Nobleton Community Church

2025-11-042025-11-04

IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON WATER

YOU’VE GOT TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”

Nobleton Community Church
Date November 2, 2025
Text Matthew 14:22-36
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Carl Boyle was a sales representative. One day, he was driving home when he saw a group of young children selling Kool-Aid on a corner in his neighborhood. They had the typical hand-scrwled sign over their stand. “Kool-Aid, 10 cents.” Carl was intrigued. He pulled over to the curb. A young man approached and asked politely if he would like strawberry or grape Kool-Aid. He placed his order and handed the boy a quarter. After much deliberation, with the other kids, they determined he had some change coming, so they rifled through a cardboard box until they finally came up with the correct amount. The boy returned with the change and the drink, then stood by the side of the car. After a few seconds, he asked if Carl was finished drinking. “Just about,” he said,” why”? “Well, that’s the only cup we have answered the boy, and we need to stay in business,”

It’s difficult to operate a Kool-Aid business if you only have one cup. We sometimes make that mistake in the church. We think that perhaps we don’t have enough money to buy any more cups (maybe not cups), but whatever we need. Or perhaps we don’t have the personnel to do what needs to be done. We ourselves are too busy. We sometimes even look for reasons why something can’t be done.

We could speak this morning about the fact that the workers are few (Matt. 9:32) and that we need to pray more for workers. This would be true. We could also emphasize the evangelistic task that is necessary to be engaged in if we are to do what Jesus commanded us to do. For many people, the word evangelism either brings up negative feelings about TV evangelists or presentations of the gospel that are not only confrontational, but not Biblical. Before I became pastor here, I worked with my son Eric at Freedom Church, with international students, and I had a Bible Stand on the campus of U.S.F. There was a church group that came near the “Bull Market” where we had set up as well as a lot of student groups, and off campus merchants. The “evangelist” would draw a crowd by confronting the female students who were wearing shorts and calling them sinful whores. I couldn’t believe the things they said to these girls. Soon, other students joined in yelling back at him, and the confrontation was far from loving. Even though he would quote scripture to back up what he was trying to communicate, his method was far from Biblical.

Some so-called evangelical Christians think protesting is an important way to witness. It isn’t! All it does is ostracize those who are resistant to the gospel. When protestors hold up signs declaring that a certain group of people is going to go to hell, it does not open up their hearts to accept Jesus and transform their lives. This used to happen frequently in front of abortion clinics, and also every year when the Church of Latter-day Saints holds its annual conference, some hold up signs across the street from the conference hall, and when they have to walk by with their children, they have to cover their ears because of the awful things so-called Christians are yelling at them. One Mormon missionary said that it just makes her decision to follow Mormon teachings more solid. That is not evangelism. We must never hold back the truth, but it must be given in love, in faith, believing that the Spirit of God would speak that truth to all who will listen. That’s evangelism.

Our problem is that we are so used to the way we have always done things, or the fact that we have never really done any evangelism, and we don’t want to “rock the boat,” let alone “GET OUT OF THE BOAT.”

WE DON’T WANT TO ROCK THE BOAT BECAUSE THERE IS WATER OUT THERE AND A STORM IS COMING UP.

Our idea of evangelism, may not be as outrageous as the protestors in Utah, or some who try to do evangelism on the campus of U.S.F. –but we may only have “a one cup “ kind of evangelism. A special event now and then, or a particular strategy to try and incorporate people into the church. By limiting our vision of evangelism to one of these “cups,” we may be stifling Cffhrist’s work on earth, and cheating ourselves out of one of the most rewarding endeavors Christ offers us: Evangelism that involves all of us. Even though we are a small church, we have a core group of committed Christians.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT OFTEN WE ARE NOT MOVING TOWARD JESUS. WE’RE TOO OFTEN CONTENT TO STAY IN THE BOAT.

We’re too often just like the disciples in this account from our text this morning. Before we can know what we are to do, once we are out of our “boat,” where it is comfortable, we must obey Jesus. We must approach Him when he tells us to come.

John Ortberg has written a book with the title that I have used for the title of my message.

IF YOU WANT TO WALK ON WATER, YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT.

Usually when we hear sermons on this passage the emphasis is on Peter’s lack of faith. He was okay until he took his eyes off of Jesus, and began looking around ot the wind and the waves,—his circumstances—that cause him to begin to sink, and Jesus reaches out and pulls him back up. We are always admonished to have more faith and to keep our eyes on Jesus. That’s all very good and accurate. However, Ortberg takes another angle, which you get very quickly from the title.

PETER GOT OUT OF THE BOAT!

Peter had enough faith to ask Jesus to tell him to come to Him. Jesus said, “Come,” and he got out ot the boat and walked on water for a some distance. We usually emphasize his lack of faith because Jesus did that. But the other 11 disciples didn’t even have as much faith as he did. They just stayed in the boat.

What’s a little astonishing to me is: they had all just seen the event of Jesus feeding 5,000 men plus women and children—a minimum of about 15,000 people, with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. After the miracle where everyone ate, Jesus went up on the mountain to prayl Jesus told them, go ahead. I’ll catch up to you, so they got in the boat and started for the other side. When evening came the boat was a considerable distance from land. Some translations say (many Stadia) A stadion was 600 feet. By the time Jesus finished praying it was the fourth watch, and by our time standard it was about 3:00 am. By this time the boat had moved out to the middle of the lake, because it was a good 9 hours later, even though the boat was buffeted , sometimes w e read tormented, by the wind which was against it. The sails weren’t doing much good, they had to row. Otherwise they would have been clear to the other side. The distance across the Lake of Galilee is about 8 miles at the width, so they were about 3 or 4 miles out. Jesus begins to walk out to them. It’s dark and they don’t recognize who it is. They just saw this figure walking on the water, and they were terrified. They think it is a ghost. Now we might think, how can they not know that it is Jeus. Who else can it be. He had just multipled the bread and fish, and fed all those people. You would think that they would have said; Hey you guys, or Hey y’all look out there—that’s got to be Jesus. Cool , see what he’s doing now —water walking. Wow! Nothing like that. Matthew in this account wants us to know that;

SOMETIMES IT TAKES EYES OF FAITH TO RECOGNIZE WHEN JESUS IS AROUND.

Often when we are going into the wind so to speak—tossed around by the enemy—by disappointment and doubt, we are no better at recognizing his presence than they were.

Now what was Jesus up to, walking around on the lake at 3:00 in the morning? In Mark 6:48 we have some more details. It says that he went out to them walking on the lake, and he was about to pass by them, when they saw him. That’s when they thought he was a ghost.

David Garland points out that the Greek word used here is the same word used in the Suptuegent (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) for a theophany—it is a technical term used to refer to those defining moments when God made “striking and temporary appearances on earth to a select individual or group for the purpose of communication a passage. There is a pattern to these accounts. Moses in a cleft in a rock so he could see, while my glory passes by—the Lord passed before him.

Elijah was told to stand on the mountain. “For the Lord is about to pass by”

God had to get people’s attention—through a burning bush, he finally got Moses’ attention—through wind and fire.

Through walking on water, he got the disciples’ attention.

With each person, God was going to call them to do something extraordinary. In each situation, the person that God called felt afraid. But every time that people said “yes” to their calling, they experienced the power of God in their lives.

He is saying by walking on the water—take courage it is I. Don’t be afraid.

This command is used more than any other command in the Bible—Don’t be aftraid, or Fear not!

He is not looking for risk takers, simply for th sake of doing something different or exciting. Some respond to this kind of and adventurous challenge. But he is not looking for someone to do hand gliding, or bungee jumpi ng, or parachuting, or mountain climbing, or some extreme sport, like you would fin on the TV program “Fear Factor” Jesus is looking for us to discern between fait and foolishness. Ortberg says:

WATERWALKERS DISCERN BETWEEN FAITH AND FOOLISHNESS

Water-walking is not something Peter does for recreational purposes. This is primarily about obedience. It is about discipleship. Before Peter got out of the boat, he made sure it was a good idea. He says; “Lord if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus didn’t respond negatively to him, by saying something like, “are you nuts Peter. Just because I’m walking on the water, doesn’t mean you can.” No, He says; COME. So—–

WATER-WALKERS GET OUT OF THE BOAT

You’re scared to death—which would you choose, the boat or trying to walk on the water? The boat is safe and secure, and comfortable. That’s what the other disciples chose. On the other hand, Peter who saw that the water is rough, and the waves are high and the wind is strong, but since Jesus is telling him to do it—-he does.

So if you get out of the boat—whatever your boat might happen to be—there’s a good chance you might sink. But it you don’t get out ot the boat, there’s a guaranteed certainty that you will never walk on the water.

FOR US, THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE –THE HOLY SPIRIT INSIDE OF US

The Holy Spirit tells us, that there is more to life than sitting in the boat. You were made for something more than merely avoiding failure. There is something indise you that wants to walk on the water—to leave the comfort of routine existence and abandon yourself to the high adventure of following god so let me ask you a ver important question.

WHAT’S YOUR BOAT?

Your boat is whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself. Your boat is whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy. Your boat is whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up even if its keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves. Your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme discipleship.

Fear will tell you what your boat is. Ask yourself what it is that most produces fear in me when I think of leaving it behind and stepping out in faith?

WATER-WALKERS MASTER FAILURE MANAGEMENT

If you fail, you might just have to be given another opportunity to get it right. Before Jonas Salk developed a vaccine for polio that finally worked, he tried 200 unsuccessful ones. Somebody asked him, “How did it feel to fail 200 times? “I never failed 200 times in my life.” “I was taught not to use the word failure. I just discovered 200 ways not to vaccinate for polio.

When Winston Churchill was asked what most prepared him to risk political suicide by speaking out against Hitler during the years of appeasement in the mid-1930s. to lead Great Britain against Nazi Germany. Churchill said it was the time he had to repeat a grade in elementary school. “You mean you failed a grade in grade school?”

“I never failed anything in my life; I was given a second opportunity to get it right.”

Did Peter fail? Perhaps to some extent, but there were 11 other bigger failures sitting in the boat.

Only Peter knew the glory of walking on water.

He alone knew what it was to attempt to do what he was not capable of doing on his own.

He felt the empowerment of Jesus.

Only Peter knew the glory of being lifted up by Jesus in a moment of desperate need.

THE WORST FAILURE IS NOT HAVING THE CHANCE TO GET OUT OF YOUR BOAT AND LETTING JESUS, —-PASS YOU BY.

