What Are Our Greatest Fears?

Posted by David on April 25, 1999 under Sermons

This evening, we will approach our lesson in a different manner. As I told you in the welcome, I want you to think about the greatest fears that exist in our society. I want us to focus on the major, real fears, not the abstract concept of fear.

For just a few minutes, I want you to share with me and the assembly great fears that are common in our society. Hold up your hand, and for just a few minutes I will bring the microphone around and let people acknowledge fears that are in our society.

(Spend about ten minutes letting people in the audience identify common fears.)

Thank you! (Briefly summarize or make a statement about the kinds of fears shared.)

1. The first thing we must understand about the fears that terrorize humanity is the immediate, direct bond that exists between fear and evil.
   1. The fear that terrorizes us exists because evil exists in our world and society.
      1. If it were possible to eliminate all evil, all influence of Satan in our world, the fear that terrorizes would cease to exist.
      2. Because it is not possible to eliminate all evil, all influence of Satan, the fear that terrorizes always exists.
   2. It is no accident that the Bible reveals that fear became a part of human existence at the same time that evil became a part of human existence.
      1. When Adam and Eve were seduced by Satan’s temptation and rebelled against God, an immediate result was fear.
      2. Genesis 3:8-10 make this evident:
         1. Because of their surrender to evil, they experienced shame (a new experience!).
         2. In shame they tried to hide from God.
         3. With the shame came fear; they also tried to hide because they were afraid.
      3. Humanity can so completely surrender to evil that they destroy their ability to be ashamed; but they never destroy their fears.
2. One of the benefits of building a close relationship with God is the destruction of the fear of terror.
   1. One of God’s objectives in His people is to destroy the fear of terror.
      1. After Abraham rescued Lot from his captors, God spoke to Abraham to reassure him.
         1. God began with the words, “Abram, fear not” (Genesis 15:1).
         2. Though he lived as a nomad in a strange land filled with enemies, God did not want him to be afraid.
      2. When Isaac was struggling with the men of Gerar over water wells, God spoke to Isaac and said, “Do not fear for I am with you” (Genesis 26:24).
      3. When Daniel saw a terrifying vision that caused him to turn pale and tremble, God said, “Fear not, Daniel” (Daniel 10:12).
         1. God said that He had come to Daniel because of Daniel’s desire to understand and because of his humility.
         2. Though Daniel was a captive with many enemies, God did not want him to be afraid.
      4. Though God revealed through Isaiah the terrible consequences that Israel would pay for their long history of evil, God also gave promises and reassurances to Israel.
         1. “Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10; 43:5).
         2. “Fear not, I will help” (Isaiah 41:13).
         3. “Fear not, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 43:1).
      5. When Paul was on a doomed ship caught in a terrible storm, the Lord spoke to Paul and said, “Fear not, Paul” (Acts 27:24).
   2. I hope that you will do some reading, studying, and thinking about the great servants of God revealed to us in scripture.
      1. They were great servants dedicated to God’s purposes because of their faith in God, their love for God, and their awe and reverence of God.
      2. In the truest sense, they trusted God and depended on God.
      3. While they all had great reverence for God, they were not afraid of God, nor did they let circumstances cause them to live their lives in terror continually.
   3. To me one of the most insightful lessons about the fear of terror is found in one of Jesus’ parables, the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.
      1. The servant who was entrusted with one silver talent, an enormous amount of money at that time, hid the silver because he was afraid.
      2. He returned to his master exactly what the master gave him with this explanation (Matthew 25:24,25):
         1. “I knew you were a hard man.”
         2. “I knew you harvested what you did not plant.”
         3. “I hid the silver because I was afraid.”
         4. He was afraid because he did not know his master.
         5. In this parable, God is the master.
         6. Are we the servant who misunderstands God and are afraid?
   4. Let me share some summary thoughts.
      1. The poorer our relationship with God, the greater our fear.
      2. The better our relationship to God, the less fear we have.
      3. The greater the distance between us and God, the greater our fear.
      4. The closer we are to God, the less fear we have.
      5. Faith and love work together to destroy fear.
         1. That is true in human relationships.
         2. It is true in our relationship with God.

To each of His sons and daughters, God says, “Don’t be afraid; I am with you.”

The “Light Bulb” Experience

Posted by David on under Sermons

This morning I want to begin by asking two questions. They are easy questions. They will not make you feel uncomfortable or embarrass you. I want you to answer each question by holding up your hand.

If you have ever taught a class of any kind, you have been a teacher. Question number one: how many of you have ever been a teacher? All of you who have taught a class, please hold up your hand. (Pause for response.) Thank you!

If you have been a teacher, you taught at least one student “who just did not get it.” This student was not stupid, or dumb, or lacking in basic intelligence. He or she simply did not understand what you were trying to teach. Having been that student too many times, I have great empathy for students “who just do not get it.”

Everyone of us has been a student. Everyone of us has been taught by a teacher. Question number two: when I ask who was your favorite teacher, how many of you can remember a specific person who was a favorite teacher? If you can remember a favorite teacher, hold up you hand. (Pause for response.) Thank you!

A teacher becomes a favorite teacher for many reasons. Commonly, all those reasons are connected to one basic truth. A favorite teacher is a teacher who helped you understand things that you had difficulty understanding.

Both those questions involve the “light bulb experience.” The “light bulb experience” is that moment when I see things that I never saw before. Because I see, I understand.

When you are a Christian, you allow God to lead you from one “light bulb experience” to another. As long as a person follows God, he continues to have “light bulb” experiences.

Isaiah 42:6-9 “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison. “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images. “Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

1. “David, can you show me a specific example of a real person for whom God ‘turned the light bulbs on’?” I surely can.
   1. There once was a man who was a major Bible scholar, who was one of the most devout, conscientious people to follow God (Galatians 1:14).
      1. This man’s Bible teacher was the greatest scholar of his day (Acts 22:3).
      2. This man was a member of a religious group known for its devotion to the authority of Bible (Acts 26:5; 23:6).
      3. To use our terminology, this man could quote book, chapter, and verse with the best of them–his knowledge of scripture was astounding.
   2. BUT, while he had an incredible knowledge of scripture, he did not correctly understand what he knew.
      1. He believed that Israel and only Israel was God’s people.
      2. He believed that Jesus was a fraud, a false prophet, and a terrible threat to God’s true purposes; he certainly did not believe that Jesus was the Christ.
      3. In his knowledge of scripture this man was so certain that Christians were God’s enemies that he arrested and voted to kill Christians in the absolute confidence that he was accomplishing God’s purposes (Acts 26:9-11).
   3. In fact, this man was traveling to another country to arrest Jews who believed in Christ and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial when he had his “light bulb experience (Acts 9:1-9).
      1. That literally is when Paul was struck to the ground by a light that was more brilliant than the noon sun.
      2. The resurrected Jesus spoke directly, personally to Paul.
      3. After three days of praying and fasting, this enemy of Christians was baptized to be a Christian (Acts 22:14-16).
   4. From that moment, his understanding of his knowledge changed 180 degrees.
      1. He did not receive new knowledge; he was the same scholar after the experience that he was before the experience.
      2. It was not new knowledge that totally turned Paul’s life around; it was a new understanding of what he knew.
      3. When Paul had his “light bulb experience,” do you know what Jesus told him?
         1. Acts 26:16-18 But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’ (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         2. Before this experience, Paul would never teach that Jesus was the Christ.
         3. Before this experience, Paul would never go to Gentiles, non-Jews, to teach them.
         4. And what did Jesus send him to do?
            1. To open their eyes so that they could turn from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to God.
            2. To open their eyes so that they could receive forgiveness of sins and the inheritance of those sanctified by faith in Jesus.
      4. Is it surprising when Paul the Christian wrote a prayer to the Ephesian Christians, he prayed, [Ephesians 1:18] “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
2. Did Paul really come to a new understanding of his knowledge?
   1. Allow the book of Romans to illustrate the “light bulb experience.”
      1. In Romans 1:16,17 Paul the Christian wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         1. Before Paul had his eyes opened, he declared that the law was the power of God to save.
         2. After Paul’s eyes were opened he declared that the gospel was God’s power to save.
         3. Before Paul had his eyes opened, he declared that salvation is found among the Jews.
         4. After his eyes were opened, he declared that God extends salvation to people who are not Jews.
         5. Before his eyes were opened, Paul would not have used Habakkuk 2:4 to prove that a righteous man lives by faith.
      2. In Romans 4:3 Paul wrote, “For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         1. Before Paul had his eyes opened, Paul declared that God made a person righteous through Jewish ritual circumcision and obedience to the law.
         2. After Paul had his eyes opened, Paul declared that God always had looked on a person as being righteous because of the person’s faith.
         3. Before his eyes were opened, Paul would not have used Genesis 15:6 to prove that truth.
      3. In Romans 4:7,8 Paul wrote, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         1. Before Paul had his eyes opened, he declared if you disobey the law you paid the consequences.
         2. After he had his eyes opened, Paul declared that a form of divine forgiveness not only forgave, but it covered sins because God would not take a person’s sins into account.
         3. Before his eyes were opened, Paul would not have used Psalms 32:1,2 to prove that truth.
      4. One major argument the Jewish people made against Christianity was that salvation by faith was unfair to God’s chosen people.
         1. In Romans 9:6-13 Paul explained that salvation by faith is an act of the sovereign God.
         2. As proof Paul cited the fact that God decided to work through Jacob instead of Esau before those twins were born.
         3. God is sovereign; He can do what He chooses to do.
         4. Before he had his eyes opened, Paul would not have used Jacob and Esau to prove God’s sovereignty.
3. God is the God who sees–everything.
   1. For example, God knows everything about each one of us.
      1. Jesus said that He knows how many hairs we have on our heads.
      2. He knows every weakness, flaw, evil desire, wrong motive, failure, mistake, and undesirable fact about everyone of us.
      3. And knowing all that, He still loves each one of us, still has compassion for each one of us, and still extends mercy and forgiveness to each one of us.
   2. When we let God open our eyes, we begin to see people as God sees people.
      1. With all their flaws and failures? No.
      2. With love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.
   3. This world is filled with people who hate and in their hatred destroy people.
      1. Kosovo is just one example of people hating people.
      2. Often if you trace hatreds to their roots, the tap root is religion.
      3. Too often one religion that created and sustains hatred is Christianity.
      4. I understand that the present violence is a product of atheistic communism.
      5. However, in the Kosovo tragedy, guess who received Christian teachings? The Serbs.
      6. The hate began more than 600 years ago when those who worshipped Allah invaded those who worshipped Jesus.
   4. Tears come to my eyes.
      1. When I see the refuges flooding out of Kosovo, tears come to my eyes.
      2. When I hear from Christian brothers and sisters in Serbia living in terror of the bombs, tears come to my eyes.
      3. When hatred rules, we desperately need something beyond a military solution or a political solution; they don’t work; they never have worked.
      4. What we need are “opened eyes,” “light bulb experiences.”

