Alright, so if we don't have any other announcer, why don't we turn our Bibles to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 I'm gonna be mainly focused on verse 22, but chapter 2 22 through 26 Chapter 2 22 to 26. I'm gonna read out of the ESV So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness faith love and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart Have nothing to do with foolish ignorant controversies, you know that they breed quarrels and the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome But kind to everyone able to teach patiently enduring evil Correcting his opponents with gentleness God may perhaps grant them repentance Leading to a knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil After being captured by him to do his will.

Let's pray Gracious and loving father we thank you so much for today And we know father what a privilege it is For us to be able to pray to you to come and worship you father God And again, we know that there are many brothers and sisters around the world who are in the most midst of heavy persecution We ask that you would surround them and protect them strengthen their faith Lord God That in the midst of persecution and and many of them even martyred them Lord That more and more people may know that the hope that we have in Christ is not something that we've made up That you are a God who loves you're a God who is merciful That we worship a Savior who has resurrected from the dead That we would live our life Lord God fullest for your glory So for that and we pray for your blessing this morning in Jesus name we pray.

Amen You know around this time of the year Obviously because of the students coming back and there's a lot of changes that always takes place You know and not just this time of the year because our church is you know, somewhat young I don't say somewhat it is young and so there's constant changes and those of you who just came into college College is going to rock your world All right next four years is gonna change your life I mean, I see so many people come to college and you know by the time they get back home after four years They realize everything has changed your friends has changed.

You know, what what you experience has changed So it gets harder and harder to go jump back in because you don't realize how much things are changing until you go back home But it's not just a collegiance, you know There's some of you who just recently graduated and and you're working and your world is being rocked right now You know waking up every day at 6 in the morning to try to get the work and then come in a Bible study and all That you're adjusting to this new schedule.

So you you are going through a lot of changes Some of you who are just got married or in the in the process of getting married right now I mean your world is gonna get rocked and you can tell even visually, you know, especially with the guys I don't see a whole lot of change with girls But with guys even the way they dress change when they meet the right person, you know I mean their hairstyle changes all of a sudden you start wearing button-down shirts and you know, and you take shower regularly I mean, there's a lot of things Changes, you know, then those of you who are young couples who have children And obviously that's another thing's gonna rock your world and you you start seeing changes, right?

There's a lot of things that happen, especially when we're young, you know our life changes And so when our life changes, there's external things Like I said, you can even tell physically the way you talk what you value You know what you're hoping for what you consider to be entertaining all of these things are going through process of change But I can say of all the things that we experience in life that changes There's nothing more radical than when we meet Christ When somebody becomes a Christian that a lot of times the people who knew you before you met Christ They don't even recognize who you are.

Like what happened to you? right and it's not just a small change when we meet Christ and and someone who was once lost in sin and is found in Christ there has to be no almost always is a Radical change our speech changes our weekends change what we pursue change But the challenge that we have and I know that every every genuine believer who meets Christ goes through a radical change But if you've been a Christian for a while Three years four years, maybe ten plus years You know We get to a point where we need to plateau in our walk with God and then we begin to think you know that change Happened when I first met Christ, but after that we hit a plateau and we just kind of learned to coast and we're in the beginning when you begin to cause you you get a little bit frustrated because you feel I'm just kind of stagnant and I don't have that kind of same passion that I did before and you begin to look around your your other peers and you see Well, everybody else is going through the same thing So what end up happening is you begin to adjust and think maybe this is normal Maybe that passion and this this passionate pursuit of Christ is just something that happens when you initially meet Christ But after you've been a Christian for a while, maybe plateauing is normal but the problem with that type of thinking is Every time you look in Scripture again, it screams out Apostle Paul as he is sitting in prison after 30 40 years of ministry.

