Morningstar Christian Chapel Live Stream

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] good morning really that's all you've got after all this good morning love that love that let's pray father thank you for gathering us together this morning how faithful we have a god that loves us so how faithful he is and lord as we come to worship you and look to you and and just look ahead to what's coming up these couple of of weeks of christmas week of new year's week lord that you might continue to now focus us on what what you want to do in our lives what is your plan and how can we find lord the peace and the joy and the hope that that you want us as your people to have so may you be with us may you save many may you stir many hearts may you have your way in this place as we gather this morning to look to you work lord in our midst we pray in jesus name amen amen let's all stand together [Music] joyful joyful we adore you god of glory lord of love hearts unfold like flowers before you opening to the sun above [Music] felt the clouds of sin and sadness drive the dark of doubt away giver you are the one who says you are the one who [Music] you are the light of life the everlasting day you are the one who takes all our sins away you are giving you are giving and forgiving everless bouncing of the joy [Music] you are the you are the one who takes all our sins away oh jesus you are my rescue my jesus i give you everything i am [Music] oh jesus you are my rescue jesus [Music] who says [Music] you are the one who says [Music] [Music] jesus you are my rescue jesus you are my rescue i give you everything i am you'll be seated if you like using a christmas carol this morning holy night the songs don't brightly shine [Music] [Music] till he appeared [Music] [Music] a new and glorious [Music] [Music] the angels [Music] when christ was born [Music] oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] shall he break for the slaves [Music] shall cease [Music] we praise his hopes [Music] [Music] is [Music] my deeper [Music] amen beautiful all right let's open our bibles this morning for our scripture reading to psalm 21. i'll read the odd numbered verses you can read the even numbered ones let's stand together as we read what david has to write about the joys of our salvation in the lord the king shall have joy in our in your strength o lord and in your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice you have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips for you meet him with the blessings of goodness you set a crown of pure gold upon his head he asked life from you and you gave it to him length of days forever and ever his glory is great in your salvation and honor and majesty you have placed upon him for you have made him most blessed forever and have made him exceedingly glad with your presence for the king trusts in the lord and through the mercy of the most high he shall not be moved your hand will find all your enemies your right hand will find those who hate you you shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger the lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them their offspring you shall destroy from the earth and their descendants from among the sons of men for they intended evil upon you they devised a plot which they are not able to perform therefore you will make them turn their back you will make ready your arrows on your strings towards their faces so be exalted oh lord in your own strength we will sing and we will praise your power father thank you this morning as we are on the verge of a new president we certainly pray your hand upon him god that you would be glorified and that he might somehow find his strength in you because even as we read here you meet us with goodness you you bless our lives as we call upon you for life you give it to us as we trust in you we will not be moved and yet to be your enemy and to fight against you to stand in opposition is to only invite your wrath so be exalted lord in our country in our lives this coming year and we'll sing together of your power and your of your glory will praise you for being the king of our lives that we can faithfully depend upon in jesus name amen you may be seated good morning everybody go ahead and pull out your bulletins and we'll cover some things that are upcoming first up want to continue to remind you about our missionary postcards that we have in the foyer back here in baskets where they all have individual missionaries that we support and they're there for you guys to write an encouraging message to and then send off into the mail so that they would be encouraged this christmas season so please take advantage of that opportunity to bless them also we mentioned last sunday our homeless relief kips over at the the thrift store and what these are is these are we put together these big bags of blankets and clothes and things that would help those that might be living on the street uh and obviously are homeless and then we'll be able to bless them with with what care package that would serve them while the winter months get colder and so please stop by the thrift store maybe pick up a bag or two and have them ready to go in your trunk and when the opportunity presents itself be able to bless them pray with them and let them know that that jesus loves them and we would love nothing more than for them to be blessed and receive that gift of salvation so that the lord would be able to then change their life from the inside out and so that opportunity is available to you at the thrift store please take advantage of that as well also this friday we have our watts outreach they're going to be meeting over in the chapel store parking lot at 4 pm uh to carpool down there and the event is from five to eight uh and they just serve the church that's been planted down there for a number of years now uh and they bless the community with the meow with games and it's just a great time for us to be able to show show jesus to this community so that's this friday i also want to let you know that pastor jack's beginning a christmas series this wednesday uh this first one is going to be christmas through the eyes of mary and then he's going to continue his christmas messages on until our christmas