Make A Difference | Jeff Vines | Pursuing Jesus (Week 4)

well hey there welcome to week four of our pursuing jesus series where we're going to be talking about making a difference pastor jeff has an incredible message that we're going to get right into but i want to encourage you no matter where you live in the world you have an opportunity to join one and all's mission of serving our circles and serving those people that god has placed in our lives with the love of jesus be listening to pastor jeff's message knowing that wherever you are in the world you have an opportunity to make a difference i'd also encourage you to hop into our discord server if you're watching on youtube in the description section of this video there's helpful links one of which is that discord server it's where people from all around the world discuss messages just like these where we build community and if you're watching on our website please hop over to youtube hit subscribe ring the bell hit that like button so that you get notified each and every time we come out with a new message let's get into this message right now and hear from pastor jeff hi everyone welcome to our weekend service today so glad that you joined us my name is michael chisaka and i'm here with pasta heather so excited that we can be with you welcome hi everybody yeah uh if you're new here wanna send a special welcome to you would like you to go to onenote.church new we would like to get to know you to welcome you to our church family and let you know that you are loved and you are welcome here absolutely and we are going into week four of our pursuing jesus series uh it's been an incredible series last week pastor jeff spoke about community and the power of community what did you glean from that message last week well i felt god talking to me and particularly a lot of people that you know we always thought community was just for me just for me now community is about loving other people you're in community for other people and that was really good yeah absolutely we talked about the same thing in my community group we're going through the pursuing jesus study and it was the same thing we might have gotten into our community group because we wanted something for ourselves but it's been incredible to see how god shaped our giftings to just help our community grow and grow closer to him absolutely yeah super excited and this week we are talking about making a difference make a difference and you can go ahead and open the app we have sermon notes in there message notes that help so much if you're following along and you want to get the references or the scriptures that pastor jeff is using you can see those in the app and it's really cool by the way because you are going to remember as you go back and look at the notes why don't we pray before we hear the sermon lord jesus thank you so much for your word your word is truth and your word is lied to us may you speak to us today as we hear your word in jesus name we pray and everybody said amen amen let's go follow along if you would in luke chapter 10 verse 25-37 one of the most popular parables that jesus tells in the new testament and as we've said before the bible is always incredibly relevant to our lives but there are times when there is such a dramatic shift in culture in what is accepted that a certain passage of scripture can bring on new meaning can be especially relevant to us as christ followers luke chapter 10 is such a case we'll get to that in a moment while you're turning luke 10 25 uh something interesting happened last week i went up to lake arrowhead i was going to spend a few hours with a couple of our teams or one of our teams a creative team and uh while i was there there's a golf course called lake arrowhead country club and it's a very private but if you make a phone call you might get lucky and be able to play so i thought well you know i'm up here and the guys aren't going to be ready till later so i'll sneak out early and i'll i'll play around the golf on about the third or fourth hole uh a wasp not not really a bee but a wasp landed on my knee now i live in upland which is not too far from the san dimas campus and there are yellow jackets that nest in the hedge every summer but we just leave them alone i'll be in the pool uh just kind of relaxing taking a nap and often these yellow jackets will land and i just leave them alone usually they'll just sniff around or maybe get a drink of water out of the pool or maybe they're attracted to the suntan lotion i don't know but that land on my knee and it feels kind of weird and they'll crawl around a little bit but i don't swat at them i don't want to make them angry and eventually they go away so i assumed that i could treat the wasp the same way so i'm talking to my buddy rick reed as we're playing this round of golf the wasp lands we both see it but i don't do anything i figure he'll just do what he's going to do and fly away that little rogue bee stung me i didn't swat at it i didn't make any sudden movements he just decided he was going to sting and i had forgotten it's been a long time since i've been stung by a wasp it really hurts and then i was angry i was thinking you know i didn't even swat at you i made no sudden movements and you still stung me of course you know when a wasp things you he loses his life and so i'm thinking how many rogue bees are there maybe even in my hedge i know that's not a big experience to you but i still you know i talked to my wife about it i thought you know i can't believe this wasp stung me you know how how ornery of this wasp i didn't do anything and it releases the stinger and of course my knee hurt swell up and i was in pain the rest of the day now i begin this way because i believe it's a good metaphor for what's happening right now in the western church the american church in fact in far too many churches in the west i believe something has come in it's landed right in front of us maybe even