How do we follow God’s Word?

0 (0s): Good morning. Welcome everybody. Let's all stand together, Lord. We thank you for this morning. We thank you for providing us reign. We pray that you'd be here with us, that our worship would be pleasing to you. 1 (31s): for all that you've done. 1 (3m 15s): gray. 1 (4m 5s): for all that you done for me? Jesus. 1 (4m 46s): For all that, you've done. Fool. Oh, razor razor, razor. 1 (5m 31s): me. humble ourselves worthy of 0 (14m 52s): Praise and honor, we worship you this morning. Pray in Jesus name. Amen. So like for the past eight weeks Charlene's been here and she's really polished at getting you guys to talk to one another, but I'm back. And so it's okay to be awkward. You just got to turn around and make friends, you know, it's a time to fellowship. Amen. 0 (15m 32s): Amen. All right. Good morning. Harvest Church good morning. It's a rowdy bunch this morning. 2 (15m 44s): It has it's. It's nice. It's a little chilly outside, but nice and warm in here. Hey, just want to say welcome. Glad you're here each and every one of you. Thanks for joining us online as well. Hey, if it's your first time joining us, I just wanted to let you know that we have a gift for you. If you go over to the info center right here in the breezeway between the lofts and sanctuary, we have a gift for you. We would love for you to fill out info cards. Find out more about you, just ways to plug in and just got a couple announcements. First one is the Thanksgiving baskets. Food baskets are being collected by next Sunday. Next Sunday is your last day to turn those in. So there's a list where we're just trying to love on the community of the families in our community that, you know, need a little extra help this Thanksgiving. 2 (16m 30s): So if, if, if, if you've got, if you're willing, there's a, there's a list of different food items that we're trying to collect, and that will be due by next Sunday, November 20, November 15th, next announcement. And we have this sisterhood night of worship, and that will be just Friday, November 13th at six 30 here in the sanctuary. And that is for women of all ages all the way from they said grade school to grandma's are invited to come for that. It's going to be worship sharing a fellowship and fun details can be found at AGU harvest.org/sisterhood. And it's, it's gonna be a great night. I'm excited for you. Gals. 2 (17m 11s): Next is just a few opportunities to plug in and we have some, we have a welcome team, cleaning team, kids, ministry, team safety team, and then, and then a group host or facilitator. There's all different ways to plug into Harvest Church and to get connected, you can, you can find out how to connect by going to our app or a website and plug it in that way. Dave gave me this little sheet. There is a volunteer for holiday wind ensemble as well. Dave has all the details on that. I just have a simple slip of paper. So talk to Dave, if you're interested or do you have the skills to play in the wind ensemble? I do not. So I should not talk to Dave about that. And then lastly, we Wednesday is the veteran's day. 2 (17m 53s): So we want to honor those who have served in our country. And so if you have served, we actually asked you at this time to stand up both in the loft and here in the sanctuary, just come on, keep standing up, standing, remain, standing, remain standing. We want to just take this time. We want to take this time to honor you and thank you for your service. And let's, let's just say a moment of prayer, all right, for them, Lord, we thank you for those who have served, who have put their lives at risk to protect the freedoms of those. They, they, they haven't even known Lord. 2 (18m 33s): We thank you for all those in, in this room, at home, in a line and, and throughout this country, Lord, and what do we do? We lift up this country to you at this time, Lord, with all the craziness in our, in our nation. Lord, we just ask for wisdom and direction. Lord God, thank you for those who have served in jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Thanks. You all. That's all. That's all I got. Thank you, brother. Appreciate it. 3 (19m 2s): There are flannels all over the building today, all over the campus. It's a flannel Sunday. Isn't it? It's it's been kind of cold. Hey, you notice we got some of our plumbing back in place, so that's good, right? It's good to good to have plumbing in a developed nation. It's good to have money. So we have one of the think Mike Apadaca for coming in and making sure that the black top was all fixed for us so we could drive in and out and here. So thanks to Mike and thanks to rich Brown and his crew for getting the plumbing done. They're still working on it, but we have plumbing in this building and in the loft and in the U building, we do not have plumbing yet in the parsonage, but we're getting there. So be patient with us. We we're, we're just, it's just a slow process, but the water main is fixed and the sewage line is fixed. 3 (19m 48s): And so things are getting better. We'll get rid of the port-a-potties this week. So that'll be good. Porta-potties are great if you're at a fair, but they're not growing or a carnival or something. Hey, since we've had such a wonderful time with our plumbers recently, I've got a plumbers joke. You guys ready for a plumber's joke. So this guy hires a plumber. He's got a leak under a Sikh under his sink and the guy the plumber shows up and he's underneath the sink and comes out after about an hour. And he hands the guy that hired him, a bill for $400. And the guy said, man, I'm an attorney. And I don't make that kind of money. You've been here for less than an hour. The plumber said, yeah, when I was an attorney, I didn't make that kind of money either. 3 (20m 33s): Do you guys get that? It's it's bad. Right? Okay. Good. Somebody gave that to me. I did not pay them for that joke though. So that was, that was good. We had the title of the message today as we get into Colossians, chapter three is how do we 4 (20m 48s): Follow God's word? How do we, how do we follow God's word? That's the, that's the, the million dollar question as we open up, God's word, how do we follow it? How do we do that? So let's go ahead and stand up. But we're going to pray and ask the Lord for gifts to give us wisdom as we open up the scripture. And so Laura, we want to know, we want to know how do we follow your Word as we open it up on a regular basis and try to find instruction, therefore, our lives. So often, it's just hard to walk it out. Lord, easy to read about things, hard to live it out Lord. And so I know it's my desire, and I know that it's our desire as a church to want to be able to live it out. We want to know what it means to follow and how to do that. 4 (21m 30s): So Lord, I pray that there would be really practical tools given to us today, practical and helpful tools that will give us the ability that capacity, the understanding how to, how to actually follow your Word. So God as we open our hearts and minds to that, I pray that there would just be a download from heaven God that whatever blinders we have on would be, would be would, they would just fall off Lord like cataracts. They would just fall off our eyes, Lord, whatever hardness we have in our heart around the word. And just maybe our lack of understanding about how to walk it out or our frustration with it. Lord, I pray that that would just go away as well. 4 (22m 10s): That would just melt away in jesus' name. And our hearts will be tender and ready in our minds to be excited. And we'd be hungry Lord for the things for the word of God, for the things of God. And so help us, Lord, we pray. Thank you for your presence here today. God we've already felt it in worship, Holly. That was just so powerful and so good. And, and I am praying that the balance of the service has we open up your word would be, would be the same, would just be powerful and good. And then as we wrap up with more song God that it would just, it would just put a big old exclamation Mark on this day and give us the grace to follow you and to trust you wholeheartedly. So bless us. We pray, help us. We ask Lord in Jesus name, amen. 4 (22m 51s): You can be seated and you can be, 3 (22m 53s): How do we follow God's word, number one, we're going to get right to the first point. We have to understand what the word says. When I say the word it's capital w God's word. We have to understand what the Bible says. That's, that's kind of where we, we have to start. We have to understand what it says. We're going to get into some pretty tough texts today. If you've read ahead, you, you know that it's, it's difficult stuff that we're going to be talking about today, but it's not impossible stuff. It just requires that we understand what the word says so that we can do what the word says. So we're going to do our best to explain what the Bible says about these areas of submission 4 (23m 34s): And that this text is talking about today. Nobody likes submission really. I mean, it's difficult. I kind of grates against our flesh. When we have to submit to one another, whether it be to a boss or to an 3 (23m 46s): Elder or to a spouse, we don't really run toward the idea of submission, but it is God's 4 (23m 55s): Best plan for us. 3 (23m 57s): It is absolutely God's best plan for us when we understand what God means when he tells us to do certain things. So out of the gate, I'm just going to jump into Colossians chapter three, verse 18. We're going to take a few minutes to talk about 18 and then 19, and just, and just unpack the whole chapter all the way to chapter four, verse one. That's what we're going to end up today. It says this 4 (24m 21s): Wives, you know where I'm going, right? 3 (24m 25s): Submit to your 4 (24m 27s): Husbands. 3 (24m 31s): So no tomatoes. That was wonderful. Thank you for not throwing tomatoes at me. Cause I didn't write this. I'm just happened to be preaching it today. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting for those who belong to 4 (24m 45s): The Lord. 3 (24m 47s): I'm just going to say, and I wrote out some things because I wanted to make sure that I say that I say them properly. This is the proper order. Two things. When it comes to husbands and wives, we can't apologize for that. And we don't actually have to apologize for it. When we do, when we do what God asks us to do the right way, he's actually got a plan. He didn't just throw this out there, spitballing some, some random idea about marriage relationship. He actually has a plan that he wants us to understand for our marriage relationships. So this is the proper order to things. When it comes to husbands and wives, we can't apologize for that because when done right, there is nothing to apologize for. 3 (25m 33s): So wives submits, she submits not as one who is inferior to him. So we're not talking about superiority versus inferiority. We're not taking, talking about position. We're just talking about order of things, the order of things. So she submits not as one who is inferior. So I want us to understand that that women are not inferior to men. 4 (25m 56s): And anyway, do you hear me? 3 (25m 59s): Women are not inferior to men in any way 4 (26m 3s): Way. 3 (26m 6s): So she submits that as one who is inferior to him, nor in violation of a Christian ethics, but honoring her husband's responsibility and authority as head of the household. So God has actually placed men in charge of the household. And so that's the order of things. And we're going to understand more about what that looks like as we unpack this text, the amplified Bible says, wives, be subject to your husbands out of respect for their position as protector and their accountability to God. So men are actually what will be held accountable for our relationship with our spouse in way that we lead our wives. So wives be subject to your husbands out of respect for their position as protector and their accountability, accountability to God as is proper and fitting in the Lord. 3 (26m 57s): So God has made the man head of his wife. We don't have a slide for this next verse, but it says this first Corinthians 11 three says, but I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. So men have a head who is Christ. The head of why of a wife is her husband. And the head of Christ is God, is there is there is God superior to the son. No they're equal. They're equal in God, they're equal in the Godhead, but yet there's an order of things. There's a submission there where Christ is submitted to the father. And we see that throughout his whole earthly life in ministry, we see him constantly submitted. 3 (27m 40s): He said, I only do what the father tells me to do. I only say what the father tells me to say. He is completely submitted, even though there's total equality at the Godhead totally equality between the father, son and the Holy spirit. How do we follow God's word? We have to understand what the word says. This is the order of things so that there can be peace and leadership, proper leadership in the home. If there's no clear leadership, strife and unrest is the result. I've seen this over and over again where there's a weather where there's a lack of leadership. There is always strife in the home. There's strife and unrest in the home when there's a lack of proper leadership, but where there is godly, loving, humble leadership, there is peace. 3 (28m 30s): So when I think of healthy male leadership and marriage, I think of pastor Ron D I do. You guys have been married for 40 years. He's got a great marriage after 40 years of being married. And if you look at Ron's life, so I've been working with Ron for about 12 or 14 years, pretty full time here at the church. And so I have a, I've had a chance to watch his life for more than a decade. And I've been so impressed with his leadership. So while Ron is the head of his household, he is so incredibly gentle. He's gentle and strong at the same time, his gentleness and his strength makes it easy for his wife DJ to submit to him most of the time. 3 (29m 14s): I'm sure even DJ has a hard time submitting at times, but because Ron is gentle and strong at the same time, it makes it easier for his wife to submit to him. Ron is also gracious. He is humble, he's loving and he's fun. And Ron is the same person in the office that he isn't at his home. He's, he's just, he's just faithful through and through. He's a godly man full of grace. That means he extends grace. And so because all of these things are true, it makes it easier for his wife to submit to him. I would say that Ron is a great model for us as men, as husbands, man, we will do well to model our leadership after pastor Ron. 3 (30m 2s): I think it's just helpful to have a real life person that we can look to and model our leadership after our role, as leader of the home. 4 (30m 12s): All right. What does submission look like? 3 (30m 16s): And what does submission look like? Wives are to submit to their husbands as long as submission, as long as submission doesn't cause disobedience or compromise to God and his word. So women have a responsibility to submit to their husbands. As long as that submission doesn't violate their submission, their ultimate submission, 4 (30m 34s): Two God 3 (30m 38s): Wives are to submit to their husbands voluntarily. It should be done as, as an active obedience to the word of God, to the person of God. And I also want to say that even as wives submit volunteer voluntarily to their husbands, they're not to submit to men in general that that's not what the Bible says. It doesn't say that women are to submit to men in general. Now, if there's a leadership thing that requires a woman to submit to a man, that's fine. But there's also times when there's there's men who need to submit to the leadership of a woman. What the scripture is talking about here in Colassians. It's not saying, Hey, women are submitted to, or to be submitted to all men. 3 (31m 21s): It says that women are to be submitted to their husbands. That's what the scripture says. So the wife is to submit volunteer voluntarily to her husband, not to men in general. This is kind of what submission looks like. Submission is not to be abandoned when the husband makes a mistake. In other words, per perfection is not the make or break factor. When deciding to submit, sometimes women will submit as long as their husband is doing well or making wise choices, your husband is not going to be perfect. I'm a husband for the last 30 years. I can, I can tell you that we're not going to be perfect across the board, but even when in our imperfection, it's important that wives submit to their husbands, trusting that the Lord is leading the man. 3 (32m 3s): Even if he's making mistakes, there's ultimately God's plan we'll we'll we'll come to fruition or we can trust that God will will help. Even when our husbands are making mistakes, even when men are making misses. 4 (32m 16s): I hope I said that correctly. All right, husbands, you're next? You thought you were getting off the hook today, right? You were so on the hook today. So 3 (32m 28s): Even as I talked about the role of a godly husband and, and, and pointing to Ron, as an example, husbands verse 19 says you're to love your wives and never them harshly. What if you love your wife as Christ loved the church and never treat her harshly, she won't have much problem submitting 4 (32m 48s): To you. She just won't. 3 (32m 51s): She is won't most, most women want to submit to a godly man who loves them and treats them well. The amplified Bible says this in Colossians three 19, husbands love your wives with an affectionate sympathetic, selfless love. That always seeks the best for them, Then that good man, we have this huge responsibility as leaders of our home to make sure that we're leading the way that God would have us to leave and do not be in a lead in the way that God would have us to lead and do not be in bittered. The amplified continues do not be in bittered or resentful toward them towards your wife. 3 (33m 34s): Because of the responsibility 4 (33m 35s): Marriage, we have a huge responsibility is as husband. 3 (33m 42s): How do we follow God's word? We have to understand what the word says. Number one, number two, we have to approach the word with humility and teachability. As we rely on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace to follow. This is part of the deal. We will never effectively follow God's word. If we don't approach the word of God with humility, with teachability, relying on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace 4 (34m 8s): To follow. So husbands, if you're having a hard time, loving your wife, pray, pray, and then obey. 3 (34m 19s): I'm going to give you a 14 different ways that you can love your wife. 14 tangible ways that you can love your wife. So get out your pen. 4 (34m 29s): So I write this down and I, 3 (34m 35s): We should've put your name in the, in the place of love. So I put love is love is love is 14 times. And so I'm going to say for me, I'm going to put the, my name in there. So where it says love is patient. 4 (34m 49s): I'm going to say Steve is patient. Alright. Mike is patient. Rod is patient. Larry is patient. Love is patient. Love is patient love is patience. It requires a great deal of patience to express the kind of love that God would have us love our wives with we, we have to be patient. Yeah. 3 (35m 17s): With our spouses. They're different people than we are. They think differently. Not worse, not better, just different 4 (35m 24s): Love is patient. So put your name in there. I will be patient love is kind. Steve is kind, that's my, that's my directive, the Lord that I will be patient. And I will be kind. When you figure out how to be kind to your wife, the sky's the limit, your, your marriage will be amazing. Some men are just jerks to their wives. We don't treat our wives the way that they deserve to be treated. We must be kind to them. 4 (36m 6s): We must absolutely be kind to our wives. So Steve is kind, love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud. Love is not rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable as guys, sometimes we give ourselves permission to do all of these things. We've had a rough day, so I'm irritable. 4 (36m 47s): You don't have permission to be irritable. So when you're irritable, acknowledge the fact that you're irritable and get over yourself because God is bigger than your irritability. I'm telling you from experience. I used to be more irritable than I am now. I'm not perfect, but I'm not quietly. Quite as irritable as I used to be right, is I recognize that I can't be irritable to my wife and expect her to lovingly submit to me. And I can't be irritable to my wife and expect to have a good marriage. She's not, it's just may have an okay marriage. We may get by and not go through a divorce. 4 (37m 29s): But as that though, the high water Mark that we want is that we, we just want to not divorce. Holy cow, their marriage is meant to be delightful and wonderful and life giving your spouse is actually meant to be your very best friend, the person that you want to be with more than any other person. 0 (37m 57s): Yeah. 4 (37m 57s): And yet we're irritable and rude and proud at times. If you catch yourself in that place, catch yourself and don't give yourself permission to be in that place any longer. Maybe you need to take a longer path home, but drive home so that you can kind of get all of the junk from the Workday out of your system. Pray through, say, Lord, I'm going to, I'm getting ready to go home. And I don't want to be irritable. When I get home, I've had a terrible day. I don't want to carry this into my, my home life. So you pray on your way home, turn off the radio. When you pray or turn on Christian worship music and you worship, but out of your system, but you can't go home irritable 0 (38m 39s): Or rude and expect your marriage to be good. You want your, 4 (38m 44s): We should be good. Do you want your sex life to be good? Fix 0 (38m 46s): All that stuff. I'm telling you, 4 (38m 49s): Everything gets fixed. When you go home with the right attitude, 0 (38m 56s): It's not irritable. 4 (38m 57s): It keeps no record of being wronged. Keeping a ledger, mentally, emotionally in your hearts, 0 (39m 7s): Keeping 4 (39m 7s): A ledger of all the time did you've been wrong? Burned that thing. It is. It is like a cancer in your relationship. Love keeps no record of being wrong. Love does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices when the truth wins out. So love does not say I told you 0 (39m 28s): So 4 (39m 31s): There's no room for that kind of garbage in our relationship. That kind of ah, love rejoices. When the truth wins out, we're not trying to catch each other misstepping or making a mistake. We're not trying to catch each other, doing the wrong thing. We're trying to catch each other, doing the right thing and celebrate that leverage choices when the truth wins out. So when you see your spouse doing something, that's great. Thank them. And praise them for that. 0 (39m 59s): Spouse makes you breakfast. Say thank you, 4 (40m 6s): Your spouse, presses your underwear. Say thank you. Say thank you. Just be grateful, 0 (40m 19s): Right? Have 4 (40m 19s): An attitude of gratitude with everything in your relationship. Just say, just say, thank you. Thank you. Goes a long way. Hey, thanks babe. For making me a lunch. 0 (40m 29s): Right? Thanks 4 (40m 31s): For irony. My shirt. Thanks for keeping the house clean. I noticed you. You cleaned the house today. Thank you. Hey, thanks for taking such good care of our kids by really appreciate how you love our grandkids, 0 (40m 47s): How you invest 4 (40m 48s): In them. That just means so much to me. 0 (40m 49s): Thank you for that. Acknowledge out loud, 4 (40m 54s): The wonderful parts of your partner acknowledge out loud to them and let them know how much you value them and care for them. Love never gives up. You say I've tried all of this stuff and it just keeps backfiring. Keep going, keep going. Pray for a tender heart for your spouse and women wives. When you, when you begin to see your husband change and begin to adopt some of this truth, this revelation from the, from God's word, man, run to it. The ways that I'm asking men to love their wives, wives, I'm asking you to love your husbands the same way. So while I'm putting them in on the hook here, I'm also putting you on the hook. 4 (41m 37s): Your marriage will be amazing. It will be better than it's ever been. 0 (41m 44s): 4 (41m 50s): 30 years of marriage. I tell you, our marriage is better than it's ever been. 30 years. Sometimes we think it just kind of winds down till we die. Just kind of like, Hey, it started out good. It's this kind of white, white wine itself down. No, man, it can be ramping up. Never gives up. Never loses. Faith is always hopeful. Love endures through every circumstance. I wish I could say I made all these up, but they're right in first Corinthians 13, first Corinthians 13 helps us to understand what it means to love one another. 4 (42m 31s): This is the way that God loves us. And he said, I love you this way. Go and love others this way. How do we follow God's word? We have to understand what the word says. It means we have to crack it open. We have to get that Bible opened up every day and understand what it says. And even if you're only reading a little bit, get it in your heart, get it in your mind. We have to approach it. We have to open up God's word. We have to get into it with humility and teachability, not checking a box saying, Hey, I read my proverb of the day or my Psalm of the day. I check the box. What did it say? And what did it speak to your soul? 4 (43m 12s): What does it speak to your spirit? Approach it with humility and teachability is we rely on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace to follow. I say this all the time. Everything that God asks us to do in his word requires the supernatural power of the Holy spirit at work in us to get it done. I can't love my wife this way, this way, unless God's loving through me. And last I'm also experiencing the love of God this way and acknowledging and recognizing it that his, he is so patient with me. God, God has never been rude or irritable with me. 4 (43m 53s): He just isn't. He's just not that way. He challenges me through the Word and through the spirit, he'll convict my, my, my life of sin of bad judgment. He'll he'll challenge me, but I never feel beat up by the process. I'm always like Lord. Yes. Thank you. Right? That's that's we don't have to roll over with our spouses, but man, when we, when there's time to bring correction or challenge or a hard conversation, but it needs to be done with love. Don't be irritable. Won't serve your purposes. It won't won't help your marriage. Next first we're done with husbands and wives. 4 (44m 37s): Can we all breathe? There's enough there to last us for the rest for the next 30 years. Amen. Children obey your parents for this pleases, the Lord children obey, always obey your parents for this pleases, the Lord. And then the kids are like, God got it. I thought I was going to get out of this and not have to be held, held accountable here. What does obedience look like? As far as it pleases the Lord children always obey your parents as far as long as it pleases the Lord. If a parent is asking a child to do something immoral, illegal, the child has absolutely has absolutely has the responsibility to disobey, to not do what their parents are asking him to do to do this is God's design. 4 (45m 26s): This is what I think God's design is. God's design is that godly parents would lead well. Their children with integrity, humility, kindness, and good boundaries. And by the way, those 14 things, you can love your kids the same way you love your kids the same way. Let me read that again. God's design is that godly parents would lead well, their children with integrity, humility, kindness, and good boundaries so that children will grow up understanding godliness and the biblical difference between right and wrong parents. You want to lead in such a way that you parents, you want to lead in such a way that you would want your kids to grow up and treat and raise your grandchildren the same way. 4 (46m 12s): I've got five grandkids. And I want my kids to raise my grandkids really well. And they're doing a great job by the way. 0 (46m 20s): 4 (46m 27s): Parents in such a way that your kids though, they may disagree or not understand. Now we'll be able to one day see that you were right. So right now they don't have the capacity to, to see the reasons for the decisions that are made. They just don't. They don't, they don't see any more than, than we understand all of God's ways for, for the way that he parents us. We just don't understand. We don't have the capacity. So don't parent haphazardly. Don't love conditionally don't have favorites or show favoritism, be consistent, be humble, be loving, be gracious. 4 (47m 9s): Verse 21 says, fathers do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. It's tough to parent. It's tough to figure out how to parent kids who are going through adolescents and going through hard stuff. It's tough to parent, little toddlers who were getting into everything. It's tough to parents, kids through all of their stages of life, but God's grace will give us the ability to do it in such a way that they won't be discouraged. They can get corrected, but not be discouraged. They can, they can have boundaries, but not be discouraged. They can understand, even as a, as a young child, they can understand. 4 (47m 53s): And through adolescents that they're being disciplined because they are loved. They're being raised in a, in a loving atmosphere, Ephesians six, four in the amplified, it says fathers do not provoke your children to anger. Do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive, nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them in difference, but bring them up tenderly with loving kindness in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 0 (48m 28s): Okay, 4 (48m 28s): This is heavy stuff. Isn't it? It's like really strong directives for us in our relationships. It's not easy stuff, but it's what the Bible says. And if we give it an opportunity, we'll have great families. And maybe you're here today. And you say, man, I've already blown it. It's too late. Start doing all of this stuff now with your adult kids, with your, with your grown kids. And if it's too late and they just don't want to have anything to do, we do with you just let the grace of God wash over you. Just repent of it. We've all sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard. So just say, Lord, I, man, I wish I would have, I I've. I limit some of the things that I did as a young parent Lord. I wish I would have raised my kids differently. 4 (49m 8s): In some areas I do God's grace was sufficient and they turned out really well, but I'm wishing, I wish I would've done some things differently, but God's grace is sufficient and I've had to go back and apologize to my kids. For some things. My daughter brought it up recently a few years ago, we, we all sat our kids, my wife and I, we sat our kids down. I forgot we had done this, but she brought it up to me and we sat and they were all adults at that point. And we just apologize for any pressure that we, we might've put them put on them as, as pastors, kids, kids have enough pressures without having pressure from because of what their parents do. Holy cow. 4 (49m 49s): And so we, we weren't sure if we had put any undue pressure on them, but we want to make sure that we apologize in case we had. So we said, well, we don't, we don't know if we did a great job with you guys. Well, I'm sure we made some mistakes. And so we just want, we just want to say, sorry, will you forgive us? And, and there was grace extended there and, and health restored, maybe in areas where health needed to be restored. So maybe you've made mistakes. You have, if you're human, you made mistakes. You do, you have a pulse. Yeah, you do. You've made a mistake. So, so just be humble and apologize for that and watch what the Lord will do to restore relationships. 4 (50m 32s): Maybe you've got a broken relationship with adult kids that have been going on for, for decades. I grew up with an absentee father, absentee father, and he was just, he was gone my whole life, some, a couple of times growing up and, and he's, he's kind of in his own way. Apologize. It has been helpful. It's kind of acknowledged, you know, and he made some knucklehead moves along the way and, and in his own way, he's kind of apologized and that has to be good enough. Right. And he's listening in dads. So that's, Hey dad, that's good enough. He always listens to my sermons, talk about him. 4 (51m 16s): And he's like, Hey, you probably didn't want me listening in today. Did you? I said, no, I want you to listening in dad. So in his own ways, he apologized for his own past mistakes. And that's good enough. We need to extend grace because even some of the policy, some even sometimes we don't even know how to apologize. Well, but if we can just get to the heart of what's being tried, we have, what is being said is just extended grace, your relationships with your parents and your grandparents and your kids and your grandkids will just be better. Children will have a much easier time obeying if they're obeying good and godly parents, not perfect parents, but good and godly parents. And they'll know the difference. They may not understand it now, but as they get older, they will understand the difference. 4 (52m 1s): Children. Even if your parents aren't good and godly, you still need to obey them. 0 (52m 7s): I do 4 (52m 10s): Obey them with humility, with humility and trust as you obey God's direction for your life. No perfect parents. So trust the Lord as you do his will. All right, let's get off the family a little bit and talk about slaves. 0 (52m 29s): How much time we have, we got time. 4 (52m 32s): 22 Colossians three says slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything that you do, try to please them all the time. Not just when they are watching you serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. So slavery in our culture is not really a thing. Although in the, in the world, it's a thing. It's a, it's a very real thing. One commentator wrote while slavery is certainly undesirable. And I would S I would add slavery is not just undesirable. Slavery is it's it's deplorable. No person should own another person. The commentator wrote while slavery is certainly undesirable undesirable. 4 (53m 14s): Paul goes, Paul's goals did not include restructuring social institutions. So we often wonder why didn't Paul directly attack the institution of slavery. Well, God had other goals for him. This is what I wrote. 3 (53m 30s): God's goal. Isn't always to restructure social institutions. His goal is to make disciples who will through their godliness point, people to a better way of living. And in that call some to the work of restructuring social institutions. 4 (53m 44s): Well, my thoughts go to William Wilberforce, 3 (53m 49s): William Wilberforce, as a British politician, philanthropists, and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade and native of York Shire. He began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent member of parliaments in 1785. He became an evangelical Christian, 4 (54m 9s): Which 3 (54m 9s): Resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern 4 (54m 13s): For reform. Yes, 3 (54m 17s): God is first and foremost concerned for the reform of individually 4 (54m 23s): God 3 (54m 24s): God is concerned for the reform of individuals. And he knows that the reform of culture can follow. As individuals are reformed. Paul's major concern was not restructuring social institutions. His major concern was the discipleship of 4 (54m 38s): Men and women. And 3 (54m 40s): Out of that, out of that, God would call people to reform social 4 (54m 45s): S social issues. And so 3 (54m 51s): Some of you are called to reform social injustices, and some are called to other things. And I would just ask you to figure out what you're called to Paul understood what he was called to. And he kept that in his sights, 4 (55m 6s): Listen to what he wrote 3 (55m 7s): In first Corinthians seven, seven through 24, 4 (55m 11s): He said, 3 (55m 12s): Verse 17, excuse me. He said, each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all of them 4 (55m 24s): Churches, for instance, a man who was circumcised 3 (55m 27s): Before he became a believer, should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised 4 (55m 35s): Now 3 (55m 37s): For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is that he keeps God's commandments. Yes. Each of you should remain as you were, when God called you, 4 (55m 47s): Are you a slave? Don't let that worry you. But if you get a chance to be free, take it. 3 (55m 55s): And remember, if you were a slave, when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you are free, when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. God paid a high price for, you said, don't be enslaved by the world. Each of you, dear brothers and sisters should remain. As you were when God has called, when God first called, 4 (56m 14s): How do we follow God's word? We have 3 (56m 16s): To understand what the word says. We have to invest our heart and mind in the word, and we have to do it. We have to approach that Word word of God with humility and teachability is we rely on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace to follow it. Number three, we have to believe the Word that we have a master in heaven. Often. We don't believe that this is true. We're going to see this in the text. We have a master in heaven, and we have a Lord in heaven. We come to faith in Jesus. If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart, that God has raised him from the dead. We shall be saved. If we confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that's the first step of being saved. Confessing the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We have a master in heaven. Who's, who's telling us how to live our lives, and it's not negotiable. 3 (57m 2s): It's not a pick and choose scenario. We read the Bible, we understand it. We do what it tells us to do. That's just the way God designed the scripture for us sees everything. And he knows everything. And he's just in fare. And he's given us things to do hard things to do. These are, these are not these. This has not been an easy text to preach through. These are hard things that God asks us to do, and they require real heart change, real transformational change so that we can align our lives with his word back to Colossians. Paul wrote work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord, rather than for people. 3 (57m 48s): And so we're not in a slavery economy of slavery situation in our culture, but we all have employers. Most of us are working and we have people that we work for. So we can overlay this verse in our risk, in our responsibility to our employers, work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord often, we're like, I'm not, I'm not doing a good job because I don't like my boss as a Christian. That's not, that's not even an option as a Christian. That is not even an option. You have to work as though you're working for the Lord. Christians should be the best possible employees in a, in a workplace often. 3 (58m 33s): It's not the case though. Christians aren't having good erect. We don't have a good reputation in the workplace because sometimes we can be lazy or we, we excuse our behavior because we don't like our boss or the circumstances. Listen, we need to work as though we're working for the Lord, rather than for people remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the master you are serving as Christ. So it's not just a Sunday morning. I submit to God scenario. It's a 24 seven. I submit to God scenario. It's 24 seven. Like I always submit to God, that's the goal like the Lord I'm going to submit to you no matter what. So whoever I'm working for, I'm going to submit to that person and work for them as though I'm working for you, Lord, because you're my, you're 0 (59m 22s): My master. First one, 4 (59m 25s): If I, but if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you've done for God has no favorites. And then our last verse, Colossians four, one masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a master in heaven. So there's two sides to every coin wives. You gotta submit to your husbands husbands. You have to love your wives. Following those 14 things that I talked about in first Corinthians from first Corinthians 13, 0 (1h 0m 3s): 4 (1h 0m 7s): We have this powerful responsibility and powerful opportunity to align our relationships in such a way that God has honored in such a way that divorce isn't an option divorce isn't even on the table because we're so in love with each other, that it's not even something that we would consider. It's not always easy to follow God's word, 0 (1h 0m 33s): But 4 (1h 0m 33s): If you will try to understand it and approach it with humility and teachability, while relying on the power of the Holy spirit, to give you the grace to follow, we can trust that our master in heaven will take care of all of our needs. So some of us are married to hard people. 0 (1h 0m 55s): So this stuff isn't easy. 4 (1h 0m 58s): I don't pretend that it's easy. Everything that God asks us to do requires the power of the Holy spirit at work in our lives. It's doable when we've got the power of God at work in us and with us and through us, it's doable. It's doable. All of the impossible things or the seemingly impossible things that we read in scripture are doable. When the power of the Holy Spirit's at work in our lives, all of these things are possible. All of the things that God leads us to do in his word from Genesis to revelation are doable and possible. When we rely on the power of the Holy spirit, when we're approaching the word of God with humility and teachability filled with the Holy spirit. 4 (1h 1m 40s): So maybe you're here today and you just need a fresh infilling of the Holy spirit. I'm just going to pray that over us, that we'll be freshly filled Ephesians five talks about our need to be constantly filled with the Holy spirit. Somehow we leak, I guess we leak and we need to be refilled. So I'm going to pray that the Holy spirit will fill us to overflowing so that we can have the capacity to believe God for the things that he's instructed us in his word. Does that sound good? Go ahead and stand up. And if you're here and you need a new filling of the Holy spirit, just raise your hand. I'm not gonna make you come forward, but if you're here and you just say, Lord, I pray for those whose hands are up. God my hands are up. 4 (1h 2m 23s): God I, I feel like I need it like multiple times throughout the day. I just need to be refilled. Somebody cuts me off on the freeway and I'm angry and I need to be refilled. Lord, forgive me for that. Lord does have a bad thought, Lord, forgive me for that Lord. I'm up against a hard situation. I need to be refilled with the Holy spirit. God, do you know the scenario of everybody's life here? The relationships that they're in, the problems that they're face, the difficulties that they, that they're up against Lord. I just pray that each, each person would just feel in a real, tangible it, if possible, just physically and spiritually, that we would feel your presence. 4 (1h 3m 8s): Just filling us with grace and power to do what you've asked us to do. Lord and, and belief and confidence and faith Lord in the things that you've asked us to do, believing God that ultimately it will, it will, it will be good for us Lord. So God, each of us, we, we have our hands up and we just ask God that as we stand here, prayerful Lord, that you would fill us and that's, you would continue to fill us daily as often as we need it. Lord God for the task, for the responsibilities in front of us, God help us to be great husbands and great wives and great employees. 4 (1h 3m 53s): Great employers, Lord, help us to be just incredible Lord. And as we trust you with our lives, Lord God, as we worship, help us to worship Lord in spirit and in truth. And I there's just something powerful that happens when we worship, when there's just, there's just an anointing, a filling that happens, Lord, I just pray God that you would fill us and anoint us for your good works. The good works that you've called us to today. Pray that none of us would be overwhelmed, but we just have the strength to do it. We'd have the faith to do it. So help us, Lord. We pray. Thank you for this time. Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's worship 1 (1h 4m 36s): was ballroom God has the with the melody, with deliverance from me. 1 (1h 11m 13s): I'm no, Lord. 1 (1h 15m 19s): It's only by some crazy miracle. It's hard for us. We receive Steve Bray. We asked for your power to walk in your ways to live. As you want us to live to love people. As you want us to look, we asked for your power this morning. We thank you. We praise you Jesus name. Amen. 1 (1h 16m 0s): Thank you guys for coming to church today for tuning in online, have a great week.