Full Service | Sunday August 29, 2021

hey good morning good morning athy creek would you guys stand with us we get to worship the lord this morning it's sunny outside and man hopefully it's uh sunny in here in terms of the joy of the lord is here amen amen let's watch the lord together [Music] i went down [Applause] [Music] now i'm no longer [Music] we're all singing hallelujah [Music] set me free he set me free when you i've been watched oh [Music] set me free [Music] [Music] give me give me a hallelujah come keep me give me [Music] um set me set me free [Music] [Applause] is there [Music] singing a new song [Music] mercy seats holy holy holy [Music] [Music] to the king of kings you are my everything and i will adore you [Music] a living [Applause] [Music] and power is to the only wise [Music] with all creation i sing praise you are my everything [Music] jesus [Music] struck wonder [Music] jesus your name is [Music] a marvelous mystery [Music] you is my everything and i will adore you [Music] are my is [Music] ah oh [Music] you were the word at the beginning [Music] what a beautiful name it is what a beautiful name it is [Music] so jesus [Music] the sin was great your love was [Music] what a wonderful name of jesus what a wonderful man [Music] dad could not hold you in [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] so [Music] we steal my soul [Music] what i need to know [Music] [Music] is [Music] i won't be afraid i won't be afraid [Music] he will be [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] my spirit flows through my face [Music] [Music] is [Music] all i need to know is [Music] [Music] you are [Music] you are a good lord what a true statement all i need to know is this that you are a good god it's true lord if we know that you're good and we know that all things work together for good for those who are called according to your purpose lord we know that it's all going to work out and you're a good god who has good things for your people your word lord tells us and it reminds us that you have thoughts that are thoughts of peace and not of evil and you bring us to an expected end a future and a hope that we have for you lord i pray that people that are perhaps struggling and going through difficult times lord today here in our fellowship or all around the world really lord that we'd be a people who just remember that that you're good and you've got good things in store for your people so i pray that we just keep hanging on and putting our trust in you lord may my brothers and sisters not grow weary in well-doing you tell us for in due season we'll reap a harvest if we faint not so we want to just walk strongly we want to have faith that's strong and built and so lord we look to your word for faith cometh by hearing and hearing by your word so bless this time we offer this morning to you and pray you sharpen our minds just to receive your word bless it lord we pray as we get into this now in jesus name we pray amen amen amen have a seat and make yourself comfy thanks you guys good morning to you all welcome to athy creek we're glad you're here and let's get into it why don't you grab your bible turn with me to daniel chapter 3 as we continue our through the bible study don't forget this friday night is the first friday of the month so we're going to do our prophecy update uh you know i guess it's the september edition uh so that'll be uh friday night seven o'clock we'll be here live you can be here with us or you can join us online but uh you know what we do the bible says over and over and over again watch be ready don't just be uh looking at the end times and say ah the lord delays is coming there's a servant that says that uh the lord delays is coming does anybody remember what jesus called that servant anybody wicked the wicked servant jesus said says ah the lord delays is coming but it's the faithful servant that jesus talks about matthew 24 that is watching and ready serving the master before he comes and that's what we're all supposed to be doing so you know the prophecy update some people say why do you guys do that well we go through the bible on wednesdays and sundays but on once once a month it's fun just to say lord what's going on in the world and how does it shape up with what you say about the last days and man i'm convinced that we're living in those last days uh and a lot of people i think even non-believers secularists are kind of like yeah it could be the end times i don't know like it's amazing these are interesting days to be alive and it's an interesting day to be a christian so we'll be talking about some of those things lots to talk about afghanistan and china and some other things that are going on as it relates to the bible so we'll do that friday night daniel chapter 3 i i kind of came down with a cold last week nope it's not the corona um and i already had that uh that was a little while back but um but uh i i couldn't even really talk on wednesday uh but now i'm doing good and but we missed wednesday james pastor james did an amazing job with kind of an additional daniel chapter 2 supplement and if you missed that i'd recommend you go on our website and catch up with james's daniel 2 edition which was great but that leaves daniel 3 this coming wednesday night we're going to sort of dive in deep on daniel chapter 3. last time i was with you guys we last week we talked about a single question that king nebuchadnezzar raised and it was this is it true you know and nebuchadnezzar was aghast he was like is it true that you're not gonna bow down and worship the image that i've set up and we looked at how the world looks at you the the babylon of today and says is it true christian that you're not gonna worship the images that we have set up and you know have the world view and the ideology of the world today and people are stunned that it's true we're gonna follow the bible and we talked about how the days we're living and are getting to a place where we're gonna have to decide what the answer to that question is is it true and i hope it is true i hope you say that we're going to be like shadrach meshach and abednego and we're not going to bow down to the babylonian you know gods and paganism and deity i hope we follow the lord and the lord alone that's kind of our study last time but i'd like to take a look at another little tiny phrase it's just a couple words really uh and it has to do with the answer that shadrach meshach and abednego gave to king nebuchadnezzar when you know nebby you know he raised that question are you kidding me you're not going to worship the image that i've set up and he said when the music plays you know bow down and worship the image or else i'm going to throw you in the fiery furnace or you'll be burnt up but i love shadrach meshach and abednego and i love their response um and that's kind of what we're gonna look at they're the three verses here but there's just two words that i really want to zoom in on let's take a look it's right here in daniel chapter 3 verse 16. it says in daniel 3 16 shadrach meshach and abednego answered and said to the king o nebuchadnezzar we are not careful to answer thee in this matter if it be so our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thine hand o king but if not be it known unto thee o king that we will not serve thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou has set up wow i love the boldness of these guys um now the king james puts it you know we're not going to be careful to answer this matter what does that mean that's king james language if you look at the new american standard version of this um it says shadrach meshach and abednego replied to the king o nebuchadnezzar we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter like that's pretty bold