Approved Before God: A Workman Unashamed

e e praise God brothers and sisters I'd like to read from uh John 14: 16-1 17 and I will ask the father and he'll give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it is because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you and as we know um today in the morning we celebrated uh the Pentecost and it's it's quite an important part of Christianity uh the the Holy Trinity you know God the Father the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and uh as we know Jesus Christ resurrected and then uh 40 days later he ascended into heaven and then 10 days later this is when the Pentecost occurred so 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and it's really important for us Christians you know to know uh what the Trinity is because the Holy Spirit guides Us in this life and it's so important to have him as our helper you know so uh with that being said let's stand up and pray Lord God we thank you for all that you given us Lord we thank you for the Pentecost Lord and for the Holy Spirit coming down onto US Lord thank you for the Holy Trinity Lord we praise your name God thank you Lord we ask you to bless the service God bless the preaching bless the singing Lord May May the holy spirit guide the service and fill this place all praise and glory be to you Lord amen and our first song we'll be singing is um is going to be All to Jesus I [Music] Surrender to Jesus I surrender all to him my fa I will ever love and trusted in his pres daily live I surrender all I surrender all all to the my blessed savior I surrend [Music] all oh to Jesus I Surrender from me at his feet I bow worldy bles all forsaken take me Jesus take me now I surrender all I surrender all all to the my blessed savior I [Music] surrender all to Jesus I Surrender make me saor holy thy let me feel th Holy Spirit truly know that thou art mine I surrend surrender [Music] all I surrender all all to be my blessed savior I surrender all [Music] sing the wonderous love of Jesus sing his mercy and his grace in the manions bright and blessed he prepare for us a place when we are all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus we'll Sing and Shout to Victory while we walk the pilg pathway clouds will over spread the sky but but when traveling Days Are Over not a shadow not a s when we all get to heaven what a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus Will Sing and Shout the victory let us then be true and faithful trusting sering every day just one glimpse of him and Glory will the TOs of Life repay when we all get to heav What a Day of rejoicing there will be when we all see Jesus we sing and shout the victory onward to the prize before us soon his Beauty will be home soon the Burly Gates will open we shall share the streets of gold when we all get to heaven for a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see Jesus Will Sing and Shout the victory when we all get to heaven on a day of rejoicing God will be and we all see Jesus we sing and shout the [Music] victory amen praise God my dear friends uh today we heard a lot about uh the Holy Spirit and you know when I was kind of preparing this topic I'm like what are the characteristics of the Holy Spirit and what I noticed is that a lot of the Bible passages it spoke about the helper and uh we heard this morning how the holy spirit is the helper and how it helps us in our life and we we also heard this morning how the holy spirit gives us the power to overcome and I think these are all important aspects of our spiritual journey is that the holy spirit is here to help us to overcome you know and um today my my topic is going to be how the holy spirit is our daily life coach you know just like any teams that um that we see be it basketball or football or soccer you know each team has a coach right and those coaches they're not teaching their team how to lose they're teaching their team how to win you know and so they're they're teaching out would say uh players to to do certain techniques um to to um I would say improve daily um uh practice that's a way we can improve daily practice they they teach us to make the right decisions on the field you know to make the right I would say uh plays to win and and so when these I'll say uh coaches get you a game they are ready for their opponent they've worked I'd say all week every day to win and they're not there to lose and my dear friends when we accepted Jesus Christ in our life the holy spirit is training us to win he's not training us to lose when when hard times are going to be coming our way he's not uh I'll say teaching us to um to be weak he's teaching us to be strong he's teaching us to make the Right Moves In Our Life to overcome and so what's the point I say of our spiritual life at the end of the day you know like it's not about how we live or how many friends we have but it's to win when Jesus comes for us to be worthy called his child and I would like for us to open up to John chapter uh 14 verse 26 John Chapter 14 verse 26 and I just kind of want to show you one of the uh characteristics of the Holy Spirit so over here it says but the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all the things that I said to you so so what's interesting over here it says that he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all the things that I said to you so the the holy spirit is a teacher in our life you know I've I've came across people Christian people that that's sin and they say well the the scriptures doesn't say anything about it well I'll say one thing the scriptures also doesn't say that when a car is um maybe going 60 M an hour to to jump in front of it the scripture is not going to detail every single thing in our life that's why we have the Holy Spirit it's that teacher that teaches us not only what's written in the word of God but also what's not written here but to make the right decisions in in our life because a lot of