The Promise of Serving!

John 13:1-17 (NAS95)

Reader: John 13:1-17

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

It is important that we see how this promise flows from the last few messages. We have been discussing the promises of the community of God—of how the Church is composed of both leaders and members, and how we all are called to belong to God and to one another as His body. As His body, we now turn to the promise of serving—doing that which Jesus Christ modeled and commanded for us to be and do.

The body of Christ is made up of lots of individual members who can only fit together and work together if we have the humility and heart of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ words in Matthew 20:25-28 are our call to the promise of serving, because they are the call to following Jesus’ example:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

The Lord set an example not only in washing the feet of His disciples on the night He was betrayed, but Jesus set us free by taking our sins on the Cross of Calvary.

Service is the way of Jesus and Jesus made it clear that we are to follow His example and obey His commands! Service is the way of His disciples. To be a disciple of Jesus is to have Him as your master; to be His apprentice. To live life like He lived life! That means we will live a life of service, from the inside out. This requires us to become “gentle and humble in heart” like Jesus because the promise of service comes with the praxis of humility!

Never forget, that to be Jesus’ apprentice we are to copy what the master does, but this will become a heavy burden if it doesn’t flow out of our character. Jesus didn’t serve the disciples by washing their feet so that they would feel entitled. Entitlement is a huge issue in our culture, but it should never be an issue for follower of Jesus Christ!

Jesus washed their feet as the Lord and the Teacher to show His current and future disciples the new way of life—the life of love and service, flowing not from our flesh, but from the emptying of our flesh and in the infilling of the Holy Spirit who empowers our lives in Christ.

The Apostle Paul emphasized the way of Jesus in Philippians 2:3-11:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Allow me to share one of the hardest realities of our call to serve as Jesus served. We will be treated like Jesus was treated. The greatest test of a servant is to be treated like a servant! Therefore, the praxis of this promise is the cultivation of our character—to be gentle and humble in heart like Jesus. You may think that the practice of serving would be to serve, and while that is true, the ultimate spiritual discipline is to think more highly of others than you think of yourself.

I am privileged by God to be examined frequently in this area of my character development: as a parent and as a pastor. The true indicator of my motives is what happens when things don’t go the way I think they should go, when someone says “no” to me, when my family or the church does not head in the direction I had hoped for or worked so hard for or gave so much for.

My true motives are made clear to me in that moment.

What is my response when I am treated like Jesus? What is my response when life is not going the way I think it should?

While serving often has a purpose or goal behind it, at its heart, serving is not about what you can do or get done (your productivity); it is about who you are becoming and what God does through you (your transformation)! While it is important what we do and how we do it, it is essential to God why we do it, who we do it for, our motives and motivations.

Are you serving for an audience of One and His nail-scarred hands?

It is in the context of serving in the church or serving your family that you find out the truth of your relationship with Jesus. And God will use people to refine you to be more and more like Jesus, especially when they are acting out of the fullness of their human tendencies to exert their personalities to get what they want or what they deem right.

God uses people and God uses circumstances, not to increase your productivity, but to put you on the fast track of transformation! Serving is an essential part of this life-giving process because it is always God’s will for you to be conformed to His character.

Volunteers bail all the time; whereas servants stay true to the course because they are serving God, not self-serving in the name of God. Keep your focus on Jesus and never forget who you serve or why you are serving—to become like Jesus and bear the image of God.

Let us be one body who serves the One who is our Head, Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message below:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Belonging!

Luke 15:11-32 (NAS95)

Reader #1: Luke 15:1-7:

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He told them this parable, saying, “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Reader #2: Luke 15:8-10:

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? “When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Reader #3: Luke 15:11-32:

And He said, “A man had two sons. “The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. “And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. “Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. “So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. “And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. “And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ “But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

The promise of the week is “The Promise of Belonging!”

