Thank you for choosing this podcast. Bye. Bye.
Good morning. How are you? Thank you. Okay, I
don't have a bulletin. So, um, Miss Jamie. Will
you remind us of our announcement? If you are
a volunteer willing to deliver along on day products
for the pantry before bus bed, please seek your
job. This would be an on -call opportunity. Let
me know when you are available. Please make sure
to fill out your questionnaire if you are a member
and return to Pastor Van. Please register for
Bless Every Home to pray for people in your neighborhood.
and the church. Pastor Dan can send you the registration
link. There are also paper slips in the back
of the sanctuary for the instructions. Okay.
Weren't you able to hear the sermon and listen
to it on the podcast? Okay, that's good. It's
all good. There's a link to the podcast. Thank
you, Dan. All right. And speaking of Bless Every
Call... Who we will be praying for today includes
Juanita Henley, Tina Parker, Linda and Jackie
Osborne, Ronnie Lynch, and Jaina Collins. All
of you. On Kelsey Avenue. Almost to the end of
Kelsey. Get there. We'll get them on there. All
right. And Alicia, as you're welcome back, will
you open us up in prayer? Yes. Real quick, after
service today, and I know the pantry will be
going on, so we'll try to be helpful with that
also, but I'm having a team meeting to go over
the missions calendar for the year. I have multiple
mission ideas. We just need to place them out
in the calendar so we can start planning for
those. Anyone, even if you're not on my team,
because my team consists of my sister and my
husband, please stay if you would like to help
plan the missions for the year. Okay. Dear Heavenly
Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you
for bringing us here from our lives. All of us
have lives at home that we live out to the best
of our ability, Lord, and I hope we do that for
you and we come together collectively to worship
you and to learn from you. I'd like to pray for
our neighbors today, the ones that are in our
area close by. We hope that they know you, that
they have the opportunity to do that. We'd love
to invite them to come and join us if we have
done that. Reach out to them. Lord, fill our
neighbors with the desire to experience your
goodness as they take refuge in you. Taste and
see that you are good. Blessed is the man who
takes refuge in you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
Thank you very much. and inspired in some way
this week. I had a couple of interesting experiences
myself, and so I'm always very interested to
hear how you've heard from the Word, what you've
seen, what you've done. Where did God say, hey,
pay attention to that? And that's what this is
all about. It's not a time that I lead, but a
time that the Lord leads. And I hope that you've
looked for His leading this week, and I hope
that you've been able to find it and see it and
see some amazing things happen and some things
that maybe aren't quizzical. Maybe that's something
you saw this week and made you go, hmm. But you
don't know what the end of that is. And maybe
somebody else here would want to chime in and
say, I think maybe the Lord would want us to
hear that kind of thing. Maybe that's the kind
of thing we need to do. So that's what this time
is about. So what have you done? What have you
seen? What have you heard? Let's go. Michael
Bershman. Snowboard. The Lord seems to keep me
busy Monday through Friday. That's cool. And
with that come challenges, which I prayed for
challenges, and then I'd be able to overcome
them in a way that would be honoring to him.
That being said, I got stuck about three times.
Twice here at the church, and one guy from Lexington,
I got stuck there, and that was probably the
worst part of being stuck. And today we got some
help out there. I prayed, please help me get
out. And basically, I buried the cloud. The truck
itself wasn't stuck. The cloud was stuck. But
I'm praying. We're working, digging it out and
whatnot for about 45 minutes or so. And I was
probably able to get some wood up under the front
tire. And I thought we might be able to do something.
I said, God, please just get me out of here.
And I didn't do all this time. I think I stuck
about three times. I didn't pray. I didn't do
my thing. They said I just worked hard trying
to figure out how to get out. Anyway, I got out.
I was able to finish. And I was able to serve
another church and do it. So, ask God to help
you through it. And he sees through it. He'll
see through it. And I'm just thankful. Well,
I didn't break nothing. And I was able to keep
serving. And I didn't lose my cool. So, Michael's
been asking for God to keep him busy serving.
And that's why we got all the snow. That's what
I heard you say. That's all your fault, brother.
But, praise God, you then used that for an opportunity
to glorify Him. And so that's worth it. What
I went through, I'm so glad. I would have prayed
for five days of snow for you if I didn't know
it was going to be that awesome. Praise God.
Good stuff. Alright, anybody else? Good stuff.
Brother Frank. I've been reading this prayer
book and stuff, and there's a prayer that stuck
out to me and I just wanted to share it. Absolutely,
please do. It says, Lord God Almighty, I pray
to you that nothing is impossible with you. Train
us and lead us into extraordinary prayer. Help
us throw off any sin, surrendering ourselves
to you. May we see the needs of our city and
nation the way you see them. Unite all believers
in my church and community in extraordinary prayer.
May we walk in love, free in heart, fast in faith.
Uniting, working, and persisting. Bring revival
and spiritual awakening to our land. Be glorified
through us all. Amen. Good stuff. So, I had an
encouraging text this morning. Somebody out of
the blue, and I didn't know who it was, asked
me how they could listen to the podcast and watch
the service. It struck me that there's so much
going on that we're doing. Some of it we've never
done, had never done before. We've been podcasting
for, we're at 226 episodes, I think it is. 226
episodes, something like that, on the podcast.
And it's generally no more than two a week at
most. So you figure that is about four years.
Coming up, we'll be coming up on four years,
we'll have been podcasting. That's a lot. And
that means a lot of worship to God that's out
there for people to listen to and find. A lot
of messages. Some with quirky titles. Some with
stuff that probably no one will ever search for
on Google. Things like that. But we've had a
lot of opportunity for God to move and work.
And that was an encouragement to me. And then
the night before last, I was cleaning. And I
re -stumbled. I don't think that's actually a
word, by the way. I just made that up. But anyway,
re -stumbled on a song. which is called Burn
the Ships. I'm not going to play the song for
you, but I wanted to share with you something
that happened. It was unique for me, something
I had never had happen before. And so I was cleaning,
and I was going through some bins that are in
our short -term storage shelves and pulling things
out and just looking to see what was there and
throwing a bunch of stuff away. I did throw probably
four or five smaller boxes of stuff away, stuff
that we don't need anymore or that isn't. It
wasn't really reputable. It wasn't usable. And
then I started playing the song, Burn the Ships,
which is by King & Country, a Christian band,
a Christian professing. And in the song, there's
a lyric where it says, burn the ships, and then
it goes on to talk about flushing the drugs and
getting rid of the things in your life so you
can't go back. And I know historically, burn
the ships is a saying that comes from when a
king would go and invade another land, and they
would invade by ship, but it would be somewhat
risky, when the invasion was somewhat risky,
and they might not succeed, they might take heavy
losses, and people might want to retreat. The
king would order, burn the ships. And the idea
is, if you've burnt the ships, there is nowhere
to retreat to, right? Now we're all in. And it
occurred to me two things. out of that. The first
one was, it went back to years and years and
years ago. I think we took a work call, but he
can hear this object lesson later. We were at
a gaming convention, and at that time it was
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And we were playing
a pirate crew, and we charged onto the boat to
take this ship, right? And we were maybe a little
bit outmatched. They had a bigger crew than we
did. And Brother Ron was playing the bosun, which
is the bosun in the pirate days and sailing days
was the guy with the biggest mouth, basically.
And so very loud. And so we're trying to demoralize
the troops. And Brother Ron yells in character,
mind you, he yells, take no prisoners, no surrender
about the enemy troops. And instead of having
the effect of them wanting to surrender or quitting
fighting, They immediately went, uh -oh, they're
not going to take any prisoners. So they started
fighting a lot harder. So as I was cleaning and
I was listening to that song, I was thinking
about that. I was thinking about, you realize,
as Christians, there is no surrender. So we talk
about surrendering to God, surrendering something
to God, giving God over control, right? And that's
what being a Christian is. We let God lead us,
teach us, protect us, provide for us. We surrender
the things that we can take into our own power,
into his power, because that's so much better.
But surrender isn't necessarily the right word.
Surrender is a human way of expressing what we're
doing spiritually, right? It's a mouth way of
doing what's happening with your heart, like
we've been talking about in our sermons, the
circumcision of the heart. But the other thing
that occurred to me at that same time was, when
it comes to being a Christian, there is now no
surrender. You're in. You've accepted Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior, if you indeed have,
and you now will live for Jesus, with Jesus,
with him in person, his Holy Spirit in you, doing
things that you've committed to do for the rest
of your life. Eternal life. Life beyond death,
even. So that's what it is. There's no going
back. Jesus said it this way. He said, if a man
should put his hand in a plow and then look back,
he is not fit for the kingdom of God, Jesus said.
There is now no surrender. You don't want to
look back at the things of your old life and
yearn for them or whatever. And so I was thinking
about it as I heard that lyric, burn the ships,
I was thinking about how that's what I did when
I got saved. I said, there's all this stuff that
I want. It's all part of my personality. I don't
know what if it's good and what if it's bad.
But I just said, Lord, I'm going to drop it all
in favor of this one thing, unity with you, that
I could be yours. And I put it all behind me.
And then, you know, some of it, God said, no,
you take this. This is good. Keep that. Use that
for my glory and things like that. But most of
it, most of what I was and the way I acted and
stuff, it all was on the ships. And the ships
were burnt. I wasn't going back. And here's what's
interesting. This is what never happened to me
before. As I was playing Burn the Ships on my
phone, I selected it and I left it sitting on
the desk. Before the first song, before the first
time played through, it's about three minutes
and 14 seconds or something like that, but the
first time played through, I had already moved
stuff off of the shelves between me and my phone.
So I had no easy way to get back to my phone.
