Sermon on the Mount -part 4

Mark chapter 10 I'm going to read to you what Jesus said this is why kids are so

important in church starts at verse 13 it says and they brought young children to him that

he should touch them and his disciples rebuked those that brought them but when

Jesus saw it he was much displeased and he said unto them suffer

the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God verily I say unto you who

soever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter

therein and he took them up in his arms put his hands upon them and blessed them

and that's That's the basis of celebrating kids that's why we're doing it it's why we're doing role Rangers and

missionettes is because just as Jesus said to bring those kids unto me we're

Jesus with arms outstretched so we also need to be ready to go to reach kids

because if we don't reach them the world will and um I don't know if you ke

caught up with anything that's been going on this whole last week was pretty ugly I mean it's to the point where

they're telling people we're going to take away your second amendment rights we're going to confiscate your guns

first day in office if they get elected I don't know about you I grew up

in a free America I started hunting when I was 10 I started legally hunting when I was

12 you know I spent my life in the woods and to have people say they're taking

away things that are important it's just it's unreal so keep in mind that that

this country is facing a crisis and pray for this country pray that God's will be

done pray that uh the church that hasn't been actively doing

anything about it wakes up does something about it because we still have the

power holy spirit's still here as long as he's here we have the power don't let

people take away what God has made possible with that we're going into The

Sermon on the Mount part four and um as we've gone through this

we've been looking at how Jesus addressed different things in life and

uh this one starts out with Christ's teaching on giving and I need to do some

exegesis here that's that word I use that says about what was going on at the time when people would go into the

temple or they would go into one of the synagogues in the different cities to

worship when they came in there they had these big platters I guess is the right word

for it and people would put their offerings into those big open platters as they went in and what it did was it

created an area for Pride the guy that put in the most or the woman that put in

the most was given the best seats inside the synagogue or in the temple okay so

it became a I'm better than you are I've got more than you are I'm more blessed than you are because look what I put in

the offering so Jesus he wanted to address this directly and this is from

his point of view not mine his he says take heed this is uh chapter 6 verse one

he says take heed that you do not your arms before men don't do your giving in front of

men to be seen of them otherwise you have no reward of

your father which is in heaven therefore when thou doest thine

arms do not sound a trumpet before thee as the Hypocrites do in the synagogues

and in the streets that they may have Glory of men verily I say unto you that

they have their reward but when thou doest THS let not th life left hand know what the right

hand doeth that thine arms may be in secret and the Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly

how many of you uh recall the story of the widows mites Jesus is setting this

is right before he's crucified he's sitting at the temple he's already cleared the money changers out of the

temple okay they're sitting there he's with his disciples and people are coming in and they're throwing money into these

big plates outside the doors before they entered into the sanctuary because they weren't allowed to bring money inside

their sanctuary and Jesus got his disciples

attention and this little woman put in two mites that's basically two cents two

pennies dropped it in the offering and Jesus made it made a

stark deal he says that one that woman right there has given more than all of

them and the disciples were shocked because they were watching these people dump bags of money into these coffers as

they went in and he said she gave more than they all because she gave her all

she gave everything she had they gave out of their abundance she gave everything she had we have to do the

same thing and I'm not talking about how you give your finances as much as I'm talking about how you give to God from

yourself reaching people sharing with people inviting them to church these are

all vitally important things that we need to be doing

and it has to come from the heart if it doesn't come from your heart it is not

going to produce any fruit and we're all required to produce fruit Jesus he went

so far as to say if you're not producing fruit I'm going to prune

you and if you still don't produce fruit then I'm going to cut you off and you'll

and you'll be done Chrisco the first slide

so we've talked about the sermon covers 19 subjects it's Christ teaching on how

we're supposed to live a life a life of faith and honor to God and it's how we

relate to each other go to the next slide Chris so chapter six which is what we're

looking at today it covers teachings on giving prayer fasting Treasures in

Heaven and how not to worry pretty comprehensive right

considering it's not as long as chapter 5 and that was a whole lot in chapter 5

go to the next one Chris so the first one is teachings on giving and if you're not sure about what happened after

