Good morning!
This afternoon we have a membership meeting.
After service, it shouldn't take too long.
But it is important that we can talk about things that pertain to us as members.
And regular attenders of U.S. fellowship Baptist church.
We'll lift up some folks who have some Red Bull sickness going around.
And folks who are trying to be here and having trouble with that.
So the word is promotion. You know what it means? You promote. And I think that song
just said Jesus lived a life to shout your fame. And I was really just waiting to see
what the Lord wanted to do. And so promote your ministries. Promote what we're doing.
I have a friend, a brother in the Lord, that was in the same church I was at. He's going
through a lot of time. Back in the day I'd have to have a horse and I'd have to walk
and get a letter to my brother, take three days. But I get to say, hey, check out our
podcast and he's listening to it. And he gets to hear the truth. Now I want you to understand
that it's not easy promoting love and goodness when you have a heart that's so full of love
when people are rude and disrespectful. But what were we when we were first saved? The
disciples that Jesus had were zealots. Those were called assassins. They assassinated people.
Killers, thugs, the fishermen weren't always nice. People were disrespectful. Look at John
and James, the sons of thunder. They wanted to burn down a village. They were not nice
people. But when you reach out and you promote what we're doing here, listen, we are all
gems to this crowd. Every one of us is a nugget to the treasure. You guys, the briskards,
talking to all you guys. Every one of your ministries is so important right now. And
if you don't start plugging them, I'm going to start plugging them. I wonder why we're
all these people are going to start coming. Because people are hungry. People want to
hear the truth. And I know people are going to try to take advantage. It doesn't matter
about them. It's about the people. We're going to find out who really, really wants
to live for Jesus. And if we don't start promoting it, I'm going to finish with this because
I can tell you, it's the word. Jesus, when he got baptized, I was going to do a bunch
of statements, quick announcements. Jesus got baptized and the first thing he was driven
to the desert. What's the next thing he did? Perform miracles? No. He promoted. The kingdom
of heaven is near, repent and believe in the good news. The kingdom of heaven is near,
repent and believe. Just start telling everybody. Walking villages and the day would come to
him and there would be miracles. There would be signs. There would be wonders and God would
speak to them. But he promoted it. So it's in you to promote this. You can't, I can't
share your ministry. Because you have a great testimony. You all have a great testimony
that I can never have. My testimony is exciting because I'm excited Jesus saved me at 23.
I was dead in my life. Dead. Dead. No one even told me except a 70 year old man decided to
say, I don't know this guy, but I'll do what God says. I would have died at 22, 21, 16,
25, 24. I see God and I'm like, okay. I didn't know I was going to hell. It doesn't matter.
God's wrath is there. It's nothing I can do. Jesus saved me through that person. You have
a testimony. You have to, if you don't want to share the glorious things you have every
day. I share people with the music I have, the things I hear. We have an app. Share the
app. It's working now. It's awesome. Awesome app by the way. Websites. I'll enter just
real quick. A quick testimony. Two people that I was scared to walk up to down the street.
People I would have never walked up to. I'm like, okay. I'm going to do what I'm going
to do. Shaking as I can. They're going to kill me. They're going to beat me up. Not
saying they're going to. I'm scared. Very scared. I walk up and I just say, hey, just
want to let you know we deliver groceries over here. It's 419-242-3340. They're like,
hey thanks. They did not want me to come up in their car and talk to them. As soon as
I started rejoicing and sharing the Lord Jesus, they're like, where's your church and stuff?
It's almost like you can't take the thud, you can't take the hurt, the bitterness out
of a person until you share the truth. Until you share hope. They're not going to let go
because they have nothing to give into. They have nothing to have. We have to do this.
You don't. You don't want to. You don't. But we have to do this. Promote. That's my word.
Promotion. Promote your ministries. Promote everything that you have. Let's do it.
Alright, let's pray together and then we'll worship God. I'm just going to put this up
here. My uncle Art has been in the hospital. He's been in the hospital for a couple weeks
now with a long one. He got it, got over it, got it again. And according to my mom I got
comfortable yesterday, he's at the point now where he's giving up. He's been through a
lot of that so we need to pray for him. He essentially told her don't expect any more
of that. We'll pray God you'll turn that around. Okay, did you have your hand up, careful?
Alright, let's pray. Father in heaven, you are a giving God. You have loved us. You have
strengthened us. You have encouraged us. You've given us passion. You've given us energy.
Lord, you've blessed us with love in our lives, family members, and friends, and church members
who are united, who care about one another. You've blessed us with finances. You've blessed
us with a roof over our head. You've blessed us with a place to worship. You've blessed
us with sunshine, even on the days when it's cold. Lord, you've blessed us with fresh
air. You've blessed us with freedom. The list just goes on and on and on. You've been given
forever since before we were here. And then the reality is Lord, we have misused some
of those great blessings. We have to do some of the things that we should. We have to be
strong like we could, or we confess our weakness to you. We ask your forgiveness. We're grateful
that we're taught and we understand in our heart of hearts that forgiveness is available
for all sins through Jesus Christ who died upon the cross. Lord, I thank you for every
person that made it here today. Every person that overcame barriers and difficulties to
do that. Every person that had it in their heart to be here but didn't make it. Thank
you for all those who were in the app this week or on the podcast or listening on Facebook
or on their Alexa in their living room. Father, I thank you that our church, which by some
human standards is not very big, is actually very big. And in the kingdom of God, we are
a tool that you can use. I thank you that our key verse, 1 John 1-3, and it simply says
that we proclaim what we have seen and heard. Lord, that we've got a story to tell that
we have seen and we have heard. We praise you, Lord, that you called us to that. And
we would share that we need your courage, we need your strength, we need your wisdom,
we know exactly when to speak up and what to do. Lord, I think there's almost no time
that we couldn't bring up the awesome things that you've done and glorify you. We intend
to sing songs of praise to you today, Lord. We intend to stand and sit, to work together
to study your word. Teachers in the children's department have prepared. Children have come
expecting to learn about Jesus. But I hope we've all come expecting today. Father, I
thank you for being our God. The truth is, Lord, we need you every moment of every day,
including right now. Would you take over this service? Give every strung of every string
and every push of every button and every pass of every click and every encouraging word.
We talk about what we've seen in the scripture this week as we read the Bible and learn
from you and hear from your Holy Spirit. Lord, would you work in this place? We pray this
in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
Alright, stand up, stretch a little. We're going to move around a bit. We're going to
dance and praise and enjoy the beautiful weather. It's warm and it's not hot in here, not yet.
Come on.
Let's stand in your name.
Let the dark night fall in heaven. Still I will stand. Let's stand in the name of the Lord. Let's stand in your name.
Let's stand in the name of the Lord. Let's stand in the name of the Lord. Let's stand in your name.
Let the light shine down on me. Let the world of the legend shine on me. Let's stand in your name.
Let our hearts dance our praise. Oh, stand in the arm of the Lord. Let's stand in your name.
Let the light shine down on me. Let the world of the legend shine on me. Let the world of the legend shine on me. Come on.
I could be your name
I could be the light of the night
I could be a warrior's name
Come out and take away
My heart will just set on you
I could be your name
Every black field, a foreign land
I'm trying to make you brave
When the darkness is near, the sea runs
Still they will stay
I could be the name of the light
I could be your name
I could be the light of the night
I could be a warrior's name
Through the wall, through the valley
Of the shadow of death
Your love and love is passing out there
Through the wall, through the hill
Of a storm of its light
We will come back and do you a favor
I will be your evil
My heart is ending
And it's fighting with me
Oh, then shall I feel
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Through the darkness, through the storm
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Every heart and every love
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Oh, no, you'll never let go of me
The night has come
It's full of my damn notes
The night is making my heart
Only only I can
But until that day comes
The day will be on you
And I will be on you
For I'm fighting with me
And it's fighting with me
Oh, then shall I feel
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Through the darkness, through the storm
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Every heart and every love
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Oh, no, you'll never let go of me
The night is making my heart
Only only I can
But until that day comes
The day will be on you
And I will be on you
For I'm fighting with me
And it's fighting with me
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Through the darkness, through the storm
The night is making my heart
Only only I can
But until that day comes
The day will be on you
And I will be on you
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Every heart and every love
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Oh, no, you'll never let go of me
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Every heart and every love
Oh, no, you'll never let go
Of me, of me
Alright, we didn't get to do this last week
because we had our special Easter service program going on
and so maybe you've seen last week prepared to share
maybe you're prepared to share today, I hope so
How have you been studying your Bibles?
What have you seen? What have you heard?
Even as you were walking
God sort of said to you in your spirit
the Holy Spirit spoke to you and said,
Hey, pay attention
There's something I want you to see
What do you got, Arjun?
