Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church

Jesus is the One and Only
Colossians 1:15-20  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 
Colossians sets forth the fullness of Jesus Christ and our completeness in Him.  There is a book out entitled, One Jesus, Many Christ’s.  I have thought that this book's title pretty well reflects the religious atmosphere in America.  People are saying today that Jesus Christ is just one among many.  There is no uniqueness, there is nothing out-of-the-ordinary about Jesus Christ.  He is just one Jesus, but there are many Christ’s.There are many today who say that it really doesn't matter what kind of religion you have if that religion works for you.  If it is true for you, then it is true.  There are those today who say, "Well, you're a Christian.  That's great.  Jesus is a Messiah.  I believe Ronald McDonald is a messiah so my truth is equally as valid and as real as your truth."It is the thesis of Colossians that Jesus Christ is not just prominent, He is pre-eminent.  Jesus Christ is not just A way, He is THE way.  Jesus Christ is not just A truth, He is THE truth.  Jesus Christ is not just a life, He is THE life.  Jesus Christ is not just one among many, Jesus is the ONE AND ONLY.
Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe.  What you believe about your origin will have a great deal to do with what you believe about your destiny. Jesus Christ is the One and Only, above the Creation.   Focus on two words in verse 15 -- image and firstborn.  "He is the image of the invisible God."  That sets forth the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The image, the exact representation of God.  Hebrews 1:3 puts it this way, "He is the express image of His person."
Jesus is the one and only over the church.  He is the head of the church. he's the "firstborn from the dead."  That means He is not only the head of the church, but He is the risen head of the church.  This is what puts life in a church.  Jesus Christ is alive and vibrant and active.  Any church that preaches Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection is a church that will be alive.
Jesus is one and only ON the Cross.  Having made peace by the blood of His cross."  Notice it's HIS cross.  Not Buddha's cross.  Not Confucius' cross.  Not Mohammed's cross.  HIS cross.   If you are a believer, you should never get tired of hearing about the cross.  That cross has a wondrous attraction to me.  



The Think Not Generation

Matthew 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.  Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 

Matthew 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

Why would Jesus tell us to watch and then we don’t watch? What part of “watch” means don’t “watch?”  Did Jesus ever tell us there was a time not to be watching for Him?  

Paul even told the first century Christians to watch for Jesus.   1 Thessalonians 4:18 “Comfort one another with these words”.  What words? The rapture of the church mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.  Then Paul assured those who read his first letter that were worried that they had missed the rapture.  So he described what would happen after the rapture.  What happens right after the catching up is described in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-9.  That the man of sin would be revealed after 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”   Falling away means either the Abandonment of the faith or the Abandonment of the planet by believers.  Many scholars more and more now think it means the rapture of the church.  After the rapture the beast, the Anti-Christ, the man of sin is revealed.  So to sum up what Paul is saying….if the man of sin is NOT on the scene you have not missed the rapture.

That leads us to the two super signs that Jesus coming very soon. 

The first sign is that people will scoff at the second coming of Christ.  The second coming of Christ is in two phases.  First Christ comes FOR His church and then seven years later come WITH His Church.  1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58; Revelation 19:14-15; Jude 1:14.

2 Peter 3:3 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

The second sign or the Billboard for the announcement of Christ’s soon return is that Israel will be in their land again!  Matthew 24:32-34 “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors (know for certain that He is near, right at the door). Verily I say unto you, This generation (this generation the people living when these signs and events begin] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” 

The fig tree Jesus refers to often is always Israel.  Israel will live again in their own land in the latter days and God will take notice of those nations that come against Israel in that day.  Zechariah 8:7-8, 12:1-9; Ezekiel 37; Isaiah 11:11-12, 35:1-2;  Deuteronomy 30:3; Jeremiah 30:10-11.

A lot of people get confused about Matthew 24:34 and the term “this generation.” The Amplified Bible, which is the literal translation of the original Greek language, says that “this generation” means the people living when these signs and events mentioned in the previous verses of Matthew 24….begin. 

