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Jesus never could get noticed in Nazareth.  They had watched him grow up there.  He banged around in wood working in the caprenter’s shop and played with the other children in the narrow lanes that separated one row of homes from another.  He sat at table with his family and with his friends.  He attended Passover each year in Jerusalem and even during that year that he stayed behind, most must have laughed at his precocious nature thinking that he had something to teach the rabbis.  He never quite got noticed in Nazareth.  In fact the query about him was, “can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

I do not know how many people in Metter or in the surrounding area really understood the gift that God gave us in Dr. Michael Guido.  He was so unassuming and so very humble that the notoriety that came to him would not be vastly known unless proclaimed by others.  His life was simply lived to give glory to God and to bring people to Jesus.  The sower sowed the seed and God brought a great harvest through his ministry in many media over many years.  He was a very rare kind of person in a world that has become too heavily populated by superstars.  Measure the meaning of significance in ministry by any standard, and his was a significant ministry.  Only heaven knows the lifes that were touched and transformed by his ministry.  He could have easily made so much money and lived in such affluence.  He could have jetted the world with the message of the Gospel, but God led him and his wonderful bride to spend most of their years broacasting the Gospel message from the studio in Metter, Georgia.

My first introduction to “The Sower” came when I was a college student serving a church on the weekends.  I would learn of him through some of our members who introduced me through the radio broadcast on WLOV out of Washington, Georgia to this deeply textured voice bringing “seeds from the sower for the garden of your heart.”  I wanted to meet him.  Once when Anne and I were going to Jacksonville to the annual Georgia-Florida game, I decided to drive to Metter and spend the night to visit the sower the next day.  I did go to the building but could not ask to meet him.  I thought, “I am a nobody preacher boy and he has  a big ministry; he wouldn’t want to meet me.”  So, I just picked up some literature and left.  It would be many years later that I would not only get to meet him but get to spend time with him.  I have never been more intimidated in my life than when he came one night to a class I was teaching to hear me teach.

Mr. Mike was so very humble.  And his humility was genuine.  He really saw himself as a servant of God simply sowing the seed of the Gospel.  He was also very kind.  He never saw me that he did not affirm me and my ministry.  It made me feel ten feet tall and so very bad because he was so very affirming.  He always rememebered my name and he always showed that he cared.  It was real.  Mr. Mike loved Jesus and loved people.  Only a very few know how little he slept through the years and how much he served.  He was holy in the true and genuine sense of that word.  Not pious, but holy.  Pious people put on airs; Mr. Mike had such a joyful sense of humor that showed he lived in the real world, but he lived here with his heart and soul firmly anchored in heavenly soil.  Going to heaven for him was not arriving in a foreign land.  He had lived there in his heart so long that he just crossed over and knew it was home.

I remember being this past December at the Billy Graham Training Center where the legacy of another great evangelist is remembered, and rightly so.  But I thought at least several times during those days that this could have been Michael Guido.  He is the same kind of man as Graham with the same kind of impact.  Mr. Mike would be embarassed at such an assessment because he was content to serve His Jesus until He called him home.

 

 Going Home [35:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1 Thessalonians 4:13‐18The traditional Jewish view of life after death can be captured in the concept of Sheol.  This term that is found in our Bibles refers to the region of the dead.  The Jews believed that everybody went to sheol after death and were kept there until the day of resurrection of the dead when all the dead would stand before God in judgment with some being sent to paradise while others were cast into the outer darkness of the pit of hell.  The pagans of the period simply believed that death was the end and that after death there was nothing.  Perhaps no one has captured as succinctly the predominant feeling of the pagans like William Barclay who writes, “in the face of death the pagan world stood in despair.  They met it with grim resignation and bleak hopelessness.”  One of the Greek philosophers would write, “once a man dies, there is no resurrection.”  And one of the tombstones carried this epitaph, “I was not, I am not, I care not.”  The Jewish view of death produced an emphasis on works during a persons so as to gain heaven at the judgment; it produced a kind of legalism that expressed itself in various ways.  The Greek view of death produced an aggressive approach to money and material things since they saw this life as all there is.  And Job asks, “if a man dies, will he live again?”

