Transcript for:
Romans 15:25,33 -Co Laborers- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2023-12-10

Romans 15, 25 through 33, would you please stand with me? This might be our last Christmas, the way we know it here. But boy, heaven's much better. Can you imagine Christmas in heaven? In the millennium? Oh, baby. Alright, Romans 15, 25. Pardon me? Oh, okay. Do you want to give the sermon? Well, okay. Was it 24? Oh, okay. I fell asleep one time here. You guys had to wake me up. So it can happen. But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints, for it has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It has pleased them verily, and their debtors they are, for if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by you into Spain, and I am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints, that I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen. Father, thank you for your holy word. Thank you that in an age of time of great, great deception, as you warned us of in Matthew 24, false Christs, false prophets, just great, great deception, the world reaching a place because they are rejecting the truth, the truth of who you are, that Lord, according to 2 Thessalonians 2, you're going to give them over to a strong delusion that they would believe the lie, and Lord, we are children of light, that they shouldn't overtake us unaware. We are students of your word, and we pray that you would teach us, Lord, as your disciples this morning, that you'd open the scriptures to our understanding, that we would have such a peace, such a comfort in knowing that you're sovereign, that you're almighty, that you're an absolute omnipotent, absolute and complete powerful God. There's nobody as powerful as you. Nobody can come close. You're omniscient. You know all things, Lord, and you're omnipresent. You're everywhere. And so, Lord, we thank you this morning that we enjoy fellowship with you, and we ask that you be our teacher and refresh and strengthen us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Paul, the missionary, the church planter, the pioneer, he shows how each of us can participate in this pioneering effort, in this missionary effort. And so Paul's been ministering in the area of Macedonia, of Philippi, Galatia, Ephesus, Asia Minor. He's writing this letter from the city of Corinth. He's writing a letter to the church of Rome. And he's talking about how before he goes to Spain, before he goes to Rome to visit these guys when he's on his way to Spain, that he has this huge desire that we see in the book of Acts to go to Jerusalem and to bring a gift for the church that's in Jerusalem that's under a great persecution, and they're suffering financially and all. When the church first started, everyone was selling lands and bringing goods and laying them at the apostles' feet. It was a great revival and all. But then when the persecution that started with Stephen came, and there was a dearth, a famine began to cover the area, financially, many of the people there in Jerusalem began to suffer the church suffering, the mother church. And so these outlying churches, these small little churches being planted, they put together an offering. They put together a gift. And then Paul brings a delegate of people from each of these churches, and they're headed to Jerusalem to bring this gift to the church of Jerusalem. And so he uses an example of trying to encourage us of why we should participate in missions, why we should participate in this pioneering and getting the work out in 1 Corinthians 9. He asked the question in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 7, who goes to warfare anytime at his own expense? And so we recognize in a military community that you are supported by the people that pay their taxes, that the people that don't go support the military for all of the equipment, the clothes, the uniforms, the training, all of it, and even afterwards as you've received injuries and such, the Veterans Administration and such, you get compensation in that way. So what he's saying is that you don't go to war at your own expense. You don't say, hey, I'm going to go fight these bad guys on this foreign land, but I've got to save my money up before I go. I'm going to have to leverage my house and get a mortgage loan so that I can go do that. No, it's ludicrous. He says, what soldier goes to war at his own expense? All of us support that effort. And so he brings it back around so to the spiritual battle that we're in, and those that spiritually want to minister to people, they are supported by the people. And that's pretty simple to understand, that if soldiers receive that compensation, then certainly the church in Jerusalem and the other ministers of the gospel that are out there getting the word of God out, that those that stay with the stuff, those that stay behind, they're not on the front lines at Normandy, and they're probably glad they're not, and they're really happy that they don't have to be, and you know what? All right, I'll support them. I'll support the boys, and we'll preserve the peace. We'll make sure that there's peace for everybody. So the church functions in a similar fashion, and the soldier becomes an extension of our country's will to preserve peace, and so the church in a similar way. Individuals within the church decide to co-labor with soldiers like Paul. So Paul uses a picture to Timothy, a young guy. Timothy was timid. God hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but a power of love and a sound mind, Timothy. So don't be afraid of their faces and all. And Paul's saying that, you know, Timothy, you need to have courage. And then Paul, at the end of his ministry, he said, I fought a good fight. So in the Greek games and the Romans, when they're fighting, wrestling, the Olympic games, you know, there's a battle that's taking place, physical contact. So he uses that as an image, allegory, that he fought a good fight. He says in Ephesians 6, we fight not against flesh and blood, but against spirits and principalities of the air. So there's a huge spiritual opposition that comes against you as soon as you say, here am I, Lord. You know, let me go, you know. I'll go for you. Let me serve you. And so those willing to lay down their lives for the gospel are supported by the home churches in an extension of peace on earth through Jesus Christ. So what's the solution to the chaos here today, the chaos in the world today? Stronger churches, stronger Christians, that we'd be so strong, so in the word, so separated from the filth and the corruption of the world in which we live, that these filthy dreamers couldn't get away with it. But if the church is weak and doesn't know how to fight, how to pray, how to engage the enemy, if we're passive toward evil, then the enemy just walks upon us, the salt's good for nothing but to be trodden in the foot of men. It's a battle to plant a church. It's a battle to plant a spirit-filled church and remain spirit-filled. There's such a pressure upon the church to compromise and become a worldly, easy, you know, lukewarm, laid-to-scene kind of a church. And so you gotta have men and women who are soldiers, men and women who are willing to sacrifice and go the distance and just never, ever, ever, ever quit. So I fought a good fight. I finished my course. Speaking of running, I finished the race. I didn't quit. I never quit. I reached the goal. And that's the way each of us wants to be, is we don't want to quit. We don't want to stop short. And so one of the reasons why Wes Bentley told Edward to contact me and invite me is that I'm an older pastor. In fact, I'm finding out that these guys, their dads died younger than me. So they're saying stuff to me like, hey, Rick, I want you to make sure that you walk 30 minutes a day because when you put on that flak jacket, it's so heavy, you know, it's going to be hard to breathe. When I wore it, it was hard to breathe. And I'm like, who do you think I am? I'm not Pollyanna, all right, you know? And so I just have to keep my mouth shut, but I mean, it's like, all right, all right. But, you know, they're worried about me because of my age. I look in the mirror, I don't even think I'm that old, you know? It's just weird how that creeps up on you. But you have to go for it, even if you're old. Caleb and Joshua, they're old, but they're ready to take down giants, you know? But one of the things they said is the young bucks, the young guys coming up, as soon as there's any kind of pressure or difficulty, they quit, they go home. They say, I got to go home. So us older guys, older men and women, we learned early on how essential it is to persevere. Don't quit in your marriage. Don't quit on your kids. Don't quit your job. It gets difficult, just simply don't quit. You know, get back up, get going again. And, you know, seek the mind of the Lord. And so that's the way we have to roll. We lose, we get defeated, but ultimately the only way we ultimately lose is if we quit. So I fought a good fight. I finished my course, you know? There's now therefore laid up for me a crown of righteousness for me. And not only me, but for all those who love His appearing. And so God's going to reward your faithfulness. He's going to say, well done, thou good and faithful servants. You've been