Sunday Morning Worship | Divine Reset | A Time for New Wine | 1.17.21

[Music] the kingdom agenda good morning ocbf family and to those of you that are viewing all around the world we want to welcome you to our online worship experience listen today is going to be exciting i know pastor has a word in season for us and i'm just as excited as you are to hear what god is saying to his church especially in this season but before we do that we want to make sure that you go to the kitchen grab your elements for communion grab your water your juice crackers bread whatever you need because at the end of service pastor is going to lead us in a time of fellowship with the lord in a time of communion but before we do that listen it's time to worship the lord and so the presence of the living god can join you right where you're at right there in your home as you begin to make way for this presence we just ask you to get out in the middle of the floor and lift up a shout and declare that he is our god come on let's worship hallelujah hallelujah this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it [Music] let's sing to the father water you turned into wine open the eyes of the blind there's no one like you hallelujah none like you if you go and sing along into the darkness you shine and out of the ashes we [Music] [Music] see rise god is greater yes lord [Music] and if our is is with us [Music] is this morning we confess that nothing can stand against our god one can stand you're eternal you're invincible there's nobody like you and father we give you glory we come to magnify your name this morning and if you feel like i do just put those hands together there's no god like jehovah there's no god like jehovah there's no god like jehovah there's no god like jehovah you say there's nobody oh nobody can compare to you there is nobody like you can hold the this morning how great is our god sing with me how great is [Music] let's sing to the lord this morning [Music] you're the name there's nobody like him we are not ashamed of the gospel of jesus christ let's see that again [Music] stay there with us is will sing hallelujah if you believe that this morning give god praise in this atmosphere hallelujah we've come to champion the name of jesus there's nobody like him in all the earth and we're gonna sing that same song another way it simply says how great is our god come on let's go [Music] come on clap clap those hands like this [Applause] everybody [Music] see how brave this morning let's sing that together [Applause] father we magnify your name we exert you and we extol you with everything we have to give to glory [Music] [Applause] everybody to give you grace [Applause] we've got to give you praise if you believe no matter what shape we're in prayer we've come to give it glory yes if you feel like that give the lord a great shout in the house [Music] well i don't know about you but i am so excited to be in worship i'm so excited to be praising our god i'm so excited about giving him the glory and the worth that he so deserves and i'm excited to do it with you our family our family here at oak cliff locally and our extended family uh who join us online so i am delighted to be with you for this time of worship today we start a brand new series called divine reset we've come off of a year of what i've called divine disruption where god upends the natural order of things but whenever there is a divine disruption where he is speaking is because he's after a divine reset ryan reset for our lives and for our families certainly for our churches and boy do we need one in our culture and so we're going to see some principles over the next number of weeks so i can never the folks here at oak cliff no i can never really like prophesy exactly how many weeks because generally things go beyond what i anticipate as the lord speaks week by week but we're going to trust him to speak to us and through us and be a blessing to you but remember worship is not just a sermon sometimes people think well if i get there in time for the sermon i worship no you just got there in time for the sermon unless god hears your praise here's your prayer as you hear his word you have not fully worshiped so we're inviting you each week to a time of worship with us if you are in the metroplex and you would like to find out more about the life and ministry of ocbf oakland bible fellowship we invite you to go on our church website and ocbf dot forward slash membership and you can find out about our church and if you feel that this is the church home for you we're simply uh trying to build kingdom disciples who make a kingdom impact because they are kingdom servants you know we're discipling the church to impact the world and if you want to grow but grow together with other people then uh find out about us and our online membership process and we'll be glad to uh to serve you you know we're in this season of uh of uh not being together but we're working hard at changing that uh here at oak cliff bible fellowship in fact i want our members to know this tuesday night we're having a drive-through we have a drive-through fellowship here where folks just drive through and pick up their communion cup and pick up the acts of kindness cards and and other items that we give to them and and then we can greet them wave at them and you know bump them and you know fist bump them that is and uh just uh have to have a great time of fellowship from five to seven this tuesday and uh where you are we want you to you know fellowship in whatever way you can don't be a lone ranger christian because as i've said in past weeks if you by yourself you're not getting all that god has for you and of course as we move forward in our worship every wednesday night through the month of january we're having a solemn assembly from 6 p.m on wednesday to 6 p.m on thursday and uh we are we're giving up food for that 24-hour period we get on our own zoom here at oakland bible fellowship from eight to about nine and we pray together then we invite people to pray for the rest of the day until 6 pm thursday on their own