Healthy Church Life, Part 2 - Ron Dee

2 (3s): Morning, everybody. Good morning. Happy father's day to those of you who are fathers. Welcome. Come off. You've all stand up with us. We're going to worship the heavenly father. 0 (3m 55s): Oh yeah. Oh my I've been from the moment that I wake up. God You have been so 1 (5m 21s): I've 0 (5m 21s): Known you I know no kiss, no power. 0 (10m 58s): No, 4 (12m 14s): Lord Jesus. We thank you so much for what you're doing in our hearts. Jesus, we thank you. That it's a father's day. I just pray a blessing over each father who's in the house today. Lord, we just know that it is a blessing and a responsibility to be a dad to lead your family. And so father, I just pray that you would equip each, each dad in the room to be able to do that effectively for your kingdom. Jesus, Lord. We just submit ourselves to you. We thank you that we can come here and worship you in spirit and in truth this morning. Jesus you're so, so good. And you're so worthy of praise in Jesus name. 4 (12m 58s): Amen. Amen. All right. You can take your seats. My name's Curtis. It's great to see you all. Hi. Hello. Hello. Hi. Thank you. Yeah, so today's father's day. If you didn't know, hurry last minute, write a card, dear dad, and hand it to them or something. But yeah, we're super glad to have you here in the house of the Lord worshiping as DJ said, the greatest father, our heavenly father, and we love him so much. So if you are new here and you want to get connected, we have communication cards in the seat backs in front of you or at the info center. 4 (13m 39s): So if you want to get connected, just fill one of those out. You can drop it in the collection box we have at the info center or on your way out in the hallway, back back behind us, behind me also, we're going to be having a grand opening celebration, July 10th. So I know we're in here. We know that we're here, but not everybody knows that we're here, right? So we're going to have a big celebration. It's a great opportunity to invite friends, family, anybody who may not know that we're here and it's going to be really fun. We're going to have a barbecue. We're going to have, I think we're going to have cake. If we, if we're not having cake, then I'm sorry. 4 (14m 19s): We should have cake, right, Ron? We should. Yes. Okay, cool. Yeah. So it's going to be really fun. That's July 10th. So that's coming up and just log that in your brain invite somebody that you see in your daily life. And also we've got a father's day video. And after that, Ron's going to come up and give us the word. So we're going to cue that video now. 6 (17m 47s): Good morning. Just want to make a few comments about the video. So one of the things, the opening statements was fathers are one of the most powerful forces in the universe. You know, we live in very interesting time now in, in our culture of today, where there really isn't assault on family and an assault, especially on, on fathers and, and godly fathers. And the points that were brought up there is to pray for fathers who work long hours, fathers, who are now grandfathers, pray for those who have lost their father. And for those who grew up with an absent father, pray for single and divorced fathers and for fathers who have have children with special needs and also for fathers who have lost their children, a lot of circumstances happen in life, in, in families and with fathers in particular. 6 (18m 42s): So Lord, we do want to take just a moment, you know, what the needs are, godly men, fathers, where we so desperately need your touch and your wisdom and direction on our life. And so Lord, for those fathers in particular that are really struggling, really dealing with the challenges that they're, that they're facing Lord, that they would feel really encouraged and empowered by you and that you would bring answers where they're needed and, and direction in life, where it's needed. And, and, and to help us as fathers, to really stand firm and to be as much as possible, a godly example to our children and to our families and to those around us. But we commit our lives to you as always in Jesus' name. 6 (19m 24s): We pray. Amen. Amen. Hey, as we continue to side note, a cell phone was turned in and it made its way over to the info center. You found a home for it. Okay. We found a home for the cell phone, any cell phones out there at the doughnut homes. Okay. Take them over the info center. Hey, just in case, you're wondering, because this is the second Sunday that I'm up here and not pastor Steve is because Steven Jolene have COVID. And so this is day 10 of their whole COVID experience. And I talked to Steve on Thursday, he's, you know, they're doing fine. They're just kind of exhausted and congested and you know, the whole thing. 