The Charge to Guard the Gospel - 2nd Timothy 1:12-18 - Part - 4

Well, good morning everyone and welcome to Faith Vital Church. We're glad you're here. Hello to the family that's at home watching this on YouTube We wish you were here and we miss you and look forward to seeing you real soon

But this morning we have an added privilege of Ellie Drusinga, one of our missionaries Your missionary is here to share with us this morning and welcome

Ellie and Dan and Jill are here. Her parents are here as well. Welcome and missionaries And we're just blessed to have you here.

So thank you for being with us Just very quickly Pastor Iljin Cho and his wife

Lauren will be joining us for worship on the 20th So that's just two weeks from now so keep them in prayer and then a week following after that on the 27th, he's going to be preaching and following that Service we're gonna have a fellowship lunch at the

Huffman's so plan on attending that Soon thereafter after this service There's not going to be a big gap or anything

But it is long enough for everybody to kind of gather their things and kind of head in that direction So be preparing for a smooth transition of travel and so on for the for the

Cho's It's a big big deal there as we prepare This morning for worship

I'd like to just read a short statement that Spurgeon made about worship It is the worship of a child towards a father feeling within himself a kinship with the divine

It is a worship brought in us by God and the Holy Ghost Because the father has sought us out and taught us how to worship him

It is a worship which which is not outward but of the inner man and occupies not hand eye and foot

But heart and soul and spirit. It is a worship which is not professional Not formal, but real hearty earnest and so acceptable before God That is what our worship is to be.

It's from the heart. It's from the inside out not from what's on the outside So would you join with me in prayer

Lord God? We thank you that we have been brought together father to worship you You are a great and mighty

God and worthy of our praise father We do pray for that We would worship you with a whole mind and a whole

Soul Lord that you would be pleased with our sacrifice that you would be pleased with our offerings of praise father

We are so blessed and so Grateful for what you have done in this church and what you continue to do and what the plans you have for this church father

We just wait in tremendous anticipation for what you're going to do Lord, we also thank you for LA for her faithfulness and spreading the gospel and Message and and Lord We ask that you would keep her and encourage her father as she continues on with the work of the kingdom

So Lord, thank you that she is here this morning and and thank you for her parents being here as well Lord Dan and Jill And Lord, we just this morning commit our service to you that you would be again pleased with what we have to offer you father

That we would all be encouraged in the word. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen Well as a brief introduction to LA some of She's serving in southern

Brazil And she'll give us a lot more information When she comes up she's with the

Brazil gospel fellowship mission and some of her early spiritual roots Began right here with her family when she worked it here with her family many many years ago and so She began in Brazil Since 2002 and I'm reading a bio that I got offline so you can't trust everything that you get off online

But she first taught English at a Christian school before moving on to language school since then she has been involved in deaf ministries camping ministries

Sunday school and children's programs Discipleship Bible studies teaching English as a second language working as a field treasurer helping in a church plant and a dorm mom

I like the way it ends with in a dorm mom. That's probably one of the toughest ones she had to do But what a gifted servant of the

Lord and so Ellie would you come and share with us now, thank you Good morning.

It's so good to be here with you guys again. I'm so thankful that it worked out I am worked out to pop in and say hi on our way through.

I have a PowerPoint With just a little quick update he listed all these things that the gods been doing in the last

Eighteen and a half years, so I just wanted to give you a little glimpse really quick of what we're up to right now

So you all know I am Ellie Dries and guess serving in Hugh Granger do so the Great River of the

South with Brazil gospel fellowship mission So we are in the land of the

Gauchos This is a little bit of review for some of you and a couple a few of you I don't think we know yet each other yet But the land of the

Gaucho is the Brazilian cowboy like the Gauchos in Argentina and so they have a very strong heritage and culture a

Lot of traditions, which is unique from the rest of the country as an Americans we have a lot of traditions, but Brazil in general doesn't have that and Then you come down south and it's like you've gone to a whole different world we have a strong German population and Italian population in our region and Sapieh Dunga where I'm working now was colonized by Germans and so there's

The grandparent generation a lot of them still speak German and so then the next generation also

Does because their parents did and so we have several German speakers in our church, so I started trying to learn

German now So Hugh Granger do so is the southernmost state it is border to Uruguay and Argentina and We are working in the region just north of Porto Alegre in the greater metropolitan area

That is five million people including the capital, so we have two churches that have been established in the last since 2009

Estancia Velha in Campo Bom, which you can see right here, and Then we currently our team has four church plants on the

Apuldo Dois Irmãos, Sapieh Dunga where I am, and Taquara where Katie Smith is working for those of you who know

Katie So Katie is living with me in Sapieh Dunga and commuting a half an hour to serve in the

Taquara church plant So Sapieh Dunga the city of roses when there's no

COVID we have a rose festival every year even And it's a big event where people come from all around It's a we have a population of about 80 ,000 so Considering that we're in a region of five million.

