Transcript of a published sermon by Doug Ellingsworth, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
Patience, and a life measured in sets of problems
- The preacher says a full-blown sermon may not be what is needed, but asks for a few minutes to let the Spirit keep working in people's lives.
- He points to James's opening teaching that patience should have its perfect work so a person can be complete, entire, and lacking nothing.
- Life's meaning is framed as dealing with a God-given set of problems and issues, and finishing one set only brings a brand new set rather than permanent ease.
- He says he once expected money, time, and years to make life smooth from then on, and has lived to discover it is not that way at all.
A strong church, and the complement God made in Genesis
- Jesus Christ is building a strong and vibrant church, and that kind of church is not built from people who have never been tried, but from people who have been through the fire and can look the devil in the eye and stand.
- Twice in the opening chapters of Genesis, God said it was not good for man to be alone and that he needed a help meet.
- The preacher says this was not mainly about someone to clean up or bring food, and not merely about reproduction, but about things a man cannot do by himself.
- God made the woman as a complement — a different way of thinking and a different way of doing things — and in Genesis chapter 2 he brought her to Adam, a presentation the preacher pictures as far more than a plain, dry moment.
Scriptures: Genesis 2
Marriage pictures Christ presenting a glorious church to himself
- Husbands loving their wives and wives submitting to their husbands is presented as more than household instruction, because it represents what Jesus Christ is doing on earth and God's love for the church.
- Christ died so he could present to himself a glorious bride and a glorious church without spot or wrinkle.
- That is why life is full of trouble and trials — the Lord is building a church for himself.
- That same chapter says he washes and cleanses his people with the word, and every decision made by that word moves them toward the bride he will one day present in glory.
Scriptures: Ephesians 5
Honoring God is the gift he cannot give himself
- The preacher says there is one thing God cannot do for himself: give himself honor, respect, and praise from a free-will heart.
- God created people with free will, placed them on earth, and allowed trouble and sin's effects to become part of the choices they must answer.
- Each time a person answers life's troubles, pressures, and problems with a direct response from God's word, that person honors the God who made them.
- Walking in the word rather than in our own will and nature is how believers step into the place of giving God the worship he does not take by himself.
Put off, put on: the kind of bride God is building
- The preacher says he was going to read from the third chapter of Colossians, with its many instructions to put this off and put this on — one of the things to put off being vulgar talk.
- This is not just good family manners or instruction on being a better citizen, but insight into the type of bride and church God is building for himself.
- One day, as that chapter and Ephesians tell us, believers will behold his glory, and when he appears they will be in the midst of it.
- He tells the hearers their problems and troubles are not unusual and not because they have been bad — God is watching to see which of the people he formed will honor and respect him and give him what he cannot achieve by himself.
Scriptures: Colossians 3
Shame entered in the garden, and pride is the far extreme
- In the garden, Eve was fooled by the serpent, ate the fruit, and gave it to Adam, and their eyes were opened to their nakedness.
- With that came shame, and shame has stayed in human life ever since, dragging people down with what the devil says about them rather than what God thinks of them.
- Shame is distinguished from guilt: guilt says bad things were done, but shame says in the inner soul, 'I am bad and I will never escape this.'
- Pride is the opposite far edge — arrogance that claims self-sufficiency — while between shame and pride stands a godly self-esteem that knows a person is significant because God delivered them, washed them, and renewed them by the Holy Ghost, and even made provision on the cross for their occasional failures.
Scriptures: Genesis 3
Decide today to be part of that glorious church
- Only through obedience to God's call — to repent, be baptized, and be filled with the Holy Ghost — can shame be overcome and pride be let go, so that, as James said, a person is lacking nothing and whole.
- No one else can keep a person out of that church; the work is done in the heart, and God can be found wherever a person stops to call on him.
- Those tired of shame, clinging to pride, or weighted down by the struggles of life are invited to come to the altar and pray with the church, expressing their need to the Lord from the heart.
- The preacher does not promise that all troubles will be gone today, but promises a relationship with Jesus Christ that gives joy in the middle of them, courage to fight, strength, and a happiness no one can take away.
