FOR THIS, (I HAVE) JESUS

Psalm 23                                                             

Pastor Rick Jackson

I. THE PSALMIST PROCLAIMED:

1. This is Personal [Ps. 1:1-2]

2. This is Protective [Ps. 1:3-5]

3. This is Perennial [Ps. 1:6] “all seasons”

II. THIS IS GOOD

1. This is Good in the Hour of Temptation [1 Cor. 10:12-14]

2. This is Good in the Hour of Need [Phil. 4:13, 19]

3. This is Good in the Hour of Loneliness [2 Tm. 4:16-17]

III. THE TRUTH IS:

1. This Truth is Continuing [James 5:7-11]

2. This Truth is Comprehensive [1 Pt. 5:7]

3. This Truth Cleanses [1 Jn. 1:8-10]

Warren W. Wiersbe Quotes of the Week

taken from the book "Be Faithful"

Law and Gospel go together, for the Law without the Gospel is diagnosis without remedy; but the Gospel without Law is only Good News of salvation for people who don't believe they need it because they have never heard the bad news of judgment. The Law is not Gospel, but the Gospel is not lawless (Rom. 3:20-31). [pg. 18-19]

How could a holy God ever save and forgive such a self-righteous sinner [as Saul of Tarsus]? The key words are "mercy" and "grace." God in His mercy did not give Paul what he did deserve; instead, God in His grace gave Paul what he did not deserve. [pg. 19-20]

If wealth makes a person proud then he understands neither himself nor his wealth. "But thou shalt remember the Lord they god; for it is He that giveth power to get wealth" (Deut. 8:18). We are not owners; we are stewards. If we have wealth, it is by the goodness of God and not because of any special merits on our part. The possessing of material wealth ought to humble a person and cause him to glorify God, not himself. [pg. 92]

It is possible to be "rich in the world [age]" (! Tim. 6:17) and be poor in the next. It is also possible to be poor in this world and rich in the next. Jesus talked about both (Luke 16:19-31). But a believer can be rich in this world and also rich in the next, if he uses what he has to honor God (Matt. 6:19-34). [pg. 92]

God chose us who trust Him as His elect (see 2 Tim. 2:10). [pg. 146]

God's speaker must be patient as he preaches the Word. He will not always see immediate results. He must be patient with those who oppose his preaching. Above all else, he must preach doctrine. He must not simply tell Bible stories, relate interesting illustrations, or read a verse and then forget it. True preaching is the explanation and application of Bible doctrine. Anything else is just religious speechmaking. [pg. 165]

The fact that a preacher has a large congregation is not always a sign that he is preaching the truth. In fact, it may be evidence that he is tickling people's "itching ears" and giving them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. [pg. 165]

PAUL’S LAST LETTER – SUBMIT TO THE BOOK

2 TIMOTHY 3                                                                      

Pastor Rick Jackson

I. FACING PERILS [v. 1-9]

1. A Characteristic of the Last Days [v. 1, Heb. 1:1-2]

2. Characters of the Last Days [v. 2-5]

3. Culmination of the Last Days [v. 6-9]

II. FREQUENTLY PERSECUTED [v. 10-13]

1. Be Known for Godliness [v. 10]

2. Endure for Deliverance [v. 11]

3. Live for the Lord [v. 12]

III. FURNISHED PROVIDENTIALLY [v. 14-17]

1. Children can Know It! [v. 14-15]

2. God Breathed It! [v. 16]

profitable for doctrine-                                  what to believe

reproof-                                                               what not to do

correction-                                                          what not to believe

instruction in righteousness-                      what to do

3. Men of God are Thoroughly Furnished by It! [v. 17]

PLAN AHEAD

GAL. 6:6-9                                                                          

Pastor Rick Jackson

Amos 4:12 ... prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

Luke 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

What is the underlying theme of these verses and many more like them? From both a positive standpoint and a negative one these verses teach the importance of planning ahead. Planning ahead involves some thought, some preparation, some activity but the rewards are generally well worth it. The Scriptures make it clear that a lack of planning ahead is careless, foolish and can even be damning. Think first of all,

I. GOD HAS PLANNED AHEAD!

1. Before there was the World there was the Word! [Ps. 119:89] For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

2. Before there was a Sinner there was a Saviour! [1 Peter 1:18-20]

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

Revelation 13:8 ...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

3. Before there was a Punishment there was a Promise! [Titus 1:2]

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

II. MEN SOMETIMES PLAN AHEAD

1. For Business [James 4:13]

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain

2. For Retirement [Luke 12:16-19] And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

3. For Life's Challenges [Luke 14:28, 31]

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? … Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

But my friend whether you plan ahead for business, pleasure or life's challenges or not there are three things for which you should definitely plan ahead and that brings us to our third point:

III. ALL SHOULD PLAN AHEAD

1. For the Soul's Redemption!

Luke 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?

