Harvest Church - 08-07-22

1 (2s): Good morning harvest church. Let's stand and worship our Lord and save your Jesus Christ this morning. When all I see you see, when is about you see, I, I, my knees with my hands lifted God, the belongs to you in your, against 0 (1m 42s): Me 1 (1m 49s): For Jesus. There's almighty fortress. 1 (2m 50s): You go before us, nothing can stand against the power of our God. You shine. The shadows you win. Every battle. Nothing can stand against power. 0 (3m 54s): The 1 (4m 18s): I'll 0 (4m 19s): See you. This 2 (4m 57s): Is my, how that me now top joy, chaos. 2 (5m 50s): Got that makes no sense. So I won't. So my house was built on you. 2 (8m 27s): I'm with you was built on you, save 0 (8m 48s): With 2 (8m 49s): You 0 (8m 57s): And make built. 0 (10m 14s): He 3 (10m 38s): Thank you, Laura, real quick. Before we continue to sing a couple weeks ago, we were in worship and there was this pause in the worship time. And I didn't know what was going on in the platform. I just had my eyes closed and I was just trying to worship. And, but I thought, man, this is as, as I had my eyes closed out, this is very sweet moment right here. And as I looked up to find out why the pause, I realized somebody was trying to get their cap ball on their guitar and it was, but I thought this, this was a good experience. I think for us just to have a, a moment of pause you our worship time. And so from time to time, most, most Sundays, I would imagine we'll, we'll just take time where there's gonna be a bit of a pause and just kind of a Salah moment in our worship. 3 (11m 27s): And if you feel at that time, like you, the Lord has put something on your heart to pray for pray out loudly so that we can hear we've got some mics on the, on the crowd so that we can try to hear everything that's going on, but it's a good time. If you feel like the Lord's put a verse on your heart, or if you got a word of, of exoration or affirmation for the body of Christ, that's, that's your moment to do that. So just be sensitive to the holy spirit. And if you feel like the Lord's giving you something, go ahead, ahead and speak that out. And then we'll continue to worship as we kind of feel led to do that. So let's pray and then we're gonna continue to worship. And, and after I get done praying, I'm just gonna give it a pause and we're just gonna kind of practice here. 3 (12m 8s): So Lord, we just want to thank you for your presence. Thank you that you are here, Lord. And as we pause as an act of worship before you just kind of in holy adoration with a gratitude and appreciation with the heart of worship, God, we'll, we'll just take time To listen and respond. We thank you, Lord. Let's just take a moment. And if you feel led in this moment to pray out or whatever, just do that loudly from your seat. 3 (12m 55s): Darren will agree with you. 4 (13m 1s): As we are worshiping the Lord, put on my heart, that there are many in this room that have prodigals prodigals in our family, whether they be children or parents or grandchildren, and God wants us to know that as he was faithful to reach us in our lives, he will reach them. He is faithful through all generations and he will not fail. He goes after them as a, that shepherd leaves the 99 to find that one, the encouraged this morning that your God hears those prayers. 4 (13m 43s): As you cry out for your loved ones, 5 (13m 55s): Lord, we are to be still and know that you are God father. I'm reminded that it's big to rise up early and to stay up late, try to make work on, but you Lord the of our need. I think trust that some will trust jar, but 1 (15m 28s): You stood before creation. You stood before your shoulders. 1 (16m 14s): My what can I see? 1 (17m 42s): What could I see? What could and, 0 (19m 30s): And the to 6 (21m 29s): Stand in worship of the king, the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who's over everything who created everything, who is in us and living through us. And Lord, we just give our hearts, our souls, our minds to you. Jesus, you are the king of everything. Lord, we are so grateful for you, Lord, we thank you for moments of pause. We thank you for moments of being able to just reflect on your goodness, no matter what's happening in our lives and our worlds around us, Lord, we can reflect and be grateful for the goodness that, that you are Jesus for the greatness that you are Jesus. 6 (22m 10s): And we are just so grateful for you. We are eternally grateful for you. No matter what's happening in our worlds. Lord. You're so good. You're so good, Lord. Thank you that in a world that is so hurried and so desperate. And so, and just running around Lord that we can just rest in you. We can come and, and just cast our eyes on you. We can fix our eyes on you, the author and perfect of our faith. Jesus, you're so good. We look to you for our needs. We look to you for our, to fulfill us Lord in every aspect of our lives, where, where we're looking for fulfillment in other places, Lord, I just pray that each person would find fulfillment in you. 6 (22m 56s): Jesus alone. We love you so much, Lord. It's in your name. We pray. Amen. Amen. All well, you can go ahead and take your seats. My name's Curtis, and I'm excited to share announcements with you this morning. We've got a few things going on. We've got the beach bonfire baptism happening this afternoon, but I'm gonna have Jeremy come up and share about that in a minute. Cuz there's, it's pretty exciting. So I'm gonna let Jeremy take that one and then we've got another great thing coming up is the lifeline banquet. If you weren't here last week, I shared a bit about that, but they've got some exciting announcements going on at that banquet. 