WEBVTT 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:13.919 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. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:19.359 You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:21.280 Thank you for listening. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:25.120 It really is a joy to come in and hear y'all singing every morning. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:26.320 What a blessing. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:27.839 Well, good morning. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:31.679 Great to see you as we uh start spring break. 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:36.960 I guess all of you came today to say thanks to the Lord for the number 16. 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.359 Is that sweet? 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:41.039 Some of y'all get that tomorrow. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:42.479 It's sweet, somebody said. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:43.600 That's exactly right. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:44.719 No, it's good. 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:47.439 Uh I want to remind you a couple things. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:52.479 First of all, uh, we are looking for some folks to help us in England. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.759 Uh May the 4th, you leave that evening. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:58.000 Come back on May the 11th. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:06.560 Uh we're going, we need about four to six people to go uh and support Pastor Joel in a pastor's conference. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:20.159 So as you know, our churches here in Arkansas and now some other states are beginning to join or creating a network of churches to support a network of churches in England, many of them in the London area, but spreading beyond. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.200 And this is their annual pastor's conference. 00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:27.519 So this is really a great trip to go on for several reasons. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:33.280 First of all, you get to see what's happening, you get to meet a lot of the pastors involved and find out what's happening. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:34.879 Some great men of God. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:39.920 It'll bless you to hear their heart to reach their nation. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:41.760 It's just incredible to be around. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:49.519 So you're gonna help with things like help do food and just be there and support host and hostess. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:55.519 Also, this trip, you have two, it ends up because of the travel schedule, you end up with two England days. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:03.280 So the first day, Pastor Joel is talking about taking folks to uh Churchill's home out in the countryside, which is a beautiful place. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:04.400 I've been there. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:07.680 Uh it's an incredible home and fascinating history. 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:10.960 And then you'll get a London tour day on the back side of that. 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:17.680 And then the rest of the week you'll get a chance to uh be with men of God who are praying for their nation to know revival. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:19.759 So we hope you'll plan for that. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.599 If you have any questions, call me. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:22.719 We'd love for you to go. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:24.240 We need four to six people. 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:25.919 A couple of couples would be great. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:27.599 You don't have to be a couple, you can go. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:33.199 But if we had a couple of them, it's a great opportunity to go and do some touring uh and be a part of that. 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:35.039 So we have some information available. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:36.719 We'd love for you to be a part of that. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:38.000 So please let us know. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:38.960 Be in prayer. 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:41.360 I know that God has some folks out there. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:46.319 You talk to me all the time about one day you want to go to England, here's your shot. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:46.879 Okay. 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:53.520 Now, the next thing I want to remind you of is we are finishing our Faith Forward Emphasis uh this year. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:59.919 Uh we are paying off the property, the construction project for the utilities and all that is just about done. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.080 So it's really exciting to be there. 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.240 Uh, we are also doing some repairs here. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:07.759 I think we've just finished some repairs on the steeple. 00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:19.199 We'll have some other things to do around here, but the bulk of that is going to be paying off that property utility project, and it's very important that we pay that off and get that done for two reasons. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:24.960 Number one, the bill is coming due very soon, and so make sure if you haven't participated, you jump in. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:28.560 And second of all, we need to plan, begin planning on the next phase. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:29.759 So, what are we going to do next? 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:32.159 So I hope you're in prayer and a part of that. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:33.840 There are three ways that we can give. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:43.439 You can give online or in person, but also uh you can give a cash gift, you can pledge, which is a great way to do that, and uh and then you can give in combination. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:47.360 My family and I like to do that because it allows us to leverage our gift. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:53.520 This is over and above our tithes, and uh and it goes to help us advance forward as a church. 00:03:53.680 --> 00:03:55.759 And so I hope you'll be in prayer for that. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:07.680 If you have not had a chance to give or participate yet, we want everyone to be a part, and so that we can say this is our work that God is doing through us, and it's not their work. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:09.840 And so you we want you to be a part. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:17.519 I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 17, and here's what we're going to talk about the high standard of the Christian life. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:22.639 Now, that's kind of an interesting title for an Old Testament passage, right? 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:27.279 And so, but here's the question you get from a lot of folks, and you see it around. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:29.920 Why are we studying the Old Testament? 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:34.240 Isn't there a way you could just go deeper in the New Testament and just read that through the year? 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.240 Sure, you can do it however you want to. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.399 But why are we studying the Old Testament? 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.480 So I get these kinds of comments. 00:04:40.720 --> 00:04:45.759 Well, we live under grace and not the law. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.399 Well, that is true. 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:49.199 That is true. 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:50.480 That is a true statement. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:52.720 But let me ask you this question. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:56.879 Paul asks this question in Romans chapter 6. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:04.399 Now it's interesting, the book of Romans, some people refer to that as either a theological textbook or a legal textbook. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:10.720 It's written kind of that way, where Paul is really doing his most intellectual and specific best. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:15.759 He takes the Old Testament and he teaches that this is how Jesus fulfilled that. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:21.839 He is the salvation that God promised, and then because of that, how we move forward in our life. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:29.759 So he asks this question in Romans chapter 6 well, should if grace is so awesome, shouldn't we just sin a whole lot more? 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.199 And then there will be a whole lot more grace that will abound. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:38.000 And he's using that as a rhetorical device, and of course, that's a dumb question. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:41.519 Like intellectually, we just sort of think that doesn't sound right. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.319 But a lot of people live that way. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:47.759 They live as if there's no standard. 00:05:48.319 --> 00:05:51.439 We're under grace, and so if I blow it, I just blow it. 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:52.560 It's just not that big a deal. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.519 I can just do whatever I want to do, and God is good and Jesus is wonderful. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:57.120 We can just kind of do what we do. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.439 And Paul says, absolutely not. 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:01.680 That's not how that works, right? 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:14.720 And then he teaches us all throughout the book of Romans that the standard of the Christian life is the standard that God establishes from the very beginning. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.000 It is all the same, it is all seamless. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:26.560 In fact, in the New Testament, best count I could come up with, Deuteronomy is the book that Jesus quotes the most. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:29.040 That should be instructive to us. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:37.920 Forty-four times in the New Testament, at least, is a direct quote quoting Deuteronomy. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:51.040 And remember when Peter and Paul and whoever else was preaching in the New Testament time period, if you want to say the book of Acts, period, what is the Bible they're preaching from? 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.480 The Old Testament. 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:56.319 Right? 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:15.839 And so if Jesus is all through that and it's instructive to our lives, 44 times the writers in the New Testament quote the book of Deuteronomy exactly, and another 20 or so at least, they refer in part or in concept directly to what we're learning in Deuteronomy. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:28.079 So you cannot separate the experience and the learning that we are getting in Deuteronomy from the walk that we have in our daily life as followers of Jesus. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:35.680 And as you're reading through like today, you're reading through, I don't want you to miss the significance of what today's reading means. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:47.279 He is, they are on the planes there, getting ready and preparing to go into the land of Canaan to receive God's promise, and Moses is unpacking all these things. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:49.439 He's reminding them of all these things. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:54.399 They're constantly consecrating themselves, they're recommitting themselves to the covenant. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:57.680 And even in today's reading, he gives them an explanation. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:04.639 Listen, if you're obedient to God, all kinds of blessings flow if you're obedient. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:10.240 And if you are not obedient, then there is a curse for all of that. 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:16.879 In fact, I love what the uh teacher in the podcast said this morning as I was listening to that. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:20.000 She said, we need to get this concept down. 00:08:20.319 --> 00:08:21.759 God's blessing. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:27.519 And so if they refuse and they sin in the Old Testament, what does the curse mean? 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:32.639 Sometimes we just think, ah, well, we didn't get blessed, but I can just give up with that blessing. 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:34.320 That's not what the curse means. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:41.840 It actually reverses the blessings and goes the other way as God's discipline for not following him. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:56.320 And so when you think about the Old Testament, and as we're reading through and finishing up the book of Deuteronomy, as we're heading into the book of Joshua, I want you to see that what we are reading is highly instructive to us as New Testament Christians. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.679 Here's what Deuteronomy chapter 17, verse 1 says. 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:04.480 Now this this verse stuck in my, it just stuck in my brain. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:12.720 It was like a, you know, the story of the princess and the pea, 14 mattresses and put a pee under there and still messed her up, couldn't sleep at night. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:14.399 This this has been that for me. 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:16.480 We I love cowboy movies, right? 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:18.240 Like, let's watch cowboy movies. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:21.440 I mean, John Wayne, any of them. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:22.240 Like, I got it. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.799 His Cavalry movies, John Wayne Cowboy movies, I'm all in. 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:29.039 El Dorado, I mean, I'm all in. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:29.679 Let's watch. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:35.279 You give me some peanut butter and some vanilla wafers and cowboy movie, I'm all in. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:39.360 Magnificent Seven is the greatest film of all time. 00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:44.080 I mean, you've gone with wind people, y'all just sick. 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:47.279 I mean, that's just goofy, right? 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:48.879 That's just a dumb soap opera. 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:50.080 I mean, give me a break. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:57.519 The Magnificent Seven is about heroism and right and wrong and redemption and revenge over evil. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:59.759 I mean, it's just like the greatest experience. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:02.480 I mean, you could have church after you watched. 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:05.600 But I digress. 00:10:07.840 --> 00:10:12.399 I want you to think about this what here, December Deuteronomy 17.1. 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:14.240 Just stuck right in the middle of this. 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:15.519 My cowboy movie. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:21.519 It's like a burr under my saddle since we passed through Deuteronomy 17. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:26.240 You're reading along in 16, and you got all this stuff, don't worship other gods, and all this kind of stuff. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:33.200 You get this one verse, it's just stuck there, and then he heads off into some other territory and he starts covering some other stuff. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:38.879 It's just this one verse stuck right there, but it is stuck like a burr under that saddle. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:52.000 Here's what he says: you must not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep with a defect or any serious flaw, for that is detestable to the Lord your God. 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.679 Now that ought to arrest us. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:10:59.519 Detestable to the Lord. 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:02.000 Like, can you get any stronger language than that? 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:05.519 I mean, that's like eating Brussels sprouts. 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:10.559 It's like eating turnip greens. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:14.879 It's like eating liver and onions. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:17.279 See that face? 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:18.799 Y'all got it right there. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.480 This means it makes you want to gag and throw up. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.240 It is, you cannot abide it, is what it means. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:37.440 And he says, if you bring me that ox, or you bring me that sheep, and it's got some flaw on it, you know it has, I'm gonna upchuck it. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:42.399 Not only am I not gonna receive it, it is detestable to me as your God. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:45.200 And I want you to think about this, just stuck right in there. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:51.039 Now, it looks like we have been reading about offerings for three weeks, have we not? 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:53.440 It's like 20 chapters of offerings. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:55.120 They're bringing offerings for everything. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:56.799 You harvest, offering. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:58.159 You do this, offering. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.360 Have a party, offering. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:01.759 Have a fellowship or a festival, offering. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:02.960 You sin, offering. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:04.399 You mess up your neighbor, offering. 00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:07.440 Once a year you've got to bring the sacrifice for a sins offering. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:09.120 They're bringing offerings all the time. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:12.000 All the time, all the time, all the time of bringing offerings. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:13.679 What's the point of the offering? 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:17.360 Why can it not have a flaw or defect? 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:21.200 Because it is a picture of the redemption that comes through Jesus. 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:25.200 It is the repentance of sin, and sin flaws us. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:32.320 In the book of Romans, the Bible says, all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:38.080 The Bible says in the book of Romans, for the wages of sin is death. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:38.639 Right? 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:43.440 And so we know that Jesus came and he died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:51.440 Jesus came and lived a sinless life so that his death had no judgment attached to it, so it could be a sacrifice for ours. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:56.399 If Jesus had sinned, his death would have paid the price for his sin. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:10.320 And so in the Old Testament, as he's pointing to the Redeemer who would come to be the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, this sacrifice had to be without defect or flaw. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:18.399 It had to be sinless in order to be a repentance offering or a worship offering. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:19.840 Now you think about this. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.600 God is setting up this picture. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:27.279 We saw before how serious it was when Moses broke the picture of salvation. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.159 And so here he says again, here's the picture. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:33.200 You cannot bring that flawed ox or sheep. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.480 Because here's what happens. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:35.440 You think about it. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.960 Man, I got six offerings this week this month. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:50.960 We got the festival, and then next month is the sacrifice of the lamb and the Passover Supper, and then I got a harvest, and then I got to do this offering, and my kid went and messed up my neighbor's deal. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:52.159 I got to have an offering for that. 00:13:52.240 --> 00:13:54.159 Man, I don't got that many sheep. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.360 Y'all think we're bad? 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.399 Modern-day church, give me a break. 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.679 We should have an offering every day at First Baptist Church. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.000 Like you have to drive by and bring your offering every day. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:08.799 This is a good idea. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:09.919 Jacob, write this down. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:11.440 I like this idea. 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.000 I'll give you 10% of it for the music ministry. 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:15.360 Anything we get on top of that. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.320 How's that? 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:21.120 That's because Pastor Eli in the children's ministry already spoke for 50% of it. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:26.879 So, you know, it always worries me when I see Jacob and Eli talking to each other in the hallway. 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:28.720 I'm thinking, that's a conspiracy. 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:30.639 How much is that going to cost me? 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:32.720 We got offerings all the time. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:39.519 So you think about here's a dad, he's got these sheep, he's got this side of the herd, he's trying to grow his herd, he's got this bull over here, man. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:47.440 This ox, this this man, this that right there, I can put that thing to stud and I can grow a herd, and everybody wants my cows. 00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:49.440 And I got six offerings this week. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:50.960 I can't do any more offerings. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:52.960 You know, that one's a little gimpy. 00:14:53.279 --> 00:14:53.919 That's okay. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:01.600 I'll just tell the Lord, I'll double it out of that other beautiful one, this without flaw, and I'll bring him this one. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:05.759 And you bring that to the Lord. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:11.360 And you're holding back your best from the Lord. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:13.679 That's what he's talking about. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.440 That's not a heart of worship. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:16.240 That's not working. 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:19.519 That's detestable to the Lord. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:24.720 Now, we've been talking about Romans, so let's look at Romans 12, 1 and 2. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:28.799 This is a famous verse we've talked about here, kind of quoted a lot of times. 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.919 But I want you to see how these work in tandem together. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:38.559 And what we are reading in Deuteronomy teach us the standard that we should have in our lives as modern-day Christians. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:48.720 Because of all that stuff I've been talking about, Romans 6 and sin more, so grace is more, and wages of sin is death, and gift of all that stuff, all that stuff we've been talking about. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:16:04.559 Jesus coming to be our Savior explains it all in the first 11 verses, 11 chapters of Romans, and then he says this, therefore, because of all of that, because of all of this understanding, because of the nature of sin and the sacrifice of sin and sin into the world by one man, and Jesus died for all of our sins and all of that. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:14.559 Now, because of that, because you know what salvation is, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.200 Where does that word come from? 00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:20.639 The Old Testament. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:23.600 Where does the picture come from? 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:26.720 The Old Testament. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:39.440 When you're reading from Deuteronomy, and Paul says, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, what do you think that means? 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.279 We're learning from Deuteronomy what that means. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:47.440 I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. 00:16:47.600 --> 00:17:01.840 That means what you bring to the Lord matters, and that means if you bring something in your life with defect or serious flaw, it's detestable to the Lord. 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:06.000 You see, the standard set in the Old Testament still applies. 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:15.039 And we're learning the lessons, and Paul goes to that and he says, Look, man, in the same way, I urge you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:17.680 You see the opposite of detestable? 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:20.640 This is your spiritual worship. 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:23.680 This is an act of worship in how I come to the Lord. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:31.359 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. 00:17:31.599 --> 00:17:42.000 All of a sudden, when you get this idea of sacrifice and you understand, man, you gotta bring the best exactly as God commanded, and it's got to be without flaw. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:46.240 There's no more bringing him your second best or your leftovers or whatever. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:49.519 All of a sudden, man, that verse becomes even more. 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.519 And it sets for us the high standard of Christian living. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:56.400 I want you to just see some of the parallels in there. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:57.920 Sacrifice. 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:05.920 In Deuteronomy, he says, Do not bring that flawed animal for this act of worship. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:07.039 What does that mean? 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.319 Why is it detestable? 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.400 Because that means in your heart, he knows you made a choice. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:19.599 You decided that that was good enough. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:28.799 Or, hey man, I showed up, I did it, I should get credit, and the box checked. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:34.480 There's no box checking in the Christian life. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:42.240 And then he says, in the same way in the New Testament, the same picture, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:46.319 That means your person, you present yourself as that living sacrifice. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:19:04.720 And if you are presenting yourself with defect and flaw and all of that, the word picture of that, if you are making a choice to leave your best over here and just give your second best or whatever's left or whatever, you're making a choice. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:06.559 It's the same choice. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.160 And then he says, detestable versus pleasing. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:17.680 If I bring the sacrifice appropriately to the Lord, if I bring him my best, that is pleasing to him. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:29.279 And as I live for him and I'm not transform uh and I'm not conformed to this world, but I'm transformed by the renewing of my minds, and that transformation happens so that I can live out the will of God, that's pleasing to him. 