Transcription
Church family, let's stand if you would and open our Bibles to Romans chapter 9. Excuse me, Romans chapter 12:9. Oh my gosh, Romans 9 would mean we'd go back about a year ago. Romans 12:9. And I'll read, uh, verse 9. If you pick it up in verse 10 together: "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. Not lagging in what is that word? Diligence. Very, very, very powerful word. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing steadfastly in prayer." Wow. "Distributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality."
Father, we come that we might see Jesus in the pages of your scriptures. We thank you, Almighty God, that Jesus himself, coming in this world veiled in human skin, was the revelation of the very will of God, the Word of God made flesh, who dwelt among us. And so, Lord, help us to have a greater esteem of your word. That we hold the printed page in our hands, but yet it says of itself that it is able to be embossed upon our hearts. And that very Word became flesh. That very Word was crucified. That very Word was risen from the dead. That very Word, the Logos, the will of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We pray, Father, now for you to inhabit our praise and worship and the study of the Bible together. Now in Jesus name, and all God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated.
So, you guys, I'm supposed to talk today. I'm not supposed to preach or teach out loud. My throat is gone. I haven't been feeling well. Somebody, I, I've been, here's the deal. I'm gonna be honest with you. I love greeting people. I love welcoming people. I, I'm either out in the front or in the back, in the courtyard somewhere. And, and I was, uh, just getting better. And last Sunday, this guy came up to me and he gave me a big, huge hug and he shook my hand and he was grabbing me by the shoulders and he was telling me how much this ministry meant to him. And I'm so grateful. And he said, "I know I just had to get out of bed today. I had to come here." No, he said, he said, "I've been sicker than a dog. And even, and even now." And I, and I'm thinking, "I'd like to just strangle you right now." No, no, not, not, I'm just kidding. But I thought, I just, I just did say to myself, though, I said, "Oh, Lord, I leave early tomorrow morning for a week-long of speaking, and I just need your strength." And Tuesday, I, it didn't work. God didn't hear my prayer. Tuesday, I got sick. And, um, so I'm supposed to talk. Lisa, Lisa said, "If I, I'm gonna watch all the services. And if you talk loud, you, I'm gonna beat you up." So, um, for those of you, um, who normally expect me to yell at you when I'm teaching, that's not gonna happen today. I don't think so.
Oh, we're looking at this message titled "Walk and Talking All the Way to Heaven," and this is part two of our message together. As we've read that section, it's so beautiful because, as I mentioned to you before, that Paul breaks his mode of teaching. Uh, Paul's teaching style is so illustrious. It's so top-shelf. Uh, it's remarkable how God uses people from Moses, uh, throughout all of scripture. Remember Moses, the, the craftsman, the author, uh, humanly speaking, to the first five books of the Bible. And there's Moses's, uh, style of writing. And then there's Joshua's style of writing. And this is true for all the books of the Bible. Each of the individuals used to have their style. And I love this because Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, not our personality. And you need to revel in that. Don't, don't try to be somebody else. Be the, be the person that God has made you to be in Christ Jesus. As you trust Him, your sins have been forgiven. You, you've been given a brand new life. But the personality that you are, that is given to you by God, and He loves that. So He says, "Well, I'm not very funny, so I'm gonna try to be funny." Listen, if it hurts you to be funny, don't be funny. Or vice versa. Or this, that, or the other thing. You know?
But Paul, the Apostle, when he wrote, he wrote with such incredible intellect because why? Because he was an extremely brilliant man. Not only in church history do we know this to be true, but even in Roman secular history, as well as Jewish history, tells us that the man was brilliant. Gel, who is one of the greatest philosophers and teachers of the time, an actual historical person, wrote about Paul the Apostle and declared that he was such a carnivorous reader that he couldn't keep Paul in books. That was the statement. "I could not keep Paul in books because he would eat up the books." And that comes out in the authorship of his books of the Bible in the New Testament. Everything changes in this chapter, and it's a very precious moment that in this section that we're looking at, and we'll see next week together also. As we saw last week, that he gives this, we would say, uh, in a military sense, he peppers the crowd with machine gun fire of truth. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, like this. Instead of long sentences and long paragraphs, he gives you this buckshot of brilliance.
Before we get into this, remember the title now. It's important to us, "Walking and Talking All the Way to Heaven." The Bible reminds us regarding this for our lives. Malachi, or if you're Italian, it's Malachi, the Italian Hebrew prophet, chapter 3:6. A lot of people say, "How can you get a good verse, uh, of encouragement out of chapter 3 out of Malachi?" Malachi, uh, in chapter three, God is, is really taking it to his people, uh, for ripping them off. But in verse 16, there's this tender statement. God says, "Then there are those who feared the Lord and spoke, uh, to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them." So a book of remembrance was written before Him, that is the Lord, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name. Three times, by the way, in one verse, three times the name of God is revealed. And you see it there: Lord, that is Yah, or we would say Yahweh. I love that. Then those who feared Yahweh spoke to one another. Now, the word "fear," you guys know what the word "fear" means. It doesn't mean that you're not afraid of God. It means that you're in reverential awe of God. You are in awe of God. And the Lord listened. I find that beautiful. When you and I talk to one another about the Lord, the Lord bends His ear into your conversation. He likes that. I like that. He likes that. And then He writes it down in His book of remembrance. The Bible here tells us that God's got a diary. He's got a, a memory box. He's got a, uh, he's got some sort of a binder, so to speak. As you speak about God, and as you worship the Lord and praise the Lord and converse with one another, how beautiful it is for us to carry on the conversation among the church, even when we go on our way, maybe driving home or talking to others, where our conversation continues on. And I love that.
