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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
These numbers came despite the fact that as of 2011, 67% of Canadians identified themselves as Christian, according to Statistics Canada.
Isn't that pretty grim?
14%, and of that 14%, how many are actually Christians?
14% of Canadians.
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.
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?
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?
Which it says here, it was God breathed.
And it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And do we,
when Satan attempts to trick us,
to trip us up,
do we search God's word?
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
The word hope,
that was the H,
O,
is,
obedience.
And I would just like to read,
Deuteronomy,
26,
16,
and 19.
19,
right?
Excuse me.
The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
Acts 5, 29-32
Peter and the other apostles replied,
We must obey God rather than men.
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.
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.
We should obey God.
And Genesis 6,
it's a story of Noah.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
He listened to the specifics.
So,
so,
in hope,
H was his word,
O was obedience,
P is prayer
and prayer is so important.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Luke 6.
verse 12.
One of those days,
Jesus went out
to a mountainside
to pray
and spent the night
praying to God.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And in these,
this here,
Jesus prays
for himself,
he prays
for his disciples,
and he prays
for our future,
the future believers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
And then
so
that's the P
for prayer
and then
E,
eternal life
and
eternal life
and good news.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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