He talks about straining He's talks about fighting to the end. You know Timothy Was not a newbie, you know, that's a term that's that use now. I'm pretty sure I'm using it correctly, right? He's a newbie. He's not a newbie in ministry He's been with Paul through various trials when Paul was put into prison the first time Timothy was with him Timothy joined him early part of the second missionary journey So it wasn't like Timothy all of a sudden joined ministry and as a young pastor She started facing trials and all of a sudden he's shocked and he's thinking about going back home No, Timothy went through all these trials.

He was there when Paul was shipwrecked He was there when he was put into prison and and stoned and he was he was there through all of that But the trial that they're facing now was much greater than anything that they've seen before and probably one of the greatest Discouragement with Timothy is that all these older men that traveled with Paul some of them are beginning to fall away and go back home So he's beginning to experience timidity And maybe he's beginning to contemplate maybe maybe I've done enough I mean I sacrifice and I gave and you know, I had hardship I mean, I've done my part let the other guys do it and it's in that context Paul writes this letter second Timothy telling Timothy to persevere To continue that you're on this right path.

This persecution is not coming because you made the wrong choice You know, you could have gone left you could have gone, right? You could have want went to this city and you could instead of going to that city whenever we face hardship We begin to rethink the decisions that we made and we begin to think that maybe if I made that choice This hardship would not be here.

Maybe if I went to this school, maybe if I want to jack that job Maybe because I made the wrong decision. These things are happening Instead Paul reminds Timothy said these things are happening because you're on the right path These hardships and persecutions are coming your way because you are following the Lord and he Challenges him to continue to persevere in this fight, even if you give your life You will find true life in Christ the Paul We talked about a couple weeks ago in verse 22 He's talking about how to continue to persevere.

And so the first thing that we looked at was to flee Paul says you must flee in your walk with God. You must flee you cannot Love the world and love God at the same time no matter how hard you try You you want the church to change you want the world to change but it's just not going to change God's Word will stand What he said?

2,000 years ago what he does today and what we he will do tomorrow. He will never contradict himself So when he says you cannot love the world and love God at the same time It is consistent even today no matter how hard you try So he says you must flee you must run from this but the second part of it He says not only must you flee but you must pursue righteousness faith love and peace Along with those who call on the name of the Lord from a pure heart You know some of us at least in the beginning of our walk with God try so hard to flee from the world And after a while you may have gotten tired and you thinking you know, this is too hard You know every time you go to school you watch TV and there's just temptations around us all the time How can we possibly fight this?

And so you just kind of learn to compromise as long as you're not in blatant sin You know long as you're not getting drunk and you've kind of pushed the envelope to the point where you can enjoy the world And not go over the edge. So you're always living on the edge Because you're always tempted Every once in a while you might step over but it's kind of like oh, that's a mistake See when we're only fleeing from the world and you don't understand what it means to pursue Christ You may feel safe living on the border Your whole life is a gray area See this second part of pursuing Christ pursuing righteousness That word is the same word that Paul uses to describe persecution in fact that word that same word that he describes to pursue is The same word that he uses in Galatians 1 13 when he describes how he used to be It says in Galatians 1 13 for you have heard of my former life in Judaism how I persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it So Paul used that same word persecuted here to challenge Timothy to pursue righteousness.

It is not a passive word You know think about it when Paul took responsibility for the stoning of Stephen It was not legal for him to do that when they took off their cloaks and put it at Paul's feet Paul was taking responsibility for this murder if the Romans found out what happened.

He could have been executed for that So when Paul says he persecuted the church, he basically was saying I'm willing to die That wasn't enough He got permission from the chief priests and the Jewish leaders to get a small army With him and begin to chase these Christians out way over into Damascus And the reason why he was targeting Damascus is as dark Damascus is as far as you can go under the authority of the chief priests So basically what Paul was doing was he was pouring his life out to persecute these Christians And it is in that context as he's going to Damascus.

He meets Christ and his life is turned flipped upside down He used that same word to encourage and challenge Timothy to passionately pursue these things Think about all the things that we pursue with all our might And again, I don't mean to make some of you feel bad. But you know when the iPhone came out you see this long line You know going around the corner.

