Doctrine: The Power of the Resurrection of the Dead, part 4

[0:00] I'm ready to roll. If y'all are ready to roll.

[0:11] So we'll pray. And if you want more ice cream in the middle and cake,! You would guide us as we look at it and try to understand it.

[0:33] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. All right. So let's just revisit for a few moments kind of where we are and what's being talked about.

[0:47] You'll remember at the very beginning, the Corinthian church is a really messed up church. They have lots of problems. They have a problem doctrinally, and it's that they don't believe in the resurrection of the dead.

[1:00] That problem exists because they are mixing the gospel with a thing called Gnosticism.

[1:12] Gnosticism is an Eastern philosophy that says what is spirit is good and what is physical is bad. So for the Corinthians, many of them thinking they were super spiritual people, they were better than everybody else, many of them having all of these supposed gifts of the spirit like speaking in tongues, thought they were so spiritual, thought they were so mature, thought they were so holy that they had arrived at the Eschaton to the last time.

[1:47] I just feel really too close to y'all. Like I'm going to look at you and spit on you while I'm talking. Arrived at this last time, and the only thing they had left to do is to escape from the physical body.

[2:01] That's their thought. And if you'll think about it, when Paul says there's a resurrection of the dead, back in verses 28 down through 49, their question is going to be what kind of body?

[2:18] Because in their mind, they can't understand what it would look like for someone to be raised from the dead. And you'll remember we talked about that, you know, I had an atheist friend who we were talking about the resurrection, and his conception was that of a zombie.

[2:32] Right? Somebody comes back to life, they're going to be like a zombie if they come back to life. And so, no, that's not what we mean, and that's not what God has taught us. And so Paul has been laying out what this is.

[2:44] What does it mean for a body to come back to life? And you remember last week we talked about that there's a transformation that happens. There is the earthly and heavenly bodies, and there he's talking about animals and birds and humanity, and then he's talking about sun, moon, stars, and they all have glory, and they're fitted for the areas that they are in.

[3:05] And yet, where we are currently is that we're in the place of an earthly body with its glory, but it's perishable, and it's one day going to turn imperishable.

[3:16] So even though this is a fallen body subject to the curse, it can get sick, right? It's got all kinds of problems because of the fall. Well, one day this bear kernel will go to the ground and die, and as a bear kernel, the final form, like a seed and a plant, you know, they're the same, but they're different, this body is going to be transformed.

[3:41] So that's kind of what we've been talking about up to this point, and now he's going to be talking about sort of the last bit of this where he's going to deal with the kingdom of God because this is all related to the kingdom of God, and he's going to start with thinking about inheriting the kingdom of God, which is going to be going into the kingdom of God, if you will.

[4:06] And so with that, we want to look at three things in particular, and then we're going to wrap it up with kind of an application that Paul gives us. So the first part is the requirement of the kingdom, and that's verse 50 and 51.

[4:21] And listen to what he says. He says, I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

[4:32] Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. So if you'll remember, one of the things I was talking about is that the ancients, and by that I mean like the Greeks and this kind of a thing, had this view of existence, that there's God and there's earth or humanity, and there is such a difference in being that there's a great chasm that can't be crossed.

[5:01] So the Gnostics, believing that some God trapped a bunch of spirit in matter, we got to escape from that and go back, have at least a conception that the transcendent God cannot be gotten to in normal ways.

[5:17] And Paul kind of admits that to some degree here. That is that the perishable body that I have now cannot go into the kingdom of God for all eternity with God because something's wrong with this body.

[5:30] If your body in the current condition that it's in lived forever, that would be miserable because this body is subject to decay, subject to illness, it's getting older, the joints are wearing out.

[5:46] Can you imagine it lasting forever? That would be terrible. So that's what he's saying is that it's impossible in this current physical condition for this body to inherit eternity, glory, because it's not fit for that period.