Last week, we learned from the promise of membership that we are knit together as members of the one body of Christ. This week, we are learning from Jesus’ famous parable of the prodigal son that we are intended to belong one to another.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son can also be called the Parable of the Lost Son. Its placement in Luke 15 is essential because it comes after the parables of “The Lost Sheep” and “The Lost Coin”, which are straight forward parables, but this last one has an important twist in it.

Did you hear the twist as you listened to these three parables, back-to-back?

God is the central character of each parable: God is like the good shepherd who goes to great lengths to find the one lost sheep; God is like the woman who goes to great effort to find the one lost coin; and God is like the father who eagerly waited to receive back the one lost son.

Listeners of these three parables are being conditioned by the Master Teacher to expect someone in the third parable to seek and find! But the twist in this parable is that, unlike the other two, no one went looking for that which was lost. The Father stayed home and eagerly waited for his lost son to come home, back to the family to which he belonged.

Who was supposed to go looking for the younger son?

It was the older brother and Jesus’ original audience knew that to be true. When the older son doesn’t go after his younger brother, we are left confused and hurt! Something is wrong with this story! Something is terribly broken about this family!

Jesus did this on purpose because Jesus’ audience was a bunch of older sons who saw themselves as faithful to the Father but embittered to the Father’s lost children who were not faithful like they were. Listen again to Luke 15:1-2, “Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus’ parable invites our hearts to yearn for three things at once:

From the beginning, God designed us to belong, and He is jealous for us to come Home. This is the mission of Jesus Christ and the perpetual mission of His body, the church. Several times we see this in Jesus’ life. Jesus’ ministry reflects the heart of God as Jesus was “moved with compassion” (Matthew 9:36; 14:14; 15:32; 20:34; Mark 6:34; 8:2-3; Luke 7:13; etc.).

Are you moved by compassion to help God’s lost children find their way home?

We were created to have a relationship with God—to belong as members of God’s family, to be His Image Bearers (Genesis 1:26-27), but our sin separated us from Him (Genesis 3:22-24; Romans 3:23). That is what it means to be dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1-10; Colossians 2:13), it means we are cut off from the Family of God and from Home, our inheritance of eternal life.

God loves us so much that He did something about it—God sent the Elder Son to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10; John 3:16)! This truth is why we listen to these three parables in a row and know deep down that something is wrong at the end, and we are disturbed!

Jesus did what the elder son in Luke 15 would not do—Jesus restored the Father’s lost children and brought them Home. In Jesus’ parable, neither son, younger nor older, was being faithful to their Father. They were too busy focusing on their current entitlements and future inheritances, on what they can get from the Father, rather than knowing their Father’s heart for His family.

God’s greatest desire for all of us, regardless of age, because this really has nothing to do with whether you are older or younger, but with whether you are struggling with the sin of sinfulness or the sin of self-righteousness, is that we would come Home to Him and belong.

You belong to the Family of God, and we hope that First Baptist Church can be a safe place for you to belong, regardless of whether your issue is that you ran away from God a long time ago and lived a life of sin or that you’ve been in the church your entire life and have become focused on your entitlements and inheritance.

Don’t let either your morality or immorality be a barrier to belonging! Jesus came to give you a new life in Him, the life of God through the Spirit!

You are invited to come Home as the Father wants all His beloved children to belong to Him and to one another. This is the body of Christ, and this work is why Jesus came, once and for all.

You can listen to Pastor Jerry’s message below:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Membership!

Romans 12:4-5 (NAS95)

The promise of the week is “The Promise of Membership!” The promise of membership must be built upon God’s Word, not on the world’s view of membership. American Express taught us that membership has its privileges, meaning that if you paid your dues, then you received your benefits. God’s Word teaches us that membership is a privilege and that being a healthy and functional member of the Body of Christ is an essential part of experiencing holiness and wholeness!

