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“Our Sanctification and Fellowship”

Lee Tosti
01/05/25 - Sun AM

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This morning, scripture reading will be from the 12th chapter of the letter to the Romans.

Uh, to give a little bit of context here, Paul begins the chapter, uh, by admonishing the Romans and of course the Christians, the brethren there, but by extension to us as well, uh, by the mercies of God to present our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Uh, and beginning in verse 203, Paul gives, uh, an idea of what that looks like in practice.

So the word of God beginning in Romans chapter 12, verse 3 reads, For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly as he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not all have the same functions.

So we, though many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them if prophecy and proportion to our faith.

If service in our serving.

The one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, and the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

Let love be genuine.

Abhor what is evil.

Hold fast to what is good.

Love one another with brotherly affection.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal, but be fervent in spirit.

Serve the Lord.

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

I was told to do 2 things.

When I got up here, The first thing was to turn on my lapel microphone.

I hope it's on.

The second thing was to tell somebody in the back that I want complete control.

Once upon a time in my reading, I came across something.

True and profound.

I'm gonna share this with you in the hopes that we can all learn and grow from it.

This is what I read.

Life is as unpredictable as a grapefruit squirt.

Being somebody who eats a lot of grapefruit, I immediately recognized the truth.

That is contained herein.

This is somewhat humorous, somewhat lighthearted.

And that's a way to kind of Soften the edge, break the ice, get us going.

But what should not be lighthearted.

which should not be humorous.

And what should not be unpredictable is what happens in this hour that we have all assembled here.

And I am glad to see, and I have been built up by the reverence that you have had for the word so far, uh.

The traditions that you follow are not unpredictable.

They're right here.

We do the same thing up in Rhode Island just in case you were wondering.

We read from the same words also, so the rest of this sermon will not be me quoting things about grapefruits at all.

I would like to begin our discussion talking about our sanctification and fellowship, and you might turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

Before I get there, uh, it would be prudent and appropriate for me to say just a very little bit about the work in Rhode Island.

Uh, me talking about the work in Rhode Island actually is not what builds you up.

These words build you up, so we're gonna get to these words very quickly.

But as far as the work in Rhode Island, um, I would say it is my perspective that the work there is growing.

In the last year or maybe a little bit over, there have been 6 people who have immersed themselves, uh, have been immersed into Christ, and some of those, uh, stories of faith are just mind-blowing and awesome.

And if you read some of my reports, you'll know some about them.

If you want to know more, then please come talk to me, my wife, even some of the children will be able to expound on that.

Uh, also, some of the existing members who have been Christians for 30 years, they're growing.

Uh, from my perspective, most importantly, I know I'm growing.

Uh, I'm, I'm being stretched in this work more than I ever have been.

I think that's my perspective.

Uh, I think God is saying Lee needs to stretch a little bit.

And in theory, as somebody who has a lot of influence, Uh, naturally in their role as an evangelists, as they grow, then the others will grow with them.

That's part of God's plan.

Uh, I will say this finally, your participation, your fellowship in the work by sending us a check every month.

We are grateful for it.

We need it.

The the work up there, they want to support us fully.

They are not yet able, but that's, that's the idea.

If you want to know more about the work, please ask, call, send smoke signals, whatever you got to do.

Getting back into our sermon here.

So you, I think, are in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

The first part, we're going to talk about our sanctification and our fellowship.

By the way, this will be simple.

That's what you get from me.

That's what will be in these worlds.

I'm gonna illustrate it with this wonderful illustration that I have put together with the help of Apple.

Uh, there's the world here, the people in it.

The gospel goes out into the world.

It's like broadcast from God's perspective, broadcast into the world.

This is not a sermon about how to be saved.

That is a sermon that you need to hear, that is a Bible study you need to have.

If you are unfamiliar with that, talk with the people who are here.

This is not about that.

This is about more the result of the gospel going out into the world.