We're a small city So and you guys are from Sacramento, so you understand what a big city is

But 80 ,000 is not big enough in Brazil to even have a McDonald's We have no malls we do have a public hospital, but it's very small so We have a subway now, so we're moving up But our restaurants have real food

So what have we been up to recently the Lord Worked in amazing ways in this past year

Seemed like COVID stopped the world, but it did not stop the Lord And so we have had several new families coming to our church and in March We were waiting for COVID to ease off.

We've been waiting for a year for this baptism and finally the pastors decided someone offered their country property that had a pool and The whole church went out there because we were outdoors we went ahead and had everyone come is the first time

Since COVID started that our entire church body was together and so I like I jokingly say we were actually kind of technically breaking the law because you're not supposed to have more than 30 people meeting or something like that and So our pastor said no we need to obey the

Lord We need to baptize these people and so we went ahead and had our meeting and it was such a blessing to have everyone together

Fellowship in again. I've also been Meeting Monday nights with some women that the

Lord just pretty much dropped into my lap They just are hungry to study God's Word.

So I have an evangelistic Bible study on Monday nights now I was not expecting this one, but the

Lord these women it's funny though Because I started with three women and now I have three totally different women But God worked through starting with these other women to get to these women who really want to know who

God is Understand his salvation and understand the Bible and so Monday night is a really special time.

This is Amanda. She's our intern came to hang out for a month with me and Got plugged into some ministries and she stayed two months when the two months were up She decided we extended her ticket two more months

So by the the middle of June she'll have been with us four months She's going back to Fortaleza and in January she's coming down to live and help out with the ministry in Sapiranga So you can be praying for Amanda as we train her in the ministry hands -on

We have lots of baby believers in our church now, so you hear how it's hard To for Muslims to trust

Christ. It's not that much different the Gauchos. I know Muslims are harder But the Gauchos are very hard -hearted people and so for them to open up and trust

Christ is a huge Huge thing and we've had two young ladies in Sunday school trust the

Lord And then we've had a couple teenagers trust the Lord So we have discipleships with them as they learn to grow in their

Christian walk Besides these we have the regular children's ministry

Sunday school We're gonna start a girls group in June because we God has brought Several ten to thirteen year olds into our church who are in unsaved families and so we decided we need to do something to teach them what it means to be a godly woman and So starting in June, we're gonna start with a slumber party

So it's gonna be a big thing the parents letting their girls go to a slumber party without masks

You never thought that that would be a big thing, you know two years ago It's gonna be we're really excited the girls are so excited to go somewhere beside their own home

And to meet each other because these girls are all very isolated and they don't have

Christian friendships and so we'll start with salvation and then we're gonna look at each of the jewels of a of a necklace of a godly woman's necklace and So we'll look at a characteristic each time.

So we're really looking forward to this This is gonna be a really fun time with them And then also right now

I just finished yesterday listening to the last English verses. There's an English immersion camp up in the

Northeast And so I've been helping listen to English verses for the scholarships And so some year when the

Lord provides I will go and help teach too, but not this year I came to the US this year. So maybe next year.

I'll be able to go help teach so you can see here Katie and myself and Amanda and grace and mercy

Hanging out on the porch and just resting after all our busy schedule and So our focus for this year with the pastors and our team in our in the church of Sapirunga intentional prayer

We're supposed to pray continually throughout our day throughout our life But we want to encourage our people to take moments and separate times for prayer

Maybe even fasting our church had a meeting Online Set aside a church service to just be home and fast and pray and the pastors gave us

Guidelines to follow to teach people how to pray and then we want them to get together in fellowship and pray together, too

So we're trying to cultivate prayer Intentional evangelism not just sharing

Christ as you happen to bump into people but to intentionally build relationships to share Christ We have life to offer them we need to intentionally

Make a point of sharing Christ with the people that he brings in our life Intentional discipleship.

Our goal is that everyone in our church will be being discipled by someone and discipling someone else so I'm discipling

Bruna and I'll be teaching her to disciple her sister who she led to the Lord and Then as my ease will grow my ease that grows up will encourage her to disciple someone else and so we want to build this chain of helping each other become more like Christ and We are establishing our founding membership of church next week

Sunday So we are so excited in the last few months. We are legally established with the government as a church the

Lord has provided land for us. So in the next month Lord willing we'll start building and We have our founding membership as of Sunday, so we are really excited about what

God's doing right now So our land and building project the Lord has provided so abundantly for us in the last year

That we were able to have land. It's in the church's name now and we our first phase

We hope to begin building June 2021 and so since the

Lord has provided so faithfully we are going to start building and trust the Lord to provide the 19 ,000 that is lacking and We know that he will take care of that over the next six months, but it's been super exciting but then also like Six months ago when they built the project for the church.