right on us we've left it along because we thought maybe it would just soon or later go away now what we haven't talked about is in any culture where god is locked out three things will fill the vacuum one first and they come in this order first sex then money and then power now stay with me for just a moment here no matter who you are you will never shame me into silence i love this country even with all of its sins and offensive can i remind you that jesus loves you with all your sins and offenses i recognize that we are not perfect but unlike so many others i also recognize the enormous good that has come about from this nation and again i say to those who are doubters my goodness do you think people down on the border are trying to get into america because it stinks those who live have never lived outside the u.s have no true understanding of the oppression and lack of opportunity that exist in most places not all but most other places not to mention the religious freedom however and i've stated this in many messages my hope and security and salvation are not in the stability and the success of this nation am i saddened by what's going on yes we are divided and a house divided will not stand is this a sinless nation there's no such thing you know why because people are always involved and the bible said there's no one righteous no not one i would extrapolate that over to the corporate there are no righteous nations no not one has america done some good things you bet your red white and blue they have have they done any evil of course they have exhibit a the 60s and 70s have they often rided the ship probably more so than any other nation do they still have a ways to go absolutely and if you've traveled the globe somewhere along the line you begin to understand that most people in other places not every place but most people no matter where you go i was just in turkey recently most people will say with all of her weaknesses i still want to go to america the land of opportunity the land of human value the land of unparalleled opportunity okay pastor jeff thanks for the speech but what does this have to do with the beasting metaphor one of the signs that an object is functioning as an idol is that fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of life now you tell me right now in america are we not living in fear when we center our lives on an idol we become so dependent on it that when it is threatened we panic and we say things like that's the end i might as well throw in the towel there's no hope while it's not a surprise to me that many in hollywood when things don't go their way politically speaking say things like there's no hope i'm moving to canada if our policies and our people are not in power then everything's gonna fall apart there's no use going on with life and living it's the end of all hope and security i may as well give up and get out and then they'll say something like as soon as new zealand or australia or canada open up their borders i'm going to go there i think do you not see the irony this also explains why that the political parties in this nation refuse to admit how much they have in common right now instead they focus on the disagreements and the reason points to the fact that power now rather than sex and money has become our god we've grown weary of sex we've pursued wealth but it didn't deliver and now we turn our attention to the third and final god power so that political ideologies have moved beyond opinion into the realm of god these policies will save us we must put our hope and future and security in this particular party otherwise we're all doomed now because hollywood majors in false idols with a minor in creating gods in their own image placing ultimate hope in a political ideology doesn't surprise me but there's a bee with a powerful sting that is now crept into the church my father when reagan ronald reagan defeated jimmy carter most of you weren't alive during that time but in 1980 ronald reagan defeated carter my father like a lot of southerners from atlanta area voted for carter because he was from georgia and they also believed he was a common man he was a peanut farmer he was a sunday school teacher carter proved to be a very good moral man but a very bad leader but after carter lost the election to reagan i remember my father saying oh well guess we better start praying for reagan now now why would my father do this because his ultimate hope was not in the election but in god and his purpose is coming to fruition in the world you know i got to tell you there have been many times over the last few months that i've gone back to daniel 4 and i've wondered do christ followers actually believe this or is just this just a good story that has no relevance to our lives and it's when daniel said to the king in daniel 4 7 times will pass by you until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over all kingdoms of the earth and gives them to anyone he wishes what does that mean it means that god is the god over all false gods now listen carefully dutch canadian philosopher al walters and i know we're out on the fringe momentarily just stay with me dutch canadian philosopher al walter says this this is important it's on the screen in the biblical view of things the main problem in life is sin and the only solution is god and his grace the alternative to this view is to identify something besides sin is the main problem with the world and something besides god as the main remedy that demonizes something that is not completely bad and makes an idol out of something that cannot be ultimate good now the best way to explain this is to remind you that republicans and democrats don't just disagree with each other they demonize one another they make an idol out of their policies believing they are the only things they can truly save this explains or should explain to you and me why there is this constant political cycle of overblown hopes and disillusionment