Search Results

The Warning of Justice Sermon Series: Obadiah Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Obadiah 10-18 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all your hearts, Amen. The election is over. Praise be to the Lord on high. I will be completely honest with you. I was getting real tired of it. I'll get real sick of it. I did not become a minister of the gospel of Jesus to talk about that. I became a pastor to preach Jesus and His kingdom come. And yes, to talk about the kingdom and how it works in this world, you have to talk about the affairs of this world and what is going on. And we do not get to choose the time that we live in. We don't get to choose the world events that are happening around us. We just choose to speak into them or not. And many Christians, many Christians spoke up during this previous election. But I have to wonder if we sent the right message. I say that because it wasn't the best week of my life, to be honest with you. Got a lot of messages online from people who are hurting. And the old saying is, hurt people hurt people. Let hurt people lash out. And got a lot of that. And I'll kind of summarize it with what one person said. I'm kind of synthesizing, but I'll use language they said. One person said, this election showed me that Christians actually can get motivated by what they believe in. I've never seen them do it for Jesus like I've seen them do it for Donald Trump. I guess I know where their faith truly lies. Now listen, you can debate that and push back on that all the live long day. But here's what I'll say to you. If you'll put a Trump sign in your yard, but not a join us for Easter sign. If you will share a political post on social media, but not one from the church. If you know how to defend Trump's civil cases, but you don't know how to defend the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then all I'm saying is that maybe those people aren't completely off their rocker for saying these things. So let me say this to us, Christians in the house. Do we live our faith by the love of God? Amen. Say amen if you believe that. Do you believe that we are to live our faith out in a holy fear before God's reverence? Say amen if so. Say amen if you also believe that we are to live out our faith with immense hope in what is to come. Amen. And I say amen to that too. And one of the places we see all three of those coalesce is in this little book called Obadiah. Now, I call it little because if you were here with us last week, then you'll know that it is not little. It is the shortest book of all the Old Testament. So, please turn in your Bibles to the book of Obadiah. If you want to use the Bibles we provided, please do that. That's on page 891. Now to clarify, Obadiah is so short it has no chapters. It only has verses. And we're going to be looking at verses 10 to 18 today. Now, there's an incredible context in history going around this prophet. Can't get into all of it. Go back and listen to last week's message if you want to know more about that. But let me just try to summarize what's going on here with this prophet. So Obadiah is a prophet, gets a message from God that he is to share with a specific nation, the kingdom of Edom. See, God calls them out for what they've become and what they've done. Last week we saw and talked about what they've become. They became a prideful nation. And you know what pride is? Pride is saying to God, I don't need you. Pride is saying to God, my ways are better than your ways. That's what this nation had become. They had become prideful. And if that wasn't enough, there was actual an event. There was a thing that happened. They did something that was the catalyst for this prophecy to be given. As we look at this simple theme here today, the warning of justice. Now what's justice? Justice is setting things right. We say in America that we long for justice. I just wonder, do we know what we're actually asking for? So here's the story, what happened? So they became prideful, but what have they done? Here's the context, here's the quick story. Jerusalem has been conquered by Babylon. Babylon has come in, decimated the kingdom, decimated the city, and they brought the people into exile, and they were forcing them to live now as Babylonians in Babylon. This is a world history event. You can look this up. This happened in 586 BC, and all the while that's happening all the while that Babylon is coming in and decimating God's people Edom does two things. Edom as a reminder is a neighboring country to Israel. Edom is also the ancestral brothers of the Israelites. They have a special lineage together but Edom does is nothing. They stand by and they watch what's happening. But then, then they do something else. Then after the devastation happens, then Edom goes in and like crows, they pick and they steal the leftovers, and if that wasn't enough, the other thing they do is they find any of the survivors of Jerusalem and Judah, and they round them up and they bring them and give them over to Babylon. And God is saying, that's it, I've had enough, and he brings the hammer down on Edom. And so with that, we're going to read verses 10 to 18 today. If you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word. Would you hear the word of the Lord, the prophet Obadiah, verses 10 to 18. Obadiah 10-18 10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, mand you shall be cut off forever. 11 On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. 12 But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune; rdo not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin; do not boast in the day of distress. 13 Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity; udo not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. 14 Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives; do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. The Day of the Lord Is Near 15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. 17 But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. 18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken. Amen. This is God's Word. Who's ready for some fire and brimstone today? Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray together first. Father, would you please send us your Holy Spirit to illuminate these words for us, words that have echoed throughout the ages, may they be a warning and a hope, for that these words may in some beautiful way drive us to know and love Jesus Christ all the more. For it is in His precious, perfect, and powerful name that we pray. And everyone said, Amen. Amen. Go ahead and have a seat. So church, this probably feels like a foreign passage with a foreign context, and there's no way that it can relate to any of us here today. But here's what I'd say to you. This is where we have to look beyond the surface, and when we do, we're going to find an eternal truth. And you know what eternal truth is? It's something beautiful that speaks to us not just right now, but in our own future. I'll just be honest with you for a moment. I became a Christian when I was 18 years old. I felt called to go to Bible college when I was 26. So from 18 to 26, I tried to figure out what God wanted me to do with my life, but I became a Christian, so during that time I looked for a church to attend, both in Michigan and I lived in Tennessee for a while as well, and I was looking for a church, but I'll tell you, one thing I really wanted, there's two things I was looking for in a church, and no, it wasn't good music. I wanted a church that I knew was gonna preach the gospel, but also teach the Bible. I wanted to know what the Bible actually meant, what it said. I definitely wanted to hear that my ultimate hope is in Jesus Christ, but I wanted to know how to read the Bible. Like, because I think what happens is we come to books like Obadiah, and we have no idea what's being said. And so we skip over books like that. And it's to our massive detriment because what is revealed in these books is so beautiful and profound. If we would just take a moment to understand the context. This is my big way of saying to you, we're gonna do some Bible teaching here today. Some of you are like, oh no. Some of you, hopefully, will appreciate this because I want you to understand what's going on here, what's being said. Obadiah is a prophetic poem and I understand sometimes the wording can be a little confusing but if we are patient, lean in, I think you'll see it's actually life-changing and very challenging. So we're gonna look at four things in this passage. Let's break it down into bite-sized pieces. As we look at this one main idea here today, it's this. God's justice is found in his judgments. So as we look at this notion, we're going to pick up four things as we dive into this text. God's justice is found in his judgments. First thing we'll look at is how God judges sin of omission. Then we're going to look at how God judges the sin of commission. Then we'll see how God judges sin to bring justice. And we'll wrap it up by looking at how God judges sin to bring restoration. So we're already behind, let's try to catch up. First thing, God judges sin of omission. So let's just clarify what we're talking about here. Omission is defined as a failure to do something, especially something that has a moral or legal obligation to do. Let me say it again, omission is defined as a failure to do something, especially something that has a moral or legal obligation to do. So here's what's happening. Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah is attacked and Edom does nothing. My friends, listen to me. We think that we are safe from sin by not taking a side, and by trying to play some peacemaker that actually doesn't bring peace between two opposing sides. We need to know that God judges sin of omission. Listen here, God lays down a hard judgment upon the nation. Look at verse 10. Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, remember, remember, Edom is the ancestral brother to Jacob. Jacob is the ancestral name of the Israelites So clarify because of the violence done to your brother Jacob the Israelites shame shall cover you and you shall be cut off forever I Became the lead pastor of Peace Church in 2020 I Wouldn't blame you if you've put that year out of your memory. Wonderful time for all of us, I'm sure you remember. I became the lead pastor during that time. And my very first lesson on day one was, welcome to a world where you cannot make a decision that will make everyone happy. Oh, I'm sorry, every leader already knows that. That's leadership. What we learned, especially during that time, was not only can you not make a decision that will make everyone happy, no matter what decision you make, there will be large groups of people who will be viscerally upset at you. That's the world that I became a leader in. And so when we look back at what's happening, what just happened, for me, I was like, yeah, this is the world. You can't make a decision without making an incredible swath of people vehemently upset with you. And that was proven true this past week when I got a number of messages sent to me personally that were everywhere from not kind to less than kind, put it that way, where people were very, very angry about the ways that we engaged the last number of months. And a lot of judgment, a lot of how dare you, a lot of I never want to see you again and I'm gonna block you. And we looked at this this moment that we were in and I'll just tell you I looked at the moment we're gonna speak into. We don't know the future. We're gonna learn from our mistakes because we made some, but I looked back and I said I don't want to I don't want to commit the sin of omission. There's too much going on here. Thank you. So we come to verses like this, you don't get off the hook just by speaking into it. You don't get off the hook just by not committing the sin of omission. So let's continue. This hopefully will make more sense in a moment. Jerusalem is attacked and Edom stands by and does nothing and God says to them, you shall be cut off forever. Here's the lesson. Here's the great hard lesson. did nothing and it cost them everything. And I'd rather speak into the moments and have to learn from our mistakes than not. James chapter four verse 17 says, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. God judges sin, even the sin of omission. I didn't feel like we could sit this one out. I don't ever necessarily feel like that. We have to speak up, we have a message to share, we have a part to play, and we need to play that part. Verse 11 goes on to say, this is where God really presses in, He says, On that day you stood aloof. You stood there like clowns, you stood there like bozos not doing anything. On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, meaning Babylon came in and carried off everything. His wealth is just using personal pronouns to talk about the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. The Babylon stole everything. God goes on to say, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem. Meaning foreign invaders came in and decimated them. And if that wasn't enough, they sat there and played games to see who would get the plunder. And then God says to Edom, and this is the thing that's, I think, probably the hardest phrase in this entire passage. And then God says to Edom, you were like one of them. This is hard. This is hard when we think that we are innocent when we stand by and do nothing. It's hard when we think that we'll stand by and do nothing, we can keep our hands clean, but God is like, if you don't get into the fight when evil abounds, then you are just as evil. This forces us to ask, what are we doing? What are we doing, how are we responding? Even more than just this political moment that we are in that will come and go, do you understand the great evil that's happening in this world? How are we responding? Little girls right now are being trafficked in Thailand with unspeakable things happening. What are we doing? Christians all over the world, let's just look at Africa, Christians are being slaughtered for simply bearing the name of Christ. What are we doing? Fighting over who's going to be president of our wonderful country? Now listen, this is not to pit this against things like proclaim and us expanding the building. I understand there are very cynical people out there that say, oh, you're just spending money on sticks and bricks. No, we're not. We're creating a space where we can be more effective in our ministry so that more people can know and love Jesus and so that more people can be part of His gospel redemptive work in this world. That's why we're doing this, because we want to see more people engaged in the fight. But we have to ask ourselves, what are you doing? When evil abounds, how can we just stand by? God says, you were like one of them. And then God says this because God judges the sin of omission. That may be a surprise to us, but this next one surely isn't. God judges the sin of commission. So if omission is the act of not doing what you should, then commission is the act of doing what you should not. So let me I want to point something out. I want to say something. We're going to pin it against the wall. We're going to do a Bible study and we're going to come back to it. OK, so here, hear me. God judges Edom not simply for failure to live according to a moral code or or some vague sense of love. God judges them not just on principle but on particulars. Okay? Now let's pin that to the wall. We'll come back to it in a second. Let's look at verses 12 to 14. In verses 12 to 14 we have three verses but eight charges against Edom's actions. These statements may seem like prohibitions when we read them but you have to understand this is a prophetic poem that Obadiah is reciting and so these are not just future things, these are indictments of things that Edom has actually done. Look at verse 12. "'Do not gloat over the day of your brother, and the day of his misfortune.'" Again, pointing to the ancestral brotherhood between Edom and the Israelites. Edom was the descendants of Esau, the Israelites were descendants of Jacob, Jacob and Esau were twins. That's why God says, "'Your brother.'" He's saying, you have tied, you have a hot shared history together. How could you not stand up when they were being attacked? Our verse continues. Do not rejoice over the people of Judah. Again, Judah was the Israelites of the Southern kingdom. Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. Do not boast in the day of their distress. There is no boasting or gloating to more specific acts they've done. Look at verse 13. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. As we mentioned, Babylon comes in, destroys the kingdom, but Edom, like a bunch of rats, goes in after the dust has settled, picks up the leftovers, and then their evil goes to the next level. Look at verse 14. Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives. Again, his fugitives, meaning the remnant of Judah that had escaped from Babylon. It continues, do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. Because here's what was happening. Edom had rounded up the remaining people and then gave them over to Babylon. This is just wicked stuff. Do you know what this is? This is tried and true, old-fashioned human trafficking, among the most evil things that humans can take part of. And so, there's a lesson being here that I really want to make sure that we're clear on. I think it's very, very important, not just for our day and age, but for our cultural moment that we are in right now. It's that thing I pinned up against the wall. Let's bring it down and let's talk about this. Earlier I had said, God judges Edom, not simply for the failure to live according to a moral code or some vague sense of love. God judges them, not just on principle, but on particulars. This is important, and I think many of us are missing this right now. We forget this. Right now, right now especially, I hear a lot of calls to love your neighbor and a lot of calls saying we just have to love. Here's the danger in this, because there is a danger. Here's the danger in this. We can't take that principle to just love and then live that out however we want, thinking that we are all good as long as it's done in the quote-unquote name of love. God has given us clear mandates in a biblical morality and he has prohibited certain behaviors and lifestyles and practices and we can't ignore this and just go around saying, well, we're just supposed to love one another. We can't do that and then think that we are safe from God's judgments. Why? Because we can't live just by principle. We have to live by particulars. Hear me clearly. We cannot live just by compassion. We have to live by God's commandments. Because what we do with compassion is we kind of redefine it to make it culturally appropriate for our day and age. When God has given us a standard that surpasses all human culture, society, and opinion. And this is because, let me remind you, God's vision for the world and for our lives is better than our vision and hope for the world. The reason God judges sin is not because he's mean, bigoted, or hateful. God judges it in order to bring about his justice, which is the third point. God judges sin to bring justice. So God brings judgment upon Edom, but not just Edom, but to all nations. Verse 15, for the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. So the day of the Lord is a great day of reckoning. Israel had theirs. Judah had theirs, Edom will soon have theirs, and actually history shows us Babylon will have theirs. Because we must remember, it does not matter if you believe in God or not, there is a God in heaven who is working out his plan in this world and he will execute judgment. Why? And why is this good? Because this reminds us that there is a standard of right and wrong that goes beyond human opinion, beyond human culture, or beyond popular vote. It's His judgment and His justice we are going to face. And God warns us in a very unique way. Look at verse 15. God says, as you have done, it shall be done to you. Your deeds shall return on your own head. This is real simple, my friends. This is real simple. Because Jesus summarizes this so well. Jesus says, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. We all know that, right? You know the golden rule, do unto others. Do you know why Jesus says that? Is it because he's trying to foster an environment of love and a culture of love? No. Jesus tells us why he says do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. Why? Because with the judgment you used, it will be used upon you. And here's how God puts it in this Obadiah. Let's check out verse 16 and then we'll talk about it because it can be a little confusing if you're not familiar with Old Testament language, but it's really powerful. Look at verse 16. For as you eat them, for as you have drunk on my holy mountain so all the nations shall drink continually they shall drink and swallow and Shall be as though they have never been All right, let's take this apart. Make sure that we're clear. God says for as you have drunk on my holy mountain What's that? Well, that's that's Jerusalem Jerusalem is 2500 feet above sea level by comparison Grand Rapids is 700 feet. So Jerusalem is very high. Meaning it's like God is saying, Edom, you came in and gloated over the destruction of my people and add to that, you celebrated in my own city. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, then God says this, so the nations shall drink continually. So now follow this. God poetically takes this imagery of drinking as in a sinful celebration and turns it about how they're going to drink continually. What is going on here? And this is where we need to understand biblical imagery. To drink in this sense is to drink the cup of God's wrath, His judgments. This is why Jesus says in the garden right before He's crucified, He says, Lord, let this cup pass from me because Jesus was about to drink the cup of God's wrath, the cup that we should have drunk. God is saying this is coming for you, Edom, you and all the nations. And then we see God double down to make it abundantly clear. They shall drink and swallow. What God is saying is you will soon understand what you have done. You will soon taste the wickedness and the bitterness of what you've done, and my wrath will come with you, except you will not be able to spit this out. There will be a point of no return. You will drink it and you will swallow it, because God's judgment and his justice is complete and final. And then we see this, we see where it leads to. They shall drink and swallow and shall be as though they have never been." Because that's where God's wrath ultimately leads, utter destruction. I told you it would be fire and brimstone today. Historically, we know this happens. Historically, this is prophecy fulfilled. Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon in 586 BC, remember that for your Bible test later. Then Edom comes in for a final looting, turns the survivors over to Babylon, but Edom is soon going to find out that they were just feeding the lion that was going to kill them. Because 30 years after that in 553 AD, Babylon invades and completely destroys Edom. Destroys them to the point where they will never rise again. But remember, this prophecy extends to Babylon as well. For less than 15 years after that, Babylon is destroyed by Persia, led by King Cyrus. And side note, for those of you who went to Sunday school, you may remember biblical history. What we're talking about now all coincided with the time of Daniel. We have to remember the end of this verse, and shall be as though they have never been. This is prophecy fulfilled. Edom is no more. Babylon is no more. But you know from Biblical history and from world history that Persia, after they can't conquer Babylon, they allow the Jews to return home to Jerusalem and rebuild. It's Edom and Babylon who were wiped away forever, but God's people remain. Edom and Babylon were the ones who were wiped away, and all we have left from them now is some carved out caves and broken pottery. And this is because God is clearing a way for something new to happen. God judges sin to bring about justice. Justice is setting things right because it leads to this. God's justice leads to restoration. So God judges sin to bring about restoration. So after laying out his judgment and his pronouncement upon Edom and the nations, God turns back to his people and reminds them that even in their devastation, there is still hope. Look at verse 17. But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape and it shall be holy. So Mount Zion here often refers to Jerusalem, but it could also mean spiritually God's presence. So it could be referring to a future time where Jerusalem is restored, which we know has happened, or Obadiah is simply saying that if you stay in the presence of God, you will find peace and restoration. But here's what I'd say to you, if you kind of got lost in that. The idea here is less about specifics and more about contrast. The other nations nations conquered God's city but will forever be destroyed because of it. Whereas God's people were conquered but they will forever be restored even though this happens. And that's what we see in the next verse here. And the house of Jacob shall possess his own possessions that which was stolen from them will be restored. Remember Jacob is the name, the renaming of Israel who becomes the father of all Israel. So the house of Jacob just means God's people. Those who have been destroyed and their stuff stolen, restoration and reclamation is coming. Okay, there you go. That was a whole load of a lot of meat and potatoes, Bible teaching for you there. And you are fair and right, and I want you to ask, okay, 2,500 years later, what does this even mean for us? Who cares? Why did I get out of bed for this? Pastor, I wanted you to talk about the election today. My friend, I have so much more for you than just a simple cultural moment in the history of America. I have an eternal plan that I want to share with you that God is inviting us to be a part of. My friends, you are, you know, but Obadiah, you are seeing prophecy fulfilled and there's good news even in this. What this passage reminds us of is that even if your life falls apart, even if your life falls apart to the point where you feel like nothing is left, if you remain in God, there is always hope. Never forget this. Hope for a better day, and though the road may be rough and painful and maybe even evil, remember in Mount Zion, there shall be those who escape and it shall be called holy. Our Mount Zion is no longer a place that we go to to find God's presence. We now have the true Mount Zion in Jesus Christ, for He is our rock. He came in the power of the Spirit who sends us the Spirit that we might go and share this message with a world that is clearly still broken. And for God's people, we will always bring a contrast. You know you are outside of God's will and outside of God's plan for the church when you no longer bring a contrast to the world. Look at this, verse 18, the house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame. Joseph being the son of Jacob just reminds us that God's people have a promise that goes to them and their descendants. But remember, Esau is the father of Edom. And the house of Esau, so all of Edom, will become stubble. They, meaning the house of Jacob and Joseph, they, God's people, shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivors for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken." What's going on here? So God is saying to Edom, you think you've had the last laugh, but you will come to destruction and Israel will watch They will watch will happen to you because they will survive and you will not and with the words for the Lord has spoken We see God put his final stamp on this The pronouncement and the judgment has been made and while this is calamity for the nations. This means hope for God's people God's judgment upon Edom is a message to Israel that the evil that has been done to you will be undone to you. And the same goes for us. When Christ returns or when we go into his presence, the evil that has been done will be undone. That's the power of Jesus. That's the hope that we long for. No, we don't have nations that crush us, at least not right now. But what we do have is sin that crushes us. And from this, we should be the ones suffering the wrath of God. But Jesus stepped in and he took the cup of God's wrath from our hands and he drunk it himself so that we wouldn't face God's judgment. And yet so that we could still have God's justice. Because remember God's justice is found in his judgment. But for us what we understand is that we get God's justice because Jesus took God's judgment. Our Mount Zion isn't something we go to. Our Mount Zion is Christ who came to us. For the wrath was ours to drink, but Jesus drank it for us when he died upon the cross, being crushed for the sins that we have committed, so that we too can long for our hope of full restoration, where everything that is bad will become unbad Everything that is done and evil will be undone No, our promise is not a land that some at some place on the planet. We have something even better We can be restored not to a piece of property on planet earth. We are restored to God where we will feast forever on Mount Zion, which is in the presence of our Savior." That's the message we need to be longing for. That's the message that we present to the world. That's why we gather every single Sunday, not so you can hear a pastor spout off about all the wicked things going on in this world and tell you who to vote for. So we can all be reminded that we are to long for and look to Jesus Christ and Him alone. At the end of my days, when you gather for my funeral, please say, he lifted up one name before the world and it was the name Jesus. But here's a beautiful thing. While this gives us a shadow of what is yet to come, we can experience part of that now. And we do that here when we gather amongst brothers and sisters in Christ and we lift up songs of praise. So let me leave you with this final reminder. In Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it shall be holy. This is what God is making us to be holy, distinct in this world. Because one day, we will forever, truly, and fully be on Mount Zion. And that's when we enter into the presence of our Savior. Finally, fully, forever. Amen.

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, October 13, 2024 Take Courage 2 Chronicles 15:1-7 Take Courage 2 Overview Main Idea: In a world turning from Him, God calls us to take courage in Him! Sermon Outline: 1. Stand in the Spirit (vv1-2) 2. Stand in the Contrast (vv3-7) 3 Pre-Questions In Mark 6:50 Jesus tells His disciples, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” What fears or challenges do you currently face where Jesus’ words could be comforting? How does recognizing Jesus’ presence in your life impact the way you deal with fears? 4 Questions Verse 2 of 2 Chronicles 15 warns, “But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” What does this teach us about the consequences of turning away from God? In what ways might people today forsake God, and what are the spiritual or emotional effects of this? King Asa responded to Azariah’s message with reforms (later in chapter 15). How can spiritual leaders today lead others toward faithfulness and renewal in God’s ways? In what practical ways can we - as a group - encourage one another to seek God more diligently and remain faithful even when faced with challenges? PDF Download

What is Revival? Video Teaching Jon Delger Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Church Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 2 Creating Meaningful Traditions Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Q+A Jon Delger I Didn't Know I Needed the Bible Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Session 1 Jon Delger Withstand: How The Culture War Is A Spiritual Battle Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Where Do We Go From Here? Jon Delger Coming Out of Catholicism | Q & A Kelly Needham | Women's Christmas Party People Pleasing Jon Delger Christianity and Politics: Are We a Christian Nation?

Killing the Characters: Mistake #1 in Teaching the Bible Ministry Shannon Popkin Author & Podcast Host Live Like It's True Podcast Published On: January 18, 2024 I didn’t go to seminary. I don’t have a Bible degree either. Yet most months, there are several times that I stand before a group of women with my Bible open, and offer a message of truth. It would be wonderful to enroll in a seminary class, but where would I find the time? My ministry calendar is bulging full. Can you relate? Now, I’m not saying I’m completely ill-equipped. I have been taught to study God’s Word, and I regularly experience the Spirit’s empowerment and guidance. I know I wouldn’t have any insight apart from Him. But sometimes when I prepare a message or stand up to share it, I have a vague sense that I’m making mistakes which could be avoided. And you know what? A while back, I found out I was right. Three Common Mistakes I had the privilege of attending a workshop where Jeff Manion , who taught at Ada Bible Church for over thirty years, shared three common mistakes Bible teachers make. As my page filled with notes during the workshop, I realized I was making all three! Yet I didn’t leave discouraged. I was excited! It was like having new tools in my hands, as I got back to work studying God’s Word and teaching it to others. I’ve already been amazed at the difference it makes to know about these pitfalls so that I can avoid them. Jeff graciously agreed to let me share these three common mistakes with you in a three part series which was first offered as a Revive Our Hearts Leaders’ Resource . Mistake #1: We Kill the Characters Perhaps it’s because we know that the Bible is inspired by God that we sometimes feel the freedom to wipe away the background stories of the Bible’s characters. For instance, we might teach a psalm without telling the backstory of the psalmist. Or we quote from Isaiah without mentioning the prophet, the people he spoke to, or their time in history. Or we teach the logical flow of a chapter in an epistle, but we fail to mention that this chapter is part of a letter, written by someone to a group of someones. I do this all the time. I’ll say: “In Philippians it says . . . ” Or, “God tells us in Romans 6 . . .” I would never do this when quoting from other books. I always mention the author and a little background, saying something like, “Here’s a quote from Jim Elliot, who was a missionary martyred by the Aucas . . . ” Or, “Listen to the words penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford after losing his daughters in a shipwreck . . . ” I think that maybe we kill the characters because we’re in too much of a rush. We see little overlap between the here-and-now lives of our people and the there-and-then lives of Bible people, so we rush ahead to the application. We want our listeners to hear directly from God—that’s the important part, so we put these characters from a different era and culture on mute. But in doing so, we vacuum away much of the richness and meaning packed around the words of the text. Yes, it’s true that God’s breath on these Bible words is what gives them living power! But God was pleased to use real people in real situations to unfold these truths. And if we’ll look carefully, we have far more in common with Bible people than we might expect. By allowing Bible characters to “live” and by inviting them to be part of the message we share, we provide our people with more depth of understanding and greater implications for their lives, not less. Here are a few examples. Example 1: To the Pastor of a Wealthy Church I’m pretty sure I’ve used this verse in every article, chapter, or message I’ve ever shared on the topic of generosity: As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy . ( 1 Tim. 6:17 , emphasis mine) But here’s the part I left out. I never mentioned that this verse was part of a letter written to Timothy, the young pastor at a church in Ephesus ( 1 Tim. 1:3 ). I also never mentioned anything about Ephesus being a trade city. Anything you wanted to buy, you could get it in Ephesus. Its excavated terrace houses were elaborately decorated with mosaic floors, ornate columns, and marble structures. And its Square Agora, which was surrounded on all four sides with double-colonnaded stoas, housed nearly one hundred shops. Since the Jesus-followers of Timothy’s church were definitely affected by the wealth of Ephesus, Paul was mentoring this young pastor on how to give guidance. For those of us who lead or mentor wealthy people, Paul is mentoring us also. Look back at 1 Timothy 6:17 and notice how Paul offers balance in the two words I put in bold. We’re to train our listeners to enjoy what God has blessed them with, but not put their hope in what they have. Example 2: The Song of a Grieved Parent I have quoted this verse many times, in my writing and teaching: You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. ( Ps. 3:3 ) But here’s the part I left out. This is a song written by King David, when he fled from his son Absalom. David deserted the palace in Jerusalem; He was away from home. His son had betrayed him, and his life was in danger. Imagine the devastation and shame David felt as Absalom publicly undermined and sought to kill his own father to get his position and possessions. As we serve our people, imagine how much richer the application becomes for the parent who has experienced a child’s betrayal. Perhaps someone’s son has left the faith and is living in a way that doesn’t even remotely reflect the way he was raised. Or perhaps another person’s daughter only remembers the mistakes her parents have made. She refuses to forgive and holds her parents in constant contempt, which she has gradually made more public. Or perhaps still another lost custody of her children. Her ex-husband has deceitfully stacked the evidence against her, and she’s trying to find her way through the fog of shame of what her neighbors think, now that the kids don’t live there anymore. Each of these listeners is wondering, “How am I to respond? What should I do with this grief and pain?” And here is the Bible’s response: a song, lifted by a parent whose eyes were filled with tears of grief and shame and fear. King David was at one of the lowest points in life, yet who was his shield? The Lord. Who was the lifter of his head? The Lord. This same Lord is the shield and lifter of the heads of our dear people as well. Keeping the Characters Alive In both of these examples, we could lift the words off the page and offer them to our listeners. They would still be the inspired words of God, and they could still offer guidance and hope. But by allowing the characters to speak, we give the verses the richness of context. Here are a few more tips for you, as you work to include Bible characters in your message prep: With the epistles, repeatedly draw your people back to the context. This is a letter with a writer and recipients. If you teach a series on the book of Philippians, then invite Paul and the church in Philippi to be part of every lesson—not just the introductory one. In Psalms, be sure to read the ascriptions at the beginning of the individual psalms. Find who wrote the song and when they wrote it. Study that part of the Bible’s history to understand it better. Suppose you’re teaching in the Old Testament, and you want to reference a verse from the New Testament. Spend a moment to add a little bit of context. You could say: I want you to hear from an inmate on this subject of contentment (then read from Philippians) Listen to what a man who spent three years with Jesus had to say about Him (then read from First or Second Peter) Here is what a man who had supernatural wisdom had to say (then read from Proverbs) Here is part of a song written by a brokenhearted father (then read from Psalm 3 ) I want you to hear a mentor’s advice to a young pastor (then read from First or Second Timothy) So are you ready to go open your Bible and get back to work? Whatever chapter you open to, remember not to kill the characters! We’d love to hear from you, with examples on how you’re putting this in practice. And check in next time for a second post on common mistakes we make when teaching the Bible. Read Mistake #2 in Teaching the Bible: Killing the Characters Read Mistake #3 in Teaching the Bible: We Villainize the Villains More Blogs You'll Like What Is a Deacon? Exploring the Role, Qualifications, and Purpose of Deacons in the Church Read More What Is An Elder? A biblical definition of those who are called to lead Read More Why Church Membership Understanding the Biblical Foundations of Church Membership Read More

How to Run Your Race, Not Hers Christian Life Shannon Popkin Author & Podcast Host Live Like It's True Podcast Published On: January 19, 2024 There’s something I do that always compounds my weariness in this race of life: I glance sideways at the person in the land beside me who doesn’t seem to have as much to bear. This might happen when I’m leading Bible study and look over at the group that can barely fit around the table, while my group has gaps of space between us three. Or when I look over at some other person’s child who is thriving and leading, while my child is faltering and shrinking back into the darkness. Or when I see a friend planning to add a new son-in-law to her growing family, and my family has just shrunk with a loss. As I turn my gaze sideways at this other person, my heart fills with envy, strife, pride, and grief–which only drains the endurance I need for my own race. The writer of Hebrews says: Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. — Hebrews 12:1 That word endurance paints an image of a long road, not a short sprint before collapsing in a lawn chair. Endurance requires pressing on, even when I grow tired, frustrated, or bored. It involves putting one foot in front of the other when challenges arise and the incline grows steep. The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus must be my example in this endurance: “Consider him who endured . . . so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted” ( Heb. 12:3 ). Why Comparison Saps my Strength There’s something about glancing sideways which makes me want to quit. But there’s something about returning my gaze to Jesus—the One who endured the steepest climb of all up Golgotha's hill—which gives me strength to take the next step. And the one after that. When I’m sweating and straining, I want the person next to me to be sweating and straining, too. I want to know that I’m not alone. And truly, as I run this Christian race, I’m not alone. I am part of a running group of followers who span the globe, and we all experience the same kinds of runners’ aches and struggles ( 1 Peter 5:9 ). The measuring and comparing is sideways energy, which distracts me from my race and saps my energy. If I want to run with endurance, I have to look “to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of [my] faith” ( Heb. 12:2 ). What About Him? After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to the disciples one morning after they had been fishing. They ate breakfast together, and then Jesus took a walk with Peter and gave him a glimpse into the race ahead—which would require great endurance and many trials, including death. As Jesus shared this, Peter turned and saw John trailing behind and asked, “What about him?” Jesus replied, “What is that to you? You follow me!” ( John 21:23 ). Friend, are your eyes drifting to someone else’s lane today? Are you—like Peter— craning your neck and becoming distracted? Are you comparing your race with that of another disciple? If so, turn your eyes to Jesus and listen as He says, “What’s that to you? You follow me!” God, Thank you for choosing me to be your disciple and marking out a course just for me. Help me to stop glancing sideways and keep my eyes on Jesus as I run my race to the finish. Reflect and Respond Read James 3:14–16 and describe any bitter jealousy or selfish ambition causing your eyes to drift from Jesus. How has this sideways focus been distracting you or sapping your energy? What is the Lord asking you to endure today? What is one way that you will “stay in your own lane” and keep following the Lord? Read 1 Peter 5:5–11 and make a list of Peter’s instructions and promises in these verses. Choose one that you will cling to, as you keep your eyes on Jesus and run with endurance. More Blogs You'll Like Is Prioritizing Love Un-Christian? What Does The Bible Say? Read More More Than Meets the Eye Discovering God’s Purposes for Motherhood Read More Mom Guilt and How to Fight It Read More

My Food is God's Will: The Woman at the Well (Part 3 of 3) Sermon Series: It Had To Be Said Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: John 4:27-42 Transcript Words today is the day that the Lord has made so let us rejoice and be glad in it and everyone said Amen, so here's what I want to know Who here? When you were growing up You had chores to do Let me see. Okay. Let me ask you this get your hands down. Um Other venues want you to be raising your hands too on this one Who here got your first job as a teenager? Would you raise your hand? Interesting. Okay, put your hands down. By every study that's being conducted, kids are having less and less chores they're responsible for in the house. On top of that, there's been a 20-point drop in the number of teenagers who have a job versus 50 years ago. The truth is, is that kids these days, I know we like to talk about kids these days, but the truth is kids these days are not being instilled with a sense of contribution and responsibility like they used to. And what we are finding out in studies is that this is having massive effect on how people don't go on to contribute to society. Having chores and having responsibility is a massive part of what it means to learn to be a functional part of a system and it starts within the home. And it affects every single part of their life. And when I say every single part, I also mean their faith. And so what you have is you have an emerging generation of adults who are part of the church, but don't know what it means to actively contribute to what God's doing through the church. Because all their life, they've been allowed to just receive without contributing. They've been allowed to just be given things without being taught the responsibility of what those things are. Cell phones. So here's the thing, kids are not growing up to learn this simple truth. Kids are not growing up learning this simple truth that we have a job to do. So today as we look at this we are continuing a sermon series called It Had to be Said. Now this is a tried-and-true old-school red-letter sermon series. This entire summer we are just looking at the words of Jesus Christ himself in scripture and I told you a couple weeks ago that I was going to kick off this sermon series with a little three-part sermon series to start this summer with and so today we are at part three of three looking at the story of the woman of the woman at the well and we're looking at these famous words of Jesus when he said that my food is to do God's will so if you haven't yet, would you please turn in your Bibles to John chapter 4 Jump down to verse 27 if you want if you could John chapter 4 We're on page 1131 if you want to use the Bibles that we have provided if you are just joining us here for the first time. Welcome. I am so happy that you're here. Let me catch up the speed where we're at in our scripture So Jesus is at this well and this woman comes up and they have this conversation. Jesus uses this opportunity to reveal some pretty amazing things to her. This woman is drawn water from a well and Jesus says to her, that water will satisfy you for a time, but I have water that will satisfy you for eternity. That sparks a theological conversation that results with Jesus for the first time revealing that he is in fact the Christ. He is the coming Messiah, but he is not just the Savior. He is her Savior. And one of the amazing things we see in this conversation is that Jesus brings her life out into the light with all of its brokenness. And one of the amazing things about that is that Jesus shows us how to do this in a way that doesn't come across as condemning, but as a way that is caring, because He's showing her that there is something better that God has for her. And He's having this conversation, and that's where we're gonna pick up in our Bible. So would you hear the word of God, John chapter four, verses 27 to 42. Would you hear God's word? John 4:27-42 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” This is God's word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father in heaven above, Lord, we thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for these words of our Savior, words that had to be said. And we ask you here and now by the truth of your word and by the power and presence of your Holy Spirit that you would be with us now that we might not just hear your word, but we receive it, do it, and be transformed by it. And it's in Jesus' name that we pray these things and everyone said amen. Amen. So as we close up this three part sermon series, let me remind you of where we come from. Week one we looked at how Jesus reveals that he offers eternal life and you don't get to just say that without actually delivering on it. So week one we see how Jesus makes us this huge promise that he reveals eternal life, which led to the second week where we see that Jesus reveals that he is the Christ. That's a claim there's no coming back from. He reveals he is the Christ and today, as we close up this little story, we'll see this. That Jesus reveals he has a job to do and so do we. Jesus Reveals He Has a Job to Do - And So Do We! Now as we look at this passage here today, we're gonna break it up into two main parts and here's what we're looking at. Jesus says he has a job to do and so do we. First thing we'll see how our job is to continue gospel work. So let's jump right into it here today. 