Podcast appearances and mentions of christ let

Let There Be Light | Jason Black   John 1:1-14 Light is one of the most powerful images in scripture. From the very first words of creation, spoken by the pre-incarnate Christ—"Let there be light"—to Jesus on earth declaring, "I am the Light of the World," God reveals Himself through His light.   But what does it really mean to walk in the light? How does the light of Christ overcome darkness in our lives and in the world around us?   Join us this Sunday as we explore John 1:1-14 and see how the eternal Word, Jesus, brings life and light to all who receive Him. Let's learn what it means to shine in a world that desperately needs Jesus.

The birth of Christ- Let's get the details straight about the birth of Jesus. There are some things about the events surrounding Christ's birth that people believe that are just not biblical. Jesus was born in obscurity, so no one would be embarrassed to come to him.

Romans 12:3-8

The Bible teaches of the blessing of being “in Christ.” This is a wonderful study of the phrase” in Christ” and where salvation is found. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1561/29

It is very easy to think something is Biblical, but it is not. We would all concur that much teaching from man is accepted as Biblical truth when it is not. This study takes us back to the Bible to renew our zeal for the word of Christ and its authority. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1561/29

The Book of Colossians | Week 7 | Setting Minds on Christ: Let Go | Kyle Clayton

"Workers together with Christ" Let's get to work!!! ( II Corinthians 6:1-18) cont.

Summary of the Sermon "The Significance of Sodom" This sermon explores the story of Sodom and Gomorrah from Genesis 19, focusing on the tension between God's love and holiness. Key Points: The passage in Genesis 19 is a difficult one, describing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness. We should hold two things in tension about God: He is loving (John 3:16). He is holy (Isaiah 6:3). His holiness makes his love meaningful. If we only focus on God's love, we might think our actions don't matter. God's holiness establishes boundaries and reminds us of our sin. Why were Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed? The sermon argues the sin wasn't just sexual immorality (though it is present). They were also: Arrogant (Ezekiel 16:49) Overfed Unconcerned with the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49) This focus on themselves led them to do "detestable things" (Ezekiel 16:49). The Call to Action: We should examine ourselves: Are we arrogant? Do we consider ourselves above others? Are we too focused on ourselves and our possessions? Do we help those in need? The passage is a call to be more like Christ: Let him transform our hearts. Respond to God's love by helping others. Other Points: The story is also a reminder that God is just. He has shown mercy to us, but there is a time limit on his patience. We should pray for our nation and communities. Bible References: Genesis 13:10 Genesis 18 Genesis 19 Exodus 20 John 3:16 Isaiah 6:3 Ezekiel 16:49 Acts 17 Matthew 10 Matthew 11 Jude Transcript So we have reached Genesis chapter 19 this morning. It's actually great if you want to put up the first slide, okay? So you get the drift, right? So this is, by any stretch of the imagination, this is a very challenging chapter of the Bible. It's one of those chapters that, and we'll probably come to a few, depending on how far we carry on through the Old Testament, that are a bit, kind of like, you know, x-rated, bit 18 rated in terms of the content. And what I want to do is, I'm just, I'm not going to read it, I'm just going to summarize it, and then when you get home, if you haven't read it already, you can read it and see if what I've said is right or not. But in summary, so you remember last week Chris was speaking from Genesis 18, and now the second half of that chapter Abraham was chatting with the three visitors, and actually he ended up debating with God and asking God, if you can find so many people that are righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah, will you not save it? And there was this ding-dong going on, and then God draws a line under the conversation at 10, and that's it. And so when we get to chapter 19, what we find is two of those three people that were with Abraham are angels, and they go to Sodom, and they're going to spend the night in the town square, and Lot comes out and finds them, and says, no, no, don't spend the night here, come back to my house. And so he gives them a meal, they have an evening meal together, and then after the meal we read that all the men of the town, young and old, gather outside Lot's house and say, bring out those men because we want to have sex with them. And Lot calls out and comes out and says, don't do this wicked thing, instead here are my daughters. Okay, I don't think laughing is quite appropriate, but it only calls that out. And there's this argument, and the men of the town say to Lot, who are you to tell us what to do? And the angels reach out through the door and pull Lot back inside the house and rescue him just in the nick of time, and then they strike the eyes of those outside the house with blindness so they can't see and find their way. And then what happens is the two angels in Lot's house tell him that God is going to destroy this city, it's time for you and your family to leave. And so he goes out and he finds his two daughters are both engaged to be married, and he finds the fiancees and tells them that God is going to destroy this place, we've got to go, and they don't believe him, they think he's joking. And so, and then they go to bed at night, and then in the morning the angels say to Lot, come on, you've got to go. And Lot's kind of dragging his feet and not really moving, so the angels grabs his hand, grabs his wife's hand, grabs the daughter's hands, and rush them out of the town. And Lot says, can we just go to this nearby town? So they go off to this nearby town, and the angels say, don't look back because God is going to destroy this place. And if you know the story, you know, Lot's wife looks back and she becomes a pillar of salt. And then at the end of the chapter, Lot and his two daughters, now on their own, leave that town and go and live in the hills, and the daughters conspire saying that we're not going to have any children, let's get our dad drunk, and we'll sleep with him, and we'll get children by him. And so that's what happens at the end of the chapter. And in the meantime, Abraham is far away, and he looks out over the plains, and he sees the smoke and the dust rising from where Sodom and Gomorrah have been destroyed. So, that chapter ought to give you some questions, right? We ought to have some questions about this. It's just all sorts of things. Does God really do this sort of thing? Does he destroy cities like this? Isn't this a different God in the Old Testament than the one we read about in the New Testament? Hasn't this type of judgment disappeared with Jesus in the New Testament? Were the crimes that carried on in Sodom and Gomorrah that bad that it really necessitated God to act in that way? So, how do we make sense of all of this and apply it in our lives in 2024? Much of this is really about, sorry, to help us understand that, what I want is just to think about for a moment, if you bear with me, is a lot of Christianity is about holding different things in tension, right? A lot of following Jesus is about holding different things we read in Scripture that on the surface look to be different, but it's really important that we learn to hold them in tension. Right, I'm going to try and see if I can operate this, Graham. It looks like no, so could you do the slide for me? Thank you. Yeah, so for example, we know that God is one. We also know that God is three persons. Have you figured that out? How do we hold that? But it's really important that we hold that intention, isn't it, and that we believe and act on both of those things. We know that Jesus is fully God, amen, good, and we know that Jesus is fully man, amen, brilliant, but we've got to hold both of those things in tension. We know that God is sovereign, but we also know that we have a responsibility. When you and I became a Christian, did we choose God or did he choose us? Hmm, well both, maybe, perhaps. Right, and holding those things in tension is really important, right, because if we overemphasize one side of that equation to the effect, to the loss of the other, that's what tends to lead us down a little path that leads us into a bit of error, perhaps sometimes, and ultimately into heresy and that type of stuff. So if you think Jesus is fully God and you ignore the fact that he's fully man, you end up with a Jesus that is unable to identify with us in our day- to-day lives and the reality of what goes on. But if you end up with Jesus who is just fully man and you ignore the fact that he's also fully God, you end up with Jesus that's just a good person, and did he even rise from the dead, and what was the point of his crucifixion? So it's really important, and there's lots of these, maybe this is another sermon series, there's lots of these, I think, as we seek to follow Jesus together, that it's good for us to get our heads around. And so the one particular this morning that I want to just look at, if we can do the next slide Graham, is how do we hold this in tension? God is love on the one hand, and we've been singing lots of songs about that today, but on the other hand, God is holy. Both of those things are equally true, and both of those things is a key for us to understand. And holding this thing in tension helps to begin to understand passages like the one that we are reading about today. We need to embrace both of these things. We know and we love verses like John 3.16, of course God loved the whole world so much. We've been singing and praising God for his mercy and his love, and we absolutely should this morning, that was a beautiful song Jax by the way, and so you know, fantastic that it speaks from personal experience, what a wonderful thing that is. But actually we also need to understand God is holy because that puts his mercy in context. Otherwise if we just think about his love and his mercy and his grace all the time, it becomes looking like that in a bit of a vacuum. But when we hold it up against the fact this is a holy God as well, then actually we begin to grasp more what his mercy and his love and his grace is all about. You see if our focus is only that God is a God of love, and if we ignore the fact that he's holy, it leads us down a road where God loves all people. So actually it doesn't really matter what we do because God still loves me, and actually no matter what I do I don't have to change because God loves me. And then it leads us to a place where surely God accepts everybody because he loves everybody, and then they go to heaven. And therefore there's no need to preach the gospel because everybody goes to heaven. That is not true, just want to be really clear. God is, and that's why we need to hold these things in tension, that God is holy as well as the fact God is love. And when we look at the holiness of God we see that there are boundaries, there are limits. We see, you know, we saw that at the beginning of Genesis didn't we? You can eat from any tree in this garden, not that one over there, but any tree. And what do we do? We go and eat at the one that we're not supposed to eat from. And ever since then we've just been loving to cross the boundaries that God has put in place to protect us and to do us good. And yet this holiness of God is something that is so traced through the whole of Scripture, it's so important that we get a hold of it. We think of Moses when he wanted to see God, God says to him, you cannot see my face and live. And so God lets him see the back of him as he walks past. We think of Aaron, the high priest, as God gives instruction about what the high priest should be like. He's allowed once a year to enter the Holy of Holies in the temple in the Old Testament to make requests on behalf of people to God, just once a year, and him alone. And because God is so holy and the high priest is absolutely not, because he's just like you and me, they put bells on the bottom of his cloak and a little rope around his waist. So as he moves around in the Holy of Holies they can hear the bells ringing and if the bells stop ringing that's bad news and they need to pull the rope and get him out. God is holy. Isaiah cries out, doesn't he? Woe is me because I am a man of unclean lips and I live in the midst of an unclean people and my eyes have seen the glory of the Lord. Oh God, oh God, oh God. I think of Peter just as he's in encountering Jesus and he's been fishing all night and catches nothing and Jesus, who's not even a fisherman, tells him to put his nets down on the other side and he pulls them ashore and catches such a massive load. What does he say? Away from me Lord for I am a sinful man. Paul writing to Timothy at the end of the first letter, Timothy says God lives in unapproachable light. Wow. And yet we worship him and we honor him and we give him glory. God lives in unapproachable light. I'm always struck when I see worship in the book of Revelation at the end, if it's anything like describing what worship is like in heaven, there's not many songs about the love of God. It's all worthy are you Lord. Worthy, worthy, worthy is Jesus. Holy, holy, holy are you Lord. That's the songs that are in there. Read it when you get home. That's what it's about. And so this holiness of God is something that is so important that we get a hold of because it also sets up in context the love of God. And this passage, like others we're going to come to, make us feel uncomfortable. Does God do this sort of thing? And I think there's two things that we lose sight of that we need to perhaps get a hold of. First of all we need to remember that God has made us in his own image. He didn't need to make mankind. God was completely fulfilled with Father, Son and Holy Spirit enjoying themselves together in eternity before he created you and I. He didn't create you and I in order to complete something that was missing in him. He created us that we would give glory to him and he was fully complete before that. He owes us nothing. We are his creation. He is the creator and we are the created ones. And we have turned our backs on the Creator. We think we can do better. We think we should be independent of him. The Bible calls it sin. We have turned our backs on one who has created us and yet he is still sovereign Lord over all the others. He's the one who in that encounter with Moses when he only let Moses see his back he said to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. It's his divine prerogative to decide who he will show mercy to. All the more why we sing the songs about mercy with gusto because in his divine prerogative he's shown it to you and to me. And as we heard last week as Abraham discusses with God about Sodom Abraham says shall not the judge of all the earth do right. Abraham was spot-on. God is judge of all the earth and he always does right. His is the divine prerogative. It's like in an English court of law where when a judge hands down a sentence he has the weight of the English law behind him and that is the sentence. There may be appeals and that kind of stuff but ultimately that is the sentence and that is what is going to happen. There's no because of the authority of that judge with the law behind him. That is a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny similarity to God is sovereign over all the earth and he is the judge and he always does right. Second thing is he never acts unjustly. God always acts in justice or in mercy and the thing about this is I think particularly as Western Christians in this day and age we've come a little bit to expect grace and mercy and we think that anything else is unjust. We cry out it isn't fair. We expect God to be merciful. There's sort of a picture I heard of this. In part of preparing for this I read a book by R.C. Sproul called The Holiness of God which I recommend. Thank you Jonathan's heard of it. Yeah very good. It's that old. It's that old. But he tells the analogy that he's a lecturer okay in a college and he tells this story. He says that he's got 200 students in the class and he sets them an assignment as part of the course and he tells them you've got to have the assignment in on that day. If you're a moment late you get a fail. No questions asked. So the day comes and a handful of students don't hand the assignment in and they plead with him about excuses and couldn't quite do this and couldn't quite do that and he relents. He says okay I'll give you a few more days and they hand it in and he marks them fairly as he marked everybody else. In other words he showed them a bit of mercy. Right three months later the next assignment's due and he tells them exactly the same. The 200. He says exactly the same. Hand it in on that day. Anyone's late. It's a fail. No questions. Gets to that day and guess what? Quite a few more don't hand it in on that day and start pleading with him and asking him to you know give him a bit of grace and can we have a few more days and he says okay and he does that. And then a third time it happens and on the third time he says you know you've got to hand it in on this day otherwise it is a fail. About half the class don't hand it in and they plead with him and he says no I've told you these were the rules you know. You hand it in on that day you knew and if you don't do it it's a fail. But they said but you did it before but you did it for those people but you did it before and we tend to get a little bit like that as we think about grace and mercy and we come to expect it when actually for God it's a matter of justice. We deserve justice. You might get grace and mercy but we deserve justice. We live in a world of injustice don't we? That's 900 postmasters. You know there's wrongs done to you and me every day by other people but no matter how much injustice is done to me by other people I've never suffered the slightest injustice at the hand of God. You've never suffered the slightest injustice at the hand of God. Though people may mistreat us God never does. We can't accuse God for the injustices done to me by other people. My sin and your sin means that we are guilty before God and fully deserving of his justice and he is never unjust. We often blame God for injustices done to us and harbour bitter feelings towards him and we think we deserve more grace. But just think about that for a minute. The whole point of grace is it's undeserved. We can't deserve more grace. It's undeserved. It's like this. If ten people sin and God punishes five people and shows mercy to five people has he been unjust? The answer's no. He's always just. He's shown justice to five people and mercy to five people. God is never unjust and so here in this passage God demonstrates justice acting justly to two cities and the surrounding area and showing mercy to four people and that is absolutely his divine prerogative. So justice falls and these passages remind us that God sets limits to his patience with us and that someday he will act with justice. It's like the Apostle Paul as he's going around we read in Acts 17 he reaches Athens and he sees loads of temples to different gods and he starts speaking to the Greeks there and he says in the past God overlooked your ignorance. In the past God overlooked your sin. In the past God overlooked the fact that you ignored him but now he commands all men everywhere to repent. There is a time and there is a day when God says enough is enough and so his justice falls on a society because the outcry to him is so great. Their sin is so grievous as we read in the previous chapter last week. Even back in chapter 13 we read that they were sinning, they were wicked and sinning greatly and so God says this is enough but before we get kind of smug and think yeah well what they were doing was so bad look at how other writers of the scriptures use this story. Isaiah in chapter 1 talks about hypocrisy in worship. He talks about sacrifices but we could just as well say standing here on a Sunday morning of arms in the air singing our songs and praying prayers and Isaiah talks about those who are hypocritical in their worship doing that on a Sunday but for the rest of the week denying God having any change in their lives it will be worse for them than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at Jesus in Matthew chapter 10 he says it will be worse for any town that doesn't listen to the gospel than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah. It's just all in the book all right. In Matthew 11 he says it'll be worse for Capernaum where miracles were performed because they didn't respond to the gospel than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah and Jude right at the end of the New Testament talks about the fact Sodom and Gomorrah is an example of what is to come. So what was it in Sodom and Gomorrah that was so wicked? It's easy to jump into the whole area of sexual sin that is kind of well understood about what was going on there but as so often with sexual sin there's actually something else behind that some emotional insecurity some identity issue some some some issue around being totally self-absorbed as an individual and Chris did this last week and I want us to bring us back to it there's a the answer lies in Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 49 we read this now this was the sin of your sister Sodom she and her daughters were arrogant overfed and unconcerned they did not help the poor and needy they were haughty and did detestable things before me arrogant overfed and unconcerned it's like a trend that they were arrogant overfed and unconcerned and as a consequence they didn't help the poor and needy and as a consequence they were proud and did detestable things and it's kind of like a traceable thing in many western cultures and societies today including our own but before we sit here and point the finger and say yeah that's right those societies and cultures are made up of individuals and we're some of those individuals so what does this say to us because we're not exempt you know are we arrogant what does that mean do we think we are more important than other people it may be not here maybe here maybe not here maybe at home in your house in your family do you think you're more important than other members of your family maybe at workplace maybe on your street you know we have to watch ourselves you know we do we think we're right so often and we're not interested in anybody challenging us and giving us a different view do we use words like well it's my right all of those things are tinged from a place of arrogance that we just need to be careful are we overfed we live in a society that has plenty and I know some of us struggle with things on a daily basis but actually a lot of us in this room can easily say yeah we're overfed we don't have a big problem we can choose which supermarket to go to we can choose which which where to get our shopping and even when we're overfed we still have plenty left that goes to waste or are we unconcerned about others are we so preoccupied with our own lives and ourselves that we don't have time to worry or think about anyone else Mother Teresa said a life not lived for others is not a life the clear call in this passage is of being preoccupied with our own lives of lining our own nest that my way is the right way and that becomes something that we just get sucked into so much in the world around us because society and marketing and media is sending you those messages every hour of every day all that time you're on your social media and those things are popping up it's all trying to suck you in that you are the most important thing this is about you you can have this you can get that you can do this and there's a clarion call in this passage that the heart of God is to help the poor and needy reminds us in the New Testament Paul writing that religion God our Father accepts as pure and holy is this to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world a great example this morning Phil thanks for helping the poor and the needy in Ukraine but even here on our doorstep we can be we can rise to that as well as God works in our hearts and if we don't engage with these matters then we become proud and we can be drawn into detestable things how do we avoid that well he starts with Jesus right it starts at the cross let him transform your heart and my heart he has called us out of the world he has called us into being a new creation he has brought us into the kingdom of light he has brought us into the kingdom of the Sun that he loves we have been made alive with Christ we have received mercy so let God soften your heart and my heart and mold it in his hands and massage it and bring it back to a place where we are used by him and respond to that so how do we respond to this in conclusion I just want to look at four people in the passage very very briefly start with Abraham and really this is what borrowed this from last week but Abraham what's he doing about the state of society that we're talking about here he's pleading with God isn't he he's pleading for God to have mercy you know and we did that earlier this morning didn't we we prayed for this nation and we're called to pray for the nation we're called to pray for the society around us and we need to do that on our knees there are loads of prayer meetings throughout the week in this that we can be a part of or even on our own even when you're sat on the loo we can be praying and interceding for this nation because boy oh boy does it need it and if that's too big and too grandiose you can pray for God to intervene in the local school in the street where you live in your family in your place of work in your neighbors in your lives like that but we need to be like Abraham on our knees interceding God will you please show mercy in this nation because we desperately desperately need it we need a move of God to change something and shift something and change the atmosphere and change the way that this life is being lived at the moment there are people crying out and when we're praying early I'm praying that God would raise up a younger generation whose hearts will be gripped by his Holy Spirit we'll have the fire of God in there in their bowels to move them to bring about transformation in this land but their passion for Jesus would be such that they mean yes it doesn't matter what the cost is it doesn't matter what where I end up with Lord I want to follow you and I'm prepared to bring you into this nation and into this society and bring your values your integrity your holiness and your love to this place and then there's a lot what can we say about a lot of it way back in chapter 13 actually this all started them in chapter 13 of Genesis and verse 10 so Abraham and Lot they both got loads of servants loads of animals and their servants were arguing with each other and having argy-bargy and so Abraham and Lot decided they ought to separate to create a bit of space between them and Abraham generously lets Lot let's Lot make the choice of where he wants to go first and so Lot looks up and we read in verse 10 of chapter 13 Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of Jordan was well watered like the Garden of the Lord like the land of Egypt towards Zohar this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah so Lot has looked up and based on pure what reads like pure logic this looks to make sense if I go there because the land looks good looks good to my eyes this is gonna work well and he's made logic made sense but he's actually ended up in a bad place I don't know we don't read I don't know maybe he didn't pray you know clearly Abraham has got a good relationship with God going on the through the through the chapters we're reading here maybe Lot wasn't but it seems like he made a decision on pure logic on his own gifts and abilities and skills rather than perhaps listening to what God might be saying and he's and he thought he was doing the right thing he thought this would be good for him and for his herdsmen and servants and family and so he takes them off down there and he ends up in a bad place look at what has happened as a consequence his life is affected by the sinful state of those he's ended up living with messing with his head he was willing to give his daughters to men of the town he lost prospective husbands for his two girls he lost his wife he has to flee and if you bear in mind in chapter 13 the whole point of separating was because Abraham and lots families and herdsmen and all the rest of it got too big together by the time we get to the end of chapter 19 he hasn't got any of them there's just Lot and his two daughters what a tragic mistake making a decision on what seemed logical what seemed to make sense and ending up in such a disastrous place I want to say today maybe for you in your life you've made a decision at some point that seemed to make sense the signs seem to be right the logic seemed to be there and you found yourself now in a bit of a mess I want to say to you this morning today just as in our story there was mercy for Lot there is mercy for you today in Jesus to bring freedom and rescue from that place whether that's you this morning I want to encourage you to respond to him and then there's a lot of sons-in-law they didn't take it seriously they thought Lot was joking maybe as you sat here this morning maybe that's you you don't quite take this God thing seriously you don't take the idea that maybe God is going to exercise justice and judge this world one day you don't quite take it seriously that maybe God is going to exercise justice and judge you one day and the idea that you're a sinner before a holy God is not something you've really grasped and the voices around have drowned out the clear message I want to say today is the day of salvation for you this morning if you are here don't leave this building without doing business with God today is an opportunity and then there was lots wife we're not told much about her we're not really told why she looked back so this did she look back because she was hankering after something you know in leaving a life of where there was wickedness and evil was there things actually were vaguely appealing and maybe for you this morning God is challenging you about leaving a place of sin leaving something that you know is bad for you but actually you also have a sense of enjoyment and pleasure about it and God is saying it's time to leave and you're looking back thinking oh but there's a sense of loss oh but it's so good oh but but you know actually long for it I want to tell you that is a lie in the name of Jesus that is a lie there is nothing good there there was nothing good in Sodom and it's time this morning to press on and take hold of that for which Jesus has taken hold of you and I close with this the the the the violence that was exercised against Sodom and Gomorrah in this passage pales into significance compared to the violence of an incident in the New Testament where Jesus the Son of God hung on the cross and took on him every single one of those sins that was going on in Sodom every single one of those sins that were going on in Gomorrah that were going on in all the towns around that area at that time every single one of those things that has been going on ever since that time to the day he hung on a cross every single one of those sins happened ever since Jesus hung on that cross to this present day and every single one of those sins that will happen in the future Jesus took them all on him on the cross and the wrath of God was poured out on him as God exercised justice on his own beloved son that you and I could know the mercy of God in his place and the cry this morning is that we would get a hold of that and that we would get a hold of the mercy of Jesus that is there for the taking not to sit there and evaluate and pontificate and think oh I wonder if this is true or not what about other gods what about religious Jesus hung on the cross to take away the sins of this world that includes everything about your sin in the whole of your life hallelujah but more importantly he took the justice that was yours the judgment that was coming to you and me was taken by Jesus on that cross that you and I could walk free in the mercy of God and that is why we sing hallelujah to those songs this morning that is we say yes Jax the mercy of God is a fantastic thing that brings freedom it's not about just making my life better and making it good because very often we doesn't we will have trouble it is about being set free from the justice of a heavenly father who is absolutely right to judge us for the way that we live our lives and the sin entangles us but in the death of his son has brought freedom

