Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
240811 the Unshakable kingdom. - 2024/08/11
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I don't know where I was going to be. I don't know where I was going to be. I don't know where I was going to be. I don't know where I was going to be. I don't know where I was going to be. I don't know where I was going to be. I don't know where I was going to be. Oh my soul, worship is holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Sing like never before. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. Oh my soul, I worship your holy name. JD's got some serious issues coming back. But Mark and Fran, Mark's not only got the knee surgery, he's also found out he's got Alzheimer's. So Fran's got to go through all that. She's a trooper, she's going through all that. They're both troopers, they're both getting through it. So keep them in your prayers so there's a lot of cham. Plus Fran is still, I believe Fran's still on a walker from having her hip broken. So a lot of things going on up there in their lives. So keep JD in your prayers. Mark and Fran, how's Mike Chant? Chant, we've been, we've mentioned in a couple of times. No word on my chant? I'm not sure who that is, I'm in the shore. Okay. It might be short, I got down a shank of short, Mike's short. Mike's short. Mike's short. No, he, he won't go into their progression. He's stage four like me. But I did stand him at his buddy with your zoom like. Said if he had somebody from Tennessee connected in there, he, it might be him. He said he's a little computer a little, and he might need somebody to sign up for him. Alright, we call that down here. Mike Lawback, uh, computer savvy. Yeah. Mike Lawback, computer savvy. Okay. Also, what James Lambert on, I say that right, Lambert? Jason. Jason, I'm sorry, I didn't, I have that right, I just said it wrong. Jason Lambert and, uh, Lambert, like where Roseanne's from. Lambert, I don't know, I do not like Roseanne. But, um, he's going in surgery when, or Mike? Uh, I think, uh, Wednesday. Wednesday? And that's for a neck surgery or back? Yes. Neck surgery. Removing a, I guess a bulb's disc replacing. Alan's also going in for surgery, um, Monday. What's he going on? Uh, we made told him about it. Well, I didn't know until this week. He, he's got, uh, what do you call that? Verica's veins. Yeah. So they're going in and doing it, it's an outpatient. And they go in through the groin, and down, and pull. I don't know. The trouble veins out, so it takes an hour, and they're done. It's like, it's mind blowing what they do. Yup. Um, you can go in for heart surgery and reopen every, um, outpatient. Um, Destin's dad, we mentioned that last week that he had passed away that was last week, and I'll be going down Tuesday to do the back, and I will be going down Tuesday to do the funeral. So, uh, prayers for that is, uh, the message. Mike, you know, uh, you know where to direct that prayer. Um, to, uh, those are down there. I go, I do funeral for one purpose. It's not for the person that's passed away. It's for those really, those sermons are always directed at the loss that may be there. So, be in prayer for that, and, uh, partner with me in prayer that somebody there, or people there may hear the gospel message and respond to it. Okay? Um, so we continue to keep the Goans family in our prayers, um, sympathy, and all. All right, anybody else? What else? We got Mandy, you know what I mean? You got something? Mm-hmm. You still got Callie over? Callie Gilbert? Callie? Her family. I haven't talked to her in a while, but she's going through some stuff. She just popped up in my head, so. Okay. More is doing all right. Meanwhile, it's still getting along. It worked. That's a good thing. Yeah. As long as you keep the right issues away from me. Uh, he don't like, uh, while he does not like righteous. I don't know what's wrong with this family. All right. All right. All right. Let's turn. Uh, actually, that's our passage reading this morning is Psalm 7. I'll go ahead and read that this morning for us. Psalm 7. A seventh song. Good night. Oh Lord, my God. In you, I have taken refuge. Save me from all who pursue me and deliver me. Or he will tear my soul like a lion, dragging me away while there is none to deliver. Oh Lord, my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to my friend or have pondered ends who without calls my adversary, let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it and let him trample my life down to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. Rise, O Lord, in your anger, lift up yourself against the rage of my adversary and around yourself for me, you have appointed judgment, let the assembly of the peoples encompass you and over them return on high. The Lord judges people vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. O let the evil of the wicked come to an end. But establish the righteous for righteous God tries the hearts of the mind. My shield is with God who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, he will sharpen his sword. He has bent the bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for himself daily weapons. He makes his arrows by his shafts. Behold, he travails with wickedness and he can seize mischief and brings forth falsehood. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out and has fallen into a hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his head and his bondage will descend upon his own plate. I will give thanks to the Lord, according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high. And this is the word of the Lord. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer. Father in Heaven, we praise you. We thank you for this day. We pray this morning for our churches across this country. Pastors in the pulpit, we pray Heavenly Father Truth to be taught that our country will come back to a love for your Word. It is the only thing that we can hope in that of turning back toward the Word and standing upon it in obedience. I pray Heavenly Father, for those that continue to be on our list this morning, we pray for a friend and Mark, for the challenges that are going through and we pray Heavenly Father Jimmy, I pray that you keep the pain for Jimmy and also for Mark under control until they are able to get the help that they need for that. We pray for Mark Short and the cancer. We ask Heavenly Father remission. We ask Heavenly Father to comfort His heart during this time. Pratasia Lampert, and as we pray for the doctors and for what they are going to do, we pray Heavenly Father success in that surgery. For Dece's family, and the Goans family, we will continue to pray for salvation. I guess it is the Lord that for the lost, that is the greatest thing that at this point that we pray for that their heart will be open to the salvation message. And we pray Heavenly Father for Adam in his surgery and Cali's family and the things that they are going through. I pray Heavenly Father for each one this morning, open our hearts as we come to the communion service this morning. I pray Heavenly Father as our hearts will be lifted up to thee and worshiped. We pray these things in Christ's name, Amen. Thank you. We will be singing what a day that will be. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's move on to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. It will start out with 25 here as we're closing out with the chapter. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaketh for if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will he escape who turned away from him who warned from heaven and his voice shook the earth then. But now he has promised saying that yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven, this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of creative things so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive the kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence in all for our God is a consuming fire. So we start out with the verb blepho, blepho as B-L-E-P-O as to be ready to learn about future dangers and needs basically to be alert to observe if our situation awareness with the implication of preparedness to respond appropriately to be aware of to watch out for to pay attention to. It's to watch out, though we are not living in the kingdom, we should have a kingdom perspective, a perspective by which we are looking forward. It's kind of like a already but not yet. If you are a believer, how many believers in the Lord Jesus Christ do we have out there? Okay, we got a few. Okay. We got some. But for those are the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are citizens. We have a royal priesthood, we have a citizenship in heaven and in the kingdom to come. And that's what Jesus said to Nicodemus, that let you be born again. You will not even see the kingdom of heaven. In our hearts, as we have more, listen, as you have learned in life to set goals for yourself, to look forward to it, I want to be, you've got educational goals, you've got career goals, you've got different things you want to do and you have to work up toward. We need to be looking in this life and preparing ourselves for the kingdom to come, for it certainly is to come. So it says here, opening up, see to it that you do not refuse, and that's our next work that we have today, and that is, let me get it right, parrotenotomai, parrotenotomai, means to reject, to refuse, to avoid the ruling head of the church is the sovereign control of our lives. Our Lord Jesus Christ has a sovereign control over our lives, he's the one in charge, he's the one whom we bow and need to. Unfortunately there are many Christians that, or professing Christians, that they go about their lives with no view of the kingdom, and I don't know if that's a failure of the church, or if that's their failure, it certainly is a failure of discipleship, you don't know what you don't know, but on our part, on our part we should be seeking at a very early stages of our life, we should be seeking, and I remember when I got saved, I was seeking for something, I didn't know what it was until I found out it was the Word of God, and it's the Word of God that gives us the perspective within our hearts to look, because faith comes through, absolutely, and hearing, the Word of Christ, the message of Christ. We don't know what we don't know, and we don't know unless it was revealed to us, as Paul says in Romans, how do we know if we do not have a preacher, and that may be part of the problem that we have, is the lack of preaching from the pulpit, a lack of saying, "Hey, wake up, somebody is preached, someone to announce that the kingdom is coming." Deep to it, that you do not refuse, reject, put aside, treat as worthless, Him who is speaking, now who would be the Him who is speaking, there you go, it is the Word that we must be warned about refusing to listen to, and this is the Word of Christ, who is the Creator God, help me out, who is the Creator God, anybody, who is the Creator God, Lord Jesus Christ, and from by what power did He bring about all the creation? Was that, I'm sorry, said no, He spoke, by what power, He spoke, He spoke everything in the beginning, in Genesis chapter 1, He says that He spoke, and like what? We see in the beginning, in Genesis chapter 1, and it begins, God created the heavens in the earth, and as He spoke, His creation responded, and so it is that power. The power of His Word, doesn't matter how God speaks to us, doesn't matter how we receive communication with God. It matters how we, we are receiving it, and evidently what we are speaking with. It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter how we receive the information God, whether it's from telegram, whether it's written word, whether it's spoke to us, if it's from God in all scripture, is God breathed, and so we receive this, though it's written, it doesn't make it any less authoritative, with the Bible speaks, God speaks, and the first hurdle that any believer has to get over is the very fact that the Bible is God's infallible Word, as it was written in its original languages. Now, yes, we are digging into it, the pastors should have a grasp on the Word of God, through the original languages, there are things, there are things, there are problems, but in part we can trust our translations to, as far as, benefiting our spiritual life and learning the message of the Lord. And so the Lord speaks through both his written word and through the Spirit. And John 1027 says, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know