Grace to Teach Us

Speaker 1: All right, good evening, welcome to the Baptist Tabernacle, glad to have you here. Michael, I don't know, he it was him glad to have you here with us tonight. I hope that you've had a good week thus far. Let's all stand. We're going to get started by singing a song up on the screen. Majesty worship his majesty, singing out nice and loud tonight. Lift your voices up to Lord. Here we go, Majesty. Worship His Majesty unto Jesus. Be Your Glory, Honor and praise. Majesty kingdom authority flow from his throne unto his own, his anthem, Red. So to lift, hop on high, the name of Jesus, magnify, come glorify Christ, Jesus, the king. Majesty worship his majesty Jesus, who died now glorified king of all king. Rings Hey, man, good job singing tonight, let's go to Law and Order for Knowledge. Be seated for some announcements. The only father, we think, for this day and thank you for the folks that are here tonight, I pray that you would bless each and every one of them for putting in the effort to be here this evening. I pray that you would help us as we sing praises to your name and as we look into your word, be honor and glorified by everything we say and do with the children and the children's workers that are in the back. I help them tonight as they celebrate the end of their school year law and just help them to have a good time together and be with all those that are watching on Live Stream and me. You make it possible for us all to be together again soon. And it's in Jesus name that I ask these things. Amen. All right. Thank you. May be seated. Couple of announcements for you first, not all of these may be up on the screen, but we'll try to get most of them on there. There is a camp meeting Wednesday, June 2nd. Is that next Wednesday? Wow, it's already June. Holy moly, Wednesday, June 2nd, in the teen room after the service, this is very important. All campers and their parents must attend this meeting must like if you don't attend, you don't get to go to camp. It's just it is important. And with the church covering about two thirds of the cost to get there, I think we can show up for the meeting. So Wednesday, June 2nd, in the teen room after the service, campers and parents must attend that camp meeting. All right. Next announcement. What's going to show up? What's going to show up? VBS workers meeting. All right. We've got a lot of meetings going on right now, so buckle up. Your vacation Bible school is coming up in just a few weeks, June 7th through the 11th. And it is looking like it's going to be a big, busy week. We're excited about this. In addition to all of our kids, we've had a good response thus far from the community. A lot of online registrations and mycelia reached out to one of the preschools that typically brings their kids, and they said to expect between 40 and 50 kids from their preschool. So if you haven't signed up for VBS yet, please do so. But anyway, the workers meeting will be on June 6th after the morning service right down here by the keyboard. And we would sure appreciate it if all of our workers would be there for that. We do still have fliers available at the Welcome Desk and scattered throughout the building. If you want to grab one of those, invite your neighbors and then if you can still bring in toys, games, purses, other household items for the price store, you can drop those off at the church office and we will make sure that those get included in the VBS store this year. June 13th is our church's sixty sixth, not wedding anniversary. Sixty sixth anniversary of ministry. And so we're excited about that. We're going to celebrate on June 13th and hope that you'll join us then and then June 16th we have missionaries Simon and Elizabeth Jacobs to the country of Pakistan. We heard from them last week and our missionary update and they're going to be with us to give us a report on that Wednesday night. And so those are some of the things that are coming up. I hope that you'll make plans to be here for as much of those as you can. And at this time, I'm going to ask for the MAKHAYA to make his way up to the front and he is going to read our mission's report for the week. And this week, we're gonna hear from the the dice family and we no longer support brother dies, but they are a church plant that we helped to get started. And so we thought it would be a good update to just kind of let you know how they're doing and what's going on there with that church that was started.

Speaker 2: Good evening. I know it's been a long time since I've been up here. We'll get back in the habit of doing that. OK, so the day's family, like you mentioned, our theme for twenty twenty one is he is faithful, which is definitely been evident through twenty, twenty and twenty twenty one. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ has certainly been proving this to us every day. We are able to purchase a new one in October, last October. And though the DMV seems to be non-existent, they had difficulties getting titles, plates in registration. So they had to actually go through a middle man and it still took four months. They didn't get registration done until February. And he said to God, be the glory for that and for us, for patients, they now have three vans to pick up, teens and adults. Back again, so they have three wins total and they said we had a winter camp the last of February, this has been a regular activity for years gone by. So we are trying to get back in the habit of regular routines and ministries to our church and community. This was a week of. This was a week of a midwinter break in New York City and kids were not doing any in-person learning at school. We had a great week with 62 children and teens registered. The Lord moved upon five to make professions of faith. And then a few weeks later. Our teens went to a snow camp in Pennsylvania, which sounds kind of cool, but I don't know about that, uh, in Pennsylvania and another one of our another one of their teens made a profession of faith and to surrender to ministry. I know we would not normally have 11 teens go to snow camp, but with children home, with parents willingly set them and paid all of their dues up front. I just praise the Lord for all his for all his work and making it all happen according to his will. And they just, uh, pray with us for the year for this year's ministry. And it's warming up. But we are moving forward in most everything else. In attendance on Sunday mornings is high and they're hoping that all the other services get, um. You know. To a normal attendance, I suppose, and then it says, pray with us, that the Lord will move upon many to trust Jesus this year with Lockdown's easing in people ready to get out. He or we really believe people will be open to the gospel. And then he says they're happy to serve in New York City. So let's just pray, especially for these teens. We just want to thank you for the wonderful time you've given us here today, Lord, in our church in our sixty six years in ministry. Coming up, it's our anniversary. I pray you just be with today's family here in the ministry they have in New York City, and especially with all the troops. They do it to change the world that we know. The professions of faith and the one sending to ministry are very important, that they would continue in their faith will walk with you, Lord. And we just thank you for the things you've done here in our church. I pray you just be with the message tonight that we are all attentive and listening and just, uh, that we wouldn't do anything that would glorify you. Lord Jesus, Imad.