Israel is in their land and people are scoffing at the return of Christ exactly as was prophesized.   So obviously if they were told to be watching in the first century, how much should we be watching for Jesus today? Answer…always! 

The Uncommitted
A man once told his wife that he never wanted to live in a vegetative state dependant upon a machine. He said, “If I ever get in that shape, I want you to pull the plug.” She got up and unplugged the Wifi modem! (For those who don’t know that’s what gets you on the internet with your smart phone or tablet.)
Remember when many churches conducted Vacation Bible Schools?  Many churches have people that were content just to sit in front of their TV each evening and let others do the work at VBS. They are the uncommitted!  And there will be some of you who will be frustrated at the uncommitted in your church.  By the way, the Chinese Communist Party Corona Virus is no excuse to be uncommitted!  People are ready to hear about Jesus and His return now more than ever!  Commit to telling someone about Him everyday!
Many people think that “involvement” is commitment.  What is the difference between involvement and commitment?  Perhaps I can best explain this by way of analogy with bacon and eggs.   In bacon and eggs, the hen is involved but the pig is committed!
Involvement is coming a Sunday or two and standing around and watching others work.   Let me tell you what commitment is in your church…commitment is when you see a need or a place in your church that needs help and you begin to meet that need!  I believe that if the Lord Jesus Christ opens our eyes to a need and He is thereby is giving us that task.   There should be no question or hesitation, but total commitment to the task that the Lord has laid upon your heart.  
Do you think Paul was involved or committed?  When you think about commitment to a task think about the Apostle Paul. Now there was one committed guy. “Paul, if you don’t quit preaching, we are gonna stone you!” “Well, that’s been done before!” Look, Paul, if you don’t quit preaching we are gonna throw you in jail!” “Hey, guys, could you send me back to Rome. They let me out of jail last time right before I could get the jailer saved! If you could just send me back there…” “Paul if you don’t quit preaching, we’re gonna kill you.!” “Could you please? I’ve been in this dilemma for a long time: To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord! If you could just bump me off!”
What do you do with an Apostle Paul? You can’t kill him! He’s already dead!  Paul said in Galatians 2:20 “For I am crucified with Christ, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
During the Second World War a company of American soldiers was marching through France when a little old lady approached them with a broom over her shoulder. She joined the soldiers and began to march with them.   The soldiers smiled at the lady and told her to please step aside because she could not do anything with her broom. “Maybe not,” came their reply, “but I can let them know whose side I’m on!”  She went from involvement to total commitment.
We may not have all the talent and ability in the world, But don’t let that stop you from being committed to serving Christ.  Remember that boy that gave his small lunch to the Lord, he found out what a little could do in the hands of the master!  



The contentment of His Provision
Hebrews 13:5 Let your behavior, your conversation be without covetousness.  And be content with such things as you have.  Discontentment is a disease, and it takes away your joy and it takes away your peace.  And what is contentment?  Contentment is not getting what you want, but it is wanting what you already have.   Contentment will make a poor man rich.  And discontentment makes a poor man poor.  One poor man said to a rich man, "I'm richer than you are."  He said, "Why's that?"  He said, "Because I have everything I want, and you don't."  No matter how much you have, if you're discontented, you're really poor.  
I heard about two tears who met themselves along the river of life.  Said one tear to the other tear, where did you come from?  Oh this tear says, "I'm the tear of a girl who loved a man and lost him.  And where do you come from?"  She said, "I'm the tear who found him and married him."  Many times, we think we want something, we need something we really don't.  We get our luxuries and our necessities confused.  
I Timothy 6:6 says  "But godliness with contentment is great gain."  You are so rich today, if you know the Lord and if you're content, that is great gain.  He explains it, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  But having food and raiment let us therewith be content."  If you've got clothes on your back, and something to eat, and you have Jesus Christ in your heart, you are blessed.  
Material things can never bring contentment, and the reason they cannot bring contentment is that material things can never satisfy the deepest need of your heart.  That's the reason the Bible says in Ecclesiastes Chapter 5 and verse 10, "He that loveth silver shall never be satisfied with silver."  Either you can't get enough of it, or when you get it, you find out it doesn't meet your need.
A little boy who loved pancakes so much.  One day his mother thought she would satisfy him, so she put him down to the table, and decided she would cook all the pancakes he wanted.  She served him pancakes, and he ate the first ones and he ate the others and then some more, and then some more, and then some more, and she just kept cooking them and he kept eating them.  Finally she asked him, "Johnny, do you want another pancake?"   He said, "No mam."  He said, "I don't even want the ones I've already had."  Have you ever felt that way?
That's the way it is with silver.  When you get it all, it doesn't satisfy, and if you don't get it all, you want more.  This round world, will never fit in your three-cornered heart.  I cannot satisfy the deepest longings of your soul.  Why is this?  Why can't material things bring contentment?   Jesus explained it in Luke Chapter 12 and verse 15, He said, "Take heed and be ware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses."  How true that is.  Your deepest needs will never be met by material things but only by Jesus Christ.  



