Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We
want to thank you for joining us today, and we
hope you find today's sermon impacting as you
listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.
To find service times and watch messages online,
see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,
enjoy this week's message. Man, thank you, Life
Bible Church. We met Pastor Brad and Jane last
night, and they shared that with us. Saying thank
you isn't really enough. I just told Ana Paula
that that's a miracle to us. I mean, an answered
prayer, a miracle for our family, our church.
And we will tell our children, if God gives us
grandchildren, we'll remember the faithfulness
of life, Bible, and your kindness. So thank you
so much. We love you. Love all of you. Thank
you for your generosity. I'm just honored to
preach the word. And I mean, I obviously feel
undone by your kindness, but I just feel undone
by God's presence. If you have your Bible, we'll
go to 2 Corinthians 9. We don't have a lot of
time, but I can speak quickly. 2 Corinthians
11, I'm sorry. Can we just pause our hearts and
just honor the Lord quickly? I think you know
this one. Hear your people sing. You are holy.
You're the King of kings. So holy. You will always
be holy. In Mexico, we sing it like this. Te
cantarán Oh Santo Rey de Reyes Tan Santo Tú siempre
serás Santo Santo por siempre Lord Jesus, you
are wonderful. You are so holy. You are so beautiful.
You are so lovely, Lord. There is no one like
you. Lord, we've sang it repeatedly this morning,
but Lord, we just remember, no matter who we
are, no matter what you have called us to, Lord
Jesus, Lamb of God, you are worthy. You are worthy.
You are worthy. Oh, desire of the nations, you
are worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy. Lord,
that every nation and every tribe and every language
and every people would know that there is a lamb
that was slain for them. Oh, that every nation
and tribe and tongue would know there is a lamb
who was slaughtered for us. That there is an
Abba Father who loved the world enough to send
His Son to die. Oh, Abba, that we could live
in You, Lord Jesus, are the desire of the nations.
those who know it and those that don't know it
yet. Lord, for those that have thriving churches
and those who meet in secret, you are worthy
of their worship. Lord, for those that have the
scriptures and their language and those that
don't have it yet, you are worthy. Oh, Lord Jesus,
you are gathering people from every nation and
tribe and language and tongue. Thank you that
we get to be a part of it. Lord, if it's through
our praying, if it's through our giving, if it's
through our going, Lamb of God, we just lay ourselves
on the altar. I thank you for this house as I
just prayed for you. You are a house of prayer,
but I want to remind you it's for the nations.
You already know it. You've already been doing
it, but I just even believe in this season, God
is just increasing. Life Bible, your influence
in the nations, God is increasing. Even as you've
been that house of prayer from generation to
generation, I believe even in this season, God
is unlocking nations. Had to see before even,
I just think it's prophetic. There are so many
missionaries in this room and people from different
countries and languages and regions. So God,
thank you that a beautiful church in Harrisburg,
Oregon is making a global impact. I just thank
you for this house. I thank you for this people.
But Lord Jesus, above all else, be exalted in
us. Lord, I thank you that for 25 years, Life
Bible has kept you at the center. You've been
the one thing. Lord, I pray for 25 more that
we would not get distracted. Lord, I pray, like
Mary, I thank you this has been a house, like
Mary, that for 25 years they've sat at your feet
exalting you. But Lord, those storms come and
distractions come and criticism comes and all
the things. Come our way, I pray that Lord Jesus,
for the next 25, they would just keep sitting
at your feet, honoring you, exalting you. I was
just praying for you as a house. I just felt
something for you that I've maybe prayed over
people but never felt over a house. And that
woman broke that jar, that alabaster jar on the
feet of Jesus. And people criticized and people
had all their opinions about what they thought
should have happened. But Jesus said, she has
done a beautiful thing to me. I just thought
the Lord, as I was praying for you, just say
this house, not just individuals, but corporately,
they have done a beautiful thing to me. They
have honored me. They have anointed me. They
have blessed me. They have lifted me up. They
have exalted me. And I just honor you, Life Bible.
You are just this bright, shining light. What
you have, our country needs. What you have, the
nations of the earth need. But I believe more
than anything, the Lord is pleased with you.
The Lord delights over this house. I was praying
for you this morning. I just felt God singing
and dancing and celebrating and rejoicing over
you. Just let the Lord speak over you. This is
a house not just where He responds to worship,
but where He delights to dwell. That you have
built Him. Even just like Jesus would go back
night after night after night. He could have
gone anywhere, but he said, I'm going to Bethany
because they've built me a resting place. All
the presence and the glory of God rests here
because he delights to. He's so excited and joyful
to dwell in your midst. So I thank you for this
house and this people. I pray a blessing in your
favor. In Jesus name. Amen. If you don't stop
playing, I'm never going to start preaching.
