Sermons Archive - Grace Bible Church of Phoenix

Well this last week I did something that I have not done in about eleven years I went to a pastor's breakfast you know I know you're all excited thank you you know when I was back in Michigan for the eight years that I was a pastor back there I had a group of pastors and we meet about once a month and we go out to a restaurant and we talk and we we chit chat we do shop talk you know when you when you work along with some other people like to do that and so we've been encouragement to each other and we talk about different ideas in a this is what's going on in my church and ever since I moved here I thought that I was going to have that but I haven't or the first several years I would meet with Craig McDonald who is a pastor of a church he's now up in the state of Oregon he's retired now and Steve McDonald Now his son is here I don't know why I brought that up Steve who are you anyway but Craig the Donald and I would get together and we would do that but I've kind of missed having that group you know it's kind of nice to hear from multiple different people and so this last week someone invited me to an area pastor's breakfast and it's been really neat since we've moved here to this building I've had three different pastors who live in the immediate neighborhood reach out and contact me in our church and welcome us here and that's been pretty neat So one of them who actually lives just right on the street just about like five houses up right here on a wall or here he says hey would you like to go to this Wednesday morning first of every month breakfasts and I said sure and so what we did is we we talked about different topics and I guess that's what they do every month but this time what he did as the service or the message was about politics. And you know me at all you know that I'm not that into politics and as a pastor I do not stand up here and tell you who to vote for I don't feel like that's my role at all and so when he mentioned that to me that this was the topic I thought you know maybe I'll skip this one and I'll just go to one and in May I don't know about that but as I went there what they did is about ten or fifteen fifteen of us they were talking about so what does the church have in politics and so from that conversation as I drove home I thought the juices were flowing and I was thinking about lots of things and I want to share two things with you and the second thing is going to lead into our servant OK but the first thing is I was sitting there with all these other pastors It was so nice to hear them express their frustrations and their fears regarding church and politics because I felt like this myself my whole life as I've been in ministry but one thing that I have heard from them a common theme which was which causes them to be hesitant to get into political discussions is because you know the should not surprise you if a pastor or a church stands up in a setting like this and gets into political discussions guess what's going to happen you're going to offend someone and you're going to hurt feelings then for instance how many of you this week heard something political on the radio or saw it on the website online and you got all riled up and upset I think every single one of us right there turn on the news so so I'm not I'm not looking forward to seeing people upset in offended the second thing and I think this might be even more important the first is.

Whenever there's a political issue I as a pastor don't feel like I'm at all an expert on that subject and so it's hard to stand up and say when it comes to this political issue this is the way that we should view it and I'm excluding moral issues OK I'm not talking about moral issues all do that I think everyone we're supposed to do that. What happens is if you get up and you say this is the political issue today this is how we should address it as soon as you say that someone else is going to come up to you and say Well have you ever thought about it from this perspective or did you ever consider this and so it's hard to come up and try to be an expert on something that you don't quite have a full a firm grasp on and I heard these other pastors saying that too and I thought OK why I feel that way as well another reason why pastors are so. Tempted to not really dive into politics is because politics and political issues they change so fast and so if a church or a pastor's up you're always talking about political issues it's like they don't have any identity at all because all they're doing is chasing the politics of that day and so it's good to hear other pastors share their concerns and their fears and frustrations about politics and so that's the first thing I want to share with you the second major issue is what's going to lead us into our message and it was fun as I was sitting around the table talking to these pastors on this topic kept coming to this point about why we should be careful talking politics and it's because of this reason if you're here today and you are a believer in Jesus Christ your identity is in him and not a political party or a political issue right so hopefully that makes sense

the thing is what we're seeing all over the world today is people are taking their opinions and their preferences whether they're right or they're wrong about politics and they're making that their identity they're saying I am this kind of a person and they'll wrap up their political position of their party into their identity and what's sad is we're seeing believers today who are true born again believers who place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior they'll spend eternity together but they won't even listen to someone else who shares a different political view and there's all this division even within the Body of Christ over politics and so. This is the most I've talked about politics in a long time in the surprise of the most I'll talk about politics but I wanted to share that with you but it got me thinking about the whole thing that I just mentioned and that is about our identity you and I as believers if you place your faith in Jesus Christ we need to have a clear idea that he'd clear understanding of our identity in Christ and I want you to go to go lation chapter five we're going to pick up where we left off we go back to the lay sions And in this passage especially and this is why I'm bringing up this whole political issue this idea about politics into this message this is a passage here and Galatians as we get into the practical section of glaciers about our identity and understanding truly what our identity is who we are in Christ and allowing that to be how we're identified by the world around us. So delicious chapter five and what we did as we left off about four weeks ago I want to read a couple of passages that we've already looked at just are all kind of brought up to speed but here glacier is Chapter five beginning in verse thirteen

this is what we looked at a few weeks ago Paul says this

he says for you were called to freedom brothers only did I use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you bite in devour one another watch out that you are not consumed by one another do you see a lot of biting in devouring of one another in the world today absolutely we see that everywhere that we look in fact this is what happens when a person is consumed with their own view on the world and we are consumed with our own view and looking at life through our own lenses that's when we find just the opposite of what God wants to see in our lives we find divisions among the people instead of unity God sacrifice his son so that we can be united

and let's keep reading here in verse sixteen this is the passage we looked at three weeks ago before Palm Sunday Mr Paul says but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit in the desires of the spirit or against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality my Dollar Tree sorcery enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions envy drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And like Paul says these are obvious the works of the flesh are obvious and as you read these actions it's obvious that these produce divisions among people who does not bring people together some of the sins that are mentioned they're private in their internal but they're very destructive when it comes to relationships I mean look at verse twenty again it says that the works of the flesh it's enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions and divisions those are all things that will destroy and break down relationships between people and so that kind of living as it's described here and Galatians is the fruit of the flesh and God has called us to say no to the flash and yes to the spirit so now we need to do is we need to ask yourself this question as we're getting into glaciers the last chapter five so what then does it look like when God's children let the Holy Spirit work in their lives and starting today we're going to do is we're going to start talking about the fruit of the spirit and we're going to look at these nine qualities of the fruit of the spirit and when I first went through Galatians I was kind of looking forward to getting this portion I thought well maybe I'll just take one Sunday and I'll just do one Sunday on the fruit of the Spirit and then over the last few months I was thinking Oh I think I need to slow it down maybe I'll look at three at a time and then as I got closer to actually looking at the fruit of the spirit I want you know what there's enough with each one of these now we're actually going to look at each character trait each quality of the fruit of the spirit and there's there's nine of them and so we're going to go through this over the next couple months but as we go through the fruit of the spirit I'm going to ask everyone here to do a couple things have you ever asked yourself the question I wonder what would happen if.

And then you go ahead a new film The blank for yourself like for instance I wonder what would happen to my life if I maintained a consistently healthy diet probably all thought that right or I wonder what happened to my life if I exercised on a regular consistent basis or I wonder what would happen to my life if I finally went out and got that degree and how would my life be different or maybe from a different perspective I wonder what would happen if I finally was able to stop doing that sinful destructive habit that I continue to do all the time have you ever done that with your life I wonder what would happen if I made some small change how can I make my life better well. When we look at our passage for today and for these next nine weeks we can ask the question I wonder what would happen if if I truly gave control of my mind and my heart to God if I truly let him out of control I wonder what would happen and this is the answer this is what our life would look like you know to kind of tie into this whole political issue that I mentioned God has not called his children to be his children so that the world can identify us by our politics and those positions God has called us into his family so that the world can see him by what he produces in our lives well before we read our passage what I want to do is go over to John Chapter fifteen and this is kind of even setting up what we're about to read John Chapter fifteen this is one of many areas are many places in the Bible where the Bible talks about whatever is in you is going to come out there you are going to produce something in your life and and Here Jesus says that if we abide in Him This is what's going to happen in our lives John Chapter fifteen beginning in verse one.

John Chapter fifteen beginning in verse one Jesus says

I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away in every branch the does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me I am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and I in him he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do nothing of verse eight might be the most important section. Jesus says By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so proved to be my disciples and so this is God's will for our lives that we will bear fruit the fruit that God wants to produce in our lives and so that we will bear witness to God Well these next nine weeks we're going to look at one part of one quality of the fruit I notice maybe you've probably heard this before but these are the fruits of the spirit as in There are nine fruits at Cingular there's fruit of the Spirit and all nine of these equal the fruit and so we can pick and choose and say well I want this to be evident in my life but I don't want this we can't pick and choose This is where God works in our life all nine are evident so let's read our passage for today passages in glaciers five twenty two and twenty three

these are the fruit of the Spirit glacial five twenty two and twenty three it says but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness they fullness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law and the first quality mentioned is probably the most obvious and that is love if we give our hearts and our minds to God He will cause us to produce love and when we say that God is going to produce love in our lives I don't want to get the wrong image I think sometimes when I think when the world talks about loving each other we we get the idea that if we're loving each other we're just tolerating in accepting of anything that anyone does that's not what this love is going to do it's not going to enable people to sin or to tolerate sin or we're accepting it it simply means that you allow God to fill you with the love that he has for mankind and you treat each other as fellow image bearers of God and I know that's easier said than done but this is what we're going to be talking about today so let's take a closer look at love and for this trait I think maybe it's best to look at it from the perspective of what is love evidence of if you're allowing God to have control of your heart in your mind and he is producing in your life love then what is the love that God is producing evidence of to the world around us I mean to give you three things this morning when a child of God is overflowing with love it is evidence of life for someone that has love being produced in your life by God it is evidence of life let's turn over in our Bibles to first John Chapter three.

