BCC Modern Service 8/1/2021

uh okay okay have you seen yes thank you [Music] oh okay [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right let's stand up and worship together god you are so awesome and we are gonna praise you today in the name of jesus hey [Music] [Music] my weapon is for me [Applause] [Music] is [Music] our god is truly alive let's sing out to [Music] him [Music] [Music] will is the darkness [Music] [Music] [Music] ashes [Music] thank you jesus that you're alive we love you so [Music] a little much [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] louder and louder [Music] [Music] is is [Music] [Music] amen [Music] your grace [Music] a new horizon a brand new day [Music] [Music] [Music] you give me freedom [Music] this gracious now every time i go [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh come on [Applause] [Music] i will [Music] i can't make sense yeah hey everybody my name's stacy welcome it is so good to be here it's sunday and i'm so glad because we get to do this right here amen amen worship is an outward expression of our hearts and my hope and prayer today is that our hearts are in a place where we can pour out our gratitude and our thankfulness to god amen and if you're new with us we're so glad we just invite you to join in whether you're watching online or you're in this room we're glad that you're here and if you're looking just for a way to connect with us we would love for you to text us text the word guest to 480-933-1482 so we can give you a gift and know who you are so this next song that we're going to sing we're celebrating jesus dying and raising again and making that possible for us as well for all who choose him we will be raised to new life and so we celebrate that saturday was silent surely it was through [Music] sunday's since when hasn't possibly ever stopped this is again this is [Music] anytime soon [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] just ask the man i [Music] this is [Music] i'm [Music] [Music] god you are worthy and we praise you for you are worthy in the good times and the bad you are worthy god we lift your name high [Music] love came first before i knew the cross you carried [Music] [Music] is for everything you've done and everything too [Applause] live to glorify your name [Music] lord i will sing your praise [Music] worship [Music] to all i am [Music] for everything you've done [Music] i [Music] little will your name [Applause] lord forever will sing your praises [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] forever [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i will praise for as long as life remains still i will see your praise [Music] you can be seated [Music] good morning we're going to receive communion together and so in just a moment i'm going to invite you to come to one of the tables in the room and at the table if you are a follower of jesus and the invitation is for you to partake participate in communion by taking the cup with the bread in it and the cup with the juice in it and i'll have you return to your seat and spend some time in prayer and as as you do that i just want to give you this thought really it's paul's thought out of romans chapter 5 and it starts in verse 6 and paul says you see it just the right time and paul gives us this indication that the god who is uh above time and and has no time restraints on him comes into our time to make time for us specifically to have jesus do what he did at just the right specific time in all of history that jesus would come and die on the cross and then he says not only that just the right time but he says in in your powerlessness which means there is nothing inherently that we can do to earn what jesus has done for us we can't earn our forgiveness we can't earn our salvation we can't be good enough we can't be smart enough we can't serve enough we can do nothing of that to to earn it we're literally powerless to to do that and he says jesus died for the ungodly which is which is us in this room that he died for us even though we didn't deserve it and he goes on to say in chapter five verse eight he says but god demonstrates his love for for us all of us the demonstration that he shows that he loves us is that while we were yet sinners christ died for us and that's what we get to remember as we receive communion that jesus died for us that he was put in a tomb and three days later jesus rose from the grave and we're going to remember that by receiving the bread in the cup please come [Music] so [Music] so [Music] if you would take the bread [Music] we eat this bread to remember jesus sacrificed body take and eat and we drink from this cup to remember jesus shed blood on the cross take father we're grateful that we can remember your son's demonstration of love we can remember that the death and the burial and the resurrection by receiving the bread in the cup today we're thankful that we can do that father we are blessed beyond measure let me just pray this and lift this up in jesus name amen so we're going to receive offering it will be something we do it every week at broadway christian church and there's a couple different ways that we can give uh this morning as you leave today there's a couple boxes in the back of the room you can if you brought like a check or some cash you can drop it off in the box or you can give online at bccmesa.com giving or you can go and download a push pay app and you can you can give that way so we give at broadway because we believe that jesus christ is the hope of the world we also believe that the scripture teaches giving and for those that are with us for the first time today now the expectation is really for giving is for those that are members and and attenders at broadway and it's the way that we learn to grow in our faith with god and trust in him in all areas and finances