"My Words Are Spirit and They Are Life" By Chris Ulrich November 29th,
2015
Remain
standing, please, as Mike
A. comes to lead us in a word of prayer. Mike:
Bow your heads.
Dear Lord Jesus, we just praise Your name,
Lord, God. We thank
You for all our many
blessings, Lord God. Lord,
we just pray
that you’d prepare our hearts, Lord God, to receive the message that
You have
for us, today, Lord God, that we can take it out to those around us
that don’t
know Your truth, and let it shine all around that they may come to know
You and
Your name. Prepare
and anoint Brother
Chris, Lord God as he preaches Your message and help him say the things
You’d
have him to say, and put on his heart.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen. Amen. Thank you; you may be
seated. Good to see
everybody this morning, here, this
weekend after Thanksgiving, here, and, as many of you know, our theme
for this
month has been giving thanks to the Lord, and our passage for the month: Ezra 3:11
And
they sang together by course in praising
and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy
endureth for
ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when
they
praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was
laid. There’s
a couple of points this
morning; this isn’t going to be a long message, but I do have a couple
of
points: •
Man
does not live by bread alone. That
might
sound a little ironic, coming right after Thanksgiving… •
A
Spiritual thanksgiving 1st Point – Man Does Not
Live By Bread Alone Because
Thanksgiving is over and
hopefully everyone is well fed—I know most of us are—and definitely got
time
together with family and loved-ones.
I
know we had a great gathering at Grandwood, and many of you that spent
time
with your family and friends… I
was over
at the USO for a couple of hours after that, and then I was at—Amy had
invited
myself and Brent down to her family in Palatine; I appreciate that. I really had three
Thanksgivings, so I
definitely had my fair share. But,
you
know, this isn’t about just eating.
I
know that I do look forward to this time of year.
I know that I’ve got a lot of good childhood
memories, and I’ve got a lot of good recent memories.
But, I’m not here to talk about how much we
ate, or who won the football games, or any of that.
I think it’s more appropriate after we have a
physical thanksgiving that we talk about how man does not live by bread
alone. The title of
the message today
is, “My Words are Spirit and they are Life” and it comes from the book
of John. You don’t
have to turn to it, I’m just going
to read it here, and these are the words of Christ: John 6:63
It is the spirit
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak
unto you,
they are spirit, and they are life. Now
I want to pre-empt that
thought with the understanding that when we’re in a desperate physical
condition, and I think we all can relate to this, all we can think
about is
putting food on the table, all we can think about is getting a healing
touch,
all we can think about is grieving the loss of a loved one. You want to see someone
who is starving get
angry? Tell them
about how great the
meal was that you just had that they weren’t invited to. You want to see someone
who is sick or
injured get mad? Tell
them how great
everybody else is feeling, “I’m feeling great,” and there’s no real
care,
there’s no real support. Weep
with them
that weep. You want
to see someone’s
blood boil who just lost a loved one?
Just tell them, “Oh, that’s the cycle of life. That’s the way things go
in this life.” But
that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.
I’m going to ask if you would turn with me,
and this reiterates a little bit about that faith without works is dead. We have to do something. We have to make an effort. James 2:14-17 What doth it
profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not
works? can
faith save him? If
a brother or sister
be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them,
Depart in
peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those
things
which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
being alone. Now,
it’ true, we can’t feed the
whole world. I
mean, we’re not going to
be able to. I don’t
think anybody here
is wealthy enough, and I know that even those who are the wealthiest
people,
there’s just not enough. And,
when we
look at it from that standpoint, there is an imbalance.
There is an imbalance in the world.
I mean, it seems like there should be enough
resources to go around, but there is injustice.
We’re going to get into that a little bit more. But I also want to read
from the Book of
Mark. These are the
words of Christ, and
I believe it doesn’t let us off the hook, but it does put it in balance
as far
as what perspective we need to have when we deal with a lot of people
who are
homeless, or separate, or panhandling, or whatever else the case might
be. And Christ
simply says this: Mark 14:7
For ye have the poor
with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye
have not
always. I
wanted to go back to back with
those verses so we have a balance and know how to handle many of those
situations we’ll come across even in this day and age.
It’s not like it’s just all of the sudden something
new, Christ said, “The poor you have with you always.”
That’s not talking about something that’s
just back then, that’s talking about something that’s always going to
be, in
perpetuity. We live
in an unjust
world. We live in a
world that hasn’t
ended up the way that God intended for it to be.
