Build Strong

[0:00] God's purpose is that we build strong. Build strong, build strong families, strong faith, strong fellowship.

[0:22] ! How can we build strong? It's very important, I believe. The biblical model, the biblical pattern, God's purpose. God's way for building strong. So I feel today strongly that we have a problem with weak Christians, anemic Christians.

[0:39] There's a real weakness endemic in modern Christianity. Believers are being barraged with false gospels, false doctrine, and they can't even recognise it. There's no discernment today. Believers are drifting here and there, drifting away, generally disappointed with the fairy floss kind of Christianity, but they can't seem to shake off the trappings of it.

[1:02] The false doctrine and practice that hangs on to them. And they're not used to strong preaching. We desperately need to get back to the Bible in this day. There's a crying need for sound doctrine. People will not endure it.

[1:20] They have lost their moorings. They flip-flop and waver like the waves of the sea, as double-minded men. They have got a problem with their ears. Their ears get itchy. And they want a preacher who will scratch them where they itch.

[1:38] But this is not what the preacher is here for. Not in this church. 2 Timothy 4, Paul says, I charge thee, I charge thee, to Timothy, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom.

[1:54] Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with long-suffering and doctrine.

[2:06] A time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they hear to themselves teachers having itching ears.

[2:17] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. A problem with weak Christianity. Weak Christians.

[2:28] How can we build strong? Firstly, build strong faith. Strong faith. To build strong faith, it must be biblical faith.

[2:39] This is the sure foundation on which we can build our lives. The Bible. The Bible must be the anchor, the foundation of our faith. Biblical faith.

[2:50] Such strong faith is founded in the person and work of our Saviour and Master, the Lord Jesus. It's a secure work. A secure work.

[3:01] The Bible says, What are they doing of man? In its initiation? Or in its continuance? Jude said, Jude said, Salvation is of the Lord. Jude said, Salvation is of the Lord.

[3:13] We can rest in God's saving work. Salvation is of the Lord. Jude said, Salvation is of the Lord. Jude said, Salvation is of the Lord. Jude said, Salvation is of the Lord.

[3:26] and they can't grasp that simple truth. They think they've got to somehow add to it by how they live, somehow they merit it by what they do.

[3:37] No, no sir, it's none of that. It's simply trusting his work. 2 Timothy 3, Paul again exhorts Timothy. He says, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

[3:54] But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child that hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

[4:14] All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

[4:29] That's my prayer for you as a believer today. Paul says to Timothy, Build strong. Continue in his word.

[4:40] Feed on it. Buy it. You can wise up. It will profit you. Its message will save you. It will prepare you. It will prepare you to do good works.

[4:52] To build strong faith, we must have the Bible. Meditate on it. Find time for your Bible. Study it. Whether personally or corporately, in Bible study times, or individually.

[5:07] Even better, both. Study it. Hide it in your heart. So that when you need a scripture to speak to you, it's already in your heart, your mind.

[5:20] Amen. Hide it in your heart. And most of all, apply it. Apply it. 2 Timothy 2, Paul says, Study. Study. To show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

[5:37] We must have the Bible, the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible. Not an adulterated Bible. A Holy Bible. The Holy Bible. Not a Bible full of holes.

[5:48] Some mangled versions of the Bible these days, like the NIV, are missing 8%. 8% of God's words. That's 64,576 words, to be exact.

[6:02] I think that's a problem. I think that is a problem. Paul tells of a time in 2 Corinthians 2, verse 17, that there will be a time where people will corrupt the word of God.

[6:13] This is what has been happening. These are words of life. Words of life. We want to treasure them, to revere them, and live by them. We want the pure word of God.

[6:25] We are born again by the word of God. It must be what we hold fast to and receive its soul-saving message. We are saved by it as we place our whole trust in Christ, dying on the cross for our sin, and trusting him personally for dying in our place for our sin.

[6:44] This book, this message, is timeless and is absolutely true. 1 Peter 1, 23 through 25, it says, Being born again. Being born again, not of corruptible sin, but of incorruptible.

[6:58] By the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever, for all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.

[7:09] The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

[7:19] So I urge you, brothers and sisters, we must have God's word of truth. Sadly, many churches do not hold fast to the word of life. They don't have the Bible in some churches, but are turned unto fables where it's all storytelling and some paraphrase effort of the Bible.

[7:37] We need the Bible as the foundation. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk, the pure milk, the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby.

[7:50] The Bible is fundamental for your growth. Fundamental for your growth that you may grow thereby. And the Bible is the supreme and final authority for our faith and practice.

[8:02] It's how we should guide our believing and our living. Authority for faith and practice. It's authority. What's authority? It means rightful power.

[8:13] And there is a spiritual growth, there is a spiritual power that comes when we have the right authority in our lives, when we believe the book and live it out.

[8:24] In the Bible, we have the word of God and the words of God. Jesus says, my words shall never pass away. Plural. You know, that's saying something, isn't it?

[8:37] Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every, every word, every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. Every word's important. And one of the evident trends these days is how we see the Bible sidelined and it happens in the nation state too, in our government.

[8:54] That's why we have laws being made by lawmakers and governors today that are not biblical. They're not, they've turned away from the sound basis for all good laws and governance, which is the Bible.

[9:06] You know, great nation states were built on laws that were framed according to the Bible at one time. And now they're being voted away by popular opinion these days.

[9:17] People want bread and circuses. That's why they elect the people they do half the time. They swayed by the mass media and they choose these lawmakers and these governors who'll just give them what they want and it doesn't matter whether it's sinful or not.

[9:34] Nations these days it seems are making man the authority, man the authority in place of God as if they can somehow redefine God's definition of marriage.

[9:45] Who invented marriage? God. He's got the right to define what marriage is and what it is not. And what God says is sinful is still sinful. Whether it buys more votes to say the opposite is irrelevant.

[10:01] So today more than ever we need the Bible the Bible the Word of God that's under attack from sceptics and scholars and even churches question and redefine what it says. So it's no wonder today that some Christians have a very shaky faith and are unstable in their spiritual lives.

[10:19] There's problems with spiritual maturity as Christians have this stunted growth because they've lost the sustenance of the pure Word of God. A false doctrine abounds too because Christians won't receive correction.

[10:33] They're not firmly grounding in the Word in the short book of God. You know you might say well some of these things are just little things. You know I was going to show you something to illustrate that and I'm on the floor.

[10:48] Oh here we go. Just to totally change the subject of sorts but we had a leak in our roof and water's dripping down we've got mould growing on the roof and I went up there and had a look and I had to call a plumber and note to self don't call a plumber on the weekend they charge the earth.

[11:07] And so he got up there and he found and he showed me what it was it was a tiny pinprick in the copper pipe a tiny drip was making a big mess. And if we let little things go the little foxes that spoil the vines it's a little leaven that spoils the love a little incorrect thing in your Bible and we can just try to pass it by.

[11:29] But no it matters the truth matters and little things still matter. And if God says something we need to follow him. And false doctrine abounds because we've gone astray we've gone astray from the Bible.

[11:44] The devil wants to sow doubt and denial in your minds and undermine your faith. He would have disbelieved the truth of the book and reject its authority over our lives.

[11:59] So this is what's happening in much of Christendom it seems there's Bible deniers and doubters and God's word is being mocked.

[12:11] We cannot do that. God's word stands supreme and we must not reject its authority over our lives. The Bible that I hold in my hand is given by inspiration of God and is without error without error.

[12:25] We find in this book the genuine and absolute authority to govern our lives rightly. The authoritative record that God has given to us and to build strong faith I put it to you we need to have a strong grounding in the Bible the word of God.

[12:42] Follow its directives with a heart and a mind that's willing and receptive. This is how we build strong faith. Secondly I put to you that we need to build strong build strong families.

[12:56] Families are under attack. It staggers me to see families getting destroyed and undermined and damaged and it strikes very personally too how families are under attack.

[13:11] It grieves my heart to see what the devil is doing to families and I know Pastor Adam's intended to preach some themes along that line. The damage that is being done to the families and in our own church God's plan for the home how we need strong families strong families in such a day where everything is being weakened and destroyed and it's especially so on the home front.

