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Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. Can you hear me? Here we are. Alright. Florine has started ahead of us.
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It's hymn number 92. If you'd like to find your part, oh, how I love Jesus. There is to hear. I'm
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Speaker 2sounds like music in my ear. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus. Oh, how I love Jesus because he first loved me it tells me of a savior's love who died to set me free.
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It tells me of his precious blood, the sinner's perfect plea. Oh how I love Jesus oh how I love Jesus because he first loved me it tells me what my father had in store for everyday though I tread a dark some path you sunshine all the way oh how I love Jesus oh how I love Jesus because he first loved me It tells of one whose loving heart can feel my deepest woe, and who needs sorrow bears a part that none can bear below how I love Jesus oh how
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Speaker 1oh how
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Speaker 2I I love love Jesus because he first loved me Amen.
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Speaker 1Thank you, Florine. We've got hymn number five seventy two is Blessed Assurance. Blessed Assurance. Thank you, Scott for joining me.
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Speaker 2Yeah, I'm kind of forcing myself on you. Yeah, know. Love worshiping with everybody. Blessed assurance Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine heir of salvation purchase of God born of his spirit washing his blood this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song my savior all the day long perfect submission perfect delight visions of rapture now burst on my side angels descending bring from above echoes of mercy whispers of love this is my story this is my song raising my savior this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long lasting perfect submission all is at rest I am my savior am happy and blessed watching and waiting looking above filled with his goodness lost in his love this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long this is my story this is my song praising my savior all the day long
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Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. Connect hour as y'all know happens between the services. We had tamales in there this morning.
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Besides having the normal great stuff, the sweets, and the cookies and the other stuff, we had a little batch of Mexican tamales in there. It was really really good but if you want to get here early, you can connect with the folks that come to the early service. We did children's church today but we will not be doing children's church in the 09:00 next Sunday because of Thanksgiving break. Most a lot of our volunteers are going to be gone for Thanksgiving. We are not doing Awana tomorrow night for the same reason.
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We're during this week, a lot of people are traveling and so we're not doing Awana tomorrow night but we are doing Monday nights at First B. So down in the Fellowship Hall at 06:00, we're doing a pre Thanksgiving Thanksgiving supper, meal music and a message, from Carl. And you could be praying for Carl. Carl's down for the count today. He we've we've both had really, really bad colds and he was his voice would not allow him to sing this morning.
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So, is taking it easy. Please pray for him because he is still planning on preaching tomorrow night. So, y'all y'all pray for him and me because I might be filling in if not but we have upcoming for the ladies of the whole community really. Y'all are all cordially invited to an all community ladies Christmas luncheon. That'll be happening on Wednesday, December 7, twelve noon to 2PM.
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It's up at Snow King Resort in the Grand Ballroom. Nancy Irwin has taken RSVPs for that, and she said she'd really like to know before December 1, but even sooner would be better. And the theme of that is coming home, coming home for Christmas. And speaking of coming home, please keep praying for our native son, Eli Kaufman. Y'all remember we sent him off in August.
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Poor thing. He grew up in Wyoming. He's been here his whole life. No humidity. No heat.
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And we sent him to Fort Benning, Georgia in August. And he had a medical discharge with honorary and honorable intentions. He separated his shoulder right before the end of basic. And so they've given him the option to come back in six months if he wants to continue. He's been honorably discharged for medical reasons but if he wants to come back after rehab in that shoulder, then, he's welcome back.
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Pray for him. He does not know yet whether he wants to or not to go back. So, he's he should be here in the next couple of weeks and he's a great guy. You can see the big smile right there on his face. For Operation Christmas Child, we had the wrapping party this week and those are the boxes that we wrapped up.
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There were a 174 boxes total this year. That's a lot of boxes. And they're going all over the world. Thank you. They're going all over the world and for each one of those boxes they the kind of the postage or whatever is $7.
