Let’s Please God [Character Counts] | Pastor Allen Jackson

you know we will serve the children that the Lord puts in front of us but we will stand on behalf of the children of this generation it's our assignment that's the some of the harshest language Jesus ever used had to do with anyone who would impede the spiritual formation of a Child Jesus instruction was find a short rope a big Stone and deep water that's true I I'm I'm always a bit amused at people you know to say Jesus was all about love that's true with great love he'll tie you to a big rock and drop you in deep water it's yeah that's not my sermon so I'm going to try to restrain but I want to thank you for all of you who served this week you know there is no mysterious closet there's no special place where the Church lives it's us and if we want the ministries of the church or the expressions of the church to be different then we have to become different and a week like this when I see the attitudes and the investment in the lives of those children because it's a sacrifice on Monday it seems like a good idea by Wednesday you think the devil talked you into it and by Friday the Lord has met you again and it's all good but Wednesday Wednesday and so I want to thank you those of you who are apart and those of you who are up next um we also had the privilege this week of um providing breakfast and lunch to the Murphysboro Police Department so we went there and served them and we got the first week under our belt of that new program um which is still a little scary but you don't have to that's not a I'm not pandering for Applause I'm asking for prayer but it's uh it's been very informative for me to get to talk to some people that are working very diligently to make our nation a more god-honoring place sometimes you feel like you're on an island and I assure you you're not so for offertory prayer I want to continue to pray for the children you know they need our prayers our schools our universities all of those places that are so significant in the the formation of our children our families you understand when we redefine family the most vulnerable the people who are affected the most by all these new definitions are the children and you're you're not expressing love and compassion and kindness when you allow a biblical definition of family to be reconstructed you make the children incredibly vulnerable amen and so I think we want to continue to pray for the children that God will give us the wisdom to make the decisions and do the things that will bring forth a generation of young people who will honor the Lord with their lives amen amen am amen amen why don't you stand with me for that if you're at home put down your pizza your bowl of ice cream sounds Godly it's a privileged to pray together if you haven't worked prayer into the routine of your life you're really missing out amen it's inviting God into circumstances it's inviting him into the situations of your life that I can't imagine facing the challenges of life without inviting God in why would you not if there's something in your life that you don't want to invite God into you need to get that out of your life the notion that he doesn't know is extraordinarily naive that's like hiding under the blanket thinking it will protect you from the boogeyman remember the days when you thought a quilt was the ultimate protect you didn't need body armor you had a quilt well I think Christians tend to do that we think if we you know God somehow can't see through the quilt that we pull over the things that we don't want him to know about and that's just nonsense so let's pray father thank you I thank you for character Quest and the visual reminder that you were at work in the hearts and lives of young people Lord for all that we were able to serve I thank you for the resources in the campus for those who gave their time Lord I pray you'll give it back to them multiply it back to them I thank you for your church Lord not simply Our Community of Faith but your church in the earth and the value you attach to it Lord Jesus that you are the head of the church and we pray for the children of this generation Lord I pray they would have a revelation of you that would bring forth an Awakening amongst the people of God stir their hearts far beyond services and classes and activities give them a revelation of a living Jesus they will establish them and ground them I thank you for their lives Lord I pray that you'll give us leaders in our churches and schools and communities and states that will stand on behalf of the children Lord not with platitudes and empty language but with strength and determination and tenacity we thank you for it we praise you for it we thank you for what you're doing in the earth and the privilege we have of bearing the name of Jesus in Jesus name we pray amen before you're seated welcome two or three people act like you're happy to see them all right you should have received an outline when you came in it will help give you hope if you're joining us online you can download that from the the apps or the websites it'll have the scripture references we will use we began a new study a couple sessions back under the general title of let's please God let's please God I'm going to talk a little bit more about that but this session is really going to be focused on the fact that character counts and I don't mean principally yours but God's if we understand God's character correctly it will bring an alignment to our lives that will influence everything if we understand