Valuable Lessons Learned From 15 Years Of Ministry (part 2)

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Committment To The Church (part 3)

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Well last week we looked at just a few lessons that I've learned I don't claim to be an expert, but just what the
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Lord has taught me over the years in ministry We looked at no matter what happens. God is to be praised number one closely related number two
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We looked at God grants comfort by the way of himself. He is the comforter and then number three we looked at feelings can get you into a lot of trouble and so tonight
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I want to start off with this bit of Lesson that I've learned and that is a godly wife is essential for effective ministry
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Whether you're a lay person or whether you are full -time a godly wife is essential for effective ministry
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I don't know what I would do without Kim I have a little foretaste of what it would be like without her just living at home for a couple weeks on my own eating out a lot, you know eating out with friends a lot, but just to have and a
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Spouse who wants to serve the Lord if you'll turn to Proverbs chapter 31 let's spend a little time in Proverbs 31 and talk about a woman of excellence a
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Praiseworthy woman and if you are married if you're a man You can be thankful that your wife is like this
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If she's not like this you can pray that she might be you can lead her into this if you're a woman
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This is good for you to look at again and measure yourself against if you're single This is the kind of woman you want to look for a matter of fact.
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That's exactly what this passage is all about this is Lemuel learning from his mother and if you look at verses 1 & 2
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Proverbs 31 the words of King Lemuel the Oracle which his mother taught him and She teaches him four key things.
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The first one is Lemuel be sexually pure verse 3. Do not give your strength to women are your ways to that which destroys
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King? Lesson 2 Lemuel from his mother don't get drunk verse 4.
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It is not for Kings Oh Lemuel it is not for Kings to drink wine are for rulers to desire strong drink
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Then positively he says in verse 8 Well, she says to him and then he writes it stick up for the needy
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Stand up for the rights of the needy verse 8 don't just be sexually pure and just stay away from alcohol but positively stick up for the needy open your mouth for the dumb for the rights of all the unfortunate and Here is a mother teaching her son
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How to be a good king how to be a good man, and the fourth thing she teaches him is pick the right kind of wife
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That is very very important in my particular case when I got married I wasn't a
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Christian and and the Lord was very gracious to me by giving me a wife like Kim I don't know where I would be without her.
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It is true that Pastors and elders and leaders in the church can go no farther than what their wife will allow them that is to say if you have a wife that needs all your attention and all your
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Care and you have to take care of her It's hard to minister to other people.
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And so here Lemuel is told pick the right kind of wife And I love it.
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If you look down in verse 10, it says Talking about the rare commodity of a good wife an excellent wife who can find for her worth is far above jewels
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They are rare, but they are not extinct When you find a wife like this, you want to grab a hold you want to say this is a treasure
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I met a guy in California and he is going off on trips on the weekends and he has a $20 ,000 metal detector and he is trying to find gold and he's shown me some of his little pieces of gold that he has
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He's now a prospector and he's in a prospectors club And when he finds that big nugget and to him a big nugget was about that big and you know
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I was impressed I guess and said ooh, and I'll look at it. But when you find the right kind of wife
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It is like finding gold In the old days in Jerusalem, you were married for a while.
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And then the men would come up to the husband and say Did you find? Did you find in other words?
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What is she an excellent wife? He who finds a wife finds a good thing
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Proverbs chapter 18 says and you say well, you know what? This verse and these verses in Proverbs 31 haunt me because I'm a lady and I could never live up to these
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Can anyone ever live up to this? Ruth did Ruth 311 and now my daughter do not fear
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I will do for you whatever you ask for all my people in the city know that you are a woman of Excellence Ruth was and so what do you look for in picking the right kind of wife?
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What do you pray for if you've already got a wife number one and these all start with F We'll go into Southern Baptist mode tonight.
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I'm teaching at a Southern Baptist school. The first one is fears the Lord You want to find a wife who fears the
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Lord? Look at verse 30. We'll just jump around a little bit charm is deceitful and beauty is vain
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But a woman who fears Yahweh she shall be praised The charm in Hebrew is a bodily form.
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It's what the woman looks like It's her body beauty is vain these things trick us
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You have Madison Avenue trying to promote what a godly what a what a good woman is like Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain
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But if you want to have some kind of decoration or some ornament that would talk about a great woman
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It would be that she fears God She lives in light of God.
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She has an audience of one If you look at you don't have to look there But Proverbs one talks about the fear of Lord as a beginning of knowledge and now with the other bookend
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We've got Proverbs 30 verse Proverbs 31 verse 30 the woman who fears the
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Lord She reveres him unto obedience Number two, she just shouldn't be fearing the
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Lord. She should be faithful She should be faithful and there's several key areas where she could be faithful The first is to her husband verse 11 the heart of her husband trust in her and he will have no lack of gain
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As one man said she is a helpmate not a hurt mate She is a woman who wants to be faithful To many but one is her husband a confident a counselor.