eve services which are uh that thursday at 4 p.m and 6 p.m i also want to let you know that we will not be having our wednesday evening services during the holiday months or excuse me the holiday week so new year's eve we'll be having a service at 7 p.m but we will not be having a wednesday service that week neither but we will be having communion that new year's eve and then lastly our growth classes pastor doug mentioned those last week we got a flyer with all the different classes that an opportunity for you guys to grow this year and maybe in an area where you need to grow or you need a stretch or you want to be encouraged in there's a number of different classes and so please check them out sign up for one of them and let the lord uh transform you through a growth class this beginning of this year uh so let's go ahead and pray father we thank you so much for your goodness we thank you for all the opportunities that we have for the christmas services that are coming up lord that we wouldn't be shy or or worried about inviting someone lord that you would give us that boldness and that strength to be able to let people know that we love jesus and we want them to love jesus as well and so i just pray that we would uh have that on our hearts uh this christmas lord that we would have people uh that that desperately need to know you uh that we'd be praying for them that they would have softened hearts and that they would be able to receive the gospel message as we invite them uh to hear it and so lord jesus would you continue that work in our lives as you want to mold us and shape us lord to be those vessels to be those ambassadors for jesus christ and so would you encourage us lord this morning would you bless us as we open up your word and as we sing praises to your great name we also come this morning with our tizen offering seeking once again to honor you through all the through through everything lord we know that you're a good god and you want to do great things in our lives you want to do great things in this church and in this community so father would you have your way uh it is in your great name we pray amen see what child is this what child is to rest on mary's lap is sleeping who made angels greet with anthem sweet while shepherd's watch are keeping [Music] while i insert me the silent world is greedy this this is christ the king whom shepherds guard an [Music] is the king of kings salvation our hearts will enthrone him come let us adore him our hearts will enthrone him [Music] let [Music] this is christ the [Music] [Music] the sun there was a moment when the lights went out [Music] when death had claimed its victory the king of love had given up his life the darkest day in history [Music] they're on a cross they made for sinners [Music] for every curse [Music] one is breath and it was finished but not the ends we could have known before the earth began to shake and the veil was soared to what sacrifices made as the heavens room [Music] earth [Music] of the world [Music] there was a moment when the sky lit up a flash of light breaking through when always lost the cross eternity the king of life was on the move or in the dark where our lord was laid one miraculous breath and we're forever seen jesus [Music] jesus let's all sing [Applause] boy oh [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] every song confess that he is lord lift up your shout come and join with all of heaven singing [Music] we cry out oh [Music] jesus the lord jesus the savior of the world [Music] have we come before you this morning with open hands we need you to see we need you to give us hope where we don't have it we need you to heal us where we don't feel well we need you to correct us where we're making mistakes whatever it is your word has for us this morning lord that's the reason we want to be here not because we get to sit shoulder to shoulder not because we get to sing together pretty lights christmas decorations it's just that time of year lord we want to be here for you to see the king that was born to be our sacrifice so we ask that you would speak through your holy spirit today that as we are here you would open our eyes to see those of us who can't yet you would soften our hearts those who are callous towards you just speak lord because when you speak things happen your word changes lives so we pray that that would happen this morning every single one of us whether we've been here for 20 years or 20 minutes that you would speak to us we would hear you and we'd be changed we ask you to do that in jesus name amen all right let's open our bibles this morning to first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 12. paul wrote this letter as a result of having spent three weeks in a very large corrupt city preaching the gospels before he was chased out of town under threat of death worried about whether that would have really had any impact spent months away finally from corinth was able to send one of his helpers timothy back to try to find out did it have any effect at all and when timothy came back months later with a good report that the church was more than just surviving it was thriving paul with great joy writes this letter in the second one that we will start after the first of the year just to commend them to to celebrate with them that god had put a church together and he writes about faith and the fruit of their faith how you know the genuineness of their faith in the midst of this terrible kind of persecution is it evidence that god was really at work tells them to stand fast the lord's coming don't give up now keep your eyes on the lord every chapter ends with a an injunction that the lord's coming back this morning and we've spent like i said months in the book but this morning in the last few verses here paul finishes with some really kind of one sentence practical concerns as he looks at them as a body i don't know what your view is of the church or how you view the church as a whole i think you could call these verses all in the family or maybe paul's proverbs for the church but but the body of christ is god's idea of how you grow how you survive in a culture that doesn't want to know him how you make it through the world the church is the family that god has