SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, choir, congregation, praise team.
SPEAKER_01: What a beautiful uh day to come and say thank you to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I love that worship service today that Jacob put together for us because it really helps us focus on what our message is about today.
SPEAKER_01: Turn with me in your Bibles to Philippians chapter 3 as we continue our study.
SPEAKER_01: We're drawing to a close uh as we hit here at the week of Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And then next week is uh the beginning of December and Christmas time.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we uh as we do every year, uh this week, we're gonna start or coming up soon, we're gonna be decorating for Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure you look in your bulletin and see that information about when you might want to come and help and come be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: But as we head into Christmas, we always get there through Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a beautiful juxtaposition next to each other.
SPEAKER_01: We have so much to be thankful for because of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And Christmas is about Jesus coming to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's a perfect sort of blend in this journey through Thanksgiving to Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, there's a lot we talk about when we say we have a lot to be thankful for.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm thankful for a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01: Ole Miss lost yesterday.
SPEAKER_01: That deserves an amen right there.
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
SPEAKER_01: Florida won.
SPEAKER_01: We'll give that to Jacob and Cassie.
SPEAKER_01: I'll have to repent for that after the service that I said there.
SPEAKER_01: Alabama lost.
SPEAKER_01: The vols have a path to the playoff.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good day.
SPEAKER_01: We have a lot to be thankful for, right?
SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_01: Friday, I got my first peppermint milkshake at Chick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_01: They are back.
SPEAKER_01: It is the season, and I am so thankful to have those.
SPEAKER_01: Our grandson is about to have his first anniversary.
SPEAKER_01: His first birthday.
SPEAKER_01: Anniversary of his birth.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited.
SPEAKER_01: I love being bomber more than anything else.
SPEAKER_01: It is really fun.
SPEAKER_01: And so I am so thankful for Killian, our grandson.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful for my kids.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful at Christmas time.
SPEAKER_01: We're working on the plane reservations for Grant to come to Fort Smith and visit us and be with us, who lives in D.C., our son Grant.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful.
SPEAKER_01: I'm thankful for so much.
SPEAKER_01: You know.
SPEAKER_01: But at Thanksgiving, when we talk about Thanksgiving, a lot of times we do it in that sense of the word thanks and we apply it to all these different things, and some mean this much, and some mean this much, and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: But really, for us as believers, we have a much higher standard than just being thankful for things or having a spirit of gratitude.
SPEAKER_01: We are commanded, instructed, and we have more to be thankful for at an eternal level than anything you can imagine.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 3 or chapter 4 here in Philippians, here's what I'd like to talk to you about: the importance of giving thanks to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Not just giving thanks, but giving thanks to Jesus for what he has done for us.
SPEAKER_01: Here you'll see this verse tucked in, verse 4, right here.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_01: I will say it again, rejoice with an exclamation point.
SPEAKER_01: It has a strong emphasis to it.
SPEAKER_01: Paul right here says, rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Joy is one of the themes throughout the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: And here's a guy writing in prison, but he has talked about the advance of the gospel and the blessing of knowing people in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And he has repeatedly talked about what Jesus has done for us and who he is as Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_01: I will say it again, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: But notice what he says, rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me break down this word, rejoice, for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because really what happens, he's talking about being thankful, giving thanks, worshiping and praising Jesus for what he's done, but it is a far higher standard than just thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what it, the root word of this.
SPEAKER_01: It is the word that you get grace from.
SPEAKER_01: It's the word picture of leaning into something, leaning in that direction and engaging that.
SPEAKER_01: And then you add some to it and you turn it into this word, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: And it gives this picture of leaning into the joy that comes from Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It is leaning into the grace of God and understanding that because of him I am saved.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's why Paul says, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: It's more than just joy and the idea we get it.
SPEAKER_01: It is in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It is rejoicing in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And he takes this word and he puts in the Lord with it.
