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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 April 6, 2025
Text Romans 12:3-8 Corinthians 12:1-11
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Last week we looked at verses 1 and 2 of Chapter 12 of Romans. We saw that not merely ritual activity but the involvement of heart, mind, and will is the worship that the Lord wants. It is obedient service. Paul goes on to say basically that in order to worship this way there must be a radical change. He says we must not be conformed to the world. Being conformed to this age results in an “unfit mind.”

Wise Christians decide that much worldly behavior and customs are off limits for them. Our refusal to conform to this world’s values, however, must go even deeper than just behavior and customs; it must be firmly planted in our minds. Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way we think. This world says; “Look out for number one (#1) ourselves” but

II Corinthians 5:15 says; “that we are to no longer live for ourselves,    but we are to live for the one who died for us and rose again.”

This world, with all its evil and corruption, plays on our minds and has formed us, whether we want it to or not. We must be transformed from that kind of thinking, thoughts, and will, as it relates to morality. Then after this spiritual transformation has taken place, we are able to do God’s will here and now, and every day. The Christian finds out the will of God not to contemplate it, but to do it.

When Christ comes into our lives, we are new people. Then he is at the center of our being and we are different and the driving power of our life is different, our way of thinking, our mind, is different because the mind of Christ is in us. II Corinthians 5;17 says; “the old is gone, the new has come.”

When Christ is at the center of our life, then we can offer him real worship, which is the offering of every moment and every action of life to God.

Romans chapter 12 and verses 3-8 is the emphasis of my message this morning. ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE

In the days before the French Revolution, you remember, there was an elite group of swordsmen called Musketeers who had this as their motto in French; “un pour tous et tous pour un.” Meaning that they “had each other’s back,” so to speak. They would have understood what Paul is talking about here in verses 3-6.

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

When we have this attitude towards our fellow Christians, we recognize that this measure of faith comes from God alone, and is given to each believer to fulfill various ministries in the church. Since the power comes from God, there can be no basis for a superior attitude or self-righteousness. An honest assessment of one’s own capabilities, without conceit and without false modesty, is one of the first essentials of the Christian life.

We also are urged in the first part of this passage, to accept ourselves and the gifts that God has given us. Now– you may look at this list in Corinthians 12, that Carol read today and say; “ I don’t believe I have any of these gifts mentioned.” Well you may be surprised at what God has for you, even though you haven’t discovered your spiritual gift yet. The other important thing to realize is; that these lists are not exhaustive. In Romans, we have many practical gifts, and in I Corinthians we have revelatory gifts, and practical spiritual gifts that are different from our talents and abilities. You see we may have a talent or ability that God has given to us—that we were born with, but never use it to glorify god. He wants us though, to use all of our talents and abilities to serve him, worship him, and glorify him. For instance, if you are able to sing well. If God has blessed you with a good singing voice, but you never use it to glorify him, he is not pleased with that. But if you use your talent to sing for him, he may also give you a spiritual gift such as prophecy—where you declare the Word of the Lord with power and the anointing of the Holy Spirit when you sing. Or maybe the gift of exhortation, where your singing just lifts people up and they are blessed. I believe our daughter Karen is blessed with an extraordinary talent. I may seem biased, but others too believe she has an exceptional singing voice. She could have chosen to study in Italy, as one of her voice teachers in New York wanted her to do. Or she could have sung on Broadway with the help of another voice teacher whose husband and son were in “Guys and Dolls” during the time she taught Karen. It is possible that she could have done either one of these professional things and God would have used her. But she also received spiritual gifts of prophecy, exhortation and service that is better-used within the Church, which she did by singing on worship teams and leading worship since she was 16 years old. I believe she and her son Zachariah (now known as Zauntee), who is a gifted songwriter will be able to use their talents which are anointed by the Holy Spirt, who has given them the spiritual gifts to touch people in ways that someone who is just talented but haven’t yielded their talent to the Lord would be able to do Now with the church, we are part of a body, and we shouldn’t be envious of someone else’s gift. We are not to complain and regret that some other gift has not been given to us. We are to accept ourselves as we are and to use that gift that we have.

This is one of Paul’s favorite thoughts, to think of the Christian Church as a body. This is how he describes it in I Cor. 12:12-27—The members of the body neither argue with each other or envy each other or dispute about their relative importance. Each part of the body carries out its own function, however prominent or however humbly unseen that function may be. To grasp this truth fully will mean that there will be less friction, less quarreling and fewer question marks with regard to the way God is using some of his servants. And yet, there are Christians who do not believe that any Christian doing something different than they are doing is in the will of God.

This line of thinking seems to be found in almost every part of Christian service. There used to be some missionaries who couldn’t imagine that anyone could be in the will of God—- unless he or she was —–

an overseas missionary. There are some evangelists who think that anyone in the will of God must be an evangelist. The key is obeying God and doing what we are called to do. Every Christian is called to witness for Christ, and as they are going about their everyday tasks they are to make disciples. It is essential then, that we think of the Body of Jesus Christ as composed of those with different gifts. In fact, this is exactly what the Apostle Paul indicates in Romans 12:6, where he says; “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then “prophesy in accordance with your faith.” Prophecy is only one of many gifts and, of course, is to be used for the purpose intended by God. Foretelling is not its main purpose. It is more particularly forth-telling, which is the presentation of God’s truth to people. Some people have the God-given ability to dig into God’s Word and present it in such a way that God’s people are helped by it. This is a special gift from God, and anyone who has it is to use it to the glory of God.

Verse 7 of Romans 12 says; “If your gift is serving—-then serve. This gift of practical service is simply doing whatever needs to be done around the church, and doing it with a joyful attitude. This is ministry. It may be that you are able to administer some type of Christian enterprise. You may never have the opportunity to prophesy with anointing and preach a message, but high on Paul’s list is serving in other ways. There is no one who cannot every day in life show the love of Christ in deeds or service to others, both inside the body of Christ, and also to our neighbors and all those outside the church. The next gift mentioned is teaching. Exposition of the Word I possibly the thought here, and those who have the gift should cultivate it and use it to the utmost. It may be that someone who feels called to teach in a school, and is a certified teacher, doesn’t have the spiritual gift of teaching the Word of God. There is a difference. It is a wonderful blessing to see someone who has the ability and training to teach, and who also has the spiritual gift of teaching. They make the Word come alive and understood as the Spirit of God anoints them for the task. It is a requirement for deacons and elders in the church. We read that they should be “able to teach.” (I Tim. 3:2) along with a number of other requirements. Following that, in verse 8, we have the word exhortation (RSV) or to give encouragement (NIV). The one who exhorts, or who has the gift of exhortation or encouragement, is to concentrate on that particular

Gift. This, of course, must be done on the basis of the Word. The truth we find in the Word becomes the foundation for the appeals we make to God’s people to follow him. It must be, however, what the Word says, and not our own thoughts or desires.

The subject of giving is next presented, and it is to be done with simplicity (KJV) or, let him give generously (NIV) or contribute liberally (RSV). Giving for the sheer joy of giving. Giving in a single-mindedness or simple manner. Not all can be administrators in God’s work or expositors or preachers of the Word, or pastors, evangelists, or even exhorters, but God may have given someone the gift of making money.

R.G. LaTourneau, who early on in the 20th century established himself as the inventor and manufacturer of huge earth moving equipment, and founded an Engineering University. He became a multi-millionaire who gave 90% of his income to the Lord, and he used 10%. Stanley Tam, who founded a Plastics Corp. and other businesses. He wrote the book “God Owns My Business.” His business was so successful that he gave over one million dollars to missions, and 50% of his business was formally and legally owned by God (Even though at first his lawyer said it couldn’t be done.). Walt Meloon, who invented and manufactured “Correct Craft ski boats. He supplied the boats for Cypress Gardens before they sold out to Lego. Early on in his business during World War 2 he contracted with the military to manufacture troop boats. He was asked to do so many that he had shifts 24/7 to meet the contract. Then when the war ended they said they didn’t need them and he was stuck with the bill. He had to go bankrupt but he told all of his creditors that he would pay them back every cent he owed them, which he did. Because of his integrity and faithfulness in giving his tithe and offerings to the Lord, God blessed his business. There are many others who have made money and given to the Lord and had the right motives. When God’s people make a lot of money, this is not for themselves, but for his purposes. God gifts some of his servants to earn much more in order that they might distribute it with no ulterior motive of securing influence and advantage for themselves, a vice too frequently indulged by the affluent in their donations to the church, but rather with a sincere motive of glorifying Christ and his work. Then if your gift is to lead, do it diligently (NIV); He who gives aid do it with zeal. (RSV). There are fewer and fewer people who have a sense of service and of responsibility. This gift is closely linked with serving. It may involve leadership, but it may involve giving aid wherever it is needed. Paul says to do it with zeal—do it enthusiastically. We can combine this with the one last thing Paul mentions; If your gift is to show mercy, or kindness to others, do it cheerfully. Now the one who rules or leads must do it with diligence. The one who leads must do so with sensitivity and kindness. Showing mercy to those who are hurting. The Lord expects us to do his work harmoniously. The one who leads or rules should not dictate over others like a tyrant, but to inspire others with the enthusiasm which God has put in his or her soul for the work. There are some who have the ability to bring sympathy to those who are in sorrow.[PL1] [PL2] If that is your gift, then bring that sympathy, “with God’s sunlight in your face”, as one translator says. Encourage those in sorrow and in trouble.do not be guilty of pouring your own troubles into their already troubled hearts. God to them with the “sunlight of the Son of God in your face.” Leading people to understand forgiveness is a way of also showing mercy, but real forgiveness is always based on love and never on superiority. The Love of God is what people need to see, as each one of us, uses our practical spiritual gifts.