And here's a great Old Testament example of us walking and talking with God. In Genesis chapter 5, verse 21. I think you probably thought I was going to go here anyway. Enoch. I can't wait to meet Enoch. Isn't it crazy? Listen, Enoch. Enoch's son was the longest-living person on Earth. Did you listen? This is a trick question. Enoch's son was the longest-living human on Earth, but Enoch lived longer than his son. Exactly. Because Enoch never died. Enoch lived 65 years. He's just a kid. And begat Methuselah. After he begat Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Enoch were 365 years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. You know what that word "took" means? Translated in Hebrew, it means God snatched him off the Earth. It means that Enoch was walking with God, and God lifted him off the Earth. That's what it means. The old man had a son who lived longer than him on Earth, but Enoch never died. Enoch wound up living forever, never tasting of death. Enoch, and he walked with God. I was looking, and I couldn't do it. Ran out of time. I was looking for Jay Vernon McGee's audio version of that verse, and there's nothing like it. If you find it, listen to it. And he goes like this: "One day, that Enoch was walking with God, and he would walk with God every day. And as they walked and they had their fellowship together, come on, Enoch was walking with God. And one day God said to Enoch, 'You know, Enoch, the day is getting late. Shadows are being cast. Why don't you come home with me, Enoch? It's closer to my home than it is for you to go back to your home and make pieces.' So God took him home." And I, and I love that. Now, that was a horrible Jay Vernon McGee. You got to hear it in his own voice. It's just awesome. And that's exactly what happened.
And my dear friends, listen, church family, someday, I pray it's in our lifetime. I pray it's today, that you and I are going to be talking about the Lord. We're gonna talk, we're gonna be talking with the Lord. And there's gonna be a day when the Lord says, "Why don't you just come on up?" And, uh, I hope that happens today collectively. But you know, there's brothers and sisters in this church and around the world that may experience Jesus today personally, just in death. A church this size, we have babies being born almost every day, and we've got people going home to Jesus every day. But the key is to walk with God and to talk with God and to know Him. And we love that about our God.
And so, church, last time we saw this together, "Walking and Talking All the Way to Heaven," we saw that in verse 9 in our first, uh, lesson. It was so, "Be who you are now." That is in Jesus Christ. And we summed it up this way: We said that it's found in the verses, in the passages of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'm going to ask all of you to think now and test yourself against the scripture. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, remember this verse." We, we pushed on it pretty hard last week. "He's a new creation. You've been made brand new in Jesus. All things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ." These are statements of fact, friend. "And has given us the ministry of reconciliation." That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. In other words, God has given you and I the ability to make up and get other people to make up with one another because God has made up with us and we with Him. Verse 20 says, "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." And so, this is who we are now. We are to live a life like this. We are new creations. And we who are His in Christ live a different life. This is so, so precious.
The second thing is what we see today, church. In fact, I'm gonna give it all. I'm gonna give last week, this week, and next week, just for order. Watch this. Today, we're studying verses 10 and 11. And it's this: that we are to do what we are now. What we are. That's who we are to be, living life out as that we've been made new creations. But how do we live that out? And in this, we look at Ephesians 2, verse 7. And again, if you're taking your notes, this is going to benefit you later. This is deep stuff. That "in the ages to come," let me translate that, "in the eons." Okay? So that word means that for all time and eternity, He, God, might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness towards us. Here it is, "in Christ Jesus." That's an awesome statement. It means that because people will say, "What are we gonna be doing in heaven? It's gonna be boring." You know what you're gonna be finding out in heaven forever? You're gonna be finding out all about the exceeding riches of His grace. I have no idea what that means. Nobody does. You like surprises? I hate surprises. But I think I'm gonna like this kind of surprise. For all eternity, you are gonna be learning about how much God loves you. And who God is in His character and His nature is absolutely stunning to me. And here's the big benefit as to how that's gonna happen: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." See that term again? "In Christ Jesus." "For good works, which God prepared beforehand." That is, God prepared before you were ever born, in eternity, He prepared beforehand good works for you, "that we should walk in them." That's what we're gonna talk about today.
And then next week, it's in verses 12 to 13. And it's this: "So go where you are now." Meaning, from where you're at now, be going. And this is next week. But look at John 10. John chapter 10, verse 14. Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd; I know My sheep, and am known by My own." As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. Notice the relationship between the Son and the Father and the sheep are inseparable. Verse 16: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold." Translation: "Other sheep I have who are not Jews." Because remember, He came to the house of Israel first. The gospel went to the Jewish people first. It wasn't until the book of Acts that we see it going full throttle to the Gentile world. "That other fold is us. Them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one Shepherd." Can you say amen? There's gonna be one flock and one Shepherd in all time and eternity. Oh, I, I'm excited about it. Yeah, you can clap about that. Give me time to cough.