1. Jesus' job is to do God's work (vv. 27-34) Jesus' job is to do God's work. So the last few weeks as a church, we've been looking at this powerful conversation that Jesus has between himself and this woman at the well. And Jesus reveals that he offers eternal life because he's the Christ. They discuss theology together. Jesus brings her life out into the open. He reveals her sin, but through it all, doesn't condemn her. He cares for her. This woman's amazed, and what she does, she runs back and tells everybody, "'Don't let that just be black and white words on a page.'" That was a very powerful thing this woman just did. She went back and told everyone. And for Jesus, it's like all in a day's work But I want to look at that first first point here the sub point here to this is the woman responds to Jesus Look at your Bibles. Please keep your Bibles open verse 27 just then as he was having that conversation the disciples came back. They were marveled that he was talking with a woman as you remember we talked about In that context in that culture that really wasn't appropriate. That didn't happen very often But they but no one asked. What do you seek or why are you talking with her? Basically, they come back they stumble on this what would appear to be a somewhat awkward conversation But no one asks questions They just kind of let it be so the woman Left her jar verse 28 the woman left her jar and went away into the town and said to the people Come see a man who told me all that I ever did could this be the Christ and they all went out of the town and were coming to him. Church. That that was so powerful. I'm not for making some words bigger in the Bible and other words smaller They all they all carry equal truthful weight But sometimes I think we just pass over something that was said and we'd miss the immense power that was behind this. I Love this because do you know what this is? This woman shows us what a right response is to a true encounter with Jesus Christ. When you look at scripture, every time people have an interaction with Jesus and they acknowledge who He is, their knee-jerk reaction is to go and tell people about Him. I know that we are just rolling into summer, praise God. I know that we're looking at multiple days of 90 degree heat. I still say praise God. Praise Him in the storm and in the heat. I know we're getting into summer and it's getting hot, but this interaction here with this woman, it reminds me of Christmas. Remember that story of the shepherds who were out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night? Remember that? And the angel of the Lord comes to them and tells them that Jesus has been born and so they go to see Jesus in the manger Remember what happens once they see Jesus in the manger the baby Jesus verse Luke chapter 2 look at verse 17 and 18 says this says when they when the shepherds had seen him the Christ child When they had seen him they spread the word concerning What had been told them about this child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to him, said to them. They see the baby Jesus, even the Christ child, even the baby Jesus they see and they have to go and tell everyone about him. This woman encounters not the baby Jesus but the adult Jesus and she has to go and tell people about him. And this is what we see time and time again. When people have a true encounter with the risen Christ and they acknowledge who He is, their knee-jerk response is to go and tell people about Him. I'm afraid some of us have had a real experience with a Christian tradition, but you have not had the experience with the risen Christ. Because when you have an experience with the risen Christ, when you truly acknowledge who He is and allow His atoning work to work in your life, I don't know how it's possible to contain that to yourself. I entirely get how it's possible to contain a tradition to yourself, but I don't get how you can understand who Jesus Christ truly is, how the Spirit works within you. I don't understand how you cannot go in some form or fashion, share that with others. So my question for you is, have you just been coming to church or have you been going to the feet of Jesus? I think your life kind of shows us the response. This is a massive challenge to us all because it needs to be. Every day that goes by is one day closer to the end. I don't know when it is, I just know that every day that goes by we get closer to it. Which means the window is shutting. Are you seizing the opportunities that God is providing for you every day? Here's the reality, church. We are all, all of us, we're natural evangelists for something. Whenever you encounter something good, I know you share it. Whether it's your favorite sports team just winning something, whether it's a new hair product, whether it's a new song. Some of us are very quick to share political memes. Yeah, I'm going to let that one hang for a second. Are you so quick to share Jesus? Because what do you think the world really needs to know? Jesus is too good not to share and this woman, mind you, if you were here with us in the sermon series, you know, this is a rejected, ostracized woman who has an extremely checkered past of being used and abused and constantly giving herself to the wrong guy. This woman has a true encounter with Jesus and she goes back to the very people who were rejecting her and ostracizing her she goes back to them to tell them about Jesus she's doing something that many of you hard working men are too scared to do and that's actually speak the name of Jesus let this woman's testimony be a grand challenge to us all. And yes, to do this means we have to set aside our pride. But if you've spoken against or if you hate Pride Month, then you best be the one setting your pride aside. And one of the ways that we do that is by having a conversation with someone about who Jesus Christ is. Christians who keep their mouth shut about Jesus, I just don't know how you do that. This woman shows us the right response to a true encounter with Jesus, and that's to go and tell people. That leads to the second sub-point I want to talk about here, that Jesus relies on God. This is a powerful thing we see from our Lord. So the disciples had gone into town to get some food, they come back, they left Jesus at the well, and they come back to Jesus, we'll pick up in verse 31. It says, meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, Rabbi, again, means teacher, Rabbi, eat, eat something. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples said to one another, has anyone brought him something to eat? Where's he gotten food from? But Jesus said to them, no, no, no, guys, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. I tell you, with my experience doing evangelism, this happens all the time. When I share about Jesus and what he teaches, so many people want to respond or they want to engage the conversation simply through worldly or natural means. But Jesus, one thing you need to understand, Jesus is always bringing us to a deeper spiritual truth. I'll say something like this to someone when I talk about Jesus. I'll say Jesus is the way. And you know what I hear so often? It's like, the way to what? The way to live? It's like, yes, that's definitely a big part of it. But the deeper spiritual truth is that Jesus is the way back to God. Because people don't automatically think deeper or more spiritual. That's what Jesus helps us to do. See, the disciples said, teacher, eat something, eat something. He says, I have food you know nothing about. So what do they think? They think he's already had lunch. But Jesus is announcing his mission and that it's a heavenly and spiritual one from God. That's another clear example. What we see here, when Jesus talks about how he has food to eat, that's the will of God. This is a beautiful example of Jesus living out his very own teaching. Remember that story in the Bible where Jesus is out in the wilderness and he's fasting and the devil comes to him and the devil is trying to tempt him to break his fast? And the devil says, hey, I know you can turn those stones into bread. Just turn them into bread and just have a bite to eat. We all know you're hungry. Remember what Jesus says? I love this. Matthew chapter 4 verse 4, but Jesus answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus is living out his own teaching here. Because even Christ shows us something that we've all forgotten, that we need to rely on God. That's a nice little statement, isn't it? We need to rely on God. Let's finish the sentence. We need to rely on God for everything. In fact, I want you to say that with me. We need to rely on God for everything. Everything. The very breath you take is an act of grace from God. That's a kindness and a goodness from God to you that you don't deserve, that He does not have to give to you. Every breath is an act of grace of God. We need to rely on God simply for the air that we breathe. I talk to so many Christians and so many Christians say things like this. They'll say I Want to see God move more in my life. I want to see the moving of God more in my life I get it. But the first thing I want to say to them is Open your eyes. Like open your eyes. He is he's moving every single day that next breath. That's God's gift to you God is always moving in your life But then I'll say something like this because I know they want to have a real conversation. I'll say, the reason that you're not seeing God move is because you're not relying on God for every single thing. Because, Church, the reality is the more we walk with God for every single step, the more we see Him in every single moment. Christ is saying, even the food I eat is a reminder that I'm here to do God's work. Christ came from heaven with a job to do. He's modeling for us what it means to rely on God for every part of it. And then we see him turn to his disciples and he teaches them, sharing with them this simple truth that it's our job now to continue gospel work. Christians, let me give you a question that I think is a challenge that many of us need to hear. How engaged are you in gospel work? How engaged are you in gospel ministry? How engaged are you in any work that involves the clear sharing of the message in the name of Jesus? I'm not asking what good things you do in the name of God to make us have a better society. That's great. There's a place for that. I'm asking you what work if you are a Christian, what work are you engaged in that actually goes to advance, announce, promote and share the name of Jesus Christ and the gospel? Because here's the thing, I'm challenging you to think about this not just because you should be doing it, but also because the world so desperately needs us to be doing it. To be out there doing work that shares the message of Jesus. Christ is going to show us that it's our job to continue gospel work. 2. Our job is to continue Gospel work (vv. 35-42) So let's look at this first point, that it's our turn to work. So Jesus is speaking to his disciples and he goes and he speaks to them on their level. Go to verse 35. He says, Do you not say there are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. So at this point, the disciples and us should already be aware that Jesus is not speaking just physically here. He's speaking spiritually. So when Jesus says, quote, the fields are white for harvest, what he's doing is he's giving a visual image of a grain field. I know that many of us are not farmers, we probably don't understand what's going on here. So when grain is ready to be harvested, it turns a white type of color. So when Jesus says that the fields are white for harvest, that just means ripe or ready to be harvested. But Jesus, you know, isn't speaking about fields of grain here. He's talking about people. He's not speaking physically. He's speaking spiritually. Jesus, I've said this before, in this story, you can't forget the powerful context to the story. So Jesus just had this amazing, but relatively brief conversation with this woman that would forever change her life. And so Jesus tells his disciples, look around guys, look around. This is a perfect example. People are so ready for the truth. The time is ripe. People are ready for it. So I want to propose something here and I want to see if you agree with me. I think we are living in a somewhat similar time. I think we're living in a time where people are desperate for truth. I'm telling you, now is the time. I don't like to speak in these terms, but with how far the woke side has gone and is going, a lot of people right now are being like, hold on a second here, I don't know if I can go that far. With everything that's happened in our culture and the world in the last four years, I think a lot of people are like, hold on a second, I'm not sure I'm getting the whole truth here. And some level, I think in their heart or in their mind people are waking up to a colossal lie that they've been told They've been they're seeing how the direction that the world is going. They know isn't ultimately good, but they don't know the actual truth. They just know something's wrong. This is where we step in taking our time to work to share that truth You say to them? Yes, you're right. Things are not pointed in the right direction But let me show you the right way that it is. And that's where you announce Jesus and his plan. Jesus has this amazing conversation. He says, look it, I'm telling you guys, people are ready for the truth, so go out there and share it. People are ready for something real. I mean, I think so. Do you think so? So let's go out there and be the ones that actually give them the answer that they're looking for. But before we go on to verse 36, I want to make sure that we clarify our terms here, because while I know that hobby farming is like all the rage right now, I know not all of us are farmers, so let's make sure we clarify our terms here. When the Scriptures talk about reaping and sowing, let's just clarify here, a more common way that we would talk about this would just say picking and planting. Those who sow are the ones who plant. But when harvest times come and your veggie garden, your salsa garden is ready, you go in here, you pick your veggies, you harvest them, you reap your vegetables. Clear, are we clear on this? So this passage, Jesus is the one who plants or sows, but the disciples are reaping and harvesting. So let's go to verse 36. Verse 36, already the one who is reaping is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life. And this is where you stop as a good student of the Bible and you say, okay, what are the wages and what is the fruit of eternal life? Well, the wages, again, Jesus is not speaking physically here. It's not money. It's the spiritual reward for the work of the gospel, which Jesus answers very clearly for us at the end of this verse. It's joy. And if you think, well, that sounds very underwhelming, then that shows me that you've never experienced the joy of seeing the fruit of gospel work. Because when you see and experience the fruit of gospel work, it is better than all the money in the world. The joy of seeing people receive and flourish in the gospel, there's nothing like it. Jesus is saying to the disciples, He says, you guys haven't even gotten to experience the pleasure of heaven yet, but you are already receiving your eternal reward because you're getting to experience the joy of gospel work. Because that's what Jesus means when he talks about gathering the fruit of eternal life. When Christians share the gospel with others and people believe in the name of Jesus for eternal life, well, that's experiencing the joy of gospel work. That's reaping the harvest of eternal life and then Jesus says this he says so that the sower and the reaper so the planter and the picker may rejoice together Jesus is saying the reward or the wages of what we get for gospel work is joy and again if that sounds underwhelming to you you've just shown that you haven't experienced the joy of gospel work because once you experience that, it's better than everything else. And I just want to say, that's what I want to be a part of. I want to be a part of gospel work with gospel people doing God's work in this world. I'm sick of the political strife. I'm sick of the cultural brokenness. I just want to share the gospel and hang out with gospel people, and I want to rejoice in my Savior as part of that work. Is anybody here with me? Church, this is all about laboring together. Together. Gathering on Sunday morning, then dispersing and going out. Doing this together. That the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. Look at verse 37 and verse 38. Jesus says here, for the saying holds true, one sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. So there's a lot going on here. Let's just do a Bible study here. Jesus is saying, yes, yes, boys, you've got a job to do, but remember, you can't take all the credit. You're just continuing what someone else started here. Because that's gospel work. We are continuing the work that started so long ago. It's just our time. The question is, is are you going to respond in this moment because it's your time to? Our job is to share the gospel, but let me remind you that we cannot make anyone believe that's the Holy Spirit's work. That's why we can't take all the credit. We share the gospel and we let the Holy Spirit do the work in someone's heart, but it's our job to share the gospel. Our job is to continue the work of the gospel, but now, once we do that, it's people's turn to receive. Church, we need to give people a chance to respond to the gospel by sharing the gospel with them. The woman that Jesus had been speaking with, remind you, let me remind you, she'd already gone back into the town to tell people about Jesus. And just as Jesus said, the fields are ready for harvest, people are ready to receive the gospel, they receive what she says, they want to come see for themselves. Go to verse 39. So many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony. He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed for two days, and many more believed because of his word. Church, it's our job to model Christ. It's our job to tell people about him, but then we have to let the Holy Spirit do his work. But we have to do ours as well. So ease your soul from being the burden of someone's Savior. You're not, Jesus is. Also ease your soul from the burden of this is of thinking that you you do this in order to attain or retain your salvation. That's that's an act of grace. We don't respond in order to receive salvation, we respond because we have received salvation. But people have to hear the gospel so that they can get a chance to receive it, and that's what Christians do. Verse 42, they said to the woman, it's no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. So Christians in the house, hear me on this. As we go out there and share the gospel, it's not your job to fulfill some sort of quota about how many souls lead to Christ. You lead to Christ. Your job is not to fulfill a quota, your job is to be faithful to Christ. So it's like this. Let's say that you work on a farm and the boss comes and says, hey, I'm going away for a little bit, go out and work in the field and go out and pick the corn. And you say, okay, okay, boss, how much, how many bushels you want me to pick today? And the boss says, it's not, it's not about how many bushels you gather. You just keep working until the end of the day or until I return. There are numerous parables in the Bible that are just like that, making that point that Jesus has left, but he's left us with a job to do. And we do that job until God calls us home or until our king returns So whether Christ returns or you breathe your last breath either way you must be found doing the king's business Church. When Christ returns, what will he find you doing? With your last breath. What will you be doing because I'm here to warn you about something. Christians in the house, let's be real honest with ourselves. Some of you work really hard at your job, but you've gotten real lazy with the King's work. You crush it at your job. You get in those promotions, you're advancing every opportunity, you're seizing the day. You're advancing in your kingdom of this world, but you're not working for the kingdom of God and His business. Some of you are real good at swinging a hammer, but you have not yet once ever shared the name of Jesus. Some of you are real good at twisting wires, some of you are real good at closing that sale, but you haven't ever actually shared the name of Jesus. Before I go on sabbatical, I just want to lay an enormous challenge before us all that I am also giving to myself, that we're not going to let this summer go by without doing the King's work. Amen. If you're a Christian in the house, let me just tell you, you don't do this alone. You do this with the truth of God's Word and with the power of the Holy Spirit. Your job is to continue the gospel work until you're called home or the King returns. Let me give you a couple of verses to encourage you. Colossians 3 says, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 1 Corinthians 10 says, whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God. Christians, where do you serve God? Where do you serve God that's advancing the name of Jesus? Where are you given financially to the work of the name of Jesus? Jesus says to us, look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest. Now is the time. Yes, this is a terrible time to be alive, but it's also an amazing time to be alive. This is an amazing time to be alive. The opportunities are just endless for Christians right now to go out there and share the gospel. So are you doing it or are you just sitting lamenting, posting about how terrible the world is right now? This is the time God's given to us in all the history of the world. God decided for you to be born at this time. How amazing is that? So get to work. Join in the gospel work of what Christ has started. He invites you into the king is coming back. Let's be found preparing for his return because church. Let me remind you, Jesus reveals that he has a job to do. And so do we. Our king has died on the cross in our place for our sins and then he conquered death when he rose again on the third day. Why wouldn't you share that? So church, the gospel is such a wonderful beautiful thing. We're gonna actually gonna we're gonna celebrate the gospel right now through having communion together and my prayer is that it spiritually nourishes you to go and do the King's work. So let's prepare our hearts right now. Let's pray as we prepare for communion.