2025-10-28

NO LONGER A FUGITIVE

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 26, 2025
Text 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Quite a few years ago, the Department of Homeland Security passed the REAL ID Act, which was intended to go into effect in October 2021. The REAL ID Act was designed to establish minimum identification requirements for certain federally related purposes — most significantly, being able to board an airplane. The idea behind it is that each person — that means you — will be required to provide documentation to verify that you are who you say you are, and who Uncle Sam has confirmed you to be. The process was delayed and the deadline extended due to COVID, but it went into effect this year.When we think about the REAL ID requirement, what is the significance of this term as it applies to knowing our true identity as children of God, and how this affects our self-image — what we think about ourselves, what we feel about ourselves, and how we relate to others. Today, we want to think about our REAL ID. The purpose is to help you discover who you are in Christ — how to fully become and how to fully live as the person he made you to be.

Now and then, you hear the story of someone who isn’t at all who they appear to be. Like Sara Jane Olson. She was born Kathleen Soliah during the post-WW2 baby boom. In the sixties, she moved to the West Coast to attend college and pursue a career in acting, and eventually became involved in the radical politics of the Symbionese Liberation Army, where she participated in various bank robberies and acts of violence, including murder. After she was indicted for her crimes, before she could be arrested, she went underground, fled to Minnesota, adopted an alias, and lived as a fugitive for more than 20 years. During this time, she married a doctor, raised a family, became active in community projects, and lived a life of affluence. And then her past — her true identity — caught up with her. In 2001, she was arrested and ultimately sent to prison. From time to time, you hear stories such as these: A person who spends their entire life pretending to be someone they’re not in an effort to avoid coming to terms with who they really are.I don’t know how it was for Ms. Olsen during those years. Did she feel like a phony every day of her life? Did she live in constant fear of being found out? Though her story is somewhat extreme:

There are many who live their lives in a similar fashion. They’re not fugitives from justice, but they’re fugitives from themselves, from the past, from the sins of the past, and their failures, and their hurts, and the pain they’ve endured and the shame they’ve experienced. And on the surface, they may seem to be living a normal life — even a charmed life — but underneath it all, they know they’re just one slip-up away from shattering the facade. We all have an image of ourselves — an image that we try to project on ourselves, or an image that we allow others to project upon us. Sometimes the image is accurate. Sometimes it is not. Today I want you to see that it’s not who you think you are, or who others think you are, that matters most. This isn’t how you determine your REAL ID.

DETERMINING YOUR REAL ID

Who you are, who you really are, is determined by what God says about you. This is the focus of today’s message.This morning, we’ll look at one passage of scripture that is foundational to understanding who you are in Christ. There are three characteristics of your life in Christ that I want you to see. These are true whether or not you feel it, and whether or not others recognize it. You are who God says you are, and he will help you become who he made you to be. Three characteristics we’ll look at. First of all, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ …

You are a new creation in Christ.

Becoming a Christian is not about turning over a new leaf. It’s about being given new life. You’re not upgrading old software; it’s a new installation. This is something that book publishers and music publishers have known for more than a century. If you re-release a book or an album with a new cover, there’s likely to be a surge in sales — especially if the new cover is more attractive than the old. The text between the covers hasn’t changed, the music hasn’t changed, but the new cover makes it seem new. You also see this with “new-and-improved” products … which often means little more than new-and-improved packaging. Christianity is the opposite. It changes you on the inside. It makes you brand new through and through. Salvation is not a tune-up of the old self. It’s a whole new operating system.

Before Christ, you were dead in your sins. And when you received him as your Lord and Savior, you were made new in him. Listen to what Paul said…

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When you accept Jesus Christ, a new person — a new creation — takes up residence inside of you. This person is the new you. You may look the same on the outside, sound the same, and even — at times — struggle with the same old stuff. But you’ve been made new, which means the direction of your life has changed, your potential has changed, and your reason for being here has changed. You are a new creation.

Speaking of still looking the same on the outside, I remember hearing the musician and songwriter Chuck Girard tell a funny story. He got saved in the sixties, out of the counter-culture, and back then there were many in the church who just couldn’t come to terms with the idea that a long-haired hippie could really be a Christian. One evening after performing at a church, a lady came to him and said, “I’m so glad God cleaned you up on the inside. Now I’m praying that he will clean you up on the outside.”

This was a common sentiment back then … but we can’t make the mistake of thinking that salvation is merely a whitewashing of the exterior. No, it’s an inside job. This is why Paul said…

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 3:13-14)

This leads us to the second foundational characteristic of your life in Christ that I want you to see 2. You have been reconciled to a relationship with God.

This means that you have been made right with God, not of your own doing, but of his doing. This is how Paul said it…

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

We’ll talk about the ministry of reconciliation in a minute, but right now, let’s focus on the reconciliation we have received. The Bible says we were dead in our transgressions, and now we have been made alive in Christ. He canceled the debt that stood against us. There is a song which declares this: …

He paid a debt he did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed someone to wash my sins away…

I realize there are some who will insist that they owe no debt, that they have never done anything that requires forgiveness. I’ve heard people say that … but when you look at the brokenness of their lives, something doesn’t quite add up. There are some who say, “I don’t need a God to forgive me…” See what their ex has to say about that. Or see what their children have to say about it. Or their friends and co-workers.

We are all in the same boat — we have all sinned — Romans 3:23, and it is beyond impossible for us to redeem ourselves. It is beyond impossible for us to fix our fallen nature. Regardless of the image that we may have tried to project to the world around us, the fact is that without Christ, we were all fugitives. And, like Sara Jane Olson, we might have been able to fool those around us, but when we looked deep into ourselves, we knew: I can’t escape who I am. I owe a debt I cannot pay.

For this reason, Jesus took your place. The apostle Paul said…

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Here’s what I’m saying. You have been made right with God. All the mercy you need, all the forgiveness you need, all the grace you need has been poured out upon you. Lavished is the word Paul uses in Ephesians. You didn’t deserve it, but it was given to you anyway. You didn’t earn it, but you were given the opportunity to receive it. His love knows no limit, and his mercy never ends. The Bible says that it is new every morning. [Lamentations 3:22-23]

This means that every day you can wake up and say, “Today I am right with God … not because I am good, but because I have been made right through Jesus Christ.” In the past, you may have been a fugitive from justice, a fugitive from the past, but in Christ, you have been reconciled through his sacrificial death on the cross. As Paul said…

21 For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

If you’ve ever said, “I’ll never be good enough to make up for all the wrong I have done.” God says, “I’ve paid that debt. You are in the right relationship with me.”Here is the third foundational characteristic of the Christian life.

You play a vital role in the purpose of God. THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

In verse 18 Paul said that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In verse 19 he says that God has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. And then he says, verse 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He’s talking about his ministry and his message — the message of reconciliation — and he’s talking about you and me, as well. This is our work, our ministry, our message — to let those around us know that God is ready to be in a right relationship with them, no matter what may have happened in the past.

He used the term ambassador. We know what an ambassador is. An ambassador is someone who is sent to live in a foreign land to represent their home country and their home government. And, in that context, they speak for the leadership of their homeland.

God is saying to you and me, “I want the world to know about me, and to know about my Son. I want them to hear about love, and mercy, and grace, and redemption. And I want you to take this message to them. I want you to be my representative, my ambassador.”

In many ways, we’re like strangers in a strange land. We’re like visitors on foreign soil. This world is not our home; we’re just passing through. Our citizenship is in heaven … but while you are here, you are God’s ambassador. You have been given a part to play in his eternal plan. He has invited you to represent him, to speak on his behalf, so that all may know that there is a God who loves them and who gave his life for them.

When you open your eyes early each morning, not only can you say, “Today I am right with God,” … you can also say, “Today I have a position to fill, a role to play, a job to do. Today, through my words, my actions, and even my attitudes, I will represent Jesus Christ. I am his ambassador, because that’s what he made me.”

This is your true identity. This is who you really are.

You may feel like you’re a fugitive, trying to hide from a checkered past. Others may even try to place that label on you. But I want you to remember what God has said about you, because this is your Real ID.

This is your Real ID. May we learn to see ourselves as God sees us.

2025-10-28

A LIVING SACRIFICE

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 19, 2025
Text: Romans 12:1-2
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

We have been talking a lot about pursuing God and going hard after him. It involves having a clean heart and then taking steps to live for him and serve him, by giving ourselves over to the controlling power of the Holy Spirit. We see later in this chapter 12, other practical spiritual gifts mentioned, besides the ones Paul talks about in I Corinthians 14, which we have talked about before. We have also talked about the fruit of the Spirit, which is how we live, once we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

We come to a place today where we want to advance and not go backward in our understanding of what Paul is trying to tell us in this book of Romans. We must make a decision on the basis of these great truths. This principle is established especially in the first two verses of chapter 12, (Our text).

When we read: by the mercies of God, or in view of the mercies of God, or:

Because of the mercies of, we are urged to present or offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—which is our true and proper worship. (our reasonable sacrifice or service, or worship) all of these are used in various translations.

The first 11 chapters of Romans are all that God has done for us. Therefore, it is only natural that we yield ourselves to God because of what he has done for us. Because Christ died for our sins (and we are all sinners), but his gift to us is eternal life and salvation from sin and death. God doesn’t hold us who have trusted in Jesus Christ responsible for these sins any longer, so it is through the mercies of God (in Christ), and because of his mercy that we are to present or yield our bodies to him.

In chapter 6, verse 13, we read that the word “present.” It is the same as the word yield or offer. We read, “Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.” The idea is that we are to yield or turn over, or put our bodies at God’s disposal.

Okay, but why the body, you might think? I thought this was all a spiritual thing with Jesus living within us. The reason is that the body is the vehicle through which we operate. At least here on earth. We must not confuse the old nature with the body. The old nature is part of the old, unregenerate life, which seeks to control the body in order to practice sin (or evil). Think rather of the body as being a neutral vehicle in which we are living. By neutral, I mean that it is neither good nor bad in itself. Before we were saved, the flesh nature controlled the body. Now that we have been born again, if we have been born again by the Spirit of God, we are united to Christ so that the new man, the new nature, should be in control of the body. (II Cor. 5:17)

A Greek at the time of Paul, would never say yield your body to God. To the Greeks, what mattered was the spirit; the body was only a shackle and a prison-house; the body was something to be despised and even to be ashamed of. No real Christian ever believed that. The Christian believes that his body belongs to God just as much as his soul does, and that he can serve God just as well with his body as he can with his mind or his spirit. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place in which the Holy Spirit dwells, the instrument through which the Holy Spirit works. After all the great fact of the incarnation basically means that God Himself took a human body upon him, in Jesus Christ, to live in it and to work through it. The Lord Jesus says, “I need the body, for that is the vehicle through which people see me. I want your life as a living sacrifice.” Now, a living sacrifice is a paradox. Sacrifice is death, yet here he speaks of a living sacrifice. The fact is, he wants both in our body—life and death. How can this be realized?