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

 

 Real Love in the Real World [41:18m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1 Thessalonians 4:9‐12

We are clearly confused in our culture about what real love really is.  We are confused about the context of real love. We focus almost exclusively on the internal and the horizontal.  Love is described as an emotion, a feeling that we somehow are supposed to feel and in order to feel it toward others we must first feel it for ourselves.  Go to almost any secular psychologist or psychiatrist and their first movement in counseling is to help you to feel more loving and be more loving toward yourself as the foundation for feeling more loving and being more loving toward others.  If the Bible is our standard for what real love in the real world really is, then there is no other evidence needed than this to substantiate our complete confusion about love.  We are confused about the character of love.  Not only do we reduce love to a feeling focused first on ourselves and then on others, we equate being “in love” with “being loving.”  The two are not the same.  One is romantic; the other is reality.  One can be fully of the flesh; the other must be driven by the Spirit of God.  Love as it is biblically defined is primarily a commitment that can be characterized by feelings but it is never a feeling that produces a commitment.  How confused are we?   Many marriages fail simply because one or the other partner just isn’t in love any more; I just don’t have that feeling.  And that is transferred unfortunately in our day to our relationship with God:  I’ve lost that feeling, preacher; I won’t that feeling back.  Love is no more a feeling than is faith.  And we are confused about the communication of love.  Now I have to be really careful here because my daughter who debates with me about this all the time might read or listen to this sermon.  What is your love language as an adult or as a child?  Now it is true that some people would rather you do for them a deed of kindness than to hug their neck because one does express for them more love than another.  But we have to be careful that our love for our spouse or for others is not driven by whatever language they speak but by the language that speaks to us with absolute authority which is found only in the Word of God where we hear clearly here what real love looks like in the real world. Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

 

 Wednesday Evening Message - February 11, 2009 [18:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Genesis 1 [+/-]Genesis 1 [1:1]In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2]The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. [3]And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. [4]And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. [5]God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. [6]And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." [7]And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. [8]And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. [9]And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. [10]God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. [11]And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. [12]The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [13]And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. [14]And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, [15]and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. [16]And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. [17]And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [18]to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. [19]And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. [20]And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." [21]So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [22]And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." [23]And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. [24]And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. [25]And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [26]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27]So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [28]And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [29]And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30]And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. [31]And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)
& John 1:14-18 [+/-]John 1:14-18 [14]And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. [15](John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") [16]And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17]For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18]No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (ESV)

Pastor Al takes a look at the 10 names of Jesus. There are some strong parallels between Genesis 1 [+/-]Genesis 1 [1:1]In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2]The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. [3]And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. [4]And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. [5]God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. [6]And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." [7]And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. [8]And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. [9]And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. [10]God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. [11]And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. [12]The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [13]And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. [14]And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, [15]and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. [16]And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. [17]And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, [18]to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. [19]And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. [20]And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." [21]So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [22]And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." [23]And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. [24]And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. [25]And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. [26]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." [27]So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [28]And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [29]And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. [30]And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. [31]And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)
and John 1 [+/-]John 1 [1:1]In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2]He was in the beginning with God. [3]All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4]In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5]The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [6]There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. [7]He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. [8]He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. [9]The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. [10]He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [11]He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [12]But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13]who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. [14]And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. [15](John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") [16]And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. [17]For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [18]No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. [19]And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" [20]He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." [21]And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." [22]So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" [23]He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." [24](Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) [25]They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" [26]John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, [27]even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." [28]These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. [29]The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [30]This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' [31]I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." [32]And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. [33]I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' [34]And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." [35]The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, [36]and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" [37]The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. [38]Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" [39]He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. [40]One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. [41]He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). [42]He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter). [43]The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." [44]Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. [45]Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." [46]Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." [47]Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" [48]Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." [49]Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" [50]Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." [51]And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (ESV)
. In order for Jesus to be known in the world, He had to have a witness; John was the first, and ssuceeded by everyone who knows Him.