There is a hypothetical scene that I have mentioned before, illustrating some of these gifts. Suppose someone at a house party is carrying a tray of drinks across the room. They trip and fall over a footstool; the glasses fall and break and the person is lying on the floor. The one with the gift of prophecy might say; “If you would have been more careful and watched where you were going, that wouldn’t have happened.” The person with the gift of mercy would say right away; “Are you all right? –and would knell down to make sure they weren’t cut, and help them up. The person with the gift of serving would immediately go get a rag, a broom and a dustpan to clean up the mess. The person with a leadership gift might begin to tell that person where to find what they need, and if the person really is hurt would call 911. The one with a gift of encouragement would begin to comfort and encourage the one who fell saying; “I’m glad you’re all right. It could have happened to anyone. The footstool was out way too far. -You’ll be okay—or something along those lines. You get the idea. All of these reactions are needed, and——-

In the body of Christ, all of our spiritual gifts are needed, and we need to work together in the church.

When we are totally surrendered to Jesus Christ and are walking in the Holy Spirit, the enemy of our souls cannot disrupt the church, or stop the outreach and ministry of The Church. When Christ is fully in control of our lives we can walk in VICTORY, because there is victory in JESUS.

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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 March 30, 2025
Text James 1:26-27; John 4:7-39; Romans 12, 1-2;
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

In the first chapter of the book of James, he has brought us into dynamic touch with our Heavenly Father at two points. In verse 5 we see that He is ready to give us wisdom, and in verse 18 he shared his nature with us when he brought us both as his children. So then we may ask, what will life be like if it is controlled by the Father’s wisdom? What will it be like if it is the outworking of our new nature? It works out in three points. There are three truths about our Heavenly Father that He shows us in verse 18.

His spontaneous care for the helpless.

His Word of truth, and His purpose of holiness.

Then in verses 26 and 27, one of our texts for today we see three marks of the child of God. A controlled tongue, A caring ministry, and a holy life.

James says that unless we keep a tight reign on our tongue we deceive ourselves and our religion is worthless.

The word that is translated religion, captures well the meaning of the Greek threskeia and the rare adjective threskos. It is used in Acts 26:5 where Paul speaks about the religion of the Jews, the strictest sect– the Pharisees, that he was a part of. Outside the Bible, the words have a general reference to the “outward forms of religion. “It signifies religion in its external aspect. The term is not specifically Christian and is used widely in Greek religion to denote the reverencing and worshipping of a god (or gods). It often means outward acts of worship. The true test of any religious profession, James suggests, is not the outward ritual of worship, which many go through unthinkingly and with little heart commitment.

THE REAL LITMUS TEST OF RELIGION IS OBEDIENCE

Without it James is saying, religion is vain, empty, useless, and profitless. The person who hears the truth but does not put it into practice is self-deceived. This person is the one whose religious acts do not make a difference in the way he lives. Religion, that is; THERESKEIA is used to set in contrast that which is unreal and deceptive, and the “pure religion” which consists in not just making a social call, but more accurately looking after orphans and widows in their affliction or distress. This is the main part of godliness or the love of God. This is what God accepts as pure and faultless religion.

We talk about false religions too. My definition of Religion gives an accurate way of understanding what is meant by religion today. It is a set of man-made rules and regulations that constitute a system of beliefs and practices.” It is man (us) reaching out to God and trying to do a lot of things to hopefully satisfy Him. Think about this in relation to your religious or church background. It doesn’t matter if you were Catholic, Protestant, (one of the mainline denominations) or Evangelical, Pentecostal or Charismatic. Too often what we have been taught, or at least what we have learned is often what we have been taught, is”

There are certain things that we have to believe. ( And that is true there are.)

There are certain things that we have to do, and other things that we don’t do. (also true)

There are expectations like being baptized and taking communion (These too are normal expectations for a Christian.)

However, too often all of these become part of a ritual and this is exactly why so many people, who come from Christian families, eventually quit going to church, but not only turn their back on the Church, but upon Jesus Christ, because they have never really come to know Him as their Personal Savior, but only as an object of what the Church teaches about, and not very thoroughly either. Instead of an object or subject to center a ritual around, or reason to not do certain things, Jesus should be a person, who is received into your life. He has promised to give abundant life, or life in all of its fulness when we receive the New Birth, that He provides. It is not the liturgy that changes us. It is not ritual or church attendance that can change us..It is JESUS WHO WANTS TO, AND WHO WILL CHANGE US.

What James is saying is; the finest ritual and the finest liturgy you can offer to God is not those things, but a SERVICE of the poor and personal purity. Paul says in Romans 12:1 and 2 that we are to : Present or offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Some translations have it: this is your reasonable service. The New Living Translation says; “is this too much to ask, when you think of what He has done for you? He died for you and offers you the free gift of salvation.

What do you purchase as a gift for the person who has everything? Perhaps you have faced that dilemma and walked with frustration through stores hoping to find a special gift that communicates your love and meets a need in the life of the one receiving the gift.

Apply this situation to our attempts to offer God a gift he desires. God knows all things and possesses all the treasures of heaven and earth. He does not need anything. But, there is one commodity that God longs to receive from His followers. God desires for His children to freely, boldly, and passionately worship Him in spirit and truth.

In John 4 we see this revealed.

ALMIGHTY GOD POSSESSES AN INCREASING DESIRE FOR TRUE WORSHIPPERS

As this insightful conversation develops between Jesus and an immoral Samaritan woman, we learn about strongholds or obstacles that often prevent individuals and churches from experiencing true worship. She struggles with the penetrating issues raised by Jesus by hiding behind the barriers of places and programs.

Many Christians have settled for cheap imitations of true worship. Some relegate worship to a particular event or building. Often, worship is considered to be the music in a corporate service that is followed by preaching. An entire style of music has been labeled “Praise and Worship” in an attempt to distinguish contemporary music from traditional hymns. I understand the reasoning behind this because it is often explained that in our traditional hymns, we sing about God, and declare good doctrine, but rarely do we sing praise to Him. When we sing traditional testimonial gospel songs, we declare what He has done for us. A good example is in our hymnal, and what we sang about this morning. We sang declarative things about God: Amazing Grace and His Divine Love. Our Praise song invited us to bow down and worship him. Only songs like: Take My Life and let it Be Consecrated Lord to Thee, do we actually sing to Him, and ask him to take our lives and let them be consecrated to Him. The others declared something about Him. If we look carefully at the words of our hymns, each Sunday we try to have both included in some way. We don’t always succeed as we are limited by what is in the hymnal. It is good to sing praise to God and not just sing about him, however, the downside to singing only praises all of the time, is that what is included in most of our hymns are doctrinal truths that are important. Many young people today who only know contemporary choruses, don’t know any doctrine about God, and both are important.

While music is an integral part of worshiping, we should note that Jesus does not mention singing. When the apostle Paul spoke of Christ-honoring worship in Romans 12:1, he challenged believers to become living sacrifices. True worship rejects the strongholds that prevent followers of Christ from responding to God with heart, soul, mind, and strength in loving recognition of God’s glory and love.

After Jesus exposes the false assumptions of worship in verses 20-23, he guides the Samaritan woman into an amazing recognition of His glory and His mission to save people from their sins. True worship erupts in the soul of one who understands that Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away sin. He is the living water that cleanses and quenches the deepest thirst of one’s soul. Using water as the metaphor for eternal life, Jesus opens her eyes to see Him as the promised Messiah and Savior. The time is here Jesus says when we don’t worship in Jerusalem or on this mountain in Samaria, but we must worship God in spirit and in truth. To this she responds with some knowledge, by admitting that someday “Messiah is coming and then he will explain everything to us.” Jesus then, drops a bomb shell, by declaring to her; “ I, the one speaking to you— am he.”

Another principle of true worship surfaces in Jesus’ instruction for the woman to “Go tell your husband” (verse 17). The Lord knew, with a gift or word of knowledge, that she wasn’t married to the man she was now living with, and in fact before that she had had five husbands. When he tells her this, she declares that he is a prophet. She recognizes Jesus’ holiness. Our sinfulness becomes grossly obvious upon the recognition of Christ’s holiness. Once the woman recognized Jesus, she humbly acknowledges her sinful past. The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience. When he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he fell down in confession of personal and national sin. (Isaiah 6:5).

True worship also includes calling upon the Lord to meet our needs. In verse 10, Jesus challenges the woman and all future worshipers with the words “you should have asked.” The Bible says in James 4:2 that we often miss God’s blessing because we fail to ask for God’s help. Revelation 5:8 describes the prayers of the saints as a sweet smelling sacrifice. Christ-honoring worship must provide an opportunity to call upon the Lord though prayer.

Our testimony in relaying the story of meeting Jesus to others is also worship. (verse 39)

Prayer leads to the final principle of true worship revealed. This woman left her water pot and returned to the village to tell others how to receive eternal life. Verse 39 reveals that many believed because of her testimony. The Christian community has debated whether worship or evangelism is the greater priority for a church.

We see a beautiful balance in this woman’s worship of Jesus Christ. True worship brings lost people to Jesus! The apostle Paul described an accurate picture of true worship in Romans 15:15-16 where he identified his preaching the gospel to win Gentiles as an acceptable offering to the Lord. We must be careful not to separate or debate the significant interdependence of worship and evangelism for true worship. The fact is, both is what he has called us to do. Worship Him with all of our heart, and obey Him, by telling others what He has done for us, and make disciples.

When the disciples came back from getting food in the town, they urged him to eat some of the food. He responded in verse 32; “ I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Now of course this was confusing to them. Did someone else bring him some food. Who would have done that? Then Jesus clarifies this to them; in verses 34-38; “ My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘ it’s still four months until harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Now if the disciples had been appointed to form a committee to study the readiness of the Samaritans to receive the gospel, I know (as a former missionary), what their response would have been; Samaria unquestionably needs our Master’s message, but it is not ready for it. There first must be ploughing, (and preparing the soil), then sowing and then waiting. It is needy, but it is not ready for harvest.

That is why Jesus used the harvest metaphor to let them know that the normal ways of sowing and reaping is not applicable here. Now is the time. You don’t need to wait. The fields are now white and ready for harvest.

