Worship:
Message:
Transcript:
You know, we put this back up because we’re covering the tabernacle. And this is a replica of tabernacle in the wilderness. And we find I put this all together by hand, and the gate that the children of Israel would come to, in order to bring their sacrifice, like the little lamb that we have here. And they would come in and lay their hands on it confessing their sins, and the priests would take the sacrifice, and he would slaughter it on these tables and, you know, take the skin off, and then they would put the meat on this altar, this Brazen Altar where they would burn the sacrifice. And then after the sacrifice was burned, on the Day of Atonement, the priests then would come to the brazen lever, and he would wash himself clean. And after he washed himself clean, the priests Then the high priest, he would be able to enter in the tabernacle itself, and the tabernacle was covered with three layers. First you have the Badger skin, or, and this was to represent the flesh, the outer man. And you can kind of see it on here. And then after that you had read, covering, which represented the blood that was being shed for the forgiveness of sin. And then you had a white covering, which represented the purity that we have, through Jesus Christ, then the inside covering was actually of the shoe kinda, or the angels of God. And so every part of it had a meaning. And so then after the priests was watching the brazen lever, now he was able to enter into the first chamber of the tabernacle called the holy place. And in there, the only reason he could see was because of the menorah. And, you know, there were candlesticks, much larger than this. In fact, when we were in Israel, the Temple Institute already had All the articles for the news, the Third Temple, they’re done, they’re ready to take up, including your robes actually found. There’s a snail that they get the blue dye from. And they found that to die the robes of the priests. But anyway, the only reason they could see is because of this manure the real menorahs like this. It was so dark, no, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, but it was covered with gold. And so when the menorah was lit, you could see very brightly in there. And so then you had the menorah, which is on this side. And this side is a table show bread. And cheese, of course, is the bread of life. And then you went you had the altar of incense. And incense represents the prayers of the saints. And from there you could go into the Holy of Holies which is where the Ark of the Covenant was, which was the very presence of God. Now this has a lot of meaning to you and I as believers Because we have to understand what Jesus did for us. He’s the one who entered through the gate. And it’s only through Him, He is the gate of the sheep and excuse me, Sony through him that you and I can enter in. Then he himself gave himself as a sacrifice. And he is the one the brazen altar who washes us with the water of the word but and also by his blood, we’re at White, we are washed clean, that allows us to enter in and the menorah is the light of the world. Jesus is the light of the world. And through him we can see and he gives us the table of show bread, which is the bread of life, the Word of God. And then through that, and through our knowledge of Him and through our salvation. We’re able to come to the altar of instance and lift up our prayers to God and go into his very presence. Because we know when Jesus was crucified in the cross, it makes it very clear, very, very clear. That that veil was separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God was, was torn into from top to bottom. At the moment Jesus died on the cross. So now you and I, as believers, we have greater privilege and the priests, we can enter right in every one of us is a royal priesthood First Peter, we can enter right into the presence of God. What a blessing that is such an amazing thing. So if you haven’t had a chance, you might want to come and look at this tabernacle that that we put together. And, and one of the things that was interesting is in the tabernacle building itself, there was not one nail, that one nail, and when we built this, that’s the way it was, the boards would go together. And then you would have these.
