WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.400 My name is Sam. I'm a partner here at Christchurch for those of you who don't know me. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:11.679 ! This morning I'm actually standing in for Adam Kinnam. He was going to preach, continuing, 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:17.839 ! actually finishing out our series on Philippians. But Adam and Carrie just had a newborn baby, 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:25.920 ! Hosanna. So I decided to take this off his plate as they take care of their new little baby. Excited 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:36.640 to meet Hosanna soon. Welcome bro. So taking a little bit of a break from Philippians, I wanted 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:47.200 to think about this morning of the idea of worship as warfare. The way that we worship the God that we 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:56.160 serve in a type of focused and intentional, almost militant type way as we live our lives. And 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:05.040 at the beginning of each year, we pray as a church for three words. And this year we got three words 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:13.840 from the Lord, character, family, and order. And I think that this discussion that I'm going to kind 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:20.079 of walk through with you guys is very relevant to those words, especially character and order, 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:29.600 and will benefit us as we pursue those things. So worship as warfare. I'm going to pray and then 00:01:30.800 --> 00:01:31.760 kind of dive in here. 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:39.920 Lord, I thank you God for your word. Thank you Lord that it's profitable for teaching 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:46.000 and correction. Thank you Lord that you say it's God breathed. But I pray that you would 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:53.120 speak through me Lord, through your word that you would breathe even this morning on us. God speak to 00:01:53.120 --> 00:02:02.400 our hearts. Stir us up Lord to be a church family with good order and good character Lord, serving you 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:14.240 with all fervor as good soldiers. Pray Lord that we would worship you God with that fervency going forward 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:21.360 with even more fervency than we had before up to this point. In Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:31.120 worship as warfare. So disclaimer, when I say worship, I'm not just talking about like when we sing 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:38.400 that kind of worship or like, you know, with with song and instruments, like on a Sunday morning, 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.000 that's kind of the contemporary thing that a lot of people think of when you think of worship, 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:51.919 although that's part of it. I'm talking about worship in the sense of how we live our lives at any given 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:55.039 point at any time. Okay, so 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:02.400 unfortunately, I think inadvertently sometimes, especially in the church, the charismatic church, 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:09.439 what's been taught is that this experience of worship, maybe with worship and song or on a Sunday morning, 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:17.439 is the primary place where the kingdom of God comes, heaven invades and demons flee. Okay, 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:23.680 and while that is true, those things do happen when we lift our hands and we sing for the Lord, 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:31.039 that is not the only way that we worship God, or that heaven comes, or that demons flee. Okay, so 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:33.840 partly because 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.639 after Sunday, Monday comes around. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:46.799 What do you need to do if you need the demons to flee on Monday? Right? What do you need to do if you're in your cubicle? 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.599 You can't, you know, break out in praise and song, right? 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:59.039 There has to be a way that we live our lives all the time that is Godward and worship. Okay, 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:05.199 so, uh, kind of in keeping with the words that we have received this year, character, order, and family, 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:08.799 I think the, the content of our lives, 00:04:09.519 --> 00:04:15.519 after we all go home from our meetings, or from work, or whether we're at work, or wherever we might be, 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:20.959 especially when people don't see what the content of our lives, what does it look like? 00:04:20.959 --> 00:04:27.919 You know, is it, is it Godward? Is it focused? Does it have purpose? You know, all these things are things to consider because 00:04:28.719 --> 00:04:38.879 how we live our lives either, uh, is a, uh, expression of faithful worship or unfaithful worship. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:45.919 There's really only those two categories, and you can, you don't have to be a believer to think about worship either. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:56.319 Um, the secular person, uh, worships many gods, right? Uh, whether it's money or what have you, 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:04.319 uh, same thing in a religious context, right? Um, wherever you are, wherever you find yourself, 00:05:05.200 --> 00:05:15.840 your heart will worship something. Okay? So, thinking today about what is the disposition of our lives, 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:21.360 day to day? Okay? Not just on a Sunday morning, although that's important, right? But, uh, when 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:28.480 you wake up on Monday, or Wednesday, right? During the turn of the week. Okay? So, Romans 12, 1 says, 00:05:29.200 --> 00:05:35.200 Paul speaks, he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your 00:05:35.200 --> 00:05:41.680 bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:50.560 Okay? So, what if your daily monotonous life was lived, uh, in this way, like Paul's saying, uh, 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:57.759 present your bodies to him, to God, in view of his mercies, present your bodies as living sacrifices. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:03.280 I think it's funny that he put living in there, you know, because a sacrifice usually dies, you know? 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:10.559 But, like, right? We still gotta be alive in this world. But, our life is a, what? It's, he says it's a 00:06:10.559 --> 00:06:18.399 sacrifice. And then he says, and this is your spiritual worship. So, what our day, the daily things we do, 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:27.479 the daily sacrifices of our life, um, either is spiritual worship, um, in a faithful way to the Lord, 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:36.120 or in an unfaithful way. And we should consider this. What if, what if when you change the, uh, 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:46.120 the fifth dirty diaper, you know, uh, in, in a faithful way, that you were, uh, assailing the forces of darkness? 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:53.500 You know, uh, that seems a little ridiculous. It's kind of why we all laugh about it. But here's the thing. 00:06:53.500 --> 00:07:02.459 There's a category, I think, that has been, uh, brushed over for the mundane in Christianity. Okay? 00:07:02.699 --> 00:07:08.600 The, the, what we would call the unspiritual, right? But I would propose to you today that nothing is not 00:07:08.600 --> 00:07:14.180 spiritual. Everything is. Okay? That doesn't mean that we need to get weird about, you know, when 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:20.379 you're changing the diaper, making sure that you do it in a spiritual way, right? But that the way that 00:07:20.379 --> 00:07:27.579 we live our lives, the attitudes of our heart makes its way back to God. Are we grateful? Are we ungrateful? 00:07:28.379 --> 00:07:34.360 You know, like God, God sees all those things. And so whether it's the diapers, whether it's the dishes, 00:07:34.860 --> 00:07:40.300 maybe you stay late at work, maybe you open your home to a stranger or somebody that's really difficult, 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:48.139 right? God sees your heart and he either gets worship from that or he says, you know what? 00:07:48.139 --> 00:07:56.379 I think there's an offense against me, you know? And one of the, one of the key things here, 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:00.800 why, why we should acknowledge God in all these areas is because the very first portion of this 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:07.939 verse in Romans 12, it says, I appeal to you by what? By the mercies of God. Okay? Or in view of God's 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:15.539 mercies, another translation says. Um, we don't think about God's mercies only on Sunday mornings, 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:22.040 uh, only during, uh, you know, our quarterly fast breaks, you know, at the spiritual times, 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:30.000 God's mercy is perpetual towards us at all times, which means that we live in a perpetual state 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:39.300 of worship towards God. Okay? And so when you say like, there can't possibly be something so powerful 00:08:39.299 --> 00:08:49.519 in something so unspiritual, you know, like going to work or doing the dishes, right? Um, but there's numerous 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:58.919 examples in scripture of people living their lives in very ordinary ways, um, that I don't think, uh, the scriptures 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:07.579 never allude to that being unimportant or, uh, unspiritual even. And actually, it's the ordinary people, 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:14.379 oftentimes in scripture, time and time again, that God uses to accomplish his will. Okay? Uh, 00:09:14.379 --> 00:09:21.320 David and Moses were both shepherds. Okay? David shepherded when he was a boy all the way up until, 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:27.540 uh, he fought Goliath, right? And then God called him to be king. Moses, after he left Egypt, was 00:09:27.540 --> 00:09:34.640 shepherding for 40 years. That's such like a blip. If you read Exodus, it's like 40 years blip. Moses 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:40.500 shepherded in Midian, you know? And it's kind of like, whoa. Okay? And then God called him. He was 00:09:40.500 --> 00:09:49.659 80 years old, right? Um, pretty much all of Jesus' disciples were ordinary men, right? Fishermen. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:56.199 Luke was a doctor. Um, the reason I bring all these things up, I mean, most of you know this already, 00:09:56.199 --> 00:10:03.720 but the truth is we lose heart very easily in the mundane, everyday things. You know? A lot of us, 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:10.720 if we're honest, experience this kind of like, uh, uh, temptation to be like, am I really living for 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:17.279 God? You know? Am I really doing it? Am I, uh, doing what I ought to be? Um, is this thing that I'm 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:24.580 doing really important? You know? And sometimes it gets really hard to, uh, get faith in those moments, 00:10:24.580 --> 00:10:28.139 especially when you do that for a long time, especially when no one sees. 00:10:28.139 --> 00:10:37.199 But the truth is the Lord sees all the time. I think it's Psalm 32 says, behold, the eye of the 00:10:37.199 --> 00:10:42.340 Lord is on those who fear him. Okay. Uh, how often do you believe that you have the Lord's eye, 00:10:42.340 --> 00:10:49.039 uh, when no one else sees, right? And you're doing the things, um, that people may never hear about, 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:55.759 right? Um, so everything, everything is spiritual. Luke, Luke 16, 10, Jesus says, 00:10:55.759 --> 00:11:03.179 the one who is faithful in a very little will also be faithful in much. Or the one who is trusted with, 00:11:04.059 --> 00:11:09.319 uh, or is faithful in a little will be entrusted with much. Okay. So there's, there's this idea of, 00:11:09.319 --> 00:11:15.740 of starting small, um, and being faithful in that. And you might say, okay, well, how long do I have to 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:22.240 be faithful in the little? Right. And there's no description of how long it will take, right? 