You are an essential piece of a living organism, and we, as a church, are only as healthy as each of our individual parts. This is the imagery of God’s Word! We are intended by God to be a mutually dependent people, created in His image of community (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

Paul very intentionally gave us the imagery so that we can understand just how important the promise of membership is, not only to us, as the individuals, but to the whole living organism of the church. Remember that Paul was addressing both local congregations and the entire church. Therefore, Paul gave us an extended version of this memory verse in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27,

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

A third and final scripture that is essential to understanding this word picture from Paul is found in Ephesians 4:11-16, which includes last week’s memory verse, from which the Reverend Mark Thompson did an excellent job teaching us the promise of leadership and the vital importance of community and building up our community by speaking the truth in love to one another:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Where the promise of leadership and the promise of membership intersect is how the church will grow. It’s not an either-or, it’s the both-and of Jesus’ promise to Peter from Matthew 16:18, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

Jesus was very clear that He would build His church and how He does that is through His people—we are the members of the body “according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:16).

Leaders are members of the body and must take their call to leadership as seriously as you take your call to membership. We pray for leaders who are fully engaged in the work of the kingdom of God, both in the local congregations and throughout the larger church. Imagine what would happen if church leaders took their call to leadership as casually as many people take their call to membership to local congregations and their call to missions in the world. We all need the reviving fires that can only come through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  

Listen to this ancient imagery of how God uses His people as a body to do His will in the world. This is Old Testament imagery from Ezekiel 37:1-10:

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ “Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. ‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Just as God was the only one who could make this happen, only God can do this work today! This is not a heavy pressure on us, but an invitation for surrender to God and revival through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the Spirit of God to fulfill the promise of membership, just like it is a work of the Spirit of God to provide spiritual leadership for the body of Christ. Let us submit ourselves now to the work of the Holy Spirit so that we will be healthy, functional members of the one body of Christ. As Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-6,

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Membership is a privilege that comes with responsibilities! The health and growth of the body of Christ is intimately yoked with you and your experience of a life-giving faith where you are manifesting the fruit of the Spirit and the peace of God in your life, which I like to call your spiritual vitality. Let us walk together in the easy yoke of Jesus Christ and watch what God will do in and through His body, for Jesus Christ is the only head to which we all—leader and member alike—must submit.

Allow me now to pray for us according to Paul’s prayer for the early church in Ephesians 1:17-23:

[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Amen!

You can listen to Jerry’s message below:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Leadership!

Ephesians 4:15

Presented by Reverend Mark Thompson (ABC Regional Pastor)

(The following are notes taken during the message, there may be some misinterpretations of what Rev. Thompson actually said.  Listen to his message to hear for yourself.)

Ephesians 4:15:

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Serving the Lord demolishes all of our preferences.

God exists in community (the Trinity) and He creates us to live in community.

Ephesians 4:11-16:

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

God may be calling you into leadership.

Justified – It is “just-as-if-I’d never sinned.  All the labels come off!  (Good & Bad)

Sanctification – We are set apart for God’s purposes.

We think we need time to think about what God wants us to do, to make careful consideration before moving.  We say something like,  “I don’t know all of the things I need to know in order to do all of the things I need to do.  I need to think about it.”

“God calls us to act our way to NEW THINKING, no to THINK our way to NEW ACTING!”

– Mike Mather, a pastor

Ministry takes all of us – and more!

You can listen to Mark’s message here:

You can watch the service by clicking the link below:

The Promise of Completion!

Philippians 1:6 (NAS95)

If you want to live a victorious life, then learn to focus your mind on the promises of God—to trust in the character and activity of God! This is how we rest and have peace of mind!

The victory you have been given has a 100% guarantee; it will be brought to its fullness because God will persevere in you until you reach the intended finish line of your faith! This is your glorification, which is the fulness of your union with God. The process of completion in this life is your sanctification, which is the process of your ongoing transformation into a redeemed image bearer of God who represents Jesus better today than you did a year ago.

In other words, be convinced that your sanctification, which began at your justification, will be an ongoing process until the day of your glorification. This is your salvation.

Confidence is a determination to act! It is a conviction you have trained into your head and heart. When I was in the Army, I was convinced that my parachute would open after I stepped out of the airplane. So, even though I had normal human emotions about stepping out of a perfectly good airplane while it was in flight, I had the confidence to take the step!

