Plainfield Christian Church
09-22-24 | Finish Line Faith: Guard the Truth
Welcome to the Plainfield Christian Church podcast. We hope that this message encourages you today. For additional resources to learn about what it looks like to be fully alive with Jesus visit our website at PlainfieldChristian.com. Enjoy the podcast. Morning church. My name is Luke. I get to service one of the ministers here and in the world we live in we are surrounded by so many different voices clamoring for our attention. Every day you're gonna go out and you're gonna hear different opinions, different influencers, different ideas about who we should be, how we should live, even in the realm of those who follow Jesus. You're gonna hear a lot of different truth claims about who God is and what He wants for us, what He wants from us. So how are we supposed to sort out which traditions and ideas are helpful and valid and which ones are not. Have you heard the one about the Christian church preacher, the Catholic priest and the Jewish rabbi who decided that they were gonna have a contest to see which one of them was best at their jobs. The contest was each one of them was supposed to go out into the woods, find a bear and attempt to convert that bear and then they would come back and share about their experiences. So they each went out on their little conquest, they came back and when they got back together they started talking about what had happened and the Christian church preacher went first. He said yeah I went out there and found a bear and I preached to that bear. I preached to that bear Acts 238, repent and be baptized and that bear was so mesmerized by the word of God that He let me dunk him right there in the river. It was just absolutely amazing. Everybody was like whoa you know. And so then it was the Catholic priest's turn and he said yeah I went out and I found a bear too and I started reading to that bear from the catechism. A man he was listening, sprinkled him with some holy water. I'd say it went pretty well. The bear is coming back for his first communion next week. They said what pretty good you know. So then they turned their attention to the Jewish rabbi and they're shocked to see that this guy I mean he is black and blue. He's been beaten up. He's scarred. You can tell he's been bleeding. The guy's laid out in a full body cast on a stretcher. They said man what happened? And the rabbi said well looking back maybe I shouldn't have started with the circumcision. It's a dumb preacher joke. Thank you for laughing. But I do want you to have the spiritual tools to be able to discover apart from man-made traditions or like trendy ideas that happen to be the fad at the time. What is the rock solid eternal truth that is worth building your life upon? One of the early Jesus followers his name was Paul. He talked about this rock solid good news gospel truth that you can trust and how it's not just like man-made religious ideas that have morphed through the ages. Paul says in Galatians chapter 1 I want you to know. He says for you I want you to know brothers and sisters that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man nor was I taught it. Rather he says I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. And our hearts desire is that you would be able to live with that same kind of confidence that this lifestyle isn't just something we do because the other people have done it but that this truth that we're building our lives on as followers of Jesus. This has actually been given to us from God. Like Maureen said we're in a series right now called finish line faith and we're walking through a letter that that guy Paul wrote to his spiritual son in the faith named Timothy. Paul is at the end of his life and he's trying to equip Timothy to run his own race well. And so we're talking about man in the race that God has marked out for you to run how do you finish well? Because how you finish is more important than how you start and if we're just looking around most people do not finish well. And I don't want that to be you I don't want that to be me so how do we finish well. So far we've seen about how we're supposed to remember those who've run before us. We're supposed to look to those who are running after us. We're supposed to rely on God's spirit who lives in us. But today Paul's gonna say if you want to finish well you have to guard the truth. Guard the truth. He says we're gonna pick things up today in verse 13. If you're really paying attention you'll notice we're skipping verses 8 through 12. That's because my dad has agreed to come and be my fill-in preacher and to preach verses 8 through 12. I expected to have a baby this week. My wife is great with child. He has decided not yet to arrive. So my dad will double back and cover that portion whenever this dude decides to make his appearance. But for now we're gonna skip those verses and we're gonna start in verse 13. This is what Paul says about how we can build our lives on the rock solid truth. He says what you heard from me, the truth, the gospel, he said keep it. Keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Paul says you know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me including Phagellus and Hermogenes. May the Lord show mercy though to the household of Onessephorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. On the contrary when he was in Rome he searched hard for me until he found me. May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus. You then Paul says my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witnesses in trust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. So Paul is saying this gospel that's just a fancy church word for good news. The good news of what Jesus has done for us. This truth that we are building our lives upon as followers of Jesus. The truth as Jesus would say in his words that the Kingdom of God is at hand as we would say