If you have your Bibles, turn to the
last chapter in Matthew, Matthew chapter 28.
Matthew chapter 28.
If you're wondering what we're going to be
teaching on next, then you'll have to show
up to find out.
How's that?
Dangle the carrot.
Matthew 28 verse 28.
And some of you haven't been here much,
or you weren't here the last few weeks,
but we've been talking about Jesus' crucifixion.
We've been talking about Him being in front
of Pontius Pilate, and what that involved.
And so I would encourage you, if you
want, go back and listen to the last
three or four messages that will really put
this in context.
Verse 28.
Now after the Sabbath, on the first day
of the week, as the first day of
the week began to dawn, that being Sunday.
Now, a quick thing here.
This is one reason why many people worship
on Sunday.
The early church meant on Sundays.
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day
of the week began to dawn, on Sunday,
it's when the Lord rose again.
That's why they celebrate it.
And if you go online, you can find
some really weird things that, you know, Roman
Catholicism perverted the Sabbath, and those who worship
on Sunday are going to hell, and all
that good stuff.
So if you don't know that, that's good.
I'll just spare you the searching on Google
right now.
And people used to come here when we
first started, and they would think that we
were Saturday only, Sabbath only.
That's a whole other message.
I do believe in keeping a Sabbath as
far as taking a day of rest, honoring
what God has said.
But I don't believe we're obligated to holding
that one day, and it has to be
on that day or God is not pleased.
Because as we know, the underground church in
China worships on Tuesday morning at 4 a
.m. or Friday evening.
I've talked about that before, and it's not
just Sunday or not just Saturday.
However, people are passionate about that, so I
will let them be passionate.
But that's one of the reasons the church
worships on Sunday.
And I don't think God's real concerned on
what day we worship as long as we
worship.
And I would encourage you not to have
it be one day a week.
You know, as many times as you can
worship God, it changes the heart.
And I just even felt that tonight, coming
in with a heavy load and a long
week.
And many of you have been through the
same thing.
And once worship starts and it finally takes
a few songs to get engaged, the heart's
changing.
Now I don't want the worship to hurry
up.
Can we do that old hymn again?
I haven't heard that in a while.
Can we do that again?
How about No Longer Slaves?
And that the heart starts to change because
of worship.
So that's why we encourage worship.
And if you don't like worship, I would
just ask you to ask God what's wrong
with the heart.
Because the heart should want to worship God.
There's a disconnect there when we don't want
to worship.
And I remember that disconnect.
When I was in my 20s, I would
sit in the back row.
I would time it just right where the
last song was finishing.
And I would get up and leave before
the pastor said, Hey, how's it going?
I just want to pop in and pop
out.
Check church off this week.
And that's not worshiping.
The heart's got to be engaged.
So back to the 28.
Now after the Sabbath, as the first day
of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary came to see the
tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake.
For an angel of the Lord descended from
heaven, and came and rolled back the stone
from the door and sat on it.
His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing
as white as snow.
And the guards shook for fear of him.
I bet they did.
Can you imagine?
They're guarding Jesus and the earthquakes.
And there's this angel that rolls back the
stone, a stone that probably took a dozen
men or six, seven men with sticks and
pry bars.
Well, they didn't have pry bars back then.
Well, maybe steel things that would pry that
stone back.
And they just see this, and they're like
dead men.
They're as dead.
But the angel answered and said to the
women, not the soldiers, Do not be afraid,
for I know that you seek Jesus who
was crucified.
He is not here, for he is risen
as he said.
He is risen as he said.
And I found it interesting this week, after
three and a half years of Matthew, after
28 chapters, after dozens and dozens of verses
and dozens of cross-referencing, as he said
always comes to pass.
Never once were you, oh, Jesus, you were
wrong there.
You were wrong.
Everything he says from beginning to end comes
to pass.
Everything.
You can trust the Word of God.
There's nothing in there that you can show
me where God's Word fails.
We might not completely understand it, but it
doesn't fail.
That's why it's called absolute truth, and that's
why it ticks people off, because it's true.
That's why they get mad.
It makes them mad because it is true.
What Jesus said, what God says will come
to pass.
And there are so many different directions.
We could have talked about angels.
We could have talked about different things in
this.
But I want to shift gears and talk
about resting in what Jesus said and who
he is who will calm the storm.
When you rest in what Jesus said and
who he is, it will calm your storm.
Here's the difficult thing.
It's very easy to say that, and we
can go, yes, that's true.
But practically, I mean, we can sing.
I was singing.
What was that?
No longer slaves, right?
Fear doesn't have me bound.
I'm no longer a slave.
Well, why do I fear things sometimes?
Why do I feel like I am a
slave sometimes?
Why does that old master pull me back?
So we sing songs, and we want so
bad to be set free.
And on this side of heaven, we will
not be completely set free in many areas.
We will struggle with fear.
We will struggle with anxiety.
We will struggle with depression.
But the message is overcoming fear, renewing the
mind.
You can overcome fear and renew your mind.
I truly believe that because God's Word teaches
it.
And guess what?
Now science is starting to confirm it.
There's something now.
I believe I talked about it a while
back.
Neuroplasticity.
They used to think that the brain has
a certain amount of neurons, and once they're
gone, they're gone, and you're out of luck,
and that's it.
