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Philippians 2:1,4 -Others- Pastor Rick Beaudry 2026-09-06
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Philippians two one through four, would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? Philippians chapter two. Wow. It's 11:00. I hope you guys can stay till. Alright. Philippians two one through four. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bows and mercies, fulfill my joy that you be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through strive for vain glory, but lowliness of mind. Let each esteem others better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Father, Lord, we pray as we recognize our selfishness, that selfishness is the root of sin, of being independent of you, and Lord, wanting to do things our own way, and looking out for number one. Lord, it's in our fallen nature, and Lord, we don't make excuses for it. We recognize if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things are passed away and all things have become new. And Lord, as we yield to your Holy Spirit, we pray Lord then in the power of the Holy Spirit that we could die to self, and Lord, live lives that are pleasing unto you. Live lives, Lord, where there's the oneness, the communion, the fellowship of being more other centered, of wanting to set the stage that others might excel, do well, shine. And Lord, we pray that as you use our lives more and more, Lord, we not allow strife and vainglory and the selfishness that can just ruin marriages and ruin fellowship and ruin churches. We pray, Lord, that it be buried, that we continually mortify the deeds of the flesh, that we reckon the old man dead, that we recognize when the flesh is flaring up, Lord, that we need to crucify afresh the flesh and live the life of the spirit, Lord. So help us, Lord. We thank you for your help. We thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for Paul's exhortation here as he's teaching us, as you're teaching us, Lord, how we might be like minded with Christ. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Paul is exhorting team Philippi to be united in purpose if they want to experience the joy of victory. A house divided against itself cannot stand. A Super Bowl team divided. A church divided will lose to a greatly inferior team that executes as one. We have the greatest holy spirit coaching staff. We have the greatest, word of God, God's playbook. We have the greatest quarterback in Jesus Christ, but we will lose if we are divided. United, we stand divided, we fall. So what is the secret of being one? Be other centered, not self centered. Notice four ways God wants to minister to others through you. In verse one of chapter two, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels and mercies. Now this word if is like in Romans eight thirty one. If God before us, who can be against us? It's not a an if like, you know, it's an if like since God is for us. It's not a a question of whether God's for us or not. So if it's not a conditional clause, it's since it is true. Since God is for us, who can be against us? So since there be therefore any consolation, you can bank on it. So there should be therefore, notice, number one, consolation. Consolation in Christ. So we see the Holy Spirit as the Paracletus, the comforter, and we have the comfort of the Holy Spirit. We have the comfort of Jesus Christ. The Paracletus called alongside the Holy Spirit and Jesus comforting you through others. Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us. In Romans eight, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf with groanings which cannot be uttered. You and I can't lose. We have Jesus, our great high priest, there at the throne of God, the throne of his father, right hand of his father, interceding every single need, everything you need done as you're lifting up your heart in prayer, and as you intercede on behalf of others, those prayers coming up. And then when you can't articulate, when you can't even explain what that prayer needs to be, words are inadequate, as you exercise your prayer language, as you begin to speak in tongues, sing in tongues, as you groan with groanings maybe, which cannot be uttered, you know, the holy spirit's interpreting the cry of your heart and the holy spirit, the comforter is ministering on our behalf. And we we we sense that prayer covering. We sense that moving and working of the holy spirit that we're not alone. And some of you've already told me that you've been praying for Kathy and I while we're gone. You're praying that we'd have a great trip. You're praying that we'd we'd get back here. We got we got back at seven last night and we're so thankful that and I'm so thankful I didn't get another ticket, you know, And and that the car worked and so many different things. I could see God's hand, you know, all the way through it. There was a point in one day where we said, where do wanna eat? We're always wondering where we're gonna eat. Well, let's go to that taco place right there, you know, on on Main Street, and they got those really nice tacos. We hadn't done that yet. And and I said, well, the whole place was open. I locked the bikes up, and I said, well, let's sit over here in case some cool cars come by. I didn't know. And after we're eating or while we're eating, this whole car show starts coming by. And I'm like, Kath, man, the Holy Spirit moved us right here, so I could be right by these cars, you know. And it was so so fun. But all the different ways the Lord works on our lives in the tiny little ways that many times we're not aware of. The the consolation, the comfort that the Holy Spirit wants to bring into our lives and our and in our marriages and our relationship with unto him. If we're if we're not in the spirit, you know, we miss it. We miss all these different ways, all these tiny little details that God is interested in. There's not one sparrow that falls to the ground. He doesn't know about it. And there's not one hair of your head that falls out of your head that he doesn't know. Every single one's numbered. And and you're more valuable than these sparrows, Jesus said. You're far more valuable, you know. So don't be anxious. Don't be like the heathen, you know. What am I gonna eat? What am I gonna drink? What am I gonna wear? You're far more valuable than that. And and so seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these other things be added unto you. The Holy Spirit wants you to not be anxious. He doesn't want us to lose our peace. He doesn't want us to be caught up with the Fox News and the hysteria and the brainwashing and the sigh up of making us filled with anxiety all the time. God wants you and I to experience his peace. And to walk in that peace as a small child and knowing that God's for us, he's not against us. Since God's for you, amen, how could you lose? How can you lose? He's working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. He wants you to be comforted in this. Imagine you going to the great lengths to try and bring comfort to your children, your family, and they're just always wringing their hands worried about if they're gonna eat today or not. Worried, but the refrigerator's full. Everything's everything's ready. You've you've done the work. You got it. It's there. And we have a vast reservoir of comfort that the Holy Spirit's wanting him to bring into our lives. You can't exhaust the comfort of God. And so if there be therefore any consolation, this comfort of the Holy Spirit, that comfort through others. God sending people into your life. He's sending a Barnabas maybe, son of consolation. The apostle Paul's an enemy of the cross of well, actually, he was an enemy of the cross of Christ and the Lord says he's a chosen vessel unto me. And as he became a chosen vessel unto the Lord, the Jews hated him. So he went and he spent three years out in the Desert Of Arabia getting to know the Lord and the Lord revealing himself unto him. And then there's another seven years there where the Lord's ministering the apostle Paul, and God sent Barnabas, son of consolation, the the comfort this man of comfort, and to comfort the apostle Paul and to encourage him and all. And then later, Barnabas is the one that recommends Paul for the work of the ministry and all. And and we need people like this in our lives that the Lord sends into our lives that have that gifting and that blessing of being comforters. And every team needs those that comfort. And every family needs those that comfort. We we don't need to be utilizing the gifting of the devil, the accuser of the brethren that seeks to condemn all the time and criticize all the time and find the fault all the time and and working