Voice of the Nazarene 3-16-25

Voice of the Nazarene 3-16-25

Transcript

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:00

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene. A week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus, Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our Pastor Reverend Ray LaSalle and the voice of the Nazarene. I'd like for you to join me in the book of Acts, chapter one and the reading begins in verse nine. And when he has spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into heaven, this same Jesus, which was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him, go into heaven, then return they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey. Many of us live life in life's valleys. So I think ever, ever so often, we need to find and scale a mountain peak to get above the haze and the fog and the smog and get a clear view what is really happening. An old preacher down in the south in the mountains, he said that every great event happens on a mountain top, and that's not far from the truth. As you study your way through the Bible, you'll find that some of the great events that transpired did happen on mountains. Every so often when I'm wondering really who is in control, everybody says they're in control this party and that party and this element and that group. But when I really wonder who's in control, I grab the hand of Moses, and he helps me to scale my way up Mount Sinai, where the lightning is flashing, the thunders are crashing, and I hear the voice of God say, I am, that I am. And then I know who's in control. Sometimes I I need to hear anew and a fresh the words of Jesus, and I make my way to the snow capped peaks of Mount Hermon, where I see the deity and the humanity of Jesus embraced in transfigured splendor. Once while I get to thinking about salvation, and in all of the happenings of life, the beauty of salvation, and when I begin to wonder about it, I walk with Abraham to the top of Mount Moriah, and I see Isaac stretched out on the altar, and the knife is poised, and He's about to die, and suddenly he gets resurrected life because of a substitute lamb. There's other times when in the journey of life that I I'm wondering when the end is going to happen, when is everything going to explode, when is everything going to collapse and begin to close in? And it's then I make my way to mount all of that Jesus there on that great mountain in Matthew 24 begin to unfold the essential events that were to happen in the end times. And it reminds us that he's coming back. He's coming back for his people. There at the bottom of that mountain, he spoke in words of mystery, and he made his way to Mount Calvary to die there at the top of that mountain. He spoke in words of Majesty and ascended his way into glory. And what a scene it must have been gathered with his disciples there at the top of that great Mount of Olives. And as they're gathered around, they're they're watching him now he's ready to go back to heaven. For 40 days, he had proven himself alive by many infallible works. The Scripture said he's about to go back to heaven, and the angels come, and they bring with them the clouds, and they watch Jesus as his feet begin to lift off. The Mount of Olives, and it begins his ascension, and he reaches over, and he grabs the clouds and pulls them around like a garment and disappears before their little eyes. And I thought about what a celebration that must have been when angels lined the roads that led back to glory, angels reaching out and saying, Can we see your hand? Can we see your feet for a moment? Is this what man did to you when you went to Earth to rescue and save them, and they drove spikes through your hands and through your feet. Oh, Jesus, eternal Son of God. How could humanity have done that to you? Now I want to talk to you for a few minutes about what took place there on the mountain top of Mount Olivet. I want to look at what transpired in the lives of the apostles. The Scripture said the two men at white apparel stood by them must have been angels. White apparel, it must have been angels because of the announcement that they made, and they may have been the same two angels that were there at the Garden Tomb that said, He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. But they make a startling announcement. They said, The same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven. Let me talk to you a little bit about what happened on that mountain, so that when you and I climb the same mountain, we'll leave and come back down as those disciples changed. First of all, when you're climbing the mountain, you're looking at a person. Did you notice the language that he uses there in verse nine, a word for seeing. But by the next verse, it's much more intense, and it said they looked at him steadfastly or with intention, not occasional glance, but it's an intent look. They're looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, and when we climb Mount Olive together, we're looking at a person it said the same. Jesus, aren't you glad that he's the same? Ever say anything else about life seems to be changing, bulges and not baldness yet, but bifocals and bunions and what have you. Everything in life seems to be changing. Cultures change, and customs change, and church life changes. Fact of the