Christ was crucified you go take a look in 2 Corinthians chapter 9: 5-14 where

Paul instructs the church in Corinth that they should need to give with a cheerful heart they need to give in

faith they need to do their giving as unto the Lord and not as unto other

people so it's really important that we have the correct perspective on why we do what we

do okay when you have somebody who comes to church and they first come to church and

they're doing the very best they can absolutely do because it's all they know your job is to encourage

them maybe take them get a cup of coffee coffee or soda whatever you like sit

down and share the word with him short bible study it's called discipleship we're all called to do it encouraged

them they put him down I remember um there was a young lady coming here and

uh people really didn't want to include her in anything

because of her background she was a drug addict and prostitute but she came in and sat down on in the back row and

people were just basically avoiding her and sister Maria got up she walked back

there and she took the girl into Kmart just back when Kmart was still open this was a long time ago she

took that young lady to Kmart and she bought her two or three outfits clothes to wear then she took her to her house

and let her use her shower and take a shower and she brought that young lady to church for several weeks until she

got this established on her own that's being one of Christ's

disciples that's discipling someone because the problem was it wasn't that

the people didn't want to accept her that there were women in this church and sad to say this is usually where it

comes from that were criticizing this young lady because of what she was

wearing and they they didn't want anything to do with her because she was wearing super mini mini skirts

and crop tops she just coming off the street she was a prostitute and a drug addict what

do you expect but sister Marie looked at her as a new creation in Christ Jesus

because she had accepted the Lord and she went and rather than put her down

for what she was wearing she put her in her van and drove her to Kmart and

bought her some clothes that's what we're supposed to do we don't have any reason to judge

somebody when they come in we have every reason to encourage them to keep coming

back if they're hungry feed them if they're thirsty give them something to drink if they need clothes clothe them

it's not that difficult if you can't afford to take them down to Walmart Target wherever and buy them brand new

clothes go over to the Salvation Army and buy them some used clothes they have good used clothes

there but don't leave them in the state they're in that's doing what Christ

said go to the next slide Chris so how many of you can quote The

Lord's Prayer okay just about anybody who's been saved for any length of time pretty

much knows the Lord's Prayer how many of you realize that we're not supposed to pray that

prayer that's not what Jesus said when he talked about prayer he said

and when you when thou pray I'm reading out the King James version and when thou prayest thou sht not be as the

Hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the

synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seen of men verily I say unto you they have their

reward but thou when thou prayest enter into thy closet when they Hast shut thy

door pray to the Father which is in secret and the Father which sees in secret shall reward thee

openly now listen this is the best next part but when you pray use not vain

repetitions as the Heathen do like you ever heard somebody recite

the our fathers the hell mares and all that kind of stuff and they repeat it over and over and over goes totally

against what Jesus said right here he said don't do

it he said for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking God's not hard at hearing you only got

to pray it once he heard you the first time after that point you just thank him

for the answer whether you received it or not he said but not ye therefore like

unto them he says be be not ye therefore like unto them for your father knoweth what things you have need of before you

ask him and then he says after this manner therefore pray you and he gives

you this formula Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be

thy name first thing we recognize that God is our father and that his his throne is in heaven and it's

holy then he says thy King Our Father who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven in other words we're saying okay

God we're going to do your will here just like the Angels do your will in heaven

and then you go on to pray for your needs give us this day our daily bread forgive us our debts as we forgive

our debtors lead us not into temptation but

Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory

forever and amen right so we're recognizing God for all the things he

does we're recognizing God that he provides all our needs according to his riches and

Glory we're also recognizing the fact that we need to be forgiven as much as we need to forgive others it's called

humility we humble ourselves before the Lord and then they then he closes the prayer with two things don't lead us

into temptation which you can't tempt god with evil so God doesn't do anything evil and then recognize that God is the

source for thine is the Kingdom and The Glory forever and amen so when we pray if you look at that

formula it's pretty easy to figure out how to pray first thing I want to do is recognize God for who he is and the fact

that I can even come into His presence and then beyond that I begin to

thank God for all the things he does for me provides food for me he provides shelter for me he provides clothes for

me he does all these things these are God's Provisions to me and then I go through all the rest of

the things that God does on a daily basis and we need to re recognize and

remember who God is and what he does go to the next slide

Chris fasting this is a hard one how many of you guys fast on a regular

basis there's no guilt coming for me okay because I don't fast I fast but not

as often as I probably could but I do fast and you don't have fast a whole day

you can fast part of the day uh but what fasting does it's private it's very

private it's between you and God and what you're doing is preparing your heart for God to use you in some

spectacular way that's what fasting is for we're not supposed to fast at the

time Christ was there the the scribes the Pharisees the priests whoever was fasting they wiped ashes on their

forehead they put on their worst clothes

and they walked around praying oh is me oh is me oh is me drawing attention to

themselves that's not how Jesus said to fast he said to wash your face put on

your very best clothes and don't tell anybody you're

fasting don't spread it around because if you do you got your reward that's

that's all it's going to do do and Jesus said this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting he's talking about

casting demons out so that is one of the functions it does do you have a problem

you're trying to overcome some personal attacks in your life or things that are hinder in you

fast it'll help you get over them because when you fast you're denying the

needs of your body for the for the needs of your spirit that's what fasting is

it's not about well we're going to do this fasting diet I'll eat like nice and slim and trim here in a few

weeks soon as you start eating it's going to change doesn't matter how much

doesn't matter how much weight you lost soon as you start eating it's coming back on just the way your body's