wouldn't you say well they're just they said but remember who's nebuchadnezzar he's the king maybe one of the greatest kings that ever lived as far as power authority he was an absolute monarch which means he could say off with your head and they would have to go and chop their heads off like he was that kind of a king and he was good for that we've looked at that for several weeks poking people's eyes out and frying them on grills and you know uh now he's you know what last week we saw him wanting to chop people up into pieces and make their houses piles of manure um and now he's saying i'm gonna throw you in the fire furnace and these guys say we don't even need to answer you king nebuchadnezzar now with an egomaniac narcissist like nebby do you think that was a it made him a little mad i mean the bible already says uh in verse 13 nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring shadrach he was already ticked off don't you think this just made him crazy insane angry at this point i bet you he was purple by this time veins bulging eyeballs popping what are you kidding me this guy's saying we don't even need to answer you king man you know he's oh i'm going to heat the furnace seven times hotter which is dumb because um you know if you want them to hurt you make put it on simmer um but they're like saturday nighter well anyway i love that but it it also in the new american standard version up on the on the screen here we got we got basically it's saying you know we do not need to give you an answer but he also goes on verse 17. if it be so you know uh you know if you throw us in the fiery furnace um our god whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace from the blazing fire and he will deliver us out of your hand o king now let's break that down for a second um nebuchadnezzar said you know uh earlier in verse 15 he said who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands this is the narcissist egomaniac thinking that he's all-powerful and he says who is your god that could deliver out of my hand well as it turns out nebby's hand was puny and pipsqueak and he's about to learn that lesson in fact let's sneak pre just to just uh turn the page to chapter um chapter four maybe two pages and listen to what nebuchadnezzar says the lord humbles him and he ends up turning into like an animal nebuchadnezzar starts growing feathers and claws and he's out chewing cud with the cows in the field for seven years can you imagine walking through babylon like who's that guy is that an animal or a person oh that's our king nebuchadnezzar there he is out there you know just chewing a cud but suddenly the lord gives his mind back to him and um and and finally nebuchadnezzar just check out verse 35. um nebuchadnezzar says and all the inhabitants is 4 35. all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he that is god doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or can say to him what do us thou nebuchad gets to a place where you know at first he was saying who is your god that can deliver you out of my hand i was like man there's no all the inhabitants of the earth me too nothing who can stay his hand nebuchadnezzar is going to have to learn this and he's going to learn it the hard way but he is going to learn it and i believe we're going to see nebuchadnezzar in heaven someday that's amazing when you think about it um i have a few questions to ask nebby you know when i get there but all that to say he he has to learn this hard way how are you going to learn that nobody can move god's hand are you learning the easy way or the hardware you can learn here in the sanctuary or you can learn out in the storm nebuchadnezzar had to you know chew cud with cows for seven years hopefully you don't have to do that but be that as it may as we go on here in the new american standard version of this um you know who he says you know the lord will deliver us out of your hand o king and then verse 18. but even if even if and that's the phrase that's the two words i want to really focus on here even if he does not let it be known to you o king that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up king nebuchadnezzar thought he was giving the great ultimatum to these guys you know bow down and worship or burn in the fire but what nebuchadnezzar was actually doing was giving them the ultimate opportunity to express a kind of faith that is over the top and amazing i'm going to say this is one of the highest levels of faith a person can express what do you mean levels of faith and you know stuff like that well as it turns out the bible talks about all kinds of faith different kinds of faith let me go over some of my favorites just maybe five of them real quick and you could maybe jot a few of these down and then as you're a bible reader look for others because there's a lot more that i'm just i'm just going to give you some of my favorites the different types of faith the first one that i'll bring up is called the measure of faith and that's romans chapter 12 verse 3 where the lord says you know to think soberly as the lord has given every man a measure of faith that says there in romans 12 3 what's the measure of faith it's just a little measure of faith god gives to every person to all men to all women it's a faith that's not grown but it's sufficient for belief in god and for salvation that's why in romans the lord says that no one will have an excuse because the lord gives to every man a measure of faith and the question is what are they going to do with that faith um that's an important one and that's sort of faith 101 the beginning level um just enough even creation speaks of the lord's glory the bible says and that's why people won't have an excuse oh you didn't give me any faith lord the lord says i gave you a measure of faith all that you would need how much faith do you need by the way to move a mountain according to the bible the size of a grain of mustard seed which is a tiny little seed the lord gives you at least that measure of faith according to the bible well that's the first one the measure of faith the second one is growing faith we read about that in second thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3 where the lord says there behold we are bound to to thank god always for you brothers as it is meat because you your faith grows exceedingly and the charity of every one of all of you toward other uh each abounds um the thing is uh paul was thanking the lord for this group of thessalonicans there at the church and saying i'm so thankful to watch your growing faith the faith that is growing exceedingly that's what happens the lord starts with a measure of faith and then your faith grows question quiz how do you get your faith to grow anybody the word of god that's right the reading of scripture faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of god romans declares so you've got this growing faith but then you there's another faith talked about jesus actually identified this one in matthew 8 verses 8 through 10. and it's that story of great faith and he even finds a couple people in the in the in the new testament gospel narrative there's several stories where jesus identifies that right there that's great faith um let me give you one example the centurion there in matthew chapter eight um you know he he goes and says jesus will you come my child is sick can you heal her and uh and jesus kind of talked about you know it's funny it's almost like jesus gave an opportunity at that point to say well do you really believe like you know maybe i will come to your house and uh you know maybe i will you know heal your your child but this centurion says listen he says i i order men and i tell them to do this and do that and they do this and that um i have that