all history. It is not myth, because it carries within it a credibility that never belonged to any myth. It is not science, because it deals with the beginning. It is INSPIRATION, a revelation from Almighty God Himself; and it is in this way that it is received and accepted.

 

Let’s start in Genesis chapter 1 and Verse 2. In the text we learn something about the way the world was before God began the process of creation.  Genesis 1:2 “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” This refers to the state of the earth in the first phase of its creation and the Hebrew words here indicate the primeval chaos. This is the way the world was at the very beginning.  Here the Spirit of God is introduced and the NKJV says “was hovering over the face of the waters” .   The Hebrew word we see as “hovering” or “moved” actually means to grow soft, to brood, to be moved or affected, especially with the feeling of tender love, hence to cherish.

 

You see the creative hand of God in the beginning; on the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, and the sixth day.   By the time you get to the end of Genesis chapter one verse thirty-one it says; “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

 

In the very beginning of the Bible we learn something about the power of our God.

God has the power to take things and circumstances that are in complete chaos and with His hand, with His power; He can make things out of that chaos that are absolutely beautiful and wonderful.

 

For a moment, I would just like us to think about His creation.  Just think about it.

Think about the sunrises, the sun sets, the stars, and the moon. Think of the springtime when the flowers are coming out, and the autumn when leaves start changing. I don’t mind telling you, folks, it's a beautiful creation. That's something we can learn about the power of our God. He has the power to create things that are beautiful from a situation that's in utter chaos.

 

Let’s talk about the power of our God to take things that are broken, things that are in chaos, and with His hand make things that are beautiful. With that in mind, in this next example I would like to look at what we find in Matthew Chapter 1.

 

1. Matthew 1:1 says “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:”
   1. Here in Matthew Chapter One is the genealogy of Jesus Christ and what we are going to do is look at the particular individuals within it to see what we can learn about some of these people. The first one I would like to look at with you is in verse three where it says: “Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.”
      1. If you recall we read of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. Now Judah had wed a Canaanite named Shua. They had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah.  
      2. When Er had grown Judah selected an Israelite named Tamar to be Er’s wife.   God was displeased with the Israelites marrying the women of Canaan and the Lord prevented these three sons from receiving the birthright.  
      3. If you read the story of Judah and Tamar you find it was an incestuous relationship. The father-in-law has sexual relationships with his widowed daughter-in-law and they have twin sons. That’s pretty bad stuff, folks.
   2. Going over to verse five; “Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,”.  We find Rahab in Joshua 2, she is described as the harlot that the spies Joshua sent out stayed with.  
      1. Rahab is the woman who sent the spies out safely and was allowed to live with her family as a consequence of that. Rahab was a Canaanite and she was a harlot.
      2. We read in Joshua 6:25 that Rahab was saved from the destruction of Jericho. “And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.”
   3. What about Ruth? Ruth was a Moabitess. The Moabites worshiped Temash as their god.   The Moabites were very idolatrous people, so were the Canaanites. Rahab was a Canaanite, a Gentile.  Ruth was a Moabite, a Gentile. Rahab was a prostitute. Tamar has an incestuous relationship with her father-in-law.
   4. Let’s see if it gets any better as we continue in Matthew 1:6 – “and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.” Who is this who has been the wife of Uriah? We're talking about Bathsheba of course.
      1. We are familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba, David commits adultery with Bathsheba and in trying to hide the adultery when she conceives, David maneuvers to have Uriah the Hittite killed.
      2. The Bible is very straightforward in setting all this out. You have adultery, incest, prostitution, and idolatry.
   5. Let's look at some of the men involved.  Reading on in Matthew 1:7-10 – “7. Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8. Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9. Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10. Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.” Looking at verse 10 we may be wondering who are Manasseh and Amon?
      1. Manasseh was the most wicked of all the kings of Judah. He re-instituted idol worship and reversed the religious changes made by his father Hezekiah. It was because of his sin in leading the children of Israel into idolatry to worship Bael and Astorof, Temash and Molach, that they were taken away into Babylonian captivity.
      2. He is believed by just about all people who are familiar with the history of the Jews, to be the most wicked of all the kings.
   6. What do we see in all this? Have you ever seen someone and thought why did God bless that person with children? Look at that individual look how terrible they are. Look at the life those children are being raised up in.   Why is God allowing this situation to happen?    What good can come from this?   What good can come from an incestuous relationship?   What good can come from a prostitute?   What good can come from idolatry?   What good can come from evil?
      10. When you look at the genealogy of Jesus you're going to find a pretty bad group of people. A group of people that illustrates the world—but then the creative hand of God and the power of God shows in; Luke 2:10-14 – “10. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11. "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12. "And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.'' 13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!''”
      11. From all this mish mash of vulgarity and sin, when the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary who is a descendant of all these people, at the end of it what you have is the Christ child.
      12. The point we see from all of this is that when the power of God comes into it He can take chaos, things that are broken, things that are ugly, and make things that are wonderful.

• What if we were asked this question: In the big broad history of mankind, what do you consider to be our darkest hour, the lowest point in the entire history of mankind?
  11. Certainly we can think of some pretty terrible things.   The Nazis and the Holocaust were pretty terrible. In my lifetime what happened in Cambodia with over 2 million people being killed was terrible. The communist did a lot of terrible things, and more recently 9/11.   But what do you consider to be the true lowest moment of mankind's history?
      1. I would say it was when people took the blameless, Holy Son of God and murdered Him in cold blood and loved every minute of it.
      2. I'm reading from Matthew 27:24-31 – “24. When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.'' 25. And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children.'' 26. Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
  12. I want to stop right there.  We know the trial of Jesus was an absolute mockery of justice.  He was found not guilty, not worthy of any punishment whatsoever time and time again. “I find no fault in this person”.   Finally Pilate delivers Him over to be scourged.  
      1. We have probably all heard something about scourging. The Romans could care less about the forty stripes save one.   They would beat you as close to death as they could, they would literally mutilate your legs and your back. Jesus was scourged.
      2. After He was scourged continuing the text here: “27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole garrison around Him. 28. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!'' 30. Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. 31. Then when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified.”
      3. At the crucifixion of Jesus you see how low human beings can go.   We're dealing with a man who is absolutely sinless and pure.   He loves all of these people who are crucifying Him. He loves them with a perfect love and when He's on the cross He's praying; “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.
      4. When you look at the crowd surrounding the cross you see something almost like ravenous animals who love to torment, who love His pain, who love the torture and mocked Him saying; “let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.”
  13. Yes, I believe what we see here in the crucifixion of Christ is how low we human beings can go, how vile, how vulgar, and how evil we can actually be.
      1. The amazing thing is God has taken our darkest moment, the moment of our greatest shame as human beings, and turned it into the most wonderful, most beautiful, expression of love that has ever been.
      2. In Romans 5:8 we read – “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” That’s amazing!
         1. He has taken our ugliest moment and used it as a means of expressing His love for us because He allowed it to take place.
         2. He is using this moment as a sacrifice where Christ is allowing this to happen to Himself.

• He's allowing himself to be scourged.

1. He's allowing them to beat him.
2. He's allowing them to pound the nails in His hands and feet.
3. He's allowing them to torture Him on the cross – because He loves us.

1. There is no mistake, God Almighty is showing to all mankind in the loudest way possible, I love you, you are precious to Me and I want you to be with Me, to the point where I'm giving My Son to die for you.
   1. He has taken our vilest ugliest moment and turned it into the most beautiful expression of love there is.
   2. That's the power of our God.  He has the power to take things that are ugly, vile, nasty and make them beautiful.
2. The next example is found in First Timothy. In First Timothy we have a man named Saul of Tarsus talking about himself in verse 15.   I Timothy 1:15 – “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”  I want to stop right there. “He came into this world save sinners of who I am chief.”
   1. Do you think Paul is just saying this? Is he just saying this for the sake of saying it? I don't believe so.   I believe he's telling the truth. He's actually telling it the way it is.
   2. This, the first great persecution against Christianity, was led by the Jews. Saul is involved in this first persecution against Christianity was not a bystander just observing it, though he held the coats when Stephen was stoned.   When the primary persecution kicked in, in Acts Chapter 8 Saul was leading it.
      1. He was leading the first persecution against the kingdom of our God and our savior here on this earth. When he says he was the chief of sinners, folks, he was.
      2. When you think of this person, how do you think about him? How many of you think about him as Saul of Tarsus, as the chief of sinners?   Or how many of him as the apostle Paul?
      3. I know how I think about him as the apostle Paul.   I stand back and I read about this man and I look at him with absolute awe.   I think of him as being if not the most outstanding, certainly one of the most outstanding Christians that has ever lived upon the face of the earth.
      4. Whenever I think of him I feel so small and weak and yet this man who became the great apostle Paul calls himself the chief of sinners.
   3. He tells us why he obtained mercy.  Look at this in the next verse. “However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.”
      1. Look at this.   Paul explains here why he, the chief of sinners, received mercy. It’s because there were going to be people in the future who coming into this world were going to sin.
      2. I know there are people even today that say “I just can’t be a Christian, I can not live that way, I can not give up the sin I am in.
         1. You just don't understand.
         2. You don't know what I'm involved in.

• You don't know where I've been.

1. You don't know what I've done.
2. There's no way I can be a Christian.   There's no way I can go to heaven.

3. It is for that reason we have the example of Paul.   That's the reason God showed Paul, who was the chief of sinners, mercy.
4. For this reason I obtained mercy that in me first, Jesus Christ might show all long suffering.   Jesus Christ did not give up on Paul even though Paul was in his own words, chief of sinners.   You've hurt me but I'm putting up with you.   I'm not giving up on you and you will be a pattern of those who are going to believe on Me for everlasting life.
5. The point of this folks, is it doesn't matter how terrible your sins are, it doesn't matter how many times you've committed them , you can even be the chief of sinners, and still be forgiven.
   1. Though your sins be scarlet… you know the rest.
   2. They shall be as white as snow.

• They can be as red as crimson they shall be as wool.

1. You can be forgiven.

1. That is the beauty of Christianity.

9. The next text I would like to look at with you is in First Corinthians chapter 6 beginning in verse 9. I Corinthians 6:9-10 – “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”[NKV]
   1. That sounds like a pretty unsavory list there to me, doesn’t it to you? The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, those who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, verbal abusers, swindlers, and then he says these individuals are not going to inherit the kingdom of God.
   2. But notice the next verse. “And such were some of you.” Whoa, some of these who are now Christians practiced those things? “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
      1. Some of them were homosexuals.
      2. Some of them were idol worshipers.
      3. Some of them were adulterers.
      4. Some of them were drunkards.
      5. Some of them were swindlers.
   3. But when they obeyed the gospel, they were sanctified, they were washed of their sins, they were justified.   Listen, folks, that involves everyone.   Everyone can have that done for them.
      1. It does not matter how terrible your life may be now, you can be justified, you can be forgiven, and have your sins washed away.   You can be sanctified and set apart from the world.
      2. You can be a Christian, an adopted son of the Father.
   4. Let’s look now at II Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

 

 

 

CONCLUSION:

To summarize what we've looked at.   In Genesis chapter one, in the beginning the earth was void without form, total, utter, chaos when the hand of God comes and turns it into what is very good.   Ah, it’s beautiful.

 

When we look at the genealogy of Jesus Christ, we have Tamar and her incestuous relationship, we have Rahab a prostitute, we have Bathsheba in adultery, we have Manasseh leading the children of Israel into sin and at the end of it, when the hand of God comes into it, we have the Christ child.

 

The lowest moment of the history of mankind was when they took the son of God and murdered him and loved it. God has taken this lowest moment of our history and turned it into the most beautiful expression of love.

 

Look at the life of the apostle Paul who was the chief of sinners and when he submitted himself under the hand of God, turned from his sins, repented of them and was baptized – even though he was the chief of sinners, he was forgiven of those sins and he became the apostle Paul.

 

There were individuals in Corinth who were involved in all kinds of immorality but when they became Christians their sins were washed away and forgotten.

 

That is the beauty of Christianity.   It doesn't matter what you were.   It is what you are, what you are now in your relationship with God. You can be washed this very day of your sins.   You can obey the gospel and be forgiven. You can be justified and sanctified.

 

In II Corinthians 5:17 “if anyone” (what do you get from that phrase “if anyone”?).    What I get from it is anyone and that includes you and me.   If anyone is to be in Christ you've got to leave the life of sin behind, repent of the life of sin, put off the old man, put on the new man, and be baptized into Christ.   When you are in Christ he says you are a new creation.

 

You go from being an enemy who is separated from God by your sin to being a child of God.    You go from someone who is alienated from God to being a Christian.  You go from someone who is lost to someone who is saved. That is the beauty of Christianity.

If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All the past life, all the sins you were involved in, they are gone. You can start fresh and clean.

 

We have a song that we sing that has to do with the idea that God is the potter and we are the clay.   In that song we are asking Him to - mold me and make me after His will.   That's what Christianity is.    We recognize God as our Lord, and as our King.

We humble our self like a lump of clay under His hands and in obedient faith, allow Him, with His word, to mold us and to make us according to His will.

 

For any who are not yet a Christian, I would like to encourage you to quit being stubborn, quit fighting and resisting God and submit yourself like a lump of clay under the hand of God allowing Him to mold and make you according to His will. When He molds and makes you the end result is going to be beautiful.

 

The power of our God can take your broken life, He can take your life of chaos, your life of shame, your lowest moments, He can take all of that and be willing to forgive you of it and from then forward make you into a new creature, a new creation, a child of God.

 

There may be somebody here this morning who hasn’t obeyed the Gospel yet.   As we learned from the text we just read “if anyone” means you, if the sin in your life is standing between you and God, and if it is not dealt with while you are alive you'll be forever separated from God.

 

If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God even though your sins may be as scarlet they can be white as snow if you are in Christ.   The way you get in Christ is by openly confessing your faith, repenting of your sin, putting off the old man, putting on the new man, allowing the hand of God to mold and shape your heart and your life from now on and be baptized for the remission of your sins.   The blood of Christ will cleanse you of all unrighteousness and you will be that new creation.

 

If you're a child of God already and there's sin separating you from God I would hope you would recognize that that needs to be dealt with.  You cannot walk in darkness and expect to inherit eternal life. As we read earlier from Corinthians a long list of sins.  He says that individuals who do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.   That also applies to the children of God.

 

If you live in sin you will not inherit the kingdom of God.   Should that describe your life I would implore you and encourage you to repent of it.

Put it off.

Take it to God.

He is merciful.

He will forgive you.

We'll pray for you.

We'll pray with you.

We will do the best we can to encourage you.

If you're subject to the Gospel call in any way let it be made known while we stand and sing the song that has been selected.

 

Invitation song: ???

 

Reference sermon by: Wayne Fancher

 

The Shaping of Your Life

The Shaping Of Your Life
Proverbs 14:12

INTRO:
Good morning. Good to see everyone this morning. I guess it’s that time of the year when it just seems like the weather can't make its mind up, one day it'll be cold and the next day it'll be warm. When you go back and forth like that you're going to have a lot of people getting sick.

It is through God that we live, that we move, that we have our very being. It is God who gives us life. I believe in the providence of God I believe that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. I believe when I pray as a Christian, there are other Christians that are praying for me as I pray for others.

I'm a firm believer that the hand of God is indeed shaping and molding my life; however, we are freewill beings with the power of choice. We need to recognize that it is the choices that we make in our life that quite often are going to affect the shaping of our life and how it turns out.

Sometimes I run across people or information about people that I have known since I was a child. At times I’m absolutely amazed that some of them have got their lives completely, totally, messed up. Then I turn around I see other individuals that seem to have so much joy, so much peace, and so much happiness in their life in spite of a rocky start, or difficulties, and heartaches.

I strongly suspect that it is not all providence that makes these people’s lives turn out as they have. To the contrary I think a great deal of the reason we see people at such different extremes, where some will be totally at peace and happy and joyful and others in complete desperation, is because of the choices that they made in their life.

The sermon today is on the subject of the shaping of your life. We need to recognize that a great deal of how our life turns out is in our own hands. Proverbs 14:12 says; “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” As we travel through our life we're going to come to various crossroads and decisions that we're going to have to make. Sometimes there may be a direction where we may think, you know this seems like a good direction for me to take, it seems like the right way for me to go. Yet, if we choose that direction it will lead to our destruction. It will lead to our death—physical sometimes and spiritual others.

These crossroads are points were we could use some guidance, some instruction. Young people are especially in need of instruction because they do not even have the wisdom gained from mistakes yet. It is so important that our young people receive grounding in the Lord and His word so they have some understanding of where they can go for guidance. Today I would like to take a look as some of these crossroads and what we might teach others about them.