in a concentrated way instead of eating and i want to invite you where you are to have use this start of the year for your own solemn assembly or with your family uh you'll hear a little bit more about that in today's message we're going to tell you about some new wine and how that relates to even a sacred time as god does a reset in your life but we're excited about what god's going to do in this new year because he set us up for it last year he set us up in a disruption for a reset and i want to tell you on behalf of ocbf we so appreciate your investment in this ministry because this ministry has one purpose to serve the lord to glorify his name to build up his saints and to make an impact in this world it's god's kingdom advancement here at ocbf and the tithes of our members and the offerings of our members faithfully doing it because we do not believe even though we're not gathered as we used to be that we still don't do ministry and so we're trying to do it at the highest possible level and as we move forward with our plans for this year we're going to do it even greater because guess what our great god deserves great ministry so your tithes and offerings if you're not a member of this church support your church your church needs it but if you have an offering above that because our church is ministering to you then you see the ways to give there and there are a number of ways you can give to honor the lord so we we praise the lord we trust the lord and we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna fight through all that is coming against us and coming against the world because we believe if christ be not come we still got a job to do and if christ does come well it's going to be all right for all of us who know him so god bless you as we continue worshiping our great god [Music] who can stand against the lord no one cares who can stand against our king no one cares [Music] victory belongs to jesus victory belongs to you [Music] victory belongs to jesus victory belongs to you we sing to the lord say who can [Music] who can stand [Music] is belongs to jesus [Music] right there where you are it belongs to him so we put our trust [Music] you're and i find my victory oh we confess it to your father right there where you are father we give you glory we magnify you we extol you one more time the victory victory him [Music] [Music] [Applause] we all sing that together [Music] victory [Music] um [Music] so tell me [Music] who can [Music] jesus his name is jesus prayer jesus [Music] we have the [Music] do you believe that this morning [Music] we sing together we have we [Music] had [Music] do [Music] so [Music] let's pray the lord thank you so much for the privilege of coming into your presence i come as your humble servant knowing that i am not worthy to stand before you and before this people without divine approval and so remove anything that would hinder my voice from being your voice my thoughts from being your thoughts so that people hear from god through a vessel but may the words come from heaven to all those on earth under the sound of our worship time today teach us correct us convict us clarify to us reset us in jesus name amen well all of us are familiar with remodeling perhaps in your home you've had to remodel uh a portion of it i know many years ago we remodeled our kitchen suffice it to say it was a hot mess i mean stuff was everywhere broken up toe up from the flow up it was a mess in fact because it got so messy we had to move out of our house to stay with one of our kids for a few days because everything had become disrupted but we all know that the goal of remodeling is to remake something better than when you started you remodel because something has gotten old or worn or torn or broken and you want it you want to give it new life you want to make it fresh and new but in order for a remodel to take place a destruction has to occur first because something new is needed we have been going through a remodel we've been going through a divine destruction divine discipline divine disruption god is seeking to remodel some things the bible is clear that when it's time for christ to come back there will be this disruption worldwide that will introduce the antichrist which will lead to the ultimate return of christ to remodel the whole earth in the meantime god does some smaller remodeling in our lives and in our world through bringing about disruption now let me be clear when god disrupts something it is because he wants to reset something remodel he wants to make something new that's gotten stale and old broken up and ineffective and i can only surmise that the scope of this problem that we have all faced personally and in our homes with multiple pandemics lets us know how bad the remodeling is needed and so we are beginning a journey today about a reset because your life has been disrupted whether you like it or not it's been disrupted you can't do what you used to do the way you used to do it with the folks you used to do it with because it's been interrupted well i don't know about you but i'd love for a reset right about now now here is the key when god disrupts something in your life and in our world it is always and this is without exception to highlight the spiritual over the physical let me say that again i want you to miss that when god disrupts your life your world the physical realm in which we live he is calling attention to a spiritual reality that we've allowed to get too old god has become too marginalized his principles have become too ignored for too long so he disrupts things or allows them to be disrupted because he has something to say in luke chapter 5 jesus has called disciples to himself and beginning in verse 29 he has a party levi matthew the tax collector has a big reception for jesus at his house according to verse 29 and a great crowd shows up i just want you to know by way of introduction jesus didn't mind a party and here's the party it's a a great reception there's a big crowd and uh he was the life of the party because the party was thrown for jesus by levi by matthew so