[6:01] So it's got to change. That's back up in verses 39 through 41 where he talks about that there's a glory for every flesh and there's a glory for the earthly and a glory for the heavenly. If we've had the earthly body like the man of the earth, Adam, we're going to have the heavenly body like Christ.

[6:17] And so the perishable has to put on the imperishable. And he says that this is a mystery. So let me just give you a word of, I guess, warning or just knowledge.

[6:30] Anytime the Bible, and particularly the New Testament, uses the word mystery, the author is not saying, this is something I don't understand, but I'm going to say it anyway.

[6:43] That's not what he's saying. A mystery is something that is in the Old Testament that the Old Testament saints didn't understand. But now in the New Testament, now that Christ has come, his apostles now understand it.

[6:59] And so now they're telling us the truth that the Old Testament saints should have realized. And what is the mystery? We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

[7:13] We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Sleep here means what? Death. Death. That's right. So we're not all going to die before there's this opportunity to have the body transformed from perishable to imperishable.

[7:30] Right? So it's not necessary to experience death in order to get a new body. Some people aren't going to die because Christ is going to come back and they're going to be changed in the twinkling of an eye.

[7:43] And we'll see here in a little bit. But many will die. But those who die, they will also be changed, which means then, that like Abraham, Moses, David, are disembodied souls right now in the presence of God.

[8:02] Their bodies are still buried. It has died and it's waiting for Christ to come back and be resurrected, an imperishable body. So they're waiting still for that.

[8:16] Okay? You know what I mean? Okay. So that's the mystery is that we will all be changed. And if we're still alive when Christ comes back, we get this new body.

[8:26] And the resurrected body is a glorified, resurrected body that is like Jesus' resurrected body. Now, that's just verse 50 and 51.

[8:38] And let me just hit a couple of things just in terms of application for us because I think these things are important. I just talked about how Abraham and Moses and David are disembodied souls.

[8:49] Every person who is in Christ, who has already passed away, they are with the Lord, they're in the presence of the Lord, but they are disembodied souls.

[9:03] That is, they have no physical form where they are. Right? It's very important to believe that and understand that because the resurrection, the body is going to be resurrected and that soul and body will be rejoined.

[9:18] Okay? That is what theologians call the intermediate state because it's not the end. It's not the final form.

[9:29] Right? The final form is the soul and the body together for eternity. And you have to think about Jesus' body for a second. When Jesus was resurrected, you remember he told some of the ladies not to touch him because he hadn't been ascended to his father yet?

[9:45] Part of that is that his body was glorified. And it was very, it was not, it was fitted for eternity. Jesus is 100% human. Okay?

[9:55] So what happens to his body is what's going to happen to our body. And that is, it's going to be glorified. And think about it. He still met with the disciples. He sat down on the beach.

[10:06] He cooked fish in a pan and ate it in front of them. Okay? But that's the final form. That's not what's happening now.

[10:17] What's happening now with all of our loved ones who've gone on before us is they're disembodied souls. Now that brings up this thing that we have to say, and that is this, is that they are not in some sort of catatonic state even though they're disembodied souls.

[10:35] They're also not angels. Right? A lot of people say, they say, you know, they've gone on to be with the Lord and now there's another angel in heaven. You have to understand that angels are created lower than humans.

[10:51] They're a class of being that are lower than humans and they were created to serve humanity. Right? So if a loved one, if we say that a loved one has gone on to be with the Lord and now he has another angel, we're actually denigrating what's happening to our loved ones.

[11:08] Right? So we don't want to say that. And the other thing is, I just love the fact that we get real physical bodies in the end.

[11:19] Physical bodies that can run and jump and hug and eat physical bodies that can just do all kinds of things. I'm just so excited about that because, you know, for a long time, I would listen to, in church, we would have the Pick a Hymn night, you know, fifth Sunday of the month and every song was about heaven.

[11:42] And as a young person, I hated that. And part of the reason that I hated that is because I thought of it as a place of just ephemeral spirits and angels sitting on clouds strumming harps and that sounds boring.

