Jeff Miller

January 17, 2021

This is Who We Are

This is Who We Are: Pillar 2

Jeff Miller

January 17, 2021

This is Who We Are

Introduction:

We Lift High the Name of Jesus Through Worship.

"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation…the delight is incomplete till it is expressed." - C.S. Lewis

  
  3 Things to Say on Your Way to Church (Psalm 146):

I am Choosing to worship. (Ps 146:1-2)
  
I am done trusting Man . (Ps 146:3-6)
  
I am making worship Personal . (Ps 146:7-10)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:41-00:46
You know, we just got done singing together.
00:46-00:57
We had this whole band up here, playing music, so we could sing.
01:00-01:03
Doesn't that seem a little strange, when you think about it?
01:05-01:12
I mean, we get up on a Sunday morning, We put on our spiffy clothes, well, maybe you did.
01:15-01:27
And we dragged the kids out of the house, and we come to this auditorium, and all of a sudden we turn into a choir.
01:28-01:43
I mean, there's some friends here, and there's some people here probably you've never met, complete strangers, but suddenly, in this room, we're all a choir. Like, why do we do that? Doesn't it seem weird?
01:46-02:58
Well, it's really, I guess, not that weird when you think about how we use music in so many other contexts, right? Because singing, music, it's, music is this, it's this outlet of emotion. Music is the way that we express joy. And if you think about it, we do it all the time, don't we? For example, you go to a birthday party. What do we do at a birthday party? We take a cake and we light the cake on fire, and then what do we do? We sing it, Right? Happy birthday to you, now blow out the fire and make a wish or whatever. And that doesn't seem so strange. Right? Or what about you go to a baseball game. Remember back when we used to do those kinds of things? You go to a baseball game, sports people, in the middle of the seventh inning, what do we do? Seventh inning stretch, and what What do we do during the seventh inning stretch?
03:00-03:03
Take me out to the ball game.
03:03-03:05
Why don't we sing that before the first inning?
03:06-03:09
The game's almost over, and we're like, oh, take me out to the ball game.
03:10-03:10
We're here.
03:12-03:14
But we get together and sing.
03:16-03:21
I know, the Pirates game is usually over by the first inning.
03:25-03:26
Look, I'm hurting with you.
03:29-03:33
We get together with a group of people and we sing.
03:33-03:43
But by far the strangest context in which this happens, by far, not even open for discussion or argument, is Christmas caroling.
03:44-03:45
I never got that.
03:46-03:58
We get a bunch of our friends, we show up at somebody's house, and we're standing in in their yard, and we start singing at them, like, "Hey, I know you're in there all warm and probably watching TV.
03:59-04:09
Come out into the cold, because me and my friends are trespassing, and we would like to sing at you." I don't get it.
04:12-04:14
But I do get the music thing.
04:16-04:18
I don't get caroling, but I get music.
04:19-04:23
Because music is a very emotional thing, right?
04:25-04:33
On your way home, just flip through the radio stations, and I want you to think about the content of the songs.
04:33-04:34
What are the songs about?
04:37-04:40
Typically it's something very emotional, right?
04:40-04:41
Love.
04:42-04:43
Passion.
04:44-04:45
Right?
04:46-04:46
Heartbreak.
04:47-04:49
She thinks my tractor's sexy.
04:50-04:51
Okay, not every song.
04:52-05:04
But, for the most part, music is about expressing emotion over something very deep in our soul.
05:05-05:05
Right?
05:08-05:15
Singing is emotional, and that's why singing is one aspect of worship We are very serious about it, our church.
05:19-05:25
God's Word tells us that we are to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
05:25-05:32
And we can love God with our mind by studying the Word together.
05:32-05:38
We can love God with our strength by using our physical abilities to serve our neighbor.
05:38-05:41
But the question is, how do we love God with our emotions?
05:42-05:43
The answer is music.
05:44-05:53
God has given us music so that we can express love to God, so we can fulfill the command to love God with our very emotions.
05:56-05:57
That's why we worship in song.
05:57-05:59
I love this quote from C.S. Lewis.
05:59-06:00
Listen to this very closely.
06:01-06:15
He says, "I think we delight to praise what we enjoy, Because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment.
06:17-06:21
It is its appointed consummation.
06:22-06:28
The delight is incomplete until it is expressed.
06:28-06:47
What he's saying is there's something about that act of expressing praise and enjoyment that completes the whole enjoyment process saying. In other words, to illustrate it, think about what do we do on a roller coaster?
06:48-07:07
We don't just sit there and, "This is fun, this is fast, this is windy." What do we do on a roller coaster? We put our arms up and we scream and we laugh and we're, why do we do that? We're expressing the joy. Or when your favorite team scores, what do we do?
07:08-07:11
We jump up and we cheer and we scream.
07:12-07:15
Just imagine what we'll do when the Penguins actually win a game this year.
07:16-07:20
But we express our joy that way.
07:22-07:24
There's something in us that we can't help it.
07:26-07:32
Or maybe with food, we have to express it.
07:32-07:34
We can't just enjoy it.
07:34-07:38
we have to express our enjoyment of the food, right?
07:39-07:44
You're eating that brownie, and you're nom nom nom nom, nom nom, oh, it's so moist.
07:45-07:50
And I say that because I know that word really bothers a lot of people, but it's so moist.
07:51-07:54
And, but why do we have to express that?
07:54-08:03
There's something about, as C.S. Lewis put it, it's like a consummation of our enjoyment to express that.
08:05-08:25
So when we come in here, and we are expressing emotion with the vehicle that God has given us - music - worship lets us love God with our emotions.
08:26-08:32
Worship lets us express our joy what God has done for us.
08:34-08:51
Now, you have to understand, when we worship together, we don't just have this bucket of songs on little pieces of paper, and we just pick out some, and we're going to sing these ones.
08:51-08:57
I want to show you today, briefly, we're talking about why we do some of the things that we do.
08:57-09:10
I want to show you why we worship Bible chapel, the way that we worship, because there's some people like, "Why is worship structured that way, and why is there so many songs?" Well, typically, I'm going to draw you a picture here.
09:10-09:20
I'm hoping you can all see this, and if you can't, you can squint or see if your neighbor has binoculars, or, dare I say, sit in the front.
09:22-09:23
I know, I know, I'm sorry.
09:23-09:24
Too far?
09:26-09:33
All right, so this is going to represent the Old Testament temple, tabernacle, not to scale, okay?
09:36-09:43
Don't be looking at the back of your Bible with those pictures like, "That's not exactly proportionate." Come on, show me some grace here, alright?
09:46-09:54
Let's just say this is the Old Testament tabernacle temple.
09:55-09:58
It was the building that God told Moses to construct.
09:58-10:05
It was the portable version through the Exodus, and then ultimately Solomon built the permanent version, the temple.
10:06-10:17
But it was very specific in that you had these courts, and then you get into the holy place, and this place here was the Holy of Holies.
10:17-10:20
This is where the Ark of the Covenant was.
10:20-10:29
The top, the mercy seat, and that's where the high priest went year Leviticus 16 to offer sacrifice for the sins of all the people.
10:29-10:36
We have the altar out here, and then obviously the curtain would be right here.
10:37-10:40
Man, that's practically a photograph, Jeff, I know.
10:43-10:56
But typically, this is typical, okay, generally at Harvest Bible Chapel, we usually do like five songs, and the first song is usually usually what we would sing as we are going to worship.
10:56-10:57
And what would we sing?
10:57-11:00
There are songs that are called to worship.
11:00-11:03
Hey, let's come together, let's sing, let's praise.
11:03-11:09
So the one songs are typically like the call to worship.
11:09-11:14
We are going up the steps, we are going to the presence of God.
11:14-11:16
Hey people, let's worship.
11:16-11:17
Those are the one songs.
11:18-11:25
And usually in the middle of the set, The three songs are the songs that you sing in the courts.
11:25-11:30
And what are God's people talking about in the courts of God's temple?
11:30-11:32
These are songs of testimony.
11:32-11:34
Here's how God has been good to me.
11:34-11:36
Here's what God has done for me.
11:36-11:37
Here's how God saved me.
11:38-11:39
Here's how God provided for me.
11:39-11:41
Here's what God has done.
11:41-11:43
Those are testimonial songs.
11:44-11:49
But when you get to the end of the worship set, typically, these are the fifth song in to the set.
11:52-11:57
But when you get to the fifth song, you're in the Holy of Holies now.
11:57-12:01
And I know we're not high priests and we can't go in there and Jesus tore the curtain down.
12:01-12:03
Don't make this a theology thing.
12:04-12:08
But the point is this, we are going into the presence of God.
12:09-12:34
So usually by the end of the worship set, the five songs, we're not thinking so much about us and our benefit and, "Hey, let's come and worship people." At this point, we're saying, "Now, we are in the presence of God, and this is a pure ascription of worth." That's typically the flow of our worship.
12:35-12:39
The people up here are leading us in worship.
12:39-12:58
When I say leading, they are literally taking us somewhere, up the steps, through the courts for testimony, ultimately into God's very presence where we're thinking about nothing but His majesty and His beauty and His awesomeness and His incomparable qualities.
13:00-13:13
And you're like, "Well, what about songs 2 and 4?" Look, I don't mean to be a smart-aleck here, but song 2 is just basically something between a 1 and a 3, and song 4 is something between a 3 and a 5.
13:13-13:18
Okay? So, again, it's about the flow, generally.
13:19-13:22
But that's why we worship - did I get that right there?
13:22-13:28
Okay. That's why we worship the way that we do at Harvest Bible Chapel.
13:29-13:31
We were made for this.
13:32-13:38
Which is why pillar number two of Harvest Bible Chapel is lifting high the name of Jesus.
13:42-13:42
I could be done now.
13:43-13:51
But, we spent so much time last week talking about God's Word, I think we should spend some time in God's Word, don't you?
13:51-13:54
So open up to Psalm 146.
13:57-13:58
Psalm 146.
14:00-14:06
And you know how it is, there's times that we come to church and we're just not getting it.
14:06-14:07
And we're not feeling it.
14:07-14:10
And we're wondering why everybody else is feeling it and we're not feeling it.
14:13-14:21
So as we look at Psalm 146 today, I'm going to give you three things to say on your way to church.
14:23-14:33
In other words, as you're walking through one of these doors, or you're turning on your computer to stream - that's on your way to church.
14:33-14:37
When you're on your way to church, I want you to say these three things to yourself.
14:39-14:42
And watch what it does to your worship.
14:42-14:43
And this all comes from God's Word.
14:44-14:49
The first thing you need to learn to say to yourself, number one, I am choosing to worship.
14:51-14:52
I am choosing to worship.
14:52-14:54
Look at verse 1, Psalm 146.
14:54-14:56
It says, "Praise the Lord!
14:57-15:00
Praise the Lord, O my soul!" Stop there.
15:01-15:01
Praise the Lord.
15:02-15:06
Literally, that's the word "hallelujah." It's a beautiful word.
15:07-15:08
Hallelujah.
15:08-15:09
It's an imperative.
15:10-15:13
It's a word that's basically saying, "Hey, people! People!
15:14-15:18
Come on! Let us go worship God together!
15:19-15:20
Let's do it, people! Come on!
15:20-15:48
Let's worship God together!" That's the word "hallelujah." And that's why when you get to these Psalms, Psalm 146-150, all begin and end with the word "Hallelujah." "Hey, hey, let's do this, people!" But then he says, "Praise the Lord." Look at this, "O my soul." He's rousing his own soul into action.
15:48-15:51
Do you realize he's commanding himself?
15:52-15:52
Do you see that?
15:53-15:55
He's commanding himself to worship.
15:56-16:00
Like, "I'm not really feeling it today." "No, no, no, soul. Listen, soul.
16:01-16:02
This is what we're doing, soul.
16:02-16:11
We are worshiping today. That's what we're doing." And what do we call it when we command ourselves to do something?
16:12-16:14
We call that making a choice. Right?
16:15-16:16
Making a choice.
16:17-16:18
Look at verse 2.
16:19-16:22
He says, "I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
16:23-16:30
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being." Do I have a choice there? I will. I will.
16:31-16:33
As long as I live. As long as I have my being.
16:34-16:35
I'm going to do this.
16:38-16:39
Please hear me, church.
16:39-16:44
Worship is, yes, is loving God with our emotions.
16:45-16:46
Yes, absolutely.
16:46-16:50
But, this is where a lot of people miss it.
16:53-16:57
It is a choice to love God with our emotions.
16:58-16:59
Do you see that in the text?
17:01-17:09
Here's the thing, because worship is so immersive, we often excuse ourselves from doing it.
17:09-17:12
We come in here and it's easy for us to check out.
17:13-17:15
I just don't really feel like it today.
17:15-17:17
Had a hard day yesterday.
17:18-17:20
Kids were little snots on the way to church.
17:20-17:21
I'm just not feeling it.
17:22-17:24
And we can excuse ourselves.
17:28-17:29
We see this more and more in our culture.
17:31-17:35
We don't feel like doing something, we just don't do it, right?
17:36-17:38
We see it all the time in marriages.
17:39-17:42
I don't feel like loving my wife today, so I'm not going to do it.
17:43-17:44
We see it in the workplace.
17:44-17:46
I don't feel like doing anything at work today.
17:47-17:48
How many times have you heard that?
17:49-17:52
I didn't really do anything at work today because I didn't feel like it.
17:54-17:56
They ain't paying you for your feelings, pal.
17:57-17:57
or school.
17:58-18:00
Well, I don't feel like studying.
18:04-18:15
I think we would easily acknowledge that marriage and work and school, these are all things that we must go after whether we feel like it or not, right?
18:18-18:21
And I would suggest to you it's so much more with worship.
18:22-18:24
So much more with worship.
18:28-18:34
Sometimes you have to make the choice, and then the feelings catch up.
18:37-18:45
A couple of weeks ago, we went to one of those big indoor water parks for my son's birthday.
18:47-18:49
Some of you know how I feel about those.
18:49-18:51
I'm not a big fan of them personally.
18:53-18:57
giant indoor Splash Lagoon Kalahari things.
18:58-19:04
It's basically taking a four-hour cold shower in a warehouse with 200 strangers.
19:05-19:06
(audience laughing)
19:09-19:11
It's not my favorite thing in the world.
19:11-19:15
And when the trip comes, I'm just kind of like, dreading it.
19:15-19:16
But you know what?
19:18-19:21
I gotta confess to you, I had a lot of fun this year.
19:23-19:23
Why?
19:25-19:31
Because I talked myself into, look, it's not about how I feel about it.
19:32-19:33
This is about my son.
19:34-19:40
This is what he loves to do, so I'm going to go with a good attitude because this is for him.
19:42-19:46
And just with that little adjustment in my head, I had a great time.
19:49-19:55
And church, it's so much more with worship I think we need to take a page out of the psalmist's book here.
19:57-19:59
He's like, "Come on, soul, we're doing this.
19:59-20:00
We're doing this today.
20:01-20:02
I know you had a hard day.
20:03-20:04
I know you're sad.
20:04-20:05
I know you're grieving.
20:06-20:11
I know you're overwhelmed, but soul, listen, we are doing this today because it matters.
20:12-20:16
Because it's important, and because..." Number one answer, He is worthy.
20:19-20:19
We're doing it.
20:21-20:25
no matter what happens, no matter how I feel, I choose to worship.
20:26-20:33
So you need to go after worship that way, and you're going to find that your emotions will catch up with you.
20:34-20:47
And, if you're willing to do that, I guarantee you, you're going to find that by the time the worship set is over, you're going to be disappointed that it's over.
20:50-21:01
on your way to church, streaming at home, walking through the doors, first thing you need to say to yourself when you walk in, you say, "I'm choosing to worship today." Can you say that?
21:02-21:17
"I'm choosing to worship today." Secondly, number two, something else you need to say that's going to amp up your worship, "I am done trusting man." "I am done trusting man." Look at verses 3 and 4.
21:18-21:27
He says, "Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no salvation.
21:29-21:36
When his breath departs, he returns to the earth on that very day, his plans perish." Stop there.
21:37-21:44
Very clearly, he says, "Stop trusting princes." Princes?
21:45-21:50
Prince Charming, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Prince of the New Power Generation.
21:50-21:52
What prince am I trusting?
21:56-21:58
He's talking about political leaders.
22:00-22:02
He's talking about important people.
22:04-22:09
People that our society deems are important.
22:12-22:17
He says, "Look, your leaders, they can't save you.
22:19-22:19
They can't.
22:20-22:40
Even the best leaders that have the best intentions, the psalmist says, they're going to take those intentions with them to the cemetery." And people, we have this horrible flaw We look for saviors everywhere, except heaven.
22:43-22:45
At this point, you're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.
22:47-22:50
Who puts their trust in people, really?
22:50-22:52
Like, who really does that?
22:52-23:05
I don't know who you think you're talking to, Jeff, but it's not this group, because who really puts their trust in people?" I would reply with, "Are you kidding me?
23:06-23:08
"Have you been living under a rock the last few months?
23:11-23:19
"Have you not witnessed this most recent election "in our country?" You're like, "Oh no, he's getting political." Look, this is what the text is talking about.
23:20-23:22
We put our trust in princes, and that's what we saw.
23:23-23:23
Can we step back?
23:24-23:39
We're not making this a, well, okay, we're making a political thing, but can we step back Please, and just be honest with ourselves, and acknowledge that this is what we saw with the last election.
23:40-23:41
From both sides!
23:44-23:53
My guy has to get in, because if the other guy gets in, he's going to destroy the country, but my guy is going to save the country.
23:53-23:55
True or false, both sides?
23:55-23:55
True or false?
23:56-23:56
True!
23:57-23:57
True!
23:58-23:59
Both sides!
24:02-24:21
Can we not step back and realize this country has become so trusting and princes looking to people to save and God's Word says in whom there is no salvation they cannot save you.
24:25-24:29
And I hate to tell you this, but people always disappoint you.
24:31-24:32
Because we're people.
24:34-24:37
If I haven't yet, I'm going to disappoint you someday.
24:38-24:40
So will these wonderful leaders in our church.
24:42-24:43
Not intentionally.
24:46-24:49
But the best person you know is going to disappoint you in some way.
24:50-24:51
to some degree, because we're people.
24:52-24:52
Right?
24:56-24:57
So what's the alternative?
25:00-25:08
See the problem, when we come in here, and we're "yay, Republican, yay, Democrat," whatever name you're...
25:08-25:17
When we come in here, we have all of our hopes tethered to a political person.
25:19-25:20
and they got ready to worship.
25:23-25:52
Verses 5 and 6, it says, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever." I love this, it says, "Blessed is he whose help is God," And then he says, "whose hope is in God." Help is God moving today.
25:54-26:01
Help is God actively present with me, sustaining me, strengthening me, guiding me today.
26:01-26:02
That's help. What's hope?
26:03-26:05
Hope is the promise of His Word being fulfilled tomorrow.
26:06-26:07
That's hope.
26:08-26:10
God said it. I know He's going to bring it about.
26:12-26:15
I'm trusting not princes.
26:17-26:22
People always disappoint, but God keeps faith forever.
26:22-26:23
Underline that in your Bible.
26:24-26:28
We will have ushers at the door checking your Bibles as you leave to make sure that it's underlined.
26:28-26:30
God keeps faith forever.
26:33-26:43
So on your way to church, walking in the door, streaming us online, you need to say to yourself, God is my help. God is my hope.
26:44-26:46
And I am man.
26:50-26:51
And watch what that does to your worship.
26:53-26:58
And finally, three things to say in your way to church.
26:59-27:01
I am making worship personal.
27:02-27:03
I'm making it personal.
27:04-27:06
Look at this list. We're going to go through this real quick.
27:07-27:08
I want you to look at this list.
27:10-27:19
Verse 7, talking about the work of the Lord, it says, "Who executes justice for the oppressed." Have you ever been wronged?
27:21-27:22
God's going to bring justice.
27:23-27:25
Write that down. He's going to bring justice.
27:27-27:34
He goes on, "Who gives food to the hungry." Have you ever been hungry?
27:35-27:36
Physically? Spiritually?
27:36-27:37
God will provide.
27:38-27:40
The Lord sets the prisoners free.
27:41-27:42
Have you ever felt trapped?
27:43-27:45
Maybe it's not a physical prison.
27:45-27:51
Maybe you've never been to Butler County Prison or Allegheny County Prison, but maybe you've been trapped in a prison of addiction.
27:55-27:56
God brings freedom.
27:57-28:03
Verse 8, he says, "The Lord opens the eyes of the blind." Again, physical blindness, spiritual blindness.
28:04-28:06
God turns the lights on.
28:07-28:09
We talked about that in our study through the Gospel of John.
28:09-28:10
I love this next one.
28:10-28:23
It says, "The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down." Now, when you first read that and think "bowed down," you might get your Sunday school thinking on like, "Oh, somebody praying." That's not what he's talking about.
28:24-28:25
It's the person that's beat down.
28:26-28:30
It's the person that's like, "I can't take another step.
28:31-28:32
I'm done.
28:33-28:38
I am so exhausted, and I can't do this anymore.
28:41-28:42
God picks you up.
28:44-28:49
God says, "We're going, and we're going together." That's just awesome.
28:51-28:58
Into verse 8 it says, "The Lord loves the righteous." I thought God loved everybody.
29:00-29:04
He does, but understand, God has a special love for His people.
29:07-29:08
The same way you do.
29:10-29:12
Your kids versus you love somebody else's kids.
29:14-29:15
That's how it is with God.
29:15-29:17
He has a special love for His kids.
29:19-29:25
Verse 9, He says, "The Lord watches over the sojourners." Have you ever felt out of place?
29:28-29:29
God is with you.
29:31-29:33
He says He upholds the widow and the fatherless.
29:37-29:37
Is that you?
29:38-29:42
Sometimes you feel like because of life circumstances you don't have anyone?
29:44-29:51
God has a special compassion for people who feel alone, abandoned, or forgotten.
29:54-29:59
At the end of verse 9 it says, But the way of the wicked He brings to ruin.
30:01-30:01
Are you wicked?
30:03-30:09
Is somebody who has refused God's grace and you live for yourself at the expense of others?
30:10-30:13
Well, I've got some news for you, but this isn't good news.
30:14-30:16
The news for you is this, God hasn't forgotten you either.
30:19-30:22
And you are on this list.
30:24-30:28
And for some of us, maybe we're on this list in more than one place.
30:31-30:35
And I could do a sermon on every one of these things, obviously, but here's the point.
30:37-30:42
God did not create us in order that we would have to figure things out on our own.
30:44-30:47
That's the point of this list, is to say God is active.
30:49-30:51
And He meets you where you are.
30:51-30:59
And He wants you to experience His presence, His provision, and His comfort.
31:00-31:14
And when you personally know Him, and you know God's work, it naturally makes you want to express your gratitude in worship.
31:17-31:32
You know, your level of gratitude in any context, your level of gratitude is always proportionate to the size of the gift.
31:33-31:33
Right?
31:35-31:36
I'm going to prove that to you.
31:37-31:39
Livvy, I'm going to ask you, would you like some money?
31:41-31:42
Smart girl.
31:42-31:42
Alright.
31:44-31:45
Well, you're alone because I got some.
31:47-31:47
Here you go.
31:48-31:48
Here you go.
31:49-31:49
A penny.
31:50-31:51
Are you thankful?
31:51-31:52
She is thankful.
31:52-31:54
She's not just saying that.
31:54-31:55
She really is thankful.
31:57-31:57
Watch this.
31:58-31:58
Would you like some more?
32:00-32:00
Check this out.
32:04-32:05
Would you like a dollar?
32:06-32:07
Here you go.
32:08-32:10
Are you more thankful now than you were for the penny?
32:11-32:11
You see?
32:11-32:12
She's illustrating this point.
32:13-32:20
The more gratitude you feel comes from the greater the gift is.
32:20-32:21
I should have said that the other way.
32:21-32:24
So you're thankful for the dollar much more than the penny.
32:25-32:25
How would you like $5?
32:26-32:27
Would you be thankful for that?
32:28-32:29
Alright, check this out.
32:29-32:30
Boom! $5.
32:32-32:35
Now are you more thankful for the $5 than you were for the dollar?
32:36-32:39
And you're way more thankful for the $5 than you were for the penny, right?
32:41-32:45
$20. We're in the middle of a pandemic.
32:49-32:51
So I'm going to have to owe you on that one.
32:52-32:54
Unless, can somebody loan me $20?
32:55-32:59
It's for a good cause. Nobody?
33:01-33:04
All right, pandemic. Thank you, Darla.
33:05-33:07
Thank you very much, Darla.
33:07-33:09
Would you be thankful for $20?
33:11-33:14
Now, were you more thankful for $20 than you were for $5?
33:16-33:26
And you're sitting here like, "I never prayed so hard for Pastor Jeff to keep preaching in my life." You see the point?
33:27-33:30
The greater the gift, the more thankful you are.
33:31-33:33
I want you to think about this.
33:36-33:36
Here's the point.
33:37-33:39
the greater the gift, the greater the gratitude, right?
33:40-33:43
I want you to think of the gift that you've received in Jesus Christ.
33:43-33:45
I want you to think about that for a second.
33:47-33:50
You're a lost, wayward sinner.
33:50-33:57
And He came after you, and He said, "I love you." And I died on the cross to take away all your sin.
33:57-34:04
You never have to feel guilt or shame for the rest of eternity, because your sin has been taken away.
34:05-34:09
Jesus rose from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.
34:10-34:20
He said, "You will never die." Yeah, your physical body might wear out, and your spirit's going to go to heaven instantly upon death here, but you're never going to perish.
34:21-34:23
You have eternal life.
34:26-34:29
And you have all of these blessings on the earth, right?
34:30-34:37
The fellowship of the most amazing church family I have ever seen in my life, here in this room and watching through the stream.
34:39-34:42
The blessing of the fellowship of the body.
34:43-34:47
We have every provision from the hand of God.
34:51-34:57
And one of the most mind-blowing things, do you know the Bible says that we are co-heirs with Christ?
34:57-34:58
Do you realize what that means?
34:59-35:02
Like, what does Christ stand to inherit?
35:04-35:04
Everything!
35:05-35:07
And the Bible says, "Us too!
35:08-35:10
We are co-heirs with Christ.
35:11-35:26
We will inherit everything!" And when I think about the gift that God has given us, and I could go on and on and on, all of these gifts that have come through Jesus Christ.
35:28-35:30
How can I not worship Him?
35:32-35:39
How can I come to church and hear the music and see the words and just stand here with my arms folded like this is for somebody else?
35:39-35:40
Then you're not getting it.
35:42-35:43
You're not getting it.
35:46-35:50
Verse 10, he says, "The Lord will reign forever.
35:51-36:02
Your God, O Zion, to all generations, praise the Lord." It comes from the very depths of your soul.
36:04-36:05
Because it's personal to you.
36:06-36:13
You're like, "Hey, I didn't come in here to sing about Charles Wesley's faith, or Martin Luther's faith.
36:13-36:18
I came in here today to praise God for what He did for me.
36:19-36:21
For what I see Him doing in my family.
36:21-36:25
For what I see Him doing in my church family right here.
36:25-36:26
That's why I'm worshiping.
36:27-36:32
because this isn't some conceptual thing or just some ink on a paper.
36:32-36:37
This is a living and active God who has showed up mightily in my life.
36:38-36:49
And I am here to tell Him exactly how I feel about Him in a congregation of people who are saying the same.
36:51-37:07
So when you turn on that stream or you walk in these doors, You need to say to yourself, "Hey, I'm making worship personal." I'm going to pray, and I'm going to give you one more opportunity to do that this morning.
37:07-37:07
You ready?
37:08-37:09
Get ready. Let's pray.
37:10-37:16
Father in heaven, we lift high the name of Jesus in worship.
37:19-37:30
Father, I really believe that the worship service in heaven is eternal, because it is going to take us all of eternity to even list the reasons that you deserve it.
37:32-37:47
For all you are, and for all you've done, Father, make us a people who say, "I choose to worship." Oh my soul, praise the Lord!
37:48-37:53
God, make us a people that stop looking to Washington We can start looking to heaven.
37:54-37:56
We're done trusting princes.
37:59-38:01
We're trusting the God who keeps faith forever.
38:04-38:05
God, let us make worship personal.
38:08-38:09
Let us count our blessings.
38:12-38:21
Let us recite the glorious deeds that You have done on our behalf, on behalf of this church.
38:24-38:34
Father, the worship isn't just us trying to hit a note or keep a beat, but it's a very expression of joy.
38:37-38:40
We love You with our emotions.
38:43-38:46
We praise You in the glorious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Psalm 146