here at PCC that you can become fully alive in Jesus all because of the death of Jesus Christ on your behalf. His resurrection from the dead. His ascension into heaven where he is seated right now at the right hand of God the Father reigning over all things as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and his promised return where he will one day establish his kingdom fully and make all things new. That good news that gospel that is a treasure Paul says that has been passed down to you. Do you have like a family heirloom of any kind something you've inherited maybe that's been passed down from generation to generation in your family. I have a few of those things and they're really special to me. My hero as a kid was my grandpa Don. I'm named after him my full name is Luke Donald Proctor and like it's not a super cool name you never gonna meet a movie star named Luke Donald Proctor sounds like you're gargling a mouth full of rocks right but I'm proud of that name because I carry my grandpa's name with me. My grandpa was my hero he was a Navy man big barrel-chested farmer in southwest Missouri he was the catcher for the town baseball team and later in life when he gave his life to Jesus eventually he became an elder in the local church and as a kid I got to go live it with him in the summers with he and my grandma and spend time on the weekends up there working on the farm alongside him and then later when my grandpa died I inherited some of the things that belonged to him. I got the old 22 rifle that my grandpa bought when he got home from World War II that he used to shoot the jackrabbits that were getting into the soybeans. I get to wear my grandpa's wedding ring that he put on his finger when he said I do to my grandma in 1950 and this reminds me of the heritage that I've been given the legacy that I get to live into also because I have a gracious wife I have a garage with two antique tractors in it and and I've been given these tractors I met I've a 1943 John Deere 1952 Farmall both of them are family heirlooms they've been passed down from generation to generation I love to tinker on them it's a goofy hobby and it might sound weird to you but those tractors are really special to me they remind me of the heritage that I get to live into and I hope someday I get to pass them on to my sons and Paul says the gospel the good news of what God has done for you in Jesus way better than in the old antique tractor this is what has been passed down to you generation from generation to generation all the way back to Jesus himself now Paul says that the gospel he uses two specific images in those verses we just read to describe what you've been given first of all he says it's a blueprint and secondly he says it's a deposit a blueprint and a deposit I'd like to explore both of those images with you today we're going to drill a little deeper because if you want to be somebody who finishes well Paul says we have to guard the truth so the question is how do you guard the truth let's explore those images first of all Paul says you have to preserve the blueprint how do you guard the truth you preserve the blueprint Paul picks it up in verse 13 this is what he says he says what you heard from me that the good news of what Jesus has done for you he said keep as the pattern of sound teaching that word pattern there it's the same Greek word as blueprint it is an architect sketch it's what you use to build the building in other words he says you don't have to modify that truth you don't need to revise it or adapt it the blueprint that you have been given is sufficient to build the house to build the life that God designed for you preserve the blueprint and here's how we know that's true because every single time Satan wants to lead the world astray how does he do it well he starts by sowing seeds of doubt about the blueprint he makes Adam and Eve in the beginning doubt the word of God the very first words we ever hear the devil say Genesis chapter 3 verse 1 did God really say when Satan wants to ruin the world he doesn't hit Eve with a stick he hits her with a lie and so she believed the seeds of doubt that God's blueprint really was good enough for the life she wanted and so we've all felt the effects ever since and we've all believed the same lie since then I want you to know though that you can trust this blueprint that has been given to you now we don't have time today to go into the science of textual criticism but I want you to know that the Bible that you have in your hands is the most well preserved widely duplicated and broadly studied book of all time it is the most accurate ancient document in human history and its supernatural power has been demonstrated in billions of lives over thousands of years this book right here please don't ever forget that thousands upon thousands of people have given their lives and have even died so that you and I could have access to God's blueprint for our lives in a language that we can understand this is an incredible gift that we have been given and this blueprint matters a lot now there are some fields of study where close enough is good enough if you know what I mean when we be working on something in the shop with my grandpa he'd say well it's good enough that a man riding by on a fast horse couldn't tell the difference in other words like good enough close enough is good enough but there are some fields where that's not true for example if 99.9% was good enough for maternity nurses you can do the math that means every day in the United States 12 babies would go home with the wrong family sometimes close enough ain't good enough and Paul says when you're preserving this blueprint we have to get it right now if you're a nerd and sometimes you like to read through history like I do you'll notice that in every single generation there are false ideas about God that rise up heresies things like that and it's the call of each