The Cross Is Not Sugarcoated First B Jackson 2017-11-05 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, church. Will you please stand up? As always, thank you for being here. What a privilege to gather together and to worship God. Amen? Let's have let's make this one hour the best hour of this week. Amen? Amen. Let's sing loud and let's worship God. Come. Now is the time to worship. Come now is the time to give before your God. Amen. One day every time we confess you are God. One day every knee will bow. Still the greatest treasures remains for those who gladly choose you now. Come. Now is the time you are before and you're God. One day every time you confess Amen. Alright. You guys can be seated. Thank you guys for coming to worship with us. For if you're a first time guest here, thank you for coming. You are you're welcome in this place. I wanna let you know that there is a a small card in the seat back in front of you with a little pencil. If you wanna fill that out and let us know any way that we can serve you, we would love to hear from you and just kinda get your information and and help get you plugged in and how and see how we can serve you as a church body. A couple of announcements for today. First of all, my name is Michael Demetrius. I'm the youth director here at First Bee. So we do middle school and high school. We do middle school at 06:30 on Tuesdays. That's 06:30 to eight, and then we do high school on Thursdays from seven to 08:30. So that'll be going on this week. We're gonna be in James. So if you know middle schoolers or high schoolers, please send them by. We've also got children's church that goes on downstairs during this service. So we've got the nursery for ages zero to three, and then we've got children's church from ages four all the way up through fifth grade. So feel free to send your kids down there. Then we've got Monday nights. It first be that's gonna be paired with Awana starting tomorrow it's going on tomorrow night. So we've got potluck tomorrow night, so don't forget about that. I'll be speaking. We'll also be talking from James tomorrow night, so James too. So come and hear about that and bring your kids for for Awana. We've got a baby shower today after this service downstairs for the Owings baby, the Asawini. So please come down there and celebrate with him. The the females, the ladies are welcome to go down there, and the guys are gonna hang out and watch the kids in the fellowship hall. So that's going on right after this service. Casey McCooey is gonna come up and tell us about Operation Christmas Child, which we're gonna be packing for this week. Thanks. Hi. So we've been doing Operation Christmas Child for a couple years at this church. We have these shoe boxes for you to fill up a box for a child for Christmas. You fill it up by age range. I have the paper that describes everything that you need to do. I can hand you after church. Basically, you're filling an item for a specific child. This may be the only Christmas they ever receive, the present that they receive maybe for the year or their whole life, so it's a super impactful gift. Basically, you fill it up with a whole bunch of items for their age, and then you buy one item that's like a wow gift. So for ours, we're picking a two to four year old little girl, and our wow gift is a little cell phone. And then we'll also put extra batteries in there for them to have so that they can use it for a long time. But anyways, we are having a packing party this Wednesday from six to eight. You do not have to pack with us. You can pack on your own if you'd like. The other fun thing that you can do is when you're packing at home, you can register your gift online and, with Samaritan's Purse, and they will follow your gift and then email you later to tell you where your gift went. So it could be somewhere in The US or anywhere over the world. I know some of our gifts have went to The Philippines and Peru, and it's just fun to find out where your gift went. So if you have questions, my info's in the bulletin. Thank you, Casey. And also, yeah, like she said, if you just wanna drop off gifts, we can pack them. And if you don't have a box, don't worry. We have extra boxes here. So whatever we can do. And one more plug is we're gonna be doing a Habitat house. We're gonna help with the Grove project with Habitat for Humanity. So if anyone is interested in that, please come and see me. We are gonna be putting a team together, and we're probably gonna start on that and do a a volunteer Saturday within the next, I'd say, three weeks, we're going to be volunteering and helping get some housing here in our community. So if that is something that you're interested in, please come and see me. For everything else, check your bulletins. And then if you guys wanna stand up and greet one another, we will bring you back together in a song. Thank you for being here. Let's sing again together. Give thanks to the Lord, our God and king. His love endures forever. Amen? Thanks to the Lord our God and king his love endures forever for he is good he's above all things his love endures forever sing praise sing praise amen With a mighty hand and outstretched arm, his love endures forever. For the life that's been reborn, his love endures forever sing praise sing praise Amen. Hallelujah. You guys sing beautiful. I love to see the church alive. Isn't that amazing? Amen. God is good. Give thanks to the Lord, our God and king. His love endures forever. Amen to that. Amen. This is one of my favorite one as always. Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out of me. Isn't that a beautiful promise to understand and to know that this is our savior, this is our God that we serve, this is the God that we believe in, he is with us, he loves us no matter what. He is the same, he he doesn't change, he's amazing. And that's the God that we're gonna sing about. Amen? Never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me. Your love never fails, never gives up, Amen. Isn't that a beautiful song? And when we're speaking about love, I just, a thought came in my mind to share with you. You probably know already. Pastor Ray and pastor Carl drove a huge truck and another car pulled behind that truck all the way to Florida to help Melissa Reese move in Florida. Isn't that a nice awesome act of love? Honestly, imagine driving from here to Idaho is still a lot. But from here but from here to Florida, that shows when we understand God's love, it comes natural to show it around us. Amen? And I'm thankful for my pastor speaking about. Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank you so much for the privilege and the honor that we have to gather together and worship your name. I pray that you bless us and help us to understand more of your love, more more of you. Work in us, God. Fill us with the Holy Spirit and touch our life in such a way that we can show others your love. Because when we understand what you've done for us in the cross, it comes natural to share it. And I'm thankful for what you've done because you showed the most beautiful example in the cross and thank you for your love. And also I'm thankful for first b team, for pastor Carl, pastor Ray, for Mike Demetrius, for his heart to serve. He's always on fire ready to do something. Please bless us and help us to stay in that focus on you. In Jesus name I prayed, amen. Amen. How deep the father's love for us. There's no way I could lead the music on Sunday without this one. This is a beautiful beautiful song. Beautiful music. I will boast in Jesus Christ he's that and why should I gain from his Amen. Amen. Alright. If I could have the frontline team come forward. Everybody can have a seat. This is the time in our service where we have our worship through giving. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take up the offering, and I'm just gonna pray for us, and and we give because God has given abundantly to us. So father God, thank you for this morning, the opportunity God to come and worship God. I pray that you will take these gifts, these tithes, these offerings God, and, and bless them God for the advancement of your word, your gospel God that people might know your love. So take all these tithes and offerings and use them for your kingdom, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you, Florine. So today today, we've got a real gift. As Florine said, pastor Ray and Carl are both down in Florida, but we get the gift to hear Gary Geek is going to share with us today. He is an awesome awesome paran evangelist, and I'm just so glad that we get to hear him speak God's word today. So Gary, thank you for being here, and let's let's greet Gary with a little round of applause, please. How do I sound, Blake? All right. Good. I've been looking forward. I'll wait to share this message. And especially after I heard three little kids after church last Sunday. And they were bragging on their dad. And one little kid said, well, my dad wrote a few words on a piece of paper and called it a poem and made $50 Second little kid said, well, my dad wrote a few little words on a piece of paper, called it a song, and he made a $100. And this third little kid said, well, that's nothing. My dad wrote a few little words on a piece of paper, called it a sermon and took four people to collect all his money. So I'm I'm looking forward to sharing my sermon here. Last week, Ray talked about the advancement of the gospel and that some were preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. Paul, Paul encouraged the Philippians, the Philippian believers to share the gospel out of love. And I think sometimes when we think about sharing the gospel, for some of us, it's kinda like pushing a ball up a hill. You know, it could be awkward. I'm gonna play the Morning, Jim. Robert. Hey. Hi, Jim. Trico. Sharing your faith doesn't have to be hard. Let's do it together. I read an article, that asked this question, must every Christian share the gospel? And I thought, well, what if that answer was no? Then it would justify these excuses. I don't I'm not called to share the gospel. I don't know how to tell the gospel. I'm not good at that kind of stuff. I might push people away. I might lose my friends. I might lose my job. I might be hated for it. I live the gospel rather than to tell the gospel. I don't know many believers. I may not be able to answer people's questions and comments and etcetera. All those answers, if we didn't have to share the gospel would be legitimate. But I think we know that God has called us to share our faith. He's asked us to always be prepared to share the gospel or share our faith and our hope that we have in Christ. And we see that example from last week in verse, in Philippians one fourteen. Paul's in prison and he was encouraging the Philippians. And in Philippians one fourteen, and because of my chains, most brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. They were confident and fearless. I read a nationwide survey, from, American Culture and Faith Institute, and they had surveyed over a thousand Christians. And this was in not in a denominational survey. It's Christian in general, the big c church. 