And while you might be able to say, okay, whatever
your phone's name is, and it will talk to you,
I don't do that. I don't have that set up on
my phone. So I have no easy way to change the
song. So for the next roughly hour, as I'm cleaning
and going through bin after bin of stuff, finding
all this stuff, and I got some cool stuff. Saved
myself like a hundred bucks one time. It was
pretty fun. Sometimes going through your storage
stuff can be very useful. But it's playing over
and over again. And here's what happened. Every
time they sang Burn the Ships, which is part
of the chorus, so it's like two times or three
times in each song, for an hour, every time they
said Burn the Ships, the Holy Spirit in me went,
there it is. Pay attention to that. Now the song
is playing in the background, like Muzak or something,
just playing. I wasn't hearing most of the song.
But every time they said burn the ships, the
Holy Spirit went, there it is, pay attention
to that, pay attention to that. And why did the
Holy Spirit do that like a hundred times in an
hour? Because that's part of the message of what
the Holy Spirit is trying to get us to see and
do and believe every day. It's not that he was
saying, hey, there's something you haven't heard
before. He was saying, hey, that's part of what
I've been telling you. So if the message is God
loves you, and you should be saying that all
the time, by the way, everywhere you go, get
these words in your mouth, God loves you and
God bless you, especially that one, because if
the person is unsaved, when you tell them God
bless you, what is the blessing they need? Salvation.
If the person is saved and you tell them God
bless you, what is the blessing they need? A
continuing walk with Christ, right? So you should
be saying God bless you everywhere you go. And
every chance you get, if somebody texts you,
text them back God bless you. Every time you
can. Because we need to ask God to bless this
world because this world is not in a very good
place. But that being said, if it's part of who
you are, part of your message, then every time
it comes up, you go, yep. So when we were kids,
I'll close with this. When we were kids, there
were certain sayings, or certain things that
would come up, somebody would say it, and my
dad or my mom or our family would always say
the same things over and over again when that
happened. It was part of who identified us, right?
So, for example, if I said something like, I
never stubbed my toe going through the living
room, then I would go through the living room
and stub my toe, and my dad would say, chickens
always come home to roost. If he's listening
to this, he'd probably, yeah, he still says that
to this day, right? So the point is, there were
things that we would always do that became part
of who we are. It's time that we realize there
are certain things that are a part of who we
are. Reaching new heights in Jesus. You understand
that? That's about growing a little bit every
day, being more like Jesus every day, hearing
from God. That's part of who we are. You should
be using that phrase. Every time you see a text,
every time you see it on Facebook, I was reading
an article this morning, which I'm going to quote
in my sermon, and the guy says, I hope that by
learning... a little bit more about this topic,
you have reached new heights today. And the spirit
in me went, oh! Because it's reaching new heights,
right? I was online and I was searching for something
and I bumped into New Heights Gymnastics, which
is an actual gymnastics place. There's like several
of them all across the country, right? And the
spirit went, oh! That's it. You should get used
to the things that are of the kingdom. And I'm
not saying you've got to learn great big words
like propitiation, sanctification, justification,
gratification. Oh, that's not one, is it? That's
a worldly word. But anyway, the point is, you
don't have to learn what all those words mean,
but what I'm saying is there are certain things
about who Jesus is. If someone says go, and they're
trying to tell you to go and do something, you
should probably know that the word go occurs
a few times in the New Testament. Someone says
love, they say, well, you don't love me because
you say this or you do that, or he tells me I
have to do this because if I love him, I'll do
it. Now, you should know that that's not the
kind of love that God is talking about, right?
What they mean is control, lust, envy, jealousy,
like that. So we should have certain things that
we know that's part of what the Holy Spirit is
teaching us all the time. And every time we come
up, we should go, hey! You know, and I'm the
same way. I've started doing that. But don't
be surprised if I do it a few times because that's
what I felt like a hundred times at least when
that song played over and over again. I can't
tell you most of the rest of the lyrics, but
I got that words ingrained in my brain. Baby,
you want to follow Jesus? Burn the ships. Let's
pray. Father in heaven, I'm blessed. Having you
as my God, not even knowing all of what that
means. I'm blessed. Having this life that you've
given me full of people for me to love and people
that I don't even know that I'm supposed to love.
People whose names I've never learned. whose
eyes I've never looked in. There's people on
Facebook, for example, or on social media that
will post something, and I'm like, I don't even
remember where I met that person or how I became
friends with them on Facebook. Some of them are
all over the country, and they're a difficult
spot. And in me is the desire, and I'll send
them a text and say, God loves you, and so do
we. And I can say that with certainty. It's a
real thing. Because I know You are God and You
love us. And You love us when we would be, by
all human standards, unlovable. You love the
unborn. You love the not yet dying. And You have
so loved all those who wept before us that You
sent Your Son, Jesus, to foster a seed to Abraham
that will last for eternity and will go to heaven
and live with You. I know that we're living in
difficult times. I'm asking You, Lord, please
get the reins of our nation. Not in such a way
that you would have to destroy or in such a way
that tons and tons of people need to be punished.
I'm not praying for punishment. I'm praying for
grace. Lord, get the reins of our church. That
there is someone here today who claims that he
or she is the church and they are not submitting
to You, Lord, then get the reins of their heart.
And again, I'm not praying for punishment. I'm
not praying for chastisement. I'm praying for
grace. And I believe that chastisement and punishment
by You, is grace. It's part of it. Lord, I thank
you for the sacrifice that you made. Everything
we have, every penny, every moment, every word,
every action, every flexing of every muscle,
every replication of every cell, every breath
we take in, every moment praying along with some
guy who's too long -winded, Lord, it's all yours.
And we ask you to use it to glorify yourself.
We ask you to help us praise you with these last
few songs. We ask you to help us praise you with
our gifts of our tithes and offerings. And we
know the tithe is not really a gift. It's your
money anyway. It's all your money, 100%. And
we just ask you, Lord, to use it as you see fit.
I thank you that there are people all over the
world having the opportunity to listen to our
podcast. stumble on topics about Jesus, about
the Word, about the Bible, about the Holy Spirit,
about what it means to reach new heights in Jesus.
I thank You there are people, strangers, completely
unknown, that will reach out and say, how do
I watch? How do I listen? I thank You that there
are lists, dozens long of people in the Toledo
area who say that they're looking for a new church
home. And I see that the fields are white unto
the harvest. And I pray that You will send Your
workers, and I know that that probably means
You'll send us. And I'm grateful. I'm grateful
because you are my God. Even though I don't always
know what that means. Bless us as you see fit.
And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank
you. and sung this song on a little bus across
town in UP, Marquette, Michigan. Sang it so loud
that one of the people on the bus got upset and
asked us to stop. They got off the bus and right
afterwards the bus driver asked us to start singing
again. Amen. Pastor Dan, that has been many,
many, many, many memories over the years because
I have been with you in some way or another since
sixth grade. And this past Thursday was Pastor
Dan's birthday. And as I was thinking, I was
like, man, you know what? This guy does lots
of crazy things. And I have lots of crazy memories
with him. So I started thinking, what's something
crazy that the church could give him for his
birthday? So, Pastor Dan. What? Rapid weasels.
So, Pastor Dan, I forgot to wrap your present,
so in the tradition of MacGyvering, as we sometimes
do, this is a trash bag wrapping gift, and it
smells really good, so you know if you want to
save it. So, on behalf of the New Heights Fellowship,
we have a good present and a card for you. Enjoy.
Amen. For a minute I thought you were just going
to rub it in, but now I got a gift. Praise God.
Thank you. The last thing I need Thank you. Thank
you. So once again, as I've been studying this
sermon series, which felt like the Lord laid
on my heart a few weeks back, I have since realized
that every single one of these sermons could
be at length like a book for me. And so it's
been challenging for me, as you may have seen
last week, to sort of boil it down into something
that I could bring to you and try to make sure
I do a good job with it. That does not change
today. So I'm asking you to be a part and have
your thinking caps on as we're going to do a
quick survey of where we've been. Largely, we've
been following the circumcision of the heart.
And we started out with the understanding that
the circumcision is not of a physical part of
your body, but rather of your internal being.
And that is what makes us a Christian. And we
become alive the moment we're born again. Get
circumcision of the heart. At that point in time,
we begin living for the Lord. We followed that
logic through to the end last week of a key point,
which was that the Holy Spirit who is now in
us, if you have been saved, the Holy Spirit is
in you. He is actively working to kill sin and
wants you to actually be a part of that fight.
And as we got to Romans 8 and we read the words
that says, there is now therefore no more condemnation,
meaning now since we've become Christians, there
is no judgment, there is no going back, there
is really no sin that changes anything about
your condition between you and God because of
what we read in Romans 7, which was that you
are an active part in the fight with the Holy
Spirit to destroy sin. So because we are in the
fight, and some days we may win or lose, and
the battle rages forward and backwards, and some
days you do really well, and some days you don't
do as well, and so on. But because of that, there
is now therefore no more condemnation. All of
this essentially is coming out of, up until this
point anyway, I think we've got two left and
they don't necessarily specifically as clearly
come out of this verse, but all this has been
coming out of Romans chapter 2 and in particular
2 .29 which is our verse for today. So if you
haven't done so already, maybe take a breath,
hoot, holler, get excited, stomp your feet as
we go to Romans 2 .29. Alright. Thank you. I
heard one more stomper. I wasn't the only stomper.
Alright. So Romans 2 .29 then was kind of the
end of the discussion of what we're summarizing,
everything we've been talking about, the circumcision
of the heart. And 2 .29 says, but he is a Jew
who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that
which is of the heart, and we talked about that,
by the spirit, and we talked about that, not
by the letter. Actually, that was last week's
sermon, right? Spirit over letter. And then it
says, and his praise is not from men, but from
God. His praise is not from men, but from God.
