17th Anniversary Service - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (September 9, 2018) | Life Bible Church

If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation.

The old has passed away, and behold, the new

has come. All of this is from God, who through

Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave

us the ministry of reconciliation. That is...

In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself

and not counting their trespasses against them

and entrusting to us. Would you look at a few

people and say, entrusting to us. Can you do

that? Entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God

is making his appeal. Through us. Think about

that. Just ponder that for a moment. God is making

his appeal through us. I just stop and just.

This is why my series takes so long. Because

I never stay on my notes. If I were God. I would

not put this whole thing on us. Just saying.

I look at myself in the mirror. I look at you

and me, and I go, give my only begotten son,

spill his blood, watch him move with agony at

every step, and then say, and I'm going to hand

it to people who've fallen at every level. And

they are going to do the great commission. Just

saying. That is amazing. The mind of man will

never fully understand the mind of Christ. But

yet we have the ability to know his thoughts

and his ways because they're higher. And how

amazing. How amazing that God Almighty who formed

the universe and called life out of himself through

Jesus Christ. The word that came out of Christ

and formed the very earth and the existence of

you and I. And the world hangs by the power of

his word. How powerful that redemption and the

power of the message is now given to you and

I. That's what this is about. It's about the

good news. It's about the gospel. It's about

the life transforming power of Jesus Christ that

is able to touch every life from every side of

the track up, down, back, forward. God can bring

a change into every person's life and it's the

only change that will matter for eternity. Now.

He's given you and I entrusting us with the message

of reconciliation. Making us ambassadors. Making

His appeal through us. The rest of the verse,

we implore you now. We implore you on behalf

of Christ. Be reconciled to God. For our sake,

He made Him. To be sin. The one who knew no sin.

So that in Jesus, we might become the righteousness

of God. That's the gospel. That our sin would

not be counted against us. And that as we are

in Him, it is His righteousness that now covers

us, not our own. Not our own efforts. His. His

righteousness is through faith. It's imputed

to us. The old is gone and the new has come.

The slide here says you're not just in the faith.

You're called to be part of the community of

faith. 17 years. That's a... relatively very,

very short amount of time. But it is part of

the message to this area, to this people, to

this region, and to the world. The things that

God allows people to come out of this house.

The message to come out of this house from the

gospel to go to the nations. As we were singing

that song, Sweet Aroma, I remember when that

was penned. I remember the themes that I were

at. Going to the nations. Let it rise to the

nations. Let it rise to the Lord. Man. We're

called out of what we were in to be part of that

great community called the church. We're called

to be ambassadors and reconcilers. That means

that every one of us has a job. Every one of

us has a commission. 1 Peter 2 .9, if we could

put that on the screen. But you are a chosen

people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people

for God's own possession. I don't know, for those

of you that are here today, I don't know if you

know what that was taken out of, but that verse

was specifically lifted right out of the Old

Testament, brought through the cross, and Peter

penned it by the Holy Spirit saying, listen,

God did to natural Israel, he was quoting this

verse, he said to natural Israel, you're my own

special people, you're my holy chosen people,

birthed out of... out of natural lineage. But

after Jesus, he doesn't just take those that

are natural birth. That's done away with. He

takes those that are born again by the Spirit,

both Jew and Gentile. And he says, listen, every

one of you now, not just a few select people,

but every one of you are a... Holy race, a chosen

people, a holy nation. And when he says holy

race, he means of every race, of every creed

and every color. It is now not just one Hebraic

Jewish race. It is all Arab, Israeli, Gentile,

Chinese, Brazilian, American, Cuban. You name

it, it's in there if they know Jesus. A holy

race. A holy nation. It says this, you were chosen

to tell about the wonderful acts of God. So 2

Corinthians, Paul tells us, we are ambassadors

and we've been given the message of teaching,

sharing, releasing the message about God's salvific

reconciliation. Through Jesus Christ. Peter says

the same thing. He says you're God's own possession.

You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts

of God who called you out of darkness into his

wonderful light. At one time, you were not a

people. That doesn't mean that you're not a person.

He says, you weren't a gathering of a people.

You didn't have a bookend. You were scattered.

You were aimless without God calling you to yourself.

