Skip to content Stand Alone Messages: For Christ's Sake Dec 31 · 46 min ...more
Stand Alone Messages: For Christ's Sake
December 31, 2023 · 46 min
Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
Series BRAVE Church December 31, 2023 · 46 min · BRAVE Church
Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub ...more Show the full description Show less Speaker: Jeff Schwarzentraub
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Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub serves as president of Pastor Jeff Ministries, a national and global ministry designed to equip believers and challenge them to take
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0:00 Father in heaven, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise as we seek you today as a body of people believing that you are at work and that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you speak0:10 directly to us. And so our prayer this morning as every morning is speak Lord for we are ready to hear. We wanna hear what you have to say. We wanna hear how you challenge us, admonish us, encourage us.0:22 Lord, you know everything about us and you wanna speak to us through your word today. And so now for all who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to you, who will believe what he says and0:34 who will by faith put into practice what he shows you, will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word amen. Amen. Today's message is for Christ's sake.0:46 Really, every message I preach is for Christ's sake. Really, all the things that we do in the church are for Christ's sake. Now when you hear the words for Christ's sake, we need to really redeem those words because0:56 sometimes they're used by our secular culture to say something pejorative or derogatory. But, really, when it comes to the things of God, we're doing everything for the sake of Jesus Christ. Really, everything the Bible1:07 wants us to do is to recognize that Jesus Christ is worthy of all your glory, honor, and praise. And for the sake of Christ, God wants you to live. The greatest peace, the greatest joy, the greatest hope in1:19 the world is through Jesus Christ and for Christ's sake. Now at the end of a calendar year, many people start thinking about the future and where they're going and what they're1:31 doing. And this is not a message of how to set new goals for the new year and how to be resolved or any of those things. This is really for you to think through not only today as we get ready to turn the page on a1:41 calendar year, but just every day. What does it look like for you to live for Christ's sake? What in your life do you need to to change, or how do you need to1:52 live so that Jesus Christ gets more glory in and through you? If you ever wanted to know how you can make that happen no matter where you are in your journey, I believe that God has a word for you. I'd encourage you2:04 today to open your bibles up to the book of Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, we're gonna be in verses 12, 13, and 14. And while you're turning to Philippians 3, let me just really set up the text for you2:15 because this is 1 of my favorite books in the New Testament, Philippians. The the apostle Paul is really writing about the joy that we have in Christ, and he's writing to this church in Philippi, and he's telling them2:27 even though things haven't gone well for him, even though he's in prison, even though some are preaching Christ from wrong motives, what does he care as long as Jesus is being preached? He's getting to witness to all the2:37 praetorian guard and everyone else that he's in chains for Jesus. And he says, even if they kill me, what does that matter? For me to live as Christ and to die is gain. Then he begins in chapter 2 to talk about the2:47 humility of Christ and all that Christ endured and how God wants us to work out Christ in and through our lives that what God has worked in, he wants us to work out. Talks about his relationship with Timothy Timothy and2:58 Epaphroditus. And then he goes through his litany and resume of, if there's anybody that thinks that they could be religious enough without Christ, it would be me. And he goes through his resume and3:10 he says, I count all of that garbage. Literally, he says, it's excrement to the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior. And then he gets into what he's gonna talk about today before he gets to3:21 chapter 4 and talks about how we need to think about things. And as we set up this text in Philippians chapter 3 verses 12 13 and 14, I want you to think about how it is that you can live today and in3:33 the coming year for Christ's sake. Let me read these 3 verses then we'll unpack them together. He says this, not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of3:44 that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but 1 thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies3:55 ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And they're nestled in those 3 verses. The Holy Spirit really begins to tell us how it is4:07 that we can live today and every day for the sake of Christ. How we can live for Christ's sake. And here's why this text is so important. Because the Bible says that salvation is new birth. That's4:19 