Why Jesus? Getting Ready for Work

Introduction:

Three Questions to Ask Yourself When You Are Out of Energy (Hebrews 13:18-25)

1. Do I have people Praying for me? (Heb 13:18-19)

   Three Lifehacks to Get People to Pray for You:

   1. Be worth praying for. (Heb 13:18bc)
   2. Give a Request worth praying for. (Heb 13:19)
   3. Ask with Confidence in the power of prayer. (Heb 13:19)
2. Am I trying to do everything in my Own Strength ? (Heb 13:20-21)
3. Have I Isolated myself? (Heb 13:22-25)

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

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:59

  Father, your word tells us that your word is like rain, and when it falls, it produces growth and life.

  01:00-01:01

  We believe that.

  01:04-01:08

  We believe that your word always accomplishes the purposes for which you send it forth.

  01:08-01:14

  So, Father, I pray that we would hear from you today, above all things.

  01:14-01:17

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

  01:18-01:20

  Microphone sound good, James?

  01:20-01:22

  All right, we got the thumbs up from the big guy.

  01:23-01:25

  All right, Hebrews chapter 13, are you there?

  01:28-01:38

  In my 18 year old son, Owen, has an endless supply of energy.

  01:41-01:50

  And we saw this when he was a baby, many, many, many sleepless nights, up all night, Aaron and I taking shifts.

  01:51-02:00

  We just saw, he had a lot of energy, but there's one incident for me, really, really got my attention.

  02:01-02:08

  And that was many, many years ago when he was just a little squirt, we went to Cedar Point and it was a one day trip.

  02:08-02:16

  So we got up early, we drove out, and all day in the park, 90 degrees, walking on the pavement, on the rides, all day.

  02:17-02:25

  And I remember we drove home that night and we got in like 11.30 or midnight.

  02:25-02:28

  Aaron and I just like dragged ourselves into the house.

  02:28-02:29

  We were exhausted.

  02:30-02:32

  Owen runs into the house.

  02:32-02:39

  And I remember he spent all night running laps through the house as he did so often.

  02:39-02:42

  But I thought surely this was going to wear him out And it didn't.

  02:43-02:49

  And I think it was sometime around there that we took him to a doctor to get some tests run.

  02:50-02:55

  And we found that Owen does not produce melatonin.

  02:56-02:58

  You know, the chemical that makes you sleep?

  03:00-03:03

  But instead he constantly produces adrenaline.

  03:05-03:09

  So we have a real life superhero in our family.

  03:10-03:11

  He never gets tired.

  03:11-03:21

  And so many times over the years, Aaron and I have said to each other, where does he get all that energy?

  03:25-03:34

  Where does all of that energy come from to create a human being that never gets tired?

  03:35-03:43

  And I was thinking about that a lot this week because you know, church, We are called to be bold witnesses for Jesus.

  03:45-03:47

  We're called to be godly spouses.

  03:48-03:50

  We're called to be child disciples.

  03:51-03:52

  We're called to be ministers.

  03:53-03:56

  We're called to be perseverers.

  03:56-03:58

  I think that's the word, under trials.

  04:00-04:12

  And we're supposed to do that living in fallen flesh, living in a corrupt world surrounded by people who hate God.

  04:16-04:19

  So where are we going to get the energy for that action?

  04:24-04:33

  Have you ever felt like, you know, "I can't… I can't take another step"?

  04:33-04:34

  Have you ever felt that?

  04:35-04:36

  I'm just so worn out.

  04:36-04:38

  I don't know how I'm gonna make it another day.

  04:40-04:49

  And as we get to the end of Hebrews, the Hebrew writer closes with a reminder of where we get our energy from.

  04:52-05:10

  So today, if you've come to church or you're streaming the church online, and you're asking yourself, "Why am I out of energy?" I wanna ask you three questions.

  05:12-05:17

  All right, so in your outline, three questions to ask yourself when you're out of energy.

  05:19-05:20

  The first one, write this one down.

  05:20-05:23

  Number one, do I have people praying for me?

  05:25-05:26

  Do I have people praying for me?

  05:27-05:28

  Look at verse 18.

  05:32-05:36

  He says, "Pray for us." Stop right there.

  05:37-05:39

  Church, we need to be praying for each other.

  05:41-05:45

  And you're going to see specifically in this context, he's talking about church leadership.

  05:46-06:00

  And he's saying, "Church leaders need prayer." Because if you're a leader in the church in any capacity, you're a prime target for the enemy.

  06:02-06:07

  Because Satan gets the biggest bang for his buck by taking you out.

  06:11-06:19

  Because Satan knows that he can get a lot of people off track if he takes the leader out.

  06:22-06:26

  How many celebrity/famous pastors have we seen?

  06:27-06:36

  I think just over the last 10 years that have gone down, and the fallout that's come from that, it's not an accident.

  06:38-06:44

  Satan knows he can get those followers to fall away if he can take the leader out.

  06:46-06:47

  In fact, I saw that in my own life.

  06:47-06:51

  The very first church that I pastored, I was just interning.

  06:51-07:01

  I was helping with the youth group, and I was teaching the senior high Sunday school, when I was preaching occasionally, and it was just a little country church of about 60 or 70 people.

  07:02-07:08

  And I'm not gonna go into all the details, but the senior pastor suddenly left under very bad circumstances.

  07:10-07:13

  And the elders of the church asked me to fill in.

  07:13-07:25

  And I'm like, "Well, I don't know anything." And they said, "Well, we want you to fill in." And I stepped up and filled in for a season.

  07:26-07:31

  But you have to know that that church of 60 or 70 people turned into a church of about 12.

  07:33-07:36

  Such a hard season of ministry.

  07:39-07:47

  But Satan knows if he can get you off track, he can get the people that are following you off track.

  07:47-08:01

  So listen, church, whether you're a small group leader or you work in Harvest Academy, or you're an elder, or you're a pastor, or whatever you do, Satan's after the people that you love.

  08:03-08:05

  And he'll get them off track by taking you down.

  08:06-08:14

  Whether it's through distraction, or temptation, or discouragement.

  08:15-08:18

  So listen, he says right here, "Pray for us.

  08:18-08:23

  Power comes from prayer, so you need to get people to be praying for you.

  08:24-08:26

  And you're like, "Well, how do I do that?

  08:26-08:34

  "How do I get people to pray for me?" Well, the Hebrew writer gives us three life hacks to get people to pray for you.

  08:35-08:39

  You're like, "Why life hacks?" "Ah, because everything's a life hack nowadays, right?

  08:40-08:52

  "If it's a good idea, it's a life hack." So I thought I would connect with the kids You know how hip I am or something.

  08:54-08:57

  So here's three life hacks to get people to pray for you.

  08:57-08:59

  Letter A, be worth praying for.

  09:01-09:01

  How about that?

  09:02-09:03

  Be worth praying for.

  09:03-09:04

  Look at what he says next.

  09:05-09:21

  He says, "Pray for us, for we are sure "that we have a clear conscience, "desiring to act honorably in all things." "Well, that sounds awfully arrogant." No, no, no, it's not arrogant at all.

  09:22-09:24

  He says, "Look, I want you to pray for us.

  09:24-09:25

  "I'm just being sincere.

  09:26-09:30

  "Our motives are in the right place." Okay?

  09:30-09:31

  We don't have any issue.

  09:31-09:36

  We have a clear conscience that we are sincerely trying to do what God wants us to do.

  09:37-09:40

  We have a clear conscience that our motives are about pleasing the Lord.

  09:41-09:42

  That's really all that matters, right?

  09:42-09:47

  Our motives and, that's why I'm asking for prayer.

  09:47-09:50

  So be worth praying for, right?

  09:52-10:01

  On the other hand, you know, many years ago, I had some people from church approach me because some Jehovah's Witnesses were coming after them.

  10:02-10:03

  So I said, all right, I'll meet with them.

  10:03-10:10

  And I sat down and had, we shall call a lively discussion, me and the Jehovah's Witnesses.

  10:11-10:15

  And as we parted ways, they said, hey, pray for us.

  10:16-10:21

  And I'm like, no, no.

  10:23-10:25

  To spread your lies, no.

  10:27-10:30

  I'll pray that God stops what you're trying to do.

  10:30-10:31

  How about that?

  10:33-10:37

  But the point is this, I'm motivated to pray for you if I really believe that you want what God wants.

  10:38-10:39

  That motivates me to pray for you.

  10:41-10:43

  So you want prayer, be worth praying for.

  10:44-10:49

  Letter B, secondly, three life hacks to get people to pray for you.

  10:49-10:51

  Give a request worth praying for.

  10:53-10:54

  Look at verse 19.

  10:55-11:12

  He says, "I urge you, the more earnestly, to do this," to pray for us, "in order that I may be restored to you the sooner." So apparently the Hebrew writer was away.

  11:12-11:14

  He was anxious to return, right?

  11:16-11:23

  So if you ask for prayer, for something that is worth praying for, you are going to get prayers praying for you.

  11:24-11:25

  Pretty simple, right?

  11:28-11:34

  Have you ever been asked to pray for something, a specific request, that you're not sure if you should pray for?

  11:36-11:38

  Has it ever happened to you?

  11:39-11:41

  Because I gotta tell you, that's happened to me a lot.

  11:42-11:45

  I think of many years of prison ministry when I'd meet with the men in prison.

  11:46-11:48

  Guess what the number one prayer request in prison ministry is?

  11:49-11:49

  Can you guess?

  11:51-11:54

  Yeah, yeah, pray that God gets me out of here.

  11:57-12:00

  And I think to myself, maybe you shouldn't be out.

  12:01-12:02

  I don't know what you did.

  12:04-12:06

  Maybe the best thing is for you to be in here right now.

  12:09-12:11

  So do you know what I always prayed every single time?

  12:12-12:13

  I'd say, okay, let's pray.

  12:14-12:15

  I would pray for justice.

  12:15-12:20

  I would pray, God, you are God of justice, you love justice, and I pray that you would do the right thing in this man's case.

  12:21-12:23

  Every single time, right?

  12:25-12:29

  Or we had a woman one time who said, I pray that I get custody of my kids.

  12:30-12:38

  And it was a sad situation, and I'm thinking, well, maybe right now this isn't a safe situation for your kids, maybe I shouldn't be praying for that.

  12:39-12:40

  So I prayed that they were safe.

  12:43-12:49

  But it's easy to get someone to pray for you when the request is worth praying for, right?

  12:50-12:53

  When it's things like, "Hey, I'm trying to witness to my neighbor.

  12:53-12:56

  Could you pray for me to have an open door?" Or, "You know what?

  12:56-13:01

  I'm going to the school board to try to encourage them in God's truth.

  13:03-13:14

  Could you pray for me?" Or, "The Choices Pregnancy Center, and has been receiving threats, could you please pray that God would protect choices?

  13:15-13:16

  I could go on and on.

  13:16-13:18

  Just give a request worth praying for, right?

  13:20-13:22

  And let her see, this is a huge one.

  13:23-13:25

  Ask with confidence in the power of prayer.

  13:28-13:30

  Ask with confidence.

  13:32-13:34

  Like, look at verse 19 again.

  13:35-13:44

  He says, "I urge you." the more earnestly to do this, in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

  13:44-13:52

  Let me ask you, is that language of that prayer request, is that language fatalistic or is it confident?

  13:52-13:53

  Which is it?

  13:53-13:54

  Shout it out.

  13:55-13:56

  It's confident, isn't it?

  13:57-14:02

  He wasn't saying, I wanna be restored and all we can do is pray.

  14:03-14:05

  Send me good thoughts, good vibes.

  14:09-14:11

  We might as well try praying.

  14:12-14:14

  That's not how he presents it at all.

  14:14-14:19

  He's like, I am begging you to pray for me because I know that it's going to make a difference.

  14:20-14:21

  I know that God is going to move.

  14:21-14:23

  I have such confidence in that.

  14:23-14:26

  I'm begging you, please pray for me.

  14:30-14:36

  And honestly, church, we don't often ask for prayer confidently because let's just be honest.

  14:38-14:40

  A lot of times we just don't believe it's gonna work.

  14:44-14:46

  But you know, we ask for prayer requests.

  14:49-14:52

  Even when we don't believe it's gonna work, sometimes we do that.

  14:52-14:54

  Sometimes we ask not believing.

  14:54-14:57

  Sometimes it's just an opportunity to gossip, right?

  14:59-15:01

  Like, hey, I want you to pray for Pauline.

  15:02-15:10

  Her husband's leaving her because, and it's an opportunity to gossip, or it's an opportunity to complain.

  15:11-15:12

  You know, just pray for me.

  15:12-15:15

  I've been really sick and my nose won't stop running.

  15:15-15:18

  I'm just constantly wiping my nose and snotting all over myself.

  15:19-15:20

  And it's just, I'm so sick of it.

  15:20-15:22

  And now it's just an opportunity to complain.

  15:23-15:27

  Or sometimes we ask for prayer, not believing because we just want to vent.

  15:28-15:30

  I need you to pray for me at work.

  15:30-15:32

  My job's demanding mandatory overtime.

  15:34-15:35

  My supervisor's a punk.

  15:35-15:43

  And that little jerk who works in accounting." Here's the thing, we see it here in the text.

  15:43-15:51

  If you really believe that prayer works, I mean if you really believe that prayer works, it affects even the way that you ask for prayer.

  15:53-15:54

  And we see it here, don't we?

  15:55-15:56

  Very confident.

  15:58-15:58

  Very confident.

  16:00-16:04

  Next month is a month of prayer for us.

  16:05-16:15

  And church, you need to know that your leaders want nothing more than to see God at work and God glorified in this church.

  16:16-16:17

  That's all your leaders want.

  16:19-16:20

  And that's why we put this prayer guide together.

  16:20-16:21

  Did you get one of these?

  16:26-16:36

  These requests in here are all things that are vitally important for you, for your neighborhood, for your family, for your nation.

  16:36-16:39

  These are things worth praying for.

  16:43-16:50

  And we believe that God is going to move, church, as we unite together in prayer.

  16:51-16:59

  Every day, imagine every person from this church going before the throne of God asking Him for the same thing.

  17:03-17:04

  We believe He's going to move.

  17:05-17:13

  Please church, let September be a fresh start in your prayer life.

  17:14-17:18

  We want to help you with that because we believe in the power of prayer.

  17:18-17:19

  Do you?

  17:22-17:28

  Well, if you're out of energy, just have to ask you if you ask people to pray for you.

  17:29-17:31

  Three questions to ask yourself when you're out of energy.

  17:31-17:35

  Number two, am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  17:36-17:39

  Am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  17:40-17:40

  Look at verse 20.

  17:44-17:45

  This is a lot.

  17:46-18:07

  He says, "Now, may the God of peace, "who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, "the great shepherd of the sheep, "by the blood of the eternal covenant." Read that this week and I thought, wow, that's a lot to unpack.

  18:10-18:21

  It's a doxology, really, that contains concepts that he's already covered throughout Hebrews, except maybe you saw it.

  18:21-18:28

  There's two things in there that he talks about that he didn't mention in the rest of the epistle.

  18:29-18:32

  And one of them is that Jesus is our shepherd.

  18:36-18:46

  And another one, and this absolutely floored me, is this is the only place in Hebrews where the resurrection of Christ is specifically mentioned.

  18:47-18:49

  I read that this week and I thought, is that true?

  18:50-18:55

  I couldn't think of any place else in Hebrews where he specifically mentions the resurrection of Jesus.

  18:58-19:08

  And as he closes the epistle, he's like, hey, can't leave these out because here's a couple of key truths that we need to make sure that we get down.

  19:08-19:11

  First of all, we're helpless and defenseless sheep.

  19:12-19:14

  We need the guidance and protection of a shepherd.

  19:17-19:20

  And we certainly can't leave out the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

  19:20-19:23

  The resurrection of Jesus proved that he is God.

  19:25-19:34

  And it is through faith, not only in the death of Jesus Christ, but in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we are promised a resurrection of our own.

  19:37-19:44

  But until that day, we cannot live the Christian life in our own power.

  19:46-19:49

  We can't do what God's called us to do in our own strength.

  19:49-19:50

  Look at verse 21.

  19:51-20:18

  He says, "May the God of peace," and then verse 21, "equip you with everything good "that you may do His will, "working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, "Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory "forever and ever, amen." You see, he equips us to do his will.

  20:18-20:19

  How does he do that?

  20:19-20:21

  See the language, he's working in us.

  20:21-20:23

  He's working through Jesus Christ.

  20:23-20:25

  This is what the Holy Spirit does.

  20:26-20:29

  He empowers us for everything that God calls us to do.

  20:32-20:33

  And I gotta tell you, that takes the pressure off.

  20:35-20:37

  because I don't have to try to perform for God.

  20:39-20:40

  I don't have to say, you know what?

  20:40-20:48

  I'm gonna try really hard to do some things for God and maybe God will be happy with me if I do that.

  20:48-20:49

  That's not how it works.

  20:50-20:54

  You see, God supplies the power for the work that he wants to do through me.

  20:59-21:01

  There's only one thing that you need to do.

  21:04-21:06

  And that's know him.

  21:07-21:07

  That's it.

  21:09-21:09

  That's your job.

  21:10-21:11

  That's what God wants from you.

  21:12-21:17

  He wants you to know him, to enter into relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

  21:17-21:18

  That's what he wants.

  21:21-21:23

  And he's gonna take care of everything.

  21:25-21:28

  You see that verse 21, he is the one that's going to equip you.

  21:30-21:36

  So if you're out of energy, You need to ask yourself, where am I getting my power from?

  21:36-21:38

  Am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  21:41-21:44

  Or am I just allowing God to be at work through me by the power of his spirit, right?

  21:46-21:49

  So three questions to ask yourself if you're out of energy.

  21:50-21:52

  Do I have people praying for me?

  21:53-21:55

  Am I trying to do everything in my own strength?

  21:55-21:58

  And the last one, have I isolated myself?

  22:00-22:01

  Look at verse 22.

  22:03-22:14

  He says, "I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly." Briefly.

  22:15-22:16

  LOL.

  22:20-22:22

  I guess it's a relative term, isn't it?

  22:23-22:23

  Briefly.

  22:25-22:26

  I mean, it's a relative term.

  22:27-22:31

  If you sat down and just read Hebrew straight through, you could do it in under an hour.

  22:31-22:32

  So that's brief, right?

  22:34-22:37

  But then I got the old calculator out and I started doing some math.

  22:37-22:43

  Do you know in this series, including this sermon, we've had 33 sermons from Hebrews.

  22:46-22:49

  And each sermon is about 35 minutes.

  22:49-22:50

  We're gonna do the averages.

  22:50-22:51

  Is that all right, Taylor?

  22:51-22:53

  35, is that fair?

  22:53-22:54

  Okay, Taylor says that's fair.

  22:55-22:57

  About 35 minutes is the average.

  22:57-23:03

  That means sermon time in Hebrews is 1,155 minutes.

  23:05-23:06

  I think I got them all.

  23:07-23:10

  That's 19 hours and 15 minutes.

  23:12-23:13

  He's like, I wrote to you briefly.

  23:18-23:31

  So much more could be said, but under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, This is God's perfect explanation of the New Covenant and all of the implications of the New Covenant.

  23:33-23:35

  Look at verses 23-25.

  23:36-23:46

  He says, "You should know that our brother Timothy has been released with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.

  23:49-24:49

  all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you. He closes, he mentions Timothy, he mentions leaders and saints, he even mentions them Italian Christians. And it's just a reminder for us, I think it was a reminder for the Hebrew audience and it's definitely a reminder for us as well, that we're part of a body by design and we need each other. That's the way God designed it. Like, none of us are in this alone and we're not supposed to be, but some Christians are happy to isolate and and streaming and all of the tech and all of that, that's been a great thing.

  24:49-24:52

  We've been able to reach more people than we've ever been able to reach.

  24:54-24:57

  But the downside of that is some Christians are happy to just isolate.

  24:58-25:22

  I just go to church at home streaming, or I've heard so many people say this, you know, some TV preacher, "That's my pastor and that's my church." And hey, it's great to watch those things, some of them, but nothing replaces in-person worship.

  25:23-25:33

  Nothing replaces in-person praying for one another and fellowshipping with one another and coming under the teaching of God's word together.

  25:33-25:37

  There's nothing that replaces in-person worship.

  25:41-25:42

  Now I don't know if you heard the rumors.

  25:43-25:47

  They're talking about lockdowns and shutdowns in September and October.

  25:47-25:48

  Have you heard that rumor?

  25:49-25:51

  I'll tell you something that's not a rumor.

  25:52-25:54

  I know a church that's not locking down.

  25:55-25:56

  (congregation cheering)

  26:01-26:02

  We will be open.

  26:06-26:08

  Look at verse 23 again.

  26:11-26:14

  'Cause there's a phrase here that really just stood out to me.

  26:18-26:23

  The first three words of verse 23, he's talking about Timothy being released.

  26:23-26:24

  We don't really know what's going on.

  26:25-26:27

  Your Bible says the same thing mine does.

  26:27-26:30

  Was he in prison or released for service from a church?

  26:30-26:31

  Who knows?

  26:31-26:33

  We don't know, not important.

  26:33-26:35

  But here's something that stood out to me.

  26:37-26:43

  The first three words, he said, "You should know." You should know, do you know what that implies?

  26:45-26:53

  That implies I know that you care about Timothy, so you need to know what's going on with him.

  26:57-27:07

  You see, church, caring about others, being together, identifying with the body.

  27:11-27:13

  None of us are called to isolation.

  27:14-27:18

  There is no such thing as a detached, isolated Christian.

  27:18-27:20

  There's just, there's just no such thing.

  27:22-27:23

  We're called to be part of a body.

  27:25-27:28

  And for the body to function, the members have to be together.

  27:29-27:29

  All right?

  27:33-27:37

  Aaron told me this story just a couple of days ago.

  27:38-27:39

  And I'm like, wow, what a great illustration.

  27:41-27:45

  But she has a friend that told this story to her.

  27:45-27:47

  So if there are any more details, you have to ask Aaron.

  27:47-27:49

  But her friend told her this story.

  27:49-27:50

  She lives down South.

  27:50-27:54

  And she said that their church was doing pictures for the church directory.

  27:56-27:56

  Okay.

  27:57-28:27

  And the way they did this was you go, you show up and a photographer takes your picture, well, takes many pictures actually of your family, you know, different poses and, you know, then after they take all the pictures, you have a Zoom meeting with somebody else and they review your pictures through Zoom and they help you pick the best one that the photographer took, all right?

  28:28-28:33

  So this friend was telling Aaron 'cause she knows this family from the church.

  28:33-28:39

  The family has a dad, a mom, a son, and a baby.

  28:40-28:40

  Are you with me?

  28:41-28:43

  A dad, a mom, a son, and a baby.

  28:44-28:55

  All right, so they showed up and they got all these pictures, you know, human pyramid, okay, how about, you know, just the couple and okay, you holding the baby and all these different combinations of these pictures.

  28:57-29:13

  And when they had the Zoom meeting, The person from the photography company said, "Hey, here's the picture that best represents your family." And they put the picture up, and it was a picture of just the mom and dad and baby.

  29:16-29:30

  And they said, "This is the picture "that best represents your family." And the mom said, "That doesn't best represent our family, "because we're not all in the picture." And the photographer says, "No, no, no, no.

  29:31-29:40

  "I looked at all of them and this is the best one." And the mom said, "It's not the best one.

  29:42-29:59

  "The best one would be the one "that has our whole family in it." Did you catch the implication that the photography company employee was making here.

  30:01-30:03

  This is the best picture.

  30:04-30:07

  This is the best representation of your family and your son really doesn't matter.

  30:11-30:12

  He doesn't matter to this.

  30:14-30:18

  And the family felt a little different about that.

  30:20-30:23

  Like, yeah, the son does matter because he's part of our family.

  30:25-30:27

  And I would say, church, it's the same thing here.

  30:28-30:29

  We all matter.

  30:31-30:32

  Every one of us.

  30:34-30:34

  So be here.

  30:37-30:37

  Get involved.

  30:39-30:43

  However, God has gifted you, get involved.

  30:45-30:46

  And somebody might be saying, you know what?

  30:47-30:49

  I really don't need the church.

  30:51-30:51

  Yeah?

  30:52-30:54

  Well, maybe the church needs you.

  30:56-31:01

  And maybe, maybe you're out of energy because you've isolated yourself.

  31:04-31:05

  Are you spiritually gassed?

  31:08-31:13

  Well God always provides energy in the same three ways.

  31:14-31:15

  Right?

  31:15-31:20

  It's prayer, it's His Spirit, and it's other believers.

  31:21-31:24

  That is how God is going to energize you.

  31:25-31:30

  For everything he's called you to and everything he wants you to do.

  31:32-31:34

  Our worship team would make their way forward.

  31:37-31:39

  You know, this is the last sermon in Hebrews.

  31:40-31:41

  Anybody else a little sad about that?

  31:45-31:49

  And you know, we started this whole series, when was that, in December?

  31:49-31:52

  We started this whole series in December with one question.

  31:54-31:56

  We asked just one question.

  31:58-32:01

  The question is, why Jesus?

  32:05-32:06

  Why Jesus?

  32:07-32:10

  Meaning, why is Jesus such a big deal?

  32:11-32:13

  Why are we worshiping Jesus?

  32:14-32:16

  Why do we talk about Jesus?

  32:16-32:21

  Why do we give so much money for the kingdom of Jesus Christ?

  32:21-32:23

  Why Jesus?

  32:25-32:26

  We found our answer.

  32:28-32:29

  Why Jesus?

  32:30-32:35

  Because even as awesome as angels are, Jesus is greater than the angels.

  32:36-32:37

  Why Jesus?

  32:37-32:42

  Because even as awesome as Moses was, then the Old Testament, Jesus is greater than Moses.

  32:43-32:44

  Why Jesus?

  32:45-32:46

  He is a rest.

  32:47-32:48

  Why Jesus?

