Sunday Message - Dr. Johnny Schmelzer (July 19, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. Man, thank you, Life

Bible Church. We met Pastor Brad and Jane last

night, and they shared that with us. Saying thank

you isn't really enough. I just told Ana Paula

that that's a miracle to us. I mean, an answered

prayer, a miracle for our family, our church.

And we will tell our children, if God gives us

grandchildren, we'll remember the faithfulness

of life, Bible, and your kindness. So thank you

so much. We love you. Love all of you. Thank

you for your generosity. I'm just honored to

preach the word. And I mean, I obviously feel

undone by your kindness, but I just feel undone

by God's presence. If you have your Bible, we'll

go to 2 Corinthians 9. We don't have a lot of

time, but I can speak quickly. 2 Corinthians

11, I'm sorry. Can we just pause our hearts and

just honor the Lord quickly? I think you know

this one. Hear your people sing. You are holy.

You're the King of kings. So holy. You will always

be holy. In Mexico, we sing it like this. Te

cantarán Oh Santo Rey de Reyes Tan Santo Tú siempre

serás Santo Santo por siempre Lord Jesus, you

are wonderful. You are so holy. You are so beautiful.

You are so lovely, Lord. There is no one like

you. Lord, we've sang it repeatedly this morning,

but Lord, we just remember, no matter who we

are, no matter what you have called us to, Lord

Jesus, Lamb of God, you are worthy. You are worthy.

You are worthy. Oh, desire of the nations, you

are worthy. You are worthy. You are worthy. Lord,

that every nation and every tribe and every language

and every people would know that there is a lamb

that was slain for them. Oh, that every nation

and tribe and tongue would know there is a lamb

who was slaughtered for us. That there is an

Abba Father who loved the world enough to send

His Son to die. Oh, Abba, that we could live

in You, Lord Jesus, are the desire of the nations.

those who know it and those that don't know it

yet. Lord, for those that have thriving churches

and those who meet in secret, you are worthy

of their worship. Lord, for those that have the

scriptures and their language and those that

don't have it yet, you are worthy. Oh, Lord Jesus,

you are gathering people from every nation and

tribe and language and tongue. Thank you that

we get to be a part of it. Lord, if it's through

our praying, if it's through our giving, if it's

through our going, Lamb of God, we just lay ourselves

on the altar. I thank you for this house as I

just prayed for you. You are a house of prayer,

but I want to remind you it's for the nations.

You already know it. You've already been doing

it, but I just even believe in this season, God

is just increasing. Life Bible, your influence

in the nations, God is increasing. Even as you've

been that house of prayer from generation to

generation, I believe even in this season, God

is unlocking nations. Had to see before even,

I just think it's prophetic. There are so many

missionaries in this room and people from different

countries and languages and regions. So God,

thank you that a beautiful church in Harrisburg,

Oregon is making a global impact. I just thank

you for this house. I thank you for this people.

But Lord Jesus, above all else, be exalted in

us. Lord, I thank you that for 25 years, Life

Bible has kept you at the center. You've been

the one thing. Lord, I pray for 25 more that

we would not get distracted. Lord, I pray, like

Mary, I thank you this has been a house, like

Mary, that for 25 years they've sat at your feet

exalting you. But Lord, those storms come and

distractions come and criticism comes and all

the things. Come our way, I pray that Lord Jesus,

for the next 25, they would just keep sitting

at your feet, honoring you, exalting you. I was

just praying for you as a house. I just felt

something for you that I've maybe prayed over

people but never felt over a house. And that

woman broke that jar, that alabaster jar on the

feet of Jesus. And people criticized and people

had all their opinions about what they thought

should have happened. But Jesus said, she has

done a beautiful thing to me. I just thought

the Lord, as I was praying for you, just say

this house, not just individuals, but corporately,

they have done a beautiful thing to me. They

have honored me. They have anointed me. They

have blessed me. They have lifted me up. They

have exalted me. And I just honor you, Life Bible.

You are just this bright, shining light. What

you have, our country needs. What you have, the

nations of the earth need. But I believe more

than anything, the Lord is pleased with you.

The Lord delights over this house. I was praying

for you this morning. I just felt God singing

and dancing and celebrating and rejoicing over

you. Just let the Lord speak over you. This is

a house not just where He responds to worship,

but where He delights to dwell. That you have

built Him. Even just like Jesus would go back

night after night after night. He could have

gone anywhere, but he said, I'm going to Bethany

because they've built me a resting place. All

the presence and the glory of God rests here

because he delights to. He's so excited and joyful

to dwell in your midst. So I thank you for this

house and this people. I pray a blessing in your

favor. In Jesus name. Amen. If you don't stop

playing, I'm never going to start preaching.