Um, this last week, I was pulled in all kinds of directions. As everybody who is at the National Religious Broadcasters convention. It's the largest convention in the world of Christian broadcasters, be it podcasting, television, or radio. It's a big deal. And, um, if you can name the person, uh, they're there. And, um, in one of the situations, and I can say this now because I'm safely home right now and I'm not in Texas, um, but you know, you're, it's like this. You can pull this and this and this, and it sounds glamorous, but it's brutal work, people. When you're getting, this organization is pulling on you for an interview, and then this is another interview. And it's kind of a weird thing. I don't like it personally. I go because I'm supposed to go. It's not my thing. This is my thing. That you, this is my thing. And so somebody asked me at the end, "What was your most memorable situation this week?" Well, that was easy. One of the situations pulled me into a hotel room that was basically dismantled and they set it up as a studio. And there was this, this Rabbi from Jerusalem. And I walk in. I'm not even sure what I'm doing. I'm, I'm not kidding. It says, "Go to, go to this room." And, uh, it's this ministry, something. And I show up, and this guy's asking questions, questions. "And we heard about your church and about Israel and about this and about the Bible. And you teach the Old Testament and the New Testament. Why do you do that?" And I said, "Well, you're okay. I'm gonna, can I answer now?" So I started answering. And I stay completely out of the New Testament because he's Jewish. I'm not gonna go to the New. I just stick, I just stay to the Old. And he's going, "Hmm. Yeah. Well, yes." And then I did what you already know is coming up. I said, "I know this is your interview." I'm quoting myself now. I said, "I know this is your interview, but do you mind if I ask you a question?" He said, "Oh, that's fine. What is it?" I go, "Do you have a Hebrew Bible?" He said, "Of course. I am, I'm Jewish." I said, "In Hebrew?" "Yes, of course." I said, "Can you turn to Proverbs 30:4? Can you do that for me?" Now, he's recording. And he goes, "Who, who has ascended into heaven?" Oh, he says, "Beautiful." He said, "Yes, it is." "And who has descended?" "Yes." "Who has hallowed the seas in His hand? And who has kept the fold of the wind in His robe?" And he just, "Beautiful. It is beautiful, isn't it?" And he says, "And what is His name? And what is the name of of His son?" And then he goes, "And the next verse says..." And I start, "I go, 'No, no, no, no, no. Next verse.'" I said, "You asked me why." I said, "My God's Jewish. My Messiah is Jewish. My God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." And friend, listen, God just said in Proverbs 30:4, that's 3,000 years old, 3,000 years ago, God said, "What's my name? And what's the name of my son?" And I said, "Did you know that all around the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem, in that Muslim mosque, in Arabic, it says, 'God is not begotten.' I agree with that. God is not begotten. God doesn't have a beginning. He doesn't have an end. But the next phrase behind that is, 'Nor does God have a son.'" And I said, "Is it in Islam that it's so important to them that God does not have a son?" And he was speechless. And when I saw the look on his face, I fell in love with the man. Fell in love with his soul, for his soul. Because I told him that the fact of the matter is, as a Gentile, I've been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, says the scriptures. It's quite amazing, the goodness of our God. There's one fold, ladies and gentlemen. It's not made up of black and white, or red, or green, or any other color, or any other race of pigmentation. But there's the household of believers. Did you know Nicodemus? Nicodemus, I believe Nicodemus got saved. If you read the entire Bible, the Gospels, Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night. Where do you find Nicodemus? In John's Gospel, at the end. At the end of Jesus's earthly life, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are are taking, they're the only two guys taking down the body of Jesus and laying Jesus's body in Arimathea's tomb. I think Nicodemus became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does that happen? The same way it happened to you. And the same way that it happened to you, you come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and you trust Him.
So church, let's look at this together. Verses 10 and 11. As we walk and as we talk all the way to heaven, we do that as what we are today in Christ Jesus. Verse 10 says, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another. Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." The first thing we want to look at, this people, and write it down please, if you would, is that we do the acts of the Father. There's gonna be three, as you can figure out. Number one point is that we do the acts of the Father, seeing how He is our Father, we are His children. And the Holy Spirit, who we'll talk about last, the Holy Spirit's mission is for you and I to act like our Father, and to be like our Father, and to speak like our Father. And so when verse 10 says, "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love," why is that important to us? Because this is the will of God. You may be here today, first time ever in a church. God bless you. What is God's will for my life? You might be asking. It's a simple answer. Listen: Love God and love those around you. You say, "Well, I, I'm all excited about doing that." Good. Just know this: You won't be able to do it on your own. It's gonna take the work of God in your life. But don't worry, God will do that in your life. We do the acts of the Father. We act like our Father.
