Grace Chapel Bible Ministries
Worship Call 1162 Time of Refreshing - 2024/10/15
[MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] Welcome to "Worship Call" with Bible teacher Buzz Lawbet. Buzz is the pastor of Grace Chapel Bible Ministries located in Duncan, South Carolina. This ministry is dedicated to the verse by verse teaching of God's word and discipleship programs aimed at strengthening the faith of God's people. Now here's today's message. From A.W. Tozer, pursuing God, resources that endure. I wish above all things that through thou mayest prosper and be health, be in health. Even as thy soul prospers, and he writes, the people of this world may always fuse and argue over this world's resources. Hope for life, health, financial prosperity, international peace, and a set of favorable circumstances. These resources are good in their own way, but they have a fatal defect. They are uncertain and transitory. Today we have them, tomorrow they are gone. It is this way with all earthly things, since sin came to upset the beautiful order of nature and made the human race victims of chance and change. We desire for all of God's people a full measure of every safe and pure blessing that the earth and sky might unite to bring them. But if in the sovereign will of God things go against us, what do we have left? If life and health are placed in jeopardy, what about our everlasting resource? If the world's foundation crumbled, we still have God, and in him we have everything essential to our ransom being forever. We have Christ, who died for us. We have scriptures, which can never fail. We have a faithful Holy Spirit. If worth comes to worth, here below, we have our Father's house and our Father's welcome. This is the third day of the week in God's created order, the 15th day of the 10th month, 2024th year of our Lord, and this is another fine day in the Lord. Father in heaven, we thank you. We thank you that you are all in all. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that we have something that can never be taken away from us. We thank you, Lord, that we have our Christ. That up until the day, it's in heaven, but he is secure, and for us, that one day he will return to us. This is our hope, and though we may lose everything on this earth, everything that we hold dear to us and everything that we hold, we know that we cannot lose those valuable assets which you have promised for us. So, Heavenly Father, open our hearts to the Word of God this morning, your Word, and may it be a source of refreshing for us all. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. And this is another fine day in the Lord, and glad you're with us this morning. And we are in Acts 19. And Jesus started out this morning that Jesus Christ is our cool drink of water in a dry, thirsty land. And among all that Christ is for us and to us, he is offered to us as living water, and that living water will never, never run out. So, here again, in coming into finishing up with Acts 3, 19, what a powerful verse that is. You know, sometimes, listen, sometimes you'll come to, if you study verse by verse, and even meditate verse by verse, and you come to something, and this is what I find as a pastor. You come, and you say, well, you know, there's not much here. You know, this looks like a good passage. We'll get through this one. You've got some things coming up. And then you start looking at this verse, and it just comes out. And I'll just love this verse, which begins, "Therefore repent and return so that your sins." And in this case, it's national sins. He's talking to the Israelites. Maybe wiped away. In order that the time of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. And they are waiting, as Peter speaks of earlier in Acts, is it time for you to return the... Or establish the kingdom. Okay, let me set this one. Establish the kingdom. Let me go to that verse, by the way. We've got to set this up for you. Sorry about that. Okay, there we go. And here we go. Yeah, let's go back to Acts 1. And right before the ascension. Oh, right here. In verse 6, he says, "So when they had come together, they were asking him, saying, 'Lord, is it time for you to restore the kingdom to Israel?'" And this restoration is kingdom. This is the refreshing. This is the lifting up the oppression in the trials. And again, we're dealing with contact here. And the refreshing is the coming of the Lord. And let's see. To set up his kingdom. This word "refreshing" here, and this word "refreshing" is "anupskusis." And it means to "relief" from distress. Burn some circumstances. Relief, breathing, space. It's something that you look forward to. It's something under a burden, you're carrying a burden, and there is that relief from that burden. Again, Jesus Christ is the relief. He says, "Cast your burdens upon me." And so we could take this in quite a few different ways, but he is our hope. Jesus Christ is our confident expectation for the future. And Daniel 924 is a reflection of the fulfilled prophecy that's going to bring this relief to Jerusalem. And this is Daniel's prophecy. This is what the