Paul spoke of his confident resolve in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The confidence to act according to what you believe is a resolute commitment to take the next step in the process of being conformed to the image of Christ as a redeemed image bearer of God. Confidence has counted the cost, anticipated the sacrifices, and is submitted to running the marathon of life set before you—a long slow discipline in the same direction.

So often, our greatest ministry is found in our faithful and hopeful mindset through the painful process of everyday life. We stay the course because we are convinced that the prize is worth it. As Paul taught in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

To “perfect” is to complete, to accomplish the purpose, to bring to maturity, to bring to fullness, to receive the imperishable wreath on the day of Christ Jesus. God’s promise of completion teaches us that even if there are times you don’t act like a champion, you are still one. You don’t have to be perfect, that’s God’s job! Press on to the prize—take the next step—don’t quit!

When most people think they must be perfect, they shut down. We don’t have perfect lives, perfect bodies, or perfect attitudes. We don’t have perfect jobs, perfect marriages, or perfect children. Why? Because we are all human and we live in a broken world where there is sin and the effects of the fall upon every area of creation. Our lives are like I-70 or SR-3: well-traveled and in need of constant construction to repair the damage from the wear and tear of high mileage and bad weather.

Here’s the good news: We serve a perfect God who promises to bring us to completion as a part of His glorifying plan to brings all things under His rule in the New Heaven and New Earth. In fact, in this very process we are invited to partner with God in this perfecting work because God will use every pothole and storm to draw us and others closer to Him.

God invites us into partnership with Him, not to take over for Him. Just as you could not begin with Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, you cannot be brought to maturity without the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 3:3). Paul confirms in 1 Corinthians 1:4-8,

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Trust God and partner in the work He is doing—in and through you. God promises to not only complete His work in you, but to also provide for the work He has invited you to do with Him, every step of your race. Until you cross that finish line, trust Him to do what He promises to do.

(Tiffany shares her testimony and special music.)

You can listen to the message here:

You can watch this message by clicking HERE.

The Promise of Peace!

John 16:33 (NAS95)

(This was presented at the FBC Picnic in the Memorial Park Shelter House.)

It is clear in God’s word that peace and joy are deeply intertwined! How can we experience the joy of the LORD if we don’t first have peace with God first?

Our memory verse can be applied to all three aspects of peace, but Jesus here is specifically talking about His saving work on the cross, which gives us peace with God! Jesus has defeated the power of death and the forces of evil to restore us back into right relationship with the Father; it is only “in Christ” that we can have “peace” or “access to” or relationship with God.

Listen to this peace that Jesus promises us:

This requires God’s peace to come from above from God, into us, and then flow through us to others. We are conduits of God’s love because His peace is a cord of three strands: vertical, internal, and then external.

Paul practically teaches us about how to walk in this peace. Mental health comes from this internal peace of God, by which we learn to live in God’s grace, from upon high and inside!

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Learning how to walk in the promise of peace as daily mental health practices is a key spiritual discipline to our living out the Greatest Commandments. We represent Jesus best (external peace to others!) when we are both holy (vertical peace with God!) and whole (internal peace!).

We need to realize that the Bible teaches us good mental hygiene practices that are just as fundamental to our well-being as the many good dental hygiene habits that are ingrained in our daily lives. As this becomes more normalized and less stigmatized in the church, then mental health practices and check-ups will be as common as dental health practices and check-ups.

Peace with God that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus means that the promise of peace is not just a vertical and internal reality, it is our greatest witness as it brings external peace between us and other people. Listen to Paul explain this in Ephesians 2:13-16:

This is the Church’s mission! Experiencing the peace of God in both our holiness and wholeness allows us to give God’s love and grace towards others because we have received and internalized it in our own lives. By the Spirit we are to build bridges with people to unite them in Christ alone—our peace!