it inappropriately it will bring destruction character really does matter my my image of that is my father when my brothers I were living at home was practiced veterinary medicine and I we discovered pretty early that there's a very wide array of attitudes around animals um you typically don't ask the veterinarian to look at your animal unless there's a problem which means he's going to probe something that the animal doesn't want probed and I can't tell you on how many occasions whether it was a large animal or a small a horse or a dog you know the the owner comes in and they goes you know this is Buffy and they kiss Buffy in the mouth and you know inevitably you'll say you know does Buffy bite no Buffy's never bitten anyone but Buffy has some problem and while you're doing the examination Buffy would prefer you not are you with me so far and since Buffy has limited verbal skills the defensive mechanism Buffy will choose is to chew on your arm and so there's a little tug OFW if you're the vet assistant slson between trying to restrain Buffy but make it look pretty casual while Buffy's trying to make you an orderve and if you don't get a right and Buffy gets to the veterinarian things go downhill really quickly and on more than one occasion I you kind of the owner goes well I've never seen Buffy be so agitated and my dad I know it's hard to believe but he does have a Breaking Point and he I've seen him look at a the owner of a horse or dog say well have you ever done anything think the Buffy that Buffy didn't want done well I guess not so they have a very limited window into the character of their pet we've made God a pet we would like to go to heaven please then we would like to do that with very little intrusion on what we want to do between now and then and should we get outside of the boundaries that we imagine you would hold we would like permission to say do over and then we expect you to eliminate all the consequences and if you don't cooperate with the plan we have and the imagination we have we're going to cry foul and we're going to threaten to withdraw and don't you know the angels of heaven panic when they hear Allan say well I don't know if I like the way you're doing your job we have such a limited awareness of the character of God that it has left us woefully unprepared to be the church in a season when there is a desperate need for the church not as an institution that facilitates worship services and classes and song services but to be light in the midst of the darkness to be salt to be a voice for almighty God see we've allowed ourselves to be co-opted we we imagine ourselves that we're we're like Civic clubs we just have a handbook we're here to do good to be kind to make the community better to show expressions of generosity when it's convenient for us to show up a couple of times a year at advin we sponsor and do good things and collect some things for charity and redistribute a few things and and then live our lives really on the terms that we want to live them as long as we show up for meetings occasionally and maintain whatever attendance requirements we think go with the Civic Club we're a part of and churches have all different sorts of imaginations around that we don't really intend for our faith to be like intrusive because then we change clubs we've made a pet out of God and I would submit to you that if we're going to maintain the best parts of our Lives the liberty and the freedom to share share our faith and for our children in public places to be instructed about God and the nature of his kingdom that we're going to have to come back to understanding the character of God with a little more clarity because character really does count and so in this session I want to walk around that with you in a little more detail you know we're in trouble do you know that I know we don't like to look at that raising my hand to partic participate in this new production for television program and interviewing people across our nation and around the world is making me far more aware of that we're in trouble now there's some remarkably good things happening the Israelis rescued four more hostages which is amazing and while I applaud their determination and their courage I I hope you understand it is heinous and Unthinkable to negot iate with a terrorist group that took over a 100 hostages I'll talk to you when you've released the hostages until then you should hide and I don't care if the protest originate at Colombia or harid or what what other misguided institution it's evil amen so I'm grateful for the Israelis perseverance and determination and for every life that is spared but the the world is a troubling place these days and I I know it's awkward to look but you have to you don't have to spend hours every day that's too much but you need to spend a few minutes watching listening thinking and being prepared to act not in Anger not in belligerence not in violence I'm going to keep saying it but you've got to engage the world one of the things that has fallen in the Wayside that's not even held up as a virtue anymore is telling the truth it's stunning it's it's almost back during Co when it began one of the prayers we began to pray as a community was that the truth would be told and in my heart I when I really when I first said that I thought I would like the truth if this was Saturday I'd like the truth to be told on Monday I didn't want to wait till Wednesday and what I began to learn through that season is God has honored so many of those prayers but the