And that brings us to our sermon, if you will,
for today. And so we're going to talk about how
we've been freed. All right? Because we've been
freed through war, we've been freed through the
ending of a relationship. You may have been in
a relationship with somebody and they were a
bad influence on you and then you broke up. You
might not even have wanted to be broken up from
them or separated from them, but from the moment
that you were no longer with them, you were essentially
freed and so on. You may have had a job that
you were working at and you thought, man, this
is the greatest job in the world and I'm... I'm
glad to be here. I'm making good money and whatever.
And then all of a sudden the job was taken from
you and then you got on to looking for a new
job, found a new job and realized that your old
job that you thought was the greatest job in
the world wasn't the greatest job in the world.
It was really sort of just holding you back from
the greatest job in the world. So we get freed
when things in our lives change. And these verses
are talking about how we get freed. Listen to
what he says. He says, now his praise is not
from men, but from God. And so the very first
thing that you can see, I think clearly in that
little phrase, is that we now have an audience
of one. Here's a parable for you. Circle World
War II, somewhere in Europe. There's a young
lady and she was becoming an actress. She was...
had her first role in a major play. She was the
lead character. It had singing parts. It was
a musical. And she prepared and prepared and
practiced and just didn't really feel capable
of doing the job. But opening night comes nonetheless,
right? And so on opening night, she goes, she's
behind stage and she's nervous and she's wringing
her hands and her hands are sweaty and she's
walking around. It comes time for the curtain
to come up on the very first scene. And the first
scene of the play, the opening scene of the play,
is her and her alone on stage. And she starts
talking and then she's got to sing a part which
basically explains to everybody what her character
is for the rest of the show, right? And so she
goes out on stage and they open the curtain and
guess how many people are in the audience? None.
Zero. There's nobody there for the play. And
so she stammers over her first line as she realizes
that there's nobody there. And the director is
off backstage and he says, just go. Just do it.
And he probably knew there was nobody on before
the curtain went up. I don't know. But anyway,
he says, just go. So she starts to act, right?
And she realizes suddenly, what? There's no pressure.
This is just like another rehearsal. In fact,
it's actually easier than another rehearsal because
the people who are training her are not sitting
in the audience coaching her and correcting her.
and causing her all kinds of nervousness. And
so she's acting out the play and she gets all
of her lines correct. Every line is just right.
And then she sings the songs and every note is
not perfect, but it's good. It's at least as
good as what she practiced or better and she's
feeling pretty good. And so other characters
come on the stage, she interacts with them and
they're all carrying it out and they all deal
with that momentary realization that they're
doing a play in front of nobody. And then...
They get about a third of the way through the
play and somebody comes in and sits down to watch.
One person. An older gentleman. Somebody passes
the word that he's a connoisseur of the arts,
that he's pretty knowledgeable about plays and
stuff like that. He's written articles. He's
done things. And so they want to do a good job
for him. But it's just one guy. Just one. And
so they're kind of like, well, he could make
or break our play depending on what he says outside,
but at the same time, he's just one guy. And
so they're in this conundrum, but what are they
going to do? They're already in the middle of
the play. They do the best they can. They could
put on a pretty good performance, sing the songs,
and so on. The show ends with just him in the
audience. And when he writes his article in the
paper the next day, he doesn't say the crowd
was full. He didn't say the crowd was empty.
He didn't say that there was nobody there when
he arrived. He says, this is a good play. He
did a good job. And the next night when the play
opens, there's more people in the audience. and
then they go and tell. But, of course, now, because
they have been now seen by more people, they're
a little more nervous or whatever, but they've
had a whole other night's practice, and they
got that confirmation from the guy who wrote
in the newspaper. It's a good play. These guys
did a good job. So now they have confirmation.
So now other people come and look at them, and
then when they do the play, they do an even better
job, right? It keeps improving. And those people
go and tell other people, and even more people
come and see the play. And by the time the audience
is packed a week later, The play is awesome and
everybody knows it. When you have an audience
of one, but it's somebody that you know can make
a difference, somebody that you know can bring
you forward, that can take you where you're trying
to get to and so on, it makes a huge difference.
When you have an audience of a lot and you're
not really ready, let's be really truly honest
for a moment here. How many people in this room
are comfortable, just flat out comfortable, you
enjoy doing it, speaking in front of an audience
of 100 people that you don't know, perfect strangers?
I mean, it's okay, right? Does anybody really
feel comfortable? I often find myself when I'm
talking just in front of you guys that I find
myself going, I wonder if my fly is zipped. You
know? Is it? Yeah, it is. Good. That's excellent.
The point is, is anybody really comfortable on
this? But if you have an audience of one and
you know what the expectations are and you can
do what you're supposed to do in front of that
person and that person then is able to present
you as a fine jewel, as a refined performer,
as somebody who can really do what you're supposed
to do, you can trust. Preachers learn this. When
you start a preacher, Arjun, when you start a
preacher and you sit up here, it's a little nerve
-wracking, isn't it? It's a huge responsibility.
But then you go, well, wait a minute. Actually,
I'm just going to say what God wants me to say
and I'm going to say it in the way God wants
me to say it. And then probably, you know, I'm
going to tick some people off and some other
people are going to be happy with me and whatever.
I don't know how it's going to all turn out,
but this is what I know. It's really about God.
So I can reasonably say that I'm going to stand
up and preach even if I was just preaching for
God. I kid you not, I'm giving you a little inside
story here, but I preach in my mirror to myself,
not to you. I don't like practice preaching in
my mirror, but I preach to myself. I preach to
myself sometimes when I'm praying. I preach sometimes
when I'm walking around the yard or whatever,
just because this is what God has called me to
do. And if you have an audience of one like that,
can you not see how powerful that is and can
be used? Then you have no need to pursue an audience.
you literally will have for your entire life
an audience of one. At the same time, God then
takes Christians and makes them a bit of a spectacle.
So after you are ready to perform for your audience
of one, after you've shown God that you actually
are obedient and faithful, circumcised in the
heart, fighting sin in yourself, and you really
actually are living for God, then God is going
to give you somebody. He's going to walk in,
like I've had happen a couple times. He's going
to say, see, you tell me how I can be saved.
You tell me what I need to do to be saved. And
if you don't know Acts 16, I suggest you read
it. Because when that person comes and asks you,
what do you need to do to be saved? You should
hear the verses of Acts 16 in your head. Because
that's the story in which somebody came in and
said, what must I do to be saved? And they answered
the question. So you should have that if somebody's
going to come and ask you that question. But
even now, you've got a simple understanding.
You know what you did to be saved. The bottom
line is, as you present yourself to God, or rather,
as God presents you to himself, You don't have
to pursue an audience. You, first of all, already
have people in your life that you can work with.
And secondly, God will put you in front of the
people he wants to put you in front of. He says
he would send the disciples, and by extension
the church, in front of kings. And so we have
an audience of one, according to Romans 2 .29,
and that is amazingly liberating. You have no
need to act for an audience. I know this is going
to be painful for some of you, but the people
you're sitting with, your friends, your family
members, or whatever, you don't have to act the
way they want you to. You have to act the way
God wants you to. You don't have to say what
they want you to. You don't have to, wait for
it now, this will get me in all kinds of trouble
later, you don't have to obey your parents. You
do have to honor and obey your parents according
to Scripture, right? That's what Exodus says.
But when your parents would tell you to do something
that's not godly, then you can disobey. I literally
have taught my kids growing up that if I ever
ask you to do something that you would say is
sin against God, I want you to immediately refuse
me. Now it doesn't mean that I won't punish them.
I've even warned them of that. If I think it's
right and they think it's wrong, it's not what
God would want, then I've given them permission
to not do what I've told them to do. It doesn't
mean I won't punish them. Well, what does Scripture
say about it? You get punished for doing what's
right, and then God takes care of you and He
rewards you. When you get punished for doing
what's wrong, which kids do all the time, and
so do adults, right? When you get punished for
doing what's wrong, God is not going to reward
you for that. You got what you deserved. That's
just justice. So there's no need for us to act
for an audience except for if we were going to
be for God. And if you learn who God is and let
God work in you, then it is not about... acting
for God, but in some sense, it's about God acting
in you, right? And through you. This brings death
to regret. And properly handled, it brings death
to fear and worry. Now that's huge for today.
Do you understand that if you are answering to
God and God tells you to do, insert whatever,
even though the rest of the world may hate it,
even though the rest of the world might be against
it, and if you're sure, and you should always
check verses of Scripture, don't get away from
last week's sermon, right? You should always
be listening to the Holy Spirit and checking
verses of Scripture. But if you now have something
you're supposed to do, like wear odd clothing
or say something that you normally wouldn't say
or... intervene in somebody else's life and say,
hey, I'm here to show up and I'm here to make
a difference in what situation, tell me what
situation, let me fix it, let me do what I can.
If you're supposed to do that, then when you're
doing that for God, it doesn't really matter
what other people think. So you don't have to
fear. If God is for us, who can be against us?
That's what Scripture says. So you don't have
to fear doing what seems a little odd. you may
have to give up certain freedoms or things that
you think are freedoms in order to be free. In
other words, sitting home fretting and worrying
about what tomorrow is going to bring is like
a human pastime. We're all concerned about what
our grades are going to be, is the paycheck going
to be big enough, are the bills going to get
paid? Sitting and fretting and worrying about
what the future is going to bring is like a natural...
fleshly human pastime. And yet, if you have an
audience of one, what if the bill doesn't get
paid? What if the money isn't enough? What if
the thing you're supposed to do tomorrow you
didn't properly prepare yourself for? Etc. If
you have an audience of one, you really only
have to answer to God. And if God wants to take
you down a different road because you didn't
do what you were supposed to do, then that's
up to God. Now, if you know what you're supposed
to do, of course, then do it. Right? In fact,
it says in the book of James, if you know what
to... What's good to do and don't do it? That
is sin, which is contrary to God. And by the
way, what is the Holy Spirit trying to kill in
us again? Bottom line is you need to figure out
who is your audience. Who are you playing to?