Now, we have a new Father, ladies and gentlemen. And all of us, in our human, human upbringing, all of us have carried into our relationships today and in our life acts of our earthly father, good, bad, or ugly. Can somebody say amen to this? You know it's true. Have you ever been growing up and you said things? Remember when you're a teenager and your, your dad said something to you and you said to yourself, "Man, when I'm older, I will never say that in my life, 'cause boy, was that a weird thing to say." And then you're 33 years old, and you wind up saying the exact same thing. Or 47, or 62, and you say, "Where did that come from?" Well, first of all, it was in, it was stamped inside of you by the fact that you're in a family, good, bad, or ugly. And by the way, let's, let's be honest, because after service, I can't greet anybody after service because I don't want to get you sick and I don't want to get you sicker. Somebody would say to me after service, "Well, I came from a very dysfunctional home." And I would say to you, "Get in line." Amen. Do you understand what dysfunctional means? Dysfunctional means it doesn't work right. No one has a family that works exactly right. But God, in His infinite wisdom, please hear me. Whatever you would say today was the life experience that you had growing up under your father, or maybe that's too tender to use the term father, maybe "Dad." Oh, maybe that makes it worse. Maybe that's too tender for some people. You can't even call your earthly father "Dad." Our Father, you have to call him by his name because there's too much pain, there's too much association with that which wounded you and in some degree shaped you. But isn't it amazing that our Father in Heaven comes into our lives and He transforms us? It's not so much so that He transforms us because we are so broken. News flash: we're all broken. He doesn't come down and say, "Oh boy, Jack, are you so broken? If I ever get you into heaven, I'm gonna have to just really get some Bondo and some fiberglass and some paint, and man, I'm gonna have to really work on you." That's not what He says. The only way, Jack, that you can make it into my heaven, and I want you to be there with all of my life that I gave at the cross, is for you to understand that I'm gonna put my life inside of you. I'm gonna put my world, Jack, inside of you. I'm gonna put my value, my love, my desire inside of you, and you will be my child, and I will be your Father. And for many of us, we've had to unpack the input of our earthly father so that we might be able to rise to the embracing of our earthly, or I should say, our heavenly Father, because He's all together perfect and lovely, and He's beautiful. And so when the Bible says that we need to really conduct ourselves like Him, just remember, you were born into this earthly family, and you carry attributes of this earthly family. But when you are born again into the family of God, for the rest of your life, you start to take on the nature of your new Father. And that is a very good day. That's a very good thing.
And so it goes like this. He says, "Be kindly affectionate." Kindly affectionate. That's an amazing statement because, uh, this "kindly" in the Greek language, by the way, you might see it in your English Bible, it might be even, uh, either highlighted or in italics, it means it's been added by the translators because the word appears by "affectionate" in a double sense, meaning that the word "affectionate," and I'll read it to you in a second, is so powerful. But for the English reader, uh, the word says they're "kindly affectionate." And we don't use that word "kindly" in the sense that it's, uh, being given to us in scripture. I think I mentioned to you last week, uh, if I, if I did, depends on what service, if I, I'll just repeat it, but, um, I was traveling somewhere recently. And remember, I did, I tell you guys, were somebody there was someone that couldn't reach the, the stuff at the top of the shelf? Remember that? So this woman was trying to reach the thing at the grocery store at the top of the shelf, and I was walking by, and she's going, and she's trying to reach this thing. And, um, and so I just reached up and I grabbed. I go, "Here you go." And I started to go. And she goes, "Thank you kindly." It was, it was in the South. And "thank you kindly." Is that just, I mean, that's kind of cool, don't you think? Because we're from the land of, "Yo, what's up, Monday?" And it was, "Thank you kindly." And I just thought, "Well, isn't it funny? Here I am, still talking about it for the second week in a row." Makes an impact. Kindly affect, see. Look at the word in the Greek language here that is given us by the Holy Spirit. The word means family affection, tender caring, practical love, expressed love, to be lovingly devoted. This is God's family. Now, listen, everybody fight this off. I know that your thoughts are, "I didn't have that kind of earthly family." Most of us didn't. Stop it. This is our family now. Listen, you and I, in Jesus, in Christ, you and I are closer. You say, "Do you even know my name?" I know a lot of your names. If I had it my way, I'd know all your names. But here's the deal: If you and I are in Christ, you and I are gonna show each other exactly this familial, family affection. What do you need? Can I help you? How can I make life easier for you? Let's do this together. Let's embark upon this vision. Let's roll up our sleeves together, from the changing of a tire to the building of a house, to the plotting of a ministry, to the end of life. How do we hold each other's hands? Walk through things in life? This portion of scripture, as I said earlier, this is Paul the Apostle peppering with a machine gun type of delivery. This is who we are in Jesus. This is the new family we're in. If blood is thicker than water, I made this up, by the way. If you ever read this, it came from me first. I've been saying this for 50 years. If blood is thicker than water, then spirit is thicker than blood. See, what do you mean? Well, when somebody says, "Well, you know what? We're blood." You know what that means? We're related to each other. And, uh, in a family, when you're related, when you're blood, that's a blood relative of mine. Ooh, okay. That means something. But you know what's amazing to me? Those of you, I don't know if you have any, if any of you have adoption in your family at all? That breaks all of that. I gotta tell you, when you, when there's adoption in your family, there's none of this blood stuff. It's a, it's a work of God. It's a supernatural thing because it's all, all based upon love. Love is so thick that it's thicker than blood. And when I say love, I interchange that and exchange that one with another in the, in the realm of the spirit, the spirit life that you and I share. It's thicker than blood life. Many of us are closer with one another than we are with our blood relatives. Why? Because you and I are citizens of Heaven. We're brothers and sisters of one another. And God has been doing a work. And so we do the acts of the Father. The kids will act like the Father. Here's the good news: Our Father is God, and is the God of all light, and He's the God of all love.