Today we might speak of some fields that are difficult. They used to think they were off limits so to speak. Now we go into limited access countries with any kind of visa we can get, and Muslims are coming to Christ, Hindus and Buddhists, are coming to Christ. Maybe we think that this area in and around Nobleton are too difficult, if not impossible for people to come to Christ. Jesus is saying to us to this field too is white and ready for harvest, we just need the workers because they are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers. Then of course he might just send you.

When Jesus speaks to us about living water and true worship, He invites us to explore the depths of His love through worship. May we never limit the Lord Jesus to a set time, place, or activity. The great hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” captures the essence of true worship with the words, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” God is seeking true worshipers. He longs for you to worship Him in spirit and truth. Would you present your gift of worship to Him today by submitting yourself completely to him, with a willingness to do whatever he asks you to do?

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

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

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

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

Nobleton Community Church
Date March 23, 2025
Text James 1:19-25
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Listening is something that none of us do very well. It seems that the majority of people like to talk, and those who don’t get so tired of hearing other people talk that they “tune people out.”

Some memorable advice was given to a daughter by her mother, while she was preparing for a date. “Try to get him to do all the talking dear. Most men can’t resist a girl who asks leading questions and pays rapt attention to their answers.”

The feminine asking role goes all the way back, to the time of the Queen of Sheba and her dazzling conquest of King Solomon In II Chronicles 9:1-2we have the account, “when she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of and he answered them all.”

This advice pertains to women, but the point is, most of us don’t listen enough. Sometimes it is the women who also do not listen. Listening is not only good for trapping a husband and later in the marriage relationship, but for communication in general and also for those in leadership.

It is important to listen to people to develop relationships, but it’s even more important to LISTEN TO GOD.

Tim Hansel in his book: “When I Relax I Feel Guilty” writes. “A Native American from the Cherokee tribe was in downtown New York, walking with his friend who lived in New York City. Suddenly he said, “I hear a cricket. I’m sure of it.” “Are you crazy” his friend replied. “No, I hear a cricket. I’m sure of it.” Are you kidding, it’s noon, and there are people bustling all around, cars honking, taxis squealing, and noises from the city. I’m sure you can’t hear a cricket I’m sure I do he said, He listened attentively and then walked to the corner across the street, and looked all around. Finally, on the corner, he found a shrub in a large cement planter. He dug beneath the leaves and found a cricket. His friend was astounded. But the Cherokee said, “No my ears are no different from yours. It simply depends on what you are listening to. Here, let me show you. “He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of change—–a few quarters, some dimes, and nickels, and dropped them on the concrete. Every head within a few feet heard it and stopped. Turned and looked. “You see what I mean? –he said as he began picking up his coins. “It all depends on what you are listening for.”

Not only must Christians have “ears to hear: like Jesus said in Matt 13:9, but they must learn what to listen for. In verse 19 of James, we see three things about listening and doing that are important in our relationship with God. Our text shows that we must,

BE QUICK TO LISTEN

This really means that we need to pay attention and hear what is being said!

In the Kikongo language that Jeannene and I learned, they have an expression that says: “Weti wa”—-Are you Hearing? There is another word for listening. Dimba. “Weti dimba? —means are you listening? But they don’t say this because they know that you might be listening to what is being said, but the question is; are you really hearing what is being said—are you understanding what is being said?

We might wonder why the ever-practical James does not proceed to outline schemes of daily Bible reading or ways to do our devotions, or quiet time with the Lord because this would be a good way to offer a willing ear to hearing, the voice of God. But he doesn’t help us in this way. Rather he goes deeper, for there is little point in schemes or schedules and times of reading the bible if we don’t have an attentive spirit. Many Christians read the Bible through, in a year, some, have read the bible 30 or 40 times through in their lifetime. Some are very proud of this achievement.

Back when “The Merv Griffin Show: was still on the air, the guest was a body builder. During the interview, Merv asked, “Why do you develop those particular muscles? The bodybuilder simply stepped forward and flexed a series of well-defined muscles from chest to calf. The audience applauded. What do you use all those muscles for? Merv asked. Again, the muscular specimen flexed, and biceps and triceps sprouted to impressive proportions. “But what do you use those muscles for? Merv persisted. The bodybuilder was bewildered. He didn’t have an answer, other than to display his well-developed body.

Our spiritual exercises—Bible reading, and even Bible study, prayer and reading Christian books, listening to Christian radio or CDs or watching Christian TV pastors, are all for a purpose. They are meant to strengthen

our spiritual life, and to also strengthen our ability to build God’s kingdom, not simply to improve our “pose” before and admiring audience.

But unfortunately, sometimes the people who do those things, are often not as far along spiritually as someone who has not done this, but have read the bible with an open and attentive spirit to hear what God wants to say to them. Now this isn’t an excuse for not reading the bible clear through, or to not pay any attention to other things to help us grow spiritually, but we do need to make sure that we are listening to what the Lord is saying to us, by really hearing what He is saying. If we can develop an attentive spirit, this will spur us to create those conditions, which the spirit will find itself satisfied in hearing the Word of God.

In what he actually says in the last part of verse 19 and in 20 James seems to mix together the two ideas of getting along with people, and also getting along with God.

WE SHOULD BE QUICK TO LISTEN, BUT ALSO

WE SHOULD BE SLOW TO SPEAK.

We all are guilty to some degree of talking too much at the wrong time, but have you ever tried to talk to someone who if they do pause long enough for you to talk, give you the feeling that they are not listening to you, but thinking what they are going to say next and if they are hearing you they are not really concentrating on what you were trying to communicate, but rather what they will say in rebuttal.

In general, women talk more than men. This is not always true, but many times it is. Years ago astronaut Michael Collins, speaking at a banquet quoted the estimate that probably some of you have heard, that the average man speaks 25,000 words a day and the average woman 30,000 words. Then he added, “unfortunately when I come home each day I’ve already spoken my 25,000, but my wife hasn’t started her 30,000 yet.

People like to hear themselves talk, except for those shy personalities that keep it all inside. But even then we tend to, when we do speak, say things we shouldn’t say and offend people or we say things that we don’t really mean, or that we shouldn’t be saying because it is rumor or worse, slander or gossip, but in a given moment we just blurt it out!

You may have heard about the young man who was looking for a wife, and finally he found just the girl. He said, honey, you must marry me, I love you so much!. And she responded to him, but I don’t love you, you must find someone else, some beautiful girl. Then he stuck his foot in his mouth by blurting out, “but I don’t wasn’t some beautiful girl, I want you!”

We need to be slow to speak. Be sure that what we say communicates what is on our heart. Proverbs 17:28 says; “Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, an discerning if he holds his tongue.”

One of the early classical writers, named “Zeno” says; “We have tow ears, but only one mouth, that we may hear more and speak less.”

Take note of this, the reception of the Word demands a readiness “to listen.” Reluctance at this point will block the acceptance of truth. It also demands restrained speech. A continual talker cannot hear what anyone else is saying and by the same token will not hear when God speaks. Arent we all guilty in a sense of talking too much to God. (Not that we can ever pray enough), but we are always asking Him for things. Not giving Him enough time for His Spirit to speak to our hearts, or show us in His Word what he wants to communicate to our hearts.

SO WE MUST BE QUICK TO LISTEN,

SLOW TO SPEAK AND THEN,

FINALLY WE MUST BE SLOW TO ANGER.

Our anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires for us.

The word righteous here has the same concentrate meaning as in Matthew 3:15 when Jesus was going to be baptized by John, and John said, “Oh no, it is I that should be baptized by you!” Then Jesus responded, “It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Up until that time no Jew had ever been baptized. Only proselytes who wanted to follow God—those gentile “sinners.” But now, Jesus who never sinned, identified with all men, and their search for God, and he identified with all mankind and the purpose that He was to fulfill. It means all that God in his righteousness proposes done. The growth of the new nature from infancy to adult, that is, spiritual maturity is the righteous purpose of God for us; this is what will happen if we go on with the task of hearing the word of truth—-and then obeying it.

This is how James develops the idea of going on with God. But the prohibition against anger must have to do with getting along with people, and surely this is also the context of the command to be slow to speak. It is a prohibition to allow anger to lead us into sin.

What does it take to motivate someone to betray deep seated loyalties? Unresolved anger and resentment, for one thing. Consider the story some years ago, of Earl Pitts, and FBI agent turned Soviet spy.

According to Evan Thomas in Newsweek, Pitts was raised on a farm in Missouri and was recognized as a “Future Farmer of America” (FFA). About all rural area high schools used to have an FFA chapter. Believe it or not, there is a high school in Tampa that has an FFA. Anyway, his parents said they disciplined him firmly but fairly. He was a captain in the army who regarded himself as a patriot. Even after he was caught, his wife described him as a “good man.” So what happened? After getting his law degree and serving as a military policeman (an M.P.), for 6 years, in 1983 Pitts realized a lifelong ambition by going to work for the FBI. He was assigned to the New Yoork office, and there his troubles began. He did not see how he could afford to live in the “Big Apple” on his $25,000 a year salary. Thomas writes, “morale in the office was poor, and petty cheating on expense accounts was rampant.” Burdened with debt from student loans, Pitts had to ask his father for a loan. He felt humiliated. Pitts later told a psychiatrist that he was “overwhelmed by a sense of rage at the FBI. One morning he came up with the idea of spying for the KGB. That way he could kill two birds with one stone. He later told the psychiatrist, “I was shoved by the bureaucracy, and I shoved back.” For 7 years Pitts worked as a Soviet spy and for his services received $224,000. When he was finally caught and convicted, the judge sentenced him to 27 years in prison. At his sentencing

the judge asked him, why he had become a traitor. Earl Pitts replied;

“I GAVE IN TO AN UNREASONABLE ANGER” He began his sentence in 1998 and was released on Dec. 20, 2019. He died in 2022.

Never allow anger to fester. Deal with anger as God prescribes. In Psalm 4:4 we read; “In anger do not sin, when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” Paul quotes this Psalm in Ephesians 4:28, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and DO NOT GIVE THE DEVIL A FOOTHOLD.

