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2 Corinthians chapter 9, and
then we're looking at verse 13. If you look at all of chapter
9, we looked at it last week, and really how this church was
taking care of other saints and taking care of Paul. And Paul
was, for lack of a better word, bragging about their ability
to be able to get together the offerings and to be able to take
care of. you know, people. And then he was kind of forewarning
them, though, that as he was letting people know, he wanted
to make sure that they were, you know, absolutely, that they were
doing this. And he was letting people know, you know, that they
were, you know, that this is what they were doing. And so
then he was making sure that they were doing that. And then
we see in verse 13, he says, whilst by the experiment of this
ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection
unto the gospel of Christ, okay? And for your liberal distribution
unto them and to all men. And other Christians were glorifying
God, people were glorifying God for this congregation's professed
subjection unto the gospel. This is what they were known
for, okay? And that professed, that word
professed wasn't just something They went around saying, I'm
a Christian, I serve God, I'm following God. But that word
professed also included the fact that other people were acknowledging
that they were serving God. So that word professed, it's
a strong word. It's more than just words, it's
words backed by actions, okay? It's words backed by actions.
You know, obviously the right word for that particular text.
So last week we looked at that word subjection unto the gospel. And when you subject yourself
to something, okay, you are brought under a particular authority.
That's what the word subjection means. There's an authority and
you are underneath it. And one thing as, well, as as
U.S. citizens, sometimes the word
subjection or subject is not something that we grew up with.
We're used to citizens, okay? And so when we tell, when we
talk about being subjected to something, it doesn't always
sit well with us. And by the way, that's just not
an American thing. That's a flesh thing, okay? To
say that you have to be underneath an authority is not always something
that sits well with our flesh. But one thing that we have to
understand is mankind is always going to be under an authority. And that authority will be Jesus
Christ. Every knee will bow and every
tongue will confess. And that lets us know that we
are always going to be underneath the authority of Christ. Whether
our flesh likes it or not, it doesn't change the fact that
this is what is going to take place in our life. So we looked
at the word professed subjection, and we just talked about it a
little bit last week. And if you weren't here, I'll
just give you a brief review. I promise we won't go too long,
okay, of being subjected to the gospel. And remember what the
gospel is. The gospel is more than just
the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death of Christ,
and the resurrection of Christ. It's what that allows or allows
people to be able to have. Because of the birth of Christ,
and the life of Christ, and the death of Christ, and the resurrection
of Christ, I can have a relationship with Christ. And that's the gospel. And that's the gospel. And so
when this church was doing what they were doing, and being strong
in this particular ministry, they were known for subjecting
themselves to the gospel. And when we subject ourselves
to the gospel, We give ourselves, we're putting ourselves in a
position of being capable, or we have the capability of being
able to reach people for Christ. And that's an important thing,
okay? We talk about the disciples, how they turn the world upside
down. And through Christ, they were able to do that. And then
there was an acceptability, giving people that opportunity. And
when we professor, when we subject ourselves to the gospel of Christ,
we are giving ourselves stability. And this afternoon, I needed
a little bit of stability. Pray for your pastor. Pray for
your pastor. And I believe that you do. But,
you know, your pastor, you probably know this, is just as human as
anybody else. Right? And just as, you know, and sometimes
we go away from the pulpit and from church and we're like, man,
everything's awesome, we're on fire, it's going great. And other
times you walk away from the pulpit and you're like, Lord,
why in the world would you put me in this position in the first
place? Okay? And so sometimes we do something
like that. But it's always good to remember that on Christ the
solid rock I stand. Amen? And so when you subject
yourself to the gospel, you're always putting yourself on a
position or in a position to be able to stand on something
that will never go away. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
never going to go away. You know, it just simply isn't
going to go away. You know? And that's a good place to be. Okay? That's a good place to
be. And so this evening, just continuing that, you know, just
continuing that, is like, why would I, you know, put myself
or subject myself to the gospel? I gave you one of the answers
right there. It's because of the stability. You know? The stability. I want to be able
to have that stability in my life. I don't ever do the stock