matter, it seems like nearly every denomination, over a period of time, begin to change and will justify the changes, but they change. But I'm glad there's one that the Bible said change is not Jesus never changes. And there's an interesting parallel verse over in Hebrews 13, verse eight, where it said Jesus Christ the same yesterday today, and out there into the forever Jesus Christ the same yesterday. That meant he's the past Jesus, and Jesus, if you look back into the past, you'll see that virgin birth, you'll see his virtuous living you'll see his vicarious atonement and victorious resurrection and glorious return back to heaven. The Bible said Jesus Christ the same yesterday. But it didn't end there. It said, the same today. He's the same today. He he still saves today. I was nine years of age, and I was so bothered that night that I took a chance and and came to the little curtain that served for a doorway between the kitchen and my parents bedroom, and I spoke, and I said, Can I come in? Would you pray with me? And they came alert and awake, and they invited me in, and I knelt there beside their bed, dad on one side, mom on the other I took Mom's hand and dad's hand, and while I gave them my hand, I gave my heart to Jesus. I begin to pray, and they begin to pray, and I begin to weep. And I want you to know the Lord Jesus Christ walked into that room with a crown on his head and a cross on his back, and said, Son, what would you like for me to do for you? And I said I'd like for you to do what I can't do for myself. When I left that room, I left going to my own little back porch bedroom as a new believer, I mean, stars lined up in celebration. I. I'm telling you, the branches of the trees were clapping their hands and welcome. And I laid down in that little roll away bed that my brother and I shared together, and I was able to sing, Oh say, but I'm glad that. I'm glad Jesus is calm and my cup overrun. Oh say, but I'm glad. But you know, something else today, Jesus not only saves, but he still sanctifies, he still transforms and changes and cleans and purifies human hearts. There, in that 15th Chapter, First Corinthians, where it talked about Jesus, the resurrected one, was seen by more than 500 and everyone that saw him, their lives were dramatically changed. If you look around right now, you'll see other people in this room whose lives have been changed. They're not the same people they used to be. Some of them have spent time in the prison. Others have dealt with addiction. Others have had impurity in their life. They wouldn't want anybody else to know. But not only that, today, he not only saves and sanctifies, but he he satisfies. I'm satisfied with Jesus. How about you? Are you satisfied with him? He's never let me down. And if there's sin in your life, if there's sorrow in your life and shame in your life, may I tell you he wants to exchange that for His peace and His love and His grace, a past Jesus, a present Jesus. But he doesn't stop there. He says forever. That means World Without End. While ages roll on, he's the perennial Jesus. He's Jesus forever. And he says here that he's the same Jesus. And so when we talk about the second coming of our Lord, that he's coming back, it's not talking about an event. And that's all we want to talk about, is events. It's not an event. It's a person. It's a person that's coming back. Quit making an event out of it. Look for him. Back in the 1990s there was a guy by the name of scott o'grady. Remember him, and he was flying during that battle, and his jet was hit, and then he went down in enemy territory in Bosnia, that jet hit the crowd, and the first thought, I'm going to be captured, and what am I going to go through? And and he got on the radio and radio back and tried to give his location to see if they could get him behind enemy lines and rescue he and his squad all day, he said, huddled in that wreckage somewhere. That evening, a helicopter came in and dropped down a rope ladder. He ran for that laddered kind of they they brought him out of Boston, across the line and over to Andrews Air Force Base. They'd notified the family and flew the family in the meeting. And when that helicopter touched ground and the family came running, they didn't run out and kiss the nose of the plane. No, they waited till the door was open and they embraced him. And it's the person that brings meaning to the event, and I'm trying to tell you this same Jesus. He's a person. Jesus the Savior. Jesus son of God. Jesus, soon coming Redeemer. But you're not only looking for a person. Climb this mountain. You're listening for a promise. Listen the words the angels spoke here, couched in a language of a promise, this same Jesus shall so come in like manner. That's a promise. That's a literal promise that you can take to the bank, this same person in the same you know, we believe in a little literal return of Jesus. Now, if you're going to talk about the life of Jesus, it's either literal or it's figurative. It can't be both. And so if it's literal, take it through literally all the way through. You see it was a literal virgin birth. It was a literal sinless life, a literal atoning death on Calvary, a literal bodily resurrection, and when Jesus returns again, he returned again, literally. Did you know that Jesus stood on a literal mountain, and he disappeared in