Dogwood Church 10:45

[Music] let the king [Music] is [Music] is [Music] you are good [Music] of is [Music] is [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] well hey everybody and welcome to dogwood church it's an honor to welcome you into our worship gathering for today my name is andrew hinson i'm one of the pastors on staff and we're honored to have you as our guest this morning and you know if you're joining us on campus or online you're actually early so kudos to you you're seizing the day and i'm going to go out on a limb and say that you're a go-getter but we're glad that you're here early if you're on campus that means you got some time to go grab a cup of coffee or grab some water or enjoy a quick conversation with somebody and if you're online why don't you let us know where you're tuning in from in the chat and i also want to challenge you to invite somebody to join you you've got time to copy the link and to send it out to a family or friend and you never know how god's going to use that simple small invitation in a big way in somebody's life so but again we're glad that you're here and since you're here early we want to share a bonus song with you it's from our dogwood worship ministry and it comes out of our quarantine sessions but we hope that this song will encourage you and uplift you and also prepare your heart and your mind as we prepare to worship god together so enjoy this song from dogwood worship [Music] i keep fighting voices in my mind that say i'm not enough [Music] every single light tells me i will never measure [Music] am i more than just the sum of every high and every [Music] me once again just who i am because i need to know [Music] you say i'm left [Music] oh the only thing that matters now is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] out [Music] you will have every failure [Music] oh [Music] yes [Music] [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] [Music] well hey everybody and welcome back to dogwood church if you're just joining us it's an honor to have you as our guest today and you know whether you've been here for a long time or whether this is your first time dogwood church exists to make more and better followers of jesus who love god and who love people so it's my honor to welcome you into that mission and vision today and i also want to extend an invitation for you because we don't want you just to come to our church we're glad that you're here but our ultimate hope and prayer is that you would become part of our church family and you know one of the best ways that you can do that is by joining a life group now i can already hear all of the life group leaders and all the life group members amenning with me because i personally have experienced just the power of being in a life group we've made some great friends we've been able to grow spiritually and just take our next best step in following jesus so we believe that god is calling you into a life group whether you're already in one that's wonderful but if you're not we we just want to have you take a step of faith and to join a life group and to kind of encourage you in that we want to share a testimony video from one of our members recently who just joined a life group so why don't you guys check this out my name is nina montgomery i have lived in peachtree city for six years i have belonged to dogwood church for 10 months my husband and i we were married 52 years and all that time we moved 27 which means i've been in a lot of churches we really weren't very involved but we went to church i learned about dogwood from someone from a member of the church he's been a lot here quite some time freddie beasley is his name after we had chatted for a while and even on other days after that he invited me to come to dogwood and i did it was on that first sunday of the what the world needs now series i mean i went home that day i got a phone call i got a phone call the next day i just felt so welcomed in and this is i thought this is really what i think i want to do and i told them uh one of the tables that day where they were talking about the the life groups i would like to think about doing one but it would need to be if there was one that met in the day because i don't like to drive at night when i'm trying to look for an address and so sure enough that next day they called and said the howard group met at 4 30 on tuesdays and so i decided that i would try that and go but this was just so important to me to feel like this is going to be a great opportunity for me to not only learn more about the bible but to be with these people that are in my age group and we have you know we i think this will be good i need i need friends here and for all those years that joe and i uh moved and did we went to church but we did not get involved in any of the small group i don't even know if they had think there was sunday school and bible studies and we didn't do any of that we simply went to church that was good i'm glad our children we did have the children do do the youth groups and things and be as active as they could be but what i see now is because we didn't do that that now when i kind of went through a low period after my husband's death and my mom's death i didn't have the tools to maybe really do that route and i think that being in the life group where you you just have that camaraderie with people that you get support from them and you get their love and also you have more of a desire to learn things well thank you so much nina for sharing your story what a powerful powerful testimony it is and again if you are looking to become a part of our church and looking for a great way to make good friends to grow spiritually then we believe that life groups are the avenue for you and we would love to have you join us for our group link event that's going to be on september the 26th it's going to be after each service that day here on the dogwood church campus and it's just going to be an opportunity for you to see all of the life groups that we have and just to plug in and