kind of power you know but the centurion there in matthew 8 verses 18 it says even as i tell people to come and go all you need to do is say the word and my child will be healed and jesus is like you're right uh and and then jesus said this and this is the last part of matthew 8 verses 8 through 10 and verse 10 jesus said verily i send you i've not found so great of israel so great of faith no not even in all of israel like the level of faith of this this gentile centurion roman guy who says you don't even need to go to my house you could just speak the word like that's that's great faith um and my daughter would be healed and that's exactly what jesus did uh it's pretty cool it's great faith and there's a couple other examples of that but the the fourth kind of faith we could talk about is unwavering faith the bible talks about that in hebrews 10 verses 22 and 23 but you know it says that we are uh to draw near to the lord with a true heart in full assurance of faith that is to be unwavering unbendable sincere faith without questioning god at all uh unwavering and then it goes on let us hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering it says there in hebrews 10 23 unwavering faith and man i'll tell you we live in a day where i see christians their faith is wavering and it's because things are bad and they it's a little bit like peter instead of looking at jesus they start looking at the waves and we start to sink but we need that unwavering faith uh these days it's a good time to have an unwavering faith as things are coming at us in every direction in these days but there's a fifth one this is my final one the bible has a lot more i'm telling you but i love this one genuine faith is there anything such as fake faith um you betcha there's a lot of fake faith out there for example harvard uh used to be well 400 years ago it's an old institution it's way older than even this country but you know the puritans were people that wanted to start harvard and have it be a godly institution and it was for a while but as all the universities and stuff tend to go they start christian and then they become totally opposite of that well harvard they just hired a new chaplain this last week maybe you saw it in the news he's he's an atheist uh the chaplain for harvard university is now an atheist that's what i would call fake faith uh well you know honestly an atheist has to have more faith than we do do you know that i'll tell you why an atheist has to have profound levels of faith they have to believe that their brain is big enough and important enough to decide everything like they're they're not worshiping a god there's nothing bigger than them that they can believe except for what's in their brain man that takes huge faith i don't trust my brain i don't have enough faith but i do have faith in a true and powerful and living god um which one takes more faith honestly it's almost a delirious level of faith to believe that your brain is that good be that as it may uh in first timothy chapter one verse five i love paul he says when i call to remember it's the unfeigned faith that was first found in your grandmother you know lois and your mother eunice and i am persuaded that it's also in you timothy that's what paul said um paul was commending grandma mom and son saying all of you timothy you got your unfeigned faith that means unfake real genuine it's a type of faith that you know permits no deception no pretense or charlatans uh it's a kind of faith that is genuine and sincere that flows from a true heart a person who believes god with the desire to do what's right unfeigned unfake faith man oh lord help us to be a church of unfeigned faith i love that so there's all kinds of different types of faith and there's even bad ones you know like the fake faith or others but you can as you study the bible look for those different kinds of faith but maybe one of the highest forms of faith could just be what our text is suggesting right now and i'm calling it this even if even if faith what is even if faith it's the same faith that shadrach meshach and abednego had when they said you know we believe our god can save us from the fire furnace and deliver us from your hand but if not even if not as an america new american standard uh even if he doesn't deliver us from the fiery furnace we're still not going to bow down and worship your image that you had set up years ago i was leading a bible study and this one old fellow after the study i was teaching daniel chapter three this one guy came up and said well brett i disagree with you and i said well that's that's probably good uh what do you disagree with beyond and uh and he said well i believe that actually shadrach and meshach and abednego they had a tiny bit of faith and that's what saved them but i think they had a wavering face i said well what do you mean and he said well they they said our god can save us but even if he doesn't which showed that there was a in their armor that was their faith that was wavering and he sort of got on this whole bandwagon that they would have been better to just say we're just going to believe god that he's going to deliver us and we're not even going to whisper if he doesn't um and i recognize this notion there's a group of people out there that kind of have this notion that if you have enough faith you'll get what you want every time name it and claim it and grab it uh the prosperity teaching that maybe you saw in the 80s and the 90s and the poofy hair fancy suit uh mascara draining uh is that what it is the black stuff around your eyes that went down you know there uh you know it was like uh this whole thing of just name and claim it and there's people out there saying you know if you need healing you better have enough faith if you don't have faith you won't get healed but if you do have enough faith you will and there's this false dilemma that we create and that's what this guy was saying these guys should have just had unwavering faith but i think they had wavering faith and that's why they said even if he doesn't deliver us i said well i'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with you and i said here's why it's because shadrach meshach and abednego in hebrews chapter 11 they make the hall of faith that's almost like saying joe montan doesn't really know how to throw the football uh for you they're old enough to remember joe montana um you know it's it's like you know he made the hall of fame because he was one of the greatest quarterbacks you know and stuff like that but to say that shadrach meshach and abednego were wavering in faith that's ridiculous like that's embarrassingly painful because they make it and do you remember last week when we were talking about this i showed you hebrews 11. let's go back to that i'll remind you of what we talked about last week from hebrews chapter 11 verses 20 or 32 through 39 let's kind of take another look at that it says there and what shall i say more for the time will fail me of get to tell of gideon and barack of sampson jephthah david samuel and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms wrought righteousness obtained promises stopped the mouths of lions who was that daniel quenched the violence of fire who did that shadrach meshach and abednego escape the edge of the sword out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens women received their dead raised to life again and others who were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection and we looked at these these two main notions last time we saw the the you know shadow actually said i'm gonna go quench the fire violence of fire through faith and we found out why persecuted martyred believers what's in it for them choosing not to get delivered from their fiery furnace they