Scripture index: Genesis 2; Ephesians 5; Colossians 3; Genesis 3.
there's a special PR presence of the Lord here today I don't think a full-blown sermon is necessarily what you want or what we need but if you'll give me just a couple of minutes I want this Spirit to have its complete way and do its work in our lives usually we take time right now to thank everybody for this opportunity but if you'll just know I'm grateful because I want God to have his way here if you'll sit down for just a minute I promise this
is going to be just a short little talk here and I encourage you to let that Spirit that's moving in your heart keep moving James opens his his letter and he says let patience have her perfect work so that you can be complete nothing wanting nothing lacking but entire life life can be tough I'm going to give you the the golden answer you've been looking for what is life and what it what's its meaning and purpose well life's meaning and purpose is before you were born
God set aside a specific amount of problems and issues for you to deal with and you're going to deal with those problems and issues and then you'll die sorry about that but your reward for completing one set of problems and taking care of them in this life is you get a brand new set I thought at some point I'd have enough money enough time enough children enough enough you know tenure on Earth that that maybe it'd be easy from then on and the angels would watch
out for me and God would make it smooth and and I've lived to decide and discover that it's not that way at all and as I read the word of God I I understand a little more about why because you see there are two things that are significant one is that Jesus Christ is building a church and he's building a strong and a vibrant church and you don't build a strong and vibrant Church off weak needed little pussyfooting stepping around folks you've got to have some
people that have been through some fire and they can look the devil in the eye and say you're not taking my child with you it doesn't matter about my past you're not dragging that up into me and the second reason is is because if you jump back to the Book of Genesis when the Lord made Man twice in just the first couple of chapters he pointed out it's not good for man to be alone and he said he needed a help meat and I really liked
that because I need somebody to clean up after me bring me food until I I I realized that really wasn't what he was saying what he was really saying was there are certain things a man cannot do that he needs to do and so God made the compliment and I'm not talking about just a reproduction machine I'm talking about a different way of thinking I'm talking about a whole different way of doing things man by himself is not good but when God completed that it says
in Genesis chapter 2 when God made the woman he brought her to Adam now sometimes the Bible's just kind of dry reading but how does God just bring something I mean the god that just finished creating the heavens and the Earth does he just bring this woman I'm wondering if there weren't you like a million angels singing and and I wonder about a choir and and and all of the animals may be lined up in quiet order it it couldn't have just been a here she
is Adam kind of thing and then you keep reading the Bible and you get to Ephesians chapter 5 in Ephesians chapter 5 it says that husbands are to love their wives and wives are to submit to their husbands but it doesn't stop there it says because this represents what Jesus Christ is doing on Earth and it represents God's love for the church and it says that God died so that he could present to himself a glorious bride without spot or wrinkle a glorious church and so
I go back to my original statement that life's full of trouble and trials and the reason is is because the Lord is is building for himself a church there is only one thing that God cannot do for himself and that is give himself honor respect and praise he can create angels that do that but he created you and me with our Free Will and he set us on this Earth and he let trouble come in through Satan's little interactions in life and sin was introduced and
now you and I choose how we're going to deal with all these problems in life you and I decide are we going to build our life according to God's word and trust him and bring honor to him because that's the only thing God can't do himself and every time that you answer life's troubles and pressures and problems with a direct response from God's word you are honoring The God Who made you and one of these days as you and I build this church by responding to
God's word because because that same chapter 5 in Ephesians says that he washes and cleanses us with that word and every time we walk in it and make decisions based upon it and every time we follow not our will and our nature but the call of God directed by his word we are stepping into that one spot where God cannot by himself and without us go and that is giving honor and respect and worship to the holy God Of Heaven so I don't know what problems
you brought with you today I don't know what issues are abounding in your soul and spirit but I'm telling you that Jesus Christ just like God made that Bride for Adam he's not building for himself this impure incompetent half-witted Church to the rest of the world we may seem strange and some of the things that we do they may look at and wonder why I was going to read to you from the third chapter of Colossians because it says in there a lot of things about
put this off and put this on and one of the things that said put off was vulgar talk listen this is not just good family manners this is not just instruction on how to be a better citizen this is an instruction and insight into the type of Bride and church that God is building for himself because one day as chapter 3 tells us and as Ephesian 5 tells us we're going to behold his glory and when he appears we're going to be in the midst of
his glory so I've come to tell you this morning that your problems and your troubles You're Not Unusual and it's not because you've been bad it's simply because in life the Lord is wanting to know which of these folks FKS that I have made with my own hands and I have formed while they were in their mother's womb which of them are going to honor and respect me and live for me and give me what I cannot by myself achieve when Adam and Eve were in
the garden in Chapter 3 of Genesis the story is told how Eve was fooled by The Serpent and she took of the fruit and ate it handed it to him and he ate it the Bible talks about their eyes being open they realized they were naked for the first time we see kind of a shade of Shame introduced into the human life and it's been there ever since ever since there's shame that drags us down reminds us of what the devil thinks of us not what