Welcome to today's episode, and the first episode in a new series called "A Fruit-Filled Life." We are starting a journey to develop the fruit of the Spirit into our everyday lives. In this episode, we're in Galatians chapter 5 and unpacking an overview of the fruit of the Spirit. These are not just traits, but markers of our spiritual maturity and growth. This growth not only adds to us, but it strengthens the faith of others. As you listen in, remember that by developing these fruits, you'll interact with others in ways that will draw them to Jesus. Highlights of this episode: - When we live lives full of the fruit of the Spirit, people experience Jesus - Galatians chapter 5 gives an overview of the fruit of the Spirit - Developing the fruit in our lives means we are growing up spiritually - Our spiritual growth benefits the body of Christ - Let the Lord examine us and our ways - Take a moment to self-assess and turn back to the Lord in areas you deem necessary - Remember, we have divine help. Ask God to help you develop. - Partner with the Holy Spirit in prayer - Our prayer is that we develop fruit-filled lives - Let's respond to people in a way that draws them to Jesus The Live Love Lead Community's Prophetic Prayer Retreat is Aug 30th - Sept 1st. To secure your spot, head over to: https://www.aprilnicolescipio.com/retreat Connect & Share: If this message resonates with you, I'd love to hear it! Email me at aprilnicole@liveloveleadmedia.com or send me a DM on Instagram @aprilnicolescip. Join our authentic community, the "Live Love Lead Community" (formally The More Academy). We are purpose-driven women living Christ-centered lives. https://www.aprilnicolescipio.com/liveloveleadcommunity Looking for a daily guide to start your mornings right? Grab the "The More in Your Morning Journal" here: https://www.aprilnicolescipio.com/store

Woodland Campus | Pastor Jonathan shares on how the work of the cross gives us access into the presence of God, and how Jesus is giving us an invitation to draw near.

Longview Campus | Pastor Nick shares on how the work of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit allows us to live from God's strength and not our own.

église AB Lausanne ; KJV Hebrews 6 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. ...

Message from Caleb Nelson on February 18, 2024

See you in class! myinstitute.churchofjesuschrist.org

Join us for Episode 3 in our seven-week series, Encountering Jesus Personally. In this week's episode, Lisa and Laura dive into the Gospel of John, focusing on the famous I AM statement, “I am the door.” Each time we find Jesus saying, “I am,” He is giving us a glimpse into what He's like. He's revealing something about His character. Are you looking to people to know God's love for you? Do you base your worth on what others think or how many “likes” you get on our Instagram post? Where do you go to feel satisfied if not Jesus? Join Lisa and Laura as they unpack today's Scripture and apply it to our daily lives.   Open your Heart to our key Scripture.  John 10:7: I am the door.   Open your Bible to other Scriptures referenced in this episode.  John 9:2–3: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.” John 9:5: I am the light of the world. John 9:39: Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” John 10:7–10: Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  Matthew 9:12–13: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick…I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Revelation 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Ephesians 2:13–14: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. John 10:9: I am the door; if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.   Invite Him in with this episode's questions for reflection. Can you remember when you felt the door was closed in your face? Did you mistakenly think God shut the door when it was actually someone else?   Are you the one closing the door on God? What “other doors” are you trying to open in the hope that you'll satisfy your unmet needs? Is it the door of pleasure, success, relief, or joy?  What are your unmet needs? Ask the Lord to reveal these to you. Only He can bring true healing.   Show mentions. Fulton Sheen, The Life of Christ   Let's stay connected. Don't miss an episode. Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform.    Want to keep the conversation going? Join our private Facebook community.   Stay in the know. Connect with us today.    We are committed to creating content that is free and easily accessible to every woman—especially the one looking for answers but unsure of where to go. If you've enjoyed this podcast, prayerfully consider making a donation to support it and other WWP outreach programs that bring women closer to Christ.   Learn more about WWP on our website. Our Shop.  Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

#LilNasX #LilNasXISBACK #LilNasXReview #JCHRIST After the music critic divorce, and after she left him he's now on the road reviewing music. What crazy adventures will S7 find well find out on LET'S TALK ABOUT IT: MUSIX REVIEWS S7

Message from Lance Bourgeois on December 24, 2023

Message from Joe Cook on December 17, 2023

Message from Lance Bourgeois on December 10, 2023

Message from Lance Bourgeois on December 3, 2023

There is freedom in Christ when you let go and let God work in your life!

◑Faves: Wander, wonder, water, writing, Word of God, worship, watermelon! ◑ Thnkin': WASHING --Getting feet in the water gives us time to reflect on God washing over past sins & continuation of cleansing- using the opportunity to surrender to the washing of Christ- The Lord's washing looks different than when we wash ourselves- Sometimes we think we're "good" in an area, but the Lord needs to send some rushing water to come in and cleanse crevices we can't get too...- We are called to the washing of others... the lowering to serve.- We need cleansing of religiosity and judgment- Jesus won us over by going low, we are called to do the same- We WERE washed, we are CONTINUALLY being washed, we are CALLED to wash others.-Accept God's washing by forgiving self. We must embrace the new identity we were given. ◑ Devoted Discussion: WRESTLING-God actually WANTS us to wrestle with Him-Jacob's wrestling story is in Genesis 31 & 32-The wrestle forces us to take our eyes off anxiety and details and put them on GOD.- God is not engaging us in wrestling because He's reluctant to bless us- but because there is more blessing in wrestling!-We can actually gain stamina in the wrestle... -Commentary wabout Jacobs wrestle https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/will-you-wrestle-with-god- 5 aspects of the wrestle1. Active prayer.  Fervent, energetic, honest prayer! Use the Psalms as an inspiration.2. Search Scripture.  It's the foundation!3. Fasting.  Scripture says "when" you fast.  Not "if" you fast.  It's an active suffering with Christ and lowering of self.4. Listening.  Openly ask questions.  Others have testimonies about what your wrestling with!  Leaning on the church body is important.5. Repent.  Be quick to repent, repentance comes before revelation. ◑Check out the whole of season 2 at this playlist:https://bit.ly/DIDplaylist ᕱ Support women rising out of poverty & trafficking with jewelry like Christine's: https://tradesofhope.com/?u=christine... ▼Connect with Jocelyn Donate:Venmo- https://account.venmo.com/u/Jocelyn-D... YouTube: / @bucketsofberries TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bucketsofberr... IG: https://www.instagram.com/buckets.of.... ▼Connect with Christine Train In Truth WebApp: https://train-in-truth.passion.io/lea... Book Christine for an event: https://christinejaynes.com/speaking Spoken Word Playlist: https://bit.ly/CJSpokenWords IG: https://www.instagram.com/christine_j... Bible Study Book: https://bit.ly/CrownAndSword Trades Of Hope: https://tradesofhope.com/?u=christine... Donations: https://christinejaynes.com/donate

....aren't we all prone to stray and wander from God-- -That is why we have constant need of being led by God- -The Lord Jesus knew this about His disciples, and He knows -it about us, that why He taught us to pray-. -LEAD US NOT -into temptation but deliver us from evil-- deliver me from -the evil one's objective to ruin me, but also, deliver me -from the evil that lurks within my own heart, keep me from -wandering from the truth and from my faith in Christ- Let -not even the slightest sin be conceived in my heart -regarding my thoughts of God- -How can I make sure that my thoughts about God are right -thoughts-- BY BEING LED by God in His Holy Word-

Continuing our journey to understand what it means to be the Bride of Christ. We desperately want to be the wife who has made herself ready, the one Revelation references. In today's episode we look further into Revelation 19:8: “And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean & white for the linen is the righteousness of saints." Just as an earthly bride seeks the perfect gown, so should the spiritual. Just as an earthly bride is diligent and intentional, so should the spiritual... Join us in today's episode as we look to find the treasure God has placed in His word to help us make sure we are perfectly adorned... For more visit she-chooses.com Follow on Instagram @jdhartzy Follow on Facebook: She Chooses - JD Hartz

