Sunday Service 4/14/24 | Thank you for joining us! | By Grace Christian Fellowship | We're here to worship god together. Thank you. Go ahead and have a seat. My name is Pastor Steve. I'm one of the pastors here and we're glad that you're here to worship god together with us here at Grace. We're still kind of in the middle of auditorium overhaul, could you tell? A little bit. Um so, our probably another week still of sound things that will be changed and switched over. Uh we're still using an old kind of portable system and the the next couple weeks, we'll be launching into the deep on some of the other new things that god has provide it and so thank you for your patience as we kind of work through all of those things and the CPAC in front of you is a communication card and if you're fairly new to Grace, we'd love it if you would take the time to fill out a communication card, introducing yourself to us, letting us know who you are and where you're from, Any prayer requests you'd love for us to be praying about, you can put that on that card as well and those cards, by the way, go in the offering boxes at exit doors, those black boxes. Um as you leave today and we'll we'll take care of that. Over the last month or so, we've been collecting an offering, an Easter offering for our next generation being able to help offset the cost of sending our teens to camp this summer and I don't know where Pastor Matt is. He might be in the in the booth but I think we're up to like sixty kids signing up for camp already and we're excited about being able to share with you the total amount for the offering. Are you ready? Drum roll. We don't have a drummer today but drum roll. Alright, here's the total thirty-seven thousand six hundred ninety-one dollars and two cents. So, we're excited about that and thank you for those that have generously given to make that happen. Um we are excited. Now, we can start also praying as kids get ready to go to camp and also for our Grace kids as they will be having some outreaches this summer and we look forward to those opportunities as well. Tonight is a game night for those of you that are so inclined at five o'clock. So, bring games with you there will be some already here. Um bring some snacks. They'll be meeting out here in the lobby. Uh they'll be sharing the building with pickleball tonight. So, just be mindful of that but come and have a a good time tonight. Um as they gather together. One other thing I want to mention is that at the end of the month, we're having what we're calling get to know grace. Some of you are fairly new to our church family and we would love to spend a little bit of time. It's during the second service. So, second hour, 1030. Um you can sign up for that ahead of time. Just going to our events page, GCF Cortland. org slash events and just let us know that you're going to be attending that but this is just kind of a get to know you. Um so that you can chat with some of our pastors, get to know what happens here at Grace and we would love to have you jump on board with that. That's coming up on the 28th at Alright. This morning we have the opportunity to have one of our missionaries and I'm going to ask Tim to come on up. Tim, Long and Patty Long have been part of our missionary family. And he is here visiting with us this morning. And taking time to check out his table there in the lobby. And we would love for you to get acquainted with them. Welcome to Grace this morning. Thank you. Alright. Um I wish you you could share just briefly what missionary career, where it's been located, main ministries, that kind of thing if you would. Alright. Well, it's been 40 years. So, how brief I can be? I I will. You're going to have to summarize that but first of all, special greetings from Patty. Um she couldn't be here. Um we're located right in the Tijuana area of Mexico now but the first time I was here with this congregation was almost 40 years ago than you've supported us for all these those years. And that was coming up from the Dominican. We spent 10 years in the Dominican Republican new church starts. And in 1986 the first group from here went down to help us and then we move to the border areas and my wife has been involved in developing a special education program in Tijuana where there's a tremendous need for the for for children with special needs that were just left out of the school. And I've been involved in leadership training and recently have organize and develop a masters in theological studies program that is accredited that many of our colleagues overseas requested an accredited master's program and it's just been a blessing Um Chile, the Brazil, to the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico. Awesome. Awesome. So, they've been leadership development especially Patty and the school, things going on with helping kids with that. That's really awesome. Do you realize that they've been a part of Grace since when it was Homer Baptist Days and Homer Baptist and all the way through Grace Christian Fellowship has been a part of their ministry for 40 years. So, that's pretty amazing. Let's give him a round of applause for 40 years. That's that's pretty amazing. So, what's what's going to be the next step forward for you guys? Well, come September, September 30th, we are retiring from our work with International Ministries. Um please keep up your