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It's that there may there may be some people here who don't know even even who I am Is there anyone here that just happens to be visiting for the very first time that you don't you don't even really know a whole? Lot about our church is anyone like that. Okay, very good. Very good. Amen So my name is I'm pastor David burzins. This church plant is started as another church That is being spawned off of our local church in Georgia. So I pastor a church in Norcross, Georgia it's called strong old Baptist Church and There are we knew there's a lot of people here already That wanted to be a part of what we're doing in the ministry that we're already doing in, Georgia There's a lot of people who are like-minded in their beliefs and what the church is really about And this is why we decided to start a church here in Greenville We know that there's a lot of people in this area that need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ I mean pretty much everywhere in the world needs to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, right? But there's there's a humble spirit here And I think there's a lot of people as a result of all the efforts we've already put in this weekend that that are soft to hearing the receptive to hearing the gospel they want to know how to be saved and We're gonna try to fill that need and I want to just kind of give you a What the spirit of stronghold Baptist Church is so whether you knew whether you're not new you've been around for a long time This is gonna be a guiding Principle a guiding spirit for this church going forward and what the main objective is and Again, if you're new here, especially we go through a lot of scripture We really exalt the Bible the Word of God as being our guide and this is what we should always be looking to To guide us and what we ought to be doing with everything in our life and especially in church now Also, just explain the authority structure real briefly The man who's going to be here week after week on a regular basis, his name is John Carter We just ordained him. I just ordained him last week as the evangelist for this area. He's responsible for running things He's gonna be responsible for preaching. He's responsible for all the soul winning that's gonna be going on out here and basically all the administration that happens but the the authority still rests as With me as a pastor over both of the churches, but I really just want to make sure it's clear That I don't want to have you know, there ought not to be Many issues there should be no issues and I just want to emphasize that You know, I've found you know and many of you already know brother Carter, but I have full confidence in his ability to lead and his ability to run things here and I really want everyone here at the church plant to be looking to brother Carter to evangelist Carter as The person who is running things and in charge and taking care of everything obviously if there's something just some real Weird thing go out or something. Let me know but I will be here as I mentioned before as frequently as I can Just see how things are going and make sure things are going really well But I have full confidence full trust brother cars gonna do an awesome job here. He's a great leader He's a great man of God. He's a great family man So definitely someone that is going to be taking the direction for this church Okay, and and I really emphasize just please look to him and and follow his guidance, too I don't want to hear people go to what brother Carter said to do this. Do you want you know, like Look, man, he's in charge and that's what I'm gonna tell you. You don't go to him Directly and he will be able to run things here very smoothly And then before I get into the scripture, you know, just I want you all understand. This is your church It's not my church. It's not evangelist Carter's Church. I mean it is the church He's gonna be here, but it's your church. Okay, it's not just any one person's church You are the church the the extent to which this church can do great things is gonna be the extent to which every single person is willing to Put in effort to put in work to to really Put what you have into this and also how much you're willing to yield yourself to the will of the Lord Right Christ is the head of this church. It's Christ's Church and Hopefully you will be edified hopefully you will grow hopefully you will learn if you continue to come to this church and And get into the Word of God and find the areas in life. We need to make improvements, but but continue to serve God and we started in Philippians chapter 2 and For those of you that know me know this is one of my absolute favorite chapters in the entire Bible Because this encapsulates in my mind what it means to be a Christian this tells us how to have that Christ like mind or the Christ like spirit and We're gonna reread part of this starting in verse number one in Philippians chapter 2 the Bible reads if there be therefore any consolation in Christ If any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies Fulfill ye my joy That ye be like-minded Having the same love being of one accord of One mind and and the goal here is to get everyone in the churches has written to the church in Philippi to the Philippians and Look we all ought to have be in one accord have one mind here be striving together working together To Have the same goal look at verse number three and how we're gonna get there let nothing be done through strife or vainglory So first of all as we work together, it's a team right where we're not in competition against one another We're not fighting against one another We're not trying to get vainglory and see y'all how much I could do better than you or but you don't know We're here to help and support one another not to like outshine one person or another. It's not about you It's not about your vainglory. And this is a mindset that we all ought to have In lowliness and look at this but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other Better than themselves and this mindset this spirit is critical It's critical at all that we do in our Christian lives, which should be our lives Right, if you're a believer, you're a Christian your Christian life