said we'll go to the fire furnace we're willing to die if we have to because as we saw that they might obtain a better resurrection we talked about how those that are martyred or tortured or hurt because of their faith are going to have a whole other level in heaven we talked about that last last time according to the scriptures now if we're to read on uh from this section and go into verse 36 of that same section it goes on and says and others others that's an important thing and i want you to mark that word or think about it the word others others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yay moreover of bonds and imprisonment they were stoned now for you from portland that means with rocks just a heads up some of you maybe been here in oregon just a little too long stoned with rocks they were sawing asunder they were tempted and slain with a sword wandering about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy this is what the bible says about these people the others the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and in mountains and indents and caves of the earth and all these having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise now this is an interesting thing who are these others the others well brett there i watched the lost series they're the people on the other side of the island um the others nope not them uh this is a biblical group uh uh that is interesting because you might say other people uh that's what the english invites well there's some other people but actually the word others is a word in the greek that you might recognize the word is heteros heteros they say big deal so what well you know we we we know the word hederas means uh something of a different kind so like probably most famous heterosexuals a word we use because it talks about a person who's you know married to a different you know gender um and homosexuals a person who's married to the same gender so so the idea is not just others in general the idea is um others of a different kind these are a different kind of people a whole different level of people there's others of a different kind than the rest of the world of whom the world was not worthy that's what the bible's doing here it's pulling these people who've been persecuted and were willing to suffer for their faith it's pulling them out and saying these these people of a whole different level is the idea they're kind of interesting you know man's estimate of these people where they were a bunch of losers walking around in camel skins hiding in caves and trying to survive arrested them tortured them in some cases killed them but god's estimate of these people i mean it's amazing that the bible would call these people a group of people that the world wasn't even worthy to have them in it that's pretty powerful to me now before we dial in on what this even if faith means because it's an important one and i hope we all grab this because i think we have wrongly promoted not even if faith but we've um we've we've sort of nurtured this off i'll follow if faith huh i'm confused what is all follow if faith um well it's the kind of faith that says well you know if the lord follows up and helps me as long as i pray and then god blesses me then i'll follow him and as long as god has good things for me then i know then i'll know he's a good god if if good things happen i'll know he's good um as long as he delivers me from persecution as long as there's blessings and lots of them then i'll follow god that's kind of this all follow if faith and this all follow if kind of faith is what prosperity teaching promoted where you know god's going to bless me and if he doesn't bless me he must not exist are you wondering why um there's this mass apostasia which is a greek word for means means a falling away from the church um christian pastors and people are trying to study and figure out why are young millennials and gen zers leaving the church by the droves that's what they're saying we're not seeing that here at the creek thank the lord but we are seeing that globally around the church why are people leaving part of it is because we haven't really presented a true gospel we've presented this americanized gospel that man if you become a christian man you're going to be hip and you're going to have you're going to be influencer you have an instagram account with 100 000 followers and and things will be great for you and you'll be popular and liked and married and blah blah and and here's what they they promised these big things that if you become a christian if you become radical in your faith then you'll get this this and this but you know it's it's not just the prosperity it's all kinds of so-called bible teachers that say stuff like you're going to live victoriously and everything's going to be great you're going to have that job and they're going to awaken the giant within you and you're going to find all this and that and you can wear a mullet and love it whatever your thing is whatever your thing is you can really convince people and it sounds so great i like pep talks i like motivational speeches people say but what do you tell somebody who starts his ministry and chooses people to kind of hang out with that everybody kind of hates and thinks they're stupid what happens when your posse is a bunch of stupid guys what happens when people falsely accuse you of things you never really did what happens when people think that you're hanging out with a bunch of sinners even though you're trying to help the sinner or you are helping the sinner but they think you're one of the sinners what happens when they falsely accuse you so much that they beat you up and end up executing you is that living victoriously with your mullet um well that's what jesus did jesus did all of those things in a secular kind of way jesus you could argue was one of the saddest most horrible existences that ever lived on this earth and the bible even tells us that that jesus was tempted in all points just like you have been in all the hurts and all the suffering jesus knows it all and yet you know jesus would have failed a lot of these sermons that are being preached you know you're going to be blessed and everything's going to be awesome and you're going to live rosy and beautiful and everything's going to be perfect but we're missing the whole point that's not what the gospel is the prosperity gospel or even the social gospel is a huge distraction to god's church and his people and it's no wonder that there's young people saying forget it forget christianity if it means you're going to be popular and healthy and wealthy and wise and your you know bowel movements will be regular like like like why are you saying that if you listen to christian radio it's pathetic how much they talk about stuff that just has nothing to do with the gospel it's amazing to me we got this air time and you can use it for talking about your bowel movements or you can go and talk about the gospel of jesus christ the true one the real one you see the problem is this all follow if kind of faith the reason people are bailing today is because we've presented that faith is to just get what you want in this life and hopefully things will be wonderful for you but the bible doesn't promise that in fact as we talked about last week the bible promises suffering and even persecution for those who live godly they will suffer the bible says so you're like well then why should i become a christian now we're getting the right answer the right question the answer is simply this because of hell hell don't forget this and it's no wonder people are bailing because you know the church and pastors are forgetting to talk about hell and some are saying hell doesn't even exist anymore or even this doctrine that teaches