James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

2 Corinthians 6:2 ...behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

2. For the Seeker's Request!

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

3. For the Saviour's Return!

Luke 12:40-43] Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

1 John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming

Question of the Week: Where did all the water go after the Flood? 🌊

From: Answers in Genesis <www.answersingenesis.org>

 

Get the latest science, Bible, and culture news from Answers in Genesis.

Latest Answers April 21, 2018 View in browser Is Pain Good? Pain raises some natural questions. Did God design us to feel all this hurt from the very beginning, even before Adam's Fall? And why does pain sometimes afflict people even after the root problem has gone away or when there is no obvious cause? Find Out More Where Did the Water Go? The short answer to this question is that our planet is called the "Blue Planet" for a reason! It's covered in 70% water, so the water from the Flood is still here, making up our oceans! But this raises the question: What did the world look like before the Flood? Get Answers Civilizations Review Updating and expanding the 1969 BBC production Civilisation, an epic series based on Kenneth Clark's view of Western European art and its reflection on the cultures it represents, the new Civilizations expands the focus to all six continents and further back in human history.  Read Review Gospel Reset by Ken Ham Christian values, traditions, and terms that were once common knowledge have become a thing of the past. In this video Ken Ham shares about his new book, Gospel Reset, which will help you understand how to effectively reach the lost with a message of salvation that makes sense. Watch Now Learning the Culture's Language It is vital for Christians to understand a massive problem we have in effectively communicating the gospel and the Christian worldview in our secularized culture. Learn More → Living in the Tension of Grace and Truth Schools that think biblically on "sex" and "gender" issues wrestle with how to live faithfully to God's Word while operating in a culture opposed to Scripture. Learn More → Bill Nye: Science Guy Airs on PBS and Attacks AiG For the first time, PBS aired a viewing of the Bill Nye: Science Guy movie that was shown in select venues around North America last year. Learn More → Flying Foxes Bats are amazing animals that display the unlimited creativity of our God. Learn More → Teach through the Bible in four years with this full-featured Sunday school curriculum for all ages. Get equipped to confidently share the gospel and biblical authority with this award-winning worldview magazine. Teach kids that the Bible is more than a dusty book of stories so they can trust its life-changing message of salvation! Copyright © 2018 Answers in Genesis, All rights reserved. PO Box 510 Hebron, KY  41048 view in browser

John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

A dear old man seventy-one years old held his hand for prayer and I talked to him following a funeral service. I asked him why he was not saved and he answered, "I don't know how!"
"Why, that is easy," I said. "Simply 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.'"
He began to weep and said, "I have heard that before, but I don't understand what you mean. I don't know how to believe."
After a moment of prayer God seemed to put on the tip of my tongue these words, "That simply means that God furnished the Saviour and you furnish the sinner."
He looked up to me startled and then his eyes lightened and he began to chuckle while the tears still ran down his grey, beard-stubbled face. "Well, I can certainly furnish the sinner, if He is willing to furnish the Saviour," he said. He claimed Christ as his Saviour and later came out publicly before men as a child of God. - John R. Rice

All of our failures are prayer failures. - John R. Rice

It is impossible for a Christian to be really revived, to get a fresh vision of the will of God in his life and a new and more abounding zeal to do the will of God without honestly setting out to obey Christ in this soul-winning matter. - John R. Rice

Bible evangelism, mass evangelism, that is, old-time revivals, are offensive to modernists who hope and believe they are out of date. The emphasis on sin is offensive to modernists who are not willing to repent. The emphasis on God's grace, on the blood of Christ as the only hope for sinners, is offensive to the modern infidel who worships man and believes in salvation by merit instead of saving faith. Evangelism is based on the authority of the Bible as God's infallible revelation. Such faith in the Bible is essential to Bible evangelism, essential to great revivals, but is utterly abominable to modernists. The voice of modernism, unbelief in the churches which says there can be no more great revivals in the historic and old-fashioned sense, speaks as the enemy of the Bible and as the enemy of New Testament Christianity itself. - John R. Rice

A young evangelist preaching in his third revival and seeing drunkards and other hardened sinners wonderfully saved, told me with great joy, "I have found out that if I can get people lost enough, I can get them saved!" Of course he meant that if he could get sinners to know how far they are from God, how terribly wicked their hearts, how fearful their ultimate fate if they do not repent, he can get many of them to flee to Christ for refuge and trust Him for mercy. - John R. Rice

Whatever the outward distress, God's people can seek His face and have His power. Whatever the human limitations, we can have revival. We can have revival when it means persecution and death for Christians. We can have revival when the government is wicked and anti-Christian. We can have revival when modernism is everywhere in the saddle. We can have revival, provided God's faithful few pay God's price and have His mighty power! - John R. Rice

The Bible is not simply to be the object of dispassionate, technical interest and investigation. It is not a museum curiosity! It is the sword of the Spirit which ought to be used to cut sinners to the heart. It contains the gospel, the dynamite of God which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. - John R. Rice

"FOR THIS I HAVE JESUS"

                                               John 15:4                                                           

Pastor Rick Jackson

Many years ago in a small church in Ireland a message was given in which the minister said that Jesus' words "Abide in me, and I in you," mean to simply say in every circumstance, "For this I Have Jesus," and Jesus will say," For This You Have Me."

