Sunday Morning Worship | The Cure | 04-19-20

[Music] eager otters and I'm OCD you I am Roderick Davis and I am OCD my name is Herbert James and I most severe I'm in Denmark no see here this is Kim Horton I am OCD I am Jojo something I mostly deal besides never even seen I am all TBL absolutely also Victor Lamberg and I'm OCD this Giraud limits directed security I am OCD your security team is still here still faithful still sir [Music] what's up everybody I'm burnin king Okla Bible Fellowship youth director and I'm Cynthia Dixon Oakland Bible Fellowship kiss director and we have some amazing updates for you I've missed you guys dearly and I have some exciting news to tell you guys we have social media a Facebook page and Instagram page I'm so excited I need you guys to follow me and share like and share like and share and also we have our zoom classes preteen ministry has theirs on Friday nights and we have elementary on Saturday mornings and then we have our preschool on Sundays we have all kinds of things for you and look for our newsletters if you're not receiving your newsletter please enemy at OCC if kids okay I DZ and OC be a church door I look forward to seeing you real soon and again miss Cynthia miss each and every one of you love you the youth ministry we have zoom small groups every second and fourth Wednesday every month prayer calls every month every first and third Wednesday newsletters that we send out every Sunday and our online videos which includes sermons worship and activities for you and your families right now pick up your phone come on pick up your phones and follow us on Facebook and Instagram next-level youth w3 nothing is going to stop us from staying connected to you nothing we got a bad situation God is talking this pandemic has disrupted our lives our work our play our sports it has disrupted our gatherings it has turned what was normal and made it abnormal it's a wake up call one of the ways God speaks is through allowing circumstances into our lives and into our world that are not pleasant the further you remove God from a life of family and a culture the more chaotic things will become but if we would allow God who is speaking who is shaking upon your mouth to become front-page news again God is not interested in only a pledge of allegiance to a nation he's interested in the pledge of allegiance to himself good morning o CBF Church welcome to our online services this weekend it's hard to believe that we've been doing this now for six this is our sixth Sunday online and listen what has been very beautiful to me is that our church family has done this really well we felt like its felt like community it's been amazing I hope you guys had a great time watching Easter last week it was so much fun to work on that here at the church with everybody it was amazing and we are so glad that you are here and we are so glad to be able to continue to do church and do it well today we're gonna have an amazing time of worship as we always do my dad's gonna be here with another new message he's just killing it so say stay tuned for that what I want you to do right now is I believe we have been able to do this in the room but what I want you to do is find somebody in the comments who doesn't go to our church if you are here visiting our church our ocbs family we are so good at making people feel welcome we're real big but we are I say a little big Church we make people feel really welcome so in the comments let let us know if you're visiting today and OCB a family make those folks feel so welcome as we go into worship with pastor Dobson worship with us come on somebody just put those hands together right there in your house father we thank you Jesus that our identity is in you we give you praise for it Lord we bless your name Jesus somebody just shout unto God I Know Who I am I Know Who I am I know who I am I am [Music] I know I am [Music] Jesus [Music] Jesus another suitors I was running and you found me I was blind and you came inside you put a sauna crazy come on see this war I was broken and you you me I was dying thank you - of my identity somebody to special Chester's see shut down [Music] I know I am yours I am I know [Music] I am do you [Music] Jesus the city become I was running and you found me I was blinded me you've heard a song of praise in the two boys oh I was broke and you me I was dying and it gave me life Lord you am I enchantee let us say this unknown [Music] No No [Music] I know who I [Music] I [Music] I [Music] see you [Music] I am forgiven I am your friend let's enter then know who I am I am suture and I'm confident [Music] and I Know Who I am [Music] yeah Oh who [Music] I No come on shoot that right now [Music] [Music] ooh [Music] one you see you Jesus see you Jesus how the knew your father we thank you that we know who we are and you we thank you Jesus that we are in the palm of your hand I say it says we're in the palm of your hand and so father we thank you Lord that you reign father we thank you that you reign as king over every situation probably relinquish the responsibility of having to know what's next and father we give it all to you because everything rests on your shoulders [Music] see this migraine I got range Lord you reign above every name same my god rings I forgot rings [Music] Lunger reign above every name with all powers see them [Music] father we thank you Jesus and all power all the parts CLA come on the two boys Oh sing oh my god rains I got rings launcher rain see non-germane about without power so minute somebody just slipped your hands right there and save it with so many of me saving me right now love to rain [Music] [Music] little powers see them so million I don't