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. . . . . Good morning everyone, welcome to the Faithful Word of the Baptist Church. Great to see you all here for our Sunday morning service. Y'all please have a secret. Everyone open up that hymn of Psalm 30. Begin this morning's service by singing Psalm 30, nothing but the blood. Amen. Let's start with Psalm 30. Make me whole again, like the blood of Jesus. All precious is the flow that makes me wild and slow. The water and I know, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All precious is the flow that makes me wild and slow. The water and I know, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All precious is the flow that makes me wild and slow. The water and I know, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, like the blood of Jesus. All precious is the flow that makes me wild and slow. The water and I know, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. All my heart and this I see, like the blood of Jesus. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, clear and all astray. Share this prayer like the secret food. Grant me the soul, bring me faith in God. Praise, praise, praise, bring this grace untold. Voice to the bread and to the wine of God. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise to the morning and the evening. Praise, praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, clear and all astray. God of the sacred, we can and abide. Our tender hands, wash me away. The grace will be my praise to find. Where the grace of the day leads to gain. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise to the morning and the evening. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, clear and all astray. God of the sacred, we can and abide. We need the soul, God of the living. We are longing to see His grace. Where the grace of His grace we see. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise to the morning and the evening. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, God's praise. Praise, praise, God's praise. All right, well, good morning, everybody. It's great to see everybody out this morning. And of course we have our service times there in the upper left-hand side every Sunday at 10 30 a.m. We'll be back this evening at 5 30 p.m. And then Thursdays at 7 is our midweek Bible study will be in Genesis chapter number 4 this week Also, we have our churchwide soul winning regional soul winning times and our salvation and baptisms For the month and year. So that's our final total there for how many people have received Christ out through our Efforts knocking the doors preaching the gospel here in Tucson. So we had a record of 210 So that's an that's an annual record for our church. That's the previous record was an even 200 So we beat it out by 10 so Again, we're always good to see that good to see a church growing in that way and doing the work that we're here to do And also just a couple notes about our church again. We are family integrated So we keep the children here in the service with us There is a mother baby room back there for ladies and their children if needed and then if you're wondering about the bathrooms There is a key located next to the mother the ladies restroom, excuse me, just the other side of that door and The bathrooms for the men are located outside If you have any questions about that just grab somebody to help you and over on the right-hand side of course is the happy birthday to everybody celebrating in the month of January and That's what the doughnuts are there for so every the first of every month, of course We put the doughnuts out for anyone who's celebrating and if your name has not been in In was in the bulletin last year and you haven't gotten me that information You want your name in the bulletin for your birthday? Want us to be able to celebrate with you and your birthday month? You got to get that information to me or an anniversary We will celebrate wedding anniversaries as well, but I do have to have that information So if you're not if you're if you're looking at January and wondering why you're not in there It's not because I don't like you Okay It's because I don't know that you were born in January because I don't have that information And then of course, it's everyone's favorite time of year tax season is upon us So if you need your giving statements for the year 2023 This previous year just email the church there. You have the address on the bottom It's also on the front of every bulletin if you need it And we will go ahead and get that mailed over to you a PDF if you need a signed copy on on church letterhead, you just need to indicate that I'll make that happen as well But that is it for announcements. We'll go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching this morning Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Five Simon Oh Oh They saw means to bring him in to lay in before him when they did not find by what way they might bring him in Because of the multiple they went upon the house And let him down entirely. It was a couch in the midst before jesus When he saw their faith he sensed that that sins are forgiven And the scribes and pharisees began to read saying who is this which speaks blasphemous who can forgive sins for god alone? But when jesus perceived their thoughts he answered his sense What reason in your hearts whether it's easier to say that sins be forgiven or to say rise up and walk But that you may know that son man power upon earth gets sinned. He sent him to the saint of paul's I say it's the rise take up that couch and go into that house And immediately he rose up before them and took up that ron. He lay and departed to his own house glorifying god And they were all amazed glorified god filled with fear saying we have seen strange things And after these things he went forth and saw publicly named levi saying at the receipt of custom he stands Follow me and he left off rose up and followed Levi made him create feast in his own house And there was a great company of publicans of others that sat down with them But their scribes and pharisees murmured at the sight of saying why do you eat and drink republicans and sinners? And jesus said unto them they are whole not a physician But they are sick I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance And they said unto why do disciples of john fast off and make prayers and likewise disciples and pharisees And he said unto can you make the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them The days will come the bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast in those days mistake also parable No, man goes to the new piece of a new garden upon an old Otherwise both of you leave the correct the piece that was taken out of you I pray it's not revealed and no man puts new wine into old bottles else the new wine reverse the bottles still The bottle shall perish the new wine must be put into new bottles both are preserved No, man also having drunk old wine. Stay away desire is new for he's saying the gold is better But adam, would you pray for us? Heavenly father just thank you for today lord god Your goodness and your mercy are alive lord god. Thank you for this church lord god That's gonna bless everybody here lord god and bless your word and bless the preaching Go deep with the holy spirit lord. Thank you for all you do for us and Jesus all the night we pray Amen, so we're there in luke chapter number five. We'll be back in uh luke here just in a minute but if those of you that have been with us over the last, uh, several weeks now probably