Category: Bible Study – Sermon

SBC Convention 2022 Message

June 22nd, 2022
Every year when I go to the SBC Annual meeting, I come home and report to our body, then I bring a short message that resonates in my heart from the week’s meeting. Sometimes it is a passage that was preached, or a topic / issue. This year it was an Old Testament passage resonating in my head while I ruminated on the issues and joys before us.

You can go to our FACEBOOK page if you want the full message at First Baptist Ferguson. I will just include here the text of the message part of my report. Yes, I reported on the Sexual Abuse Task Force, and the new Unity Initiative that is beginning. But I also reported record years of giving and ministry to and from the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board. To the ends of the earth is what we do as Great Commission Baptists.

But we are facing a critical moment in the future and so the words of Deuteronomy 30:11-20 were ringing through my head – “I place before Life and Death, Blessing and Curses, and I tell you to CHOOSE LIFE”

Here is my message:

So… we are on the ground in Orange County at John Wayne International, and the pilot comes on in that “pilot voice” and says, “well folks, we are going to take off hard and fast, we are going to climb quickly, but don’t worry, we are going to level off at 30,000 feet, and then we are going to back the speed off a little and settle in slower.”

Well, I’m thinking, “I’m all for leveling off, because I don’t want to end up in outer space, but IF you CAN fly faster, do it. We are 15 minutes late taking off, so get it! What are you worried about, getting pulled over?”
“We are late, so let’s go. I know YOU don’t have to be there, you are just flying, but WE got places to be. Are you worried that an air force cop is going to pull you over in his F-22?”

Can’t you see him pulling out from behind a cloud, lights flashing; and your American Pilot is like, “aww man…” and they pull him over, hast to land in a cornfield in Iowa, and it messes up everything, kills the schedule. So, yeah, “we got to back it off, might get a ticket”

I’m also mindful today that it is Juneteenth – President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, made an executive order, that all persons held as slaves (within the rebellious areas) are and henceforward shall be free – But people were still fighting the battle, and some parts of the south didn’t even get notice. But it wasn’t until 17 months later on June 19^th, 1865, that General Gordon Granger landed in Galveston, Texas and declared:

“the people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the Unity States, all slaves are free…

Our job is to proclaim freedom. That’s why Jesus came, that’s why he died and rose again.

Sadly, while we addressed the revelation of sexual abuse and continued efforts to address the need for unity and reconciliation in ethnic disparity in society and the church, there was still a minority that want to decry those efforts. And the question comes, “why are some people opposed to dealing with abuse and racial injustice, why?”

And my response is “Why? Why? The Answer to ‘why?’ is NOT hard to determine, but the bigger question is HOW can this BE among God’s people?”

Failure to love and care for people is not the WAY of the people of God

I John 3:10-16 is very clear. This is how we know what love is, Jesus laid down his life. It teaches that we know who the followers of Christ are. If we are born from above, we will love. If we don’t love, we either don’t know Jesus or we are betraying that knowledge. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 says that we are to be purveyors of Reconciliation.

So, I’m not going to preach a long message, but look with me at an Old Testament message from Moses at the end of his ministry.

Deuteronomy 30:11–20 (CSB) — 11 “This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach. 12 It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ 13 And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ 14 But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it. 15 See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow in worship to other gods and serve them, 18 I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not prolong your days in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 love the Lord your God, obey him, and remain faithful to him. For he is your life, and he will prolong your days as you live in the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Just an outline, it’s so clear that I don’t have the time nor the need to break it down.

So, as we close write these points down: The Way to Blessing, the Commands of God:
1. It Is Not CONCEALED v16
It’s not hidden or hard to understand

Not difficult… not beyond your reach

This is NOT advanced stuff… this is Kindergarten stuff

It is CLOSE… you can say it, it’s right in your mouth, I don’t have to teach you, I don’t have to give it to you, just remind you.

It is in your heart… it is part of our DNA as the people of God
- It is a COMMAND
The Hebrew word is tsavah = to lay a charge upon, command, order, appoint

This is what God is laying on us, FBCF, Great Commission Baptists

Then
- It is CLEAR
- Love God – our love for God drives our actions for him, or they will not continue
- Walk In His Ways – that’s the Hebrew word halak = to go, come, accompany, – his ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts, God is not waiting for us to tell him where we are going – God is GOING and he wants us to accompany HIM.
- Keep his commands – keep – means we are to observe and act according to what he says. We must allow his commands to direct our steps
Proverbs 6:23 (CSB) — 23 For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, and corrective discipline is the way to life.

So, it is not concealed, it is a clear command, but then notice
- It is CONDITIONAL
- So that – if you then you… if you then I … this is conditional God is wanting to lead us somewhere, but we have to maintain the conditions. Oh but IF we love God and walk in his ways, and keep his commands… then we…
- May live … chayah = live, alive, come alive – HIS WAYS ARE LIFE – 1 John 5:3 says that his ways are NOT a burden – no he is saying this is LIFE – this is a way for the person, the church, a convention to have LIFE
- And Multiply – Hello Church growth experts – we don’t so much to have to run all over, looking for it. It’s right here, it’s in your mouth, in your heart, so it’s in your head – Love God, Walk in his Ways, Keep his Commands, and you will be alive, and then rabah = abundance, become many, enlarge, multiply – and then…
- The Lord will bless you in the land –
But then notice, this is Two-Way Conditional promise.
- If your Heart Turns away – i.e. if you love yourself, love your preferences, love your style instead of God’s ways – yes even Baptists have idols
- (if) you do not Listen – oh yes you heard, but did you LISTEN – shama = give earnest hearing
- If you are led astray to worship other gods – oh so many things we worship instead of God – styles, traditions, politicians, whatever you call it… there is only ONE to worship
If … Then v18
- You will certainly perish, and will not prolong your days in the land
Wow –

Two more
- The Call / The Choice v19
I call heaven and earth as witness… I have set before you
- Life and death
- Blessing and curses
This is Life and Blessing

Or Death and Curses

God isn’t wanting to argue with us, he’s just offering us a choice – what do you want in? But I’m urging you,
- Choose LIFE – LIVE – this is a generational offer, you and your children
The choice is always there

And we might want to stop right there but what kind of song would that be?

Write
- The Coda –
Doug, come to the Piano for me – Doug knows what a Coda is. A “Coda” in Music, is the concluding passage or movement, typically forms an additional theme or structure – It’s like the vamp, the tag, the outro.

So, in the Beatles song, “Hey Jude”, The song just has 3 basic chords, in the key of F. Doug play and “F”, that’s the Tonic – Home

And then a “C” – that’s the Dominant, the V

And now a “Bb” – that’s the Sub-Dominat, the IV

That’s most of the Song.

Hey (F)Jude

Don’t make it (C)Bad, Take a (Bb)Sad song

And make it (F)Better. Re-(Bb)member to

Let her into your (F)heart, And you can (C)start to

Make it (F) Better

And the song is 3 minutes long verses and chorus

Basically F, C, Bb – I – V – IV – with some walking chords between in the chorus.

But then comes the CODA – that Circle with a Cross in the Middle (oh I could preach that for a minute.

Sometimes the Coda is a short ending tag, a slight variation with something added to the structure. But in “Hey Jude” Paul Plays the I (F)… and then he plays a bVII (Eb) followed by the IV(Bb) and he goes on for 4 minutes

Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na

Na, Na, Na, Na – Hey Jude

Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na

Na, Na, Na, Na – Hey Jude

And so here is his Coda – Moses says

Love the Lord your God, Obey Him, Remain Faithful To Him…

Ok, we know these chords…

           “hey Jude, don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better…   Remember to let her under your skin, then you begin to make it … Better … Better… Better… Better… Better

Love the Lord your God, Obey Him, Remain Faithful to Him

FOR…

Here is where the Coda Changes to the bVII

           For He is your LIFE

           He will prolong your days

           As you live in the Land

           Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na, Na

Na, Na, Na, Na –

           He is your life

           He will prolong your days

           He will give you life in the land

This is True for the SBC

This is True for First Ferguson

This is true for the people who live in your House too

There is A CHOICE for us… Life and Blessing, or Death and Curses … HE IS YOUR LIFE… CHOOSE Will he be Your Life?
Is the Deal Still On?

November 27th, 2021
Last Sunday’s message recording had a glitch and didn’t make it, so let me give you a condensed version

Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com

Genesis 15:1-7

Do you ever wonder if maybe you heard God wrong? Or maybe you were slow in getting started, or unexpected obstacles arose, or uncontrollable circumstances arose. Maybe you’ve gone too far the wrong way. Now, you feel like perhaps you’ve lost your chance? Well Abram knew that feeling.

God gave him a clear call and a clear promise in Genesis 12: The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you 2 “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; … 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land”…

But a lot had happened since then. Abram had been through famine, war, faced Pharaohs and Kings, he had lied and cheated to protect himself. He had worshipped the Lord, had displeased the Lord. 20 years had passed, and Abram wondered, “Is the Deal still on?” “Have I missed my chance”? “Have I Disqualified myself”?

READ Genesis 15:1-7

The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision… Do not be afraid, I am your shield, Your reward will be very great.

There are some important truths for us to consider, First:

1. Don’t Settle for Less than the Vision of God

Don’t Be Afraid
- Don’t Let Fear make You impatient
Don’t in impatience make your own way when the promise seems “slow” in coming to pass. God does not delay, he is not slow, that’s what 2 Peter 3:8-9 teaches. God’s clock runs differently from ours, and it also runs PERFECTLY. Fear is often the issue and is manifested in Lack of Trust

God says, “do not be afraid, I am your shield, and great reward“

We talked about fear a few weeks ago. Fear is based on lies we believe:

I’m alone – no one knows

I’m unable – I can’t

I’m uninformed – I don’t know how

I’m unloved – no one cares

Those are lies, but we think they are true… Yet God says: DO NOT BE AFRAID

God says here: “DON’T be Afraid.” How do we fight fear? With FAITH!
- Make Sure the Path Leads you to God’s Vision
God had promised him a “great nation” and “offspring”. Abram thinks that he must have “heard God wrong” or “missed his chance”, so he needed to find another way. I don’t think he was mad at God, but just resigned himself to doing things a different way.

You have given me no children… So a servant … will be my heir

He was going to make Eliezer his “son” and heir. Eliezer was a good man, Abram’s most trusted and faithful servant. This was a “good plan”, but Eliezer, good as he was, was no more than a SUBSTITUTE for God’s Best!!

In his book, “Good to Great“, Jim Collins says “Good is the enemy of great.”

“We don’t have great schools, principally because we have good schools. We don’t have great government, principally because we have good government. Few people attain great lives, in large part because it is just so easy to settle for a good life. The vast majority of companies never become great, precisely because the vast majority become quite good — and that is their main problem.” Collins writes, “That good is the enemy of great is not just a business problem. It is a human problem. If we have cracked the code on the question of good to great, good schools might become great schools. Good newspapers might become great newspapers. Good churches might become great churches.”

God’s path is always GREAT
- Be Honest About Your Reservations
Sometimes we get Stuck because we won’t be honest about where we are. We say the right thing. Make appearances of doing the right thing, but aren’t honest with God about our reservations, frustrations, fears, anger, with others and even with God.

V2 – Abram says, Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless… Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.

Abram doubts his ability not God’s ability. “Lord I’ve been willing, I left my hometown, I’ve come with you on this journey, but here we are, 20 years later, and we are past the opportunity. You didn’t give it and I can’t do it.”

If you’ve come to the end of your rope… if you’ve tapped out your resources… if you no longer have anything to offer… Then maybe God has your right where he needs you.