that they follow me," in Revelation 3.22. He wasn't here, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And I will stop there, I really don't, now listen, and I'm adding this to this. The Lord also, and I'm careful to this, because it's also that God communicates in a way, and he teaches us through other means as well, in a sense of our providence, and we all can see God's hand working in our lives. But there are two power systems that, if we're going to grow in the Lord, there's two power systems we must orient to, and they are, first of all, God's Word. And this is not, there are two sides of the same coin. Two power systems, these are two things that we need, if we're going to grow in the Lord. God's holy work, and walking in Spirit, and we've talked about fellowship with the Holy Spirit, that we are to walk in the light, we're children in the light, we're to walk in the light, that we are to be in an environment, that we should be influenced by the Spirit, rather than our carnal nature. And when we're walking in sin, at that point we are quenching, and we are grieving the Holy Spirit. There is, Pastor Themes book, we talked about this for anything, the book before Pastor Themes spoke on the plan of God. And there are six propositions that we learn in that book, and they are, God exists, number one, God exists, that God makes sense, God reveals himself, number four, God has a plan. Number five, God, you are the object of God's plan, and number six, you owe God a hearing. It is the Lord who initiates, it's God who initiates the communication. We remember in the garden that it wasn't Adam, I've also thought about this when I grew up learning the Word of God, and hearing so much that we're pursuing God, or we're looking for God, or we're tracking, have you found God yet, or you know the fact is, it is God who comes looking for us. It wasn't Adam who was looking for God, what was Adam doing? He was hiding, when the Lord came into the garden, it was the Lord who approached Adam. God initiates the conversation, and if God did not initiate the conversation, if God did not reveal himself, we would know nothing of God. Our response, our response to God is faith. So apart from God opening up the line of communication, there can be no dialogue between God and man. And if the sovereignty of God's, the sovereignty of the universe speaks, who among us should not stop, if God spoke to us, should understand, you can stop sometimes, and ponder, and understand God, this is so much, why it's important to sometimes meditate, and ask yourself, who is God? Understand that this is the Creator of the universe. There is not a single molecule within anywhere, and all creation, that the Lord is not sovereign over. Sovereign means that God rules all things, right, ready? If God rules all things, there's nothing that he's not ruleship of. And it's an awesome fact that God speaks to us, that God texts, that he kind of sends himself to the set, and he has you, wow, he has you personally in mind. Terry, he has you personally in mind. He has each one of us personally in mind, and that's awesome, that's just awesome. So he initiates, the sovereignty of the universe initiates the conversation. There are several ways that we may reject the one who is speaking. Several ways. Number one is distraction, and we know this, we recognize wives, you know this, husbands, you know this, probably wives notice that it's more than the husbands do, maybe it's equal maybe a certain time, you'll be talking to Mike, and Mike got his head somewhere else, and you're talking and you know he's distracted, that same way Becky talked to me, she'll know that I'm distracted, she knows that my mind isn't with this conversation, it's not necessarily a bad person, it's not necessarily mean that we have nothing going on, it's just my mind, or if I'm talking to her, her mind can be someplace else, and ladies, sometimes you have to, sometimes if it's important, sometimes you have to say, hun, are you hearing what I'm saying, because I've got something important to tell you that you go out to remember, if you're not listening, listen, but distraction, distraction of mind, you're thinking of something else, your mind is off, you're not, you're not there, like I said, at this point, it doesn't mean that you're a bad guy, you're distracted, and the longer that the longer that you stay distracted, we have a communion this morning, and what the purpose of communion is to gear our minds, to gear our minds back to the centerpiece of our worship which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the distraction is elevating the details of life over the importance of the Word of God, now that is a problematic situation, distraction when it's elevating the details of life over the importance of the Word of God, in distraction we get too busy to work, we get too busy for school, I work, well, distraction as far as our, from the Word of God, it may be work, maybe school, it may be project, relationships, hobbies, even ministry, I don't know, maybe there's, maybe so, and we have these things are in our lives, and what, you know, I'll say this, what we must do, is to be, how do we not become distracted, how do we not, and when I say distracted, I mean, you put the Word of God offs for so long, because you're busy with all of us, I'm going to deal with this, normally what we, what we're in habit of doing is we will, will compartmentalize God, men where easy, it's easy to do that, we compartmentalize, ladies are more detail oriented, and I think it's easier for them to think more in detail in, in all kinds of different ways, us guys, we get one thing, and we, we're stuck there, we could compartmentalize things, we have hunting here, we have hobbies here, we have work here, we have this here, and the bad thing is we have another compartment where we have God, what we have to learn to do is to make sure that we don't put God in a compartment, that God becomes a, that he is sovereign over every area of our lives, and if we have some place that we can go, that we can exclude God from, I said we need to work on closing our door to that, to that, to that, whatever that is, that's going to exclude God from the conversation, because God is, once we compartmentalize God, then God's only something that