What would they call them that went on the top. These canopies are going the top or top end, and that would hold all the boards together. And then you had another board that came down at SU It over it to hold it fast and that’s how the tabernacle was actually held the other wasn’t any nails. And I think to me anyway is significant because the only time we we see nails in our worship is are the nails that Jesus took for you and I he died in the cross. So amazing. Okay, I thought we’re having an okay. Our announcements let me go through these. All right. There’s going to be a registration, new registration for secret sisters. And if any of you ladies have never been part of sacred sisters, it’s absolutely amazing. And what’s what’s the age 12 to 120 you can be part of sacred sisters. And it’s just an amazing thing. You you pick someone another female’s name, you pray for one another without them knowing it. And it’s just amazing how the Lord blesses it. And there’s a basket out there if you want to give a little You know, small gifts to one another throughout that whole period, you can do that. And then at the end, they have a banquet secret sisters banquet. And so we encourage you to sign up for that. And also our adult dinner night out this there’s letters out there on the table that explains all about it. That’s my wife’s nice way of saying you’re really blowing it, how you’re trying to explain it. Also, the scheduled of the adult dinner night out, make sure you sign up for that it’s going to be the 14th in Liverpool at the retreat. And also we have a scheduled work fee, which will be the 18th. And we really, really encourage you to come. There’s a lot of things that we need to do in order to keep our church looking nice and and to keep it up. And we’re not a big fellowship, so we can’t afford to, you know, hire it out. So we encourage you to come and be part of it. And in the message that I’m sharing with you today. Hopefully I’ll bring great conviction on you and you’ll feel like you have to come. But anyway, I’m joking. Well, actually, I’m not. And also, there’s going to be a prophecy conference at Calvary Chapel, the Finger Lakes. And that’s 24th to the 25th. And you sign up online, they have great speakers coming, but we do have a signup sheet out here. Because I am able to get great rates for hotel rooms. So if you want to go is a Friday and Saturday, so you really, you know, you don’t have to take much time off if you do have to take time off last Friday and Saturday, sign up so I know if you’re coming. And also there’s going to be a marriage retreat, and a casa wasco. And any of you who went to the women’s retreat or the men’s retreat, that’s where it’s going to be. And this marriage retreat is in a in the Galilee, which is a nice building. Every couple has their own room in their own bathroom. It’s not like when we had the men’s retreat and women’s retreat and everybody shared everything. And so we really need to know how many are going to see if we have Enough to reserve it. So there’s a signup sheet out there in the foyer, put your names down. And I’ll tell you why. A marriage retreat is such an opportunity for you and your spouse to really connect with the Lord. And so we encourage you to consider that. And there’s also on the welcome desk. There’s a whole flyer about the marriage retreat, if you want to read about it tells you everything. And I think those are all the announcements that I have to make. And so if you want to open your Bibles along with me to Numbers, chapter four, Numbers chapter four, and we’ll be picking up in verse 29. Let’s pray. Father, we come before you in Jesus name and how thankful we are for your love. how thankful we are father for the way that you just so graciously watch over us. And I asked father that as we break open this portion of Scripture be your Holy Spirit who speaks to our hearts and encourages us. Help us father to walk in all your ways and not in the ways of the flesh. And I pray and ask all this in Jesus name, Amen. And Amen. I’m going to have to take my coat off I’m sorry that it just keeps moving the headpiece all over. Don’t get excited. That was a joke. I’m being funny. I want people sitting there thinking this guy’s weird. Okay, I am weird Numbers, chapter four. You know as we’re going to find as we look through this, and pastor Frank Jr. mentioned this a little bit in the first service is that the numbering of the Levi’s was a little bit different than the numbering of the of the 12 tribes and the numbering of the 12 tribes they numbered all males 20 years and up and in the number and in the Levi’s. They were numbered from 30 to three St. And there’s a reason for that. Because the 12 tribes were for the purpose of battle, they were the ones that would fight the enemies and so forth. And so consequently, they were just looking for men that were at an age where they could begin fighting for their for their nation that was 20. And on up through, were in the service to the Lord. You had to be 30 years old. Jesus was 30 years old when he began his ministry, a priest had to be 30 years old. Remember, Jesus came to fulfill the law perfectly.