Speaker 1: Before you in a couple of more updates for you, first, we do have a van that we're in the process of purchasing some praise the Lord for that we are getting a brand new van for less than the price of a used one. And so that's that's an awesome, awesome thing. We're hoping to have that between June 3rd and June 10th. And so you pray for that, that that will continue to move smoothly. God has opened so many doors for us to be able to acquire this vehicle, and we're looking forward to putting it to use here in the ministry to pick up kids in the community, take kids to camp where God can work in their hearts, and then also it'll be much more comfortable for our senior adults when they go on all of their field trips. So you'll be able to stand up and walk to the back. Um, I won't worry so much, but really trying to get out of the out of the van. That's right. And be much, much safer. And so we're excited about that. And and so continue to pray for it and thank God for that. And then I was, uh, told to say this. We have a, uh, a donor that would like to match, um, whatever comes in next month to the to the playground. They're going to match that dollar for dollar. So whatever comes in, uh, donated towards the playground, they'll match it. And so it is quite possible that by the end of June, we will have the funds to go ahead and start construction and pay for a brand new playground for our kids and preschool. So that's that's pretty amazing if you do give online, it's now set up to where you can actually designate specifically to the playground. And if that's the way you do things, then we sure do appreciate that. And looking forward to how Godel used that, not only for our own kids, but also the kids and families in our community. Be a place for them to come, be able to play and spend time together. So anyways, I thought I'd give you those updates. Let's all stand. We're going to see page five. Sixty nine in your hymnal redeemed. How I love to proclaim it. Page number five hundred and sixty nine in the first second in the last redeemed how I love to proclaim it. Redeemed by the blood of the lambs, redeemed through his infinite mercy, his child. And forever I have redeemed. Trading redeemed by the blood of the lamb redeemed, right, I'm sorry, this is child and forever, I am going to hold it out of you. Just see it right there. Well, hold it out like we normally do. Sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. All right. On this second, here we go. Reteam dead. So happy in Jesus. No language my rapture can tell. I know that the light of his presence with me doth continually dwell reading redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the lamb reading. And he named. It is child and forever, I am I know I shall see in his beauty, the king and his lady, like her, lovingly guarded my footsteps and gives me a song

Unidentified: in the night. Redeemed, redeemed,

Speaker 1: redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Greedy. And greeting his child and forever, I am thank you for dropping that extra note in there for me to catch my breath. All right, one last song on that song, page number 61. If a couple of our men would prepare for the offering, we'll take up our offering at the end of this song. Open Your Eyes. We want to see Jesus to reach out and touch him and say that we love him. Open areas law. And help us to listen. Open our eyes. We want to see. Plus, and we'll have our men come forward this time. We had a great preschool graduation this morning. The auditorium was pretty well packed with preschool parents and the kids did a wonderful job. Appreciate all of our teachers that worked throughout this unique year and came in and invested in the lives of the young people consistently and excited to see what God will do in that ministry next year. But I the Randy Silver screen. If he doesn't mind a pray, ask God's blessing on the offering. And after he's done, then you may be seated. And then. I mean, take your Bibles if you have them in terms of the Book of Titus. Titus, chapter number two. I will probably all noticed. But. Bolts of the online poll, we did leave the thermostat set at 70 tonight, we did not lower them down to sixty eight, as so many of you suggested. So anyways, I hope, as Susan Baker, if you're watching, please do not lead a a revolt of the old people is what she said. But anyway, so 70 degrees should be pretty, pretty good there. Speaking of social media, if you're not a member of the church members page, we would invite you to check that out. Church member group, it's on the normal Facebook page for the church, but under the groups, you can join that. And we try to put information that we wouldn't necessarily put out to the whole community, but is pertinent to the church family. So you can look for that. Then if you are on Instagram, I would encourage you to go out and like or follow the Sebti youth Instagram page. Brother Clarence is running that page now and he's been posting content every day. And so especially those of you that have teenagers, you can go out and you can be an encouragement to him, support what he's trying to do. I like it and leave a comment. He's asked a few questions, and I know some of you have already interacted with him on there, but that would be to help. So much of church outreach these days is done online and digitally with people finding our our our website vining our Facebook page. If you search churches in Collinsville, just go through the kind of look and see where does our church show up? Search Baptist churches near me go go on there and look and see how far down we are on the list. And so there's a lot of things you can do to help us with that. Like the Facebook page, like the posts when when there are posts available to interact with, leave a comment. All of that helps. If you haven't left a Google review, a review, you can do that. Of course, you're going to leave a Google review. We'd like kind of say, you know, make sure it's good. You know, I had an issue with a staff member at a at another local church. He left us a one star review. So I called him like, dude, what's the deal? Why