Easy Love by Ruth Anderson
And I'm living what I believe
Gonna walk through the night
And cost me everything
Gonna stand for what is mine
And everyone can see
It's me that's acting
Gonna live what I believe
The world will say God's praise
The world can be pretty real
When this love might be seated
And we're gonna chase and give ourselves away
While life's in quarantine
When life can be the throw
Of the hope that is new
Gonna live what I believe
Gonna walk that line
And cost me everything
Gonna stand for what is right
And everyone can see
It's me that's acting
Gonna live what I believe
There's no passion deep inside
Gonna live what I believe
When life can test your faith
Living for you, as a woman's for you
With faith and conviction
You saw the light in the day
And will not be ashamed
Gonna live what I believe
Gonna walk that line
And cost me everything
Gonna stand for what is right
And everyone can see
It's me that's acting
Gonna live what I believe
Gonna walk that line
And cost me everything
Gonna stand for what is right
And everyone can see
It's me that's acting
Gonna live what I believe
So Alicia's gonna lead us in prayer in a moment
And then call on somebody to pray
I do want to remind you
There are a couple of important announcements
In your bulletin
If you are a member, sorry
If you are a messenger for New Heights
There is another important set of dates
Listed here November 14th and 15th
Which is the state convention of absent Ohio
Annual meeting
Which we are entitled to have our messengers
Present at
And there is some money available
Through the church to help with transportation
And possibly a hotel night stay
So we'll be talking about that
If you're a messenger and you can make those dates
Reach out to me
If you can't go 14th, stay until 15th
Perhaps you could go just on the morning of the 15th
We could be a little harder because it's a two hour drive
But maybe you can do that and be there for the meeting
And the majority of business decisions
That kind of thing will all be conducted on the 15th
But the night of the 14th is a really cool experience of worship
And there will be some small stuff business wise
That goes on on the 14th
So it's a really neat
And it's not that often that you get invited to
Go out of town for one night for Jesus
That's a great opportunity
So it's like a little mission trip
Alright so that's coming up on the 14th and 15th
Also, right before that
It is in Columbus
Actually I'm sorry it's in Cuyahoga Falls
Which is near Cleveland
So about an hour, I think it's about an hour and 45 minutes away
And then also in November
We have a Thanksgiving dinner and a Thanksgiving gratitude service
So on the second Sunday in November
And we may hear more detailed about it
If things have changed a little bit or whatever
For the current plan
Our Sunday worship service will be
Our gratitude service will be asking you to come and show us
Ways that you show gratitude to God
And you can do art, you can do music, you can do poetry
You can read a story, you can read your favorite Bible verses
Or whatever, that will be a large part of what we do together that day
And worst case scenario if you all can't produce enough
Then I'll preach for an hour again
Okay so I know you love that idea
So that'll work, okay
So that's going to be on that day
And then after that will be the fellowship
So we're going to have Thanksgiving dinner together
So it's a challenge to come together and worship together
And then have a big dinner together afterwards
But we will put the worship and the service of the Lord first
And then we will make it work out
Get all set up and ready to go and have dinner afterwards
And we can pull it off and do it
And you're welcome to invite anyone to come
And if they come with a godly way of showing gratitude toward God that day
We will let them, we will involve them in our service
And so if they come after their church and come over here afterwards
And show gratitude, that's fine
Tell them bring a turkey with them
You know that'll take care of it, I'm just kidding
But they can eat our turkey, okay
Alright so let's pray together
Alicia will do Leah's and then call on somebody
I'll have Colin on you
Fair warning, oh yes
That's very nice
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day
I thank you for bringing us all here together
We have our lives at home Lord
And I ask that you help us through that
We thank you that you were able to do that
So that we could be here today
And just help us to worship you and focus on you
And learn more about you
In Jesus' name I pray
Dear Lord, I thank you for this day
For this beautiful fall weather
That you've given us
For this building that you've gifted to us
For the musicians and the teachers and the preacher
And those who are here today
To serve you and to show your love to others
In any way that we know how
I ask a special blessing on my children this morning
They are recovering from being sick
And can't be with us
And I just ask that you watch over them
And guide them and all of us as we go from here
In Jesus' name, Amen
Alright, if you would stand with those of us that are standing
Those of us who cannot
Well, if you can't stand just kind of think upward
And we can add the word song
As we read my song
I hear the music ringing
And for the first time
I am falling in love
To the one I love
How can I even see it in your way
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is your love
How can I even shout in your name
I know that I've long tried to be
And it made me smile
One thing I will never mind
Is the nicest thing
What all my save-all is
As I'm the one with you
Knowing you'll see me through
And sing a song to you
How can I even see it in your way
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is your love
How can I even shout in your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it made my heart want to sing
I can sing when the trouble's right
I can sing when I win
I can sing when I lose my chance
And fall down again
I can sing as you pick me up
I can sing as I'm there
I can sing as you give me love
When I call to you in prayer
I can sing as my last breath
Sing for I know
That I'll sing when the angels
Have changed the world above
How can I keep from singing your praise
How can I ever say enough
How amazing is your love
How can I even shout in your name
I know I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
I am loved by the King
And it makes my heart want to sing
Yeah, I can sing
Alright, I need the slightly less tall people towards the front
Get yourself somewhere that you can see
That includes Katelyn
Yeah, yeah, just a little down here
Alright, so this is a song we've had up for a long time
This is the first time we're doing motions for it
So this is a new one for you to learn
If you are not a motion-type person, there is some clapping
I expect you to do at least that
Great!
