10.27.2024 PM Service

The speaker talks about their sermon preparation and their decision to focus on a particular topic. They discuss the importance of understanding the mystery of God and the role of Jesus Christ in their lives. They emphasize the need for unity and love among believers and the importance of being confident in their faith. The speaker also mentions the dangers of being deceived by false teachings and the need for a strong defense against them. Military terms are used to illustrate these ideas. Well, I just checked for two this morning. I did not finish my sermon. I kind of just did it kind of like a low hand. Just chopped it off and I know there were several that said amen because it was five till twelve already. And I had another message prepared for tonight but I said you know what I'm just going to put that in the back burner now. I'm going to get a hand in it and we're going to finish out this one tonight because there is some great things that are here because you have your bulletin and I want to kind of follow along with you can do so this morning because we have this change. And so I'm going to read verse number seven tonight. It says, For how good that you know what great conflict I have for you, for what it may I will see you, and for as many as have not seen my face in the grave, that their hearts might be comforted and knit together in love into all the riches of the fullness of the wondrous things they knowledge of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. In other words, may I also carry your good wisdom and knowledge, and this I say, letting each thing do the value of the Christ you love, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joyfully beholding the order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so also do you in Him. Really, built up in Him and established in the flesh, as He would have taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. This morning we looked at the first few verses of this chapter and we saw all great desires, kind of like what Brother Eric was singing tonight, because Jesus Christ touched us. That's why He was dealing with us in chapter one. We have been redeemed, we have been reconciled, we are now a child of God, and He has brought us into His family, He has taken us that was dead and He has made us alive, and He's given us the ministry, and that ministry is to share that Christ is in us, a great mystery that was revealed in all the Old Testament that they didn't understand. The Jews, if they wanted to meet God, they had to go up to the tabernacle, they had to go to the gate, they had to have a sacrifice, they had to get to the priest, the priest goes to everybody, they take you into the holy place, they offer the sacrifice and everything, and they get to God, but the only way that most of you could get was through the gate. And so the Jews understood this sacrificial system, but now all of a sudden Paul says, here's the mystery, here's the mystery, and we couldn't get to God, God came to us, and so He came to us in order that we might have salvation and Christ could live in you. All of a sudden, instead of going to the tabernacle, or to the temple, you are now in the tabernacle, you're the temple. And so Paul said, man, this mystery is something that we need to proclaim. People need to know that Christ can live in them. And he says in chapter 1, verse 29, man, I would lay first, I would be the point of this working, which worketh in me my living. And so we know there's this point of His desire, and there were three things that He prayed for people that were lost in. He wanted them to make sure that they were comforted in their heart, that they were strengthened. In other words, this comfort in the heart has to do with knowing what you know. It has to do with your mind. Strengthen in your mind. Know what you believe. The whole reason Paul is writing this, the church of Colossians, is because there are those that say that Jesus Christ was in the flesh, and so therefore He is evil, therefore He is not good, He is not God. And so Paul is letting them know, guess what, Jesus Christ is every good God. He has God in the flesh. He was there from the beginning of creation. It was through Jesus Christ that God created everything, and so man, He was every good God. The other problem that they were having, the doctrine that was slipping in, is that you had to, they said you got closer to God, that you could attain more, get closer to God's relevant spiritual knowledge and understanding, and that Christ was good, and you could be saved by faith through Christ, but you needed to go a little bit further, and you needed to know some things, you needed to understand some things, to have something like that in your mind. And Paul's trying to tell them that Christ is sufficient. There is no secret Bible out there, there's no secret handshake, there's no secret message, there's no code in the Word of God. Here is the mystery. Christ comes to live in you, and he wanted them to make sure that they did that. So he said, man, first of all, I pray that your mind will be comforted, will be strengthened in this heart. The second thing that he said was that we would be knit together in love, and we would be all brought together by love. Love is what binds us together. Every one of us is saved at the same exact level. We are all positionally united in Jesus Christ. We all are saved by faith through Christ, that none of ourselves is against