CLC Service, Pastor Dave Phillips "Spiritual Checkup"

oh um good morning everybody welcome to christian life center this is our one of our combined services today and so we're glad you're here why don't we stand together and we're going to enter into worship and just open our time as we seek the lord this morning you can feel a little bit of a change in the air out there uh probably your heat's coming on at home i don't know it just depends on what you like but we're glad you're here today and let's just open our heart to the lord father we thank you that we can come and enter into your presence and seek you and so we give our hearts fresh and new to you today would you have your way father would you just encourage those and bless each one and help some are hurting god and we just pray that you'd be right by their side and bring your comfort to them so we ask this now together in jesus name and commit this service to you amen amen amen you know trusting jesus is really the heart of what christianity is all about and this is an old hymn and and some of the songs today are going to be a little little older in style but the focus is to worship and trust the lord so let's do that as we sing together tis so sweet to dressed in jesus tears so sweet to trust in jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise just to know the save though jesus jesus how i trust him i prove [Music] jesus oh for grace to trust him more i'm so glad i learned to trust thee precious jesus save your friends and i know that thou jesus jesus how i trust jesus jesus precious jesus oh for grace to trust him more you know we didn't do this in practice but i think we could do it let's just sing with our voices right now jesus jesus how i trust him how i [Music] jesus jesus precious jesus oh for grace to trust him more all hail king jesus [Music] and for all eternity i'm going to praise him and i'll reign [Music] eternity all hail king jesus [Music] lord of lords bright morning stars and for all eternity i'm going to praise him and i'll reign [Music] let's sing it one more time [Music] hailey manuel [Applause] king of kings lord of lords and for all eternity i'm going to praise him and i'll reign with him throughout eternity [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures [Music] praise him above ye heavenly host praise and holy ghost amen you may be seated i love you lord and i lift my [Music] rejoice take joy my king in what you hear maybe a sweet sweet sound in your ear i love you [Music] and i lifted my voice to worship you o my soul rejoice take joy my king [Music] in what you hear may it be a sweet sweet sound in your [Music] i don't know what uh a sweet sound is to you [Music] but uh i kind of get a kick out of hearing my youngest grandson when he talks now because his voice is just starting to change a little bit and yet he's still a little boy and you know he'll say something and you kind of smile and think about what that means and so forth and he's learning all kinds of words and things like that but i don't know what gives our father pleasure is to hear our voice praising him and so far more than any reference to a grandson or granddaughter or a sweet sound that we might know the lord loves to hear us sing to him and so i'd like us to sing that one more time and just be conscious of that that he is listening i love you and i lift my voice to you o my soul rejoice take joy my king in what you hear maybe a sweet sweet son in your ear give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the holy one give thanks because he's given jesus christ is son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the holy one give thanks because he's given [Music] [Applause] [Music] let jesus weak say i am strong let the poor say i am rich because of what the lord has done for us and i'll let the weak say i am strong let the poor say i am rich because of what the lord has done for us give thanks give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks one give thanks because he's given jesus christ his son give thanks with a grateful heart give thanks to the holy one give thanks because he's given jesus christ his son and i'll let the weak say i am strong let the poor say i am rich because of what the lord has done for us and let the weak say i am strong let the poor say i am rich because of what the lord has done for us [Music] [Music] thou art exalted far above all gods [Music] above [Music] [Music] let's stand together as we sing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] above all the earth [Applause] our exalted far above all gods for though above all the earth [Music] us [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh lord [Applause] [Music] we exhaust [Music] just our voices again we exalt we exhaust thee we exhaust thee oh lord we exalt thee [Music] we exhaust [Music] let's just give him praise this morning thank you lord hallelujah thank you jesus [Applause] we love you lord we we just express our love to you today father and we thank you that we can come and worship freely and lord our heart goes out to those believers that are still in afghanistan and some are hiding some are in a very different place than they were just a few months ago but i pray that you would help them we pray for our brothers and sisters around the world that are being persecuted we stand with them today we ask god that you would somehow pour out your provision for them pour out your protection for them help them in whatever place they find themselves and lord for those right here a part of this body today we think of those that are battling disease and sickness we ask for your healing upon them lord some are fighting cancer god would you just bring your healing in a miraculous way to them lord some are are just in a place where they're not sure about what's going on in their life and and discouraged it's a hard place lord would you remind them that you're with them every step of the way you're with them and we just