I've got people that are waiting for me in heaven and I'm looking
forward to seeing them. And I think that's going to be
an exciting thing to be able to see them again.
But I don't think they're going to be all that excited to see me
because they've already seen Jesus and they know what it's
like to be at His feet. And as much as it is going to be
great to be able to see those that have passed on, my mom's
one of them. She's there and others that I
know that are that are already in heaven.
But I want to see Jesus and I want to see him first.
He's the one that died for me. And boy, you think about it.
It's a song that angels Can't Sing.
They've never been redeemed. They don't know what it feels
like. And it's an amazing thing that
God did that for us. But in second.
Corinthians chapter 4 and by way of introduction, I want to
remind you that our theme this year is please God.
And all of our spiritual problems I think would be solved
if every person in the church had that as their mindset and
that as their goal. Just please God.
If we could just please God, that would take care of a lot of
our heart issues. And I don't think there's too
many people. If I was to ask you to raise
your hand, I think probably everybody would raise your hand
and say, hey, I want to live a life that's pleasing to God.
I think everybody in here is here this morning partly because
of that reason. You want to live a life that's
pleasing to God. Most of us want to please him,
but often that involves more of a wish or a hope of pleasing God
than putting things in place to actually work at pleasing Him.
And so that's what I want to give you this morning, a short
introduction. And it's not going to be a real
long message this morning, but I want to give you 4 ways that we
can live a life that is pleasing to God.
We're going to read. This passage here in Second
Corinthians chapter 4. But let's have a word of prayer
before we do that. Father, again, we thank you so
much for your goodness to us and for an opportunity that we have
to to be here and again to to be able to open up your word.
I pray that it would be a blessing and a help to us this
morning. God, may we have a greater
desire to live for you, a greater desire to just please
you with our lives and may this be a help and where decisions
need to be made. God, I pray that you'd help us
to make them. Thank you again for all that you
do for us in Jesus name, Amen. The first way that we can live a
life that's pleasing to God we find here in Second Corinthians
chapter 4 and right there in the first verse says, therefore,
seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint
not now, of course, Second Corinthians. 1st and 2nd
Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul.
Paul knew something about going through difficulty.
Paul knew something about dealing with heartache.
He knew something about dealing with hardship.
And so when he was talking to these Corinthians there in this
church, he was not just giving them something that's total or
something that he heard from somebody else or something that
he thought, you know, maybe this would be a help to you.
He'd been through it. He knows.
He knew what it feel, what it felt like, and he knows what it
feels like to want to faint or to feel like you're going to
faint in the middle of the of the battle.
And so the first thing that I want to give you this morning is
this persevere through difficulty.
Persevere through difficulty. The devil wants to destroy this
church. The devil wants to destroy your
life. There's nothing more that that
he would like than to see this church fold up and close its
doors in the first decade of our existence.
The devil is not some pesky little fella that's just walks
in, you know, walking around tempting people.
He's not a, he's not a, the, the guy dressed in all black that's
sitting on your shoulder trying to get you to do the wrong
things, as opposed to the Angel that's sitting on the other
shoulder that's trying to get you to do the right things.
That's not the devil is not he, he's, he's our avowed enemy.
He said over and over and over and, and, and the Bible says
over and over and over that he wants to destroy your life.
He wants to destroy this church. The devil doesn't come dressed
in in red clothes and you know, with pointy horns and a
pitchfork like everybody tries to portray him as he he comes as
everything that you've ever wished for.
That's how the devil is going to come across you.
He's an Angel of light. The Bible says in first Peter
chapter 5 and verse 8. Be sober, be vigilant because
your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. He wants to destroy your life.
If you're if you were. Driving through a.
Safari park of some sort where there was wild animals and you
saw a lion sitting there. I can promise you that you're
not going to get out of your car and go over there and try to pet
him. Or if you do, you might maybe if
you have a death wish, you'd do something like that.
And I've seen different videos of tourists who got out to
switch places in a car or something in the middle of a, of
a park like that and got attacked by the tigers or the
lions or whatever else. You'd have to be a fool to get
out of your car and, and, and, and go where a lion is.
And the Bible says that the devil is a roaring lion.
He's walking about seeking whom he may devour.
He wants to destroy your life. And part of being a Christian is
fighting the devil and fighting his temptations to make us quit
on God. Oh, he's trying to make you
quit. You know, those feelings that
you have sometimes. Is this really worth it?
Is all of this everything that has cracked up to be?
Can I just go live my life the way that I want to live my life?
That's the devil trying to get you to quit on God.
This was years ago, obviously now, but during the Monday Night
Football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York
Giants, one of the announcers, this was when Walter Payton was
still playing back in the, in the the 70s and the 80s.
