[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 830 or 10:30 a.m. If you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, find
[email protected] dot. Be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Good morning, everybody. I know that you all are movie watchers like myself. And I know you probably have a litany of movies that you thought you would never watch, and then you watched them and they were better than you thought they would be. Well, let me take you back to the mid nineties. There was a movie called Mister Holland's Opus. Now, for those who are very musically inclined, this is probably one of your go to's. It's a great movie about music and about kind of overcoming challenges and the impact that a person can have on so many people. But for me, you know, I like sports movies. I like action movies. I like heroes. I like historical things. I like things that are peppy and move. Otherwise, my kids and my family will tell you that I fall asleep in those movies, right? But back in the nineties, I didn't care anything about this. I had zero interest in watching Mister Holland's opus. But as is the case and things that happen in your life, a pretty girl can get you to do just about anything. And so Cindy asked me if I would watch Mister Hollins opus. I could not have cared less about it. And you may be asking yourself, what is an opus? And why does Mister Hollins have. Well, I don't know. The opus is an arrangement or a collection of musical writings, okay. Or these different symphonies, okay. That people would write. And Mister Holland was a musician who really and truly wanted to be one of those guys who wrote these beautiful symphonies that were played in these big concert halls. And that was his aspiration in life. And so as you look at the story, he has these ambitions. But, you know, in the world of music, sometimes, you know, there's not enough to go around to be able to pay bills. And his wife said, hey, we need you to find something that's a little bit more stable, that will help us as a family survive financially. So he kind of writes the symphony, or is in the midst of writing the symphony and kind of lays it aside, puts it on hold, because he needs to do what's best for his family. So he goes to teach school. Well, he inherits, in 1964, a band that was not very good, had a lot of work to be done. And he began building the energy in that. Now, this happened in a time of life in our country where some people were beginning to introduce rock and roll into our world. And because of that, the world thought that rock and roll was of the devil and evil. And so we were told the kids weren't supposed to listen to that. That's kid music. It's not real music. But as Mister Holland was teaching, he recognized that they weren't for this intricate and well designed symphonies. They were more into the things that they heard on the radio. He began to introduce some of those rock and roll tunes into their work. And what happened is they naturally became more excited about music and more into the different melodies and the different things that could be created. So Mister Holland had really done a great thing. In fact, he would spend time working with some of them individually and just work with them on and on and on. And so you fast forward 30 years of this kind of emphasis and this kind of energy into the music program. Well, not only did Mister Holland build a great band and build, you know, his reputation in the community, he began to get a lot of people excited so much that he was one of the most popular teachers on campus. Everybody loved him because he helped them play rock and roll music. And so they were excited about that. 30 years passes, and everything is fantastic except for. And you know how this works in the school system. Sometimes there was a limit of funding, and something had to be cut. And so after 30 years, the principal comes to him and says, we've got to cut music, and I'm so sorry about that. And so really, without fanfare, without an opportunity to really retire, it was one of those things where he was kind of forced into this moment. And so the final day of school comes, and all of those things that he thought he might be doing with his life had dissipated in the background of his dream.
But as he's collecting his box and his things and as he's leaving the school that day, it's quiet everywhere, and it's sort of like a ghost town. And so he walks around with his box, and his wife and his son are there to help him collect his things. And all of a sudden, he begins to hear a lot of rumble in the auditorium. And so he's like, well, who would be here in the auditorium? So he goes to the auditorium.
And as he walks in, everybody stands up and greets him. And everybody is clapping their hands and congratulating him on a great career. And there was a big banner that said, thank you, Mister Holland. And so as he's walking down the aisle, he begins to look. And he sees not just the students of the here and now, but all of the students that he had had an impact over the years. Because they had all come together to celebrate his big accomplishments. And the young lady with the clarinet. Well, 30 years later, guess who she is? She's the governor of the state.
And she comes in and she walks in. And she's the special guest, teacher, speaker. And she comes and she starts talking about Mister Holland. And she says this, Mister Holland, we are your symphony.
And she said, you may have thought that all of those things that you dreamed of. That maybe your time here on earth has been misspent in some way or another. But we are your symphony. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are your life of music. And of course, it touches him so much. And she says, I want to give you something that you have never seen or heard. And for 30 years, you've wanted this moment. And so she joins the rest of the students on stage. To play, for the first time, Mister Holland's symphony.