Some of them said they were standing for two days Right because they want to be the first to have the iPhone to play the games and to show people they they were the first right Now we go through all of that to pursue a phone But What kind of effort are we putting toward pursuing the things of God?

See, that's the word that he's describing. In fact, that same word is translated in the New Testament to pursue and It's translated persecute 30 separate times. In fact, it is more common to translate this word to persecute and he's reminding Timothy Our walk with God is not it's gonna be a cakewalk It's not just choosing the right church and you just kind of go with the flow I hear the right sermons and just gonna go with the flow.

It's gonna require vigorous effort That's one thing that and I was sharing with our leaders yesterday as I was meditating on Thessalonians and I look at Paul's life and He lived every single day preaching the gospel because he lived as if it mattered whether he preached it or not It mattered whether he he prayed or not It mattered whether he persevered or not He was concerned that the Thessalonians after they heard the gospel that they were gonna fall back because of persecution and he writes to them He says I was afraid that my labor would have been in vain He didn't just step back and say God is sovereign So I just gonna trust God and I'm I'm just gonna live in peace.

He doesn't say that He lived vigorously as if he was in a midst of context of war Even as he is being persecuted as he is in prison. He never relaxed You know There's a there's a sense in our culture that we think that if we're mature And if we know who God is and Lord, he's sovereign that we're Calvinist that we should just relax Read the Bible and relax come to church and just relax.

Well, I don't see that with Paul He's the one who teaches us about sovereignty He's the one who teaches about election and yet I see a man who every single day lived as if everything he did mattered And the reason why he did that because it did it matters.

It matters what we do It matters what we do with our time. It matters what we do with our money. It matters if we pray It matters if we share the gospel it matters And that's why Paul is telling Timothy To passionately pursue these things, but I want to go through in this pursuit Like what is it exactly that he is asking us to pursue and I can sit here and and tell you about what is righteousness?

And what is faith? What is? Pursuing love means what is pursuing peace means but in the end If you see these things as simply as the end goal pursuing righteousness You're gonna miss the whole point of what Paul is trying to tell Timothy So I'm not gonna spend this morning expositing what righteousness what love is what peace is Because I want you to understand that these things that he is calling us to do is only a means to the ultimate end You know Paul says in first Corinthians 9 26, so I do not run aimlessly I do not box as one beating the air Right, whether you are beating the air whether you're running aimlessly, you're gonna pour out energy But the difference is if you're beating the air aimlessly if you're boxing aimlessly at the end result you accomplish nothing Instead of and just spent the same amount of energy But all you all you did was box the air Sometimes Christian life feels exactly like that You know those of you who were young Christians and you're excited about your faith and you say ah Yeah, I read the Bible pray go to church and you're excited about it Those of you who've been a Christian for five years ten years fifteen years plus You kind of have this thing that you know what I've done all of this and I know how to play the game I know what to say.

I've read my scripture. I know the fundamentals of Christianity now what? Again I want to I want I'm not gonna sit here and talk about the each detailed words because I want to go beyond that and see the bigger picture It's kind of like an individual if you go into the army and You get basic training right and everybody goes to the basic training because you're being taught how to be a soldier How you should dress how you should sleep how you should wake up how you should?

March how to hold the gun how to shoot a gun and it's basic training, right? But if you got into the army and all you did was basic training After about three four years, you're like, okay. All right, we're marching again Right wake up in the early morning and he blows a whistle and then we're marching again After a while, you're like, what is this?

See basic training is to train you for something else. It's a means for the ultimate goal But if you think the basic training and making your bed and marching properly that that's the goal, it'll become old real quick See, that's what pursuing righteousness love faith and peace will feel like at times when you don't see the bigger picture And all you think is being a being a passionate pursuer of these things is is this do the right things, right?