to take your next best step in following jesus but for those of you who want to take an even bigger step we would love to have you sign up to be a host there's still room and still space for you to be a carrier of the community that you want to be a part of and i believe that god's calling you right now and if that's you if you feel the tug of god on your heart we would love to have you sign up to be a host you can fill out the card and turn it into our giving boxes and our discipleship team will be in touch with you uh the last day to do this is going to be september the 12th that's going to be the cut-off date to be a host but then on september the 26th you're going to have an opportunity to join a group as well but again we're so glad that you're here welcome to dogwood church you know we believe that god has you here for a reason and on behalf of our staff we've been praying for you and just praying that god would open up our hearts and our minds and help us to lay all of the distractions that we're carrying with us aside and just to prepare to meet with him because we believe that he's going to meet with us in a real and tangible way today so we just invite you into that and ask that you would take a spirit of expectation but again welcome to dogwood church and we hope that you enjoy our worship gathering for today [Music] oh [Music] well hey dogwood it's good to see you today i want to invite you to stand all over the room let's sing some songs together i'll invite you to sing this with me [Music] treasures [Music] put me back together [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] is [Applause] yes me [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] dancing beauty [Applause] foreign [Music] crazy [Music] you're the only one is [Music] is is [Music] it [Music] you're the only one [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen isn't it great that it is only jesus that can take our broken pieces and put us back together better than before and we know that that's only because of his blood shed on the cross on our behalf that we can be reconciled to god amen amen you guys can go ahead and be seated my name is ashley morris i'm the communications director here at dogwood church and on behalf of our team today i want to personally welcome you to service today and let you know how excited we are to have you joining us whether you're here in the building with us or out on our patio areas or if you're joining us online from all over the world we consider it a true privilege that you've chosen to spend part of your weekend here with us at dogwood well here at dogwood we exist to create more and better christ followers who love god and love people and one of the ways that we do this most tangibly is through connection we know that when visiting a church for the first time it can be a little intimidating a little nerve-wracking to want to connect with the people that you are entering a congregation with and so we want to let you know that if you're a guest today we value that we want to come alongside you partner with you to make you feel as welcome as possible so if you're a first second or a third time guest today i want to invite you to text the word connect to 770-285-1792 and we have people in place that will send you some information that will hopefully help you determine if dogwood is a right fit for you and your family now if you're here in the building with us today and you're joining us for the very first time i want to extend a special welcome to you and encourage you on your way out today to stop by our information desk located in our worship center lobby as we have a small gift for you but we love the opportunity to connect with you in person and say hello get to know you a little better introduce ourselves and then answer any questions that you may have we guys today is also a very special day because we have the opportunity later on in the service to partake in the lord's supper together so if you're joining us online i want to encourage you to participate with us as well you can grab whatever elements you have available to you from wherever you are so bread crackers waters juice anything of that sort will work for this and we want to invite you to participate and engage with us as well later on in the service well we have a great service plan for you today and at this time i want to invite you to stand back up with us as we're getting ready to enter into a time of worship together and this song that we're about to sing i believe is one of the best songs that's been written here in the last few years because it paints the best picture of the gospel of who jesus is why he came what he's done for us and how we are called to live in response in our adoration and our worship of jesus so i want to encourage us all to sing together now as our band leads us thank you for that ashley hello again dogwood church it is so good to see each and every one of you here our voices with today and prayers [Music] [Music] in your eyes [Music] glory through [Music] is [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] to redeem [Music] in yourself [Applause] is [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] amen one of the reasons we can trust jesus over everything else one reason that he never lets us down and he always keeps his word is because he's good he's faithful and he's perfectly holy there is nothing and no one like him so let's sing this out sing worthy worthy is [Music] holy holy is he sing a new song sing a new song to him who sits on heaven's mercy sing holy holy holy holy [Music] you are my everything and i will adore you [Music] [Applause] let's close [Music] is [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Applause] it's [Applause] [Music] see jesus [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh is is [Music] is [Applause] [Music] you are my everything [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] who was [Music] you are my everything [Music] holy [Music] [Music] worthy is [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] me