It's a beautiful day to be in the house of the Lord, amen?
Amen.
Amen, be praying for pastor this morning
as I know there's some time difference
between where he is and where we are.
He's preaching at a fellow pastor of his church
in Pulaski, Tennessee this morning.
So my apologies, but you're stuck with me today, amen?
That's all right, okay.
I got one clap, all right.
That's all right.
Listen, it's not about me, amen?
Brother Dwayne already said it's not about me.
It's about him, and it's about doing what we can
to please him, amen.
So be praying for pastor.
Today I'll be reading out of John chapter 12
if you have your Bibles or your electronic devices,
whatever you brought the word in with you.
Hopefully it is the written word of God, amen?
Chapter 12 in John, we'll be starting in verse 44.
I'll be finishing in 50.
When you have it, say amen.
Amen.
There we go, we are right there with me.
All right, in verse 44, Jesus cried and said,
he that believeth on me believeth not on me,
but on him that sent me.
And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
I am come to a light into the world
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
And if any man hear my words and believe not,
I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world,
but to save the world.
He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words
hath one that judget him the word that I have spoken
the same shall judge him in the last day.
For I have not spoken of myself,
but the Father which sent me.
He gave me a commandment,
what I should say and what I should speak.
And I know that his commandment is everlasting life.
Whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
This morning, I would like to preach with you
for just a few minutes on a thought,
his word still stands.
I'll pray for you if you pray for me.
Father, I love you today and I thank you.
God, your word has been broken
and I know it will not return void
because your word also says that it won't.
Father, I pray right now God,
as I have submitted myself unto your anointing,
Father, I pray that you would guide my lips
and guide my tongue.
Help me to speak the words that are edifying unto you, Lord,
not for me to be lifted up, but for the name of Jesus.
And Lord, I ask that you be with me in this time.
Help us to have ears to hear what your spirit is saying.
And in Jesus' name, I pray, amen.
I'm gonna go ahead and chew this mint.
Get that out of there.
But after singing like that, I needed one.
Can I get somebody to say amen?
Last thing y'all wanna see is white particles
come flying out of my mouth, right?
That would not be good.
I was preaching in the youth one Wednesday night
and I was just letting it fly.
And I got to realizing there's debris coming out of my mouth.
And I don't know why, but it stopped and it hit me.
I asked them, I said,
y'all seeing spit come out my mouth?
They're like,
I was like, oh no, let me wipe.
I don't care.
Usually it's dry, I'm so nervous.
There's nothing in there, but it happens sometimes.
Everybody's like, yes sir, it does.
It happens.
It happens, I'm telling you.
I'm trying not to do that today.
Let's get into what the Lord has for us this morning, amen.
As we look at the book of John as a whole,
as well, our text this morning,
we see a profound distinction in the phrase, the word.
Did you know that in the Greek,
the original language of the New Testament,
two different Greek words are used
to refer to the word of God.
One being the logos and the other being rama.
The most commonly known of these two Greek words is logos.
Logos or logos.
In the New Testament, logos is used to refer
to the constant written word,
which is recorded right here in the Bible.
The second being the Greek word rama,
which is used to refer
to the instant personal speaking of God.
Isn't it great that our God isn't a silent God, amen.
He's a speaking God.
His written word is a record of his speaking,
but that's not all.
He continues to speak today
and he wants to speak directly to us.
Both the logos and the rama
are crucial to our Christian life.
God uses this, his logos word,
to speak his rama word to us.
And God's living instant speaking always corresponds
and never contradicts his written word, amen.
John begins in this gospel by calling Jesus the word.
In John 1,1 he tells us,
in the beginning was the word and the word was with God
and the word was God.
Using this designation for Christ,
John presents him as the personal word of God
and indicates that in these last days,
God has spoken to us in his son, amen.
Scripture declares that Jesus Christ
is the manifold wisdom of God
and the perfect revelation of the nature and person of God.
Just as a person's words reveals his or her heart
and mind Christ as the word reveals
the heart and mind of God.