recognize, uh that this is a Parable, uh a parallel passage from where we were Last week in mark mark chapter number two. That's what we're continuing on this morning is our first by verse study through Mark chapter number two and so if you want to keep something there in luke, we'll be back Like I said just a minute, but go ahead and turn over to luke chapter number. Excuse me. Mark chapter number two Mark chapter number two. We'll look at uh verse 13 If you remember last week, uh through mark, you probably recognized again some of that In luke this morning where you had the one being born of the four You have the scribes contending with jesus and so on and so forth That's a very that's uh, what we see here in mark two as well, but we're going to look at verses 13 through 15 where Uh, levi is called into the ministry It says there in verse 13 and he went forth again by the seaside and all the multitude resorted unto him And he taught them and as he passed by he saw levi the son of otheus Sitting at the receipt of custom and said unto him follow me and he arose and followed him And really i'm just going to focus on those couple of verses this morning And a few things about levi, of course, this is matthew if you were to go to matthew chapter number nine Uh, we won't go there where it's another parallel passage where you would see that he is actually named matthew And that's nothing out of the ordinary in scripture You'll see people referred to by different names and when you kind of put all the pieces together you figure out who is who? And we also learn from matthew chapter nine that levi who is called from the receipt of custom here Is the author or at least that's generally accepted that he is the author of the book of matthew So that's who we're talking about this morning. That's who's being called into christ's ministry here and If you would go back to luke we're done in mark, but I just wanted to point out, you know What why are we in luke if we're going through the book of mark? Okay Well, we're in mark, but we're going to look at the parallel passage of luke because I think there's a few Things that we can get out of luke. It's always good your bible studies to go to parallel passages if there are one if there are any rather and take a look at those and Often you get a little bit more detail about the story when you do that And we're there in luke chapter number five this morning. It says in verse 27 after these things he went forth and saw a publican And as as mark calls him and one who sat at the receipt of custom right a publican. This is a tax collector You know speaking of giving statements, you know, we all nothing. Nothing is new We're all people have always been under tribute and there have always been those that were appointed to take that tribute. That's who matthew was So it kind of gives you a sense an idea of who he was where he was coming from Probably not a very well-liked guy. Okay. He throws this feast here in a minute And really the only other people he invites are his fellow publicans people that have something in common with these probably, you know These people in society probably weren't looked upon Uh, you know with great fondness, especially among the jewish people because they were representing the fact That they were being taxed by the roman empire. Okay, so He's he's not necessarily a bad person. He's kind of just doing his job, but he's got one of those jobs that Doesn't really bring you a lot of glory In fact, it might cause you to be despised a little bit in the eyes of other people for right or wrong Okay that's that's who he is and it says there that he was sitting at the receipt of custom at the verse end of verse 27 In luke chapter number five and jesus said unto him follow me and I love how it's just those two little words all jesus has to say is follow me and there's just Something about jesus, of course, this is early on in his ministry. This is something That is just he's just getting the ball rolling and jesus's fame of course is already beginning to spread abroad So it's very likely that levi Matthew has heard about jesus. He's knows who this is and perhaps that's why he so easily and so quickly begins to follow jesus or perhaps it was just something about jesus when he just saw him his demeanor the way he The way he carried himself just something compelled him to follow jesus Either way all jesus had to say to get matthew to leave this his receipt of custom to leave his job To leave the life that he had known was follow him. That's all he had to say follow me And he says in verse 28 and he left all and rose up and followed him Verse 29 and levi made a great feast in his own house And there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down With him and I want to look at levi's feast this morning levi's feast if I was going to put a subtitle In fact, I have put a subtitle to the sermon. I would call it levi's feast And I think there's a couple things that we can learn from levi from matthew here. First of all when jesus says follow me He does so immediately, right? He doesn't Have to sit there and weigh things out He doesn't have to you know Break out a contract and have certain stipulations in place before he's willing to follow jesus He doesn't you know ask the ins and outs of what it's going to take to be a part of his ministry He just sees seize the opportunity. He seizes upon it and immediately begins to follow jesus He doesn't wait or have any excuses. He just begins to follow jesus It says there in verse 28 and he left all he left all And this is something that we see particularly in the lives of the apostles and those that followed christ the closest Is that they often had to leave all? peter James, john, andrew those four fishermen it said of them that they forsook their nets that John and and his brother they left their father and the nets they left their business. That's that was their livelihood They forsook all they left all and nothing has changed here either with levi When christ comes to him and says hey, it's time for you to follow me It's time for you to get involved in the ministry It's time for you to do the things that you ought to do there was some sacrifices that had to take place Levi had to say well i'm going to leave this He couldn't he knew that he couldn't do both The disciples often forsook all in fact in every instance Now again, there's application we can make in our own lives When it comes to this and what i'm not suggesting this morning is that in order for you to serve christ You have to for you know, quit your job. Okay, the bible says if a man doesn't work neither should he eat Okay The bible tells us that we should uh be busy with and and work with our own hands and provide for those that lack Okay, the i'm not suggesting that The disciples though, however, is that they are not going to be able to do that The disciples though, however in in jesus time forsook All because they had to forsake all in order to follow christ. Okay, they forsook in proportion to the opportunity Okay, they forsook in proportion to the opportunity presented them. What do I mean by that? What I mean is is that they had the opportunity to follow christ himself during his earthly ministry And we are not called to do that today we follow christ spiritually We follow christ through the reading of the word of god through being members in the local new testament church Through preaching the gospel by doing those things that are commanded of us But you know, we're not called today to follow, you know, follow jesus christ himself around for three years And do all the works