Sermon in Minneapolis 21.10.2012

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us begin this morning's service by joining in thanksgiving and prayer.

Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, you who are the giver of all good gifts, you know that which we need. We, as your children, lack understanding. We so often fall along this journey amidst the trials and temptation that we experience, amidst those things that are hard for us to understand of your goodwill. We ask of you, dear Father, that you would enlighten us this morning. Open unto us your word.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

And we hear and read these words in Jesus' name. I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and in his kingdom: Preach the word. Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

But watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions to do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry. Amen.

From the beginning pages of the Bible we can learn how God had created this earth. He created the earth, the sky, the sea, the plants, and the fish. And along with that he created mankind. And he loved his mankind that he created. And he put him into the garden of Eden, provided everything that he required for this life.

But as they were instructed, they could not eat from the tree which was in the middle of the garden. And we know from that creation story that they were tempted. They wanted to eat from that tree. They did eat, and in that way corrupted them and corrupted mankind.

We are all descendants of that first human pair and inherited that corruption. Because of it, we have this tendency towards evil or temptations, falling into temptations and so on. And so God had removed Adam and Eve from that garden, put them out into the world to work. And they were all tempted. By the sweat of the brow thou shalt eat bread, and so on.

But God had loved his creation so much that he offered a solution, I guess, if we could put it that way, to save mankind from their sin and their corruption. And he did it in this way by providing his own Son.

His own son was, as we read in the creed, we recite in the creed, for example at Sunday school, we recite how that son of his was part God and part human, conceived by the Holy Ghost—the godliness part. God we know as a triune God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And that son of his was conceived by the Holy Ghost but born of the Virgin Mary, or human. So both God and human, his son, whom we know as Jesus.

And Jesus lived in this world, and he was perfect, not like Adam and Eve. He didn't submit to temptation and fall into sin. In that way he perfected the living will of the heavenly Father and in that way also provided a way for us on our behalf.

Jesus lived in this world and he suffered, as the creed also says. He suffered and died, went down into the depths of hell for three days, and rose victorious over sin, death, and the devil on your behalf and on my behalf.

And so Jesus, when he lived in this world, he brought the good message of the saving gospel, the good tidings, the good tidings of life. Whosoever believes upon him shall have the hope of everlasting life.

There is a way for us to reach heaven, which he taught. And he also had gathered his disciples around him to follow him. And his disciples were able to learn from him of that way, that way that leads to heaven.

And so Jesus, before he left this earth to suffer and die, he reminded or encouraged his disciples: I will not leave you alone. I will not leave you by yourself. I will go away, as he says in the fourteenth chapter of John.

And he encourages them in this way: Let not your hearts be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may also be.

And so Jesus encouraged his disciples in this way that he will be going away but will not leave them alone.

He told them later in the same chapter how it is that they will not be left alone. Again in the fourteenth chapter of John, he says in this way: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you in all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have told unto you.

And so Jesus had taught his disciples while they followed him, but he knew that they were sinful people. They were forgetting people, and they were going to forget that which he had taught.

But as he describes here, he said the Holy Ghost, when the Holy Ghost comes, it will bring these things into remembrance of what I have taught you.

And so Jesus, after his resurrection, had appeared only unto his own, his own disciples and so on, those that followed him.

And they were with him when he left this earth and went up into heaven.

While they were there on the mountain, he had given this command to them, which we know is the mission command, and it's found in the end of the 28th chapter of Matthew.

And Jesus spoke unto them and said, saying: All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and 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.

And so after he had said these things, then he began to drift away into heaven, and the disciples were there watching that event take place.

Hard to say, I'm sure each individual one had maybe different thoughts and feelings about what was taking place. Some I'm sure were afraid, some were marveling, I suppose, and some were dumbfounded at what was going on.

And they were all there standing, looking up into heaven where they had last seen and seen Jesus disappear.

And these two angels came there and said, Ye men of Israel, why are you standing there gazing up into the sky? Don't you remember that you were supposed to go into Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Ghost?