Christians make very horrible decisions I'm not even talking about this world that doesn't know God because we can already see the result of what's happening around the world this is a world without God the church this is the world with God in sometimes in the church people make wrong decisions that hurt even us and so the holy spirit is not just a helper he's also a teacher he's there to teach us how to walk our daily walk when we wake up there's certain things that that um you know certain decisions that we need to make it can be as simple as should I go to to Oregon it can be that simple or should I go to mall or um just maybe hard decisions like what career should I choose it doesn't always have to be something spiritual like it can be our daily life he is there to help us in our daily life to make the right decisions so when we make those decisions we see the fruit of our labor and we can say thank you Lord that I made the right decisions like in these aspects of my life the problem is that uh Christianity has I would say become like full of the Bible they're they're tired of hearing it they want to make their own decisions they don't want to run to God for every decision because some decisions that they want to make in life they know God is not going to approve so they make their own decisions you know it's funny um because I don't know if you guys know this guy his name is uh Kanye West well supposedly not long ago he said you know he accepted Jesus into his life and so all the Christians are like yes now we can listen to his bad music you know so so so everybody's flocking to him you know he's doing all these church services and stuff like that and and like every week you you know he's flying around to different states and everybody's flocking there and um there's this a Christian website it's it's like a News website and it's like kane west says that I like I don't see eye to eye with uh Jesus you know I can't entrust like myself all the way to him because some of the decisions that I want to make he doesn't approve you know like something like that but you know that's the state I would say of many people going to church you know for them to come one time on a Sunday is is hard but the thing is that when we are living a spiritual life we are surrounding ourselves with the things that will help us and if the holy spirit is not active in our life it's going to be hard for us to come one time on a Sunday it's going to be hard we have no strength we don't want to and that's how we know that our holy spirit is weak it's crying it needs to get strengthened it needs to be holy we need to be holy just like our God is at the end of the day you know how the Bible says like be holy for I am Holy the holy spirit it's trying to achieve that in each one of our lives to make the right decisions so we can be holy just like as God is so he's a teacher that wants you to pass he's a coach that wants you to win and if you're not winning then you have to check out your spiritual life why am I tempted and I can never win I always fall what am I doing wrong in my life that when a Temptation St before me I am too weak to overcome we have to check ourselves how is the state of my spiritual life and that's when we start working like Lord you know strengthen me please God strengthen me give me that strength to overcome that I wasn't just I'll say a Sunday you know um that that I wasn't just there on Sundays but I was there for you every day a Christian Life is the one that's with God every day you know let's open up to to Ephesians chapter 4 verse 30 Ephesians chapter 4:30 and over here it says and do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption and do not also I would say uh grieve is like hurt do not hurt him how can we hurt or grieve the Holy Spirit you know I can say a whole sermon on this but I'll make it short when we disobey the teachings of Christ because the holy spirit is there to to strengthen us so we have like strength to overcome to help us to make the right decisions when we gave our life to to Jesus we said Lord From This Day on I choose to be with you I choose to obey you and that makes the Holy Spirit happy because the holy spirit is working it's working you know like we have this love that that we never had and then after some time I'll say uh passes we get weak uh lazy cold and the Holy Spirit is still trying to to uh convict you Tim you got to read more Tim go and spend some time with me go and spend some time with the Lord it doesn't mean that I'm just like sinning like but it's it's the time that Tim it's time for you to go and get your spiritual strength but you know sometimes it's just so hard you make all the excuses and then when it's time you're too tired and you go to sleep and then the Holy Spirit the next day convicts you again Tim go spend some time with me but then you're making all the excuses again and then you go to sleep and then day after day it no longer speaks it's silent pushed out of your life it's grieving because it wants a relationship with us is grieving because we we said to Jesus we want to spend our life with you we were sealed for Redemption that day we were sealed but then after we became lazy so my dear friend how is your spiritual life are you seeking God you know like we we all have a walk I'll say like everybody has a different walk you know and you know sometimes when you come home we're tired you know and we just sit on the couch or just sit somewhere and just spend our time on useless things and it's okay to to just relax but we want don't have time to strengthen our spiritual self we're dying then when Temptations are going to come we're going to constantly fall because we are weak we are weak so I encourage everybody to seek God because the holy spirit is the one that wants to be that teacher so you can make the right decisions in your life so you can be successful F so you can be healthy so you can love it wants all of that for us