When the gospel goes out into the world, people hear it, they have the opportunity to hear it.

Some of them accept it.

And what God does is he separates them.

He chooses them.

That's who we're gonna talk about this morning.

323 Thessalonians chapter 2.

Verse 13, Paul says, we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord.

Because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation, through sanctification by the spirit and faith in truth, lot in there.

You could spend a month right there.

Verse 14.

It was for this, he called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 14 talks about the process.

The gospel goes out.

And some people accept it again, that's not the focus of this discussion.

Verse 13.

It talks about this group of people.

This is what we're focusing on, more the result of the gospel call.

It says there are two words that I'm focusing on.

It says, God has chosen you.

So, this group of people who accept the invitation become chosen.

And these are words that imply they are special.

There's now a special group of people.

This word chosen implies that.

Uh, verse 13 also uses the word in the New American Standard, through sanctification.

And whatever version you're reading out of, The root idea of that word is God sets them apart.

So, uh, you're still in the harvest area.

Is that where we are?

Yeah, we're, you're still in the harvest area.

So physically, you're here in Northern Alabama, but spiritually, God has taken you and he said, you're over here.

You're special.

You're chosen, you're special.

Again, this is simple.

You all know this.

To add another nuance to this special group of people, John will say, In First John, Uh, verse one, initially talking about the work of the apostles and prophets and preachers of the first century, what was from the beginning?

What we, so this is really the apostles.

What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

John is remembering back to his days with Jesus.

He saw him, he heard him, he touched him.

And the life was manifested, we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

What we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also.

So that, here's the result.

In order that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

All right.

Verse 3 talks about several categories there.

The first in importance is fellowship with God, the Father, Jesus, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

That's the most important thing.

You are called to have a relationship with Him.

But it also said That you too may have fellowship with us, initially, the apostles, and also, by extension, everybody else that has had fellowship with the apostles and with God and with Jesus.

You all know this already, right?

If you have fellowship with God the Father and with Jesus, then you have fellowship with others.

This word here is implying, this is special.

This is a group, a collection.

This is a fellowship of people who have fellowship, if you will.

You remember Jesus talks about a specific family.

in Mark chapter 3.

In Mark chapter 3, some, his mother and his brothers, they come and they stand outside where he is.

Mark chapter 13 verse 32.

A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you, talking about his physical family.

We get that.

Verse 33, answering them, he said, Who are my mother and my brothers?

And you see, he's doing something here.

He said, yes, I understand biologically, they're my family.

But there's something more important.

Verse 34, looking about at those who were sitting around him, he said, behold, my mother and my brothers.

Not literally, not physically, not biologically, but spiritually.

And then he explains, for whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.

What you have here is Jesus saying, yeah, there's family, and then there's family.

And this family is what's important, the spiritual family.

People who obey me, my disciples, those are my family.

What we're talking about today, I'm kind of setting the plate to get into what we're really gonna talk about.

Right now, all I want to emphasize is something you already know.

We are a special family.

We are sanctified out of the world.

We become special, we become part of a special group of other special people.

By God's grace, I, I'm not special inherently, that's not what's going on, but by God's grace, as I reply to his answer, to his, to his call, I become special.

And the last passage, Mark chapter 10.

Uh, I'm sorry, not the last passage for the whole summit, just in case.

Mark chapter 10, uh, you remember the rich young ruler says, I'm not gonna give that up.

Peter says, we've given up everything, Lord.

Verse 29, Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age.

Houses and then brothers, sisters, mothers and children, and there's more, I get that.

But again, this is the family that we are talking about.

The gospel message goes out in the world.

Some people say, I want part of that.

God separates them, he chooses them, and they come into a fellowship with others who are special.

This family, all I've done so far is acknowledge what we already know.

Emphasize the existence of this group of special people, of which we have partnership, participation.

Which we consider important also.

All right.

I hope I've made the point clearly enough.

This brings us to part 2.

We'll spend most of our time here.