know about you that excites me that uses [Music] so many [Music] I love to farther we call your name Jesus your under bridge [Music] love to rain now let's just change it right here and see me probably figured that we bless you Jesus over my circumstance [Music] just one more time lift it up and declare that in your they say [Music] sorry the don't mind right now No every disease today [Music] stay [Music] just somebody just worship him right there somebody just worship him right there lift your hands Father we thank you that over our circumstance over trials over situations over the unknown father we give it to you we lay it at your feet we thank you Jesus that we are not our source god there's so many that are disturbed by today's turmoil today's pressures of life and father I think you're right now that you begin to minister to every home that's looking to you to be their salvation father we thank you that your word declares just where 24:15 says as for me in my house we will serve the Lord and so if that's you if that's your position dad's if that's your position I want you just to stand up and say as for me in my house we choose even in the midst of uncertainty and even in the midst of crisis you are God and you are God alone and we choose to serve you and you alone somebody just lift your hands right there and just thank you Holy Spirit we ask you to have your way we ask for you to have your way do it only you can do we thank you Lord that Colossians 3:15 says to let the peace of God rule and reign in our hearts and one translation says let it answer every question that arises in our hearts our so father all of our questions we sit at your feet and we elevate your name we elevate your presence above everything that we're facing right now it's a new season [Music] there's nothing worth more that could ever come close nothing can compare you're our living hope it's your presence [Music] I've tasted and see other speed is stylized when my heart becomes free and my shame is undone [Music] it's your presence Lord come on let's open up our mouths administer Holy Spirit you are well come flood come fly this when they sang feel me it's your glory low that is what our hearts long for [Music] No you shoot come on see this there's nothing worth more that could ever nothing compares Oh bits of resin seizes your presence come on testify I taste it see this I've tasted and seen of the sweetest when my heart becomes free and my shame and my shame is it suppresses come on see Holy Spirit and we see whole spirity you are where come flood this place [Music] and fill the atmosphere chuckle Oh me no more you are as long for to be come come on sale Holy Spirit see me home holy spirit' EU are comes not displace - what only you can do Jesus it's a good low rate zone it should glory long [Music] homeboy subito come by No yes Jesus can't let you go let your presence feel the your prayer you're to speak this declaration see this let us become more aware of your presence let us experience the glory of your goodness let us become more aware of your presence let us experience the nuria come see let us become sit laughs become tomorrow rather spirited navier's [Music] has become [Music] let us experience the glory of yard somebody's ass open up your mouth right there and invite the Holy Spirit in and say this Holy Spirit come flood this place [Music] it's a glory long sweater hearts [Music] you buy on [Music] Jesus got americanese you [Music] Oh supposes that we need zenus notice your presence car it's all about his Jesus holy spirit holy spirit you are welcome come flood this place and fill the atmosphere your glory God is what our hearts long for to be overcome by your presence Lord it's a phrase hands nor see it your presence crazy smart how it suppresses your prayers eyes we love you Jesus we love you Jesus [Music] Lord Jesus we are your people not gather together in the same building this morning yet and still still gathered where we sit where we stand where we kneel with eyes closed head bowed hands together hands uplifted we're all saying the same thing at one time and that is Holy Spirit you are welcome here here as we sit on our couches here as we sit on our floors here as we hold our children here as we sit alone here here in our minds here in our hearts and here in our hands you are welcome in this season that is challenging and unprecedented and difficult you are welcome in this season where we're probably praying a little more than we ever have before you are welcome in this season where we have questions in this season where you always are the answer we welcome you and we are so grateful that you being present with us does not it is not determined by where we are present or thank you for inhabiting your temple thank you for inhabiting the hearts and minds of your people so that wherever we are when we believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ you are - you are welcome here in me in us in your people and in our everyday thank you so much for the holy spirit who lives inside of us Holy Spirit you are indeed welcome we're great Oh cliff family we are so so grateful to have the opportunity to worship again together and I want you to know that it is so true the Holy Spirit is with us wherever we go wherever we might be and the beauty of that is is that even if you happen to be alone you are not alone the beauty of that is that when you are with your family that there is another person who is a part of your family who is present as well as you move and go to your essential place of business your essential place of work as you stay home and only go out whenever you have to wherever you are wherever you're not the Holy Spirit