Prayer: God open the eyes of our hearts. Help us see with Your eyes. Once we let You change our world in sixty years by opening eyes.

Have you had Paul’s “light bulb experience”? “Light bulb experiences” do more than change lives. They change families. They change communities. They change nations. They change the world.

Through “light bulb experiences,” we understand. We understand what we always knew. Knowledge changes your life just a little. Understanding turns your life upside down.

The Bond Between Love and Obedience

Posted by David on April 18, 1999 under Sermons

1 John 5 contains three things. First it contains powerful encouragement. Second, it contains some of the most difficult statements found in the New Testament. Third, it contains some key Christian concepts. There is no way we could address all three this evening.

1. In 1 John 5:1,2, John emphasizes some key concepts found throughout the book.
   1. Key concept #1: Believing that Jesus is the Christ.
      1. Chapter 2:22 — The antichrists do not believe Jesus is the Christ.
      2. Chapter 3:23 — Believing Jesus is the Christ is a basic commandment, and this faith and obedience results in Christians loving each other.
      3. Chapter 4:2,3 — Believing that Jesus is the Christ is a basic proof that a spirit comes from God.
      4. Chapter 4:15 — Believing that Jesus is the Christ is key evidence that one continually lives in God.
      5. Chapter 5:1 — Believing that Jesus is the Christ is basic evidence that the person is born of God.
   2. Key concept #2: the born of God.
      1. Chapter 2:29 — The born of God practice righteousness.
      2. Chapter 3:9 — The born of God will not practice sin.
      3. Chapter 4:7 — The born of God love.
      4. Chapter 5:4 — The born of God overcome the world.
      5. Chapter 5:18 — The born of God are kept by God.
   3. Concept #3: Love the children of God (Christians love Christians).
      1. Chapter 2:10,11 — Christians loving Christians is essential to if a Christian is to continually live in the light.
      2. Chapter 3:11 — Christians loving Christians is the original message.
      3. Chapter 4:7 — Christians loving Christians is the proof that we belong to God.
      4. Chapter 4:11 — Christians ought to love each other because God loves all of us.
      5. Chapter 4:21 — Christians love Christians because God commanded us to love each other.
   4. Concept #4: Keeping the commandments.
      1. Chapter 2:3 — We know that we know God if we keep the commandments.
      2. Chapter 3:22 — God responds to us because we keep the commandments.
      3. Chapter 3:24 — Keeping the commandments is necessary for there to be mutual indwelling.
      4. Chapter 5:3 — Keeping the commandments is the proof that we love God.
2. Please focus on some of the basic understandings of Chapter 5.
   1. Understanding #1: “If you love the parent, you love the child” (5:1).
      1. This concept is basic to the meaning of obedience, loving Christians, and inseparable bond.
      2. Understanding obedience:
         1. Obedience is not a matter of making a list of commandments and doing them.
         2. Obedience is not making a deal with God that obligates God.
         3. Because I love my father I am devoted to pleasing him.
         4. Obedience is not a matter of making a deal with God; it’s a matter of being devoted to God.
      3. Christians loving Christians.
         1. We do not love Christians because we are easy to love.
         2. The truth is, none of us are that easy to love.
         3. We love Christians because we love the parent of Christians.
      4. The inseparable link exists between love and obedience.
         1. This is one of the basic truths of “love the parent, love the child.”
         2. Because we love the parent, we love his children.
         3. Because we love the parent, we obey the parent.
         4. It is impossible to love God and refuse to love Christians.
         5. It is impossible to love God and refuse to obey God.
   2. Understanding #2: Keeping God’s commandments is not burdensome (5:3).
      1. The Pharisees were the proof that humans can make obeying God very burdensome.
         1. They are also the proof that this distorts the purposes of God.
         2. They are also the proof that when we do this we deep displease God.
      2. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, and my load is light.”
         1. Obeying God by surrendering to Jesus destroys burdens.
         2. It rests the soul, not exhausts the soul.
      3. Obedience may not be easy, but it is not burdensome.
         1. The greater our love for God the easier obedience becomes.
         2. When Christianity is by nature burdensome, it is not what Christ gave us.
   3. Understanding #3: It is our faith that gives us victory over the world (5:4).
      1. By our faith, John means that we place our trust in Jesus who is the Christ.
      2. We need to see John’s picture clearly.
         1. His picture is not of a world under the immediate control of God with Satan invading it.
         2. His picture is of a world under the immediate control of evil being invaded by God through Christ.
      3. The person who overcomes the world is the Christian who places his absolute trust in Jesus as the Christ.
3. Observation: Verses 6-8 are some of the most difficult verses in the New Testament to understand.
   1. John’s point and thought flow are not obvious.
   2. Many serious scholars have come to very different conclusions about the meaning of these verses.
   3. It is not my purpose tonight to examine those conclusions.
4. Finally, I want you to focus on the assurances.
   1. Assurance #1: God has given Christians eternal life, and that life is found in Jesus Christ (5:11,12).
      1. Please note it does not say that God will give us eternal life.
      2. For every person in Christ, God has given him or her eternal life.
      3. We can chose to forfeit it, but it is ours if we chose to remain in Christ.
   2. Assurance #2: We place our confidence in eternal life (5:13).
      1. It is not a “maybe” proposition.
      2. It is a definite promise.
   3. Assurance #3: God hears our requests (5:15).
      1. The person who loves God and shows his love in devotion through obedience is committed to the will of God.
      2. Any request this person makes will be in full respect of God’s will.
      3. When in surrender to the will of God we make a request, God hears our request and responds to it.
   4. Assurance #4: When Christians pray for God to forgive Christians of mistakes that they have made, God will extend that forgiveness.
      1. There are some sins that produce spiritual death.
      2. There are some sins that do not result in spiritual death.
      3. For those sins, God will hear the prayer for forgiveness of one Christian prayed for another Christian .

Pay special attention to Chapter 5:19. John plainly said that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The only way we can keep the evil one from touching us is to be born of God. God keeps those who are born of Him from being touched by the evil one. This happens because those born of God place their unquestioning trust in His son, Jesus Christ. God can invade the control of the evil one because He is the true God that has eternal life.

John cautioned them against idolatry. Idolatry replaced the true God with a false god. We need the same caution. We must not replace the true God with any worldly power. All worldly powers come from the evil one, not from God.

“Lord, Please Let the Operation Begin!”