Part 2.

Our relationship, which we just talked about.

And our responsibility.

Our relationship with each other implies a responsibility with each other.

That's where we're going here.

You can turn to 143 Corinthians chapter 12, and we'll see this very clearly, I hope.

1 Corinthians 12.

Verse 4.

All right.

So, way back in the day, and even many parts of the world, even now, um, they would think wrongly that if there is some special gift, that implied its own God.

There's a plethora of gods out there, and if somebody could do something fancy, well, it was a specific God attached to that.

They come out of that heathen idolatry and Paul here is correcting them.

The spiritual gifts of which there are many manifestations come from one God.

There's the context.

Verse 4.

There are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit.

And there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord, there are varieties of effects of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons.

Verse 7 is where we're going.

But to each one, those are God gives to each saint, to each Christian, to each person.

To each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

All right.

Paul's gonna begin something here.

Another lovely illustration up on the board.

There is the group considered as a whole, as a unit, as a single unit.

And then the same people, there's the group considered distributively, the individuals.

Like right now, we are an assembly.

Made up of every individual here.

What Paul is going to do in this text is bring out 4 things I'll suggest.

The next what we'll talk about is how the group as a group, impacts the individuals.

We together right now, doing God's things, God's ways by faith, are impacting every individual in here.

We're all impacting each other.

Also, the individuals impact the group.

All right.

So this is a bit like Sentence structure and writing a sentence.

The sentence informs the meaning of the word in the sentence, and the words within the sentence inform the meaning of the sentence.

You ever notice how that goes back and forth like that?

That's what's happening.

That's what we're talking about.

The group is impacted by the individuals, and the individuals are impacted by the group.

Let's build on, Paul's gonna be talking about, you'll see it.

Also, the individuals impact the other individuals.

Forget about the group.

In other words, we, after, after 10 11:173, I guess it is, amen. Amen.

11:15, you all go your separate ways.

You are still going to be impacting each other, or you should be.

That's what the point of this discussion is, right?

So, yeah, we're impacting each other right now, but just because we say amen doesn't mean our impact and our influence on each other stops.

What we're talking about here is 4 things.

Relationship, interdependence, impact, and responsibility.

Those 4 things over and over.

Paul is going to talk about this.

He's gonna talk about it from every direction you can think.

His repetition.

Emphasizes importance.

Well, Paul, why are you talking about this so much, so many different ways?

Well, part of it is so that Lee can get it through his thick skull.

And the other part of it is because this is important, that's why we're talking about it.

All right.

Verse 7, to each, you'll see this repeated through here.

To each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

Some of yours will say all.

I read out of the new American Standard, by the way, 1995.

There you go.

Uh, you can think of the sum of the body.

Verse 8.

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, to another, the word of knowledge according to the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by one spirit and to another the affecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another distinguishing of spirits into various kinds of tongues and another interpretation of tongues.

But one and the same spirit works, all these things distributing to each one individually, just as he wills.

Uh, a quick disclaimer, I am convinced that these miraculous gifts are no longer available to us.

God could, but he does not.

Uh, that's another discussion.

But the principle that we see, this interdependence is here in this text and remains now.

Verse 12.

For even as the body is one, and yet has many members, you see the interplay, there's a group, and there's individuals of the group, and they impact each other.

And all the members of the body, and they are many, are one body, so also is Christ, or that is Christ's body.

For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many.

Paul has just said the exact same thing over and over and over and over again to emphasize, and now we need to understand that this is important.

All right.

So we've established, there's relationship, there's interdependence, there's impact, and there's responsibility.

To each one is given the manifest of the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

If you have something that you can use for each other, y'all better be doing it.

That's the point.

All right.

Having established this relationship, he's now going to go into a discussion about how we value each other.

And it'll begin with undervaluing yourself.

If the foot says, because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body, it is not for this reason, any less a part of the body.