market. It would not be good for me. I don't have the ability to be
able to play the stock market or however you want to do it,
and it wouldn't be a very stable way of making money for me and
my household. I would get suckered in by You
know the next great thing and the next thing you know I would
not have any money and that would not be a good thing. And you
know there's just certain things in life that you know we probably
should stay away from because it's not good stable ground for
us to be there. When we're subjecting ourselves
to the gospel that's a good place to be. The stability there because
the gospel is not going to go away. We're gonna turn to a few
places in the Bible this evening, and I like doing Bible studies
on Sunday evening, and so turn your Bibles to 2 Peter 3. Turn
your Bibles to 2 Peter 3. I think subjecting ourselves
to the gospel is a good place to be. And when we subject ourselves
to the gospel, remember the context here, this was a church that
was doing something for the Lord. It wasn't just a church that
was acknowledging that there was a gospel and that some of
them were part of it and they were glad to be part of the family
of God, but it was a church that was actually doing something
with the gospel. a church that was actually doing
something with the gospel. And so when we, and understand, so
when we subject ourself to the gospel, then we are taking the
birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death of Christ,
okay, and the resurrection of Christ, and the opportunity to
be able to have a relationship with him, okay, to people that
need to hear about Jesus Christ. And mention the stability, and
stability is a good thing to have in our life. I like to be
able to share Jesus Christ with all my children because I know
he's not going away. Amen? I know he's not going away.
My first grandchild is going to be born here in April. Okay? And my daughter and my son-in-law,
they know Jesus Christ as their Savior. They're in church. But
even if they didn't, I would still introduce my granddaughter
to Jesus Christ, whether they liked it or not. Okay? But I'm glad I don't have to
have that predicament. All right? Because he's not going away.
So look at 2 Peter chapter 3. on that particular context there,
verse 8. And once in a while we need to
remember that when the Bible is speaking, yes, this is really
good for lost people to hear, but Christians need to embrace
it just as much. But beloved, be not ignorant
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering
to us. We're not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. And that one day
is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. If you read
the rest of 2 Peter 3, starting in verse 1, he's talking about
judgment is coming. Why subject myself to the gospel?
Because we need to accept the inevitable. All right? We need
to accept the inevitable, and the inevitable is that Jesus
Christ one day is going to come again. All right? I was just
telling my father-in-law, I remember when I went to school in 1989.
That was my freshman year in college. I went to Liberty University,
and I went to study youth ministry, because I wanted to play for
Jesus the rest of my life. Because that's what youth pastors
do. Now, I was a youth pastor for
11 years, so I can talk about youth pastors. It's allowed. But when I went to Liberty in
1989, I actually was convicted and accepted Christ as my Savior.
It's really good for your youth pastors to be saved. It absolutely is. So I accepted
Christ as my Savior, but I remember one of the speakers there, and
he said, you know, I'm not putting a time on when Jesus Christ is
going to return, but we're not going to see the year 2000. Yeah,
and I mean, you know, because of the way the world was going.
And then when I was in Bible College in Missouri where I met
my wife, I remember when Bill Clinton got elected. Okay, now
I'm not here to talk about politics or anything like that, but at
Bible College we thought Bill Clinton getting elected was like,
wow, the rapture's about to happen. Okay, wow, it's amazing how things
can progress, right? It's amazing how things can go,
you know, even further. And I say all that because there
was all this talk about the rapture, the books were out, the movies
were out, pastors were preaching about it, I was preaching about
it, everybody was preaching about it. You don't hear a lot about
it right now though, do you? Not so much anymore, because,
you know, these things kind of go in cycles. You know, hurricanes
were happening and everybody was talking about, oh, you know,
here it goes. Well, let me just tell you something.
Christ is going to return. He's going to return, you know,
and we need to accept the inevitable. We subject ourselves to the gospel.
We are accepting the fact that everything about the gospel is
true, and that includes the return of Jesus Christ. Amen? And so
he says, beloved, be not ignorant. We have no excuse for being ignorant
of the return of Christ. Absolutely not. So maybe in the
year 2000, 2000, 2010, you know, we were doing a little bit more
of the rapture practice is what one of the ladies called it down
south, you know, just jumping around and all of that. But maybe
we haven't been doing it so much lately. But let me tell you something.
