Thanks for choosing this podcast by New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.
In this episode, we'll look at how a person both gets a good repute or good reputation
in the Kingdom of God, where God will say, you have served Jesus Christ well, and also,
and maybe more importantly, how a person can be healthy and well-nourished spiritually
in the church.
Just becoming a Christian, known and nourished.
Here we go.
music kaleidoscope
I'm going to see you when you are by my feet
When you are by my street
When you are on the tip of a woman's ring
When everything you say and do
Be founded by the faith in you
A vision fully empty
Like the flowers in a dream
Oh, God, I can't see what I can't see
Oh, God, I can't feel what I can't feel my dreams
Oh, God, I can't do what I can't do about everything
Oh, God, I can't do what I can't do about anything
I'm going to see you when you are by my feet
When you are by my street
When you are on the tip of a woman's ring
When everything you say and do
Be founded by the faith in you
A vision fully empty
Like the flowers in a dream
I hope you have been spending time with the Lord already today and throughout the week.
I know that some of you and myself as well have faced some trials and some difficulties this week.
We've had folks who visited the hospital. We've had folks who went through court proceedings.
Folks have dealt with lawyers. Folks have dealt with health concerns, trying to get appointments to deal with health concerns.
Folks that have health concerns that there really isn't anything else they can do about them.
Folks that are in pain every day. We've got quite the variety when it comes to difficulty.
And so we want to lift each other up. And we also, more importantly, want to lift God up.
Because He really is on the top of the heap. He's on the throne in heaven. He is in charge of it all.
And so we can reach the heights of Jesus today because He allows it.
And I'm grateful, I don't know about you, but I'm grateful that He allows it.
I do want to remind you, it seems like it's not just around the corner, but it will be here before you know it.
The crosswalk is coming. That's the day before Easter.
And of course, I think maybe the most important thing is Resurrection Sunday.
The day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We can't do that every Sunday and we can't do that every day.
But we annualize it or set it on a day which is called by the world, if you will, Easter.
Okay? And so that's coming. It's late a little bit this year. It's mid-April.
You see the date up there on the screen.
There is some special activities surrounding the crosswalk.
Here's what I want you to be thinking about and doing as we approach.
Number one, we're going to be doing some promotion for that.
We want our promotion to be geared toward getting folks to come and walk with us.
We're not trying to get them to join the church, but a kingdom of God walks.
If you know somebody who professes to be a Christian, even if they're in another church, that's great.
They can stay in their church. They're not trying to win them out of their church or anything like that.
Who would be willing to come and walk with us.
If you're not physically capable of making that walk, we usually have a little caravan of cars behind.
If you know somebody who's willing to do that, reach out to them and say,
Hey, would you like to come and do that with us?
If their church doesn't already do something like that, it is a great opportunity to honor the Lord.
Okay? And then with that, we will have an open house.
We will have some food type stuff.
What all we said? Food? Lunch? Okay?
So we'll be serving lunch.
And then after the crosswalk, kind of like after lunch, after everything,
we'll have the pantry open in the afternoon for folks that are normally in need of food.
Okay? So they can take groceries home with them if they're in need of food.
So it's a day of service. It's a day of recognizing who and what,
who the Lord is and what He has done for us through the crucifixion.
Jesus came that sins might be done away with.
And then He took those sins, really became those sins upon the cross
so that we might have and become really the righteousness of God through Him.
It's a great blessing to not just us, right?
I think most of you get it. I hope you get it.
But maybe you don't. If you don't, you can listen closely.
This is huge. This is how we got saved.
This is how sins were paid for. How sins were taken out of the way.
How sins were dealt with.
And then we know He rose again on the third day.
And we'll come together on Sunday and celebrate the heck out of it.
And I'll be blasting my voice as loud as I possibly can.
And I hope you will too. And we'll praise Him for what He's done.
Okay? So that's coming up. It's not that far away.
In the meantime, you're talking about, you're praying about,
you're thinking about, you're encouraging folks to come and participate in that.
I hope you will.
Also, after service today, there was a Fatherhood Washington meeting,
which is basically Brother Tony Tate is our team leader for that.
And they're going to meet in the cafeteria.
They're going to be discussing his strategy
and how God has laid on his heart to go forward with that ministry
so we can encourage one another.
It is largely to encourage men.
So if you're a man who's willing to encourage men,
or you're a woman who's willing to encourage men,
it's a great place for you to plug in.
But it's for anybody who needs encouragement.
So he's certainly not stopping there.
And so that's going to go on this afternoon after service.
I encourage you, if you want to be involved in that, to come and do that.
And if nothing else, it would be a great opportunity to find out what his plans are,
what God's leading him to do, and leading us to do through that team,
and pray about it. Pray for each other. Support each other.
Okay? Alright? So that's that.
And then next week is the team leader meeting.
I'm normally supposed to put that agenda out a week in advance,
and I have struggled to do that for years, so I'm not doing that now.
But I do want to remind you we have some key issues that need to be resolved.
So if you are a team leader who is also a key holder,
I'm asking you to bring your keys to that meeting.
Okay? So if you are a team leader, so don't come in and go,
oh, I forgot my keys. I'm reminding you right now.
Normally you should have your keys with you anyway in case you need them.
Alright? So that's where we're at.
So if you do that, and then Brother Mike and I are going to work through the key things,
and then we're going to work through the key thing after that,
and get it sorted so we make sure we know where people are at,
who has what key, and so on. Okay?
That's all I got in the announcements. There could be others.
Don't forget to honor the Lord in all ways today.
Let us pray together, and then we'll jump into worship.
And worship is maybe like the chief example, right?
It's the best way to honor God maybe, but service,
and all the other spiritual distance, all the things we do with the Lord day in, day out,
follow that model. Okay? So let's declare his work this morning.
Yeah, just as I say, the Father Watcher meeting is going to be after all the kids get the course,
so you guys got a little bit of time.
It'll be a short break while the kids get home.
And then if you have pizzas, whoever comes in with a bunch of pizzas.
Okay. Alright. So let's pray. Okay.
I'm going to put a prayer first. My uncle Art is in the hospital.
Okay.
He's got severe pneumonia.
And he is not currently living in his own home.
Timmy may have missed something there because he's back in the house.
I don't know that when you were with Art, he was doing better.
I heard he was in a recovery center for a while.
But when he had the stroke, when he was in a coma,
they think it did bring damage because he wasn't all there.
And also they found a tumor in my Aunt Fetty's head.
Okay. That seems to be going around.
Alright. So continue prayer for Uncle Art.
And apparently he was out of the hospital,
but then had some complications the way he went through.
Alright. Let's pray together.
Father God, we see just, I think, just an inkling
of all the awesome things you're doing.
We get just, I don't want to call it hints,
because I think you're bold and straightforward and outspoken.
I think you send gifts of love and mercy and grace.
Lord, but we only sort of take a sample.
We don't really open ourselves up to experiencing you fully
on a daily basis maybe, or we get distracted away from
reaching the heights in Jesus every day
and every moment that we're awake,
to compartmentalizing and only do certain areas.
Lord, I for one ask you for forgiveness and for strength
and to do the right thing so I can do the right thing.
Lord, I think there are others here who would echo that prayer.
I ask you Father that as we praise you this morning,
we can truly be grateful for the things that we've seen,
for the things that we haven't seen,
because you've definitely been at work.
You've definitely done amazing things that we don't know anything about,
and then many things that we do.
So we ask you Lord to govern us. Absolutely.
That's all day every day.
And accept from us today this praise,
sung to your holy name.
For the one who's in the room who maybe doesn't normally sing,
I pray Lord that you will prompt them in their heart today
that they will realize that the word says over and over and over again
that singing with joy, singing praises to our God,
is one of the things we're told to do.
So free us Lord.
Free us from our foolish notions that we're not able, not good enough,
can't keep up.
Free us Lord from our distractions and our temptations
thinking about other things,
things that were going on before we came in here,
things that we want to make sure and say to somebody before we leave,
or things we want to get taken care of today.
Lord, free us to truly worship the God of heaven.
We pray this prayer,
for the one who can make it so, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Amen.
Here comes the King.
All around town,
he's a new born man.
He is the King.
All around town,
all around town.
He's a new born man.
Jesus is alive, he's a-coding again.
Shout from the sky, he's a-coding again.
Take him around.
Here comes the King.
All around town,
he's a new born man.
He's a new born man.
All around town,
all around town.
You are the King.
Here comes the King.
All around town,
he's a new born man.
He is the new born man.
Good that your voice says,
don't you dare,
keep on looking.
All around town,
all around town.
And here comes the King.
All around town,
How can you hear your standing pain?