And then that word "brotherly." It won't be a surprise to you. Philadelphia, the love of brothers for one another, a bond of love, resulting, listen, having resulted in oneness or union by relation, by mission. Oh, this is broadening out, isn't it? By experience, example, a band of brothers, the result of experiencing and surviving a life event. This is the Christian Church. You know what's awesome about us being brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus? The more that you and I do together to the glory of God the Father, the closer you and I become. And we will love on each other better than any love that can be given to us in this world by any other means. Listen, the Bible tells us this was so true with David and Jonathan, that their love for one another as brothers was inseparable. When one died, as it were, the other one died. I find that amazing because how many times does someone tell us that they are the surviving, uh, set of twins, and they can't stop thinking about their twin brother or their twin sister? If that's true in the flesh, isn't it even more true in the spirit? I believe that God, in these last days, is working in our lives that we might think of one another and love on each other and to get, as it were, in the skin of one another, to feel all of that.
Listen to this revelation chapter 3. You guys okay? Good. Revelation 3:7. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, Turkey, write these things, says He who is holy, this is Jesus speaking, He who is true, He who is the Key of David." I love this because, uh, these are Gentiles, and Jesus is telling a bunch of Gentiles that He's the one that has the Key of David. That's cool. And here's a verse that changed our lives as a church not too long ago during COVID. "He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens." Wow. I could write a book on that. "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it." Not even for, uh, for you have a little strength. Isn't that sweet? "You have kept My word, you have not denied My name." The Word is the Word of God. The Name is the Name Jesus. "Indeed, I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not" (replacement theology, but lie) "indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you because you have kept My command to persevere. You've hung in there." Listen, you want to be a Philadelphia. And everybody in these last days, the seven letters to the seven churches, you want to be this church, the Philadelphian church. We pray that we are Philadelphian believers in this church all the time. If this church ceases from being a Philadelphian church, I'm leaving, and I'm going to where a Philadelphia church is at, because this is the church you want to be. And He says, "Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God." That's in heaven. "And he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God." See, not all tattoos are bad. "And the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of Heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name." I want to say right away, Jesus, just write away, write your name, write the name of your city all over me. And I love that. "You have kept My word, you have persevered, and you've not denied My name." That's the, that's the desire that the Father has for us.
And notice how Jesus honors the Father. Listen, John 13:1. This is an amazing passage or verse that opens up into a passage that we'll see in a moment. It speaks of the infinite love that is in action, uh, for you and for me, the Father's love. And you and I are to be like Him. We would pray, "Lord, make me more like You, Father." Before I read this, I'm just having this flash in my mind. My dad. And those of you who, now I can't speak for the Navy, I can't speak for the Army or the Air Force or the Guards, but I grew up in a Marine Corps home. And all my dad's life, he folded his clothing and he made his bed and he tucked his shirts in the way that the Marine Corps had taught. It's very unique. And when you see somebody who's in the Marines or have, or they used to be in the Marines, you can tell when you're walking behind them because their shirt is tucked in a certain way, and it's quite impressive, I must tell you. It's like, "What kind of shirt is that?" Well, it's a normal shirt, but it's the way they tuck it in. Are you hearing me? And I remembered being a little kid trying to take my t-shirts because I saw my dad's shirts like that, and they looked so smart. And I, I remember trying to do that, and it took me forever, and I never could do it. But I grew up in my life. Every time I, when I iron my clothes, I like to iron clothes. I'm just, that's what I do. I like to, she's not here right now. I can, I like, I like doing windows. I feel good when I do windows. Do you feel good when you do windows? I, I don't want to see glass. I want to see, like, I want to clean windows to the point you can't even tell there's glass on the house. I just love that. And ironing. There's something about it like, "That thing's wrinkled, or that thing's dirty, and I did something about it." There's a feeling like, "Yeah." And I would try to do that with my shirt. I could never do it. But I remember doing something that my father had done, and it kind of was the symbol of him in my little mind. Are you with me? Yes. And so I, I'm look, I'm 67 years old, and I'm talking to you about it even still. And there are attributes of our great Heavenly Father that we are to take on. And we may spend the rest of our lives trying to obtain or trying to achieve that. But that's called sanctification. Church, are you listening? As, as we grow along, this beautiful thing is happening in our lives. We want to walk like Him. When we speak, we want to speak representing Him. Have we grown up to realize that we don't need to say our own words into the crowd? They're worthless. Some, listen, not you, but people in other churches, they're, they have their opinion so high of themselves. "You need to hear what I have to say." No, we don't. And I tell you what, the more you listen to your Heavenly Father, the less you're impressed with what you have to say. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't want to talk, I want Him to talk. I don't need to do, I want Him to do.
