Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / December 31, 2017 | New Year's Message - A Five-Finger Christian

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December 31, 2017 | New Year's Message - A Five-Finger Christian · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:01
SPEAKER_00: Topeka Bible Church is well known for its Christmas light shows, and today it focused on a famous light in the Christmas story.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Jim Congden delivered a message about the Christmas star.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: That message concludes a preaching series called Let There Be Light.
0:17
SPEAKER_02: Baby Jesus Christ has become the star.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: The star led the wise men to the baby.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: Now Jesus, according to the Bible, has become the star, and that's who you need to follow if you want to have light and lead the darkness.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: He says they had about 500 people attend each of their five services.
0:33
SPEAKER_00: They sung Christmas carols and had a special presentation for the children of the audience.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: The services ended with a candlelight rendition of Silent Night.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: So that was how many of you were at one of those services?
0:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that was fun.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: And in staff meeting when we were talking a month ago about whether or not about having the kids up, I wanted to have the children up.
0:57
SPEAKER_02: And so we look around, okay, but who's willing to do the little children's sermon?
1:04
SPEAKER_02: Not me, not me, not me, said the little pig.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: And we all go, Jason.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: Boy, did he do a great job?
1:10
SPEAKER_02: I mean, none of the rest of us could have done the job Jason did up there.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: So I mean, it didn't matter how many kids.
1:19
SPEAKER_02: So anyway, we're really glad to have him on board.
1:21
SPEAKER_02: So this morning at New Year's, I always give sort of a New Year's challenge, New Year's resolution type message.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: Always uh because because I agree with G.K.
1:30
SPEAKER_02: Chesterton, whose words often come to mind.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: A hundred years ago, that witty newspaperman, the Britisher, G.K.
1:36
SPEAKER_02: Chesterton, said famously, the object of a new year is not that we should have a new year.
1:43
SPEAKER_02: It's that we should have a new soul and a new nose, a new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes.
1:50
SPEAKER_02: Unless a person makes New Year's resolutions, he'll make no resolutions.
1:54
SPEAKER_02: Unless a person starts afresh about things, he'll certainly do nothing effective.
1:59
SPEAKER_02: I think there's truth to that.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: Now there's a lot of different things that we can start afresh on, like diet, you know, exercise or whatever, but but my friends and I, and by my friends, I mean, come on up, Abe, Derek, Joe, if you're here, come on up and have a seat.
2:16
SPEAKER_02: Uh I've invited uh Abe Manor and a couple of our pastors, Joe, young adults pastor Derek, a student ministry pastor, and they're gonna help me this morning.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk to you about a certain thing to start afresh on, the Christian thing.
2:31
SPEAKER_02: All right?
2:32
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk about the how to change, how to start afresh in your Christian life.
2:41
SPEAKER_02: At this time of year, this week, in fact, if you buy groceries today and go out to the checkout line, you'll see on the magazine, some of the magazine covers, predictions and prophecies for 2018.
2:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm a sucker for those.
2:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm always, what's gonna happen this year?
2:56
SPEAKER_02: So I go back and I was looking at the prophecies and predictions.
3:00
SPEAKER_02: Good thing about online.
3:02
SPEAKER_02: The prophecies and predictions for 2017.
3:07
SPEAKER_02: Kind of depressing.
3:08
SPEAKER_02: Mount St.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: Helens will erupt again.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
3:12
SPEAKER_02: No, uh the leaning tower of pizza will finally fall.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: Cuba will become the 51st state.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: A big tornado will hit Kansas.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Lord, that it didn't.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: La La Land will win Best Picture Oscar, which, by the way, when I read that about a year ago, I remember thinking, that's so easy to predict.
3:32
SPEAKER_02: And it didn't win it.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: You know, finish second.
3:35
SPEAKER_02: A member of the Trump family will be kidnapped.
3:37
SPEAKER_02: That was probably wishful thinking, but it didn't happen.
3:40
SPEAKER_02: You will turn on your TVs this fall, and the White House will be on fire.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: No.
3:46
SPEAKER_02: Wrong, wrong, and wrong.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: I mean, every year the prophets and uh prognosticators and gurus make predictions about the following year, and every year they're wrong.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: It's like uh Casey Stingle, uh, whom I'm sure uh Kenberry knew personally.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Casey Stingle once wisecracked uh finally says, never make predictions, especially about the future.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: That's the way Casey Stingle taught you.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: You have to think about that for a little while, in about 20 minutes you'll get it.
