God is Good to Bad People Acts 14:14-18

So the Bible expresses exactly what God wants us to know.

This is the miracle of the divine inspiration of the Bible.

God has spoken through scripture.

The Bible is the authority for the church concerning

Christian faith and ethics because God is true.

Psalm 119, 160, John 17, 17, 2 Timothy 2, 15, Titus 1, 2.

The message of scripture is true and reliable.

Jesus affirmed this inerrant nature of the Bible.

Quote, thy word is truth.

Unquote, John 17, 17.

Scripture cannot be broken.

John 10, 35.

God also continues to speak to readers of the Bible today.

As we dig into the Bible with an open heart

and is willing to obey God's message,

the Holy Spirit helps us apply the timeless teachings

of scripture to our personal life situation.

As we get to know who God is and how He works by reading

the Word, we grow in faith and learn to trust Him

in the midst of our daily struggles.

Unfortunately, many people in Western society

seek knowledge of God through their experience.

The cultural assumptions of relativism and pluralism

stress that each individual is the authority of truth

for himself.

The resulting danger is that we stand in judgment over the Bible

and decide what we consider acceptable

according to our cultural ideas of truth and morality.

These ideas are increasingly common in Christian circles

as well.

Many people want God to speak privately and personally

to them.

Thus, their experiences become the final measure

of divine truth.

Some people even expect that God will give them

new revelation through prophecies, dreams, and visions.

While God may at times work through personal experiences

such as this, His normal method of communicating His truth

is through His written Word.

Since all scripture is divinely inspired truth,

anything that God communicates through these subjective

experiences will be consistent with the revelation

He has already given to the church in His written Word.

Thus, scripture is the final authority

as a measure of any alleged prophecy or vision.

If we do not keep scripture as a touchstone,

we can easily be misled by our own subjective experiences,

desires, emotions, even evil spiritual forces.

Basically, he's saying the Bible is the bottom line.

If you think you know something, check it

versus the Word of God.

If it doesn't line up, let it go.

The Word of God holds true.

OK, this time we'll go into worship.

We'll do that video at the inspiration one more time.

If I could interrupt.

Oh, yes.

Just a message is that you didn't come for even a week.

Anyway, many of you here today, because your family

are pastors, they had a birthday a couple days ago.

So in the way of presenting something

to a pastor for his birthday, I give you

the fingerprint of God, which has basically

it's God's Word in a fingerprint.

And it's one verse from every book of the Bible.

Thank you.

And happy birthday.

Thank you very much.

That's awesome.

Thank you.

I love it.

That's cool.

You don't call it that.

This is my fingerprint of God.

Take this off.

All right, good morning.

It's nice and sunshiney out.

But don't worry, the sun's going to come up.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

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It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

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It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

It's going to be a beautiful day.

Right there in your table of contents is the books that make up the Bible.

They are the Word of God.

When those books speak, God speaks.

You see right there, 39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament,

and they all point to the greatness of Jesus.

May our movement point to Jesus.

May our lives point to Jesus.

May every breath point to Jesus.

Follow along with me for the glory of God.

39 Old Testament, 27 New Testament, 66 and all,

and they all point to the greatness of Jesus.

Follow along with me.

In Genesis, He is the breath of life.

In Exodus, the Passover lamb.

In Leviticus, He's our high priest.

In Numbers, fire by night.

In Deuteronomy, He's Moses' voice.

In Joshua, He's salvation's choice.

In Judges, the lawgiver.

In Ruth, the kinsman redeemer.

In 1 Samuel, He is our trusted prophet.

In 1 Kings, in 1 Chronicles, He is sovereign.

In Ezra, He's the true and faithful scribe.

In Nehemiah, He's the rebuilder of broken walls and lives.

In Esther, He's Mordecai's courage.

In Job, the timeless redeemer.

In Psalms, He is our morning song.

In Proverbs, He is wisdom's cry.

In Ecclesiastes, He's the time and season.

In the Song of Solomon, He's the lover's dream.

In Isaiah, He's the prince of peace.

In Jeremiah, the weeping prophet.

In Lamentations, He's the cry for Israel and Ezekiel.

He's the call from sin.

In Daniel, the stranger in the fire.

In Hosea, He's forever faithful.

In Joel, He's the Spirit's power.

In Amos, He's the arms that carry us.

In Obadiah, He is the Lord, our Savior.

In Jonah, He's the great missionary.

In Micah, the promise of peace.

In Nahum, He is our strength and our shield.

In Habakkuk, in Zephaniah, He is pleading for a revival.

In Haggai, He restores a lost heritage.

In Zechariah, He is our fountain.

In Malachi, He's the son of righteousness, rising with healing in His wings.

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God, Man, Messiah.

In the Book of Acts, His Spirit is the fire from heaven.

In Romans, He is the grace of God.

In 1st and 2nd Corinthians, He is the power of love.

In Galatians, He is freedom from the curse of sin.

In Ephesians, He is our glorious treasure.

In Philippians, He is the servant's heart.

In Colossians, He is the Godhead, Trinity, and the second person of that.

In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, He is our coming King.

In 1st and 2nd Timothy, in Titus, in Valamene, He is our mediator and our faithful pastor.

In Hebrews, He is the everlasting covenant.

In James, He's the one who heals the sick.

In 1st and 2nd Peter, He is our shepherd.

In 1st, 2nd, 3rd, John, and in Jude, He is the lover coming for His bride.

In church, in Revelation, He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He is, He is, He is the Prince of Peace, the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, the Great I Am.

He is Alpha, He is Omega, He is God, He is Savior, He is Lord, He is King, He is better than anything.

The world has an offer.

Listen church, our hope has a name, our peace has a name, our love has a name, our joy has a name,

our confidence has a name, our life has a name, and our movement that cannot be stopped.

Has a name.

In church, what is that name?

Jesus.

Let's stand and worship the Holy Name of Jesus.

Not necessarily the message He was trying to portray, but the message I got out of that is,

who are we to complain the titles that we have, the things that we have to do, when He's done it already.

All we have to do is lean on Him and let Him help us and there is nothing that we can't get through.

That's me.

Alright, who else got something?

Alright, huh?

Okay.

So, I have a book called, Hellboy and the Apple Tree, and it's about, this man has a lovely apple tree,

but one day a horrible storm comes and strikes the tree with lightning.

And then Hellboy stands on the tree next to it and he's straight in front of the tree to make it look better.

And that shows that God died on the cross, so he's like the hellboy's apple tree.

