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2 Corinthians 7:2,7 -Rejoice Always- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2025-03-23
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Second Corinthians chapter seven verses two through seven this morning. Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? Receive us. We have wronged no man. We have corrupted no man. We have defrauded no man. I speak not this to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you. Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort. I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. For when we were coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God that comforts those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus. And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he has comforted, in you when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me so that I rejoiced the more. Father, thank you for your holy spirit. Thank you for the comforter that you've sent to comfort all of us in our tribulation, in our sickness, in our in our difficulty going through this life. Lord, we we're not orphans. We have the moving and working of your holy spirit in our hearts and lives, and and the fruit of the spirit being love and joy and peace and long suffering. Lord, that joy of the Lord's our strength. We're able to rise above the outward circumstances in the way the enemy tries to defeat us in our mind, and you give us a greater measure of faith and trust in you to weather the season that we're going through. And Lord, we're just thankful that we're able to lift our hearts in song, to worship you, to speak in our prayer language, to sing in our prayer languages, Lord, to just be be those who are set apart set apart in a life of holiness that you've called us there onto, Lord. That we don't need to be manipulated by the wicked one and his lies and the propaganda and the fear mongering and all. And Lord, we pray evermore that we'd be one in the spirit, like minded, close knit as a body of believers that we not have any schism or division or or anything that would hinder us from entering into all that you have for us. We don't wanna quench or grieve the Holy Spirit. We want you to be well pleased, Lord, in watching how we're loving one another and how we love you. So blessed, Lord, we pray. Pour out your Holy Spirit afresh upon us this morning. Be our teacher. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? All of us have experienced the pain of rejection a time or two. Maybe when you're younger, you're trying to play sports or going out for, some sort of activity, maybe drama or whatever, and you didn't make the cut. You were rejected, and, and it hurts. It hurts deep and leaves scars in many cases. And in some of us, it makes us try, you know, harder later. But maybe it's it has something to do with a boyfriend, a girlfriend, maybe a mom or dad. A dad is divorcing mom, and you just don't know why. You feel so rejected, and you see his new girlfriend, and you just don't understand. Why would you be choosing that? And not us. You know, what happened to us? What happened to our family and such? And maybe you went in college age or high school age. You're looking for a a scholarship or a job or an opportunity, and you you missed the cut. You didn't you didn't get that that job. You rejected. You know what it is to be rejected. And then you pour your heart out to love somebody, to love family member, to love friends, to love people in the church, maybe a a sweetheart, somebody you think you're gonna spend the rest of your life with, and and then they cheat on you, they abandon you, they reject you. And, we all know what it is, to love. And what we're hoping for is for someone to reciprocate, for someone to love us in return, for someone to, you know, appreciate and express value, you know, their their love, their devotion, you know, unto us as we've loved them. And I think one of the hardest things as parents is when at times, it doesn't always happen, but, you know, at times where our kids, will ostracize and want nothing to do with us. You know? You can't see the grandkids. You can't this. You can't that. And, I know many many parents grandparents go through these kind of things where the kids say, hate you, you know, and you've dedicated your whole life unto them. You've done everything you possibly can, and and the people closest to you can hurt you the most. And the apostle Paul, he's he's rejoicing in the Lord. He can't rejoice in the Corinthians right now. He can't, you know, be singing their praises just now because they're rejecting him. They're being enamored. They're being seduced by the false prophets. The false prophets that haven't invested anything in them, but the false prophets that come through with all the sizzle and all the, you know, the propaganda and the salesmanship and such. And they're just wooed by him. You know? And and, and they're, you know, they're falling into the criticism, criticizing the apostle Paul of his appearance, his outward appearance, or his, apparent, weakness in speech and such. And, if they want him to, he can come with a stick. If they want him to, he can come with the authority of an apostle and the power of an apostle. He could probably call down fire from heaven if that's what they want. You know? But, he's been holding back. He's trying to love him. He's trying to lay down his life for him. And, the more he loves him, the less, they're loving him, in return. And yet what he's what he's what's coming through here is you see the word rejoice and joy. He's finding joy in these tribulations, and that's where you and I need to be because, outwardly, the circumstances aren't always, you know, right. They aren't always there. If you're ever gonna be in the ministry like the apostle Paul is, you need to be ready for rejection. You need to be ready to go it alone at times. Look at the end of Paul's life. He was alone, but the Lord stood with him. You know? And people can be so fickle. People come up to me and they'll say, pastor, you're the greatest pastor I've ever heard, and I'm never going anywhere. You know? And I say back to them, oh, yeah. You will. Eventually, you'll be gone. They all leave they all eventually leave. And they're like, oh, no. No way. Not me, man. You know, though everybody betray you this night, Jesus, you know, I'm not gonna hey. This night before the cock crows, Peter, you're gonna die. You even know me. You know? And the interesting thing is your wife, your children, they play for keeps. They think that your children are their friends. They think that you're our friends, that we're we're gonna usher Jesus in, you know, that we're in love, and that we've got a job to do in this community and such. And it's so funny. It's strange, actually, how over the tiniest little things can come in, and all of a sudden, we're enemies. All of a well, why do you hate him so much? I don't know. I just hate him. You know? Well, what did he do? He he told me to get a hanky. I don't like that. I don't like when he talks like that. You know? It can just be the smallest, tiny, little things, and all of a sudden, they're magnified in the body of Christ. And the apostle Paul's scratching his head like, what did I do? What what what did I do that you're so in love with these false prophets? And I've spent eighteen months planting this church here, and now you're making me public enemy number one. You know? You're breaking my heart is what he's saying. And so rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I'll say rejoice. You gotta learn to rejoice. And Kathy and I will look at each other, and we'll just like, you know, honey, just be faithful. Just be faithful. It's all we can do is be faithful. We can't. If people don't like us, then there's plenty of other churches. We hope they find a church that they do like. You know? But we can't we don't lord over anybody. We're not gonna force it. You can't force people to love you. You can't force people to like you. So how did Paul maintain his joy? There's the key there. Don't Monday mornings for pastors and people in ministry is so frustrating. Missionaries can get so frustrated. And even even people who serve forty years in the ministry can become frustrated and disillusioned. Remember I told you the story about the missionary family, the couple that spent forty years in the mission field? And they came they were coming home, finally, home from the mission field. They've been home on furloughs