2. Take a Second Look at God’s Vision

I Am Your Shield

15:4 now the word of the Lord came to him… this one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.

When God gives us a word, it may seem impossible, but if it is God’s word, he’s not looking for our help, or a different plan. He’s not looking for our permission to change the process.

If it seems unbelievable, that’s what God does.
- Step Outside The Tent
Sometimes it’s hard to see from INSIDE. It’s hard to see past the “reality”.

Abram looked around the tent and all he could see was no children, no blessing, no fulfillment of the vision. Inside the tent, you can only see so far. Inside the tent our view is limited, our imagination is limited. Inside the tent you are blinded from seeing the beauty of the vision.
- God took him outside the Tent
- An Unimaginable vision of God.
V5 Look at the Sky.

Stop looking at what is NOT and look at what IS. Look at what God has already done, and imagine what he can do.

“Count the Stars“

– you can only get a glimpse, the gist, an idea, but you can’t even understand it. It’s imagined that IF he COULD count the stars visible they would number more than 4000, but in reality the stars in the field of vision would be more than 50,000.

If you are able to count them… your offspring will be that numerous

Abraham’s offspring included those who would be his by family birth. But they also included those spiritually who would follow his way. Those who would become “sons of Abraham”, Paul called them.

If you are able to count them…

You can count the apples in a tree. And you can count the seeds in an apple. But who can count the apples in a seed? Until the story of life is over, you never can count the apples in that one seed.

God’s ways truly are higher than ours

Isaiah 55:8–9 (CSB)

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways.” This is the Lord’s declaration. ⁹ “For as heaven is higher than earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- The Vision of God will be glorious and beautiful
- His Vision will inspire others who view it displayed in You
3. You Can Believe The Promise of God

Your Reward Will Be Great

The only thing that God required of Abram was
- Believe and Walk in the Promise
The “currency” that Heaven recognizes is FAITH

Hebrews 11:1 (CSB)

¹ Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

Then Hebrews 11, lists the “Hall of Fame of Faith”. It tells the story of those Saints of Old who were faithful to follow God. None of them were perfect, but they were full of Faith. Not full of excellence, not full of strength, not full of talent, or so many things we might list. But they had FAITH.

And then Hebrews 12 continues

Hebrews 12:1–2 (CSB)

¹ Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, ² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

How do we join the Hall of Fame of Faith? Were they “SUPER-SPIRITUAL”? No, they were real, they struggled, they waivered, they fell down.

“Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness”

believed – means confirm/trust

credited – parallel to a bookkeeping transfer, like an item is moved from one column to another. Abraham’s faith is moved into the column of Righteousness

Romans 4:17–21 (CSB)

¹⁷ As it is written: I have made you the father of many nations— in the presence of the God in whom he believed, the one who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. ¹⁸ He believed, hoping against hope, so that he became the father of many nations according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. ¹⁹ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old) and also the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ He did not waver in unbelief at God’s promise but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ because he was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to do.

He believed based on the Power and Faithfulness of the One making the promise
- See it as already completed
Paul speaks of us as believers in Romans 8 and says that those he “foreknew, he predestined, called, justified and glorified” All of those things are in the Past Tense, COMPLETED. Before we ever knew, it was already true in God’s mind.

So…
- Live in it until God brings it to fulfillment
Abraham so fully believed here; that years later when he was called to Sacrifice Isaac, he carried on without even a doubt because he believed God was going to fulfill his promise, and it wasn’t hinging on Isaac, but on God.

Before Faith flowered, Abraham saw God’s promise based on his own ability, but AFTER Faith was credited as Righteousness, he lived ACCORDING to it, then he knew That the promise wasn’t based on him, it wasn’t on Isaac, the Promise was Based ON GOD the Giver of the Promise.
- Faith is what pleases God.
Everything else is a byproduct of the fact that you believe him.

John 6:27–29 (CSB)

²⁷ Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.” ²⁸ “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. ²⁹ Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”

If you’re current situation doesn’t seem to fit the vision, trust the God of the vision in spite of the nature of the circumstance.
- Remember what he’s already done for you
Abram had to become a NOBODY before God could work through him.

“I brought you From…”

Oh my don’t forget where you have been, from wince you come

Ur was a place of false worshipers, idol worshipers, it was the area of Nimrods people.

I brought –

You didn’t get to God by anything you have done

I brought you

You didn’t leave because you thought of it

I brought – yatsa = to come, to go forth

I brought you FROM

– The heart of the message of the Gospel is “REPENT” – come FROM where you are …

I the Lord brought you from Ur… TO GIVE you this land to possess

Oh yes, Lord. The call of God is based on HIS Promise, on His Power, Based on his GRACE

To give you this land to POSSESS

Nehemiah 9:7–8 (CSB)

⁷ You, the Lord, are the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and changed his name to Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful in your sight, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites…

God says, “I wanted to save you because I had a plan that included YOU

God says, “because of my power I delivered and continue to deliver you”

He didn’t have to do anything, but it was his GRACE, working in Abram’s life that gave him what he didn’t deserve. He brought him to a place of promise and blessed him over and over.

Will you go Outside the Tent with God?

Jeremiah 31:16–17 (CSB)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return from the enemy’s land. ¹⁷ There is hope for your future— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return to their own territory.

Will You Believe?

Walk in Faith?

Don’t Be Afraid – BELIEVE

I Am Your Shield – Rest In Me

Your Reward Will Be Great –– I Have Your Reward – I Am Your Reward – Your Reward is GREAT

Yes Lord
Glorifying God

October 4th, 2021
I’m preaching a series in the first 12 chapters of Genesis, entitled “In The Beginnings”

This week we were in Chapter 11. This series has been a broad sweep with only one sermon in each chapter, trying to see the big picture. The big picture is that God is at work in creation, in family development, in correction, in the second chance, we will finish with ch12 and the beginning of Abraham’s line, from whence will come the Messiah, an answer to the promise of God in Genesis 3:15 to “bruise the head of the serpent”.

So, in chapter 11 the most famous story is the Tower of Babel. Yes, it is an amazing story, and yes I believe it. But God inspires the telling of the story, we get the details, and then the Story goes on. The Purpose of Man is to Glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That’s what The Westminster Confession says. That’s what got these people in trouble. It’s NOT that they didn’t know God, they knew him, but they forgot or abandoned their purpose. Paul seems to be writing their story in Romans 1, but he is writing all of our story. Though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude… exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images… They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator(Romans1:21-25)

So, let me give you the last part of my message yesterday and write about,

– Returning to our Purpose

Puritan preacher, Thomas Watson, preaching Body of Divinity – a series on the Westminster Confession, was addressing the Chief end of man – to glorify God and enjoy him forever. If we ask the question then, How Do I Glorify God? I want to use the 4 words that Watson uses, and then I’ll give my thoughts and comments on those words.

How do I Glorify God?
- Appreciation
Gratitude, or a lack thereof, is where it starts and finishes. A lack of appreciation, or gratitude, leads to discontent, distance, and disobedience. STOP and think about those 3 results of the lack of gratitude for God, or anyone you are in relationship with, discontent, distance, and disobedience.

Robert Emmons of http://www.greatergood.com says that gratitude is an affirmation of goodness… recognizing that the source is outside ourselves. Georg Simmel calls gratitude the moral memory of mankind. Wow that’s good.

Forgetfulness by these descendants of Noah, quickly became discontented, distant, and disobedient to God, as they failed to appreciate the Sovereignty and Salvation of God.

Gratitude makes us faithful followers that live to glorify God. Cicero calls gratitude the mother of all virtues, and I think he has something there. When we fail to get gratitude right, the rest doesn’t fall into place.

Second, to Glorify God
- Adoration
That is loving worship. My PERSONAL DEFINITION of Worship is “an expression of adoration to the object of our affection” (JLG2003).

How do we do that in the daily? Jesus told us to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. How is it in Heaven? You go to Revelation 4. There are 4 “Creatures” at the throne and all they do, day and night they never stop saying “holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come. And WHENEVER they do, the 24 Elders say, Lord and God you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created. – I personally believe the “24 Elders” is the church, so this is what the church does in Heaven, and it’s what we should be doing “on earth as it is in heaven”

Adoration recognizes God’s greatness, his goodness, and gives him glory in all things here on earth, just as they do in heaven.

Thirdly, to glorify God
- Affection
When we talk about affection or love, we need to be more specific. Watson says that there are 2 kinds of affection or love. The first is a “love because”. He likens it to when we say “I love you for the harvest” – or we are loving the blessing. We love the raise, or our health, or our food, whatever, but we are loving the Blessing. But Watson says the affection that truly Glorifies God is to take delight in.

Oh my, when we get our “delight” in something besides God, everything else gets out of tune. If you remember Genesis 3:6, it was misplaced delight that got Adam and Eve in trouble, a lack of gratitude. God had only said, “no” about ONE THING, the tree. But 3:6 says the woman saw that the tree was good for food and DELIGHTFUL to look at… desirable…

Love, Worship, Adoration, Affection comes when we delight in God, because he delighted in ME. Oh there is nothing in my sinful self that is delightful, but he did. Psalm 18:16-19 says he reached down from on high and took hold of me; he pulled me out of the deep water…he brought me to a spacious place; he rescued me because he DELIGHTED in me.

Somebody hold my mule, I need to shout!

He delighted in me, and I delight in him because of WHO HE IS.

When I think about that word, delight, I think about the sweetest part of my relationship with my bride. When I see her smile, at fireworks, or at a favorite song, I just watch her smile, it is a delight to me, to see her smile.

Delight for God is to know what pleases him, makes him smile, and just look to his face to see him smile. That is to GLORIFY GOD.

Appreciation, Adoration, Affection, don’t lose that JOY, grateful joy and then lastly to Glorify God is
- Subjection
That might not be a word we use. But think Allegiance in Service.

Subjection is what those 4 creatures at the throne of God do. They stand before the throne, waiting for the instruction of God, at his Disposal, at his Discretion, reporting for Duty, for His GLORY.

And this then is the problem in Genesis 11. God gave a commission, and they wanted to do what they wanted to do. They were busy, grand, amazing, but they were NOT GLORIFYING GOD. Oh, selah, stop and think about that. God is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be adored, honored, in grateful obedient service.

Romans 11:33, 36 – oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!… For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Psalm 100 – Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are his – his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness through all generations.

Nimrod tried to steal God’s glory, he tried to Tower over God.

But Towering over Babel is the Word of God!

And I hear the words of Maltbie D Babcock:

This is my Father’s world:

Oh, let me ne’er forget

that though the wrong seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet

This is my Father’s world;

The battle is not done:

Jesus who died, shall be satisfied

and earth and Heav’n be one

Glorify God Today, Every Day
Begin Again – Noah Genesis 8

September 13th, 2021
A couple of weeks ago I shared my thoughts on my first look at Genesis 8 for my series “In The Beginnings”

So, I thought some of you might like to see how that came together into a sermon.

Here you go, from yesterday – In The Beginnings #8 – Genesis 4:1-14

We are in a series called, In the Beginnings. We are looking at the first 12 chapters in single messages for each chapter. Creation, Man, The Fall, Calling on the Name of the Lord, The Created Order, the Invitation to Life, and Surviving the Storm (The Flood), have preceded. But God put Noah in the Ark, so he could bring him through and Begin Again.

How we begin again is connected to what we know and believe about God.

I don’t know what you are facing today. God called Noah into his plan, and we don’t know much about the next 120 years, except that Noah obeyed God doing everything he commanded him. He built an ark, he raised a family, and he was a preacher of righteousness and judgment. Then they got into the ark and the rain came.

