The Village Church
"How Long, O LORD, How Long?" 2024/07/28 - Video
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Yay. Thank you. Guys, I ran in. It's 930. I'm here. Okay. My name is Mary. I am the coordinator for village kids. Which is our elementary-aged children's group. And I want to welcome you to the village church. We are sparse this morning. That's okay. That means there's a word living life. Not just here, but elsewhere. Our mission here is to know Jesus, to glorify Jesus, to enjoy Jesus, and all that we do. I want to welcome members. Long-time guests. Recent guests. I'm so glad you're here. If you have a bulletin, I don't have one because I ran in. But if you have a bulletin, there's a QR code on the front. You will scan that. That's how we Keep up with who's here. If you want us to contact you. Even if you're a member and you want us to contact you. I mean, hopefully you have some people's numbers. But, you know, you can fill in the form on a QR code. That QR code takes us, takes you to our link tree. Fill out that guest form, and we'll get in touch with you if you like. Here are announcements. So, the bulletin is a wonderful resource. Cynthia prints it out every week. It's got so much fun stuff in it. So, if you will look on the, it's usually on the back. Sometimes in the middle. All kinds of things going on this week. We're going to highlight a couple of them. Especially today, we're going to welcome to our poll pit, Reverend Michael Jones. Pastor of Harvest Community Church in Birmingham. So, thank you for coming and blessing us. Today is something that's near and dear to my heart. It's a child protection training, stewards of children training. Put on by the National Children's Advocacy Center that's based here in Huntsville. We're having an in-person training here today at 3 p.m. If you have signed up, thank you so much for doing that. If you have not signed up and you think that you want to come, just come. You don't have to be pre-registered, just come. This is going to be my third time attending this in-person training. It's just a really good reminder of why we're taking care of the kids in our church, how we can take care of the kids in our church, and how we can be a blessing to the children in our church by making this a safe place. So, please come. I will bring snack. It will be, it's heavy material, but it's so good. It's good. So, come if you can. Just a little reminder, though. If you want to be a part of the children's ministries here at our church, whether that's nursery, village kids, or youth, you either have to attend this training, which is an in-person training or an online training that they offer. If you need a link to the online training, I can get that to you. But the in-person training, you'll be here with all of your friends, so come. Okay, also, women's ministry, summer socials, they're in need of host signups. So, if you feel like you want to host at a favorite spot of yours and have all the women come and share your favorite things, it's a good place to get to know other people, too. Please sign up to host. We have a flock note for the link to sign up and host or to view the dates and locations, so you can just join us. Also, you can contact Alia. Hi, Alia. In fact, she's so awesome. I'm going to give out your number. 912-816-8059 for any questions. So, here at the Village Church, we believe ties and offerings, it's a form of worship. So, there's three ways you can give. Again, if you look at your bulletin, you'll see our physical address. You can mail us a check. You can also give through our website. We also have a fun box that is labeled in the back by the door. And just drop your check or your cash in there. And we thank you for that. So, these are our announcements. And now is our call to worship. So, if you can stand if you are able, please do. And it's from 1 Chronicles 16, 28 through 31. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness, tremble before Him, all the earth. Yes, the world is established. It shall never be moved. [Music] Let's try that again. Good morning, family. This first song is "O give thanks." "O give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever." So, I'll continue standing. Let's just give our friends the God this morning. [Music] "O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good." Yes, He is good. "O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good." Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is shepherd of your family. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. Yes, He is good. O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good for He is worthy. Worthy for He is good. Yes, He is good. We try hands together for Jesus. He's worthy of our praise. He's worthy of honor. And He's a strong God. This next song that says, "You are my strength." How many of us know that we can find strength in the Lord? That's somebody. How many of us know that we can find strength in God this morning family? This song says, "You are my strength." And it's a new song. I'm not sure we've done it here before, but it's a very easy song. It talks about the strength of God, the peace of God, the joy of God. He is all that for us. Amen. You are my strength, hallelujah, straight like no other. Straight like no other. It reaches to me. Let's try the one more time, family. You are my strength. You are my strength. Straight like no other. Straight like no other. It reaches me. In the fullness of your grace. In the power of your name. You lift me up. Yes you do. You lift me up. You are my joy. You are my joy. Joy like no other. Joy like no other. It reaches to me. Listen, one more time, family. You are my joy. Joy like no other. Joy like no other. It reaches to me. In the fullness of your grace. In the power of your name. You lift me up. You lift me up. In the fullness of your grace. In the power of your name. You lift me up. You lift me up. You are my peace. You are my peace. The peace of God. Sing it out. Peace like no other. Peace like no other. It reaches to me. Let's try that again. You are my peace, family. You are my peace. Peace like no other. No matter what you're going through. Peace like no other. It reaches to me. Let's sing out the chorus. Family, the fullness in the fullness of your grace. In the power of your name. You lift me up. You lift me up. Oh, in the fullness of your grace. In the power of your name. You lift me up. Yes, you do. You lift me up. We're going to show up our time, family. You are my hope. You are my hope. We can find hope in Jesus. Hope like no other. Yes, you are. Hope like no other. And it reaches to me. One more time, family. Oh, you are my hope. Hope like no other. We thank you, Jesus. Hope like no other. It reaches to me. I'll sing your praises out to God this morning, family. In the fullness of your grace. In the power of your name. You lift me up. Oh, we thank you, Jesus, for lifting us up. You lift me up. In the fullness of your grace. And in the power of your name. You lift me up. You lift me up. We say that he's our strength. One more time. You are my strength. Yes, you are Jesus. Strength like no other. Strength like no other. It reaches to me. One more time, family. You are my strength. You are my strength. When you're feeling weak, he's strength like no other. Nothing compares to you. Strength like no other. All over the building, say, reach to me. Power your hands together for the strength. The joy, the hope, the love of God. Hallelujah. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Good morning. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Amen. Now we'll have our call to worship. Yeah, we'll come from 1st Chronicles 16, verses 28 through 31. I will read from a leader perspective when you guys will read from the people's perspective. I'm going to ask you all to stand. ♪ A scribe to the Lord, old families of the peoples. A scribe to the Lord, the glory and strength. And the people say. ♪ We're going to do it anyway, because I did it. I started and we're going to catch it. And let's do it anyway, okay? All right, and the leader said worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. Frumbled before him. All the earth, yes. The world is established. It shall never be moved. And the people say. ♪ Now we will have a confession of faith. You will maybe see it. Thank God that our Lord is forgiven and you shall be too. Amen. Our confession of faith comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The question says, "Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery?" And you said, the answer is. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Now we will have a song of reflection. ♪ I'm not going to make a guy stand for this one, but this song just says 10,000 reasons. And I think we can find even more reasons to give God praise. Is that okay? This morning's family. This song says 10,000 reasons, but we can find a whole lot more reasons to give God praise. ♪ ♪ ♪ Now we'll just sing it along. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. It's time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me. ♪ Let me be singing when the evening comes. Go sing it out together church. ♪ Last of all my soul. ♪ All my soul. ♪ Worship His holy name. ♪ Sing like never before. ♪ All my soul. ♪ Oh worship your holy name. Verse 2 says this. ♪ Your rich and love. And your slow to anger. Your name is great. And your heart is kind. For all your goodness I will keep on singing. ♪ Ten thousand reasons for my heart to God. Let's dance our fingers together. Let's the Lord. All my soul can praise church. All my soul. Worship His holy name. Let's sing our church. Sing like never before. All my soul. Oh worship your holy name. Verse 3. ♪ And on that day when my strength is failed. ♪ He had draws near and my time has come. ♪ Still my soul will sing your praise. ♪ Amen. That's a good place to praise God. ♪ Ten thousand reasons for forever. ♪ Oh oh there's the Lord of my soul. ♪ All my soul. Worship His holy name. Come on sing it out. Sing like never before. Oh my soul. Oh worship your holy name. Let's sing our church. Sing it out your praise to God. And bless the Lord of my soul. Oh my soul. Worship His holy name. We thank you Jesus. Sing like never before. Oh my soul. Oh worship your holy name. Come just worship Him together. Lord our worship your holy name. Let's sing our church. Oh worship your holy name. Hallelujah. You may be seated. I want to take this time to introduce the gentleman that's going to be coming for you in a few minutes. He's a guy I've known for. I ain't going to age myself but it's been a minute. He has stopped aging over the years because we go back more than 20-some years in the fellowship. I visited this church one summer at Camp Summer Camp. Camp has out reached ministries. We served at his church and he blessed us for many years and still blessing the Lord and serving the Lord with gladness and with joy. You're going to get a treat this morning. It's a blessing to have Pastor Mike Jones in the building. I'm going to pray for us and you'll hear none other than Pastor Mike Jones. Father God thank you so much for your faithfulness and your goodness to us. Thank you for the grace that you stole upon us. Lord you're good and you're rich in mercy. Your love is endless. Your passion for us is endless. Lord thank you so much Lord how you work with us up this morning. Let's start us on our way. Thank you Lord for your love for us Lord when we weren't even thinking about you that you sent your son to die. Wrap himself in flesh Lord God. Just for us Lord God. Thank you for everyone that's in this audience that's going to hear the word today. Thank you Lord God that they're going to be moved Lord God by your Holy Spirit and by your mic. Thank you Lord they can be comforted by your Holy Spirit and by your mic. Thank you Lord that your hands are upon them and they can walk and hold in this righteousness and purity. Because you Lord God you're going to do it not us. So Lord I thank you for Pastor Mike. I pray to Lord he would decrease that you will increase. The Lord you'll give him wisdom this morning. That you will speak through him Lord God to us Lord God. And Lord God thank you so much for this time. And your name can pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Okay. That's a little too much. So it happened a number of years ago when we were packing early in the morning. And I started putting mama's suitcases in. Then I put the oldest daughter's suitcases in all the way down to the youngest daughters. I noticed the truck was full, but I had a suitcase and a small bag with my laptop in it. And there was no place to put it. I had to shift around some things and I had to make room for daddy stuff. You see, whatever you put in first is your priority. Mama's stuff was priority. The oldest daughter's stuff was priority all the way down to the youngest. But you had to make room for daddy stuff. You know, I might have had to tie it to the top of the minivan. I didn't have any room for my stuff. We had to make room for my stuff. Whatever you put in first is your priority. We're here. We're looking at Philippians chapter one. And if you've read your Bible and you've studied your Bible, you know that Paul wrote 13 letters. He wrote three letters that were the early epistles, Galatians 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. He wrote major epistles, which were Romans and 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. He wrote pastoral epistles, the book of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and Titus. But he wrote four prison epistles. He wrote Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and he wrote this book here, Philippians. Philippians is a prison