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why is music important for congregational worship?
How - specifically - can you choose to worship when you don’t “feel like it” (Psalm 146:1-2)?
How does trusting man (Psalm 146:3-4) keep a person from worshiping God?
Name one of God’s works or promises for which you are especially thankful for right now.

Breakout
Pray for Harvest to be a worshiping church - and for YOU to be prepared to come and worship on Sundays.

Jeff Miller

January 10, 2021

This is Who We Are

This is Who We Are: Pillar 1

Jeff Miller

January 10, 2021

This is Who We Are

Introduction:

We proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology.

Isaiah 55:10-11 - For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but sit shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Psalm 19:7-9 - The law of the LORD is perfect, previving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

The Life Stages of the One Who Receives God's Word (Psalm 19:7-9):

New Life . (Ps 19:7)
Wisdom for living. (Ps 19:7)
Joy . (Ps 19:8)
Light for my path. (Ps 19:8)
Clear Conscience . (Ps 19:9)
Confidence . (Ps 19:9)

How to Let the Word Rain on You (Psalm 19:10-14):

Want it. (Ps 19:10)
Apply it. (Ps 19:11)
John 13:17 - If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Ask for God's help with it. (Ps 19:12-14)

1 Corinthians 1:24 - but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Romans 1:16 - For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:05
Over the next four weeks, we will be looking at the four pillars of Harvest Bible Chapel.
00:06-00:07
This is who we are.
00:08-00:16
So if you're new around here, and we see a lot of new faces around here, which we are so thankful for, but if you're new around here, this will get all of our cards on the table.
00:17-00:17
There's no secrets here.
00:18-00:20
This is exactly who we are as a church.
00:20-00:41
And if you've been around for a while, this series will be important for you too, because Because it's so important that we remind ourselves who we are as a church so we don't get off mission and so we don't stop pursuing the advancement of the gospel in the way that God has called us to serve him.
00:41-00:42
This is who we are.
00:43-00:44
And it all starts with pillar number one.
00:45-00:50
We proclaim the authority of God's word without apology.
00:51-00:53
We'll talk about that statement today.
00:54-01:02
How do we proclaim His truth the first way, the first word I want you to think about is the word "authority." We proclaim His truth with authority.
01:03-01:12
Now imagine you're walking down the street and some guy across the street hollers over at you, "Hey, stop for a second, I need to talk to you." And what are you thinking?
01:12-01:14
You're thinking "Creeper!" and you keep walking, right?
01:15-01:22
Okay, same scenario, you're walking down the street and a guy across the street says, "Hey, stop for a second, I need to talk to you." And he pulls out a badge.
01:23-01:24
It makes all the difference, doesn't it?
01:25-01:25
Why?
01:26-01:28
Because of the authority, right?
01:29-01:39
Authority, defined, is the power or right to give orders, to make decisions, and to enforce obedience.
01:40-01:53
And when you go through God's Word, when you read the Gospels specifically, you see it over and over and over that when Jesus taught, It says people were amazed.
01:53-01:56
People were astonished at what?
01:56-01:58
Very specifically, it says, at his authority.
01:59-02:03
Jesus never buried the truth beneath both sides of the argument.
02:04-02:07
Jesus never discussed multiple interpretations.
02:08-02:10
Jesus never tried to make people feel comfortable.
02:11-02:14
That he didn't chase after people that walked away.
02:14-02:16
Jesus just said, "Hey, here's the truth.
02:16-02:17
"Here it is.
02:17-02:19
"This is the word of God.
02:20-02:21
and you've got to deal with it.
02:21-02:27
At Harvest Bible Chapel, God's Word is our authority.
02:28-02:38
Everything we do, everything we believe, everything that we strive after as a church finds its origin in this, the Word of God.
02:39-02:41
So we proclaim His truth with authority.
02:42-02:43
How do we proclaim His truth?
02:44-02:44
Without apology.
02:45-02:48
Proclaiming the authority, God's Word, without apology.
02:49-02:52
We are not apologizing for something that God said.
02:52-02:53
We're not gonna do that.
02:54-02:55
I mean, could you imagine what those sermons would be like?
02:56-03:10
We got up here, whether it's me or Alex or Ryan or whoever gets up here to speak, and we're like, "Hey, I want you to open up your Bibles, "and I gotta tell you ahead of time, "I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, "but God wants you to turn from your sin.
03:11-03:35
"I'm really sorry, but God, "God is asking politely, and I'm sorry to tell you." And if you've come here seeking spiritual guidance, I'm sorry to tell you that Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, it seems that maybe Jesus is the only way to heaven.
03:35-03:40
If you take the Bible straightforwardly-- and I'm really sorry that I've got to tell you that.
03:41-04:46
And since I'm apologizing for all these things God said, really sorry to tell you that if you refuse God's grace it seems that maybe if again if the Bible is true and if God was speaking straightforwardly it seems that if you refuse God's grace you're going to be separated from him forever in a place called hell and if that offends you I'm really sorry. How long would you attend this church if those were the servants? I would hope not at all. When it comes to God's truth, listen, we're not sugarcoating it. We're not dressing it up and we are certainly not trying to update it. We are just trying to do one thing and one thing only and that is make it clear. That's what we're going after. So that's the how. I'm sorry, that's the what rather, God's Word. And the how is with authority and without apology. That's not what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about why. Why do we do that? Like why is Why is that a pillar? Why is that the first thing we're talking about as we're talking about the pillars of the church?
04:46-04:50
Why? Why do we proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology?
04:50-05:11
And the answer is because God commanded it and I could be done today You're like really you weren't here last Sunday and that's what you did over the last two weeks I said I could be done, but I'm not going to be but God commanded it, but there's another reason behind that There's another there's another why that I want to show you today Why do we proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology?
05:12-05:15
Because God's Word always succeeds.
05:16-05:18
Isaiah 55, are you there?
05:18-05:20
Isaiah 55 is all about salvation.
05:21-05:27
And when you get to verses 10 and 11, he's talking very specifically about the Word of God.
05:27-05:34
And the Word of God is this vehicle that brings the salvation message to man.
05:34-05:37
And I want you to see, we're just going to look at two verses here.
05:37-06:59
verses 10 and 11. It says, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth." Let's stop there. Now you see obviously he's talking about the word of God and I want you to look at the metaphor we're going to talk about this for a few minutes this comparison he's comparing the word of God to rain and Isaiah is saying with both there is a coming down from heaven to the earth that's how rain falls and he says the word of God is like that from heaven to man. That is how God comes near to his people. Every time you read the Word of God, every time you hear a biblical sermon, or you sit in a biblical true to the text Bible study, every time you are exposed to the straightforward reading, understanding, preaching, teaching, proclamation of God's Word, what is happening is God is coming near to you.
07:00-07:01
That's how he does it.
07:02-07:03
You're like, well, how effective is that?
07:04-07:05
Well, let's look at the rest of verse 11.
07:06-07:17
He said, "It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." See that language?
07:18-07:19
He says it's not going to return empty.
07:20-07:28
Anytime the Word of God is proclaimed, the preacher can't step back and say, that did nothing, because God said it did.
07:29-07:32
He says it accomplishes his purpose.
07:33-07:37
He says it succeeds the thing that he sent it out.
07:38-07:40
Let's talk about that analogy.
07:40-07:45
The word of God is like, first part of verse 10 says, rain and snow.
07:46-07:48
Let's forget about snow for a second.
07:48-07:49
Let's just talk about rain, right?
07:51-07:54
Where does rain come from?
07:54-07:56
Well, it comes from the heavens.
07:57-07:58
And where does it go?
07:58-08:08
It goes to the earth, but you know, it always goes where it needs to go to give life to the plants, which in turn is to feed us.
08:08-08:16
And that's what he's talking about here in verse 10, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.
08:17-08:20
He says, that's how rain works.
08:20-08:23
It comes down from heaven to give life.
08:24-08:26
Now just talking about rain for a second.
08:27-08:28
Have you ever worried about the rain?
08:29-08:33
I don't mean like during a drought or something like that.
08:33-08:42
I mean, have you ever looked out your window when it's raining and maybe you look out and you look at your garden and you say to yourself, boy, I sure hope this rain works this time.
08:42-08:43
You ever done that?
08:44-08:47
You ever looked at the rain and said, what if this rain is too dry?
08:48-08:50
What if those raindrops are too slippy?
08:50-08:52
What if it doesn't take this time?
08:52-08:53
You ever done that?
08:54-08:56
Or have you ever tried to figure it all out?
08:56-09:04
That you're sitting there watching it rain and you're like, well, how does the same water get used for thousands of years?
09:05-09:09
Because you realize it's the same water we've had from the beginning, right?
09:10-09:13
There's not like a factory in Cleveland that's making new water.
09:14-09:18
How does a dead seed sprout?
09:19-09:20
How does it grow?
09:21-09:22
Have you ever tried to figure all that out?
09:23-09:28
No. You don't worry about the rain and you don't try to explain the rain.
09:28-09:31
You just simply believe it because...
09:31-09:34
because that's just how it works. Right?
09:35-09:36
That's just the way it is.
09:36-09:42
You don't control the rain, but you know that when it comes down, it's going to do what it does.
09:42-09:45
It's going to give life and growth. That's what it does.
09:45-09:48
That's the way it works. That's the way it always works.
09:49-09:51
And that's the point of the analogy with God's Word.
09:51-09:56
is when He rains His Word down, it always succeeds.
09:57-09:59
And there is great confidence in that.
10:00-10:06
Whoever's up here speaking, so long as the Word is being proclaimed, I've never wondered, is it gonna work?
10:06-10:06
Is it gonna be effective?
10:07-10:08
Is it gonna change lives?
10:08-10:09
Is it gonna transform people?
10:09-10:13
I don't have to wonder about that, because God says it does.
10:13-10:16
I'm just like, bring it, bring it, let it rain down.
10:16-10:20
It will do what God says it does.
10:21-10:26
That is why we preach the Word straightforwardly at Harvest Bible Chapel.
10:26-10:28
I want to see people saved.
10:29-10:32
I want believers to mature in their walks with Christ.
10:32-10:36
I want everyone knowing Jesus Christ and growing in Him.
10:36-10:43
And there's only one way that that happens, and that's through the faithful teaching and proclamation of the Word of God.
10:44-10:50
And I've got to tell you, I just don't understand churches or pastors that neglect that.
10:50-10:56
And at the risk of sounding critical, here we go, it's just baffling to me.
10:56-11:00
It's absolutely baffling to me that God would give such a clear command.
11:01-11:07
Say, "Hey, tell people what I said." And then God backs that command with a promise.
11:07-11:14
You tell people what I said and my spirit's going to make sure that it works and that life and growth happens.
11:14-11:15
I'll take care of that.
11:15-11:16
You just tell people what I said.
11:17-11:30
I just don't understand how we can have such a clear command with such a powerful promise and churches are content to get up and give a pep talk or a feel-good emotional booster or a cute devotional.
11:31-11:35
It's like we want to give people the warm fuzzies as they're on their way to hell.
11:36-11:39
And I have to ask, are we that concerned with the here and now?
11:40-11:40
Really?
11:40-11:42
That's our drive?
11:43-12:09
drive?" You're like, "Yeah, but Pastor Jeff, someone might get offended." You know what? God might get offended. Has anybody thought about that? Do we care about offending God by getting up here to people who need life and growth and giving them some stupid, "Here's six ways to be a better employee at work." this week, and we're all, "Oh, that was so nice.
12:09-12:15
My pastor just said I'm gonna be such a better employee at work this week," and hip, hip, hooray.
12:17-12:19
And there's no thought of reoffending God.
12:20-12:28
People need life and growth and salvation, and God says this is where it comes from, right?
12:29-12:39
So in New Testament, same teaching, Romans 10, 17 says, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
12:40-12:41
Where does faith come from?
12:41-12:42
The Bible tells us.
12:42-12:45
Faith comes from the Word of Christ.
12:45-12:48
It comes from the Word of God.
12:48-12:54
And the way people grow in their faith is through hearing the Word of Christ.
12:54-12:59
The life and growth bloom under the reign of the Word of God.
13:00-13:01
So what does this blooming look like?
13:02-13:05
I want you to turn back to Psalm 19. We're going to go through this quickly.
13:06-13:09
I just want to show you what this blooming looks like.
13:10-13:12
Because the Bible is so clear in how it illustrates.
13:13-13:18
Psalm 19. Psalm 19 shows us the effect accomplished by the Word of God.
13:18-13:20
The very thing Isaiah 55 is talking about.
13:21-13:26
And in Psalm 19, verses 7 through 9, we get a synonym for the Word of God.
13:26-13:29
You'll see very clearly. But I want you to look at the effect.
13:30-14:01
because you're going to see this progression life stages of the one God's word if you're taking notes the first of all look at verse seven it says the law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul. Number one new life that's where it has to start see that it says revives the soul that's the first thing God's word does it takes a dead person and turns them into an alive person it transforms them by nature you are dead in your sin you are alienated from God That's your natural state.
14:01-14:10
You were born into rebellion from God, and it is the Word of God that leads you to Jesus Christ.
14:11-14:16
So that's the first step, the first part of this blooming new life.
14:16-14:18
Look at that again, verse seven.
14:18-14:27
It says, "The testimony of the Lord," again, another synonym for the Word of God, "The testimony of the Lord is sure," look at this, "making wise the simple." That's wisdom for living.
14:27-14:33
Interestingly, that word for simple literally means somebody that's easily seducible.
14:34-14:36
Do you know somebody that will just believe anything you tell them?
14:36-14:37
Don't point.
14:37-14:40
Don't don't don't like nudge.
14:40-14:41
Don't do any of these.
14:41-14:43
This person right here, Pastor Jeff, my husband.
14:43-14:45
But that's that's what the word means.
14:45-14:50
It's somebody that will believe anything, anything you tell them easily seducible.
14:50-14:57
And the word of God takes somebody that believes everything or doesn't know what to believe and gives wisdom.
14:58-15:29
guiding in choices that bless us and honor God. Wisdom for living. Thirdly, look at verse 8, it says, "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the hearts." Third stage in this blooming, we get the new life, we get wisdom for living, and the third thing is joy. And there is no one on earth that is happier than the one who knows Jesus Christ and walks in his wisdom. There's no one on earth happier than that. The person that says, "My sins are forgiven. Heaven is waiting for me.
15:29-15:40
I have the presence of God. I have the promises of God. Nothing will ever separate me from the love of God. There is not a greater joy to be had." That's the next part of blooming.
15:41-15:53
Fourth one is light for my path. Verse eight continues. It says, "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." We live in a dark world. Have you noticed? Have you We've been under a rock for the past week.
15:54-15:59
We're in a dark world and it's the light of the Word that guides us.
15:59-16:02
God's Word lets us see things for what they really are.
16:03-16:05
Not what the media tells you they are.
16:05-16:07
Not what your neighbor tells you they are.
16:07-16:11
God's Word shows you life and reality for what it really is.
16:12-16:12
Light for my path.
16:13-16:14
Number five, clear conscience.
16:15-16:17
Says the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.
16:18-16:20
That word clean means without blemish.
16:21-16:26
spotless. In other words, nothing in the Word of God is going to steer me wrong.
16:26-16:37
You know, I have never in 25 years or whatever it's been of following Christ, I have never regretted choosing to follow the Word of God. I've never done that.
16:38-16:56
Where I've said, "Okay, this is what the Bible says, so this is what I'm going to do." And then after the fact, I'm like, "Oh man, I totally should not have done that. I should have done my own thing." That has never happened. It's never happened. Why? Because God, that's what he says here, it's clean, it's spotless.
16:56-16:59
I have a clear conscience so long as I apply the word of God.
17:00-17:04
And then finally, last stage of blooming here, just write down the word confidence.
17:04-17:09
It says the rules of the Lord are true and righteous, all together, true and righteous.
17:10-17:23
In a world of growing obvious evil, in a world of fake news and misinformation and censorship and all these other things that we're dealing with, you know what, I'm sticking to this.
17:24-17:33
Because when it's all over, when the curtain closes on human history, there's only one thing that's gonna be standing, and that's the word of God.
17:34-17:36
This is going to be the final witness.
17:37-17:43
To everyone who has ever received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have this testimony.
17:44-17:47
This will stand your inheritance of eternal life.
17:48-17:57
But I also have to say, for everyone who has ever rejected Jesus Christ, this is going to stand as a testimony against you.
17:57-18:03
That I didn't know, and I should have, and I was going to, and I never got around to.
18:03-18:06
We have a testimony right here. Today's the day of salvation.
18:07-18:13
The Word of God gives me confidence, whatever happens, I have confidence that the Word of God will stand forever.
18:13-18:15
So did you see the progression?
18:15-18:22
the bloom, new life, wisdom, joy, life from my path of clear conscience and confidence.
18:23-18:26
And I would just ask you, who doesn't want a life like that?
18:26-18:35
Is there really someone who would look at that list or listen to the last few minutes of this message and say, I hear what you're saying, but you know what I want out of life, Pastor Jeff?
18:35-18:36
I want the opposite.
18:37-18:42
I just want to walk around like a simpleton, not knowing what to believe, a joyless life.
18:43-18:45
I just, you know, no confidence in anything.
18:45-18:48
I just, that's the kind of life that I want to live.
18:48-18:49
Really?
18:50-18:50
Not me.
18:51-19:07
I know for most of the people that are sitting here in this room, and for the people that are watching this at home, or overseas, or wherever you're streaming this, this describes exactly the kind of life that you want in Jesus Christ, empowered by his word.
19:08-19:13
And that's why at Harvest Bible Chapel, we proclaim the authority of God's word without apology.
19:14-19:16
The Word of God does the work of God.
19:16-19:19
This whole ministry is built on that statement.
19:19-19:23
We believe that the Word of God does the work of God.
19:23-19:26
I could close here, but I'm not going to.
19:26-19:40
Like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, stop teasing us." "Pastor Jeff, I will make my baby cry." And to you I say, "I don't care." Because I've told you when I hear a baby crying, it sounds like, "Amen, Hallelujah, preach it, brother," in my ears.
19:41-19:42
That's what I hear.
19:43-19:43
Bring it, babies.
19:44-19:45
Bring it.
19:47-19:48
I wanna close talking about you.
19:49-19:55
Because just like that ground, that seed, the water has to be let in, right?
19:56-19:59
You have to let the word of God in you.
19:59-20:00
You have to let it.
20:01-20:40
In other words, using this rain analogy, if I went out in my yard and I built this canopy over the garden to make sure that not a drop of rain fell on the garden. I can't wonder why it's not full of life, right? I can't keep walking out saying, "Why isn't this thing growing? Why is the ground all dry?" Because I blocked the rain. And it's the same for you. If you refuse to let the Word of God soak into you, don't walk out of here wondering why you haven't changed. "I sure don't see the transformation that he was talking about today, are you letting the Word soak into you?
20:41-20:42
Like, well, how do I do that?
20:42-20:47
Well, I figure since we're already in Psalm 19, let's just close.
20:47-20:49
I wanna look at these last few verses because he tells you.
20:49-20:52
Here's how to let the Word rain on you.
20:53-20:59
He tells us very simply, a letter A, verse 10, first thing, want it.
21:00-21:00
You gotta want it.
21:01-21:02
You gotta want the Word of God.
21:03-21:14
Look at verse 10, it says, "More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb." You gotta want it.
21:14-21:18
See, I can share the Word of God with you as clearly as I can.
21:18-21:27
I can do everything to help you understand it, but the one thing I cannot do for you is make you want it. I can't do that. I wish I could, but I can't.
21:28-21:28
No one can.
21:29-21:35
You're like, "Well then, how can I want it?" Well, the Bible tells us right here, using our two strongest drives.
21:35-21:36
Did you catch that?
21:37-21:39
Or I should say two of our strongest drives.
21:39-21:41
You can probably think of one or two more.
21:41-21:45
But our two strongest drives, money and food, right?
21:46-21:49
More to be desired than gold, sweeter also than honey.
21:50-21:53
So let me ask you, what makes people want money and food?
21:54-21:55
What makes people want that?
21:55-21:55
Don't think too hard.
21:56-21:58
What makes people want money and food?
21:59-21:59
It's a simple answer.
22:00-22:01
It's seeing the personal benefit.
22:03-22:05
That's why people want money in food.
22:05-22:09
I want that money because of what I will buy with it that I think will make me happy.
22:09-22:15
Or I want that food because I think it will taste good and I will enjoy eating it.
22:15-22:16
There's a personal benefit.
22:17-22:20
It's this sense of this will make me happy.
22:20-22:25
And I'm not gonna talk about the money thing because Alex and Stacy are gonna talk about that with financial peace.
22:26-22:28
And they're more the experts on that.
22:28-22:28
But you know what?
22:29-23:23
it on, watch it. The food part was not a good place for it, amen. It says, the Word of God is a sweeter also than honey in the drippings of the honeycomb. Now if I was going to rewrite the Bible, and I'm not, but if I were, I would say sweeter also than a Milky Way midnight. That's what I would put there. I'm not going to do that, but I'm just saying to me, I get that analogy. Do you know who likes Milky Midnight's everybody who's tried them right people who have tasted them then eat the entire bag of them as happens in my house you taste it and you love it and you gotta have some more you see God's Word is like that once you taste it I mean really taste it really sit down prayerfully God help me understand Help me to take this in.
23:23-23:29
The people that taste, really taste the Word of God, can't get enough of it.
23:30-23:35
Like honey, like Milky Way Midnight, like insert your favorite candy here.
23:35-23:36
But the point is you've got to want it.
23:37-23:38
You've got to want it.
23:38-23:39
You try it, you will.
23:40-23:41
When you see the personal benefit, you'll go ask.
23:42-23:43
Let it be. You've got to apply it.
23:44-23:44
Apply it.
23:45-23:54
In verse 11, he says, "Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and keeping them there is great reward, warning, reward, warning, reward.
23:54-23:55
What's the difference?
23:55-23:59
The difference is in the phrase, in keeping them.
23:59-24:00
That's the difference.
24:01-24:02
In keeping them.
24:03-24:13
Jesus said in John 13, 17, "If you know these things, "blessed are you if you do them." You see, it's like any diet, exercise program, budgeting plan, right Stacey?
24:14-24:20
That knowing all about it does you no good, unless you actively make it a part of your life.
24:21-24:22
That's how the Word of God is.
24:22-24:24
You have to want it.
24:24-24:25
You have to apply it.
24:26-24:29
But here's the thing with applying it, it's impossible to make that happen by yourself.
24:30-24:31
That's why we have letter C here.
24:32-24:33
We see it next thing in the text.
24:34-24:35
You have to ask for God's help with it.
24:36-24:39
See, I can't say to you, all right, now go out and apply God's Word.
24:40-24:42
See you next Sunday, tickety-boo, apply God's Word.
24:42-24:45
You can't do that on your own.
24:45-24:46
You just can't.
24:46-24:47
You have to ask for God's help.
24:48-24:49
Look how clear this is.
24:50-24:51
He says, "Who can discern his errors?
24:52-24:56
"Declare me innocent from hidden faults." He's praying here.
24:56-25:00
He says, "Keep back your servant also "from presumptuous sins.
25:00-25:02
"Let them not have dominion over me.
25:02-25:05
"Then I shall be blameless and innocent "of great transgression.
25:06-25:14
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart "be acceptable in your sight, "O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." You gotta ask for God's help.
25:15-25:26
If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, God has given you His Spirit, who indwells you, and He's given you His Word, and the two always work together.
25:27-25:30
And that's what's so beautifully demonstrated in this short prayer at the end of Psalm 19.
25:31-25:45
Right after God's Word is so clearly described, the bloom of the growth of God's Word is so beautifully illustrated, the very next thing out of the psalmist's mouth is, "God, now help me be the person that you've called me to be.
25:45-25:49
Help me to be the person that you said I am in Jesus Christ.
25:49-25:51
You pronounced me that.
25:51-25:54
Oh God, help me to be who you need me to be.
25:54-26:06
So incorporate God's word into your prayers and let it soak into your heart and ask God for the faith to apply it and then receive the life it promises to bloom in your heart.
26:07-26:10
Why do we proclaim the authority of God's word without apology?
26:11-26:12
Because it always succeeds.
26:13-26:14
It always succeeds.
26:15-26:21
Did you know there's only one thing really in the Bible that's referred to as the power of God?
26:21-26:25
Well, Jesus Christ himself is called the power of God.
26:25-26:28
That's in 1 Corinthians 1.24, right?
26:28-26:36
It says that Jesus Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, but Jesus Christ is God.
26:36-26:46
So, I'm saying aside from God himself, aside from his person, there's only one thing that the Bible refers to as the power of God.
26:46-26:47
What do you think that is?
26:48-26:51
Like, oh, I know, it's like the plagues in Egypt, right?
26:52-26:52
No?
26:52-26:58
What about like the storms and the earthquakes and these big natural disaster things?
26:59-27:02
That has to surely be referred to as the power of God.
27:02-27:03
No, that's not it either.
27:04-27:06
Like, oh, I know the miracles of Jesus, right?
27:06-27:10
When he was raising the dead or giving sight to the blind.
27:10-27:12
That, that's the power of God.
27:12-27:21
Well, that's certainly power of God, but that is not specifically what the Bible refers to as the power of God.
27:21-27:25
Do you know what the Bible calls the power of God?
27:26-27:44
Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, "for it is the power of God, "for salvation to everyone who believes, "to the Jew first and also to the Greek." The gospel message, according to God's word, is the power of God.
27:45-27:51
I want nothing more for you, church, than to see the power of God in your life.
27:51-28:12
And the only way that I can unleash the power of God on you, aside from staging some kind of a pseudo Benny Hinn thing, I'm slapping you around, not gonna do that, but I can unleash the power of God on your life through the clear proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that's the power.
28:13-28:18
You know those unsafe family members and friends and neighbors and co-workers that you have?
28:18-28:23
And you think, man, I would just love the power of God unleashed on their life.
28:23-28:25
You can give them that by giving them this.
28:26-28:29
The power of God is the gospel.
28:30-28:35
And that's why we proclaim the authority of God's work without a pause.
28:35-28:35
Let's pray.
28:36-28:44
Father in heaven, I feel like we barely scratched the surface on everything Your Word says about itself.
28:45-28:49
Father, I pray for all of us that we would leave here with a renewed confidence in Your Word.
28:50-28:53
Your Word is Your power manifested.
28:54-28:56
Your Word brings life and growth.
28:57-29:01
And You have very clearly said that Your Word always accomplishes the purposes for which You send it out.
29:02-29:11
So God, I pray, as a church, by Your grace and Your strength, we would never veer from a straightforward proclamation of Your Word.
29:12-29:26
Whether it's in small groups, or ladies' Bible studies, or men's Bible studies, or whatever, Harvest Kids, all of these opportunities that You've given us, Father, let Your Word be front and center.
29:27-29:28
Let Your Word be our authority.
29:29-29:37
Let Your Word, Father, continue to bring the transformation power through your spirit, according to your promise.
29:37-29:40
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Isaiah 55:10-11 and Psalm 19:7-14

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
In Isaiah 55:10-11, God's Word is compared to rain. How is God's Word like rain?
Suppose someone asks you, “Why does HBC only do expository (verse-by-verse) preaching?” How would you respond?
On a scale of 1-10, how much do you desire the Word of God? (1 = not at all, 10 = I constantly want it). Specifically, how can you want it more?

Breakout
Pray for one another to grow in your hunger and application of God's Word.

Jeff Miller

January 3, 2021

Guest Speaker

Both God and Money

Jeff Miller

January 3, 2021

Guest Speaker

With over a decade of Real Estate experience, Alex began as an investor and at the market's peak in 2006 owned 11 properties including his personal residence. The bubble burst and hit his family hard, but they regrouped and carried on with a No Debt Philosophy thanks to discovering the teachings of Dave Ramsey. Alex and his wife, Stacie, began teaching Dave's course, Financial Peace University and to date have helped hundreds of people to pay off over a million dollars in debt. Alex and Stacie are members of Harvest Bible Chapel with their two college-age boys, Christian and Samuel.

Guest Speaker - Alex Giannetti alexgiannetti.com — Guest Speaker - Alex Giannetti
**alexgiannetti.com**

Introduction:

Matthew 6:24 - "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

God wants you to be a Giver .
See: Proverbs 11:23-24

Malachi 3:8-10 - "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

Be Content . (1 Timothy 6:9-10)
Live the life that God is calling you to live and be grateful for that which he has given you.

See: Proverbs 12:9
There is no such thing as Good Debt.
Proverbs 22:7 - "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender."