Every day is a day closer to the return of Christ. And those
aren't just words. That's true. And we need to have
a professed subjection to the gospel and everything that comes
with it, and that's the fact that if Jesus Christ returns
today, I will be going home with Jesus in glory. Absolutely. But people I know won't be. And so we subject ourselves to
the gospel because we have to accept the inevitable. Hebrews
chapter 9 verse 27 says, and it is appointed unto men, man
wants to die and after this the judgment. That's going to take
place. This morning in church, I mentioned
two business meetings in heaven. One is First Corinthians when
we're talking about the judgment seat of Christ, and as Christians,
we will stand before the Lord and see our works go before the
fire, or go through the fire. And then the other one is in
Revelation with the great white throne judgment, and how people
actually stand before the Lord. If their name's not written down
in Lamb's Book of Life, they'll be cast into the lake of fire.
That is the inevitable. That is the inevitable. So we
subject ourselves to the gospel. We accept the subjection of the
gospel. We say, you know what? I need
this in my life. I'm going to place myself underneath that
authority because it's inevitable that all this is going to take
place. It's good to remember that it's inevitable. Amen? It
just is. And then in 2nd Peter chapter
3, look at verse 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise,
as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to usward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Alright, we need to accept the inevitable, but then also accept
the incredible. Ok, why subject myself to the
gospel? Because Jesus Christ keeps forgiving,
and Jesus Christ keeps allowing me to be part of his plan. Amen? You know, I still get to tell
people that He's coming again. I mean, just absolutely. You
know, He allows me to do that. So it's incredible that He uses
me, but it's also incredible that God gives us another day,
and another day, and another day. That word, long-suffering,
but is long-suffering to us. You know, a lot of times, you
guys don't mind if I walk around, do you? Okay, good. All right.
Does Pastor Harness walk around? No, he doesn't? Okay. Does the
camera follow me if I walk around? Yes, that's awesome. Okay, anyway. It doesn't? Oh, they're ratting
on you guys anyway. Okay, what's incredible is that
I get to be part of this. You ever have a pity party in
your Christianity? My wife, she'll probably start laughing because
she knows I had a little bit one of those today, you know.
And I get to be part of this. I mean seriously, get to tell
people about Jesus, get to help train others, you know, get to
continue to learn and so on and so forth. But what's incredible
is that we actually get another day. And then another day and
another day and another day. Because each and every day is
a day that God, what? He created. He created, and His
mercies are new every morning. You know, He just didn't spin
us and then, you know, just one day it'll just stop spinning,
you know? But He actually creates each
and every single day. In Colossians it tells us that
all things consist because of Him. The moment that He lets
go, everything lets go. It's absolutely gone. Okay? And
that word long-suffering is an incredible word. It really is.
A lot of times we think, oh, you know, I'm really long-suffering
for the Lord. We've got this face and this
demeanor. No, long-suffering is waiting
and knowing that it's worth the wait. There's an attitude behind
it. It's not a dreadful patience. It's a patience with knowing
that, hey, this is worth waiting for. Amen? I mean, seriously. I mean, it's absolutely worth
waiting for. And that is what's long-suffering.
And so God gives us another day because it's worth it to Him
to give us another day. That's incredible, right? I mean,
that's incredible. I was incredulized, but anyway,
I don't know if that's a word, but I made it up, so now it's
a word. All right, it is? Oh, it works,
yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, how do you get a word anyway?
You use it, other people use it, now it's a word. Yes, like
selfie. Worst word in the English language,
selfie. Anyway, look at John chapter
10. John chapter 10, for Christmas, For some reason, I have no idea
why, my kids bought me a selfie stick. It took me like a year to even
figure out how to take a selfie. And it took me another year to
forget how to take a selfie. Anyway. We want to subject yourself to
the gospel. Why? Because of the stability.
