Voice of the Nazarene 10-5-25

Voice of the Nazarene 10-5-25

Transcript

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Ray, coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene. A week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray La Salle, and the voice of the Nazarene. So yes, I just have one verse, The this morning for the message. It's found in First Corinthians, chapter one, just one verse. Verse 18 says this, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Wow, isn't that good. So good. I'm gonna read it again, since I just have one verse For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Let's pray this morning, Father, thank you so much for this service. Thank you for everything that you have done for us throughout this past week. Now, Lord, we just pray that you would be with us in this portion of the service, guide us and lead us. Anoint your word, oh God, Speak to our hearts through the power and strength of the Holy Spirit, Lord, we need to hear from you. We need to hear from the living Word of God that transforms us, that guides us and leads us and and brings us into salvation and shows us Jesus, Christ, the Savior of the world. And so Lord, we pray right now that you would just help us and touch us and guide us and lead us. And Lord will promise to give You all the praise in Jesus name. Amen, I was thinking this week. You know, there's a common denominator that brings us all together. We got up this morning, we got dressed and we got ready. We all made our way to the busiris Church of the Nazarene. But there's, there's a reason that we all come together, that there's a history behind why we come together, one act that that changed everything for all of us. And of course, I'm talking about the wonderful cross of Jesus Christ, that that brings people together. It's the reason we sing, it's the reason we pray, it's the reason we worship. The cross of Jesus Christ, it binds us together. It's it's what holds us together, it's what unites us together. Cross is the center of our hope, and it's the anchor of our message. And I think that's exactly why Paul wrote in First Corinthians, chapter two, verse two, just one chapter over from our text. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus, Christ and Him crucified. And that statement, Paul is explaining really what his focus of his ministry was going to be. He wasn't going to try to impress with philosophy or or persuasive speech or or even human wisdom, Paul made a deliberate decision to to center everything on one thing, and that is Jesus, Christ crucified. That's pretty good ministry, isn't it? Paul wanted the church to be built on the foundation of Christ's sacrifice. Paul was in a city much like our society today, where they put so much stock in in the the value of your status in society, or or eloquence or or worldly wisdom. And so Paul chose to preach a message that that many considered weak and many considered foolish. But he knew from his own life that there was crawl, there was power in the cross of Jesus Christ. Think about where Paul came from. He knew by experience, he knew by testimony, that that there was power in the cross of Jesus Christ, everything we believe, everything we hope for, everything we preach and teach flows from the cross. And so with all that is happening today that speaks of how evil and dark this world can be, what can be more relevant than preaching and teaching the message of the cross man. We need it, don't we? It's the message of the cross that can cure what ails the heart of man. The answer to Man's problem, which really is at at the root, is sin and rebellion against a loving God. Would you agree with that? So politics is not going to solve the problem, as much as we need to be involved in politics and do all we can to to shape the government that it reflects the values of God's Holy Word. Politics is not going to solve Man's problem, neither is education. Education cannot, cannot take out sin in our life, nor human wisdom. It's found again in the cross of Jesus. It. And so if you were to take the cross out of the Gospel story, Christianity would absolutely collapse. It's because of the cross of Christ. We can stand before God forgiven. It's because of the cross that we can stand before God justified and sanctified. It's because of the cross. And aren't just so glad that we can stand before a holy God and announce that I'm forgiven and I'm justified, just as if I had never committed a sin. God throws our sins into the sea and forgetfulness never to remember them no more. And man, that's something to praise the Lord about. That was what was praising. That was what we were praising about just a little bit ago. So it's because of the cross we can proclaim with boldness the good news of the gospel. You know, Christians who love the Lord and and read their word and read the Word and study the Word and search the Scriptures, we're not wandering around in confusion. We're not grasping for answers. We have the truth. We have the message of the cross. Jesus said, there in John chapter eight, if you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Boy, I like that condition there, don't you. He said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my deceive disciples. That's the condition of being a disciple of Jesus. Christ is walking in obedience. Jesus said, If you love me, you're going to do what I command. And so Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So we who have experienced this freedom in Christ, we have the message of freedom. Jesus said, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. But