And so that was the age that they began. And as far as the workers of the tabernacle were concerned, the cutoff age was 50, which is kind of nice to think of the 50 year old retirement, right. That was the cutoff age. And also we’re going to find in this portion is that God is very specific in what each person had to do. And the thing is important for us to understand concerning that is that God Has is always specific about everything. God knows every star in the sky and he knows him by name Scripture tells us and you might say, Do you really believe that? Absolutely. 100%. You know, we have astronomers that are discovering new stars, guess what? They’re not new. And Jesus already named him, you know, we can put all of our silly names on him. We want Jesus already named him. Scripture even says he knows the number of hairs in our head. That’s how specific The Lord is. He knows everything that there is about all creation, including everything there is to know about us. And this is the reason that in spite of all of our infirmities and and all of our imperfections, Jesus loves us anyway. It’s amazing. So we’re picking up in Numbers, chapter four, verse 29. You’re really great. Gersh heights, and the Mira Mira sites. And they were the ones who actually took care of the physical work around the tabernacle. And then you had Aaron and his sons, and they were the ones who were the priests that actually did the work inside the tabernacle. All the other Levi’s took care of the physical property itself. And the Levi’s are the ones who took care of the worship and the inner sanctuary. As for the sons of Mary, you shall number them by their families and by their father’s house, from 30 years old and above, even to 50 years old, you shall number them everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tabernacle of meetings. And this is what you must carry, as all and this is what they must carry, as all their services for the tabernacle of meeting the boards. And if you look at the boards in the outside of the tabernacle, underneath all the boards of the tabernacle, it’s bars, that’s what helaman play Its pillars, and its sockets. Those are the things I was trying to talk about that hold the boards, top and bottom in place. And the pillars around the court with their sockets, pegs in court. And with all the furnishings and their and their service, and you show assigned to each man, listen to this each man by name, the item that he must carry. Every single person had a job. No matter how menial that job might be, by name, they were called to do that job. It’s absolutely amazing, because the Lord counts everyone. And he wants everyone to count once every one to be part of his work. Verse 33. This is a service of the families of the sons of Mary, as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting, under the authority of its mark, the son of Aaron, the priests, and Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the Cause size by their families and by their father’s house, from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old, everyone who entered the service for work of the tabernacle with meeting, and those who are numbered by their families were 2750. Now, as we look at these numbers, notice how specific they are. The Bible doesn’t just say somewhere around 2000. It gives a very specific number, showing how specific God is.
These in verse 37, these are the ones who are numbered by their families of the CO sites, all who were disturbed in the tabernacle of meetings who Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. And those who are numbered of the sons of Gershon, these are the gursha nights by their families and their father’s house, from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old, everyone who entered the service for the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Those who are numbered by their families, by their father’s house, where 2630 these are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon for all, for all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting who Moses and Aaron numbered, according to the commandment of the Lord. Those are the families, his sons and Mary, who are numbered by their family by their father’s house, from 30 years old, and above even to 50 years old. Everyone who entered just entered the service of the work of the tabernacle of meetings, those who are numbered by the families were 3200. These were 4000 and I’m sorry 3200. These are the ones who are numbered by the families of the sons of Mary, who Moses and Aaron, the number to call To the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses, all who were numbered of the Levi’s whom Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel number, by their families and by their father’s house, from 30 years old and above, even to 50 years old, everyone who came to do the work of the service and work on bearing the burdens in the tabernacle of meeting, those who are numbered, were 8580, very specific, according to the commandment of the Lord. They were numbered by the hand of Moses, each according to his service and according to his test, that’s where they number by him as the Lord commanded Moses. Now, one of the things you notice, as I mentioned a little little bit earlier, in numbers 315 it was every male from a month old, but in this portion in Numbers, chapter four, verse 30, they were they were