6 (20m 6s): And so I do expect that Steve and Jolene will be back this, this following Sunday. So I just want to pray for them as well. Lord, we lift up pastor Steve and Jolene to you, Lord, thank you for just their, their godly example to us. Lord, thank you for their leadership and Lord, we do pray for them, spirit, soul, and body that you would encourage them, touch them, heal them, give them the strength that they need, the healing that they need need to yeah, just to start feeling good again, normal again, and be able to get, you know, jumped back into normal life. We pray, Lord bless them. We love them. We thank you for them in Jesus name. 6 (20m 45s): Amen. Amen. So once again, I didn't know it before, but I'm teaching a series from, from the, the book of James. So if you want to turn in your Bible or whatever device you use, we're going to be looking at the last section in James chapter two. So James chapter two, we're going to be looking at verses 14 through 26. And so the series, the title of the series is healthy church life. So we think about the life of the church. We're talking about, you know, the gathering of the saints believers. We, we come together, we worship together. We grow together. We live life together and we want to make sure and do that in a really healthy way. 6 (21m 26s): So healthy church life part two, that's the title. So last week when we looked at healthy church life, part one, we were looking at verses one through 13, and this had to do with showing favoritism. You remember that and partiality and respect of persons in the church and the issue. There was just really an attitude, a bad attitude of the heart, which would prefer one person over another in the church community. And that came from James chapter two, verse nine, where he says there, if you favor some people over others, you're committing a sin and you're guilty of breaking the law. So it's a serious thing, that idea of showing favoritism. So in, in last week we looked at James and it was what not to do don't show favoritism. 6 (22m 13s): And he gave us some challenges about that. This week is also going to be what not to do slightly different subjects. We're looking this week verses 14 through 26. This has to do with the topic of a faith, professing faith without works without actions, without anything to back it up. Good deeds. For example, the issue here is motivation. So what, what motivates us? What motivates you as a confessing believer in Jesus Christ? So that's really the question, what most of what I'm going to be talking about today. I want you to take it personal and really focus in on the things that James is talking about and look at it from a very personal lens. 6 (22m 55s): What motivates you? What motivates me? So are we, am I motivated by the holy spirit and the work that God is doing in my life? And therefore things that flow out of my life come from that motivation, or am I motivated by my own selfish ambitions? And, and that can be a real, a real clash at times because we all have ambitions. Some of them are godly ambitions and some of them are not. And so we have to think about the things that motivates, motivates us in our life. James is encouraging us to take a good long look in the mirror and ask ourselves this question. 6 (23m 39s): Am I truly saved? We're going to talk about that and, and open it up. Try to answer that question. So look with me now in verse 14, where James begins, he says, what good is it? Dear brothers and sisters. If you say you have faith, but don't show it by your actions. Can that kind of faith save anyone? So let's see. We could find, we could find out the answer to this question. I'm sure we all know a Christian, somebody who professes to be a Christian, a believer in Jesus. And yet, if we look at their life, their life shows almost no transformation. 6 (24m 23s): Almost no change from their former life as an unbeliever virtually no good works, no actions that would validate their confession of faith. So it's easy to look at other people and, and kind of judge them and conclude where they are at. But we're not going to do that today. We're not going to look at others at all. We're going to look at ourself. So let me now, just to be clear, James is not encouraging us to judge another person's salvation or motivation or anything. That's not what this is about. What James is trying to get us to do is to look in the mirror and, and judge, I'm going to judge myself. Am I truly in the faith? Am I truly born again? 6 (25m 4s): Am I truly saved? So I want to pose that same question. I just want to reword it just a little differently. If you say, if you say that you are a Christian, but your actions don't show it or affirm it, are you really safe? Are you really a Christian? So that's what we're going to be looking at today. So we have to start out by thinking about, well, what is, what does genuine faith look like? What is genuine faith? And here's what it is. It is a conviction about what the Bible declares to be true. So it's a, it's a conviction. It's not an opinion, or even a belief system. It's a conviction. So genuine faith is the conviction about man's relationship to God from the new Testament perspective. 6 (25m 49s): What does that mean? It means that man's relationship with God is exclusively found through a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible declares. That's the truth that is being declared in the scripture. And so we, our convictions flow from that. So remember the time Jesus is speaking with the crowd and he's talking about this very thing in John chapter 14, verse six famous words, he says, Jesus says, I am the way you can say it with me. I am the truth. And I am the life. No man comes to the father except through me. It's pretty exclusive, isn't it? 6 (26m 30s): And yet that's what the Bible declares to be true. So genuine faith is a conviction about this, about this truth. So now let me make it personal. So for me, I am so convinced of the truth that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and that I have no access to the father except through him. I'm so convinced of this truth that I will never be the same again. My life is, is, has been radically changed since I concluded and believe that truth. And I'm convinced of that truth. So again, just to repeat from verse 14, James, again, he's saying, if you say you have faith, but don't show it by your actions. 