put together with those who love his son when paul wrote to the corinthians he said come out from among them and be separate i'll be your father you'll be my sons and daughters saith the lord almighty and so however you view this the church the local body it is god's plan that the church becomes the place that you grow that you are discipled that you serve that you learn to walk with god it is always a tremendous tragedy in the lives of people who discount how valuable the church is to their spiritual well-being if they set it aside or neglect it unfortunately we live in southern california setting this pandemic thing for a minute aside if you can do that southern california for christians tends to be a place where the floaters hang out they float from one place to another they they check the christian activity calendar to see who's playing where and who's speaking where and i i follow this guy and follow that guy and i however i can get out of what i want out of the church that's how they find themselves behaving they're called blessing bouncers they're uncommitted to anyone they they don't see the benefit of life in the church they don't see the family aspect that the lord so clearly conveys to us in the scriptures so there's always something better over there something i don't like over here the grass tends to always be greener which ought to tell you that picking a church to go to is an important decision where are you going to where are you going to commit yourself where are you going to who are you going to join where are you going to stay where does god want you to be because once we realize that god would have us join a family and and stand there and and be groomed there and go there and and be a part there that we're accountable there then we realized gosh i better choose wisely for many people leaving a fellowship is easier than doing what's right especially if you live in a place like southern california where there's a thousand places you can go and no one will ask any questions they're just glad to have you you can walk out the door here on tuesday and be on you know somebody's stage a week from sunday leading worship probably get away with it but is that really the way that the church is supposed to function i've seen people leave church over the years and this has been at this a while because they stopped dating someone and they didn't want to see them anymore well where are songs oh yeah they broke up he doesn't want to see her anymore i've seen people leave because they've had marriage problems and so they want to keep that quiet or their kids get in trouble and they're embarrassed to talk about it there's some silly ways that you just run out the door but all of them are the same do you avoid the understanding that the church is a family it's a it's a place of of growth and let's face it no family is perfect i'm pretty sure yours aren't neither will any local church be perfect in fact they'll have all kinds of problems that's just the way unless there's no people involved remember the seinfeld show people they're the worst they're the worst in the church too one for the people the church should be perfect but that hardly negates the value of family protection and nurture and provision you and i need the body of christ and we should view it the way god sees it i would suggest there are a few good reasons to leave a church god moves you to another city or another place and you obviously then have to change churches if you find unrepentant sin in the life of the leaders of a church you should leave if the bible isn't being taught don't ever go back there is that a church god tells you to independent of your personality conflicts that there's another place for you i'll tell you it's not a good reason to leave you don't get along with someone you don't like everything that's going on i need more music i need shorter services i need a different time well good for you it's not the way a family works and because of the aloofness of our culture anyway there's this great deterrence to what god would want the church to be because we don't embrace family as far as church is concerned we find little allegiance we find that needs oftentimes in churches go unmet because everyone's running around doing their own thing outreaches tend to die due to lack of involvement sometimes church financially suffers because people aren't committed to a a work and the church becomes those who want to fill pews rather than meet the needs of the people that are in it so paul was very interested that this young church and it was a young church do well he's applauded them he's encouraged them he's he's addressed some of the issues and and he will in this next letter as well but but he ends this short little letter by by giving us like these one sentence kind of encouragements that only excuse me that only are significant if you view the body as the lord does only matters if you see the church as a family of local believers that are bound together in the lord when paul wrote to the hebrews in chapter 10 don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together he he put in the middle of that a clause that says as the manner of some do in other words they've lost sight of the the unity in the church of the family of god it's hard to be a part of the family but it's the place you grow it's the place that you find direction and support and health jesus is the head of the church but we're his family and so here's here's some very quick and we'll just kind of go through them you know and there's much to be said i guess we could spend a week on every one of these verses but i think we'll get the lesson as we go so he begins in verse 12 by saying this and so we urge you brethren great word for the family to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the lord and admonish you admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sakes and be at peace amongst yourselves for the last few studies in this book we've looked at being ready for the coming of the lord for the rapture paul ends in in these last few verses by saying and here's how you wait this is what you do while you're waiting we encourage you brethren to love to respect to recognize those who are in leadership in the family in the