Participants: Floyd Bresee
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000367
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00:30 Hi, I'm Pastor Floyd Bresee
00:34 and I've been thinking, it seems to me that 00:37 there be a lot more Christians 00:39 if Christians were a lot more 00:41 Christ like, let's pray about it. 00:45 Loving Lord, please teach us each 00:50 something today that will help us become 00:54 more Christ like Christians, 00:56 in Jesus name we pray, amen. 01:01 Our focus today is on over coming, 01:05 growing up. Let's begin by opening our Bibles 01:09 to Hebrews chapter 11; I'll be using the New 01:13 International Version. You know, some kinds of 01:16 growing are among the easiest things we do, 01:19 it's easy to grow gray, 01:21 it's easy to grow heavy, 01:22 it's to easy to grow old, 01:24 just keep on breathing, but growing up is one 01:29 of the hardest things we do, 01:31 it's hard to grow things centered to 01:34 God centered, from self-centered 01:36 to love centered. It's so hard in fact 01:38 that we tend to pretend when we really 01:41 haven't changed as much as we pretend to 01:44 have changed. We, we learn socially 01:47 acceptable ways of faking love and we 01:51 incline to his faith and say nasty things 01:53 behind his back, we smile on the 01:56 outside and we cede on the inside, 01:58 hoping that most won't catch on that 02:01 we stayed basically selfish all our lives. 02:06 Let's talk about spiritual growth, 02:08 love growth, growing up. 02:15 In London, there is a great 02:18 cathedral called the Westminster Abbey. 02:22 This was the place where Princess Diana's 02:25 funeral was held. This is the place where 02:28 England's most honor dead are buried. 02:33 Now, what kind of people do you suppose 02:36 are in England's Westminster Abbey? 02:39 What kind of people does England 02:42 honor most? Well, Kings, statesmen, 02:48 scholars, soldiers, beneath the floor or 02:53 behind the walls, they are buried 02:56 with an inscription over each tomb. 02:59 And as I walked around Westminster Abbey, 03:02 my heart skipped a beat as I look down 03:05 and I was standing on the tomb of my 03:09 boyhood hero David Livingston buried 03:15 in Westminster Abbey. Those whom England 03:18 honors most. Did you ever stop to 03:20 think that God also has a Westminster Abbey? 03:25 It's found in Hebrews chapter 11. 03:29 What kind of people does God honor most? 03:34 And as we look down through our chapter 03:38 we see in verse 4 Abel, God honors martyrs 03:43 and we say that's good. Verse 5, 03:45 we find Enoch, God honors those 03:49 who walk with Him and we say that's good. 03:53 Verse 7 we find Noah, that great 03:56 preacher of faith, the 120 years without 03:59 a convert and still he preached on, 04:01 saved only his family, but he stayed 04:03 true to God, we say that's good, 04:06 but wait a minute. Genesis 9 says 04:11 that Noah celebrated the end of the 04:14 flood by getting drunk. You mean that preachers 04:20 who get drunk on occasion are among 04:23 those whom God honors most? Skip 04:26 down to verse 31, you'll find Rehab the 04:28 prostitute God honors woman who sell their 04:31 bodies. Let's look at 3 special heroes. 04:38 In verse 8 we pick up the name of Abraham, 04:41 an 8 foot inscription over his tomb, 04:43 that is our eight verses in Hebrews 04:45 11 about Abraham, must be someone 04:48 who is very, very especially 04:50 honored by God. Abraham the liar, 04:54 he didn't just lie once, he lied repeatedly. 04:57 Genesis 12 and 20 says that 05:00 everywhere he went he lied, 05:02 he lied to the King Abimelech, he, 05:04 he lied to the Pharaoh of Egypt, 05:06 it was a clever lie and his wife 05:09 was beautiful and, and these great 05:11 powers coveted his wife. And he said, 05:15 that she's my sister and clever because 05:18 sisters got gifts, husbands got killed. 