jesus doesn't mind a party so jesus comes to the party there's a crowd but there's an interesting group at the party we're told that there were tax collectors and sinners i mean this this was not the approved crowd at the party by the religious elites of the day the pharisees find out that there's this jam going on in jesus's honor and so they begin complaining to the disciples why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners verse 30. that's the problem i mean one you got a party going on two we're not the main ones invited tax collectors and sinners the people that we don't have time for and then you're gonna eat and drink with them i mean that has to do with fellowship you're going to hang out with them so they have a problem with this with the group that's showing up to the party jesus answers and tells them that is it not those who are well who need a physician but those who are sick it's not well folk who need help it's sick folk who need help and i've not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance he says the reason why i'm having this party is i'm having watch this this party because my party is designed to make a spiritual impact so i have a party just to have a party i have a party to make a spiritual impact i'm not just calling the saints i'm also after the sinners and so so uh this this has a spiritual purpose to it even though y'all are complaining about it so that sets the scene for the reset god is going to take us on a journey on right now so the religious leaders the pharisees in verse 33 the disciples of john often fast and offer prayers the disciples of the pharisees also do the same but yours eat and drink okay there's the problem we fast fasting is giving up a craving of the physical for a need in the spiritual that's what fasting is and that's what we do we do it the religious leaders even john's disciples do it and remember john the baptist disciples were designed to get ready for the coming of jesus he said so so we do it they do it we fast in your party we must be the spiritual ones so what they are bringing up is our religious commitment is greater than your religious commitment because we fast we wouldn't be out here partying we'd be out here praying and bowing our heads and giving up food now in the month of january every year our church does a fast we call it a solemn assembly but let me talk about that in order for you to understand this passage did you know that there was only one required fast in the bible leviticus chapter 16 verses 29 and 31 that was the only required fast there was no other required fast in the bible but that one yom kippur the day of atonement in order for the people to get right with god to have their sins addressed there was this one fast required every other fast in the bible was voluntary not demanded and those fasts happen on a voluntary basis because there was a great crisis great grief a great need that you needed the additional presence to presence of god to invade but those were never required only one was required see some people get the idea that god commanded fast yeah only one and that was to deal with the guilt of sin everything else was i need god's involvement in my unique set of circumstances where i need the supernatural to invade because i've got a crisis because my my i've got grief because i've got pain because i'm in a situation i can't fix then that's going to be varying from people to people circumstances and circumstances and individuals to individuals but what the pharisees had done was make fasting a requirement they took a command and turned it into a requirement let me tell you how big a requirement they made it they made it a requirement to do twice a week when you read luke chapter 18 verses 10 through 12 the pharisee is praying in the temple and he says i thank you i'm not like this tax collector this publican and he says because i tithe and i fast twice a week what makes me acceptable better than this guy over here is look at my religious activity i fast twice a week there was no command in the bible of fast twice a week but what the religious leaders had done is taken a biblical principle and stacked it with human editions that's religion religion false religion is where you pour on man-made additions to god's requirement to make you feel more acceptable to god what the pharisees did was create a mountain of requirements some of us were raised in churches like that that gave us a mountain of requirements that didn't come from god or maybe a principle came from god but they kept adding stuff to it so that it was no longer of god it was of man but because god's name was attached to it it sounded legitimate and so they made religion a big deal centered in this case in fasting as far as they were concerned jesus was violating the religious order of the day put it another way jesus wasn't rolling with the program he wasn't going along with what the denomination required he wasn't going along with what the leaders had said second timothy 3 verse 5 calls this having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof you dressed up like you're spiritual but there's no reality it's like a hamburger that looks well done on the outside but it's raw on the inside you know you can put on a superman suit but that don't mean you can fly and you can put on jesus looks and carry your bible and sing your praise songs but that does not mean you are in sync with the lord and many people think because they carry out the religious performance praying fasting and the like and what happens is like the pharisees you can be duped into ritual at the expense of a relationship let me say that again you can be duped i can be duped into a ritual doing the spiritual looking thing to get brownie points with god when i have not pursued a relationship with him and i get so content with the ritual that it actually cancels the relationship but the ritual looks so real you know it looks real when you go to church it looks real when you're reading your bi it looks real it's like those apples that you find on the on the counter of many hotels when you go