We want to sing, We want to sing
We want to see Jesus lifted high
We want to sing, We want to sing
We want to see Jesus lifted high
A better life across this land
Turn over my team of troops and know
He is the way to Heaven
We want to see Jesus lifted high
A better life across this land
Turn over my team of troops and know
He is the way to Heaven
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
A better life across this land
Turn over my team of troops and know
He is the way to Heaven
We want to see Jesus lifted high
A better life across this land
Turn over my team of troops and know
He is the way to Heaven
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
Step by step we're going forward
Little by little we're taking round
And we turn powerful weapons
Strong walls strong
Stumbling down and down and down and down
Woo!
We want to see Jesus lifted high
A better life across this land
Turn over my team of troops and know
He is the way to Heaven
We want to see Jesus lifted high
A better life across this land
Turn over my team of troops and know
He is the way to Heaven
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
We want to see
We want to see Jesus lifted high
Good job guys, thank you.
Okay, so we asked ourselves how the Lord been speaking, what have you seen this week?
What have you read in your Bible, what have you heard in your prayer time?
I was watching a movie, which Ariana and I really love this movie, in fact there might be some excerpts that you may see from some point in time called I Believe.
It's a Christian movie about a nine year old boy who is raised by two parents who are pretty much atheists, but he comes in contact with the Word of God and just flat out believes what it says and the amazing things that follow.
Pretty neat.
And one of the scenes he says, but you talk to God, and the little boy says, you talk to God.
The interviewer says you talk to God, and he says actually it's more like I listen.
He does the talking and I do the listening.
I thought that was pretty powerful.
Pretty good illustration of prayer.
So what have you heard this week? Go ahead and share.
What do you got?
No pressure.
Mistress.
Alright, what is this? What's in this bottle?
Water.
Okay. I'm going to tell you a few things about water you may not know.
Okay.
First though, I'm going to read Genesis chapter one verses one through eight I think it is.
Okay.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was out without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God caused a light day, and the darkness He called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.
And it was so, and God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning were the second day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters, and He called this the disease. And God saw it, and it was good.
Now, here's a few facts you may not know about water.
Number one, the amount of water that is on the earth and in the earth and in the air is the same amount of water that's been there since the beginning.
Water never leaves.
So, one place to say they are in drought is because the water is somewhere else.
Or, it's up in the air, in the sky, in the clouds, so when water evaporates, it goes up into the air.
And then eventually it comes down somewhere else in precipitation.
So that's why sometimes you have places that have no water and some places that have a whole lot of water.
The only way water can pretty much be destroyed is by lightning.
And lightning divides the three molecules that make water.
Two hydrogen, one water, or one oxygen, H2O.
The only time water can basically leave our atmosphere is when it's divided.
And that is when hydrogen can sometimes escape into space, but it's very rare to happen.
Which is kind of interesting.
The only way we will ever run out of water is if we make it unusable.
It is always here. It never leaves.
There is enough water at all times. It just might not be in the right place.
So, when you think about water, it's been here since the beginning.
This is the same water that was here when God created the earth.
This water never changes unless we pollute it.
And there are other water facts I will be bringing that will blow your minds.
But that will be it for today.
Alright, studying water and learning about God. Awesome.
Who else? Jason.
I have a song.
Music.
What are you going to say about that?
So, what really spoke to me is at the end when he said, happiness doesn't come from what we want, but what we do have.