made but when you fast make sure that you're fasting for the right

reason to overcome things to consecrate and separate yourself under God that's

what you're doing you're saying Lord I see this problem I need to address this problem I don't have enough power or

enough Faith to get over this so I'm dedicating myself to fast whether it's two hours half a day a whole day two

days whatever it is that God will Empower you to have power over that

situation that's what fasting is for I can remember when I first got

saved and I'd go to church and the pastor would get up and he declare

[Music] fast what's the

point they declare fast we're all as a group we're going to fast on this day

okay I never seen anybody overcome anything on those declared fasts like that ever in fact if it did anything it

made it worse because if you're not led by the

spirit to fast you're just going going without a meal that's the bottom line if you're

led by the spirit to fast then by all means fast because God will take that

sacrifice on your part of obedience because that's what it is and he will

open doors and windows that you never thought could ever be opened I've seen it happen in my own lifetime I'm not

telling you something I've not experienced I'm telling you from my own experience

and studying that Bible for 40 years if you do that in those kind of things in those

situations you will be amazed at how quickly God can turn those situations

around for you because you did a sacrifice of obedience to

him go to the next slide [Music] Chris o this one uh yeah I can get in

trouble on this one um how many of you realize

that there's Jesus's gospel and Jesus's way of financially blessing you and

increasing you and then there's something out there called the Prosperity Gospel do you guys real that

these are not the same thing if you start hearing them you'll you'll understand the Prosperity Gospel like

right away um and I'm not saying this to put anybody down but like Ben hen he was

one of the big ones that pushed the Prosperity Gospel he actually a couple of weeks ago came out and

apologized said I was wrong that's not the gospel and I took advantage of a lot

of people because of their feelings Jesus says if you give to him with a whole

heart you give to him with a cheerful heart and you pursue and follow through

the things that he tells you to do he will bless you 30 60 100 fold depending

on your faith we don't give to get we give to give

God's nature is he's a giver so we give to others because God gave to us first

and when we do that we're storing up Treasures in Heaven we're doing things for the kingdom because if you're doing

it for things here on Earth it's all going to blow up anyway it's going to burn it's going to be

gone I mean who needs a $10.7 million house on

Martha's Vineyard who needs to drive a

Ferrari who needs to have a private jet I don't see any hands going up

yet those things are going to fade away they don't mean anything and Jesus said

not to invest yourself in them rather put your yourself and invest yourself into the kingdom of God now I don't want

a single person in this congregation to misunderstand what I just said it's good

to own your own house it's good to have a good running car these are things God

want you to have but you don't have to live in massive excess to be blessed by God which the

people in the Prosperity Gospel says just like back in the days of Christ unless you are living in that kind of

excess you're not blessed of God they just recycled some old

garbage put it back up on a new way but it's still the same

thing if you have a roof over your head Clos on your back food in your cupboards gas and you got money to put gas in your

car to get to and from the places you all need you're [Music] blessed there's people out there that

are trying to figure out how to how to pay for that $429 a gallon up to $7 a gallon gasoline

in California but God has blessed you in a way where you're not worried about it you pull up to the gas pump you go pay

for your gas you kick the deal out that's what I do I I actually this is what I say when people start whining and

crying and bewailing and moaning over over the economy I go I'm not

participating that'll get you some strange looks take my word for it I just tell them I'm not I'm not participating

they go well how can you not participate I trust God to provide all of my needs according to his riches and glory to

provide the means for me able to do the ministry he's called me to do outside of that I ain't worried about it I don't

have nothing to worry about but what if everything ended tomorrow I've been homeless and broke before it's

okay same God that got me out of that'll get me out of it again if it happens I it's not a reason to be

sweating or worryed there's nothing here on this Earth that's so important that I can't

trust God to get me through it I I don't need all of

everything go to the next one Chris this is the last

one probably the most important Jesus teaches us on

worry we've heard this teaching many many times in this church and other

places God bless you it says uh he says therefore I say unto you take no thought in other words

don't think don't worry don't even consider for your life what you shall

eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body what you shall put on is not the life more than meat and

the body than rment rment means clothing behold the fowls of the air for

they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father Feth them are you not much better

than them which of You by taking thought can add

one cubit unto his stature this is a cubit that's a cubit it's 18

in you got it from it from the elbow to the fingertips that's a

cubid and why take you thought for rment consider the lies of the field how they

grow they toil not neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that even Solomon

how many knows who Solomon was okay that even

Solomon in all his glory was not a raed like one of

these you have to remember in the times of Solomon when he was King they were piling silver outside the city because

it was worthless can you imagine silver not having any value it was it had no value

it was like dirt they poured it outside the

city wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field which today is and

tomorrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more clothe you he's trying to

get you to change your your thought process he's trying to get you to change your focus to focus on that the things

that matter off of the things that the world says matters

oh ye of little faith he says therefore take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewith All