First John chapter three and if you're looking on your sermon notes can you guess which New Testament author likes to talk about love quite a bit as the Apostle John in fact he even refers himself refers to himself as the Apostle that Jesus loved So this is kind of near and dear to John's heart and I'm sure that all the disciples took Christ's words seriously but I think maybe John the great commandment the two greatest commandments really hit home the hardest And so yes I asked the question what are the greatest commandments and Jesus was very clear the greatest commandment are to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and strength and number two is to love your neighbor as yourself a gnat's really what we're dealing with here and we're practically getting into that while in first John Chapter three beginning in verse one I think John's kind of shedding some light on what this fruit of love looks like first John chapter three verse one it says see what kind of Love The Father has given to us that we should be called children of God And so we are the reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him and so this begins by speaking about our identity we are first and foremost children of God and then he says this about the children of God Look at verse fourteen go down to chapter three verse fourteen

says we know that we have passed out of gas into life. Because we love the brothers whoever does not love abides in death and so love here is evidence that someone has life eternal life for them the a pass over from death to life you know Jesus when he was speaking with the disciples talked about that in fact let me read for you John five twenty four Jesus said this to John and the other disciples and I think it had many many years to kind of resonate in John's mind for him to write what he wrote here in John three fourteen but in John five twenty four Jesus said Truly truly I say to you whoever hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but he has passed from death to life so Jesus teaching them if you have face in me you have passed from death to life and so John wrote first John about sixty years after Jesus said those words to him and so if someone says something to you that is really profound and you have a lot of time to think about it are you going to see evidence of how true that saying was in your life absolutely and so John wrote John three fourteen after sixty years of hearing Jesus say that if you have me in your life you have passed from death to life look at three fourteen again John says this he says we know that we have passed out of death into life and how does he know this because we love the brothers whoever does not love abides in death and so love is evidence of life it's evidence of eternal life and there are many examples on earth of how something like this is true how do you know that a tree is alive while you look for the buzzer of eggs or if it's a plant citrus tree a look for the citrus How do you know that when a child is born as it's alive what's the first thing that Ellie not Eli Bennett did when she was born the new heir Russian or longs I'm sure I should probably screen now you know babies lie because they scream and cry I know I don't know. But I know my three kids they sure did that how do you know when a dog is happy its tail is waiting right so there's evidence all throughout our lives who have something is true you're going to be able to see it listen how do you know a human being has passed from death to life the Bible says you're going to see you love in their life if they're truly a child of God there is going to be love in their life

I'd like to to read books and commentaries to help me as I'm starting in right now I'm reading a book called cultivating the fruit of spirit by Christopher Wright and he wrote this and I thought it was good enough I want to just share this with you just a couple verses a couple first couple sentences he he writes How do you know if a believer or a church is alive you look for the love where there is love there is life. When Christians truly put love into practice it is evidence assurance that the life of God is present among them and in them but when we don't put love into practice when we fight in we squabble and we divide and we denounce each other what does that say about us if there is no love says John we have not come to life at all we remain in death

so the people that you come in contact with on a daily basis your family your friends your coworkers can they see evidence that you have eternal life

if they do it's because of the love that is in you

will love is evidence of life and something else that love is the evidence of is love is the evidence of faith if we have love in our lives it's evidence of faith of a person as face they will love others you know our face in Jesus it obviously begins in our minds right we have to make a decision is Jesus truly the Messiah did he really die and come back to life but it is intended to produce action it's not intended to stay in our minds forever looked down in the first John Chapter three just a few more verses to to verse twenty three first John three twenty three John writes this and he does something very interesting here he says and this is his commandment that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another just as he commanded us now notice the John says Jesus gave a command but command is singular not plural and when he says that he gave them a command he lists two things so why in the world does John do that he does this because he sees these two commandments as here inseparable from one another if we believe Jesus then we will love one another just like a tree that is alive is going to produce fruit if you're here and John first John three go back a couple of verses diverses seventeen and eighteen This talks about the practicality of putting our faith into action first John three seventeen and eighteen it says but if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him. How does God's love abide in Him little children let us not love in Word or talk but in deed and in truth that's evidence of our faith if we love the world around a set of evidence of our faith and I realize it's not just believers who are moved to act compassionately towards other people in the world however if a child of God gives control of their heart in their mind to the Lord then your love will be evidence of your face you have you ever been moved to help another person that you were kind of surprised by that where did that desire where did that passion come from because I know it didn't come from me and you realize in a very humbling way God put of desire in your heart to love and to care for another person or another group of people that's what happens when we allow God to produce fruit in our lives you know talking about loving others and that's evidence of our faith you know I have to ask the question so who are the people that we're supposed to show love to and I think that question is pretty obvious for the answer is pretty obvious we can look around us and we can look at each other here in our church and say well we're supposed to love each other and love our family members but something I think maybe God's kind of in putting in my heart my mind and I think some of you as well we as a church should have some kind of a mission field and sometimes it is a foreign mission and sometimes it's local but something I've realized over the last ten twelve weeks and even before we moved here is you know what a mission field we have right now and in the coming years and that elementary school right over there that is going to be huge for us. You know I mentioned a few weeks ago I'm Sara Kincaid and I met with the president of the Parent Teacher Association and she is just beside herself excited that there's a church right here that can love those kids and not only those kids but the parents and the administration the faculty of that elementary school over there how can we as a church let that untapped potential that mission field let them know the love of God Young I'm excited about this I'm excited about Vacation Bible School and how many kids we can really show the love of God to and the thing is every year a new set of kids comes in so we have a mission field literally right on the other side of that fence and it's never going to go away now that should be exciting for us and so when we talk about showing our love to the world we don't have to be nebulous and say oh we need to kind of show what we can literally live erotic and I know I'm not you know as I know exactly where I'm walking it's right over there I'm not lost the school is right over there that's something that I hope all of us start praying about how can we share the love of God with that elementary school over there is something I'm looking forward to and so love is evidence of life if you are if you pass from death to life there should be love in your life love is also evidence of face and finally love is also evidence of God Love is also evidence of God And when you had the kids come out here I thought you were going to kind of steal my final point in the sermon but this is where John mentions to us I want you to turn over to chapter four A First John first John chapter four

beginning in verse seven

John writes this he says First John four seven Beloved let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love in this love in this the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins beloved if God so loved us we also ought to love one another verse twelve says no one has ever seen God but if we love one another God abides in the US and his love is perfected in us you know John says a lot of important things in this passage he talks about how God is the source of all love that God gave us prove it is love is love through sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins but then he says that God becomes visible through our love for one another in verse twelve he says no one has ever seen God. We can say wait a second I thought I thought Jesus says that if we saw him we saw the father in fact all read out for us and John fourteen Philip said to Jesus Lord show us the Father and it is enough for us and Jesus said to him Have I been with you so long you still not know me Philip Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father how can you say Show us the Father while John is writing and he's telling us listen no one has ever seen God the Father because He is Spirit we've seen the sun in scriptures but no one has seen the Father but Jesus revealed the father how did he reveal the father he revealed the father by his love for mankind and guess what and tell Christ returns you and I get to reveal God to the world through our love that's how it works and so love is the first quality of the fruit of the spirit and over these next I guess eight weeks because this this message is pretty much done I want to challenge us to do something over these next eight weeks I really want you to seriously pray every day every day say God I'm giving you control of my heart in my mind I want to say no to the flesh I want to say yes to the spirit that you have placed within me I want you to pray that and then pray specifically that God will manifest these qualities in your life now what do you think would happen if all of us prayed this for the next eight weeks do you think I would answer that prayer that's kind of exciting it is kind of scary to see what God would do but if we ask ourselves the question I wonder what would happen if I truly became the branch on the vine that God wants me to be and God produced through me the fruit of the spirit how do you think your life would be different well I hope as we go through this series we will all find out let's close in prayer and today as we close in prayer what I'm going to ask you to do is I want you to stand with me and we're going to close in prayer together

let's pray

Dear Father I pray. On this day that you may live in our presence and that we may please you more and more Father and Father I pray that you will fill us with yourself and you will cause your fruit to ripen in our lives in the fruit of love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness and gentleness and self-control Father we want your love for us to be the evidence that the world truly needs evidence that we have passed from death to life evidence that our face is real and also evidence of you that people will see you in our love for them and so father i help i pray that you will help us all to be aware of the people in our lives that especially and specifically need your love and that you will give us the wisdom in the strength to come alongside them and to be your hands and feet father you show have shown the world your great love for us and I know that you want to spill out your love even more inch of the world than you do that through us and so Father we just open up our hearts and our minds to you today an assett you will produce us in our lives for your honor and your glory we pray this non-crisis day and.