In the Old Testament, —-animals were brought as offerings for sin. But in their case, it was death that God asked for, so that sacrifice and death go together. But in our case, he asks for a living sacrifice. He wants our bodies while we are alive on this earth, but he wants us to live in the attitude of being dead to sin but alive to God. This is the basis for New Testament Christian living. Consequently, the words “living sacrifice” instead of being a paradox are now seen to be the recipe, if you will, for the whole Christian life. We are to carry an attitude of death toward the old sinful nature and sinful things, and submit ourselves alive to God. For this reason, then, he wants our bodies to be given over entirely to him.

Take the case of a church. It is built by man for the offering of worship of our spirit to God. But it involves the mind of a human to build it, and the hands of people with skills. It is the product of the mind and the body and the spirit of man.

On the other hand, our bodies are created by God alone. It is true that we worship in a building made by man, but we need to understand that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, not a building built by man. I know this will shock some of you, but this building isn’t holy just because we call it a church. It becomes holy when we, as God’s people who are to be holy, come here to worship. Your house can be a place of worship. The early Christians met in homes. There was no church or cathedral built until Constantine decided that Christians should have big edifices to worship in, just like the Jews and just like the pagans. Unfortunately, at this time, about 300 AD, when Christians were no longer persecuted and killed for their faith, and the “State” religion became Christianity, thousands of pagans came into the church, who were not born again by the Spirit of God, and so many of those who worshiped in these buildings were not holy.

So Paul is saying, take your body; take the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work around your home, around the places you go, like restaurants, stores, and offices, and offer all that as an act of worship to God. The KJV has it—your reasonable service, but the word here means worship, as most translations have it. It is a word with an interesting history. I’m not a Greek scholar, but the Greek word is lateria, and it is the noun of the verb latreuein. Originally, the word meant to work for hire or pay. It was the word that was used of the laboring man who gave his strength to a master and an employer in return for the pay the employer would give him. It denotes, not slavery, but the voluntary undertaking of work. It then came to mean quite generally to serve, but it also came to mean that to which a man gives his whole life. For instance, a man could be said to give his life to the service of beauty. In that sense, it comes very nearly to mean to dedicate one’s life to something or someone. Then, finally, this word came to be the word which was characteristically and distinctively used of the service of the gods. In the Bible, it never means human service; it is always used of service to and worship of God

Now, here we have a most significant thing. The true worship, the really spiritual worship, is the offering of one’s body, and all that one does every day with it, –to God;

It is not the offering to God of a liturgy, however noble, or a ritual, however magnificent. Real worship is the offering of everyday life to God. Therefore, think about the things we do with our bodies. That is why to abuse our body with alcohol so that we get drunk, is characterized in the Bible, –as SIN —drunkenness both in the Old and New Testaments IS SIN, Any other abuse of our bodies is also sin, and therefore when we do anything that does not glorify Christ, is sin, and is not worship, and we are told that everything we do should be done to worship and glorify God. Real worship is not just something which is done in a church; Real worship is something which takes place everywhere we go. and every common thing we do should be an act of worship. This should make us think about some of the things we do, what we say, how we act, what we communicate to other people—are those things glorifying to God, or are they bringing shame to Him?

We should be able to say; “I am going to church to worship God.” But we should also be able to say, I am going to the store, or to the doctor’s office, or work in the yard, to worship God, therefore my actions and my speech should only bring glory to him.

Every part of our body, Our eyes, which were once used to look at things that our bodies craved, are now to be given over to Him as separated holy members, to see the things he wants us to see. That, in effect, is already a sacrifice, a living and a holy sacrifice. Our ears and tongues, which were once given to spreading that gossip, telling lies about people, and murdering character, are now to be given over to him to hear the cry of the spiritually poor and needy, and to tell them of life in Christ. Nothing short of that is acceptable to God.

The presenting and yielding, or offering our bodies to God is so that our “sacrifice” of ourselves will be acceptable to him. Too many times we consider only what is acceptable to people. Our first consideration is often, “What will people think of what I am doing?” Rather than “what does God think of it? Then others don’t even care what people think, let alone what God thinks. When we are singing, our first consideration may be the acceptability of our talent before people. We wonder if we will receive congratulations or thanks for what we have done. But it is far more important that we ask, “Is this acceptable to God?” (Whatever we are doing.) We are reminded again of Israel’s experience as related in the Book of Malachi 1:6-8, where God accused the priests of disrespecting him and showing contempt for him. Then they had the audacity to say, “How have we shown contempt for your name? By offering defiled food on my altar and saying that the table of the Lord is contemptible.” Malachi goes on to declare what “God is saying.” When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Then he gives them a real slap in the face—-“Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you and your offering? Says the Lord Almighty.

The Lord demanded that only the best were to be brought for sacrifice, but the Israelites brought the sick and the lame, animals for which there was little use to them. These, they would not miss very much. But God reminded them that if they brought such gifts to their earthly rulers, they would not get away with it. (In fact, they wouldn’t dream of even trying it, but their attitude is: with God, it doesn’t matter).

The message for us is obvious. Our various governments, local and federal, come along and tell us what percentage of our income and property is taxable and how much they want from us, and that is what they get. Yet so often in our finances, we treat God as the Israelites treated him with their offerings. Actually, as I say almost every week when we take up the offering and give of our tithes, all we have belongs to God, and yet he allows us to keep the largest portion of it for our use.

This isn’t a message on giving, but the New Testament standard of giving offerings, which is proportionate giving as outlined in I Corinthians 16. Some feel that the New Testament doesn’t teach anything about tithing but rather just according to how much we can afford to give. Just let me say that Jesus supported the tithe. In Matthew 23:23, he tells the Pharisees that they should not only give a tenth of what comes in, but they shouldn’t neglect Justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Both should be practiced. Therefore, in the New Testament, giving a tenth of what we receive is almost taken for granted, and then Paul talks about extra giving of offerings, so that the gospel message can go forth. This is Missions giving emphasized, over and above the tithe. (Since this is Missions Sunday, the 3rd Sunday, maybe now some of you might want to reconsider what you give to ‘Missions’ — —and for use right now, it is Christian Relief Ministries, who helps the persecuted church around the world. )

So many of us give, not according to what we receive, but what we have left over after we have met all of our other obligations. Some will say, “I have so many debts and I do not think I should rob my creditors in order to pay God.” But when we fail to give God his share, who are we actually robbing? The biblical pattern is to give first, and God will bless the 90% left over. Try this and see if this isn’t true. That’s what God says in Malachi. Jeannene and I have found this to be true, and I know that many of you have too.

The lesson is clear, our offering of what God gives us, and according to our passage this morning, we see we must offer and yield our bodies as well as whatever God gives us, to him. That is acceptable to him. Let’s give him our strength and health, and the best of our time. He deserves the best we have. This he says, is reasonable service, or worship. In light of all God has done for us. He wants us exclusively for himself.

Paul is saying that this demands a radical change. He says we must not be conformed to the world, but we must be transformed from it. To express this idea, he uses two Greek words. The first is schema, and it means “outward form,” which varies from year to year and from day to day. A man’s schema is continuously altering. It is not the same when you are 17 as when you are 70. It is not the same when you are working in the yard in shorts or jeans, as when you go to a formal dinner affair, or a wedding etc. Paul says, “don’t be fashioned after, or conformed to, or pushed into the mold of this world, or society. In other words, don’t try to match your life to what everyone else thinks, or does. Also, don’t be like a chameleon which takes its color from its surroundings! —don’t go with changing society when society’s morals are contrary to Scripture. Don’t let the world decide what you are going to be like. Morals today are certainly different from what they were 50-60 years ago, but God’s word doesn’t change. Society just chooses to ignore the parts they don’t like. They try to make the Bible irrelevant. The word that Paul uses for being transformed from the world means the essential transforming shape or element of anything. Our appearance changes, but inwardly we are the same person—until the Holy Spirit changes us. Paul is saying that to worship and to serve God, we must undergo a change, not of our outward form, but of our inward personality. Of the very essence of our being.

What is that change? To put it the way Paul does,—he says, Being left to ourselves, we live a life dominated by human nature at its lowest. In Christ we live a life dominated by Jesus Christ –the Holy Spirit. An inward change has happened, and the essential person has been changed. Now we live, not as a self-centered person, but a Christ-centered person, and when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are also a Spirit-controlled person. This must happen, Paul says, by the renewing of your mind. It isn’t something we can do on our own. Do you remember the transfiguration on the mountain, when Jesus took three of his disciples with him? Jesus was “transfigured” along with Moses and Elijah when they appeared. This was a supernatural change. In that case, they had their glorified bodies, which we won’t have until after our mortal bodies are gone. But still, the transformation that must take place now is a supernatural spiritual change. A transformation.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and claim him as Lord of our lives, something happens within us. We are born-again. We are a new creation. Then, when we turn our whole life, including our body, over to Christ, that inner transformation begins to manifest itself in the outward way of living our life. But the change is first inward before it is outward.

It involves a change of mind. (Sometimes we say a change of our heart, because in North America, the heart is the center or seat of our affections—In Papua New Guinea, the seat of affection is the liver), What we think about is basic to what we do. Because of the new birth, we have the mind of Christ, but we must be submitted to God. To be carnally minded is to have the mind of society in our world (making us worldly). To be spiritually minded is life and peace. To have our minds under the control of the Holy Spirit results in producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

2025-10-28

FRIENDLY WORDS

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 12, 2025
Text: James 3:1-12
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

There’s a story about the famous 19th-century preacher Henry Beecher. One Sunday, he ascended the great pulpit of Boston’s Plymouth Congregational Church, and there he found a note waiting for him. Beecher glances at the note, then announces. “I received a letter from one of you this morning. It states quite simply, “Fool.” Bleecher paused, then grinned and said, “I often receive from people who ‘forget’ to sign their names, but this is the first time someone has signed their name and forgotten to write the letter.” Beecher, quick on his feet, found a snappy comeback, but even for him, probably the criticism must have stung. There’s such a thing as constructive criticism offered in love, of course—courteous words of correction from a teacher, pastor, or coach, or spouse or friend, sincerely intended to build up. But there is also that other sort of criticism, the kind that tears down, that gouges, that destroys.