My greatest burden as a pastor is simple for me to see and very hard to bear.  It is the way that so much of the modern church both sees and shapes the Gospel.  This problem is not new.  It has been around from the beginning of time, because what the Gospel is, is announced as early as Genesis 3 [+/-]Genesis 3 [3:1]Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" [2]And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, [3]but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" [4]But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. [5]For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." [6]So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. [7]Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. [8]And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. [9]But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" [10]And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." [11]He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" [12]The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate." [13]Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." [14]The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. [15]I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." [16]To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." [17]And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; [18]thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. [19]By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." [20]The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. [21]And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. [22]Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--" [23]therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. [24]He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (ESV)
.  Different periods give witness to different perversions of the Gospel.  The two that have been the most predominant are legalism and antinomianism.  The former adds to the Gospel the weight of works.  Being saved is trusting in Jesus and doing good works or whatever else may be added by the church of the period that proclaims this Gospel plus something equation.  The latter reduces the Gospel to a public profession of faith or walking an aisle or being baptized without any evidence of real and radical change in a person’s life.  Antinomianism was alive in Corinth; Legalism was alive in Galatia.  Legalism was alive in the Baptist church of the post World War II era:  one joined the church and attended the activities at the church and did not use alcohol and thus was assured of being saved.  Antinominanism has been alive in the Baptist church since the mid to late 1960′s.  Say a prayer, walk an aisle, make a profession and be assured that you are saved.  Any talk of church involvement or Christian lifestyle reeked so of works that it was not ever mentioned.  The end result has been a situation in our churches that  no one wants to address:  we have in most Baptist churches at least twice as many listed members as we have in active attendance.  And the real tragedy is that nobody seems to notice, and nobody seems to want to ask what this discrepancy really means.  Well, here is at least two realities that can be counted to be true:  first, most of that half of church membership that is not actively involved has never been saved.  Oh, don’t tell them that; please don’t tell them that.  They are under the judgment of God and on their way to hell unless they repent, but if we tell them that; they will get mad at us.  They may never come back to church!  Well, I would rather have fifty of those like that mad with me and never in church and see one of them saved because I cared enough to communicate truth than to see that one never saved because I did not care enough to communicate the truth.  And secondly you and I can be sure that both halves of that membership equation have misunderstood the evangel or the Gospel.  Help me here.  Explain to me how somebody who truly knows Jesus and what it means for Him to change life radically can live beside or work alongside someone who professes to know Jesus but shows no lifechange and that person who knows Jesus never tells that other person the truth.  Explain that one to me.

Here is my explanation.  Either we don’t know the Jesus that we say we know.  Or it could be that we have seen real life change in our lives but we don’t necesarrily believe that others have to see that lifechange which means that we don’t even udnerstand the Gospel that we say has saved us.  We could be among those who have bought into what is among the very worst of heresies that we can know Jesus as our Savior without knowing Him as Lord.  It could be that we don’t share the Gospel with those who think they are saved but are not because we don’t really care.  How is it possible to be in a caregiving ministry, for example, and not communicate the Gospel?  Is that real care or is it self-centered and self-oriented?  I am convinced that the reason most of us do not share the Gospel with others, and the evidence is that only a very few professing Christians share the Gospel; is that we really do not know the Gospel we are called to share.  I have been convinced for some time that most professing Christians in our culture are really universalists who believe that some are saved by Jesus while others are saved by being good and doing good.  That is the only conceivable explanation that satisfies me and keeps me from concluding that we really just do not care.

