HOW TO BE RICH: PART 1 | Pastor Tim Gaddy

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] good morning and welcome to new life if you could make your way to your seats this morning is everybody having a great morning so far everybody happy to be in church this morning if you don't mind just standing with me across the sanctuary in a reminder as you stand we do have a staffed nursery available and then we also have our kids life that's ages 3 to 12 they're meeting in the life center and benner hall if you need any directions to that they'll be our connect staff in the foyer they can direct you to that i was reading this morning in hebrews and it was chapter 13 it says jesus christ is the same yesterday today and forever and i have confidence this morning knowing that the same power that god had when he spoke this world inc into existence the same creative power that he had then he still has that here today so can we just lift up our voice and thank him for that power lord i thank you for that creative power that you have lord all power and authority belongs to you today lord i ask that you would just move into this place lord as our praises arise lord that we give you authority in this place to move however you seem fit in the name of jesus christ [Music] [Music] caused the death to rise and that's why we're dancing [Music] doing it all liberties again again you're the same guy you're still healing you're the same guy still creating oh yes [Applause] [Music] [Music] you won't change [Music] [Applause] he's the same today he won't change [Applause] you want jesus [Music] today my redeemer at the same time he's my redeemer [Music] [Applause] has he ever provided for anybody in the place today you know he's doing it all again today has he been a redeemer to anybody can you think back to that time when you were redeemed he's doing it all again today he's doing it all again today thank you jesus can we just continue that praise lord lord you're going to speak to a situation today lord there's no injury lord there's no illness there's no financial need lord that you haven't faced already that you haven't worked in already lord so we ask that you would do it again that your glory would fall lord that your spirit would move in the name of jesus christ why don't you turn to your neighbor and say we serve a powerful god look at the other neighbor and say not just a powerful god but the all-powerful god hallelujah you may have a seat thank you so much for joining us today in new life does anybody like what they feel in the sanctuary anybody believe that god can perform a miracle in this place today oh i'm here with an expectancy in my spirit excited what god's going to do for the rest of this service but i would like to take a moment and welcome all of our guests if you're here with us a first time guest maybe this is your second time new life can we just give them a hand we're so honored that you're here with us if your guest with us on site if you wouldn't mind just taking a moment and stopping by the connect center in the lobby we like to just get to know you maybe give you a little gift and of course our online church family thank you so much for taking time and worshiping with us today at new life it it's so awesome that our service and the the truth of god can be spread all across the world you don't have to be here just to receive a blessing but online as well god's power knows no bounds in the name of jesus thank you so much again online church family if you could take a moment there's a virtual connect card if you don't mind filling that out i know i just had you seated but i like to say hello to people i like to shake hands if you're comfortable with that so why don't we take a moment as pastor comes why don't you find someone that you haven't said hello to today and go say hi to him [Music] amen it is so good to be together on this sunday to worship the lord once you've greeted several people you may be seated amen you look good today has anybody told you that well if they haven't you look good i want you to know that i want to add my voice to what pastor jay said and welcome all of our guests i hope i get to meet all of our first-time guests before you leave today it would be our honor to just say hi to you and welcome you to new life personally but i'm just so grateful that you're here we've had a great camp meeting week this week and mine did the lord meet us in a marvelous way in redfield i'm so grateful for his presence but it is good to be back in church in cabot on sunday morning amen here we are in the middle of the summer and god is good amen god is faithful to us i look across this room and i see some wonderful wonderful people and it's so good to welcome back some people emma nichol is back from africa emma we're so thankful you're back amen what a great young lady and doing the work of god overseas she's probably getting all adjusted to jet lag and all of that but we are so thankful and proud of our young adults and the work that they're doing literally around the world and emma we we welcome you back home somebody told me that ron and nancy denton are here there they are would you help me welcome the dentist back to new life oh brother and sister denton it just looks right seeing you there amen the dentons moved to the nashville area uh several months ago and and brother denton's been telling me now when that church gets finished we're coming and we're visiting and it's just great to have the dentons back home they're part of our extended church family uh over in nashville now and we welcome them uh sister carolyn has family with her this weekend we welcome all the great folks from the poplar bluff area back to new life we're thankful that you're here grandkids are in town why don't you take just one more minute and turn to someone and say i'm so glad you showed up today so glad you showed up today amen we're going to give you an opportunity to give on this sunday morning in just a moment there are many many people that call new life their home church that practice tithing tithing is a biblical practice it's taking the first 10 of what god blesses us with an income and giving that back into the kingdom of god to further the work of god and so many families so many individuals practice this we have children that practice tithing young people that practice tithing young adults and elders and people who've done it for many many years and i just thank you for those of you that are finding god to be faithful in this area of our giving how many of you really have found that