is where you are because he lives in you the beauty of that is reflected in 1st Peter 2 chapter 2 verses 9 through 12 where the Bible says you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light for you were once for you once we're not a people but now you are the people of God you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy and so because of that in Peter we are urged to be aliens and strangers to have excellent behavior to act as if the Holy Spirit indeed does live in us so that because of our deeds people may know that we are God's children the holy spirit lives on in us and that is such such good news I want you to know that during our time together this is not just an opportunity for us to gather wherever we happen to be but it is also an opportunity for us to bear one another's burdens and while we can do that in church on a Sunday morning coming to the altar by praying with someone as we embrace or touch and agree over that thing that is a concern for us we can do that virtually as well if you have a prayer request let me say right now that beginning now and throughout the time of our service together that if you want to just drop that prayer request in the comments do that and then I want to encourage those of you who are also active in the comments when you see a prayer request left pray two or three lines just take that person's comment in the comment above you or the comment that you happen to see take that person's request to God right then and there so that as we worship virtually together even there where the Holy Spirit is because he's in us we are able to bear one another's burdens in prayer isn't it good that we can continue to connect even in virtual ways while we are physically apart because physical distancing does not equal social or spiritual distancing and there's another way that we want to encourage you if you're a member of our church to connect if you are not connected we want you to know that when you got your email this week members that there is information there for you to join a small group or better yet if you are feeling the prodding of the Lord to host a virtual small group because all of our small groups are now virtual and so we don't want you to be disconnected and if you had not yet been in a small group well now's your chance simply look for that email from Oak Cliff so that you can get in a small group or volunteer to host a virtual small group so that we can stay connected even while we are physically apart the good news is apart from prayer which we can do today apart from small groups which we can do tomorrow and in the weeks to come we are also ministering outside of our church body and to our church body through our community outreach by taking care of our elderly our sick and reaching our community watch what we're doing this week in this video well good morning this is Chris will executive director for the turnaround engine and the outreach ministry at Oakland Bible Fellowship Church as you can see we're here again serving our community we're trying to serve over a thousand families today and as you can see around you we have our national guardsmen the brave men and women that are here to help us as well as the North Texas Food Bank and we even have some of our own volunteers I've just been thankful and excited about the way the church has come together we have our worship team with the media that's doing the filming you have our fellowship team who's helped out with providing us with masks and gloves you even had our food services team to provide food and we were able to serve our National Guardsmen today food breakfast and lunch later to be able to make sure that they're able to continue doing the work that they're doing and you had also our outreach team that's serving in different capacities we even had generate that's handing out applications and it's just been a good combination of all of our ministries coming together to try to make this happen we're just thankful and delighted to be able to serve and we recognize that the need is great even prior to the pandemic that we're experiencing there's been so many people that needed food and that's why we have a food pantry that we've been able to serve the community we serve about 200 people a month in our food pantry but we realized that we couldn't serve the whole community because when you look at what's going on now individuals that may not have needed to have food before are losing jobs they're having situations where they're trying to figure out how to make ends meet and so by us being able to do just a little something to be able to help them for a couple of weeks we're just thankful for that now we know the need is going to continue so this is not something that we want to do one or two times but as often as we're able to work this out where we can be able to have the North Texas Food Bank we're gonna be here we recognize the need is great so if you have a need you need to be able to utilize our food pantry and maybe you weren't able to come to one of these events you can actually give us a call but again this is for our local community so the number is four six nine five six seven one seven nine three again four six nine five six seven one seven nine three we're gonna need for our church family to continue to give donations as you've already done we've been so blessed by so many people that have come and dropped off food and we needed to continue because we recognized again the need is great and so again on behalf of Oakley Bible fellowship turnaround agenda and also the vision of dr. Tony Evans our senior pastor we just thank you and we pray if you have a blessed day well we've come to the moment in our