Yes & Amen - Part 1 (Dependability)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

Once again, turn in your Bibles to the book of 2nd Corinthians. 2nd

Corinthians chapter 1. This week we'll be finishing the chapter by covering verses 15 through 24, and I've titled this message,

All the Promises of God in Christ are Yes and Amen.

This is what the Apostle Paul will tell the Corinthian church in verse 20. He says,

For all the promises of God in him are yes and in him amen to the glory of God through us.

So what is Paul saying here? He's reminding the church that you can depend on God.

God has and will keep his promises because all of the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ.

So Paul wanted to let the church know that just as they could depend on the

Lord, they could also depend on him as a worker of the

Lord. Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 starting in verse 15. And this is the confidence

I intended to come to you before that you might have a second benefit to pass by way of you to Macedonia to come again from Macedonia to you and be helped by you on my way to Judea.

Therefore when I was planning this did I do it lightly or the things

I plan do I plan according to the flesh that with me there should be yes yes and no no but as God is faithful our word to you was not yes and no for the

Son of God Jesus Christ who has preached among you by us by me Sylvanus and Timothy was not yes and no but in him was yes for all the promises of God in him are yes and in him amen to the glory of God through us now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is

God who also has sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee moreover

I call God as witness against my soul that I spare you that to spare you

I came no more to Corinth not that we have dominion over your faith but our fellow workers for your joy for by faith you stand so after giving the

Corinthians a message of comfort and expressing his gratitude for them this is what we've covered the last two weeks starting in verse 15

Paul tells the church that it was his plan to visit them twice he talks about this he intended to leave the city of Ephesus and on his way to Macedonia he had intended to visit them but Paul's plans changed and apparently the critics that he had in the church the false teachers and those who have been led astray by them they took that as another opportunity to paint the

Apostle Paul as a fraud that you couldn't depend on Paul because he would say one thing and do another he would say yes but his yes ended up being a no now this the reason why

Paul didn't come he explains this to us in verse 23 he said I didn't come to spare you so he didn't arrive the first time for their sake he wanted to give the church a little time to fix some of the problems so he wrote to them and he wanted to give them time to repent so this was by no means

Paul not fulfilling his word as a man who is just unreliable that you couldn't depend on Paul that really that was an unfair accusation so I want to spend the first part of this message we're going to break it up into three parts the first part of the message

I want to talk about the importance of dependability and that's point number one because Paul was dependable then point number two we'll look at how

God is dependable amen we give an amen to that God is dependable and all the promises of God this is so interesting all the promises of God are fulfilled in Christ and then number three we'll see how the

Holy Spirit is given as a guarantee of our salvation that we who are saved we can depend on God not only to save us but to keep us saved so let's start with point number one the importance of dependability turn at this point to Matthew chapter 5

Matthew chapter 5 again the accusation against Paul is that you couldn't take him at his word that he said one thing he said yes but his yes ended up being a no a few weeks ago you remember when my father gave the sermon he to illustrate a point told us of the trials and tribulations of trying to get a plumber remember that we'll be there

Monday Monday came and went no plumber oh we'll definitely be there

Tuesday Tuesday comes and goes we will absolutely be there first thing

Wednesday morning what happened no plumber not dependable they never showed up so we all understand the importance of dependability look at what

Jesus says keeping your word if you say you're gonna do something you need to do it look at what

Jesus says in Matthew 533 again you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not swear falsely but shall perform your oaths to the

Lord but I say to you do not swear at all neither by heaven for it is

God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool nor by Jerusalem for it is the city of the great king nor shall you swear by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black but let your yes be yes and your no no for whatever is more than these is from the evil one so you can see the similarity between this statement and what

Paul is talking about in 2nd Corinthians 1 yes yes no no so let your yes be yes and your no no what does that mean you don't need to make oaths and vows and I swear

I cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in my eye you don't need to say things like that your word should be good enough the psalmist wrote in Psalm 89 verse 34 my covenant

I will not break nor alter the word that has gone out of my lips on Wednesday night we're going through the book of Genesis and right now we're last week we looked at Jacob and his experience with his uncle

Laban remember what Laban did could you rely on Laban's word his yes ended up being a no he altered the word out of his mouth he broke his agreement so that is a very dangerous thing to do and it really reveals a lack of character so we should be able to take other people at their word people should be able to depend on us whatever happened to that all you need is a man's word and a handshake whatever happened to that now

I know Dr. Fauci has said we should never shake hands ever again but you know what and by the way you can shake my hand anytime just do it at your own risk alright but that aside a handshake aside people should be able to take us at our word but we live in a time where dishonesty is is so common and people not only lie they will make vows and break them with complete disregard for the

God of heaven and this is just simply the world we live in and we're so used to it at this point it just seems normal well shouldn't be that way as Christians especially as Christians we should be people of our word and we should keep our commitments fulfill our commitments and if we simply do that you know what it's going to happen we're gonna stand out and that's going to be a good testimony just consider this we all want people to come to Christ and when we have the opportunity hopefully we are all sharing

Christ with someone else but if we have a reputation or develop a reputation where we don't keep our word or we don't fulfill our commitments if people know that that's the kind of guy

I am or the kind of woman you are when you try to witness to them and tell them of Christ how likely are they going to be to listen to you it's not very likely so we need to keep our word you remember in Acts chapter 6 when the

Apostles chose what many believe to be the first deacons you remember the characteristics they were looking for the first thing that is said the

Apostle said seek out from among you seven men of what good reputation okay so we should have a good honest reputation now sometimes things will happen and you will make a commitment that you're unable to fulfill and when you do that you try to make it right you try to explain to the person what happened that's what

Paul did he did change his plan he didn't just flake out he had a reason for it and now he's trying to explain to the church what that reason was so Paul did not treat things lightly we read that he said did

I do this lightly and it's a rhetorical question the answer is no and what is he doing these are his interactions with the church

I will come to the church I will be there and then he wasn't there so he tried to explain to them and make that right and let me just say this this isn't just about church leaders certainly church leaders have an even greater responsibility to keep their word and their commitments but this goes really for all members of a local church here's one way this might play out in a local assembly and this is not a you know commandment of course but if a member misses church on Sunday oftentimes they will come to maybe me or one of the deacons and say hey next week you know

I'm not gonna be here and here's why I'm going on vacation or whatever or if somebody misses church they might let us know well

I you know I have this commitment and letting you know why I wasn't here you know what that does it shows character it shows commitment it shows that people don't treat the house of God lightly and that is very very important so another thing about commitments and dependability there are so many things around any given church but this church there's so many things that just they need to get done there different roles and responsibilities jobs around the church and as the pastor it's such a blessing to know that there's people in these roles and the things that need to get done you know what they just end up getting done you never have to worry about it because the people in those positions they just do their job and they do it joyfully and they're serving the church and they're serving

Christ and you know what God will do God rewards people for their faithfulness and we praise

God for all those people that are dependable and do all that it takes to make a church operate if you ask any pastor and I've had enough conversations with pastors

I know this is true but if you ask any pastor one of the most important things for any church is to have a core group of people who love the

Lord and serve the Lord you know where they're going to be on Sunday morning they serve in the job they do they do it and they do it well that is one of the greatest blessings for any pastor any board of deacons or elders any church leadership and we certainly have that here at this church and I'm thankful for that are the deacons thankful for that say amen you are amen thanks for listening

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church you'd like to listen to the complete message or you'd like more information about the ministry visit our website