epistle. He is incarcerated. He's chained to a Roman guard. And yet he finds it appropriate because it's his priority to write churches that he has planted and see how they're doing. There's no big, huge problem in Philippians. Although we find in Philippians chapter four that there were two ladies who had a disagreement against one another. And we read between the lines in chapter two. He talks about unity and encouraging one another and not looking at your own interest but also the interest of others. We find in chapter three that he talks about how he has sacrificed everything for the knowledge of coming to know Jesus Christ. In chapter four we have those famous verses four through six, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We know I can do all things through Christ who is strengthened me. I've learned the secret of being content. I know how to live with a lot of means and I know how to live with a little bit. And so the content of Philippians is very familiar. But if you were to look at chapter one you would discover that over and over again he talks about the gospel. Over and over again he talks about preaching Christ. Over and over again he talks about his purpose statement. He even tells the Philippians I rejoice when I think about your partnership in the gospel. Men and women for the next few minutes I want to talk about priorities. I want to talk about whether or not you have made room for Jesus. I want to talk about whether or not we have the perspective of Paul. No he may not call you to be a ministry missionary and plant churches. He may not call you to be a preacher officially or professionally of the gospel but make no mistake. God has called each one of us to shape and to have our lives centered around Jesus and his gospel. Many of us find frustration in life because we've forgotten about our purpose. We've forgotten about making Jesus a priority. It happens to the best of us. If it can happen in the pulpit it certainly happens in the pew. I remember years ago I was doing all of these things with the church trying to make the church grow and trying to make people happy in the church and reaching out to the community. I drove to Golden Missouri at least four times one summer taking you to a camp called Kids Across America and I was exhausted. I came back and there was a church member that had a small issue with me and called me and told me about the issue. It was like a proverbial matchstick that broke this creature camel's back. Y'all can have the church, y'all can have the ministry, y'all can have Jesus, y'all can have these kids, y'all can have these adults. You can have all of this and a mentor of mine sat me down and said this. Pastor Mike Jones, you have forgotten your purpose. You're not the children's coordinator of your church. You're not the youth director. You don't lead the choir. You're not a deacon or an elder. You are a pastor. You be a pastor. You're frustrated because you've been trying to be and to do everything else. Who am I talking to right here? Many of us find frustration. No, he may have called you to be a wife and a mother and that's it. You be that and stop trying to be something else. That is your purpose. Maybe he's called you to work and to be a mother and a wife. Maybe he's called you to be a husband. Maybe he's called you to lead your business. Maybe he's called you to school. Maybe he is called you to be an encourager. Maybe he is called you to be a servant. Maybe he is called you to be committed to Jesus Christ around your sphere of influence with you trying to do everything else. You're frustrated. You're tired. You're irritable. You've got hurts, habits and hang ups and they become magnified when you forget your priority, your purpose in God's plan. If you understand what I'm saying, say amen. So I want to talk about three things that this text brings out specifically in verses 18 through 21, but we started at verse 12. I want to give you an idea of the conclusions that Paul came to about his life and his priority. Three things in the text, three things that you can hold on to because this message may be for you that you've forgotten God's plan or God's priority or God's purpose for your life. It may be for you or it may be for you today so that you could share it with someone on your job or someone in your family or someone in your church that is frustrated because they have forgotten their purpose. They're giving everything for everybody and trying to be everything when Jesus says to us the same way he said to Martha. Martha, Martha, you're distracted about so many things. But one thing is needful and Mary has chosen the good thing. If you understand what I'm saying, say amen. Point number one is simply this. Point number one is that Paul made room for God's plan. Paul made room for God's plan. Look at verse 18. What then, only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice, yes, I will rejoice. God's plan is that Christ will be preached. That the truth of Jesus Christ might be proclaimed. That that might take center stage in our lives. That Christ being preached is of utmost importance and has the greatest value. If you have your Bible's turn and look at Philippians 1, 15. Some indeed preach Christ even from Envy and strife and some also from Goodwill. In verse 16, the former preached Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my chains. And then in verse 18 that we've just read, what in only in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. For short, for short verses you have three times Christ is preached. It was always of Paul's utmost importance and first priority to preach Christ. Men and women, this is not God's plan that just occurred. It has been God's plan from the very beginning. If you go to Sunday school, say amen. Let's walk through the scriptures. It's always been God's plan. Let's take Genesis chapter 4, the story of Cain and Abel, where God requires a sacrifice and Cain gives a sacrifice of fruit from the field, working with his hands and Abel gives a lamb, unblemished to be sacrificed. And we find that God accepts Abel's sacrifice of the lamb, but he rejects Cain's, that is Abel's lamb. Let's take a few steps forward to Genesis chapter 22 and you remember the story of Abraham taking Isaac up to the mountain to sacrifice him. And he gets ready to sacrifice his son and he sees a ram caught in the thicket who saved Isaac's life. It's where we get that term, Jehovah Jaira, my provider. And we wrongly say that Jehovah Jaira means he's going to pay my bills. He's going to pay my rent. He's going to give me enough money for a car and put gas to put in it. No, Jehovah Jaira, my provider, the context of it is God has provided my salvation. He's provided everything that I need to rescue me from impending death. You go up a little bit further. We've had Genesis chapter 4, Genesis chapter 22. You go