the increasingly poisonous political discourse and the disproportionate fear and despair when one's political party loses an election our real god has been slain the one in whom we've placed our ultimate hope and security in the past has been vanquished so now we turn our attention to the false god of power and we think that our security and ultimate hope will come from political ideologies the reason we have turned to political ideologies as a modern god is because modern man feels alienated from god and therefore we've got to put our faith and trust in something and nature aborts a vacuum expel god something will take his place therefore the passion with which we used to defend god and our faith is now used to defend god and our new faith our god is a political ideology our religion is our party of choice okay jeff okay but what what about this current climate has stung you what about the beast thing all right here we go i'm afraid i have a genuine concern that i have allowed the bee of political idols to land without confronting it i i guess i just figured that if i would leave it alone it would go away but i feel it's about to sting us in the church of jesus christ in a way that may do irreparable damage at least in this generation you say how the only way i can fully define that is by allowing jesus to speak the words of luke 10 25. now here's what happens follow along in the text the bible tells us on an occasion one occasion an expert in the law not civil law now this is this is not civil legality but it's religious law it's a religious scholar he's an expert in the law of moses and how that law relates to everyday living so an expert in the mosaic law stood up to test jesus teacher he said or ask what must i do to inherit eternal life so if you know this passage you know that he's trying to trap jesus because jesus is always hanging around with people who are law breakers and prostitutes and tax collectors and gentiles so the teacher of the law is hoping to expose jesus as someone who does not respect the law and that's important because jesus is becoming quite the influencer so he asked teacher what must i do to inherit eternal life he expects jesus probably to say something like this well it doesn't really matter how you live because god ultimately loves and accepts everyone in the end and then the teacher of the law would say got you you don't respect the law of moses or the precepts of the torah god's law to man you can't be trusted the jews got to know but that's not how jesus responds instead he asks a question in return and he says what is written in the law how do you read it now there are two ways to answer that question number one you can list all 637 precepts that might take a while or two you can simply give a summary of the law the bigger picture in other words you can say this is that which the law is primarily and ultimately concerned this big picture is what the law is about so he answers and he answers well he says well love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself you've answered correctly jesus replied i love this in the original language do this and you'll live now the lawyer's next question should have been who on earth can do that who can live like that consistently help me jesus you think just for for a moment what that means take the first one love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind what is that like archbishop william temple says wherever your mind goes that's your religion your real god your hope and security is in that thing so he says whenever you're alone whenever you're in isolation whenever you put down the ipad and the iphone whenever there's nothing pressing on you at that moment maybe you're sitting on a curb waiting for a friend maybe you're standing in line at the post office whatever it is that your mind goes to in those moments of isolation william temple says that is your real god and then he asked the question when you're alone and isolated does your mind automatically go to the glory of god the wonder of god does your mind start to count your blessings and to think of how blessed you are from a god of wonderful provision do you start suddenly yearning to be with god do you want to spend a moment with god suddenly does your mind go to the reality that god is what you want most out of life and that you will always be content because he is everything that you need and if you have him you have it all william temple says you'll know what your faith and trust and security and hope is really in by knowing and identifying that place your mind goes when you're in isolation and alone look at the second thing love your neighbor as yourself someone defined that by saying this loving your neighbor as yourself means meeting the needs of your neighbor with all the passion and compassion joy speed and force with which you would meet your own needs that's amazing so you put your happiness in another person's happiness you put your joy into their joy now i think about that i can do that with my children and i can do that with my spouse but my neighbor you're asking me to be equally happy for my neighbor when he gets promoted when something good happens in his life when he gets a raise think of that just for a moment who can really do that i mean as jesus states this as the lawyer states this my thoughts are that's easy right my thoughts don't always go to god my greatest joy is not tied to my neighbor's success who does that now the lawyer's no fool he knows he doesn't so what does he do he wants to lower the standard a little bit showing himself to be the kind of person who is actually acceptable because the lawyer's premise goes like this god will accept me if i am virtuous enough so knowing that he doesn't measure up he wants to narrow this neighbor thing down just a little bit to the minimum standards here's what happens in the text but wanting to justify himself he asked jesus who's my neighbor in reply jesus said a man was