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The Price of Peace - PDP 075
19 Plays13 days ago
The peace that passes understanding wasn't cheap. And peace on the earth is not what Jesus came to bring us. He came to bring the FIRE! Let this message ignite the fire in you, and let it change you forever.
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Email: Jarod@jarodhinton.com
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Transcript
Introduction: The Price of Peace
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello, welcome to the Preacher Dad podcast. My name is Jared. I am the Preacher Dad. And today I want to share with you a sermon that I delivered at our church, Cornerstone Fellowship, here just recently.
The Cost of Peace: Jesus' Sacrifice
00:00:13
Speaker
And it is a ah burden that God laid upon my heart to share about the price of peace. You know, peace is not free. It costs Jesus an awful lot. to win the peace that passes understanding.
00:00:27
Speaker
But Jesus did not come to be to bring an outward peace upon the earth. He gain came to bring division. And this message is about a godly division and that what is happening in our nation now among God's people and among those that he is calling unto himself.
00:00:46
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And I wanted to share this message with you today. i hope that you will enjoy it. I hope that it will challenge you. I hope that it will encourage you. And I hope that, like me, you are convicted by this message.
00:00:58
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Because this message convicted me as much as it as much as anyone else, as much as anything has convicted me over this past year, this message did. So I hope that you will stick around and listen.
Inviting the Community: Cornerstone Fellowship
00:01:10
Speaker
As always, this podcast is brought to you by Cornerstone Fellowship. which is our church just a little bit north of Tombsboro, Georgia. We would love for you to come and visit us. But if you can't make it, you can visit us online at cornerstonefellowship-ga.org.
00:01:28
Speaker
That's cornerstonefellowship-ga.org. Or you can find us on Facebook, and we would love to converse with you, communicate with you, and and visit with you and point you to Jesus.
Call for Repentance and Warning of Danger
00:01:42
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So God bless, and we hope you enjoy this episode
00:01:57
Speaker
This morning, I'd like us to turn to Luke chapter 12.
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Luke chapter 12.
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There are many times that the Lord puts it upon my heart to share a word of encouragement or hope, a word of strength.
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This is not that day.
00:02:37
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The Lord has burdened my heart already today with a word of warning.
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A word of danger.
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A call to action. And a call to repentance.
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Let us look at Luke chapter is where we will begin.
00:03:15
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I'm reading today in the New King James Version.
00:03:21
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I do not believe that the King James Version is the only version we should read. It's the only true Bible. I do believe that it is a good translation. And I do believe that we should not burn bridges. We don't have to burn.
00:03:35
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Let's go ahead and preach from it. Let's talk about it. It's fine. But there are other versions that can give us insight. Sometimes more modern English is easier to understand, and this does not violate the words of the Bible.
00:03:51
Speaker
Today I've chosen to read this in the New King James Version because I think it will help us to better understand in 2025 what Jesus intended to teach us in the year 33 or 32 whatever it was.
Parable of Faithful Servants: Readiness and Service
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Verse 35 of Luke chapter 12.
00:04:16
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Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.
00:04:23
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And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.
00:04:39
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Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them so, blessed are those servants.
00:04:59
Speaker
But that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Jesus' Mission: Division and Readiness
00:05:17
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Then Peter said to him, Lord, do you speak this parable only to us or to all people? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?
00:05:37
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Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. But if that servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come in a day when he is not looking for him.
00:06:06
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And that an hour when he is not aware and and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes.
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But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required.
00:06:38
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And to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled, that I have a baptism to be baptized with.
00:06:54
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and how distressed I am till it is accomplished. Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you not at all, but rather division.
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For from now on, five in one house will be divided, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother.
00:07:22
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mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
Unity in Scripture Reading
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Then he also said to the multitudes, whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, a shower is coming. And so it is. and when you see the soul excuse me and when you see the south wind blow, you say, there will be hot weather.
00:07:48
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and there is Hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? Yea, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right?
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When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
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I tell you, you shall not depart from there until you have paid the very last mite.
00:08:29
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The very last mite means the last penny, the last drop of what you owe.