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And so people wrap the boxes and a lot of times we get more stuff than we get postage for them. And I I told the first service, I wanna just keep you up. When I hear something that's cool, a cool story, I just think, I'm gonna pass that along. So, Tanya, just before the board of trustees meeting and the elders meeting the other night, she was counting up all the boxes and counting up all the money that came in for postage for those boxes. And she said, we're $500 short on being able to send all the things that we've collected and wrapped and everything.
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And so she talked to the elders for a minute. She talked to the board of trustees for a minute, and both of them said, well, we're just gonna pray about that. She said, because I don't really we're in the middle of all kinds of stuff. I don't really wanna mention this or ask anything about it. And at the same time, I was checking my box, which I don't check very often, Entered office mail box.
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I pull out a nice little card somebody had sent and said, thank you for doing our renewal of vows ceremony in February. Thank you for calling Nick Stern who did our photography. It was such a big blessing for us and we just wanted to give y'all to your church whatever you think is necessary, give you $500. It was less than five minutes apart, you know. So it's just cool when stuff like that happens.
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I wanna pass that. It it happens more often than we pass along. In fact, there's another one this week that Gracie Brown, I don't know if a lot of y'all are on the prayer chain. Jane sends out prayer updates and there was an update that Grace Brown, who usually sits right over here in the second seat, the second row, that she had been diagnosed with cancer. And so the that was a hard thing to hear, but we're all praying for.
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And then we got one the next day or two days later that said, as it turns out, it looks like Grace's what had been diagnosed as cancer is precancerous and the treatment should be able to handle that. Keep praying for her, but it's nice to have a reversal on a a difficult diagnosis and that was one of those immediate things. So keep praying, keep believing because prayer works. God asks us to do that and we should keep on doing it. This December 11, we're having the Buzzard Breath Chili Cook Off and Caroling.
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Sounds like a strange combination but it works. So Renzi's in charge of that. It starts at 04:30 in the afternoon with a cook off to follow after we do caroling. And Kevin, you wanna come up and give us a little update on Scott's got a microphone for you there.
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Speaker 3Thank you.
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Speaker 1Yes. Thank you. So December 11, just that's the time we're doing a Christmas play, and so it'll be a three acts basically in this play. And the third one, if you are at all inclined to sing, if you love to sing, would you come and join with us? When are the practices gonna be?
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Speaker 3Twenty seventh.
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Speaker 103:00 the twenty seventh. That's next week. And 03:00 at on the fourth.
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Speaker 3And on Sunday, 03:00, about an hour or so.
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Speaker 1Okay. On Sunday, next Sunday, and the next Sunday at 03:00. And then in the play, we'll kinda close it out with a arousing rendition of several well known Christmas songs, and that'll be good.
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Speaker 3You don't have to be able to care too.
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Speaker 1Okay. You have to really enjoy
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Speaker 2it. Yes.
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Speaker 1Please bring cookies on the eleventh. Alright. Sounds good. Very good. A little reception afterwards.
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There you go, Kevin.
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Speaker 3Bob, anything else? Anyone? Anybody have anything? No. I'm just kidding.
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Bob and I serve on the finance community together, so I always appreciate his insights. So my name is Kevin Olson, I joked a month ago, we kicked off the capital campaign to raise $250,000 to do a full renovation of our kitchen and our fellowship area. I joked then that I missed the meeting and so I became appointed the coordinator for our campaign. And so since almost four weeks have gone by, I thought I'd just take a second to give you guys a quick update and to encourage you to join us in this kind of adventure in faith together. As you know and as you've heard the preceding weeks, we are trying to do this to better equip our ministries to serve in all the various capacities that they serve.
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And one of the big things is the fellowship hour today. But there are many more areas where we've recognized that our kitchen is a little bit behind the standards and our fellowship hall can be enhanced so that we can do a better job welcoming people and serving food, which we all know is very important to our fellowship process. And so now four weeks down the road, have raised about $82,000 towards our $250,000 goal. We have more than 30 of us who have made pledges and contributions. And with that in mind, as we projected the nine week campaign, we were hoping that by the time we passed Thanksgiving, we would have about $150,000 in pledges and combined contributions.
