Men’s Fellowship Bible Study

> Jim Bailey

Being Saved, Staying Saved, and Seeing Others Saved

I didn’t want to make another Bible study on what we should be doing, or what we think we’re doing, but I wanted to make a Bible study on what we are doing.

We seek to make friends, not being religious, but having a compassion for the lost world. We seek to bring the compassion that this world doesn’t offer. We all have goals in our occupations, but that isn’t our main objective.

So, we’re believing in him, and we’re trusting that we’re not going to perish. We know that when we get to the other side, there will be no sickness, death, or suffering. We know that at the end of this life, we’ll see our reward in heaven.

The psalms from 113 to 118 were sung by the families of Israel at the beginning of the Passover.

When I wake up in the morning, I will rejoice in that day that God has given me. That’s part of staying saved.

Proverbs chapter three is focused on kindness, truth, honoring God with our substance, prosperity, and virtue.

Note that it says “paths”, meaning more than one. Our lives take different directions. But no matter which path we take, the idea is to depart from evil.

Am I being a good steward with what God has given me? I am going apply this principle to my whole life. And as we do this, we can see the change in our own lives and in the lives of our friends and family.

So what are we fighting for? Making it to the other side, and trying to bring more people with us.

So what do we gain from that text? What do we see there? For me personally, I see a comforting spirit, a God who will take care of us and bring us through it all. We’ve just got to lean on him, and keep track of his will. That’s part of staying saved: seeing God’s will maintained in our lives.

So what are we doing to stay on track with God? Are we trying to keep up with the Joneses?

So let’s be for real: what is our mission?

> Be saved, stay saved, and see others saved.

We’re all in one mind and one accord with that, aren’t we? But I find that I’m not doing all that I can in that respect. We don’t know how we can affect another person’s life by our speech and our actions. We need to question our motivation; we can’t just continue on auto-pilot.

So Joshua reviewed with them the benefits of serving God, and renewed the covenant between them and God. Does that sound familiar? Isn’t that what we do on Sunday? We serve him in sincerity, right? “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” We can’t back away from that.

“Listen to me, ye that follow after righteousness:” Isn’t that us? “Ye that seek the LORD:” How do we do that? We look back at where God has brought us from.

We feel blessed that Jesus has revealed himself to us, right? And what is our labor unto him? Do we remember the way we were heavy-laden with sin? We are yoked with him in what way? Have we found rest for our souls? Did you find that your burden was lifted when you got baptized? Are we looking for that more excellent way? (1 Corinthians 12:31, 1 John 4:4)

We are definitely homeless. This world is not our home. So as we continue on our journey, who are we going to listen to? Sometimes you get around people who want you to listen to some new philosophy that is supposed to change your life. But what does it turn out to be? Man’s interpretation? Man’s wisdom?

So the foolishness of God, to them that believe, is the power of salvation. I made the mistake of printing out this Bible study at work, and one of my co-workers picked it up. He said, “I want to be saved.” I said, “Great. Fantastic. I’ll see you Friday night for Bible study.” He wanted to change the subject.

That’s our glory, to be saved, stay saved, and see others saved.

So we have this wisdom, right? We have the mind of Christ. My question is, do we seek a religion, or do we seek a filled relationship with Christ? I look around at the men who make up the backbone of the church. We have our mind made up, right?

We’ve seen our friends drop off, leave, and not continue. But we’ve all stayed to make up the backbone of the church. It’s not for the faint of heart, but for those who have their spirit binded with their minds.

I want to focus on the “engrafted word.” It means to form by incision, to impress deeply, as by engraving. God’s word is engraved on my mind forever. Later on, he says, “continue therein, not being a forgetful hearer.” Are we maintaining our direction without deviation? Some people stop coming out to church, and they say “I’ll come back to church once I’ve figured things out.” Well, that’s a bad place to be figuring things out, in the world. It’s better to take it to God.

So we have some challenges ahead. What do we have to do?

So that’s one thing about being saved. We’re going to go through changes, temptations, but if we endure, we’ll receive that crown of life.

Endure :To undergo a hardship, especially without giving in. To suffer. To regard with acceptance or tolerance.

I watched a documentary about some folks who endured Auschwitz. The only thing that kept them going was the thought, “I must survive.” We haven’t gone through what they went through, but we’ve got to have that same mindset, to endure.

So we’re sealed with our faith in Christ. We’re going to endure. We’re going to be saved, stay saved, and see others saved.

Discussion

> Todd Morgan

A lot of times we do look back at the pit that we were in before we got saved, but there are also a lot of pits along the way since we’ve been saved.

> Jeff Linger

I take this study as a reminder not to grow weary. It’s easy to get tired, to stop pressing for the mark of the high calling, to put it in neutral. It’s easy, and the flesh likes “easy.” But we’ve got to keep pressing forward, not only for ourselves but for those behind us, who are looking to us for examples.

> Ricardo McPherson

I like the part about doing all things with our might. I find myself at work sometimes, not finishing certain quals. It was in my mind to do it, but I found myself doing other things. We can apply this scripture to every part of our daily life. If I had done that, I wouldn’t have to stay late at work finishing my quals and missing church.

> Jay Hunemuller

I’ve always looked at “engrafted word” like being grafted into a plant, but it makes sense the way he put it, being pressed deeply, like an engraving. If we let God’s word be pressed deeply into our minds, we’ll act on it when we should.

> John Connor

I often feel embarassed or upset because I haven’t advanced myself in this world. And God knows where I’m at and what I want, but where have I been putting my focus?

> Scott Shepherd

I like the part about Paul not coming with excellency of speech. A lot of times we worry about what we say or how we impress people. But it’s not about us; it’s about the gospel. We’ve got to get ourselves out of the way and let Christ do the talking.

> Rod Williams

Joshua had to remind the people about what God had done. Joshua had a made-up mind. I think that’s what we’ve got to have; we’ve got to have that kind of mentality.

Wednesday Evening Bible Studies, 2/2/11

Testimonies

> Pastor Paine

It was my junior year in High School. I had fallen in with the wrong crowd and was smoking marijuana and doing some things that were bad by themselves, and also leading me in a bad direction. Some of those guys were already doing cocaine, and one of them had done a crime that was going to put him in prison. I could see that I was making a whole series of horrible decisions. That for me was when I started seeking the Lord. I knew I was on the wrong road, but I didn’t know how to get to the right one. I cried out, “God, if you’re real, show me.” And the first night of my senior year in High School, I got invited to a home Bible study. It turned out that the lady who owned the home didn’t have any immediate family. She was too ill to get out, so she invited the people who were holding Bible studies to meet in her house, so she could attend. When she died, she left the house to the Bible study group in her will, and it was the start of a church that still exists today. I went there, and there was no furniture other than folding chairs. It was weird, but that was the start of my walk with God. That’s what this reminds me of today.

> Rod Williams

I was really excited about being asked to teach this study. I remember when we had a home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we held Bible studies there. It’s a real blessing, and it does bring a more “homey” feel to the study.

Tonight we’re going to be talking about charity and brotherly love. I have two questions:

1. Do I love God as I should?
2. Do I love myself?

When we talk about charity and brotherly love, it’s a deep subject that we sometimes take for granted. As we study tonight, I pray that you really look into the scriptures.

We know that Jesus walked the earth as God in the flesh. He was mocked and ridiculed, beaten, and hung on the cross. Here we read about why he did those things.

I was going down Tidewater Drive and saw a young couple crossing the street. A car was coming as the guy stepped out, so the girl pulled him back. They stood there and held hands for a while, and then crossed together. I looked and said, “That’s what love is: risking your life to save another.”

God showed his love to us so that we could show our love to one another.

This is Paul speaking, who wrote the majority of the New Testament while in prison. He was beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked; fell among false brethren. He knew what it is to live this life.

As we read what he wrote, consider that Jesus did all these things. Jesus suffered long, but was not puffed up.

You may meet someone who needs to see the light that God has given you to show. My nature is to be mostly stoic, but I’ve got to seek Christ to reach out to other people.

Through all those things, charity never faileth. Love never fails. Prophecies are a big thing, because prophecy is for the edification of the church. Of course we know that tongues are a sign of the Holy Ghost. But it says that love is the greatest of all these things. Debbie sings a song, [Love is the greatest gift of all].

