The End Of Me, Part 1

Today on Fellowship in the Word pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ long as you're receiving grace is getting what you don't deserve the mercy is not getting what you see and only just on that summons if you're okay to nursing. I just love mercy of the receiving and reliable pieces in speaking giving happy are the merciful, extended people but they don't desire people relationally generous givers. Happy are those maybe the most telling damaging thing I've seen you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship Pastor Bill Gebhardt Fellowship in the Words the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible church located in Metairie, Louisiana join Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Now once again he shows us how God's word. Our world for some time now I've been speaking on the subject. What makes you happy, not the question, what makes you happy but the statement what makes you happy. We covered a lot of ground and talked about the idea that happiness is much more about who than what in your life and also that we need to bathe ourselves and God's grace every day, not allowing past failures to take the happiness we have away from us today. We need to be thankful. People thanking God for our blessings rather than constantly praying to God for our desires and wants. I also said that we need to trust God for today God's grace is sufficient for today. We need to trust him for today. This is the day the Lord is made we need to rejoice and be glad in it. I also said that if you are going to be as happy as God intends you to be.

You have to give yourself away. Happiness is truly the idea of giving yourself away. I also said that you're as happy as you think your happiness is really a state of mind and last time I gave the warning do not choose pleasure as a priority over happiness because if you do, you won't get either and I'm sure I'm hoping and praying that those are helpful steps for all of us, including you, but I'm still left with a single question. Why aren't more of us as children of God. Happy my experience with believers. For all these years is were not the happiest group. I know, and the question is why it bothered me. I thought about a lot and I think at a fundamental level will want to be happy.

So that's not it, but I think we all want to be happy on our own terms. I think we've decided that we would define happiness and will be happy on our terms and the problem with that is, of course, you end up extremely disappointed because when you set it up that way then either God disappoint you or other people disappoint you or the circumstances disappoint you, and you end up not happy but just basically disappointed. I really believe that what we have is what we need most is a paradigm shift. I think we need to understand that come to the conviction that I will allow the Lord to define happiness and then I will see all and do all that I can in order to fulfill the kind of happiness in my life if I had to come up with a single line for the not just message for before the whole series is simply this. What I want to the study.

These last couple months is at the end of me. I can find happiness in him. That's an important thing to remember at the end of you, you'll start to find happiness in him. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 the beginning of what is described as the greatest sermon ever preached.

Who could argue with that. It's the sermon on the Mount. The sermon is so important to Jesus that it appears that throughout his 3 1/2 year ministry, he repeats large segments of this sermon over and over. This is kingdom living the irony of it is that it sorta starts in a very unusual way. It sorta starts like a song that does work in the song. The psalmist are to the conclusion and then goes to the body that another conclusion and that sort of the way that Jesus starts the sermon on the Mount. He says when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up to the mountain and after he sat down, the disciples came to him, not just his. But all those learning and a big crowd of people and he opened his mouth and he began to teach them all and he starts out with a word that regrettably doesn't seem to help us too much in English.

He starts out with the word blessed.

That's a nice religious word and we think about in religious terms, but the word is Makarios and if you look it up in Alexa, you find out is the normal use of the word is simply this happy. That's what the word means it can mean being fortunate, but he basically it means the word happy. So Jesus is going to start the some of them out in a sense, with the invitation, and a description of what is a happy person look like and I think what you'll find is it's so counterintuitive that what you think a happy person is like that. One of the reasons that were not happy is we've never really made the paradigm shift to pursue happiness on the basis of what Jesus Christ says will make you happy but we pursue on the basis of what we intuitively think make us happy so he starts out and the paradox begins pretty early, happy, he said, are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God, not to words that don't go together in our culture. Happy and poor. See our culture no no no no no that's not how you get happy you see Nancy some commercial not long ago that they use these words but only some of the minutes said they said this is shown on the screen it said blessed are the poor. That's all it said then it showed a bunch of poor people know I'm not again showing poor people and I'm not saying that the poor on blast but he's not talking about money here and in any sense he is saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit. That is a very different kind of thing to be poor in spirit is to acknowledge your dependence on God. Regardless of your personal assets to be poor in spirit is to acknowledge your dependence on God regardless of your assets. You see what you see in the Beatitudes. It really help me understand him is, I kept on wondering why all these things seem so odd to me and so different.