I. The first thing I will look at with you this morning in our journey of life is our friends. When you get to that crossroad you're going to have to choose wisely about your friends. First Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits.''” I want you to notice the beginning of the verse. Do not be deceived. From the beginning of this verse we get the idea that an individual sometimes may think to themselves, I can handle this. These people are not going to drag me down. They are not going to affect me, I'm stronger than that.
A. If you think that way about your companions and your friends, think that they are not going to affect you, you have deceived yourself. Evil company corrupts good habits and that is a reality of life. We recognize that the friends that we associate with, the companions we have, are going to play a major role in the shaping of our life.
B. Again in Proverbs, this time 22:24-25 – “24. Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, 25. lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.” Look at the end of this. It tells us we're setting a snare for our soul because of who we chose to be our friends. If we chose someone that is an angry person, a furious person, by being around this angry, this furious person—we learn their bad habits. Then we start acting like them and we suffer the consequences for our actions. Don't you recall the old cliché birds of a feather flock together?
C. In our life we're going to have to make choices about who our friends are going to be. This is a continual process. It’s not just teenagers that have to choose their friends. As adults we have to choose who our friends are also. We need to recognize that these individuals are going to have an influence on us.
1. If they are walking in darkness and living in sin we need to recognize that our friendship with them will pull us into their world. Don't think it won't, even though you're an adult.
2. Who we choose to be our friends is going to impact how our life is going to be shaped and the ultimate nature of that life.
D. Look at this again. Proverbs 13:20 – “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.”
1. There are two possibilities for our life. We can have a life of wisdom and all the fruits and benefits and blessings that come from living a life of wisdom, because we walk with wise men and we learn from them. Or... we can be a companion to fools. Your friends can be fools and a consequence of that... will be your destruction.
2. Do we see the choice that we have? The choice is whether we're going to be destroyed or have a life of peace. The choice that is going to determine which direction we take may very well be who our friends are.
3. Think about it this way. People who use drugs like to be around others who use drugs. Everybody knows that people who like to drink want to be around others that like to drink. Drinking buddies they say. Homosexuals want to be around other homosexuals. People involved in any kind of sexual immorality want to be around others that will participate in the same activities.
4. Any kind of sin you can think of that someone is walking in—what is their lifestyle? They want to be around others who will participate in the same sin. When we think that we can be friends with someone that is walking in darkness and not get pulled into the darkness... we have deceived ourselves. By so doing we will set a snare for our soul.
II. Another major decision we make is in the choice, and this is a very big one, the choice of who we marry. Who is going to be your husband? Who is going to be your wife?
A. I am amazed sometimes with how little thought some people put into this choice. Who are they going to court? Who they're going to marry? Who is going to be their husband or their wife? If we think about this at all, what criteria do we apply?
B. Our society today gives us the wrong picture of what love is. It concentrates on lust and says that is love. It almost seems as though the criteria is; “you smiled at me”, you think I'm pretty, marry me, Ok? You like me? OK let's get married. If it doesn't work out we’ll just get a divorce.
C. That is not what love is and not what marriage is for. It is not just passing ships in the night. It is for the rest of your life. The individual who you choose to be your spouse is going to affect your life more than any other human being; you are going to become one with this person.
1. You do not want to become one with someone who is going to drag you down and ruin your life. There are people out there who have absolutely wonderful lives until they get married. The person they marry and choose to be their spouse totally ruins it.
2. Look at this in Proverbs 21:19 – “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.” If I were talking to young ladies and men who are not married I would say; if you fight like cats and dogs now, breakup. If you are being mistreated now, breakup. A lot of people think when we get married it'll get better. Really? No, it doesn't. If you cannot get along now, don't think getting married is going to solve the problem.
3. Do you know what a contentious and angry person is? I'll try to explain it to you. If you go right, you should have gone left, and you go left, you should have gone right. If you're moving you should be standing still and if you're standing still you should be moving. It really doesn't matter what you're doing - it's wrong. You can't do anything right and you stink.
4. Continual put down, put down, put down, nothing is done right, nothing is good. Life stinks.
5. OK, do you know what’s worse than the contentious and angry woman mentioned in Proverbs? A contentious and angry man who does the same thing. He puts down his wife, and everything she does is no good. She can't do anything right. She’s stupid, she stinks. Life stinks. He just continues to put down, put down, put down.
6. Let me give you another picture of how this affects you. Have you ever been lying in bed at night and the faucet in the bath starts to drip? All of a sudden you hear drip. You think OK it's not gonna do it again. – Drip. Maybe it'll stop now. – Drip. You think; oh I can handle this, I’ll just doze off. – Drip
7. After about 30 seconds of this you just scream and get out of bed and run in there and tighten the faucet. The Chinese call it water torture. It's for real. Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, to where eventually it just drives you crazy. Contention is like a continual dripping on a very rainy day.
8. If you marry a person like this you are going to be driven mad because you can't turn it off. They will make your life miserable. There are people who exist that are just like this. They look at the world through black glasses and everything is terrible and everything is bad and nothing is good.
9. If you marry this person you're bound to them till death do you part. It's your life buddy. You made a bad choice. You better choose wisely and not marry a contentious and angry person.
D. Proverbs again chapter 23:29-30 – “29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? 30. Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. 31. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; 32. at the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. 33. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. 34. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: 35. "They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?''”
1. What we’re talking about here in the text is someone who likes to drink. If you court or date a man or a woman who likes to drink or use drugs—stop. Go the other way.
2. If you marry a man or a woman who likes to drink or use drugs the life you've got coming will be a life of sorrow, you're going to have a life of wounds, and you're going to have a life of contention. If you don't believe this it would be good for you to go and talk to the men and women at Al Anon. Do you know what Al Anon is? These are the spouses of alcoholics. Talk to them about their life. Talk to them about their spouse. Talk to them about their wounds.
3. You don't want to marry a person like this. You don't want this in your life. It's not something to be snickered at. Some people might think it's cool in high school or cool in college, but I'm telling you it's not cool in life. It's not cool in a real world of day to day living as husband and wife.
4. Choose your spouse wisely. If they like to use drugs or drink get away from them now before you’re married.
E. I’m going to read something from Ezekiel 16:44 – “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: 'Like mother, like daughter!'” The “proverb” used here is what we might call a cliché. We have this same cliché today though we usually hear it as – like father like son. We understand exactly what is being talked about. Generally speaking if you look at the mother and the father, the children quite often are going to be a great deal like them, but not always. We know there are times when children go the exact opposite way of their mother and father. They saw how their parent’s life was affected and they say to themselves “not me”, nope. I'm not going that way.
1. When you date someone look at their family. See how they talk to each other. See how they behave and how their family behaves as a unit because quite often your family is going to be a mirror image or very close to that.
2. If you see a father and mother that are honoring one another and the children honor and love one another, that's a pretty good indication that the person you date knows what a good environment is.
3. The cliché “as is the mother so is the daughter” as a general rule is true, but not always. It is not always true because you will find the people who have learned from the mistakes of their parents and have chosen to go in another direction.
F. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 7:3-4 – “3. "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4. "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.” This text points out an important element to consider and one which our society rejects. When you look into the heart of the person that you consider marrying, a very important element is this: Does this person love the Lord?
1. We need to realize how a person views God is going to affect our relationship in life with them more than anything. If you marry a virtuous person their price is far above rubies. You ask any man who's married to a Christian woman, a God fearing woman; he'll tell you she's the greatest treasure of his life. The same applies to marrying a God fearing man.
2. This is important because whoever you marry is going to change. I know that is not conventional wisdom but it is true. I don't care who you marry they're going to change. The question is change into what. Christianity is about change, continual change.
3. Ask a marriage counselor and they will tell you one of the most frequent comments they hear is; “He’s changed” or “She’s changed”, they are not the person I married. A counselor will tell you that sometimes it is hard to tell if there was real change or if perception was what changed.
4. We realize that a person who is not grounded with the anchor of faith and hope and love in their relationship with God is going to be like the leaves in the wind. It will be difficult to know what to expect in ten years, what they're going to be like.
5. On the other hand, if what drew you to a person is their character and their love for the Lord, that person usually will only change for the better. Unfortunately, though a good yardstick, even that is not always true. Sometimes even a God fearing man or woman loses their love for the Lord and leaves, but generally speaking a God fearing person just grows stronger in their relationship with God.
6. What drew you to them in the first place just gets better. That's the beauty of a really good marriage. A lot of folks think it's really wonderful in the beginning when you're falling in love and that giddy stage. That's nice but I'm here to tell you that when you are with the right person it just gets better. It matures and the love grows deeper and deeper and deeper. The person that you marry is going to affect and shape your life.
III. Let’s continue in Genesis 13:10-12, and take a look at the influence of where you live. Here we see where a man has a choice. He has to make the choice of where he is going to live. Where are you going to move yourself and your family? It says; “10. And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. 11. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom.”
A. Lot saw a land that was good for his flocks and he made his choice based on what the land could do for him. It was bountiful and would increase his wealth. The next verse tells us the condition of Sodom; “But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.” Yet, Lot seems to have ignored the reputation of this place.
1. I wonder if Lot’s decision would have been different if he had known what would happen.
2. What if you could have said to him; Lot do you want me to show you a preview of coming attractions, do you want me to tell you what's coming in your life? You're going to lose all of your herds. You're going to lose all your family and your wife and you're going to commit incest with your two daughters. Do you like that Lot?
3. Do you think Lot would have gone to Sodom if you could've told him what's at the end of his journey? I would say no, he wouldn't go that way. What man would choose a life like that?
B. There comes a time in your life when you have to make choices of what you're going to do for a living and where you're going live.
1. Consider the spiritual ramifications. Don't stick it down at the bottom of the list thinking we'll just make do, we'll just survive even though there's no congregation of the Lord’s church around. Don’t think even though it's a totally ungodly, immoral environment, we'll still go ahead and move there because it's a good job and I’ll make a lot of money.
2. Do not make choices based on wealth alone like Lot. Consider always the spiritual ramifications of any choice you make, the effects upon yourself and upon the future of your family. When you move to the new area hopefully there is a congregation there.
C. I also recommend you choose wisely where you're going to worship. Revelation 2:5 - says; “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.”
1. Here we're talking about the church in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus had left its first love. As a consequence of leaving their first love, their love for God and Jesus Christ, they had left the first works.
2. They are told very plainly unless they repent and go back and do the first works their lamp stand will be removed. How many of you would want to be a member in Ephesus if they refused to repent?
D. Revelation 3:15-16 - “15. "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16. "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth.” How many of you would want to be a member of this congregation at Laodicea?
E. What about the congregation at Sardis? Revelation 3:1-2 – “1. "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2. "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”
F. The point is there are congregations that may have issues which could negatively impact you and your family’s walk with God. People do not always spend their life in one spot. Circumstances can create a need to move elsewhere. If and when that happens be picky, selective, about the congregation that you attend.
1. Do not automatically be drawn to numbers thinking the numbers indicate faithfulness.
2. Remember Laodicea. They thought that they didn’t need anything. They had plenty of money and everything was great. That’s the congregation the Lord said was wretched, miserable.
3. Whenever people move to this area, quite often they will come by and they'll say “we're looking around”. Good. Look.
4. Come back and examine this congregation and see whether or not we're teaching the truth and living the truth or whether we are a dead congregation spiritually or whether we've left the first love, the first works.
G. You need to examine the congregation that you consider attending.
1. Make sure they're teaching the truth and doing the best they can to live it. You don't want to join yourself to a congregation that’s dead in spirit or a congregation has left the first love or left the first works.
2. Who you choose as your friends; who you choose to marry; what you choose to do for a living; where you choose to live and where you choose to worship are all actions that are within your control.
3. You have the power within you to choose wisely every single one of these—to choose God fearing friends, to choose a God fearing spouse, to choose a place that's going to be good for you spiritually and your family spiritually and a congregation that is truly a God fearing congregation trying to serve the Lord faithfully.
4. You'll find when you make wise choices the outcome of your life will be greatly affected.

CONCLUSION:
Going back to the start of the message today, Proverbs 14:12 says; “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

This is guidance and a warning. Keep your relationship with God at the center of your life. Make all your decisions on the things that will shape your life with your relationship to God in mind. We have that power.

Romans 8:28 – “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8:31 – “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Philippians 4:13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.

Ephesians 3:20 – “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,”.

I would hope and pray that everybody here this morning, and those that we teach have lives filled with joy, lives filled with peace, with the maximum happiness, fulfillment and contentment that a human being can experience in this life.
For that to be the case, you need to take control of your life and make it the way you want it to be. You have that power in your choices.

Maybe there is somebody here this morning who is not a member of the body of Christ.
If you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and you're willing to confess your faith and repent of your sins, we’ll be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ.

If you're a child of God and you've sinned and gone into the world, our God is gracious, you know this, He is willing to forgive. Come home, come back to the Father. We'll pray for you and pray with you.

We will do the very best we can as your brothers and sisters to encourage you.
If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way let us know as we stand and sing the song selected.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Wayne Fancher

The Sower

The Sower

INTRO:    Good evening. I will begin by telling you a story about little Johnny when he was quite young, about 3 years old. Little Johnny went with his dad to see a litter of kittens. When he got home he told his mother that, "There were 2 boy kittens and 2 girl kittens."
His mother asked him, “how do you know?" Johnny said, "Well, daddy picked them up and looked underneath, so I think it's printed on the bottom."

This evening we are going to look at a parable of Jesus which is unique. Unique in that Jesus himself explains the meaning of it. The parable of the Sower is the one we are going to look at in Mark 4.

We’re going to read quite a lot but just little portions at a time.
Mark 4:1-2 – “1. And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. 2. Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching:” [NKJV]. Let me stop there a minute. What an amazing sight that must have been. I imagine being in a large number of people sitting along the water’s edge and listening to the Master teacher speaking from a boat. What a pulpit that must have been to use. Jesus says, “Listen” and then goes on to share the parable with them in verse three through nine.

Mark 4:3-9 – “3. "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4. "And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5. "Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth. 6. "But when the sun was up it was scorched, and because it had no root it withered away. 7. "And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. 8. "But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.'' 9. And He said to them, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''”
Then Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Interesting how Jesus starts the parable and how He ends the parable. He starts by saying, “Listen” and ends by saying, “He, who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Teachers understand this issue when giving a lesson. One of the frustrating things for a teacher is wondering if anyone is listening to what they’re trying to say. Come to think of it, that goes for parents too. Those of you who have had children will know exactly what I’m talking about. You tell your child not to do this or that because it might be harmful but they go ahead and do it anyway. You often wonder if they’re getting it or if they are even listening.

We reach the point where we say to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to do that? Am I just wasting my breath?” Then you get them to repeat what you have said. If you ask they may repeat what you said, but it’s pretty obvious that they didn’t really listen to you in the first place. They didn’t fully grasp it. I suspect that’s one of the reasons why Jesus’ catchphrase was, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear." He uses this several times as you will see as you study. It didn’t just mean listen to what I’ve just said. It means think about it, pay attention to what I’ve just said.

I. Now Jesus reveals something to His disciples in Mark 4:10-13 – “10. But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11. And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12. "so that 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.' '' 13. And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
A. Jesus said He speaks in parables so that He can reveal secrets about the kingdom of heaven. "Mystery" in the New Testament sense refers to a glorious truth long concealed but now revealed (Romans 16:25-26).
1. Jesus' statement here is that the parables were intentionally designed to leave some of his audience in the dark. The parable He just shared did exactly what the parable was designed to do. It split the people into two groups, those who were interested in truth and those who weren’t.
2. Verse 10 says; “But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable” There were only a few that asked Him what the parable was about. Only a few people who were really interested in these truths. What Jesus is saying here when He quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10 is that, and I will paraphrase ‘My people can see and perceive, My people can hear and understand but they just don’t want to’. They don’t want to turn to God and be forgiven because their hearts are so far away from Me. They have always seen, they’ve always heard, but My people don’t want to listen and understand, because they are too stubborn.
3. Then in Isaiah 29:13 – “... the Lord said: "Inasmuch as these people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me,” listen to these next words “and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,” A couple of chapters later in Mark 7:6-9 Jesus says; “6... "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. 7. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8. "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.'' 9. And He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”
4. That brings to light more information about those who did not understand. Many just did not want to hear, they were too stubborn. Righteous in themselves... self-righteous. But there are others who had an agenda to keep things as they were. The religious leaders of the day. If Jesus had spoken plainly and unambiguously of being the Messiah and talked about the kingdom, the Pharisees could have accomplished His murder prematurely; therefore, it was of necessity that Jesus cloaked His teachings in those beautiful and humble parables, which in no sense hid His message from "ordinary people”," they being the very ones who fully understood him. The parables did, however, fully hide it from the proud, arrogant, unspiritual priesthood who organized against him.
B. Jesus asks those who are listening in Mark 4:13, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?” Jesus is saying this secret about the kingdom of heaven is so easy to understand. It’s so plain and obvious and yet do you understand it?
1. He’s telling them that they need to able to understand this parable so that they can go on and understand other parables He will teach them.
2. It’s much the same idea that Paul has when he says to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 – “1... brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;”
3. Jesus is going to teach them about the parables. What He is doing is essentially teaching them how to listen, how to learn. These few around Him wanted to know but they were yet babes and so He begins to explain in verse 14.
II. Mark 4:14-20 – “14. "The sower sows the word. 15. "And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. And when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16. "These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17. "and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. 18. "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19. "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20. "But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.''”
A. Jesus taught and explained the parable using an everyday life example. He uses the illustration of a farmer sowing his seed.
1. Let me plant something in your heads. Have you ever wondered why some people become Christians and then a little later they fall away? Or have you ever wondered why some people do not become Christians?
2. Every week the gospel is preached in the church. People attend every week and they hear the gospel of Christ being preached. They know what they need to do to become obedient to the Gospel, and yet it seems to happen so infrequently.
3. How come we don’t get people coming to Christ when the gospel is preached like they did during Biblical times? Maybe the best way to answer that question is by letting Jesus ask the question He was asking through this parable.
B. How could the scribes and Pharisees misrepresent God the way they did? How could the disciples and those listening not totally understand what Jesus was teaching? How could they not get it?
1. The way the word is being sown or being preached isn’t the problem. The problem lies with the way people receive the word. In other words those people who are honestly searching for the truth, it’s those people to whom the truth will become much clearer to.
2. Jesus said in Mark 4:3-8, "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, some fell on rocky places, other seed fell among thorns and other seed fell on good soil.”[para]
3. In His explanation people are like the place where the seed lands. He’s talking about 4 different soils, which represent 4 different reactions or responses when the gospel is preached.
III. In Mark 4:15 Jesus tells them and us; “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.”[para]
A. Remember to whom the word of God is being preached. It’s being preached to sinners, people whose hearts have been hardened with sin over the years.
B. Jesus said that the birds are a picture of the devil himself, who comes down and takes the seed away. The reason the devil can so easily take it away is because the word of God makes no impression on these people at all.
C. They are so hardened in sin they don’t even understand the significance of the words being said. In other words, the path is hard and the seed has nowhere to plant its roots. They hear the gospel but don’t hang around long enough to find out what it means to them. When people are hardened with sin, they always think that whatever’s being said doesn’t apply to them.
D. Let me ask you this: What I’m saying today, does it apply to any of us? Remember in Acts 2 when Peter preached the 1st gospel meeting, 3000 souls asked, “Brothers what shall we do?” They wanted to hear more. Why? Because they understood that what Peter had just finished saying to them, applied to them. They killed the Messiah and they understood; they got it.
E. But remember, Peter also preached the gospel to thousands more on that day who didn’t want to know and his words landed on a hardened path. That’s what Jesus is talking about in the first part of the parable.
IV. Jesus says in Mark 4:16-17, “Other people, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away” [para].
A. I remember quite some years ago, the late Billy Graham would speak at big gospel meetings in football stadiums and thousands of people would turn up to hear what he had to say. At the end of the night he would always put an invitation out to people to come forward, ‘Confess Jesus as Lord and become Christians’. I don’t want to get into that because we know what’s right and what’s wrong about it, but what happened was many people would come forward and give their lives to Jesus on that night.
B. The problem was that a few days after all the excitement had gone, the troubles of life were remembered and they lost interest in Jesus. In other words, they heard the word of God, they accept it with gladness and joy but it gains no root within them.
C. Jesus says that they are OK for a while but as soon as any persecution or worry comes along from being a follower of God, they just give up. The word was planted in them and it tries to grow but the soil was lacking.
D. Mark 4:5 – “Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of earth.” In Luke 8:6 we read; “Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.”
E. There are hearts out there that will receive the truth with great readiness and joy. Yet, when the heat gets turned up, these people fall away.
F. It is a concern when people become Christians without even studying the word of God first. I think people need to know and understand Who and what they are committing too. Whenever the heat of tribulation or persecution comes along because of the word of God, their delight in the truth just withers away and dries up.
1. With that in mind, let’s look at Luke 14:26-35 – “26. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27. "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it 29. "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all who see it begin to mock him, 30. "saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' 31. "Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32. "Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33. "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. 34. "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? 35. "It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!''”
2. Jesus is telling us; Listen, if we want to become a follower of Him, we need to think hard about it first. We are going to have to love Him more than we love our own family. We are going to have to carry our own cross and suffer like Jesus suffered. He says, we will need to put Him first, in front of everything else in our life.”
3. Again He says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear." In other words think about it, think a lot about His words and after you have thought, think about it even more. Then He reminds us in John 16:33 – “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
V. Jesus goes on to describe another type of response to the gospel in Mark 4:18-19 – “18. "Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, 19. "and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” In the case of the seed that fell among the thorns, there is nothing wrong with the soil.
A. It’s not too hard like the seed that fell along the path.
B. There’s enough soil for the seed to take root unlike the seed that fell on a rocky place.
C. It’s not the soil that’s the problem. It’s what is in the soil around it. It’s the environment in which it is living that is the problem. We know one of the ways that Satan likes to attack God’s people is with worry. Worry is the greatest joy stealer there is.
D. Jesus says there are 3 things that steal your joy in the gospel as a Christian. He tells of 3 things that can stop you from becoming a fruitful follower of the word.
1. First, "The cares of this world". People are so caught up in this life that they forget about the next. They worry about their jobs. They worry about their homes. They worry about having enough money to get by. I know people who worry all the time.
i. We all recall what Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-34 so I’ll paraphrase; “Listen; do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear, who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The Greek word we translate as “worry” or “thought” has the aspect of “being anxious”. When you are anxious, worrying, your mind is focused on the object of that care and not on God.
ii. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” He is saying, listen, you’re a Christian you don’t need to worry about these things, just leave the worrying to the unbelievers.
iii. Peter tells us 1 Peter 5:7 – “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Cast all your anxiety (your worries, distractions) on Him because He cares for you. Do we believe these verses? We do not always act like it.
2. Jesus tells us the 2nd thing that can stop us from becoming a fruitful follower of the word, "The deceitfulness of riches." The world’s biggest con these days is this, ‘get rich fast and you’ll be happy’. People say if I get that new car, I’ll be happy or if I get a new home I’ll be happy. In 1971 the campaign to have a lottery in Ohio began and succeeded in creating the Ohio lottery in 1973. The last I knew most states now have lotteries with the exception of Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii and Utah.
i. What happened that has caused most states to introduce a form of gambling, a lottery? It happened because there’s a demand. The world that is so commercial, people are lusting after the quick fix answer to their problems. They want a “get rich fast” answer to their problems.
ii. Riches are the fruit of the world. People are being deceived into thinking that material goods are the answer to life. The fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23).
iii. Material goods, wealth, are not the answer to life. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The only answer to this life is Jesus Christ Himself. If you want answers about this life or the next then you need to look to Jesus, because He is the only one who has the answers.
3. The 3rd thing that stops us from becoming fruitful is, "The pleasures of this life." I believe we all like to have fun. There’s nothing wrong with that but the problem comes when the fun becomes more important than godly living. Also if the fun becomes sinful, then a problem comes in.
i. God has given us the gift of pleasure, which in itself can be innocent but we need to remember that the world’s idea of enjoyment can be totally opposite to God’s idea of enjoyment.
4. These 3 things or these 3 thorns that we have just mentioned are constantly in the environment that we live in everyday. What they do is smother and choke the word of God.
i. Jesus says, the reason that people don’t bear any fruit is because of these thorns. These things look promising. They look like they are going to bear fruit but they never do.
ii. Why? These thorns soak up all the moisture and nutrients that are in the soil. The world ends up with all our attention and God just gets the dregs or whatever is left. We become starved of the truth, which is found in the word of God, and that’s the point.
VI. Finally Jesus says in Mark 4:19-20 – “these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Jesus says, “This is the soil I’m looking for, this is the kind of response to My words that I’m looking for.”
A. This soil is the total opposite to the 3 other soils mentioned. These are the people whose hearts are soft and tender. They received and cherished the seed, when it was planted. These people soak up the word of God. You’ll find them studying the Bible because they gain strength from it and go on to produce a crop of thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.
B. Jesus summarizes what was just said in Luke 8:15 “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” [para] They can see the world’s riches for what they really are. They guard themselves against worldly pleasures.
C. These people realize that God loves us so much that God wants us to cast all our anxieties onto Him. He cares for us. These people produce much fruit. They are people who are long distance faith runners, who are faithful to the end.
D. It’s to those people who Jesus says about the others in Mark 4:11 – “so that 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them” In effect, “Do you want to know a secret?” Don’t be surprised when people don’t want to hear about Jesus. There’s a secret.
1. Don’t be surprised when people become Christians and only last a short time.
2. Don’t be surprised when people look like they are going to be great ambassador’s for Christ but they fall away.
3. The secret is this, don’t give up planting the seed, but persevere, we never know what kind of response we’re going to get. God’s word doesn’t vary but man’s heart does, the soil in which the word is planted does.
4. The nature of the response is dictated by the nature of the heart that receives it.

CONCLUSION:
I wonder how we see ourselves. How is your heart doing today? What will your response be?

If you’re not a Christian, are you going to let God’s word fall from your heart, or are you going to let God help you become a long distance faith runner because you want to know more truths from God’s word?

If you’re a Christian, are you going to continue to let the word of God dwell in you richly, so that you can let God produce much fruit through you, or are you going to go back to the crowd who are not interested in truth?

There’s no mistake folks, we control what does and doesn’t go into our heart. The biggest mistake we can make as Christians after studying His word is to look around us and say, “Yes, I know people who fall into one of those categories”. I know someone who didn’t last long as a Christian”. That’s not the point of the parable.

The point of the parable is to get us to look at ourselves—not around us. Is our heart-felt response to the gospel described in this parable? It’s about you. It’s not about the person sitting next to you. It’s not about the person who isn’t here today. It’s about you. How does it apply to you?

I pray the word fell on good soil. Yet, I know we must take our faith one day at a time because we do not know what tomorrow will bring. We are reminded in 1 Corinthians 10:12 – “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” We must run this race in a constant and deliberate manner. The cares of this world, like weeds in the springtime, will spring up unbidden.

Let’s not judge each other with this parable. Let’s continue to encourage each other to remain faithful to the end and trust in God to help us produce the fruit He requires.

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We learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins... If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Taken from sermon by Mike Glover

The Master Teacher

The Master Teacher

INTRO:
Good evening. What I would like to do for a few lessons is take a look at the parables taught by Jesus. Why the parables? I want to try and understand what a parable is and why Jesus spoke in parables in the first place. Let’s keep that question in mind as we look at scripture today. Just as a reminder if you hear me say anything that is not according to scripture please let me know and we can look at it together. In general I will be using the New King James or the King James Version for reference.

We have all read the directions and the warning labels on things that we buy. Here are some I found interesting.
On a rain gauge: "Suitable for outdoor use.”
On a packet of airline peanuts: "Open and eat contents."
On a chainsaw: "Do not attempt to stop chain with hands."
On a can of air freshener: "For use by trained personnel only."
On a steering-wheel lock: "Remove lock before driving."
On a box of salt: “Warning: High in sodium.”

I guess the point is that even the simple things in life need some explaining at times.
I’ve shared a lot of stories with you all over the years, often to assist in making a point or bringing something to mind, but when it comes to parables and illustrations Jesus will always be the Master teacher.

I have heard it said about some of the things that Jesus spoke; “That is a parable” or “that is not a parable” and I wondered: What is a parable? Looking at Luke 18:1 we see “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,”. Looking up the Greek for that verse I found the word we translate as “parable” is παραβολή parabolḗ, par-ab-ol-ay. Strong defines it as “a similitude”, a placing beside; a comparison; equivalent or something to compare, a likeness.

Some say that a parable is ‘An earthly story with a heavenly meaning’ but really a parable is more than that. One dictionary defines a parable as ‘A short figurative story, designed to convey some truth or moral lesson.’ Another dictionary says ‘A brief story using events or facts of everyday life to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth.’ The blue letter bible includes: “a pithy and instructive saying, involving some likeness or comparison and having perceptive or admonitory force, an aphorism, a maxim, a proverb.

I. As I read all of that, and you will find more, it seems to me that parables come in many different styles and forms and shapes and formats.
A. Let me give you a couple of examples. You may not have thought of these as parables. In Luke 4 for example, after Jesus had been tempted by the devil, He went on the Sabbath Day to the synagogue. When the leaders heard Him read the prophet Isaiah from a scroll they asked in verse 22 “Is not this Joseph's son?” Jesus replied at verse 23, “Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.” Here we have an example of a parable in the form of a ‘proverb’.
B. Another example in Luke chapter 5 is where we find Jesus sharing a parable in the form of a ‘metaphor’ to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. Luke 5:36-39 – “36. Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37. "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38. "But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39. "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.' ''”
C. There are many other forms of parables that Jesus used in His teaching. Jesus used parables as a form of teaching, a tool. It wasn’t the only form of teaching He used but it was definitely a form He used often. Throughout the gospels there are over 30 parables that Jesus spoke. Most people know the parables of Jesus, even non-Christians know some of the parables He used. All of them are “classics” in some form and like I said earlier Jesus was the Master teacher. There’s no getting away from that.
II. Let’s go ahead and let the Master teacher answer our first question. Jesus, why did you speak in parables? We find the answer in Mark 4:10-13 – “10. But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. 11. And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, 12. "so that 'seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.' '' 13. And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
A. He said you are given to understand but to those on the outside everything is said in parables. Why? So that, "'they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!'" Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?”
B. His parables were designed to test His hearers, not an intelligence test but a spiritual responsiveness test. That’s what they were designed to do. They were all designed to get a response. However, as Jesus says, if you can’t understand this parable, how will you understand any parable? Of course, here in Mark where we just read, Jesus is teaching the parable of ‘The Seed Sower’. We will look at that in more detail some day.
C. Turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 10. We will use this parable to help us understand some things about all the parables that Jesus taught. We are going to look at it for some foundations. I’ll start with some background.
III. There was a man who was an expert in the Law of Moses and he asked Jesus, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus, the Master teacher does what He usually does and swings it right back and asks the man what he thought the law said concerning eternal life. His answer to Jesus was, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind' and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Jesus tells him that he had answered correctly and told him that if he does this he will live.
A. However, we are told this lawyer wanted to justify himself and so he asks Jesus another question, "And who is my neighbor?" The master teacher starts His parable in verse 30 of Luke 10. Luke 10:30 – “Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. "Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion on him, "and went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' "So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?''” [NKJV]
B. The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." When Jesus taught, His parables were always spontaneous. He did not have to think about them first and say, “Listen, can you come back next week and I’ll explain what I’m talking about here. I certainly would have.
C. Jesus would give spontaneous answers to people’s questions, and we should too. We should always be truthful with people when they ask us a question. There are times when we honestly must say, “Listen I don’t know the answer to that question right now, but I will get back to you. Then we do need to get back to them.
D. There are some questions that all Christians should always have an answer to. Has anyone ever asked you why you are a Christian? Has anyone ever asked you, why do you believe in God and go to worship every week? I suspect many of us can answer ‘Yes’ to those questions, because as Christians those are the type of questions we should easily be able to answer, even if we don’t know the Scriptures that well. A person doesn’t need to be a Bible scholar to answer them. We don’t need to know all the books of the Bible and all the apostles’ names to answer those questions, but we do need to be able to answer them.
1. 2 Timothy 4:2 says; “Preach the word! Be ready (when are we to be ready?) in season and out of season (i.e. all the time) . Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” We are to correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
2. 1 Peter 3:15 – “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;” Peter doesn’t tell us to have an answer for every question that comes our way. We are to answer for the hope that we have.
3. Folks, whether we have been a Christian for one day or 40 years it makes no difference, we should know why we became a Christian in the first place. It is an important thing for us to keep in mind and I suspect forgetting is the main reason why people fall away from the Lord, why they suddenly stop. Ultimately people fall away because they have forgotten where they came from. They’ve forgotten why they became Christians in the first place. They have forgotten the hope that they had in the very beginning after coming up out of the waters of baptism. They’ve forgotten.
E. Here is something else about Jesus’ parables we need to remember. You see in Luke 10:25 when the law expert asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
1. Notice what Jesus does. Jesus swings it back around to him and asks him, “What do you think the Law says?” The lawyer answers in verse 27, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
2. Then the man asked Jesus another question in verse 29, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus went on and told him the parable we call ‘The Good Samaritan’. I say “we call” it the ‘good Samaritan’ because the Bible never does. Please note, Jesus never calls the Samaritan good. Then Jesus asked the man this question in verse 36, "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
3. Every parable had a point or a purpose. That’s why the man answered in verse 37, "The one who had mercy on him." Parables were told to get the listeners to think for themselves. That’s why they’re there. In this scene it is the lawyer who both asks, and answers the questions.
4. Jesus gave parables that were always designed to get a response, a change in attitude or a change in action in those who heard them because they had to have a response. Jesus gets to the point in this parable, and He tells the man, "Go and do likewise."
5. Jesus is saying to that man, “I know you understand how to get eternal life because you answered the question correctly.” Then Jesus tells him the difficult part of the answer, Jesus said “You need to go and do it.” The doing part is the hard part. Jesus wants us to love all people, have mercy on all people, not just those in our family, not just those we like, but all people. Love even those Samaritan people that you can’t stand to be around.
F. Notice in this parable the Law expert never even mentioned the word ‘Samaritan’. Did you notice that? He answers correctly—but he says, “The one who had mercy on him.” We don’t comprehend just how much the Jews hated the Samaritans and this hatred is not to be underestimated. They considered them unclean people. This guy hated them so much he wouldn’t even use the word ‘Samaritan’, never mind call him a neighbor.
1. Remember in John 4 when Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well? After the disciples went away to buy some food, it says in verse 27, “And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?'' or, "Why are You talking with her?''” We might wonder why the disciples were surprised, and why did they marvel. Not just because Jesus was talking to a woman but because He was speaking to a Samaritan woman.
2. Even she was surprised when Jesus, a Jew, was willing to speak to her, a Samaritan. That’s why she said to Jesus in John 4:9 – “"How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?'' (then John is being polite here says) For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” The Jews hated the Samaritans.
G. In some ways this dates back to the days of Jacob. Joseph was despised by his brothers and they attempted to do away with him. God intervened. Then before his death Jacob gave Joseph a blessing in which he calls him “a fruitful bough by a well” (Genesis 49:22). The tribes of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh were allotted the fertile land that eventually became Samaria. In about 722 BC Assyria conquered Northern Israel and took many people into captivity, resettling the land with foreigners, Gentiles. Around 600 BC the southern kingdom fell to Babylon and about 70 years later the remnant were allowed to return to rebuild Jerusalem. The Samaritans, a combination of Gentiles and those of the Northern Kingdom, opposed this repatriation of the south and tried to undermine it while the southern repatriates detested the mixed marriages and corrupt worship of their northern cousins.
1. This man’s answer to Jesus must have hurt his Jewish pride so much that he couldn’t even say the word ‘Samaritan’. To get the full import of this it helps us to understand what the parable meant to those who first heard it.
2. We need to be careful because some people have become experts at making every little detail, every little verse mean something in a parable. People try to dig more out of it. For example people will say that the priest and the Levite couldn’t help the man because of religious reasons. They will try and find out who the robbers were and who the robbers stood for. It’s like the man who said to his friend, “Do you see that forest over there?” His friend said, “What forest? I can’t see anything but trees.” We understand people can get tangled up so much in the text that sometimes they fail to see the point. Sometimes we do try to get a point from every little detail; and in the end miss the main point.
H. We forget to ask the question, what did it mean to those who were listening? That should be our first approach.
1. When Jesus was telling this man the parable; does it say the man listened and then though to himself, who’s the man who was robbed? Who were the robbers? He didn’t do any of that. Why? He knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. The lawyer had lost clear sight the Law because of traditions. The lawyer was just like the Priests and the Levites. They paid lip service to the Law. They forgot what God said to Moses in Exodus 33:19 “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” [para] Mercy? To a Samaritan? That would have been the last thing in that Jewish man’s mind. By the time Jesus had finished, the expert in the law knew that Jesus was saying to him, “I don’t want lip service, I don’t want sacrifice.”
2. What did Jesus really want him to understand? Matthew 23:23 this is one of those verses that we all remember. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” That’s what the parable is about. It was about the Jews getting rid of their racist attitude towards the Samaritans, toward the Gentiles and instead of treating others like some piece of dirt, outcasts, they should treat everyone justly and with mercy.
3. It’s about loving your neighbor as you love the Lord and yourself. The Samaritan did exactly what the priest and the Levite should have done. The Samaritan did what the lawyer now needs to go and do. In other words he needs to practice what he preaches, what he just said in his answer.
IV. Not all parables seem to apply to us today but we can still learn many lessons from them. After all they are the very words of Jesus, written in scriptures and as we all know “All Scripture is God breathed”, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that.
A. Now that we understand what the parable meant to that lawyer, we can now go on and see what we can learn from it ourselves. The lawyer only asked Jesus the question, “Who is my neighbor?” for one reason. Luke 10:29 “He wanted to justify himself.”
1. In other words, he wanted to make himself out to be blameless. He wanted people to look at him and see a good Jewish citizen doing what he should be doing. What Jesus did in the form of this parable was to get him to look at himself. That the lawyer could see his own sinfulness, and see just how far from the Law he really was.
2. I suspect we can become experts in justification, can’t we? When it comes to justifying ourselves of sin, justifying what we think or what we want to do, we have all become experts. We pick a position and then we justify that position. That’s because we tend to have different standards about what God’s Word says. In other words we can all give a good reason for doing something we shouldn’t be doing. Or in the case of the lawyer, not doing something he should have been doing.
B. Sin isn’t just about the things that you shouldn’t do like gossiping and drunkenness. Sin is also not doing the things that you should be doing.
1. Let’s look at that. James gives us an example in James 2:2-5 – “2. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3. and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place,'' and say to the poor man, "You stand there,'' or, "Sit here at my footstool,'' 4. have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5. Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
2. In other words if someone came into our meeting place who was dressed all scruffy, unshaven and probably lacked having a bath for a few weeks, are we going to love them or treat them any different from those who came in well dressed? Or as James asks, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” They may be poor in the world’s eyes but they may be richer in faith than we are. You don’t know.
3. Poor people have as much right to enter the kingdom of heaven as anyone. Test yourself – when you see people, mentally ask; Do they deserve to hear the gospel?
C. If we ever answer ‘No’ to that question, then we need to take a good hard look at our self and see just how far we have come from the standard we find in God’s Word. Take it one step further now, and imagine the situation James puts forward. If two people came into our worship assembly and one of them was well dressed and the other one wasn’t, which one would you invite to your home for dinner? I’m certain we would all talk to both of them. We wouldn’t have a problem with that, but which one would you take home to get to know a little better?
1. The lawyer had to learn to treat all people the same, whether they were a Jew or Samaritan, Jew or Gentile, because the Gospel is not just about believing, is it? It’s about doing. It’s about doing for one what you would do for another. If you don’t do that, then that is sin in God’s eyes.
D. I’m going to give you another example from James. You probably know this in James 2:15-17 – “15. If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16. and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,'' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” It’s all very well standing up here and talking about the needy. It’s all very well having our after worship chats about those in need. If we just talk the talk and don’t walk the walk, we’re sinning. We are not living as Christians, trying to follow the example Jesus gave us. Unfortunately we sometimes try and justify ourselves just like the lawyer did and say things like, “Well, I’m kind of busy to stop and help that person sitting homeless in the street.”
1. If you see a brother or sister in need “I can’t invite them in to eat today because I need to get to church on time, I’m reading or serving today.” Are we not justifying ourselves? That’s what the priest and the Levite did in the story. They were going somewhere, but guess what, so was the Samaritan. The only difference was that the Samaritan stopped to help.
2. We can stop and help people; we can stop and share the gospel with people because wherever we are going can wait. How long does it take to give a hungry person a couple of bucks to buy a sandwich? You may not be able to stay long with them but you can arrange to catch up with them again later. Even a few words can serve to hold the door open.
3. That’s what the Samaritan did. Luke 10:35 - “"On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'” He didn’t just help the man and then leave him. He went back to make sure he was OK.
E. Let’s not make excuses for not helping people and try to justify ourselves in the process. Let’s practice what we preach because we love our Lord and we do try to show our neighbors how much we love them.
V. Perhaps the real question the lawyer should have asked Jesus was this; “Master, how do I love my neighbor?” He didn’t ask that, he asked, “Who is my neighbor?” We too often say things to get an answer which will remove us from the necessity of doing anything. We should be asking the question that the lawyer should have asked. Jesus, how do we love our neighbors?
A. Paul tells us in Galatians 5:6 – “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Faith with legs attached. We love our neighbors by helping our neighbors with the love the Lord has shown to us.
B. Thinking about that, what about those who aren’t Christians today? Do they deserve to hear the gospel? Or are we going to say, “I wish you well; keep safe and best of luck for getting into heaven.” Is that what we’re going to do?