It's always an adventure when you get a whole bunch of kids up front you never know what they're going to say.

Well today as you all know it's Easter right but it's also what. April fools. Easter and April Fools is not a good combination or a bad combination you know I was trying to remember kind of think back in my own life how often there has been Easter on April Fools and I was trying to think in my own mind and I couldn't come up with and so when you need to find an answer what do you do you good that's right you're Yes really smart and so I google how many times he's sure landed on April first and in the nineteen hundreds from one thousand nine hundred through one thousand nine hundred nine it only happened four times. That's right one thousand interesting Lee For those of you who like math it happened four times in a row each eleven years apart so what happened in one thousand twenty three thousand nine hundred thirty four nine hundred forty five and one nine hundred fifty six and it hasn't happened since one nine hundred fifty six so it hasn't happened in sixty two years is not interesting so most everyone in here probably does not remember the last time April Fools landed on a Sunday and for two thousand it's only going to happen while one person might remember.

And the two thousands it's only going to happen three times in this century today and then guess what in a loving years and then in eleven more years really come interesting I told my wife and she's I woud that so fascinating so.

Hopefully all of you like that kind of a mouth is kind of an interesting thing but April a yes or an April Fools is very rare and I honestly think it is extremely appropriate for Easter to be on April Fools But first we'll talk about that in a minute but first I want to talk about April fools you know growing up in Spokane Washington I always thought April fools had to deal. With the weather I grew up in Spokane and so April came around April Fools it's kind of like saying you know don't be fooled you're going to have cold weather for the next month or two months and tell you know if it gets warm however at some point I definitely realized obviously April fools can be based on the weather because April Fools happens everywhere in the world and the climate is different and so I went and I found out the history in April fools in fact I shared this back in two thousand and seven on April first in a sermon so I don't know if any Remember this is that was quite a while ago but here's the history of April Fools.

Because there you can't really pinpoint a natural first April fools and people are really quite sure where it came from the most identifiable beginning was back in fifteen eighty two and this is kind of where the tradition came from prior to that year and this is back in France prior to that year the New Year was celebrated for eight days beginning on March twenty fifth and culminating on April first but with the reform of the calendar under Charles the ninth Damaris you remember that to OK under Charles the ninth day you brought it up aren't.

Says the Gregorian calendar was introduced and the New Year Day was moved to January first so this is a long time ago while obviously back then news didn't travel very fast like it does today and so many people did not receive the news of the new year beginning on January first for several years and some of them I like how the little quote says others the more obstinate crowd refuse to accept the new calendar and continue to celebrate the new year on April first and these a backward folk were named labeled fools by the general populace and so on April Fools or someone was a fool A fool is someone who would continue to celebrate the new year on April first because they were not aware of what had. Taken place and now you know the rest of the story.

You know April Fools is basically started based on because someone didn't know something and in this situation it was the change of the New Year but I think all of us pretty much know what a fool is right a good definition for a fool I looked this up on Google a fool is a harmlessly deranged person or one lacking in common powers of understanding All right so a fool is someone who who just they just don't know certain things on my came up with my own definition because I like to do that and I'm the preacher today and I said I think another way to describe a fool is this if something can be known or something is noble and a person chooses not to research it and to know that thing and they act without that knowledge there are a fool so if there's information out there that you can know when you choose not to act on it you are a fool and we also know that the opposite a fool is someone who is what why so we want to be wise we don't want to be fools when I came across an article this week and I think it's perfect that it was close to April Fool's Day This happened on Thursday.

The twenty eight and there was an article that appeared on this it says Zion Christian church prophet Alec in da way was viciously attacked by a lion during a safari trip this man one had to prove to his church members they God would save him so the man went into a trance or began to speak in many different languages and then started to run towards the pride of lions that were eating an Impala in cruel cruel National Park in South Africa this is the definition of a fool OK. It says when he realized that the Lord was not going to save him he began to run back to the car however it was not long before one of the Lions caught up to him and bit him on his backside and it was only then that he managed to get away because one of the. Rangers fired shots towards the lion to make him stop so that's a great example of a fool we know today is Easter and again like I said I think it's so appropriate that it is also April fools day because today millions and millions of people if not billions of people all over the world gathered together to celebrate that a man died and came back to life.

And so. It just saying that puts us all into one of two categories if that did not happen then you and I are a bunch of fools but if it did happen then only a fool would not respond to the implications of Christ's resurrection. So what are we are we fools or are we wise and that's what I want to talk about today our face is based on enough evidence that makes us why to believe and so I want to ask you a question kind of a rhetorical question obvious I don't want you to answer this aloud but I want you to seriously consider this right now. Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave on the third day and if you do why. It's important for all of us to be able to say I believe that happen and here's why well what I want to do on this Easter morning is I want us to take some time to determine if we are fools for believing this or if we are wise to trust the evidence and I'm going to share with you three reasons why I believe and of course there are there are more than three reasons why I believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ there's probably twenty or thirty year but I know some of you have food in the oven at home and so I can preach for that long I would be very foolish for me to do that so I mean if you sorry reasons why I believe we would be foolish not to place our face in Jesus Christ and the first reason I believe is because Jesus said it would happen.

I believe that this. That's true because Jesus said this was going to happen you know people like to say that they're going to do something all the time we're working we tend to be like that and usually when things are within our control we go ahead and say we're I'm going to do this I'm going accomplish this feat like for instance let's say a young man or young woman grows up and they tell their parents and their grandparents I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up is it within their power or control to do that for most people it is right and so they go through this schooling in they get the education they get their degree and they become a doctor we can all be impressed because they said this is what I'm going to do and they went out and they accomplished it based on their control in another realm athletes athletes who like to accomplish great feats and some world class sprinters might be able to say I am going to sprint one hundred meters in ten seconds flat and can we believe them that they might be able to accomplish that and you might take a look at somebody and realize no they can't or maybe they will like if Steve McFadden says he's going to run hundred meters in ten seconds you're They know you'd be a fool to believe soon found would do that.

I've seen him run.

But many people will claim that they will do something but it's almost always within their control I want you to turn your Bibles to Mark Chapter eight.

Mark Chapter eight beginning in verse thirty one.

And what we're about to read in this passage Jesus tells his disciples that he's going to die and after three days he's going to come back to life and because Jesus was fully human like every other human being before him once he died he obviously had no power to bring this to pass unless God was obviously behind it so Mark Chapter eight beginning in verse thirty one this is where we find one of the places where Jesus said this was going to happen Mark eight thirty one it says and it began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again this is what Jesus told His disciples and he said this plainly and Peter like this Peter took him aside and again to rebuke him but turning in seeing is disciples here view Peter and said Get Behind Me Satan for you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man you know how many people before Christ have made this claim that they will die and come back to life none no one has ever made that claim and it hasn't happened you know I read this week that if you were to count all the people that ever lived on the face of this earth throughout the history of mankind you have about one hundred billion people and I'm not sure where people came up with that number that seems like it might be a little high but I've counted all the people that ever lived and today there's about seven point five billion people who live on the earth but how many of the people that have ever lived on this earth made the claim that when they die they will come back to life and it actually happened not one except Christ he said this was going to happen and it did I want you to turn your Bibles now to Luke Chapter twenty four. Luke Chapter twenty four this is one of my favorite passages dealing with the resurrection of Christ and if I could go back. Pick a time when I could live I'd like to be one of these men the Jesus met on the road to I'm a US Luke Chapter twenty four beginning in verse thirteen.

Luke Chapter twenty four beginning in verse thirteen and this is the same day that Jesus rose from the grave and this is an encounter that he had with two men on the road to amaze a mass Luke twenty four thirteen it says that very day two of them were going to a village named a man's about seven miles from Jerusalem and they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened and while they were talking and discussing together Jesus himself drew near and went with them but their eyes were kept from recognizing him and he said to them what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk and they stood still looking sad then one of them named Cleo POS answered him are you only a visitor Jerusalem who does not know the things that happened there in these days and he said to them what things and they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth a man who was a prophet mighty indeed in word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel Yes and besides all this it is now the third day since these things happened Moreover some women of our company amazed us they went to the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find us body they came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive some of those who were with us went to the two and found it just as the woman had said but him they did not see him and he meaning Jesus and Jesus said to them oh foolish ones and slow of hard to believe all that the prophets have spoken was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself so they. JR to the village to which they were going he acted as if he were going further but they urged him strongly saying Stay with us for it is towards evening and that is now far spent so he went in to stay with them when he was at a table with them he took bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they recognized him and then he vanished from their sight then they said to each other Did not our hearts burn within us while we talked while he talked to us on the road when he opened to us the scriptures and then they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and they found out the eleven and those who were with them gathering together saying the Lord hasn't risen indeed and has appeared to sign them and then they told what had happened on the road and now he was known to them in the breaking of bed bread you know I look at this and I think what a thrilling moment for these two men to stalk with Jesus to have Jesus explain to them all the prophets and what they said regarding Jesus' life you know I believe that this happened I believe with all my heart this happened I believe that Jesus died and came back to life and the first reason I believe it is because Jesus said it was going to happen. Now another reason why I believe that this happened is because Jesus said it would happen and also the reason why Jesus explained to the man on the road to man and that is because the prophet said it would happen the prophet said it would happen you know on the road to M A S with those two disciples it says that Jesus is open the scripture to them and kind of explain to them from the Old Testament prophets all the things regarding him now don't you wish that Jesus would have said Now turn your Bible to this page so you know we could do that today obviously wasn't like that but what I want to do is I want to share a reference of Scripture with you and some of you probably are very familiar with this passage and I want to read it and it's going to be projected up here on the screen a Christian you put the first light up there I'm not going to put the reference up there but I want you to just read along with me as I'm. Reading this passage of scripture and I want you to just simply answer the question in your own mind who is this passage of Scripture talking about all right so let's just go ahead and read this and answer the question yourself who is this talking about.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a route out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him nothing in his appearance that we should desire him he was despised and rejected by mankind a man of suffering and familiar with pain like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised and we held him in low esteem Surely he took upon our pain and bore our suffering you know we considered him punished by God stricken by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities the punishment that brought us peace was on him and by his wounds we are healed we all like sheep of gone astray each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as sheep before its shearers is silent so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgement he was taken away yet who of his generation protested for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people he was punished he was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death though he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer and the Lord makes his life an offering for sin he will see his offspring in prolong his days and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hands after he has suffered he will see the. Light of Life and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many and he will bear their iniquities Therefore I give him a portion among the great and he will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life and death and was numbered with the transgressors or he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Who is this about.