should be no different than your life You You don't put on the Christian life when you walk through the doors of church and you show up and everyone could see you in Your Sunday best and and you've got your Bible and you could say the right things and then you go home But then your life is actually just not a Christian life That's hypocrisy Right. God wants us living the Christian life every day of our life and how we're gonna do that Well, it's gonna start with lowliness of mind because as you always I mean to be a Christian you're a follower of Christ and What did Christ come here to do he came not to be ministered to The Bible says but to minister he came to serve others. He came he Preached he healed he taught But ultimately he sacrificed he sacrificed himself and and he sacrificed his time He sacrificed his his energy. He sacrificed everything He went out for those three and a half years as ministry lasted and and was Preaching and teaching and reaching the lost and doing everything he could to help others and nothing for self gain Self-benefit anything like that to the point of dying on the cross for our sins to the point of giving himself Completely 100% for other people yay for the world for God So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him for lasting life That is the ultimate in self-sacrifice that is the ultimate in humility and a steaming others better than yourself See when you think of people as others people being better than you to be a lot easier to serve, right? It's gonna be a lot easier to help. Oh wait only one of us can have The last donut or whatever like no. No, you have it now. It's a real carnal example I get it, but when you're thinking about just in general, oh to help this person out. It might cost me Whatever oh they need help but but it's gonna cost me gas it's gonna cost me Whatever but you're thinking yeah, but you know, I really need to help them because they're important. That's the mind And serving people so Let's continue reading here Philippians 2 verse Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So Yes, we ought to be independent and be able to kind of be self-sufficient as much as possible But also you need that you need to be caring about other people right thinking like well Hey, how you know, did they need help? Is there anything I can do to help them very similar to the preceding verse verse number five? Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus And this is the Christian mind this is everything we've just been reading Hey, let this mind be in you and we all ought to have this mind together Or you fulfill my joy is that we could all be like-minded That's what the Apostle Paul saying fulfill my joy there in verse 2 that ye be like-minded having the same love And you know what? That would make me super happy is to show up here and see a whole church full of people that are humble that want To serve that want to help that are there for other people that are there to minister This is a ministry We are here to serve Let This mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God Thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. So I don't care who you are I don't care what accolades you have I don't care what status you have in society, you know we all ought to be able to humble ourselves if God himself can humble himself and take on the form of a human being take on the form of his own creation and Go through this life and suffer ridicule and suffer shame and become obedient unto death even the death of the cross I think no matter whoever the person is at the highest in standing or highest regard ought to be able to humble themselves To be able to serve others as well Jump down to verse number 13 If I read through his God Which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure Do all things without? murmurings and disputings What's murmuring? complaining Who is complaining? We're gonna go out this Oh pass a person is asking me to go out and it's hot outside, you know, like, you know what? Go out because you want to go out with a good attitude go out whatever it is Nobody likes complaining Nobody likes to play. I mean that's that should be self-evident But man, it becomes even more evident when you start having kids and like you start hearing about Talk about a dampener or downer you get you know Everyone could be in a good mood and then someone just starts complaining. It's just like come on In fact, you know complaining is so bad. And this is this is not my notes, but Moses when you read about the children of Israel And they murmured and complained and and and this is a really good point though for murmuring Because when you really think about it if you put yourself where the children of Israel were when they were led out of Egypt Remember at the crossing of the Red Sea and everything else and they were going through the wilderness They really didn't have much Okay They had to eat the same food For every meal Just a day after day after day after day after day after day. Now. We look at that goal cool man. God provided manna. That's awesome It's a mirror So when you look at the positive side of things It's just blessing. It's like hey praise the Lord for this but it's real easy to become a Murmurer and Go. Oh, man, they they got so bad. They got to the point where they're like, I Remember what it was like in Egypt they were slaves in Egypt. Okay, they were in bondage. They were servants They were they were you know, they had taskmasters over them But because they had to eat the same food over and over and over and over and over again, they're going oh man I remember I remember was like an e we had cucumbers and melons and leeks and you know All the all the garlic and everything else that they were saying we had we all great stuff back in Egypt well, look God promises to take care of And come necessarily in this life it's gonna come in the afterlife become It comes to the judgment seat of Christ When all of your works are laid before Christ and then that which has value is going to remain and abide the fire but that's those are gifts those are rewards of eternal value and And that's one more reason to serve the Lord besides it just being the right thing to do Is that he promises to take care of us? Murmurings yeah, they