Presentation in Minneapolis 26.11.2016

Let's begin this evening by joining together in opening prayer and thanksgiving. Holy and righteous God, our beloved Heavenly Father, we pause this evening, dear Father, as we've been granted opportunity to gather around your holy and precious Word and to gather in discussion around the way and the journey to discuss that destination that waits before us there in the glory of Heaven.

And as we pause this evening, dear Father, we thank you for the blessings of this day. We awakened this morning with prayerful hearts that you would protect us and care for us on this day. And now as we are nearing the end of this day, when we again reflect, we marvel at your goodness, how perfectly you've cared for us, your children, and mostly this, dear Father, that even on this day, you've kept us as your own weak and faulty traveler, but nonetheless, your own traveling one day there to the glory of Heaven.

So, dear Father, this evening as we gather, we pray for your blessing, that you would lead us and guide us according to your holy and righteous will, that we would be given strength to take another step toward our destination. And we pray this evening, dear Father, for freedom, that we might be able to express our thoughts, our ideas, our hopes, and our dreams, that we might share of the blessings that you afforded unto us as your children.

So we simply ask for your blessing for this evening. And we yet say, Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Excuse me. So, this evening, we have this topic for our evening, In the World, but Not of the World. It's a topic, I'm sure, that's been discussed many times over the course of time, and over the course of years. And so I'm sure each of you will have plenty of thoughts to continue or add to the discussion.

As I present this, feel free to blurt out or raise your hand if you'd like to make some comment as we go through this. Otherwise, save your thoughts until later, would be just fine as well. So, whatever works best, we'll just hopefully have that kind of an evening where we can relax and enjoy each other's company around God's Word.

I thought of this being in the world and not of the world to the time when Jesus was saying farewell to His loved ones. Jesus only lived to be 33 years old or so. The last three years of His life, He was in the public ministry serving the believers and also preaching during those days. But during those three years, He became very, very close with His disciples. His disciples were also, I'm sure, fearful when Jesus was explaining to them that He needed to go away now to His Father.

And so, you can read from God's Word, beginning in the 14th chapter of John, of Jesus' farewell sermon. He begins that farewell speech, "In my Father's house are many mansions." And He goes on to explain to them that He needs to go away, so that when He goes away, He will be able to send the Comforter. If He doesn't go away, that Comforter won't come.

And so, in those chapters there, He has this farewell sermon, and then He also, in the 17th chapter, has a prayer. We refer to it as the High Priestly Prayer. And there in that prayer, He remembers many, many things. But part of that prayer, we have here on this slide, the 14th through the 16th verse, where Jesus prays on behalf of His own, and He says, "I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

There have been those times in my life where I thought it would probably be much easier if all of the believers were sequestered somewhere, living together as believers do in joy and peace and harmony. And wouldn't it be so that we could just live separate from all of the toil and the turmoil and the ridicule and the mockery that the world offers us.

Just think, you young people would only go to school with fellow believers. There wouldn't be those ones that are at school that would be tempting you to do those things that the world would tempt you with. It wasn't easy for me when I was a boy in school to be able to confess my faith and to be able to speak of how I believed. But I was so weak and faulty even in confessing my faith.

And so many times I thought, "Boy, would it be nice if I could have just lived forever and ever among believers." I pondered that. What would this kind of village or community or city be like? Well, we won't know here in this life, but we'll know in heaven.

So we are left here. We are in the world. We are part of this world, but we're not of this world. So we are here, but only partly. So we say that we're citizens of two worlds. A citizen is a member of a country with the rights of that country. So if we're U.S. citizens, we are given the rights of U.S. citizens. If we're a member or a citizen of a different country, well, then we live under the laws of that land. But we are a citizen of that country where we live.

And tonight we are living here, most of us in the U.S., and so we are a citizen of the U.S. world, or a second way. We are also a member of God's kingdom. And so we are a member of God's kingdom and also the country in which we live. But this kingdom of God is a special place. We read through scriptures much of what God's kingdom is. We won't spend a lot of time explaining God's kingdom tonight, but you know with me what God's kingdom has meant to you.

It's different being a citizen in God's kingdom, isn't it, than a citizen of whatever country we are living in. When we're a citizen of a country, a temporal country, it's temporal. It's only for the time that we live. But when we're a citizen of God's kingdom, this is not only for this life, but also for eternity.

So God's children are very fortunate in that, that we can have citizenship in the country in which we live, but even more than this, we're also given citizenship in God's kingdom. And so when we're citizens of God's kingdom, we also are given the same kinds of rights, if you will, as all other believers.

