The Lordship of Christ, Part 3

The point: Pause to remember the God to whom you're coming when you pray, both privately and corporately.

An analogy of preparing for an audience with the President of the United States is used to illustrate the reverence and preparation due when approaching the King of Kings in prayer.

If you had an audience with the president of this country, regardless of what you think of his political views, honor to whom honor is due, the scripture says. And if you knew you were to have an audience with President Johnson and you were flown down to Washington and ushered through as many guards and the rest as you must be and brought into his office, would you have your mind filled with a thousand and one different thoughts until the very moment when someone said the president will now see you and then say, oh my, oh, what did I want to talk? No, you wouldn't do that. From the moment you ...

11:47 - 12:22 Read in full sermon

The point: Tell others who the God of the Bible is, not assuming they have a biblical understanding of God.

A story of a man whose concept of God as Father was distorted by his own harsh earthly father, and another whose concept was distorted by an indulgent father, illustrates that people often project their earthly experiences onto God, underscoring the need to proclaim the biblical character of God.

This is one of the great privileges you have as a Christian. Don't assume when you say the word God to your neighbor that they're going to say that they're going to say that they're going to say that they're going to say that they're going to say that they fix the biblical meaning on the word God. They may have all kinds of strange notions about God. I talked with a man who said every time he thought of God in terms of a father he thought of his own earthly father who was a man who came home turlish and nasty and sour and always cracking the whip and never demonstrated any love and any grace a...

16:44 - 17:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Tell others who the God of the Bible is, not assuming they have a biblical understanding of God.

An analogy of a typical, relaxed, and jocular evangelistic meeting climate is used to show how the atmosphere of a church service can inadvertently teach a false, sentimental concept of God, rather than His holiness and sovereignty.

We were telling them. And if we had had the kind of a climate that is considered the vogue for the average evangelistic meeting with the racy type song that made you feel the atmosphere of the den or the living room relaxed and jovial and a little jocular and the evangelist is the man with the I can't say long hair because that will hit me and the only reason it's long because it sticks out if I don't keep it long but you get the picture the long wavy hair and the $200 tailor made suit and the flashy car and he can spill out yarns a dime a dozen and keep you on the edge of your seat with stori...

18:45 - 20:12 Read in full sermon

The point: When cherished plans are dashed or unexpected circumstances arise, hug the situation and trust God's wise and holy purposes.

Martin shares a personal story of his initial reaction to a church problem that occurred in his absence, illustrating the struggle to trust God's sovereignty when cherished plans are dashed and the need to preach truth to oneself.

Do I believe he's still on his throne? Or did God just abdicate his throne for five minutes while those circumstances crept in? Hmm? I had to preach this to myself because I called my wife on Tuesday and she told me something that happened in the church while I was away that never would have happened if I were there.

26:34 - 26:54 Read in full sermon

The point: When cherished plans are dashed or unexpected circumstances arise, hug the situation and trust God's wise and holy purposes.

The story of Satan needing God's permission to touch Job is used to illustrate that even the devil is God's devil, under His sovereign control, reinforcing God's absolute power over all circumstances.

If you've got a God who's above and over all that his creatures do and remember even the devil's God's devil. When he wanted to touch Job, he had a march. He had a march up the throne and say, God, may I have permission? You know, you kids, when you want to go out of the room to go to the bathroom at school, teacher, may I have permission?

27:48 - 28:05 Read in full sermon

The point: When God increases your income, consider if He wants you to be a wider channel for dispensing blessing to the gospel ministry, rather than raising your standard of living.

Martin recounts receiving a $300 check early in his marriage and being tempted to use it for personal necessities, but then being led by the Spirit to give it to other faculty members in need, illustrating that increased income is not necessarily for raising one's standard of living but for wider gospel ministry.

I can't tell you what's real to you, but I can share what in little measure God's made real to me. First year my wife and I were married, we lived in an apartment down at Columbia Bible College where I was on the staff. And we didn't have a lot of the things. Now, I look back now, she was foolhardy.

32:46 - 33:01 Read in full sermon

The point: If Christ is your Lord, He is Lord of your opinions about home life and child discipline; seek His blueprint in the Bible.

Martin shares a personal story of feeling constrained by the Spirit to stop his car and speak to strangers in a house in Wisconsin, illustrating his willingness to obey God's direct leading, even when it seemed illogical or uncomfortable.