And then he's straight and all ready to go to this, but there are a couple of picks, which means that God rises on the cross and runs.

Alright, that's good stuff.

Thank you very much.

Alright, who else?

Jason?

There's a song that I've been listening to and it's called, Gone Away.

And the message that speaks for me, I actually got two.

First one is that most Christians can believe that they are always with God, they do exactly what he wants,

but sometimes they just say that just because they feel left out.

There's a lot of people that say that just because they are left out.

And then the other one is that sometimes we make God feel like everything he's put in with us to help us get through has just gone away.

It's been removed from your life.

That's interesting. That's where it ties into the question.

That's good stuff.

Alright, others?

So, this was a couple days ago. I think it was Wednesday.

Whatever day it was. I don't remember exactly what day.

No, it was Friday actually.

I was on my way home and I was driving down to Sparbrick and I was going down to Sparbrick towards Wallbridge out of Toledo back home.

And there was a summer truck on the road.

I didn't think anything of it. He didn't have any lights or anything on.

So I just thought, hey, this summer truck just pulled out of this factory that's over there.

And we went over these railroad tracks and I happened to sneeze and look away for like a second.

And then next thing you know that summer truck was like 10 feet in front of me.

And out of just pure reflexes because I noticed there was another car coming in the other lane so I couldn't go that way.

So I turned and went off the road.

After slamming on the brakes, I go off the road, come back on the road.

And the fun, like to me, it was just absolutely funny.

Jason was playing on his phone in the passenger seat.

I mean, if we would have hit the summer, I was doing probably 50 mile an hour.

I mean, it would have crushed my car because I didn't know the summer truck was stopped.

Apparently he was like at a complete stop and I didn't know this because there was no lights on his truck at all.

There's not even anyone in it.

And yeah, he said he didn't even see anybody in the truck.

But anyway, so I get back on the road and Jason looks up from his phone, looks at me and just goes, nice save.

Like absolutely calm, didn't freak out.

And I didn't freak out because that kind of stuff doesn't freak me out necessarily.

But like after I got home and I thought about it and this popped into my head too.

When Jesus was on the boat in the storm, everyone was freaking out but Jesus wasn't.

And it brought to mind that in all situations we can always find calm in the storm.

Because we all have those parts in our life where we struggle but we can still find calm in the storm.

Through your busy life, through your busy schedule, whatever it is, you can still find calm in that storm.

But the only way to do that is you have to look to God to do that.

Amen.

That's a very good word.

Alright, how long do you pray for us as we transition tithing offerings and intercess service?

Do you do that?

Yeah.

Dear Father and Mother, thank you for this time together.

Thank you for allowing everyone to be here.

Lord, thank you for looking out for me because Friday could have been a very bad day.

That was definitely you that did that because I don't think that I would have stayed calm otherwise.

But God, I thank you for everything you've done.

I thank you for everything you're doing.

And thank you for everything that you're going to do.

God, just be with everyone here.

Touch their hearts.

Let them grow a little closer to you, God.

Be with Dan as he brings the message.

Be with the tithing offering that they get used to glorify your kingdom.

And just again, Lord, I thank you for everything that you've done.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

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Thank you.

we are going to exhaustively, because that's what the Lord did to me,

look at a very important topic, at the first of which you may go,

oh I already knew that, but by the time we're done I think you're going to see some things,

I hope you're going to see some things that I saw that were pretty stinking cool.

Alright, so first of all you do realize, I think we can probably agree,

that bad things happen to good people. You've probably heard that saying,

it is definitely biblical, the whole book of Job is bad things happen to good people.

Now, before we get into that though, I want you to realize

that bad and good are somewhat subjective, right? We're all kind of bad, right?

So there's fleshly nature of sin, everybody has sin, all have sin and fall short of the glory of God.

And so bad and good are kind of subjective, but the truth is there are good people,

not good in the sense that they would get to heaven, but people who do good things, right?

People who help you, people who like you, people who give you gifts,

or people who come along and fix your car when it breaks down,

people who, there are people who do good things and yet bad things happen to good people.

But today we're going to reverse the saying, good things happen to bad people,

that makes me chafe right off. People who are evil and wicked, I see God as just and holy,

and they should get what they deserve. I think God should put them in their place,

in fact I could be very easily equated to the sons of thunder who would have said

for those villages that did not receive Jesus, like Lord let it just call fire down from heaven

and destroy those villages because they wouldn't receive your teachings.

Good things happen to bad people, that's the reality. Grab your Bibles if you would,

and go with me to our text for the day. We will use our Bibles quite a bit,

I hope you brought your Bible with you today. If you didn't and you have a notepad,

you can write down the references and look them up later. If you didn't do that,

this is on Facebook live right now and will come out hopefully on podcast on rss.com tomorrow,

God willing. I've been trying to get them out by Monday and you can get the references there or

listen to this sermon again and study it if you want, if the Lord moves in your heart to do so.

The reference for today is Acts 14. Amen. So it's a short passage of scripture in which a bizarre

event occurs and then we're going to drill down on just really two verses of it. So it's 14,

beginning in 14 is where I'm going to read. And here's what happens. Basically the apostles Paul

and his friend Barnabas are preaching and the crowds decide that they themselves are

sort of like the gods come as representatives, Zeus, Hermes, whatever, and they decide they're

going to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas. And of course Paul and Barnabas don't want that,

they're followers of Jesus. And so in verse 14 is what it says. But when the apostles, Barnabas

and Paul heard of it, they tore their robes and rushed out into the crowd crying out and saying,

men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you and preach the gospel

to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heaven

and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. And then the generations gone by, he permitted all

the nations to go their own ways. And yet he did not leave himself without witness in that he did

good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and

gladness. And even saying these things, they with difficulty restrained the crowds from offering

sacrifices to them. So back up for a moment into the text, if you would, look at verse 15. They

said, we are, we're but men, why are you going to do this? We are but men and we come and preach the

gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the

heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. So right there I want you to see that God

created everything and then God allowed a certain kind of thing. Right? So the first point is that

God created everything and God allowed a certain kind of thing. God created the earth and in the

earth is an amazing testimony for God all by itself. Do you realize just how delicately balanced

creation is? I'm going to give you some examples. This is not my writing. It comes from a gentleman

who's done quite a bit of study on this. The sustainability for life on earth.