sign in i went one time to a hotel and they had the apple sitting out there looked good to me i picked it up and bit into a wax apple and it looked like a wax apple it looked like a real apple but it looks so real and it was so fake okay what happens with religion is you can make it feel so real and it not be right because it's been stacked with man-made additions that have nothing to do with spiritual relationship and that is why there's so much condemnation in the bible about doing the external when nothing is happening on the internal in mark chapter seven verses six to eight he says these people do all this external stuff but they are far from me they're not even close to me they go to church they wave their hands in the air like they just don't care but they are far from me they're not in relationship with me in the bible people some people fasted one day other people fasted three days they're three weeks fast in the bible jesus fasted for 40 days so because it was all over the place because it was tied to the need not to the requirement many christians today are being duped by religion in the name of god without experiencing the reality of god and god has to dismantle us and isn't that what he's done he's he's messed with our religion you know he said y'all ain't going to church for a while you know i'm closing the doors for a while i'm i'm i'm changing the i'm changing the paradigm i'm not going to let you do it like you used to do it because i got too much religion and i don't have near enough relationship see this disruption is designed for us to re-look at some things to reanalyze things personally and collectively so that we don't just have a form of godliness some years ago across my lawn there were folks walking across the lawn when there was no path there was no path but they wanted a path so they were walking along and when you walk on the same path long enough you'll create a path where there is no path so other folk will follow you thinking it's now a path it was never meant to be a path but you've been used to it so long that you've worn out the grass and it looks like you got a little road through there so we had to stop that because uh they were creating something that the lawn was never meant to facilitate you know what we have done in american christianity we've created something that god never had in mind he never had in mind that our religious order would replace our spiritual intimacy and our spiritual relationship and that was the complaint that was their concern they were into their ritual fasting we pray and you folks are partying y'all are eating and drinking and you're doing it with folk who are unacceptable to us so that's the problem so jesus now has to help a brother out he got he got to help him out and that he's going to get deep on them watch this now he says in verse 34 jesus said to them you cannot make the attendance of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them can you so he asks a question but the days will come and when the bridegroom is taken away from them then they will fast in those days so let's talk about jesus's response to their religious criticism he says when the bridegroom is there you don't fast jesus is the bridegroom why because his church is the bride so he's preparing the disciples to start the church the church is called the bride of christ so jesus is the bridegroom so he says you don't fast the attendants don't fast when the bridegroom is there because the bridegroom is getting ready for what they're getting ready for a wedding so let's talk about this i have done hundreds of weddings literally hundreds of weddings and in almost uh 50 years of preaching hundreds of weddings i have never ever never never ever ever never been to a foodless wedding i have never been to a wedding without something to eat without something to drink okay i've never done that because a wedding is a party a wedding is a celebration when the groomsmen are with the bridegroom i go to i go and i pray with them they're laughing and joking and high-fiving and slapping each other on the back it's a party cause it's a wedding and the attendance the the the uh groomsmen they're partying why because they're excited about the bridegroom they're excited about the bridegroom there there's only one time you wouldn't party at a wedding you wouldn't party at a wedding if you disagreed with the person the man was marrying and you know you would have to say i'm so miserable at this wedding i ain't gonna buy no food because he marrying his woman you ain't gonna do that you probably wouldn't show up right no you're gonna party at a wedding he says at a celebration you do not fast you do not fast at a celebration that that makes no sense to go to a wedding and not have a wedding cake now i can't vouch for how all the food tasted at all the weddings i went to but i sure can vouch it was there because it's a party he says the bridegroom is here so there's no need to fast in other words you don't fast when you're celebrating that's what he's saying and we're celebrating and we're celebrating with these publicans and with these sinners we're celebrating because jesus is right in their midst so we're going to have a party now follow this but he says there's coming a time in verse 35 the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them then they will fast in those days when was the bridegroom taken away on the cross jesus was crucified on the cross and the bridegroom was taken away do you if you remember your scriptures you know that when jesus was crucified the disciples fled because they were afraid they were scared it was no longer party time they were running for their lives fearing they would be next to be executed so this was not a time for a party when jesus was taken away from his disciples peter was scared to death when they arrested jesus he cried like a baby because he was taken away but when it's party time again it's eating time again that is it's celebration time again so he goes on to make a powerful point about your religion and mine he says we got to reset this thing the closer