John gives us three main characteristics of Jesus Christ
as the word, the first being that the words relation
to the Father.
You see Christ was preexistent with God.
Before the creation of the world,
he was a person existing from eternity,
distinct, but in eternal fellowship with God the Father.
Christ was divine.
The scripture says the word was God,
having the same nature and essence as the Father.
The words relation to the world,
it was though Christ, it was through Christ
that the Father created and now sustains the world, amen.
The words relation to humanity,
the word was made flesh, thank God for that.
The Son of God took on human nature, but without sin.
This is the basic statement of the incarnation.
Christ left heaven and entered the condition of human life
through the gateway of human birth.
Why are you telling us this today, Pastor Brian?
I'm telling you this because I believe
that what God has burned into my spirit
to preach to you this morning and all week long,
that we must get back to the word of the living God
being the source and the priority in our lives.
We must get back to what thus says the word of the Lord.
We must get back to living our lives
in accordance to his holy scripture.
We must get back to proclaiming, believing, protecting,
and preaching the unadulterated word of God, amen.
It's become cliche to say,
have you read your Bible lately?
It's become cliche to address those things
because we all in the essence of ourself
have failed to do so, amen.
We get our clips, we get our highlights,
we get our videos on social media
and that's how we view, I've been in my word,
but have you really been in your word today?
I would ask that question, not pointing fingers,
but even speaking to myself, amen.
We get too distracted sometimes.
It's almost like a cop out for all ministers
and the church leaders, but in reality,
it is a very representation of God, this written word.
You look around the world today
and it does not take long for you to realize
that we have gotten away from the word.
When you look around at our own life,
it's not hard to see that we might have gotten away
from the word.
When you look into your own self,
it's not hard to see that we may have gotten away
from the word, just like in school students,
oftentimes have to study the words.
At least, it was when I was in school,
nowadays it's way different.
They got tablets and all kinds of electronic devices,
but in our studies, we had to study the book.
It had our direction, it had information in it
that would ultimately help us to pass the test
or even pass the class.
I came to tell you today that your Bible
is that very book for the believer.
It is the book that holds all the answers
for life's difficulties.
It is the book that we can receive revelations
from the Father.
It is the book where we can revive directions
from our lives.
Do you know it?
Because God's word still stands.
Amen.
I often wonder what kind of world my children will grow up in.
Maybe some of you ponder that very same thing.
I worry about it and I pray about it.
In a world engulfed with so much darkness,
where are we to turn?
John chapter 12 and verse 46 says,
I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes
in me should not abide in darkness.
When the world seems dark and it seems to be
the only getting work, Jesus said, I have come as a light.
If we turn to Jesus, if we will just give our cares
and our worries to Jesus, he is the one
and the only one who can be the light for us
that dispels all darkness, amen.
We can abide in his light.
We sung about it this morning.
It's interesting to me, it always blows me away
when worship songs are sung, not chosen by myself,
but they seem to just line up with what I'm preaching on.
God has a plan for us this morning in this atmosphere
and in this place and I fully intend on subjecting myself
to God's will this morning, amen.
That's a little extra that's not in my notes, right?
But I plan on doing that, hopefully you will too.
But it's important to understand that we see the enemy
wants to keep you in a place of constant worry.
The enemy wants to keep you in a place of constant anxiety.
The enemy wants to keep you in a place of discouragement
and doubt and the enemy wants to keep you
in a place of fear.
But the word says in 2 Timothy 1 verse seven,
for God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but a power and of love and of a sound mind.
It's through Christ the Father created the world
and through Christ that it is sustained.
When the world is falling apart, the word still stands,
amen.
We worry about who will be president.
We worry about who's gonna be in the Senate
or what's Congress going to do.
We worry about who's gonna be our next general overseer
in this coming up election.
We worry about the state of our schools
and what our kids will be taught.
But I came by this morning to encourage you
that it does not matter, why?
Because the Bible says if you train up a child
the way they should go, they shall not depart from it.
So for my kids' sake, they're okay.