[11:56] I want to run. Like right now, I would love to run because I like to run, but right now, I can only run about across the road. But can you imagine in eternity, we can run and we will not experience the decay of this world on our bodies.

[12:15] you'll run and you'll be bored before you get tired. Right? And maybe not. And maybe you just run until it's like, I've decided to do something else.

[12:27] You know, I just am so excited about what that means and how God has given us such beautiful gifts like that, you know? So anyway, that's the requirement of the kingdom that the body has to be changed.

[12:41] It can't go into eternity the way it is. So now we talk about the fun part, the timing of all of this. When is that body going to be changed?

[12:54] Right? Because verse 51 ends with, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Verse 52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.

[13:11] And we shall all be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality. So we see the speed of the change.

[13:24] The speed of the change is in two phrases. One is in a moment. In a moment. The word moment in Greek is atomos. It's where we get our English word atom.

[13:35] And for the Greeks, this was the smallest indivisible unit of anything. So, so, if you have an atom of something, it's indivisible. It cannot be broken down any smaller.

[13:47] That's the smallest unit. So, in a moment, a moment that's so fast, so short, that it can't be divided up into further moments. That's how fast this change is going to happen.

[14:00] Any moment. Faster than that. Then it says, in the twinkling of an eye. Now, my dad pastored for years until he retired and we started going to another church.

[14:14] And our pastor at this church was preaching through end times and revelation things, this kind of thing. And he always had this joke about twinkling of an eye and how fast it was. He says, it's the time between the light turning green and the person behind you honking the horn.

[14:26] Right? So, pretty quick. But what it means, the twinkling of an eye is not the flashing of your eyelashes. You know, it's not a blink, it's not a wink. It's the amount of time it takes for light to strike the back of the retina and for the glitterness and shine of that to show up in your eyes.

[14:47] So, if I, you know, I shine a flashlight in your eyes, I can see it shining back. How fast does that happen? Instantaneous. The point is, is that this change has no delay to it.

[14:59] You know, I think about the Hulk. Right? I think about the Incredible Hulk when he gets mad, he goes through this change and it's all dramatic and drawn out and takes forever. No, not this. This change is instantaneous.

[15:13] Okay, then we need to talk about, well, when is that going to happen? Right? And what does the text tell us? At the last trumpet. At the last trumpet.

[15:24] So, we got to talk about that. What does it mean at the last trumpet? A couple of things about trumpets that you need to know. One is that they're used in the Old Testament for two things. The first is to announce the presence of God and the second is to gather God's people to Him.

[15:42] That's where trumpets are used. You can see it in the book of Judges as tribes are called to come together in order to go to war. You can see it in much of the law as they're talking about the different feast days and God's people, they hear the trumpet, they come together.

[15:54] One particular passage that illustrates this is Israel right before Moses goes up on Mount Sinai to get the law of God written in stone with his finger, right?

[16:06] In Exodus 19 it says, On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on a mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people of the camp trembled and Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

[16:21] So the trumpet announcing the presence of God, the presence of God in judgment because you had all of these thunders and lightnings and dark clouds and the people of God gathered to God.

[16:32] That's what you see. That's what a trumpet is. And so the question is what's the last trumpet? And I think that there's been so much straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel on this.

[16:46] If you go to extra biblical sources and that's where you have to go there's a lot of people that go to these extra biblical sources and they look up things about the different feast days in the rabbinic literature.

[16:59] They'll get into things about like there being a trumpet and one trumpet called the last trumpet and all this kind of stuff. Here's the problem with that. Paul, I don't think is at all trying to be tricksy here.

[17:13] When he says it's the last trumpet it's because it's the end. If it's the last shot, the last shot in the basketball game is because the basketball game's over.

[17:28] It's the end, right? So think about this. If you go back up to verses 22 through 28 it talks about that as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive, but each in his own order.

[17:41] Christ the firstfruits, that at his coming those who belong to Christ. So Christ was raised from the dead first. We're going to be raised at his coming.

