Participants: John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000055
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00:19 Hello friends, welcome to another Wednesday night Bible 00:22 study here in Thompsonville at the 3ABN worship center. I hope 00:25 that you have your Bibles with you and you invite your family 00:29 members to sit down for the next hour as we continue our study on 00:33 How to Become A Christian. As you know we've been discussing 00:37 the topic of How to Live a Spiritual Life in a Natural Body 00:41 and that's what the Lord wants each one of us to do. So, in the 00:45 in the context of this spiritual walk tonight we want to expand 00:48 that. We've talked about how, we've talked about justification 00:52 we've talked about sanctification, we've talked 00:54 about glorification. We talked about the flesh versus the 00:58 spirit. But then let's go back to the rudimentary, elementary 01:02 beginning. How do you become a Christian rather than just 01:05 living that life, how do you become one? So we're going to 01:08 continue that study tonight. If you'd like a copy of the lesson, 01:13 you can go to this website, ASF.3ABN.ORG and download a copy 01:17 of that syllabus and then you can follow along with us. That's 01:22 ASF.3ABN.ORG. Don't put www, you won't get to the website. 01:26 But before we have our opening song, we're going to have our 01:30 opening prayer. Let's bow our heads together. Our Father in 01:32 heaven, we thank you Lord for the opportunity. The study Your 01:37 word never brings disappointment It always brings joy to our 01:42 hearts. Always brings strength to our walk with you, strength 01:47 to our mind. And so, tonight, Lord, abide in our midst, direct 01:51 our thoughts, speak to us through your word and increase 01:56 within us the desire not only to know about Jesus, but to know 02:02 Jesus. This is our prayer. In Your name we pray, amen. Now 02:06 we always sing our theme song for those of you who are wanting 02:10 to join us. Our theme song is on the screen here. You won't 02:13 be hearing the music play in your home, but we're going to 02:16 sing that here. It's become our theme song, which is Victory in 02:19 Jesus. Are we going to sing that together. Let's all sing that 02:22 song together. ¤ ¤ 02:32 ¤I heard an old, old story how the Savior came from glory¤ 02:39 ¤How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me¤ 02:46 ¤I heard about His groaning of His precious blood atoning¤ 02:53 ¤Then I repented of my sin and won the victory¤ 03:01 ¤Oh, victory in Jesus my Savior forever¤ 03:09 ¤He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood¤ 03:16 ¤He loved me e'er I knew Him and all my love is due Him¤ 03:24 ¤He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood¤ 03:31 ¤I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory¤ 03:39 ¤And I heard about the streets of gold¤ 03:43 ¤Beyond the crystal sea¤ 03:46 ¤About the angels singing and the old redemption story¤ 03:53 ¤And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory¤ 03:59 Key change. 04:02 ¤Oh victory in Jesus my Savior forever¤ 04:09 ¤He sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood¤ 04:17 ¤He loved me e'er I knew Him and all my love is due Him¤ 04:25 ¤He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood¤ 04:36 Amen? Beneath the cleansing flood and that we know is 04:47 baptism, say that with me. What is it? Baptism. You know we've 04:53 been studying this topic about the great blessing that comes 04:58 from knowing the Lord and the great blessing that comes from 05:02 being a Christian. You know there are lots of things in the 05:06 world to follow and each one of them always highlights the 05:10 benefits. Recently my wife and I sat down. I don't know how many 05:14 of you have ever been tortured at a hour and a half 05:18 presentation on people trying to force you to buy a time share. 05:22 How many of have been... They sit down and man they just well 05:27 you know you could be the proud owner of a time share. 05:30 Just costs you $650 a month for the next 30 years and guess what? 05:34 You'll be able to own that two weeks a year. And I'm thinking 05:39 that's a mortgage for just two weeks a year for the next 30 05:44 years or 20 years or however they work that out. And I 05:46 thought to myself, Honey let's endure. And they highlight well 05:50 you'll be able to go to Paris or you'll be able to go to the 05:54 Bahamas or any resort you choose and not only would you be paying 06:00 a monthly fee but there's upkeep which is about $50-$75 maybe 06:04 $150 depending 06:05 on where you choose your location to be. So it would be 06:07 about $750 a month for the next 30 years but at the end of that 06:11 time you own it. And all you got to do is ask the question well 06:15 will I be able to sell it after 30 years and the answer is no. 06:18 So you don't really own anything And we sat down and were 06:24 terribly tortured. They always say well if you can endure for 06:29 the next hour and a half then we'll kind of give you a 06:33 gift certificate or maybe you get a $100 preloaded credit 06:36 card. But they really make you earn that money. But they always 06:40 hold out the benefits. And I want to tell you this; whenever 06:44 you want to join a club or whatever at the health spa, 06:47 they'll tell you well this is all the machines you have 06:49 access to and then you join it and you pay your $70 a month and 06:53 you realize you can only go twice a month and you realize 06:57 there are really no benefits that are lasting and enduring 07:00 that bring continual satisfaction. But the Christian 07:04 life is different. The Christian life is free courtesy of 07:08 payments by Jesus Christ. Can you all say amen to that? Now 07:13 it's free for us but it cost Him everything. The benefits, as 07:19 someone said, are out of this world. The benefits are out of 07:24 this world. So when people ask what do you sell? I say I sell 07:28 health insurance and I sell fire insurance and I sell life 07:33 insurance. Fire insurance, delivery from the fires of 07:36 destruction. Life insurance, by accepting Jesus we have life 07:41 eternal and we surely do have health insurance too. It's God's 07:44 health plan that you might have life and have it more what? 07:48 abundantly. That's you'll prosper and be in health even 07:51 as your soul prospers. So tonight what we're going to do, 07:54 we're going to start on question number 7. We covered the first 07:58 six question. One of the things we talked about is in becoming 08:02 a Christian, first we have to recognize that we have a need. 08:06 We have to recognize that we are sinners. All have sinned and 08:10 fallen, what's the next word? Short of the glory of God. None 