It’s love. When I was preparing for this study, I realized that love is a powerful weapon. Jesus said, “love your enemies.” If it wasn’t possible, then God wouldn’t have said it. So the next time there is a situation where someone is giving you a hard time or whatever, remember that. The next time that happens, say “You know what, I really appreciate you. Let me try to help you.”

Oh, yes. Above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. How many of us have ever loved someone or something very deeply? How many of us have lost sleep or felt like you couldn’t be apart from that person or object that you loved? I got to thinking. I’ll use Sherry as an example. I remember when we first met; I couldn’t be apart from here. The minute I got of duty or whatever, I was there. Some of you might not have experienced that before. But that love that we have for another person: we’re willing to do whatever it takes to show that love. Gary Chapman wrote a book about the five love languages. He said that sometimes the way you show love might not be the same language that your partner is receiving. But whatever that thing is that we desire to have, we can ask God for it, because God is not going to withhold that which is good from us. The Bible says

It’s up to us, the saints, to apply that love of God to the world. We’re not living this life for the earth or ourselves; we’re living for eternity.

Notice that Jesus said to love God with all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy mind. And notice that he said to love thy neighbor as thyself. So in the order of things, God comes first, and then our neighbor, but we fall right under that.

So it’s commanded for us to love one another. I’m around my brothers and sisters quite a bit. This study is real personal to me. I’ve got to stop and think, “Who do I know well? Who do I have a common bond with? And who don’t I? And why?” I’ve got to connect; I’ve got to reach out; I’ve got to forge that bond. Jesus did all that; he set the example for us, and his disciples did, as well.

This was Jesus talking to the disciples. He knew the Jews would betray him, and he had washed the disciples’ feet. So he said, “As I have loved you, so love ye one another.” And he said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.” So Bill, if you and I went to Alaska, people should know that we are Jesus’ disciples. We can do great things, but love is the greatest of all.

Another thing from Gary Chapman’s “Five Love Languages” was the “love tank.” Is your love tank full? Is it half-full? I’ve got to admit that as I started this study, my love tank was low. But now it’s getting filled, from all you here today. Sometimes I just need somebody to say hello, or share a scripture, or go on a ride with me. We should have a strong desire to spend time with each other, and love one another.

Have you ever seen people at a football game? Do the people supporting different teams sit right beside each other? If they do, they won’t feel too comfortable. But it’s up to us to show love to the people beside us. I thank God that we have diversity; we should cherish that.

Look at all these things. We’re going to bear fruit if we have all these things.

Hey, if we lack that love, seek God for it. It’s part of his commandments. Don’t be afraid to ask things from God. How many of us had a father-figure that we were afraid to ask things from? I was. I always ran to my mother. But as I look back today, I realize how much my father loved me. He sacrificed himself to make sure that we had food on the table, transportation, a roof over our heads, and so forth. I didn’t know that at the time; I figured my Mom loved me more, because she was the one who was always around. There was a barrier there between me and my Dad, and there may be barriers between us and the people around us, because of our perceptions. But now, I love my Dad, and I let him know that. So don’t let your perceptions of the people around you keep you from showing that love that God has commanded. Go to your brother or sister and ask, “How can I learn to know you better?” God wants us to love one another, and perfect love casts out fear.

Wow. We’ve been talking about stewardship, right? I looked up “fervent” and it means “without ceasing.” So we should love without ceasing.

As we look into the scriptures tonight, I hope that everyone has been blessed. So don’t stop with the scriptures tonight; there are a lot more. But more than that, don’t just study the word, but also apply it. That’s what it’s all about.

Friday Evening Bible Study, 1/7/11

We Need Each Other, Spiritually

There are quite a few men in this room tonight. How many of us have ever considered growing up spiritually? We took out time to consider, and God directed me, and allowed me to come into contact with a brother like Rich Brand, or Robbie Smith. What is my spiritual heritage? I remember when cried out to God, and God put certain people in my path. When I reported to Waukegan for construction duty, guess who was my mentor and instructor? Brother Rich Brand. He was one of those 100mph guys. He was dragging me along, despite the fact that I was 22 and he was … a lot older. As a 21-year-old, this gentleman was going 100mph, and I was wore-out tired.

We need each other; no ands, ifs, and buts about it. You work a job, and God will keep you. But what happens after that job is over with? Are we making an effort to encourage and be encouraged? I did hear in Wednesday service about us being a more spiritual church. So hmm… there are thirty-five people in here; that’s thirty-five different lifestyles, experiences, and levels of maturity. Yet God requires us to be one. If I’m a thousand miles away, how can God expect me to communicate and fellowship with you? This is 2011. There is email, voicemail, text-messaging, twitter, you name it. There are no limitations. We serve a big God, so we should expect big things.

So I can’t say that because I’m in the volunteer department, I can’t fellowship with Josh, because he’s a singer, or with John, because he’s in the military ministry. How many of you have loved every single time that you’ve worked with a brother? But how many times, if you worked with a brother, did you get a blessing out of it? If we let our flesh come between our fellowship and working with each other, then we miss out.

If Chris likes croquet, and I can’t stand croquet, that shouldn’t affect our relationship with each other. We’re all different, but we need each other spiritually. We don’t need to be making stumbling-blocks for one another.

Let’s talk about that word “love.” I want you to think about the things that you love. How many of us think, “I’m going to hide the way I think about this.” It’s hard to do when you have true love and passion for something. If someone really loves to fish, he talks about it all the time.

In the last couple of months, I’ve really been seeking to know the beginnings of the ministry. And God has been faithful to put in my path people who were around in the very beginnings of the ministry. Jim asked me the other day, “Do you want to go out and get some fellowship?” And I said, “Sure.” Jim started sharing with me about the very beginning of the ministry, and how they were so tight and practically on top of each other, but never once did he talk about how tough it was.

What is our ultimate goal? To be saved. And if that truly is our goal, then compare how much effort we put into that with how much effort we put into our natural goals. If I want to get a degree, then I know I’ve got so much time to work toward getting that degree, and at the end of that time, I can look forward to holding a diploma in my hand. But in God, no man knows the day nor the hour. So we’ve got to constantly be thinking, “This could be the day.” And tomorrow, “This could be the day.” And fifteen thousand years later, “This could be the day.”

Sometimes we all need our quiet time. Jeff, I might need to spend a day away from here. But I don’t need a week, or a month, or a year. I get in my routine; I go to work, punch a clock, get off, go home and do my business. But we’re all men. How many men here, your mama still tells you what to do, and you still do it? One thing about the military; you always know who the “mama’s boys” are.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I’m not going to try and do the same things that Abraham does; experience tells me that if I try, I’ll fall flat on my face.

The majority of us have spent some time in the military. What’s the most important thing to have with you before you go out on liberty in a foreign port?

> A buddy.

Why?

• Accountability
• Safety in numbers
• One of you can run to get help
• A lot of times one prevents the other from making bad decisions
• An extra set of eyes

How many of you have ignored the rules and gone out by yourself?

 

(Lots of hands)

I’ve done it. But every time I did, I was nervously expecting something to go wrong.

When it comes to spiritual things, we’ve got to put the meat to the side. We had two baptisms last night. Pastor Taylor, can you share with us about that?

> There was a gentleman who was watching this TV preacher talking about baptism in Jesus’ name. He was so determined that he wanted to be baptized, that he started searching online for a church that baptizes in Jesus’ name. Our church was on the top of the list, so he called us up and asked about getting baptized.

Let us consider one another. If everyone put their consideration on one another’s needs, just think how much better things would be! We all say we’re Christians, right? Let’s put it to the test. I’ll use myself as an example. I’ve prayed “God, use me.” And suddenly everything goes wrong. The kitchen sink breaks; my boss asks me to work late; and suddenly I’m just as miserable as anyone else. Where is my prayer life? Where is my walk with God? What happened to all that fellowship I’ve had? And then I’ve got to stop and say, “Okay, God. I’ll do it your way.” And then someone says, “You must be a Christian.” How can they tell? Or then again, (I’m still using myself as an example,) someone may say “I thought you were a Christian.” Maybe I lost my temper; maybe something else went wrong. I’m thankful that God has placed men in my ministry who could show me how to grow through all that.

John, how long have you been in the Navy? Six years? However long you stay in, somebody was there before you, and somebody will be there after you. People will remember you when you’re gone, saying “That John Conner was a really cool guy. He always used to take us out for pizza and fellowship.” Or maybe they’ll see your walk kind-of plateau for a while, and they’ll say, “I remember when he used to …” Have you ever plateaued like that? Jesse, has that ever happened to you?

