Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Philippians 4:7 quoted before prayer: 'the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus'
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
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Keep this verse
Hebrews 10:19-25
main passage for the sermon, the 'therefore' paragraph on drawing near, holding fast, and stirring one another to love and good deeds
19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
20 by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 and having a great priest over God’s house,
22 let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,
23 let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.
24 Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching.
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Hebrews 4:1
quoted as earlier lettuce: 'let us fear if while a promise remains of rest that anyone of you may seem to have come short of it'
1 Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest.
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Hebrews 4:11
quoted as lettuce: 'let us be diligent to enter into that rest so that no one will fall through following that same old example of disobedience'
11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
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Hebrews 4:14-16
quoted: 'since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, let us hold fast that confession' and 'let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace'
14 Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession.
15 For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace for help in time of need.
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Hebrews 6:1
quoted as lettuce: 'leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity'
1 Therefore leaving the teaching of the first principles of Christ, let us press on to perfection—not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, of faith toward God,
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Acts 15:36-39
quoted in full to illustrate the word paroxysm as Paul and Barnabas's sharp disagreement over John Mark
36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s return now and visit our brothers in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
37 Barnabas planned to take John, who was called Mark, with them also.
38 But Paul didn’t think that it was a good idea to take with them someone who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and didn’t go with them to do the work.
39 Then the contention grew so sharp that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed away to Cyprus,
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Matthew 11:28
quoted in Spanish Bible distribution story: 'Come on to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest'
28 “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
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Hebrews 13:20-21
used as the benediction: 'may the God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will'
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
21 make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Ray preached from Hebrews 10:19-25, the passage he called one of his favorite paragraphs in the New Testament. After a chapter and a half on what Jesus accomplished as our great high priest, the writer of Hebrews turns to what that means for how we actually live, and that is what this message worked through.
What was said
The whole argument of Hebrews 10:19-25 rests on a "therefore." Everything the book has said about Jesus entering the actual holy place in heaven, the place the earthly tabernacle only ever copied, lands here. Because of his blood, ordinary people can now approach the most holy place with confidence. That was never available under the old covenant, where the high priest went in once a year and had to make atonement for his own sins first. The blood of bulls and goats could not remove sin, but the blood of Jesus can, and it does.
The passage fires off a series of "let us" statements, and Ray pointed out that this construction, a hortatory subjunctive, is an invitation rather than a command. He leaned on a deliberate pun, calling them "lettuces," but his real point was serious: a "let us" only works if you go along with it. It is not one person telling another what to do. It is a call to move together.
The first two calls are personal. Let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, not going through motions or attending because it is easier than arguing with family, but because the gospel is actually true. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, meaning stay fixed on Jesus himself. Ray said that whenever someone comes to him struggling with a church hurt or a season of doubt, he always sends them back to the same place: fall in love with Jesus. He described how Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, blind beggars and untouchable lepers, and let that stand as the reason to hold fast.
The third call is outward, and it carries more edge than the first two. "Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." The Greek word behind "stimulate" is the same word used in Acts 15 for the sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas that ended their partnership. It is not a gentle nudge. Ray compared it to a can of old paint left to settle, oil on top, pigment on the bottom, useless until it is shaken up and mixed. The point is that the kind of stirring up the passage calls for has force to it, and it should be aimed at love and good works rather than the angry disputes that come easily on their own.
That outward stirring is why assembling together matters. Ray was direct about church splits, noting that in his experience about 40 percent stay, 40 percent go somewhere else, and 20 percent just disappear altogether. Forsaking the assembly makes it easier to stay separated from people who irritate you, and the passage names that habit plainly. The encouragement to keep gathering grows more urgent, not less, the closer the return of Christ gets.
Ray closed with three concrete examples of people being stirred up into love and good deeds. Christian Little is pursuing an outdoor ministry to athletes in Jackson. The Naama Girls project in Kenya grew out of a young woman who had been in a youth group Roseanne led, and who began gathering girls who had been abused, funding the work through a pocketbook-making business. Ray told his own story of handing out Spanish New Testaments in sawmills for years until a pastor's sermon prompted him to lean forward and tell James Culbreth about it, which led two weeks later to his first mission trip to Mexico and eventually to his life here. He asked the congregation to pray for two unreached people groups, the gypsies of Kazakhstan and the Manassar Berbers of Algeria, as a direct application of being stirred up into love and good deeds for people far beyond Jackson.
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.