church those who encourage us in our walks with the lord so that they could do their work with an encouraging kind of an attitude cooperation if you will without leadership every family will fall apart obviously jesus is the head of the church no one matches him and yet god has established church structure leaders and overseers elders and local bodies that are to be a part of that structure when paul wrote to the ephesians in chapter four he talked about overseers having the responsibility to equip the saints for the work of the ministry to to direct and to encourage to feed and to disciple the flock just as a flock needs a shepherd so the church needs overseers faithful men who will become under shepherds of the lord's church who will answer to the lord and how they deal with and care for his kids those that are called and equipped for the task you know peter was was rights to just encourage the elders to take that place willfully it's been a trust that is given to them don't use it for your own deceitful kind of gain come eagerly to serve be an example to the flock james said you know you're you're going to receive a greater condemnation if you put yourself in that position or you you step up to the plate in that place of service and paul says here to the church recognize those who are laboring who are admonishing you esteem them in love very highly for the work recognize them in the sense of appreciate the work that they're doing it is a tough calling to be a pastor or to be an overseer at it for 25 20 for 41 years 20 years feels like just 20. people are difficult and they're oftentimes unforgiving and even if you try to do a good job you don't always that doesn't always convey itself the message you bring sometimes is not very pleasant paul wrote to the corinthians sometimes we are the savior of death to those who hear us sometimes we're the savior of life to those who listen but recognize those who labor among you the word labor is is that where that means to to wear yourself out to be tired to the point of exhaustion leaders are leaders who do more than talk there are always in churches people who want to be leaders but they don't want to do any work they just want a badge or a title or recognition but these are those who are among you and you know the difference who labor among you and are over you in the lord it's a tough call you know among you because look we're all the same as a pastor i have the same difficulties you do the same hang ups you do the same sinful tendencies you do except you get to look at me and you can hide over there so on the one hand you're a brother and you're a friend and you're you have similar problems on the other hand you are over others you are responsible to the lord for the decisions that you make and the practices that you employ it's a difficult balance to to maintain as a pastor you want to be an approachable friend and a persuasive leader that's tough it's hard it's a hard little position to put yourself into easier when people pray with you and encourage you and and understand that you're going through notice the word admonish here those who admonish you the word for admonish means to correct which is interesting the greek word is nuthetic you know that's an unpopular work in hebrews chapter 13 we read obey those who are overused submit to them as those who will have to watch over your souls and as for those who must give an account so they can give it with joy and not with grief that's not profitable so understand that those in middle leadership teachers pastors it's a hard place to be easy to criticize easy to take a shot at someone better that you pray for them that you that you can commit to loving them and i would say to you be careful what church you choose to go to because when you choose to be there you should be able to do all of these things with with a pure heart a pastor's calling requires grace and and and mercy from the congregation by the way nowhere in the bible does it say spiritual leaders are right because they're not always you look at moses and abraham and david and peter paul you can get great examples for all of them that they are wrong often and and that's more than enough reason to pray for them overseers are made of clay there's no mandate in the bible to gripe about them there's plenty of evidence to say that the lord would have us to pray for them and it's even harder in this little church because this little church is young so that most of the people in this little fellowship whatever size it might have been um all got saved about the same time so that you know there weren't any guys who'd been around for a long time you could look up to or or maybe too many examples that they could follow maybe not much experience no seminary training no no really you know examples to to find other than paul's teaching and his writing to them obviously the work of god's spirit but recognize those who are laborings those who god is raising up those who are encouraging you and do it and esteem them value them greatly in love for the work that they are doing choose to respect them for the work they've undertaken it'll make their work easier and just get along with each other be at peace don't have this spirit of of division or undercurrent which is just so destructive the enemy certainly uses now i think these verses would make it clear that it's not natural for us to do any of that to bless to submit to encourage i mean sin has a lot of of you know we have a lot of difficulty with all of that that undercurrent if you will but but we need to be like the century the one who who came to jesus and and he said you know i'm not worthy that you come into my house i i'm in authority i have people under me i know i have to answer to others and and i know you're the you're the boss lord you just say the word and and the servant of mine gets healed and jesus said i haven't found this kind of faith anywhere he was astonished at this the submission submitted kind of heart to the authority that has been established so encourage you brethren love those who are ministering in the local body pray for them and then verse 14 we exhort you brethren that you warn those who are unruly that you comfort the faint-hearted that you uphold the weak that you