generation in its time in its own cultural moment to clarify the truth of what God intended from the blueprint of God's word and I'm gonna nerd out here for just a minute we're gonna walk real quick through some of those false ideas and how Christians have preserved the blueprint throughout history if that's not of interest to you you can take a three-minute nap and I'll wake you up when we're done does that sound okay if you rewind all the way back to the time when the Bible was being written there were some people who called the Gnostics and the Gnostics basically said that spiritual things are good and all material things are bad material things like flesh things you can see and touch and taste and feel the physical world but the church said no no no no that's not it and the church doubled down on the glorious goodness of creation and what it means to be embodied human beings and how we're headed toward a real physical heaven experience not just a spiritual heaven experience and so they preserved the blueprint after that a guy named Marcian came along and he said you know that that God of the Old Testament he's mean he's violent we don't really understand him but we like Jesus we should abandon the Old Testament it's not really relevant for the Christian life let's just stick with the New Testament but the church doubled down and they said actually no that's not true there's only one God and he never changes he's as gracious in the Old Testament as he is in the new and all of his scripture is meant to lead us to Jesus they preserved the blueprint then there were some people called the dossatists who said that Jesus was fully God but that he wasn't fully human and so the church doubled down and they said that no God wasn't Jesus wasn't just God he was also fully man and the beauty of Jesus becoming man is that he was tempted like us and he got tired like us and he got sick and he slept and he ate like us and the only way he could actually be Emmanuel God with us is if he took on our flesh and became fully man they preserved the blueprint and then some people called the Donatists came along and they said that we should abandon weak and wavering Christians who faltered in their faith that then their faith was invalid and the church doubled down and they gave grace to those who waffle and who struggle like you and me and through their efforts the mercy of God shown brighter and ever and they preserved the blueprint then there was a guy named Pelasius and Pelasius basically said that living out your faith requires you to muster up the willpower to be good on your own try harder do better but the church doubled down to show actually we are so wildly sinful that everything we do is messed up no matter how hard we try you don't have the power to be good on your own but in your moment of need you meet God's grace and he will supply the power you need to live the Christian life they preserved the blueprint and a guy named Arias came along and he said this whole idea about like a Trinity they're being one God and three persons God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit that makes no sense it's completely nuts and the church doubled down and they said yeah actually you're right it doesn't make a ton of sense but the Bible says it and it reveals the transcendent beauty of self-giving love that lies at the very center of the triune Godhead they preserved the blueprint if you fell asleep you can wake back up now and so in our day we're gonna walk out we're gonna hear ideas too and it's our call to help preserve the blueprint you're gonna walk out and you're gonna hear people talk about how God's words not really authoritative but we get to double down and show that this blueprint is God breathed and you're gonna walk out and you're gonna hear heresies you're gonna hear false ideas about God you're gonna hear ideas about gender and sexuality and marriage and the value of human life that are not in alignment with the blueprint we've been given and it's our call as the church to double down in love in love and to show the world the beauty of being made in the image of God and to show the world the beauty of covenant love and to show the world the beauty of self-restraint and to show the world the beauty and the freedom of absolute truth we're called to preserve the blueprint to in our day and so in a world where you're gonna walk out and you're gonna hear false ideas here's the question how do you preserve the blueprint how do you become a person who does this for quick tips for you here's number one stay plugged in stay plugged in imagine with me that you ironed your clothes some of you ironed your clothes this morning and then you took that hot iron and let's say you put it in your refrigerator okay now how long do you think your iron would stay hot in the refrigerator things pretty warm it probably stay warm for a few minutes right but eventually the ecosystem always wins and so after a little while you could go open back up the door of your refrigerator and your iron would be as cold as everything else in the fridge right unless you strung the cord out the door and you plugged it in and then your iron could stay hot at the refrigerator every bit as long as you needed it to right you're going out into a refrigerator world and the only way that you're gonna be faithful finished well and preserve the blueprint is if you stay plugged in man I'm gonna get on my shameless soapbox you need a daily time that you're spending time with Jesus I don't even care what it looks like just get the habit of being in God's words soaking yourself with truth if you have not started the habit this is a great simple little tool they're all around the building grab one of these journals you have to stay plugged in if you're gonna finish well here's tip number two if you want to preserve the blueprint look at the fruit that means when you hear a new idea about God or what it