Stand Firm!!!
How Firm A Foundation • Sermon • Submitted
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Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Isaiah 25:1–9 (ESV)
1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
OUR MESSAGE TODAY… 1Corinthians 15.51-58. [Page 962 in the pew bible]
OUR MESSAGE TODAY… 1Corinthians 15.51-58. [Page 962 in the pew bible]
I do want to start today by reading the scripture. It is very powerful. I want you all to put everything down and listen as I read...
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
This is a fantastic bit of scripture that has been used at 1000 or more funerals.
What makes this so useful at a funeral, also makes it useful for us... waiting NOT so patiently for the return of the Lord.
Paul is forever drawing us into the Gospel.
Paul is DRAWING us into:
Life of the Gospel
Language of the Gospel
The Likeness of Christ
The Life of the Gospel begins at the beginning of God’s creation and dealing with His people and carries continuously through the end of Revelation.
The Gospel was everything that God intended for the world. Let me remind you of God earliest dealings with Adam.
After he and Eve sinned they hid and needed a redeemer. God was there
9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
God of course knew where Adam and Eve where hiding. What he knew was that His plan for man, his creation was stained with sin.
The life of the Gospel always, always points us back to scripture.
The Bible is the beginning and end to ALL matters of faith and practice.
Notice the element of faith...
There are 321 verses in the New Testament alone that talk about Faith.
Here is a selection of them
10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
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26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
19 And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
There certainly is something about faith, in our language of the Gospel.
The Gospel should NEVER be used as a weapon or a way to marginalize or push any person aside.
The GOSPEL is for EVERYONE!
The life of the Gospel is “lived” everyday in everyone who has called on the name of the Lord!
The Language of the Gospel is LOVE!
There is a NOT a person alive today that has not experienced the love of God and the love of Christ. NO ONE!
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
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God sent His son… He really sent the second person of the Trinity to earth.
The only reason that he did that was there was NO ONE THAT MEASURED UP TO CHRIST.
God also saw the need of a redeemer, a perfect sacrifice, a once for all sacrifice
Romans 6:10 (ESV)
10 For the death he [Christ] died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
There is a common language that we speak as Christians. It is called
“Christian-eze”
It is very destructive when actually sharing the Gospel.
Every time we start talking to our neighbor, co-worker, friend and we fire off with
saved, accepted Christ, propitiation, sanctification, redemption, immutability, sanctification.
We have lost that someone… I have NEVER met someone that has been saved using 100 or more “Christian” words that we can use.
Do you remember the words that were used when you accepted Christ? As a 4 or 40 year old?
The LIKENESS of Christ
We have talked numerous times about our mirror and what we see when we look in that mirror.
When we first begin to follow we see only ourselves...
Jesus is barely in the picture… He sees us and will judge us based on what we know!
In 6 months, 6 years or 60 years when we pull out that mirror we hope that we can barely see ourselves because we have been transformed into the likeness of Christ.
17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
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Paul is DRAWING us into:
Life of the Gospel
Language of the Gospel
The Likeness of Christ
Our scripture today does those exact same things… let’s get started
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
This one of the many , many mysteries of the Bible.
I don’t understand all of the elements of the verses
The verses use lots of Christian-eze.
Most will think it is IMPOSSIBLE, but resurrection and being “changed” and being “imperishable” may have you confused… Just think about the person who has never encountered them before.
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53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
We will all die… unless we are here when Christ returns.
This change not just from death to life but from life to immortality is really difficult to get my head around.
What will we look like? Where will we be? Do we have Angel wings, what is the sequence of the last breaths the earth has to offer.
None of these questions are answered directly in scripture.
Does it matter if you have 100 pair of shoes, and a closet and 1/2 full of clothes
But to God, when he calls… it doesn’t matter.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
I really think this verse is seriously thumbing our collective noses at satan.
We will die… which is a victory for satan
The sting of death is experienced by those that have been left behind.
I was talking with a friend this week. He has a friend who is near death from cancer. He talked for a bit about why we are so sad when someone dies. If they are believers they are GOING TO HEAVEN.
IT should drive us to our knees, collectively. It should make us begin to live with the zeal of the Lord.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you God… For this victory! This victory was sealed and given to us on Resurrection morning.
Yes there is a resurrection coming for ALL. There will be an accounting of our lives with the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s Jesus Christ.
This is a Go, No-Go sort of thing. Christ has lived with us and hopefully for many of us Christ has lived in us.
Jesus will see right through all of our barriers, all of our self-constructed mountains. He will see to core of who we are
ARE YOU READY FOR THAT!
Every part of me… NO! I have so much work to do before I can meet Jesus.
I still and you may still have lots of garbage in your life that needs to be swept out and HE will make it perfect!
Last verse today...
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Beloved brothers
Be steadfast
Be immovable
Always abounding in the work of the Lord
Knowing in the Lord that your labor is NOT in vain.
You all… everyone of you here has a job, has a calling, has a ministry, has gifts that MUST be used
Let’s get with it and go to work!
The perfect way to start or re-start your life with a new focus and new goals is affecting the Kingdom of God…positively!
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