CONCLUSION:
If there are any of you who aren’t Christians today, there is good news. You are surrounded by a bunch of people who have heard that good news and have responded to that good news. We are ready to share with you why we became Christians in the first place and share our hope with you.

We have those answers and are ready to give you an answer to the hope that lies within us; all you have to do is ask any of them. When they tell you why they became Christians, they will tell you how you too can become a Christian by being obedient to the Gospel of Christ.

The parables of Christ separated people. Did you know that? Those who wanted to know the truth and those who didn’t want to know the truth. The truth is this, if you turn to God and believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and if you confess Jesus as Lord of your life and are immersed for the forgiveness of your sins then you will receive God’s promised Holy Spirit to dwell within you.

The Holy Spirit acts as a deposit, guaranteeing your entry into heaven, if you remain faithful to Him and His word for the rest of your life. He’s not looking for perfection as we understand perfection. What He is looking for is faithfulness.

We need to ask people today; what can I do for you? I hope and pray that we ask Jesus; how do we love our neighbor? That’s the right question that should have been asked here.

We are about to sing the song of invitation. If you are not a Christian, we with all our heart, plead with you to make a decision for Christ today. To decide to be His child, step out in faith and be baptized in water for the forgiveness of sin. That faith becomes access to the grace of God, made possible by the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We believe in that and we rest our hope in that blood.

We invite anyone who has that need or any other need to come forward while we stand and while we sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Mike Glover

Singing With The Understanding

Singing With The Understanding
1 Corinthians 14:15

INTRO:
Good morning. This morning let us begin by reading a passage from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 2:1-13 – “1. My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, 2. so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; 3. yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, 4. If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; 5. then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. 6. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 8. He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints. 9. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path. 10. When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11. discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you, 12. to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, 13. from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness;”

As we have studied in the past, our worship to God is actually a manifestation of our personal relationship with God that comes from our heart. Worship is an expression of what is in our heart. A part of this worship and our relationship with God is singing to Him. Our sermon this morning is going to be on the subject of the importance of singing with the understanding.

Let’s look at First Corinthians 14:15 where it says; “What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” We recognize that in our worship to God while we're singing praises to Him, He is looking into our hearts.
He wants it to be actual communication from our heart to His heart. It is not just making noise. Communication is expected to be with the understanding of what you say.

Would we feel that we were praised, honored or glorified if someone was saying something to us, and even though the words being said were kind, the person saying them didn't know what they were saying? In the same way, if we don't know what we're saying to someone is there really any meaning behind it? The Lord wants us to understand what we are saying and singing to Him because that is how we are involved. Can we really put our heart into singing something we do not understand?

In the letter to the Colossians 3:16 Paul says; “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” You will note there are two aspects of our singing mentioned here.

One part of it is from our heart to the Lord, but another part of our singing is teaching and admonishing one another. That means there's a lesson in the songs that we are singing and we're supposed to be receiving and understanding the lesson in the song.
Folks, there is a danger that I sincerely believe we face when it comes to our worshipping God in song. That is we do not always understand the message of the song. Sometimes we understand only a part of it. Sometimes even if we read the words we might not understand what is being said. In addition to the poetic writing, misunderstandings might come from a number of other factors, figures of speech, archaic terms, words very seldom used, and even ignorance of a Bible teaching that may be alluded to in the song.

What I would like to do today is look at four songs which have a great deal of what I call poetic license within them. When we sing these songs if we do not understand what these poetic terms are referring to, then we're just saying words. Even though we may be singing the words in the exact melody and tone they are supposed to be sung in, if we don't know what the message is we can not sing from the heart to please the Lord.

I. Our God wants us to sing to Him, praise Him and glorify Him because we love Him for loving us and we want to express to Him, to communicate to Him, our thanksgiving, our love and our devotion. God also wants us to listen to each other and learn from our worship to Him.
A. To do that we need to understand what we're singing. We are to be taught by the lesson and not just go through the motions of singing a song. I admit I’m not very good with songs and I do not mean just the tune but I have difficulty with some songs just recognizing and saying the words especially if it is one we do not sing often. I suppose for that reason I like very simple songs, or at least familiar ones.
B. There are many beautiful songs that we sing which were written a 100 or 200 years ago. They used a different style of writing during then. Song writers used a great deal of poetic license at that time in history. As a consequence, some songs that were written about 100 or so years ago require some effort, some thought, to understand.
1. Let me try to give an example of that sort of difficulty. It's somewhat similar to reading from the King James translation. Unless you were raised with the King James translation as I was, sometimes you read that language and it throws you off.
2. The King James Bible was written using what we now call Early Modern English. Early Modern English is the stage of the English language from the transition out of Middle English, in the late 15th century, to the transition into Modern English, in the mid-to-late 17th century. The grammatical and orthographical conventions of literary Early Modern English are still very influential on Modern Standard English and most modern readers of English can understand texts such as the King James Bible though sometimes care is needed to get the full meaning.
3. Some words which originated in Middle English, survived through Early Modern English in their meaning but lost their meaning in Modern Standard English. An example is the use of the verb "suffer" in the sense of "to allow". It survived into Early Modern English, as in the phrase "suffer the little children" of the King James Bible, but that use of the verb has been lost in Modern Standard English.
4. I read the King James and the New King James because I'm used to them. Not everyone is and since I am uncertain of everyone’s understanding, I find myself spending some time in lessons discussing the meaning of some of the words involved. This is why I often ask for people to comment with a different version during Bible study.
C. Poetry adds another dimension to the issue. Sometimes we have problems with the style of the writing of poetry from the last century and 200 years ago. If you find yourself singing a song and after you go home and you think to yourself; I really don't know what that song was about, get your song book and study that song.
1. Let me give you a quick example in part of a song we sing, “Give Me The Bible”. In this hymn, we sing of “the glory gilding Jordan’s wave”. Something which is “gilded” is overlaid with gold. “Jordan’s wave” is a figurative expression for death. As Israel of old had to literally cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, so all of God’s spiritual Israel (the church) must die to gain Heaven. Death generally holds men in fear, but the promises and comforts of God’s Word make even death attractive (as if it were gilded) for the faithful saint.
2. We need to find the message in the song so that we won't be just going through the motions of worship. If we just go through the motions of worship, if all it is, mouthing words, we need to recognize that is just as empty as not worshipping God according to truth.
II. Let’s look at some songs to gain an understanding of what lessons these songs provide. Probably the most commonly known song which is sung without understanding is Night with Ebon Pinion. It has an absolutely beautiful melody. Its use of poetic words, especially in the first stanza, makes it difficult to understand what it's talking about.
A. In our hymnal, Sacred Selections, this is number 293. This particular song is describing Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night when He's praying to the Lord. You remember that text. I will quote from the Book of Mark 14:33-41. Jesus goes to the God three times and prays “"Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.''” [NKJV] The song is about Jesus before His crucifixion while He is praying in the garden of Gethsemane.
B. Look at the first stanza.
Night, with ebon pinion, brooded o’er the vale;
All around was silent, save the night wind’s wail,
When Christ, the Man of Sorrows,
In tears, and sweat, and blood,
Prostrate in the garden, raised His voice to God.
1. It says “Night with ebon pinion”. What is Ebon? Sometimes we use the word Ebony as in the keys of the piano, ebony and ivory and it means the color black. Night with black pinion. Blackness also imparts a feeling of doom, even death.
2. Then what is a pinion as used here? It is the outer part of a bird’s wing including the flight feathers. Poetically we are talking about night on black wings.
3. Brooding is a term used to describe what chickens and other birds to with their wings when they cover their young. The picture now includes dark wings completely covering and it says “o’er the vale”.
4. A veil is a poetic term for Valley a low lying tract of land. What is being described here in poetic terms is the darkness of night covering a valley like the dark wings a great black bird, bearing doom, and it casts its shadow over the Lord as He knelt to pray in the garden.
5. The second line tells that silence is all around save the night wind’s wail. The word wail is a mournful sound of the wind. This adds to the depiction of Jesus praying with great sorrow. The only thing you can hear in this dark night is the wind blowing because all His companions are sleeping.
6. The next line, “When Christ, the Man of Sorrows”, is quite easy for us to understand and connects back to prophesy of the messiah in Isaiah 53:3 – “He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
7. The words “In tears, and sweat, and blood” in the next line is also easy to understand.
8. The word “Prostrate” in the last line is laying with the face to the ground. This is the position Christ prayed in and is a position of extreme honor to God. A person cannot lower their body anymore then this. When we pray quite often we bow our heads close our eyes, and sometime we stand in order to show respect. That's a common courtesy in our culture. “Prostrate in the garden, raised His voice to God.”
C. Now the second stanza.
Smitten for offenses which were not His own,
He, for our transgressions, had to weep alone;
No friend with words to comfort,
Nor hand to help was there,
When the Meek and Lowly humbly bowed in prayer.
1. This stanza is a clear reference to Isaiah 53. The word smitten means to strike with disaster. This is the idea of the disaster that's about to come upon Christ, but it's not because of anything that He's done wrong.
2. With His stripes we are healed. “He for our transgressions” that is right out of Isaiah 53. “Had to weep alone”. This is dealing with Christ weeping in the garden of Gethsemane, where His tears became as sweat and blood. He is weeping alone, “No friend with words to comfort”, everybody's asleep.
3. He was amazed that they couldn't even watch with him for one hour. “Nor hand to help was there, when the meek and lowly humbly bowed in prayer”.
4. This is beautiful poetry describing our Lord praying in the garden of Gethsemane.
D. Now look at the third stanza and we see the prayer;
“Abba, Father, Father, if indeed it may,
Let this cup of anguish pass from Me, I pray;
Yet, if it must be suffered, by Me, Thine only Son,
Abba, Father, Father, let Thy will be done.”
1. This is clearly from the record of the gospels.
2. I digress here to mention that many of these hymns being poetic in structure are written to bring to our minds a word picture. This one does it very well and we should be thinking on what it tells us, letting our hearts express to God our thoughts of what is shown to us. True we can take many of these poetic hymns to task on scriptural accuracy and some people do that. I’ll leave that with you to ponder.
III. Next I would like to look at number 545 in our hymnal, O’ Thou Font of Every Blessing. This song is again a song written in the same time period, uses terminology that you may not be familiar with, and is describing the blood of Christ.
A. Let's begin here in the first stanza seeing what God has done for us.
O, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me, ever to adore Thee
May I still Thy goodness prove
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love
1. In the very beginning we’re singing about the grace of God, mercy of God, what God has done for us. We’re conscious and mindful of the mercy of God. Fount is descriptive of a fountain which in this case delivers every blessing to us. God is that fountain.
2. “Tune” means to adjust. It moves our hearts to sing praises to Him. We implore that we may reflect His glory and goodness, in the living of our lives, while we are looking forward to the endless glory of being with Him.
B. In the second stanza the song continues in describing the grace of God and what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I’ve come
And I hope by Thy Good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed his precious blood
1. “Here I raise my Ebenezer” has to do with something Samuel did in First Samuel 7:12 – “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the Lord has helped us.''” Breaking the word down, Eben is Hebrew for stone and Nezer is Hebrew for help. It's literally stone of help and Samuel set up a monument which means the Lord has helped us.
2. The idea of setting up this monument, this Ebenezer, is to recognize that God has helped us up to this point in time, “Hither by Thy help I’ve come”. Next it is looking forward, that through His help we're going to make it to heaven. “And I hope by Thy Good pleasure safely to arrive at home”. We have hope that God will lead us all the way.
3. The hymn tells us “Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God”. This is describing us as we were, strangers, enemies of God. We were separated from God wandering in the world—and in sin. In Christ we become the friends of God. We become the children of God.
4. Christ rescued us from the danger of this world by interposing His precious blood. Interposed is a word that’s not in our everyday vocabulary. It means to place or insert between one thing and another. It is the idea that the blood of Christ comes between, intervenes between us and the punishment we deserve.
C. Then the last stanza:
O, to Grace how great a debtor
Daily I am constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Never let me wander from Thee,
Never leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O, taken and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above."
1. We realize here again we're talking about the grace of God. Every day, being conscious of the grace of God, we recognize our debt to God.
2. Our desire is to be bound to Him through His grace. Unless you work with welding or animals the word “fetter” may be unfamiliar. A “fetter” is something used to restrain. Something which binds one thing to another. When we are conscious of the grace and the love of God, it draws us, binds us to Him and we will not leave Him.
3. “Here is my heart O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.” The closing is talking about our hope in looking to heaven and being with God. This song is about the grace of God and how it moves us to sing praises to God and be aware of the mercy that God has shown to us through the shedding of the blood of His son so that our sins may be forgiven. It moves us to glorify God, to love God, to be drawn to God and not to want to leave God, realizing that we've come this far in our relationship with God by His grace and by that same grace eventually will we be allowed to be with Him in heaven.
IV. The next song I want to look at is There Stands A Rock, number 122 in our hymnal. It’s a wonderful song with a great message. It goes back to the Sermon on the Mount and the close of the seventh chapter where Jesus is talking about a wise man who built his house upon the rock and the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. That's where this song is primarily coming from, yet it uses some words that I want to look at.
A. The first stanza:
There stands a Rock, on shores of time
That rears to heav'n its head sublime
That Rock is cleft, and they are blest
Who find within this cleft a rest
1. Let’s start with the second line, “That rears to heav'n its head sublime”. “Rear” as used here means to lift up, to elevate, like a horse when it rears up. In this case it is the idea of a rock elevating its head toward heaven. This also carries with it the aspect of not fully leaving one place and going to another.
2. Sublime is describing the highest degree, that is, majestic. Not hard to figure out that this is describing Christ as the Rock. Christ is depicted as the Rock that rears its majestic head to heaven. “On shores of time” indicates the border between time and eternity where the Rock stands.
3. “That Rock is cleft” – Cleft means to split, divide or to partially divide. A cleft is a narrow opening or crevice in rocks. We find this in the Old Testament in Exodus 33:21-23 – “And the Lord said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. "So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. "Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.''” God is speaking with Moses telling him that God will show Moses His glory but Moses may not see His face and live. Therefore God will protect Moses in the cleft of a rock until He passes by. In this verse the idea being portrayed is that those protected in the cleft, protected by God, are blest.
4. I’ll put it this way. It's a firm rock, it's not going to move, but it's got a crevice in it. We get inside the crevice of this rock for protection. The idea is that Jesus Christ, the rock, is our protection from death. That's why it says that this rock is cleft and those are blessed who find within this cleft a rest. The aspect of a resting place from the storms of life. Christ is our strength (the rock) and shield (the cleft).
B. The second stanza makes it even clearer.
That Rock's a cross, its arms outspread
Celestial glory bathes its head
To its firm base my all I bring
And to the Cross of Ages cling
1. The idea of the cross with its arms outspread is a poetic description of Christ’s arms opening wide for you. It's an unusual picture. The description is that of a cross with arms outspread as though Christ arms are wide open waiting for you to come to Him.
2. Celestial glory is heavenly glory and this confirms we are talking about Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
3. The next two lines describe our actions. We come to the base of the cross bringing ourselves to the Lord realizing that it's through Christ crucified that we have any hope whatsoever of being with God. We bring all our sins to the cross. We bring all our problems to the cross. We bring everything to the Lord.
4. I like this idea—to the Cross of Ages cling. It is as if you can imagine you're out in the ocean and there's a life raft. You cling to that life raft because you know that without it you have no hope whatsoever.
5. The truth of the matter is, that is how a relationship with God is. We cling to the Lord in the storms of life. We cling to him because we realize without him we have no hope. It's a beautiful way to describe our relationship with God.
C. Stanza three says;
That Rock's a tow'r, whose lofty height
Illumed with heav'n's unclouded light
Opes wide its gates beneath the dome
Where saints find rest with Christ at home
1. Here the hymn writer uses another way to describe Christ as a tower, its lofty height is illuminated. Illuminated with heavenly, unclouded light.
2. Opes is an archaic or literary way of saying opening. Opening its gates beneath the dome. The descriptive picture that we go to Christ for refuge in a tower and ultimately where we will be at home with Christ.
3. In this hymn Christ is described as a rock that protects us in times of storm. He’s described as a cross with His arms out spread wanting us to come to Him in love. He’s described as a tower where we can go to gain comfort and for refuge.
4. That Rock stands for our foundation because there will be storms in life and the person who hears the word of God and does the word of God is the one who builds their house on the rock. They are the ones who go to Christ in times of storm, the ones who cling to Him because they are surrounded by the raging sea of this world. That's the lesson this song provides.