Thank you, Pastor Jackie. I think I prayed a
big part of my message. I just want to share
something very simple with you. I don't necessarily
think for most of you in this room, this is going
to be a lot of new revelation, but I do pray
that it is encouraging and strengthening and
prophetic for your faith. As I prayed, I just
felt the Lord remind me of this verse. It's one
of my favorites in the whole Bible. It says this.
In 2 Corinthians 11, verses 2 through 3. I'm
reading in the ESV. I think they have it up there.
The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at
Corinth. And he says, I feel a divine jealousy
for you since I betrothed you to one husband.
Oh, that could be another message right here.
It's so good. We're not going to go there. To
present you as a, and here's a key word, pure
virgin to Christ. But I'm afraid. that as the
serpent deceived Eve by his coming, your thoughts
will be led astray. And here's what I want to
focus on. Two simple words. He said, I'm afraid.
He said, I presented you as a pure virgin to
Christ. I gave you like a wedding ceremony to
your husband, which was Christ, holy, pure, and
spotless. But he says the enemy's strategy, his
scheme is to get you to stray from a sincere
and a pure full devotion to Christ. My prayer
this morning, again, I didn't even know this
was your 25 -year anniversary next month. I wish
I was here for your worship night. That sounds
awesome. I hear you're recording some songs.
Send them our way. But I didn't even read. They
give us a beautiful, like, history of your church.
I didn't want to read it because if I prophesied,
I just didn't want to know anything. But I just,
again, want to encourage you. I believe for 25
years as a church, you've been this. When I think,
honestly, I've been all over the world. I mean
this with all my heart. My wife could confirm.
If someone asked me, what church do you think
of when you think of pure, sincere, undivided
devotion to the Lord? I would say Life Bible
Church in Harrisburg, Oregon. That's honest.
That's from my heart. Now, you can disagree with
me. You shouldn't. I'm right. But I just want,
I believe, to encourage you. This is, I believe
with all my heart, who you've been. But I want
to encourage you. Stay the course. Keep a sincere
and a pure devotion to Jesus. I believe we see
in scripture, this is the call in both Old and
New Testaments, is that God is always calling
his people to this pure, holy, sincere devotion.
I just read it to you. I'm going to focus on
this verse in a moment. We see, obviously, I'm
sure you're aware in Revelation chapter three,
that the Lord is displeased when his people lost
what? Their first love. Again, he's saying you're
doing everything. I think there's a danger for
us as Christians, like especially us as leaders
and pastors, we can do religion on autopilot.
right? We can do church. We know when to lift
our hands, when to sing, when to dance, when
to shout, when to do the things. And the Lord
told that church revelation, you're doing everything
right externally. But he said, I have this against
you. You've lost. He really said, not your fidelity,
not your faithfulness, not your obedience. He
said, I'm upset because you lost your first love.
You lost that purity and sincerity of devotion.
Now, these words in the Greek, I'm a Greek nerd.
I'm sorry. This first word is sincere. It's apiplotos
in the Greek, and it means this inmost deep sincerity
from the inside. It means something that I love
from the BDAG, which is one of the best Greek
dictionaries. It says it's a simple goodness
which gives itself without reserve, without strings
attached. It's an honest, sincere heart. What
Paul is calling them to is, I gave you to Christ
like a pure bride to a husband who says, Lord,
I will give you myself. I will give you my heart
and my soul. I don't expect anything in return.
I don't want to gain anything from this. That's
sincerity. This other word is purity. Again,
we know this word, it can be translated purity
or chastity or integrity. It means there's no
mixture. What I love about this is I think, again,
as Christians, it is possible to be pure and
not be sincere. And what I mean by that, that
is what false religion or legalism is. It says,
Lord, I'm obeying the rules. I'm doing the right
stuff. It's possible to be a missionary and go
to the nations with bad motives. And you're good
Bible -trained Christians. You know this. God
really cares about motive. It's possible, Paul
says, to give your body to be burned and sell
everything that you have and do it without a
pure motive. But I love that Paul's saying, he's
saying it's not that God just wants an offering
that's unstained in purity. He wants one that's
real. He wants one that's authentic and that
is genuine. Again, I believe all throughout scripture,
this has been God's desire. You know this, what
is it? Psalm 25. It's saying the ones who can
ascend the hill of the Lord, it's those with
clean hands, which would be purity, but then
pure hearts. It's not just I haven't done wrong,
God, but from the inside out, I'm offering you
something that's sincere. This is what the Lord
called us and commanded us to do. I'm fascinated.