And if the ear says, because I am not an eye, It is not for this reason, any lesser part of the body, and now he'll, so that's, don't think that way.

And here's the explanation.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be?

If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

But now God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as he desired.

So it's an analogy.

Look at the human body, and yeah, we understand that there are uh lesser roles, but not lesser importance.

That's the idea, right?

So, we look at the human body.

Paul says, look at your body.

And this is how this group here and Christ's body as a whole operates.

Verse 18, God has placed the members, each one of them in the body just as he desired.

If they were all one member, where would the body be?

But now there are many members, but one body.

The point being, don't undervalue your influence and your impact in the body.

That's what the point is, summarized.

Imagine there's a husband and wife and they have children and they're successful.

They've got a nice house, everything's going well, and the wife, she stays at home, she raises the children mostly and the husband goes out to work wherever he goes out to work, and she says one day she says to him.

You make the money.

You've bought the house, you buy the groceries, you buy the clothes, you buy the car, you buy the insurance.

And on and on it goes, and she says, I just don't think I'm very valuable here.

What would he say to her?

You would say, you know, that's right.

I, I do go out, I buy all these things, right?

I work so I can do all these things, but don't you ever, ever, ever think that because we have a different role, you are less important.

In fact, your role is staying at home, raising these young children, even in the raising of the children, the man brings a different talent set than the woman does, and you can't get rid of that woman.

You can't, yes, we have different roles.

That doesn't mean we're less valuable than each other.

Instead, we need to learn to value each other.

And here I am, I'm thinking, oh man, I'm just, I'm a foot and not a hand.

And Paul says, get that kind of thinking out of your head.

We are, we have a relationship.

We depend on each other.

We impact each other.

We have a responsibility.

Get to work is the idea.

In verse 113, we have the opposite.

In verses 15 through 20, we have somebody who is A little too humble.

I'm nothing.

In verse 21, we have somebody who is lacking a little humility.

And the I cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

You see that, here's somebody who says, oh man, I'm, I'm, I do a lot around here.

I sure do.

In fact, I do so much that I don't even need you.

Paul says, get that kind of thinking out of your head.

In fact, it cannot say, I have no need of you.

The opposite of that is, I must say, I need you.

I cannot say I don't need you.

Well, you get rid of all those double negatives and everything and you come up with, I need you.

In fact, in verse 22, on the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are numeric standard uses the word necessary.

Uh One smart person says, This word implies meeting a need, a need.

You're needed.

I'm reminded of Genesis 1 and 2, the husband needs the wife and the wife needs.

The husband, another word by another smart person indispensable.

You're indispensable.

It doesn't matter who you are, you're indispensable unless God takes you, in which case he understands it's time to go.

But otherwise, you're indispensable.

So not only is it not, I don't need you, but it's, I can't live without you.

So that's what we're thinking about each other right now.

I don't know if you were before now when you walked in, but when we read the text, we understand we need to be thinking about each other.

You're indispensable and, and, and so am I. Another smart person says compulsory.

And another one uses what's translated as without which nothing, without you, we're nothing.

And who's that talking about?

That's talking about the hand, the foot, the ear, the head, the mouth, the eye, all of it, without which, nothing.

All right.

So we understand this principle.

The principle is we have a relationship and in a properly functioning group, we are all contributing.

We're all impacting.

We're all involved.

We're all responsible for and with each other.

All right.

Another text, Romans 12, says the same thing.

By the way, I'm just gonna repeat myself now.

So if I die, You've got the lesson.

In Romans chapter 12, Verse 3, and this will sound, it's Paul writing about the same thing as he just wrote about.

Romans 103:3, for through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think.

You see, this is the person who says, I don't need you.

No, you need to stop that.

Everybody needs everybody.

But to think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

For just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of 11 of another.

There it is.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, and the new American standard will supply, your, there's no verb in the original, we don't speak that way.

We need a verb, so we're gonna get a verb here.

Each of us is to exercise them accordingly.