7:11 says all the sources of the watery depths opened, and the floodgates of the sky were opened, and the fain fell for 40 days and 40 nights.

7:24 then says the water surged on the earth for 150 days.

So, 120 years, then 40 days of rain, and 150 days of surging waters. Now, stuck in the Ark with who knows how many animals, imagine that aroma. You ever feel stuck in the plan of God in the middle of the ocean with no way out?

Now, before we read chapter 8, let me set the stage.

I’m not a scientist, nor an expert on these things; but, I believe this account because:

1) God said it and inspired men to write it

2) Jesus believed it, and

3) the Apostles believed it.

There ARE great Christian scientific writers that you can read for more scientific explanations. I recommend “The Genesis Record” by Henry M. Morris. He explains what we believe the Bible teaches about the World before and after the Flood. He puts science to the commentary, and it’s a deep and profound read. Scientists like Morris teach that the world changed dramatically after the flood. They observe it to be a complete change of environment, atmosphere, the earth was different.

Read the Psalmist talking about it.

Psalm 104:1–9 (CSB)

¹ My soul, bless the Lord! Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with majesty and splendor. ² He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy, ³ laying the beams of his palace on the waters above, making the clouds his chariot, walking on the wings of the wind, ⁴ and making the winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants. ⁵ He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken. ⁶ You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the water stood above the mountains. ⁷ At your rebuke the water fled; at the sound of your thunder they hurried away— ⁸ mountains rose and valleys sank— to the place you established for them. ⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross; they will never cover the earth again.

Think about those last 4 verses. And imagine the violent things that happened in this storm; subterranean and subaqueous volcanic eruptions, mountains created, valleys cut, canyons carved, fossils created, sediment crushed.

I remember when Lisa and I took the boys to the “painted desert” in Arizona. They said “the only way this could have been created was with a “large regional flood” – WELL that’s close.

So, READ 8:1-14

God Remembered Noah… God caused a wind to pass over the earth… the ark came to rest in the 7^th month on the 17^th day, on the mountains of Ararat.

Go with me on a journey now. We are going to tread over and over the same theme and hopefully drive it home. Three sections for my thoughts today.

1. Truth To Communicate

Three important truths in these first four verses:

A. God Knows

God remembered Noah

Oh my, I barely got past this verse. God remembered Noah.

Ever felt like God has forgotten you? 120 years of building and preaching, then months in the ark, a floating casket, completely in the hands of God. They couldn’t sail, they couldn’t steer, the could only trust the hand of God.

God knows.

God has not forgotten you. Stay here for a minute. As I read the story of God, and God building a people to love. God sees all things completed. 1000 years is like a day. It only seems long to us. He measures the universe with the span of his hands, and yet this world seems big to us, but for God it is but a dot on a finger.

As I read this story, again and again, this truth rings out, God Knows, God Remembers.

Abraham thought he missed his chance, but God took him outside the tent and said, “look at the stars, so shall your descendants be”.

Rachel was loved by Jacob, but she couldn’t have children, and wondered where was God

Hannah too couldn’t have a child, and sought the Lord, year after year.

Zechariah and Elizabeth, served the Lord, but their prayers for children seemed unanswered.

But God remembered Rachel in Genesis 30:22

He remembered Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:19.

In Luke 1:13, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and said, your prayer has been heard

Joseph was sold into slavery, falsely into prison, but God remembered Joseph

Israel was 400 years in Egypt, but in Exodus 2:24, God heard and God Remembered his covenant. Then he told Moses in Exodus 3:7-8, I have seen… heard… I know… and have come down to rescue

Psalm 136:23 says, he remembered us in our humiliation, his faithful love endures forever

Taken to Babylon in captivity, Israel had hung their harps in the trees,

Daniel was praying and fasting in captivity in Babylon, then after 70 years

Daniel 10:10–12 (CSB)

¹⁰ Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. ¹¹ He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling. ¹² “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers.

God remembered his promises and brought them home.

Oh what might have happened, But For God

But for the memory of God

But for the Knowledge of God

But for the Power of God

Remember in Genesis 6:18 he told Noah, I will establish my covenant with you. God had made a promise to SAVE Noah and his family. God never speaks hastily or frivolously, always clearly and truthfully.

The idea in Scripture of God “remembering” doesn’t mean he forgot, but that he paused in his working toward, but now he is working again directly on the promise, because…

B. God Works

Notice the working of God

God caused a wind to pass over the earth.

Oh God was at work all along.

In John 5:17 Jesus says, my Father is still working, and I am working also

God was working in the rain, working saving Noah in the Ark. God was always working, but now the storm has stopped, but that was nearly four months ago.

Then the WIND. Oh my, like the rushing of a mighty wind

Wind, or Breath. The presence of wind always brings the image of the Spirit of God. Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God was hovering over the earth as creation began. Now, I’m certain this is REAL Wind here, not a symbol. It’s like the wind that God caused to blow all night like parting the Red Sea for Moses and the Children of Israel to cross on Dry Land. And the same wind STOPPED, allowing the waters to cover their pursuing enemies.

The Holy Spirit came blowing into the Upper Room at Pentecost.

Yet even in every natural action, the Hand of God was at work. Colossians 1:15-17 says, he created all things… and he holds all things together. He is in the Gentle Zephyr and the Turbulent Tornado, or the Harrowing Hurricane.

The wind blew in the working of God and The Waters began to Recede

Then v2 says the sources of the water depths and the sky closed.

The same sources that God opened to allow the Flood, God closed to allow it to recede.

God is Working

Creation Scientists tell us they believe that before the floods there was a dense vapor in the atmosphere creating a perfect global climate. But when God opened the floodgates, everything changed.

The depths were opened, God was working. There would have been violent waters and waves. Magma would have rumbled in subaqueous eruptions, mountains created under the floodwaters. Imagine the violence in the working of God, and the ark at God’s mercy riding through it.

God knows, God Works, and

C. God Finishes

The Ark came to rest…

The storm, the surge, then God rested the ark. We already know that when God finished creation, he rested.

Remember the Ark is a type, a picture, of Christ. So, in the 7^th month, on the 17^th day, day, the Ark Rested. Why would God want us to know the exact day?

Well, the Civil Calendar 7^th month, is the same as the Religious Calendar 2^nd month for Israel. So, Henry Morris points out that this 17^th Day is the same day that Jesus Rose from the Grave. The Ark Rested. Jesus Rose, salvation’s work complete. Let that sink in.

Then I read something else. The Ark came to rest on the Ararat range of Mountains. Now, there were mbountains on earth before the flood. But Ararat, if you visited there, you would find it is made of “pillow lava”. That means that this was lava formed in deep waters. Ararat also has sediment with Ocean Fossils. Do you see that? While the storm raged and the floodwaters surged, God was creating the place on which the ark would come to rest.

As the waters receded, the mountains rose and the Ark came to rest.

Whatever you face today, whatever the storm, God Knows, God Works, and God Finishes.

So, in the Truth, there are…

2. Conclusions to Make

God knows, God works, God finishes, what’s the Common Denominator?

A. God

It’s God, First, Last, Always

Oh, some of the greatest words in scripture are the first words in John 3:16,

“For God”.

He is BEFORE all things, he will be AFTER all things, and he is IN all things. He is Eternal, Self-Existent, Constant, the same yesterday, today, and forever. All things were made BY Him and FOR Him

God is the who, the what, the why, and the when. He is the Answer, the Reality to explain everything.

It’s God, and

B. God Knows

I know we’ve already said it, but I’m saying it again. God knew before, what was coming. He is never caught off guard. God never makes a surprised face. He never says, “I didn’t see that coming”.

God knows in the middle what is happening and how it will end, and then…

C. God Remembers

His silence doesn’t mean he has forgotten or changed his mind. The promises he made are as good as the day he gave them.

Jesus was on the cross dying for the sins of the world, yet he had time for the prayer of one single sinner by his side. There was a thief at his side, worthy of his own sentence. He had mocked Jesus earlier, but then, he looked at Jesus with eyes of faith in Luke 23:42 and said, Jesus, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom.   And Jesus replied, Today, you will be WITH ME in Paradise.

Why? Because he remembers and

D. God Responds

Jesus had said in John 3 that he didn’t came to condemn but to save.

He said he came to seek and save those who are lost. (Luke 19:10).

If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive. (1John1:9)

God Remembered Noah, God Works, God Finishes

Yes, God Remembered NOAH… because

E. God Knows My Name

God Remembered Noah. God Remembered Abraham, Rachel, Joseph, Israel, Hannah, Daniel, Zechariah, The Thief on the Cross, and so I know the Lord Remembers Jim Goforth, The Lord Remembers YOU.

Say It,

“the Lord Remembers ME”

He Knows My Name

He knows My Every thought

He sees each tear that falls

And hears me when I call (author: Tommy Walker)

Psalm 91:1, 4-6, 14-15 (CSB)

¹ The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty.

⁴ He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. ⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, ⁶ the plague that stalks in darkness, or the pestilence that ravages at noon.

(And God says)

¹⁴ Because he has his heart set on me, I will deliver him; I will protect him because he knows my name. ¹⁵ When he calls out to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and give him honor.

Yes, he knows my name, and I know his name, so one other conclusion

F. God Has A Timetable

All those timetables, dates. Did you notice those details?

Why?

1) These are REAL Historical Events.

2) These were appointments on God’s Calendar. We have an ordered God. He may be eternal and outside of time, but God made time. He made the sun and caused the earth to spin, to orbit the sun. He made the evening and the morning. He created time and seasons.   And so, God is always right on schedule, right on time.

Because of these truths and these conclusions, we have…

3. Confidence To Trust

A. God Is On The Throne

The flood itself said to those who were opposed to God that though, Every inclination of their heart was evil all the time, still God will not be mocked

Psalm 93:2–4 (CSB)

² Your throne has been established from the beginning; you are from eternity. ³ The floods have lifted up, Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their pounding waves. ⁴ Greater than the roar of a huge torrent— the mighty breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is majestic.

He is on the throne, and we’ve said he has a timetable, but it isn’t just a plan, but

B. God has Perfect Timing

It may not be MY time, or YOUR time, but it’s the RIGHT Time.

Romans 5:6 (CSB)

⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 8:6 (CSB)

⁶ For every activity there is a right time and procedure, even though a person’s troubles are heavy on him.

Then it asks in v7-8 no one knows what will happen… no one has authority over the wind… no authority over the day of death

Well, No One But GOD, He has Authority of the Throne and the Knowledge of Perfect Timing.

If God is silent, he will speak at the right time. If God is doing something else, he has perfect timing.

The confidence is that

C. God has Not Forgotten

Psalm 25:7 (CSB)

⁷ … in keeping with your faithful love, remember me because of your goodness, Lord.

Psalm 56 says that God knows, he takes note, he gathers our tears in a bottle, and written a book about me, about you. Oh, in God’s office, he has a little shelf for “nik-naks” and he has a bottle with your tears in it. He has a library and there is a book with your life concerns written down. He has not forgotten

So know this, in his silence, inactivity…

D. God is Not Lazy, He is BUSY Working On The Finish

He is Patient, he is right on time, making preparation for the finish.

Did you notice, the mountains of Ararat, where the Ark came to Rest, was created in the Flood. The surging storm, storm, formed the place of Rest for the ark.

Could it be that the storm that is surging around you right now, may be forming the place where the finish of God will come to rest? God knows what he is doing. God is Busy working on your behalf.

What you thought was Evil, God means for good.