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So from a pacing standpoint, we're just a little bit behind our pace, but we're faithful and we know that this is something that God wants us to do because it's been a work in progress for over two years as I was reminded today. Like, why did it take you guys so long? Hurry up. So I want to encourage you guys to prayerfully consider how you can help contribute to our campaign here. Participation is key with over 400 attendees between all of our services.
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We think that there are enough people to get behind this campaign to make it successful. And lastly, would just ask you, you can do one of two things. You can contribute through a check-in the offering plate, just write building fund on that check and that'll go towards the campaign. Or you can make a pledge and we can do payments for pledges between now and June. So we can space it out over a period of time so that it may be more financially affordable for you.
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When you do that, there are pledge forms in the back and you can simply put the pledge form, I hear the echo. I hear the echo. In the offering plate or in the church office and as you make contributions toward that pledge, just write in the memo line pledge contribution and those will all be lined up to give you credit, to speak for the pledge amount that you made. So in brief, we're making progress. We need more participation.
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Please plan on pledging so we can meet our goal by, we're starting construction in April, but we wanna make our goal so that we have the confidence to move forward by the end of December with our pledges and contributions. So we appreciate your prayerful consideration. Thank you.
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Speaker 1Everything else, they should be in your bulletin. And this time of year, y'all know that the programs, and the events start happening. So grab a bulletin. If you didn't get one on your way in, you can put it on your refrigerator and know what's coming up. Would you stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song here in just a minute.
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Good
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Speaker 2way. New heights I'm gaining every day still praying as I'm onward bound. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land a higher plain than I have found lord plant my feet on higher ground unknown is no desire to stay where doubts arise and fears dismay though some may dwell where these are bound my prayer my aim is higher ground lord lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land a higher plane than I have found lord plant my feet on higher ground I want to live above the world though Satan starts and me are hurled for faith has called the joyful sound the song of saints on higher ground lord lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven stable land a higher plane than I have found lord plant my feet on higher ground I want to scale the utmost height and catch a gleam of glory bright but still I 'll pray till heaven I found lord lead me onto higher ground lord lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land a higher plane than I have found lord plant my feet on higher Amen.
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Speaker 1How about come thou fount of every blessing? Hymn number 11.
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Speaker 2Come thou fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodious song and sung by flaming tongues above raise his name I'm fixed upon it name of God's redeeming love hitherto thy love has blessed me thou hast brought me to this place and I know thy hand will lead me safely home by thy good grace Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God. He to rescue me from danger interpose his precious blood oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be let thy goodness like a feather bind my wandering heart to thee prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love here's my heart oh take and seal it seal it for thy courts above amen amen you
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Speaker 1can have a seat. I'm gonna invite the frontline team to come forward. And would you all pray with me? God, thank you for this beautiful day. I thank you for the for those who've gathered this morning in the first service and for those in this second service that have gathered in your name, for every family that they represent and lord, I ask that you would bless each of those families.
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God, I thank you for the blessings that you have given of just our ability to live here. This gorgeous place that is constantly reminding those of your children as to who you are as our creator and our provider and our Lord. So God for that with that what you've provided for us, we want to put some back in lord as an acknowledgement that you are the giver of every good and perfect gift but lord also that we trust you to build your church. We want you to use us in every way that you can. Part of it is this, would you multiply these gifts and offerings, to do your kingdom's work here in this small little valley, but also in this expansive region and to the uttermost parts to the ends of the earth.
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Would you do that, Lord? Take these gifts, bless and multiply them to do your kingdom's work. We trust you. We love you. Amen.
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Amen. So, we're up to in Romans 14. Last week, I told you I was going to try to get to 23 and I didn't. I didn't make it that far. So, this is kind of the leftovers from last week.
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No, not really. It's the same sermon though. I I told you three weeks ago that or two weeks ago that we're going to have three sermons in a row that we're going to be about unity in the body despite diversity among the all of the peoples that are coming together. We're coming in to be one people. So, unity and diversity and this continues that theme up to about the middle of chapter 15 from 04/19.