But now you are God's people. In the past, you'd

never received mercy. But now you've received

God's mercy. The community that we are involved

with is centered around Jesus Christ. And because

he is the center, all who love him, his word,

his holiness, his life, his truth, his grace,

his presence, are to love those who are connected

to him in the same way. If you love him, you

love his grace, you love his mercy, you love

his presence, then you have to love who he calls

to himself. Acts chapter 2. Very fitting this

Acts 2 · chapter mention

morning you turn there in your Bible, Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2. We believe in the book of Acts in all of its

entirety. We believe that the book of Acts is

still being written. Why? It's the Acts of...

Christians, it doesn't mean that Scripture is

still being written, but the acts of God are

still being recorded. There are multiple thousands

and millions of miracles that have taken place

in the name of Jesus that are still happening

today all around the world. Acts 2, 41 through

47, I want to read that this morning. I want

you to catch the together, the they, the there.

Listen to this. Those who believed what Peter

said were baptized and added to the church that

day. About 3 ,000 in all. All the believers devoted

themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship,

to sharing meals, including the Lord's Supper,

and to prayer. Four things. How many can count

to four this morning? Four things. Folks, these

four things should never be departed from. They

are the foundation. Four always means complete.

Not seven, which is perfection, but four, north,

south, east, west. It is the print. That's why

there's... Four faces on the heavenly creatures

before the throne. Why? It's complete. It shows

the fullness. These four things show the fullness

of what should be in the life of every single

person that names Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Ready? Number one, the apostles' teaching. Meaning

what? The Bible. You should be getting the apostles'

teaching. Why was it important that the apostles

taught it? And what was the apostles' teaching?

The apostles were interpreting the 39 books of

the Old Testament through the now Holy Spirit.

And that's why we have the new. We've got 27

books in this New Testament that come from the

foundations of the 39. You don't just read the

new and have no understanding of where the 27

books came from. They came from that which was

spoken and released in the 39. And God breathed

fresh grace on them for you and I. The apostles'

teaching. Number two, to fellowship. That word

then that we looked at a few weeks ago, koinonia.

Not to be in Christ. Or part of Christ. But doing

Christ together. The commonality of it. It's

one of the easiest and the hardest things to

do. Fellowship. Not. Now please hear me. I have

had so many definitions of fellowship over the

years. I have people tell me. Well I'm just staying

home and fellowshipping with my wife. No. No.

No. That's called one of two things, and I'm

going to pass both definitions. You cannot fellowship

within your own family. You can have family time

within your own family, but fellowship involves

someone else beside your own natural born family.

That's a good word, preacher. Fellowship. Apostles

teaching. Fellowship, what? Sharing meals, including

the Lord's Supper, meaning hospitality. I didn't

take the time to have all the scriptures put

up there on the screen for you, but you cannot

get away in the New Testament. Away from the

fact that we are called to share one another's

lives. And that means inviting someone over.

I don't care if you live in an aluminum cradle

of love called a fifth wheel. I don't care if

you're in a three... Some of you are just now

getting that. If you're living in a three -story

home at Taj Mahal or Booker Hall. I mean, I don't

care. I don't care. I give you a hard time. I

don't care where you're living. I don't care

if you share tortillas and rice and beans or

you share a hot dog or chicken like we're going

to do today. It doesn't matter. The fact of the

matter is that you're bridging and doing life

together with people. And the fourth one, to

prayer. It's huge. To pray about the needs of

the people that you are meeting. To pray for

healing. To pray for freedom. To pray for the

region. To pray for the nation. To pray for our

government. To pray that the gospel for peace

and grace and mercy. That is what the church

is called to do. Those four things are... fundamentally,

and they are the foundation of what we do together

as church, and that's what forms community. Now

listen, it says, when they did those four things,

verse 43, a deep sense of awe came over them

all. All. Not just the ministers, not just the

worship leaders, they all experienced a And the

apostles performed many signs and wonders. Verse

44. And all the believers met together in one

place and shared everything they had. They sold

their property and possessions. They shared money

with those in need. They worshiped together in

the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's

Supper, shared meals with great joy and generosity,

all the while praising God, enjoying the goodwill

of all the people. And each day the Lord added

to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Amazing. Just like huge redwood trees, some of

the largest living things on the earth, the tallest

trees in the world, some of them are 300 feet

high, more than 2 ,500 years old. You would think

that the large trees would have a tremendous

root system. Reaching down as high as that tree

goes, reaching down into the depths of the earth.