See: James 4:3-4 | Proverbs 21:20

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:04
All right, we'll talk more about FPU later, but let's go ahead and open in prayer this morning.
00:04-00:05
Please pray with me.
00:05-00:09
Father God, I just thank you for this opportunity to come and share your word this morning.
00:09-00:12
I want to lift up all of the families that are home.
00:12-00:16
We've got a lot of folks here in our Harvest family that are not feeling well.
00:16-00:17
Just want to lift them up in prayer, Lord.
00:18-00:21
We ask for your healing, especially for Pastor Jeff and Aaron and his family.
00:22-00:26
Also just so thankful that you've given us another year.
00:27-00:37
Father, I just pray that for each and every one of us, that we are prayerfully seeking You to see how we can serve You in 2021.
00:38-00:44
There are no promises that 2021 is gonna be any better from a worldly standpoint.
00:46-01:00
And more than ever for that reason, I think, as we look around and we see global events and we see events in our own nation, it's so important, Father, that we are in Your Word, that we are in relation with You, Father God, that we are seeking you in all that we do.
01:00-01:04
And I pray, I pray for that for each and every one of us here today, Lord God.
01:04-01:06
We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.
01:08-01:19
So I remember many, many years ago, I had tickets to see "Phantom of the Opera." And yes, I do listen to musicals.
01:19-01:20
Darren's laughing at me right now.
01:21-01:37
But you know, great musical, "Phantom of the Opera." And Michael Crawford, who was the man, the voice of the Phantom, who was on the album, those folks, they were touring the globe, and they were coming to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in California.
01:38-01:41
And so I was sitting there and I was so excited.
01:42-01:46
And just before the curtains drop, they give this announcement.
01:47-01:52
"Playing the role of Phantom today will be..." And it's the understudy.
01:54-02:01
And of course, they wait until you're already in your seat, you've got your tickets, it's not like I'm going to go anywhere, but I'm not happy.
02:01-02:03
I didn't come to see that guy.
02:03-02:07
I'm like, "What, are you kidding me?" And so I know exactly how you're feeling today.
02:07-02:14
You guys came here to see Big Ben, and you're not getting Big Ben, you're getting Mason Rudolph up here.
02:15-02:18
Big Ben's at home on the sofa right now watching.
02:20-02:26
So I didn't leave the theater that day, mostly because I already had paid for my seats and they weren't cheap.
02:26-02:29
There's nothing stopping you and the exits are clearly marked.
02:31-02:37
But I hope you stick around because I do have some important things to share with you today.
02:38-02:39
I'm not a pastor.
02:40-02:41
Big disclaimer.
02:41-02:51
I'm just a guy who loves Jesus, and I've got a story to tell about being really, really dumb it comes to handling personal finance.
02:52-02:55
So I want to share some of that with you today to help you.
02:55-03:02
I'm going to start with a personal testimony and some of you that have been around Harvest for a while may have heard this.
03:02-03:04
So I apologize in advance for that.
03:04-03:09
Those of you who are new, that may make you run out the door when you hear my story.
03:10-03:14
But I have two kids from a previous marriage that are adult children.
03:15-03:20
When Stacy and I got married, we brought them into our house and we had two big kids.
03:21-03:22
They were bigger than me.
03:22-03:25
Then I had my two little guys that aren't so little anymore.
03:26-03:30
Stacey was homeschooling them and that was what we decided to do.
03:31-03:33
So I was the sole provider for the house.
03:34-03:41
Very stressful as you might imagine, especially in Southern California where things are a bit different price-wise.
03:42-03:47
I was always trying to figure out how to make sure that I could keep balance in the household and keep things going.
03:48-03:51
I was always looking for the next way to make a quick buck.
03:52-04:02
So whatever scheme came along or if there was some side hustle or multi-level marketing gig that I could get involved in, I did it.
04:04-04:07
Then one day I was introduced to a real estate investing club.
04:08-04:13
Started reading books on real estate investing and decided to pull equity out of our house.
04:13-04:24
See, in California or any place in the world at the time, at least in the United States, around 2004, while you were breathing, your house was appreciating in value.
04:24-04:25
You didn't have to do anything.
04:26-04:27
In Southern California, it was ridiculous.
04:27-04:28
It was out of control.
04:29-04:36
So we pulled some money out of our house and started buying residential rental property across the country, sight unseen.
04:38-04:43
In two years, we had accumulated 10 properties, I thought I was a real estate genius.
04:45-04:55
So I quit my job, and then one last time we decided to buy a new house in the gated community with a beautiful swimming pool and we were living the dream.
04:57-05:00
Although we leveraged every one of those properties to the absolute hill.
05:01-05:06
That was the heyday of zero percent down, negative amortization loans, you name it.
05:07-05:29
We did all of it. So then this thing called bubble burst. And everyone remembers probably 2008, 2009, and in California it was brutal. Housing, home values dropped, but your mortgage payment didn't.
05:30-05:42
Foreclosures happened on our personal residence. We had tenants who couldn't pay their rent, so they just didn't pay their rent, which means I couldn't pay that mortgage either, it was rough.
05:43-05:54
One day I remember with two little guys in hand, we went to Costco and we came back, there was a little piece of paper on our door that said, "We didn't live there anymore." It was hard, it was tough.
05:55-06:02
Later on, we lost one more house to foreclosure and eventually two more to a short sale.
06:03-06:04
If you don't know what that is, then good.
06:04-06:05
You don't want to know what that is.
06:08-06:11
And during that time, we didn't talk about it.
06:12-06:14
It wasn't cool to be in debt.
06:14-06:16
It wasn't cool to have hard times.
06:17-06:20
And the last thing we wanted to do was let anybody know that we were hurting.
06:21-06:24
So I remember, I was an elder at the church at the time.
06:24-06:35
We were planning a church in California, and we would have elder meetings in my house, and a really good friend of mine, fellow elder, had mentioned the name Dave Ramsey.
06:36-06:37
Never heard of Dave Ramsey?
06:37-06:39
We were talking about ways that we could help our communities.
06:40-06:48
And he talked about how Dave Ramsey was a Christian and had this amazing podcast that he would listen to and how he was helping people get out of debt.
06:48-06:51
So I wrote Dave Ramsey, his name down in my notes.
06:51-06:57
And as soon as everyone was out of my house, I ran upstairs, Googled Dave Ramsey, realized that this was amazing.
06:58-06:59
And I went and bought his book the next day.
07:00-07:02
Stacy and I read it in a day and a half.
07:02-07:27
and we started our financial peace journey in December of 2007 with zero income coming in and a net worth of negative $750,000. So my message to you this morning is, I'm calling it both God and money. So I'm going to start by reading from Matthew 624.
07:28-07:29
"No one can serve two masters.
07:30-07:35
"Either you will hate the one and love the other, "or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
07:35-07:42
"You cannot serve both God and money." I learned that the hard way.
07:44-07:48
Point number one this morning is that God wants you to be a giver.
07:49-07:53
In a few weeks, each and every one of us is gonna get some stuff in the mail.
07:53-07:56
You're gonna receive your W-2 form.
07:57-08:00
If you're self-employed, you're going to get a 1099 in the mail.
08:00-08:03
It's going to tell you how much money you made in 2020.
08:04-08:08
I remember receiving those, especially back in the day.
08:08-08:22
You look around your house, peek in the garage and look at the car, look at what you're wearing, and you're thinking, "Where is it?" Because I like that number, but where did it go?
08:24-08:30
You know what else is coming in a few weeks, around the same time is your giving statement.
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And that's kind of piercing when you put both of them together and you start matching those up.
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I want to talk to you about why it's so important that we give and such a valuable lesson that Stacey and I learned along the way.
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Proverbs 11, 24, 25 reads, "One person gives freely yet gains even more.
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Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty.
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A generous person will prosper whenever, or whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
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We were never tithers.
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When we were at the beginning, when we were going to church, and before we started our financial peace journey, we gave really minimally.
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It was kind of ridiculous.
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You might say we were shooting for like a net zero financial footprint.
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And we literally would say, "Eh, our family probably consumes about X amount of dollars in services, we'll go ahead and make sure that the church is whole." And then you see where that kind of mentality got us.
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So regardless of what your financial situation might be, God created each and every one of us in His image, and He's a giver. He's the ultimate giver.
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And so, when we had money, we didn't give.
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when we didn't have money, when we decided that we were going to start living our finances in a way that was going to honor God, we started giving.
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Very first thing we did.
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First line item on our budget.
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And that was hard.
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That was really hard to do.
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Because we, man, when it comes to money, we like to hold on so tight.
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And it's hard to open up and let that go.
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But as soon as we began to trust God with our finances, and as soon as we started giving, things started changing in our life.
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And it became really obvious to us who the real provider was.
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We thought that my job was a provider.
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Maybe your spouse's job is a provider.
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But none of those things are the provider.
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God is the provider.
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Many of us are familiar with Malachi 3.10, regarding the tithe.
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It reads, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.
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Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be enough room to store it." Now, please be careful.
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blessing doesn't always mean money. It can mean a lot of things. They're all godly things. For us it was clear. For us the very first thing was we started giving. We changed our behavior when it came to finances. We stopped making it about us and all of a sudden we had this overwhelming peace come over us. And to back my story up a little bit, we started our journey before we lost our personal resident. So the reaction to losing our home was not one you would think. It was almost like in the movie Vacation when they look at the Grand Canyon you know and Clark is sitting there with his son Russ and they're looking at the Grand Canyon you're like yep okay and let's go and that was us that was us because we for the first time we had a plan for the first time we had a plan And so we walk up to the door, there's this note, and we go, "Wow, that stinks.
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OK, let's move on." And that peace came from just changing our heart with our finances.
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It wasn't so much internal, and it was all about trying to give back to God.
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And we weren't giving much, but we were giving, and it was first.
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Some people get turned off when the church talks about the tithe, and so let me ease your mind a little bit.
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It's not a salvation issue.
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The truth is that harvest doesn't need your money.
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God doesn't need your money.
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This is simply between you and God.
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But woven into your DNA is that we are created to be givers.
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We're all made in his image.
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And that's why whenever you see a need, whether it's someone on the street, a family that needs help at church, you have that tug on your spirit.
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Holy Spirit is tugging at your heart.
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So that leads me to point number two this morning, and that is be content.
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Live the life that God is calling you to live and be grateful for that which He has given you.
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This can be hard to do in a social media world.
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Everyone's putting their best life out there and you see commercials where everyone who's buying whatever product it is, are the happiest people on the face of the earth out there.
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And I'm not that happy, maybe I should go buy a Coke, you know?
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And so whatever it is, but we have this pressure that's coming into our house.
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Proverbs 12, nine reads, "Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant "than pretend to be somebody and have no food." Do you know any pretenders out there in life?
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People who like to put their best foot forward and yet you know that really that's not what's going on.
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I vividly remember going to church on Sunday mornings when things were bad, before we started our journey.
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And I bet that maybe even there might be some folks in here who can relate to what I used to do, but I would go to church on Sundays and lie to people, do their faith.
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They would say, "Hey, good morning, Alex, how you doing?" And I'd say, "I'm doing great, Darren, how are you?" It's a lie.
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It's a lie.
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I was terrified.
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I was terrified.
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I was scared, I was humiliated, I was embarrassed, I was angry, I was worried, I was stressed out beyond description.
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Outwardly though, we were the perfect little family.
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Dressed really nice, had cute, they were a lot cuter back then.
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They were really cute, two little brown boys that everybody thought was twins.
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We had this amazing house with a gated community and a swimming pool, and we would host all the church stuff at the house.
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But it was all show.
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1 Timothy 6-9-10 reads, Timothy has gone into before this, just kind of some warnings about finances.
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And that's where all this is coming from.
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Where Paul writes to Timothy about warning about finances.
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"But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.
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But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
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People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and harmful desires men into ruin and destruction, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
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Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." This was totally us.
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We were trying to get rich.
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I was trying to figure out a way to get money coming into the house, and I was serving the wrong master.
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Part of our journey was to try to get rid of debt, as you might imagine.
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was a massive amount and so we were doing everything we can once we got on track and we started selling some of our things to accelerate the debt payoff and that was so hard for us because we had accumulated some stuff and and we get attached to our stuff so I sold my truck so guys you know what that's like could you imagine what it'd be like to have to sell your truck we had purchased a motor home from Stacy's grandparents that she used to camp in as a little girl with her mom and her grandmother, but we couldn't afford to take it anywhere.
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So it sat in storage, and guess what?
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I couldn't afford to pay for the storage either, and we sold it.
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We cried when they drove it away.
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I sold my golf clubs, a custom surfboard, and even sold my How to Get Rich in Real Estate DVD set. In retrospect, I probably should have just destroyed that.
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I don't think I did any help to the gentleman that bought it for me.
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But that was the beginning of our realization of a more minimal lifestyle, that Stacy and I realized that the only thing that mattered, was who was sitting at our dinner table.
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If we lost everything else, That is enough.
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We all struggle with this though.
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Part of what I do for a living, I'm in people's homes all the time, and the number one issue for folks is storage.
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Man, we don't have enough storage in this house.
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We need more storage.
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Then you walk through someone's house, and I walk through people's homes, and I go into the attic, and the basement, and the closets, and this and that, and I see everything, and it's like, "Oh my gosh, you guys are bursting at the seams." That's what, we love our stuff, right?
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And that's what makes this verse so powerful.
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We brought nothing into this world.
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We're taking nothing with us when we go.
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So where exactly is it that we are storing our treasure?
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Point number three this morning is, there is no such thing as good debt.
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And I know we've got probably some brilliant financial minds in here that would want to argue that.
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The Bible says there's a lot of things that are good.
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Genesis starts off with all these things that are good, that God says are good.
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Debt is not one of them.
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Proverbs 22.7 reads, "The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is slave to the lender." I have lived this very well.
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I've got scars to prove it, and so I'm very passionate about this verse.
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Because when you're in debt, money consumes your life.
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When I was in debt and before I had started this financial peace journey of mine, everything we did was about getting that next dollar.
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Where was that next dollar going to come from?
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Was it going to be enough?
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We need a bigger dollar.
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We need more dollars.
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Your bills come, it was stressful.
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It was non-stop.
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When money consumes your life, money becomes an idol.
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That's the definition of an idol.
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And when it comes to God money, it's almost impossible to get that order correct when you're in that state.
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Satan knows this.
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And Satan's job, his goal, is just to keep us separated from God in any way possible.
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He knows our weaknesses, he knows how to get us.
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And he's going to play us.
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And so when money becomes an idol, that makes us an enemy of God.
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I know that sounds harsh.
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James 4, 3-4 says, or reads, "You do not have because you do not ask God.
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When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." And I remember being in those prayerful situations. "Lord, help me. Help me get out of this. Help me get out of this. My mind wasn't in the right place. My heart wasn't in the right place." It's like God's like, "I'd love to bless you, but you're kind of being a moron right now.
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I can't give this to you right now." So if you make payments to anyone for anything, then you'd know exactly what it likes to feel like a slave to whoever that lender is.
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Financial stress destroys marriages and relationships of all kinds.
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It's the absolute number one cause of divorce.
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When you think about it, you're fighting over money, you get divorced, now there's two households that have no money.
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Satan for the win. Students dropping out of college.
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Number one reason for finances.
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If you've already started taking out student loans and you quit school, guess what comes in the mail a few months later immediately?
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Your first payment. Yet you don't have an education maybe to get a job that's going to help you to pay that debt.
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It's brutal and it destroys lives.
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So yeah, I'm going to double down on the statement.
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If you want to stay away from debt with everything you can, You don't want to dance with disaster.
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It's even worse when we do this to each other.
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You ever loan money to a friend or a co-worker, family member?
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That's the true power right there.
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That's where the spiritual truth of this verse comes in.
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Because you're no longer a co-worker, friend, family member, you just became servant and master.
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There are grandparents who never get to hear from their grandkids again, because they lent the money and the grandkids can't pay it back, and so they're embarrassed, ashamed, and they don't even pick up the phone to call anymore.
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And so it's really, really hard to go through this.
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It's really, really tough to be in this place, and the reason it's so troubling is because our soul is in conflict.
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We're not supposed to be slaves to the lender or to any person other than a slave for Christ.
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And so, Ephesians 6.6, Paul writes, and he's writing specifically to people who are slaves and having to serve their masters, and he writes, "Obey them not only to win favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart." Over and over in Romans 1.1, Colossians 3.24, 1 Peter 2.16, it's clear Paul's telling us that we need to serve Christ, we need to be slaves for Christ.
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And as soon as we substitute Christ for anything else, then we stop focusing on who God created us to be.
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We do that all the time, right?
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So instead of being a slave for Christ, instead of working for Christ and doing all the things that we're supposed to be doing for Christ, we become a slave to MasterCard, Visa, Toyota, Ford, Sallie Mae, Tesla.
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So the hard part is making the transition.
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How do we go from dealing with debt to the struggle that we have as believers in building wealth?
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'Cause there's this weird guilt that comes with Christians and building wealth.
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It's almost like if you have money, you're evil.
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But that's not what the scripture said.
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The scripture said it's the love of money.
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You can love Jesus and be wealthy.
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As a matter of fact, Proverbs 21.20 reads, "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has." A wealthy believer who's serving Christ can do some amazing things for God's people.
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So don't feel guilty in any way, shape, or form if you are building wealth.
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You have things if you have money.
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Make sure that those things and that money doesn't have you, ultimately.
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That's the most important part.
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It's all about our relationship with Jesus.
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When Stacey and I teach FPU, we always ask every class the same question.
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We ask them, we say, "Hey, listen, if money was not an issue for you, if we could take that off the table, tell us one thing that you would like to do." Any guess what that answer is?
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Give.
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I wish I could give more.
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Every class, it's not the only answer.
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It's the number one answer, though.
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So I want you to think for a second.
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We're light this morning.
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We've got people out on the DL, right?
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But we still have plenty of people here today.
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And so just imagine for a second if every single person sitting in here this morning, and everyone at home, for that matter, what if everyone in the room was debt free?
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How many of God's people do you think we could feed together?
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How many of God's people do you think we could clothe?
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How many servants can we send to go share the gospel across the globe?
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Imagine what God could do with the loaves and fishes just out of this room alone as He multiplies those exponentially.
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Absolutely powerful.
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God already uses this church in an amazing way.
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And so here at Harvest, we bless churches, other churches in Thailand.
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We've helped countless number of families that are in our own personal body that are here in our family.
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We've helped to just grow this building and our footprint here in this church to expand because our family has grown.
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And those are just some first-hand examples that when we have the right heart, that God is glorified.
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When you give and you give correctly, you give in an honoring way to God, both the giver and the receiver glorify God.
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And that's how you can tell when it's done with the right heart.
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But there's one thing you got to know, and that is that broke people have a really, really hard time giving.
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The thing is that many of us feel like we can't give.
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And I remember being in a situation where I was losing sleep at night because I was worried about finances.
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There was too much month left at the end of the money.
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I had accumulated so much debt and did so much harm to my family, I thought there's no way that we will ever, ever, ever get out from under this mountain.
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So honey, you and I, we're done, put a fork in us, but there's no way that I'm going to allow my kids to have to deal with this burden.
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So we fought like crazy to make sure that that didn't happen.
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But I had pretty much counted myself, we had taken Yale.
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So I don't know where you are today, if you're worried about that, are you worried about retirement?
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I never dreamed that retirement would be a possibility.
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I never, we were 40 years old and had zero say for retirement.
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How are my kids going to go to school?
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What are we going to do? We were an absolute mess.
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So I know if you're feeling that way today, how you feel.
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That list was my own personal list.
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There is a way out and in a couple of weeks on January 11th, you're going to have the opportunity maybe to take Financial Peace University here at Harvest and if you have even the slightest inkling, just come.
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The course isn't just for our Harvest family.
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So if you know people you want to invite, I would encourage you to invite them.
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Make sure that you check it out.
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I believe that registration is on our homepage.
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So Matthew 7, 9-11 reads this.
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Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
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Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
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If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask?" One cool thing about being a parent is I feel like I can really relate to God in so many different ways.
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You know, you understand unconditional love.
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You understand what it is to be just when payments and penalties need to be given.
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Yet you also understand mercy and grace.
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And you also understand giving and what it is to give and what it is to bless.
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So technically we're still in the Christmas season.
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We just went through Christmas Day and Christmas Eve and we gave gifts to each other.
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Did you give a gift to somebody that you were super excited to give?
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Did you have that feeling of, "Man, I can't wait for them to get that gift." Maybe it's something they needed.
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Maybe it's something they wanted.
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Maybe it was a juju jersey, apparently.
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Maybe it was something they had no clue was coming, but they were going to be extremely blessed by it.
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And so we have a tradition in our house.
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Ever since the boys were little, whatever their big gift was for the year, we would send them on a scavenger hunt.
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It would be like a note hidden in the tree, and they'd find it at the very end of opening all the gifts, and they'd have to go and find other notes, and then they would open up whatever this gift was.
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And so this year, their big gift was a used Nintendo Wii from Facebook Marketplace.
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It was a box that was full of Wii games and every kind of attachment and whatever.
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You would think two college boys wouldn't give a rip about that, but I knew they were going to lose their mind when they saw it, because it would take them back to their childhood.
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The anticipation for me in giving that gift that they did not expect was crazy.
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I was so excited.
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Stacy and I were so excited.
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We couldn't wait to give them that gift.
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And I feel like, I remember telling Stacy, wow, this is preaching to me.
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This feeling that I'm having right now is preaching to me.
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I wonder if this is how God feels like when he wants so badly to bless us with something.
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And we have experienced God's blessings when it comes to the promises that he makes in Malachi 3.10 and Matthew 7 firsthand.
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Because in the middle of our storm, when we were on our knees and praying, And we had submitted our finances to God.
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He already had our heart, we were just hanging on to our money.
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But when we finally turned our money over to Him as well, we created a budget each and every month, and we tithed, we lived on less than we made, we stopped borrowing money, and we paid cash for everything, we still do that today.
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Several times we just had stuff show up, unexpected.
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Couldn't explain it, but I feel like God is telling us, and I tell this to folks in our FPU class all the time, I would have given this to you earlier, you moron, but you weren't honoring me and you would have messed it up.
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And then he just drops this love bomb on us.
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And so we need to honor God with our blessings.
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When he blesses us, we need to honor him with that.
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If you check your bank account, probably have a stimulus check deposited in there.
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We're going to do the right things with it.
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Those are things that are so important.
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I want to make sure that you understand this is not prosperity gospel.
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It's not blabbing, grab it.
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This is God keeping his promise to us.
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We have seen the same scenario in FPU classes every single time, where people start the course and then weeks later, they come back and they say, "Oh my gosh, the most amazing thing happened." We had one family, their daughter had a full ride, University of Tennessee as a volleyball player, blew her knee out her junior year, and they told her, "We're not going to honor your full ride scholarship anymore, you have to pay for college." The parents were in our class and they said, "We don't have a dime.
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I'm going to have to break her heart, she cannot go to that school." Well, miraculously, God came through.
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School came back to her and said, "You know what?
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We're going to go ahead and honor our original commitment to you, and keep your full ride even though you are no longer able to play for us." What a blessing that was.
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Incredible. I could count time after time after time where money showed up, something showed up at the house, different kinds of blessings showed up that people couldn't explain other than God clearly was involved.
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We have people in this room today that have taken FPU.
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If you've taken FPU and you can collaborate my testimony this morning, put your hand in the air. I want to see your hand nice and high.
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Look around the room. Don't take it from me today.
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Come talk to one of these folks after service.
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We didn't prep that. I didn't tell anyone I was going to ask them to do that today.
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So, before I finish and I'm going to wrap up with this, it's really important, it's more important than anything else we talked about today.
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We need to understand that we cannot serve two masters.
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We talked about Satan wanting nothing more than to distract us with money, so that we can take our eyes off of him instead of serving God.
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Romans 3.23, "For we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God." You and I have this condition. It's called being human. It's being selfish.
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And as much as maybe we try with all our might, we can never be good enough, and it's too late for us to do anything to earn our way into God's good graces. It doesn't happen that way.
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There's a penalty for that.
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And Romans goes on to say in 6.23 that the wages of sin is death.
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The penalty for our sin is death.
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Blood has to be spilled to pay for what we've done.
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But God loves us.
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He's a gracious and merciful God.
36:04-36:09
He is also a just God, which means that He's not going to sweep things under the rug.
36:10-36:18
He doesn't say, "Well, you know what? You're mostly a good guy, so we're just going to give you a pass on that." That's not how this works.
36:21-36:23
The penalty has to be paid.
36:24-36:27
Jesus paid that debt for us.
36:27-36:30
One that there's no way we could ever possibly pay.
36:31-36:34
So, He took on the cross, He took our sin.
36:36-36:39
Our past, our present, and our future sins.
36:39-36:41
We haven't even committed yet.
36:42-36:46
We don't even have the ability to imagine what that must be like.
36:48-37:02
Romans 5:8 says, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we are still sinners, Christ died for us." Isaiah foretold this in 53.5, "But He was pierced for our transgressions.
37:03-37:58
He was crushed for our iniquities, and the punishment that brought us peace upon Him. So we can't pay back God for what He's done, but we can honor God by becoming slaves for Christ. By honoring Christ in all that we do, by seeking to honor Him in the workplace, in our marriages, in our bodies, with our tongue, honoring Him with our money, honoring Him for living in a way that brings glory to God in all that we do. So rather than to be slaves to debt, that we would be slaves to Christ and put no one or nothing above Him. Let us go ahead and pray this morning as we as we finish up. Father God, I want to thank you, Lord, for your word.
37:59-38:10
I pray Father anyone here this morning and finds himself Serving the wrong master, Lord, I pray that You will open their eyes, that You will open their heart, that they would humbly seek You.
38:12-38:16
Father, we thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus, who took our sin and our shame.
38:17-38:24
Help us to keep our eyes fixed on You, and not the things of this world.
38:24-38:26
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:24

