0:08 Um, it's been my my my burden. It's a burden in our church. I believe that when people come into our miss and whether you're part of the local church or a visitor or watching online as many do that there'll be a real sense of the 0:22 presence of the Lord, the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. And uh this morning or actually no it was yesterday. I thought about this. If you'll just briefly turn with me to Psalm 133. This is a picture I got about what it 0:41 can be in our meetings. What we pray that it will be like in our meetings. um that there will be as as we grow closer to each other, as we come here during our gatherings, as we if you're watching online or you visit us on a Sunday, that 1:01 you you experience that the oil of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit is described as oil throughout the scriptures. And here we read in Psalm 133:2, it is like the precious oil upon the head coming 1:16 down upon the beard. Just get this picture of God pouring that oil. It's talking about going back to Aaron when the oil was poured upon him as the high priest, the first high priest in the old covenant. Oil was poured on his head and so much 1:33 oil that it dripped down down his head down upon the beard. Even Aaron's beard coming down all the way to the edge of his robes just flowed down. I believe it's a picture of the church. 1:50 What are gatherings like spiritually? The people can sense this is oil here. Maybe you're you feel like you're the edge of the robe, but the oil is there too. Spiritually, some are more mature than others, but every member of the body of 2:07 Christ is valued. What is he speaking about? You see in verse one, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity. When the church is united and we dwell together in unity in your homes, 2:26 husbands and wife, when there's a unity in your heart, in your spirit, there's unity there with your children. You're raising your children not to fit a certain mold and all look the same way. I mean, I love just you look at all the 2:40 children, different color, different types of hairstyles, different colored clothing, different colored skin. The variety that God has called to be a part of this church. We're not all fit into one particular mold. Some of you are homeschooled. Some of 2:53 you do schooling at home otherwise. Some of you go to private school. Some of you go to public school. Some of you work in this line of work. Some of you something else. It's not all doing the same thing. Cuz that would be just a club, just a 3:05 cultural attachment. But the church, whoever the Lord brings, I dwell in unity with them. Dear family, as we seek to go this way, if the Lord is able to build that unity, beginning in our homes where only you and your wife and your children can see how daddy 3:24 treats mom, how mom speaks to dad, how the children speak to their parents, that unity that's there. We're going this way together. And then that unity in the home comes into the church and families are united that way. And we 3:40 might look at things differently in the world. You might have different opinions of different things. You might have different interests in different things. But all of that gets set aside where our attachment is not based on 3:52 anything outward anymore. But that Jesus and his is building his church. That we are a part of the body of Christ. That one body of Christ around the world and the saints gone on before of which Jesus is the head. I pray that it will be so 4:08 increasingly. And as God adds more to our midst that it will be added based on this. Such unity you know for some of you the Lord may lead you ultimately somewhere else. Why not? But let it be like some of your children. You may go to college. 4:25 You may get married to somebody and go live somewhere else. Absolutely. I did. I'm not in the church that I grew up in. But my heart is united with it. My spirit is one with that spirit that the Lord gave and poured out in our midst. 4:38 And that's what I pray for you. Wherever the Lord leads you, whatever he uses, wherever in the world, it could be in a faroff country, but wherever you go, it will be this oil coming down from the head, which is Jesus Christ through his 4:52 body. I hope you'll experience that. Yeah. Um uh if you turn with me to uh Revelation chapter 1, sometimes you you hear a question I ask 5:12 people sometimes little children ask uh are asked I ask you know what's your favorite color? And I'm sure every one of you has probably been asked that at some point even little children. And I'm not going to ask you to shout it out 5:25 because it'll be a loud ruckus because it'll guarantee it there'll be at least 20 or different 30 different colors represented here. But um I wonder do you think God has a favorite color? I don't think he does. He created 5:40 all the colors and every one of those colors is precious to him. And uh that's why we see such beauty in creation in the flowers and the fields and the mountains and people and hair colors and all of that. It's the beautiful picture 5:54 of how God is very creative in the color that he uses. But you know the color that's on my mind this morning is a color that I've never heard anybody say is their favorite color and that is the color white. I've never heard anybody 6:10 say, you know, you have red, you get even black, you get purple, white. I've never heard anybody say my favorite color is white. I think that's now maybe it is. If it is yours, please don't be discouraged. That's great. You're 6:20 probably very unique and that's a good thing. But um I wonder if that that I couldn't recall ever hearing that. If it's just it seems plain like white is well there it's just you know a white wall or you should add some color to it 6:37 or add something to mix it up a little bit. and that got color. And yet the Bible speaks about white very uh very intentionally. And uh when you look at Jesus for 6:54 example in Revelation 1 uh is he's described this way. Revelation 1 verse14. His head and his hair his head and his hair 7:12 were white like white wool, like snow. So the picture you get of Jesus' head, it's white. Um, and yes, there's something dazzling about that white color, the the the color of Jesus' face and his hair. His hair is white. I also 7:28 thought about when it says that wonderful promise in Isaiah 1:18, your sins were red as scarlet. Scarlet's actually a pretty color, but it says that that beauty that was shown and please understand this is not a message 7:41 about color and what's your favorite color or what it should be. There's nothing spiritual about one color or the other, but I'm trying to make a point here that he says they shall be white as snow. And um you read further down in u if you 7:55 you see in not further down but in the end of the chapter in revelation end of the book in revelation 20 verse 11 you see that the throne that he's sitting on is called a white throne. There's a lot of use of the picture of 8:10 the color white in heaven. He's sitting on a white throne completely white. His face is white. His hair is white and um there's something there. Now the the the color white itself is is I think it's a beautiful color. But the word on 8:26 my heart that I want you to be thinking about as I share what the Lord has later on my heart is the simplicity of that color white. The simplicity of Christ. And you think about the simplest color that there is. I think white is 8:40 probably that. It's just simple. There's no you don't add anything to that. And um the in in paintings you often use a lot of different colors. including white. And so, and yet when I think about Christ in in his essence and the church in its 8:58 essence, there's a simplicity. There's a deep simplicity that is very important for us. And it's important for us to recognize. Let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. How will you recognize the true church? 9:23 The true church. Now, there is such a thing as the true church in the world today. There is those who have already gone up and are in the presence of the Lord. Saints, thousands maybe, I don't know how many of them who have gone 9:35 ahead of us, part of that true church, the bride of Christ. And he has his people gathered around the world today. Not just in this building, all over even around this community and this town and this area of Colorado, different states 9:50 in the US, different countries in the world. His saints who are gathered. It's not one particular church or denomination or anything like that. is those people who are drawn to Christ and Christ alone, who have integrated 10:05 themselves into his body or allowed the Holy Spirit to integrate them into Christ the head. And as we see scripture clearly show, he calls them to gather in different gatherings to express that commitment to the head through our commitment to each 10:23 other. That's why the apostles went around establishing local churches. That's why we preach that you must be part of a local church where that commitment to the head is proven and lived out where when I say I love God, I 10:37 show it by loving the brother or the sister whom I can see. But this how will you recognize the true church? Because along with the true church which is all of those people scattered around the world, there's this spiritual body even though they all 10:52 could be in different places. Now it's possible to sit in this church and not be a part of that. Absolutely. God is not affiliated to RLCF or attached to RLCF in some way that he would say yes if you come here. No, his his commitment 11:06 is to Jesus Christ the head. He's building a bride for Jesus and Jesus alone. It's one bride. And so wherever those people are, there is the true body of Christ. But there is also a number of other bodies. It could be called 11:20 churches. It could be called other religions too. But it's those who whether they read the Bible or read some other religious book, whether they pray in the name of Jesus or in the name of some other god, regardless of that, if 11:34 their allegiance is to something else other than Jesus himself, quite often to themselves, my allegiance is to myself. Well, that's another idol. That's probably the biggest idol of all is allegiance to oneself. And how will we recognize 11:52 where the true church is, which is the true church, the body of Christ? I believe that one of the clearest marks of it is the simplicity of the church. Today we live in a world where churches are looking at how to be more fanciful 12:07 and more professional and more a better production and and more like this and more u more captivating because guess what? out there in Hollywood and out there on the political stage. They do all this and they do that and and they 12:23 speak like this and they have this and they have that other thing and that's how we will draw people. And sadly, I really believe that the church has lost its simplicity. The simplicity that the church had on the day of Pentecost when it was very 12:39 simple. There was no fog lights. There was no electrical guitars and piano and and pulpit and microphone and or and phones where you had the Bible. They didn't even have the written Bible, but they had a simplicity. They had the power of the Holy Spirit. 12:54 And there was a simplicity that drew them to Jesus. The simplest of all that I have a longing for us to go back to for I don't longing for me to go back to and for us as a church. In 2 Corinthians 11:3 we read, I am afraid Paul writing, Paul 13:14 had this simplicity. I read his writings. I read what he went through in the book of Acts. And he was a very simple person. He was not a very good speaker. He but he had the power of the Holy Spirit. He was very simple. He 13:28 dressed very simply. He looked very simple. He looked very plain. And in that simplicity, he had power. You couldn't confront Paul. Satan tried with everything within him. Sent demons after him. He couldn't overpower Paul because 13:42 he had the authority of God. And Paul says to this church that he had helped plant the church in Corinth. He says, "I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftliness into what?" into complexity, more of this and more of that, more fancifulness 14:01 and more fanciful that, and let's add this to our church, or let's start to do this and complicate things. Your minds will be led astray from the simplicity of Christ. and the purity of Christ of devotion to Christ. 14:20 But the literal word there is simplicity of Christ itself. Yes, it's simplicity of devotion and purity of devotion. Yes, but it's the simplicity of Christ himself. I believe that's how the King James reads it. The literal word there 14:33 is your minds will be drawn away that somehow Jesus has become this other thing that's like the world has described him to be. And he's not simple, ordinary, plain Jesus on the outside that doesn't need to be dressed up and beautified because the glory is 14:52 hidden within. And if we've missed that in some way, then all of a sudden it becomes about as they sing in the world, the bells and whistles. Oh, I didn't have a a good church meeting today because h the music sound a little off 15:05 or yeah, the this instrument was too loud or ah the temperature was too warm or too cold or whatever, right? You see how it's become about all these other things? What if we had to meet in the basement of some room and not sing too loud 15:21 because the authorities might hear us and come and arrest us because they know we're followers of Jesus Christ. or in caves like they had to 2,000 years ago, running from this cave to that because oh, word has spread that they are 15:34 meeting in this cave now. So, let's run over to that cave. What does it matter if if we don't have instruments and we don't even have chairs to sit? You got to sit on the ground, brother. Today, it's a cave. Can't adjust the thermostat either to 15:49 whatever temperature you want it to be. God was with them. And maybe some animal wandered in in the midst of, you know, we actually had that once. The door was actually left open and a dog walked in right here and walked out. That's I believe that's what 16:04 it would was like in the caves. The animals came and came and went, but God was with them. There was a simplicity of Christ. These were simple folks. These were fishermen. Paul was certainly educated. He wasn't, you know, he's an 16:19 educated man, an intelligent man. But think about Peter. If you listen to Peter preach, if you I really believe this. If you listen to Peter preach, you'll be like, man, what is this guy that that's who's preaching the sermon 16:33 today, the fisher man kind of smells funny and he does he's kind of crude way of talking. Not he doesn't captivate me like this other guy, that Pharisee camel. Oh, I listen to him and I get stirred up. And that's what's going on 16:47 in the church today is a lot of people are drawn to soul power and how it's speaking. I'm conscious of that. I believe God's given me a gift to speak. But I I tell you, brothers and sisters and children, I I fall on my face before 17:01 the Lord every time I before I get up and say, "Lord, I don't want to rely on my human ability. I don't want to buy into the world's idea that Jesus is somehow this attractive thing on the outside that you should be drawn to." The problem is 17:16 because there's two Jesus. Actually, there's many of them. The same passage talks about another Jesus. Verse four, if one comes and preaches another Jesus, you know what the other Jesus looks like? He's very attractive. 17:30 He'll give you what you want and you can have a great time here on this earth and expect to have a great time in heaven. This is another Jesus that needs to be made beautiful and attractive to be seeker sensitive and draw the people in 17:44 the world who are looking for something attractive to be drawn to. And then they dig deep down and realize this Jesus cannot set you free from lusting with your eyes. This Jesus cannot set you free from using your tongue in a foul way, in an angry way 18:00 with your wife or your husband. This Jesus cannot set you free from the love of money. This Jesus cannot set you free from complaining and grumbling. This Jesus cannot bring you true rest and freedom from fear and anxiety. And then 18:13 you're like, ah, this just they're all hypocrites. Looked great initially. And may we never present Christ in such a way that he's so attractive that everybody wants to come to this Jesus and they don't see that the glory is 18:28 within. And same for us. This is the church. the church. When you get to heaven, you'll be amazed by how dazzling white it is, how dazzlingly plain the church is compared to what you thought was attractive in the world. Let's turn back 18:47 to the book of Revelation. That phrase I read again this week. Revelation 19. This is the chapter that speaks about 19:06 the marriage of the lamb and u you read in verse 5. You know it's interesting that even to this day that that tradition is still carried on at least in western society that the bride always wears white. You know what that 19:21 the origin of that is? It's the simplicity of that that the bride was fixing her eyes on her husband. She wanted to look beautiful for him. I don't know all of the history behind that, but that's carried down from I believe ultimately from scripture where 19:36 where we're shown that the bride is dressed in white in its simplicity. It's not a big gody fanciful colors and lots of other things and and all that and and it's it's simplicity, the beauty of the simplicity of Christ and the simplicity of the bride. That's 19:55 a good thing for us to meditate on, dear church family, because that's the way we want to go. If church life has somehow been complicated by activity, oh, we do this or we do that or we have this other thing or we hang out together and we 20:08 like this, I like this guy, I like that guy. If if we've made it complicated, let's let's come back to the simplicity that Christ had where it's become something other than Christ himself. In Revelation 19 verse 5, a voice came from 20:22 the throne saying, "Give praise to our God, all you his bond servants, you who fear him, the small and the great." Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of 20:35 mighty peels of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah." That just means praise the Lord for the Lord our God. You know, even this hallelujah. Let me digress for a minute if you will. A lot of times I hear songs using the word hallelujah in 20:51 a way that it's it's meant to to make it sound a little bit more spiritual. Let me ask you honestly, does it sound more spiritual if you say hallelujah or if you say praise the Lord? It's the same thing. is hallelujah is just a Greek way 21:07 of saying praise the Lord. But so often I find Christians want to make it sound a little bit more spiritual. Let me say hallelujah instead. Please I say hallelujah because it's biblical. But if somehow I say it and I use it in my 21:21 singing or because it sounds better praise the Lord sounds too plain. So let me say hallelujah and say it in a way. And I see this going on in music that's being produced today and how it's used to say it in a particular way. So it 21:36 sounds cool, right? I'm not here to judge anybody. Please not I'm I'm not want I don't walk in anybody else's shoes, but I'm here to say, Lord, have I complicated it? Is it so simple that I I try to add something to my Christian 21:50 life to make it a little bit more exciting? That's off the world, that's off my flesh, that's off my soul. That corrupts the simplicity of Christ. Christ is very plain and simple on the outside. The beauty is within. The glory 22:08 is within and words can't describe it. You can't dress it up. And if you've been trying to dress up Christ with your words and your the way you speak and the way you act around others in the church, let's turn family. Let's go back to 22:23 being simple like Christ was like Christ is. Let us verse 7. Hallelujah. For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself 22:40 ready. His bride has made herself ready. What does it look like? It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen. Yes, it's fine linen, but you know, linen is not something that you think, oh, I would have thought satin or and 22:57 some of you sisters will have to help me. What's the what's the really good fabric or silk? Yeah, something like that. You know, something like that. Linen. Well, really, you pick linen for your wedding dress. Couldn't you have 23:08 done something a little bit to fancify it? Fine linen. You know, that's what the priests wore. The undergarment that touched their skin was linen. Plain linen. Yes, you could you could have it on the outside cuz that was the Old 23:23 Testament. Outside you have beautiful things and Aaron had all the jewels on him. He had a crown and he had these robes purple and all that color. But underneath it was white linen. That's the dress that the bride is going to 23:36 wear. When you get to heaven, brother, sister, child, and Jesus shows you the wedding garment. Will you be shocked that it's just plain linen? because you thought it was going to be something in your world's worldly idea of beauty. 23:52 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen. It's bright. Yes, it's bright and it's clean. But what is it? The righteous acts of the saints. Simple. Not miracles, not raising the dead, not 24:10 casting out demons that you read about in Matthew 7. Jesus says, "Depart from me. I didn't know you. You did all the great things. But you housewife, you little child, you young teenager, you brother, in the simplicity of your 24:25 everyday life, you walked in righteousness before me." That's your wedding garment. Will you be disappointed when you realize, Lord, it was it was just that. Now, in heaven, of course, we'll see it with our eyes. But the burden on my 24:41 heart, family, today is that we'll see it now. That the everyday life that you and I live, loving our wives at home, loving our husbands at home, um children, obeying your parents in the Lord, uh treating each other kindly when 24:58 we gather like this, that we're kind to others, we're thoughtful to others, and all of that is one more stitch in the wedding dress. It's one more stitch. It's a simple thing. You didn't do anything great. You most of you never 25:12 get up here and preach a message or lead the singing or anything like that. You may think, well, what's my role in the body of Christ? What's my role in the church? Dear brother, dear sister, oh that you will see it today if you've 25:23 never seen it before that your role is to stitch help stitch the wedding gown in its simplicity. God won't say, "Oh yeah, that preaching Santos you did or you you sang or you did this other thing in the church." Yes, that that's all God. We do what God 25:38 calls us to do, but it's the righteous acts of every saint who's a member of the body of Christ. It could be that this morning while you were in the shower, you said, "Lord, I'm going to pray and intercede for this church that the Holy Spirit will send a 25:53 word that we need to hear that there will be deeper unity in our church, that there will be more purity." and you were praying and you thought well you came here and you were just you sat in the in the chair and didn't do anything 26:06 publicly visible but you are adding one more stitch into the garment the simple plain wedding gown dear family oh that we will grasp this as many of you you if you look at your life you think you know we've been reading stories about the missionaries 26:24 who've done great things for the Lord I tell you I every time I read that I say Lord what I want from that is not that I'm going to go to China or go to Africa or go to South America and go to India or go somewhere else and do that great 26:34 thing. If you call me to do that, it will be good. But that is of equal value as me going and doing the dishes one evening and sweeping the floor and and doing a load of laundry and going to school and doing your studies and going 26:48 to work and working hard whether you work outside in the cold or inside and you're stressed and your boss yells at you. But Lord, I want to do this as unto you. These are the righteous acts of the saints in everyday ordinary life. Orphan 27:02 vessels it's called. And one day, oh, you get to heaven and you see that that everyday life, God was doing something. He was stitching together the wedding gown for his bride, the righteous acts of the saints. And it's dazzling 27:19 in its simplicity is the way I look at it. What's dazzling about the gown, the wedding dress that the bride has is it's simple. That's something the world can never understand. It's just very very simple. And this is something you know 27:34 Jesus said Matthew 11:25, "I praise you, father in heaven, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent." and sadly for most of Christendom. Whereas how can we make the church more comfortable, more attractive 27:48 and more fit for that other person whom we want to bring into the church? It it sounds right and maybe it's sincere even, but that's not how Jesus is building his church. That's not how he drew people. He went on the beach and 28:04 saw some stinky fisherman in pulling in a bunch of fish and says, "Hey, you come follow me." He saw a tax gather named Matthew and said, "Hey, you're the one that everybody spits at when they walk by. Come follow me." This is how Jesus is building his church 28:20 even today. That which is despised, that which is lowly, that which the world has no reason to glory in. Turn to Luke chapter 2. Why is why is the bride of Christ simple? Why is simplicity the essence of the 28:38 body of Christ, the church, is because it is the essence of Christ himself. Christ on his earth was far more simple than you and I might realize. He lived in a very simple society. Israel, Palestine in that time was very simple. 28:54 They dressed very simple. They were very poor. They were slaves. They were living in their own land. This was their own land that God had promised to Abraham, their forefather. They were living in their own land by people who had come in 29:06 and conquered their land and they were slaves of that. Imagine if you had a house that you lived in and somebody somebody came in because they had more power and they set themselves up as the living in that house that you paid for, 29:20 you bought and now they're telling you to do the chores and be the servant for them. They're sleeping in the in the in the master bedroom and you're sleeping out in the garage in the cold. This is your house. This is exactly what was 29:33 going on in the land of Israel at that time. And that's the time the one person who could choose when he would be born chose that as if to say I want to build my church where the outward evidence of it is so simple and such you know Israel 29:50 was a despised land at that time. Rome was the big empire. If you were born into Roman family, you were like, "Ah, ah, he's Roman." They were afraid of it. Remember when Paul said, "I'm a Roman citizen." All of a sudden, the soldiers 30:02 got scared. They thought he was just a simple ordinary Jew that they despised and all of a sudden say, "Hold on. I've got a Roman passport." You know that? Whoa. We got to treat you differently now. Jesus didn't have a Roman passport 30:15 that he could pull out. Now, Paul didn't use it for his to take advantage of anybody, but Jesus didn't have anything that he could brag about here on this earth. Ah, you're just another Jew. When that centurion came to Jesus and 30:28 said, "Carry my chest." And Jesus said, "Sure." The King of Heaven, the Lord of Lords, said, "Sure, centurion. I'll do it. Actually, I'll go two miles. How far are you going? Can I take it a little further for you?" Simple, ordinary, despise. This is 30:45 Jesus. This is the church. In Luke 2, you read in verse 12, he started his life this way when he came to this earth. Luke 2:12, when the angels came to the shepherds 31:04 out in the fields, um he said to them, "Do not be afraid." Verse 10, Luke 2:10. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. See, this message, the message of the simple Jesus 31:22 and the simple church on the outside, glorious within. This is good news. It actually is good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, there's been born for you a savior WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. 31:37 How will you know he's a savior? Here's the mark of Jesus. Here's the mark of the church. This will be the sign for you. Here's how you'll know it. They like, "How do we know? There's a bunch of kids, like probably a number of kids born right 31:53 now, and Bethlehem's a pretty decentsized town. How are we going to find Jesus? You want me to go door by door?" Yeah. Newborn baby here. Newborn baby here. Go look for a cow shed. Yeah. You want to find the church today, 32:09 brother, sister? Look for a cow shed. No, not literally. Outwardly. Not impressive. Not the palace. A cow shed. Look for where the cows eat their food. Where's that? Maybe the cow shed still looks pretty nice. Nice looking barn 32:25 I've got. Yeah, still too fancy. We got to get down a little bit over there where they eat their food. You cow with all its drool coming down its mouth, sticks its head in there and eats from that. That's where you want Jesus. 32:38 That's where I'll find. Yeah. The manger. You know, today we've listened to so many Christmas songs that we think this manger is this beautiful thing. It wasn't. The manger was an ugly, smelly place, as was the couched in which it was. As were 32:53 the animals around which the King of Kings was born. You'll find a baby lying in a manger wrapped in cloths. Not not a nice little blanket, not a little cozy little thing, you know, cloth. Just a cloth. 33:11 This is how Jesus started his life. This is the simplicity. A simple cloth lying in a manger. That's how you'll know Jesus. and Herod, the wise men from the east, all the other Pharisees said, "Yeah, they knew it was Bethlehem, but they're 33:28 like, that the last place we look for the Messiah who's been promised for thousands of hundreds of years is a manger in a cow shed. Why did God allow all the ins and the hotels in Bethlehem to be booked out that one night of all?" 33:45 because his son had to be born in a manger in a cow shed to see in 2026 when these people in Loveland or wherever in the world would say I want to follow Jesus I've decided to follow Jesus no turning back that they will see 34:01 that the Jesus I decided to follow actually is found in a cow shed in a manger in simplicity a few verses later when Jesus is a few days old 8 days old so a week Later they make the trip to Jerusalem 34:19 and you read in verse 21. Luke 2 21 when 8 days had passed before his circumcision that was according to the Jewish law he to be circumcised. His name was then called Jesus. The angel had already told Joseph that's the name 34:34 you're going to give him. And this was when he was named Jesus. The name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him 34:46 up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as it is written in the law of the Lord. Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, 35:00 a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Uh I wonder if any of you read this and thought, is that really what it says? You know, I have I use the NASB translation of the Bible. And in the NASB, they tend to capitalize 35:17 anything that's directly quoted from the Old Testament. Is this really what the law said? Sort of. Let's turn there to Leviticus 12. Leviticus. You should know where 35:36 Leviticus is. The third book of the Bible. Leviticus 12. We read um verse one. Let's begin reading verse one. Lord said spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, when a 35:55 woman gives birth and bears a male child, then shall she shall be unclean for seven days as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean. On the eighth day, the flesh of that male child's foreskin shall be circumcised. 36:10 Um, and then let's skip down to verse six. When the days of her purification are completed, that's what we just saw. Luke 2 verse 24. The days of Mary's purification. She also, she was a Jew. She had to go through this purification. When the days 36:25 were completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of the meeting a one-year-old lamb. That's what they were supposed to bring. A one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering 36:39 and a young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering. Then he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her and she shall be cleansed from the flow of the blood. This is the law for her who bears a child whether male or 36:52 female. So why did they bring a pigeon and a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons and a pair of turtle doves? goes on to tell us in verse 8, "If she cannot afford a lamb, Jesus grew up so poor they couldn't even 37:11 afford a lamb." You would think this is the one, this is the first one. We never have to kill another lamb. It's only for the firstborn. And Mary would have thought told Joseph, "This is Jesus. You surely can find a lamb. Surely let's 37:25 let's I I don't know if she would have said borrow. It's not good to get into debt for something like that, but let's see if we can take a loan for a lamb. This is the son of God. The one person who deserved a lamb to fulfill the law 37:38 is Jesus. Wouldn't you say that? Couldn't afford it? This is the poverty into which Jesus was born. If she cannot afford a lamb, what do you think was going through Mary and Joseph's mind? We want I mean every mom wants to give and 37:55 dad wants to give their child the best upbringing. All of us parents know that. And if there was anybody that wanted to give their child the best upbringing ever, it was Joseph and Mary because this was the son of God. And they can't 38:08 even afford a lamb. Imagine if the law said you got to bring this and you want to make sure you follow everything. I mean, I think Mary and Joseph probably had a pretty stressful life raising the son of God as they weren't born again. 38:21 They they were godly, but they didn't have the power of the Holy Spirit yet in them. And they're trying to figure out we got to make sure that we don't mess this up. And you can't even afford a lamb, Mary. Jesus says, "Lord, find the poorest 38:35 family in Nazareth, the one that can't even afford a lamb. The what? What do you think? Who wrote Leviticus 12:8?" Jesus did. And he said, "One day, hundreds, thousands of years from now, I'm going to fulfill this verse because 38:50 I want to show my people the simplicity." Who would think of making a clause? Yeah, if you can't afford it. You know, that seems like one of those things that they add later on in the addendum, right? You didn't plan it out 39:02 at the beginning. Oh, oh, yeah, we ran into a situation where somebody couldn't afford a lamb. So, addendum appendix. Yeah, if you can't afford it, we'll make a special. This was built into the law for the simple Jesus who was to come. 39:15 Let's go back to Luke 2. That's why they had to bring two turtle doves and two young pigeons. And let's go reading, continue reading verse 25. There was a man in Jerusalem. Now, this is a picture of you and I. We're looking for Jesus. We're looking 39:33 for his body now. Lord, where are your people? Where is your church? not a denomination, not a place, but where is your church spiritually? Who are the people that you want me to line up with? And there was a man in Jerusalem who was 39:45 looking for the Christ. His name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see 39:59 death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he would come into the temple every day thinking this day I'm going to see him. Maybe this day, Lord. Old Simeon walks in with his cane. I the Christ. I'm going to see him. Lord, you told me. 40:15 I feel I've got a new ache over here. I feel like I'm about to die, but Lord, you got to show me the Christ before I die. You said you would. And he came with that anticipation. I want to see you. Is that the burden of your heart? Family is what drives you 40:30 through your life. Lord, I want to see your church. I want to see you, your body. I want to be part of that. I don't want to have any attachment to this or that. I'll give up anything, Lord. But I want to see I open my eyes to see you 40:41 the head and to see your church and what suffering I go through, what other experience, what other loss you take me through, Lord. It doesn't matter. Open my eyes, Lord. Oh, that we would have the prayer of Simeon among us. 40:55 And he came in the spirit into the temple and he saw this poor family coming in. Simeon knew the law. I wonder if he was thinking uh don't you know there's hundreds of people coming into the temple. You know temple courtyard was a very busy place. 41:14 Lots of sacrifices a lot of noise going on. Money changes were there. All of that's going on. And in the midst of this, how's Simeon going to FIND JESUS? OF ALL the parents bringing in children to be prayed for? How is he going to 41:28 find Jesus? In his human mind, he thought, well, don't you can automatically exclude the poor people? Because this is the king of heaven. This is the God of gods. This has got to be somebody really, man. I don't know. Look 41:41 for a halo or something. I don't know. But I think you can save yourself from trouble and don't look for the poor people. That's how the human mind thinks. That's what I would have thought, my human mind. But he came in the spirit. And the 41:54 spirit says, "There's a poor couple there. They're raggedy clothes. The baby's just got a bunch of clots on him. That's the Messiah." And he came in the spirit, verse 27, into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out 42:12 for him the custom of the law, the Holy Spirit said, "This is the Christ." Oh, they would go home and say, "Lord, show me your church. Show me your body. Show me you first of all. Lord, I want to see you." He's He's too complicated. 42:25 I've made him too complicated about this and doing that and doing the other thing. But Christ is simple. And in the midst of the noise in Christendom today, oh that we will come in the spirit and see through the spirit what God is doing 42:40 and where he is doing and where he wants me to be a part of his work. and he took him and blessed him in his arms. You read the same with Anna. Verse 36, there was a prophetus Anna, the daughter of Fenuel of the tribe of 42:53 Asher. She was advanced in years. And uh verse the end of verse 37, she never left the temple serving night and day with fasting and prayers. She too had this burden. Lord, I want to see your Christ every day, night and day. She 43:07 never left. She lived there. How many people, how many babies do you think she saw? I would guess tens of thousands maybe she 80 years or she lived there for about 50 60 years every day night and day she seen kids coming in coming 43:23 in another one and he says nah there's this wrapped up in cloths a poor family this is the church you know and now when I in as I close I want you to think about the ministry that God wants us to do now to be a part of this simple work the church that 43:41 Jesus is building the real church. I hope you have no other passion except to be a part of that. You don't want to be a part of some fancy movement or popular church. Oh, I go to this church. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I know about that church. 43:52 Yeah. Wow, man. Good for you. You get to go to that church. We don't want that. And RLCF could become that. Sometimes I hear people I meet across the world, wow, you're so blessed to be there at RLCF. Yeah, praise the Lord. But has 44:03 nothing to do with the outside. Oh, that we will be drawn to the simplicity. And that simplicity. Some of you listening online for that. It's just you and your family at home watching us online every Sunday. And you think, is 44:16 this the church? You don't need a building. You don't need chairs. You don't need instruments. You don't need a microphone. You need the spirit revealing to you the true Jesus in all his simplicity. Let's turn to Matthew 44:29 chapter 24. When Jesus comes, I want to be found doing that simple thing that he asked me to do. And he'll say, Santosh, look, that little thing that you were doing every day, it felt routine day in day 44:48 out. The Monday blues, who wants to go back to work on Monday or school again Monday? Maybe it'll be a snow day. That life, you know what I was doing through all of it, Santosh? I was building the wedding garment for my bride. 45:03 And you thought it was just your boss yelling at you and oh, I got to write that paper again or I write write that document or I've got to cut this piece of wood or I've got to put these electrical wires together and all that. 45:12 You thought that was you were just getting money out of it. Yeah. For the rest of the world, maybe for the co-workers around you, it was just about the money they were going to take home for their family. But for you, you saw 45:21 that I was making a wedding garment through it. Matthew 24 verse 45. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to do what? To give them 45:40 their food at the proper time. I read this earlier this week and I thought of many of you you moms, wives and moms who seems like all you do is just make sure my kids eat on time. You know, there's a verse for you in the 45:53 Bible if you hadn't seen it before. There it is. Matthew 24:45. You say, 'Lord, all I did was I I I made sure my kids had clean clothes to wear when they went to school and I sewed it together because there was a there was 46:06 it was a tear in it and I cooked some food for them and he said, "Lord, all I did was I I worked for a company and then that company folded and then I got another job and I didn't know and now at the end of the time all the companies 46:17 fold. You know that whether the company is doing good or not, every company's going to fold. It's going to go bankrupt when Jesus comes. Nothing will be left off it. But the Lord will reveal at that time the sons of light and the daughters 46:31 of light who were doing the same things that the world around them was doing but they were doing it with a heavenly vision. Their mind was set on things above and they were like Lord you're building you're stitching together a 46:42 wedding garment through this what I'm about to do. Do you see how now we can go into this week and say, "Lord, it's not about whether it looks good on the outside and feels good on the outside, but you're building my wedding. You're 46:53 stitching together my wedding garment through it. Who gave them their food at the proper time." Does it get more simple than that? You just gave them their food. It doesn't say it was nice food or delicious food. You just gave 47:06 them their food at the proper time. That's it. Moms, dads, this is our calling. is turn to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 3. Actually, before you do that, will you turn with me? Just take a couple minutes to look at this story in 1st Samuel 17. 47:25 I uh thought about that as I was thinking about the story of David. You know, David, the big story that everybody likes is the story when David killed Goliath. And um but you know how David came across Goliath. 47:45 David wasn't cool enough or old enough or powerful enough or strong enough or skilled enough to make it into the army. So he got left behind. All the other brothers were there out in the army. They're the Oh yeah. Um all his old 48:00 Eliab Abinadab Shama all of them man. They're skilled workers like, "Oh, Eliabah, man, good-looking guy, and he's handsome, skilled, and then David, the the forgotten child." How did David end up crossing paths with Goliath? How are 48:17 you, dear little child, teenager, brother, sister? How are you, God? How is God going to lead you to the Goliath he wants you to conquer? We read in 1st Samuel 17:20 that um verse 17's boss asked him to do something. That's 48:36 as simple as it gets. Now his boss in that case was his dad. But and so for your children, David, Jesse said to David and David knows his brothers, they despise him. They don't think much of him. They was like, "Ah, David, 48:50 really? Oh, you're around you little runt." You're like, "Oh, what are you And they probably teased him and taunted him and all that. And David's boss, his dad in this case, tells him, "Go take some food to your brothers. Take it off 49:04 for your brothers." And Epha this roasted grain and and then he went there. And so this is late in the evening. Oh, maybe I don't know. Gives him some time. Okay. So David's like, "I got to pack these clothes." And then he arose early in the 49:17 morning. Boss says, "You've got a 7:00 meeting." 7:00. Really? Who has meetings at 7:00? This is David doing what his boss told him to do. This is exactly how the Lord spoke this to me. He left the flock with a keeper. That David enjoyed being doing 49:31 being being with his flock. That's where he wrote most of his psalms. But now he's got to do something. He's got to walk all this distance and go over there, deal with his brothers who are probably going to yell at him. He's 49:40 like, "What? What are you doing here?" Okay. And took the supplies and went as his boss commanded him. And he came and that's where he found Goliath. The Lord really Lord really challenged me through this simple verse that I just showed you that it is in the 50:00 whatever the Lord puts in front of you this week that you will find your Goliath that you're going to take down. The enemy will meet you where you are, where God places you. So many people are wishing, "Oh, I could do that. Oh, I 50:14 wish I could be like that missionary. I'll do great things for God by going to this far off country. I'll go there. I'll do this great thing for the Lord." The great thing that the Lord wants you to do is to go into that Monday that's 50:25 waiting for you tomorrow and Goliath will meet you there in faith. That simple obedience. Now let's go to Colossians 3. Colossians 3 verse 18. Wives be subject to your husbands as 50:45 fitting to the Lord. That's waiting for you this week. Husbands, verse 19, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. This is where you're going to meet Goliath. This is where you're going to do that mighty work for the 50:55 Lord. This is how that garment is going to be stitched. N 20. Children, be obedient to your parents in the Lord, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children so that they will not lose heart. Slaves. Okay, I 51:11 don't think anybody here is a slave. Employees, in all things, obey your ba bosses on earth. Not with external service, not to look good to your boss as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart because you're building, you're 51:29 stitching together a wedding garment, brother, sister, with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, do your work heartily. Doesn't say you'll have to enjoy it, but do it from your heart. How can you do a boring job from your heart if you 51:46 realize that the the uh goal is something greater? The purpose is something far beyond that thing that you see with your eyes. You've done it from your heart as for the Lord rather than for men. Knowing that from the Lord you will 52:03 receive that wedding garment, your reward, the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. Jesus is your boss, brother. So, I hope that encourages you, brothers, sisters. We say that this 2 Corinthians 52:20 4 says that this treasure is hidden in earthn vessels. Maybe I'll close with that verse so you see it. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. God doesn't have to change your circumstances, give you a different boss, change your job, move you to 52:39 another place to give you his inheritance if you are captivated by the beauty within Christ and the beauty within his church. 2 Corinthians 4, let's begin reading in 52:55 verse 11. Um verse 7, for we have this treasure, this wedding garment is underneath. It's kind of like, you know, this wedding garment is being stitched, but they put it under wraps. It's like brown paper around it. They put brown paper around it. God's 53:12 put brown paper around it and you can't see it. The world can't see it, but underneath that brown paper, this beautiful garment is being stitched. On the outside, it looks eh boring, earthned. We have this treasure in earth 53:26 and vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves that they'll come into our church meetings and not be impressed with anything on the outside except this that the Holy Spirit was here and their 53:42 hearts were touched and they said surely God is in this place this ordinary plain looking place we are. So what does it what does it look like? What does that outer shell look like? We are afflicted in every way. Every way, 54:00 but not crushed, perplexed. We don't really understand what God's doing, but we're not desparing. We're persecuted. People make fun of us. People accuse us of all things, okay? But not du but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. 54:19 247 carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus. Are you prepared for that brother, sister, child? That 24/7 for the rest of this week carrying about the dying of Jesus. That's it. And you think dying again? It's so painful. It's so 54:37 ordinary. Feels so empty. What was the purpose of my dying? What was the purpose of my submitting to my husband? We read in Colossians 3. What was the purpose of my submitting to my boss? What was the purpose in it all? Lord, I 54:47 died. I didn't see anything out of it. Oh, but you will always carrying about the bo in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are 247 55:06 being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. The life of Jesus cannot be manifested in anything that looks beautiful on the outside. that's attractive to the world. 55:19 It has to be the death of Jesus. It has to be carrying about your cross. But we look for the reward so that the life of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal flesh. So death works in us and life in you. Do you want to bring life into your children, into 55:35 your wife, into your husband, into your co-workers, into your neighbors, into this church? Let's let the death of Christ work itself in us. Jesus simplicity and the simplicity of his church. Heavenly Father, I pray that the 55:48 words I've spoken, Lord, I feel I've fallen so far short of describing it. I pray you'll strip out anything that was not of you and draw us back to the simplicity of you, Lord Jesus. Open our eyes to see this. I don't I know we 56:01 cannot see this with head knowledge, but oh that you will pour out your Holy Spirit who you said would glorify Jesus who would open our eyes and reveal everything of Jesus to us. Will you reveal Holy Spirit the simplicity of 56:13 Jesus to us today? and this week that that will be what we glory and we will not boast in anything else except you Lord Jesus. Make it so in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