  32:48-32:49

  He gives us access to God.

  32:51-32:52

  Why Jesus?

  32:52-32:56

  Because like Melchizedek, he is a king and a high priest.

  32:57-32:57

  He's both.

  32:59-33:00

  Why Jesus?

  33:00-33:04

  Because he's the final sacrifice for sin because he takes our sin away.

  33:04-33:05

  That's why Jesus.

  33:06-33:06

  Why Jesus?

  33:07-33:10

  Because he makes us perfect in the sight of God.

  33:11-33:12

  Why Jesus?

  33:12-33:16

  because faith in Jesus pleases God.

  33:17-33:17

  Why Jesus?

  33:17-33:21

  Because he's given us everything for here and for all of eternity.

  33:22-33:23

  Why Jesus?

  33:23-33:25

  Because he will never leave you or forsake you.

  33:26-33:27

  Why Jesus?

  33:27-33:30

  Because his very presence takes away all of our fears.

  33:32-33:33

  Why Jesus?

  33:34-33:39

  He equips me with everything good to do his will.

  33:41-33:43

  That's why Jesus.

  33:44-33:44

  Let's pray.

  33:45-34:03

  Father in heaven, we thank you so much for this incredible book that just bridges the gap between the covenant you made with Israel and the covenant you made through the blood of Jesus Christ.

  34:07-34:18

  And Father, today I just lift up my brothers and sisters here And God, I confess to you, there's a lot of times that I feel like I'm out of gas, that I don't have the energy to take another step.

  34:19-34:29

  And as your amazing book of Hebrews closes, God, we found where you provide the energy to do the things that you have called us to do.

  34:30-34:58

  So Father, it's just simply my prayer today that we'd stop looking in all these other places to get energized. And we turn to the incredible resources that you've given us. And all glory and honor and praise and power be unto your name. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 13:18-25

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Feeling spiritually gassed? Which of these 3 things (prayers from others, walking in the Spirit, and fellowship in the body) do you feel most lacking in your life right now? How are you going to go after it?
   

3. Why is in-person worship and fellowship so vital to your walk? How can “only going to church online” rob you of blessing?
   

4. Have you ever been asked to pray for something you felt you shouldn’t pray for? How did you respond? Why is it important to give people good reasons to pray for you (Heb 13:18-19)?

Breakout
Pray for one another!

Why Jesus? Follow the Leaders

Introduction:

5 Habits of Highly Victorious Christians (Hebrews 13:7-17)

1. They Imitate the faith of the faithful. (Heb 13:7-8)
2. They Fact-check all bible teaching. (Heb 13:9)
3. They manage their Expectations . (Heb 13:10-14)
4. They view worship as Sacrifice . (Heb 13:15-16)
5. They Obey their leaders. (Heb 13:17a)

   John 13:20 - Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

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

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:52

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Hebrews chapter 13.

  00:53-00:55

  And while you're turning there, let's just pause for a moment.

  00:55-01:00

  And I would ask again that you pray for me, and I will pray for you.

  01:01-01:06

  God's word is a big deal to God, and it is a big deal to us.

  01:06-01:09

  So we want to approach it as such.

  01:09-01:10

  Let's pray.

  01:13-01:22

  Father, glorify your name as we all come under the authority of your word, we all have opinions.

  01:24-01:30

  And sometimes our opinions and thoughts on things directly contradict your word.

  01:31-01:32

  And we're the ones that need to change.

  01:33-01:37

  So I pray, Father, that your word would do your work today.

  01:40-01:43

  Open our hearts to receive it, Father, we pray in Jesus' name.

  01:44-01:48

  And all of God's people said, Amen, amen.

  01:49-01:51

  Show of hands, how many people here have been to Disney World?

  01:52-01:53

  Disney World, all right.

  01:54-02:01

  I've been there a couple of times, once when I was very young, and once a few years ago when my kids were younger.

  02:01-02:06

  And you know the most amazing thing you will see at Disney World?

  02:06-02:07

  Do you know what it is?

  02:08-02:10

  The most amazing thing you will see at Disney World?

  02:10-02:14

  And this isn't a matter of opinion, this is a matter of fact, by the way.

  02:14-02:15

  Do you know what the most amazing thing is?

  02:17-02:18

  A crying child.

  02:22-02:26

  You're like, I've seen a lot of that at Disney World, Pastor Jeff.

  02:26-02:27

  How is that so amazing?

  02:27-02:28

  Think about it.

  02:30-02:42

  Did you ever go up to one of them kids, and you kneel down, and you say, "Precious lamb, you know your parents don't want to be here.

  02:45-02:56

  and your dad spent a lot of money and is walking through this horrible heat and these terrible crowds because he wanted to give you a good time.

  02:57-02:59

  So stop crying!

  03:00-03:04

  I mean, you wanna do that, but you can't actually do that, right?

  03:05-03:06

  Unless it's your own kid, I suppose.

  03:09-03:10

  But what's the point?

  03:10-03:11

  The point is this.

  03:12-03:16

  Christians, we have more reason for joy than anybody.

  03:18-03:25

  But honestly, sometimes Christians, the church, we stand around like the kid crying at Disney World.

  03:28-03:28

  Why?

  03:30-03:36

  Do you realize, we will never face God's judgment because of what Christ accomplished on our behalf.

  03:37-03:39

  We have no fear of death.

  03:39-03:45

  Someday you are going to die and I'm going to die And there is nothing to worry about because of Jesus Christ.

  03:46-03:50

  And the Bible says that God has given us eternal rewards.

  03:50-03:50

  What are they?

  03:51-03:54

  I don't know, but they're going to be awesome, and we're going to have them for eternity.

  03:55-03:57

  Shouldn't we have more joy than anybody?

  03:58-04:00

  So why are we standing around crying all the time?

  04:02-04:08

  I mean, there are some Christians that generally seem to live in joy and victory.

  04:11-04:15

  But there are many Christians that just kind of walk around feeling defeated all the time.

  04:17-04:19

  I want to ask you, how are you feeling today?

  04:21-04:23

  Are you feeling victorious or are you feeling defeated?

  04:27-04:31

  And look, I'm not going to pretend that I don't struggle.

  04:31-04:32

  A lot of you know the struggles that I have.

  04:35-04:38

  And sometimes it's hard for me.

  04:38-04:43

  And I turn to the Bible and I read things like, faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

  04:43-04:44

  What is that?

  04:44-04:46

  First John five, right?

  04:47-04:53

  And I go to my Bible and I read, Jesus said, I have overcome the world.

  04:53-04:54

  It's at John 16.

  04:55-04:57

  And I'm like, okay.

  04:57-04:59

  And then I turn, what is it?

  04:59-05:03

  Romans eight says that we are more than conquerors.

  05:03-05:04

  And I'll be honest with you.

  05:04-05:11

  There's just too many times in my life that I'm like, yeah, I believe that, but I don't feel very victorious today.

  05:12-05:15

  Anybody else resonate with that?

  05:16-05:22

  I know, I know what it says, but sometimes I'm just not feeling it.

  05:26-05:27

  Well, that can change today.

  05:29-05:46

  So today, if you're feeling defeated, as we get on this home stretch of Hebrews here, We spent all this time in all this really deep, profound theology, and now he's closing with like a shotgun blast of like practical application.

  05:47-05:52

  And today, Christian, if you're feeling defeated, he gives us five things that victorious Christians do.

  05:53-06:02

  So on your outline, "Five Habits of Highly Victorious Christians." Sorry Mr. Covey for that title.

  06:04-06:05

  Two of you got that.

  06:05-06:08

  Five habits of highly victorious Christians.

  06:08-06:10

  Number one, write this down.

  06:10-06:12

  They imitate the faith of the faithful.

  06:13-06:15

  You wanna be a victorious Christian?

  06:16-06:16

  Start here.

  06:18-06:20

  They imitate the faith of the faithful.

  06:20-06:21

  Look at verse seven.

  06:21-06:29

  It says, "Remember your leaders, "those who spoke to you the word of God.

  06:31-06:37

  "Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

  06:38-06:39

  Stop there.

  06:39-06:48

  He says, look at your leaders, look at people that are walking with Christ faithfully and look at what their lives have become.

  06:53-06:56

  You look at somebody, we all know people like this.

  06:57-07:04

  We all know somebody that you would be like, you know what, he really seems like he gets it.

  07:04-07:08

  He really seems like he has a strong walk with the Lord.

  07:08-07:10

  Look at this guy, his family is strong.

  07:10-07:12

  He has a strong marriage.

  07:12-07:14

  He has a great relationship with his kids.

  07:15-07:18

  He's confident in what he believes.

  07:18-07:21

  And he's not worried about what other people think.

  07:23-07:26

  You know, I've never seen him worry about the future.

  07:26-07:28

  He doesn't seem to worry about finances.

  07:30-07:34

  You know, he's endured so much in his life, yet somehow he seems so positive.

  07:37-07:39

  Do you know somebody like that?

  07:41-07:45

  We all do, but the question is, do you want a life like that?

  07:47-07:49

  Well, he tells you what to do, right?

  07:49-07:55

  Look at the last three words in verse seven, imitate their faith, right?

  07:56-08:02

  He doesn't say imitate them like, you know, I'm gonna get a shirt like his, and then I'll have a life like his.

  08:02-08:04

  He's imitate their what?

  08:04-08:04

  Say it.

  08:06-08:07

  Imitate their what?

  08:07-08:08

  Imitate their faith.

  08:08-08:12

  In other words, he says, look, believe like they believe.

  08:15-08:16

  Nothing profound here.

  08:17-08:18

  Believe like they believe.

  08:18-08:22

  And you're like, okay, I know that's nothing profound, but how do I know that's gonna work?

  08:23-08:24

  How do I know that's gonna work for me?

  08:25-08:26

  And I'm so glad you asked, because look at verse eight.

  08:27-08:37

  It says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday "and today and forever." How do I know it's gonna work for me?

  08:37-08:39

  Because Jesus doesn't change.

  08:39-08:40

  That's how.

  08:41-08:46

  What Jesus was to them, Jesus is to us today.

  08:47-08:57

  So that person that you know, that has that strong walk with Christ and relationship seems to be in order and seems to be at peace with God.

  08:57-09:00

  And do you know how they got there?

  09:01-09:03

  I can tell you exactly how they got there.

  09:04-09:04

  Here's how.

  09:06-09:09

  They believed that Jesus Christ died for their sin.

  09:09-09:12

  They believed that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to give them eternal life.

  09:12-09:14

  They received him by faith.

  09:14-09:21

  And in so doing, the Holy Spirit came and indwelt them, giving them the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

  09:21-09:24

  And their passion is serving Jesus Christ.

  09:24-09:26

  That's how they got where they are.

  09:27-09:28

  Every single time.

  09:29-09:33

  Every person that you know, we could go around the room and get the names.

  09:33-09:35

  Who's the strongest Christian that you know?

  09:35-09:37

  They all have the same story.

  09:39-09:40

  Because it's not about them.

  09:42-09:45

  It's about the person that they believe in.

  09:46-09:46

  It's about Jesus.

  09:48-09:56

  And because he doesn't change, I know that I have access to that same power, that same life, that same faith, right?

  09:56-10:11

  And as a pastor, I can look at preachers that are heroes, like Charles Spurgeon or John Piper or John McArthur, and I'm like, man, those guys are incredible preachers, and how can I have a life like theirs?

  10:13-10:16

  Same Jesus, that's how, right?

  10:19-10:25

  Understand that Christian that you're looking up to They don't have some secret Jesus.

  10:26-10:29

  They don't have like bonus content in their Bibles.

  10:31-10:31

  (congregation laughing)

  10:32-10:40

  Like, you know, if you had these extra pages like I have, you'd have a life like, it's the same, same God, same Jesus, same word.

  10:42-10:43

  You know, I think of Barnabas.

  10:44-10:50

  You know, he's gonna be here, our missionary friend in Thailand, he's gonna be here speaking October 15th.

  10:50-10:51

  You do not wanna miss that.

  10:52-10:54

  I'm like, man, I want a ministry like his.

  10:54-10:56

  I talked to him one time when he was home.

  10:56-10:58

  Like, what drives you?

  10:58-11:01

  He said, one verse, 1 Corinthians 9, 23.

  11:02-11:04

  I do all things for the sake of the gospel.

  11:04-11:06

  He said, that verse drives everything.

  11:06-11:08

  That has such an impact on me.

  11:08-11:10

  Everything for the sake of the gospel.

  11:10-11:13

  Everything I do for the sake of the gospel.

  11:13-11:16

  And see, I can imitate that.

  11:18-11:19

  Same Jesus.

  11:21-11:24

  So it's nothing complicated here out the gate.

  11:24-11:27

  Look at those who are strong in the Lord and follow Jesus like they do.

  11:29-11:44

  All right, regard the word like they do, pray fervently like they do, acknowledge the Lord in everything like they do, and you're going to find that the same victory that they have in Jesus Christ is the same victory that you will have in Jesus Christ because it's the same Jesus.

  11:47-11:52

  So the first habit of a highly victorious Christian, imitate the faith of the faithful, right?

  11:52-11:58

  Number two, here's a cringy word for you to put on your outline.

  11:58-12:02

  Number two, they fact check all Bible teaching, fact checkers.

  12:02-12:07

  I encourage you to be a fact checker, a biblical fact checker.

  12:09-12:10

  What do you mean?

  12:10-12:11

  Look at verse nine.

  12:12-12:17

  He says, "Do not be led away "by diverse and strange teachings.

  12:18-12:29

  "For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, "not by foods which have not benefited "those devoted to them." Strange teachings, right?

  12:29-12:30

  It's Satan's oldest gimmick.

  12:31-12:33

  He's done the same thing from the beginning.

  12:33-12:38

  He uses unbiblical teaching to entice God's people away from the truth.

  12:43-12:47

  And I gotta be honest with you, as a pastor, That's one of my biggest concerns for the church.

  12:50-12:55

  And this church is just not using discernment.

  12:57-12:58

  That's one of my biggest concerns.

  13:00-13:03

  We have a whole sermon series coming up about discernment.

  13:03-13:04

  It's June of next year.

  13:05-13:06

  Write that down on your calendar.

  13:10-13:12

  But I gotta talk about it for a couple moments here.

  13:14-13:20

  Because, listen, there are so many Bible teachers out there serving up nonsense.

  13:22-13:24

  I've unlocked the code.

  13:26-13:27

  Jesus was actually two people.

  13:27-13:32

  He was the Son of God, and He was the human Jesus of Nazareth.

  13:32-13:33

  He was two separate people.

  13:35-13:39

  And if you have enough faith, you'll be wealthy, and you have the power to heal yourself.

  13:39-13:41

  And the Bible isn't really all true.

  13:41-13:44

  There's lots of ways to heaven, but there really is no hell.

  13:44-13:45

  Love wins.

  13:45-13:48

  And here's one that drives me nuts.

  13:48-14:04

  The people that are like, well, this is what the Bible says, but let me explain to you a meaning behind this passage that isn't readily available if you just read the passage, but it's something that the Lord told me.

  14:04-14:20

  And it actually means something completely different And you're like, "Well, you know, these people, they kind of sound Christian." And that's the problem.

  14:20-14:21

  They sound Christian.

  14:21-14:24

  These people use Bible terms.

  14:24-14:26

  They use Bible words.

  14:26-14:27

  And we're like, "Oh, okay.

  14:27-14:33

  They're speaking the same language we are." But they're not representing the Word of God straightforwardly.

  14:34-14:36

  That's a concern for me.

  14:37-14:50

  That's a concern for me when I go to conferences and see hundreds and thousands of people at times I've seen, you know, hearing this false teaching and just sitting there nodding their heads or writing it down.

  14:50-14:58

  "Oh, this is really profound." I'm like, "This is heresy." Or people hijacking a small group because they have their own agenda.

  14:59-14:59

  You know, come with me.

  14:59-15:02

  I know the real secret teachings of the Bible.

  15:04-15:11

  trying to lead you away by teaching something goofy.

  15:14-15:15

  Church, we gotta have discernment.

  15:16-15:18

  We gotta have discernment.

  15:19-15:20

  Otherwise we end up like toddlers.

  15:20-15:21

  You know what toddlers do?

  15:21-15:24

  They stick everything in their mouth, don't they?

  15:25-15:28

  Toddlers and puppies, everything goes straight to the mouth.

  15:29-15:37

  There's no discernment, whether it's food or dirt or a bug or whatever, just all goes straight to the mouth.

  15:37-15:40

  And church, we end up just like that, right?

  15:40-15:43

  Everything that we can get in our mouth, eat it up.

  15:47-15:54

  You can't let a three-year-old pick their diet, can you?

  15:55-15:58

  If you do, they'll never live to see four, right?

  16:00-16:02

  And it's the same problem in the church.

  16:02-16:24

  if we don't learn how to filter everything through the Word of God. And you're like, "Diabolical. What about you?" Yes, me too. Everything that I say, you should be able to go back to the text and say, "Yes, that appears to be exactly what God is saying in in this text, fact check me on everything.

  16:30-16:33

  You're like, okay, so what does this have to do with victory again?

  16:35-16:37

  Oh yeah, look at verse nine again.

  16:40-16:50

  It says, "For it is good for the heart to be strengthened "by grace, not by foods which have not benefited "those devoted to them." Here we go.

  16:51-16:55

  For these Jews, understand, they had so many laws about food.

  16:58-17:03

  And they held this belief that external things give spiritual value.

  17:04-17:07

  You know what you call that when you think external things give spiritual value?

  17:07-17:08

  You know what you call that?

  17:09-17:11

  That's called superstition, honestly.

  17:13-17:16

  And you're like, "Well, I'm so glad we're enlightened and we're not superstitious like that.

  17:18-17:20

  I think we're worse in a lot of ways, right?

  17:21-17:23

  We do worse things.

  17:24-17:36

  In our day, it's lent, or praying, counting beads, or lighting candles, or baptizing babies.

  17:37-17:38

  Why do we do all of those things?

  17:39-17:40

  Some of you are squirming right now.

  17:41-17:41

  Why do we do all those things?

  17:42-17:46

  Because we believe that those things impart spirituality, but they don't.

  17:48-17:49

  They just don't.

  17:49-17:53

  Food doesn't strengthen the heart, neither do any of these externals.

  17:53-17:59

  And here's the point, you're never gonna feel victorious if you think you're going to grow spiritually from the outside in.

  18:00-18:05

  If you think doing these things is going to somehow help you level up in your Christian walk, they don't.

  18:06-18:07

  They don't do it.

  18:09-18:12

  There's only one thing that strengthens your heart.

  18:13-18:14

  You're like, what is it?

  18:14-18:16

  So it's right here in the text, did you see it?

  18:16-18:19

  He said, "It's good for the heart "to be strengthened by grace." There it is.

  18:21-18:27

  That strengthens the heart knowing that God has done everything for me in Jesus Christ.

  18:27-18:30

  God has provided everything for me in Jesus Christ.

  18:32-18:38

  So if you wanna feel victorious in your Christian walk, I just wanna encourage you, use discernment.

  18:40-18:41

  Don't get suckered.

  18:43-18:44

  Be a biblical fact checker.

  18:46-18:49

  All right, five habits of highly victorious Christians.

  18:49-18:52

  Number three, they manage their expectations.

  18:54-18:55

  They manage their expectations.

  19:01-19:06

  Verses 10 through 14 are very difficult verses, but you slow down for a second and take your time.

  19:07-19:08

  Really not, okay?

  19:09-19:10

  Look at verses 10 and 11.

  19:10-19:11

  Let's understand what he's saying here.

  19:12-19:20

  He says, "We have an altar from which those who serve the tent," that's the tabernacle, we've already been talking about that through this whole book, right?

  19:22-19:25

  "From which those who serve the tent, bless you, have no right to eat.

  19:27-19:38

  For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp." Stop there.

  19:38-19:40

  Well, hang on, what is he talking about?

  19:42-19:45

  He's talking about the day of atonement.

  19:46-19:48

  Just jot this down, you can fact check me.

  19:49-19:51

  Leviticus 16, 27.

  19:53-19:54

  What's he talking about?

  19:54-19:54

  Here's what he's talking about.

  19:55-20:01

  You see, under the Old Testament system, the priests were allowed to eat the sacrifices.

  20:01-20:03

  That was kind of part of their pay, right?

  20:03-20:11

  They could eat the sacrifice, but they could not, They absolutely could not eat the sin offering from the day of atonement.

  20:11-20:12

  They could not eat that.

  20:15-20:26

  What they did, again, look at Leviticus 16, they sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, and then they took the carcasses of the animal outside the camp to burn them.

  20:27-20:28

  That's what he's talking about.

  20:28-20:31

  He's just reminding them like, hey, remember how it works on the day of atonement?

  20:32-20:34

  Like, okay, where are you going with this?

  20:34-20:35

  Well, look at verse 12.

  20:35-20:39

  He says, this is so amazing.

  20:39-20:49

  He goes, so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

  20:53-21:04

  In other words, he's saying, you know, there's so many pictures of Jesus in the day of atonement, so many pictures in that whole tabernacle and the priests and the sacrifice.

  21:04-21:06

  He goes, "Here's another picture.

  21:07-21:15

  "Just as on the day of atonement, "the sin offering was taken outside the camp." He's saying our sin offering was taken outside the camp too.

  21:19-21:22

  It's a picture of being rejected.

  21:23-21:25

  It's a picture of being despised.

  21:26-21:32

  Like not even in our company, not allowed in our camp, and Jesus Christ was crucified outside the city.

  21:33-21:33

  That's what he's saying.

  21:34-21:37

  Rejected, despised, thrown out.

  21:39-22:01

  You're like, "Okay, so what's the point?" Here it is, verse 13. He says, "Therefore, let us go to Him outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured." He's saying the point is we need to join Jesus and bear his reproach.

  22:04-22:06

  What does that mean?

  22:09-22:26

  We think, we think that if we do the right thing, and if we genuinely try to love people and be kind to people, that they're going to love us and be kind back to us, right?

  22:29-22:30

  How did that work for Jesus?

  22:33-22:42

  There was nobody who did the right thing more perfectly than Jesus, and there was nobody that loved people more than Jesus loved people.

  22:43-22:44

  So how did that work for him?

  22:45-22:45

  Again?

  22:48-22:52

  He was taken outside the camp and executed.

  22:54-22:58

  Just like one of those Old Testament sacrifices, discarded.

  23:00-23:21

  And the Hebrew right here is saying, "We need to go to Him. We need to go with Him, because we too are going to be rejected by the world. And that's okay." Following Jesus is going to get you the same kind of reproach, the same kind of rejection.

  23:22-23:25

  because a servant's not greater than his master.

  23:27-23:29

  So church, we need to manage our expectations.

  23:31-23:35

  If you wanna follow Jesus, you gotta follow him all the way outside the camp.

  23:38-23:41

  Because following Jesus doesn't mean that everybody's going to accept you.

  23:41-23:43

  In fact, it means the world's going to reject you.

  23:44-23:45

  That's what it means.

  23:46-23:48

  You're like, dude, why would anybody sign up for that?

  23:48-23:51

  Why would anybody wanna willingly be rejected?

  23:52-24:05

  In verse 14, it says, "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." What he's saying is we don't have anything to lose here.

  24:07-24:13

  See, if the world doesn't accept me, if the world rejects me, he's saying that's okay, because this isn't my home.

  24:14-24:15

  I'm not staying here forever.

  24:16-24:23

  I have nothing here that I'm going to be holding onto for much longer than a couple of years, if that.

  24:27-24:32

  So victorious Christians don't expect to be accepted here because we're playing the long game.

  24:33-24:34

  You wanna be a follower of Jesus?

  24:36-24:38

  That means you're gonna follow him to the cross.

  24:41-24:47

  But when you follow Jesus, that also means you get to follow him out of the empty tomb two are gonna have a resurrection.

  24:48-24:53

  Oh, oh, and following Jesus also means you're gonna follow him to glory.

  24:57-25:06

  I live in victory today because by faith, I'm seeking the city that is to come, and I find my joy in what's coming.

  25:09-25:13

  Number four, five habits of highly victorious Christians.

  25:14-25:17

  Number four, they view worship as sacrifice.

  25:21-25:31

  Now, if you've been with us through this Hebrew series, we've seen a lot of teaching from God's word that would have been very shocking to these Jews.

  25:31-25:34

  A lot of these Jews would have been shocked by this.

  25:34-25:40

  And it's hard for us to really relate to that because of the time and place where we live.

  25:44-25:49

  But the biggest thing that would have been a shock for the Jews would have been this one.

  25:49-25:57

  "There's no more sacrifice for sin." Can you imagine?

  25:59-26:14

  Your whole life, like, we are God's chosen people as Israel, and God has provided this means to sacrifice, to have our sin atoned for, and that's how we, you know, get right with God.

  26:15-26:23

  And now all of a sudden, because of Jesus, it's like, okay, the thing that you've known nationally, we're done with that.

  26:24-26:25

  No more sacrifice for sin.

  26:25-26:26

  Like what?

  26:28-26:31

  It would have been a hard thing to wrap your brain around.

  26:31-26:35

  Like, so there's, are you saying there's no more sacrifices at all?

  26:37-26:40

  Actually, there are some sacrifices left.

  26:42-26:44

  That's what he talks about in verses 15 and 16.

  26:46-26:47

  There are sacrifices left.

  26:47-26:59

  Verse 15 says, "Through him then, "let us continually offer up "a sacrifice of praise to God." Like, well, what's that?

  27:00-27:04

  He explains, he goes, "That is the fruit of lips "that acknowledge his name.

  27:05-27:11

  "Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have." Look at this last line.

  27:12-27:27

  "For such sacrifices are pleasing to God." So yes, church, there are sacrifices that we still perform.

  27:29-27:35

  And these sacrifices revolve around our words and our works.

  27:35-27:36

  Did you see that?

  27:36-27:38

  Our words, that's a sacrifice of praise.