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Have‌ ‌you‌ ‌ever‌ ‌experienced‌ ‌first‌ ‌hand‌ ‌that‌ ‌the‌ ‌borrower‌ ‌is‌ ‌slave‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌lender?‌ ‌(Proverbs‌ ‌22:7)‌
When‌ ‌was‌ ‌the‌ ‌last‌ ‌time‌ ‌that‌ ‌you‌ ‌wanted‌ ‌to‌ ‌give‌ ‌but‌ ‌didn’t?‌ ‌How‌ ‌did‌ ‌that‌ ‌make‌ ‌you‌ ‌feel?
Do‌ ‌you‌ ‌feel‌ ‌pressure‌ ‌to‌ ‌”keep‌ ‌up‌ ‌with‌ ‌the‌ ‌Jones’?”‌ ‌Do‌ ‌you‌ ‌cave‌ ‌in?‌ ‌If‌ ‌not,‌ ‌how‌ ‌do‌ ‌you‌ ‌fight‌ ‌the‌ ‌urge?‌
Is‌ ‌it‌ ‌ok‌ ‌for‌ ‌a‌ ‌follower‌ ‌of‌ ‌Christ‌ ‌to‌ ‌have‌ ‌abundant‌ ‌wealth?‌
Tell‌ ‌us‌ ‌about‌ ‌a‌ ‌time‌ ‌when‌ ‌you‌ ‌received‌ ‌a‌ ‌perfectly‌ ‌timed‌ ‌blessing‌ ‌that‌ ‌could‌ ‌only‌ ‌have‌ ‌come‌ ‌from‌ ‌God.‌

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

December 27, 2020

Questions and Answers

Questions from the Congregation - Part 14

Jeff Miller

December 27, 2020

Questions and Answers

Note: The time signatures [00:00] below indicate the start of a question if you'd like to skip to a particular one of interest in the audio file.

[00:09] - Q: Are the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost the same thing?
A: TBD
[00:54] - Q: What is a spirit/soul and how do they interact with our mind and body?
A: TBD
[03:08] - Q: Since Genesis mentions God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply prior to the fall, and part of the curse was to increase pain of childbirth... will babies be born in heaven?
A: See Matthew 22:30 - For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
[04:32] - Q: Did God make hell? If you go to the first book of the Bible it says God made heaven and earth so where does hell come into play?
A: See Matthew 25:41 - Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’
[05:57] - Q: In the old testament God refers to Lucifer as "the morning star" (Isaiah 14:12?), in Revelation Jesus says "He is the bright morning star." (Rev 22:16) How would you explain the differences in these 2 passages to someone who believes they are the same and therefore; Jesus = Lucifer?
A: See 2 Corinthians 4:4 - In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
[10:03] - Q: Are prophesies still a way that God communicates? How does God communicate to masses of people in today's world?
A: See Romans 10:14-17
[13:48] - Q: We know that God is outside of time. We believe that old testament saints did not have to wait for Jesus's sacrifice to enter into Heaven (bc it was as if it already happened). We believe that absent from the body = present with God. And yet, Jesus's return will signal a new heaven and new earth, and the reception of our glorified bodies. That indicates that there is some element of time in Heaven. How is it both? How is God outside of time, but also waiting on the right time?
A: See Galatians 4:4-5 - … fullness of time had come
Revelation 6:10 (5th Seal) - …how long before you will judge
Revelation 22:2 - …yielding its fruit each month.
[19:22] - Q: I really miss a lot of my friends that I have been very close to since childhood, but they live very sinful lifestyles and I have tried talking to them about how they act and talk, but they always say they like the way they live, so I have stopped talking to and spending time with them. I have spent a long time trying to fall out of the sinful habits they encourage and I don't want to fall back into those habits, but I have known those friends for so long and I have created such a connection to them that can't just be recreated. I know I shouldn't do anything that would encourage a Godless lifestyle but I also don't want to just abandon them. Do you have any tips or encouragement at all that could help me through this?
A: TBD
[23:07] - Q: If there is evidence or individual belief that the government was elected or established through fraud or corruption, are we still called to submit to their "power"?
A: See Mark 12:17 - Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
[27:43] - Q: If Christians are the majority who don't believe in wearing masks, are we chasing non-Christians away from the church by not wearing masks? Shouldn't we be the first to want to protect others and make them feel comfortable? Thank you in advance!
A: TBD
[38:27] - Q: Flat earth vs Round earth? Thoughts?
A: See Isaiah 40:22 - It is he who sits above the circle of the earth…
Revelation 7:1 - After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.

