Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. What Paul's going to tell us now is, look, I urge you to be fully engaged. That's what you have to be. None of the benefit of the grace of God will be yours on a day in, day out basis unless you're fully engaged.
If you're not fully engaged, you'll never get the benefit. You see, that's what he's trying to say. I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. What are those mercies of God? I think if you read the book, it'd say the grace and love of God. See, is the love of God earned by us? No, it's just mercy. How about the grace of God?
No. The grace and love of God are the most wonderful things to us that ever existed. You didn't earn any at all. This is just God in His mercy. He didn't give us what we do deserve. He gives us what we do. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's word meets our world. The thing that should frame your life is you're all in relationship with God and God's word to you. You're not letting that happen. You're looking at the circumstances.
And when you look at the circumstances, you say, this is really sad. He said, did the prophets tell you this stuff? That's why God sent the prophets. That's why He gives us the word. He gives us the word so that we're not in the dark. We're always in the light.
Therefore, we don't have any reason to be sad. Notice then, then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself and all the scriptures. And approaching as they approached the village where they were going, he acted as though he were going farther. But they urged him, saying, stay with us, for it is getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over. So he went in to stay with them. And when he reclined at the table with them, he took the bread and he blessed it and breaking it. He began giving in to them and then their eyes were open.
They recognized them and he vanished in their sight. My work's done here. Now watch. They said to one another, we're not our hearts burning. Heart transplant. We're not. Wait, he just said you were slow of heart. Now they say our hearts are burning.
Why? He just explained to them what the Old Testament said about them. And they believed him. They believed the word of God. Now their hearts burning. He said, when our hearts not burning when it is, while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us.
That's why God gives us the scriptures. He reveals to us who I am, who he is, what's going on in life. He reveals it to us.
He lets us know this should have an enormous effect on our heart. Notice how it affected not just what they believed. And they got up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem and find gathered together the 11 and those who were with them and saying, the Lord has really, he said, has risen and has prepared, appeared to Simon. And they began to relate their experience on the road and how he recognized them in the beginning. Now, did they sound excited? When did they take off back?
Evening. It took them all day to get there. Now they're heading back that night. You think they were tired?
They don't know that. You think they walked back or ran back? You see, what changed? They just went from this awful, terrible, horrible, rotten day looking sad. And now they're all wound up and excited.
What changed? Their heart. Now their heart changed. You see, that's what God is telling us. Now their heart is a completely different kind of heart and they find themselves fully engaged.
That's why I said for so many of us, it has to do with our heart. This is extremely important to God. Go with me to the end of the Bible, Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14. Revelation 3 and verse 14. It's amazingly prophetic for our times. It says the angel that to the angel of the church, Alayah, to see a right.
The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God says this. I know your deeds. That you are neither cold nor hot. But I wish that you were cold or hot.
Isn't that interesting? What's he saying? You're lukewarm, but I wish you were cold or hot. See, I wish you were all out or all in, but you're just sort of lukewarm.
You see that? Your heart is not fully engaged. You're not totally in. He then goes on and says, so because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'll spit you out of my mouth. Wow, that's pretty abrupt, isn't it?
See, what is their great offense? Luke warned, not engaged. So many people think that this is Christianity. You know, before I became a Christian, I can still remember a relative of mine, and all that was ever talked about is you need to go to church, you need to go to church, you need to go to church, you need to go to church, you need to go to church.
I heard it all the time. And my thought was, I don't believe there's a God, so what do I need to go to church for? Well, then I was converted, and then I found Jesus. And the response I got from the same person is, what's wrong with you?
Why are you like this? You see, well, I found the meaning of life, the Son of God. I just wanted you to go to church. See, in a sense, but that's a lot of us.
We go to church, and we think that's it. No, that's lukewarm at best. There's no all-in engagement to this.
There's nothing all-in. Notice why. He goes on and explains why. Because, he said, you say I am rich, I've become wealthy, and have need of nothing. I'm successful. And that's how I measure my life. You see, I measure my life by my bank account, my neighborhood, what I drive.
I'm a very successful person. Here's Jesus' perspective. You do not know that you are wretched and miserable, poor and blind and naked. I advise you to buy, he said, from me gold, refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed, and eye salve will anoint your eyes so you'll finally see. To those whom I love, he said, I reprove and discipline. Therefore, you better be zealous and repent. Jesus said, you don't understand success at all.
You have no wealth at all. You see, where are you all-in? I'm all-in in the world. That's where my all-in is. But the only problem when something bizarre happens out there, that all-in won't give you peace. I mean, the stock market crashes and people jump out of windows. Why?
I'm all-in. This is everything. This is life. This isn't life. That's not life at all.
Now, it may be a wonderful blessing in your life, but it's not life. But they said, I don't have a need of anything. But they did. They had a need of an all-in relationship with God himself.