And they play it, and they play it. And he's so touched by it. And it's the first time he ever heard that music play. And as I was thinking about that and the speech that the governor gave, it reminded me so much. Even in terms of ministry. I couldn't help but find myself as I was looking at this. He did what he did. And it wasn't about the music. It was about the investment that he had in other people's lives. And I found myself thinking to myself as I listened to him play this music. Or as he directs that group. And as he's blown away by that and he hears it for the first time. But he. He sees around him all the people who have been influenced by his work. And it just made me think, aren't we at our best when we use our passions to become our ministry to other people? And I thought about that as I looked at this story of Mister Holland and his opus. How that impact was greater than the music that was shared. It was about his investment in their lives. And how he had changed all those people. And while we may look at our life and wonder, what is this all for? And what am I accomplishing? I want you to recognize that there are opportunities in front of you right now every day to be an influence on other people. We're in acts chapter nine. This morning. We're continuing this series on arise life. This is another one of those stories where someone was brought from death to life. It's a beautiful story, and I want us to see the connections between this illustration that I just shared and what this lady did. It says there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha. And it says, that is translated Dorcas. In other words, there's an aramaic term or name which is Tabitha, and the greek equivalent to that is Dorcas. And you can cue all the playground jokes you want to, you know, who is she? Well, she's a dorcas. You know, that kind of thing. But in these days, it would not have felt that way. In fact, that word just meant gazelle. It was a very flattering name, and it was one that, because we recognize that she in this text, that it's highlighted that she had an aramaic name but also a greek name. It tells us that she had impact with people in both of these cultures. And because we know a little bit about Joppa, if you go back in your Bible and you look to Jonah, when Jonah was told to go to preach to the people at Nineveh, it says he went in the opposite direction toward Tarshish. Well, do you know where he tried to sell out of? It was Joppa. Joppa was the major port city during those times. And so not only was it in connection maybe 25 miles away from Jerusalem and had that jewish influence, but because of all the goods and the things that they brought into port, there was a huge greek influence as well. So the fact that she had a name that people would recognize, both the aramaic and the greek name, tells us a little bit about who she was and how she had an impact on lots of different people. What does it say about her? First of all, it says that she's a disciple. And it's interesting that this word that is used for disciple is the only one of its kind in all the New Testament, and it lists her as a female pupil or learner. We know what a disciple is, right? A disciple is someone who sits at the feet of someone and studies and learns and then begins to teach those same things. It's a person who, you know, learns it so they can share that with other people. But in this case, it seems that the scriptures kind of elevate her a little bit, at least in her reputation and what people knew about her, that this was someone that was specifically viewed as man, a disciple of Jesus Christ, a person who learned about Jesus and who knew about him. It's interesting. We see a lot of different ladies in scriptures. Priscilla, we see Mary Magdalene, we see Mary and Martha. We see a lot of different names that are listed, but none of them are given this same designation, which may elevate her a little bit in just the sense of who she was and the kind of influence that she might have had. And I think we'll see through this text that that was in fact the case. But it also says about her, and this is really all that we know about her. We can speculate about her background. We can say there's no husband in this situation. So was she also a widow or was she a person who was just, you know, maybe well off and could handle some things? Did she never marry? We don't really know. Was she old? Was she young? There's no real clear picture of who she was as far as, like, what made her the way she was, except for the fact that she had a really good heart. And it says that she was full of good works and acts of charity. And you may think to yourself that those things are the same because when you think about charity, you may think her love and goodness and those kinds of things and good works. Maybe this is just like a different way to say the same thing. But in actuality, good works were this. They were things that were just intrinsically good. In other words, you'd see her do something and immediately you'd think, man, I mean, isn't that the way we all should be? I remember someone describing a guy that many of you will know. His name is Robert Johnson. He was here for years and years and his family there in the Tuscaloosa area. Now, Robert is such a good guy. And Robert would make fun of himself when he would talk. He said, I just can't get things together. I would say, you know, he would say things like me in words or like, you know, this. Like, he could not articulate exactly what he wanted to articulate. But when I heard people talk about him, they would say things like, he's just. He's just so good. And he was. He was such a great servant here and such a good man, and he was just salt of the earth type person, right? Well, I think that's what we're talking about. A person who does these good works is they do things and everyone notices around them like that. That is the very nature of God. That is the very identity of Jesus and what he would have done. So she was a person empowered by God, through faith in him, to do these things that were representative of who Jesus was, but also acts of charity. And specifically, this came to be a representation of how she would help people who were in big time needed. So it would be the poor, it would be the widows, it would be different people who had no one to take care of them. She apparently opened up her doors. We get the impression that she had some kind of big house, maybe almost like a community center, where people would come together and do different things, and she would encourage them and be with them and be a blessing to them. But she was actively and catch this, folks, because we as christians need to be this way, too, right here in Madison, Alabama. She was actively seeking those who were in need of mercy. And that is such a beautiful and just an awesome description of a person who is to be a representative of Christ. Jesus said this about people who followed him.