be patient with all so we're to love and and care for one another but interestingly enough the word of encouragement here is to the church as a whole we look to the leaders and say well you're supposed to be admonishing people and so rather than you talking to anybody in the church you go to the church and go hey could you talk to that guy for me but that's not the way this is written this this whole this whole injunction here is to the church as a whole the whole purpose of being in the church is to help each other to to grow so warn verse 14 is the same word as admonish in verse 12. warn the unruly the insubordinate the rebellion those are in rebellion it is a word used in the bible the couple of times that's used to talk to those who are very undependable in in second thessalonians paul will use that word to talk about those who just never show up for work on time it literally means you know come on get your like together you know be someone that's dependable they're doing their own thing they're not plugged in speak up saints encourage them not very you know we'd like to put that on the on the leaders and they're supposed to do that but this isn't written to the letters it's written to the brethren come on brethren help each other to grow the body is to police itself to put pressure on itself i i've joked lots of times that i think i'm a pastor so that i have to be in church and i'm not kidding i think that's true because if i was in your position i might skip out on days like this in fact i got to sleep in for the last couple weeks and this morning i went six o'clock five three oh and then i figured if i didn't show up you'd notice but if you don't show up we might not notice especially if you sit in the corner somewhere i notice the front row people so encourage one another god always have us to be involved it's a family let's make it together comfort the faint-hearted those who are easily discouraged those that are are overly worried who always need some kind of persistent care the ones who who see the dark side of things you know who tend to give up when things get tough all we see in the glasses half empty there's folks like that in our church just part of their nature hey you know they're growing they're but that's just something they have to deal with and they should be able to find help in the church help them along by the way the word comfort is is two words in greek the word par which means to come next to and the word muthas which means to speak and that's what this word is for comfort it means hands-on help not help from a distance come up close talk to them individually be involved personally that's how a family works comfort the fable the feeble or the faint-hearted uphold the weak support the weak the the word weak more often than not in the bible means spiritually immature at least in that context but if you're going to help the weak you better know who they are and to know where they are you better get to know people and to be involved and to be known by others it's the only way that you can help the those that are hurting church involvement is more than church attendance there are plenty of people who attend church who walk in and walk out and are good for no one they just attend it's like you know clocking in and clocking out the church okay what did you do there i sat and then i left pretty good today a guy was kind of funny a little short was better hot two cars hot i don't know i've been there 13 years great when's the last time you met someone new remember to name for someone i don't do that kind of stuff i did tell the guy he needed counseling he should call the office let me ask you something what is the what is the impact of your being here on the church as a whole of the family how are we better off spiritually because you've come people in your row people behind you how are we better off for your attendance because that's what it's all about we're supposed to be helping the unruly or warning them and comforting the faint-hearted and we're supposed to be upholding the week but how can you know that if you just run in and run out patient you know takes patience to have being a family some you know how families are there's always that uncle no one wants to be around or that aunt that no one wants to talk about or are they coming to the chrismart no i don't have the hope they don't come church is hard just get over it it's not going to get any easier but you got to get involved verse 15 paul says see to it that no one renders evil for evil to anyone always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all the thessalonian church faced tremendous persecution i mean people are getting killed for believing in christ paul almost did and whenever there is a lot of pressure upon a group of people it is almost always easy then to justify aggression because we're all under pressure paul says don't do it god's way is to overcome evil with good and in the context of reaching out to help or putting yourself on the line for others or trying to help them to grow you're invariably going to run into betrayal lack of thanksgiving people turning on you it didn't seem to pay off this time and god's word to you would be don't worry don't worry the lord's in charge he'll work it out paul wrote to the romans don't repay evil for evil provide things honestly in the sight of all men as much as lies in you live at peace with all men don't avenge yourself don't give place to your wrath let the lord handle it he'll he'll repay if your enemy's hungry feed him if he's thirsty give him something water to drink and so doing you he pulls a fire upon his head the best way to deal your enemies love them i hate that part i used to say to people if i started loving my enemies i'd lose track of who they were because my enemies are classified by those i hate god's point of view is the best it's not always the easiest but it's the best pursue what is good for yourself do the right thing for others and then we read in verse 16 right on the heels of that just rejoice always rather than yelling unfair rejoice always now this is the shortest verse in the bible i know some of you bible scholars are going to run to me after the service and say well john 11 35 says jesus wept that's shorter no