"God’s Value System Part 2" By Jesse Rairdon March 8th,
2015
Please remain standing, as Brother
Chris Ulrich comes to lead us in prayer. Chris: Bow your heads,
please. God, we just look forward to
what you have for us this morning, and we don’t want it to just be routine,
God, but we come to the part of the service known as the sermon, Lord. We pray, God , that we’d hear Your Word, that
You’d pour out the blessings, god; that You’d give Jesse the words that You
need us to hear, Lord God, that You’d speak through him, God, that we’d hear
it, that we’d receive it, that we’d take it seriously, God. We also want to thank You for the music, God,
to bless our hearts, God, to soften our hearts, God, to minister to us. We thank You for that, and we thank You f or
the testimonies, Lord Jesus. God, we
just want to hear Your Word, God. I look
forward to what You have, Your value system for our life, God, to take it
seriously, and to take heed to it, God.
We just want to thank You for Your Truth, we want to thank You for Your
love, we want to thank You for saving our souls, God. We just want to ask these things in Your
name, Jesus. Amen. Please be seated. Our theme for the month is, “God’s
Value System,” and our Scripture is: Jeremiah 9:24 But let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth:
for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. The part that I want to kind of highlight
in this verse is “...that he understandeth and knoweth Me.” God has a value system, and He wants us to
know and understand His value system. Job 6:24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and
cause me to understand wherein I have erred. Where I have erred. Teach me Your values, God; I am wrong. Parrish mentioned something last
week along the lines of God's value system, there’s often an, “if you... then
you...” If you turn from your ways, if
you seek Me, if you ask, then I will answer.
A lot of that is going to be in the message today: “If you… then you …” Four of the areas that we are
going to talk about in God’s value system are: Wisdom Faith Humility Mercy There’s a lot more than that; we
could go on for like six months on God’s value system, trust me. And, if you think we’ve got a great value
system in this country, heh, you’ve got to go back to God’s value system and
check it out, Amen? Point #1: Wisdom God values wisdom Proverbs 8: 11 For wisdom is
better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be
compared to it. Wisdom is better than rubies; and
all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. You can take a rich fool, and take everything
away from him and all you have left is a fool. But take a rich wise man, and take everything
away from him, he still has his wisdom, and he get rich again, or become
successful yet again. With the wisdom of
God, nothing is to be compared, none of the riches of this earth, nothing you
could think of or dream, is to be compared with the wisdom of God. This wisdom is our spiritual understanding; it
helps us avoid situations where we could get into trouble. It helps us answer questions to win souls. I like Proverbs; there’s a lot of
wisdom in Proverbs. Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the
righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. God values wisdom. Why? because you win souls with wisdom. So, how do we get this wisdom? James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be
given him. He won’t chew you out; that’s what
upbraideth means. If you… then you… If you ask God, He will give it to you. Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD
giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. God has wisdom for every
situation, all we have to do is ask. You
ever come into a situation where it seems like people are coming against you,
and you just pray for that wisdom, and God gives it to you, God gives you an
answer? I can remember a time, I was in
the Navy, I was going to school, a “C” school.
I was a second class at the time, and I was getting ready to go do some
independent duty. They had this school
there, so I was back in Norfolk, going to school, a group of people came up to
me, they were all in the Navy, too, and they knew I was, you know, a believer,
and they said, “Jesse, we know you’re religious, and you believe in God; we
have a question for you.” They asked if
a certain lifestyle should be allowed in the church, if a certain people, who
lived the lifestyle, should be allowed in the church. I did what everybody should do; I prayed, and
asked God for wisdom, and God’s answer was, “Well, does he allow people that
commit adultery, that curse, that drink a lot, that commit fornication in the
church?” I said, “We’re all sinners
saved by grace, so, when we all come to God, we all need to change.” God will give you that wisdom. He’ll give you that understanding. How do I know that the wisdom is
from God? Sometimes it seems that
different things are trying to tell me different messages. Here’s a good Scripture that will kind of
give me that: James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good
fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Amen. It’s first pure. Wisdom from God is not going to be tainted
with your ideas, or your preferences, or your sin, or your ways; it’s going to
be first pure. Then peaceable; it’s going to bring peace to
the situation. Gentle, easy to be
entreated; did you find yourself arguing with someone, trying to prove a
point? That might not be wisdom from
God. Because people that are kind of
already in tune with God, and seeking God, are going to be ready to receive it;
it’s going to be easy to be entreat them.
