[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 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: I am confident that one of the greatest speeches of all time that you never heard took place in my hometown in 1987.
It happened at the Brookhaven Middle School, and I worked two hours on that speech.
I was running for SGA president.
And while the words of that speech were transcribed on note cards, it was my heart, okay? Everything in there was something that I thought that I could do to bring something good to the students of Brookhaven Middle School. And so I put my heart and my soul into that speech. And I got up there and I presented it. I only had about two minutes to do it, so I got up to that podium and I said it with all the fire and the fervor that I possibly could. And as I'm sharing that message and I finish up with those last words and I turn to go to my seat and I hear the echoes of applause. And it was amazing.
So I went over and I sat down as my opponent, Jonathan Norris, stepped up to the stage. And as he walked up, he had a rolled up scroll, what it looked like. And he walked up and he said, you know, I've been contemplating all the things that need to be fixed here at Brookhaven Middle, and I just want to share with you a few of those things. And as he did, he rolled that out. It rolled over the front of the podium, down to the bottom of the stage, off the stage, and into the middle aisle of the floor, to which everyone in the crowd went, yeah, like he was gonna fix everything. You know what I'm saying? And everybody, I realized immediately that while I thought my speech was good, ooh, that was pretty good. That was better. That maybe was better, that little approach. But this guy promised all kinds of crazy things. Like he. He was going to put vending machines in every hallway, you know, a Coke machine or a soft drink machine, every single hallway. He was going to do all kinds of things. That there was no power within him to do these kinds of things. And one of those things that he said was, I'm going to give us all a new bike rack. Say that with me. Bike rack. But my people, who were my supporters, spun that to say, that guy wanted to buy crack for everybody.
Thank y'. All. The early service didn't catch that. I appreciate that.
And no matter how we spun it, his speech was flowery. It was awesome. It was motivating. And the poll showed that he was the victor and that I had lost the presidency of SGA in 1987 at Brookhaven Middle School. What am I saying? I didn't have much of a capacity to move people with my speech. My words may have been powerful to me, but. But they didn't do much to change the outcome of that speech. But how many of us can think of speeches in our life, things that we've heard or that we've read, speeches that moved people, that turned their hearts, that caused them to rise up? We can think about some of the ones that we've seen up on this screen. That Gettysburg Address, a government by the people for the people, of the people, you know, and we think about that phraseology, that concept that. That we kind of work together as a nation to do some great things. And when you think about the healing that was taking place at that time, as a divided nation was coming back together, we needed to hear those kinds of words, right? I think about Winston Churchill and his never surrender speech or we will battle on these beaches. There are several speeches that he gave that are very notorious. Think about JFK's word. And one of the things that jumped out to me was when he said, ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.
That kind of gets us stirred up, doesn't it? And maybe there's not a better speech than the I have a dream speech from Martin Luther King, Jr. The idea that we, with colorblindness, would live in a society where we support each other, we love each other, we work together for the greater good of mankind. And that dream is still there. It's still one of those things that we fight over and that we try to gather every day. But those speeches, they move the people then and they move us even now.
But what I want us to be reminded of is in Matthew, chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven is the most groundbreaking message that you have ever heard in your life.
And I feel sometimes we go through it, and we.
And, you know, any kind of context is hard to really fully capture. But if you can imagine Jesus saying all the things, I want to encourage all of you to read the entirety of Matthew 5, 6, and 7 as it all flows together, because Jesus is breaking into our hearts. He's doing something different than any other speaker that you've ever heard before. In fact, when people heard him speak, they said, this is the one who sounds like he comes from a place of authority. He would say it in such a way that would not just move people, but penetrate the heart and challenge us in our thinkings. And so one of the things that he did in Matthew chapter 5 is he. He dealt with the attitudes that we have.
Not the attitudes of that culture and that day and time, but something that was much different.
Like, if you want to get ahead in life, if you want to be successful in life, what does he say? Hey, if you're going to be a part of this kingdom, you got to be poor in spirit.
And that being poor in spirit, as Andrew shared with us last week, is this idea that I have a full dependence on God, that I'm willing to put it all out there and to trust in Him. It means that I'm gonna be meek, that it's okay that I don't always win the victory, but that in my strength of character, I know that my victory is not more important than my relationships with other people. It means that I'm a peacemaker. It means that I spend time thinking about ways that I can bring people back together.