is [Music] thank you guys man i cannot help but be moved by that song every time i hear and i remember the very first time that i heard it i was a kid and that was one of the first songs that i recall learning about what the majesty of god is going to look like and growing in an understanding of the wonder and the mystery that there is to god and you guys go ahead and be seated if you'd like you know the inspiration for that song comes from scripture in the book of revelation and the disciple john whom the bible refers to as the beloved disciple is exiled on the island of patmos and god comes to him and gives him a vision and divine revelation of so many different things to come you know if you've ever studied revelation there's a lot of things that are literal and figurative and some of it can be hard to understand but the one thing that i do believe to be true is that we do get a very very very clear picture of what worship in heaven is going to look like and in chapter 4 john writes this out and it's amazing it's he's talking about the throne and the worship of the creator and he says in verse 5 out from the throne comes flashes of lightning and sounds and peels of thunder you know and then he goes on to say that the creatures around the throne all day and night they do not cease as they say holy holy holy is the lord god the almighty who was and who is and who is to come and it goes on to say that these living creatures give glory and give honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne to him who lives forever and ever and so as we just sang that song and any time that we sing that song moving forward when we say holy holy holy is the lord god almighty we are literally joining in with heaven on what we are going to be singing for all eternity and i don't know about you but for me that's very convicting and that should change my perspective of how i worship here on this earth because i am joining him with heaven i am as a christian able to be alive in christ and so i have an opportunity to worship him as the bible says in spirit and in truth and so as we prepare to give today and transition into that time i want to encourage us that in this life that we've been given right now we have the opportunity to worship him not just through singing songs but in how we choose to live our lives and how we give and how we work and the words that come out of our mouth and how we treat our children and our spouses and those around us [Music] everything is an act of worship and so really quickly today i want to tell you a few quick ways that you can give back to god through dogwood church the first is to text give to 770-285-1792 or you can give on our dogwood church app this is available on apple and android devices i really encourage you to get it as it's a really good resource to have with sermon notes and everything that we do here at the church you can also automate through your bank or mail a check to the church office if you prefer the the paperway and then we also have giving boxes located at all of our exterior doors today as you leave so i just want to encourage you today that as we give and be challenged that god is our everything and when we give that is what we are saying that we adore him that we trust him with our lives and we trust that everything that we need he is going to meet with his provision because he is enough and he knows what we need before we ask it or what we seek it so we're able to trust in that well this time our senior pastor keith moore is coming as we continue in our series be sure a certainty when life is uncertain i want to encourage us today to prepare our hearts and our minds as we read and study god's word together [Music] the target keeps moving doesn't it it does good morning great to see you all pray with me would you speak lord your servants are listening open our minds that we may see wonderful or uh understand the scriptures and open our eyes that we may see wonderful things from your word and it's in christ's name that we pray amen amen amen the new testament scholars and uh pastors david uh walls and max anders uh wrote these words that i came across this week and i want to read them to you no one ever expected it would happen especially with this model congregation they provided a heated swimming pool for underprivileged kids horses for inner city children to ride gave scholarships for deserving students and provided housing for senior citizens they even had an animal shelter medical facility and an outpatient care facility a drug rehabilitation program walter mondale wrote that the was pastor inspiration to us all the secretary of health education and welfare cited the pastor's outstanding contributions he knew how to inspire hope he was committed to people in need he counseled prisoners and juvenile delinquents he started a job placement center he opened rest homes and he had a health clinic he organized a vocational training center he provided legal free legal aid he founded a community center he preached about god he even claimed to cast out demons do miracles in heal lofty words a lengthy resume for what appeared to be a mighty spiritual leader and his church where is that congregation today what is it doing now the church is dead literally death occurred the day the pastor called the members to the pavilion they heard his hypnotic voice over the speaker system and from all corners of the farm they came he sat in his large chair and spoke into a handheld microphone about the beauty of death and the certainty that they would meet again the people were surrounded by armed guards a vat of cyanide laced kool-aid was brought out most of the members drank the poison with no resistance those who did resist were forced to drink first the babies and the children about 80 in number were given the fatal drink then the adults women and men leaders and followers and finally the pastor everything was calm for a few minutes then the convulsions began screams filled the sky mass confusion broke out in a few minutes it was over