  27:38-27:41

  It's the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

  27:42-27:50

  Understand that every time we gather together to worship, we are offering a sacrifice to God.

  27:51-27:58

  When somebody stands up here and preaches, acknowledging his name, we are sacrificing to God.

  27:59-28:10

  When you are discipling your kids, whether you're helping volunteer and harvest kids, you're discipling your kids in your home, you are sacrificing to God because your mouth is acknowledging his name.

  28:10-28:12

  And he says, that's a sacrifice.

  28:16-28:23

  If you teach a Bible study, precepts, lead a small group, whatever, that is a sacrifice.

  28:24-28:25

  It's your words.

  28:26-28:27

  He also says it's your works.

  28:27-28:29

  He says to do good, to share what you have.

  28:30-28:40

  Every act of serving, every ministry you can be involved in, every dollar given for God's kingdom is a sacrifice according to this passage.

  28:41-28:44

  So yes, we still offer sacrifices, but not for sin.

  28:44-28:45

  That one's done.

  28:46-28:49

  Our sacrifices are acts of praise.

  28:53-29:20

  By the way, when you lived in the old covenant times, you can read about this, go read the book of Leviticus, not now, later, but when you lived in old covenant times, when you sacrificed, you always offered God your very best, right?

  29:20-29:21

  Isn't that true?

  29:21-29:57

  it worked? You know, God didn't want you going to your flock and saying, "Well, this sheep looks about two days away from dying, blind, has some kind of disease that's making the wool fall out, only has three legs. I'll offer this one to God as a sacrifice." Was that acceptable? No. You were not allowed to do that. You had to give God your very best.

  29:58-30:16

  So church, let me ask you, do you think that's still true? Do you think that's still true? Like with these sacrifices, the Hebrew writers talking about this sacrifice of our mouth acknowledging His name and our works, do you think, do you Do you think we should still offer God our best?

  30:19-30:20

  Do you think that principle is still true?

  30:28-30:31

  You're either not sure of the answer or you're afraid of what the answer is.

  30:32-30:37

  But here it is, maybe you haven't felt victorious in your Christian walk because you're not giving God your best.

  30:40-30:40

  Is that possible?

  30:44-30:44

  Is that possible?

  30:47-30:54

  None of us feel great about finishing any kind of a job where we didn't give our best effort, right?

  30:56-31:10

  Think like if you're in school, I don't recommend this young people, but sometimes you have that all nighter where you get that term paper done, and you hand it in, and you know that wasn't your best work.

  31:12-31:13

  That's not a great feeling, is it?

  31:14-31:19

  This represents me, and that's not my best.

  31:20-31:21

  That's a frustrating feeling, isn't it?

  31:21-31:23

  Or how about athletes?

  31:23-31:30

  Have you ever played a game where you lose, and then afterwards you realize, hey, the problem's here, I didn't give my best effort.

  31:31-31:34

  I didn't hustle hard enough.

  31:34-31:36

  I didn't try hard enough.

  31:36-31:37

  I wasn't aggressive enough.

  31:37-31:38

  That's my fault.

  31:38-31:39

  You ever been there?

  31:40-31:41

  That's a sick feeling.

  31:41-31:44

  I lost because I didn't put the effort in.

  31:44-31:47

  Or men, men I'm talking to husbands specifically.

  31:50-31:54

  Did you ever get a reminder on your phone too late that it's your anniversary?

  31:55-31:58

  And you stopped by Sheetz to get a gift card for your wife?

  32:00-32:01

  Not a great feeling.

  32:03-32:06

  Like here sweetheart, $25 for Applebee's.

  32:08-32:09

  Was that your best?

  32:11-32:12

  Was that your best?

  32:14-32:16

  She will remind you that it was not your best.

  32:20-32:21

  I mean, I've never done that.

  32:22-32:25

  We're not highfalutin enough to eat at Applebee's.

  32:30-32:31

  But you get the point.

  32:32-32:34

  Deep down, you always feel defeated when you know you're not giving your best.

  32:38-32:39

  So how are we doing there?

  32:44-32:48

  Like worship time, just had an amazing worship set.

  32:50-32:53

  Incredible music by incredible musicians who love the Lord.

  32:54-33:01

  So during that time, you don't have to answer out loud, but I just want you to sort of reckon with yourself through this.

  33:01-33:08

  Were you pouring yourself out in worship or were you just kind of standing there mouthing the words on the screen sort of half-heartedly?

  33:13-33:20

  And I have to ask if you were, if you're just kind of standing there, you know, mouth in the words, is that your best?

  33:21-33:22

  Is that your best?

  33:26-33:38

  If you're signed up to serve in kids in Harvest Academy on Sunday, and you come in late, and and you're like, my heart's just not in it today.

  33:38-33:46

  And it's just like, let me babysit, let's make sure the same number of kids leave that came in and that's gonna be good enough today.

  33:46-33:47

  Is that your best?

  33:52-33:59

  Or maybe you're signed up to serve in hospitality and you're like, you're phoning it in and you just can't wait to blast out of here.

  34:01-34:01

  Is that your best?

  34:03-34:09

  If you're a small group leader or a Bible study leader and you just didn't prepare, I'll wing it, it's okay.

  34:12-34:13

  Is that your best?

  34:15-34:26

  Or when it comes to giving, we don't give like proportionately to what God has given to us.

  34:27-34:30

  We just give God a tip.

  34:32-34:33

  You know what, God had a pretty decent week.

  34:33-34:37

  Here's $5, don't spend it all in one place.

  34:40-34:41

  Really, is that your best?

  34:43-34:56

  You need to see your words and your works, your ministry, your giving, the way you talk about God, the way you sing to God, you need to see all of these things as sacrifices.

  35:00-35:04

  And when you see them as sacrifices, Are you giving God your best?

  35:06-35:12

  Because victorious Christians know that my words and works are sacrifices pleasing to God.

  35:14-35:25

  And then finally, number five, five habits of highly victorious Christians, they obey their leaders.

  35:26-35:28

  They obey their leaders.

  35:31-35:56

  It says in verse 17, "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who have to give an account." Submission to authority in the church is a responsibility before God.

  35:57-35:59

  God mediates His rule through man.

  36:00-36:01

  That's just how he has chosen to work.

  36:02-36:02

  Read your Old Testament.

  36:03-36:06

  He mediated his rule through judges, through kings.

  36:06-36:15

  You get to the New Testament, God mediates his rule through spirit-filled under shepherds, elders and pastors.

  36:18-36:19

  That's God's design.

  36:22-36:26

  You know, the idea of a church being congregational-led, it's just not biblical.

  36:27-36:28

  It's not.

  36:31-36:42

  God has given us as pastors and elders authority to minister His Word, to preach, to teach, to exhort, to rebuke, to give direction to the church.

  36:44-36:49

  Not as dictators, but as shepherds who love and care for the flock.

  36:53-36:59

  And you, biblically, have a responsibility, it says, to obey and submit.

  37:00-37:07

  Because ultimately, your submission to leaders is really submission to God.

  37:10-37:13

  Look at what Jesus said in John 13, 20.

  37:14-37:35

  Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send, receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." That's a big responsibility, to know that submission to authority in the church ultimately is submission to our heavenly Father.

  37:40-37:46

  And you're like, "Man, Jefe, that's heavy." You know what else is heavy?

  37:48-37:49

  the responsibility on the other side.

  37:54-37:55

  Look at it again.

  37:55-37:56

  Look at verse 17 again.

  37:57-38:05

  It says, "For they are keeping watch over your souls." Stop there for a second.

  38:09-38:10

  Do you take your job seriously?

  38:12-38:12

  I sure hope so.

  38:13-38:15

  Well, I want you to know that I do too.

  38:17-38:20

  And this is what my job is.

  38:22-38:24

  My job is to oversee your soul.

  38:25-38:26

  That's my job.

  38:27-38:30

  I am not a pep talker, okay?

  38:31-38:32

  I'm not a speech giver.

  38:33-38:35

  I'm not a manager or an organizer.

  38:39-38:41

  My job is to oversee your soul.

  38:44-39:01

  And everything that I do here with our elders, with our ministry team, with our staff, everything that I do, every decision that we pray over and discuss, everything is about your soul.

  39:02-39:03

  You have to know that.

  39:05-39:06

  There's no agenda.

  39:06-39:10

  There's no secret plan that I have.

  39:11-39:12

  It's about your soul.

  39:15-39:18

  It's about discipling you to Jesus Christ.

  39:19-39:20

  That's my job.

  39:21-39:22

  And I take it really seriously.

  39:26-39:29

  And look, you might not ever understand the weight of that.

  39:32-39:38

  Even if you've got a pastor in your family, you might never understand the weight of that responsibility.

  39:40-39:45

  You might not ever understand the stress or how many nights laying awake.

  39:50-39:51

  It's a heavy burden.

  39:53-39:55

  It is a, it's a heavy burden.

  40:01-40:06

  That's why I think it's hilarious when people come and they say, well, you only work for an hour a week.

  40:08-40:10

  And you know what, I get tired of hearing that.

  40:10-40:12

  And I correct people when they say that.

  40:12-40:14

  I say, "No, that's not true.

  40:15-40:16

  "I do not work the entire hour.

  40:18-40:26

  "I only work like 30 to 40 minutes of it." But I charge them for the whole hour.

  40:31-40:32

  You're like, "Man, that's heavy.

  40:32-40:40

  "It is heavy." You're like, "I can't imagine "it gets any heavier than that." Hold on.

  40:41-40:42

  Look at the next line.

  40:43-40:50

  He says, "As those who will have to give an accounts." It just gets heavier.

  40:50-40:52

  Do you realize I have to stand before God someday?

  40:55-40:58

  And I have to give an account for the way that I did my job here.

  41:01-41:06

  So I take this really seriously, right?

  41:08-41:10

  And I hope that you do too.

  41:11-41:15

  We'll give the rest of the verse here and then we'll stop.

  41:15-41:26

  It says, "Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." Underline that in your Bible.

  41:27-41:29

  That's like one of the most important verses in the Bible.

  41:32-41:34

  Like it's all God's Word, I know.

  41:34-41:37

  This one just feels like it hits a little closer to home.

  41:37-41:44

  Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

  41:48-42:00

  He says, "Church, if you make us as leaders groan, "that's no good for you." Like, well, what makes you groan, Pastor Jeff?

  42:04-42:13

  Well, starting next week, we're having a 17-part sermon series entitled "Things That Make Me Grown." An introduction.

  42:19-42:20

  There are a lot.

  42:21-42:22

  Oh, I wish I had more time.

  42:24-42:25

  I'm just going to give you three, okay?

  42:25-42:26

  Here's three things that make me grown.

  42:27-42:33

  I'm sure if we had our elders ministry team staff up here, I'm sure they'd be amending this.

  42:34-42:36

  Here's what makes me grown, complaining.

  42:37-42:39

  Especially about unimportant things.

  42:41-42:46

  Church, that's, please check yourself on that.

  42:46-42:47

  That makes the leadership grown.

  42:48-42:56

  Complaining especially about unimportant things or things that really have no impact on eternity or souls or any of this other stuff.

  42:56-43:01

  Do you know how many times I hear things like, "Wait, wait, the church picnic is at noon?

  43:02-43:07

  "This is an outrage!" I'm like, "Whoa." Step away from the ledge.

  43:08-43:08

  It's okay.

  43:11-43:14

  Why wasn't I told that the chairs were gonna be gray?

  43:17-43:17

  It's okay.

  43:19-43:20

  Breathe in, breathe out.

  43:21-43:23

  That kind of stuff just makes us groan, though.

  43:23-43:24

  Come on, man.

  43:24-43:26

  Is it really something worth bringing up?

  43:26-43:28

  Is it really something to be upset about?

  43:29-43:29

  Complaining.

  43:30-43:32

  The second thing that makes me grow in criticism.

  43:33-43:35

  That I mean constructive criticism.

  43:35-43:37

  Some people try to help and I love that, right?

  43:37-43:38

  I have blind spots.

  43:38-43:39

  I need help.

  43:39-43:41

  I love, you know, constructive criticism.

  43:45-43:46

  But what's the opposite of that?

  43:47-43:47

  I should have studied it.

  43:48-43:50

  Unconstructive, destructive criticism.

  43:50-43:51

  Is that it?

  43:51-43:52

  That's it.

  43:52-43:52

  That's what we're going with.

  43:53-44:03

  of criticism, things like, "Well, you know, Jeff, "I thought adding another service was a really dumb idea." So yeah, like that wasn't helpful at all.

  44:05-44:05

  It makes you groan.

  44:08-44:14

  And number one, this is the biggest here, it makes me groan the worst is disregarding God's word.

  44:15-44:24

  When you disregard God's word, you know, like this afternoon, for those of you who are going to be complaining and criticizing.

  44:25-44:30

  And I'm like, "Oh, I just talked about that." Disregarding God's word.

  44:30-44:40

  For the people that come to me for counseling, "Pastor Jeff, I'm having this problem, what should I do?" I'm like, "Well, here's what the Bible says." And they're like, "Yeah, I'm not doing that." Oh, groan!

  44:41-44:42

  Then why did you come?

  44:45-44:47

  That makes you groan, right?

  44:50-44:52

  I could go on, but I think you get the point.

  44:52-44:55

  Victorious Christians let leaders lead with joy.

  44:56-44:59

  I'd encourage you to embrace this attitude because this is true.

  44:59-45:00

  To maybe say, you know what?

  45:02-45:09

  Maybe I don't personally like that decision that was made, but maybe, maybe I don't have all the information.

  45:10-45:16

  And maybe I just have to trust the leaders that they're seeking God and they're doing their best.

  45:18-45:23

  And if you can't trust the leaders with that, I say this with all due respect, you shouldn't be at this church.

  45:23-45:24

  You can't trust leaders.

  45:24-45:27

  Go find a church where you will respect and follow the leaders.

  45:28-45:31

  If you don't believe that we're doing that here, I'm telling you we are.

  45:32-45:36

  I'm telling you that we are doing our best to honor the Lord.

  45:38-45:38

  We are.

  45:41-45:46

  So encourage your leaders, invest yourself, pray for your leaders, but let this be a place where we all serve with joy.

  45:47-45:57

  because you're going to find, according to the Hebrew writer and backed up by my experience, you're going to find that leaders lead better when they're joyful than when they're groaning.

  45:58-45:58

  All right?

  46:00-46:01

  Our worship team would come back up.

  46:03-46:04

  We're going to close.

  46:06-46:17

  You know, your walk with Christ, it can be defeating, it can be deflating, or it can feel victorious and exciting.

  46:18-46:20

  And really, that's up to you.

  46:24-46:27

  But I want to encourage you to look at victorious Christians.

  46:27-46:28

  Here's five things they do.

  46:29-46:39

  Imitate the faithful, they discern, they have the right expectations, they view their words and their works as sacrifice, and they obey their leaders.

  46:40-46:40

  Alright?

  46:41-46:42

  Bow your heads and pray with me please.

  46:43-46:46

  Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word.

  46:50-46:53

  Sometimes it's hard to preach and it's hard to hear.

  46:56-47:08

  But Father, I pray that this conviction, this uncomfortable stuff that we have to wrestle through, I pray that it's just something that You're using to grow us.

  47:10-47:15

  The truth is, Father, more than anybody on the planet, we should feel victorious.

  47:16-47:30

  So Father, I pray that we would truly embrace everything that You've taught us in Your Gospel, and that we would live it, and show the world what it's like to truly know Jesus Christ.

  47:31-47:34

  We pray in His glorious name. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 13:7-17

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Name someone that you see as living a victorious Christian life. What about their faith should you imitate (Heb 13:7-8)?
   

3. Why do you think discernment is such a weakness in the church today? How can you grow in discernment (Heb 13:9)?
   

4. If you disagree with a decision made by church leadership, what’s the best way to address that (Heb 13:17)?

Breakout
Pray for one another!

Why Jesus? Love Right.

Introduction:

Three Things Jesus-Followers Should Be Known For (Hebrews 13:1-6)

1. Compassion : We look for people to Love . (Heb 13:1-3)

   Five Reasons to Not Show Compassion:

   1. Maybe it's their own fault.
   2. Maybe they should suffer to teach them a lesson.
   3. Maybe they won't appreciate my help. (I've helped before and got burned!)
   4. Maybe they'll waste what I give them.
   5. Maybe I got my own problems to deal with.

   One Reason to Show Compassion:

   1. Jesus
2. Covenant : We believe Marriage is a great thing. (Heb 13:4)
3. Contentment : We have all we Need . (Heb 13:5-6)

   Ecclesiastes 5:19 - Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.

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

• Audio Transcript

  00:49-00:53

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Hebrews chapter 13.

  00:55-00:57

  And while you're turning, let's just pause for a moment.

  00:57-01:03

  And I would ask you pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.

  01:03-01:18

  And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive it and to not just hear Bible things, but to actually hear the voice of Jesus through his word.

  01:18-01:19

  Let's pray.

  01:22-01:32

  Father, I pray that we would just have hearts that are just soil rich to receive the Word.

  01:36-01:39

  And that something supernatural would happen here.

  01:42-01:53

  Through the proclamation of your Word, through your Holy Spirit taking that Word and applying it, All glory and praise and honor and power be unto your name.

  01:53-01:56

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

  01:58-02:00

  Hebrews chapter 13, are you there?

  02:01-02:08

  A couple of years ago, my family, we bought a product from a company called Unmask.

  02:09-02:15

  And Unmask, especially during this peak pandemic time, they make masks for people like us.

  02:15-02:16

  And this is mine.

  02:16-02:22

  I'm not gonna put it on now because I get this microphone on, but anybody else have an unmask?

  02:23-02:23

  Anybody else?

  02:24-02:24

  Okay, a few of you do.

  02:25-02:34

  Okay, well, you know, much of the pandemic paranoia has waned.

  02:38-02:40

  So I actually had to go looking for this.

  02:40-02:47

  It was in a winter coat pocket, but I still get emails from the Unmask company.

  02:48-02:50

  And this is the email that I got this past week.

  02:52-02:55

  We get the, okay, Unmask.

  02:57-03:02

  Now you see their little mission statement, purpose statement beside Unmask?

  03:02-03:10

  If you can't see it, it says, Unmask, elevating your drink and barware to the next level.

  03:15-03:17

  Let that sink in for a minute.

  03:18-03:23

  Unmask, elevating your drink and barware to the next level.

  03:23-03:28

  And then you see headline, we're selling yogis.

  03:30-03:36

  And I get these emails and every time I get them, I just think, man, that's weird.

  03:38-03:39

  I mean, think about it.

  03:40-03:51

  Imagine that you're an employee for the Unmask company and you meet somebody and they say to you, where do you work?

  03:52-03:54

  And you say, I work for Unmask.

  03:55-03:57

  And they say, what do you do there?

  03:59-04:01

  And you say, we make coffee cups.

  04:06-04:06

  What?

  04:08-04:10

  Somewhere they got off mission.

  04:11-04:13

  And listen, this is very important.

  04:13-04:15

  They started doing one thing.

  04:17-04:23

  And now what they do has nothing to do with why they started.

  04:24-04:25

  Are you tracking with me?

  04:27-04:34

  At some point, the people at Unmask realized that the thing that they do is no longer relevant.

  04:39-04:41

  Does that sound like churches today?

  04:43-04:50

  But there are a lot of churches that are saying, you know, the thing that we started out doing doesn't really seem relevant anymore.

  04:51-04:59

  And by the way, yeah, eventually Unmask was, they were, it was from day one, they had to have known they were gonna be irrelevant someday.

  05:00-05:04

  But you realize the church of Jesus Christ is never going to be irrelevant.

  05:05-05:12

  We're never gonna say, "Hey, you know what guys, "we're closing down, people stop sinning." Never gonna happen.

  05:16-05:20

  But the unmasked people figured their original thing was no longer relevant.

  05:20-05:25

  And like I said, every time I get those emails, I just think, man, that sounds like churches.

  05:29-05:35

  That we have this gospel that saves people from their sin.

  05:35-05:40

  We have this gospel that transforms people and churches are just like, I got an idea.

  05:41-05:43

  Let's do rock concerts and pep talks.

  05:44-05:46

  Like, why?

  05:49-05:58

  It's just so easy for churches to get off mission and become known for something that was never originally intended.

  06:04-06:07

  And I have to ask you, church, what are we known for?

  06:09-06:11

  And I don't just mean like the church in general.

  06:11-06:12

  I mean this church.

  06:13-06:14

  What are we known for?

  06:20-06:22

  I can tell you what we should be known for.

  06:23-06:25

  We should be known for being different from the world.

  06:27-06:27

  We should be.

  06:28-06:30

  Because we belong to a different kingdom.

  06:33-06:35

  We have different values.

  06:36-06:39

  We don't look at life the way the world looks at life.

  06:40-06:43

  We are called, church, we are called to be different.

  06:47-06:59

  I had a guy tell me one time, he said, "You know this guy that I've been working with "for the last five years, "he just found out I was a Christian." And he said, "Wow, I'm really surprised.

  06:59-07:03

  "I didn't know you were a Christian." And I'm like, "That's really not good."

  07:05-07:05

  (congregation laughing)

  07:05-07:14

  You worked with a guy for five years and you had not the whiff of Jesus Christ on you at all, that he was shocked when he found out.

  07:15-07:19

  Maybe you shouldn't tell that story, right?

  07:19-07:30

  People that have been transformed by Jesus should be obvious and churches, we get to this last stretch in Hebrews, that's where he starts us off.

  07:30-07:33

  Here's three things that you should be known for, church.

  07:33-07:35

  And when I say you, I mean church collectively.

  07:36-07:38

  These are things we should be known for.

  07:38-07:43

  And I mean, as a household, this is what your household should be known for.

  07:43-07:46

  And as an individual, this is what you should be known for.

  07:47-07:52

  So this message is like a check your rep kind of message, right?

  07:52-07:57

  Here's three things Jesus followers should be known for from this passage.

  07:57-07:58

  Number one, write this down.

  07:59-08:00

  We should be known for this.

  08:01-08:05

  And if we're not, we better do a serious self-check.

  08:06-08:07

  Number one is compassion.

  08:08-08:09

  We look for people to love.

  08:10-08:11

  Look at verse one.

  08:11-08:22

  It says, "Let brotherly love continue." Okay, brotherly love, that's Philadelphia, that's affection.

  08:23-08:27

  And it's important I remind you that love is not a feeling.

  08:29-08:30

  Love is a principle.

  08:32-08:33

  Love is self-sacrifice.

  08:34-08:36

  Love isn't a feeling, right?

  08:36-08:38

  'Cause feelings, they come and go, right?

  08:39-08:43

  Some days I really like something, some days I really dislike something.

  08:43-08:46

  Feelings come and go, but love is a principle.

  08:47-08:47

  It's a choice.

  08:48-08:51

  I am choosing to put you ahead of myself.

  08:51-08:52

  That's what love is.

  08:54-08:58

  And it's obvious here, he's talking to believers because he uses the word continue.

  08:58-09:00

  Let brotherly love continue.

  09:01-09:02

  He's saying it's already there.

  09:02-09:04

  You already have brotherly love.

  09:04-09:09

  He's like, "Hey, keep it up, keep it up." You're like, "Okay, great, on who?" Well, I'm glad you asked.

  09:09-09:10

  Look at verse two.

  09:11-09:13

  Here's the first call to compassion.

  09:14-09:29

  He says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." The first call to compassion is hospitality to strangers.

  09:30-09:37

  And yes, yes, yes, we show hospitality to fellow believers, absolutely, for sure, but that's not what's in view here.

  09:37-09:42

  Specifically, he's talking about showing hospitality to strangers.

  09:42-09:43

  He's saying don't neglect that.

  09:44-09:49

  In other words, be intentional about showing love, showing hospitality to strangers.

  09:55-09:56

  What does that look like?

  09:56-10:08

  Well, you know, in the first century, you know, there were a lot of people traveling, missionaries, a lot of persecution, Jews being driven out when they come to faith in Christ and people needed places to stay.

  10:08-10:13

  You're like, well, how does that, how does the whole hospitality thing translate in our day?

  10:13-10:14

  Well, a lot of ways, actually.

  10:16-10:18

  You know, this church has a hospitality ministry.

  10:20-10:24

  We wanna make sure that everybody who comes through these doors feels welcomed and loved.

  10:25-10:26

  You should be part of that.

  10:27-10:32

  Everybody in this church is part of the hospitality ministry, right?

  10:34-10:41

  Some of you get this, even outside of the church, through things like foster care and adoption.

  10:41-10:46

  Those are ways that you can show extreme hospitality.

  10:47-10:55

  Whatever, whatever opportunity the Lord brings your way to show hospitality to strangers, the Hebrew writer says, don't neglect that.

  10:56-10:57

  Okay, don't neglect that.

  11:00-11:04

  But honestly, church, you know what our biggest obstacle with the whole hospitality thing is?

  11:04-11:05

  You know what the biggest obstacle is?

  11:09-11:10

  It's not that we don't want to.

  11:11-11:13

  It's not that we hate strangers or anything like that.

  11:14-11:16

  I think our biggest problem is busyness.

  11:19-11:26

  In our culture, we have packed our schedules so tight that there's no room for hospitality.

  11:29-11:34

  You couldn't welcome anyone into your home because when would you do it?

  11:36-11:46

  Everything from work to nine weeks of vacation, to camping, hobbies, sports.

  11:47-11:47

  Oh, that's the big one.

  11:49-11:55

  Some of y'all have elementary school kids that have a tighter sports schedule than Pittsburgh Pirates do.

  11:57-11:59

  They're like, "Man, Pastor Jeff, that's harsh." Listen to me.

  12:00-12:02

  I'm involved in all these things except camping.

  12:02-12:02

  I think camping's dumb.

  12:03-12:04

  But all these other things I do.

  12:06-12:07

  Do these other things.

  12:07-12:09

  I coach my son's hockey team.

  12:10-12:14

  So I'm not saying these things are bad and I'm not saying you shouldn't do them.