He said, students are not greater than their teacher, but the student who is fully trained will become, like the teacher goes on to say, for no good tree bears bad fruit. The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart, produces good. I think what's important for us to be reminded of is, is we know what the Bible says. We can read it, and we can see its truth. But being a disciple and being a true disciple is different than that. It's more than education. It's more than the awareness of what God wants us to be. You know, a real disciple takes what God has to say and then compares it to themselves and sees how they're living their life. And it transformed the way they think about things. It challenges them to say, that's not equal. These things are not the same. And so, because I know this is God's word and it is right, I will change who I am to represent more beautifully what this says. So it's all about that applied renovation. It's a constant and perpetual working on ourselves. And I hope all of us are in the midst of this, in our lives. I think none of us are there. No one has arrived. But all of us ought to be the kind that are looking for a way for us to grow in our relationship and take God's truths and let them transform us. That is what is said about Dorcas here. And so, naturally, the good works are inevitable. They're an inevitable produce of a living faith. And that's, in fact, what James chapter two says, right talks about, you know, show me my faith and by my works and those kinds of things. And ultimately, faith without works is dead. It's useless. It's no good if my faith doesn't challenge me or push me or evoke something inside of me to be active in my expression of that faith and doing for others and serving God. If it's not there, then that's a useless thing. Ephesians chapter two, verse ten, says that God is putting these things in front of us all the time. There's opportunity for good works right there in front of you all the time. And it's up to us to be his workmanship to do those things that he's prepared for us. But it's even more than that, and I hope you understand, it's not just about doing great things and checking off a list of the amazing things that we do in our life. No. It's also about what takes place on the inside and who we are in our character. That's why in Galatians chapter five, when it talks about the fruit of the spirit, what it's saying is that something about the spirit living in you. When we have taken in Jesus into our life, and we have been baptized into Christ, and we have been forgiven of our sins, and we've received the gift of the Holy Spirit, that something inside of us says, I must now represent Jesus Christ in this world. And so the product of that is goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, and all of those things that make us a better representation of Jesus here on earth. So a true disciple is this, and Dorcas is described this way.
But here's her situation. It says, in those days, she became ill and she died.
And it says, they had washed. When they had washed her, they put her in an upper room.
And, you know, what's interesting to me here is, you know, if they're in Jerusalem, they have 24 hours to do something with the body.
Okay, that's just the law.
But they're outside of Jerusalem. And actually, the reality is, there's a three day window that they could do something with the body.
But it's not like they began preparing the body. They just kind of cleaned it up a little bit, and then they put it up in an upper room, which is a guest area. So that the reason. The reason for some of these laws was if you had a dead body, it had to be put away because it would create an unclean environment for everyone, and anyone who touched it would be clean. We've talked about this in some previous weeks, right?
So it's interesting that she's just washed and put in the upper room.
So they had three days to do it. But it just seems like there's no intention. And I wonder why that would be the case. Well, if you go back before this story with Tabitha begins or before Dorcas, this story begins, and you go to acts, chapter nine, you'll find out about a man named Aeneas.
And it turns out that the apostle Peter is in an area called Lydda. And as he's going through there, he comes across this man who is in need of healing. He's a paralytic. He's been bedridden for eight years. And in this story, it says, peter goes up to him and says, aeneas, jesus Christ heals you. And that's something for us to be reminded of. If you go back and you read the book of acts, you're going to see oftentimes when people say, how do you do these things to Peter and the apostles? How is it that you are able to heal people? How is it that you're able to take away these infirmities? How are you able to raise people up? How are you able to do these things? And Peter often says, this is not me. There's nothing about me that could pull this off. This is a representation of the power of Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified and was raised from the dead. It's that power that he has that is in me that allows this to happen. But it's through his power that these things take place. And he told the man, rise up and take your bed. And it says, immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord. Well, this area, Lydda, happens to be about eleven or 12 miles away from Joppa. And that area, Sharon, is an area that would extend in that direction. And so the word of this began to be, you know, heard from everyone. And that that story got told over and over, and it pushed further. And so what it says is that ultimately, as we look at this, they had this concept in their mind. As we look to the people who were there with Tabitha, they had in their mind that God had the ability to raise Jesus from the dead. And it was through that power of the resurrection and through that power that Peter said he had. That they could overcome things. And especially in this situation, overcome the power of the grave. And so while we look at this, since Lydda was near Joppa, just a day's journey away, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, please come to us without delay. So Peter is there. Everything's going well. And I find myself asking the question, you know, why is it that Peter would come?