going down from jerusalem to jericho when he was attacked by robbers they stripped him of his clothes beat him went away leaving him half dead a priest happened to be going down the same road and when he saw the man he passed by on the other side so too a levite when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side but a samaritan as he traveled came where the man was and when he saw him he took pity on him he went to him and banished his wounds pouring on oil and wine then he put the man on his own donkey brought him to an end and took care of him the next day he took out two daenerye gave them to the innkeeper look after him he said and when i return i will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers the expert in the law replied the one who had mercy on him jesus told him go and do likewise jesus says you're right in your summary love god love your neighbor good job this is indeed the only way to live but in the original language it's as if jesus says good luck with that i wish there was a verse 28 one and a half or 28 and a half rather that would say something like this that jesus would say but since you are delusional and actually think you live this way let me tell you a story now this story is remarkable because in the story you have samaritans versus the jews and the best analogy that i can give you in modern day culture to pack a powerful punch is going to be republicans versus democrats and a close second will probably be dodger fans versus giants fans each sees the other back to the republicans the democrats the samaritans and the jews each sees the others as oppressors even blasphemous in other words the big picture of the parable jesus is saying i want you to meet the needs of your supposed enemy with such astonishing love that they just will not know what to do with you i want you to love them at such great cost generously and sacrificially that they will need to hear the gospel just to try to make some sense out of your inexplicable life jesus looks at the lawyer and he says let me tell you a story that will explain the essence the core of all those who would be my disciples now before we get a little bit bigger a little bit deeper into the passage this story is most definitely consistent with other parables right matthew 25 we're told that on the last day jesus is going to separate the sheep and the goats and if you're a first century shepherd or it doesn't matter when you're a shepherd but if you're a shepherd you'll know that from time to time other animals will sneak into the flock that look like sheep and the shepherd at one point at some point has to separate them out you can't shear a goat and jesus said on the last day there's going to be this weeding out the separation between the nominal by the way i use that word a lot a nominal just means something in name only so you're something in name only but there are really no dramatic impacts on you from that belief system that you hold so jesus says one day there's going to be a separation between the nominal and the supernatural those who have had a supernova natural experience of god and if you want to know the difference between the two this is what he says then he will say to those on his left depart from me you are cursed into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels that's quite harsh for i was hungry you gave me nothing to eat i was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink i was a stranger you did not invite me in i needed clothes and you did not clothe me i was sick and in prison and you did not look after me but they will also answer lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you how did he reply truly i tell you whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me then they will go away to eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life what's jesus saying so you have two trees in june one has fruit the other does not does the fruit give life to the tree no the fruit tells you that the tree is alive the fruit gives you signs of life proof of life jesus says here's how you know that a life poured out in mercy and compassion even to our enemies or our supposed enemies or those who oppress us is a sign that you have truly experienced my salvation loving your neighbor does not give life it's proof of life now when the lawyer like us reads this passage or hears this parable he does what we want to do often he wants to re-identify some things no matter he wants to place some limits on this whole idea of neighborly now in this section of the sermon let me give credit tim keller in his outstanding work on radical neighboring that we studied a year ago gives us the following limits first of all when we hear who is our name we want to limit the who you know not too long ago the elders invited three of the leaders of god's pantry for those who don't know what god's pantry is god's pantry is the city on the hill that cannot be hidden it is the thing that we've been pursuing for the last eight years a place in the middle of this valley where if you're in need any need food water clothing counseling temporary housing job fairs whatever it is we wanted to be that place where we knew people their first thought those who were in need would be i can go to this place and they will not judge me but they will help me and they will give relief to my wounds so now it's operating it's up it's amazing we invited three of the leaders into the elders meeting to describe to us the success of this ministry and one of them i think it was a guy who goes by the name goose told us the story a young family during cove young family when coven shut things down he was out of work but he had a young wife and two young kids they struggle to make ends meet and then they struggle to have food food and clothing he described how he and his wife had just enough food for the kids the kids would eat and they would go to bed hungry and some friend of his told him about this place called god's