And if we worry about what we don't have, we are going to end up with something that we don't want or something worse that we want to have.
What he means by the vaccine on the other side, he also says that we can't put our lives because they are not right there in our shoes.
We could be living a happy life with a mom, a dad, siblings, food on the table.
But there are kids out here in the world that don't have the stuff that we might not have.
So, say, when he used the example of husband and wife, the husband got a raise and he's out there when his kids want him to play.
He's comparing that because there are kids that want to play, but they don't have anyone to play with or anything to play with.
Anyone to play with or have.
And what that speaks to me is that we are unique in our own ways.
We don't always think that there's stuff that's going to make us happy for the rest of our life.
Because there's not.
The only thing that's going to make us happy for the rest of our life is the love of God and the knowing and the understanding that he will protect us no matter what it takes.
Wow. That's good.
The mini sermon right there. Wonderful. Well done.
I have another song.
It's from a movie that I've seen, my brother's seen, and Ariana's seen it, and it really spoke to me.
Okay.
Ariana.
I'm not telling you to stop.
Hold on.
I'm going to stop.
What's your back? What's your back? What's your back? We can count it to the top. Get him to the upper class.
This could get a little sticky.
Had to win this battle could be tricky.
But I know the best way, fall back. Let me lead you over the line. We'll bring them to the knees.
There's words in the air if you're with me. They got a sound, someone want to be there. I'm really yours, cause I got a strategy.
You'll take a lot of them, the rest of you can follow me. This is my crew, this is my squad. This is my turf. Oh my gosh.
Look guys, we got big with first to five, but you're different by the side, cause right now we're almost even.
This is the nightfall, everyone, we'll stay together till the battle is done.
What's your back? What's your back? What's your back? We can count it to the top. Get him to the upper class.
This is the nightfall, we're in line. It doesn't mean that we're on the same side.
What's your back? What's your back? What's your back? We're in a lot of his best. They're too happy to react.
The situation's getting kind of hectic. Don't you let this night keep us.
We stick together, we can make it. I'm a little part of this tension.
Alright, tell us what made that so important to you.
Because as you can see, the two people at the beginning, they were arguing. It's because they are not friends, they are enemies. But if you've seen the movie, they're working together.
If you haven't seen the movie, at the end they get together as a friend and they are ours. So they came from this island that is bad.
That you can break the rule and do stuff bad. But then there's four people that moved to an island that you cannot do that.
That stuff thing. When they went there, the girl that they were arguing with decided to come there.
It's been bad going on lately. At the end they team up and it's good to work them together. It's good to put your differences aside and work together and start to relax.
One thing I learned a long time ago is that people are very complex. There's a lot to every person. When you're looking for differences, you will literally always find them.
In the team of God, however, if we work together and follow the Lord together, and like you said, do what's right, then we can be unified.
I thought when you were going with the words in the lyrics where it said, I'll be with you to the end, I was thinking about Jesus.
I was thinking about how God is united with us and working with us to hold us through what we face. I thought that was pretty cool. Good message. Anybody else?
I really don't think it's possible. Thank you for that commercial. Anything else?
Last week I went to a football game, the Lions game. It was fun. My dad was on his bucket list to take his sons and stuff like that.
I was just thinking the difference between goodness and greatness. I just love to hear all these different inspirations.
We glorify God through creation, what He's created. We glorify God through inspiration, like what inspires us.
God can speak through any of it. It doesn't matter what it is or what it's not. It was all created by Him.
He separates what is wicked and what is true. None of it bothers Him. He uses it all for His good purpose.
The thing is, I did like the football game. It was fun, but was it a great game? I thank God I got a chance to watch a really good game.
I got a chance to hang out with my brothers. We got a chance to go out and all that stuff. That was good.
The thing to me, what I think of greatness, I always think of it this way, is there won't be enough games to satisfy my plate.
Even if I had a hundred thousand season tickets every single day, if I saw every single movie, if I saw everything in this whole world,
there would be no satisfaction because the idea is that it's not great.
The thing that I find great is when I come here on Sundays, is when I spend time with family that will be eternity together,
however that looks, but we're eternal. We're going to be there for eternity, not because of what we've done, but because of what He's done.
Who's in us and who we are in Him. I would rather be here every Sunday just worshipping God with my family of all.
Someday it will be all those who worship God, all those who have turned to the Lord Jesus. It will be one amazing thing.