up to Exodus chapter 12. In Exodus chapter 12 you find the story of the Passover where God has told God's people to kill the lamb and put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of every house, every home, and the death angel will pass over. The blood of the lamb saved the lives of everybody in that house. All the family members and everyone that are there. You go up a little bit further to Leviticus chapter 16. We find the lamb of atonement where the priests would make sacrifice year after year after year for the entire nation. He would put his hands on that lamb and confer the sins of the people onto that lamb and he would take that lamb out into the wilderness where we get the term scapegoat to take our sins never to be seen again. The lamb of atonement that was sufficient for the nation. You go up a few steps further to Isaiah chapter 53 and we say like a lamb led to slaughter, he did not open up his mouth by his stripes. We are healed. The suffering land identified as an individual, but he was a lamb like a lamb. Like a lamb led to slaughter. And then John the Baptist identifies him in John 1 29 behold. The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Did you get it? Did you get it? Genesis chapter 4, he's a sacrifice for sin. Genesis chapter 22, he saves the life of one individual. In Exodus chapter 12, he saves the life of a family. So in Leviticus chapter 16, he is sufficient for the whole nation. In Isaiah 53, it is whosoever will let him come, the elect who have chosen to receive Christ. And then John the Baptist rightly identifies him behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the whole world. And so for women, it's not God's plan right now, it has always been God's plan to preach his gospel, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. And before that is a trite statement and you think, oh, I've heard that before, been there, done that. You just think about all of the hurt people that surround you, all of the lost people, all of the people who are crying out because of their behavior, because of their language, because of what is going on in their life. If you're crying out for a savior, God's plan is that Christ be preached. You say, well, Pastor Mike, how does that help a person just to start believing in Jesus Christ? Maybe that just gives them salvation for the next life. Yes, it does, but it also gives us salvation for this life. You know what happens when Christ is preached and someone receives Christ? The Holy Spirit enters into their lives and the Word of God says in Galatians 5, that the fruit of the Spirit is love, and joy, and patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, against such things, there's no law, self-control. Well, how does that help? That means if an individual doesn't have Jesus Christ and doesn't have the Spirit, there is no love, there is no joy, there is no peace, there is no patience, there is no kindness. No, you can have it in degrees, but you will not have it the way God wants you to have it. We've got to preach Christ. It is His plan for each one of us. Pastor Jeffrey Johnson out of Indianapolis talks about visiting a city and renting a car. He was there to do a revival. So on his way from his hotel back to the rental car place near the airport, it was a long stretch of highway. He gets to a traffic light, and by the way, he rented a sports car. He says, you know, when I rent cars, I want to drive cars, I'll never get to drive in my real life. This car went up to 180 miles an hour on the speedometer. Well, there's a lady that pulled up next to him at the traffic light. She looks at him. He looks at her. She looks at him, hands up like this, as if to say, you want to make it happen. He looks at her and says, I certainly do. So when the light turned green, he put the gas all the way down to the floor. He gets it up to about 120. She passes him. He says, I can't let her beat me. So he gets it up to about 130 and passes her, but as he does, he sees a state trooper in the median. He has flown by, and sure enough, that state trooper's lights went on. And he passes this woman, and he is certain that he is going to get stopped, get a ticket because he has broken the law. He is guilty as charged. But guess what happened? The state trooper stopped her instead of him. Do you know why? Because she got in between him and the law. Somebody's going to get this in a minute. She got in between him and the law. God's plan was for us to preach a savior. God's plan was for us to preach Christ because Jesus Christ gets in between us and the law. He gets in between us. He gets the penalty. He gets the fine. He's the one who is guilty, and we go free. Somebody ought to be excited about Jesus today. Somebody ought to be excited about preaching Christ and knowing who he is. Paul made room for God's plan, but look at the text. Paul also made room for God's priority. Look down at verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and the hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but in all boldness as always. So now also Christ will be magnified in my body. The whole idea of making Jesus Christ a priority is that he is a priority in me. That he is able to use my body as he sees fit. That it is no longer my body, but it belongs to him. Paul told the Romans, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice." Holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship. You want to worship God? It is not just 9.30 on a Sunday morning. You worship God through God using your body every single minute of the day. That my body is a living sacrifice to God. Holy and acceptable because that's my reasonable service of worship. Many women look at this in terms of his body and his body is used for the gospel. Not only does Paul mention preaching Christ over and over again, but look at Philippians chapter 1. You'll have to look at it in your electronic device or your paper Bible. Chapter 1 verse 5, "I thank God for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now." Look at verse 7, "For the confirmation of the gospel you all are partakers with me of grace." Verse 12, "The things which happen to me are for the furtherance of the gospel." Look at verse 17, "Knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel." Look at verse 27, "Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ." And in verse 27 again at the end, "With one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." My body is to be used for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That God wants to use me. God wants to use everything about me. He wants to use my hurts and habits and hang-ups. He wants to use my faults and my frailties. Men and women, just discover this and you'll have to check me on this, go home and do your own personal study. But in my Bible, especially in the gospel of John, do you know what Jesus' first