4:12
SPEAKER_02: So, but I'm gonna make a prediction anyway about 2018, and that is that if you resolve to do what we're gonna suggest this morning, to become a five-finger Christian in 2018, your spiritual life will be transformed.
4:29
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna talk about, and these these five things come from actually an international Indian evangelist who has a ministry to millions of pastors around the globe.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: His name is Ramesh Richard, and he actually teaches a course at Dallas Seminary occasionally on spiritual life, and he has his sort of vacuum-packed the whole of the Christian life into five things in order.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna take the first one, the thumb one, and then we're gonna walk our way through, and then I'll take the fifth finger as well.
4:55
SPEAKER_02: I get the two best fingers.
4:57
SPEAKER_02: So the the first one is to know Jesus.
4:59
SPEAKER_02: The first one is know Jesus.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: This is the thumb is in some ways the most important finger of the hands, the only finger that can touch all other fingers.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: It's the starting finger.
5:10
SPEAKER_02: And in the same way, knowing Jesus is in some ways the most fundamental thing.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: It affects all of the others.
5:17
SPEAKER_02: It's where you start, even if you're not yet a Christ follower, even if you're not sure you're a Christian.
5:25
SPEAKER_02: A lot of people who are not yet Christ's followers, not yet sure they're Christians, come to TBC because they say to themselves, this is a Bible church.
5:34
SPEAKER_02: I can find out about Jesus, I can explore this, and we really welcome you.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: And and and that's this is a great place to learn about Jesus.
5:46
SPEAKER_02: And that's absolutely fundamental to everything else you want to do in spirituality.
5:54
SPEAKER_02: If you look at the New Year's resolutions that people make at this time of the year, they number one is always uh eat better and get fit.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: And number two is um something like that.
6:07
SPEAKER_02: It's oh yeah, lose weight.
6:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh, number three is stop smoking, you know who you are.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: And number four is don't drink so much, you know who you are again.
6:18
SPEAKER_02: And number five is save money and get out of debt.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: Listen, uh Melody and I, by the way, are always up there this year as usual.
6:26
SPEAKER_02: We're in the number one and number two.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: I won't remind you of what they are.
6:29
SPEAKER_02: But um but the Apostle Paul always had the same New Year's resolution at the top of his list.
6:36
SPEAKER_02: He explains it in Philippians 3.
6:38
SPEAKER_02: He says, leaving what lies behind, looking forward to what lies ahead.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: My goal is to know Christ.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: To know Jesus.
6:49
SPEAKER_02: That was his goal.
6:50
SPEAKER_02: It should be your starting goal and my starting goal.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: Now, how do you get to know Christ?
6:54
SPEAKER_02: Answer is obviously go to the you go to the book that tells us about him.
6:58
SPEAKER_02: You go to the Bible.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: And this church, wherever you are in the Christian life, if you're not even a Christian yet, this church is a place to open the Bible, get to know Jesus.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: In Sunday school classes, women's ministries always offering these Bible classes.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: Bible studies we have, we have all kinds.
7:16
SPEAKER_02: Next week I'm starting a series for heaven's sake in Ezekiel.
7:20
SPEAKER_02: Who has ever done that before?
7:22
SPEAKER_02: It's probably gonna crash and burn.
7:24
SPEAKER_02: But it here is a part of the Bible.
7:26
SPEAKER_02: I mean, who knows?
7:27
SPEAKER_02: Who's who's ever studied that part of the Bible?
7:30
SPEAKER_02: Well, I did that with a bunch of Bible study guys this last year, and they were all going, wow, we should do this on Sunday morning sometime.
7:37
SPEAKER_02: So this is a way to come to TBC, know the Bible, study the Bible, even if you're not yet a Christian, and that's a great transition to number two.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: Abe, talk to us about number two.
7:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:50
SPEAKER_05: So the second finger is believing Jesus.
7:54
SPEAKER_05: And I I greatly appreciate that these two ideas are separated.
8:00
SPEAKER_05: Because oftentimes knowing and believing this is unintentional, go a hand in hand.