Some of you may remember, on December 6, 2011, when actor Alec Baldwin was booted off an American Airlines flight out of LAX for failure to comply with airline regulations, particularly the one that requires you to turn off your cell phone once the cabin doors are closed. Now you’d think that someone as worldly and well-traveled as Baldwin would know this rule, which he did, or that a violation of that rule would surely have to involve some kind of urgent phone call that had to be handled right then, which it didn’t. What caused Baldwin to be put off the flight was over a game called “Words With Friends.” This is another social media app. that connects networks of online friends. Like Facebook and Twitter. This game is for the purpose of chatting with one another while you play a word game kind of like Scrabble on steroids, and the premise is a lot like those old school games of playing chess by mail, except this is instant of course, thanks to the internet. It’s supposed to be a friendly game that uses words as a means of bringing people together. The irony of the Baldwin incident, however, is that while he was continuing to share congenial words with friends on the phone, he was using quite different words with the flight attendants who were just trying to do their jobs. He later tweeted (on Twitter) that American Airlines is “where retired Catholic school gym teachers from the 1950s find jobs as flight attendants, and those attendants, “walk the aisles of an airplane with a whistle around their neck and a clipboard in their hands, and they have made flying, a Greyhound bus experience.” Those may have been among the more cordial words he said, according to American airlines, Baldwin was “extremely rude” to the flight crew, calling them “inappropriate names” and using “offensive language”—not friendly words, a theme suggested by the very app. He was enjoying, and later, by his own admission, he was addicted to.

This account seems to be typical of a trap that many of us fall into in this age of technology and instant gratification. We tend to use words one way for certain people and situations, and then haul out a whole different vocabulary and attitude for others.

For the last few weeks, we have been looking at many scripture passages that talk about unity and love, and victory. About the attitudes we should have towards each other in the body of Christ. Today, we want to look at a scripture portion that we have touched on before, which talks about the tongue.

James identified the problem with words in this famous passage about the tongue in chapter 3, verses 1-12, which Val read this morning. We might, in fact, think of James as a kind of the original writer on the rules of using words with friends and everyone else. For James, those who are in the game of using words had better be sure to use them wisely.

James first warns those who aspire to become teachers that they will be judged more strictly. But then the admonition includes all of us. We should all strive for the perfect word choice that becomes a “bridle” for controlling the kind of loose and destructive talk that can inevitably leak out and cause destruction (verse 2).

It is like a bit in the mouth of a horse. A controlled tongue can guide a person’s whole “body” in what he says and does (verse 3). What you say and what you don’t say are both important. Proper speech is not only saying the right words at the right time, but it is also controlling your desire to say what you shouldn’t.

Examples of an untamed tongue include gossiping, putting others down by destructive criticism, bragging, manipulation, false teaching, exaggerating, complaining, flattering, and lying. Before you speak, ask, “Is what I want to say true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?

The metaphors used here were very familiar when James wrote, and are still familiar to us today. The relatively tiny rudder of a very large ship has as much to do with where the ship goes, according to the “will of the captain, as does the wind that drives the sails of a sailboat (verse 4). Like this rudder, the words we use have the ability to steer us toward safety or disaster (verse 5). Even a small word, ill spoken and timed, can set a whole forest fire of disaster in motion.

We all know how fast forest fires spread, as happened in California in January of this year, which destroyed 17,000 homes and killed 30 people, and burned 1 million acres. There were reports of how helpless firefighters felt when they couldn’t really stop the fires, and they couldn’t even control them. Our tongues are like that, because they corrupt the whole person and spread to those around us. The uncontrolled tongue can do terrible damage. Satan uses the tongue to divide people and pit them against one another. Idle and hateful words are damaging because they spread destruction quickly, just like a forest fire, and no one can stop the results once they are spoken. This is especially true of things that are posted on social media platforms on the internet.

We are more concerned this morning, though, with words that are spoken face to face. We dare not be careless with what we say, things we can apologize for later, because even if we do, the scars remain. A few words spoken on anger can destroy a relationship that took years to build. Before you speak, remember that words are like fire; you can neither control nor reverse the damage they can do.

We‘ve been in situations where a simple yes or no, or the mere compliance with a request, would have prevented a whole string of other disasters. Whether we’re trying to assert our “rights” or trying to impress others, we get into trouble when our words aren’t friendly and our speech isn’t tightly controlled. When a string of expletives comes out, and we say things we know in our heart that we shouldn’t say. Too often, it also affects our actions.

Now of course, controlling this isn’t easy to do. James makes it clear that the tongue isn’t like an animal that can be tamed by humans. Instead, it’s untamable; a “restless evil filled with deadly poison. (verses 7-8).

Such a statement would seem to provide us with an excuse for the dumb things we say. Whether we’re in an airplane seat like Baldwin or in an office, or a meeting, or in a store, or at church, or at home with family, we know that there are times when things just come out of us, maybe not swearing, but in the form of words that don’t seem so friendly. But James won’t let us get away with that kind of thinking. Indeed, the only way to control the tongue is to monitor what’s happening inside us on a deeper level. James says, for example, that with our tongues we both “praise our Lord and Father and curse those who have been made in God’s likeness.” Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing—-THIS SHOULD NOT BE. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? Can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? James is saying there is something unnatural about this. It is as unnatural as for a stream to gush out both fresh and salt water, or as for a bush to bear opposite kinds of fruit. Unnatural and wrong such things may be, but they are nonetheless tragically common when it comes to the words our tongues speak.

This is why Paul says in Romans 12:1-2 that we are to present our bodies (this includes our tongue) as a living sacrifice to God, which is our reasonable service or worship to Him. And we shouldn’t conform to this world. That is, the world’s way of living —“don’t let the world push you into its mold!”

When we say two different things from the same tongue—praising the Lord on Sunday, and cussing someone out on Monday, shows that we are “double-minded.” This is what James is talking about back in chapter one, verses 6-8. He says that when we face trials, we should ask for wisdom. The problem is that sometimes we ask the Lord to help us, but we don’t really believe. He says, “You doubt, and when you do, you are like a boat tossed back and forth on the waves of the sea. This double-mindedness separates people from God. When we are double-minded or, perhaps worse, singularly-minded in our own selfish ways, we have a tendency to dehumanize people and see ourselves as always being in a game in which we have to be the winner. If you believe you deserve more than others and are superior to them, you will treat them with contempt.

There’s an old adage that says, if you really want to know about a person’s character, watch how that person treats the waiter at a restaurant. Does he treat this person as a person, or merely as a servant? Kind words aren’t meant only for friends. We’re to offer them to everyone because they, like us, are made in god’s image. You can’t praise God and curse his image at the same time.

The truth is that if we want to have any control over the tongue, we need to pay attention to our inner lives from which either blessing or cursing can come forth. Does the inner spring in our lives gush with both fresh and bitter water? ( Verse 11.)

If we’re going to be the kind of people who use words wisely, then we’ve got to first cultivate an inner life that sees everyone as a friend created in god’s image. We need a vision of life that doesn’t put us at the center of the universe, but rather centers on God and God’s purposes for us. The God who spoke the word of creation and sent the Word (Jesus), his own Son, to become flesh, urges us to choose the kind of words that reflect Jesus’ character, life, and love.

In a world where it seems we use cell phones for everything but actually talking to one another, may we recapture the art of using words in a way that reflects the character of the God who dwells in us. That is, if you have received Jesus into your life. If you have asked Him to come in and allowed His Holy Spirit to control your whole life, including your tongue and the way you speak, He is the one who will give you victory over your tongue, because He is the one who will be speaking through you.

2025-10-06

THE COVENANT OF SALT

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date October 5, 2025
Text Numbers 18:19; II Chronicles 13:5; Matthew 5:13
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

In the Middle East, a very important part of life is the covenant of salt. We find this covenant mentioned in the Old Testament, in the verses that Val read.

What is this covenant of salt? Bishop K.C. Pillai from the Indian Orthodox Church writes in his book, “Light Through an Eastern Window,” that in the East, the taking of salt is a pledge, a promise of fidelity. If I come to your house and eat your food, which has been seasoned with salt, I can never betray you or do you harm. Even if you commit a crime and I am asked to testify, I cannot do it because I have eaten your salt. Perhaps I may come to you and try to persuade you to do the right thing, but I would die before I would break the covenant of salt. In fact, the penalty for so doing is death.

We might wonder, what do we Christians in the West have to do with this covenant of salt? It sounds like a pagan custom, for I might add, at the very least, something to do with the Old Covenant. It is true that it is an Eastern custom, but not necessarily a pagan one, for we find in the New Testament verse that Val read—Matthew 5:13, Jesus is saying “You are the salt for everyone on earth, but if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty or tasty?” All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on.”

In the East (and in other parts of the world), they not only have what we call table salt, but they also have salt that comes in 20 or 30-pound stone jars. This jar stands on the floor of the kitchen, and is like brown rock salt. The top of the jar is covered with a stone slab. Every morning, the kitchen floor is washed with water, and in the course of time, the bottom of the stone jar becomes soaked with water so many times that the salt in the bottom of the jar actually loses its saltiness. By the time the salt is used down to the point from which the saltiness has been washed away, the remainder is simply thrown out into the street, and it is walked on, instead of a dirt path.

The person who falls away from living a Christ-like life, and has no testimony of the Living Christ in him, or her, is like the salt in the bottom of the jar: pressed by the crush of materialism from the top and washed away at the bottom by the dampness of “churchianity” in places where the truth of the gospel is not preached and the church is cold and weak. Let us, therefore, take care that we do not find ourselves at the bottom of the salt jar, lest we be thrown into the street and walked on. Christians who have lost their saltiness are truly walked on by the world, for there is no more criticized person than the one who professes Christ as his Savior and behaves otherwise. They are hypocrites.

In Mark 9:49-51, Jesus speaks again of salt: “Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other. “

And Paul writes in Colossians 4:6: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer every one.”

A very interesting example of the making of a salt covenant in the Old Testament is found in Judges 4:17-25. This is the story of the battle that was fought between Sisera and Barak. Sisera, however fled on foot to the tent of Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin, King of Hazor, and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Yael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my Lord, come right in, don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him (like a shawl)

This is the first of the covenants Yael made with him.

Taking a guest into your home and covering him with a mantle means the protection of the household is over him. She or someone in her household would guard the tent all night to make sure no one would get to him.

The nature of this first covenant was PROTECTION.

Then the second covenant was a covenant of salt. Sisera said, “I’m thirsty. Please give me some water.” She opened a milk skin and gave him a drink, and covered him up. This is the verse in which there is the hidden covenant of salt. The milk, which would have been kept in a milk skin in a tent, would not have been sweet milk as we keep in our refrigerators. It would have to be buttermilk, prepared with salt to keep it from spoiling. You notice that Sisera only asks for water. Yael could have given him only water, but she instead gave him milk. Thus,

she made A SALT COVENANT with him that she would not betray him.

He told her: “Stand in the doorway of the tent. If someone comes by and asks you, “is anyone here?” Say NO!

Then this is a third agreement between them:

THE PROMISE THAT YAEL WILL LIE FOR HIM

IF ANYONE SHOULD COME.