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“The Promise of a Teacher”

Memory Verse:  Luke 12:12

“If you love me, obey my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you… I am telling you these things now while I am still with you.  But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you..”                                                                                  

John 14:15-17, 25-26

Miriam/Webster defines the word ‘teach’ as

“to show or explain how to do something; give information about or instruction in a subject or skill; encourage some to accept as fact or principle.”

And then they were instructed to teach their children in Deuteronomy 11:19

“Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.”

I. God will provide an Advocate (Comforter, Encourager, Counselor)

He was telling them that, just like God, the Holy Spirit will never leave you. And while Jesus was going to physically leave this earth, He was assuring them that they would not be alone.

How do we find this truth? Jesus once again reminds them of what He told them earlier.

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32

We are once again shown that the Holy Spirit will lead us and guide us and point us to Jesus the Son, and He, in everything He ever said or did, points us to God the Father. The Father speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth, which are the words and ways of Jesus, who brings glory to God…see the cycle?

“If you love me, obey my commandments.” John 14:15 (you will)

“Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me….” John 14:21a

II. The Holy Spirit will be our Teacher

^“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” John 14:26

“will be to “lead” them into the full comprehension of all he wants them to know. The Spirit will not present an independent message, differing from what they had already learned from him. Rather, they will be led further into the realization of his person and into the development of the principles he has already laid down. They will also be enlightened about coming events.”

John 16:13-14 states:

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.”

Yes, we have pastors, elders, bible study leaders, discipleship group leaders, small group leaders and accountability partners, but they are all subject to the Holy Spirit teaching the wisdom of God.

Let’s read 1 Corinthians 2:10-12

“For it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”

The Spirit searches the depths of God and reveals God’s plans for us, showing us the joy of living a spirit filled life in contrast to the folly of the plans of this world.

• Points on a compass “Never East Sour Watermelon                  
• Names of notes on a staff: (spaces) FACE                                                                       
• (Lines) Every Good Boy Does Fine              
• Planets: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Is Noodles

The ESV version says “He will teach you all things and bring back to your remembrance…”

Solomon was a great wise king who’s wisdom was given to him by God. He wrote in Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

So we have to ask ourselves:    

• Am I willing to be a student of the Holy Spirit?                          
• Am I willing to submit my own ideas to that which the Holy Spirit reveals?                                                          
• Am I willing to choose to live this life in the Light of eternity?

“ …for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”    

Luke 12:12

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The Promise of Good Works in Christ!

Revelation 5:9

Who is Jesus?  If you take some time to look at things on the internet you will find many think he lived on earth.  Some think he was a good teacher.  Some think he was a philosopher.  Some think his claim to be God ludicrous, and some who believe Jesus to be the Son of God.

There is a lot of talk about fact checking stories these days.  I personally think going directly to the Source of Truth is the best place to do our fact-checking.  The inspired Word of God has a much better answer. 

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible points to Jesus.  The entire Bible is about Jesus.  It is not about us – although we sometimes think it is just about us. It’s not.

The Bible is clear it is about Jesus, who He is, and what He has already done.

“The Scriptures should be read with the aim of finding Christ in them.  Whoever turns aside from this object, even though he wears himself out all his life in learning, he will never reach the knowledge of the truth.”

You see my friends, when we find Christ in Scripture, we will know better how to be His followers.  We will understand better who He is.  We will also understand better who we are in Christ. 

In Jesus, we find our true identities. 

My Goal Today

My goal today is to help us see, understand, and live in our identity in Christ.  It is my desire that when you leave here today you will have the tools with which to fight your strongest temptations. 

The best way I have found to do that is to know who I am in Christ. I want to help you understand who you are in Christ.

Many of you have heard about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.  What you may or may not realize is in that passage Satan attacked His identity.  In Luke 4 verse 3 and again in verse 9 Satan says “IF” you are the Son of God.

Satan was daring Jesus to prove His identity by turning stones into bread or jumping off the Temple so angels would catch Him.  Jesus didn’t have to prove His identity.  Jesus knew Who He was.  He understood His identity because He knew what Scripture said about Him. Quoting Scripture withstood temptation.