It's the idea that I mourn over the things that are bad in my life, things that are not good, so I can find that joy again, so I can find the comfort of God as I go through those things. And I'm challenged in that way. Those attitudes were there to challenge us, to not look at just the actions of our life, but to dig deeper into the heart of why we do what we do.
And so when I think about that, this invitation that Jesus has given us is not a kingdom for elites.
You know, it's. It's the mindset that comes and it's open and it's available to everyone who would receive it. You know, Andrew did a great job last week of helping us understand who that audience was. Who were those people that were gathered there on that mountain listening to what Jesus had to say? Well, a lot of those people were people who had been what we would refer to as disenfranchised these days. People who had illnesses, people who had been healed of those illnesses, and people who were poor people who were struggling, who were beaten down, who were looked over. Maybe they weren't the right class. Those kind of people loved the message that Jesus was sharing, and they gathered around to hear more about what this kingdom that they could be a part of was all about.
Literally, everyone was welcome.
So I think about it when I think about the words that Jesus said as he finished up those attitudes that we need to be embracing. What he ultimately said was, hey, if you live this out, if you put these things into practice, if these attitudes begin to shape your actions and how you go about your life, you're going to be blessed, you're going to have a great life, and in fact, you're going to be great in this kingdom that is here. And so he talks to them about several different things.
And what I love about it is he does share with them the things that they need to know about what the law said.
But he kind of digs a little bit deeper into the motivations behind those things, right?
Cause he says things like, hey, obviously murder is wrong. You've heard that. It's been said, don't murder. But I'm saying to put away anger in your heart, like, fight that off, dispose of the need and the idea to be angry about everything, put those things away. He talks to us about not, yes, it's bad to be unfaithful and to commit adultery to your spouse, but even more so, let's dig beyond the adultery itself and get back to the heart of what caused the adultery, which is that heart that wants to lust and to seek after something that gives them pleasure that's not their spouse. And then, of course, he talks to them about that relationship in marriage. And he says, hey, don't divorce people. You guys are kind of getting out of hand and just divorcing people for any reason at all. He says, hey, don't close those doors of escape that you're building up for yourself. He's trying to say, hey, if you're committed to that person, stay committed to that person forevermore, and then finally be measured in your words. He says, you don't have to promise all the time. You don't have to, oh, and by the way, I swear I'll do these things. No, no, no, you don't have to do those kinds of things.
You just have to let your word be your word, let your yes be your yes and your no, no. And again, these things are things that they have struggled with.
And then the final one is probably the one that beats all of them and is so countercultural. And so revolutionary in its thought process that he says, love and pray for your enemies.
And if I just stopped right there and thought about that for a few moments, think about how different that is in our mindset.
We have enemies.
It's our objective to put them down.
It's our objective to get under their skin. It's our objective to make them feel mad.
It's awful. And, you know, Jesus not only says some things here, but also In Romans, chapter 12, we know that we don't overcome evil with more evil, that just creates a match back and forth, but we overcome evil with good. And so here he is saying, hey, you've heard, it's been said, hate your enemies. No, no, no. Love them, pray for them. And that is so countercultural to what we do.
But then we move over into Matthew chapter six, and after he's laid this foundation of all the things that we need to stop being guilty of and we need to zero in on the real core issues in those particular situations, he's saying there's another danger at stake here as well.
And that danger is that even when we do things that are great, those things can be a thing that set us backwards in some ways. This is what he says. He says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
So that's kind of a shocking thing, right? Like, wait a minute. Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people. Now, just In Matthew, chapter 5, in verses 13, 14, and 15 and even 16, is the idea that we do good things and those things are seen by other people, and those things are meant to glorify and honor God.
I think what he's doing here is saying, hey, there's a fine line between doing your things so God gets the glory, and doing things so you yourself receive the praise for those things and the notoriety and the glory for those kinds of things. So he says, hey, you need to be careful that we don't do this, because if you do that, you're forfeiting one reward for another.