that he had them to do they're forsaking all everything jobs family everything Because of the fact that that's what was required to be in the literal earthly ministry of christ That's what it takes. You couldn't have done it any other way And of course that's a great sacrifice, isn't it? It's a great sacrifice to leave behind all that which you're comfortable with that which you've known that which is familiar That which has provided income for you and to just trust that following christ somehow my needs are going to be met And i'm not going to have to worry about anything the needs of my family It took it's a great leap of faith that they took It's a great sacrifice, but it's also a great opportunity These same men went on to form the backbone of christ's ministry After he ascended into earth They were the ones as it was said of them in acts that turned the world upside down for christ a small handful of people Did great works, but it came in a great sacrifice So they forsook in proportion to the opportunity Opportunity If you would keep something in luke and go over to first corinthians chapter number four first corinthians chapter number four In luke chapter 14, i'll just read to you it says so likewise Whoso, this is christ speaking whoso he he be whosoever he be of you That forsaketh not all that he hath He cannot be my disciple if remember that's in the context of you know, one came to him and and wanted to follow him and and You know the people began to have excuses and say well I got to go bury my father and he said let the dead be bury their dead You would see jesus often reminding people that wanted to follow him of the great price that they had to pay that they had to Sit down and count the cost of what it took to actually follow him on earth Now we don't want to misapply this today luke chapter 14 And say oh you have to forsake everything today in order to follow christ in order to serve god That's why he said in luke 14 whosoever he be of you meaning the people that were present at that time The people that he was spoken speaking to in that immediate context Those people that were there with christ hearing the words when they first came out of his mouth They had to forsake all in order to be his disciple The good news is today That we don't have to do that in order to follow christ We are going to have to make sacrifices. We might have to make some changes There's some things that we are going to have to do but it's not called of us today to forsake everything What are we called to forsake well forsake sin Forsake sin and you've been coming here every length of time, you know, that's that's something we preach often about here About getting the sin out of your life and start doing the right things to obey the bible. That's what we're called to do That's you know, and honestly that's really not much in comparison to what these men were called to forsake Um So first of all levi it says here in luke chapter five that he left all He was called to forsake everything in order to Participate in that great ministry. We're called to forsake sin We're called to obey the bible. Okay, and that's a very broad subject, obviously That's why it's important to be in church so you can learn all those things. Okay but Next we see that not only did he as it says there in verse 28 of luke five He left all then he rose up In order to follow christ, he had to get up on his feet and stand on his own two feet And here's the application I make this morning is that you have to live the christian life for yourself You have to rise up and stand on your own two feet if you're going to follow christ I cannot live the christian life for you Your parents cannot live the christian life for you Your children cannot live the christian life for your spouse cannot live the christian life for you. Nobody else can do it You have to follow christ You have to decide that i'm going to stand on my own two feet that I also like levi am going to rise up and follow christ And put one foot in front of the other see mature christians aren't people that are carried through the christian life You can't carry people through through ministry that's what i've learned in the five years i've been doing this Is that people have to decide at some point to stand on their own two feet And make their own decision to follow christ or they're not going to I'm not saying we don't help i'm not saying there isn't time to land lend a helping hand to somebody Lift a brother a sister up and help them to move forward But ultimately if we're going to make progress as christians we have to determine for ourselves that i'm going to serve christ Nothing's going to stop me. I'll forsake whatever needs to be forsaken and i'm going to follow him for myself Mature christians aren't carried So levi here. He left all He rose up And then I want to look at this next phrase and followed him See, I thought this was about the feast You said the subtitle was levi's feast. Well, that's verse 29 He makes this great feast. That sounds like a good time, doesn't it? That sounds like the part we want to get to You know, you you uh, you tell everybody we're having a potluck next sunday more people are going to show up More people are more likely to to come back Right, they're like, well, i'll make sure I don't miss that service So I don't just show up right after service and and hog out, you know I'm i'm joking, right, but i'm using as an illustration that you know, that's the fun part the feast sitting down with jesus He said follow me and I just threw the doors wide open. I said come on in. Let's sit down and have a meal You know levi for what? You know, though he might have been despised by his fellow men to some degree You know when it came to jesus, you know, he opened his arms wide and said come on in Sit down. Let's have a meal It wasn't this You know burden to have to have the presence of god with him. He saw it for the great opportunity that it was But what comes before the feast? forsaking Rising up And then following him those things came before the feast He had to forsake he had to leave all he had to rise up and then he had to follow him Meaning this that when he began to follow jesus, he was going in the direction that somebody else determined You don't get to choose how to follow jesus It's not up to you You don't get to pick and choose and and cherry pick out of the word of god and say well, I like this part I don't like that Well, I like this part, but I don't like that. This sounds good, but this bothers me You know, I agree with that, but I disagree with this I'll go ahead and take that standard on but i'm going to dismiss this one. I'll embrace this doctrine and reject that one That's how it works in the christian life When he said i'll follow you when he said what jesus said and follow me and and levi Forsook all and rose up and began to follow him. He said i'll just go wherever you lead Whatever direction you want to take me lord. That's the direction i'm willing to go. That's how you follow christ No stipulations You see mature christians they they learn they aren't carried through the christian life they rise up and stand on their own two feet And they're not And they are obedient rather two directions When they hear the preaching the word of god, they say well, that's what the bible says then that's what i'm going to do That's what it means to follow christ You know if the bible says hey You know once you get saved you should be baptized, you know an obedient christian say well, then that's what i'm going to do I'm going to get baptized You know, it's the new year and we have