The precise rate of the earth's rotation, if it had been one-tenth its present rate, the length of

our days and nights would have been increased ten times. Our vegetation would burn up during long

days while at nights would bring such low temperatures that any plant life which survived

the day would be sure to freeze if it was just one-tenth different from what it is. The earth is

just the right size. The physical size of the earth is just the right size for life as we know

it. If the earth were as small as the moon its gravity would be one-sixth its present force

and unable to hold either atmosphere or water. If the earth's diameter were doubled the force of

gravity would be so doubled and the atmosphere would be so compressed that its pressure would be

increased from 50 to 30 pounds per square inch and this would seriously affect all life.

If our earth were increased to the size of the sun while retaining its present density gravity

would be increased some 150 times and this would increase atmospheric pressure to over a ton

per square inch which would crush literally everything. The earth's crust is just the right

size. If the earth's crust had been only 10 feet thicker the metallic elements in the crust would

have combined with all the free oxygen in the atmosphere ruling out the possibility of all

animal life. The moon is the right distance from the earth at 239,000 miles away from the earth.

If it were 50,000 miles closer the waters of the seas would submerge all of the continents twice a

day which would be hard to survive. Though the moon is only relatively close to earth the surface

temperature varies each 15 lunar days from a height, this is on the moon, of 214 degrees

Fahrenheit above zero to a low of 243 degrees Fahrenheit below zero even though the surface

temperature is only 239,000 miles away. Which you could say that's a lot of miles but when you think

about the universe not so much. The atmosphere is perfect to sustain life having just the right

amount of nitrogen and oxygen too much more oxygen could possibly ignite, could cause chemical

reactions with all kinds of things that are in the crust of the earth. The angle of the earth is just

perfect for us to survive. The earth is tilted on an axis which gives ample time for the rays, for us

to raise the necessary supply of food in the seasons that as we have them but if it was different

our seasons could be so short or so long. During the winter in most areas anywhere where winter exists

the soil sits idle, soaks up moisture, increases its fertility. The atmosphere of the earth serves

as a protective blanket to shield us from deadly radiation. In addition our atmosphere is just dense

enough to protect the earth from some 20 million meteors that enter the atmosphere daily. Did you

know that 20 million meteors enter the earth's atmosphere daily? And the atmosphere is just dense

enough to protect us from that. These meteors which travel at the speed of about 30 miles per second

would otherwise strike the earth and such impact would endanger all life. It is no coincidence that

the earth is made perfectly to sustain life. God did that. You want to deny the existence of God?

You are literally denying common sense. Examine the universe, examine the earth. Everything within

the reach of as far as man has ever gone even with the Hubble telescope does not match the criteria

of the earth and only the earth can thus far sustain life. Doesn't mean that nothing anywhere else ever

had life on it. Doesn't mean that there never could be life anywhere else. Billy Graham was quoted as

saying there probably is life anywhere else but it doesn't matter if there is because God

orchestrated the earth perfectly to make mankind in his image and therefore we have survived to this

day. God created but not only did God create an incredible creation that we now live in and get

the benefit of but on top of that God allowed something. He allowed. He allowed man to stray

from his perfect plan for what man was going to be. He allowed man free will to make a choice to

find his own way and here Paul tells them that in the former days God allowed this. He allowed people

to seek out their own way. It says and in the generations gone by he permitted all the nations

and that translation there into English is one of two possibles. All the nations or essentially all

people or all individuals to go their own way but then it says yes he created and he allowed

and even though he allowed he did not leave himself without a witness. Look at verse 17 and yet

he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and

fruitful seasons satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. So even though God allowed the nations

to go their own way he preserved his witness inside that bubble. Creation is a witness as I said

already but on top of that God preserved his own witness. He was doing something. What do you think

the word doing means? It says he was doing it. He was doing something. Always has been. Jesus said

my father has been working from that day until this one and will be until that one. God was always

doing something and what is God doing? He's doing good. Paul breaks it down this way. He was doing

good by one giving rain from heaven. Anybody here like to eat? No rain from heaven. No eats. The person

that will get out of bed tomorrow morning and molest a child will eat today most likely. God is

providing blessings in the form of rain from heaven and giving fruitful seasons to the wicked,

to those who refuse his existence, those who live 80 years saying there is no God their entire life

will still eat and drink and be blessed. They will still have the suns and the rains to shine upon

to shine upon them and to pour out upon them in this lifetime because God is good. He is giving

rain from heaven and fruitful seasons. More so it says he satisfies you with food and your hearts

with gladness. As I was writing this I was thinking about how when I was in high school

I didn't know Jesus. I believed that there probably was a God but I didn't know Jesus. I wasn't saved.

He said I didn't have the Holy Spirit in me. I was an ordinary teenager. Now I thought I was

sneaky. I thought I was ugly. I thought I was struggling to grow up and become a man and failing

basically. I had a lot of negative self-esteem but the bottom line is I was living. I had a life and

I got together to play games with some of my friends and we played until it was one two o'clock

in the morning. I remember many instances we'd play until it was almost the middle of the night

or was the middle that night. It was the next day even sometimes the sun would come up before we'd

quit playing games together in high school and after about one two o'clock in the morning you

know what happened? You ever stay up really late after a long day suddenly everything seems funny.

They call it being punch drunk and I remember a number of times and we didn't drink. There was no

alcohol involved but I remember a number of times somebody would tell a joke or we'd start punning.

I loved to pun. I've always loved that. The sort of tricky nature of punning kind of enchants me

and we would start punning. We started telling jokes and we would laugh and we'd have six seven

eight people in the room in the middle of whatever we were playing and we were laughing and we're

laughing so hard that I was literally I there was a friend of mine who was there and he

he put had a sweatshirt on and he put his arms inside the sweatshirt and then he put them out

to the wrong sleeves. So he had his right arm in his left seat and his left arm in his left seat

and we were laughing and we're joking and in the middle of us laughing and joking everything was

funny. He stood up he was sitting on a footstool actually because we didn't have enough chairs for

everybody and he stood up and he said danger danger Will Robinson. We're all already laughing so hard

and we laughed so hard and he laughed so hard he fell over because his arms were in the wrong

sleeves of his t-shirt or sweatshirt. He couldn't catch himself and he fell down and he hid himself

in a place that people don't like to hit themselves on the edge of the footstool that he'd been

sitting on and now everyone in the room is laughing. He's laying on the floor laughing.

God has given us gladness. The truth is you don't have to be saved to be glad. Anybody here ever

eat a good a pizza that just really tasted good. He went man this is good and a rush of flavor in

your heart is probably like yes or a t-bone steak maybe with just the right seasonings on it.