that hell exists but if you go to hell you just kind of cease to exist you you go to annihilation you know the problem with that teaching it's biblically wrong but the second part of it is i'm not afraid of that i'm not afraid of it just ceasing to exist count me in uh that's not a scary thing to me well brett is the point supposed to be scary absolutely jesus talked more about hell than he talked about heaven because it's real and it's a place of eternal torment so when we talk about the gospel it's not that you can you know be happy and wealthy and sell amway and do this stuff and you know that's not what the bible's talking about the bible is talking about this you and i are headed for hell and destruction everyone is we've all sinned we've all fallen short the glory of god we're so we're so far off but good news the gospel christ died for ungodly people like us and jesus went to the cross and suffered for us so that we would not have to go to hell so you could have the worst life in this world and as long as you're a person of faith and hopefully you don't have the all-follow if faith because what do you do if you're corey ten boom and you're in a uh you're in a concentration camp with your sister having just died and your whole family dying and you're there with lice and skeletal and you're just gonna you're sitting why do you follow christ at that point why not just bail say well if this is what being a christian gets me i'm out of here that's what's happening only it's not concentration camps it's the gentleman exercise all upset because well the taco bell line just took a few more minutes than we thought it was going to take and what a bummer or that girl dumped me or or you know i didn't get the college that i wanted her i'm only driving a you know a mercedes i was kind of hoping to have something else and we get all upset about stuff and and we think well if this is what christianity is that's what i'll follow faith i'll follow if faith is is we have these conditions that well god's going to bless me in this life but it's not about that it's the old example we've used but it's a good one where you're in the airplane you know the 747 flying through the sky across the pacific and the flight attendant comes and says um ladies and gentlemen we'd like to pass out the peanuts and the you know beverages are coming and also we'll give you a parachute if you like you'd say parachute i'll take the peanut and uh the seven up or whatever but i don't i don't need a parachute that's ridiculous just give me you say okay brett what if she said this uh ladies and gentlemen we're flying in the middle of the pacific ocean we've got about six minutes of gas fuel left for the plane it's going down how many would like some peanuts and some seven up oh and a parachute well the parachute at this point count me in i'll take the parachute because the plane's going down see we present the gospel like this oh hey if you want to become a christian and man your life will be great and you can have christian friends and you can go to ac creek like that's a reward go listen to a long wind bag pastor and talk to sit in a church forever that's the fun part no that's not that's not why you become a christian you become a christian and you come to ac creek because we know that we're sinners headed for hell and apart from the gospel of jesus christ that's the parachute we're toast and you're only saved if you take the parachute and that's the gospel so so when you realize the the legitimacy of the gospel and that it saves you from the fire of hell and it not only is that but it gives you the eternal hope of heaven when you become a christian man you realize that's what the gospel is about and that's why you could have the worst life in this world like paul the apostle or jesus or all the other people in the bible unlike the prosperity teachers on tv and syria's satellite network you can have the worst life in this life but if you know that by faith you're saved by through grace and you're going to heaven then you don't have this all follow if kind of faith that's why the millennials are bailing that's why the gen ziers are bailing out of faith as they don't understand it's not about having comfort and popularity in this life it's about heaven and hell and salvation through the only name that can be saved you know what's interesting by the way is the persecuted church they're the ones that tend to be most faithful you don't see apostasia or are falling away from christians that are suffering you see apostasia and falling away from you know west lynn high school kids who are depressed because their garage band hasn't you know gone platinum yet and they're pouting because their marshall amp is not uh newer or you know whatever the thing is like we get all upset about things um that don't matter you want to know where the just this last week do you want to know where the church has grown exponentially afghanistan did you hear this like in the last yeah is this something in the last 20 years this is an amazing thing i hope you see this in the last 20 years and i'm not arguing for kind of a crusader like military making christians and stuff but because our military was there in afghanistan because that the taliban was you know pushed off into the caves and dens of the mountains of afghanistan and they were all out of the picture and so christianity started to flourish in afghanistan and churches started forming and little groups and small churches were happening and it was such a cool thing um and for you servicemen and service women that have been over there and served in afghanistan you know i hope you understand you know nationally i can see why you'd be like what was that all about why did my friends die why is somebody's leg amputated just because we were there for 20 years to do nothing well from a christian perspective can i just say because the military presence was there for the past 20 years there's been this massive revival now here's what even is more crazy this past week you'd think well now that the taliban's back in control and has 80 billion dollars worth of our blackhawks did you know the taliban has more blackhawk uh helicopters than australia has now because of our exit i'm getting ahead of myself that's prophecy update stuff um but but what happened did you know that like churches that had a hundred people two weeks ago now have 2 400 people like this is happening this week this week in afghanistan there's revival the people this is i'm not just hearing this on news because you can't really trust the news i'm hearing this from people that are actually there on the ground whether it's military personnel and or missionaries that are still there in great danger by the way um the lord is doing a radical work this is where i'll follow if faith just goes out the window that's just ridiculous but when your life is on the line and you've got nothing and you're in a nation that wants to behead you because you're not a muslim um all you have left is that hope of heaven and the gospel of jesus christ and it's amazing how the the all follow if faith people um well they they don't last because they have the wrong perspective so we're watching this the scene in afghanistan maybe you've seen the images you know here and it's really kind of it's really kind of a sad thing because you know it's going to be hard to forget some of these afghans the imagery of them mobbing these seas c-17 planes hanging onto their wheels as they're taking off and falling from a thousand feet and stuff like it's in their desperation to leave this country they're packing up these planes and um and uh you know it's you say brett that's horrible but what's amazing is is these people that are in such peril over there the lord is doing a radical