We say in God's kingdom, it is a level-headed flock. We all have been given, from the oldest to the youngest, from the richest to the poorest, the same reward at the end. So, God's kingdom is that kingdom that I found to be a kingdom of grace and forgiveness. Such a wonderful place in which we can live.

So, now we're members. We're members of God's kingdom, and we're also members of the community and the country in which we live. So, how are we seen? God's word says that a city that is set on a hill. Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, He tells His loved ones that "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." It's impossible.

You've seen this as you've traveled at night, especially in the mountains, going up mountains or down mountains. When you're high in the mountains and you're coming down into a city, or even like you're landing in a plane, you see the same thing, but you can see lights afar off.

If you were to go into Phoenix and go to the South Mountains and look to the north, the valley there is 30 miles by 80 miles, and it's just a sea of lights. But if you're down and you're looking upward, those lights that are on the mountain can also be seen.

And Jesus said, "Ye," or God's children, or God's kingdom, is like this, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. And then neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth light to all that are in the house.

And so then Jesus says, "So let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." This is the purpose that God has called us into this kingdom.

Have you young ones thought that there may be those people who may be seeking and searching for a gracious God? And you would have the answer for them when they come asking.

I've marveled over this over the years that, you know, most of us, well, maybe none of us will be the richest people in the world. Most of us live from month to month or even day to day, praying that God would bless us again for the day, for our daily needs.

But God has given you a blessing beyond all human understanding and also above every measure, and that's this gift of living faith. And it's that gift that you could share with those who are on the outside of God's kingdom.

So God has called us to be that kind of a light. And Jesus said, "So let your light so shine so that there are those who are on the outside might see it and glorify our Father which is in heaven." So this is the responsibility that God has given.

So I thought of a few portions or a few examples from scriptures. How did it happen for Joseph? How and was Joseph a light in his life? You remember the story of Joseph. He had those brothers that became jealous and envious of him. His father had loved Joseph. He gave his son that coat of many colors.

Joseph was a dreamer and he had those dreams and his brothers didn't like it. So much so that the boys, his older brothers, first, some of them were going to kill him. But then some intervened and said, "No, let's not do that. We'll just sell him." And so they sold him to those merchants traveling to Egypt.

And so when Joseph went there into Egypt, he ended up in the house of Potiphar and God blessed him there. And God blessed Joseph because he believed. And when he was there, he rose in rank to the second in command in Potiphar's house.

But you remember also how it was when Joseph was there and I thought of him many, many times over the course of life when I've been tempted. And how did Joseph, when he was tempted, he was tempted by Potiphar's wife. Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to sleep with her. But Joseph couldn't. He was a believing man.

He said he couldn't do that. He said, because in Potiphar's house he had been given everything. And the master of the house had taken such good care of him. How could he do that to the master? Plus, how could he do that to God?

And so through that, Joseph, on the other hand, when he rebuffed the temptation and Potiphar's wife, he was thrown in prison. He was falsely accused, and he was cast into prison.

But when he was in prison, he also spoke as a believer. He had dreams there, or he interpreted dreams there. There were those, the baker and the butler. Thanks. Thank you. And he interpreted dreams. And because of that, then, some years later, when the Pharaoh had dreams, he was called to answer those dreams.

But through that life, and its many chapters in the Bible, I marvel as to how perfectly God protected Joseph during those days, years. And as when Joseph was tempted, he told this, that "There is none greater in this house than I. Neither hath he, the master, kept anything back from me, but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

So he confessed his faith there and said, "I cannot do this sin that she wanted him to do."

So then, as life went, and you remember from Joseph's life, how many, many years later, there was the famine in the land of Israel and God sent Joseph's brothers down to Egypt to get food. And who did they meet there but their brother Joseph? Many, many years later.

And you can read from that experience of Joseph. But in the end, when all of this had transpired, Jacob had died, the brothers then came to Joseph and they were worried that Joseph was now going to hate them.

But Joseph told them in the end, he told his brothers, "Fear not, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive."

Joseph was ridiculed, he was hurt, he was all of those things, but in the end, God gave him also a heart of forgiveness. And he forgave his brothers. And he says, "Now therefore fear ye not to his brothers. I will nourish you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them.

God blessed Joseph because of his obedience. And as we read last night, even for our services from the first psalm, "How blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly."

When Joseph was there in his quietness, aloneness, how easy would it have been for him to fall away, to fall into sin, very grievous sin. But rather than this, God blessed him because he was obedient and he did not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of the sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

This is God's blessing for those who obey him. But what about Moses? I also thought about Moses. He was born during that time when the children of Israel were in Egypt. He was born there and he could have lived in that Pharaoh's house his whole life. He could have been a rich man. He could have been well renowned, all of that, famous.

