Sermon - Rooted & Grounded

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

experienced your foibles as well as your successes. It's very different to write to people who are second, third generation down the road.

00:10

And here at the beginning of the second chapter of his epistle to the Colossians, Paul lays out what his desire for them and for all the other churches.

00:26

You'll notice in Colossians 4 .16, Paul says, read the epistle that's coming from Laodicea. How many of you did your devotions this morning from the epistle from Laodicea?

00:37

Boy, that's dangerous to do. Could you see somebody going, there is no

00:42

Laodiceans. But actually there is. I assume that's Ephesians. Ephesians, I believe, was meant to be a letter that was passed around the churches.

00:53

And so he's exhorting. He's writing in such a way that he's saying to these people, this is what

01:02

I want for all of you, not just the Church of Colossae, but the church at Laodicea and all of these churches that have been founded.

01:11

Because of the work I've done here in Ephesus, they were going to be facing for the next the enmity and hatred of the

01:22

Roman Empire. Two and a half centuries were going to pass of martyrs giving testimony of their faith in Christ.

01:41

250 years. Think about that. So what do we need,

01:50

O great Apostle Paul? What does the church need to have to face that kind of challenge?

02:02

We're told. Let's look to the text. For I want you to know how great an agony, great a burden.

02:13

It's the very word we get agony from. What great burden I have for you and those in Laodicea and for everyone who has not seen my face.

02:27

So here's his burden. Here's the Apostle Paul's burden. He calls it a great agony.

02:34

And this is his desire. That their hearts might be encouraged, comforted.

02:45

It's the very term that Jesus used of the paraclete, the Holy Spirit. That their hearts might be encouraged, comforted.

02:57

And then he uses some participles in series to explain what that means.

03:06

What does that look like? What does it mean to have your hearts encouraged and comforted?

03:12

Well, that they be knitted together, woven together in love.

03:22

He's talking about the individuals in the churches, the members in those churches. Their hearts should be woven together in love.

03:36

And he desires them to have all the riches of the full conviction that comes from understanding.

03:47

He wants them to have a full conviction, a full understanding that comes from understanding.

03:59

And understanding what? The true knowledge. They are to have a true knowledge of the mystery of God, which is

04:09

Christ. Which is Christ. In fact, it's interesting. In the original language, it simply says, the mystery of God, Christ.

04:21

The mystery of God, Christ. We in English have to throw in which is or who is or something like that.

04:28

Mystery of God, it's Christ. It's the Messiah. It's the

04:33

God -man. It's the one that breaks down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile. And he wants them to have a true knowledge.

04:45

Not just something you heard about, but a knowledge that's in here.

04:52

A knowledge that's experienced. A knowledge that's spiritually born, so that no fancy arguments, as he's going to talk about here in a moment, can come along and sway you and move you.

05:09

This is the burden he has. Because he's not going to get to come there. He's not going to get to do the hours of instruction.

05:19

Now it's time to be trusting the ministry of the Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So this is what I want for you.

05:26

There's a description of a spirit -blessed fellowship. Encouragement.

05:34

Hearts knit together in love. The full riches of the full conviction of understanding.

05:43

And a true knowledge of the mystery of God, which is Christ. Any believer, this should be the goal.

05:55

That you have quickly, early on in your Christian life, to understand these things.

06:03

The mystery of God, Christ, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge have been hidden.

06:17

In Christ. All the treasures. Yes, the standard word you use, the treasury.

06:25

The great riches of Rome or the ancient Greek state. All the treasures of wisdom are not to be found outside of Christ.

06:40

Because they're hidden in him. All the treasures of knowledge, true knowledge, will only be found in Christ.

06:49

But we know so many unbelievers who have true knowledge.

06:57

I had a heart procedure done 11 years ago. And I'm pretty certain the guy who did it was not a

07:03

Christian. But he had true knowledge enough not to kill me.

07:11

So how can he say this? Well, we've explained it many times before. If you have that kind of knowledge, it's because you're borrowing it from the one who makes it possible.

07:25

We're going to be told in just a few sentences exactly what all this means. But for the

07:31

Apostle Paul, he wants the believers to understand, to recognize.

07:38

If you want the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, they're hidden in Christ. I can't tell you how many times over the years

07:48

I've had young men come to me. And they're all excited about theology. And they're excited about going to seminary.