do one star my church is like it was it was an accident. Like, sure thing, bro, but it disappeared. And so I guess he felt guilty and he took it off. But anyways, those are small things that you can do and they actually carry quite a bit of weight. And so if you haven't done that yet, I won't be offended. You could do it right now while I'm talking. Maybe. OK, let's see. OK, let's let's read first and then I'll do some of the introduction here. So if you found your place, please join me in standing in honor of reading God's word. Titus Chapter two. Verse number 11. Titus, chapter number two, verse number 11. All right, down to first number 15. I will says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us that denying and godliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify under himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise the let's pray. Lord, I ask you to help us now as we look into your word, you give me the word you have to say and you help the folks who are here to listen and apply it here to their lives. Words in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you. May be seated. All right, now we've got to be getting close to the end of this series, I mean, Grace, through the Bible, we started in Genesis, we're in Titus. There's not a whole lot of books left between here and Revelation. I will give you a little bit of a spoiler for the end. But the last verse of the Bible, guess what word is in there? Grace, wouldn't you know it so anyways. When we get the revelation, you'll know, oh, we're almost done. Finally. OK, now, whether you know, it's not whether you know it or not, tonight is an historic night. It's a very special night. You are privileged this evening. It's good that you came because you would not have wanted to miss out on what I have for you today. To bring out my table. And I'm sorry for the mic, but I've been going on that side the last few weeks. So tonight we're going go on this side and I want the keyboard people to be getting upset with me. But tonight, I guess that very important night, very momentous occasion. I don't like to wax overly dramatic, but I just really can't oversell what I have here in this small box. What I have here is it's the it stands at the top. There is nothing else that can match what is right here, what I'm looking at right now, if I had like camera glasses where I look down and you can see what I'm looking at there, just be this, you know, that would come out of all of you just without you couldn't even control it. You just you would see it and you'd be like, oh, my goodness, I can't believe he has that. OK, but like I said, it's it stands at the top. It is number one in its category. I have here the best selling toy of all time. The best selling toy of all time. You know what it is? Huh? A yo yo. No, sir, it is not a yo yo, anybody else care to venture a guess? It is not Stretch Armstrong. It is not a slinky, not a Beanie Baby. I'll give you a hint, this will give it away. Legos. And all God's people said. Aymen. I want you to throw that first slide up there. Look at that. Right now, you can buy this set on Amazon for like one hundred and twenty seven dollars, I got paid ten bucks for it on sale several years ago. I won't tell you how many years ago, but several now, as you can see. I mean, I've just got a bunch of pieces here you really can't see. And I would tip the table over, but then my legs would go everywhere. And these are very precious to me. So I won't do that. But I've got a bunch of pieces, but that's what it would make if it was all put together. Now, how many of you want to venture a guess as to my ability to put this pile of Legos together in the proper sequence to recreate that car just by myself right here with what I have at the table? I think I can do it. Anybody have faith in their pastor? Your faith is misplaced. There's a great thing called the Internet, when I was a kid, my mom made sure she saved all the paper directions to our Legos. Don't I still have them? Yes, she loves that. I still have those. It's one of her favorite things that I have held on to. But you know what you can do now. You remember when Apple first came out, the iPhone and they had the App Store and one of their advertisements say there's. You don't know there's an app for that. Well, there is an app for Lego's. Go directions, somebody with a lot of time on their hands has gone through and scanned all the legal directions and so on. Ta ta ta ta ta. Already downloaded the directions. You said did you download the app, please? I keep this app on my iPad at all times. You know how you have some apps that you delete and you reload. This one never goes away. Oh, he plays the Legos a lot for an adult. OK, so even though I could not put that car back together, given those pieces, I do have access to the directions and this will show you step by step what to do. Now, how many of you think I came up with these directions? No Lego geniuses did I think they call them Lego masters, but here you can see it step by step, little pieces go together. You know, you've done Legos and bit by bit, piece by piece, it comes together to form this wonderful vehicle that you have up there on the screen. Now, let's see here we would take. Hmmm, sorry, not supposed to turn your back. Uh. How many steps? Sixty five steps to build that little car. Now, I thought I was sitting here and making you watch me build it, but that would be fun for me and not for you. So I won't do that tonight. But sixty five steps in order for this pile of unconnected tiny little pieces, I mean, does that look like a car to you know, I mean, you can tell these are wheels, but that's not a car. There's obviously the windshield, but not much else. Of course, it is a Mustang. So, I mean, maybe this is the natural condition of a Ford. I drive forward, so it's OK. But it doesn't go from this to that. Without help, someone has to tell you how to get there, you're not going to get there on your own. I could try to look at that picture and interpret how to put that together. But I can tell you right now on my own, in my own efforts, I'm not going to be able to go