Welcome to the cross Power Church podcast.
You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.
We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the
cross. Now let's join the service.
God is good. I miss that see all the time God
is good need to keep that in mind.
I find that the, the, the more you, you stay focused, the
easier it is to stay focused. I don't know how how to explain
that, but it the more you are active about serving the Lord,
the more likely you're going to stay serving the Lord.
OK, So you need to keep that in your head and in your heart.
We've got way too much that we can be thankful for and we got
greater things ahead than behind.
So I want to mention something because if you go over in Second
Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, it talks about or the Holy
Spirit speaking because he's really the one that that spoke
the word into existence. And, and he says that the word
of God is good for a multitude of things.
It's good for correction, it's good for rebuke.
It's so and so forth. And sometimes it's like the Lord
give me give me some word that is really exciting to share, you
know, and, and encouraging for somebody.
And then other times it's like God, are you for sure?
Are you, Are you sure on that? And how stupid is that?
You know, and, but then he knows our weaknesses and I sitting
here during this worship service and, and got one confirmation,
another confirmation and a third confirmation, you know, and so
he encourages us along. But I want to remind you that as
I just mentioned over there in that passage, it may be that one
person's getting encouraged somehow and the other one is
getting rebuked at the same time.
OK, so just keep that in mind before you throw stone.
I'm just fine. I heard it said actually here
one time, maybe twice that somebody mentioned preaching to
the choir and sometimes that's how I feel.
But somebody said even the choir can forget the words or
something along that line and so.
There's a lot of truth. To that, I don't know if that
came from, you might have, but it was.
It's a good word. And so I want to remind you of
that and say wake up. Oh, Sleeper.
OK. And by the time that I was nine
years old, I want to give you just a little bit of it'll tie
in. So just just bear with me.
But by the time I was nine years old, I've been going to church
all my life, which wasn't long, but it seemed long to me, OK.
And and while I was going to church, I accepted Jesus Christ
as my Savior and I struggled with him being the Lord.
But I find that that's not something that's uncommon
because most people have that problem.
But I also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
By the time I was nine years old, I remember praying in
tongues for hours at the altar. And I mean, I was nine years old
and I'm praying lost in my prayers at the altar, crying my
heart out and praying in tongues.
And by the time it got a midnight or something, it was
way late. And everybody else is gone,
except for a few people there that stayed, the pastor and his
wife or whatever. And my parents and somebody had
to get on one side of me and somebody had to get on the other
side of me. And they had to carry me along
because I couldn't even walk. I didn't even have my legs yet.
You know, I mean, I was just that if you hear the expression,
sometimes drunk in the spirit. And again, I've been drunk
before, but that was in the spirit, not in the world.
And when I was young, I repeatedly was told that Jesus
could return at any time. We were just talking about it,
right? OK, we're singing about it, but
he could come at any time. Whenever I was a teenager I got
caught up in my sinful ways and I would come in at night and
though I believed my parents were fast asleep.
I. I'd be sure to tell them good
night, not because I was such a great kid, but because I wanted
to make sure they were still there.
And so if I didn't get an answer whenever I say goodnight, Mom,
you know. I'd say it a little bit louder
and I mom, because I knew if if the rapture came, my parents
were godly. I know they weren't doing what I
was doing. They were giving me the model
for what I should have been doing.
But. I knew that they would go.
I didn't know for sure I'd go because I knew I wasn't doing
what I was supposed to. And if they didn't answer, I'd
speak louder. Then I'd open the door and then
I would ultimately turn on the light.
And then once I saw that they weren't on the.
Bed. I would walk around to the far
side of the bed, look on the floor for a couple piles of
clothes that might have been left behind, just like I might
have been left behind. All right.
And and it was that kind of conviction that I started with
whenever I started going down the wrong way and trying to do
my thing. But after a while that fades
off. After a while, your hardened
heart because of the sin that you commit.
And your desires overriding the the the the leadership of the
Holy Spirit or conviction of the Holy Spirit, you have a tendency
to get dull in your senses spiritually.
You have a tendency to not not even feel Him whenever he stirs
your heart or tries to, or not to hear His voice when he talks
to you, because you've cluttered your ears and your heart with so
much other stuff that it's hard to hear.
And over a number of years, I became hardened in my sin, and
the return of Christ never seemed to take place.
So I began to tell myself that the imminent return of Christ.