  12:14-12:15

  You absolutely should.

  12:15-12:17

  Here's what I am saying.

  12:18-12:26

  These things are great until they dictate your schedule to the point that you become a slave to your calendar.

  12:26-12:27

  That's the problem.

  12:29-12:36

  So yes, do these things, but church, and this isn't a new problem, but we suffocate ourselves.

  12:41-12:47

  It's not wise, and it doesn't give us opportunity to show any kind of hospitality.

  12:50-12:57

  We should be known, church, for compassion that results in real hospitality, even to strangers.

  12:57-12:59

  I love his reasoning here.

  12:59-13:02

  This is one of the most curious verses in the Bible, isn't it?

  13:03-13:05

  His reason, why should we show hospitality?

  13:05-13:07

  Why, why should I do that?

  13:07-13:14

  He says, "For thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Like, what?

  13:15-13:16

  I'm entertaining angels?

  13:18-13:23

  Well, to his Jewish audience, they would have known exactly right off the bat what he was talking about, right?

  13:24-13:30

  Abraham, Genesis 18, the Lord and two angels showed up and Abraham showed them hospitality.

  13:30-13:32

  You can check that story out later.

  13:34-13:39

  They just, they looked like men, but it was actually the Lord and two angels.

  13:44-13:59

  You know, back in high school, my wife and I went to the same high school and we had this gym teacher that was legendary.

  14:00-14:06

  Now that some of you know the legend that is Mr. Melsimenko, right Jay?

  14:09-14:15

  That's right, this guy was the most terrifying person I've ever met.

  14:16-14:18

  He was, he was just, he was scary.

  14:18-14:24

  He was like in the Canadian football league, once upon a time, he was like Canada's meanest man.

  14:24-14:26

  Look him up, he was terrifying.

  14:27-14:31

  Well, I'm hearing this story secondhand.

  14:31-14:33

  I wasn't there, but my wife was, okay?

  14:33-14:36

  She was a mackerel baby back at the time, right?

  14:36-14:36

  That's her maiden name.

  14:37-14:47

  So, but she told me one time in study hall, there was this new kid that came to the school and Samanka was the study hall, what do you call it?

  14:48-14:50

  Teachers, coaches, monitor, thank you.

  14:52-14:57

  But this kid comes in and plops down and just puts his head down on the desk and starts going to sleep.

  14:58-15:15

  And Mr. Simanko is reading his paper and he looks down over his paper and he says, "Hey, wake up, we're not sleeping here, "find something to do." And again, the kid, it was his first day, didn't know anybody, just got his stuff, right?

  15:15-15:24

  And the kid said, "I don't have anything to do, "it's my first day." So Simanko gets back to reading the paper, the kid puts his head back down and Simanko's like, "What did I tell you?

  15:24-15:38

  "We're not sleeping here." And the kid's like, "It's my first day, I don't have anything to do." Well, I'm not sure what happened next, but I know how the story ends.

  15:39-15:49

  As Samanka walked up to the kid, and Aaron can give you the details, she was there, I wasn't, but Samanka walked up to this kid and there was some kind of exchange between the kid and the gym teacher.

  15:50-15:58

  And the next thing you know, Mr. Samanka was holding the kid by his ankle upside down, a high school kid.

  15:59-16:05

  And he said, "Macaravy, go get the principal." So Aaron had to go get the principal.

  16:05-16:08

  And they never saw that kid after that, did they?

  16:09-16:16

  She says, "No." You're like, "Why are you telling us this horrible story?" Here's why.

  16:17-16:19

  You just never know who you're dealing with.

  16:22-16:23

  And that's what the Hebrew writer here is saying.

  16:26-16:29

  Obviously, he's not saying the angel is going to grab you and hold you upside down.

  16:30-16:32

  But I think you see the principles the same, right?

  16:33-16:35

  Sometimes you just don't know who you're dealing with.

  16:36-16:41

  And we show hospitality to strangers because we don't know the people that God is going to put in our lives.

  16:41-16:49

  We don't know the effect that that's going to have on them and the effect that that's going to have on other people and the effect that that's going to have in the kingdom of God.

  16:49-16:53

  We have no idea who we're dealing with sometimes.

  16:55-16:57

  So we show hospitality.

  16:59-17:03

  So get to know people, invite them into your home, invite them to your church, invite them to your small group.

  17:07-17:10

  Small groups are great opportunities to show hospitality, by the way.

  17:10-17:11

  Great opportunity.

  17:12-17:20

  Bringing people into your homes, sharing food together, laughing, swapping gym coach stories, and it's a great opportunity.

  17:20-17:23

  Getting into God's word, praying, great opportunity.

  17:25-17:27

  Church, your love for strangers reflects your love for God.

  17:28-17:31

  So more than anybody, we should be known for hospitality, right?

  17:32-17:35

  The second call for compassion is to remember the oppressed.

  17:35-17:36

  Look at verse three.

  17:37-17:51

  He says, "Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, "And those who are mistreated, "since you also are in the body." Prison, what's he talking about?

  17:51-18:01

  Again, in these days of intense persecution, a lot of Jewish Christians were in jail because of their faith.

  18:03-18:12

  And I think that that's specifically what he's talking about, clarifying by calling the mistreated people that were abused and oppressed.

  18:14-18:22

  His reasoning here to remember these oppressed people, he says, "You also are in the body." What's he saying?

  18:22-18:25

  He goes, "Hey, you're a physical body too, right?

  18:27-18:29

  Like you're flesh and blood like them, right?

  18:30-18:39

  You know, the pain that they're going through, you could go through that same pain, right?" Like what he's saying is like, how would you feel or what would you want people to do?

  18:39-18:44

  Like if you were the one in prison, Like, how would you want people to care for you?

  18:45-18:46

  You're a human body too, right?

  18:51-18:52

  Do you even care?

  18:53-18:54

  Really?

  18:55-18:57

  Some of you are like, no, I don't really care.

  18:59-19:01

  I'll just be honest with you, Jeff, I don't really care.

  19:02-19:04

  Well, then I got a sermon for you.

  19:05-19:06

  Here we go.

  19:06-19:08

  Five reasons to not show compassion.

  19:09-19:11

  This is for the people that don't care and don't wanna care.

  19:12-19:14

  All right, for the rest of you, just tune out for a second.

  19:15-19:17

  I'm gonna give you five reasons to not show compassion.

  19:17-19:18

  I'm gonna go through these quickly.

  19:21-19:24

  Here's why you shouldn't show compassion, okay?

  19:25-19:27

  Letter A, maybe it's their own fault.

  19:28-19:30

  Whatever they're going through, maybe it's their own fault.

  19:31-19:32

  So why should I give a rip?

  19:33-19:34

  They brought it on themselves.

  19:36-19:36

  Not my problem.

  19:38-19:39

  Why should I care, right?

  19:40-19:41

  Can I get an amen on that?

  19:42-19:42

  No?

  19:43-19:44

  All right, how about this one?

  19:44-19:45

  It goes right with it.

  19:45-19:48

  Letter B, maybe they should suffer to teach them a lesson.

  19:49-19:51

  Come on, somebody's gotta give me an amen on that one.

  19:52-19:53

  You know what?

  19:53-19:54

  Let them suffer, who cares?

  19:55-19:56

  Why show compassion?

  19:57-20:00

  Okay, if they got themselves into the mess, let them hurt a while.

  20:01-20:02

  Maybe they'll learn better next time.

  20:05-20:07

  Letter C, maybe they won't appreciate my help.

  20:10-20:12

  going with that is I've helped before and got burned, right?

  20:13-20:18

  I've helped people before and they're like, oh, I need your help so bad.

  20:19-20:31

  And then I help them and I spend time and money and they're just like, they're like Nancy going down in the baptistry, like, you know, deuces, stay fresh cheese bags.

  20:31-20:33

  I'm out of here, you'll never see me again.

  20:33-20:37

  And like, why should I help people if they're not gonna appreciate it?

  20:38-20:39

  Is anybody gonna amen this?

  20:43-20:45

  Letter D, five reasons to not show compassion.

  20:45-20:47

  Letter D, maybe they'll waste what I give them.

  20:48-20:50

  Oh, come on, somebody, somebody amen that.

  20:52-20:52

  Okay.

  20:55-20:58

  That was underwhelming, but I appreciate the effort.

  20:59-21:00

  Maybe they'll waste what I give them.

  21:01-21:12

  Right, what if I gave them money, and they just go, and they go spend it on, They go spend it on booze and scratchy lotteries.

  21:12-21:15

  And what if they just waste it?

  21:19-21:22

  Letter E, maybe I got my own problems to deal with.

  21:26-21:29

  Come on, I got a full plate.

  21:31-21:33

  I don't have time for other people's problems.

  21:34-21:36

  Those are five reasons to not show compassion.

  21:37-21:43

  And I suppose you could justify yourself that way.

  21:45-21:46

  But here's the real sermon.

  21:46-21:48

  Here's the real sermon, one reason to show compassion.

  21:48-21:49

  You ready for this?

  21:49-21:50

  One reason to show compassion.

  21:51-21:53

  Here it is, letter A, Jesus.

  21:55-21:57

  This is why we show compassion, church.

  21:58-21:59

  There you go.

  22:00-22:02

  Come on, this is why we show compassion, church.

  22:02-22:03

  Come on.

  22:03-22:04

  Amen.

  22:05-22:06

  It's because of Jesus.

  22:08-22:21

  Now, you know, when Jesus saved you, when he showed compassion for you, when he died for you, when he suffered on the cross for you, all those reasons to not show compassion, I guarantee you, he could have said those about you.

  22:22-22:23

  And he could have said them about me.

  22:25-22:28

  Jesus could have looked at me and said, "Jeff's problems are his own fault.

  22:29-22:36

  "Maybe Jeff should suffer for what he's done." Jesus could have said, Jeff's not always going to appreciate my help the way that I think he should.

  22:36-22:37

  He would have been right about that.

  22:38-22:42

  Jesus could have said, maybe I'll waste what he does for me or gives me.

  22:44-22:47

  Jesus certainly has a bigger fish to fry than me.

  22:47-22:53

  But Jesus didn't use any of those lame excuses to not show compassion and church.

  22:53-22:56

  Neither should we.

  22:58-23:02

  How can you understand everything that Jesus has done for us?

  23:03-23:06

  and not have compassion on others who are hurting.

  23:08-23:15

  You just can't turn your heads in the needy, in your church, in your neighborhood, in your workplace.

  23:15-23:21

  Look, this year in small groups, we are getting back into community outreach.

  23:22-23:32

  And I know COVID and all that pandemic nonsense that kept us going, doing the things that we used to do.

  23:36-23:41

  I really shut down our outreach for a while, but we're getting back into it harder than ever.

  23:42-23:50

  So get out there, find people and show them that we're known for having the compassion of Jesus.

  23:50-23:50

  All right?

  23:52-23:54

  Three things we should be known for.

  23:55-23:56

  Number two is covenant.

  23:58-23:59

  Number two is covenant.

  23:59-24:01

  We believe marriage is a great thing.

  24:04-24:05

  Look at verse four.

  24:07-24:14

  He says, "Let marriage be held in honor among all." Marriage should be held in honor among all.

  24:14-24:17

  Marriage is sacred to God, okay?

  24:18-24:18

  He created it.

  24:20-24:20

  It's his idea.

  24:21-24:23

  And where did Jesus do his first miracle?

  24:24-24:24

  Anybody know?

  24:25-24:26

  At a wedding, right?

  24:27-24:34

  And the Holy Spirit uses marriage as the picture of the relationship between Jesus and the church.

  24:35-24:36

  Ephesians 5.

  24:39-24:40

  Marriage should be held in honor.

  24:40-24:49

  And I love this, it says, "Among all." That means even if your marriage isn't in a great place right now, you should still honor marriage.

  24:49-24:56

  Even if you had a bad marriage in the past, you should honor marriage.

  24:57-25:02

  Even if you're an unmarried person, you're like, well, how does an unmarried person honor marriage?

  25:02-25:04

  Well, Paul did it, he wasn't married.

  25:04-25:05

  Look at the stuff he wrote about marriage.

  25:06-25:09

  This should be a place where we honor marriage.

  25:10-25:12

  Marriage is not honored when it's redefined.

  25:14-25:19

  Marriage is not honored when a couple lives together like a married couple without getting married.

  25:20-25:24

  Marriage isn't honored when a husband and wife are neglecting each other.

  25:27-25:33

  On the way to work this week, I was listening to the sports radio and it was kind of like an in-between segment thing.

  25:33-25:41

  They were talking about calling, using the phone, getting dates and stuff when you were young, what that was like as a kid.

  25:41-25:50

  I know some of you don't understand the phone used to be attached with a cord to the wall and if the phone rang, you had no idea who it was.

  25:50-25:52

  and we lived like absolute barbarians.

  25:54-25:59

  But they were talking about that kind of stuff and the conversation sort of evolved into marriage.

  25:59-26:23

  And the one guy said, "Well, so-and-so has some advice about marriage." And the other guy who he was speaking about said, "Yeah, here's my marriage advice, don't do it." I'm like, well, that's the way the world views marriage.

  26:24-26:27

  It's this huge mistake.

  26:28-26:39

  It's this thing that you get into and then you regret it and then you lose half your stuff and it just results in so much bitterness and just don't do it.

  26:39-26:40

  It's not worth it.

  26:44-26:46

  And I would say, hey, not at this church.

  26:47-26:49

  This church should be known as a place that honors marriage.

  26:51-27:00

  Look, going on in verse four, he says, "And let the marriage bed be undefiled." The marriage bed undefiled.

  27:04-27:05

  What's he saying?

  27:06-27:10

  Husbands and wives, go for it.

  27:12-27:13

  Go for what?

  27:13-27:14

  You know what?

  27:15-27:19

  God gave you this incredible gift, husbands and wives.

  27:19-27:21

  God gave you this gift.

  27:21-27:22

  Use it.

  27:23-27:25

  Use it as much as you want.

  27:26-27:27

  Use it as much as you can.

  27:28-27:31

  Enjoy the heck out of each other.

  27:33-27:36

  Just keep the gift in the marriage bed, right?

  27:37-27:38

  That's what honors God.

  27:42-27:43

  He goes on.

  27:43-27:55

  He says, "For God will judge the sexually immoral "and the adulterous." God will judge.

  27:56-28:00

  Unbelievers, for sure, facing the judgment of God.

  28:01-28:11

  Society, facing God's judgment regarding perversion and sexuality.

  28:11-28:13

  We're living in God's judgment right now.

  28:18-28:21

  Consequences, God has built them right in.

  28:24-28:26

  Yeah, maybe it won't be lightning and plagues, right?

  28:27-28:39

  Maybe you won't commit adultery and get struck by locust lightning or whatever, but I would suggest to you that there's worse things that come through sexual immorality.

  28:40-28:41

  Things like marriage collapse.

  28:43-28:49

  Things like kids who are devastated and never get over that.

  28:50-28:51

  Some of you know what I'm talking about.

  28:51-29:01

  I talk to people as adults, as grown adults, people older than me that are still devastated by their parents' divorce when they were teenagers.

  29:06-29:10

  venereal disease, financial issues, suicide.

  29:13-29:14

  Keep the marriage bed undefiled.

  29:16-29:20

  God gave this awesome gift and he said, "Here's the place you use it, right?

  29:22-29:27

  Use it there and only there." And I know, I know, I know it's 2023.

  29:28-29:31

  And right now there are people who are like, I hear what you're saying, Jeff.

  29:31-29:34

  You're saying only sex and marriage, that's so square.

  29:35-29:37

  And I'm like, first of all, nobody says square anymore.

  29:39-29:41

  I think Huey Lewis and the news were the last people to say that.

  29:45-29:47

  Like why only sex and marriage?

  29:47-29:48

  I mean, isn't that old fashioned?

  29:48-29:49

  Why is that?

  29:49-29:50

  Why, why?

  29:50-29:51

  I'm gonna tell you why.

  29:53-29:54

  It's because marriage is a covenant.

  29:58-30:04

  And intimacy belongs to those in the covenant.

  30:06-30:08

  Forget about sexuality for a second.

  30:09-30:11

  Let's talk about our covenant with God.

  30:12-30:20

  God established this covenant through Jesus Christ that we enter through faith in Christ.

  30:21-30:26

  And when we enter covenant with God, how intimate is the relationship between God and man?

  30:27-30:31

  God comes and lives inside, right?

  30:32-30:34

  That's the ultimate form of intimacy.

  30:34-30:41

  God says, "I'm not some distant God that's far away." He's gonna live inside of us.

  30:42-30:44

  There's no closer relationship.

  30:44-30:54

  And in the same way, when a man and woman are in the covenant of marriage, the Bible says the two shall become one flesh.

  30:54-31:00

  The physical form of intimacy takes place on the marriage bed.

  31:03-31:09

  There is no closer physical intimacy than this.

  31:10-31:16

  And that's why it's only for people that are in the covenant of marriage.

  31:18-31:20

  You understand what I'm saying?

  31:21-31:23

  Any further questions, ask your mom, okay?

  31:25-31:26

  But this is the point.

  31:29-31:31

  It's not square, it's not old-fashioned.

  31:32-31:35

  It's using God's gift the way he intended it to be used.

  31:36-31:39

  And when that's done, it's awesome.

  31:39-31:42

  And when it's not done, it's destructive.

  31:44-31:46

  So Jesus is always faithful to his bride.

  31:47-31:51

  The church, his bride must respond by being faithful to only him.

  31:52-31:55

  And that's the dynamic to be emulated in a marriage.

  31:58-32:14

  So, despite all of the goofiness that the world is pitching about marriage and sexuality, we, we must be known as people who honor biblical marriage.

  32:15-32:16

  Right?

  32:17-32:20

  So three things we must be known for, Jesus followers.

  32:20-32:23

  One is compassion, two is covenant.

  32:23-32:25

  The third thing is contentment.

  32:27-32:29

  Contentment, we have all we need.

  32:33-32:41

  Look at verse five, it says, "Keep your life free from love of money." Free from love of money.

  32:45-32:50

  One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible, people say, "Money's the root of all evil." Is that true?

  32:55-32:58

  The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

  32:59-33:02

  Money, listen, money in and of itself is not evil, but people think that.

  33:03-33:05

  Money in and of itself is not evil.

  33:06-33:10

  I have proof of that because I have some money.

  33:12-33:18

  My wallet has never tried to kill me when I'm sleeping because it's not evil.

  33:19-33:23

  My debit card has never slandered me because it's not evil.

  33:25-33:26

  Money itself is not evil.

  33:26-33:28

  Money's just a tool.

  33:31-33:31

  It's the love of money.

  33:32-33:35

  Money, and listen, it's money in any amount, by the way.

  33:35-33:43

  We live in a day that if you have a lot of money, you're a horrible person, which isn't true.

  33:43-33:45

  Money in and of itself is not evil.

  33:48-33:49

  It's loving money.

  33:49-33:55

  That is what God says to avoid, because when you love money, you never have enough.

  33:55-34:01

  Look, he goes on in verse five, he says, and be content with what you have.

  34:03-34:05

  We, church, should be known for being content people.

  34:06-34:10

  We should be a people that say, I have all I need.

  34:11-34:11

  Can you say that?

  34:12-34:13

  I'm gonna give you a run at it.

  34:14-34:15

  I'll give you a second, I'm gonna prepare you.

  34:19-34:23

  But I want you to say that, I have all that I need.

  34:23-34:24

  Say that.

  34:25-34:26

  I have all that I need.

  34:27-34:28

  Do you believe that?

  34:30-34:31

  I have all that I need.

  34:35-34:40

  I'm so happy, I'm so thankful with what I have.

  34:42-34:45

  Like, you're like, man, that's so hard to do.

  34:45-34:46

  How do I do that?

  34:48-34:58

  If you can understand this one thing, you're not going to struggle with contentment and covetousness and greed.

  34:59-35:06

  If you can understand this one principle, the principle is this, God is the one who gives you what you have.

  35:08-35:11

  We studied this in Ecclesiastes last year, remember that?

  35:11-35:14

  Ecclesiastes 5.19, I'm sure you all remember this.

  35:14-35:16

  I'm just gonna give us a refresher.

  35:16-35:29

  It says, "Everyone also to whom God has given wealth "and possessions and power to enjoy them "and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, "this is the gift of God." So where does our stuff come from?

  35:30-35:31

  It comes from God.

  35:31-35:33

  The principles throughout, right?

  35:33-35:37

  Deuteronomy 8, 18, 1 Chronicles 29, 12, Hosea 2, 8.

  35:37-35:41

  Everything you have has been given to you by God.

  35:42-35:48

  And if you can understand and accept that, You will be a content person just walking through life.

  35:48-35:52

  Everything I have, everything I need, God's just gonna give me.

  35:53-35:54

  I'm not worried about it.

  35:54-35:55

  I'm not looking for more.

  35:55-35:58

  I'm not crying because I don't have what somebody else has.

  35:58-36:01

  God's just gonna give me everything that I need.

  36:01-36:03

  So I'm not, I'm content.

  36:03-36:04

  I'm happy.

  36:06-36:07

  Are you there?

  36:11-36:22

  You know, the Old Testament under Moses, when he led the Israelites out of Egypt, you know, to the promised land, we talked about that a lot through Hebrews.

  36:23-36:28

  But on that trip, God provided Israel the most perfect food ever.

  36:28-36:29

  It was called manna.

  36:31-36:33

  If you know the story, where was the manna?

  36:34-36:36

  They didn't go to sheets for it.

  36:37-36:38

  Where was it?

  36:39-36:40

  It was just on the ground.

  36:41-36:43

  God provided the perfect food to every morning.

  36:43-36:50

  All you had to do was roll out of your tent and your food was on the ground.

  36:51-36:53

  And it was perfect in every way.

  36:53-36:57

  And we have biblical evidence that speaks to how perfect it was.

  36:57-36:58

  We'll talk about that another time.

  36:58-37:03

  But just know that it was a perfect food that God's just like, here you go.

  37:04-37:05

  I'll feed you.

  37:06-37:07

  It's right there.

  37:07-37:08

  You can't get any closer.

  37:09-37:10

  You're standing on some.

  37:10-37:14

  "Get up." Was Israel content?

  37:17-37:18

  Was Israel content?

  37:19-37:27

  No, in fact, they wanted to go back to Egypt, and one of their reasons was the food there.

  37:29-37:30

  You remember that?

  37:30-37:35

  They're like, "Do you remember back in Egypt, "there were like the pots of flesh?" Like, that's really gross.

  37:35-37:36

  They just mean there's meat.

  37:36-37:37

  It's a gross way to put it.

  37:38-37:41

  And they were like, "We had the cucumbers and the leeks." And I'm like, "I call baloney.

  37:41-37:52

  Nobody's ever gotten excited about a leek." But they were like, "Oh, we just wish we were back in Egypt." And Numbers chapter 11, they actually said this.

  37:53-38:00

  They said, "All we have is this manna to look at." Wrap your brain around that statement for a second.

  38:01-38:05

  God's like, "Here you go, perfect food every day.

  38:06-38:11

  Just bend over and pick it up." life to all we have is this stupid man it'll look at.

  38:14-38:15

  Excuse me?

  38:15-38:16

  What, what?

  38:19-38:19

  Winers.

  38:22-38:24

  It's like a bunch of toddlers, right?

  38:27-38:31

  But church, listen, when you're not content, you sound exactly like them.

  38:34-38:40

  When you're not content with what God has given you, you are just like Israel.

  38:41-38:45

  What you're saying, you might not be using these words, but this is what you're saying.

  38:45-38:46

  Like, this is it, God?

  38:47-38:48

  This is all you're gonna give me?

  38:49-38:50

  I want more.

  38:51-38:52

  I want different.

  38:55-38:59

  Oh, this is a sermon for another time, but some of you know how that story ends.

  39:01-39:03

  God gave them meat, by the way.

  39:03-39:17

  God's like, "Oh, you want meat." God says, "I'll give you meat until it comes out of your noses." And the Bible says that while they were eating the quail that God provided while the meat was between their teeth before it was consumed, God struck them dead.

  39:22-39:32

  And I don't think the Bible explicitly says, but I imagine after that event, everybody else in Israel that wasn't struck dead was like, "You know what I'm hungry for?

  39:34-39:34

  "Mana.

  39:36-39:38

  "Mana is my favorite thing ever.

  39:39-39:40

  "I love mana.

  39:41-39:48

  "Send me a mana sandwich with a side of mana soup "and a tall, cold glass of mana." Right?

  39:50-39:51

  We should be known for being content.

  39:52-39:53

  We have all that we need.

  39:54-39:57

  Here's a couple of markers of content people.

  40:02-40:05

  Content people, first of all, don't judge what other people have.

  40:07-40:08

  That's a mark of content people.

  40:09-40:12

  Content people don't judge what other people have.

  40:15-40:17

  Did you see that car he was driving?

  40:18-40:19

  How much does he make?

  40:21-40:24

  Did you see that purse that she was carrying?

  40:25-40:26

  What's a bougie purse company?

  40:27-40:29

  Shout one out, I don't know.

  40:30-40:32

  Gucci, Louis Vuitton, okay.

  40:34-40:37

  Did you see that Louis Vuitton purse that she was carrying?

  40:42-40:44

  Here's what content people say.

  40:44-40:45

  Okay, God gave that to them.

  40:47-40:50

  I drive the car that I have and I carry my Walmart purse.

  40:51-40:52

  Well, I mean, I don't.

  40:53-40:53

  (audience laughing)

  40:55-40:56

  I don't carry the Walmart purse.

  40:59-41:01

  But that's what content people say.

  41:02-41:06

  Like, okay, so he drives that kind of car, good for him.

  41:07-41:08

  I hope it's awesome.

  41:10-41:14

  So she has a Louis Gucci purse or whatever, so she's good for her.

  41:15-41:17

  I hope she has a closet full of them.

  41:18-41:20

  I hope she loves that purse so much.