Um, I'm pretty sure we've heard the drugs
So there was a, me and the kids have been watching
this show, Fortune Fire
Really cool show
and they make knives and swords and stuff
and it's really cool
and, but there's something that I found really interesting
in the show and it's how you test the sharpness of a knife
So if, a lot of people would say, well, if some
if it could cut through wood, it's obviously sharp
but if you look at it like an actual like axe
that chops wood, they're not that sharp
They're not as sharp as like a utility knife or something like that
and the reason is because it has to have a thicker edge
so it can do more of chopping
and it brought to the mind of having the right tool for the job
and for us as a Christian, the right tool for our job
is the Holy Spirit
We can't do anything
Come up, sit down
We can't do anything without the help of Jesus
and when we look at our toolbox of stuff that we need as a Christian
that should be the first thing we go to
and it's a very important tool because
Jesus' Holy Spirit will give you the strength to carry out the stuff that he tells you to do
but like I said, there's other parts of it too
We also have to have the Bible
because without the Word, we don't have the wisdom
and there's also, we have to have our faith
because without faith, all the works we do are dead
so we have to look at it from, I guess this is the way I look at it is
because I'm a mechanic, I have a bunch of tools
but I use all of those tools
and as a Christian, we are provided so many tools from God
our own gifts, our own abilities, we are provided so many things from God
that we can use
but what we fail to do is we fail to use all of them
We want to hone in on one specific thing, one specific tool
but in reality, you have this giant toolbox full of different things that you can do
instead of trying to grow and put all of your blood, sweat, and tears in one specific thing
you have to learn how to expand your horizon and grow from there
and use all of your abilities, use all of your gifts
because you might find out that something you do is better than what you think you're good at
That's a good word, that's a good word
Alright, who else?
Ms. Chris
There you go, video
The internet is not working
The internet is down, so we can get audio from your phone if we need to
Okay, I guess I could just read the song
Okay, let's do that
Alright, so there's a song, it's an old song by Simon and Garfunkel
and then now just George does it
Oh, I love that song
I like George better, but I like the video better
So it says, Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk to you again
Because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping
And a vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone, narrow streets of cobblestone
Meet the halo of a street lamp, I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light that split the night and touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared and no one dared disturb the sound of silence
Fools, said I, you don't know, silence like a cancer growth
Hear my words so I may teach you, take my arms so I may meet you
But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made
And a sign flashed out its warning in the words that it was forming
Then the sign said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls in tenement halls
And whispered in the sound of silence
So to me this obviously is not a Christian song, it's a secular song
But it goes to show something that we are laughing in society today
So I text out, what's the first, what do you think of when you hear the word intimacy?
Most people said sex, which is not surprising because that's what people think of when they think of intimacy
But there are many aspects of intimacy besides sex
And I'm just going to share four, and the worst one is emotional intimacy
Candid, authentic sharing of thoughts and feelings
Being able to tell each other your deepest fears, dreams, disappointments, and most complicated emotions
As well as feeling seen and understood when you do
This is gained by each person refraining from judgment or context when the other is sharing
So Matthew 7, 1-6
Do not judge so that you will not be judged, for in the way you judge you will be judged
And by your standard of measure it will be measured to you
Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the blob that it is in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck of your eye, and behold the blob is in your own eye
You hypocrite, first take the blob out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye
Do not give what is willing to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before a spline
For they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces
You have to be emotional people, you have to build that emotional intimacy
You will build that by texting somebody
You do not build that by just putting something on Twitter or Facebook
It is done face to face
Second one, intellectual intimacy
Comfort with communicating beliefs and viewpoints without worrying about potential conflicts
Each person in the relationship has the freedom to think for themselves and believes their opinions are valued instead of feeling pressured to agree
Luke 6.31
Treat others the same way you want them to treat you
It is okay to have a conversation, it is okay to disagree on whatever point it is
But you have to have the confidence that you can do that without somebody saying, I hate you, I will never talk to you
You just have to get over that fear and just do it
And the more you talk something out, the more you may find out you are not as far apart as you thought you were
Number three, experiential intimacy
Shared experiences lead to inside jokes and private memories that can intensify a connection
The act of teamwork and moving in unison toward a common goal like grading and experience also establishes a feeling of up-closeness
We are going to go to Ecclesiastes 4, 9-12
Old Testament
Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor
For either of them falls, the other one will lift up his companions
But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up
Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?
If one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him
A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart
The more we share experiences, the stronger you get
The more we know about each other, the more we know how someone is going to react to something
The more we can joke about the fact that Pastor Dan doesn't like to have black nail polish on his fingernails
If you ever want to know about it, ask him
It's these kind of connections that we make, spirits and light together
That we are able to share things and turn that sharing towards God
The fourth one I have is spiritual intimacy
This closeness forms when you share poignant moments with others through praying and worshiping
It can also be done in other ways too
Like observing the creation of God, observing a sunset, a flower, beautiful trees
Studying together
These are just a couple of ways, I'm sure there are hundreds of ways
And for that we're going to go to 1 John 1 through 4
What is from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at
And touched with our hands concerning the word of life, and the life was manifested
And we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father
And was manifested to us
What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also
That you too may have fellowship with us, indeed our fellowship is with the Father, with the Son Jesus Christ
These things we write so that our joy may be seen, please
Now you're probably wondering how this ties into that song
Think about it, without intimacy between people you turn to darkness
You don't have someone to turn to
Without the intimacy between you and God you turn to the darkness
All these people are talking and nobody is listening it says
People are speaking and no one is hearing
That's the way our society is today when you think about it
People talk on the surface
People don't talk about deep things
They don't get deep down
And if we don't do that starting here in the church, building intimacy between us and between God
How are we going to show them the whole color stuff
Good stuff, alright, anybody else?
I think I want to just touch on one thing, I'm not going to share what I'm going to share because I'll share it for next week
But Ms. Chris just shared experiences, spiritual intimacy
Experiential intimacy and stuff
Our inspirational moment, if you go to another church you will not find anything like this what we're doing right here
And I'll tell you why
I went through Bible college in Lansing and I first found it there
And then I ran into a very heavily in seminary and I'm being completely transparent with you
And that is that pastors do not trust their church
That's why
Now we have an understanding if somebody says something that's unbiblical in the inspirational moment
Somebody else will correct it
We're working together here
If you stood up and you said, you know God told me I could be rich if I just do this and this
Whatever, we would correct it
We once had somebody stand in the inspirational moment and tell us that God had told them that they were going to win American Idol
And we corrected it, it's been a long time ago but it happened
So the point is this is us experiencing together
You read something in your Bible?
You're not going to find in the Bible God teaching you something that wasn't meant for you to share with anybody else
It's not going to happen
It isn't there
A disciple listens to the teachings of the master and then conveys those teachings to other people
None, zero, absolutely zero amount of your learning from the Bible was meant for you alone
In the least, the fruits that arise out of those teachings were meant for other people
That's in the least
But more likely you're meant to share whatever it is that you discover
And we get this opening, this opportunity to do that
And so I encourage you today to experience this Christian walk
To spend it together
That is what the church is and you will find untold resources, untold untapped strength
In sharing your thoughts about the Word, your experience, what you've been through, what you're struggling with
I can't tell you the number of times I've felt relief or strength just sharing with somebody what I was feeling
And ironically I've had a number of people come to me and share what they're going through
And it's a heavy burden, they're going through a heavy burden
And I am kind of empathic, not a spiritual gift type of empathic
But I feel for people when they're hurting
And after they tell me, normally I hurt, I ache, right?
But at the same time, because they shared with me, I felt strength
And after the fact I felt rejuvenated and energized because I realized that we're in it together
And so that when I feel like I'm alone, I know I'm not alone because you're with me
Because I'm with you when you're feeling like you're alone
And so that's what she's talking about
That's part of what Inspirational Moments is about
It's also about what singing spiritual songs is like
You look at the New Testament church, that's what he did
So as we worship, which we're about to do again
Those of you who are choosing maybe not to sing or just to kind of meditate on the words
Be aware you're missing out on a great experience
You're like, well I don't sing good, I'm not a good singer
Okay, well I don't sing good either, I'm not a good singer either
Okay, the point is, it's a joyful noise made unified unto the Lord
And when we're unified and doing that, it's experiential
There was a certain Sunday on Main Street
When outside on Saturday night, Sunday morning, it just dumped snow
Snow just dumped
We got like, I don't know, 15 inches or something in 20 hours or whatever
And those of us who were like the main core group
Like, you know, I'm not missing church no matter what
Showed up, we were like three families
About 15 people that showed up
And we worshiped God and it was powerful, it was phenomenal, it was an awesome experience
We had to go outside with shovels before the service and shovel
And there was everybody out there doing that
Just to get from their car, to find a place to put their car and so on
Because it had been stolen right up until before service
That's an experience and we went through it together
Some of you were here or were around at that time
We've had other experiences, good and bad, sometimes bad things happen
And we're raising our children together
Ariana, thank you
We're raising our children together, right
We're kind of airing our dirty laundry
We know we make mistakes, right, we have issues
And that experiential intimacy becomes spiritual intimacy
And we together can stand for the Lord
So she's absolutely right on target, this is what we're trying to do with this
And we, that we, every time you see we proclaim
Remember the we and we proclaim what we have seen and heard
That we is all of us believers in the local church, it's all of us
So you're part of the we, so you proclaim
That's who we say we are, and that is who we are, alright
We're going to be together at this time and then we'll worship the Lord a little bit more
And we'll do more of that, I encourage you, if you discover something in scripture
You come, you say, listen, if we come in here
And the inspirational note, now mind you, it's got to be God's stuff
But if you come in here and it's God's stuff and it's packed out
Then we will shorten or dismiss the sermon for the day
Or we'll cut songs out of the worship, we'll do what we have to do
Because this is about speaking for God and hearing from God
That's what it's about, okay
And if you're amongst people like, man I have a hard time listening when somebody else is talking
Check your heart condition, figure out why that is
Because a drunk man or a small child or somebody on their deathbed
Can speak the most profound word of God
And I have been present at all three of those instances
When that happened, and I went, pfft
God just spoke, that was powerful, I'll never forget it
And I can share those stories with you, we're not going to do that now
The point is, you can hear the voice of God
In the voices of other people, right Ariana?
