Voice of the Nazarene 9-15-24

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene a week by week. Venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle, and the voice of the Nazarene In First Kings, chapter 18, verse 21 the prophet Elijah, he stood against 800 false prophets, and he said, How long Haught he between two opinions?

1 Kings 18:21

If God be God, then follow him.

If it be Baal, then follow him.

Elijah was simply saying, we need to worship God. And he's asking, why would you serve any of these little gods that can't save you? If it couldn't help them, then what good is it going to do for you? And I rise today saying drugs and alcohol and immoral, loose living, rebellion, none of those things are going to save you or deliver you. They cannot meet your needs. I still believe that prayer is still working. I believe the church is still working. I believe the Word of God is still working. I believe that having faith is still working. So don't do any giving up or going back or giving in or quitting. The Bible says, For in due season, you will reap if you faint not. Now, I'm old enough to be refined. I should be. I preached long enough to have a little bit of eloquence if I had to waste my time to do it. And I'm smart enough to be cool and calm, but when the Holy Spirit settles on a service, I kind of forget all of that. About the only thing I can think of is eternal souls and people that need God and people that we need to reach and people that we need to touch. Now I plead with you this morning for an examination of that little phrase, come let us reason together. In other words, it's time to come and think, and it's time to be logical. And many are so illogical and insane decisions relative to their Christian continuance. So I'm thinking this morning about losers. It's been on my mind most of this week, a loser is someone who does not acknowledge, pursue or prioritize their precious, privileged opportunities. Do you realize there's 7 billion people alive right now, and out of all of them, you're in a church that believes in an evangelistic message. You're where the word of God is opened. You're where light comes thick and full and fast and God speaks to our heart. We're in a church where Jesus is acknowledged as Lord, and we need to give ourselves the opportunity for God to deal with our hearts. I want to share some lessons I learned this week from the life of a loser. It's Acts chapter one, verse 16, Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spoke before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus, for he was numbered with us and had obtained a part of this ministry. And in verse 20 and his bishopric, his ministry. In other words, let another take.

In my mind, the greatest example of a loser in all of history is Judas Iscariot. What was it that he lost notice? First of all, he lost the precious presence of Jesus Christ. No longer in the favor of the Son of God, no longer having that protective custody. He lost the presence of Christ forever out of his life.

He lost the privilege, secondly, of Christian Fellowship, those that he had run with, those that he had been a part of, those who he had been in meetings with and and in services with he lost their fellowship. Now I don't have time, and I don't want to drag it out, but there are many things that we need to be made aware of. And listen not all churches are created equal, no more than men are created equal.

I know the preamble, but we're talking about equal rights. As far as equality of of who we are, none of us are equal. I mean, some men have better physiques, some have better looks, some have more charm and more charisma and better DNA and more intelligence, and some have great talents, and all of us are created on a different level.

And I want you to know churches are the same. The sign out front may be the same, but when you come inside, there's a difference. Some churches are alive. Some churches have truth coming. The music's good and God is getting in. There are other churches the sign may be the same, but when you get inside, it's deader than last year's bird's nest. Good preaching, thank you. And you need to drive your anchor deep into the ministry of this church and say, devil, you'll never drive me off. I found my church home, and I'm not looking for another. And you need to look at the very bottom line of any ministry is in a place where there's salvation for your family and salvation for your teens and for your children, and do they have an interest in and what about my own spiritual well being? You know, it's more important than image or paychecks or anything else. I don't know what you're going to chase after. I'm chasing after God. But there was a third thing that he lost the participation of Pentecost.

Judas never made it to Pentecost. The other disciples did, and they were filled with the Spirit and God dealt with that carnal issue of their heart, and it never happened.