pantry and he went to god's pantry he found love he found what he needed it gave him such a sense of relief they gave him food and clothing and even shelter and now that man back on his feet guess where he spends his time serving back in god's pantry why because he's walked in their shoes he is far less judgmental he says this could be me in fact this was me i've been down this road through no fault of my own he deeply feels the pain and the fear and the frustration he's been there done that the problem with that if there is one is this what about people in whose shoes we have not walked that we just can't understand how they got where they are jesus will not allow us to get away with limiting who we are compassionate toward the main characters in the story are jews and samaritans in their minds they have absolutely nothing in common jesus will not allow us to limit the who and neither will he allow us to limit the wind when we do it my father in tennessee we have these tornadoes we don't have as many uh now as we used to but in the 70s and 80s tornadoes came through and once they got in those mountains it was hard to get them to exit but a tornado actually came to our community and just five blocks away between our street north rhone and mulberry just five blocks away the tornado wiped out that street didn't touch us i mean we had some winds but wiped out that street my father got involved immediately he took us three kids down as well as my mom to visit this family who was investigating the devastation they had lost everything my father made sure he told the other father he said we will make sure that you have everything that you need my mom would take pinto beans and cord brand down every evening my dad made all of us boys chews up some of our favorite clothes and give them away to the kids he even offered to take them into our house and i hated that because every time we got people in our house they always got my bedroom and i had to sleep on the couch however as generous as my father was a family moved in across the street in our neighborhood from new york and they were a partying family drugs and orgies we knew this because they would actually come over and show the pictures to the kids they were they were not the nicest of folks they often needed food and clothing both worked at walmart but dad would have none of it and i'd hear dad saying they are irresponsible they don't deserve my help some people get what they ask for they're suffering because of stupid decisions now i honor my dad often but my dad wasn't perfect and he wasn't right about everything because in this parable don't you see jesus gives us a character in the story who's in desperate need the guy in the story who ends up saving him would have typically thought this guy deserves what he's gotten god has exacted his punishment on this blasphemer this oppressor of mine is finally reaping what he has sown god finally got him now i know that none of you would ever wish an opposing member of a political party any harm right jews saw samaritans as their oppressors samaritans saw jews as their oppressors jesus is very strategic in his story a friend does not save a friend an enemy saves a supposed enemy jesus will not allow us to limit the who he will not allow us to limit the wind he will not allow us to limit how much i've heard people say i can't afford to help others i'm struggling to keep my head above water listen carefully in jesus story in the parable he places the parable on a stretch of road about which everyone would have known i've seen this stretch of road i've been to jerusalem a particularly dangerous stretch of road between jerusalem and jericho that then was called the pass of blood it was called that because it was very common for thieves to jump you rob you leave you for dead and this is exactly what happens to the guy in jesus story so it wouldn't be that far fetched and then as he lay wounded the priest and the levite passed by jesus strategically puts that into the story now why did the priests i mean these are religious people right you know these are the religions why did they pass by the answer is because they were smart haven't you seen those youtube videos where it's a news story where someone uh uh pretends to be broken down on the side of the road and then some good samaritan stops to help and they ambush the good samaritan and bad things happen well that's exactly what would happen on the path of blood people knew this so if you came upon someone who was in disarray if you're concerned primarily about your own safety you're going to pass by on the other side as quickly as you can the other thing yet is if the person's not dead yet then it's possible the robbers could still be close by so stopping could be fatal when the samaritan stops he's risking everything this is the height of generosity and sacrifice he's basically saying i am willing to pay anything it takes to save this man's life the message jesus is giving to us is that the problem when with helping others is that you may have to alter the way you are presently living it may change your living circumstances if you're going to become compassionate and a christ follower and if you were to complain to jesus about i think jesus would say yep that's why it's not called pity pity is just feeling sorry from some someone this is called mercy which always requires sacrifice generosity and a cost listen to what c.s lewis writes in mere christianity i do not believe that one can settle how much we ought to give i am afraid that the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare in other words if our expenditure on comforts luxuries amusements is up to the standard common among those with the same income as ours we are probably giving away too little if our charities do not pinch or hamper us i should say they are too small there are ought to be things we should like to do but cannot do because our charities expenditure excludes them jonathan edwards