It was a mistaken concept. I allowed myself to believe that
Christ's return might happen someday, but a long time from
now. And I had all the time in the
world to be the Lord of my own life rather than the servant of
some faraway God. And as it is with sin, such
thoughts led to greater sin and even greater hardening of my
heart. And I began to deny that there
even was a God. And I found myself surrounded by
those who called themselves atheist and agnostic.
And I declared that Christianity, as with other
religions, was simply a crutch for those who are perishing to
help folks cope with the reality that whenever they die, that's
it. And I've noticed that if you're
willing to embrace a lie, the enemy is really ready to give
you the lie. So I was going through the
University of of Houston, University of Houston down at
Clear Lake and then University Park and I was going through the
school and I was studying psychology, which turns out to
be one of the most useless things I've probably done.
OK, we're my wife and I are talking about all these
snowflake degrees that are out there these days.
Now psychology is not so bad, but you can't get anywhere with
it with a four year degree. And so I was kind of wasting my
time, but I was studying psychology and psychology in the
school of psychology. They have really a strong
conviction. A lot of a lot of teachers, you
know, legends in that discipline will tell you exactly what I
just said, that it's just a crutch.
It's there's really no God. And I'm able to be able to deal
with that. You have to have some way to
deal with it. So you create a God instead of
him creating you, he just created him.
So you're God now. Really.
OK. And and that's exactly where I
wanted to be. I wanted to be God because I
wanted to be able to do whatever I wanted to do without any
problem with that. And I don't think that I'm the
only one. And as I look back now, I can
see that my life had taken the course that was precisely
opposite of the one that was described in Psalm chapter 1 as
being blessed. If you read there in Psalm
chapter 1 verses one through 3, let's do that right now, it
says. How blessed is the man who does
not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of
the sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scoffers, but his delight
is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day.
And night now a lot of us would say, well, yeah, that that's
more appropriate for me. I I, I love the word of God and
I love the Lord. But do you meditate on it day
and night? Maybe you do.
I hope you do. Just just pointing that out,
says. He will be.
Like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields
its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
Now let's just take a second and go back to that first verse.
Consider it again, because a lot of times we have a tendency just
read through something. We didn't catch most of it, but
we read it. So we're going to go back and
we're going to read it again. The.
Blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked.
Nor stand in the path of the sinners, nor sit in the seat of
the scoffers. On the other hand, the one for
whom Doom lingers hangs out with.
Those who do not fear the Lord. It's the opposite is just as
true as what I'm getting at, OK? He listens to the voice of the
world and gradually accepts it to replace the truth.
It's just very similar to what you'll find in Romans chapter 1
when they embraced a lie instead of the truth.
OK. And it goes on.
And if you keep dwelling on that for a minute, he's replacing the
truth with a lie. And he stops walking and he
takes his stand with sinners who rejected the biblical notion of
God. And then he moves from standing
to sitting. Now I'm going to tell you,
people say, well, I want the Lord to lead me, but he's not
going to force you. Therefore, if you find yourself
sitting, he's not going to drag you, OK?
It's much easier for him to get you back on the right path if
you're at least moving. But there's a natural course
that takes place. And at first you're walking,
you're hanging out with certain people who you don't need to be
hanging out with. And you start listening to the
voice of the world and you start accepting a lie instead of the
truth. And then you find that you
you're no longer walking. And then you find that you're
sitting seated with the scoffers who ridicule and mock the name
of Jesus and the church, his bride and the word of God.
And it's. Much more difficult the further
you go. That's why there are a lot of
people who started out in church and now they're 75 years old and
they never darken a doorstep of a church having in years and
they are so far from Christ it's unbelievable.
I mean, it's like they never even started out on the right
path. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 18
says pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit
before a halt. The fall, that's where I was,
that's where I ended up. I fell.
The world had created some. Lure that I embraced and now I
found myself having fallen from the point of thinking I'm God
and I can do it however I want to the point of I'm flat on my
back and I got nowhere to look but up.
And how many of you realize that God loves you despite the sins
that you've committed? However.
There's always that however, however.
You must also know that as much as God is a loving God, He is a
holy and a just God and He will not let those who practice who
make a lifestyle of sinfulness to enter into His presence
except for condemnation. Now Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 27
says that it's appointed unto men wants to die and then the
judgment every single man, woman and child.
Anybody who's drawn a breath is going to stand before the Lord
at some point, and God will not allow you to fall if you're
walking with him. You stumble and you it's.