angel gave to him. "Weeks have been decreed for your people in your holy city to finish the transgressions, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for niquity, to bring an everlasting righteousness, to seal up a vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place so that you are to know and discern that from the issuing of the creed to restore and rebuild the Jerusalem Messiah, the prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. There is the promise of the Messiah, the promise of the anointed one. This is also going to go into our next verse chapter 10 when we speak of the anointed one. So this refreshment comes at the end of the 70th week of Daniel, which is yet to come. The refreshment comes to Israel and is channeled to the rest of the world. You see, Israel, as the Lord had promised Abraham, in you, all families of the earth will be blessed. And so Israel becomes a channel of this blessing, of this rest, of this refreshing. The world is going to be refreshed by the coming of Israel's Messiah. And the world is going to be, it's a principle of the blessing by association. He reads, going back to Genesis, where Abimelech goes to Abraham and makes it covenant with Abraham. Abimelech was not Jewish. He was a Gentile king, but he wanted to have an association with Abraham because he recognized that God blessed him. You see, the world is going to be blessed through that refreshing. When Israel is refreshed, that refreshment is going to be poured out upon the whole world. So the, and while the world is looking, today the world is looking to destroy Israel. I want you to remind you that Israel is the centerpiece of everything to come. It is the centerpiece of history. Israel remains the key to which the world peace and prosperity. I always, I always pick on them, but you've got this, you know, beauty pageant contestant that sets up there and he says, "I'm going to fight for world peace." So, so, so who are you? Are you Jesus Christ? Because only Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace is going to be priests to this world. And again, that peace is going to be channeled through Israel. And so, while we are looking for, while we're looking for means of bringing peace and world to this world, by the way, liberals are, most liberal sources here, they are looking to bring peace to this world, and they're looking for a peace and good environment and all that, and all that's good, and that's on their hearts. But what's, what's, the, the bad thing is that they want a Messiah's list. They want it without Israel, and they want it without their God. But we also have to remember that Israel, again, emphasized the point, Israel is the key. Let's go back to Matthew 2337. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who sent her. How often I want to gather your children together. The way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate. For I say to you, from now on, you will not see me until you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And if Israel don't see their king, neither shall the rest of the world see Israel's king. And so, yeah, once again, the liberal says, "No thanks." They say, "We can do without Israel, we can do without their God, and we can do this upon our own." And that's not going to be. So there are even churches, and false doctrines, that they're advocating the kingdom now theology. They're looking at the church to bring in the kingdom. And there is the kingdom now doctrine that are saying, "We are in the kingdom now." No? Because the kingdom has not been established yet. No? Because Israel has, to this date, has rejected their king. And so, until they say, "Blessed is he who comes into the name of the Lord," until their national sin, until nationally, they come to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord. The kingdom is postponed. So, here is one for the kingdom now crusaders. The kingdom will continue to be postponed, until Israel remains in their unbelief. And if Israel ceases to exist, listen, if Israel ceases to exist, there will be no kingdom, because it is Israel that the kingdom is promised to, as we've read in Acts chapter 1. So Jesus made it clear. Peter speaks of the day of being hastening. And this is interesting. The day being hastening, because you think, "Okay, God's got it." And yes, by decree, God knows we spoke some on Sunday about divine decree. And that He takes from, before the foundation of the earth, He takes every thought, motive, decision, action. Not only from the individual, but also from the nation, as we're speaking of Israel here. And so, there is a volitional means by which did hasten the coming of the Lord. And 2 Peter 3, 11 covers this, this is saying Peter, as preaching in Acts, he says this, says all these things, listen closely, says all these things are to be destroyed in this way. What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? Looking for the hastening, there is a hastening, let's see what that word is, to hasten to hurry. Spudo, the comet looking again, looking for the hastening and the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by