8:07
SPEAKER_05: Um but I'm sorry.
8:09
SPEAKER_05: I really that was not planned.
8:11
SPEAKER_05: But but we'll put them together.
8:15
SPEAKER_05: But I really, really appreciate that they're they're taken apart this morning because knowing is a cognitive understanding of something, but you can still reject it.
8:27
SPEAKER_05: Believing is a reception or an accepting of something.
8:32
SPEAKER_05: And to believe something, you you can't reject something if you are actively believing it.
8:38
SPEAKER_05: And so it's really, really critical within our faith to separate these two things.
8:42
SPEAKER_05: And I find this really valuable because my wife and I do ministry on Washburn University's campus.
8:47
SPEAKER_05: And we have the cool opportunity to work with freshmen coming onto campus, wide-eyed 18-year-olds, overwhelmed by this new transition, this new phase of life.
8:59
SPEAKER_05: And it's really exciting to see because a lot of the freshmen that we work with have a understanding of who Jesus is.
9:07
SPEAKER_05: They know Jesus.
9:09
SPEAKER_05: But the college experience challenges them to ask if they believe in this Jesus.
9:18
SPEAKER_05: If they believe in this Jesus, if they're going to bend to the influence of their professors, the perspective of their professors.
9:25
SPEAKER_05: They're going to bend to the influence of their roommates who may be pulling them all over the place.
9:33
SPEAKER_05: But I tell you that it's one of the most incredible things to see when you see an 18-year-old who decides, they they pull a verse like Ephesians 2, 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith.
9:46
SPEAKER_05: It is not your own doing, but the gift of God.
9:48
SPEAKER_05: When they take that, that believing Jesus and they own it for themselves, it completely changes their college experience.
9:58
SPEAKER_05: It changes the way they do school, it changes the way they interact with the people around them, it's it changes the way they live on campus, the way they act on campus.
10:07
SPEAKER_05: And this believing Jesus, knowing is not enough.
10:13
SPEAKER_05: The thumb can only do so much by itself.
10:16
SPEAKER_05: But when you bring the index finger with the thumb, that becomes a majority of our hands function in our random finger facts this morning.
10:27
SPEAKER_05: But what I love is because it's a majority of the hands function, it becomes the foundation for what our faith looks like.
10:36
SPEAKER_05: Knowing and believing.
10:38
SPEAKER_05: And so while we look while we look forward into 2018, that is the challenge.
10:44
SPEAKER_05: How do we become a five-fingered Christian?
10:46
SPEAKER_05: And the foundation of it is first knowing Jesus, but then second is believing that this Jesus came to earth to reconcile our relationship with God because our sins had separated us from him.
11:00
SPEAKER_05: That he took he took on human life and lived this perfect life and died on the cross, taking our punishment, defeating death, coming to life again, and we wait expectantly for him to return.
11:14
SPEAKER_05: So it's not just knowing Jesus, but believing Jesus also.
11:18
SPEAKER_05: Derek, you want to give us the third?
11:21
SPEAKER_06: Sure, I'd love to.
11:22
SPEAKER_06: Good morning.
11:25
SPEAKER_06: Can anybody guess what the third one is?
11:30
SPEAKER_06: Love.
11:30
SPEAKER_06: You guys, you guys are good.
11:32
SPEAKER_06: We can I'm done.
11:33
SPEAKER_06: That's it.
11:34
SPEAKER_06: Just love Jesus, be great.
11:36
SPEAKER_06: All right.
11:37
SPEAKER_06: Actually, love is one of these words that I've been thinking about quite a bit over the past couple weeks, as Gabby, my wife, just gave birth to our first daughter, who is now just over two weeks old.
11:49
SPEAKER_06: Name's Ala Grace.
11:53
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, so that is an exciting thing.
11:56
SPEAKER_06: It's a fun thing.
11:57
SPEAKER_06: Life has completely changed.
12:00
SPEAKER_06: All good.
12:01
SPEAKER_06: Um, this the sleepless nights are they're there, and we're working through those.
12:08
SPEAKER_06: But I think about her, and I think about how little she is, and how she just can fit up and snuggle up into your arms, and how, see, she's 100% dependent upon us for getting her the food, for changing all of her clothes, for putting her down to sleep, for trying to pacify her, for doing great things like poop a lot.