05:22 He lied to the government, 05:24 thrown out of the country as an 05:25 undesirable alien, one whom God 05:28 would honor most. Verse 24 mentions Moses, 05:34 there's a 7 foot inscription over 05:36 Moses tomb, 7 verses in the Hebrews 05:38 11 about Moses he must be 05:40 someone very special. In his younger years 05:44 Moses was an egotistical hot head, 05:46 he was a murderer. In modern 05:48 parlance we'd say, he killed a cop 05:52 and drop down to verse 32 we have David, 05:57 a true enigma. David we say was 06:01 a man after God's own heart. 06:03 David was an adulterer, 06:06 David was a murderer, 06:09 David was a peeping Tom, 06:12 it started with the King on the roof 06:15 of his castle watching his neighbor Bathsheba 06:19 taking a bath, brought her to 06:21 the Palace, she became pregnant, 06:22 he had Uriah her husband killed, 06:25 not only was this terrible sin, 06:28 but he did all this while he was president 06:30 of the General Conference, 06:31 he was a leader in his Church, 06:35 one especially chosen by God. You know, 06:40 Church leaders that make mistakes 06:41 and sometimes we use that as an excuse 06:44 to not have, have confidence in, 06:46 in the Church, but no mistakes any 06:50 bigger than David made and, and David, 06:53 a man after God's own heart. 06:57 What really is the lesson that God 07:02 is not particular? We find a list of the 07:07 exploits of these people in God's 07:11 Westminster Abbey. In Hebrews the 07:14 11th chapter, verses 33 and 34, 07:17 here we find the answer to our question. 07:22 How did these folks get into God's 07:25 Westminster Abbey? "Who through 07:28 faith conquered kingdoms, 07:30 administered justice, 07:32 and gained what was promised; 07:35 who shut the mouths of lions, 07:38 quenched the fury of the flames, 07:41 and escaped the edge of the sword; 07:44 whose weakness was turned to strength; 07:48 and who became powerful in battle 07:51 and routed foreign armies, armies." 07:54 There is the answer to our dilemma. 07:59 How did these big sinners get into God's 08:03 Westminster Abbey, out of weakness 08:08 they were made strong. Don't you see, 08:10 God is a firm believer in growing up. 08:15 And so our lesson today with God it's 08:19 not what we've been, it's what we're 08:22 becoming that counts. What a comfort 08:26 to the guilty? It's not what you 08:29 have done, but it's what you're doing. 08:33 It's not where you have been, 08:36 but where you're going? 08:38 It's not how tall you are, 08:41 but how much you're growing? 08:44 What a relief, comfort to the guilty, 08:49 but oh! What a warning to the complacent? 08:55 You see, one time conversion 08:57 is not enough, with God it's not 09:00 what you've been, it's what you 09:01 becoming that counts. When our eldest son 09:05 was three years old, his baby brother was 09:11 born and you know, what happens then, 09:13 the three-year-old was for the 09:15 first time taken out of his crib and he 09:17 slept in a bed without sides. 09:22 And except he had trouble staying in bed. 09:28 Now, we had an arrangement my 09:30 wife and I, it was the little 09:32 one that was usually her responsibility, 09:34 if it was the three-year-old 09:35 it was mine. And in the night I was 09:39 waken by a thud in the other 09:41 room and a limper. And there was 09:44 my son lying on the floor. 09:46 And I picked him up and I, 09:48 I helped him into bed. 09:50 And, and I went back to my bed and not long 09:52 later there was another thump and another 09:55 limper and again I helped him back 09:56 in the bed, again I went to my bed 09:58 and I had no more than hit the pillar 10:00 and out he went again. Once more I went 10:03 in and I picked him up and I tried to wake 10:05 him up a little bit to help him understand 10:07 I said, son, this is not the proper 10:09 procedure you keep falling out. 10:12 How, how come, what's wrong? 10:13 And only half awake, he rubbed his eyes 10:15 and he said daddy, I think I stayed too 10:19 close to where I got in. And you stayed too 10:26 close to where your got in? 10:30 You have a sin that used to bother you; 10:34 you still have the sin, just doesn't 10:37 bother you anymore. Are you spending less 10:41 time in prayer, less time in Bible study? 