simply the beginning, and the Bible makes clear that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus Christ, his only begotten son who put on flesh, who became incarnate flesh, and became the God man. And even though the4:30 second person of eternity Jesus had existed for eternity, about 2000 years ago, put on flesh for all eternity. He came and fulfilled the law. He came and did everything his dad required. He restored honor to4:42 his father. And at the end of his life, he laid down his life on the cross showing the love and justice of God. The justice of God that he was willing to pay for all of our sins and the love of God, which provided us a4:53 way into relationship with God. 3 days later, Jesus Christ rose from the dead, began to offer life to anybody who would repent of their sin, meaning they would wanna turn from their sin, their deadness, and5:05 turn by faith in the living God to Christ and have life in his name. That's the good news. We call that the gospel. And in the gospel, we call that new birth. That's just the beginning. And yet, for5:16 many believers around the world, they think that's the end. I got saved. What else is there? Well, there's a whole bunch. There's a whole bunch. There no matter where you are, there's there's more. And this is why Paul5:28 writes this text. Because if there was anybody that had a way of saying, I'm very well educated. I've been the religious person. I've done it all of of I'm I'm of Jewish descent. I'm of the right tribe of5:40 Benjamin. I'm of all the Pharisees, I'm like a Pharisee of Pharisee. When it comes to legalistic righteousness, I'm faultless. Like, if there's anybody that can boast about their religious resume, it's me.5:52 And yet I consider it all dung. I consider it all excrement to the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord. And I wanna know what his sufferings were like, and I wanna participate with Christ. And I wanna I6:02 look forward to the resurrection of the dead when I can meet Jesus. And then he writes this. And he says, for Christ's sake, and he's gonna highlight 4 areas this morning that we need to grow in for the sake of Jesus6:14 Christ. And the first is this, for Christ's sake, shed your passivity and initiate pursuit. For Christ's sake, shed your passivity and6:26 initiate pursuit. Now notice what he says. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect. If there's anybody in the history of the church who could have6:37 touted their resume and said, I've done a pretty good job. It could it would be the apostle Paul. 2 thirds of the New Testament was written by the apostle Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit. Started6:49 churches from scratch, was beat, was arrested. I mean, everything we read about him, like, that's kind of a model as to what we might wanna look at. And here's what he says. I haven't got there.7:01 I haven't attained it. I'm not perfect already. I'm I'm not there. Now, this should give us great comfort as believers in Jesus Christ. If the apostle Paul said, I haven't arrived, what does that mean for me and you?7:13 We ain't there either. It means this, no matter where you are in your journey with Christ Jesus, there's more. There's more. Ever seen those infomercial ads? But wait. There's more. That's what the7:25 apostle Paul is saying. No matter how much you've experienced, wait. There's more. And he tells us for Christ's sake to shed your passivity and initiate pursuit. Notice what he says. Not that I've obtained it already or7:36 already become perfect, but what do I do? I press on. That means I pursue. I press on that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.7:48 And that sounds kinda tongue twister ish a little bit. It means I wanna grasp everything that Jesus Christ grasped for me. Well, what did Jesus Christ grasp for Paul or what did Jesus Christ8:00 grasp for us? Jesus Christ left heaven for you. For every single believer, here's what he would say. You did not choose me, Jesus said. I chose you and appointed you to go bear fruit. Means Jesus left8:12 heaven for you. He fulfilled the law for you. He came and died for you. He rose from the dead for you. He sent the Holy Spirit for you. He's the 1 through the Holy Spirit who gifted you. He's given8:24 you every single thing you need for a life and godliness. Paul says, I've got it all. Jesus has all of me. I just wanna grab all of him. What he was saying is, God's got all8:36 of me. Right? He he's taken all of me. I wanna take everything that God has for me. I don't wanna sit back. I don't wanna be passive. And here's the problem in the church, specifically in America. Many times we think, if8:48 God wants to grow me, he'll grow me. I mean, I'm growing. Don't push me. Don't tell me what I need to do. I'm I'm good. I'm okay. If God wants to change that, he'll change that. Have you ever been in a8:59 conversation with somebody where you share the word with them and you're like, well, this is what the Bible says and they say something like this. Yeah, maybe, but I'm just not convicted about that yet. Like, well, who9:09 cares if you're convicted about it? It's what Jesus says. Right? I mean, we tend to have a very passive approach to our sanctification. And regardless of your view of sanctification, sanctification