  41:21-41:30

  Not like in an idolatry way, But I hope that she loves it in the Lord or whatever.

  41:32-41:36

  Several months ago, I was at a funeral home for a visitation.

  41:37-41:42

  And when I was walking out, there was a lady in the lobby just by herself.

  41:45-42:00

  And we got chatting and she's like, "How do you know the deceased?" And I said, "Well, I'm a pastor and I've known the family and da, da, da." She goes, "Oh, you're a pastor." She said, right out of the gate, she goes, "What do you think about how much money Joel Osteen makes?"

  42:01-42:02

  (congregation laughing)

  42:06-42:15

  And I gotta be honest with you, church, I am genuinely surprised at how many times over the course of my ministry, I've been asked my opinion on Joel Osteen's salary.

  42:19-42:23

  And I told her, I said, What Joel Osteen makes isn't my business.

  42:23-42:27

  Like, why should I care what Joel Osteen makes?

  42:28-42:30

  Do I look like Mrs. Osteen?

  42:31-42:32

  What's her name?

  42:33-42:33

  Veronica or whatever?

  42:34-42:35

  Victoria.

  42:35-42:37

  Do I look like Victoria Osteen?

  42:37-42:38

  And be careful how you answer that.

  42:39-42:41

  But why should I care what he makes?

  42:43-42:47

  I don't give to support his organization.

  42:50-42:58

  And listen, I say this with all the love I can muster, you gotta grab hold of this.

  42:58-43:00

  Look, what God gives somebody else is not your business.

  43:01-43:03

  It is not your business.

  43:05-43:12

  Your business, according to the Bible, is to be content with what you have.

  43:13-43:14

  Do you see that?

  43:17-43:19

  Here's another marker of contentment.

  43:20-43:21

  We're wrapping up, I promise.

  43:21-43:26

  I didn't preach for like five weeks, so I've had all this building up.

  43:28-43:28

  Here's another one.

  43:29-43:33

  Content people aren't afraid of not having what they need.

  43:35-43:37

  That's another marker of contentment.

  43:37-43:40

  You don't have the anxiety of lacking.

  43:41-43:42

  That's another marker of contentment.

  43:45-43:46

  How does that work?

  43:46-43:52

  It's because content people have learned that contentment It doesn't come from having stuff.

  43:54-43:56

  Contentment comes from having Jesus.

  43:59-44:00

  Look at verse 5.

  44:03-44:05

  Again, he says, "Be content with what you have.

  44:05-44:07

  Why should I do that?" Here's the reason, look.

  44:07-44:17

  "For He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" God said that.

  44:18-44:19

  Oh, he's not finished.

  44:19-44:24

  He says, "So we, we can confidently say, "the Lord is my helper.

  44:25-44:26

  "I will not fear.

  44:26-44:33

  "What can man do to me?" He's quoting Joshua 1.5.

  44:35-44:37

  Actually, Jesus said something very similar.

  44:39-44:40

  Right, Great Commission, I'm with you always.

  44:41-44:43

  Right, he's quoting Psalm 118, verse six.

  44:45-44:49

  But this, he will never leave you in the original language, that was the strongest negative.

  44:51-44:55

  Okay, so he will never leave you is sort of an understatement in translation.

  44:55-45:04

  What it's saying is, God is saying, I will never, ever, under any circumstances abandon you.

  45:05-45:06

  I would never do that.

  45:11-45:14

  He says, so we're not going to fear, right?

  45:14-45:15

  You see that?

  45:15-45:17

  He says, "I will not fear," verse six.

  45:18-45:19

  Like, what, fear what?

  45:21-45:23

  Fear lacking, fear being without.

  45:24-45:30

  In chapter 10, verse 34, these people were being plundered for their faith, right?

  45:31-45:37

  They were being robbed because they belonged to Jesus.

  45:39-45:47

  And he says, "And our response should just simply be this, "that's okay, that's okay." because the Lord is my helper.

  45:49-45:56

  My God has $6 trillion just in the cup holder of his Lamborghini.

  45:59-46:01

  So if I have Jesus, I have everything.

  46:03-46:08

  And I don't have anything to worry about because he promised that he'd never forsake me.

  46:09-46:11

  You see, church, that's where contentment comes from.

  46:13-46:21

  Contentment comes from real faith that says, "I believe that God is always with me.

  46:22-46:38

  And I believe that he's going to give me everything that I need." Our worship team would make their way back to the platform here.

  46:39-46:45

  You know, I think it was several months ago, maybe up to a year now, in a meeting.

  46:48-46:54

  Regarding hospitality, we were meeting with Mackenzie Blasco, and she has a question that, I was like, wow, I wasn't expecting that.

  46:54-47:00

  But she said, she asked me this, she says, "How close is this church to your original vision?" You remember asking that, Mackenzie?

  47:01-47:14

  She's, "How close is this church to your original vision?" And I said, "This is exactly what I wanted to see." This church isn't perfect.

  47:16-47:17

  That's certainly not what I meant.

  47:20-47:21

  But this church is real.

  47:22-47:24

  And this church is sincere.

  47:25-47:36

  And this church is actively seeking to grow in our individual family and collective walks with Jesus Christ by his grace.

  47:39-47:41

  You know, I've thought about Mackenzie's question often.

  47:45-47:49

  What if I asked you, what kind of church do you want?

  47:51-47:55

  We could get one of the handheld mics and walk around and get everyone's opinion.

  47:55-47:58

  I imagine we'd probably get dozens of different types of answers.

  47:59-48:00

  What kind of church do you want?

  48:00-48:02

  But I guess we're asking the wrong question.

  48:04-48:07

  I think the right question is, what kind of church does Jesus want?

  48:09-48:10

  Isn't that a better question?

  48:11-48:12

  Can I get an amen on that?

  48:13-48:13

  Okay, that was better.

  48:14-48:16

  What kind of church does Jesus want?

  48:18-48:19

  Well, he tells us right here.

  48:21-48:26

  "We should be a church known for compassion." We're looking for people to love.

  48:27-48:29

  We're a church that's about covenant.

  48:29-48:37

  Our covenant with God through Jesus Christ, the covenant, the new covenant, through the blood of Jesus, but also the covenant of marriage.

  48:37-48:41

  We believe, and this, when you come in here, we think marriage is a great thing here.

  48:43-48:45

  The last thing we should be known for is contentment.

  48:46-48:49

  We're just people, we walk around satisfied.

  48:50-48:53

  Like, I have everything that I need.

  48:55-48:56

  God's going to make sure of that.

  48:58-48:59

  You bow with me in prayer.

  49:00-49:13

  Father in heaven, in a day of consumerism and competition and marketing and all that stuff.

  49:13-49:17

  It's easy for the church to think, what do I need to do to compete?

  49:17-49:19

  What do I need to do to be flashy?

  49:23-49:25

  What do I, what kind of gimmick do I need?

  49:28-49:32

  But the reality is, Father, you haven't called us to gimmicks you've called us to faithfulness.

  49:33-49:36

  And your word tells us right here kind of reputation we should have.

  49:37-49:38

  So Father, I wanna pray for this church.

  49:43-49:50

  Because it's only the decisions we make in our walks and for our homes, that's gonna determine the kind of people we are when we come together here.

  49:54-49:58

  Father, warm our hearts towards compassion.

  50:02-50:06

  Father, let us repent of any negative attitudes or words that we've had towards marriage.

  50:08-50:15

  Father, let us be people who are truly satisfied, not because of the stuff we have, but because of the God that we have.

  50:16-50:32

  I just pray, Father, that we are so focused on being the kind of people that you have called us to be, and that you give us the opportunity to just get out into our community and let them see the difference that Jesus Christ makes.

  50:37-50:43

  Father, we do pray for the members of this church, the people of this church to grow.

  50:43-51:04

  We pray for this church itself to grow, but Father, only in a way that honors you, only in a way that's empowered by you, only in a way that people can look at us and say, God must be in their midst.

  51:05-51:07

  Show up powerfully, Father.

  51:10-51:13

  Not for our reputation, ultimately it's for yours.

  51:14-51:17

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Hebrews 13:1-6

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What do you think HBC is known for?
   

3. What are some practical ways that you can show hospitality to strangers?
   

4. How would you answer this question: why is sex only for married people (Heb 13:4)?
   

5. In what areas do you struggle with contentment (Heb 13:5)?

Breakout
Pray for one another, and pray for HBC to be a church known for compassion, covenant, and contentment.

Questions from the Congregation - Part 18

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.

Ice-Breakers:

1. [01:08] - Q: What is your favorite color?
   A: Gray (Jeff), Royal/Navy Blue (Taylor)
   

2. [02:19] - Q: What is your favorite book of the Bible and why?
   A: OT - Ecclesiastes / NT - Romans (Taylor), OT - Ecclesiastes / NT - Revelation (Jeff), James (Matt)
   

3. [04:40] - Q: What Christian book has made an impact on you that you would recommend to others?
   A: See TBD - TBD
   
   The Bible:
   

4. [06:35] - Q: Does God still speak to us today?
   A: See Hebrews 1:1-2 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
   

5. [10:06] - Q: Do you guys know anything about why certain books were included and others weren’t, such as other books found in Dead Sea scrolls? And what about books mentioned in Bible such as Enoch?

   A: TBD
   
   Old Testament:

6. [12:22] - Q: Who was the third person on earth?
   A: Cain
   

7. [12:45] - Q: If Cain killed Abel, who did Cain marry? How did humanity continue?
   A: His sister
   

8. [14:05] - Q: Genesis 5:4 - The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died. Who or what are the Nephilim?
   A: See TBD
   

9. [18:25] - Q: What is your stance on Psalm 83? Is it a war, a lament? If you believe it to be a war, is it a past war or yet future?
   A: See TBD - TBD
   
   New Testament:
   

10. [19:55] - Q: In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus talks about narrow & wide gates, one that leads to destruction & one that leads to life. He indicates that there will be few who find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. Is Jesus revealing in these verses that proportionally speaking that most people born throughout the ages will go to hell compared to those that truly come to salvation through Jesus?
    A: See TBD - TBD
    

11. [24:25] - Q: The Bible says “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt 7:1), but there are other places like I Cor 2:15 where God says “but he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one”. Can you explain the seeming contradiction between these two verses?
    A: See TBD - TBD
    

12. [28:28] - Q: Can you discuss the Bema seat? I know it is a judgment for believers (good and not so good) that will take place post rapture for how we spent our lives on earth, but since God forgives our sins past, present, and future and wipes them from his memory once we confess our salvation in Him, why do we stand in judgment for things we did that are not so good?

    Or is it just situations where we could have shared the gospel or helped someone and didn't do anything that will be called out and judged?
    A: See 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 - According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
    2 Corinthians 5:10 - For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
    
    Potluck:
    

13. [31:05] - Q: With as flawed, hypocritical, & inconsistent as we are as believers, why would God choose to limit Himself in such a way to effectively share the truth of His message to the lost world?
    A: See - TBD
    

14. [33:40] - Q: What does the Bible say about the use of Western Medicine example anti depressants, pain killers, medical marijuana, etc.?
    A: See Proverbs 31:6 - Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress...
    

15. [35:15] - Q: Is drinking alcohol, using tobacco/ marijuana, or gambling all sins? Should a born again believer stop these activities?
    A: See TBD - TBD
    

16. [On the Blog] - Q: Why does God allow trials in my life to test my faith, if in His sovereignty He already knows how I’ll respond (positively or negatively)?
    A: See 1 Peter 1:6-9 - In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
    

17. [On the Blog] - Q: Can you explain what Jesus means in Luke 14:26-27 where He says we can not be His disciples unless we hate our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children? This seems totally contradictory to His message for us to love one another as He has loved us.
    A: See Matthew 10:37 - Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

    
    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

• Audio Transcript

  Jeff:

  00:01-00:03

  All right, so Q&A day.

  Jeff:

  00:04-00:04

  Ground rules, right?

  Jeff:

  00:05-00:10

  The ground rules are we can only answer the question that we think you're asking, right?

  Jeff:

  00:11-00:18

  So if you submitted the question and we answer, you're like, "That's not what I meant at all." We're taking our best stab at what we think you're asking.

  Jeff:

  00:18-00:23

  We're gonna give the shortest possible answer because really every one of these things could be a sermon series.

  Jeff:

  00:24-00:30

  And whatever we don't get to today, Pastor Taylor will put on our blog on our website, right?

  Taylor:

  00:30-00:31

  I suppose so.

  Jeff:

  00:33-00:35

  I did it for the first 11 years.

  Taylor:

  00:35-00:36

  I'll happily do it, I'll happily do it.

  Jeff:

  00:36-00:40

  I did it for the first 11 years of the church, you can take the next 11 years, right?

  Jeff:

  00:40-00:41

  Isn't that how it works?

  Taylor:

  00:41-00:41

  Sounds good to me.

  Jeff:

  00:41-00:43

  Okay, all right.

  Jeff:

  00:44-00:46

  So, are we gonna set the timer too?

  Jeff:

  00:47-00:51

  All right, so, keep us honest here.

  Jeff:

  00:54-00:56

  All right, what do we got, Fulzi?

  Jeff:

  00:56-00:59

  Let's get going. I gave you my notes, so I'm totally trusting you.

  Matt:

  00:59-01:01

  Yeah, I do. So you want me to start with the icebreakers, correct?

  Jeff:

  01:01-01:04

  Oh, yeah. Let's start with the icebreakers. Let's go through those pretty quick.

  Matt:

  01:04-01:06

  All right. Let's get really deep here to start.

  Matt:

  01:08-01:10

  What is your favorite color?

  Taylor:

  01:10-01:12

  I don't know if I can answer that one. That's pretty deep.

  Jeff:

  01:12-01:13

  That is pretty deep.

  Taylor:

  01:13-01:15

  I guess gray is my favorite color.

  Matt:

  01:16-01:17

  Gray?

  Taylor:

  01:17-01:18

  Gray. Yeah.

  Taylor:

  01:19-01:21

  What kind of answer is that?

  Taylor:

  01:21-01:23

  It works well. Living in Pittsburgh, it's gray most of the time.

  Taylor:

  01:25-01:28

  If I look at most of the colors I wear, I guess it'd be gray.

  Matt:

  01:28-01:29

  Yeah, that's fair.

  Matt:

  01:31-01:32

  Better answer than gray.

  Jeff:

  01:33-01:35

  You're not gonna believe this.

  Jeff:

  01:35-01:36

  Erin, what's my favorite color?

  Taylor:

  01:40-01:42

  That's why you hired me.

  Jeff:

  01:42-01:43

  It's true. It's true.

  Jeff:

  01:44-01:45

  Gray is my favorite color too.

  Jeff:

  01:46-01:47

  What's your favorite color?

  Matt:

  01:47-01:48

  Why? Why gray?

  Jeff:

  01:49-01:50

  I just like gray.

  Taylor:

  01:51-01:51

  It looks good with everything.

  Jeff:

  01:52-01:52

  Yeah.

  Matt:

  01:53-01:53

  Yeah.

  Jeff:

  01:53-01:54

  What about you, Cole?

  Matt:

  01:54-01:58

  I think mine's blue, like, you know, dark blue, royal blue.

  Jeff:

  01:58-01:59

  Goes good with gray.

  Matt:

  01:59-02:01

  Goes good with gray, I guess, yeah.

  Taylor:

  02:01-02:03

  Who else has their favorite color as gray?

  Taylor:

  02:05-02:07

  All right, Laura's awesome.

  Jeff:

  02:09-02:09

  Laura is my twin sister.

  Taylor:

  02:09-02:10

  McKenzie, okay.

  Taylor:

  02:11-02:12

  The four of us are pretty great people.

  Matt:

  02:14-02:17

  All right, next question, if we can recover from that.

  Matt:

  02:18-02:22

  Your favorite book of the Bible and why?

  Taylor:

  02:22-02:24

  I'm gonna cheat here a little bit.

  Taylor:

  02:25-02:26

  Say Old Testament, New Testament.

  Taylor:

  02:26-02:27

  That's really hard to do.

  Jeff:

  02:27-02:28

  Oh my goodness, okay.

  Taylor:

  02:28-02:29

  You can cheat too.

  Taylor:

  02:30-02:30

  All right.

  Taylor:

  02:30-02:30

  To both of you can.

  Taylor:

  02:31-02:33

  I would say Ecclesiastes is my favorite book of the Old Testament.

  Taylor:

  02:33-02:36

  People think it's depressing and like, ugh, but it's really awesome.

  Taylor:

  02:37-02:38

  We did a sermon series on it last year.

  Taylor:

  02:39-02:43

  It really shows you how meaningless life is apart from God.

  Taylor:

  02:43-02:47

  How everything God has given us is a good gift if used for him and his glory.

  Taylor:

  02:47-02:50

  So I think it's an awesome book of the Bible that not enough people really give enough attention to.

  Taylor:

  02:51-02:53

  And the obvious answer for New Testament is Romans.

  Taylor:

  02:53-02:55

  I mean, it's really hard to beat Romans 5 through 8.

  Taylor:

  02:55-02:57

  I think it's like my favorite section of the Bible.

  Taylor:

  02:59-03:04

  All right, since we're doing Old Testament, we can, we still have, don't tell me it's red, I don't like red.

  Taylor:

  03:05-03:06

  They turned you off when you said gray.

  Taylor:

  03:06-03:07

  Yeah.

  Jeff:

  03:11-03:12

  All right, I'll just, oh, thank you.

  Matt:

  03:13-03:14

  We'll just use it, do this then.

  Matt:

  03:14-03:15

  It is red, that's not good.

  Jeff:

  03:16-03:17

  Yeah, that's not, red's not good, right?

  Jeff:

  03:17-03:17

  No.

  Jeff:

  03:18-03:19

  Okay, red is not my favorite color.

  Jeff:

  03:20-03:21

  The Old Testament, you know what?

  Jeff:

  03:22-03:24

  Ecclesiastes. I love Ecclesiastes.

  Jeff:

  03:24-03:25

  I've taught through it many times.

  Jeff:

  03:25-03:30

  And I think Ecclesiastes has an amazing way of just putting life into perspective.

  Jeff:

  03:30-03:32

  New Testament is Revelation.

  Jeff:

  03:32-03:41

  I think Revelation is the most powerful, majestic, to me, just awe-inspiring book in the Bible.

  Jeff:

  03:41-03:43

  I mean, it's all God's Word, yes, absolutely.

  Jeff:

  03:43-03:49

  I absolutely am just, I love Revelation.

  Jeff:

  03:49-03:50

  What about you, Matt?

  Matt:

  03:51-03:54

  I'll just stick to one, since I'm not as scholarly as you guys.

  Matt:

  03:55-04:04

  James, I really appreciate the book of James because it's, well, it's short, which is a bonus, but I think it's very direct, it's very practical.

  Matt:

  04:05-04:19

  I mean, it starts with, "Count it all joy, brothers, "whenever you face many trials," you know, many kinds because it produces steadfastness That I think just sets the tone for the whole rest of the book where it's like, "All right, sometimes life stinks.

  Matt:

  04:19-04:30

  We go through hard stuff, but here's how we live in light of Christ and as a follower of Christ." So, that's where we get quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.

  Matt:

  04:31-04:35

  So, there's a lot of really practical stuff in there that I appreciate about James.

  Matt:

  04:36-04:40

  All right, the last icebreaker is a Christian book.

  Matt:

  04:40-04:44

  your favorite Christian book that's made an impact on you or that you would recommend to others?

  Jeff:

  04:47-04:48

  Go ahead, Taylor.

  Jeff:

  04:48-04:49

  I gotta take this thing off.

  Jeff:

  04:50-04:51

  It's not working, I just feel stupid.

  04:52-04:53

  (laughing)

  Taylor:

  04:53-05:03

  I think if I had to only recommend one, the one that impacted me the most in college when I was really growing in my relation with the Lord and feeling called to ministry is The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.

  Taylor:

  05:03-05:06

  If you haven't read that book, I would encourage all of you to go out and buy it.

  Taylor:

  05:06-05:12

  I actually have an extra copy in my office if you want it and you're actually gonna read it, come see me after service and I'll give it to you.

  Taylor:

  05:12-05:15

  It's a book that really shows that God is so different than us.

  Taylor:

  05:15-05:21

  He is holy, he is beyond us, and the fact that he chooses to love us and save us is astounding.

  Taylor:

  05:22-05:24

  So that's a book I think everyone should read.

  Taylor:

  05:25-05:28

  You know, the one, I can't remember the name of it because I gave it away.

  Jeff:

  05:29-05:33

  Dan and Elisha, what was that book on prayer, Praying the Word of God, what was that called?

  Jeff:

  05:35-05:36

  Was it called Praying the Word of

  Taylor:

  05:36-05:36

  God?

  Taylor:

  05:37-05:37

  I think it's Praying the Bible.

  05:40-05:41

  >> Well,

  Jeff:

  05:41-05:44

  whatever it was, it had a huge impact on me.

  Jeff:

  05:44-05:45

  Not the title.

  Jeff:

  05:47-05:48

  It's what's on the inside that counts.

  Taylor:

  05:49-05:51

  >> If you're meant to read it, you'll find it somehow.

  05:54-05:54

  >>

  Jeff:

  05:54-05:55

  So what about you, Matt?

  Matt:

  05:56-05:59

  >> Yeah, I think "Wild at Heart" is one that comes to mind for me.

  Matt:

  05:59-06:01

  I can't remember who wrote that.

  Matt:

  06:01-06:02

  I always want to call him Brad Eldridge.

  Matt:

  06:02-06:04

  >> John Eldridge?

  Matt:

  06:04-06:08

  A former failed Pirates prospect, and that's not actually who wrote the book.

  Matt:

  06:09-06:11

  Right, he's with the Yankees now.

  Matt:

  06:11-06:22

  Yeah. But yeah, that one was really good as far as just, it's geared towards men, but just who God created us to be. So that was really impactful for me.

  Matt:

  06:23-06:24

  Alright, are you ready to get into this?

  Jeff:

  06:24-06:26

  Yes, we are. Go for it.

  Matt:

  06:26-06:32

  Alright, the first one is a simple question, but I think it's a big picture question.

  Matt:

  06:33-06:36

  And that is, does God still speak to us today?

  Jeff:

  06:39-06:40

  Absolutely, He does.

  Jeff:

  06:40-06:41

  He speaks through His Word, right?

  Jeff:

  06:42-06:43

  Hebrews 1.

  Jeff:

  06:44-06:46

  We went through this a while back.

  Jeff:

  06:46-06:47

  Do we have that on the screen?

  Jeff:

  06:47-06:48

  Like I said, I gave you my notes.

  Jeff:

  06:50-06:51

  Yeah, there it is.

  Jeff:

  06:52-06:53

  Hebrews 1.

  Jeff:

  06:53-06:56

  "Long ago, many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

  Jeff:

  06:56-07:06

  But in these last days, He's spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, whom also He created the world. I believe that God speaks through His Word.

  Jeff:

  07:06-07:12

  So every day, every single time you sit down and read God's Word, God is speaking to you.

  Jeff:

  07:12-07:21

  That's how He has chosen to reveal Himself. It's through the wisdom of His Word and through the power of His Spirit within, that's how He speaks. Taylor?

  Taylor:

  07:22-07:24

  Yeah, there's two different types of revelation, right?

  Taylor:

  07:24-07:29

  There's general revelation, which is God revealing Himself in nature through His creation.

  Taylor:

  07:30-07:38

  The book of Psalms says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies above proclaim His handiwork," that knowledge is being spoken to us day after day after day.

  Taylor:

  07:39-07:50

  And Romans chapter 1 says, "This creation, this general revelation, leaves us without excuse to believe that God doesn't exist and to believe that we're called to live our lives in a certain way." We're all without excuse in that way.

  Taylor:

  07:50-07:56

  But there is special revelation, which is, like Jeff said, God speaking to us through His Son and through His Word.

  Taylor:

  07:56-08:00

  Because you know what? As much as we love a beautiful sunset, You can't look at a sunset and come to Christ.

  Taylor:

  08:02-08:03

  A tree won't tell you the gospel.

  Taylor:

  08:04-08:07

  You have to be told who Jesus is and what He has done through His Word.

  08:08-08:08

  What

  Matt:

  08:08-08:12

  are your guys' thoughts on an audible voice of God?

  Matt:

  08:12-08:19

  Because I've heard people have said that they actually heard the voice of God or they heard a voice that they thought was God that was speaking to them.

  Matt:

  08:20-08:21

  Is that a thing?

  Jeff:

  08:23-08:25

  I haven't experienced

  Matt:

  08:25-08:25

  it.

  Jeff:

  08:26-08:28

  I can't affirm or deny what somebody said their experience was, right?

  Jeff:

  08:29-08:32

  All I can affirm is what God said in His Word.

  Jeff:

  08:32-08:40

  Do I believe that God has spoken to me through His still, small voice in ways that I couldn't fully articulate?

  Jeff:

  08:40-08:41

  Absolutely.

  Jeff:

  08:41-08:48

  But to say that God speaks audibly, like I said, that's an experiential thing.

  Jeff:

  08:49-08:59

  I can't say, "No, He didn't." I, like I said, he's, he speaks to me, but like I said, it's not through words.

  Jeff:

  08:59-09:00

  He doesn't write it on the clouds.

  Jeff:

  09:00-09:07

  He doesn't leave me voicemails on the phone or anything, but somehow his spirit very clearly communicates.

  Jeff:

  09:07-09:10

  And it's, you know, it's ultimately through his word.

  Taylor:

  09:12-09:15

  I think some people can use it as a trump card to do whatever they want.

  Taylor:

  09:15-09:15

  Oh yeah.

  Jeff:

  09:16-09:16

  I know

  Taylor:

  09:16-09:19

  Jeff, you've shared before, someone said, you know, God told me to leave my spouse.

  Taylor:

  09:20-09:20

  No, he didn't.

  Jeff:

  09:20-09:21

  No, he didn't.