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:29.960 It's just be faithful. Okay. Uh, and you will be entrusted with more, more what, you know, 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:35.940 there's not even description on that per se, but you will be entrusted. That's the promise. 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:42.240 Okay. How much do we believe that when we're, when we're really bent, uh, about waking up early again, 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:49.399 when we're, you know, when the kitchen's dirty, you get what I'm saying. Okay. Um, one example in 00:11:49.399 --> 00:11:55.840 here that I thought was cool that I actually was just reading about last night, um, was in Ezra 4, 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:08.340 um, Zerubbabel takes on this task of rebuilding the temple of God. Okay. Uh, the Babylonians had come 00:12:08.340 --> 00:12:16.320 and destroyed the temple and it was destroyed for quite some time. And this guy named Zerubbabel, 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:25.379 uh, decided to restore what was once lost, right? Under a different king and rebuild the temple. But, 00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:32.460 uh, some locals in the process saw that he wanted to do that and didn't really jive with his plan. 00:12:32.460 --> 00:12:37.639 So they're like, you know, we're going to kind of conspire and work against them. They sowed discord 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:45.580 and, uh, essentially for years, uh, Zerubbabel would try to build and then people would tear it down 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:50.820 and he would try to build, people would screw up the process. And then, uh, it was just like this 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:58.340 thing after thing. And it was monotonous. It was unyielding, right? Maybe it was a big task, 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:07.820 uh, to rebuild the temple, but daily he was being fought against. Okay. And then nearly 17 years later, 00:13:07.820 --> 00:13:14.519 we get this word and Zechariah. So two prophets come to Zerubbabel, Haggai and Zechariah. And 00:13:14.519 --> 00:13:23.379 Zechariah delivered a word from the Lord, uh, saying, um, that he would finish the project. 00:13:23.379 --> 00:13:29.700 That Zerubbabel, this guy who started it, the Lord, the Lord says to the prophet Zechariah that 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:34.320 you're going to, you're going to finish this project. We'll see it through. But then he says this, 00:13:34.439 --> 00:13:43.360 this other phrase after that, which is for whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:50.639 and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel or other translations say the capstone 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:55.960 in the hand of Zerubbabel basically mean like the finished product, the thing that, that seals it. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:02.919 Right. But he says for whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice. In other words, 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:10.480 saying like, it might've been a large undertaking. It might've been years, you know, of just, you know, 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:15.600 maybe he laid the foundation just started and then boom, everything's destroyed again or everything's 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:22.940 stopped. They're halted. Right. Um, don't despise the day. Don't despise the days of small things. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:28.080 That's, that's the point of this. Okay. Don't despise the mundane. You know, the Lord, 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:35.639 the Lord uses it and even said, says that that person should rejoice who doesn't despise small 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:41.740 things. Right. We likewise should take heed from that, uh, in Christ church. You know, 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:47.139 this is a very small beginning still, you know, small, a lot of small things going on. Um, 00:14:47.299 --> 00:14:55.060 and don't despise the day, but rejoice, you know, the Lord can use literally anything. Okay. So 00:14:55.060 --> 00:15:04.560 Romans 12, Paul calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices. And it's our, it's our spiritual 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:14.359 worship that he calls, uh, doing that. And so, uh, Christ church, do, do, do we live in a way, 00:15:14.359 --> 00:15:21.879 uh, in the secret parts of our life or the public? Um, I emphasize the secret because it's easy to lack 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:29.299 in those areas. Do we live in a way that brings worship to God, um, in our hearts? You know, maybe, 00:15:29.299 --> 00:15:36.379 maybe practically in what we do. Do we believe that the Lord delights when we, when we hunker down 00:15:36.379 --> 00:15:47.279 with steadfastness, with steadfast labors? Um, Acts 20, uh, when, uh, Paul is about to leave and he 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:54.559 speaks to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20 verse 18 says, for you yourselves know how I lived among you the 00:15:54.559 --> 00:16:00.899 whole time from the first time that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with 00:16:00.899 --> 00:16:07.479 tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews, how he did not shrink from 00:16:07.479 --> 00:16:12.399 declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you in public and from house to house. 