Any question that was missed due to time constraints during the service Pastor Jeff will address the answer on the blog.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Pastor Jeff:
00:00-00:02
All right, timer's going.
Mark Ort:
00:02-00:06
What we'll do is we're gonna go through the ones that were submitted, and if we have time, we'll pass the mic.
Mark Ort:
00:07-00:07
Yeah. - Fair enough?
Mark Ort:
00:08-00:08
Fair enough, go ahead.
Mark Ort:
00:08-00:09
All right, you ready? - Yep.
Mark Ort:
00:09-00:14
First one, Jeff, are the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost the same thing?
Mark Ort:
00:14-00:14
Yes.
Mark Ort:
00:15-00:16
All right, question two.
Mark Ort:
00:17-00:19
Actually, I looked this up a little bit, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
00:19-00:24
And the Holy Ghost, the word ghost is actually the proper word.
Mark Ort:
00:25-00:30
But over the years, as language evolves, What do we think of when we think of a ghost?
Mark Ort:
00:30-00:34
Like Casper, Halloween, things like that.
Mark Ort:
00:34-00:45
And so translators in modern versions have changed it to spirit because that's what ghost really meant back in the day.
Pastor Jeff:
00:45-00:47
Right, yeah, I totally agree.
Pastor Jeff:
00:47-00:52
I think ghost is just associated with Halloween-y type things and we just sort of
Mark Ort:
00:52-00:53
avoid that.
Mark Ort:
00:54-00:55
Okay, next one.
Mark Ort:
00:55-01:01
What is a spirit soul and how do they interact with our mind and body?
Pastor Jeff:
01:02-01:05
We are body, mind and spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
01:05-01:10
So when you look in a mirror, there's more to you than what is being reflected back, right?
Pastor Jeff:
01:10-01:21
I mean, if that weren't the case, when somebody died and we see their body in the casket, we're like, well, that's it, it's over, because there they are, there's their body.
Pastor Jeff:
01:21-01:26
Obviously, there's more to you than the physical body I believe that you're body, mind, and spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
01:26-01:32
I believe that, you know, when the Bible says that God created man in his image, I believe that's part of it.
Pastor Jeff:
01:33-01:44
God is three in one somehow in an inexplicable way, and I believe that's true for us, that we are body, mind, and spirit in one here.
Pastor Jeff:
01:45-01:46
How do they interact?
Pastor Jeff:
01:48-01:50
Each one of those affects the other.
Pastor Jeff:
01:52-01:54
Sin affects the body and mind.
Pastor Jeff:
01:55-01:55
And you know that.
Pastor Jeff:
01:55-02:00
When you're living in unrepentant sin, you know how that wears on your body and mind.
Pastor Jeff:
02:01-02:05
Physically, you'll have problems, and mentally, you'll deal with depression.
Pastor Jeff:
02:06-02:09
Physical sickness affects your mind and your spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
02:10-02:11
And you know what that's like.
Pastor Jeff:
02:11-02:18
If you've been sick, especially if you've had a debilitating sickness for a long time, how that wears on your mind and spirit.
Pastor Jeff:
02:18-02:37
And then, you know, your mind, depression, for example, can affect your spirit and your body. So, you know, we're all interconnected body, mind, and spirit. And it's not something that we can easily explain, but something that we readily experience.
Mark Ort:
02:38-02:54
Yeah, and when I saw this question, I thought about Deuteronomy 6, verse 5. And that verse is actually repeated in the New Testament in Matthew. It says, "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
Mark Ort:
02:54-02:58
And you see some things with the mind and the body interacting there, right?
Mark Ort:
02:59-03:02
With how we love God and how we worship God.
Mark Ort:
03:02-03:06
And so those things work together, I see, in the Scriptures in our worship.
Mark Ort:
03:07-03:07
Right on.
Mark Ort:
03:08-03:10
Okay, let's go to question number three.
Mark Ort:
03:10-03:21
Since Genesis mentions God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply prior to the fall, And part of the curse was to increase pain of childbirth.
Mark Ort:
03:22-03:23
Will babies be born in heaven?
Pastor Jeff:
03:24-03:26
Well, we know for sure that there's no marriage in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
03:27-03:33
And when you look at the Bible, procreation was given sort of in the context of the marriage relationship.
Pastor Jeff:
03:34-03:38
I don't see any biblical support that children are born in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
03:39-03:57
Jesus said, Matthew 22, 30, "For in the resurrection, they will neither marry nor are given a marriage, but are like angels in heaven." So I don't see in heaven some of the things that we deal with on earth like marriage and procreation and childbirth.
Pastor Jeff:
03:57-04:04
But regarding the pain of childbirth, look, my understanding regarding childbirth is purely second-handed, okay?
Pastor Jeff:
04:06-04:09
So I'm just speaking from a biblical perspective.
Pastor Jeff:
04:10-04:13
Part of the curse was an increase in pain.
Pastor Jeff:
04:14-04:21
My understanding is childbirth always hurt, but part of the curse was increasing of that pain.
Pastor Jeff:
04:21-04:28
So I don't think it was necessarily meant to be comfortable and easy in the first place.
Mark Ort:
04:30-04:31
Excellent, thank you, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
04:32-04:34
Number four, did God make hell?
Mark Ort:
04:35-04:39
If you go to the first book of the Bible, it says God made heaven and earth.
Mark Ort:
04:40-04:41
So where does hell come into play?
Pastor Jeff:
04:42-04:43
Where does hell come into play?
Pastor Jeff:
04:44-04:48
My understanding with this question as it's in regards to when hell was created.
Pastor Jeff:
04:50-05:02
Matthew 25, 41, this is Jesus teaching on end time things, that the day's gonna come that Jesus is going to separate those who have received him and those who have rejected him.
Pastor Jeff:
05:02-05:16
But Jesus, in the context of his teaching, said, "Then he will say to those on his left, "Apart from me you cursed, and the eternal fire," look at how Jesus worded this, Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
Pastor Jeff:
05:16-05:18
So did God make hell?
Pastor Jeff:
05:18-05:20
That's the first part of the question, and the answer is yes.
Pastor Jeff:
05:22-05:24
So my understanding with the rest of the question is when?
Pastor Jeff:
05:25-05:27
The Bible just doesn't say when.
Pastor Jeff:
05:28-05:44
It just says that God prepared this lake of fire specifically for the devil, his angels, and we know the people who reject Christ also have their portion in the lake of fire, but the Bible does not explicitly, excuse me, say this is when that was created.
Pastor Jeff:
05:44-05:52
So my best guess would be, it'd have to be obviously sometime after the angelic rebellion, right?
Pastor Jeff:
05:54-05:55
The Bible just doesn't say.
Mark Ort:
05:55-05:56
All right, thank you, Jeff.
Mark Ort:
05:57-05:58
Question number five.
Mark Ort:
05:58-06:04
In the Old Testament, God refers to Lucifer as the morning star, Isaiah 14, 12.
Mark Ort:
06:05-06:09
In Revelation, Jesus says he is the bright and morning star.
Mark Ort:
06:09-06:11
Revelation 22, 16.
Mark Ort:
06:12-06:21
How would you explain the differences in these two passages to someone who believes they are the same and therefore Jesus equals Lucifer?
Mark Ort:
06:21-06:27
And that's a really good question and I'm gonna let Jeff answer this one all by himself.
Mark Ort:
06:27-06:28
I was hoping you were
Pastor Jeff:
06:28-06:29
gonna chime in here, Mark.
Pastor Jeff:
06:30-06:36
Well, in Isaiah 14, Lucifer Literally, that means shining light.
Pastor Jeff:
06:37-06:46
And in this prophecy, it's connecting Satan's fall to the King of Babylon in a way that often happens in prophecy.
Pastor Jeff:
06:46-06:51
It's like multi-layered, but it's talking about Satan's beauty before his fall.
Pastor Jeff:
06:51-07:01
But when Jesus uses the term in Revelation 22, he's talking about the fact that he himself, Jesus himself, is this eternal light of day.
Pastor Jeff:
07:01-07:10
There's no night or darkness or anything like that in heaven because the light of Jesus Christ, the morning star, is always shining.
Pastor Jeff:
07:10-07:21
So the question is, "Well, wait a minute. How can the same word be used for both?" And truthfully, that's not really that strange when it comes to the Bible.
Pastor Jeff:
07:21-07:26
Because do you know, regarding Jesus and Satan, the Bible calls both of them God?
Pastor Jeff:
07:26-07:27
Do you know that?
Pastor Jeff:
07:27-07:36
Like, we've been going through the Gospel of John, and we've seen explicitly over and over and over that Jesus Christ is Almighty God in the flesh, right?
Pastor Jeff:
07:37-07:39
But did you know the Bible calls Satan God?
Pastor Jeff:
07:40-08:01
In what is it, 2 Corinthians 4.4, it says, "In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel, the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." You see, in this talk about Jesus as God, Jesus is God by nature.
Pastor Jeff:
08:01-08:08
Satan is called a God because of his realm of authority on the earth, right?
Pastor Jeff:
08:08-08:15
I mean, can't you see that Satan obviously is, for now, having his way on the earth, right?
Pastor Jeff:
08:15-08:20
And I believe that that's the same kind of issue that we have with the Morning Star.
Pastor Jeff:
08:20-08:24
where the context of both passages sort of determine that same thing.
Pastor Jeff:
08:24-08:37
In Isaiah 14 it's describing an aspect of Satan, but in Revelation 22 it's describing the very nature of who Jesus Christ is.
Pastor Jeff:
08:37-08:47
So, yeah, the Bible sometimes uses words like that to describe both Jesus and Satan, but context is important.
Pastor Jeff:
08:47-08:51
Nature versus descriptive aspect. Does that make sense?
Mark Ort:
08:52-08:52
Makes sense to me.
Mark Ort:
08:52-08:53
Okay. Does that make
Pastor Jeff:
08:53-08:54
sense to everybody else?
Pastor Jeff:
08:54-08:55
I can start over.
Pastor Jeff:
08:56-08:57
Please no.
Mark Ort:
08:58-09:00
You mentioned context. Context is king.
Pastor Jeff:
09:00-09:01
Yeah. You've got to go with the context.
Pastor Jeff:
09:02-09:02
Yeah.
Mark Ort:
09:02-09:05
I was watching a video this morning and the guy was harping on context.
Mark Ort:
09:05-09:06
We've got to look at context.
Pastor Jeff:
09:06-09:11
Right. And that's, you know, like the 2 Corinthians 4 passage, you know, context.
Pastor Jeff:
09:11-09:15
Somebody could read just that and be like, oh, see the Bible calls Satan God.
Pastor Jeff:
09:15-09:37
And you could run with that and try to explain things about Satan's powers and abilities and all of that when really the only thing he was getting across here is Satan has authority over the earth for now in the context of blinding the minds of unbelievers.
Pastor Jeff:
09:37-09:43
There are some people that you're like, "I've shared the gospel with him 30 times and he doesn't get it.
Pastor Jeff:
09:44-09:47
Why can't he get it? Because Satan put the veil over their face.
Pastor Jeff:
09:47-09:50
They can't see what you're saying.
Pastor Jeff:
09:50-09:54
And that's the context of Satan being called God.
Pastor Jeff:
09:54-09:55
That's an aspect of his authority.
Pastor Jeff:
09:56-09:57
He's not God the way Jesus is God.
Pastor Jeff:
09:58-10:01
Jesus is God by nature. That's who He is.
Mark Ort:
10:02-10:02
Amen.
Mark Ort:
10:03-10:07
Number six, are prophecies still a way that God communicates?
Mark Ort:
10:08-10:12
How does God communicate to the masses of people in today's world?
Pastor Jeff:
10:13-10:17
When we talk about prophecy, immediately our minds think of telling the future, right?
Pastor Jeff:
10:18-10:23
Like, "I prophesy that you're going to have spaghetti on Wednesday," or something like that.
Pastor Jeff:
10:23-10:28
We think it's all about the future, but really, prophecy is not just about the future.
Pastor Jeff:
10:29-10:36
Prophecy, in its very base explanation, definition, is proclaiming the Word of God.
Pastor Jeff:
10:36-10:37
That's prophecy.
Pastor Jeff:
10:38-10:50
So when I get up here, or Rich, or Mark, or whoever gets up here on a Sunday and says, "Open your Bibles, this is what the Bible says," that's prophesying, right?
Pastor Jeff:
10:51-10:58
Now, there are some prophecies in the Bible that have to do with the future, absolutely.
Pastor Jeff:
10:59-11:02
But we prophesy when we proclaim the Word of God.
Pastor Jeff:
11:02-11:11
And I have a whole lot more I'm going to say about this, But I'm not going to because that's the whole sermon subject next week.
Pastor Jeff:
11:11-11:14
So we're going to be talking all about this next week.
Pastor Jeff:
11:15-11:20
But the question here is, how does God communicate to the masses of people in today's world?
Pastor Jeff:
11:20-11:21
The Bible tells us.
Pastor Jeff:
11:22-11:31
Romans 10 says, "How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?" How is somebody going to believe in Jesus if they...
Pastor Jeff:
11:31-11:34
How are they going to call on Him if they haven't...
Pastor Jeff:
11:34-11:40
He says, "How are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?" Like, believe in Jesus, but they've never heard the story.
Pastor Jeff:
11:40-11:41
Like, how does that happen?
Pastor Jeff:
11:42-11:45
"How are they to hear without someone preaching?" Ah, here we go.
Pastor Jeff:
11:46-11:50
"How are they to preach unless they are sent?" So you see, he's building this whole thing.
Pastor Jeff:
11:50-12:02
He's like, "People need to hear about Jesus because they don't know about Jesus." So the way people hear about Jesus is God sends somebody to preach, to proclaim the Word of God.
Pastor Jeff:
12:02-12:05
That's why this church is big on preaching, because God is.
Pastor Jeff:
12:06-12:11
God says, "This is how I choose to communicate my message "to a lost and dying world.
Pastor Jeff:
12:11-12:28
"It's through the proclamation of my word "through a preacher." And he goes on, "As it is written, "how beautiful are the feet of those "who preach the good news, "but they have not all obeyed the gospel." For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed "what he has heard from us." Look at this last statement.
Pastor Jeff:
12:28-12:30
We're gonna talk about this next week, I think.
Pastor Jeff:
12:30-12:32
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
12:33-12:39
That's why we preach the Word of God, because we want people to have faith, and there's only one way people have faith, it's through the Word of Christ.
Pastor Jeff:
12:41-12:43
So that's how God communicates today.
Mark Ort:
12:43-12:48
Yeah, Jeff, when I saw this question, the first thing that popped into my mind was Hebrews chapter one.
Mark Ort:
12:50-13:01
Verse one, it says, "God, after he spoke long ago, "in many portions and in many ways in these last days, "has spoken to us in his Son," which is what you're saying.
Mark Ort:
13:01-13:05
Through whom he appointed air of all things, through whom also he made the world.
Mark Ort:
13:06-13:21
And in many portions, in many ways, you think about the burning bush, you think about the still small voice, dreams, all these different things, different ways he spoke to his people.
Mark Ort:
13:21-13:25
And now to us, he speaks to us through his son.
Mark Ort:
13:26-13:27
Right. - And his son is the word.
Mark Ort:
13:27-13:30
This son is like the last final word.
Pastor Jeff:
13:30-13:41
God's not going to say, "Okay, here's something new and next." What's next is the return of his son, which the Bible talks about.
Pastor Jeff:
13:42-13:44
But yeah, that's a great verse to highlight here, Mark.
Pastor Jeff:
13:45-13:46
Okay, you ready for the next one?
Pastor Jeff:
13:46-13:47
I'm ready for the next one.
Mark Ort:
13:47-13:47
Okay.
Mark Ort:
13:48-13:50
We know that God is outside of time.
Mark Ort:
13:50-13:56
We believe that Old Testament saints did not have to wait for Jesus' sacrifice to enter into heaven.
Mark Ort:
13:56-13:59
It was as if it had already happened.
Mark Ort:
14:00-14:10
We believe that absence from the body is present with God, and yet Jesus' return will signal a new heaven and a new earth, and the reception of our glorified bodies.
Mark Ort:
14:11-14:14
That indicates that there is some element of time in heaven.
Mark Ort:
14:14-14:15
How is it both?
Mark Ort:
14:16-14:21
How is God outside of time, but also waiting on the right time?
Pastor Jeff:
14:21-14:28
>> Whoever submitted this question, I bet they are a treat to watch "Back to the Future" I love that movie.
Pastor Jeff:
14:31-14:34
Well, first of all, the person brought up a good point here.
Pastor Jeff:
14:35-14:43
When we talk about time and salvation, every single person that's in heaven or ever will be in heaven is going to have the same testimony.
Pastor Jeff:
14:43-14:47
They're going to say, "I'm here because of Jesus." Like, well, how is that true with the Old Testament people?
Pastor Jeff:
14:48-14:51
Their faith was based on the promise of what God would do.
