Philippians 4:8-9

Philippians 4:8-9 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. This is a passage that we know very well. But many of us though learning, receiving, hearing and seeing have a hard time applying it into our individual lives. It is not because we do not understand what we learn, receive, hear and see it is because we dislike the teaching. It conflicts with our thoughts. It is contrary to our own life experiences. And though we read it and meditate on it we pull out verses from the Bible that we do not agree with. We retain the scriptures that we can use and that we agree with. If you read a chapter today the scripture that remains with you is dependent on how you feel that day. If you are living in sin than the words pierce your heart are what remains with you. And if you are joyful and happy then only those words are what you choose to hold onto. Rather than understand the whole of God's word there are many times that we do not understand it properly. The purpose of the church and leaders and teachers is to help you understand the word of God properly and to apply it into your lives. It is to come together and understanding of God's teaching and to live our lives in accordance to this scripture. But when we dislike a certain teaching we refuse to accept it. Though we may be present in body we are not one with the church. If we are in a good mood we may say that we have been blessed by the pastor's sermon. And if we are in a bad mood no matter how true the pastor's sermon may be we do not accept it nor do we even pay attention to what was given to us. And if the words pierce our heart we complain that there is a problem with the pastors sermon. There are times when the pastor may not completely fill our spirits, but more often it is our inability to accept that which has been given to us. How often do you think that the pastor is teaching something incorrectly which would cause us to be unable to accept the teaching? If I have a stumbling block in my life whether in my thoughts or in my heart it does not matter how great the teaching is I will not be able to accept it. Many years ago when we lived in the East Coast we were invited to a church. We were not members of the church but only visiting. We had a hard time accepting the message that we heard. An elder of the church asked us what we thought of the pastors sermon. We replied that it was okay. Then the elder replied that no pastor can preach a sermon that pleases everyone. But within each sermon there is at least one thing to be learned. During the week I take that one lesson and try it to apply it in my life. The pastor of the church at that time had not been spiritually awakened yet. And because of the distance we could not attend that church. About 2 to 3 years later the pastor had gone to Korea and had been filled with the Holy Spirit. On his return he ended up pastoring one of the largest churches in the area. We saw how patience and support from the elders helped raise up a church and pastor. What the elder had taught us has remained with my husband and I. Whenever we go to a different church and hear a pastor’s sermon we never judge it as good or bad. We listen to see what is truth and to take it into our lives. There is always at least one thing that we can take away from a sermon. I counsel many people. I have heard many people complain about their pastor. They blame the pastor for their inability to grow spiritually. I have listened to many pastors and their teachings. At times people bring their pastors sermon to me so I listen to it. There is always a point to their message and a lesson in their message. But it is not to the liking of the one who listens to it and therefore they blame their pastor for preaching poorly. Yes, there may be pastors who preach without power but there is always at least one lesson that you can learn and apply it into your life. So I tell the people that I counsel that the true reason that you find a problem with the pastor's teaching is that you do not want to hear what the pastor is preaching to you. It is not because that there is fault with their teaching. I also tell them that if you are having a serious problem with the pastor then to leave the church but do not stay there and gossip. I tell them that if the gossip about the servant of God that there will be nothing good that comes out of it for them. Having been called to be a servant of God I have come to learn that we can neither blame the church members easily. The servants of God people called into pastorship should pray abundantly, live a mature spiritual life fulfill the duty of feeding the spirit of their church members. But when I look at myself I realize there are times when I have not prayed enough or done everything according to the Word. During these times the church members know exactly what is going on. If I pretend not to know the reality then as a servant of God I am being a fool. Though it may seem as though the church members do not know, they know everything. When I was a lay church member I knew. So how are we to live in the Word? Where are we to keep our focus? Our lives should be centered around the Scripture. Many people say that they live according to the scripture but rather than live truly according to the scripture they live their lives according to their own thoughts. If you interpret the Scripture the way you want then it is not living according to the Scripture. Your life must be truly centered around the Word of God. 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. We must truly put these things into practice in our lives. Only then will the Word of God come to life in us. For many of us there is no life in the Word of God. There is no use in just carrying around the Bible. For the Word of God to have power in your life you must read it, meditate on it, digest and apply it to your life. If you are hungry and you have food but you do not eat the food then the food is useless. You may have a banquet prepared before you but you must pick up the food put it in your mouth chew and swallow and allow your body to digest it. Unless you eat of it the food will do nothing for you. You will starve to death. It is the same with the Word of God. What use is it to carry around the Bible if I never read it? There is no point in opening the Bible if I don't read it. What use is it to read the Bible and not understand it? If I read the Bible I must process it and digest it and make it mine. I must take the Word of God eat of it and allow it to feed my spirit. I must understand it and then live my life according to it. When I live this life then it becomes power and strength. Many of us believe that just having the Bible is enough. Many think that reading one verse is sufficient. Likewise many think that just because they have seen with their eyes that they are now transformed. You have not been able to digest the Word. What happens when you eat too fast? You get indigestion. Sometimes you take medicine sometimes you have to go to the hospital. When you interpret the Bible in your own way this leads to problems. You did not understand the Scripture according to the will of God and now you have problems. Many times we misunderstand the true meaning of the Scripture and we become frustrated and complain. What path do you desire to take in your life? Do you want the Word of God to have power in your life, to cherish it, to have your life completely submerged in his grace? Or will you stand at the shore and not even get your feet wet? If you go deep into the ocean it is beautiful and there is peace. When there is a great storm and waves are crashing, deep in the ocean it is peaceful. What kind of grace do you desire to receive? Do you complain about the smallest problems in your life? Do you distance yourself away from God? Is God dwelling in your heart? You say you are a Christian that you believe in Jesus but is Jesus in your