And we understand accordingly.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 220, it was, For the common good.

What what do you have?

What can you do for each other?

If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith, if service and his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, or he who gives with liberality, or he who leads with diligence, or he who shows with mercy, uh, mercy with cheerfulness, or your version will say something there.

But the point is, In my sphere of influence.

There are other Christians.

There ought to be, or I need to move my sphere of influence, right?

In my sphere of influence, there are other Christians, and I need them.

And they need me By the way, I'll make this point here.

So far, these verses are not talking about the church assembled.

They're just talking about Christians.

Yes, they're talking about two local bodies.

They're talking to local bodies, but this would also apply to somebody.

There might be somebody who's not a Christian somewhere that is not a member of your local church, but you still influence them, and they still influence you.

You have a special relationship with this group, but the theory that the principles we're talking about apply everywhere.

If there's a Christian in my sphere of influence, I need him or her.

And she or he needs me.

There are several words in here that will drive this point home.

In verse 232, the new American standard, be devoted.

To one another in brotherly love.

Give preference to one another in honor.

And an alternate translation is outdo one another in showing honor.

You see the, the amount of energy they're putting into this?

I need you.

I'm gonna try to outdo you, or at least I'm gonna outdo myself yesterday.

Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, you read the text again.

All of this is saying we need each other.

Which brings us to the lingering question that should be in the back of your mind already, and it is this.

Am I involved enough?

God has separated me.

He's made me special.

He's put me with a family of special people, and he said, now you guys go be special together cause you need each other.

Am I involved enough with those in my sphere of influence, even this local body?

Hebrews chapter 21.

Hebrews 214, I, I, I've made it through two passages saying the same thing.

We're going to have another, a third passage here saying the same thing again.

Hebrews 217:211.

There's the warning.

Take care.

There's the who brethren, our family.

There's the what that there be.

Not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

Anybody in here want to fall away from the living God?

Nobody raises their hands.

So we need to, I wonder if God has given us something, a tool maybe to help us not fall away.

Look in the next verse.

Verse 103.

But, Here's the what.

Encourage and the who one another.

You see, our relationship, our interdependence, our influence, our impact, our responsibility to each other.

Encourage one another.

This is a prescription, by the way.

Day after day, a doctor, how, how often do I take the pill?

Day after day?

How long, doctor, for how long do I take the pill?

As long as it is still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Now again, I'll suggest to you that the author in here is being emphatic.

When he says, encourage one another, day after day.

I would suggest, I might be wrong, if you have a better, if you think I'm incorrect, let me know, but I don't think this is being literal.

Every day, you must make a phone call to somebody.

Every day, you've got to go to somebody's house.

Every day, you've got to write a letter.

I don't think, remember, pray without ceasing, for example?

You ever try that?

You'll end up praying for more, if you try that while you're driving.

You, you understand the point.

Pray with, we, there are some things that are put in there for, let this be your character, habitual.

This is what I believe this is saying.

And the emphasis.

Drives home the importance, day after day means a lot.

We have this relationship.

God put us into it.

We, we depend on each other.

We must influence and impact each other.

We have a responsibility to do this a lot, which again, causes us to ask the question.

Am I involved?

Could I use improvement in this category?

Cause I know it'll help me because God says it will, and it'll help others also.

Another passage, Hebrews chapter 210.

This is actually the first passage, which directly has to do with all these principles.

Applying to this very assembly right here.

All these other passages talk about just me and my life.

Me and my life, I've got to be the kind of person who has influence, who is impacting other people.

I need to be involved.

And yes, I need to be involved here also.

Hebrews chapter 225 verse 23.

Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

Hebrews 3.

It is about, it's from the negative.

You don't want to fall away.

So encourage each other.

Here it's, you do want to do love and good deeds.

I want to be fruitful for the Lord, so encourage each other.

Same idea.

Encourage one another, uh, stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

Not for seeking our own assembly together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more.