you are to the bridegroom the more celebration you're going to be doing with your life the further you are from the bridegroom you can keep your religion going but you will not experience anything because it has to do with whether the bridegroom is there or not it is the presence or absence of jesus that determines whether it's feast or famine and jesus says if i'm there when paul wrote the book of philippians you do you remember what his his what he says over and over again rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice you know why he was so close to jesus that even when he was in jail he was having a party and he was having a party not because of his circumstances but because of the spiritual proximity the reset that god is trying to do in our lives is to make it more about him than it is about church to make it more about him than it is about human personalities we live in a day of celebrity cults where we worship people and personalities more than we worship jesus we'll give a crowd to a star but we won't show up for jesus because people have become more important than the eternal son of god but this explains something that happened in luke 24 i referenced that because it's so interesting you've got some depressed disciples on the emmaus road they're really depressed because jesus has been crucified and uh jesus shows up but they don't recognize him jesus calls them in verse 25 oh foolish men slow of heart to believe and all the prophets have spoken was it not necessary for christ to suffer these things in the inner in the glory because he had been taken away they don't feel like eaten now they're sorrowful but jesus shows up he then explains the scripture to him in verse 27. in verse 28 they approached the village they urged him saying stay with us for it is getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over so he went to stay with them when he reclined at the table look at what he's doing he took bread blessed it breaks it and began giving it to them well wait a minute amen something something ought to hit you something not right they invited jesus in jesus was going to keep going about his business after bible study because he had spoken the bible to him along the way so bible study is over church is done but guess what they say stay with us don't keep going you stay with us when jesus goes into the house that they invited him into they're not serving him bread he's serving them bread amen now that's backwards you'll invite somebody over your house and tell them to serve jesus is doing the serving why because this is this your house but it's jesus party and you invited him in in other words studying the bible about jesus and studying the bible with jesus wasn't enough not until they invited jesus into the house and hung out with jesus was it time to eat again because the close proximity had turned what was depression when they started into a celebration and how do we know it was a celebration verse 32 they said to one another were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road while he was explaining the scriptures to us and that very hour they returned to jerusalem let me say one other thing when they went to jerusalem guess what happened they went to jerusalem you know tell them jesus is risen and while they were doing all this jesus shows up in their midst he walks through the wall peace be unto you he speaks peace because they're scared he says why are you so troubled and why do you verse 38 doubt why do doubts arise in your heart because they're scared jesus hasn't been with him see my hands my feet you know he says in his eye touch me i'm real and then he says in verse 41 here it is have you nothing here to eat now wait amen jesus died rose from the dead and he hungry and i just want you to know when you get to heaven you will be able to eat because this is the glorified body jesus is in the bible says we'll have a body like his so you'll be able to eat one isn't going to be wonderful in heaven that you can eat and never overeat because because you know your body some some way this new constructed body can't can't overeat now how that's gonna work i don't know but jesus is eating why because when he shows up depression and a funeral becomes a party why do we have so much depression so much anxiety so much fear so much frustration among so many believers because jesus has been too far too long while we may have been religious and in church and we fast when we ought to be having a party there are times to fast when life becomes overwhelming but that's the time to draw near and when jesus drawing the drew near to them he said come on guys it's time to eat it's time to eat because when i show up it's time for a party no there's a saying that goes in many churches ain't no party like a holy ghost party because the holy ghost party don't stop the idea is for our intimacy with the lord to be the driving influence in our lives but what the pharisees had done was they had made religion into a mountain of regulations and they were more interested in the program than the person the reset god wants us to go through through all these conveniences that he has allowed us to face is to reset our spiritual priority to a relationship that doesn't negate a program but it puts the program in its proper place it puts it in the place where it belongs now here's the question how do you do that how do you get this reset and remodel churchianity into biblical christianity because we got christians divided foolishly christians talking foolishly acting foolishly walking foolishly without any sense of jesus christ but they're carrying on the program as prescribed by the religious order well back to luke chapter 5 and jesus throws a hail mary through two illustrations one having to do with clothes and the other one having to do with wine you will notice in verses 33 36 to 38 the word new new new new new new new and new look at all the times the word new shows up so so the focus is this jesus says i have come to bring you something new i'm not just trying to get you to fix up something old okay this is remodeled