But he made, he, he just made an observation that, that Walter
Payton had accumulated 9 miles worth of running yards.
And the other announcer said yes.
And that's with getting knocked down every 4.6 yards while
you're doing it. If anybody knew what it was like
to get knocked down, the most successful running back probably
ever, even the very best, understand that you're going to
get knocked down. The key is getting back up.
And Walter Payton accumulated 9 miles worth of yards because he
got knocked down and knocked down and knocked down and
knocked down, but he kept getting back up.
In fact, I heard a story about a coach that was doing some
recruiting and he was. He went to a high school
football game and he was trying to, he was recruiting for
college and he was that was his job.
He was just, he was a scout and he would go and watch these and
watch these, these kids play. And so he came back to the coach
and he said, man, I'll tell you what, I saw this player and he
every single time, I mean, he would.
He would carry the ball and he would get knocked down and
sometimes I didn't think he was going to get back up because of
how hard he got hit. But he would get back up again
and next play they would hand him the ball and he just kept
pounding that thing up through the middle and he kept getting
knocked down. But every time he got knocked
down, he would he would get back up and be ready to go right on
the next play. I think this is a guy that we
need to have on our team. And the coach thought about it
for a second. He said I'm not so sure.
And he said, what do you mean you're not sure this is he gets
knocked down, but he keeps getting back up.
And he said, I want the guy that's doing all the knocking
down. That's who I wanted, my team.
Obviously that's, you know, it's a joke when it comes to those
things, but the devil is going to try to knock you down over
and over and over and over. You've got to keep getting back
up and persevere through those difficulties if the devil can
make you quit. And give up on God, which he's
done many, many times over the course of history.
People that that that were on fire for God, people that were
all out for him, people that had a great desire to serve him.
And something happened in their life.
Something got in the way that slowed them down a little bit.
And they started backing off of all the things that they used to
do. And they stopped reading their
Bible the way that they should. They stopped praying.
They stopped being involved in the ministries at church.
They stopped going to church. And eventually what happens is
the devil wins. He made you quit.
You're no longer useful for God when you're in that position.
If he can get you to throw in the towel and say, oh, it's,
it's too hard, then he's won the battle.
And make no mistake, the Christian life is a battle.
It's a spiritual battle, but it's a battle nonetheless.
And we've got to fight through those things for the cause of
Jesus Christ. Fact, turn over, keep your
finger there in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
We're coming back, but turn over a few pages.
The Second Corinthians chapter 10 Second Corinthians chapter 10
verse #4 The Bible says this. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bring it into captivity every thought.
To the obedience of Christ, Bringing into captivity every
thought To the obedience of Christ.
The secret to winning the battle against Satan is found right
there in verse #5 If we bring into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ, then it'll be very hard to quit on
God. Galatians chapter 6 and verse 9
says let us not be weary and well doing, for in due season we
shall reap if we faint not. You've got to keep going for the
Lord. You've got to keep pushing
through. There's a harvest on the other
side and sometimes you can't see what's happening below the
surface. You can't see what's happening
underground. But God is working and God is
moving and he wants us to just keep going for him.
In due season you shall reap if you faint not.
He says, turn over to Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter 3, verse #12.
And obviously this is the apostle Paul talking as well.
And I think as he's writing, many times he would go back in
his mind's eye to a certain incident or a certain thing that
happened to him. Maybe maybe it was when he got
stoned, or maybe it was one of the times when he was
shipwrecked, shipwrecked, or maybe it was one of the times
when he was being beaten, or maybe it was when he was sitting
in that Philippian jail. I don't know.
But as I can't help but imagine that as Paul is writing these
words, he's thinking about the things that he's suffered, and
the things that he's been through for the cause of Christ.
And he says this in verse #12 not as though I had already
attained either were already perfect.
But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which
also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one
thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus. I think a lot of those things
that Paul's talking about, maybe it's some of his past failures,
some of the times when he was on his way to Damascus or so, some
of these other cities where the Christians were at and putting
them in prison and, and allowing them to be put to death.
And maybe that's some of the things that he's trying to
forget. But I think also he's trying to
put out of his mind the fact that he's had to suffer a
tremendous amount for the cause of Christ.
He's had to go through a lot of things to be able to do what
Christ has asked them to do. They said.
I don't think about those things.
I'm pressing forward. The things that have happened
are in the past. I can't change anything about
the past, whether it's a success or whether it's a failure or
whether it's a difficulty. I can't change the things that
are in the past. But.
I can go forward for God. Wilma didn't have much of A head
start in life. She was twenty 20th of 22
children. And when she was born that she
obviously was was in a she came from a family that didn't have a
lot of money. But when she was four years old,
she developed polio in her leg and her leg became crooked and
twisted and deformed and to the point where she had to wear a
leg brace. And the doctor told her that she
would never walk again. But she decided that she was
going to walk again. And so seven years of physical
therapy later, she finally walked for the first time
without her brace and she went out.