And so they went into Jerusalem, and we know on the day of Pentecost, and from according to the scripture, that the Holy Ghost did come, came in a visible form, these cloven tongues of fire over their heads of the disciples.

And they began to speak in other tongues, that's pretty interesting, languages they had never been able to speak before. They began to speak in various languages so everybody could hear the word of God in their own language.

And those that didn't want to believe said these people are full of new wine.

I was wondering about that on the way here this morning. Why did they say that? And I was thinking perhaps it was because each of them had their own language, and those disciples started speaking in other languages that they were not familiar with before.

And so to the people who didn't believe, it probably sounded like make-believe maybe. You know how when we were kids we tried to talk in a language that we didn't know and we just make all kinds of funny sounds.

And maybe it was sounding to those unbelievers that this is what those disciples were doing.

But the disciples, with the power of the Holy Ghost, according to the Bible, were able to speak clearly in various languages so all of the people could understand.

And in this way, our theme for today, I don't remember if I said it before, but the theme for today is Jesus' messengers.

And so this, what marked, you could say, the beginning of Jesus' messengers after Jesus had left this earth.

And we can read then from the story of the early congregation in the beginning chapters of Acts how the march or the spread of the gospel began to take place in the early churches.

At that event, at Pentecost, I'm quite sure it was, it says how many, many people were pricked by the words that they heard through the apostle Peter's sermon.

Those disciples were students. Those disciples, after Jesus' resurrection or his ascending into heaven, now became the apostles or the workers.

And so this was the beginning work of the apostles, those former students or disciples, and they did that work with the power of the Holy Ghost, a new power.

Again, I was mentioning how we can read from the early chapters of Acts of the progress of the early church and how we can read the Bible.

For example, in the third chapter of Acts, it says how Peter and John had gone up into the temple at the hour of prayer.

And there was a layman there, standing, sitting at the gate of the temple.

This layman had been brought there every day, day after day, and he would ask for money, I guess. There's some kind of maybe food or money.

And people would, various people would hand him some kind of maybe a little change or maybe a little food or whatever it was.

But he would sit there and beg for food because he didn't have the ability to provide for his own living.

And so when Peter and John came up there at the hour of prayer, he was laying there at the gate of the temple.

And he looked at Peter and John and the temple and Peter and John in hope for some kind of a handout.

And Peter said to him, Look on us.

And so he looked at them expectantly, expecting something.

And he said, Peter said, Silver and gold I have none, but such as I have to give to thee I give.

Then Peter walked and he took him by the right hand and he lifted him up.

And immediately his ankle bones received strength and he, leaping up, stood and walked.

And he had gone to Solomon's porch, I guess it was a place where they congregated.

It probably was a fairly big porch and a lot of people were gathered there.

And now walking were looking at Peter and John with some, I can't think of the right word, but looking at them like they were some miraculous type people.

I think of Jesus. They were there on the throne and they were there in their place in their life and their life there.

They were other, that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering.

And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people and he said, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look on us? Or why look so earnestly on us, as though we, by our own power, our holiness, had made this man to walk?

And so they were spreading the word of God as Jesus had taught them.

It's not by the power of man that the gospel is spread, or man is released from their sin or made holy, but it is through the power of the Holy Spirit which is dwelling within God's people, God's creation, the kingdom here upon this earth.

And if we follow that story further, into the fourth chapter, it says how the number of God's children was increasing.

And it was increasing to a certain extent where they needed to request more help.

It was too much work for the apostles, the twelve apostles.

And those, though, they had submitted more help.

It says how the widows were being neglected.

And in those days, when the number of disciples was multiplied, or the children of God, there arose a murmur of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministrations.

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples, and the disciples answered them and said, Is it not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables?

And he said, Wherefore, brethren, look out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, who we may appoint over this business.

And so this way they began to request or find more help to spread God's word.

And one such person that they found was a man named Stephen.

Stephen was similar to, I suppose, Elijah, a man who was outspoken.

He didn't really worry so much about what other people thought of him, but he spoke very boldly.

And this, of course, didn't sit very well with some people, many people, in fact.

Because Stephen, because of his boldness in preaching God's word, we can find that he was eventually stoned to death.