Okay, so what does he say? He's asking us to stop for a moment and to evaluate the motivations of our heart and why we do what we do, even the good things in his name. In fact, he says there are three things in particular that he deals with here, like helping the needy, the benevolence type things, praying and fasting. All of those things are things that all of us Christians ought to be doing right we need to be helping other people, we need to be praying. We need to take time to have that spiritual discipline of fasting so we can grow closer in our relationship with God. God. But he says even those things, if we're not using them in the right sense and with the right motivation, those things can actually separate us a little bit and show us a disconnect from the King that we're serving. What do I mean by this?
Here's the three things that he deals with. He says, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. You know, it's likely that during these times when they first, you know, when these kind of practices began, that it was meant for good. The idea that we may have to sound a horn or a noise of some sort that people who are in needy would know this is the time where the good, the benevolence is going to take place, where if they have a need, they can present these at this time. And so a noise would go out, in other words, to kind of announce to people, hey, it's time to come in. But you know how this works. Over time, those, those trumpets that are sounded became louder and louder and more about the circumstance and about that religious person who is about to give to the needy, to sort of announce the coming of that and to stand up boldly and wait for everybody to gather around and those kinds of things. He says, the hypocrites have done this.
They've gotten to the point where they are sounding that trumpet not so people will gather, but so people will look at them.
And then in verse five, he says, and when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues, at the street corners, and they may be seen by others sort of the same scenario. You know, to begin, you can say, hey, we're going to gather around for prayer. And you may do that and your volume may get loud enough so everybody can hear the prayer. But over time that became more of a way for them to be statesmen and to stand out and to gather their people and for have everybody, you know, learn how to pray. I'll teach you the words and the way to be beautiful in your language and the way for everybody to look at me and think something special about me. And so over time, what maybe started out as a good thing had become something that became a little more self centered.
Verse 16, he says, this when you fast, don't look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. What's he saying?
I mean, people who were fasting would let you know, they kind of carry themselves and look all pitiful. Maybe just be like in desperation. Like, I'm. Are you okay? Well, it's just. I'm fine. I'm just, I'm just fasting. Like, they would kind of present themselves as people who were extra spiritual. So the people could look at the people giving good, you know, giving help to other people or praying or fasting. And they could look at those people and go, wow, they are so spiritual. And in doing so, the heap of that kind of glory for themselves. And that can be a problem because if our focus is our own promotion, we may receive that.
You may have people think very highly of you. You may have them want to honor you, you may have them bragging on you all the time. But if that's our focus, I want you to understand that's not really kingdom minded.
Because again, the good things that we do, as Jesus said, are meant to honor and glorify God. We are his people, to point others to him.
So Jesus says this about all of those three things in three different passages.
He says, truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
In other words, if we make that part of it so important in our minds and if our lives are so focused on what other people are saying about us and we care so deeply that, that we're getting the credit for those kinds of things, he's saying, guess what? You got exactly what you hoped for. You got that notoriety with those people.
But for those of us who are trying to embrace the kingdom mindset, what I want you to understand is there's something much better than that.
A transition to a kingdom mindset forces me to ask a few questions.
And the first one is this.
Who is my audience?
Who is it that I am trying to please?
I remember Mike Winkler used to pull me aside. Sometimes I'd be frustrated about something.
And Mike was always.
People may not even know this about Mike, but if you needed Mike, his door was open, period, all the time. He would stop everything that he would do. Now. He was very disciplined with his time management.
But man, if you needed him, that door was wide open.
And I'd be in there and I'd be expressing to him my frustration. And he would say, brandon, who are you serving?
And I'm. Leave me alone. You know, don't Talk to me like that, you know, he hit me between the eyes. Whether he knew it or not.
I wanted to get some love for those things.
I wanted everybody to feel good about what I'm doing. And he said, who are you serving?
Does God know those things? Then find the security of that and that alone and just go about serving God. And don't worry about the other things. Man, you can be quiet, Mike Winkler.
But he hit me between the eyes and in the heart. Who is my audience? The second question is this.
Are my focuses, what do they reveal about me?
Do they reveal that I think in terms of just earthly things, or do they reveal that I have this idea of there's something greater than what we experience here in this life and that even in this life, with a kingdom mindset, that I can experience the blessing and the reign of Jesus in my heart right now.