And at 12 years old, she went out for the girls basketball
team at her public school. And she didn't make the team,
but she determined that she was going to work hard and she was
going to be on that team the next year.
And so she practiced with another girlfriend of hers and
two boys that entire summer. And the next year she made the
basketball team. And as she played, the track
coach was watching and, and thought this this girl has some
great potential to be a track star.
And so we asked her to come out and run in the track team.
And before long, she was actually the.
Fastest 1 in the. State And before long she had
actually made it onto the Olympic team.
And she went to the Olympics in 1956.
Didn't place, didn't didn't do well at all.
She she was outrun by everybody else.
But that bitter disappointment actually spurred her to go on
and to do more and to to work harder into practice.
And in the 1960 Olympics, Wilma Rudolph won 3 gold medals, which
was at that time the most a woman had ever won in any
Olympics. The temptation is to ask for
things to be easier. I mean, I, this is a physical
situation, obviously, you know, a twisted leg.
And it'd be easy to just say, well, you know what, this is my
lot in life. I guess this is what's going to
happen. I guess I'm just done.
I can't do anything else. She determined that she was
going to go forward and do more and do do everything that she
could to accomplish things physically.
But the the temptation for us in our spiritual lives and, and
sometimes even in our physical lives, but the the temptation
for us in our spiritual lives is to ask for things to be easier,
to back off as Christians so we don't have to work as hard.
John F Kennedy said do not. Pray for an easier life.
Pray to be a stronger man. That's what we need.
That's that's what we need in our in our Christian lives.
That's what we need in our spiritual walk.
Nobody, nobody's asking for things to be difficult.
Nobody wants things to be hard. Nobody wants life to be to be
something that we have to fight through.
But you can you look at, you look throughout history and you
see the ones who accomplished the most for Christ are the ones
who usually had to suffer the most for him.
At the same time, the ones who had to had to really persevere
through those difficulties are the ones who really accomplished
something for Christ. And that's exactly what Paul, I
believe is trying to get across to us back in Second Corinthians
chapter 4. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry as we have received mercy, we faint.
Not persevere through difficulty, but he continues in
verse #2. But have renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by
manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every
man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake.
For God, who commanded the light, the shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the.
Face of Jesus Christ The second thing that we have to understand
if we're going to live a life that's pleasing to God is not
only that we have to persevere through difficulty, but #2 we
have to preach Jesus Christ. And when I say preach Jesus
Christ, I say that in opposition to preaching ourselves.
The devil is no match for the Lord and he knows it, which is
why he tries to keep men's eyes blinded to the truth.
These these apostles and Paul in particular and others that were
with him made it their business to preach Christ and not
themselves. Self was not the matter.
It was not the goal of the apostles preaching.
They didn't give their own notions, they didn't give their
own private opinions. They didn't give their passions
and their prejudices. They preached Jesus Christ.
They also didn't seek to advance their.
Own secular interests. I just recently read a book
about DL Moody. DL Moody and Iris Sankey were
Iris Sankey was his song leader and they went all the way across
England. They went all the way across the
America. Preaching and singing and
holding revivals and seeing many, many people come to
Christ. But one of the things that Iris
Sankey in particular. Pioneered, if you will, was, was
the singing as part of the services to kind of prepare the
hearts. And he wrote many songs himself.
But he and DL Moody published the songbook and it, they
printed so many copies and sold so many copies that in our day,
I think it was $1,000,000 or something like that that they
made in their day. This was back in the late 1800s,
early 1900s, in our days, the equivalent to about $28 million
that they made off of those songbooks.
And they didn't take one penny for themselves.
They put all of that money back into the ministry.
They didn't want anybody to be able to say they're doing it for
their own personal gain. And that's exactly what these
apostles were about. The same thing that DL Moody and
many others were about. It's not about us.
It's not about our own personal gain.
It's about preaching Jesus Christ and getting Him.
To the people who need him. That's the problem with so many
Christians today. I think we're we're seeking for
things that benefit us. How does this help me?
If it doesn't help me, I don't want to be any part of it.
Oh, there's ministries. What can I get out of it?
What can I do that it's going to benefit me?
By God's grace, our church is continuing to grow and we're
adding ministries. But especially early on, I think
I mentioned this, not all that long ago, we had people that
would come in and, and ask us about our youth programs and
what do you have for the kids and all of these things.
And we were brand new. We say, well, we don't really
have anything yet. We have some of our own kids
here and we do some things with them in a Sunday school class
and we have a things that we do with him on Wednesday night.