I believe they're gonna be okay.
They may stray, but the root of the word
is ingrained in them and it will stand.
You need to understand that the will of God
will be performed even if it comes through
the carnality of man, which is another reason
why we can't consume ourselves with the worry
of this world.
It doesn't matter.
The book tells us what the ending is going to be like, amen.
It doesn't matter who's in charge.
It doesn't matter who's running the show.
It doesn't matter if they're a Christian,
if they live by our faith, if they believe in Jesus Christ
or have him as their savior.
All that matters is God's will will be performed
in this very world, even if it comes through
the carnality of man, even if it's not the president
we wanted in there, even if it's not the next leader
that we thought should be the one to be the next leader,
it does not matter because God's will will be performed.
Amen.
God is still on his throne.
And if we believe what the Bible says,
then it's going to get worse before it gets better.
But God's will shall be performed in this world
without fail because his perfect will and his word are true.
The word still stands today.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
We get so wound up about everything going on
and we let the enemy use that against us,
be encouraged today.
God is still on his throne and the word still stands.
Verse 47 gives us a little insight and it says,
"'If anyone hears my words and does not believe,
"'I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge
"'the world, but to save the world.'"
That's hope.
That speaks hope to me today.
That that Savior Jesus came to save me.
Jesus makes a very profound statement here.
He identifies his specific reason for coming
to this earth in the flesh.
He came to save the world.
The world in its physical sense was created by God
and is therefore perfect.
But he was speaking to us,
the inhabitants of this spirit, of this physical world.
He came to save us.
He came to give us a way of escape from this world.
You may be thinking, wow, that's great.
No judgment for me, just salvation.
But as we look at the next verse,
we read what is in my opinion,
one of the scariest verses in the Bible.
Verse 48 reads,
"'He who rejects me and does not receive my words
"'has that which judges him.
"'The word that I have spoken will judge him
"'in the last day.'"
So we understand this very profound statement
captures the essence of the choice presented to humanity
to accept or to reject the teachings and beliefs
and faith in Jesus Christ.
There are three specific points
to take away from this passage of scripture alone.
Examining the weight of Jesus' words,
the choice before us and the consequences of that choice.
For my note takers, point number one,
I have titled the authority of Jesus' words.
You see, Jesus' teachings are not merely suggestions
or philosophical musings.
They are the very words of life.
John 1.1 reminds us that in the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the word was God.
Jesus as the living word speaks
with the full authority of the Father.
His words offer life, truth, and a path to salvation.
When we encounter the teaching of Jesus,
we are not merely encountering historical doctrines
or historical documents or ethical guidelines.
We are engaging with the divine wisdom
that crafted the universe.
So if you find yourself this morning
going through something difficult,
maybe you don't know a way out,
maybe you don't know what you're going to do,
maybe you've given up.
I'm here to tell somebody today,
don't you worry about the troubles in this life.
Don't you worry about what the enemy,
if it'll take away your joy.
Don't you allow child of God, the enemy,
to discourage you, to fill you with anxiety,
fear of what you're going through
because the Bible says,
when I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
When anxiety is great within me,
your consolation brought me joy.
Cast your cares upon the Lord and he will sustain you.
He will never let the righteous be shaken.
Amen.
There's a hope that we have in Jesus
and his authority he's been given through the Father.
Amen.
Secondly, we see that there's a choice
presented to humanity.
We have a choice.
Nobody's going to bend your arm.
My children don't have a choice
when it comes to what dad says, right?
I got any dads in the house, any strict fathers.
My children at my house do not have a choice.
It's what thus saith dad, right?
Right?
Y'all know my kids.
Some of y'all are like, yes, amen, preach.
I love my children,
but sometimes they get a little crazy.
I gotta set them under dad's authority, right?
But my children don't have a choice.
I gotta do it.
When I was a kid, I didn't have a choice.
It was torture if I didn't do what mom and dad said to do.
I'm telling y'all, I can tell the story right now.
Y'all be laughing, but I don't want to embarrass my parents.