Who do you care what they think? And you need
to stop letting that be other human beings for
the most part. And I'll give you an exception
to that later. But for the most part, you need
to stop letting that be other human beings and
make it totally and completely about God. I'm
going to stop right there with that thought and
we'll come back to it. But you know, I hope,
and if you don't, I'm about to basically tell
you about it, that Jesus had a bunch of folks
who were following him. And some of them began
to believe in him. In fact, there were a number
of Jews. And there are today, by the way, one
of the largest growing... of Christianity is
Jews who are coming to realize that Jesus really
was the Messiah. It's worldwide. It's one of
the largest growing areas of Christianity because
he was really the Messiah. That's why they've
been taught for so long they're not supposed
to look at the New Testament but with information
flow becoming more available and it's kind of
hard to even Google the internet without bumping
into the Bible unless you're Googling something
you probably shouldn't have anything to do with
and that kind of thing. And so lots and lots
of Jewish people are now coming to the realization
but there was then that day people who had come
to the realization coming out of Judaism And
they thought, well, we think this guy is a Messiah.
He's got miracles and incredible things. And
his teachings are phenomenal. And he comes from
kind of a mediocre background. So how did he
get all this? And they started thinking he was.
And so they believed in Jesus. And Jesus looked
at those who believed in him. And he says, now
that you believe in me, come follow me. And then
you will know the truth. And the truth will set
you free. Now I understand that you and I might
want to dumb that down, John 14, 6, and say that
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And
say, come follow me, and then you will know me,
and then I, being the truth, will set you free.
You could do that if you really want to do that.
It's not even a bad extrapolation, but it is
by no means the whole of what he's talking about,
right? He's talking about something considerably
more than that. Because they had already believed
in him in what he had said. They didn't really
know him necessarily, personally. but they knew
him enough to know that what he was saying was
true. So they had already believed him. It says
those Jews who had believed in him, to them he
said that. So when you come follow Jesus, there
is a process in which God interjects more and
more, and you eventually will be free. Come,
then you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free. And I submit to you that this is
a large part of that truth. You live, I live,
we live, corporately and individually, family,
familially, oh boy, that's a big word, or on
your own, you live for an audience of one. And
that one is not you. Because of what we learned
last week, Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence
in us. Our flesh, which had previously, through
our fleshly desires, used the word to kill us,
we've now been resurrected, and the us that's
in us that has been resurrected now lives for
an audience of one that is not us. Because if
it was me, then I would be constantly getting
pushed by my desires and having to do what I
want to do, right? My flesh wants to do what
my... My carnal mind wants to do. But no, that's
not who I live for. I live now for God. And of
course, Paul wrote it this way. He said, we now
live not for ourselves, but for He who died for
us. Talking about Jesus, who was God in the flesh.
You can be free. You have been freed if you've
become a follower of God. If God says I'm free,
I'm free indeed. Whom the Son frees, He is free
indeed. If you have an audience of one, you have
been freed. Stop worrying about what other people
think of your little idiosyncrasies, etc. Now,
there is a place to pay attention to other people's
opinions, and we'll get there. Bottom line is,
first thing out of these, just a short phrase
that I want you to see there, is that we are
now freed by having an audience of one. The second
thing, there must be a humble realization that
even you don't really know you. Let's get realistic,
okay? So a number of times I've been posed with
some hypothetical question like, if you and your
wife were walking down the street and a guy jumped
out with a gun, what would you do? Now I have
some class answers that I might use, things I
might want to do, things like that. But really
what they're asking you is, would you interpose
your life in front of somebody else's life? Would
you take the bullet? Would you jump out? Would
you dive on the grenade? Would you take the knife
slash in order to protect the people that you
love? And I hope that every man in the room is
going, boy, yes, I would. Because that's the
kind of people we're supposed to be. Not only
for our wives, which is nice, or our daughters,
or whatever, but really for people in general.
RJ, if you and I are walking down the street
and a guy jumps out with a knife, I'm hoping
you're jumping in way, okay? I mean, I'm hoping
I'm jumping in the way. Well, whatever. I'm hoping
RJ and I will be like the little chipmunks. You
jump on the knife. No, I'll jump on the knife.
Yes, I'll do it. No, I'll do it. The bottom line
is there has to be a humble realization that
in that moment you don't really know what you're
going to do. Now there are people in this room
who have been put to the test in the most drastic
of circumstances that you or I, most of us, have
not seen. There are military people in the room
who have been in a fight to the death. There
have been people in a room who have rescued a
child from a moving car or who have held the
hand of a dying loved one while their heart was
literally breaking for hours or even days. There
have been people who have sat in a room with
one of their loved ones and tried to explain
to them, look, what you're doing is damaging
to you. You have to put the drugs away or you
have to give up this illicit sexual relationship.
Whatever. And they plead and beg and no way of
getting them to accept the truth and how damaging
and how bad it is for them. And their heart is
breaking the whole time and some of us have never
been there. You have to come to a humble realization
and understand that you don't even know what
you would do in those hypothetical situations.
And I understand they're radical situations.
You might say, everybody in this room has probably
been... the caregiver or the person in charge
making sure that a small child doesn't walk out
into traffic at some point in time. You probably
have a brother, a sibling, a friend, you did
it for church ministry, something. Almost everybody
has been there. But if they ran out into traffic
and you're 10 feet away and they're clearly about
to get hit, do you know, I mean, with absolute
certainty that you're running out there to try
to dive and take them to the other side of the
road or grab them and throw them out of the way
so you could be hit or whatever? It's hard to
know what we would do in those situations. I
get it. They're radical situations. They're nth
situations. They're the bottom of the barrel.
You hope you'll never be there. I've been in
a couple of situations and I still cannot explain
to you how I found the character or fortitude
or whatever because I'm here to stand before
you today. I don't have it. As a human being,
I do not have it. Before I got saved, I was intimidated
by everybody. I didn't talk with strangers unless
I had to. And if I did, it was always in a business
relationship. And if I wasn't the person in charge,
like a manager or something like that in a business
relationship, then I would avoid those conversations.
I never, ever, ever complained when my food was
wrong. I wouldn't go to a restaurant. They're
all listening to my ringtone online right now
because apparently I forgot to turn it off. That's
all right. Just ignore it. Anyway, I'll push
the button. Okay, anyway, so I wouldn't even
go and order a sandwich plain because I was afraid
of the minimum wage worker working behind the
counter thinking badly about me because I don't
like condiments. And now I have been in situations
where I've been extremely, I've faced violent
people, people with weapons, people who are getting
loud up in my face, people who could have broke
my neck at an instant, people who could have
cost me my job like that and found somewhere,
And I'm going to submit to you it's from God,
but found somewhere the courage to do the right
thing under those circumstances and then afterwards
for God to go, yeah, that was the right thing.
And I'm going, I'm glad you knew because I totally
didn't. And some of you have been in much more
difficult situations than I have and I'm by no
means trying to set myself out as an example.
What I'm saying is that we all have to humbly
realize that even we don't know exactly what
we would do in a lot of circumstances that we've
never been in. But this having an audience of
one and recognizing humbly that you might not
know yourself all that much comes with a freedom
so that when the chips are down, when I have
nothing left, when I don't know what I would
do, God is with me, will not abandon me, and
will act through me. If you don't know God, then
you don't know that He's that kind of a God.
You don't know that he has that character, that
he loves you, that he'll go beyond, that he'll
be there. And if you don't know that... then
I suggest you retreat back to point A and realize
that you were born with a fleshly desire to sin.
You sinned. You need a Savior. Jesus died for
you. Believe in Him. Accept Him as Lord of your
life and that God raised Him from the dead. Confess
that out loud with your mouth and begin today
to live as a saved Christian with a circumcised
heart, the Holy Spirit in you, killing sin daily,
and you and I together, hopefully, but if not,
then severally, learning. More of what it means
to belong to Him each day. And one of the things
that it means is not knowing exactly what I would
do in the worst of circumstances. This much I
do know. What God will do. And that is God will
always show up. He will always be with me. He
will not abandon me. And He will empower me.
God will do. Will I? I hope so. But this much
I know for sure. God will. Some see James chapter
4, which we're going to go there and look at
briefly. I thought you were going to get away
from not turning too many pages today, but not
so lucky. Some see James chapter 4 as a sort
of a, oh, what's the word, like a restriction
or a burden, right? They think of it as a ball
and chain. And you're going like, what is he
talking about in James chapter 4? Well, let's
go look at it. James 4, beginning in verse 12.
It says this, James 4, beginning in verse 12.
There is only one lawgiver and judge. Notice
the emphasis on one. There is one who is able
to save and destroy. That ain't you. That ain't
me. That ain't a collected body of us or a president
or a governor, an officer, a lawyer. There is,
let me say it again, one lawgiver and judge and
one who is able to save and destroy. But who
are you who judge your neighbor? Hear that? And
in the context of that statement, he goes on
to say, Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow
we shall go to such and such a city and spend
a year there and engage in business and make
a profit. Yet you do not know what your life
will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that
appears for a little while and then vanishes
away. Instead, you ought to say, If the Lord
wills, we shall live and also do this or that.
But as it is, You boast in your arrogance. All
such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who
knows the right thing to do and does not do it,
to him it is sin. So the first statement, if
you will, was there is only one lawgiver and
judge. There is one God. He is the one. He is
our audience of one. And then he says, Come now
you who say, today or tomorrow, and he goes into
this idea of planning, controlling, you being
in charge. You realize that the last time you
really got down on somebody because they lied,
you were basically saying that you'll never lie
again, ever in your life, for any circumstances.