[17:52] Then comes the end. The end. That's when the end comes is when the dead are raised and it's all going to be over at that point. So the end comes after the dead are raised.

[18:07] So when are the dead raised? The dead are raised at the last trumpet. So you've got a last trumpet, then the dead are raised, then the end. And there's nothing, there's nothing in the text that tells us that there ought to be a period of time between all of these things.

[18:25] Right? Matter of fact, the resurrection, if you'll remember even in that passage that I was reading, one of the last enemies to be destroyed is death. Right? How is death destroyed?

[18:37] Verse 54 says that when the perishable puts on the imperishable, that's the resurrection, when the mortal puts on immortality, that's the resurrection, then we'll come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.

[18:51] Death is defeated in the resurrection of the saints. Death is defeated in the resurrection of the saints. So the last trumpet sounds, the saints are raised, and then it's the end.

[19:05] And that's it. So the features that you have in this passage are really interesting. You've got those who are asleep and you have those who are alive. Okay? And then there's going to be the Lord coming with a trumpet blast and the dead are going to be raised and we're going to be changed and then there's the end.

[19:27] Okay. Hold that thought and turn over to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and I want you to notice how many parallel connections there are.

[19:45] Verse 13 says, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are, what? Asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.

[19:57] For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive and who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

[20:20] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

[20:40] Do you see how closely tied those two passages are? They say all the same things. They talk about how there are those who are in Christ and they're asleep or they're dead, and that there are those who are left, and then there's going to be the coming of the Lord.

[20:54] With the coming of the Lord is going to be this trumpet sound, and when that happens, the dead will be raised, the others of us will also then join with them, will all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and that's the end.

[21:09] That is the end. We see in that, that parallel, this idea of the, I guess you could say, the scheme of the end of times.

[21:22] How is this all going to play out? What is this going to look like? One of the things that I think is interesting is that what you have in so much of what we've been taught over the years from very godly teachers is this thought that what we're waiting for is we're waiting for this rapture that's going to kick off a whole series of events, and this rapture has to then be called a secret rapture, different from the second coming, because the second coming kicks off the very end.

[22:04] And so, but all the passages that are used, like 1 Thessalonians 4 is used to speak about the rapture, but it's not about the rapture, it's about the second coming. I say to you, there is no rapture, there is only the second coming, and that is all that we're waiting for.

[22:22] Because if you go with the normal scheme, then what you have is you have people disappearing, and if that's Christ coming and putting an end to everything, and the dead are raised, because in the rapture, right, in the rapture that we're typically taught, people are raised from the dead, aren't they?

[22:39] Well, if they're raised from the dead, then death is defeated, and death is no more. But yet you have seven years of people dying. And then after that, you've got a millennial reign on earth, where at the end of that there's this big battle, and people die.

[22:53] None of that makes any sense. How can death be defeated, and yet people still die? And it's not like defeated like Jesus did in his resurrection.

[23:05] No, death is defeated because the saints are raised from the dead. And so I love many of the men who have taught this, and I believed it because we weren't examining things very closely.

[23:20] We're just, you know, in Corinthians, where we're studying now, they will put in a bunch of little breaks and times and saying, oh, and between this verse and this verse, this little word then means there's a big period of time.

[23:32] And it's like, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say that at all. And so we can't have an argument from silence. And so I just want to emphasize that as we think about the timing of this, here's the way, if I can give you the most clear picture of how I think the rest of history is going to go, it's going to look like this.

[23:55] Persecution of the church is going to increase. The church is going to continue to succeed on its mission. And one day, Jesus is coming back, and when he does, he will raise the saints to life, the unrighteous to damnation.

[24:12] There will be a judgment, and it's all over. The only thing we're waiting for is the second coming of Christ. That's our blessed hope.

[24:25] We don't have to be looking for anything else. We just are looking for Jesus to come back. If we knew when, I mean, that would change everything, wouldn't it?

[24:38] If we knew when that was going to be. If you knew that in 150 days from today, Jesus was coming back, how would that make you live differently than the way you're living today?

