Perception

and uh what is perception it's an honest question what

is perception very good how you see things now brother Gary you were a

contract built Custom Homes right and so before you ever went to the

site you were going to build the house on before you ever dozed the first

pad you had blueprints that came from an architect correct and the reason you had those is so that

you would have a perception of what the owner wanted that new custom house to look like as drawn by the architect

correct every time every time and so when you did that your job was to make

that house look like what was on that paper

perception he had to have a vision of what he was supposed to do to be able to

do it we have to have the same thing and uh I've talked about Vision

before and I've talked about different aspects but there's more to it than it involves more than just Vision it

[Music] involves you as a person see if each and every

one of us as a Christian have to deal with two perceptions we have to deal first with

our per perception of ourselves in our relationship with

Jesus and then we also have to deal with the world's perception of us as we

relate to them how many of you have ever met somebody that uh is constantly angry

with what's going on in the world and is constantly condemning them and and talking I don't know having

trouble this morning I swear I'm not drunk I haven't had a drink in 40 years

uh but you have people that are constantly angry at Christians because

they don't live up to this perceived idea of what a Christian is have you ran

into that person have you ever seriously talked to

that person and asked them where they got that perception of what a true

Christian is and if you did did you find out that

it didn't come from the Bible and they're angry at you because

they have this perception that was told them by somebody else that was told by somebody else but it didn't come from

the Bible but they said it did that's the perception you have to

worry about when it comes to dealing with the world the other perception you have is your relationship with

God and that perception is your perception and we always have to

realize that our perception of our relationship with God has to line up

with Christ's perception of his relationship with

us how many of you have ever done something something that you regretted and then kicked yourself for it

for weeks because you felt like such a failure only to realize at the end of

this self- butt kicking contest you were going through that Jesus had Let It

Go the moment you asked him to but it took you all this time to accept the

fact that he did it and so you've spent this

time going through these stages of guilt

remorse anger regret that wasn't yours to carry

because it was his to carry and he already forgave you for it the second

you said God I messed up please forgive me he forgave you for it at that point

you were supposed to leave all of that at the altar but you picked it up and you took

it with you and it

became the burden you were never supposed to carry so today I want to take a look at

some things go to the next slide Chris 1 Timothy

4:12 this is Paul speaking to Timothy and if you haven't really read

into and if you have your Bibles with you turn there if you don't have your Bibles with you and you got it on a

phone go there um but I want to read this to you because this is Paul

speaking to Timothy now Timothy was about 15 years younger than Paul and

Timothy Timothy is um is actually the model the Bible uses for a

pastor 1 Timothy second Timothy and the Book of Titus were letters from Paul to

these two men who were put in place as Pastors in churches that Paul

founded and the letters are to them on how to how to conduct the

church how to get people to serve in the church what the correct code of conduct

was for the Christian Pastor board and Believers that's what these two books

three books are actually about first and second Timothy and Titus there's

actually Paul's letter to these two men of how to set the government up in the local church but also included in that

is something specifically that he told Timothy to emulate that means to do as he had been

taught to do and what he says is let no man despise thy

youth but be the our Jes or kicking my

but but be thou an example of the Believers that means I'm supposed to be

an example to you in my life and my

actions in word in not he's not speaking about this he's talking about keeping my

word word in conversation in other words

don't engage into what's the word that they use for

that when you tell a joke that it's not quite dirty but it's over on the side you're not supposed to engage into

conversation like that be an example of Charity that's

Christian love be an example of walking in the

spirit walking in faith and in keeping yourself

pure sounds like a pretty big uh load to carry for a pastor right do

you know why because I'm responsible to God for

your soul and if I'm not setting the

example not talking the example literally setting the example

you're never going to see it now does that mean that everything's wrong and nothing's right absolutely not and

that's this person who has a misconceived perception of what a Christian actually is you know if they

see you down at the bowling alley throwing balls down the lane you committed a sin or you went to the