service where we get to give back to the Lord what a privilege it is for all of us to be able to so back into this ministry because listen I know that you're at home I'm at home except for right now basically but the ministry of this church has not stopped at all if anything it has grown exponentially when it comes to reaching out our church is amazing at that and I want you to know that as you give today that your actual the the gifts that you give your offering your tithe is going into ministry it is not obviously not about this building right now because we we aren't even really using it in its full capacity but lives are still being changed you know while I've been here I've made sure that I came back home to be close to my dad during this time and my family I'm staying in an area of town where there's some it's a it's a newer area of town but there's just weird smell when you go outside and I walked outside and was like what is that smell because it actually smells really bad what I noticed is that because it's a new area they they there are new planters everywhere in the town that are full of mulch and that mulch really smells bad but as bad as that smell is I looked at that planter and thought that smell represents something new that has been planted and although it smells awful there is something that's gonna grow in that space there's something beautiful that's gonna come out of this this smell so I kind of just deal with it knowing that something beautiful is coming and actually I watched guys watering something that actually isn't the greatest it's not given forth the greatest stuff right now I watched people actually water that and that's what we get to do in this moment that's actually not a fun moment it's kind of a smelly moment for most of us for the lack of a better way to say it it's just not something we're enjoying having to go through this we still have an opportunity to water this knowing that something new is being birth knowing that each week our ministry now is going out to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people and we get to make an impact so today as you give I want you two to think about the fact that this is this is minute this is our moment this is our moment to make it more make it about more than this room and we've already done that and we get to do it again and do it bigger in a more X intial way so OCP f you know how it goes there are four different ways to give the OSI bf app which is real easy to get get into you can text o CB f to seven nine seven nine seven nine that's text o CB f to seven nine seven nine seven nine you can go to OCB F dot org slash give that's way number three to go to o CBF Church dot org slash gif or for those of you who are like our dad you can just drop it in the mail to 1808 West camp wisdom Road and by that I meant and he just a mess it with no apps and stuff you can just drop it in the mail 1808 West camp wisdom Road Dallas Texas seven five two three two we thank you in advance for the gifts that are gonna come in to help this ministry continue to go forth now let's watch something that our mom loved so much and we know that so many of you love and that is our choir they're gonna give us what we're so looking forward to coming back to right now [Music] the [Music] [Music] that's the promise to do exceedingly [Music] abundantly everybody's they expect to be right like the gray [Music] that's expectation in the room this morning you'll be getting about 10 people to stand on your feet this morning that don't mind raising the ball in this house [Music] [Music] to do it [Music] everybody say expect to breed if you your moment is here [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] anybody believe that this morning I said it so anybody that believes that this morning [Music] [Music] can you say [Music] [Music] [Music] the room [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] three [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're fighting a major virus aren't we this virus has threatened our well-being our ability to fight this virus personally it's tied to our immune system the stronger the immune system the better the fight the weaker the immune system the week of the fight well there is an immune system that God has placed in society it's called the church the church is God's immune system to fight the impact of the virus of sin and evil that affects our life and our world and even opens up the door for the circumstances that we're facing today medically because the spiritual influences and impacts the physical I've said it many times that we repeat it everything visible and physical is preceded by something invisible and spiritual so if you want to rectify the visible and physical you must identify and correctly utilize the invisible and spiritual and so if all you see is what you see you do not see all there is to be seen we do not see the virus but we certainly see its effect we don't see God but his effects are very real if the immune system of society Christians and the church if that immune system is weak the door is open for all manner of evil and yes even disease to infiltrate the society if you don't see that then all you'll deal with is what you see and you'll do the best you can God gave two analogies in Matthew chapter 5 verses 13 to 16 to talk about the special role of God's people and his church in the society he says in verse 13 you are the salt of the earth he then goes on to say in verse 14 15 and 16 you are the light of the world salt and light don't miss read this he doesn't say you're the salt of the Chaika says you're the salt of the earth you have salt and a shaker and it doesn't do much for the decay in