Because of the fact that it's inevitable. OK? Also because
it's incredible. And then John chapter 10 verse
28, he says this, and I give unto them eternal life and they
shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my
hand. OK? We subject ourselves to the
gospel and the word I used was accept the indelible. OK? I-N-D-E-L-I-B-L-E. It is a word. except the indelible,
and that means that it cannot be blotted out, it cannot be
canceled. I'm going to subject myself to
the gospel, okay, and I'm going to share the gospel, because
when somebody accepts Christ as their Savior, Christ comes
into their heart, sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, okay?
We know that they're now in Christ's hands, and then we know that
they're in the Father's hands, and we know that they're sealed
with the Holy Spirit. All of God is involved in keeping
a believer secure, okay? There's a lot of insecurity in
this world, okay? There's a lot of insecurity in
this world. There's a lot of things that are gonna come and
go. But I tell you what, when somebody has a relationship with
Christ, it's never going away. Nothing can ever separate you
from the love of God because God refuses to let go. And people
say, well, why are you involved in the ministry? Because it's
what's permanent. It's what works. It's what makes
a difference in somebody's life. It is indelible. It cannot be
blotted out. It can't be canceled. It's going
to be there forever. Why would I subject myself to
a plan or even share that plan if I
wasn't sure about that plan. Or it went away, you know? It doesn't make any sense at all.
So one of the reasons why I subject myself to the gospel is because
God has shared with me that when I place my trust in Him, He's
never going to let it go. And then when I introduce my
kids to Christ and they accept Him, He's never going to let
them go. Or when I introduce anybody to Jesus Christ and they
accept Christ, He's never going to let them go. Well, that's
a good place to be. Amen? That's a good place to
be. And so we subject ourselves to the gospel because we're accepting
the indelible. So we have the incredible, the
inevitable, and the indelible. Those are really good words.
Okay? Those are tremendous words. Now look at Acts chapter 1. Now
look at Acts chapter 1. Okay, Acts chapter one, now this
morning, this morning I was preaching on, I finished up a series, Walking
in the Spirit. And there's a lot of books out
there, there's a lot of pastors preach on walking in the spirit,
and so on and so forth. And when you look at the end
of each gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, he gives the great
commission at the end of each one of those gospels, okay? And
then at the end of the Gospel of John is when Jesus is talking
to Peter, all right, and asks Peter, do you love me? And Peter
says, you know I do. And he says, feed my sheep. Do
you love me? You know I do. Feed my lambs, feed my sheep. And then he tells Peter the life
that Peter's going to have as far as serving, and then the
fact that he's going to die a martyr's death. And then Peter, being
Peter, will ask, well, what about John? And he's like, don't worry
about John. Worry about yourself. And then
in Acts chapter 1 in verse 8, he says, you're going to receive
power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall be
witnesses. And the point was this morning, if you're going
to walk after the Spirit, say, I want to walk after the Spirit.
OK, well, if you're going to walk after the Spirit, you have
to be a witness for Jesus Christ. I mean, that's why the Holy Spirit
came. Seals us, but then motivates
us and gives us the ability to be able to walk, you know, after
Him and to be a witness. Now, we're going to be a witness.
When we witness, we're accepting everything about the gospel that
pertains to us. The word witness is not just
facts that I spew out and say, well, you know, you need to accept
Christ as your Savior because He He loves you, you need to
accept Christ as your Savior because He forgives you. When
I'm a witness, I say Christ will save you just like He saved me.