08:14 of us are able to make up the difference between sinful 08:17 humanity and a sinless God no matter how many efforts we put 08:20 forth, no matter how much strength we put into trying to 08:24 be good we will always fall short because of the sinful 08:28 flesh. Then the Bible says the wages of sin is what? Death, but 08:32 the gift of God is eternal life So, we look at the wages of sin 08:36 and because all of us have sinned, the only thing that 08:39 we're worthy of receiving is payment, which is death. The 08:43 wages of sin is death. That's not something that I want. But 08:46 then we also learned that the mission of Jesus is something 08:49 that my niece has not forgotten though for the last 20 something 08:54 years, about 20 or so years ago we taught her this text when she 08:58 was not even a teenager yet and to this day, my wife texted her 09:02 last week and my wife texted Luke 19:10 what is it? And she 09:05 texted back the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that 09:09 which is lost. Amen. That's the mission of Jesus. He has come to 09:13 seek and to save that which was lost. And that which was lost 09:18 comprises the entire world. He didn't come to condemn us but he 09:22 came to do what? To save us because we were condemned 09:26 already. It's like a person being in prison. You don't go 09:29 to prison to tell them they're locked up; they already know 09:33 that. He came to set us free. Free from the power and the 09:37 bondage of sin, free from the penalty of sin which is death. 09:42 but then there are other benefits and one of the things 09:45 that we have to begin by talking about tonight is we're going to 09:48 ask this question, which is on the screen. First look at the 09:52 title, How to Become a Christian is our title that we're 09:56 continuing tonight, How to Become a Christian. But I'd like 09:59 to begin with question number 7 tonight which begins, and it's 10:02 on your syllabus, if you have downloaded the copies, this is 10:05 the question that we're going to begin with right here. Number 10:07 7 and it reads as follows: What great blessing does baptism 10:12 represent? What great blessing does baptism represent? Go to 10:19 Romans 6:4. We were talking about that today as we recorded 10:26 some of our programs, our Bible programs. Now Romans 6:4: 10:33 What great blessing does baptism represent? All right are you all 10:37 ready? Here we go, here's the answer on the screen. By the way 10:41 after each of these answers we have actually, first time I've 10:45 done this, we have an actual written-out response that will 10:49 go into the places where you fill in the answers. Let's read 10:52 the first one together. Are you ready, here we go? Therefore we 10:55 were what? Buried with Him through baptism into death, 11:00 that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of 11:07 for the Father, even so we all should what? We also should walk 11:11 in the newness of 11:13 life. So what is the benefit of baptism? Somebody tell me what's 11:17 the benefit of baptism? New life Write this done. Here it is on 11:24 the screen. We have a what? New life in Christ. 11:28 How many of us need a 11:29 new life? Oh yeah, everybody needs a new life. Right now 11:36 there's a shortage of used cars in the nation because a number 11:42 of years ago the 11:44 government had a program that they offered to get many of 11:46 the used cars off the street to lower what they called 11:53 emissions. Some people have had cars for 30 years and emissions. 11:54 It was emitting so much carbon into the atmosphere so the 11:57 government offered this program about four or five year ago 12:00 where if you turn your car in they give you X amount of 12:03 dollars maximum value of the car and they would guarantee 12:06 you'll be able to get from that car a down payment to get a new 12:09 car. So, right now there's a shortage of used cars because 12:12 what they did was the crushed them all down to just about five 12:15 by five feet, shipped them over seas somewhere and they're going 12:18 to turn that back into a new car and return it back to us and 12:22 sell it to us. But as a result of that there is a shortage of 12:28 new cars. So, we keep getting this letter. Huh? Shortage of 12:33 oh, used cars. Sorry. Did I say new cars. My mistake. Thank you 12:38 so much for listening. I appreciate it. There is a 12:41 shortage of used cars. So we keep getting this letter in the 12:47 mail. They want our car. They said you know we realize that... 12:53 here's what they say. You're at the best place to get the 12:57 maximum amount of benefits. We need your car on our lot, 13:01 because there's a shortage of used cars. And they make it 13:05 sound so good. But what that really in essence translates to 13:09 is four more years of car payments. So it's not really 13:13 free. It's a benefit to them because you take care of your 13:16 car, you keep it in good condition, you turn it back over 13:19 to them, they tweak it up, check it all out and hike the price 13:23 back up, give you little to nothing for it, but they hike 13:26 the price back up and sell it as if it were new all over again. 13:31 But in Christ, you really do get a new life. Amen You don't get a 13:35 refurbished life, you don't get a life that's been tinkered and 13:39 kind of you know glossed over and you don't get a life that 13:43 just has new tires on it. You get a brand new life. And that 13:49 new life is in Christ. Go with me to II Corinthians chapter 5 13:56 II Corinthians chapter 5 and we're going to look together at 14:02 verse 17. Just to let you know what kind of life it is, what 14:06 kind of life it is. Because you know the thing that lures us 14:13 into buying new cars is truly people are by nature, many of us 14:18 don't admit it, but we are by nature gadgetarians. What's the 14:22 newest gadget? I mean what else does the car have? So we're 14:26 asking for stuff that years ago we really didn't need. We ask 14:30 questions. Does it have a backup camera? What ever happened to 14:33 turn your head around? Remember that, those days when they said, 14:37 and they still say don't rely on the backup camera, turn around 14:41 and look behind you. Then we have these with blue tooth. How 14:46 many of us needed a blue tooth 15 years ago to drive. Blue 14:50 tooth was a word that didn't even exist probably 15 years 14:53 ago. Blue tooth meant you just had an Italian icy. That's 14:57 it actually meant. But nowadays it means something... So we get 15:01 all these gadgets. But when you look at the life that Christ 15:05 offers to us, it's a life that is far greater than we can ever 15:09 imagine because it has nothing connected to this life. 15:12 Everything that we receive is connected to Christ. Look at 15:17 what he says in verse 17 of II Corinthians chapter 5. Notice 15:23 what it reads. Therefore if anyone is where? In Christ, he 15:28 is a new creation. Old things have what? Passed away. 15:34 Behold how many things? All things have become new. All 15:40 things. So, the Christian life, the benefit that comes with it 15:43 is how many things become new, Janeck? All things. What are they 15:46 how many things, Jerry? Everything. Years ago there was 15:50 a show, matter of fact, there was a song, I remember her 15:55 name, in the back of my mind I keep... Patty LaBelle and it 15:59 adopted on the Oprah Winfrey program: Got a New Attitude. 