6 (27m 11s): Can that kind of phase save anyone? So pastor Steve began James chapter one, a few weeks back and in James chapter one, verse 22, this is what James says there. He says, don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise you're only fooling yourself. Jesus in sort of pressing this point home again, he's speaking to the crowds and those who were following him in Matthew chapter seven, verse 21, he said this, he said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father in heaven. 6 (27m 56s): So we see the connection there. There's, there's gotta be some, some action behind what we say we believe. So the apostle Paul touches on this same subject as well. He's talking to Timothy in the letter, sorry, actually to Titus. Sorry about that. Titus chapter three, verse eight. He, this is what he says to Titus. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. So it's not like, okay, I'm I guess I have to do good works or actions because, because I'm supposed to it. 6 (28m 37s): It's not that at all. It's not a work's kind of theology or belief system. Again, it's, it's, we're so convinced and moved by the holy spirit that we almost, we can't help, but reach out to people and, and, and be a blessing to others because we're compelled to do that. So it has nothing to do with, with something I have to do. It just flows from our life with Christ. In fact, you were created for this. I love this verse in Ephesians two 10. He says for, we are his workmanship God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 6 (29m 18s): Now, one of the unique things we're going to find out here is that the good works or actions that he may have you do could be quite different than the ones that, that I may do. Because again, he is, sir, God prepared beforehand. And so you're a unique person you've been uniquely gifted and created as God's workmanship. So I think the best way to kind of put this to practical uses, what are the things that you just you're really passionate about? You're really good at gifted out. You just find so much joy in helping other people in these areas. It just seems to kind of flow from you. And we're going to look at that in just a minute. As we look at somebody that's mentioned in the new Testament. 6 (29m 58s): So as I mentioned earlier, James, he's challenged us to examine ourselves to look in the mirror and he continues in verse 15. He says, suppose you see a brother, sister who has no food or clothing and you say goodbye, have a good day, stay warm, eat well, but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see faith by itself isn't enough unless it produces good deeds. It is dead and it is useless, pretty strong words there. Now we, we assume something. When we look at this challenge by James it's presumed here, that number one, that we have the resources to help this person. 6 (30m 43s): We have the resources to help this person, but instead of helping them, we refuse to help them. And just to be clear, we're not talking about the guy on the street corner, holding up a sign, saying that he needs food or money or whatever. We're not talking about that guy. What we're talking about is a brother or sister in Christ. Someone that we know, we have relationship with them and they have a legitimate need and we have the resources to meet the need, but we're unwilling to help them. That's what James is talking about here. 6 (31m 22s): And also just so you know, this is not just a new Testament model or teaching. We find it in Proverbs chapter three, verse 27 in the old Testament, he says, do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in the power of your hand to do so, do not say to your neighbor, go and come back and tomorrow I will give it you to you when you have it with you today. Now we live in a time right now where things are super tight. I mean, everything's more and more expensive. We always feel like, I feel like I don't really have enough. So you might be thinking I barely have enough to meet my own needs. 6 (32m 4s): How can I be, you know, involved in meeting others people's needs. Well, first of all, let me, let me say this. God knows your need. And he has promised to meet your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So, you know, we think, well, I don't have enough to help someone in need. That's just simply not true. God knows your need. He's promised to meet your need. And not only that would you like to be used by God as a, as a vessel, as a funnel, as it were to be a blessing to someone else so that God can then give you more resources so that you can be a blessing to others. 