the members of the people's temple christian church were all dead all 780 of them so was their leader jim jones mark it down be on your guard religious hucksters inhabit god's house don't be fooled by their looks or dazzled by their words they are phonies they are poisonous that was as true in 1978 with jonestown as it was in the first century for peter and his readers this reminds me of the passage that we are going to unpack today and as we walk through the book of second peter uh in chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 if you locate in your bibles that passage second peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 we will we will read those in a moment forgive me there are no sermon notes this week and there is no powerpoint on the screen i didn't finish the sermon on time so sometimes they come quickly and sometimes they don't uh jim you're going to get an amen right there yes this one finally got out of the birth canal about uh seven o'clock last night so uh here here we go uh ii peter chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. this is god's word they were indeed false prophets there were indeed false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you they will bring in destructive heresies even denying the master who bought them and will bring swift destruction on themselves many will follow their depraved ways and the way of truth will be maligned because of them they will exploit you in their greed with made-up stories their condemnation pronounced long ago is not idle and their destruction does not sleep for if god didn't spare the angels who sinned but cast them into hell and delivered them in chains of utter darkness to be kept for judgment and if he didn't spare the ancient world but protected noah a preacher of righteousness and seven others when he brought the flood on the world of the ungodly and if he reduced the cities of sodom and gomorrah to ashes and condemned them to extinction making them an example of what is coming to the ungodly and if he rescued righteous lot distressed by the depraved behavior of the immoral for as that righteous man lived among them day by day his righteous soul was tormented by the lawless deeds he saw and heard then the lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment especially those who follow the polluting desires of the flesh and despise authority again this is god's word now here again the apostle peter is writing to the young christians in the young churches in the roman provinces of asia minor and he's warning them of an internal threat now in the book of first peter he warned them about external threats to their well-being uh to their life in christ and and how to live a life of hope uh under external difficulties but in the book of second peter in this letter that he wrote to them he's writing to them to give them warnings about internal dangers to their to their lives to their lifestyle uh to their spirits and to their eternities internal problems internal threats and so he writes to warn them uh here about the internal threat and reality of false teachers and their false teaching the teachers and the teaching and so you and i need to know that the bible teaches that there there are two and only two types of religious leaders in the world so wait a minute i thought there are all kinds of religious leaders well the bible pretty much divides them into two categories true and false true and false and you had and i had better know the difference because the quality of your life uh and your eternity depends on it you had better know uh the difference and so he gives us a warning here first of all he says this false teachers exist false teachers exist uh in verse 1 he says there were indeed false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you false teachers have always existed false teachers exist now and false teachers religious hucksters lying religious leaders will always exist so don't be shocked also don't let that destroy your faith he said he god in his word is warning you this is this is happening this isn't heaven yet uh you there will be false teachers now in the uh i want to warn you and me as we go forward this morning you've pro i don't think you've ever heard me preach a sermon in 35 years about false teachers bill you barb been around most of that time i don't think you've ever heard me preach one you know why i think that i never have i never have and so this is the first this is the first time but there there are when we come down through the history of the christian church we tend to when we deal with this issue we tend to come down on one of two errors two extremes either one extreme is this is that we tend to believe that everybody who doesn't believe everything about the faith exactly like we do is a false teacher that's not true that's not true and so we're always on a witch hunt we're always on a heresy hunt and if somebody teaches something that's a little bit different from our tradition maybe we've not even thought through our belief system maybe we've not even studied our own uh part of the family of god in our religious heritage and how we got there the the the disciplines of church history and its and its partner historical theology of how we how the spirit of god led the people of god over the last 2 000 years to get clarity on their beliefs and so when we hear something a little different from what we hold to we go and so you know terrible things have happened because people go on heresy hunts and have a tendency toward that error got it got it good now the other error is to assume that there is no heresy at all pay no attention to it i just live and let live it you know all religions basically teach the same thing and so you know so both of those caused terrible destruction so we're going to try to take the right path today it's nuanced but i think that god's word gives us a path to take so here we go you ready he says false teachers exist they always have existed they will exist in the future now let's talk about these lying religious leaders in the apostle peter's day they they had surfaced in the churches of asia minor and they were causing all kinds of of problems big problems uh spiritual problems belief problems ethical problems lifestyle problems and eternity problems they did several things first of all they they questioned the authority and the believability of the apostle peter and all of the other apostles all of the other main church leaders that jesus commissioned into leadership they questioned their legitimacy they questioned their believability they accused the apostles of just making up their stories about jesus his person his life his work his death his atoning death on the cross his resurrection from the dead his ascension to heaven they they said are they just making all this stuff up and they introduced alternative teachings about jesus and alternative teachings about the way of jesus the lifestyle of someone who follows the lord jesus teachings that were destructive to the lives and the eternities of these young christians in the churches there and and they lived these false teachers lived immoral lives and and the language here in this passage is specifically aiming toward sexual immorality everything outside the ethical teaching of god about his goodness of sexuality and how it is to be expressed in the bonds a sacred bond of a marriage between a man and a woman everything outside of that is destructive and so that's pretty much everybody's messed up then aren't they pastor yeah we're all broken sexually we all need redemption and uh but these these were saying oh no no no they lived they lived sexually immoral lives and they lived material materially greedy lives they would they were shearing the sheep they were exploiting the church members they were gaining a following for themselves and earning money of off of these uh young christians they were exploiting the churches and they were building a platform for themselves they were divisive they said follow me you know follow me i'll set you free i'm the i'm i'm the teacher i'm right they they were they created divisions they they were always an us versus them mentality you need to follow me because i'm right and there everybody else is is uh wrong i i would be cautious of religious leaders who are always trying to build a platform there i said it you know we we we exist to glorify jesus and it but here's how it happens to us ministers some will say oh but now there's social media and there's this and there's that and you can buy this nice book this a great book i know i i like the author who wrote the book building your own how to build your platform and but we're we're not called to build our platform ministers we're called to build jesus's platform and it but it's a it's a subtle thing to say well you're you're such a good minister and the more people who know about you you'll be able to tell more people about jesus well that may be true but i'm telling you it's a bad idea so why is that pastor well i've told you before i have a robust theology of the depravity of man and especially my own and it's just it's just to we just we we ministers can't hold up under it we tend to mess up and then we tend to show up on 2020. and that's a bad idea nothing good goes nothing good happens after after that so peter here is warning the believers in confronting these false teachers so now exactly what is a false teacher how can we know them well it's not always easy but let me give you a couple of uh perspectives a lens to look through okay you may want to jot these down uh a false teacher one or one or both of the following things are true about them one or both here's the first one they hold to a false and a soul-destroying view about the main about the essential about the core beliefs of the christian faith so what are those core beliefs well there are not many of them but let's just say they usually start with they have a false and soul-destroying view about the nature of god god the father god the son god the holy spirit now they may have also another a diminished view of the authority of god's word the bible and so primarily they will hold first and foremost a false a diminished an altered view of the the identity of jesus the person of jesus uh the life of jesus what who he was and what he accomplished it will be contrary to 2 000 years of christian wisdom in theology 2000 years of bright scholarly god called men and women of god who have immersed themselves in the word of god and walked under the holy in the control of the holy spirit of god and hammered out the clarity on who is jesus go back all the way to our brother athanasius i know y'all probably been reading him while he was watching the ball game last night but go all the way back to him i mean he's the guy this little bitty uh little bitty guy that took on the whole world theologically and and brought us to clarity on what the bible teaches about the identity of jesus these guys will ignore 2 000 years of consensus on the on the biblical historical view of who jesus is and what he did it'll be the primary way you can tell of a tell a false teacher and um so if under they fundamentally under undermine the core beliefs about uh jesus and his word and or they may also be uh uh hold a second deal they may hold biblical beliefs but they hold them wrongly what do you mean by that well i mean they use them to draw away a following after themselves creating divisions also exercising unhealthy and unbiblical types of control over their followers lives and their consciences this is what's called spiritual abuse it's incredibly destructive and so they may proclaim accurate biblical beliefs about the faith but behave in ways that create factions and seek to exercise through their charismatic and overwhelming personalities uh unhealthy control over the lives and consciences of their their followers and therefore they will live immoral lives they will live immoral lives and excuse them they can be so persuasive immoral lives in spite of holding biblical beliefs so lying religious leaders and their false teachings have always existed they do exist and they will always exist and and right now in the western culture they are everywhere now not just because obviously everything outside of the christian faith is not true it's false now not everything about other world religions is bad not at all we're going to deal with that in our fall spiritual growth campaign or even wrong we have we have things that are incompatible that are compatible with our friends of other world religions but we don't they don't have the same view of jesus we do at all at all but certainly within the christian church they also exist so be careful be warned but there's also a second warning be sure to be warned that false teachers will destroy you and false teaching will destroy you it matters what you believe we we hear it all the time it doesn't really matter what you believe about spirituality or you know everybody should be people should be able to believe whatever they want to well that's a silly statement because people are able to believe whatever they want to there's no should to it god created human beings with the freedom of conscience we can believe you will believe whatever you want uh to believe that's not uh that's not the issue but it is not true that all belief systems are of equal value and true they are not they are not some of them are incredibly destructive false teaching will destroy your life in this world and the next everything is at stake take a look at verse one he says they will bring in destructive heresies they bring false teachings and these heresies are destructive because holding wrong beliefs about the essentials of the faith end up creating ethical disasters of our lives and may end up costing us our salvation that we may be separated from god forever in eternity we better get this right we had better get this right now here is a working view of of the term heresy it's a it's a view of uh a view about the the christian uh about the christian view of ultimate things which is wrong they pervert the christian view of ultimate things who is god who are we do we need him how are people saved uh contrary to historic biblical teaching therefore bad for you now there's a warning here false teachers lying religious leaders are tend to be attractive and persuasive and influential look at uh verse two many will follow their depraved ways why do many people follow them they're so dynamic they're so they're attractive uh they're persuasive uh we like to be around them now i'm sorry but providentially you live in the united states of america so what do you mean by that well i mean one of the things we value in our culture is celebrity to our detriment the celebrity culture is detrimental to the whole society but we are caught up in it i mean where else in the world can a person be famous for being famous and that's the only thing about them that's famous is it how does that even happen it's because a bunch of people like us made it happen we think weird we think strangely and so we are uniquely susceptible to a good-looking hip publicized persuasive charismatic personality male or female especially when they're speaking in terms of spirituality and religion metaphysics uh we are uniquely susceptible so many will follow but to follow what their depraved ways now notice he goes from destructive heresies destructive beliefs to depraved ways of living wrong beliefs lead to depraved ways now that word depraved there circle it it it has unique sexual overtime it speaks of sexual immorality well our culture again we are messed up the sexual revolution has destroyed our country we're all upside down we've all been uh we've all been broken by it and um and many follow their depraved ways living a lifestyle contrary to the ethical teachings of the bible and of jesus in particular sexual immorality and material greed sexual immorality and material um material greed now i have to i have to speak to some of my younger brothers and sisters in christ frequently who now have discovered their freedom in christ and but they they interpret their freedom in christ many ways to say we don't have to follow any of the ethical teachings of the bible well that's not true well that's what these teachers were saying you see when you come to christ when you're saved his rules don't change the reasons for keeping them do instead of trying to keep rules to clean up our life and earn god's favor the love of because he first loved us we love him and the way we show it is we try to live a life of worship that is pleasing to him he says he who keeps my commands he is the one who loves me he see you you we follow his ethical demands and commands but not only because it's good for us not only because it's right not only because it helps create flourishing for all human beings whether they know christ or not but because primarily we love jesus and we want to bring him pleasure when you when you come to faith in christ his rules don't change but the reason for keeping them does and it's a good reason it's a good reason so um be aware that now here's a warning another warning christians who follow the false teachers depraved immoral ways bring shame and disgrace on the cause of christ in the world disobedient disobedient christians have hindered the work of christ for over 2 000 years and we still do today that's why many of your friends will say i'm not coming up there to that church i know half the people who go there there's churches full of hypocrites do you know why people say the church is full of hypocrites church full hypocrites [Laughter] we we all are at times we're all we're all sinners in need of a savior and even those who are saved save people sometimes sin we struggle but those who blatantly ignore the grace of christ cause great great harm in the life of other believers the testimony of christ in his kingdom is hindered so so so so greatly and and the i mean let's just take the last two years in the western world in the the very very public publicized moral failures of christian leaders there have been more in the