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Philippians 1:7,11 -Fruits Of Righteousness- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-07-19
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Philippians one seven through 11, would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together. Even as it is meet, for me to think this of you all because I have you in my in my heart in as much as both in my bonds in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace. For God is is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. In this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere without offense till the day of Christ. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Father, thank you so much, Lord, that, Lord, as we're nothing, you took took us from the dust of the ground and you breathed, into Adam, Lord, and and we, Lord, human beings, Lord, we're made a little lower than the angels, but Lord, sent your son as the babe of Bethlehem, as the God man, the son of man. He identified with us in our human frailty, but Lord, he being fully God and fully man, he's being the last Adam, lived a perfect life, and went to the cross to die for us. And Lord showed us that way of victory by relying upon him and that newness of life being transformed the image of your son. And Lord, we pray day by day that you continue to transform and change us, that we become more and more like you, Lord. That we grow and Lord, that we grow in love, that the love would be the moniker, love would be the characteristic, the greatest characteristic of who we are because God is love. And so help us, Fill us to overflow with your Holy Spirit. May our lives bear much fruit for your kingdom and glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Paul's just described the secret of joy as confidence in Jesus in verse seven and eight. Paul described his affection for the Philippian saints. Notice verse seven, even as it is meet for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace. So the church of Philippi has a special place in Paul's heart, because of his partnership with them, in the gospel. They were partakers of his grace, sinners saved by grace, and of God, by God's grace. So verse eight, for God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. This word bowels, King James old word of Jesus Christ speaks of the tender mercies of Jesus Christ. The idea is that my belly aches. I got a belly ache. My my belly hurts with how much it hurts with how much I love you and, someone that you you ache inside for them. You see them suffering, you see them going through tremendous trials, and, you don't just blow it off. It means nothing, but it actually hurts. There's a pain in your stomach. It makes you sick in some ways. Your stomach aches for them. So the affection of Jesus, he looked upon the multitudes with compassion because they were as sheep having no shepherd, and they were just merchandised of the religious leaders and all, and and it just broke his heart. When he looked at the city of Jerusalem, knowing that in seventy AD that Titus would surround it and 2,000,000 Jews would be, you know, destroyed, the city destroyed, the temple destroyed and all, it ached his heart. It broke his heart. He wept over the city, and he just yearned for the people to, you know, respond to respond that they might spiritually have eternal life and all. And it it God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God's heart breaks. When Adam sinned, when he partook of the tree of knowledge and good and evil, God, you know, Adam, where are you? It wasn't the voice of an arresting officer. It was the voice of a heartbroken father. It broke his heart. It breaks God's heart when we, when we sin, when we choose to go in a in the wrong direction, in the wrong way. And so the idea is is, you know, you love them so much and you hate to see them suffer. You hate to see them go through things. And and so the multitudes with compassion that Jesus looked upon them as a sheep with no shepherd. He looked upon the sick and needing to be healed, the hungry in need of food, the lepers in need of cleansing, it broke his heart. He could feel the pain, his bowels ached for them, and so that empathy, his his he wasn't just indifferent or calloused, His heart was soft. And then in verse nine through 11, Paul's affection leads him to pray for the Philippian church. His prayer is that their lives would be to the glory and the praise of God. His petition is threefold. Three areas of petition. If our life is to be to the glory and the praise of God, we must be number one, abounding in love. Secondly, there must be authenticity. We can't be hypocrites. We can't be phonies or posers. And thirdly, there needs to be an abundance of goodness. Notice first of all, the abounding in love. Verse nine. In this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. So abounding in knowledge speaks of advanced spiritual knowledge. We have to be careful there because a whole lot of people that, seem to want to, act like they're present day prophets, and I do believe in prophecy, and I believe in word of knowledge. I believe the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, and I do like Pentecostal gifts. I like all the gifts of first Corinthians 12 and the exercise thereof in chapter 13 with love, and description of 14, everything to be done decently in order, but we have a whole lot of hyper people that are wanting to impose upon others, hey, the Lord gave me a word about you. The Lord told me something about you. Have any of your ever heard me say that about you? Do I try to direct you or gain a following by saying, hey, God gave me a word about you. But it's happening so prevalent out there. Everybody's got a word. These these spiritual leaders on YouTube, they've all got a word for everybody. And and my word is, let's see. Let's see it. Show me, you know. If I see it operative in your life, you know, then maybe I'll maybe I'll listen. And so be very careful of that. There's also at this time, there was what was called the gnostics. The gnostics would have a secret knowledge, a knowledge that nobody else have, and we have present day, you know, people that are are, you know, acting like gnostics. Now, we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We do have, a great line of communication with God directly, and we do have the holy spirit live and dwell within us. And God, I do I do believe wants you and I to have a, you know, a spiritual knowledge insights into his word, and then the times in which we're living. Incredible ignorance in the times in which we're living in the churches today because men and women aren't men and women of the word. And they're imposing upon, the pastors. They're rejecting sound doctrine. They're rejecting the word of God, and they're looking for teachers that will tell them with their itchy ears what they wanna hear. And then the pastors give in to that knowing that's the secret of success, the numbers to build the numbers up, but the people wind up being and the churches wind up being maybe really large looking, but they're half an inch with depth. The people don't have the depth of God's word, and if you don't have the depth of God's word, how can you hear from the Lord and know the direction to go? You're easily deceived by the wicked one. Now the Peter Thiel's and Alex Karp's and Elon Musk and the globalist, the technocrats, they're looking for secret knowledge too, just as Adolf Hitler did. They're looking into the occult. They're wanting demons and through witchcraft and various ways that they try to open up portals and all to gain a secret knowledge, to gain gain a maybe an economic or a new type of technology that they can use economically to gain greater and greater power, over people. And so the and and and looking for secret knowledge in regard to maybe living longer. They postulate that they're gonna live forever, that they're never gonna die, and they're trusting in their secret knowledge. They're trusting in their in their technology and such, and yet the Lord says, no. There's gonna be a cut off at a 120. So very few people in our generation make it past a 120. And, and yet, these guys postulate that they'll never, die again. But again, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It speaks of advanced spiritual knowledge, abounding in knowledge. So does the knowledge that comes to a believer by the holy spirit through the study of God's word. And so you can mine God's word and glean nuggets. You can glean insights into the word of