from this to that any time soon. I need someone else to guide me and show me the way. I need someone to teach me how to take these Legos and transform them into something that would be worthy of sitting on my bookshelf. Well. Oh, I forgot to tell you, did you know that Legos were identified as the toy of the century last century, the toy of the century in the same century in which Hot Wheels and G.I. Joe and Barbie existed, Lego got Toy of the century. How many Lego sets do you think are sold every second? Seven, that's how you know, it's a godly pastime, seven is God's number every second there are seven Lego sets that are sold. And if you bought Lego sets recently, you know, Lego is doing quite well if they're selling that many Legos every second. OK, so back to back to the the message, the passage that we're talking about tonight, we're dealing with this issue of Grace. And Paul is writing the Titus and he starts off by by talking about this matter of the grace of God, this this grace that we've been discussing for many weeks now. And his first point in verse number 11 is this and it's that the saving grace of God has appeared to all men. Now, I know there's a typo up there. Didn't feel like going back and changing it. So I hope you'll just forgive me. But that phrase, the grace of God bringing salvation has appeared to all men. Does that mean that now, or even in Paul's day, that every individual on the face of the earth has been presented with a clear presentation of the gospel? Is that what that means? No, absolutely not. But what does it mean? Well, it means that when Jesus came to this earth and died for sins, he died for the sins of the whole world. The grace of God that bring us salvation hath appeared, has been presented to all of humanity. Jesus' blood is perfectly capable of cleansing every sin that has ever been committed. Saving grace is available to any human who will receive it. Now, the funny thing about saving grace is saving grace doesn't look anything like what it would look like if humans designed it. Think about the plan of salvation for a second. We talked about this in my Sunday school class. C.S. Lewis compared the grace that brings salvation to the formula by which a baby comes into the world. That's not exactly the process that you and I probably would have come up with if it was up to us. God put together, though, a process that meets his plan, that fits his will, that that's how he designed it. Well, when it comes to this issue of salvation and us receiving grace, it doesn't happen the way you and I would think if I was going to come up with this really awesome, great thing and say, OK, we're going to try to distribute this to as many people as possible, how should we how should we do it? You know, I mean, we've got all perhaps all these criminals and we want to give them away to be free from jail. What should what should the process be? Well, you'd probably say something like, you know, I mean, they're criminals after all. So perhaps they should prove they deserve to be free. Maybe they should have to earn the right to be let loose. Maybe they'd have to go through a class and memorize a bunch of stuff and be able to repeat all of these things. Maybe they have to go under a psychoanalysis and if they are deemed to be worthy, then we'll let them free. See, that's how we typically plan these things out, design these things, if there's something that we're going to do for someone else, they have to earn it. There are these prerequisites. And so if it was up to us to determine how humanity would be saved, we would have probably worked in some way of us. Earning it. That's not what God did. Saving grace doesn't look anything like what it would look like if you or I were responsible for coming up with its design, can can we kind of agree with that? I mean, this is definitely a God ordained thing. We would have made it something you have to earn, we would have made it something that had prerequisites for you to qualify to receive, but God grants salvation freely to any who will receive it. The thief on the cross did nothing. Earn merit, justify what Jesus did for him. Now. Paul starts with this issue of salvation, and I think it's important we'll come back to it in a moment. But as we have said multiple times, the gospel also called the gospel of grace in the Bible is not solely used for changing your eternal destination. If that's all it was good for, we could still praise God, right? If the Gospel did nothing more but transition us from an eternity in hell to an eternity in heaven, it's still be great news for us. But the gospel of grace is so much more than just a ticket. See, the second point that I believe we start to see in verse number 12 is that God's grace is also a teacher. For those who welcome it into their lives, you see, he starts the Muslims is the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Teaching us what's teaching us, we have to go back to version number 11, it's the grace of God that has appeared to all men the grace of God not only bring salvation, but in verse number 12. It teaches us a couple of things. Well, what is the grace of God teach us? There's two things I believe that these verses reveal to us about what Grace can educate the believer in. The first one that we'll see in a moment is it teaches us how we should live and then the second one is it teaches us what we should focus on. It teaches us how we should live and it teaches us what we should focus on. And so what Paul mentions in these verses before I get into it, I wanted to say this. What Paul mentions in these verses could sound like. You know. Performance thing. It could sound like he's promoting a certain level of a certain level of. Spirituality that you must attain in order for God to approve of you and accept you. But we must remember. These are lessons that are taught by what? I just said it. Taught by grace. Grace being undeserved means that we cannot earn approval from God. It's undeserved favor, unmerited favor. But when we got saved, when we were justified, when we were reconciled to God, we were adopted into his family, we became accepted and approved