I'll not lie. I am not a liar. I'll never lie.
And so now I can be really down on people who
lie. The last time you really got down, somebody
stole from you, you basically said, wait for
it, that you'll never talk on your cell phone
around a corner. While you're on the clock again.
Or, you'll never clock out five minutes early
and get paid for the whole hour. Or, you'll never
not return the change when you get a little bit
of extra change. Or, you'll never not find a
dollar on the ground and look around for who
it belongs to. Etc. So we judge people and we
say what they're doing is wrong. Well, we really
ought to be majoring in figuring out how to do
right. That's really what our job is. It's so
much, I'm just going to go aside for one second,
it's so much true that if you see somebody do
something wrong, and you can't fix it, you saw
somebody lie or whatever, then you ought to do
everything in your power to make reparations
for what they did. Not make them do what's right.
That's not your job. You don't control them,
you control you. Now I'm aware that here we have
a victim. Here we have somebody who stole from,
lied to, hurt in some way, doesn't have what
they want. So now, how can I spend my time, my
money, whatever, to help that person to overcome
what that person did to them? That person has
nothing to do with you. The person who did wrong,
they have nothing to do with you. And we'll come
back and talk about what that could look like,
but the bottom line is you don't have to worry
about fixing them. They live for an audience
of one, just like you or I do. But this person
over here has been hurt. Why aren't you doing
something about it? Why aren't you stepping in
and trying to make it better? Unless, of course,
you've lost your humble realization and you say,
well, you know, I would never do that. I could
never even accidentally victimize anyone. If
that's true, you are arrogant, probably not walking
in the Lord. Because you know that intentionally
or by accident, you will eventually hurt someone.
And I say this to you, I think a humble realization
that I don't even know what I would do adds this
to my character. If I screw up and I hurt somebody,
and I don't know about it, or if I do it on purpose,
I want somebody, if it's not going to be me,
I want somebody to come behind me and fix it.
Do what they can to make it better. I make mistakes.
I don't even make the right decisions sometimes.
And you don't either. And we have to realize
that as we're living for God, a humble realization
that even we don't know what we'll do frees us
from judging anyone else, frees us from needing
to make plans about what the future is going
to be like, and I'm going to control this. You
realize that for all of us, and I'm not speaking
against financial management, I think we all
should be, for example, planning for our retirement
or... maybe saving for your vacation. If you
think you're going to take a vacation next year,
then you should be putting money aside for that.
If you think you're going to buy a new car in
three to five years, you should have that in
your spending plan, planning to put aside that
money. You know your car is going to break down
sometime, so there should be money set aside
for that. And I'm not against that in any way,
shape, or form, but this is the truth. The money
that you're putting aside to fix your car next
year, you could be dead before then. So if you've
got it in your head, next year I'll have two
grand, or if I need a car, I'll just go buy one
in cash, you realize you may die before you ever
spend that two grand. And that's a realism. That's
just understanding the way the world works. Now,
because we're working for God, odds are, if the
world's still here until the rapture, until Jesus
takes us away, we're still going to be here because
we can still spread the gospel. So probably you're
not dying anytime soon if you're faithfully walking
with the Lord as your audience of one. But have
a humble realization that not only might you
screw up and hurt somebody, and somebody else
might have to fix it, therefore I can do the
same thing. Instead of me judging, they screwed
that person over, and so now I'm mad at the person
who did the bad thing. I should be fixing the
problem and doing the best I can. Because it
might be me. I might be the next person to screw
somebody over and hurt somebody, and I might
need somebody else to fix my mess. But if you'd
never do it, then you don't have to worry about
it. But if you think you'd never do it, you're
probably already doing it on a fairly regular
basis. Some see this equation here as a kind
of a ball and chain. Like, well, I can't plan
to do anything. I have to say, get God's permission
first. Yes, you have to get God's permission
first. Totally made the world, created you, created
atoms. You know, set everything up. He's in charge
of it all. He owns it all. Yes, you have to get
God's permission first before you do what you're
about to do. Just like if you're living in your
parents' house and you're going to stay out too
late or you're going to go make a huge purchase
or you're going to break something in the kitchen
or you're going to make dad's steak instead of
leaving it for him to eat. You have to get permission
first, right? So get permission from God. Walk
with God. Follow God's leadership. The Holy Spirit
in you. Circumcised heart. He's about killing
sin. You're doing what you're supposed to be
doing anyway. And then if you make a mistake,
God will be there with you. The third thing to
see in this text then is that following God or
having God as an audience of one, humble realization
that even you don't know what you would do under
certain circumstances, is that we're also freed
by not having a set of rules. Coming from a gamer
from way back, I've been playing board games,
card games, role -playing games, every kind of
game that ever was invented. I've never really
been good at video games, but I've played quite
a few over the years and things like that. One
of the things I first learned, if you sit down
to play a game, somebody's got to know the rules
to the game. Otherwise, you're just going to
fiddle around for a couple hours and never get
around to playing while everybody learns how
to play, but nobody actually plays. As long as
somebody knows the rules, then what's the next
thing that has to happen? Whoever knows the rules
has to help those who don't know the rules basically
understand how to play. And here is what's really
frustrating. This has driven me nuts every single
time it has ever happened to me to the point
that I've always been ready to just go, I'm never
going to play this game again. Just totally blew
up. When you sit down with somebody that you've
never played before, and they're explaining you
how to play, and then halfway through the game,
they say, oh, you know, there is this little
known rule here, this extra phase to the turn,
or this thing that your whatever can do, or whatever,
and it causes me to be able to do this now, so
now they have this massive advantage in the game.
They never told you about the rule, but they
used the rule halfway through the game to make
it so that they have an advantage. Now they're
going to win the game, and it's a foreseen outcome
because you didn't know you could do that. You
go, look, I could have done that five turns ago,
and I could have done that ten turns ago, and
I could have done that at the beginning of the
game, but I didn't know about that. But now I
know about it because you wanted to do it, and
you taught me. This is the funny thing about
a set of rules. It's all in perception. Does
the Ten Commandments say thou shalt not lie?
Should we take a poll? Let's do that real quick.
How many of you think the Ten Commandments say
thou shalt not lie? Raise your hand. I got one
hand. Anybody else? Come on. It's okay. I'm not
going to scold you when you're wrong or anything.
All right. It says thou shalt not bear false
witness, right? And written in a legal document.
So what does it mean to not bear false witness?
In what context? No, it doesn't mean don't talk
about others. That would be broadening the context
too much. Elsewhere in scripture it says that,
but it doesn't say that in the Ten Commandments.
What's that? Don't give false testimony against
someone else. If a brother is in sin, this is
going back to the old days, if a brother were
in sin and they did something wrong, and three
people came against him and accused him in a
public way, essentially a court has begun. Right?
And if... What he did wrong. So if he was caught
in adultery and three men came and accused him
of caught in adultery, is he hauled off to a
judge? Is that what they did? Now what do they
do? Take him outside the town or outside the
camp in their case, right? And stoned him, right?
So they threw stones on him. The first thing
they did was put a big boulder on his chest so
he couldn't get up. The first stone was this
huge stone. Put it on his chest. And then they
throw stones at him until he's dead. No court.
Right? So the point is, If you would bear false
testimony against this guy, he could be stoned
to death. So you're lying about him in a legal
situation that can have ramifications. That's
what the Ten Commandments are about. But when
you interpret the Ten Commandments and say, now,
let me be very clear. Lying is a sin. You shouldn't
do it. That's in the New Testament, not the Old
Testament. It's also in the Old Testament. But
it's clearly laid out in the New Testament. Lying
is a sin. You have to give that up as a Christian.
But that being said, When you go to anybody you
know and you tell them that the Ten Commandments
says thou shalt not lie, and there is one translation
that has it, maybe more than one, that has it
that way, you aren't wrong per se, but you're
not exactly right either, are you? See what I'm
saying? That's the problem with a set of rules.
That's the problem with beating people up with
your Bible. It says right here you can't do that,
smack. Right? You can't just do that. Because
a set of rules, are we living by a set of rules?
No. A set of rules will at best build you a cage
to keep you away from a burning fire or falling
off a cliff or running into a guy with a knife.
It will at best give you some protections. It
will not. So the Pharisees and the Sadducees
in Jesus' day, this is what they had done. They
looked at the rules of the Old Testament, the
laws that God had given them. We can't break
those. Gosh, we can't break those. We could die
if we break those. This is a horrible thing to
break those. So let's be super careful we don't
break those. Let's make a bunch more rules that
make it so that we never get close. So, for example,
keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't work on the
Sabbath was their command. So then they made
a rule to say, well, we need to know exactly
what constitutes work on the Sabbath. So they
made a rule that says if at the end of the day,
after walking only a certain number of steps
that you're allowed to walk, after that, at the
end of the day, if you find a pin in the hem
of your garment, you have worked on the Sabbath,
you have profaned the Sabbath, and you must undergo
a ritual cleansing. Now you show me where that's
at in Scripture. That's the problem with a set
of rules. At best it will bind you. At best it
will manipulate you. At best it will propel you
in a certain direction, like a bank of a river.
But we are not subject to a set of rules. Truth
is, some people think being subject to a set
of rules would actually be easier. If we had,
say, a three -point plan, that's how you get
to heaven, you just got to do this, then we follow
those three points very literally and we would
get there, right? But actually, what we're called
to is a, you're going to need to get this because
it's a lot of Ps here, a permanent personal pursuit
of His presence. That's what we're called to.
A permanent personal pursuit of His presence.