Obviously Jesus right this is clearly about the life of Jesus Christ and you don't have to go back to these passages but here in verse five it says he was pierced for our transgressions for those of you familiar with the crucifixion story what did the Romans insurance do after Christ had died they pierced his side to ensure that he was dead and out of his side flowed blood and water that's right there in that passage in verse seven it says that he was a person afflicted and he did not open his mouth he was like he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers a silent so he did not open his mouth all throughout the trial of Christ he remained silent that's what it said in verse seven verse nine of this passage you said he was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death before Jesus do after he died the Roman centurion is usually took the criminals and put them in a common grave but a rich man named Joseph of their meth the Took Jesus' body and put him in a rich man's tomb listen this is clearly about Jesus and this is the fifty third passage in Isaiah Isaiah fifty three and listen to this this passage was written seven hundred years before Jesus was even born. Seven hundred years before he was even born and you read Isaiah fifty three and it is crystal clear that this is obviously written about Jesus Christ you know I. In my my Sunday school class I found a whole bunch of videos taken by Jews who later profess faith in Jesus Christ later on in their life and there's this video of a man who said when he read Isaiah fifty three it was so clear that it was talking to Jesus as the Messiah that he placed his faith in him just off of Isaiah fifty three Listen this is just one passage there are so many more in the Old Testament they clearly tell us that these things were supposed to happen so in my opinion only a fool would ignore the evidence of the prophets and so this is why I believe and the third reason I believe is because of the changed lives of the people who didn't believe it first there are people who didn't believe Christ rose from the grave at first and then you see a change in their life and that gives us great evidence there's a couple of these is an example of doubting thomas many of you know doubting Thomases his this is his fellow disciple said Jesus rose from the grave he says I'm not going to believe it unless I touch you with my own hands and what happened he was able to touch him with his own hands I think that probably Saul of Tarsus is probably the most credible credible person to trust when it comes to someone who didn't believe it first and later did in fact Saul was so against Jesus and His followers then he went around throwing them into prison and Saul was in absolutely no way a part of Christ's original group of followers but in his writings he tells us that on the road to Damascus Jesus revealed himself to Paul and Paul spent the rest of his life not persecuting the followers of Christ but trying to convince everybody of the truth of that reality and and trying to get other people to place their face in him I want to turn to another passage this is an accepted twenty six.

Acceptor twenty six we're going through the book of Acts in our Thursday morning men's Bible study and we recently went through the section and I found this was a very interesting here Paul is making his defense also the book. Actually see Paul on the he's he's on trial and he's going to be sent to to Rome because he appealed to Caesar but before that some of some of the government governing authorities are trying to figure out what they're going to write to Caesar saying why Paul is on trial and Paul has in this story that we're going to look at he has an audience with the King and King Agrippa and he agreed it was a king in Palestine and he would have been alive and in some form of authority when the events of Christ took place and so here is Paul talking to Kenya grip on and this is how this interaction goes look at Acts Chapter twenty six and we'll start in verse four

come to get some background on what he's about to say to King Agrippa X. twenty six pour in this is Paul sharing with King Agrippa who Paul is who he is he says. My manner of life from Use spent from the beginning among my own nation and Jerusalem is known by all the Jews they have known for a long time if they're willing to testify that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a fair city and now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers to which our twelve tribes hope to attain and they earnestly worship night and day and for this hope I am accused by Jews OK Why is this thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead and so Paul is on trial because he believed that Jesus raise was raised from the dead and then he continues in at the end of his speech with Skip ahead to verse twenty four so he's still talking to King Agrippa and Festus and other governmental official and this is the last thing that happens in this part of the story verse twenty four X. six twenty six twenty four.

And as he was saying these things in his defense Festus said with a loud voice Paul you are out of your mind your great learning is driving you are to your mind befall said I am not out of my mind most excellent Festus but I am speaking true and rational words for the keen he a grip on the King knows about these things and to him I speak boldly for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice for this is not been done in a corner and so Paul knows the King Agrippa knew all about these events he knew the claims that Jesus came back to life King Agrippa knew all of these things and all this happened while he was in some form of power and so King Agrippa knew exactly what Paul was talking about in verse twenty seven palaces King Agrippa do you believe the prophets I know that you believe and Agrippa so. To Paul in a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian and Paul said whether short or long I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am except for these chains now Paul was a changed man and his dramatic change leads me to believe that this is all true you know I read this story about a group and we were talking about this in a men's Bible study I wonder what happened to him you know he was he was presented with what the prophets had said about the Messiah and he knew all the events surrounding Christ life I think it's probably twenty or thirty years after when we have Paul talking to King Agrippa So sometime around there and so we're saying can you put these two together can you take the events that you know that's around of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and what the prophet said in key Agrippa do you believe can you put them together and place your faith in Him in our passage in actually six we don't see King Agrippa placing is faith in him but at some point he Agrippa was going to have to make a decision at some point he was going to have to decide it's true or it's not. And just like Paul said to King Agrippa I say to all of you what do you think is this true or is this not and it all comes down to this listen if this is not true then we are fools today we are fools for even being here but if it is true then it is wise to believe in only a fool would not believe. So this morning I ask you what do you think did this really happened to Jesus truly be born of a virgin did he live his life did he die on the cross and he come back to life I personally believe this is true I believe this is all my heart and I have devoted my entire life to proclaiming this truth I believe all of it and they know so many of you here today believe this is well but some of you are here to. Day and maybe you haven't made this decision for yourself and so just like Paul asked King Agrippa I'm going to ask you after seeing all this evidence do you believe.

And if you've never done this before if you never place your faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and you realize that that is a decision that you can and you need to make you can do that right now today. And the way that we place our faith in Christ is laid out very specifically in Scripture Christian if you can put up that last passage this is Romans ten Romans ten nine ten says very plainly if you confess with your mouth the Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart to God raised Him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart one believes in his justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

I know many of you in this room have done that before you've prayed this prayer you've confessed with your malice and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead but if there's anyone here who has not done that why would you wait another minute. Why would you wait another minute in fact I invite you to do that at this very moment like all of us to just our heads in the closer eyes and if you're here today and you are ready to make this decision for the first time I invite you to simply pray this prayer to God along with me and he will hear this in your heart simply prayed to God say this Dear God I believe. I believe you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and I believe you raised him from the dead as the first of all who will be raised back to life I now place my face in Jesus alone for myself nation.

Now if you prayed that prayer for the first time today I hope that you would tell that to me or somebody else before you go home right now let's turn to the Lord in prayer on this praise and for what we can celebrate today the Resurrect. Christ your father we come before you on this beautiful Sunday morning on this April Fool's Day Even And we we proclaim to you father that we're not fools we know that this took place we believe with all our heart and soul the you sent your son to die on the cross as in a toning sacrifice for our sins and you did not leave him in the grave the just like you said you would do just like Jesus said would take place after three days he came back to life and he is the first among the dead to be raised back to life and because you raised him back from the grave all of us have the hope that we too will be raised back to life as well as the father on this Easter morning we praise you we think you for giving us this hope and revealing to us the way in which we can be saved father and as you tell us and based on these events is not just something that we should just believe that something that we should allow to permeate every part of our life so Lord and today as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ help us to live with this resurrection power so the world around us might have this hope as well we pray these things down Christ may Amen.

Well the sermon this morning is about preparation and this week was a big week in the White House when it comes to preparation and I'm not talking about the one on Pennsylvania Avenue I'm talking about my White House the the Josh White House I know it kind of clever as.