The one thing I just wanted to share real quick, and I was just thinking about that this inspired me, is that the whole time we were at that game,
God is willing and able all the time. It doesn't mean He gives us what we want, but He's willing and able.
Like if you ask me for something, I could probably help you, but when I'm tired or I'm weak or I don't really care,
I'm not always going to be there, but God is willing and able always.
There's never a time He's tired, there's never a time that He's bored or angry or grumpy.
God is willing and able, and He's in every believer that has turned to Him. And it's like during that game, never did we give God the glory.
Never did we get a chance to pray for each other, never did we get a chance to praise God, never did we have a chance to fellowship
and thank God for what He's given us. It just didn't happen.
Now what I'm saying is for everyone here, that Christ died and rose again, and the Holy Spirit is in every believer.
Can you just imagine, and I just thought this really quick, if we would, like at 3 o'clock, just one of our brothers, one of our sisters,
and we all prayed about the God that is willing and able to that person, for that person, and in us, who is willing and able.
The Holy Spirit is in every believer. Like James was saying, everybody's different.
Personalities, character traits, DNA. There's no one has the same DNA. Everybody's absolutely unique in every way, except the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not like anybody else. He's not changing, He doesn't need to change. He is perfect because He is God, always been God.
And so I close on this, is think about this, that He's willing and able. So if we pray or we share something, we speak from God,
we speak from His Spirit, then He is willing and able to protect us, not just spiritually, practically and eternally, provide for us the same way.
Empower us the same way, encourage us the same way, help us grow the same way, meaning eternally, spiritually and practically.
This is the God who is with us always. He's not on our side, like everybody says.
The grass is always greener on our side because it's not greener, because the thing is, is that everything falls, but God doesn't.
He gave His life and He fell one time. He died on that cross. He'll never fall again.
We have a victorious, living Savior that is in us and among us. So I ask, just thinking about it, use Him today, glorify Him today, praise Him today,
and even me, I already messed up, but you don't have to because He's with you.
You can tell me if you see us in prayer and then call on somebody to close out, go to a transition, a pleasant offering, go to a worship and go to the Word.
Father, Lord, thank you for this no day again. Thank you for the sunshine, the changing leaves, changing color of the trees, the sessual of the universe here.
Thank you for the Word you've already heard and thank you Lord that you're always there, willing and able to help us in this treatment.
Lord, some of us, I've already heard this story, but I know some of us, probably all of us have been through a trilogy week, with jobs, with homes, with health,
school, football practice, whatever, or we go through different things every day.
We just ask the Lord that you would renew us, strengthen us, refresh us, and Lord that you would use whatever words you've shared with our day, you're going to share us, that the Lord that would help.
Maybe some of the things that was already shared during this inspirational time has already lifted us up a little bit.
We thank you Lord for them all and I just bid us Lord now as we continue our service, as the offering as we pick it up, thank you Lord that you give just a little bit of back to you,
which you've given so much, everything we have, is because you allow it.
Thank you Lord for this time, you've made it look great. Amen.
Well we've got to learn, I hope you learn about God, and help the people that are not here, and the people that are hurt, and you stand at last.
Amen.
teach. Exactly. I'm glad you said that because I was waiting for someone else
to say that. For me in my job it's really hard because none of the guys I work
with believe what I believe so it's really hard to but I still I've told
them many times before and I've even told my boss I just do the job God
gave me because I've gotten review before and they're like oh you do a
really good job and we're really impressed with your work and I'm like
okay well that's fine and dandy but I do that because God gave me this job so you
can serve God with I guess humbling yourself knowing that what you have to
serve God with he gave it to you for his glory not your own glory not to make
yourself look better but to make him look good so that we can show the world
how good God really is so here's something else can you serve more than
one God
first of all because it really is only one but that being said if you want to
select a second for yourself I'm actually here to tell you you can serve more than
one God however if you are a Christian you're right the answer is no but if
you are not Christian and you're lost in the world you're gonna try to serve many
gods because you're gonna try to find that one thing in your life that makes
you feel good so technically yes you can serve more than one God but it's not
gonna be pretty so we are faced by temptations every single day we're faced
with temptations to do different things to look at things and the amount of
times that we're rejecting that temptations I think is more than we can
even imagine the more the times God steps in and takes our mind off of
something because it's not right or it's wrong and we shouldn't be thinking that
one of the examples I have is if you're walking down the street and you see a
really attractive person you're like man that person's really good-looking
there's nothing wrong with that right however if you go a little bit farther
than that and start having feelings like I'd really like to know what that person
likes looks like with no clothes on then it becomes a problem and there's nothing
wrong with complementing something because they look good but I think it's