  Taylor:

  09:21-09:23

  because the Lord already told you to not do that.

  09:25-09:25

  So...

  Jeff:

  09:25-09:34

  Or I had a woman tell me one time, she said, "The Holy Spirit said you're supposed to come "to my house by yourself." Like, he did not say that.

  Taylor:

  09:37-09:41

  And the audible voice thing, I preached on this a couple of weeks ago, but Peter was there for the transfiguration.

  Taylor:

  09:41-09:43

  He hears God the Father speak out of heaven.

  Taylor:

  09:43-09:45

  Awesome, awesome experience.

  Taylor:

  09:45-09:46

  But what does he say in his first epistle?

  Taylor:

  09:47-09:52

  He says that we have something better and more sure, the Word of God, the prophetic Word.

  Jeff:

  09:53-09:53

  Right on.

  Matt:

  09:55-09:56

  All right, let's move on.

  Jeff:

  09:56-09:57

  We better speed these up, we're not working everybody.

  Jeff:

  09:57-09:58

  I know, sorry.

  Jeff:

  09:58-09:59

  No, that's okay, we're

  Taylor:

  09:59-10:01

  just like two in, we're almost out of time.

  Taylor:

  10:01-10:03

  I'll just be blogging a lot this week.

  Matt:

  10:04-10:05

  Yeah, you'll be-- - Get blogging.

  Matt:

  10:06-10:11

  All right, do you guys know anything about why certain books were included and others weren't?

  Matt:

  10:12-10:14

  Such as other books found in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

  Matt:

  10:15-10:17

  And what about books mentioned in the Bible, such as Enoch?

  Jeff:

  10:18-10:19

  Go ahead, Taylor.

  Jeff:

  10:20-10:22

  This sounds like a good one for you.

  Taylor:

  10:23-10:28

  An important thing to realize is that nobody decides what books are in the Bible.

  Taylor:

  10:28-10:35

  We recognize which books are authoritative. And this process of recognizing which books are authoritative is called canonization.

  Taylor:

  10:35-10:56

  So in the New Testament canon we have 27 books. In the Old Testament canon we have 39 books. And people will say, "Well what about the Apocrypha?" You know, in the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches there's extra books that people have in your Bible, things like Enoch, 1st and 2nd Maccabees, Tobit, and even this weird additions to Daniel where he fights like a dragon slash lizard type of thing.

  Taylor:

  10:56-10:58

  It's really, really strange.

  Taylor:

  10:58-11:03

  And once you read it, you're like, yeah, I get why this wasn't in the Bible, 'cause this doesn't make sense whatsoever.

  Taylor:

  11:03-11:08

  But books like 1st Maccabees make it clear that they're not divinely inspired like the rest of scripture.

  Taylor:

  11:09-11:12

  They say the prophets have been silent for a long time.

  Taylor:

  11:12-11:15

  Other books have clear errors historically.

  Taylor:

  11:15-11:20

  Some have clear theological errors that contradict the Old and New Testament.

  Taylor:

  11:20-11:25

  Also, there's a lot of fake gospels written in the second century AD, like the Gospel of Thomas.

  Taylor:

  11:26-11:29

  It's really weird stuff. Jesus curses people.

  Taylor:

  11:29-11:36

  He curses a kid's parents to go blind. He makes these pigeons out of clay and makes them come to life.

  Taylor:

  11:36-11:38

  It's really, really strange stuff.

  Taylor:

  11:39-11:44

  And they were never widely accepted by the church a long time ago.

  Jeff:

  11:44-11:46

  Didn't he have like a synagogue teacher scold him?

  Jeff:

  11:46-11:48

  And he was like, "Bam, you're blind."

  Taylor:

  11:48-11:50

  He loved to make people blind in that gospel for some reason.

  Taylor:

  11:50-11:51

  He loved to do that. - It's

  Jeff:

  11:51-11:52

  just goofy stuff, yeah.

  Taylor:

  11:53-11:58

  But when it came to the New Testament, the early church had three marks, three qualities for recognized books.

  Taylor:

  11:58-11:59

  One is apostolic authority.

  Taylor:

  12:00-12:03

  It was written by an apostle or someone closely tied to an apostle.

  Taylor:

  12:04-12:08

  Second, it had church-wide acceptance that people recognize, yes, this is the word of God.

  Taylor:

  12:08-12:10

  And then finally, it has correct doctrine.

  Taylor:

  12:10-12:14

  It didn't have anything that contradicted the Old or New Testament books.

  Matt:

  12:16-12:17

  Sufficient for you?

  Jeff:

  12:18-12:19

  Yeah, that works.

  Matt:

  12:19-12:21

  All right, we'll move on then.

  Matt:

  12:22-12:23

  Who was the third person on earth?

  Jeff:

  12:24-12:24

  Oh, I got this one.

  Matt:

  12:26-12:26

  Cain.

  Jeff:

  12:28-12:30

  Cain, and we studied him in Hebrews 11.

  Jeff:

  12:30-12:31

  He murdered his brother.

  Jeff:

  12:31-12:33

  And do you know why he murdered his brother?

  Jeff:

  12:34-12:34

  Because he was able.

  12:36-12:36

  (audience laughing)

  Matt:

  12:41-12:43

  Did I get the trombones or the, all right.

  Matt:

  12:43-12:44

  Moving right along.

  Matt:

  12:45-12:49

  All right, so if Cain killed Abel, who did Cain marry?

  Matt:

  12:50-12:51

  How did humanity continue?

  Jeff:

  12:52-12:55

  Well, he had to have married his sister.

  Jeff:

  12:55-13:01

  The Bible tells us that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters.

  Jeff:

  13:02-13:07

  And the Bible also says that Eve is the mother of all the living.

  Jeff:

  13:07-13:12

  You know, some people think that God created Adam and Eve, but then he created other people, other places.

  Jeff:

  13:12-13:17

  But the problem with that is the Bible says sin is passed down ultimately from Adam and Eve.

  Jeff:

  13:18-13:24

  And so did God create other people who weren't part of the fall, part of the curse?

  Jeff:

  13:25-13:26

  You just don't see that biblically.

  Jeff:

  13:26-13:27

  Eve is the mother of all the living.

  Jeff:

  13:28-13:31

  So he would have had to marry his sister.

  Jeff:

  13:31-13:42

  And I know in our day that sounds very gross, but you were prohibited from marrying close relatives not until the Mosaic Law.

  Jeff:

  13:43-13:55

  So up until then, people were marrying close relatives because you didn't have some of the genetics problems that we have as a result of things decaying because of sin.

  Jeff:

  13:55-13:59

  But that's a whole nother story, but that's not what that's asking.

  Jeff:

  14:00-14:01

  It's asking who did he marry?

  Jeff:

  14:01-14:03

  He had to have married his sister.

  Matt:

  14:04-14:13

  I was gonna ask you about that as far as genetics of how that all worked, because certainly not working the same way now.

  Matt:

  14:13-14:13

  Right,

  Jeff:

  14:13-14:26

  yeah, Adam and Eve would have been, they were created without the mark of sin on them at first, right, so they wouldn't have had the mutations and some of the genetic problems that we have today, right?

  Jeff:

  14:27-14:42

  So, you know, when, like when somebody has a chromosomal problem and they have a child with somebody who maybe doesn't have that problem in their chromosomes, it like overshadows the weak one, right?

  Jeff:

  14:42-14:50

  But the problem is when relatives marry, and they have that same chromosome, it doesn't cancel out, right?

  Jeff:

  14:50-14:54

  So that birth defect is often manifest that way.

  Jeff:

  14:54-15:00

  So there's much more likely to be birth defects and things like that when close relatives marry.

  Matt:

  15:02-15:05

  And the other question I had just real quickly as a follow-up to that.

  Matt:

  15:05-15:14

  I mean, we always, when we read that part, and we look at how long people lived, what is up with that?

  Matt:

  15:15-15:18

  800 years, 930 years, is there a reason for that?

  Jeff:

  15:20-15:20

  I have a theory on

  Taylor:

  15:20-15:21

  that.

  Taylor:

  15:21-15:21

  Taylor, go ahead.

  Taylor:

  15:22-15:25

  I think your theory is probably the same as mine, so you should go ahead, yeah.

  Taylor:

  15:25-15:27

  We talked about this before, so I think it is-- - Water canopy?

  Jeff:

  15:28-15:41

  Okay, well, I believe that before Noah's flood, the earth would have had a water canopy around it and increased atmospheric pressure, which results in better health conditions, right?

  Jeff:

  15:42-15:48

  Like athletes that use a hyperbaric chamber, you know, there's so many health benefits that come from that.

  Jeff:

  15:48-15:54

  I believe the whole earth was under that condition pre-flood, which accounts for the long, long years.

  Jeff:

  15:54-15:56

  'Cause you see a drop off after the flood.

  Jeff:

  15:56-15:59

  You see it start to whittle down.

  Jeff:

  15:59-16:00

  Yeah, definitely

  Taylor:

  16:00-16:03

  had something to do with the flood because life expectancy goes way down after that.

  Matt:

  16:05-16:06

  Interesting, all right.

  Matt:

  16:07-16:10

  Who or what are the nephilim?

  Jeff:

  16:12-16:13

  I don't know, rock monsters?

  Taylor:

  16:15-16:18

  Yeah, according to the Russell Crowe Noah movie, nephilim are just rock monsters.

  Taylor:

  16:19-16:25

  I walked out of that movie years ago very disappointed and someone comes up to me in the theater and says, oh, did you see Noah?

  Taylor:

  16:26-16:27

  And I said, yep, I did.

  Taylor:

  16:28-16:29

  He said, what'd you think of it?

  Taylor:

  16:30-16:35

  I said, "Well, it was 'Transformers' meets the Bible." And they said, "Cool!" and they ran in.

  Taylor:

  16:35-16:37

  And I was like, "That's not what I meant." It wasn't a good thing.

  16:38-16:38

  (laughs)

  Jeff:

  16:38-16:40

  Yeah, you're like, "Not in the good way."

  Taylor:

  16:40-16:41

  Yeah, not, no, that wasn't a cool thing.

  Jeff:

  16:42-16:45

  So go ahead, why don't you kick that off and then I have some things.

  Jeff:

  16:46-16:46

  There's

  Taylor:

  16:46-16:47

  a lot of debate about who the Nephilim are.

  Taylor:

  16:47-16:49

  We're not really exactly sure who they are.

  Taylor:

  16:50-16:56

  They're first talked about in Genesis 6, 4 as the wickedness of the earth as described before the flood.

  Taylor:

  16:56-17:02

  Nephilim in Hebrew means fallen ones, but many Bible translations translate this as giants.

  Taylor:

  17:03-17:12

  And the only time we ever see this is Numbers 13, 33, as the spies are spying out the promised land, and they see giants and they're scared of them, and they don't want to try to conquer them.

  Taylor:

  17:13-17:16

  So we're not exactly sure who they are, but we do know that they're mighty men, as they're described.

  Taylor:

  17:17-17:20

  They fall on people physically, and they're really intimidating warriors.

  Jeff:

  17:21-17:27

  Right, and another theory is based on New Testament, what are the New Testament verses I have written down there?

  Taylor:

  17:28-17:28

  New Testament

  Matt:

  17:28-17:33

  verses 1 Peter 3 and 19, and 2 Peter 2.4?

  17:34-17:34

  Yeah,

  Jeff:

  17:34-17:45

  if you look those up, kind of compare them to the Genesis 6 account, it seems that there were demons that somehow inhabited men trying to procreate with human women.

  Jeff:

  17:46-17:57

  And it was such a grievous sin, obviously it was one of the things that led to the worldwide flood, but also it resulted in demons incarcerated into a prison called the Abyss.

  Jeff:

  17:58-18:01

  If you read about Luke 8.31, it's all through Revelation.

  Jeff:

  18:02-18:07

  It was such a horrible crime that God imprisoned those demons that tried to do that.

  Jeff:

  18:07-18:21

  So some people believe, and I kind of lean in this direction based on what Peter says in 1 and 2 Peter, that this was a demonic revolt that God put the kibosh on.

  Matt:

  18:25-18:28

  So what is your stance on Psalm 83?

  Matt:

  18:29-18:31

  Is it a war, a lament?

  Matt:

  18:31-18:36

  If you believe it to be a war, is it a past war or a yet future war?

  18:37-18:38

  You

  Jeff:

  18:38-18:39

  know, we were talking about that this week.

  Jeff:

  18:39-18:46

  I could not think of, and you couldn't either at the time, maybe you did since, I couldn't think of any eschatology in the Psalms.

  Jeff:

  18:47-18:58

  There's a lot in the Psalms about the first advent of Christ, but is there anything in the Psalms, Rich, can you think of anything in the Psalms that deals with eschatology, second advent, Armageddon.

  Jeff:

  18:58-18:59

  I couldn't think of anything and neither could

  Taylor:

  18:59-19:00

  Pastor Taylor, so.

  Taylor:

  19:01-19:11

  Like you said, it's very heavy on Christ's first coming of how he died, his garments being divided, all these other different things that predicts crucifixion before he's even invented, but it doesn't really speak to his second coming.

  Taylor:

  19:11-19:14

  Now, big parts of the Old Testament do, but the Psalms--

  Jeff:

  19:14-19:17

  Yeah, the Psalms really don't that I could think of.

  Jeff:

  19:17-19:21

  Somebody's probably Googling that right now, but I'm just saying off the top of my head and Taylor's.

  Jeff:

  19:21-19:22

  I would

  19:22-19:22

  say

  Taylor:

  19:22-19:26

  that it does, but nothing that I can say myself.

  Jeff:

  19:26-19:28

  And some scholars think...

  Jeff:

  19:28-19:29

  What do I have written down there, Matt?

  Jeff:

  19:29-19:31

  Is it 2 Chronicles 20?

  Jeff:

  19:31-19:31

  20,

  Matt:

  19:31-19:31

  yep.

  Jeff:

  19:32-19:36

  Okay, the events from Psalm 83 are from 2 Chronicles 20.

  Jeff:

  19:37-19:47

  And some people sort of take all of those enemies listed just as sort of general representatives of the enemies of Israel kind of thing put to poetry.

  Jeff:

  19:48-19:52

  So, I don't believe it's eschatological in nature, personally.

  Matt:

  19:54-20:01

  Alright, so in Matthew 7, 13 and 14, Jesus talks about narrow and wide gates.

  Matt:

  20:02-20:05

  One that leads to destruction and one that leads to life.

  Matt:

  20:05-20:10

  He indicates that there will be few who find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life.

  Matt:

  20:11-20:21

  Is Jesus revealing in these verses that, proportionately speaking, people born throughout the ages will go to hell compared to those that truly come to salvation through Jesus.

  Taylor:

  20:22-20:22

  Yes.

  Taylor:

  20:24-20:26

  Yeah, it seems to be exactly what he's saying.

  Taylor:

  20:26-20:36

  He says, "The gate is wide and the way is easy "that leads to destruction, "and those who enter by it are many, "for the gate is narrow and the way is hard "that leads to life and those who find it are few."

  Jeff:

  20:36-20:38

  You know what, let's be honest.

  Jeff:

  20:38-20:41

  It's a hard thing to think about and talk about, and it's emotionally charged.

  Jeff:

  20:42-21:15

  I remember September 11, all the emails and some of the images going around about all the thousands of people that went to heaven that day. And it's a hard thing to think about, but probably not, right? Jesus talked about that, what is it, Luke 13? That, you know, we want to think, well, these were people who died innocently and they were good people so they went to heaven, but that's not what the Bible says.

  Jeff:

  21:16-21:18

  The Bible says men love darkness because their deeds are evil.

  Jeff:

  21:19-21:22

  And that's what keeps people from wanting to come to God.

  Jeff:

  21:22-21:25

  We prefer sin over Jesus.

  Jeff:

  21:25-21:28

  And that is the condition of all of us.

  Jeff:

  21:28-21:33

  And it's according to Jesus, the few that repent from that.

  Taylor:

  21:35-21:40

  And Christianity is still by numbers considered the number one religion with 2.4 billion people.

  Taylor:

  21:40-21:43

  Islam is quickly catching up with 1.9 billion people.

  Taylor:

  21:43-21:46

  But out of those 2.4 billion people, are all of them saved?

  Taylor:

  21:47-21:51

  Now, I can't see into the human heart or judge who's saved or who's not.

  Taylor:

  21:51-21:52

  It's not my job.

  Taylor:

  21:52-21:58

  But I don't think that the 2.4 billion people in the world who claim to be Christians necessarily mean that they are Christians.

  Taylor:

  21:58-21:58

  No, and

  Jeff:

  21:58-22:00

  according to Jesus, absolutely not.

  Jeff:

  22:00-22:01

  There's wheat and tares, right?

  Jeff:

  22:01-22:04

  They look like it, but we won't know until the end.

  Jeff:

  22:04-22:14

  So, yeah, from Jesus, I'm not judging anybody's heart either, but from Jesus' own assessment, there are going to be people that look the part that hear "Depart from me, I never knew

  22:14-22:16

  you." Like

  Taylor:

  22:16-22:25

  I talked about in my sermon last week about how we don't talk about hell because we hate people, we talk about hell because we care about people and we want them to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

  Jeff:

  22:25-22:26

  Right, absolutely.

  22:26-22:26

  What

  Matt:

  22:26-22:42

  would you say to people that would say, "Well, if God is such a loving God, then why would He allow for, as we're saying, pretty much more than half of all people that have ever lived to not spend eternity with them.

  Jeff:

  22:42-22:44

  Oh, I have something ready for that.

  Jeff:

  22:44-22:47

  I say, oh, God's love is not in question here.

  Jeff:

  22:48-22:49

  What did God do?

  Jeff:

  22:49-23:01

  God took the form of man, came and lived among us 33 years, and was rejected, insulted, mocked, spit on, publicly humiliated and executed in the most painful possible way.

  Jeff:

  23:01-23:01

  Why?

  Jeff:

  23:02-23:04

  So that our sins could be forgiven.

  Jeff:

  23:04-23:06

  God's love is not in question here.

  Jeff:

  23:06-23:10

  You know, God's love, You can take that off the table.

  Jeff:

  23:10-23:11

  How can a loving God...

  Jeff:

  23:11-23:16

  God has demonstrated, Romans 5, He has demonstrated His love.

  Jeff:

  23:17-23:20

  The question really is, why would you reject a God like that?

  Jeff:

  23:21-23:25

  "Who spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all." That's the issue.

  Jeff:

  23:27-23:29

  And then I follow up with something like this.

  Jeff:

  23:29-23:38

  If you live your whole life, you don't want anything to do with God's truth, God's people, worship, You don't want anything to do with that.

  Jeff:

  23:38-23:40

  Do you know the worst place in the world you can end up?

  Jeff:

  23:41-23:41

  It's heaven.

  Jeff:

  23:43-23:43

  Because what is heaven?

  Jeff:

  23:43-23:45

  God's truth, worship, God's people.

  Jeff:

  23:46-23:52

  You mean you spent your whole life wanting nothing to do with that, but all of a sudden you die, and that's what I want to do for eternity.

  Jeff:

  23:52-23:52

  No.

  Jeff:

  23:53-24:06

  You've lived your life saying, "I don't want anything to do with this." So God puts you in a place, apart from Him, apart from His people, apart from, you know, worshiping before the throne of the Lamb.

  Jeff:

  24:06-24:10

  He puts you in a place, a part, He's given you exactly what you want.

  Jeff:

  24:11-24:14

  So, you know, God's love isn't in question here.

  Jeff:

  24:14-24:15

  That's what I tell people.

  Jeff:

  24:17-24:20

  Don't you dare turn that back on Him like, "God's not loving, ah,

  24:20-24:22

  no." Might

  Matt:

  24:22-24:23

  be the best answer yet.

  Matt:

  24:25-24:32

  Alright, the Bible says, "Judge not that you be not judged." It's in Matthew 7, verse 1.

  Matt:

  24:33-24:46

  But there are other places like 1 Corinthians 2.15 where God says, "But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one." Can you explain the seeming contradiction between these two verses?

  Taylor:

  24:48-24:51

  I would say there's a big difference between judging someone's heart and judging someone's behavior.

  Taylor:

  24:52-25:02

  Like I said earlier, I can't see into someone's heart and say what their motives are, but I can see by their behavior, their words, their reactions, that there is something going on there that I'm concerned about.

  Taylor:

  25:03-25:12

  And even in 1 Corinthians, Paul is just blown away the Corinthian church hasn't kicked the guy out of the church who is having a sexual relationship with his mother-in-law.

  Taylor:

  25:12-25:13

  He's like, what are you doing here?

  Taylor:

  25:14-25:17

  And he says this to them, for what have I to do with judging outsiders?

  Taylor:

  25:17-25:20

  He's talking about non-Christians, people not in the church.

  Taylor:

  25:20-25:20

  That's not my job.

  Taylor:

  25:21-25:25

  Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

  Taylor:

  25:25-25:29

  God judges those outside, purge the evil person from among you.

  Taylor:

  25:30-25:36

  He's saying this person needs to be cast out of the church so that they will repent and be restored in the future.

  Jeff:

  25:37-25:40

  And we are commanded to judge actions, right?

  Jeff:

  25:40-25:41

  Judgment begins in the house of God.

  Jeff:

  25:42-25:44

  You talked about the trump card, God told me.

  Jeff:

  25:45-25:47

  That's another trump card in the church, is don't judge me.

  Jeff:

  25:48-25:49

  It's like, hey, you know what?

  Jeff:

  25:49-25:56

  You're married, you shouldn't be like flirting and dating with other women, like, well, don't judge me.

  Jeff:

  25:56-26:02

  Like, we're not judging you, but we are commanded to judge action, right?

  Jeff:

  26:02-26:03

  We're not judging your heart.

  Jeff:

  26:03-26:05

  We're not saying, "You're a terrible person.

  Jeff:

  26:05-26:06

  You're a lustful person.

  Jeff:

  26:07-26:19

  You're a hell-bound person." What we're saying is, "What you are doing is wrong." But again, people get that so messed up in the church, that you're not even allowed to point out a wrong action, because that's judging.

  Jeff:

  26:19-26:22

  And that is complete nonsense.

  Jeff:

  26:23-26:27

  So we're just supposed to walk around affirming everything that everybody does.

  Jeff:

  26:27-26:28

  That is not biblical.

  Jeff:

  26:29-26:34

  We love you, we want God's best for you, but it is our job to say what you are doing is wrong.

  Matt:

  26:36-26:39

  And there's a process of how you keep people accountable, right?

  Matt:

  26:39-26:42

  I mean, is it Titus where it's found?

  Matt:

  26:42-26:49

  I don't know if there's other places where it's found as well, where there's steps that a church will take to keep people accountable.

  Jeff:

  26:49-26:54

  Right. And like Taylor mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul goes, "Kick him out of the church.

  Jeff:

  26:55-27:04

  Grab him by the seat of the pants and the scruff of the neck and throw him right through the stained glass." Somebody that is living in flagrant, unrepentant sin, he says, "Hand him over to Satan.

  Jeff:

  27:04-27:13

  Get him out of the church." And with, "Oh, that sounds so harsh." He says, "No, get him out." We're not judging the person, and apparently in 2 Corinthians it looks like the dude was restored.

  Jeff:

  27:14-27:17

  But he says, "You can't have that." He was judging the guy's action.

  Jeff:

  27:17-27:22

  A guy that does something like that flagrant, unrepentant sin is not welcome in church.

  Jeff:

  27:23-27:36

  And there have been a handful of times over the course of my ministry where we've had to do that and it is heart-wrenching and painful, but there have been times that we're like, hey, you are not welcome to come here until you repent of this sin.

  Jeff:

  27:37-27:41

  So that's not judging the person, that's judging the action, right?

  Jeff:

  27:42-27:43

  We are commanded to do that.

  Taylor:

  27:44-27:52

  In Galatians 6, 1, Paul says this, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, "You who are spiritual should restore him "in a spirit of gentleness.

  Taylor:

  27:53-27:59

  "Also keep watching yourself, lest you too be tempted." That Greek word for restore is like setting a broken bone.

  Taylor:

  27:59-28:07

  You're helping that person heal, grow, and develop by pointing out their spiritual injury and helping them to heal.

  Taylor:

  28:07-28:11

  It's not loving to see that and be like, ah, that's too weird to say something, I feel judgmental.

  Taylor:

  28:11-28:14

  No, help them, call that out in a loving and gentle way.

  Taylor:

  28:14-28:19

  Keeping watching yourself, you're making sure you're not like ignoring the log - Oh, absolutely.

  Taylor:

  28:19-28:22

  By picking out the speck in your brother's eye.

  Taylor:

  28:22-28:23

  Yeah, absolutely.

  Matt:

  28:24-28:25

  How we doing on time, we good?

  Taylor:

  28:26-28:26

  Yeah, we're good.

  Matt:

  28:26-28:26

  All right.

  Matt:

  28:28-28:29

  Can you discuss the Bemis Seat?

  Matt:

  28:30-28:37

  I know it is a judgment for believers, good and not so good, that will take place post-rapture for how we spent our lives on earth.

  Matt:

  28:37-28:57

  But since God forgives our sins, past, present, and future, and wipes them from His memory once we confess our salvation in Him, why do we stand in judgment for things we did so good or is it just situations where we could have shared the gospel or help someone and didn't do anything that'll be called out and judged

  28:57-29:00

  and

  Jeff:

  29:00-29:03

  that's we could spend a lot of time on this one you have

  Matt:

  29:03-29:04

  notes on here so

  29:04-29:05

  do

  Jeff:

  29:05-29:06

  I have those right here

  29:06-29:07

  a

  Matt:

  29:07-29:08

  good bit of them

  Jeff:

  29:08-29:09

  did I write that

  29:09-29:09

  I

  Matt:

  29:09-29:11

  don't know somebody did no wasn't me

  Jeff:

  29:11-29:18

  um yeah there's different levels thanks Matt there's different levels of hell, we know that.