CONCLUSION:
The hymns we sing talk about our total dependence upon God, His compassion for us and His grace toward us. We need to be conscious of our dependence upon His compassion and His grace. What we do in response – is to worship and praise God. It is this consciousness of what God has done for us, His love, His grace and His mercy, the fact that He is God, the fact that He hears our prayers, that He sent His Son to interpose His blood between us and our deserved fate, and that Jesus Christ stands as our help and our mediator – that moves us and motivates us to have a desire to worship and sing from our heart to the Lord.

That's what worship is all about folks. It is an expression of our personal relationship with God that comes from a consciousness of what God has done for us. Our hymns give us great teaching and edification. As we sing songs that we do not know as well and learn new ones, we should strive to learn from them. We need to know what they are saying to us so that we are not just mouthing words. When we understand the meaning we will be singing with the understanding from our heart to the Lord.

One more song I want us to consider and that is number 271, Wonderful Love of Jesus. This song starts out with the very poetic line;
“In Vain in High and Holy Lays”
The song goes on in verse 1 to talk about the Inexpressible love of Jesus. In verse 2 the Comforting love of Jesus and in verse 3 about the Forgiving love of Jesus. What about that first line?
The phrase “in vain” simply means worthless, such as “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). The word “lays” comes to us from the Germanic through middle English and means songs. The next line says; “My soul, her grateful voice would raise”. The grateful heart sings the most meaningful, heart-felt songs possible. The first line here describes our singing with our hearts, with truly grateful emotion, the most awe-inspiring melody and most honest and true words... and yet... there is that word “vain”.

The next line explains; “For who can sing the worthy praise of the wonderful love of Jesus?” Striving from our hearts to the utmost still wouldn’t come close to accurately describing the wonderful love of Jesus. It can’t come close to doing justice to the praise Christ deserves. Though we understand in part, there is no way for our human minds to fully express the love of Jesus Christ for us. Though we can try with all our might, there is no way we can adequately express our gratitude for the love of Jesus.

Yet, if we are His and if we love Him with every fiber of our being, we must try. Just know that the love of Jesus is so great, so wonderful, so overwhelming that we cannot ever adequately express it. Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners. He died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). We show that love for Him through praise, worship, and obedience (Hebrews 5:9, John 14:15). The full extent of that love Christ has for us is truly inexpressible. It is through Christ’s love that we are saved, that we have hope, that we have comfort, and that we have forgiveness.

There may be somebody here this morning who is not a member of the body of Christ. Do you know you can change? You can change that situation. You can be a member of the body of Christ today. You can be saved and leave this building as a child of God in the body of Christ. You are a free-willed being with the power of choice.

I would like to encourage you to choose to obey the gospel. If you believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God openly confess that faith, repent of your sins, start living by faith and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as you put off the old man and put on the new.
We’ll be glad to assist you, baptizing you for the remission of your sins and God adds you to His Kingdom.

You will be a child of God. You will be a Christian in the body of Christ. What is expected of you then is to take up your cross daily, to follow Him and live by faith.
If you are child of God already and there's sin in your life and you recognize that sin is separating you from God, I would like to encourage you to deal with it. You can change, yes you can. You don't have to do it. You don't have to sin. You can change.

Change motivated by godly sorrow, turning from your sin and coming home to the Father. We will pray for you. We will pray with you and do the very best we can to encourage you. If you're subject to the Gospel call in any way let it be made known while we stand and sing the song that has been selected.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Wayne Fancher

At The Tomb

At The Tomb
Matthew 27: 57 – 66

A man was driving along the highway when saw the Easter rabbit hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the rabbit but unfortunately the bunny jumped in front of the car and was struck by his car. The driver, being a sensitive man, as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road, and got out to check out the situation. Much to his dismay, the colourful rabbit was dead. The driver felt so awful, he began to cry.
A woman driving down the highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong. 'I feel terrible', he explained, 'I accidentally hit the Easter rabbit and killed it. Children will be so disappointed. What should I do?'
The woman told the man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk, and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the dead, limp rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can onto the furry animal. Miraculously the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. 50 metres away the rabbit stopped turned around, waved and hopped down the road. 50 metres further on, he turned again, waved and hopped another 50 metres, again he waved.
The man was astonished. He couldn't figure out what substance could be in the woman's spray can. He ran over to the woman and asked, 'What is in your spray can?
The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said: 'Hair spray. Restores life to dead hair. Adds permanent wave.'
This morning I would like to look at the 27th chapter of Matthew and a few lessons we can learn from the tomb of Jesus.
The disciples must have been devastated. They had been inspired by Jesus’ teachings. And they had decided to follow Him. It had not been an easy road, but they had willingly left families, homes, & jobs to follow Jesus.
As they walked with Him they had seen amazing things. They had seen Him multiply a few loaves & fishes & feed the multitudes. They saw Him walk on water, & calm an angry storm.
They saw Him straighten crooked limbs & give sight to the blind. He even raised the dead back to life again. Truly, He was the Messiah that God had promised would come!
And a week prior, when He entered Jerusalem, seemed to be a perfect climax to it all. To be in that crowded parade; to listen to their jubilant “Hosannas” & watch as they waved palm branches & threw flowers before Him. Everything confirmed that THEY had followed the RIGHT man.
B. But now He is dead. How could they have been SO WRONG? What would they do now?
What do you do when your heart is filled with despair?
What do you do when your world falls apart?
PROP. Well, what did happen? And what lessons can we apply to our lives today? Our scripture text this morning is Matthew 27:57-66.
I. THE SCENE AT THE TOMB
A. To begin with, the Bible tells us that Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus.
Listen to vs’s 57-58. “As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
“Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.”
What do we know about this man named Joseph? We don’t know much, but we do know some things about him.
1. First of all, he was from Arimathea, a small town about 20 miles from Jerusalem. As towns go, Arimathea wasn’t very important, but Joseph himself evidently was.
In fact, Mark 15:43 tells us he was “...a prominent member of the Council...” (That’s the Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial authority of Israel who had illegally condemned Jesus to death).
But Luke 23:51 says that he was “...a good & upright man, who had not consented to their decision & action.”
2. Secondly, Matthew tells us that he was rich. I don’t know about you, but sometimes we act as if we think that Jesus came to minister only to those who are poor & down & out.
But Jesus Himself said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to me.” (John 12:32) He came to minister not just to the poor but to the rich, also.
3. Thirdly, Joseph had an acquaintance named Nicodemus who helped him bury Jesus. Listen to John 19:39, “He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh & aloes, about 75 pounds.”
Matthew 27:59-60 goes on to say, “Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, & placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb & went away.”
So Joseph & Nicodemus together buried Jesus. They shared the cost. Joseph paid for the tomb, & Nicodemus paid for the burial spices. Why did they do this?
4. The apostle John gives a reason when he writes in John 19:38,
“Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews.”
ILL. That reminds me of the little boy who had adopted a stray dog. Someone asked, “What kind of dog is that?” He answered, “He’s a police dog.” The man said, “He doesn’t look like a police dog.” The boy answered, “That’s because he’s in the secret service.”
There are some Christians who seem to be in the secret service, following Jesus at a distance. They want to be His disciples, but like Joseph of Arimathea, they’re not sure they want everyone else to know. So they keep their faith secret.
Maybe now, when it was too late, Joseph & Nicodemus were trying to make amends, by doing the only thing left to do - bury the body of Jesus.
B. But Joseph & Nicodemus weren’t the only ones at the tomb. Vs. 61 says, “Mary Magdalene & the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.”
Do you realize that Jesus acted differently toward women than the average Jewish man? He treated women with respect. He acknowledged the presence of women. He spoke to them in public. No rabbi or Pharisee would have done that!
So, two women were there. They had been with others at the cross, weeping as He died. And now they were there as He was being buried.
C. Enemies of Jesus came to the tomb also.
Vs’s 62-63 say, “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests & the Pharisees went to Pilate. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while He was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After 3 days I will rise again.’’
Now think about that. The enemies of Jesus remembered that He had predicted His resurrection. And because His enemies remembered, they said to Pilate in vs’s 64-66,
“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. The 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.’”
ILL. James Stuart, the writer, says that the most pathetic sentence in human literature is that of Pilate to the priests, “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
Stuart asks, “What would you say to a man who stands in the gray of dawn & says to the rising sun, ‘Stop! You cannot soar into the heavens today’?
“Or what would you say to a man who stands on the beach & draws a line in the sand & says to the tide, ‘Halt! You cannot cross this line’?
You would say to each of them, ‘You are mad!’
So what do you say to Roman soldiers who stand with spears in hand, guarding the tomb which holds the Lord of Life, trying to keep Him from rising from the dead?“
ILL. A hymn writer wrote:
See the tomb where death had laid Him, Empty now, its mouth declares; “Death & I could not contain Him, For the Throne of Life He shares.”
Come & worship, come & worship, Worship Christ, the Risen King!
II. FOUR LESSONS FROM THE TOMB
A. And as we worship, there are 4 lessons we should learn. The first one is: “Be realistic. The Christian life can be an emotional roller coaster.”
For the disciples it was exactly that. For them, Palm Sunday was a mountain-top experience. Then came Friday & the cross. And then Sunday & the resurrection. Up & down, up & down, & up again.
There are some who believe that once we become a Christian our troubles will be over, & everything will be wonderful from then on. But as we mature in the faith, as we learn to be realistic about our lives, we can say with the apostle Paul,
“I have learned the secret of being content in any & every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” [Philippians 4:12-13].
B. Here’s a second lesson: “Be patient. Desperate circumstances sometimes can be quickly reversed.”
For the disciples it took only 3 days. On Friday they are in deep despair, but by Sunday night they’re on top of the mountain because of the resurrection. So sometimes things can be quickly reversed.
Sometimes we wonder: “Why does God allow us to find ourselves in desperate circumstances?” The answer ought to be clear: God allows us to experience desperate things in life so that we’ll turn to Him.
Oftentimes it is only when we’re desperate or in despair, that we really recognize our need of God.
ILL. Why did God allow Moses to reach the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army in hot pursuit? So that the people would turn to God for help. Then God parted the waters of the Red Sea & the children of Israel walked across on dry ground.
Why did God permit Joseph to spend 2 years in an Egyptian prison? So that he would depend completely on God. Then God gave him the meaning of Pharaoh’s dreams & soon he is the Prime Minister of Egypt.
Why did God allow Jonah to be thrown overboard into a stormy sea? So that He could send His special fish to rescue him & vomit him up on the shore nearest Nineveh. Then he could preach the message of God to the people of Nineveh.
C. Here is the third lesson: “Be faithful, even when God doesn’t change your circumstances.”
I think the ultimate test of faith is not “What do we do when the problems are taken away?” The ultimate test of faith in our lives is “What do we do if the problems are not taken away?”
ILL. Maybe you’re dealing with cancer, & there’s no cure. And every day you experience the pain & face the uncertainty of the future.
Maybe you have a spouse or parent with Alzheimer’s. You’ve been dealing with that now for months & it just goes on & on.
Maybe you have a home situation filled with stress & tension, & there seems to be no solution to it.
The Living Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1:6-7, “So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here. These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong & pure.”
D. And the fourth lesson is: “God’s plan may be better than all of our plans.”
ILL. Becky Pepper tells the familiar children’s story: “Once Upon A Mountaintop.” It’s about 3 little trees growing on the top of a mountain.
These trees were talking together one day. (Remember that In children’s stories trees can talk with one another.) One tree said to the others, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
One answered, “Well, when I look up at the heavens & see the stars sparkling in the sky, I think to myself, ‘I’d like to be a treasure chest that holds diamonds & precious stones.’”
The other one said, “Well, when I grow up, I want to be part of a giant ship that sails across the sea carrying kings & queens to important destinations.”
Then the one who asked the question in the first place said, “When I grow up I just want to stay right here. I want to grow tall & straight, pointing to the heavens so that everyone who comes up on the mountain will look at me & think of God.”
Over the years the trees grew & grew. Finally, men came & cut the trees & took them down from the mountain.
The first one was delighted to find that he was being taken to a carpenter’s shop. But he was devastated when he discovered that he was not going to be made into a treasure chest, but rather, into a feeding trough.
And instead of holding precious stones, he would hold hay & feed for animals. And animals would come & slobber over him.
The second one was delighted to find that he was being taken to the seaside. But then he was devastated to discover that he was not going to be part of a giant ship, but just a tiny fishing boat. And his cargo would not be kings & queens taken to important places, but dead, smelly fish.
The third tree was disappointed that he was cut down. He had just wanted to stay on top of the mountain. He was even more disappointed when he was cut into beams that were placed in a stack of lumber & forgotten.
Years passed, & one day 2 people came into the stable where the young feeding trough had now grown old & worn through years of use.
The old feeding trough watched as the woman gave birth to a baby, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, & then laid him in the feeding trough. And he thought to himself, “I am a treasure chest, because now I hold the most precious thing that has ever come into this world.”
More years passed, & one day the second tree was sailing across the Sea of Galilee. On board were strangers, mostly fishermen.
Suddenly the winds came up & blew fiercely, & the waves began to beat against the little ship. Then one of the men stood up & said, “Peace, be still.” And the little ship suddenly realized that his task was not to carry kings, but the King of Kings & Lord of Lords.
A couple more years passed & one day the third tree was yanked from the lumber pile, & placed on the shoulders of a man who had to carry it through jeering crowds toward a hill called Calvary.
When they got there the beam was tossed to the ground, & the man was placed upon it. Then it felt the penetration of the nails driven through the man’s hands, & into its wood.
And as the people gathered around cursing & mocking the man, the poor tree felt ugly & hated, too.
But then the man was taken down & buried in a tomb, & on the third day raised from the dead. And the tree said, “Now I know that every time men look at ME they’ll think of God.”
INVITATION

Based on a sermon given
by Melvin Newland

Avoiding A Drifting Heart

Avoiding a Drifting Heart
Matthew 23: 23 – 28

IF GOD CAN MAKE A BUG’s BOTTOM LIGHT UP TO DECORATE THE NIGHT SKY, IMAGINE ALL HE CAN DO IN YOUR LIFE!
Dr. Evan Kane was the chief surgeon of Kane Summit Hospital in New York City.
He had practiced his specialty for 37 years.
Over the course of time he came to question the wisdom of using general anesthesia for every surgery.
He believed people would recover quicker if they only had local anesthesia.
Yet, no matter how convinced Dr. Kane was about his theory, he had one problem.
No one wanted to go under his knife while they were awake. Everyone he talked to had the same fear.
They did not want to feel the pain of the scalpel while they were awake during the surgery.
After much searching, Kane finally found a willing subject.
It helped that it was a relatively common procedure.
According to Dr. Kane's own records, ...... during his practice he had performed around 4,000 appendectomies, (P) so the procedure was almost second nature to him.
The patient was prepped and brought into the operating room. The local anesthesia was carefully administered.
As he had always done, he cut into the right side of the abdomen and entered the body cavity.
He tied off the blood vessels, found the appendix, excised it, and finished by sewing the incision back up.
To his own credit, he proved himself right.
Throughout the surgery the patient felt very little discomfort.
In fact, the patient was up and about the next afternoon, which was remarkable since this was back in 1921.
Back then when people had appendectomies they stayed in the hospital from 6 to 8 days.
It was a milestone in the world of medicine.
However what made it particularly noteworthy was that the patient and the doctor were the same person. Dr. Kane operated on himself. (Pause)
Believe it or not, that is what I am going to ask of you today.
What I want you to do is something like "spiritual exploratory surgery."
I want you to root around a bit in your soul, take a hard and honest look at your spiritual health, and to see if your faith walk is as healthy as it should be.

