Participants: Royce Odiyar
Series Code: OTR
Program Code: OTR000785
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00:59 The Bible says for God so loved the world, that
01:04 he gave his only begotten son that who so ever 01:08 believes in him should not perish, but have 01:12 ever lasting life. Today whether you're 01:17 sitting right here or viewing around the 01:20 world. God has a message for you today, 01:24 undoubtedly someone watching this telecast 01:29 around the world, is having maybe the worst 01:31 day of their life. And likely even right here 01:36 someone sitting here this day is struggling with 01:42 the question is it worth it, is life worth it, is 01:47 following Jesus worth it. Does Jesus really care? 01:53 Does God really exist? Today I stand here 01:59 before you with a message from God. 02:02 And that message is, there is a friend, who 02:06 sticks closer than a brother, and that friend 02:10 is Jesus. Today, I stand here before you with a 02:14 message from God and that message is, 02:16 taste and see that the Lord is good. 02:22 And, today I stand before you with a message, 02:26 from God and that message is follow the 02:31 faithful and be a finisher. You see friends 02:36 life is not easy, but there is a friend that 02:40 sticks closer than a brother, is not easy to 02:44 believe in God, but if you taste, you'll see 02:46 the evidence that the Lord is good and that 02:49 he is alive and well and working in your 02:52 life. Brothers and sisters, it maybe hard 02:58 to sometimes believe that Jesus is coming 03:02 again, but if we stick close to that friend 03:07 Jesus, if we see that he is good and if we 03:10 follow him, if we follow the faithful one Jesus 03:13 Christ, we can be a finisher. 03:16 I want to begin with a word of prayer, please bow 03:20 your heads with we as we pray. Dear heavenly 03:27 Father we come before you, and we pray that 03:33 as we're here gathered together that your 03:35 presence would be with us. We pray that, we 03:42 would not be here worshiping in vain, 03:44 but that the spirit of God would come down, 03:47 enlighten our minds, give us understanding, 03:49 humble our hearts, so that we can leave here 03:53 changed and we can live more faithfully for you. 03:59 We thank you for your death on the cross. 04:02 And, we pray that Jesus when you come that we 04:08 will be saved. In your name we 04:11 pray, Amen. The message of this 04:16 morning is titled, follow the faithful, 04:20 and be a finisher. Follow the faithful and 04:26 be a finisher. Brothers and sisters, 04:29 I believe more today than I've ever believed 04:32 before that Jesus is coming again and the 04:35 Bible urges us in John chapter 14 that 04:38 we should not allow our hearts to be troubled. 04:44 Well, why is it that we should not allow our 04:47 hearts to be troubled, and I believe the reason 04:52 that we should not allow our hearts to be troubled is 04:55 because of the multitude of promises in the Bible that 04:58 Jesus is coming again, that he died to save us, so that 05:03 we can be with him in paradise forever. 05:10 And, so we can comfort ourselves with the fact 05:14 that Jesus, like he said in John chapter 14, let 05:17 not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, 05:20 believe also in me. In my Father's house are 05:22 many mansions, if it were not so, I would have 05:25 told you, I go to prepare a place for you, that when 05:29 I come again, I'll receive you unto 05:31 myself that where I'm there you may be also. 05:35 You see, we don't have to allow our hearts to 05:38 be troubled, because Jesus will come again. 05:42 Jesus will come to receive us onto himself. 05:47 So that we can be with him forever where he is now. 05:54 Jesus is preparing a mansion for each and 05:56 everyone of us. And, he wants us to 05:58 occupy that with him and, and because of that 06:02 promise, because of the numerous promises in the 06:05 scriptures, we don't have to be troubled by the 06:08 trials of this life. It's not easy, but we can 06:14 comfort ourselves with the hope that there is a 06:18 better world, there will be a better place, 06:21 there will be a better life when Jesus comes 06:26 again and takes us to be with him forever. 06:31 This is our blessed hope, and if we're to receive 06:37 this blessed hope, we must follow the 06:40 faithful and be a finisher. I want you to 06:46 turn with me in your Bibles right now 06:49 to John, the actually the First book of John, 06:52 so that would be right near the end of the 06:55 Old Testament. John chapter 1. 06:59 So, that's First John it's a little letter 07:01 written by the Apostle John. John the Revelator 07:06 as well as he was known, and this is the first of 07:10 three letters he wrote. First John, chapter 1. 07:15 And, we'll be reading verse 9. First John, 07:18 chapter 1 and verse 9, and the Bible says, if we 07:21 confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 07:26 forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all 07:30 unrighteousness. I want to stop for a 07:33 moment and just let you know that the next few 07:34 verses, we're gonna be looking through. 07:35 Are verses that all include the keyword faithful. 