Turning on the Lights! Friday, August 9, 2024. Matthew 25 and Final Judgement.
Good Morning my brothers and my sisters and welcome in to another gathering for Turning On the Lights here at the Churchtown church of God.
Today, we continue our in-depth look at Matthew 25 and exactly what Jesus is trying to teach us, tell us, and warn us about.
It is a powerful passage to which all Christians and all churches MUST adhere.
I pray that this both strengthens and encourages you in your faith. I pray that you are living a life worthy of your calling; and I pray that I will see you in church this sabbath.
Keep looking up. 🙂
This is a video recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Friday, August 9, 2024. Watch here via the YouTube link!
This is an audio recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Friday, August 9, 2024. Listen here or through your favorite podcast app!
This is a transcript from the audio of this episode of Turning on the Lights! – Friday, August 9, 2024
Good morning, good morning, my brothers and my sisters. Welcome to the Church Town Church of God. You are looking alive at the sanctuary with the lights on. Well, the front lights on anyway. It’s actually a very peaceful Friday morning with the rain outside and nice light pattering on the metal roofs. Very calming actually in here. The lights are low. The rain is pattering. Oh my. It’s amazing I’m awake. So let’s get the rain over with. It’s been a rainy few days here this week. A lot has been going on to be sure this week. I hope that you have had good weeks since we last spoke on Tuesday. I have overall. Busy busy busy busy busy. Busy with a lot of things. Here’s our little angel on the piano. Because we have an angel that plays the piano. Oh Brian. Father God, thank you so much for the time to be together today. We pray that your word will go out and will change hearts and minds in Jesus name. Amen. So there we are. We’re talking about all kinds of things. Here’s the altar of the church, the classic Jesus at Gethsemane glasswork right there. You see all the beautiful stained glass that we have here in the church. The beautiful sanctuary, safe and warm. The people have made it so. I love this place as much as you’re allowed to or can love an actual place. I love this place. I love being a part of this community. I love being a part of this church and church family. What we call a chamois. I wrote about the chamois again in the church town weekly. I’m just getting my Bible so we can get going here. But it is it is Friday morning. Now, not tomorrow. Strangely enough, we’re supposed to be a motorcycle ride and strangely enough tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day. So as long as the roads that we need to ride on aren’t flooded, which I can’t imagine they would be as I think over the roads that we’re supposed to ride on tomorrow. I don’t think they’re going to be flooded. It should be a beautiful day. I’ve got to leave relatively early in the morning and I’m helping to lead the ride. The Newville Church of God, their annual ride is tomorrow. You can show up at kickstands up at 10 a.m. So show up a little early and register and come ride with us. It should be fine. But I’m helping to lead that this year and we’ll see where that goes from this point on. And so that’s what I’m planning to do tomorrow. We shall see. Today I’m planning on finishing up everything for the weekend. I think all of the music is in order. I think the scriptures are in order. I think, you know, all of that, the bulletin and everything else, all the things that we’ve been working on all week long with the physical plant here at the church and the properties and all the insurances and all of the stuff I think is going to be taken care of in good fashion. So been very diligent this week. I’m sure you have as well at your job because it’s what we do. So good morning, everybody. Good morning, good morning, good morning. And I saw Barry and Kim and I saw Rick and probably others that are there as well. And I thank you very much for if you tune into a live stream, what do you do? I thank you very much for checking in here this morning. Very weird outside. These tropical systems are very weird when everything comes from the south and you feel the left over tropical climate. You know what I mean? You open your door and the pressure is really weird and the temperature is really weird and the rain even feels weirder. It’s sort of leftover. I can’t imagine what people in Florida and the Carolinas went through and God be with them. God bless them as they move through the…can you imagine like two feet of rain? You can’t even imagine that. God be with those individuals. God be with you and all your prayers that you have this morning. There’s a lot going on. There always is. We live in this in between time. We live in this messed up part where we are spiritual beings connected to our holy God through the life giving grace of Jesus Christ. Yet, here we are in the midst of this wicked world and not in our glorified bodies. Our bodies give out. These old fragile clay jars tend to give out sometimes later, sometimes earlier. You never know. Tragedy and grief and all of those things, but let’s not forget the triumph and the joy and the birth and the life and all of the good things that we experience along the way as well. Let us not, right? The enemy. It’s our natural, it’s our nature to want to dwell on the negativity, right? Even when we look at the Ecclesiastes, like that negativity, the grind of life, the treadmill of life, the repetitive nature of life, all of those things. You can look at that negatively or you can look at that as life and life abundant that you are given by the power of God through Jesus Christ. That is your life and those are your people and this is your family and that is your work. These are all of the things