Thank you, Pastor Jackie. I think I prayed a

big part of my message. I just want to share

something very simple with you. I don't necessarily

think for most of you in this room, this is going

to be a lot of new revelation, but I do pray

that it is encouraging and strengthening and

prophetic for your faith. As I prayed, I just

felt the Lord remind me of this verse. It's one

of my favorites in the whole Bible. It says this.

In 2 Corinthians 11, verses 2 through 3. I'm

2 Corinthians 11:2–3

reading in the ESV. I think they have it up there.

The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at

Corinth. And he says, I feel a divine jealousy

for you since I betrothed you to one husband.

Oh, that could be another message right here.

It's so good. We're not going to go there. To

present you as a, and here's a key word, pure

virgin to Christ. But I'm afraid. that as the

serpent deceived Eve by his coming, your thoughts

will be led astray. And here's what I want to

focus on. Two simple words. He said, I'm afraid.

He said, I presented you as a pure virgin to

Christ. I gave you like a wedding ceremony to

your husband, which was Christ, holy, pure, and

spotless. But he says the enemy's strategy, his

scheme is to get you to stray from a sincere

and a pure full devotion to Christ. My prayer

this morning, again, I didn't even know this

was your 25 -year anniversary next month. I wish

I was here for your worship night. That sounds

awesome. I hear you're recording some songs.

Send them our way. But I didn't even read. They

give us a beautiful, like, history of your church.

I didn't want to read it because if I prophesied,

I just didn't want to know anything. But I just,

again, want to encourage you. I believe for 25

years as a church, you've been this. When I think,

honestly, I've been all over the world. I mean

this with all my heart. My wife could confirm.

If someone asked me, what church do you think

of when you think of pure, sincere, undivided

devotion to the Lord? I would say Life Bible

Church in Harrisburg, Oregon. That's honest.

That's from my heart. Now, you can disagree with

me. You shouldn't. I'm right. But I just want,

I believe, to encourage you. This is, I believe

with all my heart, who you've been. But I want

to encourage you. Stay the course. Keep a sincere

and a pure devotion to Jesus. I believe we see

in scripture, this is the call in both Old and

New Testaments, is that God is always calling

his people to this pure, holy, sincere devotion.

I just read it to you. I'm going to focus on

this verse in a moment. We see, obviously, I'm

sure you're aware in Revelation chapter three,

that the Lord is displeased when his people lost

what? Their first love. Again, he's saying you're

doing everything. I think there's a danger for

us as Christians, like especially us as leaders

and pastors, we can do religion on autopilot.

right? We can do church. We know when to lift

our hands, when to sing, when to dance, when

to shout, when to do the things. And the Lord

told that church revelation, you're doing everything

right externally. But he said, I have this against

you. You've lost. He really said, not your fidelity,

not your faithfulness, not your obedience. He

said, I'm upset because you lost your first love.

You lost that purity and sincerity of devotion.

Now, these words in the Greek, I'm a Greek nerd.

I'm sorry. This first word is sincere. It's apiplotos

in the Greek, and it means this inmost deep sincerity

from the inside. It means something that I love

from the BDAG, which is one of the best Greek

dictionaries. It says it's a simple goodness

which gives itself without reserve, without strings

attached. It's an honest, sincere heart. What

Paul is calling them to is, I gave you to Christ

like a pure bride to a husband who says, Lord,

I will give you myself. I will give you my heart

and my soul. I don't expect anything in return.

I don't want to gain anything from this. That's

sincerity. This other word is purity. Again,

we know this word, it can be translated purity

or chastity or integrity. It means there's no

mixture. What I love about this is I think, again,

as Christians, it is possible to be pure and

not be sincere. And what I mean by that, that

is what false religion or legalism is. It says,

Lord, I'm obeying the rules. I'm doing the right

stuff. It's possible to be a missionary and go

to the nations with bad motives. And you're good

Bible -trained Christians. You know this. God

really cares about motive. It's possible, Paul

says, to give your body to be burned and sell

everything that you have and do it without a

pure motive. But I love that Paul's saying, he's

saying it's not that God just wants an offering

that's unstained in purity. He wants one that's

real. He wants one that's authentic and that

is genuine. Again, I believe all throughout scripture,

this has been God's desire. You know this, what

is it? Psalm 25. It's saying the ones who can

ascend the hill of the Lord, it's those with

clean hands, which would be purity, but then

pure hearts. It's not just I haven't done wrong,

God, but from the inside out, I'm offering you

something that's sincere. This is what the Lord

called us and commanded us to do. I'm fascinated.