- Ray talked about the word 'therefore' in Hebrews 10:19, saying it connects what Christ has done to what we are now called to do. What difference does it make to you personally that you can approach God with confidence because of Jesus's blood, rather than on the basis of your own record?
- Ray used the phrase 'lettuce' to walk through several 'let us' commands in Hebrews. Which of those three, let us draw near, let us hold fast the confession, or let us stir one another up to love and good deeds, do you find the hardest to actually live out, and why?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,415 words
0:00
Good morning. How are you, my friends? Alright. I think we need to wake up. Let's do this thing.
0:07
Would you stand up and we'll we'll begin singing together. Let me share a song first, kinda good news here. Sing out sing out your thanks to the Lord. Sing praises to our God. Let me share another one.
0:21
Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. Can we do that? One more. Sing to him.
0:30
Yes. Sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. Like, we're called to sing. We're called to praise with the breath that we have in our lungs.
0:40
Let's sing.
0:49
Alright. Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord, my God. When I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds I am in made. I see the stars.
1:06
I hear the rolling thunder. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and see the birds and feel the gentle grace, then sings, then sings my my sin. Yes. And then sings my soul, my savior God, to thee. How great thou art.
2:58
How great thou art. And sings my soul, my savior, to thee. How great thou art. How great thou great thou
3:14
art. How great
3:16
thou thou
3:17
thou
3:30
art Y'all can have a seat and have a few announcements here. Let's see what they are. There's Bible study going on during this service but when the children go down for children's church, junior high and high school girls are welcome to go down. There's a class that Judy Wales is leading for them downstairs which is nice. We've got youth group tonight, five to seven in the evening right here.
3:52
As far as I know, it's right here in this building this evening, five to seven. Awana is happening tomorrow night in this room. Monday nights at first b will be down the hall at the same time.
4:04
Yep. Yep. Job part two, the interaction between Job and his friend. Is God just? Is the big question mark.
4:10
Also, a meal too, I think. We don't have a cook yet. So that could be you, please come and see me. Otherwise, I'll just do something simple, but there'll be food. Yeah.
4:20
Yeah. But please join us. 06:00 right down
4:22
the hall. That's that's Alright. That might come up again in the sermon. Alright. So Awana is happening in here.
4:28
That's filling kids' heads with scriptures so that we can reach their hearts and it's a really really good program. It's been going on a long time. It's tried and true method. It really works for getting that in there. Senior center on the other end of the spectrum.
4:42
We've got a senior center Bible study that is meeting at the Jackson Hole Senior Center Mondays at 12:45. Roseanne is leading that. She's been leading it for since 2003. Really? Veterans Day?
4:56
Yeah. I thought we never stopped that one no matter what. But we do on Veterans Day. Okay. Alright.
5:02
Never mind about that. Go next week, okay? There's a study of Lamentations, hope and healing in the aftermath of rebellion against God. That is going to be in the fellowship hall, Thursday morning, 09:00 sharp and Jane Kranenburg is leading that. It's a precept study.
5:18
I missed last week because I was out of town but I'm planning on being there this week. It's a pretty good sized crowd that's doing. It's only a three week long set. So, you're coming in right in the middle of laminations. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance meets here at the building right here, 90 West Kelly, 6AM on Wednesday mornings.
5:36
They're covering the book of Ephesians and that's going well but please, come on. Come on and join that. It's a good group of guys from all over all the different churches in in Jackson. So, Jackson, Old Men's Alliance. Operation Christmas Child, I am told we have a video.
5:53
We have a video. Let's watch the video.
5:58
We're here in Mazatlan, Mexico with Operation Christmas Child to minister and love on children in these communities. Pastors used Operation Christmas Child and the greatest journey to go out there and share the name of Jesus Christ. I'm excited to be here because pastors are going out and building these churches knowing that people are gonna come after the Operation Christmas Child distribution. It's people that participate in operation Christmas Child that make all this happen. Those that are volunteer in distribution centers, those are just simply packing a shoebox.
6:50
Your shoebox is a part of that. These are gospel opportunities. This is a chance to go out and share the name of Jesus Christ throughout the world and then to teach evangelism, discipleship to these young children where they're going and sharing with their families and their friends, and then churches are being because of that. This is an exciting time here in Mexico, and it's pretty humbling to be a part of it.
7:16
It's fun too. It is fun. We're having a party here, wrapping party, November 20 before we send those off and they will go all over different places in the world. So, this Operation Christmas Child. We have connect hour between services which y'all know what that is, right?
7:31
If you're here at church, you know what it is, right? Not really. We have visitors. I say it every week because of that. So, in between services, down the hall, we have coffee and donuts and that sort of thing.