Now they're understanding that the brain can actually
conform and transform and redevelop and reshape itself
and create different pathways.
It had this pathway to anxiety or lust
or addiction, but now the pathway is changing
because of the plasticity and the complexity of
the mind.
Huh.
Be not conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The Bible said it 2,000 years ago.
But science is just now catching up.
So you can renew your thinking.
You can renew your mind.
A lot of it we've talked about many
times, so I won't go down this road,
even though I'd love to.
It's where we focus, where we focus our
mind.
If a person has a problem with fear,
get off the news.
If you have a problem with anger, you
might want to get off the news.
If you have a problem with addiction, you
don't head to New Orleans for Mardi Gras.
You just don't do these.
See, that's what we do.
We feed this giant animal, and then we
say, oh, why is this giant animal winning?
Because you're feeding it, and you're feeding it,
and you're feeding it.
And I have friends on Facebook.
Many of them, they don't go here, a
lot of them.
But I know who they are, and I
know they struggle with anxiety and fear, and
they've opened up before and years ago and
passed.
And I'm looking at their Facebook posts going,
no wonder you struggle with.
I would.
I would if I was reading the Illuminati
and the chemtrails that they're spraying, and we're
all going to die by 20 years, and
the world is being taken over by this,
and all these things.
I would be scared to death.
I would be fearful if that's all I
focused on.
So as the man thinketh, so he becomes.
Out of your heart, what you're putting in,
that's why it's so important.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are pure and noble
and honest and upright, the next time you
click that news story or that link or
you want to do some reading and research,
is it true?
Is it noble?
Is it trustworthy?
Will it build you up or pull you
down?
This is so simple.
A 10-year-old could do it.
And they do, many times better than parents.
I mean, my kids used to say, Daddy,
we shouldn't be watching this.
That's true.
I mean, it was okay.
I mean, they'll catch things.
They'll just catch little things.
And we just sometimes are so absorbed in
our own life that we don't see these
things.
So don't be afraid.
When he says, do not be afraid, he's
telling the people here, do not be afraid.
It's actually a command to reprogram our thoughts.
When Jesus says, don't be afraid, that tells
me I can adjust my thinking to not
be afraid.
Either it means that or it means that
Jesus is out of his mind.
He doesn't know what he's talking about because
I'm afraid.
I can't just stop that.
But he's saying redirect your thoughts, reprogram your
thoughts.
Now, on this note, it's interesting.
Why does positive thinking get a bad reputation?
Right?
All these positive thinking guys, you know, or
positive thinking in the church, and just positive
thinking, positive thinking, positive thinking.
Turn on Sunday morning TV, you'll hear positive
thinking.
Now, it's funny because it's biblical.
It's absolutely biblical to think about things that
are positive and true and noble.
But here's why it can be wrong.
Positive thinking often replaces obedience to the Word
of God.
Positive thinking says I can have whatever I
want.
If you just think it, you can have
it.
I remember when I was in my 20s,
I used to have a Lamborghini up, right,
and an 8,000 square foot house, and
like that's what I'm going to have.
That's what I'm going to have someday.
It's positive thinking, positive thinking.
That's what I'm going to have someday.
That's how they teach it.
Anthony Robbins, right, and those guys, Zig Ziglar.
He's a Christian, though, and Anthony's not, and
it's all this positive thinking and positive thinking.
That's why biblically it's good if you direct
it in the right direction.
Think positive things about God.
Be joyful.
Be enthused in the right areas.
Positive thinking, though, often leads, oh, positive thinking
is often sold as the answer.
You just need to think positive, brother.
You don't have enough faith.
You just need to think positive.
People take this biblical concept, which is a
very biblical concept, because should we think negative
or should we think positive?
It's like saying should I eat an apple
or a Snickers bar.
We know it, and God's Word says be
not conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, renewing your
mind on things that are pure and honest
and noble and upright.
So it's very good, very healthy to be
a positive thinker and joyful, not a pushover,
not just gullible, but be uplifting and positive
and get back on that.
That's biblical.
But it has gained a lot of bad
reputation over the years because of, in the
church, they'll say you're just miserable because you're
not positive or you're sick because you're not
positive, and you can have whatever you want
if you're just positive.
The positive thinking has to align with God's
will first and foremost.
That's why Romans goes on to say be
not conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind so you
can prove, you can know what is that
acceptable and perfect will of God.
So one of the best ways to know
God's will is to reprogram your mind in
His Word.
We don't just read to read.
We read to study.
You read to get God's counsel, but you
also read to reprogram that mind because you
read all the news, and then you read
Psalms.
You turn there.
I am the Lord thy God.
There is no other gods before me.
I create the heavens and the earth.
No army shall stand before me.
No king shall conquer me.
All these scriptures are reinforced.
Oh, it gets my brain back on the
right track.
When you're full of God's Word, you're a
lot less scared of ISIS.
And even this week I was studying this.
I don't know if somebody sent it or
I found it.
It's like now ISIS has a 15,000
name hit list of those in America who
they want sleeper cells to rise up and
go after.
Guess who's going to be at the top
of those lists?
Loudmouth pastors who just preach the truth.
They're going to get those guys that speak
the truth.
I'm like, uh-oh.
But then you read what God says, and
you can counterbalance that.
