February 7, 2021 Sunday Morning Service

Brother Roy do a good job singing and we're thankful that we have you and that we appreciate the songs that you do sing songs that were chosen this morning or certainly informative and they are certainly a blessing for each of us as we sing them and those words are to be taken into our heart. Where was the Apostle Paul Road in 1st Corinthians chapter 14, he's here tells us that we will sing and when we single single the understanding and so those words that were singing. Not to be just in all thrown out there, but with understanding and understanding the meaning of the words and and how they affect our our heart and as we've been talking about with loving God with all our hearts with all our soul with all our mind and with all our strength we've been dealing with the fact that the heart represents the motion the heart represents feelings. And so when we worship God we honored be emotional we ought to have feelings for him from the heart, you know, Christianity and are even our worship needs to have a motion. All right. We need we need to understand that.

We sing and pray and all that were kind of just sit there stoically and but it's with the heart. It's that's the the seat of emotion. Love you in work man that hear Jesus is referring to and of course with the soul with every fiber of the inner man with was that everything that makes you you was put into not only how we love God but in everything we do that is for God, you know, you know what the Bible tells us, whatever you find your hands to do my love you're doing it for God, you know, I understand. I have my job and all of you have your job and your job could be a formal job or could be an informal job such as Being a homemaker running a home. There's no more significant and important job than that. But the Bible gives us a principal whatever we find our hands doing do it mightily do it powerfully give it to the Lord, you know, that's why he says slaves. Obey your masters. You know, he says you are you're in a situation. Where are you having someone in authority over you but don't shirk on your work give him the best that you can give why because you're not giving it to him you're giving it to him. right, there makes all the difference in the world and how we approach perspective does matter and in our perspective always has to be With Jesus in Mark with Jesus in mine and so as we were talking about from the verse that we read from the book of Titus. He says for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. We should live soberly righteously and godly in this present age looking for the Blessed hope and Glory ship hearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We have a lot of friends in a religious world. Do when they come to that passage can't make heads or tails of it. Because they have a preconceived notion of who Jesus is. Their tradition teaches that Jesus was a created being created by David created by Jehovah God and that Jesus is not God and he's not Eternal and yet it says there.

The the Blessed hope and Glory Superior of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every Lawless deed sin and purify for himself his own special people. zealous zealous for good works special word for zealous literally means boiling over That's what we've been talking about with loving God with all of our inward person all of our spirit all of our strength all of our mind all of our so all of our heart. And it's with a boiling over. Zealous the word zealous in the word server you find in the Bible throughout throughout the Bible throughout both the Old and New Testaments and they're the same word from from the same root word and it still be means to boil over. So I question therefore are we loving God with a boiling over? of love Are we loving God with a boiling over of our heart? Our soul our mind in our strength. So we're going to close out this section of what we were talking about from this one passes from our chapter 12 and verse 30 and focus upon the flashed phrase with all our strength. We look at the other so far look at each of those phrases. With all our heart with all our soul with all our mind and now will close out by looking at the last phrase with all our strength and will going to do the same process. We're going to have an interpretation will enter to that realm of interpreting and then we'll leave that round and go to another realm called application and will apply from the context what we've learned and in the process will try to come up with some ways that will help us better make that application another words live what we place in our heart from this study. Okay, so that's what we're planning to do. And from this passage so far. We have the context as we look at the interpretation. It says then they came again to Jerusalem and as he was walking in the temple the chief priests the scribes and the elders came to him and they said to him by what Authority are you doing these things? So here in lies the context the beginning of the context where the send Hedrick made up by these groups the chief priests and scribes and they came begin to question Jesus and now we're going to send for more groups app to question in Jesus, and we talked about in chapter 12 verse 13, they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the herodians to catch him in his words when the apostles and Jesus were out in the boats and they were fishing they use that same word to they cast their Nets to catch fish to catch him in his words they were like Cassie and Nick over Jesus to catch him in his were the trip him up and to trap them but as we have noticed from the context already that's simply was not working so they they trying trying to throw everything in everything but the kitchen sink baby even the kitchen sink and trying to capture Jesus in his words and so they're sending out group that are even different from each other you're setting out groups that even hate each other Like the Pharisees like the herodians different things same people both Jews, but different perspectives with different backgrounds look at that at to some extent and so do the Pharisees and the herodians were sent out to catch him in to interrogate him, which is the very word that's used here in verse 18 says then some Sadducees who say there is no reaction Resurrection came to him to interrogate him. So therein lies the reason for their coming to Jesus to put a spotlight on him. You've seen those all Rocky movies and or I should say rocky, but the guy that played Rocky Sylvester Stallone, he played in Rambo and he was always captured and always brought before the enemy and the enemy will try to question him and I put the spotlight.