thank you now we thank you god that you love us thank you that you hear us and thank you that you're our coming king and we just commit our lives afresh to you today and everybody said amen amen turn to someone and let him know you're glad to see him today before your seated [Music] thank you oh it's always good to hear hear the sound of fellowship and our greeting time is just as sacred as other things we do right okay good we're all on the same page there that's great i'm going to invite roger hungerford to come right now he's been the chair of the search committee and they have some information they want to share with us this morning so let's give them a hand they've done a lot of work recently bless you roger [Applause] thank you i want to invite all the search committee to come up because at this point come on search committee and boards start coming up because our job today as we said last sunday we're handing off our work to the board we're the list of candidates and today we're going to pray for the board come on up board come on brandt you can't shirk this duty now no we just uh we're honored to have been able to serve in this process and yes yes you can't hide you can't hide mark they're coming a couple more coming [Laughter] no so we're just we're really pleased to be able to hand this off to them and we want to pray for this board as uh they have this job now it's in their hands and we hope that all of you as we're praying for them that you will pray for them you will continue to pray for them as they have this big job of making some decisions and seeking the mind of the lord for the one that the lord is bringing here so george i'm going to let you pray first here hallelujah father we just come before you lord we rejoice in you lord for for father you've had your hand upon this congregation lord since the beginning lord father you've had your hand upon the search committee we've sensed your your presence in our meetings we sense your guidance lord over the past many months lord this whole process has been a journey in you lord a journey to refine 32 candidates to a final slave dear lord and we just thank you for the men and their wives who are on this final slate dear father god for your hand is upon them lord lord we also lift up all those lord that replied lord i just want to just um pray for them dear lord and we just thank and acknowledge that your hand is upon them may you bless them in their endeavors in their journey lord in their destiny father and so lord we just come to this juncture lord where the slate has been handed to the board and we just look to you father we just ask that you would move upon the board and through the board as they research and look into these candidates may they sense your pleasure and your guidance lord in this process lord and we just look to you lord for the final result there father god and we desire glory and rejoice in you lord and lord as this baton has passed lord we just pray for each and every board member lord that your hand and your grace would be upon them through this process and we look forward to the end result in jesus precious name amen christian heavenly father god we just thank you for this day god we thank you for search committee and the board god and those who have come together father to find the right candidate for you god lord i just pray that as we've done our work father god and we pass it on lord that you would just give him divine wisdom father god we thank you that you have the best in store for us father and so just pray for that over them god we thank you for the final candidates god and just how um in love with you they are father god and i just pray that that would be evident as they meet with them talk with them god just research more about them father god and i just pray even a blessing on the last candidates father god i just pray that you would just bring peace to their heart and their mind god you would lead and guide their steps whether it's here or somewhere else father god i just pray your peace upon them and so lord we just pray for divine wisdom god that we would find the right person for hear god that could help us reach this community god for you and the world lord we just love you god we thank you and we praise you in jesus name thank you thank you lord well we're just looking to you and we'll be praying for you do you want to say something i just as a congregation you don't know how much work these people actually did they gave us a packet this week that is phenomenal second to none and as we start our work through it i just want you to know how much we appreciate you and feel that god has directed you and thank you gentlemen ladies we appreciate it yes thank you for all the hours of work and there's still some more ahead for the board but the lord is guiding can you say that with me the lord has not forgotten christian life center the lord has not forgotten christian life center no he's guiding our steps and he's helping us and i was talking with someone just this week about uh you know two and a half years ago almost right to the month was when pastor dave resigned and we've been through quite a journey through this last series of months and years but the lord is faithful so thank you for your faithfulness as well i'm going to invite the ushers to come right now and actually they're already here these little stands right here and they're going to get ready to help us receive the offering but i do want to note for the seniors that we are going to have our seniors meeting this thursday night and we've had them two times a month and see how that's going we'll do that again next month and maybe the month after that but it's a great time to get together and and uh fellowship and share so that'll be thursday night at 6 30 for the golden airs we do have our wednesday activities including wednesday night services beginning at 6 30 as well and we want you to be aware of that the ladies are having an event not this week