6 (23m 42s): They've also got Pam Tebow, which is Tim Tebow's mom. She's this guest speaker. She's gonna be sharing her story, which is pretty powerful. So that banquet's on the 20th. If you want more information about that, about purchasing a table or about giving to lifeline, you can get information about that at the info center at the back there, they'd be glad to help. Also M six is tomorrow evening. So join us for that great opportunity for men to get connected into community, to have some worship and testimony. It's a great time. Also, along with that, we just want to share a little bit about what's happening around the world. So our, our missionaries in AAI, Jean, which is a country between Russia and Iran are doing some incredible things. 6 (24m 30s): One guy in particular, our main missionary, his name's Igar, him and his family are doing some incredible things, traveling around Azerbaijan and also in some of the Eastern parts of Russia that are very Muslim oriented. So basically a hundred percent Muslim in that area. And so they're sharing the gospel. They're seeing some amazing fruit. So we've got a couple of pictures that I'm gonna show up on the screen. So this is Igar here on our left and this is them baptizing. I'll get outta the way here. They're baptized in this man. This is in a region of Azerbaijan this last week. And so doing some awesome stuff, we can show the next picture here. 6 (25m 16s): So this is the part of Azerbaijan where they're ministering this last week. And as you can see, you can kind of get an idea of where AAI Jean is on the map. Russia's right up here. And then if you show the next picture, one of the spots that they're ministering is called DESTAN. So you can pray for that specifically that area. So Russia as a whole has about 50, 57% Evangel evangelical Christian is about 57%. But in this region, it's 0.03, 3% Christian. So they've got their work cut out for them. 6 (25m 55s): And just in this region alone, if they're gonna reach this one region, it's estimated that they need about 87 full-time missionaries to reach the population there. So Igar is there, he's equipping other Christian leaders to be sent out from their church in Azerbaijan to reach this region and other parts of Azerbaijan. So they're doing amazing things. And so we just wanna share that with you so you can be praying so you can be partnering with them in prayer and yeah. Joining along with us. So with Adam, I'm gonna invite Jeremy up and he's gonna share a little bit about the baptism, 7 (26m 33s): Right? Well, good morning. The exciting thing about tonight is nothing is changing. Sharks are not changing anything. The beach access being closed. That's not gonna change anything. We are still having our beach baptism and bonfire tonight from five to seven, exciting we have over 13 people already signed up to be baptized. That's amazing. So I just, I just know that there's gonna be more people that are gonna show up that are gonna wanna be baptized there. That is okay. We don't require a baptism class, nothing like that. They just a clear understanding of the gospel, who Jesus is, what baptism is. And, and, and so we're, we'll be ready tonight to, to baptize more people. And it's gonna be exciting, just a, a couple updates parking wise. 7 (27m 17s): If, if amazing, we got a family that it's already, they're already set up on the beach, they're reserved our spot. So you're gonna drive down to the end of grand there's fins restaurant. You can park in that lot. You can park in all those different parking spots right there. End of grand. And then just simply walk onto beach between the toll booth and fins and 20 feet off, off the sea off the sidewalk is where we're gonna be set up. So we're gonna be right there. We'll have some flags up and then tide's gonna be high. So don't worry about sharks. We don't have to go that far out there to get baptized. Somebody showed me of a great white jumping at the end of here. Don't worry about that. No, no sharks. And if you do wanna drive on the beach, this will be right at the end of the, the section where you can drive. 