We're not going to do that, can we?
So Aaron, my brother and my son, would you pray for us as we transition
Tithes and offerings and more worship?
We're ending to this day, and before
Aaron is here getting us
Let's just still lead together in this
Crazy time in the world
And you would give us the strength to encourage you to allow
And speak your message into the world
And we would be true, we would be true
And we would be true to those people who are here
And where we're at
And I feel those of us that are sick, those that couldn't be here
They feel
They're frustrated, always sort of sick and hurting
And we would be there for them
Do you get it?
It's like seeing you
Listen
Alright, we're going to break the rules for a minute.
We're doing every move I make.
Children, if you think you know the motions enough to help lead, you can stand on the stage.
And face that way.
Come on, let's go. If not, you can stand on the floor and face this way.
If you want to help lead, you can stand up in the middle.
Don't hit each other when you're doing motions.
Every move I make I take in you. You make me move, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.
Every step I take I take in you. You are my way, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.
Jesus, mercy with a prayer. Everywhere I move I see your face. Your love has captured me. Oh my God, it's love.
Oh, can it be?
Every move I make I take in you. You make me move, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.
Every step I take I take in you. You are my way, Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you.
Jesus, mercy with a prayer. Everywhere I move I see your face. Your love has captured me. Oh my God, it's love. Oh, can it be?
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.
I'm not good with emotions, or the words, or the sound.
I'm a big kid.
If you ever up front get into emotions, don't follow me.
The moon in Sunday winds, morning sun was set
The savior of the world was fallen
His body on the cross, his blood pouring out the runs
The weight of every nerve upon him
Ooh, ooh, ooh
The final breath again, his heaven locked away
The son of God was made in darkness
The battle in the rain, the war runs at his wage
The power of hell forever broken
The ground began to shake, the storm flew all away
His path was broken, and he overcome
Now nothing is left to see, all that is earned can be
As will every soul to be
Forever he is, for his blood
Forever he is, living on
Forever he is, living, he is alive
He is alive
The ground began to shake, the storm flew all away
His path was broken, and he overcome
Now nothing is left to see, all that is earned can be
As will every soul to be
Forever he is, for his blood
Forever he is, living on
Forever he is, living, he is alive
He is alive
We sing hallelujah
The Lamb has overcome
We sing hallelujah
The ground began to shake, the storm flew all away
His path was broken, and he overcome
Now nothing is left to see, all that is earned can be
As will every soul to be
Forever he is, for his blood
Forever he is, living on
Forever he is, living, he is alive
He is alive
Who but you
Can breathe in me, the trail of galaxies
Can dream of me, what kind of love
Is writing my story till the end
With mercy sent from above
What kind of king
Chose to wear a crown that bleeds and stars
To win my heart
What kind of lord
Tells me all the reason he can't see
Inside the grave
Who but you
Standing here before my eyes
Every part of my heart cries
He is alive
When my mercy's doing up
Let this heart's and pain turn to one
He is alive
Hallelujah, risen Lord
You're the one I'm falling for
I am free, because he is
Alive
Who could see
And send the demons back from where they came
I'm just one day, one other night
Let it so, be broken every time
Till he hears my
Hallelujah
Sometimes the darkness is too dark
To bring crying into your heart
Alive
There's one more, so we come
That's the one, the one and the one
Alive
Hallelujah, risen Lord
You're the one I'm falling for
I am free, because he is
There's a will, a promise, a key
That may be hope, it ain't nothing
Sadness, and the world's desires
Healing, breathing in our lives
The answer to our mystery
The answer to our victory
We never got away
We're starting from everything
Alive
Look on my things, how they come
Death has lost, and love has won
Alive
Because I see you
Alive
Question
Answer
Insanity or Christianity
You've heard the saying that says that
Insanity is doing something over and over again
Expecting a different result
You realize that now we've been going for nearly 2000 years
Since Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection
Awaiting his second coming, that he's coming back again
We have been performing some of the basic functions of the Kingdom of God
Supposedly, sometimes maybe we don't do it so well
Loving one another, a new commandment I give you that you love one another
Sharing the Gospel witness
Telling people about the Christ, the risen Lord
How Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected
We talked last week about, from 1 Corinthians 15, about the Gospel, the essentials of the Gospel
Surely someone, over the last 2000 years, can be attributed with holding onto the true Gospel of Jesus Christ
I submit to you that there is a perverted Gospel, we talked about that last week
And there are those who have warped, and not done, what it was that Jesus really told us to do
Not simply been who it was that we were supposed to be in Christ
But surely there are those, somewhere is a strain of Christianity
I believe that it leads to this place
Somewhere there is a strain of Christianity that has continued to be and to do that which Jesus commanded us to be and to do
And I submit to you that by and large, in large numbers, that strain of Christianity
That biblical message that goes back to the basics of what Jesus taught, what he asked the disciples to be
Has not seen the fruit that the perverted Gospels have seen, that other methods of the Gospel have seen
If it becomes about money, if it becomes about prosperity, if it becomes about health
When there are miraculous healings, even though miraculous healings may not truly be God healings
It still gathers a crowd
But Christianity, the Christianity that Jesus preached, that if you would follow me
Take up your cross daily, deny yourself and come follow after me
The willingness to set aside oneself, to deny oneself, one's desires and what one wants in the flesh
To take up the cross, meaning to die if necessary, and to follow Jesus
That that form of Christianity has yielded to some extent the same thing over and over and over again
And it is persecution, a need to persevere, a barely scraping by, struggling, satisfying faith
Yes, I understand people have gotten saved, we wouldn't be here today if somebody hadn't stuck to the Gospel and shared the Gospel with us
Yes, I understand that people have, I have, in my lifetime experienced an amazing turnaround because of the Gospel
But in reality, the Church, while having spread the world wide, has continued to be perverted over the years
Is it insanity to think that another Church, another Christian, another field seeded with the Gospel can prosper and grow
When so many are not interested in hearing it, or are more interested in hearing a perverted Gospel
Or even a completely false religion, a cult, do you realize that we live in a day at which a man who believes in Allah
Who is not God, though they will claim he is the same God of Abraham, it is not
You read who Allah is, it is not God
That a person who believes in Allah and follows Allah with a fanatic faith will strap on a bomb suit
And blow up a coffee shop just to kill 12 people so that they can go to heaven forever and get themselves 23 virgins
But Christians who believe in absolute certainty and know that they have been saved, born again
Will not inconvenience themselves or give beyond what they are financially able or sacrifice themselves
To do what it is that God would really have them do
The thought of giving up our job, meaning we might not be able to provide for our families, might not be able to provide for our food
So scares us in comparison to the thought of cults who would go, well I am going to strap on a vest and blow myself
Clearly they are not going to have a job the next day, they are not going to take care of their family the next day
And the reality is they are going to hell the next day, but they believe to lie and therefore are willing to so fanatically commit themselves
To the course of action that they will lose their life in doing so
Yet the true faith of Jesus Christ, the following of Christ when the Holy Spirit comes in
Regenerates you and seals you for the day of redemption so that you will one day spend eternity in heaven with God
Is not by and large in most cases seem to be leading people to a fanatic following of Jesus
Insanity or Christianity?