There is gladness in the world and it is given by God which is awesome and yet very problematic

because and we come to the third place third point where we're going to drill down

kind of heavily the goodness of God can be used to reinforce bad behavior. When I was a teenager

I was a liar. I'd been trained pretty good to be a liar and I would tell a lie about where I had been

or what I had done or whether I had done my homework or not or whether I had said something

that a teacher alleged I had said I would tell a lie and then later that day an hour later a few

hours later I would come in my room and come in the room where my mom's cooking or something say

hey mom would you make it for dinner and I've talked to her like everything was normal and if

she talked back to me like everything was normal she said well I'm making this for your dad I'm

making this for you and and we're gonna have a great meal and my mom was sort of like a chef of

a fast food restaurant because she would literally make an entree for my dad and my dad didn't like

it she'd make an entree for me or my brother and if one of us didn't like the second one she made

and one of us and we still didn't like the first she'd make a third one so we'd have three entrees

at dinner at night and and we have leftovers for days we have three entrees and then she'd make a

vegetable and if my brother didn't like that vegetable she'd make another vegetable we'd have

like seven vegetables and three entrees at dinner and she'd be in the kitchen cooking for two hours

and if I went in the kitchen and she said well I'm making meatloaf the kind you don't like

I said what else you making she said that's it I'd be like uh-oh she didn't believe my lie

see if when people reward you with kindness when they do good towards you you have every reason to

believe that they are favoring you that they appreciate what you've done and they recognize

you they see you they the appreciation and the encouragement comes out of that is solid

but when they go hmm just the kind you don't like you go oh I did something wrong

oh I did something wrong but God is blessing people all the time God is filling hearts with

gladness all the time God is sustaining people and feeding them all the time and so it's very easy

them for them to think well what I'm doing must basically be okay because God is blessing me this

is the love of God carried out in his kindness and his mercy toward people and then they go oh I'm good

they get a little silver and then next thing you know they make that money into an idol God

blesses them provides what they need and they make that into an idol and they begin to worship the

money rather than the God who allowed it the God who sent it this is the very plight of mankind

Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden and they were allowed to touch every tree don't let Eve's

words fool you they could have touched every tree because it was their job to tend every tree

to every tree including the tree of the knowledge of an evil and the tree of eternal life they would

tend to every tree in the garden they just weren't supposed to eat of those two trees until God

specifically released them to do so all the hard work was good for them they weren't tired they

weren't hurting it wasn't a problem they had the perfect situation they had gladness in their heart

you think Adam experienced gladness when he looked at Eve and said this is bone of my bone here this

is flesh of my flesh heck yeah he was glad he was glad to be created and she was glad to be with

Adam they had the fruit of the land and they had gladness and out of that they thought

well there's a tree we can't eat off of and they listened to the idea that eating off of that tree

might make them like God Adam they thought well God loves us he's not going to chastise us he's

not going to correct us it's not going to be a problem if we do what we shouldn't do

even though the serpent painted a bad picture of God and I submit to you that those people are in

the world now and they're saying well I want what I want but God doesn't want me to have it

but my record with God is he always gives me what I need so I'm going to take what I want based on

the fact that he loves me and is kind and merciful toward me you see how easy it is for people to fall

into thinking the goodness of God authorizes them and reinforces their bad behavior then alerted to

God's plans and methods they can hardly be dissuaded from doing what they have now chosen to do

notice in this passage that we're reading here that it says and yet God did not leave himself

without witness in that he did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons satisfying

your hearts with food and gladness and 18 it says and even saying these things they with difficulty

restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them after it was brought to their attention

that the very message of the people that they were trying to now worship and sacrifice to their the

very message of Paul and Barnabas was that the people needed to repent away from false worship

away from sacrificing to things that should not be sacrificed to and away from sacrificing at all

really the very message that they were preaching and the people still could hardly be restrained

from sacrificing to them and Paul would a little while later give a more maybe developed speech on

this same topic and if you're following along your bibles you can flip over to acts 17 beginning in

verse 22 now this is in Athens and Paul is by himself I love it when a man has to give a speech

by himself if you're a man in the room you know what that's like you've got to talk about it

you got to speak up and say the right thing even though you're all alone and Paul stood in the midst

of the areopagus so this is like a coliseum kind of thing with men sitting on bleachers and standing

around and they're all looking at him now it says men of Athens I observe that you are very

religious in all respects for a while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship

I also found an altar with this inscription to an unknown god by the way how does someone get to

creating an altar to an unknown god remember all creation has a witness and a testimony

anyone can look at the way creation was designed and go someone did that and so they had an altar

for an unknown god and Paul says what therefore you worship in ignorance this I proclaim to you

the god who made the world and all things in it since he is lord of heaven and earth does not

dwell in temples made with hands neither is he served by human hands as though he needed

anything since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things and he made from one every

nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined their appointed times and

the boundaries of their habitation that they should seek god the whole purpose of it was that

they would seek god if perhaps they might grope for him and find him though he is not far from

each one of us for in him we live and move and exist and even some of your own poets

as even some of your own poets have said for we also are his offspring

being then the offspring of god we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or

silver or stone an image formed by the art and thought of man therefore having overlooked the

times of ignorance god is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent in other words

drop all that other stuff and turn to god because he has fixed the day in which he will judge the

world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed having furnished proof to all men

by raising him from the dead that's a much more intense summary of what paul was trying to say

to them while they were trying to sacrifice to him this goodness of god that you have experienced

can be used to reinforce your bad behavior but don't allow it do not allow it alerted to god's

plans and methods they could hardly be dissuaded from continuing in their own way but don't be like

them jesus said it this way in the sermon on the mount matthew five beginning of verse verse 43 543

you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy but i say to

you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of

your father who is in heaven for he himself for he could not be a son of your father but he could

he causes his son that's the sun in the sky to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the

righteous and the unrighteous now the irony of this by the way in modern day is that we think of

this all wrong we've got this verse all wrong we think that the sun is the good stuff because we

want to go to the beach we think that the rain is the bad stuff because we don't want to get rained

on but actually that's the opposite they were an agricultural society they were looking for the

rains to make sure their crowds didn't drop their crops didn't dry in the drought you see they

wanted the rain so they could grow their crops and too much sun would kill their crop but it doesn't

matter which way you see it god makes the sun and the rain the good and the bad to come down on what

did he say the righteous and the unrighteous a little further in 46 he says for if you love those

who love you what reward have you that's a rhetorical question to which the answer is

none if you love those who love you what reward you have you do not even the tax gatherers do

the same in other words even the sinners and the unrighteous and the bad people of the world love