tithing works it blesses it brings the blessing of the lord and i thank you for your faithful faithful giving also this coming wednesday night speaking of finances once a year we have a member's annual business meeting where we discuss the church's financial shape and we're excited to bring you a good report this wednesday night so if you are a member of this church that business meeting will begin before our midweek service at 6 15 this wednesday night right here in the worship center so if you want to join us there i want you to stand with me and our ushers are going to make their way toward the front i appreciate our ushering team i have a brand new and fresh appreciation this morning it's not brand new but it's fresh for all the volunteers that work around this campus i thank god for everybody helping park cars on a rainy sunday morning i thank god for our wonderful ushering team that helps us in collecting offering i thank god for our teachers who are teaching our children next door right now those that are taking care of our infants isn't it great to be a part of the body of christ amen and one of the great things about being in in god's church is there's a place for all of us and it's part of what we believe is is the initiative and the goal of this church is not only to have people come and worship but then find a place for them to serve and i appreciate everybody that serves so capably next sunday evening we're going to be very excited to welcome elmer lago here he is a wonderful spanish brother who is a great preacher and he and his wife are going to be here at iglesia nueva vita that will be at six o'clock in bennett hall next sunday night mark that down be a part of that service we've been having some tremendous spanish church services people being filled with the holy ghost people being baptized it's exciting to see what god is doing in every culture amen how many of you know the call of god is to whosoever will and i'm thankful for that let's thank the lord that we can give today and let's give with a cheerful heart jesus i thank you that you have provided jobs and you have provided raises and increases and there are so many people in this church as i look out on this sunday morning and i know god they're experiencing your blessings because lord they're putting you first in their finances lord i pray that you would let us all capture and maybe somebody for the first time the joy of giving not out of a drudgery but because we're blessed lord and we give back into the kingdom of god let somebody discover lord the power of tithing returning that first tenth to you let somebody see the blessing of the lord rest upon their life and god we're going to thank you for that thank you for a good year financially for our church thank you that you brought us into this new facility lord that is nothing but the providence and the blessing of god and we recognize that this morning and we say thank you today lord we say thank you for your rich blessings on this church we say thank you for providing for us as a church family lord continue to help us to be very wise in our stewardship of every dime that comes through this local assembly and lord for that we're going to thank you and give you all the glory and the praise in jesus wonderful name we pray and everybody would you say amen amen here's how we do this on sunday morning we'll let you come forward and bring your offering your tithing and you can wave at someone that you haven't said hi to yet we'll sing unto the lord so just nudge your neighbor and say let's worship god together right now let's worship god together right now let's sing and worship about this god who changes things for the better god bless you let's come and bring our gifts [Music] [Music] i search the world [Music] night when you came along and put me back together [Music] every desire is now satisfied [Applause] [Music] [Applause] nothing is better than you [Applause] better than your [Music] [Music] is show you my weakness my failures and loss lord you've seen them all and you still call me friends [Music] hear this today there's not a your mercy embrace [Music] [Applause] can we lift our hands and sing it today [Music] you turn morning to dancing you get beauty for ashes you turn shame into glory you're the only one [Music] [Applause] [Music] morning [Applause] [Music] you turn bones into army [Music] you're the only one [Music] [Applause] [Music] nothing better [Music] [Applause] [Music] you turned morning to dancing today has he done that for anybody [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] once again you turn grace into garlic [Music] [Applause] me [Music] you're the only one better [Applause] [Music] just once again [Applause] can we thank that god today nothing is better than you jesus [Music] you can turn a mess into something beautiful today nothing is better than you thank you jesus [Music] can we worship him once again thank you jesus we worship you today the weapon may be formed but it won't prosper [Music] when the darkness falls it won't prevail cause the god i serve knows only how to try out [Music] oh my god we'll never fail [Music] [Music] belongs to you lord [Music] there's power there's power in the mind name of jesus every word he wages he will win i'm not backing down from any giants oh yes i know how this story is i know i know how to [Music] belongs to you lord [Music] victory [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] do you believe it today you're gonna see victory in this house oh yes [Music] there's power in the mighty name of jesus everyone he wages he will win i'm not backing down from [Music] [Music] [Music] victory [Music] take what the enemy meant foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] i'm gonna see a victory i'm gonna see a victory somebody claim your victory the battle belongs to the lord you know i'm gonna see a victory i'm [Music] victory [Music] [Music] let's tell the lord that right now i see through the eyes of faith lord i see through the eyes of faith this morning praise god praise god praise god amen amen when we go to prayer over any situation in our life i think it's important that we not just pray what we see happening right now but we speak faith over what we will see happen by the power of god so i wish you would take a moment whatever it is that has caused you to connect in faith to that song right there whatever a need is whatever you're needing victory for i wish one more time we would lift our voice to the lord and say i am declaring victory over that situation i see victory