Weekly Sermon – Nobleton Community Church

2025-02-07

FAITH IS GOD’S MINUMUM REQUIREMENT

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 February 2, 2025
Text Micah 6:1-8
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

If you ever pick up a package of software at a big box electronics store, there’s one thing you want to be sure to do —check the system requirements. If you don’t have the right hardware the software won’t work. Do you want Excel? Microsoft Excel that is? If so, your computer will need to meet certain system requirements. I rarely use Excel—but I am told for the latest Excel version you will need a processor that is at least one gigahertz, and for business purposes two is better. With windows 11 and Office 365 it automatically adjusts to your software, but the amount of computer memory might be affected. Anyway, my point is that there are always minimum system requirements. I don’t do system downloads, but if you do, you better consult the requirements.

Of course, if you live in some parts of the country, more rustic parts perhaps, you have to do a translation because geek speak has a different meaning. For example; LOG ON means “Make the wood stove or fireplace hotter. LOG OFF means Don’t add no more wood. MONITOR —“Keep an eye on the wood stove. DOWNLOAD—Get the firewood off the truck. MEGA HERTZ; “ WELL —That’s what happens when you’re not careful as you get the firewood. And finally, LAPTOP is where the cat sleeps.

But getting back to system requirements. Beyond the minimum system requirements are recommended requirements. Recommendation for Excel might include a graphics processor since it helps increase the performance of certain features, such as drawing tables. System requirements and recommended requirements are the language in the world of computers.

It is also the language of; FAITHFUL LIVING.

In this relatively well-known Old Testament text we see that God lets us know in decidedly simple language just what is required to make His HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS work. If you want to “excel “ as a Christian you need to know the minimum and recommended requirements.

THE MINIMUM REQUIRMENT IS FAITH

Paul tells us, in his letter to the Galatians, tells us: how a person is made right with God “not by the works (or righteousness) of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) This means that we enter into a saving relationship with God Through our willingness to trust Jesus, to rely on him to be our Savior but also our LORD. We are save through faith, and Paul assures us that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Roman 8:1

FAITH IS GOD’S MINIMUM REQUIREMENT

But more is recommended for those who want to excel. In the book of Micah, (our text this morning), God says through the prophet: “Listen to what the Lord says; Stand up, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, you mountains, the accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people he is lodging a charge against Israel: (verses 1-2) They are like witnesses in a court room. It is on the mountain tops that the Israelites sacrificed to pagon idol gods even in their celebrations.

In this passage, God has a controversy with the people of Israel, one that will be settled in an unusual kind of courtroom. God will make his charges and the people will answer. Serving as judge and jury will be not a group of people (their peers), but the mountains and the hills.

“My people what have I done to you?” Asks God. “How have I burdened you? (or worried you)? Answer me! I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery, and I sent Moses, to lead you, also Aaron, and Miriam. My people, remember what king Balak of Moab counseled, and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember , Your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving and righteous acts of the Lord.( Micah verses 3-5)

God reminds the people of all the great things that have been done for them. Liberation from Egypt, rescue from slavery and the gift of leadership by Moses, Aaron and Miriam. As if these mighty acts are not enough, God asks them to remember the time that king Balak hired Balaam to speak a curse against Israel, which backfired and tuned into a blessing (Numbers 22-24). God concludes by reminding them of what happened along the journey from Shittim to Gilgal, as the people crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

“Isn’t this enough? Asks the Lord, with a note of hurt in his voice. “Aren’t these enough mighty and amazing acts of salvation?

Then the people respond. Feeling convicted of their faithlessness, they say, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ” (Micah vss. 6-7).

The people are willing to give anything—absolutely anything—to be restored to a right relationship with God.

Thousands of rams. Ten thousands of rivers of oil. Even their Firstborn children. No price is too high. Like they were used to doing for the pagan gods. But thee are not God’s requirements. Instead, says the prophet Micah, the Lord requires something else. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but:

TO ACT JUSTLY, AND TO LOVE MERCY (KINDNESS, AND TO WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD? (verse 8)

In Isaiah 57:15 We read: “God lives in a high and holy place…to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Jeremiah 22:3 “…Do what is just and right. Rescue from the land of the oppressor, the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherly or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Isaiah 1:17 “ Learn to do right, seek justice, encourage the oppressed,

defend the case of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Hosea 6:6 “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice and acknowledgement of God, not burn offerings.

In the New Testament when the Pharisees questioned him for eating with tax collectors and sinners— we read in Matthew 9:3 “It is not the healthy that need a doctor , but the sick. Go and learn what this means “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” for I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” And in Matthew 23:23: “You have neglected the more important matter of the heart—justice, mercy and FAITHFULNESS.

And finally in Luke 11:42: ” …you neglect justice and the love of God”

These are God’s recommended system requirements. What was true for the Israelites is true for us. Yes, God’s minimum requirement is FAITH. But the recommended requirements go much farther: justice, kindness and a humble walk with God. Only then will we excel.

Notice that Micah’s answer reveals that God is much more interested in our daily activities that in our religious observances. Burnt offerings, gifts of oil—these are actions tied to spiritual ceremonies. What God requires, however, is a life lived with acts of justice, kindness and humility.

THE FIRST RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENT: Is to do justice (Act justly). Although the passage from Micah asks us to imagine a courtroom, this particular legal requirement does not require attorneys, judges and juries. Instead, the command to do justice applies to every aspect of our life—-It means treating others with fairness, equality and showing concern for people who are weak, powerless and exploited. This means living in a righteous way within society. Biblically speaking: a righteous person as a New Testament Christian, should live like Christ. He or she should live up to God’s standards of morality and ethical behavior and treats others fairly. It is hard for me to understand the person, who says they are a Christian, but their life style is anything but how Christ lived. When someone does not live up to God’s standard, their declaration is hollow. they say they belivee the Bible, but they don’t want to do what it says. They don’t want Jesus Christ interfering with their life.

My nephew in Michigan goes to an Evangelical Covenant Church. In his church, “doing justice” means not just helping people who are hurting, but addressing the causes of suffering. From a biblically-rooted perspective, they work to bring the love of Christ and the justice of God’s kingdom to the marginalized, the powerless and the oppressed. They act as advocates for victims of abuse, support micro-enterprise programs, battle human trafficking and work on racial reconciliation.

“Do justice, (or act justly)” says Micah. Not simply “support justice.” It ‘s a high-commitment, hands-on, everyday actvity.”

The second Recommended requirement is: LOVE KINDNESS.

The English word “kindness” is actually a weak translation of the Hebrew word hesed. which means love or love mercy, loyalty (actually covenant loyalty, and steadfast love, and faithfulness.” It lies at the heart of healthy relationships,, whether the bonds are marriages, close friendships or the relationship between God and his people. To “love kindness” (or show mercy) is to keep this loyalty and faithfulness at the heart of all your relationships. It means that you do not say hurtful things to people.

It means you think before you speak in an unkindly way, and ask yourself; “will what I think is so important to say to them, hurt them unnecessarily.” Would I want someone talking to me like that? Remember the words of Jesus, that we are to treat others, like we would like to be treated. Now, I don’t meant that we shouldn’t point out immoral behavior, or even when we see someone doing something to hurt others. but the Biblical way is to go to them and tell them in a kind and loving way, not an accusatory way in public. too often we think we have to make a spectacle of the wrong we allegedly see. Sometimes there are facts that we don’t know. If a person refuses to accept what we say, and it is truly a sin, biblically we should take an (elder of the church) with us to talk with them, then if they refuse to listen it is to be brought to the church. Rarely do we follow this procedure. If we don’t immediately confront them in public to humiliate them, we would just rather gossip about them behind their back. We rarely show HESED. (That is, mercy and loving kindness)

Another aspect of this kind of mercy and loving kindness or hesed, is a mom who spends day after thankless day spoon-feeding and wiping up after a disabled child. Hesed is a loving wife whose long-suffering, tearful prayers help her exhausted or discouraged husband from falling apart at the seams. Hesed is love that can be counted, decade after decade.”

THE THIRD RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENT IS:

” WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD.”

If we are going to excel as Christians, we must travel with God over the course of life. Faith may begin with a momentary decision, but it matures through a ling journey of following God over many ups and downs, through mountaintop experiences and valleys of deep darkness. Along this path, we are challenged to walk humbly knowing that God is—and must remain–ahead of us, in charge, leading the way. As a N.T Christian who has the advantage of the power of the Holy Spirit, these ups and downs should be like bumps in the road. They should not drag you down to the depths of despair. We don’t have to wallow in discouragement, because no matter what the enemy of our souls throws at us, the “joy of the Lord is our strength.” Christ in us means Holy Spirit power. It means walking in victory, and not living , and wallowing in sin, not because we are so great, but because he is! When we live in that kind of submission to the control of the Holy Spirit, we can walk humbly with God. Because we realize how weak we are and how strong he is.

When Jesus describes himself as “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14″6) he is echoing this image of a journey. Jesus is our way, showing us exactly how we are to walk with God. When he first called his disciples, he didn’t say, “Agree to these fine points of theology”. Instead, he said “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19).

“Walk humbly with your God,” says Micah. Walk with the Lord Jesus, his Son, the one who is the way, in the life of faith, unlike the world of computers, we should never be satisfied with the bare minimum. “To have the strongest possible relationship with God and with each other, it is important to reach for the recommended system requirements. Doing justice, loving hesed (mercy and kindness) and journeying humbly with the Lord. As Christians this is the way to excel. Examine your efforts to please God. Examine the areas of your life that not only affect your relationship with the Lord but with others. Are you fair in your dealings with people? Do you show mercy to those who wrong you? Are you learning and walking in humility;

2025-01-30

THE BLAME GAME

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 January 26, 2025
Text: James 1:9-18
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

The title of my message this morning is: “The Blame Game. ”This is something that is in human nature. We seemingly have to always find someone to blame when things go wrong. Because of certain circumstances in life, some people don’t blame others, but they continually blame themselves. Both of these positions are wrong. When Eve sinned by disobeying God and she ate of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat of, she gave the fruit to Adam. When God questioned Adam about why he was ashamed, He asked Adam if he had eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam blamed his wife. The woman YOU gave me, gave the fruit to me. Then Eve says, the serpent deceived me. Now the scripture says that she took some fruit and ate it, and then gave some to her husband who was WITH HER. Adam stood by and allowed his wife to sin and then joined her. Each of them found someone to blame, and we have been blaming each other or Satan ever since.