While he was speaking, a telegram was delivered to the young pianist. It read: "Mother very ill, take first train home."

At the conclusion of the message she shared the telegram with us, and she added: "I have never traveled alone, but, ‘For This I Have Jesus. I must take a midnight train, but, 'For This I Have Jesus.’ I must cross the channel and make connections on the other side, but, 'For This I Have Jesus.' Then I take a long train trip to the south of England, but 'For This,' and all the suspense along the way, 'I Have Jesus'." As she spoke these words, we saw the Light of Heaven upon her face.

Several weeks later a letter came from her which was a song of praise. She wrote, "As I traveled that long sorrowful journey, I continued to say, 'For This I have Jesus,' and He answered, 'For This You Have Me.'”

"As I reached home my sister fell sobbing on my shoulder saying, 'Oh, if you had come ten minutes sooner you would have seen Mother who so longed to see you.' Instantly I looked up and said, 'For This I Have Jesus,' and He came between me and my sorrow, and vain regrets had no power over me. We had never had a death or funeral in our family, and they all depended on me for every decision. Acknowledging my ignorance, I said softly, 'For This I Have Jesus', and He gave me His wisdom for every detail. There was also His perfect peace for all legal matters that needed attention.”

"Now life has become joyous and victorious as in every circumstance I continued to say, 'For This I Have Jesus'.”

Consider Paul and Silas in the Philippian jail, beaten without cause, placed in the stocks, cruelly treated without a trial. Is there any doubt they said in effect, "For this I have Jesus,' and He said, "For this you have Me.”? And at midnight --- they sang praises.

Consider Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they refused to bow to an image even though a death sentence hung over them like Damocles sword. Did they not say. "For this we have Jesus" and did not He reply "For this you have Me"? When the king looked in the burning fiery furnace He saw four men, and the fourth, he said, "is like the Son of God."

Consider David as he faced the opposition of his brother, of the king, of Goliath himself. We know what he thought because the Scriptures tell us what he told that big galoot! He basically said, You come to me with sword and spear but for this I have Jesus! And Jesus replied in deed and er know what David knew, "For this you have Me."

Consider Stephen as the angry mob gnashed on him with their teeth after he preached unto them Jesus, he must have thought, "For this I have Jesus", and Jesus allowed Stephen to see Him standing on the right hand of God, was Jesus not saying in effect, "For This you have Me!"?

Consider John on the Isle of Patmos. All of his fellow disciples have died for the faith. Lonely, he stares out to sea but wait, it's the Lord's day, the weekly commemoration of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. John must have thought many time, "For this I have Jesus" and the answer must have come back to him, as surely as the waves breaking on the island, "For this you have Me." On this Lord's day he is in the spirit and the Lord Jesus appears to him and gives him a great revelation. It's not the revelation of St. John the Divine but rather it is

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

Consider... yourself

1. SALVATION - When you come to the realization that you are a poor lost sinner, knowing because of your sin you deserve to go to a devil's Hell -consider this. Jesus, God in the flesh, left Heaven's glory to be born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life, He died a substitutionary death on your behalf on an old rugged cross. He was buried but three days later He rose from the dead in victory proving He was Who He said He was and that He had accomplished what He came to do. Receive Him as your Saviour. Then you can say with every blood washed, Heaven-bound believer, For This I Have Jesus!

2. SANCTIFICATION - How can God use me, a sinner saved by grace? Say dear friend, "For this I have Jesus" and He will reply "For this you have Me!" 1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and, sanctification, and redemption:

3. SORROW - Here we are with heart breaking, how can we face the future, the world, the day at hand. Look up and say, "For this I have Jesus" and He will reply "For this you have Me!"

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

4. SITUATIONS UNKNOWN - "Pastor, you don't know the future." No, but I know Who does! "But you can't begin to know my situation." No, but I know who does.

Psalm 121:1-2 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. What do you suppose the Psalmist was saying in effect?

"... What is the circumstance in your life today that is beyond your control? Is it sorrow, sickness, suffering, fear, unsaved relatives, disappointment, discouragement, guidance, finances, misunderstanding, or another trial? You, also, can look into His face and say, "For This I Have Jesus," and He will say, "For This you have Me."

Luke 12:27, 28 Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Heb. 13:5-8 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

Story in italics taken from a tract published by the Gospel Tract Society, Inc.