So the brain can be renewed.
I think this is probably one of the
biggest things that a person can realize because
they think they're trapped.
Why am I thinking this way?
Why?
I'll never break out of this.
I was born that way.
I have these thoughts come in, and welcome
to the world of Christianity.
But stop blaming yourself all the time.
These thoughts are darts, fiery darts of the
enemy.
Do you ever have a thought?
You're like, where did that come from?
Where did that come from?
I'm sitting in church, and this happens, and
the enemy's coming in and trying to, but
temptation's not wrong.
It's what we do with that temptation.
Do you take that thought captive and say,
that's not right, and redirect the thought?
So the mind is powerful.
I've seen people overcome depression because a lot
of times when we get depressed, it's because
we're thinking about depressing issues.
Now, you can't just tell people they're depressed.
Oh, just get over it.
Come on.
That's like telling somebody who has a cut
in their arm, just get over it.
It doesn't hurt.
You've got to work through many times and
seek God, but it doesn't discount the fact
that our mind controls a lot of what
goes on in our heart.
Isaiah 26.3, you will keep him, God
here, you will keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you because he
trusts in you.
Do you ever tell your kids, have you
ever told your kids before, stay here?
Same exact thing.
Whose mind is stayed on him.
I know that new movie is out, but
stay here.
You're going to have bad dreams for a
week.
I know you want to do it, but
stay here.
Put your mind on this.
The reason I bring up media a lot
is because we are being inundated by it.
It's everywhere.
It's on everything.
It's from Facebook.
And we're so polarized by what's going on.
This and that and the stock and everything
in the world is falling apart.
And that's not focusing in the right direction.
You will not renew your mind.
You will not overcome fear by feeding it
the very thing that's making you fearful.
That's like telling my kid before I put
them to bed, pray with them.
You know, close the door, turn off the
lights.
You know, scratch the back window.
Is that going to help them go to
sleep?
No, they're going to beeline out of there.
20 minutes go by, I go do the
same thing.
Daddy, what's going on?
If I do that every hour, are they
going to sleep that night?
That's exactly what many of you are doing
to your mind.
No wonder you're fearful.
No wonder you're anxious.
You just keep unleashing that monster.
And thinking, oh, a little Bible study for
30 minutes a week is going to cut
it?
Or a worship on Saturday night, well, that'll
fix it.
No, your whole mind has to be renewed.
Your whole mind has to be renewed.
It doesn't happen with just one verse or
30 minutes sometimes.
Sometimes God just does a healing work and
people are set free for many times.
It's a battle.
John 14, 27, peace, I leave you.
Jesus said that, peace, I leave you.
My peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give
to you.
But let not your heart be troubled, neither
let it be afraid.
And it's interesting.
Not as the world gives you do I
give you.
So the world gives you a phony misleading
piece.
That's built on many variables and what you
want to hear.
How that works is you get this, oh,
the stock market is plummeting.
And then tomorrow you hear this thing on
the news or something.
Oh, it's going to rebound.
It was just this little blip in the
monitor.
Whew.
Wow, that was a close call.
And then back to this.
Remember when gas prices were going to hit
$5 a gallon?
I remember people saying it's going to be
$10 a gallon by this time, this summer.
A year ago, I'm like, oh, my goodness.
And then you hear something, oh, no, no,
the trading this way.
Whew.
And see how it's phony, it's fake, it's
misleading piece.
You can't trust in that piece because it's
temporary.
The only one you can run to and
trust is God.
And say, I rest my heart, I rest
my mind in you.
That's where true peace comes from.
And you've got to get your mind.
See, the mind's going.
No, no, no, stay here.
No, it's going.
Stay here.
And you do start to, your mind starts
to wander.
I remember last year, I think it was,
somebody said, Shane, you're in big trouble.
I'm like, what do you mean?
They said, you don't have retirement.
I'm like, I never really thought about that,
do you?
Because you guys are aware, right?
If you retire from a church, you don't
keep getting a paycheck for 20 years.
It doesn't work like Lockheed, Boeing, and Rockwell.
Or law enforcement or fire department.
When you say, retiring, bye-bye, that's it.
I never thought about that.
I need to, like, oh, you're not, what
are you going to do?
I'm like, I don't know.
Hold on, let me go to God.
Luckily, I've been putting some away, don't worry.
But this person made me think, made me
really think.
And actually, they advised a financial counselor just
to look at it.
I met with this person.
He goes, at your age, you need to
put $2,000 a month away to be
able to retire.
Really?
Well, that's not going to happen.
What's a backup plan?
Well, you know, and here's your house.
And try to get it paid off an
extra payment a year, an extra payment each
month.
And it will be paid off seven years
sooner.
So there's a plan there because you can't
just, but I was fearful.
I asked my wife, what am I supposed
to do?
Why did God do this?
He knew I was in 24-hour fitness.
I gave up stock options.
Gave up 401K, had to start over.
What is God thinking?
How could he do this to me?
Well, who's in control?
Who's going to eventually, you know, you've got
to use wisdom.
You've got to make, you've got to set
for the future and use wisdom.
But ultimately, who are you trusting in?
Because those of you who are trusting in
Social Security, you might have a rude wake
-up call in about 20 years.
When the government says, you know what, we
missed, kind of missed shot that one.