07:56

And I look them in the eye and I say, don't you dare walk into those hallowed halls and become embarrassed about simply believing what the

08:09

Word of God says that comes to you through the ministry of Jesus Christ. Don't become enamored with all the learning and the knowledge and the philosophy, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, they are found in Christ and in Him alone.

08:35

And he says, now I'm saying this. Why would I be saying this?

08:40

I'm saying this so that no one may deceive you, lead you astray, fool you with smooth arguments.

08:57

Arguments that sound so good. And they're expressed in such beautiful words and such great rhetoric.

09:09

Paul knows as long as we recognize who Christ is and we are firm in our understanding of who

09:18

He is, then people can come along with all sorts of arguments and we will stand firm.

09:25

Even if you do not possess the kind of rhetorical skills to fight back, any believer can have the

09:39

Spirit -born wisdom and foundation to be able to recognize smooth arguments.

09:51

He says, I say this so that you need to understand this is what the world's going to do to you.

09:59

For even though I am absent in the flesh, I am gathered together with you by the

10:09

Spirit. And I am rejoicing and seeing your discipline, your order.

10:16

It's the very term used in military documents for how the soldiers would march in line or they would stay in line in the line of battle.

10:27

And so I'm rejoicing, seeing your discipline and the steadfastness, the immovability of your faith in Christ.

10:43

This is His burden. This is what He wants to see for the church.

10:49

That means that this apostle, long ago, when he expresses his desire for those young believers, they don't have 2 ,000 years of church history behind them to stand on.

11:04

They don't have a library of apologetics works. They are the first generation.

11:16

And so Paul knows what's coming their direction. Paul knows what the challenges are going to be.

11:21

And so he knows this is what you must be striving for. Don't let anything else get in your way.

11:30

When I think of what goes on in the church today and how so much of what we do and the programs and everything has nothing to do with any of this, my heart is grieved.

11:51

And I do not want us at Apologia Church to ever lose sight of what it is

11:59

God is calling us to. In these words, we need to have discipline.

12:06

We need to be steadfast. And that means we're not always looking for something new.

12:16

We're not always looking for something that will tickle our fancy. Discipline, order, steadfastness of our faith in Christ.

12:29

So he says, as you have received, Christ Jesus the

12:34

Lord, walk in Him. Some of your translations will say live. It's literally to walk, but that's what it's referring to.

12:43

Have your behavior, have your walk, your everyday activity in Him.

12:49

And since I'm going to be coming back to verses 6 and 7, I will not spend a lot of time on it right now.

12:58

Being rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith just as you have been taught abounding in Eucharistia Thanksgiving.

13:16

Thanksgiving. We will come back. But notice the context remains the same.

13:24

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ.

13:45

Please make sure you see what verse 8 is saying. It's a command. Look out.

13:52

There are those who will seek to take you captive, and they will use various mechanisms.

14:00

The philosophies of men, the traditions of men, the elementary principles of the world, and all of those are then placed in contrast to, because they all refer to different things.

14:14

But they're all placed in contrast to Christ, the standard for the believer.

14:23

If Jesus rose from the dead, what is the ultimate standard in all things?

14:30

See, we tend to think that that's just a religious thing. But if Jesus defeated death, if He was who

14:37

He claimed to be, then how can it be any other way? Then He is the final answer to everything.

14:51

I'll never forget standing in a Baptist church in London a number of years ago.

15:02

I was debating a Muslim. Now, at the time, I didn't know him very well. He was primarily just used to yelling at Christians at what's called

15:10

Speaker's Corner there in London. So it was a pretty knock -down, drag -out type of debate.

15:17

Got to know him later. Found out he's a big, huggable, lovable Pakistani guy. And our debates are different now than they were then.

15:30

But the Muslims were on one side of the room, and the Christians were on the other side of the room. They had auto -segregated.

15:37

It wasn't done by putting little things. Muslims here, Christians there. Instead, it just happened.

15:46

And so after a pretty rambunctious response from my opponent, I got up, and I ignored the

15:52

Christians. And I just looked at the Muslims. And I said, you call

15:58

Jesus a prophet, but only a prophet, a mere rasool, as the

16:03

Quran puts it. And yet, if what the New Testament says is true,

16:09

Jesus is your creator. Every breath in your mouth comes from his hand.

