October 3, 2021 Sunday Worship "Respect Each Other"

welcome to the online worship service of the northside church of christ we are located in temple texas in central texas between waco and austin if you live in the vicinity we would love for you to come and visit with us we meet on sunday mornings at 9 30 a.m for bible study we have bible classes for all ages we meet at 10 30 every sunday morning for a time of assembled worship together we meet also on sunday evenings at 6 pm and we meet in the middle of the week on wednesday at 6 30 for devotional and fellowship time and bible study it could be the case that you are tuning in with us from a far distance away and you may not be able to come and visit with us in person but we are very happy that you are tuning in and our prayer as always is that this ministry this effort that we are putting forward to make these digital offerings available to you we hope that it's a blessing to you i hope that today you will be encouraged and uplifted and wherever you are i'm confident that the lord loves you and is blessing you and we want to pray that the lord will continue to show us his grace and favor as we begin our worship i would like to read a psalm of praise and then begin with the word of prayer psalm 100 make a joyful noise to the lord all the earth serve the lord with gladness come into his presence with singing know that the lord he is god it is he who made us and we are his we are his people and the sheep of his pasture enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name for the lord is good his steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations almighty god we are grateful for your steadfast love we pray that as we worship you that we will be encouraged and that you will be glorified lord we are dealing with various concerns some are dealing with very serious health issues we are at different phases of life and so we pray that you will be close to us that you will walk right next to us that you will strengthen us in our times of weakness that you will uplift us in our moments of discouragement that you will teach us in the those occasions where we don't know what to do or what the right answer is we are thankful for your word that you have given to us as a gift so that we can study and learn of you and know you and your son and your spirit we are grateful for jesus who came and died bearing our sin that he rose from the grave pioneering the path to eternity that we each hope to follow and so lord we commit ourselves to you today in worship we pray that you will bless us in jesus name we pray amen [Music] precious [Music] [Music] embrace are the oh that we praise you [Music] oh here [Music] oh [Music] are the one that we praise you oh you are the one we are [Music] oh [Music] with a joy i tell the story of the love that makes men free till my earthly life is [Music] here it is [Music] [Music] he was purchased by redemption that is [Music] [Music] everything to me and everything shall always [Applause] [Music] here it be [Music] glory be to them [Music] life forever sunshine he has made me what i am all that everyone would know him oh [Music] [Music] he is everything to me and everything shall always be [Applause] [Music] [Music] me the lord's supper is defined in luke chapter 22 22 as they were eating he took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them and said take this is my body and he then took the cup when he had given thanks he gave it to them they all drank of it and he said this is the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many this simple action taking only minutes but it has survived the centuries as the greatest feast of all time it is important it is referenced throughout the new testament as in matthew 26 26 now as they were eating jesus took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples and said this is my body and he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink all of you as this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins we join today with those millions around the world who partake of this feast as memorial to our savior and lord jesus christ as members of that body that have that who affirm their belief and commitment to him to live our lives as to be worthy of him and the salvation he died to give us let us pray for the bread dear heavenly father thank you for your son and for his sacrifice that has given us the the knowledge and the hope of life everlasting let us partake of this bread knowing it is his body that he sacrificed for us in christ's name we pray and for his sake amen father god as we take and feel this liquid on our tongue let us remember that it is the blood of the covenant given to all that we may live forever in christ's name we pray and for his sake amen you call me out upon the waters [Music] [Music] is oh [Music] i am yours [Applause] [Music] will and you won't start now [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] lead me where my trust up is the [Music] [Applause] [Music] be made watershed in the presence of my savior spirit lead me where my trust the is wherever you would call me take me deeper than my feet could ever wander and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my savior [Music] i am yours and you are [Music] today i would like for us to continue our study of the ten commandments from exodus chapter 20. a study of the decalogue those ten words and i'd like for us today to begin to look at that second set of commandments commandments number five six and seven and then lord willing next time we'll look at eight nine and ten but really these commandments deal at their core with respect respect for each other i occasionally do ministerial counseling for couples who are just needing some encouragement time together in prayer and i often go through with couples that come and visit with me in my office i go through with them what i call the five c's of relationship resiliency the five c's commitment conflict resolution communication christianity the the principles of christianity if we work on our faith our relationship with god it automatically