i profess it with my mouth i am saying by faith that victory is coming an answer is on the way god you are at work oh your arm is not short that you cannot reach your ear is not heavy that you cannot hear our petition oh thank you jesus oh god we thank you that you're going before us you're preparing the way o god oh thank you jesus thank you jesus praise the name of the lord praise the name of the lord i am thankful for the way the lord goes before us and he also comes behind us we have principle and we have proof of that all throughout the scripture when god's people came up against an obstacle it was the lord that went before them the king james version says he was their re-reward that means he came in behind him we are surrounded by the goodness of god and as children of god were surrounded by his safety and his provision and his protection thank god for that today amen i'm so so grateful for that amen you may be seated for a moment thank you again for being here amen so good to see dear friends bishop thomas good to have you back at new life so thankful to have you mark thomas i'm so thankful my dear friend i appreciate brother mark and grateful for these men being with us worshiping with us brother thomas preached a marvelous message at our camp meeting on friday morning that god is a prayer answering god and he hears our prayer and i thank god for that ministry we have a great spanish camp that's coming up this thursday friday and saturday i want to make everyone aware of that a spanish camp meeting begins thursday evening and we have a van that's going to be headed to spanish camp meeting if you're wanting to be a part of that we would love for you to be a part of spanish camp thursday night friday morning friday night saturday morning we'll be taking a van the two night services amen now every once in a while we have someone come by that has a great gift and a lot of people have gifts but i'm so thankful jan brusso is here today she has been a long family friend of the gaddies she is a member of the pentecostal church in fort smith and she's a great friend of the newtons and several people in this church but sister jan we're so happy you are here in cabot today and i give her a good hand of welcome give her a good hand of welcome now sister jan has a great gift of singing and i've known this for many many years i've heard her sing for years and i went up to her in the prayer room today when i saw that she was here and i said jan us preachers have this unwritten rule and it is that when you go somewhere to visit usually a preacher will have a sermon tucked in the bible somewhere back there just in case they are called upon to preach and i said i think singers probably have that same thing going on in their life and i have prevailed on her to sing for us before i preach today and sister jan welcome to new life would you welcome jan brusso as she comes amen what a great lady we appreciate her so very very much sing unto the lord amen well i used to do that when i was younger then i got old and i thought well you know we don't have to do that anymore but still got to be instant in season out of season all that stuff right but the song they were singing at the beginning was talking about that jesus is the same and he'll do it again and so i've got an old song and you probably know it you've probably sung it around here a few times it's just called the blood and it will never lose its power it's powerful it reaches it doesn't matter where you are it reaches low it reaches high and it flows and it soothes and if you can help me out sister i know this is yes the blood that jesus shed for me let me let you get a key [Music] sorry technical difficulties right well the blood that jesus shared for me way back all the blood that gives me strength from day to day it will never ever lose its power oh for it reaches to the highest mountain as it does and it flows to the lowest valley the blood that gives me strength from day day to day [Music] it will never never lose its power here's what else it does see it soothes my doubts and it calms all my fears and the same blood dress everyone every one of my tears all the blood that gives me strength from day day to day it will never never lose its power if you know and sit with me cause it reaches to the highest mountain thank you lord yes it reaches to the lowest valley oh it will now oh it will never ever never lose never lose its power hallelujah come on let's thank the lord for that right now [Applause] praise god come on there's power in that blood there's power in that blood praise god thank you jesus thank you lord amen amen i'm thankful for the blood of jesus today praise god you may be seated thank you sister jan thank you for blessing us thank you for letting me throw that on you at the last minute praise god i so appreciate the gift that sister jan has appreciate her beyond her giftedness just who she is she's a great great lady i'm reading today from the book of john chapter number 15. if you have your bible you can just remain seated and turn with me to the gospel of john chapter 15. a couple of sundays ago i was preaching on the first sunday of the month of july and i felt the lord deal with me to try to instruct our church in reset how many of you remember when pastor preached on reset a couple of sundays ago uh the middle of a year is a time when it's good to reset it's good to recalibrate it's good to ask ourselves some hard questions how are we doing in our walk with god not in a demeaning sort of bondage way but just uh to every once in a while take a look at ourselves and uh and look at ourselves through the lens of scripture and what does the word say how am i living after the way of the lord and i feel to just continue into that vein today and i pray the lord's word will help us i'm in john chapter 15 and verse number five now you will notice if you have a red letter edition bible and i'm not going to just assume you know what that means but if you have a bible and you're in john 15 and all the letters of john 15 or most of them are read that means they are the words of jesus christ himself and it's what the ones that printed the bible did to kind of differentiate between what someone else is saying and what jesus is declaring himself and so these are words in red they're from jesus and look with me we'll kind of jump right into the middle of a passage but it's where i will use uh the scripture as a text this morning jesus said in john 15 and verse number five i am the vine everyone say the vine you are the branches everyone