I mean, he's in an area. God used him in a powerful way to help this man, who was a paralytic, rise up and walk. Everybody knows about it. Word is good. The church is growing. Everything is fantastic. We're all kind of, you know, excited about it. And yet still, it seems as though God has the intention for Peter, though he is doing something great in that area, that there's another area that he needs to go and be a blessing. Maybe it was the local proximity. Maybe it was the respectful request, because as you look at the original language, there seems to be a very formal approach to what they asked. There's an urgency about this. And, Peter, you are that person that we trust to be here to help us with this problem. And so maybe it's that formal request. Maybe it's the reputation of Tabitha herself. Maybe in that expression, as they went to him, they said, hey, the Lord's servant Tabitha has died, and we need you to come and work a miracle.
But either way, maybe it was even God saying, hey, these people need to be rewarded for their faith.
Either way, Peter rose up and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room, and all the widows stood beside him weeping. And the word for this is like wailing, like they are screaming in pain and torment, because their sweet sister, the one that had provided for them, the one that had given care to them, the one that had taught them things, the one that had loved them and invested in them, was dead.
And the best thing they could do in that moment, in the midst of all that weeping, was take the things that were so precious that she had done for them. These garments and these fabrics and these textiles and different things that she would have done as a way to reach out and be a blessing to the people who were poor in that area. And they brought those things almost as a testimony to her goodness and to what she had done.
Just amazing. And they're pouring this out and they're wailing. And you would think that this is something that would just be such a crazy environment.
And as I look at this and as I see this, I can't help but think of two things here at Madison. The first one is our care bears.
Now, I don't know how many thousands of these, but it's in the hundreds of thousands of care bears have been sent out into local hospitals to be a blessing to children who are going through surgery. Sometimes it's elderly people, and with every one of those care bears, there's a little stamp on the back of it that says, with love from the Madison church of Christ. It gives our address and it gives our phone number.
And I love the fact that we have this testimony in our community that we care about people and that. That if we can find one way, a small way to be an investment in someone's life, a sense of encouragement, a look of hope, a look of love, if we can be that, then we have been that. So, you know, we've been doing this for years and years and years, and it's gone through several different leaders, but still we keep cranking out thousands upon thousands of these care bears to be a light to people in our community. It's men, it's women, it's a whole group of people who do this. And up at the top left, you can see that beautiful, pleased customer who would not let that care bear go, helped her through a tough time, and she kept it as a valuable representation of the love that someone else had shown for her. But then also, I think about our comfort and kindness, and I'm told that there were some 12,000, maybe. I think 12,461 is the number that comes to mind of the number of items that they built, constructed, put together in love to go out to different places. Now, comfort and kindness is a thing where they bless people who are going through cancer treatments. They create these pillows that are helpful when they're going through their treatments. And it's a pillow to help support the wires that are going into them and to be of support to them. They make a different decor for people who are in nursing homes. They've made bracelets for children in Ukraine. They've made dresses for children in Ghana, literally 21, 21 places all over the world. This ministry continues to be a blessing to them. And I say all this to say that none of these people, you even know who they are. If you. You can maybe make out a few faces up here of the people that are on the screen, but these are not people who are blowing their horn. They're not people who are shouting out at the top of their lungs, look at all the good we're doing. They don't do this for the sake of. Of being a blessing to other people. But they recognize passages like this that say, suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, goodbye, have a good day, stay warm, eat well. But then you don't give that person anything, or you don't give them food or their clothing. What does that do at all, in fact? So it says. So you see, faith by itself isn't enough unless it produces good deeds. It's dead and useless. These are people who live by this model, and they put themselves to the task. Every single week they come together and they put the work in, and they do it to be a blessing to someone else, to shine their light. And I just imagine in eternity, there'll be some people who have a care bearer, a blanket, a pillow, as a representation of the love that's been poured out to them.