  Jeff:

  29:18-29:20

  The more you know and the more you reject, the worse hell is for you.

  Jeff:

  29:21-29:22

  There's different levels of heaven too.

  Jeff:

  29:23-29:28

  And we are judged by Christ for rewards in heaven.

  Jeff:

  29:28-29:52

  And some people get more rewards and some get less, but the Bible is clear that there is a reward handed out based on what was done truly motivated by glorifying Christ and what was done, you know, empowered by Christ versus what was done like in the flesh, selfish motive, you know, there's no reward for that stuff.

  Jeff:

  29:52-29:58

  The rewards come from what is truly done like for and because of and empowered by Jesus.

  Jeff:

  29:58-29:58

  Taylor?

  Jeff:

  29:59-29:59

  Yeah, the

  Taylor:

  29:59-30:09

  Greek word bima, where we get the bima seed from, it speaks to like a Roman courtroom or the elevated platform at the Olympics where you receive your crowns, you receive your rewards.

  Taylor:

  30:10-30:14

  And so it has nothing to do with our sin because that was fully taken upon Christ on the cross.

  Taylor:

  30:14-30:15

  A sin was judged on the

  Jeff:

  30:15-30:16

  cross.

  Jeff:

  30:16-30:16

  Right, all of

  Taylor:

  30:16-30:19

  God's wrath for our sins has been poured out upon his son and taken care of.

  Taylor:

  30:20-30:21

  This is just for rewards.

  Taylor:

  30:21-30:24

  And this calls us to live our lives seriously.

  Taylor:

  30:25-30:30

  The Bible calls us not to set our minds upon the things of this world, but to set our treasures in heaven.

  Taylor:

  30:30-30:32

  Now people ask, what are these rewards?

  Taylor:

  30:32-30:33

  We don't know.

  Taylor:

  30:33-30:38

  The Bible doesn't say, but I do know they're gonna be awesome because God never gives bad stuff.

  Taylor:

  30:38-30:39

  He only gives good gifts.

  Taylor:

  30:40-30:41

  So they're worth living for.

  Taylor:

  30:42-30:42

  Amen.

  Matt:

  30:43-30:48

  So judgment day for us shouldn't be something that we fear.

  Matt:

  30:48-30:48

  No,

  Jeff:

  30:49-30:53

  no, this isn't a fear-based, punishment-based, not at all.

  Jeff:

  30:54-31:00

  It's evaluating the works that we had done as believers and rewards given out proportionally,

  Matt:

  31:01-31:01

  right?

  Matt:

  31:04-31:17

  All right, with this flawed, hypocritical, and inconsistent as we are as believers, Why would God choose to limit Himself in such a way to effectively share the truth of His message to the lost world?

  Jeff:

  31:17-31:19

  I've said many times I have no idea.

  Jeff:

  31:20-31:26

  To me it sounds like, I don't mean this irreverently at all, but to me it sounds like a bad business strategy.

  Jeff:

  31:27-31:37

  You know, God using pieces of garbage like me to preach His eternal awesome holy word, like, I don't get it.

  Jeff:

  31:37-31:54

  But I would say I'm thankful for the privilege of partnering with Him, but why He would choose to use people, the only possible thing I could think of is to demonstrate the power of transforming lives through His Holy Spirit.

  Jeff:

  31:55-31:56

  Putting that on display, right?

  Jeff:

  31:56-32:04

  What is it in Ephesians talking about how God is demonstrating the glory of the Gospel through people?

  Taylor:

  32:06-32:09

  God just loves to use his people for his purposes.

  Taylor:

  32:10-32:12

  He loves to have his children work alongside him.

  Taylor:

  32:12-32:15

  And the example I give for this is back in third grade, my dad came for a career day.

  Taylor:

  32:16-32:20

  He was an orthopedic salesman, and he brought in his scrubs, his beeper, these different instruments.

  Taylor:

  32:20-32:22

  He brought some for me, too.

  Taylor:

  32:22-32:26

  He even brought my own beeper for me to wear to help him explain to the class what he did.

  Taylor:

  32:26-32:27

  Now, did my dad need me to do that?

  Jeff:

  32:27-32:29

  You might need to explain what a beeper is.

  Jeff:

  32:30-32:30

  (laughing)

  Jeff:

  32:32-32:32

  I'm just kidding.

  Jeff:

  32:34-32:34

  Go look it up.

  Jeff:

  32:34-32:34

  He'll

  Taylor:

  32:34-32:35

  blog about beepers.

  Taylor:

  32:35-32:36

  Yeah, go look it up.

  Taylor:

  32:37-32:41

  But anyway, it was a joy to work alongside my dad that day, even though he didn't need me to.

  Taylor:

  32:41-32:42

  In the same way, God doesn't need us.

  Taylor:

  32:42-32:47

  God could save whoever he wants without us, but he chooses to use us.

  Taylor:

  32:47-32:55

  And this is all throughout scripture, the disciples, Paul, Israel, all these different, God used these people for his purposes, for his glory.

  Taylor:

  32:56-32:57

  That's just his MO.

  Jeff:

  32:57-32:57

  Yeah.

  Taylor:

  32:59-32:59

  What a privilege,

  Jeff:

  33:00-33:00

  right?

  Jeff:

  33:00-33:01

  To be able to partner with God.

  Jeff:

  33:01-33:04

  He doesn't, you're right, Taylor, he doesn't need us.

  Jeff:

  33:05-33:08

  We're just so thankful as His children to be able to like, wow, really?

  Jeff:

  33:08-33:09

  You want to save people?

  Jeff:

  33:09-33:11

  And you want to use us to be part of that?

  Matt:

  33:13-33:28

  Yeah, I felt that hypocritical is good word in that question, because even times like at Arrow and teaching, it's like, I'll say something and immediately feel that conviction because I'm like, wow, that's something that I don't do well or whatever.

  Matt:

  33:28-33:34

  You know, I can feel very hypocritical at times because I know that I come up short on a lot of these things.

  Matt:

  33:34-33:39

  We do all right. We got four more. I think we can power through You better be quick. All right here. We go

  Jeff:

  33:39-33:41

  like 30 seconds per

  Matt:

  33:42-33:46

  What does the Bible say about the use of Western medicine example what being?

  Matt:

  33:47-33:49

  antidepressants painkillers medical marijuana

  Jeff:

  33:50-34:04

  What's the what's the verse I have up there's it's Proverbs 31 yeah there it is Proverbs 31 says give a strong drink to the one who's perishing and wine to those in bitter distress Well anybody comes to me for counseling the first thing I tell them to do is go see a doctor to get a checkup I'm not a doctor.

  Jeff:

  34:04-34:06

  I don't prescribe medications.

  Jeff:

  34:07-34:10

  I can't recommend them or tell people not to take them.

  Jeff:

  34:11-34:12

  But here's what I will say.

  Jeff:

  34:12-34:14

  Obviously, these things are abused.

  Jeff:

  34:15-34:19

  The Bible even says the one who's perishing, the one who's in pain, should be given strong drink.

  Jeff:

  34:20-34:21

  Why? To numb the pain.

  Jeff:

  34:21-34:25

  So these things have an appropriate place and usage.

  Jeff:

  34:26-34:29

  The problem is people abuse and misuse them.

  Jeff:

  34:29-34:32

  So in the right place?

  Jeff:

  34:33-34:34

  Yeah, absolutely.

  Taylor:

  34:37-34:39

  Yeah, I totally agree with what Jeff said also.

  Taylor:

  34:39-34:43

  Like half the New Testament was written by a doctor, Luke.

  Taylor:

  34:43-34:46

  So obviously that's something that is beneficial and is needed.

  Taylor:

  34:46-34:46

  Right.

  Jeff:

  34:47-34:49

  Yeah, people has like antidepressants and stuff like that.

  Jeff:

  34:50-34:56

  You know, there are people that have real, like whether it's a chemical imbalance or issues that require that, absolutely.

  Jeff:

  34:57-34:59

  But there's a lot of people that take that stuff that don't actually need it.

  Jeff:

  35:02-35:04

  So that's a sermon for another time.

  Jeff:

  35:04-35:12

  But obviously some people need medicine and need to take medicine, but we have strong biblical instruction for that.

  Matt:

  35:13-35:24

  And along the same lines, as far as some people abusing these things, is drinking alcohol, using tobacco, marijuana, or gambling all sins?

  Matt:

  35:25-35:27

  Should a born again believer stop these activities?

  Jeff:

  35:31-35:32

  We have 30 seconds left.

  Matt:

  35:34-35:36

  We should have put this to the front of the list.

  Jeff:

  35:37-35:44

  If I just sit here and go, well, that's a good question, Matt.

  Jeff:

  35:44-35:45

  Ding, ding, ding.

  Jeff:

  35:45-35:47

  You got 16 seconds.

  Taylor:

  35:47-35:49

  Let me read 1 Corinthians 6, 12.

  Taylor:

  35:49-35:52

  Paul says, "All things are lawful for me, "but not all things are helpful.

  Taylor:

  35:53-36:01

  "All things are lawful for me, "but I will not be dominated by anything." So the things on this list, Can you be dominated by any of them?

  Taylor:

  36:02-36:02

  For sure.

  Taylor:

  36:02-36:06

  We all know people who, a Pac-Man, don't leave me alone.

  Taylor:

  36:06-36:07

  Jeff's Pac-Man music's coming on.

  Taylor:

  36:08-36:10

  There's people who are enslaved to certain things.

  Taylor:

  36:11-36:13

  Alcohol, gambling, smoking.

  Taylor:

  36:13-36:13

  Right.

  Taylor:

  36:15-36:15

  They're not beneficial.

  Taylor:

  36:16-36:16

  Right.

  Taylor:

  36:16-36:22

  Now, we have to be careful about that because the Bible says, know whether you can't smoke, that you can't drink.

  Taylor:

  36:22-36:29

  You have to be careful about those kind of things and live to your, convict your own personal conviction, but also recognize these things can lead to major issues in your life.

  Jeff:

  36:30-36:31

  Yeah, that was something Pastor Bob had taught me.

  Jeff:

  36:32-36:41

  The 1 Corinthians 6, 8, 10 principle was it's 6, 12, 8, 12 and 13, 10, 31, something like that.

  Jeff:

  36:41-36:44

  But when there's a gray area, there's five questions you could ask.

  Jeff:

  36:45-36:46

  Is it permissible?

  Jeff:

  36:46-36:47

  Is it beneficial?

  Jeff:

  36:48-36:49

  Could it get me under its power?

  Jeff:

  36:49-36:51

  Could it cause a brother to stumble?

  Jeff:

  36:52-36:53

  And is it glorifying to God?

  Jeff:

  36:54-36:56

  And any of the gray areas, you just run them up the pole, right?

  Jeff:

  36:58-36:59

  Let's take smoking, for example.

  Jeff:

  37:00-37:01

  Is it permissible?

  Jeff:

  37:01-37:03

  Yeah, if you're over, was it 18?

  Jeff:

  37:03-37:04

  You're over 18?

  Jeff:

  37:05-37:06

  I'm asking Taylor like he smokes.

  Jeff:

  37:07-37:07

  Yeah, I know.

  Taylor:

  37:08-37:10

  I left my pack in the car, sorry, I don't have it.

  Jeff:

  37:11-37:12

  He probably doesn't know.

  Jeff:

  37:13-37:14

  Anybody, is it 18 to buy cigarettes?

  Jeff:

  37:15-37:17

  You're like, "We don't know, Pastor Jeff." Come on, somebody here knows.

  Jeff:

  37:20-37:21

  It's 21? - 21.

  Jeff:

  37:22-37:23

  I don't, okay, whatever.

  Jeff:

  37:24-37:25

  Is it permissible?

  Jeff:

  37:25-37:28

  Yeah, if you're over a certain age, You can buy cigarettes.

  Jeff:

  37:28-37:29

  Is it permissible?

  Jeff:

  37:30-37:32

  Okay, what about is it beneficial?

  Jeff:

  37:34-37:35

  Hmm.

  Jeff:

  37:36-37:37

  Now we see a problem.

  Jeff:

  37:37-37:38

  Is it beneficial?

  Jeff:

  37:38-37:40

  The third one is could it get me under its power?

  Jeff:

  37:42-37:44

  Is it possible to get addicted to cigarettes?

  Jeff:

  37:47-37:47

  Okay.

  Jeff:

  37:48-37:50

  The fourth one is could it cause a brother to stumble?

  Jeff:

  37:52-37:58

  And yeah, it could possibly, if somebody's trying to quit smoking and whatever.

  Jeff:

  37:58-38:01

  And then the last one is, is it glorifying to God, right?

  Jeff:

  38:01-38:02

  Can

  Taylor:

  38:02-38:08

  you light up saying, "God, this is for you." - I think the one that we have to also be careful about is.

  38:09-38:09

  (laughing)

  Jeff:

  38:12-38:12

  Imagine

  Matt:

  38:12-38:13

  somebody and like,

  Jeff:

  38:13-38:14

  yeah.

  Jeff:

  38:14-38:19

  There's somebody sitting here or watching this that smokes that's gonna do that every time.

  Jeff:

  38:19-38:21

  Like, "God, this one's for you."

  Taylor:

  38:21-38:26

  I think a big one too is the alcohol question because there's a lot of people who say, you can't be a Christian and drink alcohol.

  Taylor:

  38:27-38:29

  Show me one verse in the Bible that says that.

  Taylor:

  38:29-38:32

  Now there's a lot of verses that say about drunkenness being a big issue, of course.

  Taylor:

  38:33-38:37

  I remember the seminar I went to, we all had to sign that we wouldn't drink while we were in seminary.

  Taylor:

  38:37-38:40

  And I thought to myself, how do you have the power to do that?

  Taylor:

  38:40-38:41

  The Bible doesn't say that.

  Taylor:

  38:42-38:47

  So it's one of those things where we have to be careful not to get too legalistic and go the other direction.

  Jeff:

  38:47-38:48

  Absolutely, yeah.

  Jeff:

  38:48-38:56

  So it boils down to personal conviction and I think those five questions are questions you sort of have to ask and evaluate for yourself.

  Jeff:

  38:56-38:57

  I can't enforce that, right?

  Jeff:

  38:57-38:58

  That's where you get into legalism.

  Jeff:

  38:59-39:01

  If you come to this church, you're not allowed to drink alcohol.

  Jeff:

  39:01-39:05

  Like that's, you know, that's malarkey, Jack.

  Jeff:

  39:06-39:06

  (laughing)

  Jeff:

  39:09-39:10

  Sorry, that's legalism.

  Jeff:

  39:10-39:11

  You're having a lot of fun today.

  Jeff:

  39:11-39:12

  (laughing)

  Jeff:

  39:13-39:21

  Anyways, yeah, we want to avoid every, you know, legalism, trying to enforce rules that make you more spiritual, things like that.

  Jeff:

  39:22-39:31

  I think a matter of personal conviction like that, you have to really seek the Lord and do what you really believe He's calling you to do.

  Jeff:

  39:32-39:34

  In those gray areas, that is.

  Jeff:

  39:34-39:37

  Some things are just black and white, like should I have an affair?

  Jeff:

  39:39-39:40

  No, obviously not, right?

  Jeff:

  39:40-39:49

  The Bible's clear about the covenant of marriage, but when it comes to cigarettes or scratchy lotteries or whatever, Taylor, that's their gray areas, right?

  Jeff:

  39:50-39:52

  So that is our time.

  Jeff:

  39:53-39:55

  How many did we have left?

  Matt:

  39:55-39:56

  We have two left.

  Jeff:

  39:56-39:57

  We have two left, all right.

  Jeff:

  39:57-39:57

  Two

  Matt:

  39:57-39:59

  just for Taylor and his blog.

  Jeff:

  39:59-39:59

  Pastor Taylor,

  Taylor:

  40:00-40:01

  you know, maybe we'll each take one.

  Matt:

  40:03-40:03

  Whenever you say.

  Taylor:

  40:03-40:03

  All right.

  40:04-40:05

  (audience laughing)

  Matt:

  40:05-40:06

  Taking on a lot of work.

  Taylor:

  40:08-40:09

  Hey, you're the one who wears the crown.

  Taylor:

  40:10-40:11

  Heavy as the head to wear the crown.

  Taylor:

  40:11-40:12

  Surprised it took you this long.

  Taylor:

  40:12-40:13

  That's true.

  Jeff:

  40:15-40:15

  What's that?

  Jeff:

  40:16-40:17

  Angle it like Jughead.

  Jeff:

  40:18-40:18

  (audience laughing)

  Jeff:

  40:20-40:28

  We want to thank everybody who submitted questions, and like I said, Pastor Taylor and I, we'll, maybe we'll each take one and blog the ones that we didn't get to.

  Jeff:

  40:29-40:34

  But would you please, Pastor Taylor, pray for us, and then we're going to have our closing announcements.

  Taylor:

  40:37-40:40

  Father, we thank you for who you are.

  Taylor:

  40:40-40:44

  We thank you for what you've done for us and what you continue to do for us, Lord.

  Taylor:

  40:45-40:49

  I pray that every single person in this room would submit themselves before your authority.

  Taylor:

  40:50-40:53

  we would submit ourselves before the authority of your word.

  Taylor:

  40:53-40:59

  We wouldn't trust in ourselves, our hearts, our own opinions, Lord, that we would trust in you and you alone.

  Taylor:

  41:01-41:09

  And Lord, I thank you for what you're able to accomplish today in this service, and I pray that we would take the rest of this week to honor, glorify, and live for you.

  Taylor:

  41:10-41:11

  In Jesus' name, amen.

  Jeff:

  41:12-41:12

  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!

Did God Really Say… Hell is Real?

Introduction:

The Truth About Hell (Luke 16:19-31):

1. It is filled with people who Never Expected to be There . (Luke 16:19-23)

   Matthew 7:21-23

   John 6:29 - “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

2. It is a place of Unimaginable Torment . (Luke 16:24-25)

   2 Thessalonians 1:9 - They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.

3. It cannot be Escaped Once You are There . (Luke 16:26)
4. It can be avoided by Submitting to the Word of God . (Luke 16:27-31)

   Romans 9:3 - For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

   Charles Spurgeon - “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

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• Audio Transcript

  01:28-01:32

  All right, you can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31.

  01:32-01:35

  Luke 16 verses 19 through 31.

  01:36-01:44

  You know, I was thinking this past week, as human beings, we are experts at not dealing with things that make us feel uncomfortable.

  01:45-01:52

  This phenomenon begins at a young age when children close their eyes when they're told something that they don't wanna do and they don't wanna deal with you.

  01:52-01:56

  They close their eyes because they think that they're invisible if they do that.

  01:57-01:59

  It makes all the sense in the world, doesn't it?

  01:59-02:03

  If I cannot see you, that means that you can't see me.

  02:05-02:07

  I'm sure we have procrastinators in the room right now.

  02:07-02:13

  You have a big deadline hanging over your head at work or at home that you don't want to think about right now.

  02:14-02:17

  You're trying to wait to the last possible second to do it.

  02:18-02:24

  And some of you are very annoyed with me right now because you were doing a great job of not thinking about what you had to get done until right now.

  02:24-02:27

  I am so happy to be of service to you this morning.

  02:29-02:31

  Maybe you have a big issue with someone in your life.

  02:32-02:35

  You don't want to address it because it makes you feel uncomfortable.

  02:36-02:39

  And you're just stuffing it down, stuffing it down.

  02:40-02:58

  Many Americans live in massive debt and instead of dealing with this issue head on, they just dig a deeper and deeper and deeper hole because the stress of their situation makes them feel extremely uncomfortable, and they don't know if they can handle it.

  02:59-03:01

  You know, death is the greatest example of this.

  03:02-03:10

  We all know that death is slowly but surely approaching with each tick of the clock, but we still manage to not think about it too much.

  03:11-03:19

  We all know that death could strike at any time, but we still fool ourselves into believing that our time is unlimited.

  03:21-03:26

  Most people are afraid to think about death 'cause most people aren't sure of what happens after we die.

  03:26-03:28

  Do we just cease to exist?

  03:29-03:32

  Do the lights just turn off and stay off?

  03:33-03:37

  Do we become one with the universe, whatever that means?

  03:38-03:46

  Do we reincarnate as an animal or as another human being and just travel this endless merry-go-round of life on an endless loop?

  03:47-03:50

  Or is there actually an afterlife?

  03:52-03:56

  Do we go to one of two places, heaven or hell?

  03:58-04:05

  And the idea of heaven is appealing for obvious reasons, but hell just seems too horrible to be true.

  04:06-04:08

  For most people, the idea of hell is repulsive.

  04:09-04:14

  They do whatever they can to reject its existence and make it seem ridiculous.

  04:16-04:19

  Our society has lessened hell's seriousness in many ways.

  04:19-04:24

  We've turned it into a curse word that we yell when we're joking around or when we're surprised.

  04:25-04:29

  We even have the nerve to tell people to go to hell whenever we're annoyed with them.

  04:34-04:37

  In an attempt to lessen the impact of hell, we make it the butt of the joke.

  04:38-04:45

  Think of how many cartoons, movies, and comic strips you've seen that have a humorous depiction of hell.

  04:48-04:51

  Yeah, what does Satan usually look like in these depictions?

  04:51-04:52

  We all know, right?

  04:52-04:53

  What's he look like?

  04:55-04:57

  He has the skin tight red suit.

  04:57-04:59

  He has the pointy horns.

  04:59-05:00

  He has the pitchfork.

  05:01-05:09

  As a kid, I vividly remember watching the Satan's waiting episode of Looney Tunes with Sylvester Cat and Tweety Bird.

  05:10-05:21

  And Sylvester Cat keeps burning through his nine lives and keeps getting sent to hell over and over and over again where Satan is this red dog that won't stop laughing and yucking it up.

  05:23-05:29

  I've heard people joke around that they'd rather go to hell and have fun with their friends than go to heaven and be bored.

  05:31-05:36

  Satan loves to get us to laugh at things that are not funny on any level.

  05:37-05:45

  If we can laugh at something as serious as hell and use that word flippantly in a conversation, then it's not something serious that we have to deal with.

  05:45-05:49

  not something serious that we have to contend with and think about.

  05:50-05:56

  People are content just close their eyes to the reality of hell and pretend like it's a fantasy.

  05:58-06:01

  But denying its existence doesn't make it any less real.

  06:03-06:06

  This is the final message in our series called Did God Really Say?

  06:07-06:15

  Over the past month, we've been studying important doctrines and truths from scripture that our enemy constantly tries to undermine and attack.

  06:16-06:20

  We've answered questions like, did God really say that his word can be trusted?

  06:21-06:24

  Did God really say that every other religion is wrong?

  06:25-06:29

  Did God really say that he is in control of everything?

  06:30-06:34

  And this morning, we're gonna answer the hardest and most difficult question of them all.

  06:35-06:39

  Did God really say that hell is real?

  06:40-06:48

  And I'm gonna be brutally honest with you up front, this is going to be a hard message to preach, and it's going to be a hard message to hear.

  06:49-06:56

  This is a fun subject that I love to talk about, but it's an important topic that we cannot afford to ignore.

  06:56-06:58

  Too much is at stake.

  06:58-07:03

  Just sweep a discussion of hell under the rug and act like it's not there.

  07:04-07:10

  So before we unpack Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31, We're gonna go to the Lord in prayer.

  07:10-07:22

  And we're gonna ask for his help that we would take this message as serious as possible and not allow ourselves to be distracted from focusing on the reality of eternity.

  07:23-07:24

  Let's go to the Lord.

  07:27-07:31

  Father, as we just sang, you are holy, holy, holy.

  07:32-07:34

  You are righteous and you are just.

  07:34-07:41

  Lord, I pray that we would approach your word this morning with a sense of seriousness, with a sense of weight.

  07:43-07:52

  And while there's times in your word when we come across things that are hard, we come across things that we don't wanna read, but Lord, it's your truth, and we're called to submit to it anyway.

  07:54-08:02

  Lord, may you wound but then bind up, may you shatter us but then have your healing hands put us back together this morning.

  08:02-08:09

  We pray that you would watch over your word to perform it, that your word would accomplish the purpose for which you sent it out.

  08:09-08:11

  In Jesus' name, amen.

  08:13-08:22

  So I wanna read Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31 in its entirety so that we can be hit with the full force of what Jesus is saying.

  08:23-08:28

  And then we'll spend the rest of this message unpacking four essential truths about hell.

  08:29-08:43

  There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen who feasted sumptuously every day And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered in sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table.

  08:44-08:47

  Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

  08:48-08:52

  The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

  08:52-09:03

  The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, in hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

  09:03-09:22

  And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, "and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water "and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime "received your good things, "and Lazarus and like men are bad things.

  09:23-09:54

  "But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed "in order that those who would pass from here to you "may not be able, and none may cross from there to us." And Lazarus said, "Then I beg you, Father, "to send him to my father's house, "for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, "lest they also come into this place of torment." But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets.

  09:54-10:19

  "Let them hear them." And he said, "No, Father Abraham, "but if someone goes to them from the dead, "they will repent." Abraham said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, "neither will they be convinced "that someone should rise from the dead." This somber passage and many others like it poke a massive hole in the argument that I've heard many people say over the years.

  10:20-10:21

  Jesus never talked about hell.

  10:22-10:26

  He was too loving and kind to talk about something so dark and horrible.

  10:27-10:31

  Actually, Jesus talks about hell more than anybody else in the entire Bible.

  10:32-10:36

  Jesus talked about hell twice as much as he talked about heaven.

  10:37-10:41

  Around 13% of his collected sayings were about hell and judgment.

  10:42-10:47

  So contrary to popular belief, Jesus never shied away from this controversial and difficult topic.

  10:49-10:55

  As we'll talk about later on, it's important to understand that it's not unloving for him to tackle this subject head on.

  10:56-11:03

  In fact, Jesus telling the hard truth about hell proves his love and his care for us.

  11:03-11:11

  Because if hell is real, then there is nothing more hateful and unloving than staying silent about it.