makes us a better husband a better wife a better boyfriend a better girlfriend and then the fifth one the fifth one is compassion compassion kindness and you know it's interesting that so many times if we simply practice kindness to each other that solves a lot of problems a lot of problems just automatically disappear when we devote ourselves to being compassionate in how we speak and how we act in our behavior and our interaction especially with those that are closest to us compassion is so important just the basic idea of kindness fixes so many problems and it fortifies a relationship now today i want us to look at these commandments five six and seven which deal with how we should treat each other with compassion how we should have respect for others just a reminder to you the first four of the ten commandments we have in exodus 20 emphasize the vertical dimension of our relationship with god and the second set highlights our horizontal relationships with each other and help us live in community with each other and so i typically divide the ten commandments into those two parts first is the commandments that stress that vertical dimension and our love for god and then second the commandments that emphasize the horizontal aspect of our common life together and it is the second set of commandments that i think really speaks to us even today about the importance of compassionate responsible treatment toward each other it's how we have fundamental respect for one another something we certainly need a lot of today commandment number five honor your father and mother the parent child relationship is foundational to any culture families are the building blocks of society and we want families that love and respect each other uh within the privacy of their homes not just putting on a face for the public or putting on apparent appearances but but genuinely authentic in their respect even in the privacy of their homes when no one's watching and you know the families make up the church so if you have major problems in the family then we're going to have major problems in the church if families are weak then our church our each local congregation is going to be weak now a quick disclaimer here a quick clarification i realize that there are difficult situations in people's lives where you may have parents who are so dysfunctional that they actually do harm to their children and there needs to be sensitivity with regard to situations of of child abuse and we should take note of the parents responsibility toward their children to keep them safe however that does not mean that we should gloss over this commandment honor your father and your mother perhaps we should consider it this way in a society that so values the individual there's just so much focus on on individual rights and individual wants and needs being met and and there's so much focus upon this consumer attitude you're a consumer whatever makes you happy whatever brings you happiness then that's the paramount thing in life this radical individualism and a culture that we live in that seems to fixate so much on that i think we struggle to maintain even the most basic of relationships the parent-child relationship so again this command it's more than meets the eye it doesn't just speak to kids respecting their parents and vice versa it speaks into the whole dynamic of communal living and how we interact with those closest to us and making sure that we do so with compassion and if we can't interact responsibly and lovingly with those closest to us then we can't expect to do that with anyone else that we interact with whether that be our co-workers folks at the market or even fellow christians the honoring or respecting or caring is vital and also indicative of how we feel about god i want you to notice how jesus referenced this commandment in matthew 15 verses 4 through 9. for god commanded honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die but you say if anyone tells his father or his mother what you would have gained from me is given to god he need not honor his father so for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of god you hypocrites well did isaiah prophesy of you when he said this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me in vain do they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men now what's going on here is that jesus is labeling those as hypocrites who abandoned their responsibility that is they failed to do what they should do manifested here in the example of honoring your parents and instead they basically say well i had something else more important to me that came up and so i chose that instead and they're they're finding a loophole and make void the word of god if you can find that kind of loophole and if you can sidestep what scripture very clearly says then jesus says that makes you a hypocrite if you claim to love the lord and to be in service to the lord and yet you find very convenient workarounds to what the lord asks of you that's hypocrisy and so be careful of your choices they betray your heart the sixth command is this you shall not murder i am amazed at how much confusion abounds regarding the meaning of this commandment murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification without valid excuse especially the the unlawful killing of another human with malicious intent or malicious forethoughts this commandment is not condemning righteous capital punishment just warfare or self-defense you may or may not be aware of this but capital punishment is actually upheld in scripture as an act of justice to be done by government for the good of society it is to be a deterrent or a curb to evil so not all killing is murder and the directive not to murder that is emphasized here in this commandment fits well with the high view of human beings expressed in genesis chapter 1 verses 26 through 28 in psalm 8 and the sanctity of life spoken of in genesis 9 verses 5 and 6 and the grounding in all these passages is on the fact that god made mankind humanity in his own image in the image of god you've been made and there is