there's still a groaning that we'll have that perfect presence of God, that we'll have the change of our bodies from the terrestrial to the celestial flesh, that we'll be walking on the streets of heaven and we're not going to be too concerned about them being gold. They're just good solid streets that we walk on because those things aren't going to be so important anymore. It impresses us very much here, but not so much there. Not only they, but we ourselves, which are the first fruits of the Spirit, to even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies. It's not good for man to be alone. I'm looking forward to my wife returning shortly. I have a lot of happiness knowing that she's with Pastor Jerry today and in services with them and I'm sure that'll be a blessing going back and forth both ways. How many of you get to listen to Pastor Jerry once in a while on Facebook I find him and listen to him every so often and It's always a blessing I'm gonna ask you this morning to take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 10 Last night I Saw a little article that possibly the northern lights would be visible in our state And the line came down right to Portland and stopped. And I'm not sure if it made it that far. Zane and I went out on a pilgrimage to see if we could see the northern lights. And we did see some stars. There was probably too many clouds out. And I'm not sure about the electrical storm being big enough, but I saw some pictures taken October 12th at the Vista house where there's a line of purple and then green, and it's just beautiful. Still looking forward to seeing that at some point. And I believe God will let me see it. In Matthew chapter 10, and we're gonna look in verse 32, and the Bible says, whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. And he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give a drink unto one of these little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, barely I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." Look down through this and definitely you probably understood or had people that did not understand or believe the message of Jesus Christ. They did not believe salvation and over In Corinthians, the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish. I thought it was silly and wrong that you would follow and seek to obey and serve Christ. It says a man's foes shall be his own household. People said it not because of their difference of opinion or their difference of belief, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we come down to, he that taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it, and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it. I remember as a young man I had a lot of opportunities open in front of me. I had done a lot of things already and I had the call of God on my life and I recognized that and submitted to it. And there were those that thought that was a foolish and silly thing to do. That I could do better going into business, or I could do better setting up for myself in some way or other to seek to find my life. That I could end up with some of this world's goods. I had one person tell me that they were going to watch me and see if God blessed me or not. And their criteria was whether God gave me a home or not, a house of my own. And in that point in time, God gave me a house. And I believe he gave me a house to shut the mouth of that doubter. and the goodness of God, but here we're told to take up the cross. The cross is a burden. The cross is a symbol of death. The cross is also identified with our Savior Jesus Christ and a symbol of salvation. We as Christians look at an empty cross, not a cross with a Savior still on it, and it says that we're gonna have choices to make. And those choices start out with small, in-the-moment choices that we'll make. And it's the idea that we set aside something of our own, and we do something of Jesus, or the work of the ministry, or the cross, or the kingdom. So we set aside the idea of Galatians 2.20, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. When I'm living by faith, I'm not walking by sight. I'm walking by faith and believing in God's word. And a lot of folks who are very solidly rational and very reasonable and excellent thinkers, they'll look at some of the decisions that God will draw you to and they'll say, well, that don't make any sense. I think about the children in Egypt getting thrown in the Nile River. And I think that the natural inclination would be to keep the child as far away from the river as possible. But here is Moses' mother, building a little bulrush basket and pitching it with slime within and without, and putting Moses in there, and putting him in the river. It doesn't seem to quite make sense. Think about the Apostle Paul and Iconium when he and Barnabas, they had healed someone and they thought that they were the gods, Jupiter and Mercury. And they wanted to bring them in and treat them as those gods and Paul preached Jesus Christ to them and they became so angry that they took stones and they took them outside the city and they threw stones and they left him for dead out there. Now God raised him up. Now, probably all of us have been hit by one stone at some point in our life, or we've come down and hit a stone. I remember when I was very young, my brothers playing soldiers with me, and they were throwing stones at me, and they hit my head and cut it in such a way that my dad had to shave my head and kind of put it all back together. We've all been maybe hit by a stone once or twice. Maybe somebody hasn't. But when there's enough stones that have hit you that the presumption is that you're dead, and then God raises you up and gives you health and life, and you kind of limp away from that pile, it doesn't make sense to go back in the city again. I'd say, hey, where do you want a door? Because I'm going to make a new one. Let's get out of