ministry after rising from the dead was? His first ministry was to appear to his disciples and the scripture says, "He showed them his scars." He showed them his scars. Probably the last thing that we want to do with people is to show them our scars. But do you know that the walking wounded always needs the ministry of the walking healed? They always need the ministry of someone who has a testimony of overcoming something. Who has a testimony of, "I once was like this in my sin. I once was like this in my separation from God. I once was like this. I was hurting. I was hopeless and I was helpless. I needed a Savior." And he rescued me. That's the gospel. And to use your body, to use your life, to use your experiences, the very thing that you think brings you the most shame might be the very thing that he uses to bring him the most glory. Somebody ought to say, "Amen. Amen." The thing that brings you the most shame. Many women, I was a recovering introvert who would overthink everything. I was scared to talk in front of people. I was scared to express my opinion because if I thought I expressed my opinion, people wouldn't like me. God saved me. I was in high school and I was a proud C-student. I traveled all the way across the country to get away from my parents and I went to Morehouse College. And at the first semester there, I received Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord. The second semester I got straight A's. I called home to tell mom, "Hey, they told me what my grades are. Put your seatbelt on. I got straight A's." I heard a thud on the end of the line. She had fallen down in disbelief and the rest of the semesters God gave me this spirit that said, "You don't do just enough to get by. You pursue excellence because I am excellent and I've made you excellent." So at the end of my time at Morehouse College, I'm not saying this to praise on me. I'm saying it for the glory of God. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa summa cum laude from my college. And it's all because of Jesus Christ. It's all because of the difference that He made. It's all because I once was lost, but now I'm saved. I once was blind, but now I see. I once pursued mediocrity, but He's the one that took my body and took my life and allowed me to pursue excellence. If somebody understands what I'm saying, say amen. Let me give you another verse to contemplate under the heading of priorities. And that is Matthew 624. Matthew 624 says, "No man can serve two masters. Either you will love the one or hate the other. You cannot serve two masters. You can't serve mediocrity and excellence at the same time. You can't have a priority of the world or a priority of what you want and God's priority at the same time. You can't hush your mouth and not breach the gospel at the same time. Men and women, we've got to make a choice about what our priorities are in life. And Paul said, "My priority is the gospel. It's the gospel because the verse says that Christ will be magnified in my body." I want him to be magnified. Stephen Covey, the one who wrote seven habits of highly successful people, wrote a sequel to it entitled "First Things First." And he talks about priorities in "First Things First." And here's one of the things he says. He says, "Prioritization is an important skill that helps individuals focus their efforts on the items that matter the most." What matters the most? Men and women, you might be asking me, "Well, Pastor Mike, how do you determine what your priorities are?" Well, what do you spend on your time, your talents, and your treasure? You can look at your checkbook and find out what your priority is. You can look at how you spend your time and know what your priorities are. You can look at your talents, God forbid, and this happens with churches all across the world, that there are people with tremendous gifts, tremendous talents, tremendous abilities that keep them in the pews. What's your priority? Lord, I want you to be magnified in my body. I coached basketball at Restoration Academy. I'm into my 15th year. I coached about eight years at Hope Christian in the Pelham area. And they found out I was going to hang up the whistle after my youngest daughter finished playing. And they said, "Hey, Pastor Mike, we've got a position and we think it's just for you." So I coached the boys the first four years. I coached the girls the last four years, one of the years in between in the middle. I overlapped and made the huge mistake of coaching both teams. But I'll never forget, there was one guy in our team, a big tallest guy in our team, about six-four. And he calls me at one Friday night. We're practicing all October to get ready for games in November. And he says, "Past Mike Jones, I'm not coming to practice tomorrow." I say, "You're not coming to practice tomorrow, why not?" We practice on a Saturday getting ready for the season to come up in November. We practice all month of October to get ready for, he's an important part of our team. He says, "Well, I plan on going hiking tomorrow with the hiking group." Now, I'm saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, but I still have like curse words to go through my head sometimes. Then, "What in the world?" I said, "What in the world instead?" "What in the world?" You're going hiking instead of coming to basketball, right? Yeah. I was just calling to see if it was okay. I said, "Hey, dude, I'm not giving you permission for that." You made a commitment. You made a commitment to be on this team. We're counting on you. I'm not giving you, but it's your choice. And whatever you choose is going to demonstrate what your priority is. If hiking and your leisure is your priority, that's what you're going to do. But if this team, and playing on this team, and having a successful season, and being there for your brothers, is your priority, then I'll see you at practice tomorrow. Men, women, he didn't come. Stayed on the team, and we didn't get through half the season before he quit. Listen, your voiced priorities and your real priorities may be different. Your real priorities are always lived out, and you can determine what your priority is when they're opposing choices and decisions, competing activities. Whatever you say yes to is your priority. Whatever it is. Now, I love y'all. I really, really do. But if I drove up my little tan SUV out there, and I got here at nine o'clock, and my church said, Pastor Mike, we need you. There's an emergency. I sure would have told Brother DiMarco, hey, I know I'm scheduled here to preach, but there's an emergency at my church. It'll be an hour and a half before I get there. I love you, but my priority is then. Now, I love my church. Now, if I got to my church, and all of a sudden I get a cell phone call that my daughter who lives in Indianapolis, Candice Elizabeth Michelle Jones, calls me up, I love my