sung about and cited as source of 'living hope' language
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
no unwholesome talk but only what builds others up
29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.
the tongue compared to a bit, rudder, spark and fire; praise and cursing from same mouth
2 For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.
3 Indeed, we put bits into the horses’ mouths so that they may obey us, and we guide their whole body.
4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires.
5 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!
6 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.
7 For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and sea creature, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind;
8 but nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.
10 Out of the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks.
you did not choose me but I chose you to bear lasting fruit; love each other
16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
new creation in Christ; ministry of reconciliation; God made Jesus to be sin for us
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
18 But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
the Lamb overcomes because he is Lord of lords; his called, chosen and faithful are with him
14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.”
the Lord's coming, the dead in Christ rising, caught up in the clouds to be with the Lord forever
15 For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
17 then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.
reminder to recall holy prophets' words; scoffers; the day of the Lord coming like a thief; earth destroyed by fire
1 This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;
2 that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior:
3 knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,
4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
5 For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;
6 by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
7 But the heavens that now exist, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8 But don’t forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
11 Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,
12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Steve Landis, one of the elders at First B, filled the pulpit while Ray is away in Costa Rica. He spoke from personal experience about how the Holy Spirit had been convicting him about his own speech, and from there built a case for why believers should surrender willingly to the process of transformation God works in us.
What was said
Steve explained that the Holy Spirit typically gets a believer's attention through three channels: the Holy Spirit himself, the scriptures, and what Steve called "little h holy people," meaning other believers who speak honestly into our lives. He said that when conviction comes through any of these, the flesh tends to respond with "yeah, buts," finding reasons to justify or minimize what God is pointing out. The first and necessary step is simply to stop and listen.
In Steve's own case, what God was pressing him on was his tongue. He had been drifting into negative, tearing-down speech, and God kept surfacing the same verse on three separate days. He walked through several passages on the tongue, noting that James compares it to a rudder and a spark, and that the damage it can do is not something God takes lightly. He also pointed to Luke 6, where Jesus says that what comes out of the mouth reveals what has been deposited in the heart, and connected that to the idea that what we fill ourselves with determines what flows out.
From there Steve moved to the question of motivation. He argued that knowing what to stop doing is not enough on its own. A person also needs reasons to actually change, and those reasons come from remembering what God has already done and who believers already are in Christ. He read from Ephesians 1, emphasizing that every spiritual blessing has already been given to those who are in Christ, so there is no spiritual poverty that could excuse staying stuck in sin.
Steve tied the motivation for holiness directly to grace rather than law, drawing from Titus 2 to make the point that it is the grace of God, not judgment or condemnation, that teaches people to say no to ungodliness. He said this shapes how believers ought to approach one another when rebuke is needed, that coming alongside someone with mercy and compassion is what actually reaches the heart.
He also spent time on the return of Christ as a motivating reality, reading from 1 Thessalonians about believers being caught up to meet the Lord. He said the blessed hope is not meant to be abstract theology but a concrete encouragement, and that remembering it softens the heart toward both holiness and the urgency of pointing others to Jesus.
Steve closed by calling on the congregation to ask whether they are in Christ, and if so, to live as people who know their position, who remember God's grace, and who take seriously their role as ambassadors of reconciliation. He also paused to remember Joe Kravetsky, a fellow believer who had recently died unexpectedly, and asked the congregation to pray for Joe's family. Joe's death, Steve said, was a reminder that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow, and that the question of whether a person is ready to meet Christ is not one to put off.
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.
Steve described the Holy Spirit using three things to get our attention when we are sliding into sin: the Holy Spirit, the holy scriptures, and what he called 'holy little-h people.' Which of those three has been most active in your own life, and what did that look like?
Steve said the first step whenever the Holy Spirit is convicting us is to stop and listen, and that conviction is actually evidence the Holy Spirit is working in us. How does thinking of conviction that way change how you respond to it?
Speaker 2Yeah, he he mentioned it yesterday, so. Alright. Good morning, everyone. How are you? It's about that time to get started.
Well, would you stand with me? And here's a here's a verse to kick us off and worship. Promise from Jesus in Matthew eleven twenty eight. This is this is good. Let's hear this.
He says, come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. And his promises can be trusted. Amen. Let's sing a bit. God so loved.