John 13, verse 1. Watch this now. "Before the Feast of the Passover, so Jesus is nearing the end of His life here, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." Okay, I don't know about you, but that is one of the most precious statements in the entire Bible. Moving down to John 13, watch this, verse 31. "So when he had gone out, Jesus said, 'Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me, and as I said to the Jews, "Where I am going, you cannot come," so now I say to you. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And by this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.'" That is the most powerful statement. "I'm nearing the end of my earthly life here. I have shown you everything you need to know. I have no more things to say to you," Jesus says. "The wheels are set in motion that will lead to my crucifixion, to my resurrection. Just know this: When I die on the cross, it's not the end. It is the beginning of the opportunity for you to go forth and to love one another. And the whole world will know that you know Me because you'll love one another." Can you imagine on the third day when He rose again from the dead? The power of love, with an exclamation point on it! That love was lived out to the point of death. And then Christ Jesus announcing to us, "I'm going back to the Father where I came from. Here's your marching orders, church: Love." Amen. Love.
We also know in verse 10, which is our second consideration, is that we do the acts of the Son. We are to do the acts of the Son, Jesus, the Son of God. Now, it says in verse 10, "in honoring, giving preference to one another." In honor. The word "honor" is spelled like "time," "our," "earth," or "our" English word "time." To me, and the word means to value. Watch this. We're supposed to honor each other. Watch this: to value or to be valuing others, having placed a high price upon or mark upon others. To honor another is to have the awareness that you are conversing with another whom Jesus Christ loves. That's the meaning of this word. You know what's awesome about this? This is incredible. You and I are supposed to so love each other that we are supposed to get lost in who we are ourselves. Did you get that? As a church family, we are to determine right now, "Oh my gosh, so I'm a Christian. I'm a Christ follower. And I am to act like my Father now. And I am to act like His Son. Jesus is my prototype. He's my role model. He's who I pattern my life after." And He showed us how to love. And this is a remarkable thing. I wrote this down. You can see it in the notes. How do you treat others in your life? By the words and the deeds coming from your life. My life is your life. My life. We are communicating. So from here, I don't know about today. It's a cloudy day. Thank God for the clouds. Be nice if it rained, but we're thankful for the clouds. But if it was a clear day, you could look from here, and you can see Mount Wilson from this building. You can see Mount Wilson right there by Pasadena. And what's on top? Anybody? What's on the top of Mount Wilson? All kinds of antennas. All kinds. Jet Propulsion Laboratory's got antennas up there. Media has, uh, has theirs up there. Edwards Air Force Base, they've got their, uh, communications and research up there. And all of these things are represented there on top this mountain, and they're communicating. And the believer, we might not be on top of a mountain, but we are like transmitting life or love. And in this, we're to be giving honor to each other. It's, and let me unpack this, and I'm gonna, I don't know else to do this. I have to be honest with you. I've read so many commentaries on this, and it was kind of dry, to be honest with you. I read some great guys. I'm not gonna say their names. I mean, they're dead, gone now, that what, but they're great. But it's just like, "That's it." Don't you want to say more sometimes? You know, you can study the Bible, but you really do yourself an injustice because you think you've got to hurry up to get to something, and then you miss a gem. It's almost like, uh, you know, mining for gold, and you quit just one strike too soon, you know?
See, this word "preference." This is epic to me. To pioneer. Wait a minute. We who are Christians this morning, we are to pioneer before, or as a leader, to give preference. Watch this. This is so cool. It makes no sense in the world to give preference to by leading the way. So, wait a minute. If I give preference to, doesn't that put me in the front? Oh, yes, it does. Watch, everyone. It's amazing. The very word means to go ahead of others. A servant leader that leads by living ahead of, not leaving, living ahead of, or being in front of, or by making a pathway for the others. That's tough. Listen, this is tough to teach on. It almost makes no sense. Are you guys listening? To preference others means I will go ahead. I'll go first. Oh, but the first should be last, and the last shall be first. Yes, of course. This is different. This doesn't replace. It's different. This is living it out. Watch this. Imagine you're going to be a pioneer. The word presupposes there's no path. So you wait here. It's very dangerous. I don't know what the next slash of the machete, if I'm gonna fall off a cliff or get eaten by a lion. It kind of goes like this. You go, you go to a, maybe, maybe you go into a scary, uninhabited house. I wish I had the time to tell you something. When I was in high school, downtown Long Beach, there was an abandoned high-rise that's about 40 stories tall. It's been revamped now, and it's a very beautiful building. Back in those days, it was abandoned. Had a big fence around it, barbed wire, and everything. And it was condemned by the city. That was a junior in high school, and we used to, all of us guys, we used to take all of our dates there. Oh, it was awesome because, listen, totally legal, totally illegal. We cut the fence and we'd go in there late at night. Oh, not for what you're thinking. It was terrifying in there. And there was no cell phones in those days. We actually had candles or flashlights, and we would go up. And the whole thing was, who can go up the most flights of stairs without freaking out? And the fun part was the girlfriends that we would take up there, they're screaming, they're terrified, and we felt like we were men because we weren't screaming on the outside. We learned something. If we did it with just us guys, we wimped out. We couldn't bank it past the fifth floor. But we could get to the 20th floor if we had some girl with us that we're trying to impress. So don't worry, don't be afraid. I've got you. Watch, I'll go ahead. And I'm telling you, the place was condemned for a reason because there are stairways that just fell off into nowhere. Oh, yeah. It was terrifying. That's the word. I will go ahead and make sure it's safe. At the, at, at my possible peril, I am to prefer you. I'm to pioneer ahead of you so that I can say back to you, "It's okay to come." So you can come with confidence. In that very action of being first, watch what happens. I don't know about you. If you're not impressed, will you fake it for a moment? Because I loved this when I found this out this week. I'd never, never had I found seen this in the Bible before. If I go ahead and make the way, and it's safe, and then I say like this to you, and you come, you can come relaxed.