theater oh man you went to the movies or you wear

makeup or you a guy with a beard or you wear short sleeve shirts

or you wear jewelry none of that

stuff has anything to do with what Paul told Timothy to do in fact both Paul and

Peter said to do all things of moderation it's okay to go to the movies

as long as you know that what you're watching isn't blaspheming

God it's okay to laugh and J and have a good time as long as what you're doing

is not bringing sin against God you have to learn how to walk it

when you were a baby you couldn't walk you couldn't feed yourself you had to

wear diapers somebody had to change you but as you continued to grow because you

were being fed you no longer had to wear diapers you could walk on your own you

could talk some of us has never stopped talking since we started and I'm guilty of that

myself um and you began to mature became an adult and if you had the proper

Foundation put in place by your parent or parents if you were fortunate enough to have two parents living in your house

and not just one um you learned how to be a

responsible reasonable adult that knew how to take care of

yourself that was inspired to go take care of yourself in your case like

brother Carrie you you started business you became and you owned your own business you built Custom

Homes you went to school you went to school you're going to school you did

something about your situation and hopefully the situation you have now is

better than the one you had when you grew up in because you determined to do something about it

same thing happens in our spiritual life I can't make you

become anything more than you are if I don't walk it out in front of you if I

don't do and live the example and that's probably why um I have to respect most

of the men at my father's house is they've seen me on my best days and my worst days and I'm not any different I

still say the same thing I still tell them the same thing I'm just mature enough that when I know I'm having a bad

day I go get by myself and close and lock my door and I start praying until I change

it before I do something stupid that doesn't mean that I'm immune

to stupid I've made my mistakes still do I've had to go back and apologize

because somebody said something to me at the wrong moment and my brain my mind was not on Jesus where it belonged and I

responded Out of My Flesh have you ever done that how many people got

scars thanks to you how hard was it to go back and try to make up for

that are they still offended have

you done what Jesus said to do if your brother has ought against you go to your

brother be reconciled to your brother bring your gift back before the altar or is there still

some bad feelings out there now don't take what I said wrong there are some

people no matter how much you apologize you can never fix the bad feelings okay you always have that one person that I

have a brother how many of you remember my brother

okay yeah my brother Eddie yeah he lived in Vancouver Washington I haven't seen

him since 19 uh uh ien seen him since

2011 yeah to the best of my knowledge he's still butt hurt over something that happened in

2013 that he's never let go of me no matter how many times I've apologized for it he's still hanging on to it and

we're talking 21 22 years later it will affect you spiritually he

has no relationship with God these days because he's still hanging on to hurt

and bitterness over something that was so small and

insignificant but he allowed it to grow and fester until it created

division now it's almost

insurmountable that's not the way to live your life you're certainly not going to have victory in that ever so

what do I do I've extended the olive branch I prayed I did did everything Jesus said to do and move

forward you have to do the same thing but if you have an

opportunity to fix that you're required by God's word to fix

it we're also required under what he said and this applies to

everybody is to live at peace with all men and especially those of the household of

faith how many of you know somebody out there who used to go to this church that is still mad we'll come back to this church

because they're still mad that's something that happened 30 some odd years

ago I know a couple of people that way that used to attend this church that live in Biselia now they're all happy

and smiles and everything when you see them you invite them to church and it's like they're still hurting over

something that happened long long time ago that they should have

easily let go of but they didn't that's called Baron at Grudge and you have to

let those things go still part of perception go to the next slide

Chris so I want to read to you out of Thessalonians that's why I told you you guys need your

