Sun 7.13.25 Am

The speaker at Chelsea Baptist Church welcomes everyone and expresses gratitude for being in the newly renovated fellowship hall. They lead a prayer asking for God's blessing and guidance. The congregation sings hymns and reads scripture from Hebrews chapter 11. There is a mix of English and Spanish in the service. The speaker shares a personal story about a challenging camping trip as a child. The service includes music, scripture reading, and reflections on faith and blessings. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Chelsea Baptist Church. Got to look past these pillars, but they are beautiful pillars. Good to be in the newly painted, renovated fellowship hall here at Chelsea Baptist Church. I don't know if I see new faces, but it's good to see all the old faces. Good to have everybody here. We're going to go to the Lord in prayer. Ask for him to meet with us and bless us in this service. Heavenly Father, we do love you today. We thank you that we could be here in your house. We thank you for your working in our lives, in our church, in our city. And Lord, we just pray that you'd meet with us today. Help us if there's somebody who's not saved, that today would be the day they'd be saved. Just make us better Christians today. I pray in Jesus' name, for his sake, amen. I'm going to ask you to stand. If you'd stand and take your songbook, Puesta en Decir, por favor. Y vamos a cantar 409. If you'd stand with me, we're going to sing 409. If we need to grab a couple of songbooks, let's just grab them and share them. We have plenty. OK, everybody get a songbook. He's selling songbooks up here. A bass solo songbook. OK, everybody get a songbook. 409, I know whom I have believed. Hope you can sing that honestly today. OK, Chris. In verse 20, 21 to 1. I know not why God's wondrous grace to me hath made low, nor why unworthy Christ in love be he before his own. Oh, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I know not how saving faith to me he did impart. In this world all teachers did my heart. But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I know not when my savior may come at night or due day fair, nor if I walk the bare witness or meet him in the air. But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. OK, if you would remain standing, we're going to do the scripture reading today in Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Vamos a leer en la biblia hoy, Hebreos capítulo 11, leyendo versículos 8, 9, y 10. We'll be reading Hebrews chapter 11, verses 8, 9, and 10. I only have my English Bible, so we're going to read it in English. And you can read along in Spanish. Solamente tengo mi biblia en ingles y en español puede leer mientras que estamos leyendo en inglés. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Good portion of the scripture. I ask you now to take your songbook, and we're going to sing number 473. Si puede tomar su himnario y vamos a cantar 473. Sing the first two verses, then we'll have congregational greeting, and then we'll sing the last verse. The first verse of 473, Victory in Jesus. I heard an old, old story of a Savior came from glory. I would gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me. I heard about His glory and the precious blood atoning. Then I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing, how He made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see. And then I cried, dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is to Him. Okay, let's take our places. I feel like I'm in kindergarten. I'm not in kindergarten. Kindergarten. Come on. I'm going to sing a solo here. You won't like that for sure. Come on. Everybody get your place. Okay, I would like you to get your bulletin, okay, because this is the English and Spanish song. So in your bulletin is the Spanish. We're going to sing the second verse in Spanish, okay? So, brother, he's going to direct this one in Spanish, okay? You're not going to see it anyway. He's going to direct this one in Spanish, okay? Me dio victoria sin igua cuando me arrepentí. Tengo la victoria y Cristo me salva. Santo me da gome con su divino amor. Y parte de su gloria inunda mi alma. Victoria me concedió cuando por mí murió. Me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. Me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. Me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. Me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. Me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. me dio victoria y Cristo me salvó. We'll sing all three verses. Please stand in your center. Carry the sunshine with darkness with light. Making the sorrowing glad. Make me a blessing. Make me a blessing out of my blood. Bring me sunshine. Make me a blessing. Don't take your heart from me. Make me a blessing. There's someone in me. Tell the sweet story of Christ and his love. Tell of his power to forgive. Others will trust him if only you're true. Every moment you live. Make me a blessing. Make me a blessing out of my life. Make Jesus shine. Make me a blessing. Don't take your heart from me. Make me a blessing. There's someone in me. Jesus was given to you in your need. Love as the master loves you. Be to the helpless a helper indeed. Unto your mission be true. Make me a blessing. Make me a blessing out of my life. Make Jesus shine. Make me a blessing. Don't take your heart from me. Make me a blessing. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. 