Scripture referenced 8 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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1 Corinthians 15:57 opening verse accompanying the song Victory in Jesus: 'He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ'
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Keep this verse
James 1:17
prayer during offering: 'every good and perfect gift comes from you, father of heavenly lights, it does not change like shifting shadows'
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
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Philippians 2:10-11
introduced before the song He Is Lord: 'every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord'
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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Colossians 1:1-14
the passage read and preached through by Florian
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
4 having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which you have toward all the saints,
5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News,
6 which has come to you; even as it is in all the world and is bearing fruit and growing, as it does in you also, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth;
7 even as you learned of Epaphras our beloved fellow servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf,
8 who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.
9 For this cause, we also, since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 that you may walk worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy;
12 giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;
13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;
14 in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins;
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Colossians 1:2
quoted directly: 'writing to God's holy people in the city of Colossae who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ'
2 to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Colossians 1:5
cited as the key to the Colossians' walk with Jesus: 'confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven'
5 because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the Good News,
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Colossians 1:13
quoted near close of sermon: 'he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins'
13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his love;
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Colossians 3:17
closing benediction: 'whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him'
17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This Sunday's message was brought by Florian, a friend of the church preparing to return to ministry in Romania, with Violetta translating from Romanian. Preaching from Colossians 1:1-14, he walked through Paul's opening to the church at Colossae and drew out what it means to live as someone who has been rescued and given a purpose. His heart throughout was a simple one: that each of us would leave asking God to use us today.
What was said
Florian opened by saying the three things that matter most to him when the church gathers are praising God, learning from His word, and searching our hearts. That third one, he said, is his favorite. He described how he prays regularly that God would show him whatever needs to be removed from his life, because he knows there is always something. He wanted that same honesty to mark the morning.
Moving into Colossians 1, he noted how Paul introduces himself as an apostle chosen by the will of God. Florian said the point is not Paul's title but his posture: everything he is comes from God, and without the Lord Jesus Christ, all the knowledge and wisdom in the world amounts to nothing. Paul names the will of God because he wants the church to hear the weight behind what follows.
He then stayed with the word "holy" in verse two, where Paul addresses the Colossians as God's holy people. Florian was clear that holiness is not something we earn by effort or by being a good person. We are holy only because of what Jesus Christ did at the cross. That is our position, given entirely by God.
But, he said, there is a side that belongs to us. Our position is given; our faithfulness is lived out day by day. He tied this to verse five, where Paul points to the confident hope of what God has reserved in heaven as the key that kept the Colossians walking with Christ. That hope, Florian said, is not abstract. It is what gives us the energy to keep going when life drains us.
From there he moved outward. If we have that hope, and if we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son as verse 13 says, then we carry a responsibility toward the people around us. He was not talking about big programs or traveling overseas. He meant waving at someone at the gas station, smiling at a stranger in the grocery store, and leaving the house each morning and asking God to use you for at least one person that day. He said he has tested this himself, and it works.
He was honest that comfort is the price many of us are asked to pay for the gospel, just as freedom was the price Paul paid when he wrote this letter from prison. He said he has gone through seasons of not caring, of becoming too settled, and he knows how hard it is to get up from that place. The way back, he said, goes to the basics: prayer and reading the word of God daily. Without feeding the spiritual life, the desire fades, and we grow comfortable in a way that no longer looks outward at all.
He closed by returning to verse 13, reading it aloud and letting it sit. The rescue is real. The forgiveness is real. And because of that, he said, there are moments when he lays his head down at night and feels the weight of the responsibility again, and wakes up in the morning with fresh strength. His final word to the congregation was this: the gospel will advance through us. May we be an instrument in His hands today.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Florian said one of the three things most important to him about gathering together is searching our hearts, asking God to remove what does not honor Him. What does that kind of honest prayer actually look like in your daily life, and what makes it hard to pray that way?