• Today we will see how the scribes and Pharisees ended up with the worst-case scenario
• Somewhere along the line, these men had drifted so far from God that they ended up with no heart for God.
• They were so far from God that they were plotting to kill Jesus.
• How could this happen, these men were supposed to be the cream of the crop when it came to being religious.
• They were the ones that people were to look to in order to see what it meant to serve and follow God.
• These men follow the law to the letter, but yet here they are, so far from God they could not recognize Him if He were standing right in front of them, WHICH HE WAS!
• Are the scribes and Pharisees so unique that what happened to them could only happen to them?
• Is it possible for me to drift so far from God, that I would no longer have a heart for Him?
• Wait, nothing can separate us from the love of God, no one can snatch us out of His hand, is that not what the Bible tells us?
• It sure does, BUT, we are a free-will being who can walk away from God anytime we choose.
• The context of the message today is that Jesus is confronting the scribes and Pharisees.
• Jesus will proclaim eight WOES against these leaders, chastising them in eight blind spots in their lives that was driving them from God.
• Not only were they drifting away from God, but they were also leading others to do the same thing.
• You know what is scary, how can folks who are so religious be so far from God?
• Let that thought bounce around in your mind, we will come back to that question later!
• Today we are going to look at three of the eight woes so that we can see how to protect ourselves from letting our heart drift so far away from God that we lose heart.
• Let’s turn to Matthew 23, we will be in verses 23-28, let’s start with verses 23 and 24
23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
24 Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Our heart will drift from God when we...
Allow the practice of putting the little things over the more significant things.
• The Pharisees were not treating the essential duties (how to treat people in a way that honors God) with the same sense of urgency as they were counting seeds.
• That would be like seeing your loved one with their arm almost cut off, and bleeding profusely, then you would get on them because their shirt does not match their pants?
• Jesus offers what God sees as weightier issues, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
• Justice is making sure we give all their just due. Treating everyone evenhanded, in a fair way.
• Mercy is displaying compassion and kindness to the poor and miserable, displaying loving-kindness in one’s conduct toward others.
• Faithfulness is a commitment to one's promise and/or belief in God.
• The Pharisees were very religious, yet they lacked in these crucial areas because they were only worried about being self-righteous.
• Jesus dealt with this in Matthew 25 where Jesus talked about clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, and visiting folks in prison.
• The people asked when was Jesus in any of those conditions, He replies...
• Matthew 25:40 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
• The religious leaders treated people with contempt, they were so wrapped up in being what they considered righteous, that they forget that God loves people and has compassion toward people.
• Now, let’s take it to a different level.
• Jesus knew the heart of these people, He also knew what they were going to do to Him.
• These men prided themselves on being righteous, yet these men, in their desperation to get rid of Jesus, were willing to accuse an innocent man, to condemn an innocent man to death.
• These men would participate in pronouncing an unjust sentence against Jesus. They were unmerciful toward Him, and they had no faith in anything He or the Father said.
• Jesus told them they were to practice justice, mercy, and faithfulness without neglecting the other things they were doing.
• In verse 24, Jesus uses some humor to make a point.
• It was common practice to strain one’s wine through a linen cloth to keep one from swallowing an insect, which would make one ceremonially unclean.
• Jesus said you all are straining gnats and swallowing camels (which would make them unclean also).
• Religious duty is essential, but we are not to perform that duty at the exclusion or in place of justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
• Jesus called them blind guides, the blind cannot see where they are going nor can they be trusted to lead others.
• Let’s look at verses 25-26
• Matthew 23:25–26 25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Our Heart will drift from God by...
II. Focusing on what man can see.
• Now Jesus hits them with WOE number 6.
• These guys would clean the outside of the dishes and cups they would eat and drink from.
• Jesus was not condemning the practice, He was condemning the fact that these leaders were so focused on what man could see, the outside, that they paid no attention to the inside.
• Those pretty cups and dishes were littered with crusty and moldy food particles from past meals.
• These leaders were great at looking good on the outside.
• People wrongly surmised that because these guys looked the part, that they were the real deal.
• In the NFL, they love a big strong-armed quarterback.
• Throughout the history of the NFL, there have been so many prototype quarterbacks who looked the part but failed miserably.
• The year Peyton Manning was drafted, Ryan Leaf was that big strong-armed quarterback. San Diego selected him number 2 behind Manning in the 1998 draft out of Washington State.
• Leaf was 6’5”, 235 lbs, he could make all the throws and had a cannon for an arm.
• Many believed he should have been the number 1 pick.
• Leaf washed out, he looked the part, but could not play the role. His life is a sad story of failure.
• When you spend all your time focusing on what others can see, you will neglect what is important in life.
• How much time did you spend getting ready for church today? How much time did you spiritually prepare to be here, I am looking in the mirror on this one also?
• To these guys, appearance trumped what was on the inside. Should you take care of your appearance, YES, but not at the exclusion of what is happening on the inside.
• Many relationships fail because one or both in the marriage work hard on putting on the appearance of a perfect marriage, yet they do nothing internally to make it healthy.
• It is like spending all your resources on making your car look good while neglecting what is under the hood.
• Jesus said, you look good but, on the inside, they were full of greed and self-indulgence.
• It is like the man who says he loves his wife, yet is hooked on porn, and lusts after every female that crosses his path. Yet the marriage appears to be strong.
• In verse 26, Jesus tells them to clean the inside first then the outside. This leads us to verses 27-28.
• Matthew 23:27–28 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Our Heart will drift from God by...
III. Neglecting what only God can see.
• The seventh WOE deals with a different level of hypocrisy.
• The religious leaders were careful about what others could see yet gave no regard for only what God could see.
• Time and time again they did things to receive the applause of man, not caring what God thought.
• Only God knows your heart.
• The Jews would whitewash tombs just before Passover so that a person would not accidentally step on a grave and make themselves ceremonially unclean before the Passover. Numbers 19:16
• It is easy to look good, to give off an impression that you are holy and devoted to God.
• It is actually quite easy to fake it. You can fool pretty much everyone you want, maybe except your spouse and children.
• We need to place our focus on working on only what God can see.
• We do not need to clean ourselves then come to Jesus, we need to go to Jesus and let Him work on us from the inside out, not the outside in!
• Jesus said, gentlemen, you look marvelous on the outside, but just like those whitewashed tombs, on the inside, they were full of dead bones and every kind of impurity!
• These were the ones who would put Jesus to death.
• He says this in verse 28.
• In the same way, on the outside, you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
• What good is it to fool people when I cannot fool God.
• The only explanation is for one to live this way in my view is that they do not think there is a God to fool.
CONCLUSION
• Back to a question I posed in the introduction, how can folks who are so religious be so far from God?
• This can happen when we do religious acts, and we think those religious acts make us righteous.
• We need to understand that you can be the most religious person on the earth, but if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, those acts are just acts.
• When I feel like I can earn my salvation, I have no need for Jesus, and my heart will drift away.
• There are so many out there who do not think they need Jesus because they can do it on their own, their own way.
• Don’t let your heart drift so far away that you end up with no heart for God.
• Do not neglect only what God can see. Use that same thought in your relationships also!

Things To Know For Times Of Trouble

Things To Know For Times Of Trouble
Judges 6:1 – 7:15

A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed between the pages.

'Momma, look what I found,' the boy called out.

'What have you got there, dear?' his mother asked.

With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: 'I think it's Adam's suit!'

• How many of you have had a life where you have had no difficulties? Life has been easy with no challenges. I would venture to say there are not too many people who can lay claim to a life without challenges and difficulty.
• How many times have you been in the midst of a difficult time and you just did not know what to do, you did not know where to turn. In desperation you cried out to God for help.
• When we get in tough situations we feel very helpless. Sometimes we feel so helpless that we forget that God can use us as part of the solution to the problem.
• When we feel helpless, there are a lot of things that we seem to forget regarding God and our problem.
• Today we are going to look in the book of Judges Chapters 6 and 7.  I want to look at someone who was in a terrible situation and I want us to look at some things that we need to know for times of trouble.
• The nation of Israel was in the throws of oppression, this time at the hands of the Midianites. The nation had enjoyed close to 40 years worth of prosperity and peace after Jabin had delivered them from the last oppression.
• Near the end of the 40 years, the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Now they were in the middle of 7 years of oppression at the hands of the Midianites. Each year during the harvest the Midians along with their allies would sweep into Israel and take all the grain and livestock they could take, thus ruining the harvest for the nation. READ Judges 6:3-6
3 And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east; they came up against them; 4 and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. 5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents; they came in as locusts for multitude; both they and their camels were without number: and they came into the land to destroy it. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian; and the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah.
• The nation was scared. Listen to verse 2 of chapter 6. “The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds.”
• The nation of Israel was desperate to the point that they were once again crying out to God. JUDGES 6:6&7
• The nation was at a low point and they felt abandoned by God and they did not know what to do. Have you ever felt that way? They were so absorbed by the problem that the people could not see what to do in order to fix it.
• From our story today I want us to look at some things we need to know for times of trouble.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
I. GOD UNDERSTANDS THE REAL PROBLEM- 6:1-10
• How many times do we find our selves in a situation where we really do not see what got us unto the situation, or maybe down deep we knew why things were happening but we did not want to admit it?
• The nation had to know why they were in the throws of oppression; it is not like it had never happened before.
• Nevertheless the people were distraught. Verse six told us that the nation was at a low point.
• It has amazed me in my own life how many times I would be in the middle of something and not really want to acknowledge what the real problem was. How many times has this happened with money?
• The nation cried out to God. What did God do? He came in and immediately pushed the oppressors out of the county! WRONG.
• READ 6:7-10
7 And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto Jehovah because of Midian, 8 that Jehovah sent a prophet unto the children of Israel: and he said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage;
9 and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land; 10 and I said unto you, I am Jehovah your God; ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But ye have not hearkened unto my voice.
• God gave them an answer in a strange way. God sent an unnamed prophet to let the nation know WHY they were having the problems they were facing. God did not give the people what they wanted, but instead what they needed. They needed to know why the oppression was happening
• In order to fix a problem, we need to know what the real problem is. If I thought my money problems resulted from a lack of money instead of a lack of discipline, as soon as I would get more money, I would just face more problems until I took care of the real issue.
• For the Israelites, the real issue was not the oppression, but instead their lack of obedience towards God.
• God knows what your real issues are so He can help you in your times of trouble.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
II. GOD KNOWS YOU CAPABILITIES 6:11-16
• Let’s look at what God was about to do. READ 6:11-16
11 And the angel of Jehovah came, and sat under the [a]oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. 13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt?
but now Jehovah hath cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. 14 And Jehovah [b]looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian: have not I sent thee? 15 And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my [c]family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house. 16 And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.
• God is about to offer a solution for the people through a most unlikely source. We do not know what attracted God to Gideon.
• An angel of the Lord comes to Gideon and more or less tells Gideon he is the solution to the problem the nation is facing.
• When Gideon is called by God, Gideon challenges the angel in verse 13. He wants to know why they are in the shape they are in and why God has done nothing about it.
• The angel tells Gideon that Gideon in going to deliver the nation.
• Gideon does not feel qualified to be one to lead the nation out of oppression.
• Gideon had many strikes against him. He was the youngest son; in a family the youngest son was not usually very highly esteemed. He was from an obscure family (Verse 15). Not only that but Gideon’s father is part of the problem, he was an idolater himself (Judges 6:28).
• Even with all the strikes against him, God knew Gideon’s capabilities. Notice in verse 12 the angel calls him a valiant warrior. This is kind of a strange greeting considering there was a good possibility Gideon was hiding while beating out the wheat lest it got taken from him.
• It was time for Gideon to quit feeling helpless and start feeling empowered! The angel tells Gideon in verse 14 to: "Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?"
• Look at verse 16. “But the Lord said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man."
• Notice the lord tells Gideon that He sent him and that He will be with him and that through Gideon, Gideon would defeat the Midianites!
• When we get into difficult situations, we forget that God knows what we can and cannot do. God will not call us to do what we cannot do unless He is going to be there with us. We MUST remember “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
• We need to also need to remember, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7
• No matter how small, insignificant, young or old you are, God can use you for great things!
During times of trouble we need to know that:
III. GOD WILL LEAD YOU THROUGH SOME TOUGH ACTIONS 6:25-32
• When we have issues in our lives that need attention, there are times that God will lead us to do some tough things, to make some tough choices.
• Before Gideon could cleanse the nation of it’s’ idolatry, Gideon was going to have to do some house cleaning of his own first. READ 6:25-27
25 And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said unto him, Take thy father’s bullock,
[g]even the second bullock seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the Asherah that is [h]by it; 26 and build an altar unto Jehovah thy God upon the top of this stronghold, [i]in the orderly manner, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt-offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shalt cut down. 27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Jehovah had spoken unto him: and it came to pass, because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
• Gideon was called to clean up his house. Gideon was willing but afraid to do it so he did it at night.
• Many times the road to recovery starts with us. I wonder how many times we really know this but are unwilling to face it.
• Sometimes God will lead us to do things that are not popular with other people. Look at verses 28-30. The people were not too happy with what Gideon did, but it had to be done. Sometimes you will need to do some things that are not popular, but they are things that need to be done.
• It is interesting how Gideon’s father defended Gideon. He says that if Baal is real, Baal will take care of it.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
IV. GOD WILL GIVE YOU THE CONFIDENCE YOU NEED 6:36-40, 7:10-15
• When we are called to do some drastic things, God will give us the confidence we need to accomplish the task at hand.
• After Gideon took the stand and decided to obey God, he gained confidence. When the Midians heard about what happened, they gathered all their allies and Gideon send messengers out to build his army to go up against them. (Judges 6;32-35)
• Judges 6:36-40 gives us an interesting exchange. Follow with me. READ JUDGES 6:36-40.
36 And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast spoken, 37 behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor; if there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast spoken. 38 And it was so; for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. 39 And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: let me make trial, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. 40 And God did so that night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.
• Gideon still lacked a bit of confidence. He asked God to show him a sign. Gideon put out the fleece. Notice that God did not scold Gideon for a lack of faith, but instead He did what Gideon asked, not only once, but twice!
• I know when I have had to face some tough choices in life and I felt God was leading me one way, I have “put out the fleece” asking God for a conformation.
• We also see God giving Gideon another sign in Judges 7:10-15.
• God gave Gideon the confidence he needed to accomplish the task at hand.
• God will do the same for you if you seek Him.
During times of trouble we need to know that:
V. GOD EXPECTS TOTAL DEPENDENCE ON HIM 7:1-14
• How many times has God bailed you out of something or helped you in a time of need only for you to take the credit and for get what God had done for you?
• In Chapter 7:1-4, Gideon has an army an army of over 32,000 men respond to his call. IF you had 32,000 plus men, would you feel a bit more confident in your chances?
• God told Gideon He had too many people in the army so it was time to reduce the number.
• READ Judges 7:1-2
Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of [p]Harod: and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, [q]by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.
2 And Jehovah said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

• God did not want Israel taking the credit for something they did not do.
• READ VERSE 3.
3 Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and [r]depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
• Well, 22,000 left with the first test. Well, 10,000 is not too bad.
• God said, “too many”. So God told Gideon to have the men drink at the river and separate the ones who lap the water like dogs from the ones who kneel to drink. (7:5-8)
• Now Gideon has a whopping 300 people left.
• How were 300 men going to defeat several thousand of the enemy? It could only be God. Sometimes things will not get better for us until we are ready to rely on God. DO you think Gideon would have been successful if he would have told God He was crazy and went to battle with the 32,000 men? Do you think you will succeed if you do the same?
During times of trouble we need to know that:
VI. THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD 7:15-22
• How many times have we tried to go out to battle on our own?
• Through this whole process, did God expect Gideon to do battle without Him? Did God expect Gideon to defeat the Midians without His help?
• NO!
• Does God want you to do battle on your own with Him? NO!
• Gideon took the 300 men he had and divided them into three companies. Judges 7:19-22.
• Always remember, the battle belongs to the Lord. You are not going it alone! Gideon did the impossible with 300 men and the Lord.
CONCLUSION
• When we are having trouble in our lives, know that God is with you.
• Do not wait until all seems lost to go to God. Start with Him.
• Gideon was a man whom would not have been chosen to lead the nation out of oppression, but God knew there was something special about him.
• When we start realizing that through God we have power and strength, nothing will defeat us! We will stand strong and we will realize that the battle belongs to the Lord!