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You know, I'm grateful for chapters and verses, but sometimes they kind of messes up a little bit. Certainly if your Bible has those headings and it says, hey, this section talks about this. It gives you those headings at the beginning.
00:09:01
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That's not part of the Bible. It's not the original text. Sometimes we need to ignore those headings and just keep on reading straight through to get a better picture of what God is trying to say.
Faithfulness Over Achievements
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The full message that Jesus wants us to see.
00:09:19
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This message today is called The Price of Peace. Blessings, division, and judgment.
00:09:31
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I'm going to do what Pastor Stanley used to do. and he would just He'd read it and he'd talk about a couple verses and then he'd read a little more and talk about a couple verses. We're just going to do that. In the first part of this passage, Jesus talks about the faithful servants.
00:09:48
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The blessed. faithful servants.
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He said, keep your waist girded and then your lamps burning and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return for the wedding that when he comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately.
00:10:06
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These servants are waiting on the master. And he says, be ready so that ah you're not caught unawares when he comes and you don't you're not ready for him. Be ready for his arrival.
00:10:17
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So that you can open the door and invite him in. He said, those servants will be so blessed that the master will actually set them down to eat a meal that they've prepared for him to honor him. He said, no, you guys sit down. I'm going to serve you.
00:10:31
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If you've ever had a boss that says, you know what? I'm going to serve you. Man, you can't hang on to that boss. That's a good boss. We have a boss at Chick-fil-A who will serve his team.
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And if you have a leader that's willing to say, I'm not too high and mighty to get down there and sweep the floor or to serve my team, that's a good guy.
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These servants are faithful to their master. that Notice that he's not saying that they reinvented the farming practices of the of the the house.
00:11:05
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he didn't increase They didn't increase fruitfulness by a thousand percent and therefore they're worthy of joy and blessing and service. No, they were just faithful with the task that they'd been given.
00:11:20
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It's not about making sure that you lead at least 300 people to Jesus before you die. At least get 30 under your belt. It's not about the numbers. It's not about how great and mighty you think you should be as a Christian. It's about being faithful to what God has put on your plate.
00:11:39
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What God has called you to do. You are to be faithful. Friends, me This is not me waving my finger. If anything, this message today has convicted me more than any message I've preached and probably this entire year.
00:11:56
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We must be faithful to the calling God has placed upon us. Blessed are those faithful
Consequences of Unfaithful Service
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servants. But remember, you don't know when he's coming. We do not know time.
00:12:13
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He says this, to he points out in verse 39, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour of the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
00:12:31
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he he wasn't ref He was sort of changing the parable a little bit. He wasn't referencing the master and the servants there and it saying, if that master had known what time he'd get broken into, no, he's changing the the thought here.
00:12:44
Speaker
He's saying, anybody that knows when something bad is coming, or knows when an event is coming, prepares, makes sure that doesn't happen to them. If you know somebody's coming to break into your house exactly what time they're coming, you're going to be standing there with shotgun on the front porch saying, okay, I thought you was coming. I thought you.
00:13:03
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And you're not going to let it happen. He says, you don't know when the thief in the night is going to arrive.
00:13:12
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We do not know. You see, in that parable, Jesus is the thief in the night. He says, as the thief in the night, so is the coming of the Son of Man in another passage.
00:13:23
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We don't know. it could be today. It could be tomorrow. It could be a hundred years from now. It could be one year from now. But the Son of Man is coming back.
00:13:37
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There is no question about that it will happen. We just don't know when.
00:13:44
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And so he's saying as a faithful steward, as a faithful servant, be doing faithfully what he's called you to do when he arrives so that you are not ashamed when he comes and he says, okay, now's the day.
00:13:58
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Today is the time.
00:14:02
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Are you being faithful? Don't be caught unprepared. Trim your wick. Gird your loins. And stand ready to open the door as soon as he knocks.
00:14:15
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but there are consequences for unfaithful service. You see, Peter says to him in verse 41, Lord, do you speak this parable only to us or to all people?
00:14:28
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He's saying, is this just for your followers or is this for the whole world that you're talking about being ready for your return? And essentially, Jesus responds in his response.