Pastor Jeff:
14:51-14:52
They were looking forward.
Pastor Jeff:
14:53-14:55
God has promised someday, too.
Pastor Jeff:
14:55-15:01
Their faith is based on what's going to happen, just as our faith is based on what did happen.
Pastor Jeff:
15:01-15:02
We're looking back.
Pastor Jeff:
15:02-15:07
We are saved because Jesus came and died and rose, as promised in the Bible.
Pastor Jeff:
15:09-15:35
But when we talk about God being outside of time, I think to maybe make that more specific, God is not bound by time, but God in His sovereignty uses time for his purposes for man." So when we talk about God being outside of time, it's not like God is completely oblivious to or He has nothing to do with time.
Pastor Jeff:
15:36-15:39
Like He in His sovereignty, He uses it.
Pastor Jeff:
15:40-15:53
Like Galatians 4 says, "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth a son born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoptions as sons.
Pastor Jeff:
15:53-15:54
It's staggering.
Pastor Jeff:
15:54-15:57
And this could be-- oh gosh, we could spend weeks talking about this.
Pastor Jeff:
15:58-16:01
But do you realize when Jesus came was no accident?
Pastor Jeff:
16:01-16:06
That God was looking at the entire timeline of human history, and God was like, right here.
Pastor Jeff:
16:06-16:07
Right here.
Pastor Jeff:
16:07-16:11
Here is when Jesus Christ is going to walk on the earth.
Pastor Jeff:
16:11-16:12
Why then?
Pastor Jeff:
16:12-16:16
You can talk about the Roman roads, and the Pax Romana, and the currency system, and the language.
Pastor Jeff:
16:16-16:19
There are all these things that God's like, no.
Pastor Jeff:
16:19-16:26
"This is exactly when I'm going to send my Son." Not a second sooner, not a second later.
Pastor Jeff:
16:27-16:28
Perfect timing.
Pastor Jeff:
16:28-16:31
So God in His sovereignty uses time.
Pastor Jeff:
16:32-16:35
Now regarding time in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
16:36-16:40
Now there is some concept of time in heaven.
Pastor Jeff:
16:41-16:45
You're like, "Well, how do you know that?" Well, there's a couple of verses in Revelation that point to that.
Pastor Jeff:
16:46-16:49
One is Revelation 6, talking about this is the fifth...
Pastor Jeff:
16:49-16:52
we went through Revelation, the fifth seal.
Pastor Jeff:
16:52-16:54
These are people that were murdered for their faith.
Pastor Jeff:
16:55-16:56
And they're in heaven, they're under the altar.
Pastor Jeff:
16:57-17:00
And the Bible says they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true.
Pastor Jeff:
17:01-17:01
Look at what they're asking.
Pastor Jeff:
17:02-17:03
These are people in heaven asking this.
Pastor Jeff:
17:03-17:09
Like how long, how much longer before you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell in the earth?
Pastor Jeff:
17:09-17:11
Like God, you see what's happening.
Pastor Jeff:
17:12-17:13
How long are you gonna let this happen?
Pastor Jeff:
17:14-17:17
So obviously there's some concept of the passing of time.
Pastor Jeff:
17:17-17:22
And even in the eternal state, Revelation 22, 2, look at this.
Pastor Jeff:
17:23-17:38
"In the middle of the street of the city, also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month." Apparently there is some marking of passing of time in heaven because there are trees yielding fruit according to the Bible.
Pastor Jeff:
17:39-17:42
And again, this is eternal state type stuff, monthly.
Pastor Jeff:
17:43-17:45
So there is some concept of time in heaven.
Mark Ort:
17:46-17:54
And I think, Jeff, sometimes we get our theology or biblical thinking from songs or hymns.
Mark Ort:
17:54-18:06
And I think sometimes this idea of no time in heaven comes from that song that says, when the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more.
Mark Ort:
18:06-18:08
I mean, we grew up singing that, right?
Mark Ort:
18:08-18:19
And it's a great song and everything, but we just need to be careful that we're not learning theology from a man written song.
Mark Ort:
18:19-18:35
And that's why on a different, I guess, similar note, but don't wanna get on a rabbit trail, but this church takes great care with that and pains with making sure that our songs are biblically accurate.
Mark Ort:
18:37-18:42
We've actually cut songs out of our playlist and things like that because of - We can change
Pastor Jeff:
18:42-18:43
lines in songs.
Pastor Jeff:
18:43-18:46
Like it's a good song except that lines, we're just gonna change that line.
Mark Ort:
18:46-18:49
Yeah, and so we do take pains with that.
Mark Ort:
18:49-18:58
And if you ever sing a song and the lyrics aren't correct, maybe you could graciously approach one of us and we'll take a look at it.
Mark Ort:
18:58-18:59
And on that note,
Pastor Jeff:
19:00-19:01
I love our worship team.
Pastor Jeff:
19:02-19:02
All right,
Mark Ort:
19:03-19:04
we good on that one?
Pastor Jeff:
19:04-19:05
Yeah, we're good.
Pastor Jeff:
19:05-19:07
All right, now those were like the theology questions.
Pastor Jeff:
19:07-19:11
The rest of them here, we have four that are like Christian living
19:11-19:13
question.
19:14-19:14
These
Pastor Jeff:
19:14-19:16
aren't like hard categories like Jeopardy, right?
Pastor Jeff:
19:17-19:20
So I just tried to separate them that way.
Mark Ort:
19:22-19:24
Okay, this is a long one, so bear with me.
Mark Ort:
19:25-19:39
I really miss a lot of my friends that I have been very close to since childhood, but they live very sinful lifestyles and I have tried talking to them about how they act and talk, but they always say they like the way they live.
Mark Ort:
19:39-19:42
And so I have stopped talking to and spending time with them.
Mark Ort:
19:43-19:48
I have spent a long time trying to fall out of sinful habits they encourage and I don't want to fall back into these habits.
Mark Ort:
19:49-19:57
But I have known these friends for a long time, for so long, and I have created such a connection to them that just can't be recreated.
Mark Ort:
19:57-20:05
I know I shouldn't do anything that would encourage a godless lifestyle, but I also don't want to just abandon them.
Mark Ort:
20:05-20:09
Do you have any tips or encouragement at all me through this.
Pastor Jeff:
20:11-20:48
>>I don't know who wrote this question. But I so much appreciated the heart and maturity behind that question. And what I would say to that person is you need to see your friends, your unsafe friends, you need to see them as a mission field. Like you're saying, like I'm kind of reading into the question here, My understanding is if this person was sitting in my office, like you've received Christ and Christ has changed you and you realize you can't live in the sinful ways of your friends and still live for Christ at the same time.
Pastor Jeff:
20:48-20:51
And your friends need what you have.
Pastor Jeff:
20:52-20:54
So my encouragement would be like practical tips.
Pastor Jeff:
20:55-20:59
Instead of going and partying with your friends, invite your friends to party with you, right?
Pastor Jeff:
21:00-21:01
Things like Arrow.
Pastor Jeff:
21:02-21:06
How many youth group events do we have that encourage, right Dan?
Pastor Jeff:
21:07-21:09
Encourage people, invite your unsafe friends.
Pastor Jeff:
21:10-21:15
We will love them and we're gonna have fun, play some games, we're gonna share the gospel with them and we're gonna include them.
Pastor Jeff:
21:16-21:22
And I would say, don't write your friends off because they don't know the Lord.
Pastor Jeff:
21:22-21:31
See them as a mission field and invite them to be a part of the way God's working in your life through ministries like Arrow, our student ministry.
Mark Ort:
21:32-21:49
Yeah, I would, just speaking from a position of a father who has kids who are launching into their 20s very soon, and just a word of maybe some advice, I don't know.
Mark Ort:
21:49-21:54
I'm not usually willing to give out advice because a lot of people don't care what Mark Hort has to say.
Mark Ort:
21:55-22:13
But one thing that I would encourage parents, I guess, And even the younger guys and girls, develop a set of convictions about certain issues now before you face the temptation.
Mark Ort:
22:13-22:25
For instance, you're going to encounter situations, obviously, that are sinful and are gonna harm you and potentially destroy your life.
Mark Ort:
22:25-22:31
Drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity.
Mark Ort:
22:31-22:34
any of those things, you need to decide now.
Mark Ort:
22:34-22:42
Parents, teach your kids to decide now how you're gonna respond in those situations and go with that conviction.
Mark Ort:
22:43-22:47
Like, I am not going to take drugs under any circumstance.
Mark Ort:
22:48-22:54
And then when you get in a situation where somebody has something for you, you're like, no, I have a conviction against that.
Mark Ort:
22:55-22:56
Yeah, you have to make those choices ahead
Pastor Jeff:
22:56-22:57
of time.
Mark Ort:
22:57-23:05
Make the choices ahead of time, or else when you get with your friends, the thing that is happening in this question is bound to happen.
Mark Ort:
23:05-23:06
Right on.
Mark Ort:
23:07-23:15
Is there evidence or individual belief that the government was elected or established through fraud or corruption?
Mark Ort:
23:16-23:20
If there's evidence, are we still called to submit to their power?
Pastor Jeff:
23:21-23:24
I'm thinking, oh yeah, look at the time.
Pastor Jeff:
23:25-23:26
Well, it was great to see everyone.
Pastor Jeff:
23:26-23:27
You're loved.
Pastor Jeff:
23:28-23:29
Drive safe, happy New Year.
Pastor Jeff:
23:30-23:32
Look, I would just say this.
Pastor Jeff:
23:34-23:35
There is nothing new under the sun.
Pastor Jeff:
23:36-23:43
And you look at Old Testament Israel like Jesus' day, you realize they had two layers of bad government, right?
Pastor Jeff:
23:44-23:51
Because during Jesus' day, Israel was under Roman occupation, which meant Israel was in their land and they could kind of do their thing.
Pastor Jeff:
23:52-23:53
But Rome was in charge.
Pastor Jeff:
23:53-23:59
And if you do any kind of study on that, The corruption in Israel's government was horrific.
Pastor Jeff:
24:00-24:01
We talked about that recently.
Pastor Jeff:
24:01-24:05
Like the high priest, that job went to whoever had the most money.
Pastor Jeff:
24:06-24:08
Okay, they bid out, the Romans bid out that job.
Pastor Jeff:
24:09-24:15
So you had Israel being sort of sub-ruled by people that bought their position.
Pastor Jeff:
24:16-24:20
And you look at the debacle that was the trial of Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
24:21-24:22
Would you think there was corruption there?
Pastor Jeff:
24:23-24:26
We did a sermon on that one time, all the corruption that went in the trial of Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
24:26-24:32
It was like they broke every law possible in the way that they tried Jesus to crucify Him.
Pastor Jeff:
24:33-24:39
And then the Romans, I mean, you talk about the next level of corruption.
Pastor Jeff:
24:39-24:50
I mean, that was nothing but a sin fest, the way people went into power and the adultery, the murder.
Pastor Jeff:
24:52-24:54
There's nothing new under the sun.
Pastor Jeff:
24:55-25:10
But I want to remind you of something that Jesus said, even underneath such corrupt governments, Jesus said, Mark 12, 17, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they marveled at him.
Pastor Jeff:
25:11-25:19
And we went through Mark a few years ago and spent a lot of time talking about this particular verse.
Pastor Jeff:
25:20-25:22
But that was Jesus' response.
Pastor Jeff:
25:22-25:24
In the context here, they're trying to trick Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
25:25-25:26
Should you pay your taxes?
Pastor Jeff:
25:26-25:32
Because they're like, "We got 'em now." If Jesus says, "Pay your taxes," everybody's gonna be like, "Boo!
Pastor Jeff:
25:32-25:47
"You're with the Romans!" And if Jesus goes, "No, no, no, "you shouldn't pay your taxes," they're gonna go and tell Rome, "Hey, Jesus said we shouldn't pay taxes." So they're like, "We got 'em." So they're like, "We got 'em." And this was Jesus' response.
Pastor Jeff:
25:47-25:52
Like, yeah, give Caesar the things that are Caesar's to God the things that are God's?
Mark Ort:
25:53-26:05
You know, when we go through the time that we just went through in November with our election, one of the verses that always comes back to my mind is from the book of Daniel 2.21.
Mark Ort:
26:06-26:12
And that says that God sets up leaders and he brings leaders down.
Mark Ort:
26:12-26:15
He establishes them and he removes them.
Mark Ort:
26:15-26:19
And so that's encouraging to me.
Mark Ort:
26:20-26:27
I mean, we see what happened throughout history, God taking out rulers and taking them out of spider holes.
Mark Ort:
26:27-26:28
Saddam Hussein, remember that?
Mark Ort:
26:30-26:38
You know, he lived in a palace with gold-plated furniture and things like that, and he ended up his life in a spider hole.
Mark Ort:
26:40-26:42
So we take encouragement in that.
Mark Ort:
26:43-26:48
And in our election, are there people in government?
Mark Ort:
26:49-26:51
Then there's going to be corruption.
Mark Ort:
26:52-26:56
Not just at the federal level, 'cause it's clear down to your local school board.
Mark Ort:
26:57-26:59
But do we submit?
Mark Ort:
27:00-27:06
We submit to our authorities as long as they don't go against God's commands.
Mark Ort:
27:07-27:18
In Acts, it talks about we would rather obey God than man. When the government goes against what God says, that's when...
Mark Ort:
27:18-27:18
You
Pastor Jeff:
27:18-27:37
appeal to the higher authority, right? Sort of like if a husband would command his wife to do something sinful, she would appeal to the higher authority, which is God. That's what we should do as citizens. Obey the government until the government calls you to do something contrary to what God would call you to do.
Mark Ort:
27:40-27:41
You want another hot button?
Mark Ort:
27:41-27:42
Why not?
Mark Ort:
27:43-27:52
"If Christians are the majority who don't believe in wearing masks, are we chasing non-Christians away from the church by not wearing masks?
Mark Ort:
27:53-27:58
Shouldn't we be the first ones to want to protect others and make them feel comfortable?
Mark Ort:
27:58-27:59
Thank you in advance." That
Pastor Jeff:
27:59-28:00
is a really good question.
Pastor Jeff:
28:02-28:03
Here's the bottom line.
Pastor Jeff:
28:03-28:05
I don't care if you wear a mask.
Pastor Jeff:
28:05-28:06
I really don't.
Pastor Jeff:
28:06-28:08
We have masks available by the door.
Pastor Jeff:
28:08-28:12
We have a couple boxes for somebody that comes in and wants to wear one.
Pastor Jeff:
28:12-28:15
You can absolutely wear a mask.
Pastor Jeff:
28:15-28:19
And some people choose to wear them and some people choose not to.
Pastor Jeff:
28:21-28:22
I don't care if you wear a mask or not.
Pastor Jeff:
28:23-28:29
We do, for people that are ultra-cautious, concerned, whatever, we live stream our services.
Pastor Jeff:
28:30-28:38
We have an amazing group of people that live stream and then go after the fact and edit and make sure the messages and everything's online.
Pastor Jeff:
28:39-28:46
We also have a virtual small group for people that want to be part of a small group but are cautious about being around other people.
Pastor Jeff:
28:47-29:08
I feel like as a church we've made every provision that we can to try to protect people that might be cautious, whether they're susceptible, whether they're living with somebody who might be susceptible to the virus, or whether they're just really, really concerned.
Pastor Jeff:
29:09-29:15
I feel like we've made every provision that we need to regarding protecting people.
Pastor Jeff:
29:15-29:29
But as far as, what was interesting to me about this question was the part that says, are we chasing non-Christians away from the church by not wearing masks?
Pastor Jeff:
29:30-29:33
Mark, we had a really interesting discussion about this.
Pastor Jeff:
29:33-29:39
And why don't you share sort of the primary philosophy regarding church anyways.
Mark Ort:
29:40-29:49
Well, in our conversation, we just briefly spoke about who the church is for and who is the church.
Mark Ort:
29:50-29:54
The church is a body of believers, right?
Mark Ort:
29:55-29:57
This gathering is for believers.
Mark Ort:
29:58-30:01
And are we gonna turn unbelievers away?
Mark Ort:
30:02-30:02
Hopefully not.
Mark Ort:
30:03-30:05
We don't want unbelievers to be turned away.
Mark Ort:
30:05-30:06
We want them to come in here.
Mark Ort:
30:07-30:11
We want them to sit under the teaching of God's word.
Mark Ort:
30:12-30:16
But the church, by definition, is the called out ones.
Mark Ort:
30:16-30:18
We are God's people.
Mark Ort:
30:19-30:27
And so we're really, and I don't mean to be offensive or anything, but we're not, this isn't something for unbelievers.
Mark Ort:
30:27-30:29
Although we have a message for unbelievers.
Mark Ort:
30:29-30:29
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
30:30-30:32
If you're an unbeliever, we're glad you're here.
Pastor Jeff:
30:33-30:36