No Social Security.
Medicaid and Medi-Cal and all this.
Are you aware the billions at this rate,
you can't keep paying for itself.
It's impossible.
So they might say someday, you know, we
thought we were going to be able to
provide this, and you're on your own.
This is very feasible stuff, folks.
The things we're trusting in can be gone.
The 401K, when it collapsed in 2000, what
was that?
2008, 2009.
I knew friends in construction who got back
into business who had retired because they lost
over a million dollars in a month.
How's that happen?
False peace.
What is your peace?
Who is your peace in?
I give you my peace, not what the
world gives you, what is temporary and it's
phony and it's misleading.
So let not your heart be troubled.
Don't be afraid.
I'll give you my peace.
I will lead you through the storm.
This whole issue of retirement now for me
has been, I've worked it out with God.
Okay, I'm going to start planning for 20,
25 years, 30 years, whatever it is.
But God, you see me through.
You get me through this.
And I'm trusting in you.
Now, there are very spiritual people I look
up to.
And I've got to know over the years.
And one of those, I recommend his book
and his website a while back, K.P.
Ohanan, Gospel for Asians.
Sometimes I email him every couple times a
year.
And just real quick emails.
But I think reading one of his books,
I remember, I think he gave up, he
sold his house, he gave up his retirement,
he gave up his insurance, medical, retirement, everything
just for the work of the Lord.
I'm like, wow, okay.
But he said, I'm just trusting in God.
So people say, well, that's foolish.
Well, he'd say, I'm trusting in God.
I'm not worried about those things.
So you've got to give people a little
bit of latitude because you can't question his
faith.
His faith is very solid, very godly person
who feels that the Lord is going to
provide.
And I wonder how many of us trust
in things that really hinder our walk with
God.
I mean, if you don't have medical insurance,
you're going to pray a little bit harder
when your kid has strep throat.
You might even fast.
You might even get on your knees.
You might even worship.
But when you go to the medical center
down the street and you have amoxicillin with
two hours, you just fix the problem.
Didn't even ask God.
I just wonder how much of that we
take for granted.
Washing machine and dryer, same week, it's out.
Well, MasterCard, here we come.
We're not going to pray.
God doesn't answer those kind of prayers.
We tend to rely on ourselves.
John 16, 33, these things I've spoken to
you that in me, in me you may
have peace.
In the world, you will have tribulation.
I don't like that scripture.
I wish it said, as Christians, you will
avoid tribulation.
When you follow me, tribulation will run the
other way.
It will flee.
But it's like a magnet.
Tribulation just comes to you.
That in me, you may have peace.
In the world, you will have tribulation.
But be of good cheer.
I have overcome the world.
And I'm just reminded that as we're going
through tribulation, to be in good cheer.
As we're going through difficult things, cheerful.
Foreclosure, cheerful.
Loss of job, cheerful.
God's looking at the attitude.
And it struck me this week.
Why are Christians the most grumpiest people on
the planet?
Let's just be honest.
Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.
Just about everything.
Just grumpy.
I woke up on the wrong side of
the bed.
Is that funny, Shaylee?
It is, huh?
You're never grumpy.
How's she never grumpy?
Everybody else is grumpy.
Get up, grumpy.
Go to bed, grumpy.
My job's not doing good.
I only get 95% of my pay
take home when I retire for 25 years.
I wish I got 95% of my
pay for the next 25 years when I
retire.
See, we get grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.
It's not going the way I thought.
Not going the way I thought.
So that should be an inspiration.
We should not be grumpy.
But when he says be of good cheer,
another encouraging word here, you have to do
it.
Not how you feel.
When he says be of good cheer, that
tells me I'm going to have the tendency
not to be of good cheer.
So we have to apply these scriptures.
Apply them.
Not just know them.
I'm tired of people knowing them and not
applying them.
I'm tired of myself knowing them often and
not applying them.
Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.
About everything.
Man, you guys are going to remember that
part of the sermon.
Philippians 4, Philippians 4, 6-7.
One of my favorite verses.
You should memorize this.
Be anxious for nothing.
Anxious for nothing.
Boy, that's hard right there.
Be anxious for nothing.
Nothing?
Nothing, Lord?
I can give you a list of six
things right now.
Be anxious for nothing but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests
be known to God.
I'll tell you one thing I've been anxious
about.
Me and my wife are praying about it.
Don't worry, we're not moving.
But a lot of people ask about the
Saturday night service.
Hope Chapel.
Hope Chapel even asked about the Saturday night
service.
Like what are you guys going to do?
Do we get our building back?
I don't know.
What are we going to do?
What should we do?
What do you think we should do?
What are we going to do?
What are you going to do every other
day?
What are you going to do Saturday?
Oh, gosh, I don't know.
I'm anxious.
Lord, now do we have to make a
decision?
So what's it say here?
Be anxious for nothing.
I don't know.
I have no clue.
You don't like that answer?
Well, I'm going to tell you the same
thing next week.
I have no clue but in everything by
prayer and supplication.
Supplication is you're requesting.
You're making it known to God.
With Thanksgiving, Lord, thank you for even having
a church here.
Thank you for these people.
Thank you for what you're doing.
You show us, God.
You show us.
Thank you, Jim.
You show us what you want to do.
And God will show.