crazy how many times we are faced with temptations and we don't go into them not
even realizing that God is actually pulling us away from them and the reason
he does that is because he doesn't want us to go back to doing what the world
says we should do and we are going to look in Deuteronomy chapter 13 starting
in verse 1 says if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and
gives you a sign or a wonder and that sign or that wonder comes true
concerning which he spoke to you saying let us go after other gods whom you have
not known and let us serve them so right away it warns us that there's going to
be people that will rise up and say hey let's go do this instead even though
it's not something you're aware of like back then a lot of more worshiping other
gods like ball you had um oh was the other one I just had it it's on the top
of my tongue Astrof that was the one but you have all these other false gods that
these people would worship and there's there was a list I found I wish I would
have saved it but I didn't and it kind of disappoints me but there was a list I
found it would have like 30 over 30 different false gods that they would
worship back then and it is crazy because a lot of the names I've never
even heard of and it it's just crazy the amount of things that people strive
after that they they go after just to make them feel a little bit better when
truthfully the well Dan said there is only one God that is going to make you
feel good and that is our God the God creator the God of the universe that is
the only God that you are ever going to follow to make yourself feel right
hmm
something else to think about with this anytime you put something above God that
is now a God in your life a lot of people do it with money fame success some
people do it with video games some people do it with sex anything you put
above God becomes a God in your life so if someone says hey let's go to the bar
and get messed up and you know that you're not supposed to do that but you
do it anyways that has now become a God in your life because you are serving
that instead of doing what's right with God and someone says hey let's go watch
TV and let's go watch a movie but you know you haven't spent any time with God
that day and you still go and watch that movie and just push God aside that movie
or that TV show has now become a God in your life now again I'm not saying
there's anything wrong with watching TV or watching a movie or going out with
friends however you have to make sure that you're still putting that time in
for God continuing in verse 3 says you shall not listen to the words of that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord your God is testing you to find
out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
you shall follow the Lord your God and fear him and you shall keep his
commandments listen to his voice serve him and cling to him but that prophet or
that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he is he has concealed
rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and
redeemed you from the house of slavery to seduce you from the way in which the
Lord your God commanded to walk you shall purge the evil from among you now
we can't go around killing people that try to lead us to doing wrong things
however you can cut that person out of your life right if there's someone that
comes up against you and is trying to constantly force you to do the wrong
thing you can push that person out of your life I mean I've taught that my
youth group many times did you have to be very careful who you hang out with
because real friends will never try to force you to do something that you know
is wrong that is not what you want to do a good friend is going to force you to
try to better yourself and do better I have my best friend Charlie meeting him
we went fishing yesterday and he likes to drink sometimes he likes to drink a
lot but when we were out yesterday he didn't really do anything like that
because and I even asked him I was like hey if you wanted to go get something
you can and he said no because I don't want to do that because of he don't want
to make me feel bad or anything like that so I was like okay that's cool
however I wouldn't have cared if he did but that's how a friend should be they
should be able to respect you and your decisions your choices this is when
continuing verse 6 this is when it can get a little scary says if your brother
your mother's son or your sons or daughter or your wife you cherish or
your friend who is with who is as your own soul entices you secretly say
let us go serve other gods from neither who neither you nor your father have
known of the gods of the people who are around you near you or far from you
from one end of the earth to the other end you shall not yield to him nor or
listen to him and your eyes shall not pity him nor shall you share or console
him or conceal him but you shall surely kill but you should surely kill him your
hand shall be first against him to put him to death and afterwards the hand of
all the people you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce
you from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the
house of slavery then all Israel will hear and be afraid and will never again
do such a wicked thing among you so this is saying even your own family if your
own family your own flesh and blood were to try to get you to walk away from God
you need to cut them out of your life if you are married and your wife or your
husband is forcing you to try to go against what God says you have to cut
that person out now obviously I mean personally I would try my hardest to
make them see the truth to make them understand why I serve God and why I do
what I do but if that doesn't work then you're gonna have to get free of that
because Satan will use the people around you the people you love the most to
break you down who but God will use those people to build you back up as
long as you're on the same page well you have to be careful even when it comes to
your mother your father your brother or sister you have to you have to always
follow God don't follow what they want you to do and continuing 12 it says if