Full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality—it doesn’t pick
sides—and without hypocrisy; you’re living what you’re saying. Amen? Ecclesiastes 10: 10 If the iron
be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but
wisdom is profitable to direct. So, if you lack direction in your
life; wisdom is profitable to direct. Sometimes
we like to do things our own way; God can give you wisdom that will save you
time and effort. Kind of redeem that
time, give you wisdom to solve that situation a lot quicker than you would do
it on your own. God values wisdom. Point #2 in
God's Value System: Faith God values faith. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. If you… then you… If you seek Him diligently, then He will
reward you. Amen? Sometimes we think diligence is just a quick
prayer thrown up there in the air, like a Hail Mary, and hope He catches it. Then you’ve got to diligently seek Him for
things. Diligently means to get on your
knees and really seek Him out. Seek Him
out through the Scriptures; seek Him out with fellowship with other faithful
people; seek Him out through Godly counsel with elders in the faith. See, God values faith; it is impossible to
please God without it. There is common theme in miracles,
faith. Matthew 9: 20-22 And,
behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came
behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be
whole. But Jesus turned him about, and
when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made
thee whole. And the woman was made whole
from that hour. If I… then I… If I… then I…
Faith is that simple; it’s just believing if I do this, if I believe,
then God will answer me. Faith is the
invisible force that moves the mountains.
If you have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, then you can say to that
mountain, “Be thou removed.” If you have it; if you don’t then you’re
not going to move nothing, not even a pebble.
You’ve got to have faith. Faith
is the silent prayer as a mother kneels beside her sick child's bed. Faith knowing God is able to deliver, even if
it is death. Faith is seeing a positive
outcome even when the evidence appears to be stacked against you. Faith is the belief that God will answer,
though it feels like your prayers are hitting the ceiling, and not even getting
past it. Keep praying, keep believing. When should I stop praying for something that
I know that God will answer? When should
I give up? At what point? Never.
Never. You see God values Faith. Point #3 in
God's value system- Humility Sometimes the most overlooked is
humility. Jesus is going to teach us a
valuable lesson about humility through a child. Matthew 18:1-4 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 greatest in the kingdom of heaven. See, the disciples were looking at
position. Jesus looks at humility. A child comes how? A child is willing to be
taught, and willing to admit when they’re wrong. We’ve got to be willing to admit when we’re
wrong to God. We’ve got to come to Him
saying, like it said in Job, “I have erred.
Let me just shut my mouth and listen to You right now, God. I am the one who’s at fault.” I heard it once said, “You can’t fight God;
your arms are too short.” So, stop
fighting God on this; be humble, or God will humble you. Humility is greater than position in God's
eyes. Humility has great value. If you humble yourself, then you will be
received as greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Let’s talk about the people of the
church. Let’s not talk about those
people outside the doors, or people that don’t know God; let’s talk about us
for a minute. 2 Chronicles 7: 14 If My
people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and
seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. See, God’s value system has
humility in it. If you have humility—it
starts with humility. You can’t go to
start to pray if you don’t have humility first.
Admitting you’re wrong, and God is right. If you don’t have humility, then you have
what Parrish talked about last week, which is pride, and that’s not a good
thing to have. Amen? Let's talk about humility in the
church for a moment. James 4:1-10 From whence come wars and fightings among
you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to
have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask
not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye
ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will
be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth
in us lusteth to envy? But He giveth
more grace. Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto
the humble. Submit yourselves therefore
to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to
you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double
minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and
weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and He shall lift you up. Most of the battles we fight in
the church, among ourselves are due to lack of humility. It’s because of our own lusts, and our own
errors, and our own ways that God is trying to show us that we need to change,
that we have these divisions amongst us.
Someone may come today and say, “Did I come to a church that has a lot
of problems?” Well, brother, well,
sister, you’re going to come to a church that has problems; you’re dealing with
people. Okay? This was written a long time ago, so they had
these same problems. So, if we’re
talking amongst ourselves, and we don’t have humility, we’re going to have
battles; we’re going to have problems. But God gives more grace to the
humble. Don’t you want more grace? God values humility. Sometimes we think we can do better than somebody
else, don’t we? I can sing better than
her; I can teach better than him. You
can probably preach better than me; I’m just a farm boy from Minnesota, I don’t
know much about preaching. You know, you
betchya, I’m not good with words; but God can use me, right? Sometimes you kind of sit back and wait for
somebody to fail, and then say, “See? I
could have done better,” instead of praying for them, and coming alongside and helping
them, and showing some humility, and saying, “I see there’s a lack there; I’d
like to help you.” I could have made a much
better decision than Parrish and Andy, if I was the leader. You lack humility; you have to be a good
follower before you can become a good leader. You have to be faithful in another man’s labor
before you receive that of your own. Maybe
that’s what’s been holding you back all along; maybe you just lack humility;
maybe you just needed to hear this today.
Maybe that’s your whole message; you can go now if you want to. You should be praying for that leader, working
for that leader, trying to help that leader.