He will honor those instead of being anxious
and being anxious and being anxious.
Should we do this?
Should we do that?
Just rest in him.
Now, there's a time and a place to
do something, right?
Don't get me wrong.
You're not going to sell your house by
sitting watching TV.
At some point, you've got to call the
realtor.
You've got to make that decision.
You're not going to move across country through
osmosis.
You're going to have to make those decisions
and those choices and start going in that
direction.
But to not be anxious about it.
Let your requests be known to God and
the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.
When the peace of God comes in, some
of you will know what I'm talking about,
it surpasses all understanding.
Why am I so peaceful?
It doesn't make sense.
And I've talked to recently, in the last
year or two, some parents who have lost
their kids.
One of the ladies came to a one
-up in Leona Valley a couple of years
ago.
She was in her 20s and she died.
But the parents would say to me throughout
the week or getting ready for the memorial,
I just have tremendous peace.
Tremendous peace.
Now there's ups and downs and there's tons
of tears and regret and pain, but then
there's a day where I have tremendous peace.
I'm just, where does that come from?
It's the peace that surpasses all, because it
makes no sense.
No sense.
How can somebody being tortured for their faith
or in prison camps or wherever, tremendous peace
comes in that room.
How is that possible?
Because their minds are set on God.
It will guard your heart and mind.
This peace will guard your heart and mind
through Jesus Christ.
So the quick answer to overcoming fear, renewing
the mind is stay.
Stay where God says stay here.
Stay here.
Don't go check the stories.
Don't go check the news tonight.
Get into the word of God.
Don't turn on Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Sean
Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, all these things.
Get into Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
I don't care what Ann Coulter says.
I want to know what God's word says.
I'm not concerned with Trump saying.
I'm concerned with this.
Get into the word of God.
Renew that mind.
You have to stay there, because my mind
wants to go scare me.
Why are people drawn?
See, I never was, so I can't relate.
I'm drawn, you know, maybe other things when
I was younger, but they're just drawn to
Exorcist and all these horror movies.
I just watched the trailer, and I go,
no way.
Like half the trailer.
I'm like, never again.
They're floating.
They're levitating.
All these ghosts.
You're like, I've got to see that.
How?
How do you have to see that?
That's like me getting on a roller coaster.
It's not going to happen.
Brant, you said you went to Magic Mountain.
Tell me about the roller coaster.
I'm like, no, no, mm-mm.
I'll go on the kid ones.
They're like 20 miles an hour.
But anything that starts to take my breath
away, and like, I just can't.
I don't want to be scared.
But the mind wants to take me there,
doesn't it?
I mean, why are the news stories so,
like, they just draw you in?
You know, like the kid who was decapitated
on a water slide this week.
Like, why do I even need to click
that?
I just read that that should have been
enough.
But of course, how did that happen?
I'm not going on water slides now either.
Or ISIS, all these things that they're doing,
it's beyond description.
It's horrific.
It's horrific what they're doing.
And do I need to know more about
Benghazi?
Benghazi, the whole thing there with Hillary's whole
debacle.
Do inquiring minds want to know?
Yeah, but fearful minds want to keep being
afraid.
Anxious minds want to keep being anxious, and
all these things.
What about this person comes, this person, I'm
moving here, and I'm moving there.
And it's just, oh, we're just feeding and
feeding this stuff.
So it says stay.
Stay in God's Word.
Get away from that junk.
Be joyful.
And then relax, pray, and peace will guard
your heart.
That works because fear and anxiety can't dwell
in a thankful heart very easily.
When I'm not thankful, those things can come
in.
Anxiety and bitterness, anger about certain things, they
come in, but they can't come into a
joyful heart when you're like, praise God.
Praise God.
I'm just so thankful.
And don't be fake about it, though.
Be real.
And then the next verse in Matthew, come,
see the place where the Lord lay.
I know that was a little bit of
a rabbit trail, but I think it was
an important one because fear is paralyzing.
I've read some articles and different things, too.
It's getting to where it's equivalent with World
War II in America.
You see, there's times in our nation where
the fear level really increases.
When Russia was putting missiles in Cuba, younger
might not know, but the Cuban Missile Crisis
was very scary.
I can still remember what it would look
like when a nuclear bomb hit L.A.
and as a little kid, Mom, what would
happen?
You see how we can go back and
remember our programming in the mind?
It's so powerful.
I still remember.
I thought of it this morning.
I had two posters on my wall, Roger
Starbuck and Tony Dorsett.
You guys, who are those guys?
Well, if you're older, you know.
Very good players in football.
And I still remember that, the mind programmed
up there in my room, seeing it enough.
But also the fear comes and programs your
mind as well, so you have to renew
your mind, renew your mind.
Don't keep feeding it the garbage.
You will not renew your mind.
It will keep going back into that garbage.
That's a whole hold right now of pornography
where it's out on everything.
It gets the mind, and then guess what?
It keeps you locked in that.
The mind has to be set free and
renewed in God's Word and renewed and renewed
and set free.
Verse 6, Quick
note on this.
If the Bible was written by men, they
would have never, never, never said that Jesus
appeared to women first.
We would now.
I mean, we've gotten over the whole thing
that men and women aren't equal and different
things.
But back in Jesus' time, I mean, women
were not considered or not where they are
now.