What What a great message. You can have a seat here for just a moment. We've got some announcements. Ray is out this morning so it'll probably look a little different. He's in Costa Rica.
Would you please pray for him? He'll be teaching at a seminary in Costa Rica, and just keep him in prayer this week. Steve Landis will be preaching this morning, and a couple of announcements. Blake, I think, is gonna share.
Speaker 3Good morning, church. Glad you're joining us this morning, and this is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. Whether you're in Costa Rica or here in Jackson, we're glad to have you with us. So here's a couple of announcements coming up first, Monday nights at first b, which now Carl gives a little sermon.
And Carl, what are we talking about tomorrow?
Speaker 2Yep. So we're in John 16 tomorrow where Jesus had promised the Holy Spirit. Now he says, ask anything using my name using my name in prayer. So that's where we're at, and there'll be lasagna tomorrow. And please join us at 06:00.
Speaker 3And after Carl gives his sermon, we usually have a little gospel conversation. So you can read ahead if you want. Know what we're we're gonna hear the word from Carl, and then we're gonna talk about it together and grow. Meal, music, and a message tomorrow night, Monday night starting at 6PM. Also at the same time, Awana, because kids matter to God is gonna happen here in this room.
You see that big circle taped on the floor for games in this room, but also spread out throughout the whole church. If you want to come in and drop your kids, it's ages what are the ages, Carl? Starting at up to sixth grade. Is it kindergarten?
Speaker 2Three to is it fifth grade or sixth grade? To fifth grade.
Speaker 3Three to fifth grade. So join us tomorrow, Monday night at first b and also Awana. And in lieu of the pamphlets that we used to hand out, we send out weekly bulletins and emails. If you want to sign up for those, can go to our website which is firstbjackson.org. You can get everything that's going on this week, prayer requests, things that are up and coming like Bible studies, and also the up and coming scripture for this Sunday if you want to read ahead.
And speaking of doing things digital digitally, we have a church directory and tax info updates, which is out in the lobby as you saw Nick out there as you walked in. Also in between services, if you wouldn't mind just updating your information, maybe we'll get a picture of you also and we can also get your information for the tax season that's coming up if you want to do that. Every Thursday, Sisters Saved by Grace, a Bible study for women down in the fellowship hall and they do a light meal. I believe there's a pastry chef that does desserts as well. That's every Thursday, a group of women meet in the Fellowship Hall six to 8PM.
And speaking of women's ministry, today down in the library, there'll be a meeting, a brainstorming meeting for women's ministry. So if you're at all interested in women's ministry, no matter what it looks like, there's gonna be a a group of women meeting down in the library today between services, so please join us. I believe Nancy Baxter will be down there. And then lastly, we used to stream all of our stuff on Facebook, and usually on Facebook it would give you a notification say, first B is live, church is happening right now. And now we switched over to YouTube.
So if you are interested in getting live updates like that, whenever we go live and you wanna be notified, go to YouTube and up in that right hand corner, you'll see that little bell and click that and it'll warn you whenever church or warn you or or not warn you, but you can Good morning. Notify to come join church and celebrate us. Thanks for that rimshot. And that's all we got for announcements this morning. Carl, what do you say we worship some more?
Speaker 2I'd love to. Hey, Blake. Has anyone ever told you have a a great voice for radio? It's because he was a radio DJ. Just a little fun fact.
Would you stand? We'll sing together. God, we wanna pause for just a moment to recognize who we're singing to. And as we we say this, as we sing this, even when we don't see it, you are working. Even when we don't feel it, you're working.
You don't stop working. You are God. You are always active. You are always on the move even when we can't see what's going on. God, you are touching hearts.
You are healing hearts. You are turning lives around. You are mending hearts. God, do your good work. Do your will in your way through us.
Help us to continue to walk by faith. In Jesus' name. Jesus Christ, my living world. From first Peter, I love to be able to sing and then where where is that found? That's that's where I I always go when we're singing a song.
Where is that found? Why are we singing that? That's from first Peter. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his great mercy has given us new birth into a living hope. Our God is a living God.
He gives us a living hope. Amen. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. And here's a good word from first Thessalonians about God's God's will for our lives.
If you're going, what? God God, what is your will for for my life? Here's here's what here's what it says. Rejoice always. Pray continually.
Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. Would you pray for pray with me? God, we do rejoice this morning. Thank you for your grace. This is why we can rejoice because of your grace that's always extending in our direction.
