Living a True Christian Life

Good morning and welcome to CCC. We are so glad each of you are here this morning we also want to welcome those worshipping with us via the live stream on our website this morning as well. As always today’s message will be posted to our Community Christian Church youtube channel this week at some point. If you want to revisit it that is the place or if God lays someone on your heart who needs to hear this message you can direct them there as well. There is a link on our website under media then sermons. I would ask you subscribe to the channel while you are there so you can be notified when we post the sermons or other content.

Let’s Pray

START OBS

Last week we looked at living in the world and not being of the world. Our main scripture was Romans 12:1-2 today we will pick up back in Romans 12 looking at what a true Christian life must look like.

I don’t know if you have heard about or seen any videos coming out of Kentucky where God is moving in a great way on the campus of a college where revival has been ongoing for like 10 days or more.

God is alive

God is on the move

I believe we are headed for a worldwide revival unlike anything we have ever experienced before

I believe just like with the children's and youth Sunday School and eventual youth ministry here at CCC that God was moving and he would either use us or use someone else but those kids would be ministered to…I praise God you answered God’s call and we are ministering to them as we speak.

I think that this revival is the same way. It is coming and the question is will we be “God here we are send us” or will it pass us by because we are too focused on the world and our personal situations and circumstances

The church has been too quiet and too soft when it comes to how a Christian must live and church discipline is no where to be found.

Shame on us.

That is not how God has called us to live and because of that He has to send His Spirit to move on a college campus because His people are too busy or too afraid of offending someone to truly live the life of true Christians.

I pray this morning is whatever you need it to be. For some of you this will be a mostly encouraging morning because you are walking in the Spirit and are standing firm upon God’s Word

Others it may be a very convicting morning that requires you to surrender some attitudes or beliefs or behaviors or whatever to God at the altar here in about an hour or so

Still others may feel the Holy Spirit calling you into a true relationship with Jesus Christ because you realize this morning that you are a sinner

the wages of that sin is death

and that when you die you will go to hell

and the Spirit has shown you that Jesus lived a perfect life,

willingly died a perfect death to pay for your sin

and stands at the door of your heart asking to come in and give you the gift of salvation and freedom over sin and death

All I know is God said preach so I am preaching. Praise God for his provision.

Romans 12:9-21

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“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good

First and foremost you may have noticed that I read out of the KJV again this morning. I just have been feeling called back to the KJV, not saying that it is the ultimate authority on scripture because it us a man’s translation just like any other translation but I just felt God calling me to be back in it so here I am.

There is so much meat in this scripture and I will do my best to bring to you what God wants you to hear this morning.

In looking at this section of scripture I see 4 separate parts or instructions.....duties if you will for us to understand and apply that we must carry out as Christians

Personal Duties vs 9

Family Duties vs 10-13

Duties to others vs 14-16

Duties to enemies vs 17-21

I want to dive into these 4 areas of duties.

Personal Duties vs 9

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Romans 12:9

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“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

I wanted to deal with key words to help us understand and then apply these duties and scriptures.

Love is agape love…God’s Love....sacrificial love..the kind of love that makes the cross make sense!

Dissimulation undissembled, i.e. sincere:—without dissimulation (hypocrisy), unfeigned.

The ESV uses genuine here

The NKJV uses without hypocrisy

They all fit.

As a Christian your love must be sacrificial. Your love must be sincere. It must be genuine. It must be without hypocrisy.

Christians can’t do something out of love and expect to get something in return that is not sincere or genuine or without hypocrisy

You also can’t expect someone to love you in spite of your flaws and sin and then refuse to love others because of their flaws and sin

John 3:16

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“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

II Peter 3:9

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“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

That is sacrificial love

That is genuine love.

That is sincere love.

That is love without hypocrisy

As a child of God

As a Christian

As one who understands what Jesus did on the cross

and as one who has accepted the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sin and freedom from sin and death

You have not other option but to love with the same kind of love you experience in Jesus

This is not a suggestion........this is God’s expectation and your spiritual worship in light of God’s great love and mercy and grace.

Abhor to detest utterly

Websters 1828 defines detest as To abhor; to abominate; to hate extremely; as, to detest crimes or meanness.

It also gave this example: The primary sense of testor is to set, throw or thrust. To detest is to thrust away

This is a strong word.