7:41
So, there's a connect hour that happens immediately after this service and before the next and if there's anything that I've forgotten and have I forgotten anything? Y'all are quiet this morning. My goodness. I'm going to ask for audience participation during the sermon at some point, okay? Yes, Blake.
8:01
Thank you. That's a good one. December 7, we as a church, have a build day with Habitat for Humanity. Nick, you want to say anything more about it? The Grove.
8:16
So, right down here off Snow King Avenue. Fantastic. Would y'all stand up and greet one another and we'll bring it back together with a song.
9:11
I sing to you and my heart cries holy. Hallelujah. Father, you are near. My hope is in you, all the day long. I won't be shaken by drowned or storm, I worship you in my heart, Christ glory.
10:07
Hallelujah. Father, you are here. Or storm. Peace that passes understanding. Here's my song, Nelson.
10:34
My hope is in you alone. And I will wait I will wait on you. You were my refuge.
11:47
Let me share a verse just directly related to that song from Philippians. It says, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding. It's beyond our understanding, God's peace. Have you ever felt that? God's peace that passes understanding like I shouldn't have peace right now, but I do because God is offering that and it's very real.
12:09
It's real. It's real. It will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Lord, may it be so. May your peace that passes understanding guard our hearts and minds when there is turmoil within and we cannot seem to shake it, Lord.
12:26
Would your peace that passes understanding fill our lives to overflowing. Amen.
12:58
Of All condemned, feel no shame at the sound of your great name. Every fear has no face at the sound of your great name. Jesus.
15:18
Redeemer, my healer.
15:21
Redeemer, my healer, Lord, almighty. My savior, defender, you are my
16:16
Let's God, as we sing that song, I I just keep thinking there's power in your name. There is power in your name. There is. There truly is power to save, power to redeem, power to break chains, power to give peace. There is power if we would come to you, not with everything figured out, but just broken people as we are, and let you do your good work.
17:23
Lord, I pray that that we would allow you to do your good work by by putting it in neutral, not trying to fight against you, but rather to work with you. God, have your your will your way, and help us to stay out of the way. We get in our own way. We do. We're human.
17:41
I thank you, Lord, that you are quick to forgive. You are near you are near the brokenhearted. You're a source of joy. You're a source of of comfort. And for that, we we praise you.
17:55
We sing to you this morning because you really are worthy with the breath that we have in our lungs. We praise you. Amen. This is good. Can I share this one?
18:06
Because Ray is going to to teach on it today from from sorry. What? From Hebrews 10. Yep. I I don't think I have the verse anymore, though.
18:20
But it's about Jesus as the great high priest. And and we're gonna sing him a great you're the great high priest whose name is love. Would you pay attention to that today as we're in Hebrews because it is so good.
22:13
And y'all can have a seat. I'm going invite the frontline team to come forward though. God, I thank you for for these who have gathered here in your name this morning. I pray that you would bless lord by illuminating your word by instructing our hearts by convincing us of your own righteousness. Lord, last week, a lot of it was about what you can and have done with sin.
22:41
Our great high priest, what you have sacrificed, God. We thank you for that. And moving from that place forward, let us draw some conclusions today. So in Jesus name, Lord, I ask that you would inspire us today to walk in the steps that you prepared in advance for us to walk and beginning right now. God, would you help us to be obedient so that others may know to know you and to make you known.
23:11
Lord, those are two of our very very high goals. Would you please spread your good gospel through the obedience of your giving saints, lord, with their time, their resources, their efforts, their thoughts, every breath of praise. God, would you lift Jesus up through us this morning? Would you accept these offerings? These tithes, would you expand them and multiply but do your kingdom's work Amen.
24:10
How may you come to the end of yourself? Do you thirst from the drain from the well, is Leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Come today there's no reason to wait. Jesus is calling. Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy.
25:15
From the ashes a new life was born, Jesus is calling. Oh, come to the
28:08
Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Lisa and thank you Christy for joining us this morning. Is this thing on? Microphone on?
28:28
Thank you. Good. So, Hebrews ten nineteen through 25. If I if I had to pick a favorite paragraph in the New Testament, this would probably be it. It'd in the top five for sure.
28:41
And it's good when you're preaching, preaching on things you really, really like. I know. But it's also kinda hard because it's so precious. It's so precious. It's so precious to me.