say that's me he who abides in me and i in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing now they've got that on the screen and i would like you to read it out loud with me again would you do that let's read from the scripture i am the vine you are the branches he who abides in me and i in him bears much fruit for without me you can do nothing let me ask a question this morning and it's just a simple question what is the amount of money that you think would qualify you as being rich now that would be varied across this auditorium today there are some that would say right now if i had 10 000 i would be rich yeah i would be rich how many of you by the way could handle a little injection of 10 grand in your checking account right now well there's six honest people in the room that's good there are other people that would say a hundred thousand dollars if i had a hundred thousand dollars i would consider myself rich if i had another 401k plan pastor a million dollars is my mark if i had a million dollars i would be rich and then there are some that are sitting here right now and you're probably thinking well pastor why are you talking about that i am rich right now we'll go out and you'll buy lunch today how about that i want to talk to us for a few minutes on this sunday morning and simply entitle this message how to be rich how to be rich would you look at someone and say pastor's going to tell us how to be rich now that i've adequately got your attention assumptions can be sometimes the things that get us in the most trouble my family and i several years ago took a trip to new york city and how many have been to new york city before great city largest city in america and there's so much to see at new york broadway and times square and just you know the liberty tower all the stuff that that is new york and i travel all the time and so i feel like i'm pretty street smart that's not meant to brag it's just after you traveled a while you learn a few things and that's why what i'm fixing to tell you just griped me to no end stacy in madison and landon were in the subway in new york city and we were in the subway on a a certain morning so it was we had the whole day that we were going to go to different things and see different sites in new york city and so we are standing at a kiosk a machine that sells subway tickets and they had single ride tickets and then they had all-day passes and so we being the non-new yorkers are standing at the kiosk examining the board and looking at it and trying to decide and it was collective we thought well the best bet and the best buy here is to get an all-day pass that way you just swipe it when you want to get on the subway you take it where you want to go you swipe it you can do it all the way till midnight or after if you want to we felt that was the best best thing and right before we started hitting buttons we noticed that next to where it was explaining about the tickets the screen was blank there were no electronics flashing and i looked at stacy and i said this is horrible we've come to buy tickets and this thing's not even working at the same time i looked through a gate in the subway station and there was a man walking toward us he was on the other side of a locked gate he was walking toward us plain clothes didn't have a uniform on but have you ever seen those people that carry i think brother john you have one of these on your belt one of those key things that has like 4 43 or 50 or 60 keys on it now brother john doesn't have that many but uh like the key police you know this guy had a a big wad of keys on his belt and he pulled out one of the keys and stuck it in the gate on the other side from where we were you get the picture unlocked it walked through the gate now he's on the side we're on and we're just a matter of a few feet from him and he looks at us and he says can i help you all with something i said well as a matter of fact you can i said i noticed that this kiosk there's no lights flashing it seems to be out of board he goes oh yeah that thing's out of order all the time he says what are you needing i said well we're actually wanting all day subway passes he said i can help you out now here's where it just gripes me he reached in his pocket and pulled out four passes said here they are right here you need four all-day passes i got four all-day passes and i blanked out my brain was removed from my head at the moment i said to him well that that's awesome i appreciate the help buddy and he said that's 24 bucks a piece or whatever it was and so i just start shelling out money i reach in my pocket and i start shelling out money i got money in front of a guy in new york city that i don't know that doesn't have a uniform on but he's got a key and i start shelling out money i counted over however much it was 9 500 bucks whatever it was i gave him my well-earned money he handed me my four all-day passes and as quick as he did that he was gone he was like the phantom it was like he vanished in thin air he just went around the corner and he was gone i said we got it let's go we went up to the turnstile where you take that little card and swipe it and i started swiping and i'm gonna tell you not just one of them didn't work none of them worked i i had assumed i'll get you later john i had assumed that the guy with the key on the other side of the gate was legit he was a subway worker what i didn't realize is my assumption was tragically wrong i asked people and i tried to reason with my family i said can you believe we just got took in new york city probably five minutes after that while i'm standing there just feeling just exposed to the whole world for for how foolish i had been an actual subway worker shows up he has the full uniform on he goes through a door into the actual booth where you buy the tickets and i walk up to the glass and i said sir i've got a question for you i just bought these tickets from a guy right over there and they don't work he said was it one of our workers i said well he had a key did he have a uniform on no and when i said that he just looked through that glass and just shook his head assumptions can be very very dangerous an assumption is a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen without proof now i'm making some assumptions this morning it is my assumption that every person here is at least open to becoming more like jesus that is my assumption the pace at which this will happen it's going to be varied dramatically based on personal decisions from the people in this room right now the desire