support until September 30. Financial. But then we will you we'll going to continue in ministry. Patty is turning over what she has done to some Mexican young women who are now able to study special education in the schools that weren't able to before and that's all in a transition and every year there's 30 to 35 students. So, she'll be helping with that trends transition and be working with our our youngest son, Daniel, is still at home and he has down syndrome but he has us support group and a theater group in the San Diego area and so she'll be helping with that and I will I'll continue traveling. I have I have plans for residency weeks in Chile, in Brazil, and Nicaragua and Guatemala. Just in the next few months. Very good. How can we pray for you specifically as you enter into this kind of transition for your ministry? Well, we do appreciate your prayers and for this group, for for me and the masters group, we've had in the past five years. We started at just six years ago but two hundred and fifteen graduates today and twenty-five cohorts and it's all in Spanish or Portuguese and and all we are continuing that ministry. Please pre pray for that because it really is a need that so many people felt and and all and there it's not easy sometimes going through an US university that's only deals in English and then all the students have to to manage a new websites and everything like that but but the Lord is blessed and we've done that. Um so for our our family, we have eight grandchildren now and thankfully, after some have been living in in Africa, they're all within two and a half hours of us. Wow. But our son-in-law right now, just for the next few months, his name is Tim, the married our daughter, Anna. He was just diagnosed with lymphoma. He's going through chemo right now. They have three kids and it's a right there with them for support. But please pray for for Tim. Sure. And it's cancer. Great. Let's let's give their family a round of applause. Stand. Would you stand? 40 years is a lot. That's 40 years is certainly a milestone and we're thanking god for your faithfulness and we will continue to pray that god will use you in great ways. Let's pray for them as we also pray for our offering this morning. God, thank you. Thank you that we can been a part of the Longs Ministry over these number of years. Thank you for sustaining them. Thank you for working through them and god we're excited to see how you will continue to use them in leadership capacities, training leader encouraging people to become followers of Jesus and so we commit them to you through this transition process. God that you will continue as I know you will to show yourself faithful to them. Pray for their son-in-law as he's facing this medical obstacle. And God do great healing and work in his life as well. And we commit them to you and and thanking you for them in Jesus name. Amen Alright. Stay standing. Thank you. To Cristo. Thank you. Let's continue singing as we honor god with our voices this morning and worship him. Endless defeated inside of me and my praises roar little louder and a louder sing a little louder a little louder sing a little louder sing a little louder you're going to hear my praises the king is your loving kindness work is end is written Jesus Christ my me free Jesus Christ Jesus Christ in the morning of the silence one who sent me praise the one Christ my We're thankful god that you are the faithful god, the god who intervenes into our very lives. Bringing hope, bringing salvation. We praise your name and we pray this through your son, Jesus. May be seated. Good morning, Grace. Good morning Thank you all for being here this morning. It has been a week. I'm a little fatigued this morning but I'm really thankful to be here. Pastor Dan is down at Restored preaching this morning. I really appreciate you guys coming out and listening this morning. We're going to be in Philippians. Pastor Dan intro. This actually back on Easter. He took us through Acts. He gave us a historical background. Of the book of Philippians and what Paul was doing in the church of Philippi and if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn there. We're on page seven thirty-four. If you want to use the New Living Translation in front of you. Last time I've been, I was with you guys, Pastor Dan allowed me to speak on a parenting adult children. And we are still white knuckling that experience. Let me tell you. We have it seems like we're in that transitional period if we're not getting ready for a wedding or doing a wedding or taking pictures of an engagement like that's our life right now. It seems like it's happening in rapid succession. Our youngest is Freshman and he's not allowed to look at girls at this point. That's that's where we're at right now but this morning, we're going to be looking at the book of Philippians and one of the main themes of Philippians is joy and I appreciate my church family checking in with me. I appreciate the text Let them encouragement. I wouldn't do this if I didn't think you all want to hear from me. This is not necessarily my wheelhouse but it's something that has come up and I feel that god wants me to do it. I enjoy scripture, it helps me personally. it's humbling, and I'm grateful to be here. Again, got a lot of encouragement this week. Got great text praying for you, Ron. Just a quick word of can't