numbered from 30 years old and Up to 50. And the reason is there was a specific age they had to be to enter the service and a specific age they had to be to end their service in the work of the tabernacle. And what this speaks to you and I about is the very fact that the Lord desires us to be his workers. But from the time we are newborn Christians, we become his and we are called to serve Him. Because remember, the Levi’s that portion I read it to beginning when you’re taking the whole population, they numbered the males from one months old. So from the time we’re brand new Christians were call of God to serve him. But it was when they became mature 30 years of age that they actually went into service to the Lord. And of course, what this speaks to us is that God’s desires us to be mature and are serving Him. Now maturity does not have anything to do with age in the Christian community. You know, as far as Levi’s were concerned, they had to be 30 years of age that was considered a time that they would come on to full maturity. Pastor Frank Jr. talked in the first service about how many things that we thought about and considered when we’re in our 20s that are so different than we would now, you know, at an older age. But yet maturity has really nothing to do with age as a believer as a Christian, it has to do with our surrender and humility before the Lord. Because you could have someone who’s 20 years old and completely given to the Lord and they’re mature than more mature than some, some guy who’s 70 years old, and and really isn’t fully surrendered to the Lord. So our maturity as believers is based on surrender is based on our faith in God much more than just numerical years and Because that idea. And in fact, it’s interesting in First Timothy three, six, it says, as far as a pastor is concerned, Listen to what it says, not a novice, less being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. So in other words, a man going into the ministry shouldn’t be just some new believers, some novice, you know, in other words, young in the Lord, not necessarily young and years, but young in the Lord, because he can go into it and get all puffed up. But he’s supposed to be more mature in the Lord before he goes into service. Because it’s an easy thing, when you go into full time ministry when you go into this kind of service to the Lord, to get puffed up and to think you’re something special. But you have to understand that we’re pastors are nothing but servants. They’re servants to the flock, for the purpose of feeding the flock, the Word of God, but it’s the Holy Spirit who applies what I give to you to your Heart and tear life. He’s the one who gives nutritional value to what I share. It’s always the Lord. It’s not me. I’m just a sinner saved by grace like any of you. The only reason that I have any difference in my calling is that I’m called the God called and set me aside to be a pastor. And so consequently, that’s what I do. My job is to feed you the word and the truth, not my own thoughts. Now, the reason they were numbered only up to 50 years of age, is because these workers of the tabernacle were different than the other priests, the other priests, they had no age cutoff, they could serve before the Lord until they died, you know, because they were the ones who carried the sacrifice and and, you know, and went into the holy place and they kept the menorah going and took care of the show bread and so forth and offer prayers and the alternate incense, so they weren’t doing physical labor. So they had no age cut off. But those who did the physical labor, they had an age cutoff. Because you have to understand, you look at a tabernacle like this, and you think, what do they need all those people for? One of those posts would have weighed probably 150 to 200 pounds. So you had all those people to carry it. And even like, the brazenness of the outer sacrifice that we have there, the bronze altar sacrifice that probably weighed 2000 pounds. We look at our little model and just has the short little post on like, just for people Karen know, they would have been long posts that they put through it, and you probably would have had on on each post maybe eight or 10 guys that carried it. And so it was hard, manual labor. And so consequently, at 50 years old, they’re counted out of service, and they probably as Pastor Frank Jr. mentioned They probably mentored some of the younger priests, you know, that were in charge of the tabernacle. But they were retired at that age. The thing is retirements a good thing. Right? Amen. retirements a good thing. And the fact is that I think it’s necessary for many people. But as far as the ministry, for instance, a pastoral ministry, there is no retirement. I don’t believe there is a retirement age for pastor. Now, if a pastor becomes disabled for any reason, then, of course, then he’s able to step aside. But I always tell everyone that my retirement program is death. And everybody laughed, because it is kind of funny, but I’m dead serious about it. That’s my retirement program. I have no intention. How do I retire from a call to ministry? Now you guys retire from your work, and that’s wonderful, and that’s great. So you can do more work here, but anyway, yes, retirement program that we’re talking about here. noticed how specific The Lord is. As far as the Mary rice. Mary’s were concerned Mary’s were concerned.