So… While you Wait

E. Trust and Obey; Pray and Praise
- Call out For Salvation
That thief on the cross, in the midst of the final and worst day of his life, He Called Out – “Remember Me” – You are my only hope for the “day after Tomorrow doesn’t Come”

Cry Out to Our Only Savior

Jeremiah 15:15 (CSB)

¹⁵ You know, Lord; remember me and take note of me. Avenge me against my persecutors. In your patience, don’t take me away. Know that I suffer disgrace for your honor.
- Pray For Strength To Serve One More Time
Samson had great highs, and an embarrassing Low. But then as he turned back to the Lord,

Judges 16:28 (CSB)

²⁸ He called out to the Lord, “Lord God, please remember me. Strengthen me, God, just once more…”

And his last act was greater in the War Against Evil than all he had done before
- Trust God’s Timing
Job 14:13 he says …if only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me

Well, I know this, God does have an appointed time, and he will remember you, if you will call out to him

So, you can trust God, trust his timing, trust his working, trust his finish

So
- Praise Him
Psalm 106:1–2,4 (CSB)

¹ Hallelujah! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever. ² Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due him?

⁴ Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people. Come to me with your salvation

God has NOT forgotten you

God is Busy Working

God WILL Finish

You Can Begin Again
God Remembered Noah

August 25th, 2021
I’m preaching through the first 12 chapters of Genesis right now. Today I’m doing some prep work for chapter 8.

So, let me allow you to peek in on my thought process preparing for preaching on chapter 8. This series is different than breaking down every verse, it is a single message of importance from each chapter. Well, as I turn the page I can’t get past verse 1, “God Remembered Noah”. Oh Somebody, I might just shout right here. I don’t know if you ever feel like God has forgotten, or worse yet doesn’t care. Oh it was 120 years from the call to the rain. Then 40 days of rain, and months of waiting for the water to recede. Remember they were floating in a casket shaped water vessel. They couldn’t steer it or control, they were in the hands of God, literally and figuratively.

So, this isn’t the sermon yet, just some observations I would share with you.
1. God Knows – God Remembered Noah
2. God Works – God Caused a Wind to pass – the same God that opened all the necessary sources of water in chapter 7 to bring the flood, now closes all those sources in chapter 8. God is working
3. God Finishes – The Ark Came To Rest – while we rest IN Christ, dead to self, alive to Christ, we can know that the Ark will come to rest where God intends.
So then there are some important Conclusions
1. God – it is God, First and God Last. Alpha / Omega, Beginning and End. He starts and he finishes
2. God Knows – Always – Before, During, and After – God knows
3. God Remembers – even when he is silent, he doesn’t forget
4. God Responds
5. God Knows My Name – God Remembered NOAH. And I am reminded right now that God remembers Jim Goforth
6. God Has a Timetable – As you read this story beginning in chapters 5 and 6, notice all the timetables. Why? a) these are TRUE accounts of Historic Events b) These are appointments on God’s Book
So, finally let me give you some Confidence Today
1. God is on the throne
2. God has perfect timing
3. God has not forgotten
4. God is not lazy, he is busy, he is patient for the right time
What do we do while we wait? There are plenty of passages you can read today.

Luke 23:42 – the thief on the cross said, “remember me Lord” and Jesus said “today you will be with me”

Judges 16:28 – Samson has failed the Lord but he asked “Lord remember me. Strengthen me just once more”

Jeremiah 15:15 – “You know Lord, remember me, take note… that I suffer… for your honor” – Oh Child, God knows, and takes note, and he has your tears in a bottle and a book about you written himself. (Psalm 56:8)

Job 14:13 – “if only you would appoint a time for me and remember me” don’t worry he has and he does

Finally go to the 106th Psalm and read verse 4, then back up and use the Psalm to Praise the Lord. ” remember me… come to me with salvation” so while you wait “Hallelujah! Give Thanks for he is good and his love endures forever”. The writer says “remember me so that…” a) I can enjoy being chosen b) I can rejoice c) I can boast about my heritage.

Well I could go on and on, but just know this today, whether in the height of success, the depths of failure, the dirge of death and suffering, God has NOT Forgotten you. Look up, Trust Him, Take his hand, he is leading to the House of the Lord. Surely, Goodness and mercy are following you. They may not always be with you right there, but they are following you, pursuing you, that is the truth you can trust!
Convention Message 2021 – Commission to Culmination

June 22nd, 2021
Every year after I attend the SBC Annual Meeting I bring a message reporting what we are doing in the Southern Baptist Convention, based on the inspiration of the messages I heard, and the reports about our primary ministries.

Here is my message, it’s sort of long, but maybe NOT as controversial as you might think.

Convention Inspiration 2021

Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 7:9

From Commission to Culmination

IN December of 1975, two weeks before my 11^th, birthday God called me to preach. I heard it in my heart as clear as can be. But I waited. I didn’t tell anyone, not because I didn’t want to respond, not because I wasn’t sure, but because my dad was called to preach when he was 11 and I had heard that all my life, and when I heard that voice, I waited because I wanted to be 11. So, I waited two weeks and I felt guilty for two weeks because I wanted to be 11.,,

That call has shaped my life. It has taken me to 4 continents, it has taken me to concerts, and preaching engagements, revivals, church staff positions. But it has also had me share my faith one on one with people on planes, and over lunch, and on street corners, in coffee shops. That call was to preach the Gospel. But that is NOT the first call for the Christian. The first call of a Christian is to share their faith, meet Jesus, share Jesus. It will be different for different people, but it is still an expectation.

What then is the Commission of the Church and When is the Culmination of that Mission

Mission should be measurable and attainable, so what is our mission and how do we know how we are doing and when we are finished?

The Southern Baptist Convention is 175 Years old. We didn’t start for ALL the right reasons. We split from Northern Baptists primarily over slavery. We have confessed that sin as a convention. But our focus has always been on people meeting Jesus.
1. What was Our Commission? – Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8
Read Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8

Why Does Jesus have the Right to Commission Us? 28:18

Because he has the Authority. All the Authority has been given to him.

Why? Because Philippians 2 tells us he emptied himself of glory, took up the nature of a servant, was obedient to death on the cross. So that passage says

Philippians 2:9–10 (CSB)

⁹ For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth—

Ephesians 1:20–22 (CSB)

²⁰ He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—²¹ far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²² And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,

The Father has given EVERYTHING to the Son. The Spirit is pointing everyone TO the Son. It is ALL his … and he says;

“THEREFORE”

– We are commissioned because he is the Boss. Because it is HIS Kingdom, not OUR Kingdom. It is his plan not our plan.

Because HE HAS ALL AUTHORITY. And Dr. Tony Evans preached from this passage and several speakers referred to it. Why because it is where we start. It is why we are here. It is why he left us on earth. He hasn’t left us here because he needs 2000 years to get Heaven Ready. He can SPEAK IT READY. But he left us here because he has a commission for us. Tony Evans reminded us that he has Authority ekousia = power in legitimate hands – authorized authority.

So, the authority IS his, legitimized by Father’s Will, and Spirit’s Power, but by HIS Obedience and Faithfulness to the Cross.

Therefore –

Make Disciples

Evans called that process a transformation of worldviews

Certainly, before we can disciple people from being lovers of self into being lovers of God, we have to lead them to Christ through Evangelism. But discipling is copying the Master. But not just discipling THE ONES WE LIKE or the ones like us…
- OF the Nations – ethnos
That’s the Kingdom work that Evans has been focusing on all of his books recently, Kingdom People, transformation of the people, the structures, the systems. Yes, we want to see worlds change, but that happens as we change people, and people engage with structures and systems and we change systems – discipling the nations

And right here we need to be careful. Because the question I asked myself in my notes was, “how can we do this without being trapped by Politics?” and I believe the answer is in WHOM we seek to glorify and WHY. It’s not about the Church being Political. It’s about the People of God sharing Jesus, Engaging in Society, Transforming Systems, with the Good News that though we are sinners, there is transformation and LIFE in Jesus Christ.

Our hope is NOT in ANY Political System – One speaker this week reminded us that Christ is “not riding any donkeys or elephants.”

And our Outgoing President J.D. Greer, Pastor of The Summit Church Durham, happens to be sending Pastor to our Children now on the Mission Field, he said, when the Church gets into bed with Politics it always gets pregnant and the offspring never looks like our Heavenly Father”

But we are to Go and Disciple the Nations

How? By going to where they are!

Dr. Evans had been using a football game as a metaphor and said there three teams in every conflict, home, away, and the kingdom representative, the referees. But he said, that the offense gets into the Huddle … but no one came to watch the Huddle. You don’t MIND the Huddle, but you came to watch them break the Huddle and play the game. The question is DID THEY SCORE? Or Did they Stop them? So, we have to GO. And honestly if you go to the book of Acts, they had been commissioned, and they had been given clear instructions. And the instructions weren’t to build a Huge Jerusalem Church. It was to GO, empowered, to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Church.

And so, what happened?

Before Saul became Paul. Before he became the great Preacher of the Gospel, I think you could say he became the greatest SENDER of the Gospel. Because there he is at the stoning of the deacon Stephen. And in the CHAOS of Persecution, the Church is forced to DO what they were called to.
- Go – Baptist, Teach to Observe
Baptizing them, who, the Nations

Baptism is how we identify with Christ and with the Church

And Tony Evans said that our Identity as a Christian is MORE than any other identifier we have. He said God went to SAVE the NATIONS and commissioned us to do that. He says God is NOT Colorblind. Still in Heaven they were every race, tribe, color, and tongue – God is NOT Color Blind, but he is also not Blinded by Color.

Baptizing the Nations in the name of Father, Son, and Spirit

Teaching Them (the nations) to OBSERVE

It is NOT in the Knowing but in the Doing that we truly identify AS Christians. Doing doesn’t MAKE us Christians, but it DOES Identify us as Christians.

It’s about Transformation. Our job is to evangelize but to share the accountability to BE Like Christ. And if WE will Observe all that he is Commanded … THEN as Kingdom People, we can see Kingdom Impact in the World.

Tony Evans said, we can’t expect God to “Skip the church house, to fix the White House”

And then as Evans closed, he reminded us that the I am with you always – literally I even I am with you always to the end of the age … he was NOT talking about salvation, he was talking about how he is WITH us, accompanies us. And that God only Accompanies us, is with us as we are with HIM. As we are doing what we’ve been told to do, THEN he is WITH Us.

As we are Kingdom people, living with Kingdom Authority, For Kingdom Glory … THEN he is with us. In John 2:21-25 Jesus preached and many believe in his name … Jesus, however would not entrust himself to them,

There is and can be a time, when we believe, have faith, but we are on our own Agenda and he is not WITH us.

2. Why Is Our Commission? – Acts 1:3-8

If Jesus only has 40 days on earth what is going to focus on? What is most important. He taught them about the Kingdom of God

The kingdom of God NOW is in our hearts surrendered to God. The Kingdom of God to COME is the Eternal Rule of God over all things – Heart, Soul, Mind, Strength, in a Unified Universe of Surrendered Creation and Creature. And he had spent 40 days teaching them about the Kingdom of God.

And the commands them NOT TO LEAVE Jerusalem but to WAIT for the Father’s promise … What was the promise? John 14 don’t let your hearts be troubled… believe in me… I am going to prepare a place for you… I will come again and take you to myself… but then he says in v16, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another counselor… I will not leave you as orphans… the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send me my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you. Peace I leave with you… don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful and in John 15:25 he continues, he will testify about me. You also will testify… chapter 16 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father… I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.

So, he has told them he is leaving. Now the time is here. He is leaving. He has also promised them that he will return. But In the Meantime, we have a Person, we have Power, and we have a Purpose. Oh wow that sounds like a sermon doesn’t it.