here. But the Spirit of God led him to walk back in that city. And he went back in and was successful preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. When Moses was told to pick up the serpent by the tail, it doesn't make sense. I was with a group of pastors, and the one pastor said to the other pastor, who happened to be one of my brothers, he said, your point of strength will be your point of weakness. And I understood clearly what he meant in a moment, and it was a wonderful, clear insight. In Proverbs 3, it says, lean not on your own understanding. It's saying the same thing there. Your area of strength will be your weakness. Because you'll be more apt to trust your experience. You're more apt to trust that you've been down this road a few times. You're more apt to trust, oh, I got this. And you will not lean on God. You'll think you have it in the flesh and you'll be in trouble. Now we come down to a couple verses here about receiving Christ and he that receives me has received the Father. And then we talk about a few things here, receiving a prophet, receiving a righteous man, and giving a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple. Today we would do everything in Jesus' name. It says, he shall in no wise lose his reward. I guess the question, to what extent have we received Christ? To what extent have we given our lives to Him? To what extent have we submitted our way? To what extent have we given Him control? To what extent do we not lean on our own understanding? To what extent do we acknowledge Him? And we all know somebody who believes that Jesus Christ existed and they think that they're saved on that alone. It's almost self-evident that Christ existed. God left us so many unfallible proofs. Amen? When we put our faith and trust in Christ in salvation, it's not that we acknowledge that He existed. And we acknowledge Hitler existed, and we acknowledge that Genghis Kong existed, and we acknowledge that Einstein existed, but we're not placing all our faith and confidence in them. We're not relying on them. We just recognize that there are some figures in history. When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, We are believing that He is the only way to heaven. We're abandoning everything else. We're abandoning any idea that we had some good work saved up, and we were going to use those points, and we have abandoned all ideas that there's a scale, and we're going to see how we did on that. We're going to abandon all ideas of keeping the golden ruler, the Ten Commandments. Of any works of righteousness which we have done, they all before God, when presented, are filthy rags. The filthy rags are the rags from the lepers. I had an interesting A bit of study on the lepers. It starts with a question. How many of you would like to live never having pain again? Sounds like a wonderful thing, doesn't it? Especially if you've been experiencing some pain. There's a book, Pain, The Gift That Nobody Wants, written by Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey. Brand was born in India to missionary parents, and he spent most of his life caring for people with leprosy. One of Brand's greatest discoveries was that people with leprosy do not have bad flesh, it just rots away. Actually, their flesh is healthy as yours or mine. The problem is blood flow is restricted to certain parts of the body and the nerve endings die. With the death of the nerve endings comes the inability to sense danger or pain to their bodies. The lepers live pain-free. The idea of, again, don't you wish you could be pain-free? Not when you realize that the absence of pain is the greatest enemy of the leper. Again and again they harm their body without knowing it, feeling no pain. Dr. Brand knew that lepers often went blind and he's discovering and finding out why. It's because their eyes never asked them to blink. didn't feel pain as their eyes dried out, and they went blind as a result. He solved the problem by surgically attaching the chewing muscles to the eyelids and teaching the lepers to chew gum. He was puzzled by the fact that lepers often lost fingers and toes overnight. He knew that they weren't simply disappearing into thin air, so he commissioned workers to observe the sleeping lepers. To the surprise of the workers, they found that rats would come in, nibble the exposed fingers and toes, and carry them away. And the lepers, feeling no pain, never woke to brush the rats away. Imagine the many problems. There was a doctor that worked on a sound system to sense pain for the lepers, and they would start to do a task, and they would, say, push too hard with their hand or handle something too hot, and the alarm would go off, and they would turn it off and continue the task. so that they were burning themselves, or they were applying too much pain and causing a contusion, or some sense of something that would end up injuring and damaging permanently their body. Anybody picked up something hot and set it down right away and get your hand under the cold water? I clap my hands a few times sometimes. But imagine feeling nothing and causing damage to your body, but not understanding it. Pain can be a gift from God. Pain is a gift nobody wants. When you call on someone who has no regrets, we call them a psychopath. They have no remorse, nothing that leads them to change. God gave us ability to feel pain physically and emotionally. He had no intention of us living in it, but he gave us the ability that physical and emotional pain would be barriers or stops in our life that would help us to understand that change in direction was necessary. Matthew 18 verse 1 And at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus saying who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receive with me. Now, we look at this, and the disciples are thinking of a hierarchy, and they're thinking of their position, and they all would like to have a position that was close to Jesus Christ. They saw him as the rabbi and the master. They saw him as God, and they're looking and saying, which one of us will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he brings a little child to them, And he talks about childlike faith, but he talks about humility. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The little child's not thinking about whether he's the greatest. He knows that he's way down the list. Now, some children don't know this, and they're not quite a blessing. I'll tell you that. But children that have grown up and have learned a bit and understand that the world doesn't revolve around them, they're just happy to be there, happy to be included. And he takes a child and says to the disciples that if they'll humble themselves as a little child, they'll humble themselves and not lean under their own understanding. They'll humble themselves and they'll not look for a position or hierarchy. They'll humble themselves and they'll submit and follow. They'll humble themselves and obey. A wonderful way of showing humility is obedience. So Jesus brings a child and says to the disciples that if they'll humble themselves as a little child, One, they'll be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, but they won't even have to worry about it anymore. It won't be their concern and their desire. Now, it is inappropriate that Christ is suffering and talking about going to the cross at Calvary, and they come with the very next question about which one of them is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They really didn't show a lot of sensitivity or care for their Lord nor understanding. In verse 6 of Matthew 18, but whoso shall offend one of these little ones, which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses will come. But woe unto that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, cast them from thee. For it is better for thee to enter into life whole or maimed, rather than having two hands or feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into the lake of fire. Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father. For the Son of Man has come to save that which is lost. I'll think he, if a man having a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And it so be that he findeth it barely ascended, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine, which went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. It's interesting, my mom always relishes and loves her position as a child of God. And she mentions it and she reminds herself that she's a daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that he is taking care of her. And probably more so as she has more time alone at the end of her life. Some young adults and older adults don't want anybody to look at them as a child of anybody. You're all a child of someone. We all have a mother and a father. And here we have the blessing and the opportunity of not just a mother and a father, but a heavenly father. And we're heirs and joint heirs with Christ and we're received into the family of God. Here we have Jesus, he came to his own, his own received him not, but as many as received him. I want to say to what extent, how far have you taken receiving Christ? And how much is it going to change your life? Is it going to change your direction and your destination? Or is it going to change your every moment and day? Are you saved for the big moment of judgment and eternity? Are you saved for every little decision of life that brings us closer to Christ? There was a fellow, John, and he had a family. He had a large family. There was 12 children in his family. His family was very poor. As John remembers it, they had never had their father eat a meal with them one single time. And it was because he was always working long days to feed his family. One day, John's father Father of 12 children. John was age six. He was tired of his life and the drudgery of things and he ran off with some other woman. Leaving his mother to care for 12 children. Here John is at six years old and through tears his mother tells him that she is going to put him up for adoption. along with three of his sisters. She told him she had made the choice because if she didn't, they would likely starve. She placed an ad in the newspaper in a nearby town, and within three days, a couple responded. The day finally came for John to leave. He said it was the worst day of his life. They were at the train station ready to say their goodbyes. He said, when the conductor reached down to take me from my mother's arms, I felt something die on the inside of me. His new family was very loving, very kind, but it was just not the same. John lived with a constant fear that he would one day be given away too. He grew into adulthood, finally went out on his own. He spent year after year absorbed in his work, trying to bury a deep hurt in his soul. One day something beautiful happened. In a moment of great discouragement, John visited a church, hoping to hear a word that would boost his spirits. Little did he know that his life would be changed forever. The preacher talked about how God loves to adopt people into his forever family. At the end of the sermon, he asked if anyone would like to join God's family. John raised his hand and then went to the altar. At last, the ache in his heart was healed. Jesus told him he would never abandon him. He would never send him away. After years of turmoil and pain, John felt loved and accepted. Now he had a security he had never dreamed possible. He felt the Lord saying to him, John, I know about the day at the train station. I know how you felt. And I've been waiting all these years to adopt you into my forever family. Back in Colossians chapter 2, starting in verse 1, For I would that ye knew the great conflict that I had for you and for them at Laodicea. For as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted in being knit together in love with all the riches of full assurance of understanding. To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This I say, lest any man should beguile you through enticing words. And though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Here's all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Here's the riches of full assurance of understanding the mystery of God the Father. They could take a human, a human who is wretched, a human who is tasked for help, a human who is condemned by his own sin, that he can take and apply forgiveness on his behalf, and that he can bring him into his family, that he can place his spirit within him, and that he can give him a new heart and a new life and a new destination, that he can provide him with salvation, And here God places each of us into his own family. When we have a understanding, when we believe completely, when we receive Christ and we accept by faith what God has done for us. Now, here's what's going to happen when we stop and think about what God's done for us. It's confounding. It's amazing. It's not justice, it's grace. It's God placing and imputing the righteousness of Christ on our behalf. And here, he says that these treasures and this knowledge is hitting Christ. And it's given to us in the scripture to let someone to come along and speak poorly and beguile us and discourage us. It says, as ye have therefore received Christ, so walk ye in him. We receive Christ by faith, for by grace ye say through faith and in honor of yourselves, it's the gift of God. We take and trust Christ as the only, method of salvation, not a way, the way. In John 14, 6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. So, we have, as we receive Christ walking, and then rooted and built up in him, establishing the faith. As ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving, We remember the joy of God, the grace of God, we remember the blessings of God, and we remember a closeness and a communion with God, and as we receive Christ, so we walk in Him. We walk in the light as He is in the light. We walk in love as He is love. We enjoy the blessings of salvation as a Christian. Now, there are times when every Christian is going to go through a difficult time, a trial, a trouble. And really, when we go through those times, it is an opportunity for us to worship God. It's an opportunity for us to be glory in heaven. It's an opportunity, he says, that the trying of our faith When we refuse to doubt and we maintain faith and we are steadfast and we're established. The triangle of our faith is more precious than gold. There's a lot of different things that try your faith. The temptation to sin. The discouragement of people. The state of the world. Oh, it just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it? All these things we can try our faith because we take our eyes off of the Savior and we put our eyes on the problems. It says, "...a rooted and built up in him, establishing the faith as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy." or vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, not after Christ. What God reveals to you in the light, do not doubt in the dark. And don't let someone come along with worldly wisdom, with philosophy, with tradition, with the rudiments of this world, and spoil you, destroy you, bring you down from a position of faith to a place of doubt. There are some very intelligent, slick folks that do not love Jesus Christ and have denied Him. Be careful. It can be something you read. It could be somebody you talk to. It can be a different belief set, and their whole goal is to shake you up a little bit so that they can recover you to their idea of faith. There's those who don't have the Savior Jesus Christ that we have. They have another gospel and they have another Jesus. He's a good man. He's not God. He's not the Savior of the world. Look with me in Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 and we're going to look down in verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, and heirs of God, and joiners with Christ, it so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed. in us. There's always a situation where we delay or we sacrifice the present on the altar of the future, or we sacrifice the future on the altar of the present. And here God is saying with us that the sufferings of our present life are not to be compared There's not even a comparison with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Here we have the Spirit that has put in us, the Spirit of adoption, which has put in us an understanding that we are the sons of God. It's not fully realized here on earth. Now, we have every assurance in God that we're sitting in heavenly places in Christ, but we're not actually there at the moment. It's reserved for us. It's undefiled. It fadeth not away, eternal in the heavens. But right now, we're not in heaven. Some of you might have woke up this morning feeling fine, and you said, hey, is this heaven? I did not. There's still a groaning that we'll have that perfect presence of God, that we'll have the change of our bodies from the terrestrial to the celestial flesh. that will be walking on the streets of heaven, and we're not going to be too concerned about them being gold. They're just good solid streets that we walk on, because those things aren't going to be so important anymore. It impresses us very much here, but not so much there. Not only we ourselves, not only they but we ourselves, which are the first fruits of the Spirit, to even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our bodies. Thanks be to God for that coming day. Amen. You've been listening to a message from the pulpit of Town Center Baptist Church in Happy Valley, Oregon. We invite you to come visit us at 10505 Southeast 85th Avenue in Happy Valley. If we can be of help to you, please call us at 503-659-4494. We wish you God's very best.