- Florian pointed out that Paul's holiness, and ours, comes not from personal merit or effort but from what Jesus did at the cross. How does that change the way you think about trying to live a godly life day to day?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 6,980 words
Here we go. Hey. Good morning, church. How are you this morning? It's good to see you.
What do you say we start by singing? How does that sound? Worship and song together. So three fifty three, victory in Jesus is what we're gonna begin with. But here's the verse.
I always appreciate a verse that accompanies a song because that's how we know what we're singing about. And it's he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me say we sing it together. Victory in Jesus. Now please stand.
We'll sing. We're having a good time, aren't we? How about rock of ages? Let me find it here for me.
I think you just made me a copy.
Oh, I don't have one. Should I read from the
Come and stand here.
I'll stand there. Thanks, Judy. Can we give Judy a hand? I just appreciate her so much. Seriously.
I did. I'm so sorry. At least you have it together. Amen. You can have a seat for a moment, and, Nick is gonna share just a few announcements.
I think, one of them that's gonna come up is, for Monday night. And for Mondays, we're we just started in the book of Philippians. It is such an encouraging book. You read Philippians. You know Philippians.
The theme in Philippi in Philippians, joy. And what I'm discovering about joy is joy is not based on a feeling. That's not based on happening, on happiness, but we can have joy and recognize God's grace and his favor no matter what. And that is very, very encouraging. So that there's just a little a a bit from from Philippians there, but a meal, music message tomorrow.
And Nick's gonna fill you in with a few more.
Okay. Okay. Now we're working. Okay. So, for those
of you who, come
for the 11:00 service, try coming a little earlier. We've got the connect hour down the hall with free food and a chance to connect with everybody from the 09:00 service because we are one church with two different services, and we'd like to keep everybody mixing and mingling. Couple different Bible studies coming up here. Sisters Saved by Grace is, being led by Nancy Baxter. That's starting up on September 8 at 6PM in the Fellowship Hall.
And, if you like a lot of laughter, I'd show up for that one. I always hear them having a real good time down there. Come by. Her phone number is right there. All this information is also on the website too.
And, if you would rather a, a women's Bible study during the day, this one starts on September 7, Wednesdays ten to twelve here at the church, led by Deborah Buckingham in this room. So come on by for that one. And, the sound booth volunteers are needed now. Pastor Ray likes to make this sound like it's really hard. It is.
So why don't you come on by and help us out? It's easier with two people. Right now, we have one person up here tonight. So or this after this morning. So why don't you come on up and help us out?
We'll teach you slowly, and we won't leave you alone until you're ready to go. Dinner and movie, we got the chosen season one. We're still going through it. There won't be, chosen this next week because they're having craft night down the hall, but, in subsequent weeks, I would like to keep that rolling. So, please let Nancy Traziano, Nancy T, know.
Her phone number's also on the website too if you need that. And if you have any prayer requests, just wanna get to know anybody, you're new to the church, wanna connect in some way, you've got those little prayer cards. They're back in the seat pockets there, in front of you. If you wanna just drop that in the collection plate when it goes around, that is a a great way to get connected to the church. And finally, for old Bill's, fun run, it's coming up here.
And for those of you who don't know, we have a benevolence fund. It seems like almost every day, we have somebody come into the church who's looking for help, needs financial assistance in some way, and it's really, really nice to be able to say yes to them when they come in. And over the years, God has been very faithful as have all of you, and we've had enough. Usually, it gets down to right into September, and then we run out, and then God just brings more in. And it's a huge blessing.
It changes lives, in a dramatic way. So if you'd help us out, you can donate, through the link that's on the website. We have brochures out in front, or you can talk to any of the staff members who can help you out. It's a tremendous way to change people's lives. And another great way to change folks' lives is, through the the mission here, the, Good Samaritan mission.
And Chuck is gonna stand up here and, let us know, in just a second about what they're doing over at the mission.
It's on now. Yeah. It's been a few years because of COVID, and, but I'm here again. And I know there I see some faces that I don't know. So we have 30 beds for men and five for women, and we do feeding programs.