18 or older, only one out of four felt that they had the responsibility to share their faith in Christ with people who believe differently. And out of the one out of four, that percentage dropped even lower that presented a biblical accurate version of the gospel. The gospel or the heart of the gospel is love. I have this story here that kind of illustrates to me the heart in which we should be sharing our faith. It's a story of a farmer, a poor Chinese farmer who had cataracts removed from his eyes at a Christian mission clinic. A few days later, the missionary doctor looked out his window and noticed the farmer holding the end of a long rope. In single file, holding onto the rope were 24 blind Chinese who had been rounded up and led for miles to the doctor who had worked miracles on that farmer's eyes. That's how we that's how we have received the eternal gift or the eternal life through Jesus Christ. And that's how we should go out. We are blessed that and we want to bless others so they can receive that good news. Me of a spiritual awakening. Well, there have been times that I've wept as I've gone from city to city, and I've seen how far people have wandered from God. Of all the things that I've seen and heard, there's only one message that can change people's lives and hearts. There is a way if you come by the way of the cross. The cross. The cross. I want to tell people about the meaning of the cross, not the cross that hangs on a wall or around someone's neck. We receive our freedom purchased by the ransom in the cross. But the real cross of Christ. The cross expresses the great love of God for man. It's scarred and bloodstained. His was a rugged cross. His real purpose for coming was to die. I know that many will react to this message, but it is the truth. And with all my heart, I want to leave you with the truth. God. The gospel is the truth. I believe, fear is a huge deterrent that keeps us silent. We live in a world that embraces tolerance as a virtue. This, this great movement of tolerance races through the schools, our universities, our workplaces, our government, and all parts of our society. It has but one verse and one command, and they are the same. I hope I can share this verse without messing it up. Judge not me nor anything I say, believe, or do, or want, least ye be judged intolerant. The new tolerant tolerance movement is anything but tolerant when it comes to universal truth, especially the truth claims of the gospel. Now if I can illustrate this, the gospel is a gospel message of truth and of grace, equally balanced. But our culture is screaming at the truth side, saying we need to change our narrative. We need to change our story. And it's pushing the church to the grace side. I wanna share a story and sharing my faith to a person. This person passionately said this to me. He said, God is a God of love and Jesus is a God of mercy. And when I die, they will look upon me and see that I'm a good person and welcome me in the kingdom. Is that true? For me to witness to her, what side do I have to go on? Truth. We don't like truth. The truth side of the gospel is hard side. The cross is offensive because it confronts people even so. It's a confrontation that all of us must face. I look out across an audience when I stand up to preach, and I think of all the people with their different backgrounds and their various needs. And I know that they are objects of God's mighty love. To the point that he gave his son, his only son, to die upon a cross. And the cross was the most terrible form of execution by the Romans for criminals. And Jesus endured all that in our place because of our sins. We deserve the cross. We deserve hell. We deserve judgment and all that that means. I know that there are many people that dispute that. People don't want to hear that they're sinners. To many people, it's an offense. The cross is offensive because it directly confronts the evils which dominate so much of this world. One reason that the cross is an offense to people is because it demands, doesn't suggest, it demands a new lifestyle in all of us. Sin is a disease in the human heart. It affects the mind and the will and the emotions. Every part of our being is affected by this disease. How can we break this bondage? How can we be set free? God helps us break those chains. The Bible says, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things pass away. Everything becomes new. He can make you a totally new person. The gospel comes at a great cost. In our zeal to make salvation painless, We water down the great cost Christ paid for us on the cross to redeem us from God's eternal wrath. We also present the gospel with the emphasis on the benefit of Christianity without the cost involved. The gospel message may sound something like this. If you trust in Jesus, he will solve your problems. You'll be a better person. He will help you with your self esteem, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And I've seen it even go as far as saying that Jesus wants to make you wealthy and rich. The true gospel emphasizes emphasizes repentance, to turn from your sins. It also emphasizes lordship, making Christ lord of my life. It has a cost Like, you wanna run the next He's laying on Jesus our sins. They not