based on what Jesus did, not on our performance. It was his performance that made God pleased with us, not our performance. And so since we are already approved, we have been given a door to a better way of living, a better way of existing in this present world. You see, we don't change our behavior to merit grace, but rather Grace is ours and it changes our behavior. OK, let me say it again. We don't change our behavior so that we can receive grace. We have received grace, and it is the grace that changes our behavior. OK, now, if you're going to change the way you do something, it usually requires that someone teach you a better way. How many of you floss your teeth? Be honest. All right, a few. How many of you brush your teeth? You're not going to raise your hand for that one. How many of you try to change your diet from time to time, decide you can eat healthy? How many of you decide you're going to wash your car by hand instead of running it through the machine? Yeah, brother is taking notes here, he's going to come after you afterwards. How many of you like to play sports? Went golfing last Monday, that was fun, revealed some of our strengths and weaknesses, we got to see who was the most patient among us saw some guys really do have some tricks up their sleeves. But I mean, you go golfing and for most people, you know, you play golf and it looks kind of like a baseball swing. If that's all you've ever played. Somebody's got to show you how to swing a golf club and somebody probably to teach you how to brush your teeth. I've watched my kids when they first start brushing their teeth. It's a. It's nothing. I mean, like Jackson's licking toothpaste off like it's a sucker or something. Son, that's not what you do. Why has a train you so that you can do something differently, you don't just naturally know how to do it? I don't just naturally have the ability to take all these Lego pieces and turn it back into a car. Someone has to show me how to do it. And so we understand that the life of an unsaved person should look different than the life of a saved person. But how do we go from the unregenerate life to the regenerate life? Someone's got to show us, somebody has to teach us, according to Paul, one of those teachers is Grace. Grace teaches us how we should live and Grace teaches us what we should focus on. Now, the first one, this issue of Grace teaching us how to live has to do with living the most fulfilling life that you can. How many of you understand? That's the naturalness you understand. We all understand. That we only get one life. This isn't a practice run, this isn't a dress rehearsal, this is it. This is the only chance we get. You're going to make this life count. You're going to have to get everything you can out of this life for the Christian. That phrase means a whole lot, means a lot different, means something different than it does for an unregenerate person, an unsaved person. But I want to get the most out of this life. I have one chance to serve God, I have one chance to lay up treasures in heaven. I want to get the most of it. I have one chance to experience God's Holy Spirit empowering in this fragile human body that I live in. So I want to live a fulfilling, purpose filled, joyful, peaceful life. God's grace is going to teach me how to do that. God tells us in verse number 12 that there are some things if we're going to live the most fulfilling life, there are some things that we should deny, some things we should avoid. One of the definitions of this word deny is that we would see them as repulsive. Ever seen something repulsive? Yeah, we all have something so gross that just turns your stomach, the smell and the site make you just want to run away. That's what this word Denyer means. What are we to deny, what are what are we to be repulsed by? Well, these are things that God has pointed out to us because he knows that they are harmful and unsatisfying to those of us who have become new creatures. One of those things is on godliness. Ungallant is denying and godliness and godliness is an anti God lifestyle. The other thing that he says is worldly lusts, worldly lust, or all of those things that are so important to the unredeemed. If you were to make a list in your mind right now, what is most important to someone who doesn't know Jesus? You could probably make a list of some things. Material possessions. Acclaim, success, popularity. Money. I mean, there's a lot that we could probably point to. Things that the world lusts after pleasure. These are things that God would have us to deny. You see, Salvacion changes us. We are not the same as we were before, and we are not the same as the unregenerate person. Is he? I know what people are trying to do when they say this to someone that's lost. Hey, look. We're just the same, just, you know, the Holy Spirit lives in me. But that's not true, according to Bible. You are different than the lost person you have been made alive. There is a part of you that's living that's not alive in the lost person. Yes, you do have the Holy Spirit in dwelling you, but you are also a member of God's family. You are co heirs with Christ. There is a lot different between you and the lost person, Salvacion changes us, what they do naturally is is only a possibility for us now. Is it is natural for the last person to say this is what they do, it is natural for the last person to live an ungodly life because they are at war with God, it is natural for the last person to desire worldly things. What else do they have? Sin is not supposed to be natural for the child of God. It is still possible that. You see, the believer must still deal with the temptation to sin and the temptation to invest our lives in pursuing those things that are a big deal to those who have no relationship with God. The things that you value as a believer ought to be different than the things that the lost person values. Our sins may have been forgiven. Freeing us from the eternal consequences of sin, but that doesn't exempt us from the temporal consequences of our actions. Right. Your sins are forgiven, one day you'll stand before God and claim the blood of Jesus as your is your plea and Jesus or God will see his righteousness applied to your account and you will be ushered into heaven as a saint, as a holy one, as a child of God. Even if you live the life of a depraved murderer and you get saved as an 80 year old man or woman on death row. Jesus blood covers all those sins. There are temporal, earthly consequences to our sin. You live an immoral life. You go around having a physical relationship after a physical relationship, after physical relationship with a bunch of people. There are physical consequences that that follow that lifestyle. You live a life where alcohol is just a regular part of your experience, there are physical consequences that are involved with that. Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you're exempt from mouth cancer, gum, cancer or whatever, because you chewed tobacco all your life, right? There are consequences. We may be coworkers with Christ. But that doesn't mean we can't waste our lives pursuing the lusts of the world. Jesus. God's using Paul to tell us that we need to deny and godliness and worldly lusts. You think God loves his people so much? That he warns us to avoid things that will cause us pain and loss. God doesn't want you, his child, to experience the pain of sin, the sin that you have led into your life. The broken home. Because of the things you've done. God doesn't want that for you. God knows very, very clearly what kind of pain that will cause you, your family, your children, everyone associated with you. And so God tries to warn us about that. God doesn't want to see you waste your life. He doesn't want to see your life end up as a loss. And so he tries to warn us against worldly lusts spending. The one life we have chasing after this and chasing after this, things that he knows will not bring fulfillment. Only actions that will bring the kind of joy and fulfillment that we are seeking are actions that fit with God's will. You would think that joy and fulfillment would be found in everything going the way we want it to go. You would think if everything was just easy, if everything just went my way, my life would be fulfilled. Last night. We were watching Catching Up on the Chosen afterwards, I was on Twitter. I follow a whole bunch of deal websites. And. I found one slick deals, slick deals, really good one if you're looking for deals. Check out slick deals anyways. This thing came up. Tweet just happened. Low pricing mistake. Finishing Nailgun, Kratzmann, two cents. I was like, holy moly. I've heard about stuff like this, you know, do you ever get your couch? Now, how much did you pay for that couch? A dollar they didn't show up. But I thought, man, this is going my way, I'm one of the first ones to see this, no one's even liked it yet. Hopped on to the Lowe's website, go to the grocery store. I pick three three nail guns. I can afford six cents. Put it in my car, checked out with tax, it was seven cents, I thought, this is of God. Seven. Went to bed very happy with myself. Pat myself on the back, I couldn't even hardly sleep last night, I was so excited about my nail guns. By Father's Day presence or anything, now this great. Here to work, one of the men asked me, do you even have an air compressor? I was like, no. But with two cents, I could buy an air compressor. This afternoon, Lowe's canceled my order. Oh, those crushed, I almost couldn't get up here tonight. It wasn't going my way. I am so unfulfilled, you know, how many millions I have now, zero I could have had three and one in each hand. I'm in like a rainbow of carpentry. Some people, if things aren't going their way, their life is a mess. We think if everything would just go my way, I would be fulfilled. We think that joy and fulfillment would be found in getting to do whatever we want to do. That's not how things work in God's economy, is it? Is he God doesn't always operate the way we would operate. Grace doesn't always operate the way we think it should. We didn't get saved the way the majority of the world thinks that you make your way to God, the majority of the world thinks you have to earn your way to heaven. Why would we think that living by grace would be any different than being saved by grace? He does give us some alternatives to godliness and worldly lusts. There are some things that we should seek while we live in this present world, sober living. Righteous living. Godliness. I don't think we have to spend a whole lot of time going over what these things mean, you're well aware of them. We know the difference between right and wrong, our consciences have been not only instilled in us, but we have been educated in what is right and wrong. People who come to me and say, I don't know what I should do in this situation, I usually don't tell them. I usually listen and ask questions. And before you know it, they know. Grace teaches us how we should live. We don't live like the lost. Grace also teaches us where to keep our focus. There are a lot of things that we could focus on, but if you look at verse number 13 and 14. We see two things I'm sorry, three things that we need to focus on, he says, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God, our savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify himself, peculiar people. Zellous of good works. Distractions are plentiful in our daily lives. I mean, just sometimes you can even wake up in the morning without being distracted by something. When I when I'm working with teenagers or somebody that's dealing with a phone issue, perhaps a person that they shouldn't be communicating with or they're looking at things on their phone that they shouldn't be looking at, I always tell them one of the first things we say is this don't charge your phone by your bed. Because you know what, the first thing they're going to do is? Susan, it's time to wake up and roll over, grab the phone and unplug it, and it's glued to their hand for the rest of the day. Put it somewhere else. Charge it at the kitchen counter. Charge it in a drawer in the living room. Don't don't just don't put it right there by your bed. There's something different with it. But