The Person we have is the representative of Jesus Christ, the Person, 3^rd Person of the Trinity, The Holy Spirit. He is NOT the Father, He is NOT the Son, He is the Spirit, and He is GOD! His purpose is to teach us, to convict us, he will encourage us, and he will empower us.

The Power – Jesus says he is leaving. We are going to be wondering what to do. But peace comes in realizing that when Jesus left, he was sending all the power we need. There is power in knowledge. There is power in a message, there is power in purpose.

I have been running 3-4 times a week since I started focusing on running, back in August. It’s been a different thing for me. It has stretched my endurance, my perseverance. There is a trainer that I have been using via video, Tommy Rivers Puzey. And he will be ramping things up and he often says, “come on, you can do anything for a minute”. And so, we would press on and push forward at this new rate, for a minute. We can make it for a minute. And by breaking it down, my endurance increases. What the training is doing is increasing my power, but also increasing my mental, and even spiritual power to continue.

So, Peter said, to the Lord, a day is “like 1000 years.” So, a day is 24 hours right. So, if 1000 years is a day, then 41 years is an hour. So, I’m going to live to 100 at least. That would simply be living 2 ½ HOURS. And if 41 years is an hour then 8 months is a minute, and 4 days is a second. Tommy Rivs says, “you can do anything for a minute”

And Jesus said, “for a little while you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” If your whole life is TROUBLE – it’s just a couple of hours. But in those HOURS – we can make it because we have the Power of the Holy Spirit.

But IN THOSE HOURS … let’s focus on the RIGHT THINGS

The Purpose – I’m giving you the Holy Spirit to work on the KINGDOM. Now there in Acts 1 the disciples are trying to get the verbiage right. And He has just again promised them that they would be BAPTIZED with the Holy Spirit with Power for the Purpose, IN A FEW DAYS … and the disciples ask, Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?

Oh my they got the word right, but not the concept. We ARE Kingdom People in Christ Jesus, but it’s NOT that kind of Kingdom. Some of us step into the voting booth trying to bring the Kingdom and that’s NOT the place. OH YES. THAT Kingdom is Coming. And that Promise will be fulfilled, but Jesus isn’t asking for our help with THAT Kingdom, but he DOES want to USE us in the Advancement of the Kingdom of God here on earth IN the Heart of All who Would Believe.

And Jesus gently answers their question by saying, it’s not for you to know times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority …

… BUT you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So, if that’s our Commission, WHEN will we know we are finished?

3. When Is the Culmination? – Revelation 7:9

Until we get to Heaven and see Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 become a reality, we have work to do.

What does that look like?

Revelation 7:9 (CSB)

⁹ After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

This is the vision that Great Commission Baptists are Committed to. Yes, we are still the Southern Baptist Convention. We are not all “southern”, but we are all Great Commission Baptists. We adopted this moniker 10 years ago as a way to refer to us. That is our Mission, that is our Focus, to fulfill the great commission. And we put our money where our mission is.

SBC Budget 2021/22 – $190,000,000.

We can do that because we are 48,000 churches cooperating together for the Great Commission. Some might expect that to be a bloating of facilitation and administration, but that’s the beautify of the SBC.

Of the $190Million only 2.99% is spent on Facilitating Ministries, that is the Executive Committee which operates for the SBC between Annual Meetings, and the overall Operations of the SBC.

1.65% is spent on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission which works with Culture and Engagement of Issues. It assists churches in moral and ethical issues, engagement and education. They work with faith-based adoption issues, human rights issues, and religious liberty engagement.

22% is spent on our 6 Seminaries, training the next generation of Pastors and Staff.

Then 73% of our Budget is Spent on World Missions Ministries!

That includes $43,000,000 on the North American Mission Board. The North American Mission Board is focused in the USA and Canada in Compassion Ministry, Evangelism, Church Planting, and Chaplains (Hospitals and Military)

The IMB and NAMB work together on www.sendrelief.org When there is a tragedy worldwide, if you want to give to a specific need, go to send relief. You can give directly to them and know that in addition to meeting needs they will share the gospel. You can also know that they will work WITH Salvation Army and many others on the field to make the most of the opportunity, not compete.

The NAMB is focused heavily on Church Planting and Replanting of existing churches struggling and ready to reengage. Church planting is the strategy to spread the gospel, respond to brokenness, and bring spiritual, emotional, economic and social healing.

Look at this.

Notice the church plants in 2010.

Now SINCE 2011, look at this.

In 2020 we have truly LIT up the Continent with the gospel. 7,300 churches planted in 10 years. 80% are still thriving after 4 years. 18% of the baptisms in our 48,000 churches come from church plants. And notice a little but exciting thing. Down there on the bottom right in Puerto Rico. 16 New Church Plants. No new churches had been planted there in 25 years previously. That’s Great Commission Baptists at Work. http://www.namb.net

Then our Biggest Focus on Revelation 7:9 is the International Mission Board. And we allocate $95.6 Million or 50% of our budget to the IMB, and that does NOT include the $159Million given to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, in spite of COVID, that was the 2^nd largest Offering every. And with that investment, there are more than 3,500 missionaries and their 2500 children on the field right now. The world becomes more hostile to the Gospel daily and so they have to be creative and create jobs that allow them to work and connect overseas. Companies like www.kingdomgrowers.com in Forney Texas. I’m not a coffee drinker, but you can order online. Check it out. And you can buy plants that go overseas to farmers in need. The IMB is a Partner for the Gospel with Kingdom Growers so you get great Coffee and people learn about Jesus. I could go on and on. But what happens with that money and those missionaries. And with the thousands of short-term missionaries that partner?

http://www.imb.org

Well, last year in spite of covid 422 new missionaries went to their fields. 18,000 local pastors received training. 127,000 received leadership and theological training. In Healthy Church Formation 35,000 groups are meeting intending to BECOME a church. 15,000 groups were just started with the intention of becoming a church. 18,380 New Churches were formed 57,888 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, Generation churches are meeting with only 670 churches that have stopped meeting. Then the Big Winning Numbers. 769,494 people heard a Gospel Witness by our 3552 missionaries and partners. OF those 576,395 had an opportunity to respond to Christ. 144,322 became New Believers. One of those new believers was a young man who met our son and the went through the Gospel of John and He said, “I can’t believe what they did to Jesus”. He is a brother now. Then of those new believers 86,587 baptisms. You realize that is equal to nearly Two Mission Baptism for EACH of our Churches.

That brings us to ONE other Focus. $200,000 has been allocated for a new effort from our Executive Committee President Ronnie Floyd.

We are Great Commission Baptist. The Great Commission Compels us to Go. Why? Because Matthew 25:46 says that without Christ, they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. What’s common, ETERNAL. What’s different is the address. If we want to take the Gospel to the Nations, leading to faith, baptizing for declaration, teaching to live according to the truth of the Kingdom, We have work to do.

So, we have been presented with Vision 2025 with 5 Initiatives. It was amended to include a 6th initiative.
- Increase the total number of Missionaries by 500. That will account for 100 lost annually.
- Add 5,000 new Church Plants taking us over 50,000 churches.
- Calling Out the Call – each church taking their role in calling on students, adults even retirees or career change new Pastors and Staff Ministers.
- Turn Around Current Reduction in Baptisms by focusing on children and students between the ages of 5 and 17. The numbers have dropped dramatically in the last 10 years
- Increase % giving, and Numbers given to the CP to 500,000,000
Then from the Floor came a recommendation for an addition to this task, of these important things:
- Prayerfully Endeavor to eliminate all incidents of sexual abuse, and racial discrimination, in our churches – those two atrocities’ damage people and damage the work of the church. We will seek to END their incidence, and end churches being silent when it happens. We must protect the next church after you put that pastor out. We have a responsibility to protect one another. And there is no place for hatred of any kind in the Church of Jesus Christ.
I read Francis Bacon – he said that what gives rise to Atheism is primarily 3 things, 1) divisions in religions. When we fight, the world doesn’t believe. 2) Scandal among the preachers of the gospel. 3) Profane Scoffing in Holy matters, which he says defaces the reverence for God. He then added a 4) learned times especially in peace and prosperity. When times are GOOD, and we are “smart”, we forget God.

We can combat Atheism, not by ARGUING truth, but by Living the Gospel we Speak of

David Jeremiah says “Preach the Gospel with Word, Picture the Gospel with Life, Practice the Gospel with Love.”

The Prayer is to engage the 331million Americans, and 7.9 Billion worldwide, with the Gospel.

But until we stand around the throne, we have work to do.

What does that mean for us? There is a Message for Everyone. Oh, you might say, “well, there are mostly white people around us.” If that’s TRUE. I would still say the word “mostly”. Reach the rest. But Revelation says, “every tribe and people”. Are there people you don’t reach out to because they are of a different “tribe” or a different “people”? “Oh they aren’t LIKE US”. Praise God … go get them! Different Tribe. Is there a place for Republicans here? How about Democrats? How about Independents? What about other Tribes? You name the divider do they need Jesus? Will we allow Jesus to be the only definer? Will we allow his WORD to be our only Teacher? We still have work to do.

And so, the Call for you and for me is to Go

Go To friends

…To family

…To hard places

…To near places

…To far places

Give to facilitate the work of others

Pray for the advancement of the gospel

Cooperate with others on the same mission

You may not be called to be a preacher, or a missionary

But you have a Commission to Share your faith, from home, across the street, into the hard places to the ends of the Earth.

Are you A Great Commission Baptist? I am, We are, There’s room for you.
Walking With God

May 25th, 2021
God Created All Things

I know God loves the beauty of his creation. He loves a sunrise and sunset. He loves the way his stars are arranged. I’m sure he loves hearing the song of a whale singing in the ocean, a dolphin rising and falling on the surface of the waves. Oh, I’m sure he loves seeing the Eagle Soar, hearing a cardinal or mockingbird sing. Everything God made, he spoke into existence, and oh it was good.

But then, He formed Adam, out of the dust of the earth, with his own hand. He took Adam and breathed the breath of life into him and Adam became a living being. It was very good

The Lord planted a garden, a place for man to live and a place where God could walk with him.

Sadly, rather than walk in obedience and love, Adam and Eve sinned. And in Genesis 3:8, the Lord came walking in the garden, in the cool evening breeze, but Adam was hiding, and the Lord called out, where are you?

God wants to walk with us.

Enoch walked with God

Noah it seems was the ONLY man on earth who walked with God

Abraham walked before the Lord

The 12 Disciples were able to walk with him daily for 3 years. Along the most of his miracles and his teaching was while he walked with them.

Psalm 81:13 (CSB) – ¹³ If only my people would listen to me and… follow my ways,

From Genesis to the Revelation God wants us to walk with Him.

Henry Ford said, those who walk with God always reach their destination.

I’ve been preaching through Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae. The Series is “Only Jesus”. We learn that Jesus

He created all things

He sustains all things

He rules all things

He died to pay the debt for our sin

He is shaping us, changing us, and he will present us holy and blameless in glory

And Therefore, we are living a new way. We are seeking to make every part of our lives an act of Worship

I define Worship as An Expression of Adoration to the Object of our Affection

So, ANYTHING For Him, for His Glory Can be Worship.

A.W. Tozar says our goal should be lives of “unbroken worship”.

What does God want? He wants us to Walk with Him.

IN Colossians 3:24 Paul says, ” You Serve The Lord.” and this transition in 4:1 tells leaders and influencers to Act Justly, and Fairly since you too have a Master in Heaven

And We are invited to…

Walk With The Master

There is more to this than just “be a good boss”. There is an underlying principle for Life, walk with Jesus.