We feed people at, 05:30. There's breakfast in the morning. Dinner's at 05:30 at night, and we do that seven days a week. On a Goodyear, we'll do 16,000 meals through that place. In the back of the in the back out the back door, we'll give out food boxes for those people that are hungry and need food.
One of my favorite programs is little kids. The tote of hope program is for the children at the children's learning center that have been identified as food insecure. And we take 40 bags of food over to the children's learning center every week. Now in the middle of winter, it's like minus 20 degrees. My hands get a little bit cold.
So you have to think of something to motivate yourself, and I go, feeding little kids. Feeding little kids. But it's good. You know? And it makes your heart feel good that you can do that program.
You know, one of the the saddest things right now is we've had five beds for women. And in the last two months, I've had to throw take turn away 15 women that that don't have a place to stay. We're a safe place, a sober place that they can come and have a place to stay while they get their life together, working and and doing the things that they do. So we're trying right now to see what we can do to get a a bigger place. But right now, it's a pipe dream.
We've never had that. And two years ago, we turned away two women. But, usually, it's like six, seven, eight, ten men. This year, we never had hadn't turned away any men, and we've never been full on the men's side. So God only knows who's gonna come.
But we would like to have a facility that would be able to accommodate whoever is in need and wants to move forward with their life. And that's what old bills is all about. Now on a personal side, I lost my wife last October to COVID. And about a year before that, I started therapy for prostate cancer. I got stage four prostate cancer that metastasized into my bone and in my lymph nodes, but it looks like I'm doing pretty good.
It's in remission right now, but God's God's doing good in and through me. But when I wake up in the morning and I have breath, I wake up, I got my breath, and I say, okay. Lord, there must be one person out there that needs to hear about Jesus. That's why I do what I do at the mission because I want one more person to hear about the mission. And if I, you know, if I wake up one morning and I don't have breath anymore, guess where I'll be?
I'll be with him. It's a win win situation. You know? No matter what, I'll be healed. You know, I'll either be healed here or I'll be healed there.
I'm kinda counting it here, but the only thing that's sore right now is my foot. And and God's healed the rest of it so far in my body. Chemotherapy, all the stuff that cancer people have, I'm going through, but I'm fine. I I asked my board of directors. I said, I'd like to work till I die, and they said, well, who else would we get?
I really got them buffaloed. So one last thing, though, before I let you go. I I always try to finish with this. Good Samaritan mission, old Bill's fun run. Old Bill's fun run.
Good Samaritan mission. Old Bill's fun run. What? Good Good Samaritan Samaritan mission. Mission.
Alright. Thank you.
God bless you.
Thank
you, Chuck. And how about we stand together and we'll keep worshiping in song, and we'll we'll sing holy holy. Gracious Father, gracious Father, we're so blessed to be your children, gracious Father. And we lift our hands before you as a token of our love. Gracious father, gracious father, precious Jesus, precious Jesus.
We're so glad that you redeemed us, precious Jesus. And we lift our hands before you as a token of our love. And he is Lord. This comes right out of Philippians two, that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let's sing.
He is Lord. Amen. I think this is the worship through giving part of this service. And so you can have a seat here for a moment. Our ushers are coming forward, and I'd like to just pray and and give thanks.
God, we are grateful. Thank you for the beauty of this day. God, thank you for the privilege to be able to worship. Thank you for your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your presence with us now and always.
Thank you for your promises to us that they are sure and good and right and true. God, thank you also for the gifts that you give. You say, every every gift that we have, every good and perfect gift, it comes from you, father of heavenly heavenly lights. It does not change like shifting shadows. Even though our circumstances can change, you do not.
And I thank you, God, for every good and perfect gift. And, God, you use the gifts that that land in these plates and otherwise that you've given us, the body of Christ to build it up, to glorify you. God, would you use each and every one of them? In Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you, Judy. And I I just wanna say again, doesn't it the piano during the worship through giving time, doesn't that just add a just it adds to the thankfulness. I just just wanna say that. Thank you. Appreciate it.