wait to hear from you on Sunday and then you have some friends that send you texts like and I quote Don't say dumb stuff, Ron. And dumb stuff is in all caps. Now, in context, it was super funny and I appreciate it and it was encouragement but this morning, we're going to look at just the life of Paul just a little bit, just a little background and his work with the Philippian church and Dan lightly introd last week and I talked to him just before a board meeting and like, I just kind of gave him an outline of what I was doing. I was like, man, you took verse six. You took verse six on me. I've got to preach seven through eleven this morning. Chapter one. Seven through eleven and you took verse six on me. And I wasn't here last week. I was somewhere else. Another church visiting some friends, investing in them. And I went back and I listened to his message because I kind of want to know where at. And I was like, you barely touched six. And he texted me back. He's like, I got you, man. I knew you wanted that. So, I appreciate the fact that he allowed me to take that one this morning. We're going to be starting just lightly here. chapter one. Pastor Dan intro that for us. I want to start in verse four. Just to reintroduce this book as we look at it this morning. It says in verse four, always in every prayer of mine for you, I'll make you always in every prayer of mine for you. Making my prayer with joy and one of the take homes, he brought cornflakes up on stage last week. One of my personal take homes, his point was, god isn't flaky but one of my take homes was joy and his definition of that, he said, joy, he defined it as a deliberate attitude of defiant resilience based in the hope of Jesus. I'm really good at defiance maybe. I'm really good at resilience maybe some days but when you put all those things together, a resilient, a deliberate attitude of resilient, define resilience based in the hope of Jesus. Catch that. That's where we start. Verse five, he calls the Philippians. He says, because of your partnership in the gospel, from the first day until now. We talked a little bit about that partnership the Philippians had with Paul and currently, while he's writing this, he's in prison. This is a prison epistle. This is a prison letter he writes to the Philippians. These were partakers from the beginning of the church that was started in Philippi. These believers were partners. They weren't just armchair quarterbacks. They were actually involved in ministry from day one and Paul's commanding him for that They weren't sideliners They were involved. They were all in. and then, comes verse six. We're going to hover on this just a little bit before we move through the chapter. It says, and I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He who began a good work in you. He starts off with I am sure of this. The word sure is just simply meaning persuaded. believe in, To trust, to have confidence or to be confident of. He who began a good work. Now, I looked at this a little bit and obviously, if we look at like, is he talking about salvational things? Yes, he is. He who began a good work. Greek verb is translated, he who began, is used here and in Galatians three three and it's always talking about salvation. It's only used twice, here, and in Galatians. Referring to that, saving work that Jesus does in our lives. To the day of Jesus Christ, he who began good work in you, will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Day of Jesus Christ. This isn't talking about the day of the lord. This isn't talking about that final judgment that's mentioned in Joel, first Thessalonians, or second Peter. That's not what this is talking about. But rather the day of Christ refers that final day when we receive final reward. That final glorification of our bodies. That full circle redemptive work when we're with Jesus forever. That's what this is talking about. So, we put that all together and as we segue into this next section, everything we talk about hinges on where's my confidence Where is my confidence? And as we look at seven through eleven, I want to think about a couple things. The main point of today is confidence in Jesus champions joy over chaos and confusion. I'm going to give you a couple bullet points as we work down through here. Kind of the format for today. We're going to work down through these verses. I'm going to give you some bullet points and at the end, we're going to tie it together with some application. But it all hinges on verse six. He who began that work. Who are we sure of? Who are we confident in Where does our joy come from? Are they objects of our affection that are and a lot of times we don't even know what we put our confidence in until it's tested and then it comes up short Okay, so let's read verse seven together. Says in verse seven, it is right for me to feel this way about you all, Paul talking to the Philippians because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace. Both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. It is right for me to feel this way about you all. He's putting confidence in Jesus. He knows that Jesus started a good work in them through grace of salvation. They were there with him from day one. He says it's right for me to feel. Some of us are like feel. Ah feelings. Others of others of us are like I got nothing. Give me some data