You know this, the great commandment that Jesus

repeated in the New Testament comes from the

Shema in the Old Testament. And what fascinates

me is I think God would say, you shall obey me

with all your heart. Or I thought he might say,

you shall serve me with all your heart. That's

not what he said. We see cover to cover in this

book. What has our creator been after? He wants

our love. I believe he knows. He says, no, you

shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

your soul, your mind, and all your strength.

I think God knows if he gets our love, then he

gets our obedience too. Because it is possible

to obey the Lord without loving him. It is possible

to serve the Lord without loving him. But if

you love him, you will serve him. If we love

him, we will obey him. I know you know this.

You're like, come on, man. This is basic stuff.

We're from Life Bible Church. We know this. John

Wesley says, always remember the essence of Christian

holiness. Simplicity. impurity, one design, one

desire, entire devotion to God. I'm not asking

much of you. All I'm asking is entire devotion

to God. What we see, this is the command. These

are verses that maybe some people are afraid

of. I'm not because it's scripture. Jesus said,

if you love anyone else more than you love me,

then you are not worthy of me. He says, you love

father or mother more than me. You're not worthy

of me. I love my daughter. I love this baby that's

in my wife's womb a lot. But I have to wrestle

with inspired scripture that came from the mouth

of Christ. You love son or daughter more than

me. You are not worthy of me. Whoever does not

take his cross and follow me is not worthy of

me. You know, we sat with a couple of, ah, maybe

a year ago, and this man stood up, put his finger

in my face and said, you're a wicked, evil man

for taking your wife and children to the mission

field. He said, you're gonna take them to a dangerous

place and endanger their lives. He said, you're

an evil, wicked man. And I said, I don't, maybe

that's your opinion of me. Yes, I will do anything

to protect my family, but there is an allegiance

that I have that's even deeper to any human on

earth, which is I owe allegiance to Christ. We

owe allegiance to Christ. Again. I got to speed

up. In 1 Corinthians 16, 22, again, this confronts

us. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him

be accursed. And I look at that. Can I just preach?

Is that okay, Pastor Brad? Honestly, and this

is not true for you, but it's true in the world.

Sometimes I go, how are there so many Christians

who don't love God? Maybe I'm being too excited.

That's how I feel. Like, I am a doctor nerd,

but I'm also extroverted, okay? Like, I come

to church, and I'm like, where's the zeal? Where's

the fire? Where's the passion? I know you have

it. And Paul says, if you don't love him, he

said, then you're not worthy of him. Again, not

let him who doesn't obey, we must obey. Jesus

said, if you don't obey, the wrath of the Son

rests on you. But he said, it's about loving

him. Oh, go read the whole context, the Apostle

Paul, 2 Timothy 4. He's talking about this race

that he's run, but then he talks about this beautiful

crown of glory that we're gonna get. And you

go, what do I have to do to get this beautiful

crown of glory? He says, it's gonna be given

to him. And you're like, okay, well, you're the

Apostle Paul. But then he says, it will be given

to all who have loved my appearing. Again, this

cord runs all throughout scripture. What God

desires from us is a sincere and pure love and

devotion that everything that we do, all of our

obedience, all of our sacrifice, all of our serving,

all of our working just flows from this place

of sincere and pure devotion. I got to speed

up. What do we see the danger? The devil and

his cunning deception. So if this is God's desire,

then the devil knows where to attack us. Like

the apostle Paul said, I fear for you that the

devil's gonna lead you astray from sincere and

pure devotion. In Matthew chapter 24, when the

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

Lord talks about all of those that will fall

away in the end times, again, what does he say

about them? What is one of the markers that they've

fallen away? Their love has grown cold. Not just

their obedience, not just their fidelity. He's

saying, the one of the ways I know they're falling

away is because they stopped loving me. Similarly,

2 Thessalonians 2, 9 -10 is talking about those

who have fallen from the faith and walked away.

It says, because they refused. They didn't refuse

to believe the truth. They didn't refuse to know

it. It says, they refused to love the truth.