16:02 You know when you get a new life you also get a new attitude, 16:06 what do you think? Christians should not have the same 16:10 attitude they had before they were Christians. 16:13 But unfortunately there are many people that become Christians 16:17 and they don't have a transformation in their attitude 16:20 So, that's why the Bible says okay you say you're a Christian 16:26 but what evidences do I have that you are a Christian? We 16:30 ought to have a different attitude in a number of areas. 16:33 And we're going to talk about some of those things benefits 16:36 tonight. Where those attitude changes are supposed to be seen. 16:38 And it's very interesting. This lesson tonight, How to Become 16:43 a Christian, what are the evidences that you are a 16:45 Christian. What changes are taking place in your life and 16:48 how are they taking place for the better? How can other 16:51 people know that you are a Christian, not just your 16:54 profession saying I'm a Christian. Because a lot of 16:57 people nowadays like the title, but how do I know you're a 16:59 Christian? Or can I know that you're a Christian without you 17:03 even saying it? This is so vitally important. All right, 17:06 let's go to the next one, number 8. Number 8. Okay. How does the 17:12 new life change our standing with God? How does the new life 17:18 change our standing with God? John chapter 1 and 17:24 verse 12. Whenever you have something new your standing is 17:28 changed. You got a new suit, your standing is changed, 17:34 everybody knows ooh new suit oh. Get a new car, oh new car. 17:40 Get a new house, ooh. You movin' on up. So many different 17:45 responses. Am I true? You have a new thing. You know, we get a 17:50 new wife. Uuh, Brother _ is happy now. Uuh. Sister Dee 17:53 says oh, they're smiling. 17:56 There's always a change. So new things bring new blessings, but 18:02 how does the new life change our standing with God? John 1:12, 18:08 let's read what the Bible says. Okay, together. But as many as 18:14 received Him, to them He gave the right (or the power) to 18:19 become what? Children of God to those who believe in his name. 18:25 I like the word power. Power sounds nice. Power and right 18:29 are synonymous in Greek, but it's nice to know that the power 18:33 that you didn't have before you now have as a child of God. And 18:37 where do you get that power? Acts 1:8, the Bible says, But 18:41 you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come 18:44 upon you. The change of our standing with God is now we are 18:49 the children of God. But I want to emphasize something. It says 18:53 to them He gave the right or the power to become children of God. 18:57 That's something vitally important. I want to pay a 18:59 little attention to the word power. You cannot become a child 19:05 of God on your own power. We are incapable in and of ourselves 19:10 to put forth any power to maintain the relationship that 19:16 we have between us and God. It's just not human; it's very Divine 19:21 We become partakers of the divine nature, that's were the 19:24 power comes from. So the power that is at work in us is a work 19:29 that is done by God. Go with me to the book of Philippians. What 19:34 book did I say. Philippians. Have you read through that 19:37 real fast it almost looks like Philippines, right? Philippians, 19:43 it's so close. Philippians. Galatians, Ephesians, 19:47 Philippians. Okay? Philippians chapter 2, let's see this power, 19:54 and I want to read verse 13. Philippians 2:13: And the Bible 20:00 reads as follows. Where does the power come from? For it is God 20:06 who worketh where? In you, both to will and to do of or for His 20:12 good pleasure. So who's at work now? As children of God somebody 20:17 else is resident in you doing the work. God is at work in us. 20:21 It's not us at work in us, but if you read verse 12 by itself, 20:26 look at verse 12. Therefore my beloved as you have always 20:31 obeyed, not in my presence only but now much more in my absence 20:35 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. If you read 20:39 that verse by itself you would need to say man I need to work 20:42 this thing out myself. But what the Bible in essence is saying 20:46 you've got to come to grips with the declaration you made. You've 20:50 got to be the one to embrace the declaration you made. When it 20:55 says work out your own salvation it also goes along with the text 21:00 the Bible says he that has this hope in himself purifies himself 21:05 even as He is pure. That is you start making pure choices. When 21:09 something's clean parents don't say to the children clean the 21:13 house. They say what? Say it again. They say keep it clean. 21:18 So if the Lord has cleaned us up He says keep it clean. So, 21:23 we've got to make clean choices, we've got to make right choices. 21:27 I think it's somehow disheartening when we say to 21:31 Christians as a Christian you have nothing to do. You've got 21:37 everything to do and what I mean by that is sometimes people say 21:40 well yes it is God who works in us both to will and to do of His 21:44 good pleasure. So we don't have to work it out. God is working 21:48 it out within us. No, we've got to make choices. Isaiah 1:18 21:53 says cease to do evil, learn to do good. So we've got to make 21:56 conscientious choices not to go in the direction that we were 21:59 going before as the Lord said in Deuteronomy I put before you two 22:06 roads, life and blessings, death and cursings. That's the way it 22:12 says it, but I'm just kind of giving you one road here. On the 22:17 road on the left is what? Death and cursings. On the road on the 22:21 right is life and blessings. That's why I said it that way. 22:26 So, which road did he say, choose life. You see. There are 22:31 only two categories, just and unjust, filthy and holy, choose 22:36 holy, choose just. But you've got to choose. Joshua 24:15: 22:41 Choose for yourselves this day whom you will what? Serve. How 22:44 often is that choice made. Every day. You got to wake up in the 22:48 morning. I die daily. Commit your life to Christ and realize 22:52 that if you go through the day without first committing your 22:55 life to Christ you're not going to make choices that glorify 22:58 Him. Have you ever had that experience. And then you 23:00 connected later on in the day and said Ah man, I was so busy 23:05 this morning I forgot to pray. I forgot to make a phone call. 23:10 I forgot to talk to my heavenly Father and say this is not going 23:15 to be a long phone call but I really need you today. Even if 23:20 it's not a long phone call He wants to hear from us on a daily 23:25 basis. And when do we make that phone call? A 1 o-clock in the 23:30 afternoon. When do we make it? First thing in the morning. 