points. Give me some facts. Well this word here. I think there's something for everyone. This word feel here Is an idea of setting our minds towards something It involves will. It involves our conscience, and it involves our affections. So, when you see the word feel here, this isn't just empty sentimentalism. That's now what this is. This involves a will, conscience, and the affections. He goes on and says, because I hold you in my heart. Paul holds the Philippians in his heart and the word heart is simply the center of thought and feeling. It's the seat of the emotions. If you want to write this down, confidence in Jesus champions joy that produces love for others especially believers. I kind of had to stop there and I was like, one of the things about going through scripture is that as you walk through scripture, as you're studying, as you're digging into it, you're unpacking it, you're using study guides, and looking at commentaries and looking at the language, looking at verb tenses, and you're trying to use good hermeneutics as you're studying this to convey an accurate truth here from god's word. It's like, I'm kind of convicted on this one. A joy that produces love for others especially other believers. Life would be great if it weren't for the people. Isn't that true? I'm more of an extroverted personality. It seems like people are either energizing me or they're my kryptonite. Depending on the day. And to really get a handle on where do I place my confidence in what do I place my confidence what fills me internally with joy to love other people How do I do that? You can find out really quickly where you place your confidence when people start rubbing you the wrong way. When there's been a bad performance by a leader or someone lets you down and it's really easy to get bitter and angry and leave and give up. Back to verse six I'm sure of this, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What am I putting my confidence in? Who is that object of that confidence that produces joy in my life? For you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Now, I don't want to spoil this too much but the background there is while in prison, the Philippians sent money as well as this person mentioned in coming chapters Epaphroditis. We'll learn more about him. I'm sure in the weeks to come. They gave where it counts. Financially and of themselves personally. Isn't that where it kind of hurts when we have to give of our time and resources? That is a deliberate act of kindness based in the joy of their salvation, based in this partnership in ministry, based in those things that god was doing in their midst that they could clearly see. They gave where it counts. Confidence in Jesus champions joy over circumstance Confidence in Jesus champions joy over circumstance. I took just a minute and I was like, I fall short I could have three mood swings in one day depending on what the client base is doing coming in my door at my place of business, you know, and Paul's in prison writing this letter to this church I like I have some work to do in my own life. I have some work to do on my own character I don't have a clue what it means to live in hardship, I don't think. I don't have any idea and We see here, confidence in Jesus, champion, joy over circumstance again and again and again. And we'll unpack that in the next verse. Verse eight, says, for god is my witness how I yearn for all of you with the affection of Jesus Christ. Now, as I was processing through this, I'm like, we have the apostle Paul and he's yearning, yearning for believers. This means to earnestly desire, to desire greatly. It's not petty feelings. It's not selfish lust. It's not people pleasing. So, what is it? This is an intense emotion. It's the strongest Greek word to express compassionate, compassionate, love It involves someone's entire being. So, let's look at contrast. So, the first thing that hit me was like, this is contrast. This is a guy who used to be named Saul. That's who Paul is and he had this miraculous transformation. So, this is a guy who used to burn for Christians. Now, yearning for this new church. And it and it kind of blows my blows my mind a little bit. So, I I look back and if you want to look back with me, let's look back to the book of Acts. Let's just look at a little bit of history. Book of Acts chapter seven First mention of Saul. Those of you who have been around the Bible, understand scriptures Um this first mentioned, it mentioned Saul was at the stoning of Stephen Chapter seven, Acts chapter 7. Starting in verse fifty-eight and they cast him out of the city and stoned him talking about Stephen. And they laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Moving over to chapter eight and Saul approved of his execution and there arose a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the apostles. Verse three, but Saul was ravaging the church entering house after house. He dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Turn over another page. Acts nine Acts nine verse one. It says, but Saul still breathing out threats and murder against the disciples of the lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus so that if he found any belonging to the way and the way there was just the new church that was forming the way, the Jesus followers. Men and women, any belonging to the