16:16

Every beat of your heart comes from his sovereign power. You cannot merely treat him as a mere prophet if he's your creator.

16:27

You should have seen the looks on their faces. No one ever said that to them in that way.

16:36

Remember just a few years ago, I think it was 2016, when

16:42

I entered the very parapets of hell itself. I went to CNN in Los Angeles.

16:51

There were demons at the door. It was amazing. I was on the

16:58

Dr. Drew show. The subject was transgenderism.

17:06

You'll remember I said to one of Dr. Drew's sidekicks, who was trying to make some type of theological point,

17:15

I said to him, he had said what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 19. That's just one religious opinion.

17:22

And I said, sir, we're talking about a man who prophesied his own death.

17:29

And then he died and was buried and rose again on the third day, exactly as he has said, and ascended into heaven.

17:36

And sir, when you can pull that off, then we'll give your opinion equal weight with his.

17:42

Till then, he gets to define mankind. So if Jesus was who he claimed to be, the argument's over, is it not?

17:57

And so when Paul says, and not according to Christ, there is a theology that stands behind that, that is not some optional thing.

18:09

It is the heart of the Christian faith. And it's laid out for us in verse 9.

18:17

Because in Him is dwelling all the fullness of Deity, that which makes

18:24

God God in bodily form. That's why

18:32

He gets to be the standard of all human philosophy, of all human religion.

18:39

Because in Him is dwelling all the fullness of that which makes

18:47

God God. The term that is found there is the

18:52

Greek term theatetos. Now, I don't say this to criticize the

19:04

King James translators, but they rendered this term as godhead.

19:12

The problem is they likewise rendered another term, which is a different term in the

19:17

Greek. In Romans chapter 1, it's godhead. They're two different terms, they have two different meanings. The one is a much weaker term.

19:24

This is a very strong term. That which makes God God. The very essence of Deity is dwelling in Him in bodily form.

19:36

This is talking about the incarnate Christ. And that makes

19:44

Him the standard of all human knowledge and all human predication for all time.

19:53

You're never going to outgrow the Creator. And as long as mankind continues to think that we can have wisdom apart from the

20:04

God -man who rose from the dead and all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth, we will continue to experience the kind of utter foolishness and destruction that we are seeing around the globe this day.

20:23

If Jesus was not truly the God -man, then He could not function as the standard of all things in verse 8.

20:33

But He is. And therefore, we have a message for every generation and every language for all time.

20:49

And therefore, we are to be desirous of being grounded and rooted in Him.

20:56

In Him. Every denomination that has ever begun to go down the road to apostasy started by stopping believing that Jesus was who

21:11

He claimed to be. Every single one of them. But I said that I wanted to focus our attention on verses 6 and 7.

21:22

And if you're visiting with us today, you are welcome. It is wonderful to have you with us. But I hope you don't mind if I speak directly to our people.

21:34

And I hope that there is something in my words that you can then take to your fellowships as well.

21:42

But I want us to hear these words once again. As you have received

21:48

Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him. And one of the problems that we have is that we have heard the

21:59

English versions of these words used so many times that we sort of import meanings that are not necessarily in the

22:16

Scripture at all. So, when we talk about receiving Jesus, I was raised in evangelical fundamentalist circles.

22:27

And receiving Jesus had a certain meaning attached to it.

22:33

It had a certain context provided to it. And it was primarily a free will decision.

22:42

It was shaking the hand of the pastor after the service. It was filling out a card.

22:49

It was reading the four spiritual laws and mentally agreeing.

22:56

That's obviously not what the Apostle is talking about. These believers in Colossae have a new kurios.

23:11

The term kurios, Lord, in the version of the

23:17

Hebrew Scriptures, we call the Old Testament, that they would have possessed, every time the name of Yahweh appeared, in their

23:29

Greek translation it is rendered kurios, the same term. And so when it says you have received

23:39

Christ Jesus the Lord, it's as the

23:45

Lord. They have bowed the knee. They have renounced all other sources of authority and lordship in their life.

23:59

They have embraced the truth that is inherent in the phrase,

24:07

Jesus Christ is Lord. Remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, you can't say

24:12

Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There is a spiritual reality that when you are truly born from above, when you have truly been brought to spiritual life, and you say

24:29

Jesus the Messiah, that's what Christ was, the

24:34

Jewish Messiah is kurios. He is Lord.