bold you can even play a little bit along the way because you know by Pioneer that you're coming to me and in the very act I've gone ahead for you but at the same time it was for you and so I'm at the back of the line by the time you're done going forward so that I run ahead again and say now hang on let me go this little bit further and it's the very act of a missionary to SL spce the way through to carve the way through it's exactly what a father does for the children it's exactly what a mom does for the kids it's what a husband does for the wife it's what a pastor's supposed to do for the church amen it's what we're supposed to do for one another this is not you do it and I'll watch it's we're in this together because listen if I'm commanded to love you and if you're commanded to love others around you then we're commanded just to have a big Love Fest I was reminded this week you know you meet people from all kinds of denominations from all kind and from all over the world everybody's different the body of Christ has got to be so fun to God he's not anything but boring you know because we met Believers from Africa Nigeria Uganda from Chile from uh Eskimo land what is this Eskimo land uh this this the Northwest Passage I mean oh whatever that is it's all over the world Believers and um so when it's time to pray let's pray and there's some that just like they just like this and then there's some like this and then there's some like this there's all these different styles and you know what some n poop who comes along and says excuse me I don't know if you're really praying right because your head's not tilted down enough what a nut they have no idea that Jesus listen when when you meet Jesus uh in Moscow Russia okay he loves it the way that they worship and if you if you meet the Jesus people in Nigeria listen who's who in Nigeria who in who in Southern California let's pray yes Hallelujah yes and it's like whoa that's a little too much for me well calm down will you gee whiz oh my goodness he loves it and then for some of us they're like this no I'm kidding but it's like just such a difference the body of Christ we are to love that's the that is the core issue you it's not well you know this that or the other thing it's to love and to act in love and what is the act of love that Jesus has shown us but to give us his very life he pioneered for us the way to eternal life to forgiveness the Pioneer Jesus the pioneer of the way the pioneer of Life the pioneer of Truth isn't he amazing Jesus goes ahead of you think about it this way he's got a hard hat on he's got a light on he's going through the darkness he's going through the hallways and he says wait stop stop don't come this way when when Jesus says to you don't come this way let's go this way you better listen to him do you have kids in your life do you have grandkids in your life man that's all we're do that's all we tell our grandkids constantly Le and I listen to him we tell them listen to him listen to him what's he saying when they have a situation what is God saying to do well I don't know their kids I don't know what do you think he would say if this is the situation that's before you oh he would say this so you do know you see get them to think he leads the way Jesus rises from the dead tells the disciples I'll lead I'll be ahead of you I'll meet you in Galilee 88 miles from the garden tomb I'll meet you in Galilee I love that about him beautiful before I leave this and I have to leave it fast I want to show you Noah Webster's word for Pioneer from his 1828 dictionary the art and practice of War interesting one whose business is to march with or before an army isn't that interesting I never would have thought that to repair the road or clear it of obstructions work at entrenchments strongholds are form Minds for destroying an enemy's works one that goes before to remove obstructions or prepare the way for other for another isn't that awesome now that makes sense to me about Jesus he's our Warrior who goes ahead of us and then finally verse 11 it's this we're to do the acts of the Holy Spirit we are to do the acts of the spirit it says not lagging in diligence I'm going to go fast now you guys ready I got to do this quickly not lagging in diligence these are very expressive words fervent in spirit serving the lord powerful number one lagging no shrinking back it means don't hesitate no hesitating don't be slothful don't be spiritually lazy wo spirit spiritually lazy church family as of today you and I are to invest in our spiritual walk with god with more Zeal so you know what that means it means you're going to join me tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. okay all of you see what nope you have to you have to join I exhort you to join it's worth it there's thousands of people thousands and thousands we've I think we've hit some numbers of a quarter of a million people worldwide joining in prayer it's a 5 to 10 minutes long 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time how's that going to change by the way next week has time changed anyway that's another story but those are disciplines you say well I don't need a group I don't need a group Gathering no no no of course you don't but it helps in your disciplines people work out together you golf together right you jog together we can do this together that's just a start don't like don't get lazy in spiritual things by the way you get lazy in spiritual things doesn't go well at all and then that word diligence is the Zeal Zeal in Acts Zeal in business Zeal in earnestness in anything honoring God Zeal and then fervent boiling hot intense Heat this is precious Hang on we're we're done but we're not done so don't leave you're going to miss a beautiful thing here in a moment I want to show you this quote by Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards if you don't know is still to this very day considered the greatest mind America has ever produced did you know that a lot of people don't even know who he is because he was a great preacher he was a profound Christian and because of that he's been marginalized Jonathan my goodness