their own family their own kids whatever such as they love they love in their own definition of

love but such as they love they love their own family and their own people but you he's implying

should reach out and love everyone even your enemies even those who are wicked even those who

are wrong even those who are bad because that's what god does he says in 47 and if you greet your

brothers only in other words the people that you see eye to eye with the people that you have a

good time with the people that are your family the people your brothers in christ what do you do more

than others and the answer is nothing everybody does that right do not even the gentiles do the

same and the answer is yes they do 48 therefore you are to be perfect which means complete or

whole as your heavenly father is perfect i submit to you until you are ready to do good to someone

who is bad you're not perfect that passage is calling us to be like god it's calling us to be

following the god of heaven and i get it so here's what i'm going to tell you today if you have

somebody in your life that seems like they're turning away from god they just won't hear about

god what do you do will you be good to them like god is you provide and love and be kind you show

you say but my good works my goodness to them may lead them to feel justified in the bad behavior

i was raising my kids and as i was raising my kids a number of times alicia will tell you

firsthand we had this conversation where i said well i had this planned i was going to do this

good thing today but now i can't do it because i can't reward this bad behavior so now we're

going to put that off to another day the truth is you don't have to worry about now if you're

raising kids that may be an appropriate way to handle it but with your friends and your family

members your co-workers your students your school whatever you don't have to worry about that

the witness of creation will continue god is real and proof exists and god will continue to

bless them and he may want to use you to do that don't worry that they will never figure it out

that's not your problem on the other hand if you don't share the gospel and tell them about jesus

that is your problem so you share the gospel tell about jesus loves you jesus wants you to

heaven when you die jesus has paid the price for your sins and he wants it to all be good

jesus wants to forgive you but i'm not going to forgive you i'm going to hold you accountable

for the bad that you've done i'm going to tell you off i'm going to criticize you or talk about

you behind your back my god will send sun and rain alike he will love you he will bless you he will

fill your heart with gladness he will let you laugh into the wee hours of the night and joy with your

friends and goof off and play he'll let you do all of that but not me uh-uh i'm going to hold you

accountable i'm going to tell you just how bad you've been you see that's not us being like god

we are meant to be blessing the world when people come and they say they're hungry we don't go okay

give us a rundown of how you've behaved for the last few days before we give you any groceries

because you know if you've been in sin if you were drinking last night for example we can't give you

any groceries today we don't do that we provide for those who are in need out of the love that

god has put in us and i understand fully and so does god that the goodness of god can be used to

reinforce bad behavior don't think that just because people continue to talk to you people

continue to be your transportation people continue to serve you people continue to do loving things

toward you that they are endorsing your bad behavior in fact if you're worried about them

thinking that then just keep bringing up jesus which you're supposed to be doing anyway

just keep talking to them about how jesus died for their sin therein lies the conviction to be saved

not in you mistreating someone to get their attention

the points then were god created and god allowed also even though god allowed the nations to go

their own way he preserved for himself a witness not only the witness of the testimony of how

awesome creation is but the witness of his continuing to do good giving rain from heaven

giving fruitful seasons satisfying you with food and your hearts with gladness and this goodness

of god can be used to reinforce bad behavior but that brings us then to our conclusion

it's a simple one really god loves you and his kindness towards you has and always will be

to prove that love he intends to bless you even at the worst absolutely worst moments in your life

when you were caught off guard by some tragedy when someone or something that you were counting

on broke down and abandoned you when you were struck to the heart by the worst of words even

at those worst moments in your life even at the moments when you were fighting against him

his message was clear

when you loved god but couldn't see your way past your own grief to count your blessings

his blessings were there just the same in the midst of your trials when the enemy only wants

you to look at what's going wrong had a day like this this week i had to have a conversation my

wife as we were sitting down at night things calmed down i was talking to her and i said

there's a i have a holy h-o-l-y discontent i see the way things are going i see what people are

doing i see how what i'm trying to do is working out and nothing's working i don't get it i don't

understand why people will not follow the lord jesus christ the way god called them to do why

service is not first and foremost on our minds and in our hearts why love and giving and kindness

and mercy doesn't leap to the fore wednesday morning i was doing my study it was wednesday

morning i was doing my study and and i've been doing my study and i've been doing my study and

and i've been praising god because i've managed now to do i think it's 35 or 36 days in a row

every morning before i do anything at all before i get out of bed i pick up my phone and i'm on

bible you version bible app and i'm publicly posting a comment and i'm studying the word every

single morning before i do anything else and then sometimes uh three four times throughout the day

i've been doing i've been blessed by it and it's been helping me but in that wednesday morning i did

a study and the study was on the transfiguration do you know this story there's a story where peter

james and john are with jesus and they go up on the mountain peter james and john would go up on

the mountain with jesus suddenly elijah and moses are there pretty cool in a way because if you

remember the story of moses a little aside you remember the story of moses he was promised that

he would not be allowed to go into the promised land with a mountain that elijah and moses and

jesus are standing on that day when peter james and john and see them guess where it's at

in the promised land so those who would say that moses never saw the promised land he was he was

corrected as a leader because he sinned against god and he could not go into the promised land

same as anybody else who was sinned against god cannot go into the promised land but there in the

grace of god because he believed for salvation and went to heaven with god god allowed him to be

present with jesus on that mountain in the promised land but then what you see happen is

you see jesus transformed in an instant and it says there that his robe that he was wearing

became white and became white as light i want you to think for a moment how white

pure light is became white as light and it says his face shone so brightly that it was very hard

to look at in many years i've always wondered you know like what that would look like exactly

and i have a furnace in my house that has an electronic igniter in it and the gas comes out

comes on it starts blowing and the night igniter comes on and it's a it's like a metal pin that

sticks up in sort of a bend like that and it starts to glow and about uh i don't know a year

and a half two years ago it went bad and it would glow and the furnace wouldn't start and it would

stop glowing and it did it three times and then the furnace would stop trying to light and it

would just go out and there's no heat i'm like that's a problem and so i called a furnace guy

may have been wrong i don't remember but i called a furnace guy and i said you know how do i know

what's wrong so well it sounds like the igniter is bad and i said well igniter is lighting i can see

it lighting and said well what does it look like when it's lighting and i said well it's it's

bright orange i mean what do you mean he said well is it hard to look at it's got to glow bright

enough to be hard to look at to be hot enough to light the gas on ignition and now i understand

and they said the face of jesus shone so that it was glowed so that it was hard to look at

and you know what peter did if you know the story you do what did he immediately do he said lord