And I'm gonna invite up, Florine and Violetta. And as they're, they're coming up, I'd I'd like to to pray for them. He agreed to to share this morning from Colossians, and he is just he's filled up, and he's spilling over. Now you're going to be the recipient of it. I can guarantee it.
And Ray is at home. Sorry. Not at home. His hometown this morning, preaching at, Shiloh Baptist. He was asked to to preach, and so he he's been doing that.
I think service is over already, but sure do appreciate him. But I I do wanna, pray and then just give thanks. God, am so grateful for this family and for the way that you use them right here in Jackson and how you are preparing them, for Romania. And, Lord, thank you for allowing us to be a part of, their journey. And, Lord, as you speak through him, through his personality, that the word the word through his personality, God, that as as it overflows onto us, that there would be takeaways for us we would carry throughout the week.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
All good? Yes. I am thankful to be here this morning, and praise God for the opportunity that I have to present God's word. You guys are so gracious to me when we chat one on one. It's quite easy to talk to you slow and all that stuff, and you're you're awesome.
But when it comes about for me to preach in, in English, it's a little bit difficult. And because of that, please allow me to speak in Romanian language, and Violetta will translate for me. That would make me to feel comfortable, relaxed, and I don't have to sort the words. Because when I do speak in English, especially when you're on the stage, you freaked out a little bit and then the words disappear. Right?
So but when I speak Romanian language, it doesn't happen. So that's been said. Thank you. It's a will come.
I'm very happy to be here this morning, and I'm happy I have the privilege to talk to you from God's word. And it's not just an introduction, but I say so. It is exactly what I feel in my heart, and, I'm really happy to be here. When I walk into, the house of the Lord, my heart is happy, and I'm very happy to be here, remind you, this morning. I usually come here Sunday evening, late Sunday evening, to practice my songs and sit here and pray.
I
came here yesterday, and I, prepared my papers and my Bible.
She's like, wow.
Then I looked at the wooden pulpit that's hidden back there, and I said, well, that's bigger than me. I can't use it. So
so I moved it away, and I took this because you can see me now. If you're here visiting and, you expect to see our pastor Ray, unfortunately, he's not here. Thank you for your patience. Hope hopefully, you'll be blessed today. Because my my desire is that if we get here, we worship the Lord, we learn from the Bible, and then we
We search our hearts.
We search our hearts when we see the Lord speak something to me. It's not a
Here, it's not just a place where we get together, we greet each other, we fellowship, and have a good
time. Which
is good to get together and fellowship because we're a family altogether. But the main reason for us to be here and be gathered here together is to praise God. And to hope that we will learn something from his word this morning. And more than anything, something that I, look forward to every Sunday morning is that God will search my heart. And I don't know about you personally, but I know that in my personal life, I know that there's always something that I feel like God needs to remove from my life.
And
I always pray and say, God, I know that this thing is not good. Please remove it from me. And I know that some things don't bring honor to a Christian, doesn't bring honor to you, and I don't want it in my life. God, please take it away. So this is there are three things that are important to me, and I would like to tell you is let's get together and praise God.
Let's learn from his word, and let's search our heart to see what God is telling us. And if there's certain things that I keep repeating this morning, it's because they have a good value to me, and I would like to share them with you and repeat I like very much pastor Ray and pastor Carl's style where they just focus on the text. They go over by verse by verse. And I like that very much. It it's keeps us focused on God.
And
we do learn how to become students of the Bible.
But
because I'm from Romania and the system there, the way we do things is just quite different. Or at least that's how I learned it. I learned it a different way.
I've
learned that. I just pick one, passage of the Bible, and then I teach whatever I need from it. And that gives me the freedom to say what God puts on my heart at that moment. And with that being said, I thank you for your attention and for respect. And we will, read today from, the book of Colossians chapter one verses one through 14.