Judas never made it there. A fourth thing, he lost his place in ministry, his credentials were lifted. And a fifth thing, he lost his prize in the heavenlies. So I'm preaching about Judas, the World's Greatest Loser. And here's lessons I've learned from the life of Judas Iscariot, the loser. I learned, first of all, losers never change. Losers never change. Now he had been where he had witnessed blinded, eyes being opened, deaf, ears were unstopped. He was there when Lazarus was raised from the dead. He saw that adulterous woman who everybody was finding fault and criticizing, brought in the presence of Jesus, and Jesus forgave her and cleansed her. He saw it all. He saw water turned into wine, and the challenge of Judas. He was a devil when he started. And the problem was he ended up he was a devil when he ended and he never let anything that he saw change him. You know, it's not enough to be where Jesus is. It's not enough just to associate with the Word and the Spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest challenge is to let God change your heart and your mind and your life, and if the church doesn't change lives, it's nothing more than the Masonic Lodge. It's just another social club. Either the church is a changing station, or we have missed it. For he said, If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, a creation or creature, all things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. That's the true Church, and we need to lift our hands this morning and say, God, change my life. Change me. That ought to be the prayer of all of our hearts. Someone said it like this, the man who rises from prayer a better man. His prayer has been answered, and church ought to be a better me, and church ought to be about God change me, but a loser rejects change. We may have all started out like the devil, but thank God we don't have to end up like the devil. Now I don't want to start a theological debate. I'm not for that this morning, but Jesus called Judas, just like he did all of the other disciples.

Don't forget, the Bible said Judas had a part of the Ministry of apostleship. In other words, he was an apostle. He was a minister at his own right. But

25, it said, but by transgression, he fell. And First John, chapter three, verse four, said, sin is the transgression of the law.

Somewhere along the line, he'd had to start like the other somewhere along the line, he began to change.

The light that was in him began to go out, and the darkness began to come into him.

Somewhere along the way, he lost his integrity, and the Bible said that he became a thief. And I was reading here in this little verse during the supper when it ended and said, the devil put in the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. How could that happen? How could light go out of my life? How could truth go out of my life and the word of God go out and the devil get in and want me to betray the master? Fact of the matter, Verse 27 said that Satan entered Judas at the Last Supper. And Judas teaches us as we saw manifested in the life when Mary brought that alabaster box of ointment and she broke it open and she anointed her Savior. You remember that? Judas, it was the betrayer, the loser, he said, What a waste it might have been taken, sold for 300 pence and given to the poor. John, chapter 12, verse five. Here's a second thought. Losers always have better ideas. It don't matter what you come up with. Their ideas always the best, and it always includes them. And because the Bible said that he wasn't really concerned about the poor, but he carried the

John 12 · chapter mention

6, he'd become a thief, he had his hand in the bag. Now I'm not going to belabor this, but I want to tell you this much, no one in the Bible ever went down over money and ever got back. That's a frightening thought, isn't it?

Check it out, whether it's the rich fool or Achan, Ananias, you look it all up, nobody ever got back that went down over money.

That's why you better put God in finances first and back away from it. Here's the third thing.

Losers don't mind giving to Jesus. Just don't want to give him everything. Judas, he wasn't upset that Mary had given something to Jesus. Losers, they think Jesus ought to get something, but just not everything. And you know, the truth of the matter is, if you'll follow the story, those who feel like he's not worthy of everything, but worthy of something will almost every time, sell him for almost nothing. Losers, they want to give him a little something, but not commit to him everything.

Here's the fourth thing that I learned, losers call worship a waste. Judas the loser called what Mary called worship. Judas called it a waste. Losers call worship waste to what purpose, he said, Is this waste? And Judas should have known that there's no waste when you're dumping it on Jesus Christ, nothing's wasted when you pour it on Jesus nothing is wasted when you dedicate it to Jesus Christ, nothing. It all belongs to him anyhow. And so when I lift my hands, it's not a waste.

When we want to shout, it's not a waste, and when we want to call on him. It's not a waste.

And Judas really wasted a marvelous opportunity. Judas should have gone to Mary and said, you know, Mary, I'm so glad that you gave that alabaster box and you poured it on Jesus Christ. I didn't have an alabaster box and I didn't have any precious ointment, but I want to commend you for giving. And you know, in our congregations, there are some folk that have more stuff than some of the rest of us do, and they're able to give in dimensions and and in measures that some of the rest of us will never be able to give. And we ought to be glad when they're able to cut a check and put it in missions or a building fund, and we don't have to become bitter or jealous or angered about it. No, we ought to thank God for it. That's what we ought to do. Losers, losers and then losers go undetected sometimes.

That's the lesson I learned. I was amazed when I saw this truth this week, when it came time for the last supper, and Jesus looked around that room and he said, one of you are going to betray me. And. The Bible said that everyone said, is it I? Do you mean me? You see, Judas had been around Jesus for about three and a half years, and Jesus saw what was in him. He probably knew that in the treasury there were funds.