So what is a kingdom minded approach to these things? Again, this is all in Matthew, chapter six. Going back to this one about the giving to the needy. He says, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Kind of the idea there is that you're doing the good deed, but with the other hand you're sort of tracking your goodness, you know, on your ledger. You're putting down things to kind of, you know, remember all the good things that you've done. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
But what does he say? So that your giving may be in secret?
And I think about that giving in secret.
Well, if I'm earthly minded, that kind of bothers me a little bit. I mean, I give it to someone because I want to see the blessing of it. I want to see how it makes them feel. I want me to feel good about that, all those kinds of things. And again, I think maybe all of us have found our way to this moment. But remember who you serve. And God, who is there, sees this in secret.
And when he talks about the prayer, he says, hey, when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.
That's if we stop and just think about it. Who is my audience? My audience is God.
Go to that private place, that quiet place, and just share your heart with him.
But then what about the fasting? Hey, freshen up a little bit. Anoint your face like, get yourself all cleaned up and washed up and look refreshed. Because what's happening is in that fasting, you're drawing closer to God. Be energized by that Instead of thinking about that earthly part, that I'm hungry and those kinds of things, think about man. God is going to provide what I need, but again that it will not be seen by others but your Father who is in secret.
So what's the danger then if we think about this? What is the danger of us doing these good deeds for our own glory?
Well, I think if you really stop and just gel it down to one concept, it's this, it's where our motivations lead us. Let me see if I can define it for us. We start out with self promotion, right? I did a good thing. I want people to know that I did a good thing. I want people to kind of see that, that that's a part of who I am and in my life. Again, not bad that we're doing good things, but I need the credit for that. I wanted you to know that I visited so and so I wanted you to know that I call these widows. I want you to know that I visited someone in the hospital. I wanted you to know that it wasn't just that other person. I was there too. And we can get caught up in those kinds of things that we are looking for that self promotion. Well, that self promotion will lead us to a self importance, right? Thinking that maybe we're the most important person in someone's life, that it's because of us that they are where they are. And we begin to kind of heap a little praise on ourselves and feel good about ourselves to the point where we think of ourselves as self righteous.
Like I do enough good that I myself am living a righteous life. It's not about what Jesus has done for me. It's not that he's cleansed me of my sins. It's that I'm living in such a good way that if I were to put those things on the balance, I'd do way more good than I do bad.
And in our mind sometimes we think of that as that's good, right? That's where I need to be.
And again, deeds are not good. Deeds are not a bad thing.
But sometimes we weigh this out as though our goodness somehow rises us to a better position.
Well, you do enough of that and then you become self sufficient.
And that's self sufficiency. Where you think you've got it all under control and it's all about you leads us to that place where we don't necessarily feel the need for God.
And that is not a kingdom mindset that puts me on the throne as opposed to allowing God to work through Me and for him and Jesus to reign in who I am.
So what reward is in doing these things?
You know, he says, your Lord is going to, or your Father in heaven is going to reward you.
What are those rewards?
Well, he says, your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
I don't know that I could put my finger on everything that God will do to bless you. I think probably we're better off looking backwards in our life and saying that was a blessing. Even things that we thought were difficult, we can kind of see that God has been blessing us along the way.
But let me throw out a few things that I believe our reward involves.
First of all, it's God's awareness.
Isn't it amazing that the creator of the universe, the sustainer of everything, the great and all powerful God, is the one who notices everything that the Bible declares here in Jesus, words are truth. Right? And so we know that God sees everything.
And so we can have that sincerity of heart that says, hey, I know that God is aware of this. I don't have to worry about what other people think or what they saw or what they experienced as a result of me. I know that God saw what took place.
But also there's a reward in being an instrument of his glory. You know, someone that does a good thing, that represents him and can point people to him. You know, I know we all kind of get weary of hearing the, you know, when we hear an interview of a football player after a game, I praise my Lord Savior Jesus Christ. And they do that. And then, you know, they got other words that don't match up with that kind of mentality. Like, we don't want to see that hypocrisy necessarily.
But isn't it true that every blessing you have, every gift you have, every fiber of your being, is a blessing and a gift from God?