you hear one of your cities which the Lord your God is giving to you to live
in anyone saying that some worthless man has gone out among you and have seduced
the inhabitants of the city saying let us serve other gods whom you have not
known then you shall investigate it and search out inquiries throughout if it is
true and the matter established that it this abomination has been done among you
you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword
utterly destroying it and all that and all that is in it and its cattle with
the edge of the sword then you shall gather up all its booty into the middle
of the open square and burn the city with all of its booty with fire as a
whole burnt offering to the Lord your God and it shall be a ruin forever it
shall never be rebuilt nothing from which is put under the band shall cling
to your hand in order that the Lord may turn from his burning anger and show
mercy to you and have compassion on you and make you increase just as he swore
unto your father if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God and keep his
commandments which I am commanding you today and doing what is right in the
sight of the Lord so all that being said anything in your life that is not of God
get rid of it anything if you're spending too much time watching TV and
not spending enough time with God get rid of the TV if you're spending too
much time playing out a phone game instead of spending time and God get
rid of the phone if you're spending too much time hanging out with friends and
not discussing God's greatness then you need to get rid of that friend in
Matthew chapter 18 verse 8 it says if your hand or foot causes you to stumble
cut it off and throw it from you it'd be better you enter the enter life
crippled or lame then have two hands and two feet to be cast into eternal fire if
your eye causes you to stumble pluck it out and throw it from you it is better
for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes to be cast in the fiery
hell even Jesus tells you to get rid of other things that can cause you to
stumble into sin you have you you can't keep things around if they're gonna be
there you can't keep around if they're gonna make you fall so that was the text
then I'm gonna get to the points but this is where most of the time is gonna
be so be ready because there's a lot first point is serve God and serve God
only you cannot serve more than one God if you're a Christian if you really
believe Jesus is your Lord and Savior and he saved you then he is the Lord of
your life he is the only one that you can ever follow you can't follow after
money you can't follow after dreams you can't follow after success or a person
you have to follow Jesus and him only
Luke 4 chapter Luke chapter 4 verse 8 says Jesus answered to him it is written
you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only Matthew 6 24 says no one
can serve two masters for either for either he will hate one and love the
other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other you cannot serve God
and wealth in second Samuel 22 for I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be
praised and I am saved from my enemies Deuteronomy 6 chapter 13 or Deuteronomy
6 verses 13 through 14 you shall feel only the Lord your God and you shall
worship him and swear by his name you shall not follow any other gods any of
the gods of the people who you sort who surround you so just because we live in
a country that is free and we have God's free will to choose whatever we want to
do does not give us the right to sometimes just because you have the
free will to go out and kill somebody does that make it right just because you
have the free will to go out and steal from somebody does that make it right
we have the free will to do what we want but however we have to do what is right
if you cannot do what is right you will never be able to fully understand the
amazing thing God did when he sent Jesus Christ to die for you you want to know
why we have to call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised because he saved
us from our enemies you want to know why you can't serve two masters because
you're gonna love one but despise the other you know why we have to serve God
and serve God only because if we don't serve God and serve God only we're gonna
despise God and love something else a little bit what Tim was saying earlier
you want to look at the world and you want to put the blame on anything you
want to put the blame on our government on the people in our government on
people in charge or police or anything you want to put the blame on something
else you know we need to start blaming ourselves as Christians what are we
doing to make it better are we too busy trying to serve two different masters are
we trying to serve God and serve God only and get other people on board to
serve God this whole world is so wrapped up and around having so many different
things to make you look good when really the only thing that's going to make us
look good is bringing God back into everything you want to fix the school
systems like God be in our school systems you want to fix your workplace
like God be in the workplace you want to fix our country bring God back to our
country there's so many churches that have closed their doors during COVID
because they wanted to do what the government said but not what God said do
you think back 2,000 plus years they ever stopped worshiping because people
got sick no they would just sit them in a different part of the place they would
separate them but they still worshiped they never stopped doing what God had
them to do if we bow down to what the world standards want we are going to
fall on our face which brings me to my second point we have to remember where
we came from you have to remember who you were before you came to Christ were
you a person who strived to serve or were you a person that only wanted to
serve yourself where were you before you got saved if you can compare that to
what you are now it should be very drastic change and if we can do that
with the world if we can go back and say look here's what Jesus did here's what I