means to follow God ask okay what is the fruit of this idea what does it lead to when you hear a truth claim from somebody look at that person and say okay what is the fruit of their life what's coming from this have you ever heard the one about the mom who is visiting her son and she was having dinner with him and his female roommate the mom was pretty suspicious of this arrangement naturally she's starting to wonder if there's more going on here than just being roommates and the son could tell what his mom was thinking so he said mom I I promise we're just roommates nothing more well about a week later the roommate came up to the young man she said you know ever since your mother came for dinner I can't find the silver plate you don't think she took our silver plate do you and so the son sat down and he wrote his mom an email he said dear mother I'm not saying that you did take the silver plate from the house and I'm not saying that you didn't take the silver plate from the house but the fact remains that it has been missing ever since you were here for dinner love your son a few days later the mom replied back saying dear son I'm not saying she is more than a roommate and I'm not saying she's not more than a roommate but the fact remains that if you were sleeping in your own bed you would have found the silver plate under the pillow by now love mom and Jesus says if you want to know whether something's legit or not you don't just take those words at face value you look at the fruit of where they're going of what it's leading to did you notice when Paul's talking about the blueprint here in verse 13 take a look at what he says he says keep as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus when you hear a new idea you could ask the question does this lead me to less faith or more faith in God does this lead me to less love or more love does this person lead me to less faith or more faith less love or more love you have to look at the fruit here's the third thing follow the wise if you want to preserve the blueprint follow the wise and if you are not sure whether a specific teaching is legit or not you can look to and talk to those who have followed Jesus longer than you both throughout history and in this room we get to follow the example of people who know the blueprint well I'm so thankful to be in a church where we have an awesome group of elders there's some of the best men I know and they work really hard tirelessly behind the scenes working and praying to make sure that we as a church are being faithful to God's blueprint we get to follow the wise as a church that's it that's a gift follow the wise and here's the fourth thing ask God for help ask God for help all of us have opinions thing is none of us have opinions that are 100% correct right you might think you're right I think I'm right about everything I have an opinion about but I know I'm wrong about some of the things I believe I wish I knew which things it was the fact is though that even though you and I don't have all the answers we do know know the God who does in the verse right before this section Paul is talking about what gives him confidence in what he believes and teaches and it's interesting that what gives Paul confidence isn't his missionary credentials it's not his Roman citizenship it's not his theological training it's not his status as an apostle Paul says what gives him confidence in what he believes is that he knows God he says what gives me confidence is that I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced that he is able to guard what I've entrusted to him until that day so you can ask God for help to preserve the blueprint if you're going to finish well preserve the blueprint here's the second image though that Paul gave us in those verses we read preserve the blueprint and pass on the deposit pass on the deposit notice in verse 14 Paul says that we are supposed to guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us but we don't just guard it we also pass it on chapter 2 verse 2 he says in the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witnesses in trust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others this gospel truth the good news of what Jesus has done for us that the gospel that you are more broken than you could possibly imagine but that you are more loved than you ever dared to hope and that by believing and surrendering and swearing allegiance to Jesus who died and rose on your behalf and being baptized in his name you can receive forgiveness of all your sins you can be filled with the presence of God's Holy Spirit you can be given present in the here and now and a future hope and glory that gospel is like a deposit of a million dollar diamond in the bank but that million dollar diamond isn't just for you it's something that's meant to be passed from person to person and generation to generation just like the Olympic torch from runner to runner to runner pass it on Paul is reminding Timothy here that he is just one link in a long chain of redemption we read earlier how the message went from Jesus to Paul the message went from Paul to Timothy now Paul's saying Timothy entrusts that message to reliable people reliable people who are also going to entrusted to others if you have heard the good news of what Jesus has done for you you heard it because somebody cared enough to share it with you and we're called to do the same thing so how do you become somebody who passes on the deposit of the good news and again four tips here's the first one look for potential look for potential like you have to look for people who want to hear the good news last year you may have been watching the news and you might remember that horrific earthquake that happened in Turkey it was awful tens of thousands of people died and disaster relief experts will tell you that after a disaster like that the vast majority of successful rescues happen within