the God. And so therefore, since we are positionally united, that Paul says, I pray that you will also be practically united, that we will focus on the things that we need to focus on, that we will love each other, that in humility, that we will get along, we will understand, and yes, we're going to have disagreements. We're not going to all agree politically, we're not going to all agree on every single thing, but here's what we do that you'll agree on, that Jesus Christ is God, and Jesus Christ is obedient. And so he says, man, we need to be knitted together in love, be willing to forgive each other as Christ has forgiven us. And then the third thing that he mentions there is that we will be assured of understanding, assured, in other words, settled in our minds, that you will know better if we know that Jesus has died, and Jesus is sufficient, and we love each other, and we exhibit, as I say, love, a selfless sacrificial love, that that's what you are going to be settled in your life. You are going to have confidence when it comes to Paul's teachings, you're going to have confidence when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not only are you going to have confidence, but you're going to have confirmation because Christ is going to continue to reveal and speak to you and show you things. And I don't know, but I think today that we need Christians that are confident in their confirmation, that know what they believe and why they believe it. I get tired even at seminary to teach you to these guys, you ask them a question, and what they want to do is tell you quote so-and-so, or they want to bring up so-and-so, or this, nobody told me this. No, what do you understand from the Word of God? What do you know, and what do you understand? That's what we want to do. We don't want to be polytheists and just repudiate other people. We want to have conviction and a confidence that is with us. And so then he comes to the second thing in this passage of Scripture, and he says we need to have a great defense. And notice here that in his great defense that he mentions here, he talks about what I'm going to say is already proven from this, but now I'm going to talk about that stuff. I'm going to backtrack. I'm going to do it now. Look at what he says there in verse 4. He says, And then I say, Let keen men should beguile you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit. Join in beholding your order and your steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Notice three words that he uses there. He says, Let you be beguiled. Where did we find that word beguiled when we first had the Bible? You remember Eve was beguiled by Satan. She was tricked. She wasn't, you know, she was deceived. How many of you like to be tricked or deceived? You know, that is amazing. You don't pay money to go to a magician to fool you, right? And we like it and we enjoy it, but nobody likes to be good. Nobody likes to be good. And so he says, he talks about our defense here. And both of these words that he uses, that we don't get beguiled, is first of all, he says, beholding your order and your steadfastness of your faith in Jesus Christ. Both of these are military terms. And so he's talking about our defense. How do we keep from being tricked? How do we keep from being sucked in with all these false features, these false ideas that we are hearing today and that's going on in our life? And we need to understand, and I want you to hear this tonight, anything that reduces Jesus Christ to the fraction of deity or anything that adds anything to his saving sufficiency belongs in the medallion activities of Satan. And so we need to make sure that we are not beguiled. We need to have a defense of those. We need to make sure that Paul says, I am not coming to you physically, but I want you to understand I am with you in spirit. I know how you can deal with these guys that are bringing a parachute into the church. I know how you can stand against the enemy. And he says this, I am filled with joy and beholding. In other words, the other thing is he has the idea of looking, perceiving, and understanding. And then he uses these two military terms. The first term that he uses is this word, order. And order means blank or a single file line of soldiers. And to keep it in alliteration, I use the word compliant. In other words, if there is order, then we are compliant. And the military idea is this. Have you ever watched the old times, the way that they used to fight? How did they use to fight? They used to all line up in a single file line, right? And they would have a line of fighters here, and they would have another line of fighters, and another line of fighters. And guess what? If he was on the very front line, he wasn't one of the highest ranked individuals, because he was most likely not coming home. Because what they would do is they would stand there in order that they might take the barrage of the first attack, right? And then hopefully they'd run out of bullets so the next line men could begin to attack again. And they would do that until they'd run out of ammunition and stuff. And then what would they do? They would regroup, and they would check over those that had died, those that had died, and they would form another order of line, and they would go back and do it all again. Have you ever watched that? I mean, to me, that's just crazy. But that's the word that he's using there. He's talking about this order or this rank. And