A dog food company’s newest product was not selling well. The president called in his management staff. “How’s our advertising?” he asked. “Great,” replied the advertising executive. This Ad campaign will probably win the industry’s top award this year.” All right, the president continued, How about our product design?” The production manage spoke up, “It’s great, our new label and packaging scored high in every marketing test we ran.” Hmmm.–Well, how’s our sales staff? Are they doing their job?? The sales manager was quick to respond. Oh sure. Our people are the best in the business. There was a heavy silence as the president thought about what he’d just heard. “We’ve got great advertising, great packaging, a top-notch sales force, yet this product is coming in dead last in the dog food market. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

Everyone looked at each other—Finally, one brave soul spoke up. “It’s those stupid dogs, sir, They just won’t touch the stuff.”

Now that’s getting pretty bad when we blame the dogs for a faulty product.

There are some people that have turned their back on God because they blame him for tragedy in their life. Sometimes it isn’t a particularly awful thing in their life, but it was a time of trial. In the first few verses of this chapter, we see that; Trials of many kinds produce perseverance. They should help us to become more mature and complete in our faith. If it doesn’t produce more faith, it is because we are not believing in God like we should, and we are doubting when things get tough. We become like a boat that is bobbing around on the waves, first one way and then the other, and this makes us unstable in all of our ways. It makes us double-minded, we could say double-souled, which shows the depth of our doubt. It goes deep down to the depths of our very being and character.

We read in verse 12 that; The man who perseveres under trial is blessed. We are counseled in verse 13 that: “WHEN WE ARE TEMPTED—NO ONE SHOULD SAY, ‘GOD IS TEMPTING ME’. FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED BY EVIL, NOR DOES HE TEMPT ANYONE.”

It is hard to accept that trials are good for us and that God would be teaching us something through them. We are told that we are to consider it pure joy to go through trials. This sounds ridiculous when you are going through hardship or trials, but James insists that when we persevere we are blessed. When we have stood the test we will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

So many times, we see the evil side of the trials. There is a good side (just as he promises—Paul says in Romans 8:28 that; “all things work together for good (or for the good of) those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” It becomes an agency in the education of our spiritual character and the strengthening of all the better elements of our nature.

So once again —the same Greek word is used, but the other meaning for it. First, it is “trials” that we go through, now it is temptations. “When tempted no one should say God is tempting me” While temptation is not directly from God, yet it is overruled by God, and made one of His instrumentalities of blessing to us, “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone.” Yet, God PERMITS us to be tempted. As I reminded you, at the beginning of the message; God put Adam and Eve in a position where they were tempted and He made it possible for them either to choose or refuse; He gave them a nature subject to temptation, and while it might overcome them, it might also be overcome. God does not tempt any person, yet He does allow this to be “one of the classes in the school of faith and holiness”. He even led Jesus Christ, His own son, into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. So we shouldn’t think that it is strange if we are called to pass through the ordeal of this conflict—evil from within and from without, not merely things that grieve, afflict, and distress us, (like the trials mentioned in the first few verses,) but also the things that tend to make us do wrong and draw us from the path of righteousness, truth and godliness.

In I Corinthians 10:13 Paul tells us that: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Now the key here is that we recognize “the way out.” God may be trying to help us to withstand some temptation, but instead of recognizing the escape route—the exit sign, we just go right ahead fulfilling our lustful nature, or following our own will, instead of God’s will.

So the temptations will come! God wants you to be forewarned and forearmed, and to know it is better that they should come to you, if you take the covering of God and come through in victory. Once again; “we shouldn’t blame God when we are tempted—We shouldn’t even blame Satan and say “the Devil made me do it!). We also shouldn’t blame God when we go through trials.

WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF TEMPTATION?

We should never forget where the source of temptation came from. “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” (verse 14). Temptation comes from your own heart. There are innumerable tempters: men, women, and fallen spirits of wickedness. But none have any power unless we have within ourselves—a traitor in the inner recesses of our hearts. The enemy cannot get in unless you let him in.

The phrase “dragged away and enticed”(NIV) or “lured and enticed” (RSV) has the idea of being caught in a trap and carried away by our captor, and the word “enticed” in Greek means “to bait a hook.” Both the hunter and the fisherman use bate to capture their unwary prey. No animal would deliberately step into a trap or snap at a hook if it understood the nature of traps and hooks. Traps promise one thing but give another. James is telling us that the bait that attracts us conceals deadly poison. If only we believed God’s warnings!

When we lived in Michigan, somehow we got a mouse in our house. It showed up once in our family room and once in the laundry room. So we set two mouse traps. We had heard that peanut butter worked good to catch mice, so we put some peanut butter on the trap in the family room, and we put the traditional cheese bate on the trap in the laundry room. Well the mouse somehow was able to lick the peanut butter off the trap in the family room, but the cheese that we had pushed down hard on the trap in the laundry room –got him.

But just as we use a mouse trap to catch mice; Satan does that to us too.

Sometimes we are tempted by the peanut butter so to speak, and we can nibble in the temptation, and we think, that’s not so bad. But another day Satan sets a trap with a “cheese” temptation, and we are caught, snared, hooked, and it can lead to death.

So once again, he can only do this if we let him. Now the only exception to this is when it comes to “generational spirits.” It’s only Westerners who deny that this is possible. Others in the world know that sometimes because of the sins of the parents, who allow curses to be put on their children before they are born or are still in the womb, their children are unknowingly subject to this kind of demonic bondage. Sometimes the parents are unaware that this has happened. When the child grows up there is a foothold of evil that cannot be shaken, even when they have received Christ as Savior.

The root of the bondage or generational curses, deliberately or ignorantly invoked because of parental involvement with the occult. Deuteronomy 18:10-13 tells us: “ Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”

For us today we may have another list, a list of things that may separate us from God. These may be things involving the Occult.

Included in this list, but not limited to it is, playing with the Ouija Board, Numerology or Horoscope readings, automatic writing, astral projection, levitation, Séances (which includes what we read— consulting the dead through mediums, divination, even water witching, (which many of our ancestors used to find water to dig for wells), astrology, or any of the Eastern Religions, parental bondage to drugs, in short, any form of bondage to evil spirits or serious abnegation of responsibility can expose their children to evil spirits.

Even though someone in your family was involved in some or even one of these, it doesn’t automatically mean that you will be affected. I don’t understand how this works, or why some live in bondage because of something in their past, while others achieve victory in their lives by accepting Christ. I just know that sometimes, professing Christians can’t seem to make any spiritual progress and they wonder why. After counseling and finding out about their own past, or their parents or grandparents, or aunts or uncles, it is discovered that either a deliberate curse was put upon them, or at the very least their relatives or ancestors were involved with some form of evil practice that Satan used to get a foothold in their lives.

The good news is that one doesn’t have to stay in this kind of condition. Deliverance is available.

It is so sad to see well-intentioned people (including some pastors), keep prodding someone to pray more, read the Word more, be more disciplined, etc., when they have some besetting problem that binds them. All the while what they need is deliverance from some form of demonization. It is obvious though that originally someone fell to temptation by the evil one. Perhaps as we read in verse 15 of our text; “after desire has conceived (there had to be a desire to see something happen, to experience something, to have help through demons, even though most of the time in our culture we don’t even think about their involvement.)—So next it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

The counsel is given in verse 16: DON’T BE DECEIVED!

That is, don’t be deceived into thinking that somehow God is the author of our temptation. So in spite of the facts I have mentioned about how the force of evil can come onto someone because of past generations of evil, it boils down to the fact that we hold the key to the fortress, so to speak. It is in our own heart that the battle is fought.

Two young boys sat down for lunch at school. One opened his lunchbox and began to gripe.“Baloney again?” This is the fourth day in a row! I’m sick and tired of baloney!”

His friend said, “I’ll bet if you just tell your mom you don’t like baloney, she’ll fix you something else.” —“Mom!?”—replied the first kid. “I fix my own lunches”

Talk about not taking responsibility for our own actions.

We can deny any responsibility for sinful actions too. We can say, when we can’t get the victory, —“The devil made me do it.” Or “ I just can’t help myself!” But this is just a cop-out, when all the while your will is to continue in the bondage, (even if you didn’t have anything to do with the origin.) Sometimes when we do know of a problem, like abuse by someone when we were young, we might hang on to this as an excuse for our lack of self-confidence or our behavior today when we are an adult.

I have seen deliverance sessions, where the demons speak and say, “he or she doesn’t want me to leave—I am (his or her) security” And finally the person has to be willing to be delivered, and receive the comforting power of the Holy Spirit instead of demons.

Now the more common problem is that in our own hearts, we just like sin. It is our own lust, our own desire or coveting, which is the literal translation, the thing in you that wants to do the wrong, your wish for it, even if it is not yet your will. This is the starting place of temptation. It is that blossom of sin. And this is where God Wants to bring His sanctifying grace and take away the very desire. You see this is what God is longing to take away from us—the desire for you to do what you know is wrong—whatever it is that is against His will.

The Lord Jesus passed through the powers of darkness and the allurements of the world and all the evil that was around Him and was proof against it. He could say “The Prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me.”(John 14:30). It is in the heart that temptation has its starting point. Ask God to give you a true and holy desire to please Him, and an instinctive repugnance and recoil from evil and sin, and so long as you have this, you shall not fall into temptation. Don’t go where sin abounds. Don’t go where you can be tempted. Alcoholics have trouble being around alcohol. It is possible that they can be tempted by it. However, I have heard the testimonies of (former) alcoholics, (that’s what I would say, even though AA teaches that you are always an alcoholic) but they may have been sober for many years. I could be around alcohol anywhere including a bar, and never be tempted, because I can’t stand the taste or even the smell of it. That be as it may, addictions are powerful.