that's three words in greek this is only two learn to rejoice rather than always be complaining it's a mark of maturity seeing some christians is like watching an autopsy they're never happy about anything there's no thanksgiving but look family life is a happy life and joy will remove the frustration and the difficulty then it says pray without ceasing wow in other words leave the i guess leave the phone off the hook with the lord if you could get believers to pro play if we could get believers to pray as much as they complain if we could get believers to pray as much as they're on their cell phones we'd have something this is what i see at restaurants usually there's five people at the table but they're all doing this we could just get them to pray like that that would be something wouldn't it pray without ceasing now does what does that mean how can i live like that well remember nehemiah when he was questioned by the king and he wasn't ready it says that he he prayed to the lord and said to the king i mean he literally involved the lord in everything he didn't say in a minute you know king i'm just going to be over here on my knees praying for a little while i'll get back to you no he just in his heart lord help me now i need to say the right things and and you've put me in this situation just to involve him in everything and then we read in verse 18 in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus for you you want to know what god's will is for you that in everything you're thankful in everything doesn't say for everything because i don't think you can make a biblical case for that there's a lot of things they're not really pleasurable or oh this is what i wanted no i hate this but thank the lord he's in charge and the only way you can be thankful in everything if you become convinced that god is in charge of your life that he works all things together for good that he has the last word and what enters into your life that he knows what he's doing and rather than complaining which we're really good at to be thankful in everything lord i'm so grateful that you're in charge i don't know what's going on but that you're watching over my life no murmuring no griping no complaining no matter what god has for you know how matter how difficult it gets god is at work if he allows it and he's in charge in everything give thanks great advice usually not people's memory verses because it's too convicting i read this this these last couple of weeks i went oh i hate these verses because i'm not very good at those but i want to be in everything give thanks this is god's will don't quench the spirit or despise prophecies but test everything and hold fast to what's good to quench obviously means to extinguish as a lamp or as a a light when it is a reference of the holy spirit is always a reference to his work to to hinder to try to stamp out the work of god's spirit what is god's work of god's spirit well in the church it is to convict of sin and of unbelief and of disobedience to lead in the ways of the lord to remind us of the of the scriptures that we we've read to be open to hear what he has to say in terms of the of the context in terms of prophecy in terms of of telling us god's word we can diminish the work of god by constantly opposing what he's trying to accomplish for example god won't force you to be holy but he'll call you to be holy he won't force you to obey but he'll call you to obey to stay involved to reach out god won't force you to pray without speaking ceasing he won't force you to speak well of others he won't force you to do the right thing he won't he won't force you to rejoice in everything he'll ask you to do that but if you refuse to do any of the things the result is you quench the spirit god can't work don't despise prophecy don't make the light of god's word you know in first corinthians 14 verse 3 it says that prophecy is given by the lord to edify to encourage and to exhort come on so the word of god and the gift of the holy spirit let god teach you be teachable be sensitive hear what he has to say but at the same time don't just believe everything here test everything here or prove everything here by god's word set what god you know what people say well the lord told me to tell us okay let me go see what the bible says i want to be open to hear and willing to hear but not foolish or lacking discernment to just listen to whatever anybody says i want to be sure it comes from the lord so be open don't quench god's spirit he wants to work and then we read in verse 22 and abstain from every form of evil one way we can live a godly life above reproach is to not look like we're living in sin now i want you to notice carefully because an appearance of impropriety doesn't mean it exists it just means that it looks that way and and paul is concerned that the world around us does not come to the wrong conclusion about us or the god that we serve so abstain from every appearance of evil it is it is our responsibility to live a life in such a way that we do not engender doubts or questions about our relationship with god in the lives of those who are watching us or if you will our liberty extends only to the conscience of those that we're seeking to reach it may not be sin what you're doing it might just look that way so stay away from that now all of these things if you if you read through them and i hope you come to the same conclusion i do is that all sounds good now to do it that'll be a different deal so how do i do this well then paul ends by saying i know this is impossible for you but if you're walking with the lord he'll enable you to do it which is exactly how he ends these this little book he says in verse 23 now may the god of peace himself the word sanctify is to the word for holy hagias to set apart may he sanctify you completely may your whole spirit soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of the lord jesus christ he who has called you is faithful who also will do it he he doesn't demand anything of you that he can't do in you if you let him so it's god's work to set you apart it's god's work to make you this way it is god to preserve you to watch over you to protect you to enable you to guard you entirely your your mind your soul your body