Bibles chapter 5 starting in verse

11 this is what this is to you you remember remember the

first verse that I shared with you that first section of verse out of Timothy is to the pastor that's what the

pastor has to do that's what he's supposed to emulate now we're going to take a look at what the congregation is

supposed to do as well so he says starting in verse 11 he says wherefore

Comfort yourselves together and

edify one another even also as you do in other words I am

supposed to build you up in the same exact way I build myself up I have to

pray for you I have to love for you I have to hold you up I have to take you forward through whatever it is you're

going through and you have to do that for me too it's required for all of us

he says and we beseech you Brethren to know them which labor among you

and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and an admonishment is an encouraging word it's to lift you up

that's what admonish means and to esteem them very highly in

love for their Works sake do you have somebody here that's teaching your kids Sunday school pray for them do you have

somebody here that's teaching you in Sunday school pray for them you have somebody that's teaching your kids and

roal Rangers or Mission Nets you need to be praying for them you need to be building them up lifting them

up because you're agreeing to let them influence your

kidss life or influence your life and they need to know what God has to

say I was let's see I went to Mo Bay on I went

over there on Monday and uh Tuesday night man I'm sleeping like

the dead I'm over there enjoying the weather it's 61° sleeping like the dead and I wake up

at 11:30 at night and for the next 4 hours I'm

praying I was asleep holy spirit woke me up I felt

like this overwhelming burden of something was happening and I began to

intercede and I interceded in prayer until it lifted I was up till for 4 4 hours

praying if you're trying to serve God if you're looking for God to be active in your

life you're going to experience the same thing and what you're supposed to do in

those situations is to begin to

intercede not begin wondering what's going on what's here what's there you yield yourself to the spirit begin to

intercede until that lifts and it's important

because the person sitting next to you or near

you may need your help but doesn't know how to ask but they know how to ask

God and then God wakes you up to intercede for them on their

behalf and that's should be a normal thing it shouldn't be an occasional

thing amen it should be normal when you're going through things

and you're reaching out to God God should be waking somebody up to pray you may not know who you're praying

for you may not know why you're praying you may not know what they're going through God may not even give you a

glimpse he just wakes you up to pray and you have have to be

obedient because if I don't pray I'm not doing what he said to do

right there I'm not lifting you up I'm not edifying you I'm not exhorting you

I'm not admonishing for you I'm being selfish and rolling over and going back

to sleep and we're all guilty of having done that

too because we have to teach ourselves how to be obedient to to the leading of the Holy Spirit

he will wake you up he will stop you in the middle of your day I didn't tell you how many times I'm

sitting in there working and something will just I will just suddenly I know the presence of the

holy spirit is there and I stop push my laptop

back start focusing myself in on whatever it is the holy spirit is trying to reach me about because I know it's

important important he doesn't stop by just because I mean he does but it

starts with his brother Tim was talking about this morning when you start your day off with Christ when you start your

day off with prayer when you start your day off building your relationship through the holy spirit it's real easy

for him to get your attention during the day when you're

busy because you already set the tone for the day entering into relationship with

him and when he need you to pray he can tap you hey Michelle are you

busy right now I'm right in the middle of surgery can you pray can you pray and

work in surgery at the same time yes brother Tim can you grind

lenses and pray at the same time oh he doesn't have his ear in can you

pray and grind lenses at the same time okay sister bunny can you take care of

them cats you got and pray at the same time okay Lon can you run that office

and pray at the same time yes sir it's not that difficult that's what he means by

meditate upon the word day and night you can do more than one thing at one time

our brains God designed that way I can push things to the back of my

mind I can bring them up to the front of my mind I can pray and concentrate on other things but the first thing for me

to do that is God has to get my attention so I'll feel the presence of the holy spirit so that I can push

things back get my mind settled on Christ begin to pray and then go

forward we all need need each

other and we are incapable and know it sounds terrible

but it's a fact we are incapable of making this walk

alone you can't make it without me I can't make it without you and neither one of us can make it without him we are

incapable of making this walk on our own that's why the writer of Hebrews was so

adamant about forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together after the manner of some is and so much more

so as you see the day approaching well what day is he talking about the times we're living in right