They sitting right there.
I'll go ahead and tell you anyway, it's funny.
So real quick, and this is way off, it's not off topic.
It speaks to the authority that I'm talking about.
But me and my brother growing up,
all we wanted to do was go outside.
We come home, we threw our book bags in the room,
and we were outside, and we knew we had to be back by dark.
My parents, for the most part, didn't know where we were.
But back then was a different time.
We were out in the neighborhood playing kickball, football,
with kids in the neighborhood just having fun.
Well, in summertime, my mom worked thirds,
dad was at work, when mom was asleep,
because she worked thirds, we couldn't go outside.
We weren't allowed to go outside unless a parent was awake.
It's a good rule to have, right?
Problem is me and Brandon weren't going to stop playing.
That's the problem.
So we was in the house roughhousing, wrestling,
probably breaking stuff, we did that a lot.
And my parents, this is torture, y'all, I'm telling y'all.
When I get to this, it's torture.
So my mom wakes up, and she's fit to be tied,
and she should be, because my sister was always
just in her room by herself doing her own thing.
She stayed far away from me and my brother.
But we were in there, and my mom got so mad,
she said, y'all, come in here with me.
We had to go in her room, in the dark room,
and I was on one side of the bed,
my brother was on the other,
and we had to sit there while she slept.
And for two real hyper high energy boys,
I remember it, so we were old enough, that was torture.
Me and Brandon would peek around the edge of the bed,
hey man, what are you doing?
He's like, shh, go wake mama up.
That was torture.
We were under her authority in that moment.
But Jesus Christ had the authority of the Father.
But the difference between that is we have a choice to make.
Jesus can have all authority,
he can give us the guideline,
he can give us the directional path,
but we have a choice to make,
whether we choose to follow him or not.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus extends this invitation
to follow him, to accept his teachings,
and to enter into a relationship with God.
This choice is very crucial.
In John chapter three, verse 16 through 17,
it declares, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believes in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
For God did not send his son into the world
to condemn the world,
but that the world through him might be saved.
Accepting Jesus and his words
means embracing the hope of eternal life.
Rejecting him leads to a rejection
and the very means of salvation offered by God.
I have come to tell you this morning
that it's not too late.
You may be sitting here today
and questioning things in your mind.
You may be sitting here today
and the enemy has deceived you into believing
it's too late for you.
That you're alone,
that no one can help your situation.
You may be looking or searching
for a purpose in this life.
Can I remind you of what the Bible says
in Jeremiah 29, 11,
for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.
Plans to prosper you, plans not to harm you,
plans to give you a hope and a future.
You see, God has a plan for you.
The hope that Jeremiah is speaking of here
is the very hope that we have in Christ Jesus,
who was and is and is to come.
You see, there is a choice to make.
There is an end to this life coming
and Jesus is the only way to God.
The world will tell you
that you can find your own way to God.
The world will tell you that God is loves
and he's very,
and the message nowadays is acceptance.
You'll be accepted for who you are and what you are.
I have a very specific problem
with that idea of acceptance.
Yes, we preach all the time from this pulpit,
come as you are,
and that is true,
but there's no way, shape, or form
that God intend on you to stay where you are.
There is a plan and a purpose for your life
and that plan and purpose has to be subjecting yourself.
The Bible says to deny yourself,
to pick up my cross and follow me.
It's not about a sacrifice of one thing or another.
It's a total sacrifice and surrendering of yourself.
You see, in the first coming of Jesus,
he did not come to judge,
but he makes a very, very scary proclamation in verse 48.
It states that if we do not receive his words,
then we have that which judges us,
which is his very spoken word,
which is the scary because as I look around the world
and even the church as a whole,
I see something that's getting farther and farther away
from the word of God.
It seems as though we have lost our way.
It seems we have lost our focus.
It seems we have lost our priority,
which should always be the perfect will of God.
As a church, we have begun to compromise the word of God.
Amen.
We have begun to compromise the word of God
in a way that has allowed the enemy
to set up false teachers and false preachers,
false prophets and false apostles
to lead his people astray.