It's almost like, for example, when I started learning the
voice of the. Lord.
And I wasn't 100% sure. Is that God or is that just me?
Anybody else had that problem before?
OK. And, and you think, well, it
might be got, hey, it's better to err on the side of caution,
which doesn't mean think it's you.
It means think it's him. OK.
And and if it lines up with Scripture, you step out and you
do what he's you think he's telling you to do.
And as you do that, if you make a few mistakes, it's kind of
like the guy on the trapeze. You know, or whatever the.
The, the tightrope Walker or whatever, and they have Nets
down below, unless, I mean, I guess some don't, but most of
them I wouldn't do it. They wouldn't even try it in the
first place, but especially if there wasn't a net.
But anyway, God's got a net. He is your net, OK?
And he's wanting you to step out and follow the, the, the word
that he's putting into your heart.
You know, when he tells you to do something or is putting
impressing you somehow to step out and basically put him to the
test, prove him that that that. And she also proves that you're
willing to try. But if you sit back and you do
like, you know, well, I don't know.
And and it might just be me. I better do nothing.
You it might be that you're just missing out on something and
somebody else might be missing out on something that the Lord
had intended all along. It's better to err on the side
of caution now. God will allow you to fall.
He allowed me to fall, but he allowed me to fall because I was
in rebellion to him. OK, so if you're walking in a
way that you're not supposed to be walking, if you're
associating and, and, and living in a place, a lifestyle, making
it a practice to do things you know he doesn't want you doing,
then guess what? After a while, you're going to,
he's going to let you fall. You know, at first he's holding
on to your hand, and after a while, if you're saying, no, I
don't want you to hold my hand, I want to do my way, I'm going
to do my thing. Guess what?
OK, just fall then. Yeah, he still cares about you.
But sometimes when you fall, then you're a whole lot more at
to look up because that's whenever you realize, oh, I got
a problem, right? OK, so God will allow you to
fall to the bottom of the bottle.
God will allow you to fall to the bottom of your hierarchy of
importance and and He'll allow you to fall to the bottom of
your life, which is no life at all.
Or at least it feels that way. For you'll be like the prodigal
son who thought that he didn't need his father, who thought
that he didn't need his father's house.
He set a course for himself, kind of like Frank Sinatra.
He said, I'll do it my way, right?
That's what he did. But Scripture declares in
Proverbs 1412 and also in Proverbs 1625, maybe in another
place too, I don't know, but it's at least twice.
It says there's a way that seems right unto men, but the end
there of his death so. There is a way that seems at the
time that it's got to be the right thing.
If it doesn't match up with what the Lords telling you, it's the
wrong thing. And I've learned from experience
that one. You've got to be in the word in
Matthew. I'm not Matthew, but John
chapter 14. I'm sorry, 15 verses 4 and 5,
John chapter 15. You know, that's the one that
says I am the true vine. You are the branches, right?
OK. And it says that you have to
abide in him. He says abide in me.
That means you dwell there, you stay there.
That's where you're hanging out all the time.
But a problem is that there's a lot of people in the world today
that they say they're Christian, and they probably are, but
they're abiding way too much in the world than they are than in
the Word. They're not abiding in Christ.
And the more you abide in the world instead of in Christ, the
more likely you are to end up stopping your walk.
And then you're standing. Next thing you know, you're
sitting and you're scoffing and you're ridiculing.
You're doing things you never dreamed you would have done.
And you're not the same person you used to be.
And God is a long ways away from you.
Now, if you will turn to him, he hears the cry of those who are
repentant in their spirit. OK, he does.
But Scripture says more than one spot that if you are a wicked
person, because that's what you are at this point, you've
you've. Turned from the Lord, you've
embraced the world. Guess what?
He doesn't hear the cries of the wicked.
Now he hears everything, but he when it says that he doesn't
hear the cry. What it means is that he's not
moved to action on their behalf. They're not his kids.
Now, the reason why I started out talking about myself was
because I started out in a good spot.
Though the prodigal child found those he thought were his
friends. Though the prodigal child found
his millions, his wealth and his fame, he ended up with nothing.
No friends, no money, no position, No title, no pride.
All that he'd longed for had crumbled and vanished.
He was left. With one thing.
The desire to be fed by the same stuff he's feeding the pigs
with. Now it's in Luke chapter 15.
You're not familiar with the story, but it's it's an example
of how the Lord will let you just go ahead.