SPEAKER_01: And he draws us to this understanding that in my life I should always be engaged in being grateful to Jesus for who he is and the magnitude of what he's done.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's so important, he says, always, I'll say it again, and then exclamation point at the end of the word rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: It is in the form of a command, and it is in the verb tense that we are commanded to do this always on a consistent basis and never stop doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And so literally what he's saying is, because of who Jesus is, and because we were redeemed from our sin by Jesus, we are to lean in and grasp hold of the incredible joy that only comes from the grace of Jesus Christ, and we are to do it always, and it is a command we are to obey, and it is a sin to disobey a command.
SPEAKER_01: That's how significant this is.
SPEAKER_01: That we are to be worshiping Jesus and grateful for him and grateful to him in such a way that we are obedient in a way that we have made it a discipline in our lives, a spiritual discipline to be worshiping him constantly.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Well, because when we are not grateful, just the spirit of ungratefulness affects us as people.
SPEAKER_01: It affects our perspective in life, it affects how we understand the things around us, it affects our relationships, it affects our walk with Him and the amount of faith that we are able to apply because we have been disconnected from an understanding of how Jesus has died for us and saved us and redeemed us.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, gratefulness is really one of the prime ungratefulness is one of the primary fruits that show whether our life and perspective has become self-centered and wrapped around ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Now, sometimes when you get to the end of a book like this and you're reading through chapter four, and it looks like all these random sort of things, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's almost like he's got a checklist.
SPEAKER_01: He's already taught us the sermon's over, he's at the announcement time at the end, and he's just checking off all these things he has to look at.
SPEAKER_01: But if you'll pay attention and walk through this, you'll see that there is a thread that is pulled through this last chapter of this book.
SPEAKER_01: He runs through a number of scenarios and questions and difficulties in life.
SPEAKER_01: And as he walks through each one of those, and you see this, and we'll do this in just a second, we'll look at each one of those.
SPEAKER_01: At the core of each struggle, the issue would be resolved if we were obedient to that command.
SPEAKER_01: Struggle in relationships, the struggle in contentment, the struggle in the circumstances that I'm facing around me, the struggle in, is God listening to my prayers?
SPEAKER_01: Can I count on him to answer those?
SPEAKER_01: This struggle of faith, all of those struggles, if we are rejoicing in the Lord and we have this elevated sense of gratefulness to him for what he's done, it literally is the antidote to these struggles that we have.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, I don't do this often.
SPEAKER_01: I've sort of made some notes this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read to you just what I wrote in my quiet time.
SPEAKER_01: Now keep in mind when I read this to you, first of all, I was only one cup of coffee in when I wrote this.
SPEAKER_01: Second thing, my handwriting is such chicken scratch, I'm not sure I can read it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you ever wondered if Charlene on our staff is a genius, she can actually read my handwriting.
SPEAKER_01: It's an absolutely amazing thing.
SPEAKER_01: And so, but I want to read to you just as I was praying through this message today, what I worked through, what I was processing as I did it.
SPEAKER_01: The more I study, the more I live and deal with issues of stress, decision, and relationships in my life.
SPEAKER_01: The more I help people with those issues of stress, decisions, relationships, observe them, counsel, pastor, encourage, do those things.
SPEAKER_01: The more I see those things, the more I see the literal necessity in our lives to understand how my mind and my emotions work.
SPEAKER_01: There's so many ways that we don't understand or spend time contemplating.
SPEAKER_01: This is why I think that way.
SPEAKER_01: This is why I reacted that way, because I have not renewed my mind or handled my emotions properly in all of that.
SPEAKER_01: The more that I deal with life and my own life and people around me, the more I see the literal necessity to understand how my mind and emotions work.
SPEAKER_01: And in all capital letters, circled, and understand that my relationship with Jesus through Scripture and prayer is the single most important and powerful thing that I must do.
SPEAKER_01: Without this dependence, my relationship with Jesus through Scripture, dysfunction will always overtake us at various levels.
SPEAKER_01: It will, sin will continue to rear its ugly head, and then struggles both personally and relationally, they will be rampant and follow from that sin and the resulting dysfunction.
SPEAKER_01: Study and meditation of God's word is the single most important thing that you do.
SPEAKER_01: It is how, it is how we pursue Jesus, as we looked at last week in chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: And it is how, in the theme of our book, we walk worthy of the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just skim through, skim through with me in chapter 4 here, and let's look and see how in each one of these situations, each one of these struggles in life, that sense of gratitude to Jesus and a perspective that is driven by that would answer each one of these.