way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. That's what we're talking He went through this burning and breathing out threats, imprisonment, approving of murders to this man completely transformed by Jesus. Completely changed. A brand-new work started in his life A powerful force for the gospel and he and it changes from a man who burned against these people to someone who yearned earnestly for them. I was like, man, what a contrast What a change. What a what a god to put our confidence in in the midst of some real junk in this life we have to walk through. What amazing things and if you're writing more things down, you can write this one down. Confidence in Jesus champions joy over self righteousness, giving us a new purpose. Again, Saul had his PHD in being a self-righteous Pharisee and god changed that man into something new. He used all that intellect, all that knowledge, and he turned it towards Christ. He turned it an amazing, fearless leader that wrote the majority of the New Testament. That's only the work that Christ can do in your life Moving on to Philippians verse nine. Says there and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. Knowledge and discernment that you love may abound more and more with knowledge and discernment. Biblical love isn't blind, guys. Biblical love isn't blind but is deeply rooted in biblical truth and yes, you guessed it, that truth is rooted in Jesus. An opportunity for the very first time to do some premarital counseling and that was so much fun. I love, I love 20 somethings. I think they're super honest. This particular couple was super real with me. Lori and I just had an absolute blast. We invested in them. But what impressed me the most was their dedication to God first and that's cliche. I get it. We're in church. But actually doing the hard stuff, unpacking the things in their life, and working through them taking their time and doing it And then yesterday having a long-awaited god-honoring marriage and I just thought about this this morning and I just scribbled this down. This wasn't even in my notes originally and I thought, man, because because I was just struck by when they turned around for the very first time, I'm going to introduce and the joy on their faces. And man, we were all cheering because we knew what it took to get there We understood yeah, there's cause for joy and the confidence that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. This is just a start of a lifetime walking through and going back to that moment when it's hard. This is where we started. This is where we drove the stake in the ground. This is who we're committed to. God and each other and move forward in them. Confidence in Jesus produces the love that is complete with knowledge and discernment. A joy a lot of times that needs to be championed in our minds. Loving someone through knowledge and discernment. Doing the hard thing. Unpacking those things in their life that are messy. Working on it. And moving in that confidence of Jesus verse ten. You love me abound more and more with knowledge and discernment so that when you see so that in scripture, pay attention. That's the take home so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless, blameless for the day of Jesus Christ. There it is again. We've already unpacked that. We know what that means. So, be pure and blameless for the day of Jesus Christ When we love with love and discernment We can improve what is excellent and so be blameless and pure. Now, Approve has the idea of authenticity. When we level biblical knowledge and discernment, we're able to recognize what is true and what is real. Sometimes in our life, we we can't even recognize what's authentic. We have a lot of faith out there but when there is a hope, when there is a confidence rooted in Christ, I think we have a better idea We can recognize truth. Truth is truth. We just have to identify it. That's a hard thing to grapple with. I'm not going to unpack the word blameless completely for time's sake but again, confidence in Jesus brings joy and peace in our conscience in our conscience and last verses verse eleven and then we'll tie it up with some application. Says, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of god. I'm going to let that one just about preach itself. Filled with the fruit of righteousness, right standing with god, the fruit of that, that's not self righteousness, that's not thinking you're better than someone else, let's humbly understanding you're in right standing with god. It's confidence in that brings a joy and a lot of times, unfortunately, we're all looking for something in the wrong places Only Jesus can produce some of those things that we look for in the wrong places. And I think I'm an actual professional at that and the Christian walk is sometimes A, B, C, A, A, A, A. And we think we've learned it and we don't and we have to go back and we have to get right with god. We have to ask for forgiveness and he's always there to take those things from us and to separate them as far as the east is from the west. When we repent and turn and go, you know what? I did it again. I was looking for joy. I was looking for peace. I was looking for satisfaction in the wrong place. Now, placing confidence where it belongs in Christ Says at the end to the glory and praise of god, joy comes when we give glory back to god and not keep any of it