heart? If I say that Jesus is not in your heart you would be disappointed. Is that not so? You say that you prayed today, read the Bible, but if in any moment you let go of God then God is not in you. The Bible is clearly black and white. You are either the child of the devil or the child of God. Though you may say you believe in Jesus and think that you are guaranteed salvation forever but this is not so. In any moment you can lose to the devil and fall. You will become food for the devil. At these times evil spirits will come and attack you. You will get angry, you will get frustrated, you will be disappointed. You will be depressed and you will find yourself deep in despair because you have opened up the path for the devil to come in and attack you. God dwells in light he does not dwell in darkness. We know that light pierces darkness but if we refuse to accept the light then the light cannot come in. I cannot complain to God when it is I who refuses to accept the light. Then what must we do? Who delights when you get angry? Is it God or the devil? When you judge and persecute others who delights in this? Is it God or the devil? When you are lost in your depression and living your life in worry and anxiety without God, who delights in this? Is it God or the devil? When you lie and deceive others are you the child of God or the child of the devil? If you are living in sin but you say you are a child of God then you are wrong. If you are fighting with your siblings are you a child of God or the child of the devil? If you tell me that one moment you are a child of God then the next moment the child of the devil and then the following moment the child of God and then the following moment a child of the devil, is this right? If you die suddenly when you are as the child of the devil where will you go? Forget all else, in this very moment, don't think of anything else. You will end up being food for the devil. You do not get to heaven just by believing in heaven in that moment. There must be repentance to go to heaven. At any moment you can be taken by the devil. The people of God must stand apart. The people of God must be clean. When Jesus came he preached repentance saying the kingdom of God was near. He did not preach the kingdom of God without repentance. This is what Jesus spoke. John the Baptist preached repentance. Jesus also first preached repentance. We must repent in order to go to heaven. Repentance does not mean I repent today commit the same sin and then repent tomorrow and commit the same sin again. What did Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery? He said go and sin no more. But we refuse to accept this teaching. If you are a liar you must no longer lie. If you deceive others you must no longer deceive. If you know it is wrong to judge and persecute others then you must no longer do it. You must no longer get angry, frustrated, and irritable. If I have wronged someone then I must go and apologize. You cannot use the excuse that you have confessed to God. What does the Bible say? It says when you come to bring your offering to God and you remember that you have wronged someone to go make that situation right and then to come give your offerings to God. We do not take this teaching seriously. How are you living your life? Just like in today's Scripture do we truly desire to live our lives the way we have learned, When you hear the word you think to yourself that yes you must do it. But when you leave the church you complain that trying to live according to God's Word is too difficult. That you cannot make money this way. That you have no friends. You complain that it is too hard to do it God's way. It is not so. If you truly live according to God's way and you have no friends then live with no friends. You do not need to have friends that will lead you to eternal death. Get rid of those friends. If you must lie to make money, then you don't make money. You will not starve to death. You may not make as much money as you desire but you will not starve to death. And if you do starve to death then die. It is better to be without sin and go to heaven than to live with sin and go to hell. You may think that by lying you will progress, but you see with your own eyes that the world today is falling apart. Whenever there is a new president we dig up everything in their past. What happens when we go before the King of kings? Will our sins be hidden? Even on Earth we know that we cannot lie until the end. Eventually the truth will be known. In Heaven when we go to meet the Father it says that all things will be revealed. But do we truly believe this? We know that God knows the number of hairs on our heads but do we truly believe this? Even now we are losing hair and growing hair but this is something that you cannot calculate. Though it is written in the Bible you question its validity. Do you not question it? If so then we do not understand God. It says... And the God of peace will be with you. whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. If we do all these things then the God of peace will be with you. It is written in the Scripture. It is not easy to do what is written. It will hurt to the bone to do so. To live according to God's Word does not mean everything will be easy. The Scripture is a summary of the fundamentals needed to be embraced by God. But we think that it is too difficult to obey. It is difficult to live according to the Word without the Holy Spirit. The easy path is to be with Jesus. To walk with the Holy Spirit is easy. I was surprised this week to learn that at a seminary they did not teach about the Holy Spirit. They only taught the Word. The student had only knowledge that he was educated with. What will happen to the souls of those that he goes to shepherd later? Faith is being changed. If you do not stay awake it will also happen to you. Will you enter into heaven? It is written that we cannot understand the scripture without the Spirit. Though they do speak of the spirit the spirit they speak of and the Spirit that we speak of is different. The Spirit must be the Holy Spirit of God. It is not a spirit that you think of in your own mind. The true Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that guides us and reveals the Word to us. It is through the Holy Spirit that we apply the Word to our lives. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We must rid ourselves of our own thoughts so that the Spirit may work in us. I must rid myself of all evil behavior. We must rid ourselves of all the things we lust after. We must rid ourselves of the things that are wrong. You throw away things that you once purchased that are of value whether it be treasure clothes or belongings, because they are of no more use to you. But what if God also has no use for you? You must please God. You must please the Master. You must please Jesus our groom to be embraced by him. If he does not embrace us it is over for us. He will not embrace us when we have not pleased him. You may stay in a marriage on earth because of your children, for money, or because of your pride but you cannot be this way with God. You cannot enter heaven in this manner. You are mistaken to believe that because you live this way on earth, that God will accept you in heaven. If you want to be found in the presence of God and then you must be separate from the world. You must be clean. You must please the Father. Jesus our groom must be pleased with you. The true servant is one whom the Master is pleased with. Where will you stand? Will you stand with the devil and go against God's teachings? Or will you stand with God and be joyful and give thanks in all circumstances and live in his will? You must decide. May you decide that in all that you do whether you eat, drink, listen and receive, that you will do it to the glory of God and live a life that please him. Sermon by Pastor Joy Lee translated by Miguel Park