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We're going to see towards unity in the diversity. I've mentioned several times that the book of Romans was written to a group in Rome that Paul had never met, that he'd never been to Rome before, never met the whole church there, but he'd met lots of people. We'll see that in the next few weeks. He's gonna do a lot of shout outs to people but he was writing it to a Gentile flavored and a Jewish flavored church that were having some sort of problem interacting with one another in a unified way. So, he's preaching for unity within their diversity, following the self denying example of Christ and then, we're going to make it up to a built in benediction on believing, actually continuing to believe in believing is the way we're going kinda taper off today.
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But four nineteen through fifteen thirteen, here we are. Y'all know what we've been doing. Life of Jesus in the book of John was the first thing we really studied hard together. Life of the early church in Acts and then we've been going forward book by book in the order that we believe the books were written in the New Testament. And the earliest of Paul's books was first Thessalonians.
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And I bring this up because I think it kinda encapsulates and helps a little bit with discernment today. This was the first memory verse that Pascal ever learned and she learned it as about a two year old, like she went to a school for a couple hours a day, two days a week, you know, and miss Meg was this great teacher we love so much and their first memory verse was encourage one another and build each other up. And then when I hear it, I hear it in Paschal's two year old, encourage one another and build each other up. And I thought, why didn't they start with John three sixteen? Why didn't they start with so many others?
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We can love because God first loved us. But this is a really good one for a classroom environment. This is fantastic because encourage one another and build each other up is a very good way to kind of live together and dwell in unity and this is kind of a classroom setting. This book of Romans is kind of a classroom setting. He's given us all the theology for the first eight chapters.
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He's given us three, nine, ten, and eleven. He's given us those three chapters of answering some questions about Israel and the church, how we go forward from there, and then starting with twelve one, he has gone now for twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen are all very very practical application heavy parts of this book. Encourage one another and build each other up from Thessalonians kinda ties in right here. So then, this was your benediction from last week. As you remember, when I waved y'all out the door, so then, we pursue the things which make for peace and for the building up of one another.
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So, see how that ties in? Encourage one another and build each other up. It is about building one another up. As the body of Christ, he's going to build his church but we are to be encouraging one another and building each other up. Do not tear down for do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food.
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So if you remember the last two messages, I mentioned about those who choose to eat only vegetables and those who choose to eat meat and that we can live together in harmony and in unity because we have our own convictions and if we can live by those, it would be helpful. I've mentioned Eugene several times and it kind of brings a smile. Every time I mention Eugene Morningstar, he plays guitar in the first service and he's a vegetarian. He texted me during the sermon today while I was up here. I didn't get it, but he texted me and said, tell them that they're not gonna make me stumble if they wanna eat meat in front of me.
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It's fine with me. But he did say, but if they wanna draw me back into the world of video games, that would make me stumble. He said, I was really addicted to those things and I know that I can't do that anymore. The meat thing doesn't bother me at all. Eat meat around me, that's fine.
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I'm not gonna eat it, but it's not gonna bother me. But it would probably draw me back into something that for me is a simple behavior if they tempt me to play video games. So that was a neat thing for me to say on my text during the service. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. I see an application point here.
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Since God has done the work of building us up together into one people. Remember, last week when we celebrate communion together and I talk about is the blood of Christ, the sacrificial death of Christ, his perfect life well lived, paid as a ransom for many to draw us into the family of God. Since God has done that work of building us up together into one people from the darkness into light, don't allow your continuing conscientious differences to pull you apart. If he's pulled you together, stick with that. Keep on believing that.
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We are much better at separating ourselves than we are at coming together. Do you agree with me? Yeah. How many denominations are there really? You know, lots of them.
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All things indeed are clean. Now when I just read that line, it takes me back just a few verses. Paul says, I know and I am convinced in the Lord Jesus for sure that nothing is unclean in itself. Last week, I said the medium is neutral and I mentioned several and here are some of them. Speech, the medium is neutral.
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You can use it to bless or you can use it to curse. Music can be profane but it can be profound. Print, all kinds of great things can be written but all kinds of profane things can be written too. The medium is neutral and these are these disputable matters. We even went into food like the vegetarian or not.