they kept complaining complaining complaining to the point to where Moses was like He goes to God going like I Just want to die He was serious like I just just just end it now because the complaining was so bad and And that's what that does. So we Fall into doing things with murmurings and what's disputing is fighting right having disputes and fighting about stuff Look, let's let's you know as this church. We need to be in unity. It's a brotherhood here No murmurings no complaining no disputings, but look everything's all voluntary Do whatever if you want to help help if you want to serve serve great and we love that and that's we're gonna gonna Teach and push for everybody to let's let's work together Let's let I'm in goal of reaching people with the gospel of Christ as the ultimate goal But It's all on on your willingness and what you want to do So let's not get involved with complaining and disputings that you may be blameless and harmless as sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation Among whom you shine as lights in the world and that's our job. Okay. This world is crooked and perverse That hasn't changed. The world is going to continue to be crooked and perverse until Jesus comes and Sets up his kingdom here on earth until then we live in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation And honestly things are just continuing to get more and more perverted by the day It's just a fact but you know what we're supposed to be the light and what do you do with the light you let it Shine, I just like that the little kids song right this little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine Hey, that's a good song What is teaching teaching kids you have adults could learn from that to let your light check. Are you born again? Are you saved is Jesus your Savior? Do you have that new creature inside of you? You got it. You got to let that new man shine You got to let that show and be a parent to other people not just blend in with the crowd and just like oh Here's everyone in the world and mixed in with that You just have a whole bunch of Christians and no one would ever know it because there's no light shining there Let the light shine Wait you guys you guys actually go out you knock on doors, isn't that kind of weird? What are people gonna think? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't care Right What's God gonna think? That's your guess and you know we're gonna go through some more scripture today because the the main focus and what I'm gonna be focused on the most tonight this evening is reaching people the gospel and And if you walk away with nothing else, I want you to see this I want you to know that the scripture commands us. It is our job It is our duty to be the ones to bring forth that good news to a lost world We're in the midst of a crooked perverse nation we need to shine we need to let that light shine It's up to us Okay, Christ had a ministry here on earth But that was 2,000 years ago He is no longer walking around on this earth. He's no longer communicating with people verbally on you know, audibly He's entrusted His followers he's entrusted believers with that task and again, I'll prove that to you from Scripture But keep that in mind that is of the utmost importance because hey if our Gospels hit it's hit to them that are lost At the end of the day what's gonna happen? You're saved. You're good, right? Hey, I have Jesus my Savior, but what if you never tell anyone else about that? What's gonna happen? Well all the people you could have talked to if no one else talks to him What's gonna happen if no one else shares a gospel? What's gonna happen to them? They're gonna die and go to hell But I think God will just give him another chance. No, he won't No, he won't the chances people have to get saved are while you're still breathing air in this life When you're alive here, this is your chance. There is no second chance. There is no do is no Oh, well, he didn't quite get to hear a good presentation So God will just preach the gospel to him after he's already dead not gonna happen If you think that's gonna happen show me in the Bible where this says that that's gonna happen It's wishful thinking but it's false. It's a lie. It's a lie to get people to feel comfortable about not shining the light It's a lie to make people comfortable with not sharing the gospel Because it makes you uncomfortable because it makes you a little uneasy But I'm just not you know, I'm revert I Get it. I Understand hey look I understand as much as anyone and for those of you that don't know me just a little bit testimony to glorify God with because God is able to make any change in a person's life any change if you are willing to let him I Am in IT and have been for over 20 years if you don't think about IT people were a little bit of a different breed Most of you know that right So yeah, am I comfortable right now preaching in front of people yes I am but you know what? This isn't always been the way I was it has nothing to do with my skill or my ability because I have none. I Am NOT a public speaker Gifted to have charisma and everything else never had that never in fact the first time I ever spoke up at any event behind a mic I literally got sick to my stomach and I had to just cut myself stop talking and run away and and Buckle over in pain because it was painful to get in front of people not kidding Who remembers the tea parties back in? 2008 maybe Oh seven something like that. Yeah long time. Sorry. It's our Age of myself, but I used to be a lot more political And I was at one of those events and there was you know Something happened and I decided to get up and say something which was I was already debating like should I even do this? That's where I felt just physically ill trying to speak to anybody And I remember the first time when I when I went to start going to church a good church that taught soul winning going out Like hey, this is our duties. We're supposed to do I saw it from the scripture say, okay I know I need to do this, but I was deathly afraid of doing it, but I went anyways and for probably years And everyone is a little bit different on how long it takes to kind of get comfortable for for a while I was just like, I mean I was at every door. It's like don't