so compliance is an act of conforming or yielding. It's a cooperation of obedience. Hey, you've got to be compliant and obedient to stand on that front line. When the sergeant says, I want you up front, it's not a time to argue. It's not a time to discuss it. It's just, hey, this is where I'm needed, and so guess what? I'm going to be compliant and step up to my place. He said, the best defense that we have is to be compliant. Be compliant on what? We agree with everything he does, but we need to be compliant on the basis that he's a sergeant of proficiency or not. We need to stay in line. We need to stay in order when it comes to these two matters that he's dealing with. And then the second word that he uses there is steadfast. Steadfast is a solid front soldier, ready to stand and absorb that shock of attack. So not only do I need you to comply and get up there, but I need you to stay there. When they start firing, I don't need you to turn and run. I don't need you to duck off. I don't need you to be questioning and wondering, why in the world am I in this civil war? I need you to stand there. I need you to feel your position and do what you're supposed to be doing. And so that first shot of battle, when all of a sudden it takes off and that first shot is fired, I don't need people that are going to stand there until the shot wears off. You know, the two things that we're seeing the least in Christianity today, we're seeing people that are compliant to the gospel, the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and those that are willing to stand fast. You know, they're going to be false teachers. Jesus Christ said they're going to be false teachers. They're going to be there. They're going to be around us. They're going to come into our churches. They're going to try to sneak in. They're going to try to destroy what we have. They're going to try to get you confused and everything else. But listen, he's basically what he has said in everyday Arkansas language is, I need you to be obedient and disciplined. I need you to know that Jesus Christ is God. And I need you to know that Jesus Christ is for free. That's all we need. We don't need the details. We don't need the theology and all of this. The greatest defense is for us to just be compliant and be controlled. And then you need to be flaccid and break the man. But break the man. And notice what he talks about here. He says, and as you have therefore received Christ Jesus, he's making an assumption here. Who is he writing to? He is writing to those of the members of the church of Colossae. We saw in chapter one these are saints. So what happened? They have given their life to Jesus Christ. They have accepted the salvation by faith through grace and by their faith. They didn't do it by work. They didn't do it by saying a certain creed or knowing a certain combination. No, they have faith in Jesus Christ has received his grace. And so therefore, that's who he's writing to. So he says, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus. And then he adds the phrase. And I think a lot of times we do a lot today not to talk about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Then he says, and as you have therefore received Christ Jesus, and when you receive Christ Jesus, guess what? You're a fool of your own. You are no longer a servant. Remember, he was dead. Remember, he was lost. He was also raised to a devil's hell. But when Jesus saves you now, he is your master. If you want life and life more abundantly, if you want eternal life, if you want good things in life, if you want joy in your life, then guess what? It comes through Jesus Christ. And so he says, if you are therefore received Christ Jesus, who is your Lord, who is your master, and then he adds this phrase. And this is the imperative of the first seven verses. All of this is said to hear the command, walk you in him. Not walk in your religion, not walk in your doctrine, not walk in your denomination, but walk in who? Jesus Christ. He is our Lord. He is the head of the church. He is the one that calls the shot. He is the master. He is the ruler. And so therefore, he says, walk in him. When we talk about walking in Jesus Christ, we are talking about settled in Christ, confident in Jesus Christ. You are firm in Christ. And if that is true, if you are firm and confident and settled in Jesus Christ, then you should walk in Jesus Christ. Say, sometimes we get this deal that we are saved and then we can do whatever we want to do. No, you are saved not to just do what you want to do. You are saved to follow Jesus Christ and do what? The ministry of reconciliation. It is our job to proclaim the mystery. What mystery? That Christ can live in you. That is our mission, to go into all the world and do what? Preach the gospel. How do we do that? We go in all the world and proclaim what Jesus Christ has done for me. I was a sinner that had saved my grace through Jesus Christ. And so now we are to be preaching this. We are to be proclaiming this. We are to never waver on this. We are never detained when it comes to the deity and proficiency of Jesus Christ. And then notice what he said. He said, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. And then he says, through him and built up in him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. And so notice what he does here. He mentions four participles. Four participles. Three of them are all passive participles. The very last one is an