We are going to look at a sermon today entitled going over, going on, going in
And it is an episode in the lives of the disciples as they encounter the risen Christ who is after Jesus is alive
And I submit to you that there is a lot to be learned about the second coming of Christ from the first coming of Christ
So if you grab your Bibles if you would and turn with me to John chapter 21
Thank you so much, this is the word of God, doesn't matter whether I get it right or not
You listen to Jesus, you listen to the Holy Spirit, you learn and grow from this text
John chapter 21 beginning in verse 1
So again you already know, I have already set the context for you
This is an appearance of Jesus after his death, burial and resurrection
John 21 verse 1
After these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias
And he manifested himself in this way, meaning the way that he is about to describe
The sea of Tiberias is also known as the sea of Galilee
Essentially over there there is kind of like two big bodies of water
They divide, really they are the eastern border of the promised land
And east of that is not really the promised land
But there were God's people who settled over there because it was a very fertile land
And God allowed that to the tribes
And the men of those tribes were required to come across the Jordan and work and help everybody else get their land
They were allowed to settle and then they were allowed to settle on the other side of the river
That river which connects these two bodies of water, one of which is the sea of Galilee
And he manifested himself in this way, verse 2
There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee
And the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples
Simon Peter said to them all, I am going fishing
And they said to him, we will also come with you
They went out and they got in the boat and that night they caught nothing
And so here they are on the side of the sea of Galilee, boats available
They got no fish, no sustenance really per se
But they got skill, they can fish
Some of them have been fishermen their whole lives
Some of them not so much
But there are fishermen amongst them who have been fishermen their whole lives
They can fish
And so Simon Peter says, I am going fishing
And they say, alright, we will go with you
And they get in the boat and they go out on the sea of Galilee and they begin to fish
But all night long they fish
Now this is net fishing, you toss a big net, weighted net in the boat with a rope tied to it
And then as you pull on that rope it kind of closes the net a little and pulls it up out of the water
And the idea is it is supposed to have fish in it
And all night long they are rowing or partly sailing that little boat
Or not so little really, around the water, tossing the net
And it goes, wait for it to settle down, pull the ropes, haul it up
It is no small task to haul it up anyway even when it is empty
Which probably it was rarely totally empty, there was bits of stuff in it but never fish
All night long, let's go try over here
No fish, let's go try over here
No fish, all night long and it seems they are literally beating their heads
Against the brick wall of fishing
Now they have done this before, probably they have fished before without any great results
Don't know that for sure but it has probably happened
This might be bizarre that they would go all night long with no fish
That is probably peculiar
But in this case they go all night long throwing the net in, hauling the net out
Maybe more than one net and they catch nothing, verse 4
But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach
Yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus
So there they are in the water, it is the dim, the day is coming, the sun is coming up
There would be mist, fog if you will
Visibility would be somewhat limited
And when you first read this you think that might be why they don't recognize that it is Jesus
He is over on the shore
There isn't night light, there isn't necessarily a great big moon
Or low cloud canopy or anything like that, it is dark
But it is just starting to get brighter outside
And there stands a man on the shore
They didn't know that he was Jesus, verse 5
Jesus therefore said to them
Children, you did not have any fish, do you?
Now what is interesting in the original language is that this comment is just a little bit snarky
It comes with a little bit of attitude
It is more like, hey you have no fish do you?
You can think of it like a New Yorker kind of thing
You have no fish do you?
Now people have read a ton of stuff into that over the years
You could say, well what the heck were they doing fishing anyway?
They were told to be waiting for him to come
So that the Holy Spirit would come on them and they would go and spread the word to all the world
Why are they fishing anyway?
Why are they going back to what they used to do?
They are not supposed to be fishers of fish anymore, now fishers of man
There is a lot of things that one could say about it
But the bottom line is he says, you have no fish do you?
And they answered him, no
Which is a fact, what are they going to say?
No
And then verse 6 says, and he said to them
Cast the net on the right hand side of the boat
And you will find a catch
So they have already cast the net on the right hand side of the boat
That has already happened
They have done it a dozen times all night long
Probably more than one net maybe, we do not know for sure
Interestingly enough, if you have ever been out fishing
And I went fishing a number of times when I was younger
I kind of like fishing because I could spend time with people who I was with
But I kind of do not like fishing because
As far as I can see, fishing is sitting and waiting for your dinner to come
And it is the waiting part that kills me
I would almost rather eat a square fish on a cheesy bun for McDonald's
Than wait 3-4 hours for the first bite
But here is an experience that I have had on more than one occasion
My limited experience with fishing
I have been out fishing
And I have seen someone catching a lot of fish while I am catching none
And in my heart I said
Why are they catching a lot of fish when I am catching none?
A couple of times I even said
What bait are you using?
And they said, well it is a worm or it is a fly or so this or that
And I had one fisherman out on the pier, out on the lake
Actually give me one of the same exact flies that he was using
He said, here try this
One time I went out on the boat with my dad and my brother
And it was just the three of us
We had a little boat my dad had bought back in the day
Went out on the boat, we were out by the water treatment plant out on Lake Erie
And literally every time I put my hook on the water
Within about a minute I would get a fish
Every time, put it in the water
It didn't matter if it was down a few feet, down 5 feet, 10 feet
Put it in the water and within about a minute I would get a fish
I am like, oh there is another one, I will reel it in
And eventually I caught my quota
There is a certain amount of fish that you are allowed to catch
And we were going to try to honor that
But my dad had caught, guess what, zero fish
My dad is on the left side of the boat, we are on the right side of the boat
I caught a fish every one to three minutes
And my brother caught a fish about every five minutes
So pretty soon we caught 24 fish between the two of us
I think tomorrow was the amount you are allowed or something like that
And we were throwing back little fish and only trying to keep the biggest fish
Because we were technically not allowed to catch any more fish
And my dad is kind of mad and he goes over and he says, hey let me in there
And he shoves his way into that spot
And he puts his hook in the water and all three of us waited apprehensively
Until three minutes had passed
And then five
And then ten
And not a bite
And we are watching, my dad with his hook in the water
So for the first three minutes he is expecting
He is like, okay here we go, going to catch a fish
And then five minutes he is like, resigned
Ten minutes he was angry
And he said, you put your rod back in the water to my brother
So my brother puts his rod back in the water
Within like two minutes
Catches a fish
This is the thing about fishing
Sometimes it is there and sometimes it is not
You have to fish all night and not catch anything to know for sure it is not there
You know what I am saying?
But the fact is they knew they were fishing the water
They had fished these waters before
They had always caught fish before
So is the miracle that they caught no fish?
Is that the miracle?
The miracle is that they were brought to a moment in time
In which they had resigned and said, look we are not going to catch any fish
The night of fishing is coming to an end
We have done everything that we know to do
We have done it just the way we always did it
And we have caught no fish
And there is a nagging question about whether they should keep fishing
Whether they should try again
Whether they should march to the nearest town
And try to buy loaves of bread with a penny that is in their pocket
Whatever, they are at the moment of question
That nagging feeling that I have been abandoned
That all my efforts are for naught
And now it is time to either continue or not
And he says, cast the net on the right hand side of the boat
And you will find a catch
Now, again they have already done that
So you think as these fishermen are in the boat
That they have ever had a time in the past
Where somebody else was catching fish and they were not
And somebody else said, well try this
Sure, they have been there before
And most of the time it changed nothing
But here is a man, they don't know who he technically is
But they have got a feeling maybe that something is a little odd
They know that Jesus has been resurrected
They have seen him since he has been resurrected already
And they think, what the heck?
What do I got to lose?
And it says, they catch, they cast therefore
And then they were not able to haul it in
Because of the great number of fish
There were so many fish in the net
They couldn't get the net up into the boat
They started hauling it like, oh this is heavier
Must be more boots than this one
And they haul it up
And sure enough, there is a literal almost ton of fish
There is a ton of fish, hundreds of pounds of fish
Then seven says, that disciple therefore whom Jesus loved
And I have mentioned this to you before
That a lot of times in the book of John
When you hear that phrase, that disciple whom Jesus loved
You know that is usually talking, probably talking about John
They didn't normally name themselves and say like I said
It was very rare for that to happen
Especially if it was something positive
They almost never did that because it would be considered unhumble
And then people wouldn't read your writings
They would dismiss them
That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved
A pretty good title, except we know Jesus loved all the disciples
But just means that guy that was there said to Peter
It is the Lord
So he, in his ecstatic recognition, suddenly says
It is the Lord
That's why there are so many fish
When there were no fish, there are so many fish now
Because it is the Lord
And so when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord
He put his outer garment on for he was stripped for work
And it was common for them to have an outer garment like a robe
And then to strip that off and work in basically their undergarments
Which just would look like a cloth wrapped towel
Like a big man's diaper basically
And he was working in that as many of them probably were
And he put it on and then he kind of ties it up
Because otherwise it interferes with your leg swimsuit
He ties it around, it was typically tied up
And pulled the strap tight
And so now it looks like he's got a three times oversized under big man's diaper on
And he throws himself into the water
But the other disciples come in the little boat
For they were not far from the lance
He really wasn't that far
There really was no reason to go through all that rigmarole
And jump in the water and try to swim to shore
And get there and be the first, right?
Except if there's a reason why you might want to do that
The other disciples came in the little boat
For they were not far from the lance
But about 100 yards away
It's really not that far
Dragging the net full of fish
Here they come, they can't even get it in the boat
And Peter of course left them in that predicament
You're stuck, I'm not
Jumped out of the boat, swam to shore
And so when they got out upon the lance
They saw a charcoal fire already laid
It's just a coal fire that has been cooked down to being hot
Without having necessarily open flames
It's the best kind for cooking
And they saw fish already on it
And bread
And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish
Which you have now caught
So they were supposed to bring some of the fish from that net
Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land
Full of large fish
So then he goes and helps the other disciples
And they can't get out of the boat
Because that's a vertical straight up over the ledge of the boat
But they can drag it up along the shore
Up onto the beach
And they do, they find it full of large fish
It says 153 fish
That's what they counted
There's been a lot made out of that phrase
That there was 153 fish
You're like, first of all, why would they care?