now it's that

important he says now we exal you I'm verse 14 says now we exal you Brethren

warn them that are unruly Comfort the feeble-minded support the

weak be patient toward all men see that none render evil for evil

unto any man but ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and to all

men and then he's going to give you some pointers on how to do this eight

verses Rejoice ever more what happens when you begin to

Rejoice your attitude changes pray without ceasing we've

already discussed it's possible to do that you can pray and do the other things at the same time and pray without

ceasing in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus

concerning you quench not the spirit despise not

prophesying prove all things hold fast that which is good

abstain from all appearance of evil and the Very God of Peace sanctify

you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved

blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Faithful Is He that calleth you

who also will do it now that's pretty plain he's telling you how to do it this

is how you walk that successful Christian Life this is how you keep

everything lined up it's not difficult but you have to make yourself

do it you have to train yourself to do it and it starts with the first thing

you do when you wake up go to the next slide

Chris got a couple more left Romans 14 so now we've talked about what God says

to a pastor we talked about how we are supposed to lift up our other

brothers and uh starting verse 12 our accountability Factor how many of

you ever heard that word applied to you you got to be accountable god holds you

accountable you're accountable for every every word you say you're accountable for everything you do how many of you

have heard that before and I know you've heard it from brother chenworth because he used to say it all

the time to me um and he used to preach it all the time about being accountable and being

accountable means taking responsibility for your actions that's what being accountable is if I give you a set of

guidelines to live by and you break

them and I enforce them I'm holding you accountable for

your action that's what that is so God gave us his

guidelines for us to live by to hold ourselves and each other accountable for

the things we do so verse 12 of chapter 14 it says so then every

one of us shall give account of himself to God let us not therefore judge one

another anymore but judge this rather that no

man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's

way I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of

itself but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him that is

unclean in other words if I know that there is something that hinders your

walk I should not do it in front of you or encourage you to try to break out of

that if it's hindering your walk now I'm not talking about things like having bad

habits in your B in your life that could could cause you physical harm or or

healthwise I'm talking about things that in your mind you really can't do and

that your relationship with Christ is whole and fulfilled I shouldn't encourage you not

to keep that I shouldn't try to get you to do something

different because you were not going to be successful at and that's is what it

is he says but if thy brother be grieved by with thy meat now you have a responsibility to keep that that's what

he's talking about here now walk us down not charity

charitably destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died and then he says this let not your good be evil spoken

of that's a big one we can do a lot of things and we can

try to do a lot of good but if we do it in a way where other people begin to look at what we're doing and finds fault

with it they begin to speak evil of the things we're doing and he says not to do that that's

why Jesus said let your yay be yay and your Nay be nay don't swear by anything don't do that keep your

word live a life that's respectable and acceptable unto God be the same in

private as you are in public that's being transparent live a life of

character and integrity based on this based on what God's word

says that you've dug in there for yourself and found out what it said you've taken these things because um I

give you when when I first met when I first met

giling and and especially her dad they were going to church over

in um wood pill Jesus

assembly W this church and if you've never been to a West Church you really don't want to go

to a w this church because they have a strange interpretation of the godhead they believe Jesus is the father Jesus

is the son Jesus the Holy Spirit and that God that he spoke to himself from heaven and that he spoke to himself from

the it's weird okay that's where they went to church and that's what her dad believed

it okay and I mean he believed it um and was not open to having a

discussion that he might be wrong in fact he had a stack of papers about that thi to prove how right he

was that's not something you need to do in fact that's the type of person that

that uh Jesus said in The Sermon on the Mount agree with your eny quickly and

depart there's no profit in that conversation okay but that kind of life

and those kind of beliefs bring bondage and they will hold you prisoner

they will hold you

captive until you get set free how many you ever heard he whom the son sets free is free

indeed okay so the whole thing controversy going on about that whole

thing is actually centered around a verse in Acts chapter 2: 38 repent be

baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved you ever read that okay you ever had somebody tell you