that you’ve been given. Even though sometimes you may say, “Oh my goodness, this is just a grind. What is the point?” Take a moment, take a breath and realize that it is the point. That’s what we’re going to talk about Sunday here at Church Town. So I hope that you can attend if you are a Churchtonian. If you’re not a Churchtonian, the live stream begins around 10 a.m. after the announcements or I don’t know if he does the announcements or not, but anyway, the live stream begins around 10 a.m. and we’ll see you in church. But we’ve been talking about Matthew 25. Good morning, good morning, good morning. I don’t know how you have fared, Barry. You and Mama D down there with Debbie. We are getting just the bare remnants of her up here. A nice little rain that’s very much needed. I don’t know if anybody ever needs two feet of rain at the same time, but that’s not what we’re getting. We’re just getting a nice rainstorm that is very much needed. We’re going to be able to mow grass next week, maybe even tomorrow afternoon, who knows? So it’s a blessing for us. It’s been a disaster for others. Our prayers are with everybody who has suffered from this natural catastrophe, this natural event. Not meant for evil. If God is so good, then why do hurricanes hit? Well, it’s not meant for evil. Hurricane is a hurricane, it is amoral. We don’t need to get into all of that theology today. We talked about the bridesmaids. We’ve already prayed over our scriptures today that the Lord would take the scriptures that we use and move them out to the world, and hearts and minds may be changed. What we’re talking about is really speaking into the church first, because we’re talking about being ready and staying ready. That assumes that we are, for lack of a better way of saying, on board. We’re there, we’re with Christ, and we need to persevere. We are choosing to persevere. That’s what we talked about on Tuesday. The very intentional life that we live in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Keeping the lamps full, and God’s Holy Spirit continues to provide all of the extra that we need, especially if you want to relate it to our talk, during those times when we feel as though it is meaningless. All of the extra oil that we need is provided by God’s Holy Spirit. We talked about that in preparation. Then at the end of the parable, remember, the door goes shut, and people pound on it. They say, “Yes, but I knew you.” He says, “No, you never knew me.” Or “I knew you, I knew you, but you didn’t stay.” “Good morning, Dee, but you didn’t stay prepared. You walked away. You walked away from our relationship, and now at the last minute you want back in. It doesn’t work that way.” A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the 11th hour, remember? The hired hand that is hired at the 11th hour that is saved, paid the same wages as the people who work the entire day. That isn’t, when we talked about an honest, authentic, genuine conversion at the last hour, well, you can’t do that or redo that. You come into relationship with Christ, and then you go and live an ungodly life paying zero attention to your relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And then at the last hour, you say, “Oh my goodness, I want back in.” And he says, “You’ve never known me. Never really known me. You knew me, and you were there, but you would not accept. You would not live. You would not dwell with me. You would not commune with me.” And that’s why the Easy Believism movement, especially of the ’80s and into the ’90s, and there’s still some of it that goes on, you know the deal. Any evangelist comes to town and preaches, and everybody gets all jacked up, and now they say, “Put your head down. Raise your hand if you want to be saved. Okay, pray this prayer. Goodbye.” Okay? That person knows Jesus now. They’ve been introduced. You knew me, but what’s next? And that’s, again, what we talked about on Tuesday. Now what? We live a life worthy of our calling. So all of that wrapped up in the parable of the banquet, the parable of the 10 bridesmaids waiting for the groom to return, and into the wedding feast they go. And now we have the three servants. So we’re keeping in mind how where this is leading to. Jesus is teaching about final judgment, and our first lesson is to stay prepared, keep our lamps full, live a life worthy of our calling, be dependent upon God through Jesus Christ by the power of his Holy Spirit. Regardless of your circumstances, you may be singing praises on the mountaintop, you may be curled up in the darkness of a valley, but you are indwelled by the very power that raised Christ from the dead, and living as such is what we’re talking about here. Now we’re going to the three servants, verse 14. Again, the kingdom of heaven, and he’s been teaching this. I will read it, I promise. But how many times in the parables have, again, the kingdom of heaven is like, the kingdom of heaven is, the kingdom of heaven is. He’s talking about what is now, the kingdom of heaven is like, not is going to be like. This is another very important lesson for the individual Christian and the church. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. You represent as the living temple of the living God, the kingdom of heaven on earth. A church that is devoted to the word of God, devoted by the power of God’s Holy Spirit to God’s will, good morning, is representative of the kingdom of God on earth. So when we read this, we’re not wrapped up and just existing now for an age to come. The kingdom of heaven is like, it is like, it is like it now. The moment of Jesus’s baptism as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, we are represented there at the moment of his baptism and the very first words out of his mouth are, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” It’s begun and it continues with you 2,000 years later. It continues with the submitted church 2,000 years later. The kingdom of God is like, are we persevering? Are we walking in God’s will? Are we obedient? So again, the kingdom of God can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last. Dividing it in proportion to their abilities, he then left on his trip. The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earn five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground, hid the master’s money. After a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, “Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest and I have earned five more.” The master was full of praise. “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount. So now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together.” The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, “Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest and I have earned two more.” The master said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling the small amount. Now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together.” Then the servant who had received the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.” But the master said, “You wicked and lazy servant. If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.” Then he ordered, “Take the money from this servant, give it to the one with 10 bags of silver to throw to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” A longer parable, we talked about this a few months ago here at church town. And we’re talking about again, the kingdom of God. Now you can look at this as talking about your physical resources. You can superficially look at this as dealing with your physical resources, but we’re not going to. We’re going to look at this in relative to our spiritual giftings and what God entrusts to us in relation to the kingdom of God. Because there’s a very important little statement up here, dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip. So we understand that this gift that they are given is salvation. This gift that they are given is given by the master. They didn’t earn it. They didn’t do anything for it. It was given to them and it was given in proportion to their abilities. So there are individuals who are capable of whatever you might want to say, public speaking, preaching, teaching, all of those giftings that get them out there and evangelize and do all of those things. And good morning, Dale and an individual who is gifted in that way, dwelling in their salvation, living by the power of God, goes out and does all of those things. And the kingdom of God is multiplied. The same holds true for the one of lesser abilities, which may be, dare I say, a congregational member who is, fill in the blank with the job, living a life worthy of their calling, submitted to God through Jesus Christ, wherever he plants you in whatever venue, whatever milieu, you may be a hairdresser, you may be a mechanic, you may be an attorney, whatever the case may be, but you’re living life abundantly by the power of God’s Holy Spirit and you are sharing that when you are called to share that you are a living example to that to whomever you meet and your two bags of silver is multiplied. And then we have the individual that we just spoke about, the bridesmaid whose oil runs out. The same holds true for this individual who has taken the one bag of silver and done nothing with it. They’re trying to hold onto that one bag of silver. They’re trying to hold on to salvation for their own sake, not for the sake of others. They’re not living life for the sake of others. They’re not living sacrificially for their family. They’re not living sacrificially for the kingdom. They’re not living sacrificially according to the giftings that God has given them. They have their salvation or they think they do and they’re going to hide it. What is all of this business? I knew you were a harsh man. You reap what you do not sow, etc. What do you think our job is as the church? Do you think that the very eminence, if you will, that Jesus Christ is going to be born every day of every week and go around doing the evangelizing himself and sharing the word? No. Hello? He dwells within us, but he is the judge of all and he is the judge of us beginning. Remember that judgment begins with God’s people. We cannot stress that enough and I do not believe that it is stressed enough. To whom much is given, much is expected. You have been given the gift of salvation. You have been given the gift of God’s Holy Spirit within you. You think nothing is expected of you then. You think that you as a living representative of God on earth with the very spirit that raised Christ from the dead living in you, there’s zero expectations on your behalf from you. But we know that that’s not true because it’s in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. And all we need to do is look at these two parables to know that it’s in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. Whether it’s talking about being prepared and not only having enough oil in your lamp, but by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, always having an abundance and always being ready regardless of your circumstances. We know that the gift that we have been given now, this salvation and the power of God within us, what do we do with it? We live a life worthy of recalling. How many times have I said that already today? We live a life according to God’s will in obedience and submission to our Lord and master because he is our savior. And so you may not be one who can multiply that 25 times, but you are called to live that life and multiply it exactly as many times as the Lord calls you to do. And that might be inviting somebody to church. It might be walking up onto a colleague at your job who just seems to be in distress and saying, then