00:16:13.279 --> 00:16:18.679 Okay. So first, very first thing he says, what he says for yourselves know how I, what lived among 00:16:18.679 --> 00:16:31.439 you. Okay. Um, he expected them not only to see how he lived, but the, the, the kind of life that he 00:16:31.439 --> 00:16:38.839 lived as an example. Okay. You yourselves know how I lived among you. Do we, do we think that way 00:16:38.839 --> 00:16:46.479 of one another as brothers and sisters in Christ, uh, as being examples to one, one another, or not even 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:54.680 just in an example sense, uh, but in a God word sense, uh, do we think, how am I living period? 00:16:55.120 --> 00:17:01.100 How am I living among these people? You know, is it, is it God word? Paul, Paul expects the 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:10.360 Ephesian elders to, to see that, right? It's, it shines. Okay. And he said, I did not shrink from 00:17:10.360 --> 00:17:15.079 declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you in public. Okay. So that's the public 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:22.799 eye. Right. And what else from house to house. Okay. The private eye, you might, you might say. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:32.919 Okay. So Paul says, you yourselves know how I lived. My life was lived in sacrificial worship to God. 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:40.339 Right. You know, William Wallace said, every man dies, but not every man lives. 00:17:40.339 --> 00:17:49.019 Maybe Paul said at first, we don't know, but, uh, you know, it's true. It's it, it, when we're born 00:17:49.019 --> 00:17:56.039 again through the spirit of God, uh, although we still live in sinful bodies, uh, maybe our 00:17:56.039 --> 00:18:03.240 circumstances don't change. We are actually alive as opposed to how we were, which were, which the 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:09.500 Bible says, uh, that we were spiritually dead. This is something like, it's like a mystery to us, 00:18:09.500 --> 00:18:19.259 but it's as powerful and daily you can meditate on it and it would never grow old. Okay. So when 00:18:19.259 --> 00:18:28.220 I don't, I don't know all of the content of your guys' life. I know some of, some of you more than 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:35.740 others, but each person in this room knows their own life, right? You know, your own thoughts, 00:18:36.059 --> 00:18:42.779 you know what you do daily. Um, so I, I'm not here to say, you know, this, this, and this. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:50.420 I believe that the spirit of God will lead this body into a more worshipful place. Right. And, 00:18:50.420 --> 00:19:01.600 and even as I speak, I think it's good to also, um, hear that I don't think our body is, uh, bad at 00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:10.400 worshiping God, uh, per se. Uh, this is, I don't think this is a knock on us. Um, however, I would love 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:16.820 through this word to encourage us to worship all the more, to have more character in how we do that 00:19:16.819 --> 00:19:25.339 in the hidden areas of our life. And so we even see that when Jesus, uh, says that the greatest 00:19:25.339 --> 00:19:30.419 commandment is what? To love the Lord, your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:19:30.779 --> 00:19:35.159 Essentially all of you, right? All of your person, whatever you do, wherever that person goes, 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:40.519 all of your heart, all of your strength, all of your soul, all those things to love God in that way. 00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:46.960 Okay. Okay. Now we can't do that on our own. We can't just muster it up. Right. Many of us, 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:54.039 many of us have tried and failed. We probably slip into areas of trying again, but that's to remind us 00:19:54.039 --> 00:20:00.319 that we rest not on our own strength, but God richly supplies spirit to us. Right. That's the daily 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:06.819 thing. If you wake up on Monday, you know, before you do anything, you know, confessing what's true 00:20:06.819 --> 00:20:12.919 about God is a very good thing. Saying, God, you have richly supplied your spirit to me to do all 00:20:12.919 --> 00:20:19.200 things. I have all things in Christ, uh, to face whatever, whether it's a thousand dirty diapers 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:25.700 or whether it's preaching to somebody who I won't expect to, you know, whatever it may be. 00:20:25.700 --> 00:20:37.600 Um, we got, we have to live in a type of reverence, uh, uh, a, uh, disposition towards God that 00:20:37.600 --> 00:20:43.259 remembers him. It's really easy to forget God. You know, it's really easy to wake up and say, 00:20:43.319 --> 00:20:49.140 you know what, I'm just kind of a robot. I know how to do life. I just do my own thing, you know, 00:20:49.140 --> 00:20:56.220 uh, go to work, come home, clock out, go to sleep, repeat, you know, and, uh, 00:20:58.380 --> 00:21:05.340 God wants us not only to acknowledge him, but more than that, to live in a way that, 00:21:05.840 --> 00:21:10.860 that basically says, God, my life is yours. It's not my own. I don't deserve anything. 00:21:11.340 --> 00:21:17.200 You know, a type of rejoicing and gratefulness for everything that we've received. A lot of prayers 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:23.840 this morning, uh, were prayers of gratefulness, which is so true and very glorifying to God. 00:21:24.519 --> 00:21:29.500 Sometimes it seems like, you know, whether I pray that or whether I think that doesn't matter, 00:21:29.500 --> 00:21:37.019 you know, God's going to get glory either way. It's just like, no, wrong. We, we don't naturally 00:21:37.019 --> 00:21:46.319 glorify God. Okay. We, we naturally, uh, uh, glorify the things that God has made. We naturally, 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:54.419 uh, heap up idols for ourselves, which means that we have to be focused. Okay. Which brings me to my 00:21:54.419 --> 00:22:02.700 next part of the title, which is the warfare aspect of worship. Okay. Um, we forget God all the time, 00:22:02.700 --> 00:22:09.480 which means in order to remember, it takes work. It takes being focused. It takes planning. Okay. 