is one of those areas so we receive offering every week and we do that so that we can make sure that this church continues to share the good news of the hope that is in jesus christ and that we can grow in our faith and understanding of of being generous and giving and trusting in god let me let me pray for us this morning over our offering father we're so grateful that we can receive uh offering and uh you teach us so much through worship and part of our worship is trusting you with our with our giving with our with our finances father not just a little bit of it but all of it and so we drew that today as we receive an offering for the ministry that happens here at broadway christian church and we're grateful now that we get to do this that we get to uh father be generous like you are generous to us and we just pray over the offering today uh father that it uh does more than we could ever imagine for your kingdom here on earth and we pray in jesus name amen hey take a look at the video please hey there everyone my name is erin and i'd like to tell you about what's coming up for you and your family at broadway so check this out our next mission trip to build a house in rocky point mexico is coming up in november you're invited to learn more at an informational meeting today at 12 p.m in the south lobby classroom we'll also have info and registration available at bccmesa.com info if you have any questions about any of our events or just want to find out more about us stop by the kiosk in the lobby or visit bccmesa.com info on your computer tablet or phone you can also connect with us on social media at bccmesa have a great day and thanks for letting us be a part of it morning church uh welcome to those of you in the house and those of you online i'm so glad that you all are joining us today i'm glad to see it for those of you with memory problems i'm john and abnett one of the pastors here and and i was on summer break in the month of july but i kept having this recurring dream that i was supposed to preach but i couldn't find my bible or my sermon notes and so i stood up in front of you not having a clue what i was supposed to say but then i looked out and i realized that all of you were in your underwear so it didn't make any difference anyway we were all mutually embarrassed so there you go well we are beginning a new sermon series today called uh the bible doesn't say that say that back to me the bible doesn't say that and the reason that i want to talk about these topics is because so many times people including christians have these pet sayings of ours that we've said so many times in so many different places that we tend to believe that that's actually in the bible so just to test and see how well-versed we are i'm going to give you five statements what i want you to do is to tell me yes that's in the bible or no that's not in the bible we got five of these so here's the first one the first statement is and by the way these are all good statements nothing wrong with any of these cleanliness is next to godliness now you're not going to let the people around you influence you whether they raise your hand or not you're going to be your own person can we all think for ourselves this morning can we all do that if you believe that's in the bible raise your hand can i see a show of hands that cleanliness is next to godliness okay i don't see a single hand up in the audience right now if you believe that's not in the bible would you also raise your hand right now okay and how many of you refuse to raise your hand for any reason at all is cleanliness next to godliness in the bible yes or no and the answer is no all right here's the next one number two the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak is that in the bible yes or no yes no how many say no it's not in the bible and the answer is it's in the bible it's actually matthew 26 jesus is praying in the garden of gethsemane he wants the disciples to join him in prayer but they keep falling asleep so he goes to them and he sees them sleeping again he says well i know you wanted two guys but the spirit is willing the flesh is weak okay so no it's not yes that's in the bible number three here we go uh god this is certainly true god moves in mysterious ways how many of you say yeah that's that's in the bible show of hands can i see a show of hands believe that's in the bible i'm i'm looking i'm looking okay i'm gonna say no it's not in the bible now does let me ask you a question for those of you that just had your hands up for the no does god move in mysterious ways yes or no yes he does of course he does we don't listen if we could understand everything about god he wouldn't be god but is this in the bible yes or no church no it's not there here's an interesting one number four a nagging spouse is like the drip drip grip of a leaky faucet isn't that annoying you know you can't turn it off and you can't get away from it and immediately we think of a nagging wife but listen i can just as well be a nagging husband can i get an amen from the ladies on that right okay so is this one in the bible how many of you say yes how many of you say no and the answer is it's in the bible it is a proverb kind of a trick question this is from the message paraphrase that's why it doesn't readily come to mind just one last one the last one is and i like this one love the sinner hate the sin uh love the sinner hate the sin how many of you say yeah that's in the bible show of hands in the bible okay not in the bible show of hands and the answer is is it in the bible the answer is no it is not in the bible just two of them two of the number two number four are actually in the scriptures the other ones are popular sayings but you're not going to find them anywhere in the bible now today we're going to talk about one i've tipped my hand obviously to to