We had enough money to build the whole church Because construction materials have more than doubled we will build half the church now

And I've heard that happen here in the US too And so we are thankful though because this building will give us the space we need to continue growing

Because right now we don't fit in the space we have now and that's with we don't even have everybody coming our space fits 50 people squished and We have over 30 people regularly attending even with COVID restrictions

So as long as the government doesn't come and give us a citation, we'll just keep meeting So God works in crazy ways

In ways you least expect so now that we look back and we see pastor

Mark went to the park to Evangelize and he met homeo who needed to borrow his cell phone because he was having problems with his wife

And he needed to call his wife. Well, not wife girlfriend that he lives with and So they made that connection and then the between homeo and Magliani They asked him to come teach to a

Bible study in their home. So he went and shared the gospel Later that night

Bruna who was there the daughter Heard the gospel from pastor Mark and trusted

Christ as her Savior and later. We found this out And so pastor Mark didn't even really know that that Bible study

Bruna became a child of God So Bruna I am discipling her now and she is growing when

I first started discipling her The first thing she said is I want to be a missionary and we were talking and then she said what is a missionary?

So she's learning what it means to be a missionary She has a real evangelist heart to share Christ with others and she's only believer in her family

Well one day they went to church. They missed the message in whatsapp that there was no church in In -person church in English.

Okay, there's no in -person church that Sunday. So they show up at church No one's there. So she took her sister and friends back home and taught them the gospel for Sunday school

And Maiza trusted Christ as her Savior so you can see you see this chain of events It started with pastor

Mark intentionally going to the park to evangelize Bumping into homeo and through all that the

Lord reached Bruna and Maiza for Christ So please be in prayer as Bruna and I begin discipling

Maiza after I return So you can see how things that we don't even think about God is using to reach a certain person

When we are faithful to share But above all thank you for your partnership in reaching southern

Brazil for Christ thanks for your sharing for your faithful prayers very much for your faithful prayers because God moves through prayer and Thank you for being my home church.

If you have any questions, I'll be around after church Thank you Ellie well, that's

It's inspiring. It's encouraging. It's challenging, isn't it for every one of us? It doesn't have to be in Brazil can be right here

Pastor John has been talking about that in recent weeks and and it's I You know, there's a mirror always standing up here when anything that comes out of my mouth

I'm I'm talking to myself that there's challenges here that we can each do that I can do so And I wanted to say before David comes

Welcome home Cain's Cain's have been gone for 15 days. How many hours how many minutes? Four hours about ten minutes a lot of sanctification going on in the cane household over the last couple weeks

And he is he is a happy man that they're home They're worn out and tired and we just prayed that they can get some rest later today

But anyway, thank you for being servants and being here playing for us and everything else. So and you too

John David, please come Well rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say rejoice and let's stand and sing be exalted.

Oh God God will hang on to you at all times

Well, praise the

Lord man we stand forgiven at the cross

Hallelujah. Oh To see our name Written on his hands what a blessing and what a blessing hearing from Ellie and I hope that what she talked about I loved the whole idea of being intentional you know when

I Normally my youngest daughter these days mows the lawn and edges You Know but when

I mow the lawn when I do anything I Have to do it intentionally and see we do things automatically, please

Please bear with me here because I love that word intentional If we don't come to church intentionally

To worship God in spirit and in truth The chances are we're gonna fall short

If we don't Intentionally get up and get ready for work and brush our teeth and do the things that we need to do and seek first the kingdom of God each and every day

The chances are we're gonna fall short So that's a great theme as we look forward to a new chapter in the history of faith

Bible Church starting in two weeks because I know that ilgen is

Intentional in his ministry intentional in his study Intentional in evangelism, you know as we walk out the door in the morning, you know many of us

You're still working at home, right? Kind of hard to You know reach out across a computer screen

But we can do it when we're out and about we can do it with neighbors As we pray and as we keep the idea of the purpose of the church right to equip you to get out there

Right and share the gospel amen very challenging so acts chapter 2

Acts chapter 2, of course, we're continuing this morning on this series of messages

The charge to guard the gospel and and again just keep in mind

It's falling under this banner of something we started months ago How do we stand firm in difficult days

I Know you're tired of me sharing how difficult the days are that we're living in I Mean Ellie talked about how

God works in crazy ways one Cellphone call leading to all that right?

Well, you know God is I mean his ways are much higher than our ways and what's going on in this country If you think that you're gonna wrap your mind around what's going on in this country

It's not gonna happen. Okay You hear me?