the first 24 hours because after that the human body can only withstand so much but it made headlines last year when after 12 days after 278 hours one man was rescued alive from under the rubble of his destroyed home I read that story it's just incredible but I don't know which is more amazing that after 278 hours he was still alive or that after 278 hours people were still looking for him you and I are called to be people who are looking for those who need rescue looking for those who need life and are desperate for it to pass on the deposit we look for potential in people by that I mean look for people whose lives are trending toward Jesus one of our elders has talked about this in a way that was helpful for me he talks about how he assesses people's spiritual maturity not based so much on where they are right now but based on where they're headed in other words you get up to people who are at the exact same level of spiritual maturity right now but they're trending in very different directions one person might have been a Christian for 30 years but they've grown stagnant in their faith and they're slowly starting to to stagnate and backslide but the other person might have just become a Christian recently they're on fire for Jesus and they're growing in Christ's likeness and right now they just happen to be at the same level so part of what Jesus does when he sends his disciples out to share the good news is he instructs them to look for a person of peace like look for people who want it look for people whose lives are trending toward Jesus look for potential that's the first thing here's the second thing if you want to pass on the deposit remember eternity you got your steel toe boots on this morning because the Bible is gonna step on your toes a little bit Hebrews chapter 9 says this just as people are destined to die once and after that to face judgment so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many and he will appear a second time not to bear sin but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him you and I are destined to die every single person in this room the statistics on death are pretty clear one out of every one person dies and when we die we face judgment it's what the Bible says so are you ready for that because the Bible says we've got one shot to get ready and it's the years we've been entrusted with here on this earth years ago there was a preacher in Boston named Phillips Brooks and he was on his deathbed and eventually he got so sick that he asked that none of his family and friends come visit him anymore he just didn't have the strength he was he was too weak but he also had a friend who is a famous atheist he was an opponent of the church his name was Robert Ingersoll and when Ingersoll heard that Phillips Brooks was dying he asked to visit and surprisingly Phillips Brooks said yes come on in and so when he arrived mr. Ingersoll asked him he said why are you letting me visit you when you've turned everybody else away and Phillips Brooks said well I feel confident of seeing my other friends in the next life but this may be my last chance to visit with you if you're anything like me and you struggle sometimes to feel motivated to share your faith you struggle to get over the hump and have a spiritual conversation with your friend or you struggle to muster up the courage to pray with your family or to share it with somebody why you love Jesus or to tell that person that Jesus died for them maybe the motivation you need is to remember eternity we're not just playing church games here heaven and hell are really at stake I heard a story and and I can't verify it but it's a good story about the Korean war and you've seen and read enough stuff you know this that in the heat of war doctors and nurses on the field are so busy binding wounds and desperately trying to help people who are wounded but the sad reality of wartime is that you can't help everybody and you start to have to prioritize because there's some soldiers that there's just nothing you can do they're too far gone it's too late and so if you spend too much time on them that could actually jeopardize others others that you could help who could be saved and they might die and so in the Korean war they made this system of tags to categorize the wounded a blue tag means you're not that bad give him some medicines stitch him up you're gonna be fine you'll get to go home a yellow tag means you have a chance but you need life-saving surgery immediately if you're gonna make it and a red tag means you're too far gone I'm sorry there's nothing we can do just a shot of morphine to make you comfortable and help you die peacefully and so one day a wounded soldier came into the field clinic there and and it was bad the doctor took one look and just wrote a big red X on his chart the nurse came in after the doctor and she clipped a red tag on that soldiers boot and they walked out of the room and then just as the next nurse came in to give that soldier a shot of morphine essentially just to put him out of his misery the soldier came to he regained consciousness he saw the nurse with the morphine he put two and two together realized what was about to happen and he said listen listen listen he said I know I'm about to die but I need you to do something he said I promised my wife I'd come home I promised my kids I'd make it home can you just tell him I'm sorry the soldier was crying he's pleading with her well the nurse she she never had anything like that happened before and so with tears in her eyes she she looked around real quick she grabbed her scissors snipped off the red tag and put a yellow tag on his boot instead sent that soldier off into surgery now she's not supposed to do that that could cost another soldier his life and that nurse she didn't know what happened to him a week went by two weeks a month and still she she never heard anything about him had no idea