July 7, 2025 • 25 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of
doctor Jeff Swarzentrau, Senior Pastor of Brave Church in Denver, Colorado. Today,
Pastor Jeff continues his message the danger of spiritual lethargy
from the series The Greatest and challenges you to grow
(00:22):
up in your faith and step into your calling. But
before we get started with today's teaching, we invite you
to check out Pastorjeff dot com to find more resources
to help you grow in your walk. While you're there,
be sure to sign up for Pastor Jeff's weekly email
devotion to receive encouragement right near inbox. Now, let's hear
from Pastor Jeff as he brings us today's teaching from
(00:42):
God's Word.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Some people are a culture don't know when life begins.
So I'll just tell you it begins at conception, which
means that abortion is wrong, it's sinful, it's murder. It's
not hard to figure out if you're spiritually discerning. So
when there's a bill that's laid on the table so
that you can only abort a baby in you to row,
(01:08):
but twenty eight days after delivery, that's called evil, and
we're not called to stand on the sidelines. We're called
to get involved. You can't watch evil go on in
the culture and not call it that. Or when an
administration endorses you sex change operations by having puberty blockers.
When Genesis one says there's only two genders and so
(01:31):
on one thirty nine says, whatever gender you were created,
that's what God wants you to be, and that's what
you will always be. And some people amen. Now, the
spiritually young and the unsaved will say, oh, you're just
being political. No, I'm discerning between what's good and what's evil,
(01:52):
and I'm calling it that.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Some will say, hey, you're just being political.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You're trying to preach the gospel and save a Maria. No,
I'm not. My goal is not to save American My
goes to preach the gospel and save Americans. And there's
a lot of Americans that aren't saved, that are in
positions of office and authority that are making evil decisions.
And God says, woe to them. And for me to
stand here and say, well, it's okay, that's just their job.
(02:18):
It's not their job, it's God's job. They should repent
and trust Christ and do it God's way. Amen. That's
what he's talking about here. That's what he's talking about here.
And if that bothers you to hear stuff said like that,
perhaps you're spiritually immature. That could be, or perhaps you're
(02:38):
not saved and you're bothered by the fact because that
doesn't make sense to you. But the longer that you're
in the Word, and the more you allow the Lord
to penetrate your heart, and the more you put the
Word of God into practice, it's the word of righteousness.
It's the hunger for righteousness. It's the hunger for God
to have his way, not only in the church, but
in the culture that you're pasting about. One way to
(03:02):
discern and diagnose spiritual ethargy is when you live your
life and.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Your appetite for the Lord is suppressed.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
No hunger for God, no hunger for the Word, no
hunger for prayer, no hunger for anything, and you can't
discern between good and evil. And can I just tell
you this For those of you that come to Brave
Church on a regular basis, we're a church that will
open up the Bible and preach it word by word,
line by line, precept upon precept. When you get a
steady diet of that, and then you go somewhere that
(03:31):
doesn't do that, you will be fundamentally bothered. Like it
will bother you if people are tickling your ears and
entertaining you, and you can tell they don't really know
Jesus and be like, why did I even come? Because
you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness? Tell me
what God's saying, right, And that's what we're talking about here.
He's telling us that there are some within the community,
(03:53):
not everyone, but some within the community that want milk
and not spiritual food because they really they aren't saved
to begin with. They don't have a palette for the
things of God because they're not of God. Second way
to diagnose spiritual ethargy is this, spiritual ethargy preferences religious
practices as opposed to a personal relationship. Spiritual lethargy preferences
(04:18):
religious practices to a personal relationship. People that aren't saved
like to talk about religion. They like to talk about
the rhetoric that happens in a church. They like to
talk about the routines they have. They like to talk
about the preaching. They like to talk about the practices.
They like to talk about, their promises that they're gonna make.
They all like to talk about outside external things. But
(04:39):
what they don't talk about is their personal relationship with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you're not saved, that's
all you know how to talk about. You talk about
the church you go to, whether you like your pastor
or not, the worship songs that were sung, whether you
like the way the worship songs were sung or not,
how the instruments were tuned, how they weren't tuned, what
instrument was missing, all that kind of stuff. But what
(05:01):
you don't talk about is, here's what Jesus is doing
in my life right now. And I have a relationship
with the Father through him, and I know him. And
notice what he says. He says, therefore, leaving the elementary
teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity,
not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works
and a faith towards God of instruction, about washings and
(05:23):
laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead
and eternal judgment. He's like, therefore, what therefore, since Jesus
is the greatest of all time, there are for since
he's greater than our Jewish traditions and pastimes. Therefore, since
he's the greatest, let us leave the elementary teaching about
the Christ. What's the elementary teaching about the Christ? The
elementary teaching about the Messiah is that the Messiah was
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going to come. All the Old Testament scriptures are types
and shadows of everything that the Messiah was going to be.
They were fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.