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:34.799 But if I'm bringing him my second best, it's detestable to him. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:38.319 Man, these verses are inextricably linked. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:45.759 And he is looking at these Old Testament pictures and he's explaining to us this standard. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:51.759 And just because we're in the New Testament and we're under grace, it does not change the standard. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:20:04.720 The law and requirements may function differently, but they still set the same standard of righteousness and holiness and forgiveness and worship. 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:06.640 It does not change. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:12.880 That's why there's an entire book in the New Testament, Hebrews, that explains the same thing. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:22.960 So that's two books directly built on what we're reading and understanding and how it translates into our life today. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:26.880 So let me give you a couple of truths from this passage of scripture. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.000 Number one, sacrifice is God's standard. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:37.839 Second best and leftovers, neither one of them is acceptable. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.119 It is not acceptable. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:47.039 And we talk about this as pastors and staff meetings and stuff. 00:20:47.359 --> 00:20:52.720 Man, in modern-day Christian life, Jesus always gets the leftovers. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:20:55.759 He gets the leftovers. 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.000 I want this to be a teaching. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:04.319 I'm tempted to like go find a pulpit somewhere and pound away at it. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:06.559 Or y'all like it when I do this, right? 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:08.160 Okay, I got that out of the way. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:13.039 I want this to be thoughtful and I want you to think through it with me. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:18.000 I mean, you just think about all the simple things that go on. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:22.640 What happens if you're late to work every day? 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.799 What happens if you don't show up to work? 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:39.359 Several times now I've read a thing that breaks down church attendance by generations. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:45.440 And before all you seniors think I'm here all the time, we're all that good, and our generation is better. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:52.160 Not one generation in today's America reaches twice a month on average. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:53.759 Not one. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:55.279 Not one. 00:21:55.920 --> 00:21:59.039 In fact, some of the younger generations are at 1.9. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:09.200 Empty nesters are at 1.6 and senior adults are at 1.8 most of the time. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.400 It's kind of stunning, isn't it? 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:14.240 Now, we have a really good church. 00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.240 So I'm not trying to be super critical. 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:18.240 We have a lot of people who are highly committed. 00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:20.319 And so I don't ever want to take that for granted. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.079 So please understand what I'm saying. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:32.400 But we're reaching a lot of people, we're talking to folks on the internet, television, all that kind of stuff, and we have a ton of almost 50% of tenors in our church. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.319 We have a lot of folks. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:37.279 There's a lot of stuff that gets in the way. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:39.440 There's a lot of stuff that gets in the way. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:52.160 I'm telling you what, you get around the fall, there's not a deer hunter that's not out there seeding their fields and putting out corn, making sure their cameras are right and checking their cameras and doing all that, right? 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:58.079 I'm telling you, the quality level of deer hunting in Arkansas is incredible. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:03.200 When I lived in Nashville for a year, there were deer everywhere. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:08.400 I was driving home from work one night at 11 p.m. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:23.680 on I-40 in downtown Nashville, and a 10-point buck came running down I-40, and somebody next to me hit it and knocked it over. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:27.839 I told him, you people in Tennessee are terrible deer hunters. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:31.440 Like, y'all must not kill anything. 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:33.839 Y'all must not get it, because there's deer everywhere. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:40.000 Arkansas, all those deer are on people's plates and grills. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:44.079 Let me tell you what, man, we don't miss a trick. 00:23:44.319 --> 00:24:07.119 When I was the number two executive of the Arkansas Baptist Convention, do you know when we set the state convention meeting, the convention of 1,600 Arkansas Baptist churches to come together to pray together, to plead for God, to bring revival in our state, to vote on our budget of how we distributed all our missions dollars and all that, you know what the first thing we did before we set the calendar for the state convention meeting is? 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:09.759 We had to check the deer schedule. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:22.000 Because if we set it on any of the opening weekends, bow, muzzle loader, whatever, the pastors in Arkansas wouldn't come to the convention. 00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:26.640 I mean, seriously? 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:31.279 There wasn't a ball field that wasn't filled when I drove by church today. 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:37.039 And I bet you at least a third of those people are members of Baptist churches in Fort Smith. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:40.240 Not trying to keep you from playing ball. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:41.119 I love ball. 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:42.640 I raised my kids doing it. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:43.599 I'm got it. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:59.519 But listen, I can't tell you how many times my daughter's team was really good, and they always played in the finals, which was terrible because they played their finals on Saturday night, and I can't tell you how many times I left the ball field at one in the morning and preached two services the next morning. 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:05.599 But I drugged my kids at church and I told them, listen, if we got time to do that, we got time for Jesus. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.720 We're not bringing him our second best. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:16.799 If you show up late for your kids' ball practice, they're penalized, aren't they? 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:22.480 Man, how dare you ask somebody to show up at church on time? 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:26.400 I had a deal one time in Cabot. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:29.599 I'm not gonna do this here, so y'all just, okay. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:40.960 We decided all these people coming in interrupting Sunday school 30 minutes late, we weren't gonna let that happen in our children's ministry anymore, so we locked the doors. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.279 Like if you showed up 30 minutes, you couldn't get into Sunday school. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:47.440 Because by that time we were in the lesson. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:52.319 Man, you'd have thought I was preaching heresy from Sunday mornings. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:58.400 Baptists were coming unglued because it was their right to come to church 30 minutes late. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:13.359 It's just, I mean, you know, the lake gets more time, the bass get more time, the crappie get more time, the catfish get more time, the grandkids get more time. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:16.160 I'm about to have another one this week. 00:26:16.559 --> 00:26:17.920 Like I get it. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:37.440 Do not bring a sacrifice that is broken, defective, has a serious flaw. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:43.759 Present your bodies a living sacrifice which is acceptable to the Lord. 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:51.839 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:27:04.319 If we don't bring our best to the Lord, and when you read today's reading and you see those blessings that come from obedience, from following God's plan, when we live that way, our lives look different. 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:11.359 The blessing of God, the provision of God, the protection of God, everyone around us, they see something different. 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:18.160 But if we're just bringing our second best to Jesus, we don't look any different than anybody else. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:22.799 And who wants that? 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:32.720 If all I've got is showing up on a Sunday morning, checking a box and feeling like I did something good, I'd just soon be on the golf course. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:35.359 It's pretty out there today, y'all. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:39.839 But there's gotta be something different. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:46.160 And it's different when it is an act of worship, and we make the decision in this vlog. 00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:47.359 That is God. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:50.400 It's not mine. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:53.279 It's not mine anyway, because he provided all of it. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:57.359 But I recognize that's God. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.000 No more leftovers. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:04.000 No more leftovers. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:09.920 They tell us people don't witness today. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.759 They're gonna get a question they don't know the answer to. 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:16.799 How long have you been in church? 00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:21.119 Really? 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:22.720 We can't answer. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:25.519 Everybody's a sinner. 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:28.000 Holy God judges sin. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:30.480 Sin must be punished. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:33.279 Jesus took your punishment on the cross. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:35.759 He rose again, conquered death of sin. 00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:36.559 Give your life to Jesus. 00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:37.279 What does that mean? 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:41.759 It means you take everything in your life, you've ever been, you are, and you're ever been, you give it all to Jesus. 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:43.759 Here's when I gave my life to Jesus. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:45.119 How hard is that? 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:47.200 How hard is that? 00:28:48.319 --> 00:28:52.960 Why do I do the invitation the same way every week? 00:28:53.519 --> 00:28:54.799 Why do you think? 00:28:55.359 --> 00:28:58.240 I can come up with all kinds of ways. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:05.039 I've got awesome, dramatic, gut-wrenching stories that I can tell at every invitation. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:17.119 A few years ago, my wife, we were in Memphis still, and I came up on the experience of my wife and my sister cackling and laughing. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:19.279 And this is what I pick up on. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:21.359 Did he look good today? 00:29:21.599 --> 00:29:22.880 Oh, he's so handsome. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:24.000 He's so handsome. 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:24.960 You know, he must work out. 00:29:25.039 --> 00:29:26.880 A young guy, he is just so handsome. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:28.799 And he's sitting on that motorcycle. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:31.119 I mean, he it was, yeah, he was really handsome. 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:32.480 And he was so nice to me today. 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:34.000 And I said, What are y'all talking about? 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:38.720 Well, that motorcycle cop over in Countrywood gave me a speeding ticket today. 00:29:39.039 --> 00:29:40.000 Are you kidding me? 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:42.400 You're telling me how handsome he is and gave you a speeding ticket? 00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:43.920 How much is that gonna cost me? 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:46.880 And then I gotta hear how big his muscles are. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:48.559 Like, are you kidding me? 00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:50.319 What kind of conversation is this? 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:51.680 He was famous. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:58.400 He parked right there, and I mean he gave every housewife in that part of East Memphis a speeding ticket. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:02.400 They would speed just so he would stop them and talk to them. 00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:08.079 That's a Tuesday. 00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:11.359 Friday afternoon. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:13.680 I'm on what we used to call beeper duty. 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:17.119