is the process of9:20 going from new birth to glorification. It's that period in between where we're growing in holiness and righteousness. And here's what the Bible teaches, that the Holy Spirit initiates, but you must cooperate.9:32 He initiates, but you must participate. The Holy Spirit's main ministry is to make Jesus Christ look good. That's what he's always doing. His ministry on the earth was to glorify the son, bring adoration to the9:44 son so the father would be glorified. His that's still his mission. And the gospel is Christ in you, the hope of glory. So what is the holy spirit's job in you? To make Jesus look really good coming out of you. So9:56 the holy spirit is always at work prompting, convicting, changing, tweaking, moving so that he wants us to step here. He wants us to move there. He wants us to stop that.10:08 He initiates. But guess what? You must cooperate. You you must participate with him. And many of us in the church, we're very passive. We're very passive like, well, I'm I'm I'm enough. I10:20 I feel like I'm doing the things that he needs me to do and I'm I'm pretty good with that. And the reason that we're passive is because it's part of our sinful DNA. You track it all the way back to Adam in the garden10:31 when God gave him a command to bring the word to his wife and he failed. And he let the enemy through a serpent talk to his wife who chose wrongly because Adam didn't stand up and say, this is what God says.10:43 He didn't follow the prompting. He didn't follow the command and passivity is in the heart of all of us. We want everyone else to take care of us. For those of us that are married, we hope our marriage just kinda takes10:55 care of itself. It's my spouse's job to make it good. It's our kids' job to make it good. Kids, it's my parents' job to make it good. If I work, it's my boss's job to make it good. If I'm the boss, it's my employee's job11:05 to make it good. We like to relinquish our self to passivity. And here's how you know, because we like things that are certain and unchanging. That's the way God made us.11:18 Exhibit a. For those of you that come to brave, you're probably sitting in about the same seat you sit every single week. I know this because on Christmas Eve, are a couple of you mad because somebody took your row.11:30 Don't they know this is my row? Right? Because we like comfort. We like certainty. So to change the routine and not be passive and actually pursue the Lord causes a change of11:41 uncertainty in our life. But this is what God wants us to do. If you wanna grow in Christ, you gotta kick passivity to the curb, and you gotta participate and cooperate with the Holy Spirit. You have11:53 to work out what he's working in, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That's what God wants. And the way we do that is for the sake of Christ and for the sake of the gospel. Jesus Christ died on the cross.12:04 He rose from the dead. There's no greater news on the planet, and you are left here as his witness, as his ambassador so that Jesus Christ can work in and through you so people can see whether you're a man, woman, boy,12:16 or girl, what it looks like to glorify God as a human being. That's your role, and you need to exhaust yourself in that role. You need to exhaust. If you want to grow in Christ, that's how you12:28 exhaust yourself. That's how you grow. That's what you do. I mean, to the apostle Paul in first Corinthians chapter 9 starting in verse 23. Here's what he says. He says, I do all things for the sake of12:40 the gospel. In other words, I do all this for the sake of Christ. How many of us could say that about our lives? Everything I'm doing, I'm doing for the sake of Christ. That's what Paul was trying to say. Certainly, he12:50 wasn't perfect. He just told you he wasn't. He hadn't arrived, but that's what he was trying to do. I do all things for the sake of the gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker in it. Then he goes through this whole13:00 sporting analogy. Do you not know that all who run-in a race, but only 1 receives the prize run-in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self control and all things.13:12 They they then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. There's people that give so much dedication to sport, to finances, to future, to goals, for things that are only13:24 temporary here. We're serving a God for eternal rewards. How much more important is that? Therefore, Paul says, run-in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but13:36 what? I discipline my body and I make it my slaves so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. You study the life of Paul. There's no passivity in this life. I mean, here's what13:48 you see in the life of the apostle Paul. I'm going after Jesus with everything, and here's what's gonna happen to me. Riots, beatings, and persecutions so long as I get to preach. I don't care if I'm in prison, and I13:59 don't care if I'm in the streets. What difference does it make as long as Jesus Christ is glorified in my life? And if they kill me, whatever. For me to live as Christ to die is gain. That's the goal of my14:11 faith. You're just getting me to my goal quicker. Everything I'm doing is for Christ. Think about your life. This