here i'm tearing up your religious order not biblical truth but all the stuff you've stacked on top of it that is holding people hostage because the pharisees i hope you know religion without jesus can can can make you or can make you a slave can hold you hostage it can make you miserable serving jesus christ without a smile because you're trying to keep up with all the regulations never being able to satisfy them because here here here's when you know you're in false religion because they keep adding new stuff they keep adding new stuff and it's a never-ending barrage of religiosity of phariseeism jesus says no one verse 36 tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment otherwise he will both tell the new and the peace from the new will not match the old he says you don't take a new garment and put it with an old garment one when you wash it and the new piece shrinks it's going to tear away from the old piece that's worn and then it's not going to match it won't be the exact color it won't be the exact fit you're going to have some lines that indicate it's sewn in and it's not a a match so the first one is a garment you don't take a new piece of cloth to an old garment it's not going to match his second illustration and no one puts new wine into old wine skins otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out and the skins will be ruined but new wine must be put into fresh wine skins okay wine skins in biblical days were made from goats wineskins were most of the time goat skins so they would take the skin of goats and sew them together take the neck of the goat and make it the spout for holding wine when the skin was first put together to be a wine skin the skin of the goat to be a wine skin it had a lot of elasticity to it it could expand over time however the skin became old and brittle so if you put new wine in skin that was now old and brittle and the new wine is fermenting which means it's releasing gas into this old wine skin the old wine skin is going to crack because of the pressure of the fermenting of the new wine on old wine skins that's going to crack and therefore the new wine is going to spill and so you're going to lose the wine skin and you're going to lose the wine when you try to put the new into the worn out old you're not gonna make something better you're gonna make it worse you're gonna make the cloth work worse you're gonna make the wine spilled you're gonna weigh something new and precious now i'm not a wine connoisseur i'm a coke connoisseur i'm a 7-up connoisseur i don't know much about about wine but but the fermenting process i understand this gas is so potent that it will push and expand the vehicle that's holding it if it's an expandable vehicle like skin let me put it what is jesus say he said i didn't come here to do patchwork on your religion i didn't come here to put my new message in your old churchianity i didn't come here to be an additive to your faith i'm bringing new stuff i'm not just bringing i'm not just bringing old stuff i'm bringing brand new things the old wine what's the old wine what's the old cloth it's the traditions of men that have been stacked on to our faith that's turned it into old stale christianity no matter how good the choir sings how good the preacher may be how awesome the ministries are if you're simply asking jesus to be an addition to come on top of we're not going to change anything we're not going to amend our priorities but come on jesus we want the new just to come in here and and and and make it nice because you know you can sound good when you spring jesus name on something you can sound like you're really spiritual but it's not it's not new jesus did not come to be an add-on he came to be the essence the centerpiece the newness and everything else must revolve around jesus you do not add jesus jesus says you and i must remove illegitimate mixtures what he calls unholy mixtures now all tradition is not bad if jesus is the center of it but if jesus is only added on to it you have ruined the tradition and you have dumbed down jesus's ability to respond to you because he won't mix he will not be satisfied if all he is is a religious add-on if a person is not a christian and we are sharing the gospel with them and if you are under the sound of my voice today and you're not a christian you're not sure if you died you would be on your way to heaven let me help you with something you can't accept jesus and baptism you can't accept jesus and church membership you can't accept jesus and good works you can't accept jesus and giving money it's faith alone in christ alone for the gift of eternal life you must trust the lord jesus christ as your only savior in order to be forgiven and to receive the gift of eternal life the moment you add anything else to jesus you have nullified the thing you say you want to be born again to be saved to receive eternal life so today if you're not a christian i hope that you would trust jesus christ as your savior and say lord i come to you alone for the forgiveness of sins and for the gift of eternal life but watch this for christians if you're already saved don't go to church because of sunday go to church to glorify the lord jesus christ it just happens to be done on sunday don't have devotions because a verse a day keeps the devil away because you were told to have devotions because you want to let the lord know you are devoted to him today you want to spend time with him he's not just an add-on like we say grace we just throw that in that's an add-on so we can hurry up and eat jesus says i am not an add-on remove illegitimate mixtures that's why colossians 2 8 says watch out for the traditions and the philosophies of men he says i want to be the purpose and the priority religion can dull you to the lord watch this jesus was spending time with publicans and sinners because they would be easier to work with than scribes and pharisees let me say that again jesus spent time with publicans and sinners because they would be more responsive why because they hadn't been beat to death with religion a lot of folks leave