00:14:40
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Essentially, he's saying it's both. This message is just for believers. And it is also for the whole world.
00:14:51
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He says there are consequences for unfaithful service. He talks about in verse 42, who then is that faithful and wise steward?
00:15:05
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So Jesus here is giving us three categories of servants. He first gives us the steward, the faithful and wise steward. The steward was the servant that you would set over everything. He was the one that was to make sure things got done on time.
00:15:22
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At Chick-fil-A, we have shift leaders. So the shift leader assigns people their tasks, makes sure brakes get on, makes sure the business is functioning faithfully. That was the steward.
00:15:35
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The steward was the one that made sure everybody got the right amount of food in the household, that the but right amount of food got ordered, that the weeding got done at the right time, the harvest is brought in correctly.
00:15:46
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He knew awful lot. And it says, whom his master will make ruler over his household to give them the portion of food in due season.
00:16:00
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The...
00:16:05
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The steward appointed to give food to the servants in due season.
00:16:16
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I have,
00:16:19
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I believe this is definitely talking about spiritual leaders, pastors, responsible leaders, even fathers.
00:16:30
Speaker
are appointed by God to feed their flock spiritual food in due season.
00:16:42
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Friends, there are many shepherds who are wolves in sheep's clothing who do not feed their flock the food of the word in due season.
00:16:57
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They are hirelings seeking only for their own fleshly enjoyment.
00:17:04
Speaker
They're unfaithful stewards. Power hungry, indulgent, and fleshly.
00:17:13
Speaker
They beat the servants. And they do not give them the correct food. And they drink it all themselves and become drunken in their indulgent fleshly lifestyles.
00:17:28
Speaker
These are not shepherds of God's people. These are wolves. And if God forbid I ever become a wolf, I hope you'll run for the door and yell Ichabod as you head out the door. Shake the dust from your feet.
00:17:44
Speaker
Now there's a lot of preachers that are under attack this week because they did not address things in our nation that need addressing. The martyrdom of a faithful Christian husband and father who had the courage to speak boldly the truth of God's word, to ignore that is, in my view, a dereliction of duty.
00:18:06
Speaker
But to not be aware of it is simply a sin of ignorance.
00:18:13
Speaker
I heard some very good advice on a podcast this week. From a
Responsibilities of Spiritual Leaders
00:18:19
Speaker
pastor. He said, you know, it would be a good idea for you if you were in a church where the pastor didn't do what he ought to do, you should go talk to him about it.
00:18:27
Speaker
You should go ask him why. And if he gives a response that is reflective of cowardice or of worldliness, you should shake the dust off your feet and leave.
00:18:41
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But if he gives a response to you that is reflective maybe of ignorance or over caution, he's not necessarily an evil person. He's just uninformed or unaware.
00:18:55
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And that's a different story. Maybe you have a chance to challenge him. Maybe you have a chance to bring about spiritual light into his life. And there may be people listening to me online that are in that situation. And I think that is incredibly good advice.
00:19:12
Speaker
With that being said, pastors, spiritual leaders, if you're not the pastor but you're a spiritual leader, if you're a father, beware.
00:19:24
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Be aware.
00:19:27
Speaker
Be careful to feed your flock the correct food in due season.
00:19:36
Speaker
Understand the times and give them the nourishment that they need for the moment.
00:19:46
Speaker
For what a warning is given.
00:19:52
Speaker
You are blessed if you are that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Verse 45, but if the servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming and begins to beat the male and female s servants and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
00:20:26
Speaker
To have a portion with the unbelievers to me fear condemnation is It awful judgment.
00:20:38
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There's only two ways i can see that we can read this parable. One is that the master removed a portion of the servant's body.
00:20:49
Speaker
Cut off his hand because he beat people with him.
00:20:55
Speaker
And gives him his portion with the unbelievers. And that is to say disinherits him. Or casts him away. And in some way in the kingdom of God. He's treated with almost no reward at all. Even though he may be allowed to enter.
00:21:09
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He gets no reward of any kind.
00:21:13
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The other way to read it. Is that he is killed for his unfaithful service. And his portion is his grave. And he's cast into the grave with the unbelievers.