But what does it say in God's word about Moses? It says, "By faith Moses, when he was born, he was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child. And they were not afraid of the king's commandments."

You remember the decree that had gone out because of the numbers of Israelites had grown and the Pharaoh was worried that these Israelites were going to take over. He made this decree that all of the male boys would be killed.

But Moses' parents didn't obey the decree of the king. This is the only time that we wouldn't obey the decree of a king is if it is against God's word. And so those parents didn't. But rather they took Moses and you know they hid him in a basket in the rushes and there the Pharaoh's daughters found him.

And he was there raised in the Pharaoh's house. But when Moses then came to years, he could have stayed there. But now he refused to be called the son of the Pharaoh's daughters. He would rather suffer the affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

It says a lot about Moses that he would rather suffer the affliction of the people of God. Have you brothers and sisters like I lamented the suffering? Perhaps too often I have. But rather Moses, he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

His reward was not there in the Pharaoh's house. His reward was not there on the wilderness journey that he toiled for forty years leading the children of Israel, but his reward was in heaven.

It says, "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible."

Evil. So Moses was able to see through the eyes of faith a reward that was much better than he would have received in the house of the Pharaoh.

And what did Jesus say? Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount said that no man can serve two masters. Moses couldn't serve both God and also mammon. He couldn't serve Pharaoh. Joseph didn't want to live in unbelief or ungodliness, but rather he wanted to serve God.

No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon.

It's impossible to believe with a divided heart. We can't love the world and also love God. We will love one and hate the other, or vice versa.

So, as in scriptures, there have been those who have been asked to choose. What will you choose? Will you choose to be a child of God and to suffer that which God has given, or do we leave God's kingdom? Do we tire on the endeavor and the journey?

But what about Daniel? The story of Daniel and his friends, you can read from the book of Daniel. You know, there was a time when they were in captivity in Babylon. Daniel and his friends were there. They were hand-picked to go and serve in the king's court.

They were smart boys because God had blessed them. And when they went to the king's house, the king wanted to feed them his food and his wine. But those boys said we cannot eat or drink of that which you've given. But we'll eat and drink that which God gives.

There's so many spiritual pictures in this. But in essence, it's simply this, that they wanted to walk as God's children. They wanted to believe and eat that simple food and manna that comes from the gospel.

But then you remember as not only was there that time when those boys were thrown into the fiery furnace but then later on when Daniel had risen again in a high level of authority in the kingdom, there was a decree made that if anybody would bow down and worship any other but the king, they would be thrown into the lion's den.

And Daniel when he heard that, I'm sure, but it doesn't say whether Daniel doubted. But I would guess, well if it was me, there would have been this battle and this tug of war between do I or don't I? Can I trust God that I can be thrown into the lion's den and I guess even if my life ended, it would be okay because I would die as a believer.

But were there those kind of doubts that Daniel might have had? But when this king had written this kind of a decree, it says, "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house and his windows being opened in his chamber toward Jerusalem. Now he kneeled upon his knees three times a day. He opened the windows up. All could see him. And he prayed and he gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime. Nothing changed in Daniel's life."

Although the decree had come that he wouldn't, he continued as he always said as a child of God. And when it happened then that Daniel was caught in this, the king then commanded that they bring Daniel and cast him into the den of lions.

And now the king spake and said unto Daniel, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee."

So this was the testimony from the king. The king actually liked Daniel. And in some ways I think he felt like he had been tricked into signing this decree. But he was able to see from afar God, the right God, and he says, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee."

And as it was, when Daniel was thrown into the pit of lions, it says, "When they came looking, the king came looking, at what happened, Daniel said, 'My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me. For as much as before him innocency was found in me, and also before thee, the king, have I done no hurt.'"

So then the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because, why? Because he believed in his God.

Brothers and sisters, we have that kind of a God. He's a gracious, loving God. He loves you so much, he's given you life. He's blessed you with all this, and not only all of this, but he's also promised you eternal life.

What more do we need? What more could we need? When this life ends, we will be taken to the glory of heaven. But we are still, brothers and sisters, we are still living. We haven't gone to our place of rest yet.

So, when we face trials like Daniel, or like Moses, or like Joseph, and as Jesus says, will happen for his own, and he shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake. Because you're a believer, you will be brought before governors and kings for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

But, what does Jesus say? But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour that you shall speak. God has promised to take care of us.