church. But if Candice needs me, I'm on I-65 coming back up here on my way to Indianapolis. Now, man, and women, your priority is what you hold of highest value. What Paul is saying is Jesus and his gospel are my highest value. It's my priority because with competing activities, with competing things that come before me that I have to make a decision about, I am always choosing Jesus over everything else. If somebody understands what I'm saying, say, man, amen. I'm preaching a whole lot better than you're amen. I just want y'all to know that. Point number one was Paul made room for God's plan. Point number two was Paul made room for God's priority. Point number three is this Paul made room for God's purpose. For God's purpose. Look at this. Verse 21, many Bible scholars and commentators say that chapter one, verse 21 is the key verse of the entire letter to the Philippians. As Paul says, for me to live is Christ, but to die is game. Men and women, for me to live is Christ, for me to live is an option for me to live is Jesus Christ, because in him I live, I move, and I have my very being, for me to live is Christ. Whether in life, I live for Jesus Christ, or whether in death, I live for Jesus Christ, make no mistake for me to live is Christ. When I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1980, early 1980, I have been living for him for over 44 years. I gave my life to him, and there wasn't any one foot in this side of the world and one foot in this side of Christ. No, I haven't been perfect, no, I made a lot of mistakes. I'm as sinful as they come. I am just like the Apostle Paul who says that it's a trustworthy statement worthy of full acceptance that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of which I'm chief of all. That's my perspective of make no mistake. Even in my sin, I've been on God's side. He's been able to convict me of my sin. I've been called to repentance. It is an ongoing thing. I am being sanctified. I'm sanctified, but I'm also being sanctified. He's knocking everything off my life that doesn't look like Jesus. He's whittling on me, but make no mistake, I'm on Jesus' side. He gives me purpose. He gives me a reason for living. He gives me a reason to wake up at night. No, I'm not going to leave my children a whole bunch of silver and gold and land. I'm not going to live in bank accounts and 401c's. I'm not going to leave them a whole bunch in CDs or in annuities. I don't have a whole lot. Let me tell you what I do have. I have faith in Jesus Christ that will last and I've been given him my faith year after year after year after year. And when I'm gone, they are still rich. They will have Jesus. They will have a relationship with him because all four of them have said yes to his offer of salvation. Men and women, we have to change our value system. And let me say this parenthetically, and I hope that Alex doesn't say, well, Pastor Mike, you brought that up so you can't come back. Men and women, we need to just take a pause and relax over all these politics. We really do. And let me tell you why, because presidents come and presidents go. I was born right around 1960. So I've seen a bunch of presidents come and a bunch of presidents go. And I've seen the American public get excited about one, get upset about another, so excited that they will do. I won't bring up what they did on January 6th, but I, but all of that. And the four years went by so fast. Guess what happened? The sun kept coming up in the morning and the sun kept going down in the evening. And it kept going up in the morning and down. Listen, it ain't that deep. Let me tell you what will last. The Word of God and the souls of men. That's going to last. That's what I need to put my purpose on. We put our purpose on things that are like roller coasters going up and down. I want to put my thing, my, my hope and my purpose on the solid rock. If somebody understands what I'm saying, say a man. Jesus stated his purpose. He gave his, his, his purpose statement over and over. You might want to mark these verses down. Mark 1045, Jesus says even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He gives his purpose statement in Luke 19, 10, where he says the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. He gives his purpose statement in John 10, 10, where he says the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. But I came that you might have life and might have it not just abundantly, but more abundantly. He gives his purpose statement over and over and over again that you find your life in me. But many of us find our lives in ourselves. Many of our young people find our lives on, their lives on social media. They are addicted to, to people liking them and people watching them and, and people paying attention to them and how many clicks I've gotten and, and, and, and, and they're really concerned about what people say. People have been killed over, over what people have said on social media. That the purpose we've got to shape and mold the purpose of our children. You have a creator and you've been made in his image. You find your purpose in him. I get asked over and over again, Pastor Mike Jones, what if, what if I'm not able to play in college? What if I play in college and get hurt? What if this game that I'm playing here on senior night is the last game that I'll ever play in organized sports? I don't mean to be harsh and I don't mean to be mean, but I think sometimes we need to be real. Say young man, young lady, you do know that there's going to be an end to this, whether it's tomorrow or the next day. You are not going to be a basketball player the rest of your life. You do know that, right? It's either going to end right here in high school, and this is your last game, or you're going to make the team in college and sit the bench and never get a minute, or you'll have a good college career, but you're not going to make it to the pros, and you're not going to play overseas, or you play overseas for a couple of years, but it will have an end because people are coming behind you that are bigger, stronger, and faster, or dare I say you're in that less than 1% and you do make it to the NBA. Your career will have an end stamp on it, so you can't find your purpose in that. You are bigger than your occupation. You're bigger than the job that you do. You're bigger than your title. You're bigger than all that. Your purpose is found in a holy God. If somebody understands what I'm saying, say amen. Stephen Covey in his book, First Things First, that I mentioned earlier, he says this, "What we believe about ourselves and our purpose has a powerful impact on how we live, how we love, and how we learn." Men and women, what's your purpose? What's your purpose? What's your purpose? Men and women, I've talked about God's plan. We need to be committed to God's plan. I've talked about God's priority