was before I was saved here's where I am now and the whole world can understand
how much of a change and how much better things could be we would never have to
worry about half the things we have to worry about and Deuteronomy 16 verse 12
it says you shall remember that you were slaves in Egypt and you shall be
careful to observe these statures you were slaves to sin you accept Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior you are now free from that sin you are free from
all sin you are free from the struggles that the world wants you to be in
because you serve a God who can pull you out of that you serve the God who can
take from nothing and create greatness that's the God you serve that's the God
we as Christians serve we serve a God with the power to take dust from the
earth and create man or picture this we have we serve a God who can create the
stars the universe the planets this Sun the moon God created all of that and
that is the God we serve we serve that kind of powerful God we serve the God
that can take us from worthless human beings to someone who is able to stand
in his presence and go Lord I serve you you cannot forget where we came from we
were slaves and now we are free and we are free to do God's work in 2nd
Corinthians 517 which happens to be my sit my favorite verse it says therefore
if anyone's in Christ he is a new creation the old things passed away
behold new things have come you are no longer that old you anymore now I will
tell you you cannot ever forget who you were though because if you forget who
you were you're gonna forget what you're fighting for I am fighting to make
myself a better person I am fighting to make myself the best father I can
possibly be the best husband I can possibly be and eventually the best
preacher I can ever be but I do that because God pulled me from that broken
person I was to who I am now so I can do these things and it is the same for
every single one of you God pulled you from who you were so you can be a better
person so you can be the best Tommy you can be you can be the best Chris you can
be you can be the best you can be if you remember where God pulled you from the
third point is is always speak the truth I've been trying to drill this into my
kids for years always speak the truth because if you tell one little lie that
lie can snowball and it can affect everything who's here heard the saying
that respect is earned right everyone probably I mean that's been something
that I've always had stuck in my head ever since I was a kid respect is earned
however is it easier to get someone's respect or to get someone's trust and
or a historical question I think people tend to carry a decent amount of respect
for just people in general people I think trust is more part of respect okay
so if someone steals from you someone steals from you would you be able to
trust that person anymore it'd be really hard right if someone lies to you it's
hard to believe anything they say anymore right so what are we doing as
Christians if we're not doing what God wants us to do we are lying to God
however God still trusts us think about that if you don't do what God has you to
do you are lying to God but yet he still trusts you to carry out his will and his
duty that he puts in your life and yet we can't trust people who lied us it's
hard for us to trust people who steal from us but yet when we lie we cheat we
steal God still trusts us enough to send his son Jesus to die on the cross so we
can get to heaven so that we can do his work you want to fix the problems of
this world you trust God bring God into it we need to stop trying to shove him
away in Zechariah chapter 8 verse 16 that says these things these are things
which you should do speak the truth to one another judge with truth and
judgment for peace
Proverbs 21 18 a false witness will perish but the man who listens to the
truth will speak forever that right there is why God's Word will last forever
because it's truth Satan all of the lies Satan has will fall away but God's truth
of his love will last forever because it's true any false thing out in the
world right now it's eventually going to die off I mean look at all these
traditions that have come and gone there there were a lot of there's so many lies
out there like for instance there's a cult out there that believes you have to
sacrifice your firstborn still there's cults out there that believe that
there's the first Church of Satan which is an actual church I looked it up it's
really weird because I did first time I ever heard Dan tell me that I thought
it was lie I'm not gonna lie I'm like there's no way that someone actually
named their church the first Church of Satan but they did but you want to
what's even crazier that's the 15th time someone's named their church the first
Church of Satan every other one failed because it's based on lies the reason
everything around us is falling apart is because so many things around us are
based on lies it's not based on the truth anymore
second Timothy 2 15 be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a
workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of the
truth and everything you do especially when you're a Christian you are approved
by God to speak the truth you're going around and I've seen it before you go
around in your day and you don't ever bring up the word of God or you go out
in the day and you purposely don't tell the truth because you're afraid it might
offend somebody or you're afraid of what someone will think well you know what
who cares what they think if you are speaking the truth about who God is who
cares what they think that does not matter what matters is the truth lives
forever you have to speak the truth you cannot lie about who God is you cannot
lie about the power that God has and the things he's done in your life if you are
waking up every day that is a blessing from God you need to cherish that you
need to remember God gave you that breath in your lungs it didn't come from
some scientific little magic thing that people try to make people believe it
comes from God let's be real the human body is the most complex thing on the