This week we had a lot going on but first I want to tell you about the Cross Fit O'BRIEN That's right I started talking about this a while ago there was a five week competition and it officially ends this weekend the last weekend came out on Friday and would you like to know the results of the crossword open things are asking you I'm glad you want to thank you for taking an interest in my hobbies and I'm glad I can share this with you Well this personally was my second time that I did the crossword Open last year when I did it I had maybe been doing crossword for about three or four months and so I did well I think for last year for my first time and so this is the kind of time of year where you come to see you know did I get stronger Did I get faster to get better and so I looked at my results from last year and I looked at my results in the Southwest region this is like a worldwide competition they break it down into regions and here in America the southwest region is five states Colorado Utah Nevada New Mexico and Arizona and of the people that did the scaled version I did the scaled version last year was my first year which is just a little bit lighter weight a couple movements that you don't have to do on the R.X. of version there were one thousand and one thousand people one thousand men who did the scale version of Crossfire last year and I came in seventy third or out of a thousand not too bad right my top ten percent almost always please with out this year in two thousand and eighteen I did the same thing I did scale because there's still a couple movements or they can do but I wanted to see if I could beat Josh White from two thousand and seventeen you know and so this year out of a thousand and seventy three people right now and it might change a little. Right now I'm number three was pretty good. Grilled right yeah thank you.

And so that's just the scaled and then among men my age because it's better to compare yourself against guys your own age forty to forty four year olds last year out of one hundred sixty six people in the Southwest I was twelve and this year I'm first.

Don't be too impressed yet just wait until I tell you. And in fact the last time I checked the app on my phone for all the men in the world forty to forty four I'm first. That's going to change trust me is going to change but I'm doing the scale which is kind of like the J.V. version compared to varsities So it's not saying much you should as Zack how he did Zach did really good he did the R.X. of version where is actually actually is here OK Ashley did a great job but I'm going to bring about somebody else right now Taylor Hill Taylor… is here she is an actual athlete and so she did this she did phenomenal and there's eight thousand women over a thousand women in the Southwest region and what they do is you take the top twenty from each region and those who are good enough they go on to regionals and this is these are just really the best athletes around and then if you win regionals of the top five in regionals you go on to the games which is kind of like going to the Olympics and of the eight thousand people Taylor Hill is right like you are twelve to fifteen so she's almost a lock for Regionals this is a really impressive and for those of you who ever watch crossfade it is extremely difficult to make it to regionals and so all of us in our Jim Acosta cross that were like super excited for Taylor but I'm for those of us who have been watching her we should be too surprised because she works really really hard I try to go about five times a week and it depends on if there's something going on at night at church and I go in the morning otherwise I try to go in the after. Noon and I think every single time that I'm there so is Taylor she works out two or three workouts a day she wanted to make sure that for this cross that open she was prepared and I think it really goes to show you that people who prepare there's good things that come from that well another thing about the White House something else that we were preparing for my wife and my daughter are gone for the week they took off for Florida for spring break of this is a great opportunity for mom and daughter to spend the time some time away there with Christians grandparents and for Miers and so this last week we've been preparing for her departure and so she did although a lot of us say we she was preparing for her departure so she dove the laundry before she laughed which I really love and appreciate or for that she did all the grocery shopping she also prepared a honey do list for me which was very nice I appreciate that while I'm gone you're going to do these things and then Caleb and Kyle and I will definitely be preparing on Friday night for her return and you know what that means taking up everything the dishes and you know just trying to make sure everything is as clean as we can make it clean. You know all of us are preparing for something life is about preparing So what are you preparing for right now I mean some of you might be preparing for maybe a work project something you might be preparing to graduate from either high school or college some of you might be preparing for maybe like a family vacation that's coming up you know as a church we're preparing for Easter but there's also a really big project coming up a big ministry for our church that we're going to start preparing for and that's Vacation Bible School and this year is going to be really special the leader the peer is the president of the Parent Teacher Association of the elementary school right over here and I am pointing in the right direction this time right over here called us and wants to meet with Sarah Kinkaid and myself to talk about how that elementary school can promote. Our vacation bible school for the summer I mean this is going to be huge Yeah it's really neat.

And so on we're going to need a lot of help and this is going to be a wonderful way for us to really introduce ourselves to this neighborhood and so we're preparing for that you know life is just one constant preparation we're always preparing for something when you're young you're preparing for school to graduate to maybe your career and preparing to get married and then and then when you're in midlife you're preparing for the financial needs of your family preparing to buy a house and maybe hopefully pay that off some day and you're preparing to maybe buy a car and then pay that often and when you're midlife you're preparing for retirement right and then once you're retired you have nothing left to prepare for you just enjoy life right it is not how it goes something like that maybe not. You have a question for all of you. What is today who had the answer that what is today. Palm Sunday that's kind of a trick question. It's not wrong to say Palm Sunday because that's obviously that's what it is today but back in the days of Christ it wasn't something called Palm Sunday it was actually a very busy time of the year during this week. Some two thousand years ago this is the time when all of Israel was preparing for certain feasts and festivals Passover the Feast of Unleavened Bread and also the feast of firstfruits and what they were doing is they were busy removing all the leaven all the yeast from their house to house because they could not have it in their house for those seven days and the two main reasons why they were preparing is because God told them to remove the leaven this is for them to remember how God brought them up out of Egypt in haste and kind of were symbolizes the removal of sin but also on this specific day we call this Palm Sunday but on this specific day all the Israelites were picking out a lamb that they were going to sacrifice four days later on Passover for them to. Remember the original Passover in Egypt and so it was on this very day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem we call it Palm Sunday but it was actually Lamb of Selection Sunday that Jesus rode into Jerusalem and this was the day that Israel this day in this week was when Israel would look back and remember how God was preparing them to be delivered from slavery in Egypt and for us today this is something that we can look back on and remember but the nice thing is we have the big picture today and so what I want to do today as we call this Palm Sunday I want to look at three major preparations that God has done for us and we're just going to take the time today to remember them and so I want you to turn in your Bibles to the original Passover back in Exodus Chapter twelve

Exodus Chapter twelve

if you're taking notes let me give you the first point for the message here the first preparation that we're going to remember today is how God prepared to deliver Israel this is how God prepared to deliver Israel from slavery through the plague of the Passover so let's read Exodus Chapter twelve beginning in verse one.

Exodus twelve or so one says The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt this month shall be for you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year for you tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses and so that's what I would be today a lamb for a household and if the household is too small for a lamb then he and his nearest neighbors shall take according to the number of persons according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb your lamb shall be without blemish a male a year old you may take it from the sheep or from the goats and usual keep it until the fourteenth day of this month when the whole assembly of the current geisha of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight and so these are the initial instructions that God gave to Moses the nation of Israel ready for the first house or for seven then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts in the lintel of the houses in which they eat it they shall eat the flesh that night roasted on the fire with unleavened bread in bitter herbs they shall eat it do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water but roasted its head with its legs and its inner parts and you shall let none of it remain until the morning anything that remains untold the morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it with your belt fastened your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand and you shall eat it in haste it is the Lord's Passover for I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgements I am the Lord the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are and when I see the blood I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt this day shall be for you a Memorial Day and you shall keep it as a feast of the Lord throughout your generation. As a statute forever and you shall keep it as a feast seven days you shall eat unleavened bread on the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses for if anyone needs what is love and from the first day until the Sabbath that person shall be cut off from Israel on the first day you shall hold a holy assembly and on the seventh day a holy assembly no work shall be done on those days but what everyone needs to eat that alone may be prepared by you and so God gave them these instructions before he brought them up out of Egypt and this became the feast that they would do every year to remember and interesting only enough God established all of these Jewish holidays before these actual events took place now we love holidays we love vacations don't we here in America I mean everywhere in the world we love vacations and holidays but how many times have you celebrated a holiday that's based on no actual event or memorial of a person you know we don't do that right that's that's ridiculous and yet God said do these things and he had them celebrate the feast of festivals before actual events took place up to that point in time and this is one way that God was preparing the world for what he was going to do. The continue reading in verse twenty four