We don't do this for credit.
We don't do this to pat ourselves on the back.
We only do this so people will experience that kindness, and so they will also look to God. That's the whole point of all of these things that we do here at Madison. And I'm so excited when I think about the expansion that we're looking at doing for this facility, that we will open up new doors, that maybe these two organizations, these two groups of people who are ministering and serving, maybe, just maybe, we can put together a place where they can be set up all the time, because we know there are still more opportunities out there that we've yet to explore. But that expansion is going to give us a new way to approach that. And I can't wait to see what all can be done and all the other creative ways that will be. That will be a representation of the outreach from this congregation.
Matthew, chapter six. Jesus said this, whenever you get to the poor, don't blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do.
So they can get the praise of other people, but rather do it in secret. And he says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Literally, it means, don't sit there and take an account of all your goodness and all that you've done. So you can pat yourself on the back, but recognize that those good things are seen by your heavenly father.
And your reward is great, not because of the praise of people, but because of the kindness of your heart and the representation that you are of Jesus in this life.
So here they are. They're all wailing. They're all showing their fabrics. They're all giving their own personal testimony of how she's treated them and how she's loved on them. And so it's interesting here and kind of weird that Peter would say, all right, everybody get out.
He says that and it says, he prayed and he said, tabitha, arise. Now, you may be in your mind going, wait a minute. This sounds like we've studied this before, right? Well, just a couple of weeks ago when we talked about Jairus daughter. And if you go back to acts chapter, I mean, mark chapter five, you're going to see the same almost scenario play out. Remember, when they're all brought in, there's professional mourners, and they're making a big ruckus everywhere, and they're just screaming and wailing and all these things. And Jesus walks in and he says, hey, get them out of here. And he had just Peter, James, and John in there. And then he says to the girl, talitha Kumi. Well, in this case, Peter does the same thing. He gets everybody out. He takes a moment to pray, and then he says, tabitha kumi. And when he does it, says, she opened her eyes and she sat up, gave her his hand and raised her up. And then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive.
So here's the reality.
Their prayers were heard.
Their action brought about this resurrection, and the people who she served and she ministered to were given back their source of provision.
Isn't it amazing how God works sometimes and how we can see that in our lives?
It's interesting to me, as I look at this story, we do not hear one word uttered about Tabitha.
I mean, what did she say? What did she teach people? We know she was a disciple. And by that, a disciple is a person who turns around and teaches those things. We know that it's a person who demonstrates and models the reality of who Jesus was. We know that she was that kind of person, but we don't know one word that she said. And oftentimes, in our valuation of each other, sometimes we think about people who are up leading, who were up talking, who were up spending time, who were up doing Bible studies, who are organizing events, who are leading us in some way. We often think of those kinds of people as the people. We want to hear what they have to say. But what I want you to know is the crowd that gathered for Tabitha was not because she was an orator somewhere.
It's because she took a needle and a thread and she used it for God's glory.
Though we never hear her speak, she echoes the praises of God. Listen to how she compares to that beautiful woman that's described in proverbs 31, verse 13. Seeks wool and flax and works with her willing hands. She provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. She puts her hands to the distaff and spindle. Opens her hand to the poor and the needy. Strength and dignity are her clothing. Opens her mouth with wisdom, teaching the kindness that is on her tongue. And I think about the gathering of people who come together for comfort and kindness and for care bears and how they sit there and they talk about spiritual things and they talk about their families, and they're building relationships and they're enjoying time together. They're laughing. They're building a closeness that is so special.
And she would have been a person who would have been bringing those people in. It catches verse 31. The fruit of her hands, her works, praise her in the gates.
I don't know if any of you will. Some of you will remember this lady. I never met her, but her name was Christy Thomas.
And when I came here in January of 2000, people were still talking about Christy Thomas.
And they would tell me things about how she was so needed among our community. She taught childbirthing classes, and she did them down in our madison room. And people from all over could not wait to come to her class because she was the best at it and she had the best example. And she was a bright light for Jesus. And people from all over this area would come and take her classes. And when she got cancer and passed away at the age of 40, as I understand it, there were 1800 people here in this audience to celebrate her life.