The Beatitudes are description of Jesus Christ. This is him. He basically is saying want to be happy happy are the people who are like me, that's what Jesus saying happy are people who are like me think of this. He says happy are those who are poor in spirit dependent on God. Jesus came and said I did not come to do my own will. I came to do the will of him who sent me. Paul wrote to the Philippians and said that Jesus connotes his passage, he emptied himself of all of his divine many of his divine prerogatives. You see me in the garden of Gethsemane was right under that father if it was my personal happiness, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, the my will be done by yours. You see, there is a poor in spirit woman here. It's kind of an interesting thing that really doesn't work so well for us. People who are completely dependent on God so much happiness in our culture is defined as when the basis of what you can accomplish and accumulate for yourself. That's a make you happy if you accomplish a lot and you accumulate a lot, you're going to be happy.

The problem with that is it's got all kinds of issues. First of all, how much do you need to accomplish and accumulate before you are happy any kind of empirical study says pretty much just a little more see it really doesn't work that way. The other thing is, once you have accumulated your successes or your assets.

Now you gotta protect them and then what becomes really stunning as you get older and older is you realize no matter what of accomplish to one of accumulated I can take it with me.

You see him to leave it all behind to different view of happiness. One, the writer this week wrote this he said the less you see your poverty. The poor you are. What a great statement. The poor in spirit.

They trust God for each and every days provision many years ago, Dr. Joe Harvey who we support in the Congo said to me in a lunchtime or something after service any just that I feel sorry for your people and I thought while Joe gave his life in the Congo, you know. And that's a really tough spot. He felt sorry for my people and he said the reason is there so self-sufficient. He said they believe that they can handle everything in life on their own. He said what I love about the people in the Congo is this when they see father this day. Give us our daily bread, they mean it.

They needed and he provides it and he said there dependence on God's every single day of the life. If you think about it, that's one of the problems we have with the fluency we don't find yourself dependent on God for every single day. Jesus is happy are those who are poor in spirit. You think that's kind of hard understand how about the next one.

Happy are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Well the doing of the day and say boy I hope is one of these days I can mourn you don't see a lot of bumper stickers of this either to Jesus said that MUC that seem so counterintuitive to us. He says happy are those who mourn, remember when I first saw it I thought he can't quite mean more. So I thought I'll look up the word you know the electrical study because you are there other words him to be just translated by the English guys saying mourn. So I looked it up and found out that the word the Greek word here for mourn is the strongest Greek word for mourning that exist in the Greek language setting to help with that at all. He says happy are those who mourn, Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3 there's a time to mourn.

You see, what is it about morning. It's a natural reaction to reality that some morning is you see that that in the sense he says don't go in some form of denial. Don't pretend he says right here. He says Blessed are those who mourn, I think it's you and I should have our heart broken but what breaks God's heart and I really believe that the when you think of what sin is and then what sin does the consequences of it. How can you not mourn Jesus wept over Jerusalem is simple. I love the gutter together serve like a hen, pulls the chicks in but you will not do it. He understood the judgment that was coming. Jesus even wept when Lazarus died and Jesus knew he was going to resuscitate Lazarus and he still wept and the reason he wept as he saw what it did to Mary and Martha and those who love Lazarus. He saw the consequences of sin anymore and over it. The question I have is is that describe you, you know I'm I'm astounded so often of what we end up seeing on television and by the way, much of the news that you see are things worth morning about I get that but we don't mourn.

We usually have outrage. I just can't believe that is horrible that I get those guys that some morning maybe even more importantly, do you mourn your own sin is. That's not exactly a very popular thing in a day and age in which we live, we live in a day and age of service celebrate sin were right at a time.

Right now our whole city is going to celebrate it. But if you think of our culture. What happens when daily news the word center. Our culture they use the word like mistake were not sinners were mistake. There's we just make mistakes or if it's a really serious one. I didn't see and I have a disease you see I'm a victim of my own disease that that's what we do we do anything but we celebrate sin is a culture coming. We paraded on national TV and call sin. The modern family is amazing. We give awards to the show for celebrating sin. But the real question for us is, what about us and what about her own sin. Hold your place and go with me to Psalm 32 Psalm 32 David, this is a song David wrote after committing adultery with Bathsheba and having Uriah the Hittite murder. It took some time, but he has two confessional Psalms and this is one notice. He starts out with this conclusion just the way that beatitudes start the sermon on the Mount Jesus how blessed same kind of word Hebrew though. How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. He said how blessed or how happy is the man whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Isn't it great to be forgiven. Yes is not wonderful. Yes, but notice what it when he talks about his sin.

He said when I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away. He said through my groaning all day long for day and night your hand was heavy upon me. That's called conviction.

My vitality was drained away. As with fever.

The heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you in my iniquity I did not hide. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of mice see right in the middle of that right before his confession.

What did he do it mourn. He mourned I think sometimes we are grace abusers. We know that the grace of God, cover sin, so we have a very flippant way of viewing our sin you see is just almost like a acknowledge that Osuna had a tough day this move one sin killed my Lord. Sin cause him to cry out my God my God why have you forsaken me.

Since there is matter. The question is do you mourn on a national, international, worldwide scale. Interpersonal skill do you mourn sin and its consequences. Now back to Matthew chapter 5 happy he says of the poor in spirit. Happy are those who mourn, then he says happy are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. I think the word Jenna was used because we like it better but I think a much better word is in most the other translations but is meek, happy are the meek, the reason is up. We don't like that word much when I grow up I want to be meek, I just want to be meek when my children grow up I want to be meek is he just doesn't seem to sound right to us. Does it voice entrée to the Lord. Though meekness is this mean this is a proper estimation or evaluation of yourself within a broader context of how you relate to God. See, once you see yourself. A proper view of who I am, in relation to who he is is a meet Mrs. when Jesus said talk about the yoke and he said, for I am meek same exact word. I am meek and humble of heart is a description of him. Meekness is clearly not weakness. That's not the case at all. John the Baptist was a powerful man, but he had exactly this trait in his life. Meekness they wanted jaundice or to become out of pink along the right of the all of the groundswell of enthusiasm about being Messiah and John said absolutely not. I'm not the Messiah.

That is not the case in okay what you think. John said I'm not going to strive to be more than what God intended me to be when a lesson to learn. I am not going to strive to be more than God intended me to be. That's meekness. A view of himself.

Six happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, two things about that hunger and thirst for those are powerful motives on date. Some of you may be experiencing one or both of them now but you'll notice that if he gets a bad enough you will almost push anything aside to get water to get food almost anything and he says happy are the people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Happy are the people two things. One who hunger and thirst, to do the right thing.

My motivation is to do the right thing. All of the consequences fall where they may. But I'm going to do the right thing. That kind of person there's another aspect to it to.

It means possessing a spiritual appetite do you have a spiritual appetite are not. You see, if you don't have a spiritual appetite will never be spiritually satisfied and if you're never spiritually satisfied will never be happy. See, that's just the way this works. He said you have to have an appetite for this you have to hunger and thirst varies. Maybe the strongest of all human motivations you have to hunger and thirst. He says for righteousness. You just don't absorb it. You don't absorb it, you have to initiate verse seven. Happy are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy with the you love mercy as long as you're receiving it. Member grace is getting what you don't deserve an mercy is not getting what you do deserve to see and only just love that summons as you're okay, trooper things that everyone and said this just a warning, mercy. I just love mercy.

You have the receiving and we love, but that Jesus, in speaking about the receiving end is speaking about the giving end. Happy are the merciful, extended people what they don't desire people who are relationally generous for givers. Happy are those who forgive. Maybe the most prevailing damaging thing I've seen in believers lives are all these years is a spirit that's unforgiving. It's amazing what it does. It just comes into your life like one little seed, and then just like one cell going bad with cancer begins the metastasize and spread before you know it your old bitter person in your bitterness to find you all, because you would not show mercy. Power to the Ephesians that we need to forgive as we have been forgiven while every single day God forgives me every single day and what's amazing. And you know in your own life, he forgives you for the things you do over and over and over and over and over again and we say look, I forgive you once, but not twice.

See if that's your attitude you're not happy and you won't be you know why you are surrounded by sinners there everywhere.

There are people that were hurt and offend you everywhere.

He says happy are the merciful God says that so important to me.

Notice what he said is it but happy are the merciful will receive mercy want to be merciful, don't expect a great deal relational mercy turn up and just learn this lesson after the radio ministry of fellowship Lord, if you ever miss one of our broadcasting or maybe you just like the message one more time. Remember, you can Google a great website called one place.com that's one place.com and you can listen the Fellowship in the Word online event website you will find on with today's broadcast but also many of our previous audio programs as well have Fellowship in the Word we are thinking for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help his radio ministry continuous forecast on this radio station by supporting a monthly with just a one-time gift support for ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word. 4600 Clearview Pkwy., Metairie, LA 7006 if you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format that is is a sermon, the pastor will deliver during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible church visit our website FVC Nola.org that SBC and oh LA.O RG at our website you will find hundreds pastor Bill sermon you can browse through our sermon archives to find sermon series are looking for, or you can search by title.

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