I forget what age he was he was a kid and he wrote a science uh treaty on spiders that is still one of the best things on spiders to this very day and he was just a kid brilliant anyway I'm quoting now the Great American Theologian Jonathan Edwards gave a sermon about pressing into the kingdom of God from the days of John the Baptist until the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force that's a great verse by the way Matthew 11:12 Edwards taught that those who have come to Christ have been born again and are given a new spirit of zeal in pursuit of the things of God with a sense of urgency and with a hunger and a passion therefore it is the duty of every Christian to press into the kingdom of God by making that the main business of Life the kingdom of God cannot be a secondary interest for a true Christian we are to be diligent and active in the things of god wow that's power yes that's powerful and that's beautiful I'm going to show you something right now that I trust you will never forget I remember decades ago when I saw this for the first time Revelation chapter 3 listen everybody Jesus said this and to the angel of the Church of leoda by the way this is going to be this is the age we live in we live in the the leodan age but but that doesn't mean you have to be a leoan Phil that's right Philadelphia these things says the amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot I wish you were cold or hot so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will vomit you out of my mouth this is Jesus speaking because you say I'm rich how much many churches in America say we're rich we've become wealthy we have need of nothing and do you not know that you're wretched miserable poor blind and naked isn't it has it ever bothered you to think that Jesus said I wish you were cold or I wish you were hot don't you think cold is bad Cold's not bad I'm going to prove it to you in a moment it's always good to study the Bible carefully Jesus said I want you hot or I want you cold if you're in between if you're a marginal Christian I have no need of you if you're the kind of person that thinks you can ride the fence with one foot in the world and one foot in the church I have no need of you Jesus is probably going to say to you I don't even know who you are you say well how is it I understand Jesus wants me fervently hot for him how is it that he wants me cold for him one or the other folks now look at the map you see number one top or middle leftand side that Circle see leod DEA that's Leo DEA you can go there today you can fly there and in Turkey you see the lyus river there's a river dotted just above that black Square that's the lcus river do you see number two that's H hieropolis that's a great tourist spot we should go there sometime as a church we should take a tour there visit the seven churches the archaeological sites you want you know why that's uh hieropolis is pretty amazing is uh because as I said it's a great tourist stop you know what if we pulled up and got out of the buses do you know what you would do you'd put on your bathing suit you should you should look it up later on YouTube they're amazing natural Hot Springs huge beautiful coming up out of the volcanic Earth perfect temperature healing literally some European Physicians and Middle Eastern Physicians have sent their patients to this location to have treatments in the water it's amazing look at number three that's colassi notice that colassi is Downstream from leysia and hieropolis it's interesting so watch how this works leoda is condemned in scripture because she's lukewarm hieropolis has the hot Waters that bring healing ah colassi is at the base of a profound mountain range and it is world famous for ice cold water people will go there and bottle the water and take it home Jesus said I wish you were cold so I could be refreshed by you or I wish you were hot so I could be comforted by you but when the waters flow down from colassi and from hieropolis they converge at a place geographically the waters flow in into the lyest river and that location where the two water sources meet is called Le oia the water turns tipid and vomitous it makes you nauseous if you drink it now look five feet over 5 feet up one side you can use it for medicine five feet up the other side you can be refreshed five feet on the other side of leod deia you drink it the temperature is disgusting and you'll start to vomit it's it's actually like a what's the word not an expect is it an expectorant what is that causes you where it makes you throw up it will make you throw up and no wonder Jesus said in the Bible I'll vomit you out of my mouth isn't it amazing don't be a half-hearted Christian don't be half in love let's all stand in 1999 the popular American novelist Stephen King I didn't know this faced this question headon as he lay in a ditch after being struck by a drunk driver although wealthy and successful Beyond any standard he recognized the fleeting value of temporal things and concluded quote all that last is what you pass on take a few moments now and imagine yourself standing beside your own casket invisibly attending your own funeral your life on Earth has ended your family is sitting nearby staring blankly blinking through tears your friends are there recalling your life and sharing stories what are your family and your friends remembering it's fairly certain they aren't thinking about your financial portfolio they aren't talking and uh taking inventory of your possessions unless of course that is all that you have left them to remember if you leave the Next Generation with anything of inestimable value it won't be tangible the treasures you leave will be the memories your loved ones take with them as the lid of the casket is closed and your body is lowered six feet and covered with soil your most valuable Legacy will be your example of a life well lived the love you steadily and Faithfully gave away each day your model of grace these will enable those who knew you to enjoy life more fully than you did and with that we pray father God make us more like you in Jesus name and all God's people said amen