Well of course you care
There's no fish all night long
And then suddenly there's a ton of fish
And we're like, someday someone's going to wonder how many fish
We're going to have to tell this tale someday
We better count or at least get a basic idea
And so somebody counted
And there were 153 large fish
Fishermen always tell how many they catch
Yeah, but usually they inflate the number
In this case they didn't have to
Okay
So in this case they didn't have to inflate the number
Because our salt was already large
And people, they're probably thinking
Well someday we're going to tell this tale
And we're going to
Everybody's going to think we're inflating the number
But we don't want to inflate the number
So we all need to know an exact number
And get our story straight if you will
But anyway they counted the fish
Also there's a study called gematria
That people have done
Gematria means when you take letters
And you use the numbers that they represent like code
But in the Greek language
All letters also represent numbers
So aoda, which is the first letter
Represents a number 1
And there are 24 numbers
So it goes up to 24
Or 24 letters goes up to 24
And so people have tried to figure out
What might the 153 fish represent
And they found out that a number of key phrases
An example might be
Cana of G for Galilee
Cana of G which was where?
Where Jesus completed his first ever miracle
Which was what?
Shut your minds
Turn the water into wine at the wedding feast
So people said well did you know
That the gematria value of cana of G is 153
So that was his first miracle
And this was essentially the close in the backside miracle
Of that miracle
People found out that you can make the feeding of the 5000
Using certain phrases
Certain Greek words
You can make the feeding of the 5000
Equal to 153
But in order to do it you have to misspell one word
So they said well if it was 157 it would be exact
So they said well the original scribe
Or maybe they miscounted the fish
Where it was actually 157
And this is just like the feeding of the 5000
So bottom line is people have studied the 153
I'm going to say to you that the number 153
May have some symbolic significance
But I don't frankly care
What I care about is what my Jesus is doing in this story
What am I supposed to learn about the circumstances here
And what am I supposed to do about it
That's what I really care about
I mean I want to know anything that God wants me to know
But what I really want to know is God who am I in you
What am I supposed to do and so on
So he says bring some of the fish
He goes to this net full of large fish
153 of them
And although there were so many
The net was not torn
Now there is another story over in the book of Luke
Where they had fished
And he cast the net in
They got so many fish
This is a similar instance
Which might also be why
John, if it was John, recognized Jesus
Because John was present at that instance
He said cast the net in
But they hauled the nets out
And the nets were breaking
There were so many fish
But here despite the fact that there were 153 fish
And to draw similarities to the other instance
This net was not torn
A little further
Jesus said to them come and have breakfast
Now he is already cooking
But probably not enough for everybody necessarily
And they cooked some more
And he has got something for them to eat
Some bread and fish for them to eat
While they are waiting for the others to be cooked
None of the disciples ventured to question him
Who are you Lord?
Knowing that it was the Lord
Now it is interesting that they make that mention isn't it?
Remember that when he appeared to them in the room
The upper room
They had a hard time believing it was him
Even though they were seeing him with their own eyes
Because of the joy that they were experiencing
The more joy you have in Christ
At what God is doing in you
The more difficult it is sometimes to truly believe
It is like you have to divorce yourself of all reason
You have to move away from the logic
And the step by step deduction
That you have got to get where you are at
And instead go well I just believe because it is true
They kind of had a nagging question
Who are you inside them?
But they were dismissing that question
Despite the fact that it was there nagging at them
They were dismissing it because they knew
They knew it says that he was Jesus
Verse 13
Jesus came and took the bread
And gave them and the fish likewise
And then it says in 14
This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested
To the disciples after he was raised from the dead
Now that is a reference by John to the three stories
That was the three that he has shared
And he is not including the women
But it is not the third actual chronological time necessarily
It is the third time that John has recorded
Alright so out of this text and these 14 verses here
I think there is a few kind of like almost poetic aspects of it
So the first thing I want you to see is that
They had to make the choice to going over
So they are in the boat thinking about coming to shore
They are about 100 yards out
And he says cast the net on the right side of the boat
And you will pull up a great harvest of fish
So they had to make the choice to do that
Having received useless advice to spectators over the years
And even other fishermen who did not know any better than they did
How to throw a net in the water and haul up fish
Over the years having received tons and tons of useless advice
Having worked all through the night tirelessly
Or really let's just say very tiredly probably all through the night
Stripped to their man diapers
Haulin in the nets all night long
And the sun starts to come up
And every hour of the night that passed
And every toss of the net that was drawn back
They were in disbelief
They could not believe it
They were like how are we not catching any fish
Can this still be true
I've done this my whole life
My daddy taught me to do this when I was just a little boy
I've always put my trust in this skill
And now this skill is failing me
My strength is failing me
My intellect is failing me
My experience is failing me
My training is failing me
It's all coming to naught in this moment
And I cannot believe that now here comes this stranger telling me
That all I have to do to be successful is what I have already done
That's it
All you have to do to be successful says the stranger on the shore
Is just cast the net again
And he doesn't say that you might get a fish
He says that you will get a harvest of fish
A haul of fish
You will get a net full of fish
So I'm not saying if now you're in the area where fish are
And if you cast the net in you'll get a few fish
And you can cast it in a few more times
And you're going to cast and haul and cast and haul
And haul up 40, 50 fish to sell at market today
So you all can have money for the next few days
That's not what he's saying
He said cast the net one more time
Do it one more time
Go over to the other side of the boat
Which is no different from this side of the boat
And cast the net one more time
And you'll get a haul of fish
They had to listen and know whether or not to accept this advice
That was a choice they had to make
There are many voices in the world
It happens that there are many people telling us how to do
What we have already been doing
I'm a member of a pastor group on Facebook
That's only open to SBC pastors
At least supposedly because there's some folks in there
That comment even will say I'm not really technically an SBC pastor
But nobody's kicked them out of the group or that kind of thing
But anyway they'll say this is what our church is doing
And we're having this huge revival
And you get down the list of things they're doing
Guess what they're doing
They're preaching the word like it's written
They're doing Bible study
They're sharing and giving and caring about each other
Basically developing compassion amongst members
They're going out in the community, spreading the word, inviting people to come to church
You're going to get down that list and you're going to find absolutely zero, nothing, nada, not a thing that we're not doing
Ironically what you will find is that they're not doing a lot of things that we are doing
And the things that we are doing are similar things to the kind of things they're doing
Like community sharing, outreach, that kind of thing
Well we do it and we maybe even do it more actively or more creatively or more aggressively than they do
And yet at times, like well I'm just going to be transparent
There's never been a time, never been a time where our numbers swole from 50 to 250 in a month or in three months
But they'll get on the group and they'll say well this is what we're doing and it's working
Just do this
Like the fisherman who says, you go to the fisherman and say well what kind of fly bait are you using there
Well I've got this, well that's the exact same kind I have
What kind of rod do you got, same kind of rod I got
Same kind of reel you got, same kind of reel you got
I'm like literally three feet away from you in the water
And you've caught seven fish in the last hour and I've caught none
And it begins to not make any sense
Why would you keep putting your rod in the water
Why would you keep doing the same things that you need to do
And Jesus says, just do this and it'll work
And you look at him and you go, well that is the thing that we're doing
That is exactly what we're doing
But they had to have the will and the desire to go over to the right side of the boat
I did that backwards, it should be go over to the right side of the boat
Or your right side is over here, right
Go over to the right side of the boat and throw the net in
They had the will to do it again
The very same thing that they already knew would work, should work, but didn't
And all the voices that are in the world are trying to tell you that there is another way, a better way
Something different, short circuit it, pervert it a little bit, strain it, change it, make it different
I am doing nothing different today than I have done for the last 15 years
I've studied the Word and I'm bringing to you what I feel like the Holy Spirit has convicted me to share
It is the third sermon that I wrote this week in preparation for today
And the other two are now sitting out
In two weeks I've written three sermons that I've not preached
Because I wrote them and the Lord says I want you to see this
And then He says now go write the sermon for Sunday
And so here I am preaching to you what the Lord God shared with me
It's written on this piece of paper
I'm not doing anything different than I've been doing for over a decade
Yet to me this Word spoke to me so powerfully that it is in a way different
Are you willing to go over to the other side of the boat and do again today what it is that Jesus has called you to do
But I don't have enough friends, I don't have enough money, my health is not quite right
I'm struggling with my relationships, if I say the right thing they'll do what I want them to do
And if I don't say the right thing they won't do, I've got to manipulate them or otherwise
I've got to be angry and upset in order to get people to listen to me
None of that is true, if you warp it, if you change it, if you twist it, if you've already warped it, changed it or twisted it
Then you're not even talking about doing the same thing you've been doing, you need to repent and begin to do the right things
But if you haven't done that and now you're contemplating it, you're tempted
You say, well I can walk away from that which God has called me to do and do this
About 12 years ago I realized that I was frustrated with what I was doing
First we thought the Lord was going to move us out of state
And then the Lord said, no you're going to stay and do what you're doing
And I'm like, okay, we're going to do what we're doing, that's fine, we're just going to do what we're doing
And I was frustrated, I was like, man, God, this is, you know, this is like beating my head against a brick wall of preaching and teaching and serving and being in the church
And it's not moving, it's not taking off
But I hear about people who, they had their launch Sunday, which we didn't use the launch model
They had a launch Sunday, they had 300 people come and then in six months they have 150 come, but those 150 stick
We've never had 150 people and all these passion online, what are they doing?