a rhetorical question. Much of your life is for the sake of Christ? Is your marriage for the sake of14:23 Christ? Is your singleness for the sake of Christ? Is your family for the sake of Christ? Is your participation in church for the sake of Christ? Is your gospel proclamation and being14:34 intentional about sharing with the lost for the sake of Christ? You wanna grow in 20 24? You wanna grow today and any other day? Shed your passivity and initiate pursuit. I heard this quote14:46 recently from the late great Adrian Rogers who preached in the last generation. Here's what he said. He said, we ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon. Right?14:58 I mean, that that's the that's the nutshell of all of this. Like, we really lived like that. We might change our ways a little bit. We might see growth in our life. So for Christ's sake, shed your passivity15:09 and initiate pursuit. That's what Christ would have. The very things he's laid hold of in your life. Your eternal salvation secure. Your gifting is the It's all there. Go grab it. Go take15:21 it. It's all yours for the taking. Pursue Jesus. There's a great return on investment. For Christ's sake, shed your passivity and initiate pursuit. Number 2 is this. For Christ's sake, stop your fascination with the15:32 past. For Christ's sake, stop your fascination with the past. Now here's what he says. Here's what he says. He says this. He's like, I want to lay hold of that for which15:44 also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it. He says it again. I haven't got it all yet. There's more I can grow in Christ, but 1 thing I do, forgetting what lies15:54 behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. 1 thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. Stop your fascination with the past. There are so many people that don't grow in Christ16:06 because they are anchored to the past. They they cannot move forward. They're here. For some people, it's because it's the the good old days. When you hear people talk, oh, I remember back16:18 when I was growing up. My kids hear me talk that way sometimes. I remember what it was like back then. I remember, oh, it was so good back then. Our country was so different back then. Church was so different back then.16:28 If we could only go backwards You can't go backwards. And God did not put you on this earth to rewind a clock to go backwards. Some people read the bible. If only we lived in the first century, if only we had been with16:40 Jesus, it would be so much better. We're anchored back there. It's the good old days. Remember how good it used to be? Don't you wish it could be like that? If you live like that, here's what you're saying. Today is as16:51 bad as it's ever gonna get and tomorrow may get worse. I mean, imagine if I told my wife, hey, listen, we've had our best days. They'll never be any better than they used to be. From now on, it's just,17:04 You know, I mean, no way. There's only 2 things you can do from the past. 2 things you can do. 1, you can celebrate it and 2 is you can learn from17:16 it. And so when we reflect on the past, we can celebrate. Look at all that God's done. Look at what he's done in and through us. Look at what he's done in and through our church. Look at what he's done in and through our17:27 culture. Look at what he did in the dark time. Look at that. Celebrate God. Or we can learn from it. If you've lived as long as I have, you have a lot of shoulda, woulda, coulda's in your life. You have a lot17:39 of things you can learn from and that's all you can do. You cannot go backwards. God is not trying to take you backwards. Even the back to the bible movement, which I'm 100 percent for back to the bible. I'm 10017:51 percent for every word being true in the bible. If you go back to the bible, you're gonna understand that Jesus Christ is Lord and he's gonna point you forward to the kingdom of God. That's what he's gonna he's gonna go18:01 set you on mission in the future. And here's another reason why people have a hard time. Because for some of you in your past, there are things either before you came to Christ or18:13 even after you came to Christ of shoulda, woulda, coulda's that you live with guilt, doubt, shame, and fear. And you're so anchored to the past that I could never move forward because look at what I18:24 did. Let me tell you something. If you blew it back here, you can't fix it back here. The reason Jesus died is because he knew you were gonna blew it. Blow it. You you can't change the past.18:36 You can repent of it. You can confess it. You can forsake it, but you cannot change it. Now, in our psychological world, we like to use terms like this. Some of you just need to forgive18:48 yourself. The problem I have with that is that the bible says that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. And the bible also says that the only19:00 blood that is possible to forgive sin is Jesus Christ blood. If you could forgive yourself, Jesus Christ didn't died on the cross for nothing. You cannot forgive yourself. What people are trying to say19:12 is, would you please receive the fullness of Jesus Christ forgiveness over all your doubt, shame, and guilt? Some of you live 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. I should19:24 have