Shall we be clothed for after all these things do the Gentiles seek like I told

you at the start of this he's speaking to a Jewish group there's no Gentiles in

there he says for your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of all these

things he knows you need him even before you ask him

he says but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you and then

he says take therefore no thought for the moral for the moral shall take thought for the things of itself and

sufficient to unto the days the evil thereof recognize who God

is commit yourself to doing what God says to do seek his kingdom and his

righteousness and all the things your needs he will add them unto

you no problem I haven't missed a meal in I

don't know 13 years and I can tell you how God good

how good God is I I had to do my every three months I have to go see the doctor I have to go do blood work for him right

so I've shared with you guys before that they my diabetes got so far out of control I had to take insulin I had to

do all this kind of stuff so I go and do my Labs that go see my doctor Thursday night guess what she said all your all

your numbers are normal normal says everything's normal so

whatever you're doing keep doing it because everything's normal nothing's out of bounds nothing's wrong all your

electrolytes are in order all your cholesterol is in order your liver and your kidneys are functioning normally she goes everything's fine your diabetes

is under control she goes I'll see you in three months

God did that took some work on my part I had to learn some

self-control but I did and I got off the insulin and now everything's lined back up according

to what God's word says because said by his stripes we are healed you got to stand on it you either

Believe it or you don't there's no there's no gray area when it comes to that you either Believe it or you

don't and uh if you believe it but you're struggling you ask him to help

your unbelief and he'll help your unbelief so I want to share something one more thing with you guys this is

celebration Sunday and we're celebrating kids but I need I need to share

something with you 1953 this church

started it was founded in 1953

they built this building 10 years later and when they built this building they

found themselves financially strapped they weren't able to pay the payments for the loan they had to take out to

build this building okay so they appealed to the district and the district changed the

church to a district Affiliated Church which means they weren't a general

counsil church anymore uh they had to answer to the district for all they did and everything like that so for 60

years this church has not own this

property because they had to sign ownership of this property over to the district for the district to pay for

this building the property was ours free free and clear but we didn't have the money

to build the building so I believe it was on

Thursday I got this was emailed to me from the district office you know what this is this is the Quick Claim Deed we

own this building we own this [Applause]

property 60 years I gave a copy to to sister leavon to put in our church

records I'm going to leave this copy out where you guys can read it 60

years we weren't able to chart our own C for if we wanted to

build you remember when we had the building fund we had the the architectural drawings and all those

kind of things and then they took the easeman off the side of the property and it killed our building

program um the reason it killed our building program is because of

this we couldn't build on this property because we didn't own this

property and we couldn't build on this property without the district's

permission this says we don't need their permission to build anymore this says it's up to

us so we are going to open our building fund back up because I believe that God

is going to fill every chair in this Sanctuary more than

once and With God all things are possible but the first step every

Journey Begins With the first step right was this getting this back from the

district took four phone calls and a

conversation and in conversation I just quoted the bylaws this is what it says we're

General Council Church you need to give us our title to our property back that

you've had since 1963 they went you're right we do they

processed the paperwork at their cost didn't cost us anything to get this

now we own our church now we can begin planning for the future because we can

build that's God that's

[Applause] God we we've

had a lot of things happen here we had a lot of things change but the changes that happen here

are good changes they're for our benefit not they don't detract we can do a lot of different

things now with the the current sound system and the audio video system we have we're able to present to people

different things about this church open doors uh we can reach people we've never reach before we're still reaching 186

people every day 7 days a

week God's honoring your faithfulness PA all the years you

continued to come out here when things didn't look so great when he was like

man is this church even going to be able to stay open where did all the people go

God's letting you know he's still God he's still on the throne and he is by no

means done with this church so with that I want to let you

guys know we're about to go have fun okay we're going to celebrate

[Applause] kids there's water slides there's bounce

houses there's tacos there's nachos there's chili cheese nachos there's yard

games there's desserts if you leave here

hungry that's your fault we got a guy out there cooking

tacos you can go up there and get in line as many times as you want you eat all the tacos you want to eat today okay

and and and and you can say you know God bless sister leavon because she didn't have to do it this time well God bless

brother Gary cuz he's not in there frying tortillas up okay we got a guy out there who's cooking tacos get in

line grab some tacos God likes it when we celebrate

him okay and that's what we're doing we are celebrating him we are saying God

we're still here we're still serving you this is still your house we still want to reach the people that are here in

this community and surrounding communities and we're willing to do whatever you tell us we need to do to

get there so you guys give yourselves a

hand you guys made this happen all I had to do was a few phone calls and know

what the B say but you guys made this happen let me

so let's pray Lord Jesus we thank you and praise you for today we thank you

for all the things that you're doing in US Lord right now we ask