But, I’m going to get into that a little bit
later, about we know God, and we have an understanding, and I’ll also
share
this: In one of the
testimonies last
week—I don’t know if Damien is here—Damien and Maris had shared a
testimony,
and one of the points that Damien had mentioned was, everybody has a
chance. So, if
people want to think that
God is unfair, the Bible says that the grace of God which bringeth
salvation
hath appeared to all men (Titus 2:11).
That’s the chance we get.
It
might not seem like it’s real fair to the world, but we’re not looking
at it
from the standpoint of the world; we’re looking at it from the
standpoint of
okay, we have something to look forward to in eternity.
That’s for sure. It’s
true that we can’t always help or feed or
console or heal everybody else that’s down and out, but there are times
we will
have extra and can help. Deuteronomy 8:1-10
All the
commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that
ye may
live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware
unto
your fathers. And
thou shalt remember
all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in
thine heart,
whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no.
And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did
thy
fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by
bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD
doth man
live. Thy raiment
waxed not old upon
thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Thou shalt also consider in thine heart,
that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep
the commandments of
the LORD thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him.
For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a
good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that
spring out
of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig
trees,
and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou
shalt eat
bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land
whose
stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and
art full, then thou
shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which He hath given thee. 2nd Point – Spiritual Thanksgiving Like
I said, I know we just finished
Thanksgiving and hopefully had a good time.
But the other working title for the message was, “A
Clean Heart and a
Right Spirit.” And
I know we did that
song this morning, t I want to read: Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew
a right spirit within me. I
imagine that there’s many of us who
have read this verse hundreds, maybe thousands of times. There’s some here that
have read it only a
few times, but, be that as it may, in the song—and I appreciate you
doing it—and
it is part of the lyrics. But
a clean
heart and a right spirit has nothing to do with eating turkey or eating
pie or
eating sweet potatoes. But
a clean heart
and a right spirit aren’t physical manifestations, they are purely
spiritual. Yes, we
have a heart, but it’s
talking about that spiritual heart.
There’s
Greg. I appreciate
what you shared, and
I appreciate you and Alma’s efforts this week, because that was a great
time. It really was. But these are spiritual
things, a clean heart
and a right spirit. This
is a little bit lengthy, but
please listen up and take heed. John 6:48-63
I am that bread of
life. Your fathers
did eat manna in the
wilderness, and are dead. This
is the
bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and
not
die. I am the
living bread which came
down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever:
and the
bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of
the
world. The Jews
therefore strove among
themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his
blood,
ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him
up at the
last day. For my
flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed. He
that
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath
sent me, and I live
by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which
came down from
heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth
of this
bread shall live for ever.
These
things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his
disciples, when they
had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself
that his disciples
murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth
this offend
you? What and if ye
shall see the Son of
man ascend up where he was before?
It is
the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that
I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. So
what are some of the spiritual
blessings we’ve received? I’m
not asking
if we got a new job, although that’s a good thing.
I’m not asking if we got a new car; that’s a
good thing, too. I’m
not even asking if
you just got married or had children and those are definitely good
things. But have we
received a peace of God that
passes all understanding? (Philippians 4:7)
A joy that is unspeakable and full of glory? Have we received an
ability to forgive and be
forgiven? Have we
received the gift of
being born again and being alive in Christ?
Because that is the big difference, being born again
and knowing God in
this day and age, and whatever day and age, for that matter. But it is something that’s
going to separate—Paul
talked about come out from among them and be ye separate, and touch not
the unclean
thing (2 Corinthians 6:1). These
words
are spirit and they are life. And,
while
we’re on that, I know it is a physical manifestation, but, when you
think about
the breath of life, and I know it’s been mentioned before--Parrish
mentioned it
just a couple of weeks ago, but, I got to thinking about that it is one
of
those things where, especially if you have emphysema, which I don’t,
but if you
ever had struggles, if you ever had maybe where you were very congested… I’ve
got to share a very brief
story here: I have
an older brother
that, you know, when we were growing up, he always treated me so well,
like—anybody
else here have older brothers? I’m
sure
they did as well. Yes,
yes. So, this was
right around the time that the
movie ‘Jaws’ came out, mid-seventies, and I was just learning to swim,
and, by
that time, I’m really not wanting to go back in the water, so, when I
did, when
I did, he would always do the “Duh-duh.
Duh-duh. Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh…” Then he would swim over,
and he’s bigger, and
he’s older, and he would dunk me under, and I would come up, “Waah! Waah!”
And, it was like, he did that constantly. I mean, it was like, I was
afraid to be
around the guy. But,
it was one of those
things where it was like, I still hate to be underwater. I mean, even in this day
and age, it’s like, if
I’m under water for more than ten or fifteen seconds—that’s why I could
never be
a Navy diver—I’m up, and I’m like, (breathing hard).