00:21:28
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and
00:21:31
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Either way, we don't want that to happen, dude.
00:21:37
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If you are a father, you have been called to this level of service. If you are a husband, you've been called to feed your wife.
00:21:49
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And if you have other spiritual headship, whether in the church or in other places, you must feed your flock. The truth in due season.
00:22:00
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The second.
00:22:04
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Servant listed here is in verse 47. It is the rebellious servant. And that servant who knew his master's will. And did not prepare himself to do according to his will.
00:22:16
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Shall be beaten with many stripes.
00:22:21
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That is a Christian. That knows better.
00:22:27
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A servant of Christ that knows to do right and does not do it.
00:22:37
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That is an unfaithful servant. A servant who knows the will of his master and says, oh I'm not going to do that. Either through laziness, or I've got time to pull myself together. I'll get things together once I finish sowing on my wild oats.
00:22:54
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i'll I'll do the right thing eventually. or whether through simple, selfish sinfulness. I want to do it, but I want to. As a parent, you know how many times I hear that one?
00:23:08
Speaker
All right, it's time to go to bed, but I don't want to. I don't care if you want to or not. It doesn't matter your desire. It is now time for bed.
00:23:20
Speaker
Time to clean your room. But I wanted to keep playing. Oh, you wanted to keep playing. Well, okay, then go right ahead. but You know, you don't have to do anything that I say.
00:23:31
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Is that the response of a good parent? No, that's the response of a wicked parent. But we have the most perfect of all parents. So if I say, but I didn't want to, Lord, he's going to say, well, get get set. You're getting many strikes.
00:23:48
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There's a lot of consequences coming to you for your rebellion.
00:23:55
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brothers and sisters in Christ. We cannot rebel against the master. And if we know what his will is, we must do it. There is no option.
00:24:07
Speaker
There's no possibility of compromise. It is his will or nothing. That's what Jesus meant when he says, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
00:24:19
Speaker
Without question, with no compromise, immediately, without any delay, His will is to be done.
00:24:33
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Unfortunately, in our society and in Western civilization, there are many Christians who know what is right and do not do it.
00:24:43
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i'm not I'm not talking about people standing in pulpits. I'm talking about people sitting in pews. They know what is right and they choose to justify their sin instead.
00:24:58
Speaker
This is wrong and there are many consequences coming to the Christian that justifies their sin.
00:25:07
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Now does this mean they're going to be cast out of the kingdom and never allowed to enter heaven? I don't believe that is what Jesus is saying. You're still a servant. You're just going to get a lot of beatings.
00:25:19
Speaker
There's a lot of hurt, a lot of pain coming your way as a consequence of your sin. Not because God hates you, but because he loves you.
00:25:28
Speaker
He says in Hebrews that he disciplines the son he loves. He disciplines his children as a father, the son in whom he delights. The discipline of God is good for you.
00:25:42
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It's good for us. We need it. And if you are disciplined of God, you can say, thank you, I'm a child of God. Okay, Lord, i i'm I'm going to submit.
00:25:54
Speaker
Friends, don't know your heart and your life, but I do know what the Bible is saying to me. What God is saying to us today is that rebellious Christianity is not the path we should walk.
00:26:10
Speaker
And if you are justifying your sin in some way, you must repent.
00:26:20
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There are so many examples I could get of this, but I will
00:26:28
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continue for the sake of our time.
00:26:32
Speaker
Verse 48 gives us the third category of the servants that receive consequences.
00:26:41
Speaker
But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with you. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required.
00:26:51
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and to him And to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.
00:26:59
Speaker
There are sins of ignorance. This is an immature Christian. It's someone that doesn't know. i didn't realize that I shouldn't be doing that. I didn't know that that was not the will of my master, my father in heaven. I didn't know he would be unhappy with that.
00:27:17
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Now listen, there's still consequences to be had. You can't say, well, I'm sorry, I just didn't know what you wanted. Okay, well, there's mercy to be had for you, but there's also consequences too.
00:27:29
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Friends, i didn't say that this message was going to be easy to hear. In fact, it's pretty hard to say. But this is definitely what Jesus is teaching us here. And that is a sin of ignorance receives consequences just maybe not as bad as someone who knew what they were doing.