we pull out when we are hurting or when we need him. So, and subsequently we turn a deaf ear to God. The next one is arrogance, and arrogance, and I'll put with arrogance is a willful rejection of God's work, or willful ignorance, let me just, let me say it this way, willful ignorance of God's work, studying God's work is not an option for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not an option, it's an imperative, and we can, I could take you to the scriptures this morning on that, but let's just say Peter says growing grace in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so many pastors talk about keeping God's work, keeping God's work, and begins with knowing God's work, remember what I said when the Bible speaks, so God speaks, and we owe God a hearing, and without it you have those spiritual life, and so arrogance says, arrogance says I know enough, arrogance looks for an alternate way to serve God maybe, or a different means by which God says do this, who said well you know my morality, you know I'm a good person, I do everything that's right and stuff, it didn't get a say again with it, it's not going to help us with our spiritual life. So with arrogance there is the willful ignorance of God's work, I don't need to know God's work, yes you do, yes you do, and there is also the arrogance of looking too lowly on ourselves, remember arrogance is a lofty view of self, arrogance can also be a lowly view of self, and I think, so I say to you that well I'm not that smart, you know I did do good in school, I can't read good, I'm not, I'm not like you, I'm you know I just can't, I just, I'm trying to read the Bible, I don't really understand it, so I put it off, I don't do it, I go to something that's easier in life, because it's easier to, it's easier okay, I do the good in life, and I'll do this, and now you know I'll do this, but I just, I'm just not educationally fit for the Bible, you know what's, what's bad about that, whatever happened to you could do anything that you put your mind to, if you really valued it, if you really sought it, but that's just IQ, you're thinking of IQ and you're not even thinking about, if God commands us to study his word, to know his word, it is the spirit that's going to help us, and he's going to compensate for his, he's going to compensate for our IQ, there's a spiritual IQ, there's a human IQ, there's a spiritual IQ, but brother, bless his heart, can attest to you that Bob was as dumb as a box of rocks, get a band of Michael, that I barely, I mean I barely, I got through high school on an annual mention, and that's not the facing myself, but when I got serious with the word of God, the spirit compensated for that ignorance, and it wasn't, I was stupid, I just didn't apply myself, so point of doctrine and for a willful ignorance of God's word, point of doctrine number one, willful ignorance of God's word is tantamount to the rejection of God's word, willful ignorance of God's word is tantamount to the rejection of God's word, what does that passage say? Verse 25, see to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking, all right? Number two, rejection of God's word leads to the malfunction of the believer who lives not by faith, but by the carnal nature. If you are walking according to the flesh, and listen, I don't mean that you're sitting off the earth, you're obviously sitting, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I'm not getting drunk, the moral life is not the spiritual life, you've got to live a higher life than the spiritual life, and that spiritual life is found through the word of God in the billing ministry of God and Holy Spirit. So rejection of God's word leads to the malfunction of the believer who lives by not by faith, but by the carnal nature, and with carnal nature you have human good as well as degeneracy, okay, and neither one is the spiritual life. Number three, rejection of God's word leads to the believer powerless to live the Christian way of life, and I want you to recognize as a pastor, I want to drive home the fact that there is a spiritual life to live, and you are either living according to the flesh as you've always lived, or you're living on the higher plain, should have did, higher ground, should we, why? But living the spiritual life is a higher plain, Jesus, Jesus talked about this, he says, he says, it is written that you shall not murder, but I say to you, if you have something to get your brother, you've already committed murder, same thing with adultery, I'd say do not, the scripture says not commit adultery, but Jesus says if you even look at a woman with lust, you're already committed because he's taken the light to spiritual life from a law to a higher plain, and you can be moral, you can be, you can be just the greatest guy, and I've heard so many Christians say it to, they see a good person, and they'll say, oh, that's a Christian, that's a, you've heard that before, you know, they'll look at them and say, man, that's a, man, that's a fine Christian man, that's a fine Christian woman, but I can point to believers, or unbelievers, and they will be doing the same thing, and they will be pillars of the community, they will be helpful, they will be, they're good husbands, good wives, good parents, well, you're going to say the same thing about them, based on their behavior, that doesn't mean that they're Christian folks, so the believer has to live a higher plain, and you say, how did you do that, well, I've already covered that, stay with the Bible, stay with the word God, because it's going, the word God, with the ministry of God the Holy Spirit is going to bring up to that higher plain, and it has to be willful ignorance of God's word, you're not going to get there, and you're going to think that you're all that in a bag of chips, and you're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and you're going to be just as naked as the, the generate, because you did not live the spiritual life, so walking accordance with one's flesh is suppressing and grieving the Holy Spirit, this renders the believer depth to the spirit, hearing what God has to say requires spiritual discernment, can we know that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the, we have the Holy Spirit, right? We have the Holy Spirit, the