They had to carry out all the services that of the tabernacle, pillars and and posts and, and also sockets and the pegs and cords and, and everything else. They had to carry everything specific. And it told us in this portion of Scripture that they were assigned a specific job by name by name. There they had a split. In other words, okay. You know elios are you carry to 10 pegs, that’s your job. When it’s time to take the tabernacle down you grab those 210 pegs and take them down. Now any of you who are old enough to remember the circus coming to town when it used to be the old fashioned circus coming to town, probably not many of you are old. Enough. But it was a big thing circus came to town, all the people from the community would come and watch. And they would put the big top up in less than an hour. And that was a big top. But they would put it up so quickly because each man and woman knew exactly what they had to do. And they did it together. And the same thing is true as far as the tabernacle in the wilderness, each one was called by name. They knew specifically what they had to do what they were supposed to do. And, you know, it’s just like with our church work, be this coming up the 18th. It’s an opportunity for us to serve, to do something for the Lord. And it’s a wonderful thing when the people in the fellowship know exactly what they’re going to do when they know exactly what their job might be. I mean, we have some people in our church now all of you could point to a name and we won’t do that. But they have certain things that they do every week. We don’t even think about it. We go downstairs and we just have a wonderful coffee. Every week we say, Oh, this is great. But we have to remember the terror workers that are down there. Every week, they take care of supplying everything for the coffee, our getting it all cleaned up and set up and, and serving us how wonderful it is when we know what God has called us to do. And the fact is that in a facility like ours, we need help every once in a while. That’s why we have church workpiece I hope all of you come. Because there are many things I just gave a john, he’s the one of the elders of building and grounds. I just gave him a list of things. And there’s a lot of things that has to be done. And that is how we work together in order to keep up to facilitate God has called us together in absolutely amazing. And don’t think that any task is to menial, like you might think, Well how big a deal is it to take care of the tent pegs? Well think about this. If you didn’t have 10 pigs, the whole thing would fall down. the tabernacle would fall. nessa tabernacle fell down, you had no place to come and worship the Lord. And so every little menial job that you might think is menial is important fact, maybe they’re the most important because I only carry 10 pigs. Yeah. And you’re responsible for holding the whole thing up. So I’m glad you do carry attempt pig, and take care of it. Now the purpose of all these specific assignments that God has given here was for those times that they were to move the tabernacle, this fig tabernacle, you have to understand at times that many times were picked up and moved to a new location.
And when they moved the tabernacle, it was because the Lord led them because they should kinda which is the glory of God stood over the Holy of Holies is a pillar of cloud By day, and the pillar of fire by night is stood over the Holy of Holies. And we’re going to find out as we continue on, in numbers, is that whenever that pillar of cloud or fire would move, they were to pack up and move. They had to be ready. Here we go now to pack everything up and move. And in the same sense, you and I, as believers, we’re not called to be stagnant. But we’re called to be moved by the Lord to do whatever he’s calling us to do. Even in our fellowship, you know, like having the the marriage retreat, having a secret sisters and work these and stuff like that. Those are things the Lord’s calling us to pick up and do. And we’re supposed to follow him. Because the reality is, is we do the work of the of the ministry. We’re providing a place where people can come and be nourished and be encouraged in the Lord. Because our holy place if you want to call it that That is not is just a building. But it’s a place where we come and meet with a holy God. And it’s a place where we come and the pastor shares the Word of God to you in such a way, hopefully that you can understand it. And then the Holy Spirit, He will apply it to your lives. Because understand this, I’m not trying to be legalistic at all. But you have someone who says, I don’t need church, I’m a believer, but I don’t need church. I don’t need to go to church. They’re deceiving themselves, and their faith will start waning and will wax cold eventually. Churches is necessary, because it’s one of the things the Lord desires to provide for us as a gift. Do not forsake the gathering of yourself together. And it tells us in that same portion, that this incessant ionis tells us in that same portions. The reason that we gather together is that we might be encouraged in the Lord. How are we encouraged by the word of God, and we encourage one another. And that day is fast approaching very, not only. It’s very fast approaching as well. I mean, all the things, the vastness of everything in Scripture that is prophesied concerning the last days is happening before our eyes. And yet at the same time, it’s very close. And we have to be ready. Well, as a believer are being ready for his return, isn’t sitting, you know, in a corner reading our Bible and sucking their thumb. In fact, first that’s fest. Thessalonians was written to the believers at Tesla, Nika, and it was all about every single chapter in First Thessalonians speaks of the of the coming of the Lord. Well, the test solonius they thought the Lord was coming right then during their time, and so they were all sitting up on a hill waiting for him. And that’s why Paul wrote Second Thessalonians and what he’s saying is the Lord is going to return. But you need to be doing the work of the ministry come down off that hill and get to work. Well, the same thing is true with us. The closer we see that day approaching, the more ambitious we should be and sharing our faith and spreading the light of Jesus Christ to the world around us. I mean, it’s absolutely amazing to see what’s going on. We’re seeing things happening in world history that we’ve never seen before. I mean, wouldn’t you agree with that? I mean, it’s absolutely amazing the things that are happening in the Middle East, all of the tension of the world is in the Middle East. And that’s what the Bible says, would be in the last days. And you have all the nations of Ezekiel 38 that were prophesied to be in alignment to come against Israel. There there. Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, they’re all they’re ready to come in from the north. against Israel just as was prophesied, it’s about to happen. And so we know that when that Ezekiel 38 invasion either begins or just before it begins, the Lord’s going to take his church, you and I out of this world, through what is called the rabbitohs. In the Latin it means to be caught up to be carried away. And it’s interesting because the word wrap toast actually means to be violently taken away. And it doesn’t mean violently like, it means it means you have no choice. You know, you’re not going to be well wait a second, you know, you’re going to be gone. And so as a believer, you’re going to be taken out of this world. And you’re going to receive your glorified body.
How amazing you know that is going to be and then after that, God’s judgment comes on the world. His wrath is poured out in this world. And during that time, many, many others will be saved. As a matter of Scripture tells us so many people will be saved during the tribulation, that the Antichrist is going to have a whole method of identifying Christians to put them to death. That’s how many Christians there’ll be. And so you might be saying, well, I share all this with my friends, and they don’t believe it. They think I’m out of my mind. Maybe they want after the rapture comes. Maybe when God takes his church out of the world, and all of a sudden, there’s no explanation where all these people went, maybe what was shared with them there, they’re going to be thinking, well, maybe it’s right. So the season when I’m trying to share with you as a senior sewing right now, maybe you’re not seeing the fruit of it at this moment, but the fruit is going to come. So be diligent. Get out there, share your faith. Because the children of Israel when they realized it was time for God to move, they didn’t have any other plans. They didn’t have any congregational meetings. They didn’t get together and decide whether the They should, we should. When the Holy Spirit said move, they moved. When the pillar went, they went. And the same thing is true for you and I, because Scripture says that we as believers are to be led by the Spirit, not driven by the Spirit, but led by the Spirit. The spirits doesn’t beat us up, he leaves us, it’s up to us to follow. It’s a willful choice that we make to follow him. And because, of course, the Lord doesn’t call us to be stagnant, it’s easier to get stagnant. Do the same ol thing, the same, always the same, you know what I mean? You get kind of, it’s nice to get frost it up a little bit. And every once in a while the Lord does something or shows you something. It’s exciting, you know, to be part of whatever it might be. And one of the things you might not you need to understand is it. It could be just with you or just for you. Maybe you’re having your time with the Lord, you’re studying the Word and all of a sudden, just open Up. Because we have to understand that when we’re talking about the things of God, it’s not just the philosophy. It’s not just some nice religious movement that you’re part of. It is not that at all. It is your eternal salvation. Be assured of this. Every single one of you buying the rapture will die is appointed on to every man wants to die, and then judgment. Well, the wonderful thing is, if you’re a believer, your judgment has already been determined before you die, not guilty to tell us die paid in full by the blood of the Lamb. You’re covered. If you’re not a believer, your judgment is very serious. And so you and I have to realize that as Christians, we need to be in communion with the Lord. are all the things of this world? You know, it’s like, it’s kind of like you’re walking through life and you have like, at your face and all over you taking it, follow me, look at me, take it make attention, you know, take my attention. And in reality, all it is, is just the distractions of this life. The only thing that really matters is your relationship with the Lord. And so many people want to think that oh, well, Christianity is just an old fashioned religion. There’s really no background. Christianity is the way Jesus is the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. And the eternal life that we have in him is just that is eternal life. I mean, our bodies give us expression of life. But the life we have is our cardiac Man, it’s in here, who you are as your soul and spirit, despite it just gives you expression. And so when the body dies, who you are, which is immaterial, doesn’t die, it can’t die. It’s immaterial, it’s your soul and spirit. And yet, those decisions that we make in this body are going to determine whether we go to heaven, or whether we go to hell. And they’re both real places. In the Gospel of Luke, we have an interesting account where Jesus is giving. It’s not a parable. The parable is kind of a made up story in order to help give it an example of a teaching that Jesus was doing. But this is an actual truth because Jesus said that there is a rich man.