He doesn't say forget the past. He says, let's leave
that stuff because that was a founday that's being built
for what's most important, which is Christ. How would I
translate it in modern day means this some of you
(06:07):
grew up in the church, some of your Baptists, some
of your Pentecostals, some.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Of you Lutheran, Catholic, whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I'm not saying that's bad. I'm saying, in light of
who Christ is, let's leave all that behind and pursue
Christ with everything you have. Let's not be about your denomination,
Let's be about Jesus. That's what he's saying. And there's
some people within the community like, yeah, we don't want
to leave the Judaism thing. We want to be Jewish.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
We want we want to keep our practices.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I mean, we're not as excited about Jesus as we
are about being Jewish. There's some today that aren't as
excited about Jesus as there about being Catholic, or as
excited as Jesus as there about being Methodist, or as
excited about Jesus as they are being Lutheran, or as
excited about Jesus as being non denominational. Our people in
our in our you know stream, like we're non denomination,
we're not any of that stuff. Well what are you? Well,
(06:53):
we played contemporary music and our pastor doesn't wear a
robe and we're really cool, you know, but they don't
talk about Jesus. It's Jesus. It's leaving those things. The
elementary teachings were the Old Testament oracles of God leading
to Jesus, and he says, he says, let us press
on to maturity. That's completeness. What's maturity. Maturity's knowing the Lord.
(07:17):
Let us press on to Jesus Christ being Lord. Let
us press on to him being lord of our life.
Let us press on to him having opportunity to take
over any area of our life that he wants. Let's
press on to that, let's submit to him. When you
meet people regardless of their denominational flavor, and they'll tell
you this, Jesus Christ is Lord of my life. And
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I repented of my sin and I turned to him
and he's my God. It covers over a lot, right,
That's what it's all about. That's what he's talking about here.
It's not about the tradition. It's about Jesus. Some of
you grew up in a church like I did, with
a big pipe organ behind where people would stay after
(07:58):
the service to listen to somebody that as a phenomenal
organist play that song.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
People in our church would stay there and weep tears.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
If you come to break church, I have it on
pretty good authority that's probably never gonna happen here. Okay,
But there's nothing wrong with that. Right. Perhaps there's a
room in heaven for people that like organ music. Right,
Perhaps there's a room in heavn.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I mean, God loves worship.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But it's not about how we worship, it's who we
worship that we worship. Right. When you prefer religious practices
to a personal relationship, When people ask you about your
faith and you start talking about what you do rather
than who you serve. That's a sign.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Know.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's what else he talks about. He says repentance from
dead works and towards faith in God. I mean, that's
Old Testament stuff. All throughout the Old Testament, God was
telling him turn from your dead works, turn to God,
return to me. I'll return to you. That's elementary, that's foundational.
And notice this, he's not talking about Christ here, He's
talking about God in general. He was saying, there was
a principle in the Old Testament we turned from our
(09:02):
dead works, we turned to God. We've got something greater
than that. Right now we can turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Amen. Or instructions about washings, this is
not baptism. This is washings some of you. This is
what it means for some of you, some of you
who have said they're going to set out to study
the Bible in a year, and you make it to Leviticus,
and then as you're reading Leviticus, like, why is all
(09:23):
this stuff about washings? That's what he's talking about. There
are all sorts of ways to be ceremonial cleaned.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Remember the Pharisees in Jesus's day.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
They were coming up and asking them questions, how come
your disciples don't wash their hands? And from our standpoints
like who cares? But from them it was a religious practice.
They're not doing the right religious practices like we do.
How come they don't do that? He's like, let's move
on from that. We have the real thing now, we
don't need to go back to our traditions that are
pointing towards the real thing, because the real thing, the
(09:52):
Lord Jesus Christ, has already arrived. Amen.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
This is Pastor Jeff Ministries, Jeff's swarzentraup and today Pastor
Jeff is sharing his message the danger of spiritual lethargy
from the series The Greatest, challenging you to grow in
godliness and build on the strong foundation of truth. We'll
get back to Pastor Jeff in just a moment, but first,
generous listeners like you make programs like this one possible.
(10:21):
And when you give a gift in support of Pastor
Jeff Ministries today, we'll thank you with a copy of
Pastor Jeff's Battle Test and Wisdom, a ten day prayer
journey for real life decisions to help you learn to
live by God's wisdom, not your own understanding. To get
your copy, visit us at Pastorjeff dot com to gift
once again. That website is pastorjeff dot com. Now let's
(10:42):
get back to today's message. As we listen to the conclusion
of this teaching from God's word.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
We have the real thing.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Now, we don't need to go back to our traditions
that are pointing towards the real thing, because the real thing,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has our already arrived. Amen. He's like,
order the laying on of hands. This laying on of
hands is not talking about New Testament laying on of hands,
apostolically imparting gifts, doing those kinds of things. This is
a laying on of hands like the day of Atonement,
(11:13):
where the high priest, praying for the sin of the
nation would lay his hands on an animal goat and pray,
the sin of the nation will be taken away, and
that one would be slaughtered, and he lay his hands
on another one that was called the scapegoat, that he
would release out into the wild.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
That'd be their sin would be taken away.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
He's like, let's get beyond that, because the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world's already come.
Let's get beyond our traditions, is what he was saying.
And the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. I
mean even the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day
knew about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
They just didn't know that Christ was the one that
could do that for them. He's said, let's get beyond
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our religious practices and get into a personal relationship with Christ.
And notice what he says verse three, and this we
will do if God permits. In other words, it can
be one of two things. One is, hey, if God permits,
I'll help get y'all there. I'll show you. Or it
could mean if God permits, you'll get there. He's saying
(12:12):
that for some of you, you need to go beyond
your religious preferences or just your understanding of what God
is about and actually appropriate the faith into your life.
That's what it's all about. See, some people like religion,
They preference religion. You know some people that come to church.