> More often then I can count.

That’s why we should be accountable to one another. We know what accountability is.

First we’ve got a warning, and then we’ve got a solution. Chris, do I work with you on the ship? Jeff, do I work with you? Jim, do I work with you?

> No

Then how can this scripture be fulfilled, that we should work with each other daily? How many of you remember gathering on Tuesday nights to write letters to the brothers out to sea? And you never knew what effect those letters had until you went out to sea and got four or five letters at a time, and everyone else was saying, “Somebody must really love you!” But today, you can call me on my cellphone anytime; you can send me an email whenever you want. There’s no excuse not to stay in touch.

Doesn’t that feel good? We need each other spiritually, and we need to be in one mind and one accord, harmonious. Being together shouldn’t be a burden. When it becomes a burden, it’s because of us, making it a burden. If all of us were over in Afghanistan, in the Army or the Marines, we’d want to stick together. Spiritually, it is a life-and-death thing. We have the power to give life or to take it away. We make jokes around here and pick on each other, and maybe it’s all right and encouraging. But be aware that some brothers may not take it that way. There are some brothers that we can joke with each other and we have a language to ourselves, but there are other people who could be hurt by that same language. Do you know that many people in war are killed by what is called “friendly fire”? We can be the same way.

Good ol’ Nehemiah; he really stepped up to the plate. He took it personally. He said, “My homeland. My people. My ministry.” Take it personal. We must protect our ministry. If we do the things that are spiritual and right in God’s eyes, he’ll take care of things for us. Each day we should seek to have small victories, and build them up. Ask me how my day was, Todd.

> How was your day, Rod?

Oh, man; not only did I have to work late, but I ran over the cat, and my car broke down, and it was terrible. How was your day?

> It was great! We all have things that go wrong from time to time, but you’ve just got to keep a positive attitude, and God will pull you through.

Now how many people want to hang with Todd, and how many want to hang with me? Hey, at this point, even I want to hang with Todd! Spiritually, if I know somebody is hurting, and I can do something to help or encourage them, then I’m going for it. So what if it causes me to lose some sleep? So what if it causes me to miss going to the movies? The moment you stop paying the price is the moment you start going down.

So Nehemiah said, “I must build.”

Wow! Isn’t that something! He told the king, “I must build.” Then he says, “You see the distress that we are in.” It’s all our problem; it’s all our opportunity. He goes on to say, “come, let us build.”

God may lay things on your heart that you’re scared to do. But don’t let that stop you from moving forward. Notice who Nehemiah was talking to: First he told the king, but then it says in verse 16:

So he didn’t speak to the rulers, the priests, or the nobles. He spoke to the people, and “they strengthened their hands for this good work.” You might be the one who God uses to motivate me at two o’clock in the morning, saying “Come on; we’ve got a baptism to go to.”

How many of you have worked for a captain or an admiral? You don’t just go up to him and say, “Hey, man; my evals are coming up, so take care of me, willya?” No; there’s a protocol to follow. But you can still be the catalyst to make something start happening. Nehemiah was that catalyst.

Let’s finish the study by reading this last verse, all together.

It’s a great thing, being in God’s army, reaching forward to make it to that goal together. You’re not the Lone Ranger; we’re all in it together.

A Wise Sower

> Jay Ugali

The reason why I started with this parable comes from my uncle. In his back yard, there was a field, probably half the size of this fellowship hall, that was just stone. It was ugly. So I wondered, “What can I do with this place?” I don’t have a green thumb, but I know that dung is good for growing things. So I started spreading dung and soil and hauling away the rocks. It was part of my program to lose weight before joining the Navy. I could carry two buckets of dirt and dung at a time, and it would only cover a small piece of ground. So as I read this parable, I think about all the work that goes into sowing seed.

So I was thinking about sowing. How many sowers do we have here today? How about spiritual sowers? It should be every one of us.

How many of us have gone out into the street and thrown seeds there? How many of us have thrown seed among thorns or stones? We have the word of God. What are we doing with it? How many of you guys are going to throw your seeds among the wayside? None of you, I hope. The Bible says:

You remember when we first got those invite cards, and we said, “Guys, don’t just hand them out to everyone; you’ve got to be careful.” How much more careful should we be with the word of God?

Did that seed grow? Yes, it grew. But what happened? There was not much earth. So what do you think we’ve got to do? I’ll give you a hint: it’s in Luke 13.

How many of you have handled dung? Does that stuff smell good, or what? I’m a city boy. For me to go into a village and smell this dung, it wasn’t good. But then I looked around and saw this fresh ground, and these stones, and I said, “Let’s see what I can do with this dung.”

This is no longer a seed. This is a tree, but it has no fruit on it. None!

How many of you guys have been in this ministry more than five years?

> (Lots of hands)

How many of you have been here less than five years?

> (About half as many hands)

That makes me think, what are we doing? Most of us have been here for a long time: five, ten, fifteen years. I’ve got to make sure that I continue to study and do what God would have me to do.

So who does meat belong to? The strong. Who does milk belong to? Babes. I like to use this as a gauge. What am I sharing most of the time? Is it just milk-stuff? What am I taking in? Is it just milk-stuff? But he says, “You have need that one teach you again…” It’s like you’ve lost your first love. Most of the New Testament is designed to encourage and teach. We’ve got to learn how to encourage the church. “C’mon, you’ve got to be careful! God purchased that soul with his own blood!” We’ve got to ask, “How am I treating the new people around me? How am I working with them?” We have to look at ourselves and say, “I’ve got to be more dedicated at going out and sharing with the brothers.” Who is reaching out to the new people? The seed that fell on the stony place, if you take that plant out of the ground and take it to your house, you’re responsible for it. That’s a lot of responsibility. It’s like when we see the new people out there. Don’t try to hammer them over the head with scriptures; you’ve got to love them. You’ve got to feed their flesh first; take care of their physical needs.

You know what’s really powerful? When you have a testimony.

Going good so far, right?

Persecution because of what? Because of the word, he is offended. That’s why I appreciate those who have the testimony of how they overcame by the word.

Now think about when Paul said, “I die daily.” A lot of us got up at a crossroads, and you could have gone back home to wherever you came from, but you decided that this is a life. It’s not like the military where you only do five, ten, fifteen years. Some of us, that’s our testimony. God has done so much in our life that we say, like Peter, “Where else can I go?”

How many brothers have said, “I want you to teach me a Bible study about this. I need you to share with me about that.” If that’s not happening, then we’ve got to ask ourselves where we’re at? How many of you have cleared out thorns? It’s hard. We have so much talent in this room; it’s so good to see all the brothers working together. But it’s about more than just playing an instrument or singing or working in financial ministry or whatever. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that you should withdraw yourself from one church and go to another. No, you work with what you’ve got.

When I read this, I’ve got to ask myself, “What am I? Am I a tare?” How many of you have ever gotten taught by somebody who is no longer here? What do I do now? If the righteous scarcely be saved, what am I doing?

Jesus said, “I have chosen twelve of you, and one of you is a devil.” We see what the enemy does; he waits until everyone is asleep, and then he goes around and sows that seed. That’s what’s going to happen to our ministry, if we’re not careful. That’s why it says,

You just don’t know. The Bible says,

You have to prepare the ground. Before you throw that seed there, take out all the thorns; take out all the stones. You’ve got to do all you can to prepare the ground. Otherwise, the seed won’t grow.

The Bible says to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. I’m not saying that any of us are serpents, but how many of you would hand a scalpel to a small child? We’ve got to be careful to use that scalpel for healing and not for killing.

How many students do you have? As you look at this room, how many here are your students? How many are you teaching? That’s a good gauge to have.

Now, imagine a soldier being so concerned about this life. How can you take the thorns out? How can you be a minister? How many of us have given up good jobs for the ministry? I remember when my cousin wanted me to be a bouncer, at fifty grand a year. If we find ourselves being caught up in this world, we can’t be good soldiers. How many of you have been soldiers? That’s not me. I don’t want to be on the ground with somebody shooting at me; I already dealt with that in L.A. We look around at the leadership, and we have the examples set before us. They get married and have kids, but they don’t use them as an excuse; they still do what needs to be done. But so many of us get used to doing whatever we want to do. It doesn’t matter that we’re having all these baptisms; how many of them are going to stick with it? We’ve got to ask ourselves, “Am I doing enough? Am I pulling up all the stones? Am I digging and dunging it?” I’ve got to appreciate the steward of the vineyard, because he said, “Give me a year.” I like what brother Jim does. How many of you has he taken out to dinner? That’s ministry.