You know this, the great commandment that Jesus
repeated in the New Testament comes from the
Shema in the Old Testament. And what fascinates
me is I think God would say, you shall obey me
with all your heart. Or I thought he might say,
you shall serve me with all your heart. That's
not what he said. We see cover to cover in this
book. What has our creator been after? He wants
our love. I believe he knows. He says, no, you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
your soul, your mind, and all your strength.
I think God knows if he gets our love, then he
gets our obedience too. Because it is possible
to obey the Lord without loving him. It is possible
to serve the Lord without loving him. But if
you love him, you will serve him. If we love
him, we will obey him. I know you know this.
You're like, come on, man. This is basic stuff.
We're from Life Bible Church. We know this. John
Wesley says, always remember the essence of Christian
holiness. Simplicity. impurity, one design, one
desire, entire devotion to God. I'm not asking
much of you. All I'm asking is entire devotion
to God. What we see, this is the command. These
are verses that maybe some people are afraid
of. I'm not because it's scripture. Jesus said,
if you love anyone else more than you love me,
then you are not worthy of me. He says, you love
father or mother more than me. You're not worthy
of me. I love my daughter. I love this baby that's
in my wife's womb a lot. But I have to wrestle
with inspired scripture that came from the mouth
of Christ. You love son or daughter more than
me. You are not worthy of me. Whoever does not
take his cross and follow me is not worthy of
me. You know, we sat with a couple of, ah, maybe
a year ago, and this man stood up, put his finger
in my face and said, you're a wicked, evil man
for taking your wife and children to the mission
field. He said, you're gonna take them to a dangerous
place and endanger their lives. He said, you're
an evil, wicked man. And I said, I don't, maybe
that's your opinion of me. Yes, I will do anything
to protect my family, but there is an allegiance
that I have that's even deeper to any human on
earth, which is I owe allegiance to Christ. We
owe allegiance to Christ. Again. I got to speed
up. In 1 Corinthians 16, 22, again, this confronts
us. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him
be accursed. And I look at that. Can I just preach?
Is that okay, Pastor Brad? Honestly, and this
is not true for you, but it's true in the world.
Sometimes I go, how are there so many Christians
who don't love God? Maybe I'm being too excited.
That's how I feel. Like, I am a doctor nerd,
but I'm also extroverted, okay? Like, I come
to church, and I'm like, where's the zeal? Where's
the fire? Where's the passion? I know you have
it. And Paul says, if you don't love him, he
said, then you're not worthy of him. Again, not
let him who doesn't obey, we must obey. Jesus
said, if you don't obey, the wrath of the Son
rests on you. But he said, it's about loving
him. Oh, go read the whole context, the Apostle
Paul, 2 Timothy 4. He's talking about this race
that he's run, but then he talks about this beautiful
crown of glory that we're gonna get. And you
go, what do I have to do to get this beautiful
crown of glory? He says, it's gonna be given
to him. And you're like, okay, well, you're the
Apostle Paul. But then he says, it will be given
to all who have loved my appearing. Again, this
cord runs all throughout scripture. What God
desires from us is a sincere and pure love and
devotion that everything that we do, all of our
obedience, all of our sacrifice, all of our serving,
all of our working just flows from this place
of sincere and pure devotion. I got to speed
up. What do we see the danger? The devil and
his cunning deception. So if this is God's desire,
then the devil knows where to attack us. Like
the apostle Paul said, I fear for you that the
devil's gonna lead you astray from sincere and
pure devotion. In Matthew chapter 24, when the
Lord talks about all of those that will fall
away in the end times, again, what does he say
about them? What is one of the markers that they've
fallen away? Their love has grown cold. Not just
their obedience, not just their fidelity. He's
saying, the one of the ways I know they're falling
away is because they stopped loving me. Similarly,
2 Thessalonians 2, 9 -10 is talking about those
who have fallen from the faith and walked away.
It says, because they refused. They didn't refuse
to believe the truth. They didn't refuse to know
it. It says, they refused to love the truth.