but the next week on thursday night so just make note of that but let's uh let's just pray as we receive the offering this morning and you can come up to the different stations around the building you can give online and there's other options that will be noted for you but let's just give thanks to the lord father thank you thank you for your faithful love thank you for each one that is here today and we pray that as we give and and just continue to participate together in your church that you'll bless and you'll guide and we give you thanks now in jesus name amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you ross and marian let's give them a hand appreciate their help today marion is a gift to this church i tell you and so is ross thank you [Applause] thank you both it's great to have an opportunity to have pastor dave come again today and so i'm going to let him come right now and and let's give a welcome to dave and colleen as they are here today bless you thank you i was the one making the squeak by turning on my microphone well good morning what a tremendous joy to be here with you this morning we're just wrapping up a 10-day road trip came back from seattle where we were meeting for a church planter seminar and we we live in a very unique time don't we be thankful that you live in montana and not seattle washington masks everywhere next month you will not go into a restaurant without showing proof that you've been vaccinated nor will you attend a football game or any other event in seattle so very interesting things that are happening but uh this is the hour for the church to rise up and to be who god has called us to be it's wonderful to um to to have the search committee up here praying over the board and i i just remind you christian life center was started about 90 years ago and in that 90 years they this church has had 10 10 lead pastors uh one of them died a year after being in office and there's been a couple a little hiccups along the way but god has been faithful to this church this church has remained a light in the community shining bright and i'm praying that the best days of christian life center are ahead not behind and i know that's the heart of god is to move in a sovereign way and we're trusting him for that we're praying right along with you for that to happen well i have been uh going through a series of things in my mind the last couple of weeks certainly as i have been blessed with the opportunity of coming and sharing with you it's always my heart to pray lord do you have a word specifically for christian life center and oftentimes what the lord has led me to share with you he's already sharing with me because i need to hear it i need to apply it in my life as well so i i want to share with you this morning just some thoughts about the importance of having an annual spiritual checkup i don't know about you but uh because of my age i go to the doctor every year for a physical and uh generally during that time the doctor will listen to my heart he'll check out my lungs he'll take my blood pressure he'll also take a blood draw and in that blood draw what he's looking for is to see where my psa my glucose and my cholesterol levels are at along with other things and i have found it to be very advantageous because the knowledge that i gain from that physical can help me to make some changes in my life if i want to my doctor personally always says dave you need to cut out the breads and the pastas and i think to myself i'll cut out the pastas but i'm not cutting out the bread but it's up to us with the information we received to decide what we're going to do with that i read one person online and he said an annual physical has saved my life twice once when i went in they found that i had a very severe irregular heartbeat and i immediately was rushed in and had a pacemaker installed later on during my physical the doctor found out that i was in the early stages of prostate cancer and once again i had to go through those steps but he said i recommend an annual physical i want to say to you this morning that i think the same thing is true in the spiritual realm there needs to be a time where you and i get before god and we examine our life or we let him examine our life so we know where we're at spiritually it's easy to think that everything is okay when it may not be okay there may be things that are going on that god wants to deal with he wants to make you aware of so he can begin bringing changes in your life so what what is god's standard i i think it's pretty clear when jesus was asked one day what is the greatest commandment what is the number one thing everybody should follow and jesus responded to that by saying you're to love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind not just a little bit of of those but you're to love him with all of those that's the standard by which we gauge ourselves now what does it look like as we're living life to have that broken down and and to show us how we're doing well a couple of weeks ago i was drawn to the seven churches in the book of revelation revelation chapter two and chapter three where jesus in some of his final words to his christ followers those who are walking with him on earth mentions these seven churches and and here's the thing i'm going to go through five of them briefly with you this morning and as we do that i want to encourage you to look at yourself and say is there something that this church experienced or these individuals of that church experience that i need to change in my life i'm reminded of joshua who was getting ready to take the children of israel into the promised land they had wandered for 40 years you think a year of wandering has been hard they did it for 40 years and moses died on the eve of them entering into the promised land and yet joshua as he was waiting on god and asking god for direction the lord spoke to him and said i want you to do this joshua chapter 3 verse 5. i want you to