But Yael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

This verse seems to turn the whole situation upside down.

Yael invited Sisera into the main living quarters of her tent. But every tent had a separate women’s quarters. It is off limits to men and is protected; Even in our day, not even the police may violate the privacy of the women’s quarters. Wars have been fought over this matter. Sisera slipped into or under the curtain to the women’s part of the tent for extra security. He must have thought he needed even more security, because he sealed his own death by going into that part of the tent. His unbelief in Yael’s covenants caused him to commit this fatal error. And so, the penalty for breaking the salt covenant is death.

The peg in the temple also has significance in the Eastern way of thinking. If Yael merely wished to kill him, she could have chosen any number of other ways to do it. Why the peg in the temple? Because she was attacking his unbelief. She drove the peg into his head where the unbelief resided. So he died. His unbelief killed him.

Like Sisera, we have received a covenant of salt; ours is from God. We have God’s word that He will never forsake us; that He will supply all our needs out of His riches in glory. He will give us Eternal Life If we cannot believe this, but remain in the security of God’s word; if we do not believe the covenants He has made with us, then, like Sisera, we will die the death of unbelief.

Yael was faithful to God and supported Israel. Sisera turned his back against God and Israel,

As further proof that Yael’s actions were justified, look in the next chapter (Judges 5:24,25): “Most blessed of women be Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite,” most blessed of tent-dwelling women. He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles, she brought him curdled milk (or buttermilk)

She also received praise for having killed him. Earlier in the fourth chapter, the Lord indicated that Sisera would be destroyed in the battle; Yael was merely the instrument in the hands of God to accomplish this purpose.

The covenant of salt is still made in the East today.

Supposing you are the owner of a flock of 55 sheep, and a man comes to buy them from you. The cost is $1100. He pays you $300 down and says he will pay the remaining $800 in one month. If he tries to sign a paper for the $800, you can never be sure that he will not try to wriggle out of the agreement somehow. But if he makes a covenant of salt with you, there can be no doubt that you will get your $800. He will even make his eldest son promise that, if anything happens to him before the time comes to pay, the son will pay it.

Again, supposing that you were traveling in the Middle East and found yourself far from a city when night falls. You come upon a tent, and most likely the occupant is one who supports himself by highway robbery, since these people camp out away from other people. You may go to the tent and say to the man. “I am an American. I did not reach the city before nightfall, and I have lost my way. Would you take me in for the night? He says, “But don’t you know I am a thief? Do you want to spend the night with a thief? You may now say to him. “Yes, but I will make with you a covenant of salt for my protection. He bows low and says, “Come, you blessed of God.” He gives you a seat, probably on the floor of the tent, and says. “How much money do you have?” (Now, for an American to even let them know you have money with you is unheard of), but you bring out your money and count it out to him: one thousand dollars. Then he puts the money in his pocket. He calls for food that has been salted, such as olives or dried meat, and you take the covenant of salt together.

You may now go to sleep, in whatever bed the man can give you, but this thief will never sleep while you are there. He places himself in the doorway of the tent to stand watch, and also walks around the outside of the tent with his gun in hand, watching and protecting you while you sleep. In the morning, he gives you what breakfast he can, probably tea and bread, counts out your money to you, and then guides you safely where you want to go. And he will not take any money for his service, because he counts it a service to God.

`Bishop Pillai says, he often thinks that if a man who is a thief, uneducated, and not even a Christian can be honorable by the taking of the covenant of salt, that we who are children of God should surely be all the more faithful and true to God.

We should be the salt of the earth, the ones on whom God can depend. And our speech should also be salted, so others can know that we are truly living our faith. This is one of our problems today; people have trouble telling the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. We should be living such a witness that others may see Jesus in us, and be won to Christ. :

Every day we eat God’s salt, because we work and eat by God’s grace, but: Some of us dishonor Him by not keeping our word to Him. We could say that there are greater thieves and liars inside the church than outside of it; for those outside only lie to each other, but those within lie to God. When we give money in the offering, we think that’s all I can give to the church. But the money we give is to God. We also may say to God, “When I have extra money, I will give more.” But then we get extra income, and we still give what we are used to giving. We also sing songs about giving ourselves to Him. I surrender all. All to Jesus. I surrender, all to him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live. Or we sing, “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold,” as we decide that a “big” bill is too much to give, and we place a dollar in the offering. If we are “salted,” we would put in all the big bills if God tells us to. Too often, we say everything in words, but take no action. In Galatians 6:7, we read, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. “ This verse serves as a reminder that people will face the consequences of their actions, emphasizing the importance of living a life of truth and righteousness rather than being led astray by deception or unfruitful behavior.

In Genesis 6:3, we read, “ My Spirit will not contend (or strive) with man forever, for he is mortal and his days shall be 120 years.” It is only by God’s grace that any of us are still alive, after all the lies we have told Him.

There is little or no divorce among the high caste Hindus in India, because of the salt covenant that the bride and groom make when they repeat their vows at the wedding. Whenever the husband is tempted to mistreat his wife, or the wife thinks of nagging her husband, they remember their covenant of salt and adjust themselves accordingly.

The covenant of salt has been used in churches in India, where each person comes forward and each one takes a pinch of salt on their tongue, and they promise to do whatever God requires of them. To tithe, to establish a family or individual devotional time, or to stand by the local church, to stop criticizing or gossiping about people in the church. This can be a solemn occasion, where God holds us accountable for vows that we make to Him.

As we remember what Christ did for us this morning, let us truly not partake in an unworthy manner. Let’s ask for forgiveness of our sins, and make that covenant with him—not because of SALT, but because of his shed BLOOD on the cross for us.

2025-09-29

VICTORY THROUGH CAPTIVITY

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 28, 2025
Text TEXT: II Corinthians 2:12-17
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Paul’s triumphant life in Christ is evidenced by this scripture passage. We need to understand his thinking, though, as he has been through a lot of suffering. Perhaps not all physical, but in his spirit, he also suffered because of his complete dedication to Christ. We read in chapter 1: verses 8-11, that he was so discouraged he really didn’t see how he would get out alive. But he saw in this difficulty a lesson that God wanted to teach him and us. It teaches us that we are not to place reliance in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. Whether we have victory or not totally depends on our captor—that is, who or what is captivating us, secular humanists, Satan, or Jesus Christ.

Then in chapter two of our text this morning, Paul says, “thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession, as captives”— ‘prisoners’—-we read in the TEV (the Good News Bible).

Whatever the experiences through which Paul has passed, he wants us to know that it has been a glorious victory from beginning to end. He emphasizes that because of his union with Christ, it has been one continual victory. It is a victory in a particular sense. A victory through captivity, and what Paul says about his life as a Christian should be true about the lives of each one of us today. Amidst the heartaches and disappointments, the burdens and trials, as well as the joys of Christian living and all that is involved, nevertheless, because of our union with Christ, the story should be one of continued triumph.

So let’s look at:

Three things about this: VICTORY OF TRIUMPH.

FIRST: WE MAY KNOW THAT:

WE CAN HAVE A TRIUMPHANT LIFE IN CHRIST

Paul had a very clear picture in mind when he used this illustration. It would be a picture that was familiar to the Corinthian Christians. They knew how when the generals of the Roman Empire conquered other Provinces with a decisive victory, they brought the people to complete subjugation or submission. It had to be a victory where at least 5,000 of the enemy had fallen in battle. A triumph in Rome at that time called for a magnificent procession of honor of this general, and it was the highest military distinction which he could obtain. It was granted by the “Senate” only to one who had been the actual commander-in-chief in the field and held the office of dictator or consul. In a Roman triumph, the victorious general entered the city of Rome in a chariot drawn by four horses. He was crowned with laurel around his head, and he held a scepter in one hand and a branch of laurel in the other. Marching before him were the members of the Senate and magistrates, and State officials, along with the musicians, and spoils of his victory, and the captives in chains, followed by his army on foot shouting their cry of triumph.

Picture what it was like when the Rays won the American League Championship 17 years ago, and again in 2020 (even though they lost in the World Series, and when the Bucs won the Super Bowl 22 years ago. Then, with Tom Brady in 2021 and 2023. There were parades and shouting in triumph for their tremendous seasons. In 2004, the Lightning Bolts Hockey team won the Stanley Cup. Once again, much celebration. (They won again in 2020 and 2021. When they won in 2004, we lived in the Detroit area when the Detroit Pistons won the NBA championship. There was a tremendous parade and celebration. We like our sports and we love to win championships. We don’t have conquering army parades like Paul has in his mind, when the captives (losers) marched before the chariot of the winning general. No, heathen priests swinging their censers with the sweet-smelling incense burning in them. All of this marked a tremendous day, a day that might happen only once in a lifetime! That is the picture that is in Paul’s mind. He sees the conquering Christ marching in triumph throughout the world and himself and other Christians in that procession.

Now in that procession, as I said, the priests were swinging the incense-filled censers. To the general and to the victors, the perfume from the censers would be the perfume of joy and triumph and life; but to the captives who walked so short a distance ahead of them, it was the perfume of death, for it stood for the past defeat and their coming execution.

It was also true, though, that when a conquering general came upon a province to defeat them, if they would agree to bow down and worship the emperor, their lives were spared, but if they refused, they were taken captive and executed.

In Christ as our conqueror, it’s the same thing. If we yield to Christ and allow him to reign over us, we are given abundant eternal life,

but if we refuse, the result is spiritual death and punishment. This is the way it is for the ministry of a Christian. We go forward in victory over sin and Satan, and death because of the conquering power of Christ in our lives. As we give the Gospel to others, they sense the sweet smell of life if they are victorious in Christ, but they sense death if they refuse to accept him.

Jeannene’s cousin Jeff was like that. He refused to give his life to Christ. He kept doing things that were destroying his life. First it was alcohol, then drugs. He was in and out of jail many times. Then, finally, one night, he wanted to take his life. He heard the gospel, but it was like the smell of death to him. We were home on furlough from the Congo that year. His mother had made a commitment to Christ and was going to church. Jeff lived alone in a cheap apartment. He was really stressed out because his mother had “gotten religious,” he thought. One night, Aunt Mary called me and said that Jeff was trying to commit suicide. He had turned the gas on with the oven door open. I drove over to his apartment, and I saw him sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. The outside door was open, but the screen door was shut. I called out to him, but he didn’t look up or come to the door. I called his name and walked in. I smelled the strong smell of gas coming from the kitchen, where I saw the oven door open. I sat down beside him and said, “Jeff, you don’t really want to do this, do you?” He shrugged his shoulders. I said, ‘Come on, Jeff, you had the outside door open, with just the screen door shut.’ You don’t really want to take your life. I went and shut the oven door and turned off the gas. The house could have eventually caught on fire, perhaps, but there was no immediate danger of his being overcome by escaping gas. I shared the gospel with him, but he just refused to accept Christ into his life. His mother showed up after a while and took him back to her house. Some years later, he had moved out west, and word got back to his mother that one night, he and his friends were drinking. He was in the back seat of a speeding car, and he fell out the door and was killed. How that happens, I don’t know. But when you are drunk, lots of bad things can happen.