The number of people was so astronaut, they could not fit people in this room. This room was completely covered. People were in the foyers, in the hallways, everywhere. And they stayed and remained to honor her life. It's like they were bringing their babies. It's like they were bringing everything about their life, their children, everything that she did, the investigation, and they brought that here and said, we want to show how her works, praise who she was.
I never knew her, but I'm so grateful that she was a light in this world for the Madison church of Christ and for her family. What a blessing to have that.
So what takes place here next is because of that resurrection. It became known throughout all of Joppa, and many believed.
And we'll talk about this in a minute. But Peter stayed in Joppa many days with one Simon, a tanner. We'll come back to that in just a few moments. Tabitha's life, though, and what I want you to recognize is that Tabitha's life brought Jesus into focus for all those who were around her.
But it was her death and her resurrection that sent Jesus, the word of Jesus, out into the community.
She brought focus, the things that she did the representation that she was. She definitely showed and demonstrated who Jesus was, but it was her death and resurrection that sounded the alarm and got that message out. And so many people were brought to the Lord because of her life.
But then there's a side note there, and maybe you caught it.
It says that Peter was there, and he stayed with a tanner. Well, when I think about what God is doing in us, I think sometimes we may miss this point, is that we're in the midst of something, and we ask for things specifically in our prayers, and we pray earnestly. We pray with full faith, and we give it all that we've gotten. I think sometimes what we fail to miss is that there's something going on in the background that God is preparing us for in the future. I think about Peter, who is a jew of Jews, and he, first of all, he's asked to go touch a dead body, which is an unclean thing. So he would have been violating the law on that standpoint. And even though I know he understood the differences and he was following Jesus example and all those kinds of things, still, there would have been, like, a kind of an interesting thing for him to have to work through in his mind to touch that dead body. But then also later, after that, it says he stayed with a tanner. Well, a tanner would be dealing with animal skins, and that also would have its own level of uncleanness. And so, like, what I'm trying to say to you is, if you read in acts, chapter ten, what you're going to find out next is that Jesus and the Lord sends him to Cornelius, a gentile, to share the gospel with. Do you understand what I'm saying? Like, these little things that God is asking of him are all a part of the process that are refining us and making us the kind of person that we need to be. And God sometimes is in the background of our lives, setting things up for what's next. God is always preparing us for the thing that is next. And I think we miss this often, and we don't stop and just go, okay, God, what can I learn from what I'm going through right now? And how can that shape my future? And how receptive can I be to what he puts in front of me?
So, a couple of takeaways, and then we'll wrap this up. First. One is Jesus is life.
Okay? We know that he was raised from the dead, that he had the power over the grave. And for that, we praise God, because we have such hope in that.
But I also want you to know that Jesus is also life in the sense that he took away our sins. And so when we are buried with Christ in baptism, when we're raised up out of that water, we have a new life, a forgiveness that wipes us clear of everything that we've ever done in our lives, and a new start.
And in the same way, we will rise up in eternity.
We can come up out of that water ready to live our life for him.
So Jesus is life. Let's don't miss that point.
Second thing is this. A real disciple allows Jesus teachings to shape their actions. Where are you in this?
How well are you? If there's things in the scriptures that you've read that you go, well, I know what it says there, and I know that comes from God, and I really need to honor that, but I really. That's just not me. I don't necessarily think that I could do that. So I'm gonna let that part slip away. What I'm telling you is you're losing an opportunity to be refined by God.
Compare those two things and make whatever adjustments you need to to be a true disciple.
And then finally, our opus will be seen in the lives we touch with Jesus. What do I mean by that? That opus is a life's work of a musician. It's all the things that they've done in their life.
Our life is going to have a ripple effect, right?
We're going to have influence over people.
And I want us all to recognize that every day around the people you're surrounded by, you have an opportunity to be that example, to be a light, to hold someone accountable, to love, to invest in them.
You know, we say often in eternity, how many people will be there because of the influence of fill in the blank.
That's our opus, right?
Our objective in this life is to not leave here alone, but to bring as many people as we can with us.
And so today, I want you to consider that as we think about these words, whatever you do or say, do it as a representation of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to him through God the father.
Whatever gift, whatever special talent you have, let your life be the focus that brings Jesus into someone's life.
And I hope this morning, if there's someone who feels like this is tugging at their heart and they want to make things right, or if there's a person who wants to be forgiven of their sins, that they'll respond this morning. And I hope you'll do that. While together we stand and sing.