Who is electricity that's basically what the idea here is where the interrogation it's pointing the finger at you? What did you do really? Tell me how you're going to get through this. What's the next thing you're going to do? And there's always act finger. Then I figured kind of reminds me of Mom. What did you do?

And then we come to the last group then one of the scribes came and having heard them then meaning the Sadducees reasoning together for shaving that he had answered them. Well ask him which is the first commandment of all the protoss Commandment the first Sometimes you can be in rank. Sometimes you can be in criminology. In this particular instance, he's talking about your rank. What's the greatest of first commandment you ever go down here and wait for the train to go by will they have their what's in front of the train that pulls it called the locomotive with the engine, right? And that pulls all the rest of the boxcars. And so all the other cars are tagging along following through with the locomotive the engine and so that's the that's the idea the greatest come in at brings along and everything else. But it'll act Manor as we consider that the Pharisees were those you needed heart. They needed heart. That's why Jesus turns to them and says love the Lord your God with all your heart talking about the Pharisees talking about those herodians. When he says the Lord your God with all your soul you seeing the herodians were putting their lineage from Herod as the ruler of their heart. And Jesus comes along and says no, there's no room on your heart for anyone else, but God. so you make him the ruler of your soul of your soul and then he turns to the Sadducees who were the

Well, the herodians were the politicians but the the Sadducees were those who were the the Upper Crust of society the aristocracy of the Jews and they were very very influential you think about Congress today whether you're be your senators or Representatives that usually come from the Upper Crust of society and they are very influential because they have so many connections, right? That's the herodians. They were from the lineage of Herod in Jesus said with all your mind.

And now he comes to the scribes and he says love the Lord your God with all your strength your power your ability your might. It's interesting that the word that's used in the shama, which is Deuteronomy chapter 6 in verse 5 where Jesus quoting this passage from you said love the Lord your God with all your strength that word that is used in Hebrew is damoth. Get here. rbms does large animal you read about it in Joel chapter 40 and God there is talking to Joel when he says did you form this preacher that I made the first of all the protoss of all of my creation that is the grandest the largest the biggest the Bahamas the mightiest Love the Lord your God with all the BS that you have the strength the ability that God has given you and that's what he's telling the scribes here. And we're looking at something that's very important for us to understand regarding loving God with all our strength and it gets us back to Titus Chapter 2 where it says zealous for good works. If we're going to be a beet hummus for God. Then we have to be zealous for God and for the good works. He has given us right. So it never in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10. He says we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. And now in Titus Paul says that we need to be zealous boiling over for good works. We are heart should be boiling over for God.

