(#426) Romans 12 - What Makes Teen-Aged Children and Teen-Aged Adults So Hateable?/Welcome To BARAH MINISTRIES a Christian Church Rory Clark Pastor-Teacher\
Good Evening!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference worldwide courtesy of the internet…Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference locally in the Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler, AZ communities. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we teach the Word of God from God’s perspective…not from man’s perspective.
God’s enemy, Satan, is the sponsor of religion. One of the telltale signs of a religion is its attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Many religions either question or deny the Deity of Jesus Christ. The Jehovah’s Witnesses say Jesus is a created being and that he is not fully God…they say He’s a small ‘g’ “god” … not the Creator. The Mormons believe that Jesus was once a man, and that He attained godhood…and that we can attain godhood ourselves just as He did. They don’t believe that Jesus Christ is divine…nor do they believe He is eternal. They also believe that Jesus Christ isn’t as powerful as God the Father. Those Jews who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah call Jesus a great teacher. The Muslims say Jesus Christ is merely a prophet. False to all of them! False…false…false and false! NO to all of their lies! JESUS CHRIST IS GOD. That’s what the bible tells us… Philippians, Chapter 2, Verses 5 to 8…
/PHILIPPIANS 2:5 Have this (like-minded) attitude in yourselves…the same attitude that was also in Christ Jesus…\
/PHILIPPIANS 2:6 …who, although He had the same essence as God the Father (“I and the Father are the same”…Deity…100% God)… did not regard equality with God the Father a thing to be seized and held onto…\
God the Son voluntarily set aside the self-willed use of His Deity to become the Lord Jesus Christ.
/PHILIPPIANS 2:7 …but instead Jesus emptied Himself (He divested himself of self interest… He made himself nothing)…taking the nature of a bond-servant (in human form)…and became made in the likeness of men (100% true humanity just like you and I).\
/PHILIPPIANS 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man…He humiliated Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death…even death on a Cross.\
Revelation, Chapter 1, Verse 8 says…
/REVELATION 1:8 “I (the Lord Jesus Christ) am the Alpha (the beginning) and the Omega (the ending…in other words…the eternally existing One),” says the Lord God (the Son…Jesus Christ), “Who is (now)…and who was (the One who has always existed)…and who is to come (again in the second coming)…I am the Almighty (the Sovereign God of the Universe…and there is no other God).”\
As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His Deity…we love every chance we get to gather and to worship the One and Only God. Welcome to the lesson
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Makes Teen-Aged Children and Teen-Aged Adults So Hateable?\
Selfishness.
Yet all of us are selfish. Here’s the typical definition of selfishness…
/SELFISH Someone who is devoted to and cares ONLY for self…one who is concerned primarily with his own interests while simultaneously not being interested at all in the welfare of others.\
One of the most obvious and visible manifestations of selfishness in human culture is teen-agers. Sometimes teen-agers are downright contemptible! They are followed closely in contemptibleness by teen-agers who are stuck in adult bodies. What makes them so hateable is their revolt and rebellion. They call it independence. Here’s their mantra…
/TEEN-AGER MANTRA I don’t want anybody telling me what to do!\
Funny thing is, teen-agers have that attitude when they’re not paying rent!
In and of itself, there is nothing really wrong with independence. In fact, independence is also known as free will and freedom. Satan, the enemy of God, poisons everything, including independence, and turns it into evil. Isaiah, Chapter 14, Verses 12 to 14 illustrate…
/ISAIAH 14:12 “How you have fallen from heaven…O star of the morning (Satan)…O son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth…you who have weakened the nations!”\
/ISAIAH 14:13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to (the third) heaven…I will raise my throne above the stars of God (the second heaven)…and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north (the first heaven).’”\
/ISAIAH 14:14 “‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds (I will take over the function of God)…I will make myself like the Most High.’”\
Some of us aren’t selfish enough. There is nothing wrong with self-concern. But Satan, the enemy of God, is the originator of the wrong kind of selfishness. In today’s lesson we’ll learn that when we listen to God’s commands, it’s the right kind of selfishness.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
I WILL June Murphy\
/OPENING PRAYER Let us pray...\
We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
Thank you for the genuine friendships you bring into our lives to feed us…to edify us…to encourage us… to exhort us…especially when we are faced with discouragement…a discouragement that is always available here where you have placed us…in Satan’s kingdom… thank you that you give us friends we can count on…friends who are faithful…friends who demonstrate selflessness…thank you for illuminating the people you provide that we are to cherish and admire…and thank you for showing us how to love those who are not faithful in spite of how they are being used as instruments of unrighteousness…
Teach us to be generous, Father…teach us to serve You as You deserve to be served…show us how to give and to not count the cost…to fight in the spiritual battle and not to heed the wounds…to toil without ceasing and not to seek for rest…to labor and not to ask for reward…except the reward That comes from knowing that we are doing Your Will…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...Amen.