This should result in strong emotion

This is exactly how God feels about sin so guess what as His child it is also how you must feel about sin

There is no gray area here

There is no fence to sit

There is no room for interpretation

There is no room for your or my opinion

Detest, hate extremely, to thrust away

evil hurtful, ill, i.e. diseased; but especially (morally) culpable

websters 1828 defines culpable Blamable; deserving censure; as the person who has done wrong, or the act, conduct or negligence of the person. Also Sinful; criminal; immoral; faulty.

Evil. Sin. All that is wrong in the world.

Notice today you are told by the world and even some inside the church God’s grace covers your sin

God is a loving God so he is okay with your sin

Grace does cover your sin but at a huge cost, Jesus dying on the cross so therefore you must hate sin as God hates sin

God is a loving God but God hates sin so therefore so must you

If something causes you to sin you must get rid of it

attitude

thought

behavior

circumstance

situation

addiction

pride

Maybe even who you surround yourself with

If it is evil you are to detest it and thrust it away,

even if you like it

even if you enjoy it

even if the world says it is a disease

even if the world says it is who you are

even if the world says it should be celebrated

If God says it is evil you are to abhor it. Period end of story

That probably means that some of you if not a lot of you, including me, have things that must change in our lives because of this verse.

Detest, thrust away that which is evil

Detest, thrust away sin, even your sin, especially your sin

Cleave to glue or to join

Good benefit, good(-s, things), well

This is just as strongly worded here as well

If it is good.

If it benefits or is well.

If it is of God you are to glue yourself to it. You are to be joined to it.

Hang on to it with every fiber of your being

Matthew 13:44

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“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.”

That is what it should be like to cleave to what is good.

100% effort.

Sold out.

Give all that you have to hang on to it to be joined to it.

That is your personal duty as a Christian.

Love in a way that points people to Jesus

Hate evil. Detest evil. Thrust evil away from you. Have nothing to do with sin

With your entire being all that you have and all that you are cling to God and good.

That takes total surrender

That takes total submission

That takes living under the control of the Holy Spirit

That take all that you have and all that you are

Family Duties vs 10-13

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Romans 12:10-13

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“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.”

Again I want to use the Greek to drive our understanding and therefore application of these duties as well

Be kindly affectioned this phrase means (cherishing one's kindred, especially parents or children); fond of natural relatives, i.e. fraternal towards fellow Christian:—kindly affectioned.

Cherishing your family

For some of you that is hard.

Your kindred make it hard to cherish them.

I have news for you.

You and I also make it hard for them to cherish us at times as well.

God is bigger than those emotions that are stopping you from cherishing your kindred

In dealing with men through encounter one thing many realize is that they cherish the wrong things.

They cherish their golf game and buddies

They cherish their position and status

They cherish their bank and retirement and investments accounts

They cherish their jobs

They cherish lots of things but their family is not one of them

God brought me to this realization at encounter and it broke me to think of everything I put in front of not only God but Melody and the boys

Cherish your family.

That includes all your brothers and sisters in Christ!

Now you might say pastor you missed it 11-13 doesn’t deal with family....yes it does because as I said your family also includes your brothers and sister in Christ both inside this body, CCC and all around the world

Slothful means just that don't be tardy or late or lazy

Business despatch, eagerness, earnestness:—business, (earnest) care(-fulness), diligence, forwardness, haste.

Fervent to be hot (boil, of liquids; or glow, of solids), i.e. (figuratively) be fervid (earnest):—be fervent.

in spirit a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively, a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit

serving to be a slave to (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary):—be in bondage, (do) serve(-ice).

Lord=God and Jesus

Our English language leaves so much out and loses so much in translation

One would think from the English not lazy in business…honoring God with our work which is true by the way we are told that in Colossians 3:17 but that is not what is meant here

We are not to be slow in our eagerness and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ

I love it when I haven’t seen someone for a while and you can tell they are eager to see you what a wonderful feeling that is

Fervent....we talk about being fervent all the time but have no idea what it means.

To be hot, hot enough to boil liquids....water boils at 212 degrees F. That is hot

You are to be that hot towards the Spirit....

towards God…

towards Jesus....

towards your brothers and sisters in Christ

This is one reason I say if you truly accept Jesus your life has to change because you are to burn so hot in the Spirit of God you are boiling!!!!!

Serving means being a slave to God.