Yeah! Pastor Taylor, how many brothers have given you headaches? I’m one of them, right?

> I’m not going to answer that.

You see how Satan works? Even amongst the body of believers, Satan is there. It says,

Yeah, those things are going to happen.

Be busy in Jesus. Dig out the stones and weeds in your own personal life.

I want to encourage you all in that. There is so much to be done, and we should be careful in how we use the sword of the word, not shoving it down people’s throats. Be careful with the word of God; it’s very powerful.

Sunday Plus, 11/28/10

Songs

• The Glory Of It All
• Mighty To Save
• From The Inside Out

Intro

> Mike Jackson

I was talking to my wife this afternoon, and to me the message this morning was really powerful. The Bible says that if we gave our all, one hundred percent, we’d still just barely make it to heaven. That was a real eye-opener for me, because that guy said, “Wish you were here.”

We’re charged with going out and being about Christ. So be thankful, because by God’s grace, you can make a difference. Only by God’s grace. So be thankful.

Message: Pure Religion

> Scott Shepherd

The idea of “pure religion” comes from James 1:27.

We tend to have a bad connotation with the word “religion” in our culture. We tend to associate it with people standing by the roadside with a blowhorn and a sign that says the world is about end, and we’re all going to hell.

We want to look at the difference between man’s idea of religion and God’s idea of religion. The biggest difference is between legalism and the freedom of the grace of Christ.

We’re going to start in the book of Luke. Luke was born in Greece, probably of Jewish decent. It is believed that he was from Antioch. He wasn’t there with the disciples, but he was sent to investigate and report on what had happened.

So, he’s writing to Theophilus, and Theophilus was asking him to investigate these these things. We’re going to Luke because he kept things brief. He was the “Reader’s Digest” of his day. I like Luke; he’s my kind of guy.

So we see here in the beginning of chapter six something different from the other accounts in the gospels.

So here’s how chapter six starts out. The Sabbath was a very important thing to the Jews; it still is now. There were thirty-nine rules as to what constitutes “work”. So the Pharisees were following them around in the corn-field, (which I think is a little strange, to begin with.) And when they say “corn”, it’s a generic term for grain. God had said to do no work on the Sabbath, and harvesting grain was one of those thirty-nine things that they defined as “work.” So they challenged Jesus about working on the Sabbath, and Jesus didn’t answer them about right or wrong; he just related a story about what David did on the Sabbath. He was running (which I guess he shouldn’t have done on the Sabbath day either, but he had to, because Saul was trying to kill him), and he went to the priests for food. The only thing they had was the shewbread, so they asked, “Have you kept yourself pure, lately?” and gave it to them.

The point is, there are a lot of things that, by the letter of the law, might be wrong. We tend to make up rules as Christians, but I don’t think that’s what God meant when they said, “Do not work on the Sabbath.”

When I went to Israel, there was an elevator, and on the Sabbath day, it stopped at every floor, because it would be a sin to push a button or change a circuit on the Sabbath day.

The funny thing about legalism is that it’s a bunch of rules that are not what the scripture said. Now, we do need rules; we can’t all be anarchists and say, “Whatever feels good to you is okay with me.” But we get in trouble when we say, “This rule is equal to scripture, and if you break this rule, you are in danger of going to hell.” You aren’t in trouble with God when you break a rule; it’s what goes into breaking the rule. It’s all about the attitude that goes into your decision.

So if I live my life by a checklist of “do’s” and “don’ts”, then one of two things will happen. Either I will become a minimalist, and do just what I have to, or I’ll be lifted up in pride because I did more than the checklist required.

There is a concept here about when you are blessed and when you should take heed. The word “Woe” means a denunciation, or warning of impending evil. The concept here is where you’re gaining your identity. If you’re gaining your identity in the things of God, then the things of this world won’t mean that much to you. So what are you worried about? Is it money? Is it fame? Are you worried about what people say about you? What are you getting your identity from? If it’s from God, then everything you do will have an audience of one. So if I get up here and teach on Sunday Plus and it’s all about me, then I’m in trouble. If you say, “There’s Scott; he’s a good teacher”, or if you say “There’s Scott; he’s a terrible teacher”, and I’m doing it for God, it won’t matter. What will matter is whether I’m teaching the word of God.

So we find here that if our material things are the things we’re most impressed by or worried about, then we’ll have problems. It said, “If someone takes your cloak, give him your coat also,” and these people probably only had one coat and one cloak. I know that if I had to pack everything up and move, it would probably fit in one car. But what he’s basically saying is, don’t get caught up in material things. If someone takes what you have, just give it to him and don’t worry about it. Does that mean you should just walk up to some guy and give away everything you have? Well, if that’s what makes you happy, I suppose.

But if there’s someone that you don’t like, and you’d want to just spit on them, whatever face you put on that, Jesus says love them, unconditionally. If you’ve been abused or treated poorly by someone, then Jesus says, “Love them.” That’s much easier to imagine as a concept than to put into reality.

If someone were to be sexually inappropriate to the point that the law gets involved, you don’t have to let them off the hook. You should still call the cops, but you should forgive them. And just because you forgive someone doesn’t mean they shouldn’t suffer the consequences of what they’ve done. So who has mistreated you? Who has lied to you? Who has done wrong by you? If you can love that person, you can love anybody.

There is a particular person who I felt treated me badly. I had been playing piano for about three months, and there was a particular song that was a little “above my paygrade,” so to speak. And this particular Sunday, the music went really badly. So afterwards, Pastor Wilson took us all down to the basement, and I’ve never heard Pastor Wilson yell like he did that day. He said, “And some of you couldn’t even play your instrument, so I had to come play it for you!” that

So let’s continue with what is probably everybody’s favorite verse.

I want to be careful with this particular section of scripture. People say, “You can’t judge me; the Bible says judge not!” But the Bible also says you’ll know them by their fruits. If I go up to an apple tree and expect to see apples, and I judging? I don’t go to an apple tree and say, “I’d really like an orange.” Have you met someone who is always negative? They’re always judging; they’re always saying, “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” That’s part of what Jesus is talking about. The other part is, if we judge someone, whatever judgment we pass, we are accountable to the same standard. If I go to Aaron and say, “Hey, brother; you’re wrong. You shouldn’t be doing that.” Then Aaron has a stick to beat me with if, at any time, he catches me doing the same thing.

I like verse 38. Have you ever gone to the store and bought a big bag of potato chips? It’s huge. This thing is half as big as I am. Then I take it home and open it up, and say “Who stole my chips?” Well, they had this bucket of grain, and they would fill it up, then press it down and stir it up and pack it down, then pour in some more. What God is saying is that if you give, you’ll get more than you can fit in your bucket. It will spill over into your lap. Sometimes we get the idea that if we give, we’re cheating ourselves. But my attitude is, if I give something, it wasn’t mine to begin with. I’m just the steward of what God already has to begin with.

Here’s what this has to do with tithes and offerings: If I gave you some money to give to charity, and you came back to me with a story of “Well, I didn’t ever get around to giving to that charity, and I spent too much money on other things, so I needed it for food.” Would I give you more money? I think not. That’s enough about money, I think.

So we in our lives either have a truth problem, or an obedience problem. Either we haven’t heard the words of God, or have forgotten what God has said, or we have a problem with obeying what God has said. I hear a lot of times, “You know, God has really been dealing with me about that, and what I heard today really gave me a new perspective. I’m going to do it.” Then a few days later, I hear them say, “I’m confused.” At some point, the rubber has to meet the road. You have to stop praying about it and start doing it.

The main thing I want to get across is that it’s not about rules; it’s about obeying God.

We are either of ourselves, or we are of God. And if we’re of God, then we’re good tree and we’re going to bring forth good fruit. And if we’re a bad tree, and bringing forth bad fruit, then we’re of ourselves and not of God. It’s like that murderer on death row, when they say, “He’s a good man at heart.” No, he’s not. He did bad things. I don’t care if his mother says he’s got a good heart; it isn’t true. I know because of what he did.