God thinks of us Shame Shame isn't that you say I'm guilty of doing some bad stuff all of us guilty of doing bad that's not shame shame says in my heart in the inner part of my soul I'm bad that I'll never escape this and it's what your mind tells us all of us deal with that from time to time the only thing that can eradicate it is the presence in the word of God you see shame is over here somewhere the far far Edge and
you draw the line you get all the way down to the other side and you wind up with pride pride is arrogance that says I am who I am and you're what you are but you're never going to come to what I am and I don't need you and I've done this by myself but somewhere in the middle of that line there's self-esteem where you stand up with your back strong and not an ungodly unnatural unsp spiritual pose of Pride but the realization that I am
significant in this life because God has delivered me from the shame and it's through the power of the Holy Ghost and my obedience to his word that I'm lifted from shame and it's the movement of his Spirit on me that keeps me from wandering over into Pride because I understand I got out of there not because of what I am here but because of what he has done for me that washing of regeneration that renewing of the Holy Ghost it has pushed shame out of my
life and from time to time I still say something dumb there are occasions where I'll be spouted off or do something silly and my wife doesn't keep a real tight record but I'll have to say you know I really shouldn't have done that there are things where I look back and I can't believe I but it's not driven into my spirit by shame it's the realization that I am human and when Jesus died on the cross he not only made provision for my shame he made
provision for my occasional goof upups and I've come to tell you here today that there's going to be a time where the Lord presents to himself with joy and with Glory his own church and you and I are going to decide whether we're in it or not there's nobody that can keep you out of it if you want to come to this altar I can try to block and Blitz you and do everything to keep you away but the work's done in your heart and in
your spirit not in this location and you're coming up here because it's a it's a step by faith and saying I want the church and God's body to join and pray with me and I'm making a statement about how I want to live for God but I'm telling you brothers and sisters you can find God wherever you stop to call on him and there's no better time nor place to what you're feeling right now you won't find anybody Beyond this group of folks who will care
more about you want to reach deep for you you can find loss from that shame you can find moving from that pride and you can find yourself in the middle of the will and the work of God if you'll stand with me you m musicians got settled out there nice but I'm going to have you come back because I believe this Spirit we're feeling here today is not about me preaching a longer sermon I think it's about you deciding what you're going to do with the
shame you brought today it's about you deciding how long you're going to cling to the pride and it's about you deciding that the troubles and struggles in my life yeah some of them are self- afflicted but not all of them some of them are just part of living life I'm no better than you because I might be able to mask some of my issues better but I've still got problems it doesn't matter how long you live or where you live life goes with you and the
struggles in life are simply my opportunity to do for God what he can't do for himself and that is worship Him by responding to them and let him prove to me that he will be faithful in everything the reason I tell you that today is because God's not going to present to himself an unclean and Unholy and incapable church and every one of us stand here as unclean Unholy and incapable by ourselves we're either burdened with shame that we can't escape or we're Laden with pride
that we can't let go of and sometimes it's a mixture of the two that fight in us only through obedience to God's call to repent and be baptized and be filled with the Holy Ghost can we overcome shame and get loose from pride and it's through obedience to God that you and I make ourselves worthy as James said so that we're lacking nothing and we're whole so my message to you is God wants you in his church and the shame you're feeling will get rid of
that if you will allow him and walk in his ways and the pride and arrogance that's taking you down the wrong road he will deliver you from that and help you if you will take those steps to walk in his word because he is going to present to himself a glorious Church Without spot or wrinkle or any such thing and you and I alone decide whether or not we're in that you and I decide I want that to settle in your mind because some of you
think nah preacher you don't know where I've been it doesn't matter where you've been it doesn't matter where you've been I'm telling you you can decide today that I'm done with a life of Shame I'm finished trying to run life by myself and letting my own Pride push me I want instead to be touched by God and I want him day by day day by day to make me more like that bride that he wants his church to be I can't promise you that tonight and
today that all your troubles going to be gone because they won't be but I can tell you today that you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ that will give you Joy in the midst of every one of them that will give you courage to fight and strength that you don't know where came from and a happiness that nobody can touch and take away so I'm going to ask you as you're standing and they begin just to sing and worship for just a few minutes if
you're tired of the shame if you want to let go of the pride I encourage you to come and find yourself a place around this altar if you're just heavy and weighted down from all the struggles of life I encourage you come here because Jesus Christ is building that glorious Church Without spot or wrinkle and it's him and his word that will do the work in your life give him a chance give him a chance Express from Your Heart Lord Lord I need you to touch
me Lord I want my soul and my spirit clean in your sight I'm tired of bearing these burdens I'm tired of fighting it by myself Lord will you come into my heart will you forgive me of my sin will you fill me with the Holy Ghost make that your prayer to the Lord today get in that group that one of these days he's going to present to himself as his own gift that he's called calling you to be part of that this morning he's calling you
to be part of that this morning in Jesus name in Jesus name hallelujah hallelujah that's it if you've never prayed or anything before just Express to the Lord your feelings like you would to anybody any friend don't be afraid to describe your fears and your pain Lord I love you Lord I Need You My Heart Lord I want to please you I want my soul and my spirit Lord I want it to be what you desire today in Jesus name in Jesus name
Scripture references as spoken: Genesis 2; Ephesians 5; Colossians 3; Genesis 3.