work be praying for our brothers and sisters in afghanistan and and then it should wake us up as a as a christian church not to have this goofy i'll follow the lord if i'm prosperous or if everything works out or if i get the girlfriend or the boyfriend or if if i get the job that i want then i'll follow the lord um you see even if faith says even if i die even if i'm thrown in the fire furnace even if i'm beheaded in afghanistan i'm still going to follow the lord because it's not about this life it's about the next and how you live this life is going to greatly affect the next that's what we learned last week so the question then is if you have this kind of shadrach meshach and abednego even if kind of faith how does that practically work out well even if faith changes your perspective and your behavior in a lot of ways and i'd like to number a few of them how does even if faith work out practically number one on the list of things that we'll talk about here even if faith responds not reacts it responds not reacts what does that mean even if faith you know if you have a faith like shadrach meshach and abednego it keeps you uh with the right perspective and you're able to engage people meaningfully rather than just mindlessly what do you mean brett well i love the measured thinking of shadrach meshach and abednego in the story they're you know they're about to be thrown in a fire furnace and they're not screaming don't don't kill us or blah blah blah try being dragged around and screaming and shrieking these guys are measured and and very calculated saying we don't even need to answer you in this o king i love the response that they give there's not a reaction too many christians today are reacting to everything that's going on around them and it's usually a bad reaction um i'm becoming more and more weary of seeing people rant on social media or people upset and yelling in all caps and people just saying this and saying that and we're just reacting reacting when the lord would have us as even if faithers to believe that even if we die and even if they're gonna you know make us do this or take away our freedoms and even if all this bad stuff happens to us we're still going to respond and we're not going to react um there's a measured response um the the you know the other kind of faith where you it better be health and blessing and all that that's that just becomes a reactionary thing i'll never forget me and one of the ac pastors we went up into the hospital one it was an oncology center their providence and we were visiting this lady who the doctor said that she had like 24 hours to live and and um it was a sad thing because she was a fairly young woman and and we brought in a little thing of communion and we went up and sang a song and prayed and stuff but when i when i first walked in the room i was kind of thinking oh boy this is going to be tough because she was sort of sobbing there and i wasn't sure i think well you know they told her she had 24 hours maybe that's why she's sobbing but she actually had a card that she was reading and it was from her greater family and the card basically said this you are dying because you don't have enough faith if you have enough faith god will deliver you from your cancer and as a bible teacher this made me furious and in my mind i was like that's an interesting card i was thinking where is that stupid family like let me add them that's ridiculous um by the way if be careful these people that go around and there's entire denominations in churches big movements that you know of today that are basically saying if you're not healed it's because you lack faith um and they're going around saying this and people are buying into this stuff all the time there's a bunch of problems with that it's not even if faith it's the kind of faith that says well god better do he's like god your little genie give me three wishes okay i want to be healed from cancer if you don't do this what well breath that's just not real faith no now here's the thing um this is what happened i i was thinking my mind was racing as she was sobbing and she kind of closed the card and told me what it said and i was thinking okay what are some scriptures and i was ready to go with my arsenal paul the apostle had an infirmity of the flesh and he prayed three times and the lord said to paul stop praying for that you're gonna have that infirmity of the flesh this is paul the flippant apostle this is paul the guy that they touched his sweatpants and got healed this is paul who you know just walked around healing people all the time and he couldn't be healed the lord said you're stuck with that infirmity of the flesh was it call lacking faith no it was it was the lord saying guess what paul i want you to have the kind of faith that says even if i have this infirmity i'm going to keep serving you even paul who healed all these people remember in timothy paul tells timothy hey timothy i know you have some stomach issues drink a little wine for your stomach's sake he didn't say be healed of the name of jesus that's not what paul said um that's what you know some of these other churches say but paul said yeah just drink a little wine for your stomach uh not just be healed in other words there's times where people just are not going to be healed well i believe truthfully all christians are healed the question is by medicine by a miraculous moment which we've seen that too or by dying going to heaven that's the ultimate healing so my mind was racing because i had all these biblical ammo scriptures to encourage her and say your family's off they don't know their bible and there are sometimes the lord says you know what you can have faith um tons of great faith but sometimes the lord says my ultimate healing is going to be to take you home to be with me i was getting ready to tell her that and she closed the card and i was getting ready to say it she said this he said pastor brett i have faith that god can take me to heaven tonight that's what she said i was like i don't need to say anything she gets it she says i have faith our family says you don't have enough faith because you're having you have cancer and you're dying and they gave you 24 hours she said i have more faith that god can take me to heaven tonight and i thought that is powerful and the lord took her home to be with the lord that very night um sad to say there's people that have this well i'll have faith if god does what i asked him to do and and and put trips on each other if you have enough faith then you're gonna be healed nope i think the whole next level of faith is even if even if i die of cancer even if i get fired from my job even if i you know uh have a miserable life for the rest of my life i will not waver even if i get thrown in the fiery furnace even if see the even if faith responds to what's happening rather than reacts that's a true sign of mature even if kind of faith number two even if faith believes and does not backslide see that's the reason there's the backsliding and the people leaving faith and leaving church and becoming you know irreligious is the new you know hip term uh portland is one of the most irreligious cities in america congratulations that's the that's the city we live in uh the most irreligious and why is that it's because well god hasn't done this and god is why is there suffering on the earth and why why why and they're not realizing that you've got to have that faith even if there is suffering on the earth god's still in control how many times have we heard of someone who once believed but fell away or walked away from the lord because things didn't work out the way they thought it should you got to remember god knows all things and we do not um so you got this even if faith believes not backslides