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She's faithful physically. She's faithful with the credit card She's faithful with the household goods
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Verse 12, she does him good and not evil all the days of her life When you look at this kind of wife, she is an asset.
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She is not a liability Because of her good comes to the husband because of her good comes to the husband
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Verse 23 so much. So the husband's famous Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land
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When men want to talk shop and they want to talk business and they want to talk politics They'd go to the gate and that's where everyone would say, you know, my wife's pretty good, but old
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Eliezer's wife she is great Yazik's wife is wonderful.
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Her husband is known in the gates. I tell people all the time I Married I've married
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Elizabeth Elliot the new Elizabeth Elliot. I Just hope I don't have to become martyred for Kim to be famous And I mean that because once the kids are out of the house,
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I'm sure in terms of Speaking and writing books and other things. She just has that dynamic personality and good theology to go with it
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It's one thing to have good theology. It's another thing to have a dynamic personality, but if you put to the two together
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And her faithfulness to me well this woman's also should be faithful to her kids
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I I Read a little study in a book called the marriage ring.
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Listen to this quote of the 120 clergymen who were telling their experience of salvation 100 assigned as the means of their conversion a
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Christian mother If you ask these pastors 120 of them, how'd you get saved 100 said my mother reminds me of 2nd
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Timothy 1 I'm mindful of the sincere faith within you which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother
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Eunice Timothy And I am sure that is in you as well Woman needs to fear the
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Lord. She needs to be faithful to her husband to her kids and to her realm of work Where might be the realm of a woman's work?
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This almost got me fired from this church seven years ago when I'm going to say now what I said back then
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You'd think I was gonna tell somebody that Jesus wasn't God But if I tell someone if a woman who's married to a husband has a realm of work
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Where would that realm of work be I didn't write the
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Bible it's just clear I'm gonna start a fight with somebody read first Timothy 514 therefore
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I want younger women's Paul's Paul's younger widows to get married to bear children and to keep house and Give the enemy no occasion for reproach
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Titus chapter 2 When older women to encourage younger women to love their husbands love their children be sensible pure workers at home
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Certainly they can have a sphere of influence outside the home. We'll see that in a moment. That is their realm
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And lastly faithful to the needy do you see verse 20 of Proverbs 31 She extends her hand to the poor and she stretches out her hands to the needy
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She opens her palms literally Reminds me of the lady named Dorcas who was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did acts 39
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I guess if your name is Dorcas, you better be a good servant Have something going for you
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One man said the sluice which love opens to pour a stream upon the needy
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Sweetens all the store. That's exactly what this woman does and the payoff is great.
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It's not climbing the corporate ladder It's not a raise or a career. Look at her payoff verse 28 her children rise up and bless her
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Her husband also and he praises her saying Many daughters have done nobly but you excel them all
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Man, if you've got a good wife like that, when's the last time you said that to your wife matter of fact This was taught by Lemuel's mother in a in a poetry.
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What's the last time you wrote your wife some poetry or sang for her? Well, we might want to do that.
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But just tell her you're the best of the best Proverbs 11 says a gracious woman attains honor
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Not just from the Lord, but her family fears the
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Lord faithful number three financially prudent Financially prudent.
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She's just not a homebody. She's just not one who never goes out of the house She has her priorities, but it extends beyond the house.
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Look at verse 14 She is like merchant ships doesn't say she buys enough at the mall to fill a merchant ship now does it?
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Somebody in the congregation just went all This This this woman is enterprising this woman brings her food from afar
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It doesn't take you long in a third world country like in India to realize how Hard -working these ladies are in the eastern countries and carrying food on their head busily working to secure family food and Contribute verse 15 she rises also while it's night and gives food to her household and portions to her maidens
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She considers a field and buys it from her earnings. She plants a vineyard
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She girds herself with strength that's her clothing and makes her arms strong She's not lazy.
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She has a good attitude. She wants to work hard recently,
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I Got an email from someone and they said they've been listening to my sermons online and they said they really like forceful biblical preaching
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I thought oh great and So they have a little link there of their blog and so I went to the blog and then
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I read on the blog just kind of like the review of the person and What they like to do and everything else and the person said something to the effect that you know
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I like powerful preaching and keeping up on my soap operas And I just thought you know,
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I felt like I was some kind of old computer, you know, that does not compute You know, it just doesn't work when
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I was in college in 1980 I was taking a computer science class em 113
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I think it was called and I had to make all those cards And I had to get all those cards punched for my computer program and then run it through the program the card feeder and then you would pray that the program would actually work and you would get your
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Lunar module landed on the moon or whatever you had to do. Sometimes if it didn't work one compute.
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I'm just thinking keeping up with the soap operas, I mean that is just Antithetical that's opposite Who has time for that?