That's what they really needed. You have to see sort of God in everything. And a lot of us have. This week, I read about Johann Sebastian Bach. And I read that he actually wrote 256 cantatas. Now, we know how involved the cantata is. It's like, oh, my goodness.
That would be life's work for sure. His music had an incredible ability to touch the soul of people. And his Toccata and Fugue in D Minor are called the Mass in D Minor. It's considered one of the most inspiring pieces of music ever written. And most people would think, you know why? Bach's a genius. Who would argue that? He's a genius. Bach would argue that. Bach would say, I didn't write music like that because I'm a genius. He said, I wrote that kind of music because it's a result of my prayer life. Really?
Yes. Every piece of music that Bach wrote on the top of the page, here's what he wrote. Just in shorthand, JJ. Well, what's that? Well, that's Yeshua Yuva. Help me, Jesus.
Help me write this page. At the bottom of every page, he wrote SDG in Latin, Sola Deo Gloria. To God be the glory. You see, his relationship with God had an enormous effect on even his craft and what he did. He did everything is unto the Lord. You see, he was all in. That's where we need to be with our lives. Start every day off with Jesus help me and end every day with to God be the glory. That's what it means to be all in. And if we ever live that way, the benefits will be enormous.
Not only will God be glorified, but for your own good it will be amazing. The question is, what's the first step? How do you take the first step in this? Being fully engaged.
How do you take the first step? Go with me to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12.
It didn't make sense that it's here. The book of Romans is called the Magna Carta of Christianity. If there's one biblical book that explains what Christianity is, it's Romans. That's what Paul's whole endeavor is.
He's going to tell you what it is. I mean he, and he covers every, first eight chapters he covers everything. What about man? God has a case against man.
What do you mean? God has a case against immoral sinful men. And we all say, amen. He said, oh, yeah, yeah, okay. Secondly, God has the same case against moral men.
Oh. Third case, God has the same case against religious moral men. What's his conclusion? All of sin falls short of the glory of God.
There's none righteous, no, not one. That's his conclusion. God's answer is Jesus Christ, the grace of God. And he ends up telling us we are saved through our faith, through the power of the grace of God. He goes on and tells us that. He tells us why we were all sinners because we're in Adam. And then he also tells us that God won't leave us alone.
He gives us his Holy Spirit to lead in our lives. Then in chapters 9, 10, and 11, he goes on in those chapters and he actually says, what about God's covenant relationship with Israel? And he answers it. And then when he gets right to the end of chapter 11, it's interesting what he writes. He just gets down there and he says, for who has known the mind of the Lord or became his counselor?
Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? He says, for from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever and ever, amen. That doxology and the whole book before us, why he writes this verse. And he says, therefore, from everything that happened before, I urge you.
This is Paul encouraging or almost begging us. I urge you, parakaleo. We get a word called paraclete. Remember who's called the paraclete?
The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. Same word, parakaleo. I urge you. See, what he is saying, look, I've told you what Christianity is. Now you know. Is that helpful?
Might not be. He said, that's going to come to how you relate. What Paul's going to tell us now is, look, I urge you to be fully engaged. That's what you have to be. None of the benefit of the grace of God will be yours on a day in, day out basis unless you're fully engaged.
If you're not fully engaged, you'll never get the benefit. You see, that's what he's trying to say. I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. What are those mercies of God? I think if you read the book, he'd say the grace and love of God. See, is the love of God earned by us? No, it's just mercy. How about the grace of God?
No. The grace and love of God are the most wonderful things to us that ever existed. You didn't earn it at all. This is just God in his mercy. God doesn't give us what we do deserve.
He gives us what we don't. He said, I urge you, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. It's a one-time action. It's an error's tense.
It's point action. I need you to present your bodies. And that word, present, which I find really interesting when he writes the word present there, the exact word that is used is perestomy. It's a technical word for a priest who makes an offering. I want you to make an offering, you.
That's what I want. I want you to make the offering. Now, the Jewish believers knew this. They knew it inside and out. According to Josephus, on something near the Day of Atonement or the Passover, for example, hundreds of thousands, 200,000, he said plus, sheep were offered at the temple every year.
Now, they're offered all year long, but every year. So they understood an offering. You take the sheep or whatever it is, bullock, as best without blemish, and then it dies on the altar. And the priest executes it.
They know what that presentation is. I mean, it's an amazingly morbid thought to us. But he's trying to say, look, that's exactly what I want. You're a priest. That's what Peter tells us. Now, I want you to make an offering.
I'll buy the way at you. You need to offer yourself up to God. He says a living and holy sacrifice.
I first became a Christian, and I'm not sure. The more I thought about it, even this morning, I think J. Vernon McGee was the first guy I ever heard say it. He would always say, dearly beloved. You know, he'd always say that. He said, you know what the problem is with living sacrifices? They keep crawling off the altar. And, you know, he's exactly right, because every sacrifice is final. Once you get on the altar, that's it. You see, once he's sacrificed, that sheep doesn't come back. And that's what he's trying to say. You see, he said, I want you to make yourself that one-time offer.