I would like to attempt to help those of you in the sound of my voice to do the same thing.  Understand your identity IN Christ according to the Truth of God’s Word.  We all need to be able to withstand Satan’s attacks on our identity.  It is my contention that when we know who we are in Christ it makes all the difference in the world.

Satan attacks us by lying to us about our identity too.  We can use Jesus as our example and counter those same attacks with Scripture and let Satan know that we know who we are when we choose to be in Christ, and then he can’t trick us as easily.

If Satan can keep us off balance wondering who we are or what our purpose in life is, he can paralyze us and keep us from fulfilling our God given calling.

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, (complete) equipped for every good work.

We are to interact with Scripture in order to be equipped for the calling of God in our lives.  And if you profess to know Jesus as your Savior, you have a calling for ministry. 

Those who are in Christ have a responsibility to build up the body.

What we do with and for others depends on what we understand God does with and for us.  What God does with us is what we do with others.  God builds us up and we build others in the body.

So let me remind you of your identity in Christ.  Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.  I will be lifting out the phrase “in Christ” throughout these verses. Please take note.  The prepositional phrase is significant.

1:1 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: to the saints and believers in Christ at Ephesus.”

Notice that the object of the people’s faith is Christ Jesus.  They are believers “in Christ.”  The people to whom Paul is writing have come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. 

They have heard the message of the Gospel and believe Jesus is the Son of God, Whose death burial and resurrection is the payment for their sin.  Paul is writing to these believers.

In v 2 Paul offers a blessing to the readers

2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul then follows in V3 with a word of praise.  He is praising God as he writes to the people in Asia Minor. 

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 

The verse starts with praise then what follows are the reasons for that praise worthiness…

If you have a position in Christ, you have something that is absolutely praise-worthy!

First: You are Blessed in Christ.

This is one of the ways we make Scripture about us.  We read we have received blessings and we figuratively or actually kick back and say I can relax.  It says here that God pours out His blessings on me.

What does it mean to you to hear that the God of the universe has blessed you already with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING??  Not just some, not a few, but EVERY blessing! (if you are in Christ).

Maybe you’re sitting there saying my life is not all that blessed.  Being blessed is not my experience – at times maybe – but being blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing isn’t how my life is. 

 Who is your faith in?  Do you have faith in faith, or do you trust in the finished work of Jesus?

“In Christ performs a characteristic role in the description of God’s acts and gifts of kindness toward his people.  In some sense, it would seem, God’s acts towards believers are performed through Christ or are in some way conditioned or associated with Christ…such usages of in Christ primarily have to do with the role of Christ in mediating the work of God toward believers.”

Here is a thought for you.  Maybe the reason you don’t experience blessedness is you have a belly button view of your life.  You have become good at using people to make you feel good instead of living in Christ.  You are not allowing Jesus to mediate God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and blessings in your life because you are too focused on yourself.

Second: We have been chosen in Christ.

Not only are those who are in Christ holy, they are also blameless.  What Paul means here is if you are in Christ, you are seen as being without fault before God.  That is for now… here on earth – not waiting for us in heaven. It is to be lived out here on earth.  That is important!

Third: Those who are in Christ are adopted.

Fourth: In Christ we have redemption

The fourth point is found in verse 7. 

7 In Him (there’s that phrase again) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

 Your redemption is the will of God and it’s the work of Christ on the cross.  You cannot earn it, you cannot pay for it, you cannot go out and get it – you receive what has already been done for you.

So far in this message we have seen that it is God who blesses, God who adopts, God who chooses, and God who redeems.  All of this is done in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. 

Fifth: You are sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit

V 12b “to the praise of His glory.” (Because Jesus has redeemed)

V 14 “to the praise of his glory” (because the Holy Spirit has sealed us)

You can listen to Jack’s message here:

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FOOTNOTE:

^[1] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Eph 1:5). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

The Promise of Glory!