talking to them and saying, come hear the word or sharing something right there and then that maybe they don’t even know is from the Bible, but you know it is, you know it’s God’s word and you breathe and speak these words of comfort to them. That’s what you’re called to do according to their abilities. And each one of us, here’s the harsh lesson, each one of us has abilities that you can accept or deny. And some of those abilities and our envy can get the best of us. You know, you’re like, wow, that person, look at them go as a Christian. Oh my goodness. And it’s purely authentic and they had these amazing abilities and crowds gather and people truly are touched by the spirit of God. And you’re like, whoa, I’m not that. So what’s the point? The point is you’re not that, but you have been given special giftings for who you are and where you are and go out and live your life according to God’s will. You’ve been given five bags, you’ve been given two bags. And I would argue this, even if you’ve been given one bag, your job is not to bury it. You see what happens to the individual who is too afraid to live life with God. They walk away. They think terrible things about God. The fear is not a fear of awe and wonder. It is not a healthy fear of the Lord that drives us forward because we know he is the judge. It is an unhealthy fear that causes the individual to be afraid and walk away from their salvation, to walk away from the gift that they’ve been given. And we clearly see the Lord returns and says, you’ve done nothing. You were born in my image. You were created in my image. You were created just for the sake of that with special skills. You knew about me. Remember, you knew about me. You heard about me and you were given this gift and you did nothing. Nothing. We have no relationship. And that individual is cast out into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. What do you think that means? Do you think Jesus is all sunshine and roses? He’s talking about the choices that we have now. And the inclusion of the full gospel, people say, well, yeah, God just promises hell so Christians to follow him. But that’s not what God is doing. God is presenting us with the full picture, all of the information that we need to make our decision. How dishonest would he be to say, oh, there is only good wink, wink when he knows better. There’s only good, nothing to worry about here. No healthy fear of the Lord is needed. Everything’s cool. That’s what the progressive Christian, quote unquote, church would like you to believe. But every time Jesus Christ speaks, preaches, demonstrates examples of the good news of salvation, it is complete. It is a complete understanding for the gods who loved the world. Yes, he loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whomsoever shall believe in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not come to judge the world, full stop, but to save it. Stop, stop right there. No, don’t say anymore. But we have to. You see, because now that Jesus Christ, God has dwelt on the earth and given us his word, judgment has come. Those who will believe will receive and now that you know the truth and you reject the truth, there is only damnation in front of you. Judgment came in the form of Jesus and his word. It is the standard of judgment. So we’re talking about this here in Matthew 25, a very, very important passage of scripture for us to understand. It’s a very, very, very encouraging passage of scripture, knowing that we live by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, regardless of our capabilities, mental, physical, emotional, otherwise or regardless of our capabilities, we’ve been given this gift and be called to live it, to give it, to demonstrate it, to live in communion with the Lord. Doesn’t matter what your abilities may be. Live it. You say, “Well, I feel like I’ve only been given one bag.” Fine. Live with that one bag. Live it well. Do what you do. It will multiply. The point of the parable is not that he took that… The point of the parable is he took that one bag and did nothing with it. If you’re given one bag, you’re like, “My abilities are…” You’re given one, then go multiply it. By the power of God, go multiply it. The point of the parable is don’t bury it. Don’t ignore it. Don’t deny it. Don’t deny God. Yes, I’m Bible thumping right now. That’s the point of the parable. Not that if you’re like, “Well, I’m not super Christian. I think I’ve only been given one bag.” There are no super Christians. There are only Christians. You could have been given one bag. Go. Multiply it. The point of the parable is that this dude did not do that. He buried it. He denied the Lord. He denied the gift. Understand that that’s the point of the parable, not that, “Oh, if you feel like you’ve only been given one bag, you’re done for.” That’s not it. I’m speaking within the terms of the parable, using the metaphors and all of those different things. I think you get it. But the point is, again, you say, “Okay, I’m just a common average everyday person. I do this, that. I have a wife or husband and a family and I go to church. What can I do?” Do what the Lord is calling you to do. What are your giftings? Hospitality, service, administration. What are they? Kindness, living out 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, as I wrote about in the Church Town Weekly. We can all do that by the power of God. We can all do that. Take that one bag just where you are and multiply it. Don’t bury it. That’s the point of the parable. Don’t bury it. Don’t be cast out in the darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yeah, that should scare you, but it’s not. Just all hammer, it’s information. Like you said, what kind of God would it be? Would he be… Oh my gosh, forgive me. What kind of God would he be if he was