the church because they've been beat up by religion because they've never run into jesus so they'll leave church and never go back because they were beat up or abused by religion he says these folk that don't know about church i can work with them because i don't have to plow through all this religious nonsense that y'all have accumulated over the years and so religion without christ is like putting bengay on a broken leg it may make you feel better but have you haven't fixed the thing and a lot of the things we offer people is more and more and more religion you must reject anything and anyone who compromises the centrality of jesus christ either to get to heaven or to get heaven to help you on earth now this applies to me because my job is to preach and there are times when i'm putting together a sermon because it's my job and i have to remind myself it's more than a job it's a relationship with a person and i want the person to come through not just the job so i'm talking to me too that the centerpiece has to be jesus christ and when my church your church any church and when church is make it about the relationship with christ and the program surrounds that ah now it'll be time for a party yeah there'll be those times of fasting because we've got pandemics in our personal lives pandemics in the culture but when we get the relationship right there won't be rules we're forced to do we'll do the legitimate rules because we want to many of you will remember the story of the woman who was married to bob and bob was a taskmaster with rules they were married and he gave her a list of 25 rules to follow to be a good wife she did her best to keep the 25 rules to be a good wife and hated it she hated the institution of marriage while she tried to keep up with bob's 25 rules because to make herself acceptable to bob she had to keep all the rules and the rules were just beating her to death some years later bob died bob died she was free from bob but then a little time later she met john she met john on a trip they got to know each other and she fell fell in love with john she fell in love with john john said will you marry me she married john some time later she was cleaning out one of her bureau drawers and notice something bob's list the old husband 25 things that she had to do to make herself acceptable to bob when she saw the list she laughed she grinned she broke out in joy and celebration you know why she was so happy because it dawned on her she was doing all 25 things that bob required for john and loving every moment of it you know why because she was keeping rules out of a relationship not keeping rules out of her religion not keeping rules to make herself acceptable keeping rules because she was already acceptable when you and i know how much jesus loves us when you and i know we're already accepted the bible says in the beloved when you and i know he already cares for you and you don't have to earn his acceptance you do what you do because you have his acceptance then you know you're not just adding religion you're responding to a relationship so here's the divine reset the divine reset is to spend this year pursuing a relationship and yes keeping the rules but keeping his rules not man's rules because you want to please the one who already loves you you don't have to earn his love that's a reset spiritually but he had to remodel the church for us to get the reset he had to disturb us if you haven't accepted christ do that right now you can do that you can acknowledge your sinfulness and your need for a savior do that by placing your faith in christ to look to christ alone and you can express it in prayer jesus i look to you alone i'm a sinner and i want to be forgiven and i want eternal life and i'm believing you to give it to me because i believe you died on the cross in my place if you're already a believer remember what jesus did on the emmaus road he broke bread it's time for a party it's time for a party that's why it's called the eucharist by the way which means thanksgiving hey why don't you have a little party with the lord right now as we sing a song you have a little party and party with him right now just say lord thank you that you love me thank you that you're with me give me thanks yeah i know you have needs but this is time for party because you want to be close to him and he says when the bridegroom is there you don't fast so you don't fast right now you prepare to eat and to drink because it says they ate and drank let's have a party with the lord for a few moments right now [Music] oh jesus [Music] and what can make me [Music] the body and the blood of jesus christ shed for you it's a solemn moment but it's a solemn moment in a party to thank the lord for his gift of eternal life to thank him that he's going to be with you today and this week to thank him for the trials he's going to send you through because he's going to walk with you through them don't don't don't don't miss the party because you eat and drink at a party he says you don't fast so you party with the lord all week long unless he gives you unless there is a serious reason to fast we're doing that every wednesday night but for the rest of the week unless there's something extra you party because you're hanging out with the bridegroom so let's start the party let's get the party started with the bread let's eat together as we thank him for his body broken [Music] it covers his bloodshed for you and me to keep the bridegroom close so that we can live a week of rejoicing let's drink together may god bless you richly have a great week in the lord party with him all week long except that time that you give to him because of the need and our culture the disruption that we're all experiencing you do that and enjoy him because he wants to be close to you god bless you until next time [Music] is me

Channel: Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Views: 39,000

Rating: 4.9114799 out of 5

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Id: q6mzrKO25j4

Length: 79min 5sec (4745 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021