07:40 And, we're gonna be looking out what it 07:43 means, what does it mean to be faithful and who 07:46 is faithful and here we see that Jesus is being 07:53 described as faithful. God is being described 07:56 as faithful, and he is faithful to take care of 08:01 our sins, to forgive us and cleanse us from 08:04 all unrighteousness, and often times the struggle, 08:07 the major struggle in the life that we've here on 08:11 planet earth is the fact that, that we allow the 08:15 sins and the guilt of life to weigh us down. 08:18 And, we don't really believe Jesus, when he 08:22 says, if you confess your sins, I will be faithful 08:28 Jesus says, I will be just, I will cleanse you, 08:33 of the unrighteousness of your heart. 08:39 Jesus died on the cross and if he died on the cross, 08:43 why can't we believe that he could forgive 08:45 our sins, and so someone might be 08:48 struggling here today, somebody watching this 08:51 telecast might be thinking to themselves, 08:54 my sin is too great. I messed up too badly, 09:02 I've messed up too much, I've gone too far, 09:07 too long away from God. And the message 09:13 from the Bible today for you, for each of us 09:20 is that Jesus is faithful. That Jesus is 09:25 faithful and he will forgive us of our sins 09:27 no matter how great, we just have to come 09:33 to him in humility confessing our sins, 09:38 and he will forgive us and cleanse us from 09:43 those sins. And, so we see here in First 09:45 John 1:9, he is faithful, who is he? God. 09:48 God is faithful. And, First Corinthians 5:9 09:53 says, God is faithful. And, Revelation 1:5 09:59 lets actually turn to this one, it's a beautiful 10:00 promise. Revelation 1:5. And, in verse 5 of 10:09 Revelation chapter 1, the Bible describes Jesus 10:15 as a witness, he was the witness of the father, 10:21 He came down to planet earth, to witness the 10:27 character, to demonstrate the character of Jesus 10:31 to all of the world, to all of the Angels in the 10:34 Universe. And, he did a perfect job witnessing 10:41 for Jesus and so in Revelation 1:5, the Bible 10:46 says that Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the 10:54 firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings 10:56 of the earth. Brothers and sisters, Jesus was the 11:00 perfect witness, more than a perfect witness, 11:02 he was a faithful witness. We're talking 11:06 this morning about following the faithful, 11:11 and if you want to, if you want to make it abundantly 11:14 clear to each person here today and each 11:16 person viewing this broadcast, we could add 11:21 the word one. Jesus is the faithful 11:24 one, Jesus is the faithful witness and so 11:32 we've seen that Jesus is faithful to forgive us 11:34 of our sins, God is faithful and Jesus is the 11:38 faithful witness, but we're going to look at 11:40 one more reference in Revelation chapter 20. 11:43 Revelation chapter actually 2. 11:45 Revelation chapter 2 and Verse 10, and here we're going 11:50 to see that the word faithful is used again, 11:52 but it's used in a different application or 11:56 maybe more accurately stated, it's applied to 11:59 different, someone other than Jesus. 12:03 Revelation 2:10, applies the word faithful 12:07 to someone other than Jesus, let's see who it is. 12:10 Revelation 2:10. Do not fear what 12:15 you're about to suffer. Behold the devil is 12:17 about to throw some of you into prison that 12:20 you maybe tested and for ten days you'll have 12:24 tribulation, and then it says be faithful 12:27 unto death and you'll receive a crown of life. 12:33 This is one of the most beautiful promises in the 12:37 Bible delivered, the promise that if we're 12:43 faithful and if we finish the good fight and if 12:53 we've to die and are willing to die that we'll 12:59 receive the promise of the eternal life, 13:01 we will receive the crown of the life that Jesus 13:06 wants to give to each and everyone of us. 13:08 It's powerful, it's so powerful to see that 13:15 God, our God, our faithful Father so loved 13:19 the world that he sent, Jesus God, the son 13:22 to be our faithful example and if we will 13:29 choose to follow that faithful example unto 13:34 death, we will receive a crown of life. 13:39 Brothers and sisters, friends and family, 13:42 viewers around the world follow the faithful one, 13:51 follow Jesus and be a finisher, it's just that 13:57 simple, you don't have to come up with a new way 14:03 to get to heaven, you just have to follow 14:06 Jesus, the one who is already made it there, 14:10 the first born of the dead as Revelation 14:13 chapter 2, chapter 1 sorry, and it's simple 14:20 we just have to follow Jesus in all things, 14:22 he is our example in every area of our life, 14:25 he is the faithful one and if follow him, we 14:29 cannot help but be a finisher because in his 14:33 strength we're made perfect, the Bible says. 14:35 And I believe more today and each and 14:38 everyday that we're living the last days of 14:40 earth's history we've already made this clear, how 14:43 strongly I believe that, I believe that Jesus is 14:47 about to come, we're in the brink of eternity. 14:51 And so now is the time more than ever before 14:59 to more carefully, more faithfully follow Jesus 15:04 and his example, and so today we want to 15:10 take a look at, a careful look, what did 15:14 I say? That's right, a careful look. 15:16 We're gonna take a careful look at the 15:21 example of Jesus and at the special instruction 15:27 that Jesus gives to the Apostle Paul for God's 15:31 last day people, God's last day church. 15:35 How many of you here today want to be one of 15:40 God's last day people. I want to be a part of 15:46 one of God's last day people, and I want to 15:49 be a part of God's last day church. 15:52 And, so today we're gonna look carefully at what the 15:59 faithful one Jesus Christ had, we're gonna 16:02 look at four points, the first two of those points 16:05 are questions. And question number 1 is 16:07 what did the faithful one have? What did Jesus 16:10 have that made him and gave him the ability 16:12 to be a finisher. Let's look up, 16:17 Matthew chapter 3, and we're not gonna 16:22 look up all of them, but we're going to start with 16:24 Matthew chapter 3, and I gonna go through a 16:25 quick list of different examples of Jesus. 16:29 And, what he had that allowed him to be a 16:32 finisher, so let's turn in our Bibles to 16:34 Matthew, it's the first book of the New Testament. 16:36 Matthew 3 and verse 16 and the Bible says, and when 16:41 Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up 16:45 from the water and behold the heavens were opened to 16:48 to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending 16:50 like a dove and coming and resting on him. 16:55 This is Jesus' baptism and when he comes up 16:59 out of the water, we see the spirit of God coming 17:01 and descending on him like a dove. 17:02 I'm going to read a bunch more references from 17:07 the Bible really quickly, and I want you to pick 17:09 out a keyword. Matthew chapter 4 in verse 1, 17:14 the Bible says, then Jesus was led up of the 17:16 spirit into the wilderness to be tempted 17:18 of the devil. Matthew chapter 12 in verse 18, 17:21 I'll put my spirit upon him. 17:23 Luke chapter 1 and verse 80, and that's a last verse, 17:27 you probably didn't even know, that there is 80 verses in 17:29 the first book and the first chapter of Luke. 17:32 The Luke 1:80, and the child grew and became 17:39 strong in spirit. Luke 2:27, and he became 17:43 and he came by the spirit into the temple. 17:46 Luke 4:14, and Jesus returned in the power 17:51 of the spirit into Galilee. Luke 4:18, 17:54 and the spirit of Lord is upon me, we see 17:57 time-and-time again, the keyword is spirit, 18:02 spirit, spirit, spirit, spirit. The spirit of 18:06 God came upon Jesus in the form of a dove. 18:09 The spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness, 18:11 the spirit of God was upon him. 18:13 He became strong in the spirit, he came by the 18:18 spirit to the temple, he had the power of the 18:22 spirit and the spirit of the Lord was upon him, 18:25 it was because of Jesus, our faithful example. 18:29 The one we're to follow it was because Jesus 18:33 had the spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit 18:36 in this life, that he could be victorious in the 18:43 battle over sin. Because he had the spirit 18:52 he could conquer temptation, he could 18:55 go to the cross without sinning and die a death 18:59 for us, so that we could be saved, it's because 19:01 Jesus Christ had the Holy Spirit in his life that 19:09 made all the difference, all the difference in the 19:12 world. And, so brothers and sisters, the Biblical 19:17 evidence is clear. What did I say? 19:20 It's clear, that's right. The Biblical evidence is 19:23 clear today that Jesus Christ, the faithful 19:26 witness, who is to be our example, in all of 19:29 things, he had the power of the Holy Spirit in his 19:35 life and this enabled him. And, what did I say? 19:38 That's right, it enabled him, it gave him the 19:42 ability to be the faithful one, the 19:46 faithful finisher. You see, he had to 19:50 have the power of the Holy Spirit in his life. 19:52 And because Jesus recognized, because he 19:58 recognized so clear, how hard the battle was, 20:01 and how important and critical, it was for 20:06 him to have the power of the Holy Spirit before Jesus 20:09 left. Before he was resurrected and went 20:15 to heaven. He gave his believers, he gave the 20:18 disciples, the twelve Apostle, he gave them 20:21 the promise of the Holy Spirit. He gave them the 20:27 comforter, because he knew that's what he needed 20:29 and that if his disciples down through the ages, 20:33 and if his church in the last days was to be 20:36 faithful that they would need the Holy Spirit 20:40 power working in their lives. And, so let's turn 20:43 and look at that promise, it's a beautiful promise. 20:48 John, the Gospel of John. Matthew Mark, Luke, 20:51 and John, the fourth book of the New Testament 20:54 John chapter 16, and in John chapter 16, we will 21:00 this promise of the Holy Spirit, given to 21:05 God's disciples down through the ages. 21:08 John chapter 16 and we'll read verse 7 and 21:13 then we'll skip down to 13 through 15. 21:15 Beginning in verse 17. John chapter 16. 21:17 Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is to your 21:21 advantage that I go away for if I do not 21:23 go away, so who's talking here. Jesus, Jesus is 21:26 saying, it's to your benefit that I go away, 21:29 it's to your advantage that I leave and go to 21:33 heaven. Well, why Jesus, why would it be to our 21:40 benefit that you leave. Let's see what the Bible 21:45 says, for if I do not go away, verse 7 the 21:50 helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will 21:54 send him to you and when he comes, he will convict 21:59 to the world of sin and righteousness and 22:01 judgment skipping down to verse 13. When the 22:05 spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into 22:07 all truth. You see, it's interesting, there is 22:10 Jesus said in the Bible, once to the disciples, he said, 22:12 I wish, I could tell you more, but I can't tell 22:14 you, no, I can't tell you more now because 22:16 you can't handle it. And, so it was critical 22:20 that the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the helper, 22:23 our comforter would come, dwell in our 22:28 hearts and lead us into all truth. And, it goes 22:34 to say, for he will not speak of his own 22:36 authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and 22:39 he will declare to you the things that are 22:41 to come, it's powerful. It's so powerful. 22:45 You see, if Jesus didn't leave, he cannot send 22:51 his Holy Spirit to be in all places at all 22:53 times with all believers, who all struggle. 22:56 We could, if it was not for the Holy Spirit, 23:00 we could not have the promise of Matthew, 23:02 with the great commission, where the 23:06 Bible says, I will give you all power, we could not 23:12 all have all power, if you wasn't for the work 23:14 of the Holy Spirit. And, so we see that was 23:19 very important, it was very important to Jesus 23:22 that he have the spirit in his life. 23:25 And, it's very important to the followers of Jesus 23:28 that we have the spirit of God in our lives and 23:33 so the first of the four points, that we're looking 23:37 at this morning. Are one, what did the 23:42 faithful one have, what did Jesus have 23:45 that can make him faithful, and we've 23:47 seen that Jesus had the spirit, the Holy Spirit 23:52 power working in his life. So, now the 23:55 question, the next logical question, it's a simple 23:57 question. Is how did he get the spirit in the 24:02 first place, how did Jesus get the Holy Spirit 24:06 in the first place? Let's turn in our Bibles, 24:11 to Luke chapter 2, Matthew, Mark, Luke. 24:16 Luke chapter 2 and I'm read from verse 40 24:25 and then we'll skip down to verse 52. 24:27 Luke chapter 2 and verse 40, the Bible says, and the child 24:35 grew and became strong in spirit, filled with 24:38 wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. 24:41 Says that Jesus grew, that's the child, that's 24:46 being talked about. Jesus grew and became 24:48 strong in spirit, it's says that, he was filled 24:52 with wisdom. The grace of God was upon him. 24:55 You see, Jesus became strong in spirit and 25:02 filled with wisdom because the grace and 25:04 the favor of God was upon him and the reason 25:09 that Jesus had the favor of God was because 25:15 Jesus followed his father's four fold plan 25:23 for growth, this is powerful. And, this is 25:27 what verse 52 says, Luke 2:52, and the 25:30 Bible says, and Jesus increased in wisdom 25:34 and in stature, and in favor with God and man, 25:40 this is powerful, there's four areas of development 25:43 that happened in the life of Jesus that ultimately 25:49 allowed him to have the favor of God in his life. 25:57 It's says, he grew in wisdom, he increased in 26:02 wisdom. Wisdom means intellect, it means 26:05 knowledge. Jesus grew intellectually, it 26:10 says he grew in stature that means physically 26:12 Jesus grew in physical strength, then it says 26:18 he grew in favor with God and man, you see 26:23 Jesus grew spiritually and Jesus grew socially 26:29 in favor with God spiritually and in favor 26:32 with man socially. And, we're gonna see 26:34 how important this is, near the end of today's 26:39 the message. So, the four things once 26:43 again, our wisdom, stature, favor with God, favor with 26:45 man, that was intellectual growth, physical growth, 26:48 spiritual growth, social growth, and I want to 26:52 take a little bit of time right here to explain 26:55 the importance of this and why this made the 26:58 difference in the life of Jesus. You see one 27:01 of the greatest challenges, one of the 27:03 greatest struggles in the Christian journey, in the 27:08 experience of the Christian is the, the 27:11 struggle of surrendering everything to Jesus, 27:15 every part of our being, every part of our life, 27:19 how is it that we surrender that, it's a 27:24 difficult thing to do, but we must to do it, 27:26 and these four areas, but what if we could 27:30 surrender these four areas of our life to 27:33 Jesus, we could have the full power of the 27:41 Holy Spirit working in our lives, you see it's 27:45 very important, now we surrender our minds, our 27:49 intellect to God. You see because, if we 27:54 do not surrender our minds to God then we will 28:00 think that we're smart, we can do everything 28:04 on our own, we can go through life, 28:08 provide for ourselves, be smart enough to figure 28:11 out, how to over come any obstacle in life. 28:14 So, we must surrender our minds, our intellect, 28:20 our wisdom to God, because the Bible says 28:24 there is a way that seems right unto 28:27 a man, but in the end it leads to death, 28:33 the wisdom of the world does not leave to 28:34 salvation, but it leads to death and 28:37 destruction, and so we must surrender our minds to 28:42 God. Number 2, we must surrender our physical 28:45 bodies, our strength to God because you see, 28:47 it is easy, especially for men to have the idea 28:52 that hey, I'm strong enough, I'm big 28:54 enough, I'm fast enough to conquer the problems 28:58 in my life, to take care of myself, to protect 29:01 myself, we've to surrender that part of 29:05 our physical bodies to God. And, then 29:12 spiritually we've to surrender to God 29:16 spiritually because, if we do not surrender 29:19 to God spiritually then we'll be serving another 29:25 God, a liturgy God of this world as the Bible 29:28 says. So, we must surrender our minds 29:33 spiritually to God and lastly, socially we must 29:39 this part of our life fully and completely 29:42 to God socially. Because you see, if 29:49 we do not surrender the social part of our life 29:52 to God, where we interact with other people 29:55 we will never, I repeat we will never come to love 30:00 people, we will always be at odds with people, 30:04 we will never feel the burden to go out and 30:06 win souls, and to seek and save the lost. 30:10 We have to surrender our lives socially, socially 30:17 to God. And I wanna point something out 30:23 very important, notice I've been talking about 30:27 surrender, not balance because often we think, 30:30 often we think to ourselves, well hey, if I've 30:35 these four components in my life, one, two, 30:37 three, four, then I'm a balanced person. 30:42 A balanced person, and balanced people are 30:49 supposed to be alright, they're supposed to have things 30:51 together, but you see if you've got these four 30:54 components and you're balancing them in 30:56 your life 25%, 25%., 25%, 25% that adds up to 31:01 a 100%, you think you're doing good, you're 31:02 balancing everything out. Notice in each of those 31:07 areas they are still a full 75% that is uncounted 31:15 for, and the reason this is important to point out 31:19 is because often times we think that if we spend 31:28 that 25% or that time in Church, then we're 31:30 doing our spiritual part, but God wants us to be 31:33 spiritual people all the time, often times we 31:38 think, if, if we're nice and we put on that 31:40 smile and we're social and friendly out in public, 31:42 that's good enough, but when we come home 31:45 we can let our guard down and we can be a little 31:48 rough with our spouse or with our brother or 31:51 our sister, and sometimes we think that, that if we 32:00 serve God with our minds intellectually at least a 32:03 little bit of the time and we use the rest 32:04 to make money and, and wealth and popularity. 32:07 Well, that's okay, no it's not okay beloved, 32:10 it's not okay, we have to surrender each and 32:15 every part to God and that brings glory to him, 32:19 and that will gain his favor and because of 32:23 that the spirit of God will fill our lives, 32:26 because we've surrendered 100% to him in every 32:32 major component and so Jesus grew and became 32:37 strong in the spirit because he had these 32:41 four areas covered, and it's not gonna be 32:46 easy to surrender these four areas, but we have to 32:48 especially number 3 and 4, which is spiritual 32:52 and social, and we're going to talk about this 32:55 a little bit more, at the end of the message, and 32:59 so today, we've seen already a powerful 33:03 model, a powerful example of what the 33:07 follower of Jesus needs, the follower of Jesus 33:10 needs the Holy Spirit power in their life. 33:11 Well, how do they get it? How do we have what 33:14 the faithful example had, our faithful witness 33:16 Jesus Christ, we get it by doing what he did. 33:19 Grow in wisdom, in stature and favor with God and 33:23 man. And the reason that these message is critical 33:27 for God's last day people, for God's last 33:30 day church, is because Jesus knew, God knew, 33:34 that his last day church would struggle with this 33:38 very thing, this very thing of being faithful, 33:43 this very thing of being finished, of finishing, 33:48 because without the spirit we cannot be 33:51 faithful, without the spirit we cannot finish. 33:53 And, so God instructed his servant Paul, in First 34:01 Thessalonians chapter 1, he instructed him with 34:08 some special instructions of how we can make sure 34:14 that we have the spirit of God in our lives, 34:17 turn in your Bibles to First Thessalonians 34:20 chapter 5, and so if you're in the 34:25 New Testament, you'll look past Acts and past 34:29 Romans and past all the small little epistles, 34:32 past Corinthians, Colossians and then 34:37 you'll find Thessalonians, First Thessalonians 34:38 chapter 5, and we're gonna read a large 34:43 section of passage here, but we're gonna begin 34:45 with verse 19, because it's a very interesting 34:48 verse. First Thessalonians chapter 1 34:52 chapter 5 and verse 19, the Bible says, do not quench 34:58 the spirit, some versions say, quench not 35:00 the spirit, very interesting, very 35:06 interesting if you read verse 1 of chapter 5, 35:10 the Bible says, now concerning the times 35:12 and the seasons brethren, you've 35:13 no need, to have anything written you 35:15 for you yourselves are fully aware that the 35:17 day of the lord will come like a thief in the night, 35:19 Jesus is talking to the last day church, 35:22 of course, he is writing to Thessalonica, and he 35:25 had a message for them, but he has a message 35:27 for us today because we're living in the 35:29 final days of earth's history, and so he says, 35:32 brethren, you know, you know, that Jesus 35:37 is coming soon, you know that he is 35:39 gonna come like a thief in the night when nobody knows, 35:40 and nobody is aware, I don't need to write to 35:44 you about these things, but there is something 35:47 important that I need to write to you, 35:48 and near the end, we see that very, very important 35:53 element and that's don't quench the spirit, 35:56 don't quench the spirit, you need the 36:01 spirit to be faithful, you need the spirit 36:07 to be a finisher, and so now let's 36:14 read the context alright. Let's read the context 36:17 around it, and we're gonna see something very powerful, 36:19 alright, so we're gonna be begin reading in 36:22 verse 12, so First Thessalonians 5:12, 36:27 and just before you read, I just want to say 36:32 that it appears and is compelling to me that 36:39 God's last day church is in risk of quenching 36:43 the spirit, otherwise Paul would have had 36:48 no need of writing about it, and so we've a 36:52 special message that we need to embrace, so that 36:58 we do not quench the spirit. Let's read 37:01 verse 12, we ask you brothers to respect 37:04 those who labor among you, and are over you 37:07 in the Lord and admonish you and to 37:10 esteem them very highly in love because 37:12 of their work, be at peace among yourselves. 37:15 I want to make two important distinctions 37:18 right now, the important distinctions are, in this 37:22 passage of scripture from First Thessalonians 37:25 chapter 5, I mean chapter 5:12 all the 37:29 way to verse 22, there is two large groups being 37:35 addressed, and a more accurate way of saying would 37:41 be two areas of responsibility have been 37:46 given to God's last day people. 37:49 And that is one, we've responsibility to one 37:52 another and two, we've a responsibility to God. 37:55 We're gonna look at these in details right now. 37:59 So, verses 12 and 13, we already see, that we've 38:03 been asked to respect those who labor 38:05 among us. Paul is writing, he is 38:09 saying hey, we've setup in Thessalonica, leaders 38:14 in the church, elders, ministers, we've setup 38:19 people to take care of the flock, respect them, 38:24 respect those who are working among you, 38:26 admonish them, encourage them, those who oversee 38:31 churches, those who do the work of God, as 38:34 Evangelists, as pastors, as teachers, they need 38:39 encouragement, they're humans just like 38:41 anyone of us here today, 38:43 just like anyone watching this 38:47 broadcast, we all need encouragement including 38:50 those leading God's church. Verse 13 and 38:58 esteem them very highly in love, they need our 39:01 love because of their work, be at peace among 39:04 yourselves. You see, if we've the 39:06 appropriate respect towards those in the 39:09 church, those overseeing the church, if the 39:11 dynamic is right, the inter-personal 39:13 relationships, we can be at peace as a body 39:19 of Christ. Amen. It goes on to say, 39:23 and we urge you brothers admonish the idle, 39:25 encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, 39:29 be patient with them all, see that no one 39:32 repays evil for evil, but always seek to do 39:36 good to one another and to everyone. 39:39 So, there it shifts, he is still talking about 39:42 responsibility to people, responsibility to those 39:45 in the church, responsibility to those, 39:48 who oversee the church. And, those in the church, 39:54 the members if you will, those who are weak 39:58 members, faint hearted, struggling, who are 40:02 going through trials and troubles, we need to 40:05 encourage them, we need to encourage our 40:07 brothers and sisters, that's why the Bible 40:11 says, we are our brother's keeper, and then in 40:15 verse 16, we see a shift and an important one at that, 40:18 the Bible says, rejoice always, pray without 40:21 ceasing, give thanks in all of circumstances 40:24 for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you, 40:27 then it goes on to say in verse 19, do not 40:29 quench your spirit, do not despise his prophecies, 40:32 but test everything, hold fast to that which is 40:35 good, and abstain from every form of evil, from 40:39 verses 16 to 22, we see seven short commands 40:43 and Paul was saying, if you do these things, if you 40:47 obey these commands, you'll be doing your faithful 40:51 part, you'll be being responsible to Jesus, 40:57 to God, and if ultimately I'm over simplifying 41:03 this, I'm gonna break the details down 41:04 in a minute, but, but if you do these seven things 41:08 you'll be responsible, you'll be a responsible 41:11 member of God's body and you will not quench 41:15 the spirit. And, it's interesting, 41:17 verse 19, do not quench the spirit or 41:19 quench not the spirit in the Old King James, 41:21 that's in the middle of a list of seven commands, 41:25 seven short commands, and it's important 41:30 to note that because that's the part, that is lost. 41:35 If we do not obey these commands, if we're 41:37 not responsible to God, if we're not responsible 41:40 to the people, we work with, the people, we, 41:43 we fellowship with, we'll quench the spirit. 41:47 And, if we quench the spirit, we've quenched the 41:51 only thing that God has given to us, in order 41:54 to be faithful. In order to be a 41:59 finisher, and so it's a very, very, interesting, 42:05 actually I'm gonna back up for a minute, 42:07 let's look at each one very carefully, very 42:09 quickly. Verse 16, rejoice always, 42:16 there is an important principle in rejoicing 42:21 always, and that is people who rejoice 42:23 always, they have that hope, they realize, 42:27 hey, in all things whether good or bad, 42:30 they work to the glory of God, we must 42:33 rejoice always, that encourages the spirits 42:36 to work in our life, people who are gloomy, 42:40 people who are complaining, in fact the 42:42 Bible refers to complaining as a sin, 42:46 people who have a bad attitude, the 42:50 spirit can't bless them, the spirit can't work in 42:52 them, so the Bible says, rejoice always, it says 42:54 pray without ceasing, I think that's self 42:58 explanatory, we need to pray always, never give 43:02 up as someone said, pray, pray without 43:04 ceasing doesn't mean to be on your knees 43:06 24/7 pleading, oh! God just help me 43:08 and you're just, you know, making vain repetitions 43:11 towards God, no, no pray without ceasing 43:14 means don't give up, if you have a request, if 43:16 you have a loved when you're praying for, and you know, 43:17 that they are gonna be lost, if they don't come 43:20 to the Lord, don't give up, don't cease 43:24 praying for them, powerful. Verse 18, 43:27 gives thanks in all circumstances, that's 43:31 powerful, we have to, even in the trials of 43:34 life give thanks. For this is the will of God, 43:38 of Christ Jesus for you. Verse 19, do not 43:42 quench the spirit, and I have to point 43:45 something out very important here, 43:47 and very interesting. I believe there is a 43:52 two fold purpose, as to why the Bible makes it 43:55 clear and has a short command, do not quench 44:01 the spirit and that is because one, we need the 44:06 spirit to be a finisher, and number two, the 44:11 spirit, the Holy Spirit power has, wants to 44:15 work in the lives of each of us and he 44:17 wants to give us gifts to use to finish this 44:20 work more than ever before and that 44:24 includes the gift of prophecy, but many 44:28 people in the last days and even in our days 44:31 have become scared of the gift of prophecy 44:35 we think it a weird thing, we think it a 44:38 scary thing, Oh! God could be talking 44:41 so directly to someone. Yeah, that's true brother, 44:45 that's true sister. And, that's why it says, 44:49 do not despise prophecies, if we despise 44:53 prophecies, we're quenching the work of 44:56 God in someone's life and if someone is receiving a 45:00 prophecy, a message from God for the church, and 45:03 we don't respect that, we're harming ourselves, 45:07 we're quenching the spirit in our lives. 45:09 So, it says do not quench the spirit because we 45:12 need the spirit to be victorious. And, we need 45:15 the prophecies, we need the prophecies, so it says do 45:21 not despise prophecies, but test everything, hold 45:25 fast to that is good, I didn't say just accept 45:28 any old prophecy, there is lots of imposters. 45:32 The Bible says, in the last days, false 45:33 prophets and false Christ will abound, I'm not saying 45:36 trust anything you hear, but I'm saying accept 45:41 that last day prophecies, true ones will exist and so 45:47 test them, test those to see which are true and 45:52 hold fast to what is good, that's powerful, reject, 45:57 reject the false, but hold fast, don't let go 46:01 because you need it, if God gives a prophecy 46:06 in the last day, for God's last day 46:08 church, it's something you need brothers 46:11 and sisters, because without it you may be 46:15 deceived and then it is says, abstain from every 46:22 form of evil, and I like the way that this 46:25 version translated, abstain from every form 46:30 of evil. Some versions make it seem as, well 46:34 abstain from the thoughts of evil, but, no, no, 46:37 no, no, no, no, no, no, we got to abstain from 46:39 the form of the evil, the things that are evil 46:43 because God has a powerful work in our lives 46:46 to do, he wants to sanctify us and that 46:49 means giving up the foolishness of this world, 46:52 that means giving up the toys and the entertainment 46:57 and the pleasures that this world provides in 47:02 order to, in order to cause us to be 47:06 lackadaisical, in order to cause us to be comfortable. 47:11 And the Bible said, if we are to read the 47:13 whole passage of John, First Thessalonians 47:16 Chapter 5, we see that we're not to be 47:18 lackadaisical, we're not to be sleeping like the 47:20 people in this world, we must be sober minded, we must 47:23 be awake, we must be children of the day, we 47:26 must be children of light, we're not children of 47:29 darkness who sleep and get drunk with the passions 47:32 and the pleasures and the different toys and 47:37 temptations of this life, and so it's very, very 47:43 important that we abstain from every form 47:45 of evil, and so now we look carefully at verses 47:51 First Thessalonians chapter 5:12-15, we 47:54 need, we have a responsibility to people 47:57 isn't that interesting, we've a responsibility 48:00 to our fellow man, to our fellow brethren, 48:04 our fellow sistren, that's why Jesus sought to 48:08 have favor with man. We have a social 48:12 responsibility and then the last few verses 48:16 16-22, our responsibility to God that is how 48:21 we seek favor with God. Our spiritual 48:29 responsibility and so here we see a social 48:32 responsibility in First Thessalonians 5, we see 48:35 a spiritual responsibility, our 48:37 social responsibility are to those in the body 48:40 of Christ, those who are members of the body, 48:43 those who are leading the body, and we have a 48:46 responsibility to God, whose body it is. 48:54 And, so if, if we follow the exhortation 48:59 of Paul in First Thessalonians 5, we will 49:04 be very careful to make sure that we do not 49:09 exclude the last three points of Jesus', of 49:13 God's four fold plan for receiving the favor 49:17 and the spirit of the God in our lives, and that's 49:19 intellectual, physical, spiritual and social, 49:23 it's pretty easy to nail the physical and the 49:25 intellectual because we don't have to worry 49:27 about anybody else, we're taking care of 49:29 ourselves, but the last two are more difficult 49:33 and Paul recognizes this, and in his last 49:36 message or in his first letter, but at the end 49:40 of his first letter to the church of 49:43 Thessalonica he says, don't neglect your 49:46 responsibility to people, don't neglect your 49:49 responsibility to God, because these things will 49:51 quench the work and the spirit of God that you 49:53 need in your life, that you desperately 49:57 need in your life. I want to read a 50:00 powerful quotation to you, it's just one sentence 50:04 where someone once said, one of the 50:06 strongest evidences, the strongest what? 50:10 Evidences, that's right. One of the strongest 50:14 evidences of true conversion is love to God 50:18 and to man. Isn't that powerful? 