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She senses verse 18 that her gain is good. Her lamp does not go out at night. She as one man says
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Burns the midnight oil she stretches out her hands to the disc staff and her hands grasp the spindle
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The little thing that holds wood the disc staff. She's grabs that she stretches out and holds it
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Verse 21 skip down. She's not afraid of the snow for a household for all her household are clothed with scarlet the best she plans
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She makes coverings for herself. Her clothing is fine linen and purple She makes it all she's a hard worker
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Verse 24 she makes linen garments and sells them and supplies belts to the tradesmen. I mean she is known for productivity she looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness and then number four fears the
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Lord faithful Financially prudent and number four. This is the kind of wife that you need from ministry
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This is kind of wife you meet need for lay ministry paid ministry Fills her speech with wisdom and kindness a woman that has proper speech because speech is connected to the heart
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Obviously find a woman if you're not married who has speech filled with wisdom and kindness verse 25
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Her strength are certain It's her clothing But verse 26 it says she opens her mouth in gossip and tail bearing slander
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That's your says She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue
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She's wise No idle talk and slander but prudent talk talk of Since I'll never forget the time when
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I was in Mount Hermon. I heard Chuck Swindoll talk about Slander just running your mouth gets you into trouble and he used the illustration of a tombstone in an
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English country churchyard of a lady named Arabella young Beneath this stone a lump of clay lies
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Arabella young who on the 24th of May Began to hold her tongue and when this lady talks, it's wisdom
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Proverbs 15 says the lips of the wise spread knowledge Soothing tongue is a tree of life.
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And so what I've learned in ministry is I praise the Lord for my wife who is There who ministers behind the scenes?
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Who is anything but a high -maintenance wife because then all my my direction and attention would have to go
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Towards her, you know, there's only one thing worse than a high -maintenance wife a high -maintenance wife who thinks she's low -maintenance
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That's that's a problem Kim and I are together for a reason and that is so we can serve the
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Lord better If we could serve the Lord better being single, then why would the Lord have us get married?
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I've learned in ministry when it comes to marriage and thinking about wives and all that stuff that if you build your
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Marriage on marriage itself. It's gonna crash in Marriage isn't big enough to support the weight of two sinners wed together
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But the Christian ministry focused on the cross of Christ is big enough
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Kim and I can't really stay mad at each other very long why? Because there's nothing
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I do to make her mad. No, just kidding. Let's see if you're listening because we are
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We we want to use our lives to serve and how what do we want to do on Sunday morning?
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Well, we still don't see the eye to the eye. We're not reconciled. We haven't asked for forgiveness we haven't you know done the right biblical things and sought reconciliation and restitution and try to make things right and forsake the sin and and Affirm each other or whatever you want to do because it's time to minister.
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It's time for the church There's something bigger than the marriage of Mike and Kim Avendroth It's the church
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Bishop Taylor said if you marry for if you are for pleasure Mary if you prize
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Rosie health Mary a good wife is heaven's last best gift to a man his angel of mercy minister of graces
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Innumerable his gem of many virtues his box of jewels Her voice his sweetest music her smiles his brightest day her kiss the guardian of innocence
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Her arms the pale of his safety the balm of his health the balsam of his life
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Her industry his surest wealth her economy his safest steward her lips his faithful counselors and her prayers the ablest advocates of heaven's blessings on his head well number five
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Things that I've learned number five Well, you know what yeah, let's do that one instead number five
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Success for the Christian must be determined by God's standards. What must I mean by that? Success for the
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Christian must be determined by God's standards. I Don't know how many times it happens when
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I meet people and I tell them I'm a pastor I'm a preacher of God's Word they respond and here's their response almost every single time.
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Hi, my name is Mike Avendroth Oh, yeah, what do you do for a living? Well, I'm a pastor. I'm a Bible preacher. Oh and then they asked me this question it is
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Inevitable and I hate it and I have made a vow to God not to ever ask this of someone else because it is irrelevant
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It is stupid. It means nothing it Does signify nothing and I say
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I'm a pastor. I'm a Bible preaching preacher Yeah, that's right a Bible teaching preacher and they say what what do they say?
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How big is your church? And you know, I began to do I Begun with a very straight face.
