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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 We're gonna talk about what happened in Thessalonica, and we're in part 2, and I want to talk to you on the subject of signs of a true church. Signs of a true church. If you don't have paper notes and you were watching0:11 by video on YouTube, go to water church dot guide. It looks like that. And then if you click on today's message, it will look like that. And then you can fill out the blanks. You can fill in the blanks0:22 digitally on your smartphone as well. So signs of a true church. Last week, we talked about as we started this series what happened in Thessalonica and the reason why it's titled that0:34 that title what happened in Thessalonica is because something miraculous happened. A church was born in 3 weeks. Remember 3 weeks a church was born Paul the Apostle goes all to these0:46 cities around the Mediterranean then Roman world and Roman Empire he's preaching in 1 city chased out of that city preaches in another city chased out of that city 1 of the cities that he was chased out of was0:57 Thessalonica but it was a little bit worse than any other city because the people who chased him out of Thessalonica followed him to the next city and chased him out of that city too. And he goes through 5 straight1:07 cities of being just chased for preaching the gospel of Jesus. How many know? Again, you can be hated for doing what God wants you to do? Not everything is going to be1:19 easy in faith. In fact, many times it's going to be the exact opposite of easy. So he hears later on from Timothy and Silas, his companions, who went back1:31 to Thessalonica and checked on them that things were great. The church had taken root. Things were the church was growing. People were were loving the Lord, loving each other. And hostility,1:43 in spite of the cultural hostility, the Thessalonica church was growing tremendously. And we talked about last week that the blessing of your life in Christ is not that you are1:55 going to heaven only, but that you are in the church now. We are in the church. We are in God. We are in Christ. And that is who we are. So then he2:07 unpacks for the next couple of verses in chapter 1, which we will read in just a moment, the reasons why he's excited for them. What about this church makes them such a great2:18 church? And the important question we have to ask ourselves today is this, what is a great church? We have our ideas. We think a great church has amazing music,2:30 a great preacher, awesome kids ministry, a fancy building, maybe if you're modern, lights, smoke, cameras, all those things. And you can have all those things ladies and gentlemen, and still2:42 not have Jesus showing up at your building. We want to be a church that maybe we have all those things too, but more importantly that Jesus is doing something in people's lives. Can I get a good2:54 amen right there? That's the kind of church we wanna be. So let's take a look at the rest of chapter 1. I know last week we covered a lot of ground. We went through 1 verse. But this week we're gonna go through the rest3:04 of chapter 1. Would you stand with me at all locations? Chapter 1 of first Thessalonians, picking up where we left off, first 2. Here's what Paul says. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly remembering3:15 you in our prayers, remembering before God our Father your work of faith, your labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know this is why3:27 we're thankful. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you. Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and with3:38 full conviction. Then he says, you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord when you3:50 received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in4:02 Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has come forth everywhere so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us, but the the4:13 kind of meeting that greeting sorry, the reception that you had among that we had among you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he4:25 has raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. And this is God's word. Would you pray with me for a few moments? Father, thank you that we4:37 have an opportunity to hear your voice today. And I pray that that is exactly what we do. I pray for the Holy Spirit to have his way to speak, Lord, that our ears are open, that our minds are open and4:49 renewed, and that our hearts are receptive like good soil that receives the good word from Jesus. Help us to see him, him and him only. In his mighty name we pray. And everybody said,5:01 amen. God bless you at all locations. Have a seat. This is a story that I think resonates better with preachers than with hello.5:12 They can't see me if you can't see me, so let's get that fixed real quick here. There we go. Hello again. Okay. This is a story that resonates really well with5:23 preachers. Maybe maybe with people in the pew, but I want to share it anyway. It's a bit funny. I I don't know. We'll see if it's funny. There was a guy who was shipwrecked on a deserted island. He was all alone. He5:35 happened to be a carpenter and with no sign of rescue in sight, he decided to go to work building things because that's what he does for a living. So he built a house, beautiful 5 bedroom, 4 bath house on the deserted5:46 