the burning of the elements will melt with intense heat. So, there's a volitional aspect to the coming of the Lord, that great terrible day of the Lord, which is going to inaugurate that thousand year peace. So, as we speak of a literal refreshing, and this is truly a historical literal refreshing, to the believers, to those who are in Christ, there is the principle that lies, that we are being refreshed already. It's like I think Heiser said that already, but not yet, we can experience before the literal comes, we can be spiritually refreshing in our spiritual lives as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can have the already, as we are being. And that comes with our spiritual maturity, our teleos, our growing up in the Lord. And with it, we have marks of a mature believer, is the refreshing of the soul. The strength, or I should say, the stability of the mind, the refreshing or the tranquility of the soul. And that's certainly with the doctrine, the doctrine that's circulating within our hearts. As we become students, as we are students of the Word of God, it's through His Word that we grow up. And I remember in my life the turmoil of walking and sin. Even when I thought that I was alright, I was going about my way independent from the Lord, even as a Christian, because I was walking out of bounds, and I wasn't walking by the dependence of His Word. And I looked back on those turbulent times, and they were chaotic. And then I look and compare it to now, not that I've reached it yet, but I keep pressing forward to the objective. But my life didn't start stabilizing until I got into God's Word. And the Scripture became a refreshing to the soul, compared to walking and darkness. And according to the flesh, when I began to get my spiritual footing again, and give back in the Word and my reception that's taken it in, the metabolizing, the applying, the metabolizing, the meditating on, and living by God's Word. There is a refreshing there that comes to the spiritual life. It takes all the worries. It leaves all the worries outside. When we have a coin in Nia with the Lord, our worries are locked outside, and we're just being refreshed by God's Word. And so repentance is returning back to where one had left off. As a Christian, when we sin, we are outside of the boundaries that God wants us. And the longer that we stay out there, we are hounded, and we are depressed, and we are oppressed by the sin nature, by the cosmic system, by the worries of the day. But when we turn, and at that point to recognize, it's not what's being happening to us, it's where we are. And when we repent, and we change our minds, and we come back in, we name our sins, and we come back in. We return back to that coin in Nia. We return back to abiding with the Lord. Now we may still take with us the consequences that, from decisions that we had made from a position of weakness, walking and darkness. But nonetheless, we come back in, and over a period of time, we can start experiencing that refreshing once again. So with assurance that our name sins have been forgiven, and even while dealing with the consequences, we can be assured and we can be comforted by the love of Christ. The promise of God, and the recalling of doctrine from the heart, that is now at the heart of doctrine, the doctrine that's circulating within the heart. We can have a breather, we can have a refresh, even when, even listen, even when chaos loons all around us. So as the writer says in Hebrews chapter 13, 5 through 6, he points out this. Make sure that your character is free from the love of money. Being content with what you have, for he himself has said, "I will never leave you, nor desert you, or forsake you." So that we constantly say, "The Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?" Philippians 4, 6 through 7. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which suppresses all comprehensive, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. And I can't help it. We've got to finish. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is evil, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good to repute. If there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Amen. I love the verse. Philippians 4, 9. The things that you have learned and received and heard and seemed in me practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. John 14, 27. Jesus says, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." So Peter continues in Acts 3, 20. Let's go back to there. And in Acts 3, 20. And that he may send Jesus the Christ appointed to you. So Jesus Christ again, he is the cool drink of water in the drive thirsty land. And nothing tastes better than a cool drink of water when you're so thirsty, when the sun is beaten down and you're out in it and you're dehydrated. And boy, that cool drink of water tastes so great. And that's our Jesus Christ. And it says here that Jesus Christ appointed to you. And this appointment is Prochae, I'll say I've got it here. Prochae wrote, I'm going to get this right. Okay. Prochae rezitomai, rezitomai. I know I've