planet there is not a single person alive that fully understands every
aspect of the human body the biggest one being the brain because the thoughts
people have the ideas people have the way the brain works is so complex not
even the most powerful computers can comprehend what a human brain can and if
you're gonna sit there and tell people that's just it happens because of
evolution and not by some other miracle you are crazy the only way that that
kind of stuff is possible is because God did it God created such a precise
universe that if we were just a little bit closer to the Sun we'd all fry to
death but if we were just a little bit further away we'd all freeze to death
you realize if the moon were not in the sky the whole earth would be flooded
underwater because the gravity from the moon is what controls our tide if
there's no moon there's no tide that means it's just high tide all the time
and if it's those things those those things in creation you have to realize
that it is not by chance it is because what God said in the very beginning in
Genesis God created it God created everything it's not a lie that is the
truth and that still is the truth the Bible is the most printed book ever and
it is also the only book that has been around for thousands of years you know
why because it is the truth about God and God protects his stuff
I'm gonna go to Acts chapter 17 and verse 23 says for a while I was passing
through and examining the objects of your worship but I also found an altar
with the inscription to an unknown God therefore what you what you worship is
ignorance this I proclaim to you to an unknown God why would anyone want to
worship an unknown God exactly do you see that is exactly how the world is
today we are trying to worship so many other things that we can't even
possibly remember what's real anymore what is true anymore but the God we
serve is always true the God we serve brought us up from slavery to sin so
that we can be saved the God we serve created everything the God we serve has
never lied to you the God we serve has never stolen from you the God we serve
is always here for you and you know what the best thing is the God we serve is
the only real God there is that's who we serve that is the God we serve so what
does it mean to serve God to live knowing that God is real do everything
in his name and why do we do it because he sent Jesus Christ to die on a cross
so you can be saved that's why we do it not just because God commands us to not
just because it's the right thing to do we do it because if God loves us that
much then shouldn't we love him that much if God loves us so much that he
sent Jesus Christ to die shouldn't we show him that respect show him that love
if God never lies to you and never steals from you never gives you more
than you can handle shouldn't you serve him in return you want to know what it's
like to be happy serve God you want to know what it's like to be successful
serve God you want to know what it's like to not be faced with temptation
every day and struggling on who you were and who you are now serve God and yes I
understand that we all have our busy lives we all work and whatnot go to
school and whatnot but you know what that is not an excuse not to serve God
so in a way of conclusion I'm just gonna do a quick recap for one don't fall into
frost teachings don't let the world's lies affect your relationship with God
remember who you were without Christ and who you are with Christ and don't lie
about who God really is don't be ashamed of the gospel that's Romans 1 16 don't
be ashamed of the gospel don't be ashamed to tell people the truth of who
God really is and why we serve him
so as we go out and as we finish our week and come back next week or Tuesday
or whenever think about that how can you serve God today how can you make sure
that you're always putting God at the top of your life instead of down below
something else I'm telling right now it is hard it's a lot of work to make sure
that you're putting God at then everything it's hard work but what did
God create Adam to do God created Adam to work he didn't create him to sit
there and do nothing he created Adam to work and then he gave Adam Eve to help
him do that work God gave us people in our lives to help the work get done if
you are still alive and you are still breathing there's work to be done so
don't let them don't let the world prevent you from letting God's light
shine because that is why it's so important that us as Christians have to
be out there telling people we have to let God's light shine in a world of
darkness because if we don't we're gonna be just like the Israelites were back in
Egypt as slaves and I don't want to see what a world without God would be but if
we can't do what's right and serve God and only God then that is what we're
gonna do we're gonna see a world without him hopefully that ain't what it takes
for Jesus to come back for us to actually see what that would look like
and what's even scarier is are you gonna be the one where he says get away from
me for I never knew you are you gonna be the one that he says welcome my good and
faithful servant
so let's get out there let's serve God let's do the right thing and speak truth
and if you haven't been I'd say start studying more and repent because every
in every almost every chapter I've ever read of the Bible there's something
about serving God anyway I'm gonna have the praise team come up and we're gonna
sing a song and during the song I want you guys to look into your own hearts
and ask yourself have you been serving God and everything have you or have you
been lying to God saying that you're a Christian and you want to follow him but
haven't really been following him
then I'll play right now I I've caught myself doing that many times and I've
repented already and I'll do it again because there's many times where I'll
sit there and I'll say yeah I want to serve God I want to do God's work and
that's something else comes up and like not I can't I can't do that right now I
have to do this instead we have to remember to serve God always don't fall
into the busyness of the world you could fall into the business of Christ though
apparently