Posted by David on under Sermons

On April 19, 1995, four years ago tomorrow, there was an enormous explosion at the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. As rescuers searched for survivors, they located Daina Bradley. She was lying in six inches of water. Her face was barely visible as she lay bleeding under a blanket of concrete dust.

There was a problem. Her leg was trapped under some debris that could not be moved. She had only one hope for survival. She would die if she were not removed from those circumstances quickly. Only by amputating her leg was there any chance that her life could be saved. Even that offered no guarantee.

James Sullivan, an orthopedic surgeon, crawled to Daina. There was so little space that he had to climb on top of her to work. He broke four scalpel blades attempting to remover her leg. He had to complete the amputation with a pocket knife.

There was no anesthesia. As he worked, he prayed that she would not die as a result of what he had to do.

Because James Sullivan removed her leg, Daina Bradley lived.

Matthew 18:7-14, Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven. [For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.] What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

1. Somewhere along the road to being religious, we lost sight of God’s greatest desire.
   1. God’s greatest desire is clearly obvious in Jesus.
      1. God’s greatest desire is to give all humanity life.
      2. John wrote John 3:16,17, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      3. When Mary conceived as a virgin by the will and power of God, an angel told Joseph not to be afraid to marry her. Matthew 1:21, “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      4. It was Jesus who gave this invitation: Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      5. It was Jesus who said in Matthew 20:28, “…the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      6. Jesus declared in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      7. Paul wrote 1 Timothy 1:15, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.“ (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      8. Peter wrote 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
   2. Somewhere along the road to being religious we Christian individuals became blind to God’s greatest desire.
      1. We became blind to God’s greatest desire for us personally.
      2. We became blind to Jesus’ greatest desire for us individually.
      3. How would you complete this statement–honestly? “God’s greatest desire for me is … ”
      4. “God’s greatest desire for me is to:”
         1. “Judge me.”
            1. Wrong. He did not have to send me a Savior to judge me.
            2. Will God judge me? Yes.
            3. But His greatest desire is to forgive me, not to pronounce me guilty.
         2. “Condemn me.”
            1. Wrong. Were that His greatest desire, He did not have to subject His Son to the pain of death on the cross.
            2. Will He condemn me?
            3. Only if I force Him to–by refusing to enter Christ and live in His forgiveness.
         3. “Punish me.”
            1. Wrong. Were that His greatest desire, He could have done nothing. All He had to do was let us pay the consequence of our mistakes, and our punishment would be certain.
            2. Will He punish me?
            3. Only if I force Him to–by rejecting His love.
      5. “Then what is God’s greatest desire for me?”
         1. God’s greatest desire is to save my life.
         2. God wants to give me life right now, a life that not even death can end.
2. “If God’s greatest desire is to save my life, that is fine with me. He certainly has my permission!”
   1. If God is to save my life, I must assist God as He performs surgery on me.
      1. If I refuse the surgery, I will die.
         1. God will not kill me.
         2. My condition will kill me.
      2. The evil in me will kill me.
         1. It is the evil within me that is eating my mind.
         2. It is the evil within me that is eating my heart.
         3. Evil invaded my reasoning.
         4. Evil distorted my judgment.
         5. Evil deceives me every day of my life.
      3. Evil places me in deep denial.
         1. I tell myself that there is nothing wrong with me.
         2. I tell God that there is nothing wrong with me.
         3. Anyone who seriously suggests there is something is wrong with me angers me.
   2. If God is to save my life, first I must allow God awaken me to the evil that is killing me.
      1. I must let God teach me how to identify the things that support the evil within me.
      2. I must learn how to stop trusting me and trust God more completely.
      3. My confidence must be in God’s promises even when I do see or understand.
      4. I must believe in my life the impossible becomes the possible through the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and the love of God.
3. Each of us as a Christian has a personal problem in allowing God to save his or her life–none of us are exempt from the problem.
   1. This is the truth: the more confidence I have in my own righteousness, the bigger my spiritual problem becomes.
      1. We do not see ourselves as needing help, but as giving help.
      2. Our great confidence in our own answers refuses to let God teach us.
      3. Our absolute certainty that we are right refuses to allow God to correct our concepts.
      4. It is probable that the most difficult lives to save are the persons who are certain that God already has completed His work in them.
   2. These are some identifiable Christians who fight God tooth and toenail as God earnestly seeks to save their lives.
      1. Christians who want God to save their lives while leaving all their ungodliness alone fight God fight God.
         1. “Save my life, but don’t change it.”
         2. “Let me stay who I am while I do all the things that I delight in doing.”
         3. “My sins are not bad for me; they won’t hurt me; leave them alone.”
         4. They don’t want surgery.
      2. Christians who want to be involved in Christ and to live unspiritual lives simultaneously fight God.
         1. When they are doing something for Christ, they want to do it 100%.
         2. When they are being unspiritual, they want to do it 100%.
         3. They partition their lives: they declare that Christ does not influence the unspiritual part of their lives and the unspiritual part of their lives does not influence Christ’s part.
         4. They don’t want surgery.
      3. Christians that regard spiritual defects to be spiritual assets fight God.
         1. Ungodly attitudes are an asset in defending the truth.
         2. Hard hearts are an asset when stressing obedience.
         3. Being without emotion is good because emotions produce error.
         4. Being a legalist is good because law keepers will not make the mistakes that are made by those who love, show compassion, and are merciful.
         5. Having deep feelings for God without knowledge about God is good; your feelings always will show you what is right.
         6. They don’t want surgery.
4. Why does Jesus despise people who become stumbling blocks? Because stumbling blocks prevent God from saving lives.
   1. How can we become a stumbling block?
      1. A stumbling block person creates temptation.
      2. Jesus said that we live in a world filled with spiritual hazards that can destroy us.
      3. He gives a sober, serious warning to the person who allows evil to use him or her to create temptation.
   2. Notice that Jesus declared that we have two reasons for concern.
      1. We must be not be the reason that someone else stumbles.
      2. We must not cause ourselves to stumble.
         1. Even if it is something as basic to life as a hand, a foot, or an eye causes us to be tempted, remove it.
         2. Jesus was not talking about performing physical amputations.
         3. Jesus was saying that we will allow God to amputate anything, no matter how basic to life it seems, to escape the spiritual hazards that seek to kill us.
   3. Why will a Christian do that? Because the Christian understands that God wants to save our lives.
      1. God does not want to “least” person to die.
      2. God does not want the “lost” to die–even if the person is like the ignorant, none observant sheep that wanders off.
      3. It is not God’s will that even the most insignificant person perish.
      4. It is not God’s will that you die; God wants to save your life.

Prayer: Lord, open our eyes to the evil that wishes to kill us. Open our eyes and hearts to your deep desire to save our lives.

I wonder if Daina Bradley looked down at one leg and cursed James Sullivan for amputating the other leg. I wonder if Daina Bradley look down at one leg and thanked God that James Sullivan removed her leg to give her life.

God wants to give you life. But there is a difference. Anything that you allow God to amputate makes you spiritually whole. You lose nothing by turning from those things that seek to kill you.

Matthew 16:24,25, Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

Are you carrying the cross, or are you trying to save yourself?

God’s Test

Posted by David on April 4, 1999 under Sermons

Even the relationships that survive are too often frail and hollow. Too many are based on pretense instead of substance.

The greatest single power available to Christians in our society to attract people to give serious consideration to Jesus Christ are Christian relationships of love. The more successful we are at loving and building relationships of love, the more successful we will be in reaching people in our society.