You having pride in the situation just makes it much worse. Maybe they made a bad decision, but it will
end up just making it worse. I’ll tell
you, working with Andy and Parrish, they’re one of the first people that will
come to you and say, “You know what? I was wrong.” They have humility. God values Humility. You want to be great in God, you want to have ministry,
you want to do things, you want to play in the band, you want to sing, have
humility; be humble. This is a good lesson; I always like
this one. It kind of reminds me of how I
am sometimes. I do act like I’m better
than I am sometimes. I have that fault
sometimes, but you’ve got to put it in check, quick. Amen? Luke 18:10-14 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee,
and the other a publican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, [that’s
important. He didn’t pray with God, He
prayed with himself.] God, thank thee,
that am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week, I
give tithes of all that I possess. And the
publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be
abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. If you… then you… If you humble yourself, you’ll be exalted,
but it’s God that gets the glory, and it’s God that exalts you, and it’s God
that works through you to do those things.
Amen? So, two men were praying at
the temple, one was full of pride, and one was full of humility. They were in church; they were in the Temple. Right there where we worship. You think the devil would do that in church,
come visit us, and look at somebody else, and say, “I’m glad I’m not like she
is. Can you believe what she wore today
to church? I’m glad I’m not like he
is. Man, I can’t believe he said that?” The sinner knew he was a sinner, that was the
difference, and showed humility and went away justified in God’s eyes. You see God values humility. Point #4 in
God's Value System - Mercy. God values mercy. You may call these the beatitudes: Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. If you are merciful, then you will
get mercy. If you are merciful… This very thing right here will hold a lot of
people back from Heaven. Not only
heaven, but right now, getting mercy from God because they hold other things in
their heart and cheat. God values mercy. Psalms 18:25 With the merciful
thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself
upright; God values mercy, so much you
won't be given it, unless you give it. If
you give mercy, you're going to get mercy.
If you withhold mercy, it will be withheld from you. My wife got into a
little bit of a fender-bender this week, and, it was teen-aged boy, and she
took down the number and brought it home to me.
She wanted to make sure nothing was wrong with the car. I went out and looked at it, and said, “Call
back, say everything’s fine.” You
know? The bumper was a little loose, but
that comes off once in a while, and you just pop it back on; that’s fine. I was reminded of when I kind of backed into
somebody, and kind of lifted up their car at four stops, a few weeks ago, and the
guy on the right side of the car said, “Man, you’re going to be in trouble when
the car owner comes out here!” He comes
out, and, “Aw, forget about it, man, there’s no dent.” Mercy.
What would it have been like if I had been going down to the store,
trying to find out what this bumper cost, and calling up this kid’s dad,
showing no mercy, yet this other guy showed mercy to me. There’s a story like that in the
Bible, where God forgave this man so much, and he went to his fellow-servant
and owed him just a little bit, and he said, “I’m not going to forgive you,”
but God already forgave him, showed him mercy (Matthew 18:23-35). Sometimes we think that mercy is, you know,
just belongs to us; it’s all about us.
No, it’s all about others, and then it’s about us. Mercy is one thing we have a
choice. We can choose to be merciful. There’s
a Psalm that talks about, if God were to mark iniquity, who would stand? (Psalms
130:3) I sure couldn’t. God doesn’t care about how right we think we
are; He cares about how merciful we are.
Just remember that when you get into… I remember a story Pastor Paine told
when he was trying to make a point: A
neighbor’s fence was an inch over in his yard.
He brought the surveyors out, and he fought his battle, and looked, and
said, “You’re going to move your fence, because it’s an inch in my yard.” He moved the fence. Later that week, he was on vacation, and his garage
caught on fire. The neighbor had a
choice; he could have called the police, or the fire department, and have them put
out that fire so that it wouldn’t go to the house. He made the right choice. Sometimes we fight battles, instead of just
showing mercy, and let things go. Is
that battle worth really fighting? God values mercy. James 2: 13 For he shall have judgment without mercy,
that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. God values mercy. Isaiah 16:5 And in mercy shall the throne be
established: and He shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David,
judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. Judgment is established in mercy,
established in mercy. Oh, thank God for
mercy, because, if it was just judgment, none of us would be saved, amen? Matthew 9: 10-13 And it came
to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth
your Master with publicans and sinners?
But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need
not a physician, but they that are sick.
But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not
sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Jesus sat on the mercy seat for us. You can pray and sing and seek God all you
want, but, if you don’t have mercy, all you have is judgment. Jesus paid that judgment price for us. So, do we want to withhold mercy from someone
else? Let’s use the example of God and
have mercy. Amen? God values mercy. This is last scripture for today. This has always been kind of a staple in my
life; one I could go back to and say, “God, really, am I wrong? What do I need to do?” Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, man, what is good; and
what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to
walk humbly with thy God? You see, God values wisdom. God values faith. God values humility. God values mercy. Amen.
Give the Lord a praise as Andy comes to close us out.
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