island. And then he went to work further than that. He built himself a big garage for the house. He built himself a shit. Then he got kind of bored a little bit more and realized no rescue was coming, so he decided to5:56 build himself a whole town. He built a town hall. He built a Civic Center. He built an auditorium. He built a church. He built a gymnasium. He built a park. Time just moved. For decades this guy was building6:08 on this island all by himself drinking coconuts, eating fish just like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Finally rescuers arrive on the island and they show up and they see that this guy6:20 has been building like crazy said like you know what before we take you off the island Why don't you show us around? So he does he's proud of his building and he goes all over the island and shows the rescues This is the6:29 town hall. This is the Civic Center This is the auditorium over here. It's the park over here is the church that I attend over here is my house, my garage, everything like that. And and they were just floored by this6:38 guy's project, and they said, you know what? This is amazing. This is a glory a glorious project that you have done on this island, but we noticed something. He said, what? He goes, well, you got 1 house. You got 1 town6:49 hall, 1 city center, but we noticed that you got this church over here. It looks nice. Beautiful, nice church. Said, go to but over there on that other side of the island, on the far side, there's a little church, a6:56 little dilapidated, little old bill. It looks like a church. What is up with that church? He goes, oh, 0, that's the church I used to go to. See, you know, church people don't like that mess that joke. Preachers love7:07 that joke because we know that's what happens. People move from church to church to church, and we get it. Sometimes you got to find yourself a new church but sometimes you got to stay with the church when the church is7:18 preaching the gospel and you got to understand what you should look for in a church how many people make terrible mistakes with what they look for in a marriage partner Oh, I want them to be7:30 beautiful. I want them be hot. I want them to be, you know, talented. I want them to be popular, and then and then you realize that you marry them and it's not the right fit. Well, what should you look for in a church?7:39 Sometimes we could find the right church and not realize You could find the wrong church and not realize it's the wrong church until decades later realize that you spent a whole bunch of time in the wrong church. What is7:51 a true church? Good question. Important topic. And I think that there it comes down to 1 very simple idea. A good church is filled with people who are genuinely8:03 saved. Genuinely saved. Genuinely saved. Amen? Like they love Jesus. They love each other. And they're8:14 not, keyword here, fake. Somebody say fake. Fake. How many of you have met a couple of fake Christians? Anybody know what I'm talking about? These people, they look the part, but they don't act the part. They don't look8:26 the real deal. I remember when I found out that the wrestling on channel 38 on Saturday morning was not real. What a sad8:38 day. I was 35 years old. I could not believe it. Hulk Hogan was an actor. How many8:50 know these names by the way? Let me see if I got any Gen Xers in the crowd. Gen X men. Women too, maybe. I don't know. It was really more our thing anyway, how many9:02 remember these names Randy Macho? Man, oh, you know that name. Yep. Yep Jimmy Superfly There you go Rowdy Roddy9:14 Yeah. And this one's an easy 1. Andre. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, old school saints in the house today. Amen. And and Hulk Hogan. So I named 5 guys,9:26 and I remember they were all oiled up on Saturday all oiled up, but they were actors. They looked apart, but they weren't really wrestling. I remember when somebody said, you want to watch real9:38 wrestling? Watch the Olympics. I remember the first time I saw it, I was like, woah woah woah woah woah. Where's the oil? Where's the muscles? And why are they wearing more than9:50 just Speedo? I wanna know what's going on here. Right? And and and I thought about this too. You know, I mentioned 5 guys, 4 of those guys are dead. Turns out doing10:01 steroids and partying like crazy isn't good for you. But I thought about this, maybe fake isn't good for you. Maybe playing a part and acting a certain way in public, but being a certain another way in private10:12 is actually a very terrible way, unhealthy way to live. And there's a lot of Christians that do that. There's a lot of churches that do that. What does Paul say first about the Thessalonians that makes them genuine? Look10:22 at this in verse 4 and 5. Don't miss this point. He always talks about this when he mentions churches, but he says this. We know brothers loved by God that he has what? Chosen you. If you got paper notes out every10:34 location, underline chosen and you. Unline both those words, and why don't you just go ahead and get fancy and circle the word chosen? Because we need to understand that that is who we are if we are Christians.10:46 We are chosen by God. You did not choose him. He chose you. You say, well, how do I know if I'm10:58 chosen? Okay. Here's a simple point. Here's a simple answer to that question. Do you know without a doubt that Jesus Christ loves you, died for you, and rose again on the third day? And have you11:10 have you both put that inside of you? Like you know that is it. That is what you believe fully. If that's the case, he has chosen you. Now the point is not to earn that chosenness, the point is to live like it. Amen,11:21 somebody. Live as a chosen child of the most high God. And this theme of chosen, oh man, I know it drives a lot of Christians crazy. Like, I don't know if that's fair, and I don't get it and I don't understand it We're11:33 not supposed to get it. We're just supposed to believe it We're not supposed to get the Trinity. We're just supposed to believe the Trinity Okay, we're not we're not supposed to get how up the blood of a Nazarene11:44 carpenter 2000 years ago sheds on a cross for us washes away our sins We're just supposed to believe that there's a lot of mystery to our faith 1 of the mysteries is are we responsible for our actions or does11:55 God? Sovereignly choose us the answer is yes Somehow in the mystery of the Godhead, somehow in the mystery of heaven, those 2 facts work together. I don't know how to explain it. I just12:07 know I gotta believe it. And here's the point, what we believe shapes how we live. Do you believe you are chosen? Because if that is the case, it changes everything about you.12:20 It changes how you feel about yourself. And it is 1 of the main themes of the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. I got some verses to share that with you to point that out with you12:32 John chapter 15 Jesus at the last supper with disciples in verse 16 What does he say he says you did not choose me, but I chose you You Peter James John you guys listen You didn't choose to follow me. I called12:44 you and you followed me. There was something effective in my work towards you that made you believe in me and follow me. And for some of you and many of you, I hope many of you, and I hope by the end of this message, all12:55 of you, that there's going to be a point in your life where where God speaks in such a way, he opens your heart, Jesus comes in, and you are changed in new per That's the13:07 effectual Bible Bible scholars call it the effectual calling of God. 3 verses later in John 15, what does he say? If you were of the world, verse 19, the world would love you as his own,13:19 but because you are not of the world, but I what? I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. In other words, Christians, if you're gonna be chosen by God, if you aren't chosen by God, you're gonna be13:30 uncomfortable sometimes in the relationships that you have with people outside of God. Peter got that message, by the way, at the Last Supper because in first Peter chapter 2 verse 9, when writing to the church, he says,13:40 you are a what? A chosen race. That's who you are if you're a Christian. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. I'll just run this down because these are great titles for you and for me. A holy nation,13:52 a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4. I love this 1. It says, He chose us in him14:04 before the foundation of the world. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are a Christian, God has you on his mind before he said, let there be light. He14:16 knew you before you were born. You are not an accident. You did not get yourself saved. God sovereignly and divinely saved you from who you were. This is Old14:28 Testament too. Old Testament talks about the people of Israel being chosen and God says in Deuteronomy 7 7, I didn't choose you because you were rich or because you were big. I chose you actually because I'm just gonna14:37 choose you. That's who I am. I make the decision. Psalm 4 verse 3 says, know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. Who set me apart? The Lord. The Lord made me14:49 his child. The Lord made you his daughter, his son, whatever you are. That is how you are saved. And that is what what Paul is talking about to a church that is suffering great hostility from15:01 this community around it. It is hated on all sides by many different kinds of people, but they are they are sovereignly saved by God. They know they're different, and he's reminding them of all the things that15:13 that comes that comes with that. What does a true church look like? So 3 points, and then we're done. I want you to write them down. Signs of a true church number 1, visible and outward15:25 action. Visible and outward action. You don't just believe it. You do it. James talks about this big time. He says, look, faith without15:36 works is what? It's dead. He says, oh, you show me your faith. I'll show you my faith by what I do. There is an outward activity that accompanies an inward reality.15:49 And my faith is not just something personal that I have inside of me for when things are bad. My faith is outwardly active to other people around me. People see it. People notice it16:01 because it blesses other people, and there's action to my belief. And so Paul says this. Look what he says in verse 2. He says, we give thanks to God always for you16:13 constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father 3 things. Your work of faith. Somebody say work of faith. Number 2, labor of love. Say it. And then number 3, steadfastness of hope.16:25 Say it. Yeah. Work of faith. So there's an action that is rooted in faith. That's a sign of a true church. A true