6 (32m 45s): That's actually how it works in the kingdom of God is we think to ourselves, I'm not sure I have enough. You give, anyway, God says, I'll meet your need. Don't don't even worry about that. Don't be anxious about it and no I'll meet your need. And so we give, and God gives us more resources to meet more needs. It's amazing thing. In fact, we see this in Luke chapter six, verse 38, Jesus was talking about this very thing he says give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your bosom or like fall into your lap for, with the same measure that you use or give. 6 (33m 28s): It will be measured back to you. So if we think about it this way, if we, if we'd like to have more resources than we should give more, right? It's not the opposite. Sometimes we think, well, I need, I need to keep all I have. So I have enough, it doesn't work that way in God's kingdom. So the apostle John, he kind of talking about the same thing in first, John chapter three, verse 16, he says by this, we know love because he, Jesus laid down his life for us. So we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him. 6 (34m 11s): How does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed. And in truth, as I mentioned before, there's a great example in the new Testament. It's actually in the book of acts. There's a gal there. I assume she's an older gal, but you know what she loved to do. She was really good at making clothes. I mean, maybe she would knit so seamstress. I'm not exactly sure all she did, but her name's Tabitha. There's a whole section of the book of acts talking about Tabitha and how generous she was. In fact, I'll read it to you in acts chapter nine, verse 36, there was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha. She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor. 6 (34m 54s): About this time, she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room, but the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda. So they sent two men to beg him, please come as soon as possible. So Peter returned with them. And as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room where Tabitha lay the room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes that Tabitha had made for them. But Peter asked them all to leave the room. And then he knelt and he prayed turning to the body. He said, get up Tabitha. 6 (35m 35s): And she opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up, he gave her his hand and helped her up. And then he called in the widows and all the believers. And he presented her to them alive. The news spread throughout the whole town and many believed in the Lord. That was a noodle notable miracle. Tabitha was dead and now she's alive. But, but the impact of all that or the, the reason all those people were gathered together and wanted Peter to come is because of the kind things that Tabba Tabitha had done for them making clothes and giving to the poor. So James continues this question, verse 18. Now someone may argue, some people have faith and others have good deeds, but I say, how can you show me your faith? 6 (36m 20s): If you don't have good deeds, I will show you my faith by my deeds, my good deeds. So what we see here is that faith and good deeds, they go hand in hand there, they just come together. They're they're inseparable. In fact, as we help others, this is a, a mystery as we help others, we're actually helping Jesus. We're serving Jesus. We're giving to him. What do I mean by that? So interesting parable that Jesus talked about in Matthew chapter 25, and he uses this term, the king, the king he's talking about is actually himself. 6 (37m 1s): The king will say to those on his right come. You who are blessed by my father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world for I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me. Then these righteous ones will reply. Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink or a stranger and show you hospitality or naked and give you clothing. When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? 6 (37m 45s): And the king will say, I tell you the truth. When you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me. It takes on a whole different impact. When we think about the fact that as we, as we help others share with us with meet the needs of others, bless others. We're doing it as unto the Lord and actually to the Lord. And apparently there's reward in heaven for this kind of thing as well. So James continues verse 19. You say you have faith for you. Believe that there is one God. And he says good for you. But even the demons believe this. 6 (38m 27s): And they tremble in terror. Now, why would James bring up demons in the conversation? I mean, what does that have to do with anything? Well, he tells James is giving us, he's giving us sort of a severe stark example here for those who know the truth, but they refuse to act upon the truth. Those who know the truth, but they refuse to act upon the truth because you see demons, they know the truth, but they refuse to believe. They refuse to act upon the truth. Now we can't understand fully the mystery that occurred in the, in the angelic realm, how a third of the angels rebelled against God, but they know the truth, but they refuse to act upon that truth. 