I hope that you’re able to take this and read Luke chapter six along with Matthew chapters five through seven, and take this message to heart. I know that God is love, and he will give unto us according to the desires of our heart, if our desire is to be like him.

Sacrifice

Trading up, not Giving up

In Saturday morning’s Leadership training, we covered John Maxwell’s “Law of Sacrifice.” Over and over, we heard that leaders have to “give up to move up.”

I had a hard time with that lesson, because it sounds like a sucker play. A lot of Christianity’s critics despise the word sacrifice, because they think it’s all about the followers becoming poor so that their leader can become rich. So I looked up the word to see what it really means. Here’s what I found:

Sacrifice

(n) 1. A surrender of something of value as a means of gaining something more desirable.

Wow! That put a whole new perspective on things. Sacrifice isn’t about giving up what you have and expecting nothing in return. Sacrifice is about letting go of what you have so that you can trade it for something better.

Racoon Traps

In the book, “Where the Red Fern Grows”, there’s a description of how to trap a wild raccoon. You drill a hole in an old log, and polish up some metal slugs so they’re really shiny, and drop them down into the hole. Then you drive three nails into the log around the hole, so the points come out just above the bottom. A raccoon will see the shiny things at the bottom of the hole, and will reach in to grab them. He can reach his hand past the nail points into the hole, but he can’t pull his fist back out. Along comes the hunter with his gun, and the raccoon knows he’s in trouble. He knows he’s in danger of losing his life. He’s growling and snarling and spitting and fighting for his life. And all he has to do to get free is to let go of those shiny things. But the raccoon isn’t capable of making that sacrifice. He just can’t let go of those shiny things, even to save his own life.

Old Testament – Physical sacrifice

What was the difference between Cain’s offering and Abel’s offering? Cain was a farmer, a “tiller of the ground”, and Abel was a herdsman, a “keeper of sheep”. They both gave God something of what they had. But the scripture says that whereas Cain gave “of the fruit of the ground,” but Abel gave “of the firstlings of his flock.” Cain just gave any old thing, but Abel only gave the best. That’s the difference.

So what was Cain saying by his offering? And what was Abel saying by his offering? Cain was saying, “God, I’m willing to trade some of what I have for whatever you have for me.” And Abel was saying, “God, I’m willing to trade the best of what I have for whatever you have for me.” God took Abel up on his offer, but he ignored Cain’s. Why? God wasn’t going to accept Cain’s offer because Cain didn’t put a high enough value on what God had to offer. It’s like they were playing “The Price is Right.” They both wanted what was behind “door number one” and Abel bid higher than Cain. So Abel won the bid.

New Testament, pride for humility

“I may be poor, but at least I have my pride”

What is the advantage of having pride? Why do we place such a high value on it?

pride

a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.

All of us want to be the center of our own universe. All of us want to believe that the whole world is focused on “me.” That’s natural. That’s the flesh. That’s why we’re sometimes willing to give up everything else, but not our pride.

In the book, Mister God, This is Anna, this four-year-old girl named Anna visited a church once. She didn’t like it much, and when her friend Fynn asked why, she explained that the preacher wouldn’t let God be his proper size. “He makes the difference between God and people bigger, but he doesn’t make God bigger. He just makes people littler.” Anna implicitly understood that in order to let Mister God be his proper size, all you needed to do was to move out of the center of your world and let Mister God move in. That’s all.

The Rich Young Ruler

For the young ruler, his riches are what gave him self-worth. That’s what enabled him to be the center of his own universe. When Jesus told him that he had to give that up, he found he couldn’t make that sacrifice. He knew that spiritual riches are better, but like the raccoon, he couldn’t let go of what he had.

Naaman was the “big cheese” of his day, and he acted like it. The little maid said he should go to the prophet, but that wasn’t good enough for him. He went straight to the top, to the king. In fact, he had his king send a letter to Israel’s king, and brought what he thought would be a fair price to pay for a healing. In short, he acted like a big-shot. When he was told, once again, to go see the prophet, he was too good to knock on the door; he waited outside for the prophet to come to him. So the prophet sent his servant to say “go wash in the Jordan”, Naaman got mad. Why? Because the prophet refused to treat him like the big-shot.

Now here’s the lesson of the story: In order to be healed, Naaman had to trade in his pride. He could have held on to his pride and stormed off in an angry huff. In fact, that’s what he started to do. But his men convinced him to get off his high horse and just do it. So finally, Naaman “swallowed his pride” and did what the prophet told him to do. I’m sure he felt silly, but he finally decided to put a higher value on his health than on his pride. And so he was healed.

Become as little children

The disciples were all on the same team, but like any team, there was a little rivalry; they argued among themselves about who was better than the other. So finally they went to the coach to settle the argument. They asked, “Who’s gonna be the big cheeze in heaven, boss?” And Jesus said, “None of you will, with that attitude. You’ve got to start over, just like this little child, or you won’t even get into heaven.”

• Baptism – being born again

The Bible teaches us that being baptized is like being born again. To be saved, we’ve got to kill “the old man”. We’ve got to say, “God, I want to trade my whole life for salvation.” That’s what being baptized means – that you place a higher value on salvation than on your whole life up to that point. So you’re willing to start over, start fresh, make all things new.

Growing up religious

For a lot of people who grew up in church, this is a hard message to receive. Most churches basically teach that if you don’t do anything too bad; if you’re basically “good” people, then God will let you into heaven. People grow up with examples of “good people”, like their mom and dad and aunt and uncle. They build their whole value system on the foundation that if you’re good enough, you’ll be saved. And then someone tells them, “Nope. That’s not good enough. You’ve got to start all over.” That’s a hard message to hear. It’s like you’re a marathon runner, on the twenty-second mile of a twenty-three mile race, and somebody says, “Sorry, guy. You’re on the wrong track. The real starting line is over there.”

Can you imagine how hard that is? And for people who overcome all of that and accept the message of salvation, it gets harder. Now they face the challenge of going home and taking that message to all the good people in their family, the ones who taught them everything they knew. How hard is that?

Paul was in that situation. He grew up in a very religious, very strict family. He was educated in the best schools; he mixed with the very highest society. And then God literally knocked him off his high horse and told him to start over from scratch. He accepted the message of salvation, but now his heart goes out to all those good people he grew up with:

These are God’s chosen people! These are people who have made sacrifices! They have sacrificed their goats and sheep and cows and incense and gone through every ritual required by the law, but like the rich young ruler, they haven’t sacrificed their pride. They haven’t moved out of the center of their universe and let God (who actually is the center), take their place. And it hurts Paul to know that they’re not going to make it. He says, “I wish I could be wrong so they could be right. I wish I could be cursed so they could be blessed.” But God doesn’t work that way. To be saved, you have to make that highest sacrifice. Tradition won’t save you; going through the motions won’t save you. You have to trade in your whole life, to make all things new.

Baptism of Spirit

Last Sunday, we covered the essentiality of water in baptism in Jesus’ name. Today, we’re going to take the other half of that; we’ll be talking about the spiritual baptism.

In the Old Testament, God’s spirit wasn’t given to everybody. Only a handful of people prophesied by inspiration of the spirit of God. But there was a prophecy that there would come a day when the spirit of God would be poured out upon all people.

There are all kinds of TV shows about ghosts and spirits and witches. But when people open themselves up to that realm, they don’t know what they’re getting into. It’s an awesome thing when the Holy Ghost is poured out on your life, but people are looking for that in all the wrong places.

There are spirits. The Bible says,

As I said, the only difference between angels and demons is who they follow. Otherwise, they’re exactly the same beings.

Don’t get wrapped up in the study of angels. The Bible teaches us to study so that you will be able to discern, when the time comes, what spirit is what. You won’t get that information by studying the spirits, but by studying the word of God. Ask yourselves, is what you’re going through going to pull you into God, or push you away from God? That’s a real quick test. But how many in the world today are really looking for that spiritual experience? Oh, my! People everywhere are looking for that experience. And we have it, church. We know what it is to have the Holy Spirit poured out upon us while we’re in prayer and worship. The whole world is looking for that, but they’ll never find it. It’s our job to take it to them.