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Makes Teen-Aged Children and Teen-Aged Adults So Hateable?\
Selfishness makes teen-agers hateable.
We continue our study of the apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Christ at first century Rome. Chapters 1 to 8 introduce The Christian Way of Life…Chapters 9 to 11 remind us of the fate of God’s Holy Nation Israel and His Chosen People, The Jewish Race…and Chapters 12 to 16 outline The Christian Way of Living. The final chapters of the letter contain a series of commands. As you may remember, there isn’t a single command in Romans, Chapters 1 to 8. Chapters 12 to 16 are chock full of commands. The truly selfish person, the person with real self-concern, obeys every one of the Lord’s commands. The one who lives by the teen-ager mantra…
/TEEN-AGER MANTRA I don’t want anybody telling me what to do!\
…goes his own way. The wrong kind of independence. It a lonely way and a rough road and it doesn’t produce much fruit.
We’re studying the fifth passage of Romans, Chapter 12…Verses 9 to 11. In the first three verses of this passage, the Lord Jesus Christ puts His loving arm around us and tells us some of the do’s and don’ts of The Christian Way of Living…
/ROMANS 12:9a Let unconditional love be without hypocrisy…\
/ROMANS 12:9b Abhor what is evil…\
/ROMANS 12:9c …cling to what is good.\
/ROMANS 12:10a Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…\
/ROMANS 12:10b …give preference to one another in honor…\
/ROMANS 12:11a …never lack zeal…\
/ROMANS 12:11b …always be filled with spiritual fervor…\
/ROMANS 12:11c …always serve the Lord…\
Are you obedient to the Lord’s commands? Most Christians aren’t. Christianity is perfect. Christianity is a relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is not a religion. Just as He did for angelic creatures, the Lord created a perfect life for human creatures. And just as angelic creatures did…led by God’s enemy Satan…human creatures…led by Adam…rebelled.
/TEEN-AGER MANTRA I don’t want anybody telling me what to do!\
Well I have a question for you. If you are Christian, are you living the life of perfection that God created for you?
Let me answer for you. You aren’t. You are living a life that you have allowed to be poisoned through the insidious deceptions of God’s enemy, Satan.
Water is pure. When you mix water with Crystal Drano, a cleaner product that uses lye to unclog drains, it becomes toxic. Would you drink Crystal Drano? Of course not! Then why do we think it will work out when we drink Satan’s toxic lifestyle? Short term and long term exposure to Satan’s lies…choosing to live under the deception of his lies…contaminates our existence. Independence…free will…and freedom…in itself…is not toxic. Add a touch of disobedience to it…add a touch of sin to it…and it becomes toxic.
Satan’s plan for Christians is to get us to buy a toxic lifestyle…a lifestyle of mixture. He wants us to mix a little Christianity with a lot of sin. Just as you wouldn’t drink water with Crystal Drano…a smart decision…you would do well not to drink Satan’s toxic lifestyle.
Yet most Christians are so used to living this poisoned life that they think this life is normal, just as a person who bangs his head against the wall for an hour every day thinks headaches are normal. This poisoned life is why everyone, especially Christians, hate Christianity. That was the subject of our Northern Idaho Bible Conference. Christians have been deceived, and have willingly accepted that this poison life is the life God planned for them. God planned exactly the opposite. He planned a non-toxic life of perfection for you. If you aren’t living a life of perfection…if you don’t see yourself as perfect…which is what God makes you at the moment of salvation by imputing His absolute righteousness to you…then you have bought into a different life than the one God created for you. Obeying God’s commands is brilliant. Disobeying God’s commands is toxic.