Our inward man should be boiling over for God in our love for him so much so that we are boiling over and on fire for the work that he desires for us to do. So we asked the question. How's your love for God this morning? And how do you view the works that God desires for us to do for you to do for me to do today. Are we on fire boiling over for God? I mean we understand we need to share Jesus in our lives with other people, right? Have you? Have you got to the point where it like Jeremiah says he says his message was shut up in my heart and in my bones it was on fire on fire in my bones and in my heart and I couldn't contain it any longer. I just had to get it out. That's what we need to do. We need to be like Jeremiah. It's in there. It's probably wants to get out. It's got to get out but we keep suppressing it keep pushing it back because that puts us into another realm that were not used to. That makes us uncomfortable. We don't like to be uncomfortable. This is the way our nature is. but God comes along and he says I'm going to challenge you to be uncomfortable. And that comes with the boiling over it gets us to the point that I know. I need to speak Jesus soap. Now's the time I'm going to talk about Jesus. how many view do to your friends you talk about so many things you can talk about sports and politics and and all this other stuff school and this and that the days of Advent of the events of the days that take place pop culture who's on the cover of this magazine who's on the cover of this magazine station does Jesus ever enter the conversation does the Bible his word ever enter the conversation? It's always boil over for all these other things. But somehow we want to put the boiling over that we should have on simmer. I just let it stay there but it's got to be the boiling over there. That's why we need this application, which is just one lesson that will take home and hopefully apply to our hearts. So we understand that with all the mind. There's this notion that's the meaning of notion. It has everything to do with the intellect in the month. I have a notion I've ever thought. I have a sinking problem. It was a country song called. I have a thinking problem could have a drinking problem. And so we find here is that Christianity is not only a religion of notion thinking as we talked about last week, but it's a religion of motion. True religion of motion. It's a religion of doing it's a lifestyle. It's it's not something we're we we come in on every Sunday and we sit down and some chairs and we sing songs. That's that's not it that's part of it, but it's not it and a lot of us like to make that it for all of us, but it's not it has to be extended out. It has to be in motion. There has to be that that Zeal that Jesus says he goes. I have a Zeal for my father's house. That consumes me. Are you consumed with Jesus? Are you consumed with his word? Are you consumed with the body that he died for the church? Remember? It says he purchased the church with his own blood. Do we have that are we consumed by is it auto mines day and night and as as we understand we need to invite Jesus as our brother was saying during the communion. That wonderful thought of beginning a day by inviting Jesus into our hearts by reading his word thinking about Jesus because that's the only way we're going to make this application. This lesson today. That's the only way we're going to apply that lesson this lesson two are hard if we number one think about Jesus day and night and morning noon and night. You should be the first thing on our mind in the last thing in our money today. That's how we're going to make application. And when were in conversation with our family and our friends and our loved ones those who are outside of Christ. Those are need fries those who are going through troubles and everybody's going through troubles. They need Jesus. That's not some Flippin phraseology, though. It's use that way many times all we just need Jesus. Yeah, we just need Jesus. But what does that mean? It means we need his word. That's needing Jesus. We need his body is church. That's needing Jesus. We need his kingdom that's needing Jesus. We need to love him with all our heart mind soul. That's Jesus. And then we need to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is needing Jesus. Those two great Commandments by that locomotive, but those two Commandments are the greatest the first love God II love others will talk about that one next week. But as we can serve the idea we have to understand that the fervency that's needed. The pharmacy means my heart is his my soul is his soul my mind is his mind and my strength is history. That's just exactly what Paul told us in Galatians chapter 2 verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer. I who live but Christ what lives in me? He's my heart. He's my soul. He's my mind. He's my strength. I'm going to begin my life everyday with Jesus on my mind. And I'm going to go to bed every night with Jesus on my mind and when we pray. Hopefully you're praying and hopefully we praying for brother Larry in the family this week with the loss of Lola. They're going to need the prayers are going through trials. They're going through sorrows. And so we need to pray for them. But when we pray for others when we pray for one another. We're living for Jesus. For demonstrating what Christ is like and we're doing what Jesus has asked us to do now. When I go back to the text. And you shall love the Lord your God with all I lost everything. it says God created everything and it was good