Oh, my dear, for months so long
And even things for you
For me, my heart is sad and crying
Within your presence
I see you leave the shadow of your wings
There is one day in your heart
I'm not afraid of you
I'm singing I ask that that's what I sing
I sing I will sing
I will sing the praise of the Reign of
Oh dear my heart is sad and wide
Within your presence I see you need me
The shadow of your face
Better in the one day in your court
Better in the one day in your house
Better in the one day in your court
And that's not fair
Better in the one day in your court
Better in the one day in your house
Better in the one day in your court
And that's not fair
Why I am much higher
For you living I
For you is what I'm full of
Oh dear my heart is sad and wide
Within your presence I see you need me
The shadow of your face
Better in the one day in your court
Better in the one day in your house
And that's not fair
Why I am much higher
For you living I
For you is what I'm full of
Oh dear my heart is sad and wide
Within your presence I see you need me
The shadow of your face
Better in the one day in your court
And that's not fair
Better in the one day in your court
Better in the one day in your house
And that's not fair
Better in the one day in your court
Better than what they in your heart
What can I do?
Better than what they in your heart
Alright, we come to that moment in time where we ask ourselves how has the Lord been speaking?
We are deep into our six months emphasis on study
and so if you have not made some kind of plan
if you have not disciplined yourself in some way
remember it is a spiritual discipline
meaning you've made some kind of plan
or some kind of structure for yourself or whatever
and you study when you spend time with your Bible
write something down, make some notes, underline, circle, whatever that is
underlining or circling something is like the minimum
otherwise it is meditation
if you are just thinking about it a lot asking yourself questions about it
or you can pray through it
there is nothing wrong with praying through scripture
but it is study when you are reading something, thinking about it, digesting it
and writing something down
that is when it becomes study
so we are talking about that
and I am going to read, give myself about a minute here
to read a little excerpt from this essay that we have been reading from
give the credit to Mr. Harry Hahn
who is a professor at the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary
I think that is how you say it
but anyway, he wrote this essay about study
and this is one passage here
this is an attitude about study or that you come to your Bible with
and this is what it says
We should not read the Bible merely to gain information
the ultimate goal of Bible study should be that our lives would be changed
it is the doer of the word who is blessed, not the mere hearer
James 1, 22-25
the tone of Psalm 119 reflects an eagerness to learn God's will
so that he may be obeyed in everything
teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes and I shall observe it to the end
Psalm 119, 33
In John 7, 17, Jesus said a remarkable thing to the Jews who were skeptically mocking his claims
If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know of the teaching
whether it is of God or whether I speak from myself
Jesus said that many of those who rejected Jesus' claims to be the Messiah did so
because they were unwilling to obey God
A person who puts restrictions on what he considers acceptable for God to demand of him
runs the risk of being deceived about God's message
he may not see the meaning of the Biblical passage
because accepting the message would demand that he change his life
When you read the Bible you should come with an open and teachable heart
that is willing to do whatever God may ask of you
If your heart is unwilling to obey God, you may find yourself distorting the message of Scripture
to fit what you consider acceptable
Many non-Christians reject the Gospel and various Biblical teachings
not because they don't find them intellectually compelling
but because they don't want to change their lives to meet the demands of Christ on their lives
Similar, many skeptics know a lot about the Bible
but they are not open to being changed in their thinking and actions
They have become prideful in their knowledge, like the Pharisees of Jesus' day
Their unwillingness to accept the truth of Scripture and to obey it
makes them mere hearers who delude themselves
In extreme cases, they may even try to reinterpret the message of the Bible
to fit their preconceived ideas about what is acceptable
When you read the Bible, give your heart to God with a willingness to follow his will wherever that may lead
So that is willingness to obey as an attitude in Bible study
I hope you've been studying your Bible
If you haven't, I should say, you can make yourself right now to do it this week
so you can bring something to share with us out of your study next week, that would be great
What have we got?
What have you seen this week?
What have you heard this week?
What caught your attention? God said, hey, pay attention to that
Don't take it
So, just kind of going off what you were sharing
First I wanted to say is that I used to have a very strong commitment for the Lord
and I had to say that the Lord strongly committed to me first
not because of my commitment
I always like to stay transparent
but because we were supposed to do spiritual discipline studying
that's what I started to do
and I kind of got off the horse but I could get back on
but because of that
God's been really trying to help me with some things
and you get back in the study
God's also been speaking other ways pretty much to get me back on the study
and that's what it is
It's not to keep on doing it but there was a few things that I came across the other day
One was a...
and I hope it's today
I hope there's some video games out there showing me
I'd love to see an old video game that I played years ago
I just felt like God said, you know, no God can say watch the whole thing
but I was supposed to get something out of this game
and this game, like, this guy's all messed up
his reality's messed up
but throughout the whole plot of the story is that he continues on
no matter what
he doesn't stop no matter how bad it is
how bad it goes
how he thinks
he just can't grasp reality because
he's been messed up mentally, like, chemically and balanced
but at the end of the game
he beats it and then he comes to reality
and he starts to see what's really going on
so what I was just sharing is that
the only way that we can continue this race is just to continue
there is no other way
we have to continue on
and our reality will come clear
our conscience will become clear
but it can get shaky sometimes
so being transparent
that's just what I've been dealing with
you know, I've had a hard time studying
and getting stuff
but it's like, all I do is get back on
and we're to tell my readers, the doers of the word
and I was saying the same thing
I just shared this with my daughter
and it was really cool
I just always say that when I'm speaking to my daughter
I feel like God's speaking to her
I feel like God's speaking to me
like, I'm the father
you know, to her
not that I'm the true father
God's speaking to me through her
and I said
let's say you're on a tightrope
like 20 feet up in the air, alright
and there's a net
and I said even if you pursue the whole thing
with the net, tightrope
if you read all this stuff
and you learned it all
I said it doesn't do anything
if you don't actually walk the tightrope
so knowledge is powerful
without trust in doing it
then we're never going to be able to
actually do it
and the reason I'm saying this
when Peter was walking on water
you know, people thought that Jesus calmed the storm
no, that was at war time
the storm was brewing, the waves were rocking
it wasn't like that
Peter was walking on crazy water
he wasn't just walking on crazy waves
rocking the water
he took his focus off God
and looked at the waves
but the idea is that God never calmed the storm that time
God calmed Peter
to walk in water
and so what I'm sharing with you
sharing with me is that when we do what we're supposed to do
when we do what's right
God will calm our hearts
God will give us the peace to do those things
and you know, when we take our focus off
you know, get back in the boat
we try again
but really the only thing you can do is persevere and continue
so what really kind of encouraged me today
is it's just
always the same thing
continue, don't quit
do what God says
and persevere
and someday you'll see the final story
you know, when we see God again
we see Jesus again
we'll see the true reality of all that we've missed
and we'll be home with Him
Amen, Max, good work
I want you to think for just one second
think for a second about what is the measure
what measure will God use
for a Christian to determine
whether or not they have been a Christian
remained a Christian, whatever, throughout their life
there's a single word that occurs in Scripture
and it happens over and over again
it's one measure
and it literally is just faith
that's it
so in other words, it's not what you went through
not even necessarily a decision you made
or how you adjusted when things happened
or did you adjust to the new normal
or you struggled with it for a year or so before you gave in
and said, okay, this is what God's doing
it's faithfulness
will you walk out your walk with Jesus Christ
He wants to stay with you
there's that old poem, remember the poem
Footprints in the Sand
and He says, Lord, I look back at the worst times in my life
and He said, in those times
I see only one set of footprints
You left me at the worst times of my life
and Jesus says, no, you don't understand
those are the times when I carried you
the Lord wants to walk with you
the question is, do you also want to walk with the Lord
and that's going to be the measure
that's what we'll be called for and to
and when we get there
at the end, He's going to say, were you faithful
and you do what you said you would do
what did you say you would do?
you say you would have in this Lord, means He tells you what to do
and you do it, you would have in this Savior
means you let Him be the only payment for your sin
so if you're busy trying to pay for your sins
you're wasting your time, you have one Savior
if you're busy trying to figure out what to do
go straight to Jesus, the easiest way to do that
is to spend time in the Word, because this is God's Holy Word
Holy Spirit inspired
and by the way, this Bible
all 66 books
totally about Jesus
if you don't know what to do when studying
read something in the Bible that you don't know
at least it's a little obscure
and ask yourself, how is this about Jesus
and every time you'll learn something
about Jesus, because it's all about Jesus
even the stuff in the Old Testament
stories of kings that were slain
and the guy got his hair caught in a tree
got hung up, got honey out of the
carcass of a lion
all those stories are all about Jesus
you just got to look and you can see Jesus there
okay, argue
I was thinking about this yesterday
actually last night, because I
got woke up and I couldn't fall back to sleep
but, what is one of the most
powerful things that happen in nature
that you can't see?