Christ loves you just like He loves me. A witness, the word
that it's talking about is somebody that is actually participating
in what they're talking about. That's what a witness is. Not
just somebody teaching something that they have no idea, but they're
teaching something basically from experience and from what
God has done with them. Now with that said, if you look
at Acts chapter 1 in verse 2, being seen of them 40 days, and
speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Why should
I subject myself to the gospel? When I subject myself to the
gospel, I have not only witnessed, but I'm also accepting the fact
that everything about it is infallible. And if you look at verse 3, he
says, "...to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs." He didn't just come to his disciples
and, you know, the couple of times they're in the upper room,
one with Thomas and one without Thomas, remember that? He came,
Thomas wasn't there. His disciples were kind of freaked
out a little bit, they didn't know what was going on, and then
they tell Thomas, and Thomas says, well, I'm not going to
believe him unless I can put my hands in his fingerprints
inside. And so then Jesus appears to
Thomas and gives Thomas that opportunity to do so. Thomas
gets down on his knees and says, my Lord. Okay? Jesus appearing
to them then, at that particular time, I would have to say was
pretty convincing that he was alive. Amen? But look what it
says in verse 3, to whom also he showed himself alive after
his passion by many infallible proofs. He did more than just
that. By the time he left the disciples,
he wanted them through and through to know that everything about
him, and everything that he said who he is, and when they followed
him, was absolutely infallible. In other words, he was not capable
of making a mistake, and he was not capable of being wrong. When
I subject myself to the gospel, I'm putting myself underneath
a perfect plan. Okay? I'm putting myself underneath
a perfect plan. And that perfect plan is to be
a witness for Jesus Christ. Now, when I accepted Christ as
my Savior, I was 18 years old. And when I got up, you know,
from that meeting, okay, it was a Tuesday night dorm meeting.
A guy came in and he gave a devotion, a pretty strong devotion. And
then 10 of us raised our hand about our salvation. Nine of
us got saved that evening. And then when I got saved, I
called my mom. I called my mom and I let her
know. I said, hey, mom, I accepted Christ as my Savior tonight.
And I was expecting, you know, like, I don't know, something
other than, I thought you already were. Now, to her defense, I
woke her up. Okay, you know, no, mom, I just
did it tonight. Well, okay, that's great. All
right, call me tomorrow. Okay, all right, whatever. And
so immediately I'm thinking, wow, I need a little bit more
excitement than that. Come on, mom, whatever. And then later
on in life, I was thinking back to that. The next day, I'm sure
I made some 18-year-old mistakes, and then 19-year-old, and 20,
and 21, and now still making those particular things. And
I just say that because every once in a while, as we're serving
Christ, You know, our flesh, or the world, or the devil, likes
to sit there and tell us, boy, God sure made a mistake when
He trusted you with that. But He didn't. He didn't. Okay? If God didn't want to trust
us with the gospel, He would just bring us home. But for some
reason, But for some reason, he gave us the gospel, and gave
us the opportunity to be subjected to it, and gave us the opportunity
to be a servant of Jesus Christ, to be able to share the gospel
with people. And it's not wrong, and God doesn't make a mistake.
His plan is the best plan, even if we don't understand it. Because
to me, every once in a while, I'm like, you know, Lord, if
you would just, you know, do this, I think it'd be more effective
in reaching people for Jesus. But his plan is better than my
plan. And we need to remember that. It's infallible. He is not capable of making a
mistake. He's not capable of being wrong.
And also, the word also implies that there's no deception. He's
not trying to deceive us to get us to do something. He's open
and honest and forthright and says, this is what happens when
you live for me, this is what happens when you share people,
the gospel, and so on and so forth. And I don't know about
you, but it's good to be reminded of that every once in a while. It just absolutely is. It makes
the relationship stronger when trust is involved. You know? And knowing that Christ still
trusts me is a great place to be in. And so, we need to accept
the infallible. And then one more point, and
then I'll be done. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. For some reason, I preach faster
here than I do at my own church. Do not tell my church. Okay? That would not be good. 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. So remember what we're talking
about. We're talking about subjecting ourselves to the gospel. Why
would I do that? Why would I accept this authority
over me? And we do that because, one,
it is inevitable, so it's a good place to be. Be on the right
side of what's inevitable. You know, we do accept the incredible.
The fact that God's given us another day and allowed us to
be part of this is absolutely incredible. As long-suffering
is, you know, something that we shouldn't blink at or, you
know, minimize in our life. And then the indelible, and that's
the fact that it can't be canceled. I like that. That's a good thing.
Can't be canceled. He's not going to blot us out.
He's not going to cancel it or anything like that. And then
it's infallible. It's not capable of being wrong or making a mistake.