to pursue jesus christ again this will be wildly different one person to the next some will be very skeptical until proven otherwise others are the kind of temperament that you'll jump in with both feet very very quickly but let me preach this morning whether we are here today due to a decided connection to this local church or maybe we are here today on an invitation from someone at our job or our family or maybe you're here out of curiosity you drove by you saw the church you saw the new building you said i'm gonna check that out or maybe you are here accidentally and by the way we've had that happen here a time or two my assumption is that all of us want to be like jesus in some form or fashion and so the question must be asked this morning how does this metamorphosis if you will happen into becoming like jesus do you hang around long enough at a church and it just gets up all on you is it mystical is it magical is it quick is it permanent does it stick is it is it something that will hurt is it noticeable or maybe it's a little more ethereal and yet the scriptures themselves teach us how this thing happens the scriptures themselves the words of jesus himself teach us how we can become like him he declared it clearly in the first verse of this 15th chapter when he said i am the vine and my father is the vine dresser i want to give you a truth that i think we cannot miss at the beginning of this sermon on this sunday morning jesus christ is the truest and purest example of man connected to god i want to say that again jesus christ is the truest and purest example of man connected to god let me give you bible for this first timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 without controversy great is the mystery of godliness god was manifested in the flesh he was justified in the spirit seen by angels god was preached unto the gentiles believed on in the world and received up into glory paul told the corinthian church in his second letter god was in christ reconciling the world to himself it is called the incarnate christ the eternal spirit embodied in flesh may i say it like this jesus was the god man he was a man yes but he was also god god manifested in flesh in the book of john chapter 5 the jews are wanting to kill jesus because he healed on the sabbath day and they also were wanting to kill him because he said that god was his father the 19th verse of that chapter declares jesus answered and said to them most assuredly i say to you the son the flesh can do nothing of himself but what he sees the father do spirit for whatever he does the son also does in like manner jesus christ was the purest example of man connected to god and i'm here to preach today that our success in living for god is to become so connected to god that we hear his whisper in the night we know his voice he moves and we move with him to be come so connected to god that when he shouts we're there and when he whispers we're there and when he says go we go oh that's my desire today i want to be so connected to him in order to understand how that happens we look and we examine the life of jesus christ he was the purest form of this there's another truth embedded in this passage and that is this our potential to be like jesus is determined by our decision to stay connected to jesus now that's so good i'm all read that you can read that on the screen but our potential to be like jesus is directly determined by my decision to stay connected to jesus praise god now i want you just to understand the the audience to whom i preach today there are people that are brand new in your relationship with jesus christ and to you we say welcome to the family there are people under the sound of my voice this morning that have lived for the lord longer than i've been me we say thank you for your steadfastness there are people that are kind of examining the claims of jesus christ wondering could he work for me like he works for the people down the road from me could he really touch my life and deliver me like i've seen him deliver and testimonies have been given and celebrate recovery about others that have been delivered i wonder if this could happen for me can i tell you something there is no lottery when it comes to success in living for god there's no lucky number when it comes to living for god successfully there's no person that has a right last name or they give the most money or they position themselves and kind of get in with the status group of the day my potential to be like my savior jesus christ is directly affected by my decision everybody say it's my decision come on it's my decision to stay connected to jesus it's my the greatest altar call i could ever give today is when we walk out of this house and it's what we do on monday and on tuesday and on wednesday and thursday and when i stay connected to him i absolutely exponentially make my success more possible because he is the vine and we are the branches it's interesting that he uses jesus uses this agricultural example to show us how necessary it is to stay connected now i may touch on this next week should the lord allow me to preach a little more on this passage but if i was to take i was going to go out in fact i was walking in the church early this morning and there was a little branch laying up by the front door and so i decided to kind of take it and throw it so it wouldn't just look bad people coming in for church if i took that branch today and i set it up on this pulpit i could talk sweet to that branch i could say you're a pretty branch mmm you must have really been pretty when you had fruit on it come on baby you can make it come on grow get get large blossom but i cannot talk a separated branch into growing i can't talk a branch that's been disconnected from a life-giving tree into becoming anything more than what it is right there can i tell you something folks there i want to make sure we get this today my decision to connect my decision to stay connected to jesus my decision to say you know what this is more than a habit it's more than a sunday morning thing that i do once a month this is more than just showing up on a roll somewhere or giving an offering in a church but you and i plugging in you and i staying connected to the vine you and i getting up on monday morning and saying lord what are you saying to us today what are you speaking to me today you talk about setting ourselves up for success and i would just be direct today i think why some people have such a difficulty in this and you beat yourself up and you go home and you say now it's a good sermon i wish i could live that out but i can't live it's not because you're a bad person you got to get connected because staying connected to jesus determines our potential in being like jesus jesus said that i didn't say that jesus said that look at someone around you and say there's another big truth you got to get today by the way everybody okay right now here it is the goal for everybody in this room is the same you ready fruit that's good preaching pastor you go right ahead and preach what's the goal the goal for every person in this church well i'll tell you pastor what the goal is is i just get so tanked up with jesus that i get up on that platform someday and i preach like my britches are on fire like you do and that will be the real proof that i am a man of god the hebrew word for that is phooey what the lord desires of all of us every person that's new to jesus christ in this room every person that has served the lord for 60 years the goal is the same bring forth fruit and what you bring forth is probably going to look different than what i bring forth but the goal is are we bringing forth fruit are we connected at the point of jesus christ where his life-giving power flows through us and we start thinking different than we used to think and we don't think through a carnal mindset anymore but we think through a jesus mindset are we connected to where our decision-making is like jesus our walk and our talk and our attitude is like jesus that's when you know success is happening it brings forth fruit fruit is the natural byproduct of connectedness my mom and dad took my brother and i and my sister on a trip when we were kids to an apple orchard over in indiana and it was like an annual trip that we would take and i think that added actually to my love for donuts because they had apple doughnuts at this place where we went i had cider and all sorts apple everything and we would go over and you actually could get ladders and get up and pick your own apples had big old baskets and you could pick your apples and put them in a basket and take them in they'd weigh them you'd buy them you'd go home and make pies and things like that but you know what on all the years zach that we would go over and pick apples i never one time got up on that ladder right up in the middle of that tree with all those apples hanging on there and heard that tree going i know that's a little bizarre but because a tree that is healthy does not strain to make fruit a branch that is connected naturally makes fruit it's when there's disease in a branch or there's disease in the trunk that fruit doesn't come but as long as there's a healthy connection fruit will happen i'm preaching to somebody right now you don't have to strain to be a child of god you don't have to come in here and grit your teeth and get on the back row and rock back and forth and hope that maybe your your penance will bring you into a new level of living for god i'm not preaching easy living i'm preaching about connected living if you and i can get up somebody hear this preacher right now if you and i can get up on a thursday morning and grab a cup of coffee and sit in our living room and open up the word of the lord you can be as close to him in that moment as you are in this altar it brings forth fruit the scribes the pharisees they were the religious leaders of the day and they came to jesus it's talked about in matthew chapter 15. and here's what they said then came to jesus scribes and pharisees which were of jerusalem saying why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread now i know on the surface you and i in 2021 we may read that and think man how strange and you know what i agree they're griping about the disciples not washing their hands before they eat but they identify that as the tradition of elders now the pharisees believe that when moses went up on the mount at mount sinai and he was given the commandments of the lord they believed the pharisees believed there was a second set of laws that were handed down one that was not recorded but they were verbally and orally communicated from father to son down through the generations and the hand-washing rule if you will came from that set of laws and so jesus responds to them and here's what he says in the 16th verse of verse of matthew 15. so jesus said are you still without understanding now that's a nice new king james way of saying do you still not get it do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated but those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witness blasphemies these are the things which defile a man but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man listen new life the greater truth embedded in this discourse that they had with jesus christ the pharisees and his disciples is this what comes in the heart will bring forth visible results if i connect to a bunch of junk it ought not to surprise me when i think wrong thoughts if i connect to worldliness sinfulness if i laugh at the the things that hollywood pumps in and say oh it just doesn't have a lot of language or it's not too violent if i connect to that long enough jesus said it's what comes out of you that defiles you this is why it is so important that i allow a connection to be in my life but not to worldliness not to sinfulness not to selfishness not to lust not to pray but a connection to jesus christ because folks something's going to come out of us i want it to be holiness i want it to be righteousness i want it to be godliness i want my speech to be right i want my walk to be right i want my attitude to be right but that only comes through connectedness and the fruit that it brings is this making sense to somebody amen let me give you another truth before i finish today there is a powerful truth and that is this the key to connectedness with god is in abiding abiding jesus said it it's there in john chapter 15 and verse 4 abide in me and i in you as the branch everybody say that's us as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine that's jesus neither can you unless you abide in me the key to being connected to god is in abiding let me just say it like this to be able to produce godly fruit in my life for you to produce godly fruit in your life is not in our own power you come and you say pastor i can't be holy i'm so thankful you got there i can't be godly oh thank the lord we finally got that i can't live righteously oh thank thank you lord that we finally understand that we can't do it in our own ability at our greatest moment at our most