answer the door. Don't answer the door Don't answer the door. Okay, why my anxiety my fear? Okay. Now is was the fear justified? Absolutely not It was just my own own internal fear my own anxiety things that I had to overcome Irrational didn't make any sense. Okay, but I get it So if you're gonna say anything I could have compassion and I understand what it's like Believe me I do To be uncomfortable trying to talk to someone especially a stranger like that person doesn't even know me What do you know what's gonna happen? I guess I have a door my face or get really angry, you know Whatever what's gonna happen? I don't know This is where you have to have faith in The Word of God and you have to be willing to just say okay. Well, hey look This may be uncomfortable for me I may not even understand this I may not get this but if if the Bible says that this is something that we ought To be doing if you could see it clearly It's a command then. You know what we ought to do it We ought to do it And hopefully you have the heart that says I'm willing to do the things that might be uncomfortable if if if that's what God would have me to do Then I'll do it But God never promises you as a Christian To have an easy life here now, he's promised you an eternity to be with him an Eternity ruling and reigning and all the blessings and everything that's gonna go in eternity To no longer have these bodies and the aches and the pains and the sorrow and the tear and the grief We won't have any of that. Hey, praise God for that but here We are not promised The easy life Jesus Christ himself said yay, and all that will live godly in Christ. Jesus shall suffer persecution Jesus as in the Bible though all that will live godly. Well will means you want to and And why would that be well? No one was more Christlike than Jesus and what happened to him? He was crucified Now many people followed him and loved him and and and and were supportive but even more people Hated him and wanted him dead, which is what ultimately ended up happening So just keep that in mind let's keep reading here in Philippians 2 verse number 15 They may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke the midst of a crooked and perverse nation Among whom you shine his lights in the world holding forth the word of life That I may rejoice in the day of Christ that have not run in vain neither labored in vain turn if you go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 Let's go back in your Bible a few pages back to 2nd Corinthians And we're gonna be in chapter 3 And There's a there's a train of thought Starting in chapter 3 to chapter 4 and to chapter 5 that I want to get through most of this So I'm not going to spend too much time expounding as much as I did in Philippians 2 But I want you to see this because this this this whole Goes forward starting in verse number 12 the Bible reads seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainness of speech and Not as Moses Which put a veil over his face that the children of Israel cannot steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished But their minds were blinded for until this day remained at the same veil Untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ So he's explaining that back when Moses was when he would go and Mammon from God He was talking to God like face to face But then when he came down from the mountain His face shown so brightly that he had to put a veil over his face because the people couldn't bear Even to see the reflection of what God had for them because his face was reflecting the brightness of God and so he had to put a veil over his face so that they could even Communicate with them and not get freaked out by the brightness of what he had but Now in the New Testament, it's it's showing the symbolism that Hey, they still have a veil over their face, they're not understanding the things of God. They're not able to clearly The truth there. He says but even unto this day when Moses has read the veils upon their heart So Moses had the veil on his face Which was kind of blocking some of the glory of God and in the truth there, but the veils on their heart Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord the veil shall be taken away And this this is indicative of what it's like for when people before they're saved before they put their trust in Jesus There's a veil there. You don't quite understand what the Bible is talking about You don't really have a good understanding of what's written Because You don't have the spirit because you're not born again. You're not saved The Bible is a spiritual book the Bible says that the the natural man receiveth not the things of God The the things about are spiritually discerned so we need to be born again in order Under Christ. Hey that veil is taken away Verse 17 says now the Lord is that spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty freedom, right? Amen freedom from the curse of the law But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed Into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord Let's look at chapter 4 verse number 1 continuing on therefore seeing we have this ministry as We have received mercy we faint not so Look at that. We have this ministry and what was before saw about receiving Christ receiving the Lord and having that veil removed Now he says hey, we have this You have received mercy if you've received mercy from the Lord. You've received forgiveness of sins Now we have this ministry that we faint not so we don't quit but ever now Walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God Deceitfully and look going forward. This is important for this church to don't handle the Word of God deceitfully Right you want to show people stuff from the Bible you better be showing them truth and And and don't let people accuse you of cherry-picking now look I get it when you're trying to show There's a lot of things in the Bible and there's certain verses that you can't just go through Everything through all context and read all whole chapters when you're talking to people about stuff But just make sure that if you're trying to prove Some doctrine you're trying to prove something you believe in from Scripture. You're not handling the Word of God deceitfully Because there's plenty