God that exposes the world when the world's trying to lie to you and you're not sucked in, you're not seduced. You see through it because God has given you, discernment and, he's given you advanced spiritual knowledge. So loving what God loves and hating what God hates, it's not a wishy washy undefined, you know, sentimental love, a sappy, you know, sappy kind of a sentimentality. It is the love of Christ, a love governed by biblical principles, love on the highest plane. In Jude chapter four or Jude verse four, it talks about the false prophets taking the grace of God. You hear the grace of God. And the grace of God is a grace card that I pull out. And when I pull that grace card out, it means that nobody can judge my actions or what I'm doing. It's all about grace. And so the false prophets in Jude verse four, the brother of our Lord, he said these false prophets turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. So they're using grace as a license to sin, lasciviousness being sexually immoral. And and then if you judge that, if you challenge that action, then you're told you're unloving. You're unloving, pastor. Wear your mask because you're unloving. Wear your mask. If you love your neighbor, wear your mask. If you love your neighbors, stay six feet away. If you love your neighbor, don't say anything about anything about sin. You know? Don't talk about hell or even being sinners because that's that makes us uncomfortable and we wanna hear good things, smooth things, doctrines of demons and such. And we want the sermons to be therapeutic and make us feel good and all. And and so we need love, but we also need truth. We need God's word to lead and guide us. So love on the highest plane according to biblical principles. And so God loves mankind, but he hates sin. Why does he hate sin? Because sin destroys a marriage. Sin destroys your life. You you and I, if we habitually continue in sin, there's gonna be consequences. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. God gives us space for repentance. And with that space for repentance, he's he's saying, hey, Rick, wake up. Wake up. Don't continue in this way because remember David, remember Abraham, remember those who went before you even though I loved him so much, and even though Abraham's my friend and David a mannered with my own heart, as they persist in their lying, as they persist in their covering of their sin, there were consequences that came there as a result. So, you know, keep a short account. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin, to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. And so, we we heed to, we adhere to, and we're gonna look at this, not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. So we're we're recognizing if any man be overtaken in a fault, you are spiritual. Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, lest you also be tempted. So we recognize the the importance of confrontation, the importance of correction, but also the right spirit. The the goal is restoration that we all get back on the on the same track. And so in the time and age in which we live, perversion, we need to know, we need to remind one another even though we may be arrested for making our opinion known and it isn't our opinion, it's what the word of God says. Perversion is not love. Adultery and fornication, homosexuality is not love. Being tolerant of sin is not loving the person. And more importantly, it's not loving God. So we love God first and foremost. We adhere to his honor to to hold to to what he he describes love as. Calling abortion a woman's choice or a man's choice is not love. Living together and having children outside of marriage is not love. It doesn't constitute love. Love is God's idea. Love is God's word. Love is God's characteristic. God is love. And again, the devil wants to confuse things. Love is a commitment to God and to others in accordance with God's word. God alone defines love. As we said, God is love. He demonstrated his love by sending his only begotten son to the cross to save men from their sins. So Jesus willingly laid down his life to prove his love, to prove the love that he has for humanity. He said destroy this temple in three days, I'll raise it up. And he prayed, father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me but nevertheless not as I will, but thy will be done. And so he there is no other way. And so for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame and is seated down at the right hand of the father. The joy of saving you and I, the blessing of saving you and I, and holding on to us for all eternity is the motivation. The motivation is love. God's totally complete. God's totally content. He needs nothing. He didn't need you and I, but he wanted you and I. And he wanted you and I to know him, and he wanted you and I to be able to enjoy him for all eternity. That's his intention. That's the reason. And so the angels that fell, one third that fell with Lucifer, there's no plan of redemption. There's no means of coming back into that place of favor, God's grace upon them. They're gone. The other two thirds, they continue to walk in obedience under the Lord and in holiness, but you and I weren't made as angels. We're made a little lower than the angels, and Jesus didn't come back as an angel. No angel Moroni or whatever. He came back as the son of man. And and so he made a way back that that humanity could experience God's love for all eternity. And Ephesians two talks about the kindness in the ages to come. His love and his kindness in the ages to come, we ain't seen nothing yet. He's gonna continue to pour out and and show us the things that he's intended for us. He makes the earth, he makes the universe, everything in six days. Think of what he's been working on since since the cross. You know? What where what's he getting ready? Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare, he's preparing. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am, there you may be also. Paul was caught up to the third heaven. He said it was it was there weren't words adequate to describe what's coming. And no so no matter what we experience, no matter what heartache or pain that you and I go through, it pales in comparison, to what awaits us, to to the the the splendor of heaven, the glory and the blessing of what God has. Paul said this light affliction, it's but for a moment. It's working a far more an eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal, and and so there's there's no comparison. We may suffer to a great degree, but the splendor of heaven's gonna cause the pain like a woman having a baby, gonna cause the pain to go, the joy of being birthed into that new kingdom, into that new glorious heavenly body that the Lord's preparing for you and I. And and so we we know it's motivated by love because the devil's gonna try and convince you the circumstances that you face are indicative of a mean, hateful God that doesn't love you. And so God's gonna come back and remind you of the cross. You don't have much to go on concerning heaven yet. You don't have there isn't a whole lot of info, but you cannot negate. You cannot look past the cross. The cross for God so loved in the past tense, you and I, that he gave his only begotten son. And so God demonstrated his love by giving his son. And and so tolerance of evil is not love. Love seeks to rescue the sinner from eternal damnation by telling them the truth. The psalmist in Psalm one nineteen says, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. In second Corinthians three six, the letter kills but the spirit gives life. Now you remember in John eight, an illustration of the letter kills, the spirit gives life. Jesus was at the Mount Of Olives and he walked over to the temple and he went into the temple to teach the people. And the Pharisees, the religious leaders, the hypocrites brought in a woman caught in the very act of adultery. Imagine that. Didn't bring the man, but brought the woman. And says, the law says, Moses says, according to the letter of the law, she should be stoned. And so they're tempting Jesus, testing him to see what he's gonna do. And so Jesus, kneels down and he begins to write on the dust of the ground, and who knows what he was writing with the finger of God that wrote the 10 commandments, that wrote the law. The finger of God on the wall in Daniel five, many many tekel eupharsen, and the kingdom's taken from you have been waiting the balance and found wanting. And so the Medes and the Persians are gonna take over