And when we get that, it causes us to rejoice, to have joy. God, would you help us to recognize your grace as we see it? Because it's always extended in our direction. God, thank you also for the unbroken fellowship that we have with you. We can talk with you whenever and wherever in prayer.
Thank you, God, for that privilege. You've promised never to leave us or forsake us. We're holding on to that promise. Amen. And God, we're thankful for the ways that you provide.
God, your will done your way never lacks your supply. So Lord, would you receive these offerings just given out of a heart of love and gratitude with an open hand, and would you use them for the advanced of your kingdom. Amen. God, that your kingdom would come, your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen.
All my words fall short. I've got nothing new. How could I express I've got one response. I've got just one with my arms stretched wide. I will worship you.
So I throw up my hands where'd God, thank you. That song speaks to me because sometimes that's all I got. That's all I got. I praise you, God. Praise you, God.
Steve LandisYes. Amen.
Speaker 2What else, God, who is fit for a king? What you truly want is our hearts. That's what you're after. What what else could we possibly give you that would be of any value or worth except for ourselves. So, God, we present ourselves right right before you just as we are before your throne, and you promise to accept us, to receive us.
But, God, also, you are desiring a change in us, That we'd be sanctified, made more like you. God, would you speak through your word this morning? Would you speak through personality, through Steve's personality as bless the the preparation, time that was spent to to put into the sermon, but also, God, may the the word convict and convince Holy Spirit, do your good work, that we could walk away going, God, I I I want to give myself more fully and freely to you. In Jesus' name,
Steve Landisamen. Amen. Good morning, everybody. It is time for children's church. So there are people downstairs.
Go ahead and little munchkins can scoot out and go have fun. Learn about Jesus. Thank you for all the workers downstairs, Crystal and others and so we're grateful. So my wife is embarrassed right now. I'm Steve Landis.
I'm one of the elders here. This is my lovely bride up here. She's my compass, my rut, and grateful for her. One of the elders here, I I had kinda head up the missions team for the last few years. And why am I up here?
Ray's away. And in preparation for Ray being away see, he's in Costa Rica. Right? Okay. So he's he's with the Halberts in Costa Rica.
Halberts are one of our missionaries, full time missionaries. He runs a seminary there for nationals in Costa Rica and Latin America. And Ray was going down, I believe, to teach. Right? So, anyway, he's he's away.
And and, so why am I here? It's because, Carl, said one at one of the elders meeting, he says, we need you elders. He'd like to challenge us as elders to have a a message, a sermon in our pocket so that, we can be called upon to fill in while raise away or if somebody gets sick or, you know, COVID's going around. So we've had lots of surprises in that way. Thank you worship team.
I'm grateful to see mister Florine back, and good to have him back playing today. So thank you, Lord. Let me see. I don't I'm I'm a novice at all this, but we'll see if we can where do I point this thing, mister Blake? And I point the arrow or the right one?
I went backwards. There we go. Okay. There we go. We're gonna go back this way.
Oh, there we go. I apologize. It'll take me a little bit here. So this morning, when Carl said that, how he presented it was, what's God speaking to you? Now as an elder, you got responsibilities when somebody says that, you better have an answer or else you're not walking with God.
And I was like, you know, kinda kinda got caught flat footed. And then, the next morning, the Lord kind of, I call it funked me. He, I remember as a kid sitting in church, you know, a little kid, five, six, seven years old, little Mennonite church I grew up in, we'd and sit there as a family. And if my brother and sister and I got a little bit too noisy or rambunctious or whatever, dad would put his arm around and then he'd do one of these on the ear. And I'm have found out that the Holy Spirit does that to me.
He funks me. I call it take sometimes taking a two by four I need upside the head. Sometimes it's just a, you know, a funk in the in the in the chest to say, hey, pay attention here. Something's something's going on. I'm trying to get your attention.
And so, that week, God thunked me on a on a that was on a Thursday. On a Friday, he thunked me and on again on a Sunday, he thunked me with the exact same verse. So this message is gonna be two part that number one, words have power of life and death. They either build up or they tear down. And then there's going to be a second little study in that of why should I surrender then to transformation?