I have talked with Christians who, like me, desire to draw closer to the Lord. How, though, can we accomplish this? How can we walk closer to the Lord and honor him each day? This short series will explore these questions as we consider four ways to draw closer to the Lord. Prayer Connecting In Community Bible Study Following the example of Christ Let's consider the importance of prayer. Episode Links: Walking Closer With The Lord Notes Contact Us SimplyRevised.org Music provided by Eric Gwin

The Bible teaches of the blessing of being “in Christ.” This is a wonderful study of the phrase” in Christ” and where salvation is found. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1561/29

It is very easy to think something is Biblical, but it is not. We would all concur that much teaching from man is accepted as Biblical truth when it is not. This study takes us back to the Bible to renew our zeal for the word of Christ and its authority. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1561/29

Church of the Nazarene - East Rock What We Believe Part 4 What we believe: Resurrection, Judgement, Destiny Together we want to get a clearer picture of the nature of our faith as the Church of the Nazarene, not just to gain knowledge, but to value the freedom and joy found in living out the way of Jesus of Nazareth .I welcome you to our teaching series “What we believe” We begin today with a question: Is this all there is? Do you ever find yourself reflecting on the pain and challenges of life, or maybe scrolling, or watching the nightly news on television, asking a similar question? At the risk of being too dramatic, your answer to this question is influencing your life decisions today and your outlook on tomorrow. As we finish up our teaching series examining what we believe as Nazarenes, I think we will see that for the follower of Jesus, the answer to the question “is this all there is?” is a compassionate and hope-filled NO Church of the Nazarene Article of Faith 1616. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the bodies both of the just and of the unjust shall be raised to life and united with their spirits— “they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”16.1 We believe in future judgment in which every person shall appear before God to be judged according to his or her deeds in this life.16.2 We believe that glorious and everlasting life is assured to all who savingly believe in, and obediently follow, Jesus Christ our Lord; and that the finally impenitent shall suffer eternally in hell. The Resurrection of Jesus is the central point of the Christian Faith, we celebrate this every year at Easter. It's like Superbowl Sunday in the Church. We believe that part of the story of God is that all people will experience resurrection too. Both the just and the un-just.‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭16‬-‭23‬‬For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. We believe that those who have lived justly, lived for Christ, will be resurrected to eternal life, with a new and incorruptible body. Existentially more alive, more whole, more pure, free from the ailments and pains that we know now. Judgement- everyone's favorite topic… or maybe not…To begin, as we discuss judgement, we must not allow our human tendency towards vindictive judgement pass over onto God. The reality is, if we believe that God is going to put all things right, that there is coming a new heaven and a new earth, we NEED God's righteous and holy judgement to be true, for it to take place. We believe that the results of judgement are eternal. For those condemned- it will mean eternity separated from God's presence. And for those in Christ there awaits a great hope of eternity spent in the presence of God and all the saints. We believe there is an eternal destiny for every person, and we also believe that how we live and what we believe now will affect our live forever.‭‭ John‬ ‭5‬:‭24‬-‭29‬‬ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. For some when you hear about resurrection and judgement, you might wonder about Christ's return. We believe that Christ will return, and that his return fits into this narrative of resurrection and judgement as Christ returns. Article of Faith 15 in the Church of the Nazarene. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again; that we who are alive at His coming shall not precede them that are asleep in Christ Jesus; but that, if we are abiding in Him, we shall be caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air, so that we shall ever be with the Lord. This doctrine has picked up in intensity and diversity in recent years, but For the Church of the Nazarene, the key truth is that he will return. He will appear in the fullness of who he is and those in Christ shall be with Him forever.So, is this all there is? We don't believe so! We are called to live now as people of hope now! We are agents in this story! That's our mission! “Transformed by God to bring hope to others through Christ” Let's get busy living!

What pleases God? Take a listen as Lindsay Anderson continuous through the series, "Ephesians: Alive in Christ". This week's theme is 'Let's go for a walk.'

Today we chat with Whitney Mebane. First and foremost, she is a daughter of Christ. Her life motto is "to be the person I wish I had." Whitney's mission is to be a good steward with all that God entrusts her with from her resources, time and story. She shares her testimony and unique story of how she found Christ through struggles with sin and other difficulties in her life. She provides hope to those who may be struggling with similar issues. She also shares wisdom for other mamas of girls and how to love them well and guide them towards Christ in a culture full of lies. This episode is sponsored by Genuine Magazine! Subscribe to 4 issues: https://bit.ly/GenuineSubscription Subscriptions are important to us philosophically - We believe in investing time in the things that pour into us rather than drain us.  Which is why we create each issue to be worthy of your time - filling your spirit each time you read.  Saying yes to a subscription is one way to affirm that quality time is not just a “treat,” but rather a staple - an invitation into regular practice for the purpose of giving your mind, body, and spirit the things it needs.  We hope that these subscriptions serve you well, bringing you closer to God, your husband, children, and community! 

The birth of Christ- Let's get the details straight about the birth of Jesus. There are some things about the events surrounding Christ's birth that people believe that just are not biblical. Jesus was born in obscurity so no one would be embarrassed to come to him.

The Return of Christ: Let No One Deceive You

If that word makes you cringe... your not alone... I am right there with you. Join me as I share my spontaneous reaction to my mind being blown away by our amazing God!!! I believe this episode will bring new awareness to anyone who listens!!! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/robert-bolden/message

Highlights: Part 15 (Episode 36) Next Steps Toward a Greater DestinyThe secret to the abundant life is not our responsibility but our response to God's ability. (E.Stanley Jones)First: The Imitation of Christ - “Let's Pretend.”Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children's games are so important. They are always pretending to be grown-ups – playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits, so that the pretense of being grown-ups helps them to grow up in earnest. Now, the moment you realize, “Here I am dressing up as Christ” it is extremely likely that you will see at once some way in which, at that very moment, the pretense could be made less of a pretense and more of a reality. (Lewis) We tend to become the decisions we make. The more we choose something, we become that something. We are all in the process of solidifying our identities by the decisions we make. With each decision we make, we pick up momentum in the direction of that decision. (Boyd)Second: Spiritual Practices Prayer - primarily relational - not transactional. Prayer is not a button to be pushed, it's a relationship to be pursued.” (Nieuwhoff) Church - the Christian community. The one really adequate instrument for learning about God, is the whole Christian community, …the church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons , even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. (Lewis) The man who seeks God in isolation from his fellows is likely to find, not God, but the devil, who will bear an embarrassing resemblance to himself. (Ben Patterson)Third, God-sightings - God reveals himself through, “Nature, through our own bodies, through books and through life experiences.” When our mind “runs (from the patch of light) back up the sunbeam to the sun”…we get a “tiny theophany" - a vision of God. (Lewis, Letters to Malcolm) There is never a place in our lives where God isn't rich. There is never a time in our lives when God doesn't want to share his richness with us. And we don't have to retreat into a cave…He is always with us. What God wants from us is not a dramatic withdrawal from the lives around us, but instead a dramatic awareness of his presence within the lives around us. (Dresser)Fourth, God allows troubles. We may be content to remain what we call “ordinary people,” but he is determined to carry out a quite different plan…No possible degree of holiness or heroism which has ever been recorded of the greatest saints is beyond what he has determined to produce in every one of us in the end. The job will not be completed in this life but he means to get us as far as possible before death. That is why we must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. Because God is forcing (us) on or up to a higher level, putting (us) into situations where (we) will have to be a very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than (we) ever dreamed of being before. (Lewis) Maybe we should stop asking God to get us out of difficult circumstances and start asking him what he wants us to get out of those difficult circumstances. (Mark Batterson)God loves us just the way we are but he loves us too much to leave us the way we are.Letters from a Skeptic, Gregory BoydThis Is How We Pray, Adam DresserIn a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson 

There is something so powerful and inspirational about God... I was able to access the joy this morning.. if you need a little bit of that... listen up!! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/robert-bolden/message

Series: Colossians: Supreme!Title: “How To Exchange the Gross Life for the Good Life” part 2Scripture: Colossians 3:15-17(Commentary helps listed at the end)Last week's Bottom line: We exchange the gross life for the good life when we take off our nasty, selfish, fleshly, worldly ways and replace them with our gloriously good and Godly ways. Our motive is from a healthy understanding of who we are in Christ: “God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved.”This week's Bottom line: We exchange the gross life for the good life when we embrace God's peace and God's word as God's people…with thanksgiving.Apron (represents the good life where we love and serve others)You're wearing it alreadyIt's covering you like armorIt's a symbol of who we are and what we're to be doing (serving God by serving others)It catches some of the mess allowing you to press on in the midst of messing ministryOpening story: War in UkraineWe have another war in Europe. This time Russia attacking Ukraine. We pray for the people of Ukraine. It's hard for us to relate to what's happening there. We've never experienced an invasion on US soil like this. 9/11 and Pearl Harbor are the closest things.I suspect if this war rages on it will affect us too. If it spreads it will really impact us. How will we respond as a nation remains to be seen.But how will we respond as individuals? As the Church?I suspect we'll be tempted to respond with fear, anger, rage, slander, filthy language, etc. The gross life.I would suggest we embrace the good life instead. How?Exchange the gross life for the good life (nasty bib for humble apron) by doing the following each day:My Outline:I. Embrace the peace of God with gratitude. (3:15)“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:15‬ ‭NIV‬‬A. “Let the peace of Christ…”“Let” - if you're in Christ, you already have this gift of profound, lasting, inner peace.“Peace” - not like the world thinks of peace. More. John 14:27, Phil 4:7“of Christ” - He is the source of this profound peace through his blood. Col 1:20 “by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”B. “rule in your hearts…”C. “since as members of one body you were called to peace.”D. “And be thankful.”Embrace the peace that surpasses all understanding and that will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And do so with thanksgiving even as Paul says in Phil 4.II. Embrace the word of Christ with gratitude. (3:16)“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NIV‬‬A. “Let the message of Christ…”“Let” - again, this is already with and in you. The gospel is a message that transforms. (Illustration: Transformer movie and toy)“The message of Christ” - this is more than a particular sermon or the ABCs of the gospel. This is the comprehensive message of the good news that we're sinners apart from Christ and that our only hope of salvation is through his sacrificial death on the cross can we find mercy and forgiveness. He took our place!“dwell among you…” - dwell = live; we immerse ourselves in this message; gospel fluency is like language fluency or music fluency. When you can communicate or make music spontaneously without any helps or sheet music, you are truly free to express yourself beautifully. The main problem in the church today is that we don't do this well, if at all. We see the gospel as a fire insurance policy instead of a way to live.“richly” - as in abundantly; fully from a God who has no limits. He owns it all and can create more from nothing whenever it is needed. And he's your father!“as you teach and admonish…” what we're we do with and for each other whenever we gather. This is assumed by Paul that you're gathering regularly with each other in places where conversation can and does happen. Conversation about more than sports or the weather.“one another…” and the others with you are first brothers and sisters in Christ. But hopefully there are others not there yet all around to see the power of this unity and love in action.“with all wisdom…” - this wisdom comes from God. Our wisdom is inferior in quality (worldly vs godly) and in quantity (limited vs infinite).“through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit…” speaks to the purpose and diversity of song lyrics and styles. God is infinitely creative. We should embrace all forms and styles of music knowing that music is powerful and should be used wisely and often. It's purpose is not simply musical or for pleasure, although that is worthy enough. It is also didactic. It is for teaching and warning. It is a tool to nurture gospel fluency. Illustration: children's choirs. Psalms are likely THE Psalms of the Hebrew bible. Hymns are formal Christian songs and could include choruses. Spiritual songs could be simple Christian songs written in advance or even spontaneous and original. The point is the variety is to be embraced and to be edifying in the process. “One another” indicates this is primarily used in corporate worship because it blesses others through it's beauty and content.“singing to God…” our primary audience“with gratitude in your hearts.” Don't miss this. It's not just punctuation. Paul means to underline all of these verses with this attitude of gratitude.Embrace the peace of God and the word of Christ with gratitude. And…III. Embrace your identity in Christ with gratitude. (3:17)“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3:17‬ ‭NIV‬‬A. “Whatever you do…” is comprehensive in nature.“Whatever you do” where you live, work, learn and play covers your whole life.“whether in word or deed” is comprehensive in that it includes your words and actions.B. “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,” Do it in his name as you identify with him as his family. The son of the Father and the brother of the Lord Jesus. Either way you are royalty and have been rescued to rescue; saved to save; delivered to deliver; discipled to disciple.C. “giving thanks to God the Father through him.” More of the trinity on display here. Remember, one God who expresses himself as three beings. The underlying theme here continues to be gratitude for who God is and for what he's done in us.Do it how?“Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus (wholeheartedly), and“Giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Gratefully)ConclusionImagine if I came into your house for supper at your invitation. And imagine that you told me to make myself at home. Now imagine that after you walked into the kitchen to finish up preparations I started moving around the furniture in your den. Now you come back in and I've moved the easy chair in front of and up close to the TV. I've also moved over the nice end table right beside said easy chair so I had a place to set my drink. And I'm reclined scrolling through the channels…making myself at home.After all, I move the furniture around at my house whenever I want. (OK, and when Anita isn't home)Would you have expected that? No. You didn't really mean it! It was just an expression or idiom meaning to make myself comfortable WITHIN REASON!I wonder if we don't do this with God.God calls us to surrender our lives to him trusting him as His people no matter what's happening. To exchange lies for truth. To exchange distress, uncertainty and loss with his peace.We sing, “I surrender all” but we don't really mean it, do we? I mean I surrender all WITHIN REASON!What if God really meant for us to truly exchange our gross ways of living in our own strength and wisdom for a better way—his way. What if he was calling us to truly embrace his word, his peace, and his identity? And to be grateful and glad to do it?!My hope today is that you'll hear (maybe for the first time) how you can exchange this gross life of sin and self, stress and fear, for the good life full of truth, peace and gratitude that moves you to worship your Creator as a grateful recipient of his gracious care as his creature. Made new by the blood of Christ. Will you entertain the notion that there are profound reasons to exchange the gross life for the good life?When we remember our identity as followers of Jesus Christ, we readily embrace God's word and God's peace, and we do that with gratitude.Imagine what it would be like if everyone did this.Imagine if we all embraced the word of God that includes the commands love your neighbor as you love yourself.Imagine if we all embraced the peace of God that transcends all understanding.Imagine if we all embraced our identity in Christ that we carry his name and therefore are called to live like we are Christ-followers.Imagine if we did all of this with thanksgiving all the time.What a different world this would be.This is what God calls us to. To display his grace and truth in word and deed. No matter where we are or what we're doing. We never stop showing and telling the love of God.Bottom line: We exchange the gross life for the good life when we embrace God's peace and God's word as God's people.May we find ourselves doing this by grace through faith with thanksgiving.PrayLord's Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:17-32OtherGood summary of 3:1-10“Verses 1-10 set forth what has been described as the indicative and the imperative (standing and state) of the Christian. The indicative statements describe the believer's position in Christ: He is dead (3); he has been raised with Christ (1); he is with Christ in heaven (3); he has ‘taken off the old self' (9); and he has ‘put on the new self' (10). The imperative statements indicate what the believer is to do as a result: He is to set his heart (or mind) on things above (1-2); he is to put to death practices that belong to his earthly nature (5); and he is to rid himself of practices that characterized his unregenerate self (8). In summary, he is called upon to become in daily experience what he is positionally in Christ.” NIV Study Bible, p. 1816When we see as God sees we'll respond as we should respond. Worship is seeing God for who he is and responding in faith about who we are. This impacts what we live for and how we live.NIV Study Bible says:“Hymns” are songs that praise God for who he is.“Spiritual Songs” are songs that thank God for what he's done.“Psalms” are the OT Hebrew Scriptures that do both of these things.We should sing songs toPraise God for who he is,Thank God for what he's done,“Teach and admonish one another with all wisdom…with gratitude in your hearts to God.”In sum, the songs we teach and sing should adore and honor God for who he is, what he's done and for teaching us how to follow Christ and lead others to do the same.FF Bruce indicates these 3 categories could be:Psalms = Psalms in OTHymns = might be Christian canticles (some of which are reproduced, in whole or in part, in the NT text) ex. Phil 2:6-11Spiritual songs = might be unpremeditated words sung ‘in the Spirit,' voicing holy aspirations. FF Bruce, p 159Too rigid a distinction here does not serve us well. Rather, we should realize that music is a powerful and beautiful tool to be used to frame and facilitate the words of Christ deep and wide in us as we share it with others.OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS:———————————————————————————————————————————————————————-MAIN COMMENTARY HELP:Exalting Jesus in Colossians by Scott PacePreaching the Word: Philippians, Colossians and Philemon commentary by R. Kent HughesESV Global Study BibleBible in One Year by Nicky GumbelBible Knowledge CommentaryThe Outline Bible, WilmingtonPaul for Everyone, The Prison Letters, NT Wright's commentary on Philippians and ColossiansGospel Transformation BibleNIV Study BibleThe Bible Exposition Commentary, Warren Wiersbe

Are you following Christ? If so, you have left the domain of darkness and have the light of life living in you. Let His light shine! Don't hide the Christ who lives in you. To learn more, join me for today's Daily Word & Prayer.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://learningfromgodsword.wordpress.com/2021/03/14/saved-by-christ-let-us-serve-him/

Today's lesson, a narrative found only in Matthew's Gospel, comes during the Christmas season just weeks before Christmas Day. It reminds us of several important things about worshipping Christ: Let's find out what they are..