10:47 Are your standards lowering? 10:50 Is your relationship with Christ weakening? 10:53 Are you spending ten times as much time 10:55 was your television as you do with your Bible? 10:58 Remember, with God it's not what you've been, 11:04 it's what you're becoming that counts. 11:07 And may I invite you today to stop right 11:12 here and now and take a little 11:14 personal inventory. Are you closer to 11:19 Christ then you were a year ago, 11:25 you willing today to make a new beginning? 11:30 God honors over comers. 11:34 Let's look at that word over comers and 11:37 the first chapters of the Book of Revelation. 11:41 For example, Revelation the 11:43 3rd chapter and the 21st verse, 11:47 Revelation 3 and verse 21. 11:49 "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to 11:53 sit with me on my throne, 11:55 just as I overcame and sat down with my 11:58 Father on his throne." Let's take a look now 12:03 at these three special people whom God 12:07 honors by being in his Westminster Abbey. 12:10 First of all, there was David, 12:12 when Nathan the prophet came in 12:16 and told David of his terrible sin. 12:21 David sat down and wrote Psalm 51. 12:24 "Purge me with hyssop, 12:27 create in me a clean heart, 12:29 renew a right spirit within me." 12:32 Shame on David for being such a big sinner, 12:35 but David was a bigger repenter and he 12:39 became one of the biggest of over comers. 12:43 You see, and those who sinned 12:45 timidly tend to repent half heartedly. 12:53 It's a danger to be a respectable Christian. 12:57 We feel we don't have very much 12:59 of which we need to repent and it's 13:00 that Phariseeism, the very thing of 13:03 which we most need to repent. 13:06 Won't you see it's not small sinners, 13:08 but big over comers who become people 13:12 after God's own heart? Moses, 13:17 Moses problem was his prayed in the temper. 13:20 Numbers 12 says, Moses became the 13:22 meekest man on the face of the earth. 13:26 Abraham, Genesis 17 says that 13:29 Abraham and God were still working on 13:31 Abraham's growing at 99 years of age, 13:35 the concrete sets as we get older. 13:37 And change comes more, 13:40 it was more difficulty it, 13:41 it gets harder. And I hope I've lived 13:45 a few years and lost enough hair and 13:47 gained enough gray to speak for the others 13:49 of you who are touched with a, 13:51 a and bitter Matusetalitus. 13:54 Never credit yourself with overcoming sins 13:58 you've grown too old to enjoy. 14:01 Sanctification by senility, we drop off 14:06 sin-after-sin as we lose the energy 14:09 to commit them and we call at growth. 14:13 Oh! Young people please forgive us, 14:15 sometimes we're still as self-centered 14:18 and unkind and un-loving as ever. 14:22 And we've become a little cantankerous on 14:25 top of it all. Heaven is to over comers. 14:29 Notice in Revelation the second chapter 14:32 and the 7th verse, verse, "Who has an ear, 14:35 let him hear what the Spirit says to 14:37 the churches. To him who overcomes, 14:39 I will give the right to eat from 14:41 the tree of life, which is in the 14:43 paradise of God." Revelation the 3rd 14:46 chapter and the 5th verse, 14:47 "He who overcomes will, like them, 14:49 be dressed in white. I will never block 14:51 out his name from the book of life, 14:53 but will acknowledge his name before my 14:55 Father and his angels." And my favorite 14:58 is Revelation the 3rd chapter and 15:01 the 12th verse. Revelation 3:12, 15:03 "Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in 15:07 the temple of my God. Never again will he 15:10 leave that I will write on him the name of 15:12 my God and the name of the city of my God, 15:14 the new Jerusalem which is coming down 15:16 out of heaven from my God; 15:17 and I will also write on him my new name." 15:22 It says pillar, those who overcome 15:26 become pillars in the temple of God. 15:29 Now, what's a pillar? A pillar, 15:31 we really call them trusses today. 