God absolutely knows what He's doing. When He gives His disciples
the opportunity to be able to take up the cross and follow
Him, He means that. That's a good thing. You know, thank the Lord
for that. And so when we are following God's will, and we
know it's God's will, and we acknowledge God and He directs
our paths, and so we take that step, we know that we are taking
a step that's an absolutely right step. It doesn't matter what
everybody else says. Take the step that God would have you
to take, and it's the right step. Okay? So take that particular
step. And then, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if you look at Well,
let's go to verse 53, for this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality. And he's talking about that one
day, this corruptible, talking about this body, this flesh,
is going to put on incorruption. Okay? And somehow, you know,
God, you know, miraculously is going to, you know, make this
flesh perfect. And that's absolutely incredible
in itself. And this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord." And what do you think our work in the Lord
is? It's what the gospel requires of us, right? We carry our cross
because the world needs to see that there's hope for each and
every single one of them. We have the good news of Jesus
Christ, the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death
of Christ, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the relationship
that I have because of that, and the relationship that I have
because of that, and the world needs to see that. They absolutely
need to see that. And so when we talk about always
abounding in the work of the Lord, the work of the Lord is
never going to end until Jesus Christ comes back, because people
are always being born every day. How many people are in the world
now? Seven billion? I mean somewhere around, somewhere like that,
you know, something along those particular numbers. There is
not a shortage of the work of the Lord. Not even close, okay. Matter of fact, probably the
Christians that are here just need to do even more because
of the amount of people that are being born. So I'm going
to subject myself to the gospel, okay, and accept everything about
it and all those particular words that we did, but there's one
last word and that's indefeasible. Okay? And that word indefeasible
means cannot be defeated. One day this corruption right
here, this corruption right here is going to put on incorruption.
God doesn't have to do that. He could just give me something
that, He could give me something brand new if He wanted to. Right? I mean, He's God. He could do
that. He could, you know, this body could pass away, I get to
heaven, He can just give me a brand new one. But instead, He says
that this corruption must put on what? In corruption, do you
know why? Because God doesn't lose. And
everything that sin has touched, everything that sin has touched,
God's gonna defeat that, okay? Absolutely everything, okay?
And we know that sin has affected the whole world, so what he's
gonna do, he's gonna remake the world. We know that sin has affected
our flesh, so what he's gonna do, he's gonna give us new flesh,
okay? Because God doesn't lose. He
just doesn't lose. He cannot be defeated. Now, I
don't know about you, okay, but I like to win. I love to win. I teach fourth, fifth, and sixth
grade here. Do you know what they've started playing during
the wintertime? Ping pong. I love ping pong. When I went to college, I started
playing tennis because it was free, okay? Didn't have any money. So I started playing tennis quite
a bit. And then the more I played, the worse I got at it. So I was
like, I'm not playing this anymore because I don't like losing.
So I took up ping pong. Okay. I have no idea why. Because
it was free. Okay. And I thought it was a
good way to meet girls. It was free. The girl part didn't
work out. Okay. And so, I started playing ping
pong. And I started off, I didn't start
off doing this. You know. I started off, every
time that ball came over, I went wham. And that ball would fly
all over the place. I mean, just everywhere. But
eventually, that ball started going across on the other side
of the table. Okay. Now I say that because I got
pretty good at ping pong. I really did. And then I played a guy
from, I think, Korea. And he destroyed me. I mean,
he destroyed me. I think he had his eyes closed. Whatever. So I realized really
quickly that I wasn't that good at ping pong. And then later
on, I played him, and I scored 10 points on him, and I thought
I was the best player in the world. OK, back to where I was
going with this. So my 4th, 5th, and 6th graders,
so one day I jumped on the table, started playing with them a little
bit, and I was just kind of goofing around, so they didn't really
think I was any good. And then I defeated the person, and then
the next day I defeated all of them. Then I had my eyes closed
doing this. So then Whitney Harness one day brings this little bitty
ping pong paddle, it's this big, and she goes, you have to play
with this. And so I beat her with the little
bitty thing. All of that. And it's like, you're
so mean. Absolutely. I don't like to lose.
I hate to lose. You know, whatever, you know.