it's a distraction. You go to work, you be distracted by a lot of things, things don't go your way, it distracts you. You start off in a really great mood. You read your Bible, you pray, you're thinking everything is going great, but then you're on the road to work and somebody treats you like a. A snail and they cut you off, they target you, they tell you that you're a great driver. And you're distracted for the rest of the day. Have you had some things go your way this week? You personally, have you had some things go your way this week? Have you had some things that didn't go your way this week? Maybe even today, it's been like. Can I hook up a windshield wiper to my life so I can deal with all this rain that we've got right now? God wants us to keep our focus. On things that are not only the most satisfying, but also things that promote the highest level of health. God's interested in your well-being guides, and that means God's interested in your health physically, spiritually and mentally. So much of our health is based on what we choose to dwell on. And so God gives us some things right here in verses 13, 14, that we are to think about some things that we are too to to allow to to fill our minds. We can say it the way I have it in my notes, things that we are to focus on. The first thing in verse 13 is we have to focus on the return of Jesus. What does Jesus entail for the believer? Where do we even start? The end of our struggle within. The end of our experience with this corrupt body. The beginning of the full realization of what salvation means. Glorification, life and eternity in heaven. The return of Jesus is a blessed thing to think about. It's an encouraging thing. The return of Jesus has gotten many believers through some of the most difficult times. Not only on the return of Jesus. Blessed hope the glorious appearing. I think also a version of 14. Of the death of Jesus. When we take the Lord's Supper, it should not be the only time that you take a moment to stop, focus and really dwell on what Jesus did for you on the cross. Paul is writing to Titus and he says to to look for the blessed hope to think about your savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, why? Why did Jesus give his life for us? Well, he died to redeem us from the sins of our life. There is no sin nor sinner that Jesus is unable to forgive. Do you believe that? Man, I've messed up. I just I really made a mess of things. I've let everybody down. There's no coming back from this. That's the time you need to stop dwelling on your failure and start dwelling on your savior. The one who died for you to take all of your iniquity upon himself. Focus on his return, what a great day that will be focused on his death and what that means for us, but then also lastly, focus on the work of Jesus. You go back to prison for 12 years of denying and godliness and worldly lust, you talk about living soberly, righteously and godly well of 14 balls. Paul says this. He says that God is our Jesus is purifying under himself a peculiar people. Jesus is doing a work in your life to purify you, and he holds you special to himself and he says at the very end of the verse that he is shaping you to be zealous of good works. Don't you go through times where you're not real zealous of good works? You walk outside your neighbor that you really don't like is struggling with something like, I don't want to help that guy. Not feeling rosellas at the moment. You need the grace of God that time, you need God's grace to teach you in that moment how to be zealous of good works to do what's right, even when you don't feel like it. I see a third point tonight is this Grace teaches us how to live and what to focus on in this life. And I don't think that there's a person in here, nobody here would argue with the concepts that we have seen in this passage tonight. This is all very basic Christianity. We would all agree that Christians should live more godly lives, wouldn't we? We would all agree that it matters what we choose to dwell on in our minds, right? Then why is it so many believers spend much of their lives as poor students of grace? Our children are getting out of school, some are already out. Some of them are getting out tomorrow. It's our last day. The teachers are excited. The school year is over. They made it through one of the weirdest school years ever. I'm sure if we had our teachers come up here and tell stories going back to the year before when everyone was doing online school, they could probably tell a story after story after story of students who were really good and focused and did the work and put in the extra effort. And then they could probably tell the students who never did a single thing. Why is it so many Christians are poor students? To the lessons that Grace is trying to teach us. We live lives that are characterized by behavior that is contrary to who we are in Christ, we're Christians, but we're distracted by all that the world shoves in our face. I mean, who doesn't see an ad come up on TV and then I need that. And if we could just go to that vacation spot, that would be just the best of my life would be complete. That would bring me happiness. You watch a television show and you see some fictitious relationship between a husband and a wife and you think the. If my spouse would just be like that, then my life would be complete. You dwell on that, you focus on that rather than focusing on Jesus, the only one who will never let you down. We miss out on the life that is possible when it is lived in the strength of grace. We've got all the pieces that we need. To get to the finished product. We've got the instructions sitting right here. What we think now. I think I can figure this out on my own. I think I got this. I mean, I saw the picture, what it's supposed to look like, I you know, I went to Sunday school, I know who Jesus was, but Christ like, I could do this. I don't need help to get there. We waste time trying to figure it out on our own. And God says, I've given you my grace. To save you and to teach you how to live in this present world. Believers that want to live a fulfilled and healthy