truth is always often told at some point later and it requires you to pay enough attention to go ah what we were being told was not the truth 6 feet of so social distancing would not keep you safe it was a helpful manipulative idea to raise awareness that there was something infectious amongst us but six feet doesn't make you safe any more than a sheet of plexiglass well we had another little truth bomb this week which I think is helpful but that laptop that has had so much attention that more than 50 National Security Experts said had to be Russian propaganda was authentic now if you're defending this nation and you've been given that trust and you got something that wrong I have an expectation that you'd raise your hand and say I was wrong and before you share an email with me there were people on both sides of the political aisle using their voices on that issue so that isn't a political issue I mean there may have been political Advantage gained by it but folks the truth matters and it can't be selective the doctor that tells you the truth most of the time still commits malpractice a preacher that tells you the truth post of the time is destructive it it happens with such frequency and on such a scale it's overwhelming and I a few days ago it's been a couple weeks ago now I I really felt a bit overwhelmed and I was just is my routine talking to the Lord about it and trying to understand what to do and what to say and how to respond and I really felt like the lord gave me at least on the inside of me a place a whole new place of peace I don't have to combat evil I have to please God and so this whole study and we're going to live with it for a while so if you don't like it buckle up is what would it look like if we said as individuals as families as a community let's please God we're going to pay attention we're going to continue to look and listen and think we're going to be engaged but our commitment our our personal assignment is to let's go please God so how does that mean and what does it mean in relation to the character of God for this session in habach I didn't put it in your notes I apologize you got the cheap version habach 3 and: 2 says Lord I have heard of your Fame I stand in awe of your Deeds renew them in our day in our time make them known in Wrath remember Mercy that's been my prayer this week God I'm grateful for all the things we can recount that you have done that we have seen you do that we can read about in scripture but renew them in our day in our time make them known in a season when you would be most justified in expressing your wrath towards us remember Mercy does that sound like a good prayer you can check me later it's habach 3 and verse 2 let's pick up this notion of pleasing God I would submit to you that pleasing God is a theme an idea that you can find in every book of the Bible it's not obscure it's not simple it's not small it's in every book of the Bible I chose 2 Kings 22 it's a a piece from the history of Israel Josiah is the King Josiah became King when he was a boy and when he's in his 20s he's ordered the temple to be remodeled and while they're remodeling the temple they find the book of the law hidden in the wall the Shand is they lost the Bible and nobody noticed gee it sounds a lot like the 21st century edition of the people of God and when they find it they bring it and they read it to the king and that's you have his Rea reaction in your notes in 2 Kings 22 says when the King Josiah heard the words of the book of the law he tore his robes and he gave these orders to the priest and to some other people with names that we don't use and in verse 13 He said go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all of Judah what about what is written in this book that has been found great is the Lord's anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book they have not acted in accordance with what is written there concerning us he became king at8 this is 18 years into his Reign he's 26 he's a young man there's much he doesn't know but when he's confronted with the word of God he said we're not cooperating we are outside the boundaries that we've been given he displays tremendous anxiety when he discovers that they're dishonoring God if you'll allow me to an extraordinary extent we have lost this as a reflex we don't have enough fear of God we've lost that respect I'm into animal analogies I might as well stay there for a moment my dad treated horses they're big I don't mean if you see one in the past Pure or you visit one in the zoo I mean if we lock you in a 10x10 room with one that's angry and we turn out the lights and the stall hasn't been clean for a you few days so the footing is not too secure are you with me well I we had a lot of that opportunity and it was pretty frightening to me when I was little but my dad was not afraid of horses and he taught me he taught me how to handle them what to do with them or to stay so that you don't get injured and I learned you can be in a small space with a big animal that's got a lot of attitude and you be okay then I lost that fear you don't have to be afraid they don't frighten me they're amazingly strong they can hurt you in a moment but with a little bit of training you'll be okay they don't frighten me but I still have a great deal of respect for the strength that that animal represents and I know enough of their personality and their character there's some things I would counsel you not to do like walk up behind the horse very quietly grab its tail and give it a good healthy