23:36 That's right. Matthew 6:33. Seek first the kingdom of God and His 23:40 righteousness and all these things will be added unto you. 23:44 That's something that, and I'm going to say this. Let me just 23:48 go ahead and give you the answer here. The benefit: 23:51 How does the new life change our standing with God? We become 23:54 children of the heavenly Father is what you can put down but you 23:57 may have already put an answer there which is fine. But as 24:02 people that are busy and it just seems kind of strange but my 24:06 life is busier than it's ever been. And somebody may say, but 24:11 you live in such a small community. Don't fool yourself. 24:16 You know the axel of the bike may seem like such a small place 24:20 but that's where all the ball bearings are. And it's 24:23 responsible for things that's going on in every direction. In 24:26 the very same way right here in Thompsonville, it may be a 24:29 small town, West Frankfort's the end of it, may be a small 24:33 community, but there's ever so much activity going on here. If 24:36 I forget in the morning when I wake up to commit my life to the 24:39 Lord, I've got enough activity to keep me awake from the time 24:43 I get out of bed to the time I fall back in bed at night. But 24:46 if I fail to commit myself to the Lord, I'm just doing the 24:49 work of the Lord but I haven't even talked to him today. You've 24:53 got to keep connected with our God because He's not just our 24:58 God, He is our what's the last word? He is our heavenly Father. 25:02 My wife talks to her mom almost every day. She also talks to 25:07 her Father almost every day, her heavenly Father every day. See 25:11 that's what you have to do, every day. Hear from Him. And 25:14 even toward the evening sometimes when your day slows 25:17 down, try your best not to allow the last thing you heard to be 25:22 awful news on television. Try to make it something good. Even if 25:28 you just read a proverb. Even if you read a few verses in Psalms 25:32 or something in the Bible. Allow those thoughts to be planted 25:37 there so when your eyes close at night to sleep the last thing 25:41 you remember is something good and then you can think on those 25:47 things. Philippians 4:8 Whatever is lovely, honest, pure, of good 25:52 report think on these things. That's how we are transformed. 25:55 Let's look at the next question, question number 9 at the bottom 25:59 of page 1. What is the long-term benefit of becoming children of 26:03 God? What is the long-term benefit of becoming children of 26:08 God? All right. Long-term benefit. You look at children. 26:12 That's a word that we sometimes run past, but children are for 26:17 the most part happy. There was a survey done, a study done 26:20 actually, about between children and adults. And what this study 26:23 was about is at what age do we stop becoming happy? And start 26:30 becoming more and more serious. Now I don't want to mix this up 26:36 with Paul says we put away childish things. That was not 26:41 what the study was about. The study was that in society they 26:44 said people are much sadder than children. And they've asked the 26:48 question at what point and so the general study was saying 26:51 that when people hit about 26, 27 years old, they tend to get 26:56 more sad. They forget how to be to be happy. They forget how to 27:01 smile. So when it says that we should become children of God 27:05 you know the beatitudes are really the happy... I like the 27:09 way that one preacher said it. These are the "be happy" 27:14 attitudes. The Bible says blessed is the word there also 27:19 in the Greek, happy. So there are five or seven be-happy 27:25 attitudes. Happy is, happy is, happy is and then even when it 27:30 comes to communion happy are you if you do these things. But so 27:35 often Christians think, and this is the sad reality of 27:38 Christianity, some Christians walk around like they're ready 27:43 for their grave. They have on their grave clothing. They have 27:49 grave attitude. It's way beyond solemn, it's sour. You know it's 27:54 one thing to be solemn but it's something else altogether to be 27:59 sour. And even Ellen White talks about putting beauty, and 28:05 putting beauty, the loveliness of Christ into your Christianity 28:09 Look that up. But it's not giddy. Huh? Exactly. It's sane. 28:15 it's beauty. Let the beauty of Christ show forth. Jesus' 28:21 children were attracted to Him. They loved to be in His presence 28:25 Do you think he walked around. Get away from me. The disciples 28:28 were that way. And Jesus said wait a minute. Allow the 28:32 children to come to me and don't forbid them for of such is 28:36 the kingdom of heaven. So look at the answer in Matthew 18:3 28:40 to the question what is the long-term benefit of becoming 28:45 children of God. Here it is. Here it is. And said (that is 28:51 Jesus) assuredly I say to you unless you are converted and 28:57 become as little children, you will by no means enter the 29:02 what? Kingdom of heaven. Now when we say the long-term 29:07 benefit is entering the kingdom of heaven. But look at the 29:12 prerequisites to that. You have to be converted and you have to 29:15 become like a what? A little child. Now tell me some of the 29:20 characteristics of little children. Huh? Innocent. What 29:24 else? Trusting. What else? Blind faith. You know you put a child 29:29 you put a one-year-old on the tall dresser and you say jump. 29:34 They'll jump. You put a Christian up there and say jump. 29:40 What I mean by that is they don't trust as much. 29:43 When we fail to trust, what happens to our relationship with 29:49 Christ. The opposite of trust is what? Huh? I know that's really 29:56 easy. You just add the word dis to it. Huh? Doubt. Exactly. The 30:01 opposite of trust is doubt. You say Lord and then we go oh I 30:07 hope He can do it. We start doubting. But James talks about 30:11 those who doubt. Go to the book of James. I want to get this 30:15 attitude. So the answer to this you want to put down here is we 30:19 qualify as future residents in our heavenly home. We qualify 30:24 as future residents in our heavenly home. But there's 30:27 something else. I want you to see this. The opposite of trust 30:32 is doubt. We've got to have trust and faith and you know all 30:36 the texts. If you are a Bible student all of a sudden your 30:41 mind should be flooded with those verses. Proverbs 3:5, 6. 