church has16:37 open arms to people who need Jesus. A true church works to make Jesus known. That's why I'm always bugging you about serving here in the building. Because I think16:49 and this is not the only place you serve. But I think the easiest place to start practicing your faith in ways that help other people is by serving in your local church to make other17:00 people outside the church feel welcome. It's 1 of the easiest ways you can do it and almost anybody can do it. If you have arms, if you have elbows that work, you can be a17:12 parking attendant. Watch. You know I'm saying? If you have hands that shake you can be a greeter. Okay. By the way accompany it17:24 with a smile. Like, welcome to our church. No. Welcome. Good to see. I mean, that's serving. It's something small. It's not big. It's not huge. That's like, you're not shaking the earth, but17:36 you might make someone feel comfortable in our church. You might make someone feel welcome that needs God to save them, that needs hope in their heart, and that's a simple way. But beyond beyond just this17:48 weekend and just the services at our church, that's just like a primer. That's like preschool level serving. They're serving outside of this building. There's being a person that other people can rely on18:00 in the workplace to love them and serve them in practical ways. Someone at your workplace is going through a hardship. You're the 1 writing a card, sending it to them in the mail.18:11 Someone's going through a financial difficulty, you're the 1 buying them lunch. You're the 1 showing this world that Christians are not hateful bigots. Christians are loving18:23 disciples of Jesus Christ. Our action. How will they ever know what we are if we don't show them who Jesus is through what we do?18:35 And the church has plenty of actors and posers, plenty of Hulk Hogan believers who are ripping off their tank top and it's not real18:47 the church needs to get real with real action outside of the church so that when they see us they may not like what we believe but they cannot deny that we are a blessing to the community in which we live.19:00 See you got to understand something the salvation and works deal is together. The salvation and works thing deal comes together, but How they relate to each other is what's most important. I want you to write it down, so19:12 you're getting it You don't have salvation because of works, but you have a salvation that works You you don't have a faith in Jesus because you've worked for it. No. He19:24 called you and chose you. We've discussed that. But when that's real, there's gonna be works. There's gonna be action. At every location right now, everybody at every location, you are sitting in a chair.19:36 The reason why you're sitting in that chair is because you believe that that chair has the capacity to hold you. Your faith in the chair produces the action of sitting.19:48 So if you believe and this is a very important point. If you believe that Jesus Christ is always going to prepare provide for you, do you freely give? Do you freely bring the tithes? Do you freely offer20:00 money to to missions, to works of service? Do you are you generous? Because you know he's generous. So so here's the deal. If you know you are forgiven, and you know you are forgiven of20:12 the worst things you could have ever done or ever did do, do you then offer forgiveness to those around you? Because to the level that you believe that you're forgiven, you'll become a forgiver.20:23 Do you know that you are loved by God and he will never ever stop loving you? Because to the level that you believe that is to the level that you will stop chasing all the20:35 loves of the people around you, and truly love them sacrificially and selflessly because you know it's not about them loving you. You've already got your love from God the Father, and that's more than enough.20:46 Salvation works. Martin Luther said it like this, just as you cannot separate heat from fire, you cannot separate works from salvation. So if there's fire, there's gonna be what?21:00 I just said it. You could have shouted that back a little bit better than if there's fire, there's gonna be there you go. And if there's salvation, there's gonna be Works. Works. There's gonna be activity that people21:10 see, and that's what Paul is excited about. He says, we see your work of faith. We see your labor of love. We see these things in you. This is what we've heard about you. It's not about it's not about your look. It's not21:21 about your presentation. It's not about, you know, the style. It is that's and and and let me just be very clear here. I know that our church is a certain style, but you understand21:33 that God loves all different kinds of styles of different kinds of churches. God loves churches with pews and seats. God loves churches with pastors that got robes and pastors that wear21:45 a bomber jacket. I happen to think he likes the bomber jackets better, but that's just my opinion. That's not that's not gospel truth. God God loves people who believe certain things about, I don't know, the end times21:56 that you don't believe. God loves all different kinds of churches. So it's not really about the style, it's about the service. Do people see us giving ourselves to them? Here's the enemy of service right now. I'm just22:07 gonna tell you, and I I it's something that I struggle with in my own