before, but they've been gone away from all their church friends and family and everybody for forty years. And they're coming home, and they're coming home on a steamship. And on that steamship, there's this young senator, this Teddy Roosevelt that went hunting. And when they got to the shore, there was a brass band, huge brass band awaiting this young senator in his hunting trip. And for this older couple, this missionary couple, forty years in the missionary, they had to flag down a taxi. And they're in the taxi, and the husband began to vent. Forty years. Forty years in the mission field. Forty years serving the Lord like this. And this young senator's got this huge homecoming. Everybody here, the brass band, everybody's so excited about him coming home from a hunting trip. And there's nobody here to greet us, nobody to give us a homecoming. And you know the kicker. The wife says, honey, we're not home yet. Right? You might have to wait. You might have to wait to be appreciated. But the Lord Jesus, he he's not unrighteous to forget your labor and the love that you've shown the church all those years. So how did Paul maintain his joy? Number one, he ignored the criticism. Hard to do. Hard to do. You you can't be thin skinned. You're gonna have to have an outward outer coat of you know, where the it just rolls right off you. You know? And you're gonna need to maintain a soft heart, though. You can't let jaded and cynicism and anger and bitterness, you know, cultivate there within your heart. He says, so receive us. Receive us. Just just receive us. We have wronged no man. We have corrupted no man. We have defrauded no man. Look look at the history of my work. Look what we've done. Look what we've tried to do. Look at these false prophets have epistles. They're showing you their books, their videos, their YouTube prophets, and somehow you're enamored with them. Well, you're our epistle. God's written our names in your heart. You came to Christ through our ministry. You grew through our ministry. And now these guys wanna come in and capitalize upon it. They wanna snatch you away, and they wanna criticize and and, tear us and our ministry down. Receive us. We've wronged no man. We've corrupted no man. We've defrauded no man. Jesus said, he that receives you receives me. He that receives me receives him that sent me. A lot of times people are rejecting us because they're really rejecting your Jesus. Your Jesus is a little too demanding. Your Jesus has the audacity to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Your Jesus has the audacity to say, if any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. Really? What about my best life now? What about doing it my way? Is this Burger King? You can have it your way? Many people think it is. In Galatians four fourteen, Paul says, my temptation, which was in my flesh, despise not. So Paul had a physical infirmity. His temptation, that testing, possibly that messenger of Satan that was buffeted in him in chapter twelve, second Corinthians 12. He prayed three times that the Lord would alleviate that pain, a huge tent stake type pain in his in his his head. You know? And possibly from malaria. Ophthalmalia, he had eye problems, able to see, and so it would ooze pus and everything coming out of his eyes. So it very, very unflattering. Not not a real good look, you know, to win people. And when he came to the area of Galatia, they says, my temptations, which was in my flesh, you despise not nor rejected me. So he didn't reject me on the basis of my outward appearance, but received me as an angel of God even as Christ Jesus. And, when I was first starting in the ministry here in Bremerton, nobody nobody knew our past, Kathy and I. And I hurt my back, l four, l five, major, major back problem, and it made me sedentary. And I have a huge appetite. I love to eat. And I got up over three hundred pounds, and, I had no idea that it was still high school in many churches in the minds of pastors and all. I didn't look outwardly like a guy that, you know, anybody would wanna think, hey, you know, he must have an eating problem. He must be a glutton, whatever. So people are so incredibly shallow. I'd be at some of the pastors conferences, and one guy was teasing me about the food and all that. And, oh, you want this, you know. And, and I admit I had a problem. I had a problem of eating too much and not enough exercise. And, but I didn't think it mattered anymore. I didn't think we're you know, I didn't I was healthy, so I didn't think it mattered. I I thought we're here about Jesus. And I quit trying to be the most popular kid in high school. And I thought it was about Jesus, but people were all hung up on the outward. The church went through this whole thing of, you know, looking good outwardly. And I thought it was so incredibly shallow that the church would adopt that sort of a stance that you're going to divide people over, you know, how they look. And the pastors began to teach on diets, and I remember one time Kathy and I, we had a trip to Hawaii, and and, Joel Olsteen had the audacity to talk about, how he doesn't eat ice cream, you know? He he doesn't wanna get fat and all that. And Kathy said, man, that guy really makes me angry, and she went out and bought two things of ice cream, you know. And you know? But I mean, to to be so incredibly shallow, you know? And then they try to incorporate the physical outward look with being spiritual and all that. And Jesus said, it's not that which goes into a man's body that defiles a man, but that, you know, which comes out, meaning the heart. From the blend of the heart, the mouth speaks. And so, you know, people introduced me as he's a real jolly man. You know? What's that mean, jolly? Do I look like Santa Claus? You know? And and I used to just laugh inside because I know who I really am. Never forgot who I really am. And I I knew deep within that that there was a season in my life where the outward, you know, was the emphasis of my life, but at this point, I wanted I wanted to get to know Jesus. And I didn't wanna be distracted by anything. But it's so interesting, the culture, how shallow the culture is that some of these things that that we present can be a distraction to people. You know? They, man looks on the outward, and God looks on the heart. And so it's it's it's just a tragedy, the things that we divide over. And you could be the most loving pastor teaching the word, not asking really for anything, and the people throw you aside, and they'll run toward this guy that is polished and bright and shiny, but all he does is ask for money. And they'll give it to him. That's that's the strange thing. He doesn't teach the word. He's always begging for money. He's presenting himself as doctor so and so, starring doctor so and so, and the people love it so. They're they're sucked in to a a pseudo Christianity image image makers, you know, they're always trying to put their images up there for the Christian celebrities and all. And, they have PR agents and a whole a whole persona that they present. And there's been times where Kathy says to me, Rick, that's his persona. That's not who he really is. And I said, what do mean? That's his persona. That's that's that's who he projects. That's who people think he is. And I guess I'm just a little too honest. I need to present a persona. I need to build an image and brand and try to be something that people want, you know, instead of just being me. And Paul wasn't gonna play games like that. And so he he administered to people while he's sick, and he didn't try to shape the outward to try and be more attractive to people. It was about the word of God. We're losing the battle for souls. We're losing the battle for people because the word of God's being undermined. People believe the evolutionary theory. They believe in in the the science scientific studies and such that can't be, you know, proven. And so we've seen, generationally, we've seen a loss of the young people because as they go to college, they can't they can't reconcile six days of creation. They can't reconcile it, a young urn. Something as simple as a young urn, six twenty four hour days to make everything confuses them because the professors and the upper echelon of of education, hope president Trump gets rid of that department, but in any event, they, they postulate, they don't have any proof, but hydrocarbon dating and such that there's millions of years involved. And that discrepancy going away from the bible, you know, stumbles