Hey, I can't explain it and I'm not gonna try to explain it. I just know that Jesus is still on the throne.

I Know the God of this world little G is running around like a roaring lion seeking who may me devour But I know the

King of Kings is over all of this And I know that he is going to give us the grace, but we're trying to learn.

What are some specific? Handholds tools that God has given us in his word that will help us stand firm when we're

Overwhelmed as it were by some of the stuff that is going on, right? when the governor of the state of California is holding a

Drawing to give away fifty thousand dollars to people that get vaccinated So the charge to guard the gospel is found in 2nd

Timothy chapter 1 Where the Apostle Paul Charges his beloved son in the faith who is a pastor and an elder in the church at Ephesus with these words hold fast the pattern of sound words

Which you have heard from me in Faith and love which are in Christ Jesus that good thing

Which was committed to you keep by the Holy Spirit of God Now we've seen how the early church lived in difficult days, right and we all agreed and It's in that context of living in difficult days that the

Apostle Paul charges his beloved son to keep or to guard actively

The good thing the treasure that was committed to him So let's get started today

We'll be to acts 2 in just a moment, but we need to get kind of into there Let's get started today by asking the

Lord To add his blessing to the preaching of his word. Amen. Let's pray Father how thankful we are for this day this great opportunity being updated on Ellie's ministry being so encouraged by even in the midst of What's been going on in the world people coming to Christ?

and of course the challenges that she has down there and the church has

Economically as I heard this morning, even the church where we Worship and share the building the construction costs

Going up probably $5075 ,000 just in the past few months

Lord. It's just amazing So Lord, we commit the preaching of the word to the glory of God to the exaltation of Christ Any that are watching the 27 to 32 people each week that watch these videos that might not know

Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior We pray father God that you might Use your word that we would see lost people come to Christ Even that might visit on a

Sunday morning here God in person Lord that we might Through this be challenged to be intentional father in guarding the gospel.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen So one aspect of standing firm in the last days involves believers

Heeding obeying this vital and sober charge that Paul gives to Timothy in 2nd

Timothy chapter 1 to guard the gospel And we've looked at some reasons why? Guarding the gospel is so critically important.

I've given you examples I could show you videos of what's going on in churches today But primarily we've seen by God's grace.

We're seeking to answer questions like these How how do believers fulfill and obey this charge to hold fast and to keep?

Guard over this this treasure of the priceless gospel. What is involved?

How do we do this? What is Paul saying and how should Christians today? Follow in Timothy's footsteps and obey this charge to guard the gospel and we've seen it first of all, right by Comprehending and the urgent need to guard the gospel if you don't know your lawn needs to be mowed.

You're not gonna mow it Right. Come on Yeah, I mean we know when we're hungry and we eat probably too much but effectively guarding and keeping the gospel starts at the beginning and the beginning is

Understanding and accepting the charge to guard the gospel and obeying it, right?

Secondly by understanding the vital importance that having a biblical

Christology is to guarding the gospel Remember as the scripture teaches no biblical

Jesus what no biblical gospel. It's that simple Now third by understanding some of the key and fundamental doctrinal elements of what the

Bible teaches about Jesus Christ you see effectively guarding the gospel requires having a solid understanding of some of the key and fundamental

Doctrinal elements of what God's holy inspired and Aaron word teaches us about Jesus Christ And we left off last week unpacking for Critically important doctrinal truths about what the

Bible teaches about Jesus remember the virgin birth the deity and humanity of Christ the

Lordship of Christ and finally We won't get to that today the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead so the scripture is very clear and teaches this singular truth

No biblical Jesus no biblical gospel Much of what is going on not just in the cults in the

United States Much of what is going on in many churches today is they do not worship a biblical

Jesus They worship a Jesus that wants to fill your bank account

They worship a Jesus that wants you to be wealthy and prosper

It's not the biblical Jesus We cannot guard the gospel If we don't know the gospel that Jesus Christ preached and died for and we cannot guard the gospel if we don't have a clear and biblical understanding of Jesus Christ as he has set forth in Scripture, okay.

I was doing some reading this week on this subject. I came across this quote and I loved it

The only Christ is a biblical Christ all Revisionist Christs are nothing but shadows of the

Antichrist Now I watched that to sink in the only

Christ is the biblical Christ All revisionist

Christ are nothing more than shadows of the Antichrist and See, we need to understand there have been revisionist

Christ's ever since the church began and we need to be alert and aware of this you cannot identify a counterfeit $20 bill if You are not intimately familiar with a genuine $20 bill

Thank you, sweetheart always serving So there's no

Jesus Christ except that is one revealed to us in God's Holy Word and obviously we could spend months

Studying that there's whole books big thick books written on Jesus Christ and if we were to take

If we could go off on any of any aspect of Christ that is taught in the Bible We would spend months just on the propitiation and and redemption and all of these

Incredible the deity of Christ which we already have covered the humanity of Christ, right?