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I just said it a couple days ago There's a guy across the street and he said oh, yeah, it's my brother -in -law and and he told me you're a minister
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How big's your church? I just looked at him right in the eyes and I said about 5 ,000 people attend just like that He's like wow and you could already see his view of me was increasing like wow, this is it's a hotshot guy
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I better listen About three weeks ago. I was in California at Mount Hermon and there's all these people together and pastors and theologians and guy said
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Well, how big's your church? And of course in California, you know churches are mega churches. Oh, you're a pastor
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Oh, how big's your church and I said? Well, if you count the morning service and the evening service 25 ,000 people on a
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Sunday He looked at me and he thought yeah, I'm gonna get your autograph, you know, you'll autograph my
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Bible don't ask pastors how big their churches are
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Benny Hinn has 20 million and He's a lying heretic dog
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According to the Bible Bob Rathbun is a pastor in Lowell, Massachusetts Been blind since I think he was five years old and he's been ministering there for 35 years and he has 70 people 60
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It doesn't matter. How many people are there? Well, you know, how many people in the youth group? Well, you know 500
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Wow You must be doing great It matters not at all
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If you turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 4 may I suggest that our job is faithfulness
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Not popularity I'll never forget the day that John MacArthur said pastors you want to be either popular or you want to be faithful choose one
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Choose one and choose it right now because it's hard to be both now Certainly the Lord has blessed
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John and he is popular and he's faithful But when
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I look at Christ's ministry After all the ministry how many people were following Christ at the end of Acts how many people were
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Christians? Success for the Christian must be determined by God and God requires faithfulness as a steward
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You notice that Paul says that in 1st Corinthians let a man regard us in this manner as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God not owners
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God owns it we are simply stewards Paul says in this case moreover
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Since he's talking about stewardship. It is required of stewards that one be found what?
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Trustworthy are Faithful, that's the key. That's what stewards should be as trustworthy are faithful Doesn't matter how many people attend the church?
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and so may I suggest that it when you evangelize Your goal should not be well, you know,
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I've led 15 people to the Lord and I I'm pretty good at that I could have put it in this morning's message and probably should have but God measures the success of an evangelist of someone like you who preaches the gospel by Faithfulness to the message preached by faithfulness to want to preach to everyone who will listen not how many converts you have
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Can you convert anyone? There's no converts for us. We don't convert people and so that's why when we have a class like grace
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Evangelism that they will reinforce this fact when you go out to evangelize and you come back to the church
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And you have like your little debriefing meeting the answer The question will never be how many people do you win?
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How many people do you know bring to the Lord? How many decisions did you have it will always be? Tell us about you know, what happened tonight as you were telling people about the excellencies of Christ Jesus It is
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God's job to do the work questions about that Don't ask pastors how many people are at their church
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All right, let's see along those lines
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That's something else All right. Here's one. I've got a bunch.
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I'm just gonna skip all around You know what? I didn't even set my watch tonight. So I have no idea. How long have I been preaching? Five minutes.
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All right perfect, I Don't know. I'm guess I preach what 15 minutes 20 20.
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All right. We'll put it at 20 after There you go If somebody said to me this morning
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The only bad thing about this flip is the clock used to be back there and there's no clock back there Don't know what to tell you
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All right Here's one of the lessons I've learned that I think will be very helpful to you and your evangelism since that is a theme today and tonight
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I've learned that sinners cannot stop sinning on their own Unbelievers cannot stop sinning on their own.
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Let me give you a scenario. It's a real -life scenario You meet a homosexual you meet an adulterer you meet a fornicator and They come up to you and ask you this question.
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They know you're the God man the God woman talk about Jesus You're the Jesus person They say this
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Listen carefully. Do I have to stop my homosexuality before God will save me?
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Do I have to stop my sinning so that God would be able to save me and you say?
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What would you say? See, sometimes what we do is we think to ourselves
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We need to tell people to stop sinning. Would that be a true statement? Repent stop it
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Whether it's fornication adultery embezzlement Idolatry covetousness if you meet a sinner an unbeliever and they're sinning.
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Is it okay to say stop it turn run flee Would that be good to say I thought you just told me that you can't if someone says
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I have to stop it to be A Christian you said you wouldn't tell him that How do those two go together?
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I think what we have to be careful to Think through is that sinners can't stop their own sin because they need a
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Savior They're enslaved Roman six says they're enslaved to sin. So when you meet an unbeliever
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What do you tell them if they ask must I stop in order to believe?
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You Say no, and then what do you say? Okay. Excellent.
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Anybody else? Well, that was an easy one
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It took me a long time to learn that ministry what you want to do is you want to tell people you must repent you must believe and That is
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God's ordained way of preaching the gospel We talk about what God has done and who he is his attributes
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Christ sacrificial death is resurrection And then we tell them in light of that. Here's your response repent believe trust follow forsake whatever the biblical response is and there are many
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But if they ever say to you I am so enslaved to sin I just can't seem to stop that's when you can really come in with grace
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I remember meeting a guy and he said I have tried everything He said I have asked
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Jesus into my heart a dozen times. I have walked to the front of the church a dozen times I cannot stop my sinning and What did
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I tell him I said, you know what that's good news
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That's good news that you would recognize that because the gospel is perfect for those who know they're not righteous
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It's perfect for those who know they've fallen short Jesus even came and he preached to these unrighteous people and I said instead of then praying a prayer after me
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Why don't we just call out to God and ask God who's got your salvation in his hand?