It is. We ought to be praising him in the good times and the bad times because he is there bestowing those blessings and rewards on top of us.
But then also, and I think this is a big one, is there's the assurance I don't have to question, does God know these things?
He does know those things. Let me see if I can give us a couple of, you know, proofs of this as well. Just in this chapter alone, there are things that he identifies that, that he's aware of. Okay, first thing is, first of all, he's aware when we forgive people.
And I've got it in small parentheses, but probably should be really bolded. He also knows when we don't forgive other people. He notices when we hold onto that and harbor that frustration and that hurt and that anger towards someone. He knows those kinds of things. And he knows when we truly relinquish those things over to Him.
I love that. You know, when he says, hey, if you forgive men their trespasses, then your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you don't forgive them their trespasses, then your Heavenly Father won't forgive you. That insinuates that he is aware of what's happening in our heart and when we are holding those grudges or when we're releasing those things.
But also he talks about the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, and those even who have little faith. He says, hey, God is going to provide for you and take care of you. He is aware of all those things. I mean, there's other passages that say he knows our coming and going. There's other passages that talk about he knows the number of hairs on our heads. Well, for mine, it's a little bit easier these days, right?
But if he knows those kinds of things, and it's not just a metaphor, but it's like that's how intimately God knows us, then that's a reality that he's aware of what you're going through and what's happening deep inside your heart.
Listen to the words of Hebrews 4:13. There's nothing hidden from his sight.
It's all laid bare and open. It's wide open for his awareness.
And it's to that being that God, that we give ourselves an account, that we present ourselves before him to give an account. He doesn't miss anything.
So when we're doing these righteous deeds, we can have confidence that he is right there empowering us and helping us and blessing us and rewarding us, whether we realize it or whether we understand exactly how that blessing is coming, he is giving that to us.
So what causes us to think the other way?
What is it that challenges our way of thinking?
Well, if you put everything that's in the here and now in that, you know, in that category of the things that are most important, it can create some struggle for us. Listen to the words of Matthew chapter six, and you can follow along if you'd like to, in verse 19 through 24.
Do not lay up treasures for yourself on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is There will your heart be also.
And the eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, well, how great is that darkness?
No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. What he's saying is, if I can just give you a couple of things to think about. Is that stuff that we worry about.
And if I may, sometimes I think we go beyond the what shall we eat? What shall we wear? And those kinds of things that are mentioned there.
I think what we worry about is what brand of that thing I'm going to wear.
Sometimes our struggle is not that we just need clothes. It's that we need the best clothes that we place so much of a value on what it is someone else has. And so what happens is we can make the here and now our priority. And the things that we have in this life make that the thing that we focus all of our attention on. And give our full devotion to those kinds of things. And our eyes can be fixated on those things. And what happens is we lose a little bit of the light somewhere along the way.
Those things become the cravings of our heart. And if those things, the things that we are gazing upon, become the desires of our heart and that's it, then you heard what he said. How dark is that darkness?
But then the other thing is when we do create a world where we want to be spiritual, but we are also living in this world of accomplishment and promotion and achievement and being the best you can be at these kind of things. And especially in extracurricular activities and those kinds of things, man, we can really have some divided loyalties. I don't mind telling you we talked about this over the weekend at the family retreat. One of the things that Cindy and I struggled with, like everybody else did, is my kids are involved in all kinds of things. They're involved in drama and plays. They're involved in sports. They're involved in church activities. They're involved in a lot of things. And all of those things are wonderful and a part of their physical development, right?
But if we place so much importance and so much investment in those kinds of things to the point where they crowd out the spiritual things, trust me, you have divided loyalties. And it's really easy.
It's really easy in the here and now mindset, which is not very kingdom mindset, to make those things that are here and now the most important thing where the other is the supplement.
And all God is saying here is don't let your priorities be disrupted. You can't serve the two, you will serve one and hate the other, or vice versa, but you just can't do these things together.
So he's encouraging us to develop this mindset that says Jesus reigns here.
He's in my mindset and he's in my heart, and that helps me avoid this.
That's what makes Jesus message so much different than those other ones, is he's not just telling us things to do.
He's asking us to examine ourselves, our attitudes, our motivations, to bring us to clarity on what it means to really give our devotion to Him.