12:35
SPEAKER_06: And so, okay, maybe some of those are more duties.
12:39
SPEAKER_06: But the majority of that is the love that we have for her.
12:43
SPEAKER_06: And we actually got to experience love from others over the past couple weeks as different people would bring us food.
12:49
SPEAKER_06: And so we got to experience people, we know that they love Jesus, and they showed that by showing love to us.
12:56
SPEAKER_06: And so as we dive in to love, this this third finger is also the tallest finger.
13:03
SPEAKER_06: It reminds me of Matthew 22, where Jesus was actually somewhat cornered, tried to tried to be pinned by the Pharisees when they're asking, hey, what's the greatest?
13:14
SPEAKER_06: Of all of all these laws of Moses, what's the greatest?
13:16
SPEAKER_06: And Jesus says, if you guys, I'm sure you guys all remember this, the first and greatest command is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
13:27
SPEAKER_06: And the second is like it, that you love your neighbor as yourself.
13:31
SPEAKER_06: And so we see very clearly from Jesus that this theme of love is a big deal to God.
13:39
SPEAKER_06: And when you think of this word love, it's that agape, that Greek word that's self-giving, that's not selfish, it's looking out for the needs of others, it's it's putting others before ourselves.
13:51
SPEAKER_06: And so that's the type of love, that sacrificial love that we're talking about here.
13:56
SPEAKER_06: And so we have to ask the question well, how do we love Jesus?
14:00
SPEAKER_06: How do we do it practically?
14:02
SPEAKER_06: We can't see him, we can't touch him, but how do we love Jesus?
14:06
SPEAKER_06: And as we think about that, a lot of us can think of a lot of different ways that we can love Jesus.
14:12
SPEAKER_06: We can go and help somebody who's in need, we can bring a meal, we can give somebody an encouraging word, bring them flowers, go see them when they're in the hospital, pray, read the word, all these different things are ways that we can love.
14:27
SPEAKER_06: But I think a lot of us sometimes forget to love.
14:32
SPEAKER_06: I know I do quite a bit.
14:35
SPEAKER_06: And by show of hands, how many of you guys have ever been in that situation where your day is jam-packed, you're so busy, you're running around doing these different things, errands, going to the grocery store, doing your work, whatever it is, and all of a sudden you look up and it's 3 or 3:30 and you realize that you did not even eat lunch yet.
14:53
SPEAKER_06: Have raise your hand, have you guys been there?
14:55
SPEAKER_06: Okay.
14:55
SPEAKER_06: I've been there too.
14:57
SPEAKER_06: And you know by that point, it's not just, oh, I'm kind of hungry, I think I need to eat.
15:01
SPEAKER_06: It's I'm way past hungry.
15:03
SPEAKER_06: What was I doing that that I forgot to eat?
15:06
SPEAKER_06: And so I think sometimes our spiritual life can be like that too.
15:11
SPEAKER_06: We can be so busy, we can get into so many things, even doing good things, that sometimes we forget, man, I I haven't had my Jesus yet.
15:20
SPEAKER_06: I haven't been in the Word, I haven't been in prayer in communication with the person who matters most.
15:26
SPEAKER_06: And so I'm gonna give you a challenge, and before that challenge, I'm gonna give you two different verses and things to think about.
15:33
SPEAKER_06: How do we get to the point where we can love Jesus more regularly and do it on a regular basis?
15:39
SPEAKER_06: So, first is 1 John 4.19, which says that we love because he loved us first.
15:46
SPEAKER_06: And so we have to realize this is this is not an action that we're doing, but it's something mental where we recognize, we realize that the only way that we are able to love other people at all is because of what God has done for us, because what of what Christ has done for us, by him going to the cross when he didn't have to, by him sacrificing, shedding his blood, forgiving us when we weren't deserving of forgiveness.
16:14
SPEAKER_06: And the second comes out of Luke 4 or Luke 7, where Jesus gets invited into Simon's house and Simon doesn't welcome him, he doesn't give him oil, doesn't you know give him a kiss when he comes through the door?
16:27
SPEAKER_06: But then we see this sinner woman who she comes in and she is crying tears, she's sitting at Jesus' feet, she's wiping his feet with her tears, she's giving him oil, she's welcoming him.