Why should I change? Why should I repent? What are what are some of the motivating factors? So you could call this a little bit of, you know, this is sanctification. It's a practical thing of sanctification, but I'm just gonna be kinda transparent with you on how the Lord has been speaking to me.
So before we get started, let's just have a word of prayer. Heavenly father, we're grateful. We are so grateful for the love that you have showered upon us, that you have made dead people alive. You have taken us who are dead, and you've made us alive. You have brought us from darkness to light, and, we are grateful for that.
We pray, Lord, this morning that as your word, that your word would just come alive, that it would pierce us. Lord, it would divide, between bone and marrow and sinew and all that, and it would just cut to our heart. I pray, Lord, you speak to us through your Holy Spirit. And I pray you would move anything that you don't want me to say and give me thoughts for things you want me to say. But we're grateful for your word, Lord, and we we know we can trust it.
In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So as Carl requested that, and, I began thinking and the Lord thanked me, and and, I'll share with you here what he thanked me with. But I found I have found, and I think the Bible backs us up, that there are three things that the Holy Spirit uses. Well, first first off, when we start sliding down sin, it's it's very cumulative.
It's very subtle at first. If we, you know, if we start getting into a sin pattern, it tends to be very subtle. It tends to start slow. And then pretty soon, you know, we might start seeing it repeating or whatever. And it starts small, becomes communicative, and then it off and it often builds.
And usually at some point, the Lord you know, he's usually speaking to us the whole way, but a lot of times we're we're we're frustrating him or we are we're not listening and sometimes we're we're distracted and he needs to get our attention. So I found that he uses the Holy Spirit, the holy scriptures, and little h, holy people. Okay? And so it's important for us to have those things in our life. And we'll talk about these as we go through here.
And then, of course, there's the flesh's response as soon as, you know, the Holy Spirit might convict us or the scriptures might convict us or someone, a person might convict us of something and challenge us. And, of course, the flesh flesh responds, yeah, but with the yeah, buts. You got the yeah, buts. You know? Yeah, but it's true, Lord.
What I'm saying is true. Yeah. But the spirit might not be. So you get the ear bits and you say, it's not that bad. Oh, look what they do.
You know, we compare ourselves. We might mine has to deal with the tongue as you're gonna see this morning. So my one of my responses was, yeah, but it's true. I'm speaking truth. So, we have to be aware of the flesh.
And then, of course, as as we are, as we're convicted, then there's the embarrassment. We might have denial. We might have some resistance. But the first step to change is to stop and listen. The first step whenever the Holy Spirit is convicting us is to stop and listen.
So conviction. John sixteen eight says this, he, the counselor of the Holy Spirit, will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. Convict there means irrefutable evidence or to convince. So it's the Holy Spirit's job to convict us and convince us that we are sinners. Second Timothy three sixteen says, all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.
So my challenge here and and and for recovering Pharisee, it's hard, but, the challenge is to embrace conviction. Why? Because it is the evidence of the Holy Spirit working in your life. It's the evidence that you have the Holy Spirit. And if you're not one of God's child children, you don't have the Holy Spirit.
So embracing conviction, embracing, rebuke is important, and it's important to embrace the fact that hold it. If I'm feeling convicted, then that's an evidence that the Holy Spirit is speaking to me, and I should thank the Lord for that. So embrace conviction with not just embrace it, but embrace it with thanksgiving because of the truth that he lives in us. So the next step is what is what is the Bible say? What what what's God trying to tell me?
What is what is his Holy Spirit? Hang on. Let me get this right. So correction, God's perspective, the holy scriptures. First Peter three nine and ten.
Do not repay evil for evil. So for me, it was the tongue, it was becoming negative. I was becoming a negative speaker, a negative person. Do not repay evil for evil. This was the verse that he got my ear with.
Evil for evil or insult for insult, but with blessing. The word blessing there is eulogy, speaking well of it. It's like giving a eulogy at a at a at a funeral. So but with blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil.
That word evil is injurious or or harm, to harm. So keep our tongues from injuring people and harming people. And he must keep his lips from speaking lies. I'm gonna I'm popping. Alright?
Can I drop this a little bit? Tell me if I need to go lower. Ephesians four twenty nine says, do not let any let any unwholesome talk. That means rotten expression, rotten speech, rotten expression, come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for the building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen. So this is a command, and I love what I love about the first Peter one is God rarely tells us to either stop doing something or do something without giving us a reason why.