according to the letter of the law that kills. We need the spirit of the law, which seeks to build up and strengthen us and comfort us and remind us of our need of Jesus that we cannot perform at a at a percentage of 100%, you know? A guy told me that he was a basketball player and he was his his shot percentage was 45%, 45%. And my thought went to, well, that's six and a half shots you miss, you know? You only or I batted 300. Well, that's seven times you struck out, you know, that you cut out. You can look at it from a negative standpoint or a positive standpoint. None of us hit, only Jesus hits a thousand bats a thousand, you know, and so we want to comfort one another to the frailty of our humanity our propensity to fail and that Jesus is our Victor. Jesus is the quarterback. Jesus is the winner. Jesus is gonna bring each of us to victory. We don't need to succumb to the let's go back to Egypt. Let's you know, it's it's it's it's it's tough out here Moses. We want to go back to Egypt. We're gonna raise up a leader someone to take us back because we missed the savory food of the world. We want all the things of the world, the spicy foods and all. You're lying to yourself. You were in you were in slavery. You were in bondage, and God sent a deliverer, Moses, to draw you out of there. And he has something so much greater for you, but your unbelief is gonna keep you out of the promised land. Your unbelief is gonna keep you from the comfort of the Holy Spirit in walking by faith day by day. And what a tragic way to live if you have to live according to performance. The only way that you can have a peace is if you perform. What about when you fail? What about when you don't have the answers? What about when you don't know what to do like Jehoshaphat in second Chronicles 20? Lord, this army that's coming after us, they're huge. They're much bigger than us. And we don't have the power to deal with them. Nor, and I like how he says this, nor know we what to do. Have you ever admitted that, Lord? I don't know what to do. But our eyes are on you Lord. And as they begin to worship the Lord, they got the victory. They set aside that tyranny of having to know and having to be in control and having to, you know, tell me 10 things to do. And they just began to worship. And as they began to worship, God dealt with their enemies. God discomfited them. David was a worshiper of God. He's looking at Goliath and he's thinking, there's no way Goliath's gonna win this, because God's for me. And he's blaspheming the name of the Lord. He's actually fighting against God, this uncircumcised Philistine. And David goes into the battle not with Saul's armor, because you can't go with another man's armor. It doesn't fit. You gotta go in the power of the Holy Spirit. So as a little lowly shepherd boy, God prepared David by slaying a lion, by slaying a bear, becoming adept with what was in his hand. What's in your hand, Moses? A rod? What's in your hand, David? A slingshot? Five smooth stones, a shepherd's staff. And David let it fly, didn't he? And a laser guided missile hit Goliath in the forehead where there was no armor, sunk deep in his head, dropped him. And then David, the stripling, the son of Jesse, runs over there. He's not done yet. And he instills faith in everybody else that was doubting, who were paralyzed with fear. And he cuts the giant's head off. And then he holds it up. I saw it on VeggieTales. I know I know he held it up. And everybody's just invigorated with faith. God's for us, you know, and the comfort in knowing that God's fighting for us. So do you want a king Saul? Do you want a people's champion? Or do you want Jesus Christ? Samuel, they haven't rejected you Samuel. They've rejected me. And they want a king. They wanna be like all the other nations, Samuel. Do you want God to be your champion? Do you want God to lead you? Do you want that peace that surpasses all understanding that guards your heart and mind through Christ Jesus? He'll keep you in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee. As you meditate upon his love, as you meditate upon who he is, as you get to know him, the secret of joy is knowing Jesus. Do you know Jesus? Are you wanting to get to know him better and better and better? I noticed when I was in California, as we're eating in various places, we we like to go to Duke's and there at the at the pier and and we go to Happy Hour. It's pretty inexpensive. But one of the things I was exposed to was it was a bar area, an outside seat, put my bikes there and all. And it occurred to me, man, these people drink a lot. They're they're pulling up here with the park their cars. They're just coming in for happy hour to down down cocktails, man. And that's a lot of money. That's a lot of money in cocktails, man. I can't have whoo. What's their budget? What's your budget? What's what's your budget each month for cocktails? Couple grand? At least a couple grand. And I'm like, holy smokes. Then you factor in gambling, you smack during smoking, factor in drugs, you know? Man, it's expensive to worship their gods. Right? It it costs a lot of money to worship their gods who leave them empty, and they're looking for a way to fill that void, that emptiness, and take away that anxiety and bring them to a place of of comfort. But we have the Holy Spirit. All I need is a bike or along the beach, and I'm good to go, man. I need a towel or a beach chair or sit up there by the waves. Man, I'm good to go. There was this bird that was sitting next to Kathy and I toward the last day we were there, second last day. And it just stood there at attention. This black bird, I took a bunch of pictures. It wouldn't move. I throw some apples at them and stuff. The other birds come in and take it just sitting there. And I'm like, that's just incredible, you know? This bird won't move. And these kids were walking by and they said, hey, that bird won't move. You can go up there and try and kiss that bird. It won't move. And one of the kids went up there like that and it moved. And I went over there and I'm like, it's only standing on one leg. One of his one of his feet's gone, Cath. And then a little while later, realized, no, the foot's there. There's two feet. I couldn't figure it out. What's it doing? What's it doing? What's it doing? And I thought of being you and I as Christians, be steadfast and movable, always abounding the work of the Lord for you know your labor is not in vain. So that's the kind of the picture I was getting that first day. And the second day when we went back, the bird was dead. It's laying there. The show of water and taking in and out, in and out, in and out. But maybe the Lord show me, be steadfast to the end, Rick. Be steadfast to the very end. When it's time to go, you're gonna go. But don't give up before your time. Be steadfast, immovable, always abound in the work of the Lord for you know your labor's not in vain. I marveled at the tenacity of that bird to just stand there facing death, but unafraid. And you and I, we don't fear death. We're comforted to the Holy Spirit to be asked when the bodies be present with the Lord. We're comforted. We sorrow, but not as those who have no hope. We have the hope of the resurrection. That's why I can be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because I have the comfort of the Holy Spirit that the worst that can happen to me is somebody destroy this body, and yet I move out of this body into my new glorified body. That's why the apostle Paul had joy unspeakable being chained to a Roman soldier and awaiting execution. That's how he could overcome the fear and the doubting and the the attacks of the wicked one that seeks to get into your mind and neutralize you or cause you to face that place of defeat, of unwilling to continue, to give up, to quit, to say, hey, I didn't sign up for this, you know. My life's supposed to be easier, you know. And so the consolation, you're ministering unto others. And then he says too, comfort comfort love, tender speaking, comfort of truth. And so that of that of the comfort of love, which speaks of tender speaking, comfort in a time of trial. Now, I'm not always the best at this. I can be. I can speak in a soft tone like a like a nurse, you know. There's other times where people are just simply wimping out, and they might need a bark of a coach or a, you know, a father. As I'm getting older, I'm I'm recognizing sugar goes along a lot further than hot sauce, you know? And and so you can be more tender. You can speak because you failed so much. You you recognize that being on the muscle, being trying to be in control and enforcing and coercing and all that as a young father that can as you're trying to provide structure and all, but as an older man, you recognize, you know, the people that had the greatest impact in my life are those that comforted me. That God sent to comfort me and to to bring the the consolation, but also the comfort of love. The tender speaking and comfort in time of trial. And then he says, thirdly, the fellowship of the spirit, which means to share, speaks of communion. The holy spirit knitting our hearts together. And we we recognize Jesus' prayer in John 17 that we'd be one with him even as he and his father are one. House divided against itself can't stand. The devil seeks to divide and conquer. We don't wanna be divided. We don't want to magnify small little tiny differences and cause those tiny little differences to divide us. We wanna minimize those things. If we go to first Corinthians 13, love doesn't even recognize those tiny things. You know? You you you're not scoring. You're not keeping track of wrongs that people wrong you. You know? You just let it go. And and that's true in a marriage. You just let it go. You don't magnify the little things anymore. It's just it isn't worth it. There's so many good things taking place. And then he says, vows and mercies, fourthly, which means compassion, pity. Your teammates encourage you to not quit. The injury will heal. You'll be stronger. It'd be wiser. You'd be more yielded. You'd be humbled and grateful. And so many times as we're coming to a a challenge, we're filled with pride, we're strong, we're invincible, and then we get an injury. And we get sick. And now, what am I gonna do now? I I that which made me strong, that which made me stand out from others is gone now. Now I'm weak. Paul prayed three times that God would remove a messenger of Satan that was buffeting him. Paul had been caught up to the third heaven. He said, I know a man in his body or out of body caught up the third heaven. The things that he saw was you can't describe it. And that can tend to puff a guy up. Hey, have you ever been up to heaven? I have. I got stoned at Lystra. And while they were all standing around me, I got caught up to the third heaven. I'm a YouTube guy. I got a dream and a vision for you. Oh, wow. You have a dream and a vision? You're on YouTube? Yeah. Do you know what I saw? And then but Paul was legit. He was real. Caught up in the third heaven. But in order to keep him humble, to keep him usable, the Lord gave him a physical infirmity. He described this physical infirmity as a messenger of Satan that was buffeting him. It can be something as simple as, or as demonic as migraine headaches. How many of us struggle with just some something as simple as headaches? Migraine headache. You can't sleep. You just can't sleep. You you can't concentrate. Bright light bothers you. You've gotta get in a dark room. And Paul had a messenger of Satan. The description in the Greek is like a tent stake going through his head. How's he gonna complete his work? How's he gonna do his job? The Lord took a as one guy described it, Paul soaring spiritually, but God gives you a weighted tail on that kite that keeps you usable. So you're walking along and the Lord says, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength's perfected in weakness. So Paul says, oh, that God's gonna take this weakness, and he's gonna use it to a greater measure in my life, because I'm gonna rely upon the Lord more than I ever have. So I'm not gonna be running so much in my strengths. I'm gonna be running in the strength of the Holy Spirit. God's grace is sufficient for me. Who is sufficient for this ministry? Paul asked. Nobody. No matter how much training, no matter how good you are, how many books you read, how hard you train, nobody's really good enough for this. Our sufficiency is of Christ. That's the secret, the reliance upon Christ. Reliance upon him each and every day. We were getting into the elevator and these three partiers, they were enjoying their partying and it's kind of fascinating the way the Lord had us bump into brother and sister before that someplace. And now I got these three partier guys at the hotel and and they're just reveling in their partying, but they didn't look very happy. And I looked like you know what I look like? Kinda what's this guy doing? You know? And they began to ask me, hey, what's going on? And I said, I'm here for my forty fifth wedding anniversary. And they said, well, what's the what would be the secret? What would you say would be how you accomplish that? And I said, well, build your house upon the rock. Build your house upon Jesus. Build your marriage upon Jesus. And you could see their face go. And I said, the storms are gonna come, but your house can remain standing. Your marriage is gonna get through it because you built upon him. You're a doer of the word, not a hearer only. Don't build your life, your marriage on sand. And that's about all I could get because they're hitting the button to shut that door and getting out of there. Because I was a quench. I was a quench to their part in. Why would he ask such an incredible question? You know, what is that? Well, you notice out there, there's a whole lot of people single, can't find mates. Whole lot of people out there. And I asked the one girl told me the reason is nobody wants to commit anymore. They don't like the word commitment. The guys don't wanna commit to being dads and fathers. Many women out there divorced with kids or looking for a guy, they don't wanna commit. The guys don't wanna commit. And many of the women, they don't wanna commit. Without commitment, what do you got? You gotta commit. But they don't wanna. They wanna be free agents. How do we work as a team? Number one, be like minded with others. Notice first two. Fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love being of one accord of one mind. A team player, harmony, attitude. True unity comes from within. So we wanna differentiate between uniformity. Uniformity speaks of pressure from without. You will conform versus what's available to you and I, which is an inward change. Being like minded speaks of the mind of Christ being in you, not imitation, but impartation. So in some respects, we imitate Christ. We mimic him. But really, it's stemming from a changed heart, a changed mind. We're like Joseph, how could I do this great evil against God? God is changing your heart. It's impartation. So be not conformed to this world. You don't want to come into the conformity of the world. Nor do we want to try and force and coerce as a cult, try and force people to live a certain way and keep score and alright, you reach the ideal. No. Being a Christian is a relationship with God where he's changing you from the inside. So you wanna get to know him. And as you get to know him, he's changing. There's a metamorphosis. Now, Elon Musk and the guys, they wanna have a transhumanism. They wanna transform human beings into some other sort of a creature, genetic altering or engineering or technology or whatever. You know? There are counterfeits. The devil's counterfeiting God's objective to take Adam and Eve of body and soul, and Nicodemus, you must be born again. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Creation. The old things are passed away. All things have become new. And so the old Rick in 1980 got saved. The new Rick, fifty years later, hopefully, he doesn't represent. He doesn't still look like and practice and live out the lifestyle of that unbelieving Rick. Hopefully, there's a transformation and a change within Rick's heart where people can see Jesus. Where he's becoming more and more like Christ. And that's the growth. That's the objective. That's the reason why God hasn't taken us home yet, is because he has more work to do. Being confident in this very thing, Philippians one verse six, being confident in this very thing, that he that has begun a good work in you, that he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The Lord's not done with me yet. He's still working on me. He's still teaching me how to love others. To love Kathy. To love my children and to love my enemies. Do you love your enemies? Do you have the capacity to love enemies? People that mistreat you? That can only come from Christ. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. That that only comes for as a work of the holy spirit. It's in our nature to hate. It's in our nature to hit back, to strike back. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to transform and change. We're not pacifist. We're not Casper Milk Toast. We're not rugs that people just walk over. We choose to go the extra mile. We know what we're doing. We know we're being insulted. We know they're being rude. We choose not to answer in kind. We choose to show the kindness and long suffering of God. Not because we're weak, but because we're strong. We're strong enough to love. God's given us a powerful, powerful love that nothing can conquer. There's a like mindedness with Jesus. And that like mindedness with him, as we're transformed and changed, we begin to live Christ like lives, the impartation of his life. So be not conformed. Don't allow the world to force you into its pattern. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. Let a metamorphosis take place. Go from the worm to the butterfly. Soar with the Lord. A new creation. By the renewing of your mind, it works in your mind. God deals with the mind. One of my friends while we were down there, Ed Shute, he'd mentioned, you know, Rick, I'm trying to, as much as I can, I'm learning. I'm learning to take every thought captive. I'm learning to ward off even impure thoughts. Do you entertain impure thoughts? If you entertain and meditate upon impure thoughts, cause the devil showing you images through the eye gate, the ear gate, social media. It's coming at you from every which way, impure thoughts, worldly thoughts, worldly values, worldly ideas. And what are you gonna do with those thoughts? You can't do anything about them coming into your life. Well, in some cases, cut the eye off, you cut the ear off, cut the hand off. You can cut some of the media off, so it's not coming at you so hard, but it's impossible to ride along the beach and not have impure thoughts. The girls don't have anything on their rear ends anymore. Nothing. They're out there walking like cows. You know? Boom. Boom. It's crazy. I don't know if you've been there in a while. It's it's crazy. So you gotta take those thought captives to the obedience of Christ. You gotta look the other way. Look out of the water. Think think good thoughts down. So you can't do anything about the temptation. You you're there's no isolation. You don't isolate yourself from the world. You're in the world, but not of the world. And as the world gets worse and worse and worse, sure, there's gonna be places you don't go anymore. If you know a place at Havasu, where everybody wants to go and a party or Vegas, the guys at the hotel said everybody's going to Vegas this weekend. Everybody's going to Havasu. Well, if you know at Havasu that they're doing lots of you don't go there as a Christian. There's places you stay away from. But nowadays, the stuff is everywhere. And when you're infected with that, when you go into Corinth and you're the apostle Paul, you're gonna see this filth. It's what you do with it. So you take every you realize it's the thought. So every thought captive, every high thing, and every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. You begin to meditate upon Christ. And he began to cry out for the Lord and say Lord, you know, I don't want to be that guy. Lord, I don't I want to flee youthful lust. Lord, I don't want to be addicted to the porn. I don't want to give into the images. I want to be like you. And Jesus was tempted in all points like we, and yet without sin. He knows the frailty, and we'll see next week the description of the empty in himself as the God man. Fully God, fully man. And we'll and we'll see the his deity, but also in his humanity. He's he's weak in John four. He his body physiologically is weak. He needs some water. He's there at Jacob's well for some water. So he knows the human frailty. He knows our condition of the of these human bodies, but there's a greater working and moving of the spirit in our hearts and lives to give us the victory over being pulled down Because if you sow a thought, if you hang on to that thought, you're gonna reap an action. And if you hold on to that action, you're gonna reap a habit. And if you hold on to that habit, you're gonna reap a character. You're be known as, and you hold on to that character, you're gonna reap a destiny. So as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. That's why it's so crucial that we teach right from wrong. If there's just one person in the jury that knows right from wrong, then it's a statement to the whole world that killing three babies premeditatively is wrong no matter what. No excuse. But God's counting on you to have enough courage to stand up and profess the truth, to profess what's right, to silence. Maybe to maybe to stimulate, maybe to make these crazies at Sodom and Gomorrah, where they're beating on the door, groping at the door to get at these two men, these two angels, because they wanna satisfy their lust. They wanna bring everybody down to their level of decadence. They want children to have no rights. They want children to be preyed upon and sacrificed and become the the the prey of pedophiles. They wanna be able to have abortion on demand and a woman not feel bad about it because they wanna make decisions that they can take a person's life. It goes totally against a mother's instinct that god's placed within her. You wanna go after the pharmaceutical companies? Good luck. They've got immunity. You wanna deal with the demons? Good luck. But the rule of law, the truth is paramount. And you're that person in that room. You're that person in that jury that's gonna stand for righteousness even if it ruins your life. Because truth is more important. Holding to God's standards, to righteousness is more important than your momentary temporary pleasure and prosperity. God's put you there, Esther. He's put you there for such a time as this. He's counting on you to stand for righteousness. And where's it emanate from? It's deep within you. It's who you are. That's why you're in the military. That's why you were there. That's why you're willing to lay your life down. It's for righteousness. It's the moral high ground. It's the vote of a juror. It's the vote of a godly man. I'm so tired of hearing the only vote we have is the midterms or the presidency. There's so many other votes that we make throughout the year. So many ways that we stand against the tide and stand for righteousness. We don't just vote and then go to sleep again and act like this champion's gonna fix it all. Our constitutional republic has so many different checks and balances and limits of a government that are supposed to be there, but we're so incredibly ignorant. And we as Christians, even if it all fails, we still stand for Jesus. We'll obey God rather than men. When COVID came around, you stood. You stood for truth. One woman who worked for Blue Cross in the insurance field, she lost her job because she refused to be jabbed. She won a $12,700,000 judgment recently. Another guy, a video of a guy in the Navy, he refused the jab, and his buddies came in the room, grabbed him, and forcibly jabbed him. You didn't sign up for that. What happened? It's my body. You know? The Epstein, the pedophiles, the sexual decadence, the sacrifice of children. That's not who you are. There's been a transformation and change in your life. It's not a conformity. It's a transformation in your heart. You're better than that. You know better than that. All throughout history, all the way from the garden, the globalist, the illuminati, whatever masons, whoever your they is, have been fighting against that which is good. All throughout history from the garden. And the only thing that's kept them at bay from accomplishing their goals of demonic domination and destroying every single country and population reduction and the intoxification of the book of Revelation of the Antichrist being in charge in a one world global government economy. The only thing that's held them back is you, Christians. You're standing in the way because you don't think like them. You're like minded with Jesus. And they've gotta do something with you because they gotta get this agenda through this 2030 agenda and this whole thing. They gotta get this thing through somehow. And oh, how slick the enemy is to parade as a Christian, to silence the church. The church doesn't have a backbone. And now they're able to get it through these agendas through the data centers, lack of water, lack of food. Brittany Wayne were over at Eastern Washington, a beautiful beautiful farms of apples, organic apples and all. Look at the strategy of the wicked one. Your government imports apples from other countries. Your government imports beef from Argentina and Brazil. Puts out of business the family farmers because they can't sell apples or beef at a reasonable price. They're wiping out the packing houses to process the beef, to process the meat. They come in and invade your farm, and they say that there's bird flu here. There's this here. There's that here. We got a cold. We gotta wipe out all of your stock. We gotta get rid of them all. But no checking out the Argentinian beef or the Brazilian beef or the apples from that are sprayed with glyphosate and all the poisons and everything on them and all. Who cares? You go out of business and the corporations and the other one in California, they deny you water. They take the reservoirs of water, and they throw it into the ocean. And you have no water to water your crops. And what happens? The Chinese buy up these farms. Bill Gates buys up these farms. These family farms gone under, becoming corporate farms, shortages of food, shortages of energy, shortages of water. How do they get away with it? Christians are asleep. They don't know right from wrong. They don't stand for righteousness. They're too soft. In past years, they couldn't get away with it. The Christians stand for righteousness. The Christians wouldn't allow it. The churches were strong. The churches would teach God's word. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The word of God is put within the unbelievers in the fifties. The believers, the unbelievers in the fifties were more moral than the Christians are today. You take the bible and prayer out of school in '61 and '63, now you've got a generation and generations of people who claim to be Christians but don't know God's word. They're conforming to the world. Be not conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You don't know what God's will is anymore. You're you're filled with relativism, existential humanism, every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. Now you're gonna argue that this woman did the right thing by choking out these babies. Now somehow you got 11 jurors fighting against righteousness. You're never gonna be in a majority as a Christian standing for righteousness. You're gonna need you're gonna learn to stand alone. Jesus stood alone. He went alone to that cross. The shepherd was smitten, the sheep scattered. The apostle Paul upon his execution, second Timothy chapter four, all men forsook him. But the Lord stood with me. David and Ziklag, his buddies, his mighty men were gonna slay him, but he encouraged himself and his God. Maybe lonely at times To be like minded with Jesus, you wanna be prosperous? Compromise. You wanna be liked? Be a politician. Compromise. Find find the middle ground and go down that middle road as a Christian. Don't don't be so offensive to the left. Don't be so offensive. Be a moderate. Be somewhere in the middle. Try and peace and and and please both sides, and you'd be liked. But as soon as you stand up and say, abortion's murder, that woman murdered these three kids, you watch the hell that comes against you. As all the powers of darkness want to quench you, want to silence you, want to keep the truth from coming to the surface. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Jesus said, they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them. Set them apart. Make them holy through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Let Christ transform your mind. Let this mind be in you. Verse five. Notice verse five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let the mind of Christ be in you. Give control of your mind to Jesus. Think like Jesus. Allow Jesus to to change your thinking process. Can two walk together except they'd be agreed? Amos three verse three. A cancerous cell has a mind of its own. It's a free radical. Goes its own way. Doesn't cooperate with the body. Jesus is the head of the body, his church. We get our instructions from him. We go according to his word. He never violates his word or contradicts his word. It's real simple. What's his word have to say? Thy word have I hid my heart that I might not sin against thee. Get to know God through the study of his word and you'll begin to gain what's right, what's wrong. So to your children, if you read and instruct and teach them in the way they should go. They'll know what's right, what's wrong. They may not act on it. They may not adhere to it, but at least they'll know. In Proverbs twenty three seven as he think of the dishonor so is he so we don't force we don't teach we don't trade, or we don't force the issue. We teach people. Ministry is more caught than it's taught. Sometimes on the team, we trade a player. Sometimes we cut the player. We call in the Bible these the blessed subtractions. And why is that? Team chemistry. We don't need somebody stirring up with gossip and slander dividing the church. Lord, take them out. Move them on. Come counsel with me. I'll counsel you. There's really a much better church out there than this one. I think you're gifting and the working of your lips would work real good over here at this church, you know. Pray for the Lord to remove them. Obviously, in Matthew 18, we confront. We deal with it head on. If they don't listen, we bring another witness. They still don't deal with it. Then the leadership says, you know, we're in agreement with you. This is not a perfect church, and I'm not a perfect pastor. And I don't want you to feel like you have to be here. You're not here to change this team. You're not here to take this team over, so why are you here? Not gonna happen. And so you stand firm against the rebellious cancerous cell. I don't try to pretend that we're perfect. I I only look at it as the Lord will have those here that can tolerate me for a period of time. I'm offensive. My nickname to Kathy is a jackass. I'm an ass. I'm gonna attack. It's a war I'm in. I'm in a war for truth for thirty one years, fighting, fighting against lies, fighting against the norm, and it offends people. People come up to me afterwards, I got friends that are gay. I got friends that are on those psychotropic drugs. I got friends that voted for Donald j Trump. I got friends. I got friends. I got friends. I got friends too. And my best friend is Jesus. And I'm here to please Jesus. If you have facts rather than feelings, let me know. Show me in the word of God where I'm wrong. But I'm standing with the word of God. And don't misconstrue truth. My standing for truth is being unloving, unkind. That's the most loving kind thing I can do to prepare you to try and bring you out of that stupor and that lie and that delusion that you're headed toward. You're being lied to. The word that I put now on Facebook, betrayal. Betrayal, betrayal, betrayal. You've been betrayed. I'll see if it gains any traction. Bottom line is you're being betrayed. These data centers, lack of water, lack of food, lack of energy, you're being betrayed by the very people you put in office that you thought were gonna fix everything. You've been betrayed. The midterms aren't gonna save you. It's gonna be more of the same. If you can't prosecute the pedophiles listed in the Epstein files, if you can't enact the rule of law, the laws that are already on the books, what makes you think your vote's gonna change a thing? It's idiocy, but it's trained helplessness. It's the definition of insanity. Keep doing the same thing thinking you're gonna change something, nothing changes. The bible tells us to expose them. If the church would expose them, have no fellowship with them for works of darkness, but shine the light, expose them. That's what they hate they hate the most. They hate being exposed. They wanna move along wearing Christian clothes, wolves in sheep clothing, and be left alone. Very few pastors have the have the guts, the Kurds, very few Christians to name names, to expose them. It's real vogue to demonize Democrats. Well, what have your Republicans done to deal with the criminality of the Democrats? Nothing. They're on the same team. So why are you putting your faith and trust in that system that's bankrupt, that's gone? Because we're immoral. We're corrupt. We don't know what's right anymore. All we care about is our own pleasure. All we care about is our own money. Now now they're changing the money. Now they're now they're threatening that your Social Security everything's gonna be gone. What do you do then? That's betrayal. This people draw nigh to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips Jesus said, but their heart is far from me. But in vain, do worship me teaching the for doctrines, commandments of men. They've got the wrong playbook. They're following the pharisees. They're following the religious false prophets. Wrong playbook. You you need to go according to the word of God. How do we work as a team? Number one, be like minded with others. Number two, be lowly towards others. Notice verse three, let nothing be done through strive for vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than themselves. Jesus is the star quarterback. Be clothed with humility for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. There's no Christian celebrities, no Christian idols. It's dangerous when we do this. We become cult like. We have our Christian celebrities and our worldly celebrities that that we look to to fix things when we should be looking to Jesus as the only star. This word strife means fighting to advance self. It speaks of selfish ambition, self exaltation. This vain glory speaks of fame, prestige, to be seen of men. Your popularity, my my social media, my hits, million people following me, constantly wanting to be liked and followed. In Isaiah fourteen thirteen, speaking of the devil, Lucifer's fall as Solelinski rules for radicals. He said the first rebel was Lucifer, fallen angel Lucifer, the rebel. For thou hast said in thine heart, will his I will statements. He had an eye problem. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the North. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high God, yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. That's reality. The guy's delusional. So many people delusional today, lying to you saying you're gonna never die. That they've got the secret, they've got the gene, they've got the technology to make it Jared Kushner so your generation won't die. They're lying. It's appointed in all wind wants to die and then the judgment. And we'll see that in Genesis five that, you know, they could live over nine hundred years and then God put a limit, hundred and twenty years. And that's about it. That's about the longest a human being can live since then. It's about a hundred and twenty years, you know. And then they die. Some of them live a little longer than a hundred and twenty, but the lifespan greatly reduced. The weakening of our DNA. Weakening the process of death corruption taking place that of disease that of the fall. Imagine if we had perfect food. Imagine if we're in Genesis or excuse me, Revelation twenty one and twenty two where we've got perfect food. We just the healing of the nations. You just go to a tree and you eat it and and you're kept healthy, maintained healthy, good medicinal food. No glyphosate. No poisons. No things that are gonna poison you in the water and all. The objective of the devil is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And his minions, that's what they do. They want population reduction. You stand in the way. People stand in the way. They're building a utopian society underground, above ground, the entire system to worship the devil, to take the place of God. In Psalm two, oh, how the heathen rage and imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against his anointing. God laughs at them. Their plot to keep Jesus from returning, to take control, to take possession of this planet, to set up his kingdom. Because this entire world reaches a place of being on the brink of total and complete annihilation. The Bible says except those days be short, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, for the nation of Israel, that one remnant that's hiding there, that's run to Petra, they cry out, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, and the Lord Jesus returns. He destroys the Antichrist, the world's champion, the world's team, the armies of the of the planet with the brightness of his coming and the sword of his mouth. Jesus destroys them all. He's the savior. He's the messiah. He's the anointed one. And he's coming again. And that's the one we look to. We look to Jesus. But a counterfeit's coming. Jesus said, I come in my father's name, he received me not. Another shall come in his own name, and him you will receive, worldlings. You're gonna be tricked. You're gonna follow a lie. You're gonna reject the truth. You're gonna be given over to a strong delusion by God that you would believe the lie. That lie is you shall not die. You're gonna live forever. How are they gonna convince people of this or manipulate people in such a way? God resists the proud. Jesus prayed not my will, but thy will be done. In Philippians two nineteen through 21, when we get through this chapter, Paul said, I have no man who's like minded except Timothy. There there's nobody else I'm working with that's truly like minded. Now let this mind be in you, was also in Christ Jesus. Okay. So I'm teaching this. I'm I'm being an example of this to be Christ like, to live for Jesus. But Paul said, these all men love themselves. They're seeking their own. Look at two nineteen through 21. Take a peek there. Take a peek what he says. They're just seeking their own. They're the Laodicean church. They're rich and increased with goods in need of nothing. They want both. They want the world and they want the Christianity. And Paul's saying, Timothy, he's like minded. He's all in. It's all about Jesus for Timothy. As much as I'm trying to teach this truth, it's a hard truth to get through to people. Because we're prideful, because we're selfish, Because we want our own way. And so pride divides. The prima donna on the team becomes a huge distraction. J Vernon McGee is quoted as saying in churches, in this church, I don't think in this church. I would say in this church, if I'm looking around, In this church, there might be one or two people that don't like me. J. Vernon McGee says, in churches, churches are divided. On the one side, have people that like the pastor, and the pastor's wife, they like her clothes, they like her hair, they like her kids. Now on the other side, j according to J. Vern McGee, long time pastor, you've got the other ones that don't like the pastor. But they don't leave the church. They stay on the team in a house divided against itself can't stand. So you don't experience this consolation and this comfort and this love and bowels of mercies and all. Now you don't have to be friends with those on the left, the demons. Right? You don't need to be friend. But how do you do that? How do you divide a church into Democrats, Republicans? How do you do that? How how do you House divided against itself can't stand, Jesus said. We gotta be one. We gotta be one with Christ. We gotta allow Christ to show us what it is To live the life of a Christian. How do we work as a team? Be like minded with others. Be lowly towards others. And thirdly, be looking out for others. Verse four. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Be other centered, not self centered. Jesus didn't come to be ministered unto, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many. That's his example. Live the life of a servant. He's a bond servant unto his father. I do always those things that please the father. Live to please Jesus. Live to please your heavenly father. In Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 10, the disciples were fighting James and John specifically with their mother Salome coming to Jesus and Jesus. Hey, when you come into your kingdom, could you allow my sons one James to sit on your left hand and John to sit on your right? You know, you're the king, your kingdom, you're coming. Can you allow my two sons to sit one on the left, one on the right? And the boys are there. Yeah, Jesus. Can you do this one thing for us? We got something to ask of you. Could you allow us one to sit on your right hand, one on your left when you come in your kingdom? We want to promote ourselves. And Jesus said, can you drink of the cup that I'm gonna drink? Now what's that cup church? We're gonna talk about that cup. Can you drink? Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, but nevertheless, not as I will. Can you drink of the cup of wrath that's coming on me? Are you willing to drink the cup of wrath? Are you willing to be treated unjustly, unfairly? Are you willing to allow allow God's wrath to be poured out upon you and the devil to target you and to try to destroy you? Are you willing to be baptized with the baptism that I'm gonna be baptized with? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They're clueless. They don't have a clue what he's talking about. Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. Sure. Sure. And and here's an interesting thing. I love this. Jesus says, you will drink and you will be baptized. In in in spite of our how delusional we are, in spite of how weak we are, Jesus is gonna privilege you and I to suffer for him. To drink of that cup and to be baptized with that baptism. When we get to heaven, we're gonna have scars. We're we're gonna have proof that we live for him. It's the opposite of the world's value system presently. It's a totally different value system. Hey, I'm all in for Jesus. There's no going back. Demas has forsaken me, Paul said, having loved this present evil world. That's not you. You're not gonna forsake Jesus. As the fire gets hotter, you're not gonna quit. You already proved it in so many ways. You're not those that go with the crowd. You're those that go against it, and you got a crazy pastor remind you of every week. There's no cure for me. There's no change in me. There's there's no pill. There's there's no convincing. I'm not for sale. The devil is not gonna change my mind because I am like minded with Jesus. I don't get my marching orders from Fox News of the world or how to be successful. I don't have a program or these 10 steps. I'm incorrigible. It's the New Testament Christianity. It's the book of acts. It's God's word. And that's it. End of story. We won't compromise. We won't rebrand. We won't come up with a formula to get nickels and noses and people in here and beg for money three times a month, four times a month, three times a service. We're gonna trust the Lord because the false prophets make merchandise of the sheep, and they love it so. They give you plaques. They give you things on the wall to appeal to your flesh. Be other centered, not self centered. And the disciples, James and John, you know, they wound up James died being thrown off a temple, killed, and John later exiled the island of Patmos, tried to boil them in oil, it wouldn't boil. Peter, hey, when you're young, you go where you want. When you're old, you're gonna go where you will not. And what about John? John the beloved. Don't worry about John. Mind your own business. If I will to thee tarry till I come, what is that to you? Follow thou me. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Tend my lamps. Feed my sheep. The voice of Jesus, not a barking coach, not an angry father, but Adam, where are you? It's he's restoring Peter after Peter denied him three times. He's saying, Peter, I'm not done with you. You are gonna fulfill your ministry. You are gonna be crucified. And Peter, traditional say you were crucified upside down. You're gonna represent me. They're gonna try and stamp Christianity out. They're gonna destroy Christianity. But I've got witnesses. I've got people that refuse to give in to be like the world that are gonna stand for me till the end of the age. I've got a numerable multitude of people beneath the throne of God in Revelation six and seven that refuse the mark of the beast, the tribulation saints. But the church saints, prior to that, they too refuse to give into the world. To be like the world. To stand for Jesus in Iran and China and even in America. The other centered, not self centered. Which of you will be the chiefest? You're gonna be the servant of all if you wanna be the chiefest. Work with the rookies. Help the rookies. Make them better. Disciple the young. The golden rule to live by. As Jesus said, so in everything now notice the positive here. You can say this in the negative, do unto others as they've done unto you. Seek revenge. We like revenge. We like justice. We like the bad guy getting what he deserves. But Jesus puts it in the positive, the golden rule. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. Now when I was studying this, was in California, and there was a struggle in my heart to apply this. I'd go into these bathrooms at the beach. They're just filthy. Oh, they're so filthy. Kathy won't even use them, but I have to. So we're stopping and I'm going into this bathroom, and it's I it's indescribable. And I'm wondering I wonder if I'm gonna get sick from this, you know, what or whatever. And so I I like to go this might be too much information, but I like to go in there and clean it up a little bit. Hey, Kathy. You got some wet wipes? You got some dude wipes? They got these dude wipes now. And you go in there and you wipe the seat and you wipe everything down and everything. And and then, you know, you just I'll use the word. You just urinate. So you urinate, but you spray everything if you're me. You know? Now I could walk out of there, And I got convicted like, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You've been looking at these bathrooms. They're just blown up, man. They're filthy, man. So I got convicted. I'm like, well, I can't cheat this if I don't do it, you know, if I'm not that guy. So I I found myself cleaning the bathroom after I used the restroom because I can still hear Kathy say about my toothbrush. I can still hear that. That if you don't clean the bathroom after you're done, then I'm gonna clean it with your toothbrush and you won't know it. So God's using this woman in my life to do unto others as I would have. Now, nobody sees what's going on in that bathroom, but God does. And God's looking at your heart. When I used to clean carpets, I used to go into the room, the furthest room, and you clean all around the traffic areas and everything. And you're working your way out the door. And man, I wanna get out that door as quick as I can, but am I gonna open that door and clean behind that door? And you'll find there's a lot of fuzz and a lot of stuff behind the door in the corner, you know? But I I just couldn't blow and go. I had to open that door and get behind that corner and clean that edge. Because to me, my mind, I gotta be at peace like I'm doing unto others as I would have them do unto me. That's the golden rule. It's in the positive. That's who we are as Christians. As you would want them to do unto you. Crazy. I guess I got it in me cleaning. I'm a cleaning guy. By this shall I know that you're my disciples that you have loved one for another. Love your neighbors as yourself. Be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Do do do do Ephesians four thirty two. Greater love has no man than this than a man lay down his life for his friends, for others. Make a crushing block to spring your teammate. Plug the hole as a linebacker so your teammate can make the tackle. Block with other linemen. You ever seen a quarterback block so that he can set free the the back? Very few quarterbacks wanna do that. They don't wanna get hurt. They're they're China dolls. You know? But every now and then, you'll see a quarterback that used to be a linebacker in high school or college, and and they'll they'll they'll sacrifice their body to spring the back. You know? Some won't. Oh, no. I got I'm worth millions and billions of dollars. You know? Make a crushing block to spring your plug the hole so your teammate can make the tackle. Block the other linemen. Stand, withstand the opposition allowing your QB to pass for the TD. Give them time to pass. Work together as a team, as one, as coached by the holy spirit, as instructed in God's word, as led by Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before me endured the cross despising the shame and is seated down at the right hand of the father. Play to win. Get the gospel out. Make disciples. Keep the real goal in mind. The real end zone. Play to win one. Not one Super Bowl. Play to win one more soul to Christ. How much time do you have left? How much time do we have left to win one more soul to Christ? What if that, rather than that big crusade and all those people and big things you wanted to do for Jesus, what if Jesus is keeping you alive for this one soul that he wants you to share the gospel with? One man sows another waters, and God brings the increase. And what if that one soul is your daughter, your son? And what if God's keeping somebody alive in San Francisco, And he's there with a sandwich board, and he's saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. And he does it year after year after year after year, and the people refuse to change. They refuse to repent. But he's there year after year after year. And somebody walks up to him one day and says, man, you've been here so long. I've seen you. Nobody's changing. Why do you keep doing this? Why why do you keep keep doing this? Because I don't wanna change. As you do what God's called you to do, he's concerned about you. He's concerned about you standing for truth. You're his witness in that city, in that community. Doesn't matter if nobody else wants to change, but what if there's just one? Is it worth it for one? Would Jesus have gone to the cross for just one? If I ever meet somebody that God uses to minister to somebody I deeply love, and I can't be there, but I can pray and I can ask God, and I can look at that person's life and I can say, you know, they've been faithful. Sometimes they get a call from people from around the country and their their kids here in the Navy, from San Diego or Hawaii or whatever, and they're thankful that we're here, that you're here, that you're sharing with their son or daughter. You're their liaison. You're the one God's gonna use. Play to win one for Jesus. They do it for a Super Bowl. We do it for one more soul. They for a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible crown that fades not away. Win one more life. Your focus this year, where you're going? Win one more life. If there's 50 people here and God used us, each of us, to save one more soul. Now, one man sows the seed, another waters. We know that God brings the increase, but somehow in this dispensation, he's not using the angels like he does in the tribulation period to share their everlasting gospel. He doesn't have the 144,000 here. He doesn't have the two witnesses here. He's got the 50 of us as his witnesses. And he's commissioned us to go and make disciples. And maybe in the past, you know of 20 people that came to Christ through your ministry. Maybe you know of 10, maybe you know 12. What if there's one just one more in these last days? People hardening to the gospel. What if there's one there'd be 50 more people's names written in the lamb's book of life, and God already knows who they are. And if we're occupying till he comes rather than trying to live in paradise, but coming back and doing what God's called us to do to occupy till he comes to be about our father's business, there's a divine appointment. God has strategically put us in this team, on this team with Jesus as the head. And souls are perishing. And he's entrusted the unsearchable riches of Christ to you and I, and he's guaranteed that his word won't come back void. That his word is powerful, and he hasn't changed. He has the same message, the same message of Jesus Christ and him crucified for the remission of sins. What must I do to be saved? Believe the same message. It's not complicated. Each of us, all of us are part of his team. He came for the others. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. For sinners, the ones that weren't in the church club, the ones that were ostracized around the outside, the woman caught in the very act, the adulterers, the harlots, the tax collectors, the sinners. He came for them all. They weren't in the pharisaical club. They weren't in the most likely to succeed. They were at the house of Simon the leper Simon the pharisee, who thought he was so incredibly righteous. How could Jesus be a godly man and be around this woman? Simon, don't you get it, bro? Don't you get it? I came to your house and you gave me no no water to wash my feet. You you didn't give me a towel. You didn't give me any oil for my head. You didn't greet me. You didn't do anything. Show no respect at all. And from the very first moment, this woman came here and cleansed my feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair. She anointed me with oil. Because Simon, the reason is those that are forgiven much love much. You don't love me, Simon. You have so much. You think you're a great prize. You're a prima donna. You're a celebrity. But I didn't come for the righteous. I came for sinners. I came for the others. He came for you. He is your victory. Have you crowned him champion? Are you on his team? Joy, Jesus first, others second, yourself last. Joy, what is joy? Joy is joy is knowing Jesus. Do you know Jesus? You reach retirement age, and everybody's wanting to tell you about how much money they got. Assets they have, how hard they worked. What's it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or what would a man give in exchange for his life? I don't need any alcohol to be filled with joy. I don't need any of the things of the world to prop me up and make me feel good. Little chocolate, I'm good to go. But I see the folks out in the world, as I'm observing, they have far more material goods than Kathy and I have. But they don't look filled with joy. They don't look very happy. They're obsessed with the things that are of the temporal, are perishing, that are going bye bye. And we banked. We banked years ago on the winning team of Jesus. He called us. He elected us. He brought us onto his team. And nobody can take away that which he's purchased for us. None of it can ever be taken away. We know that we've already won. That he's conquered the world. He's conquered sin and death and the devil and all of it. And we're we're just waiting for that day of celebration. That huge marriage supper of the lamb. The greatest Super Bowl party there ever was. And it's so sad. It's just so sad because this evades many people. They don't they don't get it. They played by the rules maybe. They they've achieved, they've done, they've done well, and they have nothing to be ashamed of, but they're still empty. And you wanna share Christ with them. And and if riches increase, set not your heart on it. The riches aren't the problem. It's just the riches can't produce. Can't produce the joy you're looking for. It can't do it. Only relationship with Jesus can fill that void, that emptiness, and bring that satisfaction, that contentment, and and realization that you're loved. That God loves you. He's always loved you. One friend of mine, Tim, we tried to share with Tim and and he said his mother died when he was 11 and he just can't get over that. I love Tim. He used to be my roommate and I'm praying for Tim and his family. And I asked him, I said, well Tim, he goes, I just don't know how God could allow that. And I said, well Tim, Tim, Tim, what if you as God the father offered your son Ryan, your only begotten son Ryan, and that he would die for the sins of the whole world. Ryan didn't do anything wrong. You know Ryan. He's your son. He's a good kid. Why would God do that? And his face, did the realization hit him? Yeah. Why would God do that? Now I don't know where he's gonna go with that, but I know the Holy Spirit was speaking to him about God's love for him and sacrificing his only begotten son. Are you aware of the sacrifice God the Father has made for you? What he's given you so that you can have life, so that you can be on a winning team? Don't deprecate. Don't diminish. Don't try to devalue the cross. Recognize the value that God places upon you. The tremendous price is the precious blood of his son to purchase you, to wash, to cleanse you. And God's desire is not to make you miserable. God's desire as that you would speak and that you would experience joy unspeakable and full of glory. As you minister to others, others who are perishing, others that didn't know, others that didn't have a clue, he's after the others. That's why he chose you. That's why he listed you. That's why he brought you onto his team to save just one more. Just one more. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your love, Lord. And we pray, Lord, evermore that you give us that urgency of how short the time is to keep the main thing the main thing. That, Lord, we are your instruments. We are those that you've saved, that you're changing, that you've empowered to do the work. Not somebody else. Each and every one of us on your team has a function, has a place, has a voice. And Lord, we pray evermore that as we seek to get to know you, that Lord our hearts would be stirred overflowing, that Lord we'd have just such a glow and such a blessedness of being in the spirit, being in the beloved, that God you'd use our lives. That our lives would make others thirsty. They'd wanna know you. They'd wanna know what we know, and that it's not what we know, but who we know. That they would know Jesus. So bless now, father. If there's anybody here this morning and you don't know Jesus, you don't have a relationship with him, you can. Call upon the name of the Lord while he's near. Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. Believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and you'll be saved. Anyone here this morning, you're turning from your sin. You're turning from your old life, your old decadent ness, your whatever your sins may be. Maybe you had an abortion. Maybe you sympathize with that lady. You went through postpartum depression at one point and the doctors had you on so many different drugs, but God reached down and rescued you. I'm afraid of what I'm capable of. My greatest enemy is me. And I am so thankful the Lord in many ways has not allowed me to be that person that I know I could have been that I don't want to be. God didn't make me a righteous person, always doing the right things. He has a hedge of protection keeping me from from destroying myself. And the devil seeks to steal and kill and to destroy people's lives. There's no mother in her right mind that would destroy her three children. That's demonic. But the message that needs to be sent is that, yeah, she might have to suffer incarceration for what she's done in this body, but God can forgive her. God can change her. God can give her a new mind, a new heart. And God can use her. God can use her life. God can use you. So father, we just thank you. We pray now as we partake of communion that you would bless his time. 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.