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There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. There's someone in me. In our church, we had a program for young men, for boys and teenagers. And it was called Christian Service Brigade. It was kind of like Boy Scouts in church, Boy Scouts. Right. And we had a camp out, our first camp out. And I was 12 years old. Never camped outside, never slept outside. So we had our first camp out and it was at the Delaware Water Gap. So we drove up there about an hour and a half and it was pouring down rain the entire time. Nobody really told us what you do on a camping trip. And my mom had bet me a backpack to put on my back. And I had a bunch of canned goods, green beans and whatever you could fit, barbecue, it was all in there. Really heavy. And I was 12 with this backpack full. It probably weighed 30 pounds, 40 pounds. And a tent. I had a tent. It was a little, what they call a pup tent, a two-man tent. And we tied that on top of my backpack. Okay, where is Mauricio? I guess he went out with the kids. But I was about Mauricio's size. And so it's pouring down rain. We get there at about 9.30, 10 o'clock. It's dark. No lights. And we get to the trail and we all have flashlights and we hike up into this trail. Really the trail was a river. I had sneakers on, tennis shoes on. And for an hour we walked with our flashlights pouring down rain, 30 pound pack. Tent on the back. 12 years old. It was not fun. And we got to the place. All the place was was an opening in the trees. And they pointed to me and my cousin who was going to be in my tent. They pointed at one place and they said, you can put your tent up over there. I had never put up a tent before. It's dark. It's pouring down rain. Looking at the instructions for my pup tent. So it's so nice to take that backpack off. I think it weighed a thousand pounds by the time I got up there. My backpack was soaking wet. All my clothes in it. Everything was wet except for the canned goods. And they were just wet on the outside. So it took us about a half hour and we figured out how to put up the tent. We were kind of on the side of a hill. And so we put the tent up on an angle like this going up the hill. With the front door the highest. Pouring down rain in the dark. I had a sleeping bag. It was soaked. This was not fun. Got in my sleeping bag and my cousin did and we crawled into the tent. And I think the only thing that was dry was the air in the tent. This was not fun. And I can remember at about five o'clock in the morning I woke up. And I was in my sleeping bag in the bottom of my tent in a puddle. On the bottom part of the tent. Oh boy. Everybody was like that. It wasn't just us. We didn't stay for the rest of the camping trip. We left that morning. The forest or the bands had heaters on. It was not fun. The leaders, we had leaders. We had adults who should have told us better to tell you the truth but they didn't. But we learned that day. I'm never going to do that again. Never. We had another camping trip planned for the spring. And in the spring, kids, we planned this well. Nothing that could get wet. A sleeping bag that would not get wet. A backpack that had a brace on it that would make it easy to hike with. No cans. None, not no cans. We didn't want any cans. Spaghetti, light stuff, stuff that was light that we could take that wasn't heavy. That would keep the rain out. And it rained. But we were ready. I can't remember, by that time I was older. I wasn't a kid anymore. And we didn't have the tent. We made a little house. And it was nice and dry. Oh boy, it was good. In the scripture there's a story of a city person. Maybe here in New Jersey we'd call him a city boy. I don't know how you do that in Spanish. His name was Abram. This was about almost 3,000 years before Christ was born. But he lived in town. And one day something strange happened. God talked to him. We don't know exactly how he did, but God talked to him and he knew what God was talking about. And in Genesis chapter 12 it says that God says, I want you to leave your town. We can find it. Let's turn to that, Genesis chapter 12. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 12. I'll read a verse in English with a couple of verses. Now the Lord said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country. And that meant from where he was at, his people. It says, get thee out of thy country from my kindred, I want you to leave your people, from my Father's house unto a land where I will show thee. I don't know if it was the Delaware Water Gap. It was probably a little farther. And I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham departed. He left home. Probably had a nice house. In cities. And he went to the country. And as far as we know, the rest of Abraham's family And as far as we know, the rest of Abraham's life, he dwelled in tents. You know, God moves in our lives also. And sometimes God says, I want you to go here, or I want you to go there. Or I want you to do something for me. And many times it means moving. Very few people like to move. They like to be around mom. They like to be around home. You like to be with your food. The stuff you're accustomed to. This is a big mixed group here, culturally. This is a big mixed group here, culturally. We could name the countries different people were from, and some are from city, and some are from the country. Different food. Different culture. Different ways of using. We have Dimitri here, he's from, is it Ukraine or Russia? Ukraine. Very different. Anybody like to be in Ukraine right now? Would you like to be in Ukraine right now? But Abraham, God told him, I want you to leave. And he left. And as we said, he dwelled in tents. Now we as people, we like a place. If you're looking for a place, you know, an apartment or something, like a place that you can call your place. A house, something that you can say is yours, that you can say it's your home. And many times we think, and it depends on the person, but we think, if I just had a house and land, a property, I'd be good. God asked Abraham to go somewhere and dwell in tents. And I tell you, in a way, to Christians, the scripture says this world is not our home. We're just passing through. Yesterday we, my wife and I, were driving up to Smithville. And we passed a place that had a for sale sign out. Someday we would like to be a little, like yesterday, we'd like to be closer to where we don't have to drive an hour back and forth. And there was a property there with a house on it, and there was a lake. It was just beautiful. Now, the price was really beautiful. It was just