1. Before we examine 1 John 4, we need to remember something and be aware of something.
   1. First, we must remember that John did not divide his letter into chapters and verses.
      1. Yes, I know that I keep reminding you of that.
      2. Let me show you why it is so important to remember that fact.
         1. The emphasis in 4:1-6 is on “trying the spirits.”
         2. But notice that the “bookends” on each side of “trying the spirits” is an emphasis on the importance of love.
         3. Immediately before we read about “trying the spirits” we are told that it is love that verifies that we have passed out of death into life.
         4. Immediately after we read about “trying the spirits” we are told that love is the proof that we have been conceived by God and know God.
         5. Any spirit that tries to convince us that love is not of basic, spiritual importance is not God’s spirit.
   2. Second, notice that John’s emphasis is on relationship, not on knowledge.
      1. The antichrist, those who declared that Jesus was not the Christ, often claimed that God gave them a special revelation.
      2. Their “revelation” emphasized that knowledge was essential and declared love was not of primary importance.
      3. Knowing God’s “revelation” was more important than loving Christians.
      4. Note that John strongly rejected the idea that knowledge is more important than love.
      5. Note that John strongly emphasized that Christians loving Christians is essential.
2. I John 4:1-6, the importance of “trying the spirits.”
   1. “Do not believe every spirit because there are many false prophets; test the spirits” (4:1).
      1. First notice that the voice of the spirits here are human voices, the voices of false prophets.
      2. In a world without Bibles, there was an enormous problem of determining what to believe.
      3. In a world with Bibles, there is an enormous problem in determining what to believe.
   2. The Spirit of God confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and that he came from God (4:2).
      1. They struggled with a huge problem that never troubles most of us.
      2. If Jesus was divine, if he came from God, how could he be a fleshly man?
      3. We do not have an answer to that question; we accept it by faith.
         1. We just don’t consider the answer to that question to be important.
         2. They did.
         3. To them that was a huge faith question.
   3. The antichrist denied that Jesus came from God and lived in the flesh (4:3).
      1. These Christians had heard the antichrists were coming.
      2. I doubt that they expected the antichrists to come from the Christian community; they likely expected antichrists to be an “outside force.”
      3. Antichrists were already in existence.
      4. Even though they began as Christians, they taught a “Christless” way to belong to God.
   4. John said clearly (4:4):
      1. You are from God.
      2. You have overcome the antichrist.
      3. Why?
         1. The Holy Spirit is in you.
         2. This was a common understanding in the first century Christian community.
         3. Paul emphasized the same truth in Ephesians 3:16,17 “… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         4. They had not overcome the antichrists because they had defeated them.
         5. They had overcome the antichrists because the Holy Spirit was in them.
      4. God defeated Satan in the world by letting Jesus die, and God defeated Satan in you by letting His Spirit live in you.
      5. God’s Spirit can live in you because you believe that God sent Jesus in the flesh, and in that faith you have been conceived by God.
   5. We need to take a moment to focus on what John was talking about when he wrote of “trying the spirits.”
      1. This is one of many misused and abused verses in the New Testament.
      2. In the context of the point John made, “trying the spirits” had nothing to do with:
         1. What translations Christians use.
         2. What use we make of church buildings.
         3. What style of worship that we use.
         4. What spiritual programs and ministries that we select.
         5. Or a thousand other applications that we have made.
      3. We do not of ourselves decide that something is evil and authorize our opposition on the basis that John said “to try the spirits.”
      4. Most of the world fought the idea that Jesus was the Christ.
         1. Judaism denied that Jesus was the Christ.
         2. Paganism denied that Jesus was the Son of God.
         3. The Roman government considered Jesus and all who followed him to be a dangerous heresy that was a threat to the government.
         4. Even the antichrists said Jesus was not the Christ; and they came from among the Christians.
      5. There were two tests that they were to apply to those who declared that they spoke for God.
         1. Do they declare that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
         2. Do they emphasize the importance of Christians loving Christians?
         3. If they do not emphasize both essential truths, they are not from God.
   6. The antichrists are not from God; they oppose God (4:5).
   7. “We” (the apostolic voice) are from God (4:6).
      1. Those who know God listen to us.
      2. Recall how John began this letter (1:1-3)–we heard, saw, and touched him; we are actual witnesses of the life of the physical and resurrected Jesus.
3. What does this mean? “It is urgent that you love each other” (4:7,8).
   1. Love is from God; God is into loving relationships.
      1. The closer people get to God the more loving they become;.
      2. Conversely, the further they get from God the less loving they become.
      3. What kind of love? Sacrificial, unselfish love. The love that God had when He sent His son to this world (John 3:16). The kind of love Jesus had when he died on the cross, the “Father forgive them” kind of love (Luke 23:34).
      4. Knowledge of God produces love and creates relationships.
      5. It is utter deceit to claim to know God and not love.
   2. God’s love revealed itself in them by giving them life in the Christ (4:9). [Instead of giving them an organ transplant God gave them a soul transplant.]
   3. Love is not revealed by what we do, but through what God did–He sent His son to be our substitute in paying for the consequences of the wrongs we do (4:10).
   4. If God loved every one of us that much, we ought to love each other (4:11).
   5. Loving each other does two things (4:12).
      1. It allows God to continually live in us.
      2. It allows God’s love to become complete in us.
      3. Love enables us to become 100% of what God wants us to be.
      4. We become what God wants us to be through relationship, not through doctrine.
      5. If it were possible for us to be 100% correct in doctrine, and in doing that not love, we would not be what God wants us to be.
      6. God living in us and our living in God is dependent on love.
      7. Doctrine is important because we pursue truth.
      8. Love is critical because we want God to live in us as we live in God.
   6. Possession of the Spirit verifies we live in God and God lives in us (4:13).
   7. The apostles witnessed the fact that God sent Jesus to be the world’s Savior (4:14).
   8. Confessing Jesus as the Christ is essential if God lives in you and you live in God [he is speaking of something much deeper than baptismal confession] (4:15).
   9. You must know and trust the love God has for us; mutually living in each other can happen only when you understand God is love (4:16).
   10. When love becomes complete in us, we will have confidence when the judgment arrives (4:17).
   11. Love destroys fear, and fear destroys love. Love can never be complete in the person who lives in fear of God’s punishment (4:18).
   12. If God had not first loved us, we would not know or understand love (4:19).
   13. It is impossible to love God and hate a Christian (4:20).
       1. Only liars claim they can do that.
       2. You cannot love the unseen God and hate the seen brother.
   14. This is God’s basic command that John emphasized: the Christian who loves God should love Christian brothers and sisters (4:21).

Loving relationships are the key to a successful congregation. The opportunity to form loving relationships are the key to a powerful outreach. When we let God show us how to love, we take the chains off of God. Powerful things happen.

God’s Called-Out People

Posted by David on under Sermons

How long is three hundred years? If we talk in approximate terms, that is the difference between the year 1700 and the year 2000. What happened near the year 1700? The year 1692 was the year of the Salem witchcraft trials. In 1701 a man pulled his boat up on bank of the Detroit River to establish a fur trading outpost. That spot is now the location of the Civic Center in downtown Detroit.

What did not exist in 1700? Virtually nothing that you use in your everyday life. Nothing that directly impacts your daily life existed in 1700. This nation was not even a nation in 1700.