the one that says god helps those who help themselves now if you believe that's in the bible that god helps those who help themselves you'd actually be in the majority a barna research poll says that 82 of americans believe that that statement can be found somewhere in the bible they can't tell you where but they know it's in the bible christians know better because only 81 percent of christians believe that statement is in the bible so christians are a whopping one percent better than joe heathen walking down the street amen sorry to tell you sorry to ruin your day but the bible does not say that god helps those who help themselves in fact it says something quite the opposite that we'll get into that's the kind of thing that your mom says to you when you're sitting on your couch in the basement playing video games and she says get up and get a job you're an adult for heaven's sake you know get going it's kind of a motivational speech but it's not biblical that god helps those who help themselves so where did this phrase actually come from that god helps those who help themselves so i'm so glad you asked that question hundreds and hundreds of years ago there was a guy named asap who wrote fables maybe you've read some of his fables one of them concerns this guy driving a wagon pulled by a team of horses and they're going along a muddy road and they come to a particularly bad spot a muddy spot in the road and the wagon sinks up to it up to its we it's hub it's axel in the mud and and the harder he urges the horses to pull the wagon out of the mud the more the wagon gets stuck and so finally the man just kneels down and prays to hercules and he says oh hercules in the fable or hercules help me in my hour of distress and hercules shows up appears to him and says man don't sprawl there get up and put your shoulder to the wheel the gods help those that help themselves what a lousy god hercules turned out to be amen that the gods help those who help themselves well benjamin franklin read that read that fable obviously and he wrote in the 1700s something called poor richard's almanac and he included that statement in one of the almanacs and people have been saying it ever since so sort of begs the question why do so many people believe this statement that god helps those that help themselves and the answer is because there is a kernel of truth to that statement you know there is an effort that is needed on our part let me give you an example our family when we sit down to eat we always have table grace we all whether we're at home or in a restaurant we always say a blessing for the food but just because we pray for the meal doesn't mean that the food magically appears on our plate that's a great way to go hungry amen i mean i had to work to earn a living to buy the food we'd spend time in the kitchen preparing the food to eat and when i say we i don't mean me i mean my wife sonia i'm in the other room encouraging her is it ready yet is it ready yet i'm hungry that's my part all right in the food preparation but what i'm doing when i pray is i'm thanking the lord for the ability to earn money to buy the food i'm grateful to god for this amazing planet that we live on that sustains life i'm thankful for the farmers that plant and harvest the crops for the truckers who bring that to the grocery stores and for all the people that are involved in in getting the food ready for consumption ultimately the food that i eat comes from god that you eat comes from god we know that but you have a part and god has his part or let's say you're you want to get a job you're unemployed and and if you're going to sit around and start praying and this is all you do god please give me a great job that pays a lot of money it's going to be a long time before you ever get employed instead get your resume together submit your applications go to job interviews and convince that potential employer that you're the best guy or the or the best gal for the position the bottom line is god is not going to drop food on your table just because you prayed for it and god is not going to give you a job that you want if you're not qualified for the job we can pray and we can pray but we have a part in the process so yeah there's a grain of truth in the statement that god helps those that help themselves but it misses the point let me give you one more example the apostle paul planted a church in a community called thessalonica it was in what's now modern-day turkey in asia minor back in that day but he planted the church in thessalonica he preached the gospel people got saved and then he spent some time with them teaching them and one of the things paul explained to them was about the soon the imminent recon return of jesus the second coming of christ then he left to go plant churches in other towns well in the meantime those new believers in thessaloni thessalonica they're beginning to think well hey if jesus is coming back anytime why should i work why should i be careful about spending my money i'm just going to go out and buy a rolls royce on down payment right as if they had rolls royces in those days anyway so the problem is they're mooching off other people they're not working and paul addresses this in his second letter to the thessalonians and here's what he says in chapter 3 verse 10. don't you remember the rule we had when we lived with you read the next part with me if you don't work you don't eat and that's true amen if you don't work you don't eat and now we're getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you this must not be tolerated we command them to get to work immediately no excuses no arguments and earn their own keep they were sitting around doing nothing some of the new christians in thessalonica they were thinking well we'll just would live off other people off of their off their generosity you ever