And this work has then been continuing throughout time, passed on from generation to generation.

Sometimes in ways that we can't, we don't really expect, but we can expect.

One such example is the example of Apostle Paul.

If we recall from his story, he was on his way to, to, what would you say, destroy God's kingdom, throw the people in jail that were believers.

And he was approached by God on that way, and we know how he was then brought into the work of the kingdom of God.

So this former persecutor of God's kingdom now began to be an important messenger, one of Jesus' messengers in God's kingdom.

And he also found men to help him.

And one of those men was Timothy, which we read from one of his letters that he wrote to him.

And he was encouraging Timothy in the text that we read.

It was near the end of the life of Apostle Paul.

Apostle Paul didn't necessarily have an easy life while he was doing the work of God's kingdom.

But, for example, at one time he was beat up by people who didn't agree with him, thrown into a ditch, and left for dead.

Apostle Paul recovered his senses, he recovered from that event, got up the next day, and continued on his way, teaching and preaching God's kingdom.

And so Apostle Paul had experienced many afflictions, trials.

They weren't always trials.

For example, when he came into a certain place, which I forget where it was, but he came to the house of Lydia, the seller of purple, and she took care of him, invited him into her house, and ministered unto him in that way.

But, I think, from what we read from the life of Apostle Paul, he didn't have a very easy life doing the work of God's kingdom, serving as one of Jesus' messengers.

So, in this text that we read, Apostle Paul is encouraging Timothy about the work of God's kingdom.

I charge thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at the appearing in his kingdom.

We can read from other places in the scripture, for example, in the 25th chapter of Matthew, about when Jesus comes again.

It describes there the last judgment, the parable of the last judgment.

He will sit on the throne and all people will come before him, the quick and the dead, as it said here in the first verse.

All will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead, or in other words, those that are still living here upon this earth.

It says in the 24th chapter of Matthew what it will be like when Jesus comes again.

Again, in the 24th chapter of Matthew with regard to the second coming of Jesus: That day and hour no man, angels of heaven, father, and as the days of Noah were.

Before the flood, they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark.

And knew not until the flood came and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

And so then it says, Then shall two be in the field, one shall be taken, the other left.

Two women grinding at the mill, one shall be taken, and the other left.

And so on.

And so there will be, as it describes there in Matthew, believers and unbelievers still upon this earth when the second coming of Jesus takes place.

The believers will be taken, the other left.

And also in that parable of the last judgment, it tells us how all will stand before God on His throne.

Again, this is later in the 25th chapter of Matthew.

When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall sit upon the throne of His glory.

And before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.

And He shall set the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left.

And then He shall say, Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Those are those on the right.

And so on.

So then, Paul was writing again to Timothy, reminding him of the significance and the importance of the work that he is charged to do.

This work is before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing in the kingdom of heaven.

And then he says, Preach the word.

We heard already the mission command that Jesus gave when He was arising into heaven: Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and so on.

And so Paul says, Preach the word. Be instant in season and out of season.

As we mentioned already, the work that Paul did wasn't always easy.

In other words, it wasn't always in season, as he says, or opportune time to preach the word because there were those that didn't like to hear it.

Another place it says that God's word is quick and powerful, it's like a two-edged sword.

One side, it offends those that don't want to listen and the other side heals.

And so that kind of experience Paul had already had and he is encouraging Timothy, his young co-worker, who is going to continue to carry this candlestick of God's kingdom.

It's not going to always be easy, but he encourages him: Be instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.

So, in other words, again, reminding him of the nature of God's kingdom.

The work needs to be done with patience, as so many times depicted by the work of Apostle Paul.

He was beaten and left for dead, got up and began to continue the work the next day with his new wounds that he had experienced.

But Apostle Paul was showing in that way patience, the love of our Heavenly Father.

The writer to the Romans says that every one of us has gone astray and fallen short of the glory of God.

We are also reminded in other places in this way that we have been forgiven that debt of 10,000 talents in that certain parable.

In other words, a debt that we are no way capable of paying, that debt is impossible to pay.