[24:54] Because I would encourage us to say, we should always be living as though he's coming back tomorrow. And so those things that you're not yet, you know, you haven't, maybe you've been waiting for that round to it, to get to it, maybe those are things that need to be put on there.

[25:12] Where's your question? Do you think any events or anything has to happen? I think Revelation said that man of sin must be revealed, man of lawlessness must be revealed.

[25:25] Second Thessalonians. Okay. So, do you feel like Christ would come anytime, or is there some event or something that's going to happen? So, if we get into Second Thessalonians and we get into some of the things that are in, well, Matthew 24.

[25:46] So, I think Matthew 24 has, Matthew 24, if you read it, it's got a this and that or these and those and those words are near and far.

[26:00] And so, in Matthew 24, you've got two different time periods being talked about when it comes to the second time period, the one that we're talking about here. There are a few things that he seems to point at that says you might see these things and I think that even Second Thessalonians gives us the idea that there might be this man of lawlessness type situation.

[26:20] However, all of those things are contingent upon the second coming. So, it's a little bit like, it's a little bit like if your car starts to run out of gas, you really should be looking at your gauge, but it's like I'm trying to wait and listen for it gurgling before I stop to get gas.

[26:44] It's like I'm looking at the wrong thing. Right? I just need to be looking at the right thing and the right thing to be looking for is just waiting for the Lord. Now, that doesn't mean you can't know some of these things, but how much time will there be between those things and the second coming of Christ?

[27:00] We're not told. Is it possible that it's a thousand years? I guess it could be, but that's why I'm saying you look to the second coming of Christ.

[27:11] Nothing else matters in terms of what we're doing and the only thing that matters is the second coming of Christ because when that happens there's not another chance. And that's what I think about is I think about people who need to hear the gospel once Christ comes back it's all over.

[27:26] There's not another chance to hear the gospel. That's it. So I don't want to get locked into a schema that has me looking for various things that might then lull me to sleep so I'm not sharing the gospel as often as I need to.

[27:43] Does that make sense? Okay. Any other questions about that? You and I the other day had this big old conversation didn't we?

[27:55] Yeah. Now listen I'm just going to tell you that one I could be wrong. Right? You know I mean I could be. This is the way I see it this is the way I understand it and if you said to yourself no I think there's a rapture in seven years and then this Lord bless you.

[28:16] Lord bless you and have at it. You know because I don't think that that's a test of fellowship or a test of even whether or not you're a Christian. There are passages that are there that some people use I mean good solid godly people have believed different from me for various reasons.

[28:34] I think they misunderstand it but it doesn't make them bad. Right? This is not a test of fellowship. This is totally different than say like the deity of Christ.

[28:45] Somebody says oh no Jesus is not God we got a problem. Right? So we just have to put this in its proper perspective in its proper box. Okay.

[28:55] Last chance on timing of this. This is Yeah. That's right.

[29:19] That's right. Okay. Well you know here's what's interesting to me. Paul doesn't stop talking.

[29:31] He's got more to say because really the timing of when this is going to happen is not the most important thing. He's looking at something else.

[29:42] He's aiming towards something else and I want you to see what he's aiming at. He's first going to set up this what I call the taunt of the kingdom because he's being quite mocking here.

[29:53] Verse 54 when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality then shall come to pass the saying that is written death is swallowed up in victory.

[30:04] Oh death where is your victory? Oh death where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. The power of sin is the law but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[30:17] Now here's what you have here. You have a prophecy being talked about. The prophecy comes from both Hosea as well as Isaiah and this prophecy is about the death of death.

[30:33] That's what this prophecy is about and for Paul as he's writing this death was not dead yet. We're still waiting for death to die and so he is coming back and he is talking about this prophecy saying that when a certain thing happens then the prophecy is going to come fulfilled that death is going to die and that certain thing that's going to happen is when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality.