00:27:50
Speaker
But it doesn't mean that we can justify, oh, okay, well, I'm sorry, I didn't know that was wrong. and just fluff it off. You still should repent. When God reveals sin to you, you turn and repent humbly before your God and say, I'm so sorry.
00:28:05
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I didn't know what I was doing. Please, please, forgive me. Let this be covered under the blood of Christ.
00:28:15
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Friends, we should have a great deal of compassion for ignorant Christians who have never been discipled but i a mature and godly Christian. There's a huge lack of discipleship in our nation, in our Western civilization, in Western Christianity.
00:28:32
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We have given up discipleship in favor of more numbers than butts in the pews. We want butts in the pews, so we'll give them anything they want, including soft, watered-down gospel, almost no gospel at all, in order to make sure they stay in the pews and keep filling our coffers with more money.
00:28:50
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That is the shepherd that should be cast out with the unbelievers. But man, I'm telling you, there's a lot of Christians in follow the God of heaven, and they've never been shown the will of their master.
00:29:04
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They've never been discipled in the way of the truth. God bless Charlie Kirk for discipling thousands, even millions, of young college students who maybe didn't know the right way to think, the right way to walk and live. But he said, hey, the Bible says this.
00:29:21
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It should dictate that. Then logically, this is the result. We should pay attention to that. Why did they gravitate to what he said? Because they were not getting it from the pulpit on Sunday or from anywhere else in our society.
00:29:38
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And we should have compassion, not condemnation or judgment up upon Christians who are living a wicked lifestyle or doing things they ought not to do if they are doing them in ignorance.
00:29:51
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If they've not been discipled... We should seek to help them be disciples and show them the truth and lovingly guide them into an understanding of the will of our master.
00:30:03
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That is what a godly Christian should do. These immature believers who are justifying their sin out of ignorance, they will get consequences for it. And it is wrong for us to just sit back and go, well, it's not my business.
00:30:18
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It's wrong for us to sit back and go, well, it's not my job. I'm sorry, are you believer? Has God put that person in your life? You better start knocking on doors and finding out if that is your disciple or not.
Jesus Brings Division: Purifying Fire
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And for those of you with children, your discipleship group sits around the dinner table each evening.
00:30:43
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For those of you that have younger siblings, your disciples may just have been born after you.
00:30:53
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And you need to pay attention to the guidance you give to their life. It's not just mom and dad. It's siblings that have an impact upon the lives of their family.
00:31:04
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I have multiple examples for that, but all my life I have heard my dad praise his older brother, whom he looked up to his entire life and still to this day admires and praises him.
00:31:25
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There's disciples in our lives we just need to open our eyes. And we need to be aware of their need. But let me tell you, if you are ignorant Christian, if you are unaware, that is no excuse.
00:31:38
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You must seek out the will of your master. And humbly repent when he shows you the truth.
00:31:52
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There are consequences for unfaithful service. Whether you are a steward, whether you're rebellious servant, or an ignorant servant. There are consequences to our lives.
00:32:08
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Verse 49, Jesus says some things that are so profound.
00:32:15
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He says, I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled Friends, that fire anoints the believer and burns away the chaff of the world.
00:32:30
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It burns away the evil and wicked things. Both inside of us and in the world in general. That fire he came to bring. There was fire upon the believers of Pentecost.
00:32:44
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On the day of Pentecost, he set tons of fire upon them. I think that's what he was referring to. The fire of God's Holy Spirit that brings us unto him.
00:32:55
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But it also causes division. Jesus said, do you think I came to bring peace? No. I did not come to bring peace in the earth.
00:33:06
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Now that is important. He said, peace in the earth.
00:33:12
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He did come to bring peace in our soul.
00:33:16
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Peace is what God brings. Even from the very beginning, the angel said, Peace on earth toward whom his favor rests. Peace on earth towards men of goodwill is the true translation.
00:33:31
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Those that have a peaceful relationship with God receive the peace that Jesus brings.