The point is we shouldn’t be around people or things that tempt us. Don’t hang out with those who will drag you down, until you are delivered from the desire to participate in the sin of unbelievers. Once you are in victory, then be with them in order to win them. Too often we never make it back, but our unsaved contacts drop off and we don’t know how to reestablish contact.

You see, the Lord wants to give you the gift of salvation and eternal life if you haven’t yet received it. He wants to give you the power and authority of His Holy Spirit so that you can walk in victory and not fall to temptation.

And then to be able to testify, and witness to others about what the Lord has done for you. He wants to help you walk in victory over past sinful habits, and not fall to temptation. When Christ comes into your life you want to tell others what has happened. Don’t keep it a secret. Don’t stay silent about it. Other Christians will rejoice with you, and people who don’t yet know the Lord, will be intrigued, as long as you don’t preach at them, but just share your testimony. They will have nothing to argue with you about.

Verse 17 says; “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadow.”

This is a lot different than sending temptation. God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. The concept of goodness rules out the possibility that God would send an influence as destructive as temptation. God’s gifts are marked by kindness and helpfulness, not destructiveness. They are “perfect” which in this context excludes any possibility of moral evil, such as tempting his people to commit sin. The point of James’ statement is that nothing but good comes from God.

What does it mean; “The Father of the heavenly lights?” Some translations do not have the word heavenly, but it certainly is implied when it says; “from above.” The amplified version says; “It comes down from the Father of all (that gives) light, in (the shining of)…light.

The context seems to indicate that the lights referred to are the sun and moon, or the One who created them—and who has sovereignty over them. Unlike the “shifting shadows” we see in the difference between the sun at noon, and the shadows or seasonal changes we see as the position of the sun changes or even the moon. God does not change. With him there is no variation at all.

He is always the giver of good gifts, never a sadistic being who would entice his creatures to destroy themselves in sin.

However he does allow temptations to come. The battle does you good. The conflict educates us, strengthens us, establishes us, and –It is necessary for us that we may be grounded and settled and finally approved and rewarded. One of the best results of temptation is that it shows us what is in our own hearts. It reveals ourselves. Until temptation comes, we feel strong and self-confident; but: When the keen edge of the adversary’s weapon has pierced our soul, we have more sympathy with others and less confidence in our own self-sufficiency.

We are humiliated and broken at His feet and helpless: and this is the best thing that can happen to us. God wants to disarm us and lay us low, and then He can lift and save us and give us eternal life. The word of truth is the gospel; and by the sending of this “good news,” it is God’s purpose that we should be reborn, into a new life. When the gospel of Jesus Christ enters into our life; that is, when He comes in, He produces NEW LIFE—“we are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come.” The shadows are ended, and the certain Word of TRUTH has come; The truth that never changes, just like God.

2025-01-21

“STANDING ON THE PROMISES”

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 January 19, 2025
Text: Romans 4:13-25
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

.There were many times when I was a child that my dad would make certain promises to me, and he always tried to keep them. Sometimes something beyond his control would make it impossible for him to keep his promise to me. I just couldn’t understand and I would be shattered. Fortunately he would always make it up to me and I would forget about the broken promise. As I became older I understood more about the promises. It depended on my behavior for one, but also, circumstances would make it impossible for him to do exactly what he had promised. His favorite answer to me was; “We’ll see! Now any kid knows that that is not a good response. I remember my senior year in high school, I had a date for our Jr-Sr. banquet. I went to a small town public school in a county which had a lot of Mennonites, and other conservative Christians. Therefore we didn’t have a “prom” like most schools. Those who wanted to dance, rented a dance hall and band etc. somewhere in another city. The Christians went to a Christian camp grounds where we played board games, or watched a Christian film until midnight or later. Anyway this was an important date for me, with the sister of my best friend from church, I needed the car, and my dad was in business for himself, and had an egg and produce route in nearby Akron, Ohio, and he told me he would be home by 6:00pm. When it was 6:30 and he wasn’t home yet, I began to panic, because I had to pick up my date 15 min. away, and drive back to the school, all before 7:30pm. He finally came about 10 min before 7:00, apologizing profusely, I was able to get to the banquet at just a couple of minutes before 7:30pm. Everyone was seated already, but they got to see me and my beautiful date walk in. It wasn’t until I was 22 years old and I ran a bread route, the year before Jeannene and I got married, that I realized how hard it was to finish your route when you thought you could. There was always something that kept you from getting home when you thought you could. I came to realize that Daddy didn’t ever deliberately lie to me but, sometimes his promises could not be kept.

Promises on the human level are sometimes broken. The Bible is a book filled with the promises of God to His people. Someone has calculated that there are at least 30 thousand promises in the Word of God. While this figure may appear to be extravagant it must be recognized that there are thousands of promises made to us which we have failed to recognize and to claim. The most wonderful thing about God’s promises is that they are never broken, but they too, are conditional, however once we have done our part—the promise is ours never to be broken.

Chapter 4 of the book of Romans tells us that the secret of Abraham’s spiritual achievement is to be found in his recognizing and clinging to the promises of God. He did not stagger back because of the mystery or miracle of the divine plan for his life. He was fully convinced that God was both able and willing to accomplish all that he had promised. May God grant us the insight to discover His promises and the faith to claim them.

Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher of the last century wrote a book which is still in print, entitled “Faith’s Checkbook.” This book is a series of daily devotionals for us to use throughout the year. Each devotional is based on one of the exceeding great and precious promises of God. Concerning the promises of God, Spurgeon has said; “A promise from God may very instructively be compared to a check payable to order. It is given to the believer with the view of bestowing upon him some good thing. It is not meant that he should read it ever comfortably, and then have done with it. No, he is to treat the promise as a reality, as a man treats a check”

So you see, a check is no good until it is cashed. How many of the promises of God have you discovered and claimed—cashed so to speak”?

We want to look at Three categories of promises, to understand all that God has for us in his Word.

1.FIRST THERE ARE PROMISES FOR THE PRESENT.

Many of the promises which God made in times past are for those who live in the present. In verses 23-24 Paul says that when God declared Abraham righteous, (because of his faith), it wasn’t just for his benefit, but for us too, “if we believe in our heart that God brought Jesus Christ our Lord, back from the dead. He was handed over to die for our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.” If we just recognize God’s promises and claim them by faith, God will do what He says He will do.

There are very few promises God made to his people in the past which have no relevant application for the present. God doesn’t change with the passing of time. What he was yesterday, He is today, and will be tomorrow and forever. What he did for his people yesterday he will do for us today. When we study the Word of God we should place ourselves in the middle of the action and identify with Biblical characters when such is appropriate. When God promises to forgive and cleanse from sin in the past, we can be safe in assuming that we can claim his promise of doing that in the present upon the condition that we sincerely repent. As God promised to guide in the past, so he promises to guide us in the present. If we are not sensitive to listen and willing to respond, and meet his conditions, either by something we must do or else simply applying faith, then and only then, does He not fulfill his promise.

An illustration of this kind of faith, would be if I asked one of you how much cash do you have, and you would say $5.00. Then If I gave you as a gift $5.00 and someone asked you how much do you have you could say, “I have $10.00. But then I ask for $5.00 back, and you were asked how much do you have, you would probably say $5.00. What you should say, If you believed me, —-that I said I was giving you a gift of $5.00 is; I have $10.00, but $5.00 is in his pocket (pointing at me). [ That’s like the old offering joke that pastor Wayne has said, about the $30,000 we need to build a basketball court here in Nobleton. He said we have the $30,000 but it is still in your pockets.}

In verses 19-23 we see that Abraham’s faith never wavered. God had promised him a son, and the world would be blessed by him and his descendants. Even though he was about 100 and Sarah 90, he believed God. His faith got even stronger when he was asked to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. . He was ready to obey God, knowing that the promise would still be fulfilled, even if God would raise Isaac from the dead. When God makes a statement in His Word, no matter how hopeless circumstances seem to us, we must believe Him and claim his promises. Maybe God hasn’t fulfilled a promise to you yet, but God will not fail, if we put our faith and trust in Him and his Word.

Then we not only have promises for the present,

WE HAVE PROMISES FOR THE FUTURE.

The only thing certain about the future, as far as we are concerned, is the fact of change. Nothing will be exactly the same tomorrow. You know how it is when you go back to your home town after a number of years. (My home town of Dalton and New York city from the 60s to the 90s ). Change is all around us and the future will be filled with change in every era of our lives. The period from 1910-1960 there was perhaps greater changes in the world than any other 50 year period of history. ( Then the almost 50 years it took to change Roe vs. Wade and save babies lives in the future). My home state of Ohio didn’t waste any time in declaring that after the 6th week when a baby’s heart is detected abortions are illegal. Other states have also made rulings already. The changes that have taken place in this century are maybe not as visible as the first part of the 20th century. Like cars replacing horses which were the main means of transportation for thousands of years. But those of you who have smart phones, it has been said that the technology that put a man on the moon, was not as much as you have in your smart phone today. In a world that moves so fast and we have unlimited destructive power it is easy to understand why many should be fearful as they face the future. We live in such a complex society in which the consumer and the producer are frequently so far removed that it is difficult for many to have a sense of significance and belonging. On all sides there is a constant increase in anxiety and insecurity.

As children of God we can be assured that in a changing world we worship a God who does not change. (Mal. 3:16 we read; “I am the Lord, and I do not change….”) The promise to us of eternal life is real, even though the fulfillment of this promise is almost incomprehensible to us, but we have assurance of the reality of this because His Word says so and because the Holy Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are His. (I John 5:10-11) and Romans 8:16). God saves us, fills us, and calls us to serve him, in ways that we can’t imagine. There are those in my home church that thought,- “what good thing could come out of Nazareth—uh Dalton–or Orrville”-surprised that I was a missionary. Wherever you are from, or whatever the circumstances when you were growing up—— We know that in God’s divine providence that he doesn’t make mistakes. Sometimes we

Then thirdly we need to recognize the category of:

PROMISES FOR GOD’S CHILDREN

God has revealed his desire to impart to us a blessing and to enrich our lives. The divine promises were not given to deceive or to encourage false expectations. The heart of the loving Heavenly Father moves toward his children constantly with purposes of grace. His every intention toward us is good. A study of the Bible and of Christian history will reveal that: Those who have endured trials and difficulties of life and who persisted and went forward to real achievement were those who had studied the word of God and discovered God’s promises. These promises were claimed, and men and women moved forward depending upon God to do as he had promised.