Adam and Eve got us ALL “off track”, because when we stopped obeying God we rejected that we had a Master in Heaven who simply wants To WALK WITH US.

Does this instruction sound like an Old Testament Foundationally Familiar Instruction? It did to me and I couldn’t get away from it.

How do we make life “unbroken worship”?

We WALK WITH THE LORD

Why did God bless David, even though he was flawed and often failed? It was that David Walked with the Lord. Yes, he fell down, but he Got Up.

When Solomon became King, God told him in 1 Kings 3:14 “If you walk in my ways and keep my statues and commands just as your father David did, I will give you long life”

Even the “boss” has a Boss – the kyrios has a Kyrios, capital K

He is telling us to act justly, faithful, not overly impressed with our position, humble before our master… Look Up… Our MASTER is in Heaven

A leader joins God in his Work… so here’s where that took me…

Micah 6:6–7 (CSB)

⁶ What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? ⁷ Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin?

What is the worship that God requires?

Offerings, Sacrifices? When is Enough, Enough?

God wants us to walk with him, it’s all he has EVER wanted.

Sin separated us from our WALK with the Master in the breeze of the evening, the dew of the morning, the heat of the day.

Jesus left Heaven and came to earth to walk with US.

should I give my firstborn for my transgressions?

NO, God gave HIS Only SON for our sin. As his child, his servant, redeemed by the one and only son of God, what does God want?

Micah 6:8 (CSB)

⁸ Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.

“Mankind” – Y’all, Everybody – that word is “adam”

When did he tell us?

Deuteronomy 10:12–13 (CSB)

¹² “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? ¹³ Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

Deuteronomy 30:15–16 (CSB)

¹⁵ See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶ For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

This is the way to a successful society, to a life pleasing to the Lord
- To Act Justly
ACT = manufacture, make – He isn’t asking if we FEEL it, but telling us to DO it.

Isaiah 56:1 (CSB)

¹ This is what the Lord says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for my salvation is coming soon, and my righteousness will be revealed.

Walk with me

Jeremiah 22:3 (CSB)

³ This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Oh my goodness, let’s turn off the news feeds, stop following the political pundits and walk with God, hear and do

Jesus told the Pharisees, and ANY “religious folks” in Matthew 23.23 – be careful, there is hypocrisy when we do our religious expression to the Nth degree, but we neglect the more important matters Jesus said. What was more important he said justice, mercy, and faithfulness

Praise God, he gives us Grace, but guess what? He expects us to be people that DO RIGHT, walk with him in the fields of Grace, the ways of mercy.

Wait, did you hear what Jeremiah said back there? Rescue the victim… from the oppressor… don’t exploit the alien… fatherless… widow

The people of God were always intended to be a safe place for “aliens”.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower, a place for people to run and be safe, and we bear the NAME of the LORD. Are we a place of safety for people in need of direction, provision, protection?

Act Justly and…
- Love Faithfulness
It says LOVE – that’s action, a verb

Love Faithfulness – hesed = deeds of kindness, a joint obligation, a covenant of love

We have an obligation to PEOPLE, because of our obligation to the Master in Heaven

Romans 13:8 (CSB)

⁸ Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

This is an obligation

So…
- Walk Humbly with your God
Ephesians 4:1 (CSB)

¹ Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

Paul, from confinement, tells us to ALWAYS Continue to walk with the Lord

Colossians 1:10 (CSB)

¹⁰ …walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,

Walk Humbly WITH… YOUR – This is about God, and it isn’t a mystery

Isaiah 66:2 (CSB)

² My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.

Isaiah 57:15 (CSB)

¹⁵ For the High and Exalted One, who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this: “I live in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the oppressed.

Yes, our Lord is exalted, holy, eternal… but he has come down to the oppressed and lowly… to Lift Up, Revive, and Renew our Hearts

There are HOT Issues right now, and whether it is “alien” at the border, or homeless, abandoned women and children, or race issues, we, the church, need to focus on CHURCH, PEOPLE of God issues. We are NOT a political group we are the people of God. Yes, VOTE, YES hold our political leaders accountable, be personally involved in politics if the Lord so calls, BUT these are Gospel Opportunities and we need to seize these moments.

Sadly, we are often caught up defending politics and fearful of losing some “ground” or perceived territory, and we lose sight of the basic, “mankind” expectations of God. If we would focus on what GOD requires then we would…

Act Justly

Love Faithfulness

And Guess what happens when we DO those basic things?

We will look up and realize … “wait, I have God’s Hand, I am walking with God”

Well, let me leave you with something very practical.

You might ask, how do I hear his voice, and take his hand and walk with him?
1. Pray and Listen – prayer isn’t conversation if we aren’t talking and listening. And what did your momma tell you? Two ears, One mouth, listen twice as much as you talk
2. Read His Word, Read His Word, and Read His Word – one of the most important principles for discerning God’s leading, is knowing what he has said, what he has done, what he has promised, and knowing his Character. Then when you think you are hearing God, if it doesn’t match up with his Word and his Character, if you can’t find it in his past or his promises, chances are you are not hearing God.
3. Do What He Does – If we are praying, learning, and then doing the deeds of God, we are WALKING With God.
We have sons, and we taught them to walk. I taught them to play sports. We taught them to love the things we love. We taught them to love people and love ministry. We took them with me on mission trips and ministering to the needy. And you know what, our sons, learned to “walk that way.”

Now they are grown, and away from us, but they are still “walking with me”. Along the way, walking with me, they became my friends.

When we Walk with God, in Justice, Faithfulness, and Love, we find God’s pleasure and the purpose of being what God always intended, that we would be his friends.

God made a promise to Abraham, and Abraham joined God walking by Faith and James 2:23 says

Abraham was a Friend of God
Therefore

April 20th, 2021

I’m preaching through Colossians. I don’t often post my sermon manuscript but this was from last week, thought it might encourage you today

Only Jesus #9

Colossians 2:16-23

Only One Measure

Therefore – I’ve been thinking about that word a lot this week.

Actually, I’ve had that word on my mind for the last month. That’s where we left off in Colossians. And so as we finished by talking about the Cross. And then we moved into the Mount of Transfiguration …Therefore…

And then Luke 9:23 if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me …Therefore…

And then Jesus coming down the Mount of Olives, entering Jerusalem by the Eastern Gate, on the back of a donkey, they asked “who is this” and the answer “This is Jesus” …Therefore…

And we hear the words, “It is Finished” on the cross, paid in full, mission accomplished, and “he is not here”, leave the dead places … “He has Risen, just as he said” …Therefore…

It means, “for that reason, consequently”.

It’s just a little conjunction in the Greek, oun – but you perhaps have heard the saying, “if you see, ‘therefore’ stop and look to see what is it there fore.”

And Unknown Poet wrote these words:

THEREFORE

The tragedy of life is not death,

But what we let die inside us.

THEREFORE,

Decide to be happy,

Render others happy,

Proclaim your joy.

Love passionately your miraculous life:

Do not listen to promises;

Do not wait for a better world;

Be grateful for every moment of life.

Switch on the positive buttons in yourself;

Those marked optimum, serenity,

Confidence, positive thinking.

Love, pray, and thank God every day.

Meditate, smile, laugh, whistle, sing

And dance.

Look with fascination at everything.

Fill your lungs and heart with liberty.

Be yourself, fully and immensely.

Act like a (king or) queen unto death.

Feel God in your body, and mind,

Heart and soul, and be

Convinced of eternal life.

-unknown-

Therefore…

It is such a common word, though rather small, in the Greek, but it is NOT insignificant.

There are many wonderful “therefore” verses in scripture.

One of my favorite ones is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 which reminds that Christians don’t grieve like those without hope, because we believe that Jesus died and rose, and so we believe that those who die in the Lord will come with him one day… when the trumpet sounds and the Lord comes, we will be caught up together meeting them in the sky, and that we will ALWAYS be WITH the Lord.

“Therefore, encourage one another with these words.”

“Therefore” means we Look Back to what WAS, and Look Forward to what WILL be…

THEREFORE …

So, going back to Colossians what we have already seen?

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Everything was created by him – Everything

By Him all things hold together – ALL Things

He is the Head of the Church.

He is the Firstborn from the dead.

He has made peace for us with God, by the blood shed on the cross.

We were alienated from God, but IN Christ, we are reconciled.

And we will be presented Holy and Blameless to God.

Then in Chapter 2, Paul says that the cross marked us as belonging to him. The cross erased our debt, and Disarmed our Spiritual Enemies, stole their weapons, and disgraced them publicly. He has triumphed over our enemies and leads us in a victory procession …

THEREFORE

READ Colossians 2:16-23

The rest of this letter is all about the “Therefore”

– How THEREFORE shall we live?

For that reason –

There are many things we do “for a reason”. There are plenty of things we do in the church, or in our religious expression, the decisions we make, “for a reason”. The question is, is it for a GODLY Reason – does it MATTER? It is for the Right Reason.

Because of the Cross

Because of the Sacrifice

Because of the Cost

Because of the LOVE – given and returned …

1. Be Judged By Substance

Remember our title is ONLY ONE MEASURE

– in the church we are often using measures with no substance. Oh, they are traditions, or preferences, even personal convictions, but is there TRUE SUBSTANCE?

Only One Measure

Don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink, by festivals, new moons, or sabbath.

These battles were going on in the church. There were Jews, now Christian, but they wanted the Gentiles to follow their Old Covenant traditions. They wanted them to follow food laws, or festivals, or worship on the Sabbath as well as the new practice of worshiping on “The Lord’s Day.”

But those things weren’t normal for the Gentiles. Nor were they commanded by Christ. The Jews were offended if the Gentiles bought meat in their markets that often had been sacrificed to idols. It created tension and troubles.

This wasn’t unique to Colossae, just like it isn’t unique today to one church or region.

Romans 14:3 (CSB)

³ One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.

Romans 14:17 (CSB)

¹⁷ for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

WHY are we NOT judged by these traditions?

V17 – those things were shadows –

Hebrews 10:1 (CSB)

¹ Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the reality itself of those things, it can never perfect the worshipers by the same sacrifices they continually offer year after year.

Shadows … form but no substance. Action but no power

Shadows don’t have cheering sections

Shadows shouldn’t be worshiped

Tradition is wonderful, in its place; but we must keep our eyes set on the SUBSTANCE

Traditions don’t make us perfect, they just tell a story.

What did Paul say in Romans 14:3? It’s not about food and drink, “because God has Accepted You.” Do you see the underlying thing? Often times we are busy checking someone else’s boxes, what THEY call substance.

Don’t do that, because In Christ, we are already accepted.

The CROSS makes us acceptable, NOT the songs we sing, or the Bible translation we use, or the service schedule.

No, Jesus makes us acceptable.

Romans 14:17 says the Kingdom… is NOT eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy…

I have news for us … When we All Get To Heaven … there won’t be hymnals, or bulletins. There won’t be video projectors either…

But there WILL be:

Righteousness – given by Christ…

Peace with God – acquired by Christ…

And Joy

– and that joy will flow into authentic worship, new songs as well as old, silence, shouting, celebration, and great gratitude. The only tears will be tears of Joy and Gratitude.

Paul is saying, “Don’t let anyone steal your Joy” by judging you without substance.

You’ve heard me say, “happiness is about what happens to you, but Joy is about what is INSIDE.” And someone recently asked me, “then what’s inside, where’s the Joy?”

RIGHT there in Romans 14:17 – Joy in the Holy Spirit

When you gave your heart to Christ, hearing the gospel, believing, you were then given the Holy Spirit. (Eph.1:13-14)

What did Jesus say The Spirit would do, John 16:13-15?