a lot of people, and they and and you lose the authority of the word of God, which which is paramount. You have to have the authority of the word of God being, in fact, the word of God. And you can't you can't stumble about it. You can't have a theistic evolution. You can't mix these things. And with AI coming on the scene, we need to be on our game. We could take a a Hebrew scholar, and this Hebrew scholar could, who's not a believer, could look at the first 11 verses in Genesis and and confirm based upon the etymology of the Hebrew words that's four or or six twenty four hour days. Just words have meaning. So you look at the words, and this is what the word means. Sphere is sphere. It's a globe. You don't need to go any further. That's it. It's over. The argument's over. It's the word of God. But if people wanna jockey around and mess around, now pretty soon you got a whole generation of people wanting to be smart, wanting to be smarter than everybody else in the room. And, oh, by the way, those Christians, they they just don't know what they're talking about because because, you know, we've got radiocarbon dating. Well, why don't you radiocarbon date this? And they put it in, and they look at it, and it's three hundred years in the future. Well, how how'd that happen? Do it again. That's three hundred years in the future. It's inaccurate. It's not a science. It's speculation. It's a it's a false religious system that can't be proven. The fossil record speaks volumes of the Noahic flood and such, and so we're going in a different direction, but but it has to be said that the foundation's the word of God. Are they rejecting Paul because he mistaught the word of God? What are the peripheral things they're they're rejecting him for? And so in many cases, people actually reject us because they don't believe in Jesus. And so John three tells us because they love darkness rather than light is the real problem, and they love their sin. So they've gotta find a reason to assass their guilt and to try and justify their unbelief. And so they say, there is no God. We all evolved. And the people love to hear it so in many cases. And the churches, it's undermined with the authority of the word of God. Well, what part of the word of God is the word of God? And which part isn't it? Isn't. You know, if you're not gonna believe the the first chapter of Genesis, where where are you gonna go? You you throw it out? What about the second? What about the third? I mean, what are you gonna do? It's either all the word of God or it's not. And that's the struggle we're in as the day approaches of the Lord's return with the AI and so many YouTube prophets. A lot of it, again, is just so incredibly superficial, the reason people attend church. And these guys know it, that people are thinking, and they're not thinking. They have a difficulty thinking because of all the the computers and the phones and and the attention spans that are that are breaking down because people can't think. And so they're they're finding a reason to reject someone like the apostle Paul. In first Samuel eight verse seven, the Lord said to Samuel, they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. So here you have the nation of Israel coming out of Egypt. They have a theocracy where God is their king. God is ruling and reigning over them. He's providing a cloud by day so they don't get sunburned. He's providing fire by night so the Egyptians and nobody else can get at them. He's causing water to pop out of a rock to give them drink. He's causing quail to come down, you know, homer high and, hitting homers of quail. He's got the manna, the corn, the angel food coming each and every day for these people. Their shoes don't wear out. Nobody's sick. And they have the audacity at the end of the four hundred and thirty years of the book of judges, where Samuel the prophet, last of the judges, the first of the prophets, and it's about ready for him to die. He's got two sons who really aren't qualified for leadership. So the people say, we wanna have a king like all the other nations. Really? Be careful what you ask for. You really want a king? And so that's what God's saying, hey, Samuel, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. They want to be like all the other nations. The phrase in the book of Judges that describes the time that we're living in is every man did that which was right in his own eyes. No authority with the word of God. The pastors, the prophets don't teach exegetically. They don't teach expositionally. They don't let the word of God speak to the people. It's their ideas, the culture ideas. They pick and choose, and they try and find what the culture's interested in, and then they try to formulate sermons that tickle and entertain and cause people to go away. Oh, that was I'm so glad that only lasted fifteen minutes, you know. I I gotta get I gotta get wherever you gotta get to, you know. So Paul wanted the Corinthians to receive him, knowing the criticism of him was unfounded. So are we supposed to defend ourselves? Pastor Chuck used to say, let the Lord defend you. And in many cases, that is the right way to do it. Just let the Lord defend you. Just keep, you know, keep plugging away. Let people vote with their feet. If they don't like him, they're gonna criticize or whatever. They they're free to go somewhere else. But in other cases, sometimes they just won't leave, and they stir it up. They keep they keep emailing you and contacting you and stirring and stirring and stirring, and pretty soon you got a schism and division, a whole thing going on. So what are you gonna do? As a pastor, what do you do? For me, I have to just keep teaching the word of God, and I have to look at first Corinthians 11 and say, these schisms, these divisions are necessary. God allows them. For it manifests those that are approved. Do you know what the word approved means? It means the church is going through a trial, a fiery trial, the church, all of us. And if you can be swayed by another person's voice and you believe it, you failed the test, and you're better off moving on. You had no discernment. They use words like slander, and they start to criticize. So I stand back and wait and see what your reaction's gonna be. I don't call you. I don't defend myself. I don't try to expose what's going on unless it's the word of God, and I have a responsibility to stand up with the word of God, lest people be stumbled. But as far as the people's opinions of me or whatever's going on, I let the Lord handle it. I let the Lord deal with it. And that's the best way to do it because he says, those that are approved are manifested. Then what you do is you stand back and you say, alright. All of these were affected by that. It came through. The Lord allowed it. These are the ones that have determined they want to stay, and they want to keep learning the word of God. Let's get back to the word of God. Let's let's let's do what God's called us to do collectively. But those that don't wanna be here, maybe they found a place that they they feel more comfortable where they're being taught, where they're fed. Maybe maybe it's a much, much, much better church for them. I I agree. Blessed subtractions. Go. But if you if you're gonna cause trouble here, why? Why do you wanna stay? You see what I mean? So you just you just let it take its place, and you you say, did I wrong you? How did I wrong you? Did I defraud you? So so what's the problem? In my case, it always comes down to the word of God or a power struggle. So he we we've wronged no man, which means to be unjust. Paul treated people fairly. Paul wrote to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus that was a runaway slave, and Paul was used of the Lord to bring Philemon to the Lord. And so he says, put it on my account. Have mercy toward Onesimus. I'm gonna send him back to you, but, you know, but but don't hurt him. Don't penalize him. He says, if he has wronged thee or owes the ought, put that on my account. Be merciful. He says, we have corrupted no man. Have we injured you? Have we tried to destroy you? Jesus said, you're the salt of the earth. We're not gonna corrupt. We're to preserve or or stave off putrification. We're to be an influence that builds you up and strengthens you and helps you draw closer to Jesus. We're not to bring or allow corruption into the church, into the equation, especially with young people. You want a youth group that brings corruption into the youth group? No. You wanna try and preserve