HCC Sunday Service
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Welcome to Heartland Christian Church. if this is your first time here we are happy to have you. Let’s get started.
Please Stand.
Somebody give him thanks for something He is or does.
Today we’ll be reading Psalm 51. Psalm 51 says:
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2 Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue.
5 But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.
This Psalm was written by David after his affair with Bathsheba. David admitted to being a sinner, he asked for God’s mercy, and then he repented and asked for forgiveness. We are taught to follow the Commandments and not to sin, but if we do sin, we are to follow David’s example in this Psalm.
We’re going to sing some songs together in praise & worship, but before we do, let’s recite the Lord’s prayer.
Praise and worship
Communion
Announcements
Sermon:
If you were here the last time I spoke we talked about the importance of prayer and the different types of prayers. Today we are going old school and will be reading from the Old Testament. I am starting a 3 part series on the book of Zephaniah. It has 3 chapters, hence the 3 part series. Zephaniah is located between the books of Habakkuk and Haggai. If you reach Zechariah you have gone too far. We're gonna read Zephaniah 1 -2:3. Turn in your Bibles to that passage and once you get there please stand for the reading of God’s word. The title of today’s teaching is The Call to Repent. In Zephaniah 1-2:3 the Scriptures say:
1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
7 Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.
8 And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.
10 “On that day,” declares the Lord, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’
13 Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”
14 The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.
15 A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
17 I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
1 Gather together, yes, gather, O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect —before the day passes away like chaff— before there comes upon you the burning anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the anger of the Lord.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord.
You may be seated.
Before we dive into Zephaniah I wanted to give you a little background on Him. Though not much is known about him, we do know that he is the only prophet to trace his lineage back 4 generations and we see this in Zephaniah 1:1
1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
Zephaniah is the 9th of 12 books in a section called the minor prophets. They are minor because of how small their books are, they are not minor in detail.
There was 70 years of silence before Zephaniah started to prophesy. There was 70 years of silence before a lot of the prophets would start their work.
Zephaniah or “Zephan ya” in Hebrew means hidden by God. It is believed that Zephaniah was hidden by his mom during his child hood as the men with royal blood were being killed.
So, today we will be talking about this little known prophet with a big message named Zephaniah, but before we do let’s pray:
“Father God thank you for bringing us here today. Open our eyes and ears to your words. Prepare our hearts for your message from this prophet, be with us as we dive into your words and speak to us and show us your will. In Jesus’s mighty name we pray. Amen.”
Helen Keller once said:
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings. —Helen Keller, My Religion
Helen Keller
Is she right? Is apathy of human beings the worst evil? The short answer is yes.
Each of the 12 minor prophets have a theme to their writing. In Hosea the theme is God’s steadfast love for Israel. In Joel it is divine judgement against evil; Amos - social evils; Obadiah - Judgement of Edom; Jonah - God’s care for the world; Micah - divine judgement against the world; Nahum Destruction of Nineveh; Habakkuk - understanding God’s character and His grace, Haggai & Zechariah- the rebuilding of God’s temple; Malachi - rebuke and repentance; then last but not least, Zephaniah is judgment and repentance.
All the warnings given by the prophets, in one way or another can be traced back to apathy and not caring enough to turn from evil.
This sermon was not an easy one to write. Do you know how hard it is to get up here and tell people that they need to repent from their sins; especially when I am a sinner myself? But this is a message that God has wanted me to preach and it’s something that needs to be heard. Each message of the prophets needs to be heard, read and understood. The warnings that are laid out in each book are just as important today as they were when the prophets preached them. The prophets’ messages serve as a reminder of what can happen when Christians, the church, countries and even the world turn their back on God.
The Old Testament is full of story after story of God’s people turning their back on God and His word. Good leaders would rise up, men of God, ones such as Moses, David, and Hezekiah. They would keep the commands of God and tell their followers to do the same. The people would follow for a while and then fall away and worship other gods. Other leaders would lead their people astray, like Rehoboam, who led his people to worship false idols and statues. 1 Kings 14:22-31 says:
22 And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.
23 For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
24 and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
26 He took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,
27 and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
28 And as often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
30 And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Abijam his son reigned in his place.
Rehoboam led his people astray and God punished them. The Egyptian King Shishak went to war against Jerusalem and Rehoboam as we see in 1 Kings 14:25
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
Once their cities were plundered and wars were fought we found out what happened to Rehoboam in 1 Kings 14:31
1 Kings 14:31 (ESV)
31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David...
Rehoboam was killed and buried in the city of David and his son Abijam took his place on the throne. You would’ve though Abijam and his people would’ve of learned and turned back to God, but they didn’t. 1 Kings 15:1 says:
1 Now in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijam began to reign over Judah.
and down to verse 3:
3 And he walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father.
Abijam walked in the sins of his father and his heart was against God. He led his people to turn their backs against God and they paid for it as well. 1 Kings 15: 7-8 says:
7 The rest of the acts of Abijam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
8 And Abijam slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place.
Abijam and his people turned from God and they committed the same sins as the people before them, and they too were destroyed. You would’ve thought they would’ve learned, but they didn’t. Generation after generation of God’s people turned their back on God and yet, they were punished for their sins. Their people were destroyed and they were sold into slavery over and over again. God used prophets to remind those who came after what happened to those before them and warned them of things that were to come.
In Joel God tells His people to turn back to him. Joel 2:12-13 says:
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
God told His people to come back and turn their hearts back to Him.
In Habakkuk 2:18-19 we are told not to trust in false idols.
18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols!
19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.
Habakkuk tells us that these wooden idols the people were worshipping were dead and had no breath. While the God that created the Heavens and earth is living.
In the book of Amos God gives His people more warnings as well. Amos 8:10 says
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
God warns those that disobey his commandments that he would turn their joy into mourning and He would make them bald. So, if you are bald....you might need to talk to God.
In Zephaniah 1:2-6
2 “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens, those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Milcom,
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.”
He says that He will sweep away everything on the face of the earth, man and beast, the fish, birds and mankind. He cut off the idolatrous priests and the false gods they worshipped.
Just in case people thought that wasn’t enough, he went further and went after the leaders of the people as well. In Zephaniah 1:8-9
8 And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice— “I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.
He said He would punish the officials and king’s sons that didn’t follow them and those who engaged in violence and fraud.
In Zephaniah 1:12-13 God issues a stern warning against the apathetic. Zephaniah 1:12-13 says:
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’
13 Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”
He said that He would punish those who are complacent. Those who didn’t choose good or evil. As we saw in the opening quote, Helen Keller called apathy the worst evil. God hates apathy so much that He gives us a warning in the New Testament as well. We see this in Revelation 3:15-16
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.
God warns us not to be hot or cold. He wants us to choose a side. He said that those who refuse to choose will be spit out of His mouth. Ouch. God would rather us choose evil than to be complacent. Yet, there are those who will not choose a side. People who say that they don’t know which god is right so they are not going to believe any of them. It is better that they choose, than to be a fence rider. After all, as Derrick says in one of his songs, “There ain’t no such thing as a halfway Christian.” You are either in or out. There can’t be a middle.
Just to make sure that people understood that they needed to follow God and turn from evil Zephaniah issues one more warning in Zephaniah 1:17-18
17 I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
God warns that He will bring distress on mankind because they have sinned. He warns that if people don’t turn from their evil ways that the earth would be consumed. With all of these warnings from the prophets, you thought the people would have learned, but they didn’t. Josiah listened to Zephaniah and he led the people back to God, or at least he tried, but even he made a mistake. The Egyptian army was coming through his land and instead of letting him pass, he went to war with them and he was killed.
God sent 3 more prophets after Zephaniah: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi to issue warnings to His people as well and they still didn’t listen. Ultimately the Assyrians carried the Israelites into exile.
After Malachi, there is 400 years of silence from the prophets, from Malachi to Matthew. Then came the birth of Jesus Christ. But, just because there are no prophetical writings in those 400 years, doesn’t mean things weren’t happening. Alexander defeated the Persians, and then the Greeks invaded Palestine. The Romans also came to power and allowed the people to control the lands they had invaded, meaning that Herod, who was a Greek, was allowed to rule in Palestine. Then came John the Baptizer and Jesus.
Both John and Jesus and later the disciples spread the good news to people calling on them to repent and put their faith in the Lord. You would think that we would listen. But we haven’t. Take a look at the world around us. Things keep getting worse. People are consumed with themselves. They have turned their back on the warnings of Jesus and His disciples. We are told in 1 John 2:12-17
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
We are told not to love the world, but if you take a look at the world around us you would think we are losing our minds. Our gods have become sports stars, movie stars and politicians, all of which have perverted the word of God. We have lost sight of the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20:3 says:
3 “You shall have no other gods except me.
Christian author and teacher David Pawson says,
“Idolatry always leads to immorality.”—David Pawson
In California a teacher is fighting to get her job back after being fired for refusing to use the pronouns that students prefer instead of referring to them by their biological sex. We are being forced to accept their lifestyles while ignoring ours and trying to force us to abandon ours. Homosexual marriage is running rampant. Murder, rape and riots are in the news everyday. We have turned our back on our God and we have ignored the teaching of the prophets, Christ and His disciples.
Now we worry about who is in the White House and judging people based on who they voted for in the last election. We treat those who don’t agree with us as evil and spit hatred and vile things against them. We go on Facebook and in one post we praise God and the next we are calling those who don’t share our views names and wishing them dead. Ladies and gentlemen this is unacceptable in the eyes of God and He will judge us for it.
Over time the body of Christ has turned it’s back on the Great Commission and has mirrored itself with the world. Author David Bercot says,
‘“No one can serve two masters,’ declared Jesus to His disciples (Matt. 6:24). However, Christians have spent the greater portion of the past two millenniums apparently trying to prove Jesus wrong. We have told ourselves that we can indeed have both—the things of God and the things of this world. Many of us live our lives no differently than do conservative non-Christians, except for the fact that we attend church regularly each week. We watch the same entertainment. We share the same concerns about the problems of this world. And we are frequently just as involved in the world’s commercial and materialistic pursuits. Often, our being ‘not of this world’ exists in theory more than in practice.”
The church has started playing dangerous games with the word of God. The Methodists have started to let homosexuals and transgenders preach and accept roles as Deacons and Elders. Churches have started to allow drag shows in the House of God. Pastors are facing accusations of sexual abuse and various affairs. It is not just one denomination either. We give the Catholics a hard time about their crimes, but the Southern Baptist Convention has investigated many of these crimes in their churches as well. It has gone so far that the Pope had to issue a statement to monks and nuns to stop watching pornography.
Peter went so far as to confirm that the prophets’ words are from God and not their own interpretation. 2 Peter 1:20-21 says:
20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.
21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
So, even though we have warnings from the prophets and Christ we have not listened. You would’ve thought we would learn, but we haven’t. The warnings that the prophets issued were not only directed to various countries as well, but also individuals as well. The warnings of destruction still apply to us today and if we don’t repent we will face God’s judgement. America will face the wrath of God if we don’t turn from our unrighteousness. When we sin we face God’s punishment here, so we don’t have to face it in eternity. This is why the Christian life is hard here on earth. If anyone tells you that the Christian life is easy they’re either not living the Christian life or they’re a liar. God punishes us here on earth, now, so that He doesn’t have to punish us when we face him on judgement day. It is better to be disciplined here and live a life that is hard and endure till the end, than to be condemned to hell for eternity. We see this in Proverbs 3:11-12
11 Son, do not despise the discipline of the Lord or grow weak when reproved by him,
12 for the Lord reproves whomever he loves and punishes any son he receives.
Paul says the same thing in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 12:7-11 says:
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
It is better that we are disciplined here, then to endure the eternal punishment that waits for us one the Day of the Lord.
After all, as David Pawson says,
The world belongs to God and He wants it back.
David Pawson
As Christians we need to speak out against the evils that people engage in. We must relay God’s message to this lost and dying world. So, what can we do?
Zephaniah tells us in Zephaniah 2:1-3
1 Gather together and unite, O uneducated nation,
2 before you become like a flower that withers, before the Lord’s anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you.
3 Seek the Lord, all you low ones of the land; perform judgment, and seek righteousness, and answer the things, in order that you may be covered on the day of the Lord’s anger.
If you are a Christian and living in sin then you need to confess your sins to one another. James 5:16 says:
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
We need to live out the Ten Commandments and the Commandments of Christ. We need to live out Matthew 22:37-40
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
We need to live our 1 John 2:9-11
9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
If we harbor hate towards our fellow man we need to rid ourselves of it. Come out of the darkness and into the light so that we may live in eternity with Christ.
The prophet Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 6:16
16 Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
We need to keep to the ancient paths that those who have come before us have walked. We need to walk the narrow road as Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
If you are not a Christian Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 6:2
2 Corinthians 6:2 (ESV)
2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Today is the day of Salvation. We need to repent of our sins and be baptized into the faith of Jesus Christ.
In closing, I want to leave you with a quote from a Robert Frost poem entitled The Road Not Taken,
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that made all the difference.”
Make a difference in your life and travel the narrow road, the road less taken. Hate the things of the world. Be holy like Christ. If you are living in sin repent and turn from evil. Follow the ancient paths of our ancestors, heed the warnings of the prophets.
Let’s pray:
“Father God. Thank you for bringing us all here today. Thank you for your words and for being faithful and just to forgive us. Thank you for the words of your prophets. Help us to always heed their warnings and seek you first in everything. Help us to be shining lights of the world, so that some might be saved, not that we would receive all the glory, but that you would. Protect us as we travel home today, and keep us safe throughout the week. And as always, thank you for being the author of our faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
If you are not a follower of Christ, as I said earlier today is the day of salvation.If you would like to know more about Christ, or to accept Him as your Lord and Savior, or if you are wanting to confess your sins and seek spiritual healing we will have people up here to pray with you. If you need prayer for healing or anything else, we will be here for that as well.
Before your go let me speak the blessing of God over you:
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord make his face shine on you, be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face towards you and give you His peace. In Jesus’s name. Amen