16:42
SPEAKER_06: And so I just want to read Luke 7.47 to us.
16:47
SPEAKER_06: Jesus says this therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven.
16:52
SPEAKER_06: That's why she loved much.
16:55
SPEAKER_06: But the one who is forgiven little loves little.
17:00
SPEAKER_06: And so again, we see in this story that that woman, she she loved Jesus so much, she showed that love because she recognized how much she had been forgiven.
17:11
SPEAKER_06: And so for us, if we are going to love Jesus better in 2018, if we're gonna do it on a more consistent basis, part of that comes with recognizing one, that we can only love because of God, and two, that we have been forgiven so much that our our response to God should be love.
17:32
SPEAKER_06: And so my challenge is each morning when we wake up, not to do anything crazy, you don't have to sit and read your Bible for an hour, though that would be a great thing too.
17:41
SPEAKER_06: But very first thing when we get up each morning is to take 10 seconds and just think about God and think about how much we've been forgiven and use that as a starting point for our day.
17:53
SPEAKER_06: Use that as a thing that's going to help us love our spouse as well.
17:56
SPEAKER_06: Love the people who maybe tick us off a little bit, to be able to love them better, to love kids better, and to love those around us better, and most importantly, love Jesus better.
18:08
SPEAKER_06: So, Joe, number four.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: I just got back from Phoenix and uh I resolved not to tell you that I went golfing a few days ago, 78 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: I just didn't want you to resent me before I begin my message this morning.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Um kidding.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: Well, actually I was golfing.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh so the finger I'm focused on this morning, um, all of them are important, but I've got the ring finger, finger number four, commitment finger.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and the topic is uh following, following Jesus.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking, boy, the city of Topeka, we should have an A in this, right?
18:51
SPEAKER_01: Because isn't that book in His Steps by Charles Sheldon?
18:54
SPEAKER_01: Wasn't he from Topeka, right?
18:55
SPEAKER_01: What would Jesus do?
18:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh but a first thing I want to really uh emphasize is that getting saved is not the final step in the Christian walk on earth, right?
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh getting saved is not the final step in our Christian life on earth.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: It seems like a no-brainer, right?
19:15
SPEAKER_01: But how often do we operate as if it is the final step?
19:20
SPEAKER_01: How often do I just kind of coast, right?
19:22
SPEAKER_01: And don't focus on following Christ and maybe some of the difficult things he might be asking me to do.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: Um and as we follow him, we we grow.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: We grow in Jesus.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: And the apostles and Jesus were really uh stressing the importance of growth and following Christ.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: 2 Peter 3.18 says we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh the apostle Paul says we are to train ourselves to be godly.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: That's 1 Timothy 4.7.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus himself says, Hey, follow me, right?
19:53
SPEAKER_01: Take up your cross daily and follow me.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: Luke 9 23.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: But the big question is, how do we grow?
20:01
SPEAKER_01: How do we follow him?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: 1 Peter 2 2, crave the pure spiritual milk of the word so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's really no way around uh reading God's word, because how are we to know what Jesus wants us to do if we're not hearing from him through reading his words?
20:22
SPEAKER_01: Um there's just no way around it.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: John 17, 17, Jesus prays for you and I here today as believers that that we are sanctified by his truth and his word is truth.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: So literally we are holy fied, we are we are grown up in our faith as we read God's word.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: It's nourishment to our souls, and we need it regularly.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh a story might help.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: Um I was in Phoenix up until last year when my wife Rebecca and I moved to Topeka with our daughter Olivia.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: And before um, well, last year we planted a sagero at our house in in Phoenix.
20:59
SPEAKER_01: That's a soero cactus.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh they're supposed to be green, uh, they're prickly, and the one we bought was about this tall.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: But it became it began to have a red color to it, didn't look quite right.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: And so I took a photo of it and I went to the nursery with that photo and said, Hey, what's going on here?
21:17
SPEAKER_01: What can I do?
21:18
SPEAKER_01: Is it getting too much water or not the right nutrients?
21:21
SPEAKER_01: And it turned out the uh the man at the the landscaping company said, Um, you need to not water your cactus for a year.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that was surprising to me.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: And now you're probably thinking, What how does this analogy help what you're saying, Joe?