And then he goes on and he says, let me tell you something about that. That's acceptable to God. In other words, that's something God would want you to do. I accept the offering.
Perpetuation is the Greek word. I'm satisfied with it. Offer yourself now to me. And then he says, look, which is your spiritual service of worship. You see, real worship is not necessarily getting together on Sunday and singing a couple of tunes and listen to a message. This is real worship. This is ascribing worth to God. I offer him me. I'm all in.
I'm fully engaged. And notice, it says your spiritual service of worship. But the word's not spiritual. The word spiritual would be pneumaticoi. It's not pneumaticoi. It's logikos.
Logikos. Does that sound like any English word? Logical.
That's the word. You see, it's logical. It's reasonable.
It's right. So think of it this way, which is your logical service of worship. Is it logical that God did everything he could for you, died for all your sins, gave by his grace and his love, saved you forever, not on the basis of you or anything you could have done? Now, if I did that for you and I'm God and you're one of my creatures, would it be logical for you to be fully engaged with me?
Yes. This isn't illogical. It's like Patterson said earlier. It's amazing that so many people in Christianity view somebody like me and a lot of other people as almost nuts. Like I think that's overboard. You're just too committed. Really? You can't be.
No one can be. You see, that's the whole idea because I know when Jesus said, I come to give you life, I'll give it to you abundantly. I know that's a life full of joy and peace and hope.
Now, who doesn't want that? You see, I know Jesus said that's a benefit I'll give you. Now, in a day like this with a pandemic like this, be honest. Wouldn't you like more joy, peace and hope in your life?
See, wouldn't you like every day to wake up with a lot of encouragement? I got it. God, we got today.
I'm fine. You see, but we often respond the same way someone who doesn't have the Lord is. Oh, my goodness, let's keep. The answer's got to be out there. We've got to get this.
We've got to get herd immunity. We got to. Hey, if we do, I think it's great. If we don't, I think it's great. You see, because it's under God's sovereign love. Doesn't matter.
That won't change my relationship with him. Now, here's our problem. And do not be conformed to this world. I think that's us in spades with this pandemic. We are totally conformed.
We see it the same way they do. Boy, this, cross your fingers. Look, anything that can be done medically to make it better, that's a wonderful thing. I'm all for that. But that doesn't change my relationship with God. It shouldn't change yours as well.
J.B. Phillips, a great Greek scholar, says, do not let the world squeeze you into its mold. But we do. We start thinking that way. You see, instead of getting a burning heart from the word of God, we get a slow of heart, lukewarm heart, or a hard heart from the newscast.
Did you see what was posted yesterday, how bad this could get? And now that's what we choose to believe. But we need to believe God. Do not be conformed to this world. Be transformed, metamorphous. This is caterpillar to butterfly, same word, metamorphous. We transform the people in the world, caterpillars. If you apply this verse, butterfly.
It's a big change. Be transformed how? By the renewing of your mind. With what? The word of God. Just exactly what Jesus did to the men on the road to Emmaus. He renewed their thinking. He told them, didn't our hearts burn? See, to hear God's perspective on this, he said, so that with the result that you may prove what the will of God is.
You know what that says? It's God's will that you're fully engaged. It's God's will. That's what God wants for you and for me.
In whatever. You see, fully engaged in everything in our lives. That's his will. It's not only his right to have it as his will, but it's our blessing.
Because not only is he glorified, but you and I are blessed. And all of a sudden I have peace where I have anxiety or worry. I have joy when I have sadness.
And I have hope when I was so uncertain. He said, yeah, that's what you'll get out of it. He said, that which is good for me, acceptable to God and perfect. The word is teleos. It means mature, perfect or finished. Jesus said on the cross, it is finished.
Teleos. Same word. In other words, what will happen? I'm going to mature. You know what that means? Clutch is fully engaged. I'm going down the road making progress. You see, I'm making progress now.
The clutch is fully engaged. Look, as we all go through this together, I'm just telling you, I'm all for every single advance we can make in the medical area. That's great. But I don't want you to have to endure all of this without any peace in your life, full of anxiety and worry, all because you decided, I don't really know if I want to go fully engaged here. I'll urge you, just like Paul, to do it. It'll be for your good as well as for his glory. Let's pray. Father, I think these kind of circumstances that we find ourselves all together in are a lot like the circumstances when we face an individual tragedy, the death of someone we love, a disease that we didn't want in our lives, an economic downturn that we have no control over, and it has a profound effect on us. But, Father, I think what you're telling us is that altogether we don't want to be that church.
We don't want to be lukewarm. We know how disappointing that is to the Lord. So, Father, I pray that we want to have our hearts burning.
We want to be fully engaged, and we will offer up to you as a living sacrifice. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. ...and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.
That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .
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