SPEAKER_01: Look with me in verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first situation.
SPEAKER_01: I urge Yodia and I urge Sentica to agree in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, these two ladies are in an argument.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what's funny is their names translated actually mean things like sweet spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And here they are arguing with each other.
SPEAKER_01: Now, normally you think if they have such a significant disunity and argument going on in the church that he's going to rebuke them because shame on y'all for being that way.
SPEAKER_01: But look what he says.
SPEAKER_01: I also ask you, true partner, one of the people in the church, leaders in the church, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side.
SPEAKER_01: That word contended means wrestled.
SPEAKER_01: It means to agonize over the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Not only does he not criticize these two ladies, he literally elevates and recognizes that these are women who love Jesus so much that side by side with Paul and others in the church, they have agonized in advancing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I ask you, true partner, to help these women who have contended for the gospel at my side, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers whose names are in the book of life, and then our command, rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_01: I will say it again, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: I think he has put that there to remind us that listen, when we have a struggle in a relationship, when we find ourselves at odds with someone, even more so in a relationship that has been a good one.
SPEAKER_01: It's a family or it's a friendship or it's people in the church.
SPEAKER_01: When that disunity happens, when we're locking horns, when we have gotten sideways with each other, what always happens in that situation, if you break it down to its fundamental level, one or both of the people in that moment have decided that what they want or what they need is the most important thing.
SPEAKER_01: I know more about this than you.
SPEAKER_01: I am the defender of what's right and you're wrong.
SPEAKER_01: This is the way this should go and you're wrong.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm not wrong.
SPEAKER_01: You're wrong.
SPEAKER_01: This is the way it must go.
SPEAKER_01: And so it happens even to people who love Jesus to this level that he elevates and affirms their passion in serving Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So listen, this happens to people even who love the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It certainly happens in relationships with people who are not Christians.
SPEAKER_01: But even for Christians, we get sideways, we get in these times where we're fighting, we're struggling, we're disagreeing with someone.
SPEAKER_01: We get in a situation that we're so mad about something, we can't see anything else but what we think is right.
SPEAKER_01: And in that moment, when I think I know it right, or I deserve to have an apology, because what you did to me is wrong, and I deserve this.
SPEAKER_01: What's the answer to that?
SPEAKER_01: Me and I.
SPEAKER_01: My life is not mine.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gave his life for me.
SPEAKER_01: I am just a blood bought son of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and it's all about Him.
SPEAKER_01: It only matters being faithful to Him and how He is using me to impact those around me.
SPEAKER_01: It's not my calling to be right, it's my calling to be Jesus-like in the life of another person.
SPEAKER_01: So he follows up immediately with that.
SPEAKER_01: Let your graciousness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_01: You see, in all of these things, if I'm in these relationships, if I'm grateful to Jesus and I'm worshiping him for what he's done, and I am celebrating him, and I am in awe of what he did, that he died for me on the cross and he saved me from all the ugliness of my sin, then I'm going to look at myself and understand, you know, it's easy for me to have the perspective that I might be the one that's wrong in this situation.
SPEAKER_01: It's easy for me to understand, even if that person is wrong, boy, they're struggling with something, and I need to set myself aside, and I need to allow Jesus to use me to impact where they're hurting or struggling or where they need.
SPEAKER_01: When I am grateful to Him and I am focused on His salvation in my life, it literally turns me into a tool that God uses in the midst of those relationships.
SPEAKER_01: And it gives me a place where I'm not at loggerheads with somebody.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of our struggles, it happens when we understand why God teaches us what to do.
SPEAKER_01: Look in verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about anything.
SPEAKER_01: But in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
SPEAKER_01: In everything, we all have worry in life.
SPEAKER_01: My dad used to say about my mom.
SPEAKER_01: Now, my mom's a great woman of faith.
SPEAKER_01: She's a prayer warrior, but worrying is her spiritual gift.
SPEAKER_01: My dad would say this son, your mom is so gifted at worrying.
SPEAKER_01: If everything is going great and we don't have anything to worry about in life, she is worried about what we don't know that's around the corner.