21:39
SPEAKER_01: Because you're telling us to regularly be in God's word.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, and you're and now you're saying a cactus only needs water, like maybe once or twice a year.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, my challenge to you this morning is don't be a cactus.
21:51
SPEAKER_01: God's word never calls you a cactus.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, if if if somebody finds that in scripture, let me know because I'd I'd like to see it's not in there.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: Um Cactus is uh sorrow cacti are they're prickly, they're unapproachable, uh, they can easily rot.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Um God's word says, don't be a cactus.
22:08
SPEAKER_01: God's word says to be a tree, right?
22:11
SPEAKER_01: Planted by a stream of water, Psalm 1.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh so how do we uh become that tree planted by uh a stream of water?
22:18
SPEAKER_01: That that requires constant watering, I mean regular watering.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: Um and you will then uh bear fruit in season, someone says.
22:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh and God wants that for you.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to to know him and have a relationship with you because he loves you.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jesus died for you, he loves you so much.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: And um, healthy things are growing, and um, he wants you to be healthy.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: He wants you to be spiritually healthy.
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Um and we do that by being in God's word.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: So uh don't be a cactus, don't be just reading God's word every now and then, you know.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: We need uh that nourishment.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jesus says man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh and some people say, hey, I just don't have time to be in God's word.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh well, do you have time to eat, right?
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Physical food.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jesus says that it's more important to have spiritual food.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: So make the time for it.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh be creative.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you have a lunch hour at work and you can crack God's word opening and get to know the Lord there.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Um and if you're too busy for that, you maybe there's some things you gotta cut out of your life, right?
23:23
SPEAKER_01: The Lord is the most important.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, just a word for us as husbands, um, hey, wives and spouses.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh I want to encourage you guys to uh to grow in your relationship with Christ.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Follow Jesus.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: If you do that, your your marriage is going to um be better.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna be uh having the right heart.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh we focus a lot in our marriages on techniques and you know, communication techniques and active listening.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: And those are all good things to learn.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: We should learn those things.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: But the most important thing is having the right heart.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: And if I'm walking closely with the Lord, I'm following him, I'm just a better forgiver.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm uh more loving.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh I you know, love covers over a multitude of sins, a lot of communication issues and things like that.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm a better forgiver when I'm following the Lord.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, same thing for parents.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we focus a lot on parenting techniques, and those are good things to learn.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: We we need to we need to understand those things.
24:18
SPEAKER_01: We have two kids now, and and yeah, Lord help us, right?
24:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh it can be tough sometimes.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: We have a two and a half year old, they're a blessing, but it can be tough.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: But we focus so much on parenting techniques, and a lot of times we neglect our own hearts and our walks with the Lord and following Jesus.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, if I'm if I'm if I'm following close to if I'm following Jesus closely, I'm a better parent.
24:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm more loving, I'm disciplining out of love versus anger.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm more patient, and um I'm I'm I'm pointing my kids to Christ.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm modeling Christ by being in God's word.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: So um don't be a cactus and and follow Jesus.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: You'll be you'll be it'll improve your parenting, it'll improve your marriage as well.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Derek.
25:00
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
25:01
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: Um so have you got those down?
25:04
SPEAKER_02: The first one is know Jesus, and then believe.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: Third, love.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Promote is mine, and um by the way, these these flow into each other, don't they?
25:18
SPEAKER_02: So knowing Jesus where it starts, you can start that even before you're a believer.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh but then as you get to know Jesus, you go, wow, he really is my God and savior.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: And so you believe in him.
25:29
SPEAKER_02: And and then, wow, uh as you believe in him, you're you're astounded by the fact that he would forgive you for all your sins.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: You're just blown away by that.
25:39
SPEAKER_02: So, like Derek said, you fall in love with him.
25:41
SPEAKER_02: You you you you like that woman, you know, letting her hair down, you go, wow, I love you.
25:46
SPEAKER_02: And but love flows into, I've got to follow that guy.
25:49
SPEAKER_02: I've got, I need to obey him, I need to follow him.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: Now, Jesus said, if you follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.
25:57
SPEAKER_02: So now we have promote.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: Now, a lot of Christians, even some churches, think that it's okay to simply no, no, no, no, Jesus, you know, get to know him better, better.