And if you're going to be hard headed and you're going to do
your thing, he will let you hit rock bottom.
Now let me tell you, in case you missed it, the prodigal child,
the Sinner, that stinking, miserable Wretch started out in
his in the House of his father, in his father's house.
Think about that. I mean, because this isn't just
about some wayward Sinner. OK?
It is, But he started out in his father's house.
So you can be in the Father's house, you can be here in the
church, and you can be saying, Oh yes, praise God, Hallelujah.
And if you're not careful and you'll allow little things to
come in, after a while, you're not going to be in the same spot
that you used to be. You won't be in the House of
God. You won't even have a desire to
please him. You may even do what I did and
deny him and say there is no God and you'll know.
Down deep, there is a God. But you'll say it with your
lips. There is no God because you're
too busy trying to do your thing.
Don't think for a second that He went from having a wonderful
evening meal and actively fellowshipping and loving His
Father to suddenly demanding of his father that he be allowed to
leave the church, I mean his father's house, and to
disassociate himself from his father's family.
It didn't happen overnight with him, nor does it happen
overnight today with any of us. In Luke chapter 15 where that
story takes place in the 17th verse, it says.
There came a day when he. Came to his senses.
He woke up. He realized that it had been a
lie. It was kind of too late in one
sense, because now he's hit rock bottom, he's in the pigpen and
everything hadn't gone right and it's a mess.
But he realized it was a lie. The fact that he realized it is
actually a blessing of God because in Second Corinthians
chapter 4, verse 4, it talks about how the God of this world
blind has blinded the minds of those who are in it.
OK, now if our citizenship is in heaven and we're walking abiding
in Him, guess what? We may be in this world.
We're not of this world and the blinds aren't on us.
If we walk away from him, who is the light, who is the truth, and
allow the enemy in the world to put a blind on our eyes because
we didn't want to see the. Truth.
Then it takes the grace of God basically to take that blind
back off of us so that we can see the truth again.
And while he's sitting in that pigpen and he.
Realizes that it's. A mess and his life's a wreck,
and it's to no good end. The Lord takes the blinds away a
little bit and allows him to see that.
And that's grace. Because if we didn't see where
we were, how would we ever have a need of anything, right?
But when we see that we're a Sinner, well then we have we
know we have a need. So he got up.
Say it.
He got up. OK.
He got up from his calamity and made his way back home.
Now realize those around his father's house didn't know that
he was living in a pig pen. There's nothing in there that
indicates that anybody around his father's house saw him in
the pig pen or that they knew he was in the pig pen.
OK. And I say that because sometimes
you may find yourself, if you're hard headed like I was, you
might end up in the pig pen. And when you find yourself there
and everything's a mess and you're just wishing you were
back in your father's house, don't let the enemy deceive you
and say and lie to you and buy his lie one more time, because
he will. He'll tell you.
Oh, but those people over at your father's house, they know
where you've been and they know what kind of miserable rat you
are. And, and you'll be like, oh, I
don't know if I don't want to go or not.
You know, I kind of want to be over there, bro.
I can't really go. I can't show my face around
them. They would, what might they say?
It shouldn't matter so much what they might say.
It matters what he has to say about it, Right.
But we'll have a tendency to stay away from the church when
we realize that we've messed up and the place we need to be is
back in the Father's house. So just go anyway, OK?
And you might be amazed at how many people would lovingly
embrace you and welcome you back, just like the Father did,
because they have the Spirit of God living within them.
And if he is love, the love is existing there too, right?
So the prodigal didn't care who might see him along the way.
He didn't care what the neighbors might say.
He cared about one thing, and that was getting home, returning
to the presence of his father. And while he was yet afar off,
the father saw him right, You know that story.
And he saw him that he was making his way back to the
house. His father wasn't ashamed.
His father wasn't embarrassed. His father didn't say, boy, who
do you you think you are anyway? Some nerve you've got.
His father didn't say that, but he came running.
But he didn't come running Before the guy got up and
started walking back, some of us said, well, God knows where I'm
at. If he wants to do something
healing, he can do it. We got to get off up off our.
Butt and we got to be moving for him to be able to use this
better for him to be able to do anything with us.
It's like I just said that a while ago, did I not?
And some here might say to yourself, I don't have to get
up. I don't have to go down front.
I can return to the Father right where I am.