15:35 A pillar is something that holds 15:37 a building up. It's, it's the strength 15:41 that's the mainstay of a building. 15:46 And what John is saying is the Kingdom 15:48 is depended upon these pillars, 15:51 these over comers, over comers are 15:53 what hold the Kingdom of God up, 15:55 that's what the book says. 16:01 The omnipotence of the power of God 16:03 can be proven in many ways. 16:06 Have you heard that there are more 16:09 stars in the sky then there are grains 16:11 of sand in all of the oceans of the world, 16:14 our Creator God an omnipotent God, 16:17 powerful God, but the best prove 16:20 of the omnipotence of God is in making bad 16:25 people fit for heaven, if you took only those 16:29 who would always been good, 16:30 the angels would yarn, totally unimpressed, 16:35 but when great sinners become greater 16:38 over comers that is the greatest proof 16:42 of the power of Christ. And when they 16:45 get Floyd Bresee over there, 16:50 there is going to be prove-positive 16:53 that there is power in the blood. Now, 16:58 if it is so important to be over comers, 17:03 how can I overcome? Let me suggest 17:07 three steps, you want to be an over comer? 17:11 Three steps, number one, first step 17:14 is to see you'll left your sins in 17:17 light of the Cross. It's wrong to do what 17:21 comes natural and see our sins in comparison 17:25 with the sins of others. And let me illustrate 17:30 with sexual purity. Here is a sexual 17:35 standard of the world lets say, 17:39 well the standard of the church is 17:41 invariably higher than the standard of 17:44 the world, but then the standard 17:46 of the world begins to lower and have 17:49 you notice that the standard of the Church 17:51 tends so lower too, and so eventually 17:55 can become lower than the previous standard 17:57 of the world. The worst condemnation 18:03 of Christianity is it our standards come 18:06 more from the world than from the word. 18:10 Why? Because we spend so much more 18:14 time soaking up the world standards, 18:18 so little time studying God's. 18:22 Does sin still stuff my pillow with thorns 18:27 or has this permissive society convinced me 18:32 that sin isn't serious? Shall I crucify my 18:37 Savior when from me he born such pain, 18:41 one soul, one sight crucified him 18:45 shall I crucify again. So, you want to be an 18:49 over comer first of all, see your sin is not 18:51 in comparison to other people, 18:53 see your sins in the light of the Cross. 18:58 Secondly, you want to be an over comer, 19:01 learn to rely on Christ' power. 19:05 Philippians the 4th chapter the 13th verse 19:09 my favorite verse in all scripture. 19:13 Philippians 4:13, "I can do everything 19:18 through him who gives me strength." 19:22 We ought to be a can do people, 19:25 I can, not because I'm good, 19:27 I can because he is good. His grace accepts 19:32 me just the way I am, but his grace also 19:36 changes me to be more like He is. 19:42 Third secret, you want to grow? 19:45 Well, first of all see your sins in the 19:48 light of the Cross, secondly rely on 19:51 Christ' power and thirdly, 19:54 feed your spiritual nature daily. 20:01 Dear, Christian you cannot survive on one 20:04 meal a week; you need a balanced diet daily. 20:12 There is no chef that can make such a 20:16 wonderfully nutritious meal that you 20:18 only need to eat once a week, 20:21 you would starve to death, 20:23 would become critical to preacher because 20:26 if we go to church, we sit there 20:29 and we say, well preacher you 20:31 give me 30 minutes or a religion enough 20:34 to last me for the next week, 20:39 but that simply won't work. 20:43 We must find someway to feed ourselves, 20:47 to feed our spiritual nature on an 20:50 everyday basis. And so, our question today, 20:58 are we growing up? Are we really growing 21:01 up or are we just growing old? 21:06 Growing old comes very naturally, 21:10 growing old comes with time, 21:14 growing up come supernaturally, 21:19 growing up comes through Christ. 