pull and go hey I don't know what the deductible is on your health care plan but if you do that you'll find out it has nothing to do with fear it's an animal unprepared and you will meet its basic nature of self-defense and you'll get time to think about it while you heal well the character of God we have lost our sense of respect we've been fed such a steady diet of mercy and Grace I've heard Christian leaders of signific ific profile say you know I don't like to read the Old Testament God Is So harsh folks do you think he finished Malachi and started eating gummies we have to be aware of his character Josiah tore his robes it was a physical expression of grief he brought a whole list of reforms to the nation they had prostitutes on the Temple mount with shelters for them they have a temple we you're just reading the Book of Leviticus with all the instructions around worship and the things that are necessary to go into the presence of God from clothing to personal hygiene to who's allowed and who's not allowed and they have morphed so far out of that it's the Temple's been built and they have prostitutes on the Temple Mount now if that's the case there's some things you know are also true there were people who frequented them that thought it was a good idea there was a power structure in place there were people profiting from it so it wasn't like it was just something that was a a point of Shame it's one of the most prominent places in the nation and they've turned it into a public expression of immorality and a 20-some year old King says we're abolishing it not everybody applauded how long long are you going to be silent about the truth that you know because everybody doesn't applaud when you deliver a god perspective what has happened to us if we don't prepare the people to engage with the Living God God said that that will be on us that the the Judgment that they deserve will come to us Josiah was moved he brought sweeping reform to the nation we're going to have to have the courage to say we have to be different not everybody will applaud and not everybody will agree that doesn't mean you're Wicked or evil or self-righteous it means you have a worldview that is included a respect and a reverence for God that is more significant than your respect and your reverence of public approval well I just rather not think about that well you can choose that way but when you are asked to give an account you will be required to think about it saying I didn't see anything and I didn't hear anything and I preferred to not to notice anything will not absolve you of the responsibility we practiced for some time now we've engaged this idea of let's pray and the goal was really pretty simple we wanted to give a a very accessible way like a a ridiculously accessible way for people to be able to engage prayer beyond the church so we learned a way to offer a sentence prayer it'll fit into almost any circumstance it can be a chance encounter with the quicks sack while you're getting gas or a soft drink or is something that you could introduce at work and it's really non-confrontational it's an invitation to God into the midst of a circumstance how many of you had a lit pray moment outside of church I talk to people all over the country country tens of thousands of people have taken prayer it's important it's an invitation to God into the midst of Our Lives it's a willingness to raise your hand and say I'm a person who believes prayer makes a difference amen we'll revisit that some more in some other settings but I want to introduce this idea of let's please God into that same context it's a remarkably accessible way to think about living out your faith in God what do we do in the midst of a world that is broken what do we do in the midst of a work in a world where darkness is celebrated and evil is applauded as good and good is denigrated as evil what do you do let's decide that we're going to please God as men as husbands as Fathers as women and wives and mothers as Citizens as co-workers as neighbors as brothers and sisters in the faith let's decide we're going to please God let's stop arguing about which translation of the bible to read or which style of worship we prefer or which day of the week and which time of day we're going to worship Don't Wait For Life Beyond time to begin serving God we've had a very distructive idea introduced to American evangelicalism and that's that you get your eternity settled and then you're pretty much good to go you know that that introductory phase gets a lot of attention and I believe in New Birth conversion salvation but I also believe in growing up in our faith and we've overlooked much of that in fact we've built some rather elaborate theological systems that give us all sorts of off-ramps so there's no consequence there's there's no real reason to talk about it I want to submit We Begin each day and conclude each day by saying did I please God today and to give yourself a bit of moment for review and reflection you don't have to understand the mauretic Hebrew text you don't have to know how to parse a Co Greek verb to understand pleasing God that's accessible to all of us whether you're a beginner on this journey whether you're a prodigal that's coming back home what I have discovered is the holy spirit is very willing to engage with us and make us uncomfortable with ungodliness and what's incumbent upon us then is to be willing to to acknowledge that to recognize that to bring alignment have a desire to please God see when you don't have the desire