some literal clouds, and he went through a literal sky, back to a literal heaven to sit down on a literal throne, and when he returns, it'll be bodily, literally. Deep bodily and we're listening for a literal promise from the same person coming back. The Bible said, for a same people, this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you you have seen him go into heaven. That means he's coming back to Earth. For the people there in John 14, Let not your heart be troubled. You. Believe in God. Believe also in me, In my Father's house, many mansions, if were not sold, would have told you I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also. So the same person is coming back for the same people. Marvelous to think about our literal resurrection. I mean, they'll there'll be some come out of the what we call beautiful garden cemeteries, where the flowers are beautiful grass. But there are others that have died, and their bodies will come out of the depths of the sea. Those bodies have been embalmed in seaweed across the years. Others will come out of the jungles where their flesh has been eaten to the bone bear by insects and by animals. But the good news is he's coming back, and if you and I, which remain alive, will be caught up together, and it's called the rapture. Did you ever hear the word rapture? One preacher down in the south was preaching about the rapture of the church. And he got he mispronounced it. He said, I'm preaching to you about the rupture of the church. I won't enhance that, but it's when our bodies will be changed and we will meet the Lord in the earth. So we're listen to the promise, the promise by the same person, to the same people. And guess what? He's coming back to the same place. He'll come back to the very Mount of Olives. Zechariah, 14, four makes this promise. His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives. And as I read the Scripture, that Mount of Olives is literally going to split in two, Jesus will make his way down the side of that Mount of Olives. He'll cross that Brook, that valley called Kidron, make his way inside the Eastern gates. He'll walk the streets to take over the throne of his father, and he'll sit down in throne to rule and to reign in Zachariah. He says that the Lord, it's or rather, Isaiah said, chapter 24 verse 23 the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion. The Lord's going to reign in mount Zion. You say, Pastor, do you ever plan to visit Mount Zion? I do. Soon as you raise the money, that's just a little humor, very little. But during the millennial, I mean, it lasts forever, I'd like to visit Mount Zion, wouldn't you? I'd like to make a reservation in Jerusalem area, Marriott, and after I'm through unpacking, made me walk through the little lobby and out onto the streets and look around and ask, Where's the police officers? And somebody will say, we'll have what you heard, The Lord reigns in Zion. No need for police officers. But where's the soldiers? Don't need soldiers. We're going to study war no more. I buy some roses, and I'll ask, why don't they have thorns? And somebody said, Don't you know the deserts blossomed like a rose? Where's the hospitals? Where's the funeral homes? Where's the jails? And they'll say there's no hospitals here, no jails, no funeral parlors. Back to my there's no sickness, sorrow, there's no death. Death was the last enemy. We're on the other side of that enemy. And can you imagine walking up the gates to the very throne of God and joined with all the host and the saints of all ages and sing that millennial song all hell, the power of Jesus name, let angels prostate fall, bring forth a royal diadem and Crown Him, Lord of all we're climbing a mountain, and When we do, we're looking for a person, we're listening for a promise, but we're going to leave that mountain with a purpose. You see, God doesn't intend for us to always stay on the mountain tops, and neither did he plan for his disciples to stay there, and just like they left were to leave. The purpose. Now they're watching. Their eyes are bugging. They can't believe that he's disappearing. But then the angels give an electrifying announcement, but he's coming back again. He's coming again. I think with that in mind, some of us need to catch our purpose, we better find out what the purpose and when you come to the closing verses of the book of Luke, and Doctor Luke not only wrote the book of Luke, but he wrote the book of Acts. And before we got to the book of Acts, he's writing the book of Luke. And he closes out the book of Luke, and he gives us some reasons and some insight that we're to do after having come down from the mountain before the Lord comes back. And the first one of those purposes is to worship. Look at Luke, chapter 24 verse 52 they returned to worship him. Boy, some of us better get out of our street clothes and get in our worship stuff. We better learn how to worship all heavens, worshiping God. There's no moaning and groaning and whining and and the old McDonald's farmer, give me, give me here and give me. Give me, give me, give me everywhere. No, it's worship time, and if we don't learn how to worship down here. It's going to be a little late to fit in over yonder. And if you understand the Lord's return, it ought to put a new vigor and a new excitement and a new thrill in our worship. Now, if