But I'm going to tell you, according to Second Chronicles
16, verse 9, which says the eye of the Lord is going to and fro
across the globe, OK, around the world, to see whose heart is
wholly His, that He might strongly support them.
OK. He's looking for somebody that's
not just going to lay down, sit down and refuse to get up unless
he was to drag you off, OK. And if you remember right, in
First Samuel chapter 16, whenever David was about to be
anointed the king to replace Saul.
The prophet was looking at the brothers and going, oh, that
must be him. What did God say about it?
Said no, it's not him. You're looking on the outside,
I'm looking on the inside. God looks on the inside.
OK, so get up from that position of the muck and mire of your
sin, just like he did, and head his way in Ephesians chapter 5,
verse 14. In Ephesians chapter 5 verse 14,
there's a really interesting verse there.
The Holy Spirit through the pen of the apostle Paul provides us
with a warning. He says, awake, O sleeper, arise
from the dead, and Christ will give you light.
OK, well, what's that mean? I mean.
Is he dead? Says Rise from the dead.
Now it's talking about a believer or somebody who has
named the name of Christ. In our situation here, you could
say that they they know who God is, but they've allowed
themselves to stop. Walking.
Start laying down in the pigpen with the enemy, OK?
They've allowed themselves to embrace the lies of the world
instead of the truth of Christ and, and the word to that
believer who's not acting like a believer because he's reaching
out for what the world's got to offer.
And therefore he's lying among the dead who are spiritually
dead, right? Because he's doing what they're
doing. And the word of the Lord to that
person is rise up out of that mess.
Stop acting like you're a Sinner when you're supposed to be a
Christian right now. I'm, I'm just not going to get
into all the little details of things, but the Holy Spirit
knows and you know, he knows and he's convicting certain people
and he's telling you, hey, you know that thing that you're
doing you thought nobody knew about.
I know. And it's time you let go of that
and you get up and you start moving my way.
You see, it's like the parable of 10 virgins or brides spoken
of in Matthew chapter 25, the 1st 13 verses.
And I want for the sake of time go there, but I'm going to say
it again, Matthew chapter 25, the 1st 13 verses, I'm just
going to tell you there were 10 bridesmaids or not bridesmaids,
brides. OK?
There are 10 virgins and they were all, all ten of them were
considered virgins and brides to the groom.
OK, Now it helps if you know a little something about the
custom of the time, so. Way it worked back then it was
the guy that was the groom. He would accept, you know, this,
this lady or embrace this lady as his wife.
However they the, the marriage part of it wasn't fully finished
because he would have to go back to his dad's house.
He would have to prepare a place for that bride and then he would
come back and get the bride, which is very similar to what
you read in John chapter 14 in the first 3 verses when he said
hey. Hey, don't let your heart be
troubled. I'm going to go away, but when I
go away, I'm going to come back and get you one.
Because that's exactly what the groom does.
He comes back to get his bride. He doesn't come back to get the
whole world because the whole world hasn't received him.
Is there as the groom, OK, But he does come back to get the
bride. And, and so there's 10 brides,
there's 10 virgins. There were ten of them waiting
for the return of the bridegroom.
There were ten of them who had prepared themselves for the
wedding celebration. There were ten of them who had
on that the wedding garments. There were ten of them who had a
Lantern to stay up and watchful for the groom to come.
All ten of them were, but there were five of them who let the
light of their. Lantern burn out.
There were five of them who decided the groom wasn't going
to come anytime soon. There were five of them who got
LAX and decided to lay down and take a nap.
But it was then that the bridegroom came.
He didn't come for all 10. He only came for those who were
ready and eagerly looking for his return.
It came for those who had kept their oil in their lamp.
It trimmed the the Wick and and let their light shine.
And Grim came for those who were watchful and eagerly awaiting
his. Return.
I'm telling you, Jesus Christ is the groom.
Just get that real clear. You're supposed to be.
Right, but only five of them out of the 10, we're ready now if
you move that to modern day, OK, and make it just use the
averages, OK, that means about half of them that were in the
church didn't go. Why?
Because they warmed that bench every Sunday.
So. What was the relationship like
with Christ? What did they do behind the
scenes whenever nobody else was looking?
Christ has not fallen asleep, nor has he stopped watching over
His bride, and there's nothing to keep him from returning this
very day. Second Peter chapter 3 verse 9
declares. These words the Lord is not
slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness or
slowness, but he is long-suffering toward us, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance. Now who is this us that's
referred to in this verse? Let me say it again.