But they don't. Fact is, it's just not the case

at all. Redwoods have a very shallow root system

compared to the size of the trees. The roots

of the trees, however, are interlocked. They're

intertwined. They're tied to each other and form

a bond that causes them to stand the test of

time. As I was thinking about this message today

and I was praying, Christianity is over 2 ,000

years old, I thought how appropriate for this

picture of a redwood tree that stands staggeringly

tall became just... The little thing that Jesus

talks about, the little mustard seed that was

planted that all of a sudden becomes the greatest

tree of the field. How does that happen? It happens

through the interlocking of the root system.

When the winds blow, the conditions happen. Having

an interlocking root system, they support and

sustain each other. They need one another. to

survive. They need one another to survive. Those

trees would not be standing left to themselves.

It's an impossibility. Science has proven it

over and over. The phenomenon is that they can

be so massive and yet have such shallow root

systems. but the strength of that tree is found

in their connectiveness and their interlocking.

Belonging to Christ, we belong to each other.

And fellowship with Christ means interlocking

with one another and fellowshipping around Him.

Through Christ, God has made us a family and

a community of faith. This is our... God -given

support system. This is the interlocking of the

church, the beginning of the church, the beginning

of the seed, the beginning in the book of Acts

on the day of Pentecost when 3 ,000 were added

was not the fact that the apostles were giants

in the faith. Fact is, 53 days earlier, come

on, 53 days earlier, they all abandoned Jesus

Christ. It wasn't the fact that they were giant

sequoias of the faith. What caused the church

to move forward among a lot of things that God

did, but one of the main building blocks is he

wove those four things together and he put right

at the beginning that 3 ,000 people could what?

interlock with each other, knowing that there

would be seasons of persecution, that there would

be great things that would take place, that would

have emotional and spiritual shaking to it. They

were saying no to something they were raised

in, saying no to something that they were part

of, to say yes to Jesus. And unless they had

some place to interlock, they would not stand.

It's right in the beginning. And as the beginning,

so shall the church be. In fact, as the Bible

says it in a prophetic word over and over, he

says, as the glory of the former house, there'll

be greater glory of the latter house. Folks,

you can't leave the foundational principles.

God doesn't do that. He always builds with the

foundation. Now, you doing all right this morning?

First community of believers gathered together

on a regular basis for worship, prayer, for Bible

study, for fellowship and meals. Acts 2 .44 says,

all that believed were together. That's why it's

so important this morning that God's planted

you in this house. He's planted you in a work

so that we can do something together. Listen,

it wasn't easy to follow. in the first century.

First century times were tough and persecution

was rampant. Early believers were bound together

into a fellowship and a community. They needed

each other to survive for strength of community.

But just as it was in the first century, life

isn't easy today to follow Jesus Christ. There

are great enemies to following the Lord. Discouragement.

temptation, sin, apathy, failure, materialism,

unbelieving family, doubts, fear, rejection,

unanswered questions, and the like. We face many

obstacles in our desire to live for the Lord.

However, God has not left us. on our own to run

this race or fight the battle. He has given us

the Holy Spirit, and he has given us one another.

Times are tough now. Social trends, pressures

of being isolated, staying independent, the pressure

to fit in, excuses, the press of time, navigating

through people's hypocrisy, fake love, pseudo

-truths. You get the point. but we are still

called to the genuine and the authentic. Jesus

says to build our lives, you have to do what?

Dig down past the sand and get a hold of the

rock. Our lives are to be built on Christ, the

solid rock, and what Christ instituted. Nothing

less. That old hymn, on Christ the solid rock

I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. And

yet God has given us Jesus Christ as the head

and the body, which is the church. He's put them

together, not severed them. Hallelujah. He's

put it together to do what? So that you and me

with him. Great purpose and power to stay the

full course and to live in the power of love

and truth. The Lord has released several major

power centers for us to live out this thing called

salvation. In this world, and in overcoming anointing

and spirit, we have the blood of Jesus Christ,

we have the power of the Lord's name, and we

have the power of the Holy Spirit in His anointing.