Let’s take a five-minute break and we’ll see what God is commanding us to do in Romans Chapter 12, Verses 9 to 11.
/BREAK Five Minutes\
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Makes Teen-Aged Children and Teen-Aged Adults So Hateable?\
We are so grateful for your response to our request to help us with a little more giving during the summer months. It is REALLY needed and REALLY appreciated. If you listen to this ministry…and Barah Ministries has a lot of “closet” listeners…we ask you to give to the ministry. You’ll be helping us distribute the gospel message and the Word of God all over the world, courtesy of the internet. Conferences always hit us in the finances quite hard because of the travel expenses involved, so your help is very welcome. God loves a cheerful giver. When you give, God’s response is to give even more to you. I hope you are seeing God’s response to your giving…I always do. Let’s welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with this week’s offering message.
/THE OFFERING Deacon Denny Goodall\
/OFFERING VERSE
ROMANS 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…but the free gift of God the Father is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.\
/OFFERING VERSE
ROMANS 8:1 Therefore…there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.\
/OFFERING FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE Dave McClure, Instrumental\
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Makes Teen-Aged Children and Teen-Aged Adults So Hateable?\
Welcome back!
The Christian Way of Living is a lifestyle filled with hope and expansion… here’s Danny Gokey to tell you all about it in his song HOPE IN FRONT OF ME.
/MUSIC AND REFLECTION Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
HOPE IN FRONT OF ME Danny Gokey\
/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON What Makes Teen-Aged Children and Teen-Aged Adults So Hateable?\
Selfishness. The Lord Jesus Christ leads us to the right kind of selfishness, a wholesome self-concern through a series of commands…a series of “do this” and “don’t do that” instructions…that lead to the construction of the resurrection life. Romans, Chapter 12, Verses 9 to 11…
/ROMANS 12:9a Let unconditional love be without hypocrisy…\
There is no mixture in unconditional love. There is no toxicity in unconditional love. Unconditional love is pure like water. Love mixed with hypocrisy becomes toxic. Hypocrisy turns unconditional love into a pit…and we know a pit is a grave...the gave is the perfect place for dead love.
/ROMANS 12:9b Abhor what is evil…\
This is the right kind of hate. When we abhor evil we treat it like Crystal Drano and we wouldn’t even consider drinking it because it is so distasteful and so toxic. All evil is this distasteful and toxic. Most evil is insidious. It is sneaky and steal and persuasive. Satan wants to make us impotent or ineffective…for example…if we take his invitation to sexual promiscuity… we turn ourselves on to so many perverted things that soon we aren’t able to turn ourselves on to anything.
/ROMANS 12:9c …cling to what is good.\
Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is good. We are sober and on the alert to reject and to rebel against false teachers and their false doctrines. We don’t even let those lies into our thinking to be considered.
/ROMANS 12:10a Be devoted to one another in brotherly love…\
God wants us to use our spiritual gifts to take care of each other…to care for the brethren…other believers in Christ. And the Lord always prepares us before He sends us out. Satan, on the other hand, incites us to action without substance…action without preparation…and when you look at the lives of those deceived by Satan, all you see is busy-ness…but you never see meaningful results…there’s no fruit.
/ROMANS 12:10b …give preference to one another in honor…\
Devotion to each other is good…animosity toward each other is not good. The angelic creatures developed an animosity toward God even though God was doing everything for them…“of all the trees in the garden you may eat freely” … God provides everything. For those who are toxic, everything is never good enough. “I don’t want anybody telling me what to do!” “I want to do it on my own!” Yet we are to give preference to each other versus instead of loathing each other…First Corinthians, Chapter 16, Verse 22…
/FIRST CORINTHIANS 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord…and some don’t…that person is to be accursed (he is anathema…the target of God’s wrath.\
/ROMANS 12:11a …never lack zeal…\
God is commanding us not to sit on our arses! He wants us to think and then to act…he wants us to take advantage of our transformed minds by experiencing things. He wants us to make a difference in the world. Satan wants us to relax…to wind it down…to retire…to calm down.