says you show observe this right as a statue for you and for your sons forever and when you come to the land of the Lord will give you as he promised you shall keep this service and when your children say to you what do you mean by the service you shall say it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses and the people bowed their heads and worshiped then the people of Israel when it did so as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron so they did at midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock and Pharaoh rose up in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where someone was not dead and this is how God delivered Israel out of Egypt and want to skip to verse thirty seven this is one of the reasons why they call this the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they had no time to let the bread rise they had to leave Egypt in such a hurry first thirty seven and the people of Israel journeyed from Ramsay's to suck off about six hundred thousand men on foot Besides women and children a mixed multitude also went up with them and very much livestock both flocks and herds and they baked unleavened cake on the dough that they had brought up out of Egypt for it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves and so this is a day that we remember we remember what would have been the tenth of Nisson for the Israelites the nation was selecting their land and on that very day God sent Jesus into Jerusalem so that he would be our sacrificial lamb that's the first thing that will remember today oh. God delivered the Israelites the second preparation I want to remember today is the true Passover that happened way back in the Old Testament some fifteen hundred years before we get to the New Testament roughly that amount of time and a lot of times when you're reading the Bible you'll notice something in the Old Testament has a a repeat in the New Testament and that's one way of God giving us lots of types and shadows or something will happen in the Old Testament and then there will be a future a permanent reality in the New Testament and that's one of the things that we see with the Passover and as special and as significant as the original Passover was it was only a shadow of the future reality that we see in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ Well God was showing is that there would be a sacrifice made that would allow all mankind through their faith to pass from death to life and that's what we remember today you know him to prepare the world for that god did a couple things he sent John the Baptist as a way to prepare the nation of Israel for the coming Messiah a couple passages in the New Testament we can read or you can turn to Luke seven all read this and the next one is in John one but these kind of both point to the preparation of Jesus being the ultimate Passover lamb but in Luke Chapter Seven dealing with John the Baptist's who is Jesus cousin. Jesus said this in Luke seven twenty six Speaking of John the prophet John the Baptist's What then did you go out to see a prophet Yes I tell you and more than a prophet this is he of whom it is written so John is a fulfillment of prophecy Behold I will send my messenger before your people who will prepare your way before you and so God sent the name of the Nation of Israel John the Baptist to prepare and ready them for the coming Messiah and you know who John the Baptist said Jesus was read this and. On one twenty nine turn there really quick John chapter one verse twenty nine. Here's John the Baptist baptizing people out in the wilderness and this is what he said about Jesus John one twenty nine Jesus John the Baptist said this

the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And so this is God's way of preparing for the second and the true Passover Today we remember how God graciously gave His Son to be the sacrifice of our sins so that we can be forgiven and anyone who places their faith in Jesus's death and resurrection we pass over from death to life and the third thing I want to serve member today is what else got us prepared for us and this is not something that we're looking back in the past for this is something that we are given as our great hope and the third thing that God has prepared for us is a future with Him forever in eternity God is preparing a place for us to spend with him one should turn your bibles of your soul the book of John to John fourteen.

John Chapter fourteen.

And I know I've mentioned this before and I'll mention this again John chapters twelve through twenty one are basically the last week of Christ's life and so here in John Chapter twelve you were going to Chapter thirteen you have a the Jesus washes his disciples feet and that's when they were practicing the Passover meal in the upper room and so he did that as part of the Seder meal and then here in John Chapter fourteen and remember this is during the Passover meal that he's having with his disciples literally hours before he's crucified and this is what John says to his disciples John fourteen beginning in verse one. He says to them.

Let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in Me In My Father's house are many rooms if it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to Myself that where I am you also may be and you know the way to where I am going Thomas said to him Lord. I do not know where you are going how can we know the way Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the Life no one comes to the Father except through me you know Jesus said this wall he was still with the disciples and eventually he was crucified he rose from the grave and he told them to take comfort in the fact that he was going to prepare a place for them Jesus says that he's preparing a place for all of us who are facing him so that we can be with Him forever and so this is dealing with the preparation God has made for our future. How many of you know which house you'll be living in ten years from now some of you might some of you saying I am in the house that I'm in I'm never moving from this but most of us are thinking you know I have no idea what's going to happen in five years from now let alone ten years or twenty or fifty years from now but we start preparing for the rest of our lives were wise if we are preparing for a future but our preparations for a future stop in this life but in God's great love for us not only did he prepare the sacrifice to pay for our sins but right now he is preparing in eternal home for all of us who have placed our faith in him and the apostle Paul says something very similar in second Corinthians you can turn their second Corinthians Chapter five.

Saying Corinthians Chapter five vs four and five.

Second Chapter five or says four and five

this is the comfort in the hope that we get from the Apostle Paul he says for while we are still in this tent we groan being burdened not that we would be on close but that we would be further closed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life he who has prepared us for this very thing is God who has given us the spirit as a guarantee I read that last sentence and it is so poignant that God has prepared you and me to live for eternity and it's our choice where we're going to live eternity based on what we believe Jesus Christ who he is you know so today this being Palm Sunday or lamb Selection Sunday maybe more properly it's good for us to remember the things that God has prepared for us he's prepared the payment for our sins and He is also prepared a future home with him forever so what do we need to be prepared for you know for it is in regarding our salvation there's nothing that we need to do there's nothing that we're supposed to do to assist God or to help him in his his work of saving us but the Bible does tell us that we should be prepared for something and so I do want to leave us with this last thought you can turn over the first Peter chapter three

first Peter chapter three verse fifteen.

First Peter chapter three.

Verse fifteen and sixteen it says this.

And this is what we are to be prepared for. His but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord is holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who ask you for the reason for the hope that is in you you do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience so that when you are slandered those who are vial your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame we are supposed to be prepared to share with anyone the reason why we have hope and now that we say this and with this being history and I think someone in this room hopefully many of us in this room will have an opportunity this week based on some kind of conversation you're going out with someone and they're going to ask you something about Easter Why do you go to church and will be your opportunity to share with them your faith I told my Sunday School class this morning this week I got my haircut on Thursday and the hairdresser asked me the question which kind of surprising she said So you have any plans for Easter was kind of shocked you know I've never been asked a question by so Miranda a stranger and and I said yeah I'm going to go to church and then she said well I'm going to go to church too I and girls my brother it's only time of the year I go to church and she kept talking and talking talking I didn't have a chance to tell her I was a pastor that's all right.

Five other conversations after that but I was just thinking you know this is the time of year where you might ask somebody that question and you everyone in this room I'd have an opportunity this week to bring up this topic so be prepared to share with everyone if you have this hope or right now what I want to do is I want us to celebrate communion by remembering what God did to prepare us for the sacrifice of His Son so I'd like to have the men come forward right now we're going to help me with communion.

Go

step

we've never done communion in this building before so we're figuring this out as we go. But right now we're going to pass out the bread which as you know represents the body of Jesus Christ and for those of you familiar with the Seder meal you know that up in the Upper Room Jesus with this was his disciples he took the unleavened bread the matzah and he took the middle portion of any broken and he said to them this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me and when Jesus said that he knew that literally within hours his body was going to be broken. And so as you sit here today with us as a family of believers spend time thinking about how God willingly sent His Son and His Son Jesus our Savior willingly allowed his body to be broken so that you and I could have our sins forgiven.

In first Corinthians as Apostle Paul is giving us our instructions for the Lord's Supper He wrote this he says for I received from the Lord What I also deliver to you but the Lord on the night that he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me.

Thank you so much for the sacrifice of your son and even the willingness of Christ to die he knew what he was doing he knew why he was writing into Jerusalem. And he willingly did that for us because of his great love for us. Thank you so much father for the sacrifice which pays for our sins of previous unquestioning men

and during that same night Jesus was. With his disciples he was going through the Seder meal and he was going through the four cups of they were drinking and he got to the third cup and he said to them I will not do this again and tell finds its fulfillment in the kingdom of God and when he said that that my dad was the last time he had celebrated the Passover meal with the Israelites because he has been busy like he said preparing a place for all of us so that we can be with him forever. And so as we take the juice and we spread it out to allow you to hold on to it. Courage you to just take time and realize that it's because of the spilled blood of Jesus Christ the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Jew and I have the hope of spending eternity with him.

The scripture continues and says. In the same way also he took the cup after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death and telling.

Father with great joy we proclaim your death until you return because we believe just as Christ rose from the dead he is the first fruits of all who will be raised back to life and because he rose from the grave we believe that we will as well thank you so much for giving us this picture of redemption from the Word of God for you brought Israel out of Egypt using the Passover and how you sent your son some fifteen hundred years later to be the true Passover so that we can look back and we can realize that you prepared to deliver us from the power of our sins through the death of your son the Lord his resurrection gives us the hope that because he was raised from the dead we too will be raised to life eternal and so Father we praise you for that truth and this week in a very practical way I pray that you help us all be prepared to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ this coming Sunday we look forward to that and we pray this in Christ mean you Matt.

Well does anyone know what yesterday was.

It's a trick question yesterday was the day that the evil Ohio State men's basketball team lost to the wonderful make Nissin Gonzaga Bulldogs gone is there right out of.

Adams and I.O.C. fan I'm a gun Sega fan because I'm from Spokane you know God's country up there and is my favorite basketball team there by far my favorite college basketball team and they were playing against my least favorite college in the universe Ohio State and so it was yesterday was a good day and then on top of that my favorite college is probably the University of Michigan I don't have a talk about that here but I like the University of Michigan and they won on a last second three pointer to be Houston to go to the Sweet sixteen so yesterday was a really good day for me unfortunately guns a good Michigan my two favorite teams they actually have to play each other next Thursday so I know if that's the worst part of my week you know life's pretty good right now I carry care of the plane but obviously yesterday was St Patrick's Day I don't know if you guys did anything you had corned beef and cabbage or whatever you had my family decided to celebrate in a way I think probably most Americans celebrate but before before I tell you how we celebrated. I have really tried this year to cut out sugar from my diet like completely and I've done really well in fact I can probably count on one hand how many times I've had a dessert in two thousand and eighteen that is until yesterday. And so after Jackie's soccer game we're like oh we need to have something for St Patrick's Day and someone came up with the idea I don't know who was maybe maybe it was me is probably me hey let's get some shamrock shakes from McDonald's How many do you like those those are those are awesome so I drove over to McDonalds Kyle and I went over there and I got two large shamrock shakes who came back and we split it all up into five cups and we all drank I'm. And boy it was really sweet not having sugar for a long time was really good and then Kristin and Jackie went to Safeway and Kristen came home with a box of donuts.