So I narrowed it down to just four and the first one was the virgin birth of Jesus Christ We made three points about the virgin birth, right?

It is fundamental to having a biblical Christology Remember the virgin birth and I put them in the notes for you

Just to remind you the virgin birth demonstrates that salvation ultimately must come and can only come and does only come from the

Lord Secondly remember the virgin birth made possible the unity the uniting a full deity in full humanity in one person

Without that you would not have that you couldn't have the perfect sacrificial lamb the spotless land that would take away the sin of the world, right and The virgin birth is also important because it makes possible

Christ Christ listen Christ true humanity but without sin and Secondly we touch briefly on the full humanity the full deity of Christ, which we already covered earlier in the year

Miraculously brought together what in one person in the person of Christ so we left off last week sort of in the middle of the lordship of Jesus Christ and I ended last week with a quote from a

W Tozer and It goes like this. I'm quoting him. I'm not this good

I'm not this smart To urge men and women to believe in a divided Christ is bad teaching for no one can receive half of Christ or a third of Christ or a quarter of the person of Christ he is

Lord and Though this is him. I've memorized some of it He is

Lord and those who refuse him as Lord cannot use him as Savior Everyone who receives him must surrender to his authority

For to say we receive Christ when in fact, we reject his right to reign over us is utter absurdity

It is futile attempt to hold on to sin with one hand and take Jesus with the other What kind of salvation is it if we are left in bondage to sin?

And then finally the Bible plainly teaches That Jesus Christ is both

Lord and Savior He is Lord by the way before he is Savior and that if he is not

Lord what? He cannot be Savior so when it comes to effectively guarding the gospel understanding the lordship of Jesus Christ and having a biblical

Christology are inseparable acts 2 verse 36

Peter's sermon the very end of it Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this

Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ now when they heard this they were cut to the heart and Said to Peter and the rest of the

Apostles men and brethren. What shall we do? Then Peter said to them repent and let everyone to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the rich and sins and you shall receive the gift of the

Holy Spirit which in Context is the gift of salvation Not the gift of the

Holy Spirit. It is taught in many churches around the world Christians must know and stand and guard the truth that the

Bible Teaches that Jesus Christ is not just the Son. He isn't just the Savior. He isn't just the

King of Kings He isn't just the Alpha the Omega the beginning in the end. He isn't just our high priest He isn't just the

Messiah God the Father God. The Father says has made him Christ right

Has made this Jesus verse 36 whom you crucified both Lord and Christ and we must live our lives accordingly

Romans 14 14 9 Jesus is Lord of all Jesus Christ is Lord See see the thing is as I said last week whether someone believes in God or not

Does that deny the existence of God? No, because he is

Right in the beginning God. So whether you want to believe in God or not God is

That doesn't change the fact right whether you want to believe in I mean gravity. Okay.

I don't believe in gravity Okay, let's drop this 50 pound concrete block on your foot in the same way

Whether someone wants to submit to this truth or not or recognize this truth in their day -to -day living. I'm a

Christian The scripture tells us that Jesus is not just the Savior.

He's not just the Son of God. He is not just the Messiah He is not just the King of Kings. He is not just a believers high priest making intercession right now

Jesus Christ is Lord and if we claim the name of Christ We better be living our lives in light of this truth that he is

Lord of Lords Jesus is called Lord curious in the Greek over 740 times in the

New Testament just in the book of Acts Acts 2 47 Praising God and having favor with all the people and the

Lord Jesus Christ added to his church daily those who were being saved chapter 4 verse 33 and With great power the

Apostles gave witness to the resurrection what of the Lord? Jesus and great grace was upon them all chapter 7

Just in the book of Acts alone 92 occurrences of the word curious chapter 7 verse 49

Heaven is my throne and Earth is my footstool.

What house will you build build for me says the Lord and what is the place of my rest?

Has my hand not made all thing Acts 10 verse 36 The word which

God sent to the children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ He is

Lord of all See if we call on Jesus as Savior please listen and We receive him as Savior we must also call and receive him and serve him as Lord or we are not living out the commands of Scripture and We are not guarding the gospel

Go to Philippians chapter 2 Philippians chapter 2 Look how

Paul puts it to the church at Philippi Looks look how

Paul puts the Lordship of Christ Therefore God Philippians 2 verse 9 therefore

God has highly exalted him and Given him the name which is above every name

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and those on earth and of those under the earth and That every tongue

Should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the

Father You see so in the early church in The early churches preaching the

Lordship of Christ was clearly at the heart of the gospel that they preached

Now go back to John 10 John 10 Just a couple of quick Important truths to consider regarding the

Lordship of Christ We're just skipping over a couple of them One of it one of them is when it comes to the Lordship of Jesus Christ Remember that Jesus was it is and will always

Be God and since he is God was is and always will be

God Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever, right? It means that he is sovereign

It means he is sovereign. What does that mean? It means he's all -powerful it means he has total control over anything and everything that He wants to have right not a bird falls to the ground.