It is reported that the margin of the Bible used by D.L. Moody contained the letters T and P on almost every page. When he was asked about this he said that the passage contained a promise from God to his children The T indicated that he had tried the promise and the P indicated that he had proven the promise to be true in his own experience.

How many times would those letters appear in your Bible?

The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 10:23-25 “Without wavering, let us hold tightly to the hope that we say we have, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds. And let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially since the day of his coming back again is getting closer. “

There was a woman in the south of France, years ago, who was very poor. She hardly had enough food to feed her children, and their clothes was in rags. She was so discouraged but at that time she cried out to Lord for help. She prayed Lord what promise to you have for me. Something to encourage me. There was a little promise box of cards that set on the top of the ice box. As she reached for it, blinded by her tears, she knocked it over. The promises showered down around her, on her lap, on the floor, not one was left in the box. She knew a moment of supreme joy in the Lord as the Holy Spirit flooded her soul with divine power and light, she realized that all of the promises were indeed for her in the very hour of her greatest need.

So it can be for you today. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God. (Matt. 4:4). Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Once you experience the love of Jesus poured into your heart, you will know that nothing can separate you form his love. Paul tells us in I Cor. 15:58 to be strong and courageous (steadfast) and faithful, let nothing move you from doing the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain.

We must accept that the promises of God are personal to us and we must claim them by faith. We must put our confidence in the faithfulness of God We must put the endorsement of our faith upon the divine promise and present it at the throne of grace just as we would present a check to the cashier of a bank.

The promises of God ae conditional, but once we have fulfilled the condition of placing our faith in Him, we will see he is not a liar, we can count on him.

2025-01-21

DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY

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 January 12, 2025
TEXT: I Corinthians 16: 1-11
Pastor Paul Lehmann

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The poet Louise Fletcher Tarkington spoke for most of us when she said: “I wish that there was some wonderful place called “The Land of Beginning Again,” where all our mistakes and all of our heartaches and all of our poor, selfish greed could be dropped like a shabby coat at the door, and never put it on again.”

Our desire as children of God should be to do better in the future than we have in the past. Jesus The new year presents us with the opportunity to find a “Land of Beginning Again.” We will be using a new calendar, and we will be facing new challenges and new responsibilities, but we are deceiving ourselves if we believe that the new year will be completely different from the old year unless God intervenes. For we will be confronted with many of the struggles, problems, and heartaches we knew during the past year. We soon fail to keep our New Year’s resolutions.

When we talk about “doors of opportunity,” we must realize that the opening of doors is all God’s responsibility. We just need to be ready to walk through them when he does it. In Acts 19:1 we read that Apollos who had been working with Paul, had gone to Corinth. A little further from where Carol read this morning, –in verse 12 we see that Paul was urging Apollos, to go to Corinth, but he was unwillingly but Paul tells them he will go when he has the opportunity. Some have felt that Apollos was strong-willed and that he wasn’t going to go to Corinth, just because Paul told him to go. I believe though, that there might be another reason. Apollos was willing to obey God whenever, and wherever he would tell him to go. For some reason, it wasn’t in God’s timing for him to go then, but when the door was open he went.

The important thing to realize is; that God’s timing is not ours—and when he finally opens the door we must be ready to walk through it by being prepared, and then obey.

Jeannene and I have seen this to be true many times in our lives, but there were two significant times when God’s timing and ours didn’t seem to coincide. Yet in the long run, his timing was perfect of course. Our first ministry in Boma, Dem. Rep of the Congo, I was the principal of a high school and taught Phys. Ed., built an outdoor basketball court and started a basketball team. We had a Bible Study in our home for these players. At the end of our first four-year term, 34 young people had given their lives to Christ. But we were feeling led to go to the Capitol City for our next term and help with the newly started church planting efforts. However God had other plans, and when we came back after a year of speaking in churches in the States, we were assigned once again to Boma. I couldn’t understand how the Lord and I “got our wires crossed” so much. Nevertheless, it was all in the Lord’s timing. I led Theological Education by Extension Classes and was involved with a tent meeting outreach, which resulted in having discipleship classes for 76 converts who lived in our section of the city, and through this a church was planted. Everything that I was involved with, was what I would be doing in Kinshasa. After one year we were able to transfer to the capitol.

While we may have a deep inward desire to “begin again” realistically we should recognize that our present position is really our door of opportunity for significant achievement and worthwhile service. Paul recognized in verse 9 of our text that; “a great door for effective service” was open to him in Ephesus. Instead of running away from difficulty, he said, “But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost”…then he adds, “and there are many adversaries.” ‘’

In spite of difficulties, disappointments, and outright opposition, the apostle Paul determined that he would seize this opportunity for significant service and do whatever was necessary to be done at the moment. The Greek word for open here means—wide open—not just a little, or a crack, but the door was wide open.

This pagan city of Ephesus resisted his preaching in the past—but now, they were receptive to the gospel, and the three years that Paul stayed and preached there were very fruitful, and the church he planted became one of the greatest churches in church history. In the book of Revelation chapter 2 where Ephesus is the first church that Jesus is talking to John about, we read that they have worked hard, and persevered, and they don’t tolerate wicked people. They endured hardships for the name of Jesus, and they didn’t grow weary. But then he says in verses 4 and 5: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your ‘lampstand’ from its place” That is—their position of prominence. This isn’t a position that is recognized by other people and other churches but rather a position that God gave them. That’s what makes this so necessary that they repent and restore their first love for the Lord. Probably also for each other, because when our love for the Lord fails, we begin to say things against each other. In the KJV, the old English word is “backbite.” That’s what dogs do when they fight. What a terrible state to be in.

Now the danger for us today is to be commended like the church at Ephesus, and then begin to fall and lose the love that we once had for the Lord. This leads to not responding to the opportunities that he gives us. Sometimes that means that we sort of, “rest on our laurels” from the past, or we may think about what opportunities “might” open up in the future. But we need to recognize that the past has gone for good, and the future dreams will not become a reality unless we take advantage of the opportunities that God gives us TODAY.

Today is our day of opportunity for effective service. In John 9:4 Jesus explains; “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. The night is coming when no one can work.” Then in II Corinthians 6;2 we read; “…In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, in this present time. Not sometime in the future. It is absolutely necessary to recognize the importance of the present, in contrast to the past or the future.”

It is foolish to rely on what we might have done in the past or to weep over lost opportunities. It is also just as foolish to just wait for the future to happen. The only thing we can be certain of is the present. Does this mean that we don’t think about or plan for the future? No—not at all—we should plan and set goals and consider what we should do TODAY, in order to accomplish what God has laid on our heart to do.

In Proverbs 10:9 we are told; “in their hearts, humans plan their course but the Lord establishes their steps.” Back in verse 3, we read; that we should submit or commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Some translations say, “He will bless them.”

The last part of verse 9 of our text shows us though that Paul was confronted with many adversaries. There are many, who oppose him,

He was opposed by the Jewish leaders who violently disagreed with his ideas about the kingdom of God. Paul believed that the Kingdom of God was wide enough and large enough to include the Gentiles. He believed that the love of God was all-inclusive and that God was just as concerned about redeeming the Gentiles as he was the sons of Abraham. In preaching salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, he was confronted with violent opposition that led to his imprisonment and eventually to his death. In spite of his external opposition from religious leaders, Paul continued his faithful service.

Paul experienced hostile opposition from the pagans whose financial security was threatened by the conversion of those who contributed to their business in Ephesus. Those who profited because of the temple of Diana were agitated to the extent that they rioted (Acts 19:23-29).

Jesus was confronted with many adversaries. On one occasion even Christ’s family sought to dissuade him from the direction in which his life was pointing. At the beginning of his ministry, he was violently opposed by the Devil, who sought to tempt him to deny his redemptive purpose. There were times during Jesus’ ministry when even the disciples opposed him. When Jesus predicted his death in Matthew 16:21-22, we see that; “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” He just didn’t understand the redemptive purpose, that Jesus was born to die for mankind. Of course, it was all in God’s timing.

Once when he returned to his hometown of Nazareth, he attended the synagogue and he was asked to read the Scriptures. He read from Isaiah 61:1-2 and verses 18-21. The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he ended by saying: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The people were so enraged by his message that they tried to throw him over a cliff (Luke 4:28-29). We read though that; “He walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” Almost from the beginning of his ministry, he experienced hostility and opposition on the part of the religious establishment who saw him as a threat to the laws and traditions as they interpreted them. They also added things to the law and they demanded that the people follow these, but they themselves didn’t. (Sounds like our politicians, doesn’t it?) Anyway, this conflict eventually led to his death.

We may worry about external opposition, but perhaps our greatest danger will be the internal hindrances that keep us from doing God’s will for our lives. This is true of our individual spiritual lives, but also collectively for our church, this body of Christ. These inward adversaries can be conquered only as we enter the doorways of opportunity for WORSHIP, STUDY, AND PRAYER in which we let God work within us so that his will might be accomplished through us.

Each of us has a built-in tendency because of sin, to avoid obligations, burdens, or difficulties. It is natural, unfortunately, to be selfish and self-centered. Unless we are alert and determined to do otherwise and give ourselves over to the filling and the control of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to live carnal lives, and we will find ourselves drifting through this coming year, adding days to our lives instead of filling those days with significance and meaning.