And we want you to come back, and we love that you're here.
Pastor Jeff:
30:36-30:43
But what we're talking about is when we are putting the service together, we are here for believers.
Pastor Jeff:
30:44-30:48
That's why we worship, that's why we pray, that's why we come around the Lord's Supper.
Pastor Jeff:
30:48-30:54
And I know different churches have different philosophies, and hey, that's okay, I'm not concerned about other churches, I'm concerned about this church.
Pastor Jeff:
30:55-30:56
But the church is for believers.
Pastor Jeff:
30:57-31:03
So when we're putting a service together, Yes, it's in my mind that we're going to have unbelievers here, and I'm glad that you're here.
Pastor Jeff:
31:04-31:07
But, our church doesn't cater to unbelievers.
Pastor Jeff:
31:08-31:32
We're not here to be like, "Let's make sure unbelievers are comfortable." We're here to say, "Let's make sure that Jesus Christ is exalted above all things, and the believers here are being fed, and challenged, and encouraged, and comforted." We're here for the believers, because it's when you go back out to your workplaces, and your neighborhoods and your unsafe family, you're going to be taking the message to them.
Pastor Jeff:
31:33-31:33
Okay?
Pastor Jeff:
31:33-31:38
So that's the fundamental philosophy of why we do church the way that we do.
Mark Ort:
31:39-31:46
And I would add that our job is to make you uncomfortable, not comfortable.
Pastor Jeff:
31:46-31:46
Right.
Pastor Jeff:
31:46-31:47
Yeah, I don't care if you're comfortable.
Mark Ort:
31:48-31:50
Yeah, now padded seats, we're not talking about that kind of stuff.
Mark Ort:
31:51-31:53
Temperature, hot, cold, we're not talking about that.
Mark Ort:
31:53-31:54
Yeah, we
Pastor Jeff:
31:54-31:54
don't mean that.
Pastor Jeff:
31:56-31:56
here,
Mark Ort:
31:57-32:17
when I'm sitting in the seat, I want the Scriptures to cut my heart open. I need that. I need the Scriptures to show me where I'm wrong, where I'm sinful, what do I need to work on so that God gets more glory in my life. And that's uncomfortable.
Pastor Jeff:
32:18-32:54
Yeah, and if we're going to be worried about comfort for unbelievers here, we probably won't preach the Bible at all. We're definitely not going to talk about sin. And we are never going to say the word repent. And you know, it boils down to your fundamental, like your purpose, your mission. Yeah, we want to make disciples, but to me, this assembly here is about believers. But when I saw this question, you know what I was thinking about? You know about when I read Zacchaeus. You remember Zacchaeus?
Pastor Jeff:
32:55-32:56
Up in the tree, man.
Pastor Jeff:
32:56-32:59
Up in the tree. Remember that song we sang when we were kids?
Pastor Jeff:
32:59-33:01
Remember that Zacchaeus song we sang when we were little?
Pastor Jeff:
33:02-33:05
Should we sing that? We should add that to the worship set.
Pastor Jeff:
33:06-33:07
Zacchaeus was a wee little man, right?
Pastor Jeff:
33:08-33:11
You're like, "Well, why was I thinking about Zacchaeus?" Good theology, that's all.
Pastor Jeff:
33:12-33:13
Yeah, there's some great theology.
Pastor Jeff:
33:13-33:14
Here's the thing with Zacchaeus.
Pastor Jeff:
33:15-33:17
God was obviously at work in his heart.
Pastor Jeff:
33:17-33:23
And he wanted to know Jesus so much that he did the most undignified thing possible.
Pastor Jeff:
33:24-33:31
Imagine a grown adult man climbing a tree to try to get a glimpse of Jesus who was passing by.
Pastor Jeff:
33:32-33:33
He was willing to do whatever it took.
Pastor Jeff:
33:34-33:54
And I'm saying, if there's somebody out there, a non-Christian, that's like, "I want to know Jesus. I feel like God's calling me into a relationship with Him, or to understand Him, or whatever, whatever." There are thousands of churches in the area that if they want to be a part of this church, but they're not comfortable being here because of the mask thing, watch online.
Pastor Jeff:
33:55-34:14
But if you're like, "I want a church that maybe does the mask thing and bathes you and hand sanitizes you when you come in or whatever," you could probably find hundreds of churches like that in this area where you could go and seek the Lord in those churches.
Pastor Jeff:
34:14-34:17
You know, we're not the only church in the greater Pittsburgh area.
Pastor Jeff:
34:18-34:31
So the thing that concerns me regarding COVID, and I thought Ben Murphy made a great point in this in one of our ministry team meetings, but there are so many churches that have made COVID the focus.
Pastor Jeff:
34:31-34:37
That COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, wear your mask, sanitize, social distance, spread the chairs, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID.
Pastor Jeff:
34:38-34:39
You know, let's keep safe, let's protect.
Pastor Jeff:
34:40-34:47
And COVID has become the God of the church because that's our focus, that's our attention, that's our thoughts, that's our...
Pastor Jeff:
34:47-34:51
Jesus Christ is the focus of this church, not COVID, right?
Pastor Jeff:
34:52-34:55
We don't want you thinking about that stuff when you come in here.
Pastor Jeff:
34:55-34:59
We want you thinking about Jesus Christ, who he is and what he's done, right?
Pastor Jeff:
35:00-35:04
So I just, you know, I think that it's become a huge distraction.
Mark Ort:
35:05-35:08
Well, it's become more than a distraction.
Mark Ort:
35:08-35:09
It's become an idol.
Mark Ort:
35:10-35:11
And what's an idol?
Mark Ort:
35:12-35:14
It's something we're consumed with, right?
Mark Ort:
35:14-35:16
And Jeff already illustrated that.
Mark Ort:
35:16-35:17
We're consumed with it.
Mark Ort:
35:18-35:18
That's all we hear.
Mark Ort:
35:19-35:24
And you can go through all the buzzwords, and I'm sorry to harp on this, but this is the mask question.
Mark Ort:
35:26-35:28
What do we hear all the time?
Mark Ort:
35:28-35:28
We got Zoom meetings.
Mark Ort:
35:29-35:38
We got social distance, mask wearing, all the stuff that, all the new terms that we're passing around this year.
Mark Ort:
35:38-35:45
And we're not asking anybody to be stupid about mass or we're asking about wisdom with this stuff.
Mark Ort:
35:45-36:00
And my concern this whole year, and I'm learning it myself, is that this is the year that God is tearing down idols in a Christian's life, in his life, and idols in the church.
Mark Ort:
36:00-36:03
I mean, what have we torn down this year?
Mark Ort:
36:03-36:05
We started out, we didn't have sports, right?
Mark Ort:
36:06-36:10
That's a big idol in our, I love sports, but it's become an idol.
Mark Ort:
36:11-36:12
What else?
Mark Ort:
36:12-36:15
Freedoms, like we lost a lot of freedoms this year to do what we wanna do.
Mark Ort:
36:17-36:19
There's so many things that we're losing.
Mark Ort:
36:20-36:21
Like Hollywood,
Pastor Jeff:
36:21-36:24
with movies and all of that stuff shutting down for a while, there's another idol.
Pastor Jeff:
36:24-36:25
Yeah, theaters,
Mark Ort:
36:25-36:28
I was past a theater in Butler yesterday, temporarily closed.
Mark Ort:
36:28-36:32
You know, those kinds of things we're losing.
Mark Ort:
36:33-36:38
And so these idols in our lives are being torn down.
Mark Ort:
36:38-36:39
And what's another idol that we have?
Mark Ort:
36:40-36:41
Health and safety, right?
Mark Ort:
36:42-36:44
Has God ever guaranteed health and safety to us?
Mark Ort:
36:45-36:47
He has not when I read the scriptures.
Mark Ort:
36:47-36:51
In fact, it's oftentimes the opposite, right?
Mark Ort:
36:51-36:58
There's suffering, there's sickness because of sin, but God uses these things in our lives.
Mark Ort:
36:58-37:08
And so my concern this whole year has been, let's not make an idol out of these things.
Mark Ort:
37:09-37:10
I don't wanna get sick.
Mark Ort:
37:11-37:13
I don't wanna be in an accident.
Mark Ort:
37:13-37:15
I don't wanna get stuff for my family.
Mark Ort:
37:15-37:16
I don't want any of it for you.
Mark Ort:
37:18-37:24
But this year has shown me anyway, that we've made these things idols in our lives and God is tearing them down.
Pastor Jeff:
37:25-37:30
Right, and you feel comfortable wearing a mask, wear a mask, that's fine.
Pastor Jeff:
37:31-37:35
But we're not going to make that the subject of the sermon, the focus of the church.
Pastor Jeff:
37:35-37:36
That's Jesus.
Pastor Jeff:
37:36-37:39
I don't care if you wear a batting helmet and a tuxedo to church.
Pastor Jeff:
37:40-37:49
If you think that that's what's going to be safe, the only requirements that we have for dress code at Harvest, dress modestly and don't be distracting, right?
Pastor Jeff:
37:49-37:51
Other than that, whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
37:52-38:07
whatever you want, and you are loved and you are welcomed, but with the limited amount of time we have, I'd rather focus on Jesus Christ and the Word of God versus, we want the church to be different than the world.
Pastor Jeff:
38:08-38:10
You know, like we should stand out.
Pastor Jeff:
38:10-38:11
We should be different.
Mark Ort:
38:12-38:13
And we shouldn't be fearful.
Mark Ort:
38:14-38:16
God said that a couple of times in his Word, right?
Mark Ort:
38:16-38:16
Yeah,
Pastor Jeff:
38:17-38:19
yeah, he said it like hundreds of times in his Word.
Mark Ort:
38:19-38:20
Be wise, but don't fear.
Mark Ort:
38:22-38:25
Is this gonna be the first time ever that we've gotten through all the questions?
Mark Ort:
38:25-38:26
'Cause I have one more.
Mark Ort:
38:27-38:27
Yeah, go ahead.
Mark Ort:
38:28-38:28
All right.
Mark Ort:
38:28-38:29
Yeah, we're gonna do it.
Pastor Jeff:
38:30-38:32
Flat Earth versus round Earth, thoughts?
Pastor Jeff:
38:33-38:36
I might start a riot here, but I believe the Earth is round.
Pastor Jeff:
38:37-38:40
If you believe otherwise, you are still my brother or sister or whatever.
Pastor Jeff:
38:41-38:43
I'm just gonna tell you why I think the Earth is round.
Pastor Jeff:
38:44-38:59
Isaiah 40, 22 says, "It is he who sits above the circle of the Earth." The other reason I believe the earth is round is I look at every other heavenly body, the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets, everything else I see in the sky, what shape is it?
Pastor Jeff:
39:00-39:00
It's round.
Pastor Jeff:
39:00-39:06
So I'm kind of like, well, it makes sense if God's Word says the earth is round and everything I see is round.
Pastor Jeff:
39:08-39:13
Also I can't remember who, but there was, at my old church, there was an astronaut that came and visited.
Pastor Jeff:
39:13-39:16
He was a believer and he came and was part of that.
Pastor Jeff:
39:17-39:20
I can't remember which one, but he was friends with Pastor Bob.
Pastor Jeff:
39:21-39:22
Did you say John Glenn?
Pastor Jeff:
39:22-39:25
I think it might have been John Glenn, but I don't want to say that for sure.
Pastor Jeff:
39:28-39:30
Anyways, that's why I don't believe there's some conspiracy.
Pastor Jeff:
39:31-39:35
I think the earth is round for those reasons.
Pastor Jeff:
39:36-39:39
And I know some people say, "Well, the Bible talks about the four corners.
Pastor Jeff:
39:39-39:45
What is it, Revelation 7?" And I think that's just a figure of speech, north, south, east, west, the four winds.
Pastor Jeff:
39:46-39:48
Yeah, I think it's Revelation 7.
Pastor Jeff:
39:48-39:49
Didn't we go through Revelation in our church?
Pastor Jeff:
39:49-39:51
We talk about Revelation a lot here.
Mark Ort:
39:52-39:53
So...
Mark Ort:
39:53-39:57
But even scientifically, that's another one of those terms, right?
Mark Ort:
39:57-39:57
Follow the science.
Mark Ort:
39:59-40:09
But scientifically, if the earth was flat, I should be able to go out at night and see Pittsburgh, at least the lights of it.
Mark Ort:
40:09-40:13
Maybe it's far enough away, I might not be able to make out the buildings, but shouldn't I be able to see the lights?
Mark Ort:
40:14-40:15
Or Orlando?
Mark Ort:
40:15-40:18
If I look south, shouldn't I see something like that?
Mark Ort:
40:19-40:20
But what do we have to do?
Mark Ort:
40:20-40:26
If I wanna see Pittsburgh, I either have to go up really high so that I can, 'cause there's stuff in the way, right?
Mark Ort:
40:27-40:29
And part of that is the curvature of the earth.
Mark Ort:
40:29-40:39
And so I don't know, it's stuff like, I was on kids' websites and I was reading about flat earth versus round earth.
Mark Ort:
40:39-40:46
And they had some really cool ways to prove to kids that the earth is round and spherical.
Mark Ort:
40:47-40:51
But when we look at scriptures like this, Isaiah told us, didn't he?
Mark Ort:
40:52-40:52
Isaiah said it.
Mark Ort:
40:52-40:53
Yeah,
Pastor Jeff:
40:53-40:54
Isaiah did.
Pastor Jeff:
40:55-40:59
Well, 40, 22, about the circle of the earth.
Pastor Jeff:
41:00-41:02
And honestly, this is one of those things that it just doesn't matter.
Pastor Jeff:
41:03-41:08
They could prove emphatically today that the earth is flat.
Pastor Jeff:
41:08-41:12
And that isn't gonna change anything about my life, honestly.
Pastor Jeff:
41:12-41:16
I'd be like, "Oh, that's interesting." - And it's not gonna change anything.
Mark Ort:
41:16-41:27
Yeah, and it falls in the category of a non-essential, I guess, you know, here at Harvest Bible Chapel, we have to agree on the essentials, right?
Mark Ort:
41:28-41:29
Right, yeah, we agree
Pastor Jeff:
41:29-41:36
on the essentials, but stuff like that, I just gave you the reasons I believe the earth is round, and if you're like, well, I don't, you're still my brother.
Pastor Jeff:
41:37-41:38
How much time
Mark Ort:
41:38-41:38
do we have left?
Pastor Jeff:
41:38-41:41
I think we, I don't know, six seconds.
Pastor Jeff:
41:42-41:43
I'm not even kidding.
Pastor Jeff:
41:43-41:44
I guess we're done.
Mark Ort:
41:44-41:48
Well, Jeff, it's always a pleasure to be up here with you.
Mark Ort:
41:49-41:52
I don't feel adequate in answering questions, obviously.
Mark Ort:
41:55-42:00
There's just a lot about the Bible that I don't know, and that's why I like to study it.
Mark Ort:
42:00-42:04
And so, but I just love sitting under Jeff's teaching.
Mark Ort:
42:05-42:08
I've learned so much out here in the second row.
Mark Ort:
42:09-42:11
I love you, Jeff, and thanks for all you do.
Mark Ort:
42:11-42:13
It's always great to do Q&A day.
Pastor Jeff:
42:13-42:14
Hey, love you bro.
Pastor Jeff:
42:14-42:15
It is a pleasure.
Pastor Jeff:
42:16-42:21
And I think a lot of the ways the Lord prepared us was through prison ministry, right?
Pastor Jeff:
42:21-42:22
'Cause we go into prison.
Pastor Jeff:
42:23-42:24
I met Mark in prison, by the way.
Pastor Jeff:
42:24-42:27
I don't know if you knew that, but Mark and I were cellies in prison.
Pastor Jeff:
42:28-42:31
He shanked a guy for a pack of smokes for me and we were besties ever since.
Pastor Jeff:
42:32-42:33
That was a long time ago.
Mark Ort:
42:33-42:35
Yeah, it was a long time ago.
Mark Ort:
42:35-42:35
Late '90s.
Pastor Jeff:
42:35-42:45
But I think that was a ministry that the Lord really used to grow us because people would come in with all kinds of questions about these things.
Pastor Jeff:
42:46-42:47
And it was Q and
Mark Ort:
42:47-42:48
A day every Friday night.
Pastor Jeff:
42:48-42:51
Every Friday night was Q and A day for like three hours.
Pastor Jeff:
42:52-42:55
So, but the pleasure's all mine, Mark.
Pastor Jeff:
42:55-43:00
Let's, I tell you, why don't you close our time here in prayer while the worship team makes their way forward.
Pastor Jeff:
43:00-43:04
And we wanna thank everybody for the amazing questions that you submitted.
Pastor Jeff:
43:05-43:10
And yeah, I think this is the first time of the 14 times we've done it that we've gotten through all of them.
Pastor Jeff:
43:10-43:14
So thank you, thank you so much for being a part of Q&A Day with us today.
Mark Ort:
43:15-43:16
All right guys, let's pray.
Mark Ort:
43:16-43:19
Lord God, we thank you so much for who you are.
Mark Ort:
43:20-43:40
You are awesome, you are amazing, you're all powerful, all-knowing, a God who is patient with us, kind with us, and a God who offers an infinite amount of love and grace toward us through His Son, through your Son, Lord Jesus Christ.
Mark Ort:
43:41-43:55
So we're here today, Lord, to thank you for that, to give you honor and praise for these questions and for those who ask them, people who legitimately, honestly want to know answers from your Word.
Mark Ort:
43:56-43:58
And Lord, that's what we're here for.
Mark Ort:
43:58-44:00
We want to preach your Word.
Mark Ort:
44:01-44:02
We want to share your Word.
Mark Ort:
44:02-44:06
We want to proclaim what you've said to us in your book.
Mark Ort:
44:07-44:09
And so we thank you for your word.
Mark Ort:
44:09-44:24
We thank you for how it changes us, how it convicts us of sin, how it comforts us, how it gives us instructions on how to live, and how it tells us how we can be in a right relationship with you.
Mark Ort:
44:25-44:28
Lord, we thank you for the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from our unrighteousness.
Mark Ort:
44:29-44:30
We thank you for that, Lord.
Mark Ort:
44:30-44:31
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Questions (Whole Group):