powerful moment by ourselves we cannot be holy we cannot our righteousness the scripture says it's like filthy rags laying in the garage somewhere that's why when we feel weak we got to cling to the old rugged cross because it's not in us to be righteous it's not in me but it is in connectedness that comes through abiding so that is an interesting word of biting what does that mean that sounds kind of spiritual i'm going to abide in him whew how you doing i'm abiding in jesus i'm abiding and residing i've heard people saying maybe you have to they'll be talking about someone and just just quickly raise your hand and put it down if you've ever heard this before you've heard someone say oh so and so they're not in church anymore how many of you have heard somebody say that yeah or him her they got out of church now some think that abiding means or rather getting out of church means they quit coming faithfully to church services and there's an element of truth to that or they think that someone who's not in church anymore they started making lifestyle choices that are contrary to what the bible teaches and there's some truth to that too oh you know so and so they're not in church anymore they're kind of justifying their actions as their personal choice and there's a there's an element of truth in that too but abiding according to the scripture simply means remaining continuing to be present surviving enduring i want to show you something in your bible would you turn to matthew chapter 10 and i'm just about done but i want you to turn to matthew chapter 10. this is the first time in the new testament that the word abide is mentioned and remember understand for those of you that are new to examining scripture or maybe those of you watching online it's important to understand when the new testament was written it was originally written in the greek language so sometimes it's good when you're studying to go back and see what that word really means we have a western mindset of what abiding means but what does it mean this is the first time in the new testament that the word abide in the original language is used it's matthew chapter 10 and jesus is speaking and sending his disciples forth to do ministry and here's what he says verse 11. whatever city or town you enter inquire in it inquire rather who in it is worthy and stay there till you go out now i won't go through this whole passage but jesus is teaching when you walk into a city i'm sending you forth to do ministry and when you walk into a city if you find someone that accepts you into their home and has hospitality park it right there stay there remain have you ever had anybody come to your house and they just wouldn't leave don't point that would be embarrassing but jesus says when you go into that city if you find them favorable to your arrival stay there remain there park it there because it's from that place that you're going to set up your ministry so let me say to everybody before i finish this sermon today the things that god is showing us in his word stay there the challenging convictions that god is calling us to when we read his word remain right there the environment of worship that god has led us into on this sunday morning stay right here why because there is a blessing in abiding with jesus there is a blessing in staying with jesus there is a great blessing that comes when the ship is battered but the occupants don't bail we just say i'm in it i'm staying i'm enduring i'm remaining i'm going to learn what it is to walk with jesus [Music] it's when you and i jump ship it's when you and i the it gets tough and we say well god must not be for us when rather he might be wanting to teach us something in that moment he might want to put a little tough skin on us in that moment why he's teaching us the the benefit of abiding with him praise god and jesus said it clearly we can do nothing when we are not abiding in him the inference here is we can do nothing when we are disconnected from him i'm going to ask our musicians to come they can come and play behind me if they would jesus made an interesting analogy with something that you and i probably will use in the next 45 minutes because probably you're gonna go to lunch or probably you have lunch cooking at home and the only thing standing between you and the crockpot is the guy with the lapel mic on right now but probably and i'm making a generalization here there will come a time in the lunch that you and i eat in a few minutes and you're going to remember this when you do this someone's going to look at someone around the table and say this could you pass the salt over here or you're gonna reach and grab that salt shaker those green beans need a little more salt that enchilada needs a little seasoning i better stop i'm getting hungry right now but jesus said this in matthew 5 he said you're the salt of the earth how many have ever read that before but if the salt loses its flavor how are you going to season salt it's a seasoning it is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men you see brothers and sisters and those of you that are new to our church those of you watching online right now when i lose my connectedness to jesus i lose my purpose in life this is why maybe this will hit somebody this is why nothing seems to make sense when you walk away from jesus pastor yeah you're reading my mail right now i used to serve him i used to be red-hot i used to be a worshipper i used to be a giver i used to be faithful but it seems like ever since i stopped life seems to be disconnected there's a reason for that because you not only were disconnected you lost your purpose our purpose is not to exist our purpose is to bring forth fruit to abide in the purpose that god has for our life i want to say it again sir you have a purpose that is far greater i thank god for your job but it's far greater than making money on your job you have a purpose to be an ambassador for christ a soul winner a disciple maker a person of influence and that only comes when we abide i want you to stand with me if you would please amen there is a verse of scripture in this chapter that has always bugged me and i'm going to finish this message by telling you what verse has always bugged me how's that for a setup it's in the seventh verse and jesus says this if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you that always has bucked me because i know a lot of people that have asked for what they desire and they haven't got exactly i'm just being honest with you i'm gonna kind of verbalize what some