and making his gospel a priority in our lives. And here for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain that I find my purpose, whether in life or in death, it's him. The story is told of a lady in Chicago. She lived alone. She didn't have a husband. She didn't have any children, not much family in the area at all. And in the middle of the night, the Chicago Fire Department got a call that her house was on fire. Well, she slept with earplugs and her room in the house had not been touched by the fire yet, but the whole house was engulfed. The Chicago Fire Department gets there. They find that the whole house is engulfed and the chief of the Fire Department tells the men there's no need to go in. It's too dangerous. The roof looks like it's going to collapse and we don't know what the floor is and whether or not it'll fall into the basement. I don't want any of you to go in to see. We know that there's a resident, but it's too late. One of the Firemen decides that he is going to disregard the orders and he goes in. Go to the back of the house where the woman is sleeping and the house is engulfed in flames. He is able to wake her up, put her on his shoulder, maneuver through the flames, get her out of the house, and she is rescued with only a little bit of smoke inhalation. Well, the lady is overwhelmed. She had just lost her job a few weeks before she had no income. She had not not many family members around. She has no house right now. She has nothing nowhere to stay. But after a few days later, there is a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune, with a picture of this fireman who rescued her from her house that was engulfed in flames. And underneath the picture was a bio of him, talking about who he was and where he was from and his training and applauding him. And at the very end, there was a long paragraph about how much he had appreciated him and how much he loved him and how much he regarded him. Well, her friends asked her, "You don't have a job anymore. You don't have very many family members. You don't have a place to stay. You don't have anything. You've got limited money in the bank. Why would you spend all that money to take out a full-page ad about this fireman? It doesn't make sense to us. It doesn't make sense that you would give all that energy. It doesn't make sense that you would give all that effort. It doesn't make sense that you would give all of those resources. Why did you do it?" And she says this, "Because I wanted everybody in the world to know about the man who saved my life. Men and women, we want everybody in the world to know about Jesus Christ because he is the man who saved my life. Jesus Christ is the way. He's the truth. And he is the life. No man comes to the Father, but through him. Jesus tells us that he's the bread of life, that he is the light of the world, that he is the door for the sheep, that he is the good shepherd, that he is the true vine, that he is the resurrection and the life. And in the book of Philippians that were read near in verse 1 in chapter 2, I believe it starts in verse 9, Paul says, "Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven, those on earth and those under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Men and women don't make room for Jesus because if you have to make room for him, then you hadn't put him in your life first, don't make room for Jesus. Be committed to his plan. Make room for his plan. Don't make room for Jesus. Make room for his priority. Don't make room for Jesus. Make room for the purpose of your life, which is to share the gospel to the world, to let everyone in the world know about the man that saved your life. Let's pray. Father God, I pray for my brothers and sisters as I pray for myself that you would take first place, that you would be number one. And if there's one here who has never made you first place, I pray that they would pray, Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross and shedding your blood, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. I pray that they would receive you as Savior and Lord. I pray, Father, that they place all their faith, their trust, and their confidence in your death, your burial, your resurrection. And they would say, Lord, be my Savior, be my Lord. Father, I pray for this church. I pray for its leadership. I pray for its membership. Lord, help them to grow. Help them to focus their attention on you. Help them to major on the majors and minor on the minors. Help them to glorify you and their bodies. In Jesus name, won't you say amen, amen, and amen. God bless you all. Thank you, Pastor. Can we all stand to our people for the last song? God is good. No matter what we're going through, we could know. We could feel we have proof that God is good. May your struggles keep you near the cross. And may your troubles show that you need God. May your battles in a way they should. May your bad days prove that God is good. And may your whole life prove that God is good. May your troubles keep you near the cross. May your troubles show that you need God. May your battles in a way they should. May your bad days prove that God is good. May your whole life prove that God is good. Amen. Let me see them. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for your goodness and your grace and equal of our lives. We thank you that you're the one who was and it is, it is. Now to him who was able to keep us from stumbling and present this pathless with exceeding great joy. To the one great God, our wise God. We glory in dominion and power, henceforth now and forevermore. And all God's children said, Amen, we are dispensing. Amen. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Can you guys hear me? Hi, my name is Kayla couch and I work with her city doing Japanese ministry in Huntsville. And if you haven't seen us around in a while, it's because we just returned from seven weeks in Japan. We were able to spend two weeks visiting family and friends in five different cities. And then we joined eight college students and a team of four staff to join the long term staff in Tokyo for five weeks of ministry to college students there. I'm just here to share a little bit about what the Lord is doing that we can just praise him together. What he is doing in Japan and so grateful that I get to be a little part of what he's doing in the church there and also among the Japanese community here in Huntsville. Before I share just one story from the time in Japan, I wanted to share a little bit about the need, the spiritual need in Japan for context. Japan, the population is less than 1% Christian. And as of a few years ago, the growth rate of the church, there's actually negative. There's a history of intense persecution of Christians in Japan. And though there is no longer the case, there is still intense cultural and familial pressure not to