As you see the day drawing near.

Again, there's the duration.

Doctor, how long do I take the pill?

Well, as long as the day is drawing near, you're taking the pill.

All right.

Here it says That when we assemble right now, we are impacting.

If we're doing God's things, God's ways by faith.

We are impacting and influencing one another.

You are fulfilling your responsibility.

Keep your finger here in Hebrews 10, just for a few, I'm gonna come back here, so don't, don't, don't worry, I will come back to Hebrews 10.

Right now, 1 Corinthians 14, another passage about when they're assembled.

In 1 Corinthians 17:26, what is the outcome then, brethren?

When you, I'm in verse 26.

When you assemble, that's the same word, by the way, different form, but same word of Hebrews.

Not forsaking our own assembling together.

OK, when you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

And then it says, let all things be done for edification.

Spiritual bodybuilding.

You want to be built up.

Every single thing you do in this assembly must be done.

If it's God's thing, God's tradition, done by faith, you will be built up.

And again, there's this relationship, there's this influence, there's this impact we're having on each other.

This word edification.

Occurs all throughout this chapter.

You can go and read that on your own.

Only emphasizing again if you're assembled.

What you do will impact you.

You ever notice there are different kinds of assemblies that we have?

Well, in theory, although there are different kinds of assemblies, they all end up with us being built up.

That word edified turned to Acts chapter 20.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten Hebrews.

In Acts chapter 20, in verse 32, Paul says, I commend you to God.

And to the word of His grace.

Which is able to, and here's our word again, edified in 1 Corinthians 14.

Let all things be done for edification.

Here's our word again.

The word is able to build you up.

So, yep, when we're assembled Sunday morning for the Lord's supper assembly, we're building each other up through the word.

But that's not the only other, the only time.

Anytime this church assembles and does anything that is God's tradition, but right here, we're talking about studying our Bibles.

So this applies to the Bible studies you're going to have sometime today, I assume, or maybe not, maybe next week.

But this applies to when you get together and open your Bibles.

You will be building each other up.

Am I involved?

Am I here only for the Lord's supper?

Or am I also here for the Bible study?

Uh, this next passage is free.

In Acts 17, the folks in Berea.

So I'll suggest you turn there and listen carefully.

The folks in Berea.

It says in verse 11, these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica.

Now, listen carefully as I read this.

For they received the word, which we know, it builds them up.

With great eagerness, examining the scriptures every Sunday and sometimes on Wednesday also.

Yeah, some of us are smirking because that's not what it says.

It says daily.

And so, if this church right here has, can you believe it, an assembly besides this one, and they're opening these words?

Who's gonna benefit from being at that assembly?

Every person in here.

In fact, if even one of us is missing, and I understand we have life.

I get that.

But the principle is, if even one of us is missing, guess who's missing out?

Everybody. That person and all the people they would impact.

That's the principle.

So back here in Hebrews chapter 10, finally, in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some.

Did you hear those words?

Some are habitually Not impacting, not influencing others when God has set us up to get together and impact and influence others.

How can it be?

This brings us to part 3, which will be relatively quick.

Our resolve.

Or maybe I should say, I'll resolve.

We sing the song, I am resolved no longer to linger.

Sometimes it might be more appropriate to say I am not resolved no longer to linger.

Because each of us has to make up in our mind, this is my family.

This is the family that Jesus has set up on the earth.

He died for this family.

I want to get to heaven.

We want to move the ball down the field.

We're having a reasonable conversation with each other about our family and our influence, our impact, our dependence on each other.

We are co-dependent.

And Christ's What he expects of us.

Let me close with some things that I have seen get in the way.

Oh, by the way, somebody said it's hard to build a house with somebody who isn't helping carry the brakes.

Our congregation, we have goals.

We want to be pleasing to God.

And then On Wednesday night, half of them aren't there.

It's hard to build a house.

With somebody who isn't helping to carry the bricks, some unnecessary obstacles.