SPEAKER_01: She worries if she doesn't have anything to worry about because she didn't understand what's happening.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we worry.
SPEAKER_01: Situations are stressful, things are difficult.
SPEAKER_01: We go through doctors' appointments and performance evaluations and reductions in force, and we go through struggles, and we go through our kids having struggles, and we have all these things that go on in life, and worry is a natural temptation for us as believers.
SPEAKER_01: And if I am not grateful to the Lord and I'm not focused rejoicing in the Lord, if I am not connected directly with the fact that He saved me and He's working in my life and He's always present.
SPEAKER_01: If I'm not connected with that, then the temptation to worry is just very real.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna start to worry.
SPEAKER_01: I'm certainly not gonna have a framework to handle worry or stresses in situations well.
SPEAKER_01: But look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.
SPEAKER_01: And when that happens, the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You see, what's supposed to happen in that is I am worshiping him, I am rejoicing in him always.
SPEAKER_01: I am standing in the reality of the fact that he saved me, and uh-oh, this thing comes at me, and you know what?
SPEAKER_01: It can't touch me because I'm in God's hands.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm not alone in this because in Jesus I am always with him because he saved me.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this this report may be bad, or whatever's happening may be bad.
SPEAKER_01: I may even die because of this situation.
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
SPEAKER_01: Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
SPEAKER_01: He says at the end of chapter 3, man, I know I'm gonna go to heaven.
SPEAKER_01: We looked at that last week and we talked about the resurrection power of Jesus because Jesus is coming back again, and not only do I believe that, I am expecting him to return, and I know that I'm going to have a resurrected body, spend eternity with him in heaven, because he is the King of kings and the Lord of the Lords, and he has the power to accomplish all of that.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what in the world do I have to worry about?
SPEAKER_01: Why am I worrying if I am rejoicing always in this sense and understanding that Jesus saved me and he will never let me go?
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoicing.
SPEAKER_01: Being thankful for our salvation at that Christian level, it resolves that sense of worry.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says here if you if you read on, Connect with us in uh verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about this a couple of weeks ago, but look at the picture of this.
SPEAKER_01: I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that once again you renewed your care for me.
SPEAKER_01: You were, he's talking to the church and he's thanking them for an offering, a missions offering that they took of their church and they sent to him as a missionary.
SPEAKER_01: I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that once again you renewed your care for me.
SPEAKER_01: That's the giving and concern they have for him.
SPEAKER_01: You were, in fact, concerned about me, but lacked the opportunity to show it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11, I don't say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in.
SPEAKER_01: Contentment.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, nobody has learned that truth these days, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: Discontent is rampant.
SPEAKER_01: And where does it come from?
SPEAKER_01: Well, discontent comes from me.
SPEAKER_01: I am upset because I don't have what I want or deserve.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have what I think I need in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else has more than I have.
SPEAKER_01: It is a sense of the situation that I am in is not right and not enough, and somehow I I believe there is something lacking and there is something else.
SPEAKER_01: How do you learn contentment?
SPEAKER_01: How do you learn that?
SPEAKER_01: He says, I have learned in whatever circumstances I am.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I know both how to have a little and I know how to have a lot.
SPEAKER_01: And in any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need, I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: He's back to rejoicing.
SPEAKER_01: He has learned that because I am Jesus, he didn't save me to then just leave me to fall apart.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't save me so that he could earn the right to make my life miserable.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what Jesus does.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't save me because, oh, what do I do with Greg now?
SPEAKER_01: Holy cow, what am I going to do with him?
SPEAKER_01: No, the Bible says that when we're saved in Ephesians chapter 2, that he has a plan for our lives, that he's already designed for us.
SPEAKER_01: And he saved us to be in that.
SPEAKER_01: And he saved us to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: And whatever situation I'm in is either a moment where he's put me there to do ministry and be an example of him, or it is a classroom where he is teaching me to learn something.
SPEAKER_01: And outside of worshiping him and rejoicing in him and being deeply gratefully connected to the fact that he saved me outside of that truth, man, I am susceptible to look around and see what I don't have.
SPEAKER_01: What I wish I had.