the purity. You wanna try and teach them holiness. That's why I don't understand the pastors that, you know, the emphasis upon, you know, the alcohol in the church. I I just don't get it. The two don't mix. You wanna drink? Drink on your own. I'm not cool enough to try and be pastor, you know, let's have a bud. You know? These these guys are such idiots trying to, again, play high school and to have their their their poker nights where all the men get together to drink their brewskis, and the college age group goes to these wine festivals. It's idiocy. The two aren't to mix. What you do in your liberty on your own, go for it. But we're not gonna allow that kind of corruption corruption in because it has a great it gives great opportunity for people to stumble. One prominent pastor who was in our area said, I don't know that my drinking's ever stumbled anyone. And then the assistant, the guy that he started the church with had two DUIs and a divorce. That's an idiocy. That's just that's just idiocy to allow that kind of corruption in. It has all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient, and I won't be brought under the power of any. Evaluate it. Does this have the potential to draw people closer to Jesus? No. Does it have the potential to corrupt and cause people that are trying to overcome alcoholism ism, any kind of ism, to stumble or people to stumble? Isn't there a place, a sanctuary where people can get away from alcohol for just one day? Why is it always that social groups have to always be centered around alcohol and nowadays, you know, marijuana and other types of drugs and stuff? Hey. Bring your bring your favorite gummies. You know? I know it's coming. Bring your favorite gummies. Bring the vitamin ones. Bring the whatever kind of flavors you love. You know? People are telling me they they're putting different types of flavors and things in them. You know? I hope I die before it goes to the next level. I hope the Lord takes me home. We have defrauded no man. Means to exploit. Were we begging for money? Were we letting all of our needs be known? Jesus said, if you have a need, you go into your prayer closet and you ask your father who sees in secret, and he'll reward you openly. Do we take every opportunity we can to stand before you and tell you the needs of this church? The needs that Kathy and I have? When we're losing all the buildings, the whole thing, we had a fright a a Sunday night of worship and prayer asking God to intervene. Never once did we use Sunday morning to sound the alarm and try to exploit people to get more out of them than they felt comfortable given. Everybody knew what was happening. Anybody that wanted to step forward could've, but we weren't gonna cheapen the work. We're willing to take the hit, go down with the ship, and receive it as God's will rather than be a false prophet making merchandise of people to exploit begging for money. Now this this is so prevalent. The begging for money is so prevalent, and the churches that do it are huge. The people love it so. So let me explain it this way. I could dedicate my life thirty years to being a student of the Bible so that I could teach you prophecy and everything I can. And we might say, you know, that was a healthy meal. And then they'll leave and they'll go get cotton candy. And they'll write these checks for all this propaganda, all this scheming, all this marketing, all this it's mind boggling to me. Absolutely mind boggling. And they'll they'll run away going, oh, but he he went past the time that the Holy Spirit allowed for that service to go. You know? You've got an hour to get it done, or I'm out of here. How's your marriage? How's your walk with the Lord? How are doing with Doge? How are you doing with justifying the reason for your existence at the job you have? How are you doing with the criticism? You ready to lose your job? Can I see your Christianity when that happens? Will the cotton candy get you through it? I've been trying to build you up, get you strong enough to face the reality that we're heading into. It comes by faith. Your face gotta be strong to say no to the COVID jab. Your face can then need to be even stronger with what's coming up ahead. Where are they now? They go back to the soft, easy churches because they don't wanna face the reality of needing to die to self. They want what they want, and they want it the comfort. They want the convenience. And all they have to do is keep writing those checks. To the church of Ephesus, three years Paul spent there, he said, I fought with beasts at Ephesus. They didn't appreciate him. He had to run out of town. He says, I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered under my necessities and them that were with me. I've showed you all things, how that's so laboring ye ought to support the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he says more blessed to give than to receive. He says in verse three, I speak not this to condemn you. So there's no retaliation here. There I'm seeking reasoning, trying to rebuild you, trying to build you up. I'm here as a peacemaker. He says, for I have said before that you're in our hearts to die and to live with you. We're inseparable. Our hearts are net with yours. We were there when you got married. We were there when you had your first child, your seventh child. We were there when you lost a spouse. We held your hand and prayed with you through sickness. We helped you deal with the prodigal that's making you insane. We we were there. We've been there. We're inseparable. We haven't left. Paul's saying, we're still here. And that's what I'd say for Kathy and I. Hey. We're still here. You don't think that people in this community haven't wronged us? People in this church over the years haven't wronged us? That we don't have a reason to leave if we're to be all fleshly and carnal and selfish? But we're inseparable. And the verse that I like to put in here at this point is, whatsoever you do, whatever you're gonna do as a Christian, do it heartily with your whole heart as unto the Lord and not unto men. Because you guys are like me, one week, one month, ten years, but Jesus never fails. He's not criticizing me, Kathy. He's not saying, you're disqualified. Get out of here. He keeps telling me, be faithful. Be faithful. Be faithful. Just be faithful. Be faithful. That's what he should be telling you. That's what you should be hearing. Be faithful. Be faithful to what God's called you to do. All of us collectively, be faithful. We're all part of the body of Christ. When we say inseparable, it doesn't mean that we own you or you're a member here or you can't leave. The door swings both ways. We're free, but our hearts are knit. We love you. And we're gonna love you at whatever church you go to, we're still gonna love you. We're still gonna pray for you. We still consider you a friend. And we thank the Lord for the season that we got to know you and got to be able to minister unto you and to see your ministry and all that. When we see at Costco, we don't wanna hide and run the other way. We wanna greet and ask you how you're doing. How's the kids doing? All that. We love you. And we understand that there's different seasons in life, and if if you need to leave, you need to leave, and you don't need to have a reason. You don't need a reason. It's your decision between you and God. You don't owe me a thing. It's called freedom. Romans eight thirty five, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? And I like how he says who, not what, but who? We're fighting against the devil, aren't we? As it is written, for thy sake, we're killed all the day long. For your guys' sake, church of Corinth, we're killed all the day long. We're accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, in all these things, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us, the cross of Calvary. For I am persuaded, Paul's saying, I'm persuaded in my heart that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We're inseparable. Nothing's gonna separate us from the love of Jesus. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even criticism. And you think you have to think about this. You have to think, and you have to ask the question. When you feel like, hey, I'm being mistreated. All I was trying to do is serve the Lord, and I feel like I'm mistreated. I'm unappreciated. Ask yourself, how was Jesus treated? How was the apostle Paul and the apostles treated? You're in good company. Enjoy the times where everybody's focused on Jesus, the agape feast and all. Enjoy those times. At other times when things get more difficult, just be careful. Don't don't be surprised if people start to bite and devour. It's ugliness. It's flesh. But it's reality. In Isaiah 53, we're told that Jesus was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. That's how we treated Jesus. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. He said in John five, I came in my father's name, and you received me not. He's talking to his own people. He's talking to the people of Nazareth, and they're calling him just the son of the carpenter. Who's he making himself out to be? His own brothers didn't believe him till after the resurrection. They thought he was beside himself. He's a nut job. So when people call you a nut job, you're in good company. He's a little off. Yeah. You're in good company. How did Paul maintain his joy? He ignored the criticism. Secondly, he endured conflict. You can never quit. It's always too soon to quit. You just don't quit. You don't let their opinion of you or the conflict they're causing. I'm reading more and more about the topic of wolves. They I keep seeing this. Wolves in the church. Wolves, wolves, wolves. You know? And Paul told the church of Ephesus, you know, there'd be those from without and those from within after his departing. I'm thinking, wolves? Alright. Get my big boy pants on. Make sure we're gonna deal with wolves. If wolves wanna come, shepherd's gotta be aware. So conflict. Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glorying of you. So Paul's boasting about them. These Corinthians, you ought to see them. They're so incredibly gifted. They know how to sing in tongues. They've got all the gifts down, man. They're really good. They just have a little trouble loving, and I'm trying to teach them and show them how to love. That's why I sandwich chapter 13 between twelve and fourteen in first Corinthians because they got the spirituals, the charismata down, but they didn't do it in love. I love that the Lord's teaching me how to love. Got a long way to go. But, man, before I knew Jesus, I didn't know what it was to love. I didn't know how to love. It was more lust. It was more selfishness, what I want. And when you see Jesus saying, husband, love your wife like Christ loved the church and gave himself for, I mean, that's a lifelong lesson, isn't it? Glorying of you, I'm filled with comfort. I'm exceedingly joyful. He's being criticized. There's conflict, but he's exceedingly joyful, rejoicing in our in our tribulations. He's saying there's no worries. It's all good. It's all good. I count it all joy when I fall into diverse temptations knowing this that the trying of your faith works patience, James says. Patience is endurance. You're growing. Count it all joy. The Lord loves you enough to want you to mature, wants you to grow, to grow in the grace and knowledge of him. But let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and tired, wanting nothing. So you get past the covetousness. You get past all of the selfishness of coming to Jesus as he was sold to you, your best life now, and your marriage would be great and all that stuff. Your kids will love you and all that. That's how Jesus is sold. He's the cure to all your problems. Well, why didn't that work for Paul? Why didn't that work even for Jesus himself? Didn't he have a lot of problems? Didn't he have a lot of people hating him, a lot of people after him, conspiring to kill him? How come that didn't all go away? He's doing what the father he says, I always do. That would pleases the father. He's not in disobedience. And we associate we think when things are bad, I must be outside of fellowship with God. I must have done something wrong. No. Maybe you did something right. Maybe you open your mouth about your love for Jesus and somebody got angry at you. Maybe they're jealous of you because you have this love for Jesus. You're provoking them to jealousy. God uses trials to mature us, to produce endurance, and we don't blame others for who we are. We look in the mirror. We take ownership. We take stock of who we are, and we say, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Lord Jesus, help me. I'm my greatest enemy. We agree with God, trusting that he will change us. God will change me. There's no reformation. There's no steps. There's nothing I can do to change me. I can will it. I can work real hard at it, but ultimately, only God can do that work within. As I yield to him, as I die to sell, what's the secret of joy? Jesus, others, and then you. J o y. Why? Like to put me first. You're not gonna have any joy. You put Jesus first, then you put others. You esteem others better than yourself, and you come last. And you're gonna have great joy in your heart. He says, verse five, for when we were coming to Macedonia, which is area of Philippi, our flesh had no rest. So Paul on the outside, there's there's no rest. He's he's he's he's agitated. Something's going on. But we were troubled on every side with outward fightings, with inward fears. Turmoil, tribulation, opposition. He's gonna be beaten and thrown into a Philippian jail. They're gonna riot about him. And Silas. And what's he gonna do? He's gonna sing, isn't he? He's gonna rejoice in the Lord at midnight. He's gonna bring the house down. The chains are gonna fall off of everybody. Philippian jailer's gonna take a knife, like, to kill himself, thinking all the prisoners that have left. Those prisoners haven't left. They're all there to see what happens next. They've never seen anything like this. They've heard people say they're Christians, but they've never seen it lived out like that. After a beating, you're gonna praise God? You're gonna say, naked came I into the world. Naked, I go. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Job. Really? Your God's that big? He's that great? Why aren't you shaking your fist at him? Why don't you curse God and die, Job's wife told him. We had no rest. We're troubled on every side. Without, we're fightings. Within, we're fears. So he's waiting for Titus. He's in Philippi waiting for Titus, waiting word from Titus. How's the church of Corinth doing? How are they doing? He said our flesh had no rest. He was helpless. Helpless and yet dependent upon God. They didn't have, pagers or phones or satellite technology to get word about how the church is doing. They had to wait for Titus to come back from there, and they're waiting. And they they don't know. Has has it gotten worse? Do they hate me even more? Is the church still there? Is it still going? How are the people doing? Dependence upon God. Matthew sixteen eighteen, Jesus said, upon this rock, upon himself, not upon Peter, not the Catholic church, not the pope, upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. It's very important to remind yourself that it's not your church. It's his church, and we fail. And it's amazing to me that he even wants to use human beings to be a part of the building of his church. Why not use angels? You got you got two thirds of them that didn't fall with Lucifer. They're much more capable. One angel killed a 185,000 of said Necarib's force. You know, just one. And he says to Peter, Peter, put away your sword. Don't you know that I could call down 12 legions of angels if I wanted to? You cut off Melchus' ear, now I gotta put it back on him. 6,000 angels if I want to. And they're just waiting for the command, aren't they? We're tired of this experiment too. There's no plan of redemption for the ones that fell with Lucifer, but these guys, they just keep blowing it and blowing it. Why would you do this? The angels love to look in on as we talk about Jesus. This is so mesmerizing to the angels to see God's plan of redemption, that God's only begotten son would take on the form of a man and not of an angel. And that he would suffer and that he'd be crucified by his very creation, the very ones he's wanting to save, rejected by the ones he loves. It's incongruous. It's where where's their reciprocal love? When are they gonna love him back? How are they gonna express that love? Well, if God gave me everything I ever wanted, everything I prayed for, how would he know I ever love him? But that's the gospel message that's preached today, that you can rub Jesus a certain way, and he's gonna give you everything you ever wanted. Well, what if he doesn't? What if he gives you what you don't want? Will you still love him? And the angels stand back and say, oh, look