Have it on the screen for everybody? Thank you. I chose this passage this morning because, it shows Paul's love, towards mission and towards God and towards God's church. But also because this passage has been really fresh on my mind. Not too long ago, pastor Carl has read through and studied we he's preached to the whole book of Colossians during the Monday night services.
And we started from the beginning, went all the way through the end, and that's why it's very fresh in my mind.
Monday night.
And with that in mind, I'll make a little parenthesis and a shameless plug. I'll invite you to come to Monday nights. It's a wonderful service, and I think you'll really enjoy it. We have worship and fellowship and good food too.
And it's good, as you can see.
It's good. And believe me, I know that there are so many places in this world where people don't have the freedom to meet. They don't even have a building or a place like They don't even have tables. No chairs. And let alone some of them don't even have food for their daily life.
We have all of this. We have it. We are blessed. Let's gather together. Let's worship, and let's feel God's presence strengthen our faith.
Amen? Amen. This
is my desire. My desire is that we would, search God more. Paul, the apostle Paul dedicated his life to God. He, tried to search God and seek him more and more every day. And no matter what his circumstances were, he was in a constant communion with God.
He Paul is the kind of person that I always thank God for when I go out for a bike ride or for a hike. I always pray God and I say, God, thank you for Paul and his message that you have given us through him. But I want you to know that if we allow God's word to influence us and to change us, we can influence others for God. If we reach the conclusion that, God, I am here today, use me will use you here today in this community. Maybe it's not necessary for you to go to a different country, Romania, to Mexico, to anywhere.
But today at your work When you go to the grocery store. When you go to the grocery store.
Smile
to someone that you meet there. And even if you look a little weird, please do wave at them at people.
You'll be surprised that grocery store people are willing to hi say to say hi to you.
What I would like to say is that we can walk hand in hand with God. And my desire is that this morning, we can say, God, I'm here. Use me. And I can't tell in what capacity, but I know that if we're willing and we live ourselves to God's will, he will use us today.
Oh, I think I'm in the wrong spot. Sorry. You're right, You too. Sorry. Yes.
That's the one. That's the one. Yes. Now I'm in a good direction. What would I be without your letter?
Two and three. That's it. Okay. I lost my notes. I
like how Paul starts this epistle.
He
is recognizing the will of God. All that he is, it is because of the will of We know that Paul was the one who was persecuting the church and always being against the people who love But in the moment he met personally with Jesus, he had that encounter with him, his life changed, and he dedicated his life life we know that the people who are called apostles are just the ones who are witnesses to Jesus' work and ministry on earth. So because he had a very close encounter and interaction with Jesus. And I know that some, passages in the Bible, it says that he was he had a a vision, with God, and God took him up to heaven and showed him the vision, but that's a passage you're not gonna go in today.
We
don't want to get in a passage that'll be a little bit confusing. What I do know is that he met personally with Jesus.
And
when someone meets Jesus their life is transformed.
And
I will say that one more time because it is true. When someone meets Jesus, their their life is transformed. That's why he says that this letter is from Paul chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. In other words, I am nothing without the will of God. Even though I have all the knowledge and wisdom in the world
without
our Lord Jesus Christ, I am nothing. And so Paul recognizes God's authority in his life. And in this passage this morning, Paul is addressing about himself with the title of apostle. Because he wants to add weight to his message.
When
he addresses and says about himself, I am the apostle of Jesus Christ. Even if I'm not the pastor of the church. It means that I still have a very important message to bring to you. And in this passage, Paul, recognizes that the church is doing very well and that they're loving one another. But little by little, they, stopped putting Jesus Christ as the authority and priority in the They started to add in teachings about worshiping angels.
They
tried to bring in the church the teachings about astronomy and stars and worshiping them. And I think that it's easy in today's, day that we can do about the same thing. We can easily let other teachings and, other doctrines come into the church. And it is very important to stay strong and focused on our faith and in in God's hand.
And
only this way we can have the patience, the wisdom, and the understanding to serve God.