what happened to that soldier at least she thought well at least I did something but then one day a while later a military helicopter landed right there in front of the field hospital on the lawn and out of it stepped a general in uniform and he barked in order immediately he said I want every soldier doctor and nurse in this place to report right here right now and so eventually the whole staff gathered out there they saluted and they waited to hear what the general had to say and the general held up a clipboard had a bid reg X on it he said there was a soldier here who's supposed to die but somebody in this hospital changed his tag from red to yellow who did it well I mean this was against protocol was a dangerous thing to do the nurse knew it she's in big trouble so she just kept her head down she didn't say anything but she also didn't want anybody else to get in trouble so the general hollard again who did it finally the nurse raised her hand she said it was me I'm sorry sir I did it and the general ran up to the nurse he grabbed her hand and he said that was my son you saved my son and today he's home with his wife and his kids because you changed his tag thank you and you know you and me in this brief little life we've been given these brief little years on this planet the almighty God of heaven has entrusted us with the holy and eternal calling of being tag changers you and I get to walk out into the world with the gospel in our hands that holds for people the power of eternal life and eternal death and I don't know exactly why God chose to do it that way but he did and he's placed it in our hands and so you and I get to walk out there and give comfort for the dying and purpose for the living and hope for the hopeless and strength for the weary so my challenge to you is please please please remember eternity remember what God has entrusted to us but even if you walk out there today let's be honest if you walk out and you say okay I want to pass on the deposit I want to do my part to share the gospel here's the third tip the conversation is going to get weird probably right it's not going to be comfortable so you just got to embrace the awkward Paul even talks about that in those verses we read did you catch it verses 15 through 17 Paul says you know everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me including Phagellus and Hermogenes but may the Lord show mercy to the household of Onessephorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains on the contrary when he was in Rome he searched hard for me until he found me put yourself in Onessephorus's shoes here for a second Paul is in prison in Rome and so Onessephorus walks into the capital city of the Roman Empire and says hey I've got this friend this Paul guy he's on death row for high trees and against Caesar and I'd really like to help him out can anybody help me find him like made you think that led to some awkward conversations of course it did and those other guys like Phagellus and Hermogenes they probably were bad guys they just gave up when things got hard and awkward and so are you willing to endure and embrace awkward weird difficult moments to be faithful because it's gonna happen when you follow Jesus if you're gonna pass on this deposit share the gospel if you're gonna finish well maybe your family's gonna think your nuts your co-workers are gonna look at you when you don't talk the same way that they do you're gonna budget differently because you're a kingdom generous person now so you're not gonna be able to keep up with your peers in the same way your friends are gonna look at you a little funny are you willing to endure and embrace that level of awkwardness because this blueprint right here this deposit says that's what it takes to be faithful and to finish well first Peter chapter four says don't be surprised when fiery trials come on you like that's some kind of an abnormal thing rather rejoice that you get to suffer with and for Jesus Matthew chapter five Jesus says you are blessed when people talk trash about you because you follow me Philippians chapter three says you're only gonna get to participate in Christ's resurrection if you also participate in Christ's suffering James chapter one says count it all joy when you face trials of many kinds sometimes sometimes being faithful passing this deposit on is just gonna be hard and awkward but here's my challenge for you we'll land right here tip number four when that's true trust the gospel trust the gospel this blueprint this deposit yeah we got to protect it we got to pass it on guard the truth that's the title of the sermon today but that's a little bit misleading because at the end of the day we don't really guard the truth the truth guards us the gospels not like some fragile vase on a stand in your grandma's house that you're worried about protecting because your kids are going crazy and you're scared they're gonna knock it over and shatter it to a thousand pieces is that just my kids or somebody else the gospel is not made out of fine China the gospel is not stuffed away in some China cabinet in the corner of the house away from the real world because it's not strong enough to withstand it and it's got to stay in the case shiny while you go live your life the gospels not made out of fine China the gospel is a bulldozer relentlessly advancing with unstoppable eternal force and it's just our job to try to run out ahead of it and clear the path so trust the gospel even when it gets difficult you know when I stepped into this role a couple years ago there were a lot of days where I just felt overwhelmed didn't know what to do and I still I still feel that all the time like it feels like every day I walk in here and I come face to face with the end of my own wisdom and I'm like this is too much I don't know what to do and so on one of those days I called my dad and I was just overwhelmed didn't know what to do