And it were it was the old fashioned Don't you know what the buttermilk in the frosting on top and they were just speaking calling out to me and I was thinking No I already had it I already had a milkshake I shouldn't have anything and I looked at those and you know what those donuts are like the best tone in the world for dipping in coffee you know yes some people are already saying coffee you know you break it up and so I'm thinking you know I resist as long as there's no more coffee I won't make any coffee so I went over to the craft and lo and behold it's a stainless steel craft so I can see what's in it it's about halfway full so.

I can always coffee right so poor a cup of coffee heated up and I had a donor and at that point I'm thinking well I've already had a shake I might as well have a donut right. It's kind of like there are a lot of things are like that and like you say well I've already started so I don't necessarily need or want to stop you know. We need to be very careful in our life because a lot of things are just like that on they can take on a life of their own if we're not careful some of you are probably heard the parable of the two wolves if not all share that with you right now it's amazing how many worldly parables actually have a lot of spiritual significance in them as well but the parable of the tools goes something like this. A grandfather is talking with his grandson and says that there are two wolves inside us which are always at war with each other and one of them is the Good Wolf and that represents love and kindness and bravery and love and the other is a bad wolf which represents things like greed he treated and fear and the grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then looks up his ground when he says will which wolf wins. And the Grampus says the one that you feed. Many of you probably heard something like that before the funny thing is it sounds a lot like what Paul is teaching us here in Galatians chapter five and so I'd like you to open your Bibles right now to Galatians chapter five we're continuing in our passage or in our series on Galatians

and we're definitely into the practical section and here in Galatians chapter five what we looked at last week was Paul revealing to us the calling that has on our lives one of the many callings there's plenty of different places in the Bible where God says that we are called to do something or called to live a certain way and last week Paul mentions to us Elise what we read last week is how we have been called to freedom we've been called to Liberty and then Paul goes on to say and you have two basic options two ways to use your freedom and to use your liberty the first thing you can do with your freedom is you can use your freedom to indulge your sinful flesh you can use your freedom to focus on yourself and find out all the fun things that are going to make you sell yourself a really good and you could do that or you can use your freedom which is what he's telling us to do to love and to fill the greatest commandments and what Paul is about to do and will look at this I'm after Easter is next week's Palm Sunday than Easter but he's about to show us what good fruit looks like if someone is allowing the Holy Spirit to take control of their life they will exhibit the fruit of the spirit and will look at that in a few weeks but first he shows us what it looks like if we use our freedom to feed the Bad Wolf if we use our freedom to focus on ourselves and so today's sermon is about how not to use your freedom and is followed by a very specific warning that will look at and so let's go ahead and we'll read in what I want to do is just because it's three verses let's let's read our verses from last week and then we'll get into our verses for this week's of glacial chapter five beginning in verse thirteen glacial chapter five beginning of verse thirteen says.

For you are called to freedom brothers only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole laws fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you buy. Devour one another watch out that you are not consumed by one another now for a passage for this week. Or sixteen but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law now the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions envy drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you as they warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And so in this passage we see Paul's desire for us to live free and he tells us how not to use our freedom and he starts by telling us this kind of point number one don't use your freedom to focus on the flesh Look at verse sixteen again.

But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh and of really descriptive phrase or so what exactly are these desires that we're not supposed to gratify or is he talking about milkshakes and donuts I mean I have those desires you have those kinds of desires Well obviously in life there are some good desires and there are some some bad desires that we have and some of our bad desires are not necessarily sinful and maybe there are unhealthy think a lot of things fall into that category or maybe some of them are unwise but many times in the Bible we are shown that some of our desires are actually sinful I mean obviously sinful the word for desire can be translated using a few different words. It can also be translated other places using the word lost or cravings or longings what I want you to do is stay here and in Galatians but go over to the Book of Romans chapter one. And as I've discovered as I've been going through teaching through the book of Galatians Romans is the perfect. Companion to the book of Galatians it goes on and explains things English and even in more detail and so there are several passages that we're going to look at in the book of Romans today the kind of pick up where glaciers ends so Romans chapter one

and God teaches us in Romans about some of these desires and house they are in fact sinful so Romans chapter one beginning in verse twenty four will just read a couple verses here Romans one twenty four. Says Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity the word for Lust is the same word it's the desires the desires of the flesh so therefore God gave them up to the loss of their hearts to improve. To the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve The Creator rather than the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever amen and so in this passage it tells us that God is trying to restrain us from going after these selfish sinful desires and at some point with some people he just he lets them go and he says if this is what you are are totally consumed with doing I'm just going to allow you to do this and says God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts. Go over to chapter six of Romans. Romans Chapter six.

Beginning in verse twelve Romans six twelve.

Another passage says.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions same word for desires or lusts do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace so I think we all understand this some of our desires their good desires and some of them are obviously bad and where do these bad or sinful desires come from you know what does it source what is its its energy or its strength Well back to five in verse sixteen it still tells us where these desires come. From Paul says inflation's five sixteen but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of what of the flesh the Greek word for flesh is the word SARS and it has to mean senses whenever you see the word flash in the New Testament as one of two meanings two primary senses the first is flesh can be our skin literally what holds the bones in the blood and everything together but from a spiritual standpoint the flesh is talking about the human nature that without any divine influence it is prone to sin and it is opposed to God you know the song that we sing Prone to wander Lord I feel it we all understand what that is that's our Sark sore our flash sometimes I think the N.A.V. translates that word a many times sinful nature that's our sinful nature and it's not so much a substance like our flesh is but rather more like a force in Romans if you're still in Romans go to look at Romans chapter eight.

Romans chapter H. talking about the flesh and how we're not to focus on the flesh Romans chapter eight beginning verse six

it says for to set the mind on the flash or the SARS is death but the set the mind on The Spirit is life and peace for the mind that is said on the flesh the sinful desires is hostile to God for it does not submit to God's law indeed it cannot those who are in the flesh cannot please God Another example is just in the chapter before this in chapter seven Romans seven five. Romans Chapter seven verse five it says For while we were living in the flesh our sinful passions aroused by the law were work in our members to bear fruit to death and so this is hopefully this is fairly obvious if you're a human being it doesn't take much to understand that our flesh there's something in us that just has these longings and cravings and desires that are opposed to God's law and backing Galatians a strong back there now we get a list of what these fleshly desires look like and Paul is telling us not to focus on these kinds of desires so back to Glacier chapter five Look at verse nineteen.

Says now the works of the flesh are obvious are evident. Sexual immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy fits of anger rivalries dissensions divisions envy drunkenness orgies and things like these.

And up to this point in a sermon you're probably thinking you know there's nothing that I have been taught this morning that I didn't already know or I've already been made aware of I think by nature most of us know right from wrong and even people that don't even have the Word of God They know the difference between right from wrong but what Paul is sharing with us is an important truth that we have a choice we can choose to focus on these kinds of desires and to satisfy them. Or we can choose to focus on the spirit one last passage of the glitter Romans.

I think this is the last one A Romans Chapter thirteen.

And I think in here Paul add something I think is definitely worth remembering Romans thirteen beginning in verse thirteen

Romans thirteen thirteen. He says Let us walk properly as in the daytime not in orgies and drunkenness not in sexual morality and sensuality not in quarrelling and jealousy but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and then he says this phrase and make no provisions for the flesh to gratify its desires the word for provision means just that it means to provide for something I like of the N.I.V. puts this verse where fourteen and I.V. says rather close yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh and this is what Christ set us free from the bondage of always thinking how am I going to satisfy my flesh how am I going to do how many in a spend my Friday night or my Saturday night one of the activities that I want to do so that I'm being satisfied and fulfilled and so that is what God has has set us free from it says Do not focus on those things and so I was a reading in the book of Galatians and as we read anywhere in scripture one thing that we already know is that if we sin our sins have been paid for because Jesus Christ died on the cross our sins are paid for and so someone might say and you might think this yourself I think all of us at some point might think this all of our sins are already paid for then what does it really matter if I go ahead and indulge my Flash because it's paid for Christ has already paid for those things well this is where the warning that Paul gives us comes in and so the things that Paul is telling us hearing Galatians are here is how not to use our freedom he tells us first and foremost to not use our freedom to focus on our flesh and then he gives us a warning for those who choose to focus on their flesh Now look again a verse twenty one of glaciers five. Questions five twenty one says in these drunkenness orgies and things like these I warn you who is he talking to here he's talking to believers right. I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God Now what exactly is Paul saying here is he saying that people who do these things won't go to heaven when they die because if that's what Paul is saying then we're we're all in big trouble right and of parenting Christ sacrifice wasn't enough and that's what we know that's not the truth that that's not true at all so look again at verse twenty one he says I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God you know this passage can be taken a couple different ways we have to ask ourselves is he saying that people who live like this are obviously not saved and they will go to heaven when they die we know that that is true in and of itself but is this what Paul is saying here or is he saying is he warning believers about living like this and he's giving believers A warning now there are three passages in the New Testament that are almost identical to this one hearing Galatians glacial five there's also one that is in first Corinthians Chapter six verses one through eleven and there's also one in the fusions chapter five and for the rest of this morning what I want to do is I want to transition to the Ephesians five passage of turning your Bibles through fusions chapter five.

