Turning On the Lights! Tuesday July 2, 2024 Church, Salvation, and the teachings of Our Lord!
Good Morning – Good Morning!
It is Tuesday July 2, 2024 and today we enjoy a fast-paced discussion of church, Churchtown, preaching, and then into the parables of Jesus regarding, of all things, YEAST!
I pray that you enjoy this conversation and this teaching. I pray that it both challenges and encourages you. I pray that you know Jesus Christ as you Lord and Savior!
Enjoy today! We will talk again Friday!
This is a video recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Watch here via the YouTube link!
This is an audio recorded copy of the FaceBook Live event of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Listen here or through your favorite podcast app!
This is a transcript from the audio of this episode of Turning on the Lights! – Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Good morning. Good morning. My brothers and my sisters. We are turning on the lights at the church town church of God. There’s just the outline of the month of July. Let’s take a look at this Friday. First Friday movie night. I’ll show you the movie here in a minute walking down the hallway. All of the different things. Well, this is happening in July. That’s July 7th chapter 7 Randy Simpson here at the church 5 PM Mark your calendar. Oh yeah. Here we go. Well, this is happening July 14. Children calling all children. July 14. We have the brass ensemble leading music. We have. Barb Marais in the pulpit and we have kids for our king meeting formally meeting now. Here’s the movie. I showed you the movie earlier. There it is. It’s the animated feature Joseph King of Dreams. They say it’s recommended for ages eight and up cuz some of the themes. Oh my goodness gracious so much going on. Let me show you some other things going on. Hey, are you a man? Are you a man? Are you a man? I can’t show you all the names I guess but here look let’s get together on Thursday July 11th for some food and some fellowship. I’m gonna cook our smoke a brisket and some mac and cheese. There’s some names. I can’t show them all that I don’t think that’s appropriate right and we’re going to York Revolution on August 1. Good morning. Good morning everybody. So yeah, man next Thursday. If you’re a man, I’ve already got a bunch of guys coming making a bunch of really good food. I’m smoking a brisket and some mac and cheese just because I don’t need an excuse. This is a great excuse. There’s where I sit as if you care. There’s Jesus. Well, not Jesus. It’s a stained glass a classic picture of Jesus at Gethsemane stained glass the morning sun coming up in the East. Oh my goodness. So beautiful. Good morning mama Dee and there is our beautiful sanctuary right there. We had a grand time on Sunday. I don’t know the internet seemed to be non-functional which is okay. I mean it’s it happens around here actually quite a bit you we’ve had difficulty on turning on the lights Etc that sort of thing and every once in a while, so I don’t know if you got to see it or not or got to be a part of it or not experience the music or the teaching or the preaching or the prayer or the anything but man, I was just full of energy and we were talking about parables. And I did parables of the kingdom of God and then you know the last parable about the rich man and Lazarus and okay. Your choice is now it’s very clear in scripture that your choice is now it’s very clear in the parables that Jesus is talking about his ministry and his life and the end result of his sacrifice that he will make all of those things are being taught which when you’re reading it if you were reading it as Jesus was teaching it you wrote probably like okay and then after he rose from the dead you’re like, okay, but the rich man who is in the place of the dead torture torment all of those different things. It’s very clear in the parable that he doesn’t get another chance. He’s like just send Lazarus down here like to dip his finger in water and touch my tongue just a tiny bit of relief. Nope. Well then go and warn my brothers. They have been warned like they have all of the information they need to know and then as we go beyond the cross in our Canon in our scriptures, we have all the information that we need. And the parables clearly telling us that we have all the information that we need. Excuse me first thing on a Tuesday. Just getting over my preaching voice and singing voice. I was my voice was a little wiped out yesterday, which is normal, especially when we sing a lot and I preach a lot. But we didn’t get into any one parable like dig in we I wanted to demonstrate sort of how they work together. And sort of how they continue to build and I wanted to find some of those nuggets inside the parables like we did last week on turning on the lights. You know, when we talked about the nesting the nesting in the mustard seed and the mustard bush, that sort of thing little nuggets that you don’t say, okay, it’s big enough for a nest. Okay, why is that in scripture? Just to be descriptive partially. But also it is a home. The kingdom of God is a home. It is a safe haven. It is a spiritually safe Haven and should be a physically safe Haven as the enemy tries to destroy us spiritually. Becomes a spiritual safe Haven as the enemy sometimes around the world and you can go up to even Canada during the lockdowns and things of that nature. The enemy tries to destroy you physically. We need to be prepared for that as well understand that that is part of sanctuary. So Father, we pray that your word will go out this day. And that somewhere somehow somebody will hear for the first time hearts and minds will be changed. Become curious, perhaps even repent and give their life to you as a living sacrifice in Jesus name. Amen. Good morning. So I wanted to just talk a little bit about one of the little nuggets that I talked about and to prove to you that I didn’t make it up. So