24:42

Above Caesar. Above any military authority.

24:48

Above the governor of the province. Above anyone else in this creation.

24:57

Jesus, the Messiah, is Lord, as you have received him in that way.

25:07

Not by some act of yours, but your passive recognition, yes, the resurrection shows, he is

25:15

Lord. Is that not what the early church taught? He had been proclaimed to be

25:20

Lord by the empty tomb. By the fulfillment of his own words of prophecy, concerning his own death, burial, and resurrection.

25:34

And so there is a submission, there is a recognition of a complete reorientation of everything, until the message of the gospel came.

25:46

These people were involved with all the religions of the world, or with all of the philosophies of men.

25:55

But now they've come to understand the prophecies. They've come to understand the purpose of God has now been fulfilled in the risen

26:03

Lord. And they now have received him in this way.

26:10

They have submitted to him. And therefore they are to walk in him.

26:18

It's not just a one -time, tipping you over the hat, now I'm going to go back into the things of the world.

26:24

If he is who he claims to be, then every single aspect of our lives must be lived out in light of his

26:34

Lordship. And what does that look like? Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you have been taught.

26:52

Rooted... I hope that brings up Psalm 1. I hope you think of how many times in the

27:00

Psalter you have this idea. And we all understand it here, don't we? We live in a desert.

27:08

And if anything here doesn't get its roots deep, what's going to happen to it?

27:14

One of two things. Most obvious thing, it's going to die.

27:21

That heat's going to come. You know, we moved out here from Pennsylvania.

27:30

And we thought you needed to have a lawn. We did not understand the horrific torture we were putting those poor little pieces of grass through.

27:42

They weren't meant to be in the desert. We eventually got smart and recognized that the natural life form in the desert is a rock.

27:56

Works much better. God knew what he was doing. But the first thing is, if you don't get the roots deep, you know,

28:06

I see people come back from the east, they plant their favorite plants from back east, they never make it. They weren't designed to.

28:15

You'll die because you don't get the nourishment you need. What's the other thing? Remember, I think it was last summer we had some pretty strong monsoons blow through.

28:27

And I live fairly close to a park, Cortez Park. And that storm blew through and I could not believe the number of trees over there.

28:38

They're not there anymore. They didn't have that firm foundation, those roots deep down.

28:46

And that wind came along and that was it for them. Firewood. End of that.

28:54

There needs to be rootage. There needs to be deep roots.

29:01

And you don't get deep roots without spending time under the ministry of the

29:07

Word of God, in the study of the Word of God, in prayer, in memorization, in fellowship with the saints.

29:13

And all of that has to be done in service.

29:22

If it's not done in the context of service, serving others, it just puffs you up. Look how much knowledge

29:29

I can get. I can crush any Arminian with one hand behind my back.

29:38

If it's not done in the context of service. And I love the fact that there is a deep desire for service in this place.

29:52

I'm looking at the faces of people that I know and I'm not going to embarrass anyone from the pulpit.

29:59

But there are some of you that have taught me so much about what it means for long -term service.

30:06

And I appreciate that and I'm encouraged by that. Some of our deacons, I hope you realize the blessings we have in our deacons.

30:16

That's what a deacon is, is a servant. Some of our deacons, some of those leaders in that group define service.

30:29

It's a blessing from God. Rooted and being built up.

30:38

Being built up. One of the most important questions that we can all ask of ourselves and the elders can ask of each other.

30:51

When you look at the fellowship of the saints in comparison to a year ago, is there growth and holiness?

31:02

You have to ask yourself that question. You have to ask yourself that question.

31:10

Because there can be times of apathy, dryness, and don't miss the reality that you might not miss the chosen forms of service that you do in this church.

31:30

You may have never missed and you can still become cold.

31:38

You can still let a root of bitterness start to grow. You can still nourish that pet sin.

31:49

Even while keeping up all of the externals. There needs to be growth being built up.

31:58

When you expose yourself to the entire counsel of God and you ask the

32:05

Holy Spirit, make application to my life, and you really mean it, guess what's going to happen? He's going to.

32:13

He's going to bring conviction. He's going to bring enlightenment. He's going to bring things to your mind and remembrance.