become a Christian because of the view that it is a Western and a foreign religion, not for the Japanese people. And there's also the prevalence of deeply predatory cults in Japan that have left many people very suspicious and wounded. And suicide is the leading cause of death in men in Japan between 20 and 44 years of age and in women between 15 and 34 years of age. But despite all of this, the Lord is at work and I was so, so blessed to see that and to witness that there. And I wanted to share, there's so many stories that I could share of just how good the Lord was, but I want to share just one with you today. And this is a story about a student named, I'll call him Shin, in the top left corner there. And so that's me and one of our crew students in Shin. And Shin is a student at the university called the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Someone would call it like the MIT of Japan. He's a grad student there, so very deeply intelligent. But he also knew intellectual intelligence is not everything about his identity and is not everything that we can know. And so he had a lot of spiritual questions. And when I met him in class, it was to, for him to share his math research with me. And he shared about what he's researching in chaos theory and dynamic systems. And I was actually also a math major in college, so that was really fun to get to connect over the math and to talk about it. But he was also really excited to learn that I was a Christian because he doesn't have many opportunities to talk to Christians, he's spiritually searching. And he said, "Well, I really want to hear your thoughts on a lot of things. And so draw the student here and we met up with Shin afterwards." And he asked us all about his questions. He asked us, "How did your life change when you started following Jesus?" He asked us questions about truth. And is there an objective truth? And what is an important, why is it important? How does it matter? And it was so sweet to even find specific imagery in his research that he had shared with me to allow him to understand some of these spiritual concepts. The concept of, in math, of a stable point, if you deviate away from that point, even from just a little bit, your entire trajectory may change. You may end up infinitely far away. And so just like that sin, even small changes, what we think of as small changes from God's perfect and beautiful design, they can take us so far away. We can end up having a completely different picture of our life. And he also shared his view of God with us. He said, "Basically my worldview, what I would like to believe at least, is that there is a God and that life is basically fair." And I asked him to share more about that, and he said, "Well, I'm going to give an example using chickens. I think chickens are delicious, and they nourish my body, but I feel kind of bad that I have to take the life of the chicken in order to enjoy that." And so let's say that eating chicken is a sin, then I would hope that after I die, I will be reborn as a chicken, and then I will die as a chicken and be eaten, so it'll just even out that way. And I said, "My friend, that's very interesting. How many chickens would you need to die as in order to atone for your sins? How many animals?" And you have to eat as a chicken. So where does it end? And so what if someone who had no death on his conscience and no sin on his conscience died for us? And we just got to talk about that, and he said, "That would be wonderful." And so she, during the time that we were there, he did not give his life to Christ, but he's continuing to search out and seek answers to his spiritual questions. We connected him with the long-term staff there. And afterwards he sent us a message and he said, "Our conversations made me think a lot about beliefs and about God. It was a pleasure to hear your experiences and your insightful observations. Our discussion has changed me, and it will influence me in the future." And so praise the Lord. He is at work among the nations. Imagine the students' potential influence on the chaos theorists of the world. Imagine his potential influence on the MIT students of Japan, and also on his friends and family, which I and our team, as Americans, we have bigger language and cultural barriers to share with them than he would have as a family member, as a friend. And so I was so deeply blessed to get to be just a small part of what the Lord is doing in Sheen's story. And there are so many ways that I felt personally loved by God in this story. And so one thing about me that you might not know is that math really makes my heart sing and brings me closer to God. I love that math is vast and unsearchable. You could spend a lifetime studying just one small part of math, and yet it's approachable. You can personally experience what is like the journey of putting calculus together. And that is just amazing to me that we can search out the hidden patterns in this world that the Lord has created with beautiful order. And so it was so special to get to talk about math and God together with someone who is excited about both of those things. And it was also really sweet that I was able to be a cultural bridge between our student role and this student has an Asian American. Sometimes that has been a difficult thing, not feeling like I fully belong as an Asian person and not always feeling like I fully belong as an American, but feeling that God really used the fact that I am able to understand both cultures to build a bridge of understanding between these two students. And for us to have that conversation together and to work together and that conversation, how good of God to bring me specifically into that conversation. So many different factors, right? What are the odds that I would have met this specific student? I felt so specifically loved and chosen by God to be there and humble that he has a bigger story at work. And so I just want you to praise the Lord with me for what he is doing in Japan. He is so good to use our team there and he is going to continue to be faithful to grow the Japanese church and to use them among the nations. But also the need in Japan is also a need that is here in Huntsville. Some of you may not know that actually the majority of our English as a second language learners in Huntsville are Japanese by far. So there is a sizable Japanese community here and that is the ministry that I work in day by day. And so it's a unique opportunity to show hospitality to people and in doing so to show the love of Christ. So I'll be in the lobby outside and I'll have a table with some more pictures and more stories and a way that you can sign up if you want to hear more stories about what the Word is doing here in Huntsville. Thank you. Thank you so much for that testimony. [BLANK_AUDIO]
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