In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having compassion and making a difference in the lives of others. He uses the analogy of a man rescuing stranded sea creatures to illustrate the significance of helping even just one person. The preacher urges the congregation to show love and support to children who have been mistreated by their parents and to share the message of Jesus with those who are struggling with addiction and difficult circumstances. He also highlights the freedom and privilege of worshiping God in their nation. The sermon concludes with a mention of the book of Jude, which serves as a warning of God's judgment on sinners but also provides encouragement and guidance for believers.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. But see, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come in Jesus' name. We agree with the hymn writer as he said, Savior, triumphant go and take Thy crown. O God, we come in the name of Jesus this morning. We come not in our own name. We come not in our own righteousness, Lord, in our own merit. But we come in the name of Jesus and by the blood of Jesus. Father, we do ask, God, that You would just continue to dwell and abide with us in this meeting, Lord. Father, we ask in Jesus' name. God, that You would just speak to each of our hearts here this morning. We pray, Father, that Your divine purposes, Your calling, Your plan would be fulfilled. Father, in the congregation here at Charity Christian Fellowship, Lord. Father, we thank You for what You have done. We thank You for what You are doing. But God, we pray this morning once again, You would just take us on, Lord. Open up our eyes, Lord. Take us higher, farther, Lord. Into all of the good pleasure of Your will for us, God. O Lord, I pray, Father. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Touch my lips, God. Sanctify me through and through that I can just be a vessel in Your hand. And be out of the way, Lord. That You can speak, Father. And Lord, I pray that You would just bless the hearing of the gospel of the word of God this morning, Lord. And Father, that Your word would just have its way in each of our hearts. Thank You, Father. And we need not preach ourselves, but we preach the everlasting gospel. The word of God. Just like Paul told Timothy, preach the word. O Father, thank You this morning that we have that privilege. Have our Bibles with us and open them up. And read the word of God. O Father, quicken it to our hearts. Thy word is spirit and life. Quicken it to our hearts, Lord. Father, let it speak to each one, Lord. We ask it in Jesus' name. For Your sake. Amen. You may be seated. Greet you all in Jesus' name. Thank you for coming this morning. Worshipping our Lord together with us. Invite you to open your Bible to Jude. We want to look in Jude, the book of Jude. Good to see some visitors from afar. Friends, God bless you for coming our way today. Church family here. You know, we are blessed. We are richly blessed and privileged. Many places, they would just long to have even just one gospel of the Bible. And here we sit this morning. And we have the whole thing. Hallelujah. And we have freedom in our nation to gather together and worship the King, Jesus. Lord, Savior, Master. Jude is a book of warning. Of God's justice. Of God's righteous judgment upon sinners. It describes a sinful, fallen race. But it is also a book of encouragement and of direction to the children of God. So this morning, the burden of my heart is toward the latter part of the book. But I desire that we read all of it. Let's begin in verse 1. Can we stand again? And if you have a child, you need to stay seated. That's okay. But let's stand at the reading of the word. Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Hallelujah. Mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee, but these speak evil of the things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the game-saying of Corrie. These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear, clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual having not the spirit, but ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some, have compassion, making a difference, and others, save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Now unto Him, that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. And everyone says, Amen. You may be seated. You know, as we look at this passage of Scripture, it could be a bit discouraging. It looks pretty bleak. But in the midst of it all, it's God's promise to His faithful children. We live in a day when the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is being contested on every side. And I want to exhort us this morning, we must earnestly contend for the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, that pure, unadulterated gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because there are many voices in our day, there are many gospels being proclaimed, and may I say, there are many false Christs. In one of the epistles, He said, I tell you, weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ. It's another gospel, He tells us in Galatians. It's another Jesus. And we live in that day, my brothers and sisters, we live in a day when the truth of this gospel is being contested. And it's being contested in the so-called Christian church. Hath God said. And the principles and the clear commands of God are being wrested and twisted. Many things are up for vote of popular opinion, rather than by the authority of the Holy God who wrote the book. It's up for vote and debate and question. Well, let us make no mistake. God's Word shall stand. It shall never fail. Every jot, every tittle, every part, right down to the last detail, shall be fulfilled when God has spoken what He said He will do. No matter how many councils of churches get their heads together and agree that sin is just a matter of choice of lifestyle or orientation. It doesn't matter. The Word of God is the final authority and it shall stand and God will judge righteously. I believe Jude's heart was just burning within him. It tells us that he had wanted to write to them concerning salvation, but he said, It was needful that I write unto you to exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints, because there are certain men crept in unawares. They come in privately. They come in sneakily. They come in stealthily. They come in under the pretence as sheep. But they're wolves in sheep's clothing. And they are imposters. They are not true in their heart and sincere in their walk with the Lord. But they're coming in and they're bringing in damnable heresies. Over in Peter, he says, 2 Peter, and you don't need to turn there, he says, But as there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privilege shall bring damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. This was prophesied. This was foretold that these things should happen. In verse 4, he says, That these men who were of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, and lasciviousness is turning the grace of God into lawlessness, turning it into wantonness and immorality, and saying you have a license to just live in sin because grace will cover it all. But they're liars. They're from the devil's camp to deceive the people, saying that once you're saved, you'll always be saved. Yeah, you can go out and sin and you'll just lose a few rewards. But I don't understand the Word of God that way. And we'll see very clearly what he's saying here. These ungodly men. And I would like to just bring a word here. This before ordained, I don't believe that he's talking about a predestination to which some men were ordained, that they're going to be condemned to hell, and they're going to be condemned to do this kind of a work. But rather, the preordination as I see it, is the pre-written record of what God has spoken through His prophets, that He will judge those who do those things. He will bring judgment upon them. He will bring swift judgment upon them. It tells us in Timothy that the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. God's eternal character as the punisher of sin is set forth in the Scriptures of old. It's the ground on which such apostate characters are ordained to condemnation. That condemnation of those who live in those sins is what has been the ordaining of what it reads about here as I understand it. Those who turn the grace of God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord, God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, verse 5 he says, I will put you in remembrance that though ye once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. I want to ask you a question. Did God save the people out of Egypt? Did He deliver them out of Egypt? He opened up the way through the Red Sea. He parted the water and they walked through on dry ground. And He saved them out of Egypt. That's what the Bible says. He saved them out of Egypt. And there was rejoicing, and there was dancing and singing on the other side of the flood, the Bible says. And they were happy because they looked back and they saw the mighty God that they served bring the waters back together and destroy all those who were after them. Pharaoh's army with all of his chariots of arron and his mighty horsemen and all of those things, they saw their enemy who was chasing after them destroyed and they were saved on the other side of the flood. Hallelujah! Brother Matthew, I would liken that to the planting perhaps in the message you shared this morning. They were on the other side. They were saved. And their enemies were behind them and destroyed. And they were on the other side of the flood. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. All of these things are given unto us upon whom the ends of the world are come for our admonition and for our instruction and for our learning. This is here for a purpose. My brothers, my sisters, the Lord saved them with a mighty deliverance out of Egypt. He wrought many miracles. They saw His hand moving mightily in the days before they ever came out. All of the plagues and the death of the firstborn of those in Egypt, they saw all of those things and they were saved out of Egypt. But Jude has a further commentary and we can read it elsewhere in the Bible as well. Afterward. Afterward destroyed them that believed not. Afterward destroyed them that believed not. I'd like for you to turn over to Hebrews and we'll look at another Scripture concerning this. In Hebrews chapter 3 verse 16 it tells us for some when they had heard did provoke how be it not all that came out of Egypt by Moses but with whom was he grieved forty years. Was it not with them that had sinned whose carcasses fell in the wilderness and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest but to them that believed not so we see they could not enter in because of unbelief. Some when they heard and saw did provoke and that word provoke means they were yet rebellious. They were saved out of Egypt but there was yet a rebellion in their heart against God. They were yet rebellious and to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest but to them which believed not. It was to those who disobeyed who had not listened to his word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded. Sinner friend this morning hear the word of the Lord. Those who were yet rebellious who disobeyed who had not listened to his word and who refused to be compliant or be persuaded. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief because of their unwillingness to adhere to and rely on God. Unbelief shut them out. I think we ought to by God's grace get a deeper revelation of the sin of unbelief. They were ready to stone Caleb and Joshua because they believed God when they said let us go in and possess the land our God is with us but because of unbelief they entered not in. So God it tells us in Jude verse 5 I will put you in remembrance though you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed them that believed not and those that rebelled against God and those that hardened and stiffened their neck against God they were destroyed and their carcasses were scattered in the wilderness their bodies were scattered in the wilderness verse 6 and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation as he reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day imagine the just the holy righteous God when rebellion was raised up against him all of those who rebelled against God of the angels and I'm not sure I understand what all this means but we can read about the rebellion of Lucifer we can read different parts of scripture and I believe this may be what he's talking about the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation as he reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day every recompense will receive a just reward every act will be righteously judged by our righteous God verse 7 even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire they're set forth as an example my brothers my sisters Sodom and Gomorrah they're set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire what was Sodom and Gomorrah like? one place in the Bible it tells us there was fullness of bread there they lived in a land of abundance and plenty and they were able to fare sumptuously every day they probably didn't have to work very hard to make ends meet there was fullness of bread there was lots and plenty everywhere abounding but there was also grievous sin in Sodom they gave themselves over to the lust of the flesh they just gave themselves they just went headlong after it and we could go back and read Genesis 19 but I don't think we will for the sake of time but if you want to read about Sodom go back to Genesis 19 and read it but there was retribution in Sodom like we have in our nation today going after strange flesh men working with men that which is unseemly or unnatural and women working with women this whole matter was in Sodom before it ever came to America it was in Sodom and God destroyed Sodom with fire and brimstone out of heaven and this is set forth as an example to us I wonder how long God will yet tarry with America and the English countries where everything is just so free we will not have this God rule over us we don't want his laws upon our heart we are liberated yes headlong into the bondage and grips of Satan verse 8 likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh despise dominion and speak evil of dignities these filthy dreamers you know they do not live in reality they live in a dream world they live in a fantasy world eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die live for the here and now without thought about God and eternity and judgment we need more Pauls who will speak of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to those in places of authority may I say yes Felix trembled when he spoke to him concerning judgment the fear of God I believe came upon him and he trembled men like John the Baptist who dare to call sin, sin in high places and get to go to glory to be with their Lord because of it these dreamers they speak evil of dignitaries they despise dominion they don't want nothing to do with authority nothing to do with law and order and holiness and righteousness living in a dream world which one day is suddenly going to come to an end with a sudden moment when God sends the Lord Jesus to come back to this earth and he comes with ten thousands of thousands of his hosts to execute vengeance and judgment upon all those who live ungodly and all those who obey not this gospel it's going to happen do you believe it? it's going to happen oh brothers and sisters lift up your heads your redemption draws nigh and I don't understand what all the verse 9 means but it's here in the Bible yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses dares not bring against him a railing accusation but said the Lord rebuked thee I don't understand what all that means but one thing I do see here is I think we need to be careful how we go around in our puny little minds of understanding and thinking we're somebody commanding the devil around I think we can at least get that out of it we need to walk humbly with our God and we need to walk righteously with our God and we need to cry out to our God and yes the Lord of hosts rebuked thee Satan and we need to resist the devil and he will flee from us hallelujah but I'll tell you I think the devil has sold a bad bill of goods to a lot of these who go about commanding the devil and binding the devil is he really bound? is he? you know you look at the lies you look at the testimony you look at the people they pray over and bind the devil over is he bound? you judge and brethren we need to be wise and we need to judge righteously verse 10 these speak evil of things which they know not but that which they know naturally as brute beasts the things which they corrupt themselves verse 11 he says woe unto them for they have gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished in the gain saying of Corrie prosperity wealth you know as we look at Cain it says they have gone in the way of Cain Cain was a murderer the root of his sin was hatred and envy of the godly that's the sin of these people they ran greedily that has the meaning of like that running greedily has the meaning of having been poured forth like a torrent bursting its banks did we ever see a time when there is more running after wealth material goods materialism they ran greedily reckless of the cost reckless of the loss of God's favor in heaven they rush on after gain like Balaam just pushing through charging ahead at the expense of godliness of God's favor at the loss of the heavenly communion and fellowship with God and they perished in the gain saying of Corrie speak evil of authorities they don't like authority they don't like God's authority therefore they don't like God's servants they don't want anything to bear upon their lives and they gain say and speak evil and we know the judgment that God brought woe unto them these are spots in your feasts verse 12 they are spots in your feasts of charity if left to be infiltrating into the church of God they will contaminate and bring down the church God gives us very clear direction there is no fear with them feeding themselves without fear clouds are they without water carried about of winds after every slight and cunning and craftiness of men and doctrines of men whose fruit withereth brother Matthew their fruit is withering away and finally it says they are without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots finally the master the almighty righteous judge says it is enough and it is cut down and it is plucked up by the roots raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame wandering stars foaming out their shame out of the closet and in your face we are going to have equal rights for same sex marriages we are going to push our agenda foaming it out just no shame no fear of God wandering stars stars they call them stars they call them movie stars they call them sports stars and they are worshipped and idolized God says to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever awesome awesome fate doom of the wicked the rebellious the haters of God the despisers of God the lovers of their own selves lovers of pleasures verse 14 and Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him a lot of ungodliness in this verse we live in a land we live in a day when there is a lot of ungodliness in our land there is a lot of ungodliness also in the so called church O Father in heaven please have mercy upon us and open our eyes is there ungodliness in our midst is there ungodliness in me we must earnestly contend for the faith I don't think we can sit back and relax we cannot sit back on our knees we must be students of the word of God study to show thyself approved unto God we must know what God says in his book and we must most of all know him the Lord Jesus Christ verse 16 these are murmurers complainers walking after their own lusts their mouth speaketh great swelling words having men's persons in admiration because of advantage murmurers complainers murmuring and complaining comes from the devil's camp it shouldn't be named amongst the saints murmuring complaining walking after their own lusts O Lord make us holy murmuring and complaining comes from discontentment being dissatisfied but oh when we have Jesus and the communion and fellowship of the Holy Ghost and of the believers I was just so blessed yesterday at the wedding my heart was just so thrilled I got to meet brothers and sisters from many different parts of this land and the fellowship and the communion together just so sweet and you just want to linger it's just so satisfying it's just so fulfilling but you know when when you're not satisfied in Christ and you're not finding him you're all in all and the fairest of ten thousand to your soul then you begin to look over here and look over there but when you're complete in him and the fellowship and communion with him and his people and you're satisfied takes care of the complaining and the murmuring to a great degree but we still need to crucify this old man this old flesh but murmurers complainers walking after their own lust and their mouth speaks great swelling words having men's persons in admiration because of advantage you know it's not about how great a person can talk it's not about how great swelling words they can bring but it's the walk of their life brothers and sisters we must know that assuredly in our hearts some people are great speakers they can sell a person on this new latest gimmick that is a cure all for everything and get you to spend a hundred dollars for a little bottle that should only cost five dollars there are so many things and that's just one little area bring it into the area of Christianity bring it into the realm of the church and there are many doctrines of devils being taught I hesitate to mention and yet I need to warn the health and wealth gospel is another gospel the name it and claim it is another gospel now as Christians God has given us very clear directives that we may call upon our God who healeth us and he's given us directions but you know the promise that if you're a child of God you're going to be wealthy materially speaking financially successful and you are also not going to get sick I take that as heresy that is not sound doctrine the scriptures show us the example of the apostles and prophets they suffered many things why didn't they just name it and claim it but God in the midst of their suffering wrought mighty wonders and miracles too I wonder where all those health and wealth and name it and claimers will be when the persecution hits I'm not their judge will they stand? will they die for their faith? or will they run? or be deceived? I don't know God knows God knows our hearts brothers and sisters these are warnings to us beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ how that they told you that there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts these be they who separate themselves sensual having not the spirit they have not the spirit they are sensual no matter how religious it may appear if they are not filled with the spirit of God bringing forth the fruit of the spirit in their lives love, joy, peace, long suffering gentleness, meekness, temperance, faith you know if they just lift up this one area and capitalize on that a gift of the spirit namely speaking in tongues and they just lift that thing up and if you have that now you must be in and now you must be right with God and now you're in warning beware many false spirits are going out into the world verse twenty beloved beloved you know in the middle of a situation like this God speaks very positively to his people and he says beloved ye, beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith ah, there's a holy faith that is right and is being held on to and believed and practiced by the people of God in the midst of a sin-soaked people who are going headlong after all of their own lusts and pleasures in flesh and all of those things God has his people there and he says ye, beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost building up yourselves and there's so many verses I could have gotten here but I just took one section of scripture and I want you to just listen I want you to just listen and I'm going to share these verses from the Amplified Bible from Ephesians and just listen how do you build up yourself in the most holy faith it's Ephesians 4, 29 through 5, 4 and I'll just share it in the Amplified paraphrase of the scriptures let no foul or polluting language nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others as is fitting to the need and the occasion that it may be a blessing and give grace to those who hear it watch your words by thy words thou art justified and by thy words thou art condemned and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh now the next verse and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God do not offend or vex or grieve the Holy Spirit by whom he was sealed marked as God's own secured for the day of redemption of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin do not grieve the Holy Spirit do not quench him do not offend or vex or sadden the Holy Spirit let all bitterness and indignation and wrath passion, rage, bad temper resentment and anger and animosity and quarreling brawling, clamor, contention slander, evil speaking, abusive language be banished from you with all malice spite, ill will baseness of any kind let it be gone from your life and verse 32 and become useful and kind one to another tender hearted compassionate understanding loving hearted forgiving one another readily and freely as God in Christ forgave you let your life be marked of one who is quick to forgive do not harbor unforgiveness therefore be imitators of God copy him follow his example as well beloved children imitate their father walk in love esteeming and delighting in one another as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a slain offering and sacrifice to God for you so that it became a sweet fragrance walk in love the greatest of these is love but immorality all impurity lustful, rich wasteful, living greediness must not even be named among you as is fitting and proper among his saints God's consecrated set apart people don't let that be among you let there be no filthiness indecency nor foolish and sinful silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting but instead voice your thankfulness to God be ye thankful building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost just a few verses on that in Romans 8.15 he tells us for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father all glory Romans 8.26-27 likewise the spirit also help us our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit itself make of intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit because he make of intercession for the saints according to the will of God let us go deeper in our prayer life getting in our closets with a burden crying out to God first of all because we have that relationship we are born of God and we can cry out Abba Father and then enter into prayer praying in the Holy Ghost 1 Corinthians 14.15 and 14 says that if I pray in an unknown tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful verse 15 what then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also oh may our prayers may we be transported into the holy of holies in our prayers to the throne of grace where we can find grace to help in time of need and if we know not how to utter it it's so upon our heart we don't know how to put it in words that we can pray with groanings that cannot be uttered and God who knows the mind of the spirit he searches all things and he understands Ephesians tells us pray with all prayer and supplication in the spirit watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints beloved we live in that day the perilous times are upon us we ye beloved myself included we must be in tune with God we must be building up ourselves in the holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life keep yourselves in the love of God this is so beautiful again I could get many verses but we don't have time but we'll just look at one in the gospel of John he says in chapter 15 verse 9 as the Father hath loved me so have I loved you continue ye in my love how shall we continue in his love that wonderful love wherewith the Father has loved us he says in verse 10 if ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love you know the same way that Jesus abode in his Father's love because he always did those things that he heard his Father tell him to do he always said those things his Father told him to say he was obedient to his Father today there's a damnable gospel that says you don't have to obey you can just choose what you want and still be right with God I don't think that's right I can't buy that my Bible doesn't say that my Bible says if you're going to abide in the love of God you're going to obey him and he loves those who are his children and those who obey him if ye keep my commandments then ye shall abide in my love oh but we could never please let me hasten to say we could never abide in his love if he hadn't first loved us you know it's not by works we are not able to work this thing up but oh when he loves you and you know that he loves you and his love has drawn you into a relationship with him and you're saved then you abide in that love and his commandments aren't grievous they're not grievous they're not hard they're not difficult look to the child of God keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life an eye toward heaven you know the trowel in one hand you know working on the wall the other eye the sword of the Lord looking toward heaven earnestly contending for the faith while you build while you labor while you work at the bank while you work out there on that roof while you work out there building that house you've got the sword of the Lord in one hand and the hammer in the other and you're earnestly contending for the faith and while you're doing that verse 22 and when some have compassion making a difference this is where the whole message was born out of and I just want to encourage us this morning and of some have compassion making a difference even as Jesus when he saw the multitude he had compassion on them when he saw the two blind men wandering around groping for the wall he had compassion on them and he healed them and when he saw the leper that came to him and knelt down Jesus was moved with compassion and he reached out his hand and he touched him and he said, I'll heal you, be clean glory to God when he saw the funeral procession and the widow weeping and her only son dead he was moved with compassion it says he had compassion on her and he said, weep not hallelujah because the prince of life is here and his name is Jesus and when Jesus spoke to the dead the dead man arose and sat up and began to speak and the people glorified God you know, I believe God wants to do that some more he wants to do those things some more when he saw the multitudes scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd he was moved with compassion and he said, the harvest is plenteous but the labors are few pray ye therefore the Lord of harvest that he will send forth labors into this harvest and of some have compassion have pity have sympathy let your heart be moved let the bowels within you yearn as you look at humanity sick with sin the leprous ones the blind ones those that are dead in trespasses and sins for God is calling us his church to be his hands his feet his mouth his arms his gentle touch his smile his word of encouragement his word of hope and word of life to those who are dead and of some have compassion making a difference and oh what a difference eternal life or eternal damnation go my brother my sister preach the gospel share the good news with compassion in your soul and make a difference but you say there are so many people I can't hardly affect I mean it's hardly worth what will it help but oh the value of one's soul in God's sight is very great indeed the man was walking along the beach and there was all of these little sea creatures that had beached themselves up on the beach and they were dying because the tide went out and they were laying in the hot sun and they were dying they needed water and there was a man walking along picking them up and throwing them into the water but there was millions on the sand and a person came along and said what do you think you're doing he said I'm putting these back in the water so they can live he said you can never make much of a difference in all of these but he said he made a difference for this one that one can live and I want to encourage this my brothers, my sisters this is the burden and passion of my heart that we would go forth with compassion making a difference look into their little lonely eyes see their pain see their hurt make a difference in the life of that child in their Lancaster Children's Ministry make a difference they've just got beaten up by their parental authorities yelled at smacked around go make a difference and love those little children go carry the gospel to those on the streets that are born in a pitiful situation and they're on drugs by the time they're 12 or 13 years old and they're on the bottle go make a difference and tell them that a Savior has come that Jesus loves them you can make a difference oh God help us Lord open our eyes you do not have to be a foreign missionary sent to a foreign field to make a difference you do not have to have a special calling to have compassion on a soul God is given that to each one of us God has ordained us and chosen us in John 15 that we should go and bring forth fruit and that our fruit should remain I just want to encourage you young people older people there is a place God has for you to serve right now you can make a difference in your home mothers you can make a difference in your children you can make a difference you can give a word of blessing a word of encouragement on the job where you work that person needs to hear the gospel they need to hear about the love of Jesus and we need to show forth the love of Christ with the compassion of our Lord Jesus Lord it's a whole sermon by itself but I tell you this morning my brother my sister make a difference on some have compassion you can't maybe get them all granted but what about those whom God has put in your circle of influence what about those that we labor with and I'm preaching to myself this morning those opportunities that God gives to you every day oh God give us a clear picture of what we've been saved for and what we're here for yeah I might be building a house I might be making a recording I might be doing book work for somebody accounting I might be putting a roof on for this person but look past all of those things and see their hollow eyes there's a lot of lonely hurting people in this world have you seen them and of some have compassion making a difference it may be the only love the only true love that they get coming from you because the family is broken mama is living in sin there's people in and out of the house and those poor little precious souls are just pushed around left to fend for themselves living in that cesspool of iniquity what for chance in life do they have our cities are filled with them we don't have to go far at all they're everywhere and it just tears your heart out when you see some of the things but you can make a difference you can love that one that is unlovely you can show him the compassion of Jesus Jesus wants to love through you wants to reach out and touch through you things are going down in the last days yes iniquity shall abound sin shall abound but oh where sin abounds let me tell you grace does much more abound so my dear brother my sister I just want to with all that is within me encourage you lay aside cast off all those things that would hinder us from the eternal purpose and perspective of almighty God what will we have when it's all done what will it be when the books are open and my life on earth is finished if all we have is some lands and houses and bank accounts we are going to be so sorry go and like Jesus minister he came not to be ministered to but he came to minister and to serve and to give his life a ransom on some have compassion yes right here right here in this body there are some hurting struggling souls there are some that need your love and compassion and others save with fear others save with fear pulling them out of the fire a brand plucked from the fire oh how beautiful he got born again he got saved and a week later he was with his Jesus it was the midnight hour but someone had compassion on his soul hallelujah the devil thought he had him but God had a faithful servant who was in tune to the spirit oh Lord open up our eyes others save with fear pulling them out of the fire yes in Zachariah it tells us concerning Joshua says the Lord said unto Satan the Lord rebuked thee oh Satan even the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee is not this a brand plucked out of the fire now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel and he answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying take away the filthy garments from him and unto him he said behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will clothe thee with a change of raiment hallelujah that drunk lying in his own vomit God has a new set of clothing for him hallelujah he wants to cleanse him and wash him on the inside and give him a new set of clothing glory to God but he wants to use you to do it pulling them out of the fire oh young people you want a challenge you want a life filled with purpose and meaning get in the kingdom business there is nothing like fishing for souls of men and when you see God taking a wretched sinner like me and making him new and clean and washing him and clothing him and putting him in the right mind oh glory oh glory the soul winner's joy he shall come rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him oh glory to God you know we can look around us we can say this old world is filled with sin and wickedness we better build us a pretty good fort and head in there and pull up all the blinds and build a big hedge around it and not go outside because it's bad out there now there's a certain truth to what I just said however you go in that fort and you lock yourself in there and you try to contain your own righteousness in there I believe you're going to die because God has ordained that we should go forth light and salt in the world and preach the gospel to every creature even to those sodomites and even to those that are all messed up in religion and whatever it may be and some it's pretty fearful yes they may just send you to heaven for it they may cut your head off but I'll tell you what Jesus said you must go preach this gospel he said do not be afraid you will be brought before kings and magistrates but I'll be with you and when you go through the fire I'll be there with you when you go through the water it shall not overflow thee I'll be there with you so my dear brothers and sisters this morning let us respond rightly to the message of God let us not defile ourselves with this world with their meat with their drink with their pleasure made thrust let us keep ourselves unspotted from the world but let us keep ourselves adorned with Christ and on some having compassion making a difference and others saved with fear hating even the garments spotted by the flesh there's many applications I trust the Lord will help us in that let's kneel together in prayer Father in heaven O Lord your heart beats and longs for the lost it's not your will that any should perish but that all should be saved so Father I pray have mercy upon us and forgive us Lord for where we've looked at the insurmountable task and said what difference can I make O Lord I pray that you would illumine our hearts and our eyes God and to see as you see Lord the eternal purpose of God for our lives in this sin-soaked world that we live in God O Lord deliver us from evil Father and fill us with the Holy Ghost Lord that we may carry forth the word of God and the purpose of God and the compassion of Christ that as we see the hurting the loss, the dying that our hearts would be moved with compassion even as our Lord Jesus moved into action and making a difference O God I just pray everyone here today qualifies for this service O God let no one think this is too hard or too high for me Lord I pray would you just speak it to each and everyone's heart God we just give you this message and pray thy will be done in Jesus name Amen well praise God for the message thank you brother Aaron for laboring in the word for us this morning I'm so blessed that how when we can just take the word of God how it speaks to so many different areas in our lives such a beautiful thing giving us warning, giving us instruction giving us comfort, giving us encouragement all of the things that we need are found in the word of God and I was blessed by that this morning I also think the last two verses of that chapter are very beautiful, very fitting for us you know as we think about all of these things maybe your heart is a bit overwhelmed and you're not sure where to start but it ends like this now unto Him now unto Him that's Jesus Christ that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless isn't that beautiful to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy exceeding joy that's how He does it to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now and ever amen those are beautiful encouraging words to our hearts this morning and they are for each one of us what a beautiful thing to be able to see someone pulled out of the fire and being brought to Christ and having Jesus present that person faultless before God with exceeding joy isn't it a joy to be a Christian and to be involved in God's work I rejoice there's nothing I would rather do maybe someone else has been inspired would like to share a testimony or confession or something up here there's a need a microphone if you have something you'd like to share with us raise your hand we'll get a microphone to you yes regarding making a difference I've been a Christian for two years and in those two years I can't put in words what God has given me but what He's given me is and I'll try my best to put it in words is a void that I've always had in my life where there was fear and I could never do anything right and I was very I thought I was secure but I was very insecure but you know with Jesus we have everything everything and if there's ever a doubt in your mind you need to come to a brother or sister that has that faith and has that confidence that He can do anything for us because He loves us He's all about love He's all about compassion and you know I just love when He puts this on my heart that I can get up and express what He's putting in my heart it's not my words these are Jesus' words they are so powerful there's nothing on this earth any more powerful than what Jesus can do for us don't take Him for granted don't live in your flesh don't live in this world I talked to my brother probably a couple days ago and I used to be where he is today so I'm not pointing a finger at him but I just pray for him and I wish that you would pray for him because it hurts my heart to see where he's putting his life but I used to be there and I think we all used to be there if I'm not mistaken I can't speak for you but just pray for me that I continue to pray to the Lord that I can serve Him and not serve anything foolish anything not my job not my car not about cooking but Jesus Jesus remember that word Jesus our Savior to save each and every one of us even though we think we're Christians are we being saved? ask Jesus pray to Jesus get on your knees you know when I get on my knees it's a privilege it's a privilege because He was on that cross dying for us so we could live today and live His way only His way we've got to live let's not live our way because we're going to walk around in fear and in heat and in devil that's not the way I want to live that's not the way I'm going to live please pray for me and thank the Lord for letting me get up here because it's not me it's my Jesus Amen thank you brother Robert someone made a difference in your life didn't they? praise the Lord I want to thank God for the salvation that He brought in my life I want to glorify Jesus this morning it was a very sobering message and God has been teaching me to live in the fear of God and I thank God for all the things that He's been teaching me He's been teaching me just to live soberly righteously and I want to lift up His name this morning it was a sobering message but somehow it just thrilled my soul the joy of the Christian life is wonderful I want to thank you thank everyone here for what you've done in my life your input in my life you've meant a lot to me since I've been here so I want to bless God this morning someone else? back there? Amen thank you Lord and thank you brother Aaron for sharing what God put in your heart seems pretty clear to me what God's Spirit is saying to our church here thinking about brother Darrell's message the other Sunday and this message again I think it's a challenge to my heart that I would teach you to sit here and say Amen and praise the Lord but what are we going to do Monday morning? what are we going to do Thursday afternoon? and all week long? are we going to keep the kingdom of God and His righteousness first? or are we going to chase our own little agenda? whatever that might be so it's just a challenge to me and this last week towards the end of the week I was just meditating about these very things and I was thinking you know there's a cost there's a cost to be paid a price to be paid to live this kind of life it doesn't come naturally it's a laying down of our life our agenda, our time, our spare time whatever it is there's a cost to be paid and I think the question God's bringing to us is will you pay that cost? will you lay your life down? it really is the Christian life it's nothing less and it's part of what it takes to follow Jesus but it's also what it takes to reach out to those around us you know I just was really blessed with the closing thought there about those hurting ones yes Lancaster, yes out in the street yes in our job but what about right here even maybe around us right here on a Sunday morning sometimes maybe a visitor, maybe somebody that's coming here and you see the hurt in their eyes and what are we doing you know maybe there's a mother listening to this message this morning and says yeah but I can't go out in the window I have a bunch of children tugging at my skirt or something but you can come here Sunday morning bathe in prayer all week long and touch somebody's life and you can make a difference for that one just one, even if it's just one maybe there's one in the crowd that nobody else is reaching out to you know we're growing fast here at the church and they keep coming in the back door and the chairs keep going closer and closer and we grow so quickly but they're hurting people and so God was just challenging me it's easy to look out and say oh I want to go out and preach in the street or something but are we going to make a difference right where we're at and I believe as we do then God opens up the doors more and more to going out but I believe it starts at home I was struggling beginning of this week trying to settle down back into life again I want to thank you brethren for that message it really really encouraged me just to that I can go about my life about my work and things but yet have that one eye on the Lord Jesus Christ and be ministering to the people around me and I can be an influence to those around me I know that there are a lot of hurting lives and souls around here and it was just a real encouragement to go on and try to make a difference where I can Yes I want to thank the congregation I bless God for making a difference in our family's life for all you've done for us in the past two weeks with the up service of Kendra we always lost her so we thought God had mercy on us we want to thank you all for your meals for your groceries that were brought into our home and for doing laundry cleaning, taking care of the children while my mum and I were in the hospital with Kendra we also want to thank you for your countless prayers God bless you you're welcome that's why we're here to bear one another's burdens it's such a joy to be in a church where we can exercise those things it's a privilege someone else? another one in the back I just want to thank God for using brother Aaron to share the message with us sharing the burden of your heart something that I want to take to heart for my own life I know where I work I have a burden for some of the people I work around I work in a fast paced production type environment it's not conducive to building relationships but I just ask that you remember to pray for me that God will give me those opportunities because I did get a chance to share with a fellow worker who just got shipped out to Iraq the other week and I'm just praying that there may be some seeds planted there that may help with him because he was really struggling with some things he just had a newborn baby and he was getting shipped out to war so it gives him things about us we never realize the power of one's influence they say you never get a second chance to make a first impression and I just pray to God that He'll use me right where I'm at, where I'm working and I just want to be open to His leading there and His Spirit's leading that I can be like Philip and be ready to go down and talk to the man in the chariot the Ethiopian eunuch so thank you for your time and bless you Aaron for listening to God there I also just wanted to express my appreciation to God and to you as a congregation just wanted to share one mother was sharing with me that she got the message off the answering machine it was later in the afternoon and she shared it with her daughter not quite four years old and the daughter said mommy we've got to pray we've got to drop her knees right now and pray and I was just so blessed by that we might think but it was too late but I just had to think of the verse that says before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear and I truly believe that God heard many prayers before they were ever prayed for her daughter and that week I just felt like I was just bursting with thankfulness and praise to God I know it's His love when He chooses to take a loved one and somehow we feel it more when He restores them again and I just feel like God restored our daughter as it were from the dead