32:21

How many times throughout my entire Christian life have I learned something, realized, oh my goodness, how foolish

32:29

I've been, and then two years later I'm relearning the same lesson again. I'm the only one that happens to you, right?

32:41

You're all going, I'm not saying a word. Being built up, rooted and built up.

32:54

Folks, if you are focused upon that as your desire in your

33:02

Christian life, you're going to be significantly less likely to be looking at the people around you, finding their faults, and gossiping and giving any room to the opponent of our souls to start bringing division into the church.

33:27

If you're focused upon this for yourself, then you're going to want to aid anyone else, not criticize anyone else.

33:40

Rooted and built up in Him and established.

33:51

How many of us can say we're established in our faith? That it could stand the gale force winds of secularism and humanism that are all around us.

34:06

Oh, we're apologia, of course we are. We can say the Shema, in Hebrew even.

34:15

We're ready. What does it mean to be established in the faith?

34:25

No one ever arrives in this life. No one.

34:33

It needs to be the passion of our heart to be established in the faith.

34:43

Grounded. Rooted. Because we know what's going to come our direction.

34:53

As you have been taught. As you have that spirit that submits to the need to be taught by someone else.

35:07

That's always necessary. I've been in the ministry for a long time now.

35:20

And one of the greatest things I am thankful for from the Lord is that I have seen men, and I could name names, who reach this older age of life where I am entering in, and they came to the conclusion that they could no longer learn anything from those that are younger than they are.

35:46

And I've made the commitment. It's one thing to recognize that there are young 'uns that don't know what they're talking about.

35:59

It's something completely different to just simply dismiss anyone who is younger than yourself as they just can't know what

36:05

I know. We must always be willing to be taught.

36:15

To learn. To learn. Anyone who thinks they've arrived actually has never really understood anything at all.

36:25

Just as you have been taught. And here, listen to me. I'm sort of thankful it's a cooler day so we're not all sitting here doing this number.

36:39

Abounding in Eucharistia. It's not November, so it's sort of unusual to preach on Thanksgiving.

36:47

But there are few words more important to the continuation and protection of the local church than this one.

37:00

We know in Philippians 2 that Paul tells the church of Philippi, you need to be looking out for other people's things rather than yourself.

37:14

You need to have humility of mind, putting others before yourself.

37:20

That is the oil that allows the engine of the local church to function because we've all got rough edges and we're going to rub up against each other and if there's not something there, you're going to get friction and then fire.

37:39

And humility of mind. Looking to others is more important to yourself.

37:45

It is the essence of servanthood. And without it, no church will survive.

37:56

But here we're given the other key. I've been thinking a lot recently about the fact that we have a lot of folks in our fellowship who have come to us from other places.

38:18

You've come from the Northwest. You've fled from California.

38:29

And you watched the videos and you see the evangelism work and the outreach and the abortion work at the mills and the babies being saved and you hear the preaching of the word and it goes on and on and on for some people.

38:54

And you're like, I want that! And so you've come.

39:04

And once you get here, you'll discover that we are not perfect.

39:13

There is a danger that comes with having as many ministries as we have.

39:20

You get to know the people in those ministries real well and the danger, let's be honest, is that we can form cliques.

39:31

We get to know certain people better than other people and they're the people we're comfortable being around. And therefore, we can be less open to new people becoming a part of that particular group of people.

39:51

The fellowship that we have outside of just this time, because it's a challenge to rent a place and there are advantages to 4 o 'clock

40:06

Sunday afternoon, but let's admit there are disadvantages too. And so there has to be fellowship outside of that.

40:16

And if you're new, that's the key right there. Get involved in those places. Get to know people in that way.

40:26

But I want to talk to the person who has been here a while and here's what happens.

40:35

Like I said, I've been an elder in a church, not this church, but in other churches for many decades.

40:44

One thing I can tell you right now, when someone leaves a fellowship, they never tell the elders the real reason they're leaving.

40:53

You know how we find out the real reason? We get it from our wives. Yeah, because the ladies talk about it and eventually it comes around to us and we're the last ones to eventually get that information.

41:08

Happens a lot. Because the elders, you give the spiritual stuff, you know?

41:14

I just don't feel like I'm getting fed. And when you've been in a church for a while, here's the enemy's approach.

41:31

First of all, he wants to get you accustomed to the things that once thrilled your soul.