a unique opportunity to be the first one to be baptized in 2023 And you know, honestly it'd be a little bit nicer this year or excuse me 2024, right? I get it everyone Thank you for being patient with me I haven't written 2023 yet and i've been signing dates lately this whole last week every time it was 2024 But you could be the first one this year to be baptized if you haven't been already in 2024 You know, it'd be nice to have more than one this year. Okay, just subtle hint Subtle hint But that's what obedient christian would do wouldn't they they say what the bible says To get baptized. Well, I don't care what anybody else thinks. I don't care how embarrassing it is. I don't care how afraid I am I don't care. Uh, you know the fact that people are gonna be looking at me or whatever They would just do that because they want to follow christ And they're gonna follow him meaning they're gonna go in the direction that he leads And he's gonna be the boss They're obedient to directions, you know, the bible says we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together You know, this is the year to be in church You know, it's the start of a new year great goal would be hey i'm gonna be in church at least once a week Will you say I did that last year? Okay. How about twice a week? You said well, I did that last year. Well, let's bump it up to three then you become that three to thrive crowd. Okay Okay And i'm not trying to harp on these things But again my point the the point i'm really going to try and drive home this morning Is that when you really think about what we're called to as christians, we've got it easy compared to men like levi Compared to men like the apostles and the disciples and others who had to forsake all and leave everything now, obviously You know, it's because they were following christ himself I I don't want to say it was easy But I would like to think that I would have an easy would be able to do the same thing And that my wife would understand, you know, if jesus showed up and said hey you're coming with me for three years. I'd say honey you know You know, I could understand if she got upset if I was out at some deer camp for two weeks or something like that She might wonder does he like me, right? You know, but i'd hope she'd understand if jesus showed up say well, of course go it's a great opportunity We have it, you know pretty easy obviously we don't have the exact same opportunity But we still have a great opportunity to great do great things for god god and god has things for us to do We have things if we're going to follow christ that we must obey You know, it's the beginning of the new year Bible reading you know man shall not live by bread alone But by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god doth man live You know that that's something we ought to be doing we ought to be searching the scriptures We ought to be searching the scriptures daily to see whether these things be so If you haven't read your bible, you know in a year if you haven't read it once this is the year to read the bible cover to cover 15 20 25 maybe if you're depending on your on your on your capability To read, you know get through it Get through it this year 15 minutes 20 minutes You know get an audio bible plug it in Say why you always harping on that because people don't read their bible You need to be reading it And look I could go on and on and cover the things that we always preach about here the things we ought to be doing As christians my point this morning is is that if you're going to follow christ in 2024 You're going to have to decide that i'm going in a direction that somebody else has determined for me The bible says in proverbs 9 forsake the foolish and live look we're not called to forsake everything But you know, we are called to forsake the foolish to forsake foolishness to forsake sin And we benefit because we live we go in the way of understanding If you would you're there in first corinthians chapter number four look at verse 14 Paul said this I write not these things to shame you But as my beloved sons, I warn you so we get an idea of how paul looked at the people that he preached to You know, he looked at the people that he preached to as sons as children he was endeared to the people at corn And look chapter go read chapter five. Okay, it gets pretty harsh He tells him to deliver such and went on to satan for the destruction of the flesh right that this That the soul may be saved, okay But he's not being mean Okay He cares about these people sometimes the preacher has to preach things and say things That are hard or mean or whatever you want to perceive it whatever you want to call it because he's doing it out of love We're commanded to speak the truth and love It goes on and says in verse 15 for though you have 10 000 instructors in christ yet You have not many fathers for in christ. Jesus. I have begotten you through the gospel Wherefore I beseech you which means to beg i'm begging you be he followers of me For this cause have I sent to motheus who is my beloved son and faithful in lord who shall bring into remembrance of my ways Which be in christ? As I teach everywhere In every church look we don't have the opportunity today to follow christ But we have an opportunity today to follow a ministry to follow a man of god you say who this guy Okay You know and all i'm trying to and and all i'm trying to do is teach this And that's what paul is saying here he's saying hey follow me as I follow christ, right? He said I sent to motheus to bring you to remembrance of my ways of my ways of my ways Paul said to remind you of my ways Which be in christ? Okay And let me just come out and say this if there's people here that can't follow me And can I use the word pastor? Is that okay? Because I am pastoring this church I know i'm not you know, the overseer of this church that we are under faithful word baptist church in tempe I understand that don't go blast me. Don't go tell on me. He's down there calling himself pastor Okay, I know i'm the deacon that's my that's my official title But I am pastoring this church And I am the one that you know is is leading this this flock And let me just say this if you can't follow me as a pastor I wonder if you could ever follow christ because what am I asking you to do? Read your bible Preach the gospel Get baptized if you need to be in church Be nice to your spouse Raise your children get I mean i'm not I don't I didn't ask you to forsake everything. I'm not the one going hey leave your job And follow me Christ did that Christ did that that was what it cost to follow him And all i'm saying is hey, let's follow me as I follow christ let me be an example to you On on how to live the christian life on how to raise a godly family and how to be a good church member Let me be an example follow me As I follow christ Well, I don't know if I if I like that. We'll go to first corinthians chapter 11. I don't follow any man Well, then you wouldn't have followed jesus the son of man you wouldn't have followed the man christ jesus You wouldn't have followed paul who was a man He said in philippians 3 brethren be followers together of me And mark them which walk so as you have us for an example, he said follow me Follow be followers together all of you follow me. That's what paul said And mark them which walk so as you have us for an example follow us and follow those that are following us. That's what he's saying First corinthians chapter 11 look at verse 1 be followers of me Oh, how dare you paul? How you dare you suggest anyone should should do what you say? Should