faithful over a few things. I'm going to make you rulers over much. Enter into the joy of the Lord. And that's the motivation. That's why we serve the Lord. That's why we, there's, it's not just the reward. It's motivated by love too. The love of Christ constrains us, simply a reaction and expression toward Him because of what He's already initiated and done for us, you know? So we live lives of thanksgiving. And part of that is we co-labor by giving, first of all, financially, verse 25. But now I go into Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. So Paul planned to visit Rome on his way to Spain, but he must first go to Jerusalem to help alleviate the suffering of the impoverished church in Jerusalem. So this is the mother church. Our missionary standard, our missionary philosophy, is that the mother church is the one that gives to the outlying mission locations and such. So Paul's taking little churches' monies, their offerings, and bringing it back to the mother church because the mother church is having difficulty meeting the needs of the impoverished and people within the community there in Jerusalem. So a severe drought and the persecution coming from the Jews against the church at Jerusalem was having a devastating effect upon the saints. Paul felt a debt. He felt a debt to these people because he was a part of the problem. He was wasting the church. He was the chief of sinners. He was breaking into homes and causing guys to lose their jobs and such because they simply were living the crime of being a Christian. So he felt like he had a debt to pay. He felt a responsibility because of his past dealings. And so he wants to express the love of God to these people. And so even though he was the chief of sinners and wasted the church and a blasphemer, he said, but God commendeth or demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And so Paul, his life, he doesn't understand why God would apprehend him, doesn't understand why God would choose him on the road to Damascus, but he's so elated, so excited, he doesn't have to live that life of hate, that life of hate toward Gentiles, that hate toward Christians, that his heart is filled with love and his life lived out as simply an expression of God's love toward those perishing. So Paul wanted to give like God gave to him. He wanted to do it in love. And so we have what's called love offerings. And this is a love offering that's headed up toward Jerusalem. And I thank you for your love offerings for Kathy and I, that you remember us, your cards and gifts and encouragement. And I really like those times I can go get a ribeye at Fujiyama's or Maynard's or the food, things like that. It's pretty awesome, you know. Her little wallet fills up with all these food gift things, you know. And it's nice, you know. She likes the red lobster. And James and Sally, every year at her birthday, they give her a red lobster one, you know. And I know, all right, once a year we're going to go to Red Lobster. And so that sort of thing. It's just, it makes her happy. It just makes her happy. And it makes me happy too. So the love offerings, the cards. You know, there's always been people in the church for 28 years that remember Kathy and I at Christmas and birthdays. And now all of a sudden, man, it's a lot of people. I've never seen so many, you know. So it's kind of the first time you guys did that after COVID. You know, it was so much money. It was just like, holy smokes, what's going on? All these years, people have been holding out. You know, no. Verse 26, For it has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. And so the pleasure of giving. These guys want to give. I mean, they just, they've gone from darkness, worshipping idols, worshipping the devil, to the unsearchable riches of Christ. And they're just so blown away that their eyes are open and the future that's theirs, the future and the hope that's theirs, they're so excited. And they want to express, you know, that gratitude, that thanksgiving unto God. They want to give unto God to alleviate suffering for the church there that's in Jerusalem. And so they're very excited about that. Jesus said it's more blessed to give than to receive. And then second Corinthians 9, verse 7, Paul gives a guidance here. He says, Every man, according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And so this word contribution is the same Greek word, koinonia, that we get for fellowship. So as a means of fellowship, you want to fellowship with those other Christians, other people, even worldly people. You can give toward worldly people, people that don't know the Lord. You might do it in such a way you don't get really fellowship with them, but you become one with them in the sense of alleviating their suffering. You're wanting to remind them of Christ and share the good news of Jesus with people. Freely we receive, freely we want to give. And we don't give just to Christians. We love those in the world. We love people of different religions, different parts of the world. America has been prolific in providing material aid all over the world ever since World War II or even before. And so your planes go out, your relief with foods, and any kind of devastation that comes upon the planet, and then you have to ask yourself, well, where are the other countries? What other countries are contributing and helping in that way? And why would America do it? Well, Americans do it because they're Christians. They've been taught this. They've been taught that greater love has no man than this, and a man lay down his life for his friends. They've been taught it's a means of expressing God's love toward people. We don't go into countries and force them to believe in Jesus Christ. We don't use the sword and force them to say, you're going to die right now. We don't do that. We share the glorious gospel. We feed them. We give them food and drink and all, and we should be, and share the glorious gospel. We can't leave the gospel out. We can't make it a social gospel of material things and not bring the glorious truth of the good news of Jesus Christ. We want to set them free as best we can, all we can with the glorious gospel. So he says here, every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly nor of this necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And so it's pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to give a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. So you purpose in your own heart. He doesn't want grumpy givers. And that's why at Calvary Bremerton we don't make merchandise of you. We don't use guilt or coercion or try to make you feel little or small or stingy if you don't give. We don't take your giving and put a list every January on the wall out there of those who gave, and here's how much you gave or whatever. My grandma talked about how one time she was sick. She got cancer in her 30s, and nobody from the church came over to minister to her. She was in the Catholic church. But a priest came to the door and knocked on the door and says, Hey, you haven't been given. And that was the last time they ever went to that church, I know. So that can kind of rock you a bit. That can throw you off. And every man according to the Anastasia purposes in his heart. So it's from the heart. God doesn't need our money, but we need to give. And it's expression of our heart. Where your treasure is there where your heart be also. And Jesus said more blessed to give than to receive. If people don't want to give, if they have a stingy, whatever it may be, then they shouldn't have to give. And I like the fact that you can come in here and you can enjoy whatever it is you can enjoy and you don't feel the pressure that you have to give. It should always be a cheerful. The word cheerful speaks of hilarious. It should be an expression of the joy and the blessing of giving under the Lord. And so let him not give grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. And what a blessing that is. And so we differentiate. We have to make a distinction here. We differentiate between tithes and offerings. This is an offering. This is a love offering to the church in Jerusalem. The tithe, when we pray over the offering here, the tithe and the offering, we try to number one, one of the things we do is we're taught by Pastor Chuck, we never take anything from you. We never take an offering. So as a pastor, anybody that ever gets up here when I'm gone, any worship leaders that introduce, they should never say take. Now we're going to take an offering. I've tried my best to get them to understand that what we say is now we're going to worship the Lord in giving. It's an act of worship. We're going to receive an offering. We don't take. All right? Understood? All right. So if any of them ever do that when I'm not here, you get them, all right? You get them. And it's very important to understand. So we worship the Lord in giving. We worship in song. We worship in giving. Now you determine with the money that the Lord blesses you with of the tithe. The tithe means a tenth. And so if you want to support the work here at Calvary Bremerton, then you would tithe to the church. And so we say to the Lord when we're praying over it, Lord, we thank you that, Lord, we worship you in giving you your tithe because the