life. This is an enemy of service right here. This is oh, there's a camera. This is an enemy of service because we are the iPhone, I I me generation.22:20 Now I wanna help you because I am in the helping people business. I like to learn these things and I like to share them with you because I think it'll help you. I've heard of something called text neck. Text neck. Neck.22:32 The human head weighs 10 pounds on average. Mine weighs a little bit more because I got a big head physically. You bend your neck, science has found this out. If you22:44 bend your neck 1 you you bend your head down 1 inch. For every inch, you are adding 10 pounds of stress to your neck. Did you know that? Do you know what's adding the most stress to our lives right now? This thing.22:56 Physical stress. Because on average, we will bend our our head down 5 inches to look at our phones. Have you seen that everywhere you go, this is what people are doing now? My word, what did we used23:07 to do at the airport when we didn't have an iPhone? What did we used to do at the doctor's office? We used to read magazines. We used to maybe talk to somebody, but now it's everything. And so there's let me put this23:18 graphic up just so you can see it. And and this is just an illustration. Your your neck gains pressure, up to 50 pounds of pressure on your neck that will23:30 ultimately cause stress and all kinds of back pain. They're they're already finding this out. And and the younger you are, the earlier that you learn this, the better. Because if you don't stop with the23:42 text neck nonsense, you're gonna grow up to be the hunchback of Notre Dame. It's gonna be an entire generation of people. Hi. How you doing? I can't see your face. Good to see. How you doing? Send me a text. I'll23:54 talk to you that way. That's our generation. That's where we're going because it's I I I. And it's just kind of another physical illustration of if you're focused on only you, you24:06 get pained by it. You suffer for it. You're not meant to live that way. And for the love of Jesus, please, if you're not gonna serve in the building, please, if24:18 you're calling yourself a Christian, serve someone outside the building. Amen Like I know some of you are like, oh, this is just a ploy to get us to do something at the church I get it some of you are very you know24:30 skeptical of preachers okay fine don't serve in the church, but will you serve someone outside the church Will you give yourself like, if you're gonna call yourself a Christian, who other than24:41 you is benefiting from the faith that God has given you? That is what it means to be a true church. And that's what I want in our24:53 church. That's what the kind of church that I want to go. By the way, they're the only kind of churches worth going to because they're the churches where you get blessed by others, and you realize that you're there to25:01 bless others. And when everybody's in the business of blessing others, no one's got time to be cursing others. Oh, amen. Sign number 2. Write this down. Verified faith on the testimony of others.25:13 All the points begin with v. V for victory. Okay. Signs of a true church. Verified faith on the testimony of others. In other words, people are talking about it. That's what Paul25:25 acknowledges here about the Thessalonians. He says that you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Let's stop there. We'll get to where he25:36 talks about other people talking about them. But it just says that they became imitators of Paul. So so here's an important point for many of the younger Christians in our churches. Listen.25:48 You probably need a Paul. And I'm not talking about the guy that wrote the Bible. I'm talking about somebody in your life that's a little bit further down the line in the faith, that's got a little bit26:00 more resume behind them of following Jesus. You what I'm saying is you need an example you need somebody that you can look to say what they really trust Christ26:11 Let me ask you right now to think for a second. Do you have 1? Do you have somebody that inspires your faith? That's what Paul says here. You became imitators of us. In first Corinthians 11, he says, follow me as I26:22 follow Christ. Become an imitator of me as I imitate Christ. Who is your Paul? Who is your exemplar of the faith? You need 1. Everybody needs 1. But then we become Pauls to other people. We26:33 become examples to other people. That's how it happens. Here's what he says in verse 7. So that you became an example. So listen to how he says it. You followed our example, Then26:45 you became an example you got it You followed how we live now You are living as we live so that other people can see it You became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia by the way Macedonia is26:57 the nation Achaia is the region And then he says this, for not only has the word of Lord sounded forth from you and Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth where? Everywhere. So that we not need to say27:08 a thing. See, there's 2 kinds of Christians. The people who need to tell people they're Christians, and the people who don't need to tell people they're Christians. And I find that the people who need to constantly tell27:17 people the Christians are sometimes the least Christian. Right? I'm not. I am a Christian. Well, it doesn't look like it. That's news to me. I didn't know that. And so