In this third episode of Let's Go, Pastor Jared looks back on Pastor Brian's message about our first pillar at CMC of being found in Christ. Our hope is not found in a church. Our hope is found in Jesus. When we are found in Christ, everything else springs from that. In order to saturate the world with the Good News, we have to first recognize it as Good News. Is the gospel Good News to you? Have you been found in Christ? Let's Go is a series of podcast episodes where we look back on the message from Sunday and take a look at how it applies to our life.

Thank you for joining us for another Service!ANNOUNCEMENTSIf you are NEW to FLC, text ‘Connect’ to 740-387-7778 Need prayer? Text ‘Prayer’ to 740-387-7778 so we can join with you in prayer for any need in your life. Made a decision to follow Christ? Let us know! Text 'YES" to: 740-387-7778 See what else we offer throughout the week: http://www.yourfamilylife.org/flc-online-guide.htmlIMPORTANT INFOGive Online-https://yourfamilylife.churchcenter.com/giving Attend a Service in Person - http://www.yourfamilylife.org/attend-a-service.htmlSTUDENTSCheck our online guide to see what streams and groups are offered for your student: http://www.yourfamilylife.org/flc-online-guide.htmlSupport the show (http://www.yourfamilylife.org/give-online.html)

So you think you are following Christ? Let's find out according to God's word (The Holy Bible) if you are truly following/walking as Christ walked or are you following the rudiments of men. Tune in- hear the Word of The Most High God! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/what-your-pastor-wont-tell-you/support

Ephesians 5:32 (NKJV)32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.Acts 17:11Hebrews 8:5 ffIntro:• A great mystery comparing Marriage with the Church (Body of Christ)• Let’s notice what he says about the churchI. The Church is glorious BECAUSE Christ is the HeadEphesians 1:21-22 (23)A. Christ Jesus is Savior• Luke 2:10-11• Jesus fulfills God’s Purposeo 2 Cor 5:21o Gal. 4:4-5• Savior of chief sinnerso 1 Timothy 1:15o Rom 1:16B. Saved are subject to ChristEphesians 5:24Why? Love is the reason!Bible classes (Discipleship) and Worship draw us closer to Jesus, our Lord• Jesus loved us firsto I John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us”

Thank you for joining us for another Service!ANNOUNCEMENTSIf you are NEW to FLC, text ‘Connect’ to 740-387-7778 Need prayer? Text ‘Prayer’ to 740-387-7778 so we can join with you in prayer for any need in your life. Made a decision to follow Christ? Let us know! Text 'YES" to: 740-387-7778 See what else we offer throughout the week: http://www.yourfamilylife.org/flc-online-guide.htmlIMPORTANT INFOGive Online-https://yourfamilylife.churchcenter.com/giving Attend a Service in Person - http://www.yourfamilylife.org/attend-a-service.htmlSTUDENTSCheck our online guide to see what streams and groups are offered for your student: http://www.yourfamilylife.org/flc-online-guide.htmlSupport the show (http://www.yourfamilylife.org/give-online.html)

Hey guys! This month I am fired up to share with you supernatural stories about how God shows up when we are persecuted. We are going through rough stuff so God can make us tough stuff in Him. How do we respond in persecution? Where do we go with our pain. Let's look for His hand in these trying times. He is always with you in the fire.  Have you experienced persecution for your faith in Christ? Let me know what you think. Email me at apeaceofmymindpodcast@gmail.com The link to the video I referenced is here: https://youtu.be/CkXDcdMNE-I --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/apeaceofmymind/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/apeaceofmymind/support

Have you struggled with self love?Are you struggling with your growth in Christ?Let this episode encourage you!You can purchase "Dear Young Women" here:https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Young-Woman-Theres-Triumph/dp/1081571071/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=dear+young+women&qid=1586480100&sr=8-2Always remember, You Deserve God's Best Because You Are God's Best!

Book 3- let there be light

If you find the “perfect church,” don’t join it – because you’ll ruin it! Many people today are dissatisfied with the family of God, and so they go church-shopping or church-hopping. But is there really any family that is perfect? Not at all! And it’s the same way with the Church – the family of God. Not only are we full citizens of God’s kingdom, entitled to all the rights and privileges of a citizen; but we are also members of God’s household! All the promises of God to His children belong to us. He is a good Father, and He wants what’s best for us. But He also instructs us; for He has given us His Word to teach us Who He is, and to instruct us in His ways. Yet another evidence of our being a member of the family of God, is that we have brothers and sisters! Our Father calls us to love each other. But is it always easy to love your siblings in Christ? Any family necessarily has tension, because we live life together. Being siblings requires sacrificing for one another, spending time together, and communicating with each other. How strong are our ties to our brothers and sisters in Christ? Let us consider whether we look like and act as if we were truly the household and family of God. But in verse 20, the imagery switches. We are also God’s Temple! The Church of Christ is built upon the foundation of the inspired Apostles and Prophets. And as long as the Church is built upon that foundation, we have the right place to go. However, if the Church is not being built upon the foundation of Scripture, then the leaders are wrong. We can’t just do whatever we want; all that we do must be established upon the foundational teachings of the Word of God. And the Cornerstone of this foundation is Christ! Churches that have gone astray into false doctrine have done so because they are building upon a foundation with a different Cornerstone. If we are not building upon Jesus Christ, we are wasting our time! People of the world will reject Him; but He is the Cornerstone of our faith, our life, and our Church! As we are being built up together into the Temple of the Lord, it is often a painful undergoing. The chiseling process of forming us into living stones to build the Temple of God is not always enjoyable. But as we are being built into this beautiful Temple, we are assured that we have the presence of God with us; for the Holy Spirit Himself dwells in us. We are certainly not a perfect Church; but by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit is making us more like Jesus – our Cornerstone!

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

The Cross, by J. C. Ryle I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 I want to tell you what perhaps the greatest Christian who ever lived (the Apostle Paul) thought of the cross of Christ. Believe me, the cross is of deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy; this is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man must be right on this subject, or he is lost forever. Heaven or hell, happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day – all hinges on the answer to this question: “What do you think about the cross of Christ?” Let me show you: 1. What the apostle Paul did not glory in. 2. What Paul did glory in. 3. Why all Christians should think and feel about the cross like Paul.

10.20.19 (Sabbath Evening) - Brother Kyle

Did you have trouble finding a seat at the theater to see the new Avengers movie? Let me tell you about an amazing and incredible seat you have in Heaven. Are you taking your place in that seat or are you living beneath your position in Christ? Let's talk about it on today's Morning Manna.

Did you have trouble finding a seat at the theater to see the new Avengers movie? Let me tell you about an amazing and incredible seat you have in Heaven. Are you taking your place in that seat or are you living beneath your position in Christ? Let's talk about it on today's Morning Manna.

Download Podcast Have you ever wondered what that little nugget tucked in 1 Corinthians 2:16 means...the one that says "for we have the mind of Christ"? Let’s look at  the NLT “For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” “We have the mind of Christ,” what does that mean? Isaiah 55:8 ESV For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We understand that is very true, but why is He telling us that?” 3Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;”  In the context of these Scriptures, God is saying, "Listen. Pay attention and really hear. I want to show you a better way to think and live. I want to show you my ways and my thoughts. We understand that our mind is a processing plant just like our stomach processes and digest food. Your mind processes thoughts and ideas that enter through your ears, eyes, smells, taste and emotions. Your mind assigns values and meaning to each of your thoughts. But could there be another source of your thoughts? “For we have the mind of Christ… do you think…there’s that word again…think…but do you believe that since the Spirit of God lives in you that He could actually share His thoughts with you? John 14:25, NLT I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative--that is, the Holy Spirit--he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. How does Holy Spirit teach us? Scripture That’s why I’ve been telling you for 20 days, renew your mind with God’s Word. It is powerful because it is God’s Word. The Bible is God’s Love Letter to you. It is His will and covenant and it never changes. It is the only book that you will never understand unless you know the author. He also speaks to our spirit.  Acts 8:29 NLT The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage." He didn’t find that specific instruction in the Bible, it was God’s Spirit talking to him. Holy Spirit hasn’t stop talking.  Jesus says in John 16:12-13 12“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. Let’s go back to 1 Corinthians 2. Let’s start reading at verse 6. 6Yet when I am among mature believers, I DO speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten.  7No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of Godc—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.  8But the rulers of this world have not understood it; if they had, they would not have crucified our glorious Lord.  9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 10But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. 13When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual trut 14But people who aren’t spiritualg can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. 15Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others.  16For, “Who can know the LORD’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.   If God’s Spirit is in you…He can inspire your thoughts.  Let me tell you about a man that lived the reality of listening to the “mind of Christ.”  Cotton was king in the South. It was the primary cash crop throughout the South. But cotton is a hungry thief that strips away the soil’s nutrients. Landowners, anxious to repeat their monetary success, planted their fields with King Cotton year after, but the poor soil could only grow poor crops. The final death-blow to King Cotton was a little bug, the boll weevil with an appetite for cotton blooms and cotton buds. By 1920 every area in the US was infested with boll weevils that devastated the industry and the people working in the American South. Meanwhile, God was preparing a giant of a man. George Washington Carver, a small, frail black professor with a master’s degree arrived at Tuskegee Institute in 1896 to teach agriculture to students. His motive for leaving his position at Iowa State was  “the one great ideal of my life [is] to be of the greatest good to the greatest number of ‘my people,’”  His daily habit was to get out of bed at 4:00 in the morning. Prayer for Mr. Carver was a precious visit with a dear friend. He would walk through the woods at that early hour and talk with God. “There He gives me my orders for the day”, he said. God talked with Mr. Carver as he gathered specimens to take to his laboratory. He asked God questions and God answered them. One of Mr. Carver’s favorite stories to tell was a conversation he had with God. “’Dear Mr. Creator, please tell me what the universe was made for.’ The Great Creator answered, ‘You want to know too much for that little mind of yours. Ask for something more your size.’ Then I asked, “Dear Mr. Creator tell me what man was made for.’ Again the Great Creator replied, ‘Little man, you are still asking too much. Cut down the extent of your request and improve the intent.’ So then I asked, “Please Mr. Creator will you tell me why the peanut was made?’” And God answered his question. Mr. Carver worked and God whispered secrets, ideas and uses for the peanut. But equally important, he discovered that growing peanuts enriches the soil. Not only did he teach students, but once a week he invited the local farmers. He encouraged them to plant peanuts to enrich their soil. But the only thing most of them did with peanuts was to feed them to their livestock. To think of eating a peanut was laughable. Mr. Carver began to share what he had learned. Mr. Carver discovered dozens and eventually hundreds of uses for the humble goober. He wrote a pamphlet “How to Grow the Peanut, and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption.” God used his humble servant George Washington Carver to revolutionize agriculture and the economy of the South. “I never have to grope for methods. The method is revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new… Without God to draw aside the curtain I would be helpless.”  “God is going to reveal to us things He never revealed before if we put our hands in His. No books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do and the ways of doing it are revealed to me.” “There is literally nothing that I ever asked to do, that I asked the blessed Creator to help me to do, that I have not been able to accomplish.”   “Marvel of marvels, how I wish I had you in God’s little workshop for a while, how your soul would be thrilled and lifted up.”  “How I thank God every day that I can walk and talk with Him. Just last week I was reminded of His omnipotence, majesty, and power through a little specimen of mineral sent to me for analysis, from Bakersfield, California. I thank God for Mr. Carver and for the inventions that God gave him. Meanwhile, it is crucial that we understand he simply grasped the truth found in 1 Corinthians 2:9,10 again. 9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” 10But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.  God wants to show you His deep secrets. Mr. Carver walked with God, asked questions, listened and followed through on what he heard with hard work. Maybe you’re thinking, "God doesn’t talk to me like that." There are hundreds, even thousands, of radio waves with songs, information and conversations being transmitted around you right now. In order to hear them you must have a receiver that is tuned to the right frequency. In order to hear God you need to tune in to hear Him speak. I can’t give you a number to call or a location on your radio so you can hear from God, because He speaks to your Spirit. When He speaks your mind understands it as a thought. Sometimes you’re good idea is actually a God idea. He talks to you out of relationship…just like a good friendship develops as you both share your heart with each. God talks to you. So, learn to listen. Here are some suggestions to help you hear what God is saying to you. Believe God wants to and will talk to you. Expect Him to talk to you. Listen for His voice when you read Scripture or pray. Keep a notebook handy when you pray/read to write down any thoughts that come to your mind. I’ve found that simply giving diligence to what I hear by writing it down allows me to be aware of more things that He is whispering to me. He can talk to you anywhere and at any time, so be aware. Sometimes it will be a strong feeling or it can be a gentle knowing. You don’t know how you know what you know, you just know it is true. Test those promptings wisely.  

John 14:27 John 16:33 Matthew 6:25-26 Philippians 4:6-7 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mjcpodcast/support

Rooted Series, Ephesians 1:1-14.There is so much that God has for us in His Word and how might we open ourselves up to His leading through the Apostle Paul to the Church in Ephesus? What if we gave God the power to speak through the book of Ephesians to us as the Body of Christ? Let’s try this together. Once a week, open up and read the whole book of Ephesians in one sitting. It shouldn’t take but about 20-30 minutes at the most. Begin by asking God to reveal His love to you through His Word. Then read it and see what He has to tell you.

In this second episode of a series on our identity in Christ, David addresses a number of controversial scriptures in the Bible that reveal who we really in God's sight. The Bible teaches that we are the crown jewels of God's creation, kings and rulers with Christ over creation, crowned with glory and honor, blameless and holy in His sight...and much more. Do you really know who you are in Christ? Let the truths in this episode enlighten and inspire you!