41:41

So some of you have come here, and man, you watched everybody coming forward and receiving the

41:50

Lord's Supper. And at first, it was so encouraging. You were lifted up by your getting up and walking down this aisle and partaking of the supper.

42:05

Singing together afterwards. Raising your hand and singing the doxology. Thrilling!

42:15

But over time, you become accustomed. Become accustomed.

42:24

And once you start becoming accustomed, then all of a sudden, the mind starts to see other things.

42:38

Well, I'm not sure that I like sitting toward the back and you get really noisy back here. And you know,

42:47

Luke walked right past me and didn't say anything to me last Sunday. And it's hot.

42:55

Not just in the service. It's hot out at the abortion mill. Or in Tempe.

43:06

I mean, it's really, really warm out there. And all of a sudden, the things that were once thrilling can become cold and even a source of concern on your part.

43:22

Yes, concern. I'm concerned. I believe that those last three words in verse 7 are the words that we need to focus upon in our fellowship.

43:49

If you, as a member of this church, are giving thanks, if your life is a life of Eucharistia, thanksgiving, you will discover that that more than anything else will renew your joy and will keep you from being one of those people that brings other people disappointment and discouragement.

44:35

How does that work? Let me ask a simple question. It's not because I'm the preacher today, but how many of you, before you came here, prepared your heart to hear the

44:52

Word of God? Prayed that I would be given clarity of expression.

45:00

Prayed for the musicians, that they would lead us in beautiful worship. Prayed for the men reading the

45:07

Scriptures. Prayed that the Spirit of God would meet with us.

45:18

Did we come prepared? Did we give thanks to have a place to meet?

45:28

Yeah, but we have to have fans up. Yeah. Are you thankful for the fans? Are you thankful for still having the ability to even afford the gas to get here?

45:45

Are you thankful for the people who broke the bread?

45:52

How about those of you who are thankful for the gluten -free bread? How about for all those little cups of wine?

45:59

Are you thankful for the younger believers amongst us who partake and go like my grandkids do?

46:16

Are you thankful for the people that filled them up? Are you thankful for the ability to raise your hand and sing the doxology?

46:28

For the benediction at the end of the service? When you see all these people standing here, coming to the supper, is your heart going to be filled with thanksgiving that they're here another week?

46:42

There's an example of God sustaining grace. That encourages me. That's how

46:47

God is helping to sustain me too. Are you thankful for all those little babies back there?

46:56

For all the pregnant mothers? Are you thankful for the service that is provided by so many in this fellowship that make all of this possible?

47:11

The printing of the bulletins, the folding, the cleaning. The cleaning afterwards.

47:22

All of these things are objects that we should be thankful for. And what I'm saying to all of us is if we were truly praying to God and giving thanks, we would recognize how much we've been given.

47:37

And the enemy would not have the ability to come in amongst us and sow discord. To sow discontentment.

47:51

It's Father's Day. And this is my first Father's Day without a living father.

48:01

My dad died February 2nd at 90 years of age. To be honest with you, looking around this world,

48:08

I'm not sure I want to last that long. But I remember my mom died in 2010.

48:16

It is a strange feeling, I will admit, to not have living parents any longer.

48:26

That is a transition. There's no two ways about it. But I remember when my mom died just a few weeks later,

48:33

I was in London. I was in Wandsworth, London. It's a suburb of greater

48:38

London, of course. And I walked into one of the... their version of a Circle K, 7 -Eleven type store.

48:46

I walked around a corner, and there was a whole rack of Mother's Day cards.

48:53

They celebrate Mother's Day a lot earlier than we do here in the United States. And I teared up.

49:02

I hadn't even... you couldn't be prepared for it. You know, I mean... I teared up.

49:11

And as I think back on my parents... I wish

49:16

Summer was here so that she could... Because my language is just salted with stuff from my mom.

49:28

So I'll be doing something. I'll be, say, working on my bike. And I slip, and I hit my finger.

49:36

It's like, ah! And then this is what I will say. Well, bearing a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

49:46

Bearing a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I don't know how many times I've said that. I'm going to go to my grave saying that.

49:54

And I got it from my mom. Now, if you've ever heard it before, it's probably because you're from the Midwest. And I just have so many

50:01

Midwesternisms. They're just part of me. I'll never get rid of them, and I don't want to get rid of them, for that matter.