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:16.400 Some of us like to live more frivolously and spontaneously than others. And that's useful 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:22.200 and great in some areas, but not to where we never plan and we never actually focus on God, 00:22:22.200 --> 00:22:30.240 you know, whether in the private, um, or the, uh, uh, out in the public or whatever with, 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:36.140 in the groups, right? We, we have to, we have to have intentionality, a warlike mindset that basically 00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:44.560 says the world, the flesh and the devil are against us and want us to grow dull. Uh, but in Timothy, 00:22:44.560 --> 00:22:50.920 uh, he exhorts, uh, Paul exhorts Timothy, he says, fan into flame, the gift of God, fan it in, 00:22:51.620 --> 00:22:59.520 fuel it up, right? Uh, as you go into your week thinking, Lord, how am I going to keep this lamp 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:05.160 that you gave me that you lit a flame through the new birth of your spirit, uh, uh, fueled, 00:23:05.940 --> 00:23:12.680 lit a flame, right? Maybe some weeks it's a little dwindling wick, you know, but he won't snuff it out. 00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:18.259 He wants us to regularly come to him to keep that flame burning. And that takes a war, 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:26.500 a warfare like mindset. It takes being disciplined. All these things that it takes, God has richly 00:23:26.500 --> 00:23:37.079 supplied for us in Christ. Okay. And, um, when we, when we think about it, um, let us think with it, 00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:42.299 with intentionality, you know, a lot of times we just think of passing, you know, when you rise in 00:23:42.299 --> 00:23:48.720 the morning and you go down to bed, I give thanks to the Lord, you know, give thanks when you, when you 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:59.700 eat or you drink, right? Cause he's always watching. Psalm 113, uh, verse three says that 00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:05.579 from the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Okay. So when 00:24:05.579 --> 00:24:11.880 the sun comes up, when the sun goes down, it's all praise, right? And again, I'm not suggesting that 00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:17.500 we, uh, alter the way we, we do things so that we make sure the Lord's name gets sneaked into 00:24:17.500 --> 00:24:26.240 everything. Right. And, uh, in a weird unspiritual way or over spiritual way, I should say, but that 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:34.480 we live as grateful people. We live with our hearts, um, always thanking God for what he's given us. 00:24:34.560 --> 00:24:40.040 It's so easy to think that we deserve the things that we have, you know, or we deserve more than we 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:45.740 have. Maybe we've been gypped. Maybe we live with this kind of mentality of like, I always need more 00:24:45.740 --> 00:24:52.759 than I have. I don't, I never have enough. It's just like, if you're, if you're in price, that is a lie. 00:24:53.859 --> 00:25:03.399 Like, it's just not true. And the truth is we're lied to all the time by Satan, by our own flesh, 00:25:03.399 --> 00:25:10.000 and by this world. Okay. Those three enemies are always lying to us. Okay. And a lot of the times 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:15.380 it looks like something really simple, which is just our own thoughts, you know, our own thoughts 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:20.740 sneak its way into our heart. And we actually start to believe that. But my exhortation to you is to 00:25:20.740 --> 00:25:27.440 make war on those things, you know, don't settle for, for those subtle ways that, uh, you say, you 00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:33.319 know, the Lord's not really that great. You know, I don't really need to pay much heed, you know, uh, 00:25:33.319 --> 00:25:39.980 it's just a diaper, you know, I don't even like changing diapers. I keep using this diaper analogy, but 00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:49.939 it's so normal. Uh, whatever it is, like we, we have to make war against lies. Okay. There's, there's, 00:25:49.939 --> 00:25:56.319 there's people that, uh, believe things about this church that have worries about this church. Right. Uh, and 00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:01.980 those things come from hell. They don't come from heaven. Right. So we need to send them back where 00:26:01.980 --> 00:26:07.079 they came, you know, by the power of the spirit and say, you know what, uh, I'm going to choose to 00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:14.079 be grateful, thankful, content, and rejoice in what God has given. And whatever we don't have, 00:26:14.159 --> 00:26:21.139 we look forward in faith with a expectation that God always will do what he promised. Okay. Um, 00:26:21.140 --> 00:26:30.000 so make, make war on this. And, uh, a lot of times we're not battling the things without 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:35.960 as much as it is the things within. Okay. Jesus said out of, out of our own hearts come all these 00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:43.500 things, right? It's easy to just cash blame on like, well, this out here wasn't such a rough thing or 00:26:43.500 --> 00:26:49.800 wasn't done in such a rough way. Or if this person only led this way, or if I only had this, 00:26:49.799 --> 00:26:59.180 all external things, right? Well, primarily when I look at examples in the new Testament of people 00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:06.220 who live their lives in light of the present circumstances and odds against them, I'm astounded 00:27:06.220 --> 00:27:14.200 about how the attitude of their hearts remains steadfast. You know, Paul was shipwrecked, 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:19.539 encountered many dangers, beaten, right? And he's just focused. He's like, he's like, 00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:27.079 it's all, it's all for Christ. You know, whatever gain I had, I counted as loss. Um, we, we too can 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:32.019 have this mentality, not because of everything out here, but because of, we have an abiding 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:40.379 possession, Hebrew says, right? We have something from within. Um, so we don't wrestle against our, 00:27:40.460 --> 00:27:47.200 our circumstances. That's Ephesians 6, 12 says we, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:53.200 but against the rulers and against the authorities and the cosmic powers over this present darkness. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:28:02.420 Okay. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. There are spiritual forces as maybe as crazy 00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:09.860 some of you may sound. There are things that we do not see in the heavenlies that are against us, 00:28:09.859 --> 00:28:16.099 not just Christianity as a whole, but actually, actually against this church. Uh, there are forces 00:28:16.099 --> 00:28:21.459 of darkness that don't want to see us flourish. Uh, and they don't just attack us on Sunday mornings, 00:28:21.459 --> 00:28:27.500 right? They attack us during the week and the mundane things to bog us down and make us lose faith, 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:35.419 right? But we, we don't wrestle against what we do see, but against the things that are unseen. 00:28:35.420 --> 00:28:42.279 And then Ephesians there later, it says, so then put on the full armor of God, right? 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:47.900 Clothe yourself with God's armor. So you might be able to fight against those things. Okay. 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:49.900 Um, 00:28:51.100 --> 00:28:57.100 practically, you know, uh, 00:28:57.099 --> 00:29:05.019 a lot of this just comes down to our hearts. Practically, we have, we have only a couple of 00:29:05.019 --> 00:29:10.659 means of grace, you might call them, um, by which we draw near to God and abide with him, 00:29:10.659 --> 00:29:20.759 uh, uh, reading his word, coming to the Lord in prayer, and then actually living your life among 00:29:20.759 --> 00:29:26.759 the body of Christ church. Okay. Those three areas are God's agents. I believe 00:29:26.759 --> 00:29:34.160 to, uh, keep us in regular worship rather regular rhythms of worship, but here's those things. Not 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:39.259 all those things happen all the time. You can't, you can't pray all the time, right? You can pray 00:29:39.259 --> 00:29:44.980 probably a lot of the time, but, uh, you can't read your Bible all the time, right? You can read it 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:49.539 sometimes, sometimes more than others, and you can't be with everybody in the body all the time. 00:29:50.140 --> 00:29:56.119 But what you can do all the time is wherever your heart goes, it can be either in a Godward sense 00:29:56.119 --> 00:30:04.779 saying, Lord, my life is yours or not, right? So there is, wherever your heart goes, it's going to 00:30:04.779 --> 00:30:09.639 be either Godward or not. And this comes down to believing, I think, a very simple truth, which is 00:30:09.639 --> 00:30:16.599 that the Lord Jesus Christ resides in that heart that goes wherever it wills, okay? And you wrestle 00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:23.259 with a, a old man, the Bible says, that is also against that new man, Jesus Christ, who lives in you. 00:30:23.259 --> 00:30:30.879 And we can, we can give airtime, we can give, uh, uh, a, uh, little seat to that old man more than we 00:30:30.879 --> 00:30:38.599 can, uh, the, the man actually who is greater than that old man, okay? First John says, greater is he 00:30:38.599 --> 00:30:47.759 who is in you than he who is in the world, right? Very simple. It's not complicated, okay? Um, but 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:58.079 give yourself to acknowledging who that man is, Jesus Christ, right? And I, I mean that on a personal 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:05.279 level that each, each one of us, uh, some of us are older believers in this room than, uh, than others, 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:09.299 but we all serve the same Lord and Christ, right? 00:31:09.299 --> 00:31:16.579 Um, gee, uh, who was it? I think it was in one of Brennan Manning's books. He said that, uh, 00:31:17.419 --> 00:31:23.700 um, you know, when Jesus asked his disciples, who do you say that I am? You know, some say this, 00:31:23.759 --> 00:31:28.899 some say that, and then Peter, of course, answers like everyone knows you are the Christ, right? Son of 00:31:28.899 --> 00:31:36.440 the living God. And Brennan Manning points out basically that, um, when we are asked this question, 00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:42.539 Christ's church, who do you say Jesus is? Or if Jesus were to ask you, who do you say that I am? 00:31:43.100 --> 00:31:48.980 What can happen is we regurgitate what's been said. Well, Peter says you're the Christ, 00:31:49.920 --> 00:31:55.500 you know? Augustine says you're the Christ. Luther says you're the Christ, right? But none, 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:02.000 nonetheless, Jesus looks you in the eye and says, but who do you say that I am? 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:09.980 Is he Christ for you? Is he Christ in your life, in your mundane, everyday life, right? 