But we don't really have a youth group yet.
We don't have any anybody that's old enough to be in a youth
group and we'd like to start one, but we don't have that now.
And they say, well, we're looking for a church that has
that has youth ministries, that our kids can be involved.
In and that we'd like to have for them and you don't really
have all the ministries that we want to have for our family.
You know #1 how are we ever going to have those things that
people that have kids that are in that age don't stay right?
You're never going to be able to have that, but #2.
When did it become all about you?
When was it all about what benefits you as as as to whether
or not you're going to stay in a church that maybe God's called
you to be in and be a part of? What I needed?
Them to say was, hey, here's a great opportunity for our family
to serve. Let us be the seed.
Let our family be the one that that that that that that
pioneers this ministry. If that's what needs to happen,
let's jump in and get involved and do what we can to serve the
Lord in this area. The business of these early
Christians was to make their master known to the world.
They were trying to let them know that He was the Messiah.
They were trying to let them know that He was the Christ of
God. And as Jesus Christ, the only
Savior, and as the rightful Lord, they were trying to
advance His glory and His honor. It wasn't about them.
And they proved that because they didn't care what happened
to them if they were told and commanded to preach.
And God did command them to preach the same way that He's
commanded us to preach. They went and did it.
Let the chips fall where they may.
I don't care what people have to say about it.
This is what God wants me to do. And we're going to proclaim the
truth. It's not about me, it's about
him. We're preaching Christ.
All the lines of Christian doctrine center in Jesus Christ,
and in preaching Christ we preach all that we should
preach. Let me tell you what I mean by
preaching Christ. First of all, he was born of a
virgin. That's important.
If Jesus Christ was not born of
a virgin, then he could not be the sinless son of God.
Larry King, maybe you remember him, Rush Limbaugh used to call
him Larry King alive because he looked like he was dead for the
last 20 years that he was doing it.
But Larry King had, Larry King had a very interesting show
where he would interview these people.
And somebody asked him one time, if you could go back and ask
Jesus Christ anything, what would you ask him?
And Larry King said I would ask him if he was born of a virgin,
because everything hinges on that.
That's that's a secular guy who didn't really have any care
necessarily about Christianity, he said.
But if whether he was born of a virgin or not makes all the
difference. I would tell you that Jesus not
only was born of a virgin, but he lived a sinless life.
He died a horrible death at the hands of those he came to save.
He came to die for them and they put him to death.
He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and three days later he
rose again. Jesus Christ went back to heaven
to prepare a place for you and for me and for those who have
accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.
John chapter 3 and verse 16 says, For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh, the gospel is centered completely around Jesus Christ.
The gospel is not something that that that advances our agenda.
The gospel is not something that's going to get us rich.
The gospel is not something where you come in and plant a
$1000 seed and you're going to find out that you have
$1,000,000 later on down the road.
It's not a prosperity gospel. It's a gospel that centers on
Jesus Christ and on Jesus Christ alone, and we must understand
that we are sinners in Romans chapter 3 and verse 23.
That makes it very clear for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. I can't get there on my own.
I can't get there by by by paying enough money.
I can't get there by receiving a special blessing from somebody
who thinks they have the power and the ability to give out
blessings. I can't get there by those
things. I'm a Sinner.
And sin cannot enter heaven because God is absolutely holy.
He can't even look upon sin. The Bible says Romans chapter
5/8 and the Bible says 5 and verse 8.
The Bible says but God commendeth his love toward us in
that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He died for me. I'm a Sinner.
I don't deserve anything that that God's given me, let alone a
home in heaven, let alone His grace, let alone his
forgiveness, let alone his justification, let alone His
mercy and all the other things that come along with salvation.
I don't deserve any of those things because I am a Sinner.
But God gave me his love. And even though he knew that I
was going to come along someday, and he knew that I was going to
be a Sinner, and he knew that I was going to violate his law,
and he knew that I was going to break his commandments.
And he knew that that that my doing that was going to be part
of the reason why he had to die on the cross.
He did it. Anyway, Ephesians chapter 2 and
verse 8 says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast.
There's nothing that I can do to earn my way to heaven.
I can try to be a good person. I can try to do different things
that are going to make me have an opportunity to get closer to
heaven, but none of those things are going to be good enough
because it's not by my works, it's by Jesus Christ.
It's not a creed or a religion that saves, it's Jesus Christ.
It's it's not precepts or principles, it's Jesus Christ.
We needed someone to rescue us from our sinful.
Condition and God in his mercy sent his only begotten Son.
And by the way, there's not multiple earths out there that
God is sending his Son to all the time for him to just go
dying for die for people everywhere.
He did that for us. His only begotten Son was sent
to this earth to rescue us from our sinful condition.