how these people love him. They're getting they're getting beaten. Look at these Christians in Syria. These terrorist groups of ISIS, these Islamic guys are smiling and and putting their foot on innocent people, unarmed innocent people, slicing their necks and killing. The whole world doesn't seem to care. Nobody seems to care. Jesus cares. He's got a crown of life awaiting them. Our flesh had no rest. We were troubled on every side, excruciating pressure. Can't pay the bills. Kids are sick. Lost my job. Excruciating pressure. Without were fighting's contention. The demons were coming from all over. In Daniel 10, an angel appeared to Daniel. Daniel's praying for twenty one days, and and Daniel, beloved, the very first moment you began to pray, you know, your prayers were head you know, moving up. We're hearing your prayers. Don't give up. But this angel says, the prince of Persia was resisting me. These principalities and powers, they're trying to thwart the work that you're doing for the Lord, your prayers, and you're feeling so rejected and dejected. Like, is it ever gonna bear fruit? Is it ever gonna glorify the Lord? And you and you and you get this feeling. Don't rely on those feelings, but get this feeling. Does is God even hearing these prayers? What's going on? And the angel appears, and, you know, Daniel, you're known in heaven. You're beloved. And I was fighting with the prince of Persia. There's a battle, a spiritual battle going on, and you're part of that battle. You're using, you know, the the the prayer weapon you have, your intercessory prayer weapon. And then Michael, archangel, he came to help me to thump out this prince of Persia dude. You have no idea what kind of principalities and powers are coming against you here in Bremerton in Kitsap County. They might be coming all the way from Persia to battle you. Remember, the devil's not omnipresent. We say, oh, the devil was against me. The devil the the devil can only be in one place at one time. And I'm sure he's I'm sure he's got bigger, better Christians than us to be fighting hand to hand with. You know? We get the we definitely get some definitely get some demons. There's definitely demon action. Contention, the demons. But greater is he that's in us than he that's in the world. Since God's for us, who can be against us? So don't fixate on the on who the enemy is. We focus on Jesus, and we keep Jesus between us and the enemy, and he fights for us. He says, within were fears. This is one of the hardest ones. We imagine things. We imagine so many things that aren't true. I imagine things that you're thinking, the things you're saying about me. I imagine things like you missed church for a couple weeks, and I imagine like, oh, they left the church. Just two weeks you're gone. You you had the flu. I didn't know. Oh, they're gone. They're off. Did that come from the Lord? No. Where'd that come from? Some demon lying to me and me believing a lie. Saturdays are my worst days, filled with fear, just imagining all sorts of scenarios. Oh, they oh, what happened? Did they leave the church? Fear that the church would fall apart, doubting himself, I'll do better. I'll do better. I'll study more. I'll pray more. I'll do more voices, lies, imaginations. Who is sufficient for these things? Paul said. He asked that question. Who is sufficient for these things? This is a tough job being a Christian. I can't do it without the Lord. Our sufficiency is of Christ. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Casting down imaginations in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Every thought. Every thought that comes in, you gotta bring it to the obedience of Christ. Lord, this is the thought I have. I'm bringing this to you. Lord, if there's any truth in this thought, any whatever, Lord, I just and then you begin to pray for people. You pray for the church. You lifted up the Lord. So you've taken that care, that burden comes upon you. It's a burden you're not meant to carry, comes in through the ear gates somewhere in that brain there. And this fear, these thoughts, imaginations, you're imagining things, and then you tell your wife, your wife tells you, hey, we gotta walk by faith. Remember that one? We gotta walk by faith. So casting down those imagined don't let them exalt themselves. Throw it away, casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you. Cast those cares from him. Jesus said, come on to me all you that are labor and are heavy laden. Don't carry that burden. You're not meant to carry that burden. You're not meant to carry and build his church and hold it together. You do what he's called you to do. Be faithful as best you can as a Christian father, husband, family member, person in the community. And only Jesus is gonna be able to defeat these globalists. You know? Don't try to defeat the globalists on Facebook. You know? It's it's only Jesus can be able to do that. So rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. So you come back to the simplicity of your walking relationship with the Lord, and you just say to the Lord, you know what? I thank you, Lord. I thank you that somebody showed up today and that we get to worship you. We get to study your word together and love on one another and pray for one another. And and then I get I get reports every now and then of how you guys interact during the week and how we as a church interact, and it just so blesses me to see people praying for one another, ministering to one another. And yesterday, I was driving the car with Kathy and and got a phone call, she went into Sprouts. And I was in the car, and and a guy that I've never met, I've never met him in person, but he follows us online. And he watches the bible studies last few years, and he thinks I'm a star. And he began to just just boast and boast and boast about how great I am and all that, just amazing. And it was on a Saturday, a Saturday when I'm usually really down, and he's and I'm I'm saying to Kathy, was saying, you know, anyway, won't tell you what we go through, our mental gymnastics of, do you ever think the church is gonna grow? And, you know, we have those questions. And is it gonna grow? And and then I got friends like Debbie over there that reminds me, grows, but I have the gift of making them all leave, you know. And and, you know, she reminded me of that. It's true. It's true. I agree. You guys all try to bring them in, and I get rid of them. But but anyway, he he reminded me that the church extends beyond these these walls, and there's people that are listening and enjoying the word of God being taught. And I kept saying, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. But, it's so funny. You know how the Lord got him? I was teaching one day, and he was listening online or watched the video, whatever. At a certain point in the sermon, I said, and you try to sell tell yourself it's just an herb. It's just an herb. Well, he's been a pot smoker since 1968 and a Christian. And that phrase, and you try to tell yourself it's just an herb, convicted him, and he's never smoked pot again. And his walk with the Lord is is flourishing. Now why wouldn't it flourish before that? Not because there weren't bible study teachers, but because that's an impediment. You don't grow when you're practicing sin like that. Doesn't matter how many bible studies you listen to or what church you go to, you're practicing these hidden sins, these these things going on. It impedes your progress. But when you repent, when you come to church and allow the Christians borrow soap, if we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And in Mark four, that light, God shone light on his heart, and that light that shone revealed the darkness of his heart, the sin of his heart. And he didn't forget what manner of person he was. He knew he was convicted. And when you repent of that, the Lord gives you more light. But if you don't repent, you don't get more revelation of who God is or understanding of his word. You just go in circles chasing your tail, telling everybody you're a Christian. You know, I have the Christian reefer. You know, I got the Christian one, man. You know? And do you think you gain credibility with people? You know? You hey, I go to the church that has the reefer. You know? We got the bong, and I mean, we got the gummies and whatever. It's just ridiculous. Christianity is so simple. It's just so simple. So how did Paul maintain his joy? He ignored criticism. He endured conflict. Thirdly, he enjoyed communion. Verse