And along with those, we have seven, eight, seven

say eight, hallelujah, eight, if you will, spiritual

truths, power centers that are to guide us, faith,

mercy, grace, love, forgiveness, peace, prayer,

and unity. In those eight power centers, Along

with the blood of Jesus. Along with the power

of the Holy Spirit. Come on. Along with the power

of His name. In those truths, we are designed

to live and operate by those things in our spiritual

community. Faith, mercy, grace, love, forgiveness,

peace, prayer, and unity. They are developed.

They will be tested. and they will either be

approved or disapproved by the way we give ourselves

to or neglect those truths inside our own community.

That's why the enemy loves to sabotage these

God -given power centers. In the Holy Spirit.

For the enemy knows that our weapons are mighty

in God. 2 Corinthians 10 .4. They're able to

overcome the world. They're able to overcome

the flesh and the devil. Because not all weapons

are offensive. But all weapons are effective

in the power of love. 1 Corinthians. Chapter

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

1. I'm going to get into a little scripture here

before we close. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 1 says

1 Corinthians 1:1

this. I think it's profound. Paul, called by

the will of God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ

and our brother, Sosanes, to the church of God

that is in Corinth. And those sanctified in Jesus

Christ called to be saints together with all

those who in every place call upon the name of

the Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and

the Lord Jesus Christ. His opening line to the

Corinthian church. was to set the stage of the

overarching theme of no division, no segregation,

no partiality, and no disunity. Listen to it

again. Called to be an apostle of Christ and

our brother Sosthenes to the church of God that

is in Corinth. to those sanctified in Christ

called to be saints together. With all those

in every place who call on the name of the Lord

Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. What

an amazing opening line. Now, I've got about

seven minutes. To kind of bring this point home

here for a second. Sosthenes, you kind of just

mention it and you move on. But what we don't

realize is that brother was mentioned for a very,

very specific reason. And if we don't read the

book of Acts, we miss. What actually is taking

place when Paul writes this letter to the Corinthian

church, he puts the name of this fellow in there

that everyone that was in that Corinthian church

would have been almost hit by a Holy Ghost hammer

and went, whoa. So what happened? Acts 18. I'll

read it to you. Verse 1 through 11. After this,

Paul left Athens. and went to Corinth. This is

the starting of the Corinthian church. And he

found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus

recently, who had come from Italy with his wife

Priscilla because Claudius Caesar had commanded

that all the Jews leave Rome. This is under persecution.

And he went to see them. Paul went to see them.

And because he was of the same trade, they were

tent makers. He stayed with them and worked with

them for they were tent makers by trade. He reasoned

in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade

both Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy

arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with

the word, testifying to Jews that Jesus was...

that Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed

and reviled him, he shook his garments and said

to them, Your blood be upon your own hands. I

am innocent of it. From now on, I will go to

the Gentiles. And he left there and went to the

house of a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper

of God. His house. Mr. Justice's house was next

door to the Jewish synagogue. Crispus, I recommend

that not be a name for your son. Anyway, Crispus,

the ruler of the Jewish synagogue, listen, believed.

in the Lord together with his entire household.

And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed

and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul

one night in a vision, do not be afraid. but

go on speaking and do not be silent for I am

with you and no one will attack you to harm you

for I have many in this city who are my people.

And Paul stayed a year and six months teaching

the word of God among them. Okay, let's just

encapsulate this real quick. What was he saying?

He's saying that when Paul started the church

in Corinth and God brought him there, it was

eight 18 months of pioneering and establishing

the gospel of Jesus Christ in the church. And

so much so that when the religious Jews would

not hear the message, Paul was determined to

go to the Gentiles to reach anyone who would

hear about the gospel. But even in the midst

of going to the Gentiles, the ruler, the head

dude, got saved that was orchestrating the Jewish

Sabbath, him and his entire household, which

meant what? It meant immediate kicked out of

the synagogue, immediate betrayal that he would

now be put out of the Jewish faith because he

followed the Lord Jesus Christ. And God was doing

miraculous things. You're saying, well, how does

that have to do anything with Sosthenes, okay?