This is important in all of our relationships. Between husbands and wives—parents and children—friends and fellow believers in the body of Christ—and our neighbors, or people you are holding a grudge against. When this happens, bitterness has set in, the blunt fact is that our life with God is not something segregated, to be restricted to “quiet times” and insulated from our life with people. If we do not have an attentive ear in the ordinary circumstances of life, we do not become different people when we shut the door and open the Bible. We must cultivate over the whole area of those virtues and practices that will pay dividends when we turn our minds to God and His Word. We must use the circumstances of life as a training ground for a readiness to HEAR

a place to control our SPEECH and a cautious hatred of ANGER. The restraint of anger is demanded, for anger closes the mind to God’s truth. A fiercely argumentative attitude is not conducive to the humble reception of truth. Our ears become closed and we don’t want to listen, let alone hear and understand when we are angry.

Let’s learn to listen carefully and really hear what people have to say so that we are ready to hear what God has to say to us. Let’s not be quick to speak, so that we don’t respond to people in anger. But then let’s be DOERS OF THE WORD AND NOT HEARERS ONLY

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

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

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

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

Nobleton Community Church
Date March 16, 2025
TEXT: I Peter 1:1-13-2:3
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

A LIFE OF REVERANCE, LOVE AND GROWTH

We are told in verse 17 to: “Live our lives as strangers here in fear. A fugitive is one who is running from home. A vagabond is one who has no home. A stranger is one away from home. A pilgrim is on his way home. The picture is of a person living in a “foreign land,” alongside people who are not like him. Here it refers to children of God living far from their heavenly home, in foreign territory, on a planet that has Satan as reigning monarch, the people of which are his subjects. We sing the hymn: “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through, my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue. They’re all expecting me, on that great peaceful shore, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”—-The problem is; too many Christians feel very much at home in this world, and they don’t have a clear cut testimony that they will have eternal life in heaven with the Lord someday. The Christian should always live in consciousness of the fact that he or she is being watched by the unsaved. Our responsibility is to: Bear a clear testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, by the way we live and what we say.

Peter says, we are to do this in “fear,” that is, with REVERENT RESPECT which is spoken of in opposition to high-minded men—“be not high-minded” (that is, proud), but fear the Lord.” This means that because we respect Him, we don’t just say or do anything we want in his presence, (which is all the time.) It is being careful because we might fall, it is a constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the heart, and of the power of inward corruption. It is the caution which shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and this Savior. The British commentator William Barclay says, “The life of reverence is the attitude of mind of the man who is always aware that he is in the presence of God.” Hebrews 12:28 says, “since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship or serve God acceptably with reverence and awe.: The combination stresses the greatness of God and the lowly place his people should take in relation to him. We are to have this reverent fear (in view of the fact or) since we call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially. Outward appearance, wealth, culture, social position, family background, education, beauty, intellect, all things that more or less sway the opinions of people, do not count with God when it comes to judging a person. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart” we read in I Sam. 16:7. (When God was instructing Samuel to anoint David as King. ) Even though at times these words are comforting it also should create in us respect for God to realize he is critical, and he is fair, but we can’t fool him. No pretense is possible before God. His impartiality is an honest appraisal of things, and in this verse, it means to put to the test in order to approve the good one finds in the person. God expects to find the life of good works produced by the Holy Spirit, depending on the degree we are subjected to His control. There was a man blinded in World War II. He married his nurse. At a party years later he overheard someone remark. “It’s a good thing he’s blind, because he would have never married her since she is so homely looking.” The man replied, “I’m glad I’m blind if seeing would have kept me from seeing the inner beauty and nobility of character in my wife.” This is how God sees us. Not what is obvious to people, but remember God looks on the heart.

THEN THIS LIFE IS ALSO A LIFE OF LOVE AND GROWTH.

The Christian way of life must reflect God’s love in us, it is added to the command to be holy and to obey and have reverence for God. This means that we receive his LOVE, and that love is shown to others.

The Christian life is lived out of knowledge of the redemption that Christ has accomplished. What do Christians know? Peter reminds us that the cost of redemption by the blood of Christ, and the value of redemption is by the righteousness of Christ himself. This word redeem goes back to the institution of slavery in ancient Rome. Any first century church would have three kinds of members; slaves, freemen, and freed men, People became slaves in various ways. Through war, bankruptcy, or sale of themselves to pay debts. Sometimes the sale was by parents, or by birth.

Slaves normally could look forward to freedom after a certain period of service and often after the payment of a price. Money to buy his freedom could be earned by the stave I his spare time or by doing more than his owner required. Often the price could be paid by someone else. By the payment of a price, a person could be set free from the bondage of servitude. A freed man or woman was a person who formerly had been a slave, but was now redeemed. The redemption of Christians is from the “empty” lifestyle of their ancestors (who lived in sin and was part of a pagan lifestyle.) The New Testament stresses this emptiness rather than being saved from the misunderstandings of Judaism. Paul addresses what the pagans were like, when he wrote in Romans 1:21; “For although they knew God from creation, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Then in Eph. 4:17; “You must no longer live as the Gentiles (Pagans) do, in the futility (or uselessness) of their thinking.”

Verse 19 of I Peter 1, stresses the value of the purchase price (without blemish) perfect. This was the sacrificial Lamb of God. Not just a “plan B,” since the children of God were disobedient and didn’t follow him, not even since Adam sinned, God didn’t say, “uh oh—–I have to figure out a way to get my creation back. No– verse 20 says before creation, Christ was chosen, but then was revealed in these last times. It was for our sake, so that we can believe (and have faith) in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

We see the reason for this life of LOVE; it is that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth; by obeying the gospel. In Acts 15:9 we read; “he made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.” But Paul tells us in Romans 10:16 that not all the Israelites accepted the good news. Then in II Thess. 1:8; “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

The Good News carries with it a command to repent and believe. Being purified from sin enables Christians to show genuine family love for God’s children.

Verse 22 “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brother—-love one another deeply from the heart.” THERE IS THE COMMAND TO LOVE.

The recipients of this letter had purified their souls with the result that they came to love their Christian brethren with a sincere love—not a fake love, that wasn’t sincere. The word used here is the same one from which we get our word “hypocrite,” with the letter (a) prefixed, which makes it mean NOT A HYPOCRITE. This word hypocrite was used of an actor on the stage who played the part of another. Literally it means “to judge under” used of someone giving off his judgment from behind a screen or mask. Some of these to whom Peter was writing had put a mask of insincere love over their facial expressions, when associating with other people in the church.

Does this sound familiar? We wouldn’t do that, would we?

Charles Spurgen was emphasizing to his class one time the importance of making the facial expressions harmonize with what the preacher was preaching. “When you speak of heaven he said, “let your face light up, let it be radiant with a heavenly glow, and let your eyes shine with reflected glory. But when you speak of hell–well, then your ordinary face will do” Some of us never get beyond our ordinary faces. Others pretend!

You may recall the story from the Depression, when this fellow couldn’t find a job, but one day he saw a notice posted from a Zoo, that their gorilla had died, and they need someone to put on a costume and impersonate a gorilla. When he tried to act like a gorilla and swing on a bar, after eating a banana, he flew into the next cage. He yelled “help help, get me out of here” Then the lion said; “Shut up buddy—or we’ll both get fired. Now that’s pretending. —it is actually hypocrisy—There were two conditions in the early church which were responsible for the hypocrisy of pretending to be someone you are not. Some Christians were tempted to go back to their old associates, preferring their company to that of their Christian brethren. This is mentioned in chapter 4, verse 3; “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.” That’s quite a list! Peter suggests that they had plenty of time before salvation, to run around with sin in the world. Those Christians who went back to their former worldly associates and preferred their company to that of believers, would naturally assume an attitude of love towards them.

Then there was the other condition in which different grades of society were represented in the early church, slaves, freemen, rich and poor, educated and illiterate. The privileged were slow to take the underprivileged to themselves in a Christian brotherly way. This is hinted at in chapter 2 verse 1 in the words; “hypocrisy” and “slander” of every kind.”—which means simply the act of putting a person down by what you say about them. Watch out for that. We are all guilty of this at some time or another. Just because we aren’t sued for what we say, doesn’t mean that we aren’t slandering people.

The particular Greek word Philo for love, used here means “a love called out of one’s heart by the pleasure one takes in the person loved.” That is, what you can get out of the relationship! That’s what a lot of marriages have been or are like, as well as relationships among others.. That isn’t a Biblical love. It is a love of “liking” maybe. One likes another person because that person is like him or her in the sense that that person reflects our own personality, the same characteristics, and the same likes and dislikes that we have. It is an affection or fondness, a purely human attachment for another, and perfectly legitimate. For the believer, this should be changed, however, we know we are supposed to love other believers, but we find it difficult to even tolerate them, let alone love them, or like them in this sense.

I believe we can identify with that. Sometimes we do not really sincerely love one another. Or we may tolerate one another, but not love one another, and sometimes we are totally intolerant of one another. Let’s not just pretend to love each other.

The context for any attachment we have for a fellow believer, is concerned with one’s attitude toward one’s fellow Christian as contrasted to one’s former worldly associates. This attitude should be changed at the time of salvation (Paul says in II Cor. 5:17—we are new creations in Christ—the old has gone, the new has come. The necessity for this change comes because of the change in a person’s character from a sinner separated from God to a child of God. The saying goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”—the species has an attachment for itself, based upon similarity of character. So an affection or fondness for another based upon the likeness of that other to one’s self is in the mind of Peter here.

The thing that caused some of these Christians to resort to their former worldly associates was failure to obey the Word of God. Consequently their heart-life became sinful. Therefore, they preferred their former sinful companions to their fellow Christians. But when they started to obey the Word again, their souls were purified, and they came to have that fondness and affection for their Christian brethren which is the normal condition among saints who are living lives of obedience to God’s Word, and allowing the Holy Spirit to control their lives instead of their fleshly desires.