consecrate yourselves for tomorrow the lord will do amazing things among you and that night that's what the people did they consecrated themselves they examined themselves they asked for forgiveness in the areas where they needed to ask for forgiveness they determined in their hearts that they would be devoted that they would be dedicated fully to the lord god and what happened the lord fulfilled his part of the bargain he did do amazing things among them and i want to challenge you this morning if you will do the same thing not only is this going to bless christian life center and move you forward into what god has for you but it will move you as an individual forward if you'll take the time this morning to go through a spiritual annual physical and say god work on this area of my life forgive me for this area in my life then you can watch god do great things because he longs to pour out his spirit he longs to bless you but oftentimes things that we're allowing stop that from happening well these seven churches that jesus mentions to us are very interesting because each of them were literal churches that existed in the first century or the latter part of the first century a.d so they are historical churches and as such they illustrate for us i believe some of the problems that christians can have not only as a corporate group but problems that we can have as individuals and they represent for us the various kinds of churches that you could find in any age in fact some conservative bible scholars have said that they believe that these seven churches represent the the different ages before the lord returns the church at ephesus for instance was a the church that represented the day of the apostles and what they were going through and then the last church of laodicea represents what what the church will look like right before the return of jesus christ now i don't know if that's true but it's an interesting way of thinking about it five of these seven churches had problems there's a lot of similarities in the churches but there are also some major differences and i want to very very quickly and very briefly highlight some of the differences the first church that we're told about is the church at ephesus it's found in revelation chapter 2 verses 2 and 3. and this is what we read i know all the things you do i've seen your hard work and your patient endurance i know that you don't tolerate evil people you've examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not you have discovered they are liars you have patiently suffered for me without quitting now those are some pretty amazing things that we find there because here's the lord commanding his people remember it's not just a church the church is made up of individuals and he's commending these individuals for their their energy for their hard work for the fact that they're giving everything that they have to the kingdom of god you see when a person spends 40 to 60 hours a week at their job and then they tend to the needs of their family and on top of all of that they volunteer at the church the lord is pleased with that i don't know why it works that way but the people i know who are the busiest in their secular jobs are almost always the people that give the most time to the church and the lord loves that he loves the fact that there's that kind of devotion that kind of dedication so this is a person who is remaining faithful in the middle of a godless society they see through the deception that is all around them and they are willingly standing up for the truth what in the world could be wrong with the church like that well jesus tells us in verse 4. but i have this complaint against you you don't love me or each other as you did at first that's an amazing statement to make you see if we aren't careful somewhere along the line our love for god can be placed on the back burner and all of the activity and all of the things that we're doing to serve god take the place of us just really loving god and so we have christ telling us in verse 5 you need to look how far you have fallen turn back to me and do the works you did at first what was it like when you first surrendered your life to jesus christ for most of us we we found ourselves just wanting to talk to the lord throughout the day we found ourselves at times just spontaneously singing a song or hymn just thanking god for his faithfulness thanking god for the goodness in his life so jesus is saying if you find yourself in this group where you're doing a lot of activity but you aren't as hot for god as you once were to remember that when i was a junior in high school the lord really began working in my life and i would go to school and always had a job after school and there came a time when i started going straight home because my friends were they were going farther and farther in their way of alcohol and drugs and i i just found myself not being able to hang out with them anymore and so i would go home after school and then work and i would start reading my bible and i'd take a few minutes to pray something i'd never really done before except over a mill and there started to be this increased hunger in my life i couldn't get enough of god during the day when i was at school or when even when i was at work i couldn't wait to get home because i could spend time in the presence of the lord i could pray and i would usually take over an hour every night just to sit and pray and just commune with the lord and i would spend an hour reading my bible and the lord would speak to me the words would just leap out to me and and sometimes i would get up and i would go into the living room and my mom and dad were watching television and my heart just sunk and it grieved to me because i i would think in my mind wow they could be experiencing what i'm experiencing but in instead they're watching television and i don't condemn them at all for that because now i'm watching television but i have to think back to what it