50:10

But while I remember a number of my dad's theological teachings and sermon illustrations and stuff like that, probably the main thing

50:22

I remember from my parents that I have repeated more often than anything else was something my mom would say.

50:28

Now, my mom had a rough life. She was never really super well.

50:33

We were poor. She didn't have a lot of the world's goods. She would have loved to have traveled, but didn't have the real opportunity.

50:42

Ended up sort of doing that through me. But one thing she would say over and over again, and I know she said this to some or two, and Josh, I imagine you probably heard this as well, though she tended to be more,

50:57

I don't know, chatty with girls. But my mom would say, there are two kinds of people in this world.

51:12

Those that choose to be happy, and those that choose not to be. Now, that's a really simplistic statement.

51:21

And we could all sit back and dissect it and go, well, there's actually very complicated factors involved.

51:29

But there was a central truth in what she was saying. There are people who make the choice to live in joy in this world, no matter what their circumstances are.

51:44

And then there are other people that make the choice that no matter what their circumstances are, they are not going to enjoy that and have joy from that.

51:52

There are Christians right now in gulags in China who are rejoicing in the joy of the

52:04

Lord. They have nothing. They're suffering. They're starving. They're beaten.

52:12

Yet they have joy in Christ. And there are Christians in the United States that have every comfort life could offer, and they're miserable.

52:27

And they complain against God. And they don't take joy from anything.

52:37

I remember my mom enjoyed doing the laundry.

52:44

It was a service to her family. She took joy from folding laundry.

52:51

Is that insane or what? Two kinds of people.

52:58

And in the church, if you abound in thanksgiving, you're going to find joy in the fellowship.

53:11

I love watching my grandkids. I've only got two of them here today. But I love watching my grandkids running around here.

53:21

And they see their friends, and the hugs, and the laughs.

53:31

I hope you realize what you've got there. I hope there's no one in this fellowship that takes that for granted.

53:41

Because there's a lot of places where that doesn't happen. Folks, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

53:48

That's another Midwesterner. But it's true. The enemy of your soul will come along and will always be seeking to make you focus upon anything you can see as negative.

54:02

But if you're actually giving thanks for those little children, and their parents, and the fellowship, and sometimes even the noise in the back, all of a sudden, everything's different.

54:21

You walk out of this place in a completely different frame of mind. And that's where we need to be.

54:33

Abounding in thanksgiving. Before you become critical of anyone else in this fellowship.

54:47

And I am not saying there should never be... We could never improve.

54:53

Of course we can. But I'm going to tell you something. As an elder, as a pastor, when someone comes to me,

55:03

I can tell if their heart is filled with thanksgiving for what God has done for them in this place.

55:11

Even when they have something of criticism to say. And I can tell when they haven't been thankful for that as well.

55:18

And that's going to change how I respond to it. For all of us.

55:24

It's the same for all of us. So my prayer for our fellowship, listen to the

55:33

Apostle's burden. How much do you desire?

55:41

How high on your priority list is it that you have a true knowledge, a deep understanding of the mystery of God which is

55:52

Christ? How much do you want to be rooted and built up in Him?

55:59

Established in your faith? Have you become apathetic?

56:04

Have you decided that you've gone as far as you need to go? And is the

56:09

Spirit of God saying to you today, oh, there's so much more. And for all of us.

56:16

As we partake of the supper today, do you think any of us can remember back just a couple of years ago?

56:29

The sweet fellowship that was ours because we were some of the only believers in this valley that were doing it, that had that privilege.

56:40

We didn't know what the future was going to hold. And so we considered every opportunity to partake of the supper to be such a privilege.

56:53

We gave thanks. That was Eucharistia. We need to have that Eucharistia again for all things.

57:06

Apologia, we've been blessed. We are not perfect. But we've been blessed.

57:14

Let's give thanks for what God has given to us. Let's recommit ourselves to pray for one another, to love one another, to have our hearts knit together in love.

57:31

May God reveal to us what that would really look like. May we ask for His blessing upon us in this way.

57:42

Let's pray together. Our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we come into Your presence thankful for Your Word that pierces our hearts.

58:09

We prayed at the beginning acknowledging that we can do nothing apart from the

58:15

Spirit's ministry amongst us. And so I pray right now.