love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your inner person with all your mind and with all your being all your power all your strength think of yourself like I don't know brother while you probably come across denominational Riders who come across that word behemoth and as they tried to find what that animal looks like they said what could be an alligator could be a hippopotamus Now you re chapter 14. That's your homework tonight. Go home and read Job chapter 40 and you tell me if the description of that animal represents a hippopotamus. Or an alligator right now. It tells us that Behemoth had a tail like the largest Cedars. You ever see a hippopotamus tail littletale? And it is certainly you but go ahead and that's what that's inside you go home and you read that for yourself, but why interpretation they do is because there is no ring the context from which it is found. That's why we're here when we're talking about interpretation. We have to take a look at where the phrase and how the phrases used within its placement within the chapter with in the book end with in the Bible say there is the immediate context which is normally the verse before or the first after and then you expand the context to the chapter and then you expand the context to the book and then you expand the context to the entire Bible. How does it fit in the gods scheme of redemption for human life? so I want us to look at Acts chapter 18 not up here on the screen

I don't know if our quick computer wizard back there can get x 18 in 24 up there maybe he will but I'm going to turn my pages really slowly and we'll see what happens here coming to the Book of John Wright Matthew Mark Luke and John acts and lettuce to the all right now where in Acts chapter 18 starting in first 24 And then we'll read on down but notice this is now a Jew thank you brother. Now a Jew named Apollo's on Native of Alexandria came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man competent in the scriptures or why it was a stop right there for just a second. Confident in the scriptures eloquent in the scriptures according to some translations says a certain born in Alexandria Alexandria at this time was the intellectual center of the world. It was the the place where they had the wonderful beautiful botanical gardens museums of all times even had the Library of Alexandria and in that Library, they had over three million volumes. And then that library was burned down with everything in it. Just imagine the wealth of knowledge and information. We all could have used humankind could have used but they burned it down with all those Scrolls being burned up and consumed in there. This is where this man comes from. He's an intellectual. He's a Jew living in a Greek city and he's born and raised in this college town. Right? This is where all the college professors like to walk around with your drink in their hand and start talking about things and snooty things about what they know. You know, that's basically what the Greeks were about the sophisticates. I think there's a ladies clothing store called sophisticut something like

Short in stature. I won't say anymore.

He said a certain Junito polish-born Alexander eloquent literally full of words full of words. I was watching a show the other day Midland yesterday, but what about the Friday or yesterday? And at the lady on there was a psychologist that he she was talking about the differences between man and woman and I'm not saying that she said it she says women like to talk. Talk more slowly than men do I think we pretty much have established that fact, right? I think women talk more than men. We we like to hold in our more so than than our companions. All right, and especially when it in a heated discussion because they really let you have it don't they know that they do not hold back? So that my nose remind me of a story about a guy who was thinking about that and he said does it bother you that your wife never to get a word in edgewise? Never never let you get the last word and he's thought about you says, you know, I'm just thankful. She does have the last word because you never think it's coming.

So full of words eloquent man in Mighty in the scriptures. He is mighty and scriptures. That's the Jewish scriptures read. That's when he referred to the scriptures. There's no New Testament scriptures at this moment, but there is the Old Testament scriptures and it says that he was mighty he was strong he was a dude he was a dynamite in a powerful

and it came to Ephesus this man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord though he knew only the baptism of John so he began to speak boldly in a synagogue Aquila and Priscilla heard him they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately and when he desired to cross to akea the Brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him and when he arrived he greatly helped those who had believed through Grace for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly boil over He had information he needed to share. And so he was defending Christ. It's offending Christ by the use of the Old Testament. We understand that when we read the Old Testament, it's pointing to Jesus. There's over 300 Messianic prophecies. And so he's going back to those prophecies. Are you saying that prophecy this prophecy that prophecy this prophecy this man Jesus? And he says he's he's vigorously boiling over refuting the Jews. about who Jesus was and so it says showing from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