1. The church that Jesus brought into existence was the most unusual world religion that existed for almost three hundred years.
   1. “What was so unusual about the first three hundred years of the church?”
      1. Christians existed all over the Mediterranean world [and beyond], but no other religious group anywhere in the world was like them.
      2. Christians:
         1. Did not own any buildings that were used for religious assemblies.
         2. Did not build temples like the other religions.
         3. Had no priesthood who served in temples.
         4. Had no holy places where they gathered.
         5. Offered no sacrifices.
      3. No matter how many thousand Christians lived in a city, no matter how huge the city was, they did not have or do those things.
      4. In the beginning they had leaders that they called elders, or bishops, or presbyters, but these were spiritually mature men whose primary work was to serve and care for Christians by providing spiritual leadership.
         1. They were not authoritarians who controlled the church.
         2. They were not gifted business men who cared for church business.
         3. By today’s standards, there was no business to take care of since there were no buildings and no properties.
      5. These Christians, who were the church, were not like us.
         1. If a group of them could visit with us this morning, everything we do would be very strange to them.
         2. They met in homes without Bibles or song books or literature; printing had not been invented, and the majority could not read.
         3. The songs we sing are not the songs they sung.
         4. Our music was not their music; four part harmony did not exist.
         5. I seriously doubt that we do anything as they did it, and I seriously doubt they did things in the same manner in the different parts of their world.
   2. Jesus Christ definitely build his church.
      1. He did not build it while he was alive, but his death did not prevent him from building it.
         Matthew 16:16-18 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         1. Jesus built his church upon the truth that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
         2. By God’s guidance, Peter announced to the Jewish world and to the non-Jewish world that Jesus was the Christ.
         3. The church came into existence after Jesus’ resurrection, but not even crucifixion stopped him from building his church.
      2. The church belongs to Jesus, and only to Jesus.
         1. Paul told the elders from Ephesus in Acts 20:28 that Jesus purchased it with his own blood.
         2. He told the Ephesian congregation in Ephesians 1:22,23 that Jesus Christ is the head over all things to the church, and the church is his body.
2. When you hear the word church, what do you think?
   1. Most of us think of a building when we think of the church.
      1. We quickly explain that the church is the people and not the building.
      2. But the truth is that when we think of the West-Ark Church of Christ we think about a building where Christians gather at 900 North Waldron Road in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
         1. We think of ministries, activities, and assemblies that are associated with this building.
         2. How can you have a church if you don’t have a building? an address? assemblies and activities?
   2. Is it not obvious that when the Christians in the New Testament heard the word “church” that they did not think of a building, or programs, or assemblies?
      1. They did not have buildings.
      2. Their assemblies occurred in small groups in homes.
      3. But the word church obviously meant something when they thought about it.
         1. They thought about a family of people who belonged to Jesus Christ.
         2. They thought about a spiritual community of believers that Jesus the Christ sustained, guided, nurtured, and nourished.
      4. The church was not a nation like Israel was a nation.
      5. The church was not a religious institution like the pagan temples.
      6. The church was simply the “called out” people, the people who were called to belong to God by following Jesus Christ.
         1. That was the meaning of the word translated church: “the called out.”
         2. These were the people who trusted the Christ that God sent.
         3. These were the people who willingly gave their lives to the Christ because he died for their sins.
         4. These were the people who let Jesus Christ be Lord of their lives.
         5. They were called out from everything that opposed God.
         6. They were called into the forgiveness and the salvation of the Christ.
   3. “I don’t understand how that worked.”
      1. “There were thousands and thousands of Christians.”
      2. “But there were no buildings, no property, no printing, no Bibles, no collective assemblies, and no institution?”
      3. “I just don’t see how that worked.”
      4. But it did. There has never been a time in history when Christianity grew as fast, was as strong, or constructively influenced the world more.
   4. “What happened to change this?”
      1. For those first three hundred years Christianity was not a legal religion.
         1. There were times of persecution, but most of the time it was not widespread.
         2. Mostly those were times of intolerance because Christians believed in only one God, and the idolatrous world was deeply offended by that.
         3. But every form of persecution, opposition, and intolerance could not stop the spread of the people who placed their faith in and gave their lives to Jesus the Christ.
      2. Then in 313 A.D. Emperor Constantine issued an edict of toleration for Christians.
         1. He legalized Christianity.
         2. He also built the first building dedicated to Christian worship.
         3. Almost as soon as it became legal, Christianity began an amazing transformation.
         4. In time it became the ultimate institution dedicated to exercising authority and demanding control.
3. “But none of those things have anything to do with us.” Are you sure?
   1. Which is the more important in your religious life?
      1. To be a person “called out” of a world that does not care about God, who is “called to” follow and serve Jesus Christ?
      2. Or, to be a person who loyally follows “Church of Christ practices?”
   2. I am scared. I am scared that gradually through this last one hundred years that we have convinced ourselves that our desires are God’s concerns.
      1. Gradually the focus of the church has shifted to what we want, what we like, what makes us comfortable as it shifted away from Jesus Christ’s purposes.
      2. May I meddle a minute? Let me illustrate this by talking about some things that do not matter to God but are of serious importance to us.
      3. As I ask about these things, ask yourself: does this concern our personal desires and comfort, or God’s purposes in Jesus?
         1. The time that we assemble? Is that important to you? Why?
         2. The songs that we sing? Is that important to you? Why?
         3. The length of our assembly? Is that important to you? Why
         4. Having anything but preaching when we assemble? Is that important to you? Why?
         5. And these do not even touch the “important things.”
      4. Perhaps someone says, “David, you just want what you want.”
         1. I have been preaching for 45 years.
         2. I have never worked with a congregation that was “what I wanted;” (that is probably good).
         3. I have worked with a lot of elders, and I have never known an elder who said the church was just what he wanted it to be.
         4. In fact, the elders that I have known that tried the hardest to control the church were the elders who were the unhappiest with the church.
4. This is a good congregation, and I am honored to be a part of it.
   1. There are so many good things happening here.
      1. So many are involved, so many accept responsibility, so many do wonderful things for Christ privately and quietly.
      2. This is a loving, serving congregation!
      3. An example: your outpouring of love and concern in recent deaths so touched visiting members of families that many were deeply moved by your love, and one person returned home and was baptized.
   2. It is because we are an exceptional congregation; it is because there is so much love here for the Lord and each other; it is because our spiritual potential is enormous; that I want to issue some special challenges.
      1. I am asking you to pray more than you have ever prayed in your life.
      2. I am asking you to have more courage and faith than you have ever had.
      3. “What do you want all of us to do?”
      4. I want us to give the church back to Christ. I want us to be Christ’s called out people.
         1. I want us to restore Christianity as it has never been restored here.
         2. I want us to commit ourselves to Christ’s purposes in our personal lives.
         3. I want us to commit ourselves to Christ’s purposes in the congregation.
         4. I want us to stop letting fear influence our decisions and start letting God use us as only God can.
         5. I want us to stop trying to take care of God, and start trusting God to take care of us.
         6. I want us to stop trusting “us” and start trusting God more deeply than we ever have.
         7. I want us to know with all our hearts that nothing is as important as letting the Christ prepare us and others for eternity.

Prayer: God help us become the “called out.” Help us be what Christ died for us to become. Our congregation, our community, our country desperately need your family!

Will you do it? Will you pray as you never prayed before? Will you help give this congregation to Jesus Christ? Will you let God use you to help restore Christianity?

The Mark of Obedience

Posted by David on March 28, 1999 under Sermons

Obedience has at least two primary responsibilities. In the first, ideal obedience is concerned about the best interests of the one who obeys. God asks us to obey because God seeks our best interest. In God’s concern, obedience’s objective is to prevent the injuries that result from the ignorance of the person who is to obey. Because of our ignorance, dangers, unrecognized and unknown to us can destroy us. In this concern, God asks us to obey to protect us from disasters created by ignorance.

In the second, ideal obedience functions on our understanding of God’s purposes. An unselfish understanding of God’s purposes dedicates the person to assisting God’s purposes. This is the highest level of obedience that we want to develop in our children. When a child understands his or her parents’ purposes and acts to assist those purposes, we rejoice in the child’s wisdom. When Christians understand God’s purposes and act to make those purposes happen, God rejoices in His children’s wisdom.

1. Let me use some simple illustrations of both basic aspects of obedience.
   1. You teach your four year old to never, never, never play with the stove.
      1. If the child plays with the stove, he or she will turn the stove on.
      2. He or she will not be aware that the stove was turned on, so he or she will not attempt to turn the stove off.
      3. If the skillet that you used to cook hamburgers happens to be on the eye that the child unknowingly turned on, the child’s act will result in a serious fire.
      4. So because of what the child does not know, you punish the child when he or she plays with the stove.
   2. Your 13 year old learned to drive a driving a truck in grandpa’s pasture.
      1. But he or she is under age and not permitted to drive your car.
      2. Your specific instructions: “Never start the car. Never move the car.”
      3. Your house catches on fire, and thirteen year old alertly runs to the garage, starts the car, drives it a block down the street, and parks it.
      4. Do you praise your child’s understanding of the situation, good judgment, intelligent decision, and prompt action, or do you punish him or her for moving the car?
      5. In that circumstance, the thirteen year old understood your purposes, and he or she acted in accordance with your purposes.
   3. Let me share a specific example regarding the church and Christians.
      1. I personally doubt any issue in the church is more emotional than the role of women in the church.
      2. When I was a missionary in West African, my evangelistic efforts in a large village resulted in the conversion of about ten women, all of whom were baptized within one week.
      3. For months that congregation had only women members.
      4. There were no preachers to send, no male Christians near, and I could not visit more than once a week on a weekday.
         1. I would go for public preaching once a week.
         2. Deborah Wilson, then Deborah Brown, went with me to teach the women.
      5. Which accomplished God’s purposes in the crucifixion of Jesus?
         1. For the women to share nothing they learned with men in this large village because the declaration for women to be silent is more important than people learning about the Savior who died for our sins?
         2. Or for the women to share what they learned so the men in the village could learn about the Savior who died for our sins?
      6. I am not advocating anything; I am asking you to recognize the two basic concerns of obedience.
2. In the first three chapters of 1 John the following conditions are acknowledged to exist in the Christian community, the family of God at this place.
   1. In chapter one:
      1. There were those who affirmed fellowship with God while they chose to live an evil lifestyle (1:6).
      2. There were those who affirmed fellowship with God because they declared that they did not sin (1:8).
   2. In chapter two:
      1. There were those who affirmed that they knew God but they refused to keep God’s commandments (2:4).
      2. There were those who affirmed fellowship with God while they hated a Christian within the Christian community, God’s family (2:9).
      3. Some who affirmed that God’s love was in them loved the world [those things that oppose God] (2:15,16).
      4. Some were antichrists, Christians who declared that Jesus was not the Christ (2:18).
   3. In chapter three:
      1. Some practiced lawlessness (3:4).
      2. Some affirmed they were conceived by God but practiced sin (3:9).
      3. Some affirmed that loving Christians had nothing to do with loving God (3:10).
3. John powerfully coupled the essential bond that exists between loving God and sustaining a fellowship of love with Christians.
   1. Carefully note the importance of a real love relationship between Christians.
      1. “Don’t be shocked when those who oppose God hate you (3:13).”
         1. My personal understanding of the context of this statement is not restricted to those people outside the Christian community.
         2. Cain and Abel were in the same family, brothers, of the same parents.
         3. But Cain hated and killed Abel because of the influence of evil in his life.
         4. That is John’s illustration, an “in-the-family” illustration.
         5. Remember the antichrists had been a part of the community, and I would not affirm that their choice to separate removed all their influence.
         6. Obviously, as we just noted, there were those among them that lived evil lifestyles and justified evil.
         7. They should not be shocked when these people hated them.
      2. They were to understand that the unquestionable proof of their transition from death to life was real (3:14).
         1. The undeniable evidence was their love for Christians.
         2. The Christian who does not love Christians lives in death, not in life.
            1. How different the church would be today if we stopped measuring faithfulness by checklists!
            2. How different the church would be today if measured faithfulness by Christians’ love for Christians!
      3. This is the fundamental criteria of faithfulness: those who love God love His people; those who hate God’s people do not love God (3:15).
         1. Christians who hate Christians spiritually are murderers.
         2. Eternal life lives only in Christians who love Christians.
      4. How much love are we to have for Christians? As much as Jesus has for Christians: enough to sacrifice life for them (3:16).
         1. The bond between Christians is such that they would die for the family.
         2. What bond exists today?
      5. John is writing about real love (3:17,18).
         1. It helps those who are in need; their hearts go out to each other.
         2. Their love is not merely limited to words; they love with deeds, with truth.
   2. How do we know that we are people devoted to truth (3:19-21)?
      1. Our hearts persuade us that we are devoted to truth because of our willingness to place ourselves before God.
      2. If our hearts will not let us stand before God Himself, if our own hearts condemn us, God will most assuredly condemn us.
      3. But if our hearts are confident before God, the all knowing God who is greater than our hearts will not condemn us.
   3. If we have that confidence, God will respond to our requests (3:22,23).
      1. Why?
         1. Our confident hearts stand before God obediently; we keep his commands.
         2. We do the things that are pleasing to God.
         3. We place our faith, our trust in Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
         4. We love each other in the way that God commanded us to love each other.
      2. The person who keeps God’s commandments continually lives in God and God continually lives in him.
      3. We know that God lives in us because God gave us His Spirit.