We needed somebody to wash our sins away.
And the blood of Jesus Christ was shed on the cross that day
to do just that. He became our propitiation.
He became the sacrifice that we should have had to make.
That someone was Jesus Christ through the blood that He shed
on the cross. And the Bible says in Romans
chapter 10 and verse. Nine, that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. It's a decision that you make in
your heart, but it ought to find its way to your lips.
People ought to know that you are accepting Jesus Christ as
your Savior. That's why we have what we call
the sinner's prayer. It's not a magical, it's not no
magical words in the sinner's prayer, but the sinner's prayer
is just. Reaching out for help and saying
God please save me. I'm drowning in my sin and
without it I cannot ever. Have hope of getting to heaven.
Verse 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. I did that one day, and I've
never doubted whether or not I was on my way to heaven, because
it's not me. If I could do something to lose
my salvation, that I'm doing something to earn it, and I
can't do anything to earn my salvation.
You do it God's way, you do it the way that God said it needs
to be done, and you don't ever have to doubt whether or not
you're on your way to heaven. If you've still not accepted
Jesus Christ as your Savior, as your own personal Savior, it
doesn't matter how long you've been in church.
It doesn't matter who you think is.
Going to be shocked to find out that you've never accepted
Christ. Doesn't matter how much you've
done in the name of Jesus Christ.
If you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're
living on borrowed time. Why are you waiting?
Don't wait. And the New Testament belief
indicates more than just some intellectual knowledge or some
assent to to facts. There's a lot of people who
believe that Jesus Christ existed.
There's a lot of people who believe that he died on the
cross. There's a lot of people who
believe that in the story of the resurrection, and they celebrate
Christmas and Easter because of that.
But the Greek word for believe means adherence to committal, to
faith in reliance upon trust in a person or object.
And that involves not only consent with the mind.
Of course you have to believe that those things are true, but
it involves an act of the heart and the will.
So belief is synonymous with faith.
Without faith, it's impossible to please him.
So we give up everything to Jesus Christ and ask him for
forgiveness and for for. Our sins and give our lives over
to him. We cannot be saved.
That's where the idea of repentance towards God and faith
toward Jesus Christ comes in. Yes, we need to repent.
Yes, we need to realize that we're going the wrong way and we
need to change our mind and our heart and go in the opposite
direction. But it's faith in Jesus Christ
as well. Both of those things have to be
part of salvation. And if it's not, then you've
never been saved. It's important that you get that
taken care of. Back in verse number two of
Second Corinthians chapter 4, Paul says in verse number one
that we should persevere through difficulty.
Says in verse 3, through really verse number six, that we should
preach Jesus Christ. But verse #2 and this may seem
to be out of order since we already read verse 3 through 6,
and we're coming back to that. But we have to understand, first
of all, the subject of our preaching must be Jesus Christ.
But we have to understand #3 that you have to practice of
what you preach. Verse 2 it says, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in
craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by
manifestation of the truth. That word manifestation means an
open demonstration of the truth by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of
God. My intention with this point and
what I believe the intention of verse 2, Simply put, is if you
say you're a Christian, act like one.
That's what Paul is saying. If you're going to say that
you're a Christian, act like a Christian ought to act.
The people you work with ought to know that you're a Christian
not just because you told them, but because you show them that
you are. Turn over to Titus chapter 2.
Your language ought to be different, your actions ought to
be different, your jokes ought to be different, your habits
ought to be different, you ought to look different, you ought to
be different because you are different, if you're saved by
Jesus Christ. Titus chapter 2 and verse #14
The Bible says, talking about Jesus Christ, who gave Himself
for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
We get afraid of that term, good works, because good works can't
get you to heaven. And so we steer clear of those
things. We stay away from good works.
Hey, good works can't get you to heaven, but you ought to live
the way that Jesus Christ lived. And the Bible says that He went
about doing good, and we ought to be, as he says here, zealous
of good works. But it's going to make us a
peculiar people when we know Jesus Christ as our Savior.
That's why ladies ought to dress modestly.
That's why that's why men ought to be clean cut.
That's why kids ought not to dress and style their hair after
the world. That's why you ought not to be
drinking and smoking. That's why you ought to stay
away from the filth of the movie theater.
I'm different. I'm a Christian and I know that
that limits some things that I can do.
I know that keeps me away from some of the places that may be
fun. I know that keeps me from doing
some of the things that may be enjoyable.
But I'm a Christian and I want people to know it.
I'm a peculiar person and I'm zealous of good works.
That's the way I should be. Your lifestyle ought to tell
everybody loud and clear. I'm a Christian and I'm not
ashamed for you to know it. There's a lot of Christians that
are living under a rock because they're afraid to let people
know who they are. Well, I just I just.