The love which they showed toward other believers came from the heart. Then again, obedience to the Word, would cause the upper classes of society to have a fondness and affection for the lower classes, —Christianity levels off all classes.

God gives the exhortation; “LOVE ONE ANOTHER DEEPLY FROM THE HEART.” What kind of love is this? It is another Greek word that you have heard before; Agape—This word speaks of a love which in its classical usage refers to a love called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the person loved. In the New Testament it is used in certain contexts like John 3:16 where the idea of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the person loved is added to its classical meaning. Here it is God’s love for us. We are told to love other Christians because people are precious to God, and we are to love them with a love that is willing to sacrifice one’s own interests for the benefit of the brother or sister in Christ. That’s why Paul exhorts us to consider others better than ourselves, and not to think “more highly of ourselves than we should.” It is a love that treats others kindly, and doesn’t keep a record of wrongs. (I Cor. 13:5) It is a love that so causes one to rejoice in the welfare of another that there is no room for envy or jealousy in the heart. This kind of love is only produced when one is subjected to the control of the Holy Spirit. The Christian who manifests the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul goes on to say after this list; “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit, let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Are you growing in the Lord? If not it is no wonder that we don’t understand HOLINESS AND OBEDIENCE. It is no wonder that we are not REVERENT TOWARDS GOD. No wonder we don’t

LOVE OTHER BELIEVERS LIKE WE SHOULD.

If we don’t desire to know the Bible, it is no wonder that we aren’t growing like we should. But when we want to know God’s word and read it and ask him to help us understand what he wants to say to us through it, then we may GROW UP IN OUR SALVATION, but the beginning is when we finally recognize that we are sinners, and need a savior, when we realize that the only way we can be saved is by the finished work of Jesus on the cross. The only way to be wholly sanctified is to surrender our lives completely to Jesus Christ and the indwelling power and control of the Holy Spirit.

Scroll down past Sermon for more info

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

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

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

Nobleton Community Church
Date March 9, 2025
Text: I Thessalonians 5:23-24; Galatians 5:19-24
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

In Galatians 5:22-23, we see the fruit of the Spirit…love, joy, peace, forbearance (or patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Some of these obviously overlap in how they play out in our lives. They are all things that should be seen in a Christian’s life, as opposed to the characteristics mentioned for those outside of Christ. They should be evident in a person who is walking in the Spirit. Does this mean that if we don’t always see these things, that a person isn’t saved? No, not at all. Does it mean that they aren’t walking in the Spirit? Well at the time that we don’t see the manifestation of this fruit, we can say that we are not walking in the Spirit if we manifest the works of the flesh mentioned in verses 19-20 of Gal. 5. “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery: idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Then Paul says something very harsh: “ I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” You don’t have to act on every one of these to not be a part of the Kingdom of God. What he is saying is; that if your lifestyle, is to walk in the flesh, and not in the Spirit, —– basically your lifestyle is one of living in sin

What we want to talk about this morning is this idea of:

:Being sanctified through and through or wholly, or entirely as some translations have it.

So what is sanctification?

The generic meaning of sanctification is “the state of proper functioning.” To sanctify someone or something is to set that person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer. A pen is “sanctified” when used to write. Eyeglasses are “sanctified” when used to improve sight. In the theological sense, things are sanctified when they are used for the purpose God intends. A human being is sanctified, therefore, when he or she lives according to God’s design and purpose.

The Greek word translated “sanctification” (hagiasmos [aJgiasmov”]) means “holiness.” To sanctify, therefore, means “to make holy.” In one sense only God is holy ( Isa. 6:3 ). God is separate, distinct, wholly other. No human being or thing shares the holiness of God’s essential nature. There is one God. Yet Scripture speaks about holy things. Moreover, God calls human beings to be holy as holy as he is holy ( Lev. 11:44 ; Matt. 5:48 ; 1 Peter 1:15-16 ). Another word for a holy person is “saint” (hagios [agio”]), meaning a sanctified one. The opposite of sanctified is “profane” ( Lev. 10:10

Basically, sanctification t is how God makes us holy. Paul didn’t leave his readers without a solution to the problem of what seems to be impossibly high standards. After describing what the holy life looks like. Paul told us how ordinary Christians like us can live in the kind of holiness described in the verses that we read. Sanctification means “set apart” and “made holy.” In sanctification, ordinary things became hallowed. In the Old Testament, the temple and altar, timbers and stones, places and days, the priests became holy. But in the New Testament, the apostles, the Word of God, and us become holy. We become holy because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, when He comes to dwell within us. God’s sanctification changes things. Ordinary items were changed so that they became something new—the ordinary becomes sacred and holy. (II Cor. 5:17)

Look at our text: (v. 23-24) “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless…The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

In this passage, Paul is calling for the sanctification of people. Transformation of ordinary Christians into a holy people, so they can live like he just described. He was not talking to unbelievers, but Christians in Thessalonica. This actually gives us a good understanding that when we receive Christ into our lives, and he becomes our Savior, that we can’t just live anyway we want to and still expect to be included in the Kingdom of God and receive Eternal Life. If you want to say the person who lives like that was never saved in the first place, okay. But only God knows if that is true. Because we can’t just make these kinds of statements, just to fit our theology.

The important thing is that as professing Christians we become completely set apart for God and live by the Spirit and not according to our fleshly desires.

When we experience the invisible work of God transforming ordinary people into the sort of persons who live extraordinary lives by God’s power, we can also live, abstaining from every form of evil.

Does that mean that once we are sanctified, that we will never sin? No, a thousand times no.

James says, that “if we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us, and we are liars.“ What it does mean is, we are more apt to pursue righteousness and what the Lord wants us to do, rather than be drawn towards wanting to sin. Is it still possible to yield to temptation? Absolutely, but the Holy Spirit will convict the saved person, and also the sanctified person, as to the sin in his or her life that must be confessed (I John 1:9).

When we yield our will completely over to the control of the Holy Spirit, and don’t do things that are sinful, or put ourselves in a position to sin, or go places where sin abounds, then the Holy Spirit will give us victory.

In order to maintain spiritual health, we must remember where our spiritual strength lies. You cannot do this on your own. You cannot make yourself holy by your own strength. The only way to develop and maintain spiritual strength is to depend entirely on the power of God’s spirit at work in your life.

Paul says the work of sanctification is God’s responsibility. He emphasizes in verse 24…(v. 24) The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Exercising discipline, though, is our job; we must make the effort to give up sin. Practicing discernment is our job; we must make the effort to do it. However, making us holy is God’s job, and he will do it. We will fail from time to time in exercising discipline or practicing discernment, but the good news is that God will not fail in his commitment to make us holy, if we ask Him to do it. But It is crucial for us to remember that we do not depend on ourselves, but on God, for our goodness.

What does it mean to depend on God? Well, this can be seen in your attitude towards sin. The fact is, we all miss the mark; we all fail. When it happens, what is your response? Is it, “Oh no, God could never love me now. I’m not perfect.”? If that is your response, you are depending on your own goodness, not on God.

When you sin, your attitude should be, “Lord, I have broken your law. It is wrong. By your mercy, through the blood of Christ, please forgive me. And by your strength, help me not to do it again.” Once again as I mentioned, John says in :1 John 1:9;..” If we confess our sins, he is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify (or cleanse) us from all unrighteousness”.

It is up to us to confess; –he forgives,– he cleanses and he purifies.

Paul had big expectations of God’s sanctifying work. When God sanctifies a person “through and through,” he sanctifies that person completely, wholly, entirely. But that does not mean they have no room for growth.

Just in case we missed how complete this sanctification can be, Paul explained the outcomes;

Then our spirit, soul, and body will be preserved blameless. There isn’t much left if your entire spirit, soul, and body have been sanctified.

In our society today, we are a ‘do it” people, especially in North America. We are a practical people who tend to take every instruction for holy living as something we can do by trying harder or doing better and better until some day we finally reach our goal. But that is not what this verse says. It does not say. “Try harder to live this way until you finally achieve your goal.” Instead Paul simply said, “May the God of peace sanctify you.”

It is true that some people seem to be able to help themselves a bit, and some even a lot, but nobody on earth can sanctify themselves through and through. Only God can do this.

This whole sermon series is about TRUSTING.

Today’s scripture calls us to trust God to sanctify us through and through—completely, wholly, entirely. God might sanctify you slowly and gradually over many years, or do it in spurts with interspersed rest stops. He might do it instantly, or in a few weeks, and you will be a completely different kind of Christian in only a short time. However God does it, he will do it. God is in the business of transforming ordinary Christians into extraordinary saints. He might do it slowly, or He might do it quickly, but be encouraged!

You are going to be a holy person! If you want to be. If you are willing to be.

What about you?

Have you seen God at work already in your life? Is He already changing and sanctifying you since you were saved? Have these changes God’s already made been good for you? Don’t you think God wants to release even more power in your life?

God is going to sanctify you fully!

Our role is to wait, hunger, thirst for righteousness, ask in prayer, and knock until God does his work of sanctifying us through and through. But I must warn you, when you yield everything to Him, and allow Him to do anything He wants with your life, He may ask you to do some things that shock you. Things that you may think you can’t possibly do.

The biggest thing holding back God’s sanctifying work is us. Our unwillingness to yield to Him control of our lives.

God seldom sanctifies what has not been surrendered. Is there anything you have that you have not surrendered to Christ? Anything you are holding back? Some secret sin you feel guilty about, but still delight in it? God will sanctify whatever we fully surrender to him. Is there something you have not fully surrendered to Christ?

What we yield to God, he will cleanse, empower, and sanctify. If we yield things to him one by one, he will sanctify them one by one. What is it you need to yield to Jesus today? Are you ready to yield everything? Are you ready to say, “I surrender all” to Jesus?

We can’t become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ by “trying harder.” We should instead rely on the One who can actually make us holy—the Spirit of God Himself.