Real Religion
James 1:26-27 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

Long ago there was a pastor visiting at a couple's new home out in the country, and because it was  so far out, they asked him to spend the night.  Well, he was awakened the next morning by the soft voice of a soprano singing, "Nearer, my God, to Thee."  Well, he was impressed by the piety of this young wife, and how she began her day in such a religious fashion.  When they sat down at the breakfast table, he told her how impressed he was by her religious piety, and how pleased he was that she would start her day off in such a spiritual fashion.  She said, "Oh preacher, that's the hymn I boil the eggs by; three verses for soft, five verses for hard."

How do you know whether or not your religion is true or false, superficial or supernatural?  Well, the test is the tongue.  That's right.

More than your tithe or your testimony, your tongue tells the truth about your religion.   You may think you are religious, but James says if you do not bridle your tongue, you deceive your own heart.  Like a hot knife through soft butter, James cuts to the heart of the issue.  The real test of your religion is not so much in saying the right things, but in not saying the wrong things.
The reason why the tongue is a thermometer that can measure the warmth of your religion, is because it is controlled by the thermostat of the heart.  Jesus said, "For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Mt. 12:34) 

Or, like the old farmer once said, "What's down in the well comes up in the bucket."  You see, in a strange way, the tongue always tells the truth even when it lies.
They had a work day at a certain church, and the preacher came to work with some of his men.  With his hammer in hand he was going around making repairs, hammering here and nailing there.  Well, he noticed after a while, that one of his men wasn't working; he was just following him around.  The preacher finally said, "John, why are you following me?"  He said, "Well preacher, I'm just listening to hear what you say when you hit your thumb."  

A young father came home from work and found his wife crying uncontrollably.  He said, "What's the matter?"  She said, "I've had a terrible day.  The baby cut his first tooth and took his first step..."  The father said, "But honey, that's wonderful!"   She said, "Yes, but then he fell down, cut his lip on his tooth, and said his first word."

Real religion "bridles the tongue."  James compares the tongue to a wild horse.  You see, your tongue is not like an old mule passively grazing out in the pasture.  It's like a raging stallion pacing back and forth in the corral, looking for an opportunity to jump the fence!  The tongue, uncontrolled by the speaker, signifies a heart uncontrolled by the Savior.




We know all to well that death is real.  But we need not fear death.  But we should make sure that all those around know why we don’t fear death.  It’s because we have died already to death and to sin and given our lives to the one who died for us.  Acts 16:31 “Believe (trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”   Please.....be ready Luke 12:20 “God said unto him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.....