The number one commandment we must obey, the number one proof that we have passed from death to life, the number one reason that our hearts can stand before God in confidence, is this: we love Christians.

The number one proof that none of those things are true is this: we hate some Christians.

Christians too often teach and advocate stands and positions that motivate Christians to hate Christians. Christians too seldom teach Jesus Christ’s teachings that motivate Christians to love Christians.

No matter who we are, when in the name of truth our teachings create and justify hatred, we desperately need to reexamine our concepts as well as our positions.

Only Jesus more powerfully made this point: Christians love Christians. The only thing Christians may have in common is Jesus, the Christ. But that is more than enough. When Christians know Jesus, the Christ, the love of Jesus, the Christ, teaches Christians to love Christians.

God’s Good News

Posted by David on under Sermons

I do not want to be insensitive, and I certainly don’t want to be offensive. I do want you to be fully aware of an essential realization. Can you conceive of any one of these things happening?

You take you car to a mechanic to check it. He calls you in two hours and says, “I have good news. Your transmission is shot.”

You put your home on the market. An inspector examines your house. When he finishes he says, “I have good news. There is extensive termite damage everywhere.”

You think your marriage is sound. Your marriage problems are typical problems. One afternoon when you come in from work, your wife greets you with these words. “I have good news. I have filed for divorce; move your things out of this house tonight.”

Or, you think your marriage is stable with only normal problems. Your husband comes in from work and greets you with these words. “I have good news. I am leaving you and the kids. I will move out this weekend. I will put this house on the market soon.”

You go to the doctor for your annual check up. You feel fine and have no medical complaints. The doctor says, “I have good news. You have a tumor.”

“David, that is not even slightly funny. That is sick.” I totally agree. To use the words “good news” in any of those situations is cruel. Good news IS good news.

1. After years of studying, thinking, and understanding, I reached to a conclusion that I want to share with you.
   1. When the early translators either created a word or substituted a word instead of translating the word, they laid the foundation for misconceptions and conflict.
      1. If a word could be translated and they did not translate it; if a word could be translated and they substituted instead of translating, they created confusion.
      2. Some of our greatest confusion can be traced to words that were not translated.
   2. Let me share two examples.
      1. The word “baptism” was created by the early translators.
         1. It was created by a process called transliteration; a letter from the English alphabet was substituted for a letter in the Greek alphabet to form a new word.
         2. The sad thing is that the Greek word was easily translated: it was a common word that meant to sink or to immerse.
         3. But at that time Christian immersion was not practiced.
         4. So they created the word baptize.
         5. Enormous confusion would never have existed, countless arguments would never have occurred if “baptizo” had been translated.
      2. I believe that we encounter a similar situation with the word “gospel.”
         1. If you look in the margins of a study Bible, it usually notes that the word “gospel” means “good news.”
         2. The word “gospel” does not come from Hebrew or Greek, the basic languages of the Bible.
         3. “Gospel” comes from two old Anglo-Saxon words: “God’s spell” meaning “God’s news” or “good spell” meaning “good news.”
         4. The Anglo-Saxon word “spell” seems to have meant “God’s influence on reality.”
         5. These words were used for Greek words that mean “true message,” “well message,” or “good message.”
         6. In its early use the Greek word meant “bringing the news of victory,” the news that a messenger brought from a battle to inform the king of the defeat of an enemy’s army or the death of an enemy.
         7. We create unnecessary problems when we talk about the “gospel” without identifying what the good news or good message was.
2. “Gospel” is an important word in the New Testament: John preached the “gospel;” Jesus preached the “gospel;” and Christianity from its beginning accepted the responsibility to share the “gospel.”
   1. Unfortunately, we make too many assumptions when we use the word.
      1. We assume that the “good news” that John preached was the same “good news” that Jesus preached.
      2. We assume that the “good news” that Jesus preached was the same “good news” that Christians preached.
   2. John unquestionably preached “good news” or the “true” message to Israel.
      1. Luke 3:18 states that John preached the gospel to the people.
      2. Luke 16:16 makes a fascinating statement about John’s preaching. “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John, since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached…”
         1. John was the transition.
         2. Those who taught before John taught what we call the Old Testament; they called those scriptures the Law and the prophets.
      3. Luke 1:15-17 and Luke 1:68-79 clearly state the mission God gave to John.
         1. In Luke 1:16 the angel told John’s father before John was conceived that he would turn the hearts of many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.
         2. Luke 1:68-79 declares God was keeping His promises by sending John. It says that John was to get the people ready for the Lord, for the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins.
         3. John’s good news was centered in God as God fulfilled His promises about the kingdom.
   3. Many, many statements in the first four books of the New Testament declare that Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom.
      1. In Matthew 11:2-6 John is in prison, he can’t preach, he can’t prepare people any more, and he likely realized that he would be killed.
         1. He sent some disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the One who was to come?” In our words, “Did I complete the work God gave me? Did I fulfill my mission?”
         2. Jesus answered John’s question by reciting a promise God made in Isaiah 35. Go tell John:
            1. The blind are seeing; the lame are walking; those with leprosy are healed; the deaf hear; the death are raised; and the poor have the gospel, the good news, preached to them.

               ii.Blessed is the person who is not offended by me.

         3. When John heard that, he knew Jesus was the Christ; he knew Jesus was the person God promised to send; he knew he fulfilled his mission.
      2. In Luke 4:18 Jesus was in his home town of Nazareth reading Isaiah 61:1 on the Sabbath day in the synagogue.
         1. Luke 4:18,19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         2. Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (4:21). (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
         3. That was the good news: God is keeping the promise He made to Israel hundreds of years ago; it is happening right now.
3. After the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, from the time of Acts 2 forward, a fundamental responsibility of the Christian community, the family of God, was to share and spread the “good news.”
   1. What “good news?”
      1. Understanding the good news presented to Israel is fairly simple.
         1. For hundreds of years they had the scriptures.
         2. Most of the prophets were sent to Israel.
         3. God promised to send His son to Israel.
         4. God promised a renewal of the kingdom to Israel.
         5. To reveal to Israel that God was keeping His promises was good news.
      2. But Israel was a small nation and a small people. What about the greater majority of the world, people who were not Israelites?
         1. Most of the world’s population did not know Israel’s scripture.
         2. They did not have the messages of the prophets.
         3. They did not know the promises of God.
         4. That Information could not be the basis of “good news” for them.
4. When the “good news” was shared with the non-Jewish world, what did Christians share?
   1. Paul in writing to people who were not Jews declared the “good news” he preached to non-Jews. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4– Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures… (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      1. This was the good news that he preached to them, that they accepted, that enabled them to spiritually stand, that saved them.
      2. This is the good news: Christ died for our sins; he was buried; three days later he was raised from the dead.
      3. Please notice the good news is centered in the Christ.
   2. To another group of Christians Paul wrote this: Romans 1:16– For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)
      1. I am not ashamed of the good news.
         1. I am not ashamed of Jesus who was executed like a criminal.
         2. I am not ashamed to place my total confidence in his resurrection in a world that does not believe that dead people come back to life.
      2. I am not ashamed because it is in this good news that God released the power that can save anyone who believes that Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead.
   3. To these same people Paul wrote: Romans 15:18,19– For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. (The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation, 1996.)

Prayer: God, increase our understanding of the meaning of Jesus being the Christ and help us place our faith in the Christ.

For those who have lost hope, there is good news. For those oppressed by their burdens, there is good news. For those who are depressed because life overwhelms them, there is good news. For those whose life is in ruin because of their mistakes, there is good news. For those who are troubled, there is good news. For those who are in despair, there is good news.

What good news? Jesus is the Christ. Exactly as the prophets predicted, He died for our sins. Exactly as the prophets predicted, God raised him from the dead. The God who sacrificed Jesus’ life for our sins will forgive us. The God who raised Jesus from the death will resurrect us out of spiritual death and give us new life in Christ. The God who made Jesus the Christ can and will make us sons and daughters of God. That is the gospel. That is the good news. That is the true message. That is the well message. That is the news of victory.

Our Joy and Privilege

Posted by David on March 21, 1999 under Sermons

The husband has an affair with her best friend. In his shame, he does not confess his unfaithfulness. She discovers his unfaithfulness. She is devastated. The two people whom she trusted the most betrayed her trust. She feels betrayed. She feels rejected. And she is deeply wounded.

After the shock wears off, after she copes with her grief, she approaches her husband. “I want us to save our marriage. I want us to restore our love. I want us to heal our relationship and rebuilt our trust and respect for each other. I honestly, genuinely love you. I will forgive you. I will not be vengeful. I will not try to punish you. I do not want to make you suffer.”

“If this is what you want, I offer it to you. But it must be your choice. You must trust my love and my promises. You must be committed to working with me to restore what we had.”

What do you think of that wife? “That is not a parable; that is a joke! In his dreams! That jerk deserves every consequence he gets!”

1. What God does for everyone of us so far exceeds that wife’s forgiveness and love that God’s love and forgiveness and her love and forgiveness are not comparable (1 John 3:1).
   1. Everyone of us fail God in ways that hurt God deeper and create more unnecessary disaster than that husband’s failure.
      1. Yet, God’s love is so incredible, so enormous, that He not only forgives us, but He also accepts us into His family as His own children.
      2. When God forgives us and accepts us into His family, God begins to remake us into totally different persons.
         1. God remakes us to be like Him.
         2. Those who oppose God do not recognize God.
         3. Because God remakes us like Him, those who oppose God do not know us, either.
      3. God’s declaration that He loves us with this astounding love is not merely a claim.
         1. He proved His astounding love for us by giving us Jesus.
         2. He proves that love by allowing us to be His own children.
         3. That God would allow imperfect, flawed, weak, sin prone physical beings to actually be His children is absolutely astounding!
      4. John’s point in 3:4-12 emphasized again the truth that he declared in 1:5,6: God is light; in God there is no evil; we cannot practice evil and be in fellowship with God.
         1. In His love, God allows us to be His children.
         2. The blessings God will give us in eternity cannot even be imagined.
         3. One small indication of His great blessings to come is seen in the promise that when Jesus returns we will be made to be like Jesus.
      5. Children are to be like their father (3:3).
         1. God makes us His children so that we will be like Him.
         2. By choice and preference, we want to be pure because God is pure.
         3. The more we become like God the less those who oppose God will understand us.
         4. They did not recognize God; the more like God that we become, the less they will understand us.
   2. John emphasized the truth in 3:4-12 that he emphasized in 1:5-10.
      1. Just as there is a total contrast between light and darkness (chapter one) and a total contrast between the chosen lifestyle of evil and the chosen lifestyle of fellowship with God, there is a total contrast between a life of purity and a life of sin.
      2. Sin is lawlessness; a sinful lifestyle declares “good” does not exist, so there is no “right doing” (3:4).
         1. Law does not exist.
         2. Therefore right doing does not exist.
         3. There is no standard.
      3. Righteousness declares “right doing” does exist.
         1. There is a standard.
         2. Those who live in God’s love accept God’s standard, honor God’s standard, and cherish God’s standard.
2. When a Christian wants to be in fellowship with God, wants to be God’s child, wants to be pure, wants to be devoted to God’s righteousness, he or she must understand that sin and purity are total opposites (3:7,8).
   1. There is zero compatibility between practicing sin and practicing righteousness.
      1. It is impossible for a Christian to embrace both by choice.
      2. Jesus came to destroy sin; he succeeded; in Jesus there is no sin.
         1. In Jesus the Christ sin does not exist.
         2. The person living in Jesus Christ has his or her sin destroyed by Jesus Christ.
         3. The choice of the person living in Jesus is not to practice sin.
         4. The Christian who practices sin has not seen and does not know Jesus.
      3. The person living in Jesus chooses to practice righteousness.
         1. Jesus was righteous.
         2. The person who lives in Jesus chooses to be righteous.
         3. The person who chooses to be righteous practices righteousness.
      4. It is impossible to chose to do both, to practice sin and to practice righteousness.
         1. The Christian who believes that you can do both is deceived.
         2. The Christian who consciously seeks to do both is following the devil.
   2. The truth:
      1. Jesus is righteous (3:7).
         1. The Christian who is devoted to Jesus practices righteous living.
         2. To be righteous you must practice righteousness.
      2. The Christian who practices sin belongs to the devil (3:8).
         1. The devil practiced sin before human history began.
         2. Jesus came to destroy the work of the devil.
         3. We cannot belong to Jesus while we practice an existence that Jesus came to destroy.
   3. Christians conceived by God do not practice sin (3:9).
      1. The Christian who chooses to practice sin has not been conceived by God.
      2. Christians conceived by God do not chose to practice sin.
         1. Their choice is purity, not sin.
         2. It is not a matter of fear; it is a matter of desire.
         3. Even if there were no consequences, they still would choose to practice righteousness.
         4. They choose righteousness because they understand how much God loves them, what Jesus did for them.
         5. They choose righteousness because it is in being like God they find both joy and privilege.
      3. When John said that a Christian conceived by God cannot sin, John is not saying conception by God makes us incapable of sinning.
         1. John was saying that a Christian understands that loving God and practicing sin is not an option. He or she has no desire to practice sin.
         2. Practicing sin opposes everything we become by living in Christ.
         3. Practicing sin opposes God’s love and embraces the existence Jesus came to destroy.
         4. If we have been conceived by God, we simply cannot do that.
   4. These are the distinguishing characteristics that contrast the children of God and the children of the devil [among Christians–remember the influence of the anti-Christs who had been among them] (3:10,11).
      1. The children of God practice righteousness.
      2. The children of the devil practice sin.
      3. The children of God love those who are in God’s family.
      4. The children of the devil hate some who are in God’s family.
      5. It has always been true that the people who love God also love God’s people.
         1. Christians are not like Cain who killed his brother Abel (3:12).
         2. Cain killed Abel because Cain’s deeds were evil and Abel’s deeds were righteous.
         3. Evil’s influence in Cain’s life made loving his brother an impossibility.

The person who has been conceived by God does not want to practice sin and does not choose to practice sin. Why? He discovered God’s love. He discovered the privilege of being righteous. He wants to be righteous and do righteous things. He has no desire to be evil or to practice ungodliness. He is elated that Christ destroyed evil in him through forgiveness.

John’s declaration and the too common practice of some who have been baptized illustrate the failure to see life from God’s perspective. How many baptized people say, “If you cannot show me in the Bible where it says that I will go to hell if I do that, leave me alone.” How many say, “Just show me where the Bible condemns that?” How many say, “Well, I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

I suggest that the church has fought the wrong problem in the wrong way too long. In our attempt to prove that every kind of sin will send a person to hell, we did and do things that Christians conceived by God should never do. We created commands when we needed one. We took proof texts out of context. We used creative logic and deduction. All to try to prove that a Christian will go to hell or be condemned if he or she practices sin.