like, “Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Just follow me. Don’t worry about anything else.” It’d be a lie. We are going to give an account for all that we did. Use what you have been given. Dale Stoops speaks the truth. I heard he just got married yesterday. Everybody say congratulations to Dale. He just got married yesterday. It’s kind of an inside joke, sort of. It’s not really inside because it was all over Facebook. I just asked him if his wife knew that he got married yesterday. So there we go, everybody. There’s the second parable. We’re going to finish up. We’re going to finish up chapter 25 next week. And this is, like I said, before the passion of the Christ, before the plot to kill Jesus, before all of that is set in motion, he in Matthew 25 teaches this… Lord, forgive me. Human words. Last ditch effort to show everybody, to teach everybody that there is hope, that there is power in the name of Jesus, that there is power in God’s Holy Spirit. Do not deny it. Do not be afraid. Do not be overcome by your circumstances. Stay ready all the time. As a matter of fact, don’t just keep oil in your lamp. Have it that abundant life being poured into you by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Don’t just be ready, but take this gift of salvation that you’ve been given and multiply it. Live a life worthy of your calling, regardless of your abilities or what your perceived abilities are. You’ve been given these gifts, the gift of salvation. Live it. Don’t deny it. So there’s two big lessons for us leading up to what he’s going to have to say about the final judgment. And we’ll get into that on Tuesday. So I hope that you are, I hope that you find that super encouraging. It’s really raining outside now, banging off that roof, man. I hope that you find that super… I mean, I’m jacked up. I’m excited about that because you get to do that every day, man. You get to do it every day. You wake up, you get to do it. I don’t care where you are, who you are, what you’re doing, what your capabilities or abilities are or what you think they are. You get to do it every day. You get to live with the joy and the peace and the power and the love of Christ within you every day. Be excited. Be excited. “But my circumstances, I understand your circumstances.” We’ve got a prayer journal there for the church that is full of prayer requests for intercession. I understand your circumstances. In this world, you will have those circumstances, but rejoice for Jesus Christ has overcome this world. By the power of God within you, you overcome. You are already above your circumstances. Walk with God. Father, we pray that your word empowers your people and your church. We pray that as we approach this Sabbath, that your church rises and shares your word purely, truthfully and that disciples are not only made, but are strengthened and are sent and the kingdom of God grows first within our hearts and then throughout the world in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen. So let’s get through this rain, everybody. I got a big umbrella. Try to get me back to the house. Exactly. And this is what we do. And this is a little sidebar, right? Some churches are not. And I always equate it to long distance shooting. Hear me out. The longer the distance, the less you need to be off when you first take that shot. Like your first step, right? That first angle is only slightly off, but by the time you get 300 yards out, you’ve missed the target because you just keep drifting and drifting and drifting and drifting. Church, church leaders and congregation. So why at church town, we had a person from the conference come in and they were just like a blown away. Like that was like you read entire chapters of the Bible. I’m like, yes, we have been pressing biblical understanding and biblical literacy for a couple of years here. I don’t want to take a verse and tell everybody what I think about it. That’s nonsense. Who cares what I think about it? You should care what God says about it. And so when we talk about when Rick says that we must stay dedicated eyes on the cross and congregation must be able to read feedback to leadership and say, Hey, your eyes are not on the cross. What was that nonsense all about? You would expect that from your congregation and every preacher should expect that from their congregation because they’re calling the, that preacher should be helping, helping to teach the congregation, the truth and the way. And that’s how it, that’s how it works. If you can’t submit your ego to do that, then you can’t submit your ego to Christ. So thanks for bringing that up. Rick. The journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step, right? But if that step is off and you get a thousand miles, you’ve walked off a cliff, brother. You got to stay focused on point in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He’ll show you the way he’ll teach you scripture. He will. So they’re fired up and ready to rock this weekend. I don’t know where you are. I don’t care where you are. I mean, you may be listening to this on a podcast anywhere in the world. I don’t go to church. It’s important. If you are a Christian and you are somebody is on your heart this weekend, say, invite them to church. You know that your church preaches the word. You know that they are going to hear the gospel that you know every Sunday they’re going to hear that Christ lived. Christ died. Christ rose again for you. Invite them. Let them hear that message. There you go. Talk about maybe only have to be in one or give them one or two bags. What can you do? What can you do with that one bag? Invite somebody to church. Not a bad start. God bless you guys. Good Lord willing and the Creek don’t rise there. Mama D because it’s rising. It’s rising right now. We’ll see you in church.
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