Now his gate was a man named Lazarus. Study scripture yourself to see if this is himself. Jesus never gave an actual name when he was giving a parable or a simile or an example. So this was a real account. So anyway, you had this rich, rich man. And his gate was a man named Lazarus just begging for a piece of bread. He was just hungry, you know, and and had nothing. And it says they both died. And it says, The angels came and carried, carried Lazarus away. And he went to paradise, so also called the bosom of Abraham, but he went to a place called paradise. It says this, the rich man died and went to hell. Well, we know from this account, not a parable, we know from this account, that in heaven and in hell, they had self self identity and self realization of what was going on. Because the rich man cried out, Father Abraham, sent Lazarus over here to dip his fingers in water and cool my tongue because I’m in such great torment. So the rich man knew where he was. He could feel the pain of the torment and he wanted his story. meant to be relieved. And Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham. And Father Abraham said, you know, in your lifetime, you had all your good things. But you got nothing. Now, Lazarus in his lifetime, he had nothing except his love for the Lord. And now he has his reward. So we have to realize the decisions that we make in this life are eternal decisions. And people who think life is only about this life. They’re really deceiving themselves, because here’s what I’m trying to share with you. And I’m not trying to make anyone frightened. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. None of us can be 100% sure, will be here tomorrow. I’m not trying to be you know, dramatic or anything like that. But we could go out and get killed in a car accident. You know, crazy things happen. So we have to realize that we need to make these important decisions now. And that decision is to ask Jesus Christ into our heart, to forgive our sins, and to take over our life. And then the responsibility that we have as believers, every single one of us is to go out and to make disciples to make believers of all people and encourage them in the Lord. Well, that’s our responsibility. You know, in, you can’t receive an assignment, if you’re not in the place of active duty. You know, I was in the army, and I’m sure many of you here in fact, I know many of you here were in the military. And if you just skipped out, your left post, you know, went AWOL or became a desert or that’s after you’re gone a certain time of a walk. Because if you just left, guess what, you’re not going to receive orders. You’re not going to receive an assignment because you’re going AWOL. Well, you know what, there’s a lot of Christians that have gone AWOL. They became part of the church, they’re believers. they’ve committed their lives to Christ, but they’re just out there. They’re not where they need to be to receive their orders. Because a good soldier, man or woman, they receive their orders from the Lord and they carry them out. But we have to be where we can hear from him. That’s in church and fellowship, but it’s also in the word. Because we have to realize, in fact, I love this in in Acts, chapter two, verse 42. It says, They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. How wonderful talking about the church. And it says, They devoted know what the word devoted, these are committed. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, that’d be like When the church to fellowship, fellowship with the Lord fellowshipping with one another around the word, praising God, and to the breaking of bread, sharing meals together, taking communion, and to prayer. They’re so important. They devoted themselves they committed themselves to that. Because we have to understand that we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ and second Corinthians chapter five, verse 20, and 21. It says, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Listen, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. where his ambassadors he’s imploring us to be his ambassadors everywhere we go. But brothers and sisters how how often do we just had these little dots of time were really devoted to the Lord. Well, I go to church every week. Well, good, I’m glad you do. This is where you’re going to be, you know, taught the Word of God, you should be here. But if that’s the only relationship you have with the Lord, it’s a little dot. Everything you do, every breath you take, should be in