Review the questions submitted above. Discuss any of these that stuck out to you, or that maybe your group finds particularly interesting.

Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another!

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2020

You Will Call Him

My Prince of Peace

Jeff Miller

December 24, 2020

You Will Call Him

Introduction:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
~Isaiah 9:6

Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

When Jesus is My Prince of Peace:

I am at peace with God .
Romans 5:1, 10 - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
I am at peace in my Heart .
John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Philippians 4:6-7 - do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I am at peace with Others .
Romans 16:20 - The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Romans 12:18 - If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:20-01:23
We're going to focus our attention on one verse, verse 6.
01:25-01:29
We just heard on the video, and we're going to read it again.
01:31-01:34
It says, "For to us, a child is born.
01:35-01:37
To us, a son is given.
01:40-01:42
And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
01:45-01:47
And his name shall be called.
01:49-01:51
Wonderful Counselor.
01:53-01:54
Mighty God.
01:55-01:57
Everlasting Father.
01:59-02:00
Prince of Peace.
02:02-02:11
We've been going through each of these four names for Jesus over the past several weeks.
02:14-02:18
Tonight, very simply, we're going to focus on this last one.
02:18-02:21
purpose of peace.
02:23-02:24
Let's talk about peace.
02:27-02:37
You know, Adam and Eve's kids, the first generation born, one brother murdered the other brother.
02:37-02:38
Cain killed Abel.
02:39-02:54
And from that day, you can trace, through human history, you can go through the Bible, and you can go through the last couple thousand years of human history and trace mankind's treatment towards one another.
02:58-02:59
It's been anything but peace.
03:02-03:03
Can't we all just get along?
03:05-03:06
No.
03:08-03:13
No, apparently we cannot all get along.
03:14-03:18
You understand that man really has no concept of total peace.
03:20-03:28
Because mankind has always been at war with someone to some scale, to some degree, throughout all of history.
03:32-03:48
And then, every Christmas, we put on our good clothes, usually red, and we shuffle off to church and some guy gets up in front or maybe we have a kid read it, right Jesse?
03:48-04:20
Or Luke chapter 2, somebody reads it. And especially the part where the angels announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds and they praise God saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." And we We read that verse and in church our hearts just swell and we think, "Oh, oh yes.
04:22-04:23
Peace on earth.
04:24-05:01
Peace on earth." Then on the way home, we yell at the kids, we argue with our spouse, and we turn on the news and we go, "Oh yes, peace on earth." And I just want to ask you tonight, where's the peace? Right? If that's the thing that the angels showed up to announce and that's the name that is given to Jesus, not just peace, the Prince of Peace, where's the peace?
05:03-05:04
Were the angels mistaken?
05:08-05:09
Or are we?
05:11-05:17
Maybe we need to sort of circle back and take a look at what is meant by peace.
05:20-05:31
Because peace means so much more than "the kids are finally asleep." It means so much more than I made up with the neighbors.
05:33-05:36
And it means so much more than merely the absence of war.
05:36-05:41
In the Hebrew, the word peace means fulfillment or wholeness or harmony.
05:42-06:20
Literally, the Hebrew concept of peace was imagine all of these loose ends hanging off of like a garment or a blanket, all these threads, all these strands, all these loose loose ends unraveled, hanging from a garment, and somebody comes along and takes all of these loose ends and they weave them back together into the whole. That's the Hebrew concept of peace. And as we've been studying for the past several weeks, Isaiah lived in a time of darkness. He lived in a time of political corruption.
06:20-06:21
Does that sound familiar?
06:24-06:26
He lived in a time of immorality.
06:26-06:27
Does that sound familiar?
06:29-06:31
He lived in a time of incredible fear.
06:32-06:33
Does that sound familiar?
06:34-06:35
Are we hitting a nerve yet?
06:38-06:42
In Isaiah's day, just as to our day, God sent a message.
06:44-06:46
The message was this, a baby's going to be born.
06:49-06:58
This baby that's born is going to take this unraveled mess that you see before you and he's going to weave it all back together.
06:58-07:00
He's going to put everything right.
07:01-07:06
Because this baby is going to be known as the Prince of Peace.
07:07-07:09
He's going to make it all right.
07:13-07:24
But I need to point out to you that peace isn't going to come in some automatic or passive or gradual or eventual way.
07:26-07:34
This mighty warrior God, this Prince of Peace, He's going to come, and He's going to establish peace.
07:35-07:43
You're like, "Well, what does that look like?" When I was in high school, we had this gym teacher.
07:45-07:46
His name was Mel Simanko.
07:48-07:53
"Kristen, you remember Simanko?" "Yeah, yeah." On a scale of 1 to 10, how scary was he?
07:55-07:56
Off the charts, right?
07:57-08:12
If you can imagine, like, stereotypical, like, 80s movie gym teacher, This gym teacher made those characters look like strawberry shortcake, okay?
08:12-08:14
He was scary.
08:17-08:18
And...
08:22-08:27
He would say things like, "Yeah, you know, he's got a really kind face.
08:28-08:42
The kind I'd like to punch." I think at one point, what was it Aaron? He was like, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as like Canada's meanest man or something like that. I mean this guy was so scary.
08:44-09:11
And I had him for gym class. Well, we would get dressed and go into the into the gym before he would come in. He'd be in his office, you know, hanging out, taking a nap, I don't know, doing a cross from whatever he did in the in the in the office. But all the boys would be in the gym before he would. Now let me ask you what happens when you get a group of about 30 or 40 teenage boys in the same room? What happens?
09:14-09:35
Choir practice, right? Look, I have a 15 year old and a 14 year old. I see what happens. Left unsupervised, teenage boys, you say, don't always make the best decisions, all So, you get all these kids in the gym, and you know what we used to do?
09:35-09:41
We used to take the basketballs and play dodgeball with them, just pelting each other with the basketballs.
09:41-09:47
Then one day, I remember, somebody found the jump ropes, and we took the jump ropes out, and we hogtied this dude, okay?
09:48-09:49
Like, completely hogtied.
09:49-09:54
And we'd be jumping off the bleachers, or climbing the ropes, or all kinds of hijinks.
09:58-10:04
But then when Mr. Semenko walked in, What do you think happened?
10:06-10:11
Everybody immediately on their spot, stone quiet, it looked like a military camp.
10:14-10:15
Like, why are you telling us this story?
10:17-10:25
I just simply want to illustrate that when you're in the presence of someone powerful, that certainly establishes peace in a hurry, doesn't it?
10:27-10:31
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is going to come and reign on the earth.
10:32-10:43
So if this gym teacher was able to establish peace in a room full of rowdy teenagers, what do you think is going to happen when God Almighty is ruling over this earth?
10:43-10:46
What do you think His presence is going to do to establish peace?
10:49-10:53
When the Prince of Peace is present, there will be peace.
10:55-10:57
Tonight I want to ask you, is He present in you?
10:59-11:00
Is He present in you?
11:00-11:03
If you're taking notes, three things I want you to jot down.
11:04-11:11
When Jesus is my Prince of Peace, number one, when Jesus is my Prince of Peace, I am at peace with God.
11:13-11:14
I am at peace with God.
11:18-11:27
This may come as a shock to some of you, Do you realize mankind's natural state is not peace with God?
11:28-11:36
That's why sometimes I cringe when somebody who doesn't know the Lord refers to God as "the big man upstairs." Well, He ain't a man and He ain't upstairs, okay?
11:38-11:43
He is the holy sovereign of the universe, and He's not your buddy by nature.
11:45-11:49
In fact, the Bible says that we're enemies of God.
11:51-11:53
We're born with this sin nature.
11:53-11:57
We're born with this nature that we inherited from Adam and Eve.
11:58-12:01
It's completely self-centered and rebellious.
12:01-12:08
And we insist on bowing down to our own will instead of to the will of the One who created us.
12:11-12:16
That's our natural state as rebellion towards Holy God.
12:17-12:23
And it is here where the work of the Prince of Peace begins, to bring the peace that matters the most.
12:24-12:26
It's peace between God and man.
12:27-12:47
Romans 5, verse 1, look at this, it says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Then verse 10 says, "For while we were enemies, We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
12:47-12:56
Much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life." We were God's enemies.
12:58-13:04
But when you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are no longer an enemy of God.
13:04-13:06
You are at peace with God.
13:07-13:10
I heard somebody say one time that peace always comes at a price.
13:11-13:16
and the price of this peace was the death of the Son of God.
13:17-13:19
We don't like to talk about that much tonight.
13:21-13:36
As at Christmas Eve, we like to think of little baby Jesus in the manger, but the reality is the purpose for Him coming, the reason He laid on that manger, is so He could grow up to be a man and lay down on a cross on our behalf to make peace with God.
13:37-13:38
That's why He came.
13:39-13:40
That's why He's the Prince of Peace.
13:41-13:46
So believing in Jesus, receiving Him means we're no longer enemies with God.
13:46-13:48
God's no longer mad at you.
13:52-13:53
How can that be?
13:55-13:59
When Jesus Christ was on the cross, He took your sin on Himself.
14:01-14:07
And while Jesus was on the cross, God poured His wrath out on Jesus.
14:08-14:11
The wrath for your sin, Jesus took it.
14:13-14:23
Every wrong thing you've ever said, done, every horrible attitude, nasty thought you've ever had, every sin you've ever committed was laid on Jesus.
14:23-14:28
And God punished Jesus the way that I deserve.
14:32-14:37
So if you're a believer in Christ, you never have to worry about the wrath of God.
14:38-14:41
Because you see, Jesus experienced it for you.
14:42-14:46
The Bible says God is satisfied with the payment that Jesus made.
14:48-15:04
But I know some people, even Christians, that think, you know, someday when I stand before God, God's going to be mad at me, and I've got a lot to answer for, and I've got a lot of explaining to do, God's really going to scold me?" Not if you're a believer in Jesus Christ.
15:05-15:14
Because you see, God's not going to punish Jesus for your sin, and then turn around and look at you and say, "Well, I'm still mad about it, so I'm going to punish you too." No.
15:16-15:20
Jesus Christ brought perfect peace between God and man.
15:20-15:32
God, when He sees you, He looks at you through the lens of His Son, It says, "The payment's been made." That's how I'm at peace with God.
15:34-15:38
When Jesus is my Prince of Peace, number two, I'm at peace in my heart.
15:41-15:45
Because we have peace with God, we can have peace in our hearts.
15:49-15:52
It's just too easy to not feel peace right now. Right?
15:53-16:00
We got COVID. We got all this talk about the safety of the vaccine.
16:01-16:09
We got the economy. We got government lockdowns. We got family. We got all of these issues.
16:12-16:14
It's real easy not to feel the peace.
16:17-16:22
But I need to remind us that peace doesn't mean that life is easy.
16:22-16:34
"I heard what he was saying about peace, but my life is a wreck." Peace doesn't mean your life is easy.
16:36-16:42
You're like, "Well, what does it mean?" Peace means I have the calm assurance that God is in control.
16:45-16:50
I have the assurance that God not only is in control, but He's doing what is best.
16:52-16:53
Do you believe that?
16:56-17:01
No matter how things look, God can be trusted.
17:04-17:07
You're like, "Well, how can I have peace at a time like this?
17:08-17:11
I hear what you're saying, but I'm going to be honest with you.
17:11-17:14
I still lie awake a lot at night.
17:14-17:16
I'm still worried about a lot of things.
17:16-17:20
How can I have this peace?" Well, here's the thing.
17:22-17:23
Peace is given.
17:24-17:26
You have to receive peace.
17:27-17:34
Jesus said in John 14.27, "Peace I leave with you." Look at this, "My peace I give to you.
17:34-17:36
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
17:36-17:42
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." Peace can't be achieved.
17:44-17:46
You can't muster up peace.
17:47-17:49
You can't create peace in your heart.
17:49-17:57
You can't wake up some morning and say, "You know what, today I decided I'm going to be at peace." It has to be something that you receive.
18:00-18:05
You can't make it happen, but you can block it from happening.
18:08-18:11
You can refuse to receive peace.
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Like how?
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in some ways, unrepentant sin.
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If you're living a sinful lifestyle, you're not going to feel peace because God's trying to get your attention.
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Unforgiveness.
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If you have hard feelings towards someone and you know the Lord is like, "Hey, make it right.
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Make that phone call.
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Send that message.
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Make it right." And I'm not doing it. I refuse.
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If you're carrying around that unforgiveness, you're blocking the peace that Jesus Christ wants to give you.
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You can block peace by choosing to worry.
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Instead of saying, "I'm going to fix my mind on what God said," you're going to fix your mind on what CNN said.
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You're choosing to worry.
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And one of the biggest ways, according to God, that we can block peace, that we can refuse to receive peace, is prayerlessness.
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What are we doing there?
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Philippians 4 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Look at this next statement.
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"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." How's your prayer life right now?
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Let's do a little exercise.
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We're not gonna check your papers when you leave, by the way.
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But just write it down.
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Your prayer life, on a scale of one to ten, how are we doing?
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One is, "I don't pray at all." And ten is, "I pray without ceasing." Give yourself a number.
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How are you doing in your prayer life?
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And then below that, I want you to write your level of peace.
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One is, "I am a nervous wreck all the time." That's ten, as I am calm.
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Cool as a cucumber, Daddy.
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That's ten.
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What's the correlation between the numbers?
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According to God, and I've experienced this personally, the more you pray, the more peace you have.
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Or to state it in the negative, Maybe you aren't experiencing peace right now because you won't come into the presence of the Prince of Peace.
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Maybe that's your problem.
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But this peace of God surpasses all understanding.
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You know you have the peace of God when the whole world is crashing around you and your response is, "Everything's going to be okay.
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God's got this.
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It just doesn't make any sense.
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The Bible says the peace of God surpasses all understanding.
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And you're like, "Jeff, can you explain that to me?" No!
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I can't explain that to anyone because it passes understanding.
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All I can tell you is this, when you know Jesus Christ and you're spending that time commuting with Him in prayer, and trusting His Word.
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When you do that, you know exactly what I'm talking about right now.
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You get it, or you don't.
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But when you do, you realize Jesus Christ isn't just the Prince of Peace.
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You say, "He's my Prince of Peace. He's the reason I keep going." And finally for tonight, when Jesus is my Prince of Peace, not only am I at peace with God, and I'm at peace in my heart, number three, I'm at peace with others.
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I'm at peace with others.
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We've been spending so much time on Isaiah 9.6.
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I want to look at the next verse for a second.
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It says, verse 7, "Of the increase of His government and of peace, There will be no end.
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Can you just let that marinate for a second?
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How big and awesome and specifically here, peaceful.
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How peaceful is His government going to be when He's ruling over the earth?
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How peaceful is that going to be?
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He says you can't put a cap on it.
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There's no end to it.
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It's eternal.
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He says, "On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore." The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
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This verse is obviously looking forward to His return.
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After the tribulation, Jesus will reign on the earth for a thousand years.
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Revelation 20 talks about that.
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And this verse describes what His reign is going to be like.
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It's going to be permanent, and it's going to be perfect.
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It's going to be total righteousness and justice.
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I've got to tell you, the day is coming.
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Today's coming.
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I don't know if Jesus is sitting on that white horse yet, but there are days that I think I can hear Him opening the barn door to go in and get it.
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Because it's coming, people.
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It's coming.
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It's coming soon.
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What's coming soon?
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Well, when Jesus Christ reigns on the earth, Do you realize injustice is going to be a thing of the past?
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Do you realize during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, people are going to be talking about injustice the way we talk about Y2K?
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Do you remember Y2K? Do you remember Y2K?
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Everyone else, "Do you remember Y2K?" We're like, "Oh yeah, that was crazy." We're all scared like the computers were going to, whatever.
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millennial reign is going to be like.
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People are going to be sitting around going, "Do you remember back in the day when people would just sin and hurt people and get away with it? Do you remember that?" And people are going to be like, "Yeah, man, that was crazy, wasn't it?" And like, "Whew, I'm glad that stopped happening forever and will never start up again." Two, the day's coming. It's coming.
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It's going to be awesome, isn't it?
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Like what about until then?
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What about until that day?
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Well, Romans 12.18 says, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." So perhaps not yet can you be a part of world peace, but today you can have peace in your world.
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I want to commend this to you, an area where the Lord is still teaching me, as far as it depends on you be at peace with those you encounter.
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Church, we are in such a volatile situation right now.
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People are ready to jump at each other's throats for all kinds of reasons.
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And it's easy for me to feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
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"Oh, you want to fight?" That's not what God's called us to.
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As much as it's up to me, and as much as it's up to you, live peaceably with all.
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You see, we have the privilege in His church to live out the peace that's coming.
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We have this awesome opportunity as a church to show the world, When you come in here, you're going to get a preview.
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You're going to get a sampler.
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This is like the teaser trailer of what glory is going to be like, the way that we interact and love and live at peace with one another.
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We can show the world, "Hey, this is what it's like to have a wonderful counselor guiding and instructing us perfectly.
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Hey, look, this is what it's like to have a mighty God who fights all our battles for us.
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This is what it's like to have an everlasting Father who's always with us.
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And look, this is what it's like to have the Prince of Peace who provides harmony by His very presence.
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Peace on earth, huh?
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There's more fighting right now than ever.
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It just seems like more and more people are divided into camps, right?
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And these camps are all at war.
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The Democrats versus the Republicans.
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The mask wearers versus the no-mask wearers.
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Racial tensions. I could go on and on and on.
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The peace out there, it's coming. It's coming.
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But as people who bow to the Prince of Peace, we have peace with God.
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And we have peace in here.
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Therefore, we're going to have peace in here. Amen?
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Bow your heads and pray with me, please.
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Our Father in Heaven is such a hard concept to grasp right now.
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This whole idea of peace, because it just seems like there's a powder keg everywhere.
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People are literally burning cities to the ground.
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People are literally murdering people in the streets over nothing!
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Nations against nations.
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And even so much in America right now, a nation against itself.
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You've provided something better for your people, God, so I pray That is, we are a people who embrace the peace that You brought us with Yourself through Jesus Christ, as we're a people who live according to the peace that passes understanding that guards our hearts.
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As we're a people that live at peace with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and live peaceably with those outside the church.
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Now more than ever, Father, we need to show people what this concept of peace is all about.
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By Your grace, Father, in Your power, by the guidance of Your Spirit and Word, Father, let this church be the preview of glory as we bow our knees to the Prince of Peace.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Isaiah 9:6

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Give a Biblical definition of peace. What does the Bible mean when God speaks of peace?
Explain how the peace Jesus gives is different from the peace the world gives (John 14:27).
Tell of a time you experienced the “peace that passes understanding” during a personal crisis (Philippians 4:6-7). How would you encourage another believer to experience this during their crisis?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

This is Who We Are: Pillar 2

Introduction:

3 Things to Say on Your Way to Church (Psalm 146):

This is Who We Are: Pillar 1

Introduction:

The Life Stages of the One Who Receives God's Word (Psalm 19:7-9):

How to Let the Word Rain on You (Psalm 19:10-14):

Both God and Money

Introduction:

Questions from the Congregation - Part 14

My Prince of Peace

Introduction:

When Jesus is My Prince of Peace:

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

3 Things to Say on Your Way to Church (Psalm 146):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

The Life Stages of the One Who Receives God's Word (Psalm 19:7-9):

How to Let the Word Rain on You (Psalm 19:10-14):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Audio Transcript

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

When Jesus is My Prince of Peace:

Audio Transcript