Belteshazzar, you know, as in a moment. And the finger of God, you've been waiting the balance and found wanting, guilty. And and so the finger of God writing on the ground, and then Jesus looks up and he says, he that without sin cast the first stone. And then he continues to write. And we don't know what he was writing, but their conscience was violated from the eldest to the youngest. They walked out of there. And then he looks at the woman, he says, where are thine accusers? Now, Revelation twelve ten, the devil's the accuser of the brethren. The devil uses truth. He uses the letter of the law to condemn you and I. But you and I, because of God's grace, we're in Romans eight verse one. There's now therefore no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. When we're convicted of sin, the holy spirit reminds us and shows us the cross that Jesus died for us there. And and we confess, we agree with the holy spirit, and then the account's solved. It's all washed away. We're washed afresh. The blood of Jesus Christ God's son continually cleanses a man of all sin. Fellowship is restored. But in this case with the woman, where are thine accuser? She says, nowhere, Lord. And Jesus says, neither neither do I condemn thee. He's not gonna use the letter of the law. The spirit of the law is go and sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you. If you continue in a lifestyle, a pattern of adultery, woman, you're gonna spend all eternity in hell. But if you recognize God's mercy, God's grace, his love upon you in sending his son to the cross of Calvary to die for you, repent of your sins. Turn from your sins right now. Turn from your sins. Discontinue. Don't don't live that way. That's the spirit of the law. The law is to stop every mouth. The law is to take every proud person and make them humble. The law the intention is is your only way out would be cry out to Jesus, God be merciful to me a sinner. As the publican smote his breast and wouldn't even so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven. So Jesus loved her with knowledge and discernment. That word discernment means to test, to determine if it is counterfeit. Love with insight. We see another instance in John chapter four when Jesus is going to Jacob's well to the area of Samaria, and he's in a city called Sychar, and he goes to Jacob's well there, and he's gonna get some water, and a woman came there, and she was drawing water, and he says, can I please have a drink? And she says, I'm a Samaritan. You're a Jew. Jews and Samaritans have no dealings with each other. You know? The Samaritans were half breeds. The Assyrians would intermarry with the Israelites, and the offspring were Samaritans. And so the Jews hated the Samaritans. Samaritans hated the Jews. And so here we are at Jacob's Well, and Jesus said, if you knew who it was that was asking you, you know, for a drink, you'd ask him for a drink. And, I've got living water where you'll never thirst again. So Jesus is sizing this woman up. Jesus using discernment. Jesus definitely can see within her heart. He knows the whole story about who she is and everything. And Jesus is trying to draw that faith out of her. He's trying to bring her to the place where that that yearning, that emptiness inside of her would be satisfied in a relationship with God. And she says, sir, you got nothing to draw with, you know. And and so he said, well, got water you could drink, you know, never thirst again. It's living water and all. And and then Jesus told her, go get your husband. And she says, I don't have a husband. And he says, you've told me the truth. You've had five husbands. And the one you're living with now is not your husband, you know. This you said truly. And so the woman, she was so impacted by what Jesus is saying, she goes back into the city and she says, come see a man, that told me all things ever I did, you know. Come see this guy that told me everything, you know, that ever I did, that he's got living water. And and you and you watch the way that Jesus would draw this faith out of the Cyrenesian woman, you know, that, you know, yeah, sir, but even the children get the get the crumbs that fall from the table, Lord. And and Jesus, great is your faith, woman, you know. And it was so cool to watch him use that knowledge and that discernment and that means of drawing the person the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, but also able to discern and to watch and have knowledge of the wicked, you know, in Matthew 23 of the wicked pharisees and the sadducees, where where he could show them that they were white walls sepulchres, but full of dead men's bones and all. Where he'd throw the tables over in the temple and rebuke them. My father's house is a house of prayer but you made a den of thieves. And he's straight straight at them, but they couldn't get away with any lies, any falsehood. Everything was naked and open for the eyes with whom we have to do. And so, if our life is to be to the glory and the praise of God, we must be number one abounding in love. We need to love like Jesus loved. Sinners loved to hang out with him. He loved on sinners. And the ones that had a hard time with him were the ones that were self righteous, the pharisaical types. And and we need to love on sinners. We need to recognize and remember that all of us are sinners. God may call us saints, but it's only because of the blood of Jesus that you and I are saints and the work of his holy spirit. So number one, abounding in love. Secondly, there must be authenticity. We don't wanna be posers. We don't want to be hypocrites, which is an actor. We don't wanna be phony Christians. Now a good gauge of that is is a lot of times might be our kids. We might have a public persona, way we act, but behind the scenes, maybe our spouse and our children, you know, see a different side of us and all. And that can be very convicting because your little children can point out things that are wrong, And they might call you on a foul word you might say, or something you're doing, they call you out on it. I I was angry at God one time and and hadn't gone to church in a couple weeks, take my family to church in a couple weeks. And Jessica was the one that called me out. She said, daddy, are we going to church? Are we gonna go to church? And I just got so convicted, just so convicted because I knew it was because I was angry at God, and and I told myself, alright, I'm not gonna ruin their lives, you know. And you can't fight against God. I mean, it's just you don't go very long. I went two weeks and alright, that's enough. But some people, they'll go generations. They'll go decades fighting with God. And if you have children that are prodigals and they're they're resisting God, they're resisting the Holy Spirit, it just breaks your heart. It just breaks your heart to watch them persist in their rebellion against God. Loved ones that just just will not surrender, you know, unto Jesus. So authenticity, verse 10. And and again, if you're not living it, your your kids are gonna call you out. The ones that are rebellious against God, they're really gonna look for fault. They're really gonna look for things that you do. And probably the best thing is to to say you're sorry, and that you're right, I am a sinner, and but I'm asking the Lord to transform and change me. And you're right, I failed you in so many ways, and I wish I could have been a better father, better husband, you know, to your mom, and and God's working on me. You know, he's he's continually working on me, and I'm yielding to the Holy Spirit, I'm asking God to change me from the inside. And that's all you can do. You can't sit there and and pontificate and tell them how great you are because the truth is, we're failures. We're all failures. And when they get married and they have kids, they're gonna find out what failures they are. They're gonna find out their kids do the same thing to them that they're trying to put on us, you know. And it's so strange watching them too. It's really strange. It hurts. It hurts to watch. It hurts to watch the kids get older and begin to challenge mom and dad. And Kathy and I will be like, yep. I remember when my kids did that to me. And so the word approve, sincere without offense till the day of Christ. The word approve speaks of testing of metals. With the abounding of your love and knowledge and discernment, you'll be able to test your actions and even your motives. And so with careful examination of God's word, we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in expressing God's love. When the testing is complete, we will determine that which is excellent. That word excellent means that which is vital in pursuit of excellence, the highest good. And so you and I don't want to be lukewarm. We don't want to be mediocre. We want our love to be fervent. Our love to for Jesus to to just be with all we got. You know, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And when I when I look at Bruce, I talked I prayed for him this morning, but when I see him getting out in the car out there, and I understand that he he got a virus, and in that virus, the COVID and all, that it ultimately led to him losing his leg. And he's got a and I showed Isaiah and Keith. I said, hey, come out here and carry some things. Look at this. This a man with one leg. And he lifted up and showed he's got just one leg there. And he's I say, he's he plays the piano. And you know, when he plays the piano, he plays the piano with his whole heart. The guy's a zealot. He's a zealot in regard to worshiping Jesus. And that's how all of us should be serving the Lord regardless of what ailment, regardless of what attack the enemy might, you know, bring toward us. It's such a good example of somebody that's not having a pity party that says, Lord, you didn't take my fingers, I can still play, you know. May have taken a leg, but I still got those fingers, you know? And so what do you have? What do you have that you can still be using for the Lord with your whole heart? You say, well, I've served the Lord for twenty years. How about thirty? How about forty? How about till you die? Pastor Chuck had oxygen in his nose. '86 years old, he preached his last sermon on a Sunday and went home to be with Jesus with stage four lung cancer on Tuesday. You know? And that's the way I wanna go out. You know? That that that's how I wanna go. I don't wanna live in the past and say, you know, my love for the Lord was so good in the honeymoon experience. It was so good when I was in my twenties. It was so good in my 30. I don't want any season of my life to be a season that, you know, outshines what I'm learning, what I'm experiencing, and how I'm getting to know the Lord now. There's much much to key. Can we can't exhaust that topic. You can't exhaust the topic of Jesus Christ. Hey, I know I've walked with him forty years. I know everything about him. No, you don't. No, you don't. He's always teaching us the the multifaceted aspects of his character and, like a diamond cut, all different angles and all, and you're always learning. And that which you think you know, you need to be reminded of because we're always forgetting. We're always forgetting scripture. We're always forgetting, various things. And if we're not careful, we'll fixate on, negative aspects of the past. You know, what if what if all you fixated on was how you got hurt and lost your leg? It's all you could think about. All Bruce could do is stay at home and tell Rosh, I I just can't cope anymore. I need more drugs. I I need more things to cope with life. You're you're gonna be in neutralized. You're not gonna move forward. What what if Carl says, I can't move forward. I can't go to church. I just I flatlined seven times. I I don't feel like getting out of bed. All of you, every single one of you have adversity. You have problems. You have your comfort zone's invaded. Every single one of us. And we choose to love. We choose to be authentic. That's where people can see if our Christianity is real or not. How much do you love the Lord? Paul and Silas are praising the Lord at midnight after having been whooped on. And like I said last week, and I have to keep saying it. I'm I'm saying it to myself. They didn't look to doctor Luke like our generation and say, hey, doctor Luke, do you got a pill that'll make this all go away? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine in the book of acts, do you see anywhere people going through far worse adversity than you and I've ever faced? Wimping out and looking to Freud and Roy with psychology to be able to cope with life. That means your gospel is weak. That means your gospel's too weak to transform and change a person's life. People need to see authentic Christianity and the best way they'll see it is when you and I are hit, when we take a hit. They're gonna be reminded of Jesus being nailed to the cross and hearing Jesus say, father forgive them for they know not what they do. That's authentic. That's real. As some have said, Christians are like tea bags. You don't know what flavor we are till we're put in hot water. What comes out from the heart, from the buns of the heart, the mouth speak. Is it worship or is it an ongoing year after year after year holding on to your past, having your pity party, and inviting me to it. I don't wanna go. I'm tired. Let's talk about some good things that Jesus is doing in your life. How you're overcoming, how he's transformed you. Alan Cora have gone through a lot of things, but I I I like him to describe his children and the miracle of him and Cora in The Philippines and him in the military and the the miraculous way that God joined them together, and got Cora to The United States, and and had Carl and Walter, and then more kids and grandkids, now great grandkids. It's a miracle. It's miraculous. And they love Jesus. They were they were going to the harvest cruise harvest church in Riverside, and they didn't know how they're gonna get their gasoline wise. And there's a $5 bill on the ground. And they use that for gasoline to get to the church and Cora went forward at the harvest church, great glory's church. These are testimonies. These are testimonies that you have. Paul was always testifying. Paul was always given his testimony of the authenticity of his Christianity. You have testimonies. You have testimonies of great things that God's done in your life where God is glorified through you in that he can trust you to suffer, but you come through that suffering better. More righteous, more fruit, closer to Jesus, a greater knowledge and understanding intimacy of who Jesus is. That's real Christianity. Excellent. That which is vital in pursuit of excellence, the highest good. In the book of Acts chapter six, the apostles had to decide what was the most important, the most vital expression of their love. Should the disciples, should the apostles wait on tables? Should they act as deacons and wait on the tables? Which is which is expressing love? People need the ministration of the goods that were brought to provide for the poor, the Hellenistic widows and all that. Well, what's the highest good for these guys with their office? With their their their place of service under the Lord? What if they were to negate the word of God in prayer and go get secular jobs and wait on tables? And then wing it on Sunday morning. I'm just gonna wing it. What are you gonna get out of that? What are you spiritually what kind of spiritual dynamic will there be? Probably just a hobby, a guy with a hobby. Yeah. I'm pastor Hobby. It's my hobby. I went online and I got a pastorate degree and now as a hobby, I I teach on Sunday. Yeah. I got a I got a side hustle. I got a side hustle now. I got another source of income. It's it's a hobby. Or is it a calling? You're willing to suffer and go through the lean, hard, difficult times in addition to the good times, but God is stretching you and teaching you things spiritually. It's the only way you can learn these things. So these guys said, we're gonna give ourselves to the word of God in prayer. The highest good, the highest way, the most vital way that we can show love is to give ourselves daily to the word of God in prayer. Because God has other people, Stephen and Philip and others, that can wait upon the tables and do things that really need to be done. But for me, the highest good is the word of God in prayer as expositors. And then you see them, you know, turn on the world upside down. You see the fruit of putting God first, the word of God and prayer. In Luke chapter 10, you got Mary and Martha. Right? And Jesus is coming over for dinner. Oh, man. That's a bummer. So you got one personality, Martha, and it's a great personality. I mean, I love the Martha's. I love the cookies they make and all the foods and all the oh, man, the Martha's. I love Martha. But then there's the Mary's too. And the Mary's, they're perceived as being lazy. Hey, Jesus. She won't help me, you know. Tell Mary to get in here in the kitchen, wash some dishes and all. And Jesus said that Mary chose the number one. The thing most important, most important, the most vital was to sit at his feet and worship him. You know what that means, ladies? You know what that means, men? Dishes filling the sink is okay. A messy house is okay. Push comes to shove and you have to decide, you spend time with Jesus. The dishes will get washed, the carpet will get vacuumed, the trash will get taken out, but you spend time with Jesus sitting at his feet, worshiping him, filling up, experiencing that fellowship. And when you're finished, turn on some praise and worship music and continue to worship the Lord as you wash the dishes. As you do whatever Martha needs to do. But Jesus told Martha that Mary has chosen the best thing, the most vital thing, the most important thing to be a worshiper. Are you a worshiper? Abraham, everywhere Abraham went with his wife and Lot and his he was looking for a city whose builder maker is God. He was a pilgrim, a sojourner. And Lot, you could see Lot's heart, Lot wanted a piece of the world. And when Lot went down into Egypt with Abraham and Sarah when there was a famine, when God was testing them, they came out with a Hagar. They came out with an infatuation and a love for the world. Egypt's the world. And it really, really permeated Lot's heart. The world got into his heart. The Laodicean church, I'm rich and increased with goods and, you know, in need of nothing. Then the shepherds guys start fighting against each other, and then Abraham needs to make a decision to separate separate out the the clans, you know. And Lot picked for himself the best. Abraham gave him first choice, and he picked the best. He picked the best grazing area, which was toward Sodom. And in time, he not only was shepherding out in the grass, now he was in the city, and it corrupted and polluted the heart and mind of his wife and his children and all. And Lot lost influence. He was not an influencer like we see today for good, an influencer of evil. His son in laws didn't even didn't regard anything he would say because, again, he lost his spiritual power, his spiritual insight, his spiritual vitality because he chose that of of the of the world. And and Abraham and Sarah, he was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. He was looking for the things of the Lord. He valued the things of the Lord. Now everywhere that Abraham went, he built an altar. He built an altar because Abraham was a worshiper. Everywhere he went, it was imperative that there be an altar, And he build that altar. And on one of those altars in in Moriah in Genesis 22, God told instructed him to offer a son, his only son Isaac. A picture of Jesus, God the father offering his only begotten son at Calvary at Moriah one day. And so the later generation, the Isaacs, they're not so much as pioneers. They're not so much in the way of being worshipers. They're more of caretakers. They don't need to build altars. They can just cruise now. They can cruise and visit all of the wells that Abraham had dug where there's water. There's plenty of water. And we can just cruise. We can just rest in those that went before us. But you're you're not approaching God with all your heart. You're not approaching God as a worshiper. You you say, well, the politics in this city aren't to my liking, and Fox News and all of it are making me crazy. These liberals are making me crazy. I can't take it here. I can't take it. I just can't take it. Well, maybe maybe you've forgotten that altar in your home. Maybe haven't spent time on your knees before God. Because it doesn't matter how wicked or evil any city or any place or any state in America is, nothing can separate you and I from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. Amen. Where sin abound, grace does much more abound. The problem is not here. The problem is you've been seduced and brainwashed and inundated with this demonic stuff, and we're not looking up. We're looking for human solutions to a demonic problem. And when you move to Montana or you move to California, which is where I'd go, you're gonna still have all your problems. And how many how many base their move on, well, we found a good church. There's a bible teaching church there. How how many base their move on the spiritual vitality of a place? That they can raise their kids and and make sure that their kids have the best, the most vital, the most important. And as I said, if you're a missionary and you're sent into a real dry zone, then it's imperative that your family altar be established because you're not going to be built and strengthened. Home fellowships are so good in that way to make sure that you've got an altar, make sure that people are worshipers and and collectively, corporately, keeping the main thing the main thing. In Nehemiah chapter six, Nehemiah is called of God to build the walls of Jerusalem, and, he's a he's a cup bearer. He's a he's a butler and Artaxerxes allowed him to go. His heart was breaking, for his for his countrymen and his city. And so he is allowed to go and he's allowed to bring some of the supplies and get things going, but Tobiah and Sam Ballot and Gresham, these Arabian guys that were there, they did not want those walls to re be rebuilt there, which epitomized the Jews being able to reinhabit and restore Jerusalem. And so they they fought tooth and nail with Nehemiah with mockery, a little fox will throw that wall over, and at times, Nehemiah needed to fight with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other to be building that wall. They had enemies, and they had to be aware of their enemies that were gonna try and destroy that work. And there came a point in time where, in chapter six, as Nehemiah is getting close, because in fifty and two days, he built the wall and they all of his enemies looked on it. They knew this work was wrath of God. But one of the tactics the enemy was using against Nehemiah was to have a meeting. Hey, we need to have a meeting. Call him away from the work and we wanna talk. We wanna talk. And that's why I had to back off of Facebook and back off of social media because, man, all it wants to do is talk, man. Talk. And I wanna listen, and pretty soon my hands hurt and I'm so addicted to it, information and everything, and and I got no quiet time with the Lord like I used to, you know. And so I admit it. I admit it, guilty. And we need to be careful of things that aren't edifying, aren't building us up, that take us away from what's most important. And, so Nehemiah, he was aware and Nehemiah had to evaluate what was most vital, most excellent to continue building the wall or to meet with Samballa on the plane of Ono. And it says in in chapter six verse two that he knew that they were gonna bring forth mischief. They were luring him out to assassinate him, to kill him. The word assassin comes from these guys. And, and he had discernment. He had knowledge. He had insight that no, this is a trap. So he didn't go. And they persisted second time, third time, fourth time. They're continuing to try and lure him out there and and he and he wouldn't go. And he responded to them, I am doing a great thing, a great work. Are you doing a great work? Is what God's called you to do a great work, a vital work? God's called you to be a mom. Is that a great work? A vital work. There's nobody else that can do that job like you. A spirit filled mommy. Nobody else. It's a great work. How's the enemy trying to beat you down or distract you to get you to waste time, so to speak, to lose out on what's best? I'm doing a great work so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you? Yet they sent me four times after this sort and I answered them after the same manner And maybe Sam Ballot, Tobiah and Gresham went away from their advertising to everybody. That Nehemiah is not a very loving guy. We just wanna go have coffee with him. We we just wanted him meet and talk over things, you know. And he's not very loving. He wouldn't take the time. And yet, Nehemiah is like, no, these guys have no lot or matter in this in in this thing. They have no no bearing on what's going on here. It's a trap. It's a trap of the wicked one. Then, they try flattery. Then they try to get Nehemiah to go with a spirituality, kinda like mega. Let's get them with mega and get them to go to the temple and posture ourselves as Christians. And and Nehemiah had a guy try to get him to go there for a meeting at the temple and it says that Nehemiah knew that it was a trap. Because Satan can manifest himself as an angel of darkness or an angel of light. And you need to have knowledge, you need to have discernment, and you need to test everything. Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good. Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruits. You gotta be a fruit inspector. Examine the fruit. Is he keeping his campaign promises? If not, why not? Is the beast system, the satanic technocratic system being built? If so, why? How? How do we respond to the data centers and all that? How do we respond to the real ID and all these things that are coming? Nehemiah knew that he had a great work and he wasn't gonna be distracted. And we too have a great work. We're to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. We're to filter every idea, everything that's brought along to the word of God and compare the word of God with these philosophers and these people that have these ideas of a golden age up ahead, false prophets. What was Paul's one vital love? One vital love that would describe Paul. He says in Philippians three ten that I might know him. I wanna know him. That's my one vital love. The one vital motivation of my life is to know Jesus. I wanna be an authentic Christian, a real Christian. I wanna know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, plural. You're filling up the sufferings of Christ. Paul wanted fellowship in those sufferings that people that were suffering would identify with Jesus. That suffering is normal. Suffering is a part of the calling. You're not a second rate Christian because you're sick or hurting or lost your job. You in fact, you remind people of Jesus the way he was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him in Isaiah 53. Being made conformable unto his death, that was Paul's desire that I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Christ is living through me. What is the master passion of your life? Well, I wanna get wealthy. I want money. I want more money. I want the republicans to fix this. I want the economy fixed. No. They're purposely taking the economy down. They're gonna roll out a new economy. Whole new digital economy that prophetically spoken of in Revelation 13. You can't serve God and mammon. You gotta choose one or the other. If riches increase, set not your heart on it. What's the master passion of your life? To make Christ known? To be like Jesus? To get the gospel out? How much effort does it take to get the gospel out? How much effort to pray over the city? To reach the city? To reach the people with Christ? Can we do it just on Sunday morning for a half hour an hour? Are we gonna are we gonna achieve that goal? Are we gonna make a difference? Verse 10, that it may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere without offense till the day of Christ. We looked at this word sincere a couple weeks ago. Here we are again. This word sincere is means genuine, authentic, oven tested without wax, pure, unleavened. And so the handcrafted pottery was popular item in the commercial market of the day. The inexpensive pottery was thick. It was heavy. It was more of a production item like a water cup or a jug or an oil lamp, bed pans, plates, bowls, things that were ready available. And you and I you and I, the Lord as the potter and we're the clay, he's making you and I into a vessel of honor. He's not making you into a common bedpan or a cup or a plate. He's making you into a work of art, a beautiful poema where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works. And so the more expensive artwork, the more expensive pottery were the thinner versions with a greater skill level to produce these and they were considered works of art. They were fashioned with very thin walls and were relatively light in comparison to the production items. The pottery was very delicate and would crack many times when put through the kiln or through the oven. Unscrupulous shops would pedal the cracked items with wax. They put wax in them and show their wares to people within the dark. But all you need to do is take that out into the light and allow the sunlight to shine upon it and you could see that there's wax. The word sincere, means no wax. And so it's it's authentic. It's real. The sun detest to approve its authenticity and the cracks would become invisible. And so too with us. Whatever you hear, whatever people are peddling, bring it into the light. Bring it into the light of God's word. Allow God's word to examine and expose. In Ephesians five eleven, it says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good. Test the spirits, try the spirits. Don't be deceived. Jesus said, take heed, be not deceived. There's gonna be false Christ and false prophets and false information. And so stay with the word of God. Allow the word of God to loom in your heart and mind and keep you, you know, on track. And so all you had to do is take it outside into the light and you could see. So the reputable shop owners began to stamp their pottery with sin, s I n e dash sera, c e r a, which means no wax, where we get the word sincere. Oven tested through the fire, no cracks, approved, genuine tested for authenticity, may it be so. When Kathy goes and buys food today, what we wanna see on there is organically raised. We want organically raised to mean organically raised. When we see meat that's grass fed, we wanna know grass fed from birth to the time they butchered it. We we want to track and trace the ingredients and what's in our food because we're getting cancers. We're getting overwhelmed with sickness from our foods in this country. And when you're young, you can get away with anything. Your immune system's strong. But as you get older and your immune system weakens, and as they're spraying you with barium and aluminum and all these metals and stuff, and then you're getting glyphosate and all the the pesticides in your food and food genetically altered, 70 degree 70 different items in those potato chips you're eating or whatever, that hamburger at McDonald's, you know. And a steak should have just one ingredient. Meat. Yeah. That's it. Just one, you know. An egg should just be an egg, you know. And an apple, just an apple without the glyphosate and and, it's pretty simple, but we've gotten so far away because of production, because of profit, because of, a greater, yield, if you will. And and I do believe there's a demonic component of of wanting to reduce the population. So we're at a place where these adult onset diseases, they come in because as we get older, our our immune system gets compromised. So we we can't get away with eating junk food anymore because we get inflammation and we our nose fills up in our head and the headaches and and, just all sorts of bad things start to happen. So we have to start to eat cleaner and get exercise and get good sleep, and we can't we can't roll on just three hours sleep anymore. We need our sleep. But these guys wanna get away with shortcuts and and it doesn't meet the test of authenticity. So when we're abounding in love, being knowledgeable and discerning, when we have tested our actions with the word of God to discover what is vital, what is excellent, we discover that our love is authentic. Our love is sincere without wax, without the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. He says, we love without offense, without stumbling somebody. And it says until the day of Christ. The day of Christ is the rapture. And so until the day of Christ, we love in this matter, authentic love. And that's what people are craving for, authentic love. Many are gravitating toward the occult, toward witchcraft. A lot of young people, they're looking for power, looking for an edge, they're looking for meaning and purpose and they're being deceived. And what we need do is be better at what we do than the Arabs, than the Muslims, than all the cults, and all the occultic groups. If we simply bring forth authentic Christianity, we have the winner. Because he was crucified, buried, and raised himself from the dead. But if we present a watered down version of him, a watered down gospel, a powerless gospel that needs Freud and Roy and all the pharmaceuticals to even cope with life, how are we going to inspire a generation of people of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you know? How are we gonna inspire people? If they don't see that, hey, I was once blind, but now I see. I was once an alcoholic, now I'm now I'm free. I was once this, that, or the other, and Jesus saved me. Jesus delivered me from that, You know? That's the testimony you have. I was hit. I was hit hard. I was in a bad home when I was a kid. But man, the Lord saved me and he saved my wife. And