Here, John says you will be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire. What is fire used for, besides heat and light? It’s used for purifying. The Bible talks about God’s spirit being as a refiner’s fire. I’ve seen gold being refined. I used to think you went digging for gold and found these bright shiny things. But when you dig it up, it’s dirty; it looks like ugly pieces of rock. When they refine it, they heat it up, and add some stuff that binds to the impurities and makes them float to the top, and scrape that off, and do it

You’re not going to first get the Holy Ghost until you get your act together.

The Bible says to rehearse it in their ears.

We’ve got to get that word out, telling people about what God has done, what he’s doing, and what he has yet to do for us. And then they will cry out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

When we look at the beginning of that chapter, we see:

Speaking in tongues seems to be a topic that most churches don’t like to talk about. But you have to understand what this is all about, and put it in its proper place.

In Acts 2, we hear about the prophecy that’s coming true:

The scripture comes from the book of Joel:

The Bible says that things happen to people when the spirit of God is poured out on them. I remember going to church and hearing about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. But nobody talked about what the Holy Ghost is. Last week we went over it to a certain extent in John 14, where Jesus spoke of the Comforter.

How can he speak the world into existence? How can he part the waters of the Red Sea? I don’t know how God does it, but I know that he does.

I remember the first time we were at a little church in Waukegan. We were all praying at the altar, and I had just recently been baptized. I had never experienced the move of the Holy Ghost. And when God started moving on me, I got scared and jumped up and ran to the back of the church. But Jim spoke to me about the …

Speaking in tongues is a visual and audible evidence of what’s going on.

In Acts 8, Philip was preaching to the Samaritans.

How did they know that the Holy Ghost wasn’t come upon them? Because they had not received the witness of them speaking in tongues, proving that it was God’s will for the Samaritans to come to Christ.

The next example we read about was in Cornelius’ house. All of a sudden, they started speaking in tongues. Peter didn’t tell them to speak in tongues. Peter was preaching to them about Jesus Christ. The Jews were uncomfortable, because they were supposed to be separate from the Gentiles, and here was Peter bringing the message of their savior to the Gentiles.

The evidence to the Jews that God had opened the door to the Gentiles was the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, and them praising God.

The next example we read is about a few disciples that Paul found in Corinth:

Boy, that would be a conversation-stopper. Ask somebody sometime, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?”

You can’t get away from the evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost by the evidence of speaking in tongues. You just can’t get away from it.

I just took a drink of water, from a nice glass. I’m thankful that they provided it. But if you ask Jim Bailey for a drink of water, and he goes in the back and gets a toilet plunger, turns it upside down, fills it with water, and brings it back, you wouldn’t want to drink out it. Even if Jim says it’s a brand-new toilet plunger, never used, you wouldn’t want to drink out of it. Because it’s a toilet-plunger.

You are the vessel of the Holy Ghost.

It’s time for us to prepare our vessel for the receiving of the Holy Ghost. You take time to ask God, “What is in me that is not right? What is in me that limits your power?” And you take the time to change your habits, change your lifestyle. You can’t offer your vessel for God to fill if it’s a toilet-plunger. You’ve got to wash your vessel in the pure word of God.

Will Aygarn, you remember when we were around the coffee table in the “cool room” at Hillside. People would get the Holy Ghost ten and twenty at a time. Jim Ottoson, you remember when we were on trips, and we anointed even the bathtub. Those hotel rooms were just … Whew! It was awesome! Because we wanted what God had.

Our body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Clean it out, and prepare it.

How many of you have been watching the TV series, “Hoarders”? I just can’t imagine living that way. If you did, how many people do you think you could invite over for a football party? How many do you think you could fit in there?

As we talk about the Holy Spirit, yes we want the benefits of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we want to be a vessel fit for the master’s use. But church, you’ve got to want it enough to clean up what’s in your vessel.

The Bible says the the world is the enemy of God. You can’t straddle both. You must prepare yourself for the gift that God has for you.

There’s a story about a boy who’s getting ready to graduate, and they’re talking about getting him a car, and the boy and his father are out shopping, and they find just the right car. The kid asked his father when he would buy the car, and his father just said, “Wait until you graduate. Then we’ll see.” On graduation day, the father gave his son a box wrapped in a ribbon, and said “I’m proud of you, and I want you to have this. The son shook the box, but it didn’t rattle. He opened it up and found a Bible. He got so mad that he stormed out and never spoke to his father again. Years later, when his father died, he was sitting next to his mother at the funeral, and she said, “Your father really wanted you to have this,” and handed the box to him again. When he picked up the Bible and opened it, there was a check for the exact amount of the car they had picked out so many years ago.

Church, are you rejecting God, because he’s not moving in your life the way you expect? God has a design, and we’ve got to be ready to follow God’s design. We’ve got to get rid of all our prejudice and preconceived notions. God doesn’t take our advice.

Now we’re going to spend some time in a little bit of those preconceived notions.

The fruit of the spirit is different from the gifts of the spirit. The fruits of the spirit is the evidence that we bear in our lives. If you have the spirit of God in your life, your life will bear evidence. You’ve got to show that you are in God, and God’s spirit is in you. And that’s go to happen before God puts his spiritual gifts in your life. If you’re not showing the fruits of the spirit in your life, God won’t add those extra gifts.

Part of getting ready for God’s gifts is bearing fruit for God. Pray, “God, if there is anything in me that is not right, clear it out.” In the “Three Chairs” study, we talked about those drawers that are in our life, that we don’t want God to see. You can’t have those drawers in your life. You’ve got to let God’s light shine in every part of your life.

We’re never perfect, but if you don’t bear fruit for God, you won’t get the gifts of the spirit.

God wants you to covet the very best gifts. Covet them; seek after them. I have wanted a very specific gift. God has used me in this way a couple of times in my ministry, but he hasn’t given it to me consistently.

I asked Dave if he could play the piano, and he said, “I’ve tinkered with it.” I said, “Great! Tinker with it a lot.” So he practiced, and now his playing is fabulous. The more you use the gifts that God gives you, the more you will be able to use those gifts. As much as I want to, I’ll never be able to master the piano. There are some gifts that you won’t have until God puts them in your life.

You might not have the gift to get up in front of a large group of people and teach, but you can sit down with one or two. You might not have the gift of prophecy. The Bible says to earnestly seek out the best gifts, but not everybody is going to get them. There are a lot of people who have spoken in tongues and think that they’ve got the gift of tongues.

What is the definition of prophesying?

> Expounding the word of God.

Many people think it’s standing up and saying, “The Lord says ….”. But really, it’s saying, “The Lord hath said…” I know people who could be talking about horse races or something, and then suddenly they’ll say, “Let’s pray,” and the next thing you know they’re speaking gibberish.

Church, there is a need for speaking in tongues. There is a need for you to speak in tongues, because it’s God speaking to and through you. But it’s not the gift of tongues.

I’ll never forget the time in that little church when someone spoke in tongues, and a little boy stood up and spoke, clear as a bell, “The Lord hath said …” That was amazing. If someone has the gift of tongues, there will be someone to stand up and interpret what is said, for the edifying of the church.

So you need to pray; you need to cleanse your life; you need to speak in tongues, but it’s different from the gift of tongues.

The military used to have bugle calls. Custer had them; Joshua had them. But you had to understand what that particular repetition of sound meant. When I first got aboard ship, I heard a bugle call and wondered “What’s that?” Everybody else was running around getting ready for lunch, or taps, or general quarters.

The Bible is not confusing, church. It really isn’t. Yes, when you get saved, God’s spirit comes in. God’s spirit tugs on your heart. You show fruits of that spirit in your life. Study the gifts of the spirit. They are the gifts that God gives to the church, but not everybody will have them. It’s like the body: somebody’s got to be the eye, and the mouth, but somebody’s also got to be the sole of the foot. Church, not everybody is going to have the gifts of the spirit, but every one of you is supposed to have the fruits of the spirit.

Seek earnestly the best gifts, and seek earnestly to speak in tongues. Many of you remember brother Terrance speaking in tongues, and there was another brother dancing around in the spirit. He hasn’t been the same since, has he? But that doesn’t mean he has the gift of tongues. Because nobody was there to interpret.

I hope this doesn’t leave you scratching your head. When God’s spirit first comes tugging on your heart, invite him in. Don’t worry about cleaning it up; it gets cleaned up. Then, as God’s spirit starts manifesting in your life, seek for that spirit in you to be dominant. Seek for God’s spirit as evidenced by speaking in tongues. Then seek earnestly the best gifts, to edify the church.