I just my wife. Thank God. She just cut my hair and as I was looking at the mirror,

I Realized the number keeps decreasing He has total control

Anything he wants to do he does Jesus is sovereign and by the very definition of the word

Lord Which would what you how it was used courios in the first century Jesus is

Lordship includes the idea of Dominion of Authority of power it included the idea of the right to govern the right to govern

He's sovereign as God is fully God. Jesus is sovereign Lord. That's why he said in Matthew chapter 12

I'm the Lord of the Sabbath Meaning he I mean we could go down this rabbit trail if you want

It would take the rest maybe next Sunday too and you get mad at me because I'm not gonna finish this before Iljin comes

Please listen Please listen when he says he's the Lord of the

Sabbath It means he has the authority as the lawgiver who gave the law to Moses God, but Jesus was there

He's Lord he is Lord over the Sabbath. He is Lord over the law

Jesus claimed equal authority with God and the G the Jews were so incensed at him for this statement that they tried to kill him and You want proof of the sovereignty of Jesus Christ The Jewish leaders could not kill him until it was ready

Until he was ready John 10 17 John 7 7 17 therefore my father

Loves me Look at this because I lay down my life that I may take it again.

No one takes it from me That's sovereignty

But I lay it down of myself that sovereignty I have power to lay it down sovereignty and I have power to take it up again this command

I have received from my father and see this influence the influence of Jesus authority and the scope of his sovereign

Lordship extends everywhere and everyone even over death itself read John 11 sometime 10 and 11 and the death of Lazarus and the resurrection of Lazarus after four days in the grave

Jesus is Lordship and sovereignty is limited. Jesus Christ is Almighty God. He is the creator and friends

He has the right and the power to demand compliance and submission to his imperial and sovereign authority

All Christians are under authority for every area of life

Listen, no Christian is Lord So many people are talking about leaving,

California, right? I'm telling you

We better not be thinking about it apart from the Lordship of Christ in our lives if we're a Christian amen

Do you understand that? Yeah, I'd love to I mean we've had conversations about it, but I'm not

Lord and my daughters aren't Lord We serve under the

Lordship of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords we not moving until he says move amen No matter how much we may want to So Jesus is

Lordship is evidenced in the fact that he's fully God also in the fact that he's sovereign and secondly Jesus is

Lordship is also seen in the fact that he is both Lord and Savior In other words, the two are linked together now this is this can be really humbling should be anyway and amazing

Because I want you to think about this for a moment Remember what I just said he is Lord what and Savior So think about this if you're truly born again here this morning or watching by video

Even though Jesus Christ is sovereign God He took willingly on himself the limitations of human flesh and Dwelt personally among sinful men and women

See, even though Jesus is sovereign God and Lord of Lords He willingly and joyfully took on himself the limitations of human flesh and dwelt personally

Among sinful men and women That's why John Mark 14 says the word became flesh

John 1 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and what the word was God and then

John 14 John, I mean 114 the word became flesh and dwelt lived among us

Go back to Philippians 2 Philippians 2 while the Sovereign Lord was on Earth he experienced all the sorrows and tribulations and temptations that are common to all of us

Hebrews 14 Hebrews 4 15 says he was tempted Just like we are yet.

He was without sin. Jesus walked on the earth. He showed his love. He demonstrated his power

He revealed in his behavior the righteousness of God yet. His demeanor was that of a servant

Philippians 2 7 Actually, I'm gonna go back to verse 5

I have time look let this mind be in you Which was also in Christ Jesus Who being in the form of God?

Did not consider it Robbery to be equal with God by the way, the Greek there does not say that he was some facsimile of God.