moment that we have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life, we have been given the Holy Spirit, and that is a, and the Holy Spirit is there and, but he, his power, empowerment over our lives is a potential, it is potential, because if we choose to live according to the flesh, the carnal nature, and not seek to walk by means of the spirit, we are suppressing the spirit's ministry, we won't lose the spirit, but we're suppressing the ministry, and certainly if we're walking it's sin, certainly if we have no orientation to the authority of God, we are walking, we are walking accordance there, all right, let's see, wake up, uh, great, give me first Corinthians 214, please, first Corinthians 214, but an Superman does not accept the names of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to Him, and we cannot understand Him because they are spiritually oppressed, but he, who is spiritual, appraises all things, yet he, himself, is appraised by no one. All right, I might call back, he can give me four Romans 8, 5, and 6, and while you're getting there, talk about 1 Corinthians 214, the natural man, what is that, what's the natural man? Suki Cos. Suki Cos man, and the natural man, you have, you have the natural man, the unbeliever, who is body and soul, but a spirit that's dead to a relationship with the Lord, but the believer can fill that function when he suppresses the Holy Spirit within his life, because when he is in carnal, when he's outside, when he comes, when you're walking in sin, you're suppressing the ministry, it's like he's your mentor, he's your teacher, but if you're not listening to him, and when you're suppressing the ministry of God the Holy Spirit, then first of all, there's no communication is cut off, the Spirit is our connectivity with God, and when you're suppressing that ministry, you come up on God, he's not talking to you, and you're not talking to him, the communication is not there. All right, Michael Romans 8, 5, through 6, please. For those who are according to the flesh, that's our minds on things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, or the mind set on the flesh is dead, but the mind set on the Spirit is light and peace. This is what we have to do, we have to direct our lives, and listen, you're not going to save today, and tomorrow you're going to be on a straight and narrow. This is going to take some time, this is today, this is putting, this is right priorities today, right priorities tomorrow, right behind our orders, how quick does it take you to grow to the size of your athlete, how quick does it take you to grow up to that size, took you all of it, it's the same thing with the spiritual life, but with the spiritual life, you can go fast, or you can go slow, and we don't know how much time we have, but over a period of time, you're pretty soon, you're going, as you've got your priorities to straight, two of them, again, those two priorities, taking in the Word of God under the filling ministry of God and Holy Spirit, that's your daily intake of the Word of God, that you're growing into the Spirit, learning that when you sin, you confess your sin, move back in, you're becoming occupied, over a period of time you become occupied with the person of Christ, you're growing up, and then, so, let's put this way, you've got, you've got your, you've got, when you're first saved, it's all about you, your spiritual baby, it's all about your wants, your desires, your interests, it's, it's how you can fit the spiritual life, you want God to come and help you in your secular life, see, we want, we want, we want to come up with a plan, a we want God to bless our plan, that's basically living in much to flesh, but as you're growing, as you're taking in the Word of God, our growth comes to Spirit, we start to come in less of ourselves, and more, and leaving ourselves a carnal nature, and learning to live spiritually, where our thoughts and everything is directed at the Lord, by the Lord, and we, and we're growing, and we're growing up, and that also creates a different perspective too, now we're going to start living that kingdom perspective with the kingdom perspective, okay? So the carnal mind is not focused on spiritual things, it is the Holy Spirit which is the conduit, by which we have connection with God, that gives us ability to receive divine communication, and as we're in that environment, and we're taking in the Word of God, we're growing up. So the most important thing that we as believers do each day is to spend time, and hear from God. And what if it is, think about this, again, I'll bring this out, I think I've already met you a little bit, but God wants to have communion with us, think about it, we have a God, the son of the universe, and he wants to have communion with us, probably more than we want communion with him, and that is incredible. We could pray to him, it's an open door, and when you get God right, when you come to understand who God is, I had the opportunity to eat with the president of the United States some years ago, a president that I did respect, and that was awesome. It was awesome to me, it was awesome to my family, and it was an incredible event, but really, positionally, it doesn't compare. All we have, the opportunity to is to have communion with God, it's incredible. Coming back to Hebrews chapter 12, verse 25 with me, see too, that you do not refuse him who is speaking, for if those who did not escape, when they refused him, who warned them on earth, much less will we escape, who turn away from him, who warns us from heaven. We talked about Moses, beginning with Moses, Moses led the people out of Egypt, and he was God's man leading him to the land flowing with milk and honey, we talked about a literal land that they were being led to. So Moses is in charge, Moses is less perfect by the way, Moses is mother and father, do you remember Moses is mother and father were? That would be Mama's jacket bag, and I don't remember Daddy's name, I'll think of it. But he had human parents, he had human parents, a father and a mother, and he was a sinner. We know that he was a murderer, but nonetheless, imperfect man, God used and gave him delegated authority in order to lead the people out from Egypt. And being God's man, there was ramifications