known anybody like that they they believed that god was going to do something big and so they thought in the meantime they didn't have to do anything like a guy that he had this person prophesy over him that one day this guy would preach to the nations did you hear me preach to the nations like how many billy grahams had there actually been it sounds like a pretty dubious prophecy to me in the meantime you know what the guy was doing to prepare to preach to the nations nothing he was just kind of waiting sitting around waiting you know as if he's going to get a phone call one day hello this is the nation's calling and we were wondering if you're not too busy sitting around doing nothing if you'd come and preach to us then ain't never going to happen and as far as i know the guy's still waiting for this magical door to open that he's going to start suddenly preaching to the nations or this woman that i know that kept saying to me she told me this more than once i just know god has told me that he's going to do something really big through my life and i said great in the meantime would you mind serving this in this area no i'm waiting for god to do something big well would you mind helping out over here no i'm i'm waiting for god to do something amazing see here's the thing our faith is meant to move us to action we pray and we work god expects you to work god expects you to make an effort over and over in the bible we see that god works through people that he's a we're all we we're all he's got god works through people we are the instruments that god uses to change the world turn to your neighbor and say you are an instrument of god turn your neighbor and say that to him or her right now you are an instrument of god so yeah there's a grain of truth that god helps those who help themselves but we don't sit around church waiting for god to miraculously right the wrongs in our culture i mean that that's that's a foolish way to think he uses us to make a difference god works through people say that with me god works through people he does now here's why this is important because sometimes we get this belief that all we have to do is sit and i'm not talking about just this church i'm talking about churches the body of christ we sit in our comfy church buildings while the world around us goes to hell and we moan and we groan and we wring our hands about about the degradation of our culture and we think well if we just pray something is going to happen it's not going to be like that god will give you an unction he'll give you an urging because he wants you to personally do something about the evils and let's face it it's so easy to become desensitized to the increasing depravity in our culture in our society to the point that we think that all we need to do is pray and it's going to get better it's not going to get better i mean church is going to get worse and so we press into god in prayer and then what we do is we say lord show me what i can do show me what i can do to make a difference in this culture show me god how to make a difference so i believe that god helps those who help themselves is antithetical to what scripture actually says so what's the alternative well i want to give you three reasons why i believe it's unbiblical to say that god helps those who help themselves and the first one the first reason is kind of general i'm holding right now my bible this is a book but it's not just a book this is actually a compilation of 66 books that comprise two sections that make up the bible the old testament which is really really old and then what's called the new testament which is also really really old but not as old as the old testament the new testament is only 2 000 years old the old testament is really really old but here's the interesting thing about the 66 books in the bible it was written by 40 different authors over a period of 1500 years and uh and it comprises 1189 chapters that's what makes up the bible and it covers history all the way from the beginning of creation in the beginning to about 50 years after the resurrection in the gospels and then even looks forward to the future in the prophetic writings and the interesting thing about the diversity of scripture with the background that you've got kings that wrote some scripture and and and gardeners that wrote some scripture in in fishermen in tent makers all kinds of different people wrote the bible and yet there's this one consistent a thread that runs all the way throughout the bible and here it is that we've made a mess of it we have messed up that our sin has separated us from god it's not just adam and eve it's us and and we can't find our way back to god so starting with the fall of adam and eve in the garden of eden the bible is the record of god reaching out to us god making the relationship right to the best that he can god putting himself on the line and saying this is what i'm willing to do so that we can be reconciled once again in our relationship with one another so the message of the bible is and here it is number one that we cannot save ourselves if you're taking notes that's the first point we can't make it right we can't find our way back to god on our own we need him in the central message of the bible and really the big idea for this message is god helps those who realize that they can't help themselves those who have come to the realization i can't do it on my own i'll never be good enough and i can't tell you how many people that i've talked to that have said in so many words i don't know that i'm good enough to become a christian well absolutely you're not good enough not nobody is we can't be good enough it and and and that's what makes christianity and differentiates us this faith from every other world religion whether it's islam or buddhism or judaism or whatever every other religion says this is the