And so in his repentance, in holy scripture, he always you know, my dad would give a thunk, but then he'd say, knock it off. You know, he would he would give a command with it. Okay? But the command here in in especially in first Peter is conviction mixed with the truth of position linked to the why. Why should you stop doing this?
Okay? So the two things there, if you look, we're called, k, that you have been called and you are to inherit a blessing. And as we go through these, there's there's others, and we're gonna we're gonna kinda put together a list of why. Why? Why should I embrace transformation?
Why should I be considering? Why should I listen, consider, and then repent? Ask yourself, Steve, are these words building up, or are these words tearing down? And instruction and rebuke. Sorry.
James three two nine to 10. We we all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. When we put bits in the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take a ship as an example.
Although they are so large and driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants them to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider the great forest that is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue is also a fire in a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and it itself is on fire set on fire by hell.
With the tongue, we praise our lord and father, and with it, we curse men who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursings. My brothers, this should not be. So this is just these are just a few verses of what doing a word study on the tongue, on the mouth, on
Speaker 2our
Steve Landisspeech. But this is this is pretty, pretty important. God's God does not look upon this lightly. Our our speech our speech is important to him. The impacts of our words are important.
And here, of course, he talks about the tongue being a bridle or a bit, compares it to a rudder, a spark, and a fire. But look at verse six. The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil. That evil means iniquity, injustice. Okay?
A world of evil among the parts of the body. So it can affect the other parts of our body. It's going to affect what we do with our tongue is going to affect the other parts of our body and corrupts. It stains. It defiles the whole person.
So God doesn't take it lightly, and therefore, I shouldn't take it lightly. In Luke, the next one is Luke six forty five. The good man or the beneficial man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, his mouth speaks. So if I put ouch there because you wanna know what what's in your heart?
Listen to your words. If you wanna know what's in your heart, ask your wife how your words are impacting her. Ask your coworkers. Ask your friends. How are my words impacting you?
Am I encouraging you, or am I and if you wanna if you if they'll be better be ready to listen because this is our words have effect. The the cool part there is one of the in this verse is the stored up in his heart. It has this connotation of a treasure or a deposit or I will say a depository. And sometimes when people are being very negative, okay, maybe they're struggling. We have to be wise too when we hear people talking to us.
I wonder why that person why are those words impacting me like that? Are they struggling with something? Do they need a friend? Do they need prayer? Are they hurting?
Okay? That stored up means there's a depository there. And if there's been bad depositories, if you don't have much treasure in your heart, you're at you're bankrupt. You're empty. If you have a full treasury, if you have a full depository, then we can we can give of ourselves to other people.
So, you know, if I'm being negative, am I depleted? Do I have to fill my am I been in have I been in God's word? Have I been being encouraged? Those kind of things. So out of the good man, the good treasure, if you listen to your words, it will reveal your heart.
I remember as a youth leader, way back in Pennsylvania, I did a GI Joe for a winter retreat one time for a weekend, garbage in, garbage out. We did it. You know, we dressed up in camo, and it was all fun and all that kind of stuff. But the whole point of the weekend was garbage in, garbage out. You have garbage friends, you're gonna be garb you're gonna have garbage coming out of yourself.
How would you if you're listening to garbage music, you're gonna have garbage coming out of you. If you're reading garbage things, it's gonna have garbage coming out. That's the way God made us. We have depositories. And if we fill those depositories with garbage, garbage is gonna come out.
So what was God convicting me of? He was convicting me of my words. My words were tearing down. And, of course, I'm a builder. I build things.
I'm a contractor. So, you know, it's no fun when you build something and then somebody comes in and they start tearing it out. Of course, there's times we gotta tear down the old and bring in the new, But, our words it's a good analogy for me to understand how are how are my words impacting others. Some people are just sledgehammers. You know?
Boom. They'll hit you right in the face with wherever they're at. And then there's other piece people who what I call the death by a thousand cuts or death by a thousand darts. Sarcasm can be that way. You know, I saw a T shirt one time that said my spiritual gift is sarcasm.
No. It's not. It is not a spiritual gift. Sarcasm can be those little half truths that that are those little darts, and, I was pretty good at this. By God's grace, I've hopefully stopped a lot of it, but I used to do that to my wife, little little poisonous darts.