 Based on a sermon given

by Jeffery Anselmi

What Have They Seen In Your House

What Have They Seen In Your House
Isaiah 39:4

INTRO:  Good evening. The sermon this evening is going to begin in Isaiah 39:4 as the foundation text from which we're going to launch into the rest of the lesson. “And he said, "What have they seen in your house?'' So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.''”[NKJV] I will take this phrase, what have they seen in your house and talk about that. This evening we're going to think about that in the physical sense of your own personal home. We're also going to be talking about it in the sense of the house of God.

In First Timothy 3:15 Paul says in part; “... I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

I. We have learned that everything we say, everything we do in the presence of other people will affect them somehow, in some way. Let us consider some questions. How do you carry yourself? That is, when people are around you, what do they see? When they come into your home what do they see? What impression do they carry away about you simply by being in your physical home? Not only that, what is it that people think about the Chardon church of Christ when they visit us, people that we don't know. People that come here from out of town, maybe they are moving to the area, maybe they are visiting someone, maybe they are just passing through. What do they think about the Chardon church of Christ when they come into this congregation of the house of God? What we’re going to be talking about are things that we hope that people would see in our house whenever they come among us.
II. In Colossians 3:18-20 – “18. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. 20. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” One thing we hope that we would see if we went into someone’s home is respect... respect for authority and respect for each other.
A. In the text we were told about the authority within the family unit. The way God has set up the family unit is where the father, the husband, is to be the head of the family, the husband loves the wife and the children obey the parents. That's the way the Lord intends and wants families to be.
1. Have you ever been visiting someone's house and after you've been there maybe 15 minutes you're ready to leave because you're tired of hearing the husband and the wife screaming at each other
2. Or you're tired of hearing the children screaming at the parents?
3. I’m not talking about anybody here, but I have experienced this even within some parts of my own family. I suspect some of you may to a lesser or greater degree, have experienced it as well. I can't believe they're talking that way to each other.
4. We need to realize that people when they come into our home their ears open up. If the husband's speaking rudely to the wife and the wife is speaking rudely to the husband and there's no respect for the parents from the children people pick up on that very quickly. They also pick up on that in the House of God.
B. In Ephesians 5:23-24 – “23. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.”
1. Here we’re dealing with the house of God and how in the house of God we are supposed to have respect for authority. The authority in the church is the head of the church, Jesus Christ.
2. Hopefully when people come to the Chardon church of Christ they will get a sense of that respect, the acknowledging of Jesus as the head. It is why we do what we do in this congregation. The congregation is built around and structured around our desire to be pleasing to the head, Jesus Christ.
3. The reason we are organized the way we are is because that's the way that God taught in His word. The reason we sing acappella is because that's the way the Bible tells us to worship Him, in spirit and in truth and all the scriptures that deal with just singing. That's how they did it in the first century.
4. We're just trying to make sure that what we're doing in our worship, by taking the Lord's Supper on the first day of every week, praying to God, singing praises to God and even our lessons, is to pay respect to the authority of Jesus Christ.
5. Hopefully that is the sense that visitors will carry with them when they leave here.
6. They may not agree with everything we practice. They may not agree with everything we do and teach, but hopefully they will carry away a sense that these people are serious about simply wanting to live a life that's pleasing to God. If they don't get that from being with us, something's wrong.
7. Hopefully they never see were we have added to or removed from God’s word because we decided to practice something of our own devising.
III. Another thing that we hope that people would see in our home when they come to visit, is love.
A. Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it,”
B. Also we find in Titus 2:4 – “that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,”.
1. I enjoy visiting homes where you can see in the eyes of the husband and the wife that they love each other. I’m not talking about newlyweds either.
2. It's understood that when you're around newlyweds they're all lovey-dovey. I'm talking about folks that have been married for decades. You can sense the strong, deep love they have for each other. Have you ever had it happen where you've visited someone and when you're leaving you think – Wow!?
3. I enjoyed being around them. You could tell they really care about each other. They really love each other even though they've been married many, many years; their love is just so deep. You can see the same thing hopefully, in congregations.
C. In First Peter 1:22 – “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,”
1. In the Gospel of John 13:35 – “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love for one another is the ultimate manifestation that we are really Christians.
2. Have you ever been to a congregation as a visitor and sensed these people really don't like each other? It's amazing they're even worshipping together. I have been and it reminds me of the saying “the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife”. You want to get out of there as quickly as you can.
3. Let people never think that way about the Chardon church of Christ. When people come here as visitors they should get a sense that we really care about each other.
4. We need to realize that this love for one another is a major way that God is showing His love to mankind. I’ll explain.
i. In the ancient Gentile world if you were a widow, your husband has died, you were in trouble. You were big trouble because in general nobody cared.
ii. You did not have a husband to bring home income to help you survive. You are on your own.
iii. If you were an orphan in the ancient Gentile world, your mother and your father died, you were in big trouble, again because in general nobody cared.
iv. It was a cold, heartless world and you were own your own with no one to help you.
v. Not so with God’s people. In Christianity you have an assembly where there are people that are slaves and masters, Jews and Gentiles, wealthy and poor, if someone happens to have their mother and father die what would happen is the spiritual family would come together and take them in and take care of even people that were not their physical flesh and blood.
vi. If a husband died and a widow was left you know what they would do. They would take her in as if she was family and see to her needs.
5. One of the things that caused Christianity to grow in leaps and bounds in the first century was real, honest-to-goodness love.
i. People would come into the assembly and they would see people from all kinds of backgrounds. They would see these people really cared about each other.
ii. It's a family, it's a unit, where if one member suffers all the members suffer. This is a way in which God's love is being shown to mankind.
6. The second of God’s greatest commandments is that we love our neighbor as we love our self. We are to love the brethren sincerely with a fervent heart.
i. When you come into a congregation where people actually care, that has a very strong draw even today. The world is still a very cold place.
ii. The world's still very evil and empty. Generally speaking we are going to find most people don't care. They don't care what your problems are. They don't care what your struggles are. They don't care what your needs are. Hopefully that's not the way we are.
iii. When people come among us, even as visitors, I hope they can sense that we are a family, that we really do care when a brother or sister is hurting. We care.
iv. Yes, we live fast paced lives just like everybody else in this American culture, but we need to do the best we can to slow down and bear one another's burdens.
v. To weep with those that weep, to rejoice with those that rejoice, to be there for one another. As I said it is a very strong draw today. People want to be among those that care.
IV. Romans 12:13 as we recall, says; “distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality”
A. In our physical home, if people come and visit do they feel welcome? That's a big part of what hospitality is.
1. The idea is I have an open house, open home. I want you to come over. I want you to come over and eat with us. Come over and just enjoy company and visiting and talking together.
2. Let me ask you are you that way with your physical home? Do you have people in to visit you, to interact with you?
3. It seems that now we're in such a fast paced culture, sometimes even husbands and wives don't visit with one another. They don't really interact much with each other. Its hello, I’ve got to go. We need to slow down and enjoy our family, enjoy being with each other.
4. God's people are the best people on earth. Perfect? No, not by any means, we have personal problems. Everybody here has got their own situation, their own set of problems.
5. The people who are really serious about Christianity are the best people you're will meet. You will want to be around them. You will want to get to know them. We should all be encouraged to open your homes to each other, to get to know each other.
B. Even if you don't know somebody here, make an effort to get to know them. Invite them over or invite them out.
1. Just do things together and make people feel welcome. Have you ever been around someone to where it's kind of like, hello it's nice to see you. But they keep you at arm's length, always at arm's length and just pass on by.
2. We should be encouraged to let down barriers, let people in sometimes. It is kind of a scary thing because we're not perfect and we do have problems. But we will find that God's people are the best people. They make really, really good friends.
C. First Peter 4:9 – “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.” When people come as visitors make them feel welcome. Hopefully when they leave they will be thinking, you know, those are really friendly people.
1. Let me ask you this. Have you ever been to a congregation when you felt like a ghost? We've gone and visited places before and usually we will try to sit down toward the front unless we are sitting with someone we know.
2. We've gone to congregations when we left our seat and the end of the service we walked all the way out the building and no one said a word, not a peep. It’s like, I guess they could care less that we came.
3. Please don't be that way. I don’t think we are. When people visit, we try to make them feel welcome to where it's understood we want them to come back. We want them to get to know us.
4. Leave them with the feeling that maybe if they live in this area they will consider worshipping with us on a regular basis.
5. We should look for an opportunity to invite them out to eat or even over to our home. It makes a strong impression on people when they recognize you don't know them and yet you want to be with them. The whole idea of hospitality is to make people feel welcome.
V. Now consider First Peter 3:1-2 – “1. Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, 2. when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.” [NIV] Peter is speaking of godliness here. The respect of God as ultimately seen and manifested in the way in which a person lives. Here again we're talking about influence, about people seeing the way you live.
A. When people come into your home hopefully they will see a respect for authority. Hopefully they will see love. They should experience hospitality... but also one thing we hope that they will see and that is Godliness.
1. By the way you carry yourself in your home, by the things you do in your home together, they will come to the sense these people are serious about God and their relationship with God.
2. In this text Peter talking about a woman who's married to an unbeliever and what she is doing is living the Christian life. Her husband watches the way she lives day after day after day and that is drawing him to God.
3. We know that if we wear the name of Christ people are watching us. They're listening to us. If we tell someone we are a member of the church of Christ they will be watching us like a hawk.
B. You can tell a whole lot about somebody by going into their house, by the movies they watch, by the books they read. You can tell where they are in their relationship with God. If you see them reading and watching things that are vulgar, yelling at each other, showing disrespect and a lack of love, it certainly does not cry out that they honor God.
C. Hebrews 2:12 – “saying: "I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will sing praise to You.''” First Corinthians 11:26 – “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.”
1. Hopefully when people come to the house of God here in the Chardon, Ohio they will recognize that we respect God, that we are serious about Christianity. We’re not just going through the motions. We're not just coming together for the fun of it.
2. Whenever we're singing praises it's not just going through the motions of singing. We sing with the understanding and we're not just going through in ritualistic fashion the taking the Lord's Supper, singing the song, and saying the prayer.
3. Have you ever gone to a place where it seemed that they were just trying to get out? I've been to congregations before where, it was like how quickly can we get out of here. They just go through the motions, and everything was just go go go go go go go.
4. I would hope that when people come here they sense that our worship is real. Real singing from our hearts to God, really proclaiming the death of the Son of God, focusing our hearts and focusing our minds on Christ crucified, singing praises to our God from our heart, praying to God from our heart. Real worship.
5. People can sense when we are really pouring our heart into it. They can also sense when it's just a drudgery that people want to get through as quick as they can and get out.
D. What I sense when I go to congregations that are ritualistically dead is that in reality there is very little respect for God. It's Him we've come to worship and whom we've come to honor.
VI. Now a note to myself and all who chose to speak here. In First Peter 4:11 – “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.”
A. We are dealing with God being glorified and when we speak the word of God it needs to be in a way that glorifies Him. Yes, we do tell stories in our sermons with the objective of easing the audience into a thought or making an example or an analogy that is useful to the lesson. But it is our responsibility to teach the body of Christ and those that come here the word of God, not cutesy stories, not the latest fads in the news. We must be careful, vigilant that we do not let aids become filler and filler become content.
B. What we need is the Word of God that will produce our faith and strengthen our faith and help us come to understand the will of God more and more. As we grow in our understanding, in faith we will obey and continue to obey the will of God.
C. If we're going to glorify God and truly respect God when we speak, we must speak the oracles of God, the Word of God.
D. I have heard, though I do not know from experience, that there are those out there who are trying to teach preachers to teach without the word of God. I read of one preacher who dropped out of Harding graduate school because they were trying to teach him to preach without the word of God and give a sermon just by telling stories. I don’t know if it is true or not. -- A story has its place.

CONCLUSION:
Back to the original question, “What are they seeing in your house?” When people come into your physical home and hopefully this happens, when they come into your home and they observe the way you interact with your family members and they observe just your home itself what does that communicate to them?

When they come to your house they should get a real sense that these people love one another. These people respect and honor one another. These people make me feel welcome in their home. I’d like to go back and visit them again. These people are serious Christians.

What do they see when they come to the Chardon church of Christ? I would hope they see that we respect the authority Jesus Christ as the head of the church. That's why we're doing everything the way we're doing it. Additionally they should get a sense that we really care about each other.

It is a path of spiritual growth to reach the point where when one member suffers all the members suffer with them. We press on trying to have relationships with each other that extends beyond the assembly. We strive to be more than just friendly associates, but becoming real family, who weep when one weeps, rejoice when one rejoices and are found bearing one another's burdens.

We need to realize that it is by this love that we have for each other that we’re really declaring to all of the people out in the world we are the disciples of Christ.
When people come to the Chardon church of Christ as visitors we want them to feel welcome so when they're back in this area again they'll think Oh I'll go back and worship there. I remember how they made me feel and hopefully whenever they come, they will see in our worship to God that we really respect God. That respect shows in our worship and we respect Him by teaching His word... and trying to live it.

If this is not what they see then it's time to do some serious repenting and changing, so it is what they see. I think we're doing well. We love God and love each other.
We’re doing the best we can teaching the word and trying to live it. If I were a visitor I think I would feel welcome. But I also think we are not at the end of that path and we still can learn and improve.

I've been here 13 years and I think I can say this: I think we really do care about each other, but we can still get closer to each other and still get closer to God.

There may be somebody here this evening that is not a member of the body of Christ. If you believe in your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and you're willing to confess your faith and repent of your sins, we will be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ.
If you are a child of God and you've gone into the world and left the Father we would like to encourage you to come home come back.
We'll pray for you, pray with you.
As your brothers and sisters in the family of God we'll try to be there for you not just at the front of the building but hopefully throughout the week to encourage you and exhort you to be faithful.
If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way we invite you to come as we stand and sing the song selected.

The Question

The Question

John 17:20-21

INTRO: Good Morning. This lesson was given a little while ago in the evening and was requested to be repeated in at some time in the morning.

In our lessons we have had encouragement to teach people, and that is good. In reality talking to people can be difficult because there are walls built up in their minds. Over the years I have heard something either as a statement or question I thought a bit odd, and I’ve ignored that statement, but ran into it again this year as expressed in a book I was reading so I started to give it some thought. I suspect there's a good chance that you have either heard this question said to you or more likely you've just seen it in the eyes of people you have talked to. It seems to be a pretty common idea that people have when they find out that you are a member of a local church of Christ. “Isn't it true that the church of Christ believes that they are the only ones going to heaven?”

How do you answer that question? It seems simple enough on the face of it, but after some consideration about how we might answer this when we are trying to teach about Christ, I found it's a really difficult question to give a simple answer to. It's something that no matter how you approach it there is likely to be some misunderstanding between what they mean by church of Christ and what you mean by church of Christ. I might give an answer that's right, based on one definition and completely wrong based on another.

Even though it's a pretty complicated thing to tackle, we have to successfully answer this question because it is a roadblock in the minds of some people and it can block our chance to teach them the truth. We need to think about how we can get past this obstacle.

To illustrate how difficult this matter can be let me ask you this; if someone asks you “is it true that the church of Christ believes they're the only ones going to heaven” and if they're talking about the one true church of Christ, that is, the church that belongs to Christ, the Kingdom, what's the answer? YES.

Only people who are part of the one body of Christ are going to heaven. If they mean “is it true that only members of the Chardon 128 Maple Avenue church of Christ are going to heaven”, what's the answer? NO. There are saved people everywhere.

It's one of those really interesting things where you really cannot answer the question unless you come back with a question. I know people hate it when you answer a question with a question, but this is one of those times. “What do you mean when you say the church of Christ believes?” “More precisely who are you talking about?”

I strongly suspect that what they usually mean is neither the One church of Christ nor the Chardon 128 Maple Avenue church of Christ. Usually what folks mean is what we call denominationalism. They mean, “you know, you church of Christ denomination folks. You guys all think that everyone else is lost.”

Ultimately before we can get anyone to see the truth of what the Bible says about salvation, we need to show them that there is no such thing as a church of Christ denomination. Now we might think well that's a really easy thing to do, just say a couple things and that'll be over with.

Do you know how old denominationalism in religion is? It has been around a very long time. Various denominations had been developing in Europe long before this country was discovered. The Baptist denomination shows up on these shores and is established in 1638. Denominationalism was here before this country was established. No American has ever been born without seeing denominations all over the place. In many dictionaries today the first definition of “denomination” is related to religion. The Cambridge Dictionary says; “a religious group whose beliefs differ in some ways from other groups in the same religion”. Another definition is; “Denomination is defined as the act of categorizing or making a category, particularly of a religion.”

Since a denomination is defined as a category of something there is plenty of room for misunderstanding. Category of what? How much variance is needed to call something a category? How much difference before a collection is a category of a category of something?

The idea of telling someone we're undenominational is very confusing. That's not something we're born in this country with the ability to decipher by the very nature of it.
We have literally thousands of denominations. I believe there are members of churches of Christ who are also unclear about what it means to be undenominational.

Why is that? I strongly suspect it is partly because we were born into a denominational country with that way of thinking, and possibly into a denominational family, we may have grown up in a denominational church. It is really hard to grasp religion without categorization.

Let’s pick a place to begin and see if we can get a view of how this works. I don’t want to start with the group called “everyone” as far as religion goes since that would include those who believe in something and those who believe in nothing. Let’s instead take a look at how a person making that statement or asking that question might view us.

Here is what denominationalism looks like and then we'll entertain our question again.
I want you to imagine that there's this box. This rectangle represents where the saved people are. Everybody who's outside, and we know who they are, the really bad folks, they're not going to heaven but everybody in the rectangle is going to heaven.