God's saving grace was redeeming the most hardened

people. Rulers and leaders of the Jewish synagogue

were confessing and turning to Jesus Christ and

joining the church. Then we go to verse 12, and

this is where it gets interesting. But when Galileo

was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united

attack against Paul. Why? Because they were ticked

off that Paul was sharing the gospel and that

people were turning to Jesus. And they brought

him before the Roman tribunal of that area. And

they said, this man is persuading people to worship

God contrary to Roman law. But when Paul was

about to open his mouth, Galileo said to the

Jews, if it were a matter of wrongdoing or a

vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to

accept your complaint. But since it is a matter

of questions about words and names and your own

law, see to it yourself. I refuse to be a judge

of these things. And he drove the Jews and their

party from the courtroom and the court bench,

from the tribunal. And they seized. They all

see. Let me just read this so you get this. They

all sees Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue.

What? Sosthenes was the next in command after

Christmas. Crispus got the left foot of fellowship

from the synagogue for turning to Jesus and Sosthenes

became the ruler of the synagogue and he plotted

to take Paul and the works of the Holy Spirit

that were happening among people down. And when

a Roman judge looked at the argument, the attorneys

and all of the people that Sosthenes brought,

he drove them from the tribunal and the crowd,

the bailiffs, people seized Sosanase, a Jew that

was trying to upend the gospel and beat his little

butt funky. That's the New Living Translation.

Right there in the courthouse put a beat down

on him. Sosanase. How did Sosanase come to the

gospel? A hard way. You ever heard he got his

butt handed to him? This happened to Sosanace.

How did that happen? The next thing we read,

that's all we hear about Sosanace in the book

of Acts. And the next thing that we read is Paul

in his opening letter to the church puts Sosanace

as a fellow brother in the writing of that letter.

To the church. And says I want you to know. That

one who resisted me. One who resisted your God.

One who resisted the working of the Holy Spirit.

Knows better now. And him and I are bros because

of Jesus Christ. And I want you to know that

Sosanace has as much fellowship as anybody else.

I don't care what he did before. I used to be

like him. You used to be like him. I want you

in the Corinthian church to embrace Sosanace.

Because this is who God is bringing to his house.

Out of every creed. Out of every tongue. out

of every tribe. Sosanace is part of the community.

Yeah, Christmas is there. He got off easy with

just a little persecution from his family. Sosanace

got a beating for Jesus, but he now sees it better.

Now welcome him. Can I tell you that there's

some people in this room that have received some

beatings? The devil has pummeled your life. But

I'm telling you, in the book of life, your name

is not at the end. Your name is right in the

beginning. It says that the last shall be first

and the first shall be last. You have the same

privileges, the same gospel, the same grace.

Whether you came As we talked about last week,

out of a family that loved Jesus and modeled

it, or you came the hard way through hard knocks.

The community of faith, the church, living together,

dwelling together, sharing meals, fellowship,

the teaching of the Word of God and prayer. These

are yours. Don't listen to any lie. that says

you're not worthy of it. Don't listen to any

lie that says I have no need of you. No, no,

no, no. The Lord has need of you. Would you stand

with me this morning? Heavenly Father, today,

Lord, in this 17th year, Lord, September 9th,

2018, this is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah.

It's called the head of the year. Lord, I believe

with all of my heart as we're standing here before

you, this is the beginning of something pouring

out that's new and fresh for this house and this

region. Lord, there's a new anointing that's

coming on this house. Gladness. Gladness and

joy is coming. And Lord, fruitfulness. I prophesy

fruitfulness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, today, 9 -9 -18, which is nine plus nine,

four nines, meaning a complete fruitfulness.

Let a complete fruitfulness be our portion in

2018. Lord, I prophesy it. I speak it into the

atmosphere. I'm asking for community and fellowship.

Lord, to be strengthened like never before in

this house. We're making room for those that

you're going to ask. Lord, in the days to come,

we see it in the season. Lord, the cloud of your

presence drawing and reaching. It's happening

even as we speak it. It's happening this year.

Causing from Lynn Lane in Benton County. we make

room. And we ask even now in Jesus' name for

the reach of the Holy Ghost and for the intertwining

of our root systems to go down and to interlock

with one another, bringing them into our life

and saying, yes, you are part of the family of

God and our family here at Life Bible Church.

Lord, I bless your people. We bless this barbecue.

We bless this meal. And we thank you for all

that you've done these 17 years. And we ask you

to come. Lord, give us another year of fruitfulness

by your grace. In Jesus' name, amen. Pastor David.

LifeBibleChurch .org or call us at 541 -995 -8282.