They're nothing but preaching the word, teaching, serving, all the same things
I'm like, Lord, it just doesn't seem to, and this is what I said to myself
I said, self, you can go somewhere else, you can teach Sunday school, you can preach pulpit supply
You know you will never stop preaching and teaching the word because that's what you're called to
But maybe you just don't have to do it here, maybe you just don't have to be the pastor for New Heights
Maybe they're pushing for something and you're yielding your will and your desire to these people rather than to God
So you can just walk away from doing what you're doing and go over here instead
And then whatever church you wind up in, you're going to be teaching or preaching the gospel
So that's your calling is to teach and preach the gospel
You're not going to miss out on that, you're not going to abandon God
You're just going to do it in a different way than what God told you to do it
And the sound of silence
And as you can see, I didn't do it
I almost did it, I debated with myself, asked my wife, I talked to her about it
In fact we've had that conversation a couple of times
I want to say to you that there is nothing more exhausting for me personally, and I'm being transparent
Than to preach the word of God the way it's written and see people not living it by my estimation
And I always have to curb myself and I understand that's my flesh
I understand that can be sinful if you're judging whether people are doing it or not, whatever
I understand it's a very dangerous road
But for me to preach the gospel the way it's written and see people not living it out the way it's written
Even in a body of 40, 50, 60 people, that is exhausting
You say I get it because I'm doing what it is I think I'm supposed to do it
And I'm looking at other Christians and I don't think they're doing what they're supposed to be doing
And it's exhausting for me to continue doing what I think I'm supposed to be doing in the Lord
When I see other people who aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing
Just look at the world for a minute
It's exhausting to live the way we have been called to live, to do the thing that we've been called to do
While we live amongst people who are prospering for their wickedness
Young 17 year old millionaires who are on TikTok flirting with their skin flashing
And now they're millionaires
All because they were willing to show more than they ever should have been showing in the first place
And because there's freakish people who are willing to watch them over and over and over again
Just do seven second dances enough that they can get advertisement
And now they're making a million dollars a year or whatever
Because they're willing to walk a road of wickedness
And before you say well that couldn't be me anyway because ain't nobody attractive in this room that could do that
We have girls in this room who are going to be tempted to do that, you're going to be tempted to do that
Because wickedness is prospering them, they're getting ahead
Start up businesses, side incomes
Leaving behind my job for another job that will pay more
And we as Christians we're asked to switch our course, go over and do the very same things that we were already doing
And if you can honestly say I'm not really studying my Bible then you're asked to study your Bible because that's what you were commanded to do in the first place
And you say I'm not really telling anybody about Jesus, we are asked to go over and tell people about Jesus
But nobody's going to get saved, you don't get to decide that
You're called to go over and do the things that you were already called by God, by Jesus to do and to do them again today
Will it sometime look like insanity? Yes it very well might sometime look like insanity
In fact to the reasoning world, to those who are applying their estimation of what you should be doing
Most of them are probably looking at you going what are you nuts?
You give 13% of your income into the church service, you do that every paycheck, you give 13% or 15 or 18 or 10 even
You could give 5 they still think you're crazy, you do that consistently
What are you getting for that? What is your advantage for that? How are you getting ahead?
Do you have more money in your checking account? No
I don't have more money in my checking account because I do that
But probably you actually do but it's not that the world would see it or that you could see it mathematically
It requires faith and then you exercise your faith and you do the things that you do like RJ said earlier today
Without faith our works are dead, if you're doing the things that God would call you if you've already gone over
Then you're not going to have any benefit for the kingdom, any benefit for God, any benefit for you spiritually
But if you're doing them because it's what God wants you to do
It's because you believe in the Lord, you trust in the Lord, you're waiting on the Lord
If you're going over again, you know I wonder, I wonder what would have happened if he had said go over to the right side of the boat
Put the net in and you'll get a haul of fish and they'd have put it in and now I got any fish
And then a minute later if he'd have said now go to the left side and put it in and you'll get fish
Would they have had the strength? Would they have had the endurance?
Could they have stayed the course and I'm getting ahead of myself?
Would they have done it again?
I submit to you I believe they would have done it again
And they'd have put it on the left and got no fish and then the right and got no fish and the left and got no fish
And the right and got no fish and they'd have went until sundown
If they knew it was Jesus telling them they'd have went until sundown left and right and left and right
And finally hauled in that giant load of fish
Because they knew it was Jesus and he was asking them to go over and do it again
You're like well I used to study my Bible a lot, go over and do it again
I used to pray a lot, go over and do it again
The very same things that God said would provide fruit almost 2000 years ago
Wait a minute it was before Jesus was ever born
So 5000 years ago the very same things that God said would provide fruit will provide fruit today
If you want to be with the Lord, taken care of by the Lord, if you want to abide in the Lord and He and you
You will go over and do the very same things that God called you to do before
Secondly they had to go on and as I said I got a little ahead of myself
They had to continue, they were pressed to continue after they were already tired
And had done so much of what they thought they were supposed to be doing
They had to go on, you've got to go on, my goodness Jesus talks about going on
So many texts about going on
Turn with me if you will to Matthew chapter 25
Is it 25 or 24?
I'll let you know in one second
You can head that way
It is 24, there we go
Matthew 24 verse 6 I'll start in
No particular reason, this is the discourse of Jesus
And Jesus is speaking and He says
And you will be hearing of wars and rumour of wars
See that you are not frightened for those things must take place
But that is not yet the end
For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom
And in various places there will be famines, that means going without food
And earthquakes, you know what that is
But all of these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs
Then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you
And you will be hated by all nations on account of My name
That's pretty rough stuff right there
That the disciples of Jesus which would include us will be killed
And hated by all nations on account of Jesus' name
And at that time many will fall away
And will deliver up one another and hate one another
And many false prophets will arise and they will mislead many
And because lawlessness is increased
Most people's love will grow cold
Wait for it right here
But the one who endures to the end he shall be saved
There will be one more verse and it says
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world
For a witness to all the nations and then the end shall come
I get it, there is every kind of fear and rumour of fear
There is every kind of reason to surrender, to give up
There is every kind of reason to be distracted
We are right now in our house in a raging debate praying
It's not really a debate, it's more like just how to get it done
At this point a programming session, a thinking, plotting session
How are we going to get it done?
To get rid of some of the influences of Satan
Of the evil spirits of the world system that have infiltrated our house
And it's like, oh you got your stuff all together pastor
You got no problems like that, oh yes I do, we all do
And you should be thinking about what hooks does Satan and the world system have in your home
You want your home to be a place of peace, a place where you can serve God and continue on to the end
Ask yourself, what have you allowed to influence you?
What voices are telling you that you can stray slightly off course until everything will be okay?
Grace was not designed to cover your stupidity
Grace was designed to cover your sin
God is no fool, you shall reap what you sow
They had to go on, they had to go on after they were tired
They had to go on after their minds would say the effort is spent, it's over, it's done
They had to go on, and you could be there
If you are not there today you will be there sometime in your Christian walk
If you have been there before and you went on after that then you know what today is like
You say well I've been there before and I'm there again today, then you already know what to do
You go on, you do again what you were already told to do in the first place
It might not be a bad idea to question yourself to find out as you feel like you're so tired and fatigued
And you feel like you're so wore out, you feel like you can't go on
Ask yourself, are you even doing the things that you're supposed to be doing
Or have those things been pushed aside by the things that you want to do or the world has led you to do
Or the strange teachings and instructions of the enemy have brought you to do
Are you truly doing that which it is that God would have you to do
We have workers, we have people who work, we have sharers, we have servers, we have compassionate people in our church
And they are going about doing the things that they feel like they are supposed to do
I submit to you it is entirely possible that you will begin to do things that you think are for the Lord
And can prosper the kingdom that were never yours to do in the first place
And you might check yourself and go I'm running out of steam, I'm at the end of my rope
I've gotten next to nothing, I don't know how to keep this
It's become insanity not Christianity
And when it's become insanity not Christianity, you give up, give out, give in and quit
You say all those times you said I would never quit on Jesus
All those times you said I will always stick with Jesus and do the things that Jesus would have me to do
When you get to the moment in time where he's asking you to go on
It just could be that you already left him
That you already walked away and began to do things, good things that you like and enjoy
And that have filled your life and you may have to go no I said I would never allow those things
Those good things to press out the good things that Jesus commanded
And Jesus is saying to you read your Bible and pray and serve and give and love the other believers
I mean show up for them face to face, talk to them, compassionate, lift them up, encourage them
Work with them, bear their burdens as they bear yours
Blend your life together with the community of God, those are the commands of Jesus
They're not suggestions, it's not one way you can live for Jesus
It's the only way you can live for Jesus
And you got to the point where there were other things, important things, good things
Maybe even somewhat godly things and those things began to press out the basics
And now someone would walk right up to you and they would say what must I do to be saved?