21:22 Remember with God its not what we've been, 21:28 but what we're becoming that counts. 21:32 Please don't live with that everlasting 21:34 guilt and worrying about what you have 21:37 been in the past. Please don't be 21:41 satisfied with what you are in the present. 21:45 The people that God honors are not people 21:48 who were good all their lives, 21:50 they're people who struggled with sin 21:51 all their lives until through Christ 21:54 they overcame. Two dogs, neighbors, 22:05 bad neighbors, don't like each other, 22:10 fence in between, on this side we call 22:15 this dog Nice, and over here on this 22:20 side we call this dog Nasty. 22:25 And they're all the time coming over 22:27 to the fence and growling at each other. 22:31 One day one of them digs under the 22:35 fence and the dogs come together and 22:38 they fight, and they fight, 22:41 and they fight truth and nail they fight, 22:44 neither one can overcome the other. 22:48 For a while, Nice is on top and 22:50 Nasty is on the bottom and then Nasty 22:52 is on top and Nice is on the bottom, 22:55 their owners come dashing out and 22:58 separate the dogs they put them back 23:02 in their own backyards and they 23:05 patched the fence. And then a terrible 23:11 thing happens. Nicest family goes 23:16 on vacation and the boy that was 23:21 supposed to come and feed Nice forgets. 23:25 And Nice goes for all of two weeks 23:29 without anything to eat. Meanwhile Nasty 23:35 next door is being fed nutritiously twice 23:38 faithfully every single day. 23:43 At the end of the two weeks somehow 23:46 the dogs comeback together again. 23:51 One of them gets under the fence 23:53 and I've a strong suspicion it's Nasty 23:55 because Nice is just simple to weak 23:57 to make the trip, but they still 23:59 hate each other. And once more, 24:02 they go at it tooth and nail and they 24:05 growl and, and, and they pull 24:08 one another, once more they fight. Now, 24:16 which dog will win? The dog you feed 24:25 is the dog that wins. And we're not really 24:29 talking about dogs; we're talking 24:33 about Pauline theology. Paul says that who have 24:38 these two dogs in your own heart, 24:41 in our own life, in your own mind 24:44 and no matter how converted 24:45 you have been, you will have both of 24:48 them in your life all the rest of your life. 24:53 He calls at the spiritual nature and 24:56 the carnal nature, and the spiritual 24:58 nature and the carnal nature fight 25:00 against each other. Which nature is 25:03 going to win in your life? 25:07 Well, of course the one you feed 25:11 is one that wins. And I'm embarrassed 25:16 to admit, I fear that many 25:20 times we Christians pray that Nice will win 25:28 in spite of the fact we're feeding Nasty. 25:32 The dog that you feed is the dog 25:37 that will win. Find someway on a 25:41 daily bases to feed your spiritual nature, 25:48 don't assume that there is some magical 25:50 prayer that can over ride the way 25:53 you feed your soul. The nature that you 25:57 feed is the nature that will win. Let's pray. 26:09 Loving Father, thank you for 26:15 seeing us according not to what 26:19 we have been, but what we're becoming. 26:24 And I pray for each viewer today who 26:28 is prepared to make just now 26:32 a brand new beginning with Jesus. 26:37 May we find daily someway to feed 26:41 our spiritual natures, keep us growing 26:46 I pray, make us over comers through Jesus. 26:56 So, I leave you now with a question. 27:00 Which dog are you feeding? 27:04 Have you found someway to spend 27:07 meaningful time on a daily basis with Jesus? 27:15 The dog that you feed is a dog that will win. 27:19 There is no use feeding the carnal 27:23 and presuming that the spiritual will 27:26 win out in your life. So, please as you 27:31 go on from now, remember with 27:35 God it's not what you've been, 27:38 it's what you're becoming that counts. 27:41 Let's find someway to spend time with 27:45 Him on an every day basis. 27:49 And may we too become over 27:51 comers and more like our Lord. |
Revised 2014-12-17