[0:00] Well, welcome here this morning, and when I was asked to share God's Word, at first I didn't want to. And, yeah, I was very nervous. I'm not like my son at all.
[0:16] But one thing, my son, he said, just go ahead for it, Dad, and we'll be praying for you. And usually when I see his sermon notes, they're about one page.
[0:27] And he makes a sermon of it. And so this morning, I've got four pages, so beware. I hope you didn't put the turkey on because it's going to probably take about four hours to get through this sermon this morning.
[0:41] But anyways, as we read, I would just like to first start off with prayer. Please join me in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for this day.
[0:54] I thank you for this opportunity to share your words, Lord. And I just pray that as I share, I just pray that you would speak through me to everyone here today.
[1:08] And I just thank you for this weekend that we can celebrate thankfulness. And I'm so thankful that you are a living God and that you live in each one of us.
[1:21] And, Lord, I just pray that as we spend this next little time studying your word, I just pray that you would just speak to us in your precious name.
[1:33] Amen. Please, I just want to start with Matthew 24, verses 1 to 14. And it says, Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings.
[1:53] Do you see all these things, he asked. I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately.
[2:07] Tell us, they said, when will this happen and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? Jesus answered, watch out that no one deceives you.
[2:18] For many will come in my name, claiming I am the Christ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. But see to it that you are not alarmed.
[2:30] Such things must happen. But the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
[2:42] All these are the beginnings of birth pains. Then you will be handed over and to be persecuted and put to death. And you will be hated by all nations because of me.
[2:53] At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will be betrayed and hate each other. And many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
[3:08] But he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.
[3:20] As I read that, it sounds like that's where we are today. We are being deceived and we don't know what to believe.
[3:31] And as I thought of that, I thought, you know, just looking around, you listen to the news and you see the hopelessness in people. People are committing suicide.
[3:44] And it just breaks my heart to think of what is going on in our world. And as I thought of that, I was thinking of how can you share or what if somebody was to ask you, what is it the hope that you have in you?
[4:02] How would you share that with people that ask you that? And as I thought of the word hope, I thought of the letters H-O-P-E.
[4:15] And I would just like to share, going through that word hope, and what is the word hope stand for? What's the meaning of it? To desire something with confidence, expectation of its fulfillment.
[4:28] So the first letter is H, and what I want to share with you is his word. When I mention the word, the Bible or the word, what does it make you think about?
[4:49] Is it a book that you have in your house? Is it something that sits on a shelf? Is it collecting dust? Is it something if somebody asked you where your Bible is, would you know where it is?
[5:01] Or would you have to go searching for it? Is it collecting dust? Or is it a well-worn Bible? And I just wanted to see, and I did some history, and there's not much about Canadian statistics on reading the Bible.
[5:20] One question I want to ask is, have you read your Bible from cover to cover? And, you know, is it, do you pick up the Bible and read it only when you're going through trials, and you want God to help you through that situation?
[5:40] Or is it something that you study and read daily? And this is the statistics that I found in Canada, which is, they're quite old, but it is quite startling.
[5:55] The majority of Canadians, including those who identify themselves as Christian, read the Bible either seldom or never. That's one of the grim conclusions drawn by the Canadian Bible Engagement Study, a study conducted by the Angus Reid Forum and sponsored by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada and the Canadian Bible Forum.
[6:17] As of 2013, only 14% of Canadians read the Bible at least once a month. That's half the percentage of the population, which was 28%, who read the Bible monthly back in 1996.
[6:33] These numbers came despite the fact that as of 2011, 67% of Canadians identified themselves as Christian, according to Statistics Canada.
[6:48] Isn't that pretty grim? 14%, and of that 14%, how many are actually Christians? 14% of Canadians.
[7:26] 15% of Canadians.
[7:56] 15% of Canadians. And I often think, how many times, Cindy's, the kids have the phone and they're asking, you know, what should we do? And Cindy's always presenting scripture.
[8:10] And do we do that? You know, I look at this and I go, this is life. This whole scripture entails life of all of us. What do we go through teaching?
[8:21] And each one of us, what do we look to? Do we look to Google? Do we go to self-help books to find the answers to life? Or do we actually go to the Bible?
[8:32] Which it says here, it was God breathed. And it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.
[8:44] That is life right there. And you think of it, if you want to correct, is your first source God's word? Or is it some other help?
[8:57] Training. We can train. And I think of Sunday school. We're training our kids to learn God's word, how important it is to know.
[9:09] So the whole Bible is the word of God. And everything in our life should be tested by what is written in it. And I'd like to read Psalm 119, 105 to 112.
[9:25] Please turn with me if you have your Bible with you. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
[9:55] I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much. Preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word. Accept, O Lord, the willing praise of my mouth and teach me your laws.
[10:11] Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law. The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts. Your statutes are my heritage forever.
[10:24] They are the joy of my heart. My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end. And as I read this and you think of, it says that at the start, your word is a lamp for my feet.
[10:42] Think of it in the dark. And what does a lamp do? It shines where the path is. And as we think of just even last week, the kids in the hallway were on this narrow path.
[10:55] And some of us adults were trying to persuade these kids to come off this path. And you know, in life, that's the way it is. Satan will come along and he will try to persuade you to get off the path.
[11:12] But yet, if you study God's word and you know the truths that are in it, are you easily swayed by when Satan comes along and tries to deceive you?
[11:23] But the light reveals the darkness. As we study God's word, we will be able to see clearly the evil that is present in our daily lives and in the world.
[11:35] Are we willing to take a stand for God and stay on the right path? Or are we easily swayed? In Mark 4, 1-4, it says, Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
[11:57] After forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. And Jesus answered, It is written, Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
[12:16] And I just wanted for you to turn, let's turn to Deuteronomy 8.3. And one thing here that I wanted to share with you is, even Satan was tempted.
[12:47] And when Satan was tempted in this particular situation, in the desert, can you imagine that after forty days and forty nights, what you would feel like, I can't even imagine doing this for one day, and how hungry I would be.
[13:06] But yet, look at Jesus for forty days and forty nights, and then Satan comes along and tempts him. And he tempts him with, you know, tells these stones to become food.
[13:16] And what does Christ, what's Christ's response? It is, Man does not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God. And if you go to Deuteronomy 8.3, he's defending Satan by reading Scripture.
[13:39] How important it is to know Scripture. And as we read Deuteronomy 8.3, which is written in Scripture, and it says, He humbled you, causing you to hunger, and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
[14:06] And do we, when Satan attempts to trick us, to trip us up, do we search God's word?
[14:17] Do we know God's word? Do we counter back at Satan and say, this is what Scripture says? And there's one situation, and I want to, I'm just going to leave it there for on the Matthew 4, Jesus was tempted two other times, and I'm going to leave you with some homework.
[14:38] And the other two times, did Christ mention God's, from God's word, did he, when Satan tempted him in the next two situations?
[14:50] And I'll, that'll be your homework for this week. Take God's word, study it, and those next two scenarios of where God was tempted, and did he use God's word to, to go against Satan?
[15:07] That'll be your homework, and I'll maybe ask you that next week. Anyways, as you can see, Jesus was able to resist all the devil's temptations, because he was not only, it was that he not only knew Scripture, but he also obeyed what it says.
[15:24] We will be tempted, and we'll need to know Scripture, so as not to be deceived. I once heard a guy say that, you know, if God took the time, and I'll just maybe read it here, if God has taken the time, through his Holy Spirit, to reveal his person and plan, to certain believers, who wrote down his message for his people, should we not take time to read his word.
[15:52] We need to be married. We need to be intimate in God's word. And, and I think it's so important that, as we read God's word, it's our, it's our survival guide.
[16:09] And I trust that, that you will, if you're not into a Bible plan, and you're not reading God's word, I would urge you, to, to get to, studying God's word daily.
[16:24] The word hope, that was the H, O, is, obedience. And I would just like to read, Deuteronomy, 26, 16, and 19.
[16:37] 19, right?
[17:03] Excuse me. The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws.
[17:19] Carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him.
[17:34] And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession, as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor, high above all the nations.
[17:52] He has made, he has made, and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised. And in here I just wrote, look at the whole heart of devotion here.
[18:06] And what did it say? That you would keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey. It's one thing to know God's word, but do you actually obey it?
[18:17] And in Joshua 1, 8, 9, it says, Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
[18:32] Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
[18:47] And as I read through this, it was like, can you imagine? It says, do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth.