In churches all across America,
there are wolves that are in sheep's clothing
proclaiming the false gospel
and the body of Christ can't distinguish between the two
because the word is lacking in their own life.
The door of compromise has begun to swing open.
The glass window has a crack that has begun to splinter
and become a big shattering piece of glass.
Where does it end?
Where does the compromise start and where does it stop?
Paul urges us in Romans 16, 17 to 18,
now I urge you brethren,
note those who cause divisions and offenses
contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them.
For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ
but their own belly and by smooth words and flattering speech
deceive the hearts of the simple.
Paul's warning us here for this very thing I'm talking about.
You see, we are supposed to watch out
for those that profess Christ yet come in
with a different teaching
other than the absolute truth of scripture.
You must understand that there is a spirit
that is at work in this world today
that wants to cancel out you and I and our principles.
I can almost hear it.
If you'll compromise, if you'll just relax,
if you'll just bend a little on your principles,
I wanna tell you today that there has been
too much relaxing in some of our churches.
Any amount of compromise is too much compromise.
I'm afraid we've came to the day
that Jude talked about in his epistle.
Jude sat down to write about our common salvation
and became so overwhelmed in passion to warn the church.
He said, while I sit down to write
about our common salvation, it overwhelmed me
and I need to say to you, wake up and contend for the faith
which was once delivered to the saints.
Make no mistake about it.
This isn't a message of doom and despair.
It's a call to the men and women of God
to get back to the scripture and get back to the word of God,
to get back to Jesus as the Lord of our lives.
It's one thing to have Jesus as Lord of your life
than to know Jesus as Lord.
He's gonna be identified as Lord,
cause that's who he is, but is he Lord of your life?
To open up our hearts and once again,
allow the scriptures to transform us,
then we will see the power of God manifest in ways
that we have not seen before.
Then we will begin to see a change in our lives
in those around us.
God is still on his throne and he is still able
to do a great and mighty things in us
and in our lives and in our world,
because his word still stands, amen?
Third thing we need to realize is that
the consequence of that very choice.
We have a choice to make and there's consequences
with every choice we make, amen?
We're always trying to find out what's the best,
what's the best consequence of the choice
that's best for us.
That's me.
Brian's always trying to figure out
what's worked best for Brian, right?
I have to understand sometimes that maybe Brian's idea
is not the best idea and that's okay,
but there's a choice and a consequence to that choice.
Jesus makes it clear that there is a day of judgment coming.
That day, a day when our response to his word
will determine our eternal destiny.
The choice to reject Jesus and his teachings
is not a personal preference or an alternative option,
but it carries eternal implications.
Hebrews 9.27 states, as it is appointed for men to die once,
but after the judgment.
You see, we will all stand before God one day.
The word of Jesus are the standard
by which we are to be judged.
As the embodiment of truth, life, and the way to the Father,
we all will stand before God one day
and it will be the very word of God
by which we will be judged.
We will give an account for our life.
Then I realize I do not follow his word.
We stand before God in the judgment
and we realize, wait, maybe I missed something.
Maybe I didn't follow as much as I thought I did.
That sounds harsh, doesn't it?
That sounds tough to be judged and I would agree,
but then I realize that Jesus is the one who died for me
and given me a way of escape.
There is a consequence,
but you can make a choice today to follow Christ,
to follow the word and you will be changed
because his word still stands, amen?
You can go ahead and come to the piano.
I'm gonna be closing.
Not a very long scripture today,
but when I stand before God one day, and in my mind,
this is how it, it's not how it works.
Please, this is not scripture.
This is Brian's idea, all right?
So differentiate that between the two,
but when I stand before the Lord one day,
it's as if I'm gonna stand there
and obviously give an account for my life,
but in my mind, Jesus, or God has a board
and on that board is me, is my life.
From birth until death, accomplishments,
things that I've done, things that I have achieved
in my life and I'm gonna give an account for everything,
but the scariest thing for me is if I look at that board
and then I look back to God and I say, that's not me.