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He would be able to bestow it in other words Why don't you ask God the God who saves to save you and say
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God I can't stop sinning. I know it is sin I realize it's a it's a transgression against your holy law and I'm sick of myself and I can't stand it anymore
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I know I'm gonna go to hell if I die and I want to honor you by doing the right thing Please save me from myself and my sins
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That's what we tell people But if you go around telling people to stop sinning somehow giving the impression that they can stop on their own
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Then there's a problem if you stand on the street corner and tell people all the time Repent and stop sinning and you know, you're you're going to hell in a handbasket
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That's just part of the story. We need to make sure we tell people who God is and what he's done and in light of that Here's the response repent and believe
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Questions about that. All right
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Yes Sure. Okay.
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Well, that's a good question. If I knew more about the person it probably would make it a little easier Let me say some general statements.
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And then if you want to ask a clarifying question, you can six two, okay One of the things
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I think Troubles local churches is their view of sanctification and matter of fact
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Let's just add this as a next thing because I have it here somewhere and that is one of the lessons I've learned that Would be important for tonight is what number we on eight number eight
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Indicative imperative preaching is important for both salvation and sanctification I'll explain what
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I mean indicative and imperative preaching are essential for salvation and Sanctification let's work through this
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If somebody asks you a question, by the way, and you don't know the answer just throw out a couple big words and then talk No, that's not what
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I'm trying to do Let's talk about salvation first Let's talk about indicative and imperative.
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What's an indicative? When I have men come to my discipleship, one of the first things
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I tell them as I tell them You know what? You should probably go to one of those Colleges the junior colleges around your house or when you get one of those flyers sent to your house
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That some kind of night classes and go take an English refresher class Because it's easier to understand the
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Bible when you know grammar because God uses words and clauses and phrases and diction and all that And so indicative is a what?
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It's a truth. It's a statement of fact Imperative is a what?
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to command when you preach the gospel you must if you want to have fidelity to the gospel preach both indicative income and Imperative what would be a statement of indicative fact when you're preaching the gospel to an unbeliever?
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Jesus is Lord Jesus died on the cross other indicative statements Man is a sinner good statements of fact
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Jesus is still in the tomb No, no, we have to make sure we have the resurrection just always key never forget the resurrection and then you give them also
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Imperatives and those imperatives in light of the indicatives would be what? Repent a bunch that I've already named right believe in all those in gospel preaching.
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You've got to have repentance an imperative and statements about God the Indicatives I told you the story.
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I think several times. I'm in Dublin walking to the streets of this huge area
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There's a guy standing on the box preaching out loud He tons of tourists.
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It's like some kind of Sloan Street in London or Melrose in Los Angeles stand in a box preaching you've got to repent and you're gonna go to hell and and All those things and I walked up to him and he thought
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I was probably gonna attack him He had like a little bodyguard too, I guess you're supposed to get big bodyguards, but he maybe knew kung fu or something
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Bodyguard and I walked up to him and I didn't want to get right in his face So I just kind of went up and I said it's important No, what did
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I exactly say? I said when I teach my men to preach I also make sure they tell them who is
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Jesus and then tell them the imperatives after that to believe and repent He didn't even look me in the eye
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He just pivoted on his foot and began to say Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners like you and was raised from the dead
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I thought right on I'm the coward standing here looking to shop for you know
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Armani fake Armani sunglasses and you're really preaching but you know, that's how God uses me just as a little
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Now that's that's salvation and we get it but friends what we don't get is Sanctification is the exact same
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Paradigm it is indicative imperative and you go to a thousand churches these days especially especially the seeker sensitive churches and you'll get sermons on five ways to have financial freedom a
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Six ways to be a better husband and they are laced with which ones indicatives are imperatives
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They are laced with imperatives and you'll see in Scripture for instance in Ephesians Generally chapters 1 2 & 3 contain what there is an exception but what a 1 2 & 3 contain
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Ephesians Indicatives are imperatives Indicatives, there's one
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I think in 2 10 or 2 11 that says don't forget you're a Gentile But you don't get the imperatives generally until chapters what?
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4 5 & 6 here's who you are in Christ. And why would that be important for a
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Christian to understand? While he's going through difficult times in sanctification because at the cross
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Jesus has Finished the war we have now the ability to obey we have the incentive to obey we have the
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Spirit of God we have Christ Jesus who has given us his righteousness and Paul says because of who you are
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Then now act out Your position make your practice like your position.
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And so when you think I've got a sin in my life I've got to get rid of what's one of the best things you can do
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Strangely and now the cross is back there think about the cross. Let's go to Romans chapter 6 for a minute
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Romans chapter 6 and you'll see the same thing The next time you want to deal with the sin in your life.