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Holidays, some people are day people, some people think every day is the same. Music style. Oh my goodness. Worship wars. Are we gonna have the seven eleven songs where we just sing the same seven words 11 times?
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Are we gonna use piano and organ or are we gonna use an electric guitar? Those kind of things. That's neutral. It can go either way. I think that we don't remove an ancient boundary post, but we also sing a new song to the Lord.
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Alright. Ceremony. Carpet color. Last week, I told a story about the church split that happened in my church when I was 14 years old and it, you know, y'all remember that. And afterwards, I got so many stories about the ridiculous things that churches have split over.
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One of them being carpet color. One of them being the color of the of the veil in front of the baptistry. Seating, whether it's gonna be pews or chairs. Medium is really neutral, people. But it can be evil if it is giving offense.
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So but they're evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It's actually evil for the one who is doing the brash behavior no matter what the other person thinks. Laying a stumbling block. That word gives a fence right there is exactly the same pros comma pros comitas actually is the word, and it means stumbling block. So for the one who is laying a stumbling block out there for his brother, it can be evil.
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Those neutral things can become evil. So it can get outside of being just a disputable matter and get to a place of being sin. Romans fourteen thirteen says, therefore, let us not judge one another anymore on these disputable matters, but rather come to this judgment or determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. Now, Eugene, because I know him, I eat meat around Eugene and I know that. I've known that it does not bother him because I know him.
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That relationship is required to know what is offensive and hurtful to somebody. You would not want to do something knowingly that would hurt a brother. So I've determined that I'm not gonna do that. Now I didn't know that about the video games until today. Of course, I'm not into video games, so I'm not likely to do that.
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I think that this helps to put that out there as laying a stumbling block. It it can be. They are indeed evil for a man who eats or by his actions does lay a stumbling block for his brother. It's good not to eat meat. Now, we've seen in first Thessalonians, we've seen in first Corinthians, we've seen in second Corinthians, we've seen in our continuing study of the New Testament that Paul is has said and affirmed what we see in Acts that all of these things have been made clean, and it's okay to eat some of the things that were on the list before of not eat.
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He's saying now it's good not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything else by which your brother stumbles. To abstain for someone else's benefit is a good thing, Paul says, because it shows that you care about them, shows that you love them. I think of this from first Corinthians. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. You agree?
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Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. All things are lawful but not all things edify. That is to build up. Holman Christian Standard Bible says, everything is permissible but not everything is helpful. Everything is permissible but not everything builds up and we are concerned with encouraging one another and building each other up.
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All things are lawful but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful but not all things build up. So as we consider how we are to encourage one another and build each other up, we should be circumspect about how we live. The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Now this sounds similar to fourteen five that I mentioned last week, and I'll mention it again right now.
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Fourteen five says, one person regards one day above another, holiday person. Another regards every day as alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. I think that that's those two together right there are fundamental to my theology. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind and the faith which you have, you have as your own conviction before God.
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Now some of y'all might be looking at that and going, that sounds like it's a little bit too much in your own head. And it sounds like this in his own mind and your own conviction before God sounds incredibly individualistic and American or even sounds like the book of Judges where each man did what was right in his own eyes. Well, Paul puts a limiter on this and his limitation to keep it from being dangerous is this. He says, happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. The primary focus of chapter 14 is about disputable matters, but he's saying that depending on intent of the heart and depending on pride, really, you can get outside of the liberty available in Christ, and you will step over into sinful behavior.
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Are you with me? Alright. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. I used an example in the first service that it's not specifically in this text, but it's something that in our society today is a very normal thing. Last year, Oberfell versus Hodges, Supreme Court case, said that there should be available the possibility for homosexual couples to marry.
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And it is the law of the land now because of that court case. It's the law of the land. And so that's something that according to the law of the land, people can marry. Same sex couples can marry. Now I'm a pastor, and I marry a lot of people.