was like in those times and i and god is saying there's something you need to do if that's the case there's something that has changed so remember go back to the way things were in the past remember what it was like when you looked forward to going to church why simply because you just loved god you wanted to be in his presence you wanted to be with his people nobody was making you go you wanted to go if you find yourself using phrases like well i used to do this and i used to do that but i'm not doing those things anymore it's not because you're more mature it's not because you don't have as much time now as you used to have is simply because your heart has grown cold to the thing that is most important to god jesus tells us what we need to do in verse five he simply says you need to repent if you find yourself in that position don't try to come up with an excuse don't see it as the stage that you were going through in life if you have left your first love then turn around and head back to him because that's what he wants more than the good deeds that you do more than the service that you give he wants you to spend time with him and to love him more than you love anything else that's his greatest command do the things you did it first and then jesus says this the the same words he will say to each and every one of these five churches that need help he will say to them anyone with ears to hear must listen to the spirit and understand what he is saying again these are jesus's last words to the church and he's saying to the church which i believe is our generation and the day and age in which we're living he's saying if you have ears to hear you need to listen to what the spirit of god is trying to say because he's saying something and if you'll heed what the spirit of god is saying god will bless you god will use you you will have fulfillment in your life unlike anything you could have dreamed of having there's a second church and that's called pergamum so we could call this the pergamum believers chapter 2 verse 13 gives us a little insight into their lives i know that you live in the city where satan has his throne and yet you have remained loyal to me you refused to deny me even when antipas my faithful witness was martyred among you there in satan city but i have a few complaints against you once again this is a picture of a person who loves god they're they're doing things for god but the problem the issue is that they're trying to maintain their christian credibility while at the same time close association with the world they have become a portrait of what happens when you try to do both things we're told they were hanging on to the teachings of the nicolasians and they were hanging on to the teachings of balaam what were those teachings they very simply put where that you could enter mary you could intermingle with the world and it was okay with god when nothing could be farther from the truth compromise destroys your testimony it destroys your credibility it destroys your witness and it will ultimately rob you of all spiritual power it starts gradually it starts subtly and before you know it you've sold out your values like samson in the old testament you wake up one day to discover you don't have spiritual authority you don't have power in the name of jesus dr david jeremiah says when those who call themselves christians commit adultery when they cheat in business when they lower their moral standards to suit the situation they fit into the pergamum mentality if this is where you find yourself then jesus says the same thing to you that he will say to each of these groups of people repent menta noah in the greek it's to have a change of mind it's to be convinced of another way it's to do a 180 and to turn around and instead of following your wisdom and your idea of how things should be you listen to what god's way is and you follow his way so that's the church at pergamum what happens if we say well i don't really want to do that then christ tells them what he will do in verse 16. repent of your sin or i will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth sometimes we we think that everything bad that happens or difficult that happens is satan attacking us you know sometimes it's god allowing those things in our life that's what this is telling us sometimes it is god speaking to us and god working we can't blame all of our issues on the devil verse 17 anyone with ears to hear must listen to the spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches third i want you to notice the thyatira believers verse 19 tells us this i know the things you do i have seen your love your faith your service your patient endurance and i can see your constant improvement in all of these things now that's amazing when a person is continually growing in their love when they're growing in their faith but there's something very important that we need to see in all this you can have a love for god you can walk by faith you can serve him you can persevere but if you are guilty of tolerating sin it can bring god's judgment into your life again what's the greatest command say you love god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is a picture of a person who has love but they don't balance it with sound doctrine you see many of the believers in the first church ephesus were just the opposite of that they could spot a false teacher a mile off but they didn't have love this is why we have to be so careful to maintain a balance in our life look around and you'll see people at one extreme or the other there are those who have no love and they are so rigidly standing for the truth that no one can stand them and then you have people who are so caught up or so hooked on a love message that they tolerate sin and they don't stand for the truth jesus said true worshipers will worship me in spirit and in truth there has to be a balance on the one hand there has to be a love for people that are that are uh not walking