known better. If only I wouldn't have done this. My life's over now because then you know nothing about the blood. The blood of Jesus cleanses you from all unrighteousness. He forgives all your19:36 sins. He lets you be freed up so that you don't have to wallow in your past. And isn't that good news? Because for so many of us, well, I'm born again, but I should have known better. My first marriage, I I should have19:47 known better in that dating relationship. I I could have done different at my first job. I I could have done different with my finances. Friends, everybody does stupid things. It's called sin. It's why Jesus Christ died19:56 on the cross. You're not immune. Stop having your fascination with the past. Some people are like, man, if I would have lived in John Wesley's generation or Charles Spurgeon's generation. You don't wanna say that because20:07 God ordained this time and this season and this life for you. Quit wishing you were somewhere else when God said, this is where I placed you. Your best days are now. Right? That's what he was20:19 saying. Stop the fascination with the past. Stop it. It's not the good old days and it's not the shame, remorse, guilt, and doubt days. I mean, Paul looked back on his life and when20:31 he would look back on his life, he would say things like this. Can't believe God could use someone like me. Of all the sinners out there, I'm the worst. I mean, I was abusing the church of Jesus Christ. I was dragging20:42 people off to be persecuted and killed. And if God can use me, here's what I know. He can use you. I mean, who else? Why would God pick me? He picked me because I'm 1 of the shameful ones in the world and he picked me so20:53 I could confound the wise. Right? Paul would look back and give God glory for all that he did. It's okay to look back as stones of remembrance. It's okay to look back at all that God's done. It's okay to look back at21:05 20 23 and say this because I mean this with all sincerity. Friends, at Brave Church, we started another campus in Colorado Springs this year. Praise the Lord. Can we give God praise for what he's starting on? We love you21:15 guys. We'll see you. We started Brave Academy with 34 students and about 14 employees. It's amazing. By God's grace, in 20 24, we'll have a middle school21:27 and a high school too. We'll see. I mean, we can we can look back and we can celebrate those things. We can tell God it's you and you're you're great and you're good. There's nothing wrong with that, but don't live here.21:39 Don't live here. Do you know why? Because that's not where you're at. Your past is completely forgiven. Your future is completely secure. And guess where God has you? Right here in the present to give him the most glory21:50 you can. And if you can't unhinge from the past, you can't enjoy God now. God did not put you on this earth as a believer who's been forgiven to wallow in stuff that's already been forgiven and some of you needed to hear22:02 that today. Right? Don't look back. Don't go back. I mean, throughout the Bible, see this theme all over the place. In Genesis chapter 19, God's gonna22:14 destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their their gross sin and God tells Lot to get his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah and they start running away from the city as God's raining down fire on the city and tells them, don't22:24 look back and they're all running and Lot's wife turned back and turned into a pillar of salt. Don't look back. Or how about Israel? Listen. Listen. Listen. For 40022:35 years, I'm 53. 400 years, all they did was complain that they were in slavery. God, where are you? This is so hard. We hate it here. Deliver us. Deliver us. Deliver us. God22:47 sends Moses as a servant as a deliverer, performs 10 massive plagues. They get delivered, and the final blow is God parts the Red Sea, lets all of Israel through, and destroys all of Egypt.22:59 They start singing praise songs on the beach as all the dead bodies of the Egyptians are floating. And yet what happens? 3 days later, oh, miss Egypt. They23:11 had leeks and garlic. I mean, who let us out here? Moses, we hate you. 400 years they've been complaining. What did they do? They look back. That's what we do. It's in human nature to look back and think it was better.23:23 Singles, listen to me. You know what I'm talking about. God shows you the person you're dating is not the person that you break up with them and you go 3 months without anybody. You start thinking, maybe I need to go23:31 back. It was better than nothing. No, it wasn't. Devil paints a picture that it was better than what you thought it was. You you can't go dip your toe in the same stream again where it was. Everything's dynamic.23:43 Everything's moving forward. Quit looking backward. God is on the move going forward. Walk with God. God's not walking backward. He he's walking forward right into the kingdom. Amen? So stop your23:55 fascination with the past. Celebrate it. Learn from it. Grow from it. Praise God. It's completely forgiven. I mean, who here does not have skeletons in their closet? Who here24:07 does not have things that you're like, I'm glad nobody knows that. Who? We all do because we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It doesn't