effort that man must make to get to god the message of the cross is this is what god has get has done to get to you this is how far god is willing to go that we're stuck and we made a mess of it and only god can lift us out of this pit of despair that we've dug for ourselves now that's the general reason the message of the bible from cover to cover is consistent that the mess we've made can only be rectified by the efforts that god makes so no we absolutely cannot help ourselves there now i can't stand here today and tell you that i'm preaching a sermon unless i actually take you to the word so i'm going to read today part of the sermon on the mount from matthew chapter 6. the sermon on the mount comprises matthew 5 6-7 those three chapters but i'm going to read today from the message paraphrase instead of the niv and the reason i'm doing this is because i like to think that if jesus were standing here in our midst today and preaching and talking to us about what it means to be a kingdom follower that that he would probably use language something like this so here we go kind of a long passage but it's a good one jesus's words matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 25 where he says if you decide for god living a life of god worship it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at meal times or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion there's far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body look at the birds free and unfettered not tied down to a job description careless in the care of god and you count far more to him than birds has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror even gotten taller by so much as an inch all this time and money wasted on fashion do you think it makes that much difference instead of looking at the fashions walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers they never they never primp or shop but have you ever seen color and design quite like it the 10 best dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them if god gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers most of which are never even seen don't you think he'll attend to you take pride in you do his best for you what i'm trying to do here is to get you to relax to not be so preoccupied with getting so you can respond to god's giving people who don't know god and the way he works fuss over these things but you both you know both god and how he works steep your life in god reality god initiative god provisions don't worry about missing out you'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met give your entire attention to what god is doing right now and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow god will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes and this is the reading of god's word and all the people said amen our culture idolizes self-sufficiency we practically worship people who have made incredible successes of themselves whether they start a computer company or have a successful business venture or whether they're an athlete and they rise to the top in in sports or in entertainment we we we practically fall down in front of them and worship them because we believe that a self-made person is the best kind of person so we we just love we we love this idea of self-sufficiency this idea that that i am the center of my life that it's that i have to make my own effort i don't watch much tv anymore but every now and then i'll look at reality tv and there's one show in particular it's called the amazing race this is true of most reality shows they're very self-centered and in fact in the amazing race it is a race literally around the world and several teams of two participate and i've noticed that at the beginning of the race when they're just getting started they kind of help each other they form alliances you know to to better themselves but in the last episode it's about whoever crosses the finish line first and gets the million dollar prize because that's what matters i matter the most in that moment or church think about all the self-help resources out there um the urban dictionary defines self-help as something that enables you to achieve your goals without the aid of others without the aid of others the self-help industry is an 11 billion dollar industry that's per year at the last count there were 45 000 self-help books available for you to read right now so if you started today and read one self-help book for every day for the rest of your life you'd have to live another 123 years to complete all the books amen which means you'd probably have to live another 123 years because there'd be that many more books here are the titles of just a few of those health-help books how to make people like you in 90 seconds or less that's a great book isn't it how to make a lasting good impression from teeth to breath to handshake to small talk another one says 59 seconds change your life in under a minute wouldn't that be amazing change your life in under a minute another one is the four hour work week and i know some people that that would be a stretch for them to work four hours in a week one more how to think more about sex that is an actual title and no you don't need to read it that is probably the least important book that's ever been written right thank you i love rhetorical questions you know why this idea of self-sufficiency is such a big problem comes to reason number two in the notes because it places me at the center of the universe that's why it puts me in the middle of of everything it's a dangerous thing to to somehow believe that i'm responsible for all the success that happens in my life and especially in the spiritual realm again where i believe that i have to be of a certain level of goodness for god to love me or god to care about me or god to want to do anything for me in