true Christianity,27:29 true church, they don't need to say it. They don't need to broadcast it. It's just it's something that they just emulate. They just exude the love of Christ. And the only way that this grows in your27:41 life is you've got to have a Paul, and I think you got to aim to have a Timothy. So Paul led Timothy. Timothy was Paul's disciple. Timothy was he called him his true son. So my question to everybody in every location,27:52 who's your Paul? Who's your Timothy? Who's your Paul, and who's your Timothy? Here, write this down so I know you're getting it. Genuine Christianity emulates Christ in others and28:04 sets an example for Christ for others. Now the transition that a lot of Christians never make and it's probably not their fault, they've just never been asked to make this transition,28:17 is at some point you stop coming to church for yourself and you start coming to church for others. At some point, you stop being the church for yourself, and you start being the church for others.28:29 There's a transition. It's I call it that this a bad time to bring up this example. But you remember that Christmas in your life? I28:41 know Christmas is like 3 months ago. We don't want to talk about it But that Christmas is the Christmas that you learned that you are no longer going to get presents anybody remember that 1 I haven't gotten presents for28:52 years. I'm just telling you. Okay? You you are now you you you used to believe in Santa Claus, and then you became Santa Claus. Now you know what I'm talking about? All right. So in29:03 Christianity, there comes a point where it's no longer, well, what is the church doing for me? Now it's how am I, as the church, doing stuff for other people? Have you had that experience yet? That's what29:15 he's saying here. That's what true Christianity. That's what a true church looks like How does this happen? How does this happen in reality at water church small small groups life groups action29:27 groups eGroups where you have people that you can emulate and then people that you can be an example for That's the only place it can happen. It can't happen now while you're sitting facing me it happens in conversations29:39 and in relationships And sometimes when you start setting an example and you start living the faith and people start noticing it, sometimes people will notice it in a way that's not29:50 nice. They'll actually attack you for it. Nothing new. Actually, it's been 2000 years and running. People have been attacked for being followers of Jesus. Here's what Peter says. First Peter 4 3.30:02 He says, for the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles do. In other words, you've enough living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, lawless30:14 idolatry. By the way, the first century church was messed up too. I mean, Peter's literally saying, okay, enough orgies to Christians. He's like, enough30:26 debauchery, enough such if you're going to follow Christ, get out of that stuff. That's no longer appropriate for you. Then he says, with respect to this, what does he say? They30:38 are surprised that you don't join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. There's going to be people who don't like the fact that you're done with that stuff. They're gonna attack30:49 you, vilify you. But they have to give an account to him who is ready to judge the living the living and the dead. So so here's how this can work out practically. We have a guy down here at Apollo Beach on staff, and31:02 he was saved in our church in North Attleboro about 5 years ago. Put his hand up, gave his life to Jesus Christ, changed. Had a lot of work to do. Still has a lot of work to do. He'll be the first to confess it. But he31:11 told me this story a couple of weeks ago that he used to be the guy who would malign the Christian at his job. He knew to he says, you know, this guy would bring his Bible to lunch, and he would open his Bible, he would31:22 read his Bible at lunch or on break. And I used to make fun of him. I'd say, hey, this isn't a church. This is work. Put that thing away. Don't be a Jesus freak. Who do you think you are? And wouldn't you know that about31:33 10 or so years later, he gets saved. He's part of our church, baptized, born again, follower of Jesus. And now he's the 1 toting his Bible around. And so he called the guy that he used to make fun of at work because he31:44 saw his number. He said, Hey. I'm just letting you know. You know how you used to believe in Jesus? Well, I believe in him now. And his friend said, well, I knew God would get you. Here's the point. Here's the point for31:54 you. They might malign you in 20 23, but they might be calling you in 20 33. Did you just hear that? That's good preaching right there. That that that's good preaching. They might hate you today, but32:06 you might get a call in the future. A little simplified there for you. Okay? That you never know. You might have to face the heat for being a believer, but you're still an32:18 example even if they don't like it. And they may they may make that phone call. I would love that phone call someday. Am I well, I never was a maligner of Christianity, but you know what I'm saying? It'd be awesome to32:28 see that happening. That's the point. You're there's there's verbal attestation to your faith in the lives of others. Okay. Number 3, signs of a true church. Vertically32:40 