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I marry twelve, fifteen, 20 couples a year, and I gladly marry people that I believe God has put together. But since scripture specifically says that homosexuality is sinful, I am not going to approve of marrying a homosexual couple. I can't do that. Now I know that the law of the land says that I could do that, but I don't believe that I can. Happy am I, but who do not condemn myself by what I approve.
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I still love people who struggle with same sex attraction. I talk to folks on a regular basis and I do have sincere concern and sincere love but I would not be a part of marrying somebody just because the law says I can. All things are permissible but not all things are helpful and so that's an example of that. The faith which you have have is your own conviction before God. I cannot be held to book for anything before man that I haven't already been held to book before God.
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Does that make sense to y'all? So if it came down to going to jail over it, I would be glad to go to jail over it. That's not a problem because I cannot do this. I'm not gonna condemn myself in what I approve. And that's not talking of condemning myself to hell.
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It's just condemning because it betrays my belief. So, forward from there. This is the close of chapter 14. He who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith and whatever is not from faith is sin. That is one of the clearest definitions in the whole Bible of what sin is.
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So for the last three weeks, I've mentioned the the list, the regulations. People call me sometimes and they'll say, would it be a sin if I did this? I see a couple of pastors in the audience going, yep, they do. What if I did this this way? How about if I did that?
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You get that. Right? I can go ahead and say if you're calling me and asking, it probably would be. Probably so, but it's gotta be clear in your own mind, fully convinced. Keep on praying about it.
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If you're not satisfied that you are fully convinced in your own mind, then you keep on struggling with God on that. Don't keep asking him to give you what you want selfishly, but ask him what he wants. And when you are settled on it, then act on that. Whatever is not from faith is sin. Whatever is not from faith is sin.
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It reminds me of the verse in James. Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin. Whether that is forgiving your mother. You know the right thing to do. Forgiving mom and you don't do it, then that's sin.
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Whatever is not from faith is sin. Whatever is not from belief, faith is sin. If you stick on that, you get back to this issue that what you believe matters because action follows belief. Doing follows being and not the other way around. It's not a fake it till you make it.
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You keep on acting like this, and eventually you'll believe it. No. You need to believe it and your belief will direct your faith. Whatever is not from faith is sin. So be fully convinced in your own mind and that faith which you have have is your own conviction before God.
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Another thing, last week when we left the service, Tanya said, you're not going to fuss at us again next week, are you? And I said, was I fussing this week? And she said, well, yeah, kinda. And you were last week too. I said, well, Bill, was I saying anything Paul wasn't saying?
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And she said, no, you weren't. I said, well, I'm gonna keep on doing that. If Paul's fussing next week, I'll be fussing next week. I've thought of a couple of things that went with that too. Billy Sunday, this noted evangelist, you know, came out with fiery hellfire and brimstone sermons on a regular basis and he had people that would come to him, reporters mostly and say, Billy, you can't do that.
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You're not gonna you're not you can't do that. You're stroking the cat's fur the wrong way. And he says, well, the cat is headed towards hell. And if the cat would turn around, I'd be stroking his fur in the right direction. So, where whereas I didn't really feel I was fussing, I feel like unity is something that's incredibly important and Jesus prayed for unity on the night that he was betrayed in the garden when he got up to his high priestly prayer.
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He said, lord, father, make them one just as we are one. Unity is incredibly important to the body of Christ, to Christ it was. And so, Paul continues against hopelessness. I think this next section will end on a high note of hope but against hopelessness, he goes into the fifteenth chapter. Now we who are strong ought to bear with the weakness of those without strength and not just to please ourselves.
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Now we who are strong, he means those of us who know and understand that we do have liberty in Christ, that all things are clean. In and of themselves, there's nothing that is impure, but it has to do with our motives and looking out for the other. Now we who are strong, we ought to bear with the weaknesses, the scruples of those who are weak and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, for his neighbor's good, to his upbuilding, his edification. So it is about upbuilding again the body of Christ.