SPEAKER_01: What I wish I was.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else is more talented than me.
SPEAKER_01: Somebody else is more handsome than me.
SPEAKER_01: My kids tell me all the time, Dad, you're just not cool.
SPEAKER_01: That ship has passed.
SPEAKER_01: Give it up.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all that.
SPEAKER_01: Why can't I be that?
SPEAKER_01: God, why can't I be?
SPEAKER_01: He's like, Greg, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
SPEAKER_01: And I love you so much that even while you were in the condition of rejecting me, I died on the cross and took all of your sins in your place.
SPEAKER_01: That's how much I love you.
SPEAKER_01: Greg, I have a plan for you, and I made you a certain way to be able to do certain things, and I put certain peoples in your life because I'm going to use you to touch them.
SPEAKER_01: And son, I want you to know I am always with you and I have a plan for you.
SPEAKER_01: And you can do this, whatever you think the circumstances are.
SPEAKER_01: You can do this because I am in you.
SPEAKER_01: Look, rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I left that up there so you never forget that.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
SPEAKER_01: If you're not rejoicing in the Lord and that sense of salvation, you're not going to get to the Jesus through me part.
SPEAKER_01: Look at this last part.
SPEAKER_01: He says, in verse 15, you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel when I left Macedonia, no other church gave to me financially, shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone.
SPEAKER_01: For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my needs several times.
SPEAKER_01: Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 18, I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided.
SPEAKER_01: It is a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You see, here's the other thing.
SPEAKER_01: If I am not grateful in the sense of my salvation, why am I going to tithe?
SPEAKER_01: Why am I going to give and all of that?
SPEAKER_01: When he says it's an acceptable sacrifice, it is very clear that when I come, when Janet and I give to the Lord, we are giving to the Lord to say thankful for how you've blessed us.
SPEAKER_01: Everything we have comes from him.
SPEAKER_01: It's all from him.
SPEAKER_01: And it's all grateful to him.
SPEAKER_01: If we are not rejoicing in him, where's that going to come?
SPEAKER_01: Any issue that you have in life, struggles, finances, worry, difficult situations, people, relationships, all of that, every one of those, if you track through every one of those struggles that we have in life, the answer, the antidote comes from the daily discipline of rejoicing Jesus and standing in our salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Look again at what that word, rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Three, three just things I want you to look at here.
SPEAKER_01: It is a choice that we are to obey.
SPEAKER_01: It is a command, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: It is a command that says, rejoice and keep on rejoicing and don't stop rejoicing.
SPEAKER_01: If it is a command, then it is a sin to disobey it.
SPEAKER_01: So in my life, if I am not shaping and renewing my mind and focusing my heart on Jesus and preparing myself to walk through the day with a spirit of gratitude and the salvation that comes from Jesus, then I am susceptible to all those struggles.
SPEAKER_01: If I find myself in those struggles, it's probably because I have somehow been disconnected from that gratefulness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And the track back is to get back in that mode of God.
SPEAKER_01: I know you saved me, and you save me for more than this, and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and you have never left me alone, and there is never a promise that you have ever failed.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, I want to rest in the fact that you are my Savior and Redeemer.
SPEAKER_01: And that it is a spiritual discipline.
SPEAKER_01: Again, what I read to you that I wrote this morning, we have got to understand the depths of these commands.
SPEAKER_01: A few worship songs in the car on the way to work.
SPEAKER_01: He is not rejoicing in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: This morning, I was listening to one of my favorite songs, and it was really loud.
SPEAKER_01: And I pulled up to the radio, uh the red light, and I'm like getting with it, and I'm having fun, and I'm with it.
SPEAKER_01: I look over at the person next to me, and they are not rejoicing in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And they don't understand what I look like rejoicing in the Lord, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's it's good.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: I was singing loud, so what did I do?
SPEAKER_01: I just looked at him, smiled real big, and sang louder.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, you got to have time with the Lord where you are expressing to him what it means that I know that I'm saved and I know what it costs you to save me.
SPEAKER_01: We had recently a couple of experiences, Janet and I, in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: One, we went to see this week, we went to see the greatest Christmas pageant ever.