other words i am my own savior if it's to be it's up to me i have to make it happen me me there's another big problem this is number three it ignores how much we need each other it ignores how much we need each other listen all of us are born completely dependent on others when for survival and along the way as we grow up as we mature we we we attain a certain level of self-sufficiency granted we're a level of independence but we never outgrow our need for others we are we are made and the fabric of life is woven together in such a way that we thrive best in relationship with others and that's never more true than when you become a follower of christ no matter how fractured your family might be when you become a christ follower you are instantly granted access to this family of fellow christ followers which is why i keep saying that for a christian being in church being a part of a body of believers is such an important thing for a christian to say i don't need to go to church i don't need the church that is absolutely a contradiction in terms to say that i can be a christian and not be a part of a fellowship of believers is anti-scriptural it's unbiblical it's like saying jesus i love you but i hate your wife and i get it that this is not a perfect church there ain't a perfect church in the world if you find one don't join don't join at the moment you do it will cease to be perfect amen but but so many times you know it's it we just we we we have to realize that we need each other and i'm going somewhere with this thought because since kovitz struck about a year and a half ago we like most churches had to learn to pivot and and make make services available online and i'm so glad we do that this service right now is we're not just in here but there are online people watching right now too and i'm glad i just love the fact that we can provide the technology uh to to allow people to watch from the comfort of your home and and i get that but but here's the thing i want to say i'm going to just you can listen if you want to me but i want to talk to our online people right now i'm glad you're watching and we love you we love the fact that you join in whether you're watching live or whether you watch this a recorded service a little bit later however you're doing it we're just glad that you joined us but understand that this can never be a substitute can never be a substitute for being in person because church on the sofa is not the same thing as church in the sanctuary i know because last month i was sort of recovering from a little illness and so i spent a couple of sundays watching these services online and i tell you what it is great not to have to get dressed to go to church it is great not to have to shave and get all cleaned up and and just have my cup of coffee and watch you sing while i'm sitting there sipping my coffee you know but you can't serve from the sofa you can't experience community from the sofa you you you can't experience the richness of being together with fellow believers like this and praising and worshiping our father in heaven it is not the same thing earlier this morning i was walking down the side about coming over to the 9 30 service and i saw some people getting off the bus and you know we have a lot of seniors in this church and i saw people hobbling off the bus in their canes and and they could barely walk they were assisting each other and i i said thank the lord that these if anybody has the right to stay home it's those that can barely walk and yet it's so important to them that that that they come to church it matters so much so for those of you that are online if you can't come i get it if your health prevents you from joining us god bless you you know keep watching we're glad you're participating at that level but if there's a reason that you can come to church and if you should come to church then please join us because we need you we need the resources that you prove we need the gifts that you provide we need your presence we need your encouragement we need everything that you bring to the table because ladies and gentlemen we need each other can i get an amen from somebody in the house we just do have you ever stopped to count all the one another passages in the new testament there are over 50 times different times that it says one another like support one another pray for one another encourage one another bear one another's burdens on and on and god's plan for your life involves being invested in the lives of others and that can only happen in community it matters that we're together now i haven't even got to my main point yet well actually the main verse that i want to talk about and i've said all of this and now i want to draw you back to matthew 6 once again but this time from the from the niv version and this is what jesus says here and let's read this together can we but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well what is jesus saying to us he's saying self-help isn't the answer he's saying you know god helps those who help themselves isn't where it's at it's where it's at is putting god first putting god's kingdom first putting his righteousness first and then god will take care of all of your necessities and you know what the good news of the bible is the good news of the bible is that you are not the center of the universe turn to your neighbor and tell him or her that you are not the center of the universe and some of you need to hear this amen and that's a good thing because you'd make a lousy god right instead you focus on god make him your top priority and listen everybody and their brother has heard a sermon on how to make god your priority you know some preachers told you from matthew 6 33 he's given you the acrostic of joy you know jesus others and you i'm not going to stand here today and do that and here's why because sometimes