Living for the Right Goal in Christ
May 11, 2022 · 1:41:49 · Watch on YouTube ↗
These notes - summary, key points, and highlighted thoughts - were generated by AI from the recording and are not the preacher’s exact words.
Summary
The evening opened with worship and a bishop's testimony of healing. After a stroke blocked an artery to his brain and left one side of it dead, he could barely breathe and never expected to return to his family or his church, yet by God's mercy he recovered in a fraction of the time the doctors predicted. From Colossians the preachers urged believers to stay rooted and built up in Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of God, and, having been raised with him, to set their hearts on the things above.
The main message asked a searching question: are we pursuing the right goal? Sin is not only breaking a rule; it is also living for our own aims - career, business, a comfortable home - instead of the one purpose God gave us. The bishop warned against turning people into resources for our projects, reminding us that God did not love a building, he loved the world (John 3:16). Resources must serve the goal, never the other way around. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 5, he showed that Christ died for all so that we would no longer live for ourselves but for him, and that the world recognizes real disciples by genuine love, not by hypocrisy or ritual.
A second teaching turned to the question, Who is God? Our picture of God mirrors how we live. God is Spirit, to be worshiped in spirit and truth; he is everywhere present, a real Person with mind, will, and feeling, not a vague higher power. He is the same yesterday and forever, at once perfect love and a holy, consuming fire who is righteous in judging sin. He has revealed himself most fully in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth. To know God rightly is to worship and live rightly before him.
Key Points
- Stay rooted and built up in Christ, in whom all the fullness of God dwells, and set your heart on the things above.
- Sin is not only a broken rule; it is living for the wrong goal instead of the purpose God gave you.
- Never treat people as resources for your projects - God loves people, not buildings.
- Christ died for all so that we would stop living for ourselves and live for him.
- The world recognizes real disciples by genuine love, not by words, ritual, or appearances.
- Love begins with the one closest to you - your spouse, your family, the neighbor God has placed beside you.
- Know God as he truly is: Spirit, ever-present Person, perfect love and holy fire, revealed in Jesus Christ.
Devotional
Ask yourself tonight what you are really living for. It is easy to fill life with good plans - a career, a home, even church projects - and quietly miss the one goal Christ gave you: to love God and the people right beside you. He died for you so that you would no longer live for yourself, and the love he pours out is meant to be seen, not merely spoken. Let your knowledge of who God truly is reshape the way you live before him today.
God did not love a building - he loved the world. People are never a resource for our goals.
Christ died for all so that we would stop living for ourselves and live for him.
The world will not know us by our words, but by love that is real.
Transcript
Auto-generated transcript of this service.
[Music] [Music] yes is it means that we have life here [Music] foreign it also says be rooted in him and build up in him because his meets and strengthen yourself in faith in him is but it says be careful should be so you don't stray with some kind of philosophy or false teaching and also remind reminded us that in him so it is in christ is there is a for all fullness of god and we are you and me dear brothers and sisters we have fullness in our god in our christ and also in the chapter three uh [Music] is [Music] it says when you resurrected with christ seek whatever is those who are redeemed by the blood of jesus christ was christ's name those that are resurrected with him those who have hope when christ who is who is your life appears then you also will appear with him in glory is it in wonderful hope for every one of us will be resurrected with christ [Music] the word of god says to us so we we have to think about things that are above christian we would be rooted in christ we built ourselves up encouragement think about everything that is about about what god wants to tell us today [Music] here in the word of god that we will be rooted and dig deeper into in christ [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] me oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] father in heaven how we love you may your kingdom be established in our praises as the people declare your mighty works blessed be the lord god almighty who was an easing is to come blessed be the lord god almighty who reigns forever [Music] [Music] oh [Music] he can be with the love of our lord and savior jesus christ peace be to you uh the two main arteries that are going left and right they uh one of them was blocked uh to go into the brain if i were to remember myself at that time when i was in the hospital i never imagined that i would return to my family to the church and i i've heard many people share testimonies in other churches even yes and i heard when this happens to you but i thank god that it did happen that he allowed me to return back to my life and [Music] i remember i was feeling so bad that i couldn't even breathe you know it's hard to deliver with words but i remember i closed my eyes within i couldn't breathe so instead of giving me a hundred he gave me 140. he said he shouldn't be doing this but he sees that i have very little so i need to put glue and he did he put more was nice and i began to breathe easier until the morning and doctors came up [Music] a woman and she passed away but by god's mercy before i would have never been able to understand this the one side of my brain was brain dead that part of the brain had to do with my coordination whether you like it or not yeah you have thoughts like what is it going to be like to not be able to move no there's a vector but even the doctor said that it was just about [Music] they said that i need to sit and put my i let my and i got up out of bed and i sat on a a sofa on the side and my wife came in and eventually they'll let me go quickly therapy occupational physicians physical therapy and they uh prescribed physical and occupational therapy for me and in a month and a half yes because they started something like this it would take six months to recover from very specifically they began to deeply think about what exactly they're doing why they're doing for what they're doing [Music] i mean to have ideas and it's a good thing but how important is it to pick the right goals or the most important what's nice [Music] we have become accustomed to that sin is when i have uh broke our law or did something wrong yeah and it's true you know and then we we evaluate ourselves we find out we did something wrong and we begin to repent and it's also right you know the lord has come into our life saved us and he gave us a purpose for our life he has uh purposed us gave us one goal and we are doing we're doing another business you know building business career career there's a spot aspiring to build a career to build a home and it's [Music] is but that we can also look at the parallel in places where it shouldn't be like this should be different let me share like family yeah yes i'm a father yes there's a monster and there's children yamaguchus throughout business i can build a business that's good right but this is not my goal this is the wrong business you'll lose the sydney business and even now it will remain here it will not be needed if you were to change your goal new business not business whosoever believeth in him does not perish by have eternal life for god so love the world so what do we understand so all of them for those that are saved and not saved he loves this love is for all one he did not love a building amen needed everything but there is yes there's resources and there are goals and other sometimes we can get so far using the resources of people that we may accomplish some goals but people are getting further from god we do this they may leave the church but that must be the resources serving for the goals is [Music] it's good and we must take advantage to make it work but if we uh make our goals right people will take part in the building of the building itself or other things and the people as resources for that possibly that people would uh give up or maybe uh lose lose weight even even ministers i judge myself because i we have done many projects spiritually and and uh it was to me maybe i learned some things but i understood above all things some parents they won't even talk to their children because they don't want aren't willing to receive the truth jesus says i am the truth i have some kind of truth yeah and i'm willing to give my life for my child prior to the truth then maybe then that could possibly first of all we have to understand uh let's [Music] he wants to be on time because he's maybe in charge and it's good and his goal is to be on time to service and he wants to make sure the service goes one in christian seminary [Music] students were taking exams and they had this assignment even better because the whole point of his uh preaching was the the goal was lost yes what you will examine bill you should do because if the exam was on the way to the chastise and we may say many things nicely but not always lived like that next point i'd like to make or my family at home the one that is close to me is the one that has shown me like my wife she helps me all my life and when she is my the close one to me and it says we must love the lord and the one that's close to us that means because she is close uh she's my neighbor i must love her let's take the church imagine ourselves [Music] if it was jesus that did everything for me than that person that i served he sees me that i am close to him and the whole church runs to him because jesus isn't a problem they serve him and then a huge line to some help than that person then sees the whole church and he goes and to help because he's close to me what because we live uh six or seven days in in white world in the world and then want to try to use these biblical principles in our life so many years i was preaching we have to go out and preach the gospel bring them to church but when god would send even little people down maybe some maybe some five seconds but they all left yeah and i asked them why when they first came to church there was a couple places it was just the word of god the the preaching the love love is spoken about but it's not actually and i changed my approach we need to in church jesus says how will they know if if everyone is standing in line and out of greece not out of uh uh being two faced and they will see it and they will want to be a part of the atmosphere themselves i'm not speaking about archery specifically but if it's in the world how important is it the most important and the and i would like to read just a couple verses and i'll be closing fianna second corinthians chapter 5 verse 14. to compel us or embrace us by force when we begin to think like this correctly christ says one died for all and all died one died for all died i feel like i haven't died but i want to tom smith context of what the word of god is myself to myself and live for the one that has died for me the following maybe he died and resurrected you know for what as gave us entrances to his family and we continued to live with our ideas i found myself in this and i want to change [Music] you know maybe we were going pridefully and uh forcefully and trying to enjoy i don't want to read any further but i'll close on a couple words another example jesus uh heals on the sabbath they say he broke the sabbath day we must honor the sabbath that's what we're taught they were following that command but they made it a ritual prior to more important uh then we are not uh breaking those commands because because the sabbath is for man do we understand not man for ministry metabolism and we will see things happen that we have not even imagined we know what we do not have enough christians because that samaritan he wasn't and he had plans but he took the main goal and he was right how much are we lacking everywhere christians and christianity these good maybe not today i'm going to first focus on the goals i have one minute at a restaurant and we tomorrow but tomorrow when we think of some very very important moments yeah i thank you all took a little more time than i expected i apologized [Music] i mean [Music] [Music] witness what what the lord has called us from the darkness into the light to tell you honestly you cannot it means uh [Music] if [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] we are glad that we can dig deep into the word of god this evening to see the testimony how god heals bishop and it gives us hope to know god more this night is you know it's very important not only to know about god but know to know who is god for you foreign the creator and ruler of everything he has a life in himself he has ideal in a power and a goodness and wisdom is you know that the knowledge our knowledge about god is like a mirror to all our lives if you think that god is so far away he doesn't care about us that's so our life's going to be too thank you foreign and some people think that god is a judge and like a person with a stick and it just sees where you did something wrong so he can hit you over the head and i see i meet people that understand have understanding about about god like this and that's how they live absolutely and some people understand that god is totally loved we love it he loves people he forgives me he shows mercy you call him the loving god can send me to hell how can god punish me it's impossible god is love and people who understand that way that's how it's a correct knowledge about god it's ensures that we live correctly before the lord what does bible say about god who is god is spirit john 4 24 christos and those who worship him supposed to worship in spirit and truth god is not material and he is without body he christos when jesus uh appeared before his disciples he said the spirit does not have a flesh and bone how many here the jesus said about who is the spirit he is not material evini because people are very often associate god with something else but not how he is revealed in the bible when when you ask people do you believe in god they say oh we don't know but we know that some kind of uh higher wisdom higher power is there foreign when the bible says that uh man is created in the image of god they say oh we have uh hands and and feet and that's how that god is the same as we are the chinese of course we have places in the bible that we say about the hands of god the the bible says is my hand gets shortened to help you and a lot of places are in the bible that it says symbolically that the god has uh ears and eyes and hands and everything so we we have to understand certain things he is in material and he doesn't have a body what does it mean so was speaking about his hands and ears and eyes that's as symbolical as he spoke symbolically so we can understand what does he mean god reveals himself in uh some material uh parables so that we can understand who god is there is a difference between who god is and who how he reveals himself to people for example for in an old testament god revealed his son himself to moses in a burning bush seriously which had material eyes and ears he saw that burning bush and voice of god started speaking to him from that bush and in the old testament to abraham uh god revealed himself in the image of angels remember when the disciples uh went to the village from jerusalem after jesus was died and then resurrected but they didn't believe he was resurrected yet they didn't know it but it's written that jesus revealed himself in the in in the image of travelers they did not recognize him some places in the bible says that god in the old days got uh spoke to people through prophets through people but it doesn't mean that god is a man yeshua remember when the first uh cosmonaut or astronaut went to to to this to space and then he came back and he oh i didn't see god there so and they taught us in school in soviet unions the the astronauts were in in space and didn't see god there but who would did you expect to see there yes if god is everywhere at once but there is a characteristic of god god is omnipresent himself like where would i go from from your spirit if i go to heaven if i go to the mountain or if you go down below you everywhere you always with me we can worship god in in spirit and in truth not in some kind of material things because god knows what's inside of us he sees our thoughts that nobody else can see but he knows us from the inside the next thing we have to understand so we don't fall into temptation he is a per person god is not a wind or a cloud it's not just the nature it's not just the power it's not just higher wisdom but it's a person characteristic the person has a following characteristics it has a mind of wisdom voila the word of god says that god is jealous god is angry god is merciful spiritual uh he compassion god is that's why the god is a personality india he is a creator and he revealed himself in the old and the new testament through through his names combines in itself mercy and mercy and bless me mercy grace and goodness at the same time god is not only lost and he but he is a burning fire it's concerning the holiness of the gods nature absolutely and he is all righteous in in judgment over sin to tell us the truth we have a totally different uh knowledge about god or imagination about god when i talk to people i i can feel that they they don't have a correct understanding about god one family ask a question if god is love why did he allow the war and spilling of blood how is it possible that person killed so many people then say oh god forgive me please and went to heaven in other words not a correct understanding about god raises a lot of questions and another problem is also the people think that in the old testament god was all righteous and allowed wars and and all kind of uh bad things happening but in new testament he loves forgives and is merciful we have to understand god is yesterday and forever he doesn't [Music] also in the old testament he also revealed himself to to to the israelites as a father in heaven and when we read the last book or in and also the same bible says that the the sinners going to be thrown in the into the lake of fire will will will be ignition of teeth if and they're going to be suffering forever and ever yeah christ jesus christ is the embodiment of god in the new testament bible says that god came in in the flesh remained with us full of truth and grace and we seen him as uh firstborn from the god because knowing about god we have to know about jesus christ and his characteristics let god help all of us bishops to know god more through the bible which tells us that god is exists because he is the creator he created everything created by him through him and for him and nothing that is created it's created the highest creation of god is us the people biblically because we move by him and live by him and exist by him he is our creator was a mutative it's interesting to point out the more they dig deep into science and and we have to understand it and worship him as our god and creators my god name of the lord will be blessed in our lives the image of god that the man also the people also have like a trinity as a body soul and spirit the image of god the person in people are eternal it says the person has eternal soul that's what reveals the god's image in us because we have created an image of god it's um we can reach it through our throughout our lives become more like him the image of god that we have the part of god in us and the likeness of god is reached through the image of god image through the likeness of please say right now foreign you prepare for tests through the whole year you study then we pray it's going to be good results [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] hallelujah [Music] foreign is m [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you