We want to be the slave master not the slave.

We are also called to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ so we are to be slaves to them as well.

Being a slave to God means we must truly die to ourselves and put God and others, especially brothers and sisters in Christ first

Matthew 6:24

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“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”

You are a slave to God if you are a child of God.

You cannot serve two masters.

You cannot serve God and money

You cannot serve God and you

You cannot serve God and the world

You cannot serve God and sex

You cannot serve God and drugs

You cannot serve God and whatever you put before him and serve

Period end of story.

Some said Amen but all should be saying amen because amen means I agree.

This is God’s Word people you don’t have room for anything but agreeing.

You cannot serve, be a slave to God and something else

it is either or

You are either a slave to God or a slave to something or someone else

12-13 talk about doing life together

Rejoicing in hope

Rejoicing to be "cheer"ful, i.e. calmly happy or well-off; impersonally, especially as salutation (on meeting or parting), be well:—farewell, be glad, God speed, greeting, hail, joy(- fully), rejoice.

Hope to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstractly or concretely) or confidence:—faith, hope

What is our hope.....

Jesus is our hope…

Rejoice that Jesus won and by accepting Him as your personal Lord and Savior you also have victory over sin and death!

Patient in tribulation

Patient remain; figuratively, to undergo, i.e. bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere:—abide, endure, (take) patient(-ly), suffer, tarry behind.

Tribulation pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.

remain....undergo…bear…don’t run away

Don’t look for a way out

Don’t push it off on someone else

No

stay…

undergo…

bear the pressure the anguish the burden the persecution the tribulation the trouble

What happens on this earth doesn't matter

it is temporary

because of the hope we have in Jesus we can be patient in tribulation

continuing instant in prayer

continuing instant to be earnest towards, i.e. (to a thing) to persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place) to attend assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to (as a servitor):—attend (give self) continually (upon), continue (in, instant in, with), wait on (continually).

prayer prayer (worship); by implication, an oratory (chapel):—X pray earnestly, prayer.

Lifestyle of prayer and worship to God.

Constant.

Continual.

Nonstop

Your first middle and last go to

This is not just prayer for you but for others

distributing to the necessity of saints

distributing to share with others (objectively or subjectively):—communicate, distribute, be partaker.

necessity employment, i.e. an affair; also (by implication) occasion, demand, requirement or destitution:—business, lack, necessary(-ity), need(-ful), use, want.

saints sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing), saint.

Most of the time this is taken as giving to those in need, especially Christians but is beyond that

Share,

communicate,

distribute

employment

or a demand

or a requirement

or destitution

Your to give whatever is needed to your brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you have a job opening look to fill it with a Christian

That may make the hr people upset or be against man’s law but God says distribute....hire Christians if at all possible

Look out for each other

Given to hospitality

Given to pursue (literally or figuratively); by implication, to persecute:—ensue, follow (after), given to, (suffer) persecute(-ion), press forward.

Hospitality hospitableness:—entertain stranger, hospitality.

This is more than just opening up your home when it is convenient for you or serves a purpose for you

No this is a lifestyle…

pursue,

ensue,

follow,

given to press forward to entertain strangers and be hospitable.

If someone new comes to church they should have several offers to go eat afterwards

In our Bible studies and gettogethers if a need is perceived there should be several of us trying to meet that need even before it is expressed

Take care of those around you

Turn this world upside down by having being given to hospitality

Duties to others vs 14-16

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Romans 12:14-16

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“Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.”

Bless to speak well of, i.e. (religiously) to bless (thank or invoke a benediction upon, prosper):—bless, praise.

Persecute to pursue (literally or figuratively); by implication, to persecute:—ensue, follow (after), given to, (suffer) persecute(-ion), press forward.

curse to doom:—curse

Want to talk about living opposite of the world

speak well of those who pursue you to hurt you

Speak well of them not curse them

When was the last time on social media that you spoke well about someone who spoke evil of you?

that is what you are called to do right here....speak well…bless them not curse them

Rejoice with them that rejoice

This is the same rejoice as earlier.

When someone is cheerful we are to be cheerful.....

when someone is glad we are to be glad....

the problem is when someone else is rejoicing we can be prideful and resent them because we wanted that rejoicing to be about us

Weep with them that weep

Weep to sob, i.e. wail aloud (whereas G1145 is rather to cry silently):—bewail, weep.