7 (27m 58s): If you do wanna drive on the beach, we recommend that you go and get your parking passes right after church, they say about two o'clock. They, they fill up for the, they stop issuing the parking or the driving on the beach thing. So exciting hope to see you all there. We'll have some hot dogs and, and some s'mores. So see there five to seven at the end of grand. And now I just wanna release you to say hi to someone around you. We'll do a minute mingle, and then we'll gather back up 3 (30m 10s): Back. We have a lot, a lot, a lot to do today. So it's already been super, super busy. I'm gonna try to teach from first Peter today. Even if I do though, I'm getting through two verses. And so it's gonna be, it's gonna be a, there's a, there's a lot crammed into the day. So in preparation for communion at the end of the service, make sure you've got your elements. And then we'll at the end of the service. We'll take communion together. And so these are the elements, the COVID safe elements that we're still using. So I talked a couple weeks ago about how a couple people are getting ready to retire. 3 (30m 56s): Well, that has happened now. Ron D and Christie swor are the, those guys here. Come on up. If you guys are here, there's Ron D where's Christie SWO. Oh, there she is. Come on up. So Ron and Christie have both been with us for 14, 15 years. A long time. Has it been 15 years? 4, 12 0 12. It just seems like 15. It just seems like, it seems like you've always been here with us. That meant that was a good thing I meant to say. And so Ron's been with us for 14 going on 15 years as, as well. And so, but both of them are well, Ron's retiring. So Ron, why don't you tell 'em what you're doing? 3 (31m 37s): Sure, sure. 9 (31m 38s): Let me just take a few minutes to kind of give you my story. Yeah. Yeah. So I've been serving the Lord full-time ministry for 38 years started when I was two. So actually, cuz some people have asked me, you know, well how old are you? You're too young or whatever. So I'll be 64 in a couple of weeks. So DJ and I, so DJ's right back here. So she and I started a home Bible study in our home in 1984 and then the two of us and another couple we went on a planting, a church in ALA beach. Didn't know what we were doing, but we just felt that's what God would have us do. So we planted the church in Ava in 1985 and I served as assistant pastor there for eight years and then senior pastor there for 13 years. 9 (32m 25s): So 21 years in Avala Avala beach Christian fellowship. How many used raise your hand if you were part of Avala. Yeah, I know there's we had a bit of a reunion last Saturday because Cheryl Hancock went home to be with the Lord recently. She was a dear friend of ours that we sent out from our church in Avala. And so we had a Memorial service for her and it was just one of those wonderful reunions of, of folks that we served together with at Avala. So it was after about 21 years, I just felt the Lord stern my heart just saying, you know what, your time in AOUS coming to an end. And I had no idea what the next step was, but so deja and I would talk about it. And, and so I, I resigned my position there and then so for about three years, so for my me, my life it's always been a venture of faith. 9 (33m 11s): So it's like, I don't exactly know what, what is next. And so for about three years, I actually served with Amanda's dad. So Jim, Jim and I traveled the country and did ministry around the country. And then it was, I think it was about 2007 where our family began to attend here at harvest church. When, when you guys were meeting in the grass area behind the parsonage first time, you know, Julie spill was on the worship team. Yeah. So then pastor Steve asked me if I would begin to come on staff here. So in 2008, I took on the role of associate pastor here. So been serving here for 14 years. And so just within maybe the end of last year began this year. 9 (33m 54s): I just felt the Lord stirring my heart again, just saying, you know, your time here and that role is coming to an end. So to be sure, retirement for me is not riding off into the sunset golfing, fishing, hunting. I don't do any of those things. So what it means to me is another step in the adventure of ministry that, that God would have me to do. So I will still be here. I'm still serving on the elder team. I'll still be teaching occasionally. In fact, I'll be teaching on the 21st because Curtis is getting Mary Curtis and Clark. 9 (34m 34s): And then, and then basically that means the whole Henry family are off for about couple of months. I don't know. I, I think they're all going, going on your honeymoon together. Hope you're prepared for that. Right? So I will still be around harvest church is still our home. I will just be serving a little bit different role. So I don't, I wanna say this in, in conclusion, you know, how long it takes pastors to conclude something. It has been a phenomenal joy in my life, in our life, serving here at harvesting, the, the role we've had both with the staff team and, and, and the community believers here. I mean, it's just been truly wonderful. 9 (35m 15s): It's been a great privilege. So you will still be seeing us around until I die. 3 (35m 21s): Cool. Yeah, we're talking now. Christie is all together way too young to be retiring. So she's actually starting a, it's kind of a ministry. It's a, it's a business called AA, right? Is it a, is that, did I get, get that right? 10 (35m 38s): ACORS and arrows. 