  11:13-11:18

  So in the verse that we just read, Jesus tells a story that would have absolutely shocked his listeners.

  11:19-11:23

  Bible scholars debate whether this is a parable or a real story.

  11:23-11:27

  It's given a lot of detail that's not common to parables.

  11:27-11:34

  Jesus doesn't say it's a parable explicitly in the text, and I don't wanna get into the nitty gritty of that debate because it really doesn't matter.

  11:36-11:40

  Either way, the same lessons and truths about hell are on full display.

  11:42-11:44

  So let's work our way through these four important truths.

  11:45-11:52

  The truth about hell, number one, it is filled with people who never expected to be there.

  11:53-11:56

  It is filled with people who never expected to be there.

  11:57-11:58

  (pages flipping)

  11:59-12:05

  So Jesus sets up the scene by comparing two men, the rich man and Lazarus.

  12:06-12:08

  Let's start with the rich man first.

  12:08-12:11

  He had a phenomenal wardrobe with high ticket clothing.

  12:12-12:23

  Jesus points out this man wore purple a lot, which may seem like a random detail, but that was the color of the royal and the wealthy back then because purple dye was so expensive.

  12:24-12:25

  He didn't just eat good food.

  12:25-12:29

  who were told that he feasted sumptuously every single day.

  12:29-12:33

  He went all out for every meal of the day with a massive spread.

  12:33-12:39

  I just picture a massive drumstick in one hand and a filled to the brim glass of wine in the other hand.

  12:40-12:44

  His house is obviously massive because he has his own gate.

  12:45-12:48

  So his house could have been on MTV Cribs Israel edition, I guess.

  12:49-12:51

  This guy lived the dream life.

  12:52-12:54

  In modern day terms, he rode in limos everywhere.

  12:55-13:01

  He flew on private jets while popping champagne, and he had newsworthy parties with celebrities.

  13:02-13:04

  He must have been envied by his neighbors.

  13:05-13:13

  Everyone thought that he was blessed by God, that he was highly favored by God because he had the very best of everything.

  13:15-13:20

  But on the opposite end of the social ladder is Lazarus, the man camped outside his gate.

  13:21-13:30

  His greatest desire in life is that he would get some of the table scraps that were left over from these massive parties in this house that he could never dream to enter.

  13:32-13:37

  On top of his food problems, Lazarus had horrible sores and ulcers covering his body.

  13:38-13:43

  And to add insult to injury, wild dogs would come up to him and lick his sores.

  13:44-13:45

  Isn't that a gross mental image?

  13:46-13:49

  And before you think, oh, those loving dogs were just trying to help him.

  13:50-13:55

  Back in those days, dogs were not lovable pets that people brought into their homes.

  13:55-13:59

  They were scavengers that people hated because they carried disease.

  14:00-14:02

  This isn't a loving picture.

  14:04-14:10

  Lazarus would have been viewed as the lowest of the low, only slightly above lepers.

  14:11-14:18

  In those days, a life of poverty and continued illness was often viewed as a divine act of punishment from God.

  14:19-14:24

  People would look at Lazarus and think, what did he do to deserve this fate?

  14:24-14:28

  Maybe his parents sinned and God cursed his entire family.

  14:31-14:37

  We aren't given any details about the interaction between these two men, but Lazarus lived outside of his house.

  14:38-14:40

  It's really hard to miss a beggar on your own front stoop.

  14:41-14:48

  We aren't told that Lazarus mistreated, I mean, the mister man mistreated Lazarus, or that he shook his fist at him to get off his lawn.

  14:49-15:00

  But we also aren't told any details about the rich man lifting a finger to help Lazarus, to do anything to help him in any way, shape, or form.

  15:01-15:06

  To the rich man, Lazarus was just a waste of space who couldn't do anything for him.

  15:07-15:11

  Lazarus deserved none of his attention, none of his time, and none of his care.

  15:13-15:17

  But the tables quickly turn and the roles are reversed in verse 22.

  15:18-15:21

  The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

  15:21-15:23

  That's a picture of heaven.

  15:23-15:27

  The rich man also died and was buried in hell, in Hades.

  15:27-15:34

  Being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

  15:35-15:39

  This plot twist would have blown Jesus' ears away.

  15:40-15:53

  The seemingly highly favored one ends up in the worst place imaginable while the dregs of society has a place of high honor in heaven alongside one of the greatest heroes of their faith, Abraham.

  15:54-15:55

  How is this possible?

  15:56-15:58

  How could this have happened?

  16:00-16:05

  Well, this story shows us that earthly success does not lead to eternal life.

  16:07-16:09

  And to be clear, I'm not saying that having money is bad.

  16:10-16:18

  I'm not saying that being successful is bad, but it is bad to think that because you're successful in this life, that means you're on good terms with God.

  16:19-16:26

  It's bad to think that your earthly status in any way affects your eternal status.

  16:29-16:43

  There are so many people in the Wexford and Cranberry area who have a massive house, nice cars, kids with straight A's, go on globe-trotting vacations, but their path is to eternal destruction.

  16:46-16:50

  Their lives look great on the outside, but on the inside, there is a spiritual emptiness.

  16:53-17:06

  Jesus says throughout the gospels that wealth and the desire for more and more and more stuff blinds us to our spiritual need, can blind us to our need for a savior.

  17:06-17:22

  It's easy to fall into the temptation "heaven on earth, and in the process, "you enslave yourself to an eternity in hell." These verses also show us that there are a lot of people in hell who are shocked that they are there.

  17:23-17:26

  They never expected to be here.

  17:27-17:31

  Even people who thought they were Christians and lived good lives.

  17:33-17:36

  Jesus talks about this in Matthew chapter seven, verses 21 through 23.

  17:38-17:44

  Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, "'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, "but the one who does the will of my Father "who is in heaven.

  17:45-17:51

  "On that day, many will say to me, "'Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name "'and cast out demons in your name?

  17:51-17:57

  "'And do many of you buy works in your name?' "And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you.

  17:58-18:07

  "'Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.'" That last sentence has to be one of the most chilling parts of the entire Bible.

  18:09-18:10

  You did all these impressive things.

  18:10-18:15

  You checked all the boxes off the Christian list, but I never knew you.

  18:16-18:20

  I never had a personal relationship with you.

  18:20-18:23

  You are a complete stranger to me.

  18:24-18:26

  Depart from me forever.

  18:29-18:30

  Please listen to me.

  18:30-18:37

  Trying to do good things to make God love you and work your way to heaven is futile.

  18:37-18:38

  It is a waste of time.

  18:39-18:43

  It is an exercise of self-deception and pride.

  18:43-18:48

  It only feeds your ego and makes you trust in yourself and not in the Lord Jesus Christ.

  18:50-18:52

  Maybe you're here this morning thinking, well, I'm going to heaven.

  18:52-18:54

  I do a lot of nice things for people.

  18:54-18:55

  I read my Bible every day.

  18:55-18:56

  I go to church every week.

  18:57-18:59

  Taylor, you don't know how much money I give to the church.

  18:59-19:02

  You don't know how much money I give the charities.

  19:02-19:04

  No, no, no.

  19:05-19:06

  None of those things matter.

  19:07-19:09

  None of those things will take you to heaven.

  19:10-19:15

  It's not a matter of what you do for Jesus, it's what Jesus has done for you.

  19:16-19:20

  Have you placed your faith and trust in him as your personal Lord and Savior?

  19:21-19:24

  Have you realized that you can do nothing to save yourself?

  19:24-19:27

  You can do nothing to forgive yourself.

  19:27-19:34

  All you can do is place your faith and trust in him fully and what he has done on your behalf on the cross.

  19:36-19:39

  Have you accepted this free gift of eternal life?

  19:39-19:44

  Are you pushing it away 'cause you feel like you need to do something to earn it?

  19:45-19:50

  Do you truly know Jesus or do you just know a lot of stuff about Jesus?

  19:51-19:54

  There's a big difference between those two things.

  19:56-20:04

  In John six, the crowds come to Jesus And they ask him, what good works must we be doing to please God?

  20:05-20:08

  What must we do to gain his approval?

  20:09-20:11

  Give us the chore list of good deeds and we'll do it.

  20:13-20:15

  I love Jesus' response.

  20:16-20:20

  This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

  20:21-20:22

  That's it.

  20:22-20:24

  It's that simple and clear cut.

  20:24-20:28

  Do you believe in Jesus or do you believe in yourself?

  20:30-20:34

  The second truth about hell, it is a place of unimaginable torment.

  20:37-20:40

  It is a place of unimaginable torment.

  20:43-20:49

  Let's continue on with verses 24 to 25 of Luke 16.

  20:52-21:09

  And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me "and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water "to cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that in your lifetime, "you received your good things, "and Lazarus in like manner, bad things.

  21:10-21:21

  "And now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." So the rich man looks far off, and he sees Lazarus with Abraham.

  21:22-21:24

  He's in anguish, and he's in torment.

  21:26-21:32

  Actually in the Greek, he's commanding Abraham to send Lazarus to help him.

  21:33-21:36

  Even in hell, the rich man thinks he's better than Lazarus.

  21:37-21:45

  He still thinks that Lazarus is beneath him and should serve him, even though he did nothing to help him in this life.

  21:47-21:52

  But Abraham breaks the bad news that there will be no relief now or any time in the future.

  21:53-22:10

  He says, "Remember that you in your lifetime "and received your good things, "and Lazarus and like men are bad things, "but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." In other words, the bad times for Lazarus have ended forever, but your bad times have just begun.

  22:12-22:19

  For many, this life is as good as it's ever going to get, but for the follower of Christ, this life is as bad as it ever will be.

  22:21-22:23

  Heaven is unbelievably awesome.

  22:23-22:33

  to never-ending joy, peace, and comfort in the loving presence of God, while hell is unspeakably awful.

  22:33-22:38

  It is filled with sadness, darkness, and eternal loneliness.

  22:40-22:48

  Those who rejected Christ and went their own way will experience the massive consequences of this continued and unrepentant decision.

  22:48-22:54

  They will experience the just and deserved wrath of God for their sin and rebellion.

  22:56-23:01

  But some try to lessen the horrors of hell by teaching something called annihilationism.

  23:03-23:04

  What's annihilationism?

  23:04-23:11

  This teaches that Satan, his demons, and unbelievers will not suffer forever and ever.

  23:11-23:15

  Instead, they will be disintegrated and just wiped off the map.

  23:16-23:19

  Their bodies, their souls, and their minds will just cease to be.

  23:20-23:26

  So in a sense, those who are sentenced to hell are sentenced to non-existence.

  23:28-23:32

  The only problem with this teaching is the teachings of the Bible.

  23:34-23:37

  Listen to how Paul describes the experience of hell for those who reject Christ.

  23:38-23:47

  They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

  23:49-23:57

  John says this in Revelation 14, 11, and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

  23:59-24:07

  Jesus says that hell is the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, for everyone will be salted with fire.

  24:09-24:11

  These verses are painful to read.

  24:11-24:14

  They're not easy to talk about, but we can't skip them.

  24:15-24:17

  We can't shy away from dealing with them.

  24:18-24:24

  May we never lessen the horrors of hell to make ourselves feel better and make other people feel better.

  24:24-24:27

  We lessen the glory of the gospel.

  24:28-24:31

  We make hell seem less bad than it actually is.

  24:33-24:43

  This would be like telling someone, they need an immediate surgery without first explaining to them the life-threatening illness they have ravaging their body.

  24:45-24:47

  What would urge this patient to sign off on this procedure?

  24:48-24:52

  What would urge them to take care of this right now?

  24:54-25:00

  The surgery would just seem totally pointless and unnecessary if you didn't tell them what they need saved from.

  25:01-25:10

  In an even greater way, you cannot tell someone they need a savior without first telling them what they need saved from.

  25:12-25:22

  The good news of the gospel isn't truly good "bad news of hell." The third truth about hell, it cannot be escaped once you are there.

  25:23-25:25

  It cannot be escaped once you are there.

  25:30-25:42

  In verse 26, Abraham continues to deliver bad news and further explain to Lazarus why, well, further explain to the rich man why Lazarus can't commute over to hell and give him any relief.

  25:42-25:55

  He says to the rich man, Besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.

  25:56-26:01

  There is a cosmic gulf between heaven and hell that cannot be crossed.

  26:03-26:09

  There is no door, there is no boat, there is no shuttle that takes you from one place to the other.

  26:10-26:13

  Neither heaven or hell will have visiting hours.

  26:13-26:24

  the inhabitants of hell will be completely blocked off from the people of God in heaven, and the people of God in heaven will be completely blocked off from the inhabitants of hell.

  26:24-26:28

  There are no exceptions to this fixed rule.

  26:29-26:33

  Once a person is in hell, they're there for the long run.

  26:34-26:41

  You know, back when I was in college, a best-selling book called Love Wins came out by a now former pastor named Rob Bell.

  26:42-26:46

  Don't even bother to look it up because all of his stuff is just heretical nonsense.

  26:47-26:51

  And Oprah loves him, so that should tell you all you need to know about his theology.

  26:53-27:00

  But the main assertion of this book is that God is way too good, God is way too loving to let people suffer in hell forever.

  27:02-27:08

  In the end, God's love will win out and everyone in hell will receive a second chance and enter into heaven.

  27:10-27:21

  Simply put, this life is kind of like a board game of monopoly and trouble where a child loses badly but their overly lenient parent lets them go back to the beginning and start all over again because they feel bad.

  27:22-27:26

  But does that line up with what Jesus is talking about in this passage?

  27:27-27:30

  Does this line up with what New Testament tells us?

  27:31-27:32

  Not one bit.

  27:33-27:41

  If this teaching from love wins is true and we all get another chance in eternity, What's the point of trusting in Jesus for salvation in this life?

  27:42-27:46

  What's the point, where's the urgency of telling other people about the gospel?

  27:47-27:57

  Why would we urge each other in the church to deny our sinful selves and pursue holiness if we all just end up in the same place eventually no matter what we do?

  27:59-28:02

  The story that Jesus tells us makes it so clear.

  28:02-28:04

  There are no second chances.

  28:04-28:07

  There are no do-overs after this life.

  28:08-28:12

  The chasm between heaven and hell cannot be crossed.

  28:14-28:25

  But again, false teachers like Rob Bell will rail against the clear teachings of scripture and ask how could a loving God possibly send people to hell forever?

  28:26-28:29

  And I want to tell you that's the wrong question to ask.

  28:29-28:36

  The right question is why would a just, holy, and righteous God allow anyone into heaven?

  28:37-28:40

  Why would God choose to save any of us?

  28:41-28:44

  We don't deserve it at all.

  28:46-28:49

  So often we say, "I don't deserve this, "I don't deserve that.

  28:49-28:50

  "You know what I deserve?

  28:50-28:51

  "I deserve hell.

  28:51-28:53

  "That is what I deserve.

  28:54-29:12

  "Everything else is the grace of God to me." This awesome God willingly sent his one and only son to suffer and die upon a cross, to absorb the wrath reserved for those who place their faith and trust in Him.

  29:12-29:19

  Jesus willingly sacrificed His place in heaven for 33 years to come to this earth and become like one of us.

  29:19-29:28

  And on the cross, He was willingly separated from His Father for a time so that we wouldn't have to be separated from Him for all of eternity.

  29:30-29:35

  How could someone who claims to be a follower of Christ have the audacity to believe.

  29:36-29:39

  The doctrine of hell makes God seem unloving and uncaring.

  29:40-29:50

  How could the Lord be anything but gracious, loving, kind, and patient as he gives sinners chance after chance after chance after chance to repent in this life?

  29:52-29:58

  Every single day is a fresh opportunity to freely accept what is given in Christ.

  29:59-30:06

  Every single breath is an opportunity to confess Jesus Lord and repent of your sin.

  30:08-30:16

  When you have a high view of man and a low view of God, hell is extremely offensive and makes no sense whatsoever.

  30:17-30:24

  But when you have a low view of man and a high view of God, the necessity of divine judgment makes all the sense in the world.

  30:26-30:28

  God's judgment has to go somewhere.

  30:30-30:44

  "be upon you in hell forever, "or upon his son who stood in your place." Finally, fourth truth about hell, it can be avoided by submitting to the word of God.

  30:47-30:50

  It can be avoided by submitting to the word of God.

  30:52-30:58

  So the rich man moves beyond thinking about himself, and he moves to thinking about his living family.

  30:59-31:01

  read verses 27 through 28.

  31:01-31:15

  And the rich man said, "Then I beg you, Father, "to send him to my father's house, "for I have five brothers, so he may warn them, "lest they also come into the place of torment." So the rich man knows that Lazarus can't help him.

  31:15-31:19

  He knows that Lazarus can't exit heaven to come to hell and give him relief.

  31:19-31:25

  But he's hoping that Lazarus can leave heaven and go warn his brothers.

  31:27-31:30

  But Abraham's long line of bad news hasn't come to an end.

  31:30-31:34

  In verse 29 he says this, "The Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets.

  31:34-31:39

  Let them hear them.'" What's he talking about here?

  31:40-31:41

  Moses and the prophets are long gone.

  31:41-31:45

  They're in heaven alongside Abraham and Lazarus.

  31:46-31:48

  But their writings live on in the Old Testament.

  31:49-32:00

  He's saying your brothers have access to scripture which plainly tells them that you need to by faith "Believe in the Lord and they will be saved." That's all they need.

  32:02-32:04

  But this answer isn't good enough for the rich man.

  32:05-32:13

  Verse 30 he says, "No, Father Abraham, "but if someone goes them from the dead, they will repent." In a way it's like he stomps his foot, that's not good enough.

  32:14-32:20

  I need you to send a miracle so that they will believe that you can shake the cobwebs off of them and they'll finally understand.

  32:23-32:26

  He doesn't have a very high view of the word of God.

  32:27-32:29

  But Abraham doesn't share this viewpoint.

  32:29-32:46

  He says, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, "neither will they be convinced "if someone should rise from the dead." Lazarus could pop out of the grave, juggling fire and swords or riding a unicycle, and these guys still wouldn't repent and believe.

  32:48-32:54

  Think of the countless men and women who saw Jesus do miraculous things, and they still didn't believe.

  32:54-33:02

  They saw him give sight to the blind, release those who were demon possessed, and literally bring the dead back to life, and they still resisted him.

  33:02-33:04

  They were still hard-hearted.

  33:06-33:14

  In order to be saved, a person must humble themselves before the word of God, which plainly lays out the path to eternal life.

  33:16-33:23

  You must recognize that your opinions and thoughts are wrong and God's authoritative word is right and true.

  33:24-33:28

  The word of God is sufficient to accomplish the work of God.

  33:30-33:38

  If someone repeatedly and unrepentantly rejects the word of God, either read or preached by a messenger, nothing will convince them.

  33:39-33:42

  Even a miracle from heaven will not move them.

  33:43-33:47

  Even the dead coming back to life will not stir their dead hearts.

  33:49-34:08

  You know, it was impossible for Lazarus to leave heaven and warn the rich man's brothers, but we as Christians have the opportunity, we have the pressing call to spread the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ to our neighborhoods, to our cities, to our country, and to the ends of the earth.

  34:08-34:12

  We get to tell people the great news that hell could be avoided.

  34:13-34:20

  We get to even tell the even greater news that God can adopt them into his family and they could spend forever with Him.

  34:21-34:23

  That is why we're still here.

  34:24-34:28

  That is why God didn't just beam us up to heaven when we came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

  34:28-34:29

  We have work to do.

  34:31-34:37

  There are almost eight billion people on this planet, and the vast majority of them do not know Jesus.

  34:37-34:41

  And a massive chunk of them have never even heard of Jesus.

  34:44-34:50

  The Apostle Paul points to the importance, weight, and joy of our calling in Romans chapter 10.

  34:51-34:52

  Let's read, it'll be on the screen behind me.

  34:53-34:57

  For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.

  34:58-35:10

  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard, and how are they to hear without someone preaching, and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written.

  35:11-35:24

  How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have all not obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed "what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of who?

  35:25-35:26

  The word of Christ.

  35:28-35:32

  What an amazing privilege and responsibility we have been entrusted with.

  35:32-35:42

  We get to share the word of Christ, and see God change lives, change families, change eternal destinies.

  35:42-35:47

  This is the most important mission of all.

  35:48-35:51

  But I don't know about you, I can get really distracted.

  35:52-35:59

  I can suffer from spiritual amnesia and forget who I am, and forget what God has called me to do.

  36:01-36:03

  We are ambassadors for Christ.

  36:04-36:06

  We represent him on this earth.

  36:06-36:13

  We forget that heaven is our ultimate home, The road to hell is packed and time is running out.

  36:15-36:23

  Church, we have to slip out of this amnesia and be awake and stay awake to these non-negotiable realities.

  36:24-36:28

  True followers of Christ should never be unmoved or unfazed by the reality of hell.

  36:28-36:41

  If you call yourself a Christian and you can listen to this message, you don't feel stirred up, you don't feel anything, you don't feel a call to spread the gospel or love people, please do some heart examination.

  36:42-36:46

  Please look at your own soul and ask yourself, do I know Jesus?

  36:46-36:48

  Do I truly love other people?

  36:50-36:55

  It should break our hearts that people are in hell right now and many more will go there in the future.

  36:57-37:05

  In Romans 9, one through five, Paul grieves over the truth that many of his fellow Jews are rejecting Christ and denying him.

  37:07-37:19

  He goes as far as to say this, "I could wish that I myself were accursed "and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, "my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Do you realize what he's saying here?

  37:19-37:25

  Paul is saying, if it was possible, I would take their damnation upon myself and give them my salvation.

  37:25-37:30

  I would take their place in hell, and I would give them my place in heaven.

  37:32-37:34

  Imagine that kind of love.

  37:34-37:36

  Do you have that kind of love for people?

  37:36-37:40

  Do I have that kind of love for people?

  37:42-37:46

  May we follow the example of the Apostle Paul and not be apathetic.

  37:46-38:02

  The horrors of hell should motivate us to not stay silent about the gospel and let the fear of man hold us back from sharing the gospel with our unsafe family members, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, even those people we don't like very much in our lives.

  38:04-38:08

  Never forget that every single person you meet is not just flesh and bone.

  38:09-38:15

  Every single person you meet is an embodied soul that will live forever somewhere.

  38:17-38:24

  Charles Spurgeon once said something about the believer's response to hell that I haven't been able to forget since I heard it.

  38:25-38:29

  He said this, "If sinners be damned, "at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies.

  38:30-38:34

  "And if they perish, let them perish, "their arms wrapped about their knees, He's imploring them to stay.

  38:35-38:42

  If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned and unprayed for.

  38:43-38:48

  Is there someone in your life right now who doesn't know Christ and they're going unwarned and unprayed for?

  38:51-38:54

  So let's wrap up this series by definitively answering our final question.

  38:55-38:58

  Did God really say that hell is real?

  39:00-39:00

  Yes.

  39:01-39:07

  No matter how hard people want to close their eyes close their eyes to this question, the answer is yes.

  39:07-39:12

  This truth is crystal clear from the mouth of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament.

  39:13-39:16

  Hell is filled with people who never expected to be there.

  39:17-39:21

  Hell is a place of eternal punishment and separation from the loving presence of God.

  39:22-39:35

  Hell is unescapable and devoid of second chances once you are there, but praise the Lord that hell can be avoided by submitting to the word of God, by repenting of our sin and turning to Jesus for forgiveness.

  39:36-39:44

  He experienced the full weight of hell upon the cross so that those who trust in him will experience the everlasting joys of heaven.

  39:45-40:00

  For those of you in this room who are distracting yourselves from eternal realities or falling back on the hope that you're a good person, I've been praying for you all week, I hope and pray the Lord will open up your heart to the truths of the gospel and you will finally believe.

  40:02-40:05

  Maybe there's someone in this room who feels like they're too far gone.

  40:05-40:08

  They've done too many bad things to be forgiven.

  40:10-40:14

  God is ready and willing to accept you with open arms this morning.

  40:16-40:35

  Jesus once said, "Whoever comes to me, "I will never cast out, I will never send away." And for the rest of us, who have friends and family members who are rejecting Christ, who want nothing to do with the Lord, please don't give up hope.

  40:36-40:37

  Please don't throw in the towel.

  40:37-40:43

  Keep praying, keep sharing, keep trusting in the Lord, keep modeling Jesus Christ.

  40:44-40:44

  Let's pray.

  40:47-40:55

  Oh Lord, we come before you and we thank you for your mercy and your grace.

  40:56-40:59

  Help us never think, oh, we're so much better than other people, Lord.

  40:59-41:01

  I can't believe those people would do that.

  41:01-41:05

  Lord, help us to realize, I'm only saved by grace and grace alone.

  41:06-41:09

  I am where I'm at because of God and him alone.

  41:10-41:16

  And Lord, we wouldn't point our fingers at other people, we'd wrap our arms around them and share with them the love of Jesus Christ.

  41:17-41:19

  No one is too far gone, Lord.

  41:19-41:20

  No one is too far away from you.

  41:20-41:24

  You can chase anyone down and wrap them up in your loving arms.

  41:26-41:33

  Lord, if there's someone in this room who doesn't know you, Lord, I'm praying they wouldn't be able to leave this room this morning without turning to Jesus Christ for eternal life.

  41:34-41:47

  And for the rest of us, Lord, let us walk out of this room with a sense of urgency, a sense of urgency to share this message, Lord, to be a good example, to shine the light of Christ everywhere we go, Lord.

  41:47-41:51

  Let us leave our spiritual amnesia here and never go back into that slumber.

  41:53-41:59

  Father God, let us live for your glory and for the proclamation of the good news of your son.

  41:59-42:01

  In Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 16:18-31

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why is hell such a controversial and neglected doctrine? Why do many churches/Christians shy away from talking about it?
   

3. How can we lovingly and graciously talk about the reality of hell with unbelievers in our lives as we share the gospel?

Breakout
Pray for one another.