28:50
And I and I think, how do you transmit how I feel about this to to everyone else's life? So, this is a this is a place where the writer of Hebrews takes all of that that we did last week and it was a full chapter and a half last week that we covered and then communion and all of that gets us to a therefore at the beginning of this one and it said, therefore, it's only going to be, you know, 19 through 25. So, just seven verses today that we're covering, but it's really, really, really important stuff. It's the turn on now this has happened is what you need to do with. So here we go.
29:30
So lately, have you all heard the term word salad? It's been coming up a lot in my life lately because word salad means when someone is going into dementia or Alzheimer's and they can't come up with sentence that they want or they can't organize their thoughts, oftentimes they'll just hit you with a bunch of words. And it's hard to decipher but one word might mean something else or it might not mean anything at all and it's it's just a whole bunch of words coming at you. Most recently, Jennifer Flanagan has been using this word. Wes Flanagan just passed away a couple weeks ago.
30:05
His memorial service is next Saturday, and we're going through it. And she she has picked out this word salad. So, it's been coming at me a lot lately. I I'm using it as a play on words. It's pitiful but I want you to remember this sermon, alright?
30:18
I want you to remember this. So, is Hebrews ten nineteen through 25 which is this is what you do with what you already know from the rest of this book. Is this just word salad? Or does it really mean something? I think it really means something.
30:31
So here we go. Therefore okay. What's the therefore therefore? Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Now, the last chapter and a half that we covered last week, you can go back and listen if you want to.
30:47
It's about Jesus entering into the actual holy place. The actual holy place in heaven of which the tabernacle was a copy. And so we had the holy place and then we had the most holy place. Only the high priest could go in there one time a year. And even then he had to go in and make atonement first for his own sins, which was difficult to do, especially as the writer of Hebrews explains the blood of bullions and goats never has been able to remove sin.
31:17
But God had made a way and he had shared that old covenant with his people Israel and they knew about it and they were following out in hopes and in looking forward to the way that God would make and this is it. The new covenant is right here. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, are we any more or less sinful than the folks in ancient Israel? No. People are people.
31:45
People are people and we go wrong. We go wrong in the legalistic ways and we go wrong in licentious ways. We go wrong. But we can boldly approach the most holy place. Why?
31:57
Because of the blood of Jesus. This is the beginning of this. Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and a living way which he inaugurated for us. He did sacrifice himself but he is alive too. His message was verified by his resurrection.
32:17
This is a new and a living way. It's not just a reminder of the death that sin causes but it's new life and the forgiveness that God offers. That's powerful Therefore, since we have confidence centered a holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us. He were joint heirs with Jesus by his blood. He inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh.
32:46
He was the only one that was perfect and sinless. He offered that perfect and sinless record on behalf of all others. Come what may, he offered it and anyone who accepts it has access and can boldly go into the holy place by his blood. Since we have a great high priest over the house of God. So, this is saying, this is the rationale.
33:10
This is the conclusion out of all of that great high priest stuff that we've been covering throughout the book of Hebrews. Since we have this, since we have confidence to enter and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, lettuce. Alright. This is the word salad. Alright, lettuce.
33:30
Lettuce. It's pitiful. Sorry. There are three people in here that really like this. All of em are lettuce.
33:41
I've mentioned this before because we've hit hortatory subjunctives but the last time I preached it out for the nerds, now it's for the punsters, okay? Lettuce is a hortatory subjunctive. It is an encouragement towards the good but it's contingent upon you going with me. If I stand up here and say, let us pray and you sit back and go, you can pray if you want to, buddy. Then, you're not participating in the let us, right?
34:09
But out of everything we've covered so far, the conclusion since we have a great high priest, since we can have confidence, let us let us oh, let me go back. Sorry. There's a lot of lettuce in Hebrews Therefore, let us fear. Let us fear if while a promise remains of rest that anyone of you may seem to have come short of it. That's talking collectively to this to a body of people to say, don't just pretend.
34:37
Don't just go along to get along. Let us fear if there might be anybody who's just walking out rote actions from an external and static source saying, I know what's expected of me. I can't wear this and I gotta do that. Right? If it's just external outside of you static and you're just like, whatever.
34:57
It's better. It's easier not to fight mama on that, you know. Let us fear if we might be setting up a place where people feel like they have to do certain things to be accepted right. Let us fear if people are not getting the actual gospel but are being inoculated against it by thinking this is it, just churchiness, okay? Let us fear if while a promise remains of entering his rest because it does, That anyone of you may seem to have come short of.
35:27
It should be fearful for us to think that we might be making people think they're holy without Jesus. Really? Having made them holy. Hebrews four eleven goes on with more lettuce. It says, there therefore, let us be diligent to enter into that rest.