Want to try to get along with everybody.
And so I just don't want to rock the boat.
I don't want anybody to know that I'm a Christian.
I don't know. I don't want them to know what I
really believe or where I really stand.
One of the toughest tests of Christianity is authentic faith
in our part. I heard a story about a
preacher, and this was a few years ago, obviously, and you'll
tell by the story, but he was catching a bus one day and he
was, he was going into the city. And as he came under the bus, he
paid the driver a dollar. The fare to ride the bus was
only $0.75. And that bus driver gave him his
change and he went and sat down. As he looked in his hand, he
noticed that instead of giving him $0.25, the bus driver had
actually given him $0.35 back for his change.
And he sat there and he thought about it and he's like, well, it
wasn't my mistake. He's the one that gave me more
money than he should have. I mean, whatever, it's $0.10,
it's not that big of a deal. But he said, you know what, I
need to, I need to be honest and I need to go give that $0.10
back to that bus driver. So he got out of his seat and he
walked back up to the front and he said he told the bus driver.
He said, hey, you were only supposed to give me $0.25 back
and you gave me $0.35 and I want to give you this dime back.
And the bus driver said, I knew I gave you $0.35 is I was in
your church last week and I heard you preach on honesty and
I wanted to see if you practice what you preached.
I wonder, would we always pass that test?
See, the world's watching you. And when I say the world, I'm
talking about your neighbors watching you.
Those that you work with are watching you.
Those that you interact with on a daily basis are watching you,
your family's watching you. And hey, most importantly, the
Lord's watching you, by the way, as your pastor, if I want you to
jump afoot, I have to jump three turn over to 1st Corinthians
Chapter 11. I'm held to a higher standard.
But, but I think contrary to what a lot of people think, I'm
not held to a higher standard because I'm a pastor.
There are qualifications for a pastor and I think there are
standards that that I'm held to because of that.
I'm held to a higher standard because I'm supposed to be an
example of what you should be trying to attain in your
Christian life. I don't hold myself to a higher
standard because it's right for me and not for you.
I hold myself to a higher standard because I want, I want
you to get to that point. And I believe that's what God
wants you to do, is to get to that point where you should be
jumping 3 feet at the same time. But I believe that's what Paul
was trying to get across when he said this in First Corinthians
Chapter 11 and verse #1 be you, followers of me even as I also
am of Christ. I jump 3 feet because you
should. Be trying to get to that 3 foot
mark as well and I don't always. I'm not perfect, I'm not
anywhere close to perfect. I fall short of that, but I
should be the example, and you should be following the example
that God gave you as I follow Christ.
And you shouldn't be just trying to get to the one foot mark.
You should be trying to get to the three foot mark as well.
That the greatest good and the greatest evil to the gospel is
not so much what we say very many times.
We don't say the wrong thing necessarily, but it's what we do
with what we say. You're close.
Turn over to 1st Corinthians chapter one verse #17.
For Christ, Paul says, sent me not to baptize.
By the way, that's a good indication that baptize, baptism
is not necessary for salvation, right?
If Paul is. Paul's job was to get the
message of the gospel out, and he says I'm not here to baptize
you. Then what was he doing if he, if
he was not leading anybody to Christ, if you had to be
baptized in order to be saved, he's not doing any good.
If he said Christ didn't send me to baptize, well, Christ sent
him to preach the gospel and to lead people to Christ.
And if he's not trying to baptize anybody, then what good
is he doing if baptism is necessary for salvation?
And then he goes on and later on in the passage he, I say, brags,
but he brags about the fact that he hadn't baptized anybody.
He said maybe one or two of you, but mostly I haven't baptized
any of you. I've been sent to preach the
gospel. He says this in verse 17.
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made none of of made of none effect.
Is I'm not just trying to convince you by the things that
I say, I'm trying to convince you by the way that I live that
you need Jesus Christ and that you need to accept the gospel.
The Bible teaches us that it's vital to our witness of the
gospel to live what we preach or we will bring reproach on the
word of God. God takes seriously call to
practice what we preach. Somebody said your walk talks
and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your
talk. And that's exactly what it is.
You can say all you want to about how much you believe this
and how much you do that and how much you, you know, go to church
and do all of those other things, but how do you live your
life? Do you live your life as a
Christian? I got a question for you.
If you were ever arrested for being a Christian, would there
be enough evidence to convict you?
If you ever arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough
evidence to convict you? Most people, the lawyers, would
have a hard time trying to come up with enough evidence.
We sang the song this morning. I want to be more than a Sunday
go to meeting Christian. I want a religion that thrills
me every day. Saying Amen to the preacher is
fine if all the week I let my light shine.