Greg, thank you.
Thank you.
One person for me to…
You have older
brothers? Oh, okay,
I got you. Well,
that’s good. But,
that breath of life. That’s
something that, it’s a physical thing,
but it’s also a spiritual manifestation.
I mean, you can’t see breath, except for when it’s
cold, and that’s just
condensation, anyway. So,
it’s not
really that, but it’s something that, it’s something to be thankful for. We have to look at, not
just what are the
physical blessings, but what are some of the spiritual blessings? There’s
a TV commercial that came
out recently for IBM; there’s a guy, Bob Dylan, that he was a pretty
popular
musician for a long, long time. And
the
computer and Bob Dylan are having a conversation.
He walks in with his guitar, and sits down,
and the computer starts talking to him, and basically says, “I’m
familiar with
your songs and your lyrics, and I can read 800 million lines per
second.” And Bob
says, “Oh really?” And
then the computer tells him, “The theme
of most of your lyrics is that time passes and love fades,” to which
Bob says,
“That’s pretty much right.” If
you stop
and let that sink in for a minute, that’s kind of depressing. But in God the end of this
life is not the
end of the story. Time
does pass, and the
love of this world does fade. The
Bible
says that life is just like a vapor (James 4:14), and it’s like the
grass that
withereth, and the flower that fades away (Isaiah 40:7). But, in God that love does
not pass; that
love is there, and that’s something to be thankful for.
And you know, maybe we hear this every year
and maybe even every day, but being thankful never gets old. Being thankful is going to
keep spiritual
meat on our bones. It’s
going to be a
lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
And being thankful is going to keep us on the
straight and narrow. The
ushers are going to prepare
for communion, and I’m going to close here, in a minute, but one last
thing
before I close, and I believe we can all relate to this. The truth is there are
plenty of things that
happen in this life that I would venture to say that none of us are
thankful
for. Hear me out. Because, now, most of you
might are probably
thinking, “Did I just hear that right?
Di you just say that there are thing that happen in
this life that none
of us are thankful for?” Yep,
that is
what I said. “Isn’t
this month about
being thankful and things along those lines?”
Yes it is. But,
think about
this: Death, and
tragedies, and illnesses,
and sicknesses, and job losses, and the list goes on.
I just had a little situation the other day,
that some of you are aware of, and I’m not going to go into massive
detail, but
I’ve got a pretty good-sized hole in my roof.
Now, this happened the day before Thanksgiving. “Oh, this is great!” So, then it was rainy
Wednesday, and all day
Thursday, and I’ve got the scars on my leg and my arm to prove it. You know, I had to fight
with the shingles up
there. Just one of
those kinds of things
where it’s like, “You know what?”
You
know, I was in kind of a little bit of a dark place for a few hours,
and I just
have to admit. And
I’m not very happy
about it, either. I
mean, I went down to
State Farm yesterday, and got a claim started, and I’ve got a couple of
roofers
that are going to, hopefully, call me back. You
know, they don’t do Wednesday and
Thursday, and they’re off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Thank God that it’s been dry, and I
appreciate the help that I’ve gotten from others here.
Mark L., you were very helpful when we went
up there in that crawl space. But,
you
know, stay with me because this last point is key.
This is where the line is drawn and the
confusion about being thankful or not gets clarified.
I’m thankful to know God that gives us the
power to be able to deal with thee things.
Because that is the difference.
I’m thankful to know a God who gives us the power to
be able to get over
the hump, to be able to get us through tragedies, to be able to get us
through
illnesses, to be able to give us a hope that’s eternal, and something
that’s
after this life. I
don’t think that
Corrine and Lena, are they here this morning?
Well, I know that they lost their mom earlier this
year, Sister Hardy,
and then they lost their sister, just about two months ago. And that’s not an easy thing
to bear. I know
that others of us have had job losses,
or they’ve had sicknesses. I
know that Jesse
G. has dealt with very major surgery here recently, and he’s been in
the
hospital now, for rehabilitation.
That’s
not something that, I would say, if you asked him, he would say, “Oh,
I’m just so
thankful this happened.” But
I’m
thankful, and I know he would say this, too—I know Parrish, when he had
visited
him, he expressed that—I’m thankful to be able to know God that gives
us the
power to be able to deal with these situations.
I’m thankful to know the only true God and Jesus is
His name and that
the life in this world isn’t meant to last forever and God’s got
something
greater for us on the other side. And
being thankful to know God trumps all. Thank
you very much for your time.
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