Developing Convictions part 2

00:00 Die for it, but you really are convicted that this is God's will for you to practice or not to practice. I think that can also be a conviction, maybe not a primary conviction, but at least a secondary conviction. And this morning we're going to deal with some of both. But what's important for us to see here this morning, 00:19 this persecution resulted in spreading out, preaching the word, and havoc, ravaging. The word havoc means ravaging the church. He went and entered into houses and dragging off men and women, committed them to prison, and they were willing to stand. 00:37 These convictions that they held and that we hold help you navigate the confusing messages of the culture. And certainly that's what we need today when we go out into the world. We need to know how to navigate through all of the messages that the culture, yes, even the professed Christian culture, 00:57 would tell you to do. I've been interested in the last, especially with the, we don't want to wax political here this morning except to just use it as an illustration. I've been especially intrigued with the response of Christians, and I'm sure that there are genuine Christians on both sides, 01:18 and there are probably just professing Christians on both sides, but in relationship to the ICE campaigns in the major cities across the U.S., especially in Minneapolis, St. Paul area. 01:32 And you hear some people that would call our president the most ungodly and awful and horrible president that we've ever had, at least in recent years. 01:45 And then you have some people of professing Christians and of real Christians who would say, "He's one of the best presidents that we've ever had in recent memories." And it's confusing. Is he the worst or is he the best? He can't be both. 02:00 So it must have something to do with what you're looking at as far as issues and how they affect you and how they affect your belief system. Those things are confusing. And so convictions will help us navigate the confusing messages of the culture, and yes, even of the Christian culture. 02:22 And God wants us to be stable. He doesn't want us to be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine by the cunning craftiness of men whereby they lie and wait to deceive. Ephesians chapter 4, that we should be no more children tossed to and fro. 02:39 He also says in the book of James chapter 1 that we should not be like the waves, driven with the wind and tossed, and here today and over there tomorrow, and never know where we're going to land because of the confusing messages of the world system and even of the church system at times. 03:00 And so we don't want to be double-minded. He says in James, "A double-minded man is unstable in all he does." And so we want to be men and women of Christian conviction and then also men and women of personal conviction. I'll divide it up in those two terminology. 03:23 So this is of sorts a message that I had told you as a church at our business meeting this summer that I would preach on the state of the church. And so I would like to just address a few things with the church family this morning. What is the condition of our church? And maybe you see it different than I do, but I love our church. 03:44 And I love the people in the church. And I love our young people. And I love the children. And I love the older people. And I love the grandpas and grandmas, especially one grandma in particular. I really love her. 03:57 And some of the positive things that I see is that our congregation cares for each other. I really believe that we enjoy being together. After church. If you're not here on Sunday evenings, you're missing a great opportunity for fellowship. 04:15 And I just see people talking to each other and talking to people that sometimes we gravitate toward a friend group or whatever, but a good cross. Far as our body life. When there's a need, I see people respond, and I praise God for that. 04:31 We have a good group of deacons, and they help motivate us and give us opportunities and organize those opportunities for us to respond to people that are in need. 04:42 When there's a financial need, you may not always know this because we don't just stand up every time and say, "Well, so-and-so has a financial need, and the Benevolence Fund is going to help them now." No, we try to keep. People, but there are financial needs that arise from time to time that your deacons are caring for, looking after, 05:02 and they're moving throughout the congregation, helping with those kinds. That's wonderful. And it's wonderful that you give so generously to that Benevolence Fund several times a year. And also I appreciate so much about our congregation, the solid agreement around the truth of Scripture. 05:24 Solid agreement around the truth of Scripture. A friend of mine coined the phrase, or at least introduced it to me, about agreeing in the truth, that we need to be able to agree in the truth and speaking the truth in love. 05:38 I believe there's a fair bit of that that happens as well in Sunday school and Forge meetings and women's Bible study and different mentoring and so on to speak the truth in love. We believe that the Bible is our authority, and we believe in living out our faith. 