35:47
Let's be diligent so that no one will fall through following that same old example of disobedience from the Israelites in the wilderness, right? Four fourteen says this, therefore, since we have a great high priest, where have I heard that before? Verse 20 of chapter 10 says that or 19 says, therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens and he has. He went to that place that was actual, not just a copy or a shadow, an earthly tabernacle but actually went through and has passed through the heavens. Jesus, the son of God.
36:21
Let us hold fast that confession. What brings us together is Christ. That's what brings us together. He commands us to love but without him, we can't do that. Let us hold fast to confession.
36:33
For we don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with our weaknesses. Jesus knows what it's like to live in flesh. He knows what it's like to be tempted. He was tempted in every way just as we are yet he was without sin and then 16 is more lettuce. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence and what does 10 say?
36:53
Since we have confidence. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So, that is what we've hit before. Hebrews six one goes on more of it. Therefore, leaving the elementary teachings about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.
37:22
Let us press on to maturity. So, it's a very nice way of commanding. It's not me saying to you, do this. It's saying, let's do this. Let us press on to maturity.
37:36
Let us draw near. Some more letters here. Let us draw near. I'm saying it again. I already said it once in this just in the same exact manner but let us then, since we have confidence to enter and since we have a great high priest, then let's don't shrink away from that and just huddle up.
37:54
Let's draw near to one another. That is huddling up but it's not staying in that huddle. We'll get to that in a minute. Let us draw near with a sincere heart. So, it's not faking it.
38:05
It's not walking through it because we know it ought to. Good grief. Let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. It's not thinking that well, I guess church folk are alright as people go Might as well go with them. No.
38:22
It's full assurance of the truth of the gospel that drives us In sincere heart, full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean. Oh, the imagery here, we've just gone through that whole chapter and a half where it talked about everything, every consecrated item in the temple and in the tabernacle had to be cleansed and cleansed with blood. Water and blood it says and then this says, let us draw near them with sincere heart, a full assurance of our faith, having our hearts, our actual hearts sprinkled clean. It's not just a reminder of our sin that humbles us. It's a reminder of our sin that humbles us and then has us turn to our savior who can sprinkle us clean from an evil conscience because he can give us another conscience.
39:11
He gives us consciousness. He gives us transformation. He gives us his spirit. He writes his law on our hearts. He leads us and our bodies walk through pure water.
39:26
Baptism, you can see that right there. You've made this choice, says to the first century Jewish background believers. He says, you've made this choice. You've been baptized in. It's not just who you were born to or what you've been taught, but it's who you believe in.
39:44
The Messiah that was sent. You see how all of this old covenant stuff leads you to this new covenant. You're in. Let us. Let us hold fast.
39:58
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope that Jesus is the Christ, son of the living God, that he is the only way. Exclusive is real hard in our society because everybody sees that as a lack of tolerance. But if the truth is the truth is the truth, then it's the truth. Right? There are lots of other copycats, but nothing replaces the blood of Jesus.
40:29
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope and without wavering, unswervingly, some of your translations may say, stick doggedly to Jesus. I have had people visit me recently that said they'd had a rough church experience, this church, that church, wherever, and this church maybe. My, almost always what I go back to whenever anybody's struggling about anything when they don't know, I said, fall in love with Jesus. Hold fast the confession of your hope. He is our hope.
41:02
Hold fast to that. I don't understand all of what's going on, Lord, but I do know Jesus. And I know how he treated that woman that was caught in adultery. I know how he treated Nicodemus when he came at night, being a Pharisee and thinking he knew it all. I know how he treated the Samaritan woman.
41:21
I know how he treated blind beggars. I know how he treated untouchable lepers.
41:29
He touched them.
41:32
Let us hold fast to the confession, our hope without wavering. Why? Why would you wanna do that? Why wouldn't you just say, well, whatever. It's fine.
41:41
Whatever you believe is okay with me. Oh, I guess I can be convinced of that. Yeah. I see your point. Hold fast to the confession of your hope without wavering.
41:55
Don't be drawn back into either lifestyle that you were before. For he who promised his faith, he who has begun a good work and you will see it completed until the day of Christ Jesus. For he who promised his faithful. He who promised his faithful and let us let us consider Let us consider what? How to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.
42:23
So, it's not just about us. It's not just about our salvation. It's not just about our sanctification even but it is about how this affects other people around us. Let us consider let us draw near, let us hold fast the confession, and let us consider how to stir one another up into love and good deeds. The New King James said, let's consider one another in order to store stir up love and good works.