the meat because it's hanging out without a salt one of the things this virus has done is move the salt out of the shaker God does this in the Bible in Acts chapter 8 God created disturbance or allow disturbance to move his people out of their comfort zone in Jerusalem so that they would get out into the broader society he used inconvenience God is not just shaking society he's shaking Christians he's shaking the church and said you've been too comfortable in the shaker hanging out with all the salt it's time for you to be salt on some meat that's decaying called the earth you are the salt of the earth you see back in biblical days salt was used as a preservative some of your great grandparents or grandparents in the country may still do that salting down the meat because salt acts as an antibacterial agent and it fights the gangs decay when you see decay in the world in the culture moral social racial decay something is going wrong with the presence of salt being in the decaying meat allowing the decay to happen much more rapidly no we are to stymie the decay by our presence in the meat not just in the shaker that is in the church we are to be in the society making a difference for God and he says you and the Greek text literally means you and nobody else because I work through my church to affect what happens in society and in the culture so when you complain our bad the culture is you got to ask how salty is the salt in fact can we even find the salt or is it hidden in the shaker inside inside the cabinet you are the salt of the earth not only was salt the preservative but salt creates thirst you know when people drink salt water they get more thirsty because salt creates thirst I remember one day when I was at an airport and I was in the Admirals Club and they asked if I wanted something to drink what I wanted some ginger ale I got some ginger ale when they brought me the ginger ale they brought me a cup of snacks peanuts and pretzels all full of salt I didn't ask for that I didn't order that I just ordered a ginger ale but they brought those snacks unrequested and that was on purpose they did that because it's full of salt and they knew that if I drank my ginger ale and ate the snacks I would order and pay for another ginger ale anyone just being kind to me they were invoking me to another drink that I would pay for Jesus says you are the salt of the earth you know what our job is to preserve to endure the decay in society and to create thirst for our God and for his Savior you see it folk around you are getting thirsty because your faith is so vibrant so real then that means that you aren't creating thirst I'm not creating thirst the church is not creating thirst how can we have all these churches on all these corners with all these programs and all these buildings and all these Christians and all this activity and still have all this chaos in society the virus of racism and culturalism and classism the virus have divorced the virus of of moral decay how can we have all these viruses and even pandemics how can all this stuff be maybe it's because the salt can't be located it's a great biblical illustration of the importance of God's presence in society with sodom and gomorrah these were two cities located side by side where god pronounced in Genesis 18 he pronounced judgment because it had decayed so badly but then Abraham came to God and said will you destroy the righteous with the wicked he cut a deal with God he said if I can find 50 righteous will you save the city for the sake of the fifty and God agreed with the deal he said if you can find 50 folk who do things my way not their way then I'll spare the five hundred thousand however many were living there for the sake of the fifty abraham couldn't find 50 s and what about 40 couldn't okay 40 s and what about 30 couldn't locate 30 he said what about 20 he even went down to ten and God said I'd still do the deal so why was Sodom and Gomorrha destroyed it wasn't just for its moral decay or its oppression of the poor both of which were present in that society no it was destroyed because the righteous couldn't be located they had a good man in town named lot but lot suffered from our disease of personal peace and affluence he was so into his life his world his economics that he missed the purpose of why God had him there in fact he lost his own family when he was about to leave town his wife remembered Neiman Marcus and Saks and the mall and she looked back and became a pillar of guess what saw his two daughters left with him because his two sons and laws refused to go they had an incestuous relationship with their father I mean if light would have won his own family that would have been six people if they would have won one each that would have been 12 Abraham would have found ten and Sodom and Gomorrah would still be on the map why is our nation decayed our nation is decaying not just because of the evil and the viruses that are plaguing it its decaying because the righteous can't be located he says you are the salt of the earth and if the salt loses its saltiness he says it becomes tasteless and when it becomes tasteless he says who can make it salty again it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of men what does he mean well in Israel most of the homes of flat in biblical days people would do things like we do on porches they would have receptions on the roof weddings on the roof they would do things on the rooftop so there would be a lot of trotting walking the roof after a while that would create holes in the roof so it would rain in the house so they had to patch up the roof the way they would do that with gypsum they would mix gypsum with water turning