But he's long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should
perish, or that any should, but that all should come to rather
to repentance. Who is the US?
Well, if you look back in the 1st chapter, second Peter, he's
talking to the believers. Now think about that again.
So here you've got this verse that says it's not as though
he's just deliberately being slow and he's kind of half
forgotten that he's supposed to be coming back.
But he doesn't want anybody to be left behind and the.
US referred to there is is a pronoun that refers back to the
believers, including himself who was writing this OK.
So you could rightly say the US is US.
And about some sinners out there in the world someplace, the US
is US, OK? And he's saying he doesn't want
any of us to be left behind. So why would the Holy Spirit,
speaking through the pen of Paul, say that because he loves
you, the groom loves the bride, But the groom doesn't isn't
going to take the bride if the bride is deliberately being
unfaithful before they've even finished the wedding, right?
Man, this is some tough stuff. I'm, I'm, I'm glad nobody's
going. You know, you're stepping on my
toes. I'm leaving.
But I'm just saying when I feel like the Spirit of God is
telling me to tell you so somebody needs to hear this.
And I think a. Lot of us need to hear this.
What happened to me and what happened to the prodigal can
happen to any believer. If she or he's not on guard, we
have a tendency to stop too soon.
We may say a prayer call out to the Lord because we know that
whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
So we do that part, but then. We allow sin to harden our heart
and drive a wedge between US and the one that just saved us.
And and I'm talking to. The bride.
I'm I'm talking to the choir, right?
Why? Because the choir knows.
But sometimes they forget the verses.
They forget the song they're supposed to be singing and they
start singing a different song. And I don't know if any of you
have ever done that before, but I've sang song and then found
out, you know, I got a little bit of this song in there and I
got a little bit of that song. I just got melded them all
together. You can't live that way.
Hebrews 9, chapter 28 or Chapter 9, verse 28, Hebrews 928 tells
us that. So Christ, having been offered
once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not
to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting
for him. Who?
The ones who are eagerly waiting for Him now.
This should be a real simple question or answer, but I want
you to think about it. Are you eagerly waiting for him
because you love the groom, or are you eagerly waiting for him
because you'll be glad to get out of this mess that you're in
down here? And I'm telling you, there's
some truth to that too. But the the heart of the bride
should be for the groom. And then I find that a lot of
times among the brides, among the church, there's probably
about half of us that. Really aren't eagerly awaiting
his return. In fact, if we thought that he
was coming right now, you'd be like, hey, can I get about 10
seconds? At least say I'm sorry, forgive
me, Lord. Right?
Because you know that there's things in your life that don't
necessarily need to be there. Though we may, like the five
foolish virgins, fail to keep our lanterns burning, we may
have decided the bridegroom isn't coming back for anytime
soon anyway. But this could be the day for he
is returning for those who are eagerly awaiting for him in
First Thessalonians chapter 4. And you know the passage, just
read it in First Thessalonians chapter 4 verse, starting with
verse 13, it says, and now, dear brothers and sisters, he's
talking to the brides. Yeah, even though there's
brothers and sisters in there says we want you to know that
what will happen to the believers who have died so you
will not grieve like people who have no hope for.
Since we believe that Jesus died and he raised he was raised to
life again, We also believe that when Jesus returns.
Then say if Jesus returns, says when Jesus returns, God will
bring back with him the believers who have died.
Now you might have a different translation up there, but that's
the way mine reads. OK, so it's the same thing.
I don't know what translation that is, but sometimes I pick up
something that's real simple. You know, the easier the better.
Sometimes we tell verse 15 it says, we tell you this directly
from the Lord. We who are still living when the
Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with the
commanding shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the
trumpet call of God. First the believers who have
died will rise from their graves, and then together with
them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be
caught up in the clouds to meet the.
Lord in the air, yeah, there there's a lot of people and
there's going to be more that evidently are coming around on
the world, on the surface of the world, walking the same ground
we are. And they're saying I'm the
Christ you've heard of. Some what, you know immediately
that that's not true because that's not the way it's going to
happen, right? He's going to snatch up the
remaining bride, those who are eagerly awaiting for Him, and
we'll meet Him in the air with those who have gone before us.
Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on
the earth will get caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air, and then we'll be forever with the Lord.
So encourage each other with these words.
Now there's a little issue that you might find in there.