I can't see anything
I can't see at all?
yeah
see anything?
yeah, wind
so, last night we had a storm come through
and it got really really windy
yeah
for like a half a second I thought my
ceiling fan was going to fall off because it was shaking so bad
it was really windy
but, I got thinking about it
as I was laying there awake
and I'm like, you know
if something so powerful
can happen
but we can't see it, then imagine what God
needs to do
God, we can't see God
we can't see him face to face, at least not
in heaven
but, God has
that kind of power
to where he can just
make things go away, or make things
appear, I mean
with wind, if you think of it this way, with wind
if you have a tornado
or a hurricane for example, it causes
major destruction
and
you can't see the one
you can't see it coming, all you can see is the effects
it has
and as a Christian, that's how we have to be
we have to be able to
go through our day
and our life
letting people see the effects God has on us
because
we can't see God, we can't
be in his presence
and if anything, I
don't really know if I want to be
because if you look back in the Old Testament, people who did that
died
so, I don't
like, I was like I said, I was
laying there thinking about it, I'm like, you know, that's how
we should be as a Christian, we need to be
I guess, the wind
of the world
to show people
God, because we can't
physically see him, but we can see
the effects that he has
that's a good word, very poetic
we could make a book out of that
alright, anybody else?
Jason
this morning, I need
this picture of the car
God spoke a message to me
when I wrote this picture
ok
he cannot do
he is always there with you
in the name of God
the word of God
ok, so we're going to pray
at this time, and we'll
just have a little more worship
and we have tithes and offerings coming up here in a second
so
make sure that's turned down our offers
ok, so we have tithes and offerings coming up here in a second
and then
a little more worship, kids go to lessons
and we go to the word, I'm excited about today's message
it really spoke to my heart, so I hope you all get some
out of it too, so
we're going to pray at this time, with no warning whatsoever
I'm going to ask Brother Perry Graves, would you pray for us as we transition?
remember the tithes and offerings, you do that?
alright guys, it's coming right now
you know the issues of this church
everyone in, Jason
all the crazy people
you all need to be people, and there you go
teach us to walk by faith
not by our flesh
walk around
and try to get our appetites
and ready to be distracted by the
little lures
that's pretty
a lot of water coming out of your body in Christ
straight into one another
sharp in one another
it will come in your personal face
every one of these days
you must tie this in all things
and
somebody to be appreciative of everything
you do in my life
I love you all, this congregation
you're conscious at all times
just how powerful you are
you have no limits
done
and you know what's going on in the world
I pray that you address those issues
or do the best you can
you're in charge, but it doesn't matter
I just want to say
I love you a lot
I'm going to keep my prayer here
thank you very much
Even though I walk through the belly of the shadow of death
Girl perfect love is passing out freely
Even when I'm lost in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back, I know you are near
And I will fear no evil for our God is with me
And if our God is with me
No man shall I fear
Oh no, never let go
Through the storms and through the storm
Oh no, never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, never let go
Oh Lord, never let go of me
I'm going to be alive next to me for all that goes on
I'm going to slice beyond all compare
And though we can get into trouble
But until that day comes
I'm still dancing for you here on the earth
And I will fear no evil for our God is with me
And if our God is with me
No man shall I fear
Oh no, never let go
Through the storms and through the storm
Oh no, never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, never let go
Oh Lord, never let go of me
And if our God is with me
No man shall I fear
Oh Lord, never let go
Until I will fear you
Oh Lord, never let go
Through the storms and through the storm
I'm going to be alive next to me for all that goes on
But until that day comes
I'm still dancing for you here on the earth
Oh no, never let go
Through the storms and through the storm
Oh no, never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, never let go
Oh Lord, never let go
Oh no, never let go
Through the storms and through the storm
Oh no, never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, never let go
Oh Lord, never let go
The Ten of Touch is the very great, good God's huge universe
We are nothing without him
He has no need for us
He is the good God that we're here or not
whether we love him or not
If he would go to such lengths to reach to us
I'm on the other side of the hill
We can't ignore my name
We can't feel my hurt
Oh my, let the brightest morning star
But show to light the way
For my ever-wondering heart
Not because of who I am
But because of what you've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who you are
I am a flower, three trees fading
With a garden, a house, a farm
A wave, talks in the ocean
A paper, you know it
Tell you I'll catch you when I'm falling
But you catch me when I'm falling
And you talk to know I am
I am you
Who am I?
Let the eyes that see me pretend
To love my meaning in love
And watch me rise again
Who am I?
Let the voice that calls the sea
Call out through the rain
Call the storm in me
Not because of who I am
But because of what you've done
Not because of what I've done
But because of who you are
I am a flower, three trees fading
With a garden, a house, a farm
A wave, talks in the ocean
A paper, you know it
Tell you I'll catch you when I'm falling
But you catch me when I'm falling
And you talk to know I am
I am you
I am a flower, three trees fading
With a garden, a house, a farm
A wave, talks in the ocean
A paper, you know it
Tell you I'll catch you when I'm falling
But you catch me when I'm falling
And you talk to know I am
I am you
Amazing Grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost
But now I'm found
Once loved, but now I see
Just grace that taught my heart to fear
Embrace my fears to release
The precious thing that graced the year
The hour I first believed
My chains were gone, everything set free
My God, my Savior, the rest of me
And I am gone, in the blue sea waves
My dancing girl, Amazing Grace
The Lord has promised sure to me
In His word my heart's secure
He will my shield and watch on me
And as long as time can go
My chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior, the rest of me
And I am gone, in the blue sea waves
My dancing girl, Amazing Grace
My chains are gone, I've been set free
My God, my Savior, the rest of me
And I am gone, in the blue sea waves
My dancing girl, Amazing Grace
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun for better to shine
The God who caught me here below
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine
Alright, alright, alright.
I really loved that song, Amazing Grace.
When I first heard that remake, and I'm not good at singing songs the first time I hear them
I listen to it like five, six times in a row
Trying to be able to sing along with those little patches in the middle, you know what I'm saying?
That is awesome, and he did such a good job of sort of remaking
What is a classic of our faith and really brought it home to me.
Anyway, I hope you're blessed by it too. I can't find the book in my Bible.
Alright, so a number of times I have been touched by a truth that we are dealing with
And you may not like it, I don't like it, but we deal with it all the time in this world
And that is that as people are walking around, and you know, it's a shameful thing that we didn't talk more about this like during COVID and so on
Not that that's not still going on, but people are walking around suffering for a lack of what are called micronutrients or water literally all the time
Here's a statistic, a few statistics for you
First of all, water, which is the obvious one, 75% of people are dehydrated every day
Now there's a statistic that says that you should drink eight cups of water every day
And a lot of people actually do that, they drink eight cups of water every day, it's really not that hard
But the reality is whenever you drink a caffeine beverage, you actually go behind on your hydration
Because it takes more of your hydration to digest a caffeinated beverage than it does the water content that you get out of it
So let's say you drink eight ounces of coffee or eight ounces of cola
You need like 10 ounces of water in your system to digest the eight ounces of coffee or cola
Because it's caffeinated or carbonated beverages are the same way
And then, so then when you're done, you get less than eight ounces of water out of the coffee
Because it's eight ounces including the water and caffeine and everything that's in it
So you get less than eight ounces out, plus you spent 10 ounces to digest it
So you're actually down four ounces or something like that
So you drink eight ounces of coffee, you're down four ounces
Plus everything caffeinated is what's called a diuretic, which means it takes water out of your system
So if you're a coffee drinker, you're supposed to drink eight ounces of water a day plus one for every cup of coffee you drink
Which really drives the number up
So does the same way, monster drinks all the same way, right?
Anything that's really heavy on sugar, that's just dehydration
The ones that will kind of make it really tough, do you know that it's believed that between 98 and 100 percent
That means all of us, everybody in this room, 98 and 100 percent of the people in the United States of America
And this statistic actually holds true worldwide, are actually low on potassium
They do not get enough potassium in their diet
So last year, the FDA increased the number
Previously it was like 800 milligrams of potassium you're supposed to get in a day
Last year they increased it to 32 to 3500 milligrams of potassium you're supposed to get in a day
So to give you an example, you can get from a banana, if you eat a whole medium sized banana
You can get like three to four hundred milligrams of potassium
So we're talking about, they're saying you're supposed to eat eight, the equivalent of eight bananas a day to make that number
That's a lot, right?
Most people get most of their potassium from potatoes
Potatoes are a huge source, if you eat potatoes, if you can, then you eat potatoes
And by the way, french fries are barely potatoes anymore, so don't really count that
But because most of the potassium in good things, in french fries, get fried out and deep fried in the oil
But if you eat potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, raw potatoes, I don't know who would do that
But if you eat potatoes, you get a lot of potassium out of them, and that's where most people get it from, right?