with god that are far from him a love that causes your heart to break because of what what they're doing and you do whatever you can to reach them to help them in their walk with god but on the other hand there must be an adherence to truth and to doctrinal purity this is a church that is much like the age in which we're living in where people love god they're they're growing somewhat in their faith and in their trust but at the same time they're not standing up for truth and jesus says i have that against you verse 21 what is the call the call is to repent fourth i want you to notice the sardis believers and i'm going to outline each of these briefly so you understand the differences this artist believer is interesting revelation chapter 3 verse 1 i know all things all the things you do and that you have a reputation for being alive but you're dead this is a picture of a person who is no longer walking by faith at one time they were spiritually alive at one time they were vibrant but what they were known for in the past is no longer true it's easy to fall into this category maybe the best way to understand this is is with an illustration that scientists give re regarding stars they tell us that the light of a polar star out in the universe can actually burn out and for 30 years the light from that star can continue to come to the earth i think that's a pretty apt picture of what we're looking at here in the church of sardis they had burnt out they had quit following god with all of their heart but there was still a little bit of of light that was coming from them what does jesus say needs to happen he says it in verse two you need to wake up and you need to strengthen what little remains for even what is left is almost dead i find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my god go back to what you heard and believed at first and hold it firmly that's the cry of the spirit of god last i want you to notice the laodicea believers revelation chapter 3 verse 15 i know all the things you do that you are neither hot nor cold i wish that you were one or the other but since you are like lukewarm water neither hot nor cold i will spit you out of my mouth this describes a group of believers that had a a major problem but keep in mind this they are the worst of all of the churches of all of the people that god is dealing with so here's the church at ephesus the first one we looked at and they had let their love for god grow cold it wasn't the most important thing that was driving everything that they did they had put that on the back burner the people then at the second church pergamum had started compromising with the world and the lord is saying to them a half-hearted allegiance is no allegiance at all and then third we looked at thyatira this was a church that had gone beyond compromise and they had sold out to the world they were hooked on a love message they were tolerating sin and not standing for the truth and then we have the church at laodicea who christ calls lukewarm verse 17 you say i'm rich i have everything i want i don't need a thing and you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked you know it absolutely amazes me that jesus would rather a believer be absolutely cold and dead to the things of christ to spiritual things than he would that a believer be lukewarm his greatest desire is that you be hot his greatest desire is that you be fully devoted to him that you be in love with him but lukewarmness that is the one thing that makes him sick what then does it mean to be cold well people who are called spiritually don't go to church generally and they don't care that they don't go to church they have no desire to really pray because they don't even know if there is a god they don't believe that there is they certainly don't read the bible because they see it as a book of myths rather than as the heart of god being revealed to mankind but those who are lukewarm are the ones who play church those who are lukewarm are the ones who act like they're all in when they're not all in jesus will will say in mark chapter 7 verse 6 these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me they worship me in vain you see if your your heart is not 100 in it then god would just rather you didn't do it when people are lukewarm it's nauseating to him just like it would be if you and i drank warm mineral water it's easy to think you're okay because you do good things because you go to church because you you give money away you show kindness to strangers but if you aren't sold out to christ then you find yourself not being a heathen but also not being a person that is red hot and in love with jesus christ and jesus said it would be easier to get a pharisee or a prostitute to enter the kingdom of god than it would be you it would be easier to get a publican and a tax collector into the kingdom of god then it would it be then it would be to get the lukewarm person in again what do you do if you find yourself in that position verse 19 jesus says you need to repent be zealous and repent that's the same thing he will say to every one of these individuals to every one of these groups of people and and that's the interesting part about all this now there are two churches that jesus does not have any words of reprimand for only words of commendation he will say to the church at smyrna a church that was willingly facing persecution poverty and slander he says to them keep on being faithful to death he will say to the church at philadelphia a church that was obedient to god's word that was relying on his power that was refusing to deny his name or be ashamed of him keep moving forward you're doing what you were called to do what is the holy spirit trying to say to us as jesus leaves these words as some of his final words to all believers i think the greatest lesson we can learn from this is that jesus is not someone to add to your life he wants to become your life if you approach him in that manner he