of people out there that will cherry-pick these obscure Passages that no one even knows and no one's heard of really and unless you're really in your Bible They're trying to show you something be like, oh look see here, you know Jesus really isn't the Son of God or whatever that like the the Jehovah's false witnesses try to do is to You know be deceitful with the Word of God. That's not how you ought to be You don't handle the Word of God deceitfully But by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves every man's conscience in the sight of God and I preach this this morning At Norcross, but you know, the truth should fear no investigation also So anything you believe you ought to be able to just support it and and let people have people ask questions and not Steer away from from any investigation any questions and be able to just answer everything with the scripture and don't be deceitful with it Right. If you're not being deceitful, then there's nothing to fear, right? Keep going You Know you know like Scientology you can't talk to anybody else if anyone says anything in same time Scientology you got it. You got to cut them out of your life. But like Joe was witnesses Mormons real similar They don't want you to know all the prop the false prophecies of Joseph Smith and I'll see y'all like oh, yeah Don't don't be listening to those people. Don't don't even don't try to research that stuff To try to cover it up You know, we're not trying to cover up the truth. We're trying to find the truth and share the truth But by manifestation manifestation of the truth commending ourselves every man's conscience in the sight of God verse number three But if our gospel be hid is why I quoted earlier it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them For we preach not ourselves And let me hear about someone going out and preaching himself Does that preach ourselves? But what do we preach but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake This is the instruction. Hey, look, we're gonna go out. We're not preaching ourselves We're preaching Christ Jesus the Lord and now, you know, I'll even take the moment to say this one of the ways that some people like to To preach the gospel is to give their testimony But I would shy away from that because your testimony doesn't really matter What matters is the testimony of Jesus Christ and what he did? That's what matters when we preach the gospel so maybe you got in you Kinds of things in your life and you know, I brought up an example of myself With with how God was able to work in my life and help me to overcome the fears and things like that But when I'm trying to get people saved at the door, I'm not gonna be talking about myself You see that mean like like however, God was able to work in my life to allow me to be able to speak to people If I'm trying to preach the gospel to someone they don't need to hear about that They need to hear about what Jesus did for them They need to hear about the death burial and resurrection of Christ. They need to hear about the free gift. They need to hear Him being bought and paid for and God loves you and he wants you to be saved and all you have to Do is put your trust in him. That's it Stop trusting in yourself. Stop trusting in your work stops trusting in how good of a person you are and Put all of your faith in Jesus. He's the Savior let him save you He wants to save you but let him do it Stop holding on to yourself and to your things and your actions and and your goodness and whatever it is that you think well No, I need to have this too No Put it all on Jesus Let him save you he saves you he gives you eternal life receive be humble enough to receive a gift right It's not by you at all it's all by him, but that's what we need to teach that's what we need to preach preach Jesus crucified We'll preach ourselves Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves. Hey, what are we we're your servants. We're your servants for Christ We Go out to the lost as servants for Christ to bring the gospel to them For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ But we have this treasure in earthen Vessels as our body is an earthen vessel. Remember God made Adam from the dust of the earth We have these earthen vessels that the excellency of the power So something so good to bring forth life To shut to bring that light He's given that to us that that it you know, it's we're just these earthen vessels He gets the glory because how could something like us this earthen vessel actually bring forth so much good we can't God can We are troubled on every side verse number eight Yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair Persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed always bearing about in the body The dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest And notice these aren't all very positive things he's talking about like, you know, the the The dying of the Lord Jesus in our flesh the we're always delivered unto death for Jesus sake But it's for the greater good it's for it's for that the light hey if the death is gonna be shown in us Well, then then it also is going to show forth the life of Jesus as well Verse number 12. So then death worketh in us, but life in you that's the self-sacrificial Attitude mindset, right? Hey, I'm willing to go through all of these things for Christ's sake but so that you could have life and We see that attitude also in the mindset of the Apostles, especially saying, you know You know, I labor night and day for you to see you lift it up to see you better Saying verse number 13 we having the same spirit of faith according as is written I believe in therefore by spoken we also believe in therefore speak. I Love that I believed and therefore have I spoken how many people believe but then don't speak I believed and therefore I haven't spoken. Well, you know scripture saying look I believe in therefore I have spoken We also believe in therefore speak knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also By Jesus and shall present us with you For all things are for your sakes That the abundant grace Might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish Yet the inward man is renewed Day by day. Don't be worried about the physical exertion. Whatever