So you need it
Also pork, which of course a lot of people don't eat pork, but pork, or can't because of their health
But pork is a great source of potassium
Comes with a lot of fruits and vegetables, give a little bit of potassium and so on
There are others, I'm not going to read them all, but I just want to give you an example
So 98 to 100 percent of people are behind in their potassium
And it's to the point that everyone will eventually suffer health effects from it
You may have health effects that are from not having enough potassium
Magnesium is like that as well, magnesium over 50 percent of all Americans, 52.2 percent of all Americans
Are too low on their magnesium
The problem is with magnesium, there's no telling who's too low and who's not
The first you'll know that you're too low on magnesium is heart problems
Your body actually digests your food and produces magnesium out of it
When they test your blood, it will always read that your magnesium is okay
Because your body will actually suck out of itself, out of your bones, out of your heart muscle, out of wherever it can get it
The magnesium, to keep the level in your blood where it needs to be
Eventually you'll get to the point where you've drained so much of that mineral out of your body
Your body will begin to die in various ways
And people are like, oh, I have this condition
So they go get a medication for the condition, but the condition is really caused by the fact that they don't have enough magnesium
So these are real things, right? Choline is another one
That way you can imagine you hear the coal at the beginning
It has to do a lot with digestion, it also has to do with your heart muscle, it has to do with a lot of things in your body
And 91.7 percent of Americans lack the choline they need to function every day
Is that not crazy?
The reason this is true is because in modern day society we're eating foods that are higher in caloric intake
They have more energy in them, but less nutrients
We're talking just 50 to 60 years ago, Americans were consuming in their diet 10,000 milligrams of potassium a day
10,000
And two years ago, the recommended daily allowance of potassium per day was like 800
And they just raised it to 32 to 3500
You can't even go by the recommended daily allowances of what the Food and Drug Administration is saying you need
Because even those numbers, actually what those recommend, those are like minimums
They're saying the minimum amount that you need to function in this area is this number
Now 32 to 3500 milligrams of potassium in a day
But actually 50, 60 years ago we were eating 10,000 milligrams a day
And people didn't have some of the health concerns they have now
They did have some, don't get me wrong, they still had health concerns, but some did not exist
Once you develop those health concerns because you've lived for 20 to 30 years without that product in your system sufficiently
You can't get rid of them
You can't just start taking magnesium one day and heal your heart problems
But what you can do is you can get the sufficient amount of magnesium to stop further development
New things and problems that are going wrong
So I would encourage you, this is outside the faith, this is not the sermon, I'm not preaching this at you
But I would encourage you to take a look at your diet and so on
And think about are you getting enough of the various things that you need to survive
Water being a huge one, water and potassium
So water governs every fluid system in your body
It affects your blood pressure, affects your muscles, regenerating after you're working out, everything
And potassium governs every water system in your body
Which includes then blood pressure, clearing your lactose, lactic acid in your muscles after work and things like that
So you need water and you need potassium, at least look at those things
Now back on preaching for a second
Because of this illustration we know that it is entirely possible for people to live their lives lacking proper nourishment
Understand? We can live our whole lives, we'll be shorter probably because people develop health concerns
Or maybe with medicine they'll still have the same length as somebody else
But they'll be on 30 medicines for the last 30 years of their life, right?
Point is we're covering it up, we can live without nourishment
However, that is not the design for Christians in the Kingdom of God
Not only should you have proper diet and water and so on
But on top of that there is a spiritual diet that is told of in the Bible that you should have
And if you have it you will be properly nourished
In fact, anybody here ever hope that at the end of their days that they would stand before God and God would say
Well done good and faithful servant?
I'm going to give you the recipe for that statement today in the scripture
And I'll support it biblically
This scripture is called known and nourished
And Paul is writing to Timothy and he is explaining to Timothy how to be known and nourished
Now when I say known, I mean known in the right way, right?
Because God also knows people who are in wickedness and he's chastising them or whatever
Not like that, known in the right way and nourished throughout your Christian journey
So this is not a self-help sermon, it's a God-help sermon
Here we go
So grab your Bibles if you would, maybe hoot, holler, at least the young people, come on, Kishon, you with me, right brother?
You got something in there today?
What do you got?
Alright, here we go, it's 1 Timothy chapter 3
Thank you, praise God, it is his word
My goal would be that we would do that to the point that we would peek the microphone
Because it is God's word, this marks the moment
Now the truth is we could read this word and God would speak to your heart
But I've done some work and some praying over it and some digesting of certain words
I'm going to make it a little easier, that's my job, just to make it a little easier
And I hope you will get out of it whatever God wants you to get out of it
I've got some things I think God wants you to get out of it
But I could be completely wrong, I'm just a guy, okay?
I'm going to ask today that you put your thinking caps on and go with me into this awesome text of God
Here we go, verse 16, alright?
So 1 Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse, I'm sorry, verse 14
We'll start in verse 14 so we get the whole thought
I am writing these things to you hoping to come to you before long
But in case I am delayed I write so that you may know
How one ought to conduct himself in the household of God
Which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth
That's verses 14 and 15 in one complete sentence
So what he's saying is I want to come, I'm going to come teach you
I'm going to come encourage you, maybe do some laying on our hands
You know, witness some baptisms, whatever, I want to come and do that
But in case I don't do that, now what I'm writing to you is going to show you how you should behave
What your conduct should be like in the household of God
So in the church, what Christians should be like
And don't miss there that phrase, he says that the church of the living God, it is God's church
The church of the living God is the pillar and support of the truth
This is the mission, this is the vision of God for the church
That we would be the pillar and support of the truth
Don't just stand by silently while someone teaches a lie
You are the pillar and support of the truth
And now he's going to tell us in these teachings how we should conduct ourselves in the church
Which God has given the vision and mission of being the pillar and support of the truth
Verse 16, he says, and by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness
And you can stop right there, you could put a period, right
We could all agree, great is the mystery of godliness
Man, there is work to be done, there is learning, there is studying, there is praying
There is walking it out, there is service, there is a lot in becoming godly
As God is growing us, there is a lot in that mystery
However, I want to say to you that in our day, the largest part of the mystery of godliness has been revealed
Which is why it doesn't end with a period
We accept as a whole, as a body, I hope, if not, I'm asking you to get on board with me
That we can accept that the learning of the mystery of godliness is a life long journey
It's progressive, we take step after step, we grow from place to place
Sometimes we have setbacks, sometimes we wander and we're redirected and corrected and chastised by God
Back onto learning the full impact and capabilities of the mystery of godliness
That being said, the majority, the vast majority, 95% of the mystery of godliness has been revealed
So when you sit back and you go, I just don't know God, I just don't know
What you're saying is one of two things, either one, you have not partaken and received the mystery of godliness that has been revealed
You're saying, I don't want it, I can't get it, God, it's just too much for me, it's too hard
You're asking me to perceive and understand something that my mind just, I'm having a hard time
Either that is true or you're actually talking about, when you say I just don't know
You're talking about the 5% that God has not revealed
And that is where we spend the majority of our lives living and growing, in the 5%, I get that
But all the while, if you're saying, I just don't know
For example, if you would say, I don't know what I'm supposed to do in the kingdom of God
I don't know what I'm supposed to do as a church
If right now you say, I don't know what I'm supposed to do
Then I submit to you that you have not absorbed the 95% of the mystery of godliness that God has revealed
Which, here's the beauty of it
He then gives it, it's not a period, it's a colon
He's going to give us the list
I submit to you that my Bible puts it literally as a list
It goes boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, down the list, right?
And then chapter 4 starts
Now if you've been sitting under my teaching for any length of time, you understand
I understand that the chapter divisions are not inspired of God
They did not exist in the original text
There are no chapters in the Greek
There's no punctuation in the Greek
Not like we have
So that wasn't there
So I know that the thought continues right on in chapter 4
And if you didn't get that, notice that the first word in chapter 4 is but
And if I say something and then I say but
For example, if I say to my wife, I know I screwed up, I'm really sorry
But it either disallows everything that came before it
Or it qualifies everything that came before it
And in this case, it qualifies everything that came before it
So it continues into chapter 4 for a little bit, the list does
Even though the rest of it's not in list form
So here we go
We're going to break it down as we go
And then in the conclusion we'll come back and we'll see what we're supposed to do with it
So first of all it says
Great is the mystery of godliness
Here it is
He who was revealed in the flesh
So John was careful to say that if a spirit does not acknowledge that Jesus was revealed in the flesh
Then it is not the spirit of God
That's one of the first testing methods
Jesus was revealed in the flesh
Notice the word revealed
You do know that Jesus was alive in heaven and literally wherever he wanted to be
Before he was born as a baby, right?
He was revealed
John explains in chapter 1 that he was present in creation
And literally nothing was created except that which was created through him
And then later he says that the word of God, the power of God, the spoken word to create of God became flesh
Jesus Christ came and was revealed
He was alive in heaven before he came on earth
He was revealed in the flesh
Next he says he was vindicated in the spirit
Now while Jesus was alive, Jesus was challenged by a lot of folks
There were folks that asked him, argued him aside, the one that we've been waiting for
There were the folks that challenged him and said that he wasn't
There were those who said that the works that he did, he did by Beelzebub
Which is just another name for Satan
So there were those who challenged him
Jesus one day said this, he said, I testify of myself
But if I alone testify of myself, I understand my testimony is not valid
See they had a ruling in court, you had to have at least two people in a degree
And the details had to be exact or otherwise the testimony was not valid
I testify of myself, but I get that you're not going to accept me testifying of myself
I'm a Jewish born man, I know that takes two people
He said, but there is someone else who also testifies of me
And when he testifies of me, I know that his testimony of me is true
And you know who he was talking about, right?