This is more than just sad.

This is mourning.

Notice this is also how we are to respond to sin, especially when we sin and realize it we are to weep

You must be present in other people’s lives.

Building relationships with them experiencing what they are experiencing

Laughing with them

Crying with them

Being present

Doing life together!

Be of the same mind one toward another

Mind regard, savour, think.

You are to think alike.......

You might be thinking pastor Josh I am married I know how hard it is to think like my spouse let alone all my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Well good thing you don’t have to do it, The Holy Spirit does it for you!

I Corinthians 2:16

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“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

You and I, as Christians through the Holy Spirit share the mind of Christ.

When we are seeking Christ and God’s Kingdom we will always think alike because we are submitted and surrendered to God and He is supplying our thoughts through the Holy Spirit.

Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate

High things lofty (in place or character):—high(-er, -ly) (esteemed).

condescend to take off together, i.e. transport with (seduce, passively, yield):—carry (lead) away with, condescend.

men of low estate depressed, i.e. (figuratively) humiliated (in circumstances or disposition):—base, cast down, humble, of low degree (estate), lowly.

Don’t think about the rich or things that are considered esteemed

Think about

and be with,

transport,

spend time with,

go out of your way

for those who are depressed,

humiliated,

cast down,

poor,

homeless,

dirty,

stinky

Those who society casts away is who we should be thinking about and searching out to spend time with and help in any way we can

Duties to your enemies 17-21

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Romans 12:17-21

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“Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Recompense to no man evil for evil

Recompense to give away, i.e. up, over, back, etc. (in various applications):—deliver (again), give (again), (re-)pay(-ment be made), perform, recompense, render, requite, restore, reward, sell, yield.

Evil is the same evil as before....don’t give back evil for evil.....don't repay sin with sin

How many times do we do this.....someone hurts us so we hurt them…that is sinful and wrong!

Provide things honest in the sight of all men

Pretty straight forward be honest to all men all the time

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men

Possible powerful or capable (literally or figuratively); neuter possible:—able, could, (that is) mighty (man), possible, power, strong.

as much as lieth in you denoting origin, from

This is all about you not others.

Through the Holy Spirit you will be able to live peaceably with others which means it is your responsibility to do things right

To seek peace

To turn the other cheek

To not be offended by their words or behaviors

To not be mad at and hateful to them

To serve them

To pray for them

To love them as Jesus loves you

if they reject that and still attack you that is not on you that is on them but you keep living the way Jesus says to live!

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath

avenge to vindicate, retaliate, punish

Not your job to get even....let it go and give it to God.

How different would your life be right here right now this morning if you gave all of the vindication, retaliation and punishment you are trying to enforce upon someone else to God

How much freedom would you feel in your life

How much weight would be lifted off of your shoulders???????

God will take care of it.

God will vindicate you by retaliating and punishing them by sending them to hell if they do not have Jesus

If they have accepted Jesus then they are forgiven and free just as you are and you are to forgive as you have been forgiven.

You and I as Christians are to treat our enemies different

We feed them if they are hungry

We give them something to drink if they are thirsty

If they are naked we clothe them

We look out for them

We care about the spiritual not the physical so we treat them like Jesus treated us when we were His enemies

He was beaten and nailed to a cross for you and for me when we were his enemies.....He died for them

You must die to you

Die to your expectations

Die to your worldly thoughts and beliefs so that they may find Jesus.

That is what matters friends…it should break your heart that your enemies may have coals of fire dumped on their heads by God because they never were saved and are in hell!

That should matter to you much more than what they did or said

Don’t be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good

DO it Gods way and let Him handle it all.

I want to close with something I began with

For some of you this morning was mostly encouraging because you are walking in the Spirit and are standing firm upon God’s Word

Others it was a very convicting morning that requires you to surrender some attitudes or beliefs or behaviors or whatever to God at the altar here in about an hour or so

Still others may feel the Holy Spirit calling you into a true relationship with Jesus Christ because you realize this morning that you are a sinner the wages of that sin is death and that when you die you will go to hell and the Spirit has shown you that Jesus lived a perfect life, willingly died a perfect death to pay for your sin and stands at the door of your heart asking to come in and give you the gift of salvation and freedom over sin and death

All I know is God said preach so I am preached. Praise God for his provision.

The time is now and the choice is yours.

invitation