[18:58] You know, it's a book that you would study. You will know. And this really touched me. It was meditate on it day and night. Do we meditate on God's word day and night?
[19:11] Is it something that is on your mind continuously? Or has it been a book that you just only read occasionally, as the rest of the statistics shows?
[19:27] And in it, it says, To be careful to do everything written in it. It's a book that we need to know from cover to cover, so that we can know everything that is in it.
[19:43] And it says, be strong and courageous. And I looked at that and I thought, be strong and courageous. The task would be, it's not going to be easy. We need to be constantly reading and constantly studying God's word.
[19:55] In 1 Samuel 15, 22, it's, and just the story of that. And this is a story of King Saul when he was to go and conquer the Amalekites.
[20:14] And when he went and, you know, he went and he conquered them. But the Lord had, through Samuel, had told him that he was supposed to conquer everything and destroy everything from animals to people and destroy everything, not bring anything back.
[20:35] And what did Saul do? He, they kept some of the choice animals and they brought them back. And this is what 1 Samuel 15, 22 says.
[20:47] But Samuel replied, Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
[21:02] You know, God was grieved that Saul didn't obey him totally. You know, and the sacrifice that Saul wanted to do, his heart was not right in it.
[21:16] It wasn't, it was a false worship of what Saul wanted to do. But he grieved God that he didn't obey. And how many times do we grieve God because we don't obey what is written in his word?
[21:32] Matthew 7, 21 to 27 says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
[21:59] Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, evil doers.
[22:14] Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house.
[22:29] Yet it did not fall because it had a foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
[22:42] The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house. In this one, what does it mean to do the will of my Father?
[22:56] Obedience to his will is the test of true faith in Christ. When a person is truly born again, he has the Spirit of God living within him, and the Spirit enables him to know and do the will of God.
[23:11] We must stop with only hearing God's Word. Our hearing should result in doing. Are you willing to be obedient, or do you want to ignore?
[23:21] Acts 5, 29-32 Peter and the other apostles replied, We must obey God rather than men.
[23:43] The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead, whom you have killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
[23:58] We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. It's our imperative duty that we should listen.
[24:09] We should obey God. And Genesis 6, it's a story of Noah.
[24:30] And I'd like to read 9-22. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time.
[24:42] And he walked with God. Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Dapheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
[24:57] So God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy them, both them and the earth.
[25:08] So make yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in it and coat it with pitch, inside and out. This is how you are to build it. The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
[25:24] Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door on the side of the ark and make lower, middle, and upper decks. I'm going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has breath of life in it.
[25:42] Everything on earth will perish, but I will establish my covenant with you and you will enter the ark, you and your sons and your wives and your sons' wives with you.
[25:54] You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you, two of every kind of bird and every kind of animal and every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.
[26:10] You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them. Noah did everything just as the God commanded him.
[26:22] Isn't it something that it took Noah over 100 years to build this ark and he listened to God and he listened to them specifics.
[26:35] He listened to the specifics. So, so, in hope, H was his word, O was obedience, P is prayer and prayer is so important.
[26:50] If you look at prayer, it goes hand in hand with reading God's word and in Daniel 6.10, it says, Now, when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to the upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem.
[27:21] Three times a day, he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God just as he has done before. Daniel has been one of those people in the Bible that I just admire.
[27:36] You know, Daniel's a man, when you look at this situation, he still didn't quit praying and he not only prayed once a day, but he prayed three times a day.
[27:48] So, how many times do you guys, do we pray and how important is it in our lives? Matthew 6.9-13, is our Lord's Prayer and Jesus taught us how we should pray and from Matthew 6.9-13, it says, This then is how you should pray, our Father in heaven.
[28:17] Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven those, forgiven our debtors.
[28:30] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. So, when we even look at prayer, it's, Jesus took time to show us in his word how we should pray.
[28:51] In Luke 5.15-16, yet the news spread about him all the more. So the crowds of the people came to hear him and to be healed of their sickness.
[29:03] But Jesus often withdrew to a lonely place and prayed. You know, through the busyness of life, do we take time to draw to a place where we can get by ourselves with God.
[29:21] And you know, we are, we live in a generation where we are so busy and it, and I guess even like this morning, Dr. David Jeremiah talked about that, to get away to, to that solemn place where we can spend time with our Lord.