How can believers who passed on be returning with Christ and
rise up from the grave at the same time?
That's interesting, but that's what I said.
OK, so. Let me just.
Tell you how this works before the devil tries to tell you how
it works and he tells you a lie. OK, here.
Here's how it works. OK, whenever, if you go to
Philippians chapter 1 verses 21 through 23, and you don't have
to turn there right now necessarily, but that's where
it's at. Philippians 121 through 23.
Also in Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 8, it they both
refer to the fact that to be absent from the body is to be
present with the Lord. If you are a believer, OK, so we
know that whenever their body was given up, the believers went
to be with the Lord. We know that they're not sitting
around in a grave somewhere, OK? They went to be with the Lord,
and then we know. That that's true because when he
comes back, it said just a second ago when we read it that
he would have them with him. OK, So they're going to be
coming down with him. OK, now how can they be rising
up out of the grave and coming down at the same time?
Because that's the time that according to First Corinthians
chapter 15, we're this perishable must put on the
imperishable. This mortal must put on
immortality. We have to have a new body
because we got eternal life ahead and this body isn't good
enough, right? And that's what's taking place
right then at the rapture of the church.
That's whenever the bride's getting caught up.
That's whenever the those people first who have already gone on,
they got the first dibs, I guess.
And so they're going to get the, the, the changed body.
OK, That old body, you said, well, what if you're cremated?
Oh, what if you are? You think God doesn't know where
every little Adam is? He knows where.
I mean, it could be, and I've said this before, the fish could
have eaten you if you were spread out in the ashes in the
sea, and they could have pooped you out and something else
happened and something else happened and God still knows
where you're at. God has not lost sight of you.
He knows right where you're at. He knows what you're going
through. And he says, come on back,
right? Because I'm fixing to come and
you don't want to miss. This to those who say I'm
already saved, it's obvious I love the Lord because I come to
church faithfully. I don't remember, you know,
sometimes, I mean, I only put it this way.
Sometimes we come up with some of the the lamest supporting
things, you know, to support what we're trying to do.
And it doesn't even, it's not right at all, you know, and yet
we, that's where I understand. That's my story and I'm sticking
to it. Well, you might need to change
your story. Recall this John chapter 14,
verse 15. Jesus said if you love me, you
will what? Keep my commandments?
You will keep my commandments. What if you love me?
Second John chapter 6, I'm sorry, verse 6 it says this, and
this is love, that we walk in obedience to his commands.
OK, So he says if you love me, you're going to keep my
commandments. And then it's basically repeated
in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. Most of you will remember that.
That's where Matthews reveals the Great Commission.
OK. Jesus is is already died.
He's risen from the grave. He gives them a Great Commission
before he leaves. And that Great Commission is
according to if you study it out, not it's not just for the
12. It was for all who believe that
includes you and me. OK.
And in Matthew 28, verse 18, and for the next couple verses there
he renders there, gives this Great Commission telling that
they're supposed to go out and they're supposed to start at
Jerusalem, right? And then they go to Sumerian and
then all the way to the uttermost parts of the world.
And that's for you and that's for me.
Not just the 12 that great commission's not simply a great
because it was wonderful. It's great because it's
important. It's great because is mag.
I don't know the right words. Critical.
It wasn't the great suggestion it could.
Accurately and easily be called the Great Commandment.
And what did he say? If you allow me, he'll keep my
commandments. Now he's giving you this great
commandment. What was it?
That you got to go save. People, no, you can't save
anybody. You can barely save yourself,
right? What you can do, though, is you
can point them to the one who can, OK?
And you don't have to wait to disciple somebody and you don't
have to wait until they get saved to start discipling.
OK. And and what you need to do is
you need to find the people around you that need somebody to
point them towards Christ. And you start pointing, you
start working, you start showing them love, you start reaching
out and telling them about Jesus.
Don't you sit back and say, well they can surely figure it out.
By the way, I live my life. What if they didn't and tomorrow
they get in a car wreck and you were the one that God had there
just so that you could bring them to him, and you thought,
well, one day they'll see it in you.
I'm going to close with this John chapter 21.
In John chapter 21, Christ has already died.
He's already been resurrected and He's shown himself to His
disciples, His followers, and the disciples are in this boat
out on the water, and they've been fishing all night long and
caught no fishes, right? OK.