You mean, like, well, how do you know that Hinduism's wrong?
(12:33):
Or how do you know that Islam's wrong, or how
do you know that Jehovah witnesses are wrong? Or how
do you know that Mormonism is wrong? Very simply, here's
what my answer would be, because I know Jesus Christ
is right, and He's the way, the truth and the life,
and that no one comes to the Father except through him,
and I know him personally, and I have a relationship
with the Father through him, and no one comes to
(12:54):
the Father except through him. So it doesn't matter what
else is proclaimed that even if another gospels for claim
from an angel, I will not believe it, because Jesus
Christ is Lord. Amen. That's what he's talking about here.
And for many of us, we like religious practices. It's
easier for us to think about, well, what do I
need to do. It's like the rich young ruler that
(13:14):
comes to she says, what do I need to do
to get saved? Just tell me the religion I need.
I need the right religion. If you cause tell me
those things, then I'll kind of do those things and
I'll get saved.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And Jesus was saying, I'm the way.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
The only way you can be saved is to give
up your life and to give your whole life to me,
And then he went away sad because he's like, I
prefer religion to a relationship with Jesus. And there's some
apparently within the community of believers that prefer religion to
a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's
pushing on that. He's pushing on that. He's like, or
(13:45):
do you understand do you understand why you're not growing spiritually?
Do you understand why you're not hungry for God? Do
you understand why you can't discern good from evil? Do
you understand why you're bothered when people are worshiping? Do
you understand why it threatens you when you watch people
go after God wholeheartedly? Here's why, because you're really not saved,
and I'm concerned about your condition. That's what he's saying.
(14:05):
And then he goes on in verses four through Sakes,
which is the most controversial part of the entire New Testament,
and he tells us this that regardless value you interpret this,
that spiritual lethargy results in grave consequences. Spiritual lethargy results
in grave consequences.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
No notice what he says.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened,
and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been
made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the
good Word of God and the powers of the age
to come, and then have fallen away. It is impossible
to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucified
to themselves the Son of God and put him to
open shame. Every understand. I think there's been more Christians
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troubled by this verse than any other verse in the Bible.
And you don't need to now. There's great men and
women in the history of the Church who have gone
before me. John Wesley would be one of them. I've
studied much of what he preached and taught love John Wesley.
But John Wesley taught this that that's talking about.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Believers who can lose their salvation.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So if you're a believer and you've tasted all these
things and done all these things, and you turn away
from the faith, it's impossible for you to ever come back.
So if you're gonna teach that, you also need to
teach that any believer that's turned their back on Christ,
they can never come back. I find that hard to
believe because it doesn't square with the rest of the
teaching of the Bible, it just doesn't. So let me
give you some comfort before we get into the text. Okay,
(15:29):
God makes clear that salvation is not something that you earn,
so it's not something that you can lose. Salvation is
a gift for its bigrace human saved through faith. It's
not your own doing. It's a gift of God. So
no one can boast. And when God gives you a gift,
he doesn't take the gift back. If you repent it
and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
is yours now and forever. You can't lose what God
(15:49):
gave you. Let me give you some Bible verses to
back that up so you don't think it's.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Just my theology.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I'm being biblical here in John chapter ten, verses twenty
seven to twenty nine. Here's what Jesus says. My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,
and I give eternal life to them, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them out of
my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to
(16:16):
snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my
father are one. What is he saying? If you're saved,
there's a double grip on you. The Father and the
son are holding you in their hand. And nobody, but nobody,
not even the devil, not even yourself, not even your
own stupid decisions, can take away your salvation. You need
to know that.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Here's just a couple other verses.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
They're all over the New Testament. Philippians one to six
says that he who begin a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Day of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
What got started he gonna finish? What about In Romans
Chapter eight, verse thirty one, If God is for us,
who is against us? Verse thirty five says who will
separate us from the love of Christ? In verses thirty
eight and thirty nine, he says, for I'm convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
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present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death,
nor any other created thing, we'll be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you from God's love.
If you've trusted in Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.
You belong to Christ. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. He's not going anywhere. We'll give you one more.
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Phesians one thirteen and fourteen says in him you also
after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, having also believed, you are sealed in Him
with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is a is
given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view
to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise
of His glory. So not only does Father and Son
hold you, but the Holy Spirit has been given to
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you as a deposit, guaranteeing your inheritance. And the saints Christian.
If you've turned from your sin and Jesus Christ is
your lord, he's always going to be your lord. You
are not ever in peril of losing what God gave
you in salvation.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Is that good news.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So let's talk in context, because context is everything in
the Bible.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
That's why you know.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Sometimes people go through the Bible and they pick a
verse here, and they pick a verse there, and they
pick a verse here, and they pick a verse there.
I can do all things through christ you strengthens me.
That means somebody I can be a president, that I
can be the quarterback in the broncos I can do
whatever I want through Christian strengthens me.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Well, that's not what that means.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
In context, I can be content no matter what I
go through.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I mean if we don't look at context, we can
come up with a very erroneous interpretation. I mean, imagine
taking these three verses out of context, and Judas went
out and hung himself. Friends, do not be merely hearers
of the word, but doers of the word. And Jesus said,
what you do do quickly. I mean that's butchering the Bible,
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that's pulling different scriptures out. And every cult in the
world does that. We have to take it as a whole.