[13:38] How can families be strengthened? It's important that we have families that are strong. God has established an order in every sphere of life and it's in finally godly order that we can reconstruct families that are shattered and threatened with destruction.

[13:56] Order in the home is constantly being eroded. There's an authority ultimately from God and it's delegated on authority that God wants in the home. God consistently uses this principle of things to decency and order.

[14:11] 1 Corinthians 14 40 there's this principle of decency and order and this principle underlies sound government of all kinds whether it be in the state in the church or in the home unit the stability of the home unit things have to be decent and in order and the devil wants to attack this biblical concept he wants people rather to do what's right in their own eyes but God has set a divine order a biblical headship God-centered headship men are called upon to leave and sadly despite the best efforts made some families are torn apart because of a disruption against God's order and this could be on the part of the woman or the man in not fulfilling their godly roles sometimes families suffer despite every effort from one of the spouses that tries to do what is godly these principles that build strong families are being eroded today and God's directive

[15:15] God's plan his direction is that there be distinctions and roles that there be a mutual honour and love that permeates everything that is said and done it seems these days as if men are dropping the ball and are being emasculated or they take on the other side of the coin a harsh role as a dictator and fail to exercise biblical love so there's a balance here in these two extremes to find that godly order I want to challenge the men men are responsible to lead to protect and to provide for the women and children under their care fight for your families God's design for marriage calls for men to exercise their responsibilities with love and humility and a servant heart and what matters is that the driving force behind what we do is the Christ-like spirit of love and self-sacrifice and the motive is nurture and protection

[16:23] Colossians 3 it says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as is fit in the Lord now we could just hold it there to say there's some husbands who are not fit in the Lord and what they tell women to do and how they act is most un-Christ-like and in such circumstances women there's no obligation to find a husband who is out of God's order and then it goes on husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them there's that context of love and just as Christ leads and loves his church he does not lord over it domineering but he yet is also careful and concerned he's not lazy he takes a diligent attention to his church and true women of God here today you're called upon to respond to leadership in humility to graciously follow and submit to God ordained authority

[17:24] God has designed authority used properly of course we know it's misused I've been reading a book about authority abuse authority can be abused and that's an ugly thing a vile thing but authority designed by God and used properly is a means of blessing for us and protection it's so in the home that's how God wants it to be but marriage is meant to be a godly partnership God calls husband and wife to work together in a harmony in a partnership someone has noticed how with Aquila and Priscilla in the Bible if you look up Aquila or Priscilla they're mentioned together in each occasion there's not a single reference where they're mentioned alone they're mentioned together so they find they make a living together in Acts 18 verses 2 and 3 they spend time working together in Acts 18 18 and 19 they're missionaries together in Acts 18 26 they teach the word of God together they host a church that met in their home together 1 Corinthians 16 19 and together they risk their lives laying down their own necks in Romans 16 3 and 4 for the Apostle

[18:37] Paul together together together there's a partnership of husband and wife and that's how ideally God wants it to be for us too so I taught you again brothers today sisters to build strong faith to build strong families and lastly what we want to see God helping us is to build strong fellowship strong fellowship I know it's the theme Adam covered last Sunday build strong fellowship we want to build strong we want our church this church your church to grow really grow to grow in brotherly love and unity to be in one accord to have the bond of peace how can a church grow and be strong I put it to you that we have to get the knitting right we have to get the knitting right now some of you will be very perceptive and say that's not knitting that's crocheting that we have to get the knitting right and then otherwise we can get undone we don't want that do we we want the knitting right now this is my beloved granddaughter's crocheting but you can see how easily it can get undone alright we want to be knit together not coming undone and what am I raving on about here is Colossians 2 verse 2 it says