Have the right theology put enough time in prayer, you know serve the homeless and and we have all of these things But after a while all we've learned how to do is look like a Christian like a soldier You've dressed yourself up and you know how to dress and you know how to talk and you know what to do and you know How to take commands, but all you've done is learn how to look like a soldier Oftentimes that's what our Christian pursuit feels like We're just learning how to put on the uniform of a Christian And so when we talk about pursuing righteousness, we're doing all these things But in the end it feels like you're running it in circles.

You're not getting anywhere What is it exactly that he that we are pursuing? If these are just a means to get there, what are we pursuing? You know Paul says first Timothy 6 5 he said a lot of these guys a lot of these false teachers are coming They are depraved mind the depraved of the truth Imagining that godliness is a means of gain now.

There is great gain in godliness with contentment In other words, these guys are using godliness to gain something but they're missing the whole point of godliness itself if you understand what the gut godliness is for and You are content about it. It's great game. But if godliness is only only through it that you're gonna gain something else You're missing the whole point.

That's what these guys say They think that godliness is is for the purpose of gaining something else Think about it in the church how often we do things because we want to look a certain way to certain people How often do we do certain things because we're leaders. That's what leaders are supposed to do How much are we how much of what we do because oh, we're a member of brain.

So this is what's expected So so we do these things and in some way we're gaining the respect We're gaining honor by doing all of these things But Paul says in Philippians 3 12 to 14. He says anyone who is mature should have the same attitude of Paul But this is what he says He starts out in verse 12 said not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect But I press on to make it my own Because Christ Jesus had made me his own brothers I do not consider that I have made it my own but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and Straining forward to what lies ahead pressing on toward the goal for the price of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus Now you've probably heard that passage many times Paul again emphasizing his vigorous pursuit Forgetting what is behind pressing on toward what is ahead?

Straining toward what is ahead? Right? So again, this is a guy who's writing this sitting in prison You know if anybody could relax he could be relaxed I mean he's sitting in prison and preaching the gospel But he never quits He's passionately pursuing but here's the point if you just look at that and say yes, let's do it.

Let's go. Let's do it Right, you probably many of you are sitting here saying like I've done it. I've done it many times and now it's gotten old You know, I feel like basic training again What is the goal of this? What is the purpose of this? Well Paul says and again the key to what Paul says here is in the previous thing that he says in Philippians 3 8 through 9 Look, this is what he says Remember chapter 3 verse 12 begins by him saying not that I have already obtained it Not that I have been made perfect and I am now I am pressing on to make it my own So what is it that he is pursuing to make it his own?

Philippians 3 8 9 he says indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain who? Christ So in other word, what if Paul saying what is he pressing on toward?

What is he straining toward? to know Christ His goal wasn't simply to live a right life his goal wasn't simply to have peace with other people His goal was that these are means to get to Christ to have deeper fellowship with Christ Why was he okay with being persecuted and suffering?

Because he said through the suffering he can fellowship with this Christ That everything in the world became rubbish in light of knowing Jesus Christ see what Paul and what Jesus is calling us to do is not simply here. Here's how what you must jump Here's a standard of righteousness that if you're a Christian this is what you need to meet up to and we're trying so hard to jump through these hoops and Not realizing that what Christ is calling us to is to himself Is to himself Paul says again in 1st Corinthians 2 2 to 3 Verse 2 for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified Why does he say that because it's Corinthians church in the church They became a Christian and all of a sudden now they're being divided they're allowing all kinds of sinfulness in the church and Paul says the reason why this is happening in the church because you forgot You forgot the foundation in which you stand which is Christ crucified You forgot what brings you together.

It's Christ crucified You forgot the reason why we sacrifice it's Christ crucified So the moment Christ is not the head the moment that Christ is not your pursuit You see Godness as a means to get something else And that's why this church was divided. That's why Paul says when I came to you I didn't come with persuasive words of wisdom, but in power So that your your faith would not rest on man's wisdom but on God's power so that you would see Christ through me That what I'm asking you to do is not to jump through hoops, but I'm calling you to Christ Again Paul describes in Colossians 2 1 through 4 his ministry He says for I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you And for those that lay out to see and for all who have not seen me face to face So when Paul says he's laboring he's struggling for them.