[31:02] That's the resurrection of the saints. Right? When we get transformed death dies. That's what's going to happen. And you can hear this as Paul writes out this prophecy you can hear the taunting way that he talks to death.

[31:23] Death you're swallowed up in victory. Oh death where's your sting? I thought you were something bad. I thought you were something to be feared.

[31:35] Where is your victory? Where is your power? He is just mocking death which is really surprising seeing how he's one who was so close to death so many times.

[31:49] Beaten left in the sea in danger in the city in danger in the wilderness all these things where Paul comes so close to death and yet as he writes he writes it like somebody sticking his finger in his face going like na na na na na na.

[32:05] It's this taunt of death. That death is not all it's cracked up to be. Death is not as scary as it seems to be. And so he's mocking death but how can he do that and it's because death is going to be defanged.

[32:22] Death is going to be defanged or let's just say that for us now death is defanged. Think about it.

[32:33] It says that the sting of death the sting of death what he's talking about there is the idea of the toxin that's inside the scorpion as it stings.

[32:46] That toxin that poison comes out and it's that part that hurts. Right? I mean yes the poke hurts but it's the poison that's the toxin it's the poison that's the bad part.

[32:56] He's saying that the sting of death the toxin of death the venom in the fangs of death is sin. Sin is that toxin that is used to bring about fear in us and the idea that we're going to die.

[33:14] Right? Sin is the disobedience to the law of God and it is that disobedience to the law of God that is the pain and the venom and the toxin.

[33:27] And so death spreads to all men because all have sinned and then the power of that toxin what makes that toxin that sin so powerful is the law of God itself because it exposes just how dangerous it is.

[33:44] It's like a flashlight shining on it like you didn't really think that poison was that bad because it wasn't hurting but it's actually completely dissolving all of yourself and so you shine the light on it to see oh it is worse than we ever thought it could be.

[33:59] And so the question is how does death get defanged? How do you take that toxin out? How do you neutralize the power of that toxin? Well he tells us in verse 57 thanks be to God who gives us the victory through what?

[34:19] I just want you to relish in that for a moment because it's not about our baptism our baptism does not neutralize the venom of sin our being a good person our being a conservative person whatever political party we happen to vote for our being morally upstanding anything we could put into that blank nothing will neutralize the venom and the power of sin the only thing that does is the Lord Jesus Christ himself how does he neutralize that?

[34:56] Because he came took on human flesh lived a perfect life had no sin whatsoever and so his death upon the cross was the beginning point of the death of sin because it destroyed the power of sin it destroyed that power of that toxin his Jesus' perfect obedience and death upon the cross neutralizes the venom of death whoo that is good and here's his point he's saying the change that's going to happen is in the final death blow what Jesus started in the crucifixion is going to be finally and finished in his second coming in his return and so for us as Christians then I mean I think of a couple of things that are good with this and then we're going to go to verse 58 but like should we as

[35:59] Christians then if that's the way death is should we for ourselves I'm only talking about for ourselves should we fear our own death no now there are some Christians who do and that's not to say that that's a wrong bad thing but there is a way for you to not have to by understanding these truths and taking them in deeply you can face death with more boldness I talked to Lenny Beth today and every time I talk with her she tells me I'm ready to go ask her are!

[36:42] you afraid she says I'm only afraid that my family can't get along without me I'm not afraid to die and I just think that for every believer yeah will there be a moment maybe of a doubt and a fear and a thing that comes yeah but I think by and large for us as believers there is no fear of death matter of fact Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14 and 15 his death in the body he destroyed the one who had the power of death so that those who were subject to lifelong slavery to the fear of death might be set free he does he does because of what he's done you know and so here's the thing Paul's talking to this group of Christians and they've got this wrong doctrine about the resurrection of the dead and he's been correcting that and showing them and now he's getting into the kingdom with it talking about the end of that and how the resurrection and the transformation of our bodies and the glory of that comes about and after he's given them all this wonderful theology here's where he ends with them

[37:55] I love this verse therefore therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abound in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain therefore this is what he's driving to this is the conclusion of everything all of that theology of the gospel and the resurrection and the implications of the resurrection and the timing and the transformation of the body all of that theology is to ground and to be the!