42:53
That's the translation I have in my head is stirring up, so constantly stirring up. Right? Be stirring one another unto love and unto good deeds. So it's not stirring one another up in order to fight, okay? We're good at that.
43:07
We're really, really good at that. And if we find anything as of our political persuasion that we think is a, it just makes us mad. It's stirred. We're being stirred up all the time, but we're not being stirred up unto love and good deeds all the time and we should be. We should be doing that for one another.
43:23
We should be doing that to one another. This a parox is the word like that's a really helpful English word Paroxysmon, stimulation, provocation, or irritation. That's the way I wanted to define it this morning, but really there's another and it's angry dispute. Do we have enough angry dispute around us? Yes.
43:47
Amen. This word's only used two times in the Bible. It's used twice in the New Testament and one of the times is right here where it says, stir one another up into love and good works or some of your translations may say, stimulate. Some of them may say, provoke. I read one that said agitate.
44:04
Agitate one another unto love and good works. When I thought about that, I thought, I'm going to have some paint, old paint that's been up here in a glass container. Just let it sit here where everything settles out. There's oil on the top and there's paint on the bottom, you know, down the bottom. It's useless.
44:19
You take that, dip the brush in it, you got oil. You put oil on the wall, then you put the paint on the wall, nothing happens. It won't even stick. Why? Because it's not mixed up.
44:26
It's not agitated. It's not stirred up. Stirred up, stimulated, agitated, catalyzed, provoked, irritated, angry dispute. The other place where it's used is Acts 15. I'm going read it to you.
44:40
After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are and Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark John Mark along with them also but Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphilia and had not gone with them to the work and there occurred such a paroxysm, a sharp disagreement. Have you in your reading about Paul and you're reading about the early church, doesn't this one always surprise you that they got so upset with each other they just couldn't keep on going? This was a sharp disagreement and it's a passion word. It's one that is very, very loaded. There occurred such a sharp disagreement.
45:27
They separated from one another. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. And then the other use is this, to stir one another up in the love and good works. It's not a gentle word. I I think that the writer of Hebrews have probably heard how life was treating them and some folks were saying, you just come on back in.
45:49
What's the difference? If you're really saved in Jesus, come on and just go through the motions with us. It's not a, it's, you're not going to get persecuted over here. I mean, you're giving your life over here but you're, come on. What's the difference?
46:03
And then others are saying, no. We won't do that. There's a sharp disagreement but it was leading to discord not to love and good deeds. So, he's saying, if you're gonna provoke one another, you have a great high priest. That's what draws you together.
46:21
Right? You have confidence to enter the very holy of holies. Be stirring one another up into love and good deeds. Let's consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together because it's easier to separate, is it not? We saw Paul and Barnabas do it.
46:43
And we'll use that example a lot, won't we? I couldn't deal with him anymore. So let Paul and Barnabas. Paul eventually came around. He called, John Mark's useful for me.
46:57
Please send him to me. I'd love to have him around. You know, probably not the best that they separated but they did and that's the truth and that's what's in the Bible. It's good and occasionally, we we hit a place where as much as it depends upon me, I'm living at peace with all but that guy, oh my goodness, that guy. Let's stick in with people.
47:18
Let's keep on trying, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some. Some people finally just give up. You know, in every church split, you have about this has been my experience at least. From my childhood, I saw a church that would go from about 50 to about a 100 or a 110, 120 and then we'd have a split and we go back to about 40 or 50 and then we grow and things would get to about a 100, a 110 and we drop back to 50 and it's just so sad. There's nothing sadder.
47:49
Church split out of the 100% that made up the church about 40% stay, about 40% go, probably somewhere else, and about 20% just drop out altogether. And that's heartbreaking. Not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some. It happens because we're humans. It happens but be encouraging one another.
48:12
Be encouraging one another. Encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Do you feel like we're at least a day closer? Today, to the return of Christ than we were yesterday. Then, keep on being what you are in Jesus and keep encouraging one another.
48:29
Stimulate one another unto love and good deeds. Now, that's three little lettuces. Let us draw near and let us hold as the confession unswervingly. It is about Jesus and I know that it's better and easier if we stick with people who believe just about Jesus exactly like we do but we need to be encouraging one another and stimulating one another unto love and good deeds. Need to be doing that after it.
48:58
Is there anything else up there? Oh, this is kind of a farm for lettuce right here. Alright. Now, I I mentioned this. I've still got a lot of time left.
