Thanksgiving P4 – Bob George (11-28-24)
Give Thanks to Jesus for His Love For Us
~ Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever. Psalm 107:1
The love of Jesus endures forever. We have so much to be thankful for with Jesus. First off, God has taken care of the sin issue forever for us directly by Himself. And for those who are in Christ Jesus, He has given us Eternal Life that began the very day we placed faith in Him for what He did for us. His Life came to Live in us forever through the Holy Spirit, the Life giver. And as such, He will never separate from us no matter what. His Love endures forever and His Love lives in us directly too. Once we understand the truth of this, and understand that God wants to live His Life in and through us, it frees us up to rest in Him for everything. And once we understand that, we can thank God for EVERYTHING. So be transformed by the renewing of the mind, and allow His Spirit to teach us All things.
And for those that have not received Jesus, God in flesh for life, simply thank Him for what He did on the cross for you, of having taken away all your sins, and He is no longer counting any of them against you. And when you place faith in Him, He will give you His Life through the Holy Spirit, to indwell your spirit and make you a new creature in Christ. And give thanks to what He wants to do for you. He loves you with loving devotion that never ends, and wants everyone to come to a change of mind about Him.
~ Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1
~ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
Romans 12:1-21
Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another. We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith; if it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is giving, let him give generously; if it is leading, let him lead with diligence; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Love must be sincere. Detest what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another. Do not let your zeal subside; keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persistent in prayer. Share with the saints who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
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~ “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, devoted to one another. You know, there’s anything that irritates me more, and you’ll hear people say, Well, I don’t like what you’re doing. I’m not going to come here anymore. I feel like saying good. Is that brotherly love? No, you know, if there are things that are done that you don’t like, discuss it with people, but don’t come up with that stuff. Well, I don’t like it here anymore because I don’t like what. That’s not brotherly love. You’re not practicing brotherly love. If you’re practicing brotherly love, decide that that’s one thing. But it was just an ego deal that I just don’t like the way you do things. Well, talk to us about it. Might find out you’re wrong or right. I don’t know. Don’t think so, but you may. Honor one another above yourselves. What is it saying? It is said? What it says a little later. Don’t be conceited. Don’t sit around thinking that you’re a know it all. You know, there are some people that have never made a mistake in their lives. They’re a know it all. How many have you ever known a know it all? How many have you ever been a know it all? Okay, wouldn’t put put a fewer hands down. But you know, there are people that I don’t care what it is, I know the answer to it. You’re not honoring one another above yourself. You don’t even want to listen to listen to their opinions. I already know the answer, and that is not of God, according these passages of Scripture said it’s not an attitude of love that we should honor one another above ourselves. In other words, listen to the opinions of others. Have a willingness to do so without having to shed your own opinion on everything, dogmatically. So, we have to say, is the attitude that I have of God, or is this of Satan? Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Don’t ever get tired of serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope. Be joyful and patient in affliction, and be joyful and faithful in prayer and share with God’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.” ~ Bob George
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Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, devoted to one another. You know, there’s anything that irritates me more, and you’ll hear people say, Well, I don’t like what you’re doing. I’m not going to come here anymore. I feel like saying good. Is that brotherly love? No, you know, if there are things that are done that you don’t like, discuss it with people, but don’t come up with that stuff. Well, I don’t like it here anymore because I don’t like what. That’s not brotherly love. You’re not practicing brotherly love. If you’re practicing brotherly love, decide that that’s one thing. But it was just an ego deal that I just don’t like the way you do things. Well, talk to us about it. Might find out you’re wrong or right. I don’t know. Don’t think so, but you may. Honor one another above yourselves. What is it saying? It is said? What it says a little later. Don’t be conceited. Don’t sit around thinking that you’re a know it all. You know, there are some people that have never made a mistake in their lives. They’re a know it all. How many have you ever known a know it all? How many have you ever been a know it all? Okay, wouldn’t put put a fewer hands down. But you know, there are people that I don’t care what it is, I know the answer to it. You’re not honoring one another above yourself. You don’t even want to listen to listen to their opinions. I already know the answer, and that is not of God, according these passages of Scripture said it’s not an attitude of love that we should honor one another above ourselves. In other words, listen to the opinions of others. Have a willingness to do so without having to shed your own opinion on everything, dogmatically. So, we have to say, is the attitude that I have of God, or is this of Satan? Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Don’t ever get tired of serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope. Be joyful and patient in affliction, and be joyful and faithful in prayer and share with God’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.