listen to to what you have to say should should you know be obedient to the preaching? He said be followers of me even as I also am of christ You know, and honestly i'm just a man I get it and i'm just a vessel i'm just the one delivering the message But someone's got to get up and do it And if you're going to you know not follow what the bible says if you're going to just disregard the word of god Because of whose mouth it's coming out of Then you wouldn't follow christ You wouldn't be somebody who would forsake all you can't even forsake your pride and follow me And look I get it i'm not, you know, it's not quite as an allure or an attraction to follow me as it would be christ But that's what that's what I was saying in the beginning that the the forsaking that disciples did was in proportion to the opportunity presented Well, none of us is going to have the opportunity to do the things that disciples did fact We can still do great things we can still do great works But we're never going to have the opportunity to witness the things that they witness it's done and gone that ministry has come and gone But if you follow this ministry if you'll follow the preaching that comes across this pulpit and start to you know Go in the direction that the bible Dictates, you know, you will do great things for god. You will see souls come to christ your life will be changed So Um So that's what I want to start on we're talking about levi's feast is that these are the things that came before the fun The fun part is hey the meal sitting down and fellowshipping And levi had to forsake all And he had to rise up and he had to follow right. He had to be obedient. He had to submit he had to follow christ But let me point out here that not only did levi leave all That levi had levity, okay Levi had levity, you know, he had uh, you know, it was good spirited, you know, he wasn't down he had levity He was light-hearted. I believe it was a joy. That's what i'm trying to get across I'm using the alliteration. So maybe you'll remember when you leave. Okay, remember what? That discipleship that following christ is not some drudgery that you have to just white knuckle through in the christian life Well, I guess if i've got to do what the bible says I guess I will I mean you think that's that's not the attitude levi had follow me. Well, I mean you are jesus so I suppose Not everybody gets called so I guess if I have to follow jesus I will you think that was his attitude Getting up all slow out of his seat. Oh You know like a teenager is told to go clean the room Oh If I have to after all you are the boss He said he probably leapt out of his seat said You know, i'm tired of being uh, you know collecting taxes Hey jesus, let's go over to my place And put a meal on Levi had levity. He made a great feast. He rejoiced when he was called to follow jesus Discipleship is not a drudgery. I should have gone to first john chapter number five first john chapter number five We all know this passage i'll begin reading in first john chapter number five It says whosoever believeth that jesus is the christ is born of god Whosoever has put their belief their trust in jesus christ as the son of god his death burial and resurrection is born again To them gave you power to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name right And everyone that believe that loveth him That begat loveth him also that has begotten of him He's saying everyone that loveth him that begat now who did the begetting? god, right You know god gave us his son that he might bring Uh gave us jesus christ. It might be bringing many sons unto salvation right many children He's the one that did the begetting god Everyone that loveth him that begat everyone that loves god Loveth him also that is begotten of him. It means he's going to love the brotherhood You know if you're begotten of god, you know, you're going to love your spiritual siblings Verse two by this we know that we we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments When we love god and we keep his commandments That's how we know that we love the children of god You got to think about what he's saying here by this we know Okay about what he's about to say by this i'm about to tell you By this we know that we love the children of god How do we know that we love the children of god our brothers and sisters in christ when we love god? Well, how do we know when we love god when we keep his commandments? You know if we love the world the love of the father is not in us I mean, it doesn't mean that god doesn't love us. It means our love for god isn't there when we love the world There's no room No, man can serve two masters. He will hate the one and love the other also. He will hold the one and despise the other For this is the love of god that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not grievous They're not a drudgery Look serving god isn't a drudgery. It's not some You know, uh great burden that that's just going to bear, you know weigh you down in life and just grind you to powder Jesus said come unto me all ye that labor and heavy laden I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light That's the invitation to follow christ Oh, it's so grievous to read my bible. Oh, really? It's so grievous to have the holy spirit of god commune with you through the word of god To be able to pick up the book that the the natural man cannot understand The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god neither they can you know them for they are Spiritually discerned. Oh, it's so what a what a what a burden To have these words of all these precious promises all these uh, all these things to look forward to all this encouragement And yes all the things that you know, chap our hide to You know, what what a you know hard thing that to read a book that's gonna you know straighten us out You have to listen to the preaching of it. Oh, what a drudgery to have to come to church You know to carve out, you know some time on a sunday morning I know we could all be at home taking down the christmas decorations Or doing whatever else it is that people are doing out there today But you know, we're have you been called to to follow me around every single day of the week Have you been called to you know, follow me you wouldn't want to and I wouldn't want you to It's not pretty You know, that's all we've been called to his commandments are not grievous. They're not Go to hebrews chapter number 12 hebrews chapter number 12 That's not what you see with levi You know levi made a feast after He forsook all after he rose up and stood on his own two feet After he followed jesus in the direction that he was leading. That's when the feast came Look at hebrews chapter 12 look look at verse 11 It says in Hebrews chapter 12. It says in Hebrews chapter 12 Look at Hebrews chapter 12 look look at verse 11 now no chastening for the present time Seemeth to be joyous but grievous What is grievous is it god's commandments? No, it's the chasing that's grievous right? We just read in first john That his commandments are not grievous now. We're here in hebrews 11 or 2 12. Excuse me verse 11 Where it says that chasing is what is grievous? right Right Nevertheless afterward yield at the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby It's a profitable thing to be chastened It's not what you know, any of us would choose and it's not necessarily anything that all of us have to have But my point is this is that If the christian life is grievous to you if it's hard It might be because you're doing it wrong Right because here's the thing once you're a