00:32:10.900 --> 00:32:15.140 And some of you, I know that he is the Christ for you. You know him, you've experienced him, 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:21.000 but I'm encouraging you all the more to seek that out. Seek more of who Christ is for you 00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:30.019 and his saving work, right? Don't underestimate, uh, the power of seeking after him and knowing him, 00:32:30.019 --> 00:32:37.779 okay? Don't underestimate the, the availing power of, uh, small things, the availing power of, 00:32:38.019 --> 00:32:43.960 of a woman's secret prayer life, okay? Of a mother's regular petitions before God. I say this 00:32:43.960 --> 00:32:50.259 because I've underestimated that. My mom may be one of the most praying women, like she has prayed so 00:32:50.259 --> 00:32:57.259 much for me. I have, I have, uh, many memories of waking up early and she's just in her prayer closet, 00:32:57.259 --> 00:33:05.480 okay? Don't underestimate faithfulness unto God, okay? Don't underestimate, uh, the, a father's 00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:13.339 regular and consistent shepherding, okay? Day in and day out, teaching his children, okay? Uh, this type 00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:19.559 of consistency is what we need all the more in today's culture. The type of consistency that says, 00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:25.480 uh, that doesn't give up when it's hard, right? That pushes through and says, you know what? Um, 00:33:26.519 --> 00:33:33.799 what I see right now, the struggle, the wrestlings is nothing compared to what I see in faith, 00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:41.740 you know, according to what God has promised to do, right? Don't underestimate the, the witness of 00:33:41.740 --> 00:33:49.680 one man preaching the good news only once, but with spirit-filled boldness so as to summon a thousand 00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:58.200 angel armies on the forces of darkness that someone could be saved, okay? Someone could speak with such 00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:06.099 few words and maybe not like glamorous, like eloquent words, but, but these, the forces in the heavenlies 00:34:06.099 --> 00:34:11.099 are assaulted, okay? This is the warfare I'm talking about. We can live our lives in a way that 00:34:11.099 --> 00:34:18.159 underestimates the power of God and really discounts what we've received. Don't do that, 00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:23.460 Christ Church. I don't think we do on massive scales, but let this be a building up. Let this 00:34:23.460 --> 00:34:27.539 be an encouragement to keep going, keep fighting for that. We just had our one-year anniversary 00:34:27.539 --> 00:34:32.480 as a church, and, uh, we still have need for endurance, you know, since we started. 00:34:33.940 --> 00:34:38.759 Uh, but I know that the Lord is faithful to do what he promised, okay? 00:34:38.760 --> 00:34:49.140 Okay? And don't underestimate a man who waits on the Lord and keeps on waiting. Okay? There's 00:34:49.140 --> 00:34:59.700 a promise in Isaiah that says, he who waits will renew his strength, you know? I think there's, 00:35:00.140 --> 00:35:07.820 it's very possible that in present day Christianity, what's been lost is the, uh, gift of waiting. 00:35:07.820 --> 00:35:15.500 Of dwelling, of dwelling, of resting. I say that even as somebody who doesn't rest well all the time, 00:35:15.500 --> 00:35:23.600 but the promise is there. He who waits on the Lord will renew his strength, okay? So come what may 00:35:23.600 --> 00:35:29.960 with, you know, how Christ's church flourishes, are we patient to wait what the Lord will do? 00:35:29.960 --> 00:35:41.800 Because he will give us strength. He'll renew it, okay? Um, okay, last couple points. I've got three 00:35:41.800 --> 00:35:52.519 closing points here. Um, the very first one is really simple, and we've, we've talked a lot about 00:35:52.519 --> 00:36:04.420 this, but it's, um, walking by faith and not our senses or not our feelings, okay? Let's not walk by 00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:11.539 faith or let's walk by faith, excuse me, and not our feelings. I think if there were ever like a day 00:36:11.539 --> 00:36:19.759 and age where you could tangibly see like the, uh, the God of this age, maybe one of the false gods of 00:36:19.759 --> 00:36:29.420 this age is feelings, okay? With individualism and, uh, the rise of a modern self, right? Uh, it's just 00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:34.619 like the self is like everything, you know? It's like however you feel, you know, you just go with that. 00:36:34.619 --> 00:36:43.579 And, um, a lot of us know this, but the thing is we, we live in this generation. We live with, uh, uh, 00:36:44.059 --> 00:36:51.819 those principalities and powers, the God of feelings at war against us, you know? And maybe even you grew 00:36:51.819 --> 00:36:56.839 up in a different generation. Well, unfortunately, you're alive in this generation fighting the same 00:36:56.839 --> 00:37:04.019 powers. So we also, however old or young we are, have to resist these things because they want us to 00:37:04.019 --> 00:37:11.619 believe other things, other things about God, other things about ourself. Uh, so whether it's the 00:37:11.619 --> 00:37:19.039 feelings of apathy or doubt or, uh, discontentment, you know, there's reasons why we feel, I'm not saying 00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:26.460 that feelings are bad, but, but when we know that our feelings are wrong, that they're not true, 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:33.539 right? What do we do? We have to fight against them and say the thing that they actually are, 00:37:33.539 --> 00:37:39.659 just feelings, you know, like, okay, I see, I see feelings that you want me to feel one way, 00:37:39.800 --> 00:37:46.099 but you're, that's all you are. You're just a feeling. I know what the truth is. Okay. Consider 00:37:46.099 --> 00:37:53.099 this real quick. Romans 4 20, speaking about Abraham says no unbelief made him waver concerning 00:37:53.099 --> 00:38:00.079 the promise of God, but he was strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that the 00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:06.440 Lord was able to do what he had promised. Okay. It says no unbelief made him waver, which means 00:38:06.440 --> 00:38:15.400 he must've encountered unbelief. Okay. Must've looked like feelings of some sort, right? Must've 00:38:15.400 --> 00:38:21.079 looked like circumstances of some sort, like coming up against him saying like, you know, maybe the Lord 00:38:21.079 --> 00:38:25.519 isn't going to come through. Right. But what did he do? It says, it says no unbelief made him 00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:31.840 waver concerning the promise because he knew that God was able to do what he promised. Okay. 00:38:32.579 --> 00:38:41.519 How often do we believe that about the promises granted to us in Jesus, right? That, um, when our 00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:48.219 feelings rise up, we just say feelings are wrong. You know, look at these promises from God directly 00:38:48.219 --> 00:38:53.739 from the mouth of God in his word, right? You know, we, we have to actually read the word to know 00:38:53.739 --> 00:39:00.439 the promises. That's why we call it a sword because we can use it, right? But to fight against those, 00:39:00.519 --> 00:39:09.879 those wrong ideas. Um, he grew strong in his faith. Abraham did as he, what gave glory to God. 00:39:10.379 --> 00:39:15.779 Do you believe that when you say no to your feelings, that that gives God glory? When you say, you know, 00:39:16.019 --> 00:39:21.839 how I feel right now, it doesn't actually matter. I'd say that feelings don't matter altogether. Don't 00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:28.920 hear it. I'm not saying, but a lot of times our feelings are lies, right? God gets glory when we, 00:39:29.019 --> 00:39:38.720 when we rest on promise on his promise, right? Uh, James says in James chapter one, that the testing 00:39:38.720 --> 00:39:46.460 of our faith produces steadfastness, but not only that, he says that let steadfastness have its full 00:39:46.460 --> 00:39:57.440 effect. In other words, like Abraham, the trial, maybe even of unbelief, uh, doesn't make him waver, 00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:03.960 right? Because he knows he's letting it have its full effect that he's going to see God's promise. 00:40:04.079 --> 00:40:11.920 He's being steadfast to see the promise revealed. So let, let God be true and every man a liar, 00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:16.740 right? We need to have that in our secret hearts, right? When we think, when we reason, right? 00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:23.159 Okay. That's point number one. Point number two, let us worship God with all of Christ, 00:40:23.460 --> 00:40:30.460 with all of our life. Okay. This is one of our values, uh, the kingdom of God and all of life 00:40:30.460 --> 00:40:32.920 together at Christ Church. 00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:44.159 Christ Church, how many of you already know, but need to know again that you have all of Christ? 00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:51.900 I'm serious. Like seriously, not, not an ounce of Christ has been withheld from us. 00:40:52.619 --> 00:41:00.280 If we have believed on Jesus, then we have him in his fullness. Okay. Do we wake up thinking that way? 00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:07.080 Lord, I have all of you. Not one ounce of you is withheld from me. Okay. So that's one thing you 00:41:07.080 --> 00:41:11.780 might say another. Yeah. I think I have all of Christ that, that makes sense. Maybe in scripture, 00:41:11.780 --> 00:41:19.160 I see that, but like, what about my sin? Okay. Even more so that's why he's called Christ, right? 00:41:19.980 --> 00:41:29.620 Is not your sin in part that he mailed to the promise, but the whole of your sin, all of your sin, 00:41:29.619 --> 00:41:40.079 right? Such that, uh, whether it's your regular daily shortcomings or your most heinous sins, 00:41:40.079 --> 00:41:47.420 all of those things were driven into the son of God on that cross. We need to believe that we need 00:41:47.420 --> 00:41:53.920 to believe that we have all of Christ and that none of our sin is counted against us, but all of it was 00:41:53.920 --> 00:42:02.119 buried with him, right? Paul says in light in Romans 12, he says in light of the mercies of God. 00:42:02.519 --> 00:42:07.900 Okay. So when we believe what I just said, when we actually believe all of Christ has been given to 00:42:07.900 --> 00:42:13.579 me, I have literally everything I need, not announced that Christ is withheld. All of my sin has been 00:42:13.579 --> 00:42:21.639 extinguished into the body of the son of God, buried and risen anew for me. In light of those things, 00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:27.379 Paul says in light of the mercies of God, present our bodies as worship, right? This is our spiritual 00:42:27.379 --> 00:42:39.319 worship. Last point, point number three, which I think is probably the most easy to do. It's don't grow 00:42:39.319 --> 00:42:48.639 weary. It comes from Galatians 6. You're just reading this as a missional community, but it's so relevant 00:42:48.639 --> 00:42:55.179 relevant in the daily. Do not grow weary in doing good for in due season. If we don't give up, 00:42:55.839 --> 00:43:00.379 if we continue, we press on when we want to give up. If we fight that thing that says, 00:43:00.500 --> 00:43:08.799 just throw in the towel. If we don't, we will reap. That's a promise. We will receive what God has 00:43:08.799 --> 00:43:14.879 promised. Keep running, keep fighting Christchurch, keep making every effort to 00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:23.180 live your lives pleasing to God as worthy of the gospel, whether anyone sees or no one does. 00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:31.400 The Lord sees everything. Make every effort to make disciples for his kingdom. 00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:41.559 You know, always, always counting on God's power to do something that you and your flesh think that 00:43:41.559 --> 00:43:46.820 it's not possible, right? This interaction, this thing, this person, whatever it may be, 00:43:47.079 --> 00:43:53.720 always resting on God. Revelation 22, 12 says, 00:43:53.719 --> 00:44:00.059 Look, I am coming soon and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. 00:44:00.919 --> 00:44:07.480 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash 00:44:07.480 --> 00:44:12.980 their robes so that they may have their right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:17.799 It'll all be worth it, right? It'll all be worth it in the end. 00:44:17.800 --> 00:44:25.600 Consider how great the object of our worship is. Consider God who is high and lifted up and yet 00:44:25.600 --> 00:44:32.920 came down and was despised and rejected by men and then crucified for our sins. And then Romans 4 says 00:44:32.920 --> 00:44:38.280 that he was raised for our justification. Okay. I'm going to pray.