I mean, that's an understatement This guy was literally willing to die. I Mean, there's a guy who gets stoned to get dragged out of the city thinking he's dead walks right back up goes into the city And he comes back and preaching the gospel He's shipwrecked. He's beaten. He's he's given lashes which most men would have died just even from one time So when he says I struggle That's an understatement He says I struggle.

I want you to know how much I struggle for you that their hearts may be encouraged Being knit together in love to reach all the riches of the fullness of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery See that he says I'm struggling all of this because I want you to know this is what I'm trying to establish What does he say so that you may know?

the knowledge of God's mystery which is who which is Christ and Then he says in verse 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Everything that we need is in Christ Everything that we want is in Christ everything that we covet in the world Thinking that if we have these things there would be more joy.

I would feel more alive Everything that we have been deceived to think that is in the world. Jesus says it's in Christ all the mysteries Everything that you and I can possibly imagine everything that we've been this world has been deceived to pursue He says found in Christ. That's why Paul says I struggle with all the energy that he's given me that you may know this Christ Not only is he pursuing this Christ He's giving his life so that you may also come to know this Christ That's why Paul says in Philippians if you're asking me if I want to live or die, I want to die Because my pursuit is Christ if I die, I'm going to meet this Christ that I've been pursuing But the only reason why I will continue living is because I want you to know this Christ, too.

I Want you to see who this Christ is and I want you to come with me So as long as he keeps me here, I'm gonna take as many people as possible That's how he describes his goal To find a life in Christ So if it pursuing righteousness is all anything other than pursuing Christ, it will become old it will become a tremendous burden Sooner or later you will give it up Because whatever you receive whatever honor you may get Whatever respect whatever position that you may get from pursuing righteousness in the end.

It won't be enough It won't be enough for you to persevere. It won't be enough when you get persecuted It won't be enough when your friends and families and the church doesn't live up to what you desire If our pursuit is anything other than Christ You will be disappointed and you're just a you're just one event away from saying that's it That's why Paul says these are just means We pursue righteousness because these are things that brings us to Christ we pursue faith because faith connects us to Christ We pursue love because he first loved us.

We pursue peace because we can only have peace when we are with Christ Why do we need to do this Christ is what we're pursuing. Why do we need to do this? Well in Ephesians 2 89 you guys know that verse very well for by grace you have been saved through faith It is not your own doing it is a gift of God not as a result of work so that no one may boast For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them So what does he say?

We've been saved by grace for what for good works? We were created for good works, you know, if we don't properly understand what good works is that Paul that Paul describes as a gift of God and If we're don't if we're not careful we could look at works as you know What isn't that the law and didn't didn't the law all the law did was burden people and bring them under the curse and make sin utterly sinful If you look at the Old Testament if you look at the fall of Adam and Eve when God created Adam and Eve did he say?

You're created. I put my breath in you and I made you like us and now just just go Is that what happened? Because oftentimes we think of work and labor as something that came in after the fall No, that didn't happen. In fact, if you look at Genesis chapter 2 When God created Adam and Eve, he said be fruitful and multiply and subdue the land.

So before the fall they were working They were laboring. They were naming animals. They were they were cultivating the land But what happened after the fall was? Sin came in It wasn't the work itself in fact Work itself actually causes us to to feel alive You know, I Would tell you you know, like I've had all kinds of jobs You know because I'm a I'm a pastor and you know, we don't come from a wealthy family So, you know, I've had to I've had to work in any minimum wage job I've had it at some point and I've had some bad jobs, you know I've had a job where I was cleaning toilets eight hours a day sometimes 12 hours if I wanted overtime You know from 8 to 2 sometimes 8 to 5 in the morning, but that was not my worst job You know, I had another job working at City of Belflower My job was to go into the sewer area where the water pipes and I had to clean that out to repaint the pipes So I was 30 feet under painting pipes that one summer for about four months full-time, but that was not my worst job You know, I got some I had some bad experiences, but that was not my worst job my worst job Why I dreaded going to work was I worked at a gas station in Norwalk?