child of god You know, if you choose not to follow christ, this is you get hebrews you get the hebrews 12 treatment Because the bible says in hebrews 12 that he chasteneth every son whom he receiveth neither Is there any son whom he chased in the thought and he goes on and says and if you be without chastisement Then are you bastards are not sons saying meaning that if you as god's child go out and live a wicked life and not And not be chastened by god, then you're not saved. You're not a son You know, that's and that's the that's the uh, you know the criticism that's all often leveled At those of us that believe in salvation by grace through faith and eternal security once saved always saved People say oh you're saying people can live however they want and go to heaven That's what you know, we don't go to heaven by the merit of our own works folks We're saved by grace by salvation by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should boast When I stand before god, the only thing I say why should I let you in the blood of christ? That's it Not the blood of christ and I repented of my sin The blood of christ and I got baptized the blood of christ and whatever. Nope, just blood of christ period And those you know, i'm and i'm in That's already settled So yeah, I can go live however, I want and go to heaven because i'm saved by grace salvation is easy for god So loved the world He made it that easy that all I had to do is believe to put my faith in christ But here's the thing if I go live however, I want It's gonna be grievous It's gonna be a lot of chastening It's gonna be a lot of bad things that happen And it's not like, you know, it's not like kids with their with their earthly parents where first they have to get caught, right? There's a chance they might get away with it You're not getting away with a god You know the eyes of the lord you can search to and fro throughout the whole earth beholding the evil and the good, okay? But here's the thing if the christian life to you is just some drudgery just something you have to pull yourself through Chances are you're doing it wrong And when we're not doing the things that are commanded of us when we're not following christ as we ought to then Yeah, the christian life is going to be hard when we're not in church. We're not reading our bibles. We're not winning souls We're not serving god when we aren't getting the sins that we know we ought to get out of our lives out of our lives It's going to be hard Go to first thessalonians chapter number five, excuse me chapter number one The bible says in psalms 2 Serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling Serve the lord with fear, you know you we ought to serve god out of fear of being chastened You know if that's what it comes down to for you well I'm, just going to serve god because I don't want to get beat up in life Then go ahead and serve god, but all i'm saying this morning is that you know, that doesn't have to be your only motivation Well, i'm just in church because you know, the bible says I had to be and I don't want to be in trouble You know, I'm just reading my bible because I don't want god to come down on me You know, that's that's a great motivation. Okay, but That's that's like what a child needs If we never chased into our children, we never you know, disciplined our children who knows what they'd get up to I mean you see them out there. We've all seen them These parents that don't give their kids what they need. They only give them what they want right They're a terror to be around. Okay But again, that's how you keep children aligned with fear now We are children spiritually and we ought to fear god serve the lord with fear And rejoice with trembling You know, you can rejoice you can be happy It's it this verse reminds me of the phrase running scared running scared You know, you can be rejoicing man things are going great life is good, but don't get comfortable. Don't forget the trembling Life's good, but hopefully the bubble doesn't burst Serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling look at first thessalonians chapter 1 Verse 5 for our gospel came unto you not in word only but also in power and in the holy ghost and in much assurance Oh man preaching it's so hard. It's just you know the bible The word of god the word that was preached came in the whole power of the holy ghost and in much assurance There's much assurance in the word of god As you know what manner of man we were among you for your sake and he became followers of us And of the lord having received the word in much affliction Wasn't easy There was affliction that came to the thessalonians when they received the word of god The family, you know, they got saved the family's going well, why aren't you coming down to the temple and worshipping the idols anymore? What do you mean you're not going to go banqueting? What do you mean you're not going to be given over to all the lasciviousness that that the that the heathen were prone to? What is this you're oh you're part of that that sect of the Nazarenes now You're preaching about that Jesus character. You're one of these Christians There's a lot of affliction that came with being a Christian I'm not saying that it's a cakewalk. I'm not saying that it's not going to have its difficulties But what I am saying is it's not as hard as some people make it out to be It's not as hard as it has to be, you know, some people make it harder themselves than it needs to be When they're not obeying what the bible says It comes in much affliction with joy of the holy ghost Look the holy ghost brings joy in our lives Look the holy ghost brings joy in our lives we should be people that have joy in our lives I mean that's the spirit love joy love joy I mean these are the fruits of the spirit the fruit of the spirit Joy is one of them We ought to have it and if we don't it's because we're doing it wrong Something's where something's missing Something's got it. We need to fix something Right, that's the fruit of the spirit love joy Uh gentleness faith goodness meekness, uh temperance patience. I know i'm kind of mixing that up But that is that is the fruit of the spirit Joy something's wrong Something's wrong and we need to find out And i'll tell you right now it's it's not anybody else well, I don't have joy because the preacher Is Joy because my children look i'm not saying that those sometimes some of those things can't be sources of anger We should have joy in much affliction Go I'll begin reading in verse 14. He says now we exhort you brethren Warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble-minded support the weak be patient toward all men So you get this litany of commandments, right? See that none render evil for evil unto any man But ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and to all men look at verse 16 rejoice evermore Evermore that's a commandment like we ought to be rejoicing. We should be thinking about you know, we have things to rejoice over folks And I get it, you know, sometimes life gets hard we go through things we have sorrows but you know ultimately If you're saved, you've got a lot to be happy about You know, we could all focus on the things that are wrong we could all focus on the negative things in our life You know, we could all we could all get together and all point out all the things that aren't going right And all the things we wish would change or could change or would change But you know, that's not going to bring any rejoicing into your life is it to just focus on all the problems that you have Let's focus on the good things You