Ryan leads a 10 minute breath prayer practice. Breath prayer is an ancient Christian prayer practice dating back to at least the sixth century. Historically, it is associated with the Eastern Church. Join us as we pray to the rhythm of our breath, "Christ, let me feel your love.” Find all of Ryan's guided meditations on the InsightTimer app. www.insighttimer.com/onedesirealone. www.OneDesireChurch.org

“Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6:2‬ ‭ESV‬‬Galatians is usually thought to be Paul’s greatest argument agains the Law - also known as the Torah. But if that’s the case, what does he mean when he says “fulfill the Law of Christ?”Let’s talk about it! Twitter: @BiblePodcast365

The Attitude of Christ - Let This Mind Be in You - Pastor Samuel Moses 11.26.17 by Restoration Church

The Mind of Christ - Let This Mind Be in You - Pastor Todd Kitchen 11.19.17 by Restoration Church

The United States election results have shocked and surprised many people, but in retrospect, we realize it took a spirit of courage to win. In this episode of Identity Advantage, Daphne and Angie talk about our identification with righteousness and why courage is so important to our faith -- especially in the days, weeks, and years to come. By definition, courage describes the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty. But it is also means to have the courage of one's convictions, especially in spite of criticism. The polls are closed. The curtain is removed. What will we do now? Will we be brave and act upon our righteousness (our identity in Christ)? Let's hope so. http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/4818553

Many people struggle with getting their online business rolling because they never get around to creating their product. They think it has to be hard and take a long time. But I don't think either of those things are true. In fact, today I'll share 3 easy ways you can create products fast! Tip Of the Week How to read an extra book each month – audiobooks! I use Audible.com to read an extra book a month – some months two books! 3 reasons why this is a good idea: It makes use of what tony Robbins calls “N.E.T” time… meaning No Extra Time. It keeps your mind engaged when it would otherwise be idle. You read an extra 12 books this year! Try it and see for yourself. Spiritual Foundations To receive from the Lord, all we need is to hold the correct beliefs. How do we do this? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17 So what is the “word of Christ”? Let's get an example: And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” Mar 5:24-34 Worth noting: This woman violated Jewish law (being in public while unclean, touching the Teacher, touching a man). She had tried many times already to be healed. She had merely “heard the reports about Jesus” and she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” What did she hear about him? She drew something from Jesus that others around him did not draw! Feature Presentation: 3 Easy Ways to Create Products Fast Not every product you make can or should be your magnum opus. Here are 3 easy ways to create products fast. Teach what you know. Use audio, video, or screen capture. Report on what others know. Do audio or video interviews. Get transcripts. Make summaries and checklists. Curate the best teaching of the top experts. Read, interview, organize, synthesize. Cite sources, give credit. Sell using paypal or gumroad. Question: What's and easy product you could create in the next 7 days? How You Can Help Subscribe to the show in iTunes and give us a rating and review. Go ahead and subscribe now, and give us your star rating and review on iTunes. We will definitely mention you on this show. If you don't already get the email newsletter, sign up for that and get the new free video: “3 Keys to Change the World and Make Your Business Grow.” Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn. Get The Transcript Click here to get the transcript. Transcripts provided by SuccessTranscripts – a great solution if you need your podcast, sermon, speech, or other audio transcribed.  

Today on the Gospelstudy podcast we start our study of the humbled and exalted Christ--"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God..." (Phil 2:5-6)

I. Our Context... and Theirs As we come to this text, Hebrews 10, particularly verse 34, I believe we're coming to the reason why the author wrote the whole epistle to begin with. This one verse is why he put pen to paper. That's what I believe. Now I know you hear me make many dramatic statements like that. This is the most important, or this is the center piece etcetera. But I really believe that the author wanted to preserve something fragile in the hearts of those that he was writing to. He wanted to preserve in them a perspective of faith, which liberated them from any need to protect what they had in this world, so that they could live freely for Jesus. Unafraid. Not holding anything back, because they were so filled with a sense of the glory that was waiting for them in the future world. And that that was threatened because of the persecutions they were going through. It was threatened, and he wanted to preserve it. And so, we see in verse 34, this statement about them. "You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." Profoundly powerful themes that flow from that one verse. And the author, knowing that these people were fragile in their faith in that perspective, it was fragile, it was under assault by the devil, took up pen and paper and wrote the book of Hebrews. And so in order to understand fully how powerful this is, we need to understand our context and theirs, and then get into the exegesis. Suffering From Prosperity? So let's try to understand our context why we need to hear this verse, this passage today. The Christian Church in America, suffers from about 350 years of dominance and prosperity. That's how John Piper began his preaching on this passage, and I found it compelling. Let me say it again. The Christian Church in America suffers from about 350 years of dominance and prosperity. What do we mean by dominance? Well, from the time that the Puritans established the city on a hill in the Boston area in 1630, from that point on, Christians have been generally accepted as such in this society, in this culture, generally welcomed as Christians. Our Christian faith has helped us in this culture, generally. And so, we have done well, it has been profitable to be a Christian in America over that period of time. Beneficial to be a Christian. Dominance also in that no other religion has had anywhere near the influence that Christianity has had on American history, not even close. Not Hinduism not Buddhism, not Islam, not Animism or polytheism or atheism. It's been Christianity consistently dominating our history more than any other religion. Dominance. What do we mean by prosperity? Well, because of our Christian ethics, because of our Christian worldview, we have prospered, we have done well. We've been liberated from certain besetting sins, alcohol, drug abuse, laziness. We have redeemed the time, we have labored and we have become prosperous because of our Christian faith. And so our Christian faith gives us a sense of prosperity and an expectancy of it. And so dominance and prosperity. What do we mean by suffers, that the Christian church in America suffers from this dominance and this prosperity? Well, it has created in our hearts as 21st century American Christians, a certain expectancy of success and prosperity and comfort that is not consistent with the way that the New Testament describes a Christian life. We expect to do well, we expect to be successful, we expect to be healthy, we expect our family lives to be orderly, we expect our society to be clean and orderly, we expect these things. And that causes us to be anemic in the Christian life. It causes us to be weak in what we try, what we attempt for the glory of God. We're weakened by this expectancy. And we've suffered from it. We are not as strong as our brothers and sisters in Christ who do not enjoy that kind of a positive relationship with their surrounding culture and the government in their country, etcetera. We are not as strong spiritually as they are. We don't endeavor the same kind of courageous things for Christ that they do. And so we suffer from it. As I thought about these themes as they were being developed as I listened to what John Piper said about that, as I meditated, I thought how true it is, and how joyful it is for me to be able to stand up and proclaim on the basis of this text, the remedy whereby we can be liberated. I yearn to be liberated, don't you? To be freed from those invisible chains that hold us back from just living fully for Jesus at every moment. Don't you want to be liberated from that? And you know what it is that liberates you? It's faith. That's why we're going immediately from this right into Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, that's what it's about. Is to promote within us, this kind of bold confident assurance and other-worldly way of living, that we need so very much. As I was thinking about these things, I was thinking about this phrase that we've come to know, "The American Dream." One writer in 1931 described it this way, "Life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement." That's the American dream. Look, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but as Christians, for us as Christians, it has a dark side. And I just feel that this text, that the book of Hebrews is a warning to us, it's a warning epistle. And it's exhorting us to watch out for the dark side of the American dream. Okay. That's our context, that's why we need to hear the text today. So we can be liberated, we can be missions minded, we can be evangelistic, we can be generous with our money, and our time, and use our gifts and be happy in terrible times of affliction and suffering. That's why we need to hear. Persecuted for Being a Christian What was going on for them? What was their context? Well, as we've said many times before, these were Hebrew Christian, Jewish people, who had made a profession of faith in Christ, probably testified to it by water baptism. But now their profession of faith in Christ was under daily assault. I say that based right on the text we're looking at today, this is where I got it, Hebrews 10:32-35. This section tells me they were under assault, they were having a hard time. And as a result, some of them were tempted to drift away or turn away or even fall away, apostatize from Christ because of that pressure. And so the author gives them this book. The author gives them the book of Hebrews. And as it has unfolded before our eyes, we have seen that his strategy is to give us, I guess primarily the word superiority comes to my mind. The superiority of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant that He comes to give us, which results in a superior kind of life. And now we're kind of at that third aspect of the book of Hebrews, we've looked at the superiority of Christ or supremacy of Christ, we've looked at the supremacy or superiority of the New Covenant. And his priestly ministry within that New Covenant. And now we're getting to that aspect of the superior life that it produces, a different kind of life. You should live a kind of life that non-Christians just don't understand, that just makes no sense to them. There should be, as far as they're concerned, an insanity to the way you live. This doesn't make sense. And that just flows from the life of faith that the author is giving us here. And it's powerful. So in the context then the author has told us that Jesus Christ is superior to anything and everything you find in the Old Covenant. These Hebrew Christians were being tempted to turn back from the New Covenant to Old Covenant Judaism, temple-based Judaism. And so the author says, "No, don't do it because Jesus Christ is superior to anything and everything you find in the Old Covenant." He's superior to the prophets who spoke at many times and in various ways. He's superior to the angels who mediated the New Covenant through Moses. He's superior to Moses who's merely a servant in God's house while He is the ruling Son over God's house. He's superior to Joshua who brought them into a temporary Promised Land, but Jesus into a permanent and final Promised Land. He's superior to Levi and Aaron and that whole Levitical priesthood. And so he goes over in the book to start talking about the Levitical Priesthood which was the centerpiece of the Old Covenant. And say that Jesus' priestly ministry is superior in every way. A superior priest, He was to Levi. They were sinful men who died. Jesus is a sinless man who cannot die again, He is eternal, He will live forever as our great high priest. They offered an inferior sacrifice, the blood of bulls and goats, that's what they offered. But at the beginning of Chapter 10, we're told the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin, never could, never will. But Jesus offers for all time, one sacrifice for sins, His own blood, superior in every way. And He offers it in a superior place. They ministered in an earthly man made tabernacle, set up according to the laws of God, but still just a copy, a pattern, a shadow of their true reality. The true reality is a heavenly reality, and that's where Jesus ministers on our behalf. Superior in every way, and the New Covenant that Jesus comes to establish and it must be a New Covenant because in the Old Covenant, He couldn't have been a priest. He was from the tribe of Judah, and that Old Covenant forbade Him from being a priest, but he establishes a New Covenant and that New Covenant is superior in every way. In the words of Jeremiah the prophet, "I'll put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts," that's regeneration. "I will be their God and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his brother, or a man his neighbor saying, 'Know, the Lord,' for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest." That's the intimacy of our adoption and our intimate relationship with God. Consummated in heaven. "For I'll forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more." That's justification. Old Covenant didn't do any of those three things. It's a superior covenant. And so the author in Chapter 10 now, is reminding them of this, he's summarizing, he's going over these same things again. And then he turns a corner and gives them a series of exhortations. Since we have all these glorious things in the New Covenant. Since we have a new and living way, an access into the presence of God by the body of Jesus, by the blood shed on the cross, since our hearts have been cleansed from a guilty conscience, since our bodies are washed with pure water. He's telling us all that we have. Then He gives us a series of exhortations. "Let us draw near to God. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Let us provoke one another or stimulate one another, agitate one another to love and good deeds. And let's keep on encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day drawing near." So he gives them all of that and then he gives them the most serious, the most severe, the darkest warning in the entire Bible, warning against apostasy where God could become your enemy. It is a dreadful thing, a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And so he gives this terrifying warning. And as we've talked before, but I explain again, the warnings are for us, the elect, the believers, they're for us, we must have these warnings. We must take in these warnings, we must heed them, and we will. If you're the elect of God, you've already come to saving faith, you know what you're going to do with the warning? You're going to take it seriously. And you're not going to apostatize, it's going to have its impact on you. And if you're just playing, if you're a gospel hypocrite you'll blow off the warning and you'll go to hell. The warning is for us. The warning's for us. And so we heed it, and we take it seriously. And that brings us right to this point in the text that's their context. And I'm going to jump right to what I consider to be the centerpiece of it all. II. The Centerpiece: Joyfully Suffering for Christ Let's just go right to it and then I'll work kind of more or less backwards from it. And the centerpiece is in verse 34, "You sympathized with those in prison and you joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions." It's the point of it all. My desire is to create in you a yearning for that type of life, a yearning in your heart that you would live like that, free from earthly concerns to serve Jesus. That's what I want, just get to the heart of the matter. That's what I'm hoping that the Spirit will do through this text, right now. Standing Firm for the Faith But let's try to understand what was going on. Well, what was happening is that these Hebrew Christians, this church, this early Christian church was being persecuted harshly. Go back to verse 32. Talks about the earlier days of their walk with Christ, and he says, "You stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering." So there's persecution. They're being just directly attacked for their faith in Jesus, they're being persecuted. Now, we know that from the very beginning of the Christian faith, the beginning of the church, from the day of Pentecost on, there was immediately persecution by the Jewish authorities. The Sanhedrin, those that had put Jesus to death and immediately turn their sites on the church. And initially just kind of stunned into paralysis by the healing of the famous beggar sitting by the temple gate, didn't know what to do with that. They just let him go. But by chapter five in Acts, they are beating the apostles for their faith in Jesus, and warning them not to preach anymore in Jesus' name. So immediately the persecution starts, through Jewish authorities. Wouldn't be long after that, that the Roman authorities would take over, and there would be a contest between, in effect, Christ and Caesar for centuries. And so persecution was part of the early Christian experience. And the author talks about it. He says that, "Remember how it was for you, you stood your ground." And maybe just simply endured. You didn't fall away during that time but you stood firm in your faith, during that time of persecution. And he calls it a great contest. The Greek word is athlesis from which we get athletic. It's kind of a wrestling match or a fight. And in this great contest, that's how you endured, in the middle of all of that it was a great contest. And he talks about, in the face of suffering, this tribulation, these trials. It could be anything, it could be a physical assault a beating with rods. It could be something just as simple as public exposure to shame. He mentions that in verse 33, "You are sometimes publicly exposed to insult." That can hurt. Jesus doesn't blow it off during the Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are you," he says, "When people insult you." We shouldn't minimize that. For somebody to stand there, and filled with hate, say mean things is not nothing. And so these people were publicly exposed. They were in some way publicly shamed. You could imagine a group of people around them, mocking them, spitting at them or throwing dirt on them or something in that way. And just deriding them for their faith in Christ. Publicly. And persecution. Maybe they were even physically struck, maybe there was some kind of a beating. Maybe it had to do with more economic pressure. Maybe in the Jewish phase of the persecution, maybe the authorities came down, said, "You can't go to their businesses. You can't frequent their businesses." And maybe they lost money as a result, and they just didn't have a viable business anymore and they became poor. I think probably this is why Paul was constantly raising money for the poor among the Saints in Jerusalem. They just weren't able to make a living anymore. Because the authorities spoke against them, against their faith. Persecution. Could be beatings, it could be economic, it could be insults. "Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution. And at other times, you stood side by side with those who were so treated." So in that case, a little bit different. Somebody else is being persecuted for their faith in Christ. And you're not, yet. But you say, "That's my brother, that's my sister. I can't let them go through that alone." And you push your way through the crowd, and you stand with them. You put your arm around them. You pick them up, you wipe their face from the blood or something. You're just there, and you share their persecution with them. Courageously. Showing compassion. It took great courage and at some point, it even got to the level of imprisonment. Standing With Those in Prison In verse 34, it says, "You sympathize with those in prison." So reading between the lines, we have to imagine what was going on. Is that at some point, these Christians were so shining their light before men that people were offended and were angry about it, and it got to the level of some kind of a court trial, some kind of a formal legal accusation against them and imprisonment. Either, it was a false accusation, or Christianity itself in some way, became illegal, and it was a true accusation, but based on an unjust law, in any case, prison resulted for some of them. Christians in the first century were accused of ridiculous things. It's just amazing some of the things that were said about our brothers and sisters who lived during that time. They were called atheists. I love that one, that one's my favorite one, because they didn't believe in the gods of the Greeks and the Romans. You remember how Polycarp in his martyrdom account, he was charged by them, swear away with the atheist. So he pointed to the crowd, and he said "away with the atheists," when they are the true atheists. We believe in the true God. But we were accused of atheism, we were accused of cannibalism, because of the love feast that we would have because of the body and the blood of Jesus, that we're actually eating the body and the blood of Jesus, and so we were said to be cannibals. We were accused of rebellion against Caesar, because we would not worship Caesar as a god, but said Jesus is Lord, and so we were accused of being revolutionaries, which we weren't in one sense, seeking the overthrow of the Roman Emperor, we weren't, but we were accused of it. We were accused of incest, because we loved the brothers and sisters in Christ. All of these false accusations. Or as I said, maybe there was real legislation enacted against Christians, and they couldn't do anything but be imprisoned. But what happened was, again, as you read between the lines, it says you sympathized with those in prison. So what's going on is the church, as I envision, would be scattered throughout a city in smaller house churches cell groups, like our home fellowships. There wouldn't be one major gathering area like we have here. And so the authorities would know of one particular cell or a couple of them. And on one horrible night, they would crack down on the Christians meeting in that house or in those houses, and drag them all away and put them in prison. But not everyone, not everyone. And they knew it, they hadn't gotten everyone. Let's say you are one of the Christians who wasn't arrested, what a terrible trial of faith that would be for you, because you knew what prison was like. It's nothing like what we experience, what we know in the 21st century, where the Eighth Amendment mitigates against cruel and unusual punishment. They had nothing against cruel and unusual punishment back then. It was awful. The prisons were awful dark, nasty places, filled with human filth, stench, disease, torture. You think about Paul and Silas, and they're in stocks and they're bleeding in the center of a darkened jail. I can't imagine what it must have been like, but worst of all, over the long term, there will be no medical care and no provision for food and water. Nothing. They didn't care what happened to you. There was no promise of a speedy trial, none of that. You were just there to die, really. And if you didn't have an outside support system, to come in and bring you food and maybe clothing, some medical care and some water, you would die quickly. So now you are a Christian, and you know your brothers and sisters in another part of the city have been arrested, they were arrested tonight. What do you do, what do you do? And you know very well that the authorities are going to be noting who comes to bring them food and water. They would like nothing better than to get the whole group of them. So they just hold them out as bait. And you had enough faith, you had enough courage to sympathize with your brothers and sisters in prison and bring them what they needed to stay alive, during that time. "I was in prison and you came to visit me." You came by faith. Joyfully Suffering the Plundering of You Property And while you were there, you lost your property. While you were taking care of those in prison someone came and seized your possessions, your goods. Now again, as I imagine what would have happened, it was either done legally or illegally, didn't matter, effectively it's the same for you. Maybe it was a crazed mob that hated you as a Christian. And finally, they know that the time has come, there's a little more freedom and they just came and just plundered whatever you had and burned your house to the ground. So by the time you got back from prison, there's nothing left, you have nothing left in this world. Or maybe the government seized it, doesn't matter, but it's gone, it's gone. I was talking to my kids about it. This morning, we're driving and I say, "I break our possession to three categories: Necessities, luxuries and momentos. I think it's valid three categories, right? So my kids started asking me, "Is this a luxury is that a luxury? That was interesting, interesting conversation. Is a refrigerator a luxury? That kind of thing. You guys can work through that and put a tag on everything you own, say necessity, okay, luxury, etcetera. And momentos. So what's a memento? Is that a necessity or luxury, is neither one, it has nothing to do with the price of it, it has to do with the emotional value, it's something that was given, a gift. It might be in some sense worthless in one sense. Like art work done by a child at age three years and years ago, nobody would give you a penny for it, but it's priceless to you. And you came back that night, and it's all gone. Necessities, food, clothing, shelter, gone, You're now homeless, Luxuries, the extras that God blessed you with, those extra possessions that enhance and bless your life is gone. Your mementos are gone. It's all gone. And what does the verse say, "You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property." You joyfully accepted it. Now talking to my kids coming in this one, I said there's one of two explanations; either you're insane or you're a spiritual Christian. Either you're insane or you're a faith-filled Christian. One or the other. What is the word accepted mean, the Greek word means welcome, to some degree, welcomed it. The same word is used in another place of the second coming of Christ, welcoming Christ. How do you do that? Well, you believe in the doctrine of providence, you believe that everything comes to you by the hand of a loving father. And you trust Him. And so they accepted it, but that's not all it says. There's an adverb there that's so astonishing. "You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property." He says. Joyfully. It's a super natural emotional reaction. "Praise God. All of my stuff is gone. Praise God that I've been plundered this night, it's all gone." Joyfully accepted. Now, this kind of supernatural, bizarre by the world's perspective, joy, is I tell you of the essence of saving faith. It's at the center of saving faith. Jesus told us that, with the parable of the treasure hidden in the field, you remember that? The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in the field. When a man found it, he hid it again and then in his joy, he went and sold everything he had and bought that field. It's dangerous to think; now he's got this treasure he can go back and get all his stuff back from the pawn shop, right? Get it all back. So he's got it all now, he has his original possessions and now he's got Heaven to boot. Oh be careful, friends. God is pushing us of it sometimes you can't have it all, you have to make a choice. And He gives you a choice. And the man in the parable, joyfully turned his back on everything in the world so that he could have that treasure. That kind of joy is of the essence of genuine sanctification too. An irrational bizarre joy, it makes no sense at all to the unbeliever. But James commands us to have it in James 1. "Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And Perseverance must finish its work, so that you will be mature and complete, not lacking anything." You must have that joy in order to be fully mature, to keep growing and accept what God's doing. You've got to have the trials, the good times don't sanctify you. Not alone, they don't. But you consider it pure joy. It's the joy that characterized the apostles in Acts 5, I already mentioned when they were beaten, they rejoiced that they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus. That's the joy in this text right here. Thank God you counted me worthy of being persecuted for Jesus. Thank you Lord, I'm a real Christian, I'm a genuine Christian. It's says other worldly joy. Well, how did they do this? Well, the text tells us how they accepted joyfully the plundering or the seizing of their property. Well, it's because they knew that they had a better and lasting possessions. So the NIV, I like the ESV a little bit better. "Since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one." The difference is singular or plural. Well, the Greek really to some degree, could go either way, possession, the word goods, et cetera. It's one of those words that you're not sure of it's singular or plural. So it's not a bad translation but let's go with the ESV, let's go with the others that give us a singular possession. You knew that you had a better possession, something better than all of this stuff. And what could that be? I tell you, it's God Himself. It's Almighty God, who is the treasure hidden in the field. As CS Lewis put it, "He who has Christ, and all the world has no more than He who has Christ alone." The world is a nothing Compared to God, the world is a nothing, it's dust on the scales, all the nations are as a dust on the scales compared to Jesus. We have a better possession. And mirth and rust cannot destroy it, And thieves cannot break in and steal, because we have God. "Fear not Abraham, I am your shield and I am your very great reward." Hebrews 11:6 will tell us, "Without faith, it's impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him." He is the reward of a lifetime of seeking Him. "Alright, you've been seeking me your whole life, now you have me, at last you have me, you have what you wanted." They knew, these first century Christians knew that they had a better possession, better in every way. Psalms 73, "Whom have I in Heaven but You. And earth has nothing I desire besides You." Psalm 16, "You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy, at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." I want to commend to you, Psalm 16:11, is the partner verse to Hebrews 10:34, it's a partner verse. It tells you what the better possession is and that it's lasting. God, is the better possession, in His presence is the fullness of joy, and at His right hand are pleasures forever more. It's a lasting thing. But that's not all that God tells us about our future reward. He tells us that there's going to be a city, a new Jerusalem that's going to be glorious, and radiantly bright with the glory of Jesus, and you will want to be there, to put it mildly. You will want to see that beauty as it descends like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. You want to be there, you want to walk along those streets of transparent gold, whatever that means. How could we even put into words what we will see? And these people, these first century Christians knew that they had a better city to go to, and that they had an inheritance that could never perish, spoil or fade, they knew that they had this. And Hebrews 13:14, it says that here, we do not have an enduring city, but we're looking for the city that is to come later. We're looking ahead as aliens and strangers in this world. And I think just look ahead in Hebrews, Hebrews 11:13-16, sums up what they knew, and how they were looking ahead. Just look at that passage, it says, "All these people were still living by faith when they died, they did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, and they admitted that they were aliens and strangers in this world." People who say such things, show that they're not thinking of the city that they had left. If they had been thinking of the country that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return, instead they were longing for a better country. A heavenly one. And because of that God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them." There's nothing wrong, I say everything right, in looking forward to the city too. Because to me, the thing that makes the city so beautiful is the glory of God, and the possessions then become one and the same. Our stuff, our crowns, our inheritance, our chunk of the promise land, whatever. It's ours, it's our possession and we'll never lose it, we will enjoy it forever. We talked about that this morning too. How is it a lasting possession, you know what it is? It means when you've had that possession for a thousand eons, it brings you as much joy after that as it did the first moment you had it. Nothing on earth is like that, nothing. Just talk to the kids at 5:00 o'clock on Christmas Day. The joy has already diminished. There is nothing on earth that has a lasting joy, but in Heaven, everything has a lasting joy, it never diminishes only increases. And because they knew that they had for themselves a better possession, and a lasting one. They joyfully accepted the confiscation, the plundering of their property. III. God’s Counsel to Them Who Were Actively Persecuted And so what counsel does God give based on this? Well, to them who are being actively persecuted, He begins by charging them to remember how it was for them early on. "But remember the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings." And I just want to stop and just say, if you're drifting from Jesus, That's the remedy. Remember what it was like for you? Go back in your mind, remember, think again how it was. That's what the author does here. "Remember those earlier days." That's what happened to Peter, remember Peter denies the Lord three times, remember, worst night of his life. Oh, is he drifting, and he's drifting quickly. And suddenly the rooster crows, remember? And then the text literally says, "Then Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken, and he went outside and wept bitterly." It's just the remembering, you remember what it was like? It's what Jesus gives to the church at Ephesus, who had forsaken their first love. He says, "Remember the height from which you have fallen, repent and do the things you did at first." Remember your earlier affection, is what He gives to the Jews through Jeremiah, the prophet. He said, "I remember that the beginning of your life with me as my bride, how as a bride you followed me through the desert to a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord…" We can hear the misery the grief in God's voice. He said, "You are my wife and you love me back then. I remember the devotion of your youth." So remembering. And so for them they were to remember, they were to remember their enlightenment. Remember the earlier days after your enlightenment, the word literally means that a spiritual light has come into their hearts. A light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, and the eyes of their heart were enlightened, they were opened. As Joshua shared earlier in Ephesians 1, the eyes of their heart were enlightened. The word is photidzo, from which we have photo and photography, if there's this light that came in them spiritually. But it's also used for how they then would let their light shine before men, and others would see their good deeds and praise God. And people were getting converted, the shining light in their lives, remember their enlightenment. And remember, you're suffering. Remember what you went through the things we discussed. And remember your courageous loyalty remember how you Joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property. Remember those days, remember your faith-filled knowledge, the fact that you have a better possession, and an abiding one. Remember how you just loved that and it brought you joy that night and during that time. Remember. And he gives them then, in verse 35, "Do not throw away your confidence" your faith. Don't throw away that bold assurance. "It will be richly rewarded." We'll talk more about that verse next week, but that's what he tells them. That's his advice to them who are being actively persecuted. IV. God’s Counsel to Us Who Are Not Actively Persecuted But I think a responsible preaching from this text must ask this question in America, 21st century America; What does this text say to us who are not actively persecuted like they were? Does it say anything to me? If I don't have memories that I can go back to of when I was publicly shamed and beaten and dragged off into prison and put in stalks, and somebody had to feed me from the outside, I never went through that. What is our context here? What are we going through here? We have to be honest about that and say, that's really not been our experience. So I would say, first of all, if I can urge you, just assess yourself by this passage. Just take your soul and line it up to this text. I don't want to start by just urging you to be a Christian, because this text holds up no good promise to you if you are not a believer. You don't have a better and abiding possession if you are not a Christian. There is nothing for you, but as it says in the text we just studied, a fearful expectation of judgement of raging fire. So I urge you to flee the wrath to come, and through faith in the Gospel. By faith in Jesus, receive the kingdom. Receive an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. Receive heaven as a free gift. Turn away from your sins, turn away from your wickedness and your rebellion. Turn away from your practical atheism and not thinking about God. Turn away from these things and flee to the cross of Jesus. He was hung on the cross, once for all, His blood shed for sinners like you and me. All you need to do is trust in Him and you will have a better possession, and an eternal one. So start there. But if you know that you are a believer, you know you are a Christian, I want to ask you some serious questions. Have you been polluted or corrupted in some way by the American dream, by the dark side of the American dream? Have you been polluted by an expectation that things will go well for you in this life, materially, health-wise, in terms of your reputation with co-workers, and all that? Have you been polluted by expecting that in this world? We're like on a white-water expedition here sometimes, friends. And there are all these strong currents that are pulling us away from Christ, away from a genuine faith. And Jesus told us that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions, but it seems like all of American culture is designed to try to refute Jesus' statement. "Oh yes, it does. Yes it does, a man's life most definitely consists in the abundance of his possessions and his pleasures and his trips and his experiences and his power and his success, that is life." Do you not see that? Do you see that in the ads that you see when you are watching something on TV, it's like it's telling you that. That is your life, this is life. Jesus says, "No, it's not." But I'm just asking; Has that thought nod on your soul? Peter talks about things that wage war against your soul. Have you been, in some way, corrupted by that? The symptoms of it have to do with how much you are risking for Jesus now. Or another way to look at it is; How much of your life would make no sense to a non-Christian? If you believe that a man's life does consist in the abundance of his possessions, it will be impossible for you joyfully to accept the plundering of them. You can't accept it, you are actually going to fight it, aren't you? You are going to fight getting plundered, because that's your life, it's your livelihood, so to speak. You are going to fight and have those things protected. You are going to protect, you are going to have a life of self-protection. And so therefore you are going to value your reputation and your viability at work too much to share the Gospel with a co-worker. You are going to seek to protect your position there and you are not going to share with your boss. You are not. You are going to value your fun and pleasure at a family reunion picnic, too much to share the Gospel with a lost relative, a lost father or mother, or uncle or cousin. "Hey, we were having a good time here, why spoil it?" You are going to seek to protect that fun feeling you are having. You are going to value your weekend hobby, whatever it is, your golf, your hunting, your antique shopping, or whatever it is that you would get excited about, too much to get involved in a church outreach on a Saturday. You are going to value your health too much to risk it on a mission trip to Haiti. You might get sick. I would say, based on my experience, not might, you will get sick. Every time I go to Haiti, I get sick, it's every time. And I know that, and it hinders me to some degree. I have to say like, "Do I want to do that again?" You will value your retirement portfolio and your future comfort in your retirement years too much to give sacrificially to missions and to other Christian things that God lays in your heart. You're going to protect these things. You are going to value your time too much to get involved in urban outreach or during rescue mission or job for life, or any of those things. International student ministry, you are just going to value and protect those things. I tell you the whole point of the book of Hebrews, is to liberate you from that. Free you up. To loosen the chains that Satan's put around all these resource and get them flowing, so that by faith you can joyfully accept the things that will flow from you when you live sacrificially for God. Do you know, by faith, that you have a better possession and a lasting one, do you? Do you have a lively sense of that? Do you have a vigorous sense of that, today? And are you living for that Heavenly possession? Is it just giving you joy every day, is it giving you energy, you are just looking forward to it? Do you read Revelation 21 and 22 a lot? If not, do it? Read about what the new Jerusalem is going to be like. Read about the beauty and the glory of the place. Read about how marvelous it is that the gates are always going to stand open. And that the wealth of the nations are going to flood in through the gates. Read about the imposing size of that city, and the beauty of it, the majesty and the foundations of the walls. And the fact that there is a throne in the center of it all, and the river of the water of life is flowing clear as crystal right down the center. And the tree of life is there, and the leaves of the tree are there for the healing of the nations, and there's nothing harmful there, there's only beauty and health, and there's no more death and mourning and crying in pain. Do you thrive thinking about your future inheritance? Are you living for it? And will you feel, turn it around, will you feel gypped if you die young or if a loved one dies young? Will you feel that you got ripped off? You know what that shows? It shows that you had a sense that there was something that really did belong to you and it was taken from you. This text says, "No, your possessions are on the other side, none of it's here." And so if it's a loved one that dies early, or if it's you and you know you are dying, do not feel ripped off and don't act like you feel ripped off. Please, for the glory of Christ, act like you are coming into your inheritance at last. And give those nurses and doctors something to think about if they don't know Jesus yet. Or another way to look at it is, would you feel jilted due to some of these things? We just had a wedding. Imagine, if at a wedding, if the bride or the groom didn't show up and how the other would feel jilted by it, and everyone that was there in their beautiful clothes, jilted. Look, we're not owed these things in this life, and we're not going to get ripped off or jilted if we don't get them if they get taken from us. It's God's will. To God be the glory, let's live even more for Jesus, more than ever before. And so, I would say, as you assess yourself. Is your heart still as strong after Jesus as it was when you were first excited about being a Christian? Is it still passionate for Him? You are still living for that, you still love your quiet time, you just love praying, you love worship, you love being with the people of God. And if not, if you don't come up well with these diagnostic questions, then I just urge you to repent. I urge you to repent based on this text. I'm call on you to repent. I'm calling on myself to repent, to bring my life and conformity with the spirit of Hebrews 10:34, and to live a free life, and to start risking things for Jesus. And pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in the first category, they are actively going through this right now. And they can read Hebrews 10 and know immediately what they're talking about. Just get to know the suffering persecuted church by the internet, that's the quickest way. Go to websites like Persecution Project and some of these others and find out. And you will find pastors, I was reading about a pastor, Pastor Josef, who is in Iran and has the death penalty on his head. As far as I know, he's still not been executed. And they are charging him with apostasy from Islam. He says, "It's impossible, I was never a Muslim. And now I am a Christian, and this is an unjust charge against me." "Yes," they say, "but your parents were Muslim, therefore you can apostatize because you should have been a Muslim." That's the charge, that's how it's working there in Iran. But we have so many dear brothers and sisters in Christ in Iran and other places that are suffering imprisonment, persecution, even death, for Christ. Pray for them. Get to know what's going on in their lives, find out from those websites what you can do as an American Christian. And feed your faith, feed your faith. Two verses in mind. I consider Romans 8:18, that "our present sufferings aren't even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Do you believe that? Feed on that, meditate on that. Or how about this one, 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." Light and momentary. Well read his resume of suffering at Chapter 12 of that book and you'll know what he considered light and momentary, beaten, flogged, ship-wrecked, stoned to death, so they thought. Light and momentary. Get to the point where those verses are what you really believe. And if you can't be arrested for your faith, if you can't get beaten or insulted or whatever, then could you please suffer well those trials that are common to all people. Suffer those as practice trials for ones that make them later. So if you are sick, if your spouse is sick or hurt, if you are having economic reversals, if there are certain adverse providences, that are coming in your life, count it pure joy whenever you face any of those things, and you are practicing them for the harder test later. And if I could just simply urge you to just get busy evangelizing, you'll know what persecution is, at least the 21st century American version. Just start sharing the gospel on those settings. Share the Gospel at the workplace, share the gospel with your neighbors, share the gospel with your relatives, lost relatives. Just get going, and then you'll find out when Jesus said, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven." Let's evangelize. Let's get the word out. What was the last time you opened your mouth and said something difficult? I was one for two this week, alright? The guy who cut my hair, there was just something about that situation that was hard for me to speak, and I felt ashamed but I did not share the Gospel, I didn't. I hope I might get another chance with him. But I just was timid, I kept talking to him, but his answers were brief and short and nothing was going, and I just couldn't get going, and then my hair cut was done. I need longer hair, I guess, or something, I don't know what. Longer hair for evangelism, for the sake of the gospel, that is not going to happen dear friends. But then a guy came to fix something at our house and I had a good chance to share with him, and he said he'd like to come visit our church. He lives in Apex. And I don't know that he'd come, I hope he does, but we had a good time to talk. I want to be more faithful than that. I want to have more than those two opportunities. I want 20, 50 of them. I want to be a river of evangelism, and I want you guys to evangelize. Open your mouth and share the gospel and then persecution will come. It's not because you want persecution to come, but just because you want to see people saved because you love them. One final word and I'm done. Just because we are not presently being persecuted in America, it doesn't mean it's going to continue that way. I don't know what the future holds, but it doesn't look bright for our relationship with the surrounding culture and with the government. Do you know what I'm talking about? Our president, President Obama, said, "This is not a Christian nation." He said that. Remember that? Interesting statement. I agree with the words but not the heart behind it. I think, I don't know his heart, but I know what I would mean by saying that, I mean, differently. I know that our citizenship's in heaven. I've known that all along, and I'm not expecting 100% of any political nation to be Christians, it's just not ever happened, so I don't expect that. But I think he means it a little differently, and there are ominous overtones, not so much his intentions, but just where we're heading on that. And I don't know that it's the case that within our lifetime, within a generation or two, that there will not be government-sponsored persecution of Christianity in the United States of America. I don't know that that won't happen. And the best thing we can do is imbibe Hebrews 10 and other passages and get ready for it, and get our children ready for it and our disciples ready for it, because I think it's coming. It's the norm around the world and across church history. Let's close in prayer.