30:44 Which you all know. If I begin you could end it with me. Trust 30:49 in the Lord your God with what? All your heart and lean not on 30:54 your own understanding. In all your ways what? 30:57 Acknowledge Him and He 30:59 will do what? Direct your paths. Trust in Him with how much of 31:02 your heart? All your heart. Love the Lord with how much of 31:05 your heart? All your heart. Do you think that if you were 31:08 loving God with all your heart and trusting Him with all your 31:12 heart you'll be a person that doubts. My wife and I, we've 31:15 said this so many times together We've said, We have so much 31:18 history in experiences with Jesus that we have very little 31:22 room for doubt and we have learned that what we ask Him for 31:26 it may not come at the moment we ask but it's like one of 31:31 those doors at Walmart. You know they open when you get close to 31:35 them, right? Now can you imagine somebody 25 feet away from the 31:39 store who says I'm not going in because the doors won't open. 31:43 What would the Lord say? What did he say to the Israelites? 31:47 Go forward. If you go forward in faith when you get to the 31:51 point of your need God will open the door. But so many people 31:55 want God to respond before they get to the point of their need. 31:59 Here's the answer here. James chapter 1. Look at how it really 32:08 speaks to us. I'm going to read verse 2 and then down to verse 32:14 8. All right. It puts it in beautiful perspective here about 32:19 the faith that we should have in our walk with Christ, about how 32:24 that trust, how that trust like a little child, little children. 32:29 I remember some children growing up and the parent would 32:33 say, you know homes unfortunately that were split. 32:36 In our family we have an experience like that where a 32:40 family member grew up in a divided home. The father wasn't 32:43 in the home and he'd say to her, well I need to be very candid, 32:47 my niece, growing up. Her father would say hey I'm coming over on 32:50 Christmas day to take you out. Never showed up. What happens? 32:55 chiseling, chiseling, chiseling chiseling, chiseling and as a 33:00 child what happens you learn not to trust. You lose confidence 33:04 because you build up and then you get let down. You build up 33:08 and you get let down. And what happens is the reason why it's 33:12 so important to use the words heavenly Father is because you 33:15 see the words. He's not going to build us up and then what? Let 33:19 us down. So He wants us to approach Him with this child 33:22 like faith that over and over and over again in our experience 33:26 we're going to see that He never lets us down. So look at this. 33:29 When these difficulties come notice what he says in verse 2 33:33 in James chapter 1. My brethren count it all joy when you fall 33:37 into various trials. How many of you have a joy party when trials 33:42 come? I haven't gotten there yet Excuse me. I always praise the 33:47 Lord after the trials. I pray when they're coming and I pray 33:51 even afterwards, but the only joy I have is I know that He's 33:55 with me in them. Verse 3 Knowing that the testing of your faith 34:00 produces what? Produces patience but let patience have it's 34:06 perfect work that you may be mature, or perfect, and complete 34:11 lacking what? Nothing. If any one of you lack wisdom, let him 34:16 ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach 34:21 and it will be given to him. But let him ask how? In faith, that 34:27 means trust Me, with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave 34:32 of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man 34:37 suppose he will receive anything from the Lord. Why? He is a 34:41 double-minded man, unstable what? In all his ways. He's 34:46 unstable in all his ways. When a person is unstable in one area 34:50 and unstable in another area, the Bible says he's unstable in 34:54 how many of his ways? All his ways. But if we're stable in our 34:58 trust towards God, if we're stable in our faith towards God, 35:02 if we're stable in believing God then we begin to establish on 35:07 the foundation with someone who never lets us down. So do you 35:11 trust everybody. How many of you trust everybody? How many of you 35:16 trust the Lord? See. You really can't trust everybody. Somebody 35:21 once said to me, trust is earned respect is earned. But with God 35:28 respect is given. Ah, and that is the point. Because you know, 35:35 huh? We say we have faith in God was the question, why don't 35:39 we trust Him? Why don't we trust Him always? 35:41 Because we don't seek first His kingdom. One of the issues is if 35:46 you don't have a relationship with someone and you have to 35:48 trust them just at difficult times and you have not had an 35:52 experience with them at all times. Let me give a classic 35:55 example. One of the reasons I can trust my wife is because I 35:58 have been with her in good times and bad times. So when bad times 36:01 come I don't have to wonder if I can trust her because I've 36:04 trusted her in good times. When you have a relationship with 36:08 somebody in good times when the bad times come you don't have to 36:12 worry. You have no reason to doubt because when a persons is 36:16 consistent all the time then you know that that consistency is 36:20 going to carry through. If God is the same yesterday, today and 36:24 forever at what point will He cease to be consistent? At what 36:29 point? At no point because He's the same yesterday, today and 36:33 forever. But the lack of trust comes with us because we're not 36:36 trusting in Him with all of our heart. What's the problem in 36:39 the verse. The heart is divided. It's double-minded. You want to 36:46 make a comment. Okay. All right. But I say one of the issues why 36:51 there is so much lack of faith and so little trust is because 36:56 we wait till the difficulties come before we trust God. 37:01 September 12 was a great example in 2001. Everybody asked where 37:05 was God? He's the same place He was on September 10, right? He 37:09 hadn't moved. It's just that people were so used to ignoring 37:13 God that in the moment of their difficulty they were calling on 37:17 someone they hadn't called on before and they were not sure 37:21 that they would get an answer. If you call on God before the 37:26 day of trouble, you can call on God in the day of trouble and he 37:30 will hear you. All right. Where are we now? Question number 10? 