know and hopefully that list will get longer as the years go by Pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you quench not the spirit abstain verse 22 from all appearance of evil Abstain from all appearance of evil what's he saying get the sin out of your life. You don't even go near the appearance of it Well, you know, I I don't know the Christian life is such a drag It's so hard. That's carnality. That's spoken like a sinner Some spoken like somebody who doesn't have the fullness of the Holy Ghost If you think the Christian life is just some some you got to drag you yourself through you know, it's a drag to people who are carnal Let's wrap it up though Go to back to what I had you Luke chapter number five. Oh I'm sorry Go to Matthew 10 Matthew 10 The other thing I want to point out here is that I'm not going to talk about the fullness of the Holy Ghost The other thing I want to point out here in the story is that you know, Luke is somebody Who when he was called to the ministry? forsook all rose up and followed and Then there was a great feast Because serving God following Christ is not something to lament It's not something that's a drudgery Discipleship is not a drudgery It's a source of joy If we're doing the things which please God and he's pleased with us You know, we should have the fullness of the Holy Ghost We should have the love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness and temperance That is the fruit of the Spirit those things should be there And if they're not it's our fault. There's something that's missing there The other thing I want to point out is that Levi is a is a later addition to the Apostles now He's going to name his twelve apostles, you know in the next chapter, right? He's gonna get to that in just a moment Like this is right up to where he goes up on the mount and he calls the disciples and he picks out the twelve Okay, and Levi Matthew is kind of it appears to me at least as I understand it. He's kind of sneaking in towards the end This is right before he you know, he's kind of he's not a first-round pick as they say, right? But he's still getting in there if you look at Matthew chapter number 10 verse 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these the first now, why does it say the first it's not an order of you know It's not alphabetical It's the order in which the disciples came to Christ at least to some degree, right? We know the four for sure that are named here Simon who's called Peter and Andrew his brother James the son of Zebanee and John His brother those are the first four that were called into the ministry, okay? Philip and Bartholomew who's Nathaniel Thomas and Matthew the publican so he's like number eight Okay, this is literally, you know in a list, you know, if it's numerically ordered here, then you know Based upon the timing in which they came to Christ ministry Levi's kind of towards the end there, right? It's kind of the middle of the pack Any and if he's a guy that's sitting at a receipt of custom, you know I'm sure they didn't just you know, that wasn't a job they gave to a kid You know somebody, you know who got an education who could it was some kind of a scribe who could read and write probably in different languages You know, I don't know. I'm not you know big on studying all the culture and all that you just use your head We know that you know for a long time getting an education was a privilege And let me just go ahead and park it there for a second Those of you kids who lament having to do schoolwork Well, you know there was a lot of kids throughout history that were you didn't know how to read and while you're you know They're doing your schoolwork. They were out in a field somewhere or a coal mine You know, I wish I was in school Well, you know There's probably there's a lot of more kids throughout history that would have loved to have the opportunity that you have to learn to read And to write and to and to better yourself intellectually, okay But my point is this is that you know, if Matthew's someone who is sitting at the receipt of custom It was doing like a bookkeeping job. He's obviously an educated man, meaning that he's probably a little bit older I'm not saying he's an old man But you know, he's probably got some years behind him probably in his middle age somewhere like that At least enough time has gone by to where he's been able to develop these skills. That's what I'm saying so he's not always he being kind of you know called in the towards the You know towards the end of the disciples being chosen, but he's also probably a little bit older Okay, and that my point is this is that it's never too late in your life to get right with God It's never too late Well, you know I'd serve God, but I didn't come up in a Christian home Well, welcome to the party You know neither did I Okay, you know I'd serve God but you know, I'm getting up there in years Well Moses was 80 when he did his greatest work, so what's your excuse? Well, I'm not Moses. I know You know, but you know there's plenty of examples of men in there that in and women who did some of their greatest works as In their in their later years in the latter half of their life And honestly, you know if I were in my latter half and I guess I am at this point If I were one that got saved later in life I Mean I would just throw myself into the ministry as much as I could. I mean you would think that would be the natural reaction Because you'd realize I only have this much time to serve God and I'll say this if there's people that got that mentality if there's people that maybe were a little bit older and Threw themselves in the ministry and serving God and did as much as they could for God at the time that they had left They would probably do more than the vast majority of Christians that you know had decades to serve God Because most Christians don't serve God They don't They sit out on church they the Bible if they even have one, you know, it's collecting dust somewhere They haven't read it one time in their entire life Then they've been saved for decades But if there was you know some older person somebody who's maybe on the back half of their life who just got on fire and took You know advantage of the opportunity given them They would do more than all those Christians who came up in godly homes and just sat on their hands and did nothing for God That's what I see in Levi You know, he forsakes all but you know, he where it what kind of a person who is he? He's probably a little bit up. I'm not gonna say he's old man, but you know He's probably not somebody who has been serving God his whole life It's not like he's a scribe or a Pharisee you see what I'm saying? And you can say this about a lot of these guys middle-aged men. Look, it's never too late to start serving God You know Levi leapt at the opportunity to serve Jesus And he did so joy if you would let's just go to Luke Okay, and I'm gonna make my closing statements here and I'm almost done Sure, the doughnuts haven't gone anywhere. So just calm down. I Got I got three dozen. All right, and I sprinkled in some doughnut holes coffee's still hot. It's on a percolator And I want to look at another person in closing here who also threw a feast for Jesus When Jesus came around said come over to my place and have supper and it was the Pharisee Simon If You look there in Luke chapter 7 it says in verse 36 And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him and this isn't the tax collector. This is a Pharisee This is someone who's in the Jews religion full-time It's a Levite And he went in the Pharisees house