That wasn't, that's not me.
God, you've got things, that's not me.
And then for God to tell me, I know that's not you,
that was the plan that I had for you.
You see, there are things in this word
that we are not even aware of yet.
There are things in the scripture that,
and hear my heart, I know I'm nowhere coming.
I know I'm nowhere close, right?
It's the standard and I know I don't measure up.
There has to be a sense of understanding
that I'm not good enough, that's okay.
Not doing it for me.
I'm okay with not being good enough,
but I don't wanna stand before the Lord one day
and think I missed out on something
because I didn't have my nose buried
in the word of God, in Jesus, and the reality of that,
hit me so hard throughout this week, y'all can stand.
So the question then becomes for you today,
if you find yourself standing before the Lord,
what will he see?
Will he see someone who's lived their lives
according to the scriptures?
Will he see someone who followed his will in their life?
Will he see someone who has let Jesus be Lord of their life?
We have a choice to make, amen?
And I wanna encourage each and every one of you,
I wanna encourage anyone that's here today
that does not know the Lord, Jesus Christ,
as their Lord and Savior, that today is the day for you,
if you choose so.
No one can make you, maybe you're feeling a tug
on your heart right now so strong,
that you're not really sure what to do.
I've been in that very spot where it felt like
my heart was gonna beat out of my chest,
and I felt anxious, I felt overwhelmed,
and all I could do is just cry
and not understand really what's happening.
But as you sit in this church today,
I wanna encourage you that these altars are open right now,
and I wanna pray with you.
But there's a choice to be made,
and that choice is an eternal one.
So I encourage you today, maybe you find yourself
in a position where you've fallen away,
you knew Jesus, you knew God as your,
Jesus as the Lord of your life, but you've fallen away,
and if you have, there's a great opportunity
for you to get back in alignment
with his will for your life.
Because one thing I can promise you with 100% certainty
is that God's plan for your life is far greater
than anything you could ever comprehend or imagine.
I love you today, Lord, and I thank you, God, for your word.
I thank you, Lord, that it is everything I need in this life.
I thank you for your word being himself, Jesus Christ,
and my Savior.
I love you today, and I thank you for the opportunity
that I have to speak before your people.
And God, I pray that your word was edifying unto you.
I pray, God, that you would move in the hearts
and lives of us today.
And as we go our separate ways, God, I pray that you would
bring us back at the appointed time,
Lord, I love you today, and I thank you, and I praise you.
If there's anyone that would like prayer for anything,
again, these altars are open, I won't tear you too, too long.
It's an early Sunday morning, amen?
I was very short today.
That's okay.
These past few weeks, and until the end of May, and it may go
longer, a pastor has called us to prayer.
More than that, to spend time in the altars.
We've been opening the church on Thursday evenings,
and it was a designated time of prayer for you to come
and pray in these altars.
And I believe that if we take this opportunity to pray
in these altars, and I believe that if we take this message
today and study these scriptures, and study the word,
and make it a part of our daily life, and our living,
and identify who Jesus Christ is through his word,
and we tie that with that prayer that pastor's
been talking about, I think we will begin to see God
manifest himself in ways, not only in our service,
but in each and every one of our lives,
in ways that we've been seeking and searching for
for such a long time.
Not trying to be scary today with the message of judgment,
but it's a real thing that we need to understand, amen?
I know I do.
It's, believe me, if I could, if the Lord would let me
preach anything else, I would have.
But this has been on my heart all week long.
I don't know why.
I can only hope that God's will was performed.
I know that his will was performed, because I believe
I did what he called me to do today.
I believe I spoke the word that he gave to me today.
Of course, it doesn't compare to how he would have done it,
but I feel like I did my assignment.
Father, I love you today and I thank you.
Lord, bless us as we go our separate ways.
Bless us.
Touch us throughout this week.
God, bring us back next Sunday morning.
Touch our mothers throughout the week, God,
as we approach Mother's Day.
I love you, Lord, and I thank you.
In Jesus' name, amen.