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"Grateful Praise" New from Eclipse Known for their 6-part harmonies and entertaining live shows, a cappella group Eclipse releases its first CD of hymns and praise songs. Group members Dan Kartchner and Shayne Taylor take us on an audio tour of their choices, ranging from new twists on the traditional, like "All Creatures of Our God and King," to choral versions of newer LDS songs like "Mercy's Arms," and their Pearl Award-winning version of "Be Still My Soul." That's this week on The Cricket and Seagull... Playlist All Creatures of Our God and King • His Eye Is On the Sparrow • For the Beauty of the Earth • Mercy's Arms • God is Love • Evening Prayer • Open Thou Mine Eyes • Go With Me • Be Still, My Soul • I Believe in Christ • Let the Words Bringing music and interviews to Latter-day Saints and their friends worldwide, The Cricket and Seagull features the unique voices of authors, artists, musicians, scholars, and fellow Saints. Pull up a chair and join us for The Cricket & Seagull Fireside Chat! To get the free subscription URL for your Podcatcher, click the icon: For free "One-click" instant subscription through iTunes, click the icon:

How can we take advantage of power contained within a moment? How can we make 2008 a year to grow closer to Christ? Let's learn from the Master. Scriptures and Keywords:  Mark 3:1-6, Habakkuk 1:5, Jesus, Moment, Opportunity, Miracle, Healing, New Year, Challenge To leave or view comments about this post please click on "Comments" to your right:

Introduction: We Need to Persevere We're looking this morning at one verse in particular. I felt convicted by the Lord to change my sermon this week, I'm going to be preaching the sermon that I had planned to preach after Friend Day, God willing. But this week, I felt that I wanted to concentrate on Verse 22. It's printed on the cover of your bulletin, and you can look at it there or in the text in your copy of Scripture, and Ralph just read it for us. But it says in the New International Version, "All men will hate you because of Me. But he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Now, one of my favorite stories, is a story of some freed slaves that became a fighting unit during the Civil War, and they were being trained and prepared as soldiers, but not many in the army really thought that they would ever fight. Didn't really think that they would ever see battle. And so there was a nonchalance to their preparation. Yes, they got uniforms, yes they received rifles and ammunition. They received all the accoutrements that soldiers would receive, but there was really never a sense that they would actually be going into battle. And after they received their rifles, they were on the firing line and they were preparing and shooting those weapons, and it turned out that one of them had more skill than any of the others, and soon they gathered around to watch this one fire his weapon, and time and time again he hit the target. The colonel who was in charge of the unit had a different attitude than anyone else in the army, he was going to prepare these men for battle. And he'd already been through a number of battles, and had seen what it was all about. And when he came to the firing line, and saw the attitude with which these soldiers were carrying themselves, and specifically, the sergeant who should have been training them, he was appalled. This very gentleman came up to the soldier who was hitting the target time and time again, said, "You're a pretty good shot, aren't you? He said, "Yes sir, I am." And he said, "I want you to reload your weapon please." And back in those days, it was quite a procedure to load that weapon, took a while. But a good soldier could get off three shots in one minute. These men were not yet good soldiers. And so this man started loading his weapon, and this mild mannered colonel got near him and said, "Faster." And so he got a little nervous because the tone of voice was so serious, and so he started to pick up the pace a little bit to tamp the thing down and get it ready, and he said, "Faster." And now he's really startled because this man had never spoken harshly before. And then he said, "Faster." And at this point he started to shake, and the colonel took out his side arm and fired it right near his ear yelling "Faster." And at that point, the man dropped his weapon and was totally paralyzed. And he said, "What do you think you're going to face and find in the battle field? What do you think is going to be like?" And then he turned to the drill instructor and said, "Prepare them properly sergeant." And he walked off. Now, I feel that I need to prepare us for what we are actually going to face according to Scripture. We've been in kind of a Disney World's experience here as Christians in America. We've not really experienced the suffering and persecution, and opposition that many of our brothers and sisters in Christ face around the world. And so when it comes, we're going to be very much like that soldier who can hit the target when there's no stress, and no suffering, and no struggle of battle, but when the real test comes, will drop the weapon and be paralyzed not ready to perform. What would it be like for each one of us if the government here were similar to the government, let's say in China where you could not meet, except that you were afraid you'd be arrested and lose everything for simply worshipping, would you still come? Would you still come to church? Would you be willing to risk it all for Jesus Christ? And what if the choice were, your life or your faith? What then? What would you decide? If you could save your life by denying Christ, would you do it? Or would you persevere and stand firm to the end? And what does Jesus say concerning this matter? He says, "All men will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." It's an interesting verse when you think about it. In one sense it's a promise, in another sense a warning, isn't it? In one sense it's a dual promise with two edges to it. There's a promise that you'll be hated. Okay, that is a promise, you can see it. Look at the text, Verse 22, "All men will hate you because of Me." "Because of My name, because of your association with Me, you will be hated, you'll be rejected." Who is He speaking to? Well, let's remember the context. It's Matthew Chapter 10, He's getting His apostles ready to go out from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth to preach the Gospel to people. What kind of reception will they receive? Will they be welcomed? Will there be parades and celebrations? No, not at all. There'll be persecution, there'll be opposition, and difficulty. Jesus is getting them ready by telling the truth. And he says, he gives them a promise, and says, "You will be hated by all on account of Me." Now, this doesn't mean every single solitary human being will hate the messengers of the Gospel, or else there would be no Christians. It's not that, it's just that you should expect opposition from any one of a number of sources. It could come from the lowest to the highest in society. Don't be shocked when it's your own mother or your own father. Don't be shocked when it's your best friend that you grew up with. Don't be shocked if it's a king, and don't be shocked if it's a servant or slave. "Don't be shocked because you'll be hated by all on account of Me." So that's the promise, that's the one side of the promise. But then He makes another promise, doesn't He? Look at the second half, "But he who stands firm to the end will be saved." That is a promise. Saved from what? Well, certainly, not saved from physical death, because He already said that they would be betrayed to death. So it's not going to be salvation from physical death, what then? Will save from hell, save from condemnation, save from damnation on that great final Judgment Day. So this is a wonderful promise, because anyone who can speak to me a word of promise that I will not have to go to hell, I want to listen to that. How much more if it's the Judge of all the earth, Jesus Himself, who sits on the throne and will judge every single solitary human being, including all of you who listen to me today, and the preacher too. All of us will stand before Him because He is the Judge of all the earth. And if He tells me that there is a way of salvation, I want to know what that way is. But apparently, the way is not what we thought it was, okay, we thought it was one thing, but it actually ends up being very different. Jesus said, "You know the way to the place where I'm going." Does that not imply a journey? Does that not imply a traveling? Does that not imply that we're going to be moving from point A to point B, we're going to be journeying, we're going to be traveling? Well, what is that way like? It's a way of suffering, a way of distress, a way of persecution and opposition, a way of trial and testing. That is God's way of salvation, and there is no other. But if you persevere in that, if you stand firm in that way to the end, you will be saved. You'll have eternal life, you need not fear for your sins, but you will most certainly be saved. So you can see it's a promise, it's a promise of persecution and opposition, but it's also a promise of life for those who stand firm. In what sense is it a warning? Well, do you not see the implicit warning? What if you don't stand firm to the end? What then? Well then, the clear indication is you will not be saved. And so this is a very serious text, and it bears our attention doesn't it? The Heroic Account of John Hooper During the time of the English Reformation, the reformation went back and forth. For a while it would advance, for a while it would retreat. It depended on who was sitting on the throne. At one point, Queen Mary took the throne, she was known as Bloody Mary, and martyred almost 300 English reformers. One of them was John Hooper. John Hooper was Bishop of Gloucester, and he was burned at the stake, February 9, 1555. All he had done was preach the Word of God. So the question comes to me, would you preach if you knew that you were going to get arrested and burned at the stake? Would you be faithful to the Scriptures? That's a serious question. Well, John Hooper was faithful to the Scriptures. He was arrested, and the night before he died, a friend came to see him, Sir Anthony Kingston. This is a man that he had led to Christ. He had led a dissolute, sexually immoral life, and John Hooper told him the truth, and said, "You're on your way to hell, and you must repent, and you must trust." Well, at first, this man was very offended, but you realize the kind of courage it would take to tell the truth to somebody who have been knighted by the king. And so he told him the truth, "Sir Anthony Kingston, you're on your way to hell." And he repented and trusted Christ. Well now, the night before Hooper was going to die, Kingston visits him, and pleads with him to save his own life. He said, "Please, think of all the good things you could do. Think of all the other souls there are that you could save just by reaching out with the Gospel. If you could just somehow find a way to get past this, think of all the good service that would come." But there was no way, the Queen had ensured that there was no way. The only way he could save his life was by renouncing his doctrine which to him was tantamount to renouncing Christ Himself. He could not stand up and say the things he had taught plainly from Scripture were heresy, and so he had no choice. And this is what Sir Anthony said to him, he said, "Life is sweet and death is bitter." To which Hooper replied, "Yes, it is true, life is sweet and death is bitter, but eternal life is sweeter and eternal death more bitter." Now, was he wrong to say that what was standing before him was the fate of his own soul? Was he wrong to see it that way? I don't think so, because Jesus said, "He who stands firm to the end will be saved." And so it was the next day, when they brought Hooper to the stake. First of all, he said to all the sheriffs, he said, "I notice all the weapons you brought." He spent the whole night in prayer, he was ready. He said, "You didn't need to come with all the weapons, I would have walked gladly at this point, this was the way of God for me." And when they said, "We'll bind you to the stake." He said, "It's not necessary," but they bound him anyway. And then at that moment, they brought him a box, and inside the box was, they told him, I don't know if it was really there, but they told him, inside the box was a signed pardon from Queen Mary herself if he would simply renounce his teachings. But sometimes it's trickery, you renounce and then you get burned anyway. But this is what his response was, he said, "If you love my soul, take it away. If you love my soul take that box away." Now, why so serious? Could he not somehow just find a way to compromise and still retain his hold on Christ? Answer, no. And if you think what I'm saying isn't true, read it into the Book of Revelation. There will come a day when you'll be offered perhaps, if you're alive at that time, the mark of the beast, will you take it or not? It says that anyone who receives the mark of the beast burns forever in hell. And so basically it's the cost of martyrdom for salvation at that point. Now, there's all kinds of theological implication, will the rapture come? I'm not getting into that, I'm just saying, at that moment, the mark of the base will be presented, and in order to buy or sell, take part in society, you have to decide what you will do. Are you ready, are you prepared? There's a long and glorious history of martyrs in the church. And the thing that's so sweet, is if you're a Christian, these are your brothers and sisters. It's like you're in a noble, royal family of people who have stood firm for Christ. And if you're a genuine child of God this morning, you will too. Not one of them thought they could do it. You learned in Galatians this morning, many of you anyway, in our Sunday School, that if you are a child of God, you will have a supernatural birth, just like Isaac was born supernaturally. If you have that supernatural birth, you will survive anything that comes your way, you have received eternal life. Absolutely, you will survive. But those tests will come, and just as there is a long and glorious history of martyrs for Christ, there's a long and inglorious history of apostates too. People who walked with Christ for a while, people who claimed to be Christians for a while, but they didn't stick with it, did they? You may even know some, wouldn't call them apostates, but that's what they are, they fell away, they stand away from Christ now. They do not claim to be Christians though they once made that claim. What happened? What is the issue there? And so, we're facing the catastrophe of falling away from Christ, we want to deal with that and try to understand it. We want to see the crisis in the text that brings it on, and that is earthly abuse and persecution. And we want to see the cure, and what is the cure? A living, daily faith. Walking with Jesus today, because today is all we ever have. If today you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts, Follow today. And so that's the sermon. The Catastrophe: Falling Away from Christ Let's look first at the catastrophe of falling away from Christ. What is this issue of a temporary Christian? Is there such a thing as a temporary Christian? Well, the Puritan start so. They called such a person, a Gospel hypocrite. A Gospel hypocrite is somebody who hears the word, responds to it in some way, make some outward profession of faith, but there's no genuine transformation, they've never really come to a saving faith in Christ. J.I. Packer said this about gospel hypocrites, "They are persons who have been told that they are Christians eternally secure, because they believe that Christ died for them, when their hearts are actually unchanged and they have no personal commitment to Christ at all." Now, the typical issue here is that there are earthly benefits for being a Christian. There are certain earthly things that come to you as a result of being a Christian. Such as what? Well, in earlier times, there was a king who offered a silver piece and a white robe to anybody who would convert. What a revival that day? Thousands coming to Christ. Well, I don't know, maybe some of them genuinely heard and believed the message that was preached if in fact the Gospel was preached that day. But if anyone tries to change the Gospel, Paul said in Galatians 1, may he be eternally condemned. So I don't know if the true Gospel was actually preached that day, but if it was, there's fruits. But I wonder about those "silver piece-linen Christians". In early New England, if you weren't a member of the church, you couldn't vote in civic elections, you were not in effect, a member of the society. So you had to be a church member to be a full member of that community. Were there earthly benefits of that? Absolutely, there were benefits. Or in the Bible belt, maybe in the 1950s, perhaps if you weren't at First Baptist Church in whatever town, you weren't socially connected well, you see. You couldn't get those advantages. Anybody goes to that church. And so, there are earthly advantages and benefits that come from being in that particular church. Well, what when those things are stripped away? What when you lose the linen robe and the silver coin is taken away? What if your very life is threatened if you hold on to Christ, what then? There are other earthly benefits, sense of peace of mind, joy of fellowship, a full social calendar, in some cases, freedom from certain besetting sins, not from sin itself mind you, but certain besetting sins like alcoholism and other things, there's a certain amount of freedom that comes from that. Purpose in life, sense of the future, hope for the future, and all of these things. But when those benefits are stripped away, the joy in the Christian life is gone, and then the faith is severely tested to see if it's genuine or not. Now, are there examples of these types of people from Scripture? Yes, there are. Jesus in Matthew 10 is speaking to the 12 apostles. 12 men heard him. 12 of them selected out to go and preach the Gospel. Did they go preach the Gospel? Most certainly, they did, they went and preached the kingdom, all 12 of them did. They saw great things happen, they saw demons being driven out. One of them was Judas Iscariot. Judas is a prime example of somebody who can fool anybody and everybody, but when the time comes, it's over. Judas, he's a very interesting guy. Jesus gave him charge of the money bag, remember? And so he's in charge of the money. And John gives us an insight into that whole process, he was secretly helping himself to it all along. Isn't that fascinating? You would say, then why in the world did Jesus give him charge of the money bag? Don't think it was because he was trying to urge him up to a higher standard, not at all, He knew very well that He had chosen the 12, and one of them was a devil. He had to do something to keep Judas interested. He had to do something to keep him tracking with the others, because the spiritual realities were not sufficient. And so he had the money bag. But I'll tell you what, when Mary broke a year's worth of wages and perfume on Jesus' feet, and Jesus defended her, that's it. In the accounts, in all the accounts that's when he went and sold Jesus, because the game's up. If we're going to be pouring money out in the ground like that, I don't want any part of it. So he sold Jesus for 30-piece of silver, Judas Iscariot. What about Demas? 2 Timothy 4:10, it says, "Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica." What was in Thessalonica that was worth Demas' soul, I wonder that. The scripture doesn't tell us, but there must have been something very attractive in Thessalonica. Pre-deserted Paul having loved this world. And then in John 6, clearest example perhaps, of a mass defection, huge groups of people followed Jesus everywhere He went, what a show it was, it was better than PT Barnum, everywhere He went, He would do miracles, and things would happen, it would be exciting, and huge crowds there were all the time. Plus, there was physical benefits of healings, all kinds of things. And so there was a huge entourage. Jesus dealt with that one day, in John 6, it was the day after he fed the 5000. He said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." That's the Gospel. Well, then He gets into the doctrine of the Gospel. He speaks very seriously, He said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." This is the Gospel. Well, they didn't understand this, "I am the bread of life." What do you mean you're the bread of life? He said, I'll make it even clearer for you. Jesus said that unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Shocking words, winnowing words folks. Many people, many of his disciples, look at John 6:66 some time, not right now, but from this time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. No longer followed Him. He turned to the 12, he said, "You don't want to leave too do you?" And Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Jesus responds, "Have I not chosen you, the 12, and one of you is the devil." And so, there are examples from Scripture of this. You also know examples from your own life, don't you? Sadly of people that seem to be doing so very well in their Christian lives and now where are they? They're not doing well. There are also warning passages, look at Matthew 13, just turn over a page or two to Matthew 13, in the Parable of the Sower. Jesus talks about a man who goes out to sow seed and as he's sowing the seed, some falls on the path, and the birds come and eat it up and some falls on the rocky soil, springs up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun comes up, the plants are scorched, because they have no root, they wither and die, and then some seed falls among the thorns, which grow up and choke the plants and some seed falls on good soil where it produces a crop, a 160 30 times what was sown. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Well, the disciples didn't know what it meant, and so they went to Jesus and talked to him about the parable. Now, look what He says specifically about the seed sown on rocky soil. Look at Matthew 13:20, "The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places, of the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy, but since he has no root he last only a short time, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word he quickly falls away." Now, if you tell me that there's no possibility of falling away, then what is he is talking about here, what is this? What Are They Falling Away From? What I'm asking deeper is, "From what are they, falling?" That's what I'm asking. What are they falling away from? Are they falling away from that sovereign electing love of God that holds his own to the end? No, absolutely not, it's impossible. Then what are they falling away from? Their profession? Their outward statements of Christianity, they're falling away from it. Look at verse 20 again, it says they listen to the word and at once receive it… What? With joy. Do you realize how far that joy, that joy, will carry a person? A long way. A long way in the pseudo-Christian life. We're going to talk more about that in a minute. This is a warning passage, is it not? Turn over to Hebrews Chapter 6. Hebrews 6. Hebrews is a severe warning epistle. Any of you who know anything about the book of Hebrews know how serious the warnings are in the Book of Hebrews. What is going on, what is happening? Well I'll tell you what's happening. What's happening is that these were Jewish people who had heard the gospel and had had a variety of responses. Many of them had professed faith in Christ. They had said that they were Christians, but then the heat of persecution was turned up. They started to lose their homes and businesses. Some of them started to get thrown in jail. It started to get very difficult to be a Christian. And at that particular moment, some of them started to slide back. To fall back, fall away, stop claiming to be Christian. And so the Book of Hebrews is written and so he's talking about that and look at 6:4 and following. He says, "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case-- things that accompany salvation." That is so important to me. It's the key to the entire text. But yet there is a genuine phenomenon being described in these verses. You can taste, you can experience, you can come, you can be part, and yet fall away from all of that. And then, a few chapters over Hebrews 10:26 and following. "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' and again, 'The Lord will judge his people.' It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved." That is the title of my sermon folks. You need to persevere in the Christian life. It's not those who start but those who finish. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. "For in just a very little while He who is coming will come and will not delay but my righteous one to live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed but of those who believe and are saved." Do you see this? We can't shrink back and be saved. Did Hooper see it right that day? Yes, he did. I can't turn away from Christ just like Polycarp said. "87 years I've served Him and He's never done me any wrong. How can I turn my back on Him?" Can't do it And if you're a genuine Christian, today, you won't be able to do it either. Doesn't matter what circumstance God puts you in. He will sustain you, and you know why? Because the thing that's new, that new creation existence. You didn't put it there anyway. He put it there and He will sustain it no matter what fiery trials, He brings you through. He will sustain it. Common Problem: Period of Christian Behavior, Emotion Followed by Apostasy There are other warning passages, but I'm going to pass on. The common problem here, is a period of Christian behavior, followed by apostasy. Emotion, followed by apostasy. The rocky soil, guy receives the Word with joy. He loves it, he thinks it's wonderful. The Hebrews 6 guy goes to all the services, sees the healings, experiences all that the Holy Spirit's doing. He's there. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 talks about people who went through, like the Israelites, the baptism and the Lord's supper, and all of the experiences, but their bodies are scattered throughout the desert. That's the Old Testament analogy is saying, that if you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. 1 Corinthians 10, another warning passage. Many of them. 2 Peter 2, if you receive the Word and then turn your back it'd be better if you'd never heard it than to receive the sacred command and turn your back on it. A view the proverb is true, "The dog returns to its vomit, and the sow that is wash goes back to her wallowing in the mud." The fact is, many warning passages, and a brief experience, a period of time, and then they turn away. Now what happens? Well, these people have received some kind of inkling of the word, their consciences are pricked, they feel guilty for their sin, they begin to turn to Jesus a little bit, they have what William Perkins called, "Temporary faith." You say, "That doesn't make any sense." Sure it does. There's demonic faith isn't there? It says, "I believe that there's one God and I shutter." There is dead faith. There may also be temporary faith, so they are responding to some spiritual realities but it's not saving faith. It's not a gift of God. And so they turn back. Zeal for a little while and, this is the really scary thing folks, there is no amount of Christian experience or time given in scripture for the seed in the rocky places. There's no time frame given. None at all. You could go on receiving the Word with joy for a long time. It's when the testing comes that we find out what it really is. We find out what it really is. You might say to me, "Pastor. I thought you told us in Romans 8, 'Once saved, always saved.' I thought you told us in John 6, 'This is the will of him who sent me that I shall lose none of all that He has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will, is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day.'" John 10. "No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who's given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand, I and my Father are one." Security of salvation. Yes but were you ever in the Father's hand? Were you ever there? And now we're getting to the issue of assurance. How can I know that I'm in the Father's hand? How can I know? And let me tell you something, assurance is not given to willful sinners. People who consistently, day-after-day, turn their backs on Christ, listened to what I said now. Assurance isn't given to them. God doesn't assure those kind of people. What does he do to those kind of people? He warns them. Turn away from sin, turn back to Christ, follow in the way, and why? Because there is a journey to be traveled, there is a way to be traveled. And so He's not going to give assurance to people who are willfully walking away from God's way of salvation. There is no assurance for that kind of life. But what is it that produces this test? Well, it is suffering, it is earthly suffering. Do you realize that there is a time orientation of salvation? There's past salvation, present salvation, and future salvation. Past salvation, Ephesians 2, verse 8, "For by grace we have been saved through faith." Okay, that's past. We can look back and say, "I was saved that day." Alright, what about present salvation? Well, I hope for all of you that that's going on right now, because, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to we who are being saved," What do you think, "Are being saved," means? In the process of being saved. If you don't like that verse, how about Philippians chapter 2, verse 13, 12-13. It says that, "We should work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Why? Because it's God who sent us to will and to do, according to His good purpose. So we are called on to be being saved daily. Maybe, you walked in here this morning with a sin habit that you're hiding from people. God knows. Do you realize the damage that sin habit can do to your soul? This message stands like the drill instructor and says, "Cut it out. Turn away from it. Let it go." Why damage your soul? And so we are being saved and in the future we will be saved. Will be saved. That's what our verse says, verse 22, "He who stands firm to the end," What? "Will be saved." Be saved from what? Well, same thing from Romans 5:9. What is Romans 5:9 say? "Since we have been justified through faith, how much more will we be saved from God's wrath through Him?" There is a day of God’s wrath coming. Do you want to be saved from it. Then walk with Christ. If today, not seven years ago, "If today you hear His voice, do not harden your heart." Track with Him. Follow Him. "My sheep hear my voice… I give them eternal life." "They track with me, they walk with me, day after day." I have no idea where I'm at in my outline, I really don't know. But I'm going to go right to the end here. The Cure: Daily Faith What is the cure? Well, there's so many things I could say, but I'm going to give you six quickly. Fear: Fearing God More than Man First of all, the cure for back sliding, turning away from Christ, first of all, is fear. I know you don't like that word, and you give me Romans 8, and say, "We're not a slave again to fear," but yet there is that fear and trembling with which we work out our salvation. Fear sin, fear of the world, the flesh, and the devil not that they will conquer you, but they can do unbelievable damage to you. But above all, fear God. Look at verse 28. "Do not fear those who kill the body and after that can do nothing to you. I'll tell you the one to fear, fear Him who after you have died has the power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you fear Him." Why do we care so much what people think? Did you invite your friend to friend day? Did you do it? Are you afraid what they might think? Can I ask you to be more afraid what God will think if you don't? Fear Him, not them. Besides what you might be an instrument in His hand to lead him to Christ. So fear him. Understanding: There’s Nowhere Else to Go Secondly, understand you have nowhere else to go. I want to give you a scenario. Let's say you were one of the eight souls on Noah's Ark. Halfway through your voyage, how's it going? Well, it's been dark, cold, rainy, the food is utterly miserable, and the work, you don't want to hear the kind of stuff we've been doing for these animals. Day after day, I have to do this. That's it. That is it. I've had it. I'm getting off. Really, where're you going to go? Where're you going to go? There's no lifeboat on the Ark, no dingy and certainly no place to row to. Where're you going to go? The Ark represents salvation. Hooper knew it. I can't get off the Ark. It doesn't matter what happens to my body. I've got nowhere else to go. And if I turn my back on Christ, there's no other salvation, there's no other place to go. So I'm going to stay on the ark, no matter how much work I have to do, because this is the place of salvation. There is no other. Warfare: Killing Sin, Advancing the Kingdom Thirdly, warfare twofold. You have to put sin to death today. You have to put it to death. You have to kill it. Imagine if you would, that you're a soldier in a war, and you're up on a hill, and the enemy keeps coming at night, and it's end four straight nights now that they've come and command keeps radio-ing in saying, "You're going to be relieved very soon," But they don't come, and as the sun starts go down, you say, "I'm going to face another battle to night All night long, I have to fight. That is it. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to take the day off, the night off. I'm going to get myself a good night sleep, and in the morning I'll feel a little bit better and then if there's still some fighting be done, I'll get up and I'll fight." Well tonight you will die tonight you will die. Tonight you'll die. And I think we don't take soul matters spiritual matters, that seriously. Satan comes the devil on temptation comes and we think God's going to clean it up and the grace, and yes, all that, but yet God calls on you to fight, and if you do not by the Spirit put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will go to hell. You will die forever because that is the lifestyle of a Christian. A genuine Christian puts sin to death. Does that mean that they're sinless and perfect? No, not at all. Not one person in this room is sinless and perfect. But we put sin to death, daily by the power of the Spirit. We fight to advance the Kingdom of God. Do you see the little cards in your bulletin? Where are they? Here's one. Friend day. Josh told me that a 1000 of these have been printed up. Okay. A thousand. One is in your bulletin, there are others at the door. He would like there to be none left at the end of Sunday morning worship. But I don't really think it's that important what Josh thinks as much as I love the brother, it's what God thinks. I think God thinks we should hand these out. God thinks that we should reach out with the Gospel and not just friend day because, that's going to come and go. In a daily ongoing sense, we're going to share the gospel and you know what that's going to buy us? "All men will hate you because of me." It's going to bring persecution, but, "Be faithful to death and you'll receive the crown of life." Expectation: Expecting Earthly Hardship Fourthly, expectation. Can I ask you, what do you expect out of your life here in America? Do you expect ease and comfort? Are you ready for what's coming? Are you ready? Expect differently? Now, next time I preach, I'm going to be talking about how an eternal world view, eternal vision, casts out fear. We're going to talk about that next time, but what do you expect? Discipline: Living to Please God Fifthly, discipline. Daily disciplines, weekly disciplines. What daily disciplines? Prayer, Bible reading, putting sin to death, confessing sin when you stumble and fall. Daily disciplines, don't neglect them. Weekly disciplines. Being here for worship. You can't do without it, I can't do without it. We must be here week after week, to encourage one another in the faith. And then finally, if you find that today you are in a backslidden state, you feel like you're not close to Christ, you don't know whether you're Christian. If you find that you're an unbeliever and there's no doubt about it, all of us have the same remedy. Faith: Daily Looking Unto Christ Alone Look to Jesus, look to Christ, look to Him for you backslidden folks look to him again. For you, unbelieving folks up to this point, look to him anew, but look to Christ. Hebrews 12:2-3, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…" and He will finish it. "The author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning at shame and sat down at the right hand of God." Jesus dead on the cross is your salvation. Jesus risen from the grave, He is your power. Look again to Him. Close with me in prayer.