[29:37] And, uh, um, Luke 6.12 is, is one that, uh, is, uh, you look at this situation, how many times when Jesus got away to pray and, uh, and in Luke 6.
[30:01] Luke 6. verse 12. One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God.
[30:18] And I thought, you know, isn't that something? All night, how many of us have spent, you know, that many hours in prayer? And I thought, boy, that's just, uh, awesome that he spent all night.
[30:33] You know, and, and when you read further into this situation, it was before, uh, Jesus chose his 12 disciples. So he spent the night in prayer.
[30:46] You know, do we take time even to pray for those big issues in our life that, um, affect us? Do we take the time or do we just continue to go busy and we take it for granted, spend five minutes praying and expect our Lord to, to help us.
[31:09] And the next, uh, portion of scripture that I wanted to share with you is the whole, uh, chapter of verse of John, uh, chapter 17.
[31:23] And in these, this here, Jesus prays for himself, he prays for his disciples, and he prays for our future, the future believers.
[31:36] And as I read this, it just touched my heart to think of Jesus really cared for us and how important it is to pray. And I just, uh, wanted to read this whole chapter to you.
[31:51] After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed, Father, the time has come. Glorify your son that your son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to those who have given him.
[32:08] Now, this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
[32:23] And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I have with you before the world began. And then in verse 6, Jesus prays for his disciples.
[32:35] I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
[32:48] for I gave them the words you gave me, and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them.
[33:00] I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
[33:14] I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.
[33:29] While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by the name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction, so that scripture would be fulfilled.
[33:43] I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.
[34:02] My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth.
[34:14] Your word is truth. As you send me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them, I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
[34:26] And then in the following verses, it's Jesus prays for his future believers. My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
[34:45] May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me.
[35:00] May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
[35:20] Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
[35:38] what a an awesome thing to know that Jesus prays, even prayed for his disciples, he prayed for himself as he was going to the cross.
[35:55] And then so that's the P for prayer and then E, eternal life and eternal life and good news.
[36:12] Does God really have a future for us? Do you know the Lord as your personal savior? And eternity, as you think of eternity, we have a lot more living ahead of us than we do behind us and eternity can be spent in either hell or in heaven with Christ and if you're not sure where you stand today and if you're not absolutely sure of your future with God there's a place that you need to begin and it's to confess your sin and to repent and just to go through we listened to a gentleman J.D.
[37:09] Farag who is a pastor in Hawaii and at the end of every message that he has he shares the gospel the good news and it's a simple he has it very simple it's A-B-C and the A stands for admit that you are a sinner and in Romans 3.23 it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and so one thing he says in there we first must admit that we are sinners that we we sin and and if we admit that we are a sinner then we are in need of a savior and Jesus Christ is that savior and in Romans 6.23 it says for the wages of sin is death that's the bad news and it's a death penalty if we if we if we don't repent the death penalty will be what we have but there is good news the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
[38:24] Jesus our Lord and so first we need to repent and then be as believe in the Lord Romans 10.9 and 10 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved and I like the way J.D.
[38:49] Farrick says it here it says you will be saved it doesn't say you might be saved it says you will be saved for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved and the C stands for call on the name of the Lord Romans 10 13 says for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved so and I just like the way that's put that we will be saved and God came Jesus came to earth and to die for our sin and he lived amongst us and he died on a cross but he didn't stay on that cross he rose after three days and after the three days he came back to life and he came and showed himself to the disciples and a few others for a few days after and after that he was raised to the right hand of
[40:04] God and he said in his word that he's coming back again good news is that Jesus is coming back to take us where with him and if there's anybody here today that hasn't accepted the Lord as their personal savior you know what are you waiting for you don't know if tomorrow could be today could be your last day and would you like to spend the rest of your life with Christ or would you like or if you don't then you will spend the rest of your life in eternity without Christ in hell and in closing I would like to leave you with this message of scripture and I trust that you will be excited to share the hope that you have the good news of Jesus Christ and our Lord who has come in contact with you and it is
[41:05] Romans 10 14 and 15 how then can they call on the one they have not believed in and how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard and how can they hear without someone preaching to them and how can they preach unless they are sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news and I hope that's the good news that you're willing to share with a world out there that needs to know and hear about our Savior thank you