let’s dig a little deeper into one of the parables. If you’re just joining us go back to the beginning of the video. We’ve got a we’ve got what do we got going on? Oh my goodness. First Friday movie Joseph King of Dreams this Friday next Thursday, the men are meeting gathering outside with a fire and some brisket and some food and so we got slaw. We got beet salad. We got all kinds of guys are like, yeah, let’s do this. If you want to be a part of that if you can come just let me know. I’ll put your name on the list. I don’t know. I don’t go to church town. Okay, come come and join us and sit around the fire and eat them 14th. We’ve got Barb preaching. We’ve got the brass playing. We’ve got kids for our King. We never used to be like this busy in the summertime summertime. We would be like, okay, it’s summertime. But we’re full and we’re busy and it’s awesome. I love it. I love it. I love it when I look at them like, okay, they’re vacationing. They’re traveling all they called and they said they were sick and the sanctuary is still full. And that’s the nothing to do with ego. That’s just like yes, let’s and we have so much fun and we talk and we share and we pray and we preach and we sing. It is just it is glorious. And the prayer and the prayerful Foundation has changed my life when we moved into these prayer initiatives to make this place a spiritual safe Haven. I feel it. My mental health is better. My physical health is better and that on Sunday morning. I feel surrounded and I feel in a good way and I just feel open to the power of God. Nothing impeding it. No intrusive thoughts. That’s the power of prayer because as we are doing this people are praying into this congregation. Powerful stuff. We underestimate that spiritual the spiritual realm. Right the and the enemy would love to for you to believe that you are anything but a special creation anything but an image bearer of the Most High anything but a spiritual being. That is in this physical body. There’s the essence of human life. The spiritual being in this physical body the image bearer of the Most High. There’s the essence of it. Our enemy would love us to believe anything including what we randomly created from stardust or we evolved from monkeys both of which there is zero proof and logically logically speaking no chance of happening. But there can’t be a God. We can’t see him. Okay. I’m not going to digress there but we should do that again to there’s another great topic. But just know that the your spiritual life is your foundation. And upon your spiritual life your physical life exists and your physical interactions happen yours the circumstances of your life. Good morning Mary the circumstances of your life sit upon the foundation of your spiritual life the circumstances that you are experiencing sit on the foundation of your spiritual life. That’s why we’re always talking about as we live with the very power that raised Christ from the dead within us the joy and the peace and the love the wisdom the security the trust the faith all not dependent upon our circumstances. It is unique. It is different. It is special it is given to us by God himself and I can walk through the circumstances of life. Faithful eyes up with great joy and peace in my heart great security great power walk through any circumstances because they’re not contingent upon one another. Again, the enemy would love to have us believe and it’s disproved in job, right? We have an entire book of theology in Scripture. We call it job that that talks about no it is not transactional God is God and he will do as he wills. As he choose as so, oh these bad things are happening to me. God hates me. Nope. These bad things are happening to me. I’m not doing enough for him. No, I mean, you may not be doing enough in terms of your intentionality in your relationship, but he’s not saying oh wow, you stink at this. I’m giving you a disease. That’s not the way it works. We can always be looking in the mirror looking to learn and grow and become the disciples of Christ that he wants us to be. We’re human beings if we’re God, there’s no more room for improvement. But as human beings and his image bears there’s always room for improvement. So, all right. So this is what I want to talk about. I talked about the yeast. He uses the example of a little bit of yeast in three measures of flour. Like the kingdom of God is like a little bit of yeast that a woman uses when she makes bread three measures of flour a little bit of yeast yet the yeast permeates throughout the dough and makes it all rise and I said, okay like we can get that image right the mustard seed big plant a little bit of yeast all throughout the dough. The interesting about the mustard seed is one of we know that he picked it because he says it’s the biggest plant in the garden and it provides shelter. And the yeast however, he’s turning things upside down because yeast is generally used as a negative thing. Right Orthodox Jews during Passover today will clean their home intensely to drive out make sure that there is no filth. No yeast around because it is representative of the kernel of sin that gets in there and can corrupt your soul. But Jesus uses it to talk about the kingdom of God. Jesus also used this illustration. This is Matthew 13 beginning with verse 33. Jesus also used this illustration the kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour it permeated every part of the dough. Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables spoke to them the crowds and we have his teachings to his disciples and we have his teachings to the crowds and we have his teachings that are sort of hybrids if you will the disciples may have right be around and then the religious elite are around right his disciples the crowds and the religious elite may be around and we will see him direct things at the crowd at disciples at the religious elite. And sometimes simultaneously, I mean, it’s brilliant. Yahweh is brilliant. I don’t know understatement of the year, but what human words can actually you know, express that. So he’s speaking here and he’s going to use this in such a situation here in just a little bit. He never spoke to them without using such parables this fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet. I will speak to you in parables. I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world and their parables stories that represent other larger concepts and we can take them and we can dig into them in this case. The concept is the kingdom of God and he’s using a tool this yeast this image this word this and he’s explaining. That here’s my hermeneutic on it. Yeast is just yeast. Right and we’re you were using it to represent something that it can be included in small measure, but then in the right conditions can grow into something else. There’s the mustard seed. There’s the yeast. But they themselves being of this world are a moral you I can’t literally give you a measure of yeast and say now you are a sinful person. No, you use that yeast and make incredible food from it. So we read into this the fact that as we have these gifts from God, how are we using them? Are they do we see the world and the things of this world and do we want to? Explore God’s will and how we live in this world and utilize the things of this world or do we want to take the things of this world and decide for ourselves? Chances are if you’re deciding for yourself that yeast is going to corrupt you the things of this world will corrupt you. If it is of God and you are walking in the way it will grow you. Not corrupt you. And so we see that embedded in here. It’s just yeast. Okay, there’s it’s not like. It’s just yeast. But here we go now and I want to demonstrate this in scripture because I don’t I try I don’t make things up as I go home. I just won’t write. I thought we were talking about that at the end of at the end of the service on Sunday. We had a visitor and he said that was a lot. He said you did really well. He said but that was a lot a lot of scripture and I and and I said well, this is kind of how it is here at Church Town over the years as we have really focused on biblical literacy here. We have these large teaching narratives. And then when we explore wherever we’re exploring the law the prophets wisdom literature, which we’re in now Gospels, whatever whatever we’re exploring there. They’re tapped into these large larger teaching narratives that have been going on for years. And so everybody has context points of reference and this is growing us from the inside out and those who may join in and say whoa. Okay, that’s a lot really are surrounded by people who say okay, let’s dig into this then because they dig into it when they go home and I will make points of reference throughout the preaching like take another look at this when you go home this week. Take another look at this look at compare it to this. And so that takes time to develop and grow and it takes a congregation that is willing to be engaged not just sort of sit there passively and whoa dump some knowledge in there or some motivation or some whatever some good vibes in there for me this week so I can get out there. I don’t even know what that is. So we want to continue to explore scripture continually understanding that it is one unified story. So if we’re talking Kingdom of God if we’re talking salvation if we’re talking Spirit of the Living God if we’re talking the word and the word becoming flesh whatever the larger teaching umbrellas are and we sit there law prophets wisdom Gospels letters and they’re plugged in. And that’s the goal. We have points of reference. They oh, okay. What are the parables teaching about the Kingdom of God? How does that relate to the Kingdom of God as demonstrated in judges? Go explore it. It’s fascinating. So anyway, so I was very happy but I said we just don’t because you will have a very probably one of them. More difficult ways of continually preaching is expositorily like let’s continue to explore scripture and who God is thus who we are Etc continue to exposit just from scripture. Let’s get into the word every week. One of the easier ways of preaching is to is to take a verse and then spend a half an hour letting you know what I think of it and how it applies to your life. Now it all does apply to your life, but it’s not a motivational nugget from a self-help book that we bought at Walmart. It applies to your life because you are a reflection of the most high. There’s a difference. Everybody needs a pat on the back. Everybody needs a cheerleader every once in a while. Everybody needs some motivation. Get out there champ and go get them. But that’s not what church is or should be. We need to learn who God is in church. And from that core, we learn who we are. We learn what churches we learn all of those things and we learn this commission that we have Etc. But I continue to digress. Do you remember the parable? I read of the yeast being used in this good way. It’s growing the kingdom of God. It’s like a tiny measure of yeast that goes into three large measures of flour and permeates throughout the entire bread. Now, let’s read something else. Later after they crossed. Okay, you guys Matthew 16 now Matthew 16 verse 5 Matthew 16 verse 5 a couple of other teachings in here and now he comes back right here. We are again and they cross the other side of the lake the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. Watch out. Jesus warned them beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. What I thought you just said yeast was a good thing. And so when we come across things like this in Scripture, your brain should go Bing Bing Bing Bing Bing. I thought you just said yeast was a good thing. Now you’re saying beware. Well yeast in the bread. Hello bread of life.
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