Here is the evangel.  I was born in sin, separated from God and under the standard of the holy law of God which standard I could not meet.  Thus, God’s justice demanded my condemnation to an eternal hell.  God would not be neither good nor just if He allowed me to esape the rightful judgement of His holiness.  He knew that.  So, He came in the flesh through the womb of a virgin to take upon flesh and to fulfill in Himself all that the law required.  He did that perfectly.  The law demanded a blood sacrifice to appease the wrath of God against sin and sinners and He went to the cross to satisfy thorugh His sacrifice the demands of holilness.  And the law demanded that sinners die for their sin and He did that for me.  That is the evangel that when believed and received radically transforms my life the center of which is a desperate desire to declare this good news to all the world.  When this desire is absent, it is either becuase  we have never heard the Gospel ourselves or the Gospel we have heard is something other than the Gospel.  I must admit to you that the more I understand the Gospel, the more desperate I am for sinners to hear it.  My friend, be sure that what you have believed as the basis of your life is in fact the Gospel.

 

 Holy Living: Part II [39:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1Thessalonians 4:1-8 [+/-]1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 [4:1]Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. [2]For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. [3]For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; [4]that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, [5]not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; [6]that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. [7]For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. [8]Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (ESV)

I want to tie together today the three threads that form the fabric for these first eight verses.  We have already examined two of the three and will examine the third today but let’s begin with a brief review of what is going on in these verses.  Remember first that with verse one of chapter four we have turned a corner in this letter.  It is a corner that Paul typically turns in his letters.  Read his letters and in most of them you will find two parts.  The first part is about belief and doctrine; the second part is about behavior and duty.  The first forms the foundation for the second and the second is the inevitable outcome of the first.  Knowing the truth leads to doing the truth so that if we do not do the truth we do not really know the truth and we cannot do truth without knowing truth.  Let me just show you one place in Paul’s letter where this stands out plainly, Romans 12:1 [+/-]Romans 12:1 [12:1]I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (ESV)
.  Paul spends the first eight chapters developing and declaring the doctrine of being made right with God by grace through faith apart from the law and through the Gospel; it all culminates with the crescendo at the end of chapter eight:  we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  Chapters 9-11 show us how God’s plan of redemption works itself out in relationship both to Jews and Gentiles or in relationship to Israel and the rest of the world.  Then comes the marvelous transition in Romans 12 [+/-]Romans 12 [12:1]I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. [2]Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [3]For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. [4]For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, [5]so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. [6]Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; [7]if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; [8]the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. [9]Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. [10]Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. [11]Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. [12]Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. [13]Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. [14]Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. [15]Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. [16]Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. [17]Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. [18]If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. [19]Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." [20]To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." [21]Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (ESV)
, verse 1.  Doctrine moves toward duty; belief moves toward behavior.  That is what Paul is doing as we turn from chapter three to chapter four and we see it in the first word of verse one.

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 Holy Living [33:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 [+/-]1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 [4:1]Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. [2]For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. [3]For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; [4]that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, [5]not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; [6]that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. [7]For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. [8]Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (ESV)

God is at work in the lives of His children to sanctify us for His service.  Can I say that just one more time; let it soak into your skin and saturate your heart. God is at work in the lives of His children to sanctify us for His service.  It is the God who calls us to Himself and changes us by Himself who does not leave us to ourselves but by His Spirit and through His Word works in us and through us.  This work of God is actively expressed in and through the lives of all of His children. He is working in the lives of others to be sure whom He chooses and whom He calls but his work is the work of conviction that comes through being confronted with the Gospel that in God’s time will lead to real and radical life change.  But every true child of God knows that we belong to God because we sense deeply the work of God within us.  His Spirit does indeed bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.  And the goal and sole purpose of this work has nothing to do with us and our desires.  It is that for the exclusive purpose of making us useful in His Kingdom.  With the gift of His salvation He brings spiritual gifting that He nurtures in us so that in connection with other believers in the body of Christ we can be useful to Him in advancing the Kingdom through the proclamation of the Gospel, in building up the body of Christ and in bringing glory and honor to the great name of God.  God works in the lives of His children to make us useful to Him as His servants.  This is sanctification.
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