life must get themselves out of the way and let Grace do her work. How does Salvacion work when you try to do it your way? Instead of God's way. It doesn't. How does a classroom work when the students are calling the shots? It doesn't. How does a Lego set work? If you're unwilling to follow the directions, it doesn't. Grace teaches us that God has a better way of living. If we're willing to listen to him. It means a different way of living than what we would come up with on our own. It means a different focus than what we would naturally focus on ourselves. So my question for you tonight to consider to take home talk about with your spouse or someone else, another brother or sister in Christ, is this are you willing tonight to let Grace teach you how you should live and what you should focus on? Are you willing to let Grace teach you are you willing to change the way you live your life because Grace has showed you a better way that God wants us to live? Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for the good attention of your people. Help us now as we leave from this place, I pray that we would all. Allow Grace to work in our lives, to change us into the image of your son or that we would deny and godliness and worldly lusts. We have the right focus on Jesus and what he's done for us, his return and the work that he's doing within our our lives. Or we love you. Thank you for all that you've done for us. It's in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Thank you for your attention tonight. Before we leave, we wanted to give an opportunity to give any updates that you may have on the prayer sheet, and we've got a couple of new ones to be reminded of. Um. But. It's good to have the Jered with us tonight and his mom is here and and glad to be able to have them here with us this evening. Please continue to pray for brother Jared. And he's going to have a surgery coming up. And he doesn't know when that is yet. But when it does come, we want to make sure that we're praying for him, that he can get that scheduled soon. To two other requests that came in after the proceeds were already printed. Pray for Jack Webster. This is Miss Nicole Brewer's grandfather. They were on their way to Bartlesville this evening. They said he had just hours left to live, and so he's preparing to go to heaven. His wife passed away last year and he's 90, too. So please pray for them as he prepares to go home to heaven he has saved. And so we praise God for that. And then Miss Señor Schwartz asked us to pray for a pastor up in Washington. His his name is his last name is Frex Pastor Frex. He's not doing well. He has coronavirus and he's likely to be on a ventilator. For up to the next six weeks, so please pray for Pastor Frex up in Washington State, are there any other new or updated requests that we can be aware of this evening? I'll make my way across the auditorium starting over here. Yes, ma'am. As Tamara. Men. OK. Catherine is in our family and friends, call them, as is Miss Tamara's aunt with colon cancer. The chemo seems to be working, so they're going to do a surgery on June 12th to try and cut it out so that that would go well. Anybody else in this section here? Nobody over here. Sure. OK. Here is Barbara. So possibly cancer, but what did you say, the other one? OK, so brain cancer and possibly stroke, OK? Marci. OK. And your other one? OK, what's your niece's name? Other. OK, so in case you didn't hear those two, the first one was a coworker, Marcy, who has possibly both brain cancer and a stroke here. So from Marcy, she is saved. And then her other request was for her niece, Heather, who is expecting. But the baby is too small. And so she is going to Denver where they will decide whether or not to take the baby early. So please pray for that situation as well. Anybody else in the section here? Yes, ma'am. Do you happen to know his name? In prayer for us is a friend. Her name is Sarah and her nephew, Caleb Collier was murdered last week, you said. And so please pray for that family and the situation there. Anybody else?

Unidentified: For the Kenny. Mm hmm.

Speaker 1: Yes, having seizures. Yes. Yes, sir, she is on here. Mm hmm. Anybody else in the section? Yes, ma'am, Miss Debbie. OK. Miss Debbie had an appointment on Monday. Some good news, some not good news, so she's going to see her cardiologist in July. Please continue to pray for Miss Debbie and her blood clots.

Unidentified: Yes, ma'am. This is by.

Speaker 1: How far do you have to go? Michigan. Mrs. Lightbody, as she travels to Michigan to bring her daughter back, she's moving here. Is that correct? Leonora, that's right. OK, so another hand.

Unidentified: Over here. Mike. Billy McDonald.

Speaker 1: Verifiability, McDonald. His brother, Mike's half brother, and he has cancer. Please pray for him. Anybody else?

Unidentified: Jared. And then.

Speaker 1: Then we will. All right, well, let's all stand and we'll be dismissed in word of prayer. Thank you all so much for being here tonight. I hope that you have a good rest of your week and we'll look forward to seeing you again on Sunday. Dear father, we thank you for this day, thank you for the people that are here, thank you for the time. We've been able to spend together a lot our friendship with each one of these requests we've heard tonight, the new ones, the updates and the many that are on here. They've been on here for a long time. Got to pray, that should be with each situation, every health need a spiritual need. Uh, Lord, that you would work in their lives, that you would have your will be done God, that those that are affected by these situations would accept your will, that you would use these events to draw people closer to you and that there would be more people who would get saved and and follow you because of the events that are allowed to take place in their life. Lord, I pray that you go with us now as we leave this place. May we serve you we give us opportunities to be a light for you wherever we may go. May grace be evident in all that we say and do in Jesus name that I ask these things. Amen.

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