into a paste coagulated with salt so it became like a clay put it over the holes on the roof that had been tried known for so long the Sun would bake the gypsum that's now mixed with water tied tightened by salt and hardened it to be a sealant like tar on top of the roof so water wouldn't get into the house the problem was now the salt was good for nothing because gypsum is bitter and so you couldn't get the saltiness of a salt because they'd gotten mixed and warded down by being mixed with gypsum so it was good for nothing except to be walked on do you know the world is walking on Christians and walking on the church do you know it's ignoring us not paying attention to us and not taking us seriously because we've gotten too worldly we've gotten too mixed up with secularism the secular way of thinking the non-christian approach to human definition human sexuality to the definition of marriage to the meaning of parenting to the role of children to what it looks like to be God's representative in the workplace see we we have we have adopted the media's definitions the secular definitions and we wonder why the viruses are getting worse in our society that's because we've gotten too mixed up with gypsum and so we're finding decay instead of development spiritually in our lives in our families in our churches and of course in the broader society you are the salt of the earth so if you want to save the culture Jesus is saying it's up to you not just being a Christian but being a disciple because he's talking to his disciples that that means you're a full-time follower not a part-time saint you you you you're a seven-day-a-week er not a to our Sunday visitor no you are the salt of the earth he goes on to say and you are the light of the world he says and you're not to be hidden your city on a hill you're not a lamp that's under a bed or under a basket he says what good is that you are the light last time I checked light only has one job one roll one responsibility and that is to shine light goes public light that's off is not a value light always overrides darkness what does it mean you are the light of the world it means you're the influencer you're supposed to be the influencer Christians are supposed to be influencing every segment of society not just influencing church services would it be God's representatives if you're doctor you're not just a doctor you're God's representative in the medical field so the medical field sees what God looks like when God helps hurting patients if you're a lawyer you're not just a lawyer you know you're God's representative in the Bar Association so the Bar Association sees what God looks like when God tries the case if you're a business person you're not just a business person you're God's representative in business so the business world sees what God looks like when God cuts a deal if you're a teacher you're not just a teacher you're God's representative in education so education sees what God what God looks like when he teaches truth if you're a housewife you're not just a housewife you're a demonstrating what God looks like when God is managing a well-ordered home if you're a trash collector you're not just a trash collector you're God's representative and cleanliness and stopping disease by the way you emptied the trash in everything you do wherever you go you're to be the light that is the divine influence representing God we call that being a kingdom representative you are a kingdom representative who has built a relationship with God who is drawing near to him and close this relationship and then publicly representing him you are the light of the world what good is a light that stays off if you're in the dark room and it's pitch black and you're bumping into things and your family is bumping into things and any visitors are bumping into things why because they can't see clearly but if you turn on a flashlight you've changed the equation haven't you because the darkness now must submit to you and the people following you know where to go our world is dark the problem is we've got Christians as dark as the world so they don't know where to go because we don't know where to go we bumping into stuff they bombing in the stuff we complain in the day bubble in the stuff they complain that we bump in as much as they're bumping so everybody's living in darkness when God says you're supposed to be the light folks are supposed to know which way to go because they see you know where to go why because you are following the light of the world he says what good is the light that's hidden what good is the like private no this is not a time for secret agent Christian spiritual c.i.a representatives and covert operatives know this is the time when Christians go public and they demonstrate they don't mind being known as followers of Jesus Christ I was invited in Dallas some years ago to open up in prayer for the City Council meeting and they sent me a note they said just don't mention Jesus because we have people here who are not into religion and so just a general God well I went down there and my prayer was basically in our Lord the City Council has asked me to come to you today to contact you about their decision making you told me if I wanted to get to you that the best way to do that is through the name of Jesus so since they want me to get to you I come to you in Jesus's name first of all I thank you for creating the City Council because if you didn't create them then they couldn't be here to make decisions and according to your word everything that was created was created by Christ Jesus so I have to thank Jesus that they here then I want to thank you for government because you created government