We want God at work in us, which amazingly is
what God wants. Also, as we are called to a permanent
personal pursuit of His presence, we are called
to prefer His promised perfect end and His present
peace over a wasteful worldly wickedness that
amounts to little more than wishful wantings.
How many people do you think want to go to heaven?
For those that believe what heaven is, everybody.
Mike's right. Everybody. For those who want to...
that have an idea. Some people will deny that
there is heaven because they don't want to admit
that they're not going there, right? But let's
be realistic. If somebody says, I know what heaven
is, I know what it's like, do I want to get there?
Yes. Even if you go in false religions across
the world, they all have different ways to get
into the eternal life that God talks about. They
talk about them in different words or whatever.
Like if you die in a holy war, you get 13 virgins
in heaven for eternity, right? Things like that.
They all have different ways to arrive somewhere.
That's an image of what they understand heaven
to be. We all want to go to heaven. But God says,
actually what he wants for us is a permanent
presence with us. A lasting, permanent relationship
with God. That's what he wants. And that's what
you'll have in heaven. And because you have it,
you'll get to heaven. And then he'll be there.
in a more physical way perhaps, even though He's
spiritual and we'll be spiritual too. And yes,
there are hard things to understand. And so,
because we don't know all the rules, and you
couldn't know all the rules, and if you did know
all the rules, you could be pretty sure you'd
break them anyway. What God has called us to
is a permanent personal pursuit of His presence.
And being satisfied, preferring His promised
perfect end, where we're going to go, what He's
going to eventually do in us, preferring that.
and His present peace, in other words, He's already
at work in us. Jesus says, my peace I give you,
my peace I leave with you, not as the world gives
you peace. And all that over a wasteful worldly
wickedness that amounts to little more than wishful
wantings. That's freedom. That's being freed
from a set of rules. Now, are the things that
are in the law good? We talked about that last
week. Yes, they are. Is the law meant for life
and light and to bring people to a good place?
Yes. Ideally, the law was supposed to make people
go, oh gosh, I'm a sinner. I need a savior. God,
please give me a savior. They wouldn't know his
name was Jesus Christ, Jesus the Christ of Nazareth,
but they would know that God was going to prepare
a way. How do you think Abraham got saved? He
trusted in the way that God was eventually going
to make. By recognizing in some, it was before
the law was written, but recognizing in some
little way that he could not live in this permanent
personal presence with God except that God did
something for him and gave him grace. Well, that
brings us to our conclusion already. But it's
kind of a lengthy conclusion because I'm going
to try to give you some application of what it
is that we need to do. Okay? And the conclusion
is called naked and unashamed. Now we're all
going to take our clothes off. No, we're not.
Because I would not be unashamed, and nor would
you. Right? We're not going to take our clothes
off. And I don't mean literal physical clothing
anyway, right? Who am I referring to? Does anyone
know when I say naked and unashamed, what am
I referring to? What does that bring to mind?
Naked and unashamed. Yeah. Today we'd be bearing
your soul away. Adam and Eve, right? Adam and
Eve were in the Garden of Eden, naked and unashamed.
How many people were in the garden with Adam
when he was naked and unashamed? One. Who was
it? Eve. How many people were with Eve in the
garden when she was naked and unashamed? Okay,
I'm going to tell you a little something. I'm
going to be a little transparent for a moment
right now, okay? I don't mean to embarrass any
young people in the room. When I first married
my wife, before we were married, we had Elisha
because we were not saved. We had an adulterous
fornication, whatever you want to call it, affair,
and created a beautiful... baby, and God later
saved our souls. I did not want to be naked in
front of my lover. I did not want to be naked
in front of my wife. Now, I'm not so sure I would
quite say I was ashamed, but I felt extremely
uncomfortable. I've gone to a number of cookouts
and things, and it's really common in East Toledo,
and guys run around with their shirts off. They
wear pants or shorts, whatever, no shirts on.
And they've got maybe tattoos, or maybe they
don't. They've got chest hair, or maybe they
don't. They've got boobies that they probably
shouldn't have, or maybe they don't. They've
got bellies hanging out, most of them, right?
Because they're mostly drinking a beer, and I've
been there. RJ? Right? And they all hang around.
I'm here to tell you, and I'm not bothered by
it. It does not bother me one bit, but I don't
need to see it. And they're unashamed. And these
are guys that have got 50 extra pounds on their
gut, walking around, unashamed, slightly tanned,
whatever. Now, when they start taking their pants
off, I much more than don't need to see it. You
see what I'm saying? I'm gone. I'm out of there.
If they take their pants off in front of my wife,
I may not be out. She'll be out of there, but
I may not be leaving. Except when a squad car
comes to get me. It's going to be ugly. What
I'm saying to you is, Adam and Eve, so how many
days? Let's be really realistic. How many days
did Adam know Eve before he walked naked in front
of her? Zero. He met her the day she was created.
Right? No days. So he literally did not know
her at all. Never had met her. And there he is,
just buck naked, walking around with this junk
hanging out in front of this beautiful woman.
And not ashamed. Not bothered by it at all. Also,
not lusting. Nothing unhealthy going on here.
How many days did Eve know Adam before that happened?
None. Yeah, 30 seconds. She woke up, she went,
oh, I exist. Oh, there's a naked man. I mean,
that would freak almost anybody out, right? But
there's Eve, and she's like, no, I'm not freaked
out at all. This doesn't bother me. This is what
we do. Right? And so now here we are, not at
all naked and unashamed, and not free. I'm not
saying we should be free to be naked. I don't
want to be naked. with people. That's not my
thing. Alright? And I understand we have to deal
with some of that because of the lust and the
issues that go along with it. You need to dress
appropriately and everybody needs to dress appropriately
and probably men should not be hanging around
drinking beer with no shirts off around other
people's women. Maybe. I don't know. That's between
them and God I suppose. The bottom line is we
are freed by we have an audience of one. So let's
be I'm just going to be again very candid. Does
God say when it's you and God alone Do you need
clothes? No. You get in the shower, God's there.
He sees you naked all the time. Are you ashamed
of that? Right? So when it's you and God alone,
you don't need clothes. But you bring in other
people, interpersonal relationships, and now
you need clothes. And it all goes back to Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden and ever since
then and lost in fleshly nature. And the other
person that's there is trying through the power,
if they're a Christian, trying through the power
of the Holy Spirit to kill sins. They shouldn't
lust. You don't want to see. So, by the way,
if you're a man or a woman and you're not married,
don't ever see anyone naked ever until you're
married. Just avoid that. And if you're, except
maybe like in a gym if it's other guys and, you
know, or something like that. But otherwise,
just avoid it. And if you're... A young person,
you're dating somebody and you're engaged, you
don't see them naked until your wedding night,
right? Because you're exposing yourselves to
lust. But we're really talking about, as Ron
said, nakedness of the soul. If you can trust,
as we talked about under a humble realization
that even you don't really know, that God will
always act, then you really don't have anything
to worry about. You can be you. You can be essentially
naked and unashamed. Now, I'm not saying take
your clothes off. I'm saying you can basically
be you. You can act the way you think God wants
you to act. You can stop holding yourself back
because you're so concerned about what the world
will think. You can be okay being you. You can
get your spiritual beer and take your shirt off
at your own cookout because it's your cookout,
but really it's God's cookout. You're going to
be okay. You can be you. But there's a couple
of practical things. Based on all this then,
so I had a few questions that I had to ask and
maybe you would ask these same questions too.
So what happens with all of this? Like if I'm
living for God and I just really let it all hang
out, not in a nasty way, but I really live for
God and I don't hold anything back, what happens
when I have nothing left? If I take all my money
and I spend it for the poor, as Jesus told the
rich man to do, or if I, because money's a problem
for you, maybe you need to do that. If I do all
these things, I take huge risks. If I wind up
on a cross and I'm about to be being crucified,
or if I wind up on a stake and I'm being burnt,
or if I wind up persecuted in a back alley near
to death, what do I do? What happens when there
is nothing left? To which I would say, taking,
no pun intended, the devil's advocate position,
maybe it would be easier without the blessings
of God. When we're talking about being freed
by these things, maybe it would be easier if
we didn't have the blessings. You realize that
most of the things that you're afraid of losing,
they are the blessings that God has given you.
Remember Lazarus and the rich man? The rich man
got his stuff during life. Lazarus didn't. Lazarus
goes to heaven. The rich man goes to hell. Jesus
used it. That was talking about the rich man
got his blessings. That's what he said. It's
not really the topic of this, but it's notable
that the rich man went to hell and Lazarus went
to heaven. Remember the parable that Jesus told
about the man who would build many barns? If
you don't, it's okay, but I'm going to tell you
the gist of it. Basically, there's a guy and
he gets kind of nearing to the end of his life
and he says, I've done really well and now I'm
going to tear down my barns and I'm going to
build new ones and store lots more stuff and
then I'm going to live out my days in ease. And
God says to him, no, actually you're going to
die today, so then who's going to have all your
barns? Or all your stuff. And Jesus, God of that,
says store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
not on earth where moth and rust and thief and
so on. Maybe you're familiar with the parable
of the four soils. It's about a farmer who goes
out sowing. Taking his bag of seed, he's going
to go sow the crops. And some falls along the
trail. Some falls in the thorny soil and so on.
Different soils. You've probably heard this parable.
If you haven't, you can read it in Mark chapter
4 or Matthew chapter 13 or Luke chapter 8. And
those lists are now on the podcast. And maybe
somebody on Facebook will type them in. Mark
4, Matthew 13, Luke 8. But the bottom line is,
there's one set of soil where the seed starts
to take good root and produce. But the cares
and the what of this world then choke it out.
The riches. The cares and the riches of this
world. The problem with us being freed by having
an audience of one, by realizing that we might
not even know ourselves all that well what we
would do in certain circumstances, and by not
living by a set of rules, is that we have all
these things that we want to keep for ourselves.