So what is the Kingdom response? And read this real quickly. It's already been read for our scripture this morning, but let me read it to you again.
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.
Now, I think it's interesting that this is the first part of this text, this last paragraph. Don't be anxious about your life.
But I think when we are so focused on things that are of this life, that it does create some anxiety in our hearts a little bit. It causes us to be worried about how we're going to make all this stuff work out here and now. He says, don't be anxious about your life. What you will eat, or what you will drink, or what you put on your body.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour of his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. And I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore don't be anxious, saying, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? But the Gentiles seek after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them already.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
What's the kingdom Response, don't be anxious, like, trust him.
Trust him with all the things that are most important.
Seek the kingdom of God and his righteous. That means that his righteous rule is guiding your decision making.
And then all those things that we need, he'll provide those things.
Do you believe him? Do you have confidence that God will do this?
Jesus says to seek the kingdom and it should come to mind that he just taught them a model prayer. You know, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. What does he say? Your kingdom come, your will be done. Where on earth as it is in heaven. Do you catch that? This mindset, this kingdom minded identity that we have in Christ means that what we do is we taking the rule and the reign of God in heaven and we are trying to make it a part of our hearts and our lives here. So Jesus is ruling our hearts and we can live that out in our daily walk.
So here's a couple of questions for us to think about in closing here.
Have I truly addressed my attitudes?
Have I? And we can say, oh, I want to have a better attitude, but have we really addressed it? Have we really worked hard to make a difference and a change in our lives?
And then second of all, for the things that we do well, have we allowed the motivations of our heart to cloud out the real reward that we may have in Christ when we just do it for his glory?
[00:33:17] Speaker A: Whoo.
[00:33:18] Speaker B: Those are really personal and intense thoughts that we need to have with ourselves.
So this morning there may be someone who, you know, it's thinking like, hey, I really do need to refocus and I need to. I don't even know where to begin, but I want God's help with that. Hey, come forward, let's pray for you. Or go to an elder at one of the doors here in just a few moments and have them pray with you. And let's start looking at what we can do to help us refine the way we live, to put our trust more in Jesus and to lay aside the things that sidetrack us and to really focus our hearts on what it means to be a kingdom minded person.
But maybe it's a person who really does need to give their life to Jesus.
In studying for this, I was thinking about Acts chapter eight. You know, here in Acts chapter eight, the Holy Spirit tells Philip, hey, to go to this certain place. And so he goes down to this road toward Gaza, and he gets there and there's a man who is sitting in a chariot and he's reading from the book of Isaiah and he's an Ethiopian eunuch.
And he walks over and the Spirit says, hey, engage this man. Have a conversation with him. And so he goes over to have the conversation, and he asks him, he said, do you understand what you're reading? And he's reading Isaiah.
And it says right there, he was invited into the chariot with him. And he said, well, how will I ever understand this unless someone explains it to me better? And so he gets in there and he begins teaching him that this is a prophecy about Jesus Christ and he's the one that I serve. And. And I don't know what that conversation was like, but it says he taught him Jesus and what it meant to give his life to him. Because ultimately, as they're driving down that road, somewhere along the way, there was a conversation about, this is how you surrender. You die to yourself and you're buried in baptism and you raised up to walk a new life in Christ somewhere in that conversation. Because as they're driving down the road, he says, well, hey, there's water right there. What's keeping me from being baptized? He says, hey, if you believe in Jesus, you can do this. And he says, I believe that Jesus is the son of God. And so right then, they got out of that chariot and they got into the water, and he was baptized and he was raised up. And when he did it, says he went on his way, rejoicing. There may be someone here today who's ready to make that commitment.
I'm telling you, don't wait. Imagine what happens if all of us begin refining.
We let God refine us by making the decision to relinquish our will for his. What happens when all of God's people do that together?
Can you imagine how that would shape our lives together and how it would shape our community?
But that's the calling for all of us this morning.
And some people will say, it may not be the right time for me. Maybe one day I'll do this.
We're about to sing a song. It's like a quite. Why keep Jesus waiting?
Why do you wait? Dear brother, if you have a need this morning don't wait another moment Come while we stand and sing.