I'm so glad that I can tell you that just a few verses later, Jesus went on to say, but if the Son sets you free, you will be free. Indeed, it's the church that holds the one truth that can break the chains that that binds so many lies, and how vital, how pressing it is right now that we bring that message, there are times when you experience something so wonderful, when you experiencing something so life changing that staying silent is just not an option. I'm talking about something real, something powerful, something that we've experienced in God that demands a response on our part. I believe Jesus said something like this, you must be born again. That's the experience I'm talking about. And when you are born again. It's such a radical thing. It changes you from the inside out. It does something for you that you cannot do for yourself, that can only come through Jesus, Christ and His shed blood. And you've just got to tell somebody about it. We just have to do it. We have to testify about it, because I'm telling you something. And you know, as well as I do, Satan is not asleep. In fact, it's quite the opposite. He he's on the war path right now. He's distorting the truth, and he's sowing confusion everywhere he can. And remember what Jesus said about the devil when he lies, he speaks his native language, he he is a liar, and he's the father of lies. Satan's very essence is deception. Every falsehood in the world can be traced back to him. He's working overtime to do all he can to fight back against the church, and he's doing everything he can to fight back against God's people. Gold city was that group that's saying, I'm not giving up. Why can't the old devil just leave us alone? But he's not going to leave us alone, and God has called us to fight back and be engaged in the battle. And so if you're a Christian this morning, if you love the Lord, if you're walking in the light as He is in the light, you just don't have the option to sit on the sidelines. The devil's not going to let you sit on the sidelines. We have to be engaged. We're called into the army of the Lord. But the weapons we fight with, they're not carnal weapons, the weapons we fight with are spiritual, and that's why Paul says in Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verses four and five, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And so we fight back with the sword of the Spirit. You know, the sword of the Spirit that Paul was talking about in Ephesians chapter six, which is the word of God. We fight back with the Word of God. We fight back with the truth. And. We fight back in love, fight back with the message of the cross. And you know why Satan resists the message of of the cross so fiercely? I'm so glad you asked look at all those inquisitive minds out there. The reason why Satan resists the message of the cross and the message of salvation so fiercely, because it exposes sin. The cross exposes sin. It dethrones pride, and it dethrones man's wisdom, and it declares that there is, there is no salvation except through Jesus, Christ, our Lord, that's why he fights against the message of the cross. This is not the time to be silent, no matter how much Satan stomps his feet. This is the time for the church to be bold and stand up. That kind of reminds me of those early Christians there in in Acts four, when Satan was on the attack. And so they gathered together in the name of Jesus, and they got to pray. And that's pretty good idea, isn't it? You know, when Satan's on the attack, sometimes we just got to hit our knees together and pray collectively and and fight back the the darkness of the devil through prayer and man, these people got together, and they just got to pray in they prayed, now, Lord, consider their threats, and here it is, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. He said. They said, Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant. I've always noticed about that, that that prayer, they didn't ask God to remove them from the situation. They didn't say, Oh, God, rescue us. What did they pray? They said, Give us boldness to keep preaching and keep telling others about the love of Jesus. In spite of the persecution, in spite of what the devil was was trying to do to these early Christians, they prayed for boldness. And what does the Bible say? The Bible says, after they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and God answered their prayer, they proceeded to go out and speak the word of God boldly. The place where they were meeting was shaken. I believe that shaking was God saying, I hear you. I am with you. You keep pressing on. That was God's message to those praying people, these Christians here in Acts four, you know, is the same crowd that was there in Acts two on the day of Pentecost, when they were filled with the Holy Spirit, their hearts were purified by faith. You know how? I know that's what happened on the day of Pentecost, because Peter said so in Acts 15, eight and nine, he said God showed that he made no difference between the Gentiles in us, for he purified their hearts by faith, just like he did us. And so on the day of Pentecost, their hearts were purified by faith. They were sanctified holy. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they were endued with power from on high. So I highlight that fact because when you're fighting in the good fight of faith, sometimes when Satan's thrown a temper tantrum, we need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit, do we not? Sometimes, saved and sanctified people need to go down the altar and say, Oh God, I'm in a struggle. I'm in a fight, and I need a fresh infilling of God, the Holy Spirit. And you know what God will answer that prayer every time. And I don't know where you might be praying if you pray that prayer, that it might be little bit of shaking going on there when you're praying that prayer. So the Apostle Paul writing to the Christians there in in Ephesus, he commanded them. He said, understanding that the days are evil. Now, this is what I'm commanding you to do, understanding the fight that we're in and the situation that we're in. He said, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. He said, Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Don't be filled with some chemical that's going to manipulate your brain, your brain and manipulate your body and your speech, be filled with the Spirit. Let it show you and guide you and fill you. And guard your speech and and guard your actions. Be filled with the Spirit. We know from the original text, Paul was was saying to be continually filled. That's what he was really saying. He was saying, Keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. So in other words, make room for. The Holy Spirit. Empty yourself of the things that that crowd him out, let him fill every part of you, your thoughts, your speech, your your relationships, your worship. And do that continually, knowing that the days are evil. And folks, I'm telling you this morning, when you have that mindset and you're living in that kind of surrender, you, my friends, are ready for battle against the evil one. When you knelt at the foot of the cross and you say, Oh God, I am here. I'm giving you myself. I'm consecrating everything to you. I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice when you're there. I'm telling you, you're ready for battle. You're equipped. You are ready. So we can't afford to allow the devil to intimidate us any longer. We have to speak up and and we have to speak out and folks, not just in the church. We got to speak out in the schools where we are. We got to speak out in our homes. We got to speak out in our universities and and in in our conversations. And by the way, that's exactly what Charlie Kirk was doing, wasn't he? He was going out into the enemy territory. He was going out into these universities, and he was preaching the truth. I think a lot of us older generation, I think I'm there now, we kind of looked at Charlie Kirk as as as a politician. I mean, he, he basically helped Donald Trump get get elected. I kind of looked at him that well. I mean, I knew he was a Christian, but the the Gen Z, they, they said they, they, they were looking at him more as a religious leader, as a preacher of the gospel, and he certainly was one of the last posts on social media that Charlie made was tell someone about Jesus this weekend. So I say, let's do that. That very thing, my goodness, we have a glorious message, message to to bring because of Jesus because of the cross. Of Jesus because of the cross, we have the message of God's great love, don't we? Oh, my goodness, we have the message of God's love. If you want to fight against the devil, tell everyone you see about the love of God you want to fight against the evil one. Tell them about God's love. Tell that poor lost soul that that God loves them with all of his heart. Tell them there's nothing stingy or there's nothing meager or limited about God's love. You know, all the commandments that that God gives to us spring from his own loving nature. Did you know that every commandment God's not trying to spoil your fun, he knows what's best for you, and He loves you with an unfailing love. And so every commandment that he gives you, it springs from his own loving nature. And when He commands us to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, it's simply what he's already doing toward us. So when he says, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength, he's already loving on you with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength. Praise His name forever. Now, if you want to shout a little bit that's all right with me, you go right ahead. You won't bother me one bit. That's something to shout about. It's something to praise the Lord about. And the wonderful thing about his love is that he loves you personally. He loves you individually. Isn't that so wonderful? He doesn't lump us all together in one big mass of people. You and I are not one of many. God knows you intimately, and he loves you specifically. He knows your name, He knows your story. Psalm has proclaimed, Lord, you know me. You know me, Lord. You know when I sit and you know when I rise. You you perceive my thoughts from afar. God's love is tied to his intimate knowledge of of every detail of our lives. So Paul reminds us there in Romans, five, six, you see at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. I mean, I love that phrase, at just the right time, at just the right time. God died for the ungodly. God died for you at just the right time. In other words, he died when, when you didn't have it all together. He died for you, but when you were lost, that's when he died for you, when you were dead in your sins and your trespasses. Christ died for you and I. Jesus, the great lover of our souls, died for us when we were still powerless, when we were incapable, when we were incapable of reaching up to him, God reached down to us. I remember the squires, Squire Parsons wrote that song. He came to me. Anybody ever hear that song, he came to me. He came to me when I could not go to where he was, Jesus came to me. So I'm talking about the message of the cross. I'm talking