And Jesus positions himself on the shore and he's got a little
fire going, and he's got fish already so that he can feed
them. So it wasn't that he needed
their fish, but he tells them, hey, if you'll throw the net on
the other side of the water, even though you've been fishing
all night long on your own or didn't work, throw it on the
other side of the boat rather and and you'll and they caught
a. Huge net full, right?
And then he says bring them here.
Now I'm paraphrasing, but you can go check it out.
He says bring them here. Said come show me your catch.
Come show me a fishy. Cod There's a whole lot of
people that name the name of the Lord that are among the brides.
And one day the Lord's going to come, and one day we're going to
stand before him, and one day I believe.
He's going to say show me the fishy cod and some of us aren't
going to be. Able to do a very good job of
that. Because we spent too much time
thinking about worldly things. We we sang the songs of the
world, we meditated on things of the world and and we just browse
through or kind of peruse through the church every now and
then, once a week at least. But our relationship with Christ
isn't there because we're not even doing what He said would
prove that we were his. Now what was that?
If you, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.
And one of the greatest commandments was go fishing for
real people, not just fish. OK.
And yet we kind of act like, well, that's the preacher's job.
That's Lance's job. When he gets here, man, he'll
take care of that. We'll just take that.
We'll take your name down, Sir, and we'll we'll let him know
about that. No.
Why don't you just start telling him about Jesus?
Why don't you start telling everybody about Jesus and set
this thing on fire so that everybody can go to heaven?
All right. It wasn't just for the 12, it
was for all of us, but we just have a tendency to pick and
choose what we want and live our own way and we get kind of in a
comfortable. Spot.
I don't think Jesus or the disciples had too many
comfortable spots. The only comfort they got was
being right up next to Him, and the only comfort that he got was
being right up next to the Father.
They stayed there. Just like in John 15 where he
said, hey, you need to dwell here.
You need to not just cruise by on Sunday, you need to stay
dwelling in me. If you'll dwell in me, then I'll
dwell in you. And then there's that
relationship and there's the fire that'll lead to salvation
unless we shut our mouth and just stay with the comfortable
flow and hope that we don't actually stop and sit down or
lay down and not be able to get back up.
I'm going to tell you one last thing and I'm going to shut up.
But in Revelation chapter 21, verse 4, there's a really
unusual thing there. For it says that there will be
no crying in heaven, but then it says that he'll be wiping away
your tears. Now, how is it that there's no
crying in heaven if she's got, I mean, there's got to be tears
for him to wipe, all right, if he's going to wipe them away and
then it says there's no crying. I'm I am convinced I know the
answer to that. The bride, before she's allowed
to have eternity in the presence of the Father in heaven, that
bride is going to face judgment. It's not condemnation.
He's not going to kick you out and say you can't come here, you
got to go to hell, but he is going to judge you to see how
well you did the things that he told you to.
Do did you just say Hallelujah, Amen, praise God and you did
your little church thing or did you really seek after me?
Did you really do what I told you to do?
And the first thing is show me your fish.
And whenever he says that and we go, well, I don't have any fish,
I think we're going to cry. I know I would cry to think that
He offered me an opportunity to rescue through working with him
to rescue the perishing. And all I could think of was my
own desires, my own comfort. And I didn't want to, you know,
I didn't feel like it that day. I'm going to cry.
And I think all of us will cry because none of us are perfect.
But if we realize that now, maybe there'll be fewer tears
for him to wipe away from us later because we decided we're
going to do something about it before while there's still
breath in our lungs. We're going to get up and we're
going to start telling people about Jesus in a way we never
did before. Now, you know, I used to wear a,
I'm just, I used to wear a, a Jean Jag with the arms cut off
and rode a motorcycle and whatever.
And I see there's some, I know there's a motorcycle kind of
place. You can't just wear a jacket
that says you're part of a Christian motorcycle group and
think that's good enough. OK, you need to wear Jesus
Christ and you need to walk every day in such a way that
you're reaching out and you're fishing and you're trying to
save as many as you can, even though it's not you.
All right? It's him, but he's working with
you. It's a.
Commission. That ME Co means what?
Together, it's a Commission. There's so many times we don't
let him work. Why?
Because we're not working and it's a Commission.
I'm going to pray. Pray with me up.
Father God, I thank you for your love and your mercy.
Thanks for listening to the Cross Powered Church podcast.
May you know that true hope, peace, and salvation can only be
found in Jesus. If you're near Campbell, TX, we
would love for you to join us in person.
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