[38:39] the gasoline to the thought of be steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord I think that's just a phenomenal thought but what does that mean to be steadfast immovable the the the words steadfast immovable deal with the idea of holding to a truth and not letting go not letting anything persuade you from this truth it's to hold an opinion to hold a conviction and to be firm in that conviction and to not let it go like you know when my kids were about 10 I had a firm conviction and I never let that go right because it's a firm conviction that's what he's talking about being steadfast immovable is to have the conviction of the truth of the resurrection of Christ and all the theology that's there in scripture it's to hold on to that and never never never never be moved off of it why should you never be moved off of it because in the twinkling of an eye which is because one day the perishable is going to put on the imperishable because

[40:00] Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures all of that theology is the reason why we're to hold on to that theology and then he says that we are to always abound in the work of the Lord that's simply just ministry right here and here's the way I define ministry because I think I think that often times we define ministry a little too loose I think ministry should be defined as when one person takes the word of God and shares it with another person if there's no sharing of the word of God it's not ministry it might be a good thing it might be a necessary thing but it's not ministry it's okay if we don't do just ministry it's okay if we do things that are service project oriented or that it's administrative or that's logistical or that's caring for other things that's fine it's okay to mow your grass you know it's okay to mow your grass but we also do ministry we want to abound in ministry and ministry is when we give out the word of

[41:12] God to someone else you know right now I'm doing ministry right if you take and you send somebody a quick text reminding them of a scripture because you want to encourage them you've just done ministry when you decide you want to share a verse you know when I went over to see Lenebeth we read a couple of verses of scripture that was ministry ministry is when we take God's word and we share it with others and so we want to abound in the work of the Lord and I just want you to think about that word abound and what he means by that it's the same word that's used in the gospels after Jesus fed the 5,000 and they picked up the 12 baskets full and those baskets were abounding they were overflowing that's the image that we should be doing ministry all the time and a lot of our ministry can be done while we're doing other things but we're to always be abounding in the work of the Lord why?

[42:19] I have people in my life that I have been trying to pray for and trying to share scriptures with and trying to share the gospel with for years with absolutely zero results yet it's not in vain this is what we're supposed to do George Mueller if you've ever heard of George Mueller and he he's the one who started a lot of orphanages in England and he vowed that he wasn't going to ask people for donations but instead he was going to pray for everything that they needed well he also had five people in his life that he wanted to see them become Christians and he prayed for them you want to know how many years 53 years and he never saw any of the five of them become Christians but they did become Christians after his death not all at the same time not on the same place not all the same circumstance but eventually all five of them did the point is this the ministry that we do always lives on past us we can't say to ourselves that you know well

[43:37] I've been trying to share with this daughter or this cousin or this nephew or this father or this brother and they just don't seem to be getting it and I mean after about 20 years I just think maybe there's just no use in it and I say to you don't give up you and I don't understand the scope of eternity we don't understand the scope of what all God's doing in eternity and so take and always abound in the work of the Lord because your work is not in vain when it's in the Lord and the whole reason Paul told you that you're going to change is to encourage you to stay doing ministry!

[44:21] So as you look at the end of the dead and what our bodies are going to be like what is heaven going to be like if it doesn't stir you to want to make sure that you're doing ministry with others then there's something wrong either with the way you're looking at it or the way it's being presented because every time we open up and think about all of that it should spur us to want to do ministry and let me just encourage you to think about this way maybe a concentric circle will help you serve your family minister to your family those that are in your household closest to you share the word of God with them read the word of God together right serve your church family that's the next layer out how can you give the word of God to somebody else in the church maybe on an ongoing basis maybe it's temporary maybe it's once in a while or something like that it doesn't have to be an official ministry of the church to do ministry right and then from there think to serving your community your family your church your community and those three spheres look for ways that you can serve others do ministry handing out the word of