quite frankly there may be moments that you have to put yourself above others like let's say you're having a health crisis or maybe maybe your job just demands an extra amount of your attention temporarily i mean and so you may for a time have to put yourself above others temporarily but that shouldn't be the default mode that you live in jesus others and you should be the default but no matter what's going on in your life i will guarantee you this that putting god first is the most important thing you will ever do making god the priority of your life matters more than anything else and when you do that jesus this is a promise this isn't me saying it it's jesus saying it he says and all these things will be given to you as well all what things food clothing you know the needs of life the necessities of life well preacher are you telling me that if i put god first that i'm gonna live in in luxury and wealth i'm not saying that in fact an upcoming message in this series says something quite the opposite of that but how do we put god first in our lives how do we do this and putting god first once again i just have to clarify this doesn't mean that you're going to get everything you want in life because there are people followers of christ right now in the world living in extreme poverty in certain areas of of this planet and they have put god first and they have no financial blessings whatsoever you and i happen to be living in the richest culture in the richest time in human history and sometimes we have this erroneous belief that because we put god first that everything else all the material blessings of life will be mine we're not going to say that and we're not going to teach that in this church we're not going to teach that you will be rich and wealthy just because you're a christ follower but putting god first that is a big deal what does that mean well i came across this illustration and in a concept called plan neglect and it's actually from this concert violinist who rose to the top of her profession and she explained how um how she became such a renowned violinist she said uh and i'll just read what she says years ago i discovered that there were many things demanding my time after washing the breakfast dishes i made my bed i straightened the room i dusted the furniture i did a lot of other chores and then i finally turned my attention to the violin practice and i never i never got any better playing the violin so i realized i had to reverse things i deliberately set aside everything else until my practice period ended and that program of planned neglect in other words she neglected all those little chores that used to take away her time and allowed her to become a successful concert violinist you know um that reminds me of somebody a friend of mine his name is sam rottman salmon actually has actually played classical piano concerts in our church and i was talking to sam the other day and and as we were talking he reminded me that that when he went to the juilliard school of music very prestigious place that in addition to going to all the music theory classes and everything he was required to take he on top of all that practiced the piano 10 hours a day and he said when he says 10 hours he doesn't mean 9 hours and 45 minutes he means literally 10 hours a day and i said what percentage of students spent that much time practicing the piano like you he said 90 of the students would practice eight hours a day 10 percent of us was practice ten hours a day and he was one of those one in ten because he had a goal of becoming a concert pianist and he is today he goes around the world playing piano concerts classical concerts uh i love classical music so i i love listening to him i hope we have him here at broadway sometime this winter anyway here here's the here's i just want to tell you this this has nothing to do with the message but as he was telling me this he was saying you know you say uh he said um then i stopped at juilliard then one day i just stopped playing the piano he just stopped and the reason he stopped was because someone had given him a new testament sam was a jew he had gone to hebrew school as a boy and and when he went to school and as as a young jewish boy he was told to never look at the new testament because it was filled with lies well someone gave him the new testament and he started reading the gospel of john and he couldn't believe what he was reading about jesus and then he read the gospel of matthew and then he read the entire new testament not just once and not just twice but three times he read the entire new testament and after eight days of this he said he became a follower of christ and so today because of those 10 hours of practice that he put in years ago and he still practices every day he is now a renowned concert pianist and every time he does this he gives glory to god isn't that a great story how how god has used his life see 10 hours a day that he was dedicated to that that that's how we put god first here's the bottom line of this message as humans we're naturally going to do the things that are most important to us the things that matter the most to you are the things that you will spend the most time and attention on and the lesser things you'll fill in the gaps i've i thought about having an illustration here i bet everybody's seen this you got a wide mouth jar you got some big rocks and some pebbles and if you want to get the pebbles and the big rocks in the jar you got to put the big rocks in first and the pebbles fill in the nooks and crannies of whatever the big rocks don't cover well the big rocks as a christ follower have to be your relationship with jesus or maybe another big rock for you might be becoming a christian in the first place or maybe getting baptized or or serving or joining a life group or something like that and the