26:07
SPEAKER_02: But but they've stopped promoting him at home, at work, wherever they go.
26:11
SPEAKER_02: It's scary, you know, scary to be a fisher of men, to be a promoter, to be a representative.
26:18
SPEAKER_02: And some churches are happy with just knowing.
26:21
SPEAKER_02: But here's the reason you can't do that.
26:23
SPEAKER_02: It's the reason that if you get kidnapped, you don't want to part with your little finger, like that British guy that got kidnapped a couple years ago in Syria, and they said we've got to take one finger to prove we have you.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: Don't make that mistake of giving up your pinky finger.
26:37
SPEAKER_02: We're actually told by people that deal with amputated fingers and so forth that the finger you should part with is the second finger on your non-riding hand.
26:48
SPEAKER_02: Okay, the index finger.
26:50
SPEAKER_02: It's it's the one that can be replaced the easiest.
26:52
SPEAKER_02: That's not as essential.
26:53
SPEAKER_02: The reason your pinky finger is so essential is that it's your gripping finger.
26:58
SPEAKER_02: And that's why gangs cut off that finger if they have an unruly member, because you can no longer grip in the old days a sword or a pistol, or if you play badminton, or if you play tennis, or even if you do pull-ups.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: Try doing a pull-up without your pinky finger.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: You can do it without any other finger, but without your pinky finger, you can't grip.
27:19
SPEAKER_02: And dear Christian, you'll lose your grip if you decide you're gonna not promote Jesus Christ wherever you're at.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: Churches will lose their grip when they say we're not going to promote Jesus Christ in our neighborhood and around the world.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: And by promote, I mean no more and no less than what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 5.20 when he said, we are ambassadors for Christ, promoters of Christ, representatives of Christ.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: The Nikki Haley.
27:53
SPEAKER_02: You know who Nikki Haley is?
27:54
SPEAKER_02: She's the U.S.
27:54
SPEAKER_02: ambassador to the United Nations, become really famous this fall, remember?
27:57
SPEAKER_02: Because she's the one who announced to the United Nations, to all those boos, that the United States is gonna move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
28:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
28:05
SPEAKER_02: And so then there was a big, it's been a big vote in which 218 to nine or whatever they voted to censure the United States, which is why this last week Nikki Haley announced, hey, we pay all of you, we pay a billion dollars to keep this thing going.
28:20
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna reduce our pay a little bit, since uh I'm representing the United States.
28:25
SPEAKER_02: I'm a promoter of the United States interests, I represent the United States.
28:31
SPEAKER_02: Now, what a privilege for Nikki, who grew up in a home.
28:34
SPEAKER_02: Her parents came from Punjab, India, who grew up to be a governor of South Carolina, but now has become the promoter of the interests of the United States of America.
28:45
SPEAKER_02: But as great a privilege as that is for Nikki Haley, it pales in comparison to the privilege you and I have of being the promoters of none other than Jesus Christ, his ambassadors, his representatives to promote him.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: And we don't promote him, dear friends.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: We don't promote him because it's our duty to do so, though it is.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: We don't promote Jesus because it'll bring many eternal life, though it will.
29:13
SPEAKER_02: We don't promote Jesus Christ because it will improve the living conditions of the poor, which it will.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: We don't promote Jesus Christ because it will improve peace and stability in the city of Topeka or in our community or in the nation, though it will.
29:27
SPEAKER_02: We don't promote Jesus Christ because we will be rewarded forever by it by God, though it will.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: We promote Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ is worthy of promotion.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: He is the God, the Savior, worthy of all glory and honor and praise and deserving of promotion.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: It's the most natural thing in the world to promote someone like Jesus Christ.
29:52
SPEAKER_02: So there are our five, and you and I should make a resolution this year.
29:57
SPEAKER_02: This is our plea, that in 2018 our spiritual lives will become what they've never been before because we will work to know Jesus, to believe Jesus, to love Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to promote Jesus wherever we are.
30:13
SPEAKER_02: One of the things that's great about this time of year is that God gives us a new chance.
30:17
SPEAKER_02: I think it's intentional that God has this new year thing, and and like G.K.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: Chesterton says, we we can resolve to start anew.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: I want to remind you that even though the world says we'll give you a new start, it's oftentimes not true.