nice. My wife really liked it, too. She was checking it out. And I could do that, and it was nice. But the children of the owners were there, and we talked to them. Got that? Okay. So we went through to Smithville, and we found a place, and the children of the owners were there. Okay. And they said this was Mom and Dad's house. They said Dad died last year. He was 97, and Mom died maybe six months later. And she said they've been there since 1960. Is it their land now? They're not living there. It'll be somebody else's. Where I live, although we're renting one day, somebody else is going to be there. And sometimes we really want to get stuck on that land, that stuff, instead of what we do with that land and how we live. I have a statement here. It says the world focuses on the land, and they will soon leave the world, meaning in the world they focus on the land of property. They focus on it or give it importance. Okay. And someday somebody else will be inhabiting or living on that land, never understanding that the important thing was not the land, but what we did on the land. Okay, so let's go back to Abraham. Okay, God has given a promise. I'm going to bless you. I need you to leave. I need you to leave Mom and Dad, your home, your land. I'll tell you where to go. I'll tell you when you're there. Has anybody done that? Abraham did that. I know some of you here have left your country, have left everything, and maybe had family here or didn't have family. You just came to a place and started to make life. But what I want to say about Abraham is that the promise that God gave him of a blessing was permanent. God said, I'm going to bless you and I'm going to bless your seed. They'll be innumerable, like the stars in the sky. But I want you to live in tents. So we read there in Genesis. Let's go to Genesis chapter 12. I want to read just a little bit, one more time. It says, Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, I am coming from my kindred and from my father's house into a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation. I will bless thee, make thy name great. Now shall be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee. And in thee shall all the families of the world be blessed. So Abraham departed. I want you to see here that God doesn't talk to a lot of people. Is anybody in here God talk to you? You have to be careful what I say. God doesn't outwardly speak to a lot of people, but he did to Abraham. And he said, I want you to go, and he went. And he said, I want you to obey, and he obeyed. And he said, I'm going to bless you, and he blessed him. So I want you to see here that the promise that God gave to him was a permanent, was something that you could count on, he could count on. But it also meant that he lived in tents. He lived a nomad's life. Nomad, that's one who travels around and lives in tents. Now Israel, or that promised land, was finally settled by his descendants with Joshua. The promised land, the land that God had promised to Abraham was finally settled. And there were cities and there were houses. So Israel isn't living in tents today. His seed isn't living in tents today. They're living in cities and towns. So we see that he had, God calls us to trust his eternal plan even when within his present was unsettled, was not sure. So what do you think? I'm going to read this. It'll be the easiest. Someone else lived there. Someone else lived there and somebody else will live there in the future. For the believer the important thing is not what we own, the land, the things that we can accumulate and the things that we can gather. I've heard it said one time it's not important what you gather. I think it was Walton, Sam Walton who said it's not important what we gather but it's important what we scatter or give away. Okay, the second thing. If you turn to Leviticus in the Old Testament. Leviticus 23. As we see in the life of Abraham he was passing through. He lived in tents. He never lived in houses again. Leviticus 23 verse 42. It says he shall dwell in booths seven days all that are Israelites born shall be in booths that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Can you read that in 42 and 43? I just want you to think a little bit today. Sometimes it's hard in the translation to think and to listen to somebody preaching or teaching and to think of what you're going to say and how you're going to translate it. So sometimes some things do get a little lost in the translation. But here what we find, this point is that God commanded the people to have the feast of the tabernacles or the memorial of the tabernacles. Now tabernacle, all that was was the nice word for tent. If we remember the spiritual tabernacle, that was a tent that God made for his people for him to dwell in in the Old Testament before they had a temple. But it was a tent. It wasn't wood, it wasn't concrete, it wasn't floss, it wasn't permanent, it was temporary. And so the feast of the tabernacles was a reminder to the Israelites that God brought them out of Egypt and for 40 years in the desert he provided for their needs. He provided manna, something to eat, he provided water for them, ultimately he provided quail for them. Quail, the birds, the meat. Their shoes didn't wear out. God took care of them. But this memorial or this feast was that every year that the Jewish people would, for one week, live in tents. They still do it today. If you would drive up to Lakewood, New Jersey, that's up by Tom's River, on this time of the year when they have the feast of the tabernacle they would have a kind of jack on the back of their house or their apartment. Because that's where Jews lived. There's thousands and thousands of Jews. Right. And so it was to remember that we're just passing through. Can I remind you as a Christian that we're just passing through? A lot of things happen in our lives. Sometimes good things. Sometimes bad things. Sometimes we have much food and much money and much goods and sometimes we struggle. But we're just passing through. And we need to think about that. Now God promises a new city. A heavenly city. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 6 It says, for I have not dwelled in any house this is God speaking. He says, for I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt to this day but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. God didn't have a temple. Not with wood and gold and marble and stone and and beautiful pillars. God dwelt in tents. You know if God can dwell in a tent I guess maybe I could too. That's not to say that I have to go back up to the mountain and end up in the back of my tent in a puddle. But it's to say that as a Christian as a believer, as a follower of God this life is temporary. We're like Abraham. We are passing through this life. And so many people and maybe that's your desire today is to get stuff. Things. Riches. Home. Property. Maybe. And we're going to leave them. It's not to say that good things are bad. It's not bad to have good things. But it's the Lord God said I dwelt in tents. Then if we look in the scripture where is that? It's Isaiah 33 And this was God's hope for the Israelites. He says look upon Zion 33 verses 20. He says look upon Zion the city of our solemnities thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken but there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams wherein shall go no galley with oars neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. That's Isaiah 33 20 and 22 Okay. Is that Isaiah 33? 20 and 21. Okay. Yeah. I just I didn't read 22. Thank you. So if you look at 20 the first part it says look upon Zion the city of our solemnities. It talks about how God had the people live in tents with the idea that one day they were going to build the city of Jerusalem and for the Christian likewise we have we are passing through our time here is temporary and that we shouldn't dwell on the things that we gain here but on the things that God has given us to do God wants me to have a good marriage God wants me to dwell on that He wants me to spend time on that He wants me to invest my time in having a good marriage I have kids that are spread out from Wisconsin to Florida They have my grandchildren with them God wants me to invest in them also. God's put me here Chelsea that's the church. God's put you here at least today he's put you here in Chelsea that's the church and as Christians he wants us to invest in Chelsea Baptist Church and it might be in the paint but it might be in the person who's sitting next to you or in front of you or back to you people are walking by who are needy and I'm not just talking about homeless people there's people who are going into the casinos right now because they're looking for something that they don't have. It's Jesus that they don't have who's going to tell them who's going to help them, who's going to guide them we'll close with this. Go to Psalms chapter 23 Psalm 23 typically when we read or quote Psalms 23 we do it thinking about a funeral I don't want you to forget about a funeral today the author stated King David he didn't have funeral or death in mind he said the Lord is my shepherd I won't want or I won't be in need that's because of the Lord he makes me to lie down in green pastures you know when I'm sojourning or passing through this life he's the one that gives me green pastures when I'm passing through this life he's the one that leads me beside the still waters how much time do we spend trying to find stuff he's the one that guides us he restores my soul he's the one that does everything he's the one that does it not me not things, not land he's the one he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake he leads me, he guides me he leads me and he guides me that's our closing thought we live in it might be concrete and bricks but we live in tents meaning we're only temporary here in visiting the nursing homes many times I sit at the bedside of somebody who is dying sometimes I hold their hand sometimes I hold the hand of their loved one and can I tell you one thing for sure at that time they don't care about my name they don't care about how big the house is and what part of town it's in they don't think of what car they have sitting outside don't think about the boat not important many people I've dealt with are very wealthy how much they have in that account in the bank probably no, I don't have a big bank account I don't have to worry about that many people have big bank accounts, big investments, a lot of money and they are facing the next step sometimes it's very sad because they see that all that stuff that they've worked for won't help them now we're Christian believers we know it's important we have a God who's taught us he's given us word, he leads us he guides us, he talks to us he's with us, he directs us let's follow him I'm thinking of this week am I following him? what's important in my life? is it how much money I have? or is it the God I have? the important things that I'll do this week will be sharing the Christ of this scripture that'll be the eternal things I'll do this week let's pray Lord we're tent dwellers we live in tents even though sometimes we don't think about it Lord I just pray that you'd help us Lord we need your leading and your guidance and Lord help us to keep important in our life what's important to you can't wait for heaven that'll be a good thing but while I'm here today we'll do the tent and we'll serve you with our heads bowed and our eyes closed if there's somebody here today who'd say I'm not sure I'm going to heaven I just wonder would you raise your hand if I could pray for you talk to me Lord as Christians help us to remember that we're just here temporary and that you're in control of our lives that you love us and that you'll provide for and protect us I pray these things in Jesus name amen I ask you to stand and we're going to close with some announcements and a song so the announcements next Saturday we'll be meeting here at the church what time are we meeting here or are we meeting there? 11 o'clock right here