Missy, Jesus kept repeating, one of you are going to betray me, but yet, Jesus treated him so fairly and so equally that no clue of who that real devil was among them. That's how good he was most of us. You know, we got a devil in the crowd. We get our magnifying glass out and we join the FBI or the CIA, and we try to hunt them down. We think it's our responsibility to expose them. But Jesus didn't do that.

He was so fair. There was no hint that he was a betrayer. And you know, I've been in ministry for who knows how many years. I can't even remember, can't even say it either. But I think the hardest part of trying to duplicate the life of Christ is right here. Maybe you don't find it so but those who besmirch and undermined and backstab and cut the throats of others. How in the world could Jesus treat him just the same? But he did.

Here's the sixth lesson that I learned from this loser. Losers never want to commit study the content now of the text, all that's all around the table, Lord is it I. Lord is it I.

Thomas said, Lord is it I, and Nathaniel, Lord is it I, Bartholomew, Lord is it I, all except Judas. Judas did not say, Lord is it I? He said, Master is it I? You see, a master was just a teacher. He believed that Jesus was a teacher, but never does he biblically acknowledge Him as Lord and all of the divine writ. Not one time did he ever call him Lord. Lord means the God of the very universe, and he's not acknowledging him as such. Now thank God for precepts and principles and and knowledge of truth. But you know those things won't keep you saved. Those things won't keep you in church. Victory is only keeping full of the Holy Spirit and declaring the Lordship of Jesus Christ daily in our lives, living in the spirit, walking in the Spirit. And here's the seventh thing, losers lose what they hold on to, and whatever you trade Jesus for, whatever you take in exchange for Jesus, you will eventually not only lose Jesus, but you'll lose what you took in exchange. 30 pieces of silver price of a slave he sold Christ for 30 pieces. And could he keep it? No, it begin to burn his hands. It begin to burn into his conscience. I believe that somewhere Judas, somewhere in the back ramps of the lost. The poet said, I sat alone with my conscience in a place where time had ceased and we talked to my former living in the land where the years increased, the ghost forgotten actions came floating before my side, and things that I thought were dead, things were alive with a terrible might, the vision of all of my past life was an awful thing to face, alone with my conscience setting in this quietly solemn place.

Judas sold him out. Here's an eighth thing that I wrote down.

Losers timing is always off.

Here's a thought. Just a thought. Some people believe that Judas did not intend for Jesus to become crucified. He thought he's the Messiah and for three years, I've watched all the miracles and if he can raise Lazarus from the dead, and if he can put an ear back on the side of a soldier's face after it was cut off by Simon, if he could do these miracles, I want him to set up a kingdom. And if I can put Jesus into a corner and they come to arrest him and they're going to crucify him, he can literally flip the power of the Roman Empire, and he can take over and set up an Earthly kingdom. What he didn't understand, he didn't understand, prophetically, the timeline of prophecy. Jesus didn't come to set up an Earthly kingdom at that time, but a kingdom within. Sin. He came as a sacrificial lamb to be slain, to die for the sins of the world. In other words, Judas timing was wrong. Losers are always incorrect in timing.

They're defeated because of the timeline of God. They try to make God do things now. They try to force God into intervention right now, God, if you're really God, don't you let my baby die or I I'll hate you, God, if you don't bring my marriage back together, I'm going to blame you. I'm going to quit the church. Why don't you just let God be God. Quit trying to put God on the time clock. God's not going to jump every time you want him to jump, but God will always fulfill his plan, if you can just tarry it away. And I've noticed people will say, Boy, I guess God knew what He was doing. After it's all over, looked like he did. Why don't you just let him be God? Take him off the time clocks is what I'm trying to say. Here's the ninth thing, losers will realize what they have lost. And when Judas made that arrangement that he would betray Jesus with a kiss and the soldiers were to come, he told them. Now this is what he said. Matthew 26 verse 48 the one that I kissed, that's him. You take him and listen to this. You hold him fast. I read that, and those three words jumped out at me and grabbed my thinking, hold him fast. Here's a lesson I've learned from this Judas the loser. He's saying, if you ever get your hands on him, you better hold on to him. Don't do like I did. I lost him.

Matthew 26:48

Better hang on to him. Better get your arms around him and not let him get away. Don't ever let him go. The lesson from a loser, he's saying, if you're privileged to have Jesus in your life, you'd better hold him fast. Hold on to him tight.