49:07
I I had a short passage today. It's very simple, I think. Y'all came this morning. Let us draw near. You're here.
49:16
How many of you believe in Jesus? Hold fast to the confession unswervingly and now, I'm trying to stimulate you into good deeds, into love and good works. For what did Jesus say to do for your enemies? For your enemies. Love them and pray for those who persecute you.
49:39
So if there's anybody that's claiming Christ that's within the faith that is irritating you, May it irritate you towards love and good deeds rather than anxiety and dissension and dis Is there anything else? Blake, is there more stuff to this sermon or is that it? I think I I have there are two other pictures that I put in there and one of em, would you put the gal on the bicycle in there? She's not here this day. So, I'm picking on her and then I'm going to pick on you.
50:11
Okay, I'm warning you. So, in the drop box, there's a picture of a gal on a bicycle I think she's on a bicycle. Christian Little is this gal's name and she came a while back and and she said, I feel like God's called me in to do an outdoor ministry and I don't know exactly what that means except I'm I'm doing it. You know, and so she's been doing it. That's her right there.
50:34
You see her. She was here last week. She's at an Alpha Ministry Conference right now and she's trying her best to do this but she knows Jackson's a very athletic place and there are lots of people who ride and there are some Christian bright spots here that are also athletic, but she is reaching out as best she can, telling her story to people who are athletic and trying her best to stir up a movement among them, okay? So that's her. The next one is a pocketbook, Blake.
51:05
This one is just a stretched version of a pocketbook. This was made by the Emma girls. How many of y'all went on the trip in August 2013? There were 19 ladies that went from this church to Kenya, Africa. Roseanne had served in Africa for years and had been going back each year.
51:24
And so Tanya went over with her. And then we took 19 ladies, and I went back with them too. And there was a young lady there that had been in the youth group when Roseanne was there. And she believed that God wanted to help girls who had been abused, physically, sexually abused, and she wanted to do whatever she could. She didn't really know how to do it, but she started doing it.
51:50
She started getting people together, started drawing near, she started holding fast the confession of her hope, and she started trying to stir them up into love and good works. Now, business as mission or kingdom business is a really, really good way. Those girls have started making pocketbooks like this, and it's pretty awesome that they're doing that. They're coming together and they're receiving all of the benefit of being around gospel believing Christians. And they're making something with their time.
52:24
They're being industrious, and that is helping to fund more girls being able to be in the program. Okay? My own story, you can get past the pocketbook if you want to. I don't have a picture of me up there but I'm right here. So my own story, twenty years ago, twenty five '24, twenty five years ago, I worked as a safety instructor in sawmills.
52:47
And the day that I got the job, the boss said, Do you speak Spanish? And I said, I think I could if I needed to. I didn't really speak Spanish. I had had it in high school and had it in college, but he said, okay, well, you need to. You got the job and 40% of the people you'll be speaking to don't understand English.
53:05
Okay. So my first thing as a Christian is Lord help me. Really, sincerely God help me. How how am I going to do this? And I thought, okay, I'll start reading the Bible in Spanish.
53:17
I like reading the Bible and I like Spanish. You know, verily verily I say unto you. I learned about a bunch of those kind of things but as I started doing it, I said, God, if you'll help me with this Spanish, I'll give it back. I don't know what that looks like and so, I'm reading the Bible in Spanish and I thought, these guys are here and they're away from home and they're not they don't have a Bible with them, most of them. So, I'd ask him bought a case of paperback, New Testaments and said, hey, after the safety meet today, actually boss in English didn't understand what I was saying.
53:48
So, the very last point of my safety meeting is Christ said, I said this in Spanish. Christ said, come on to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. That's from the Bible. If you want a Bible, I've got some in my truck and I start handing them out and so I did that for like four years, three years, four years, buy a case when I ran out, I buy a case and then one night, I'm sitting in church, pastor is preaching not on this passage but on one similar. There are a lot of em that stirs us up in the love and good works and the pastor said, if you have a ministry that you are currently doing and you have something that you are doing, we want to help.
54:30
The church wants to help you. We want to put volunteers with you or resources or we want to help you if you just feel burnout. We want to encourage you in it. So, would you let James Culbreth is the guy in this church that's in charge of that. Would you let James know?
54:44
Well, James was sitting in front of me and I leaned up and said, James, it was really easy. If he'd been across the room, I don't know what would have happened honestly. But he was right in front of me. I leaned forward and I said, James, I hand out Spanish Bibles and sawmills and factories all over. Is that what he's talking about?