Paid In Full
So many people have the idea that salvation is on the installment plan.  When you go to buy a house you make a down payment.  After you make the downpayment you then begin to make monthly installments.  There are some people who have this idea that when Jesus Christ shed His blood, He made the downpayment for our sins, and then we make the installments by going to church, keeping the Ten Commandments, being religious, doing good.  I got some news for you.  When Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross, He paid off the entire mortgage!
Just before Jesus breathed his last on the cross, He said in John 19:30, "It is finished."  Those three words in the English language are one word in the Greek language "Tetelisti"  and that literally means "Paid in full."  
Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation, had a dream. In fact, I guess you would call it a nightmare.  He didn't know what it was, but he awakened in the middle of the night, and standing at the foot of his bed was a figure that he believed to be the devil himself.  
The devil had a scroll, and on that scroll were the sins that Martin Luther had committed.  The scroll was accurate.  It was true.  The devil was reading them one after another and pointing a fiery bony finger into the face of Martin Luther and condemning him and accusing him and saying, "What hope of heaven do you have as a miserable sinner?"  
Martin Luther said that he thought his very soul was slipping down into hell.  But then the Lord spoke to Martin Luther and said, "Martin, tell him to unroll the scroll all the way down."  Martin Luther said, "Unroll the scroll."  He said the devil refused.  Luther said, "This time I said, 'In the name of Jesus, unroll the scroll.'"  The devil did unroll it and there printed at the bottom of all of the sins Martin Luther had ever committed were these words written across the entire thing:  "This entire sin account of Martin Luther has been paid in full by the blood of Jesus Christ."  
One time of a party of six people who began a dangerous descent of a peak in the Swiss Alps.  The first man in line lost his foothold and slipped over an icy ledge.  The next two men slid after him while the experienced climbers above braced themselves and stood firm to bear the shock.  They thought, without any question, they would simply hold and all these men would be saved by the rope they were connected to.  But when the rope ran its length, the cord snapped in two.  The climbers watched in horror as their friends scrambled hopelessly to stop their slide over the slick precipice.  Within seconds the three men fell screaming to their deaths 4000 feet below.  Hours later they arrived safely, eager to find answers.  Why had the rope broken?  They were told that true Alpine Club rope would never break, and that was true.   The survivors were shocked when a close examination revealed the rope they had was not true Alpine Club rope.  It was a poor cheap fatal substitute.  How did they know it was not the true Alpine Club rope that the professional climbers used?  Because true Alpine Club quality rope has a red strand running through it, but this rope did not.  
I don't know what your rope of hope is that you are holding on to; counting on it to take you to heaven.  But I can tell you what my rope of hope is.  My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.  Because nothing but the blood can save you.



Nothing But The Blood

Christians, we need to remember how we got here, what power was it that changed us from hopeless to assurance?  What power put us into the kingdom of God.  What is the power that saved us from our sin?  
"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."  1 John 1:7  It is extremely important to see that the verse does not say that the blood of Jesus Christ "has cleansed us," or "will cleanse us."  It says specifically it "cleanses us."  That verb is in the present tense.  What it literally says is, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us and keeps on cleansing us.  It cleanses us now, it cleanses us today, it cleanses us tomorrow.  Every day that you need to be cleansed, the blood is available to do the job.
So often after someone gets saved, the first question they ask is, "What happens now when I sin?"  Let me give you some bad news.  If you get saved today there's a strong chance you're going to sin tomorrow.  
Now let me give you the good news.  You get saved today and tomorrow you lose your temper, just remember "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us."  If you get saved today and you let a bad word slip out tomorrow, just remember "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us."  If you get saved today and you think an impure thought tomorrow, just remember "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us."  
If you ever do any grocery shopping, you will notice that today when you buy certain products like milk or something else, it will say "Use by" and it will give you a certain date.  The reason for that is, if you don't use it by that date it will either lose its potency and its effectiveness, or, like milk, it could get sour and be unhealthy to use.  The blood of Jesus Christ never loses its power.  It is just as effective in washing the dirt of depravity away today as it was 2000 years ago.  
A sailor is designated at night as the Officer of the Deck.  That means he has the watch late at night.  At night no white lights are allowed on the bridge because they hinder the ability to look out and see other ships or obstacles to the safety of the ship.  So all of the lights and flashlights have a red filter over the lens maximizing night vision. 
When these officers would receive messages or documents, they could read every one as long but if the document was written in red, the red light would blend with the ink of the pencil, and you couldn't see what was on the paper.  When we receive Jesus Christ, God puts a red filter over the lens of His eyes, and when He looks down at our life, all of our sins are completely gone.  He cannot see them through the filter of His beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ.