Divine Discipline or Unfair Treatment? Theology Stephanie Delger Podcast Host Mom Guilt Podcast Published On: Is God Too Harsh? Genesis 3:16 “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” What do morning sickness, fighting with your husband, and labor pain have in common? They are all a result of the fall. What’s more, they are all painful things that women face. When I read this verse, I do wonder momentarily, is God being mean to women? This seems harsh. Is this fair? This is one of those hard passages for women. So let’s look carefully at the text and try to understand what God is saying. Sin has consequences. Adam and Eve sinned, and now the world is fallen (broken). Eve questioned God’s goodness and believed the lie that she should be in charge rather than God. Then, rather than help her husband follow God’s commands, she led him into sin. Eve would see the devastating impact sin would have on all her relationships. Eve was now alienated from God her creator and told that pain would infiltrate her relationships with her husband and children. Pain In Childbearing God tells Eve, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.” Women know this to be true. Nausea, headaches, body aches, ligament pain, back pain, swelling, and many other ailments start even before it’s time to deliver our babies. The greatest pain most women feel, happens during the many hours of childbirth. But the pain doesn’t stop in the delivery room for a mother. The postpartum contractions bring pain as her body tries to bring its internal organs back to their pre-pregnancy size. Women have post-operative pain with episiotomies or c-sections. The statement “in pain you shall bring forth children” rings true. The word pain in this verse, can be translated as “painful toil.” {1} When God tells Eve that childbirth will be painful, He is referring to both physical and emotional pain. Death, miscarriage, and infertility are now a part of our lives as women. Sometimes we yearn to hold a baby in our arms that God has taken or never given in the first place. This is a result of sin entering into the world. I have cried out to God in moments of intense pain, “Don’t you care God?” “How can you be good if you just let this happen?” The answer is yes. Yes, God is good and yes, God cares. In fact, God cares more than you or I ever could. This was never part of God’s good design. God grieves the consequences of sin more than you or I ever could. This is because He is the only being who sees the full extent of sin’s consequences and the pain it inflicts. In our moments of anguish, we must remember that pain and suffering are a result of the fall. In these moments, rather than being angry at God, we have the opportunity to draw near to Him. We have the chance to grieve with God over the devastating consequences that sin has brought into the world. Pain In Marriage God goes on to tell Eve, “Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” Not only will childbirth be painful, the relationship babies come from, will be painful as well. Eve’s marriage will be impacted by the consequences of sin. God’s beautiful design for marriage will become distorted. Adam’s role of headship wouldn’t always feel like a blessing to Eve. Eve’s desires would no longer be pure and good. The word “desire” here is very much like the word “desire” we read about in the next chapter of the Bible. [2] In Genesis 4:7, God warns Cain, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” This desire Eve would have for her husband, would not be a healthy desire. Eve would be tempted towards two extremes. On one hand, she would try to fight Adam for the leadership role in marriage. Eve would struggle to submit to Adam’s authority, which God had placed her under. On the other hand, she would have too much desire for her husband. Eve would be tempted to place her desire for Adam above her desire for the Lord. God should be first in our life, but now Eve would be tempted to place Adam in the role reserved only for God. Eve and every wife after her, is left to fight these temptations. We struggle to follow the Lord and the design that He created for marriage. God’s Grace I want to circle back to our original question, “Is God being fair to Eve?” I believe the answer is actually... no. If God was being fair, he would have given the just punishment of death to both Adam and Eve as soon as they sinned. Eve would never have lived to hear the consequences of her sin. God warned Adam and Eve that if they ate the fruit, they would die. Rather than being fair, God chose to show them grace. God lets them live. And not only does God let them live, He promises to save them. God, before talking to Eve, tells Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) Eve heard the painful consequences of her sin with this promise ringing in her ears. Eve was shown that sin leads to pain. These two things are forever connected, but God promised that He would send a savior. God would send someone, a descendent of Eve, who would take the painful punishment that we deserve. This descendent would experience the pain that sin deserves and come out victorious. This is exactly what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. In the gospels, the writers tell us that Jesus refused wine mixed with myrrh on his way to be crucified. In the ancient world, wine was mixed with myrrh to numb or dull the senses. It was customary for those being crucified to drink this myrrh/wine so that they wouldn’t experience the full force of pain. Yet, we see that Jesus denies this drink. Jesus knew that in order to take our place on the cross, he needed to feel every ounce of the judgment that our sin deserves. He needed to feel the pain that sin inflicts. Jesus felt every strike of the nails, every sting of the thorns placed around his head, every sliver of wood piercing his already mutilated back. He felt this pain so that you and I wouldn’t have to. Jesus experienced both the physical pain and the spiritual pain that sin deserves on the cross. When we feel pain, rather than questioning if God is loving, we can remember all He has done for us. God is our loving savior who cares for us. There is a day coming when we will no longer feel the pain of sin. Someday, we will see Jesus. We will see the scars covering his body. We will see the proof that He took our place and bore our punishment. We will fall down at the feet of our Savior, forever singing praises of his goodness and grace. References: Hughes, R. K. (2012). Paradise Lost: Curse and Judgement. In Genesis: Beginning and blessing (pp. 88). essay, Crossway. Hughes, R. K. (2012). Paradise Lost: Curse and Judgement. In Genesis: Beginning and blessing (pp. 88). essay, Crossway More Blogs You'll Like Do the Resurrection Accounts Contradict? How differences in the Gospel accounts strengthen rather than undermine the credibility of the resurrection Read More What is 'Probably' Missing From Most Nativity Sets Miracle, Myth, or Meteor? Identifying What the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ Truly Was Read More Is The Bible Really Without Error? A Closer Look at Scripture’s Reliability, Inerrancy, and Historical Trustworthiness Read More

The Glory Is Forever Sermon Series: Contender Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Jude 24-25 Transcript Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, amen. So I'm at the point in my life, I'm old enough, I should say, to where all of my grandparents are gone. Thankfully, praise be to God, all of my grandparents called upon the name of the Lord as their savior. And so I know I'll see them all again one day and I was blessed to have three sets of grandparents when I was growing up And every single one of my grandparents told me something taught me something Beautiful about love and life and what it means to be a great grandparent And I was also at the bedside for a few of them as they left this world for the next world. If you've ever been in that situation, you know those are very powerful moments. And I remember when my grandfather was nearing the end of his time. He only had a few days left, and I was sitting there with him and my mom, and my grandfather just kind of stared off into the distance for a moment. And my mom said to him, dad, what are you thinking about? And he said this, and this was both haunting and sobering to me. This is like a tattoo on my soul. I'll never forget, not just those words, but how he said those words in that moment. My mom said, what are you thinking about dad? And my grandfather said, it all went so fast. The Bible is really clear on how short the human lifespan actually is. Psalm 39 says, show me the measure of my days, Lord, show me how fleeting my life is. James chapter 4 says that your life is a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. I love how Psalm 103 says it. Psalm 103 says, men are like grass. We flourish like a flower and then the wind passes over us and we're gone. The Bible's really clear. Our life is very short. And for the watching world, for those who are just listening to this, that may sound really sad. That probably doesn't sound like good news. But if you are a Christian, if you know your destiny, if you know what Jesus has done for you, and you've called that upon your own life and faith, then you know eternity is not the black nothingness that we will eventually vanish into. Eternity is full of hope and glory. Eternity is heaven and heaven awaits us. That's what it means to be a Christian. That we don't fear the night, we long for the dawn. But I'm here to tell you, when that day comes, when you sit and you say, it all went so fast, I wonder what are you doing from now until then? Are you doing things that show that you approach that day with great anxiety, or are you living a life that shows that you're approaching that day with great anticipation? What are you doing from now until the day where you say, it all went so fast because I'm here to tell you that day is coming so much sooner than you could possibly imagine. You will blink and that day will be here. So what are you doing now so that on that day, you don't look back and wish you had done something else? Are you living in the ways that God has called us to live? Do you approach that day with anxiety or anticipation? Because I'm telling you, there's only one way you can approach that day with great anticipation, and that is through the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through him and his gospel promises that we can long for eternity, that we don't have to fear it. And so I'm here today to tell you about him, and his name is Jesus Christ. So would you please, in your Bibles, open to the book of Jude. It's the second to the last book of the Bible, quick reference there. This is our final message in our four-part series on this letter. And if you've been joining us for the last number of weeks, you know that we are arriving to the last verses of Jude. Jude, we call it a book, but it really was a letter. It was a letter that a brother of Jesus wrote to Christians. And it's a short letter. It's so short, there's no chapters. There's only verses. And we're going to look at verses 24 to 25 here today. And we're going to look at this one beautiful, profound idea. And it's this, that glory is eternal. See, when you read Jude, you find out that he has kind of one main idea he's trying to get across to Christians, and that's that we need to contend for the faith. That on this side of eternity, there's gonna be a struggle. There's gonna be opposition. And so we are to stand strong. We are to contend for the faith. And as we get to these final verses, Jude does something amazing. He shares a doxology with us, and we'll get to what that is in just a moment. But right now, let's just read the last two verses of Jude as we close up this series. And so I would ask, if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word? the letter of Jude verses 24 and verses 25 Not to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy To the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory and majesty Dominion and authority before all time and now and forever Amen now and forever. Amen. Before you have a seat, let's take a moment, let's just pray together. Father of glory, would you be with us here and now through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that we would know your truth more deeply today, that we might live more fully for the name of Jesus, our Lord, God, and Savior. And Lord God, we do say these things and we pray these things with those throughout the ages who have said to yours be the glory and the power and the majesty forever, forever and ever. Amen. And amen. Go ahead and have a seat. Church, I will say it plainly today. I hope that you are impacted by the notion that we're not just talking about eternal things. As we close up this letter from Jude, and I pray it's been a blessing, an enriching and challenging blessing for you as we've walked through this letter together. But for those who weren't here, let me just kind of recap real quick. We're on week four, the final week, but here's what we looked at for the last few weeks. Week one, we looked at this notion that the fight is now, that we are to contend for the faith right here, right now. Not tomorrow, not later, not after you graduate, not after you have kids, not after the kids leave the house. The fight is now. We are to contend right now. Then at week two, we looked at how the judgment is real. And that may sound scary, but what that actually tells us is that our life has meaning, our life has purpose, our actions really do matter. They matter so much that our actions will be held to account at the end of all things. You are not just an amoeba that found its way to existence in this universe. You are a person made in the image of God and that matters and that means something and your actions mean something. And so week two we had a very sober reminder that the judgment is real. But last week we looked at how we are to contend for the faith because the purpose is personal. That God doesn't just call a nation or a church, he calls individuals. And so we are to have a personal faith because we have a personal God and a personal Savior. The creator of the universe has revealed himself not just as Lord, God, and master, but as our Father. He calls us into a personal relationship and so we are to contend for the faith because the purpose is personal. And today, let it be known, as we wrap up this series, that we are to contend for the faith because the glory is forever. Hopefully you were reading along with me as we read this passage together. And if you did, you'd notice this is one sentence in two verses. Let's just go ahead and make it three points today, shall we? So let's look at this first one. The glory is forever, so contend, because God is your strength. So after Jude's epic call to contend for the faith, he begins to close this letter with what's known as a doxology. Maybe some of your Bibles have that as a heading right here. Doxology is a combination of two Greek words, the word for glory and the word for, well, words. A doxology is words of glory. So a doxology is a praise giving God the glory and Jude starts the end of his letter with a doxology which starts like this. The first part of verse 24. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. Let's just stop right there for a moment. The him, make no mistake, is God. And what is stumbling? Well, in short, it's sin. Through the salvation we have in Jesus Christ and through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit within us, God is able to keep you from stumbling, to keep you from tripping and falling into sin. Through the salvation we have with Jesus, this is possible and attainable and given to us. But here's the reality, too many Christians do not know this because we rely on our own strength. This is one of the saddest things I see about Christians is we try to live this life based on our own strength and this is why we continue to fall into sin, this is why we continue to stumble. If you're trying to live life on your own strength let me just ask you how is that going? Probably not very well and I'll tell you this, the older I get, the more I realize one of the great faults of men is our inability or our unwillingness to ask for help. I would, for some reason, rather spend three hours in the garage trying to fix my truck myself when I could just call my dad or my father-in-law or my friend to come help me, who could turn what I would take into three hours, they could make it one hour. But no, I'm going to do it myself because apparently I like to waste my life in the garage. What is with us that we just won't ask for help? Men, you need to understand, pride truly does come before the fall. Let me just get very real for a moment. Too many men are trapped in the addiction of pornography when help is so abundantly available but we just can't bring ourselves to ask for that help. Whether shame, fear, or pride, Christian you need to understand the church is here to help you. We are called to carry each other's burdens. If you are a slave to pornography, call out to a brother in Christ. I guarantee if that brother loves the Lord, he will say, I will fight this battle with you, I will carry this burden with you. We have a whole group at church here willing to help men do that so they can find victory in the name of Jesus over this demonic thing called pornography that's a blight on our society. We are meant to carry each other's burdens. We're meant to be in fellowship. You are meant to be connected. The Christian who says they don't need the church is, well, I'll just tell you, I feel very sad that a person comes to that point. When we are meant to be together, God is our help and he uses his church so that Christians can have that help. But Christians don't rely on God for help. And we don't ask God for help. And I'm gonna say something right now that's gonna sting a little bit. So I'm gonna give you a moment. Breathe, prepare your heart for this. The reality is, many of us do not ask for help because we don't want help because you love your sin. You love your sin and you love the brokenness and you're too fearful to part with it because the truth is, is you love the sin more. If that's you, my friend, then you hear me. You're not contending for the faith. You've surrendered to sin. And Christian, Christian men, is this really what you want? Is this really the type of man that you wanna be, that you'll just roll over and let sin have its way with you? We are called to contend, men and women, we're called to contend for the faith with the power of the Holy Spirit within us through the gospel of Jesus. We are meant to fight. My friends, we need to remember that we contend for the faith because the glory is forever. We're in the business of eternity. So let me level with you for a moment. We're talking about eternity here, and I fully recognize that some of us right now, you can't think about eternity because you just want to get through this next season. You can't think about eternity because you just want to get through this next week. Maybe some of you, you just want to get through the day. If that's you, call upon the Lord. But remember, we must always keep the long view before us. Christians are the ones who recognize that we are part of eternity. I think most of us realize, unfortunately, either first hand or second hand, most of us realize that a momentary sin can lead to a lifetime of hurts I'm sorry to tell you this But I'm here to tell you it's even worse than that It's not just a lifetime of hurt, but a momentary sin is a an eternal offense against the Holy God I'm sorry your actions really do matter. And when we sin, we can, yes, we run the risk of ruining things for a lifetime, but we also have to understand that when we sin, that's an offense against an eternally holy God. We're dealing with eternity here. We're dealing with an eternal glory that God is calling us to, but many of us are forsaking it for this momentary pleasure we call life. This is why God has said that he knows he's the one that needs to step in, that we have the strength to do this on our own. We cannot save ourselves, that's why God sent his son to die on the cross in our place for our sin, to pay the penalty for our sin, and on the third day rise again so that we could have eternal life, and in that eternal life God is still our help. He's still our strength. He still steps in. Because God knows what we're dealing with. We're dealing with a forever glory. We are to contend for the faith because God is our strength. And this leads to the second thing, that the glory is forever. So contend because the joy is your hope. So let's go back to verse 24 and let's complete the thought here. I started off by saying, not to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, but let's focus on this next part. And to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. I want to share a few things that hopefully forever change how much you love that phrase. So I understand that not any one person can understand all things, but I want all of us here to understand this one thing. My friends, the presence of God is the most terrifying place in all existence of any reality. Only that which is blameless, sinless, faultless, and holy can be in the presence of God. And even the thought of entering the presence of God with even an ounce of sin should fill you with terror. Now imagine entering the presence of God with a life of sin. You cannot do it, you will be destroyed. This is why the prophet Isaiah, when he was given just a vision of God's throne room, his only response was, woe is me, I am undone. My friends, but we know the good news. That through Jesus Christ, the presence of God is not to be feared, it's to be longed for. Why? Because through Christ we are brought blameless into God's presence. So instead of terrifying fear, we long for the presence of God with overwhelming joy. And this is not because of anything we've done, but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us through his life, death, and resurrection. Church, Why do we contend for the face? Because we know the outcome. The war has been won. And yes, there's a little battle between now until eternity and until glory, but we know our destiny. It's one of joy. It's one of hope, not hope as in wishful thinking, but hope as an eager anticipation for our future is filled with joy. But you have to understand what Judah's saying here. And so let's read it again. To present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. You have to permit me to geek out for just a second here, okay? This is not just any old standard issue joy. Okay, in the New Testament, the common word for joy is kara. We find it about 60 times in the New Testament. It's a beautiful word. We love kara, joy. We want this joy. You learn it in Greek 101. But this word, this word that Jude uses here is a different word. It's a far more rare word. In fact, it's one word, it's one word in Greek, but it takes two English words to understand what is being said here. And this word, we only find a total of five times in the New Testament. Again, the common word for joy we find nearly six times. This word for joy we only see it five times in the entire New Testament. And it means exaltation, wild joy, ecstatic delight, here's my favorite definition, exhilaration. Do you remember that scene when Mary is pregnant with Jesus, and she goes to visit Elizabeth, and Elizabeth is also pregnant. Who's Elizabeth pregnant with, anybody remember? Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. So you got pregnant Mary with Jesus, comes to visit Elizabeth, who's pregnant with John the Baptist. And when Mary enters the room, you remember what John the Baptist does? He leaps for joy. This is one of those other times that we see this very rare word for joy. Exhilaration, thrill. What Jude is reminding us is that friends, we can anticipate heaven not just with hope as if that wasn't enough, but with thrill, with exhilaration. This is what the gospel does for us. When we should be utterly horrified at the notion of coming into the pure presence of God, yet through the cleansing blood of Jesus, we don't have to fear that moment, but it says that we are presented blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy. I understand not wanting to die, but we do not fear what's on the other side. Rather, we enter into eternity and the presence of God blameless, faultless. Think about all the wretched things you've done and thought in your life. You carry none of that into the presence of God because of Jesus Christ. Listen, I've never been to the spiritual realm. I don't know what it's like, but we get glimpses of it from the Bible. Let me just share a few things because it's beautiful, unlike anything we could experience here. We're told that God's throne, if you read the Bible, the God's throne is composed of rainbow. How beautiful is that? And you know that we talk, we often talk about the pearly gates of heaven. Do you know that that's actually biblical? The gates of heaven actually are made of pearl, not composite pearl, not a bunch of little pearls put together, but the gates of heaven are made out of one giant pearl. Imagine how beautiful that is. And it says that heaven is filled with the glory of God. As if English words could ever explain this. What is the glory of God? It is the radiating holiness and goodness of God. Heaven is to be longed for. And the Bible tells us that through Jesus, this is what we can anticipate. Who here knows who the duck commander is? Duck commander has a very famous quote. I love this. And I'm sure you probably heard this at some point. He says, I keep life simple. I spend as much time in the woods as I can. And we love God and we love our neighbor. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why more people don't get on board with this. I'll tell you what, that's how I feel about what we are talking about today. I just don't understand how more people don't wanna get on board with this. Like literally, what in the world, what in this world do you think is better than what we are talking about that you would wanna give yourself to the things of the world rather than what the Bible is describing here. What in the world do you think is better than this? Like literally, what in the world do you think is better than what we're talking about here? For the life of me, I cannot understand why more people do not get on board with this. The only thing I can understand is that you just love the brokenness and you love the sin of the world this much. And that is just painfully sad. For the life of me, I cannot understand why more people don't get on board with this. The future of heaven is waiting for us after this fleeting life, which is our last point. The glory is forever, so contend because heaven is your future. My friends, in the grand scheme of things, you must understand understand that heaven is just around the corner. I want to stop for a moment. I want to pull you back in because too many of us are just listening to a preacher preach right now. You're not listening to what I'm saying. And I am desperate for you not just to be listening to a preacher preach. I want you to hear what I'm saying. In the grand scheme of things, you are going to blink and you yourself are going to say, it all went so fast. So what are you doing right now that you'll be thankful for in that moment? Because that day is coming, it is coming so fast. And you must remember that if you are in Christ, then heaven is your future. And the last verse of Jude says this, verse 25, says, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory and majesty and dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. And so, Jude, what he does here, Jude ends his letter with modeling something that's so important for us. And it's that God gets the glory. That all of this is about bringing God glory. Church, put God's glory into your vocabulary. Those two words, God's glory, talk about God's glory. Speak that to your family, speak that to your children and grandchildren, use, bring God's glory, those words into your vocabulary. Let's practice right now. Let's say God's glory together. Ready, one, two, three. God's glory. See, you didn't need me to say it, you got it. Bring it into your vocabulary. Bring it into the language of your family that our lives are meant to be lived unto God's glory because God's glory is the highest good. So when we live unto God's glory, we're living our lives unto the highest possible good. Why would you give your lives to anything less than that? And look at the word choice that Jude uses here. Glory, majesty, dominion, authority. Let's talk about those real quick. Glory. We already said this. It's God's powerful control over creation. And authority, meaning God's sovereign right to have control over creation. So what does dominion and authority mean? It means God has the power and the rights to be over all. And as Jude says, this is before all time, now, and forever. The past, the present, and the future. And our future is heaven with God. And I can't help but read this verse and not think about experiencing this day, the day that will come oh so quickly. I'll tell you one thing that I think men in particular, I'll tell you one thing that I think men gotta do more of these days. And that's sit on the tailgate of an old truck and talk about God's goodness with one another. A couple years ago I was doing just that with a friend of mine who was struggling with his faith and here's what he said to me. He said, you know, when it comes to the gospel, the thing I can't get around is how boring heaven sounds. I said, boring? What are you talking about boring? He said, I get that we can't be good enough to enter into heaven, that Jesus needs to die for our sins. He said, I fully understand that, but I cannot get excited about heaven. I said, why man, it's paradise. It's paradise. And this is what he said. He said, I'm sorry, I'm just not looking forward to sitting there, worshiping God forever and ever and ever and ever. He said to me, dude, I get bored after three worship songs at church. I said, brother, you are looking at this from such the wrong angle. You are missing the boat big time here. I said, first of all, if heaven is not a 24-7 worship service like what you think it is. Heaven is a place. Heaven is a city. And in this place we will have responsibility. Or to put it another way, we'll have a job to do. And if you think that that sounds like not a good thing, let me just tell you, no, no, no. This is the job that fills our hearts. This is the job that we're meant to do. This is the job that fills our heart with joy. And in heaven, our fellowship and friendship with other people will be perfect. There's no gossip and there's no backstabbing. There's no criticism. It is joy. It is how things are meant to be. And so let me tell you what this means because it'll blow your mind. When we say God is eternal, what this means is it does not matter how long you are in heaven, there will always be more to learn about him. That is the mind-boggling reality of the infinite. See, you have to understand who we're talking about when we're talking about God. Boring in His presence? Please. However long we travel down the road of heaven, the path ahead of us is always longer than the path behind. And that's a beautiful, powerful thing. And definitely it should humble us, but one thing it should not do is make us think this is boring. I said, you're thinking about heaven as a person still stained by sin, but in heaven, your heart is free to do that which it was meant to do, to worship God in the presence of God, where our hearts were never so full as they will be in that moment. My friends, if you're struggling with this, let me just posit this right clearly before you. You've got two options. Option A, things are just the way that they are. Neither good nor bad, and you can debate all the live long day with people on the other side of the aisle about how things should be, but either way, things just are the way they are. That's one option. Or the other option is that things are not how they're meant to be. That there truly is an objective standard from which creation has fallen. And I'm here to tell you, I think if you're honest with your own heart, you realize things are not the way they are meant to be. That there is something better, truly something better. There's a standard for which all the creation should be at, but we've fallen from that. You have two options before you, so I ask you to think carefully about which reality you wanna live in. Because I think in your heart, you know this to be true, there is a way things are meant to be and this is not it. But I'm telling you, in heaven it is. And the awesome thing about heaven is that at the end of all things, God will make heaven and earth one. Did you know that? God will recreate all things so that heaven and earth are one. And did you know in the new heavens and the new earth, that there will be no sun? Because we won't need a sun because God will be our light. This is the beauty of what we get to look forward to. Or if you think things are just the way they are, then you get to live in a universe that will eventually experience heat, death, and slowly expand forever into the infinite void. And if you think that's what your life is, if you think that's the end of your life, I'm here to tell you there is a better story being told and being written, and God is the author. Because the glory is forever. In heaven we realize what we know in our hearts to be true, that there is a way that things are meant to be, and we get to experience it for all time. I said to my friend, board, please. And then I quoted this line from Amazing Grace. When the song Amazing Grace says this, it says, when we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Boring? In some beautiful way, it only ever gets better. Listen to me, my friends. We get to live right now, your life, in light of eternity, the eternity that God is calling us into. And so contend for the faith because the glory is forever. Amen. Amen. Can we stand and let's prepare our hearts to worship.