Again, what do we see? From Genesis 1 to Revelation

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22, God's desire has always been for

a loving and intimate relationship with his people

marked by pure and sincere devotion. This is

God's design, right? I'm not a philosopher, but

I often think about and ponder like, Lord, why

are we here? Like what truly, truly, truly is

the meaning of this one short little life that

we have? And we see in scripture when you boil

it down, I love the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

It says that you and I, the chief end of man,

the reason for our existence is to glorify God

and enjoy him forever. That the only reason we

exist, yes, I'm a missionary and you should do

mission. But you know what? I'm unemployed in

heaven. There's no more worship leaders. You

gotta, you have a job security. I love mission,

but mission is done for the sake of glorifying

Christ. Right? I love serving. I love all these

things. Yes, we sit at his feet. He always says,

get up and go serve me, but the order is always

important to him. So the Garden of Eden, God

is reaching out to Adam and Eve, but they are

deceived by the serpent away from pure and sincere

devotion. What happens? God pursues. He says

he pursues Israel. He woos her like a husband

to a bride. And what happens? It says they are

deceived. They leave that and they worship the

calf instead of Christ. I'm gonna skip this section.

I could give you so many examples from scripture

where over and over and over, God in his grace

and his mercy reaches out to us saying, all I

want from you is to know you. is intimacy with

you. God's eternal desire. You know, I teach

systematic theology and we always get to the

part where I say, you know what? God didn't have

to create us. We were not a necessity to God.

There was so much love between Father, Son, and

Spirit that they said, what an idea. What a good

idea if we would create humankind. It's not that

we need them. They don't actually meet any needs

to us, but so that we could shower this love

on them and we could know them and enjoy them.

This has been God's desire. So as we prepare

to close, the worship team joins me. What's the

call this morning? This call is that you and

I would give our lives to pursue Christ, to give

ourselves to honor him, to glorify and to magnify

him, but with this, with pure and sincere devotion.

Right? I'm calling us once again, maybe for some

of us in this room, this is new. Maybe you guys

want to experience that. And I would encourage

you this morning, we're going to pray. We're

going to ask that God would light that fire of

first love. But brothers and sisters, here's

what I know. I know that the longer we serve

Christ, I think there's so many temptations.

Maybe it's disappointments. Maybe it's discouragements.

Maybe it's getting offended at God that he doesn't

act or move or work like we want him to do. Maybe

it's God not working according to our expectations.

Maybe it's distractions. We see in scripture

it could be the deceitfulness of riches, the

cares of this life. There's a reason that God

commanded us and charged us to guard our hearts

above all else for out of the flow of the issues

of our life. Because he knows that the enemy

is coming to pull us and distract us from this

pure and sincere devotion. You know, this really

is the gospel. We see 1 John 4, 19, that we love

him because he first loved us. I think if we

ever get this backwards, we've missed it. It's

saying, God, it's not that I, we know this, this

is basic stuff that I, if I do enough good, if

I work hard enough, I'm gonna get your love.

The gospel always reminds us that it starts in

his effort. That while we were still lost, but

we are far away off, he loved us. Again, like

I said, this is the order of the gospel that

everything we do for Jesus flows from our love

for Jesus. I know this is a church that labors

for the sake of Christ and that labors for the

sake of the gospel. But again, I think this is

so important is that we keep this order that's

saying, Lord, it's this first love that burns

in my heart. You know, God, for me personally,

in our example, Lord, the reason we're going

to the nations at the end of the day, it's not

to prove anything. Like, yes, it's to obey you.

Yes, it's to obey the Great Commission. Yes,

it's to obey the call that we have. But deep,

deep, deep, deep down, it's saying, Lord, You

have done so much for us. You've been so faithful

to us. How could we not respond with obedience?

Right? Obedience becomes very easy when we're

living from first love. Like sacrificial living

or giving. Living for God becomes quite easy.

Honestly, I think it's one of the secrets to

the Christian life. I think that's one of the

secrets to the light yoke and the easy burden.

Is it's really, really, really hard when you're

just doing stuff for God out of a dry heart.

But I promise you, when we say, when we keep

ourselves, the scripture says, in the love of

God, you say, Lord, I've been so loved. When

I think about the gospel, honestly, I was lost.