00:33:43
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The only way to be at peace with God, the only way to have peace in your soul, is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. Jesus did come to bring peace to our hearts.
00:33:55
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And this is certainly not talking about peace among believers. You only have to read 1 Corinthians 12 to see that God wants peace in His body.
00:34:07
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There should not be hand that fusses at a shoulder or a foot that complains at the bicep. That shouldn't be happening. Peace among believers is what God wants.
00:34:23
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He's not talking about division among believers. He's talking about the division that comes when you follow Christ and reject the world. And dividing between the way of the world and the way of the master.
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will hate you. They might even shoot you the neck and kill you because you love Jesus Christ and you proclaim his true and And they'll say, why are you so hateful? I'm not hateful.
00:35:02
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You hate this truth and this message because Jesus came to bring division.
00:35:09
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I'm sorry, friends.
00:35:13
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I'm not going to lock arm in arm with demons and say, well, you know, today we'll just all get along and we'll condemn political violence and tomorrow we'll fight again. No, the doctrines of demons, and don't misunderstand I'm not calling leftist liberals demons, but they are thinking demonic thoughts, and their ideas are demonic and are born of death and proclaim death and glorify death.
00:35:40
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I shall not stand arm in arm and say, well, you know, you believe that I should die and my kids should die because of what we believe, but today we'll be friends. No, I'm sorry. Jesus came to bring division.
00:35:53
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Even among father and son and daughter and mother and daughter-in-law. Five in the household. Three against two.
00:36:08
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Three against two.
00:36:13
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there is a division. It is happening right now if you will open your eyes and see it. There is a dividing that is happening in our world between those who love Jesus and love his truth and love the gospel and those that hate the truth and hate the light.
Inevitability of Judgment Day
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Jesus did not come to bring peace on earth. He came to bring division. He said it himself. I don't know any other way to understand the entirety of Scripture except to say that Jesus came to divide those that love him and those that hate him.
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The sheep from the goats.
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The righteous from the unrighteous. He came to cause a dividing line. Now he doesn't say you cannot come and be part of the righteous. He doesn't say, I'm sorry, you're one of the goats, you can't come be sheep.
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He opens the door and he says, whosoever will can come. He says anybody can come.
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He calls to us, says, please come to me. do not desire that any should die in their sins, but that all should come to repentance. That is his will. That's what he wants to happen.
00:37:38
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But it also means that to belong to Christ means that you will have enemies. And they may be even those that are the closest to you. If they reject Jesus, Jesus must be the most important thing in our heart and life.
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More important than father or mother or spouse or brother or children. Man, My children are so precious to me.
00:38:08
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But if they choose against Christ, I'm not leaving Christ for them. I shall stand with Jesus no matter what.
00:38:23
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If my wife rejects Christ, I stand with Christ. If my close loved ones turn their back on Jesus,
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I stand with Jesus, and I will not, cannot, cannot do otherwise.
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they That is simply what the truth is saying to us today. Jesus came to bring division, and if you have chosen to follow Jesus Christ, you cannot be surprised when those who are against him hate you.
00:39:07
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It was shocking to see Charlie Kirk martyred. In front of my eyes, watch the man die. I'm not even sure if he was alive when he hit the ground.
00:39:21
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It was shocking to see, but I hope it has woken us up. We're not woke, but we are awake.
00:39:30
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We need to be awake to the danger of our world and the hatred the world has for a believer. And we need to be prepared that when someone walks up to us and says, are you a Christian?
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You can say yes or no.
00:39:50
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Any Christians in here? Oh yeah, that's me. Okay, bang, you're dead.
00:39:57
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We need to settle that in our minds now as servants of the Most High God. We cannot serve two masters. You must choose a side.
00:40:11
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You must choose a side.
00:40:19
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And then Jesus says, read the room. He says, read the signs. The time is coming. Verse 54.
00:40:32
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Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say a shower is coming. and and so it is. When you see the south wind blow, you say there will be hot weather. And there is.
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You hypocrites.
00:40:47
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You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?
00:40:56
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He said you've got to be aware of the things going on around you. You can look at the sky and see that this means that this is coming.
00:41:06
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You need to be aware of what is coming.