He's talking about the Holy Spirit
And here it says that Jesus was vindicated in the spirit
He was justified, shown to be true and real
He was the one, and that was shown by the Spirit of God
Next it says he was beheld by angels
You know that on the day of Jesus' birth, the shepherds were out in the field
You've heard this story, right? Out in the field
Suddenly there was an angel in the sky, a bright clad individual
Testifying about the birth of Jesus
But as soon as he got their attention, then there was the heavenly host that appeared in the sky
And they began, as we like to think of it, to sing a great song of the birth of Jesus Christ
Who would be the Messiah, the Savior of all mankind
The angels testified of him at his birth, but as his death, right?
When they came looking for Jesus, and there was a white clad individual sitting there
And they said, do you know where my master's body went? Someone must have stolen it
And he says, the one you look for, he's not here
And that angel testifying of Jesus, possibly or probably
Then at the ascension of Jesus, when he went up into the sky, they watched him raise up into the sky
It says a cloud eventually hid him from their sight
And then there were two, it says dazzling clad men
Dazzling, dressed men, dazzling, it means hard to look at
We talked about that a little bit last week when the light is hard to look at
They were there, and they said, why are you looking up into the sky?
He will come again just as he is gone
The angels beheld him, but also understand that there is this truth about Jesus
It is the mystery of godliness that angels longed to look into
Peter says it this way, they longed to look into this for all time and all eternity
Until Jesus came and was revealed, and now he has been beheld by angels
Angels now understand how it is that God is going to forgive people
And let them go to heaven one day despite the fact that they have essentially murdered one another
In their minds, if not actually
So we are so bad to one another as people
How can God be just and allow someone to go to heaven?
That was the question of the angels for all that time
Until Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected and went back and showed it so clearly
And I submit to you maybe explained it very clearly
He was beheld by angels
He was proclaimed among the nations
Paul says it this way, he says that in the day of Jesus' coming
When great joy is visited upon mankind and also great judgment
There will be those who believed our testimony
He has been proclaimed among the nations
That's what we are doing here today to a degree
And that's what we need to be doing every day, seven days a week
Proclaiming the truth about Jesus among the nations
He was believed on in the world
You believed and you received, you are here today and you are a Christian
It's because you believed on Jesus
You accepted the truth about who Jesus was
That he lived a sinless life
Born of a virgin, lived a sinless life
Died a sinner's death to pay for sin, to become sin for us
Then rose again on the third day just as the scriptures had predicted
Not one scripture mind you predicted the truth about Jesus
But hundreds, it's said that if just 40 of the scriptures
That could possibly be fulfilled in one man
That the odds are 1 in 10 to the 23rd power
Whatever that number is
It's the same odds as if you flew a plane over the desert
Dropped a needle or a long grain piece of rice into the desert
Flew home, got a good sleep in your own bed
The next day, flew that plane back to the desert
And found that long grain piece of rice in the desert
It's the same odds, it's impossible
No person could fulfill the prophecies about Jesus
There are reasons to believe that Jesus is who he says he was
And there are reasons to believe and receive and act according to the truth about Jesus
And some have done so
I submit to you that I have done so
There have been days when I failed to do so
It's true even after I did so
But I have believed on Jesus
And I would ask you to do that today if you have not already
And if you have, understand that you're not the only one
He was believed on in the world
And then finally it says he was taken up in glory
They saw him leave
There were witnesses that saw him go up into heaven once forever
And we now know as the Bible teaches that he stands at the right hand of the Father
Where he took his seat in success, if you will
In his proper position, back where he belongs
Now making intercession between us and God
Where that right hand of the cup of wrath is there for us to be poured out for us
He is there to make intercession
He was taken up in glory
Then now we're in chapter 4
Most people would stop there
But chapter 4 actually kind of lumps it together in a beautiful way
It says, but the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit of God
Explicitly, you know what explicitly means?
It means very clearly
So I'm going to say to you
It is time to listen to God now
God, Father in heaven, His Holy Spirit
Wants to speak to your heart
He wants to change you and transform you
And if I explain every one of those words to you
And I say it very boldly and clearly
I will have said it explicitly
The Spirit explicitly says
And by the way, that means if you're listening to God you can't possibly miss it
The Spirit explicitly says
That in later times some will fall away from the faith
Uh oh, that's the other shoe just dropped
All that awesome stuff we just talked about, Jesus
There will be those who fall away from the faith
Those who claim the name of Jesus
But aren't truly for Jesus
They will fall away from the faith
It says they will do so paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons
Boy, that phrase there, doctrines of demons, hits me like a sledgehammer in my chest
Do you not understand that there is a deep teaching
That is embraced by the enemies of God
And they intend to win us over to it
Let me say that again
They intend to win us over to the doctrine of demons
And there will be those who fall away
Those who profess the name of Christ
And they will listen, pay attention to deceitful spirits
Spirits that trick
A spirit that says to you, well somebody really needed
John really needed to hear that sermon today
Are you listening dear?
Are you listening?
Will you change according to what God's word says or will you not?
All the while thinking that other person
Deceitful spirits, they trick and they connive and they're simple
Deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons
And all they did was pay attention
They just paid attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons
The spirit says that there will be those at later times
Who will fall away from the faith
Paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons
By means of hypocrisy
Hypocrisy of liars
Liars that are seared in their own conscience
As with a branding iron
So your conscience is that part of you that sort of tells you what's good to do and what's not
That's true even when you're not saved
It's true when you're saved, it doesn't matter
It's that part of you that says what you should do and what you shouldn't
It's that part of you that says right now you should be focused on what God is saying
It's my conscience, I think this is right
I think I should be doing what God wants me to do
I should be listening to Pastor Dan right now
But more importantly listening to God through the word right now
That's your conscience
The spirit also may say that when your conscience and the spirit come together and agree
It's strong, it's powerful, right?
But here are men who by paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons
They did so by means of hypocrisy of liars
They've seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron
So if you have, if you take a branding iron and you hold it in your hands
What does it do?
Well it burns your hands
If it's hot, right, it'll burn your hand
After you do that, the next time you touch something hot, what does it feel like?
Well if you burn real bad, you may not have much feeling left in your hands anymore
You can lose, you can be desensitized, right?
But if you just kind of burn, actually the next time you touch something hot it might feel hotter
Because your skin is already, the nerve endings are already raw, right?
You touch a searing hot branding iron about 5-10 times, after that you won't feel a thing
My wife can take a hot pan, not literally like cooking hot
But a hot pan off the stove and set it over to the side without burning herself
You're like, nah, that doesn't make any sense
You know why she can do that?
Because she was a kitchen manager and then a general manager at TGI Fridays
And she burnt her hands mildly every day for years
When your conscience is so seared, you no longer really know what's right from wrong
How does it happen?
Well it happens through this equation of hypocrisy
You say, I'm living for the Lord, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing
But right there at the same time you're not noticing the things that you're doing that you're not supposed to be doing
You're intentionally not noticing them
Pretty soon you get so good at not noticing them because your conscience is seared
You've lost your right and wrong, your compass is gone
That hypocrisy of, I'm living for the Lord, but here I'm just kind of paying attention or listening to these other things
I've got these other notions
I know the Bible doesn't say that, but I still think it's true
If you ever have to say the Bible doesn't say that, but I still think it's true
You need to be aware that you could be, it's possible, check yourself, paying attention to a deceitful spirit
I think it's right, the Bible doesn't say it's right, but I think it's right
I've judged to be right
You could be paying attention to a deceitful spirit
Because the deceitful spirit wants in all ways to make you think things are right that are not clearly taught in Scripture
So that later on down the road that will be part of the searing of your conscience
Be very careful under those circumstances
We've got some factors here
We've got you'll fall away by paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons
By means of hypocrisy, this is how they pay attention
By means of hypocrisy, liars seared in their own conscience as with the branding, we're almost done with the text
There's a comma there actually, it says
These are men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods
So they were setting up rules or laws that were not in God's Word
Which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth
So basically they were telling us you can't partake in certain things
The Bible doesn't say you can't, I'm saying you can't
This is not what God would want you to do
You can't partake in certain things that the Bible doesn't say you can't partake in
And actually you can, in fact it goes on to say
Everything created by God is good
And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude
For it is sanctified or made holy by means of the Word of God and prayer
So if you are walking in the Word doing the things that God wants you to do
You're studying the Word, you're praying to the Lord
It's kind of like a 2 Thessalonians 5, 17 prayer, right?
Where you're praying all the time, praying without ceasing, talking to God all the time
I've heard some people say I'm talking to God all the time
But even some of those people say I'm talking to God all the time
If you really dig in, you see the hypocrisy
They're talking to God all the time
But while they're talking to God, they're doing things they shouldn't be doing
Hypocrisy, because their conscience has been seared
And the danger is that they may fall away from God
Falling into that category
They may forbid certain things and say you can't do that, right?