And I say this, you know, I say all that for this particular
reason. It's good to be on God's side. Because he's not going
to lose. Every funeral I've ever done,
every funeral I've ever done, I've gone to 1 Corinthians chapter
15. And if that person that was,
you know, that body laying there, if that person knew Jesus Christ
as their Savior, they were victory in Jesus. And there's been a
couple of funerals where I either didn't know or I did know, and
I still use that particular verse because I wanted everybody to
know there, at a time of sorrow, that there could be victory in
their life. It gets real for people, you know, at some point
in their life, whether it's through sorrow, some type of tragedy,
or whatever. It does get real for people quite
often. And as Christians, man, what
a shame. What a shame when we have this
victorious life, okay, and sometimes we live like we're defeated.
We cannot be defeated in Christ. The gospel is never going to
be defeated. Absolutely. The Word of God, as much as they
tried to get rid of it, they can't get rid of it. They don't
even tell you how many Bibles they sell anymore because it's
beyond, you know, they don't want to let you know. Okay? You
know, and so on. And look, subjecting yourself
to the gospel is worth it because, man, you get to win. And you
get to tell other people, and they get to win as well. And
people like to win, okay? And people need to know that.
And I think sometimes if we, you know, the Bible tells us,
look, you gotta speak the truth, but you have to speak the truth
in love. And letting people know that they can win through Jesus
Christ, that's the most loving thing I think you could ever
tell somebody. You know, that you can win for eternity. You can absolutely win for eternity.
So yeah, absolutely subject yourself to the gospel. It's worth being
underneath its authority because it's a life of victory and it's
a life that allows you to be able to share that victory with
somebody else if they would just place their faith and trust in
Jesus Christ as well. But we have to subject yourself.
You know, we can't be in charge of the gospel. Aren't you glad?
I mean, seriously. You know, can't be in charge
of the gospel. We have to ask our Savior what He would have
us to do concerning the gospel and reaching people for Jesus
Christ. That's why you have pastors that go on mission trips, and
that's why you have missionaries, and that's why you have people
coming to church on a Sunday night. Amen? You subjected yourself
to the gospel this evening. That's incredible. That's awesome.
Now take that, you know, what you learned out of here and,
you know, pray for the opportunity to share that with somebody this
week so that, you know, they can place themselves underneath,
you know, the authority of the gospel and everything that it
brings in their life as well. Victory in Jesus is, you know,
it's an awesome song, but it's a great song when we know it's
a life that we're living, you know, a life that we're living
and not just singing about, you know. Those love songs always
meant something when you were in love. Right? Jesus saves means
a lot when you know that you're saved. You know, victory in Jesus? Absolutely, when you know you
just won something through the Lord. And people need to hear
that. And so as Christians, let's work
on, you know, our testimony of being, having a professed subjection,
you know, unto the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank
you for your love. We thank you for your mercy.
Lord, we thank you for your plan. And Lord, we're not just sitting
here waiting for you to return, but there's a plan for each and
every single one of us. Lord, those young people, Lord,
that are learning your word tonight, whether they acknowledge it or
not, they're being subjected to the gospel, and that's a great
thing, an opportunity for them to have a victorious life and
to be able to share that with other people. And Heavenly Father,
Lord, sometimes we can look at the news and everything that's
going on, kind of shake our heads and wonder what it's all about,
but Heavenly Father, Lord, we're here. And we have an opportunity
and we have a responsibility, Lord, to acknowledge that this
is another day that you've given us, and it's another day, another
opportunity for somebody to come to know Christ. And so Heavenly
Father, Lord, help us to take that, and Lord, if you create
another day tomorrow, to be able to take that gospel and to share
it with somebody tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for victory in Jesus. And
Lord, we just thank you for that life. And Lord, I thank you for
Wilton Baptist Church, Lord, and for the work they're doing.
And Lord, I pray they just continue to abound in the work. And I
thank you so much, Lord, just for the encouragement they've
been to me and my family. Lord, we love you. We thank you.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Subjection To The Gospel Part 2
| Sermon ID | 31204151633 |
| Duration | 38:57 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - PM |
| Bible Text | 2 Corinthians 9 |
| Language | English |
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