anybody it's good that we're here right peter james and john's good that we're here he said

let us pitch three tents for you three that we see here right but when he said that he fell on his

face and worshiped toward jesus and then when he got up what happened well the other two were gone

and only jesus remained jesus made them swear and promise that they wouldn't tell everybody about

this event until after the resurrection but we get it because we live a long time after the

resurrection so we've heard it now and i thought about that i'm like look we're crying out loud

they don't need tents what did they need tents for it wasn't raining it wasn't cold what did

they need tents for keep so this is like a little boy like peter's like oh i love you so much uh uh

i'll build you a tent right if you ever have a child bring you an art or a craft that they've

made or a picture or a painting or something like i made this for you you look at it and you're like

that's nice i mean i can tell a lot of work i put in that or whatever but it's pretty

you know not exactly super artistic or whatever and but it's like that it's i want to make

something for you and that's the heart of peter when he saw the holiness of jesus as jesus was

transfigured and so out of that i said well why don't we have that heart why are we not

wanting to serve why don't we get out of bed in the morning and go i see i've got seven things on

my schedule for today the first three things are service to jesus five six and seven clearly are

not four i don't think it is so maybe i can just cut four five six and seven out of my schedule

and i'll slot in some more service to jesus why are we not doing that why is that not our heart

because we have gone our own way we have been enlisted by the ways of the world the things that

we like we have not given up that part of ourselves that still wants things it's along with us and

sometimes we're leading it's leading us and we're following it instead of we're following jesus

but if you would concentrate for a moment on the holiness of jesus you will find in yourself

a need to serve the lord above all other things and then when you choose not to serve the lord

god will not bless you now wait are you have you been listening to this sermon that is literally

not what it says it does not say when you choose to not serve the lord god will not bless you it

says when you choose to not serve the lord god will bless you because he loves you because he's kind

because he's good will he discipline you and chastise you yes you will be corrected maybe

even punished because he chastises those whom he loves and again who was that everyone for him

against him doesn't matter he loves you and he will bless you his kindness will continue and you'll

go oh i got away with it but you didn't you didn't because you lost all the fruit and all the benefit

of what would have come out of it if you had done what you were supposed to do which was serve the

lord in the first place in the absolute worst moments of our lives when we are straying away

from god and refusing to do what god would want us to do he is there to bless us even his correction

and chastisement is a blessing beyond measure because he'll draw he will be for you even when

you are against you and there will be the greatest conflict of all the psalmist writes it this way

in psalm chapter 8 if you're still following along in your bible go there we've got a couple

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

two texts left the first one is psalms chapter 8 how unique experience i i'd studied this psalm

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

extensively and sort of fell in love with it and then when we went to a mission trip in the up when

i was a youth pastor back in east lito we stood up at the highest point that we could possibly get to

on that island and read psalm 8 and it echoed off the hills and the trees around us as we read psalm

8 out loud this is what it says oh lord our lord how majestic is thy name in all the earth

who has displayed thy splendor above the heavens from the mouth of infants and nursing babes thou

has established strength in other words before you before i go any further with this because

you're gonna you're gonna be blown away by this when you think about it for a second it says from

the mouth of infants and nursing babes babes thou has established strength meaning from the moment

you were born of the womb you had strength to do something from the moment you took human breath

you had strength to do something now let's see what that strength is back to the beginning so

we get it all in one piece from the mouth of infants and nursing babes thou has established

strength because of thine adversaries to make the enemy and the revengeful cease do you see that

mankind men and women of all ages were given from the womb the ability to rebuke the enemy and make

and make him stop you can say to satan and every evil spirit and demon that ever plagues you

shut up i don't want to hear it but you say well i don't think i can well where did it go

if it was there when you started breathing as a baby where did it go you went your own way

and your way doesn't have that in it this is the way that god made for you from the womb

but you sinned against god and you did what god would not have you to do and in that god still

blessed you and you thought well i'm okay because i'm still blessed doing what i'm not supposed to

be doing but actually you were built from the beginning with the strength of god in you to

rebuke the enemy and to make the enemy and the revengeful cease verse three when i consider thy

heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained there's the creation

what is man that thou dost take thought of him and the son of man that thou dost care for him

yet thou hast made him a little lower than god and thus crown him with glory and majesty

thou dost make him to rule over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet

all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the field the birds of the heavens

and the fish of the sea whatever passes through the paths of the seas oh lord our lord how majestic

is thy name in all the earth this is what god has done he has created he has allowed and he has

continued to bless those who took the allowing to the extreme and went away from god's way

and yes we've lost some of our reserve of strength yes we've lost some of our capabilities

yes we've lost some of the abilities that he initially made in us and those things come back

when we are born again when we accept jesus christ as lord and savior and begin to live for him

according to our best knowledge and begin to accept the payment for our sins has already been paid

we receive the grace of god and we begin to live for him as we should have in the first place with

the power to rebuke and make the enemy and the revenger cease don't you want it

i want it

what

so we must do this we must recognize god's love he loves you

and if there is a parent in the room and you've ever seen your child or as i have with some of

the teens and kids that we have in our church make what seems to be the worst possible choice

and you're like oh my heart is breaking because i know they're not doing what they're supposed to

be doing they're not where they're supposed to be not making the choice that's godly not making

the choice it's going to be good for them or even healthy just wisdom common sense choice they're

not doing and you love them and you're like broken over the fact and you love them into it and you

love them through it and if they make it through it you love them after it that's the love of god

of god god loves you in the womb

catch the present tense god currently right now in this instant loves you in the womb

under construction in your mommy's womb god loves you potty training right now he exists in every

time in every era and is the same unchanging he exists outside time god loves you in the womb

god loves you potty training god loves you saying your first curse word god loves you sleeping with

your whoever out of marriage or watching adultery or engaging in other illicit sex acts that you

never should have god loves you the first time you ever took a drug that you later got addicted to

and every time you took it after that god loves you when you're staying up too late and should have

gone to bed so you can get up the next day and do what you're supposed to do god loves you when

you fail to set your alarm clock god loves you when you cursed your mother god loves you now in

this room whether you are listening or not whether you're getting it or not god loves you now god

love you will love you in a moment he will love you next year he will love you if you walk away

from him he will love you right into hell if that's where you decide you want to go god loves you

present tense from the moment you were twinkling in your father's eye to the moment you die and go

to hell or heaven for an eternity god loves every soul that ever chose to go to hell rather than be

with him god is love we must recognize god as love god his love god past present future tense love