I want every one of you to go home and worship God and speak in tongues. But in church, seek that you edify the body of believers. Think how much better our church would be, if you had a prayer life like that. Think what kind of church this would be, if there were manifestations of God’s spiritual gifts. Think of what it would be like if the sick and lame could come up and someone could lay on hands and heal them. Think of what it would be like if we had the gift of teaching, if there were people we could send anywhere in the world and know that the word of God was being taught and people getting baptized.

Sunday Plus, 10/17/10

Songs

• [Come, Now Is The Time To Worship]
• [Take It To The Lord In Prayer]
• Awakening
• Love The Lord
• How Can I Keep From Singing
• [I Will Yet Praise Him]

Message: Repairing The City

> Scott Shepherd

We’re going to start in the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is an interesting book. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for the king. The cupbearer would taste the wine before the king, to prevent the king from being assassinated. So he was like any one of us; he wasn’t a priest; he was just an ordinary guy doing a job. Fortunately, I think that none of our bosses are asking us to taste their food to make sure they don’t die of poison.

Chisleu in their calendar was like the month of November or December in ours.

By the way, Nisan would be like March or April.

So Nehemiah was the guy who was responsible for rebuilding Jerusalem. If it wasn’t for Nehemiah, there wouldn’t have been a Jerusalem for Jesus to come to. So this was an important moment in Jewish history.

When he was upset about Jerusalem’s gates being burned, you have to realize that it had happened a hundred and forty years previously. It’s like I told you that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and was really upset about it. Jerusalem was destroyed before Nehemiah was born, so he grew up with that knowledge. So I don’t think he was upset because of any new news; he was upset because he had a new perspective. He spent the time between December and March praying about the situation, and he came to a conclusion.

Jerusalem was suppsed to be like that “city set on a hill”. It was supposed to be the example to the rest of the world of what Godly life was like.

Nehemiah started his prayer by acknowledging God in his greatness. That’s the same way Jesus taught us to pray.

So the first thing that Jesus taught us to do was to acknowledge God. That’s how Nehemiah started his prayer. He said, “God, you are great, and you are the only one who can fix this problem.” The next thing he did was to confess the sins of Israel, which had put them in the situation they were in, even though they had happened before he was born.

Sometimes we as Christians are very good at telling other people to confess their sins, but not so good at confessing our own. I need to confess my sins to God every day. Nehemiah didn’t start out his prayer saying, “My father’s house really messed me up.” He didn’t blame anybody else. The problem with blaming other people is that you can’t fix other people; you can only fix yourself.

There are people around us who are the representation of Jerusalem laid desolate. And when I say desolate, I mean like after Hurricane Katrina came through. We need to be like Nehemiah and go into their lives and repair their walls. They have been laid waste by the enemy, and they are chained to their sins. They need someone to go in and share the light of Jesus with them.

Back to Nehemiah. Artaxerxes was the king, and he saw that Nehemiah wasn’t happy. That was bad for Nehemiah, because he was the king’s cupbearer. When you’re the king, you don’t like to see your cupbearer unhappy, because maybe he’s only pretending to taste the wine, and it’s actually poisoned. So I like how Nehemiah starts his answer. He says,

I like that. He says, “King, I like you. We’re good!” But if you turn to the book of Ezra, which is right before Jeremiah, you can see where the king had signed a decree forbidding the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

So Nehemiah was going, “Hey, you know that decree that you made, telling us not to rebuild Jerusalem? I want you to reconsider it. And not only that, but I’m asking you, in front of your wife and the court and everything, to send me to be the ambassador to rebuild the city.”

So not only does he get the king to send him, not only did the king make him an ambassador, even told him to stop on the way and get some wood for the rebuilding.

Why is this example important to us today? Nehemiah was a slave, a cupbearer. He did not have the resources to rebuild Jerusalem. The king had all the resources. Likewise, when we offer to help someone, we don’t have to worry about having the resources. God has all the resources.

The last point I want to make is that God had told Moses that if the people transgress, they will be scattered. But if they return and obey God’s commandments, God will gather them together.

If we likewise return to God, God will allow us to be like that city set on a hill which cannot be hid, and we can shine the light of Jesus into the lives of all those around us.

Baptism of Water

I’m looking forward to today’s Bible Study. I couldn’t get all of it into one night, so we’re going to break the doctrine of baptisms into two nights, and we’ll finish it up next Wednesday night.

Today we’re going to be talking about the water side of the doctrine of baptisms.

So we’re going to be talking about one part of the doctrine of baptisms. We’ll start with Christ’s words as he commanded what to do:

Christ right here commands baptism. But before we go on, I’ve got to spend a few minutes, because there is a lot of confusion in the church world about the name of Jesus and the trinity. You won’t find the word “trinity” in the Bible. You will find in the Old Testament that God said, “I am one”, and “There is none beside me” over and over and over. So if he was one in the Old Testament, why are there three in the New Testament? It’s simple. I am a father; I am a pastor; I am a husband. I have different hats. But I’m not three different people. You wear different hats. You base your actions and reactions on the relationships you are in. God is the creator; the father; the giver of all life. Jesus is the son of God. The Holy Spirit is that part of God which dwells in each of us. But how can we limit God by saying that he is one thing and not another? God is here, but he’s also in Japan, and Iraq, and Chile. We don’t have a God who is limited in what he can do. We limit God by our unbelief. If we think that God won’t be somewhere, then he won’t be there – according to us. But what we say or believe doesn’t limit what God can do.

You’ve got to understand who God is, and what God is, and what God is capable of. You’ve got to understand that to understand what Jesus was talking about when he said:

Jesus himself gave us an understanding of the oneness of God:

I have been told by a lot of people that I look a lot like my Dad. Pastor Paine looks a lot like his Dad. In fact, at a family reunion, he nearly gave one of his aunts a heart-attack because she thought he was his Dad, come back from the dead. But what Jesus says here isn’t, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen someone who looks like my father.” He says,

A lot of people just blast past that and don’t think about what Jesus is telling you there. He’s saying, “If you have a hard time with my words, look at what I’m doing, and then ask yourself if a man can do these things.” A man can’t, but God can.

Jesus was a comfort to those around him. He was a comfort to his disciples. He was a comfort to everyone who came to hear him speak, because he spoke the truth. Now he’s talking about another comforter:

Verse 18 is very important:

Now who did he say was going to come to them? Another comforter. But who did he say would come to them? He himself.

In this one passage, we hear Jesus saying over and over there is one God. You might see different things, but there is one God.

Pastor Paine and I rode motorcycles across the country in our leather jackets and motorcycle boots. And people said, “You’re a pastor?” People who saw me had to struggle to look past my clothes to recognize me.

If you see Jack Rohrer driving up in his pickup, do you say, “There’s God?” Of course not. It’s God in us that we love; it’s God in us that makes the difference. The Holy Spirit in us is what comforts us. Jesus said, “I, I, us.” You can’t get around the fact that there is no separation; Jesus taught that he was God manifest in the flesh.

If we’re to do everything in Jesus’ name, why is it that most people don’t baptise in Jesus’ name? The very first act you can do as a believing Christian is to get baptized. But the innocent babes in Christ are being lied to, by saying “Oh, you can just get dribbled on, and we’ll call it baptism.” Or they do it by total immersion, but “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” You can’t find a single instance where people baptized any other way than by full immersion in Jesus’ name. If God had meant it to be done “in the name of the father, son, and Holy Ghost,” why did the very men he was speaking to in Matthew 28:19 go and do it another way? Don’t you think God would have struck them dead if it was wrong? God struck Ananias and Sapphira dead just for lying about a little money they got for selling their land.

The key is in Mark 16:16:

The key isn’t your baptism; the key is your faith. What do you believe in? If you believe in God, then your faith is secure. The very first thing God tells us to do is believe on him, and the second thing he tells us is to be baptized. A lot of people say, “If I don’t believe, do I have to be baptized?” No, if you don’t believe, you can do whatever you want to, and it won’t make any difference. But if you believe in God, then you’ve got to do what he says, and that includes getting baptized.

Nicodemus doesn’t ask Jesus any questions. He comes in making a statement. “We know you must be a man of God.” And the next thing Jesus says is, “You must be born again.” I’m saying, “Wait a minute; what are we talking about?” Imagine Nicodemus! “Whoa, Jesus! What are you talking about here?” But Nicodemus didn’t ask a doubting question.