I think it was an Imperial in Norwalk. So many guys may know that area But there was a 76 gas station there and it was already dead by then. I don't even know if that exists anymore There are no customers. I mean this is you know now like because of the internet There's so much stuff going on at night at that time even a TV shut off around one at one o'clock There was no internet no phones, you know, just landline and they're literally I was little in this little room with a glass window and And I had to sit there and we had maybe two customers a day You know and the funny thing is I couldn't balance the balance I was always $10.

I don't know where it went But anyway, it's a side story I Dreaded that job because I work from 11 to 7 in the morning full-time And this is while I was going to school to help pay for my tuition But literally from 11 to 6 o'clock. We had no customers You know and then and then right one transition that people would start to come but there were no six seven hours It was like prison You know one time I literally read the book of Acts four times in one sitting.

I had nothing to do I was in small group. My small group leader would give me a book and said, oh, you know We're gonna read this for the next month. I would have that read and next time I comes I read it Give me something, you know, literally seven hours.

I was doing nothing I had that job for about six seven months and after about two months I just couldn't stand it anymore because every day I go in as a 12 o'clock. So choose 1205 Six tomorrow, what am I gonna do for six hours? You know and every time a car would pull up I get excited It's like oh shoot.

He's gonna come. Oh shoot. He's not putting a quick acid, you know You think like doing nothing would be great initially. I thought I'd be awesome. I got no responsibility. No customer I got nothing to do but literally it's like being in prison Because I can't go out because I'm working, you know If that was the worst job was not all this other stuff because just seven hours to do nothing Sometimes we think that we became a Christian now, we're liberated.

So therefore we do nothing We just enjoy a Christian Liberty means we're freed from the bondage of that now. I just do whatever I want That is not what the scripture talks about when he says is we've been liberated So we've been liberated for good works What was tainted at the fall?

God restores it He restores us so that we may live a righteous life that God intended and we feel alive The scripture says that he came to give life and give this life abundantly when he tells us to come and follow me He's asking us. Hey sacrifice to jump through these hoops.

That's not what he's saying You've learned how to live in death where death reigned Now that you've met Christ come follow me and I will show you how to live That's what Christian sanctification is sanctification isn't jumping through hoops and try to appease this. Holy God. You can't appease this.

Holy God What righteous deed can you possibly do to appease a holy holy holy God that is not what sanctification is Sanctification is Christ calling us to live Everything that you've learned since you were a child before you met Christ Was learned in the context of our enemy teaching us and Telling us and deceiving us to think that if you pursue these things if you have these things if you go here if you eat This if you if you have the proper people around you you will live But you lived long enough to know that all that does is bring more frustration You finish one bucket list you have to make another bucket list You eat of the bread that the world gives you you will go hungry again If you drink of the water that this world keeps telling you is what you need to drink.

You will go hungry. Are you thirsty again? iPhone 6 iPhone 7 iPhone 8 iPhone 58 and Every time you're gonna be convinced. I need the next one That's the deception of this world That's why you look at all the I am statements of Christ He says you're coming from bread, but I am the bread You think that the Messiah is gonna come and he's gonna bring the light.

I am the light You're hoping to be received by these fake shepherds of Israel who's kicking you out of the synagogue. I am the door I am the shepherd you want me to come and raise your brother from the dead But I am the resurrection and the life You're looking to see where you ought to go where the truth is where the path is He said I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life No one comes to the Father but through me you think you're saved because you're children of Moses But before Moses was says I am Good works Sanctification is a call to come to him We receive Christ and we've been given life and now he says I'm gonna teach you how to live this life you ever see anybody, you know, there are some of you guys who are gifted with singing and It and when you sing You there you can see you shine Because that's how God created you.