only put nails in his hands, but before that, they'd scourged him. A Roman scourge was a terrible thing. They took whips and pellets on those whips and beat a person almost to death. And then they took that cross and made him carry the cross, which was in his weakened condition was almost impossible. But he carried that cross to a place outside of Jerusalem, and then they put nails in his hands. But that was not the real suffering. The real suffering is when he said, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In that terrible moment, he and God the father were separated. Gospel is very narrow. In Matthew seven thirteen through 14, Jesus said, enter through the narrow gate for wide as the gate brought as a road that leads to destruction and many will enter through it. But small as the gate narrows the road that leads to life and only a few will find it. Jesus never sugarcoated truth. The truth is that not many went through it. There is no other way of salvation except through the cross of Christ. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the father but by me. The only way to the father, father God, is through his son, Jesus Christ. Now why Jesus? He's the only one that was born into this world without sin. But more than that, he was the righteous one. And when you come to him, you're clothed in his righteousness. God no longer sees your sin. He no longer sees your own heart. He sees Jesus. The gospel leads to decision. Jesus said, no one comes to me unless the father draws them. Only the father only the father God can work through the Holy Spirit to draw you to the intersection of the broad and narrow road. And at that intersection, which road will you take? When you come to Christ, you come by the way of repentance. Repent means to change, to change your way of living and turn from your sins and turn to Jesus Christ and say, I'm a sinner. I need forgiveness. And I know that you're the only one that can change me. Today, I'm asking you to put your trust in Christ. I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer sentence by sentence after me. Dear heavenly father, I know that I'm a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you've died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins. I repent of my sins. I invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus name. Amen. He's alive. I've given my life not to a dead Christ, but to a living Christ. And he's given me a song to sing. He's given me a flag to follow. I have reason for existence. I know where I've come from. I know why I'm here. I know where I'm going. Do you? To this message that that we're confident in the Lord and we can present the gospel without fear. The Holy Spirit in John three is described as the wind. It blows. Cannot tell where it's been or where it's come from. But if the spirit has blown on you today, and maybe for the first time you've really heard the gospel, and you made a choice for Jesus. Choose the narrow road. Amen. Thank you for letting me share. What a beautiful sermon. Thank you, sir. May God bless you. I've been praying a lot this week when I heard that brother Gary would preach and I said, God, would you please speak according to the Holy Spirit? Would you send a message to me? And I think God spoke to me. So thank you very much. And before we sing, can we just spend one minute in silence? Our human nature is like this. As soon as we leave, we shake hands, we laugh, and go, and we move on to our routine daily life. Let's spend a minute when we can have this beautiful conversation in the spirit with our savior. And he knows your heart, he knows who you are, he knows me. So let's spend a minute in silence and pray of course. Will you please stand up and let's worship God to our last song? It's called, Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus and To Take Him At His Word. I think after this beautiful sermon, I'm gonna play it very in a very slow tempo. I would like the Holy Spirit to reach to our hearts. Jesus, how I trust him, how I prove him, oh Jesus, precious Jesus oh for grace to trust him how sweet to trust in Jesus just Jesus precious Jesus oh for grace to trust him yes the to trust him I'm so glad I lord to trust thee precious Jesus Jesus. Jesus, for grace to trust him more. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly father, thank you so much for the good good good message. Thank you for the word. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that's always always pulls us towards you, wants us to live in faith. God, you know Florin. People know Florin from Smith. They're always spile, always crazy. You know the real Florin. Would you please bless me? Would you please help me to love you more than him? Would you please help me and please take away anything that is not good in my life and help me to love you, to serve you, to be focused on you. Would I'm praying the same thing for our church family. Would you please help us to love you more? I I can feel the Holy Spirit reaching us to us. We need more of you, God. Would you please do the change in our life and help us to to shine the light that comes from you, which you are doing the work, not us. We're just simple servants. Thank you for this beautiful church. Thank you for the family church that we have where we can encourage one another always to love you more and to walk the faith. Please bless us and help us the rest of the day. In Jesus name I pray, amen. Have a beautiful day, and may God bless you.