I've had over the years a number of people try to convince me, for example
To preach that smoking cigarettes is a sin
I've had a number of people try to convince me to preach that smoking cigarettes is a sin
And they said that it would provide strength for those Christians who want to quit smoking
Because they'll think of it as a sin, so they'll be strong and they'll be able to do it
Does the Bible say smoking cigarettes is a sin?
So you'll never hear me preaching smoking cigarettes is a sin
Now, can it be? Absolutely, it can be
At the moment at which God says you have to stop doing something
Or at the moment at which something you're doing interferes with your ability to do what God has called you to do
Either way, when it comes to a stumble, a hurdle, a block, then it becomes sin
And you have to cut it out
It's a problem because it's addictive
Physically, psychologically, and emotionally
And we shouldn't have other masters in our life
But you have to decide in Christ whether that thing has become a master or not
So don't implore me to preach that smoking is a sin
I've had people implore me to preach that drinking is a sin
I'm going to probably step on somebody's toes and hear them go like, I hate drinking
I don't drink
As an early Christian, as I felt called to serve the Lord, I said, I won't do it
In fact, Sherry and I went on a wedding anniversary trip
We stayed in bed and breakfast while we were there
We both sat in the bathtub, don't picture that in your minds
But we're sitting in the bathtub and we're having champagne
And I said to Sherry, I was convicted of my spirit by the Lord
And I said to her, this is the last champagne I'll drink
And she said, why?
And I said, I think as a man of God, this has no place in my life
So it's not that it's a sin, it's not
Not that the Bible says you can't do it, it doesn't say that
I'll never preach that and I've stayed true to that
However, I also have never drunk
And I think you'd be better off if you didn't
But also, there might be a time in your life when you're better off if you did
Grandpa Stewart, Sherry's great grandfather, when he had high blood pressure, high hypertension for a really long time
His doctor prescribed, he said, you can do this
You can take two pills a day, one morning, one at night
You can drink one beer every night before you go to bed, which one do you want to do?
He chuckled and said, I'll take the beer
And he did, for 20 years
And never went on high blood pressure medicine
Now I'm not suggesting you use that, by the way, you need a doctor to prescribe that to you
If you're going to do that
But what I'm saying is, I will never preach that that's a sin
This is what these folks will do
You know why? Because they're looking for a false righteousness
They want to appear good, so they want to say, well I do it this way
Or I'll never do it that way because they want to appear better than somebody else
And then they want to make that thing out to be a command of God and it's sin
So I'm better than you because you're in sin and I'm not
Because of a false righteousness
And the demons love it
It's included in the doctrine of demons
False righteousness
Satan did not rebel against God because he thought he was evil
And wicked and nasty and all that
He rebelled against God because he thought God was wrong
And how can you be God of everything and all creation and be wrong at the same time?
That's why he rebelled against God
Now Satan was wrong, right?
So he wants to lead you to be wrong too
He wants to lead me to be wrong too
It's the doctrine of demons to start to make our own rules
Or to forgive ourselves or to behave hypocritically toward
Let's say it this way
In hypocrisy toward the commands of God
God says do this, I know God says do this and I'm not quitting
But over here I think I'm all that and a big Christian guy too
But I'm not doing what God tells me to do
Here he says everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected
If it is received with gratitude
By the way, no one who's doing that first part will do that
You won't receive it with gratitude
You may pretend to be grateful but you're not really grateful
Otherwise you'd be doing what God called you to do
For it is sanctified, made holy by the means of the word of God and prayer
And our last verse says this
In pointing out these things to the brethren
In other words, this is what we're doing
We're pointing out these things to the brethren
And in doing that you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus
Now that's written in the word of God
Inspired by the Holy Spirit by the Apostle Paul
To the young Christian leader Timothy
If you will share these things with other believers
All that we've been talking about and I'll recap it for you eventually
We're getting there
You will be a good servant of Christ Jesus
Remember I told you before we're through
We'll find out how to get to heaven and hear well done good and faithful servant
There it is
And you will be constantly nourished on the words of faith
And of the sound doctrine which you have been following
Nourished
We were meant to diet on this
Alright, you've heard the text
I've got three kind of key things that I felt like the Lord really wanted me to bring home
And you could probably, you might even do it better
I don't know but these are the things that the Spirit laid heavily on my heart to share
First one is conduct becoming a child of God
The reality is our conduct has been bad
Before we got saved for sure
Even after, our conduct has been bad
Conduct becoming a child of God in the household of God, His church
The church is supposed to be a pillar and a support of the truth in the community
Huh, anybody notice what's happening with the truth in our world right now?
How it's being redefined or faded out or moved to the shadows?
I hear you, I know righteousness, I know honor, I know honesty, all that
But that's all old school man
I'm going to do what I want to do
I'm going to do what I've got to do to survive
Yes, I'm victimizing other people but that's just their truth
They just think it's wrong that I'm doing what I'm doing
It's happening in the world today
Truth is being cannibalized
It's being devoured by falsehood
The deceitful evil spirits have gotten the ear of so many Christians
You thought I was going to say non-Christians
Didn't you?
The deceitful evil spirits have gotten the ear of so many Christians
And they're still following the Lord
I'm a follower of Jesus, I'm going to heaven when I die
Jesus paid for all my sins, this one too
Right?
But they're paying attention
They're just listening
It's just slipping in
With their TV, with their entertainment of all kinds
It's just slipping in
I was talking to my boys yesterday about a podcast
And not a confidential conversation or anything but it was in my living room
So I'm just going to share what we said
We were talking about that and I said, what about this podcast?
I said, is it full of wickedness?
It's got bad stuff in it?
And they said, no
If it had that in it, we wouldn't be listening
And Aaron said to me
I'm going to quote you son, if I get it wrong, correct me, it's okay
He said to me, well, they might cuss one or two times per episode
And I said, well that's not bad
I think that's tolerable, I think you can deal with that
See what happened there?
I have a very high standard
So if I say one to two cuss words might be tolerable in a four hour long or three hour or two hour or whatever long podcast
Then what do you think most Christians' standards are?
What are you watching?
What are you listening to?
Do you pay attention?
In our household we watch movies that are rated PG-13 and below
I watched a movie that was rated PG from 1988 and it literally had full frontal nudity in it
So ratings aren't everything that they're cracked up to be
And I had to not watch
But we only watch movies that are PG-13 and below, that's it
Because we don't want to have to deal with it
You shouldn't be paying attention to those things
So now in PG-13 movies or below you know that regularly sex scenes occur
That show nudity, that would be rated R if they did
But they'll be under the covers together
We don't watch those scenes
In fact, when a scene is developing and it looks like they're headed toward the bedroom
We're groping for the remote, where's that remote?
And we're past it and don't watch it
Why do you watch it?
Do you watch it?
Why do you watch it?
I'll tell you why, because the ministry of deceitful evil spirits is very attractive
It will make you feel like you're okay
It is like sugar or high caloric intake on our physical side
It's good, it's energizing, it makes us feel okay
The next time you're hungry and reach for a ho-ho
You're going to know exactly what I'm talking about
You're going to be like, I'm hungry, I need a snack
Ho-ho, you literally ate nothing of any value for yourself whatsoever
Nothing of any value, but now you're not hungry
It's exactly what's happening
And people, Christians all across the world have begun to say
I don't agree, but it's okay
It's just the way the world is
I'm accepting it
No, we are a pillar of truth
We are the fortitude of the message of God
We are supposed to be delivering it into every context and every situation
Remember the Old Testament?
The tabernacle, huge tent, worship of God, sacrifice in there
The bowl, the bowl, that kind of stuff
I hope you remember a little bit about that
They broke it down to travel as they were wandering in the wilderness
They had it with them, they had God's presence
As they failed to do what they were supposed to do, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years
Boy, we could learn from that
And we don't want that
You know that when the tabernacle moved, there was a marching pattern around the tabernacle
Alright, biblical scholars
Who marched next to the tabernacle as it moved?
Anybody?
Does anybody know?
Okay, challenge you to read it later, but I'll tell you for now
Okay, the Levites
Which side did the Levites march on?
All sides
The Levites marched all around the tabernacle
Between the tabernacle and all the rest of the tribes
Because if they didn't, there was a very real danger that the wrath of God would pour out from the tabernacle
And destroy Israel for their insolence
But God had claimed the Levites as his own, that this is my people
Can I use this language?
These will be my pillar of truth
These will be the people that will stand up between my wrath and the world
That's the church! This is what we're supposed to be doing!
Conduct becoming a child of God and the household of God is standing up as a pillar in support of the truth everywhere we are
Listen, if you don't want to have to talk about Jesus and the truth of God at work, don't go to work
I gotta go to work, I gotta pay my bills
Okay, you gotta go to work and pay your bills, I'm with you, go to work and pay your bills
Now, talk about Jesus while you're there
But I don't feel comfortable doing that
Why? Because you've been listening to deceitful spirits
That are talking to you about how the grace of God will cover the fact that you don't care about the message of God
That's a lie!