but how are you spending your time with God may God touch our hearts and speak to us and encourage us instruct us like strengthen us where we are weak and bless us in our life let's pray amen and standing on our feet we're going be singing a song called Love Lifted [Music] [Music] Me I Was Sinking Deep in sin far from the peaceful Shore very deeply stay with them singing to rise no more but the master of the SE heard my despairing cry from the waters Lifted Me Now save him [Music] I Love Lifted Me [Music] Love Lifted Me when nothing else could down Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me when nothing else could lifted me all my heart to him I give ever to him I clean in his blessed presence live ever his prise is [Music] sing Love so mighty and so so true merits my soul's best songs faithful Ling service to to him belong Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me else could out Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me when nothing else could down Love Lifted Me souls and D look above Jesus completely saves he will wisht you by his love out of the angry ways he's the master of the sea F his soul your savior wants to be be save [Music] today Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me when nothing else could help Love Lifted Me Love Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me when nothing else could help Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me when nothing else could help Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me Love Lifted Me when nothing else could have Love Lifted Me [Music] okay praise God my dear friends um so it's going to be time for announcements um so next week we have a missionary group that's going to be here but they're going to be here for the morning service so let's give them a warm hospitality is that is that the right word okay uh so that they're welcome and that they they enjoy our church and that they have a good time here um also it's not that warm yet but it's getting there and so we decided that today after service maybe at 7:00 we will go to Settlers Park they um there's stuff for the children but also there's these uh quarts called pickle ball and uh um if you guys want to join the youth is excited they already got brackets and they're saying they're going to beat me so I guess we'll see um but I'll say good luck um but yeah that's that's all the announcement for today and Mark we're up and then uh Doug will be our last preacher [Music] Sweet Hour of Prayer sweet of prayer that calls me from a world of care IDs me at my father's throne and all my wants and wishes known in seasons of distress and grief my soul has often found relief and of escaped the tempter snare by thy returns Sweet Hour of [Music] Prayer Sweet Hour of Prayer Sweet Hour of Prayer thy Wings shall my petition bear to him whose truth and and faithfulness Engage The Waiting souls to bless and since he BS me seek his face believe his word and up trust his grace I'll cast on him my every care and wait for the Sweet Hour of Prayer Sweet Hour of Prayer Sweet Hour of Prayer my I thy call consol share till from Mount pus lofy Heights I view my home and take my flight this robe of Flesh shall drop and rise to see the Everlasting price and Shout while passing through the air farewell farewell sweetart all pray praise God what a beautiful day it is outside this is the day the Lord has made you know I always liked Sunshine but I also like wind I like a little bit of wind I like thunderstorms I like rain I grew up in Portland rains every day I like snow so let us turn in our Bibles to the book of second Timothy Chapter 2 and we're going to look at verse 15 and let's all stand for the reading of God's word while you're turning there bear in mind that this is God's holy word it is written by the Holy Spirit um these are the words of Paul which means they're the very words of Jesus second Timothy oh I'm in 1 Timothy second Timothy 2 verse 15 be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a Workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth let's pray father the word of truth how can we speak the word and Truth how can we how can we walk in the truth how can we be aof to God when we're such Fallen corrupt Sinners when we have the corruption of sin in our hearts all the time what does it mean be diligent what does it mean how can we live live up to this command from your word we ask this question and may we ask for your send your Holy Spirit to illuminate this to us and uh teach us here today and speak to us speak oh Lord amen you may be seated so this is the second letter of Paul to Timothy Paul left Timothy at a town called Ephesus and it's a place like this lots of um Sinners lots of corruption lots of [Music] um worldliness lot of worldly people um there were people at that particular Fellowship teaching some strange doctrines some different doctrines some false doctrines Paul asked Timothy to instruct certain people not to teach these different doctrines and uh Paul and Timothy were close now if Paul is speaking the words of Jesus Timothy is us because these are the p pastoral letters uh these are Jesus's words to his church that's first and 2 Timothy Titus and philimon and uh it's well recognized by theologians I don't think there's a theologian worth his salt who doesn't know that these are instructions on how to do church so we can listen and gain something because we have this service we've just been going a few months since kind of since the start of the year we have this service and uh we want to know how to do it we want to know how we can do it better so Paul says accurately handling the word of Truth how can we even do that there's so much here a Workman who does not need to be ashamed I am ashamed I'm lazy anyone here who's not lazy yeah I thought so how about anybody here have Corruption of sin in your heart anyone uh failed to work hard so this word diligent it has several synonyms and one of