It wasn't even playing field.
It wasn't created equal in God's eyes.
We see different roles for men and women.
But they would have never, if the Bible
was made up, the men would have saw
Jesus first.
So you see all these things.
There's just a little caveat there of extra
truth when people try to dissuade you away
from the Word of God.
Verse 9, Can you imagine Jesus
showing up saying, Rejoice!
So they came and they held him by
the feet and they worshipped him.
Then Jesus said to them, Do not be
afraid.
Again, do not be afraid.
It tells me I can be afraid.
So Jesus is saying, Listen, don't be afraid.
Bring your mind back to me.
It's all programming that mind, getting it back
on track.
You know how this works, right?
Don't you do this sometimes?
Oh, God, please.
And you get that thought back.
Like when I'm getting a root canal at
the dentist, it is always, God, please.
I know you're there.
I know he's not going to kill me.
I'm not going to die in this chair.
Oh, it's just, you know, and you've got
to get your mind.
See, I don't like dentists, roller coasters, or
now water slides.
What was the other thing?
Scary movies.
No desire to see any of those things.
This sermon took on a whole new life
of its own.
There's too much transparency tonight.
Verse 10, And then Jesus said to them,
Do not be afraid.
Go and tell my brethren to go to
Galilee, and there they will see me.
They worshipped him.
The church today has a worship problem, and
we're trying to correct that.
That's one of the reasons for Wednesday nights
that we want to start is a night
of worship where we're not in a hurry.
We're not going to be looking at songs
at a PowerPoint.
We're there to wait on God and worship
and pray and get the heart back focused
on him.
If you are not saved, you are not
worshipping God.
Is your mind being renewed by the truth?
If not, you're not worshipping God.
Is your mind in a state of being
teachable and humble?
If not, you're not worshipping God.
It's all about getting the mind in a
humble, teachable state, renewing it with the truth,
and worship becomes a lifestyle.
Do you realize that worship service started at
520, and it ends afterwards even while we're
still here?
It's a worship service where we're putting God
at the forefront.
We also see here a glimpse of the
resurrected body.
Jesus had a resurrected body.
It was in a perfect state, and it's
interesting because it was normal, but extremely extraordinary.
It was normal.
Jesus looked like Jesus.
He wanted some fish later.
He ate.
He talked.
Everything was normal, but then he can walk
through walls.
He can just appear.
He was resurrected.
So it's a glimpse of what our resurrected
bodies could look like, and that would be
a whole other sermon.
Maybe someday.
But we're going to be in this perfect
state.
Can we eat?
Again, sermon series someday maybe.
But the Bible has a lot to say
about it.
We'll be perfected.
We'll know who we are.
We won't know in part.
We'll know as we're known.
Then the soldiers are bribed.
Verse 11, now while they were going, behold,
some of the guard came into the city
and reported to the chief priest all the
things that had happened.
When they had assembled with the elders and
consulted together, they gave a large sum of
the money to the soldiers.
Now, I talked about this last week.
The soldiers come into town.
They grab the religious leaders, and they say,
you're not going to believe this.
The Roman soldiers aren't going to lie, because
if that was a lie, they could die
for this lie.
Jesus is gone.
They're not going to come in and, oh,
we fell asleep.
There's an angel up here.
This happened, and they paid them off, saying
if this comes to the governor's ear, that
we'll say that the disciples came at night
and stole him while we slept.
And if this comes to the governor's ear,
we will appease him and make you secure.
And this is interesting, because the soldiers, these
men trained for war, trained for battle, the
highest elite force there, told the religious leaders
what happened.
Instead of the religious leaders falling on their
face before God and repenting, they just paid
off the soldiers.
It's almost like, okay, maybe that did happen.
We'll just don't say it happened, and they're
so hard and callous.
How can you be so hard and callous
in this area?
Here's why.
Sin distorts your thinking, and it did their
thinking.
Sin distorts their thinking, your thinking and their
thinking and my thinking.
Here's why.
I don't know quite how it works.
We could teach on this as well for
a whole sermon.
But once there's a sin, and it's a
besetting sin, it's an unrepentant sin, it's a
sin you're not going to do anything about,
well, it doesn't just stay there, it grows.
And it begins to distort your thinking.
You'll begin to make excuses.
You'll turn into a person, people will say,
they changed.
And it's interesting, because if a year or
a month or a week, and the person
repents, and they're back and fire for God,
and they're filled with the Holy Spirit, then
people say, oh, they're back to who they
used to be.
Where did they go for a year?
Where did they go for six months?
If they're caught in this sin, it distorts.
It distorts your thinking.
The addict hides and minimizes their addiction.
They just say, I don't do this very
often, and they continue in it.
The person caught in sexual sin justifies it.
Oh, we love each other.
Or it's no big deal.
God knows my needs.
And we just keep justifying it.
The prideful man excuses his pride.
He says, I love the truth.
I know you're prideful.
I love the truth.
Darn it all anyway.
I love the truth.
Leave me alone.
I'm not mean and angry and arrogant.
I love the truth.
Well, you don't have the truth in you.
And see, that's why they'll never change.
Because that sin of pride distorts.
What about the judgmental woman, who defends her
attitude?
She's always judgmental.
I'm just passionate.
If I have another judgmental person tell me
that, I might slap them easy.