that if you get baptized any other way than being baptized in the name of Jesus you're not saved

they believe that okay how many of you have heard

someone say unless you get baptized according to Matthew 28:19 you haven't been baptized

correctly in other words in the name of the father Son and the Holy Spirit the two verses do not contradict

each other being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ if you understand who Peter

was speaking to he was telling them that they need to be baptized into the one they

rejected that's what he was saying he never changed what Jesus

said was the Great Commission it means to baptize them to

the empowerment of what I

did you're ra you're buried when you get baptized in water

you buried into death his death and raised unto what raised unto life and that life is

in who Jesus that's the

point but we stupid human [Music] beings like

to how did Brother CH withth used to say that we like to SW uh strain the net and

swallow the camel have you never heard brother Tima

say that okay what it means is we'll get in a fight over the smallest little tiniest detail but we'll swallow the

biggest lie there is that's what it

means rather than promoting brotherly love and charity and agreeing that you know we

can agree to disagree and still Fellowship ship in the same [Music]

place as long as the core beliefs that you and I have are are the

same and I remember brother CH used to teach you about wearing bright red

lipstick and he used to use an ungrateful ungracious term when you did

uh and he wasn't trying to beat you up it was just his personality

you know I don't think it's all that cool myself personally so I'm not going

to say I'm tell you put the red lipstick on it's fine but it's about perception all of

this is about perception and why would it be so important to take a look at what at that

perception I don't care if you come to dress where come to church wearing a dress wearing pants wearing flipflops

wearing your your finest clothes you have in your closet all I ask you is to

be modest that's

it nothing else be

modest now when I'm at home I I wear shorts but I ain't wearing them in

church but then again I'm a guy uh I'm an older guy you notice I

didn't say I'm an old guy I'm an old guy okay I still don't I still don't

see when my mind's looking that way I still don't see the guy staring back at me in the mirror I still feel like most

of the time like I did when I was 25 so I have a Mis conceived perception of myself I

guess I think I'm younger than I am but I live my life that way

too don't let the old man in that's right I don't let the old man in I keep kicking him out to the curb um

perception will give you everything you need or it'll hold you back from

everything you need perception go to the last slide Chris

how many of you know that word that phrase carped sees the day that is the mission

of every single Christian is to seize the day

carpedm if you get up first thing in the morning and you set everything straight between you and Christ you have seized

the day you have brought every thought under

captivity to the mind of Christ you have lined your life up to the will of God

you have seized the day you have taken the power over the day from the enemy and

placed it firmly and squarely into your hands you have seized the day you are

supposed to do that every [Music] day he didn't tell you to lay down and

be a welcome mat for the devil he told you to put on the whole armor of God to

withstand the attacks of the enemy and to go out and conquer the land

Carpe DM you should put that on your up on the wall somewhere on your favorite

place in the in in the house if that's your refrigerator put that sucker on the refrigerator

carpedm seize the [Music] day I can't seize the day for you I can

encourage you though I can admonish you I can remind you I can hold you up in

prayer but until you you seize the day you have no

Victory and you keep getting beaten up seiz the

day all right sister Lon we're about to close if you want if you got anything you we're good we're good we're

good okay you already heard that sister Lon need you guys to help with clean up

I didn't dismiss you yet just hold on man you can't be that hungry I didn't

preach but 45 minutes let me give me and pray and there's plenty of spaghetti out

there and there's plenty of pasta and there's salad and there's desserts and there's all the things you need to just

make yourself feel good today but before we go out there I want you to pray this

prayer with me it's a very simple prayer it's not very long and this is the

prayer Lord Jesus Jesus God help me to seize the

day help me to do what you called me to do to the best of my abilities and not

to kick myself over my failures to go forward doing what you've asked me to do

as long as you asked me to do it and Empower me through your precious Spirit

to be able to do it in Jesus name we pray amen pretty simple

prayer all right sister

Lupe if you're ready go ahead and go out the door