Maybe this is not a complete list.

Maybe you see yourself, others.

Education I'll put that number one.

By the way, these are not things that are sinful.

I have a friend though.

Who admitted to me after he stopped coming to church for a long period of time because he chose a college that was far away.

He said to me that education has become his idol.

Those are his words.

He admitted it.

School sports.

Programs, clubs, entertainment, work.

Over time You need a house But do you need that house?

Etc. etc. A member of the church where I'm from.

His name is Dave Sutherland.

He would tell you this.

He was a principal at a To paying school, public school in Massachusetts.

And he was having stress one day, so much they thought it was a heart attack.

He goes to the hospital.

Friday morning, he goes to the hospital, stressed.

He thinks he's having a heart attack, and the only thing he could think about the whole time was what about Monday's class period?

What's going to happen for Monday at school?

And people were telling him.

You've got to calm down, Dave.

You've got to, you've got to settle down.

And he said, but I'm making such good money.

And meanwhile, everybody around him is telling him, you don't need the money.

He never went back to that job.

At least he woke up and saw the truth.

Exhaustion We fill our lives with all the wonderful opportunities.

They're beautiful opportunities.

We fill our lives with them.

By the way, God does say that He has given us every good thing to enjoy.

He has given us all those.

This is all about balance.

That's what this is about.

We fill our lives with everything so that when so and so is having a reading or a potluck or whatever it is, we don't make it because we're tired.

Family obligations, I quote from a text message received.

My family will not be at services tonight.

We have a family commitment.

Let me change one word and you'll hear.

This whole sermon in one word.

My family will be at services tonight.

We have a family commitment.

Do you hear the difference there?

Hobbies, misplaced priorities, too busy, misunderstanding responsibility to each other, underappreciating one another's value, neglecting each other's selfishness, laziness, bad attitudes about each other, left first love, grown lukewarm, love grows cold.

Same point from different passages.

Doubt, lack of faith, don't feel like there's a place.

Sometimes it can be awkward, right?

We're not all gregarious and outgoing, not all of us.

I read a shirt recently.

Introverted but willing to talk about Jesus.

Yeah, there are times when It feels awkward to be here.

It doesn't feel quite right to be here, but willing to give it a try.

One more try, one more week.

I feel useless.

I don't feel like it makes a difference.

By the way, a lot of these are simply from lack of faith.

God says go together, do my things my way, by faith, and you will grow.

That's what God says.

Don't see the need or feel that it's beneficial.

Don't think that I will find the support that I need.

I, I'm hurt by somebody.

I don't trust somebody.

I'm upset with somebody.

I'm bitter at somebody.

I'm embarrassed.

I've never been challenged.

That's what today is about.

I've never been challenged.

No, you know, I've been thinking actually I haven't been thinking these things, not specifically, but you put into words what I've been thinking.

Never challenge self pride.

I don't need you.

I don't need you.

I don't need to go be with you.

Deprived of involvement.

Distracted habit, lack of resolve and commitment to God.

To self And to others and then it's just the world, right?

That's what we're talking about.

These are unnecessary obstacles.

This is life, but we don't need to let them get in the way of our resolve.

Somebody said, no one can transform his character while holding to the same old stock of ideas and ideals.

When we change our mind about each other and what God is doing with us here with our family, that will impact what we think about on the way to work, how much time we spend at work, when we come the work we choose, when we come home from work, when we get home from work, what we do with our family, all with new ideas about I am resolved.

To impact and influence those who God has given to me.

We are a special people.

You are special people.

We are a special group.

Thank you for your good attention.

There's an invitation if you are a Christian and you have lacked resolve.

I've been there.

And you would like the prayers of the congregation.

If you're a saint and you have sinned in some public way that the congregation needs to know about, if you are not a child of God and you want to know about this special group of people, you want to know more about that.

Then we invite you to come forward and let us know as we stand and sing the song that's been chosen.