More Precious Than Gold

Title- More Precious Than Gold

Passage- Various

Attention- How many of you remember what you got for Christmas

How about last year

How many of you have ever recieved a life changing gift?

I believe that’s because life changing gifts usually don’t come in boxes...

Then after a few family changing events we started celeb

They are usually experiences

What if I told you that you already have been given a gift that has the power to change your life

Introduction

Saul wore a crown…for a while, and then he lost it

That crown was a gift…but he did not hold fast to the one who gave him the crown and did not watch out for himself while he wore the crown and so he lost it....

The crown was taken

Throughout the NT we are told that there will be rewards in heaven

-The crown of life…

-The reward may be great

-

-

-

And others....

Often this reward is referred to as a crown.

Saul wore a crown…for a while, and then he lost it

That crown was a gift…but he did not hold fast to the one who gave him the crown and did not watch out for himself while he wore the crown and so he lost it....

The crown was taken

What is the main driving point (CPS)?

Friends, in this life God’s Word is the crown we wear...

Why does the CPS matter, what is the consequence?

Of all the gifts we have or will receive none hold the power in this present life than the Word of God

God’s Word is a precious gift in that it gives us the answers to this life…it gives us instruction how to seek after righteousness…gives us guidance for this life

Before we go any further…if any of you do not have a copy of God’s Word, see me afterward and we will give you a free copy…or we can show you how to download a copy…but.....

This morning I want to take a quick look at two passages that deal with the precious gift of God’s Word

Transition

I. We are to hold fast (Rev. 3:11)

Explain

In this passage Jesus is speaking to the church in Philadelphia

He is boasting of their commitment to God’s Word and their unashamed stand for the Word of God

Because of this stand Jesus will stand with them in the hour of temptation

Bridge to today

There have been moments on the journey to where I am today that it was tempting to quit, to give in, that the grass was greener on the other side

You know what they say about the grass on the other side..it still needs to be mowed

When we decided to move and had to explain why we were moving...

During college when finals came…or that big project

Ordination

and other moments in ministry can tempt one to say…I give up, this is too hard...

But thats when we come to the end of ourselves and find that at the end of us is Christ

Thats when the walk of faith really begins...

Relevance

This is not jsut true in ministry...

Well it is, in the sense that we are all in ministry

We are all disciples

And in the sense of being sent with a message we are all apostles...

Why does this matter?

So when the going gets tough…keep your chin up because that is where you will find Christ

When Satan tempts you with that one sin…or any sin for that matter

When he brings up that past failure

That is EXACTLY when we need to look to Christ to hold us fast.

That is the key…

We say that we are going to hold fast…and it does take effort on our part

But the reality is that It is when we feel we can’t go any further that is when Christ will hold us fast...

He will empower and work through us to do what we cannot do on our own

Transition

But it is about more than just holding fast, secondly

II. We are to watch out (2 John 8)

Explain

In this passage John is challenging his readers in the area of doctrinal purity

To hold fast to the Word of God

To the truths found in it

This is the idea of the letter

There will be those who would deceive us and teach doctrine that is not found in the Bible.

So we need to be obsessed with the truths of God’s Word

Like that Packer fan you know…its three days since they lost their last game and they are already talking about the offseason and the upcoming draft and mini-camp and preseason

That is to be our mindset about the Word of God…to be obsessed with it

To devour it

To be like that Packer fan that subscribes to the newspaper and ONLY reads the Packer section

Reads every blog

Subscribes to cable TV just to keep track of the Packers

We are to be as obsessed with God’s Word

We ought to devour it

To seek after it

To make sacrifices to hear it and understand it

To love it and cherish it

Bridge to today

We need to know the God’s Word so well that when error comes we can spot it a mile away...

Football and the coach announcing the play to the offense and defense

If you know your task well enough and execute it properly it should always work…even if the other team knows the play

There is some truth in there we can apply to our spiritual lives

If we know the truth and know it well enough we should be caught by surprise less often by sin and Satan

I hear a lot of talk in our circles about how others don’t talk enough about certain things…the blood of Christ, the holiness of God; and I agree those are importnaty

But I think none of us talk enough about the reality of Satan, his lan in this world and his affect on our lives

Satan is real…he is referred to often in Scripture, He is a real enemy

We need to be prepared by looking out for him

One of the best ways to defend against Satan is to, as we saw in the first point, be obsessed with God’s Word…to immerse ourselves in it

Relevance

Our hearts are seeking satisfaction

It will find something it thinks will fill that void

We need to be filling our minds and hearts with God’s Word and saturating our lives with it’s truths

Why does this matter?

We are not neutral creatures...

We are always moving…kind of like a 5 year old…they never stop

You may feel like you are stuck but in reality you are still moving, just no the direction you want to go.

If you are not moving toward God and Christlikeness then you are moving away from him and toward Satan and this world.

Christ will empower us when we get to the end of ourselves…but we have to be on the same path as him...

We need to be in a position to see Him…to reach out for Him

Watching out for ourselves by saturating ourselves in the Word Of God will position us to be empowered by Christ

Conclusion

III. ( )

Explain

Bridge to today

We need to hold fast…we need to watch out…but most of all we need to place ourselves in a position to see Christ…to be able to call out to him and reach for him

Relevance

Why does this matter?

Conclusion

Challenge to act now (your part)…immanence

Challenge to act now (your part)…immanence

Maybe you are there this morning…if thats you then just bow your head and call out to him…or come forward in a moment when we close in song and we can have someone pray with you...

Visualize Audience Implementation

Jesus has given us a great reward…I believe that until we are with him this book is our precious gift...

We need to cherish it

Immerse ourselves in it

Allow it to saturate our lives

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes with me?

Closing Hymn