last two years than i've seen at any other time in my life except maybe 1987. don't go look all that up it'll just discourage you but it has caused great harm to the testimony of of christ and tend to it may shut some people off to pursuing the truth and they may lose out because the failure of human beings does not negate the reality of the resurrection of jesus from the dead my only comeback for somebody who says well what about such a pastor such-and-such a leader and they did all this terrible stuff and that's all come out how could you believe any that i said well let me ask this question does does this person's failure prove that jesus did not raise from the dead let's go well no well then i'm going with the guy who rose from the dead let's follow him let's follow him and so but uh there's a warning there there's a warning uh that we have there well here's here's the third thing be sure of this a heresy always diminishes the person and work of jesus i've mentioned it already verse 1 says they even deny the master who bought them you see these false teachers these lying religious leaders denied the lord jesus in at least two ways they denied that he was god fully god and fully man they they denied his work on the cross they denied his resurrection from the dead but even more so they denied him in moral and ethical ways they said the their ethical behavior denied the power of christ to enable us to live holy lives and uh he he does have that power to enable us to live lives that please him he does it is god who is at work in you both to desire and to do what pleases him both to motivate and enable us to do what brings him pleasure and so we trust uh in him uh it it's like my friend who now says he will never do business with someone that advertises that they are a christian because of the lying cheating and sorry work they've done for him in the past you see christian in the bible was not used as an adjective it was used as a noun i am a christian plumber what christians no i might be a plumber who's a christian don't stop don't use christian as an adjective i am a christian now what kind i am or what you know yeah that when we got that backwards we started messing up we started messing up and so uh you say well pastor what are we going to do about these false teachers well you trust god to handle it and that's he's always done it take a look at this false teachers will bring swift destruction on themselves in verse 1 it tells us that in verse 3 their condemnation pronounced long ago is not idle and their destruction does not sleep so here's what i say to you don't worry god will bring god is just and he will bring judgment god is just and he will bring judgment now these false teachers in peter's day were saying god doesn't bring judgment look he's not coming back look where is he after all these years he's not going to bring judgment god doesn't judge god is like a loving uh grandfather who can see us doing no wrong so live it up but no he says they're their condemnation pronounced long ago is not idle and their destruction does not sleep he will bring just uh judgment how do you know well here's how you can know you can trust god in the present and in the future because he has acted justly and judged ungodly people in the past the best predictor of god's behavior in the future is his behavior in the past and he's been consistent he goes on here in verses four through eight we've already read them if god didn't spare the angels who sinned and if he didn't spare the ancient ungodly world in noah's day and if he reduced the cities of sodom and gomorrah to ashes making them an example of what's coming to the ungodly and if he rescued lot and also righteous noah and seven other people then the lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment what you believe works its way out in how you live you will live what you believe and so live the right way now let me say two things and follow we we're going to come back to this theme next week because the second half of the chapter continues to deal with these guys and how we're to relate to them i i the best way for you to guard yourself is that you become really clear on your faith in jesus the historic biblical truths of the faith we have a class that we teach here uh pastor david hodge our pastor of discipleship and um and his team last year began offering this it's a class called foundations and it is a a class that that teaches 11 of the main historic teachings of the faith it is a distillation of 2000 years of of the people of god thinking deeply and praying deeply and writing correctly about what the bible teaches about the main issues of the faith we call it foundations we divide it up into three sections we teach it in six to eight week sections at a time we'll take you through again 11 of the foundational beliefs of the faith and and it'll take you a year to go through the cycle but after you've gone through the whole dogwood basic journey the next experience we want you to have is to work your way through foundations we have about a hundred people going through the current class and uh when you come to january there'll be a new january or that first of the year there'll be a new section opening up and we want you to be a part second thing i want you to understand is this you need to always be in a local church that is healthy in the sense that the senior pastor all the staff all the elders all the leaders of the church as well as the members are under authority everybody's under authority everybody's under supervision one of the reasons that we give you when you join our church as a member a copy of our constitution and bylaws is we want you to see how this local church is governed and you'll find when it comes to the the position of senior pastor that i occupy at the time i won't always be here somebody else will be in this position that the senior pastor serves under the authority and under the supervision of the elders you the members of the congregation select the elders who are going to serve each year mature people