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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 March 2, 2025
Text: Matthew 24:1-14 Revelation2:3-6
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Valentine’s Day was this past month. Hopefully this is not the only time of the year that we tell our loved ones that we love them. We mustn’t be like the man who was criticized by his wife. She said to him, “you never tell me you love me! He responded. “I told you I loved you when I asked you to marry me. If I change my mind, I’ll let you know!” That doesn’t cut it does It ladies? With our wives, husbands, children, grandchildren and anyone whom we care about, we need to let them know that we love them. When Jeannene and I end a phone conversation with each other we end it with—”I love you.” And it is the same with our children and grandchildren when we talk to them on the phone or say goodbye to them.
I want to ask you a question this morning; “Is your love growing and becoming softer, brighter, more daring, and more visible? Or is it becoming more discriminating, more calculating, less vulnerable, and less available? This is a very important issue, for your Christianity is only as real as your love is. A measurable decrease in the ability to love is evidence that:
A STONGHOLD OF COLD LOVE IS DEVELOPING WITHIN YOU.
In our text from Matthew, we see that Jesus was talking about the end times. He said that “because lawlessness is increased, Most people’s love will grow cold.” Especially in the last few years, with so much lawlessness in so many of our large cities. Crime and Murder rates have increased tremendously since these cities want to defund the police, and many police officers are retiring earlier, and others are just quitting. All of this increase in lawlessness since we have had an open border for the last 4 years. .But then there are cities like Chicago which have experienced lawlessness for years, and more recently Portland Oregon, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.
Back in the late 60s almost all of you will remember that we saw a lot of lawlessness. College students especially rebelled against the police, and many other joined in against all government authority and University officials. We saw demonstrations of all kinds especially against the war in Viet Nam. However today, it seems that the lawlessness is against individuals. The news is full of people disappearing, or missing, and murders abound, and the recent protests are against the President’s executive orders. But we often see it within households, among relatives too. Law enforcement frequently tells us that most of the disputes they are called to settle, are domestic.
There is certainly a stronghold of “COLD LOVE” that is prevalent, just like Jesus said there would be. A major area of spiritual warfare that has come against the church is in the sphere of church relationships. Satan knows that a church divided against itself cannot stand. We may enjoy temporary blessings and seasonal breakthroughs, but to win a citywide, or in our case maybe a county wide war, Jesus is raising up a united church. An earmark of this corporate, overcoming church will be its commitment to LOVE. Yet, because of the increasing iniquity at the end of this age, true Christian love will be severely assaulted.
There can be no spiritual unity and hence no lasting victory without love. Love is a passion for oneness. Bitterness on the other hand is characterized by a noticeable lack of love! This cold love is a demonic stronghold. In our generation cold love is becoming increasingly more common. It shuts down the power of prayer and disables the flow of healing and outreach. In fact, where there is persistent and hardened unforgiveness in a person or church, (like the account of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35) the demonic world has unhindered access.
We see that Jesus is teaching that if we don’t forgive others here on earth, he won’t forgive us either. That’s a pretty hard concept to hear.
Not only does this cold love cause a lack of forgiveness, but the Scriptures warn that even a little root of bitterness in a person’s life can spring up and defile us (Hebrews 12:15 says; “See to it that no one misses the grace of God, and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many”
Bitterness is unfulfilled revenge. Another person’s thoughtlessness, lack of love, or even cruelty may have wounded us deeply. It is inevitable that in a world of increasing harshness and cruelty you will at some time be hurt. But if you retain in your spirit the debt the offender owes you, that often will rob your heart of its capacity to love, imperceptibly, like the “frog in the kettle” you will become a member of the majority of end time Christians whose love is “growing cold”
Bitterness is a classic symptom of the STRONGHOLD OF LOVE.
To deal with this, you must repent of this attitude and forgive the one who hurt you. Now I know you might be thinking. Pastor Paul, you just don’t understand—-you don’t know what I have had to go through in the past. It is too much to ask to forgive someone who was offensive to me, and caused me heartache even today. You’re right, I don’t know what you went through, or are going through now. But I do know that this painful experience was allowed by God to teach you how to love your enemies and to forgive them. Millions of souls are swept off into eternal judgment every day without any hope of escaping from embitterment, but you have been given God’s answer for your pain. God gives you a way out. LOVE and forgiveness, as you forgive those who have sinned against you.
The Scottish preacher Stephan Olford tells of a Baptist preacher, Peter Miller, during the American Revolution. He was from Pennsylvania and was a friend of George Washington. A man named Michael Witman was an evil-minded person who did all he could to oppose and humiliate Pastor Miller. One day Witman was arrested for Treason. Pastor Miller traveled 70 miles to Philadelphia to plead for his life. No Peter, Gen. Washington said. “I cannot give you the life of your friend.” “My friend!” Miller exclaimed, “He is the bitterest enemy I have!” What! You’ve walked 70 miles to save the life of an enemy? That put this matter in a different light. I’ll grant your pardon!” And he did. Peter Miller took Michael Witman back home——no longer an enemy but a friend. That’s THE POWER OF GODLY LOVE AND FORGIVENESS.
Verses 9-12 in our text tells us THE OPPOSITE OF THIS LOVE— that this coldness of love results in persecution and hatred of Jesus Christ. Because of this, many will turn away from the faith and even betray and hate each other. Many false prophets and teachers will deceive many people. There will be an increase of wickedness and THE LOVE OF MOST WILL GROW COLD. Because of all this, we must be on our guard. Jesus is warning us of what will be the signs of the end times. But he tells us “he who stands firm until the end will be saved.
The shocking thing is that we see an increase of all of this in every generation. It does seem that this prophetic teaching fits today’s society very well. May we be determined to keep our “first love,” and not lose it like the church in Ephesus did. We read in Rev. 2:3-4 where Jesus in all of his resurrected and heavenly brilliance is revealing certain things to John on the island of Patmos. He says, “you have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you that you have forsaken your first love.” What’s going on with you anyway? Do you have any idea how far you have fallen? Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light.” But then he says, “you do have this to your credit. You hate the business of the immoral Nicolaitans. I hate it too.” Now the Nicolaitans were so called believers, who compromised their faith in order to enjoy some of the sinful practices in the society of the Ephesians. Their attitude was similar to a lot of Christians today when they want to do something that they know in their heart, God doesn’t approve of. Their attitude is, “It really isn’t so bad, and it won’t affect my faith.”
Another thing we should guard against is being sucked into the thinking of the world. We read in Romans 12:1-2; {Don’t be conformed to this world, or paraphrased; “Don’t let the world push you into its mold.”
As you embrace God’s love and begin to walk in forgiveness, you are actually pulling down the stronghold of bitterness and its manifestation of COLD LOVE in your life. Because of this experience, you will eventually have more love than you ever did. You truly do need to thank God.
I want to make it perfectly clear; there is no such thing as love without commitment. This is true in the marriage relationship or lack of marriage relationship. Just because a couple lives together, doesn’t mean they are committed. A marriage is more than just a piece of paper, which a lot of young people think today. A marriage is a commitment, first to God, and then to each other, declared before a body of witnesses, which should be the Body of Christ—believers in Jesus Christ. People sometimes say, “I loved once but I was hurt.: That seems to be their reason for never committing again.
When it comes to the church, the same reasoning prevails. “I was committed to Christ and serving Him, once, but those in the church used me.” This becomes the reason that some never want to be a part of another church congregation again. People withdraw from being committed, never realizing that their love is growing cold!. It may not seem like they have become cold—because some of these same people, might still go to the church, maybe even read their Bible sometimes, tithe, sing, and look like Christians, but inside they have become distant and aloof from other people. They have withdrawn from the LOVE OF GOD, and are really distant from him and others too.
Jesus said…”It is inevitable that temptations or ‘stumbling blocks’ come.” (Matthew 18:7) In your life there will be times when even good people have bad days. As long as you live on earth, there will never be a time when obstacles will cease to be on your[PL1] path—-in your way. We don’t stumble over boulders, but over stones,—usually little things. To stumble is to stop walking and fall. Have you stumbled over someone’s weakness or sin lately? Did you get back up and continue loving as you did before, or did that fall cause you to withdraw from walking after love? To preserve the quality of love in your heart, you must forgive those who cause you to stumble. Otherwise your heart will harden towards them. We must not form a negative opinion of someone (even though they may deserve it), but when we allow these feelings to crystallize we develop a hateful attitude. When this happens, your heart will “cool” towards God.
Rather than allow that to happen, we have the option of allowing an underground river of love to spring into action. By “love” I mean a compassion that is empowered by faith and prayer to see God’s best come forth in the one I need to love. When I have love, I have predetermined that I am going to stand with him or her, regardless of what they are going through , or what they are doing.
We each need people who are committed to us as individuals—people who know we are not perfect but love us anyway. The manifestation of God’s kingdom will not come without people being committed to each other to reach God’s fullness. We sometimes sing the chorus; “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love!” That’s the difference we should make in the world, as the Church endeavors to demonstrate THE LOVE OF GOD in us. This “Gospel of the Kingdom” (verse 14) must be preached to all nations, and then, Christ will come back again. When He becomes so “new” in our lives, that we become people who overcome the obstacles of each other’s faults; then we will become what God has called us to be, the living body of Jesus Christ—with warm hearts, —-not cold.

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 23, 2022
Texts: 2 Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

Have you ever dreamt about the day you can buzz around in your very own flying machine? Like what George Orwell said we would be doing by the year 1984. Well, we did have individual flying machines at that time. In 1987, before we returned to The Congo, after our furlough year, I was looking into the possibility of purchasing an Ultralite; one or two-seat aircraft, propelled by an engine that wasn’t much bigger than a lawnmower engine. We had just planted 17 churches in the Cataract Mountains in the Lower Congo, and it was very hard to reach the villages. The road was narrow and steep and would get washed out when it rained, and I always hated to drive on that road. A little Ultralite airplane I thought, would be perfect to zip up there with an evangelist or to hold conferences and outreaches. I talked to some of the pilots with Mission Aviation Fellowship about this possibility and they all thought it was too dangerous, so I never did buy one.