tithe belongs to him and our offerings. Offerings are a matter of the heart. The tithe, you're not under the law, but the tithe is his. It's his. And so that's how churches are supported. Amen. There you go. And how often do we teach on giving here? Ever heard? Ever heard? Okay. So we have to lay it out there so that you understand because one of the things that's taking place, the reason Calvary Bremerton is so blessed is because so many of you came over here from COVID. What do I mean by that? When COVID happened, a lot of the older people came to Calvary Bremerton. Older people have been taught how to give. They know how to give. Their pastors made sure in these other churches you understood the tithe, the offering. You heard it every week until it was beat into your head. The younger group apparently hasn't learned these lessons. They think that, I don't know what they think, but the older need to teach the younger that they're minimizing in their own finances when they don't give the first unto God. It's a Malachi test. You've got to test God. You can't rob Him in tithes and offerings. You've got to test God. You've got to say, this is the spot He says I can test Him. I've got to do this by faith. The older people will tell you, God's been so faithful to me and my family. My husband lost his job when? He's been so faithful. They'll tell you that like crazy because they have a track record of the faithfulness of God. It's an act of faith. If you don't have the faith, then don't give. Don't give the tithe. Wait until you have the faith. Ask the Lord to give you the faith to be able to give. What a blessing it is to give unto the Lord. Many of us are going to face a lot of financial difficulties in the days and weeks ahead and months ahead. It's going to be a real test for us. Is it every man for himself? Or do we continue to give the first, the best, unto God? He wants your best. The first that comes in. The best. Not what's left over. It's amazing how there's nothing left over if you give Him at the end there. There's just nothing left over. Verse 27, It has pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. So notice the debt. There's a spiritual debt that you have for these guys. It has pleased them verily, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, what's that mean? You've received the gospel. You've received blessings and instruction and teachers that have come and built you up spiritually. Their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. What we do at Calvary Bremerton is we have bingo. We give you the carnal and the spiritual. You get both. It really bothers me that we do bingo, but it doesn't bother me. As an early on pastor, I would have never done bingo because that's carnal. It's not carnal. It's a blessing because you guys are giving. You're giving gifts to everyone, the kids, everybody. I just was too tight at the beginning. I can see the wisdom of the Holy Spirit Kathy saying let's do bingo. Did you catch that? Kathy's the Holy Spirit. Alright. I'm still a little tight, but I can do it. Because in my mind, we should be singing Christmas songs. We should have a Christmas play and a cantata. We should bring in camels and sheep. You guys should be dressing up as Joseph and Mary and all that. That's a really spiritual church. Bingo? Bingo was his name? Oh, no. Anyway, for me it's love. There's so much love in that room. There's just so much love. The food, the fellowship, the bingo, the little songs we sing, the worship and stuff. I just love watching the church love on one another. I don't think anybody's going to go down as gamblers with a huge gamble addiction from our little bingo. Anyway, that word carnal, I see that. Spiritual things, carnal things. There's churches in the community probably you're going to hear, oh yeah, that's the church that does bingo. Believe me, you will. You'll hear from other Calvary chapels, oh yeah, they do bingo. Pastor Chuck never did bingo. So I'm going to have to answer to them. Lord, help me. What am I going to do? Yeah, we've got a carnal church, Lord. What am I going to do? But I don't think it's carnal. You guys are spiritual. Why? Because it's love. Love's the fruit of the Spirit. And it's not the bingo drawing you there. You're there regardless. Some churches use bingo and different scams to get carnal people to come there. You'll serve beer to get people there. But you're there for the fellowship. You're there for the food and the fellowship and the celebration of Jesus. And oh, by the way, we get to do some bingo. So the Gentile churches became greatly enriched by the sacrifices of the Jerusalem church. So how should they respond? What should your response be when you receive? Some were fed. Some were entertained. Entertainment's not a bad thing. Entertainment's evil if that's all you do to make it a show on Sunday morning. It's not supposed to be in that way. But there can be other things, other parts of the ministry where people are in fact entertained. Maybe we host a concert and you're entertained. So what we used to do, we'd try to alliterate. We'd take the word e back when I had the Roxy, when we had the Roxy and we'd do concerts. And again, I had to justify these to all the spiritual pastors because they're like, why are you doing these concerts? Why do you got a mosh pit? The kid's jumping off the stage on each other and all that. So there's a certain element of entertainment. You can't deny it. And it's not evil. Because the same hypocrites that say entertainment's bad are the ones all over the place on their phones being entertained. Entertainment's everywhere. To what degree? Evangelism. We do outreach for evangelism to share the gospel with the lost. To draw them there and share the gospel. And to edification. We want to edify and build people up. And the entertainment part. The other e is encouragement. We gather together to encourage people whenever we get together. And so that would be our mission statement in that way. So I didn't shy away from the word entertain. There's a certain segment of it. A certain part of it. Christians go on trips to Israel. And you're edified. You're encouraged. But you're also entertained. You go on Christian cruise ships with Pastor Chuck and everybody teaching. You're edified. You're encouraged. You're entertained. There's all sorts of different ways that we express joy. And people have different giftings and such. And ways to capture our interest. And if they use them for the Lord it can be a means of evangelism. A hook. A means of sharing in such a way that people are open to the gospel. So you set the stage for the sharing of the gospel. So how should you respond? Proverbs 19, 17 says, He that has pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord. And that which he has given will he repay him again. And so the response should be with thanksgiving. The Lord's given to you. The Lord's provided for you. Now you want to alleviate suffering for the poor. So that's a motivation for giving. You're an extension of God's love. And as the proverb says, as you give, as you lend to the poor, the Lord's going to repay you back. He's going to repay you. You can't out-give God. And there will always be a flow there. God will never be your debtor. And God will trust you with stewardship that the monies that he provides for you as you give out. There are spiritual laws just as there are physical laws and natural laws of sowing and reaping. And as you sow to the Spirit, as you sow towards others, it's a spiritual gifting. A spiritual giving. You're giving it as unto the Lord. The Lord's able to allow your bank account to abound. Here I am a faith preacher now. Hey, give and you'll get back. But it's true. There are spiritual laws. They abuse it though. They abuse it. But if you're stingy, then be ready because there's spiritual laws of sowing and reaping. And you can't measure every way that the Lord gives back to you as always being money. There's so many other ways the Lord gives back to you. It may be health-wise. It may be your car works better. It may be kids that obey you. I don't know. But there's so many different blessings that stem from walking by faith. That's really what it is. Walking by faith. And the Lord being tickled, being blessed that you have a heart like His. So it's all from the heart. It has to be from the heart. And so you can't out-give God. And so where's our giving stem from? 