You see, the gospel for Jeff was like a sentence of death on him. He didn’t smell the sweet smell of victory, but death. He refused to let Jesus Christ wrap His arms around him and take him into “protective custody” and give him victory over his addictions and a life that seemed hopeless.

It’s like what happened to me when I hit two little girls with my car in Kinshasa, and was able to get to the police station, for “protective custody.” If you don’t do this, the police will take no responsibility for what the crowd will do to you. (You can read about this in my book, “They meant to Kill Me.”)

My eventual release and victory in that situation was only possible because I was “taken captive,” so to speak. Otherwise, I would have been killed.

Paul was taken captive in triumph. He received liberty in bondage, and because he submitted his life to the Lord, he became a part of God’s triumphal ministry through him. He was blinded on that road to Damascus and was in total submission to others who led him to a house where a disciple named Ananias came after the Lord spoke to him in a vision, to go and lay hands on Paul so that he would receive his sight back.

The apostle Paul was a very good man. A learned teacher, a proud Pharisee. It was hard for him to realize that his self-righteousness was nothing. God had to knock him down in order to speak to him, and then he said in so many words, “Lord, put your chains of victory upon my heart. What do you want me to do?” He was taken captive in triumph. He was put into protective custody and then left in victory.

SO SECONDLY, BECAUSE WE CAN LIVE A LIFE OF TRIUMPH,

WE CAN LIVE A LIFE OF TESTIMONY.

In verse 14, we read that, “God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.” The picture that Paul put before the Corinthian Christians of the prisoners of war being dragged along the ground was their degradation, but for Paul in terms of spiritual experience, this was the greatest honor; that he could be a slave of the Master.

I wonder how many of us are the same as Paul. Do we desire to be slaves of the Lord Jesus, or do we just want the gift of salvation, but not the commitment necessary to really have victory in Christ? There is more involved in Christianity than just accepting the Christian Creed or a Statement of Faith. Even if we accept Christ through faith and receive him into our lives, and submit ourselves to him and are born-again by his Spirit, and are baptized, we must still live a life of total commitment if we call ourselves a disciple of Christ. It involves every phase of our activity. Being a slave of Jesus Christ requires a life of service.

Let’s think again about the prisoners:

who have been captured by the general in Paul’s illustration. As we see these prisoners, we can hear much applause, and we ask why the cheering? The cheering is not for the prisoners, but rather for the general. Every chain around his chariot wheels was a symbol of his power, and the broken weapons the prisoners carried were symbols of their defeat. Paul likens himself to the prisoners, his self-righteousness and ability to persecute or destroy Christians, and his willpower as weapons that have been shattered by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now all of these have been placed in the chains of the Master. It is only at this point that Paul is able to have a witnessing life. Satan tries to use many things as weapons against God and us, but if we surrender to the Lord, he will shatter these weapons, and as we become his captives and through this captivity, we will have freedom and triumph over Satan. If we give our lives to Satan, we will be led by him unto death and destruction.

FINALLY, OUR LIFE OF TRIUMPH AND TESTIMONY

BECOMES ALSO A FRAGRANT LIFE.

We read in verses 15 and 16, “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one, we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life…”

Christians should have the unmistakable “scent” or “aroma” of Christ, discernible alike to those who accept Christ and also those who reject him and are heading for death. You may tell everyone that you are a Christian, a baptized church member, but maybe those who live around you cannot see Christ in your life. The old habits are still hanging on. When we say we know Christ, but our life shows otherwise, the scent you give off is one that leads to death.

It is like on the farm when we used to haul manure. You just couldn’t get the smell off until you got out of those clothes and scrubbed down. My mother didn’t want me coming into the house until those clothes were off and down in the basement. The smell just won’t go away. But that same smell, when driving through the countryside today, is a sweet aroma to me. I used to comment to my kids about what a beautiful smell. They thought I was nuts and made fun of me. But you see, it was very nostalgic for me, with lots of good memories. It became a “good smell.”

We must give off the fragrance of Christ so that our testimony is meaningful. We must live so that others see Christ in our lives, and then they, too, will want what we have. They will want to live like Christ, too. I wonder if God can say of us like he said of Christ, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” If we have really been taken captive for the Lord and bound in chains to his chariot, so to speak, God the Father looks down and sees Christ in you and you in Christ, and then says, Yes, this is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter. His perfume or fragrance should be going out from us, reflecting the triumph he has accomplished in our lives.

Jeannene likes “Romance” perfume. Whenever she runs out, I buy her a new bottle. It is rather expensive, but it lasts a long time. But suppose when I bring it home, she puts it in a dresser drawer and never wears it. I would think, “What is this? I gave you that perfume to wear, not stuff it in a drawer and never wear it.” But many Christians do the same thing. Not with perfume, but we have been given so much, yet we keep tightly sealed in ourselves. No one passing near would know for a moment that we have the life of God in us, because not the least small scent is allowed to come forth. But God’s way is that we are unto him a sweet fragrance of Christ, to those who are being saved, and to those who reject Christ, the smell of death. What a responsibility this is. A person who meets you who does not care for the things of God should be convicted by the Holy Spirit by your life, if you are giving off the scent of Christ. Your life should be so changed, so different, and be so much like Christ that others see him in you and sense his presence because of your commitment to him. In this way, he comes off as a fragrance that is pleasing to others and that draws others to him. If your life doesn’t do this, you are not really living a victorious Christian life. It is not a life of triumph, it is not a life that testifies, and it isn’t a fragrant life.

Paul is showing us how our union with Christ, which is the status of true Christians, produces victory through Christ. As we make him Lord of our lives, he leads us through life triumphantly. His blood was shed in the spiritual battle against sin, death, and the grave. He came through victoriously and has given us life. There is victory in him.

2025-09-29

VICTORY IS YOURS, IF YOU WANT IT

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 21, 2025
Text Joshua 8:1-29
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Our text speaks about the tiny city of AI. From all indications, this city should have been a pushover for Israel as they marched through Canaan. However, in Chapter 7, Israel experienced its only defeat when it attacked the little city of Ai. In that battle, 36 of their soldiers died, and Israel was forced to flee from Ai.

Israel experienced this defeat for a couple of reasons.

FIRST,

THEY FAILED TO SEEK THE LORD’S WILL

BEFORE THEY WENT INTO BATTLE.

They were arrogant and proud after their victory at Jericho. They assumed they were beyond defeat. They learned that wasn’t the case.

Another reason they suffered this defeat was:

BECAUSE THERE WAS SIN AMONG THEM IN THEIR CAMP

When Israel faced Jericho in Chapter 6, they were commanded to destroy the city, but they were to take the wealth of the city and dedicate it to the Lord. A man named Achan took some of that wealth for himself and brought the wrath of God upon the whole nation. Because of these two failures, Israel suffered a tragic defeat at Ai.

The Lord used the defeat at Ai to teach Israel the importance of holiness and of seeking the Lord’s will in every situation. He used this defeat to teach them the danger of pride. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. One of the most valuable lessons Israel learned was the truth that they needed the Lord. His presence and His power, if they were going to defeat their enemies and walk in VICTORY.

There is a sense in which we believers are a lot like Israel. If you are a child of God, then you know something about battles. You know that you have very powerful enemies that must be overcome every day you live. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all out to destroy the child of God, but each of these enemies can be defeated if they are handled according to the will of God. God will not bring blessing if there is unconfessed sin “in the camp” (so to speak). It doesn’t have to be blatant sins of the flesh; it is more likely to be sins of a heart attitude that is not of the Lord.

As we move into these verses, I want you to see that Ai is a picture of one of our enemies. Ai is a picture of the flesh. The word “AI” means “a heap of ruins.” That is a good way to describe our flesh, of our fallen, human nature.” Paul reminds us about the wickedness of the flesh in Romans 7:18. “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) there is no good thing. “Our flesh is dead, (Eph. 2:1), and “it is absolutely wicked and unredeemable” Romans 3:10-23) OUTSIDE OF Jesus Christ.

Ai is first mentioned in the book of Genesis in connection with the life of Abraham, Gen. 12:8, 13:3. The Bible tells us that Abraham pitched his tent “between Bethel and Ai.” Now, the name “Bethel” means “the house of God.” Like Abraham, many of God’s people have pitched their tents somewhere between “the house of God” and “a heap of ruins.”

Do you see the connection? You can either live in a place of victory and blessing, or you can live in a place of defeat and misery. You can either have a Bethel kind of life or an Ai experience. The kind of life you live will be determined by where you pitch your tent.

Just like Israel, we often lose battles with our flesh, but by God’s help, we can learn how to defeat our Ai and walk away with the victory in our lives.

I don’t know the battles that you are fighting with your flesh, but I do know that you are fighting something, because we all are at some point. It may be physical, or it may be spiritual, or BOTH.

I DO KNOW THAT: YOU CAN EXPERIENCE VICTORY OVER YOUR AI.

These verses have something to teach us about how that can become a reality in our lives. Notice with me the truths that present themselves in this passage. I want to preach on the thought.:

VICTORY IS YOURS IF YOU WANT IT

In verses 1 and 2, VICTORY OVER AI IS PROMISED

Verse 1: —IS A WORD ABOUT WINNING. When the Lord speaks to Joshua, God tells him to go to Ai. God promises Joshua that things will be different this time. He assures Joshua and Israel of the victory.

It is interesting that the Lord called them to return to the place of their greatest defeat. God knew that they needed to overcome Ai before they could move on in the conquest of Canaan.

The same is true for us, How many times have we lost the battle to the flesh? How many times have we been defeated by this old, sinful nature’s lust for the forbidden? How many times have we fallen and wondered if we would ever get back to where we were before?

If that has been your experience, the Lord has a word for you today! He says to Joshua. “FEAR NOT”. I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and her king as you did to Jericho and her king.”

To those who have fallen and have lost a battle to the flesh, God says:

Fear not! I am able to give you the victory.

God has made some tremendous promises to his children

We do not have to live in defeat!

We are no longer slaves to sin, the flesh, and the devil

. “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” Romans 6 :14

We have been made “new creatures” in Jesus Christ. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new 2 Corinthians 5:17 In the NIV it says: The old has gone and the new has come.