it's supposed to be a Ministry of God and that was written by Paul the Apostle that apostle that met Jesus on the Damascus Road so lord I pray that you bless their decision making that you give them wisdom and I ask all of this in Jesus name Amen you say if you don't want to hear about Jesus don't invite me because when you invite me Jesus comes with me and he should come with you and everybody who claims to be a Christian why we close our prayers in the name of Jesus because that is the mechanism God has given for us to accents the accent and access him and so the father in heaven says how you treating the Sun because how you treating the Sun affects how the father views your discussion with him so the question is are you an influencer or do you stay generic God cuz that's safe you don't want to be too Christian now when I talk about being bombastic but we are talking about being clear not being like an undecided voter you know we're in this political season and people deciding who they're voting on well you know we got to under - many undecided Christians when person decides who they vote on they put it on their bumper they put it in their yard they got placards going on why they declaring who they're voting for I'm asking who you're voting for you're the salty there you're the light of the world can we see your vote and put it another way on your job when you can get back to it on your job if they accused you of being a visible verbal follower of Christ would you be convicted of all charges or would you be found innocent of any charge because you're not clear you're a vague follower of Christ no I'm going to my whether you go to church I meant to my whether you believe in God I'm telling my whether you are a visible verbal follower of Christ because that will affect how much of Christ you experience and how much of impact you make when you decide I want to get close to you Lord Jesus and then I want to publicly represent you now you've gotten God the Father and Jesus the sons undivided attention he says in verse 16 - now let men see your good works not just hear your good words because anybody can talk a good game let them see your good works let them see the things you do that are consistent with my will that's a good work that's not a good thing atheists can do a good thing and a theist can be a philanthropist and a theist can build orphanages and a theist can build hospital you don't have to believe in God to do a good thing but we're not discussing doing good things we talked about doing good work a good work is a god-ordained activity that he can authorize for which he gets the credit in other words if God can't be connected to it it's not a good work it's a good thing he wants to be connected to it he wants it to be clear that he is standing with you in it and standing behind you for it therefore you can't exclude him you can't push him off to the sidelines you can't ignore him no he says let men see your good works you know when you turn on your television you don't just want the sound you want the site you want sight and sound you want what is being said to be supported by what is being seen so if you've not been a quality representative of God it's time to repent God accepts repentance that's where you just you make it known I am turning from my secret agent status I'm turning from just being salt in the shaker I'm turning from just being a SMO Sunday morning only I'm turning from being a bedside Baptist or mattress Methodist I'm turning from just being a casual Saint to being a committed Christian and yes I'm going to return to your word I'm going to return on my knees and I'm gonna return to getting to know you intimately and then representing you publicly as your kingdom representative yes I'm gonna I'm gonna turn because one of the reasons for this pandemic is to wake up the church now yes he wants to wake up the world but he wants to do it through a awakened Church he wants us to stop sleeping he wants us to return to our first love and he wants to be that first love which means passionately pursuing him and then publicly representing him let men see you good works and then he says and glorified your father who is in heaven and glorify your father who is in heaven that word glory is found throughout the Bible the theme of the Bible is the glory of God through the advancement of his kingdom that is the whole theme of all 66 books of the Bible the glory of God through the advancement of his kingdom so the question is what does the word glory mean let's talk about glory the word glory comes from a concept that means wait II remember growing up in the day back in the day old school you you would say boy that dude sure is heavy now you weren't talking about his weight you were talking about how deep they were in a particular area maybe they were real smart you say I do to show he show his heavy you were talking about the greatness of somebody when you talked about their heaviness their weightiness well when the Bible talks about the glory of God is talking about his weightiness how heavy he is it's talking about giving him the weight that his name is do treating him like he is and for what he's worth to glorify God means to put him on advertisement to put him on display to create a banner where he is clearly seen you and I are God's advertisement agency Christians individually and the church corporately we're the ad campaign for the God of the Bible through his son the Lord Jesus Christ where is that agency so the question is what kind of advertisement are we giving about our great God how are we advertising him through the influence that we are making in a corrupt in a secular and in a godless society as salt and