You have a Fantastic voice and when you sing you shine you feel alive. Not only do you feel alive? We all benefit from this life Do you understand what I'm saying? When the scripture says that God has given us each individual gifts and we live the way God intended us to live Pursuing righteousness faith love and peace and we feel alive The glory of God is reflected on us and we benefit God receives the glory and everyone else benefits as a result He's teaching us how to live It's not jumping through the hoops.

It's not to appease this Holy God It's because our sins have been atoned for So now you are free to live And that's why he calls us to pursue righteousness That's why he calls us to pursue faith to pursue love and to pursue peace Life is found in Christ in Christ alone.

Well, how should we do this? He says Along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. You're not meant to be doing this by yourself In fact, if you look at the fall the very first thing that happens when Adam and Eve breaks God's command What's the first thing that they do?

They go into isolation They hide themselves in shame Loneliness must come in. I know you know if we survey the room how many of us feel lonely That came as a result of the fall It came as a result of the fall God intended remember what he created everything.

He said he created the earth. It was good. He created the heavens He it was good. He created the light. It was good. He created Adam. It was good Except he looked at him in the second time. He said it was not good for him to be alone So he made a companion for him because he was not meant to be alone So the first thing that happens when the fall comes is that they are separated.

They have to begin to hide from each other And so our life our Christian life was never meant to be lived by ourselves. In fact Hebrews 10 24 and 25 Pulse or the author says and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deed Not neglecting to meet together as is a habit of some but encouraging what one another all the more as you see the day drawing near You're not supposed to live by yourself, you know And I know a lot of people if we did a survey and said what was the one that number one thing that you're looking For it'll say, you know good theology good preaching and fellowship So I think everybody knows how fellowship affects us.

But here's the thing that we need you and I need to understand There's a difference between fellowship and friendship There's so many people are going from church to church looking for friendship Now the difference between friendship and fellowship is friendship only happens with certain people who have similar background, right?

You were educated the same way you are same economic status You have you're in the same similar age bracket And so you have friends because you have common experiences common background common language And so we want to connect with friends see friendship I'm not saying it's always the case.

You can have fellowship with friends, but sometimes you can have friends without having fellowship Right, you can have friends and say why I love that that guy or that girl because they never judge me No matter what you do. They never judge me. Well true fellowship requires that we speak the truth in love Because there's a clear goal.

It's partnership Friendship will be perfectly content where we are But fellowship will provoke us on toward loving good deed because fellowship is a partnering together for something. There is a purpose for it It's not just so that I can be sued and I can somebody can can give me a sympathetic ear because life is hard Fellowship will provoke us Friendship only happens with people who are similar to us fellowship can happen with anyone who is in the context of pursuing Christ a 13 year old a 70 year old who is passionately pursuing Christ We have fellowship because I can be provoked you don't have to be my age You don't have to have the same experience if you love Christ you're pursuing him You can be provoked by anybody of any age of any language But sometimes we get make we mix up the friendship with fellowship We're jumping from place to place group to group people to people looking for somebody to understand me but in reality what the Bible calls us is Fellowship and that's why he says not to just get together.

It says along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart What I want to encourage you guys this morning is to look for people Who is on the same path as you? Don't just don't do so I were in the same fellowship, but we're in the same Bible study But look for people who have pure heart and team up with them.

It's a I what do we have in common? You have Christ in common Is it all we write we're like bicycling we have that in common. Really? That's your connection not Christ We like rock climbing. So, you know, I have I can I have something to talk to you about this guy One go rock climbing really that's what you're gonna you're gonna bring you together, right?

Because you like rock climbing If Christ isn't what brings you together, whatever else is bringing you together is gonna easily fall apart That we ought to run this race Together to provoke one another this ought to be a fellowship of people from all different backgrounds People would we would have normally sitting and have lunch together if it wasn't for Christ.

That's the beauty of the church The beauty of the church are people from all age all background all culture Bringing us together when the outside world looks at it says why are those people together? How did they become friends? What could they possibly have in common? Why is that old guy with that young guy?