37:36 Turn the page to the top of the next one. Question number 10. 37:44 Okay. Oh, this is a deep one right here. Question 10. To grow 37:51 as a Christian what must we be willing to do? What must we be 37:56 willing to do? Now. Okay. How many of you turned to John 3:30? 38:01 If you have don't read it yet. Don't turn there yet. Don't turn 38:06 there yet. If you already turned there, don't look at it yet. 38:10 Okay. Try not to look at it. This is one of those questions 38:14 that always, not always, I've tested it before. It falls into 38:18 the category of all these things we've got to do. But I learned a 38:23 valuable lesson when this verse today. If we are willing to be 38:27 Christians, if we are to grow as Christians, what must we be 38:32 willing to do? This is a huge one. So when we read it, we're 38:36 going to read it in the context which it is, and when we read it 38:40 we're going to know who it's about, but it also applies to 38:44 us. All right. Now let's go ahead and read it. John 3:30 38:48 You all there already? Okay. What part of the verse am I 38:52 going to give you. John 3:30. It's a long verse. Let's read it 38:56 together. It's on the screen. Are you ready? Let's read it 39:00 together. He must what? Increase but I must what? Decrease. Now 39:06 why is that a huge text? Huh? 39:13 It's hard because what in essence is being said? 39:16 We've got to forget self and put Christ first. We've got 39:23 to get out of... Okay. I don't know if I want to do that. Well 39:30 it's no longer about you. Go with me to John chapter 20. 39:34 It's no longer about us, no longer about us. John the 39:39 Baptist knew and what a... John chapter 21, chapter 21. I 39:45 said John chapter 20 but I mean John chapter 21. We have to be 39:48 willing to decrease and the answer I give is much longer 39:54 than the text we read. But here it is: We must live to satisfy 40:01 ourselves less and satisfy Christ what? More. We must live 40:07 to satisfy ourselves less and satisfy Christ more. Now. Let's 40:12 look at why. This is a very wonderful passage here in John 40:17 chapter 21. This conversation is between Jesus and Peter. And 40:22 you've all heard the text, you have all heard the conversation 40:26 Peter do you love me? What was the Lord's response. He says aah 40:30 and then what does the Lord respond when he said yes I love 40:33 you Lord. What did He say to Peter? Feed my sheep. And then 40:37 He said Peter do you love Me? Yes. Peter do you love Me? He 40:41 asked over and over again and some of you know the context. 40:45 When He first asked Peter do you love me? He asked Peter do you 40:49 agape Me? Do you love me unconditionally. And Peter said 40:52 Lord I Phileo You, I love You like a brother. Then he said 40:56 Peter do you agape me? Peter says Lord I Phileo. I don't love 41:00 you unconditionally, I love you like a brother. The Lord wanted 41:04 Peter to love Him unconditionally but 41:07 Peter was just a the place where he loved Him like a brother. And 41:11 so, finally the Lord says, Peter if you Phileo me then feed my 41:15 sheep. If you love me just like a brother, then feed my sheep. 41:18 He was not yet at the place and that was an honest response. 41:21 So, a lot of people wonder why does he keep asking the same 41:25 question? Because he was trying to get Peter to see that 41:28 unconditional love is what I need from you. And many of you 41:33 know it wasn't long after this that Peter did what? Denied his 41:37 Lord. He was at that brotherly love place, he was not yet at 41:40 that unconditional place and that's why the Lord later on 41:44 told him in Matthew, when you're converted strengthen the 41:48 brethren. But notice the condition here of how we 41:50 satisfy ourselves less and satisfy Christ more. Verse 18: 41:55 Most assuredly I say to you when you were younger you girded 42:01 yourself and walked where you wished. That was satisfying 42:05 yourself. Verse 18: You girded yourself and walked where you 42:10 wished. But when you are old you will stretch out your hand and 42:15 another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. How 42:20 do you end up there? How do you end up there? How do you end up 42:25 where you don't want to go? You deny yourself, take up your 42:31 cross and do what? Follow Christ That's why we say He must 42:36 increase but I must decrease. That's a daily battle is it not? 42:41 Because you don't forget what you used to do, you don't forget 42:44 the things that you like to do. You don't forget the things that 42:47 bring you the most pleasure. And to be very candid with you, it's 42:51 a lot easier to go the route of ease. That's why rivers are 42:54 crooked. Matter of fact, the reason why they are crooked 42:57 is they follow the path of least resistance. When the Lord says 43:01 to walk a straight line, it's not always an easy path. But it 43:06 is a path. As we used to say in geometry, the shortest distance 43:10 between two points is a what? A straight line. If you want to 43:13 have a great relationship with Christ and get close to Him very 43:16 quickly, walk that straight line If you want to make your journey 43:19 long like a river, follow the path of least resistance and 43:23 you'll have a very crooked life. But it all comes down to 43:27 satisfying ourselves less and satisfying Jesus more. And even 43:30 Jesus said that. Let's go to the next one. I don't want to jump 43:33 ahead of myself because the questions become even more 43:38 pointed as we go on. Very important. Question number 11. 43:42 Question number 11. How do we know that we are living to the 43:46 glory of God? How do we know that? How do we know that we are 43:50 living to the glory of God? If anybody should know, we should 43:55 know, right? Psalm 40:8. Huh? Say that again. If you love me, 44:00 keep my commandments. Yes that's very significantly a part of it. 44:05 But I want to take it to the next level, because love is one 44:10 thing, but there's a word that even enhances love. Ps. 40:8 44:17 Psalm 40:8 and here's the answer. Are you all there? Okay. 44:23 What's the second word, let's read it together: I delight to 44:28 do your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. Okay. 44:32 Let's not pay a ton of attention to the second half even though 44:36 that's very true and very vitally important. The answer to 44:40 the question, how do we know that we are living to the glory 44:44 of God? is we get to the point where we what? Delight to do 44:48 His will. Now there are husbands that love their wives but do 44:52 they delight to make them happy? Big difference altogether. Some 44:57 guys, I love my wife, I give her everything she needs. Okay. But 45:03 exactly, that's the point. You may have a love relationship 45:07 based on certain conditions, but do you delight to spend time 45:11 with her? Do you delight to take her places? Do you delight to 45:15 have conversation with her? Do you delight to just say, guys 45:18 you guys can go and hang out I'm spending the evening with my 45:21 wife. Aja with your wife. Come and hang out with us. Nah man 45:25 I enjoy being with my wife. You delight. You see the Christian 45:29 life is when we delight to do God's will, when God's will 45:33 brings us great joy, then we know that we are living to the 45:37 glory of God. Not just if you love me keep my commandments. 