SPEAKER_01: Who's familiar with that story?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great story.
SPEAKER_01: The movie is incredibly well done.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to sell movie tickets, but it's incredibly well done.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not going to blow it for you because a lot of you don't know it and you need to learn it.
SPEAKER_01: It's a famous children's book, family book.
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a modern version of a Christmas carol, only it's way better.
SPEAKER_01: It's fun, but it's about a family that doesn't know anything about the Lord who discover what it means that Jesus was born to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible story.
SPEAKER_01: And in it you think for someone who's never heard the story of Jesus, what a profound thing to figure out that the Son of God stepped out of heaven because he loved me.
SPEAKER_01: Then I had a chance to have a gospel conversation recently with someone.
SPEAKER_01: Again, people all over Fort Smith, all over the River Valley, they don't know Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know what it means.
SPEAKER_01: We come here, but there's a whole lot more folks out there not in church this morning.
SPEAKER_01: There's a whole lot more folks out there, they're figuring out what they're doing, or they're playing golf, they're already hooked up their campers and heading out, or whatever they're doing, and they don't know anything about what we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: It is not hard to share Jesus with someone in our community where we live.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a foreign country, where we live in, they don't know these things.
SPEAKER_01: And when you get a chance to share Jesus and tell someone, Jesus died, he died for my sins.
SPEAKER_01: Well, why did he do that?
SPEAKER_01: You know, in Baptist life, there's very few people in this room that probably can't share the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, you hear me, I intentionally repeat the gospel in a very similar way over and over and over and over again so that it gets driven in, it gets drilled in.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in about two minutes, you can walk through.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, all of us are sinners by birth, by nature, and by choice.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said in the book of Romans that the wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_01: That's why people die.
SPEAKER_01: We're all going to die because of sin, but God's not satisfied with that.
SPEAKER_01: God stepped out of heaven in the form of Jesus, and there he lived a sinless life.
SPEAKER_01: He'd have never died because he never had any sin attached to it, but he went to the cross, and there he died a human death for us.
SPEAKER_01: He died in our place so he could pay the price for our sins.
SPEAKER_01: His death could be a substitute for mine.
SPEAKER_01: He rose again conquering death and sin to offer us life and salvation and forgiveness.
SPEAKER_01: And if you'll take your life, everything you've been, you are, and ever will be, you'll give it all to Jesus, he'll save you.
SPEAKER_01: Now that's flat out true.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we say it.
SPEAKER_01: And you've got to be clear with the gospel and help people understand it.
SPEAKER_01: But let me tell you what, if you've never heard that before, it is shocking.
SPEAKER_01: Who was Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Well, he's the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: He's not God, he's somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: Well, no, that's actually the Trinity.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what's that?
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's one God, but he's so immense and omnipotent and omnipresent that he expresses himself to us in three persons.
SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute, it's three people.
SPEAKER_01: You just tell me he's one person.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you see where that goes?
SPEAKER_01: He died and he rose again.
SPEAKER_01: Well, why is it that big a deal if he was God and he's the author of life and he died and he knew he was going to be raised again, then why was that that big a deal?
SPEAKER_01: You get, I mean, those are legitimate, reasonable questions, aren't they?
SPEAKER_01: And we forget those truths and we forget that people don't know that.
SPEAKER_01: But in our lives, we end up not meaning to.
SPEAKER_01: We go running to our two-minute version of, you know, for God so loved the world, he gave his only son and whosoever believes in it, you know, I give my life to Jesus and he forgive myself.
SPEAKER_01: And then we go on about our life and do what we do.
SPEAKER_01: When was the last time you thought about this truth?
SPEAKER_01: Yes?
SPEAKER_01: Before Jesus died, he told his followers he was going to die.
SPEAKER_01: And then he told them straight up, on the third day I'm gonna raise, be raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Then why was it so horrible for him to die?
SPEAKER_01: Because holy God took the horror of my sin on himself.
SPEAKER_01: I can't even begin to imagine, because I'm comfortable a lot of times in my sin.
SPEAKER_01: I might not be comfortable with that one, but I'm okay with this one.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna murder anybody, but yeah, it's okay for me to be mad at my friend and demand they forgive me instead of me doing that.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay for me to tell the white lie to make myself look a little better in this situation.