50:21 That's dynamite, one of the strongest evidences 50:26 that you brother, you sister are a true follower, 50:31 a truly converted disciple of Jesus, 50:35 is that you love God and you love man, 50:39 you're being responsible socially 50:43 and you're being responsible spiritually 50:45 and you surrendering both of these areas of your 50:48 life to God. And, something very 50:54 important to point out is that when it says 50:58 do not quench to the spirit, the word quench 51:03 means to put out, it means to, to extinguish, 51:09 and someone once said, and that someone was 51:14 General William Booth, and he said, the tendency 51:20 of fire is to go out, the tendency of fire is 51:26 to go out. Brothers and sisters, 51:28 if we're not responsible, if we do not take careful 51:30 measures to be responsible, we will not 51:36 be spiritually sound, we will not be socially sound 51:39 and the spirit will be quenched. You see, fire 51:45 can be quenched by simple neglect and the 51:49 Holy Spirit fire is needed not only as 51:53 a source of power for us to be finishers in the 51:57 last days, but as a safe guard of purity, if we're 52:01 gonna remain pure through these last 52:03 days, if we're gonna have the power to be 52:05 a finisher in these last days, we need the 52:08 spirit and so we must not neglect it. 52:11 We must not neglect it. So, I want to read the 52:17 last closing verses of First Thessalonians 5 and 52:22 that will finish our message for today. 52:24 First Thessalonians 5:23, and may, this is so 52:30 powerful, this is so powerful. Verse 23, 52:36 and now may the God of peace himself, sanctify 52:40 you completely, we talked earlier about the 52:45 four full heuristic areas of a person's life. 52:50 And, Jesus wants that in us, he wants to 52:54 sanctify us completely and may your whole spirit and 52:57 soul and body be kept blameless at the coming 53:02 of our Lord Jesus Christ. See Paul's prayer for 53:07 the believers in Thessalonica and Paul's 53:13 prayer for the believers down through the centuries 53:14 and especially at the very end of time, 53:18 is that we will be sanctified completely 53:22 and kept blameless until Jesus comes. 53:27 And, then verse 24 is powerful. The Bible says 53:34 he who calls you is faithful, what word did it 53:40 just say, he who calls you is faithful. 53:45 He will surely do it, that is so powerful, 53:50 we today must follow the faithful one 53:54 and be a finisher, and it is only in 53:58 following Jesus that we will be able to finish 54:03 and be faithful. And, then the promise 54:08 will be to us. He who is faithful unto 54:12 death will receive a crown of life. 54:16 Beloved, as we close, I want each 54:20 of you to think, you might be watching this 54:23 broadcast around the world, who knows where 54:26 in the world, North America, South America, 54:29 Asia, Africa, India, who knows where? 54:36 And for those of us here today, we must ask 54:41 ourselves the question, are we following 54:45 faithfully? Are we quenching the spirit? 54:50 Are we're going to be finishers. Faithful 54:55 finishers, when Jesus comes in the clouds of 54:59 glory. And, so as we kneel and close with prayer 55:04 and I invite you to kneel with me. I invite those 55:08 who are in their homes watching, just, just 55:11 kneel down, pray that God will come into your 55:14 life, that the spirit will bless you more than 55:17 you've seen before, and pray with me that 55:24 we can be faithful. Let's bow our heads 55:31 and pray. Dear heavenly Father, 55:37 we want to follow the faithful one today, 55:41 and we want to be finishers. Lord Jesus 55:49 I believe you're coming soon. I believe you're 55:54 coming sooner than we even first believed and 55:59 Jesus help us to be faithful, help us to 56:02 follow you, the faithful one, more closely today 56:06 then we've ever done before, help us not to 56:09 quench the spirit of the God in our lives because 56:12 that is what Jesus had, that is what enabled 56:16 Jesus to be faithful, help us not to quench 56:21 the spirit, help us to be faithful like Jesus and 56:26 to finish the good fight, to finish the race and 56:32 receive the prize because the Bible says, 56:36 he who is faithful unto death will receive 56:42 the crown of life. So, Jesus we can't do 56:46 this on our own, we cannot be finishers on 56:49 our own, but you're the faithful one, First 56:52 Corinthians says, First Thessalonians says, 56:56 you're the faithful one who will do the 56:59 good work in us that we cannot do on our 57:01 own, send your Holy Spirit to do that 57:05 work in our lives, today Father and let 57:09 us be one of the many people 57:12 who will enter your kingdom. |
Revised 2014-12-17