six. Nevertheless, God that comforts those that are cast down, comforts us by the coming of Titus. So Titus came. Titus had word. Titus had word. Hey. The church at Corinth doesn't hate you, Paul. They love you, man. Pastor appreciation month, pastor Rick and Kathy. Here's some flowers for you. Here's a gift. Here's a card. Just every week you guys showing up encourages me. And so Paul, he can imagine all those things. It's over oh, without our fears and, you know, just anxiety and all that turmoil. And a lot of it real from the outside. The devil wanting to cast him down, to defeat him, get him to quit, to leave the ministry, Quit serving the Lord. I remember when Jeremiah was doing good for the Lord, telling the truth, doing his job, and they didn't like what they were hearing, so they put him in a dungeon. And a dungeon in those days, there was a hole in the ground with rats and mud, mire, mire. And he's, like, so angry at God. He said, I'm never gonna open my mouth in your name again. He tried that when the Lord first called him. I'm just a kid. Call somebody else. Moses says, I got a speech impediment. Get somebody else. Gideon said, I'm the least in my father's house, and his his house is the least in the whole the whole region. We're nobodies. Get somebody else. And God told Jeremiah, you are gonna say what I put in your heart, put in you. Jeremiah's heart burned within him. He could not refrain. The love of Christ constrained Paul. The love of Christ. He he was always wanting to repay Jesus. Not a works relationship, but out of appreciation, out of worship. He wanted to ascribe wor worship to Jesus by serving him. He he just couldn't fathom that Jesus would love him this way being the chief of the sinners, a blasphemer, former blasphemer and all. So his whole ministry was a ministry of worship. It's the love of the love of Christ like Joseph. How could I do this great evil, you know, against God? David again David said against thee and thee only have I sinned. And so it looks so insurmountable, but looks like there's just no way things are gonna turn around and be good But God. It looks impossible. The Egyptian army has trapped us, but God can part the Red Sea. Are you looking for God to part the Red Sea in your life? Has he backed you into a corner? The doctors say there's no hope, there's no way out? America, you're done? You're over? Your kingdoms have been weighed in the balance and found wanting? Belteshazzar? Gonna be divided to the Medes and the Persians, you're done. The shelf life's over. What are you gonna hope in? Who are you gonna look to? And then the Lord parts the Red Sea. The Egyptians, the whole army, what's left of them? They drowned in the Red Sea. We're past the age of child, Baron. Can't get pregnant, Sarah. Gonna have to start taking better vitamins. Gonna have to get that carnivore, those carnivore ones, you know? The animal organs. We're gonna eat animal organs. You're gonna get higher test well, the testosterone wasn't a problem with Abraham, but Sarah's womb was was shut. She's 89 years old, and he's 99, and the angel's telling him, you're gonna have a kid next year. And there's laughter. And why did Sarah laugh? I didn't laugh. Yes. You did. But God fills the tent with Isaac laughter. Jerusalem's in ruins, but God, a sword and a trowel, the joy of the Lord, Nehemiah and his little group of people go back to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. Seems insurmountable, seems impossible to rebuild Jerusalem, but God. And then there's a commentary, and in fifty and two days, the walls of the city were rebuilt, and the enemies of the Lord knew that this work was wrought of God. It was a God thing, but God. Only God. Tobiah and Sam Ballot. All those guys that are laughing and mocking and trying every strategy they could were not ignorant of the enemy's devices. His strategies. He's strategizing against you. He's strategizing against this church. He's prowling. He's wanting to take us down, take you down. And if he can't take us down, he wants to take someone in our family down to break our hearts, to lose our will, to lose our drive, to get us to quit. But God, a sword and a trowel, a sword in one hand, a trowel in the other, and the joy of the Lord is our strength. Job loses everything. It's all gone, including his health. But God, though he slay me, yet will I trust in God. Devil's not gonna get me. Devil's boasting that you take away this, and he'll curse you to your face. You take away his health, and a lot of you are going through this. Your health, it's it's very, very difficult, far more difficult than anything I wanna face. But you still worship the Lord. You still love Jesus. You love him more. You're drawing ever closer to him. You're getting ready. You're saying, Lord, like my dad. I'm ready to go, Rick. I'm ready to go. There's no food, but God is the breath of life. I'm lost. I don't know what to do at this age. I don't know the direction of my life, but God. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me. By this time, Lord, he stinketh. You know who I'm talking about. Lazarus. But God. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though you're dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this? Yeah. We believe. Factor God into the equation. It looks insurmountable. It looks impossible. How are we ever gonna overcome this? Factor God in. But God. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, Romans five verse seven. Yet per adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. But God commendeth or demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God comforts those who are cast down. In Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, David, a shepherd, said, why art thou cast down, oh my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Paul said, we were cast down, but then Titus came. The Lord comforts those that are cast down. And he knew at that moment, I really needed to see Titus. I really needed that phone call yesterday. I really needed that time away with my family, with my wife. I I really, really needed that. You have no idea. The letters that you send people that you love, the calls that you make, the emails, the messages, the time that you spend. You you have no idea the turmoil, the struggle, the things they've kept quiet about that are private, but just you reaching out to them as a breath of fresh air, a comfort. They can go another day. They're encouraged. The Lord's never left them. The Lord's never forsaken them. The enemy was lying to them. It was all lies. It was all lies. Why why did you give in to the lies? Why did you allow those in your head? Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? And David, a shepherd, casts sheeps, a helpless sheep, a sheep laying on its back. Those spindly little legs and that big pregnant belly, they can't, like a turtle, get back up. And they start bleeding, and all the other sheep are gone, and they're left alone. The devil loves to isolate you. The devil loves to go about like a roaring lion, like a wolf on the fringe, ready to attack. And unbeknownst to you, the shepherd's there. The good shepherd, the chief shepherd, the great shepherd of our of our soul. The wolf sees him. The wolf can't get near to that cast down sheep. That shepherd leaves a ninety and nine and comes after you, And you're bleeding out. You're helpless. Why art thou cast down on my soul the three parts of your being? Your soul, your physical, and the spiritual. You're talking to yourself. Why are you mentally so depressed and discouraged? Why have you lost hope spiritually? Hope is a confident expectation. You don't have a confident expectation. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. You've been praying. You've been hoping. You've been doing this for years and nothing changing. You're at your wits end out of the book of Job. Your wits end. You have no wits about you anymore. You can't figure it out. And the comforters that are coming are miserable comforters. And Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, doesn't he? The comforter. And the Holy Spirit begins to put a song within your heart. The Holy Spirit gives you perspective. You lost perspective. You overemphasized the lies of the wicked one. Why art thou cast down all my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. Get your eyes off of yourself. Get your eyes back onto the Lord. Hope in him. His promises are all yay and amen. It's not your mom's fault. It's not your dad's fault. Not society's fault. It's sin, general sin, the fall of man. We live in a fallen, wretched, miserable world. Last night, we were with the kids, the grandkids, and one of them did something to Isaiah. And I said to Isaiah, hey, Isaiah. Life's not fair. And he looked at me so funny because with kids, everything's gotta be fair and just. Hey. Get over it. Life's not fair. And then he saw me smiling. You know? It's not fair. Life's not fair. Lot of injustice happens to you and continues to happen to you. God's not there like, oh, well, I better give him this because, you know, he earned this. Well, what about Job? God was just bragging on Job. A man perfect and upright in all of his ways, a man that feared God and has skewed evil. Well, so where's the cause and effect in that? How did Job deserve that kind of treatment? He's a good guy. Why do so many good people suffer? Why do so many bad people get away with it? In Psalm 73, the psalmist was was tripped up by that. Why is it the wicked are prospering? And then he came to the point where he says, I was almost undone until I went into the sanctuary of the Lord. Until you came to church and began to refocus and regain perspective, you were almost tripped up. You almost missed it until you focused upon the cross, you focused upon Jesus, you focused on his soon return and his love for you. Hope thou in God. You begin to hope in him once again, And he gives you a measure of faith to move forward. He says, but God, I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. So rejoice always. Verse seven. And not by his coming only, but by the consolation where with he was comforted in you. I heard that you guys treated him really well, and that blesses me. You guys are learning to love. You're growing up. You're you're learning to reject the false prophets. You're learning to reject their accusations and criticism and come back to the very root of your faith in Jesus, which is love. And you're loving upon Titus, and he's letting me know what a consolation that was. When he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning You guys were thinking about me. You guys were mourning about me. Your fervent mind toward me. What's up with Paul? Why is that why is he so messed up? Because he's like you and I. Some of it's true. Some of it may not be true. But in Paul's mind, it was all true. It was real. God's changed these people's hearts so that I rejoice the more. I'm rejoicing the more. You guys are growing. You're getting it. You're gonna be okay. Rejoice always. Paul was elated. Titus brought good news. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes peace, that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigns. God is on the throne. He's in control. Doesn't matter what any of these globalists who's ever trying to steal your job, take your house, take your pension, whatever. In Revelation seventeen seventeen, God's put it in their hearts to do these things to set the stage for Jesus to return and to overcome him. He wins. Paul enjoyed sweet communion, sweet fellowship with Titus as they discussed the miraculous work of God in the hearts of the Corinthians. No longer rejected, loved. Jesus intercedes for us. He prayed in John 17 for us that we'd be one with him even as he and the father are one. Jesus said, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. Jesus knows as you share the word, others are gonna believe, and he's already praying for them that they'll be one even as he and the father are one, that there'd be communion. The oneness of fellowship, not division, not because of the criticism and the contention, the divided church, a house divided against itself can't stand. And the glory which thou gave me, I've given them that they may be one even as we are one. So sweet communion. One in him. No schism, no division, no rejection, but joy. And Zephaniah describes the Lord Jesus as you, his bride, as Israel, the wife of Jehovah, at the marriage supper of the lamb, when we're all there, when we're all assembled. It says, the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Can you picture that? Can you picture in in Luke chapter 12, Jesus taking his outer garment and bringing it up to his sash and sashing it like he did with the disciples in John 13 where he knelt down and washed their feet? Can you see him taking that outer garment up? And and then it says, he and he served you. As you're seated, he's gonna serve you there at the marriage supper of the lamb. And then he's gonna sing to you. You know they sang a hymn as they were partaking of communion? It says they sang a hymn in Matthew's gospel. And here he's dancing, he's singing, he's dancing over you. Rejoicing over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. What's that gonna sound like? Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, with prayer and thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Do you believe on his name? It all comes down to receiving or rejecting Jesus Christ. God gives you the power of choice. That's the only way love is meaningful. You gotta choose. He doesn't force, doesn't manipulate, doesn't guilt you. He loves you, and he gives you the power of choice of whether you will love reciprocally. If you will reciprocate his love, he initiates and then he looks for a response. What will your response be? Will you love him? That's all God asked. That's why he made you. He wants you to love him. You can't give him any gift or anything that really compares in any way, shape, or form than your love. Everything's an expression of your love. Do you love him? Let's pray. Father, we come before you now, Lord, and we ask that you bless as we partake a communion together that we'd experience that koinonia, the fellowship, the joy, the blessing of being Christians. Lord, as we shave off all the complications, all the all the additions that people bring to Christianity and to church, and just set them all aside and come to the simplicity that's ours in Christ Jesus. That Lord, we wanna love you. We wanna express our love toward you this morning. We wanna adore you now. We desire intimacy with you, Lord. We desire to partake of the bread of the cup and meditate upon the cross of Calvary. Your body being broken, your blood being shed, the promise of your soon return, Lord, as we're looking up knowing our redemption draws nigh. Lord, we yearn for you. We're looking. We're yearning. We're pining away. We're on our tiptoes, Lord, knowing the hour in which we're living. Lord, we don't wanna be those that are surprised. We don't wanna be lukewarm. We don't wanna leave our first love. Lord, we wanna be fervent in spirit. We wanna love you with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, all of our strength. Lord, bless now. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, Lord. Our greatest need is of you, Lord. We need you. Fill us overflowing today. And while your heads are bowed, as you're praying, if there's anybody here this morning and you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ and you want to know Jesus, the Holy Spirit's touching your heart, the Holy Spirit's pointing to the cross that Jesus died for your sins. That he condemned his own son, that he poured out his wrath upon his own son, so that you could receive salvation as a gift. And that gift to you is available by grace through faith. He's given you even a measure of faith to respond. And as you respond in faith, to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. Do you believe this morning? Do you believe in him? Are you trusting in him completely as payment for your sins? Are you trusting in him as your salvation, that he's your savior? Just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. As you pray, receiving Christ into your heart and life. Nicodemus, you must be born again. That's what it means to be born again. Your body and soul and your spirit when you invite Christ, when you receive Christ in your heart and life. Anyone here this morning, just lift your hand and we wanna pray with you. Anybody listening on Facebook or social media, you too can pray this prayer. Let us know if you respond. We get so blessed when we hear that that somebody's responding to the word of God. So, father, thank you once again. So blessed now as we pass out the bread and the cup. And, Lord, we just pray that you evermore you fill us to overflowing with your love. In Jesus' name, amen.
About This Podcast
Calvary Chapel Bremerton - Sunday Service
Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