Again, what do we see? From Genesis 1 to Revelation
chapter 22, God's desire has always been for
a loving and intimate relationship with his people
marked by pure and sincere devotion. This is
God's design, right? I'm not a philosopher, but
I often think about and ponder like, Lord, why
are we here? Like what truly, truly, truly is
the meaning of this one short little life that
we have? And we see in scripture when you boil
it down, I love the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
It says that you and I, the chief end of man,
the reason for our existence is to glorify God
and enjoy him forever. That the only reason we
exist, yes, I'm a missionary and you should do
mission. But you know what? I'm unemployed in
heaven. There's no more worship leaders. You
gotta, you have a job security. I love mission,
but mission is done for the sake of glorifying
Christ. Right? I love serving. I love all these
things. Yes, we sit at his feet. He always says,
get up and go serve me, but the order is always
important to him. So the Garden of Eden, God
is reaching out to Adam and Eve, but they are
deceived by the serpent away from pure and sincere
devotion. What happens? God pursues. He says
he pursues Israel. He woos her like a husband
to a bride. And what happens? It says they are
deceived. They leave that and they worship the
calf instead of Christ. I'm gonna skip this section.
I could give you so many examples from scripture
where over and over and over, God in his grace
and his mercy reaches out to us saying, all I
want from you is to know you. is intimacy with
you. God's eternal desire. You know, I teach
systematic theology and we always get to the
part where I say, you know what? God didn't have
to create us. We were not a necessity to God.
There was so much love between Father, Son, and
Spirit that they said, what an idea. What a good
idea if we would create humankind. It's not that
we need them. They don't actually meet any needs
to us, but so that we could shower this love
on them and we could know them and enjoy them.
This has been God's desire. So as we prepare
to close, the worship team joins me. What's the
call this morning? This call is that you and
I would give our lives to pursue Christ, to give
ourselves to honor him, to glorify and to magnify
him, but with this, with pure and sincere devotion.
Right? I'm calling us once again, maybe for some
of us in this room, this is new. Maybe you guys
want to experience that. And I would encourage
you this morning, we're going to pray. We're
going to ask that God would light that fire of
first love. But brothers and sisters, here's
what I know. I know that the longer we serve
Christ, I think there's so many temptations.
Maybe it's disappointments. Maybe it's discouragements.
Maybe it's getting offended at God that he doesn't
act or move or work like we want him to do. Maybe
it's God not working according to our expectations.
Maybe it's distractions. We see in scripture
it could be the deceitfulness of riches, the
cares of this life. There's a reason that God
commanded us and charged us to guard our hearts
above all else for out of the flow of the issues
of our life. Because he knows that the enemy
is coming to pull us and distract us from this
pure and sincere devotion. You know, this really
is the gospel. We see 1 John 4, 19, that we love
him because he first loved us. I think if we
ever get this backwards, we've missed it. It's
saying, God, it's not that I, we know this, this
is basic stuff that I, if I do enough good, if
I work hard enough, I'm gonna get your love.
The gospel always reminds us that it starts in
his effort. That while we were still lost, but
we are far away off, he loved us. Again, like
I said, this is the order of the gospel that
everything we do for Jesus flows from our love
for Jesus. I know this is a church that labors
for the sake of Christ and that labors for the
sake of the gospel. But again, I think this is
so important is that we keep this order that's
saying, Lord, it's this first love that burns
in my heart. You know, God, for me personally,
in our example, Lord, the reason we're going
to the nations at the end of the day, it's not
to prove anything. Like, yes, it's to obey you.
Yes, it's to obey the Great Commission. Yes,
it's to obey the call that we have. But deep,
deep, deep, deep down, it's saying, Lord, You
have done so much for us. You've been so faithful
to us. How could we not respond with obedience?
Right? Obedience becomes very easy when we're
living from first love. Like sacrificial living
or giving. Living for God becomes quite easy.
Honestly, I think it's one of the secrets to
the Christian life. I think that's one of the
secrets to the light yoke and the easy burden.
Is it's really, really, really hard when you're
just doing stuff for God out of a dry heart.
But I promise you, when we say, when we keep
ourselves, the scripture says, in the love of
God, you say, Lord, I've been so loved. When
I think about the gospel, honestly, I was lost.
I was broken. I was a sinner going to hell on
the front pew of our church. But Christ, in his
mercy, as we know, died for us. And he rescued
us. And he saved us. And as we meditate on his
kindness and his goodness, As we experience Christ's
great love, how could it not compel us to say,
Lord, I'll do anything. I'll go anywhere. There's
no sacrifice too great, no price too high to
pay. There's no place too far to go. There's
nothing I wouldn't do. Like that woman with that
alabaster jar that says, Lord, I've seen, I've
tasted, I've seen, I've experienced that this
that once was my treasure now is nothing compared
to you. I think about the apostle Paul in Philippians
chapter three. If you read that, the first half
of like verses one through six, he's celebrating
all of his achievements. All the really great
accolades and things that he had. And then he
comes to verse 7. And he says, everything I once
thought was gain. Right? Everything I thought
was meaningful to me. He says, all of it is loss.