Well, nevertheless there has been a continued development of this kind of aircraft. The folks at NASA have built something called “The Highway in the Sky.” It’s a computer system designed to let millions of people fly whenever they please, and take off and land from wherever they please, in their own vehicles. Many of these kinds of vehicles are not open like the kind that I was thinking about. The main one is called the Air Scooter, and self-taught inventor Woody Norris had them for sale in 2013. One of his pilots demonstrated the Air Scooter for a 60-minutes TV show. It can fly for 2 hours at 55 mph, and go up to 10,000 feet above sea level. Just the thing you need when you have a long commute in heavy traffic. With this, you can go –as the crow flies, and do away with all the frustration of rush hour traffic. (Incidentally, I never understood why they call it rush hour—I have never seen much rushing going on. Usually, you are just slowly moving along, or it’s stop and go.) Anyway, you see how nice it would be to fly. Norris said you wouldn’t need a pilot’s license if you fly it under 400 feet in non-restricted air space. The downside is; it is going to sell for $50,000. The one I was thinking about 25 years ago was about $2000-3000 for a one-seater, and no more than $8000-10000 for two seats.

Up until now, it was always considered too dangerous to have a lot of individual small aircraft flying around at low altitudes, but now all the potential air traffic can be managed because NASA has come up with a plan to make personal flying machines a reality. Each “plane” will have a computer system that will manage all the new traffic up there. You, the pilot only need to focus on one computer screen with a box on it. Keep the Air Scooter’s nose centered in the box, away from other personal flying machines, and the computer will guide you to your destination.

It’s an interesting concept, thinking that you could start every day by getting a literal bird’s eye view of things.

You may not have ever thought about who was the first human to take flight. ELIJAH WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO TAKE FLIGHT

The idea of futuristic flying cars was certainly way out of the realm of imagination in Elijah’s day, and yet our text this morning reveals that he was really the first human to take flight. It was in a chariot of fire. You have to wonder about that moment of takeoff when Elijah got scooped up and was shuttled to a heavenly destination in his own personal divine flying machine. He didn’t have to look at any computer screen, because God made sure he got to his heavenly destination without a mishap.

This event is a suitable bridge between the careers of these two prophets, Elijah and Elisha struggling to preserve their understanding of who God is –(and was)–in the northern kingdom of Israel in the middle of the ninth century B.C. The prophet Elijah ministered during the reigns of Omri, Ahab, and Ahaziah (876-849 BC). These were three of the northern kings condemned in I and II Kings for their apostasy. Most of Elijah’s time was during the reign of King Ahab. The “transition event” of being taken by God, comes at the end of his tumultuous confrontations with Israel’s rulers. It was fitting that God would do this. Elijah had had some other encounters with God, that involved some unusual atmospheric conditions.

You remember back in I Kings 18 where he had a “contest” on Mt. Carmel with the prophets of Bael. There were 450 prophets of Bael and 400 prophets of Asherah who were supported by the wicked queen Jezebel. There was a drought with no rain for the last three years. This of course resulted in a famine. They told Elijah to go to King Ahab and tell him that I would soon send rain! Jezebel had tried to kill all of God’s prophets, but a man named Obadiah, who was a devoted follower of the Lord, hid 100 prophets in two caves and supplied them with food and water. Elijah was not alone in his confrontation with Ahab, but he felt alone. But there were others who believed in God. Elijah had enough faith and confidence in God, to confront Ahab, his wicked wife Jezebel, and all the false prophets of two heathen gods, and believed that God would send rain. Which He did, in a miraculous encounter. If you haven’t ever read this, –you can read it in I Kings 18. But after that, he slaughtered the prophets of Baal. So Jezebel was determined to take revenge and kill him. Now all of a sudden, Elijah is afraid of her—what happened to his tremendous faith that he had just demonstrated?

Do we ever see God do something special, or even miraculous for us, and then after a while, we sort of forget how gracious, and powerful He is, and we gradually drift away from him? Maybe we aren’t afraid that someone will kill us, but we no longer act like we have the faith we once had. Don’t let that happen! In chapter 19 of I Kings, God sends an angel to comfort Elijah and encourage him. He actually sends ravens to feed him as he is in hiding from Jezabel. Then God says to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Now listen to Elijah’s whining response to God: “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I alone am left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” Then God told him; “Go out and stand before me on the mountain.” And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

Sometimes I think we miss God speaking to us because we want it to be loud and clear. But often it is a quiet whisper, by the Holy Spirit. Elijah heard it, wrapped his face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. God then told him to go back the way he came and travel through the wilderness of Damascus and he told him who to anoint. This cloak of Elijah was important. It was not only an important article of clothing for those of this time period, as protection against the weather, but as a place to sit, as bedding, and as luggage. It could be given as a pledge for a debt or torn into pieces to show grief. When Elijah saw Elisha in his field plowing, he put his cloak on Elisha’s shoulders to show that he would become Elijah’s successor. Later when the transfer of authority was complete, Elijah left his cloak for Elisha.

Elijah’s takeoff in a “chariot of fire” pulled by horses of fire, propelled by a whirlwind that carried him to heaven, certainly indicates that he’d lived a unique kind of prophetic life and God chose for him to make that kind of exit from his life and ministry. There were only two other people who were given the opportunity to take off from the earth in an unusual way. In Genesis 5 we read about Enoch, an ancestor of Noah, who lived 365 years and fathered the long-living Methuselah. He “walked with God, and God took him.” That was it. No dying, no burial for him. The curse of death outlined in Genesis 3 didn’t apply to this righteous man, and he was apparently brought directly into the presence of God as a result of his faithfulness. But this is exactly what will happen to us someday when our bodies “die”, and our spirits are taken—we will also be present with the Lord.

Moses was the other person who left this earth in an unusual way, because we read in Deuteronomy 34:5-6 that he died in the land of Moab, and the Lord buried him somewhere in a valley near

Beth-Peor, but no one knows the exact place.

When Elijah approaches the Jordan River, with his eager protégé Elisha following along behind, he rolls up his mantle and strikes the water, parting it so that both prophets could cross on dry ground—a definitive reference to the prophetic power of Moses. When Elijah crosses the river, it’s no coincidence that he has entered into the same region where Deuteronomy tells us that Moses died. There is a hint of the mystery of Moses’ departure in 2 Kings and it sets up the idea that Elijah is in the very same class as Israel’s liberating prophet and that he will have a similarly mysterious departure. However, both prophets were flawed. They were not sinless. Moses lacked confidence in the beginning and balked in fear of the Pharaoh. He sometimes let the anxiety of his people get the best of him. The one time at the rock, kept him from going into the earthly promised land. Elijah demonstrated a similar bent when he ran for his life in the desert after being threatened by Jezebel and hid in a cave until God talked him out of it with a display of divine power.

But fortunately, God does not seek the flawless when looking for those to be in service. Being flawed and having shortcomings and weaknesses does not mean God’s going to pass over and look for someone else to do His work in the world. When, like Moses, we say; “I can’t do this: find someone else,” God says, “I don’t want anyone else. When, like Elijah we run away, God finds us.

Elijah was like so many of us who swing between the poles of victory and defeat or contentment and crisis, on a regular basis.

Sometimes, however, God offers us a bird’s eye view of our lives, allowing us to take it all in and understand that everything we experience, both good and bad, can teach us and provide experiential fuel for the journey we’ve undertaken. Elijah doesn’t engage in a deathbed reflection, but a flight of grand proportions that signifies that God honors those who are faithful in spite of their fears, and those who are willing to rise above adversity instead of grumbling in the traffic of an overly ordinary life.

NASA has created a targeted flying system that enables people who are willing to take the risk of flying to get to their destinations quickly and safely. Stories like those of Elijah remind us that the Scriptures have given us an even more definitive target for the destination of our lives: to be in God’s presence. When we point our lives in God’s direction, like the nose of the AirScooter being pointed towards the box on the screen, we can see things anew and move through life with purpose, simplicity, and excitement, protected by Him.

Indeed, the account of Elijah’s inaugural flight reminds us that if we believe in God’s promises, our lives don’t ultimately end in death, but in the high-flying, above-ground reality of resurrection. Remember, Moses and Elijah both appeared with Jesus above the disciples at the Transfiguration, which signaled to the disciples that death wasn’t the end fact they’d come to believe and preach after Jesus’ own rising from the dead and flight into heaven at the Ascension.

In the meantime, however, we find ourselves like Elisha, and like those first disciples, staring and pointing into the heavens with wonder. Having witnessed the resurrection power of a heavenly flight we, like Elisha, want a double portion of it (2 Kings 2 verse 9). We want the kind of boldness and perseverance that our spiritual ancestors and mentors displayed. We want the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that fuels the vision of inventors and the passion of prophets.

To experience that, however, we have to be willing to build on the efforts of our entrepreneurial ancestors. The flying car has been conceived by inventors for over 50 years, and just now is the technology starting to be perfected. The legacy of Elijah is even longer, and we build on his prophetic work only if we’re willing to pick up the mantle and engage in our own journey. The truth still needs to be spoken to those in power. People are still in need of healing and need to be fed. And, if we’re really being prophetic, we’ll still experience times of fear and want to run and hide.

Through it all, though, God promises us that, in the end, we’re all going to fly toward a new destination called the kingdom of God.

” In the Garden”

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 9, 2025
Text Philippians 3: 1-21
Pastor Paul Lehmann

Listen to live audio here

There are some people that always seem to live in the past, sort of “resting on their laurels” so to speak. The Livingston Inland Mission, which was named after the missionary explorer David Livingston, eventually became the British Missionary Society (which was Baptist). At a church growth conference held in Kinshasa, where all of the Missions came together to present their future plans and goals, the B.M.S. presented the wonderful work that had been done in the past 100 years, and how they had planted mission stations and churches from Kinshasa all along the Congo River right through the heart of the country. But they didn’t mention one thing that they were planning to do for the next 5 years. They were “resting on their laurels” and their past glories, instead of pressing on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s high calling.