And he says, for it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your Father which is, which speaketh in you. And so, we have that kind of confidence, even this evening, that God has promised to be with his own, with you and with me, especially in those times of need. He won't leave us.

But Peter, he also admonishes through his word, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man."

So, when those people come asking, or your friends at school come asking, or your workmates come asking, "What is the reason of the hope that is in you?" They've seen something in you. They've seen that there's a special person there. They don't understand what it is. They can't see it, but from afar.

But they recognize the child of God. And they come asking that, "What is that hope that you have? Why are you different? Why don't you go, as you young people, why don't you go to those world events? Why don't you go to those dances and those things at school that everyone else goes to? Why don't you young girls wear makeup? Everyone else does."

And so they see something, but they're not sure what it is. And so Peter says, be ready to always give an answer to every man that asks of you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

It's okay that you don't have to be some boastful or proud or gloating thing, but with meekness and with fear, you can share of that hope that you own through believing. It's a treasure, brothers and sisters.

But when we are given this treasure, we also have to hang on to it. It's not something we can just, you know, one brother once said that if you were given the most wonderful gift, and I don't know what we would say that is today, but I think we can all kind of relate to jewelry or diamonds or gold or stuff.

And I know sometimes like when I've been on these foreign trips and you get into some places where you're just wondering how safe is it. You take your treasures and you hide them as close to your body as you can or in places that you wouldn't think a thief would look for.

Of course, the thieves are pretty savvy. They know where even the smartest ones will hide things to steal it from you. But this brother said that when you walk down the street with a treasure through a dangerous part of town, you don't hold that treasure out here for everyone to see, but rather you hold it close to your heart.

And it's the same for our walk of faith. We want to hold that faith close to the bosom of our heart. That's where it's safest.

We heard last night through our brother Randy when he spoke of that shield of faith and all of those armaments that were given. We hold it close and it's important that we don't just have it out there for the enemy of souls to take from us but guard it jealously as the greatest gift that you've ever received.

And be ready to share that joy and to endeavor because when Peter, Paul writes to Timothy, he wrote to Timothy that, "Know this also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."

And in his epistle there he writes of all of those things that are going to take place. And when we read from that part from the scriptures, it's almost like all of that already happened. That how much more and how much more evil can this world become?

But Paul writes to Timothy, "But continue when you see the end coming, when these perilous times come, continue in the things which thou hast learned and thou hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus."

So it is that we journey by faith. It is our protection. God has promised to care for us.

But there's also this admonishment from Paul's epistle to the Corinthians that we are believers, God's kingdom. And of course we want to let our light shine. We want to make God's kingdom and that joy and that hope that we have in us known to those around us.

But then he says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Of course, this would speak to marriage. We wouldn't marry an unbeliever. What relationship does Christ have with light with darkness as Paul writes here.

But neither would we go to those places that would be dangerous for our life of faith. Why would we go to those places where we would become sorely tempted?

So, Paul writes, "Be not unequally yoked together with them, with the unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"

So, there is this separation between God's children and children of this world. That separation needs to be there because there is a border to God's kingdom. And if the border of God's kingdom starts to become blurred, it's a dangerous spot to be.

The safest spot is in the center of God's kingdom. I had a beautiful picture for me to visualize. I'm a visual guy. I was in Colorado shortly before we moved to Phoenix and we were waiting for the storm to pass. We had a moving truck and it was full of our furniture.

So, we had a day there when the storm was raging that we didn't want to travel. So, I stayed there. We were at my son's place. And looking out to the east from his house, there was a field. It was a cold, cold wind. And the snow was driving sideways. Snow was drifting.

And I looked out and there was a flock of sheep in that field. And it was a cold day. And those sheep in this herd or flock, the outer ones on the outside which were feeling the effects of the wind and the snow, they started to climb over the other sheep to get to the middle.

And it was like constant, like senior grandkids, you know, pile on in the middle of the living floor to get to the middle. And these sheep were doing exactly that.

And I thought, if that isn't a picture of the child of God wanting to get to the center of the flock where there's warmth and there's protection. I don't want to be there on that outskirts where the driving forces of nature or of evil can steal me away. But I want to be in the center of God's kingdom.

So, the writer to the book of Hebrews says, "So let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. For he is faithful that promised. And let us then consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching."

As the end nears, gather more together. It's just a care place to be in the hearing of God's word, in the fellowship of God's children.

And then lastly, what did Jesus say? The last verses of Matthew's gospel, Jesus said, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

That's the promise that Jesus has had for us. And then we go back to the very first slide, what was Jesus' prayer for his own? "I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world, I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."