Don't let anything separate you from him. Don't let anything sever you from him. Don't let anything shake him loose from you. Get a grip and hold on to him. Never let him go. That's what a loser said. A loser said, I had him, but I let him go. If you ever have him, better not let him go. If you've had a born again experience, you better not let it go. If you've had the Holy Spirit in your life, you better never let him go. If you had truth, don't ever let it go.

Another lesson. Now I'll quit, I guess. Judas loser. If you don't, somebody else will. And if you don't really appreciate and evaluate and appraise this and get a hold of it in your life, there will be somebody else that will. You may not choose to serve Jesus, but I want to tell you something, somebody else will. You can quit church, but there'll be somebody else in your seat, and they're going to serve God. You may not go to heaven, but there'll be somebody else that'll make a choice to go to heaven. You see, as soon as Judas was gone, Matthias stepped in. Acts, chapter one, verse 20, let another take his place. My point is this, God doesn't have to have me, but I want you to know I need God, and if I choose to walk away from this revelation, if I choose to walk away from this transformation. There's somebody in some drug den or some honking talk or sitting on a bar stool somewhere that God will speak to their heart and melt their soul and and turn them around and transform their life. If I want to walk away from ministry, God will replace me with somebody else that will.

Judas walked off, but Matthias stepped in and took his place.

That's why revelation said, Hold your crown. Let no man take it

11. And I don't know about you, I don't want someone else shouting for me. I don't want somebody else clapping their hands for me. I don't want somebody else singing for me, and somebody else will if I quit. He was a preacher. He was born in a very dysfunctional family. He did not know as a boy that his daddy had been a preacher at one time, but his dad had gone back from all of that and into the depths of sin and became a drunkard in and out of prisons. Mama raised the two boys, and both of them became preachers. He went away to Bible school, had only two suits to his name and a suitcase to carry it in. The only Bible that he had was a little Gideon New Testament. He couldn't even afford a Bible, but he'd heard the call of God. His family was so disadvantaged, but he had a cousin who was so advantaged, who had grown up in a Christian home and had heard the voice of God, and God had called him in the ministry, and he was a couple years ahead of his cousin, and he was in the University studying for ministry, and began to lose sight of God and drifted away from the call and left the University. His family had money. He had a beautiful Thompson Chain Reference Bible.

They cost a few bucks. If you've never bought one, try a little over 100 bucks. Who knows what they are now. All he had was that little Gideon Bible. He came in from college in between summers, in between the classes during a summer, his cousin had been dropped out now for over a year and a half, and his cousin called him and said, Why don't you run by the house? I've got something I want to give you. He went by the house, and his cousin came out and held the Thompson Chain Reference Bible that he he'd been studying from when he studied for the ministry. He said, You know, I don't need this anymore. I'm not going to use it. You don't have a full Bible with an Old Testament. I'm going to give you my Thompson Chain reference.

When he got home, he took an ink pen and he opened the Bible into the fly leaf, and there was the name of his cousin. And he took an ink pen and he rubbed it out, and he crossed it out, and he wrote his name in. The message is simply this, if the loser doesn't want to continue, somebody will, somebody will pick it up and love it and valuate it and and give everything they've got to it and for it willingly serve God with all their mind, soul, body and strength. And I've come this morning to reach one or two or three, I don't know how many.

Maybe you're in the valley of decision. Maybe your life is against the ropes, and maybe you haven't been handed a fair hand, and maybe circumstances have gone negative in your life, and you're in that valley you're trying to decide, what direction am I going to go in the future.

How am I going to develop the rest of my life? I don't have a clue this morning to whom the Spirit may be talking to right now, but I believe that God sent us with a message for this morning, and I want you to know you need to listen to the lesson from a loser. Judas said, I had him once. If you ever get him, don't let him go. You can be in a low spot this morning and you say, Well, I'm thinking about picking up where I left off back in my old life. I'm kind of like Simon Peter. I'm going back to fishing and other things, and I'm going in another direction.

Listen, you'll be a loser if you let any other thing take the place of Jesus. There's nothing that can compare or could compete with the gospel of Jesus Christ, if God loves us enough to send us a message. And I don't know if it's somebody on my right or somebody on my left.

I've preached for a long time across these years, but I can't tell you if it's somebody young or somebody old. But destinies are determined in services like this. Life and death are determined in services like this. Somebody needs God this morning, and you're in that valley concerning your consecration.

Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle for more information regarding BNC, visit bucyrusnazarene.org. You.