light and through the good works we're demonstrating those good works come in a lot of different ways it comes in ministering to the homeless ministry to the poor helping the widow and the orphan it comes through supporting the up and out and the down-and-out with the good news of sharing our faith when's the last time you witness to somebody and ask them about their eternal destiny what is the last time you've inconvenience yourself to make life better for somebody else at our Church in Dallas we've handed our cards these cards people can pick up for free at the bookstore that's simply our acts of kindness card we say whenever you run across somebody that has a need you see and God prompts you to meet that need in some way whether it's helping an old lady across the street picking up groceries for somebody or helping a homeless person get a meal it can come in a million different ways after you do that act of kindness you hand them a card a card says this is an act of kindness from a member of Oakland Bible fellowship here in Dallas and if you need anything else here's how you can contact us then we say you pray with that person then after you pray with that person if there is an opportunity you should have a gospel with that person so we have hundreds and hundreds of people from our congregation all over handing out these cards doing good work in fact one lady who I ran into who one of our members had helped and given a card to because she was in a wheelchair and they had served her when she when the member gave them a card she said oh you must be from from that church Oakland Bible fellowship because y'all everywhere oh that's what we want to hear God's people everywhere cuz we're supposed to be everywhere doing good stuff good works not just good things because we bring God into it and we bring the gospel into it but we don't just tell people how to get to heaven we tell them how we can help make their life better on earth on our way to heaven that's what good works do you know you can look good as a bowler you can look sophisticated as a bowler you know they got bowling pants bowling shirts polish shoes bowling socks fancy bowling bags fancier bowling balls you put your three-ball fingers in there you can spin that thing but if that ball is rolling down the gutter you're a good-lookin failure because how good you look is it relevant to the impact you're making the goal of Ebola is to knock down pins that look good if you can look good while you're knock down pins good but make sure you're knocking down pins how many pins are you knocking down how many pins will you knock down when this pandemic is over the virus has ceased and the world goes back to normal are you gonna knock down some pins or are you just gonna look good in a bowling alley of church oh no this is the time for impact this is the time for Kingdom people to make Kingdom impact its Kingdom in King the women Kingdom parents Kingdom church members and Kingdom citizens because you're influencers salt light because you represent the king you know in television and movies they show you previews of coming attractions those are the hot clips of the upcoming show love scene fight scene chase scene now the movie may be terrible but you never know about Eclipse because the clips are always hot clips well that's a big show coming to town God is the producer of the holy spirit of the director Jesus is the superstar and it will be a worldwide production it's called the kingdom of God in the meantime he's left you and me here as previews of coming attractions we're supposed to be the hot clips of the upcoming show so that when people see the clips of our impact they raise the question how much does it cost to watch the show that's what we can tell them it doesn't cost anything the price has already been paid so I want to invite you now if you're serious about being a visible public representative Christ and influencer with good words and good works and you will advertise the father and you will be a disciple of Christ I want you to commit to that right now around community get that juice that crack of that piece of bread cuz we're still the church even though we're scattered now we're the church scattered not the church gathered and I want you to tell the Lord then you can only we can have all of you that you commit to being a visible public representative of him starting now you can't change yesterday but you have a lot to say today about how things are going to look tomorrow and because of what he did on the cross for you you willing to represent him remember if it wasn't for the cross you wouldn't have an eternal destiny if wasn't for the cross you wouldn't have forgiveness of sins in history if it wasn't for the cross you wouldn't have you wouldn't get a second chance and all of us need second chances don't we the Cross offers you all of that and the resurrection guarantees it so because of the cross and the resurrection you can now make the commitment to follow Christ his body was broken for you and for me let's eat any members of him his blood was shed for you and for me for our Redemption and the experience of eternal life let's drink in celebration of him and now it's time to go public by the way you don't have to wait till you go back to work I'll go back outside technology you can go public right now and be witnesses for Christ through technology and letting people know about your stand for the save [Music]

Channel: Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Views: 36,984

Rating: 4.8994765 out of 5

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Id: JbPaLfmptNs

Length: 70min 20sec (4220 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 19 2020