We need to understand it's good to refute others by the use of scripture. We need to do that accurately those things. In fact this man stole Maddie in the scriptures direction from Aquila and Priscilla the husband of wife. They pulled him aside and told him the way of God more accurately said, you know what this baptism that you're preaching. We only know John's baptism. That's not the correct that you see Jesus before he went back to the father he gave this Great Commission baptism to be taught go therefore into all the world and preach the gospel. He that believes and is baptized shall be said go therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations baptizing them in the name of the father and the son the holy spirit. So that was the baptism and yet he did not know about that. He just knew about John's baptism. So he was fully immersed in the Jewish background of the Old Testament scriptures and certainly immersed and who John the Baptist was but he did not go any further. All that pointed to Jesus, but now that Jesus had come and now Aquila and Priscilla come to him and teach him Jesus teaching that he did go to the cross and yet he did not end of the Cross but he was resurrected from the dead. That's the baptism. You see the Old Testament baptism of the Jews meaning John's baptism pointed to the cross. Jesus's baptism we call the Great Commission baptism points back to the Cross. It's been done. It's been completed. He is King ruling on his throne. That's the point. The other thing about John's baptism is that it was only for the Jews one for the Gentiles. So Jesus baptism. It says go into all the nations of the world the nation. That's the Esplanade.

adapters that's the understanding of this and so here we find what this man was all about he was on fire for Jesus Christ based upon the word of God and his teaching involved sticking up or defending the gospel of Christ as best he knew because of his love for Jesus and the boiling over in defending Jesus Christ came from his boiling over of his love for Jesus Christ that's an example right there of what we need to be like we need these examples are in here for us to learn from why was this guy like this why did he do those things obviously because he has he was on fire for Jesus Christ let me stop right there because I'll say this and he can probably say it plenty of times I hope we need to be on fire for Jesus Christ there's no question about it we need to be boiling over for a sharing Jesus we need to be bringing people to this church we need to be bringing our friends are family on our relatives or loved ones we need to you know it and I know it we need to bring them they need to be influenced by the teaching here they need to be influenced by everything here But most of all they need to be influenced by this. So we need to be bringing teach people setting up Bible studies. And do you know what that's great. You're talkin Sports the Super Bowls on I was going to say tomorrow but today so we'll go out today. Just think about talking to have a conversation with someone about the two teams that are playing in the conversation reading something into the conversation. Maybe something about the Bible say something about church maybe say, you know what some of the people watching the game you want to come over we're going to watch the game. We have a few snacks or whatever and he might even have a Bible study short bible study phone worked at in but that's the influence you share with other people. We can't suppress The information that needs to get out. That's what Jeremiah was saying. He says the message was within me and it had to get out and so we need to be on fire boiling over but we also have to understand there are days when you will not be on fire.

Just like with the family yesterday. Is it losing Lola? How do you how do you get on fire when you're in mourning? You know when Aaron's two boys were consumed by fire? because they offered profane sacrifice to God God consumed them with fire Nate Avenue by who and put them to death and Aaron couldn't go he couldn't go on he could not go into the tell his job was to preach what was his job was to preach his job was to leave the people in sacrifice. You can do it. He just lost it to boys. He had to do it and yet he wasn't into it with all his heart with all his stuff with all his match. We lost because he lost his tooth. Understood that God understands our heart. Understand our predicament, but when we need to be we need to be boiling over for God So we need to understand that that begins knowing and understanding relationship with Jesus. And Jesus said yeah, you can have that relationship with me. You just follow what I say and he did say believe he that believes in me and is baptized shall be saved that begins our relationship our walk with Jesus Christ. But as I said, we don't always live on fire. It's almost an impossibility because of our Frailty in our weaknesses. And sometimes we get into a rut and sometimes we get into such a rut that we all the way we just stopped we just It's beyond simmering The Embers are just about to go out. and when you didn't ignite those Embers once again, and we need to understand that he calls us back and he says change your mind change your mind about things get your mind back in the game and also coach if they don't get back in the game.

I'm going game the game is not going to end until we walk out like Lola did but until then the games, huh, and we need to get back into the game. You can do that this morning. And if you are amenable to the imitation of Christ want you to come forth as Together We Stand and sing.