thankfulness to the Lord. And everywhere we go, like, at work, when you go to work, men and women, when you go to work, you should be the best worker, they’re not because you want people to look at and say, oh, they’re the best worker there. You should be the best worker there as a testimony of Jesus Christ. mean a lot of times Christians go to work and they just see what they can get away with. It can be the best work of their and when you get into the Word of God, get into the Word of God, and not just reading. Yeah, I went to sacred melodies and I bought this 28 day reading plan. Well, good, that’s fine. But the fact is your In the Word of God, to hear from the Lord, if you’re in the Word of God, you might read two verses of scripture and you’re done for the evening because you’re blown away and you’re sitting there thinking about it. And you might read a whole book, all depends. But you need to be in the word. But you also need to be in prayer. Talking to the Lord, making your request, known to him and praying for one another. How often do we spend time praying for one another, or just for our own needs? We’re very self centered. People aren’t really, that pointing fingers at anyone we’re not we’re very self centered. And when we go to prayer, Oh, God, I just pray you give me this, I prayed. Give me that. Make my children do this. My grandchildren do that. And that’s it. I know that. You want to have a formula for prayer. It’s awesome. And I guarantee if you use this formula, I really do. The first time you use it, you’re going to pray for at least a half hour maybe more. And just think of the book of the Bible x A CTS. Your prayer should start off with adoration. glorify Your Name of God, creator of heaven and earth, you’re worthy adoration. See, confession? God, forgive me a sinner. Forgive all of my sin and transgression. Lord, help me Jesus. And then of course you lay out all the specifics, then the T of x a CT is, Lord, I just thank you for all you’ve done. I thank you for all you’re doing. I thank you for the life that I have. I thank you for everything that you’ve given me. And then they’ll ask supplication is the very last part of our prayer. Lord, I pray that you would do this for me or help me in this area or do this for my family. And I’m praying for this particular person and that and you should have a list of people you’re praying for their, you know, we have what’s it called the prayer chain, the prayer line, and it’s what is the other thing we call the sheep thing? Fuck no. Yet, sheep flock, but we have flock note to that gets out there, and it and people put prayer requests on it, write them down, think of them pray form. God answers prayer. You know, and I just can’t encourage you enough to realize that when you study books like numbers, and you think it’s just what does all that mean? But like in the portion that pastor Frank Jr. Cover in the portion I’m covering, what does it talk about very specifics that each one was meant to do. Because this is our church. It’s not my church, during Calvary capital doesn’t have on his title belonging to Frank Thomas. This is our church. We’re incorporated as a church. This is our church, it belongs to all of us. And all of us are to serve in this church together. And brothers and sisters, I think especially in fact, in that portion of Thessalonians that I was talking about. Do not forsake to gather yourself together and all the merge. And it but let’s listen to what it says. And all the more as you see that day approaching, it’s approaching, it’s approaching it’s right on us. And so we have to realize, what am I doing for the Lord? Or is the only thing I think about us myself. Now understand, it’s normal to think about yourself. It is, and there’s a certain part of thinking Microsoft is good. You know, you get up in the morning, you think, you know, I probably should brush my teeth and wash my face and put on clean clothes. That’s a good thing, you know. But it can get to a place where All you think about is yourself. Consider the needs of others above your own, Scripture says.
Father, we come before you in Jesus name and our greatest desires to be your servant to do your will and purpose. And I pray Father, that everything that we’ve looked at and studied this afternoon, would encourage us in our faith and in our walk. And so Lord, we pray all these things and give thanks to you in Jesus name, amen and amen. God bless you, my dear friends have a wonderful day.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai