WORSHIP SCHEDULE

                                              Outline of Sermons 

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​         ​         Sunday Morning Lesson: 8/2/26, I Pet 2:18-20

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               What it Means to be an Honorable Servant                                                -- (talking to the slaves in the house)

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The Roman government discouraged slavery. Peter is encouraging those who were laboring in a house that their masters needed to be saved too. We have a message and a mission.

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*1 Honor the service – to submit to authority

When people are messed up or hostile, God wants to save those too. Submission is a constant requirement for the household servant. They communicated a message of the gospel by their conduct. Your conduct shows or tells your character. Some workers have a hostile boss but continue to commit to the master to show their humbleness / Christianity. Conduct yourselves in the wisdom of God from above because you have a master in heaven.

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In Col 3:22, Paul said for slaves to obey your masters with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. The labor that you carry out is from your soul. You work for a master because you have respect for the master. Work because the Lord sees you. Our soul already has a master who is Jesus. Crooked masters were unreasonable and did things to test their slaves’ loyalty to see how they would react. They want to test you, but don’t retaliate. Stay cross-focused and don’t retaliate toward evil because God has delivered us from evil. The cross delivered us from crookedness, giving us a set-apart conduct. Don’t let this crooked world corrupt your conduct.

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*2 Servants are the best example of suffering

Slaves are to endure due to their commitment to the Lord. Conduct comes out of our conscience – shows what we are committed to. Commitment starts in your mind. Don’t let your circumstances kill your conscience. God is pleased when our circumstances bring us closer to Him. Christian people belong to the cross. We are God-committed people. Patiently endure unjust treatment. God’s grace is at work in his children. When a master mistreats you, give him grace. People with grace know how to live / give grace. God allows the slave to carry out the suffering -- being able to suffer with Christ. It’s time to fellowship with the Lord in the time of grief, not just in the time of glory, but in the time of pain and suffering.

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In Colossians, Christ had some leftover suffering for his church. We don’t try to escape suffering. Don’t run from the suffering -- our being birthed in the suffering of the cross. Suffering is our natural habitat. We are not immune from suffering; it’s our deliverance. Our deliverance is the world’s destruction because they don’t want the Lord. God’s grace is for us in suffering. He grows us through suffering – as the church in Acts, its numbers got bigger.

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God’s people have always grown through suffering. God uses persecution to grow his people. Church, hold on to your suffering because it’s saving you. God has always used suffering to save his people. Our savior suffered, saying “Father send me”. In I John 1, his own rejected him (Christ).

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*3 We must choose suffering over sin

 Don’t repay evil with evil but evil with righteousness. Don’t be ego-driven but evangelism-driven, showing the master that we’re trying to save others. Getting even doesn’t please God. We communicate the message of grace through suffering. We have a savior who paid our sin debt. He paid a debt that he didn’t owe.

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Whatever circumstances we’re in, remember whose house we’re in. Let mistreatment let you see that that person needs to be saved (needs the gospel). We are house servants within the Church of Christ. We are added to “the house”.

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In Philippians, Jesus was obedient to the death of the cross. Use your covenant membership to save your master because your Master saved you.

We are the community of Christ -- not ashamed to be with our suffering brothers and sisters. Salvation is eternal; the season ends when we leave this place. Suffer with your people to be caught up in the cloud together with your brothers / sisters so you can be saved with them.

I can suffer mistreatment because my savior suffered mistreatment.

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                 Sunday Morning Lesson: 8/9/26, Eph 2:1-5

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    The Echo in the Tomb (the Death and Resurrection of Lazarus)

 

Lazarus (Eleazar) made an unexpected come back from the brink of death. Lazarus of Bethany, the one that Jesus loved, was a friend of his who lived in Bethany with his two sisters, Mary and Martha (John 11:5).

Mary and Martha felt the weight of their brother’s death, but Jesus wasn’t there. Three months before Jesus was crucified, he rested at Mary / Martha’s house. Messengers sent out a message to Jesus that Lazarus, whom he loved, was sick. Jesus wasn’t there in Bethany, but they expected him to come. Jesus doesn’t reply but delays two days where he is. Then, he says to the disciples that they are to go to Judea again to awaken Lazarus who was dead. His sickness was not unto death but to glorify God and the Son of God. Four days pass when Jesus gets to Bethany and, Lazarus is already dead.

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Jesus shows up to let you know that there’s nothing else you can do. We must realize that all our hope is in God / Jesus. God is sovereign and shows up when He wants to. He doesn’t owe us any answers. We don’t understand God’s plan or his purpose – a lesson God wants us to learn -- (in misery and pain, we are taught a lesson).

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In our season of pain, sometimes we haven’t yet learned our lesson. God’s grace is sufficient for us. We must wait on Him. We must experience how great God is after hitting rock bottom. Christ is the rock at the bottom.  Four days had passed before Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was already in the grave.

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Anyone without Christ is dead. How decomposed (rotten) are you? Don’t judge other folks. We were all dead in our trespasses and sins. God made us alive in Christ. We’ve all been dead, but what degree were we dead?

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When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she ran out to meet him. Christ told her that her brother would rise again. She considers that means at the day of resurrection. Jesus said that he was the resurrection and the life. The resurrection starts when Jesus shows up. He is the resurrection power.

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Mary is the emotional one who Martha goes to get. She falls at Jesus’ feet, knowing that if Jesus was there, her brother would not have died. Then Jesus asks, “Where have you laid him?” They say, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. He asks them to roll the stone away. He wants others to witness / participate in this miracle. When the stone is rolled away, Jesus prays and then he says, “Lazarus, come forth.” Lazarus came forth fully wrapped and bound.  

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This occurrence is of theological significance – a turning point in the gospel – the ability of Jesus to have power over life and death. Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

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What is the 4-day problem in your life – a bad habit, financial hole, a bitter heart, etc? We roll a stone in front of our mess / our problems. But Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Thus, commanding the community to help dispose of the mess. Be honest about our graveyard. Expose the mess, the grief, your fear, your shame, etc. It takes courage to roll away the stone, revealing our mess. God is not afraid of our mess.

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Once the stone is removed, Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come forth.” He calls us by name, showing the power of the grace of God. He knows us by name, calling us out. In heaven, we will be known as we are known. 

Then, Lazarus arose. Jesus told them to take off the grave clothes and set him free. Sometimes, we still carry old habits, filth, etc, when we arise from our sins. Sometimes, we need the help of others to take off our old sin / death clothes. As with Lazarus in the grave clothes, we think it’s too late. The tomb is not our final resting place; the tomb is not our final home. Listen to the message of Jesus, saying “Come forth out of your pain and suffering and be loose.

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Jesus is the Lord of the 4th day. Give us the courage to roll away the stone holding us back.

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​               Psalm/Hymn/Edification of the week:

 

 

 

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. (Eph 5:19)

 

Rom 14:7-8:  For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. ​​​​​​​

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                                        Two Wings

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                            Two wings to veil my face.

                            Two wings to veil my feet.

                            Two wings to fly away.

                            And the world can’t do me no harm.

 

                           One of these old mornings

                           And it won’t be long.

                           No, you’ll look around here for me;

                           But I’ll be gone on home.

 

                           (Repeat the chorus)

 

                          Meet me Jesus, meet me Lord.

                          Somewhere up in the middle of the air.

                          If these wings should fail me,

                          I want you to meet me with another pair.

 

                          (Repeat the chorus)

 

                         Up in Glory, I got a long white robe.

                         Up in Glory, I got a new pair of shoes.

                         Up in Glory, I got a long pair of wings.

                         I’m going to fly away and spread the news.

 

         Chorus:  Two wings to veil my face.

                        Two wings to veil my feet.

                        Two wings to fly away.

                        And the world can’t do me no harm.

                       

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