This group shared joyfully in the project that we had for the soldiers. Now I personally want to thank those of you that are involved in it, with both your money and your time. It I’ve been in service. I’ve been overseas at Christmas time, and it’s lonely. I wasn’t in combat. Thank God save me from going AWOL, but, but I know many of you that were in combat, and you’ll testify to the fact that it is not fun, and these guys and gals need all the encouragement that they can get from us, and I’m just grateful to be able to use our time and treasure and talent in order to help those guys to put a smile on their face, and these gals a smile on their face at Christmas time. And I want to thank each and every one of you for participating in that. It was a blessing to me. I think it unifies the assembly to be real, honest with you.
So it talks about the fact here that Bless those who persecute you, bless and don’t curse. How many of you had somebody in your life that persecuted you, that was not kind to you, or did something to you that you really didn’t like? How many of you have ever experienced that type of thing? You know what he says to do? He says, Bless them. Now, guys, is this normal? I mean, bless them. I want to crucify them. No, He said, bless them, bless them, and bless and do not curse. Why? God says, revenge is mine. It’s not yours. It’s my business to take care of these people, and if somebody has done something to hurt you, it says, Get off of trying to get even and recognize the fact that if there is justice to be done, believe me, I will do it. So we don’t have to. Now, is that good news? Does that enable you to walk with a thankful spirit, to be thankful? What am I thankful for? I’m thankful that God’s going to take care of this, and I don’t have to. But what does the flesh say? I’m going to get even going to get my revenge, don’t we? Isn’t that what our place says? God says, No, get out of it and let me take care of it.
Rejoice with those who rejoice. Be happy. In other words, when people are joyful, mourn with those who mourn. When someone is sad, be sad with them. Live in harmony with one another. How many times? Where’s one of the best places to test this one, living in harmony with one another? Where’s the place bless where’s the arena? The best arena I know for test this one. Where would that be guys? Marriage. Yeah. Marriage. To be in a situation where you are a. Um, you are living in harmony with one another. Now, what keeps us from living in harmony with one another? All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us want to do our own thing. Is that right? I want to be right. I want to do what I want to do because what I want to do is the right way. There’s a right and a wrong, there’s my way and a wrong way. Am I right? Yeah, now you’re not going to live in harmony with one another like that. If we realize that because I’m a man and because Amy is a woman, which is, quite frankly, the way God intended marriages to be. He didn’t make Adam and Steve, he made Adam and Eve. It’s the way God made it to be. And if people think that’s not politically correct, get a life. Just get a life, and start seeing what the Bible has to say is you hate what is evil, and you grab a hold of what’s good. And I want to tell you, homosexuality is not good in the Bible. And even if you don’t know anything about the Bible, you know it’s not good. You’re on in your own heart, you know it’s not good. So don’t call it good. That doesn’t mean you hate a person that’s involved in that any more than you hate a person that’s involved in lust. If you did, you’d have to hate everybody. Just, just hate all the guys. Get rid of them. So I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the activity. Stealing is not good. Lying is not good. It’s not just a little white one. Lying is not good. Are we right or wrong? And so we must look at what the Bible says is right or wrong and grab a hold of it. I’m not condemning those people we have no right to condemn, but I’m condemning the practice because it’s a perversion. There’s a lot of perversions. That’s not the only one, but I’m just sick and tired of the world trying to call that good and then trying to get marriages around it when it’s a little hard to propagate. In case you haven’t figured that out, that’s a tough job. Nothing angers me any more than seeing in the world people just absolutely calling bad good and good bad. Doesn’t it say in the Scripture, woe to the man who calls bad good and good bad? And yet, that’s the world we live in today, and it’s acceptable.
Now to get back to where I was. When you live in a marriage, you’ve got a guy and you got a gal, and when it talks, one’s from Mars and the other is from Venus, or wherever that is, that is true. We think of things totally different. We’re like, looking at the moon, and I’m looking on one side of it, and Amy’s looking on the other, and both of us are looking at the moon, but I’m saying it’s bright, and she said it’s dark, or vice versa. Said, No, I didn’t It’s bright. No, it’s dark. Well, I’m looking at the moon. What do you think I’m looking at? Two different thoughts. Normally, opposites attract. How many in here are married? How many in your marriage, one of you like to get up early, go to bed early and get up early, and the other one once likes to get up late and go to bed late? How many in your marriages have marriages like that? Most opposites attract, don’t they? Now, God says, I want to create unity in that and you say, God, you may be able to split the sea, but I don’t think you’re going to be able to accomplish that one. He said, Yeah, I will, if you let me, I’ll show you how I can get unity in the midst of this unbelievable diversity of a man and a woman living under the same roof together, but you can’t do it if you both want your own way. That’s why I have to forget about, well, this is just a man thing, and Amy has to forget about, well, this is just a woman thing, and what we have to do is say, what does Jesus have to say about it? It’s not what I as a man say about it, or what does a woman say about it. The issue is, what does Jesus say about it? And if you’ll center your life in him, instead of hanging on tenaciously to our own desires to be in control and to be controlling everything, let go of that. God didn’t call you to control he called him to control you, not you to control the world and let go of that and say, what I want to know is, what does God want me to do? You’re going to have a successful marriage. You’ll have some problems because you’re man and woman, but God said, if you’ll let me alone and let me control this thing, I will show you how I can bring unity in the midst of this unbelievable diversity. Can you think of anything more diverse than a man and woman in the same house together with Amy and I for 50 years? 50 years, we’ll have our anniversary this not too long from now, 50 years arguing for 50 years, wanting our own way for 50 years. You talk about tenacious but that’s true. So he says in these passages here that he wants us to to live in harmony with one another.
Now, how do you do that? Take a look at these verses. Don’t be proud. You’re not going to live in harmony. With somebody when you’re proud, I think I know more than they do. I’m more intelligent than they are. I know how to accomplish things better than they do. Be willing to associate with people of low position, guys, that is such an important thing when it talks about that, and don’t be conceited. I’ve seen churches say, how do you get to be a deacon? By checking your financial record you make over a couple 100,000 bucks you’re in especially if you tithing. People, just associating with people of high financial status, that’s all you want associate with. He says, Don’t be that way. You’re not going to experience love when you’re associating with people just in your financial strata. He said, Learn to love people of all of all stratas. Learn to love the rich, learn to love the poor, learn to love the white, learn to love the black. Learn that from God’s standpoint, we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ. And learn to love one another. Isn’t it great when you can just love each other, not wondering what your financial record is? Don’t be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil, and be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. Now, what is that saying in the eyes of everybody? Well, everybody doesn’t think that the same things are right, but he says, Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. In other words, there’ll be a stumbling block to people when. Well he’s talking about the fact that some people, as an example, think that it’s sin to eat meat. He said people whose faith are weak, because that is really true. But the issue is that if that’s the case, don’t go out and try to share Christ with them chowing down on a pork chop. If somebody thinks that it’s just total sin to have a glass of wine. Don’t go to share Christ with him and drink a glass of wine. In other words, it’s don’t give an appearance of evil. May not be evil to you, but, but if you know that it gives an appearance of evil to someone else, don’t do it.
I remember Amy and I one time there was, there was a couple that was very active in Christian work, and we had this lady came, came up to us one time. Her eyes are big as dollars and, oh yeah, I saw so and so on a restaurant the other day, and they were having a glass of wine, and I guess they were supposed, we’re supposed to say, Ohh. Well, you feel like, Have you heard the passage of scripture that says, lead a quiet life and tend to your own business? You ever read that scripture? What do you care whether somebody was having a glass of wine? I personally don’t want to have a glass of wine. Don’t particularly like it, and it’s not important to me anymore. And besides that, when I learned that alcohol killed brain cells, I figured I had none to lose or despair. I’ve had enough wine in my life that ain’t the reason I don’t drink. I don’t drink because I don’t want to. Do I look down on you if you do? No. If you got a problem with it, where you become an alcoholic in your life, and it’s a. Brother, I’ll tell you, don’t touch it. But I’m not going to look down on you because somebody has a glass of wine. Are you? I’m not going to sit around with you did, or if I did, like wine, and get drunk and then talk about Jesus. So there’s, there’s things to think about. You’re being a stumbling block. And he says, Don’t do that. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
And if it’s possible, and look at that, if it’s possible, as far as depends on you, not them. You live at peace with everyone. Now, what’s it saying there? You may desire to live at peace with someone else, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to desire to live at peace with you. Are we together on that? And don’t think that this scripture is saying that if I live, if I if I want to be living in peace with you, that that the automatic to that is they’re going to then want to live at peace with me. It doesn’t say that. It says, as far as you’re concerned, live at peace with all people. But that does not mean all people are going to want to live with peace with you. Are we together on that?
Don’t take revenge. Leave room for God’s wrath, for it has written its mind to avenge. I WILL REPAY, says the Lord. On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. Feed him. Give him all the spinach he wants. If he’s thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you’re going to be heaping burning coals on his head. In other words, by being good to someone who has treated you in a ill way it burns. It’s like burning coals on their head. Don’t overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.
And so folks, these instructions are all given to us. We look at those. I don’t know about you, I look at those and say it’s condemning in some ways. It’s convicting in some ways. I I look at my own attitudes and some of those and say, I’m sure not always that way, and I’m sure you’ve done the same. But this is saying, This is what God’s righteousness is. This is what God’s truth is. And so this is a goal. This is said, Well, I know that I may not be sincere all the time, but Lord Jesus, I want you to be sincere through me. I want to have a sincere love for people. I want to learn to hate what is evil and to cling to what is good. I want to be devoted to people in brotherly love. I don’t want to be fearful anymore. I want to put that dumb fear away and that block that I’ve got around me, and I can’t over emphasize that enough folks, because I’ve counseled enough in this world to realize what happened. People put walls around themselves, they really do, and take them down, because it just destroys relationships. You cannot live in fear of being hurt or rejected, and if you do, you’re never going to love with a sincere heart.
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Bob George 16:38
I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone. What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? What if flipped through it several times a day? What if we turned our around to go get it when we forgot it? What if we used it to receive messages from the text? What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it? What if we gave to our kid? What if we gave it to our kids as gifts? What if we used it when we traveled? What if we used it in case of emergency? Oh, and one more thing, unlike our cell phone, we don’t worry. Have to worry about the Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill. This is something to make you go, Hmm, where is my Bible? It’s pretty good, isn’t it?
Well, guys, let’s turn together, back again to the book of Romans. And guys, I think that where the difficulty comes in many times in Biblical understanding, is we forget that as an example, this whole book of Romans is dealing with the contrast between the law and grace, and showing us the purpose of the law and how we have misused its purpose and made it a means of righteousness, instead of a means of showing you your sinfulness. All through the Scripture, second chapter of Romans, I just outlined some things there. If you do like I do, I just cross. I circled things. And in this passage in chapter two, you might want to turn to that beginning in verse 12, it just, I’m just going to go through some of these passages. All who sin apart from the law, and I just circle the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law do by nature the things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences, also bearing witness and their thoughts now accusing them and even defending them. So he’s talking about the law. Now, but he said in you, you call yourself a Hebrew verse 17 if you rely upon the law. Now, look, here is the definition of people who have never escaped from the law. Now, whether you are in Graceland over here, or law land over here, if you are truly born again, as we described last week, you have been taken out of this realm over here altogether, and you have been transferred over here into the kingdom of his Son that we love, In whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin. You have been removed from the demands of the law.
Folks. If you’re in law land, you are miserable. Like Paul said, the things you want to do you don’t do the things you don’t want to do, you do them anyway. It’s a miserable existence. You’re in slavery. It says you are absolutely enslaved by the demands of the law, because if you are under the law, then you are under the penalty of the law, which is spiritual death. It is not a desirable condition to be in, and yet people will hang on to what kills them tenaciously, just like our cell phones. Hang on tenaciously to what kills you and come over here in Graceland and say, You people are nuts. You can’t do good to be true. But the issue is that you’re in bondage. You’re miserable. You make people around you miserable because you’re in bondage. And that’s what it says about the law. Now, he says these kind of people, what’s interesting about these kind of people is they like to make people think they’re under the law and doing good under it otherwise. Why would you call on the air? As I’ve had for over 20 years, people say, You mean, tell me you’re not under why you’re under the. Well, I have to say you must believe that you are obedient to it. And why would you be calling? Why would you be calling to defend the law? Unless you thought that you were doing good under it. You’re dead, you’re lost, because if you were saved, you wouldn’t be under that law. But here’s how people act you, or call yourself a Hebrew, if you rely upon the law to brag about your relationship with God, and that’s what people do. I’m under the law. Boy, I’m one. I am one holy dude. You tell me that God loves you. And I just said, No wonder I love me too. I’m so good. I say, let me interview your wife. And if you know that his of his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law, if you’re convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those who are in the dark. We’re going to tell everybody what to do. We’re going to tell everybody how to obey the law, because we are law abiding. Anybody in here, law abiding, anybody in here want to stand before God with absolutely no sin in your life? Because that’s what it takes if you’re under the law. Paul said you’re under all of it. And James said, if you’ve kept the whole law in your life and violated just one point, you violate all of it. You want to stand before God like that? That’s his requirements, not yours, because you’ve got self righteous requirements, but his bragging about how good you are if you’re convinced that you’re a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish of the foolish teacher of infants, because you have the law, the embodiment of knowledge and truth, then you who teach others, do you not teach yourself? Look what he’s doing here, guys. He is just baren if you’re able to be buried, you who preach against stealing, do you steal? You steal people’s time. If you show up late all the time, you’re a time stealer. Anybody in here a time stealer? You who say that people should not commit adultery? Do you commit adultery? Do you ever lust in your whole life? Do you ever lust? Don’t need to raise up hands. Well, then if you lust, you’ve committed adultery in the sight of God. We’re talking about this from God. This is how God looks at you. Not Not how we’ve washed it and watered it down, but how God looks at it. Are you free from guilt? I don’t think so. You abhorred idols. Do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking his law? I mean, if you’re going to uphold something and brag on it, then, brother, you better keep it. Otherwise, what are we called? Hypocrites. And that’s what most Christians are called hypocrites. You know why they’re hypocrites? Because they’re saying I’m under the law and I’m obeying it when they’re not. And people see that if you’re truly teaching the grace of God, nobody’s going to ever call you a hypocrite, because you’re not teaching that you’re good anyway, you’re teaching he’s good. Talks about something like circumcision. It could be baptism, we church, attendance, it could be tithing, record, all those kind of things. Circumcision, it has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you become as though you have not been circumcised. However, you’ve not been baptized, you’ve not been a church go, or whatever it might be. It talks about the fact a man is not a Hebrew if he’s won outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward or physical. No, a man is a Hebrew if he is one inwardly. And circumcision is the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, not by the written code. That’s just one passage, one, one group of passages in there about the law.
We go over into the chapter five, and we talk about the peace of God that passes understanding. And it talks about how that we have been justified when we were God’s enemies, lost, and talks about being saved by His life. Well, let’s pray together, Father, we want to thank you for the truth of the Word of God. We read these things, and really it’s a definition of your attitude toward us. And saying, If I live in you, then I can produce those same attitudes in you, and for that, we say, thank you so Lord, help us to become loving people. Put bitterness away, forgive one another, just as you forgave us. Many times we’ve had almost a lifestyle and many times in our marriages to being angry and bitter, put that away. It doesn’t do any good. And say, Lord Jesus, I’m tired of trying to protect myself. I’m tired of having this wall around me. I want to be able to love with your love, just like you did. You were not fearful of loving us. You knew full well that in so doing, some would accept and others would reject, but you loved us anyway. Father, free us from the fears that keep us away from the perfect love of God, and let us learn to walk in that newness of life, refreshed by God’s Word. In Christ’s name, we pray and for his sake. Amen.
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