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Let's say you're anxious a lot Let's say you can't submit to your husband Let's say, you know Whatever the let's say is and you struggle with your sin
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One of the best things you can do is instead of racing to the imperatives I must stop
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I want you to race to the indicatives. I want you to race to the statements of fact found in Romans chapter 6 and It's very interesting what
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Paul does When he talks about these indicatives Chapter 6 it says what should we say then are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase
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Absolutely Categorically may it never be how shall we who died to sin still live in it?
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And then he asked the question you think indicative imperative paradigm with me Which one is this or do you not know that all of us who have been placed into or immersed into?
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Baptized into there's no water here. It means to place into Christ. Jesus have been baptized into his death
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Indicative or imperative. All right verse 4 therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death
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So that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father So we too might walk in newness of life indicative or imperative
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Indicative basically at Calvary God with mental calculation with Hewlett -Packard
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Calculation like Precision said I'm gonna count not just Jesus dead
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But everybody who the father has given to the son I'm counting them dead as far as I'm concerned.
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They're dead To their old life and alive to newness of life Verse 5 for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death
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Certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection Verse 6 knowing this that our old self was crucified with him indicative or imperative
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In order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin
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Why verse 7 underline it for he who has died is freed from sin. We are alive now.
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We're above ground We're breathing but when it comes to spiritual death, we've already been killed. We're dead and gone
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Verse 8 now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him indicative imperative
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See that he hasn't even told them what to do yet because he's trying to make them Think and you see all these words knowing come up again.
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Just like in chapter 12 that we saw this morning Knowing that Christ verse 9 having been raised from the dead is never to die again
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Death no longer is master over him. And if it's not master over him and you died with Christ, it's no longer
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Master, here's the point you can say no to sin Did you know the more you think about Jesus and his death and how you died with him you died to the law you died
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To sin when you think about sin now in sanctification You can say no to sin before you were
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Christian You could never say no to sin for the right reasons. Could you you just said yes,
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I have to sin I have to just drive off the road into sin. I can't say no and now as a Christian you can say yes
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Or you can say no for the death verse 10 that he died
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He died to sin once for all but the life that he lives he lives to God even so Consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus indicative or imperative
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After all this, what does he say when it comes to sanctification you want to stop sinning? The best way you can stop sinning is to continually think and consider what
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Jesus did and how you were in Jesus when he died and he was raised from the dead and sin no longer has to own you
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Now that's a lot different than the way I would do it I would just say Well, you know you need to stop that You need to get over that and sometimes that's a good thing to say
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Someone's comes in I've been in a an office before and some lady has said, you know, I I'm committing adultery against my husband
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Well, there's nothing wrong with me going. Will you quit that? That's a wrong thing to do, right?
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But if she says I'm having a hard time and I call myself a Christian Well, we can address that, you know, can you be a
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Christian and an adultery issue? But here the whole idea is thinking Thinking through this
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Salvation Jesus died raised from the dead therefore believe Sanctification you have died with Jesus sin no longer has to rule over you therefore think about that and live in light of what you are have your
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Conduct befitting the name of the Savior who called you now Clarifying question.
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Okay. That's a good question. Let's go to 2nd Corinthians. It's a little off subject, but it will answer it Anyway, we were talking about this at lunch 2nd
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Corinthians chapter 12 a friends when we sin as unbelievers are as believers Sometimes there are lifelong consequences.
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Yes right if you Get AIDS and you get
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HIV from Heroin use because of dirty needles when you're an unbeliever at 18 years old and God saves you at 25.
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Guess what? You still have HIV It just comes with the territory
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If you have a licentious life before you're saved those licentious thoughts are still in your mind and you might bear those burdens
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And so although we're forgetting we have been forgiven of the guilt that is before God we owe him some debt that's been taken care of but we still struggle and sometimes that would be a good reason not to sin because It could still affect me even on earth and God uses as a chastening
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But in terms of thorn in the flesh, I probably wouldn't call it a thorn in the flesh Some people call their wife a thorn in the flesh some people call, you know
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Some kind of sickness a thorn in the flesh some people call well, you know, I've got the sin that I've committed It's a thorn in my flesh
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But Paul is very very specific on the thorn in the flesh and it's a big deal And so I purpose
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I I don't think anyone really has a thorn in the flesh like Paul Maybe they have a thorn but they don't have the thorn like Paul did what happened in chapter 12 early on with Paul What experience did he have?
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He was caught up into Paradise he goes to heaven and then he comes home and writes a book about it and goes on TBN as a circuit preacher, right?
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I heard one guy say, you know, I've been to heaven and there Are no toilets in heaven.
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I mean how much peyote do you smoke to say something like that? I mean it is just asinine. I have no idea where these people come up with these things one guy said, you know
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This is the tie. I wore up to heaven not my particular tie, but his tie and he says every time I want to think about heaven.