I was broken. I was a sinner going to hell on

the front pew of our church. But Christ, in his

mercy, as we know, died for us. And he rescued

us. And he saved us. And as we meditate on his

kindness and his goodness, As we experience Christ's

great love, how could it not compel us to say,

Lord, I'll do anything. I'll go anywhere. There's

no sacrifice too great, no price too high to

pay. There's no place too far to go. There's

nothing I wouldn't do. Like that woman with that

alabaster jar that says, Lord, I've seen, I've

tasted, I've seen, I've experienced that this

that once was my treasure now is nothing compared

to you. I think about the apostle Paul in Philippians

chapter three. If you read that, the first half

of like verses one through six, he's celebrating

all of his achievements. All the really great

accolades and things that he had. And then he

comes to verse 7. And he says, everything I once

thought was gain. Right? Everything I thought

was meaningful to me. He says, all of it is loss.

All of it is rubbish. Do you know what that word

really is in the Greek? I'm too embarrassed to

say it. It's like a potty word. I'm not going

to tell him, Pastor, about our meeting this morning.

The word he uses in the Greek, he says, everything

that this world, and I want to just preach for

the last two minutes. This world gives us so

many promises that these prizes and these accolades

and these things matter. Paul had all of them.

And Paul says, I now look at all those things

in the word. He says, it's literally done to

me now. He says, because I have tasted and seen

there is a treasure who is greater, who is better.

Jesus Christ. I just want to encourage this church

that we never forget he's the prize, not what

he does for us. Not his blessings, not his healings,

not his miracles. I love those things. He's the

prize. And I often tell Lord, if you never did

one more miracle, never one more healing, if

I never got one more blessing, it wouldn't matter

because you're the prize. You are the reward,

the exceedingly great reward. You are the treasure.

Matthew 13, one of my favorite parables, verse

44, it's the man that says, I will gladly with

joy sell everything because I've found a treasure.

Found a treasure. You know, my missionary heroes

are called the Moravians, that you've heard of

them. And in their day, they would pack all their,

sure you know this, pack all their items oftentimes

in their coffins. and leave everything behind.

And as they're sailing away, they would shout

out. People think, how could you do it? Like,

how could you? Gladly, they knew they were going

to places in the world where there's so much

sickness and death and disease that it wasn't

if they would die for the gospel, just when.

And so out of kindness, they pack in their own

coffins so there's a place to bury them when

they got there, after maybe a year, two, three

of ministry. And as they sailed away, they would

shout, may the lamb that was slain receive the

reward. of his suffering. Because one day, I

pray, Life Bible Church, that every one of you,

that you do some amazing things for God. I want

to. I want to try. But you know what? No matter

what we do for him, if I could just be honest,

something that grieves me in our country is that

we've idolized stages and platforms and ministries.

We've made such an idol of being something. And

I honestly, if I could just be honest, I think

we use God as a means to our own end. Because

no matter what accolades we do for God, they're

all going to go to one place. One day we'll take

our crowns and we'll just lay them at his nail

-scarred feet. Because he's the prize and he's

the treasure. And I just pray for us that we

never lose it. I know you're a house that burns

for him, that loves him. Like I said, I think

this has been a house where for 25 years, you've

been pure and sincere in your devotion. And I

pray the next 25, even pure, even more sincere.

I'm praying that for us. As we go to the mission

field in six weeks, go back. We're just saying,

Lord, like, yes, we want to see great things.

Yes, we want to see revival. Yes, we have so

many dreams and so many churches we want to plant

and so many missionaries we want to send. But

you know what? All of those things are a means

to one end, which is Jesus. We want you honored.

We want you glorified. Can I pray for us, church?

Lord, I thank you for this beautiful house. I

thank you for my brothers and my sisters here.

And Lord, I pray that you would mark us with

pure and sincere devotion for you. And we repent.

And I'm the first one to say, I repent, Lord,

for every time that I've grown distracted, maybe

like Martha, anxious and troubled and distracted

by so many things. And Lord, we just come back

to you. We come back to your throne. We come

back to the cross. And I just pray, Lord, that

we would be a pure people, a sincere people,

that, Lord, we could ascend the hill of the Lord

with clean hands and pure hearts. And I pray

that as we live and we labor for your gospel,

as we live and we labor for your kingdom, Lord,

as we abound in good works for your glory, that

at the end of the day, they all would just be

crowns laid at your feet. And Lord, I pray that

just like those Moravians cried out, let it be

written over our lives. That God, wherever you

have called us to go, whatever you've called

us to do, whatever our vocation or our calling,

that Lord, what would be the banner over us is

may Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that was slain,

receive the reward of his suffering in our lives,

in our families, in our marriages, in our children,

in our workplaces, in our ministries, in everything

that we are, God, that you would be honored and

glorified. We love you, Lord Jesus. We bless

you today. In Jesus' name. Thank you for taking

the time to listen to this week's message. We

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