can never fully change you he can never fully bless you the way he longs to he wants above everything to be your savior and your lord but that can only happen if you repent and turn from doing your own thing to doing his thing repentance is the message of christianity it's divorcing or emptying yourself from the world it's not easy to be a christian it's not easy to do that jesus said this path that you're on it's a narrow path if you want to follow the wide path the easy path then just be aware of the fact that that's going to lead to your destruction but if you follow this narrow path it'll take you to everything that you want in your life can i ask you this morning what is your spiritual condition does jesus christ have all of your heart are you hot for him concerned most about the things of god or has apathy set in i shared with you last time i was here that i've been going through the archives of the assemblies of god and i've been reading stories from past missionaries and pastors and laypeople and it's it's been amazing to me because i i compare my life and i say god i'm not giving you but a fraction of what they gave lord they were hot for you they were on fire for you what do i need to do in my life to be the same way one of the stories that i just read a couple of weeks ago was a story about calvin and marion olson calvin olsen and marian started out as single missionaries they were content to pursue their call as the lord directed them neither one of them was concerned with finding a life partner but god's plans are often filled with surprises and in 1954 calvin was attending a seminar he was from east his pakist constantly going over to this lady named marion she always had this wide cheerful smile on her face and out of the corner of her eye she started noticing calvin this tall quiet man in those days you had to be very careful as a single missionary in the assemblies of god what you did and and so they a friend of both of theirs gave them the addresses of the other person and when they got back they started writing letters to one another now keep in mind they had never met physically and after three letters they both determined that it was god's will for them to get married they had to wait a year the simplest god wouldn't let them get married for a year to prove themselves but when marion became his bride calvin said these words to her he said marian you can never have first place in my life marian equally is dedicated to god's call understood completely a year later the couple was married and for the next 44 years they weathered a lot of storms physical spiritual and emotional after their wedding they went to east pakistan which now covers the area of bangladesh they had just finished up their schooling learning the bengali language they were in a rickshaw going down the road and the rickshaw went into a a pothole and it jolted marion really hard she happened to be eight months pregnant they had to take her to the hospital and she gave birth to a stillborn daughter the only child that they would ever have outbreaks of color uh cholera were were not unusual in east pakistan the impoverished majority had absolutely no way to stave off the illness during one epidemic calvin and marion visited a stricken village death was all around them and even though they were at high risk of contracting the disease themselves they did what they could to comfort the suffering and to comfort the grieving and then they returned home and two days later marion was diagnosed with cholera her body began to give way to the disease she had difficulty breathing she became dehydrated they rushed her to the hospital all attempts to put intravenous fluids in her body were unsuccessful because her veins had collapsed before she went into unconsciousness she heard calvin cry out and he said lord would you alert someone to pray for marian as i can no longer pray ten thousand miles away in eastern pennsylvania the local women's group was meeting that afternoon at 3 30 for prayer and fellowship and as they were working on on a quilting project together one of the women mrs roger templeton suddenly stopped and she said we need to pray for the olsons they are in danger and immediately the women began to intercede in the spirit for this unknown need and after two hours of doing that mrs templeton wiped the tears from her eyes and said it's all right now and halfway around the globe at that very moment marion's eyes fluttered open to a blurry scene of white coats hushed voices a half empty glucose bottle dripping life-giving fluids into her veins she could swallow she could breathe and the next day she was up eating and walking around as though nothing had ever happened [Applause] on november 12 the 1970 the olsens lived through a 20-foot tidal wave it was driven by a cyclone with winds up to 150 miles an hour entire villages were flattened as water swept literally hundreds of thousands of people out to sea bodies were strewn for miles in the wreckage and yet they stayed and they cared for the people and over the next couple of years they built dozens upon dozens upon dozens of homes for people to live in they endured a civil war when east pakis east pakistan talked of secession from west pakistan a lot of people were killed the olsens had bullets bursting through the walls of their apartment through their windows calvin wrote these words when it was happening it is a privilege to be here at this time there are tremendous opportunities as people are constantly coming to our home that's the mentality we need in our times of difficulty as a nation and the things that we're going through not to give in to those things and to say woe is us but rather to say like calvin it's a privilege to be here at this time one night armed robbers burst into their apartment bound and gagged them two of them held daggers to their throats the other one had a a machine gun and they demanded anything of value that they had in their house and they took