from every assault of sin to keep you blameless by the way the blameless is the same word as sanctify in it so it literally is used twice to set you apart so that in every way you'll be ready when the lord comes so don't panic verse 14 24 god can change your life he'll he'll do it if you'll just look to him he's faithful if you'll pursue him to create this heart in you and paul ends by saying brethren pray for us greet the brethren with a holy kiss i charge you by the lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren and meanwhile the grace of our lord jesus be with you all amen paul asks in verse 25 for prayer he every epistle that he writes he he mentions more than once hey i'm praying for you every day or i'm praying all the time or every time i think about you i'm praying but here he said now don't forget to pray for us we have a lot of prayer times at the church for our missionaries for the outreaches for for you and for our services it's interesting to me that from a biblical standpoint intercession can only come from the life of someone who's spiritually mature until you're spiritually mature your only prayer is for you i only got time to pray for me it's what i need was what i want if you can get beyond that to go hey you know spend some time praying for the guy on the mission field or the outreach that's coming up or the person i've been trying to witness to it really is a sign of maturity that you reach out beyond yourself faithfully and so check out one of the prayer times in the church there's a lot of them and they're necessary for the church to do well verse 26 greeting the other brother with a holy kiss i grew up in a dutch household my mother would kiss you on the mouth if she could she'd never met you but before you get in the day or she'll give you a smack she'll give you a cup of coffee and there'd be cookies on the table you know it just that's the way the household works so we were very affectionate kind of family people you didn't know next door to us lived a family that you couldn't shake their hand like well how are you doing nice to see you it was kind of this is very cultural right the the kissing the genuine affection culturally kind of controlled it's a holy kiss just remember that it's a welcoming and then notice paul says i want you to share the word man stay in the word here read it to everyone in the church make sure everyone has heard god's word and then may god's unmerited favor keep you until we see you again so paul's kind of proverbs at the end for a healthy family life by faith god can make it happen so i hope you'll look at the church differently than maybe when you walked in it isn't just a place you show up when you want to leave it's a place to be involved and to the point that you are the church works you'll be helped to the point that you just kind of come and go we're not benefiting from you being here at all and that's not really god's choice that's yours but nice to be in the family don't you think we need in fact you're going to spend eternally with these folks might as well get to know them here oh you i remember you wednesday we're going to start a series on christmas we we're going to look at christmas from mary's perspective which is very very unique next sunday from joseph's perspective which is quite different imagine being joseph on the first christmas season and then on on christmas eve we're going to look at the manger and what the why would you pick a manger and then for the two that follow the the sunday after christmas eve we're going to be looking at um two messages then and thursday night on how do we set goals for a coming year two different looks at making a plan for next year because to be honest i'll be glad when this year is over thankful in everything but glad to see it go you know what i'm saying and then next year we will start ii thessalonians on sunday morning and the book of revelation on wednesday night father how thankful we are this morning to be involved with the church with the body of christ to be members in particular that you have chosen and lord for our local body here at morningstar we thank you for the family atmosphere for the for the love that you've given to the saints for the many servants that have been here some of them for for generation now for 30 plus years for others that are just coming and joining us lord so good to be a part of your family and and you should know that the only way you get in the family is not showing up but it's it's in your relationship with jesus he's the one that has come to save and if we believe in him we're adopted into god's family and as we join a fellowship we're we're part of the local church family of god he being our head and yet we working through problems and serving one another and dealing with difficult people and and forgiving and restoring and being partial to those who are around us that's the way the church should work that's what god would have so if you don't know the lord hey come to jesus join the family you call upon his name he'll no eyes turn you away he'll he'll embrace you and make you his own forgive your sins that's why he came and then we'd love to see you be part of the family adopted in grafted in because of god's goodness pastors will be up front afterwards you can pray with them and ask jesus to be the lord of your life shall we stand in the morning promise your very body began to breathe out of the silence the roaring lion declared the grave has no claim on me and came the morning that sealed them from this your buried body began to breathe [Music] the roaring lion declared the grave [Music] jesus praise the one who set me free jesus christ [Music] its grip on me you have broken every check as salvation in your name jesus christ jesus christ lord we love you this morning so thankful to be a part of your family may we be that part may we take part may you use us to fulfill all of these injunctions even that we read today so that the church may be better off because you've brought us here this morning in jesus name amen god bless you guys have a great week see you wednesday

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Id: iCW6oEnICek

Length: 70min 50sec (4250 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 13 2020