Oh my God, you're so judgmental.
I'm just passionate about the truth.
So be careful, right?
I've said that before.
We've all done these things.
But don't hide behind that.
The gossip, oh I love this one.
The gossip says people need to know so
they can pray for them.
And loose-lipped Sally goes around, right, telling
everybody.
And when she's confronted, no, no, just prayer
needs.
See, we don't want to change.
We don't want to change.
That's what sin does, it distorts.
So when somebody's caught in sin, they excuse
it.
They excuse it and they put up this
mask, they put up this shield, so they
can excuse their sin.
And continue in it.
And God has to break that.
That's what happened with these Pharisees.
You saw the miracles by Jesus.
You saw Lazarus being raised from the dead.
You saw lame men walking.
You saw demons being cast out.
Now you see this man, even soldiers say
on the cross, surely this was the Son
of God.
The earth shook.
The veil was rent.
The soldiers said, oh my God.
OMG, that was the first OMG back there.
The angel appeared.
And he rolled back the stone.
And still, still they have the audacity to
buy off the soldiers and not repent of
their sin.
That's pride.
And at the spiritual height of arrogance.
And it drives me crazy.
Because that's in all of us.
That ability.
I mean at the end of this whole
study, I cannot believe these guys.
I cannot believe how they saw everything.
Not even that.
They knew scripture.
They knew Psalm.
They knew Jeremiah, the prophet speaking about no
bone being broken.
Hung between two thieves.
As a lamb is led to the slaughter,
he opened not his mouth.
They knew the cast lots for his clothing.
They knew the scripture.
They saw this unfold.
Spiritual pride.
And people take it to their grave.
And they die and go to hell because
of spiritual pride.
Because of pride.
It's sad because sin distorts.
One thing that will help you.
I'm going to see if, I don't know
if Luke's in here, but he's going to
try to make an MP3 copy for me.
I came across a message, a series of
messages by a man, a pastor named Steve
Shell, many years ago.
And I'm borrowing his story.
He says a lot of people, you know,
we go back into these sinful lifestyles because
we don't see the death in it.
The addict doesn't see eventually leading to an
overdose or death or loss of a family.
An angry person doesn't see the death of
how they're killing the spirit of their children
and of their spouse.
Pornography, they don't see the death of how
it's destroying their marriage.
You don't see the death in it.
That's why you keep partaking.
And his analogy was this.
It's like having a big chocolate cake in
your refrigerator.
I'm not going to eat chocolate cake, right?
It's in my refrigerator.
Nope, not going to do it.
A couple hours go by.
I had good willpower after breakfast, but now
I'm hungry.
I'm not going to have that chocolate cake.
See, isn't sin doing this, right?
Here come the thoughts.
Just one little piece won't hurt.
I went on a two-hour walk this
morning with some men.
I got to burn some calories.
That sugar's not even going to hit this
body.
One piece, just one little piece.
And isn't that what that whispers?
Come on.
Open that.
No, no, no.
I'm holding fast, God.
I'm holding fast.
I'm not going to do this.
You get a text.
Your spouse makes you mad.
Oh, I'm getting that cake.
I don't care anymore.
See, the enemy will use those traps.
He'll pull you back with anger.
A lot of people go back into sin
because they're mad.
So the cake's pulling.
The cake's, I'm not going to have that
cake.
And you get it out, and you put
it on the sink, and you say, I'm
just going to look at it.
I'm just going to look at that chocolate
cake, and hopefully that will be enough.
And that's a bad idea.
That's how sin actually pulls you back, conceived.
And now there's no way in heck you're
putting the cake back now.
It's impossible.
So as you're getting ready to get that
cake, you forgot that you left yourself a
note that said don't eat.
It was made with rat poison.
Well, you just went from wanting that cake
to now the cake's going in the trash.
What was the difference?
What's the difference?
How can you just change like that?
Oh, the temptation's so strong.
No, it's not now.
It's not now.
The temptation you just had that you could
not stop, now you just stopped it.
How?
Rat poison, exactly.
You saw the death in it.
So the next time you have to click
on something, see the death in it.
The next time you have to do something
that you know is out of God's will,
I just can't help myself.
I just can't.
I deserve it.
See the death in it.
Because you can change just like that.
Who's going to have the cake now?
Anybody, right?
Nobody.
So you have to see the death in
that sin in order for it to really
stop in your life.
Because as we all know, once the enemy
gets an anchor in there, whatever it is,
I don't have to go down a long
list.
We know what that list, we know what
that thing is.
Once he gets the hook in you, that's
where he's going.
That's where he's going.
So it's my one little weakness.
Yep, that's where he's going.
It's my one little, yep, that's where he's
going.
He's going to keep getting you in the
last place that you fell, and he's going
to use that.
For you, for someone else that might not,
for Vicodin, oh, don't give me any painkillers,
people might say.
Don't give me painkillers.
You can give me Vicodin.
It's going to sit in the cabinet for
two years.
It'll go into the trash when it expires.
The last time I got a root canal,
remember?
They gave me a Vicodin for a month.
I'm like, a Vicodin for a month?
It's not that bad.
It was still there.
It's probably going in the trash soon.