00:41:12
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It is coming, friends. Judgment Day is coming. And you will give an account of everything that you said or did. didn't say.
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Or didn't do.
00:41:27
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And while God's love is not dependent upon our behavior, his consequences are. And either they are rewards or they are negative consequences coming to us because of our lifestyle.
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The servant that unfaithfully does not serve his master is worthy of many stripes. The servant who ignorantly does wrong is still deserving of stripes.
00:41:56
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The judgment day is coming and we must be ready. Are you being faithful to what God has called you to do? Are we being faithful to our calling?
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Or have we chosen to indulge in the flesh?
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Are we thinking, well, God is probably going to come one day along after I'm gone. You don't know when it's coming. You need to look at the sides of the times and read the room. You need to see storm is coming.
00:42:30
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Friends, there's a storm on the horizon and it is judgment day and you better make yourself safe. When we see clouds, dark clouds coming, what do we do?
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We go back down the hatches. In our family, we put the basketball goal down so i we'll get it blowed over. You know, we we go and we tie down the shutters. We close the windows. We go take shelter. Friends, the shelter is Jesus Christ.
00:42:55
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And we need to run to him. What does the Bible say? The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run to it and are saved. The tower of the Lord will save us from the judgment that is to come.
00:43:06
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But make no mistake, you cannot avoid the judgment. It shall come. And either you'll be left outside the gates.
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Beaten down by the righteous wrath of God.
Urgency of Repentance and Readiness
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Or you will be saved in the tower that is faith in Jesus Christ. The name of the Lord.
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He's a strong coward. To withstand the judgment of God coming upon us. Friends, we must be ready. And that is ultimately at the heart of everything Jesus is saying to us in this passage.
00:43:42
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He starts out by saying, hey, be ready and be faithful. Be ready and be faithful to what you are called to
00:43:56
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Settle up now. He said, don't wait. He said, do it now. He said, if somebody comes and takes you and says, you owe me money. And I'm tired of waiting for your payment. This is what he means at the very end in verse 57.
00:44:16
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Verse 58 says, when you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge. But our judge delivers you to the officer, and the officer throws you into prison.
00:44:30
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He's saying if your adversary, your accuser, grabs you and says, we're going to the judge because you all made money. And you it's it's a righteous debt.
00:44:44
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That is to say, it's not he's not falsely accusing you. You genuinely owe him a bunch of money, and you haven't paid it up, and you deserve to go to prison until you pay all your debt back, and he's taking you to the judge.
00:44:57
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Jesus says, ha which one of you is not going to go, okay, look, look, look, I got 10 for you right now. Or, okay, okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I got it, I'll scrape it together. Just don't take me to the judge.
00:45:11
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It's a lot harder to pay back that debt in prison than it is on the way to the judge.
00:45:17
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Friends, it's a lot harder if you wait until judgment day to make things right with Jesus. Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait any longer.
00:45:29
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We cannot wait. And whether you are an unbeliever and have never chosen to put your faith in His righteous sacrifice for you on the cross and bring you to salvation, don't delay.
00:45:42
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Do that now. you're a believer and you know that there sin in your life and you have not repented of it, do that today. wait longer.
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You might not have longer.
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Longer may never come.
00:46:01
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Repent today. from your wickedness.
00:46:09
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Turn to the Savior, which is the only hope we have.
00:46:16
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Don't wait till you get to judgment day. Settle up now start being faithful today.
00:46:25
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Don't wait till tomorrow to start your faithful living. Friends, I know I'm saying you, you, you. Listen, I'm talking to me. I don't want to wait until tomorrow and start my faithful life.
00:46:39
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want to be faithful with the disciples I have today. um want to be faithful with the calling God has put upon me.
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i want to be faithful to feed those that need feeding.
00:47:11
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You see, friends, there is peace to be had that is not found in this life.
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It's found in your heart and in your soul. It's not found in the earth.
00:47:23
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We cannot find peace with the enemies of God.
00:47:28
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There will be fighting between the enemies of God and those who serve him.
Peace Through Jesus' Blood: Worldly Division
00:47:34
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We cannot find peace for that until he comes back.