And you would go well come to church with me on Sunday
You got to ask that question, you really need to talk to my pastor because he knows the answer to that question
Or you'd give over those responsibilities over to somebody like Tony Tate who has his own issues
Probably I think he would willingly say more than most and yet you'd go but he's fine
He can trust the gospel of God, the soul of that person over to him because he's willing to speak up
Messed up as he is he can speak up
I'm not so messed up but I'm not willing to speak up
Are you hearing the logic that we're following as we're not going on doing what it is that Jesus would have us to do?
Where does it come from?
It's older than you are
It's older than any of us in this room
It's older than all of us in this room combined
Because it was present in the Garden of Eden
All Adam had to do
All Adam and Eve had to do was just go on attending the Garden of Eden
But see day in or out or whatever they attended the Garden thinking you know what's this really getting us?
You know we're going to get all these kids and be healthy, safe
Another day walk with God and coolness the Garden I do enjoy that time we have with him
But now here's something
This fruit is good like all the other fruits
But now I see it may also be beneficial for wisdom
Well God never said we're going to eat of the fruit
He only just said we could tend the fruit
Well of course we want to be like God
Everybody should want to be like God, God's a good guy
So we just eat of the fruit
Fear of the Lord? No
God is too good, He wouldn't destroy us for that
No fear
And it goes back to the beginning and it's been with man ever since
And we do the same things instead of going on doing what it is we should have been doing
Or going over and doing it in a slightly different way
But it's the thing that God wants us to do the way he wants us to do it
We allow our thought processes, our choices to be invaded by the teachings of the enemy
If you're following along in your Bible turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians chapter 3
It's in the T's
2 Thessalonians chapter 3
I'll begin reading in verse 10 so you get there
2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10 it says this
It says, For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order
If anyone will not work, neither let him eat
In other words, there is a basic process by which you're supposed to live
You need to be doing what you're supposed to be doing
If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, then you can reap the rewards for that
And it's as simple as if you won't work you shouldn't eat
But he's saying that because in verse 11 he says for because
We hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life
In other words, you're not being intentional about doing the things you're supposed to do
Doing no work at all
But acting like busybodies
You've always got something to say about everything
But you're not doing anything about anything that really matters
Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ
To work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread
In other words, you do your work, earn your keep, and take care of yourself
13, but as for you brethren, do not grow weary of doing good
See, it doesn't matter whether or not those people who were being busybodies
Those people who were stirring up trouble and not actually doing what they're supposed to be doing
It doesn't matter whether they were going to start doing what they're supposed to be doing
Or they're going to start working and earning their keep
Or they're going to haul their load or not
He says, but as for you, you don't grow weary in doing good
Now that's assuming you're doing good
Don't grow weary in doing good
Verse 14, it says, and if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter
Take special note of that man and do not associate with him so that he may be put to shame
And yet, do not regard him as an enemy
So even if they will not take our direction
Even if they will not start to do the things they're supposed to do
Don't regard him as an enemy
But admonish him, that means correct him, encouraging him as a brother
You got a problem with somebody in the church that ain't know what they're supposed to be doing?
Then you go to them and correct them and admonish them and encourage them as a brother or a sister
If you've ever been corrected or admonished as a brother or sister
You need to realize that the person who corrected you is probably the person in this world who loves you the most
This whole concept of if they leave me alone, they love me and let me do what I want, then they love me
That isn't true
The person who won't correct you doesn't love you at all
Or at least they're too busy doing something else to love you right now
But the person who would come to you and correct you and encourage you and admonish you and set you on the right course loves you so much
Zoe will throw a fit because she's not allowed to play with something she's not allowed to play with
But I submit to you that she never doubts for one second
The great emotion that exists between her and her mother
When her mother's picking her up and carrying her away from what she so desires to play with
You need to understand that the person who corrects you probably loves you more than anybody else
But even if your correction is not heard
Even if your correction is lost on deaf ears
You are not to grow weary
You are supposed to be continuing to do the basic things that you were given to do
Those we talk about calling spiritual disciplines
We talk about exercising our spiritual gifts
We talk about being the church, loving one another
We're supposed to be doing that which we are called to do
You say it looks like insanity, not Christianity
It's because you have allowed the reason of the world to creep into your thought processes
Will the son of man find faithfulness on the earth?
It is largely going to be determined by the fact whether or not we have faith
If we have faith we will be full of niss
When somebody else comes and tries to give you another niss
You'll say that's not my niss, I just want my faithfulness
And then third, so first of all it was about going over
Secondly about going on, and then third they had to go in
They had to go in
I love how they went in, don't you?
I mean Peter girds himself up in his giant man diaper
Robe thing that he tied all around his waist
And got it up in between his legs so he could swim
And jumps off the boat and swims a hundred yards
And his clothes soaking wet and heavy
Surely without his sandals to get to Jesus
And then the one who sat at the dinner the night before Jesus' crucifixion
He said, Lord, I go with you, I'm with you
I will not abandon you no matter what even if I will be crucified
Even if I will be destroyed
And Jesus said, no actually you'll deny me three times before it's through
The one whom Jesus loved, the one whom Jesus laid back on at that same dinner
He thought, fish, he's fishing, fishing in the boat
No fish, all night long fishing in the boat
Stranger on the shore, Jesus is resurrected
A plus B plus C equals, oh it's the Lord
And Peter's like, alright I'm out of here
Are you following Jesus? Are you following somebody's idea of Jesus?
Do you not understand that Jesus the Christ was God the Son?
He was God in the flesh, nothing was created except that which was created through Him
He was the living Word, while there is the spoken Word and the written Word
He was the living Word, Jesus
Don't run to your pastor or your church, run to your Jesus the next time you're hurting
You've got to go in, you've got to
There's going to come a time when going into Jesus is all that's left
And if you're not willing to go into Jesus now, you may not be willing to go into Jesus then
And that would be a pretty scary situation, wouldn't it?
If the only road left to you that's healthy and hopeful, that gives you anything
Is responding to Jesus' call, when He calls, you better be in the habit of it
That's a muscle you had better train
And to do that you're going to have to get out of your head some other ideas, some other controversial things
Think, well, I could just do this for a while and then come back to Jesus
Oh my gosh, the world is such a crazy place, how can we keep just going on like it's the same as it was yesterday? It's not
How can we still meet for worship on 11.30 on Sunday mornings when we know that there might be people who walk in our building and try to blow some people away?
How can we still meet for worship and praise when the war over political ideologies is so rampant in America?
How can we keep our eyes focused on what Jesus taught when there are so many things that we need to know and learn about what's going on in the world
In the political arena and what might be dangerous to us?
Do you understand that in the Ukraine right now in the middle of war, churches to this day, to this Sunday right here
With bombs going off and whatever have continued to meet for worship and prayer and actually extended their worship times more
The churches that the buildings have been blown up and are gone, they're meeting in subway stations and underground basements
And wherever they can find it, they're cramming people in as much as they can and their numbers have grown
Do we need a war in the United States of America to reach people for Jesus or are we just going to do it because it's what he told us to do?
We're worshiping still, we're talking about, can we worship when we're in COVID and praise God we did
But a lot of folks did, a lot of churches gave it up, they didn't go on, they didn't continue to go in
They decided not to go over and do it again
Some of them even decided not to worship God and meet because they were afraid that that would be a bad witness to people they were trying to reach
Serving Jesus unfailingly, serving Jesus without stopping is never going to be a bad witness
It's always going to be just exactly what you were supposed to do in the first place
Matthew 24 beginning in verse 29, we were here before, we're back again
And then we're in the conclusion, Matthew 24 beginning in verse 29
It says this about the second coming of Jesus, Matthew 24 verse 29
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light
And the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of heavens will be shaken
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn
And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory
Don't miss the fact that all the tribes of the earth will mourn when they see the signs of the coming of Jesus
I suppose we had better not be in that number mourning when they see the signs
And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory
And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds
That is to say those whom God has chosen for himself, the ones that God chose
And whether or not you respond to the gospel as the primary qualifier
He will gather together the elect from the four winds from one end of the earth to the other
Now skip down to verse 35
He says, Heaven and earth will pass away, that means every single thing you could possibly ever experience while you are alive will pass away
But my words shall not pass away
But of that day and hour no one knows, no one knows exactly when it's going to happen
Not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone
For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah
Wait for it
For as in those days which were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, were marrying and giving in marriage
Until the day that Noah entered the ark
And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away
So shall the coming of the Son of Man be
We'll go a little further in a second, just two more verses
I want you to understand that because it sometimes looks like insanity
The world will decide not to go over and do it again
Because it sometimes looks like insanity, the world will decide not to go on and persevere and not grow weary and doing good
Because it sometimes looks like insanity, when everything starts to fall apart and it will
The world will find all kinds of systems and other methods to stick close to what they appreciate
Their money, their time, their talents, their sex, their drugs, their rock and roll, their alcohol, whatever
Whatever they appreciate
Many of those things are not bad things by the way
But the bottom line is they'll put that first before God in that moment
That'll be their sustenance
When the horn sounds to announce the coming of Jesus and people are mourning all the world over
Someone will crank their music
When the horn sounds to announce the coming of Jesus and all the world over
Someone will snort a little bit of coke to feel better about that instant
When the horn sounds, Jesus is coming and all the world over mourns at his approach
Someone will punch a time clock
When the horn sounds to announce the coming of Jesus and all the world over and his approach is obvious
Someone will grab the TV remote
Someone will pull their children to them for one last hug
Someone will look longingly at their wife or their husband
Someone will stop to sniff a rose going, yeah, I always knew I should have done that
Never did it for 50 years and they'll stop and just get one sniff in before they go to hell
They don't understand
They don't understand implies that there are those who do understand
You know who did understand?