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Paul had an earnest expectation of hope! God’s glory provided ballast to His mind, heart, and soul! His faith prioritized his emotional response to his circumstances, his mental health through the situation, and his priorities of decision making for his lifestyle. That is what the promise of glory gives us—it calms our hearts, orders our minds, and directs our paths.

You weigh your options based on their urgency and their importance. There is a competition for our attention and whatever weighs the most wins! This happens at a level we are not even aware of and we have lots of ways of explaining it: it is heavy, it grabbed me, it caught my attention, it’s got a hold of me, etc.

For example, if there are bills pressing you, making money weighs the most and decisions reflect that priority. If you are in pain or have a pressing medical diagnosis, seeing the doctor and medical treatmentsweigh the most and all else that was important are put in the back seat. If there is a broken relationship, a heavy heart weighs you down and shades your perceptions of everything else.

What weighs us down shapes our perceptions of life and determines our decision making!

Important things, left unattended will eventually become urgent, but if we can prioritize them by the weight of their actual importance before their urgency starts weighing us down emotionally, then potentially we can save ourselves a lot of pain, anxiety, and heart ache. Here is a quick list of everyday examples:

• You don’t take the time to get your oil changed (though it’s important) until the tow truck is taking you to the mechanic after your engine seizes up on I-70 (now it’s urgent). A $50 bill becomes $1000!

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The promise of glory minimizes the emotional hijacking of the urgent, the mental kidnapping of anxiety-producing circumstances, and the physical straight jacket of your stress response to bad news. It allows you to put everything in right perspective to God’s overarching reality—your salvation is signed, sealed, and delivered. You are justified, sanctified, and glorified. Rest! Believe! Trust!

The promise of glory is how you can be a peaceful presence and a loving person in the midst of the raging storms around our world, nation, and community.

The promise of glory is not only the promise of being raised up to Heaven in perfect union with God, but it is the promise of being intimately yoked with the One who walks with you every day to that destination. I can only live that way and think that way because I know my destination is secure and that death is not the reality of my eternity. Therefore, fear, anxiety, and insecurity will not outweigh God’s promise of glory!

I have been raised up because I am in Christ and I have my eyes fixed on His glory—past, present, and future. May God’s glory be your motivation and help you discern your decisions each and every day. May your emotional well-being and mental health be stabilized by the weight of glory in these turbulent times.

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FOOTNOTE:

The Promise of Freedom!

Galatians 5:1 (NAS95)

Pastor Jerry Ingalls of New Castle First Baptist Church on July 4, 2021

I.  The Yoke Imagery.

The yoke concept within the Hebrew literary traditions is strongly related to the idea of the Sovereignty Covenant. God laid his yoke on his people. His people either bore the yoke (an obedient, proper relationship) or broke off the yoke (a relationship of rebellion). God’s people might choose to attempt to wear the yokes of other gods, which was the same as throwing off the yoke of Israel’s god. Obviously, one could not wear two yokes at the same time. The wearing of the yoke as viewed in Hebrew scripture was the outward sign of an inward relationship. Thus one might bring the offerings and do all of the things of religion and still not be bearing the yoke in terms of attitudes and relationships. Hebrew scriptures can thus view the bearing of the yoke of God’s sovereignty as joy, honor, and privilege rather than tragedy, hardship, and sorrow.^[1]

God is passionate about upholding His covenant with His people as we read in Jeremiah 2:20, “For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds; But you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a harlot.” God continues in Jeremiah 5:5-6,

“I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord and ordinance of their God.” But they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them, a wolf of the deserts will destroy them, a leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who goes out of them will be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are numerous.

This connection to the concept of the yoke as God’s sovereign rule over His chosen people, as opposed to their bondage to idols and false gods cannot be lost, nor ignored. Jesus aligned His usage of yoke with the Old Testament, as seen in Matthew 11:28-30 when viewed in context with His declaration of the people’s apostasy in verses 20-24.