3 (35m 40s): Learnings and arrows 10 (35m 40s): Community. Yes. 3 (35m 41s): A I was close. Yeah. Anyway. So tell us what you're doing, how long you've been here, what's going on and how the words moving. 10 (35m 47s): Yeah. I echo so much of what Ron said, but prior to coming on staff here at harvest, I was a public school teacher for 14 years and then God shifted my path a bit and came on board here. And I started out working on with children's ministries for about nine years and then transitioned into some other roles. And like Ron said, it has been just an absolute joy to get to know. So many of you work with families and children and then into adult ministry and children and families has always been my passion if you know me well and, and especially young moms and working with moms. And so over the past couple years, God's been kind of stirring my heart a little bit into some other areas back toward education. 10 (36m 32s): And so I've been stepping out of things here a little bit slowly, and it's taken a little bit of time, but yeah, in the past few months God's opened the door for me to open my own business in the community and really continue our mission of harvest of impacting our community and our world with the life changing message of Jesus Christ. And so I'm going to be offering a homeschool support program for families who have chosen a homeschool, their children, as many of you know, our educational system is shifting a lot. Our culture has changed a lot and parents are feeling the tug to bring their, their children home and educate them at home. And so God's called me to really support families in doing that. 10 (37m 12s): And so we'll be offering a program where students come two days a week and they're with other homeschooled children. And we have classes for them. I provide support for the moms in how to homeschool and answering questions. So I'm really excited about it. It's very scary. I've never opened my own business before. So I'm learning a lot, but God just brought so many amazing people around me to do this. So I feel so blessed and like, Ron, we're not going anywhere. My, our family is here, we're harvest through and through. And so we're here, you'll see us serving and being involved. And it's just a joy to be a part of this church, the staff team's amazing. Pastors love them dearly. And so thank you so much. 3 (37m 53s): Gather around here. Let's get Gary and Jim up here as well. We're gonna pray over these guys. So Neil, one of our other elders is outta, outta state currently. So Jim and Gary, let's get you guys right here. We're gonna lay hands on you and pray for you. And so Gary, I'm gonna have you pray for Ron and Jim. I'm gonna have you pray for Christie. So here you go. You need to have that. And so it's all agree. It's power heads and prayer 11 (38m 24s): Father. We just come before you right now, Lord. And we thank you Lord for Ron. What a man of God, he is Lord, we thank you father for his service at this church and in Avala and everywhere that he served you Lord across this country. We thank you, God, that as your word says, Lord, a tree that's planted by the water will bring forth fruit in its season continually. And we know God that you have more ministries and just different works that you have for Ron to do. And for DJ and we pray God that you would just bless them, continually bless their family, bless all of their friends and, and relatives and help them Lord to continue being a shining light as they have been for so many years. 11 (39m 20s): I thank you for my brother and my friend, and I pray that you would just really bless his latter days in Jesus' name. Amen. 3 (39m 29s): Amen. Amen. Thank you Gary. Mr. 12 (39m 35s): Ericsson, Lord. Thank you for today, Lord. It's what pleasure it is being in the house of the Lord. And thank you for giving us another day to worship you, to praise you and offer our praises and ourselves. Everything that we have to you. Lord, Lord, thank you for Christie and her service here at harvest and her passion for education. I share that passion as well. So Lord, we pray that as she's opening up her new business, Lord, pray that all that goes well and pray that families in the community will learn about Christie and her services. 12 (40m 19s): And we just pray that it will blossom and it'll spread the good news of Jesus Christ to maybe those that don't attend church, but yet will hear the word through what Christie's going to be doing. Lord, we thank you for her presence here. We thank you that her and her family are staying here at harvest to continue to serve our great God Lord. We thank you for everything. All the blessings that you give us every day, Lord in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. 