I want to be more than a Sunday go to meeting Christian.
And the sad thing is that most Christians are just Sunday go to
meeting Christians. I'll get up on Sunday morning
and I'll get dressed and I'll carry my Bible and I'll go to
church. But don't ask me to do anything
else for Christ. That's that's the most I can do.
You can't ask me to live like a Christian during the week.
You can't ask me to be a light for Jesus Christ during the
week. The week is mine.
I'll give Sunday morning to him. The rest of it's mine.
That's not what being a Christian is all about.
You're either Christian 24/7 or you're not living as a Christian
at all. Back in Second Corinthians
chapter 4, I want to give you one last point.
Not only should we persevere through difficulty, if we want
to live a life that's pleasing to God, we should preach Jesus
Christ. We should practice what we
preach. But verse #7 the Bible says
this, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the
Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us #4 we
should pursue God's power, not our own.
We're not doing this in our own strength.
If we are, we're wasting time and energy.
The amazing thing is, is not that God allows us to be saved
or that that he's commanded us to be genuine as Christians, but
that he gives us the power to actually do what he's commanded
us to do. God never gives us a command
where he does not also. Give us the power and the
ability to follow through with that command.
If he's telling you to live as a Christian, then he can give you
the power to live as a Christian.
If He's telling you to be a peculiar people, then he can
give you the power to be a peculiar people and, and, and,
and, and for a carnal Christian, or for somebody who is doing
nothing for Christ. Many times these things seem to
be goals that are unattainable. I can't live like that.
You know why? Because you're doing it in your
own power. You haven't asked Him for the
strength that only He can give you.
You're trying to make it work. You're trying to make it happen,
and he's not. He's telling us it's not about
us. It's about Him that the
Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
So many people fail in their Christian lives because they're
trying to please Christ in their own power.
Every breath comes from God. Every minute that we have in our
day comes from God. Every blessing comes from God.
Every fill in the blank comes from God.
What makes us think that we can please God in our own power?
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 3 and we'll be done.
See, God wants to be glorified in your life.
God wants to be lifted up. We pray so often.
All the time, but on Sunday mornings.
That that God would be glorified through everything that happens
in our service. That his name would be lifted
up. Because it's not about us, it's
about Him. And if we're not?
Asking him for his power, and we're trying to do it in our own
strength. Then we're doing this for
nothing. You're going to accomplish
nothing. It doesn't matter if you're
getting up to sing. It doesn't matter if you're
getting up to preach. It doesn't matter if you're
teaching the class. It doesn't matter if you're
serving in some ministry. It doesn't matter what it is.
If you're doing it in your own power, you're wasting your time.
We're not going to accomplish anything unless we're doing it
in God's power. And he says in Ephesians chapter
3 and verse #20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think.
According to the power that worketh in US unto him be glory
in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end. Amen.
It's like a it's like a car that doesn't have a battery in it.
Oh, you can get behind it and you can push it, especially if
you're going down a hill and you can feel like you're making
progress and you can feel like you're going forward, but you're
not going to accomplish very much at all.
In a car that has no battery, but you put that battery in
there, that's what gives it all the power and you can go a long
way in a car that's got a good battery on it and that's exactly
what it is. God wants to be glorified in
your life and the only way that's going to happen is when
we do it in his power and not in ours.
March 6th, 1987. God by the name of Iman
Coughlin, He was the the record holder in the 1500 meters in
Ireland and he was running in a qualifying heat on March 6th of
1987 at the World Indoor Track Championships in Indianapolis.
And very shortly into the race, it's a 1500 meters.
So it's basically 4 laps and about a lap or a lap and 1/2 in
he was tripped and he fell and obviously, you know, his knees
were scraped up and now he's way behind the rest of the pack.
But he got up and he took off running and slowly you could see
that he was closing the distance between himself and the and the
whole rest of the pack. And as they came around the
corner for that last final kick, everybody could see that he was
making progress. And he actually got to the point
where he was in 3rd place. This was just a heat.
All he had to do was get to 3rd place to be able to make it to
the championships the next day. And he looked over his shoulder
and he didn't see anybody there. And so he let up just a little
bit. But what he didn't see was that
there was somebody on the other side of him that was making a
kick on the outside. And when he let up, that person
passed him and got third place and he was knocked out of the
championship. Here's a guy who obviously has
great ability as a runner, obviously had tremendous talent,
got knocked down and got back up and almost finished well.
But he took his eyes off the goal.
He stopped looking at the finish line.
He started looking around and he failed a great comeback.
It would have been a great comeback failed because he took
his eyes off the goal. And that's many times what we do
in our lives. Hey, maybe you got knocked down
and you got back up. Maybe you're going forward, but
you take your eyes off of Christ and you start putting it on your
problems, or you start putting it on your own ability, or you
start relying on your own power because hey.