And
in verse two, Paul says, we are writing to God's holy people in the city of Colossae who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. I like very much the word that he's using the word holy people. And they're not holy because of their own merit, and we are not either.
We
are holy only because of what Jesus Christ did at the cross for us. In the moment when we ask Jesus to come into our hearts. And in the moment that we admit that we are sinners.
And
at the time when we recognize that we are absolutely nothing without Jesus. He will give us the opportunity to be called children of God. We're holy because of what Jesus did at the cross. Not because I'm such a great person.
Not
because I'm trying to do as best as I can in my life. And not because I'm trying to be better than anybody else. But because Jesus paid the price for my sin.
And
then, Paul continues to say, faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. And here's the part where we have to be responsible for our side. Our holiness is given by God. Our position in Christ is given by God. But our holiness comes in step by step daily day by day when we try to walk with our Lord.
May God help us to be holy also faithful in what God has entrusted us with.
And
in verse three, it says, we always pray for you and we give thanks to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And at the moment that Paul recognizes their walk with Christ and the way they're growing in Christ every day and in their faith He's helping them grow in their, love for each other, and he says that you are growing in your faith for the saints every day. And in verse five, it offers us the key, the key to their walk with Jesus. Which comes from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.
Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. One more time.
Amen. Amen. Amen. We
are holy in Christ Jesus.
Amen. I'm
not trying to put on a show this morning. I'm just trying to say that this is the reality. This is what we have in Jesus Christ.
My
dear brothers and sisters, if we walk hand in hand with Jesus if we put our trust in God we're not only going to feel his presence in our daily life, but we have a hope for the eternal kingdom of And it's all because of the gospel, of the good news of the gospel.
What is the good news? What is the Evangelia?
What is the good news? What is the gospel?
Christ died for us. Amen?
Christ died
for us. Good news? It's the free gift that Jesus Christ gave us when he decided to go on the cross. When he died, and he said, Lord, forgive them for not knowing what they are doing. Right?
Then that's when the evangelia that's the good news. That's when the gospel becomes a reality for us. Amen? Thank you, dear God. Thank you for the the salvation that we have in you.
Dear
God, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your grace in our lives. Thank you for all that you do in our life. God, please help us to have a desire to walk with you. God, search our heart every day and help us to seek in mourning.
Help us to seek to do your will. I don't want to be a a Christian who is a stranger to you. I want to be a Christian that knows you very intimately. I want to walk with you every day. And I would like that my life would influence others to know you more.
Please use me today, dear Jesus. Even if I look a little weird when I do that Please use me today.
Amen.
Amen. I know that many times when we try to present the gospel to tell, people about God's love to our family, to our friends, to our coworkers, we look a little weird.
But that's okay.
But even if that happens, we still have the responsibility to tell others about, Jesus and what he did for them because of what he did for us. My dear brothers and sisters, you know where Paul was when he was writing this, epistle? Yep. He was in prison. He was in prison because he believed in the purpose that God gave to him.
And believe me that in this morning, I tell you that each and every one of us has a purpose given by God.
Judy.
You might not be the one playing piano as wonderful as miss Judy does.
And by the way, it was so sweet and soft this morning. Beautiful. Thank you. Maybe
you cannot speak another language or change. You might not have to go to a different country. But God has a purpose for you so that you can be a tool in his hand today.
And
you can test what I say by trying this when you leave home one day, try and ask God and say, God, use me today. I'm willing for you to use me.
I promise you, it really works. I tested, and I what I'm saying, it really works.
And we can ask God to use us at least for one person today. And I think I've said that before to you, but every time I have to go to work, before I leave for work, or on my way to work, I always pray and ask God so he can use me to be a blessing for at least one person today.
Just one person.
Just one person.