number three even if faith even if god doesn't deliver us from the fire furnace it endures but does not escape um what do you mean brett well i love the story this is a perfect example of this truth shadrach meshach and abednego they get tied up and they get thrown into the fire furnace as we will see on wednesday night and their ropes burn off and we see a pre-incarnate appearance of jesus with them in the fire furnace there's shadrach meshach and abednego and a fourth guy nebuchadnezzar says did we throw three guys in there there's four and that guy looks like the son of god pretty perceptive nebby but but what i love about this part of the story when you get to this you realize the guys are just kind of walking around and they're talking to jesus and they don't leave that that just cracks me up you know if i were throwing in a fire furnace and i'm not burning i'm like well i'm really glad about this but i'm not going to push my limits i'm out of here pure like get out of the fiery furnace as fast as you can but they don't did you know that the story tells us that nebuchadnezzar had to ask them um you guys could you please come out of the fire furnace like you had to ask them invite them he's changed his tune he's no longer raging in fury but he's like uh guys could you come out just for a minute have a chat with you they're like okay and they come out of the fiery furnace now this is great they don't even smell like smoke the bible says this is great but see what i learned there is sometimes it's in the fiery trial that's when you're with jesus the most i know people like the girl that i just did a funeral for uh last week a young athletic college level athlete amazing girl in our fellowship here and um she got cancer and it went really pretty fast i was amazed at how fast cancer just kind of took her health but um i cannot tell you how much um i was so blown away every time i talked to her and go to the hospital i'd visit her and she'd she'd just build my faith up here's this young girl who most girls would be saying why why me why at such a young age and stuff but she said i know god has a purpose for this cancer and if i'm supposed to go early and go to heaven god's got a reason and a purpose and she even told me i will i would not i'd rather not be healed and do what god's using me to do than to just be healed and go on with life like she was this whole another even if level faith so much did it move me i was trying to encourage some of our young single girls hey you know you should go visit her in the hospital i was kind of saying like she could really use the visit but what i was really doing is like these young girls have to see what even if faith looks like on this amazing girl and everybody that visited her was like amazed and moved and you know she wasn't trying to get out of it she was saying lord what you want me to do it's a little bit like when jesus prayed in the garden of gethsemane lord if it be possible let this cup pass for me the cup of suffering that he's about to drink but but instead of saying give it to me lord he's jesus prayed the way we're supposed to pray jesus did this to sort of teach us some stuff he said nevertheless not my will but thy will be done and as it turns out the will of the father was to have christ to drink the cup of suffering and that's the way we are to be even if faith endures through the trial the scriptures say what don't think it's strange when you can't find yourself in fiery trials which are meant to try you but they're they're meant to build within you an eternal weight in glory in heaven there's something that's weighty about the person who says i'm going to just endure through this fight and don't think it's people why me why am i going through difficult times don't think that's strange that's normal what's not normal is you if you happen to be blessed good for you but that's not normal you know we americans we think that's normal because we are deliriously blessed here in america we are most of the world lives much more difficultly than you and me but because of our prosperity we have one little thing where we stub our toe and suddenly oh i don't know if my faith is really secure but in afghanistan the church is flourishing in africa the church is faithful in in you know honduras i've been to honduras where the christians have been through horrible horrible things and man they're as solid as it gets it's an amazing thing that happens even if faith endures not escapes and then number four and we're getting ready to wrap it up here even if faith has a promised future and a present not a present fortune a promised future heaven even if faith but doesn't promise a present fortune just because you're a christian does not mean you're going to be blessed and healthy and wealthy and all this stuff now but even if faith says whatever even if even if i'm not blessed today this is an important notion because sometimes you catch yourself saying why why am i even walking with the lord what's in it for me i talked to a young guy who's 23 years old this is a few years back that i remember is 23 and the reason that the age kind of cracks me because this is what he was saying pastor brett i'm just really tired i'm tired of what well man i've been keeping myself my goal is to be a virgin when i get married and why should i continue i've been you know fighting this for years and all my friends they're sleeping around and everybody's doing this and they're all getting married and everything's going great for them i'm the one guy that's trying to keep myself pure and man and there's no girls that are interested in me why should i even do it you know and he and he kind of went on to saying he says you know i'm getting old that's what he said at 23. yeah that's pretty old um you know to a guy my age like you're you're just a baby uh um but but you know it's it's a funny thing because um i had to remind him that you're not doing what you're doing uh for your present pleasure and happiness and the person that lives for this present pleasure and happiness they end up with a lifetime of pain and i guarantee it and i i don't know his friends who were sleeping around and got married and all that stuff but i do know this as a guy who's done a thousand weddings and and i've met counseled you know hundreds and hundreds of marriages and stuff one of the things that plagues a marriage years later is all the sleeping around you did before you got married comes back and hits you hard in marriage the wife wonders what you're thinking in your head because you slept with all those other girls and um does she measure up and the psychology of it nobody wants to talk about that uh you know with your high school sex ed teacher but actually as it turns out you know keeping yourself pure is the long-term smart way of doing things because god tells you to do it that way um but it's you know that's that's a real secret of the christian life you might have a little moment of pain right now walking with the lord but you're gonna have a lifetime and even an eternity of blessing or you can have a moment of pleasure just a few seconds of pleasure now and have a lifetime of pain that's the way the world rolls and i had to remind this guy man you do it god's way long term god's going to bless you but he you know the even if kind of faith i'm not going to cave even if it has a promised future god says i will bless you as you walk with me holiness leads to happiness ultimately but i'm not necessarily a present blessing not now even the bible says there's pleasure in sin for a short season but the way of sin leads to total sorrow that's just the truth so even if faith is the next level and and i would wonder instead of being one of these people that say well if god doesn't do this i don't