he's working on saving my kids, you know? And that's a testimony because that which we have is what the Lord designed each and every person to want, which is what? A relationship with the true living God. He made each person with that vacuum, that hole in their heart according to Romans eight verse 20. All creation was subject unto a vanity and emptiness. And that by reason of him who subjected the same in hope. They're hoping to find the meaning of life, their purpose in life. And their purpose and meaning in life is to know God. That's that's the that's the God shaped hole that they possess. And they try all the things of the world that are marketing and selling that this will bring fulfillment, this will fill it, this will do it, and it doesn't. And it can't, and it won't. And it doesn't have the power to transform and help them overcome sin. The habits of sin, the characteristics, the enslavement of sin in their life. They want a good marriage, but they're addicted to alcohol. It started out real cutesy. It was real cute. Boone's Farm. Little Boone's Farm in high school. A little southern comfort maybe. Maybe old English 800 because it's higher alcohol content, you got no money, and you just want the buzz. Maybe a little weed, maybe a little drugs, and and pretty soon, you know, you're in doing the clubs in your twenties, and and now you're doing some other pharmaceuticals. And then, oh, you meet miss Wright or mister Wright, and now you're gonna get married, and you think you can, you know, put this aside, and forty years later, you're still smoking pot. You're still having struggle with alcohol. Now the alcohol isn't just a cutesy thing. It's it's your functional drunk at work. You're working, but man, you're drunk. You need the alcohol. You gotta have it. It's destroying you. You go to rehab, and then rehab, and then rehab. We have the answer. Jesus. He can transform and change you. He can change you internally from within. That's the power of the gospel. It's not your mom's fault, your dad's fault that you're the way you are. Get over it. Don't play the blame game. Don't have the pity party. Look in the mirror. Say, God, I've sinned. Lord, I have no power over this. It was cute at one time. It's not cute anymore. It's ugly. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'm sick and tired of jeopardizing all the good that you've given me because of this area of my life that I have no control over, that I'm a slave to. And we become a Christian and sin shall not have dominion over us. He'd come to set the captives free. Now we're free. Free indeed. Sincere love without wax, without the hypocrisy. We love without offense, without stumbling. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we shall be. We know then when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. And he that has his hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. Prophecies used by the apostles to prove the authenticity of Jesus. Over 300 prophecies fulfilled in his first coming. And yet today, we see an increase of antagonism toward the teaching of the rapture, toward the teaching of Jesus coming soon for his bride. It matches second Peter chapter three where Peter told us in the last days, scoffers would come. And these scoffers are scoffing at the idea that Jesus is coming again for his church. And Paul says, you know, they're they're or Peter says, you know, they're gonna say, well, everything continues from our fathers forward. Nothing's changed. And Peter says, they're willingly ignorant, not realizing that one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day with God. The church age, the two thousand years of the church age is only two days with God. It's just been two days. And why is he waiting? He's unwilling that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. He's long suffering, willing to suffer long to save you, to save your kids, to save your family, to save me in 1980. If our life is to be to the glory and the praise of God, we must be number one abounding in love. Secondly, we must be authentic. And thirdly, there must be an abundance of goodness. Verse 11. Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ and of the glory and the praise of God. So when our lives are fruitful, bring glory and praise unto God. Paul is praying that the Philippian believers would be filled with the fruits of righteousness. The fruits of righteousness, number one, internal. The fruit of the spirit. You want the internals. In the sermon on the mount in Matthew five verse 20, Jesus was illustrating that the pharisees were masters at the external. External being religious externally. They washed the outside of the cup, but inside they were full of dead men's bones. Right? And he would expose them that the law governs also the heart. That it's not the committing the adultery, it can also be looking on a woman with lust in your heart. It's not just the committing a murder, well, I've never committed murder, But it's also the hating your brother. You've you're already a murderer. So then Jesus sizes it up and he says in verse 20 of chapter five of Matthew, except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you'll no wise enter the kingdom of God. Now the people, his disciples, they knew that these guys were masters. They were masters at the external keeping, at least outwardly of the law. So they're like, who can be saved? But the intention of the law was to stop every mouth to make every single person guilty. And Jesus is illustrating, showing that the heart is deceitful above all things desperately wicked, and who can know it? Only God can know it. Jeremiah seventeen nine. And so the internals, the fruit of the spirit, the internal is what? Love. That's what God does. God makes you a lover. God gives you the capacity to love. Maybe even to cry like he cried. Love is described in Galatians five twenty two with adjectives. Love is the fruit of the spirit. And the adjectives, the description is joy. Do you have joy? Are you a lover with joy? Do you love God? Do you love people? Do you love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength? Do you love your neighbor as yourself? And these two hang all the law and the prophets, all of it summed up as love. Is there joy? Happiness is different than joy. Happiness is winning the lottery. Joy in the midst of the suffering is singing at midnight. Joy is a quality of life, a life of the spirit, an internal quality of the spirit that whereby we're able to get our eyes off our self and the byproduct of focusing on Jesus. And walking by faith, not the Proverbs three five and six, trust the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. See, when we lean our own understanding, we miss it. We're not walking by faith. We gotta walk by faith and trust that all things are working together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. So as I'm being beaten, thrown in prison, now I'm singing. I'm doing it by faith. I'm believing that God's gonna work all this together for good. And then in a few minutes, the place gets shook, the stuff comes off, and the Philippian jailer gets saved. And how many others of those prisoners there that didn't run away got saved? Are you willing to be beaten for Jesus that people might be saved? Are you willing to suffer so that God can save people through the joy that you express? The love, adoration that you have for him? The devil thinks you're a mercenary. The devil says, if I take away the stuff, if I take away his health, he'll curse you to your face. God says, no. They love me for who I am. They love me. They're in love with me. They won't do that. There's an internal moving and working of the holy spirit whereby they love me and the proof of that love is joy. How about peace? Do you need some Xanax? Do you need more pharmaceuticals to cope with life? Do you need to take the edge off? Or do you have peace? An internal fruit of the spirit. Love is described as peace. God gives you peace in the midst of the storm. Everything's falling apart but you have peace. The storm is everywhere. People are sinking. People are falling apart and your world may be falling apart but you have peace. Paul describes that in chapter four of Philippians, a peace that surpasses all understanding. In Isaiah, he'll keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. You focus on Jesus and you have peace. Everyone's looking at you like, how can you have peace? You just lost your job. How can you have peace? Your house is in foreclosure. You're gonna lose everything you work for. How can you have peace as a Christian man when your wife, your family is dependent on you and you just lost your job? I don't know, but I feel peace. I believe God's at work. I believe God has a better job for me. He's just moving me out of the one into another. I believe God's gonna sustain us. It's all about faith. It's all about trusting God. Long suffering, you go through difficulty, you're willing to suffer long. Gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. So this internal work of God's spirit fills us up and overflows Jesus working through us with the fruits of righteousness. So first, it's the internal internal working of the holy spirit. Then the external, then people see it on our face. They see us smiling. They see us singing. They see us coping. They see us when we're provoked, when somebody mistreats us, we love and kind. We love them. We turn the other cheek. We go the extra mile. The fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ. In John fifteen four, Jesus said, abide me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine. No more can you except you abide in me. Just stay connected. Stay connected to Jesus. Allow his life to flow through you and you will bear fruit. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me you can do nothing. Now, Lawrence of Arabia as he was involved in World War one in the deserts of the Middle East, He came back to Paris with some Arabs that he Arab friends that he had in the Middle East there. And they were in Paris and they had water coming out of the faucets. They had indoor plumbing in Paris at the time. And his Arab friends, they were fascinated by the faucets in the bathtub. They were repeatedly, turning it on and off watching the flow of the water. They wanted to take the faucets with them. We need faucets in the desert. The faucet won't work unless you're connected. You gotta be connected to Jesus. Amen. Is your life fruitful? Is your life a desert? Is it barren? Ask yourself, take the test. Number one, am I connected? Are you connected? Are you abiding in Christ? Abiding in Jesus Christ. If you're abiding in him, his life will flow through you. And you you notice the apples, they aren't sweating. They just hang. They hang with Jesus. Just hang there. And they become fruitful. Right? They they're just cruising. They're enjoying. They're riding the wave. They're riding the wave. Right? They're just flowing where the holy spirit's rolling. They just flow. They belly board. They do whatever they gotta do. Unless you're at the wedge, boom, you're gonna see it smacked. Are you connected? Blessed, Psalm one, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of 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 the river, the water, fresh water and root system. Right? Its leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the ungodly are not so. They're gonna bring forth his fruit in its season and its leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. But the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, they're dry. Like the chaff which the wind drives away. Is your life chaff? When your life's tested at the threshing floor of life, is there fruit, the kernel coming forth or is your life like the chaff where the wind just drives it away? Fleeting a vapor as in a moment. Secondly, am I connected but the line is clogged? Impurities, water faucet. Now RV life, I'm here to tell you about RV life. In RV life, there's tanks and there's water, gray water, black water. You don't want the pipes to get clogged. Okay? You wanna make sure that there's a flow, that things are cleaned out, that things flow in the right way, in the right context, and and the whole thing. And so when it's clogged, it's a lot of impurities. It's not fun. It's not good. It's it's I don't need to go into I think you get my drift, but, you know, allow the washing of water that this world is filthy. This world will make your home filthy, your mind filthy, your car filthy. Be very, very careful about the filth that you allow in to your life. It's impossible to keep it all out, but one thing we can do is wash our minds. Wash our homes. Wash the minds of our children with praise and worship and with God's word. Speaking the things of the Lord and washing away the filth. Just just getting into God's word and the and and husbands in Ephesians five, you're to wash your wife with God's word, to be in God's word, to make sure it's an insurance policy for your marriage, that you're attending the church that teaches God's word. And then you at your altar at home, that you're spending time prioritizing and doing that which is most vital. You're seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these other things be added unto you. You don't put it on, you know, the Christian face on Sunday morning then go home and live like a pagan heathen, you know. It's hypocrisy. There's no authenticity. It's not real. It's phony. It's carnality. And so Jesus, now you're clean through the word which I've spoken unto you. The defilement, the washing of the feet in John 13. Jesus washed the guys because they were defiled. Does my life need some pruning? Oh, that hurts. Pruning hurts. In John 15 verse two, it says he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. There's things in my life that are that are dead and God needs to prune it like that rose bush. There's certain dead branches that are out there and you come along seasonally and you prune them. With every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will bear even more fruit, even more fruitful. So maybe you're in the panic mode. God has taken a once productive fruitful life and cut it way back. Your life seems to be over. You've lost your job, and that's that's a huge thing when a man loses his job or a woman their job. That's that's just huge. If you've ever been in the unemployment line or wondering how you're gonna pay your bills, it's it's just off the hook. It's it's a horrible thing. You've lost your friends. You've lost family. You've lost your health. Maybe some material possessions, some hobbies, and maybe even your reputation. You've lost your reputation. Seems to be gone. Pruning is painful. Pruning can be confusing. God's not the author of confusion, but we can become confused. Like, God, why why are you doing this? I'm working so hard. Why are you denying me that which I need to cause my life, my home to be more fruitful? But it's through pruning, allowing the father to cut away at the dead branches of our lives that we become even more fruitful. It says, under the glory and the praise of God. Jesus said in John fifteen eight, here it is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. So shall you be my disciples. As the father have loved me, so I have loved you. And he says, continue in my love. Abounding in his love, authentic, sincere love and an abundance of goodness. To God be the glory great things he has done, where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus under good works. And with the four and twenty elders in Revelation four, we sing, we worship, thou art worthy, oh lord, to receive glory, honor, and power. For thou has created all things and for thy pleasure, they are and were created. God made you for his pleasure. If you think he made you so that you could live for pleasure, you're mistaken. God made you for his pleasure. And he he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in those who draw back, who don't walk by faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God for they that come to him must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. God's gonna make your life fruitful if you commit to continue to walk by faith. We can start out walking by faith and we could go neutral, mediocre, lukewarm, or we can finish fervently with all of our heart, all our mind, all our soul, more in love with Jesus than when we first met him. Anticipating his soon return, letting go of this world, so excited about the rapture of the church and their soon return of Jesus to taking this home. That's where our heart needs to be. Our heart needs to be with home or homesick. That's where God's bringing us. So father, we thank you. Lord bless, we pray as we partake of communion. Lord, we pray for anybody listening, anybody here that doesn't know you. Lord, we pray they'd come to know you, that you'd save now, Lord. Today is the day of salvation. Thank you for the sweetness of your love and continue to teach us to love, Lord, in all truth. In Jesus' name we pray, 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.