active participle. Why does he change from passive to active? I want to show you as we go through this. Because if you are in Jesus Christ, if you are saved, then these four things, obviously, happen in your life. This is how we walk. This is every day. He's like, Richard, what am I supposed to do as a Christian? You are supposed to walk in Christ Jesus. Well, how do I walk? How do I know where to go? How do I know where he's leading me? Well, guess what? All of those are four things. Number one, you have to be rooted. Rooted. That is a perfect passive. In other words, having been rooted. You've already been rooted, right? How do you become rooted? When we accept that Jesus Christ is our savior. Remember, Jesus gave the example. I am the bride. You are the graces. He that abides in me will do what? Bear my fruit. But if you're not abiding in me, if you haven't attached yourself to me, then guess what? You have no force in this creation. You have no force to bind me. You have no force to produce me. You're rooted. And so, therefore, you're not rooted in Christ. You're rooted where? In the world. And you remember what happens when the seed gets in the world? You remember the parable of the sower? Right? Some of it fell out of the wayside. Some of it fell on stony ground. And what? When the heirs of this world come along, all of a sudden what? It drowns it out. Why? Because they're not rooted in Christ. They like Christ. They love Christ. They love the idea of salvation, but they have never accepted salvation. Because there's only one root. Twenty-five percent of them are seen and are rooted in Jesus Christ. And if you're rooted in Jesus Christ, you're going to be a result. You're a bearer of fruit. You're a bearer of fruit. And he says some a hundredfold, some a thousandfold. In other words, you're going to be fruit. And so that's what he's talking about. Because that has already happened. If you are a child of God and you have accepted Jesus Christ and made Him more in your life, you have already been rooted. And so since you have already been rooted, you just need to bear fruit again. You just need to do what you're supposed to do for those fruits. But then look at the next one. He says built up. Built up. This is again a present passage. In other words, this has happened in the past. As you walk in Jesus Christ, you've been rooted in Him. Now what's happening is you are presently being built up in Jesus Christ. In other words, it started at salvation. You remember my favorite song, the one that I know how to make you sing for me? My hero, he's still working that old day, right? But I was rooted in Jesus Christ. He was going to work in me. And one of these days, he's not finished yet. He's not completed it yet. But one of these days, I will see him and I will be like him. And when I do, then he will be finished. He will be finished. But in the meantime, guess what? Every single day I was built up. I made a little bit stronger. My faith was growing. My faith was getting better. Do I feel fulfilled? Yes, I do. But I learned to trust Him more today than I did yesterday, or I did last month. And so we are being built up, growing or building up only happens in our being mentioned in Jesus Christ. And so he says, I don't know if you've been rooted in Him, but you need to be built up in Him. You need to be walking in Him. You need to be struggling with Him every day. Now look at the verse. He says, established, established. This is also present passage. In other words, you have become established. And not only have you already been established, but God is going to continue to establish you. You're going to continue to be built up. You're going to continue to be growing. And the result of this being rooted and being built up is you are going to become productive. You are going to begin to produce fruit. You're going to begin to grow. How do you do that? Well, you start out feeding on the Word of God, right? Peter said, as young babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. When you're first saved, when I was saved at nine years old, I didn't know everything about the Bible. Guess what? I am 55 years old and I still don't know everything about the Bible. I am still learning. I am still growing. But as I feed, as I do, what happens? My roots go deeper and deeper. And one thing that you are not going to ever convince me of is that Jesus Christ is not God and that Jesus Christ is not sufficient. You may confuse me and trick me in a lot of things, but guess what? I am grounded in that. I am grounded in the mystery of Jesus Christ, that Christ can live in us. I may not know how it happens or how He did it or why He did it, but I know that He did it. And so therefore, man, we have to become established. And we do that by feeding on the Word of God. And as you feed on the Word of God, because you're rooted in the will of God, God begins to build you up. And as He builds you up, what begins to happen? You start producing activity. You get some movement. You remember Acts 1? What did Jesus tell the disciples before He lived? He said, go to Jerusalem and wait. Do you realize that is the only time in the New Testament that Christians are told to sit still and just wait? He said, go to Jerusalem and wait. And after you've waited, then what's going to happen? The Holy Ghost shall come upon you. And when the Holy Ghost comes upon you, you shall be what? Witnesses. You are going to be proclaiming the mystery. You are going