in the faith and they are charged with line item number six i believe it is in their job description is to uh oversee uh to encourage and oversee but also be aware of the uh teaching and the lifestyle of the senior pastor so that if that if i go over the wall theologi biblically theologically or morally they can yank me out of here before i mess up a healthy church and so our every our church is arranged so that everybody is responsible in a healthy biblical way to some other group in the in the in the congregation now always be examining so well pastor good so we can always know that you're not a false teacher i don't know next week i might you know so you might better you need to keep doing what the bereans did in the book of acts that they always examined the scriptures to make sure that what the the uh the leaders were teaching was so you have to be a student you have to be a student you have to hang on to jesus and study and immerse yourself in your faith don't be a mushy minded christian as so so that you won't be what james wrote in his book that we studied a year and a half ago so that you won't be swept away by every wind of doctrine that you see on twitter please got it okay let's pray let's pray lord lord we thank you that you have given us your word and you have given us your holy spirit to guide us into all truth would you help us to study your word would you help us to study it in community that we might uh better learn and guard each other from error that you would keep us healthy and holy and that rather than maligning the truth uh we you may make us showcases for the power of the gospel that men and women and boys and girls would run to find hope in you and it's in christ's name that we pray amen [Music] i see broken but you see beautiful [Music] and you're helping me to believe [Music] there's nothing too dirty that you can make worthy [Music] there's nothing too dirty that you can make worthy if you wash me in mercy i am was dead now lives again my heart's beating [Music] joy and destiny [Music] piece by piece [Music] that you can make worthy [Music] that you can make worthy [Music] [Applause] sacrifices [Music] clean [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] we are going to observe the beautiful ordinance of the lord's supper uh you should have received the the elements of the of the supper when you came in and i guess we'd call it covet pandemic form but we're going to observe nonetheless and so i want to give you a moment uh this is for those of you who are already followers of christ if you're not a believer we would ask you to observe but not participate but take a moment for those of you who are to examine yourself to make sure you're in the faith to make sure you're walking in uh obedience to the lord to make sure you are in good fellowship with brothers and sisters in christ and if not take action submit yourself once again to the lord and then in just a moment i will have us partake of the elements and remember let's pray [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] and so the bible says that on the night he was betrayed the lord took bread and after he had prayed he broke it and said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me [Music] and then the bible says also after supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do so take it drink it in remembrance of me [Music] for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes so lord that's what we have done and we remember your body that was broken for us we remember your blood that was shed for us that we may have new life in you and it's in christ's name that we pray amen [Music] today and the daniels is [Music] praise us [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] amen let's give god praise [Applause] well guys can we just say thank you once more to pastor keith for that message [Applause] i said this in first service but i'm going to say it again i have the the privilege of being on staff here and i have to tell you it's an amazing thing to be under a leader who continually walks in humility and teaches us the ways of the lord with the wisdom so thank you very much for that we're very humbled by you well you guys it's been a great day and we hope you've enjoyed your worship experience with us and before we leave we just want to encourage you again as part of our mission here to make more and better christ followers that love god and love people we are committed to helping you walk in christ's likeness as you grow in your relationship with god and pursuing holiness we don't think that sanctification is just a one-time thing we believe that that is a lifetime process of growing in the knowledge of god and so if you've made a spiritual decision today if you're interested in baptism or in our foundations classes or dogwood journey classes that pastor keith mentioned earlier i want to invite you to text the word next to 770-285-1792 and again we have teams of people in place that are ready to help you at each step of your spiritual journey i also want to let you know that if you need prayer today you can text this number as well but we do have people in the lobby and you can grab any of us to pray for you we know that there's a lot of struggle right now and there are a lot of people that are hurting and so prayer is not just a text through the number we're available to do that here as well so please feel free to do that if you need that well before we leave today i'd like to read a blessing over us from second peter that we've been studying and it says this grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of god and of jesus our lord amen well you guys are dismissed thank you so much for being here and once again if you're interested in our spiritual growth campaign you can fill those out and put them in the boxes on your way out today have a great week [Music] is [Music] without

Channel: Dogwood Church

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Length: 91min 45sec (5505 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 05 2021