He was God That's what it's saying Form of God being God Like God that's the support by the way for the doctrine of the

Trinity He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God here it is but made himself of no reputation

Taking the form of a bondservant, which is doulos doulos depending on how you want to say it in the

Greek and coming in the likeness of men and Being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself

By becoming obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. So think about the gospel

Think of the cross Even though he is sovereign Lord of all Christ surrendered everything even to the point that he willingly died the most painful humility

Humiliating death man has ever devised and for what? to save To Save people like me and anyone else that were once enemies of God Not because we deserve it and Jesus did this for anyone that will come to him in faith though He was sinless and therefore not worthy of death

Romans 6 23 Jesus as Lord and Savior suffered the guilt of our sin first Peter 2 24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross That we might die to sin and live to righteousness

Romans 5 8 while we were yet sinners Christ died for us

Having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him

He is Lord and he is Savior and he is God and he did this

So you think about the gospel for a minute when someone by grace through faith receives

Christ as Savior, they must also embrace the one who is Lord and Who was declared to be so by God the

Father they must also let you rightly embrace the one who demands that every knee bows to his sovereignty

John 1 John 1 again John 1 12 tells us salvation belongs to those who receive

Christ but they must receive him for all that he is in the beginning was the

Word and The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him Through who God the Father? No God the Son and Without him.

Nothing was made that was made in him was life and this leads us to a final point back to Acts 2 21 a

Final point about the Lordship of Christ And I trust you will agree once you understand it or get a glimpse of it is a very very sober warning

And it's this It's a sober warning About either just paying lip service to Christ's Lordship or out and out rejecting his

Lordship See throughout church history Professing believers can and do

Pay lip service to what the Bible says and teaches about the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

See they will acknowledge this truth They'll sit there in church. Yeah. Yeah, I see it They will believe that Jesus Christ is

Lord But when the rubber meets the road Consistently in decision -after -decision

In situation -after -situation The truth is

They are Lord They're in charge

They're the ones calling the shots They're in authority

Not Jesus Christ as the one and only Lord and Yet the centrality of Jesus is authoritative and sovereign

Lordship to the gospel message is clear from the way scripture presents the terms of salvation

Look at Acts 2 21 It shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the

Lord Shall be saved and again verse 36. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this

Jesus Whom you crucified both Lord and Christ acts 1631 1631 believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved you in your household Romans 10

Romans 10 Verse 9 if you confess with your mouth the

Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God had raised him from the dead You will be saved

See we can go to these passages. We go to many others that indisputably Include and join together the

Lordship of Jesus Christ as part of the gospel according to Jesus now Let's take it one step further because we're talking about what we're talking about paying lip service to what the

Bible says about that And we're talking about out and out rejecting what the Bible says about the

Lordship of Christ go to Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 Sorry, I left my

Bible at home My New King James anyway, so I'm using a pew Bible.

It's kind of sticking together Matthew 7 Matthew 7

Jesus says that many who verbally please listen What am

I talking about? I'm talking about lip service So we're gonna read a verse here that talks about people many who verbally or intellectually admit to his lordship

Who will be turned away from heaven Because they do not do the will of the

Father who is in heaven verse 21 Not everyone who says to me there it is

Lord Lord Shall enter the kingdom of heaven

But he who does the will of my father in heaven Many will say to me in that day

Lord Lord Have we not prophesied in your name cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name by the way 21st century translation of that verse

Lord Lord. Haven't we gone to church? Haven't we given our offerings?

Haven't we cleaned the church? Haven't we led singing? Haven't we done this haven't we done that haven't we done many wonders in your name?

And then I will declare to you I Never knew you Depart from me you who practice lawlessness

What are we talking about church, please? What are we talking about? lip service

Lip service Luke 6 Luke 6 a Sober sober warning

About paying lip service to the Lordship of Christ. Look at Luke 6 verse 46

Why do you call me? Lord Lord and do not do the things which

I say this is Jesus speaking Now I love you

This is Jesus. I love you. So let me help you understand how important this aspect of my character is

Whoever comes to me and here's my saying and does him I'm gonna show you what he's like he's like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock and When the flood arose the stream beat

Veminently against the house and could not shake it for it was founded on the rock church What are we talking about standing firm when in difficult days, correct?

You want a house? That's gonna stand firm in difficult days Then do what he tells you to do

But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation against which the stream being

Veminently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great Lip service

Jesus frequently made his lordship the central issue With unbelievers everything he said remember to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19

Demanded recognition of his lordship. Jesus made it clear that obedience to him obedience to his lordship obedience divine authority is a prerequisite of entry in into the kingdom

John 20 John 20 John 20 28

Thomas says to the resurrection resurrected Christ John 20 verse 28 Thomas answered where verse 27

He said to Thomas reach your finger here and look at my hands and reach your hand here and put it in my side Do not be unbelieving but believing and Thomas answered and sent it to him my

Lord and my God Friends friends, please

Even demons believe James 2 19 even demons believe and shudder

Mark 124 records that as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue a demons -possessed man stood out and cried up What do you have to do to what do we have to do with you?