to be sharing what Jesus Christ has done. And so the waiting is already over with. He said, redeem the time now. Wake up. Get alive. Folks, we are living in the last days. It is our time to proclaim. The waiting is over with. Now what are we to do? We're to walk. We're to be proclaiming. We're to be established, is what He is talking about here. You'll even be more established in your faith the more that you do. The more you do and the more you serve Him. What did James tell us? James says, the trying of your faith worketh what? Patience. And patience worketh what? Experience. You start knowing things, endurance. And then what happens? Your faith gets stronger. You get more established. And all of a sudden that hope begins to take over reality, right? Because I don't understand it. I don't know. I have never seen eternity. I have never seen a city that would have streets of gold and gates to the made out of pearl. But guess what? The more I serve Jesus Christ and the more I trust Jesus Christ, the more I know it's a reality. It's not wishful thinking. It is a hope that is waiting for me. That's what we want. We need Christians that are established. That don't just like singing about glory land, but know that they're going to be in glory land. Know that they are going to experience. And then notice the last part is simple. Rooted, built up, and established in your faith. All of these are present passive. In other words, they've already happened, but they're continuing to happen. But then he says, as you have been taught, because why? This goes all the way back to our salvation, to the growth of where we are today. And we've walked, if we are in Jesus Christ, walk for Jesus Christ, walk in him. And if we're walking in him, what's it going to look like? We're going to be rooted. We're going to be built up. We're going to be established. And then he gives us the present voice, the active voice. He goes from passive to active. And look at what he says. And this is the width of how you know Christians are not walking with Jesus Christ. Because here is the result. If you are rooted in Christ and built up in Christ and established in Christ and being rooted in Christ, being built up in Christ and being established in Christ, then here is the active voice. You're going to be abounding. You're going to be abounding. What do you mean by abounding? Because this voice, as it changes, you are going to be abounding. But what does it say? Abounding has the idea of abundant or plentiful. And it has the idea of existing in large quantities. How many of you like large quantities? Don't lie. You like the buffet, right? You like the choices. You like the... We like large quantities. And so he says, man, if we are rooted in Christ, if we are built up in Christ and we are established in Christ, then we are going to be abounding. We're going to have large quantities. Large quantities of what? Well, look at what he says. Large money, large influence, a large church, a large payroll. Now look at what he says. He says you are going to be abounding therein with what? Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. You know how you can tell that a lot of Christians today are not walking with Jesus Christ? They're not thankful. We gripe and complain all the time, right? Woe unto me. You don't understand what I'm going through, preacher. You don't know what I'm having. Paul is writing this letter while he's in prison. But as he wrote this letter, he told the church at Philippians, quit worrying about me because I'm rejoicing. Do you realize how many people in the family of Caesar in here in Rome that I have led to Jesus Christ because I am in prison? I have met people. I've been able to proclaim the gospel to people that I would have never had an opportunity to meet had I not been put in prison. He said quit worrying about me. I rejoice. I would love to be with you. I would love to be out. But guess what? I am not stopping my ministry because of my situation or my circumstances. And so he says abounding in thanksgiving. Let me close with this thought. What should it be the attitude of the Christian? Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for the riches that you have bestowed upon me. Remember our study in Ephesians? God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. I was dead. I was dead. And Jesus Christ saved me. He gave me life. He cleaned me up. He took no longer in my spin as a sinner, but He put Jesus Christ's robe of righteousness on me. He cleansed me. He made me righteous through His Son. He justified me. And guess what? He adopted me into His family. And He didn't stop there, but He said I am a joint heir of Jesus Christ. I'm rich. I'm rich. I may not have it here on this earth, but guess what? I have everything because listen, I am a joint heir with the one that spoke and created everything. Remember chapter 1 verse 16? In Christ, He did what? He was in Him, by Him, through Him, and for Him. Everything was created. And that's my brother. And I'm a joint heir with him. How did I get that way? I was a servant. But I did it because my brother died for me. He gave His life for me. And I accepted Him as my Savior. So man, when was the last time you just thanked Jesus Christ for being alive? For all of the riches. You know, man, I may not have eaten what I want to eat, but guess what? I ate today. Amen? I may not be living in what I would like to live in, but guess what? I'm going home to a roof over my