The yoke imagery would not have been lost on the original New Testament audience. Jeremiah Garrett explains in the Lexham Bible Dictionary, “Some New Testament Letters seem to rely on the Old Testament understanding of yoke as an instrument of slavery (e.g., Gal 5:1; 1 Tim 6:1).”^[2]

You are either in the yoke of faith (trust and obedience to God and His ways) or in the yoke of slavery (rebellion against God’s plan and ways)!

II. The Context of the Promise

That transitions us to our second point of the lesson. Let’s now understand our memory verse and the Holy Spirit’s promise of freedom within its original context by reading Galatians 4:21-31 & 5:1:

Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a husband.” And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.” So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Obviously, Paul just gave us an Old Testament lesson to help us understand his teaching on the freedom Jesus has given us. This promise of God is birthed in the ancient Genesis story of the first Patriarch couple—Abraham and Sarah. I will paraphrase this story from Genesis 15—21.

God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child and through that child their descendants would be more numerous than the stars in the sky. God promised that rulers of nations would come through Sarah’s womb, but into a very old age her womb remained closed. In a desperate moment, they took matters into their own hands and Sarah, the “free woman” gave Abraham Hagar, her handmaiden or as Paul called her, “the bondwoman,” to conceive a child. In this moment of fear and anxiety, Ishmael was born, and the results have been disastrous to God’s people and the world ever since! You hear about it nearly every day!

Let’s now connect that story to Paul’s teaching in Galatians 4. Ishmael is the “son by the bondwoman [who] was born according to the flesh.” Later, God performed a miracle and though Sarah was well beyond her biological capability to have a baby, her and Abraham conceived Isaac and he is called the “son by the free woman through the promise.” Paul says that these two women and their respective babies allegorically correspond to two different covenants: (1) Ishmael and his offspring are the slaves to the Law of flesh and death, corresponding to Mount Sinai and “the present Jerusalem” (that is the Old Covenant based on the Mosaic Law) and (2) Isaac and his offspring are the “children of promise” who correspond to “the Jerusalem above” and are born according to the Holy Spirit (that is the New Covenant based on Jesus Christ and His promised baptism of the Spirit, that we have discussed so often over the last month).

III. The Application

The yoke is easy because God has made a way for you to have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus’ own relationship with the Father, and the burden is light because God gives you everything you need for life and godliness through your baptism of the Holy Spirit!

As Paul teaches us in Ephesians 2:1-10,

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

What is very interesting is that after both Galatians 5:1 and Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul contrasts the distinction between those who are circumcised of the flesh (Old Covenant) and those who are in the Spirit (New Covenant), once again reinforcing today’s teaching and the importance of understanding the New Covenant through Jesus’ fulfillment of the Old Covenant requirements and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost.

Here is the invitation: Believe God, rest in Jesus, and walk in the Spirit. This is the yoke of faith. This is the Covenant of the Spirit—the easy yoke of Jesus shatters all other yokes! The Fear of the Lord drives out all other fears! Greater is the Spirit of God who is in me than he who is in the world!

You must choose today which yoke you will put on and walk in. The yoke of slavery or the yoke of freedom!

The hard yoke of Law is all about you taking matters into your own hands and producing an Ishmael with devastating results to you and others. It is when you strive to make life work out for you the way you think it should work out.

The easy yoke of Jesus leads to freedom through trust in God for His plans and His ways to bring about what He promises you—Isaac! Jesus promises you freedom from the anxiety and fear that tell you that you must take control of your life if you want to see God’s abundance! We can rest in God’s promises!

I conclude with a powerful call to strive to live this life of rest. From Hebrews 4:8-11,

For if Joshua [the Old Covenant] had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that [the New Covenant]. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

Strive to enter God’s rest by taking the yoke of Jesus Christ on to yourself and become like Him, gentle and humble in heart! You will believe God and His promises, and you will experience the fulfillment of all God’s promises. Walk in the Spirit who has given you everything you need for life and godliness.

How do we stand firm and resist the yoke of slavery? We do as the psalmist commands each of us in Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Charles L. Tyer, “Yoke,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992), 1026.

[2] Jeremiah K. Garrett, “Yoke,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).