He declares what is to come…

Glorifies Jesus…

He takes from Jesus and gives to us…

He reminds us that Jesus Christ died to make us righteous, to give us peace with God, and Jesus is going to come again and will fulfill every promise…

Therefore – Be Joyful, Be Faithful to Substantive Worship v18

Let no one condemn you because they delighting in ascetic worship practices and visions etc.

You see while we have the traditionalist that wants to pull you into their tradition; we also have the experiential worshipper that feels they are more spiritual than you because they have special experiences.

Sometimes our “therefore” is that we have an image of the way it used to be, when it was best, or that special “high”, and we long for THAT experience.

Oh, it’s fine to look back, but we don’t need to try and recreate the past, or even the special, not even the great move of God …

ONLY ONE MEASURE…

Therefore, remember the past and consequently move toward the future

What is our future? A vast multitude around the throne of God from every people group, worshiping in Heaven. Revelation 5, 7, 9

Therefore, I want our worship, our service, our church today, our judgment of authentic to be People coming to know Jesus, made right with God, on the way to Glory.

Notice there in vv18-19 … when we hold to tradition or to special experience, we take our eyes off Christ, we hold on to the empty and not to the substance. We get puffed up with empty notions of what is spiritual, and so we have in essence taken the Head, Christ, Off the Body. And we end up with a Headless Church. That’s a monster, a freak, with no power and no life.

Judge by Substance and be

2. Free from Bondage

Paul shifts from talking about those who judge us, to those of us who ALLOW ourselves to stay bound to that empty judgment.

Why do you submit V20 if you died with Christ?

Romans 6 talks about what the Cross did for us.

Romans 6:4 Therefore … wait – backup…

Romans 6 paints this picture.

6:1 – should we continue bound to enlarge grace?

6:2 – absolutely not!

6:3 – we were baptized into Christ, baptized into death

6:4 – Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death … raised to Life … so we may walk in the newness of life

6:17-18 – thank Godthat you used to be a slave to sin, but you have been SET FREE

Romans 6:22–23 (CSB)

²² But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life! ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Free from Sin, a gift of grace … free from The Law …

Therefore, don’t live as if you belong to the world.

Don’t think that you can set rules, “don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”

Why?

V22 all of these will perish

Human commands and doctrines will die WITH us

V23 self-made religions, false humility, not of any value.

And in all of this is the implied “therefore”

Judged by Substance

Free from Bondage

Therefore, we have

3. ONE MEASURE – Only Jesus

Live to Christ

Romans 6:8–11 (CSB)

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, ⁹ because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

In Christ we didn’t die to be covered in dirt … we die to Rise to LIFE and GLORY

1 Peter 2:24 (CSB)

²⁴ He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Oh my my my … when I typed in that verse the other day, tears welled in my eyes.

ONE MEASURE … ONE GOAL

Jesus, Beaten, Mocked, Beard Plucked, Cross carried through the streets of Jerusalem, Arms stretched wide, Thorn-crowned head, Nailed to THE CROSS – but that wasn’t the hardest. The hardest was He BORE my sin, he became sin …

SO THAT – YES – SO THAT – WE MIGHT LIVE – FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Galatians 2:20 (CSB)

²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I like the KJV – I am crucified with Christ – NEVERTHELESS

But The YLT – says, with Christ I have been crucified, and live no more do I, and Christ doth live in me; and that which I now live in the flesh – in the faith I live of the Son of God, who did love me and did give himself for me

Oh that’s Beautiful … because he DID die for me … because he did LOVE me …

I Live To Him

I LIVE IN Christ

Christ IN ME

I Live FOR Christ

That is … we live with our eyes set on the KINGDOM of God – the Kingdom that HAS Come, the Kingdom that IS Coming.

What was Jesus’ first message?

Repent for the Kingdom has come NEAR

– Stop going that way, turn around – Here It IS

Seeing what he has done for us, and what will be given TO us

Therefore We…

Live For His Glory

How did he teach us to pray?

Our Father your name is Honored and Holy

Your Kingdom come, your will be done

On earth AS it is IN Heaven

The “Therefore” in this life is living like a Citizen of Heaven, while we are foreigners, aliens, on earth.

Let go of the temporary stuff, live toward glory

Live for His Passion

– what’s his passion?

God so loved the world … that he gave his son … that WHOSOEVER

Let LOVE Govern our Lives … We are not driven by Tradition. We are not driven by Rules. We are not hunting some spiritual feeling, some great spiritual high we had or even heard about. No, Loved… We Love in Grateful Obedience. Remembering what he HAS done, Realizing what WILL be… We Love toward the glory that is to come.

Ana Draper wrote …

I Was Loved, Therefore I Am

I was loved, therefore I am

And in being loved, I am treasured

When I pealed away my layers,

And all that was left was my essence,

The bareness of me,

I am STILL loved.

I was loved, therefore I am,

And in being loved, I was able to grow.

In my mistakes, held

In my successes, celebrated,

I was always loved

I was loved, therefore I am,

And in being loved, I learned to love.

In the sun-filled day,

In the ecstasy of the night,

I was loved and loved others.

To be loved is all you need.

I was loved, and so will I always be.

– Ana Draper –

God so loved the world – he gave his only son … that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life – John 3:16

This is how we know what love is, Jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers … 1 John 3:16

I was loved … THEREFORE

I was loved … Therefore – LOVE is my Only Measure

You were loved

You ARE loved

You WILL BE loved

Jesus died on the cross to defeat the sin that destroys … because he loved you

He is preparing a place for all who will receive that love and live in it.

Therefore – Receive it, and Love him in Return, Live according to it, TODAY

I look Back, Yesterday, the cross gave us a reason for Hope

I Look Forward, Tomorrow, Jesus will come Just as God has promised and Provided.

Therefore, Right now … we are Living In the “THEREFORE”

We call it today …
God Articulated

April 13th, 2021

I had my mind go back today to John 1. I have preached from this passage 1:1-14 so many times. It is in my sermon book available at Written In Flesh: A Series of Expositional Sermons in John’s Gospel: Volume 1 – Chapters 1-3 (To Believe and Have Life) – Kindle edition by Goforth Jr, James L. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

This isn’t intended to be a commercial post, but just wanted you to know where youc an get the rest of this idea. I was thinking about it today and reading again and I wanted to just include a little bit of it, sort of an outline of it. I wanted to just give you an encouragement today

John 1:1-4 in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. in him was life and that life was the light of men (CSB)

John wrote his gospel toward the end of the first century, long after all the other 11 who walked with Jesus had died. He wrote it from Ephesus where he had been pastor of what had become a large metropolitan church. John wrote 20:31 that you may believe … and have life.

Heraclitus had been a Greek Philosopher, also from Ephesus about 600 years before John 500BC. and he described the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe. He called that divine reason – the logos = word. Heraclitus believed, 500 years before Jesus walked the earth, that there was something behind everything.

And John writes perhaps the most beautiful words in literature these words we just read. John was saying, “Heraclitus is right, and I know WHO he is, I walked with him, talked with him, saw him die, saw him alive, I KNOW HIM!” and he writes these words.

Go back and read them again – go ahead, I’ll wait.

John says the WORD isn’t a concept, he is a person. And he uses that same word LOGOS to show us Jesus.

He says

1.He is an Ancient Word

When the beginning had a beginning, Jesus was already there. Whatever you are facing, whatever the challenges, Jesus was before it. Your generational problem, your current circumstance, success, failure, Jesus was there BEFORE

And he WAS the Word. He has an infinite past. Matthew, Mark, Luke, all put Jesus rightfully in his place in History. But John starts by placing him outside history

in the beginning was the word

Whatever you face, take it back to the beginning when there was nothing but God, and know that before everything, before you even knew him, Jesus loved you.

And Jesus is

2.An Associated Word

was WITH God

They say you can be defined by whom you associate with. John Associated Jesus with GOD. That word means in the company of

John says anyone who has seen me has seen God – John 14:9

Hebrews 1 says he is the radiance of God’s glory … the exact representation of his being

And so that means he is also associated with the Holy Spirit. In the beginning was God … let US make man in OUR own image

Jesus was fully equal to and associated with the Trinity, the fullness of God.

But then the amazing becomes true John 1:14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us

Jesus became fully associated with US, with People.

When Solomon built his Temple he thought in 1 Kings 8:27 will God really dwell on earth? The heavens … cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built.

And yet that word, ancient and associated with God, became associated with us!

Why? so that our FIRST word doesn’t have to be the LAST Word.

Words seem to define us – winner, loser, big, small, accepted, rejected, sinner, saint, but because Jesus is the First Word and He is the FINAL Word, Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End; it doesn’t matter what your current word is, it doesn’t have to define you if you surrender to Jesus.

He is an

3.An Almighty Word

So Fear Him. Psalm 34:8-9 taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints for those who fear him lack nothing.

Almighty Creator – Fear Him

Favor Him. that means to show him love, and to show him preference.

Who do you love and give preference to? Jesus is the one that deserves to be over all of that.

Follow Him – it’s not enough to think Jesus is nice, or a good teacher, he is either LORD, or Lunatic, or he was a Liar. That’s what C.S.Lewis famously said. If he is NOT Lord, then don’t follow him, but if he IS – he deserves ALL our lives fully given and devoted to him. Lewis said you can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him for a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

Oh my how the WORD can change our Word

From Abuse to Adore, Bankrupt to Bless, Cancer to Cured, Divorce to Anniversary Date, Empty to Exuberant, Famine to Feast, Grief to Given Comfort, Hate to Heart of Love, Irreconcilable to intercession. He can change us from Justice to Justification, Kicked out to Kicking up your heals, Lay-off to Labor in a New beginning. Oh can you hear me? From Materialist to Minister of God’s Gifts, Naysayers to Number one Fan, Ostracized to Open door. Oh I like the Word of God, Jesus changes us from Picked last to Picked FIRST by the Lord of Creation. He changes our word from Unqualified to Qualified, Ridicule to Resounding praise, Suffering to Strength, Termination to Threshold of opportunity. Oh when Word is our Word we can go from Uneducated to Understanding, Victim to Victor. When X-rays are fearful, we can have EXpectation of God’s move. If Yielding to God is fearful, the word of Jesus is A Yield of Great harvest, and Zero hope becomes a Zephyr of God’s Blessing blowing …

Oh Somebody … are you with me today

Whatever the words are playing in your heart and life today, Jesus is the Word BEFORE and will be the WORD after, and He IS the Word here with us today, willing to change our world.

Will you turn to him today. Say “Jesus, you are my word, you are my hope, you are my life, my trust is in you all day long.”
Redemption – A Sermon

November 2nd, 2020
This is the manuscript for 11/1/20

READ John 19:15b-30

When Jesus received the sour wine, he said “it is finished.” Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

Can you see this moment of death for the Son of God, Son of Man?

And here he is, dying, innocent.

Is this just a tragic day? It is an ugly, unfortunate accident, injustice? Is it an awesome example of faith, devotion, and love?

Can you let me “hit rewind” from that moment in History?

His head lifts

You see Mary at the cross on Golgotha. John, the Apostle is given charge of her. The soldiers gamble, without concern, for his clothing as a souvenir.

He is placed on the cross with a sign overhead in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek saying ‘Jesus of Nazareth: King of the Jews’.

He had been handed over to this brutality because the people cried, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’

They had put a crown of thorns on his head, mocked his role and reign, after beating him 39 times with a ‘cat of nine tales’, a brutal torture device that tears flesh to the bone.