for people going against Moses. Let's talk about some of them, there was Miriam, Miriam, his sister, I don't know if these are in order or not, I got them written down here, let me see what I got here. Miriam, Moses' own sister was given the leprosy in Numbers 12 because she was speaking against Moses, Moses had married an Ethiopian woman, if I got it right, and Miriam didn't like that, guess what, she ended up with leprosy. There was the revolt of Cora and his household, what happened there, the ground opened up and swallowed Cora in his whole family and those who were found against him. There was the penalty of the Serpents, remembering Numbers 21, where the people grumbled against Moses, and what happened there, Serpents came out and they were biting people and they were dying. There was a delay in subsequent cutting off of entering into the land, Israelites were not able to enter the land and not only that, they died in the wilderness, so much more. This was because of rebellion against God's man, makes me wonder about these churches that go up in the people, that go against their pastors. But nonetheless, and here we are, so Jesus has warned them, he said, what happened to these people when they went against Moses, it wasn't good. So you think, you think it's going to get off, do you think it's going to be any easier, going against me directly, talking about near the church age believers, knowing that in the military we had, I learned that uniform code of military justice, and I guess that's with any legal system. You have a higher court, if I as a military man got in trouble, there are different levels of justice that can be, I could go before the commanding officer, and the commanding officer will only, the commanding officer could not put me in jail, but he could take away pay, he could put me on, he could restrict me to base, there are certain things that he could do, okay, find me for so much, and however long. But I could go to a summary court-martial, and the summary court-martial, okay, I could get more serious, I could have a serious, more things against me, because I'm at a higher level of judicial system there, now I can go to the brig, now I can be, could find it to red water, whatever, and that's pretty bad. Or I can go all the way up to a general court-martial, and a general court-martial I think they can send me to death, death penalty, I don't know. But what I'm saying is there's, every level, there's a level higher that has a greater stiffer penalty. So Moses was a lower court, and certainly the Lord is a higher court. Going back to our passage, he says, see to it that you refused him, do not refuse him speaking for if those who did not escape, when they refused him, this is Moses who warned them on earth, much less will they escape, who turn away from him, who warns from heaven, from the heavenly throne. And as Exodus 2022, remember here it was that the Lord spoke from the mountain. All of this due to the people's failure, the people who, when against Moses, failed to orient to the authority of Moses. When you fail to orient to authority, you will be outside of the authority, and where there's perfect justice, you're going to have to suffer the consequences of breaking the law, and God is not going to leave those guiltless who break his law. Verse 26, and his voice shook the earth then, looking back to the time in Exodus 20. Here were the people, they were outside, they were facing this mountain, and up this mountain there was lightning, there was the cloud, there was the mountain on Sinai, and the ground was shaking, and it was a terrible sight, and even we read that back Tuesday, that even Moses was frightened by this, it was a frightful experience to be before God. And that was just a localized place, ladies and gentlemen, that was just localized. That was just one place, in all the world, in the wilderness of Sinai, and these people who were there, they were witnessed, and they were frightful of it. And his voice shook the earth then, that was then, but something different is now. And he has, but now, now, he has promised saying, "Yet once more, I will shake, not only the earth, but also the heaven." What is this, when is it that the Lord is going to shake both the earth and the heavens? In the great and terrible day of the Lord. That is the great and terrible day of the Lord. That is when Christ comes back and his wrath is poured out upon this earth. There is grace now, God had provided, listen, God had provided grace when the Israelites left Egypt. He had provided them grace, they were just children. He could have snuffed them out at the point that they made that cap, but he did. His grace continued. His grace continued throughout the forty years in the wilderness. They kept trying him, they kept going, testing that grace, and listen, I want to pass this on to you, grace and mercy is not what God has to do. Peace and mercy are not God's attributes. What are some of God's attributes? What are some of God's attributes? God is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. He is light. He is light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. Light. He is light. God is light. God is present. God is present. I'm a presence, that's right, everywhere present, okay, anybody else? Omniscient. Sovereign. Sovereign. Immutable. Eternal. But God is not grace and God is not mercy. These are divine prerogatives. God doesn't have to have grace. God doesn't have to be merciful as part of his character, and grace and mercy had a beginning, and grace and mercy is going to have an end. When grace and mercy stops, the judgment will come. Remember what we said, when the grace and mercy train pulls out, the judgment train pulls in right behind it. And what is God's justice? It is the removal of grace and mercy to experience the full brunt of the wrath of God. And like Becca said, this is what is referred to as the day of the Lord. And to make a correction on my own thinking, the day of the Lord is not Saturday, the Sabbath, the day of the Lord is not the first day of the week, Sunday. The day of the Lord is described in Joel as the day when a couple of things are going to happen. And this is a precursor to Revelation coming up is when he seals, first of all he will seal the 144,000 Jews, those sealing