The grace of God will not cover the fact that you don't care about the message of God
Because if you don't care about the message of God, you never received the message of God
Conduct of a Christian in the church is taking the gospel to the world
The people that are in your life that you have not talked to about Jesus are going to hell because they don't know Jesus
And you are doing nothing about it
Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father weeping as we watch the story of the church fading away from the world
While the world changes truth
I might lose my job, I might be threatened or persecuted, somebody might get mad at me, they might say something nasty to me
Perhaps it's time we read the story of the crucifixion again
Maybe we need to look again at the verses where it says, when they hate you, don't be surprised, they hated me first
Oh no, but that's our excuse, that's our reason, we don't want them to hate us
Well the servant is not greater than the master
If you cannot deliver the message of Jesus Christ, argue his servant
This is the conduct becoming a child of God in the household of God
That we would stand up for the truth that we would become a barrier between the world and the wrath of God
As long as the church is here and we'll talk about Jesus and we'll deliver the gospel
I was talking to Ariana the other day, she was home from school the one day
She was congested overnight and didn't sleep well
And she says to me, daddy, I want Jesus to come again
I'm tired, I'm ready, when's he coming?
I said well honey, I said, the Bible says he's not slow as some men count slowness
But he is patient with us that all men might come to repentance
People are still getting saved
So probably as long as people are still believing and receiving Christ and getting saved and they're going to go to heaven for eternity
Probably as long as that's true, he's probably not going to come
I don't know that for a fact I can't predict when he's going to come and no one can predict when the last person might hear
But I guarantee you that when the church is gone, if the church is ever gone, when the church is gone
There won't be anybody preaching the gospel, no reason not to start the rest of the process
Now the word says that God will claim for himself a witness after the rapture if you've got the order of events that way
There will be witnesses that come out of the Jewish nation and they will be winning people to Christ
So it's not going to be over even at that point if you believe in the order of events that way
But the bottom line is the church has a job to do today and as long as God is being patient, he is being patient not with lost people
God's not really patient with lost people, I mean he knows the outcome, right?
He's not being patient with lost people, he's being patient with us because we are the pillar of truth in society
Secondly, it says that paying attention to the wrong side will burn your conscience
It's pretty clear about how that happens, we just pay attention
We just pay attention to the deceitful spirits and the doctrine of demons, paying attention
We're going to read one text to make this very clear to us and it is the last text that we will read today
So that does not mean you can put your Bible away because God might lead you to something else
So it's in the book of James and it's in chapter 3, so if you are a follow alonger, and I hope you are
Or a note taker, write that down, James chapter 3, 13 to 18, and this is what it says
It says, Who among you is wise and understanding?
Let him show by his good behavior his deeds and the gentleness of wisdom
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth
This wisdom is not that which comes down from above but is earthly, natural, wait for it, demonic
This wisdom is not what comes down from above but is earthly, natural, demonic
For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing
That's why you need to announce the humility, that's why you need to recognize that God is all that and you frankly are not
Because if you have jealous feelings, you don't like the way somebody else has something, I don't have it
I don't like what they said, it makes me feel a certain way
If selfish ambition, I want to get ahead, I want to be successful, I want to be recognized or I want to be praised
Or any kind of, I want to benefit me at any time whatsoever, that's selfish ambition
If you want to benefit the kingdom of God, you want to benefit Jesus, you want to benefit other people, that's one thing
But when it's about you and getting ahead for you in any way, shape or form, that's selfish ambition
And according to what he wrote there, James, the brother of Jesus wrote there, that's the doctrine of demons
It's deceitful spirits, has anyone ever said to you, you deserve to be happy?
And when they did, did you pay attention?
If you did, that was a deceitful evil spirit
If you deserve anything good in this life at all, it is by the grace of God delivered unto you that you deserve it
You were a sinner going to hell, that's who you were
You deserved an eternity separated from God, that's what you deserved
That's what every lost person deserves because they are a sinner who will in eternity be separated from God
I'm not going out telling people they're going to hell, that's not my job
That was not on the list, right?
There is a message that we are supposed to be delivering, we already covered it, we'll recap it briefly
But we already covered it, that's not on the list
So we don't go out and tell them, you deserve hell
In fact, if your gospel presentation says that you're a sinner and you deserve hell, your gospel presentation is flawed
You're just trying to scare them into making an emotional decision to escape what is true
Paying attention to the wrong side will burn your conscience
Next to my house I have garbage cans and recycling bins
Even though they don't curbside recycling anymore, but we have a company that's supposed to do it
And they have us put it in blue bags and then they've missed the last couple of weeks
And we still put it in the recycling bins while it's on the side of the house, blah blah blah
Anyway, on the ground from where my recycling bins and garbage cans are
All the way back to the creek is a trail worn in the dirt and in the grass
You can literally see where something small, probably four legged, has been walking for decades
It walks basically the same path that people that mow my lawn, they know it's there
People come to my house, you see it, you're going to see it right now, if you want to go see it
Go after church, don't miss this
The rodent that comes to my garbage has worn a trail
So much so that the trail is still there in the spring after it snows
That's what deceitful evil spirits do
They wear a trail into you
You give a foothold and they just keep coming back again and again
And then you accepted it, you paid attention to it, and so they do it again
And you accepted it, you paid attention to it, you do it again
I'll never do what they tell me to do, I'm not listening, I don't agree
I sit and rail against them in my living room
In fact, I will talk about how cuss words in movies is a sin
In my living room, I'm like, that's sinful
Wait a minute, back up a second
Check yourself, are cuss words in movies a sin?
Show it to me in the Bible
The closest you'll get is that we should focus on the pure, right?
James talks about foul language, foul language is that which offends the listener
Cuss words are not in the Bible, now taking the Lord's name in vain, that's a sin
So if they use that, then you shouldn't be listening, right?
But those cuss words, when you start railing, you're railing against them because they're a sin
Except they're not a sin, what are you doing?
You've bought into the doctrine of demons, right?
What I'm saying to you is, paying attention to the other side opens a pathway into you
and will burn your conscience
There are just two strategies and they're very simple
Number one, you can go to war
I went to a men's conference when I was a young Christian up in Michigan
We had just found our church there, we hadn't joined yet
And they called me up on a Friday and they said, hey, any chance you'd want to go to a conference over
I'm sorry, it was Thursday, tomorrow and Saturday
Sure, I guess, we've got an extra ticket, you can go for free, food's free, transportation's free
You can just ride with us, whatever
And I said, well, I'll call my wife and we worked it out and sure enough I went
And on the way to the conference, my brother Terry Hill was his name, he was in my life group
He was the apprentice shepherd of my life group
He said, you know, I got rid of all my rated-R movies because I don't think that's focusing on the pure
And I don't think it's what God would really want me to do, I'm trying to grow in the Lord
And I was thinking about how I had like 23 rated-R movies in my living room
And the Spirit convicted me and said, you know, if you want to be focusing on the pure, you need to do the same thing
So once he did that, now if I had kept them and continued to watch, that would have been a sin, right?
It wasn't previously, but it would have been, it would have become that because the Spirit convicted me
So I went home and I said to my wife, I said, dear, I know it's going to be hard
But I think we need to get rid of all our rated-R movies
And she went to legalism, she's like, now that sounds like legalism to me
It sounds like you're making rules out of something
I'm not saying it's a sin, I'm just telling you that I was convicted of my spirit that I think we need to do this
And I'm asking you, are you willing?
I said, if not, if you disagree with me, then we'll continue to talk about it, hash it out, we'll figure out
She said, no, what do I care?
But then when we went to go throw away the rated-R movies, like her third favorite and fourth favorite movie of all time
Were in there and there was a little bit more hesitation, but we did
And then in the end we did keep one movie which has a great biblical message to it, which is The Patriot
Which is rated-R, it's a war movie
And, it's a good movie, yep
And so the point is, you can go to war
Go in your house when you're done with church today, walk in there and find everything, root it out, search for it
Find everything that speaks these deceitful, evil spirit messages
Find everything that's demon doctrine and get rid of it all, root it out, get rid of it
You can do that, that is one strategy
The other strategy is to dismiss it out of hand in favor of the truth
And say, yep, it's pretty much always going to be realized that to really get rid of it, you'd have to get rid of commercials
And if you watch streaming now, some streaming has commercials
You'd probably have to get rid of most movies because it's in there, it's all in there
And so you can, every time you detect it, you can dismiss it out of hand in favor of the truth
And say, we're watching a movie and we see something and I'll say, that's not the truth
Ariana likes the new Disney movie Encanto a lot and it's a good movie, it is
It's got a great message to it, not expressly a biblical message but a very good message about how everybody is valuable
And definitely not a Christian message but nothing that's expressly anti-Christian
And so I'm watching it and there was something where they said something and I said, that's not the truth
And she goes, oh, I know it's not the truth, I just ignore that part
That's a strategy you can use
Now, if someone else is watching it with somebody else and it pops up and you just ignore it
And they absorb it, you are not behaving as a pillar of truth, right?