mean we press them down. It doesn't mean we24:19 fake it. It means we go before the Lord and we confess it. We repent where we can make amends. We make amends. And then guess what we do? We move on. And we don't stay anchored to the past. And there's too many people in24:30 the body of Christ that are still anchored to the past falsely thinking they can change it. You can change nothing. Why waste your time there? Why not move forward for what God has you to do? Amen?24:42 So for Christ's sake, shed your passivity and initiate pursuit. And for Christ's sake, stop your fascination with the past. Learn from it, celebrate it, grow from it, and24:54 turn the page. Then number 3 says, for Christ's sake, stretch your faith with new challenges. Stretch your faith with new challenges. I love what Paul says. He makes a great preacher. Says this,25:06 he he says, brethren, did not consider myself of having laid hold of it, 1 thing I do and then he gives 2 points. Don't you love that? Just like any good preacher would do. 1 thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and25:18 reaching forward to what lies ahead. Why is that 1 point? Because they both go hand in glove. It's not just about leaving your past. It's not just about, okay, I'm forgiven. I guess I can. It's about moving forward. It's25:29 about taking steps of faith. It's about stretching towards the finish line. This is a picture of the tape at the end of a race where the runner is stretched out saying, I'm going for it. Like, until I meet Jesus Christ25:41 face to face for I wanna live my life for Christ's sake. I wanna live my life for the sake of the gospel. I wanna live my life for everything Jesus deems important until I meet him face to face. I wanna meet him as I'm25:52 running full speed into him. That's what Paul's saying. So forgetting what was behind and straining towards what is ahead means for Christ's sake, stretch your faith with new challenges. We've already been over some26:04 of this already. The reason it's tough to take new challenges is we like comfort. We like certainty. We like knowing how things work. Here's the problem. Listen. Listen. Listen. Whatever spiritual disciplines26:15 you've developed up until now, if that's the only ones that you have, instead of being a groove, it will become a rut. You'll dig in deeper. You'll dig in deeper. You'll dig in and you'll wonder how come I'm not growing26:27 because you gotta stretch new limits. You you gotta take on new disciplines. It's when you take on some new initiatives and take on some new disciplines where you have to trust God in a way you haven't had to trust God26:39 before. That's how you grow. You can't grow in Christ if you're not trusting Christ for new things. And it's different for each and every 1 of us here. Like, I don't know what the next step for you looks like. We always26:51 say the hardest step of faith to take is the next 1. What's it look like for you? I mean, maybe for you, it's prayer. Maybe you've never prayed out loud in a group before and that scares you to death. It's okay. Come to27:02 brave. We'll teach you how. We might not even teach you. We might just ask you to do it. Right? Maybe it's learning to pray with more intentionality for others. Maybe it's during the 21 days of prayer and27:14 fasting that you show up every Monday through Friday at 6 30 to 7 30 to pray with the group. Maybe it's every Saturday morning at 8 o'clock for an hour to pray with the group. Maybe it's intentionally praying every27:24 single day. Maybe it's starting a devotional time that you don't have. Maybe it's starting a 5 minute devotional time every day to seek the Lord before you roll out of bed. So that doesn't sound like a lot. It is a lot27:35 if you don't have 5 minutes that you're spending now. It's not about how you compare yourself to somebody else. So what about financially? I mean, I remember when I first started tithing, I've told you these stories. 1027:46 percent of my net I mean, how how am I ever gonna afford to pay bills? Well, if you give it to the Lord, then you gotta trust him in a new way. For those of you that tithe, know, it's not that big of a deal. As a matter27:57 of fact, you wouldn't stop because you've seen God provide in all sorts of different ways and it's just a spiritual discipline that you do. But maybe for you it's how do I give over and above that? What's it look like28:05 for me to be even more generous and how would the Lord have me steward my resources in a way where I really have to trust him even more than the groove or the rut that I'm getting into? Like, how do you disturb what's28:15 going on? Like, how do you make things different? And we don't like that, but I'm telling you, it's in that uncertainty and it's in that uncomfortability. That's where all the growth in Jesus Christ happens.28:28 And you gotta decide where that is because the Lord will start prompting you. He'll show you, hey, this year, here's how I want you to give. Or how about for some of you, you know, you come to brave for a long time, you28:37 like the church, you you love it, you you come on a regular basis, but perhaps you've never lifted a finger to serve anywhere and you just think that all the ministries are for you. And maybe the Lord prompts you to say,28:46 hey, you