and i don't mean he used to love you and he will love you again i mean he loves you right now in

the past the present and the future and that is meant to lead us to repent of sin

one time when it was christmas time and i've always been a miser not a scrooge

because i'll spend money especially at christmas time or when it's the right thing to do but i

always spent a miser and i was about 11 12 years old and christmas time was approaching and i i

didn't have any money i hadn't saved up my money i spent it all and so i decided i was going to make

a coupon book for my mom you ever do that here's a hug i'll clean my room without complaining i'll

clean out your car i spent hours making that coupon book it's probably middle of december

and we were stuck inside i think the weather was really bad my brother was doing something but it

wasn't making a coupon book and then went downstairs and i wanted to do something and i asked my mom

and she said no and she made me feel bad for asking and i got mad i went to the bathroom i

came back out and i decided i was going to argue my point with her and uh i i was kind of mean

and she got stern you know i'm saying and she said when your dad gets home and this was the way it

went in my household i'm going to have him take his belt to your rear end you just be expecting

it because i'm i'm fed up with this this kind of behavior you're disrespecting me it's not going to

happen and i said to my mom i said mom i just spent two hours of my time and my effort and my

limited artistic skills making a coupon book for you for christmas i just spent two hours and i said

now i regret it i regret that i did that i'm going upstairs right now to tear that up and

throw it away i wasted my two hours i never should have made you a christmas present

as my foot hit the bottom step headed upstairs to my room it's in the house i now live in i heard my

mom sobbing and when i heard my mom sobbing because i told her that the coupon book i had

spent two hours making for her for a christmas present was a mistake i realized i had gone too

far and my heart sank i didn't tear up the coupon book

god will love you right into hell if that's what you choose with the love of our god

he loves you so much will you continue to not recognize that love

to not have a heart of service to not express gratitude or will you as paul was saying

repent of all the rest of it

and let him be god of your life let him take you into an eternal relationship

in heaven after this life oh if if we could sample it we'd know what decision to make

but that's not the equation god created god allowed we chose a way other than god's way

because god was not satisfied that all of those that he loved so much should be separate from him

for an eternity he came in the flesh as jesus christ and died on the cross you can't see

god's love in the crucifixion i met a man who didn't know god and he was a Christian

i met a man who didn't know god who went to war while he was at war somebody dived on a grenade

for him and a half dozen of his friends he came home and said there is absolutely nothing that i

can do to repay the man who dived on a grenade for me nothing he said but i guarantee you one thing

his wife and his children will never want for anything in this life

i'd have been dead or maimed to say the least if that man had not dived on that grenade many of us

would have been dead or maimed to say at least now i will live for him i will do for him what he can

no longer do for himself because he sacrificed his life so that i can live where is your heart

he loves you he died on the cross for you we're still getting out of bed each morning and we have

why do we have any concerns whatsoever for our opinions or for what we want or our desires or

for what makes us feel good how could we ever come to the point where our grief our anger or

our frustration make it so that we cannot clearly see and count our blessings which are beyond

measure numbers that we'll never see

repent of your sin and turn to the lord he sent his son to die for sins and he raised him again

to prove his goodness it's no joke i'm serious i mean it when i say you can live with me for an

eternity after death he proved his goodness once and for all

we also must realize sadly that people may get lost in their ways and they may mistake his goodness

for authorization or even the success of their plans

they may mistake that to think that their alternative plans are better than the plan that god has for us

they may mistake that to think that their alternative plans are better than the plan that god has for us

but the testimony of creation is enough it is enough to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that

there is a god and the fact that he has not left himself without a testimony should lead you to

understand that someone has been taking care of you we sang a song i think it was the sunday school

song the one that starts with i grew up in sunday school i'm not sure that said that god was at work

in my life before i ever got saved i don't know how many times i can count after i got saved that

god has miraculously protected me and i've and i've managed to make it through but i can count

several before i got saved you know god was saving my life from my stupidity in a knife fight where

i drew the knife and they took it away from me and then tried to use it on me jumping my little

motorcycle the cb360 that the bristers wound up with for a while that motorcycle jumping it over

the railroad tracks at 100 mile per hour and the needle was pegging on the high high end of speed

i'm going half drunk on beer god was saving my life and now i stand here today how could i ever

come to the point where i am frustrated and grieving and can't see the blessings that i'm

receiving the next time you're in a difficult spot you say okay god show me how you're blessing me

in this spot show me all the good that i have today so i can give you all the praise that you

deserve and of course do not embrace the alternative plans yourself and of course be readily corrected

by your god and repent and recognize his love and then do it again start over again recognizing his

love and repenting of your sin realizing that people not me i won't allow it because i will

turn to god every time you say not me no more i won't allow it but people do get caught in their

own ways and mistake his goodness for authorization of what they've been doing

that's how we get well i know the bible says this is sin but this is just the way

god made me i know the bible says i shouldn't do this but for this short time i need to you know

who would count it against me i have one last story and a psalm and we're done the story is this

there was a man who accepted jesus christ in the early days of

in the early days of new heights when we were on main street not the earliest days but we were on

main street he accepted christ and the night that he accepted christ he was walking down an alley

going home and it was late it was after the bars had closed and he came upon a man who was beating

his girlfriend and this guy was the guy who accepted christ was a big guy and the guy was

being his girlfriend was bigger than she was but not bigger than he was and so he stepped in i'm

a follower of christ now this is an injustice i'm going to stop that so he stepped in and he grabbed

the guy by the scruff of the neck or whatever and he said that's enough and he made sure their girl

got home safe and she needed an ice pack pretty bad and whatever and then he went home

half hour hour later so guy come knocking on his door it was an old friend somebody hadn't seen in

a couple years they used to drink together partied together and they would drink together and they

would party together running all the wrong crowds together but he's a christian now the guy says i

got nowhere to sleep you mind if i sleep here and he says sure you can sleep in my house so he lets

him in locks the door behind him goes to bed a couple hours later he's sound asleep in his bed

feeling like he lived for the lord i stopped the guy from beating his girlfriend i'm giving a guy

a place to sleep i'm living for the lord today and he wakes up at the last possible moment as the guy

he let come and stay in his house for the night is standing over him with a four inch blade about to

stab him in the chest so he wakes up and there's this guy that he's giving a roof over his head

for the night with a blade like this ready to stab him in the chest last second he deflects the blade

slightly it stabs him in the pectoral muscle up here they wrestle he beats the guy up a little bit

kicks him out of the house the next morning sometime after dawn he finds out that the guy