[19:59] Paul prays that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and answer that all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ we want to be knit together don't we that's God's plan that's God's intent we want to apply biblical principles that we can be cemented together with God's love and grace we want to grow God's way God's way might mean there's few of us what matters is we want to grow God's way as we apply grace with each other grace with each other I need to learn more of that don't you I know that I need to grow in grace 2 Peter 3 Peter exhorts but grow in grace grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to him be glory both now and forever amen grow in grace that means when you rub shoulders with people and that means how you get on with other people it's about relationships with your brothers and sisters with the family of God that you're a part of together together we can be strengthened in godly faith and growing in grace

[21:17] God helping me alongside other helpers in ministry this is my prayer for our fellowship to grow stronger stronger truly stronger in what counts my hope is that those who take on ministry responsibilities will be worthy Christ like examples and ambassadors for the Lord who will be godly role models for others to follow and I have confidence in anyone who has partaken in such ministry of all kinds we want godly role models to be strong examples for Christ I take it seriously the responsibility that I wear it's a weight and I know Adam's told me of the weight also that he feels the weight that we bear in ministry we're constrained to see Christ formed in you to see Christ formed in you you you you you you Christ formed in you you know

[22:21] Paul said he felt like a bit of a woman in travail I can't sisters you have to help me on that one but whatever that feels like is how ministry is meant to be that we travail a soul travail that Christ will be formed in you I take it seriously the weight it's a heavy weight the care of the churches the care of souls to watch for the souls of men men women and children as we serve God it says we are to watch for the souls of men and we are caught upon that by God Adam me Brad others in ministry here there's a an awesome concern that our brothers and sisters will grow and the great shepherd the senior pastor the great shepherd the one who is the Lord is my pastor

[23:26] Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd the great shepherd our pastor the bishop the overseer is ultimately our saviour he's the one who's presiding and I want to follow his example as closely and as prayerfully as I can do that he is the head of the church don't say I'm the boss Jesus is the master and he has delegated his authority within the home within the church as would be exercised as would be pleasing unto him that's an awesome heavy responsibility I want to make sure that I deliver it prayerfully and in a godly way and I make mistakes bear with me this is the principle of headship headship let me talk along that line just for a moment headship we know who is the head of the church the lord in

[24:28] Ephesians 1 it says that he is the head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all as the head Jesus is over all things that's Ephesians 1 22 23 headship means oversight he's over hence it means responsibility there's need for church order there needs to be order not disorder order for a body to play its part every part has to play its part to function as each one of us take charge take care of certain areas of responsibility and discharge them to the best of our ability and it's fundamental that we take our responsibility before the Lord seriously people are watching us God's gifts and callings it matters how we deliver them and as a pastor I am responsible before God for watching over the well-being of precious eternal souls often as people go through the hardest times of their lives and seeing that they're properly cared for that's hard

[25:36] I don't always deliver as much as I want to it's a heavy responsibility I know there's others that have got others that they're caring for their fellow brothers and sisters they feel the pain they feel the load it weighs deeply heavily you know when I see and hear of some and I've told them of late of going to a church with flaky doctrine I've got to tell them look it's false doctrine and some will say who are you to say what's false doctrine and true who's to say we should even argue over doctrine just hang loose you know when I see people drinking from a dirty cup

[26:37] I want to tell them alright because I care simply that and look I can be exhorted and I can receive correction myself if I can see the reasoning but we all need to exhort one another as we see the day approaching headship means watching over headship means the power here's how someone put it I quote here headship is the power to care not to crush now some like in the home you get some or in churches they want to crush people they want to wound them kick them when they're down stab them in the back they don't care for the wounded headship is the power to care not to crush care and love must drive us it's the power to serve not to dominate I don't want to overlord people but there is a sense sometimes where I do have to give direction and I pray that that is in a gentle loving way as the

[27:45] Lord's heart is for us so it's power to care to have power to serve the principle of handship is the authority to serve not to be a master but to be a servant I am your servant I am your servant that's what they call the ministers of government as much as they don't act like servants sometimes but that's the theory isn't it they're meant to serve the people aren't they we put them in power and we put them out of power and they're meant to do what we ask them to do or expect them to do likewise as God's servant I want to do what he wants me to do and to serve you to the best of my ability and so the principle of head is about service too so in the home and I know there's some men here who are going to the nth degree to be a servant and it's still not getting through but a man is meant to be a servant to serve his family and that servant leadership kind of principle of taking the town taking the place of humility and serving one another and so friends we want to adopt such a heart don't we that our fellowship can grow stronger as we serve one another and we can build strong and handship involves support now