have gifts and you can serve and you can give more generously with your time. And maybe that's an uncomfortability where you start giving 5 or 10 hours a week to serve your local church in some way where the28:57 Lord could use you. Maybe you've never shared your faith before. Maybe you've never even shared the gospel with a non believer. Maybe this year is your year to do that. You know how you learn to share your faith? You29:08 share your faith. You know how you learn to worship? You worship. You know how you learn to teach the Bible? You teach the Bible. There's no natural gifting where you just wake up someday. I know how to do everything in29:18 the Christian. It doesn't happen that way. You have to decide and take steps of faith. And here's really 4 stages that happen when you do. You make a decision and you commit to it. This is what I'm gonna do.29:30 This is how I'm gonna give financially. This is how I'm gonna serve or this is how I'm gonna share my faith or this is how I'm gonna pray. Whatever it is. When you decide and you take steps to do that, everything will go29:41 crazy. It'll grow your faith. For those of you that have never tied before, as soon as you tied, you will freak out the first time you do. Well, what am I Woah. First time you decide to lead a29:53 cadre. How come nobody showing up on time and how come nobody takes this as serious as I do? First time you serving kids, I promise you you'll say that. Or you share your30:04 faith. First time I ever shared my faith, I was stumbling over my words. I was nervous. I was like, I'm gonna blow this for him and for his eternity and I'm scared to death. Whatever it is, it's gonna cause you30:15 uncomfortability where it has to grow your faith and your dependence upon the Lord. And when you do that, then you begin to learn the ways of God. This is how God operates. I see other scriptures that support this. And30:24 then finally, when you see God at work, it gives you this confidence like that really does work. And now you're ready to go around the circle again and decide something different. Now let me be clear to you. Whatever the30:33 Lord shows you, some of you overachievers out here, don't pick 18 things in 20 24 you're gonna change. Pick 1. Just pick 1. Well, that doesn't sound like a lot. It is a lot if you do30:45 it well. Just pick 1. Is it your area of generosity? Is your area of service? Is your area of devotion time with the Lord? What what is it? Just pick 1 and just take a step of faith where the Lord prompts you and trust30:56 him to show up in it. And as you gain confidence in that, then then take the next 1. As you get confidence in that, take the next 1. Don't over promise and under deliver. Just commit to what the Lord shows you and say,31:06 okay, we're going to try this. We're going to go for it and see what the Lord does because that's how growth happens and that's what God has for your life and that's what he wants you to do. And you can upset the apple31:16 cart by taking greater steps of faith. I remember when Kim and I were making the decision to, to move out here and stretch our faith. We had waited for about 7 years in our itinerant ministry where now we had money31:28 coming in and now we had staff coming in and now we had 2 different radio programs and books were getting written and everything was finally established where we weren't wondering how we were gonna pay for food or any of31:36 that kind of stuff. And that was about the time the Lord started prompting me, it's time to move and plant a church. And we began to talk about it. Like, how's this going to work? And we don't know anybody. And, but I31:45 knew in my gut, because I'd seen God take me around that wheel so many times. We got to go. And we were having very candid conversations about where's the money gonna come from? Where are we gonna find people? Where we31:55 gonna find a building? Any of that. And the answer was always the same. I don't know, but God does. So let's go. And I remember right before we were ever, we were ready to leave central Illinois to move out to Colorado.32:07 My wife asked me, I think it was like on a Monday or something like that. So what we're going to do is just kind of take a bed and you know, some furniture and we'll get an apartment and if this thing doesn't work out32:15 like 4 or 5 months from now, we'll just move back here. Right? I remember thinking, no, we're going to burn the bridge. So I called the moving company and I said, can you move us this week? And they said, only day we32:25 have open is Thursday. I said, come pack us till So Thursday there was nothing left in our house and I looked at my wife and said, we're never coming back. We're we're going. And if this doesn't work out, then there's32:35 something else because God's gotta show us what it is. That's what it looks like to take a step of faith. And my wife took a step of faith because she followed and she was totally supportive the whole time too. But32:46 that's what it looks like and uncomfortable. I mean, come to a city where you don't know anybody and the only person you know is unsaved and ask, hey. How can we meet people? And who are we gonna find it? We don't have a32:55 building, and we don't have a website, and we don't have money, and we don't have a