All of it is rubbish. Do you know what that word
really is in the Greek? I'm too embarrassed to
say it. It's like a potty word. I'm not going
to tell him, Pastor, about our meeting this morning.
The word he uses in the Greek, he says, everything
that this world, and I want to just preach for
the last two minutes. This world gives us so
many promises that these prizes and these accolades
and these things matter. Paul had all of them.
And Paul says, I now look at all those things
in the word. He says, it's literally done to
me now. He says, because I have tasted and seen
there is a treasure who is greater, who is better.
Jesus Christ. I just want to encourage this church
that we never forget he's the prize, not what
he does for us. Not his blessings, not his healings,
not his miracles. I love those things. He's the
prize. And I often tell Lord, if you never did
one more miracle, never one more healing, if
I never got one more blessing, it wouldn't matter
because you're the prize. You are the reward,
the exceedingly great reward. You are the treasure.
Matthew 13, one of my favorite parables, verse
44, it's the man that says, I will gladly with
joy sell everything because I've found a treasure.
Found a treasure. You know, my missionary heroes
are called the Moravians, that you've heard of
them. And in their day, they would pack all their,
sure you know this, pack all their items oftentimes
in their coffins. and leave everything behind.
And as they're sailing away, they would shout
out. People think, how could you do it? Like,
how could you? Gladly, they knew they were going
to places in the world where there's so much
sickness and death and disease that it wasn't
if they would die for the gospel, just when.
And so out of kindness, they pack in their own
coffins so there's a place to bury them when
they got there, after maybe a year, two, three
of ministry. And as they sailed away, they would
shout, may the lamb that was slain receive the
reward. of his suffering. Because one day, I
pray, Life Bible Church, that every one of you,
that you do some amazing things for God. I want
to. I want to try. But you know what? No matter
what we do for him, if I could just be honest,
something that grieves me in our country is that
we've idolized stages and platforms and ministries.
We've made such an idol of being something. And
I honestly, if I could just be honest, I think
we use God as a means to our own end. Because
no matter what accolades we do for God, they're
all going to go to one place. One day we'll take
our crowns and we'll just lay them at his nail
-scarred feet. Because he's the prize and he's
the treasure. And I just pray for us that we
never lose it. I know you're a house that burns
for him, that loves him. Like I said, I think
this has been a house where for 25 years, you've
been pure and sincere in your devotion. And I
pray the next 25, even pure, even more sincere.
I'm praying that for us. As we go to the mission
field in six weeks, go back. We're just saying,
Lord, like, yes, we want to see great things.
Yes, we want to see revival. Yes, we have so
many dreams and so many churches we want to plant
and so many missionaries we want to send. But
you know what? All of those things are a means
to one end, which is Jesus. We want you honored.
We want you glorified. Can I pray for us, church?
Lord, I thank you for this beautiful house. I
thank you for my brothers and my sisters here.
And Lord, I pray that you would mark us with
pure and sincere devotion for you. And we repent.
And I'm the first one to say, I repent, Lord,
for every time that I've grown distracted, maybe
like Martha, anxious and troubled and distracted
by so many things. And Lord, we just come back
to you. We come back to your throne. We come
back to the cross. And I just pray, Lord, that
we would be a pure people, a sincere people,
that, Lord, we could ascend the hill of the Lord
with clean hands and pure hearts. And I pray
that as we live and we labor for your gospel,
as we live and we labor for your kingdom, Lord,
as we abound in good works for your glory, that
at the end of the day, they all would just be
crowns laid at your feet. And Lord, I pray that
just like those Moravians cried out, let it be
written over our lives. That God, wherever you
have called us to go, whatever you've called
us to do, whatever our vocation or our calling,
that Lord, what would be the banner over us is
may Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that was slain,
receive the reward of his suffering in our lives,
in our families, in our marriages, in our children,
in our workplaces, in our ministries, in everything
that we are, God, that you would be honored and
glorified. We love you, Lord Jesus. We bless
you today. In Jesus' name. Thank you for taking
the time to listen to this week's message. We
are so grateful for those who tune in each week
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