in the 17th century was trying to convince his congregation of this very kind of generosity and compassion and care and listen to what he wrote he said you congregational members will say but they are not truly poor i only have to help people when they are truly destitute edwards responds by saying don't you get concerned about your own situation long before your destitute then should you not love your neighbor as yourself you and the congregation say well they brought it on themselves edward's response christ loved you pitied you had mercy on you and set out to relieve you of all your misery that you brought on yourself should you not love others as christ loved you and then edwards goes on to say how can we bear one another's burdens when we only do it when we bear no burdens at all do you hear what he's saying he said if burying someone's burden does not in some way become a burden to you then how can we carry a burden when it's not burdensome to us it costs us something it's risky it requires incredible generosity and sacrifice now stay with me for a moment i'm almost finished then i want to go back and tie that original story there are two places sorry two people jesus places in the parable at strategic points again they are the priest and the levite now why would jesus use these two people because he could have come up with with anyone in that story tax collectors publicans rabbis ages politicians why a priest and a levite the answer is it was their job it was your job it's what you did for a living to distribute alms to the poor that's what they do and they're always prepared to do so the point jesus is making is that religious people typically help the less fortunate until there is a cost to themselves or when it gets risky to their personhood or perhaps even inconvenient that's why the priest and the levite passed by on the other side they were merely religious only a supernatural experience in christ can transform you to the degree of sacrificing and risking and staggering generosity to people who are supposed enemies if the tree is really alive jesus says there's going to be fruit the other thing mere religion can make you arrogant to where you say i am blessed because i am good you are cursed because you are bad in fact two of the most religious nations in the world on this planet india and thailand have next to no benevolence because of the tragic belief of karma and reincarnation in other words you are suffering because of what you did in a previous life therefore i have no responsibility to help you religion without transformation can become heartless and self-righteous and cold some of you are listening to this message and you're thinking wow i feel enormous guilt you know what my advice for you is stop it because guilt will not get you far guilt is a temporary motivator at best it inspires a type of robotic generosity the key to this listen what do i do then pastor jeff listen the key to the story concerns the place jesus has put the religious scholar in the parable had jesus said to the jewish lawyer you know a man just like you just like you a religious man saw the poor broken abused man in the ditch gone off his horse picked him up and restored him the samaritan the loser in the ditch the blasphemer rescued saved restored through sacrifice the lawyer probably would have laughed and said are you serious where did you get this story no self-respecting israelite would do something like that run over to this unclean oppressor whom god had obviously judged and put out of his misery no way this story doesn't inspire me jesus but jesus places the samaritan on the horse and the jew in the ditch because jesus is asking what if it's you in the ditch what if you're the one where your life is about to end and the only hope you have is an act of free grace from an enemy who owes you nothing but retribution whom you have oppressed but gives you a radical sacrificial love that goes beyond pulling you out of the ditch he restores you completely at great cost to himself did you notice that in the parable jesus told he not only picks him up puts him on the donkey he pays for everything that it's going to require to bring him to complete restoration do you see the gospel in this so jesus is not giving him a do it he's giving him a new dynamic what if you were saved by someone who owed you rejection wouldn't you get up and begin to look at life completely differently when you truly understand that you've been saved by a radical grace your pride will dissipate and you will become the kind of neighbor you need to be do you see that it's important that you do in the parable jesus changed the question from who is my neighbor to who has been the ultimate neighbor to you it's quite humorous the lawyer can't even say it jesus says which of these three do you think was the neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of the robbers the answer is well the samaritan he can't even say it he says well the one who had mercy on him i know it sounds old stay with me this is the end but i finally realized years ago that you cannot manipulate and coerce people into doing good things you can't you can't guilt them into it a good tree will bear fruit fruit is a sign of life so i decided as i've said numerous times my job steve's job rory's job is to keep giving you jesus until you get to the point where you say jesus keeps giving me mercy and grace when i don't deserve it he's the ultimate neighbor he owed me retribution he gave me forgiveness he owed me judgment he gave me grace and now i look at my life and i wonder why god is so good to me i wonder why i'm so blessed i wonder why god puts up with me and the closer i get to jesus the more i recognize how merciful he really is and how undeserving i really am am i not then required to be the radical neighbor to others that jesus christ has been to me okay jeff i got it thanks for the parable but i'm still a little confused what about that beasting okay