I can't tell you the number of times I've seen
a child or a grandchild say, I can't wait until
my friends come over and play with me with my
toys. And how does that always go? I want that
toy he's playing with. I wanted them to come
and play with me, but now that they've come,
I want what they're playing with, right? The
hardest thing to living this way that I'm talking
about is the stuff that we get attached to and
the ideas and stuff that we get attached to.
Wren Financial Management, there's many of them,
but Wren Financial Management says it this way.
The purpose of wealth is basically broken down
into three things. One, protect capital. That
is, stay rich. Two, grow capital. That is, get
richer. Three, enjoy capital. That's it. And
so everybody in the world who's got a little
something is going to their financial advisors
and learning how to keep what they've got, get
more, and enjoy what they've got. That is not
what life was for. And so if you get wrapped
up or tied up in the trappings of this life,
another financial manager, Care Financial, adds
this. They say, also it's true, equally important
is what your wealth can help you do in a larger
sense for your community, etc. That's almost
getting close, isn't it? What if the only thing
that's actually important about your wealth is
what you can actually do with it? to bless other
people, to show love, to spread God's word, etc.
According to the Bible, pretty sure that's basically
it. So it isn't about getting richer. It isn't
about keeping your riches or about enjoying your
capital. It isn't about any of those things.
Rather, Jesus said, store up treasures for yourself
in heaven. So what happens when you run out?
God wants you to have more. He'll give you more.
You know how many people there are in the history
of the United States of America? Big names. Guys
that you'd recognize who filed bankruptcy three
or four or sometimes seven times before they
finally made their big name that you're familiar
with. Newspaper men. Satirists. Mark Twain did
it. Mark Twain filed bankruptcy and then went
back and intentionally paid off all of his debts
because he thought it was the right thing to
do. You don't need half of what you have. You
have it as a blessing from God. And you can use
it as a blessing for God. And if you run out
of it, then that was just meant to be. Second
thing is, where does the church fit in all this?
Because we've been talking an awful lot about
living as an audience of one. So God is our only
audience. And so I'm going to show you two things,
two short videos that Josh has queued up for
me. The first one is a flock of geese. It's very
short. Tommy, we'll get that light. It's on the
other side. This is a flock of geese. I hope
you can see it. See them there? Flying across
the screen. It's a little closer. They're flying
in a V formation. Geese do that. While we're
watching this for a few more seconds, I want
you to think about how far away the front geese
in the V is from the furthest back geese. There's
some distance there, right? There's a still shot
to end on. I think it actually paused. So 23
seconds left. 22 seconds left. Okay, there we
go. There's the geese flying. It's still going.
27 seconds. Press the play button again. There
we go. Gotta love the internet sometimes. Okay,
so there's a little more there, but you've seen
enough to know what I'm talking about. Where
does the church fit in? So when a V of geese
flies, I'm going to ask you a couple questions
to make you think, and I think you'll get the
picture. Is the front geese in the V together
with the back, front goose together with the
back goose? Are they together? Yes, they are
together. In fact, they are so much together
that when that front goose gets tired, He'll
go to the back and fly and they'll rotate and
somebody else will fly in the front. So that
eventually that V will fly hundreds of miles
and everyone will get a turn in the front. That's
a picture of what the church is. We're all going
the same way. We all have a circumcised heart.
The Holy Spirit is at work in destroying sin
in us and we're partnering with him to do so.
and we're going the way God wants us to go. Now,
I understand some will leave the V. Some will
fall off. Some will not actually do what they
said they would do, and so on. Where does the
church fit in? The church is all one master,
all one purpose, all together going, watching
over one another, sacrificing for one another.
Your concern for each other person's concerns,
your concerns for other people, keep you on track
in the pack. This is important. How much you
care about the rest of the church and doing things
for the rest of the church, that's what will
keep you going the right way. It's not how much
you care about yourself because you can go out
then and be a Lone Ranger Christian. You can
go out then and meet your own needs. You can
go out then and find a way to get a second or
a third job or steal or whatever to get the money
that you need to make sure you have enough, right?
If instead... you care about the other people
in your church, that will actually guide you.
I'm going to show you a second short video, if
it works. Josh? Okay. These are called starlings.
They're flying in what's called a murmuration.
See them? Those are birds. Small birds. That's
called a murmuration. It's probably about 2 ,000,
3 ,000 birds in there. A murmuration will get
together and starlings and other small birds,
mostly starlings, but other small birds do it
too, they'll get together and they'll swoop around
like that in a mob. Tommy, you can turn the light
back on now. And never once does one bird collide
with another bird. They don't have radar or sonar.
A lot of times they don't even make a noise.
I mean, sometimes they'll chirp and things like
that. But even if they don't make noise, they
will never collide with another bird. No bird
falls out. They foop all around like that. And
eventually they pick a direction and they go.
And they'll fly off essentially in a V formation
or whatever. And off they go. Occasionally parks
will break off and settle and then later come
back to the pack and things. Now, a couple of
things about starlings that are important. Number
one, starlings were not native to North America.
They were introduced to Central Park in New York
by some Shakespeare lovers who wanted all the
birds that were in Shakespeare to be present
in North America. I know that sounds really weird.
But since then, they've become almost like a
plague across the entire country. There are millions,
tens of millions, hundreds of millions of these
birds across the entire country. In fact, some
people lobby to get rid of them. There's so many
of them. They don't really hurt anything. They're
just like other small birds. Unless, of course,
I suppose if you flew a plane into their murmuration,
that'd probably be the end of your plane, I suppose.
But the point is, These birds manage to function
together. Scientists watch them. Here's what
they found out. Each bird, each starling, watches
seven other starlings that are near them. They
keep track of those seven starlings that are
near them. One of those is keeping track of seven
others, which might include the original or it
might not. It creates this vast web of starlings
caring about the other starlings in the murmuration.
And whatever way one goes, they all go. And they
flit around. And they literally, you saw them
take hairpin turns at 30 mile an hour in the
air and don't bump into each other. Because they
care about the others in the flock. This is what
the church is supposed to look like. As you are
concerned for each other, that keeps you on track
in the path. Here's what happens sometimes. People
go, well, so -and -so is not doing for me. So
-and -so didn't show up and visit me enough.
So -and -so didn't send me enough cards or gifts
or so -and -so said something I didn't like.
As soon as you do that, you divorce yourself
from what God meant the church to be. And when
you do that, we get crashes and we lose people.
We lose love. We lose faith. Rather, what we
should do is taking turns and let people lead
as their spiritual gifts become appropriate.
Care about other members of the group. And as
you care, that will keep you on track. The entire
New Testament was written to the church collected.
Was sealed by the church collected. Some people
say, I don't know about the church where I can
just go off and be a follower of God. I've lived
for an audience of one, right? If you're living
for an audience of one, you cannot do that without
the church because the church is the place and
the people in which someone lives for an audience
of one. And you will keep on track by caring
more about the people around you, not just your
family members, but by caring more about the
people around you than about yourself. Why not
a Lone Ranger Christian? Well, of course, there's
the command to evangelism, to make other Christians,
or tell them about Jesus so they can become other
Christians. And then there's the command to love
your brother. 1 John 4 .20 says, By this everyone
will know you are my disciples if you love one
another. That's not 1 John 4 .20. That's Jesus
speaking. 1 John 4 .20 is where it says, if you
cannot love your brother or sister that you have
seen, then you cannot love God whom you have
not seen. Don't you understand that these people
here, and yes, we're all flawed and have issues
and whatever, but these people here were created
in the image of God. They represent God. If you
don't love Tommy, you don't love God. That's
all there is to it. I didn't say it. John wrote
it. If you don't love Arden, you don't love God.
If you don't love Rayleigh, you don't love God.
If you don't love Rosie, you don't love God.
And by love, I don't mean, oh, I love them. Yes,
I do love them. They're kind of cute and I would
like to pet them. No. That's not love. Love is
when you go, they have a practical need of some
kind. I'm going to meet it. I am going to get
an extra part -time job. To pay to get their
car fixed. Or I'm going to take from my savings.
Or I'm going to give them my key. Or I'm going
to step up and encourage them. Or I'm going to
call them when they're hurting. That's love.
It's practical, intentional action on their behalf.
And I have a problem with that. Because I don't
see it present in the church the way it should
be. Which makes me wonder whether the church
even is the church. Except that I know our church
is the church. So then I'm asking you to repent
of that. And to begin to love each other in that
way. And to work for each other. You say, well
I don't even know if they're... Christian. Not
your job. So I see them messing up and I don't
like it. Not your job. Your job is to love them
and as you love them, that will keep you on track.
You cannot be a lone ranger Christian because
if you are a lone ranger Christian, you do not
love God. John wrote it. Seeing how people have
messed up, here is the actual place for Matthew
7. Don't judge salvation by what your eyes see.
You don't save people and your standards don't
save people and the rules you think are right
don't save people. God saves people. And if they
say they're saved and they're living for the
Lord, then you don't judge them and say they're
not. We do practice accountability. We're required
essentially by this very thing. You say you're
living for an audience of one. You understand
what that means, right? If I'm living for an
audience of one, I no longer, and this is going
to hurt a little bit here when I say this, I
no longer have to care, at least not for the
direction of my life, What my wife thinks. Man,
that's hard. I no longer have to care, at least
for the direction of my life, what my boss thinks.
I only have to care what my God thinks. So, it
can require leaving behind those you love. Jesus
said it this way, If anyone comes to Me and doesn't
hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers
and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a
person cannot be My disciple. And a little follow
-up, and whoever does not carry their cross and
follow Me cannot be My disciple. Understand?