45:40 Those are commands, you have to keep that period. A command is 45:43 one thing. If you're in the army you may know all the commands 45:46 but if you're the guy that always volunteers for what other people 45:49 don't want to do, the general or the captain or the sergeant 45:53 will say wow what a nice soldier He's so delightful even though 45:58 though he's life is on the line he does it without complaining, 46:01 delight. When you delight to do God's will you want to do God's 46:05 happily. And if you could describe a delightful person, 46:09 a person that's delightful, you'll be glad to ask them to do 46:12 things. You know, as a Pastor, I'm so glad when I have a 46:15 delightful church member. You're not afraid to call them. How you 46:20 doing brother. I am doing just so good today. You're not afraid 46:24 to ask her to do something. Sister, I'm in a pickle right 46:27 now. Could 46:29 you copy something for me? You're not going to get that. 46:32 She'll say sure pastor what do you need help with? That's a 46:36 delightful spirit. Jesus was delightful. He wasn't just the 46:41 Lord, He was delightful. Children don't just run to 46:44 people because they're commandment keepers. 46:46 There must be a reason why children were attracted to the 46:49 presence of Jesus. There's a reason. When a person is 46:52 delightful it makes the work of God so much easier. You know 46:55 what a delightful Christian also is? A person who can handle 47:00 a change in plans. Now I know what we said we were going to 47:04 do but we've had a change of plans. A Christian that's not 47:08 delightful here's their response Forget it, you just wrecked my 47:12 whole evening. And we have some of those. Oh yeah we do. We have 47:16 some of those. Well you know we said we were leaving at 7:00 but 47:19 but it's going to be 7:30. You mean I could have been home a 47:23 half hour more. Oh pastor really give me a break. You got to 47:27 be willing to be flexible. Amen somebody? So this thing called 47:31 Christianity requires changes in plan. Jesus had changes in plan. 47:36 Jesus sometimes changed His plan because He was hey wait a minute 47:40 right now is not good that I go through Samaria. They're waiting 47:44 for me there. So he said to the disciples let's go this way 47:48 instead. All right Lord. Instead of Peter saying Lord I mean 47:51 really. Delightful to do God's will. It's something so many 47:55 Christians need. Delightful. If we were delightful can you 47:59 imagine we all say well this Sabbath afternoon we're all 48:02 going to pass out flyers in the 48:05 community, or pass out tracts in the community and the whole 48:11 church says Oh, we're so excited to go. Delightful. Wednesday 48:15 night prayer meeting guy, Pastor I'll be there at 6:30. I can't 48:20 wait. Delightful. Anyway, I think you get the point. If you 48:25 can't get that delight down here don't think your delightful 48:29 spiritual things are going to increase when you get to heaven. 48:33 You got to get that delight down here. You got to be happy 48:36 to do God's will down here. You're not going to just get 48:39 into heaven, hey I'm willing to do God's will now. On earth 48:42 I wasn't willing to do it, but I'm willing to do it now. No 48:45 you're not going to get there if you're not delightful to do 48:48 His will down here. That's why David said, I delight to do your 48:52 will, O my God, and your Law is within my heart. Do have a 48:55 component to that is when you delight to do God's will you 48:59 would not reject his Law. There are many Christians that say 49:02 they're delightful to do God's will but don't tell me anything 49:06 about his law. That's the other component. So the answer is 49:10 we enjoy living according to God's will. We enjoy living 49:14 according to God's will. Not just doing God's will but our 49:19 lives. We enjoy living according will. In other words, we do 49:23 those things that please the Lord. Now I don't think we're 49:28 going to get down to 21 but hey that's why we have another 49:31 program. But's let's go to question number 12, question 49:35 number 12. All right, here it is and by the way, if you haven't 49:40 caught it yet, we're talking about things that happen in our 49:45 lives as Christians. We're not talking about just accepting 28 49:49 fundamentals and getting baptized, getting a position in 49:52 church. We're talking about the practicalities of a Christian. 49:55 We're talking about how to become a Christian, not how to 49:57 just become a Christian and join a church but all the parameters 50:01 and all the characteristics that go along with what a Christian 50:04 really is. All right, that's what we're talking about. Here's 50:07 the next question. What is the evidence that will others that 50:10 you are a Christian? What is the evidence that will tell others 50:14 that you are a Christian? You don't need to buy a T-shirt, I'm 50:17 a Christian. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm a Christian. 50:22 You shouldn't have to do that. I would blow my own horn but I 50:27 don't want to do that. But let me tell you the story. We were 50:30 in a hospital in California once and I just never get this 50:34 experience and I went to get a blood test, whatever the case 50:38 may be, and when I got in line to go to the next department, 50:43 I got up to the counter after waiting a long time and they 50:47 said did you bring your results with you? Oh, left it upstairs. 50:51 Well when you go get it just come right to the front of the 50:55 line. Isn't that nice? Don't have to get back in that line. 50:59 So, I went up a couple flights, my wife waited downstairs for 51:02 me. She got to talking to some of the nurses that were there. 