We must seize our opportunities for service. In the Old Testament in the account of creation, Eve didn’t seize the opportunity to obey and serve the Creator God, and Adam didn’t support her against the enemy Satan, who continues to deceive us like he did them. Cain their son then, killed his brother Abel, because he didn’t seize the opportunity to obey and worship the Lord with all of his heart. When we hate our brothers and sisters in Christ, or when we hate anyone, it is the same as if we have killed them, or at the very least, wanted to kill them. In Matt. 5: 21-22 we read that; “we are told -do not murder because that person is subject to judgment, but Jesus said that the person who is angry with a brother or sister is also subject to judgment. In I John 2:9 we read; “You claim to live in the light, but you are living in darkness. “Walk by faith and not live in darkness.” I John 3:15 tells us; “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. “

The door of faith is open. Paul rejoiced that God opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27). He was delighted that Gentiles could trust God and walk by faith and enjoy his favor.

Each of us is given the privilege of walking by faith (Prove. 3:5-6) to walk by faith is to enjoy the presence of God as Enoch and Abraham and all the others listed in that great faith chapter 11 of Hebrews.

When we trust in Christ alone the door to divine sonship is open to all who will receive Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin. (John 1:12) “To as many as received Him, and believed in His name, He gave the (power) or the right to be called the sons of God. Most of you here this morning have already seized the opportunity to enter this door (the door of salvation). We can rejoice that the door is still open for others to enter. Some have declined to enter this door and consequently remain in the darkness of spiritual destitution outside of the family of God. Don’t be that person. If you have not received Jesus Christ by inviting Him into your life, you can do so this morning.

The door to Christian witnessing is open. Paul speaks of a door being open to preach the gospel in the city of Troas. The door will be open for us to announce the good news of God’s love in our community during the coming year. We, like the apostle Paul, should be praying that God would open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. (Col. 4:3) and he adds “for which I am in chains.” In verses 4-5 he says; “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”

Jesus said, “I am the door; if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). Jesus is the door to forgiveness, He is the door to new life, eternal life the very life of God. He is the door to new spiritual power and energy. He is the door to hope for the future as we seek to live lives of significant achievement and service. He is the door to the eternal home of God at the end of our life.

On this first Sunday of the New Year, let each of us determine that we will be alert to seize every opportunity for worship and service to our God and to those about us. By so doing we will discover that we have already found the “land of beginning again.”

The enemy will try his best to keep you from stepping through the gigantic doors of opportunity God desires to open for you. Satan is afraid of what will happen when “his” territory is invaded by someone fully equipped with a full arsenal of spiritual weapons! So know this; God will open doors for you, but He needs you to make a determined decision that you will walk through them, no matter the opposition, with the help of His Holy Spirit. By opening the door, God has already done His part, which would have been impossible without his assistance. Now He beckons you to come dressed in the whole armor of God and in the power of His Word—and then proceed through that effectual door into new territory this year. It may look like enemies are everywhere, but it is simply a fact that the devil and his forces flee and collapse when they are subjected to a show of strong faith!.

God doesn’t open a door for you to walk through so you can fail

He is with you every step of the way.

Your situation may look frightful but think about this: If God has supernaturally opened a new door for you door that’s never before been opened—-He is not beckoning you to walk through it so you can fail. He is with you every step of the way, and He will empower you to defeat every foe and bring Him glory in that new territory that is yours to possess in Jesus’ name!

At the last Passover Supper, Jesus knew very well how the disciples were going to feel after he was betrayed. He knew they would feel like all was lost, and that they were alone. The power that they were going to receive because of what he would accomplish on the cross, would be greater than anything they had ever experienced before. That’s why He told them in I Cor. 11:23-25 that every time they eat the bread and drink from the cup— to do it in remembrance of Him

2024-12-31

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN 2025

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 December 29, 2024
Text Matthew 18:21-35
Pastor Wayne Augustine

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2024-12-23

THE MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS

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 December 22, 2024
TEXT: Isaiah 53:2; Zephaniah 3: 14-17 Luke 2:1-20
Pastor Paul Lehmann

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If you travel to the Northwest of the United States you may come to a road sign that reads; “Continental Divide.’ At this point the watershed of the North American Continent is found. A drop of water falling on the eastern side begins to journey toward the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. A drop of rain on the western side flows to the Pacific Ocean. The birth of Jesus Christ is the “ watershed” of human history. It divides the events of the past and the future. It was the great and pivotal event of history. When Jesus Christ began his public ministry, word drifted back to his hometown about his teaching and miracles. Had there been a newspaper in Nazareth, it might have run the headline “Local Boy Makes Good.” He was growing in fame and renown. But when Jesus preached in Nazareth, his townspeople rejected both him and his claims. They could not accept as Messiah one whom they had known as a carpenter. They could not follow one as King whom they had viewed as a fellow citizen. Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country” (Mark 6:4 RSV). Mark records the reaction of Jesus’ hometown in the words, “Many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get all this? “What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought by his hands!” (vs. 2 RSV).In other words, they sought to accunt for him in human relationships and human terms. Our text for this Christmas Sunday says: “For he grew up before him… a root out of dry ground.” Dry ground suggest hard, arid soil, a most unlikely place for a plant to grow and flourish. It suggests 1. Unexpectedly. Jesus came, not full grown as expected, but as a tiny baby. He was born not in a palace or a mansion, but in a manger. like 12. Miraculously. He was born of a virgin mother. 3.Unaccountably. A gardener prepares the soul for planting and then keeps the ground moist and soft. If a plant grows out of a dry ground or in the crevice of a mountain, it is shriveled and stunted. Jesus grew as a root out of dry ground, but he was no frail weakling. He was the Fairest of Ten Thousand. He was Cedar of Lebanon in strength. He was the Lily of the Valley in purity and fragrance. He was the Rose of Sharon in glory and beauty. He was the best, the noblest and the highest, and the holiest of humankind. Look at the soil from which Jesus grew. You could no more account for him from that soil than you could account for the vigorous growth of a flower in a parking lot. I. NOTHING IN HIS FAMILY COULD ACCOUNT FOR JESUS Heredity is a real factor in our lives. We sometimes make too much of it, but it is a part of our makeup. We not only inherit physical and facial characteristics, but also mental gifts and personal charm. A study of Christ’s ancestry does northing to explain him. As Carol read in Zephaniah there was nothing about his physical characteristics that would have caused [people to be attracted to him. He was a descendant of King David, but so were multitudes of others. God saw that he grew up in a good family, but no other child in the family compared with him. II NOTHING IN HIS ENVIRONMENT COULD ACCOUNT FOR JESUS. Next to heredity our environment contributes most to what we are. The atmosphere in which we live and the company we keep have an influence on us. Jesus grew up in an ordinary village. His trade was that of a peasant carpenter. There was nothing in his upbringing that would explain him. So far as his environment was concerned, he was a “root out of the ground.” III.NOTHING IN THE TIME IN WHICH HE LIVED COULD ACCOUNT FOR JESUS. There have been many times in history when several geniuses in literature or music or government lived at the same time. But never was there a genius like Jesus. The time in which Jesus lived was a barren time. For four hundred years there had been no prophetic voice. Formal religion was 2filled with legalism and hypocrisy. As far as fresh religious thought and revelation were concerned, he was “a root out of dry ground.” IV. NOTHING IN HIS RACE OR NATIONALITY COULD ACCOUNT FOR JESUS. He was a Jew. The Jews had a genius for religion. They excelled in law, wisdom, poetry, and prophecy. They produced men like Abraham, Moses, David Solomon, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jerimiah, and Paul. But there was not another like Jesus. As far as his nation was concerned, he was a “root out of dry ground.” However, there was nothing exclusively Jewish about Jesus. It is true that he loved his country, Jerusalem, and the temple, but there was nothing sectional or parochial about him. He belonged to the human race. The human race has produced many great people, but in wisdom and truth and holiness Jesus excelled them all, and of course he was without sin. Others guessed at truth. He was the Truth. He was the greatest Teacher who ever lived. For two thousand years, he has inspired millions to live and even die for him, because as C.S. Lewis declared, he was more than a great teacher. He didn’t give us the option of accepting him or following him because he was a great teacher. We either believe he was a con-artist or crazy, or he was who he said he was; THE SON OF GOD AND IN FACT GOD IN THE FLESH. We look at the human race—stained defiant, and corrupt. Then we look as Jesus—sinless, obedient, and pure. We ask if so fresh and sweet a stream could flow from such a bitter fountain. If the human race could produce one Jesus, why could it not produce more? Human nature cannot explain Jesus. “He was a root out of dry ground” The Christmas story is the most logical account for Jesus. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became pure, so that by his poverty you might became rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9 RSV) His was not a mere human birth. The Word became flesh in a miraculous incarnation. Jesus was not simply the son of Mary. He was the Son of God. His virgin birth was a miracle, but also the fact that His Heavenly Father loved us so much that he made it possible for him to be born of an eathly mother, Mary. 3It was a glorious day when God created man. It was an even great when GOD BECAME MAN. er day It was a wonderful day when God made man in his image. It was an even more wonderful day when God mad himself in man’s image. THIS IS THE MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS! LET US TELL IT TO THE WORLD! 4

2024-12-23

SHOUT JOY TO THE LORD

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 December 15, 2024
Text Psalm 98:2-9
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

2024-12-10

DO YOU HAVE PEACE WITH GOD?

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 December 8, 2024
Text: Isaiah 9:6-7
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Since the time when the Hebrew prophets first articulated this holy vision for world peace, more than 2000 years have passed. We bow our heads in despair, pray, weep and hope for peace The Orthodox Hasidic Jew who rocks back and forth in prayer at the wailing wall in Jerusalem, prays for the peace of Israel, that they will be able to live at peace with her Arab Palestinian Muslim neighbors.

From God comes the promise of peace. But in human history war persists and suffering conflict and anguish. Men are crying out for peace yet war is everywhere. This shouldn’t astonish us, because wars will increase There will be wars and rumors of war throughout the earth, until our Lord comes back again. No matter who is in the White House, and how determined the President is to make sure our troupes aren’t sent to the Middle East or Europe even though war and conflict continues on. Russia seems determined to take back the Ukraine North Korea sure wants to take back South Korea. The Sudan isn’t happy that the South was able to secede and declare themselves Christian, so they continue to kill and persecute Christians A few year ago Muslims in the Philippines stepped up and undeclared war against Christians and at that time more than 60,000 had been killed, as Muslims sought a separate state. In the Northeast part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Christians are being persecuted and blamed for all the problems of Eastern Congo.

There have always been wars. Ever since the Fall of man. When sin entered the world, sin has created a woeful need for a divine Prince who can restore peace.

In our text, we see that there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordon. In verse 2 we see that, “the people who were walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy, they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat. You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulder’s the rod of their oppressor…Then in the text we read this morning verses 6 and 7; “For to us a child is born to us a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called, WONDERFUL, COUNSELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, THE PRINCE OF PEACE. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”

The heart of man hungers for peace, the desire for peace is universal among all people. All North Americans want peace. The nations of Europs and the Middle East want peace, Asia, and Africa, the Islands and Latin and South America want peace. What do we mean when we say we want peace? Usually we just mean—stop the fighting, we don’t want anymore wars. But what about inner peace?

DO YOU HAVE PEACE WITH GOD? So we ask ourselves the question this morning:

WHY HAVE WE FAILED TO ACHIEVE PEACE?

Not only in the U.S but in the West in general, we have achieved the highest standard of living the world has ever known. Even though, that is being threatened by what has happened during the past economic crises.

WE HAVE PLACED OUR FAITH IN OUR ECONOMY

RATHER THAN CHRIST

The dollar has now fallen to a record low, and China and some other nations, are no longer basing their system on the dollar. We owe China more than any other country in the world, and i0 years ago we printed I trillion dollars to make a payment on this debt to them. We have absolutely nothing to base it on. Just one more thing pointing to the end times and the Great Tribulation.

One of the main reasons we do not see peace is that substitutes for the Prince of Peace have been accepted. Nations are not encouraged to depend upon God for peace. We place our faith in our armed services, nuclear weapons and radar that can control “smart bombs” and drones that can drop them, wherever we want. More recently we are beginning to depend on A.I. (Artificial Intelligence )

. Individuals have accepted substitutes for the Prince of Peace too. They look to education, wealth (how good is your port folio? And, friends, and health for peace. There is nothing wrong with any of these things particularly, unless they are what we depend on to satisfy our hearts and give us peace.

The messianic titles that were given to the Savior by the prophet Isaiah is helpful, and can help us understand who Jesus really is and how he can actually meet the needs of the human heart. We should be focusing our attention this time of year on Christ and God’s great redemption for us through Him. The names that were given to Him can help us to understand God’s living purposes for us.

Last week we talked about the fact that Immanuel means God with us. This should bring us HOPE. This prophecy was to give hope that the Great Creator of the Universe has come to be with us. First in the form of man—the man Christ Jesus, but then when He ascended into heave He sent His Holy Spirit to live within us and we also have hope –actually certainty—that he is coming back again.

Today we are focusing on just one of the names of Jesus; the Prince of Peace. All of the names the prophet mentioned help us understand who he is, but because he is the Prince of Peace, it means that he is able to give us inner peace within ourselves, and that is what people are missing.

Some people admire him as a good example or teacher. Perhaps you recall the words of C.S Lewis, who very harshly condemned those who only believed in Jesus as a good teacher. He said, and I paraphrase, You have three choices. Either Jesus was totally mad, because of the things he said, or he was the greatest fraud and con-artist of all time, or he was who he said he was; THE SON OF GOD. But don’t ever think such nonsense that he was just a good teacher. He never gave us that option. Then some think of him as a god among other gods like the Hindus, who have millions of gods. So to add one more like Jesus is not a big deal. The Muslims accept him as a prophet, among other prophets, but insist that Muhammad is the latest and the greatest prophet. They would never use the word wonderful to describe Jesus, like Isaiah does in our messianic prophecy.

PEOPLE HAVE NOT ACCEPTED HIM AS WONDERFUL

The Hebrew word para, translated WONDERFUL means to separate, to distinguish, or to make great. It is applied usually to anything that is great or wonderful, as a miracle. It is applied here to denote the unusual and remarkable assemblage of qualities that distinguished the Messiah. Those are specified more particularly n the other part of the verse, such as Mighty God. The proper idea of the word is miraculous. It is saying, that the person here will be exalted above the ordinary course of nature and which who fulfils the definition of one who excites, amazes, causes wonderment, and admiration, whether it be miraculous or not. This same word is used in Jeremiah 32:17, where it clearly denotes the miraculous, but this idea is not necessarily connected with it. He says; “Ah Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and out-stretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.’”

So anything which excites wonder and amazement, from any cause, will correspond with the sense of the Hebrew word It is a word which expresses with great accuracy everything in relation to the Redemer.

For the messiah was wonderful in all things. It was wonderful love by which God gave him and by which he came. The manner of his birth was wonderful His humility, his self-denial, his sorrows were wonderful

His mighty works were wonderful. His dying agonies were wonderful and His resurrection, his ascension were all of such magnitude that it excites admiration and wonder.

God has done many wonderful things for us in and through Jesus Christ who is also The Mighty God.

Jesus is wonderful because of who He is. He is wonderful because of what he did. He is wonderful because of what he can do for you.

People have not accepted him as wonderful, but ;

Another reason we don’t have peace is because people haven’t accepted him as COUNSELOR

Our world is groping for counsel On an International level some very intelligent people are brought together to work out the problems that face the nations of the world. It’s called the United Nations. Unfortunately they never seem to be able to solve any problems. On the National level, the President tries to surround himself with good counselors, but doesn’t always get good advice, and when he does he doesn’t always listen to it. And on the personal level we seek counsel from all kinds of self-help books, from teachers, lawyers financial advisors doctors, and ministers, or anyone except the greatest counselor there is. It seems we are willing to seek advise from everyone else.

We have a living Savior who comes to dwell in our hearts in the person of the Hoy Spirit. He is our advocate or counselor. I John 2:1 tells us that if we sin we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. This is what an advocate does. It is the root meaning of lawyer or Counselor which is the common word for defense attorney. He counsels us by means of the Word-the Scriptures. He is our helper and guide. The disciples were reminded that he would teach them and remind them of everything he had said to them. The Holy Spirit made use of their memories, and all their natural faculties. But let’s not forget the work of the Holy Spirit in making sure that they wrote what he inspired them to recall and write.

We are provided counsel through the written word that we can read and the preached word that is taught. He offers counsel in the quietness of our pers0nal prayer life and through the leading of the Holy Spirit, IF WE WILL LISTEN. It is important to be still and listen to the Lord when He is speaking to you, for HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO WILL BRING PEACE.

We need to be like Samuel when God spoke to him he finally answered to God’s call: “SPEAK, LORD FOR YOUR SEVANT IS LISTENING.

We too, today should listen. He still speaks to those who are willing to listen—to hear. Even though he may not speak in an audible voice, when he speaks you will know it. And sometimes it is so strong that it certainly seems like an audible voice. When he does we need to response with —Yes Lord I am here, speak to me.: He longs to be you COUNSELOR—but then he want you to obey.

Then finally people can’t find PEACE because they have never accepted Jesus as their EVERLASTING FATHER. (Their FATHER OF ETERNITY)

An old story is told of a little girl on board an old sailing ship, and a terrible storm arose and as the waves increased and water poured onto the deck, she walked on the deck after leaving the bridge, and when the next day was asked was she afraid, she replied; “No not at all—My father is the captain, and he is at the helm.”

When the storms of life press around is, we should know that our Father is at the helm. He Is our “Forever Father.:

In Hebrew when someone possesses something he is called the “father” of it. So —the father of peace is PEACEFUL AND HE IS BRINGS PEACE FOREVER.

PEOPLE HAVEN’T ACCEPTED JESUS AS THE PRINCE OF PEACE

People want peace, but they want peace that they can understand. We read in the Word that Jesus gives peace beyond our understanding. Even professing Christians don’t always understand that:

The basic individual need of people is to experience

PEACE IN OUR HEART. .

Jesus, the Prince of Peace provides peace with God

. His peace is, the peace that brings reconciliation with God the Father and fellowship with Him.

It is the peace of self-control through spiritual power and divine energy

His peace is the assurance that our sins have been forgiven.

With his presence it is possible for us to walk in peace with poise in the midst of storms. It makes it possible to cease fighting among ourselves in our nation, in our families, or in our church. He brings peace that is the peace of surrender to the role of love.

If we let his will become our will we will discover ourselves in harmony with God and everyone around us, especially in the body of Christ. The prophet Isaiah said; “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trust in you.”

Jesus can be more than just a name in history, or even a person whom you know a lot of facts about He can be WONDERFUL to you , He can be your COUNSELOR, he can be you MIGHTY GOD and ETERNAL FATHER, and he can truly be THE PRINCE OF PEACE TO YOU.

2024-12-01

SIGNS OF CHRIST’S RETURN

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 December 1, 2024
Text Luke 21: 5-36
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Many times when something happens we say things like; “ Oh, it’s not the end of the world.” During the Cold War days of the early 60s, people thought that a nuclear war would bring about the “end of the world.” A journalist named Lawrence Joseph in December of 2012 wrote a book entitled “Apocalypse 2012. A Scientific Investigation into Civilization’s End,” a book which predicted widespread catastrophe beginning in December of that year. He looks to the sky and sees signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars.” Just as Jesus did. Specifically, he notices that on December 2, 2012, the sun was to line up with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in roughly 26,000 years. Joseph says that “whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on Dec. 21, 2012, at 11:11 pm. Lawrence Joseph was not alone. According to USA Today back on March 27, 2007, a number of people thought that the Apocalypse was coming because of something else that happened on December 21, of 2012. You may remember all the discussions about the Maya tribe and their Long Count calendar which came to an end in 2012. It was the end of an era that had been running for 5,126 years, and dire predictions were raining down upon us.