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And then Paul goes into the self denying example of Jesus. Now, I've mentioned a lot of different splits over the years. There was a major fundamental split in the early nineteen hundreds between two major groups of Christianity, mainline churches and the fundamental churches as they were called in some circles. And one of those, the fundamental churches went with the priority of the proclamation of the gospel. We are going to proclaim the word of God and the gospel.
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And the social gospel is we are gonna do the humanitarian efforts to aid in human suffering. And the self denying example of Jesus encompass both of those things. And when the church split in those two different directions, there was a major rift in the unity of the body of Christ. I'm proposing that we bring those two back together. In our missions here, we do both humanitarian aid and gospel focused.
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Usually, gospel focused humanitarian aid. The self denying example of Jesus is where Paul goes next in fifteen three. One of the Baptist responses whenever a preacher starts to preach on the example, the lovely Jesus, meek and mild example that he gave us is we don't need an example. We need a savior. Amen.
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We need a savior but since he saved us, can we follow his example? Yes. For even Christ did not please himself. You're changing something? Please do.
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Please do. If you can, that would be great. For even Christ did not please himself but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. This is a quote from Psalm 69. David wrote it but it's obviously a messianic Psalm also.
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It's attributed a couple of times in the gospels. Because zeal for your house has eaten me up and the reproaches of those who reproached you, God, fell on me. Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction. I think this is an interesting one too that Paul is saying now to this Jewish flavored and Gentile flavored Christian church at Rome. He's saying, whatever was written in earlier times, Old Testament, right?
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Was written for our instruction and he says, our. He's pulling them together for all of us, not just for the Jews who all have known these stories since the cradle but for you Gentile flavored Christians too, the Old Testament is still valid. He keeps that book married in to our New Testament. For our instructions so that through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Hope in the Bible is a certainty that will come to pass.
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There is no doubt about it. It's an incorruptible hope. It is a future in heaven for sure, but it is a positively absolute thing. It's not the way we think of hope. I hope it'll come to pass.
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Hope and change eight years ago or hope and change now. It's not just hoping for something. It is something that will come to pass. Through perseverance and encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. You see the might right there?
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That might is contingent upon something. It's contingent upon us having the perseverance and the encouragement of those scriptures, not just having it available because we have it available, but continuing to believe. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement, same thing he just said you get from scripture. May the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be what? What would you say would be the following line right there?
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I know some of you have your Bibles open. But would it be grant you to be happy, wealthy, fun loving, fancy free? Grant you to be of the same mind, unified with one another according to Christ Jesus. According to Christ Jesus is the only way that we are going to be unified. We are going to separate ourselves otherwise.
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Drawing close to him and being of the same mind. That reminds me we're going into the prison epistles next. Philippians is on the way. One of my favorite passages is about being in the same mind that of Christ Jesus. One another, according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord, you may with one voice glorify the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, he's writing to a segmented church that is kind of drawing lines between Jewish flavored and Gentile flavored and they're not all that comfortable with one another and he keeps saying one accord, one voice, one another, same mind. It's for us too. This is for us too. Therefore, this is a repeat again. He said this in the first verse or two of chapter 14.
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Be aggressively receiving or accepting one another. Therefore, be accepting one another just as in the same manner that Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. That's a high standard. Christ has received us. While we were yet sinners, he died.
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Therefore, accept one another just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that the Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the father. So, he's speaking right there to the Jewish segment, right? And for the Gentiles to glorify God in his mercy because the Jewish flavored Christians didn't really still have the concept completely down that they were supposed to be a light to the nations throughout the entire history of the Old Testament but they had hoarded the blessing of God. So he's saying here that Christ has become a servant not just to the Jews, but also the Gentiles, to the Jews on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises that were given to the fathers.
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Now, those promises didn't look exactly like they had interpreted them. Does that make sense to you? They had expected for their Messiah to come as a ruler to take over and then what Jesus did when he came was confirm the promises given to the fathers but not exactly the way that they had interpreted those promises. In fact, it was reaching out rather than going against and conquering all Gentiles and other people. It was reaching out and bringing them in to the family to glorify God for his mercy.