[45:37] God to them listen it's great to hand out food and we can do that it's great to give people clothes to wear it's great to help people find homes to wear those are service projects that are good and right and necessary but all the food in the world will never save a soul they've got to be given the word of God in order for them to to grow and so we want to take the gospel into all of these places okay may the Lord bless us with that any any comments or questions about as clear as mud well I went to preaching so you know that happens to me a lot I kind of go to go from bible study to preaching and so I I just I just always think that you gotta press the conscience a little bit so well then let's take some prayer requests tonight pray for

[46:43] Lenny Beth for her family and she I don't she she was not feeling great today sorry I had to write all those words down that I was saying she wasn't feeling great today had not eaten really much and so she struggles with that and that's kind of the difficult part but there is a gathering this Saturday at their house and if you it's a come and go thing starting around 10 o'clock in the morning till late later 4ish or so they're giving some food out some sausage brisket that kind of thing go by go by there and even if you can't stay and you can't eat go by the house and just say hi because it'll be a good thing there'll be a lot of people going in and out and so just encourage you to go if you don't know where she lives you can text me and

[47:50] I'll tell you 2107 it's really the first house and driveway on the right as you go down 2107 so oh oh well we need to pray for Pam goodness gracious yeah and Nancy is still there too yeah Nancy will be leaving Sunday to go back home for a few weeks so anyone else Danny okay got him Danny Danny

[49:05] Okay, anybody else?

[49:24] Please pray for voyagnosis. Please pray for voyagnosis. Please pray for voyagnosis. And did he get his car?

[49:41] He'll get the car this weekend. Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Also, Caleb. Caleb. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[50:05] Yeah. One of those missions. Okay. Let's pray for him. Let's pray. Father, we come to you today, and we are just so thankful for how you have cared for us and given to us such a great truth to just stir our hearts up.

[50:26] And I just pray, Father, that you would keep our hearts stirred and ready for all the ministry that you put in front of us. And, Father, we want to lift to you tonight, Lenny Beth and her family.

[50:39] Lord, we just pray that you would be their hope and their comfort in these days and that you would strengthen them and encourage them. And, Lord, we recognize that the day of our death is set, and we cannot hasten it, nor can we run from it and strengthen, lengthen things out.

[50:54] And so I just pray, Father, that you would be with the family and help them to be at peace with your timing. And I pray for Pam and for the whole family as they prepare and gather for this weekend, Lord, that it would be such a blessing to them that physically they'd be able to handle it and be ready and that those that come would be a blessing to them even as they are blessed by coming to see this family.

[51:17] And, Father, we pray for Danny and his continued treatments. And, Lord, just pray that you would give him the strength to finish out the treatments and to be able to see more and more this cancer just go and be gone.

[51:31] And we pray, Father, that it would be a testimony to your goodness and greatness. Father, we pray for Randy Tisdell and just continue to pray for his strengthening and health and for their hope and the joy in you.

[51:46] And we pray for Keith's uncle and, Lord, in this time of waiting as well for what is to happen. And I pray for the whole family that you would be their peace and you would be their strength and you would sustain them through this time of waiting.

[52:05] Father, we pray for Tyler to be able to find a good church Lord, that he could be encouraged and ministered to to find a good community to be that support system to help him or that would love him and help him to not be without such a good support system.

[52:26] And we pray for Caleb. Lord, as he has 45 days on some mission, we pray for him and for all the guys that are with him, that you would keep them safe. You would help them to know your presence and that the joy of the Lord would be with them as they go.

[52:44] And Father, I just pray that you would be with First Baptist Medina and pray that you would bless this church, increase this church, give them great joy. And I pray, Father, for the man that you have for them, that you would bring him soon to them and that you would help them to continue down the path, growing in you, serving you, and building lives that treasure Christ.

[53:06] And we pray all this in Christ's name. Amen. There's more cake and ice cream. It's very good. Very good, very good.