trailer, and we don't have sound. Other than that, we are so set to do church. Right? But it grows your faith.33:07 And once you've done that or you've seen that, and then you see God provide a building, and then another building, and then another building, and then a school, and now it's like, okay, what next, God? What how do we33:17 stay on the edge so we don't get comfortable with you? Because I don't care whether the church is 50 people, 500 people, 5000 people, 50000 people. The moment you get to a place where you tell the Lord, we're good. We33:28 feel pretty good about this. We're fun. We're just gonna manage it. You lose everything that God has for you. And as long as I'm pastor of this church and as long as I can teach you the word of God, I want all of us to33:38 continue to step on the faith pedal in some way every single day. Where are you leaning on the Lord? Where do you what are you trusting him for? What are you believing him for? What are the things he's shown you in your33:49 his word that he wants you to trust him with? That's what God wants. He wants to grow your confidence in him so you can continue to choose things for him, you can grow your faith and continue to learn the ways of God.34:01 So stretch your faith this year. Press on. Let me just tell you 1 thing too before move on to the next point. Do you know your best days as a as a Christian? Do you know your best days are always ahead of you? No matter34:12 what happens today, no matter how good today is, your best day is always ahead of you. Because the best day you'll ever have in your entire life is meeting Jesus Christ face to face being transformed34:24 into his glorious image, presented faultless before the father, hearing well done, good and faithful servant with exceedingly great joy in heaven. That day is better than any day you have on your calendar, and that day34:35 is coming. It's coming. And I've been crystal clear from this pulpit and told you exactly when that's gonna happen. When the bible says it's gonna happen, soon.34:47 So that's how we need to live. It doesn't matter whether he comes back in your lifetime or not. What difference does it make? You get 1 life to live. Why wouldn't you just live as if he's going to? Why wouldn't you live34:57 as if it's that important to you? Why wouldn't you live as if your generation's the generation we're gonna do our best to evangelize the whole world? The gospel is not about moralizing the planet. It's about evangelizing35:08 the planet. We're proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, by the way, I better say 1 more thing because there's like 3 of you in here that don't know this. Next year's an election year.35:20 Forgetting what's behind and yearning for what's ahead is not who's gonna get elected. I'm involved in the political process. You should be involved in the political process. As Christians, we should be outspoken about35:32 all those things, but that is not the main thing we should be outspoken about. The main thing we should be outspoken about is Jesus Christ, him crucified and resurrected, and the need to repent and believe in him. That's35:42 what we're turning the page on. That's what we're looking forward to. That's where we're going. And the world yes. The world needs new politicians on both sides of the aisle, frankly. But what the world needs more than35:53 anything is Jesus. Amen. We have the answer for the world, and yet too often, we shut our mouths because we're so fearful about what's gonna happen in the Ukraine and Russia and China and Taiwan and Israel36:05 and Iraq and United States and southern border crossings and all these different things and our woke colleges. And is all that true? Yes. And here's the truth. Jesus Christ is still Lord, and the gospel still works.36:17 Preach the gospel. Amen? That's the point. So as we look forward to closing the door on 20 23, we look forward to all that God might have for our church, for our36:28 city. Last time I looked, there's probably about 2000000 people in our city that if the world ended today, would spend a Christless eternity. And God has positioned our church in this city for his glory so that people36:40 could hear and see what it looks like to have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? So stretch your faith this year with new challenges. Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what lies36:52 ahead. Then he gives us the fourth point. He says, for Christ's sake, set your goal to fulfill Christ's calling. For Christ's sake, set your goal to fulfill Christ's calling. He says, I press on toward37:04 the goal. Well, Paul, what's the goal? What's the goal? I'm a goal setter. There's nothing wrong with goal setting. So long as you hold your goals like this with open hands and so long as they're for the glory of God and37:15 whether you attain them or not, so be it. What's the goal, Paul? Here's the goal. I press on for the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the 1 who made me aware of37:26 himself. He's the 1 who saved me by grace through faith. He's the 1 who died on the cross. He's the 1 who rose from the dead. He's the 1 who ascended. He's the 1 who's gifted me. He's the 1 who's coming back to rule asShow more
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