who he stopped from beating his girlfriend paid the guy who was his friend from two years ago 50 bucks

to kill him i come to church the next sunday stitches in his chest right here nine stitches

all swollen and black and blue and he had some other marks from the fight and i said how does

this make you feel about wanting to live for jesus i mean that sounds like it's a rough week for you

and he said oh no i'm living for jesus and we baptized him a week later with the stitches

still in his chest

two months later maybe four months later something like that it was i think was uh we were having a

block party i don't think it was the fall fest we were having a block party and he was there

and he borrowed my cell phone to make a call

and i listened in on the call by accident really and he was selling oxycodone on my phone

so i went up i took the phone away from i hung it up and i said um that's not gonna do that's not

living for jesus he had not he had never finished joining the church because he had had some

struggles and whatever he said that's that's not for jesus i said that's not gonna do

that's not godly that's not right and this is what he said to me and it rang so true in my ears today

as it never has before he said you just don't understand and i said what do you mean

he said i live in a real world i have to do what i have to do to survive i have to pay my rent

so i went to the hospital and i told them my back was hurting and they prescribed me

10 or 12 oxycodone whatever it was and they're worth eight bucks on the street

and if i sell those that's part of my rent he said so i'm not going to listen to you

i'm going to do what i feel i have to do to survive

and i said then i'm afraid you're going to have to leave and he did leave he reached out to me three

or four times after that over the years and he's still out there as far as i know

and doing what he thinks is right

and i'm here to tell you today that the god of heaven loves him and the god of heaven is still

blessing him now i'm here to tell you today that the god of heaven loves him and the god of heaven

is still blessing him now he's probably lost the ability to rebuke evil spirits and turn back the

revenger he's probably lost the ability to really walk in the lord the way he should he's probably

lost the ability to spread the kingdom to win people to christ but god still loves him and god

still blessing him and the one time i talked to him i said how are you doing he said i'm doing

well he said i'm fed and i'm happy what did we read god has not left himself without witness

because he has provided fruitfulness of the seasons to feed your heart or to feed your stomach

and gladness for your heart this is psalm 46 and this will be our last text of the day god is our

refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth should

change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam

though the mountains quake at the swelling pride selah there is a river whose streams may glad the

city of god the holy dwelling place of the most high god is in the midst of her she will not be

moved god will help her when morning dawns the nations made an uproar the kingdoms tottered he

raised his voice and the earth melted the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold

selah come behold the works of the lord who has wrought desolations on the earth he makes wars to

cease in the ends of the earth he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two he burns the chariots

with fire listen here cease striving and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will

be exalted in the earth the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our stronghold and i had in

my mind this picture when satan himself whom we have probably never met but suffered under some

of his schemes when satan himself arrives at the day of judgment and stands before god and he makes

contention over your soul over my soul and satan says i want to take sierra i want to take lind i

want to take josh because they lied because they stole because they didn't do what they were

supposed to do because under your love and their understanding of your love you still blessed them

in this lifetime they received their blessings in their lifetime but they did not accept you they

did not repent and turn to you i want to take them and jesus says no no no they do belong to me

and in that moment satan himself will bow his knee and confess that jesus is lord

god will shut that rabid dog down

but the power to shut that rabid dog down god ordained in you since birth

god help us he created he allowed and even though he allowed he maintained a witness for himself

and being good

giving rain from heaven and giving fruitful seasons and food for your stomach gladness for your heart

but the goodness of god can be used to reinforce bad behavior don't allow it recognize his love

repent of sin live for the one who died for you

realize that people may get lost in their ways and mistake his goodness for authorization

but don't do that yourself

fire up your heart of service and live for jesus i love you

at least i think i do but this i know for sure he loves you and he would never see you do some of

the things that you decide to do that are not in his way he loves you too much

god help us

if you're here today and you've never accepted jesus christ as lord that means he tells you what

to do when you do it and savior that means he paid the price for your sins

but you recognize that god has loved you and is calling you to him to live your life for him

that as we have this song that we're about to sing we're going to sing it for you

and we're going to sing it for you and we're going to sing it for you and we're going to sing it for

him that as we have this song that we're about to sing you're going to respond and you're going to

tell everybody the work that god is doing in you that you now intend to live for the lord

that you are new today and rebirth god will author in you the power and the authority to rebuke

the revenger to put down that rabid dog

and if you came in here today say i am a christian i know i'm a power lord but i also know

that quite often i go into my own way that my first thought is not how may i serve the lord

but what can i do that's fun or what can i do that will take care of me or how can i sustain

myself in my relationships what does so and so want me to do

if that's you you need to repent today and say no god who has always shown me kindness and love

god who died on the cross for me and proved by the resurrection of jesus that there is life after this

death deserves my undying loyalty and say no more no more will i walk in my own way

and say no more no more will i walk in my own way always will i seek the way of the lord

always will i take my next breath thinking about how i may serve the one who died for me that i may live

help us if that's you then you publicly speak up and during the song you said that's me

and i want to become the kind of person that will live daily for the lord jesus christ and for nothing

else they're here today you say i need to be baptized i'm a follower of jesus christ i know

i'm living for the lord but i'm not baptized i'm not done it the way god would have me to do it then

you come and you tell us that or you say i need a church home this this looks like the place where

i'm going to learn and grow in christ i want this to be my home and i want to serve here notice

we reach new heights in jesus in part by serving in the body whatever it might be you respond as we

sing ask the praise team to come forward this time and lead us in our closing hymn but this

closing hymn is a hymn of response it's your opportunity to respond as god is calling upon

your heart wherever it might be as soon as they start would you stand with me and sing this song

but you're responding then you don't sing you come

you're responding that you don't sing you come pastor dan here thanks for choosing this podcast

from church toledo.com new heights fellowship baptist church of east toledo check us out online

at that website you can give there you can also give by texting g-i-v-e to 419-419-0095

the church phone number if you should need to call us is 419-469-8808 and our address is 255

hefner street toledo ohio 43605 that's 255 hefner street h-e-f-f-n-e-r street toledo ohio 43605

our service is on sundays at 11 30 a.m 6 30 p.m tuesday evenings we get together for bible study

as of this time and we'd love to have you join us come serve with us and reach new heights in jesus

if you're interested in becoming a member of the church you've been listening in and you feel like

god's calling you to do that check out our website at church toledo.com and click on the link that

says what does it take to be a member or how can i be a member or can i be a member i think it says

can i be a member of new heights fellowship baptist church and so check us out god bless you today

as you serve jesus and reach new heights in jesus