And some of you might be thinking you know I think he's talked about this before so I know that all of you pay such close attention to my sermons that you can just reciting you know from memory but actually I preach a sermon on the fusions five back in August of two thousand and fourteen August tenth two thousand and fourteen and the reason I'm bringing this up is because this passage got me thinking as I was going through fees and is this passage a warning for people who do not have a relationship with God he's warning them that these are activities of the unsaved or is he warning believers that if you live like this there's the possibility that you can lose out. On something and Paul uses this phrase three times that you will lose out on something it in he calls us an inheritance in the kingdom and so what I did is back in August of two thousand and ten or two thousand and fourteen I actually wrote some of you might remember this I wrote to thirty of my pastor friends or people that were ministry and I asked them these two questions I said is this passage any talking to believers warning them that if they live like this they are losing out on potential rewards in heaven or is he writing to people who are unsaved and warning them to stop that because that is obviously the activity of someone who will not go to heaven.

I revealed to you the results of the survey back in August tenth of two thousand and fourteen so if you don't remember that sermon you're just never going to know the results of the survey it maybe I'll let you know but let's you were an efficiency or let's go ahead let's read this passage the fusion chapter five beginning in verse one and we're just going to read these for several verses here and you'll notice how almost identical This is to our passage in Galatians he says five beginning of verse one therefore be imitators of God His beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us a freighter an offering and sacrifice to God So already it sounds a lot like glacial doesn't it verse three but sexual morality and all impurity are covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints let there be no filter in this nor feel foolish talk or crude joking which are out of place but instead lead to rethinks giving for you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous that is an idolater has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them so again who is being warned here is that sinners like if they don't change their they can't go to heaven or is this a warning to believers who are living like this if they continue to choose to live like this that they will lose out on what he says here an inheritance or a reward in Eternity a look again of verse five of the seasons for you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous that is an idolater has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. You know I I wouldn't say that this is necessarily a controversial passage and people take different positions on this. But there is a good motivating force here is the motivation that God is giving us the fear of punishment to sinners that they will go to… or is it on that of a reward that we might miss out on an inheritance or reward if we choose to focus our lives by living according to the flesh Well this passage for sure and most possibly I think the collation passages as well it's written to believers and I believe it's a warning that believers can lose out on their potential rewards if they choose to live in a way that they will live to feed the flesh so want to look at this passage a little closer so like just like in Galatians this passage is written to people who already have a relationship with God through facing Christ look at verse one again of effusions five well just look at this little closely little more closely if he says five one who is he writing here to he says therefore be imitators of God as BE LOVED children so as Paul writing here to believers I think obviously these are people who have a relationship with God you don't tell the unsaved who don't have a relationship with God to be imitators of God You don't call them children so he's talking here to believers first to and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself. Up for us those who are redeemed as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God verse three but six you sexual immorality and impurity are covetousness of this not even be named among you as is proper among the saints so who is he talking to here obviously he's talking to people who are redeemed he's talking to the proper way for believers to live verse for. Let there be no filth in this nor foolish talk more crude joking which are out of place but instead let there be thankfulness and then we get to our key verse verse five for you you believe years may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous that is an adulterer has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God So as Paul reminding believers that sinners without Christ are in danger of going to… or is this God through the Apostle Paul warning believers that there are consequences for believers who act and live like the unsaved and I think the next couple of verses confirm that that's exactly the case verse six Let no one that deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience Paul is not wanting believers to be deceived we are not deceived about the unsaved not having a relationship with God There is no deception there the deception is that the believer can live like that without any consequence and the proof is the God's wrath is going to come upon the unsaved because he hates sin and hate sin in unbelievers just as much as he hates and in the life of believers and so he says in verse seven therefore you believers do not become part with them for one time you were darkness but now you are light in the world walk as children of light so here Paul is trying to say to believers he's warning them do not behave and do not. Live like the unsaved because if you do you will have no inheritance in the kingdom of God or of Christ and another thing that's important to point out and maybe the most important thing for this morning for us if you're wondering where this is going is verse five Look at verse five again it says

everyone who is that everyone who is sexually immoral and goes on continues the verb for who is there is a present active indicative and the significance of that is this Paul is talking to people who are living in on going open unrepentant lifestyle and there is no desire to change he's not referring to people who have committed any of these things in this list and realize that was wrong I need to get right with the Lord because I think all of us can look at this list and say several of those things all of us are probably partaking of in some sense but here Paula saying for those people who are living in ongoing unrepentant people who are choosing to live in the sin they are in danger of not losing their salvation but losing out on a potential reward in heaven.

I want you to go to one other passage in this is in first Corinthians Chapter three. First Corinthians chapter three and this is where Paul tells us about the Judgment Seat of Christ and how what will happen to every single believer that stands before the bema seat that they will either receive one of two things they will either receive rewards for their faithfulness or they will suffer a loss for living the way the God warns us to not live so here in First Corinthians Chapter three. Beginning in verse eleven.

Paul talks about this moment that all of us will have in our lives he says for no one can lay a foundation other than the which is laid which is Jesus Christ now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold silver precious stones wood Hey straw each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done if the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives he. Will receive a reward if anyone's work is burned up he will suffer loss though he himself will be saved but is only as through fire and so this passage is a wonderful passage if if you have place your faith in Jesus Christ there is nothing that can change your status as God's child you will spend eternity with Him no matter what but there will come a day when we stand before him and we have an opportunity to live our lives in faithfulness in this life so that we will not suffer loss but so that we will be rewarded for faithful faithful service you know a good example of someone who is saved and is not going to have any rewards of the bema seat is actually in Chapter five the first Corinthians Oh go ahead read this passage were you talking about a man who was sexually immoral any he just he chose not to repent he was living this lifestyle and process of those people in Corinth he says when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my Spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus you are to deliver this man's man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord that person was living an ongoing unrepentant sin and they were forfeiting I believe their inheritance yet obviously they were see. What coming back to our passage in the lation Zz and what are we supposed to do with this you know Paul is telling us that we are free and that we are to live up to this calling that he has placed on our life and then it is great care for us he shows us what it's like to live in prison to our flesh and also the consequences and I think we should all take the warnings in this passage very seriously you know we're approaching Easter I always look forward to Easter in fact I mention your Sunday School class this morning I think I look forward to Easter more than Christmas if you can believe it Christmas is about the birth of Christ and it's wonderful but Easter is where we find all the fulfillment and this is where we're all of the good stuff really. It happens in the death and resurrection of Christ and the interesting thing is in the nation of Israel as they were preparing for the Passover the Feast of Unleavened Bread and those of you in the Sunday school class you probably remember this from this morning but leading up to this Feast of Unleavened Bread everyone who is a good Jew will go through their house and they will make sure that there is no bread anywhere in the house they will remove all the leaven and leaven represents sin in our life they were very careful to make sure that there is no leaven anywhere in the House and for us today you know even though our sins are paid for if we aren't careful we can allow sinful activity to come back into our life and God is asking us to look at your life and make sure that your life is free from those sins there are to paid for but a little bit of cynic and spread and it can affect everything else and if we go back and we allow sin full activity back into our life it can rob us of our freedom but also like we see in this passage English and also in the fusions and first Corinthians it can possibly lead to loss of rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ. So I think what God is wanting us to do and what the Apostle Paul is warning us to do is to pay very close attention to what we are being taught in these passages and make sure that our focus is on The Spirit of God and not on our sinful flesh Well let's go ahead and close in prayer as look forward especially to a Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday next Sunday for the next couple weeks and then also looking at what it means to have the Spirit of God at work in our life so that we can bear fruit for him let's pray

Father thank You for this passage today and I realize you've given us your entire word for so many different reasons first and foremost so that we can know how to be saved were saved through the atoning work of the sacrifice of your Son Jesus Christ you gave him up so that our sins will be paid for the Lord in this passage as we read today I think we all know as long as we have to live in these these bodies we're going to be prone to sin and father even though those sins are paid for there are consequences we can possibly lose our freedom we can get wrapped up in addictions that are very harmful but Lord you want to see you want to stand before you at the judgment seat and you desire to say Well done my good and faithful servant and so you warn us about these things and so Father My prayer is for all of us here to just closely examine our lives and the see if there is any sin in our lives to see if there's any leaven hidden in the corners of the rooms of our heart a lot of that's the case help us to boldly come before you just thank you for the forgiveness that you offer us and to remove those things from our lives and even to depend on each other for help if that's what it takes but Father thank you so much for giving us the book of Galatians and the entire Word of God and Lord my prayer is that we won't spend time focusing in making provisions for the flesh but instead we will focus on the Holy Spirit that you put into our hearts so that we might bear fruit for your holy and most glorious name as in Christ name that we now pray Amen.