You know, why are these people sitting together and calling each other brothers and sisters in Christ? And that was one of the best evidence of the power of the gospel in the early church was that you had slave owners and slaves You had Pharisees and tax collectors You had Jews and Gentiles all in the same church And they called each other brothers and that's what called the outside church outside people to look at that isn't what is bringing them together It was Christ they were all pursuing Christ together Let me wrap up with this, you know a lot of times we talk about sanctification, you know again we have this mentality It's like oh, it's burdensome.

It's a lot of sacrifice and life is hard enough as it is You know, I gave this illustration years ago, but it's been a while. So I'm gonna wrap up with this You know how the birds got their wings Okay, some of you guys may know what I'm talking about because I've given it before How the birds got their wings and this is not in the Bible.

Okay, so don't say hey We learned something new about the Bible today. It's not in the Bible. Okay A long long time ago. There are birds did not have wings. So if the imagine birds that didn't have wings, right? Imagine birds that didn't have wings if they didn't have they'd be pretty pathetic creatures.

They're little tiny legs, you know I mean, they can't run. They're not fast. They don't have arms. They have this little beak. They can't protect themselves And so because they were pathetic creatures, they were used as servants in the jungle So the so the the monkeys would make them carry their bananas from tree to tree, right?

So that's all they were good for and then the angels were flying around and they looked at these birds and they had mercy on Them look at these animals. They're being abused. Let's do something about it. So one of the benevolent angels decided to Say hey, why don't we give them our wings?

Then they could be come from a pathetic creature and they could they could fly Right, so they came and all these angels decided to sacrifice their wings and give it to these birds So when they first got the wings, they had no idea what this was They have the bananas in their back and they're running around the jungle and they're running into the trees, right?

So what is this? This is a cruel joke right We're carrying the bananas and now we got to carry this burden too. Like who are these angels? You know and so they were running around and you know what the what the banana is like So this is too much.

So eventually they decided to get rid of their wings but some of them remembered Look at the angels remember what the angels were doing with these rings. Do you think that maybe they were flying? Maybe they were up in the air because of these wings and it was these wings that that caused them to be up there So some of them said you know what?

Let's try it so some of the birds decided to go up on a hill and fly off and then they spread their wings and they began to fly and they no longer were carriers of bananas and The ones who continue to carry their bananas Eventually evolution took its course and then they died off.

That's why they're not here So now these birds have become these majestic creatures, right So much of our Christian life He may be a silly childish story But so much of our Christian life because we don't understand what it is What we have in Christ We look at all the imperatives of scripture and all the challenges that we have and all we see is the blood of the cross All we see is sacrifice.

All we see is pain They're carrying these bananas paying the bills Having a good marriage raising children is hard enough as it is and then we come to church and then we feel guilty I got to read the Bible. I got to pray I got a game I got a serve and on top of all the burdens of being a human being in this fallen world now I got to carry the extra burden of satisfying God and In this burden is too much to bear and so after a while you throw it off and say, you know what?

My life is much easier before I met Christ But when we realize what Christ is calling us to is to life That the calling that he's given us imperatives the righteousness. These are all calls to come to him That he opened the gates to the throne of grace and he says now come with confidence Not to appease the Holy God But because that's your Abba Father Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and I'm humble in heart and I will give rest for your soul for my yoke is easy and my burden is light Isaiah 40 31 it says they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings of eagles They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint so I pray with all my heart that our church would recognize the Prize that we have in Christ that Jesus came to give life and give life abundantly that all of scripture is A call to Christ and Christ himself Would you take a minute to come before the Lord and prayer with me as a worship team comes to lead us in praise?

Again take a few minutes come to come before God and to pray Lord I've been trying so hard with my own strength to do this and to do that Not recognizing that you were calling me to you Lord I want to know you I Want to be intimate with you.

I want to know this life that you promise And to take some time to come and pray before God That God's call this morning is to live and to live abundantly. Let's pray (gulping)