In our country the only real hurdle you have to cross in order to be saved—is believe in Jesus. If you believe, now this is American thinking, if you believe in Jesus you leave this area outside and you get to be in the rectangle of salvation, bordered by the blood of Jesus. This is the way our nation thinks. When you talk to your neighbor that's where they're coming from. They think everybody who believes in Jesus is saved.

Once you decide you believe in Jesus you need to pick a church, but they don't mean the one church. They're already in that. They don't mean a local church. They mean a denomination. You need to decide what kind of a believer you want to be. I mean you're a believer and you're in, but what kind of a believer are you?
That is, do you want to be a Baptist believer because they have some really interesting rules and regulations some you like some you don’t. Do you want to be a Catholic believer? Because they allow some things that Baptists don't but there are some things they don't. Do you want to be a Methodist believer? Which category of believers do you want to be? It doesn't matter which you choose because they are all in the rectangle.

See that idea? Here we are then over here in the church of Christ box. I don't know why anybody would ever choose to be that because we teach very exclusive things about the necessity of baptism, the absolute omission of instrumental music, the Lord's Supper each week, the need to worship, the need to serve, and the need to learn from the scriptures. Oh that last one is tough. I mean I don't know why anybody would but some people do. You need to choose which box to be in.

Then once you've chosen your box, and it doesn't really matter which one. Then you choose which local church. the circles are; you want to go to, the 128 Maple Ave, you want to go to Mentor, or you get to go over to this church, or that church. You just pick one but they're all going to kind of look the same. Right?

There are plenty of other churches around Chardon. You can go to the Morning Star Friends down on Rt. 44, or New Testament Baptist, or Word of Faith, or St Mary’s, or Peace Lutheran.

This is the way the world sees the church—purely denomination. The idea that you guys over here in the corner are teaching that you must be baptized to be saved, well we don't believe that. The very idea that you would teach that we are wrong with God is pure idiocy. I mean look at the rectangle. Why would you ever teach that any of the rest of us are wrong with God when we're all in the box together? Just because our path looks a little different we all have the same goal.

Unless we can explain to someone what's wrong with this picture just forget about ever telling them that they need to change what they believe or they need to change how they've been baptized or they need to change the way they worship because denominational thinking doesn't need to entertain any of those questions. Why would I need to think about that? It doesn't matter which box you choose.

What then do we need to do? I think it's kind of an interesting journey. If we have any hope of talking to our friends and family about changing their beliefs about Jesus we have to deconstruct denominationalism in their minds. Otherwise they're never really going to care. Although interestingly enough there are some people who would kick these two boxes out. We all kind of make our decisions on who gets to be in the big rectangle right? Unfortunately this large box thinking from all these people puts quite a bit of pressure back on this little corner box and can even influence some here.

I. Not God’s Will: Here's what we want to do. Here is one of the first arguments we need to make. We start by showing that denominationalism is just dead wrong. It is not a biblical idea. It is not God's plan. If we're in a church of Christ denomination, we're wrong. If we’re in a Baptist denomination we're wrong. What it is saying is “we have agreed to be doctrinally different and accept that we're all in it together”. The concept of having separate groups with separate beliefs that look like one another but intentionally have differences, is completely, absolutely in violation of what the Bible teaches. If that's who we are, we are wrong.
A. I want to look at three things here. The first is that division has never been God's plan. I can just imagine saying; Jesus here's what we want to do with your church. What we want to do is to decide that everybody who calls on your name is saved no matter what, and then they get to decide what they want to believe. If they want to believe in baptism that's fine, or if not, that's fine. If they want to believe in women leadership that's fine, or if not, that's fine we'll just create a subset box, a denomination for similar beliefs. By the way there are not just eight of them, more like 20,000 of them.
1. Isn’t that wonderful, there's a flavor for everyone. Oh, and Jesus we're all going to teach a little something different about you, but we're all going to do it in your name.
2. What would the son of God have said to that? Let me ask you to open your Bibles with me to John 17. I would like to look at some common passages we have all read. This is where it all begins we have to throw out denominationalism for us and everybody else.
3. In John Chapter 17 I want you to see in verse 20 Jesus’ beautiful prayer just before He went to the garden and was ultimately crucified. John 17:20-21 – “20. "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21. "that they all may be one,... as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Can you imagine Jesus and the Father having all kinds of different doctrinal beliefs? Just seeing things totally differently and deciding to just have like maybe a left heaven and a right heaven you know? When you go to heaven if you like what the Father has to say about things, you can be on this side and if you if you like what the Son has to say—no way! They are completely in unity on what they say and teach and God said that's how I want you to be as well.
4. Lets look at that, in first Corinthians chapter 1 we find the congregation in Corinth started to became divided, they started kind of saying well we favored this guy's teaching, some others said that guy’s teaching. This may sound familiar if you know anything about denominationalism. We favor this guy's teaching, we favor this fella's angle. The very idea of segregating was utterly rejected in; I Corinthians 1:10 – “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
5. What would the Apostle Paul think of Chardon Ohio today? What would he think of it? How many people are meeting in Jesus name in Chardon today? About 26—26 groups. Okay well how many different beliefs are there? About 26—26 differing sets of ideas on this or that. He would say so you do not all agree? Oh no, we do not agree. Then you are divided? Oh, yeah we are big time divided. What would He say about that? That cannot happen. That cannot be. That is not the way it should be. You need to find a way to agree and you need to find a way to bring those divisions together.
6. Think about this. The idea of separate beliefs in the one body is completely foreign to the word of God. Ephesians 4 please. In Ephesians Chapter 4 it talks about walking correctly, verse 1, it talks about having the right attitude - of humility and gentleness verse 2. Let’s look at verse 3. Ephesians 4:3 – “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Yes we want to be patient no doubt about it, but we also have to be diligent to preserve, to keep, the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and then you know what comes after that. Does it say; “There are many bodies with different organizational heads and charters” NO! It says “4. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6. one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
7. Ask a denominational person how many different faiths are there. Oh many, many different faiths. I mean they're all about Jesus but they all have totally different angles and ideas and authority behind them. That is not what God taught. Maybe we need to say let's just throw out denominationalism completely. Let's get rid of it because this idea of division is not God's will.
B. Not Biblical: Second, then I wonder is there somewhere in scripture, anywhere any time, where people believed and taught different doctrinal things and yet they did so in unity with one another. That never takes place. I've just shown you a few verses here that you know very well.
1. Let's look at Ephesians since we're right there. In Ephesians Chapter 1 and you're probably familiar with this, when the New Testament talks about the church it is only talked about in two senses. Are you aware of that? The church as it pertains to Christ is only discussed in two ways. Therefore we should only talk about it, biblically speaking, in those two ways. One way is Ephesians 1:22-23 – “22. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23. which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” That is the one church, the whole rectangle. There is the one body of Christ under His protection and saved by Him. Everybody who's in that body is saved, everybody who is outside of that body is lost. If you're asking me about the church, are you asking me about the one body? Because that's a Bible idea.
2. When you're talking about the church you might be talking about the one body or look at Acts 14 you might be talking about local collections of people in the one body working and worshipping together. In Acts chapter 14 we call them local churches in Acts 14:20-23 - “20. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 22. strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.'' 23. So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”
3. That's not talking about a denomination of churches; it is talking about a local 128 Maple Ave. church. Folks, that's the only two ways the church is talked about in the whole Bible, the New Testament.
4. It's either the one body or its local people who are members of the one body.
• There is never a mention of a separate square with a separate name.
• There is never a mention of divided ideas.
• There is never a mention of a denominational church of any kind at all.
C. Doctrines Matter To God: Third, do you know why all that is? Do you know why that division cannot exist in the church? Do you know why denominationalism is utterly rejected? Because denominationalism was created out of; “what do we do with different doctrines”? How do we handle that? I believe baptism is essential and you don't. We'd better find separate places to worship, right? We need to call them different things to keep it straight.
1. Here's the problem with that. Doctrines that are taught matter to God. I think we will start in Matthew. When Jesus was preaching the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew Chapter 7, at the end of that sermon He talked about how people would say Lord, Lord and profess their belief in Him. What did He say in the story that He told next. He said; Let me tell you there will be two kinds of believers. I'm going to tell you now—two kinds. There will be believers who do what I say and there will be believers who do not do what I say. Those who do what I say are mine and those who do not do what I say have their home built on the sand. They built their home on very fortified sand by the way. Lot of wasted effort shoring up their foundations which are not scriptural. There can't be different actions in the name of Jesus, only that which He has taught,
2. Did He not say that in Matthew Chapter 28? In Matthew Chapter 28 and Verse 18 you know this so well Jesus came up and spoke to them saying “18. Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, (Watch this very closely) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20. "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.''
3. Let me tell you why this is so important, we're going somewhere with this that I hope you'll be able to use. When you're having a conversation with a denominational person, when you run into some disagreement on what you both believe, chances are they, if given time, they will go to their denomination, and they will ask their preacher; “what do we believe?”. Please no one come ask me that. I've had people ask, “What do we believe?” What are you talking about?
4. We are not some subset with some special collection of beliefs. That's the way denominationalism thinks. We are just people who do what the Bible says.
• We do what Jesus taught.
• We do what the disciples said.
• We don't run to some board.
• We don't go to some creed book.
• There's no “we” in that sense.
• There's just Jesus and His Word and His will.
5. We know that in Galatians 1:6-9 it says; “6. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7. which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” It said people will come with a different doctrine, you reject them. There can't be multiple doctrines. Did I say that clearly? There can't be multiple doctrines under the one Jesus.
6. Revelation 22 ends with these fateful words Revelation 22:18-19 – “18. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19. and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Do not add to nor take away. He's talking about the Book of Revelation there, but it would apply to all revelation of the Holy Spirit. Don't do more than it says don't do less.
7. You go ask someone who's in a local Chardon denomination. Do you guys think you're doing a few things that are a little bit more than what the Bible says? Well yeah, but that's what we do. That’s who we are. Stop right there. There's no we, there's no you, there's no denomination, there's no subset! That's totally non biblical. There's just; what does the Bible say.
II. Strip Away The Confusion: Before we can make progress in teaching what the truth is the best thing that could happen is for you and one of your friends who worships at some church in the area to sit down and say let's do this first. Let's go back to this and let's start stripping it of things that don't belong so we can have a real conversation here. People have been doing this for the last 2000 years in small numbers. In the last 200 years there was a notable group of folks that did that in this country and in this very area. They made this effort. That's the key.
A. You’ve got to strip all stuff that doesn't belong so you can have a real conversation. The first thing you want to do is clear out all the names.
• I'm not a Church of Christer.
• You're not a Baptist.
• You’re not a Mormon.
• You're not a Methodist.
• Let’s just strip all those names.
1. That idea of subsets and names is all non-bible stuff anyway. We only call ourselves the church of Christ because we're a group of people trying to belong to Christ, but we're not married to that name. Some people are. We can be called the church of the Chardonians in God and Christ. How you like that? First Thessalonians one. Quit being married to the names. When you're married to the name then you're married to the “we” of it and that is not what is needed.
2. Get rid of the names and since we're no longer of this or that let's go ahead and get rid of all the lines too let's decide that we don't believe in lines. What I mean is; in Christ, we don't believe in your belief system or in my belief system and get to pick which categories we keep. We're finished with categorical stuff.
3. We're going to say you know what I think? We're going to re-evaluate that. We're not just going to say that everybody who believes in Jesus is saved. We’re actually going to go back and take another look at that. That's real progress.
4. In our thinking we need to get rid of all these circles. We’re going to get rid of that. There's no I'm a blue circle Christian, I’m a red circle Christian. No. Forget it. Forget the names, forget the lines. Forget the circles. Just go back to where there is a rectangle. Everybody who is outside of it is lost. Everybody who is inside of it is saved. You know what we call that blue rectangle we call that the one body of Jesus Christ. We call that His church, His Kingdom.
5. If you think you can push the point just a little bit and nobody will explode, you can go ahead and say; you may as well call it the church of Christ because that's the only reason we use that name. I know we probably should leave the names out, but what we're saying is it's not really a name at all. All we're saying is there is this one body and everybody who's in it is saved and it is our determination that we just want to make sure we're in that.
B. So then the question, this would be great if you had somebody ask you this question: How do we get in that? Great question. I would say, I think we're done for today. That was just way too much progress because that's where you have to get. The question is; “How do we get in there?” OK.
1. You know we're not going to ask some church—no such thing anyway. We're not going to go to some convention that meets once a year—no such thing anyway biblically speaking. We're not going to go look at some book written in 1983--doesn't do a lick of good.
2. What we are going to do is just go open the Bible. By the way folks have been doing that for a very long time as well.
3. How do you get in there, and here's what we're going to find out. We're going to find out and I'll skip to Matthew 16. Sure enough in Matthew 16 we see Jesus only built one church. Verse 18. We just need to make sure we're in it and that’s all. Forget the names. Just be in it.
4. Then we look at Matthew Chapter 28 and see we need to make sure we're doing what Jesus said. Verses 18-20. Then we open our Bibles to Acts chapter two. How often have you gone to Acts chapter two? Oh boy. Not another church of Christer headed to Acts chapter two. That's the last thing I need. Hang on a minute. I'm not what you just called me. There's no such thing as that. I'm not of this. You're not of that. I'm not trying to build some argument for a square on the board, I just want to find out, biblically speaking, scripturally revealed, on the very first day, day uno, how people went from here to there. Lost to saved. I just want to know how they got there. That's all I'm asking.
5. We go to Acts two and you already know what we find. We find in verse 36 that you must believe that Jesus is Lord and Christ. No doubt about it. You've got to believe that but that is not all that we must do. That’s a threshold that America has sort of created as it's all you've got to do to get in the box. Not a biblical idea because; the very next verse they came to Peter and the Apostles and they were pierced to the heart they were sorry for their sins against the Lord. They said what shall we do? and you know what Peter said. Peter said repent. Ah.
6. In order to get in the box I have to turn from the sins in my life and in verse 38 be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. Well, our church doesn't teach forgiveness of your sins. You need to leave that church, because whatever it is, whatever its lines are made of, it’s not this.
C. The one body of Christ is a body that we enter by believing (Verse 36) who Jesus is, being sorry for our sin, (Verse 37) and requesting salvation, repenting of our sins (verse 38) and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Verse 41 says; Those who had received his word were baptized and that day there were added about 3000 souls and then in verse 42; and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine or as Revelation 2:10 says; just be faithful. What does that mean? Just Keep worshipping, keep reading, and keep learning.
1. Wait, learn what? Just what the Bible says. That's it? That's it. Well, what do I need to learn? I mean I’ve done all this and now what kind of stuff do I need to be reading. Is it what we are about? What's our position on drinking for example? Love that kind of question, hate that kind of question. What do you mean our position on drinking? Well, I got to decide which box I want to be in because that box over there allows social drinking. There are no boxes, no smaller boxes, no wine boxes. There is just—what does the Bible say.
• What does the Bible say about sobriety?
• What does the Bible say about life?
• What does it say about how we represent ourselves?
• What does it say about wine?
D. Isn't that awesome? I just have this vision and it is a little bit overly optimistic perhaps, for all of our religious friends worshipping in denominationalism, that there is a way, and how many in the churches in Chardon that could use this, that there is a way we could just flip the switch, and the light would come on; “Oh you're saying that all we have to do is just what the Bible says and forget about all this other stuff, this segregation, division business and we can all come together?” I just have a feeling that's good news. I mean its great news. Everything that the Lord doesn't want goes away.
E. Let me bring the question back in. Does the church of Christ believe they're the only ones going to heaven? What you want is for the person you're studying with to say well if you mean that church, yeah. So you're talking about the body of saved? Absolutely! We need to get them to see that.

CONCLUSION:
I want to end the lesson here though I am certain there is more to examine.
I want to bring the circles back in. Now there are no red circles, no blue circles, though there might be some different size circles. That are these? They are local churches. They are local churches that follow the Bible. You have lost the element of multiple choice, which Americans dearly love. You mean I don’t get to pick what I want? I don't get variety, I have only one choice? All we're doing is what the Bible said and so you lose a lot of variety. What you also lose is division. You do always get a choice with God, but it is usually a binary choice.

You pick a local church but all you have to concern yourself with, and this is awesome, all you have to be sure of is that the local church is doing what the Bible says! It's not about do they match up with the things I want to believe. By the way we just call these local churches of Christ.
We could change it if you want. We could say Chardon church which belongs to Christ if you like that better. Or Chardon church of Christ in God by Biblical Teaching if you're the wordy type.

We're not a thing, we're not a subset, we're not a group. We're just a local collection of people who have done what the Bible says and just want to keep doing that. We don't want to answer to some council and we don't want to be monitored by some city on another continent.

We just want to do what the Bible says--so I'll give you some verses here.
Acts chapter 14 talks about how they set up elders in every church.
Well our church doesn't have elders like that, our church has a pastor. Where do you get that idea? Well, that's what our church does. There is no our church there is no denomination.

There's just what the Bible says. Look and you will find that you set up elders in every church, just go to First Timothy three and you find out their qualifications and you get everything you need to build congregations that look like what God wants.

People really need to do is forget about what you call yourself or what your parents call themselves. Forget about the name on the building.
All you need to do is find the one true church taught by the Bible and you need to enter it in the Bible way and then you need to find a local group of people doing what the Bible says.

There is nothing of more significance in our lives than when the son of God returns in the sky.
All that's going to matter, not what we’ve called ourselves, not what is on the building, not what we have decided to believe, because all of that will go away. The only thing that will matter is am I in His body. That's all that's going to matter. Am I a part of His church?
Folks, the Bible is the only way to know that. It is absolute knowledge on the subject.
If you want to be a Christian the way the Bible teaches, if you want to be a part of a congregation that does so to the best of our ability, you need to make a decision in that direction.
Today's the day for you to do that, or if you have turned from being a child of Christ, it is the day to return. The invitation is open for you to do so now as we stand and sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: David Schmidt