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He goes on with a few Old Testament references here and reinforces that unity and diversity is God's original plan and it looks like this. As it's written, therefore, I will give praise to you among the Gentiles and I will sing to your name. That's from second Samuel twenty two fifty and requoted Psalm eighteen forty nine. Among the Gentiles, I will sing to your name. Again, he says, rejoice, oh Gentiles, with his people.
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He's drawing people together. That's from Deuteronomy. That's a long ways back. Right? 3243.
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And again, praise the Lord all you Gentiles and let all the peoples praise him. All the peoples praise him. That's Psalm one seventeen one. He goes on with one more. Again, Isaiah says, there shall come to the root of Jesse and he who arises to rule over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope.
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That's Isaiah eleven ten. So he is marrying together the whole Old Testament tradition and then the Old Covenant, New Covenant. He's bringing those together as part of the uniform promise of God for the unity of his continuing body, the church. And then we get to this blessed little benediction. There, this is a sermon in itself.
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This this verse is amazing. Now, after you've heard all this, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. Remember, just last week, he said that the kingdom of God is not about eating or drinking. It's about righteousness and peace and joy. So, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
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Doesn't that remind you of this, the theme of the whole letter? For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ, for it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. It is about what you believe. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
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The in believing part is very, very important. But in believing what? In the first service, I had forgotten a set of notes and I had to leave and go get it off the copier right there. I just told them to talk amongst themselves. In believing what?
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In believing the gospel, in believing what? In believing those things that were written earlier for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instructions so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope. Read your Bible. How often do we hit an application point that says that? Read it and believe it.
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Because in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. If you take out the in believing right there, you have stammied yourself. And in our society, in our time period, in our circumstances, in our foibles of life, we may be tempted to not believe, to cease believing, or to just start to doubt. I mentioned those prayer requests earlier that are were so immediate, but I've heard from about as I look around the room about 10 of y'all this week that you're persisting in prayer about something that you don't see anything happening on.
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Keep believing. Keep believing. Don't be tempted to be drawn away from it. It is in the believing that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I've got a song right here.
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This is what I went to the copier to pick up during the last service and it is incredibly dated. This is a still slide from a 1991 performance of it. I used to sing with a Baptist ensemble when I was in, college, and we sang this song, and it is really badly dated. But if you wanna look it up, that's it. Tim Pedigo, song's author, keep believing it's on YouTube.
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And I'll just read you the words. When troubles rise and catch you unaware, the day to day of living seems unfair. So you try again all your dreams and plans, but they end up in defeat. The fancy frills that once brought thrills now leave you incomplete, and you wonder where your life's gone wrong and why you can't find peace. Your hope's not gone.
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It's just been too long since you had to believe. Do you get that? Since you had to believe. Keep believing in what you know is true. Keep believing you know the Lord will see you through.
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When troubles rise in your life and you don't know what to do, you'll be fine if you just keep believing. The enemy can only bring defeat if he can somehow shake what we believe. So our faith cannot be based upon only what we see or feel, and the circumstances cannot change what our hearts know to be real. So when doubts arise and cloud your mind, my friend, don't be deceived. For with the knowledge of the word of God in our hearts, we can believe.
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You can take God at his word. He is faithful, kind, and true. Not a prayer will go unanswered. In his time, he'll see you through. Keep believing in what you know is true.
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Keep believing. You know the Lord will see you through. When troubles rise in your life and you don't know what to do. If you're looking for answers and you can't find your way and the enemy tells you that there's no need to pray, you just remember, God is faithful and his word is true, and everything he's promised is what he's gonna do. And you'll be fine if you just keep believing.
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So, Florian, would you come up and would you stand with me? We're gonna sing one song. It's amazing grace, and I think we're just going to sing one verse of it, Blake. So, Amazing Grace. Think about the truth that is contained in this song.
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It is amazing that grace exist at all. Scott, would you join me?
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Speaker 2Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved the wretch like me like I was lost but now I'm bound was blind but now I see Amen. Now, may
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Speaker 1the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing so that you will abound, so that you will spill over onto others in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