We have been given everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us…

”He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, and escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:4)

We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who teaches us about the Spirit of truth, Come, he will guide you into all truth…” John 15:13

God has promised victory to his children. But thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:57

The Lord did not save you to leave you defeated, beaten, and enslaved by the flesh. He saved you to set you free, to enable you to walk in the victory that he gives to all those who walk according to his word and his will.

Now in verse 2, we have: A WORD ABOUT WAITING (Jeannene and I learned to wait on the Lord in 1975 when we were returning to Zaire. We were anxious to go to the Capital city of Kinshasa, but God had other plans that were the best for us and for the Church.)

Notice that the Lord tells them that they will do to Ai what they did to Jericho, except this time, they are allowed to take all the spoils for themselves! If Achan had waited just a few more days, he could have had all the riches that he could have imagined. Instead, he ran ahead of God and grabbed for himself what God had forbidden, and as a result, Achan and Israel paid a terribly high price.

What a lesson for you and me today! If we could just learn to WAIT on God and let him lead and bring into our lives the things that need to be there, we would be far better off, because we would see his blessing. The flrsh is impatient. Our flesh wants what it wants and it wants it now. It doesn’t want to wait for its gratification.

We are better off waiting on the Lord to bring those things into our lives that he knows are best for us than we are to run ahead of God. But that’s what we do, isn’t it? Too often. We make our plans, do our thing, and never check with God about it. Are we doing things in God’s time, or ours? Let alone even doing things that God condemns in His Word. Then, when we make a mess, we ask and expect him to “bail us out.”

When we can learn to be patient and wait on the Lord, we are well on our way to victory in the Christian life.

*Wait for the LORD, and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.” Psalm 37:34

“Wait for the LORD: be strong and take heart; and wait for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14

Not only do we see that Victory over AI is promised, but also in verses 3-26, we see

VICTORY OVER AI IS PURSUED

So for us, as we pursue spiritual victory, we can experience God at work, just like the army of Israel did.

In verses 3-17, THEY EXPERIENCED GOD’S PLAN

God told them in exact detail how they were to mount their attack against Ai. They were to lay an ambush for Ai, and they would take the city and all its inhabitants. Israel learned at Jericho what happens when you do things the Lord’s way. They had also learned what happens when they refused to do it God’s way. They learned that failure awaits the person who goes against the will of the Lord.

We need to learn this lesson today! When you fight the battle God’s way, you cannot fail. When we do it our way, we are headed for trouble.

We are talking about fighting this flesh and its lusts. If you are going to pursue victory over your flesh, and if you ever expect to gain the victory, then you must go about it God’s way. No other plan will work! We need constant contact with the spiritual support God has given us. We are strengthened spiritually when we are exposed to the spiritual blessings the Lord has given to us to help us walk in his will. God’s spiritual support system must be made a huge part of our lives.

What are the things we need in our lives?

We need the Word of God, I Peter 2:2; 2 Tim 2:15
We need prayer. Luke 18:1:1; I Thess. 5:17; James 4:2 (you don’t have because you don’t ask, you don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives.)
We need faithful church attendance. (You may think you can worship God anywhere. You don’t have to always “go to church.” That’s true. But it is also true that the body of believers needs you. You can’t have fellowship with the church body when you are out on a boat _We read in Hebrews 10:25, “Don’t neglect the assembling of yourselves together.”
We need the constant fellowship of the saints—–I Cor. 12:27 None of these things will give victory in and of themselves, but we need each of them to strengthen us and to help us grow in the Lord. When we begin to neglect even one of these essential areas, then we are headed toward spiritual trouble. When we feed the flesh and ignore our spiritual needs, it is a sign of impending problems in our spiritual lives and in our church.

2025-09-292025-09-29

TACTICS OF THE ENEMY

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 14, 2025
Text I Peter 5:7-8
Pastor Wayne Augustine

Listen to live audio here

2025-09-29

TWO KINDS OF SMART

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date September 7, 2025
Text James 3:13-4:10 (Reading verses 13-17 of chapter 3 and verses 1-10 of chapter 4)
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

I’m sure that: You have heard that we use only 10% of our brains at any given time. There was a movie that came out in 2011 entitled “Limitless.” I never saw the movie, but the review of it says that it takes that idea and runs with it, spinning a story about a writer who takes a secret experimental drug that allows him to use 100% of his mind. This causes him, until the drug wears off, to be the perfect version of himself, incredibly creative and attentive. Everything he’s ever read or seen is instantly organized in his mind and available for him to use in whatever way he needs. While he’s taking the pills, he’s such a radiant and appealing person that people are immediately drawn to him. And with his entire mind focused like a laser, he’s able to grasp the details of complex business situations and outguess the stock market, a skill he uses to great financial success.

Of course, there’s a wrinkle—-bad guys who want to get their hands on this drug and kill anyone else who has it. The movie apparently is an action-thriller that keeps you engaged until its surprising end. If nothing else, the movie presents one vision of what any of us might be able to do and how dazzling we’d be if only we could use 100% of our brains.

But here’s the problem. Turns out, we’re already using most of our brains! The old assertion that we are using only 10% is a myth. Now that we have better technology —like PET scans and MRIs—for studying brain activity, researchers have found that any mentally complex activity uses many areas of the brain, and over a day, just about every part of our brain gets a workout. Other evidence that the entire brain is operating most of the time, makes a devastating impact on us to discover what even a small amount of brain damage has on a person.

Our text in James is basically saying, however, that even if we’re brain-smart, we might still be dumb—we might still do really stupid things. For instance there is a list that was published showing the 10 top stupid (or dumb) things people do.

Cannon ball into a two-foot deep pool.
Cut coupons and never use them.
Order diet soda a t a fast food restaurant.
Wash clothes without separating the whites and colors
Wash clothes without putting soap in the machine.
Park in a Tow Away Zone for two minutes and then wonder why you got a parking ticket.
Not vote and then complain about the president.
Gossip about people who gossip
Marry a person you met at a bar and then wonder why it’s not working out.
Pick up a porcupine.

In our reading,

James talks of wisdom that is from above and wisdom that is earthbound, and he makes his remarks to Christian believers. In verse 16, James speaks of “disorder,”

About that: commentator Thorsten Moritz says;

“It is a reference to the schizophrenic situation in which Christians who are double-minded find themselves. They claim possession of wisdom from above on the one hand, while on the other hand they display the fruits of wisdom from below.” Earthbound, human smart isn’t always very smart.

James, who was very concerned about how Christians behaved with one another in the faith community, saw that the community was fit and vigorous only when it was hyperlinked to divine wisdom. James’s distinction between the two kinds of smart is especially clear in

The Message –Eugene Peterson’s New Testament in contemporary English. James 3:13-17 reads like this:

“It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the other’s throats. Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God, and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.”

When it’s put that plainly, we might want to say that this so-called earthbound smarts is not smarts at all, and James acknowledges that when he says.

“It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving.” But he’s meeting people where they are, where even some Christians viewed people who were getting ahead by mean-spirited boasting, twisting the truth and pitting one person against another, as cunningly wise.

It may sound strange to say that even some Christians admired such persons, but sometimes there is a begrudging admiration for the cons among us, or the bullies who get away with their behavior because of their brilliance in other ways. Steve Jobs comes to mind. He probably was not a Christian, but:

On some level—we admire at least what he accomplished before he died? His biographer, Walter Isaacson, compares him to Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), who was known as the “Wizard of Menlo Park.” He was a prolific inventor a little more than a hundred years ago. Edison was a 19th-century Steve Jobs, the Genius (Jobs hated the word) of Silicon Valley. Jobs changed the world we live in, as did Edison. We can’t go through a single hour anymore without being affected in some way by a product Jobs created.

Yet as smart as he was, he was a beast of a human being to work with or work for. Isaacson cites colleagues, friends, family, and acquaintances, and the adjectives that come rolling off the tongue include autocratic, controlling, changeable, temperamental, cold, absent, obsessive, distant, passionate, rebellious, and so on. He shouted, he yelled, he bad-mouthed people, and he misled. He was a jerk. “Velvety diplomacy was…not a part of his repertoire,” writes Isaacson.

He was also only one of the most influential people of the past 40 years. His mantra might be identified by the ad campaign Apple ran for some time: Think Different. The grammatically incorrect spelling was intentional. It was a choice to challenge unconventional thinking.

Jobs knew that for Apple to succeed, the company had to not only have a kind of smarts that was unlike its competitors, but that it had to encourage its customers to tap into their own creativity. He also spotted the wisdom in the idea that “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication—a word which itself is rooted in the Greek word for wisdom, sophia.”

So, isn’t it true that we’re sometimes in awe of people who, on the basis of their brain-power, carve out a moneymaking niche for themselves? People who think differently, like Mark Zuckerberg launching Facebook from his college dorm room, jobless J.K. Rowling writing the Harry Potter series from a story idea she thought of, and young Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founding Apple in Jobs’ garage. Isn’t there a kind of wisdom that many of us envy? Or how many of us have said something like, “I wish I’d had the wisdom to invest in ————–some successful company—-like McDonald’s in 1958 or shortly after. Or Walmart when it first started. Or more recently—Google or Bit coin.

What we get from our text is that Christians don’t automatically get a dose of heavenly smarts. The other kind of wisdom—the world’s wisdom—to often predominates in the community of faith.

Commenting on this passage, Luke Timothy Johnson says that James “is addressing members of the Christian community who gather in the name of Jesus and profess the faith of the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, but whose attitudes and actions are not yet fully in friendship with God.”

FOR US IT IS CLEAR THAT SOMETIMES,

OUR ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS ARE

NOT YET FULLY IN FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD.

Johnson is not condemning this congregation, but simply recognizing that conversion does not remove the ambiguity of life and that complete consistency “is not given by a first commitment. It is slowly and painfully won through many conversions.” He also says,

“There is always double-mindedness, even among those who truly want to know God and be friends of God. The wisdom from below is not easy to abandon or avoid, precisely because:

The ‘way of the world is,’ inscribed not only in the language and literature of our surrounding culture but also in our very hearts.”

The true story is told of this “Bowery bum” as he describes himself, wonders drunk as a skunk into a downtown mission. He’s come to the mission for the free dinner but stays for the service, and when the preacher gives an altar call, this man, Frank, goes forward, where a counselor prays with him. He says that night was the big turnaround for him as he repented of his sin and received Christ into his life. Although it doesn’t always happen this way, Frank doesn’t ever drink again after going to the altar that night.

But he says that in many ways, his conversion was only a start. He felt that his sins had been forgiven, but in most ways, he was the same self-centered, profane, bigoted, uncaring person he’d been—except that now, he was attending worship services in a church where he prayed and started listening for God

. There came a time when:

He realized that he had to give himself completely over to the power and control of the Holy Spirit, or he would just keep on being this saved man, who continues to walk in his carnal flesh. So one by one, God revealed things to Frank that he needed to give up or rethink or do differently or take on if he was to continue following Jesus, and growing in His grace.