The truth is - all time really is short.  We need to make the most of the time that we have, so I want to close with this thought.  Have you ever considered the fact that if you are not a Christian, if you have never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you have never established a relationship with Him, the only day you can do that is today.  You may be thinking, "Oh no, I can do that tomorrow."  No, you can't. If you do that tomorrow, tomorrow will then be today, so you can only do it today anyway.  So why not today?

They Came Seeking God

Words from an Adrian Rogers sermon from around 1995.  In Psalm 85:1-6 you have the prayer of a patriot.  Here's a man praying for his nation.  And he's praying for revival.  I want to tell you I make no apology whatsoever for being a red-blooded, flag-waving American patriot. I believe it is logical, I believe it is reasonable, I believe it is Biblical to be patriotic. A roving reporter came up to a man on the street and said, "Do you know what the two biggest problems in America are?"  The pedestrian said, "I don't know and I don't care."  The reporter said, "You have them both."  Amen.

The two biggest problems in America: number one is ignorance and number two is apathy. People don't know and they don't care.  And we have people today who believe, "Well you're not supposed to be patriotic.  Somehow everything's just supposed to be one big globe, one world. Somehow if we're patriotic that's almost un-Christian. We're told today that you can't be a Christian and love your country. Well that's ridiculous. Absolutely unmitigated folly. 

Now when I love my country that doesn't mean I don't love other countries.  When I want God to bless America that doesn't mean that I don't want other countries to be blessed.  It just means that America is my father land.  This is the land of my birth and this is the land of my loyalty and the land of my responsibility. I love all people, but one day I'm going to have to stand before God and give account for myself. So I've got to look out and make certain that I'm right with God because I can't answer for you and you can't answer for me. I love your family, but the Bible says if I provide not for my own, especially of those of my own house I have denied the faith.  I am worse than an infidel.  And when I have a responsibility and a loyalty to my family that doesn't mean I love your family any less.  That just means that I have an assignment from God.  That is, my family.

I love all churches, but dear friend, I have a responsibility to Bellevue church, because this is my church.  I'm a member of this local body.  If I don't love it, pray for it, support it, and under gird it, then I have failed; I have sinned against God.  I love all the countries of the world.  But this is the home, the land of our birth, and our God given assignment.  We can pray it, mean it, say it, sing it, shout God bless America. Listen, folks, I want to tell you, I still want to stand at attention when old glory goes by.  And I still get a lump in my throat when we pledge allegiance to that flag, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  I still don't mind getting a little wet in the corner of my eye when they sing the Star Spangled Banner.  And I hope I never do get cold or indifferent about these things. I say it and I really believe it, folks. We live in the greatest nation on earth. 

Why is America great?   Because we have greater natural resources?  Other nations have great natural resources.  Because Americans are smarter? Yankee ingenuity.   No folks.   Why has God blessed America?  God has blessed America because America has been built on certain basic God-given principles and presuppositions.  No country ever had such a Christian beginning as America.  The American dream was placed in the bosom of our founding  fathers by Almighty God.  America is different because of its beginning. 

In 1620 when those Pilgrim Fathers came to these shores, they came for a specific purpose.  They came on that little ship the Mayflower and they went down into the cabin of the Mayflower and they wrote out a document called the Mayflower Compact. This, this document that they wrote begins in these words, "In the name of God, Amen."  That's the way they began. And in the Mayflower Compact they said this, that their coming to the colonies was for, and I quote "For the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith." That is why they came to these shores.  A South American president was talking with Roger Batson, a leader of yesteryear, and they were discussing the difference between South America and North America. 

You know our land has been so blessed. South America, while composed of many great nations and mighty natural resources, has lagged far behind North America.  And so they were discussing the difference. And Roger Batson said to this South American president, "What do you think the difference is?"  That South American president wisely said, "I'll tell you the difference."  He said, "Those who settled South America came to South America because they were seeking for gold.  Those who came to North America came to North America because they were seeking God."—Adrian Rogers.