butchered that. Okay, I agree. Okay. But this word anyway, to choose for a particular purpose in advance, to choose in advance, to select beforehand, to designate in advance. Once again, let's look at that, let's look at that birth. Prochae, I'm trying it again. All right. Try to redeem myself, folks. Okay. And that he may send Jesus that he, that he, that God may send Jesus. Jesus means that the name Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. It's equivalent to Joshua. He is our salvation. He is our deliverer and the Christ. And again, he is the refreshing one. It is God. And while, while the world is looking for a, for their own refreshing, while the girl, I think today, the resources that endure with A.W. Tozer, I think he hit it quite well. That while the world is looking for its own refreshing, while it's looking for its own peace, while it's looking for its own relief from the ravages and the evils of this world. Jesus, we have had our refreshing, appointed to us. And that it is our God in heaven. Jesus Christ is the anointed one. He is the one chosen by God. And, and what God did for the Jews, and he, he is the one chosen to be our, our refresh. He is the one chosen to be the prophet to bring us the word. He is the word. He is the longest. He is the one chosen to be our mediator, the one who will reconcile the two parties and dispute us and God. He is the one appointed to be the lamb that will take away the sin of the world. He is our all. He is our comfort. He is our hope. And it's not something that we came up with. Oh, no. Jesus Christ is someone who was appointed by God. And he is the best of the best. God loved us so much. You know, we talk about the sacrifice that man gives to God. We talk about our sacrifices. We talk about our, our efforts to, to sacrifice to God, to bring sacrifices and offerings to God. Well, he offered first. He offered first. It is God who, you know, we talk, talk about the contrast between Cain and Abel and what Abel brought. And then Cain brought this. Abel took great care in that sacrifice to give to the Lord. And I have that in my mind that, that contrast with the two, the heart of the one want to bring, make sure that he brought the best, the first wings of his flock, that he wanted to bring the best to the Lord. With the Lord, Abel brought the best he could. Well, God brought the best that he could to give to us. Hello. And that best was his son, the perfect lamb, without spot and without blemish, the perfect one. And I'll leave it off with this this morning. Understanding that, what kind of life should we live to give? What is it that we can give back to God in response? Our 10% from our income. As in tithing. I've been good little boys and girls. Okay, I'll do this each day. I'll, my prayer, I'll get my prayer life or this, that everything, what percentage of your life. We're never going to repay and we're never going to meet that high quality of standard of what God has, what God has given to us. And the only thing that I can think of, which still will not meet and not compare to what he's already done for us, is my everything. My every thought, my every decision, my every action, not 10% here or not 50% here, but my all. My everything to give back to him, because he took that he appointed, he anointed, he set aside for us, his only son. Let's close it out. Father in heaven, thank you for this opportunity this morning, for all shipping in your word. We thank you Heavenly Father for so great a savior, which you appointed to us. He is our all. He is our refreshing. He is our refresher. He is the one who, he is that cool drink and a dry thirsty lamb. He is our comfort. When everything else in this world is going chaotic, we have our Lord that we can rest in, in a true rest. He's truly our Sabbath. And I pray Heavenly Father, help us. All has been given to us by grace, but grace demands a response. A response of saying, Lord, I love you and what can I give back to you that you so graciously give to me? And the only answer I can come up with is my everything. Help me, Heavenly Father, to live a life that's worthy of that sacrifice and what you've done for us. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen. All right, it's another fine day in the Lord. I pray that you keep pressing forward to the high ground of spiritual maturity, keeping things in, keeping the Lord on the forefront of your mind and your heart, because he is returning. So, until then, we do have our study tonight. We will be streaming and all, if all well, we'll be streaming and zooming at that time. So, we'll have our Q&A tonight and our interaction. So, until then, stay motivated. Lord, keep your armor on. Keep fighting a good fight of faith. Lord, will you spare God round your pain and we'll see you this evening. You can hear this message again as well as previous lessons. And get note by visiting us online at www.gchapel.org. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]
Jesus Christ is our cool drink in a dry thirsty land. Among all that Christ is to us, he is offered to us the living water which we will never thirst again.