6 (39m 10s): So on occasion, Jesus would come in conflict with demons. So in the one occasion is in Matthew chapter eight, verse 29. It says, suddenly the demons cried out saying, what have we to do with you? Jesus, you son of God, have you come here to torment us before the time. So to see they know there's going to come a time when they're going to be judged for their rebellion. In fact, we see a glimpse into the judgment in revelation, chapter 20 verse 10, it says the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 6 (39m 50s): So I think James, again, he's trying to get us wake up a little bit. This is a serious thing. If you say you have a confession of faith, that you're a believer in Jesus. There's, there's gotta be, there's gotta be some good actions. Good deeds, good fruit coming out. A result of that. So James is going to answer that question that was asked earlier, the question he gave to us, verse 20, he concludes how foolish can't you see that faith without good deeds is useless. That's that's pretty powerful. 6 (40m 32s): So now James, what he's going to do is given, give us two examples of a man of faith and, and a woman of faith. He's going to use Abraham as the, the godly example, a man of faith. And he's going to use a woman named Rahab as a woman of faith. Interestingly, if you think about these two, so Abraham is, is the hero of the Jewish people. He's the patriarch, he's the beginning of the, of the nation of Israel. They look to Abraham as their founding father, as it were and rehab who's rehab. Well, she's not Jewish. She's a Canaanite. She was living in a town called Jericho and the Israelites came in and began to possess the land. 6 (41m 16s): And so she did something pretty profound. And he's going to talk about it here in just a minute. So he begins in verse 20. He says, don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God, by his actions when he offered his son, Isaac on the altar. Now go back and you remember the story. God had told Abraham through your seed, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. And he was talking about Isaac. So Abraham had had one legitimate son. His name was Isaac Isaac. And so Isaac is growing up now he's he's, he's a young man, 13, 14, 15. We don't know for sure, but he's a young man and God told Abraham, Abraham, I want you to take Isaac. 6 (41m 57s): And I want you to take them up on top of that hill, right over there. And I want you to sacrifice him to me. So Abraham didn't delay, he took Isaac up the hill, even made him carry the wood for the sacrifice. And as Abraham is getting ready to pull out the knife and kill his son of promise, of course, God stopped. And we know we know the end of the story, but Abraham would have done it. You see that, that faith coupled with the obedience to God is why he's being used. As, as an example here, you see his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. And so it happened just as the scripture say, Abraham believed God and God counted him as a re as righteous because of his faith. 6 (42m 43s): He was even called the friend of God. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do and not by faith alone. So now James is going to move from Abraham as an example of faith to rehab. And we see it in James chapter two verse 25, Rahab. The prostitute is another example. She was shown to be right with God by her actions when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road, just says, the body is dead without breath. So also faith is dead without good works. So there's, Rayhab living in Jericho. 6 (43m 23s): She's a, she's a Canaanite and she hears, she hears rumors of what is going on with Israel, their deliverance out of Egypt, and they're heading, they're heading their direction. And sh what does she choose to do? She, she chooses to reject the gods of the Canaanites and embraced the gods, the God of the Jews. And so to the proof of that is when these two spies came into Jericho to see what was going on in the city. She, she received them and she hid them. And so she's honored here as a woman of God, as a woman of faith because of her good deeds. And he concludes concludes here, justice, the body is dead without breath. 6 (44m 4s): So also faith is dead without good works. I'm reading now from Joshua about that story, Joshua chapter six, verse 25, Joshua spared, Ray Hab, the harlot, her father's household and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. So one of the unique things about the people of Israel is they were told to embrace outsiders, to embrace foreigners and bring them in and, and treat them as fellow Israelites. So here's Ray Hab. She got a lot of things going for that are, that are not great. 6 (44m 46s): She's, she's a, Canaanite, she's a prostitute, but she saved those two spies. And the result of that was her whole family was saved. And it says she'd Wells in Israel to this day. So not only is she welcomed into the people of Israel, but she actually is included in the lineage that it would eventually flow to Jesus Christ. And we see that in Matthew chapter one, verse five, where he's talking there about the lineage, and it says here, Salomon was the father of Boaz whose mother was, was rehab. So think about this rehab now is part of, part of the Jewish community. 6 (45m 26s): And she marries Salomon and they have a son and their son is named Boaz. You've heard that name probably before from, from the book of Ruth. So Boaz now was the father of whose mother was Ruth. So now Boaz, the son of, of Rayhab now follow me. I won't get too complicated here. So Boaz now marries Ruth. So Ruth isn't the Jewish Israelite either. She's a Moabite, Moabite us another story book of Ruth. And so they get married and they have obit. That's the name of their son and open obit was the father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of king David. 