PODCAST That's a Good Question Sanctity of Life: Looking at Abortion Through A Biblical Lens January 15, 2024 Jon Delger & Rachel Bailey Listen to this Episode Jon Oh Hey everyone, welcome to That's a Good Question, a podcast of Peace Church and a part of Resound Media. You can find more great content for the Christian life and church leaders at resoundmedia.cc . That's a Good Question is a place where we answer questions about the Christian faith in plain language. I'm Jon, I get to serve as a pastor here at Peace Church. I also get to serve as the weekly host of this show. You can always submit questions at peacechurch.cc/questions . Now we had planned to do a second episode in our marriage series this week, an episode on men's, because last week we talked about women and their role in marriage in our series going through Ephesians chapter five. You can find the sermons that go along with that series at resoundmedia.cc or at peacechurch.cc . But due to the snow and all that kind of weather going on this past weekend, we actually postponed that. So it's going to be one week back. So next week, tune in to That's a Good Question. We're going to be answering questions talking specifically about the role of men in marriage. But instead, this week, we're going to be talking about sanctity of life. This Sunday is actually Sanctity of Life Sunday. We're going to talk more about that in a minute. But I'm here today with Rachel Bailey, the executive director of the Alpha Women's and Family Center. Rachel, welcome. Rachel Thank you. It's good to be here. Jon Great to have you. Excited to talk about Sanctity of Life. The Alpha Women's and Family Center is an organization that has a lot to do with protecting life and caring for people. We'll get into that in just a minute. But yeah, this Sunday is Sanctity of Life Sunday, and it's a Sunday that churches especially take to get to celebrate and reflect on the value of life and especially the value of unborn human lives. So we're going to take a few questions on that topic. Ready to rock? Rachel I'm ready. Jon Cool. Let's do it. Producer Mitchell, you want to hit us with some questions? Mitchell Yep, here we go. Why do churches talk about abortion? Isn't this a political issue? Question #1: Why do churches talk about abortion? Isn't this a political issue? Jon Shouldn't the church not interfere in politics? Yeah, good question. So let's talk about that. Why do churches talk about abortion? Is it political or is it biblical? My quick answer to that is that this is actually not a political issue, this is a biblical issue, this is a Bible issue. The Bible speaks to it pretty clearly in several places. To think of one, in the Psalms, Psalm 139 talks about being knit together in the womb, that human beings are knit together by God in the womb. Other parts of scripture talk about, I think of David, even speaking about his son in the womb as a person, a human being who is alive. Rachel, any scripture you want to add to that list? Rachel Yeah, I mean I think of, yeah, just the idea of us being image bearers in general, going back to Genesis. You know, we don't start to become an image bearer of God once we are born. That is from the very beginning, from our very conception. So because of that, yeah, it's not a political issue. Sometimes it becomes a political issue, and in some ways, maybe that's okay, because it becomes really, it goes out to more people. It's shown in the world more often. But the church should really care about it as well. The church should care about life because the Bible cares about life and our Lord cares about life. Jon Yeah, amen. Yeah. Yeah, so it's a biblical issue, something that God speaks to. It's a moral issue. And like you were saying, it's not a bad thing that it becomes a political issue because I've said many times, you know, politics is not a bad thing. Politics literally means like the affairs of the city, you know, the palace is the city. So politics are just the affairs of the city. It's the things going on in our world. So in fact, it's a really good thing that a biblical value like life and unborn human life goes out into the world and becomes an actual issue that we talk about. So it's not bad that it's a political issue, but, you know, this is not, when we talk about abortion in the church, it's not an instance of the church becoming too political, getting engaged in things that are beyond its jurisdiction. This is the church talking about what God's Word says and how it applies to everyday life. Rachel Yeah, correct. Jon So, one other one would be like John the Baptist jumps in Elizabeth's womb, his mother's womb. You know, there's a story of him already celebrating the coming of the Messiah when Elizabeth and Mary come together. Or you could think of even Romans 9, scripture talks about God thinking about Jacob and Esau even before they're born. So I think all over the place it's clear that scripture sees human beings as made in God's image of inherently valuable. They're not the same as animals, they have special and unique value, and that their life begins before they are birthed in the womb. So I think that's clear in scripture, but also we could say it's even clearer outside of Scripture. I think we could make arguments from science that it's true that human life is going on before the baby comes out of the womb. Rachel Right, yeah. I mean, you think about viability has changed, and 21 weeks and 5 days right now, scientifically, a baby can be viable outside of the womb. And so, they're fully formed enough to be able to take their first breaths outside of the womb, with help of course. And again, I do hesitate to share that number because it has changed even in the last few years. It has changed to be even lower. And so I definitely could see it, seeing a baby be viable outside of the womb even earlier than that in the coming years. But yeah, and a heartbeat is detectable at six weeks. I remember going in for my ultrasound around eight weeks and hearing my baby's heartbeat for the first time and just the joy and excitement over that and realizing, yes, this is a human life that is valuable even at this early moment. Jon And one of the other interesting scientific things I've heard about is the spark of life that scientists have observed when the egg and the sperm meet each other, there is actually some kind of change that immediately happens, a spark that can be seen, visible, that life comes to be when the egg and the sperm meet each other. So in the Bible and in science we can see evidence that there is life going on in the womb. So let me just kind of even zoom out a little bit and talk about kind of how we're coming at this topic. So if you're listening to this, and we just wanna be abundantly clear about the biblical worldview and perspective about where life begins and about the value of human life. And we are saying that then resulting that abortion is the ending of a human life. And so that becomes a moral problem. But I also wanna right away jump in and say, if you're listening to this and you are somebody who has had an abortion, I just want to speak in your mind that that is not the unforgivable sin. Jesus died to take away all sin. When we put our faith in Him as our Lord and our Savior and our treasure, our sin is taken away, including the sin of abortion. So I want to be abundantly clear about what the Bible says, but I don't want that clarity to also result in condemnation. Think of passages like Romans 8, 1 that says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So if you're listening and coming from that place, you've been involved in some capacity as a mom or as a dad or as a friend or as a grandma and grandpa, some way related to an abortion or as a health care worker, that's the gospel news from Jesus that all sin can be free. There's no sin that's too big for the cross. So whatever situation we're coming from at this topic, we want to just be really clear about a biblical worldview and what Scripture does say about this important topic. Mitchell I think that's a great place to jump into our next question. Should there be exceptions to abortion in certain situations. Question #2: Should there be exceptions to abortion in certain situations? Rachel Yeah, so that is kind of the sticking point for a lot of people. Many people even consider themselves pro-life, but might say that there's quite a few exceptions to that rule where, you know, sometimes abortion is okay. I think we have to go back to the definition of abortion. It's, it's the killing of a baby and more specifically it's the violent killing of a child. There's a difference between abortion and an early labor as well. So again those exceptions might be something like rape or incest or something like the the mother, I just read about it this morning, a mother might be going through cancer treatment soon and and that baby can't survive with those cancer treatments, and so they need to deliver that baby early. That process of delivery is much different than the process of violently killing that child in the womb. And so I think that's where we really have to land is if we are truly pro-life, there isn't really any exceptions for abortion. There might be times when early labor is required to save either the baby or the mom, but that's very different. Jon Yeah, right. Yeah, I mean those situations that you bring up are horrible situations. You know, take the instance of rape, for example. What an awful situation, can't imagine. And And yet what we're saying is that this additional wrong, this additional horrible thing of killing a child violently isn't the solution. Mom and child have now been put into an incredibly difficult situation as a result of that terrible act. But the solution isn't abortion. There are other solutions. Let's try to have that human life receive the best care and love as possible, as well as that mother. Rachel Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and rape and incest specifically, there's no real reason to punish the child or punish the mother for the sins of the father that brought those about. And yeah, that's just really important to remember. And specifically, abortion isn't just something that ends the life violently of a baby. It also leaves the mother with a lot of trauma. There's a lot of research about that. And so do we really want to put a mother through even more trauma than she's already experienced? Jon Sure. Mitchell Yeah. Are pro-life people actually just pro-birth and do not care about women, mothers, and children after they're born? Question #3: Are pro-life people actually just pro-birth and do not care about women, mothers, and children after they're born? Jon Yeah, good question. So that's an accusation that's come against pro-life people quite a lot in the last couple of years. So the accusation or the argument is essentially to say, hey, you guys only advocate for unborn babies but you don't actually care about people after they're born or about mothers who have just had a child, who haven't had an abortion. And so you say you're pro-life, but you're not actually pro-life, you're just pro that unborn baby, and that's all you care about. You're taking an idealistic stance on that one issue and not actually caring for life in general. Now, I would argue that that's not true. And actually, the Alpha Women's and Family Center is one example of how that's not true. Rachel, do you mind sharing a little bit about how that is? Rachel Yeah, I think since starting my job at Alpha Women's and Family Center, I have just realized that that accusation is truly untrue. That a lot of the services that we provide are for after the mother has given birth to that baby or a family, a mom and a dad, that just want a little extra support. support, whether it's physical support like diapers and wipes and formula, we provide that or mentoring and parenting classes, we provide that as well. So there's just a lot of different opportunities for the church to step in and be the hands and feet after a baby is born. And I think part of the issue is that you hear a lot in the media and just around the world about abortion specifically. You don't hear as much about the solutions and resources after the fact, after a baby is born, or post-abortive care as well. But specifically after a baby is born, that's just not as glamorous, I would say, to talk about some of those really hard things where a mom and a dad just need a little bit extra help. And we're here for that. And we care about those families in our community that are struggling. Jon Yeah, yeah, exactly. So that's been that's been true for us at Peace Church. And in our relationship with ministries like the Alpha Women's and Family Center, as well as the Pregnancy Resource Center in Grand Rapids, each of those ministries supports, especially the mothers of children. And so I yeah, like you said, I think that accusation is untrue. But also, I kind of want to address even just the logic of the argument to say, OK, it's really not, you know, you're not actually answering our argument about abortion and the killing of a child. So, you know, get back to the issue instead of subverting. So, you know, let's say if it was true and if it was true that we were only pro unborn baby and not pro the other things. Now, you know, we should address that, but the answer is not to pull back and get weaker on advocating for the life of the unborn child. You know, that's not actually an argument about the topic. It's kind of a subversion, a step aside to sort of talk about a different issue instead of actually addressing the main issue of we want to advocate for those who absolutely can't advocate for themselves. If there was ever somebody who couldn't advocate for themselves as the unborn child, they have no way to do that. Mitchell For people or for people in churches who may hear that criticism and may feel convicted right now that maybe they aren't stepping as much into that after-birth care for women and children and families, where have you seen that? Like how would you respond to someone who's saying, yeah, you know what, I really care about unborn children, but maybe I need to grow a little bit. Rachel Yeah, I think if someone came to that realization, that's awesome. You know, of course we do care about that unborn child and that is so good that this person cares about this and is advocating for the voice of the unborn. But yes, there are lots of opportunities for individuals and churches to get involved with women and families once that child is in the world, and there's lots of needs. I can think of a few very specific ways that churches can get involved that here at PEACE we've gotten involved is supporting foster care families. We have quite a large group of foster care families here at Peace and adoptive families as well. And they are all very connected with each other. Peace has really helped facilitate that as well, helped facilitate that connection. So that's something you can do as a church is even just hosting a dinner for foster care families and adoptive families to just come together and share about the struggles and share about the joys and the beauty of being in that type of ministry. Another one is Care Portal, which is something that is somewhat new to Michigan, but it's something that we've been involved in here at Peace. And it connects churches to centers like Alpha Women's Center in Grand Rapids and Pregnancy Resource Center in Grand Rapids. And those centers will give out, will say a need that they have. So hey, we have this mom that came in that needs a crib. And these churches get to respond directly to that need. That is a really, you know, feet on the ground way to support families in our community. Again, being both pro-life at the beginning of life and once that baby is in the world and beyond. Mitchell Yeah, I like that. Can you say that website again? Yeah, Care Portal. Okay, we'll make sure to put that in the show notes for everyone. Jon Okay, perfect. Yeah. Rachel That's awesome. Jon Sounds good. Yeah, I love that. So, thinking back to New Testament times, Christians were known for being those that, you know, when a family would have a baby that they didn't want, that baby would literally end up on the trash heap, you know, at the city dump. It's an awful, tragic thing. But Christians were known for being those who went there and found those babies and took them home with them, to care for them. And so now, I mean, that's how we want to be known. We want to be known as the church, the Christians who are involved, who care, who not only advocate, but also reach in and try to help young moms and families and children. So whether that's through foster care, like you mentioned, or through partnering with Pregnancy Resource Center or Alpha Women's Center, supporting women. But yeah, we want to be known as those who show Jesus' love in that way by trying to reach in and support and help those. Awesome. Rachel, anything else you want to share about the Alpha Women's and Family Center, other ministry that you guys do? Rachel Sure, yeah. So Alpha Women's and Family Center is a small but mighty, I would say, ministry in Hastings. And so we serve all of Berry County. We do mentoring for moms and young families. They can come in. I'll even watch your kids while you come in and do mentoring. It's been quite fun to watch kiddos. And we offer parenting classes and all of those types of things. We also offer more material resources like I mentioned before, diapers, wipes, shampoo, some of the things that aren't covered on WIC as well. And we also pretty recently just started a clothing exchange that is open to the entire community. So anyone can come in and exchange their baby's clothes that are, you know, gently used for the next size up or if they're having a new baby for their new baby's clothes or whatever. So I really encourage you to check that out. We are located right next to the Wendy's so you can grab some lunch and then kind of come on over and visit us during the week. So yeah, those are some of the big things that are happening there right now. There's lots more things that are coming in this year, and that includes, we are in pretty extensive training right now to offer ultrasounds, limited ultrasounds at our facility. So that's really gonna change a lot of the dynamics of our center, but we're excited for it, we're ready for it. Really looking forward to hopefully bringing in more moms that just don't realize the value of that beautiful baby inside of them and maybe they get to see see and hear the heartbeat of that baby for the first time. That would be such a joy. So that's some of the awesome things we do. Yeah. Yeah. Jon Amen. That's awesome. Well, Rachel Thanks so much for your ministry and thank you so much for being here to get to talk with us. Just to remind everybody that this Sunday is Sanctity of Life Sunday, so great opportunity to get to remember, reflect on, pray for the value of unborn human life. Mitchell Can I ask one more thing? Jon Oh yeah. Mitchell Yeah. So if people wanted to connect with you, ask you more questions about this, or if they had questions or just wanted to see more about what you do. Where could they find you? Rachel Find Alpha? Yeah. So we have a website of alphawomenscenterbc.org and we also are on Facebook. My goal is to get us on Instagram as well. It's where all the trendy hip people are, you know. So you can look at any of those. My email is also on our website so you can go right on there and I will receive those emails directly and would love to connect with you. Jon Awesome. Yeah. You can find That's a Good Question at resoundmedia.cc or wherever you listen to podcasts.

A Psalm of Asaph Sermon Series: Honest to Goodness Bob Hudberg Care Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Psalm 75 Transcript Well, good morning Peace Church. So glad to have you with us here this morning. I am PB. I'm the pastor of care here and welcome to you in the chapel and in the chapel and the venue and online and obviously here in the main sanctuary. So I think we're just going to get started. Can we do that today? Is that right? Ladies. All right. All right. Let's to celebrate this man and I was in eighth grade. I was a really small guy about five foot three. I was liked by everyone in our school except one person. His name was Marty. Marty was the bully at our school at least to me. He was. I became a prime target for Marty on a regular basis. I was pushed into lockers and the typical things you see bullies do. They did. He did that to me. I tried to avoid him as much as I could. And I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was walking home had my trumpet case in my one hand and my books and the other hand and suddenly Marty and two of his friends were there, right before me. Marty pushed me to the ground. His friends took my stuff and Marty started hitting me. There was nothing that I could do. I had tried before. I was tired of this bullying, just beating me up all the time. The things that I had done did not stop him. I wanted someone to take care of this bully for me Unexpectedly there was this big arm that reached down and picked up Marty off of me And no it wasn't God. I Couldn't see who it was at first Because my hands were covering my face. This person said to Marty, I don't ever want to see you here again and I don't ever want to see or hear that you are bullying Bobby. It was my neighbor, Mr. Miller. He was my savior. He saw what was going on, what was wrong. Hello, I was getting beat up and he was able to take care of it for me. But Mr. Miller was also the judge and he found Marty guilty and he let him go with a warning. The nation of Judah was in the same situation around 701 B.C. The Assyrian army was attacking Judah and after the city of Jerusalem, the capital, where Hezekiah was the king. Now you have to understand that Hezekiah was a godly man and he wanted God to intervene. And if you were to read 2 Kings 19, 14-19, you would hear his prayer. You will see the intensity of his heart for his people. And in verse 19 it says, So now, O Lord, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone. Assyria was the bully. Jerusalem was the victim. Destruction, distress, disaster was prevalent all over the land. Questions were asked like, God, why are you allowing this to continue? When are you going to do something about it. Why does this have to go on much longer. God come and bring judgment on this nation. This person and the situation. Can you hear. Can you hear those questions being asked. And I think at some point all of us Today we look at Psalm 75 as we read Asaph's song. So I invite you to turn your Bibles, your cell phones, your tablets, if you're using the Bible that we provide, it's on page 618. The words are going to be on the screen and Asaph is writing this in a time of despair and difficulty. So follow along as I read. To the Choir Master, according to Do Not Destroy, a psalm of Asaph, a song. We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity. When all the earth totters and all of its inhabitants, it is I who keeps steady its pillars. I say to the boastful, do not boast. And to the wicked, do not lift up your horn. Do not lift up your horn on high or speak with a haughty neck, for not from the east or from the west or from the wilderness comes lifting up. But God is he who executes judgment for the hand of the Lord. There is a cup with foaming wine well mixed and he pours out from it and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. But I will declare it forever. I was saying praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked I will cut off but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up. Would you pray with me today. And father this morning as we look into Your Word, as we look at Psalm 75, may our eyes be open to what we see, our ears be open to what we hear, and our heart be ready to be changed. Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight today. In Jesus' name, Amen. I am sure that some of you have seen some of these TV shows about judges. My question today is, are you willing to admit it? How many have seen at least one judge show? Raise your hand. OK, I've never seen any of them. But what I have realized that in order to be a judge, you have to be someone like Steve Harvey. I want to sit in his court right. Steve Harvey the judge. That would be a blast. But the other judges all have had some kind of criminal background. They've been lawyers defense lawyers or justices at some point. And for whatever reason they decided to leave that world and join TV which I'm thinking is about money. Psalm 75 will help us to take an honest to goodness approach to our faith and our relationship with God, seeing who God is as a judge. So here's the main idea. If you're taking notes, God is a fair and a just judge. He's a fair and a just judge. We break this book down and I'm just going to go verse by verse today. It's only 10 verses. So we have the introduction in verse 1, verses 2 and 3. God controls the final judgment. Verses 4 and 5, God as a rebuker. 6 through 8, God is a sovereign judge. And then we come to the conclusion in verses 9 and 10. So are you ready to dive in. All right. Let's do it. First one. We had the introduction. Some kind of commentator suppose that the chief musician was either the Lord himself or somebody else who had that position to a leader of choirs. But either one could work. It really doesn't matter in this song because we're not using point of reference. But many of the Psalms were written to a melody entitled Do Not Destroy. In fact David used this melody or this poetic version in Psalm 57 and 58 and 59. Maybe you can understand it a little bit Oh, here we go. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. Was blind but now I see. What's the melody? Gilligan's Isle. Gilligan's Isle. All right, all right. Let's try one more. Let's see. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see. Don't say it yet. How many think you know what it is the melody. Oh yeah. Look at everybody over 50. Well not quite not quite. What's the melody. House of the Rising Sun. See now ASEF didn't do that but he just said you know what. Here's the words I'm going to use this melody and in some way he did the same same thing. So but we begin to look at this we try to understand because I think it's important that we understand all the background why he wrote what he did. We talked about the history. So let's get right into this. The first thing I see in verse one is this. The righteous anticipate judgment with praise. The righteous anticipate judgment with praise. Look what it said. We give thanks to the O God. And it says it two times. Give thanks today because judgment is near. Your name is near. But then we see to recount your wondrous works. So my question this morning is this, how many times do we need to remember what God has done in the past as we're living in the present. How many times has God intervened in your life in some capacity and you didn't necessarily see it then, but when you look back, you can see that he did it. And how many times it got work in such an incredible way that affected your lives. The psalmist says to keep track. Keep a journal of where you saw God work in your life. Why? Don't miss this. Because this is what will keep our faith authentic and this is what will keep God real. Keep track. Recount the ways that he's worked. So then he goes on to say this in verse 2, God controls the final judgment. It says in verse 2 that there is an appointed time. God controls the timing. God knows the day and the time. He knows the scope of history where it's going to fall. He knows what's best for the world and when it would be best for the world for him to come as judge. He knows all of that. He knows what's best for us. Jesus came as Savior. Nice cuddly baby. And then he will return as a judge. In Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 it says I saw heaven open and behold the white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true. And in righteousness he wages he judges and wages war Jesus Christ Savior went to heaven coming back as judge reminds me of the story of a young man who is drinking heavily and decided to go to take a swim in a California beach well fortunately there was an older gentleman who was there watching young man and when he entered the water the young man he didn't come back up for air. The older man ran to the slugging young man and saved his life. A few years later, that same young man was standing in court facing a sentence of drug charges. Suddenly, the young man realized the judge was the very same man that saved his life when he was drowning years earlier. He looked at the judge and he said, Sir, do you not recognize me? You saved my life. Don't you remember? The judge nodded his head and looked at the young man and said, Young man, then I was your savior. Now I am The thing we need to understand in the verse that verse that follows is that it is the fact of. God would judge with equity. God will be fair. He will be righteous. He will have uprightness. The judges on the TV show. They only hear that person's story. So they're going to make a decision based upon that. God knows all about us. He knows everything about us. Everything that happens in each one of our lives. There is nothing that happens without Him being aware of it. There's nothing that transpires without His hand in it. There is nothing that catches Him off guard. There is nothing that surprises Him. Nothing. Why? Because He's a God who judges with equity because He knows all about us. But then it goes on in verse 3 that He keeps the pillars steady, or He steadies the pillars. A while back, Pastor Ryan showed a picture of a barn that he had seen over the years the disintegration that was happening on that barn. And we realize that disintegration happens in our world on a regular basis. Our plants die. How many of you, your grass kind of died when we didn't have any rain there for a while? Like, okay, it's brown. What in the world? I'm not mowing brown grass, but every plant in our system is dissolving. What prevents the universe from completely dissolving. God. No force short of God. Families are dissolving. Societies are dissolving. Churches, some churches are dissolving. Nations are dissolving. Kingdoms are constantly breaking into pieces. Look around the world. In fact, don't even look around the world. Just look here in the United States to see that our world is falling apart. So let me ask, when your world is falling apart and things seem to be crumbling all around you, and it seems that the only effort that you do is like a Band-Aid, what do you do? What do you do? But when God decides to intervene No, let me change that when we decide to let God intervene He will be disability in our lives He is the only one that will keep us together When your marriage seems to be falling apart Can I encourage you to let God put it back together when your health is taking a wrong turn, let God work with those who are around you who love you and who want to help you to hold it together. When your finances have dwindled and you've gotten unnoticed, you've lost your job. When your emotions are frayed in a situation that's too much to bear, let God hold it together. But understand that it may take time. And it may not go the way you want it to go and you probably still will have hardship. But God has promised to walk through this hardship. He is near. He's a God of hope. He brings all things together. In fact, it's interesting in first Corinthians or in Colossians chapter one verse fifteen is talking about Jesus. And here's what it says. He is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible where the thrones or dominions or rules or authorities all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Who's this talking about? Jesus. In fact, if you get the opportunity, I want you to Google on YouTube or just go to YouTube and say, Lou Giglio and Laminin. Lou Giglio and Laminin. And tell me what you think of the video when he shares that. Next week I'll be looking forward to hearing from you. I'm not going to tell you what it is because then it will spoil the surprise. was for all the price. So, he goes on to say this in verses 4 and 5. God is a rebuker. He's very specific when he's talking about this right now and he's saying there are certain things that he will rebuke. He addresses three areas of wickedness are synonymous. Our sin separates us from God. But he was very specific. He said there are three things that God is going to judge on number one boasting is defined as giving praise that draws attention to yourself. Hey, hey, hey, hey, look at me. Look what I have done. Don't you see my new car? Don't you see my new shirt? Don't I look nice? Forget the shoes. It's all about drawing attention to yourself and boasting about what you have accomplished. Jeremiah says this, if you want to boast about something. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth for these things I delight declares the Lord. If you want to boast this way right. Amen. All right. So then he says here's it here is the next area. He says exalting oneself for one's own pride in their strength. When he refers to the horn is talking about the physical strength of a person or a nation. Usually when you look throughout Scripture you will see that described. So I've realized at the young age that I am that I'm not as strong as I used to be. OK. I used to work for Spartan Warehouse years ago and I would take 80 pound bags of salt, pick them up, put them on my cart, not an issue. Like this is a piece of cake. Don't hand me a salt shaker now that's a little bit full. Not that bad but it seems that bad sometimes. And even more as the older I get that we try to rely on our strength as a young person I can do anything. I can move pianos, I can do this, I can do that. But as I get older it's like someone else can do that. I'll be happy to let you do that except two weeks ago we were coming home my bride and I and we have these travel mugs right so I have my travel mug mine pops up fill it up I'm all set she has a screw top no big deal she said I can't get it open will you try go oh sure no problem she says you can't hold the bottom and the top too, it's not going to move. Yes, dear. I can't get it. I am so embarrassed. I said, you got to take this to someone else because I cannot get this open at all. She said, okay. I go to the car. She comes back and I said, did you get it open? Yeah, I took it up to the guy in the counter and said, would you open this for me? And he goes, no, I can't, but I'll give it to this girl. And this girl opened it up. But we rely on our strength, our physical strength, don't we? We're young and we're strong. And he's saying, Don't rely on your strength because it will soon fail. It will soon be gone. And then he says, I want you to look at this insolent pride, he says, Speak not with a stiff neck. We don't even use that phrase anymore. But it's a bold, shameless, absent disregard to the claims of God. Basically sticking our nose up in the air and saying to God, I know better than you do. It is like thrusting your face forward and your shoulders back and said, I got this. I don't need you. That's what he's saying. Again, that's what he's coming against. It's a rude and arrogant lack of respect, respect for others and especially a respect for God. So in our authentic relationship with God and our authentic faith in God, we can have it even all kinds of sin. Nothing is hidden from Him. Which then leads us to God as a sovereign judge. We understand today that our powers don't come from the east or from the west or from the deserts or the wilderness. They don't come from anybody. They only come from Because we see in verse 7 that God says He is a judge. He is in on the rise and the fall, not only of empires, but of individual men. God is the one who gives us what we have. All things belong to Him and He allows us to have what we have, not because of who we are, but because of what He desires to give. And because of that, we see God in His sovereign position putting down one and exalting another. He allows us to go through incredible physical and emotional pain for one person and then to another not. And we don't understand that. He's the one who judges our thoughts and intents of our heart. He knows what's best for us. He knows what we can handle and what we can't. And then we see that it said that drink from the cup of God's wrath, the wicked are destined to drink from it. What is the cup? It's a mixed cup. It's well mixed together, it's said, alluding to the mingled portion of drugs given to criminals to drink previously to their execution. It's that kind of bitter herbs that they will taste. In fact, Spurgeon quoted this man and said, shall be force, whether they will or not, to drink the cup of judgment. It is not a sip or two shall serve their tines, they must drink all, dregs and all. They shall drink it to the bottom, and yet they shall never come to the bottom. They have loved long draughts, and now they shall have one long enough, there is eternity to the bottom." It's a picture of taking the wine skin and rolling it up and rolling it up until the very last bit is out of it. Most bitter part of the wine is coming out and they're drinking it. It's kind of like we what we do is a toothpaste tube, right? For guys, we roll that thing up. We roll it up. We get it tight. We get tight. We're rolling up a little more. And finally, your bride says, OK, can we start a new tube? Really, you've gotten everything you can. Now, there's a little bit more. That's how it was for them. You're going to taste the bitterness, not that your toothpaste is bitter, but you're going to taste the bitterness. In fact, in Revelation, Chapter 14, verses 9 and 10, it says in another angel, a third following them said with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or his hand, he so he will also drink of the wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger and he'll be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. God does not mess around with those who are wicked. They will stand in judgment. God will be fair. He will be just, but he will be thorough and he'll be accurate. And I know we're all sitting here like I go to church. I'm a Christian. I will not be judged according to Scripture. Second Corinthians, Chapter five, verse 10. It says that we will appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And at the end of the book of Revelation, it says there's a great white throne judgment. Revelation 2011. It says, I saw a great white throne and him who was seated from on it from his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and the books were open. Then another book was open which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. There will be a judgment for all of us. And then we come to the conclusion of this chapter. Verses 9 and 10. I love this part because it seems like it doesn't even fit as we're talking about God as a judge. But here again, he's saying, I will declare it forever. I was saying the praises of God, the God of Jacob. Asaph was saying, even though we were told all that God was going to do, I'm going to take a moment to praise God for who he is. I'm going to declare it forever from this point forward. I want people to know that I'm going to praise the God of Jacob How many times in the midst of our difficulties do we just need to take a break and say this? God, I don't understand God I don't like this at all. I Don't like what I'm going through. But Father, will you help me through this storm? Will you allow me to sense your presence? Will you give me strength to deal with all that's going on? In fact, Casting Crowns wrote a song entitled, Praise You in the Storm, and the chorus says this, And I'll praise you in this storm, and I will lift my hands, for you are no matter where I am and every tear I've cried you hold me in your hand you never left my side and though my heart is torn I will praise you in the storm that's what a set was writing about I will declare it forever I was saying the praises to God can Can I encourage you at some point to go to the book of Psalms and look for the little phrase I will. Occurs over 150 times in the book of Psalms and some of them referred to God says that I will but the majority of them are the authors who are saying I will. You see I will is my choice. No one can force us to make a choice to praise God. I will choose. In fact, in Psalm 146, too, it says, I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I was saying praises to my God. Well, I have my being. I will choose to declare. I will praise you today. And then he ends this song with a particular reminder of what he said before that the wicked will be taken care of and the righteous will be exalted. God is infinite wisdom and knowledge is the justifier the provider and the judge of all mankind. He is aware of all that is happening. He knows the works we have done and the works we have not done. He looks carefully and cautiously each one of them independent of each other and yet dependent upon each other and judges us fairly. God will take down the strength and the power of the story. We find it in 2 Kings 19, verses 35-37. It says, And the night after Hezekiah prayed, and that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people arose early in the morning, behold, there were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria, departed and went home and lived in Nineveh. Verse 37 says that he was killed by two of his sons and his third son took over reign for him. The rest of my story? Well, never had any problem with Marty again. than today is this so what? So what? What difference does it make in our lives to know that God is a judge of the wicked and the righteous? What difference does it make for us right now to know that He will exalt us in His time? What difference does it make in your faith today? Let me offer this suggestion. God demonstrates grace to us at various times in our lives. Grace is not getting what we deserve. Sorry, Grace is getting what we don't deserve. He offers us grace for salvation. He offers us grace that sustains us. He offers us grace that is sufficient for us in time of need. And he offers us sanctifying grace. But that grace came at a cost, and that cost was His Son Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross. So my question today then is, what have you done with Jesus? Just a reminder today, I can trust God to judge me based on His character and not mine. Let's pray. Father this morning we are so grateful that you are the judge and I'm not. We're so grateful Lord that you are the one who is in control of all things in our lives and we thank you this morning Father that because you are a judge, because you are a judge with equity, that you're fair, that you're righteous, Lord that we can trust you in the midst. And Father for those here today that may be going through difficult times and don't understand, Lord, why the things are happening, may they cry out to You and say, I will give praise today. Thank You for Your grace and how amazing it is. In Jesus' name, Amen. Transcribed with Cockatoo

Sermon Discussion Questions 1 Title Sunday, July 21, 2024 It Had To Be Said Luke 5:27-32 Who Needs a Doctor? 2 Overview Main Idea: Jesus calls sinners because the sick need a doctor Sermon Outline: If you are a sinner, go to Jesus! We are all sinners, worse than sick Expect to see sick people around the doctor Jesus alone is the true physician that saves. Jesus is the doctor, not me or you Jesus is the God-man who saves sinners by dying in their place 3 Pre-Questions What are some common reasons people visit a doctor? How do these reasons relate to seeking help for spiritual issues? Before diving into the passage, consider: How do you usually respond when you realize you need help, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual? 4 Questions What is the main point Jesus is making in Luke 5:27-32? Why does Jesus compare sinners to the sick needing a doctor? In what ways do you relate to the idea of being spiritually sick? How have you experienced Jesus as your spiritual physician? How can our group better support each other in recognizing our need for Jesus? What practical steps can we take to welcome and support those who are seeking spiritual healing? How can we extend the message of Jesus being the ultimate physician to our broader community? What challenges might we face in reaching out to those who don't see their need for Jesus? PDF Download

Be Ready Sermon Series: Hate Speech Ryan DB Kimmel Lead Pastor Peace Church Main Passage: Ephesians 4:17-32 Transcript Well, church, gathered here online and in one of our other venues, let me start with these words. Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said with all their heart, Amen. So I want to start here and I'm going to need some, I'm going to need some engagement from you this morning. I'm going to give you a couple of phrases. I want you to complete the phrase for me, both here and in one of the other menus. All right, so complete this phrase. Ready, aim. Fire. Ready or not, here I. Come. Ready, set. Go. Here's the question. Are you ready? Are you ready for what's to come? Are you ready for the world that is emerging around us, this new world that's emerging around us, this world where truth, even truth couched in immense love, is increasingly becoming no longer tolerated. It's increasingly labeled as hate speech. Are you ready for this world? Because today as we close up this series, we've been looking at this hate speech. When truth and love is no longer tolerated? How are Christians meant to shine the light in a world where truth, love and grace is rejected and hated? Now let me just say, you've probably heard this already through this series, but let me just say this, this is not anything new. It may feel new to us, but this is the way it's always been across the globe. The Christian message has always been hated. Do you think they crucified Jesus Christ because they liked what he had to say? Christians for the last two thousand years we've lived in a world where it's been hostile to our message. We've just enjoyed a few generations where we haven't really felt an intense persecution for that because we've swam in waters where the moral compass was just lined up enough to where we could blend in. But that's no longer the case. Dear church, the world is increasingly becoming intolerant of truth, even truth in love. And how are we to live? How are we to respond? What are our lives supposed to be like in a world like this? Well, let's just go back to those first Christians and see what they were told to do. See how the Bible instructs them to live as counter-cultural exiles in their world. And here's what I'd ask you, Church, do you see yourself as that? Do you see yourself as a counter-cultural exile in this world? Because that is very close to who we should be in this world. And so here's what I'm going to ask you to do. Would you please turn to Ephesians chapter 4 in your Bibles. Now we've been walking through Ephesians chapter 4 throughout this sermon series. We're gonna close it up today looking at the last section. And if you've been with us, you've heard this. But if you're just joining us, welcome to the last of this series. In this section, we are reminded again that Paul is writing from prison. The apostle Paul is writing from prison to a church. It's a church in a town called Ephesus. And the people who live there are called Ephesians. So Paul is writing to this to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesus and he's telling them how to live faithful lives in an unfaithful world. And I'm sure, very quickly, you're going to see as we read this passage how relevant this is, not for people 2,000 years ago, but for us even today. And my prayer is that you are, yes, deeply encouraged today. And I also pray that you feel the right amount of challenge today. And so with that, would you hear the Word of God.Hear God's word. Paul writes and he says, Ephesians 4:17-32 7 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[ f ] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. This is God's Word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father God, as we close up this series Father we pray that it's not only glorifying to you Not only is it truthful to your word, but we pray by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that would help us prepare To be ready to live faithful lives in a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated And it's in Jesus name that we pray these things And we all said Amen, So, we're closing up this message series today, and let me remind you, in this series, we've been