you'll go find somebody that agrees with your ungodliness you'll excuse it you'll justify it you'll blame somebody else you'll find somebody and and if it's it's if it's if you're pretty determined usually there'll be some sort of an authority and yet all the time you have this Sense on the inside of you I'm not really pleasing the Lord and you'll recite all of the reasons why you're Justified let's please God stop surrendering the field folks the problem we have is not the depravity of the ungodly it's the indifference the ambivalence of the faithful you don't have to have a fully formed Systematic Theology but you are going to have to have the intent to please God now there's some foundations to this that are essential when Jesus was born there was an announcement from Heaven you know I know it's not the right holiday season but it's still an appropriate verse you can read it when it's not December it's Luke 2 it says that suddenly there appeared with the angel of multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among men with whom he is pleased one of the Unexplained principles of scripture is that it pleased God to show kindness to human beings John chapter 3 it's not your notes but you know this verse you've seen it in the endzone of football games for years John 3:16 for many many years with a rainbow wig we've kind of gotten away from that but but it says for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son it was the announcement that the Heavenly Host made with the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem it pleased God to show kindness to human beings God's desire is to be kind to you but that doesn't mean that he's nul if I the rest of his character it means he has compassion on prodigals that he'll help us in our Brokenness that he'll make a plan and a way a Redemptive way for us through our failures but he will not wink at ungodliness because it destroys people and he cares about people and so he hates anything that destroys us Jesus came the scripture tells us to reveal the father the great Revelation Jesus brought to us was of God the father in The Book of Hebrews and the introduction to that says in the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways but in these last days he's spoken to us by his son he he spoke to us through the prophets in many ways many analogies acted out in many ways lay on one side for so long lay on the other side lots of instructions lots of messaging but in these last days he spoke unto us by his son there's a revelation that a son can give that no one else can give the son can tell us the nature of the Father the great Revelation that Jesus brought to us was with as God as my father look in John 6 I've come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me I didn't come to keep rules I came to do the will of my father let's please God we've been coached up on rules can I wear this can I watch this can I say this let's learn to please God much of Jesus ministry that's recorded in the gospels is about completely realigning the imagination of what it meant to please God I wonder if we have the courage to say we've implemented all kinds of things thinking we're honoring the Lord that really are are not grounded in Scripture that we divide ourselves and we fight and quibble and argue and get all heated up about things listen if we could disagree on a point and we can both go to heaven I will extend to you a hand of fellowship if if we disagree on a point and it can keep us out of Heaven I will not say it's okay amen amen let's please God and to please God consistently we're going to have to understand his character you can do it occasionally but if you're going to do it in a consistent way you're going to have to know the character of God to do that you're really going to have to read your Bible with some intentionality and some regularity I want to bring you some examples of this again I said pleasing God is a is a presented to us in every book of the Bible we could pick up about any book and I I could give you examples but I shows a couple that I think are familiar to you so they they need less backstory in the Book of Daniel Daniel is a slave in Babylon Jerusalem's been destroyed his life is inalterably turned upside down he's not going to celebrate the the feast and the holidays that have defined his family for centuries he's not going to go to Jerusalem for Passover he's not going to go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles their holidays are different the language he's forced to learn is different he's a slave in a foreign land now for most of us that that's devastating beyond what we can even imagine we don't even we don't have a frame of reference for that and I pray we never do but Daniel did the Covenant people of God came under the Judgment of God and they lost their homes do you imagine that could happen in the 21st century again you see the god that we have kind of recreated in the form of kind of a house pet he's just there to bless us to make us happy when we come back in the door to wag his tail to jump up in our lap to provide some comfort to be kind of a friendly presence we don't imagine that he has the authority to completely upend our lives that would be unfair well Daniel's a slave in Babylon and when we meet him my expectation candidly was that he would be angry and filled with rage and resentment and bitterness because God has mistreated him but that's not his attitude at all and I brought you a couple of examples in chap chapter 1 and verse 8 it's really