6 (46m 6s): Isn't that amazing because of her faithfulness in bow to believing in God and to, and to show good works by hiding these spies. Now she's in the lineage that leads to Jesus Christ, our savior. All right. I want to try to wrap all this up. I want to go and invite the worship team to go ahead and go ahead and make your way up to the front. That would be great. So James is encouraging us. He's encouraging you and me to take a good long look in the mirror and ask yourself this question. Am I truly saved? Am I a bonafide believer in Jesus Christ? Is he my Lord and savior? 6 (46m 48s): So if you're still not sure about your salvation today, I want to help you to be sure about it. By asking as one asked four questions. So question number one is this, do you remember a time when you deliberately invited Jesus Christ into your life to be your Lord and savior? Do you remember a time now? The challenge can be sometimes is, you know, when let's say we've been involved, we grew up in a church in a Christian family. And so it's kind of, sort of inbred in us part of our DNA. And so you ask, sometimes kids have, you know, a Christian family, they'll say, you know, when, when did you come to know Jesus? Well, you know, I kind of always grew up in the church and you know, my, my parents are Christians and you know, and, and it's kind of vague, but even, even for kids that grew up in a Christian family, there has to be a deliberate time in your life where you invite Jesus Christ personally, to be your Lord and savior you, you can't, you can't trust others with your own salvation. 6 (47m 54s): And so here's a Romans chapter 10 verse nine. If you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, again, there's other groups of people while I've attended church, my whole life. I'm, you know, are you a believer? Well, yeah, yeah. I go to church. I go to church a lot and it's, it's still vague. It's not good enough. There has to be a time in your life where you look back and go. That is, that is the day. That is the time. That is the event when I gave my life to Jesus Christ. And I'll never be the same again. So question number two. Do you bear witness to the fact that the holy spirit is now living in you, you see something supernatural and wonderful happens when we make that confession of faith. 6 (48m 40s): Literally the Bible says that our bodies become the temple of the holy spirit. You were spiritually dead, and now you're spiritually alive because of the work of the holy spirit. And that's where that term being born again comes from born from above. So John talks about this in first, John four 13, he says by this, we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us of his spirit. He's given us the holy spirit. And then the Paul brings it this way. He says in Romans eight, 16, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. So there's this, this witness, this bearing witness that we can honestly say, Jesus is my Lord and savior and the holy spirit lives in me. 6 (49m 26s): And he confirms that to me on a daily basis. Really literally. Now question number three, are you becoming more and more grounded and mature in your walk with Christ? Are you becoming more and more grounded and mature in your walk with Christ? You see our walk with the Lord. It's kind of an interesting thing. You're either growing in your relationship with Jesus Christ or you're backsliding in your relationship with Jesus Christ. There is no middle ground. You there's no coasting. And so are you growing Galatians 5 22 and 23 says this the fruit of the spirit, or we would say, you know, the manifestation of the holy spirit in our lives, the fruit of the spirit is love. 6 (50m 10s): Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And so what we discover is as we're being transformed is the character. Literally the character of God is now becoming the character of us, of me by that maturing process. And he concludes, it says since we are living by the spirit, let us also follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Last question, fourth question. Do you have a desire to serve others as you serve Christ? And that's kind of what this whole thing is about. Do you have the desire to serve others as you serve Christ? John chapter 15, Jesus said this. He said, greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends. 6 (50m 56s): You are my friends. If you do whatever I command you. I mentioned earlier that whatever you're gifted at whatever you're passionate about, whatever you just love to do that, let that be the focal point of serving others, helping people, maybe you're a person with a lot of resources and means, and money and, you know, wealth then use that find joy in that there's a lot of joy in giving as we do it as unto the Lord. So I want to close with this. So we began looking at this. Actually, we began with the father's day video. You remember that? So the father's day video, this was the statement that was made. Fathers are one of the most powerful forces in the universe. 