So what is the context here? The context here are
Jewish people, some of which who have been converted, some
in the community aren't. And he's speaking to the ones
in the community that aren't. He's saying, I'm scared about you.
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I'm scared about some of you that aren't maturing. And
the reason I'm scared about some of you that aren't
maturing is because you're really not saved, and I want
to make.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Sure that you're saved.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
You've come all the way to the point of repentance,
but you're not all the way there yet. So let's
read what he says. Let's let the text speak for itself.
See if this makes sense, he says. But each one,
I'm sorry, he says this, for in the case of
those who have once been enlightened, what doesn't mean to
be enlightened. Enlightened means you have a mental awareness. You
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become aware of something going on, but you haven't necessarily
done anything with it. If I told you today that
there's a sale at Park Meadows and everything in every
store is seventy five percent off, I would be enlightening you.
But if you don't go to park Meadows, you don't
get to experience what I'm enlightening you about. By the way,
if you go to park Meadows, that's not true. It's
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not gonna happen. So but enlightening, they've been enlightening. They've
been lighted to the truth. They've been made aware of
the information. They've been made aware of Jesus Lord. They've
heard the apostles preach and teach. They know what Jesus said,
they know who he is, but they haven't done anything
with it. What else have they done? They've tasted of
the heavenly gift. What's the heavenly gift? It's Christ for
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our salvation. They've tasted of it. Tasted does not mean
fully embraced and eaten. Jus tasted death for everybody. Hebrews
two nine told us he tasted death for everyone.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Is he still dead?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
He tasted death, He completely died, but he's not dead anymore.
Death apart from Christ, is forever. Jesus had a taster,
he tasted it, but he didn't endure it for all time.
I'll give you a passage of scripture that.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
We'll back this.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
In Matthew, chapter twenty seven and verse thirty four. When
Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, it says, and
they gave him wine to drink, mixed with gold, and
after tasting it same word, he was unwilling to drink.
Tasting does not mean swallowed. Tasting does not mean fully embraced.
It means they know they've been enlightened the Jess's lord.
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They've seen that Jus's Lord. They've even had a little
taste of the Gospel. They've even had some experience in
the community that the gospel's real, but they haven't done
anything with it was I mean, they've been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit. It means this, they've experienced the
manifest presence of the Holy Spirit and community that they've
experienced him. The Holy Spirit brings conviction about sin and
(21:36):
judgment and righteousness. The Holy Spirit prompts you in a service.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
When you're here.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Today at Brave, you can experience the manifest presence of
the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Without being saved.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Some of you may say, well, I kind of like
the preaching, or that song made me cry, or man,
when they said that today that really resonated with my heart.
They've experienced the Holy Spirit some.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
At First Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Last First Tuesday we had I asked people, hey, raise
your hands if you've been physical healed since being here
at Brave. About a third of the hands went up.
And some people might say, well, that's great. I've seen
God heal people, watch them do great things. Been partakers
with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean they're in dwelt with
the Holy Spirit, doesn't mean they're.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Filled with the Holy Spirit. But they've experienced the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
What else have they done? They've tasted of the good Word.
The good word is the spoken word. They've tasted of it.
They like preaching. They like good preaching. Man that pastor,
he told a good story. I like that. I like
good preaching. Remember Herod, he even liked hearing John the
Baptist preach. Didn't always like what John the Baptists had
to say. They like listening to them. I mean, there's
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some people that just like getting their ears tickled for
the sake of getting them tickled. There's some people like
to be in church because it's a good moral thing
to do.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And I kind of like what the pastor has to say.
But that doesn't mean that.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Because you hear the word and experience the spirit and
know that Jesus is the way that you have made
Jesus Christ the lord of your life. That's what he's saying.
And notice what else he goes on to say. He
goes they've tasted the Good Word and the powers of
the age to come. I mean, we study the life
of Jesus, we see not only saves, but he.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Heals, he delivers.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
These people have seen all that They've seen the apostles
do all that. They've watched people be delivered from demons,
they watch people get healed, they watch, you know, the
apostles raise people from the dead. They've experienced all this.
But you know what they haven't done. They haven't allowed
Jesus Christ to be lord. You know why because when
you're spiritually lethargic, here's what you say. Yeah, I know
that's good, but I got my life to live. I'm
(23:30):
not giving my whole heart to Jesus. Maybe someday I'll
give my whole heart to Jesus. I'm not ready for
that kind of commitment yet. Oh I'd like him to
be my savior. I just don't want him to be
my lord. There's nowhere in the Bible where that plays out.
Or somebody looks Jesus in the eye and say, hey,
I want you to die for me, but I just
want you to know I got a life to live.
This different than what you're asking. And Jesus says, okay,
(23:55):
that's somebody says. He says, he who puts his hand
to the plow and looks back, it's not fit for
the Kingdom of Heaven. When the rich young ruler comes
to him and walks away, says how hard it is
for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. He
points at people's hearts and says, I'm Lord. I need
you to be I need to be your lord. And
if I'm your Lord, I will save you.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Thanks for listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries. That was Pastor
Jeff with his message the danger of spiritual lethargy from
the series The Greatest, challenging you to grow in Godliness
and build on a strong foundation of truth.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Before we say goodbye.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
We want to remind you that when you give a
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Welcome to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the Bible teaching ministry of
doctor Jeff Swarzentrau, Senior Pastor of Brave Church in Denver, Colorado. Today,
Pastor Jeff continues his message the danger of spiritual lethargy
from the series The Greatest and challenges you to grow
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up in your faith and step into your calling. But
before we get started with today's teaching, we invite you
to check out Pastorjeff dot com to find more resources
to help you grow in your walk. While you're there,
be sure to sign up for Pastor Jeff's weekly email
devotion to receive encouragement right near inbox. Now, let's hear
from Pastor Jeff as he brings us today's teaching from
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God's Word.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Some people are a culture don't know when life begins.
So I'll just tell you it begins at conception, which
means that abortion is wrong, it's sinful, it's murder. It's
not hard to figure out if you're spiritually discerning. So
when there's a bill that's laid on the table so
that you can only abort a baby in you to row,
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but twenty eight days after delivery, that's called evil, and
we're not called to stand on the sidelines. We're called
to get involved. You can't watch evil go on in
the culture and not call it that. Or when an
administration endorses you sex change operations by having puberty blockers.
When Genesis one says there's only two genders and so
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on one thirty nine says, whatever gender you were created,
that's what God wants you to be, and that's what
you will always be. And some people amen. Now, the
spiritually young and the unsaved will say, oh, you're just
being political. No, I'm discerning between what's good and what's evil,
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and I'm calling it that.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Some will say, hey, you're just being political.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You're trying to preach the gospel and save a Maria. No,
I'm not. My goal is not to save American My
goes to preach the gospel and save Americans. And there's
a lot of Americans that aren't saved, that are in
positions of office and authority that are making evil decisions.
And God says, woe to them. And for me to
stand here and say, well, it's okay, that's just their job.
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It's not their job, it's God's job. They should repent
and trust Christ and do it God's way. Amen. That's
what he's talking about here. That's what he's talking about here.
And if that bothers you to hear stuff said like that,
perhaps you're spiritually immature. That could be, or perhaps you're
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not saved and you're bothered by the fact because that
doesn't make sense to you. But the longer that you're
in the Word, and the more you allow the Lord
to penetrate your heart, and the more you put the
Word of God into practice, it's the word of righteousness.
It's the hunger for righteousness. It's the hunger for God
to have his way, not only in the church, but
in the culture that you're pasting about. One way to
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discern and diagnose spiritual ethargy is when you live your
life and.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Your appetite for the Lord is suppressed.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
No hunger for God, no hunger for the Word, no
hunger for prayer, no hunger for anything, and you can't
discern between good and evil. And can I just tell
you this For those of you that come to Brave
Church on a regular basis, we're a church that will
open up the Bible and preach it word by word,
line by line, precept upon precept. When you get a
steady diet of that, and then you go somewhere that
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doesn't do that, you will be fundamentally bothered. Like it
will bother you if people are tickling your ears and
entertaining you, and you can tell they don't really know
Jesus and be like, why did I even come? Because
you have a hunger and thirst for righteousness? Tell me
what God's saying, right, And that's what we're talking about here.
He's telling us that there are some within the community,
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not everyone, but some within the community that want milk
and not spiritual food because they really they aren't saved
to begin with. They don't have a palette for the
things of God because they're not of God. Second way
to diagnose spiritual ethargy is this, spiritual ethargy preferences religious
practices as opposed to a personal relationship. Spiritual lethargy preferences
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religious practices to a personal relationship. People that aren't saved
like to talk about religion. They like to talk about
the rhetoric that happens in a church. They like to
talk about the routines they have. They like to talk
about the preaching. They like to talk about the practices.
They like to talk about, their promises that they're gonna make.
They all like to talk about outside external things. But
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what they don't talk about is their personal relationship with
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you're not saved, that's
all you know how to talk about. You talk about
the church you go to, whether you like your pastor
or not, the worship songs that were sung, whether you
like the way the worship songs were sung or not,
how the instruments were tuned, how they weren't tuned, what
instrument was missing, all that kind of stuff. But what
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you don't talk about is, here's what Jesus is doing
in my life right now. And I have a relationship
with the Father through him, and I know him. And
notice what he says. He says, therefore, leaving the elementary
teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity,
not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works
and a faith towards God of instruction, about washings and
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laying on of hands and the resurrection of the dead
and eternal judgment. He's like, therefore, what therefore, since Jesus
is the greatest of all time, there are for since
he's greater than our Jewish traditions and pastimes. Therefore, since
he's the greatest, let us leave the elementary teaching about
the Christ. What's the elementary teaching about the Christ? The
elementary teaching about the Messiah is that the Messiah was
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going to come. All the Old Testament scriptures are types
and shadows of everything that the Messiah was going to be.
They were fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus.
He doesn't say forget the past. He says, let's leave
that stuff because that was a founday that's being built
for what's most important, which is Christ. How would I
translate it in modern day means this some of you
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grew up in the church, some of your Baptists, some
of your Pentecostals, some.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Of you Lutheran, Catholic, whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I'm not saying that's bad. I'm saying, in light of
who Christ is, let's leave all that behind and pursue
Christ with everything you have. Let's not be about your denomination,
Let's be about Jesus. That's what he's saying. And there's
some people within the community like, yeah, we don't want
to leave the Judaism thing. We want to be Jewish.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
We want we want to keep our practices.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I mean, we're not as excited about Jesus as we
are about being Jewish. There's some today that aren't as
excited about Jesus as there about being Catholic, or as
excited as Jesus as there about being Methodist, or as
excited about Jesus as they are being Lutheran, or as
excited about Jesus as being non denominational. Our people in
our in our you know stream, like we're non denomination,
we're not any of that stuff. Well what are you? Well,
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we played contemporary music and our pastor doesn't wear a
robe and we're really cool, you know, but they don't
talk about Jesus. It's Jesus. It's leaving those things. The
elementary teachings were the Old Testament oracles of God leading
to Jesus, and he says, he says, let us press
on to maturity. That's completeness. What's maturity. Maturity's knowing the Lord.
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Let us press on to Jesus Christ being Lord. Let
us press on to him being lord of our life.
Let us press on to him having opportunity to take
over any area of our life that he wants. Let's
press on to that, let's submit to him. When you
meet people regardless of their denominational flavor, and they'll tell
you this, Jesus Christ is Lord of my life. And
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I repented of my sin and I turned to him
and he's my God. It covers over a lot, right,
That's what it's all about. That's what he's talking about here.
It's not about the tradition. It's about Jesus. Some of
you grew up in a church like I did, with
a big pipe organ behind where people would stay after
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the service to listen to somebody that as a phenomenal
organist play that song.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
People in our church would stay there and weep tears.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
If you come to break church, I have it on
pretty good authority that's probably never gonna happen here. Okay,
But there's nothing wrong with that. Right. Perhaps there's a
room in heaven for people that like organ music. Right,
Perhaps there's a room in heavn.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I mean, God loves worship.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
But it's not about how we worship, it's who we
worship that we worship. Right. When you prefer religious practices
to a personal relationship, When people ask you about your
faith and you start talking about what you do rather
than who you serve. That's a sign.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Know.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
It's what else he talks about. He says repentance from
dead works and towards faith in God. I mean, that's
Old Testament stuff. All throughout the Old Testament, God was
telling him turn from your dead works, turn to God,
return to me. I'll return to you. That's elementary, that's foundational.
And notice this, he's not talking about Christ here, He's
talking about God in general. He was saying, there was
a principle in the Old Testament we turned from our
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dead works, we turned to God. We've got something greater
than that. Right now we can turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Amen. Or instructions about washings, this is
not baptism. This is washings some of you. This is
what it means for some of you, some of you
who have said they're going to set out to study
the Bible in a year, and you make it to Leviticus,
and then as you're reading Leviticus, like, why is all
(09:23):
this stuff about washings? That's what he's talking about. There
are all sorts of ways to be ceremonial cleaned.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Remember the Pharisees in Jesus's day.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
They were coming up and asking them questions, how come
your disciples don't wash their hands? And from our standpoints
like who cares? But from them it was a religious practice.
They're not doing the right religious practices like we do.
How come they don't do that? He's like, let's move
on from that. We have the real thing now, we
don't need to go back to our traditions that are
pointing towards the real thing, because the real thing, the
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Lord Jesus Christ, has already arrived. Amen.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
This is Pastor Jeff Ministries, Jeff's swarzentraup and today Pastor
Jeff is sharing his message the danger of spiritual lethargy
from the series The Greatest, challenging you to grow in
godliness and build on the strong foundation of truth. We'll
get back to Pastor Jeff in just a moment, but first,
generous listeners like you make programs like this one possible.
(10:21):
And when you give a gift in support of Pastor
Jeff Ministries today, we'll thank you with a copy of
Pastor Jeff's Battle Test and Wisdom, a ten day prayer
journey for real life decisions to help you learn to
live by God's wisdom, not your own understanding. To get
your copy, visit us at Pastorjeff dot com to gift
once again. That website is pastorjeff dot com. Now let's
(10:42):
get back to today's message. As we listen to the conclusion
of this teaching from God's word.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
We have the real thing.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Now, we don't need to go back to our traditions
that are pointing towards the real thing, because the real thing,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has our already arrived. Amen. He's like,
order the laying on of hands. This laying on of
hands is not talking about New Testament laying on of hands,
apostolically imparting gifts, doing those kinds of things. This is
a laying on of hands like the day of Atonement,
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where the high priest, praying for the sin of the
nation would lay his hands on an animal goat and pray,
the sin of the nation will be taken away, and
that one would be slaughtered, and he lay his hands
on another one that was called the scapegoat, that he
would release out into the wild.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
That'd be their sin would be taken away.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
He's like, let's get beyond that, because the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world's already come.
Let's get beyond our traditions, is what he was saying.
And the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. I
mean even the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day
knew about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
They just didn't know that Christ was the one that
could do that for them. He's said, let's get beyond
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our religious practices and get into a personal relationship with Christ.
And notice what he says verse three, and this we
will do if God permits. In other words, it can
be one of two things. One is, hey, if God permits,
I'll help get y'all there. I'll show you. Or it
could mean if God permits, you'll get there. He's saying
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that for some of you, you need to go beyond
your religious preferences or just your understanding of what God
is about and actually appropriate the faith into your life.
That's what it's all about. See, some people like religion,
They preference religion. You know some people that come to church.
You mean, like, well, how do you know that Hinduism's wrong?
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Or how do you know that Islam's wrong, or how
do you know that Jehovah witnesses are wrong? Or how
do you know that Mormonism is wrong? Very simply, here's
what my answer would be, because I know Jesus Christ
is right, and He's the way, the truth and the life,
and that no one comes to the Father except through him,
and I know him personally, and I have a relationship
with the Father through him, and no one comes to
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the Father except through him. So it doesn't matter what
else is proclaimed that even if another gospels for claim
from an angel, I will not believe it, because Jesus
Christ is Lord. Amen. That's what he's talking about here.
And for many of us, we like religious practices. It's
easier for us to think about, well, what do I
need to do. It's like the rich young ruler that
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comes to she says, what do I need to do
to get saved? Just tell me the religion I need.
I need the right religion. If you cause tell me
those things, then I'll kind of do those things and
I'll get saved.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
And Jesus was saying, I'm the way.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
The only way you can be saved is to give
up your life and to give your whole life to me,
And then he went away sad because he's like, I
prefer religion to a relationship with Jesus. And there's some
apparently within the community of believers that prefer religion to
a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's
pushing on that. He's pushing on that. He's like, or
(13:45):
do you understand do you understand why you're not growing spiritually?
Do you understand why you're not hungry for God? Do
you understand why you can't discern good from evil? Do
you understand why you're bothered when people are worshiping? Do
you understand why it threatens you when you watch people
go after God wholeheartedly? Here's why, because you're really not saved,
and I'm concerned about your condition. That's what he's saying.
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And then he goes on in verses four through Sakes,
which is the most controversial part of the entire New Testament,
and he tells us this that regardless value you interpret this,
that spiritual lethargy results in grave consequences. Spiritual lethargy results
in grave consequences.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
No notice what he says.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened,
and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have been
made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the
good Word of God and the powers of the age
to come, and then have fallen away. It is impossible
to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucified
to themselves the Son of God and put him to
open shame. Every understand. I think there's been more Christians
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troubled by this verse than any other verse in the Bible.
And you don't need to now. There's great men and
women in the history of the Church who have gone
before me. John Wesley would be one of them. I've
studied much of what he preached and taught love John Wesley.
But John Wesley taught this that that's talking about.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Believers who can lose their salvation.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So if you're a believer and you've tasted all these
things and done all these things, and you turn away
from the faith, it's impossible for you to ever come back.
So if you're gonna teach that, you also need to
teach that any believer that's turned their back on Christ,
they can never come back. I find that hard to
believe because it doesn't square with the rest of the
teaching of the Bible, it just doesn't. So let me
give you some comfort before we get into the text. Okay,
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God makes clear that salvation is not something that you earn,
so it's not something that you can lose. Salvation is
a gift for its bigrace human saved through faith. It's
not your own doing. It's a gift of God. So
no one can boast. And when God gives you a gift,
he doesn't take the gift back. If you repent it
and placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
is yours now and forever. You can't lose what God
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gave you. Let me give you some Bible verses to
back that up so you don't think it's.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Just my theology.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I'm being biblical here in John chapter ten, verses twenty
seven to twenty nine. Here's what Jesus says. My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me,
and I give eternal life to them, and they will
never perish, and no one will snatch them out of
my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to
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snatch them out of my father's hand. I and my
father are one. What is he saying? If you're saved,
there's a double grip on you. The Father and the
son are holding you in their hand. And nobody, but nobody,
not even the devil, not even yourself, not even your
own stupid decisions, can take away your salvation. You need
to know that.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Here's just a couple other verses.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
They're all over the New Testament. Philippians one to six
says that he who begin a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Day of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
What got started he gonna finish? What about In Romans
Chapter eight, verse thirty one, If God is for us,
who is against us? Verse thirty five says who will
separate us from the love of Christ? In verses thirty
eight and thirty nine, he says, for I'm convinced that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things
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present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death,
nor any other created thing, we'll be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you from God's love.
If you've trusted in Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.
You belong to Christ. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. He's not going anywhere. We'll give you one more.
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Phesians one thirteen and fourteen says in him you also
after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, having also believed, you are sealed in Him
with the Holy Spirit of promise. Who is a is
given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view
to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise
of His glory. So not only does Father and Son
hold you, but the Holy Spirit has been given to
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you as a deposit, guaranteeing your inheritance. And the saints Christian.
If you've turned from your sin and Jesus Christ is
your lord, he's always going to be your lord. You
are not ever in peril of losing what God gave
you in salvation.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Is that good news.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So let's talk in context, because context is everything in
the Bible.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
That's why you know.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Sometimes people go through the Bible and they pick a
verse here, and they pick a verse there, and they
pick a verse here, and they pick a verse there.
I can do all things through christ you strengthens me.
That means somebody I can be a president, that I
can be the quarterback in the broncos I can do
whatever I want through Christian strengthens me.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Well, that's not what that means.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
In context, I can be content no matter what I
go through.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
I mean if we don't look at context, we can
come up with a very erroneous interpretation. I mean, imagine
taking these three verses out of context, and Judas went
out and hung himself. Friends, do not be merely hearers
of the word, but doers of the word. And Jesus said,
what you do do quickly. I mean that's butchering the Bible,
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that's pulling different scriptures out. And every cult in the
world does that. We have to take it as a whole.
So what is the context here? The context here are
Jewish people, some of which who have been converted, some
in the community aren't. And he's speaking to the ones
in the community that aren't. He's saying, I'm scared about you.
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I'm scared about some of you that aren't maturing. And
the reason I'm scared about some of you that aren't
maturing is because you're really not saved, and I want
to make.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Sure that you're saved.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
You've come all the way to the point of repentance,
but you're not all the way there yet. So let's
read what he says. Let's let the text speak for itself.
See if this makes sense, he says. But each one,
I'm sorry, he says this, for in the case of
those who have once been enlightened, what doesn't mean to
be enlightened. Enlightened means you have a mental awareness. You
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become aware of something going on, but you haven't necessarily
done anything with it. If I told you today that
there's a sale at Park Meadows and everything in every
store is seventy five percent off, I would be enlightening you.
But if you don't go to park Meadows, you don't
get to experience what I'm enlightening you about. By the way,
if you go to park Meadows, that's not true. It's
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not gonna happen. So but enlightening, they've been enlightening. They've
been lighted to the truth. They've been made aware of
the information. They've been made aware of Jesus Lord. They've
heard the apostles preach and teach. They know what Jesus said,
they know who he is, but they haven't done anything
with it. What else have they done? They've tasted of
the heavenly gift. What's the heavenly gift? It's Christ for
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our salvation. They've tasted of it. Tasted does not mean
fully embraced and eaten. Jus tasted death for everybody. Hebrews
two nine told us he tasted death for everyone.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Is he still dead?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
He tasted death, He completely died, but he's not dead anymore.
Death apart from Christ, is forever. Jesus had a taster,
he tasted it, but he didn't endure it for all time.
I'll give you a passage of scripture that.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
We'll back this.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
In Matthew, chapter twenty seven and verse thirty four. When
Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, it says, and
they gave him wine to drink, mixed with gold, and
after tasting it same word, he was unwilling to drink.
Tasting does not mean swallowed. Tasting does not mean fully embraced.
It means they know they've been enlightened the Jess's lord.
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They've seen that Jus's Lord. They've even had a little
taste of the Gospel. They've even had some experience in
the community that the gospel's real, but they haven't done
anything with it was I mean, they've been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit. It means this, they've experienced the
manifest presence of the Holy Spirit and community that they've
experienced him. The Holy Spirit brings conviction about sin and
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judgment and righteousness. The Holy Spirit prompts you in a service.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
When you're here.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Today at Brave, you can experience the manifest presence of
the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Without being saved.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Some of you may say, well, I kind of like
the preaching, or that song made me cry, or man,
when they said that today that really resonated with my heart.
They've experienced the Holy Spirit some.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
At First Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Last First Tuesday we had I asked people, hey, raise
your hands if you've been physical healed since being here
at Brave. About a third of the hands went up.
And some people might say, well, that's great. I've seen
God heal people, watch them do great things. Been partakers
with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean they're in dwelt with
the Holy Spirit, doesn't mean they're.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Filled with the Holy Spirit. But they've experienced the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
What else have they done? They've tasted of the good Word.
The good word is the spoken word. They've tasted of it.
They like preaching. They like good preaching. Man that pastor,
he told a good story. I like that. I like
good preaching. Remember Herod, he even liked hearing John the
Baptist preach. Didn't always like what John the Baptists had
to say. They like listening to them. I mean, there's
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some people that just like getting their ears tickled for
the sake of getting them tickled. There's some people like
to be in church because it's a good moral thing
to do.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And I kind of like what the pastor has to say.
But that doesn't mean that.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Because you hear the word and experience the spirit and
know that Jesus is the way that you have made
Jesus Christ the lord of your life. That's what he's saying.
And notice what else he goes on to say. He
goes they've tasted the Good Word and the powers of
the age to come. I mean, we study the life
of Jesus, we see not only saves, but he.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Heals, he delivers.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
These people have seen all that They've seen the apostles
do all that. They've watched people be delivered from demons,
they watch people get healed, they watch, you know, the
apostles raise people from the dead. They've experienced all this.
But you know what they haven't done. They haven't allowed
Jesus Christ to be lord. You know why because when
you're spiritually lethargic, here's what you say. Yeah, I know
that's good, but I got my life to live. I'm
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not giving my whole heart to Jesus. Maybe someday I'll
give my whole heart to Jesus. I'm not ready for
that kind of commitment yet. Oh I'd like him to
be my savior. I just don't want him to be
my lord. There's nowhere in the Bible where that plays out.
Or somebody looks Jesus in the eye and say, hey,
I want you to die for me, but I just
want you to know I got a life to live.
This different than what you're asking. And Jesus says, okay,
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that's somebody says. He says, he who puts his hand
to the plow and looks back, it's not fit for
the Kingdom of Heaven. When the rich young ruler comes
to him and walks away, says how hard it is
for the rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. He
points at people's hearts and says, I'm Lord. I need
you to be I need to be your lord. And
if I'm your Lord, I will save you.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Thanks for listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries. That was Pastor
Jeff with his message the danger of spiritual lethargy from
the series The Greatest, challenging you to grow in Godliness
and build on a strong foundation of truth.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Before we say goodbye.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
We want to remind you that when you give a
gift to keep teachings like this one going out to
you and others, we'll send you Pastor Jeff's battle tested wisdom,
a ten day prayer journey for real life decisions to
help you lean on God's wisdom. Visit Pastorjeff dot com
to give that's Pastorjeff dot Com. While you're there, be
sure to sign up for email updates from Pastor Jeff
Ministries to be among the first to hear about new
(24:52):
resources to equip you in your walk. Thanks again for
joining us today,
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