We lost sight of the basic problem. We believed that the basic problem was correcting ungodly behavior. In truth, the basic problem is changing the heart. Have we ever proven that we can change behavior without touching hearts!

The Christian who chooses to practice unrighteous behavior understands little or nothing about God’s love. He or she feels no sense of privilege in being God’s child. He or she finds no joy in practicing righteousness. Joy is found in practicing sin if he or she can just find a way to do it without being punished. The motivation is to avoid hell. It is not being a part of God’s family in heaven.

The person who is conceived by God is overwhelmed by the knowledge of God’s love. He or she finds it a privilege to be God’s child. It is an honor to practice righteousness.

Ask Yourself, “Who Am I?”

Posted by David on under Sermons

If someone asked you, “Who are you?” how would you answer? “I would give the person my name.”

What if the person said, “I did not ask for your name. I asked who are you?”

“Then I would give the person some identification, like my driver’s license.”

What if the person said, “I did not ask you for identification. I asked who are you?”

“What do you want? An address? My educational background? My occupation? My family tree? What do you want to know?”

“I want to know who you are.”

Let me approach this same question in another way. Have you ever asked yourself, “Who am I?” If you have, what was your answer?

1. “David, you lost me. I do not understand what you mean by that question.”
   1. Consider the same question from a different viewpoint.
      1. If a person is committing suicide, what is his or her answer to, “Who am I?”
      2. If a person decides to be a prostitute, what is his or her answer to, “Who am I?”
      3. If a person decides to commit a murder, what is his or her answer to, “Who am I?”
   2. Could you commit suicide or decide to be a prostitute or murderer?
      1. To the majority of us, any of those decisions are unthinkable.
      2. Most of us “cannot see” ourselves doing any one of those things.
      3. Why? “That’s not me. I simply could not do one of those things.”
      4. If that is not who you are, then who are you?
   3. Our answer to “who I am” determines many basic realities about who we actually are and how we actually live.
      1. “Who am I?” seems to be a very simple question.
      2. In truth it is one of the most complex questions that you will ever answer.
2. The person’s answer who understands the meaning of Jesus being the Christ and the person’s answer who does not understand the meaning of Jesus being the Christ are radically different answers.
   1. “Why? Why would understanding the meaning of Jesus being the Christ change my basic answer to the question, ‘Who am I?'”
      1. Jesus did not die to create another religion.
      2. Choosing to be a Christian is not a supermarket decision; it is not one religious choice of many religious choices.
      3. Christianity is a specific way to understand the world, to understand life, to understand self, and to understand death.
   2. When I understand that Jesus is the Christ, I answer the question, “Who am I?”
      1. Originally, we humans began in an ideal relationship with God (Genesis 1,2).
         1. We lived a complete, fulfilled existence that had no needs, no wants.
         2. There was no fear, no worry, no anxiety, no pain, no guilt, no shame, and no embarrassment; that life surpassed anything we can experience.
      2. We knew nothing about evil, but we were curious about evil (Genesis 3).
         1. Satan used temptation to peak our curiosity.
         2. To satisfy our curiosity, we defied the God who made and loved us.
         3. We learned about evil by choosing evil, and evil totally, completely, irreversibly changed us.
         4. It changed the way we saw ourselves; it changed the way we looked at life; it changed the way we lived life; it changed our natures, our dispositions, our attitudes, our emotions, and our behavior.
         5. Most devastating of all, it destroyed our relationship with God, and we were powerless to escape or reverse those destructive changes.
      3. With time, our knowledge of evil destroyed everything good in us and about us; we reached a point that we thought only evil continually (Genesis 6:5).
   3. As evil as we became, God refused to abandon us; He was determined to rescue us from our self-imposed tragedy.
      1. God created our opportunity to escape the consequences of evil by sending us the Christ.
      2. God was determined to send the Christ; He literally refused to fail.
      3. God refused to allow our evil and ignorance to stop His planned solution.
      4. God’s plan was simple.
         1. Find one person who would trust Him so completely that this person lived life by trusting God.
         2. Make the descendants of this person a nation, hopefully a nation who knew how to trust God.
         3. Through this nation allow His Son to be born as a human in this world.
         4. Through His Son’s ministry, death, and resurrection, make His Son the Christ.
         5. Through the Christ, God would reconcile people to Himself by forgiveness; and, through new life in the Christ, God would allow people to become His sons and daughters.
      5. In spite of every human failure imaginable, in spite of Satan’s most powerful opposition, that is exactly what God did.
         1. The person who trusted God was Abraham.
         2. The nation that came from Abraham, the nation God worked through was Israel.
         3. His Son who came to this world was Jesus.
         4. In Jesus’ sinless life, atoning death, and resurrection, God made Jesus both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).
   4. Only because God sent us the Christ:
      1. Can we be forgiven.
      2. Can we be made spiritually alive.
      3. Can we be reconciled to God.
      4. Can we live in peace with God and die in the secure promise of God.
3. How does that answer the question, “Who am I?”
   1. First, the Christ teaches me that life is not about me; it is about God.
      1. Life is not about fun, or pleasure, or possessions, or physical existence.
      2. Too many Christians answer “who am I” by using the answer of people who are not Christians.
         1. They say, “The only reality is the right here right now; that is all there is.”
         2. So the purpose of life is self-preservation in a dog eat dog world.
         3. Or the purpose of life is materialism; what you own determines your importance.
         4. Or the purpose to life is to have fun and pleasure because every tomorrow is uncertain.
         5. Or life has no purpose; everything is going to fall apart any way.
         6. Or the purpose of life is selfishness; all that really matters is me.
         7. The moment that you decide that life is only about the “right here right now” you answer the question, “Who am I?”
      3. When a person understands what it means for Jesus to be the Christ, he understands that life is about God.
         1. Life’s origin is God.
         2. Life’s destiny is God.
         3. The objective of evil in my life is to separate me from God.
         4. The Christ came to destroy evil’s control over my life and to reconcile me to God.
         5. The moment that you decide that life is about God, you answer the question, “Who am I?”
   2. Second, Christ teaches me to let God’s heart, attitude, and behavior define who I am.
      1. Because Jesus is the Christ, I can be God’s son or daughter.
      2. Therefore God is the road map for my life.
      3. And Jesus is my guide through life.
      4. I can understand God because the Christ was divine and became human; Jesus shows me what God would be and do as a human.
      5. One clear example: Jesus said those who belong to God love their enemies (Matthew 5:43-45).
         1. There is much to be understood in that statement, and we don’t have the time to explore the meaning of loving your enemies.
         2. What I want you to see is the reason that we are to love our enemies: “that you may be the sons of your Father in heaven.”
         3. Why would I ever love an enemy? Because understanding what it means for Jesus to be the Christ permits God to define who I am.
   3. Third, understanding the meaning of Jesus being the Christ gives me a godly conscience.
      1. The world Jesus was born into was a world without a conscience.
         1. That world in general was too wicked to have a conscience.
         2. Israel used religious reasoning, pat answers, and religious logic to destroy Israel’s conscience.
            1. The religious leaders were concerned about behavior control.
            2. Their religious teachings were not primarily concerned about what happened in people’s heads and hearts; the primarily concern was what people did with their bodies.
         3. The perfect illustration is a statement Paul made, the Paul who had an exceptional Jewish religious education.
            1. In Acts 23:1 he said that as a Jew, before he was a Christian, he lived with a “good conscience;” that “good conscience” allowed him to encourage a Christian’s execution and persecute Christians.
            2. After conversion, did Paul’s behavior change? Absolutely! Could he do after conversion what he did before conversion? Absolutely not!
            3. Why? Understanding that Jesus’ was the Christ gave Paul a godly conscience.
      2. I would affirm that our society is becoming a society without a conscience.
         1. I would affirm that often the church does not have a godly conscience; look at some of the ungodly ways the church treats people; look at the way the church justifies those acts.
         2. I would affirm that often a godly conscience is a non-factor or a weak factor when Christians make their decisions.
      3. Understanding the meaning of Jesus being the Christ gives birth to a godly conscience, and a godly conscience helps answer, “Who am I?”

[Song of reflection: #768, Jesus, Let Us Come to Know You]

We can make the primary foundation of our faith the organization, the structure, and the practices of the church without learning the meaning of Jesus being the Christ. We do that by learning a system that never connects with the Savior.

But if the primary foundation of our faith is understanding the meaning of Jesus being the Christ, we will seek to be the Christ’s kingdom. When we understand the Savior, we will discover his kingdom.

We do not have a behavior crisis in the church. We have a faith crisis in the church. We have an identity crisis in the church. We founded our identity on the church, not on the Savior. Because too many do not understand what it means for Jesus to be the Christ, we do not know who we are.