You know? Send her a little word that just let her know that I was annoyed with her or whatever. And God that was one of the things that God really exposed in my heart. And and and, again, the first part is stop. Stop doing it and listen.
Listen to what God is trying to tell you. So those are all part of the rebuke. That's getting God's perspective on the situation. Now we're gonna begin to move into, into the transfer. So transformation.
So why should I why should I surrender to transformation and to change? And one of the reasons is sin is always committed to committed against people. It's not we're not in a vacuum. Okay? We'd like to think we're we're maybe not hurting anybody, but sin is not committed in a vacuum.
It's against people. And, ultimately, every sin is against God. So we come to the remembering part. So remember. In order to remember, you have to first know.
Okay? And that's why we need to be in God's word. If we don't know what God's word said, then we can't remember it. And, this remembering is important, and we'll get to that in a little bit later. But, we need to remember certain things and truths that God has told us in his word, and it will give us the motivation to surrender to him and to change.
John fifteen sixteen seventeen, you did not choose me, but I chose you to go and to bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then the father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command, love each other. So there, we are chosen. It's gonna speak it's gonna say the same thing here in Ephesians one three to eight.
Praise be to the God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly with every with every spiritual blessing in Christ. In other words, spiritually, you you come to Christ. If you're in Christ, your bank account is full. K? You do not have to worry about going bankrupt.
You do not have to worry about not having enough spiritual blessings to pour out onto other people because the truth is according to these verses, your bank account is full and you can't deplete it. I I equate it like this. If somebody came and put a trillion dollars in your liberal bank account today, how much would you spend every day? Would we hot? Would we be stingy?
Would we you know, would I hoard onto it and think I'm gonna, you know, run out of money, or would I be free to just bless people, with with that bank account? So he's given us every spiritual blessing in Christ for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glory, glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him, Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with this rights of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and all understanding. There's so much here, and we can't unpack it all.
But legally, Jesus has forgiven us with the power of his blood. He's given us everything we need for for living holy lives. So there really is no excuse for us to not be holy. Okay? But through his blood, he's chosen us.
He's adopted us as sons. He's redeemed us, and he's forgiven us. The holiness and blameless notice there in I think it's bit in verse four there. It says, he has he chose us in him before the creation of the world to to what? Not just to be adopted, but to be holy and blameless.
Now I don't know about you, but I don't feel holy and blameless. Most of the time, I feel dirty and and defeated and and all of that. But I love Hebrews. Hebrews ten fourteen says this. This this verse has was very, very encouraging to me and continues to be.
It's a journey of sanctification. It's a journey of holiness. But Hebrews ten fourteen says, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. So he's made perfect. You, in Christ, have been made perfect forever.
Positionally, you're perfect. You're blameless. You're holy. Why? Because it's Christ's holiness and righteousness that we have.
Those who are being made holy, that's the walk. That's here and now. Okay? So we need to remember our position, but we also need to give ourself grace and realize we're walking. And it's important it's a that we understand it's a process.
It's important that we understand we need the Holy Spirit. We need the word of God, and we need holy little h people. One of those I've got I'm I'm blessed. I've got several people in my life that I can go to, and I can say, I need help here. I need prayer here.
I need to confess this to you. I wanna I'm gonna pick on one because he's not here anymore, but Joe Kravetsky. Many of you know Joe. He recently passed away as obituary was in the paper this past Wednesday. And I just I'm gonna take this platform just to ask you to pray for Janet.
I think he's died a few weeks ago unexpected. I got to know Joe and Janet. We had a Bible study while Ray was going through revelation. Sandy and I met with them, and we were going through revelation and got to know Joe a little better. I call him the bus barn evangelist because Joe had a passion.
He worked at the bus barn. He was a contractor. He worked all around town, but he had a passion for people to come to know Jesus. And he was I love the fact too that he was, and he was just very honest, very honest with you, and he'll tell he would tell you the way it was. And, so for me, he was one of those sounding boards.
He was one of those holy little h people that I could go to and say, what do you think about this, Joe? And we'd banter and we'd go back and forth. But please pray for Janet. Pray for little Joe. Pray for Jake and, and Joe's family because, they're hurting.
So I just wanna ask you for that and want them to know we love them. And but, see, second Corinthians here says this, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come. All this is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the the ministry of reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them, and he was committed.