However, according to NASA, there was no scientific evidence that the world was going to end in 2012, contrary to the popular belief of some. You don’t only have to put your trust in science though, because you can count on the Word of God, which does not reveal any such thing. The Armageddon myth dates back to the Mayans. Yet, the Mayans never actually predicted the end of the world. The nature of the Mayan calendar is that it functions on a series of cycles, some short and some quite long. One of the longer cycles of the calendar ended in 2012, so when some people said the Apocalypse would come “because the Mayan calendar ended, this is what they were referring. The fact of the matter is that the Mayan calendar did not end in 2012. Just a cycle did, one that had been going on for over 5,000 years. In the nature of cycles, the calendar started over after the termination on December 21, 2012. NASA also confirmed that. Just as the calendar you have on your wall, does not cease to exist after December 31, 2024, the Mayan calendar did not cease to exist in 2012. This date was only the end of the Mayan long-count period but then—just as our calendar begins again on January 1st, another long-count period began for the Mayan calendar.

This reminds us of what Jesus said about the “end of days.” “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves (Luke 21:25. Jesus is speaking about the “Apocalypse” —a Greek word which means a revelation of uncovering. Revealed and uncovered is the completion of God’s work in the world, and the coming of the Son of Man.

SO IS THE APOCALYPSE GOING TO HAPPEN NOW
OR AT LEAST SOON?
A spiritual healer named Andrew Smith predicts a restoration of a “true balance between Divine Feminine and Masculine” Author Daniel Princhbeck looks forward to a change in the nature of consciousness,” which he connects to psychedelic drug use. The movie 2012 portrayed a series of cataclysmic events taking place that year, tied to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.

It is safe to say that this is not the Apocalypse predicted in the Gospel of Luke.

Still, the media back then, continued to buzz about this because people are fascinated by Mayan civilization, known for its refined writing, math and astronomy. The Maya flourished for centuries in Central America, particularly between the years 300 and 900. They developed a Long Count calendar which tracks more than 5,000 years, and then resets at zero. They made the big reset in 2012. Starting at 0.

But scholars feel that modern attempts to link the Mayan calendar with contemporary spirituality are misguided at best. “For the ancient Maya it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle,” says Sandra Noble of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies. It was not an apocalypse, a doomsday, or a time of cosmic shifting. No one knows if the Maya even predicted the position of the sun on December 21, 2012. Susan Milbrath, an expert in Mayan archeoastronomy (who knew that was a specialty?) doubts that they would have known where the sun would be in the galaxy. What’s more, she says, there is no evidence “that they would think the world would come to an end at that point.”

So is the Apocalypse now? Probably not, at least not because of the Mayan calendar. Jesus warned the disciples and us, that there would be false prophets claiming to be the Messiah. Not claiming to be Jesus but claiming to be The Christ—(The Anointed One.) He said don’t be deceived by them. Also, we are not to be deceived by those who would predict the dates of His return.

THE TRUE NATURE OF THE APOCALYPSE IS THAT THE DATE IS UNKNOWN TO US.

Jesus told his disciples that even He didn’t know, but only the Father. He said they were not to concern themselves with that, but they were to be His witnesses. Other dales prophets predict wrong dates as to when Jesus will return.

William Miller is perhaps the most famous false prophet in history. In the 1840s he began to preach about the world’s end, saying Jesus Christ would return for the long-awaited Second Coming and that Earth would be engulfed in fire sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. He circulated his message in public gatherings and by using the technologies of the day,–posters, printed newsletters, and charts. Moved by those messages, as many as 100,000 “Millerites” sold their belongings between 1840 and 1844 and took to the mountains to wait for the end. When that end didn’t come, Miller changed the date to Oct. 22. When Oct. 23 rolled around, his loyal followers explained it away yet again and went on to form the Seventh-day Adventist movement.

In more recent days false prophets like Harold Camping who was an engineer and mathematician (in the early 1990s attempted to figure out the day of the end of the world. I believe he has been wrong at least three times.

Let’s keep in mind the true nature of the Apocalypse as revealed to us by Jesus. This endpoint is not all death and destruction. Instead, it includes the return of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. —He is the one who came to save the world, but who is returning only for those who believe in Him. For Christians, it hardly matters when the sun lines up with the center of the Milky Way. Much more important to us is when Jesus the Son of Man and Son of God, lines up with the center of our “spiritual galaxy.”

OUR APOCALYPSE IS REALLY ABOUT SALVATION, NOT DESTRUCTION

People will faint from fear and foreboding, predicts Jesus, “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.” (verses 26-27). When danger is coming, we normally tell people to duck and take cover. But Jesus says the opposite, “Stand up and raise your heads” (verse 28) But ultimately the apocalypse is going to help us because the Son of Man is coming to redeem us, to save us, to bring about a truly happy ending.

The Apocalypse of Luke 21 reminds us that the activity of God is not limited to biblical times. It is present today and will continue into the future. “God is working toward a goal,” says professor of Bible and Homiletics Elizabeth Achtemeirer God is on the move, constantly active, constantly pressing forward to the time when his kingdom has come in its fulness and his rule is acknowledged by every living creature.” We read in Isaiah 45: 23, and in Romans 14: 11 similar words; As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me and every tongue will confess to God. And then Philippians 2:10 repeats it and adds; every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, TO THE GLORY OF THE FATHER. Because God is working toward a goal, we can trust that his kingdom will come—although it won’t be finished by a date that we have tried to set.

SO WHAT STEPS SHOULD WE BE TAKING AS WE WAIT FOR THE SON OF MAN TO COME AND FOR GOD’S PLAN TO BE COMPLETE?

At the start of World War II there was good advice on a British poster created to encourage all those in Britain. “KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” was designed to raise morale among the British people in the face of an apocalyptic invasion by the Germans.

That’s what Jesus would have us do as we face an uncertain future. To help us keep calm, Jesus offers the lesson of the fig tree. “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.: he says. “as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. (vs 29-30).

Jesus makes the point that the coming of the Kingdom of God is every bit as natural as the springtime sprouting of leaves on trees, Keep calm, he seems to be saying, these apocalyptic developments are as predictable as the change of seasons. Even though some of the events of the future will be frightening, the God of the whole created universe is in control.

In our text, he predicts some things that are very unusual. Verses 9 and following tell us that there will be wars and revolutions but he says don’t be frightened. These things must come first, but the end will not come right away.

Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

N.T. Wright points out Isaiah 13:10 instead of saying the empire of Babylon is going to fail, and this will be like a cosmic collapse, Isaiah said, “The sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light, and stars will fall from heaven.”

Verse 25 of our text, tells us that there will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming in the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken, At that time ‘

THEY WILL SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD WITH POWER AND GREAT GLORY.

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads because your redemption is drawing near. (2 Peter 3:8-13_

Yes, it is hard to keep calm when there is “distress among the nations: (verse 25) and “the powers of the heavens” are shaken (vs. 26). It is difficult to maintain serenity when we receive a cancer diagnosis from the doctor, but even a diagnosis of something that is not terminal, but is debilitating. For those who are working, a pink slip from an employer can shake up our world, a breakup text message from a spouse, for students a failing grade on a final exam. But Jesus assures us that God is in control, and there is one thing that will remain the same forever and ever. The words of Jesus himself; “Heaven and earth will pass away, “he predicts, “but my words will not pass away” (verse 33). These everyday things are nothing compared to what is coming, but, “Keep calm,” basically says Jesus. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63).

The second half of the British poster says, “Carry On.” It is not enough simply to keep calm and meditate on the words of Jesus, the challenge for all of us is to “Keep Calm and Carry on.” This means that you are to “be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with careless ease and drunkenness and the worries of this life” (Luke 21:34). It means that you are to “be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man “(verse 36).

It has often been thought that an emphasis on the end time and the coming of the kingdom leads to otherworldliness, passivity in this life, and acceptance of the status quo,” writes Prof. Achtemeier. But the opposite is true. “Christians constantly attempt to shape their lives according to the ways of their Master,” she writes. This means carrying on in a Christian fashion, focusing our efforts on love, justice mercy, and faith.

The end of the world won’t come because of some prediction, but we Christians know that God is at work in the long march of history, and is moving us toward the day when the Son of Man will come with power and great glory, as we just read. This may be a fearful time, but it will ultimately be a celebration, for all of the brokenness and injustice of this world will be replaced by healing and righteousness.

JESUS IS COMING AGAIN That event is staggering and inexhaustible in its implications. The wisest and most noble of the Sons of Adam (that’s us), cannot fully fathom the impact the return of the Son of God will make on this planet and universe. His coming will not turn the world upside down, it will turn the world right-side up. Jesus is :

The One who spoke the galaxies into existence

The One who created man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life

The One who came to die to satisfy the infinitely holy demands of His Father so that sinful man could be restored to fellowship and enjoy God forever

The One who rose from the grave a victor over sin and death and

The One who ascended and is now enthroned at the right hand of God on high. When He returns, men will not refer to the Son of God as “Little Jesus meek and mild” in that day, His title will be “King of kings” and “Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14, 19:16. At His return, transgressors will be judged, faithfulness will be rewarded, and righteousness will be established in the Earth.

It is the highest order of ignorance to equate God’s wonderful attribute of long-suffering with indifference (2 Peter 3:9). At the proper time, whatever a man sows he will reap. If he sows to the flesh he will reap of the flesh—-if he sows to the Spirit he will reap of the Spirit (Gal. 6:7). Men cannot mock God and get away with it.

The return of Christ will be the vortex of human history. Everything and everyone will be drawn into His direct irresistible, controlling force. Heaven and earth, demons and angels, righteous and unrighteous men, time and eternity, life and death—all will be under the dominion of the conquering King when He returns to fulfill His unconditional covenants with the patriarchs and brings an end to the rebellious and wicked history of mankind and personally establishes a Golden Age on the Earth.

Until then, Keep Calm and Carry On. God is working his purposes out, and our focus should be on walking in the path of Jesus Christ because He will establish a reign of peace and justice.

Until then, we will continue to remember him and do as He said. We will eat the bread representing His body that was wounded for us. We will drink of the cup representing His blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. We will remember His first coming, His ministry, and His death and Resurrection, and ascension. And we will await His second coming, Putting our Hope in Him.