See, he’s still judging things by the spirit.

Now, how powerful is that? That’s why Hebrews talks about the doctrines (plural) of baptism, because there’s one of spirit, and one of water.

They are obeying the gospel. We cannot see God in them, but we can see God through them. When you are obeying the gospel, people can see the evidence of God in your actions.

Why did John baptize? Well, in the Jewish culture, there were special places for being baptized, called miqvats. They had to have flowing water; it couldn’t be stagnant. I’ve seen several ancient baptismal pools in Jerusalem. It isn’t just a New Testament thing. John wasn’t doing anything new; he was telling people they had to wash their sins away, the same as the Jews had been doing for hundreds of years.

Jesus went down into the water, and he came up out of it. It was total immersion. When I see documentaries about Jesus, I pay special attention to how they do it. The one that always gets me is where Jesus walks out into the water, bends down, and then John pours a handful of water over him. The word “baptizo” means total immersion. The word “rantizo” means sprinkling. When you go to get baptized, you don’t want some doing “rantizo” over you.

Jesus was totally immersed, and he led the way for all of us. Because if he obeyed it, what gives us the right to argue or deny it?

Why water? God has used water throughout the Bible as a purifying and creative thing.

So our world was a ball of water, and out of the water came forth land. The beginning, the nurturing, the thing that started it, was water. You couldn’t have animals and man living in water, but the way God did it is to start with water, and from the water he brought forth land.

We find in Genesis 6 that God was really upset with man.

But God said to Noah,

God saw all that man had done corrupted all that God had done. And God had to cleanse the earth, and he buried it with water. And there’s the direct symbolism to our salvation. Our life is sinful, until we come to God. And when we come to God, the water of baptism symbolizes the cleansing from sin.

God told Noah what to build to save himself. God allowed Noah to live because of his righteousness. God saved righteousness and he killed sin. He killed sin under the water, and saved righteousness on top of the water. We did a project where we compared the scale of the ark to an aircraft carrier, and it was almost as big. And he didn’t have Black & Decker back then. He had to cut and trim and fit it all by hand. God told him to put a big door in the side, and he made no provision for it to be closed. The Bible says that when Noah and his family went into the ark, and the Lord closed the door.

When God provides a way for you to be saved, you’ve got to decide which side of the door you want to be on. As Bill Cosby said, “How long can you tread water?” Don’t you think there were some good Moms and Grandmas back then? Don’t you think there were parents who tried to throw their children on top? If they ever find the ark, I’m quite sure there will be claw-marks all around the sides. But God didn’t make provision for the good; he only saved the righteous.

In Exodus, we see another example of how God used water in his plan of salvation.

There was a curtain that surrounded the tabernacle, and there was one door. The first thing you saw when you came through that door was the altar of sacrifice. Then there was the lavern of water. And beyond that was the actual structure of the tabernacle, with the shewbread, and the candle of incense.

The priests had to wash before they entered the holy place, lest they die:

God put a lavern of water, and he told them they had to wash in it. Why did they have to do it? Because they didn’t want to die. They had already seen Aaron’s first two sons; they offered strange fire and got killed. So you think the next two sons got the idea? “I’d better do it right, or I’m not going to be alive to do it at all!”

For another example, Naaman’s wife had a Hebrew slave who said, “Why does your husband suffer from leprosy? Doesn’t he know there is a God in Israel who can heal him?” So Naaman wrote a letter to the king and said, “This is what I understand, so I’m coming to be healed.” The king said, “Oh, God!” Because Naaman was the chief warrior of the army. But the prophet heard of it, and said, “Send him to me; I’ll take care of it.”

He’s like a little kid, throwing a temper tantrum, because he couldn’t do it his way. His way had never cleansed him before; his way had never purified him before. He had washed in those rivers and nothing happened. Now he’s mad because he can’t do things his way. But his servant had some brains:

In other words, he said “What’s the big deal? Just do it!”

He had washed in those other rivers in the past, and nothing happened. But when he did it God’s way, in the water that God told him to use … nothing happened the first time, or the second, or the third, or the fourth or fifth or sixth. But the seventh time, he came up clean. What do you think would have happened if he’d gone down the eighth time? He’d have come up a leper.

We’re not going to be saved if we do it any other way than what God said for us to do. And he said to repent, and be baptized in water, in Jesus’ name, washing away our sins. Why did it say to do it in water?

In Ephesians it says that salvation is not of works; it’s not of man; it’s not of anything we’ve done. When you look up that word “works” you’ll see that it means doing good deeds. Baptism isn’t a good deed; it’s doing what God said. The Bible says that there are good works that are ordained that we should walk in.

What is circumcision? What is it? It’s removing the foreskin off a man. Know why they do it to kids? Because us guys wouldn’t stand for it. And in those days they did it with a sharp stone, with no anesthesia. Now, to whom was circumcision given? Moses, or Abraham?

Abraham.

And who came first, Moses, or Abraham?

Abraham.

So Moses had been told by God to do a certain thing, and he was on his way to do it, and an angel of God met him by the way to do it. Why do you think that was? Because Moses had not circumcised his son. So his wife had to do it, and she said, “A bloody husband thou art to me, because of the circumcision.” And she wasn’t even Jewish.

This is the circumcision made without hands, because it’s a circumcision of the heart, and you can’t do that by cutting something off with your hands.

Again, going back to Genesis and the earth being covered by water. The circumcision happens when we obey Christ and are buried by him in baptism. That burial washes away our sins, so we can rise in newness of life.

In the Miqvats, they had to have running water, because the person being baptized had to walk down into the water and walk up out of it. Why did they have water going into it and water going out of it? Well, would you like to go down into someone else’s sins?

This is the very first instance of the New Testament church practicing baptism, and they did it by full immersion in the name of Jesus.

They heard it; they believed it; they were baptized. But how do you know they were baptized?

The eunuch was returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and he was reading Isaiah. God sent Philip to him, and he asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” He said, “How can I, except some man teach me?” And Philip started to preach to him Jesus. It doesn’t tell what he said; it just says he preached to him Jesus.

If Philip wasn’t teaching about baptism, then why would the eunuch ask that question? When they were teaching about Jesus Christ, they were teaching baptism essential to salvation.

When you share with people about Jesus Christ, you just can’t tell them about the goodness of Christ, and leave out the message of salvation. Salvation isn’t about being good buddies with Jesus; it’s about submitting yourself to God and obeying him in baptism.

Now, in the next example, the gospel had only been preached to the Jews, but God finally got the message through to Peter that it’s time to let the Gentiles in. So Peter went to see Cornelius, and preached a message, and they all started praising God and speaking in tongues. God had to do that so that Peter and the Jews with him would get the idea that the Gentiles were accepted into the plan of salvation.

Now, there wasn’t anything in the message that Peter had preached that told them to do anything. The only thing he told them to do was to be baptized.

The spirit of God touched her, and she listened to what was spoken, and she got baptized.

A lot of people put a period there and call it the end of the chapter. But there’s more:

The jailer asked, “What do I need to do to be saved?”, and he taught him the word of God. And the message that matters is Jesus crucified; he rose again, we get baptized, and we live a new life in Jesus. It’s that simple.

This shows important that baptism was to the disciples:

Think about it. He didn’t ask them, “What synagogue did you go to?” He asked them, “Unto what were you baptized?”

They heard the truth about baptism, and they got re-baptized. You say, “I was baptized, doesn’t that count? Nope.

There’s one baptism. So which one is it?

Some people say that the Bible doesn’t say that baptism doesn’t save. Yes it does:

Church, “he that believeth” – you’ve got to believe the gospel – “and is baptized” – and you’ve got to be baptized. But if you don’t believe, then it doesn’t matter.

Some of you say, “How could all of those people be wrong? My momma didn’t lie to me! My daddy didn’t lie to me!” Church, I’m not saying that those people were dishonest; they just didn’t have all the information.

If you’ve not been baptized, and you want to be baptized, or if you were baptized but it wasn’t in full immersion in Jesus’ name, we’ve got three hundred gallons of water back there, and we’ll do it. But don’t do it because this church said so; you study and find out for yourself what the Bible says. If I’ve told an untruth, and you can prove it in the Bible, then I’ll repent. But if I’ve told you the truth, then it’s up to you to do what it says.

Next week we’ll go over the spiritual baptism.