He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God. God made him who knew no sin, that's Jesus, to be sin for us so that in him, Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God. So here again, remembering that we have been given the ministry of reconciliation.
The ministry, the message of reconciliation that if you're not right with God, be reconciled to God today. That was Joe's message. When I read this verse, I could not help but think of Joe, And, I'm grateful grateful that I got to know him. We also need to remember that we're overcomers. In Revelation 17, it says, they, the beast and the world rulers, they are the beast and the world rulers during the great tribulation.
We'll make war against the lamb, but the lamb will overcome them because he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings. And with him will be his called, his chosen, and his faithful followers. That's us. Once again, the end of the world at the excuse me. In the end, we are on the winning side.
We need to remember that. We are more than conquerors. We need to remember that. We need to remember we are already victorious. We need to remember that he is oops.
Let's see if we get second Timothy. Wrong one. Titus two eleven to 14. There it is. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, it, the grace of God, teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
This has become one of my favorite verses because Jesus ties together its grace. It's not the law. It's not judgment that teaches us to live upright and godly lives. No. It's the grace of God.
It's the goodness. It's his compassion. It's his mercy. So we if we're gonna reflect God, too often, we wanna just judge people. We wanna rebuke them.
We wanna correct them. But to do it in love, to do it in grace, to do it with mercy, that's how you're gonna get their heart. That's how you're going to encourage people to say, yeah. I know it's hard, but this is what we're called to. Okay?
How can I help you? How can I come alongside of you? But his glorious appearing, that for me is a huge, huge motivator, the blessed hope that we have that we that he is coming. He is coming. He is my savior, and he is coming.
Another verse that talks about this is first Thessalonians. So we need to remember that he's coming for his church. According to the Lord's own words, we tell you that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And after that, we who are still alive and who are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will be we will be forever with the Lord. Therefore, encourage each other with these words. If there's a lot of people, there's a lot of controversy, there's a lot of different views about the coming of Christ, but I believe I'm one that believes that because of these verses and other verses, the day of the Lord is our blessed hope. It is it is our glorious it's his glorious appearing to his church for his church. And this event, this is a catching up event.
So based upon this verse in first Thessalonians, that word there to be caught up with him means to be snatched out or plucked out or loosened upwards. Okay? It is it is a removal. Okay? And we will be caught up with him in the clouds.
That's what it says. We can't he's we're gonna meet the Lord in the air, and I love the next part. We will forever be we will be with the Lord forever. We will never have to worry about being separated from him again. That's our hope.
That's our joy. Okay? It's this isn't our home. We need to remember that. This world is not our home.
We're just passing through. And it says at the end, encourage one another with these words. So his coming, his receiving, his appearing to us as his church is to be an encouragement to us. I also believe that because of this next verse. We, the church, will escape the wrath of God.
First Thessalonians five nine, for God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So appoint us there. We are the in if you're an in Christ one, you are not appointed to wrath. There are other verses. First Thessalonians one ten talks about that Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath.
Romans five nine says, since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? So how important is it to remember? You go back to all the way back to Genesis five two where God says he created man and woman, he created them in his image. Male and female, he created them. That word for male is zakar, z a k a r, which means the remembered one, to mark, to highlight.
So it it's like God says, Adam, the male, I'm branding you. Remember on Toy Story where you had Woody, little Woody the cowboy, and Andy flipped him upside down and wrote his name Andy on his foot? That's what this is talking about. We are his. Okay?
And we, as males, I'm speaking to the men right now, part of being distinctly male means we're called to remember, which Adam failed to do when Eve was eating the apple. That was his sin. He failed to remind her, don't eat that. Okay? So we as men, we have a specific role in our families to remind our wives, to remind our children, to remind the men around us what does God's word say.
So remembering, why is it important to remember? Second Peter two I'm sorry. Second Peter three one to 12. Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders, there's the remembering, to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
I want you to recall, remembering, the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our lord and savior through your apostles. First of all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come scoffing and with following their own evil desires. They will say, where is his coming? He promised ever since our fathers died. Everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.
But they, the scoffers, deliberately forgot that long ago by God's word, the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of the water and and with water. By water, also, the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Do not forget this one thing, dear friends, that the Lord that with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord's not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness, but he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything so it's I know it might be Debbie Downer here, but that's what's coming. God he's coming again to as a judge, and the earth the earth will be destroyed. He's been very clear about that.