Now, Jesus did not mean that you should hate
people. But He's saying, if in the moment, if
it comes right down to it, And I have authorized
Sherry, if Jesus comes again, and in that moment
she has some kind of doubt that I'm not going,
she's supposed to go anywhere. Go anyway. Go
without me. Leave me. Go. And if we're in a situation
where following God has us do something, and
she knows it. It's happened a couple of times.
She knows this is what God wants us to do. And
she'll come to me afterwards and she'll say,
okay, well I did this. I felt like it was what
God wanted us to do. And whether I agree or not,
it doesn't matter. She's got to live for an audience
of one. Now, as a married couple, collectively,
we live for an audience of one. So we're supposed
to be working together. She lives for an audience
of one. I live for an audience of one. Together,
we live for an audience of one. God. And that's
when we become one. And it's the only time you
ever actually really are married. It's when God
does that. You will have to leave behind those
you love to live this way. Freed. At the same
time, it's not really about that, is it? What
is it really about? It's actually really about
bringing along those you love. So if your wife
or your children or whatever are not understanding,
your job is to bring them to an understanding.
If they're not going the direction, you have
to bring them to the direction. If somebody's
struggling in sin, you're to bring them in the
right direction. Remember we saw the geese flying?
And there's a leader, and they take turns being
a leader, and I think that's the way the church
is supposed to work in that regard. But guess
what? You know what happens when a goose becomes
wounded or injured? Does anybody know? And what?
It does. It gets left behind. But what else?
This is the most important part. Nope. Two other
geese. Always two. Never more than two. Two other
geese leave the V and stay with the wounded or
injured goose until either it dies, or is healed.
At which point, the three of them fly with all
their might, switching leaders, flying in a V,
to catch back up to the original V. The gospel,
the church, the power of God, living for an audience
of one, realizing you don't really know what
you would do under all circumstances, and that
it's not a set of rules, is all about bringing
everyone along who will come. And of course you
love your wife, and of course you love your children,
and you love the people you went to school with,
or at least you darn well better, because if
you can't love Christians that you've met, you
don't love God. You say, but they sin. Yes, they
do, and so do you. You say, but they've messed
it up. Yes, they have, and so have you. Now the
church has certain practices in which we can
finally recognize that we are no longer indebted
to take care of a certain person who has essentially
left our number. They've gone off in sin. They
don't want anybody around them or whatever. And
we can deal with that another time. But the bottom
line is the goal is we're all moving in the same
direction like a murmuration headed for heaven.
And it may take a lot of twists and turns. Five
years from now, we may not be able to meet publicly
in a building. We have to meet in houses or in
somebody's house because the law may not allow
it. We don't know. We may have a bomb threat
against the building because we're living for
Jesus. It can happen. You don't know. We've already
had a pandemic that said that we shouldn't and
probably couldn't meet together in public. You
don't know if that won't happen again. I don't
mind to believe that that was the first of a
series of, and we're not even done with the first
one yet, but it's the first of a series of pandemics.
I don't think it's over. And people were so afraid
to worship God and to gather together with other
believers. You realize that if you can pull back
from the body and not love the rest of the body,
you have a real problem. And so if you can pull
back because you think you're avoiding fellowship
because of COVID, I'm not saying there's anything
wrong with that. You have an audience of one.
Do what God would have you to do. If God is saying
to you, you don't go to church because you could
be risking getting COVID, fine. But God has not
stopped saying to you that you must love. The
body. So you should be going, the people that
can't go and the people that do go and the people
that sit there and the people that I sit near
and the people that are in trouble, how can I
help them? The people that are online right now
should be thinking about how can I help the people
that are in the room and the people that are
in the room should be thinking about how can
I help the people that are online? We have got
to be the church. No church. No audience of one.
No freedom. No humble realization that even you
don't really know. And then I guess we're back
to a set of rules, which, after all, would be
easier, wouldn't it? It'd be easier, but it just
won't get us where we're going. It's time we
started caring about the people around us and
live for God in love and kindness. Even the people
who are... out there in the world who don't claim
to be Christians, who are doing terrible evil,
we should love them and wish that they would
get saved and turn from their wicked ways. And
God can do it. Because when you have nothing
left, He'll be there and He will do. I pray for
you briefly. This has been... our expose, if
you will. We are freed by living as an audience
of one, realizing that even we might not know
ourselves and what we're capable of. Not living
by a set of rules. We're freed in Christ. To
be freed in Christ is to function as part of
the church and to love the people around you
more than you love yourself. Stop thinking about
how you can get ahead or what you can get or
preserving your riches or spending your riches,
enjoying your riches or making more riches. Start
thinking about people that are hurting and showing
up to make a difference in their situation. Father
in heaven, help us in a day when so many people
are so alone. And some of them are our people.
There are people maybe in this room who feel
alone, who feel separated, feel distanced, they're
injured, fallen away. And we have a tendency
when we see that somebody's injured or fallen
away to let them kind of go away and heal and
come back when they're strong. And that's not
what you've called us to. Lord, help us lift
up one another. Lord, help us be the church that
we're supposed to be. For those who feel restrained
that they cannot participate in person, kindle
the love and the fire in their heart and they
can think about what a difference they could
make. can make, will make, should make, and how
to make that difference in the lives of others
who are the church. And for those who are here
in person, let them care about one another and
those who are joining online and those who are
hurting. Let it truly be said of your people
that they know who we are because they see the
love we have for one another. You loved us so
much. You demonstrated it so clearly. And we
ought not spit on that memory. We ought not squander
that memory. We ought not keep for ourselves
certain blessings that You intend for us to share.
Lord, help us in the midst of this trouble. Your
will be done. Your kingdom come. Your name be
holy on the earth. Lead us not into temptation.
Give us Your Holy Spirit strength and power to
destroy sin in our lives. Deliver us from evil.
We want to come to be with You for an eternity
and to be found faithful doing what we're supposed
to do now until that time comes. There may be
somebody in the room who has not said, okay,
I do believe there is a God. I do believe that
Jesus came and died on the cross for sins and
that He has a right to be my Lord and Savior
and I want to give my life. into His control.
I want to let Him be in charge of me. And I pray
that you would speak into their voice, or speak
into their heart, that they would hear your voice,
and that they would say, during this song we're
about to sing, yes, that's me, I want to live
for Jesus. There might be somebody in this room
that knows that they are a follower of Jesus,
and they know that they have been more often
than not living as a Lone Ranger Christian. Working
it out themselves. Yes, trying to live as an
audience of one, but realizing that they've been
dismissing your commands to truly love others.
And so they've been offending you. I ask you,
Lord, to give them an understanding and an ability
to repent and turn to you. Peace. A plan to love
others. Father, there may be somebody in this
room that thinks that they're going to get to
heaven by a set of rules before or after they've
been saved. And they know now from your word
that it's not about the rules. It's about permanently
pursuing a personal presence of our God. And
we want to be part of whatever you want to be
part of. And we want nothing to do with that
which you say is wrong or that you say we should
keep away from you. Keep away from ourselves.
Lord, help us as we sing in Jesus' name. Amen.
That's the praise team to come forward and lead
us at this time. If you're making some kind of
a decision today, maybe you've accepted Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior while you've been
here or recently, then you come forward at the
invitation time. And if you want to social distance,
that's fine. You can come here and stand here.
If you want me to pray with you, I'll do that
too. Thank you for joining us for this podcast
from New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of
East Toledo. I hope you've given some serious
thought to what we're freed by and how freeing
it is to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I would ask you to consider what our obligations
are, as we talked about last week, but to realize
that we are indeed free. And so then, perhaps
you'd want to reach New Heights in Jesus with
us. New Heights Fellowship Baptist Church is
in East Toledo at 255 Hefner, and we meet every
Sunday morning, 1130 a .m., and usually Tuesday
evenings at 630 p .m. for Bible study. 7 o 'clock
for adults, 6 .30 for 18 and under, and 7 to
8 for adults. And so then the kids will sometimes
come in and sit in with the adults at the end
to finish up the Bible study. And so that's us
reaching new heights in Jesus. Perhaps you'd
like to be part of us reaching new heights in
Jesus. If, on the other hand, you're listening
to this podcast and it blessed you in some way,
in order to keep this podcast on the air, please,
number one, like it, follow it, share it. and
tell everybody about it. And this is the teachings
of the Lord Jesus Christ as they come to New
Heights Fellowship Baptist Church of East Toledo.
And I know you're only getting a part of it because
you're getting the Sunday services, but praise
God, he is at work in us, and I hope in you.
If you would like to give financially, then you
may give by texting G -I -V -E to 419 -419 -0095.
That's the word give. G -I -V -E to 419 -419
-0095. Set up your credit or debit card and you'll
be able to give directly to the church's general
offering. Then, if you'd like to give another
way, you can go online on our website at churchdeledo
.com. That's also where you can find a lot more
information about the ministry and other ways
you can get plugged in. Let's say, for example,
you're a person in need of encouragement. On
our website, there's a link where you can sign
up to receive encouraging calls and messages
anywhere from one to three times a week. They're
delivered by automated call on the OneCallNow
system. And so that's a great opportunity. If
you're in the Toledo area and need groceries,
there's a way that you can sign up for our pantry
at New Heights online. Or if you need the groceries
delivered to you, you can sign up for the Life
Station delivery service of free groceries, free
emergency groceries to anyone in need in Toledo,
parts of Oregon, and parts of Northwood. So those
are just an example, and there's a lot more there.
We do need your help. I wouldn't say God needs
our money or even our time or our talents or
our service. But we are together on mission for
God, reaching new heights in Jesus, overcoming
evil with good. And if you want to be together
on mission with us, you decide how God wants
that to happen for you. And then let's get her
done. God bless you today as you reach new heights
in Jesus.