Jesus is not coming again, then we need to tell the orchestra over here to quit playing. Tell the choir to sit down. Don't know used to sing anymore. And if Jesus is not coming back, tell the preacher to close the book and shut up and go home. You see. If the Lord's not coming back, might as well have the benediction and it's all over. But if he's coming back, then we need to get excited and get ready for His coming. And we better get into worship and a different kind of worship. And not only that, another purpose is to get to work. We used to sing a little song, I'll work till Jesus comes, and then we'll be gathered home. You know, church doesn't automatically grow. It takes work. Over in second to Timothy chapter four, it says to do the work of an evangelist. That That means it takes worth to bring people into faith. And when you get new people in and and you nourish them, and you love them, and you you teach them how to grow, and we exhort one another, and we encourage one another, and we stay in contact, we become a family. Families speak to each other. Family gets along. So we need to get practice up, because in heaven, it's a family. So get over the grudges and lay down all these things and treat each other like family, the work of evangelists. Now I've noticed, not here, of course, just in my travels, that now everybody gets blessed when the church starts to grow. But you know, the pattern of the book of Acts. Jesus went up, Holy Ghost came down, and the church went out to reach a lost world. And they tried to, you know, there's people around here don't have a clue what goes on in church, and they need God and everything in their lives collapsing and coming apart at the seams and falling apart, and they need God, and we need to get God out to them, because we're the salt and the light. We're to make things better, and we're to make things brighter, but not only work and worship, but also to wait for His coming. It says that we are to live looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus, Christ, and we need the sanctifying effect on our daily lives. The church is doing is the bride of Christ, and it's our responsibility to live clean and pure. Every man that has this hope in Him purifieth himself even as He is pure. You know, sometimes I I wonder about people, even animals, don't act like some of us do. I've never seen a billy goat yet get on drugs. I've not seen a hog go out and get stoned. I tell you, folk, we just need the grace of God, or we're going to act worse than animals. But when God's grace comes, it transforms our lives, and we need to start serving him till he comes down. When we climb up that mountain, we come down with a purpose in our life. And oh, John the Revelator, he sits down and he's writing everything he sees. He's he writes about the rain. If you're watching by tele telecast, it started raining, okay, but he writes about the seven churches and the seven candlesticks, and he writes about the seven stars, and he writes about the seven seals, and he writes about the seven bulls, and he writes about the false prophet, and he writes about the beast and the Antichrist, and he writes about the Lion and the Lamb. And then he comes down to the last few verses, and Jesus says to him, I want to say something. And three times Jesus says through John, behold, I come. I'm just here to tell you, that's what he sent me to tell you this morning he's going to come. And John the Revelator got so excited. He climbed up on a rock there, on that isle of Patmos, and he threw his arms out, and he said, Even so come Lord Jesus. Are you looking for His coming? Are you glad that he's going to return? Are you ready? Did you know you can be ready? And I came this morning to tell you, if you're not ready, you need to be getting ready for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's line the streets with new converts awaiting Christ glorious return. I've got a funeral Wednesday down in Louisville, Kentucky. What I want to mention to you this morning, I have a funeral right here in the event center at two o'clock, one of our own that came a few years ago and started attending passed away the other day. It was two days before they found him. His background was of another faith. All of their family are of another faith. But they said, since he came to this church and loved this church and loved the people in this church, they'd like to have his funeral held here. His name is Shane. He was only 59 engineer, very gifted guy. I he's got a twin brother, he's got three growing children, and I would just like to invite you to come, if you haven't been to a funeral service for a while, a celebration of life. I invite you to come at two o'clock and so that his family that live in Cleveland live in Columbus, believing that he has friends here in this church, that you'll come and show yourself as a friend and be a part, if you can just pull it off. Grab a little dinner, take a little quick break and show back up at two o'clock in the event center for this special celebration of life for Shane and his family, Father, we thank you today for this church, for these people, wonderful God fearing people here in North Central Ohio, thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle, for more information regarding BNC, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org. You.