here it is over the past few years we've been stung by culture and maybe i should have swatted this bee a long time ago and maybe i have to a degree but not aggressive enough and i know some of you think oh he's finally going to talk about politics he's finally going to talk about coven he's finally going to talk about vaccinations he's finally going to talk about aoc blm donald trump joe biden no i have very little interest in those things some but not a lot my interest lies in how we christ followers respond to a fallen world who oppresses us and as i watch this nation become more and more divided witnessing more and more vitriolic language coming sometimes from the mouths of christ followers where even churches become so possessed with politics that it would appear to outsiders that our real hope and security is in this world not in the world to come and in a particular party or ideology i don't say this with harshness i'm begging all christians everywhere to pause and to think we're going to get stung we can't leave this be alone we got to whack him before he whacks us and so please listen carefully to the following statements one i love this country and i will never apologize for doing so and i respect the men and women who have given their lives for our freedoms two this country like all countries exists during the fall of humanity it will have its flaws three the love of money and power is the root of all evil and that's why we should never place our ultimate hope in the democrat or republican parties they have their agendas that are no longer based upon the good of the american people their god is power and control and we are their sacrifices i love america and her people i do but i am not sure our politicians do anymore their policies seem to be based upon one thing the power the god of significance of authority of gaining more and more power over us there is an addiction now that's willing to sacrifice the good of all mankind okay jeff and i know what comes back okay jeff i hear you but are you just gonna sit by and do nothing no i'm going to pray and pray hard thy kingdom come your will be done lord on earth as it is in heaven and i'm going to trust and acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over all the kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and i'm going to vote because i live in a democracy and i have that privilege and influence and i will never give up calling america back home to unity faith and ultimately to god but let me tell you where my greatest energies will be spent on creating an alternative community that is so mind-boggling that even my enemies will want to come in i'm going to love them when they don't love me i'm going to help and serve them when they're trying to destroy me i'm going to pull them out of the ditch when they're trying to throw me in it i'm going to stand up for what is right when they disagree with me but to do it in such a way that will not be repelled but perhaps be curious about how i can be so nice to people who consider me their enemy and i'm going to refuse to put my hope in any leader other than jesus any kingdom other than god's and any truth other than the revealed word of scripture and i'm going to do all of this because this is what jesus did for me and my question to you is will you help me will you squash the bee that is trying to separate us the good and the bad the righteous and the unrighteous the democrats and the republicans the oppressor and the non-oppressed can i humbly tell you something and i say this in humility you are blessed to be part of this church that's right i said it why because we're not about us we're about others and we will do everything short of sin to help people far from god come near because that's what jesus told us to do go and make disciples of all nations he didn't just say only those who are friendly towards you and i'm asking you in this call as we pursue jesus will you help us by realizing that our greatest physical weapon physical weapon is compassion and service and generosity i am begging you find your place in this church play a significant role in presenting an alternative community to those who are looking for it because they've lost faith and hope in the one that is here and now will you help me make a difference the way jesus tells the story of the good samaritan will you help me love all people will you help me return love when hate is given will you go to our website and follow the serve teams little by little makes a bundle as we all play our role play our part are you with me let's do this let's make a difference because when we're truly pursuing jesus we'll be pursuing others jesus said when you've done it to the least of these the least of these my brothers you've done it to me father thank you for a powerful narrative a parable that jesus tells us that should open our eyes to the reality that at one point we are or were at enmity with god we were the enemies of god and yet rather than exact retribution he delivered to us a staggering grace that is a story that is still told across this world today as jesus took all of our sins the retribution we deserved he took it on his shoulders and instead of giving anger and wrath gave love grace and mercy to those who opposed him to the point where he even said father forgive them they don't even know what they're doing forgiving those who are taking his life now father i pray that this message as it goes out would inspire us to stop putting our faith and trust in any political system or leader giving it a position making it an idol that can never deliver but as we stand upon the truth of the good news of the gospel that our hope and faith and security will be in christ and christ alone and his commission to us to go into the world and make disciples in his name i pray amen find it comforting that jesus in his last moments with his disciples tells them to remember in the same breath he seems to say i know how easy it will be