head. I'm going to get to lay down on a mattress tonight and a pillow. And listen, far more than that is God has put me into the ministry of reconciliation. I got to go back to Missouri today, this weekend, and visit with a lady that I shared with the men Wednesday night. And so I just found out she's got pancreatic cancer and they're putting her in hospice. But this lady started coming to church. And because she started coming to church, her husband started coming to church. And eventually I got her husband to be saved and baptized. And he has done more for the work there and the missions around there than probably anybody in the last 40 or 50 years. Just became a tremendous asset. Because of her, her husband's coming and gets involved in church and takes care and does a lot of things in church. But then I'm sitting in Dairy Queen one night and talking about Jesus Christ at the church one Sunday night to one of the sisters. And I said, are you ready to be saved? Do you want to ask Jesus Christ to save you? And she's sitting there and she doesn't say a word and her sister next to her says, I do. I'm ready to pray. And I'm like, I didn't even come here for this, right? I came to listen to this one and here this one's getting saved. Both of them are saved. Both of them give their life to Jesus Christ. And see, I know people and I have people that have been brought to Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters that I didn't have anything to do with. But now they are ministering for Jesus Christ. I have friends all over this world and places that I can go and places that I can stay. I may not have much possessions, but guess what? I am grounded in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And I would much rather have that than the riches that I have. And so, man, we are rich. But then, thank you for putting me in the ministry. You know, sometimes as a pastor, but you're in the ministry too. You are a part of this. Do you realize you have probably more impact on people than I do around here? You're the reason that people come. You're the ones that's invited. When have you thanked God for allowing you to be a part of that ministry? You know how tired we was after VBS? But guess what? Hopefully we made an impact in some of them kids' lives. Hopefully some of them know about Jesus Christ. And I get to be a part of that. I get to be all of a sudden preaching when the light bulb comes on. Sharing the gospel with somebody in prison when their light bulb comes on. When the Holy Spirit convicts them and draws them. And just out of the wild blue, I want to be saved. I want to come to Jesus Christ and I'm like, wow, this is amazing. And see, God has placed me into the ministry. I never know what's going to happen when I preach. I never know where God's going to take me, where God's going to send me, what's around the corner or what. But guess what? It's not dull. It's not boring. God always has something. So, man, thank you for putting me into the ministry. Thank you for allowing me to pastor Kentucky Missionary Baptist Church. But even more importantly than that, thank you for the opportunities you've given me to share the mystery of God. Do you realize that it is a privilege to be able to tell dead people that they can be made alive? It's a privilege. Man, when you look at somebody that is hurting, somebody that is broken, and you share Jesus Christ with them and their tears well up and you see the Holy Spirit moving in their heart, working in their life. Folks, you don't get to see that kind of stuff just doing everyday life. It's something that only God, and that's what I was going to preach tonight at the end of Matthew chapter 13. Jesus Christ made this statement. He had just given them some parables that the men had been looking on on Sunday night, talking about his kingdom. And the first four parables, guess what? It wasn't very good news. Only 25% of the people that you share the gospel with are going to be saved. And then guess what? You get that 25% saved, you get them baptized, you bring them into the church, and guess what? Satan is going to bring a bunch of wicked lost people in there with it. And guess what? You're going to have saved people and you're going to have lost people sitting there in the church. And what? He said, just wait, I'll take care of it at the harvest. And he goes through and he talks about how all of these bad things are going to happen in the kingdom of God. And you think, man, is God really in control of all of this? But then he pulls his disciples aside and he says, let me tell you something about it. Even though this stuff is going to happen bad, and the church is going to get full of itself, and the church is going to walk away from following me, and they're going to start making up their own religion and their own stuff for them to do, he says, I am taking care of those that are saved. There is always going to be an agreement. There is always. Because when I found that treasure, I couldn't put it aside. I took Israel and I buried him for a million years. Guess what? I know perfectly well that he's going to bring Israel back for a thousand years. He's not finished with Israel yet. He took us as a pearl that was raw in that oyster. And he said, I took this and I sold everything that I had to go and purchase that one pearl. But here's the picture, here's the verse that says, he goes through there, and so he goes outside with his disciples and starts doing ministry. And