for ourselves. Not even a little bit. Not even a little bit. As far as application goes guys, who or what is the object of my confidence and like I just mentioned, I come up short a lot of the time In my line of work, you knew I was going to go there. You know, I was going to bring you an application from my line of work In my line of work, if someone needs something rebuilt, a complete overhaul of an engine, we completely disassemble it. We strip off all the accessories, all the external fuel systems, everything we get right down to a few basic components. Okay? These are the components that take all the stress. It's usually cylinder head, block, crank, connecting around. It's usually very all the all the stuff is piled up elsewhere and we just have a few basic components left on a pallet. We send those off to the machine shop to get some automotive machining done. We check tolerances specs. We check all those things and there's one process There's one process in this whole thing. That's extremely important. First process is usually wash everything. You get all the grease and oil and everything off of it. The very next process is called magnetic particle testing or magniflux or mag for short. I have this pile of parts. We've washed them. We put them on a bench. We hit it with a magnetic field. We dust iron powder on there. And all of a sudden, that shiny part may get these little white lines or that magnetic dust has gathered as that magnetic field passes through that part and that reveals the crack in that component It reveals the flaw and that component that's usually turning at a high rate of speed when the person's doing like 53 and a 55 and you know, you let them know what's up. That component can break, fail, and grenade leading catastrophic what I like to call mechanical carnage. It's cool if you're not the guy that built the thing or had responsibility for repairing it. But I thought to myself, man, that that is me Continuously putting confidence in shiny pieces, things, or people and over time, the cracks appear and you Go, man. I really did not place confidence I didn't place hope for a future. I didn't place hope for Christ completing that work in me. I was hoping this person as long as they were good, I'm good in my spiritual walk. That's not how it works. But setting yourself up for huge failure, huge disappointment In church hurt and all those things are very real. But if we understand this is where I place my help. This is where I place confidence. There's more joy to be had Man, I want to talk to you just for a second. I had quite an eye-opening experience last weekend. Just super encouraging. It went, I was at a church. We're at Lake Pointe Church. Pastor Scott Blanchard and we unpacked through the spirit. He intro that series out there. I was investing in some friendships out there. It was just amazing time. And we go to their church and I kind of knew about the pastor a little bit and with permission, I'm going to share you with this this morning. This pastor is roughly my age. We'll come roughly my age. He has 80% hearing loss. Lead pastor. 80% hearing loss and you can clearly tell. And that church is vibrant. The church started in twenty eleven. Those men and women love him. They respect him. They listen. And he just sends it every Sunday morning. Like I was there and I was like, man, he is just getting it and he does not care. He's bringing the word of god. He's articulating it well. The points were great. I learned something from god's word but I'll bet when that first moment, he felt the calling on his life to serve god and maybe felt the nudge of being a pastor. He was like, what, really? You want me? 80% hearing loss, Scott Blanchard, Bea Pastor, because a lot of his ministry is right here on stage speaking to people and he listened and clearly walked through that door that god opened for him. Guys, if there is a door open for you for service, walk through it. There is a ton of joy waiting for you on the other side. This is not the most comfortable place for me to be right here. But there is a ton of joy after the fact going, I did what you want me to do, god I shared something that I shared my struggle. I shared my weakness. I shared what I've been learning through god's word and that's all this is. Sharing with my church family what god is doing in my life. And I was super convicted by that man that taught from the word of god. Last week, he did not allow that to slow him down. Men and women, if you're feeling slightly inadequate this morning to take that next step towards Christ, number one, there is a ton of joy waiting for you Be obedient in that call and I promise you, as you place your confidence in Christ, there is a joy that is waiting for you. Would you pray with me this morning? God, this morning, we're just going to offer up our inadequacies. We're going to offer up our shortcomings and just rest in the fact that you are god, you are sovereign, and god we desire joy as we are obedient to you Thanks Ron for sharing. Let's stand if you would. We'll close with the song that's I think appropriate. We can't do this without the Lord's help. Where sin runs I cannot stand lord righteousness oh god God, as we go from here today, may we rely upon you as our source of strength and power to live for you. We pray this in Jesus name, amen. Have a good one. In all that you've done is so