focused, not horizontally obsessed. Vertically focused, not horizontally obsessed. What does this world do? Tries to get you32:51 horizontally obsessed. Our world pulls you in all kinds of directions. Here you go. You gotta go worry about this now over here. Oh, now I gotta run over here and worry about that too. Oh, and by the way, gotta run over33:01 here and worry about that too. And oh, and run about and worry about that person. Worry about this person. Oh, and then by the way, in case you are not seeing things physically in front of you, let's give you social33:09 media so that you can compare yourself to people who are not even close to you. Horizontally obsessed first Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9 He says this for they themselves report concerning the kind of reception we had33:20 among you and how you turned to God Next 2 words everybody From idols. You turned to God what? From idols. To serve the33:31 living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who saves us from the wrath that is to come. What is an idol, by the way? Let's write this down. What is an idol? An idol is an33:42 object or person of trust that undermines your trust in God. Now, yes, drugs can be an idol.33:54 Mhmm. Alcohol can be an idol. Sex, fame, money can all be idols, and we34:06 we treat them with trust when we define ourselves by them. Oh, if I have that, I will be somebody. Oh, if I have this, I will feel finally confident of who I am. Oh, if I get that or if I have this or I and and those34:18 things can be and some of us, drug addicts and alcoholics and addiction addict people, substance addict people, you go to the thing because the thing gives you34:29 peace from the stresses in your life. When God is the 1 who wants to be your peace. The scripture says he is our peace. He's the 1 who comes in and brings peace here so that we don't have to stress34:41 out with everything around us here. Okay. But can I tell you that as much as those are obvious idols, all the big ones, you know, the big sins, the Sunday school sins,34:54 there are other idols that we kind of ignore in the church? Your children can be an idol. You want them to be certain way, a certain look, a certain style, certain35:05 life. I don't know. You want them to validate your parental authority. Validate who you are. Before you know it, you're running everywhere to make your your children successful and all these things that were you should35:16 have been successful. And before you know it, they are becoming something that you are proving yourself to through. A spouse can become an idol. A spouse can become an idol, especially when the spouse doesn't35:27 believe in Christ and you do. And so you make them happy by not not going too far with your faith, not being at church too often. That's because that's because they are more your trust than God is your trust. Your house35:38 can be an idol. A certain kind of lifestyle can be an idol. You gotta watch out because those things are all temporary. And and here's the thing about getting things in life to think that they substantiate35:50 your life. They don't typically substantiate. They just enslave. They don't substantiate. They don't make you valuable. Anybody ever like wait forever36:02 to get something like, oh, I can't wait. And when I finally get that, I will finally be happy. And then you realize you got the thing and now you gotta clean the thing and maintain the thing and pay for the thing and36:12 support the thing, and produce the thing. And before you know it, you are a slave to that thing that you thought would serve you. That's what idols promise. Idols promise that they are gonna serve you, but they actually36:23 enslave you. God, the devil has you thinking is gonna enslave you, but he's actually gonna serve you. And that is how the Thessalonians believed. You turned from36:34 idols to God, to serve God, and to wait for his son from heaven who saves us from the wrath to come. I'm vertically focused. I'm waiting for Jesus36:46 to come back. I want Jesus to come back, and and and I don't care when it happens. Some of you single people are like, oh, please, Jesus. Don't come back until I'm married. Please. Just36:58 let me find man, talk to some married people and find out. Yeah. You can come back anytime. I'm good with that. He could have come back before we got married. It's it's okay Watch out for being37:10 horizontally obsessed. Now now now the sermon in a sentence, I want you write this down, then I'm gonna share a story, then we're gonna close. A true church is visibly active in the faith, verified by others, and37:18 vertically focused in life. 3 v's. Visibly active, people see it. Verified by others, people say it, and vertically focused. You're you're heaven focused, not earth37:30 focused. Okay. Now some of you are listening to me right now, and you're like, I don't like this message because that's not me. And I got all these other things going on. I don't really know if I wanna37:42 believe all this stuff. You know, honestly, I don't I can't change this about me, and I wanna tell you something. That's the best thing you could possibly say. You're right. You37:54 can't change it. You can't change you. You38:05 can't change you. So I got a story about an old an old famous painter. It might be a fable. It might be true. I don't know.Show more
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