6 (51m 38s): So I want to add to that statement. And here's what it is, what I want to say. Men and women who have made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior men and women who have been sealed and filled with the holy spirit, men and women who are filled with the love of God and are living out their faith with a life of action and good works. They are the most powerful force in the universe because they represent the Lord Jesus Christ in the world today. That's you and that's me. And that's us. Lord. We ask you to affirm, affirm in us, even now, Lord give us that witness of the holy spirit that we truly are saved and born again, bonafide believers in Jesus as our Lord and savior and Lord equally. 6 (52m 31s): So if there's anyone among us, that's not truly saved. Lord. I pray today that they would be so convinced of the truth. The Tate today would be the day that they make that decision to fully confess and give their lives over to you. Lord, thank you that you're so gracious and kind, you, you meet us exactly where we are, you know, the struggles and trials that we all deal with in life. And yet Lord, in the midst of all that you want to, you want to give us something profound and, and rich and deep and good. And Lord, we do wanna impact the world for you or by serving others. 6 (53m 11s): Thank you that they actually were serving you. And there's rewards for that. We thank you for that so much. So Lord, we just want to give you thanks for all these things. We pray in Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen. So I've invited the worship team up. They've been waiting a long time, but I got one more thing I want to show you. Okay. All right. So coming into our new space here, that worship center, we wanted to make a little bit more deliberate effort to help those that are new believers to begin to get plugged in and grow in their, in their walk with the Lord. So we've created this little packet right here. Isn't that cool. 6 (53m 52s): We didn't do printing on one site. We did printing on both sides. Yes. Says you open up this little packet for new believers. What you're going to find a number of things. First of all, you're going to find it's a card that basically says these are the, these are the times that we meet little invitation to church. And on the bottom of it, there's a QR code. Now I didn't know til yesterday, what QR actually stands for. I know what it does because I've used it before you take your phone, you know, and you put the fo you know what? It is a QR code, but yo y'all know what a cutie, what QR stands for. 6 (54m 31s): Quick response. Yeah. QR quick response. So you put your phone on that QR code right there. It's going to take you right to our website. You're going to see all the things that we offer in ways that we want to encourage you. As you walk with the Lord. And then we've got another card in this packet, and this is for new believers. So on the front, it's got a QR code. Again, you do that one. It's going to take you to a site where you'll be able to sign up, to get baptized. If you haven't been baptized yet, since you place your faith in Jesus Christ, go to that location on our website, sign up. We're going to be having a baptism. I believe it's going to be towards the end of summer. We're going to have a barbecue down on the beach bonfire. 6 (55m 12s): We're going to have a baptism. It's going to be super fun. Okay. And then on the backside of this same card, it has four QR codes for events, growth, track, life groups, email updates. Just to, again, a way to get you started, get you plugged in, get you going. And then also there's another card. And this one is a reading day plan for a hundred days. So if you follow this reading plan in a hundred days, you can get through the whole Bible cover to cover. Okay? And then there's two more things. The next one is you will get a sticker, a harvest sticker. Now, in case you're wondering, what does the vertical arrows mean? So the top of the arrow is God. 6 (55m 54s): The bottom of the arrow is me. So it's our vertical relationship with God. And from there, the other arrows meaning our relationship with others because of our relationship with God, we were able to impact the lives of others. And then the last thing in the packet, most important of all is a Bible. So you'll get a whole Bible old and new Testament. And my encouragement to you is read the Bible every single day. And you will always be growing in your walk with Jesus Christ. Thank you. So let's go ahead and continue. What is it? Let's stand. Shall we? 0 (56m 55s): The father defender for the prison we see in his home 7 (1h 1m 18s): There is none higher, none greater, none more loving than her gracious. And then more kind, none stronger than our God and father. I pray that we would go out in that strength this week to do the things that you have called us to do. I thank you that you will give us the strength. You will empower us to do the things that you have called us to do. Thank you, father. Thank you. That you are the ultimate heavenly father. Just want to pray a blessing on all the fathers today. Thank you for the godly men in this church and how they lead their families. Thank you. In Jesus name. Amen. If you would like prayer, please come forward. We'll have people to pray with you. 7 (1h 1m 58s): Oh, Ron's got one more thing. 6 (1h 2m 1s): I forgot to mention one thing. If you are a new believer and you gave your life to Christ today, you can pick up one of these packets at the info counter, right back there. Feel free, head back there when we're done. There you go. 7 (1h 2m 14s): Okay. So now if you would like prayer, you can come forward. If not, we'll see you next week.