pebbles are not unimportant that's your health and your your finances and your career and your kids or your grandkids all those things those are important they matter but the big rocks you put the big rocks in first and everything else falls into place so my question to you is is god the priority of your life is he the priority of your life you know i'm not asking what you tell other people i'm not asking you about the jesus others you listed you always that we all tell other people i'm actually asking you looking at your life right now this is between you and god looking at your life right now can you honestly say god is the priority of my life his kingdom and his righteousness matters more to me than anything else because the truth is your life and your schedule and how you use your time tells the story of where your priorities are so i'll ask you again is god truly the priority of your life i found this amazing example of what this is there's a guy named john wannamaker john wanamaker there's his photo he lived as you can tell from the photo a long time ago the late 1800s he actually founded a department store in philadelphia in the 1890s and if you're from philly you probably would know who this is but the rest of us might not but john wanamaker started a chain of department stores around philadelphia and he became this became one of the most successful businesses in the country at the time uh john wanamaker this guy was responsible for a lot of firsts in the retail world he from his fertile mind invented the price tag the money back guarantee and he took care of his employees too he gave them free medical care recreational facilities profit sharing plans but what's interesting about this guy was that running these department stores wasn't his only responsibility he was also the postmaster general of the united states at the same time and he was the superintendent of the largest sunday school in the world in its day all simultaneously and someone asked him how can you hold all these responsibilities at the same time and this is what he said as a young man i read what jesus said seek first the kingdom of god in his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well he said overseeing that sunday school is how i serve god that's putting him first for me and the other stuff being the postmaster general and the department stores that's these things that god has added on to show you his dedication he had a soundproof room constructed in his office it was a prayer closet and he would go in there every day for 30 minutes his priority was to spend 30 minutes on his knees before god every day and at the end of the 30 minutes his secretary would come and knock on the door and say time's up and he would rise off his knees and say the best 30 minutes of my day right now well one day she forgot to get him she got distracted and a couple of hours went by and someone came for an appointment and she said oh my goodness she ran to his prayer closet and knocked on the door and he got up off of his knees and said the best 30 minutes of my day right now it didn't matter to him whether it was two hours or 30 minutes what mattered was his time spent with god making god the priority of my life does god help those who help themselves can't because if you think you can help yourself you don't need god god helps those who realize that they can't help themselves and so we cast ourselves upon him and like jesus said in the sermon on the mount we don't worry about the things that god will allow to take care of themselves instead we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness so how is it with you between you and god how is it with you that's my question you really put god first or do you tend to help yourself let's pray so as your heads are bound your eyes are closed right now you know um i know that sometimes the life kind of crowds out what the real priorities ought to be so let me just ask you how many of you right now where you are today believe that it's important that you put god first in your life can i just see a show of hands just put your hand up if you if you're saying yes i want god i desire for that well let me pray for you father help us some of us here today really have made you our priority and others of us have sort of struggled in this area because so many other things tend to crowd out what truly matters the most so lord help us to put you in your kingdom and your righteousness first help us to uh not what we tell other people but with the reality of how we actually live our lives to to set aside the lesser things to focus on the most important thing which is you and then all these things will be added as well we thank you for this promise in jesus name amen i'm going to close the service in just a second and as we do that i'll be here at the front and if you're not a believer if you're not a christ follower and you don't want no don't know what it means to actually enter into a relationship with god through his son i'd love to have a conversation with you if you there's a prayer need uh we'll be here at the front as well okay in the meantime if you're a guest online hey online guest glad you're with us today here's our uh guest text number if you're a gas text 480-933-1482 and we'd like to get connected to you let us know who you are and we'll uh we'll give you a little modest gift and hopefully establish a firm relationship in the coming days in the meantime may the lord bless you and keep you may the lord go with you wherever you are this week and may he be your shield and your salvation amen amen god bless we'll see you next week bring somebody with you god bless we'll see you you

Channel: Broadway Christian Church Mesa

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Id: sLyYiVsTOgE

Length: 75min 3sec (4503 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 02 2021