Little by little, he began to make those adjustments—more changes—but he never said or even felt like he had “arrived,” but he had a sense of where—and toward whom—he was headed.

The point I want us to understand is not the nature of Frank’s conversion, but that:

He didn’t get “divine wisdom” all at once, but after he “got saved,” (and the alcohol problem was a big one to be delivered from), he was filled with the Holy Spirit in a crisis experience of realization that he had to surrender everything to the Lord. Then his spiritual growth and his knowledge of the Lord became progressive. The appropriation of wisdom that is from above is a lifelong learning event, and that should not discourage us, but animate us. C.S. Lewis, puts it this way using a house—-a lifelong building project—for a metaphor:

Imagine yourself as a living house. God come in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on…. But presently, he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts and does not seem to make sense. What on Earth is he up to? The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of—throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage; but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.

If current brain research is correct, we’re already using most of our brains each day. But that doesn’t keep us from being double-minded.

Maybe we’re giving only 10% of our thinking power toward living a holy life. That doesn’t disqualify us from discipleship—-but it gives us lots of room for growth…and lots of room for Jesus to build on. We need to give 100% of not only our thinking power but :

We need to give 100% of ourselves to Him, so He can wholly sanctify us, purify us, and take control of our lives. He wants to walk with us, and live His life through us.

Won’t you let him do that this morning?

That’s the wisdom He imparts to us.

James tells us that in order to come to this place we must resist the devil, who will do everything he possibly can to keep us from this. But when we take the step he runs away.

When we walk close to the Lord, He comes closer and closer to us.

2025-09-29

DON’T BE A BUSYBODY

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661

Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org

Nobleton Community Church
Date August 31, 2025
Text II Thessalonians 3:1-18
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

(This morning, we want to conclude Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians. But first, I would like to review some things in I Thessalonians.

In his first letter, he praised them for the way they received the Gospel. It came to them not just in words but in power. They became models for all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. Their faith had become known everywhere. Paul had been suffering and longed to get back to see them again. When Timothy brought back a good report to him, he was encouraged to pray for them even more. He wrote to them and encouraged them to be sanctified. This is the only way to live to please God. They were to avoid sexual immorality and not live like the pagans. They were not to take advantage of a brother or sister in the church. The Lord will punish those who commit such sins. God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life.

For those who had died, he told them it was natural to grieve their loss, but the good news is that we don’t grieve like those who have no hope. (Like the pagans do). Then we have that wonderful passage about the end times. He tells us that when Christ comes back again, He will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then all of us who are still alive will meet him in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Paul tells us to encourage one another with these words.

He reminds us not to quench the Spirit. Don’t put out the fire of the Holy Spirit. We look forward to the day of the Lord. It will come upon people like a thief in the night. They will be surprised, but we who are expecting him should be awake and sober, and not be surprised. We are to put on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now this is a key passage to realize that when God pours out his wrath on all of those who refused to believe in Jesus as their Savior, we won’t be subject to this. He will remove all believers from his judgment and wrath, which will be poured out at the end of the Great Tribulation. In chapter five of I Thessalonians, he tells us that we are not to be concerned about the times and dates.

In chapters 1 and 2 of II Thessalonians. The Lawless One has to be revealed, and there is a rebellion against God led by him. He will oppose God and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. When all of this occurs, stand firm and hold fast to the Word. (the teachings). May the Lord Jesus Christ, by his grace, give us eternal encouragement and good hope.

Okay: Now let’s look at today’s passage: Chapter 3 verses 1-18.

Paul is asking the Thessalonians for prayer. I would like to ask each one of you for a prayer too. We live in a day when there are many changes taking place in our society. Ten years ago, there were five Supreme Court Justices out of nine who voted to allow same-sex marriages. In fact to declare that there is no State that has the right to refuse this. Fifty years ago, maybe even just twenty years ago, we would never have believed that this could happen. It is unclear where this will go, but one thing that those who are pushing this agenda will want to force all churches to comply. Some churches have no problem with this, but I declare to you, that if a pastor or church has no problem with this, they do not believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. They pick and choose only those passages that fit what they believe, rather than what God’s Word teaches.

Paul is saying in verse 2 that he would be delivered from “wicked and evil people, for NOT EVERYONE HAS FAITH. But the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

There will be times when you may have to defend the position that the Bible definition of marriage is between one man, and one woman. Whatever man decides is “marriage,” is not the Biblical definition. Probably everyone of us has someone in our family, or a close friend’s family, that you have found out they are Gay. Not everyone, though, is pushing to get married. I find it ironic that in this day, when heterosexual couples are not getting married before they live together, and even before they have children, the Gay community is pushing their agenda to have the right to get married. One thing that is too often neglected is that sin is sin. Premarital sex is a sin, and homosexual sex is a sin. Neither one is excluded from what God calls sin. Therefore, we must continue to love Gays, just like we continue to love Heterosexual couples who live together but are not married. We must know God’s Word in order to talk to people in love, to let them know what the Bible says and not what society is accepting.

Then, in verse 6, we are told that we are to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching that they had received from Paul.

1.. Follow the example of integrity.

Paul says…in verse 7

For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example.

He said that because he had just finished saying …in verse 6

… keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

Paul is saying you’ve got good examples to follow and you’ve got bad examples to follow. Follow the good example — my example.

Now, when Paul says “keep away from every brother who is idle,” he’s not talking about the Amish practice of shunning, where you cut off all social contact with a person. In fact, in verse 14, he says that we should not treat these people as enemies, but rather warn them as brothers.

So, when he says “keep away,” he’s talking about the amount of influence you let that person have in your life.

Paul says, “Follow the example of integrity.”

For everyone you know — every friend, every co-worker, every family member — you will have to decide: What level of influence will I extend to this person? Is this someone whose example I can follow? Or is this someone who desperately needs my good example?

Another way to say it is: Will I be this person’s student, or will I be this person’s teacher? Now, in your best relationships, you will be both. It will be a case of iron sharpening iron, and one person sharpening another. As we read in [Proverbs 27:17] But you need to be selective with who you let sharpen you. Paul said, “Follow our example.” In his first letter to the Thessalonians, he said…You became imitators of us and of the Lord.

(I Thessalonians 1:6)

We need to determine exactly what it is about certain people that is worth imitating: The way this man leads his family; the way this woman speaks so kindly to everyone, even when people are rude to her; the way this person is always on time; the way this person always tells the truth, even when it hurts; the way this person exudes the presence of the Holy Spirit; the way this person can listen without interrupting; the way this person has an attitude of no condemnation; and on and on.

In fact, every time I think of a character quality that I need to develop, the first thing I ask is: Who do I know who has this quality? How can I learn it the way they learned it?

If you want to develop good character, make the intentional, on-purpose decision to always follow the example of integrity.

Here’s the second thing I want you to see today.

Follow the path of responsibility.

Paul says..Verse.11: WE HEAR THAT SOME OF YOU ARE IDLE.

                     THEY ARE NOT BUSY:  THEY ARE BUSY-BODIES

Verse 12: Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.

We’ve all heard the saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s playground.” You could also say, “An idle life is the devil’s playground,” because when you are idle and unproductive, you create a lot of room in your life for a wide variety of bad decisions.

That’s why Paul goes on to say…

Verse 13: And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

What’s he saying? He’s saying follow the path of responsibility.

Here’s a good question to ask yourself — especially when you don’t really have anything to do. Ask yourself, “What’s the most responsible thing I can do right now?”

Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is close your eyes and go to sleep. Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is get out of bed. Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is to give your undivided attention to your spouse, or your child. Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is to read something, learn something, study something. Sometimes the most responsible thing you can do is to reward yourself with a movie, or some uplifting entertainment.

Get in the habit of asking yourself, “Is what I am about to do the most responsible thing I can do? If not, what is?”

Character is not something that you will just accidentally stumble upon. If you’re going to get there, you’re going to get there on purpose. Follow the path of responsibility.

Here’s the third thing I want you to see. If you want to develop character…

Follow the practice of accountability.

Paul was saying to the Thessalonians that there were some among them who were idle and unproductive, then he said…

10 …when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” He also said…14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.

15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

There are people in this world who want to live according to their rules; they want to do things their way without having to answer anyone — and they still want everything they think they’re entitled to . As a person of character, this cannot be you. You need people in your life who will hold you accountable for what you say and do. At the same time, as a person of character, you can’t let yourself get talked into a situation in which you are carrying someone’s load, with no accountability on their part. If you do, it’s a disservice to the other person. We need accountability. We need to answer to someone for the decisions that we make. People who have no accountability usually fail in the area of responsibility.

I’ve seen it happen more times than I can count — in churches, in businesses, and in families. I’ve seen churches organized in such a way that the pastor answers to no one. I’ve never seen that model of church government work successfully over the long haul. Without accountability, it’s too easy to fall into the I’m not going to work, but I still want to eat mentality. People of character don’t take that risk. They set up accountability structures in their life to help keep them focused and on track.So let me ask you: How accountable are you? Think about your accountability in these areas.

Your work life. Most people have a boss. If you don’t, if you’re self-employed, do you have someone to answer to? Can you think of how maybe you could be more productive in your work if you set up an accountability structure?

Your personal life. Are there parts of your personal life that are hidden from everyone? Are you the only one who knows your password, for example? Do you panic when someone asks to borrow your phone or use your computer? Are you spending money that your spouse doesn’t know about? Do you make unilateral decisions without consulting anyone else? Can you think of a way that you could open up levels of accountability in your marriage and home life?

How about your spiritual life? Is there anyone to keep you on your toes? Can you go days without praying or reading the Bible — and no one would ever know? Is there some way you could establish accountability with someone whose spiritual leadership you trust? It’s as simple as this. People of character are accountable, and they hold others accountable as well. There’s a contagious nature to character. In fact, character must be caught before it can be taught. You can say it this way: If you want to develop character, be careful what you catch, be careful what you pass on.

What does that mean?

It means that if you want to become a person of character, you have to make a conscious decision to surround yourself with the right people of good influence and protect yourself from those who aren’t heading in the right direction. You also want to think about how you’re influencing others.

Look closely at the examples you follow, and the example you set for others. Look closely at your level of responsibility. Are you doing the best you can with what you have? Look closely at your system of accountability. Have you organized your life so that you’re not able to get away with anything, so to speak? Have you organized your life so that people of integrity have the right to offer correction? And are you willing to do the same for people who seek your leadership? Character doesn’t happen by accident. It’s intentional. So…

Make it your intention to catch the right qualities and to pass them on to those around you.