05:59 And our faith is not something that we just 06:04 advertise on a sign or that we say we believe in a doctrinal statement, but our faith is something that we practice and we live. For the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that's wonderful, and that's the kind of church that I want to be a part of. I also see the church growing. We're so thankful for that. We see babies. 06:25 One of these days we're going to get those babies dedicated publicly, hopefully next Sunday, unless something happens again. And young people, I'd love to see these front benches. And I was able to be at the cross court last night and see them play basketball and want to get over to New Paris and see those young people play basketball yet this winter. 06:47 And we love our young people. I've had the opportunity to sit with them on a number of occasions just in their Bible study and talk about different things, and like to do that again sometime if we can. We have a baptismal class. 07:02 Five young people have known that they want to be baptized, follow the Lord in baptism, believe what Brother Dwayne said is true. We used to go. And now we're in our two-year back-to-back, and we praise the Lord for that. 07:18 Young people attending EBI, interested in spiritual growth and studying the Scriptures. I'll tell you what, you go to EBI for a term and 45, 50, 55, 60, 65 young people there in a term, depends on the term, and there's still something right with the church. 07:38 And there's young people that are studying the Word of God and that are building convictions from the ground up. They're testing, they're questioning, "Well, what about what I've been taught? And what our church is going through this? 07:53 And what do you think about that?" And so we have an opportunity to share with them from more of a seasoned perspective, a fatherly perspective for some of us, a grandfatherly perspective, 08:05 and church leaders' perspective as well as young people having the opportunity to share in chapel and all just the wonderful things happening there. And families here at Living Water. 08:17 We love to see our families and the children that get up here on a semi-regular basis and sing their hearts out and praise the Lord. And I heard them again this morning singing in the congregational singing. 08:33 We don't know what a gift that is that has been cultivated here by some of the sisters in the church by helping our children to learn to sing and to sing praises to the Lord without being inhibited and without holding back. And spiritual growth is happening. We praise the Lord for that. There's mentoring happening, 08:52 not as much as could be, but we have young people and even old. Area of my life. I need someone to walk alongside of me. I'd love to sit down with someone and just hear from an older person in the faith, maybe someone who's won some battles. And maybe it's one of the pastors, maybe it isn't. 09:12 Maybe it's one of the. Together in supportive mentoring relationships. Biblical counseling is happening, not necessarily so much here in the local congregation, but it is happening as we hear about needs, trying to plug them into situations and settings where they can get biblical help. 09:32 And relationships, we've also mentioned that, but relationships need to always be improved. We have relationship struggles at times. We don't always see eye to eye, and sometimes we may say something that someone else takes offense at. 09:49 And we need to go to that person then and not just nurse our hurt, but talk to the person and say, "You know what you said wounded me. And I know you probably didn't mean to say it. You probably didn't mean to say it the way I took it. And I'll take responsibility for how I took it. 10:07 But I want you to know that I don't want to carry this thought towards you any longer." And so clearing those things up. I appreciate the way the church responds to revival services. We have revival services planned again for September. Brother Lyndon Beachy from the Living Waters, plural, they have plural waters down there in Davis County. 10:28 We just have singular waters up here. But Living Waters congregation in Davis County, Indiana. And then the way that there's a concern for reaching out into the community. And so these are things that we say to your credit and to the praise of the Lord. Now, there. 10:47 Congregation, any group of people, yes, any family, there are things to be concerned about. One of those things is a lack of consistent participation in some areas of church life. Particularly, Sunday school isn't always attended by everyone. If you're not in Sunday school, you're missing out on a great blessing. 11:07 If you're not teaching Sunday school, you're missing out on a great blessing. Well, let that be up to you, but to be in Sunday school and to study the Word of God together, what a blessing. What a blessing. I learned things in Sunday school that are tremendous, 11:26 even though I've been preaching the Word for 40 years. You still learn things in Sunday school from other brothers and sisters, and praise the Lord for that. And then there are some that have chosen not to be a part of care groups. If you're not a part of a care group, you're also missing out. Care groups. They're not just Bible study groups, but they're care groups. 11:47 That we named them such on purpose because we want people to feel cared for and taken care of and loved. Discussing more and more about discipleship opportunities in the local church here in the days and months to come. Now, there's also a concern about our convictions. 12:07 And that's where this is going this morning. In chapter 8, 1 through 4, the convictions of the early church, they were willing to suffer, they were willing to go to prison, they were willing to die. And out of those Christian convictions also grew personal convictions. And so we have an opportunity with our fellowship, 12:28 Biblical Men and I Alliance, every five years to kind of measure where our convictions are at as an individual and as a congregation. The AOUs, they're called, is to measure where we are at on the discipleship and lifestyle issues. Every member in the BMA organization, 12:47 of which our church is a member, and so this is not a BMA message, but it gives you some perspective of where we are in relationship to other churches and so on. Every member in the BMA and every pastor is to fill out one of these assessments of unity every five years. And thereby, 13:06 we can measure where we were five years ago with where we are now. 13:12 Are we staying the course? 13:17 It is, however, an opportunity for us to assess our commitment to the values and practices of Living Water upon which we have been founded and consider them important as both Christian convictions and personal convictions. 13:35 So how did we turn out and how did we fare on some of these convictions? Well, I would say we did many of them well. Some of them need improvement. We have the clear teachings of Scripture. You all were just right in there, and we praise the Lord for that. I'm going to cover some of those this morning, 13:54 and I don't know if I'll probably run out of time here, and we'll give Yasser the floor in about 15 minutes. But this will lead to a convictions part three. And just so you know, and that message will also be more specifically on how do you develop personal convictions and Christian convictions. 14:14 So anyway, we had the clear teachings of Scripture. One of the premises of our fellowship is that we believe in the sanctity of human life. And the positions and policy statement of the Biblical Men and I Alliance says this: "We agree that human life is a special gift of God. 14:36 Abortion constitutes the inexcusable taking of unborn human life. Thus, it is murder. This includes termination of pregnancies due to rape, incest, birth defects, gender selection, birth or population control, or the mental well-being of the mother. Infanticide and euthanasia, 14:56 including assisted suicide, are also to be recognized as murder, the taking of innocent life." And where were we at on that? 99% of the congregation that I'm not sure if I got everybody's AOUs, 15:15 but of those that responded, which was most, 99%. Well, what about the other 1%? 15:20 Well, sometimes there's things on the paper or in the AOU that are worded in such a way that maybe the person doesn't quite see it the way it's worded, and because of their conscience, they can't say, "Well, I agree if I disagree with this point in the wording." And so there was some of that, but 99%. 15:41 Praise the Lord. We believe in the sanctity of human life. One of the next areas is in the area of sexuality. And policy statement says, "We agree that God's gift of sex is to be reserved only for marriage. All forms of homosexuality, lesbianism, 16:01 bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions." Praise the Lord. 100%. 100%. That is a Christian conviction. 16:15 And I praise the Lord that we as a congregation embrace that conviction, even as we have in past times had to test that, and we have tried and continued to love the individuals that sin, but also offering hope to those who are caught in sexual sin, 16:33 but also at the end of the day saying, "We call sin, sin." And I praise the Lord for that. Now, on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage, how did we do on that one? Let me read the statement. "We agree that divorce and remarriage is outside the will of God and thus unacceptable. 16:53 A second marriage requires adultery, requiring repentance and separation." We didn't do 100% on that, and I think some of that with your comments were based on wording and some extenuating circumstances. 17:07 One thing that I heard coming through on those AOUs this time that I had not heard nearly as much before was we are not expecting for wives to stay in abusive situations. But that doesn't mean that we're favoring divorce and remarriage. So there may be an opportunity and a need for separation. 