they're down in about verse 62, 63, somewhere there. It makes for a very sad statement. And here's the statement. He says, he did no more mighty works there because of their unbelief. He did no more mighty works. Jesus was a God of miracles. He healed people. He saved people. He took care of people. And then he says, come follow me. I don't have a home, but guess what? One of the times I ever read the disciples had trouble sleeping. They were caught out in a storm. But what happened? Jesus Christ just stood up and spoke and all of a sudden the storm was going to seal. Everywhere they went they had food, they had shelter, they had clothing. Everything was provided for. People that he didn't even know were saved. People that he didn't even know had their hearing back. Zacchaeus, the tax collector, he said, you'll get out of that tree. I'll come to your house today. Right? All of these things. And he said, because of their unbelief, he did no more mighty works. And I was reading that this week and it just convicted my heart. Because you know what? Sometimes I have to ask myself, God, are you not doing great things? Because you're the same God. God didn't stop doing miracles. He's the same God that did miracles in the Old Testament. He's the same God that did miracles in the New Testament. On the day of Pentecost, 3,000 were added to the church. 3,000 people were saved. But you know why I think God's not doing a lot of things today? Because of our unbelief. Do we believe? See, we are rooted. Right? We are being built up. We are being established. Jesus is God. And Jesus Christ is sufficient. And if we really believe that, if we wholeheartedly let that be settled into our mind, wholeheartedly put that into our love for each other and for this world, guess what? We would be abounding in thanksgiving because God would be doing some amazing things. But we don't witness. We don't proclaim the mystery of God because why? We really don't think that God's going to save that individual. We really don't think they may be good enough. We really don't think they're going to be worthy enough. We really think that, you know what, we've got the best ministry, right? This church down there, boy, they're doing this program and God is blessing and God... Listen, Jesus Christ is sufficient. If we just started talking to people at work, started talking to people at our family get-togethers, start talking with our neighbors and telling them how they're dead, how that we're all sinners, but that Jesus Christ can come and live in us and make us alive, guess what? God would do some amazing things. He hasn't quit working because He changed. He's always God and He will always be God. And He loved us so much that His Son, Jesus Christ, left heaven and came and died on the cross for you and I. And if He loved us that much in order that we might have salvation while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us. If He would do that for us, you think He would do that for that neighbor down the road? You think He would do that for that co-worker that you can't get along with, that gets on your nerves? See, if God changes them, then guess what? Now all of a sudden they've been saved the same way that you're saved and go guess what? Now we have a commonality. We've both been made the same in Jesus Christ. I'm not better than them because what? Jesus saved them. And so now we begin to act like it. And we're all in this ministry together. I'm not any more important than what you are. We are all important. It takes every one of us. Paul said to the church at Corinth, he said there's some that water, there's some that fertilize, but what? God gives the increase. God gives the increase. It's not my messages, it's God. Nobody can be saved unless the Holy Spirit draws them. And guess what? The Holy Spirit can't draw them unless faith comes by hearing, and hearing by what? The Word of God. And how shall they know unless what? Somebody goes and preaches. Somebody goes and proclaims it. We have a world out there that does not know Jesus Christ. And it's not God's fault. It's not our politicians' fault. It's not our school's fault. It's our fault. We're the ones given the mystery and the ministry of sharing the mystery of God. As you go this week, will you share it? Thank God. Thank God that He has allowed you to be a part of His kingdom. He has allowed you to be a part of His family, to be in His ministry, the ministry of reconciliation. Paul said, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto what? Salvation. Salvation. Guys, we need to believe that. We need to know that. In this world and day and time where they're preaching this health, wealth, and prosperity, and you do this and God bless you and all that, do you realize you can't do anything because you aren't sinning? Jesus Christ is already the King of everything. We just need to stand up and believe that Christ is sufficient. He is sufficient. I don't have to sing a certain number of hymns on a Sunday to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm already there. I'm already rooted. I'm already being built up. I'm already being established. So I don't have to come to church and sing. I don't have to come to church and give my offering. You know what? I get to because Jesus Christ saved me. I get to praise Him. I get to give back to Him. I get to share the Gospel. As we sing, let me thank you for abounding with thankfulness. As we sing, let me praise you. Praise 500.