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, what's that mean? He's the second person of the Trinity. He's Almighty God and He's enjoying the splendor of heaven. You know the grace, the unmerited favor of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor. What's that mean? He emptied Himself of the free exercise of His deity and He became a human being. He came upon her as the babe of Bethlehem. So though He is rich, yet for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty that we might become rich. And so the babe of Bethlehem emptied Himself of the free exercise of His deity, took on the form of a man, the son of man, the God man, fully God, fully man, and allowed Himself to be subjected unto all of the harassment, the unbelief, the torture, the crucifixion, all of it was a part of Him making a way for us to be enriched with eternal life and joint heirs with Him. And so if He had said, no, I don't want to pay that price, no, I don't want to leave here, and if He's praying in the garden, He says, Dad, is there any other way? Father, if there's any other way, remove this cup from Me. But then He says, nevertheless, not as I will, but Thy will be done. And so for the joy that was set before Him, the joy of saving You, of saving Me, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and seated down in the right hand of the Father. And so that sacrificial giving, greater love is no man than this, than a man laid down his life for his friends. And so we see guys throughout history, like George Mueller, where God constantly caused money to flow in to minister to these orphans in England, and at the end of His ministry He didn't have, like you see these guys today with millions, almost a billion dollars in the bank account, there's just a constant flow, money coming in, money going out to minister as He walks by faith. So we become the plutocrats, the riches that are ours in Christ Jesus. So we co-labor by giving, financially, and secondly we co-labor by giving, how do we give? Freely. Freely we receive, freely we give. So when therefore I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by You into Spain. And so Paul's itinerary is on his way to Spain, which is the western end of Europe. Now this doesn't mean that Paul's a flat earther, alright? It's just the western end of the known conquered world, alright? You hear so many people talk about being flat earthers now, you know? And, um, pretty funny. You didn't get the joke, alright? That's okay. So great men of the empire came out of Spain, and they were Spaniards. One is named Lucan, an epic poet. Another is a gladiator named Maximus Decimus Meridius, a Spaniard. Yeah, I remember the gladiator. And then there's another guy named Marshall, and he was a master of the epigram. What's an epigram? An epigram, Einstein liked to toy with epigrams. It's like an ironic type of little saying. So Einstein wrote one that said, the difference between genius and stupidity is genius has a limit. Isn't that great for today? That's an epigram. And Marshall was the master of the epigram. Quotillion was the greatest teacher of oratory. So if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. And so when the apostle Paul was being interrogated, they brought Tertullian, a great orator. And so they fancied themselves on being able to communicate verbally. And when Paul was at Mars Hill, they called him a babbler, a guy that, what's he babbling? Even his manner of speaking possibly. And so this Quotillion taught that of oratory. When I was in the School of Ministry, Pastor Carl was teaching oratory. And so we used to have to do observation, interpretation, application in front of our students, the students there, 30 guys. And the first day that I got up to speak, it was September, it was sunny, and as I like to roll in September, I like to roll with shorts on. And so I had my shorts on, and they say that public speaking is one of the most nerve-wracking, most difficult things for people to do. I don't know. But I got up there and I had mine down. I had Philippians 1-6, and I had my observations, I had my interpretation, I had my application, and I think it was make five observations about the verse. I had to do the observation part. And that's called inductive Bible study, is what you do. And so that's part of how you come up with sermons. It's the beginning part of learning how to interpret observation, interpretation, application. So anyway, I'm there, and I start to speak. And as I'm speaking, my knees started vibrating really bad, and they're going up and down. And I heard about people's knees knocking, you know, and everything. And then my buddy Lee Ford, I can still see him, he's like right there. And it started going up my right side. This, whatever you call that. And it's coming up here, and pretty soon this is going like that. And then it's right here by my eye. And I'm talking, I'm doing it, and then Lee, I saw him look down and started laughing. And then I said, the next observation I want to bring to your attention is, look at my knees. And when their heads came down and I looked at my knees, they just roared. You know, and then one of the guys pulled me aside afterwards and says, well, the Lord's got something else for you to do, Rick, you know. And then they brought me up in front of the, Ray, Pastor Ray Snook brought what happened there up in front of everybody because nervousness is something we have to overcome. And what do you guys think Rick should do? What should he do? And Rick, Pastor Ray is a wonderful, wonderful man. Love that guy. And he said, and he's a Baptist preacher before he came to Calvary Chapel, and he said, Rick, what I think you should do is you should get a great big black baggy suit to hide those knees, you know. And that's why I have the pulpit. You know how the guys do these little things and they walk over here and they do all that and they got plexiglass stuff. No way, baby. I want to hold on. You can't see my knees. And I still get nervous. I still get nervous. And so it takes me time to get going. But that's, and the other thing they used to do is like the way that we speak. A lot of this stuff is not applicable when you finally become a pastor. But man, they have this thing for realtors that they go to a testers or T-somethings where they all learn how to give little speeches and stuff. And anyway, we had one there and he's a good guy. But, so I got written up because the way that I speak, I said I went to the store. And so afterwards they let you know that to is not a word. That you went to the store. So your diction, the way you say words, has to come out properly and all. And you know what? I had to learn three semesters of Greek, a semester of Hebrew, all this stuff that nobody that's a pastor out there even uses, you know? So, anyway, I appreciate it though. I appreciate all the criticism, the honing, that's why I went to school. Two years of that of trying to, number one, see if I have any gifting. Number two, to try and develop the to exercise those gifts so that you could sit here for two hours and listen to me because I'm such a great oratory, you know? It's like, never a man spake like this, you know? That sort of thing. Alright, so, you have Seneca. Seneca was a great Stoic philosopher. The first guardian and then prime minister for Nero. So Paul freely received and he wanted to give. He wanted to give to the entire empire and then verse 29, and I am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. So Paul is never a spiritual pauper. He's not going to give sermonettes for Christianettes. He's coming with a full bag. So important to prepare and to be spirit-filled. You don't waste people's time. I never want to waste your time by trying to wing it this morning and call it extemporaneous preaching. No. You're a lazy dude that didn't put the time in like anybody that's a doctor, a lawyer, or a trash hauler, or anybody has to put the time in to prepare themselves for the work in front of them. It might be sleeping. It might be eating right. It might be reading. It might be prayer. So many different ways we prepare and we need to be prepared. So Paul is always prepared. He's never going to shortchange anybody. So never a spiritual pauper. He's got full blessings. He wants to give him it all. Always looking to freely give, to encourage the saints to give. And so he ministered three years in the city of Ephesus, and he said he wasn't guilty of the blood of any person because for the space of three years, he gave them the full counsel of God. So Paul would take them from Genesis to Revelation through the Bible. He's going to make sure that their blood is on their own head. That when they stand before God, they have to answer. Now this past couple weeks, I've been and I want you to write this down. Here's something I want you to write down. Please write this down. I want you to grow in the Lord. Go to your Google or wherever you go and type in the word for today Pastor Chuck. The word for today Pastor Chuck. Now a bunch of people took his word for today, so you've got to do Pastor Chuck. And there will be an app there. The Word for Today app. Put that app on your phone, on your computer. And listen to the Bible be taught every chance you get. So I'm in the gym, right? I'm in the gym. And I'm working out. And I might be in the gym three hours. And I can listen to four or five Bible studies at the gym. It's a blessing. I'm listening to the Sermon on the Mount right now. It's a huge blessing. Huge blessing. And Pastor Chuck, there's so many things for me to learn. There's so many things I need to keep learning. And one of the things that really struck me was he was never going to give into providing to people a false sense of security. That you would sit there day after day, year after year, thinking that you're saved. But one day you're going to hear from the Lord, away from me, I never knew you, you that practice iniquity. So Chuck's saying, I'm going to mention the word sin. I'm going to mention the word repentance. It was already happening to him years ago. This whole way of watering down the gospel. And you're going to hear about hell. And I'm going to make sure that none of