might happen outwardly to the flesh Put forth that effort because the inward man the saved man that the the regenerated man is Renewed day by day and this is you know God will give you the strength to do what needs to be done God's the one who's given the strength for all the soul winning efforts, even though it's hot even though it's what you know You're getting exhausted He's there to help you through Through those times even though the outward man perished the inward man's renewed day by day verse 17 for our light affliction Which is but for a moment Worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is what I was talking about earlier Our light affliction whatever we have to deal with here in Like it's for a moment because our life as the Bible says is like a vapor Japeerith for a little time and banish at the way that's what our life is like here on this earth So any affliction what we whatever we might have to deal with any Persecution you might have to deal with for the Word of God people making fun of you or even maybe even getting Because you believe the Bible and it's not popular these days. So people want to cancel you shut you down You know all that kind of stuff That light affliction is but for a moment but that light affliction worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory God's gonna reward you for that any affliction that you're going through for his sake for his cause He will reward you in the end While we look not at the things which are seen we don't live You see here But at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen what you see around you This is all temporal. This is all here for a short time. Everything is gonna burn up the cars the money the chairs the pulpit, you know, whatever like So so why Get so hung up and having the fancy clothes and the fancy car and the you know You Very all of its temporary and it's all gonna be gone One day anyways, so who cares who cares about this stuff, really? Really care that much about it life is not about stuff. It's about people It's about God That's Really what life I mean you really boil it down All the stuff in the world you ever wanted is that really gonna do anything for you, I mean really You're gonna you know, you're gonna find emptiness Everything you ever wanted physically in this earth and you just snap your fingers. You just had it all You'd find yourself going like wait, there's nothing else to get You Get it gets old real fast Just like any new thing that you get that you might have had your eyes on for a while. Like, oh man I really want to get my phone Then you get it's just kind of like how long does it take before it's just a regular phone all this piece of junk Throwing it around like at first it's like Get the nice case And then and it's like two weeks later Stupid thing That's how it is it doesn't matter what it is right there your cars whatever any of that stuff life's not about those Don't worry about the things that you could see that are Seen those are the eternal things we walk by faith and not by sight Chapter 5 verse number 1 Bible says for we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved We have a house Hands eternal in the heavens. So when our body is all By faith we know that we have With God we have we have a house in heaven. We have a home. So right now this body is our house This is our home, right? We abide here in the flesh But when this flesh is gone, we've got a new home a new building a new place a new tabernacle The house not made with hands eternal in the heavens verse 2 in this we groan and earnestly Desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven If so be that being clothed we should not be found naked for we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened Not for that we'd be unclothed Excuse me, but clothes upon that more swallowed up of life Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing as God who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit Therefore we are always confident Knowing that whilst we are at home in the body We are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord now I just want to point out real quickly here You know, especially if you're not new this church if you are new this church, you know, we talked to people I just had someone yesterday, you know, I asked him a question Hey, you know if you died today died tomorrow, are you a hundred percent sure you're going to heaven? Like do you know that? They said well, I'm not a hundred percent sure But no one could be a hundred percent sure Well, why we ask that question because the Bible says that we could be confident. I Mean, what's confidence if you're not a hundred percent sure. I mean, that's the most confidence you get Hey, we're confident. We're confident that God's real We're confident that Jesus Christ paid for our sins. We died on the cross. We're confident of all these things Well, isn't that kind of proud of you to think that you just know for sure? No, it's not You know why because it's not based on how good I am If it was based on how good I was then yeah, it would be kind of arrogant to say Well, I know I'm making it to heaven It's only arrogant to people who think that your works are gonna buy you into heaven But when you know that my works aren't good enough that your works aren't good enough But that the price that Jesus paid is good enough Hey, that's all there is the Bible said it Jesus said whosoever believeth Amen, once you do that, you could be confident and the Bible says hey, we are always confident and We know that you're in this body. We're absent from the Lord. We're not obviously we're not in heaven with God We're still here. We're alive in this world. But hey, I just as well lose Die physically because you know what that means? I'm going to be with the Lord Now does that mean I have some death wish no, of course not and and you know, we'll keep reading but I Know that whatever day you know, and this is why you don't have to be too sad I want to drop dead right now. It wouldn't be bad for me Be good if you drop it if you're born again Make sure we can't be at this if you're born again and you drop dead today like right now Be great, I mean you're with the Lord, right, it's not a bad thing Which just we don't say these things so