So now be careful about dismissing the untruths or dismissing the deceitful evil spirits
So that you don't get so used to it that you forget to stand up when you're supposed to
But either one of those tactics work
Paying attention to the wrong side will burn your conscience
And then there's the third thing
There's a good verdict and nourishment in pointing out these things
It does not say in believing these things
It does not say living these things
It does not say accepting them as true and allowing them to affect your other thought processes
It doesn't say accepting them as true and praying the sinner's prayer
It says there is a good verdict
You will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, that's a good verdict
And it says there will be nourishment
You will be nourished by the words of the faith and the sound doctrine which you have been following
You will be nourished, that means built up from the inside, you will have what you need
By pointing out these things to the brethren
First of all, this verse says if you're a Christian and you don't have a church
You will never be properly nourished
Because you have to be pointing out these things to the brethren in order to be nourished by the words of faith
That's what it says
Secondly, it says every time you point it out to somebody else
You're going to get a meal out of it
It's going to be a blessing to you, it's going to heal you
It's going to provide the nourishment that you need to grow as a Christian and so on
Malnourishment is not really hunger, but it's the lack of the right thing
So could it be that the church is spiritually malnourished because instead of feeding on
Telling these things, proclaiming these things to the brethren
We're feeding on enjoying the encouragement, the positive feeling we get out of worship
The fact that we have brothers and sisters of fellowship because we want others to encourage us
Because we gave and we know we did the right thing, because we served and we know we did the right things
We exercise our Holy Spirit, gift, whatever that might be, and God gives us that little pat on the back
So we're living all of those things, but we're malnourished
They're good things
If for the next month all you eat is apples, you'll probably be in the hospital in less than 30 days
Because while an apple is a wonderful thing and they say it keeps the doctor away
It does not have everything in it that you need to survive on
If all you do is eat vitamins and water
You could get enough vitamins to cover all of those deficiencies that I listed
And enough water to cover your water intake and you still will not be healthy
Because you need protein to build muscle, and that's not a vitamin
The point is, there is a good verdict and nourishment in the pointing out of these things
The verdict would be enough
We all want to stand before Jesus and receive that well done, good, and faithful servant
That's what I want
That would be enough for me
I would live my life malnourished in order to arrive in front of Jesus and have Him hug on me and say you did a good job
Heck yeah!
But it doesn't only promise the good verdict, it also promises the nourishment, the building up of our spirits
The cleansing of our hearts, the strengthening of our faith, the growth of us as people as we are nourished by the words of faith
That brings us to the conclusion
Great is the mystery of godliness
There is much to be learned
But that statement is the start of a summary
And the points of the summary are this
Jesus was revealed in the flesh
When is the last time you told somebody that Jesus came in the flesh?
They say, well all the people I hang out with, they already know that
It said tell it to the brethren, theoretically all the brethren know that
So you can tell it to the people who already know that and be nourished
We should be saying that
Jesus was revealed in the flesh
Talk about His life, His death, His burial
He was vindicated by the Holy Spirit, God's Holy Spirit testified about Him while He was alive
He was seen by angels
Every Christmas we do the story of the proclamation of His birth
And every Easter we do the story of the proclamation of His resurrection
But it's our job to be sharing that with each other all year round
Or otherwise we'll be malnourished
He was proclaimed among the nations
Many different people groups heard the story and on Pentecost many of them heard it in their own language
Spoken from people who didn't speak their language
Clearly God's goal to proclaim the truth of Jesus to the nations
And while we should be proclaiming it, we should be reminding each other to proclaim it
He was believed on in the world, we should be explaining to people that people have believed
There are people in our church that have believed
There are people outside of our church that have believed, there are people in other churches that have believed
That's a message that we deliver to one another
Taken up in glory, Jesus went to be in heaven
We know where He is now in some sort of physical way
But He's also in our hearts in a very spiritual way
He was taken up in glory
But it doesn't stop there, the Spirit says we should be proclaiming to the brethren that in later times some will fall away
Seared in their consciences
Their hypocrisy made it possible
They were just paying attention and listening to the deceitful evil spirits and the demonic doctrines
We should explain to the brethren that false righteousness is real
When someone comes to you and tries to say I know what's right
And they can't support it by specific scripture that says the same thing they're saying
Then you should be saying, okay I get you, but we have to be careful
Because it's really easy to get into false righteousness where we say that we know that we're right
The Holy Spirit told you you shouldn't drink, doesn't mean that you can tell everybody else they shouldn't drink
The Holy Spirit told you something's true, doesn't mean you can tell everybody else that it's true
Unless the Holy Spirit told you to go and tell everybody else it's true, in which case you have to do so
But they still have to come to it themselves
Two left, every food created by God is good if received with gratitude
Things can be sanctified by means of the word and prayer
If you're not sure, I had this happen Thursday morning
In fact it happened two weeks in a row, that's what made me pay attention to it
I finished my Bible study and I had some notifications on my phone
And one of the notifications was from email and I'm waiting for an email that's of a personal nature
And not of a business nature, and I'm not supposed to do business on Thursday
Because that's my Sabbath so I wasn't going to do business
So this is what I said, I went to open the email notification
And I said, Lord, guard my heart, protect me right now
Don't let me be tempted to get into anything that might be in my email that has to do with ministry
Or has to do with my job, or something like that
Unless you really want me to pay attention to it because it's an ox in a ditch
I'm not supposed to do that, so Lord, guard my heart
And I went in there and I saw something that was of work nature and I didn't open it
Following Thursday the same thing happened and that's why I paid attention to it
And you can say to God, God, I need you to protect me in this situation
I need you to help me say the right thing
I need you to help me be a clean servant here and now
I know I'm not worthy of it
If you think you've gotten to the point where you're worthy and you're always a clean servant of God
You've got a pride arrogance problem
So you say, now I'm not worthy of it Lord, but I'm asking you to right now work in me
Help me say the right thing, help me only hear what I'm supposed to hear
Help me only be what I'm supposed to be
Things can be sanctified by means of the word and prayer
And we should be telling each other that and other Christians
That's the message, it's part of the message
That when we proclaim it, we will be nourished and have a good report before God
Last one, we can be justified and constantly nourished on the words of the faith
By pointing out these things to one another
You see, it's full circle
We should be telling each other that we can be justified before God
And constantly nourished by proclaiming these things
Including that we can be justified before God and nourished by proclaiming these things
This is the song that never ends
Somebody started singing it not knowing what it was
But this is the song that never ends
And somebody started singing it not knowing what it was
If we would just proclaim these truths including the fact that we need to proclaim these truths to one another
In order to be nourished, in order to be justified before God
If we would proclaim the truth that we need to proclaim the truth
That we need to proclaim the truth
We probably wouldn't have time to be talking about all that much else, would we?
So if you've spent quite a bit of time lately talking about something else other than these things
Maybe you're dealing with hypocrisy or maybe you're dealing with deceitful evil spirits
And you're not following them but you're just paying attention or letting them be there
Or maybe you're dealing with the doctrine of demons
And it's time to say, I've got things I'm supposed to be saying
I've got a message I'm supposed to be delivering
And until I am delivering that message on a regular basis
I'm always going to be malnourished
Even if you take the Word of God another way
You're always going to be malnourished because this is the way that we will be nourished
This is the way that we will have a good report before the Lord
Will you commit yourself?
You have the reference now, if you need to memorize it, memorize it
What is the message? It's really not hard
Great is the mystery of godliness, Jesus was revealed in the flesh, he was vindicated by the Spirit
He was seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the earth, taken up in glory
But there will be those who fall away, especially through false righteousness
Everything created by God is good and things can be cleansed by Word and prayer
And we can be justified before God and constantly nourished by the words of faith if we will just proclaim these things
I didn't write it, but I'm calling us to believe it
I want to believe it
I would challenge you to make this commitment, and it's a biggie, it's really biggie
I would challenge you to make this commitment
That you will never have an at-length conversation with a Christian again
Without sharing a minimum of one of those points
You wouldn't say I'm going to go a day without eating, unless you were fasting of course, right?
So why would you go a day malnourished in your spirit when you now know the recipe for nourishment?
I ask the praise team to come forward at this time, we're going to have a closing hymn
Song of invitation, I ask you to respond as the Lord might lead in your heart
If you're here today, you've not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in earnest
You need to do that now and be saved
If you're here today and you have, if you realize you have literally been paying attention to evil spirits
Allowing that doctrine of demon where you think you make up things that are wrong
And that's what you say is sin, but there's other sins that you're allowing to like, that's hypocrisy
Repent, repent and turn to God and say this will be the message of the church, this will be the message of my life
This is what I will take with me everywhere I go
And I'm doing it, I'm the first person
I hope I will always have some aspect of what we just talked about in every conversation
Would you stand with me and sing this song as the Lord's writing something on your heart and you respond
Song of invitation, I ask you to respond as the Lord might lead in your heart
You've been listening to New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo
And we hope that you're reaching New Heights in Jesus with us today