Noah and his family
In the ark
Having wait for it
Built an ark
And allowed the animals to come and fill it and store up the feed and everything else
On dry ground
On a planet
On which a drop of rain had never fallen
That's not fishing all night and getting no fish
That's fishing for months and getting no fish
And yet he built the ark
And then the rain began
And God himself shut the door
And it'll be like that in the day when Jesus comes again
Don't let it be like that in the day when Jesus comes again for you
Choose to be like Noah and build the ark
Choose to be like his family and trust my words
Choose to be like God's people and follow God
And do what it is that God would have us to do
Going over again to do what we were supposed to do in the first place
Going on to continue doing the things that we're supposed to be doing
Despite all that's falling apart around us
Going into Jesus over and over again
And every time he beckons and every time he calls
Every time he makes himself available
Which is basically all day every day
Abiding in the Lord
Verse 40 says this
He says, Then there shall be two men in the field
One will be taken and one will be left
Two women will be grinding at the mill
And one will be taken and one will be left
There is a dividing line in the sand
And it has nothing to do with what you're doing on a day by day basis
It has to do with if you will respond affirmatively
When your commander in chief
When the Lord of the universe
When the creator of all things
For the purchaser of your soul
The one who brought you back from the dead
When he calls, will you come?
And these things, all of this
That's around us including all those idiots
That try to tell you you've got to be one thing or another
All of that was given for us to enjoy
And we laugh
And we enjoy
But we do so all the while going when Jesus calls
I will be ready
And you do that by going over
And doing what you were supposed to do in the first place
By going on doing what you know to be right in the Lord
And by going in daily when he calls
It may look like insanity
For those who don't know Jesus
But if you were dead in your trespasses and sins
And you he hath quickened, you he hath made alive
By grace, through faith
Then you know
He's nobody to be trifled with
The scripture says that some
Having believed in the Lord
Return to their wicked ways
Hebrew says that how will God treat those who knew?
And then trampled the Son of God again
And it is a fearful thing
To fall into the hands of the living God
Ours is a relationship with the living Christ
Because he is alive
Because he died for you, you now live for him who died for you
Because you are alive in Christ
All old things have passed away
And everything has become made new
And you can partake in lots of things that go on in the world
But none of them can ever be important
He said, what about my kids?
What about my family members? What about my loved ones?
None of them can ever be important compared to Jesus
Elsewise, if I am in my house one day
Dodging my little Roomba vacuum cleaner
And Jesus calls
And Ariana calls at the same time
Which call will I answer?
Be careful
It's so easy to fall in love
With the things of this life
But we are asked to go over again
And do the things that he has called us to
To go on doing what we are supposed to do
To go in to him
To recognize him
To want to be the first
Not because we despise anyone else
But because this I know
I belong with him
To the point that I will wrap up my man diaper
And jump in the water and swim a hundred yards
To get to be with Jesus
In the Old Testament there is a story in the book of Ezra
The Israelites have come home
Some of them
It's estimated that less than 20% of the people who were carried off in captivity
Ever came back into the land
One of those two times was led by a man named Ezra
He was basically a priest
And they were going to re-institute under Cyrus
He gave them permission and offered resources
To go back and re-institute temple worship in Jerusalem
So they come back and they settle in the land around Jerusalem
There is no walls to Jerusalem
The city is unprotected
So it's regularly abused
There is no temple anymore
The land is there
But everything is in ruin
And they say well we know why we are here
But they settle down and they are starting to get ready
They are building their houses
They have tents, taverns, whatever they need to be ready to live
So that they can start building
And then they look out and they see all around them in the land are all these enemies
Enemies that have been
I don't use this term lightly but it's a reality
But enemies that have been raping Jerusalem on a regular basis
And all are looking at them and they are like ah what is this all about?
And they look out at those enemies and they realize ok now we are in danger
We are in danger of quitting
We are in danger of our mission failing
We are in danger of not having enough
We are in danger of being eliminated
They could come in here and they could kill us
We are in danger of failing in our mission
Cyrus gave us the resources and the manpower and sent us out here and let us go back to our home
But we are in danger of not doing what God wants us to do
And they have to make a decision
A battle plan
They have to decide what to do as they are sitting in a city, Jerusalem
With no defenses
Very limited weaponry, no walls, no siege engines
No trenches to keep the enemy at bay
No picket fences
And they look out and the enemies surrounding them
All these different peoples that have been storming Jerusalem for decades
Over half a century
And they are like what do we do?
And so you know what they did?
They built the temple
They did what God sent them to do
They turned their back on their enemies
And they built the temple
They collected the supplies
They focused their building at first on the sacrificial area
And the truth is the building got stopped before the foundation was ever laid
But the sacrificial area
They built it and they began sacrificing to God
When you go in
You will find the strength to go over and go on
When you go in, God will purify that in you that is right now corrupted
When you go in, God will show up and make happen what he said he was going to do through you
If you won't go in, you will eventually quit going over, quit going on
You will back down off of some of the things you know the Lord would have you do
And I submit to you, you will be in severe danger of not answering that call when the time comes
And he who doesn't answer the call never really got saved in the first place
Go over, go on, and go in
The next time you are faced with a real problem, start in your Bible, start in prayer, start in worship
Turn your music up, but not because you just love loud music, but because you are praising God
And if you go in, you will go over
And if you go over, you will go on
I mean seriously, once you have hauled up one net load of fish, 153 fish
Once one time, you have seen God do amazingly in your life
And I hope you have already seen it, but once you have done that, why would you ever back down?
If God is the only one that can do that, why would you ever back down?
The next time you are faced with an enemy, a trial, or a difficulty
Go into Jesus and get the strength to go over, maybe do it a little differently, but do the things you are supposed to do
And to go on doing what it was you were supposed to be doing from the beginning
If you are waiting for me to give you a rocket science recipe on how to be a great person, how to become more intellectual, how to make yourself more beautiful and more healthy
It ain't going to happen
I am not that kind of preacher, I preach the word of God, and God calls us into him
Go into Jesus
If you are here today and you have never seen God do that kind of miracle in your life
You have never seen God transform somebody's soul, somebody's heart
Then you need to admit it, admit that you are separated from God
You need to believe that he will save you and commit your life to following him today
And get saved for the first time
If you are here today and you have been saved, but you have been unwilling to go over and do it
Do that one thing that God is really calling you to do
Because you say, well this other stuff isn't working so well, so why would that work any better?
Or you have been unwilling to go on because you have been doing it over and over again
You feel like you are doing it, you feel like you are faithful, but you have discovered in yourself a lack of endurance
And you are ready to quit
Go into Jesus and let him give you the strength to continue and persevere in what it is that he called you to
I ask the praise team to come forward at this time
And lead us in a hymn of really kind of like closing our services, but also in the name of the invitation
If you happen to be here today and you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
This is the opportunity to make that public decision to do that
And if you are here today and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
But you realize you have not been going on doing the things that he would have you to do
Or you have been going on doing those things but distracted, unwilling to do them in the way
And he is now calling you to do it and you commit your life to him and you follow him and you do what he would have you to do
But it isn't about me, I am not imploring you for my sake
I have already wrestled with this and I am already looking at places where I am not going over
And other things that I was supposed to do
And I am already looking at things that maybe I am not going on to do
And I am repenting in my own life
I am asking you to do the same for your sake and for Jesus sake
As we sing this song, would you stand with us and sing
And if you are responding in some way and you don't have to sing
Just come and share with us what is on your heart today
How God has called you to go over or to go on or to go in
Just as I am without one thing
But that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thy blood has come to me
And the blood of God I come
As we sing this next verse, you sing along with me, that's great
But if the Lord is putting something in your house
Think about what you are spending most of your time and your effort on
What you are doing, it could be your job, it could be your finances
It could be your health, whatever you think about that
How would I do that thing, that thing that I am doing
It's a good thing, but how would I do that
Jesus' way, specifically His way
If Jesus were in my skin, how would Jesus do it
Think about that for a moment, that's not how you are doing it
That I am asking you to stand with me and say I am going to do it
The way Jesus would do it, that's going over
Think about that for a moment, by the last time you are tired
Or frustrated about what you were doing before
Or what you are doing in general
And you are thinking about quitting
If it's something you weren't doing it for Jesus, then quit
You are like what? Remember I just said you can do your job for Jesus
If I tell you to quit your job, I am telling you to do your job for Jesus
If you are not doing it for Jesus, then quit