for you to forget he knew how loud the world was he knew we as the body of christ would need a reminder and so he demonstrated to his followers then and for generations to come communion giving symbols to which we are to remember his covenant with us a covenant of redemption and restoration by god himself to his people on the basis of his grace rather than our works a covenant only made possible through jesus's death on the cross a promise now obtained when we accept jesus for who he really is our ever-present savior and so we pause to remember this promise the promise of his presence now living in us the bread jesus said take and eat this is my body and so we eat the bread to remember his body broken for us which by faith now lives in us transforming us more and more into his likeness the wine jesus said drink from it all of you this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins and so we drink the wine to remember his blood that was once shed for our sins which now by faith cleanses us restoring our bodies to its intended purpose this is the foundation of our faith to which we cling to today and forever rejoice over a foundation that rests on a promise a promise that whispers to us i am still with you and forever will be and as the body of christ when we gather together in communion we are reminded of this promise there is no rival that could ever stand against your mind you've always been with us every battle you've already won yeah you've already won that has ever left a mark on you you've always been with us show me a mountain became he's the god of the breakthrough anything is possible show me one thing that's too hot show is every dead thing is bound to is he's the god to praise shake off despair as i sing out your name a victory dance i will dance out and i will crush this appointment and break every change let's get moving come on disappointed is anything is possible i will dance thank you jesus thank you jesus anything is possible through jesus such a great worship song and i hope that you have enjoyed that worship time we're going to continue our worship through giving one of my favorite stories heather in the bible for giving is found in 1st chronicles 21 where king david goes to this uh man god has told him to go worship and he finds this gentleman called arana and he asks hey i'd like to worship and uh arana says hey can i give you my the oxen and the place to um to worship and everything and uh the guy king david says no i am not going to worship god and give him something that does not cost me anything and i and for a long time that passage has had a profound impact on me because david was not willing to give god something that did not cost him anything that did not come from his heart so as as you give today i'd like to challenge you give out of a heart that is responding to what god has done in your life king david knew that god had been so so good to him from a shepherd boy to a king and what does the king deserve all the worship so everything you can go to onenote.church.give where you can give your tithe and your offerings awesome thanks for sharing that you're welcome yeah so the message this week michael all about making a difference and jeff really asking us to look around our communities and seeing what we can do you get to lead up a team that makes a difference all over the place so what opportunities do we have in the next coming weeks to actually go out there and practice what was preached yeah so if you go to the website there's so many local communities with god's pen should we even have compassionate work where you can stand up get an email where you can go help somebody who's in need there are so many ways you can serve locally but there is a big one that we've been trying to let you know if it's called serve your circle every day around you there are people who i need every day you look around there's somebody a neighbor a friend a co-worker who is going through a hard time if you pray god is going to lead you to that person that needs help and uh we are just going to encourage you find that person who needs help you don't have to wait for me to put a self opportunity for you you go do it yourself and be jesus ask me that's called serve your circle serve your circle awesome so anyone who's watching this who might not be local to our church djibouti campuses it anywhere that's awesome and you can access all of this through our one and all app when you log in we've made some really fun updates uh there are like the budgets the badges bougie badges they look really nice if you log in to the one on all app you can see your badges there's six of them right now across the top um if you click on the serve badge it'll take you right to a page as all these serve opportunities we're talking about if you want to tell us how you've served your circle you can do that through the local outlet we'd love to hear that we would love to hear what impact uh the gift scott has given you are being made in your community absolutely it's great and you can also do giving like michael reference through there there's a lot of really great um opportunities to grow yeah so thank you so much for joining us remember next week to invite someone to come and listen to someone with you it's very important to invite someone so they can hear the life-changing gospel of jesus absolutely yeah so with that we end with one hope one life in christ god bless you hey

Channel: ONE&ALL

Views: 2,254

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Make A Difference, pastor jeff vines, today with jeff vines, premier christian radio, church service, christian church, youtube church, one&all church series, one and all worship, worship music, jeff vines vision christian radio, jeff vines new zealand, one and all church, watch church online, church at home, watch church from hom, Week 4, Pursuing Jesus

Id: Epri6kcU6lc

Length: 60min 7sec (3607 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021