it it was in april 1989 that the olsens after 34 years of serving in bangladesh were forced to leave the country and the reason they were forced to leave is because the officials said you are converting way too many people to christianity they returned to the us and they started working with a ministry in the assemblies of god and that is called ministry to muslims but on march 8th of the year 2000 calvin went to be with the lord at the funeral marian read this letter that expressed her feelings for her husband and for their service of the lord dear father god i want to talk to you about one of your sons calvin i know i was married to a prince and he treated me like a princess our love was your wedding gift to us i knew he was someone special from the very first time we met i was awed frightened and challenged when i realized you had chosen us as a team you let me share his life on this earth for 44 years and now you want him to be closer to yourself how can i say no thank your angels for a job well done they had a difficult assignment during our years in bangladesh for we were both for we both knocked on heaven's gates many times and you sent us back to earth to work some more like the time i was dying from cholera the time we were robbed facing two daggers and a machine gun during the civil war when bombs fell all around us shaking our house and cracking window panes but now is the time you've chosen to open heaven's gates not for both of us but for calvin alone we would have chosen to go together father i got to know you better because of calvin he taught me right priorities and when we decided to marry he informed me that i could not have first place in his life i agreed knowing you were first but i must admit it was not an easy commitment you gave us a job to do together he finished first but evidently i have more to do please speak loudly and clearly to me as i tend not to hear as readily as he did and help me to be obedient and faithful at any cost as he was love to you both marian [Applause] isn't that a tremendous picture that comes back to challenge us does god have first place in your life like he did in calvin and marian's life he wants to do something fresh god wants to do something new in you but you have to consecrate yourself just like joshua told the children of israel god is going to do something amazing but as we stand on this eve of entering the promised land let's take time to examine ourselves consecrate ourselves to repent of anything that's not right with him and if we will do that then we will see god do amazing wonderful things this morning as we come to a close can i can i just ask you to take a moment and bow your heads with me i don't know where you fit in the churches that we looked at this morning church at ephesus again had let his love grow cold they loved god but it wasn't the thing out in the forefront the people at pergamon had started to compromise with the world they had a half-hearted allegiance not a full-on allegiance the people at thyatira had gone beyond compromise and they had bought totally into the world where they were hooked on a love message they were tolerating sin they were no longer standing for truth the people that sardis were spiritually dead they had a reputation of being christ followers but that had ended many years earlier and those of laodicea were just simply lukewarm the worst thing of all lord this morning as we take a moment to examine our own hearts in this annual spiritual checkup lord would you would you bring out the things that we can do that will cause our lives to be healthier spiritually that cause our lives to be stronger spiritually more in tune with you and holy spirit whatever you put your finger on in our hearts this morning i pray that we will do what you have told us to do in your word that we will repent and and thank you that repentance means we're going to do a 180. we're going to turn around we're going to go the other way not the way of reasoning not the way of the human flesh but we're going to go the way of the spirit we're going to consecrate ourselves father we want to set ourselves aside we want to set ourselves apart for your kingdom for you to be able to work through us like instruments in your hand to accomplish your plans and your purposes [Music] lord as you said to each of these churches whoever has an ear to hear let them hear what the spirit is saying [Music] lord may we hear and may we obey thank you for that jesus thank you for the things you're going to do lord i i thank you for christian life center i thank you that as we stand on the opposite side of the jordan river looking out to the promised land that lord as we do these things you're going to carry this church through and you're going to cause this church to be mighty and powerful in the hand of our god and i know you're going to do the same for each person here individually [Music] so father god we say thank you for these things thank you for being our god thank you for loving us enough to bring correction so that we can be the best that we can be for you we give you honor and praise and we do it in the powerful name of jesus our lord and our savior amen and amen blessed lord to the cross where thou hast died draw [Music] to thy precious [Music] if you'd like to respond to pastor dave's message this morning we're going to have several of us up here for prayer if you'd like to come and meet with us and we could pray with you just make sure that you settle whatever god is wanting to do in your life today all right thank you for coming god bless you and we'll see you next time either wednesday or sunday but go in his grace and his strength thank you

Channel: Christian Life Center Missoula

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Keywords: Life, Center, Missoula, Missoula Church, CLC, CLC Missoula, Christian Life Center, Montana Church

Id: 0aa9JgjL8uU

Length: 74min 25sec (4465 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 19 2021