that they will be supernaturally protected in this world. He will rapture the church up. We will be removed from this church at that time, and what we will have to discuss is when that's going to be. But it will be at that point that God's wrath, Michael, you asked me one time about when God is going to get fed up, and he's going to bring it justice down on this evil, on woken everything else. Well, God is coming, and it will come. And that, you are going to have to experience it, we saw it in typology with the ark. The door of the ark was open, it was the opportunity for those who are lost to be safe. It was time, and time is a great commodity. And when it takes them to the last second, the door of the ark closes. And you're going to have those who are secure in God's salvation, and you will be those that are going to be left for condemnation. And those that are left are going to see what Jesus experienced on the cross, which was the full extent of God's justice against sin. And they have the gate pride parade, and you've heard the expression "reigning" on someone's parade, it is going to be the final judgment that's going to certainly ring down on the gate pride parade, because pride comes before destruction. Let's look at Joel finish off this morning before a community of Joel, let's turn to Joel to the tomb. Joel, what? Joel 2, Joel 2 and start it along, you got it? Go ahead and read it for me, my name is... Sergeant with one. Sergeant with one. Blow a trumpet's eye on, sound an alarm on my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, is near. A day of darkness and bloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness. Like blackness, there is spread upon the mountains, a great and powerful people. There, like, has never been before, no one will be again after them, through the years of all generations. Fired of hours, before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness and nothing escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses and like war horses they run. This, with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of mountains, like the crackling of a flame, a fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drilled on for battle. Before them people are in anguish, all faces grow pale, like warriors, they charge, like soldiers, they scale the wall, they march each on his way, they do not swerve from their paths. They do not jostle one another. Each march is in his path, they burst through the weapons and are not halted. They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief, the earthquakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful, for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? That's good. The carnal nature seeks only a casual familiar attitude with God, but there is coming at time when we are familiar with the Lamb of Gods, the Lamb of Gods who came to meet in itself, but when the Lord returns, it's not going to be as a Lamb or a Lion that devours. And when he comes, it's not going to be, it's not going to be mistakeable. The day of the Lord is going to be exactly what we describe to be a great and terrible day of the Lord. And so that's where we'll pick up on Tuesday night, we will have a hymn and go ahead and clear your tables, I'm going to hymn and we'll get ready for communion and we'll close up with communion. Yeah, okay. Our hymn is more, what are we doing this morning? Well, it's like it's going to be solid rock solid rock, alright, go ahead and share the screen. Okay, good. Let's see. Oh, I'm 44. Oh, no, 402. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I hope this deals on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I hear not trust the sweetest friend, but holy read on Jesus' name. All of the ground is sinking sand, all of the ground is sinking sand, all of the ground is sinking sand. When darkness builds his lovely face, I rest on the ice, unchanging grace, when every fire is stormy, my anchor holds within the field, on Christ solid rock acid, all of the ground is sinking sand, all of the ground is sinking sand, all of the ground is sinking sand. I hope this will happen in his blood, so for the end the well-being flood, when all the round my soul gives way, even is all my hope and stay, on Christ solid rock acid, all of the ground is sinking sand, all of the ground is sinking sand. You may take a seat, we are entering into the most solid phase of our worship service, which is the Lord's Table. We do this as Jesus instituted this in the upper room with his disciples. It was when they had come together, his heart was concerned with the direction of his disciples and he knew it as Jesus said to Peter, he said, "Satan has requested to sift you like you all like wheat, but I have prayed for you Peter. There is going to be times when in ministry, they are going to be persecuted, they are going to be beaten, they are going to go through all the trials and everyone except for John and John had suffered quite a big himself through all kinds of perils and all kinds of situations related to his following in Christ. The scripture tells us to not throw weary and well doing, but if you do not throw weary you will receive a reward. So the closer that we come to the cross, the closer that we come to living the spiritual light in walking and the more that this world becomes darker and more hostile toward anything Christ, the more we are going to be subject to the persecution that we think that somebody else would not happen to me, it would not happen to my children. We will, and I believe wholeheartedly, pinning the rapture and leading up to it that each of us will suffer hunger and there is a possibility, I will leave it as a possibility, that we will suffer hunger, that we will suffer confiscation of our property, we will suffer the indignities of calling upon Christ, we will be low-lives, we will be cast out and it is going to seem like it is going to be asking ourselves is it all worth it? Notice that Jesus did not say to Peter that Satan has requests the permission to sift you all like we, that I call him no, he left it open, same thing with Job, does Job worship you for not? The Lord didn't say no, leave Job alone, no absolutely not, the Lord said go for it. There is also even going back to Hagar, we learned this yesterday, when