when we first meet Daniel says Daniel resolved not to devile defile himself with the Royal food and wine and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself in this way in a foreign Nation having lost really everything including his hope of the future that he would have dreamt about or his parents would have held for him he says I don't want to do anything that would be displeasing to God that's the street version of what it means to defile himself he probably can't keep kosher in the way that it would have been described in Jerusalem but he said I would I would rather not be forced even with my Fork to dishonor God I suspect most of us would have felt justified in in not only drinking the wine of just relinquishing yourself to alcoholism I have reason to be depressed and Daniel said I won't even defile I won't dishonor God with my Fork he's not using the difficulty of his life as a means of license what's he doing he's saying I want to please God I want to please God in an upside down World in a time when there's tremendous pressure I want to please God he's not saying well I'm a part of the Covenant people of God I'm a descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I'm good to go we tend to hold up our credentials and say why we have Liberty and license and Daniel's chosen the opposite tack he has some friends that are a part of this decision with him and by Daniel chapter 3 they're in trouble the King has made a statue of himself you know the story everybody's supposed to bow to the Statue well for the Jewish Community that's not appropriate but apparently the Jewish Community decided it was probably better for their long-term viability to Bow but these three young men who were friends of Daniels they're not so good at that and so while everybody else is bowing here they stand it's in your notes it's Daniel 3:12 there were some Jews whom you set over the Affairs of the province of Babylon Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who pay no attention to you King they neither serve your Gods nor worship the image of gold you've set up there were tens of thousands of Jews there these three stood out please don't take your cues by people that wear the banner of a faith-filled person but lack the courage or the determination to honor God you choose to please God sometimes it will cause you to stand out in a crowd when it's not not comfortable choose to please God anyway you know the story they get tossed in a furnace things are not going well for the pleasing God crowd now God supernaturally intervenes but their message was very clear King you know the God we serve can Deliver Us from your hands but even if he doesn't we will not bow to your statue the king got so mad it changed his his appearance and God delivered them in Daniel chapter 6 it's another scenario same kind of deal Daniel has flourished so much in his civil service that his peer group is jealous of him they want him removed he's putting pressure on them imagine that they need to silence him but he isn't immoral he isn't unethical he's not cheating or stealing or lying they said the only thing we could possibly do to remove him was manipulate the legal system gee that doesn't sound familiar and so they have a law inserted that means it would be wrong for him to pray to the god of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in chapter 6 and verse 10 when Daniel learned that the decree had been published he went home to his upstairs rooms where the windows opened towards Jerusalem and three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed giving thanks to God just as he'd done before he not only went home and prayed three times that he opened the windows let's please God now the punch line God gave Daniel revelation of the End of the Age God gave Daniel Daniel was so trustworthy that God gave to Daniel understanding of what would happen in things that are still ahead of us when God looked across the span of history and all the generations and all the people he said this young man is so trustworthy I can trust him with the vision of the End of the Age you and I benefit because of Daniel's faithfulness that's stunning to me are you is your determination to please God so entrenched are you so committed to what the generations who follow us will benefit because you decided to please God well I'm busy oh stop I'm deter one of the things I've concluded is that we hide behind our children well I'm afraid there'd be a consequence for my children if your ungodliness or your refusal to stand for godliness you think you're protecting your children you're offering them on the altar of convenience now that's the truth but Daniel has these on more more than one occasion he has an Angelic message deliver a message delivered to him by an Angel an archangel and in Daniel 10 it's repeated but I I gave you just one instance it says do not be afraid oh man highly esteemed the angel says I came from the Throne of God with a message and the first part of the message is you are highly esteemed in heaven let's please God wouldn't it be wonderful to be a part of a generation where the message is is history unfolds and the narrative gets told there was a generation that was committed to pleasing God a generation esteemed by God why don't we decide to become that people well you know really Pastor I just want to go to heaven could you tell me what is the minimal daily requirement of Christianity I don't want like more than I need we don't really say that out loud very often but I I think it's what