[29:03] Ephesians 2 it says that we're built on the foundation there's a sense that Jesus is the foundation he supports and we can rest on him and likewise too in ministry I pray that I'll be a strong support for you I won't always agree with you I'll extend grace to you and there'll be times I'll correct you as an under shepherd I'm called to uphold and sustain people like a shepherd does the sheep the shepherd sees the sheep going into the bramble bush he'll get something out to scare the sheep away he'll defend the sheep from the foxes and such so it's about upholding and sustaining and headship involves comfort in Ephesians we see again God's design for his church and the home in both places Ephesians 5 Paul says husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that's love isn't it wow you can't get a better higher definition of love than to actually lay down your life that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church that's what we're going to be one day amen you may not feel like it right now but one day it will be a glorious church without spot wrinkle blemish any such thing so it ought men to love their own wives even as their own bodies now I know some men who love themselves don't you know people like that they just love themselves they're full of themselves brother love your wife just like that and it'll do wonders love your wife even as yourself verse 29 for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the

[30:52] Lord the church the Lord is watching over his church as a man is called to do for his bride as he provides for her as he watches out for her Ephesians 5 29 it says nourish and cherish nourish it means feed strengthen promote growth cherish it means literally in the initial word here it means to warm to brood over to hold dear to show affection with care and resolutely nourish and cherish that's what we want in this church for it to grow strong and so we need that basis of love that basis of love we're just coming to a close 1 Peter 3 it's the same in the home husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honour unto the wife 1 Peter 3 verse 7 give honour to the wife it goes on in Ephesians 5 how we should submit to one another to one another Ephesians 5 21

[31:53] I need to submit to you you need to submit to me in the context of the fear of God the fear of God that's the sphere of it submit to one another that's how we can honour and bless one another 1 Peter 2 13 we should submit to authority now nobody likes authority I shouldn't say this while there's a policeman present but there's some laws I don't like I don't like when it says to slow down and there's that speed guideline speed limit yeah there's that speed limit it's actually an authority and when someone stands in front of me with his hand up and he's wearing a uniform there's authority behind that hand and I've got to submit well that's a man made rule tough God says submit submit to every ordinance of man doesn't matter whether you like the rule or not submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king or supreme the laws that we're under the domain of we live in the Commonwealth of Australia we've got to go with the laws of this government of course unless they conflict with the law of God then there's a higher law isn't there so we're called to submit submit to one another submit to authority submit to

[33:06] God even 1 Peter 2 this was the time of Caesar Peter says submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake even the ungodly idol worshipped Caesar was due some honour and so we called to submit to rightful God ordained authority and most of all James 4 submit yourselves unto God resist the devil and he will flee from you so the submission that he calls from us is a voluntary action that's the sense of the word it's a voluntary action or attitude God's sense of submission is a free thing it's free submission not forced he gives us a free choice a free choice including the freedom to choose badly like Adam and Eve did so God's purpose is to bring order order to our lives order to our homes order to the church to the fellowship so we can build strong build strong build strong faith strong families and a strong fellowship what matters most in

[34:13] God's church is that we glorify God together strong faith strong families strong fellowship it's by the word it's by godly order and it's by love stick to the knitting or get undone we don't want that do we we should be knit together knit together in love knit together in love Ephesians 3 now unto him that he's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end let's pray heavenly father we pray help us lord we know weakness abounds it's in all of us to some degree I speak of myself weakness abounds lord we need your strength we need your power we need your authority over our lives we need your word governing and directing and we need to obey it lord help us we pray in the home in our faith in our church for your grace and love to abound and increase more and more as we see the day approaching we'll exhort one another in that sphere of love in that context of love and we'll see your grace pour down as people trust you and are saved as we follow you and grow and as we are knit together in love by your help and strength by your empowering holy spirit for your praise we ask it lord in jesus name amen amenยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยยย