Let's Get Moving!

Well, thank you, Luke, Megan, and Melody, for the beautiful special music. It's so nice to hear voices who harmonize so well together. I appreciate the words of the song as well. It's very, very beautiful. Well, Shannon and I had an opportunity this past staff to attend the General Conference of Elders back in Cincinnati for the first time for the both of us.

And it was a wonderful opportunity to receive training and enjoy good discussion and have an opportunity to network with others in the ministry around the country. Much like camp, there wasn't a lot of sleep. And what I mean by that is, you know, you have the opportunity to sit down and talk, and you have a chance to get to know people that you haven't really gotten a chance to get to know. And so, as you might imagine, many of the evenings were spent in good conversation with old and new friends into the wee hours of the night.

So it reminded me of the Far Side cartoon. I don't remember how many of you have seen this or not, but there was a gentleman and he's leaning up against the covered wagon and he's just riddled with arrows. And the other guy's sitting down next to him and he's kind of comforting him and he says, you know, the guy says, does it hurt? And he says, yeah, it hurts, Clem, but it's a good time to hurt.

You know, it's tiring, it's exhausting, but it's a good kind of tired. It is a good kind of tired. We are still adjusting, still trying to return to some kind of normalcy in our schedule at this point in time. Coming back wasn't so bad, you know, you gained some hours coming back. Going out was a little bit rougher.

But we are very thankful to have had the opportunity to attend. And like many of you that were present and able to see the messages of the GCE, we were invigorated by the split sermons that we were able to enjoy. And that continued focus as the weekend progressed, as that theme of living the word was built and as they continued to put on classes and keynote addresses and other things that related back to that concept.

Last year's theme was labor in the word. Last year's theme was labor in the word, which had an intended purpose of pointing all of us in the church, including, and honestly dare I say, particularly the ministry, to our scriptural foundation, the Word of God Almighty, that we would all, as a whole, collectively as a church, dig deeper, study the underlying principles, focus on and teach sound doctrine. In fact, the primary scripture for last year's GCE was 2 Timothy 2 verse 15.

And you can write it down if you'd like. We won't turn there. But it's, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The admonishment is that as members of the church of God, as ministers in the service of the Most High, we must take that responsibility seriously. And one of the ways to take that responsibility seriously is get our noses in the book.

Get our noses in the book, rightly dividing what we read and presenting ourselves as workers that have no reason to be ashamed. This year's theme is an extension. Really, I mean, it's almost a continuation of last year's theme. Once you've labored in the Word, once you've spent that time digging in to the Word of God more fully, there's an expectation that's in place. The expectation is that you will act upon what you have rightly divided, that you will examine and you will look into and you will take a look at what you do and how you do it and the actions of your life.

Living the Word is the next logical step. And that requires action on our part. As we heard in the messages Mr. Moody had talked about, and I thought his analogy was perfect because I've been there. I've done that. I don't know if you remember the first message that he talked about with the stick shift on the hill.

My high school when I was growing up was on a hill like this, and the parking lot was at the crest of that hill. And trying to look cool in this buddy of mine's Volkswagen Rabbit, 81 Volkswagen Rabbit, which is beat up. Can't hardly keep the thing running. I can't tell you how many times I killed that thing trying to get into that parking lot. But it's not just the knowledge of the operation. It's not just an understanding of what you need to do. It takes practice. It takes action. It takes opportunity to really get in there and roll our sleeves up, so to speak, and get it done.

We are called to action. And our faith and this life that we've been called to lead is not a spectator sport. It cannot be lived from the sidelines. It cannot be lived from the sidelines. We are on the field. We are taking hits. We are giving hits. It is... We're in the middle of the action. We're making tough decisions at times. We've been called to serve others. We've been called to give our life as a life of sacrifice, and a life where we submit our will to God and yield our personal desires, ultimately following the example of Jesus Christ.

We just came out of the Days of Unleavened Bread just a little over a short month ago, right in that time frame. It's been about four weeks now. In that process, we were involved in some deep retrospection. We dug in. We took a look at our life as deeply as we could examine it to try to prove that we were genuine, to try to prove that we weren't counterfeit as we took stock of our actions.

We asked ourselves, hopefully asked ourselves, some very difficult questions this last year. Do all of my actions line up with what I profess to believe? Am I living what I say I am at my core? Do my actions show it? Am I that person that I claim to be? And I would imagine that a number of us, self-included, came to the conclusion that, no, not all of my actions line up with what I profess to believe. And that has to change.

Brethren, we must do better. I must do better. Despite this examination, you know, it seems at times we can be a lot like the man mentioned in James 1, verse 22. Let's turn over there real quick to James 1. I think sometimes just the way in the process that we go about our life can cause this type of thing to occur. And we want to make sure that it doesn't.

Because again, we're a month out. We're a month out, roughly, from that serious introspection. And we start it sooner than Passover's, maybe a couple months. But first, James 1. First James. There's the first James. James 1. Technically, I guess you could, anyway, moving on. James 1. And we'll pick it up in verse 22.

James 1, verse 22. We want to make sure that this isn't our process. This isn't what we end up pulling and end up doing. Because we want to establish a direction for where we're going with this message this morning. First, I did it again. James 1, verse 22. But be doers of the Word. It implies action. That implies action. Not on the sidelines, on the field. Not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one, will be blessed in what he does. Brethren, we cannot be a person who looks at themselves during this examination and kind of shrugs our shoulders and walks away from the mirror forgetting who and what we saw.

We can't afford it. We have to recognize who we are. Again, it's been a month since we looked into that mirror very, very deeply. Jesus Christ died for you and for me. And we have to assure that that death, that atoning sacrifice that he gave, means something. That it means something. We can't allow ourselves to cheapen it, as some have cheapened it, by allowing it to be licensed for us to run off in sin.

We have to recognize who we are when we see ourselves in the mirror, our shortcomings, our strengths, and then if there is change to be made, we must change. We must overcome. We must do better. We need to repent and then go forth and do what we know to be true and to be good and to be pure. The things that we've learned through our laboring in the Word, the things that we see within Scripture, acting on the knowledge that we've obtained, doing it, actually doing it, not just hearing it, but living it, ensuring that our works and our actions line up with what we believe.

As we sat in the meetings of the GCE, there's a significant amount of seat time at the GCE meetings. I don't think I was quite prepared, honestly, for the amount of seat time that is at the GCE. There is a number of times where many of your conversations take place seated. By about day three, let's stand and talk. Please, let's stand and talk. I don't know if I can sit anymore. Then you're going, I've got to sit on a plane for like another five hours after this.

There was a lot of seat time, but a lot of good conversation and a lot of good training and opportunities. During those sermons during the GCE that many of you had an opportunity to see, as well as the keynote addresses and some of the other classes, I started thinking to myself as we were looking at this and thinking about this, what would a church look like where all of the members, all of the ministry, were firing on all cylinders? What would that church look like if everybody was firing on all cylinders, member and minister alike?

A church that was just on fire? What would that look like? We see a place in Scripture where there's a reference to a church like this. It may not be where you think we're going to go. If you would turn over to Revelation 3, there's a reference. The reference is that God's telling them you need to become this, not that they are this, but that they need to become this.

We'll start there today. I'm not going to spend too much time bashing on Laodicea today. We often do. I'm going to give them a pass for today to an extent, but we'll sort of discuss some things here. In this particular example, we see that they were not. We see that they very specifically were not, but that God desired it of them, that God wanted them to be. Revelation 3 and verse 14 says, And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the faithful, and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.

I know your works, your actions, what you do. I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, and I could wish that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you or I will spew you out of my mouth. He's telling the members of Laodicea, I would rather you be hot or cold, not this lukewarm, not this in-between, not that kind of tepid, meh, sort of attitude, either on fire or not, zealous or dead.

Make the choice. The message that God is sending to Laodicea here is to stop playing games and pretending to be one when you're really the other. And brethren, ultimately, that's the same message that God is sending to us in the modern era of the church today. That's the same message that we received from this section in the modern era today. And I don't think it's too much of a stretch. I don't think any of us would argue, well, God wanted them to be cold.

No, no way. God desired that they would be hot. I mean, that's the ultimate goal here. God wants a church that is zealous and that is on fire to learn, to teach, to fellowship, and to serve one another, not a church that is going through the motions year after year after year and simply enduring.

God desires a spiritual fire in his people. He desires a spiritual fire in his people. And interestingly, that got me thinking as I started thinking about that. I can't suppress the scientists. I just can't. I can't. I've tried at times. As a physical property of objects, heat is a very difficult property to define. It's a definition that relies on a point of reference. It requires a point of reference. A substance is either hot or cold to the touch. We perceive it as either hot or cold.

Or it can feel hot or cold to different people. I'll give an example. I'll tell myself a little bit. My wife can handle much hotter pots and pans and plates and dishes than I can. I don't think she has nerve endings in her fingers. I'm certain that that's the actual matter. I might just be...yeah. So, realistically, though, what is hot to one person can be cooler to another. And another example. I'm personally very uncomfortable in 95 degree heat. But if you were somebody who was born and raised in Phoenix, 95 is like Tuesday. That's whatever.

95 degrees, that's no big deal. That's a regular day of the week. 32 degrees. Growing up around Spokane, we didn't get super cold all the time. But especially having been down here for the last few years, we don't get that cold. 32 to me is cold. I'm kind of acclimatized now to the Willamette Valley. But those who experience...we've got friends up in the prairies up in Canada, and it's negative 40 all winter long. You know, they look at 32 and go, man, that's like short-sweater. You know, so it's perception in some ways, and it's somewhat relative.

So how do we define hot? How do we define hot? Well, the Greek word for it in this particular passage is desdesos, which directly translates to boiling. Directly translates to boiling or fervent. And that's something we can define. That is something we can define. That is the point in time when a liquid begins to become a gas. That is the point in time when you have some of those molecules inside of that liquid that have begun to phase change and have become a gas.

And so if we utilize a little bit of middle school science, we can work to establish an analogy here today that we will continue to explore in the time that we have left. I have a seventh grade science class this year, which to be honest is kind of a nightmare. But it's new to me. It's new to me, and it's been an experience. But one of the standards that we have this year that is new is phases of matter, solids, liquids, and gases.

And I've had it in some capacity before in a variety of other grades, but I haven't had it in a while. I haven't had it in a while. So solids, liquids, and gases. And that standard specifically states that the student needs to understand the motion and the spacing of the particles in a solid, a liquid, and a gas.

So we're not like doing simple identification. Mr. Light's not up there holding up something and going, is it a solid, is it a liquid, is it a gas? They're beyond that at seventh grade. So what they're looking at, though, is they're trying to understand inside of this thing, inside of this substance, at its core, what are the molecules doing? What are the molecules doing that make it either a solid, a liquid, or a gas? And that's really what we're focused on with this particular standard. It's what's going on inside of that particular substance.

So what we talk about is we talk about solids in that, you know, the molecules inside of a solid are kind of slowly vibrating. They're locked in this specific shape, you know, they're pretty rigid, they're not able to move. And as an example, I talked to them about running into walls.

You know, there's a reason you can't run through a wall. They're seventh graders. Sometimes they run into walls. But there's a reason why you can't. It's because of the structure of the molecules that are inside of that solid. They're locked in rigidly, and they're not going to move out of your way, right? Like a pool would. You get in the pool, you can move around, those molecules will move around you. They're a little more freely moving. And then we talk about gases and how the molecules inside of a gas are highly energized.

They're moving all over the place. They're rapid. They're just buzzing around everywhere, bouncing off of each other and everything. And they expand to fill a room. In fact, in this room, literally wall to wall is the gas that is in this room. A mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and a bunch of other stuff. So wall to wall, quite literally, the gas is in this room that we're both breathing in and breathing out, have expanded to fill this space.

And so we talk about that. We get into this idea of how this all occurs. But we don't spend all of our time talking just about solids, liquids, and gases. Much of the time is spent talking about how you go from one phase to another. How do you move from a solid to a liquid, from a liquid to a gas? And that's the same question that I'm going to ask you today. So here's your pop quiz.

How do you make a solid into a liquid? How do you make a solid into a liquid?

I see thumbs ups. A couple of people doing this.

I see a few people mouthing the answers. What do you have to do? You've got to provide heat, right? You provide heat in some way. And kind of the quintessential example is we talk about it, because it'll exhibit all phase changes. Put a big chunk of ice in a big pot on the stove, turn the heat on. Ice melts from a solid to a liquid, ultimately begins to boil. And then if you leave it on there long enough, you've got a pot with no water in it, which is a bad idea. You're not supposed to do that to pots. But you're able to see the entirety of the phase change. It goes through all of them as it changes state. But what we try to bring across, because it'll help them to understand it later on, is that another way to think of temperature is that temperature is ultimately a function of kinetic energy of molecules. How fast those molecules are moving around inside of that substance determines its temperature. So we look at it from a standpoint of if you want to make something like ice melt to water, speed up the molecules, make them go faster.

If you want to take it and turn it into a gas, speed them up even more, make them collide with one another, increase the energy input. Because you can do that, it doesn't have to just be thermal. You can break solids up with all kinds of different types of energy as well. But you want to take and go the other direction? You want to make something frozen? Pull the kinetic energy out. Slow the molecules down. Now they're not moving as fast. They start to slow down. They start to lock up. And now you have a solid. You have something that's been frozen. So one could think of temperature or heat as a function of action, of movement, of kinetic energy, or by way of analogy, following through and doing. A deskos church, a church that is hot, a church that is boiling, a church that is fervent, is a church that is doing. A church that is not just recognizing the word, studying the word. Those are both important, but living it. In their everyday lives, they are living it. They are exhibiting it. They are, it is noticeable. So if we consider that analogy, and if we take the time today to flesh it out a little bit further, what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at three specific things that molecules within those substances do in order to cause an increase in temperature. How do we bump up the heat, so to speak, inside of these substances? And there's lessons in that concept, as Mr. Emory mentioned this morning. There's lessons in everything, spiritually, that this concept will hold for us in the modern church today. So the first point that we're going to look at today is molecules will transfer energy from one to another. They will transfer energy from one to another. The second thing that will occur, those molecules as they heat up are going to expand. As they heat up, they are going to expand.

And then the last point today is that catalysts can increase the reaction. Catalysts can increase the reaction. So we have transfer energy from one to another, expand as they heat up, and then ultimately catalysts can increase the reaction. The title of the message today, for those of you that like titles, is, let's get moving. Let's get moving. One of the ways that a substance is able to be heated is through direct interaction of the molecules and the transfer of energy that occurs from one to the other as it's heated. In science, the term we use for this is conduction. It's conduction. There's three different ways you could transfer heat, primarily conduction is one of them. And what that is, is it's the primary method by which many solids are heated. You've probably experienced that if you've ever left a metal utensil sitting in a pan on the stove like a spatula or something in a hot pan. And the part that you grab is not touching the heat directly, but because part of what you're grabbing is far enough down the line, the heat is transferred to the spatula from molecule to molecule to molecule out to where your hand grabs it, and you notice that, oh wait, this is hot, right? But that heat's transferred from one of those molecules to the next to the next to the next, and it was conducted from the point of contact outward. Conduction's not as common in liquids, more of a convection issue, but conduction does happen in liquids.

Direct transfer of energy from molecule to molecule will take place. But, brethren, every Sabbath, when we come together, we have opportunity to come together as we are commanded to assemble before God with people of like mind. And we come in various stages. Sometimes we've had a great week. We're really excited to get together. We are so excited to be here, and we're so excited to see everybody. We want to share with everybody how our week was and discuss the good that God has done for us in our life. We want to get caught up. We want to talk to as many people as possible. And other times, we come together, and it's everything that we can do to walk through the front door. We've had a rough week. We've had a number of trials. Emotionally, physically, we are absolutely exhausted. And our inner introvert is saying, back to bed, put your covers over your head. Brethren, we're commanded to assemble. We are commanded to come together. The Sabbath is a holy convocation. It is a time for us to get together. It's an opportunity for God's family to have a spiritual meal together, to gather together, and to fellowship with one another. Let's go ahead and turn over to Acts 2. We'll begin in verse 41. Acts 2, verse 41. When we go to Acts 2, we tend to stop at verse 39. It seems like sometimes, because 39, the point's been mostly made by that point. Because usually we're talking about baptism. We're talking about the Holy Spirit. We're talking about those things. But there's a lot more to it in Acts 2 going on. Acts 2, and we'll pick it up in verse 41. Speaking of wanting to look at a church that was on fire and a church that was going, the early church in Acts was one of those churches. You get a chance to look through Acts and view it through that lens. It's pretty incredible what these guys were able to do with the Spirit of God. Verse 41 of Acts 2, Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayer. So they're steadfastly following in doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

If you go back to verse 42, the word fellowship that is there, which is one of the things that we are able to do when we come together on the Sabbath, we have an opportunity to fellowship. That word is koinonia in Greek. That word is koinonia, which is translated within Thayer's as a fellowship, as a participation, a community, or somewhat evocatively, and I'm not going to belabor this, Thayer's calls it social intercourse. And I'm not going to go any further into that, but this is not a casual surface-level fellowship. This is not a, hi, how was your week? This is more.

This is intimate. This is close. This is connected. Interestingly enough, Acts 2 verse 42, immediately following the giving of the Holy Spirit, is the first use of the word koinonia as a way of denoting fellowship within Scripture. That's the first mention of it. There's other words that are used for fellowship, but they're not, they're not koinonia. There's no other reference prior to this location for that word, describing this kind of intimate connection that the believers had, which makes sense, which makes a lot of sense if you consider it. As of this moment, here is a small group of people who had something incredible in common, something incredible in common. They were united in a way that no other peoples on earth, or frankly, had ever really ever before been.

The essence of the Father, of Jesus Christ, dwelt within each of them. They were abiding with them, and in one another, in the unity of mind and spirit that was unlike anything before.

And when I think of that connection that they shared, brethren, that is the connection that we share. That is the connection that we share. And you know, when I put our whole thing in perspective, you know, when I think about this, and I put our whole thing in perspective, I can't help but think that our differences in that whole scheme of it don't really mean much at all. They really don't mean much at all when put into the perspective of the fact that we have God the Father and Jesus Christ abiding in one and all of us. But interestingly enough, it's those differences that we always want to focus on. It's those slight changes, those slight things that we have different that we always want to focus on. Brethren, we're intimately connected. We share the essence, we share the mind of God, and that unifies us in a very powerful way. And so because of that, we had a strong relationship with each other already, right? We've known each other for a very, very, very long time, some of us. You know, I think I was reflecting back. I'm going on almost 20 years in the minimal Ammon Valley at this point. That's a long time. It's a long night for me. It's a long time. For some of you guys, you've been around here for 50, 60, 70, 80 years, you know, born and raised.

But brethren, our relationship has to move past mere pleasantries. It has to go past the high, how is your weeks? And it has to start digging into who and what we are. It has to move past casual conversation and move into the kind of relationship we see in Hebrews 10. Let's go over to Hebrews 10, verse 24. And we'll take a look at what an increased relationship like this can cause to occur and what we're able to do with a relationship that is intimate, like the one that we're describing. Hebrews 10 and verse 24. Hebrews 10, we'll pick it up in verse 24.

So, Hebrews 10 and verse 24 says, And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. So why are we considering one another so that we can stir up love and good works? That's the purpose. That's why we're getting to know each other as well as we do, is so that we can stir up love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. You know, we assemble for very good reason. We assemble for very good reason. Number one, we're commanded to. Step one, God says so. Okay? Which is always a great, a great thing to tell your kids. Why don't we go to church because God said so? There it is. No, but we obviously explain more than that. But the other reason is so that we can enter into the kind of relationship and fellowship that we're able to see described in Hebrews 10, the kind of relationship that we see described in Acts 2, that we are able to exhort one another, that we're able to provoke one another to love and to good works, so that we can edify, so we can build up, we can strengthen. And frankly, if all else fails, we can at least wrap our arms around them and tell them how much you love them, as they're struggling and as they're dealing with whatever it is that they may be dealing with.

So, brethren, each and every Sabbath, we're on the job, in a way. We are. We're on the job, in a way. We have work to do, each and every one of us. We have to encourage, edify, build up, love, and strengthen. So when someone comes through that door dragging, and you usually can tell, you know, there's a certain hunch to the shoulders, there's a certain... some people are better at hiding it, but there's a certain slump to the shoulders, a certain kind of exasperation, in a way. Kind of barely putting one foot in front of the other on a Sabbath afternoon. When they leave here, there should be a hop in their step. This should have invigorated them. This should have built them up. This should have allowed them to tackle whatever it is that they're going home to, with renewed energy, with renewed zeal, and with an ability to tackle that problem.

There should be palpable love for one another in this room. You should be able to feel it. You should be able to feel it. You should be able to cut it with a knife, as they say. Not tension, but there should be palpable love for one another in this room, that you could cut it with a knife.

John 13, 35, and you just jot it in your notes, it won't turn there, but John 13, 35 tells us that the love that we have for each other is a sign by which God's people are known. And if that love's not there, well, don't want to finish the sentence, but you know where we're going. If it's not there, it might not be God's people. We need to ensure that we have love for one another. We need to interact. We need to pass on our energy. We need to invigorate and stir one another up. Not in a bad way. Not like poking them with a stick, kind of thing, you know what I mean? But you want to make sure to stir one another up, you know, to encourage and to build, to energize each other for the week ahead. I can't tell you how energizing it is to be able to come to the Sabbath and spend the Sabbath with you guys. Wherever, whatever congregation we go to, it is such a joy and it is so energizing. It's literally like you come into the Sabbath and your batteries are just drained.

And you think, hey, I get to go see everybody at church. And it is absolutely recharging. It is absolutely recharging. So we can contribute to that energy. We can kind of contribute to that. We can kind of make things energetic, make it buzz a little bit, but it should be energetic and we should be buzzing in a love forgotten for His Word. And that kind of energy transfers. It's visible. People see it. They feel it. It can be transferred to others. It can be given to others.

We can share that joy of our calling and that hope that lies within us. We can share that. And for those that are struggling, we can build them up with it. We can help to strengthen them.

As we as individuals live the Word, as we as individuals actually do what is within our Scripture and that becomes who we are, we'll contribute to that shared energy and it will spread. It will expand. That's our second point today, that it'll expand. Another really interesting property of molecules is that as they energize more and more and more and more, their movement rates increase. They speed up. They start careening off of things. They start moving really fast. And after a while, as you start getting to the gaseous stage, they're zipping around. And one of the proofs that we use for that is you blow up a balloon and then squeeze it and watch it pop right back out. That's the gas doing that inside of the balloon. It's the expansion of the interior of the balloon that's forcing that thing out. Now, if you put it in a rigid container, congratulations, you made an air compressor, right? You just keep pressurizing it. You just keep jamming air into it and it'll expand out as far as it can expand and that's as far as it'll go. But we'll start with a balloon. They go so big and then they blow up in your face, right? So, as they leave that rigidity, as they start to kind of become more pliable, liquids continue to increase their motion and increase their energy to the point we hit that boiling point. And then it starts getting interesting. Things start expanding rapidly. We start to get gases coming off of it. And again, if we can constrain that gas in some way, it holds into the container that we have. But that gas will swell and that gas will expand and that gas will grow outward.

We all want to see growth in the Church of God. We all want to see growth in the Church of God. It's really sad sometimes when we see individuals that attend where they come for a Sabbath and you never see them again. Or they come for three or four or five Sabbaths and you never see them again. You know, it's sad and it's hard to see at times. And we recognize God calls individuals.

God calls individuals. We don't. We can provide things that plant seeds. Sure. We have, you know, our Beyond Today program. We have our personal example. We have discussions that we have with people. And those things plant seeds. And maybe those people become interested based on the seeds that are planted. And God can start to work with that. God can kind of plant that seed through us and develop that seed and water that seed. That doesn't mean we're responsible for them coming to the Church. It simply means that God has used us in some way to call that person. But sadly, the converse of that statement is true. We can absolutely cause someone to leave the Church through our attitudes and through our actions. As a Church, we deal in relationships. We deal in relationships. In fact, you take a look at God's moral law. The two underlying principles of God's moral law are relationships. Love God, love your fellow man. Those are both relationships.

And how the application of those relationships go is the whole entire purpose of that moral law.

It's interesting. There's an article that was written by Purdue University on talking about healthy relationships. It was like an extension course or something on marriages. I didn't know they had extension courses on marriages at Purdue, but they do. And it was an interesting thing. They were recording the research of a guy by the name of John Gottman, who apparently is a pretty well-known marriage and divorce researcher. He does statistics on marriage and divorce and healthy relationships. And I kept coming across this thing that he referred to as the five to one ratio. Five to one ratio. And he said that is the ratio that establishes healthy relationships. And what he was saying was, for every one negative interaction, it takes five positive interactions to counteract it. And so his point was, if you're constantly taken from the bank, you're constantly pulling out of the bank, so to speak, and you're not depositing, eventually the relationship falls. And eventually you end up having a situation. Another way of looking at that would be that one negative interaction could undo three or four positive interactions. And if we think about that as we fellowship and as we get to know people and as we, you know, individuals we mill about and we talk to one another, think about as we talk to people, how was our interaction? You know?

Was it a negative interaction? Is somebody gonna have to do three or four positive things to counteract that one bad thing? Is that person gonna go home going, I can't believe that person said that to me? I cannot believe that person said that to me. And then spend the next five days chewing on it until next Sabbath? Those of you that own businesses, you recognize the importance of good customer service. You understand the importance of good customer service. In fact, before the days of the internet, if you managed to upset a customer, maybe three or four of their friends would hear you, would hear about it. They'd tell three or four people if they were particularly outspoken, maybe 10 or 15. But today, in the day of the internet, an angry or upset customer can reach thousands in the space of minutes, seconds even. That negative interaction can be aired out for all to see in the space of minutes. And as time has gone on in the Church of God, sadly, we've created a number of angry and upset customers. We have. Sometimes it's unavoidable.

Other times, because of our bad behavior, our inability to reconcile our differences with one another, we've created a number of angry and upset customers. And that's happened largely, brethren, because we've not lived God's Word. We've not lived God's Word. By and large, we've dropped the ball.

That's members of ministry alike. Let's go to Philippians 2. Let's go to Philippians 2. Philippians 2. We'll pick it up in verse 2. Philippians 2. Philippians 2 and verse 2 says, Fulfill well. We'll go to verse 1. Therefore, if there's any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

He states here we have to keep that outward focus. We have to be thinking about how the other person is going to perceive what it is that we've said. And as a result, that should tell us that we need to think carefully what we're going to say, because who knows how exactly it's going to be perceived.

Now, there's some conversations that probably shouldn't take place over social media. It should be an in-person, face-to-face kind of conversation. But we need to understand we don't perform anything. We can't perform anything through vanity, through selfishness, but we need to have other people's needs in mind. And he states this through that we're able to do this through being like-minded, having the mind of Jesus Christ in us and having the Father abiding in us through, again, that unity that comes from the Holy Spirit. Verse 5, let this mind be in you, speaking again of that of that mind of Jesus Christ and of God the Father, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

He discusses and shows us that the mind that we're to have within us that might have God himself, who emptied himself of his glory, who became a man who humbled himself to the point of death, to the torture and the death that came with that crucifixion. That's the mind that we need to be thinking with. That's the service that we need to be providing. That's the attitude that we need to be having as we interact with others. It goes on in verse 9, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. God had exalted him, they'd given him a name above all others. Again, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow. That includes you, that includes me, includes whoever else you want to mention from any of the ABCDFGOGs out there. We all bow before the name of Jesus Christ, every last one of us from the top to the bottom. If we're living the Word, if we're allowing ourselves to be subservient to it, letting it guide us, we won't offend in our interactions. If we're truly living the Word, we won't offend in our interactions. We need to be willing to reconcile, need to be willing to love one another despite our differences. And as that happens, the number of positive interactions will increase, and the energy and the heat will build. But until we can interact with one another in this way, until we illustrate as a church that we will collectively yield one to another, esteem others greater than ourselves, and work to reconcile our differences within our community constructively, growth will be elusive. Growth will be elusive. If we as a church aren't ready or prepared to accept that growth, does it follow that God will bring it?

We have to get our house in order. We have to get our house in order. I have to get my house in order. How will we serve one another? Will we lay aside our selfishness? Will we lay aside our vanity? Lay down our pride and take up humility? Will we be clothed in righteousness?

Will we live the Word? These attitudes begin with us, brethren. Every day we have opportunity to illustrate these things on a personal level, which brings us to our last point today. It begins with us. It begins with us. When it comes to living the Word of God, there's a sad and unavoidable thing that we have to address. Sad and unavoidable fact. The only person that we have any control over, whatsoever, is ourselves. That is the only person that we have any control over, whatsoever. We can look at other people and we can get frustrated. We can see injustices. We can see people not following through on their end of the bargain. We can judge. We can impugn. But at the end of the day, we can't control other people. We can only control ourselves and our actions and our responses.

So when it comes to living the Word, when it comes to actually following through on what we profess to believe, it begins with each and every one of us. You know, as we've examined this analogy today, looking at molecules of a substance, we've seen how individual molecules transfer energy to other molecules as they become energized. You know, in our physical scientific example, we're heating the molecules and we're increasing their kinetic energy. We're causing those molecules inside of that pot on the stove to go from kind of sort of moving around to really moving around, right, zipping all over the place. And like that pot on the stove, the heat of that element is conducted to the pan or the pot which conducts that energy to the water molecules, transferring that to other nearby molecules, and on and on and on it goes as that conduction occurs.

In our spiritual analogy, God the Father and Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, provide unlimited spiritual kinetic energy which can be transferred to other people as we interact.

Now, it has to be recharged. It has to be recharged. But it can be shared, unlimited.

It's freely given to those who seek, ask, and knock, and as a result, if we are actively living the Word of God, we can serve as a catalyst to others. So a catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a reaction or change without changing itself. There's a secondary definition that's honestly a little more appropriate for probably what we're doing with our analogy, and that is a person or a thing that precipitates an event. Individually, we can be that person. A common complaint that I've heard from individuals is that people don't talk enough about spiritual endeavors on the Sabbath. That's a common complaint that I hear, that people want to talk about their weeks, they want to talk about this, or they want to talk about that. And partly, that's because we don't talk to each other outside of the Sabbath. This is the time that we see everybody, so we want to get all caught up in everything else. But this is holy time. This is holy time. And so that's one of the common things that I hear, is that we don't do a fantastic job of discussing spiritual endeavors on the Sabbath. We talk about work, we talk about our week, we talk about things that are maybe not spiritually related. It's an overused phrase, but we need to be the change that we want to see. We need to be the change that we want to see. And it doesn't mean we do it like not tactfully, you know, we don't butt into the middle of somebody's conversation and go, anyway, so we don't do that, right? But there are ways that we can kind of gradually work the conversation back to something that's maybe a little more spiritually minded. And what I find so fascinating about that is this. I'll see a couple of people talking, and it's kind of a spiritually engaged, spiritual kind of conversation, and all of a sudden people are walking by and they're like, oh, and now they're in there. And it just sucks people in and just pulls them in. It's like a vortex, just pulls people in, and then all of a sudden there's five or six people standing around talking about that very thing.

We have the ability to be a catalyst in our conversations, in our actions, in our attitudes, in our behaviors. And as others see our individual, or our individual examples, as we see the example that we're doing, they'll notice. Our light will shine, whether it's here at church, whether it's at work. But one of the things to keep in mind is that each of those interactions, when you have molecules colliding, they do transfer energy, and that energy is gone from the original molecule when it transfers. It gives it to the other one. And so as they transfer that energy, it's lost to the original person. It requires that molecule to be recharged and to be re-energized, to be able to kind of continue to transfer that spiritual energy as it goes. And that's why it's so important that we're diligent in our prayer and in our study, that we are constantly and continually recharging. Because if we're going to live the Word, if our actions are going to illustrate our beliefs, we have to be diligently studying. We have to be laboring in the Word, digging into the Word of God, applying it, applying those principles, making right judgments. This is not passive spirituality. This is very active, and it's ongoing. It takes work. So we should talk to people about that, you know, what gets in the way of us being able to be in our Bibles and praying to the degree that our spiritual lives require. As I talk with individuals, these are the things I hear most. Our lives themselves are busy schedules, the kinds of things that we have going on in our life. Distractions. Absolutely distractions. Too many shows on television that nobody wants to watch, right? Commitments. We have commitments. We do have things. We have work. We have other things. Depending on that, it's busy. Boredom. I've heard that argument before. The Bible's boring. I don't want to read it. It's boring.

Laziness. That's another one. Laziness. There are a number of factors, but regardless of what they might be, they all have the same result. We're not as involved as we should be. Let's go over to Proverbs 24 as we start to kind of wind things down a little bit this afternoon. Proverbs 24. Proverbs 24 and we'll pick it up in verse 30. Proverbs 24 and verse 30.

Proverbs 24 and verse 30 says, I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding. And there it was, all overgrown with thorns. Its surface was covered with nettles. Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well. I looked on it and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. And so shall your poverty come like a prowler, and your need like an armed man. If we're not diligently working on our spiritual life, it will fall into ruin. It absolutely will fall into ruin. Just like the field of the sluggard, the vineyard will be overgrown. It'll be covered with nettles. The stones will be broken down. A little bit of sleep in our spiritual life, a little bit of slumber, and our poverty will come upon us. And if we're personally in poverty spiritually, we can't hope to be a catalyst to someone else. If we're personally in poverty, we can't be a catalyst to someone else. We don't have the energy. We just don't to transfer it. If we're not actively repenting of our sins, working to become a new creation, changing at our core, at the molecular level, right, in our analogy, we're missing the point of our calling. We were called to overcome.

We were called to become new. And this is an ongoing process. This isn't a one-time thing. It's an ongoing process. God's given us an opportunity to be a part of his family eternally.

That gift comes with some strings attached. It does. It comes with some strings attached, some expectations. Let's go to Ephesians 2 as we visit our final passage today. Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2, and we'll pick it up in verse 1.

Ephesians 2 and verse 1 says, In you he made alive, who were dead, and trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Brethren, this is our former condition. This is what God called us out of. Dead and trespasses, in our sins, walking in the course of this world, according to the influence of Satan the devil, disobedient and enemy of God. Verse 4, But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and then in parentheses, by grace you have been saved. Even in this state, God gave us the opportunity to be alive through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And that grace that he provides us through that reconciliation.

Verse 6, And raise this up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

You know, the gift of God, this eternal life that has been offered to us, we don't earn it.

It's not because of how amazing we are that we could somehow afterwards point to ourselves and go, look what I did! That's so awesome! I got this whole eternal life thing. It's cool. It's cool.

That's not... that's why it's a gift. So we can't glory in ourselves in some way.

But it's also not a situation where we don't have a responsibility.

It requires something from us. It requires our submission. And it requires actions that are in line with the beliefs that we profess. Those works don't save us, quote-unquote, but they're required. They're necessary. They illustrate our desire to submit ourselves to something that is far greater than us. James 2 discusses the concept that faith without works is dead. That's individually.

That's also as a church. When we submit to God, and when we submit to His Spirit working in our lives, the fruits of the Holy Spirit will be present in our life. Others will notice. You know, you run into people sometimes whose lives are falling down around them in the church. And it's just one thing after another, after another, after another, after another. And they're at peace. They're at peace with the whole thing. It's impressive. They're kind. They're patient.

You know, that example can and will be seen by other people. And it'll serve as a catalyst to inspire others to turn to God. Brethren, we need to be that catalyst. We need to be that catalyst.

Especially because when you think of a catalyst, it's one little molecule that hits the others, and then three or four, and then those three or four become ten or twelve, and then those ten or twelve become thirty or forty, and those thirty or forty become a hundred or more. And then pretty soon, the whole reaction goes. All because of that one little thing. That needs to be us. We need to be catalysts to one another. In conclusion, a church that is living the Word of God is a church that is spiritually active, and that begins with us. Not the ministry, not the administration, not the council, but each and every one of us fulfilling the commission that we have been given.

When we as individual molecules do our part, when we become energized, when we interact with one another appropriately, when we encourage and we edify one another, serve one another, esteem others greater than ourselves, the overall heat of the church will rise. It will get hard and hotter. It will become more ferment. It will begin to boil. And substances we know from physics expand as their temperatures increase, as we live the Word of God more effectively. And our example shows that when we have our house in order, God can and likely will bless His church.

Energized molecules can more effectively pass on their energy to other molecules.

And one single solitary molecule can be a catalyst to the whole reaction.

By staying connected to God and sharing their enthusiasm and being the change that they want to see, living it, they can make a difference. So, brethren, my fellow molecules, let us submit ourselves to God. Commit ourselves to pray, labor in the Word, and most importantly, let's get moving.