Before that, he was questioned by Pilate, rejected by Caiaphas, the High Priest, laughed at by Herod

Peter had denied him 3 times in the later night, early morning hours

In the Garden of Gethsemane he was arrested while praying in anguish, anguish over what he knew was coming, yet he desired the will of God, the completion of his plan.

He had prayed for US, “sanctify them, Father, protect them, give them unity, so that the world may believe.”

In a little while he said you will not see me, and then for a little while I’m sending a Comforter, an encourager, to strengthen and give you wisdom, The Holy Spirit.

He said, I am the vine, you are the branches, abide fruitfully in me

I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life

I AM the Resurrection and the Life

My sheep hear my voice and follow me, and I know them and I lay down my life for them, they follow me and I give them eternal life.

He called us to take up the cross and follow him

He heals blind, lame, and sick as he went

Before Abraham, I AM

I AM the Light of the World

He forgives a woman caught in adultery

I AM the Bread of Life sent from the Father, you must confusme me to have life

He who believes in me, streams of living water overflow

Going to the land of the Samaritans to offer life to everyone

You must be born again, but don’t worry, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes has Eternal Life.

Still moving backwards,

The Word became flesh and lived among us to show us God’s Grace and Truth.

And here is Jesus the man, God with US, one of us.

Yet He was there in the Beginning, God, and With God.

He was there when Israel was captive in Babylon

He was there when Isaiah saw him, high and lifted up

He was there when David wrote songs of his glory.

He was there with Israel in the wilderness

He gave Moses the Law

He revealed himself to Moses, the Existing One, in a Burning Bush on Mt. Sinai

He was with Abraham, leading to a new Land, promising offspring and afuture.

He was with Noah through the Flood.

He reached down and formed man and women of the dust of the earth.

He spoke the world into Existence – Let there be, his product, his plan, his purpose.

And before all of that, God is in Eternity and in his plans, the Holy Trinitarian decision was to create a people, and a place, a people to be the object of his affection. But God in omniscience knows that the object of his affection, will disobey, and sin, and they will prove unworthy of the presence of God, and in the immediacy of the knowledge of God, only one thing can be done.

Jesus, the Son of God, 2^nd Person of the Trinity, says, I will have to DIE, in order to take away that sin, so that all who will believe may enter in to the goodness of our affection.”

“I Will Redeem Our Creation”

And so, he was slain from the foundation of the earth …

Why?

Because a debt must be paid.

So then, we fast forward back to the Cross

And in John 19:30 Jesus says, “IT Is Finished!” – “Paid in Full”

IT – this thing known and planned from Eternity, NOW it is a moment in the History of God’s Creation.

Now, the Object of his Affection can find their debt forgiven, a Holy Debt paid, by a Holy Perfect Sacrifice.

Found here is a picture of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. In Verse 30 there is our outline:

Received the sour wine, Bowed his head, Gave up his Spirit

The Doctrine of Redemption

Redemption = to buy back, release from bondage

In Eden, God told Adam, if you eat of that tree you will die. Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the “knowledge of good and evil”, and they reaped the fruit of disobedience

James 1:14-15 reminds us that they were not, and we are not ever tempted by God but each person is tempted / drawn away / enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death

And so it was that day, Adam and Eve, perhaps had been tempted every day by the “what if” of sin. That day they gave in, and desire conceived and gave birth to sin, and sin, fully grown gave way to death.

John 8:34 (CSB) ³⁴ Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Romans 6:16 (CSB) ¹⁶ Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?

And Romans 6:23 tells us the wages of sin is death

Now today we are explaining a Grand Story

We are about to run through Scripture, so see the Redemptive work of God in Christ.

You might take notes, or you might just open your heart and receive it, then go back later work through it. I will post my manuscript on my blog.

For now, Glory in Jesus with Me – Jesus Our Redeemer

1. Receiving The Sour Wine

In John 13, Jesus was sharing Passover with his disciples.

None of them had humbled themselves and washed the feet of the others.

In v4, Jesus “got up from the supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel … poured water in a basin and began to wash their feet. v12 says when Jesus had washed their feet … He …put on the outher clothing, he reclined again and said to them ‘do you know what I have done for you?”

Jesus came, lived, served, died, and returned to heaven,

Do You Know what he has done for you?

There on the cross, Jesus is receiving the most bitter, pungent, astringent of the “sour wine”, as he dies an awful death. It is a death he died in eternity past, and now in our History.

Philippians 2:5-8 says he Existed in the form of God … equal with God … bue he did not exploit his rights … he didn’t flaunt his glory …

Jesus bid the praises be silenced and he …
- Emptied Himself (Philippians 2:6)
He laid aside his outer garment of Divine Glory

2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “though he was rich, for your sake, he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich”

And he
- Became a Servant – 2:7
He washed us, he came as a man. Matthew 20:28 says the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

How many? John 1:12 – all who believe … all who receive

God knows the number, but we determine the number by faith or rejection.

Peter said, Lord don’t wash me … in John 13 and Jesus said, if I don’t wash you have no part in me

And the in Philippians 2:8, Paul says
- He Humbled Himself / Obedient to Death
Sure obedience is easy when it is pleasant. It’s simple when it is joyful, but this is SOUR WINE

To the point of death, even death on a cross

Death was The Point, and the Cross was the Path to Redemption

Slain from the foundation of the earth

1 Peter 1:18–20 (CSB) ¹⁸ For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. ²⁰ He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in these last times for you.

Receiving the Sour Wine …

2. Bowing His Head

He was obedient, he submitted to death for us, greater love has no one than this …

1 John 3:16 says this is how we know what love is, Jesus laid down his life for us

If receiving the sour wine is what Jesus did in leaving heaven, coming, serving, dying, and returning … then bowing his head, is the Why.

Peter preached it at Pentecost

Acts 2:22–24 (CSB) ²² “Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know. ²³ Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. ²⁴ God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death.

He came to us, lived among us, that he might
- Die as ONE of Us
Matthew 1:21 (CSB) ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Isaiah 53:12 (CSB) ¹² … he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

Why? That he might …
- Die in PLACE of us
Romans 5:6–8 (CSB) ⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. ⁸ But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In a powerless situation, came a powerful demonstration, to bring about a personal transformation

Galatians 3:13–14 (CSB) ¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. ¹⁴ The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

And the blessing of Abraham was available to us. That blessing was not land, or prosperity, it was the SEED, Jesus, for us.

Death as one of us, in place of us …
- To Die a Complete and Perfect Sacrifice
2 Corinthians 5:18–19, 21 (CSB) ¹⁸ Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. ¹⁹ That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

²¹ He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

God could not ignore or overlook our debt, but our account had to be reconciled so

Hebrews 9:12 (CSB) ¹² he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.

And 9:15 says he is the mediator of a new covenant that we … might receive the promise of an eternal redemption from the transgressions committed

So, slain from the foundation of the earth

Living in holiness and obedience

Paying our debt …

3. He Gave Up His Spirit

He didn’t die beaten

He didn’t die failing

He said IT IS FINISHED!

This is the redemptive work of Christ, the Cup of Sour Wine

In the Garden, Jesus asked if there was any way, let the cup pass, but not my will but yours be done. Then on Golgotha he drank the cup to the last drop, saying

It is Finished

– Tetelestai – had several meanings
1. a servant would say to his Master “tetelestai” or “I have finished the work you assigned me”
  John 17:4 (CSB) I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
2. When the Priest looked at an animal for sacrifice and found it perfect / faultless, he would say, “tetelestai” – Jesus knew his sacrifice was perfect and as both priest and lamb he said, “It is Finished”
3. when an artist or an author finished their work, they would say, “tetelestai” and here the beautiful picture of salvation that was begun in the Garden of Eden, went to Abraham and Isaac, through The Law’s sacrificial system, shadowed what was coming; but then in Christ the details and the final strokes of his brush, stained red on the cross … Jesus said “Tetelestai” and held it up for the World to admire. The Author and Finisher of our Faith put down the final words of his Story of Salvation and said “It Is Finished”
4. But the greatest, is that countless accounting books contained these words stamped across the bill, “tetelestai”, meaning “Paid In Full”. For all who will believe and receive – a debt satisfied
Psalm 49:5–15 (CSB) ⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble? … ⁶ … wealth and … riches. ⁷ … cannot redeem a person or pay his ransom to God— ⁸ since the price of redeeming him is too costly, one should forever stop trying— ⁹ so that he may live forever and not see the Pit. ¹⁰ … the wise die; the foolish and stupid also pass away. Then they leave their wealth to others. ¹¹ Their graves are their permanent homes, their dwellings from generation to generation, though they have named estates after themselves. ¹² But despite his assets, mankind will not last; he is like the animals that perish. ¹³ This is the way of those who are arrogant, and of their followers, who approve of their words. ¹⁴ Like sheep they are headed for Sheol; Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will waste away in Sheol, far from their lofty abode. ¹⁵ But God will redeem me from the power of Sheol, for he will take me.

Like sheep heading to slaughter

BUT God

But GOD

BUT GOD will redeem me from the power of the grave

Revelation 5:9 (CSB) ⁹ And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slaughtered, and you purchased people for God by your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.

He paid a debt he did not owe, a debt I could not pay, and in doing that Our Redeemer Gave us things only he could give us …
- Forgiveness
Colossians 1:13–14 (CSB) ¹³ He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. ¹⁴ In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And
- Citizenship
Titus 2:14 (CSB) ¹⁴ He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.

And in Christ we become part of those people

But more than just people … Children of God

John 1:12 says that when we believe and receive we attain the RIGHT to be God’s children. We are all God’s creation, but only in Christ do we become his Children. But in their economy, only Adult Sons had full rights … and so in Christ Jesus we all have
- Sonship
Galatians 4:4–7 (CSB)

⁴ When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then God has made you an heir.

As adult sons we have …
- An Inheritance
1 Peter 1:3–4 (CSB) ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

And he gave us …
- His Spirit
Oh my, 2 Corinthians 5 says we groan while in this body, in these days of difficulty and dying, we groan for relief, but God is going to swallow up this mortality with LIFE … the reason for which we were created …

2 Corinthians 5:5 (CSB) ⁵ Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

Heaven IS coming, Glory awaits, and in the meantime, we have God the Holy Spirit within us, a gift of grace. And with the Holy Spirit, Our Redeemer, redeeming us, has the most critical thing for us …
- Freedom
John 8:36 (CSB) ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Galatians 5:1 (CSB) ¹ For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

We have been freed at the Cross. We are being led into a life of Freedom

And so, in obedience, as Psalm 119:44-45 I will obey and walk about in freedom

Forgiveness, Citizenship, Sonship, Inheritance, His Spirit, and Freedom – that is the Redemptive Work and Gift of God in Christ at the Cross.

And so Peter preached from Psalm 16 as he preached at Pentecost saying

Acts 2:25-28, my heart is glad … my tongue rejoices … my flesh will rest in hope … because you will not abandon me to hades or allow me to see decay … you have revealed the path of life

vv32-33 he says, God has raised this Jesus … he has been exalted to the right hand of the Father … because Peter says Jesus, you crucified is both Lord and Messiah

And they asked, What should we Do Acts 2:37

That is the right question today – What Should We Do?

And Peter answers, “Turn around” – Repent – because in the name of Jesus is Forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that Promise is for all, even those far off

Yes … The Wages of sin is Death … But the Gift of God is Eternal Life in Jesus Christ our Lord

Because Hebrews 9:12 says, He entered the most holy place ONCE FOR ALL TIME … by His Own Blood … and Also 9:28 proclaims Christ … offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time … to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him

COME to the Cross

Come Lord Jesus

Tetelestai – Paid In Full