30:35
SPEAKER_02: It's an unforgiving world we live in.
30:39
SPEAKER_02: Michael Vick was the number one draft choice coming out of college about 15 years ago.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: A remarkable athlete.
30:47
SPEAKER_02: He became the quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: He was just an astounding runner and occasionally a great passer.
30:55
SPEAKER_02: And and then in 10 years ago in 2007, he was arrested for running a dogfighting operation, uh a heinous thing, outside uh near his mansion in Virginia.
31:08
SPEAKER_02: And he was convicted.
31:10
SPEAKER_02: And he was sentenced.
31:12
SPEAKER_02: And he was sent to Leavenworth up the road here, where he served his whole term of 21 months away from his three little children, ages two, three, and seven.
31:23
SPEAKER_02: And he learned his lesson.
31:25
SPEAKER_02: But the most remarkable thing that he learned while he was in prison is he learned about Jesus because he was visited by a former coach of his named Tony Dungey, who would go to Leavenworth and would talk to him about Jesus.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: And Michael Vick became a Christian.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: And when he got out eight years ago, Michael Vick's life was transformed.
31:46
SPEAKER_02: He started traveling the country, he's been speaking, he's repentant, he talks about his crime, and he's been working with a humane society sort of as penance for all of these years.
31:58
SPEAKER_02: Last July, Coach Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, who's well known for his soft heart and for being empathetic and for rehabilitating players that have had troubles, hired Michael Vick as an assistant training coach during training camp and afterwards for the Kansas City Chiefs.
32:19
SPEAKER_02: This is the last week of July this year.
32:25
SPEAKER_02: You would think that having having gone through all of this for uh having having paid the price for his crime, having ruined his career, you would think that would be okay, but it but it wasn't.
32:38
SPEAKER_02: The Kansas City Star editorial board weighed in with some nasty, snarky editorials about Michael Vick, the dog torturer.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: As if he couldn't change.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: Michael Vick left after three months.
32:55
SPEAKER_02: He's now working for Fox News as a sports analyst.
32:59
SPEAKER_02: But you know what I really appreciated that was that the next week after the editorials started coming out in the Kansas City Star on July the 31st, Sports Illustrated reacted to the star.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: And in Sports Illustrated, they ran an article in which they said basically, Dear Kansas City Star, don't you believe in ever giving anyone a new chance?
33:25
SPEAKER_02: Don't you believe that people can change?
33:27
SPEAKER_02: Don't you believe in rehabilitation?
33:30
SPEAKER_02: Or do you believe that if someone has committed a heinous crime, they need to be stuck away behind bars forever?
33:38
SPEAKER_02: I could have stood up and cheered.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: But it's a reminder that even though you'll hear from society that we're forgiving and you can start over, sometimes that's not true in society.
33:52
SPEAKER_02: But it is true in the Christian world.
33:55
SPEAKER_02: And God gives us New Year's so that even though you and I looked back and we say, you know what, 2017, I wasn't as much of a five-fingered Christian as I wish I had been.
34:07
SPEAKER_02: God says, Well, you've got another chance.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: Make that resolution in 2018.
34:13
SPEAKER_02: Will you do that with me?
34:16
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: Father, we thank you for the chance to resolve, to start anew, to give it another shot.
34:25
SPEAKER_02: And we pray that this year we may strive to know you better.
34:31
SPEAKER_02: We pray for those who are struggling and ask that they can come to believe in you.
34:37
SPEAKER_02: Give us a new heart of love for you so that we'll follow you and promote you naturally wherever we are.
34:44
SPEAKER_02: For the sake of your son Jesus, we pray.
34:48
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
34:49
SPEAKER_02: Now, this this day, this New Year's Day is the time to sing my favorite New Year's song, Great Is Thy Faithfulness.
34:58
SPEAKER_02: So we're gonna close with that.
35:10
SPEAKER_04: Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
35:20
SPEAKER_04: There is no shadow of turning with me.
35:29
SPEAKER_04: Thou changest on thy compassion they fail as thou hast been forever.
36:28
SPEAKER_04: Summer winter spring time and sun and stars in their courses.
36:47
SPEAKER_04: Join with thy great five mercy and mercy.