you are sitting here. You might get mad at me, and that's okay. But when I stand before the Lord, I'm not going to answer to him for giving you a false gospel. A false sense of security. And I love that. I love that. I need to be reminded of that. That that's the time we're living in. And so I want to encourage you. Fill your basket up. Have something to say to people. You've got to first receive before you can give. Get the word of God in you. Get the word of God in your children. Get the word of God in your wife, your husband, your family. Get the word of God in you. Look at Psalm 1. Blessed is the man, how happy is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree that's planted by a river of waters that brings forth its fruit in its season. Its leaves shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the godly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. You need to be full. You need to be taking your roots and causing your roots to grow deep into Jesus. And then you have something. You have something to say. Something worth saying. Which is biblical truth, not philosophy. Not psychiatry. The word of God is what edifies and feeds your spirit. And you gotta be equipped. We freely we receive, freely we're gonna give. And you're never gonna have to pay somebody here 75 bucks an hour for them to listen to you and call themselves a Christian counselor. Not gonna happen. I don't care how lonely you are, how isolated you were during COVID. You're gonna talk to each other about Jesus. Jesus will heal you. Jesus will fill that void. Jesus is the great physician and the comforter. And there's nothing you've experienced during COVID that's so off the charts that you're lonely. Nothing. You must have been watching a lot of TV. Cause you wouldn't have been lonely if you knew how to read the word of God and to listen to the word of God being taught. You'd be so full, so filled. You'd say, you know, I wish we had COVID again so it'd all be locked down and I could just stay home and listen to Bible studies and read the Bible. It's too busy again. I love COVID. I love when everyone's afraid and they stayed home. I went up to Squim and rode my bike with my wife. The roads were wide open. No cops anywhere. That's a good day. That's a real good day, man. I wish they'd do lockdowns again. No, just kidding. I know. You'd still come to church though. Yeah. We didn't close. So, never a spiritual pauper. Always looking to freely give to encourage the saints to give. Paul says in Romans 1-11, I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established. Paul was a giver. He was excited to go there to give. He wasn't looking at what can I get? What can I receive? He wanted to give. He wanted to invest. He wanted to invest in the lives of these people. He wanted to pour the word of God into them. The same that was invested into his life. He sat for three years near Arabia to receive from Jesus before he went into the ministry. After Damascus, Paul sat for three years to receive. Now, he was raised at the feet of Gamaliel. He's a Pharisee of Pharisees. Concerning the law, he's blameless. But now he needs a real Holy Ghost instruction. He didn't get to walk with the guys, the apostles, with Jesus for three and a half years. So, he had his own time of instruction. The Lord ministering to him before he ever went out. And now, he's so full. It's so overflowing his life. He wants to give it out. So, how do you approach coming to church? A consumer or a giver? How should I look at you? Are you a client? Are you a customer? Should I merchandise you? Should I trick you and come up with a cute little phrase of vision for this or that? Should I do all these offerings and this offering and that offering and funding and, you know, don't you just want... But that's what they're all doing. They're all doing that. Wasting your time. Wasting your time. How much of the Word of God do you get out of that? Why are all the sermons on giving? Why is it always on, you know, my visions? Building your own kingdom. And it's not just a minute little thing. It's huge that's taking place all over the country. All over Kitsap County. Very, very little Word of God being taught. Very little. Sermonettes for Christianettes. And, you know, no prophecy. How could you dishonor God by not teaching prophecy when so much prophecy is being fulfilled right now? Why would you leave one third of the Bible out? Well, I don't want them to be afraid. I don't want them to be bummed out. What? You have something to say that cheers them up more than Jesus is coming? Are you a nut job? They need to hear that Jesus is coming. They don't need to hear about how the Bidens are going to fix it. You know? Not going to happen. These people are the blind leading the blind, man. Too much driving riding in the short bus, let me tell you. It's crazy out there. A consumer or a giver. So, if you come into church with a full basket a full basket, your intention is, I want to give. I want to serve today. I want to minister. My heart's full and I want to pray with this person. I want to encourage this person. I want to look them in the eye and ask them how they're doing. I heard you were sick. I heard you lost your job. I heard your car broke down. Can I pray for you? That's coming in with a full basket. That's coming in like ready to minister. You prepared. You got your game face on. Because it doesn't all happen from here with this face, right? All of us are part of the body of Christ, right? All of us. And so, as we're filled, as we receive, then we give out. That's the body, working on the body, ministering to the body of Christ. And, uh, or you could come in here with an empty basket and you're a consumer. A consumer mentality. That's why I don't answer the voicemail. I can't stand the consumer mentality of people calling me saying, what do you have to offer me? I give them the address of the church, where we meet, what time. Come down here. Let me show you what I have to offer you. Don't call here so that you can get money out of me or scam me or tell me how inadequate I am because I don't have this, this, and this, and this that the other churches have. Go to the other churches. I don't care. I'm not going to listen to that. This is what we do. You show up. You find the place. And that will tell me that the Holy Spirit brought you and that you're supposed to be here. Because I'm not giving in to the competitive spirit of consumerism in the church. Not going to happen. Tired of it. I'm tired of the consumer mentality. And I'm tired of the, and it breaks my heart, the merchandising of those being preyed upon with that consumer mentality. The guys know it. So now they're going to merchandise you. They're going to play you. No, we're going to give you Jesus. If Jesus isn't enough, then we don't have anything else. I'm sorry. And no strings attached. Freely we receive, freely we're going to give. No strings. No micromanaging or forcing or making sure that they do it our way or whatever. Let not the left hand know what thy right hand doeth. In Matthew 6, verse 3. In Mark 12, 43, Jesus purposely sat near the treasury where people were giving. The rich, the poor, people coming up to give. And the Pharisees, the rich people were giving, and I say this all the time, it sounds like slot machines going off. It's because it was metal coin going into a vase and you could hear it all, and they're doing it, blowing a trumpet and want everyone to look to see what they're doing. And Jesus said these guys that do these things, praying before people to be seen of men, to take the glory of God unto themselves rather than giving the glory to God, they're not going to get any rewards. And so don't let your left hand know what your right hand's doing, he said there. But in this case, he said he brought the attention of the disciples. Now he did talk a lot about money. And in this case, he's talking about the heart of this woman, the motivation of how she gave and what it meant to God. And so this woman had two mites. And she came and she gave out of her living. She wasn't going to eat that night. So you'd go out to work as a day laborer, and you might get a mite or two mites, and that's enough to buy food that night. And she said, you know what, I won't eat tonight, I'm going to go and worship the Lord in giving, I'm going to put these two mites in there. She's got no trumpet to blow, nothing to grab anybody's attention, but the Son of Man, Almighty God sees her and says to his disciples, those guys gave out of their abundance. This lady gave more because she gave out of her living. It cost her to give. I won't give that to the Lord, that which cost me nothing, David said at the threshing floor of Arunah. You can't just give this to me, Arunah. No, in order for it to be meaningful, I need to pay the price, I need to sacrifice, I need to give unto the Lord. Giving's always going to be a sacrifice. It's going to cost you something. And the greater the cost, the greater the gift. The Lord's looking at what did it cost you to serve, what did it cost you in that sense. And that's what he brought to the attention, he says, that this poor widow has cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury, for all they did cast into their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. She's