people say and think maybe they don't say it but they and preachers just gonna say it i wanted this but i haven't got that but it wasn't until just recently that the lord brought me back to that verse and said tim you're good at reading the second half of the verse but you got to read the first half of the verse if you abide in me and my words abide in you you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you jesus is not teaching that is just kind of a blank slate in the second half of that verse ask for the cadillac ask for the million dollar home i used to think that that was separate from the first part of the verse but how many of you have lived for god long enough i think i may have a witness in this house that when you abide in him the bible says he will give you the desires of your heart has anybody ever seen that before even that verse doesn't mean he's going to give you whatever you desire he's actually going to give you what you desire after [Music] how many of you saw that right there how many of you that just resonated with you right there i don't know what i need to desire after to be an ambassador for christ but he does and if i stay connected to him he's going to put the desire in me he's going to put the want inside of me and i'm going to be able to ask him more in line with his purpose for my life is someone hearing that right now is someone resonating with that right now this is not a free for all this is not you win the summer home kind of thing it's this connectedness that produces his desires in my life and he said when you ask according to that you're asking according to the will of god because i'm giving you those desires and you'll get them because you're going to get my will praise god here's the thing the reason why i called this how to be rich because god didn't call us to get by folks he called us to abundant life he called us to a richness in life that goes far beyond merely existing so here let's do this before we leave if you're here and you just want to respond in prayer and come let's gather together for prayer around the front of this sanctuary would you come as a church family right now we'll pray together and then we'll go get that pot roast all right come on come on as a church family let's come let's come you don't have to be a member at new life to respond right now just come and we're going to pray together as a church family praise god praise the lord amen i want to put a shameless plug in for next sunday don't miss next sunday i'm gonna preach next sunday about what why is it and what happens when the lord seems to bring things into our lives that hurt us is he some bully wanting to ruin our lives or maybe maybe there's something he has in mind and i'll just tell you right now i'm going to steal from next sunday's sermon and tell you listen the longer i serve the lord brother surely the more i realize god always acts with redemption in mind i just want to go with what i feel there's people here that nothing has worked out well for you lately maybe god is trying to get your attention because he has something redemptive in mind in your life maybe he's allowed some things to happen to go wait a second i need to get back to the foot of the altar i need to get connected again i need to be in line again with god's purpose sometimes god always acts redemptively he always acts redemptively let's pray together right now jesus i feel your presence i thank you for this great church praise god lord i've done my best today to preach what you put in my spirit god and i pray that you will seal this word right now with the power of the holy ghost jesus i ask that your presence would abide with us that you will help us all men women young people children god every one of us make a decision to stay connected to jesus god that's gonna have limitless boundless potential in our life for growth i pray lord that you will allow not some mystical magical fruit that will appear but natural fruit that will appear when we are connected to you lord jesus i pray that you would help us to investigate you lord jesus this week to discover what you did how you acted how you reacted lord and we will stay connected to you lord so we will find our great purpose in this world i thank you i give you glory i speak your blessing over this church congregation i speak your blessing over every person watching this online broadcast right now i pray lord that the hand of god and the grace of god will be upon us i pray lord that you will not only physically protect us but you will spiritually undergird your people this week lord i pray this will be a week of growth and strength and power lord in our lives let new believers lord begin to see marks of fruit that are happening in their life and lord that will encourage us to keep going in jesus mighty name in jesus name may the blessing of the lord new life church be upon you today may the lord make his face shine upon you this week and we receive that in jesus name amen i want brother jason and sister courtney to sing this song as we're leaving today let's just entertain his presence and worship for a moment longer whatever it takes to draw closer to you oh that's what i'll be willing to do and whatever it takes [Music] [Music] sing that again whatever it takes sing it out all whatever it takes to draw closer what a great song that is come on sing it out all that swan that's what i'll be willing to do [Music] oh and whatever [Music] oh the spirit of the lord is helping us right now god's calling us well i'll trade sunshine [Applause] sunshine for rain comfort [Music] that's what i'll be willing to do and whatever it takes [Music] for my will to break oh that's what that's what i'll be willing to do [Music] let's leave this house encouraged today amen let's leave this house with a decided intention to stay connected to jesus christ new life the altar call starts right now let's walk it out this week in jesus name amen amen may the lord bless you you're dismissed whenever you should feel too thank you for coming thank you those of you that have been watching online we appreciate it let's have a great week full slate of ministries on wednesday night don't forget it's going to be a great midweek may the lord bless you [Music] [Music]

Channel: New Life Church Cabot

Views: 144

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: how to be rich, new life church, new life cabot, cabot arkansas, cabot, arkansas, tim gaddy, nlc, new life

Id: xWPo--Iy7JI

Length: 91min 51sec (5511 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 18 2021