looking at how do we live in a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated. The first week, we looked at how, when this is the case, that we are to live holy lives. We are called to be holy, we're meant to live holy lives. The second week, we looked at how the church must absolutely be unified. With so much attack upon Christians and the church, the church must stand unified. Then last week, we looked at how we all must be equipped, how we must be equipped and ready for the battle that's before us. And today, well, we're going to summarize it all with this. Here's our main point for today. When truth and love is no longer tolerated, we must be ready. Are you ready? Are you actively getting ready? Or are you just meandering through life, hoping that it'll all work out for you as a Christian. As we examine this passage, I wanna look at two main points today as we walk through this text together, and it's this. We'll know that we're ready when we have a clear contrast to our lives, and then we're second gonna look at, we'll know that we're ready when we have a true transformation in our lives. So Christians in the house, I'm pleading with you. What the world does not need is more people calling themselves Christians who are not going to live like Christians. The world does not need more of that. We have a high calling that we are to live into and we are meant to live into that, zealously, passionately, kindly, but we are meant to live into this. It's been very easy, church, for the last couple of generations to say you're a Christian and just to blend into our culture, but that's coming to a close if it was even ever really the case. And the thing we need to know is that we better be ready. And so we'll know we're ready, ready for a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated when we have a clear contrast to our lives. Please have your Bibles open in front of you. 1. We will know we're ready when we have a clear contrast to our lives. Look at verse 17. Yes, this is God's holy word, but don't forget, this is also a man writing a letter to a church. Don't forget the human element here. Listen to the strain in Paul's voice as he's trying to make this first point. Verse 17 says, "'Now I say and testify in the Lord "'that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. To clarify, who are the Gentiles? Well Gentiles, that word just meant the nations, it meant everyone else, it meant the culture around you, it meant society at large. So don't walk like them, don't live like them, you're not them, stop being like them. Paul is saying there must be a notable distinction, a clear contrast between you and the culture around you. You are not meant to blend in. Because the reality is, is if you blend into society, then the truth is, is you're not living according to the Christian life as God has outlined. And if your excuse, if your excuse is, well everyone does it, let me just say to you, Christians don't say that. Christians don't say, well everyone else does it, so don't judge me. That's what the world says. That's what the world is saying. That's the world's excuse to continue into their folly and sin. Christians don't ever say, well, everyone else does it. That's not what God calls us. That's not what Christians are to do. We're not meant to blend in and be like everyone else. Now listen to me. I'm not saying that this means we should have an Amish dress code. But having a teenage daughter, I just got to say, like. I'm open to the idea. Truth is, we're meant to have a clear contrast to our lives, this is not the Bible is not primarily concerned about the external. It's concerned about the internal. The Bible warns us against being whitewashed tombs. This is an internal transformation that starts with our hearts and our minds. Look at verse 18. It says, They, meaning the world around us, the culture around us, the society at large, they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their heart. Let's look at this for a moment. The first thing Paul says here is that they are darkened in their understanding, meaning their minds are clouded. They don't adhere to the wisdom of God. They follow the folly of the world. They go wherever the changing tides of culture bring them. They're darkened in their understanding understanding and they say things like well if everyone else does it then don't judge me when I do it and This mentality look what it look what it happens. It says that they are alienated from the life of God Meaning and this is where it gets so sad Meaning they will only experience a shadow of the life that we can have And you know why the world is so desperate for color and rainbows and flashy colors. Whether or not they realize it, it's because there's a darkness they're trying to cover up. And we know that the kingdom of God is full of color and light and it's beautiful. But in our world, in our darkened sin, we try to mask it with rainbow stickers. And this just shows that it's because we have minds clouded by ignorance, cut off from God, hardened by sin. This talks about a people who have given themselves up to the backwards thinking of the world rather than the eternal things of God. So, I said I'm going to need some engagement this morning, so answer these simple equations for me, okay? Let's hear. 2 plus 2 equals? 3 times 3 equals? These are simple equations. These are simple equations and what we see here is a simple equation, people. When our minds and our hearts are darkened by sin, this makes us distant from God and here's the results. Here's the answer to these simple equations. Verse 19 says, They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. Whoa, is Paul talking about the first century Roman world or is he talking about 21st century American culture? Both. But it just seems like, man, for 2,000 years of human enlightenment, you think we'd kind of grow beyond this. Absolutely not. This is what the world does in sin. Now listen here, the world here, the word The word here for sensuality in the original language, it meant conduct shocking to public decency. It means men with barely any clothes on wearing just strips of leather walking down a pride parade in front of children. Now, church, this isn't just about the vulgarness that you see at some of the pride parades. Christians, we do this. We do this when we give ourselves to sex before marriage. When we have our boyfriend or our girlfriend spend the night. When we find ourselves in solitude and we so casually give ourselves to pornography. Are we any different? It says, the passage says that they are greedy to practice every kind of impurity. This is a culture with no moral compass, no foundation. That's our culture. We say we're progressive, but we have no path. We have no idea where this leads. We just go with whatever the next popular thing is. It says people are greedy for this. They're greedy for this, meaning it's become the center of their identity and their desires. I know that we look at, listen, I know, I know that we look at the insanity of the world and we think to ourselves, how has it come to this? Church, it's always been like this. What do you mean, how has it come to this? It's always been like this. The world that Paul is describing, I know it sounds like our culture, but it's his culture. From 2,000 years ago, before English was a language and it was half a world away, nothing changes without Jesus. Christians, we were always meant to stick out. That doesn't mean we'll be glorified and welcomed for it. We're always meant to stick out, to have contrast with the world that only gives itself to sin. Here's a challenge for us. Are you distinct? Let me put it like this. Let's just take a step back here a minute. Who here likes themselves some cake? Put your hands up, you bunch of liars. We all do. Come on. Clearly I do. Now, I like myself some sheet cake. I'm not going to be all high and mighty about it, but I will say this. Cake is meant to have layers. Can I get an amen? I mean, in our divided world, no matter where you stand, can we at least all agree cake is meant to have layers? Come on. Yeah, absolutely. Cakes and what? And custard? Now that's debatable, my friend. Cake is meant to have layers. Now look at these next verses, because Paul adds some layers that we have to digest. Look at verses 20 to 24. Says but this the way he's talking about this this world at large. He says that's not the way you learned Christ Assuming that you have heard about him and we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus Oh stop right there friends underline that if you do that in your Bibles because there it is right there There's the distinguishing marker. The big question for our culture is what is truth? The answer is Jesus you say that you will be laughed at. Welcome to being a Christian. Welcome to being a Christian. If you're not getting laughed at for your faith, are you even sharing it? We say that the truth is Jesus. What is truth in this world? It's the one who said he was, who walked out of the grave. It's Jesus Christ, that's the truth, clinging on to Him above all else. He is our rock when everything falls apart. He's our rock when everything changes. The truth is in Jesus. Look here, verse 22, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. See, I love these layers that Paul begins to add to this contrast of our life. Check it out. Firstly, he talks about this contrast that we're meant to have with the world around us. That's the first contrast. We're not like the world around us. Now, the second layer is this contrast we're meant to have is with our former way of life. Now he's starting to add layers. First contrast, we're not like the world. Second contrast, we're not like our former way of life either. We've been transformed. Meaning the life we live as we follow Jesus is different from both how the world operates and how we lived before following Jesus. And like a delicious multi-layered cake without custard, the question I ask is, do you have these multiple layers in your lives? And can people see it? Do you have those multiple layers in your lives and can people see it? It's like what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter two. He says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God. Check this out. Peter says they speak of us as evil doers. If you know how that plays out in today's world, they accuse us of hate speech. But, but when they accuse us of hate speech, they should at least see the good lives we live and how that points to God. But this can only happen when we have a clear contrast to our lives. So yes, Christians, you need to be asking yourself, do you have those multiple layers of contrast? Let me ask you a few other questions that would expose this. Do you use your money differently? Do you treat others better than they treat you? Do you follow God in a godless world? Do you speak truth in love to a world that has rejected truth and redefined love? I know, believe me, I've got layers and levels of cultural conditioning too. I know how this sounds. I know this sounds judgmental, but you need to stop using the excuse, you can't judge me, as an excuse to keep yourself from true self-examination. Fine, judge yourself. Look in the mirror. Look at your own two eyes in the mirror and can you honestly say there's a contrast between you and the world and you and your former way of life? Does your life show a true and clear contrast? Or are you using the excuse, everyone does it so that you can keep on sinning? We are to have contrast from the world and contrast to our lives before Christ. This will help us to show if we are ready or not for the world that's emerging, which leads us to look at this next thing, 2. We will know we're ready when we have a clear contrast with our former life before Jesus. That we'll know we're ready when we have a true transformation in our lives. Let me just cut to the point. That happens through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit calling you to live in conformity with the Word of God as you reflect the Son of God in this world. So here's the reality. It's more than just about being different. It's about being something new. Are you new? Are you showing the world something new? Church, we cannot just be the opposite of what is wrong. We have to be living demonstrations of what is right. We have to show true transformation. Scripture shows this in one of the most famous Bible verses there is and if you've ever been to youth group Then I guarantee your youth pastor at some point read to you Romans chapter 12 verse 2. Let me read it for you. Romans 12:2 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Okay, did you catch this part of the proof of our transformation is that you will know what the will of God is, that you will test what's happening and you will know what God's will is. Meaning, if you do things against God's will, you're gonna have a hard time showing that you are a truly transformed person, that you've been transformed by the renewal of your mind. So let me translate and go back. This comes from the work of the Holy Spirit's Calling us into his righteousness once we placed our faith in Jesus Not talking about perfect people we're not talking about people who trip up that's gonna happen We're talking about people who willfully continually find excuses to continue in their sin. So pop quiz if I call myself an Olympic athlete who has won a gold medal Does that mean I'm an Olympic athlete who's won a gold medal? No, I'd need to prove it to you by well, maybe by showing you the gold medal so if I call myself a Transformed Christian does that mean I'm going to have to show you the proof. Just like I needed to show you the gold medal to prove to you I'm an Olympic athlete who won a gold medal, I would need to show you my transformed life in order to prove to you that I'm a transformed Christian. So what is the proof? What's the proof that we're looking for? Well, let me tell you, it's not just being a nice and generous person. There are plenty of non-Christians who are kind and generous people. That's just called being a decent person. Thankfully, we don't have to decide or figure out on our own what the proof is. The Bible clearly tells us for this, tells us this. So we're gonna do this in a little bit of a rapid fire, but that's why you need to have your Bibles open. Go to verse 25. It says, here it is, here's what a transformed life looks like, Church. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. First marker, we don't live in lies. 1. We speak the truth, we live in truth, we give ourselves to truth as we speak truthfully with one another, because we are all connected. Verse 26 says, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. So second thing we see is that it's okay to be angry. 2. It's not okay to let your anger lead you to sin. It's not okay to let your anger linger. If you find yourself angry, first thing, don't sin. Second thing, find a way to take care of it. But being angry in and of itself is not sinful. Verse 27, and give no opportunity to the devil. So devil in Jesus' name be gone. We need to recognize he's a real player. He's a real force. We need to recognize he's real. But we recognize that in Jesus' name we don't mess around with him. We don't venture into his territory, deal with his folly. 3. We give no opportunity to the devil. So let me just ask you, what are you watching online in your house? Don't just mean your phone, I mean your TV too. What opportunity are you giving the devil to find his way into your family? Give no opportunity to the devil. Verse 28, I love this verse. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Okay, let's look at this for a second. We all agree that the thief should no longer steal, right? But why does the Bible say that the thief should no longer steal? So that he can do his own work, get his own stuff, but that's not the end of the story. So that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Okay, follow me on this, church. This is an indication of what should be true for all of us, that 4. We are selfless, and we take care of one another, that we don't live in plenty when others live in need. And I'm not talking about the distribution of wealth. I'm against that. I'm talking about Christians with a transformed heart, caring for one another, taking care of one another. I'm talking about the people of the church having compassionate and generous hearts for those around us. That we make sure that they have what they need. Which is shown, yes, in how we act, but also in how we talk and how we talk to them. Look at verse 29. And as I read verse 29, here's what I want you to do. Goes in for the other venues too. As I read this verse, I want you to listen. What is the most important word that sticks out to you in this verse? Okay, I'm going to have you shout it out in a second, so I want you to listen. Verse 29. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as it fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Alright, what was the word that you heard that sounded most important to you? Say it out, yell it out, come on. Grace. That's pretty uniform. All right. I would say the same thing, actually. I don't know if there is one most important verse or most important word in that verse, but I will tell you the thing that stuck out to me, and it sounds like many of you too, was grace. I think we need more grace. I think we need to hear more grace. In a bitter world Internet trolls, sarcasm, division. I think we all need to hear more words of grace spoken to one another. 5. Understanding, patience, words of grace in what we speak and what we hear. This doesn't mean that people don't need to be called out for their sin or that you don't need to be called out for your sin. But you need to hear that instead of living in sin, that there's an option. The world needs to know that instead of being called sinners, they have an option of something better, that we can live in God's grace. And this happens when we turn to Jesus and we live in that grace, which is the power of the Holy Spirit, which leads to this next verse. Our passage continues, verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 6. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit All right, Christians, for the church, this is the person of the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity. He both leads us personally, but he's also present with us as a church. He is the comforter. He's the advocate. And when we sin, it grieves him. And how do we grieve him exactly? What does it mean to grieve the Holy Spirit? It's exactly what Paul clarifies in verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice. Simply put, we grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not live holy lives. When we live lives based on the whims of our emotions. When we live lives based on the desires of our flesh. We grieve the Holy Spirit when we do not live holy lives. When we live lives that reflect the sin and bitterness of this world. And so church, as we read this last verse, please take note of the utter simplicity of this. Do not overcomplicate this. This is one way that Christians can make the world a better place. Verse 32, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. If you think that sounds weak, I dare you to try it. You see how hard it is to actually do that. 7. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you. Church, if we're not ready to be like this, if we're not ready to live like this, then we're not ready for a world where truth and love is no longer tolerated. This is how we are to live. This is how we are to shine the light. This is how we are meant to be out there. But did you notice something here? Did you notice the gospel here? Because as with all things in the Christian faith, the gospel is our central motivating factor. Did you hear the gospel in this? I'll read it again. Tell me if you can pick up where the gospel is. Christians and I, you better get this one. Verse 32, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. As God in Christ forgave you. I'm going to tell you something that is going to be among the most hard things I think you will ever hear and I guarantee I'm going to get some flack for this. Here's the thing that every Christian has to reconcile with. You cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. And I'm not here to demean the terrible, hurtful things that have happened to you in your life, but the reality is we cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. We are mortal beings sinning against an eternally holy and good God. Our sin against God is infinitely greater than our sins against one another. And again, I am not trying to demean or undermine or say that there are absolutely atrocious things that happen amongst people. But if we don't have the right calibration to understand who God is and our sin and what an affront it is to God, I don't think we'll fully ever understand the power of the gospel. You cannot be sinned against more than what we sin against God. When we sin against an eternally holy God, the good and righteous response is eternal damnation. That's just logic. That's just how it works. That's called justice. When we sin against God and his eternal nature, that's worthy of eternal damnation. But yet through the power of the gospel, God has forgiven us when he did not have to. And there are Christians who have forgotten what that means. We only need to look at your lives to see it. You've forgotten the power of the forgiveness that God has forgiven us when He did not have to. When the right and worthy response for us is our eternal damnation. God in love sent his son to die in our place, to take our punishments. We should be punished for what we do to God, but Jesus took that punishment for us so that we could get a pass. Jesus did it for us so that we could have life, life eternal, life with God. We could be welcomed as sons and daughters into his kingdom. Like this is the power of the gospel and you don't reflect that in your lives, probably because you haven't fully grasped the power of the gospel in your lives. Church, I'm here to tell you, the power of the gospel is the thing that unleashes our goodness and our kindness in the world. The gospel is the truth that Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, died on the cross in our place, thereby taking our punishment for the sins that we deserve. And what we do is we place our faith in Jesus and then God places our sin on him and then looks at us and says we're forgiven. If this doesn't move you, I don't know what will. If this doesn't cause you to sing, I don't know what will. This is the power of the gospel. And if God has forgiven us, how can we not forgive one another? I'm not saying it doesn't take time, I'm not saying it doesn't take prayer, but I'm saying when we truly understand what we've done to God, the sin against God and the fact that He's forgiven us, how can we not live in response to that? Our salvation is not about what we've done, it's about what Jesus has done for us, and that's called grace. And this is the gospel that we get to celebrate and get to be reminded of right now with having communion together. So let me remind you that the gospel is how we get ready. Receiving the gospel is how we get ready, and we're going to do that here and now physically. And so when the truth and love is no longer tolerated, remember, we must be ready. So let's get ready right now by remembering the gospel. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come before you now, we take a moment to prepare our hearts to be reminded again of the beauty and the power of the gospel, that Jesus died in our place. But Lord, what is amazing to be reminded of is that our Savior did not stay dead, that That we don't worship bones and dust in some grave. We worship the living King who sits on the throne here and now. So Father, I pray God that as we are nourished again by the gospel through communion, that it would give us the grace to do the things that your passage is calling us to do. That we live lives of clear distinction and contrast. So that we could show the world something better. So Father, I pray that by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, remind us of the power of the Gospel as we take communion together. We love you and thank you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.