/ROMANS 12:11b …always be filled with spiritual fervor…\
God wants us to live with a fire in the belly. Satan encourages analysis paralysis. God expects us to keep on growing…to keep on learning…to keep on expanding. Satan encourages us to contract.
/ROMANS 12:11c …always serve the Lord…\
This is what the Christian lives for…to serve the Lord. Satan wants us to worship him instead.
By leaving the flesh in us, the Lord allows Satan to have a thing in us to poison…our soul and our spirit are the new creation and they are untainted by the flesh…these parts of our being are perfect and pure and under God’s direction. God says to Satan, “If you want to test my creatures have at it through the flesh…but don’t touch their soul or spirit…you can’t have either of those because I own them.”
Satan’s kind of selfishness is a snake venom. All of us are victims of the serpent’s bite. What is the treatment for a serpent’s bite? It’s to suck all the venom out…poison only works on soft tissue…it is harmless otherwise. We must let our amazing God suck all of Satan’s venom out of our lives…replacing it with the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ through obeying His commands.
/GOD WANTS YOU! Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life\
What is going to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life? Is there an “afterlife?” And if there is an afterlife, how can you get to heaven?
Many people have beliefs about God. A belief is an opinion…a conviction…a confidence in the existence of something that does not seem provable. Satan, the enemy of God, prefers we have beliefs because there is a big difference between a belief and the truth. Only when your beliefs and the truth are the same is it significant. Satan hates the truth. He can’t handle the truth. Satan loves beliefs.
So what is going to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life?
Many people have the belief they can earn their way into heaven by doing good deeds. They give money to beggars…they give food to the homeless… they are actively involved in community projects…they generously donate their time, talent, and treasure to charitable organizations…they “give back.” You’ve heard people use that term countless times. People who “give back” usually are convinced they are better than most people…that after they die God will reward them by letting them into heaven for their good deeds.
Unfortunately, in the bible they find a completely different story. Titus, Chapter 3, Verse 5 says…
/TITUS 3:5 The Lord Jesus Christ saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in self-righteousness, but according to His mercy…by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing ministry of God the Holy Spirit…\
Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8 and 9…
/EPHESIANS 2:8 For by God’s grace you have been saved through faith (in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation)…and that grace and that faith and that salvation are not from the source of yourselves…it is the gift of God….\
/EPHESIANS 2:9 …therefore…being saved is not as a result of works (deeds you have done in self-righteousness)…so that no one may boast (about saving himself).\
One thing you would never want to do is to put the burden of your salvation on your own back. So how do you get to heaven? There’s only one way to get to heaven. In John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…
/JOHN 14:6 Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”\
When we choose to believe that Jesus Christ is God, it is much more than a belief…it is the absolute truth. So how do you get to heaven when you close your eyes in this life? Romans, Chapter 10, Verses 9 and 10 tell us…
/ROMANS 10:9 …if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (that He is God)…and if you believe in your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead… you will be saved…\
/ROMANS 10:10 …for with the heart a person believes…resulting in the imputation of absolute righteousness (your admission ticket to heaven)…and with the mouth a person confesses (admitting faith in Christ alone)…resulting in salvation.\
Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…
/ACTS 16:31 “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”\
John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…
/JOHN 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”\
John, Chapter 3, Verse 17…
/JOHN 3:17 For God the Father did not send God the Son into the world to judge the world…but the Father sent the Son into the world that the world might be saved through Him.\
Take the free gift of eternal life right now! There’s no time to waste! There’s nothing to fear! God wants you! The Lord Jesus Christ is someone you can trust. Let’s hear June Murphy to invite you to this safe and secure salvation. John, Chapter 10, Verse 28 says…
/JOHN 10:28 …and I (the Lord Jesus Christ) give eternal life to believers in Christ, and they will never perish…and no one will snatch them out of My hand.\
Here’s June with her song... FEAR NOT.
/CLOSING SONG FEAR NOT June Murphy\
/CLOSING PRAYER Let us pray...\
/Thanks for coming! Thanks for watching! Thanks for listening! www.barahministries.com\
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