even know if i believe in god no have the faith of some of the greatest people of whom the world was not even worthy the bible says that at that next level where they said even if i'm not you know helped even if i don't get the job even if you know i can't pay my bills even if she dumped me or even if this or that i'm still going to walk with the lord at all costs that's the next level that's the shadrach meshach and abednego level of faith may the lord give us ears to hear and not to be the weak-minded church that's in it only as long as god gives us what we want that's a wrong way of thinking it's sadly flooding the church this world view of well we'll see if god blesses me now and if that happens then i'll follow god but if not maybe i'll walk away that's what's happening in the church today god forbid may the lord give us ears to hear what the spirit would say in jesus name let's bow our heads together lord how thankful we are that we have these great examples of faithful men and women throughout the history that had that even if faith even if the deliverance wasn't there even if they were thrown into fiery furnace even if they were martyred and killed lord we know that you had a purpose and a plan that was good and we know as a good god you have a great plan for us plans of peace and not of evil a future and a hope for all of eternity how thankful we are for that lord i pray lord for people who have walked away or maybe been jaded or even skeptical because things haven't always worked out for them lord i pray you'd peel back the hardness and re-sensitize them to their need for a savior their need for salvation that they would also have that even if faith even right now lord if you would keep your heads bowed and in an attitude of prayer christians i wonder if there might be some of you this morning who have not really had that faith maybe you you've walked away from the lord and you you kind of sort of dumped christianity maybe you've never been a christian at all and you sense that what i'm saying is true but the most true thing i said today is the fact that you're a sinner and god loves you so much that he sent his son jesus to come and die on the cross for your sins paying your penalty instead of you and me going to hell god says i will take your penalty for you that's what the cross is all about jesus who was sinless innocent went to the cross endured the cross despising the shame with joy that was set before him what was this joy why did he do it joyfully go to the cross because he had you in mind now he did that but what's required of you is very simple but important that you accept the work of the cross how do you do that well first thing you got to repent and say i'm a sinner acknowledge your sin before god and say lord i'm a sinner and i admit it and acknowledge your sin to god and then after that you say okay lord i accept your gift of salvation how do you do that romans 10 verse 9 and 10 if you can fess with your mouth and believe in your heart the lord jesus christ that god raised them from the dead it says you will be saved so that's the thing to be saved is to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart i'd like to give you that opportunity this morning if that's you i won't embarrass you or make you stand up and in front of everybody or do anything like that but right where you sit i'd love to pray a prayer of confession of faith right now um so if that's you with christian's head bows head bowed would you please acknowledge that if you're saying breath that's me just acknowledge by looking up and give me a quick wave and i'll acknowledge you let me just look around for a minute and i want to i don't want to miss anybody so if that's you do that now i'll just kind of look around awesome i see you there good good good you right there cool cool over here yeah good and you awesome cool backpack that's awesome you guys yeah nice yep good [Music] i'm going to pray this prayer of confession and uh the whole church is going to say this out loud with you because we're excited this is a great great confession of faith and as we confess this it's of confession with the mouth that leads to salvation that's what romans 10 tells us so we're going to confess that and then i want you to know you might say brett are you kidding me just saying a prayer of confession is going to save me the answer is yes and it's not because you're supposed to do some big work he did all the work that's why it says in ephesians 2 you're saved by god's grace through faith not of your works not of yourselves it is a gift from god that's what it says so may the lord just hear that word that you're about to confess he will and you all you will be saved by god's grace through faith as we confess this let's pray together dear father in heaven i believe in your son jesus christ i believe that he died on the cross for my sins and that he rose up from the grave and that my sins are forgiven help me to walk with you thank you for saving me in the name of jesus christ amen lord wrap your loving arms around these people who have just confessed you lord we know that our faith isn't based on a feeling or an emotion but there are times lord where we do sense that you've lifted that burden of sin lord i pray you do that even right now that they know their sins are forgiven not only the sins they've done but even the sins they've yet to even do lord you died once for all sin so we're thankful lord for dealing with our sins and giving us the way the truth and the life we bless you lord would you please find here a congregation that's got that even if faith even if things go horrible we know that we have the hope of heaven and we know your plan is a good plan so help us to face those things with even if faith lord we pray in jesus name let's all stand together i'd like us to close with a final song and just let the lord just sink this truth into your heart and then we will be dismissed after that god bless you you are able to provide you are faithful in perfect time [Music] your goodness [Music] overwhelms i am [Music] your protection never [Music] i [Music] am you are bigger than all my feasts god of love god my love you are bigger than all my dreams god my hope god my peace whatever will come our way through each day i will say god i trust you i trust you you're the treasure [Music] i desire i surrender my whole [Music] [Laughter] [Music] whatever will come my way through each day i will say god i trust you i trust you and you are the god who always sees us even in very desperate seasons no matter what the circumstance you are the rock on which i stand you are the god who always sees us even in bare and desperate seasons no matter what the circumstance you are the rock on which i stand you are bigger than all my fears god my love you are bigger than all my dreams god my hope god my peace whatever will come my way through each day i will say gotta trust our trustee lord we do look to you and we ask that even if faith when the times are good when the times are bad almost to look to you [Music] and lord we ask just a blessing on the new believers in this room there's so many it's such a blessing we pray that you just show them the people to to lean on lord the brothers and sisters that they should go to for questions for counsel lord and seeking your word seeking you developing that relationship with you so we pray blessing on your church we thank you father in your name we pray amen amen hey god bless you guys we pray that you have a great rest your week and you're dismissed you

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 11,540

Rating: 4.9117646 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

Id: HrrpM-LBJRk

Length: 80min 12sec (4812 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 29 2021