I haven't had my devotions in a month.
I haven't really spent time in prayer that often.
And look, things are still happening.
I'm, I'm obviously I don't really need that power very much
because God's still blessing. We're still seeing God do stuff
in this ministry and that ministry that I'm involved in
and I'm still seeing things happen.
Nothing's falling apart. The wheels haven't fallen off of
it yet. And I haven't really spent that
much time with God. I know I've got these couple
little things in my life that I probably need to get right, but.
Nothing's changed. Everything's still going on.
I can do this in my own power. I don't need God's power.
I just, you wait, the wheels will come off of it.
It will fall apart because you might be coasting downhill right
now, but you're doing it with no battery and it's going to fail.
It's going to fail. We're all going to face things
in life as Christians that may make us want to quit.
And I know the. Majority would say that they
want God to be pleased with their life, but how about you?
Do you really want God to be pleased with your life?
Well, I've got, I've got areas in my life that I know I need to
to change. I know and I really want to live
for God. I just have such a hard time
changing them. I'll tell you this, yours right
with God right now as you want to be, because that's what God's
told us to do and he's given us the power and the ability to
accomplish what he wants us to do.
So if you're not living for the Lord and you're not
accomplishing anything for God, don't, Don't sit there and say,
well, I wish I could do more. I wish I was doing more.
I wish I was more right with God.
You can be as right with God as you want to be.
He'll help you. He'll give you the power to do
it. You don't have to.
Do it in your own. Strength.
But so many of us are trying to do it that way, and so many of
us really don't have that desire to live for the Lord.
First of all, are you saved? Has there been a time in your
life when you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be
your Savior? But after that, have you?
Have you given up on God? Have you given up on being a
Christian? Hey, persevere through the
difficulty. I know it's not easy being a
Christian, but you have this to look at.
At least you've never been drugged through the streets
behind horses for preaching Christ.
At least you've never been dragged to the stake and burned.
This. You've never had to sit in
prison for preaching the name of Jesus Christ.
They're talking about him on the job, on the work, at the
workplace, right? You haven't suffered persecution
for the cause of Christ. What kind of difficulties do we
really have that are going to keep us from living for Him?
Persevere through those difficulties.
That's what Paul tells us. There's so much waiting for you
when you decide to become a servant of God.
Are you preaching Christ? Are you sharing the gospel?
Are you practicing what you preach?
Is there enough evidence to convict you of being a
Christian? There's something different
about you at home and at work and in public than there is at
church. Oh, we've gotten good at playing
the game many times. I know how to act like a
Christian when I'm at church, but everything changes when I'm
on my own time and in my own place.
Are you pursuing God's power? Are you trusting Him to
accomplish those things in your life?
Or have you been relying on your own strength?
Do you want to live a life that's pleasing to God?
Then you're going to have to make some changes if you're not
actually living a life that's pleasing to God.
If you continue to do what you've always done, you'll
continue to be what you've always been, and you'll continue
to get where you've always gotten.
So many people get so frustrated in their Christian life because
they don't see any growth. They don't see any movement.
If you want to see growth and you want to see movement,
something has to change or you're never going to see it.
You can't keep doing the same thing and expect different
results. And that's what that's what the
message is all about this morning.
Are you living a life that's pleasing to God?
If not, change what needs to be changed?
He'll help you do it. He'll help you do it.
Let's pray. Father, again, we thank you so
much for your goodness to us. Thank you so much for the fact
that you are willing and, and, and are so merciful with us,
willing to allow us to do the things in our lives that we
shouldn't even do. And yet you still are so
merciful. Every single person in this room
this morning has an opportunity to get it right.
If there's something that needs to be gotten right, every single
person in this room that's not saved this morning has an
opportunity to be saved. And that's only because of your
mercy. And we thank you so much for
that. But God, I pray that you'd help
us to make the changes. I pray that we would not make
the grace of God in vain and that we do what you want us to
do to help us be what you want us to be so we can accomplish
what you want us to accomplish in your power.
Thank you again for all that you do for us in Jesus name, Amen.
If you would stand at your seats with your heads bowed and your
eyes closed this morning, I want to give you an opportunity to
respond to the message. If God did speak to your heart
about something, I know I touched that a lot of different
things and maybe just one simple thing that God spoke to your
heart about. It may be a lot of things that
God spoke to your heart about this morning.
I don't know. It's the Holy Spirit that does
that work. And if you're being convicted
about something, it's the Holy Spirit that's doing that
conviction. Respond to it, answer that call
if you're not saved, and come forward and get saved this
morning. It's the most important decision
you'll ever make as the piano plays.
If God spoken to your heart this morning, you come.