51:06 Actually I needed the paper work to get the blood test and she 51:10 was already by, what do they call those people, the 51:12 phlebotomist. Anyhow came back down and as I got off the 51:17 elevator, two ladies jumped in front of me. And I just kind of 51:23 says... I didn't go... I just stood right behind them there 51:28 and waited. One lady went, then the other one. This I went to 51:33 the counter. And when I got back to get my blood drawn the lady 51:39 asked my wife, is your husband a Christian? And she told me 51:44 that afterward. Because see they said we told him just to come 51:48 to the front of the line and he waited for those two ladies to 51:51 get their blood drawn first. 51:53 He could have easily said Ma'am You need to wait because I have 52:00 waited 20 minutes in line and you jumped ahead of me. 52:02 That's what our 52:05 human side wants to say, right? You're not getting in 52:08 that plane first. 52:09 That's like Southwest Airlines. Not good. It's kind of 52:12 if you get that seat first you got it. See. But the point of 52:16 the matter is, it's good for people to recognize that you 52:20 are a Christian. We were down in Southern California once and we 52:23 were trying to find somebody's house address and we stopped at 52:27 Marie Calendars. That's a restaurant in California, it's 52:29 not here. As we walked out of the restaurant together, we were 52:33 walking toward the car and this man who we never met before, he 52:37 walked to my wife and I and said Are you guys Adventists? Now we 52:41 We're not on television yet. We we're not in the public eye so 52:45 there's nobody recognizing us from any 3ABN. But are you guys 52:49 Adventists? He said I could tell And so this is the testimony. 52:54 People as you live your life in the community your profession 52:59 should be a constant witness to those who are around. You 53:04 shouldn't have to go to the store and say Uh-huh, reading 53:10 questionable material. I walked into Walmart the other day and 53:14 a guy I never met in my life before says, watch you all the 53:18 time. He wasn't a member of our church. But you have to keep 53:22 this in mind, the Bible says we are surrounded by so great a 53:26 cloud of witnesses and for that reason what manner of person 53:29 should you be? You never know when people are watching you. 53:33 So, here's the answer. How do we know, what evidence, what is 53:36 the evidence that would tell others that we are Christian? 53:39 Look at it, I John 3:14, you guys are already there aren't 53:43 you. Okay, here it is. Let's read on the screen. It says: 53:46 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we do 53:51 what? Love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides 53:55 what? In death. There should be a love and this shouldn't just 54:00 be for people that are lovable. God loves the unlovable. Notice 54:06 it didn't say we pass from death to life because we tolerate the 54:11 brethren. Because we love the brethren. Now I want to make 54:14 this broad. Jesus loved everybody, but he didn't like 54:19 what some people did. There's a difference. You can dislike what 54:23 a person does, but you still have to love that individual. 54:26 That's where we get the phrase Jesus hates the sin but does 54:30 what? Loves the sinner. When I'm saying like what a person does 54:33 but we say you know Jerry sometimes ahh, you drive me nuts 54:38 but I love you. I'm just saying that. I can smile with Jerry 54:44 because we have a good relationship like that. You can 54:47 that to some people sometimes Ohh sisters you just make my 54:50 tooth hurt but I love you. You got to keep that love 54:54 relationship going because if you lose that you lose the very 54:58 thing that's an identifying mark. By this shall all men 55:02 know that you are my disciples by your love for one another. 55:05 And then I John 4:8- He that loveth not knoweth not God for 55:09 God is love. That's got to be a characteristic that is so 55:12 prevalent in our lives. So if you don't love people, go home 55:17 and say Lord I got a list of people here that I don't love. 55:21 Teach me how to love them. Don't publish that list. Don't share 55:24 that list with other church members. I don't love so and so, 55:28 how do you feel about her? Let that be between just you and God 55:31 and when God activates love in your life the people that don't 55:35 like that person will see you loving that person and say since 55:39 when you and such and such got along. You know what. God's 55:43 working on me just like he's working on her. One person once 55:47 said if a person seems to be cantankerous and every now and 55:51 then God shines through, praise God for that moment because he's 55:56 still working on them. Everyone of us is a work in progress. 56:00 So, let's not say ah man, poor God's got a lot of work to do on 56:04 that person. God's got a lot of work to do on you. And when you 56:07 get to heaven, you'll thank God that He made the commitment that 56:11 He who has begun a good work will what? Complete it. And the 56:14 answer is here very carefully, they will see the love of God in 56:18 us. They'll see it in us. You don't have to always go around 56:21 and say I love everybody. I kind of get nervous when people are 56:25 walking around I love everybody. I just love everybody. Somebody 56:28 get a padded room for him, he loves everybody. Because 56:32 sometimes that's not as deep as the person wants it to sound. 56:36 Right. Show it. Don't announce it. Let it become an example by 56:40 the way you live. Let's get one more in there, okay? 56:46 I Corinthians 13. Oh beautiful. And you'll discover really what 56:50 love is. Doesn't boast, is not proud, is not puffed up, it 56:54 doesn't even rejoice in evil, but rejoices in good. Doesn't 56:59 show itself unseemingly. It doesn't say good for you. Some 57:02 people are quick to say you finally got what you deserve. 57:06 You know, we do that to each other. I'm not going to go to 57:09 another text. I want to just wind this one up. Here's my 57:12 point today. The Christian life is a life that must have 57:15 evidences and these evidences are not must to be seen between 57:19 God and us, but He wants us to be lights in the world. He wants 57:23 us to be what? Lights in the world. A candle that is lit is 57:26 not intended to be put under a bushel. A city that is built and 57:30 put on a hill is not intended to be hidden. A Christian whose 57:34 life has been ignited by the power and the light of the Holy 57:37 Spirit must shine. And that's why the Lord says in Matthew 57:40 let your light so shine before men that they may see your good 57:44 works and do what? Glorify. You know, I'll be glorified. I would 57:48 say Lord have mercy, if you could do that for them, that's 57:50 the kind of God I need to do this for my life. So, friends 57:53 here at A Sharper Focus we believe that if you love the 57:56 Lord what you don't understand one day will come into a sharper 57:59 focus. God bless you. Let us pray. 58:02 ¤ ¤ |
Revised 2019-02-06