We come to every missionary conference, my wife and I, praying, Lord, if this is the time you'd say, pack your duds and exercise your gifts elsewhere, here we are, Lord. Here we are. And I tell you, I made a whipping boy of myself with this missionary call business. And I come into bondage saying, well, Lord, as far as I know, when you tell me to stop my car driving down the road and go into a house I've never seen and talk to somebody, Lord, you know I've been willing to do that and have done it.

36:14 - 36:41 Read in full sermon

The point: If there are problems between brothers and sisters in the church, obey the Lord's command to go and be reconciled before offering worship.

The Queen of England is used as an analogy for how Christ is often treated in churches – revered as a figurehead but not truly exercising absolute authority over practical matters like business meetings, highlighting the need for Christ's absolute monarchy.

of men and women under the dominion of Christ receiving the revelation of the will of Christ through the application of the word of Christ that ought to be a wonderful experience and I was just foolish enough to believe that God could make it that He could make it to His glory that our board meetings are a spiritual experience and I come out refreshed in the Holy Ghost where God has brought ten men to the place where they believe not as a theological fact but as a living reality Christ is the Lord and His church and when they come to a board meeting and when we come to a business meeting we do...

42:35 - 44:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Ensure that the message and methods of your ministry, from the pulpit to tracts, are authorized by the Lord of Heaven.

The analogy of a nurse filling a syringe is used to illustrate that it's not enough for a Christian to zealously proclaim 'something called the gospel'; the message and method must be precisely what the 'Doctor' (Christ) has prescribed, or it can be harmful.

in our corporate life the Lordship of Christ will make a tremendous difference as we handle the business of the church the problems of the church it will make a tremendous difference in the ministry of the church both in our message and our method again without I those of you who have been here through the week I hope you realize by now I take no delight in seeking to lay open the cancerous sores of our generation but I feel obligated to do so to those individuals and churches who feel as long as I'm proclaiming something called the gospel and doing it zealously that's all that matters no that...

48:12 - 49:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Before coming to church meetings, honestly get on your knees and ask God to place His crown over every idea and opinion, seeking His will through His Word and the counsel of others.

Martin recounts his reluctance to attend an annual council meeting due to its carnal nature, but his board's insistence led to divine appointments and ministry, illustrating that God can work His will even through unexpected means and that leaders need to be open to the collective mind of Christ in the church.

look forward to going to sit around in those business meetings and after three days you feel about as carnal as an old goat and you lose all spiritual blessing you just go to get dried up sitting in meetings and debating and hearing the minutes and the agenda and all the rest and it was going to cost the church about three hundred dollars to send me out there and back and put me up in a hotel and I told the men I said men I'd rather not go this year if you don't mind and they said Pastor just let us think about it I said alright when I came I said I would be answerable to you on issues where I...

52:39 - 54:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Parents, be willing to travail in prayer for your children's salvation, keeping your hands off until the Holy Ghost does the work, rather than prematurely assuring them.

A story of a ten-year-old girl crying nightly, wanting to be like Job, and her parents' refusal to prematurely assure her of salvation, instead shutting her up to Christ, illustrates the importance of allowing children to genuinely travail for assurance rather than taking the Holy Spirit's place.

for serious concern so our rejoicing is with trembling the Bible puts the two together rejoice with trembling and then as we think of our loved ones what a practical effect it'll have we won't be going around trying to give everybody assurance we'll realize it's far better for somebody to doubt for six months whether they are saved and at the end of that six months find that they are and really be so than to have people go through life thinking they are and wake up in the judgment and find they aren't it'll have a tremendous effect on how you teach that class how you handle your little childre...

58:33 - 60:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Vacation Bible School workers, be willing to have a reputation for not making 'decisions' if it means waiting for God to truly save souls, rather than relying on unscriptural methods.

The biblical story of Ishmael (Abraham's attempt to help God) and Isaac (God's promised son) is used as a metaphor to distinguish between human-generated 'decisions' for Christ and genuine, Spirit-wrought conversions, urging patience for God's true 'Isaacs'.

He'll give you some Isaacs instead of a whole carload of Ishmaels you know what was Ishmael Ishmael was Abraham's attempt to help God fulfill his promise God said I'll give you a son but the son didn't come so Abraham at the suggestion of Hagar goes in and takes his handmaid and he consumes and bears his son it was Abraham's attempt to help God fulfill his promise you know what the word Ishmael means wild one and we're filling our churches with Ishmaels instead of giving them the word and in urging them to flee to Christ telling them Christ is ready to save telling them that they call upon Him...

63:00 - 64:29 Read in full sermon