And I promise you, if you have that mentality, if you leave the house praying and then asking the Lord, use me today, you will be surprised not only one person, but five five, six, ten. God will put the right people in front of you at the right time. You might not be able to share extremely the gospel from the Bible. Oh, the but the God
will give you the opportunities, and sometimes you might not just explain the gospel exactly as it is written in the Bible. You might not have the opportunity to tell them all about the doctrines in And the you also won't really have to try to save that person's life, you yourself. Just to show them the love of God. To show the love of God to the people in such a manner that they will see what you have in the seed that is planted in their heart. God will make it grow.
I would like to be a Christian who walks with God every day. I want to be a Christian who is in close communion with God daily and will ask God daily to use me to be a blessing for at least one person. I would like to share something with you, but please don't take this as I'm trying to praise myself or lift myself up in a good manner.
Nothing close
to it. Because I'm nothing but a sinner.
But
I'm very happy when I am at work and just doing my work and people are asking me, what church do you go at? Some would say that I'm just behaving a little weird.
I'm happy all the time.
I'm too happy all the time. So what is wrong with you? Why are you happy all the time?
Is it is it fake?
Are you hiding something? Why are you maybe you're fake. But my answer to them is that I am a child of God, and I try to let God do his will in my life and use me every day. Please help us, God, and open our hearts and our eyes and our minds so that our your vision will be our vision as well. Do you remember the time in your life when you were 20 years old?
And do you remember when you were 40 years old? How about when you were 60 years
old?
Do you notice how fast the time goes by?
I I can't believe I'm gonna be 46 next month.
I can't believe I'm gonna be 46, and I already have so much gray hair. But you know what? With the passing of the time, the only thing that I regret not doing is not serving God more. That's why I would like to encourage you this morning. I don't want to present all the doctrines of the Bible in big detail this morning.
But my desire is to encourage you.
And
I would like this morning that through God's Holy Spirit to move something in your life, to move your heart. And to make you understand that, we need to appreciate today that we have. Today to ask God to say, God, use me today. Not tomorrow. Not the day after tomorrow.
We can't do nothing about yesterday. But today is the day that we can ask God to use us to be workers together with him for his kingdom. And why am I saying this to you?
In
the moment where we accepted Christ we were given a position in Christ to be his children, children of God in God. But at the same time, we were given responsibility.
The
responsibility to share with the ones around us.
And
this is our desire as a family when we're gonna go back to Romania. This is our desire to share the gospel with all the people around us. We're not gonna have to put on a show or make big services where people will be welcomed and well received.
But
the number one priority will be that we will share the gospel with the people. But we can do the same thing here where we are today. Even if we're very, very busy
And
believe me, I know. I know life is very busy here.
Hiking.
In this town, there's old things to do. Hiking.
Biking.
Biking.
Working.
Working.
And so many other things. And then we say, when and how am I gonna do this? When we go at the grocery store. When
you go at the grocery store.
Post office.
When you go to the post office. When you go to fill up on gas. You can wave to somebody. And even if people think you look weird, that is okay. You're doing that for Jesus Christ.
Wave in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Try to find a manner where you can get closer to the people. And it's not easy.
Because a lot of
times people will reject you. But Paul ended up in prison because he was rejected of because of the message he was hearing. But why was Paul able to do this thing? But because of the hope that he has in God. In verse five, it also said, which come from confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven.
You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the good news. I would like to tell you one more important thing, very, very important.
For
us to get to the place where we have this mentality that we can be used for God and his kingdom I would like to tell you something which I know we all of us as, Christians heard it all our lives.
It goes back to the basics. I promise you.
Prayer Prayer is what we mean. Reading the word of God daily. If we feed our spiritual life from the word of God every day, it's what will give us strength to continue to serve him every
If
we set aside the Bible, If we set aside our communion, our fellowship with God, Then we get to a place where we find no inspiration and no desire for anything. We got get to a place where we don't feel like we want to do anything and we don't care about anything. And if it starts happening one day, then it goes on to one month or more, then we'll become very comfortable in the state that we are. And do you remember how I started the sermon? We come here to worship God
fellowship.
We come to have fellowship But we also come to search our hearts.