that we could have Say these things because no matter what happens in this life This it's not you know, we don't just live for this life Right. So so whatever we do, it's kind of like well, okay. I mean, what are you gonna do kill me? You hear the stories of people who want others to renounce their faith Right the horrible tragedies and you got these shooters and stuff. I want to go and like tell people like Well, you better renounce Jesus right now or else. I'm gonna shoot you whatever well You know if we got the mindset of what are you gonna do send me to God? Okay, again, it's not a death wish but if God sees what happens and Ultimately, that's the reason why there exists Because that does have an impact on other people That if you stay faithful to the end even under threat That carries weight of the testimony of Christ You know the for example, this is one of the reasons why the Bible even has credibility You Look at how bad the persecution was against Christians against the believers back from the times of Christ the Apostles what they went through the torture the deaths the martyrs that that they that but maintained Jesus the Son of God They didn't recant they didn't change their testimony and and that's important and Many of them faced really serious consequences for the faith But it's important to carry the weight of that going forward just say hey look do whatever you're gonna do to me You're never gonna change my faith in Christ. That's just not gonna happen I'm not gonna fear what man can do unto me as the Bible says You know you think with it, you know you decide for yourself It could do for us versus What God could do for us, but let's keep reading here number Verse number eight. Thank you We're confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive You Hair of a Lord we persuade men But we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences For we commend not ourselves again unto you But give you occasion of glory on our behalf that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory and appearance and not in the heart I Don't want to spend too much time on the judgment of Christ here just for just for sake of time. Let's It is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause for the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then we're all dead and That he died for all That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves But unto him which died for them and rose again, I mean we have it right there in black and white So, how is a believer supposed to live for yourself or for the one who died and rose again for you It's in it do you believe the scripture I do Do you want to make that real for yourself And look you might be thinking like man you guys are nuts You're religious zealots. You're crazy. But like no, I just say we actually believe what the Bible says here and not just Everywhere Open up the you want to challenge me bring a Bible up here and say well, would you but do you believe this? You know the answer be yes, but but wait a minute what hold on a second though, what about this? Yes But what about this? Yes, but what about this? Yes, but what about this? Yes You Believe it all Whether it's popular or not. Believe the whole and you know what when the Bible says and That he died for all that they which live should not henceforth So from this point forward should not live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. I say amen We ought to not live for ourselves and get distracted with all the cares and the things of this world We ought to live for the one that died for you The one that loved you enough when he deserved none of the shame none of the guilt none of the condemnation But decided to pay for your sins and to give you a free gift of eternal life Hey, you know what? We all ought to live for him Verse 16 wherefore henceforth know we know man after the flesh. Yea though We have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know him no more Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become These are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ Look at this and have given to us The ministry of Reconciliation he's gonna explain what that ministry is to wit that God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself Not imputing their trespasses unto them so When Christ was in the world, what was Christ doing he was reconciling the world Unto himself. God was working in Christ to reconcile the world. What and what is you needed anyways? well We have a God when we start breaking his laws You're a criminal you're guilty right you deserve a punishment so our transgressions against the Lord Puts us odds with God. There's a problem there that needs to be fixed. We need to have reconciliation We need to be reconciled with God. Someone needs to make it right someone needs to set the account back at zero Because right now we owe right as as a sinner as someone who doesn't have Christ you owe You have a big debt on your shoulders and a reconcile me Well, you know what Jesus and when Jesus was in the world He was I link people to God He was going around he was preaching the gospel and he was reconciling To what that God was in Christ reconciled the world on himself not imputing their trespasses unto them. What does that mean giving him forgiveness? And have committed and look at this and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation So now that job because Christ has already been crucified. He's already rose again. He's already ascended into heaven He's not doing that job anymore Now it doesn't mean that Jesus doesn't save of course Jesus saves but but he's not you know People don't you know if they do, you know, they probably have some problems But no one is having this experience of just walking and just having this. Oh, I just talked with Jesus and He told me that I was a sinner and I need to be saved of like like actually having some conversation with Christ That's not happening today It's not something that's happening Day to day. It's not something that's happening on a regular basis. It just simply isn't and This job of reconciliation is given unto us verse 20 says now then we are ambassadors for Christ As though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christ's stead since Jesus Christ isn't physically standing here be ye reconciled to God This is the spirit this is the heart what's the spirit Right the steaming others better than yourself being willing to serve God Saying you know what? I'm not worried about the temporal things. I'm gonna live for Christ You have to give up everything that you have all of a sudden needs to be like full-time You know Preachers or whatever you don't have to do that To be living a godly life to be having you know living for the Lord But you have you have to be putting forth efforts to do this, right? You can still provide for your family you can still go to work You can still do the things that you need to do in this life to survive, right? But the difference is what are you really living for? Are you living just for fun for vacations for you know? pleasure for Going out to the bar for whatever people live for and just kind of spend all their time doing. What is it? What is it for or are you gonna say? Hey, I'm gonna actually live for Christ Who gave himself for me and? I'm gonna take the job of ambassador seriously because as an ambassador way doing you're representing Christ and And whether you'd like it or not Every person who is saved who has been saved by Jesus Christ is an ambassador now for Christ There is no special group of people here that are that are being assigned. He says now then we are ambassadors for Christ All of you in Corinthians we he's putting himself in the same group of all the people in the Hey, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us We pray you in Christ said be ye reconciled God for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin That we might be made the righteousness of God in him We have the duty we have the responsibility It's our job and it's every believer's job and at this church that is the main thrust this is focus is Going forth and trying to reach people With the gospel of Christ and get people reconciled to God Because you know what matters more than just what happens here on this earth eternity What Good is it To help meet somebody's physical needs right let's say someone's in need let's say there's a poor person They're struggling to eat. They're struggling to keep a roof over their head. They're struggling in all these areas And I'm not saying it's a bad thing to help people struggle I'm saying what good is it if you help in all these areas to meet all these? temporal physical carnal needs right now But then that person dies and goes to hell for eternity Like just to put it in perspective again, I'm not saying it's a bad thing to help people out that way I'm not at all. But what good is it? Ultimately if they just end up going to hell for all of eternity So what what matters the most what's the most important is try Oh To spend eternity in heaven with the Lord not and and and completely avoid hell eternally And that's a free gift and that's available and people just need to understand that and A lot of people will believe that if someone just explains it to him It's all it takes They're ready But you know what God has given that duty On us to go forward share the word be the light shine the gospel and let people hear it Can't make people believe but you know what we at least need to give them opportunity And what we do here at this church is we give them the best opportunity possible Okay, it's not a one two three or pray pray after me It's make sure people understand the gospel I Spend the time necessary however much time that is make sure you understand The consequence of sin we're all sinners make sure you understand that God loved them and Jesus paid for that sin for the debts for the punishment for the punishment of hell that The wage for all of our sins Make sure they understand that free gift make sure they understand and also that once you receive that free gift it is eternal life It's not a lie. It's not it's not it's not You know calling something eternal life, but it's not really eternal, right? God's not just trying to sell this package and be like, oh, hey look, this is eternal life You like commit this sin or that sin, but then it's not really eternal. I'm taking it back No, it is eternal. It's forever There's a new creature. It's born again as we were just reading old things are passed away behold All things have become new new man new creature once that's there. You can't be unborn once you're born again. You're not unborn You're in your child of God your child of God forever Praise the Lord for that explain that we've got to make sure people understand what the gospel is hear that put their trust in Christ. Amen Please take the heart the spirit of humility the spirit of Philippians chapter 2 and let this guide you and all you and you Know what let it guide you out soul winning, too Okay, you know what we do is known as confrontational soul winning Because we can But it's not arrogant soul winning It's not I'm gonna tell you how wrong you are and how right I am so winning. It's humbly going forth bearing the precious seed and caring about the people that you're about to try to witness to and give Not having an air of air You because you just know everything but you know, no one's gonna be very receptive to hearing that message So take that to heart to you know that we could instruct those that oppose themselves That God might grant them repentance Right, it's very important Bring Cross to people we don't shy away from we're gonna hide anything. We're not gonna lie about it, right? We're gonna tell the truth We're not just gonna be polite if someone's just you know So you let him know, you know, sometimes people just need to be warned. Hey, look, that's not true Well, you could still do so tactfully could still do so lovingly and let people know even if they're wrong about something Hey, look this you know, this is what the Bible says But but you don't you have to have the right spirit As far as I board a prayer to Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this church Thank you for all the people are gathered here together. I Trust that you're gonna do great things here that that you'll move through She would please help us to grow Your Lord help us to reach lost souls that they could hear the gospel and get saved and up getting Or You Love you some Jesus and we pray amen