17:27 There is. If the safety of a woman or children is threatened, there is a time and a place for separation. But having said that, and so 95% of us agreed fully. The other 5%, I think, was all mostly agree and willing to support. 17:50 What about media? Media. The assessment of unity says this: "Television and the internet have the potential to influence us and our children in a negative way, emotionally and spiritually. Each member shall exercise. 18:09 Whenever the use of any media promotes an ungodly worldview or desensitization to sin, such use must be avoided." Amen. 100%. Praise God. We're taking responsibility for the use of our media. Headship. How do we see headship? 18:30 Headship, we agree. This is the position policy statement of Biblical Men and I Alliance. 18:36 We agree that the proper application of the headship order is for the Christian man to take seriously the biblical commandment to be a Christ-like leader in the home and congregation, and for the woman to complement him as his helper. And we praise the Lord for that. 18:56 Also, 100%. 100%. Now, what about the headship veiling? Well, this was also highly affirmed. The headship veiling for sisters, let me see if I can find that here in my notes. 19:15 We agree that in order to maintain a clear witness, the best application of the biblical requirement of long hair is for the sisters' natural length. We also agree that the best application of the headship ordinance is that the sisters wear their veiling as a part of their regular attire. 19:34 While a uniform style is not required across the alliance, we do expect a veiling or covering of substantial size. We believe Christian men should have short hair and unveiled head. That item, and there's opportunity for people to hedge on wording and so on. 19:54 But we came through with 94% on that, and likewise with some of the others. Some of it was terminology, some of it was wording, but strong, strong belief in the practice of the headship veiling. And so we praise God for that. 20:14 And I'm not going to get into the other applications this morning. I thought that I would, but I'm going to be running out of time here. And so my question is just in conclusion of this message, where do you draw your line? Where do you draw your line? We need to know. You need to know. 20:33 If your parents, your children need to know. Where do we draw our line? Where do we say, "This is. And why do we say that then? In fact, there's issues that aren't even addressed in the BMA assessment of unity and positions and policies. And so you can't address everything in a position document. 20:54 You shouldn't have to because we want to take instructions in personal life. So the assessment of unity does not measure what we believe about gambling, but I hope that we're all clearly on the side of being against gambling. And there's things that can be said about that. Music. What do you believe about music? Where do you draw your line on the subject of music? 21:15 We don't hear as much about that today as we did when I was a young person, when rock music was just being introduced into the culture. It had already been introduced in the '50s, but in the '70s and '80s, it was making its way into the church. What do you believe about music? How do you practice that? What do you believe about Lord's Day observance? 21:36 What is Lord's Day? What about Sabbath? The Lord's Day as rest. What do we believe about sports? How far are you willing to go in following and engaging in and participating in organized sports? 21:55 We have sports of our teams. We have a church league. We have cross court. We want things for people to do. But where are we in relation to sports? If the Super Bowl was on a Sunday night when we had church, where would you be? Got to have a line. 22:14 Got to know what you're going to believe. Now, we don't have church tonight. It is Super Bowl Sunday. Then you got to decide. I'm not telling you necessarily what you should do with that, but you need to know where your line is and live it. Live by it. So where do you draw the line? We all draw one. 22:34 And in the next time that I preach, we'll look at some of the more personal convictions that we need to sharpen up on. Father, thank you for this time together this morning. We thank you for our congregation. We love you, Lord, and we want to represent you well. 22:54 We want to represent you well. We want to be your men and women in an age of confusion, moral confusion, even confusion in the churches. Lord, shine your light brightly in our hearts. 23:10 Keep these discipleship issues before our eyes that we might know what we believe and why we believe it and why we practice what we practice. And may we be like the men of Issachar, who had an understanding of the time. So Lord, as we pray for Brother Yasser at this time, 23:31 as he comes to share with us for a few minutes today, bless his ministry, bless his family so many miles away from him in Egypt, and may the church at Goshen, the Goshen Mennonite Church there, I believe it's called, Florida. 23:46 Against the forces of evil that drive the war and the fighting and the anger and the killing and the hatred in Sudan. In Jesus' name. Amen.