about God's great love. That is the message of the cross, and we need to spread it everywhere we can, anytime we have an opportunity, we need to tell someone about the love of God. Do you know how many people are in this world? In Bucyrus, Ohio and upper Sandusky and Kerry and wherever our churches spread out, there are so many people today that just need to hear that somebody loves them, that God sees them, and he knows them, and he knows their story. So we see the great love of God in the cross, but Paul shows us something else from this Scripture. He reminds us there is great power in the cross. Aren't you so thankful for that? I mean, there is power in the cross of Jesus Christ, but to us who are being saved folks, it is the power of God. There is power in the cross because of, because of what happened there. Hebrews 922 tells us, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And so the cross is powerful because it's where the price was paid. It's where your sin and my sin was dealt with fully. And finally, all those Old Testament, sacrifices were only pointing to a once and for all greater sacrifice, it was all pointing to Jesus. I remember reading a story about a man that went to a church in in the in Italy, a little little chapel. And he said, when he walked in, all these little statues of the prophets were pointing in one direction. Statue after statue of of the prophets of the Old Testament, they were all pointing in one direction. And he turned and looked at the direction that they were pointing. And there was a greater statue of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament, everything was pointing to Jesus. Christ was pointing to this moment when he went to the cross and those Old Testament sacrifices, they were just pointing to Jesus. They were pointing to that greater sacrifice that he was going to make for you and I, and the cross is where that greater sacrifice happened, so we rejoice this morning. We rejoice this morning because our sins are paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And here's even more good news, the cross is powerful, yes, and it's powerful because of what came after. Aren't you so thankful for that? Jesus died on the cross. Jesus did die on the cross, He breathed His last breath there. Don't listen to those who try to tell you anything different. Jesus died on the cross. He breathed His last breath on that cross, and he cried out, it is finished, but Glory be to God, he didn't stay dead. On the third day, he rose from the grave, and his resurrection confirms everything the cross accomplished for you and me. Romans, 425, declares he was delivered over to death for our sins, and He was raised to life for our justification. The resurrection confirmed it all. It confirmed that God accepted his sacrifice. It confirmed that that we can have our sins forgiven, and so the resurrection proves that that Christ sacrifice was indeed accepted by by God Almighty. It proves that that death was defeated, and it proves that Jesus is exactly who he said he was. They knew who he was. They knew what he was claiming. That's why they killed Him on the cross. Jesus, the Son of God, died for you and I. Is it any wonder Paul says in Romans 116 for I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, God doesn't leave anybody out. Is the power salvation to everyone who believes. By making that statement, Paul is really laying a firm foundation for every believer who carries the message of Christ, Paul's saying he's not ashamed. That's telling me, and he's telling you he had no intentions of backing down or softening the message or hiding the truth. And I say, nor should we. We should not water down the truth. It's the truth that saves us, it's the truth that sanctifies us, and it's the truth that's going to get us on the other side. Folks, if we're going to get on the other side, we're going to have to go the way of the cross. There's no other way, but by way of the cross. We're not going back down, are we? We're not going to back down one bit. We were going to deliver the message of Jesus Christ. We know what it can do in a person's life. That's why we're not going to stop preaching the truth. We've seen the Word of God in action. We've experienced it. We've seen lives changed, and we've seen hope restored in people. We've seen people find Jesus as their Lord and Savior and and know their sins forgiven, the Spirit of God bore witness with their spirit that they were sons and daughters of God. Isn't that wonderful that, that there is a witness of the Spirit, that you know, that you can know that you're saved and that you're on your way to heaven. That's a gift from God. We don't have to hope. We know without a shadow of doubt that we are saved and that we're on our way to heaven. If you're walking in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, and you can know that you are saved. You can know that you know we've seen sinners transformed. We've seen people that we never dreamed would find Jesus. We never dreamed that their their life would ever turn around. But then they found Christ, and they found new purpose for their life. That's why we preach Jesus, Christ and Him crucified, because it's the power of God that brings salvation to every one of us who believes. So I say, stand firm in the truth of the cross. Stand firm in the truth of the cross. Don't back down. Keep pressing on. Speak the truth in love. Speak it with clarity and speak it with compassion. Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor, Ray La Salle for more information regarding B and C, visit you. Cyrus nazarene.org, you.