55:00
He said, yeah, man. We'll get you some Bibles. I said, cool. Alright, It's not a huge expense to pay for a case of Bibles but it's nice to have help, you know? He goes, you speak Spanish?
55:11
I said, Masomenos, kind of, more or less. And he said, well, we got a mission trip going to Mexico in two weeks. They don't have anybody on the team who speaks any Spanish at all. You could probably be the translator. And okay, that's how I got here.
55:29
By saying yes, with the little, little, little thing you pray, God, what would you have me do? And then you got a whole group, a greenhouse, a nursery, a farm around you that has given you all that you need, pouring the seed in there, pouring the water to it, pouring the funds into it if necessary and saying, God's gonna grow it up. He's gonna agitate, he's gonna stir it up. I see some of you crying. Is there somebody else wants to tell a story right now?
55:59
I got two minutes left. God is good. He is really really good. Hold fast to that confession. You can draw near to the Holy of Holies.
56:10
So, Carl and I went this week since y'all didn't speak up. Carl and I went this week to pastor's conference. It was specifically it was just a a day long, really. Tuesday night, Wednesday, up till about 03:00 in the afternoon. And Eric Watt, who comes here off and James Watt, you know, goes to church here.
56:29
Eric is in charge of reaching unreached nations. And so unreached and unengaged people groups around the world, there are when I started seminary, there were several thousand that were over 10,000 people, like there were 6,000 and something when I started seminary. That's twelve years ago. Now we're down to about 500 and something people groups of 10,000 people or more. It is looking like in the next few years, we actually will have been able to preach the gospel to every people group.
57:03
That's an amazing thing, especially when you consider Jesus said, preach the gospel to every tribe, tongue, nation. He he even uses it in his eschatology speech, you know, and then he will come. So that that little gathering about that, they had 243 people groups on the wall. They were just kinda all lined up on a wall. And there aren't any easy ones left.
57:31
Okay? Yeah. Oh, thanks. Thank you, Blake. That's me in 1975.
57:43
There aren't any easy ones left. There are not any easy groups left. And so language is sometimes a barrier. The death of different countries is they're almost always an unreached people group. And that means that they're less than 2% Christian and they are unengaged means that there's not a missionary witness among them as far as we know.
58:03
And so he had two forty three over here on the wall and they asked us if we would be praying about it. So I'm asking you, I'm stirring you up into love and good deeds. I want for y'all to be praying for the gypsies of Kazakhstan. How did I pick them? I know a gypsy.
58:21
That's it. I don't have any other rationale whatsoever. Their language is somewhat similar to your language. So we're going be praying for the Kazakhstani gypsies. And I went on a trip one time, a long time ago to the Berbers of the Central Atlas Mountains of Morocco but they are being reached but their brothers across or their cousins, you know, family across the line in Algeria are not.
58:45
So, Berbers of Algeria. So, if you want to scribble those down somewhere, we're going to put them up on posters. They may come up on slides eventually. Not in plaid pants, I hope. But anyway, Kazakhstani gypsies and the Algerian Berbers, the Manassar Berbers of Algeria.
59:05
Lord God, I pray that you would be constantly stirring us up, Lord, that we would be constantly agitating one another towards love and good deeds, that whether it be the Naama Girls project or Christie Little's project with athletes here or with musicians, aspiring musicians in the schools around here, whether it's teaching piano lessons or doing whatever it is that we do for a job for you, whether it's giving of that which you've gifted us with to help some of these things grow. Lord, may we be a hothouse for this. May we be constantly stirring one another up into love and good deeds. And I pray Lord that the experience of anyone who would have the audacity to go for it would feel the same way that I feel today. Thank you, Jesus, that James was sitting in front of me and that I didn't have to make any more effort than that.
1:00:05
May we make it easy to do what we need to do for the kingdom. Amen.
1:00:14
Would you stand? We'll sing another song, a unity song. They'll know we're Christians by our love. Love.
1:01:00
Christians by hunger. We will walk with each other. We will walk and in anger. We will walk with each other. We will walk and in hand.
1:01:19
Once you gather, we'll spread the news that God is in unbanked. And we'll know we are word. All praise to the father from whom all things come and all praise to Christ Jesus, his only son. And I'll praise to the spirit who makes a song. And they'll know we are Christians by our love.
1:02:35
I hung up. Yes. They'll know we are Christians by our love.
1:02:55
Short short passage, long benediction. Now, may the God of peace who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. May he equip you with everything good for doing his will and may he work in us what is pleasing to him through Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen.
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