intrinsic value there's intrinsic self-worth there's intrinsic sanctity to human life jesus also applies this commandment to us in matthew 5 21-22 when he said you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment but i say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire so as jesus often does he will take commands that his audience would have been very familiar with the jewish setting the jewish culture he often references the old testament and then he escalates it he takes it up to a higher level and here jesus says well don't murder but i say you don't even don't have hatred in your heart hatred and anger allowed to lurk too close to us and our own human heart poisons us and leads us to disrespect the value of others let's instead have a regard for each other that god would be pleased with the seventh command is you shall not commit adultery next to the sanctity of life comes the sanctity of marriage in genesis 1 god created man and woman in his own image and then in genesis 2 the woman is brought to the man and they become one flesh and perhaps the positive expression for this commandment is that is faithfulness to to one's marriage faithfulness to one's marriage and the cultivating of a healthy sexual relationship with one spouse is so important and it pictures what god wants for you in your marriage we have a consistent portrait throughout the bible of marriage as a beautiful gift from god it is in marriage where sexual intimacy is fulfilled it is in marriage where we find our greatest companionship in life it is in marriage where we picture the the virtue of love which teaches us of god's love for us i recently officiated a wedding in fact just a couple of days ago i officiated a wedding and a key part of of a marriage ceremony is the exchanging of vows and these vows are promises a man and a woman make to one another before the witnesses that have come together and before god almighty vows are solemn pledges you choose to make and commit to keep and i always say in a wedding ceremony these vows that you are making are an expression of covenant love here's a sample of how the vowels usually go do you paul take amanda to be your wife that's my wife's name amanda do you promise to love honor cherish and keep amanda for better or worse in sickness or in health for richer or poor and and notice this one forsaking all others keep yourself for her alone so long as you both shall live now the correct answer when asked that and you you have come to a marriage and you're ready to make that commitment the correct answer is i do i do you know marital fidelity is a hallmark of those who respect god and genuinely love their spouse it is essential to a strong community and furthermore faithfulness to one spouse may be a powerful way of reflecting the image of god in this world and maintain the created order that the lord had in mind when creating and you know the idea of don't commit adultery there's so much temptation to be unfaithful we want to truly commit ourselves in our marriages commit ourselves to our spouse with unwavering loyalty unfaltering commitment unflinching hold to our spouse that we have committed ourselves to in those vows and we really need that there's a problem with this i think in in society and quite honestly in the church we have far too many instances i think of marriages torn apart by one spouse or the other being unfaithful to their vows and defiling the marriage bed and so here is an area where we really need to emphasize we really need to stress how critical it is we discipline ourselves we safeguard our spirit we safeguard our affections and we do the best we can because when we honor our spouse and we keep those commitments and those vows we are honoring god well i think we'll stop here for today we've covered commandments five six and seven and next time we hope to cover commandments eight nine and ten but i never want to end without emphasizing the gospel if you are a christian then bask in the brilliance of god's grace and anticipate the imminent return of christ and live with faith and devotion we're not perfect as christians but the blood of christ continually cleanses us from all sin and yet there are occasions when we need help and we need the prayers of the church we need encouragement from brothers and sisters in christ and if you're in a place even now where you are in turmoil in your spirit reach out to us for prayer or for christian counsel we would love the opportunity to minister to you and to help you in your journey of faith now it could be the case that you're not a christian that you're watching this and you have never confessed the name of christ you've never admitted or proclaimed that you believe that jesus is the christ the son of god maybe you've never been immersed in water into christ for the forgiveness of your sins and so if you are compelled and convicted that you need to respond to the gospel or maybe you want to learn more about the gospel we would love to have a teaching session with you to have a a one-on-one bible study with you and to share with you more about what god has given to us about the gospel and how we can be in a right relationship with him but if you feel like you're ready then again reach out to us and we stand ready to assist you in helping you to obey the gospel of jesus christ praise the lord [Music] though the storms of hell me praise the lord [Music] [Music] [Music] glory glory to the king you reign for all eternity praise the lord [Music] [Music] the lord shall reign forever the lord shall reign forever glorious [Music] glorious is [Music] [Music] thank you for being with us this morning we want to send you on your way with a closing prayer dear heavenly father be with us comfort us discipline us and keep us always on the way of the path that with you jesus and the spirit we may all be joined in a heavenly body when time comes christ's name we pray and for his sake amen you

Channel: Northside Church of Christ

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Length: 39min 13sec (2353 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 02 2021