Back in October 2010, I was at Nyack College in Nyack, NY at my Alma Mater for Alumni weekend, and to receive an award presented to me as I was inducted into my college’s basketball hall of fame. I was thankful for the 2 ½ years that I played for Nyack, (I transferred and therefore wasn’t eligible to play the first semester) This was an honor that I never thought would happen. Through the years I have never gloried over my past playing days, but now someone else is. Don’t get me wrong, I sometimes think of those days, and the lessons learned. For instance not doing a tomahawk dunk on a breakaway in a close game in the post season tournament. Just to “rub it in” to the opposing team. A simple easy dunk would have sufficed. The dunk hit the back of the rim and bounced off. We lost by one point.

But there are lessons of perseverance, and confidence that we could win against schools that were 6 or 7 times our size. The knowledge that one should always give a 110% and not give up, and just because good things happened one year, that we shouldn’t dwell on those accomplishments, because we should constantly be moving forward.

THE ONLY WAY TO CONTINUE TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS IN THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE IS TO LEAVE THE PAST BEHIND US.

We need to understand though what the apostle Paul means when he says to forget the past. Don’t we read in the Old Testament how God wants the Israelites to remember things; like what He does for them. They built memorials and celebrated feast days so they wouldn’t forget. Then Jesus tells us to celebrate the Passover Feast in a new way. The Lord’s table, our Holy Communion, is to remember Him. So what is this about—“forgetting the past?”

What Paul is talking about is the past as it relates to us and our accomplishments. The past as it relates to us and our talents and any good thing that the world might see in us. The past as it relates to our sin, and what we did before we gave our lives to the Lord.

WE ARE TO FORGET OUR PAST GLORIES.

In our Christian lives, we need to leave the past behind us. Perhaps we have gloried in what we have accomplished, or who we are, or where we come from. Paul calls this, “having confidence in the flesh”—in the last part of verse 3.

In verse 4 he says that he has more reason than anyone else to have such confidence. After all he says, “ I was circumcised the eight day (this was a big deal because it indicated that he was born into a Jewish family, not an adult proselyte like some who became Jews later in life, and were considered “lower” than those who were circumcised as infants.) He says, “I was from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. In regard to the law, a Pharisee and as for the law, I was so zealous that I persecuted the church, and was faultless when it came to legalistic righteousness.

Paul is not “blowing his own horn” as we say, in an inappropriate way. Don’t we do the same thing when we send out our resume to get a specific job. We site all of our accomplishments and so forth.

Lists of virtues or vices were common at the time. Praise and blame speeches in narrative form were given, and they characterized biographies. Lists of virtues typically included items such as noble birth or beauty as well as character traits like prudence or steadfastness. Self-commendation was considered appropriate if one were defending oneself or using oneself as a legitimate model for others. By claiming to have greater merit than his opponents even on their own terms, he turns this self-commendation into an occasion to undermine them. Professional speakers and writers often used the standard “rhetorical technique of “comparison” to accomplish this end.

All this sounds a lot like politicians of our day doesn’t it? What Paul is warning us about is to put all of these things that we and others consider good about ourselves and put them behind us. Don’t count on those things. Forget about it! (As they say in Brooklyn)

We of course understand that we need to do this with our sins. We are new creatures in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17—The old has gone the new has come.) Our sins are forgiven, and we are now Children of God. But the problem is what about the things that we have seen in the past where God has blessed us.

PERHAPS WE HAVE GLORIED IN OUR MATERIAL GOODS.

(Verse 7) Of course, we shouldn’t forget about what He has done for us. How He has provided for us. Even abundantly, particularly as I have said before, when we compare what we have, and what many others in the world (and even in this country), do not have.

So material things are a blessing from the Lord. This was true in the Old Testament, and there is no where in scripture that shows that for the Christian this isn’t so, even today. Except what we see in the Gospels, is Jesus addressing wrong attitudes towards our possessions.

He says; “ Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures that rust or can be corrupted or destroyed, but lay up treasures in heaven.” “Don’t think about gaining more and more wealth (building bigger barns to store it in is the parable), –if your heart is in your wealth, He may demand you to sell it all and give it to the poor, and follow Him.

Then also:

Perhaps we have gloried in our own self-righteousness (verse 9)

Paul was the classic example before his conversion. All those things he mentioned in verses 4-6, he says in verse 7 that he considers anything that was once a profit for him, a loss, for the sake of Christ; compared to the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.

Can you say that this morning? Do you KNOW Jesus in this way, so that He means more to you than anything you own, anything you are able to do, your earning capacity –now or in the past—your pension etc. –your education or training, or experience in a given field? Do you consider all of that rubbish, so that you may gain more of Christ? These are hard questions that we must ask ourselves.

Or do you subconsciously count on your own goodness, and see no need to be fanatical about Christ. You sometimes wonder about these ridiculous statements that Paul makes like in verse 10—“I want to know Christ and the POWER OF His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in death…” You may be super cautious about going to extremes.

Do you glory in the memory of a good deed you did.

(Matthew 6:3) –Jesus said, “when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

All of these things are the things that we are to put behind us. FORGET PAST GLORIES!

Then we are also to FORGET PAST OFFENCES.

Our hesitation to forgive others even though God has forgiven them, can eat away at us like a cancer.

In the book; “Restoring Your Spiritual Passion, Gordon MacDonald writes: …”on a plane flight which I was headed toward a meeting that would determine a major decision in my ministry, there is a memory that burns deep within. I knew I was in desperate need of a spiritual passion that would provide wisdom and submission to God’s purposes. But the passion was missing because I was steeped in resentment toward a colleague. For days I had tried everything to rid myself of vindictive thoughts toward that person. But, try as I might, I would even wake in the night, thinking of ways to subtly get back at him. I wanted to embarrass him for what he had done, to damage his credibility before his peers. My resentment was beginning to dominate me, and on that plane trip, I came to the realization of how bad things really were…As the plane entered the landing pattern, I found myself crying silently to God for power both to forgive and to experience liberation from my poisoned spirit. Suddenly it was as if an invisible knife cut a hole in my chest, and I literally felt a thick substance oozing from within. Moments later I felt as if I’d been flushed out. I’d lost negative spiritual weight, the kind I needed to lose: I was free. I nearly bounced off that plane and soon entered a meeting that did in fact change the entire direction of my life.

Spiritual passion cannot coexist with resentments. The Scriptures are clear. The unforgiving spirit saps the energy that causes Christian growth and effectiveness.

Bitterness and resentments sometimes causes physical ailments.

When my dad was diagnosed with multiple-mya-loma, he was given only a short time to live. At that time he was holding bitterness in his heart against his adopted sister, who he believed had cheated him out of his inheritance. As he lay in the hospital, he called her in California and asked her to forgive him for the bitter feelings that he had held against her. She wasn’t even aware of this, because my dad never said much. She forgave him, and he got better and was released from the hospital, and he was healed of the cancer, or at least it went into remission for 4 more years. He ultimately died as it came back, but he experienced peace when he forgave and his life was extended.

A Jewish woman from Terre Haute, Indiana was in charge of the Holocaust Museum there. One night it was burned to the ground. (Probably by someone who believed that the Holocaust never happened). When she was asked by a reporter how she felt about this, she replied; “ I forgave the Nazis and I forgive the person who did this.”

Failure to forgive others hinders God’s forgiveness of us. Failure to forgive stifles our witness for Christ.

Failure to forgive causes turmoil in our lives. It causes arguments, and marriage relationships are strained and sometimes destroyed.

One Saturday morning a lady named Jane Schmidt awoke to the delightful smell of waffles and the sound of her two small boys in the kitchen with her husband. Padding down to breakfast, she sat on her husband’s lap and gave him a big hug for his thoughtfulness. Later that day she and her husband were having a heated discussion in their bedroom when their four year old Jacob, stopped them in midsentence. Standing in the doorway, he said, “Mommy, try to remember how you felt when you were on Daddy’s lap.”

We are to: FORGET THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE BEHIND AND PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL TO WIN THE PRIZE (VERSE 14)

LET US LIVE UP TO WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY ATTAINED (VERSE 16)

Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ

They need to be broken!

I remember as a boy, I liked to put together model airplane gliders. You know the kind that was made of cheap, balsa wood. The thin, light wood is pre-stamped so that you punch out the airplane and attach the wings to the fuselage. The balsa wood is supposed to break off at the grooves. Sometimes it does not. Occasionally you splinter or break off part of the airplane by accident. When this happens, the planes don’t fly as well as they are designed to. Life is delicate, like the balsa plane. When we break in the right areas we will fly higher and smoother than when we break in the wrong places…When we are broken in the wrong places, we become self-centered. Our broken emotions keep us from loving effectively. We shun future settings where further hurt could take place, like significant relationships, or fellowship in churches, and it keeps us from setting goals. Or we react defensively to the hurt by overachieving and living a life of abandon. When we are broken in the wrong places, we do not see the fruit of the Spirit.

The older we get, the more you see people who have lost the sparkle in their eyes that they once had. They have endured tough circumstances, but not successfully.

How should we be broken in the right way?

Being broken in the heart, in the soul, where God can do something with your will and character, is a matter of converting, sanctifying the actual pain, and making it a part of the healing salve. You cannot do it on your own. God must do it. BUT YOU MUST BE WILLING.

The Lord wants to prepare us for heaven. He will cleanse you, forgive you and fill you with His Holy Spirit, so that you can live as He intended you to live on earth. Our citizen ship is in heaven and we eagerly await the day that we will be totally transformed, but until that day comes, LET US LIVE A LIFE THAT DOESN’T DWELL ON THE PAST, EITHER THE MISTAKES OR THE GOOD THINGS THAT WE HAVE DONE, BUT RATHER REMEMBER WHAT HE HAS DONE IN OUR PAST AND WHAT HE WANTS TO DO IN OUR FUTURE. HE WANTS TO BLESS US IF WE SUBMIT TO HIM.

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;