00:47:43
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The price of that peace is the blood of Jesus Christ.
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The peace that passes understanding, not the peace of this world, the peace that passes understanding.
00:48:01
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Let's put this over here.
00:48:05
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The peace that passes understanding, that is the peace of your soul, costs Jesus his blood.
00:48:16
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The price of peace is division from the world.
00:48:22
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If you want peace in your life, peace with God, you have to divide from the world. Now you don't have to divide from the world in order to find peace.
00:48:34
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You divide from the world because he's given you peace for free.
00:48:40
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The price of peace is repentance from your sins and faithful service to Christ.
00:48:49
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To reject the blood of Christ and to embrace the world's systems and ways, to indulge your sins and to serve self is to invite the consequences, the fire of judgment into your life and even into your eternity.
00:49:11
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Friends, if you choose to reject Christ and his free offer of salvation, you are embracing eternal fire, eternal judgment.
00:49:24
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Your eternity will never be the same. And let me tell you, friends, eternity is a long, long time.
00:49:35
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And if you're a Christian and you choose to reject the truth of God's word, you know the will of your master and you choose to justify your sin. Instead, you will have eternal consequences to that decision.
00:49:59
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What do we do with this truth? Well, the
00:50:05
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There's two things. Repent and be ready. Repent and be ready. Turn from your sins.
00:50:16
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Turn from the wicked things in your life. Turn from the lack of faithfulness that you have embraced. Turn away from those things and turn instead to the master and be ready for his coming.
00:50:28
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Live your life in such a way so that when he shows up, if he shows up today, if he knocks on that door and comes in this room and says, okay, we're done. It's all finished.
00:50:41
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Don't be ashamed of what you will do with your life.
00:50:47
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Don't be embarrassed that you didn't lose your life for everything he told you to use it.
00:50:54
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Jesus intends for us to live for the glory of the master. And he's called each of us to different things. Not all of us are called to the same thing. All of us have different strengths and weaknesses.
00:51:08
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We're all part of the body, but we're all called to Christ. And whatever he has called you to, be faithful to that service.
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It might be speaking. It might be serving. It might be writing. It might be sewing.
00:51:30
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and might be driving.
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You don't know. i don't know. I can't speak to your life. But what God has called you to do, be faithful and be ready for His appearing, for His coming. Don't be ashamed of the life you lived.
Conclusion: Prayer for Repentance and Readiness
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Live your life unto Christ so come for you to go and meet Jesus, You could say, I did the best I could.
00:51:59
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Yeah, I sure made mistakes, but I repented of those mistakes, and I turned to the Lord, and I'm following you. No matter what. Though three be against me, it's only me and one other kind.
00:52:15
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Maybe someday we'll dive deeper into the relationships Jesus talked about there, and who's doing what. It's kind of interesting, but that's that's kind of a deep cut.
00:52:26
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What is in your heart today? What is in our heart today? What has God called us to? Live faithfully.
00:52:38
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Repent of your sins. Don't don't wait. You might not have this afternoon.
00:52:45
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You might not have tomorrow. Don't wait. Repent and be ready. Will you pray with me?
00:53:03
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Oh Lord, we are sorry for the ways which we have failed you.
00:53:13
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Lord, I repent.
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I repent for having dropped the ball so many times.
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And I pray that you would forgive me.
00:53:32
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And that you would help me to be a faithful servant to what you have called me to do. Help me to know your will.
00:53:46
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Help me to know what you want and to do that.
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And to faithfully disciple those that you have put into my life.
00:54:02
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Help me, Lord, to be ready for your coming.
00:54:09
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Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.
00:54:15
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Some days, feels like we can't last much longer.
00:54:21
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Would you come quickly and relieve us from all of this suffering? But until you do, we will watch for your coming. And we will seek to be faithful to your word.
00:54:36
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To you. Blessed be the name of the Lord our God. Who is a tower of strength. To whom we can take refuge.
00:54:48
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We lift you up and praise you. For you are worthy of all of our praise. There is no other hope except found in Jesus Christ.
00:54:59
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And we give you glory today in his name. The name of Jesus.