Hagar was weeping outside, she ran away from Sarah, her maids her, and the Lord said where you come from, where are you going there Hagar, Sarah's maids her, and he tells her, he tells Hagar to go back, and the word there is not submit, so that the word means to go back to be abused by her, but he also gives her a promise, he also gives her a promise, and the promise is also in the name of the son that she would bear, Ishmael, that God hears. There is the kingdom coming and we must stay focused, what we learned today in Hebrews that said be careful to watch, to see to it, that we remain listening to the Lord and hearing his voice, to not lose out of the kingdom focus, but you know what the kingdom is not enough to keep us going, we must know who our Christ is, we must know who our banner is, we must know who our Jehovah Nessie is, Christianity is not just an ideology, it's a man, and it's Christ, and he is our banner, we have people on the prayer list, we have Fran, and we have Mark who is on our prayer list, and they are going through trials on top of trials, I mean a lot of us go through one trial, but some of us when we are really being tested will go through multiple trials, we must keep our eyes fixed upon the author and the perfecter of our faith, we must know who he is, we must know who we worship, and we must know as we go through life, whether we are going through the big pressure for the trials or other times when we are just being distracted by life, including ministry, communion brings us back to the place where what is it that I believe, because when it comes back to our faith, it comes back to one thing, who and what Christ is, not who and what we are, but who and what Christ is, communion service is that we redirect our minds, it is established, it is not a mystical, while it is a most sound face of our worship service, it is not mystical, the bread doesn't turn into the body of Christ, the wine doesn't turn through transubstantiation, the wine doesn't turn to his blood, the work of Christ has already been accomplished, it doesn't need, the elements here does not need to transform into nothing, the elements here are only a ritual, remember what we say about ritual, ritual is a physical manifestation of a spiritual reality, it brings our thinking back to Christ and his work upon the cross, it is the bread that stands for his human body, we do not, Christ came and he was true humanity, he suffered pain when it was cold, it was cold and he would be warm, he had favor to he was so much like a human being, that Mary even forgot I think, she forgot herself and maybe this others did too, because he was so much like a human being, we turn to Isaiah, Isaiah 53, who has believed the message to whom has the arm of the Lord have been revealed, for he grew up before him a tender shoot, a root out of a parchment, he had no stately form or majesty that he should look upon him, nor parents that we should be attracted to him, he was despised, he was forsaken of men, a man, a man, a fleshly man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like the one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him, surely our griefs, he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, he was fierce through for our transgressions and crushed for our niquities, they are chasing for him well being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed, it is that he is mannequin, you see, it was man who sinned, that first Adam who sinned against God, and was man that was going to have to take the punishment, and so as we distribute the bread this morning, to take the bread, retain the bread until all I have been served, be thinking of these things, be thinking of the humanity of Christ, he was true humanity, and he came to this earth on behalf. I am going to cherish you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We have, when he assembled his disciples in the upper room, he took bread and he broke it and gave it to his disciples, he said take his name, and was the second element of the communion services, the cup, and it was the one cup that was passed, that Jesus would have to take when he was in the garden, he said father, let this cup pass from me, not my will, but you will be done, and it was the cup that bearing our sin, and death as we understand his separation, and it was our Lord who, he didn't want to take it, but he demonstrated his love for us, and while we were yet sinners, he died on a cross that we might become the righteousness of him. The Old Testament, there was these animal sacrifices, and it was the picture of what was going to take place upon that cross, and it was called substitutionary atonement, it is that one, the innocent, died for the guilty, and it was the Lord who gave his life, and there is no other way that man might be said, first Peter 1, 18 says, knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver and gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of wam unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ, so we will retain the cup until all have been served. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] And when he had taken the cup, given thanks, he gave it to them, saying drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which had poured out for the many, for the forgiveness of sins, but I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of vine for now on until the day when I drink it anew with you and my father's kingdom. Jesus said, in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul said, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me, keeping your minds focused upon, again, the author and the perfecter of our faith. But I say to you that, I will not drink from the fruit of vine for now on until the day when you drink it with me anew and my father's kingdom. After seeing him, it went out to the amount of dollars. Let's turn to the Lord and pray and we'll close it out with some. If I don't have a thank you for this opportunity this morning, thank you for our lesson. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for our communion service. I pray, Heavenly Father, as we depart here, that it will only propel us to continue to live a life that's worthy of the year. [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [BLANK_AUDIO]