3 (40m 55s): Amen. Hey, before you guys go, I just wanted to say that on Wednesday last week, our staff team gathered for lunch and we honored Ron and Christie. Oh, with gifts. So Ron doesn't hunt, but he does shoot trap. And so we got him a new trap gun and we're gonna might not know what trap, you know what? So you know, Paul boom. Yeah, there we go. Paul boom. Yeah. That pigeon yeah. Clay pigeons. Yeah. So, so that's we got him a gift there and we got Christy. Beautiful. Are you have it on? Oh, she has her necklace on, there we go. 3 (41m 35s): She own it off there. So anyway, just, we wanted to honor them with nice gifts saying thank you. We love you. The church is richer, better, more fruitful as a result of your input, your participation, the using of your gifts and talents. And so we're eternally grateful. The kingdom is eternally impacted because of your faithfulness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the privilege that it's been for me to serve with both of you as a leader, you, you really pray that God would bring you a great team and I've been so, so incredibly blessed by you both. 3 (42m 20s): And I just wanna say, thank you. I love you both. And let's continue to March forward together. Amen, man. Let's give a hug here. Love you. Love you. Love you guys. Hey, the elders you guys can go and except for you, Christie can go the elder. So Ron's still an elder here. So yeah, stay up here. So as God raises up, we're actually gonna, well, I turned it off. You turned it. Okay, go ahead and have it is Joe Daon here. Where's Joe, is he here? Hey there's Joe, come on, Joe. There we go. So can I get the certificate right there as well? Left that there Joe got a fresh haircut. 3 (43m 2s): You're looking good. I got a fresh haircut too. Yeah, it looks good. Is you're staying on the top? Like my, yeah, yeah, right there. Yeah. Yeah. Try to keep that long. Do the comb over, but it's not a good, not a good look on me. Yeah. Yeah. Try and try and try and try. And so Joe and his family, Katie and their kid, they've been here for how many years have you guys been here? Joe going on 10 years. 10 years. Yeah. 13 (43m 24s): 10 years. Yeah. There we go. Going on 10 years, 3 (43m 26s): There we go. 10 years. And Joe has been volunteering at lifeline crisis pregnancy center for a number of years 13 (43m 34s): Now. Oh yeah. Yeah. Going about going on two years, 3 (43m 37s): On two years, on two years and working out of his passion and out of his experience to minister, to the dads who are unexpectedly dealing with pregnancy and that sort of thing. And so Joe had that experience and you wanna share a little bit about that? 13 (43m 55s): Yeah. So about 27 years ago, I was faced with me and my wife were faced at the time was boyfriend girlfriend faced with pregnancy. I was, we were 16. And so obviously at 16, you know, you want to cover up and you want hide it and you don't want anybody to know, especially mom and dad. And so we were going through the whole motion of trying to figure out what we were gonna do, what the next step was. And so we were thinking about abortion. And so we called my wife called down to an abortion clinic that was giving abortions up to six months. And so through that time, we had opened up to close friends and relatives, cousins. 13 (44m 41s): And one of my cousins in class was like, Hey, you should tell her to go down to lifeline pregnancy center and see what they can do at that point. We didn't know what lifeline was. You know, we didn't know what, what their services were or what we thought. Okay. Maybe it's a local abortion clinic and come to find out that the women there as she went, she decided to go and she didn't give no information, no nothing. They just kind of just brought her in with love and kindness and really just kind of minister to her. They, you know, officially gave her the announcement that she was pregnant. And at this time I want to say she was about three or four months. 13 (45m 24s): And so they just asked if they could pray to her and pray with her and pray for her and the baby. And right there, she just felt that the holy spirit was telling her that you're gonna keep the baby. And so she called me later that night and said, Hey, you know, I just wanna share with you that I am, you know, definitely pregnant. And if you want out, this is your time out, but I'm gonna keep the baby. And I said, no, I'm definitely there for the long haul and we're here and let's do this. So yeah, that's where it started. And you know, I think it was 25 years later. I found myself getting involved with lifeline as an advocate, as you know, and just came full circle. 13 (46m 9s): And now here we are, and going around speaking to young men and, and ladies at different youth ministries at different churches throughout the central coast, sharing about, you know, healthy choices and, you know, there's just options and you know, just the whole thing about relationship and what it should be under Christ and what it looks like. And so we're just there to love them, support them and know that they're not alone. And so that's what we do. And so we've been doing that for a couple years now and it's been great, it's growing and we're excited to see what happens. 3 (46m 47s): Yeah. We couldn't be more proud of what God is doing with you. I, I love that God uses the broken pieces of our lives to minister, to others out of that brokenness. We can relate to people. We can love people deeply under with understanding and compassion, right. And so Joe, Joe's been doing this with lifeline clients, but also at work Joe's been salt and light, you know, impacting his, his work with the, with the message of the, the gospel. And so he's been mentoring, young men and one guy in particular at works, he's getting ready to get married. And he said, Hey, Joe, you know, help me out. So Joe's been kind of counseling with that or helping him navigate that. 3 (47m 30s): And then the guy said, Hey, would you officiate my, my wedding? And so Joe's like, I don't know. I, I'm not. Yeah. 13 (47m 38s): I was like, okay, well let me check it out. And so yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I was gonna go online and do it. And then I ended up actually getting pointed into the direction of the church and they're like, Hey, no, go check out pastor Steve and see what they can do and see if, you know, that's something that, you know, you can move forward with. And so I just stepped out in faith, you know? Yeah. And didn't know what it was gonna do or lead into. And here I am and getting presented with this and it's just the goodness and faithfulness of God that he's showing throughout my life. And I don't want to miss that, you know, because he's pulled me out of the ashes and, and, you know, before Christ and to bring me up here and to be that confirmation through elders and, and my family members that've been there, you know, really, really is why I'm stepping out. 13 (48m 34s): And, and just like this young man asking me, you know, just sharing through, through my, through my testimony and just sharing the gospel like we're called to do, you know, being that light is just really just confirmed that this is the next chapter. And so I'm just stepping down and seeing what 3 (48m 51s): Happens. Yeah. So we're here to recognize what God is doing in Joe's life. He asked if there would be a possibility for us to honor him with a, a license, a minister's license, so he can do the service, the marriage. So he can officiate the service, the marriage ceremony. And, and so we gathered his elders and Neil was there as well. And we just spent some time interviewing Joe. And again, he's been here for 10 years, so we know Joe pretty well. And so we had the chance just to interview him and really ask him some hard questions about his faith, about his life and about his purpose in life. And so we've all got when, when we come to faith in Jesus, we're all given gifts and talents. 3 (49m 40s): And when those gifts and talents are affirmed by people in our lives, we know that God's really doing something. So sometimes we think, oh, I, I feel called to this, but if nobody's affirming it, then there may be some questions around that. But, but we affirm what God is doing with Joe. Joe's gonna continue his ministry at lifeline as a volunteer. He's not coming on staff with us at harvest church. He's going to be a lay lay minister though, that we recognize and honor. And so we've got a certificate of license here. It says certificate of license, this certifies that Joe Daon has completed all the requirements to become a licensed minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 3 (50m 20s): And is hereby awarded the certificate by harvest Bible fellowship. That's our formal name, 1 24 west branch street, Ray Grandy. So we signed it. And I wanna read from second Timothy chapter four to you and over you. And there's a challenge. And as kind of some marching orders for you as you move forward. Before I do that, though, we've talked about just maintaining a gratitude and a humility before the Lord a lowness, as you serve people, Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom. For many, he came as a lowly servant, he's the king of Kings, but he came to serve. 3 (51m 4s): And so as you serve men and women, as you serve people, it's never from a place of I've arrived or I've got it all figured out, or I've got all of the answers, but it's from a place of gratitude that the Lord has given you. Opportunity has placed you in a position to speak words of life and grace and truth so that others might be, be drawn to him, be ified in the most holy faith and continue to pursue him. And so I'll read to you what Paul wrote to Timothy about his ministry. And first second, Timothy chapter four says, I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead. 3 (51m 47s): When he appears to set up his kingdom, preach the word of God, be prepared whether the time is favorable or not patiently, correct rebuke and encourage your people with good teaching for a time is coming. When people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching, they will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths, but you, you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Keep a clear mind in every situation, don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. 3 (52m 31s): Work at telling others the good news and fully carry out the ministry God has given to you. As for me, Paul writes, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight I have finished the race and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me, but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. So preach the word, be faithful, and just watch what God will do in your life as you surrender yourself to him. 3 (53m 16s): And so with that, as Ron is the outgoing pastor on our team, we're gonna let him pray. He's still a pastor here, but you know what I mean? So we're gonna have her on prey over you. 9 (53m 27s): All right. So Lord, we're just following the model that we see in scripture, that when it's obvious someone is called to ministry, Lord, that we agree with that. We agree with your calling upon Joe's life. We lay hands upon him, which is really a formal way of setting him apart for the work of the ministry that you've called him to do. So Lord, not only us up here, the elders, but all of us as a community believers, we, we recognize that that your hand is upon Joe and that you have lots of opportunity both now and into the future for him to minister to people. So we say, yes, Lord, to what you're doing in Joe's life. We pray for he and Katie, the whole family Lord, we, we expect that you're going to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think because of the fact that Joe is, is your servant. 9 (54m 17s): And you've filled him with your spirit. You've put a passion with it in his heart to speak your word faithfully. And so Lord, we, we lift him up to you. Thank you. That whom you call you also equip Lord. You've equipped Joe to accomplish the purposes for which he is pursuing. So Lord, thank you for our brother, Lord. We bless him. We love him and we wanna support him and encourage him and pray for him. And we, we just bless you. Thank you for the fruit that that will be coming about eternal lasting fruit because of the, the obedience Lord that he said yes to you and you've called him. And so Lord, we expect that you're going to just take him on this journey. 9 (54m 58s): It would be a, a, not a easy journey, but certainly a incredible journey as he walks this out with you, Lord, we pray and we all agree in Jesus' name. God's people said, 3 (55m 8s): Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you guys. Love you, Joe. Congratulations buddy. Love you. Love you. So, as we said, Joe is as a volunteer at lifeline and Curtis talked about the lifeline banquet that is coming up harvest church. We actually bought a table. How many sit at the table, Joe? Was it like eight or 10? 10, 10. So we've got, we've got space for 10, but listen, we're not letting just anybody sit at the table. So if you're coming just for a free meal, it's not for you, but if you want to come in preparation to give and to bless the ministry of lifeline with a financial gift, then we've got a place at the table for you. 3 (55m 53s): So it's easy to ask for money for somebody else. It's harder to ask for money for yourself. So for lifeline, if you want to go and be a part of that celebration at the banquet, let us know. We've got 10 spaces that are available for people who again, want to plan to show up and prayerfully support financially the work of the ministry there. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. Hey, we're gonna be inviting Jean to nay up. Where's Jean. I told you we got a lot going on today. So, so Jean is yeah, take the microphone. Jean, come on up. Jean's been out sick, dealing with all kinds of stuff and the Lord's been blessing her and touching her and healing her. 3 (56m 34s): And so what's the latest on your cancer scare there, girl. All clear. All clear. All good. That's awesome. Yeah. Congratulations. Yeah. So Jean is a prolific poet and she writes poetry like nobody's business. And so when we started our study through the book of James, she wrote Jean, the Lord just kind of gave her the ability to write a kind of a synopsis of each chapter. And so my goal today was to get up and kind of teach and kind of close out the book of James. But then I reread her poem and I'm like, this does it. So Jean's gonna take five minutes and read her poem in her British accent, her English accent. 3 (57m 18s): So that it sounds like she wrote it. And then we'll jump into our next study here. 15 (57m 23s): So they don't like it when you read them. 3 (57m 25s): No, they don't. Yeah. I don't do them. Any justice gene. 15 (57m 28s): Well, we did James at our ladies Bible study recently Thursday mornings in the loft. And I always like to recap like Steve does and as I was going through the lessons, we're just turned into a poem. Yeah, no one was more amazed than me. So here we go. This is the book of James. And you know, we need to recap because we tend to what forget. And James is such an incredible book on how to live the life that we've signed up for. So here we go. Chapter one, the trials of life, perfect us. So we joyfully embrace hardships and difficulties looking to the master's face, requesting wisdom from above it's free and there for all though, don't be double minded or you'll get none at all, rich or poor. 15 (58m 17s): It makes no odds in God's economy. Death comes to all in trials, too. God tests your faith. You see every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord above. He birthed us by his word of truth. Enveloped us in love. Watch your tongue. It is a fire. Listen more than talk. Be doers of the word you hear. You need to walk the walk. Don't just sit and soak up. God, you need to help each other to truly be a child of God of this world. Be not a lover. Chapter two, God shows no partiality to man and neither friend should you all are equal in his sight. 