Jesus of nather is have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God So we can know

Jesus we can pay lip service right But is he our

Lord? Why do you call me Lord and not do what I tell you to do? Titus 1 16 says they profess to know

God but by their deeds they deny him Being detestable and disobedient and worthless

For any good deed see it is not just enough. My point is Scriptures point is

Jesus's point is it's not just enough to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ the notarized signature that authenticates true saving faith is

Surrender and obedience to the Lordship of Christ the definitive test of whether a person

Belongs to Christ is their willingness to bow to his divine authority

Jesus could not be Savior if he were not Lord Understand furthermore if he were not

Lord, he could not be king or Messiah. He could not be our great high priest or anything else see we need to know and understand that apart from Christ's Lordship every aspect of his saving work is impossible if Jesus wasn't

God if he wasn't fully human if he wasn't sovereign Lord, he could not have done what he did guarding the gospel means knowing and Understanding that apart from the

Lordship of Jesus Christ every aspect of his saving work is impossible When someone comes to Jesus for salvation they come to the one who is

Lord over all see any Message that omits this truth now. I'm not saying that you're telling the person

This is where we go. Oh, you mean I have to like immediately obey and yes, you're Lord and bow like this

And if I don't do that, I'm not a Christian. No, that's not part of the gospel Immediate obedience right now

Right and if you ever sin again, you're not a Christian that is not what the Bible teaches Understand but Do we intentionally?

Live our day With him as Lord Do we intentionally live our day with the idea when we can obey or disobey we want to obey?

That's humbling because you know how many times a day we're tempted not to obey. Come on I Mean even when you work from home you get those nasty emails

And you sit there staring at them. Okay, what's he really saying? Janet's older sister was a charge head of a whole cardio

Unit at a hospital before she retired I forget how many I Think she said 115 something nurses, but she told us one time about a class

She had to go to on how to write an email Because people today take emails so wrong.

I mean I take text messages wrong It is a defective

Ministry see that goes back to the four parts of the gospel. Remember the changed life part of the gospel the

Holy God the sinner faith by Grace through faith in Christ alone right part three, but what was part for the changed life?

Does he ever say perfection? No but intentionally Intentionally understanding that I have a new boss.

I Can't just pick up and leave California without checking in with the boss. Amen. I Can't change a job

I Can't accept an interim pastor without checking with the boss Amen, you understand the gospel offer of Christ includes all his offices and Gospel faith just so receives him to submit to him

Hey, we may not fully understand it when we're a brand -new Christian But as we grow in grace and faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ, we more and more submit to him we're more and more like Christ and We're gonna fall short.

We're gonna fall flat on our face over and over and over But if we go to him first John 1 9 if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just what?

To forgive us our sins and to purify cleanse us from all unrighteousness The gospel offer of Christ includes all of his offices

Here's the quote and gospel faith just so receives him to submit to him as well as to be redeemed by him to imitate him

In the holiness of his life as well as to reap the purchases and fruit of his death. It must be an entire receiving of The Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen Please bow your heads. I Maybe you have never even understood that as a part of the gospel that you heard you're born again

But you've never thought about Jesus being sovereign Lord over your life. He's King of Kings.

He's Savior, but you've never thought wait a minute. I'm under his authority He's gonna ask me one day why do you why do you call me

Lord Lord and not do what I say I Don't want that question

Take a moment Reflect on your understanding of Jesus Christ and And take a few moments to pray before David and Janet and the musicians come again and Then I'll close and then

David will come Please pray Lord Jesus You know how weak we are how frail we are as Harold said so aptly earlier.

We look in the mirror there there we are Can't deny what's looking back at us father

God we know that Standing firm in the last days Means Walking in obedience to your word it means trusting in Your sovereignty over what you allow to happen in our country in the world to know

God that the real answer to what's going on and Any country is not a

Politician but It is the good news of Jesus Christ Much of what we are seeing going on in this country as a result.

I mean, it's all mapped out for us in the Old Testament Judges chapter 2 a generation

Arose after Joshua and the elders with him died that did not know the great things of the

Lord You meet people today they've never even opened a Bible God can't say that was true 50 years ago

Who failed? Did you know? God we as a church.

I mean We have voted God We want to remain a lighthouse in this community

You've brought father God through an incredible crazy series of events this young man that loves you with all of his heart

God clearly and Wants to see people come to Christ and we may think father

God. Well, I'm too old. I'm Sitting at home But father you've called all of us to be witnesses

If we're truly born again we have a sincere faith that we've covered father and Father you make it so easy because you say guard by the

Holy Spirit Keep by the Holy Spirit. We can't do these things It has to be you using us as instruments

So father as we leave today, we think of those that we're missing Pray for your grace in their lives

God Those that have recently lost loved ones Think of our dear sister

Audrey God just dealing with various health issues We pray father

God that you might help us to be obedient to your word as we leave this place God That we might hunger and thirst for righteousness father

And grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen David and let's stand and sing

Oh church arise Praise the