SPEAKER_01: It's okay for me to cheat on that particular thing or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: After all, I'm not an axe murderer.
SPEAKER_01: We're comfortable in our sin.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus is holy to God.
SPEAKER_01: It was horrible to go to the cross and to die, even knowing he was going to be raised again.
SPEAKER_01: Because he knew he was going to have to take on every ugly, hidden sin in my life and in yours.
SPEAKER_01: It was so horrible.
SPEAKER_01: Again, a story that we know and we tell.
SPEAKER_01: But you think about the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus went and prayed.
SPEAKER_01: He begged for his closest friends to pray with him through the night.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus literally told God the Father, if there's another way to do this, please find another way.
SPEAKER_01: If you can let this cup pass from me, he said, then let that happen.
SPEAKER_01: Why did he pray?
SPEAKER_01: The Bible described it.
SPEAKER_01: He is sweating so hard.
SPEAKER_01: He is agonizing in prayer so hard.
SPEAKER_01: He is literally sweating drops of blood, begging for another way to do this.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because as holy God, he took my sin and yours on himself.
SPEAKER_01: And he took the full wrath and punishment of God for our sin.
SPEAKER_01: I am so overwhelmed with the truth of that.
SPEAKER_01: And now what that means in my life, when I'm able to receive that forgiveness, who deserves that?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody does.
SPEAKER_01: It is God's grace that He extends that offer of salvation to us.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for making me whole.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Lord, for what you have given to me, my salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So great and free.
SPEAKER_01: Always.
SPEAKER_01: It's a spiritual discipline in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: How much do we tap into that?
SPEAKER_01: How much do we cling to the truth of that?
SPEAKER_01: God, I don't deserve any of this.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for saving me.
SPEAKER_01: How dare I say I want more than somebody else has, or they got something I don't have, or I want to be smarter, or I want to be this, or I want to be more than that.
SPEAKER_01: Be content where I am because where I am is a blood butt child of God.
SPEAKER_01: Because of what Jesus did for me.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I say it again.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Because of who you are in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice for what he's done in your life.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be anxious for anything.
SPEAKER_01: You come and you make your prayer requests known to him.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because you are a blood-bought son or daughter of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
SPEAKER_01: You come and you make your requests known to the Lord, giving thanks.
SPEAKER_01: I have the right to be here and ask God because Jesus saved me.
SPEAKER_01: There's no sin that separates me from God.
SPEAKER_01: Even if I sin and I'm asking for forgiveness, there's nothing that can separate me from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Praise you, Jesus, for who you are.
SPEAKER_01: That even when I am who I am, you are still who you are.
SPEAKER_01: And you let me come here and you let me ask for this, and you let me plead for this, and you let me tell you how much I'm struggling.
SPEAKER_01: And you build my faith because I know the access that I have, and I know the faithfulness that I have, and I know the love that you show for me, because I am focused on rejoicing for my salvation.
SPEAKER_01: When that discipline is always, I'm telling you, that's why the Bible says in the book of Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is my strength.
SPEAKER_01: Rest in the truth of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Spend time being grateful for salvation and what it means.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, come and give your life to Him because He did that for you.
SPEAKER_01: He did that for you.
SPEAKER_01: No one can ever get between you and Jesus and stop you from being saved.
SPEAKER_01: If you'll come and give your life to Him.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, Jesus did that for you.
SPEAKER_01: Come.
SPEAKER_01: I'll have pastors at the head of the aisles.
SPEAKER_01: We'll be here.
SPEAKER_01: If you want someone to pray with, if you want to ask some more questions, you come.
SPEAKER_01: We will walk this journey with you as long as you need.
SPEAKER_01: You come.
SPEAKER_01: Come and give your life to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you're saved as you head into the Thanksgiving season, man, I hope that it's just filled your heart to think about how much Jesus loved you, what he gave for you, what he's done in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And as we sing in a moment, I want you to sing with a heart of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to rejoice in the Lord and make a commitment this week that you will get alone with him and rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we ask that you give us the freedom to respond this morning to you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: And all God's people said.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.