But it has been forgiven each and every one of us.

We sin, as we've heard many times, every day, in thought, in word, in deed.

But these sins that we fall into are completely forgiven when we believe the saving gospel, the message of God's kingdom.

And so he encourages Timothy and us, when we do this work, we will not always be in season.

Those that hear it are not always going to be accepting of it.

And so we are reminded to do that work with long-suffering and doctrine and the truth, not made up with our own objectives, but with the words by and through the Holy Spirit, the words that God gives through the Holy Spirit.

For there will come a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust they shall heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears.

And so this has happened many times throughout the world.

And so the march of the gospel, the work of the gospel.

We have recently been studying in the Bible class lessons in Rockford.

Lately, it was about the judges and it talked about the cycle of sin in there.

And so we as people, as we've heard, we have this tendency to fall into sin.

And the longer we are away from significant events that remind us of the love of God, for example, the last heresy.

Many of you here were not even born at the time of the last heresy.

In fact, I was about eight years old when that took place.

And so since then, almost, well, I guess, close to 40 years have taken place.

And it's easy for us to forget about what had happened at the time of the last heresy.

And so now there is growing up a group of people that didn't experience what had taken place at the time of the last heresy.

And so it's easy for us to become a group of people that are more lenient, I suppose, more relaxed.

You know, after the heresy, after God has cleaned out, so to speak, God's kingdom, or the chaff from God's kingdom, then those that are left in God's kingdom are, what would you say, so relieved and happy about God's kingdom being cleansed that it is so important to them.

And so now we have a generation growing up that didn't go through that experience.

And it's easy for us, as I said, to become more relaxed about the importance of God's kingdom.

And so, as Apostle Paul said, and again, with the cycle of sin that I mentioned, so we go through this experience and then God's word becomes, or God's kingdom becomes important to us.

And then the time period goes on and we become relaxed.

That took place so many times during the period of the children of Israel when they were led into the promised land.

You know, so many times they fell into sin and then they were protected.

God helped them.

And then a time period went on and they fell into sin again and they were relieved from their sin once again.

So there's this kind of a cycle of sin.

We fall into sin and we make repentance from sin and so on.

That can happen to us individually.

It can happen to us daily and over generations.

A group of people can drift away from God's kingdom and so on.

And so there will be, as Apostle Paul said, those, there will come a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust they shall heap unto themselves teachers having itching ears.

Or in other words, those teachers which are ungrateful, who are teaching that which we want to hear, that accepts our own disobedience, our relaxation from the word of God, if we could put it that way.

But he says, they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

In other words, to meet their own agenda by these teachers which are teaching that which we want to hear, not necessarily what God's kingdom teaches by and through the Holy Spirit.

But watch thou in all things, endure affliction.

As we said, Paul had experienced many afflictions and he was writing this near the end of his life and encouraging Timothy as he continues the work.

Endure affliction. Do the work of the evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry.

And then I didn't read this for the text, but at the end here he says in this way, explaining why you should endure affliction: The afflictions.

For I am now ready to be offered. The time of my departure is at hand.

I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith.

And here then is kind of the key: Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me that day and not to me only, but unto all of them also that love his appearing.

And so as we mentioned earlier, Jesus has promised to be with us every day even unto the end of the world.

And he has promised us a crown of righteousness.

As he told his disciples, In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

And then when I go there, I will come again and allow you to come there and so on.

And so be encouraged this morning to hold fast to that word, that word which has been cheapened by the world.

Even those who have formerly been in faith now have begun to rise up against God's kingdom, to look for faults, and not only look for them, but document those faults and put them out onto the internet and so on.

And so we are reminded by God's word, hold fast to that.

Watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry.

So in this time that we live, be encouraged to hold on to that which has been provided for us, the hope of everlasting life by and through the work of the Holy Spirit and that which Jesus has done on our behalf.

Suffered and died, gone down into the depths of hell and rose victoriously over sin and death and the devil for your behalf and for my behalf.

So be encouraged this morning to lift up your hearts and believe all of your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And be of good cheer. Believe all sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Let us close with the benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.