That's my favorite one. It
is the time when we get to, God and we talk to him and ask him, God, I want to be better than what I was yesterday. It's not about how good I am as a person. I don't want to be any better than anybody else. I don't want to show off to God and say, God, look at me. Look how good I'm doing.
But I know that through me, the gospel can be shared with others. It is a responsibility that God's Holy Spirit has given to us.
Wow. I only reached to verse five. Sorry.
This gospel that we talk about here that we hear about it today, it is the same gospel that is being spread throughout the whole world. And I know that there are churches, today that are meeting in hidden, and they don't have the freedom to get together. I know that there are people in this world who don't even have the freedom to tell their own parents that they're Christians and believers. But God sure finds a way to spread his
gospel. And
for the gospel to be spread around this world, there's always a price to pay. For some people, it's their freedom taken
away. For
some of us, like me Our comfort is the price we gotta pay. I'm sorry if I'm a little hard, but I feel like I want to say what God is telling me to say. I'm not here to bother anybody. But I have the responsibility to say what God's Holy Spirit is putting in my heart to
say. Our
comfort. We get to be in a very comfortable state at times, and not just that we're comfortable, but we don't even care about other people
anymore. And
I know this because I have been through it. I have been through it for very many years.
And
it's hard to get yourself up from there and getting used to being used by God. Let's search our hearts today. Let's ask ourselves today, God, what can I do so that your kingdom will advance today? I will share just one more verse, and then I'll let you with it. In verse 13.
For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Experiment
As you see, if you have filled the love of God and the salvation from God, we get to the point where we want that others would feel the same thing that we do.
There
are moments in my life when I feel tired. And I feel like I don't really have the desire to do this. I can do it another time.
But
when I lay my head down, at night
She rallies this.
And I realized that each and everyone, as Christians, we have a responsibility. And then after that, I feel that in the morning, it's a fresh new start, and God is giving me fresh new strength to start again. I work as Smithson every single day, eight hours a day, with people all the time. It's not easy to do that.
I'll say one more time. It is not easy. Energy.
A lot of times it just drains all your energy.
The motor seems boring.
Sometimes you feel so great that you feel like you're flying. The
motor Some
days you don't feel like flying at all. Some days I feel like I'm very successful not just in my work also in presenting the gospel to other people. And some days, there are some days like those when I feel like nothing's working out good. But you know what?
The next
The next day. I always get a person who comes there the next day, and they say, you know what? I was here yesterday, and you helped me. You're very nice and kind, and that really made my day.
And
in the day when I feel the worst, that is something that fills my cup. And I know that God works through us, through each and every one of us, even when we don't see it. He is at work every day no matter our circumstances. That's why let's say, God, this is the day today. You have redeemed me through your work at the cross.
You have given me the position to be a holy child of God. I'm here, and I'm called the child of God. God, I know that I can't move the mountains.
And
I know that I can change the people around me myself. But I know that I can be a tool that you can use to present the gospel. And Jesus, I know that sometimes I don't know how to get close to people. That's why I'm asking you, God, show me today how to present the gospel to other people. Transform my life, Jesus.
Help me to feel the presence your presence in my heart. And I know that with this comes the responsibility to live a godly life that shows you live in my life.
Amen.
Amen. Thank you for the patience you have listened me with. May God bless you, and you have a wonderful Sunday. And if you can't remember much from what I say, please remember just one thing.
The
gospel will advance just through us.
May we be an instrument today in his hands. Amen.
Amen.
Amen. Yes. Thank you to Violetta. Thank you.
Alright. Would you stand with me? And we're gonna sing one more. He really is feeling over, isn't he? And this this is, I think, so fitting.
Right after that message, the song is I have decided to follow Jesus. Let's sing it together. I have one last, little closing benediction, verse for you. In fact, that was the one that I used that, the nine, but I've got a different one, for you here. And this one's also from Colossians, but it's Colossians three seventeen right along with with, what Florian said.
It's, and whatever you do whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Amen.
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