we often have practiced you know we don't want to become like zealots we don't want to be over the top you know we kind of keep it in check I don't want to be emotional folks if it matters to you you get emotional and we get emotional about different things but if you have no emotion attached to your faith your faith doesn't mean much to you well I'm not encoura you can be emotional it doesn't make you more faithful but we've got to recalibrate a little bit who my time I want to give you a parable from Jesus Daniel is such a good expression of pleasing God Daniel and his friends but Jesus told a parable that invites us into this concept remember in this session we're talking about the character of God knowing who God is makes all the difference knowing who God is when he's displeased you know the Bible's very clear that God is Not only pleased God is also displeased and you need to know what he will do when he's unhappy you see the displeasure of God is Not Just reserved for the devil in fact the story of scripture most frequently shows God's displeasure towards the people that he's leading and the New Testament if you prefer that says that the the story of the Old Testament was written down so that we would have an example from those who preceded us but in this Parable it's a familiar Parable it's the parable of the talents it's Matthew 25 I put it all in there but we won't read the whole thing it'll be like a man going on a journey he called his servants and entrusted his property to them and then he gives them three different things one gets five talents one gets two talents and another gets one Talent we're not we don't all get the same thing and some of you were unhappy about that some of you were mad that you're not 6'5 some of you are unhappy that you don't have 3% body fat some of you wanted different physical skills or you wanted to be something you wanted a shorter nose or longer feet or you wanted a different kind of hair and you're kind of mad at god well I always wanted to be do you understand understand there's so many things that are Beyond us I I'm I Marvel at the the the way we can be manipulated by such absurd ideas that somehow everybody should have the same that we should do you understand I I was in the Amazon River Basin a short period of time a few days but I I met people who have no access to electricity who have no access to health care most of them many of them will not travel more than 30 or 35 miles from the place where they were born and the only the primary difference in their life and my life is where I was born not that I was smarter or more Godly or more anything just happen to be the circumstances of my birth and people will try to get you heated up torqued up and we're so gullible we're so greedy and so envious and so covetousness so Covetous we go now I want some of that Jesus said some got five talents and some got two talents and some got one Talent let's he has the perspective he's going to help us with it the man who received five talents went it once put his money to work he gained five more one with two talents gained two more but the man who' received the one Talent went off and dug a hole in the ground that's the story the next piece of information that's introduced is they're going to give an account there is accountability for what you do with your journey Under the Sun this notion that it's my life and my time and my money well it is but you will give an account well I don't like that I think I should do what I you can do whatever you want but since the creator has chosen to give you a revelation he's also given you an opportunity to to receive his Blessing well I don't want his Blessing then help yourself but you can't choose ungodliness and then expect the same blessing that comes with godliness well I don't like that it's not fair it's the designer system I don't think it's particular particularly Fair the double stuff Oreos mint chip ice cream are not vitamin enriched Health Foods if I had written the system those would be superfoods much better for you than a say bow or however you pronounce it but I didn't design the system so I have much less mint chip ice cream and double stuff Oreos than I would prefer again if you've made a pet out of God after a long time verse 19 the master of those servants returned and settled accounts the man who received five talents brought the five you entrusted me with five I've gained five more well done good and faithful servant you've been faithful with a few I'll put you in charge of many come and share your Master's happiness two Talent comes in you entrusted me with two I've gained two more well done good and faithful identical commendations so the implication seems to be that you'll be held accountable for what you're entrusted with or if I use another passage to whom much is given much is required folks we've been given more Liberty more freedom more access to the word of God better Communications tools than almost anybody on the planet and certainly than any generation that's ever lived the assignment to preach the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world is still open before us it hasn't been recced we will give an account then the man who' received the one Talent came in master I knew that you're a hard man harvesting where you hadn't sewn and Gathering where you hav't scattered seed I was afraid and I went out and hid the talent here's what belongs to you his master said you're Wicked and lazy you knew that I harvest where I haven't sewn and gather where I haven't