2024-11-24

THANKSGIVING AND PEACE

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 November 24, 2024
Text Philippians 4:1-7; I Peter 3:8-11
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians while he was in prison in Rome. It was a thank you letter for the offering gift that they sent to him with Epaphroditus (4:8). He has declared to them that he has all that he needs. He was allowed to receive such gifts because he was only under house arrest with an armed guard, but he lived in, probably a rented house. He had not yet been put in a 40 ft. deep dungeon. His overall tone in this book is one of joy. It is remarkable considering his circumstances, but this is the point. He wants the Philippian believers, and us, to rejoice no matter what hardship we may have to go through, no matter what suffering we might have to endure.

Phillippi was located on the northern edge of the Aegean Sea, in the province of Macedonia, which is present-day northern Greece. This church contributed to the missionary work of Paul when he was there, and it continued on even though he had been arrested.

It is not known who the “yokefellow” is. The old English word used in the K.J.V., simply means loyal partner or true teammate. It could have been Epaphroditus since he was the one who brought him their gift. How Paul also addresses a relational problem because he knows there can be no real peace or rejoicing unless there is unity and harmony in the church Paul might be sending him back with these words of pleading or begging that he encourage Euodia and Syntyche to settle their disagreement. These two ladies are leaders in the church. Unlike most Greek women who remained in the background and had little to do with public life, Macedonian women were in every way as active and involved as men. They were more like the position of women in the church and in our society today. Often times this is overlooked when trying to understand Paul’s admonishment to women in his writings.

Paul wants these women to be helped to settle their differences. They worked hard with Paul when he was there, to spread the Gospel. If this doesn’t happen it will effect the whole body of believers. Something to consider in any local church. Let’s not let disagreements stand between us. Let’s always settle our differences by talking about them rather than ignoring them. They won’t go away automatically.

We know that: Three kinds of peace are mentioned in the Bible. There is Peace with God that comes with our salvation (Rom. 5:1)

Then there is the Peace of God that comes with surrender (Phil. 4:7) in our text. This comes when we thank him for all that he has done.

The Peace on earth that is mentioned in Scripture will only come at Christ’s second coming (Isaiah 2:1-4)

Our focus today is on the Peace of God that comes in time of trouble.

Verse 6. Of course, this is easier said than done. For some it is part of their DNA so to speak; they just can’t help worrying. Usually they say, they are just “concerned” about things. This of course is legitimate, but we mustn’t allow our worry or concern, to dominate our lives and our thinking. Imagine never worrying about anything! It seems like an impossibility; we all have worries. For those who are still working like our adult children or grandchildren, there is always something to worry about. ‘Also in our homes and theirs. Then there are worries about grandkids or great-grandkids in school. We have a lot of things to worry about even if you are retired. But Paul’s advice is to turn our worries into prayers. The key is having a thankful heart.

SO WHY IS THANKSGIVING THE KEY TO PEACE?

First of all; THANKSGIVING CALLS FOR “LOOKING UP”

Storms in life may make giving thanks difficult. We all go through times of trouble (John 18:33). The Pilgrims endured many hardships, loneliness, sickness, and malnutrition, when they didn’t have enough food to eat, and nearly half died the first winter. A drought in summer caused them to “look up” to God. A gentle rain came in answer to prayer. A good harvest resulted in the first Thanksgiving.

Looking up to our God as our Helper In trying circumstances makes us thankful people.

Then: THANKSGIVING CALLS FOR “LOOKING AROUND”

We all have many blessings and ought to give thanks for them. Consider Psalm 103, the Psalm of thanksgiving. “Forget not all his benefits.” We sing the Hymn: “Count Your Blessings,” ——“Name them, one by one.” Those benefits and blessings include; sins forgiven, daily health, (even if we are not in complete good health), and He sustains us. Then he gives us food, family, and friends.

We ought to start each day, thankful for his many benefits.

Thankful that we can get out of bed and walk, even if it is with difficulty, and with pain. The benefits of God’s love and grace can be experienced each day.

The benefit of our salvation by faith, assures us of where we will spend eternity

We have the benefit of God’s Word the Bible, which gives us his instructions for faith and practice in our daily lives. We should thank him for the written Word, and that we are able to read it, even if for some, with difficulty, because of our eyes.

We have the privilege of prayer. We do not have to be anxious because prayer makes God’s blessings available. Thanksgiving adds expectation to prayer and allows faith to expect answers. This is when we begin to experience peace in difficult circumstances. Paul tells us that we should pray about everything. Nothing is too small of a concern for God.

In I Thess. 5:16 he says that we should be joyful always, pray continually,

GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Now God’s peace is different from the world’s peace. In John 14:27, Jesus said he gives peace, but not as the world gives. For instance true peace is not found in positive thinking, in the absence of conflict, or in good feelings. True peace comes from knowing that God is in control. Our citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom is sure, our destiny is set, and we can have victory over sin. Let God’s peace guard your heart against anxiety.

We read in I Peter 3:8-11, that we are to live in harmony with one another, and that we must seek peace and pursue it. This is why Paul began that fourth chapter in Philippians by encouraging two women to reconcile their differences.

Finally: THANKSGIVING CALLS FOR “LOOKING AHEAD.”

Doubt cringes and cowers, afraid of what tomorrow may bring. Faith welcomes the future with optimism, expecting the best. Paul reveals what a thankful heart contains. It contains things that are true, whatever is noble and honest, right and just, pure, lovely, good, admirable, and virtuous. (verse 8). We are to think about things that are excellent or praiseworthy. What we put into our minds determines what comes out in our words and actions. Paul tells us to program our minds with thoughts that are honorable. Do you have problems with impure thoughts and daydreams? Examine what you are putting into your mind. Replace harmful input with wholesome material. Above all, read God’s Word and pray. Ask god to help you focus your mind on what is good and pure. It takes practice, but I can be done.

Thanksgiving allows us to believe the best is yet to come.

Is your mind a place for thankful thoughts to dwell, or is it a place where all you think about are impure thoughts, or at the very least, negative dissatisfied thoughts, that end up being expressed? Even gossiped about, if it involves other people. Let’s be careful what we talk about, especially when it involves other people. Maybe your mother or grandmother, were like mine, and said; “If you can’t say anything good about someone, don’t say anything at all!” too often we just say whatever we think. (Sometimes that may be a good thing, )but usually we not only need not say it, but change the way we think about it. It is very hard to be negative, criticize, and be dissatisfied if we are praying, thanking God for what he has done for us, and offering praise IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES —-Like Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:16. But he also said in Ephesians 5:20 that we should always be giving thanks to God the Father FOR ALL THINGS. This is very hard to do and it doesn’t make sense to us. But think about the fact that we don’t have any trouble quoting Rom. 8:28: “All things work together for good to those who love God, and are called according to his purpose.” KJV. The NIV says that…all things God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose. This verse isn’t calling something that is bad, —good, but God will make it turn out good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. But too often we can’t imagine that we should thank God for something that is hard, or the pain that we have.

You may remember when I have mentioned before about an army chaplain named Merlin Carothers. He wrote the little book “From Prison to Praise.” It tells the remarkable story of how he went from being jailed as a young person, to becoming an army chaplain, and learning how to praise the Lord IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, THANKING HIM FOR ALL THINGS, and teaching others to do the same. He has also written another book entitled “Answers to Praise” where he recounts many testimonies of God touching lives and healing people who learned to thank the Lord for infirmities and praise him even in hardship. One such story came from a woman who through his preaching in a Methodist church heard about praising God even for sickness or pain. She didn’t think she would ever be able to do such a thing. She was getting on in years and normally she was not surprised when she had aches and pains. But then she began having back pain that just wouldn’t quit. It grew more and more painful. She was awakened at night with the pain, and the discomfort increased to the point that she could hardly get out of bed in the morning. She confessed that her fears grew as she worried about being completely incapacitated by the pain. She went to several doctors but didn’t receive any help. One morning when she had the worst pain that she ever had, the thought came to her that she had never once been thankful to God for the experience he was allowing, nor had she tried to believe that he would teach her something wonderful out of this. So she began praising god and thanking him for the physical pain she was enduring. This didn’t help a bit she said. Now you might be thinking that—see all that praise stuff just doesn’t work!—It’s true that she still had difficulty getting out of bed. She moved around for a little while and then felt that she had to sit down.

While sitting in a chair in her living room, she—

meditated on thanking and praising God Now I don’t want you to miss this. She specifically took time to pray and meditate on the Lord. It seemed like she was filled with a deep sense of praise to God. She felt praise for God that she had never experienced before. She felt a kind of joy coming up inside of her. She ended up actually being thankful for the pain she had. . When she realized that it was time for her to get up and get something done, she thought, “I’m going to believe that God will just bless and help me all day long and teach me whatever it is he wants me to learn.:; She said, when she got out of her chair and started to move around, she was suddenly aware that she had no pain. She moved her arms and legs and then bent over. To her astonishment, the pain was gone. She had never seen a miracle of any kind in her life. She thanked God for letting her see his wonderful power. She said she may have pains iin the future, but now she knows for sure that God uses everything and will bless us as we trust him.

Merlin Carothers commented on her testimony and wrote back to her, that not everyone is so completely and dramatically relieved of pain as she was. But God has his perfect plan for each one of us. In this women’s case, she shares with people in her group the joy of what had happened in her life.

As God touches us, when we learn to thank and praise him for what we are experiencing; and for what he allows us to go through; others will be encouraged to pray and thank him for their difficulties too. If people have never experienced the Lord’s healing power or his blessing on their lives, they will then be interested in learning for themselves what God can do for them. Each of us plays a small part in God’s glorious plan to reveal his love for all people. You will be surprised at the overwhelming peace that comes when we truly are thankful

Paul concludes this section by saying in verse 9—-“Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.” You see, it is not enough to hear or read the Word of God or even to know it well, we must also put it into practice. How easy it is to listen to a sermon and forget what the preacher said (especially when I preach). How easy it is to read the Bible and not think about how to live differently. /How easy it is to discuss what a passage means and not live out that meaning. Exposure to God’s word is not enough, it must lead to obedience. God’s faithfulness is great, so we can surely be faithful to put our trust in him.