so I gripe to him for a little while and you know that old man don't tell him this but he's wiser than I give him credit for and he said son you just preach the word and when you do good things will happen and when they do you keep your hands off God's glory okay dad trust the gospel God's put this opportunity in our hands but it's not like the kingdom's gonna fail and the gospel's gonna crumble if you and I mess it up which we do every single day that's what gives us the confidence to say like Paul says in Romans chapter one I'm not ashamed of the gospel it's the power of God I'm not the power of God the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes and that's the good news for you and me this morning so I don't know where you find yourself today I don't really don't even know what you need from this text to be honest maybe you're running your race and you're headed in the right direction and you just need to kick in the pants and a shot of energy and you just need to go keep going good job but maybe you're here this morning and you're thinking finish well I ain't even started well I've messed up this race so bad I'm not even sure which direction I'm supposed to be running and the good news is that this gospel the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his promise that if you will swear allegiance to him he will fill you with his Holy Spirit and make you fully alive that gospel is still enough to change you from the inside out there's no story too messy to be rewritten and for you to finish well by the power of God so what do you need today maybe you just need to trust that gospel maybe you need to trust Jesus and surrender to him for the first time we're ready for you the prayer team is going to be gathered around the edges of the room here in a few minutes they've got their glowing lanyards on anything going on in your world we'd love we'd love to talk with you pray for you maybe you need to embrace the awkward God's been asking you to do something difficult and you're just pushing him off maybe though you need to remember eternity that you've just been kind of playing the game and you've forgotten the stakes of this faith that we have maybe you need to look for potential because God's put somebody in your relational circle who's trending toward Jesus and they just need a nudge they need an arm around their shoulder and that could be you maybe you need to follow the wise that you just need to ask some people in your life to say hey would you show me how to follow Jesus maybe you need to ask God for help maybe maybe you need to stay plugged in that you just felt convicted you need to start building that habit into your life I don't know what you need but God does and my guess is you do too so for just a moment would you take a deep breath invite God into your mind in your heart and would you ask him to put in your mind a face the face of someone in your life who needs the gospel someone that you can pass on this deposit to somebody who needs the hope of the death and the resurrection of Jesus ask for a face and so Lord we trust you put these faces in our minds and man this is a little scary but we ask that you would even just pave the path before us this week that you give us the courage to be faithful to pass on this good news of the hope that we have to that person to love them well and we need your help for that I hope you got the communion elements when you walked in today if you didn't there's some containers in the back of the room you can feel free to get up and get them now there's no shame in standing up every week we do this to remember what Jesus has done for us this deposit that has been entrusted to us on the last night of his life right before he died for us Jesus passed around a piece of bread to his friends he said this is my body is given for you a few hours later Jesus his body would be whipped it would be beaten would be nailed to the cross nails in his hands and his feet so that our sins could be paid for on that same night he passed around a cup of wine to his friends and he said this is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins and a few hours later his blood would be poured out as he was whipped as the crown of thorns was jammed on his head as the nails pierced him as a spear jammed up into his side the blood spilled on the ground and forever washed you and I claim when we trust him and so I'm gonna give you a moment to receive the bread on your own and to tell Jesus thank you for what he has done and then I'll pray and we'll receive the cup together [Music] [Music] [Music] and so Jesus man we are humbled and we're scared that you would entrust this to us this good news of what you have done to rescue the world to rescue us and we want to be faithful to share it we want to be faithful to pass it down to those who come behind us so that the chain will remain unbroken we can't do it on our own Lord you know how much we have failed and messed up like this week so we praise you for your death and for your resurrection for your blood that washes us clean and we are a little scared to ask it but we ask that you would put somebody in our path this week who needs to hear about the hope that we have and that we'd be faithful to answer that call walk through that door when you put it there we love you it's in your name Jesus that all God's people said amen this is the blood of Christ let's stand together and worship our King thank you for listening to the podcast today it is our deepest desire here at Plainfield Christian Church that you would experience the joy of being fully alive in Jesus if you have any questions about our church or would like a plan to visit with us go to PlainfieldChristian.com if you'd like to receive our podcast every week we encourage you to subscribe to the Plainfield Christian Church podcast on whatever podcasting platform you prefer have a great week (upbeat music) (upbeat music)