scattered then you should have at least put my money on deposit take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10 for everyone who has has will be given more and he will have an abundance and whoever doesn't have even what he has will be taken from him and throw the worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and nashing of teeth fol that's a new testament if you weren't paying close attention that's a parable that Jesus told the third servant is described as wicked and lazy and he's thrown outside he's excluded from the benefits of the kingdom and if you look for the fundamental reasons he didn't understand the character of God he said I knew you to be hard and I understood you to be mean-spirited and my understanding of who you were dictated a battern of behavior you see character counts I don't want you to live in dread of God but I would submit that it would be in our best interest all of us to live with a respect and a reverence for God that we not treat him as if he is is our lap dog amen he's not our Lackey he's not our hirling he is the creator of all things and we serve at his pleasure and it would behoove us to begin our days by saying how may I please you not in arrogance saying I'm not really sure you're necessary but I'm going to incorporate you into my life plan just as sort of a spiritual insurance policy that phrase and I don't have the time but the Weeping and nashing of teeth it's a phrase that is repeated in more than one place and it seems to suggest a group of people who had a great deal of access and proximity to the opportunities of God but didn't choose to participate until a point in time where they were excluded irrevocably and then they're described as being in a place of great weeping and the nashing of teeth tremendous angst I could have at any time I wanted participated I chose not to I lived presumptively I lived indulgently I lived apart from the coun of scripture see I think it's far too easy for us to think that the challenges we have are because of a a demonic outpouring an unleashing of demonic I I don't doubt that those things are happening but they happen because of the vacuum that's be created by the disinterest of the people of god let's please God we can do this we can do this say well it's not easy granted you got me it's not easy it is not easy duly noted let's stop asking the question what do I want to do let's start asking the question what needs to be done fewer and fewer times in my week do I ask myself what do I want to do and far more than the time I'm asking myself what needs to be done and is there any way I could add momentum to that let's please God you'll love the outcome what what better result could you have when your strength is diminished and your days Under the Sun come to a conclusion then here the creator of all things say Well done well done good job well I don't like volunteering with kids I don't like kids they're so annoying okay duly noted now hush and volunteer I don't like camps there's bugs you're right there are we'll even bust some in for you but now that you've expressed that go volunteer I keep running out of time a part of the talent thing is about what you do with your stuff people say I don't like to give okay now go be generous I don't like to eat vegetables but I like them better than having broken health so watch me eat Brussels brouts it's an acquired taste acquire it we have filled churches with a bunch of toddlers going you know I don't can I have ketchup more ketchup please and we reinvent God into this puppy like thing that's for our amusement and our pleasure he's a lion we got to go I want to pray I maybe be willing to say God we want to please you this week let's just take it on a week-by-week assignment can we do that why don't you you stand with me if you're at home you can stand too put down the mint chip ice cream oh what an honor to serve the Lord what a privilege we haveen he has blessed us so richly why would we not honor him father thank you for your word and its truth power and authority thank you that you called us out of Darkness that through Jesus shed blood father we can be clean and forgiven established in your presence forgive us forgive us when we have been distracted and selfish and childish forgive us father when we have cared little about you and far more about our own agenda but Lord I Thank you that you're awakening us for your spirit within us who leads and guides and directs father our choice our desire our intent is to please you we ask now for your help in the midst of our routines and our days and our assignments and our responsibilities help us see how we might be pleasing to you and any place where we're displeasing Lord give us a an awareness make us uncomfortable with it that me why we might repent and choose you may you be pleased may we be esteemed in your sight I thank you for it in Jesus name amen God bless you

Channel: World Outreach Church

Views: 16,602

Keywords: World Outreach Church, World Outreach Church Murfreesboro, Pastor Allen Jackson, Pastor Allen Jackson Sermons, live church service, christian sermons, Murfreesboro TN, Jesus Christ, Interdenominational Church, When God's Plans Break Out, Let's Please God—Character Counts, God's character, what does God like, what does God want me to do, what makes God mad, Daniel, horses, Josiah, Let's please God, Let's pray, parable of the talents, truth, veterinarian, caring for pets

Id: rqy7G6g5a1o

Length: 55min 53sec (3353 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 09 2024