and sat down to meet and behold a woman in the city Which was a sinner when she knew that Jesus said I'd be in the Pharisees house brought an alabaster box Box of ointment and stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears And did wipe them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment Now in the Pharisee which had been in him sought he spake within himself Saying this man if he were a prophet would have known who and what manner of woman it that this is that toucheth him For she is a sinner and Jesus answering said unto him Simon have somewhat to say unto thee he saith master say on There was a certain debtor which had to debt a certain creditor which had two debtors the one on 500 pence the other 50 and they had nothing to pay frankly forgave them both Tell me therefore which of them will love him most Out of these two guys that were in debt to this creditor who's gonna show more love The guy who owed 500 or the guy who owed 50 Simon answered and said I suppose that he to whom he forgave most and he said unto him thou hast rightly judged Of course, you know, that's not a hard one to figure out is it? And he turned the woman and said see and said unto Simon see is thou this woman I entered in thine house thou gave us me no water for my feet But she hath washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head thou gave us me no kiss But this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet My head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment Wherefore I say unto thee her sins, which are many are forgiven for she loved much But to whom little is forgiven the same loveth little You know Levi is somebody who? Probably had some sins in his life like anybody else You know and often the reason why these people who sat at the receipt of custom had a bad reputation is because they were crooks Now I'm not gonna paint with so broad a brush to say that was the case with Matthew here, but it wouldn't surprise me either What I'm saying is this is that you know if you're you know if you're saved later in life You say and you look back in a life of sin don't say well You know I've just had the sinful past and you know I can't serve God You know you could still serve God with as much zeal if not more so than anybody else In fact what I'm reading here is that it seems like it would actually compel you to love God even more Those that have you know come up and lived a wicked life I'm not saying that only they can love God as much as they do I'm you know everybody can love God and serve God to any degree that they want But what I am saying is that you know getting saved later in life. It's not an excuse to not serve God I Mean this woman's got a reputation. She's got a past She's a woman of ill repute And yet she loves God because why because she's recognizing how much she's been doing And that's not to sit here and make anyone feel bad that is you know coming up in a Christian home Or is has you know not lived a wicked life of sin don't feel like compelled to go out and do that So you can be like this woman You know just thank God that you've been you know you you're being spared from that You don't have to deal with all the baggage that comes with that But the point I'm trying to make is that Levi leapt upon the throne of the Lord, and he's been given the throne of the Lord I'm trying to make is that Levi leapt upon the opportunity, and he did so with joy You know Simon the Pharisee has him over the guy you think would know better than anybody What it means to have the Christ in your house and all you can do is criticize He doesn't wash his feet off. He's not very hospitable Maybe he just wants to be seen with Jesus But Simon The guy who had the bad reputation the guy who was a tax collector the guy who sat through seat of custom He's rejoicing He's saying what a wow me of all people gets to be in your ministry What a great opportunity he leapt on it, and he didn't leap on it. Go well if I have to He didn't ask Jesus just drag him through follow me you know I Got you Levi He rose up, and he stood on his own two feet and he followed for himself And he served God You know I wonder sometimes why is it some people just refuse to serve God they just can't seem to get over the hump and start serving God like they know they ought to and You know based upon what I read we just read there in Luke chapter 7 the only answer I can really seem to come up with is that they they don't have the love that they should a Lack of service stems from a lack of love And a lack of love stems from a lack of understanding of salvation's true value You know if you're having a hard time serving God, maybe you should just meditate on the fact that you're saved Just think about what happened where you'd be headed if you weren't saved That's what this that's what compelled this woman to bring this you know Precious box of ointment and break it and follow Jesus's feet she understood Salvation the the true price that it was going to be paid through Christ death burial and resurrection And if you're having a hard time serving God, and you just feel like there's no love there Just go meditate on where you'd be where you'd be headed if you weren't saved and in case you're wondering. That's hell That's hell. That's where every single one Christ You know and the thing is that some people are gonna realize the true value of salvation in this life and immediately Serve God from a place of gratitude Those are the Levi's The past is the past they're they're not letting that be an excuse. They're not letting it be hang up They're not letting maybe they're a little bit older. They didn't have the background some of it They're not letting that be a hang up They just see the opportunity because they're so grateful to be saved to be part of a ministry to have Christ to follow They just leave upon the opportunity. They're glad to do it They serve from a place of gratitude immediately You know and here's the thing everybody eventually every child of God will Appreciate The price that was paid for salvation eventually in heaven Some people will finally dawn on them in heaven. They'll go home That's how much Christ went through that that's how much Christ that's the opportunity then the love will be there But it's gonna be too late to do anything about it Look, it's too late in heaven to serve God I mean, I know we're gonna serve God in his temple But the rewards that you're gonna earn in heaven are earned here and now here and now and The people that are gonna earn them are the people that love God And want to serve him out of a grateful heart. That's who Levi is People who leap at the opportunity and get on their feet and start moving Let's go ahead closing a word of prayer your Lord again. Thank you for this great example of Levi in the scripture Lord I pray you help us to be like him or to leap at the opportunity to serve you that we have in this life and Lord help us to not Look at your commandments as grievous to Look at the things that we were called to do it as some great burden that that must just be born through life Lord But it's actually a great opportunity to serve you that your yoke truly is light and your burden is easy Lord And we pray you help us to to shoulder up under that bird and take that yoke upon ourselves and to learn of you And Lord to as we learn and grow and know more about who you are And your truth through your word Lord that we would be compelled out of love and gratitude to serve you With all the days that we have in our in our lives. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we're just Oh Oh Oh Oh You