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I just smell my tie and it kind of has the wafty Sense of heaven
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I smell it even the kids laugh at that one
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When you go to heaven, I'll tell you what will happen First you're gonna praise God and if he ever sends you back
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You're pretty much in trouble Think about the two witnesses I think the two witnesses in Revelation are probably
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Moses and Elijah and they gladly came back to have Fire come out of their mouth when they were preaching on the streets of Jerusalem and killing people at at will
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But then it was time for them to be killed Anytime you leave heaven and come down. It's less. It's not as good
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Are you taking a step down? Right hit Jesus incarnate Jesus the second person of the
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Trinity. It's a condescension to descend down to earth and if you go up and want to come back
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God is going to keep you humble because heaven is Incredible he says in verse 1 of chapter 12 boasting is necessary though It's not profitable
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But I will go on divisions and revelations of the Lord you guys run around tell me you've been to heaven and back and think you're
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So hot you fake false Apostles I've been to heaven and if you guys think boasting is good and you're boasting in fake frauds.
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I'm gonna really boast He says with sarcasm Then he distances himself and says
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I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago Whether in the body, I don't know or out of the body.
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I do not know God knows cuz it was so awesome The last thing I was thinking about is my epidermis
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Such a man was caught up Raptured snatched up to the third heaven Not just where the birds fly not just where the stars are but in the heaven and I know how such a man
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Whether in the body or apart from the body. I do not know. God knows was caught up into a paradise and heard inexpressible words
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Which a man is not permitted to speak Unless Paul Crouch says it's a good money on behalf of such a man
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I will boast but on my own behalf. I will not boast except in regard to my weakness He's y 'all pushing to this point for if I do wish to boast
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I will not be foolish for I will be speaking the truth You guys are the fools talking about air
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But I will refrain from this so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me
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What I preach that's the real story because you can't prove Or I can't prove if I've been to heaven or not
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Here's what God gives somebody who's been to heaven Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations what he saw in heaven, can you imagine
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By the way, what will your first moment in heaven be like? That first moment from maybe painful death when you're older or some kind of car crash some kind of bee sting that you have some reaction to that first moment from Trials back hurts issues with your with you with your body and all of a sudden in heaven that first Transitionary moment.
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I wonder what that must be like. I mean just one moment how long
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Paul stayed I don't know but he was shown things as you can see the text because of the greatness of the revelations
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I'm sure he saw Christ Jesus But I'm sure Jesus showed him more and for this reason to keep me from exalting myself
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Because I could easily exalt myself. I've been to heaven there was given me a thorn a big spike
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This is no little rosebush thorn. This is a spike in the flesh
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Manifest itself how a messenger of Satan to torment me To keep me from exalting myself who sent the messenger of Satan who's ultimately sovereign over that messenger being sent
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God uses Satan by the way, if you can cast out Satan if you do have the power why would you because if Satan's attacking you
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God is sovereign over the attack and Here a messenger of Satan is the thorn
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Now if I have my numbers right and you can correct me if I'm wrong I want to say that because this isn't in my notes
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I want to say that 88 times the word messenger is used in the New Testament and the other 87 times that it's used outside of this passage it's always used not of a thing but of a person an angel some kind of personal messenger and Some people think it's
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Paul's eyesight was his thorn in the flesh some people think it's his body and certainly Paul's body was beaten and bruised and and He'd been stoned and he'd been all shipwrecked and everything else.
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I mean Paul needed a chiropractor, right? I like two people to come to church I like everybody to come but I want to have policemen and Chiropractors and you can pretty much figure out that if I ever have an opportunity to hire another full -time staff member
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We've already got the policemen taken care of. I want an ex chiropractor Just to get worked on Where's pastor
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Avendroth? Oh, he's over there in his office getting his neck adjusted What does this have to do with anything
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I have no idea what it has to do with Cairo though the root word for Cairo chiropractor
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Cairo his hands. It's a doctor that uses his hands. I still don't know my transition a messenger of Satan The thorn in the flesh wasn't somehow
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Paul's Aching back although those are you know, I will not say physical ailments are not difficult
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They're true. They're real They will be gone in heaven, but this particular messenger
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I believe was some person that Satan had energized to torment Paul To attack him to slander him.
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And so if people want to be technical six -toe I would say the messenger a thorn in the flesh is a person given by God Directed to Paul to attack him in his ministry to keep him humble
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What about Arthur's thorns in the flesh if someone says, you know, I've got a problem that is greed
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I don't know if I'd call that a thorn in the flesh. I would just call that simply my flesh
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That is to say when God saves us He could have taken all our sins away and he could have made our position and practice the same
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We are forgiven in Christ seen as perfect But our practice doesn't match up and God could have matched both of those up But he will not do that until glory.
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And so I would say our flesh gets us in trouble more than some kind of external thorn All right.
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I'm just gonna give you a few rapid -fire Here's a few rapid -fire lessons. I've learned Not everyone who calls themselves a
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Christian is a Christian Matthew 7 would bear that out.