them means simply busy that means you're active it means you're working all the time that means you're in God's word all the time hungry for that another synonym is zealous that comes from a Greek word which I've forgotten now but that word zealous Zeal it means to boil to boil with Hunger there's another word which you don't hear Too Much Anymore called ardor and that means to burn with fire for something and then there's enthusiasm that's also a synonym for diligent enthusiasm comes from Greek inos in God I didn't know that till I looked it up enthusiasm means in God it says here be enthusiastic it says boil with passion and burn with passion and be at it and be busy oh yeah and I forgot to mention it doesn't just say work hard it's asking you to be something now do you know anytime okay let me start it this way Genesis 1:26 let us make man in our image and he created man in His image We Are Made In His Image that means god is never going to command us to be something that's contrary to him or contrary to his will contrary to his wishes he is going to command us to be like him so if it says be holy why for I am Holy be perfect for I am perfect when it says the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace God is love he's asking us to be like him when he's telling us to be patient he is the patient the most patient of all patient people hum I not humans he is the model of patient perfect patience when it says be diligent God is the Perfection of diligence he never stops never sleeps I always thought it was interesting that God is in a perfect state of work and rest at the same moment how is that how can you be in joy and wrath simultaneously how can God Rejoice at the all the babies that are born every minute in the world and grieve over all the deaths that happen every minute it's because God is infinite and infinitely perfect but when he's asking us to be diligent he's asking us into a state of being be diligent doesn't mean do some stuff he's asking this to make this part of our being to be a diligent person I'm lazy person you know this reminds me of some of the hilarious quarrels that I have with my wife one of the most funny ones we have is is uh is I say that uh I think I like cookies more than she does and she says no I like cookies more than you and we quarrel back and forth but another one could be I think I'm lazier than you oh Oh no you're not lazier than me this means those of us who are lazy those of us who are Unfaithful those of us who are not working hard at God's word do need you know we need to self-examine and and it says it straight out I love the Bible because it speaks the truth for just a minute let's go to the book of third John I'm going to keep my thumb in in that passage third John we have a um we actually have a um shower curtain that has some Bible verses on it and this one's on there 3rd John chapter 1 starting in verse three he says I rejoiced greatly when Brothers came and bore witness to your truth that is how you are walking in truth I have no Greater Joy than this to hear that my children are walking in the truth so if we're going to walk in the truth we have to look at ourselves we have to look at the proper causes of things you know a football team watches tape on a game or a soccer team or a baseball team or a basketball team but they look at tape on the game and if they have an accurate assessment of what really happened why did we win why did we lose if they an accurate idea they have a chance to get better if they have a false idea that's not going to fix you know it's like you have you know a broken starter in your car so you take a baseball bat to the windshield it's the false cause right I remember one football team I remember I think it was Oregon state boisey state was going to play Oregon State and someone had come up with the idea aidea that boisee State football had such a winning record because of the blue Turf and there was a wealthy Patron over there in uh whatever City Oregon state is in Eugene somewhere around there and uh he offered to have the foot their practice field painted blue so that they could practice on a blue field and Chris Peterson was on uh on the news and he said uh I was glad to hear it that's right where we want that thinking that why we win is because of the blue Turf it's a f it's a fallacy of a false cause so we have to walk in the truth we have to see what it is what is causing things we have to see first ourselves the actual key to this passage be diligent to present yourself appr proof to God oh that's the key isn't it it's not what do you think of me do you approve of me it's does God approve of me God knows how much I didn't study this week he knows how much I watched YouTube this week we can't lie to God there's a place in Psalms Psalm 4 if if you have your Bible let's go there Psalm 4 it's right near the bu the beginning in verse two it says how long will you love what is worthless that's like a n through my heart because I know it's true I know I do love some really worthless things why do I do that there's an answer it goes back to Genesis chapter 3 mankind fell into sin we have this corruption in our heart you know once somebody a preacher I heard a preacher say that uh the devil doesn't just come into town and steal everything in sight what he does is he goes into the store and he changes all the price tags he makes valuable truly valuable things seem worthless and really worthless things seem valuable are we not guilty of loving worthless things and here's the thing the next line in that how long will you love what is worthless and aim at Deception that's it we aim at Deception but God is Not deceived we put on our Sunday clothes God is Not deceived he knows our heart he knows where we fall short be diligent to present yourself approved to God God brothers and sisters we stand before God even right this moment there's nothing we can hide from him but what we can do is we can ask him to grant