got zero in the bank. Nada, nilch, nothing. And she gave it all to Jesus. Now Jesus is going to give her some more tomorrow, right? She might even get a bowl of soup or a ribeye that night. Who knows what Jesus is going to do. Maybe a fish sandwich. Because you can't out give God. God's going to bless this lady. And she's already set free. She's already set free in her heart. She's freely given. She doesn't expect anything in return. She's not giving to get. So you ask yourself, what did it cost you? What's it cost you to give? If you want to serve the Lord, it's going to cost you everything. It's no longer you living, but Christ living through you. Know you not that you've been bought with a price? That you're not your own? Therefore glorify God with your body, which are His. And so in regard to fornication, 1 Corinthians 6, Paul's talking about this, but also just from the standpoint, you're the temple of the Holy Spirit. Everything, what do you receive that you haven't first received from God? It all belongs to Him. It all came from Him. It's all His. It all belongs to His. There's no limits of what He might ask of you. He might ask you to give it all. He might ask you to take, deny yourself, take your cross up daily and follow Him. How about that? What if He says lay down your fishing nets? Lay down your business, you know, Matthew the tax collector, Zacchaeus, whoever it may be. Hey, lay down that lucrative business and come follow Me. I'll make you fishers of men. It's going to cost you everything. You can't hold back. Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, they sold a piece of land because they saw Barnabas give out of the sale of a piece of land that he had. So they wanted to emulate that attention that Barnabas got. So Ananias and Sapphira, they went and they sold a piece of land and they gave, you know, at the apostle's feet. They laid it there at the apostle's feet. And then Peter, being led by the Holy Spirit, asked Ananias, why are you lying, not to men, you're lying unto God. He says, wasn't the price of the land, you know, you're lying about the price of the land. You're giving the facade that you gave it all like Barnabas gave. But you held back part of the price and that wasn't the sin. He says in verse 4, when it was in your hand, isn't it your own? And isn't it in your power to give a fifth, a sixth, a seventh? Nobody's asking you to give. This is you wanting to give a free will love offering. The problem is you're lying to be seen of men. And you're not lying to me, a man, you're lying to the Holy Spirit. That's the sin, not the holding back. You could sell a piece of land and say, you know, Lord, if this house sells, I'm going to give to you. And you put in the number. It's yours. It's in your power. Freely you receive, freely you want. You don't have to give any of it if you don't want. But you don't want to parade yourself and say, yeah, we sold the house and gave it all to the Lord. Careful of that word, all. Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead because of that lying to the Holy Spirit. So do you sell for such and such a price? Sapphira says, yeah, for such and such a price. And she fell dead just like Ananias did, right there in Acts 5. And they hauled her out just like they hauled Ananias out. Now what's the problem? A divided heart. A divided heart. You can't serve God money. It all belongs to the Lord. And the Lord's going to press upon your heart if he even wants you to give. And then he's going to press upon your heart as you pray. How much should I give? That's your decision. But don't lie to God. Don't lie to the church. Don't lie to people. Freely you've received the blessings of the Lord. Make it rich. And he has no sorrow to it. Rejoice that the Lord, through your stewardship, has caused you to prosper. And you determine what you want to give even if you do want to give or don't give. It's free will. Don't give grudgingly. Don't let anybody guilt you or coerce you or legalize you into giving. God is not broke. He will get his work done with or without us. The joy and the blessing is we get to participate. We get to co-labor. We get to be a part of what God's doing around the world. We co-labor by giving financially, freely, and thirdly and finally faithfully. Verse 30. Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. That word strive means to agonize together. A passionate, fervent prayer. Paul doesn't just want you guys to give financially. He wants you to pray for him. He covets your prayers. He's in a battle. He's in a war. He's a soldier. And boy, your prayers are powerful in the spiritual realm. You may not have a whole lot of money like that widow with her two mites, but man, you're a prayer warrior. And you're praying for Paul. You're praying for your pastor. You're praying for the pastor's wife, his children, grandchildren. The love that you pour out upon me and my family, I know, I never doubt that you strive, that you agonize together. You're passionately praying for those that are sick in this church. I've seen miracles of people healed as you pray for them. Radical miracles in the last couple years. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. We co-labor with me through prayer, Paul's saying. You remember in 1 Samuel 30 verse 24, he that goes out and he that stays with the stuff is going to share in the reward. So David and his mighty men, he's got 600 mighty men. He's got two wives. David has two wives. Many of his mighty men had wives and they traveled with their wives. And they're going over in the area of the Philistines. And David leaves behind the wives, the children, all the stuff there in a city called Ziklag. The Amalekites come along whom King Saul should have wiped them all out, but he didn't. He was instructed to. So these Amalekites come along and they take everything and they burn the city to the ground. And David and his 600 guys come to the city and they're gone. And they think the worst. We've lost our kids, lost our wives, everything. And they weep until they couldn't weep anymore. And then, human nature, we've got to blame somebody. It's David's fault. Let's stone David. Ooh, that's a brutal place to be for a leader, right? They want blood, man. They've got to blame somebody. And then it says in David, and this is a part of leadership, be prepared to be lonely. Be prepared at times to be lonely. But you're not alone. David encouraged himself in his God. David got in his prayer closet and began to pray. And the Lord impressed upon his heart that I've got a plan. David, you're going to retrieve everything. You're going to go from being the goat, not the greatest of all time, but a goat, to a hero. You're going to retrieve everything. So he gets a biotherapy with the priest and they pray. And the Lord leads David in that way to go. And as they're going with the 600, 200 of them are weary. 200 of them are tired at the Brook Beesore. So they lay down. They didn't have enough honey with them. They didn't have enough electrolytes. They were low in blood sugar and they needed to rest. So the 400, and they stayed with what's called the stuff. The 400 continued to go and try to reach the battlefield. Others stayed behind and worked in the shipyard in the factories while their sons and daughters went to Japan and to Europe to fight World War II. But everybody was involved. And it reminds me, I'm probably going to watch It's a Wonderful Life today because that's part of that movie, right? George couldn't go. He had a bad hearing. So he's there organizing all the things. He's staying with the stuff, you know? And the only thing that I get angry about, not only, a lot of things, one of the things I get angry about is when a Southern California pastor comes up here and tells me that this is a defeated, distraught, ministry. And I say, what the hell? Are you kidding me? You stay behind in Orange County when it's already pioneered and settled. I would equate it to you staying behind from the battle and dancing with the pretty girls at the USO while the real men and real women on the beaches of Normandy fighting it out. We're not depressed. We're not defeated. We're in the fight. This is a fight here and you're leaving with your tail between your legs because you don't know how to fight. You're unwilling to fight. That's the difference. This is a hard place. And so we really need to pray if we're going to persevere and make it here, right? We don't have any programs. We don't have the bank accounts filled with money that can drive this ministry with money. Silver and gold have we none but the name of Jesus Christ. Stand up and walk. The Holy Spirit is going to save some people. Because the Holy Spirit, the Lord God is the only one we can depend upon. So we're going to learn to pray. And we're going to stand in the gap. And so David and his mighty men, they find a little Egyptian guy who was a slave to his master, a Malachite, and the guy got sick and left for dead and he hadn't any food for three days or water and they nursed him back to life to where he could speak and he said, oh yeah, they hit this whole area of Judea and this area of the Philistines and the coastal area and they hit Ziklag and yeah, can you show us where they're at? Well, as long as you don't kill me, as long as you don't give me