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Here's another one. It is loving to tell people the truth First Corinthians 13 says love rejoices with are in the what?
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truth Here's another one.
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The providence of God is better than any charismatic gift What do
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I mean by that? The providence of God is better than any charismatic gift Who can explain that?
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Yes, Bruce. Well gift if I did like that you would be more in agreement
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Basically what I'm trying to say there is you've got charismatics and many of them are Christians with all kinds of extraordinary gifts
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When I think sometimes those charismatics Grudem and Piper aside Forget that one of the most miraculous
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Supernatural things in the world is that God is in control of everything and he's causing everything to work out for good
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God's in control of everything And so most charismatics are light on the sovereignty of God in his providence
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But heavy on some kind of gift and I'll take providence versus a charismatic gift anytime
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Here's another one. This world is not heaven This world is not heaven
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It's God's will for us to suffer Jesus suffered we will suffer and we should Probably view our suffering through many lenses, but one would be
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I sure can't wait to get to heaven I sure can't wait to have the glories of Christ revealed to me and God grants me a perfect healthy body equipped for eternity to praise the
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Savior and Sometimes our life is gets so good That we think this is heaven
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But it's not here's another one just a couple more
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We got to go faith is the result of salvation and not the cause you've heard me talk about this over and over and over and I want to just make sure you remember that faith is not the faith is the result of Salvation not the cause that is to say when people believe it is a gift from God that God grants
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God does not say if you believe I'll save you He says I save you and you respond to me with faith 2nd
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Peter 1 chapter 1 verse 1 says to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours right
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Last one when I am anxious It is
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God's loving way of showing me that I have not depended upon him in prayer
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Like I should have When I am anxious, it is God's loving way of showing me that I have not depended upon him in prayer
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I'm gonna say a word you give me the antonym. You give me the opposite word Anxiety, I think that's pretty good, but I was looking for another one.
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Let's try it again anxiety Trust is what I'm after If you're trusting in someone then you're not going to be anxious and the
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Lord is so good When I have these feelings of I'm anxious, do you ever get anxious? It's to me sometimes compounded by caffeine.
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You know, that's all I need now diet Pepsi has diet Pepsi max and it has some kind of gin ginseng guarana
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You know, I have yet to do a lot of the monster drinks the kind of drinks
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I met one guy and he said this was back in California. Well, there's that extreme super duper quadruple red hair the dog
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Whatever drink over there and he says I don't drink those because when I drink those I throw up I I Said well, how much do you drink before you know, you'll throw up and he said oh you'll know
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But I have a lot of energy. I kind of got I get peppy and then I throw up I mean, I just don't understand that I'm already too peppy.
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I don't need monster drinks Maybe a diet Red Bull on 5 in the morning or something that might work, but I I just have to resist
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But I get anxious and when I get anxious friends realize that as God gave gives you
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Nerve endings in your body. Oh, that's hot He also gives you like I said last week
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Gentle loving responses, so you'll know you're doing the wrong thing Just think if we had if we were leprous not just physically and couldn't feel but just think we if we were numb spiritually
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Leprous Spiritually and say, you know, I'm always feeling good all the time We're not supposed to feel good all the time why we can rejoice all the time we can have the hope of heaven all the time but feeling good isn't to happen all the time because when we obey we feel good and when we
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Don't do the right things we feel wrong. We feel badly. We feel anxious
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I get anxious and when I feel anxious, I just think to myself Lord You are so good to remind me that my life
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Independence upon you and prayer has been wrong and horrible and I've fallen short I Try to coordinate the church in my life and I try to get everybody to do the right thing and I try to solve the
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Problems and you know as a pastor we get these problems and as elders that are so huge. I can't solve them
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I begun to worry and I begin to fret and then I realize you know what God's not fretting.
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God's not anxious God's On his throne and my job is to respond to him
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Well, and God forgive me and I need to show that I'm dependent upon you because without Christ I can do nothing
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It's a good thing to be anxious because it shows me what I haven't been doing Alright, well, those are just some things that I've learned
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You've probably learned a lot of other things But just I trust some things that might encourage you in your walk in Christ Let's just pray a
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Lord we would now bow our heads and say thank you for the time around the singing Lord, how good you are as I as I see the kids raise their hand in anticipation of songs and Giving them a desire.
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You've given them parents who taught them immortal invisible and those things How good is that?
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How rich is that? You are a gracious God and we are thankful for the heritage that you have given us.
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We want to pass that on to our kids And Lord, I just pray these things that I've tried to pass on to the church tonight
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Might encourage our comfort or convict and that we might be better equipped to do the work of the ministry here
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Lord Grant us opportunities this week to trust in you help us and be quick to convict us by your spirits enabling when we are walking alone and walking out front without your
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Guidance and without your supervision and Lord, I'd pray for this church I pray that for this church that we would be a church that would tell people the truth and we do it in a loving