But since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought we to be? We ought to live holy and godly lives as we look forward to the day of God speeding his coming, his appearing. Once we remember, we're usually softened. Our heart is softened, and now we move into repentance. Jude one twenty twenty three.
But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourself in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt and snatch others from the fire and save them. As we surrender to the Holy Spirit, surrender to his transformation, we reconnect to the vine. By remembering, it motivates us to love and good deeds because we remember God's grace and his compassion and his mercy on us.
And if we're abiding in the vine, we're gonna produce fruit. So the question I have have have to ask is, are you in Christ? And we're in Christ. If we are in Christ, if we've received him, if we've surrendered to him through the blood of Jesus, then you have the Holy Spirit, and you have been chosen. You have been adopted into his family, and you are a co heir with Jesus.
You can just meditate on that for a day, and it'll knock your socks off. If, we are in Christ, then we are his ambassadors. It's a heavy mantle as ambassadors, and then, we are called to ex we shall escape the wrath of God. We shall escape his wrath, his judgment, and we would should want others to escape that as well. And if we believe this, then we will gladly and joyfully obey him.
We will want to please him, and we will wanna save others. And if I'm abiding in the vine and from depositing good nutrients into my heart remember that depository? For depositing nutrients, we have to be in the vine. And then the remembering truth, remembering that we will produce fruit. So our whole job is to reproduce.
We're to be creating disciples, producing not just fruit but good fruit. Going back to that one verse that talked about the good tree, the bad tree, taking the speck out of the other guy's eye. You know? That was from Luke. But we should want to be reconciled to God and to others.
We want should wanna speak life and blessing and build people up. You should wanna construct rather than demolish. If you don't know him, if you don't know Jesus today, and this is our ministry of reconciliation, if you're not at peace with God today, my question, my challenge for you is choose him today. First John five eleven and twelve. I love this verse when people ask me, how how do I know if you're going to heaven?
This is the testimony from God. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the son has life. He who does not have the son of God does not have life. It's very simple.
Jesus is the ticket. You don't if you don't have Jesus, you don't have life. But if you have Jesus, he is eternal life, and he gives you his righteousness and and his holiness. It's my prayer that all who are in Christ will remember the blessings the blood of Christ has purchased on our behalf. And the remember the position that we have and willfully, with God's heart, walk in holiness and godliness and to please our lord and savior and to reconcile others to God.
If you don't have Christ today, I would plead with you that you may not have tomorrow. Joe Joe's death was a reminder of that. He was ready. He was very vocal. He we knew where Joe what Joe believed, and he believed in Jesus.
But I also know other people who weren't ready. We don't know what tomorrow brings. Jesus could come tomorrow, and so we were not guaranteed the next day. I encourage you, if you don't know Christ today, come and talk to your somebody sitting next to you, any of us, the leaders worship team, almost I mean, every anybody will be willing here to point you to him. So let's pray.
Heavenly father, we are so very, very grateful for your word. Thank you that it is trustworthy. Teach us, Lord, to handle it well, to study it, to love it. I think of your words that says you have to feed. When you spoke to your disciples, you said you have to feed on me.
When we take communion, we're reminded of that. And so I pray, Lord, that you would teach us to make us hungry for your word, make us hungry for righteousness. Forgive us our sins, Lord. We're we're just a mess. We are sinful people, beggars who found food, are telling other beggars where they can find food.
Teach us, Lord, to love and be compassionate. Teach us to repent and be transformed through your Holy Spirit. Thank you for friends around us who love us, who will speak truth to us, and, and don't condemn us, Lord, and don't throw us away. Teach us, Lord. We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Speaker 2Would you stand with me, and we'll sing one more song. Let the redeemed. So let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Hey, Blake. Could you read that benediction back there for us?
Speaker 3You bet. First Thessalonians chapter five sixteen through 24. Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the spirit's fire. Test everything, Hold on to the good.
Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself and the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who called you is faithful and he will do it. Amen.
Speaker 2Go in peace. Hey. And listen. We'd love your picture back there. We'd love it.
And look at Nick. He's got his arms. He's he's just pumping right now. He's so excited. But, really, we would love to have your mug in our directory.
Please stop by the back. Alright?
Speaker 3And women's ministry down in the library. If you're interested in that, please join Nancy Baxter.