us repentance right here in 2 Timothy 3 um I'm going to say it's right in the 20s why am I not seeing it anyway it says that repentance is if anybody knows that where does it say the bonder servant of Christ uh is not quarrelsome but able to teach longsuffering um with gent Oh chapter two even closer than I thought did I say Chapter 3 The Lord's oh this translation says the Lord's slave must not be quarrelsome but kind to all able to teach patient when wronged with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition if perhaps God May grant them repentance leading to the full knowledge of the truth me we ask when we go to pray let us ask God to grant us repentance repentance is a gift repentance is not our idea we don't want anyone to know our faults repentance is a gift from God and it's a blessing somebody said once which is better to insist that you're right or to be right see as soon as you repent now you're walking in the truth now you are right now we can be right present yourself approved to God you know it says that in many other places it says that in Ephesians 522 it's instructing wives and husbands it says wives obey your husbands as unto the the Lord not because he's a great guy but because the Lord commanded it it says husbands give yourselves up for your wives as Christ gave himself up for the church it's saying servants obey your masters as unto the Lord you know what that's saying it's saying if you're in prison wrongly let's say you're falsely accused and falsely convicted and you go to prison it's saying be the model prisoner because you're not there for them you're there to the Lord you're presenting yourself approved before God and that's true in all things first Corinthians 10:31 says whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do do all for the glory of God do all for the glory of God so he's commanding us here not to present ourselves approved to one another but unto God there are lots of things we do that we approve of that do not please God if we use AI to write our Ser part of our sermon and stand here and read it that does not please God we are not able to deceive God if we cheat on our homework that does not please God if we spend more time on the internet than we spend in God's word what are we communicating To God Be diligent to present yourself appr proof to God as a Workman who does not need to be ashamed accurate ly handling the word of Truth and in the King James it says rightly dividing the word of truth I love that because that's definitions it's saying it is this it's not that it's dividing what is the difference between things if we go to Hebrews it's only a few pages away chapter 4 it's talking about scripture verse 12 this is heavy this is worth a whole sermon right here for the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of Soul and Spirit of both joints and Marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart wow the division of Soul and Spirit that's a distinction we need to be able to make they're not quite the same thing they are synonymous yes in some definitions but there's a definition where Soul and Spirit is slightly a different shade of meaning and we have to rightly divide that we have to understand that so that we don't quarrel about it as a church so there we go God is calling us Jesus is calling us to change who we are and become like him to become diligent diligent in what diligent in this in rightly handling the word of Truth it matters how we handle the word of truth let's pray amen and I'm going to be reading from Acts 20 verse 35 and here it says in everything I did I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive and if the Lord has put on your heart to give today to anyone who might be in need that you know of uh May the Holy Spirit move you and we're going to be singing a song God how great thou [Music] art oh Lord my God when I in awesome Wonder consider all the works thy hand has made I see the stars I hear The Rolling thunderer th power throughout the Universe displayed then seems my soul my savior God to the How Great Thou Art how great [Music] thou then SS my soul my savior God to thee how great thou how great th when through the world and Forest Glades i w and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees when I look down from lofty mountain grandor and see the BR and feel the gentle bre then sings my soul my savior God to thee How Great Thou Art How Great Thou Art then sings my soul my savior God to thee how great thou are how great thou and when I think that God is son not SP send him to die I scarce can take it in that on the cross my burden gladly [Music] bear he bled and died to take away my sin then sings my soul my Sor God to me how great thou How Great Thou Art then s my soul my saor God to the how great [Music] great and SS my soul my savior God to the How Great Thou Art how great thou and sings my soul my savior God to thee how great thou are how great [Music] thou praise God my dear friends Well Service is already over uh does anybody have any needs today we heard good messages and brother uh Doug thank you so much he's going to be back next week also um so he has this topic thing which we're going to all come and support and listen and also learn from but let's pray Lord God we thank you Lord for this evening that you gave us Lord God may this message Lord today Lord God do its work in our hearts Lord and in our lives God that daily Lord we wake up God to always put you in our life Lord God in priority and to always to diligently Lord God God read your word learn your word Lord and use it in our life God may you uh bless each one of us here in Jesus name we pray amen Our Father in Heaven hallow be your name your kingdom come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we forgive for those who sin against us lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from the evil one for your kingdom your power and Glory forever are yours amen be blessed