Actually, somebody told me to be careful where
you put this stuff because now if it
gets into our water system, and the water
is getting harder to clean because of all
these chemicals now going into the drains and
into the plumbing.
Somebody who works at a water district.
That's a big side note.
But my point is watch for those weak
areas because that's where he's going.
That's where he's going to get you.
And it's always the same spot.
He'll try, and he'll use those weak areas.
And then Jesus gives the great commission.
Verse 16, Then the 11 disciples went away
into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had
appointed for them.
When they saw him, they worshiped him.
Oh, my goodness.
Just seeing him and worshiping him.
Isn't this interesting?
We think of worship as hallelujah, hallelujah, and
all these songs we're worshiping, and that is
worship.
But true worship is when the heart is
engaged.
These guys weren't pulling out Jesus' songs.
They weren't sitting there going, no longer slaves.
They saw the prince of freedom.
They saw Christ himself.
Worshipping God, we glorify you, we magnify you,
thank you for who you are.
And that's a form of worship is the
heart is focused on him.
When they saw him, they worshiped him, but
some doubted.
Some doubted.
And I'm glad the Bible puts that in
there.
Because don't you have doubts sometimes?
And God always says, take those doubts to
me.
Let's reason together.
It's part of human nature and our sin
to doubt the promises, the things of God.
And we doubt those things, but God says,
bring them to me.
Bring those doubts.
Well, how do I know the Bible's real?
Bring those doubts.
How do I know that God did?
Bring those doubts.
How do I know that he?
Bring those doubts to him.
Say, Lord, show me.
If you're humble and teachable, he'll show you.
Or if he doesn't, you can rest in
knowing that he's God and I'm not.
I don't understand quantum physics, and I'm probably
not going to.
I mean, we get mad why we don't
know God, right?
I can't know.
And I don't even know how I put
it now.
A plastic key, it's a little thing.
I turn it.
Some power starts in the engine.
I put it in reverse in an R.
It engages the transmission.
It engages the axles.
It engages the tires.
I don't even know how that works.
But I'm fine with that.
But if I don't understand how God works,
I have a problem.
Jesus came to them saying, all authority has
been given to me on heaven and on
earth.
I have all authority.
So you go to Christ.
You go to the person who has all
authority.
And see, as Christians, we know this intellectually.
Nobody's leaving here going, I never thought about
that.
Did God have all authority?
Wow, Shane, thank you for telling me that.
I did not know that.
Some people might.
They might think the devil and God are
on equal playing fields, but they're not.
But it doesn't matter what we know.
It's what we apply into our hearts.
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I
have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even
to the end of the age.
Even to the end of the age.
Now, this whole section could have been a
sermon.
But let's just focus on a few things.
Go, therefore, make disciples.
What is making disciples?
You lead by example.
And I would throw this out there.
You teach people the word of God.
Show them how to study.
You encourage them to pray.
And you promote worship.
Those three areas that you want to focus
on as you're making disciples.
And then baptizing them.
Baptizing them.
So Jesus said, when they believe on me,
you baptize them.
You baptize them in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Baptize.
Now, isn't it interesting how he puts this
on the list?
Because on one side of the church, we
say, it doesn't matter.
I'm baptized next year.
Well, the Bible is pretty clear.
When you believe, get baptized.
Show people you're serious about your faith.
The other side of the church over here
is, unless you get baptized, you're not saved.
So you're not – even though I know
you're crying, I know that God's changed your
heart, I know you're filled with the Holy
Spirit, but you're not saved until you get
baptized.
And that's not biblical either, in my opinion.
This side is called baptismal regeneration.
A lot of even early church fathers taught
it.
It's still taught in churches today.
That a person is not actually baptized.
And if I had time, I could take
you through some verses.
But I believe, if you don't have it,
I know we're handing it out tomorrow morning,
or I know the ushers can get it
to you.
It's just a two- or three-page
thing on baptism.
Do infants go to heaven if they die?
What is baptism?
How does that work?
It's just three pages.
I put it all together.
And I think we have it here.
Mike would know.
Mike Thomas would know if you want to
ask him.
If not, I know we can get them
to you.
But ask him for one of those.
And with that said, we're actually going to
do baptisms tonight.
We have three people getting baptized.
And the theme throughout the New Testament is
clear.
Believers get baptized.
Not unbelievers.
Believers get baptized.
So a person who professes and says, I
know Jesus.
He saved me.
I want to get baptized.
I want to obey him.
I want something miraculous happens in that obedience.
It's kind of concerning when people don't want
to get baptized.
It doesn't make sense.
There's something not quite right in the heart
there.
So just throwing this out there.
If you have never been baptized and you
want to be baptized, I would just throw
that out there.
You can do it tonight.
I don't care if you go home wet.
It doesn't matter.
I will baptize you.
So pray about that.
Think about that.
All you have to do is publicly acknowledge,
I believe in the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
He is my Savior.
And then we baptize you.
Based on your profession of faith, we baptize
you in the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit.
You see, I haven't been baptized.
I was 12.
I don't know what it meant.
Let's do it tonight.
We'll get some towels.
We'll find something.
And let's baptize people.
That's what Jesus said.
He ends the whole book of Matthew saying,
go make disciples.
Baptize them in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And teach them to observe all things that
I have commanded you.
And I am with you always, even until
the end of the age.
Amen.
Thank God for that.