back to the devil, my master. The devil's come to steal, to kill and to destroy. Jesus said, I've come that you might have life, that you might have it more abundantly. He would never ever, ever leave you stranded in the battlefield. No man left behind. And so David and his guys, they see the Malachites there parting it up and no children, no wives, nobody's been hurt. And they go in there from the twilight on into the evening killing all the enemy, all the Malachites. They retrieved everything rejoicing and they're coming back and they get to the brook Besor, the 200 of there and many of the baser sort, the Belial kind of spirited guys of the 400 said, well, we'll give them their wives and children back but they don't get any of the spoil. And David said, no. Those that go into battle and those that stay with the stuff. You know, those that stay with the stuff they're the ones that pay the salaries of the missionaries. They're the ones that provide the food and work the jobs, write the checks so that some people can go out into the battlefield and plant churches. David says, they're gonna share alike. When we get to heaven we're all gonna share alike by being co-laborers with those that go and those that stay with the stuff. But those that stay with the stuff they still go locally. Right? There's still so much we can do. Devil's trying to shut me up. It's getting so good. Choke me, choke me. Pray for me. So we share in the battle and the blessings. Pastor Chuck said, pastors are sustained by the power of the spirit through prayer, support of their congregation. So let me tell you a little something that he taught us. That he asked us to do. Every time you have a meal and you're giving thanks over your meal throw me in there. Pray for Pastor Rick and his family. Real simple. Lord, sustain Pastor Rick with big ribeyes. Something like that. Real simple. May Pastor Rick eat twice as good as I'm eating right now. You know how to cover the base. Just pray. Lord, keep a hedge of protection about Pastor Rick and his family. That's what I love the most. Just protect us. Just protect our family because the devil's always wanting to destroy my family. It's been a battle from day one. how can we neutralize Pastor Rick is the devil's strategy. How can we neutralize him? We know he's not going to quit. But how can we neutralize him, make him ineffective? Who can we attack? Where's the, as Kathy says, where's the weak link in the chain? Can we attack his daughter? Daughters? Grandkids? Wife? Friends? Does he have any friends? Can we isolate him? Can we make him go crazy? I'm already there. Can't do about that. So co-labors in prayer. Jeremiah 33 3. We're going to study tomorrow night if we can get there. Call unto me and I'll answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. God's begging you to pray. He's asking you to pray. He's inviting you to pray. Ask, seek, knock. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Don't ever give up. You can co-labor. You can do battle all over the world through prayer. You can pray for this missionary and that missionary and when we go to far-reaching ministries, when we're going to Costa Rica. Can't tell you too much about it because someone might be listening. I'm just kidding. But it is going to be dangerous. And definitely want your prayer in. I know you'll pray. Some of you are already concerned about me already. You've already said, you know, Pastor Rick, you're not a soldier. And I'm afraid you're getting in way over your head. And that's true. But that's a good place to be. I've always been way over my head. And I rely upon the Lord and I rely upon the people the Lord puts around me that are going to say, hey, does this bulletproof vest fit you? But more importantly, it's the mosquito I'm afraid of. I'm not afraid of the cartels. I'm afraid of the mosquito that would give me malaria. There's an outbreak of malaria in the area. Or yellow fever if I go to Africa. But I'm really excited about going. But all those things, I have a level of comfort. I'm being stretched. I'm going to be outside my comfort zone because I just go away a little bit and I come home and hug my toilet. I missed you so much, you know. You don't even get to use the restroom in an adequate way, you know. Just, oh, I missed you. Oh. Just go on a mission trip. You know what I'm talking about. I might fast for four days. I don't know. But it's got my attention because I know I'm out of my element. And that's a good place to be because pride goes before destruction. A haughty spirit before a fall. So I definitely am going to be encountering different principalities and powers as I roll into that vicinity. And I need prayer. And you can prayer bomb me. You can prayer bomb them. Don't bomb me. Use those really nice guided missiles when you do it. Don't take me out. I don't want to be collateral damage. Prayer bomb the enemy. Take authority. Intercede. Ask Jesus to keep that hedge of protection about us and give us wisdom. Paul's prayer is in three parts. Notice the word that that divides his prayer here. Three different things he's asking. He says, verse 31, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea. The Jews in Judea that don't believe, man, they're his enemy. They're going to try and kill him. They're going to try and stone him. They're going to try and grab and pull him apart at the Antonio Fortress. So what's he praying for? Safety. Pray for safety. Keep me safe. Paul's saying, I know I'm a stud. I know I've been shipwrecked three times. I know I've been stoned once. I know that I've been beaten with rods and cat-o'-nine-tails and all these things. But you know what? It's no fun. If we could minimize the suffering, that'd be a good thing. So please pray for my safety and those traveling with me. In Acts 21 through 23, one of the most sad things of all that Paul, I believe, encountered, is here you are going to Jerusalem and you're bringing this gift and who are you going to lay that gift at their feet? Who is it you're going to give this gift to that they then, through the deacons, are going to distribute to all the people in need? Who's in charge in Acts 15? Who's in charge? The Lord's brother, James. He's in charge. Peter's in charge. John's in charge. The apostles are in charge. So he brings the gift. Lays it at their feet. He can't even get out of Jerusalem before a mob grabs hold of him. Tries to pull him apart. Who's there interceding? Is James there? Is John there? Is Peter there? No, there's a Roman centurion that intercedes. Grabs him before those Jews that don't believe can pull him apart and kill him. Then he's got an assassination plot, a conspiracy theory against him. They conspired to kill him. They're not going to eat until they can kill him. Again, the soldier's there to rescue the apostle Paul as they attempt to stone him in the assassination plot. And here's the thing that bothers me in this regard. Two years he's spent in prison in Caesarea. Two years further in Rome. Not one of those in leadership came to visit him. How sad. That's sad. But you and I, we don't need anybody in church leadership to come visit us. We're going to pray for each other. Plenty of people to pray. All of us nobodies are going to pray. And the somebody, the one lone somebody, Jesus, is going to hear our prayers and answer our prayers. We don't need any help from men. We have Jesus to help us. We don't need any Christian celebrities. Jesus is the only celebrity. We have access to his throne of God. To the very throne of God. We don't need James or these pretenders. James is a godly guy. I'm just kind of waxing eloquently here. We don't need those guys. Be careful of putting your trust in men. I mean, when I meet these guys, the guys I roll with, one of the things I let them know is they like to name drop. They want to pigeonhole you. Where are you from? Who do you know? And nowadays they're pigeonholing of did you ever know Pastor Chuck? A lot of these guys that are in the Calvary movement never, they never met Pastor Chuck. They never, they're coming in years later. And so they're asking me, well did you ever meet Pastor Chuck? And I didn't have dinner at his house, but yeah, I knew Pastor Chuck. He's my pastor. He married Kathy and I. And you're going down this list of things. Friends with his daughter Jeanette and Greg. Yeah, we know Chuck and Kay. We had dinner with Chuck and Kay one time in Israel. So you're going through your list and now they're starting to, oh, who are you? Who are you? Everybody's asking the equalizer. Who are you? Wow. And then I pull this one out. Yeah, I flew in the jet with Pastor Chuck once. I flew in the jet. The private jet. None of them ever came close to flying in the jet. I'm Jetman. I'm Pastor Jetman. Whoa. If they can't follow that up with Y-Road and the Popemobile, the conversation's over, you know. Because I flew in the jet. And we flew from Arlington over to Bremerton and it almost crashed. Of course in Bremerton. Pastor Chuck would die with me on the runway there. And he goosed it back up, swung around, came back down and landed. Then he came over to the Roxy while we went out and had some prime rib. The black Angus one that was over there. And I could say to him, yeah, I bought Pastor Chuck lunch. I bought him a prime rib. You ever bought him lunch? I flew in the jet. And he came over and dedicated the Roxy. Praise the Lord. But the Apostle Paul rejected. Just so sad. So he asked for a prayer for safety, secondly for service. Help me in the in that, the word that, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. You want to be accepted. You don't want to be rejected. Jesus said in John 5, I come in my Father's name and you receive me not. Another, the Antichrist is going to come in his own name, in his own popularity, his own celebrity, him you will receive. Have I been such a long time with you Philip and you don't know me? He that has seen me has seen the Father, you know. He came unto his own and his own knew him not. He was in the world, the world was made by him and the world knew him not. Crazy. Crazy anonymity. That they, that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. Two years in Caesarea, two years in Roman prison, nobody visited except the unknown people. No recorded visits. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Pray for me. Pray for my safety, pray for my service and thirdly, pray for my steps. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Help me as I walk with Jesus. Help my steps. Help me to not slip and fall. Help me not to backslide. So many pastors have backslidden toward the end of their ministries. So many pastors have been unfaithful to their wives, to the congregations and to God. And he's the God of the second chance. I understand that. He's the God that let Samson's hair grow back. I understand that. But man, pray for my steps. Pray that I not even have to go through something like that. Some sort of stupid midlife crisis where you zone out, you know. Why do they do this? Why? It's so strange, isn't it? That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God and may be with you and be refreshed. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. And then here's one, here's one that's going to chuckle you. The celebrities, the James, the Johns, the Peters, although they didn't come and visit Paul those four years he's in prison. There's a group of people from Rome as Paul's headed toward Rome that walk 43 miles. Pray for my steps. 43 miles they walk to the Apian Way to greet Paul. A guy they've never met before but they received his letter. A guy they deeply love. A guy that they will meet in those two years he's in that chain to a Roman soldier. They're going to come bring him food and greet him and hang out with him. They're going to hear him share the gospel and teach the word of God and write prison epistles and all. It says Acts 28 15, When the brethren heard of us they came to meet us as far as a pea forum in the three taverns. Who when Paul saw he thanked God and took courage. Hey, you're praying for my steps. You're praying for my safety. You're praying for my service. They met me along the Apian Way by the church of Rome 43 miles out. They wanted to come out and greet him and walk that 43 miles back in with him. How long does it take to walk 43 miles? God answered all of his prayers. His brethren co-labored. They gave. They gave financially. They gave freely. They gave faithfully. Now the God of peace be with you all. Verse 33 Amen. Peace in prison. Peace in chains. Peace in the ship. Shipwreck. The storms of life. That's the test. That's the test. We've had a great era of Christianity in America. A great time of prosperity but the real test is do we know Jesus? Know him well enough to be at peace in the midst of the storms that are coming? Do we know him well enough to be able to cope? Are we going to melt down? Are we going to divorce? Are our families going to crack apart? Is this church going to crack apart? Are we going to melt under pressure? Or are we going to stand strong? Are we going to take all that we've learned? All the courage that's been poured into us? The confidence that God's poured into us? The confidence that we have in him? The faith that we have in him? He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusts in thee. My peace I give unto you not as the world give I unto you. In the world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Be anxious for nothing but in everything through prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving when those bad things come. With thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and the peace of God that surpasses all understanding is going to guard your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus. You can take it to the bank. Jesus is faithful. He's the God of peace. Be with you as you continue to co-labor by giving. For we know the grace of God. We know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he is rich yet for our sakes he became poor. That we through his poverty that we might be rich. Jesus gave it all to enrich our lives that we might co-labor with him in establishing peace on earth. How will we respond? The angels came to the shepherds and they said glory to God in the highest on earth, peace, good will toward men. The birth announcement the babe of Bethlehem's arise. What's the intent of God? That one day there will be peace on earth. Jesus said I came not to bring peace but a sword. The sword's coming first. Armageddon's coming first. Be difficult first but ultimately the prince of peace promised in Isaiah 9, 6 and 7 he's coming and he's going to establish peace upon the earth. But meanwhile he's given us his peace my peace I give unto you because I'm the God of peace. No turmoil no freaking out no losing it. You have me to rely upon. You don't need to turn to the money or the alcohol or pleasure. You can turn to me. I'll be there for you. For God so loved the world. For God so loved you. When we talk about giving who gave first? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever that means you, us losers, us nobodies well I flew in the jet but all you guys he gave his only begotten son that whosoever the whosoevers that includes us all believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life Let's pray Father thank you thank you for your love. Thank you for sending your son. Thank you for his grace. His mercies are new each morning. Thank you for your peace Lord. The peace, the fruit of the spirit which is peace. Lord help us to walk in the spirit. Help us to spend time yielding to the Holy Spirit be filled, be being filled with your spirit. We know the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh but Lord we want your peace. We don't want to be in turmoil. We don't want to live the carnal Christian existence Lord We want to live the abundant life that you promised the life of the spirit not material things the life of the spirit, the quality of life walking in sweet intimate fellowship with you and Lord we don't want to be those guys on the team that just warm the bench Lord if we're not equipped to be in the game let us bring water bottles let us be the scrimmage squad. Let us do something that we can contribute to the team to get the word of God out to further the gospel to go for it Lord. All of us involved. All of us have a place within the body of Christ to be involved All of us can pray at the very least even if we're handicapped in bed we can pray and Lord I would ask that you teach us to pray like Cora Lord. She's been through so much. Such a great example her and Alan Lord when she was going through it so many times Lord she wasn't one to pray for herself Thank you that we got to pray for her just as we're getting to pray for Sally. But Lord thank you for the testimony of how Cora prayed for Sally a desperate fervent prayer crying out pleading pleading for Sally. Teach us to pray Lord teach us to give teach us how we can serve you in these last days and be effective be fruitful may we glorify you Lord as we look for the soon return of your dear son thank you for this little church in Bremerton thank you that we matter that there is a function within the body of Christ for us to fulfill may we be faithful in Jesus name we pray. And while your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed the most important moment if there's anybody here that doesn't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior this is your moment this is your time. You don't have to spend an eternity in hell all you need do is Chuck reminded me this week is repent turn from your sins cry out to God. God be merciful to me a sinner. Lord come into my heart and life. Make me new. Write my name in the Lamb's book of life thank you Lord thank you for sending your son to die for me thank you that he said it is finished to tell us I paid in full that all my sins past present and future are already paid for and now Lord I want to appropriate that free gift Lord I want to receive that free gift of eternal life through your son if that's the cry of your heart lift your hand up we want to lead you in prayer we want to lead you in prayer before we partake of communion Father thank you once again as we ramp up as we get closer and closer to the Christmas holiday Lord don't let anybody snatch it don't let anybody spoil it or ruin it it's our holiday the birth of our Savior and Lord I pray that he would be their Savior too that they receive the gift that you offer the gift of your dear son use us as we share the glorious good news Lord in Jesus name we pray Amen