15 (59m 2s): The rich and homeless too. Love your neighbor. As yourself. Favoritism is a sin. God chose the poor for richest faith. Their honor is in him. Break one item of the law and you're guilty of it. All show no mercy. You'll get none. God judges one and all look around to meet and need work out. What's been worked in the fruit of faith is what you do to hoard. It is a sin. Ape was proved a righteous man by all the things he did, faith and action trusting. God made him a friend of God. Rayhab the Harlet trusted too. 15 (59m 44s): Became an ancestor of the Lord. Saved from distraction by her faith. Her actions saved her life. Chapter three. If you decide to teach the folk, be careful. What you say for all of us can give offense imperfect. As we are a tongue, a deadly weapon, lifting up or tearing down like a spark. It sets a blaze, a world of hurt and pain with our mouth. We bless the Lord and then run someone down a fountains, either good or bad. No compromise should be found. Are any here intelligent, full of wisdom. 15 (1h 0m 24s): Good and true. Then live an upright noble life. Humbly helping others too. Jealousy and contention comes from Satan and his crew. But wisdom comes from God. Above is pure and peaceful, loving, true wholehearted and straightforward, no doubts or wavering here. Fill your life with righteousness, creating peace for all who hear chapter four, discord and contention come from our earthly war soul. We want the things we do not have. We feel they'll make us whole ask of God. The things you need with a heart that's pure and true. 15 (1h 1m 6s): Not with selfish motives though. He'll give you all. That's good for you. You cannot be the world's friend. When you belong to God, he loves you with a jealous love. He'll give you grace to choose the things that truly please in most though, the holy through the holy Spirit's power resist that wily Satan, and he will run for cover humble your heart and drawing close to Papa almighty God he'll hold you tight and keep you near forgive your wandering heart. He'll lift you up, exalt you high he'll glorify your life. When in remorse you seek his face. 15 (1h 1m 48s): He will make all things right. There is one judge, one law giver, and it definitely isn't us. So mind your own business and leave the judging to the boss. Pray before you make your plans to visit here and there. Pray God's will upon your life and let him lead you there. Gold, silver will chapter five, gold and silver will rush through be careful what you store. Don't cheat workers of their wages. Their cry comes before the Lord be patient till you see the day the coming of the Lord do not kill the innocent or in soft living. 15 (1h 2m 29s): Put your store before too long, the Lord will come as a farmer, awaiting reign, be patient knowing it will come be strong until that time be steadfast and enduring. As the prophets were before remember job and all he lost. And then God gave him more. If you are sad, then pray to God. If happy, sing his praise. If sick have people pray for you and knocked with oil and pray with faith, confess your faults, your slips, and pray forgiveness for your sins. Prayer is a very powerful tool that changes many things. 15 (1h 3m 11s): Elijah was a man like you, and he prayed. It would not rain for three and a half years. That drought came on until he prayed again. And you are like Elijah. So if you see a sister or brother fall, lovingly restore with prayer for God loves you. So that's all. 3 (1h 3m 40s): Thank you, Jean. You know, Jean's been writing poems forever and then years ago, just real quick story. She read Bible stories and put that I'm on tapes and CDs. And so a lot of our young people that are now adults around here grew up listening to Jean's Bible stories and that's how they learned the books or the different Bible stories and things like that. So a lot of people have really been blessed and ministered to by our friend, Jean. So thank you. I'm so glad you're clear and good. Your cancer's gone. And so we'll celebrate that with you. So good stuff. Good stuff. First Peter, chapter one, go ahead and open up first Peter chapter one, you know, as we attempt to understand what the scripture tells us and helps us to, as we attempt to understand what the verses mean, there's a process called exegesis and there's a principle in exegesis called the synthesis principle. 3 (1h 4m 38s): And so I want to explain kind of the synthesis principle for us because I, I think it helps us understand how to read the Bible and how to understand the Bible. God's got a message for us in the word of God. So as we think through the scripture that we're reading, as we come across something, we need to consider the context, what is the immediate context of this, this verse? And so as you look at a verse and you are considering the context, there's the immediate context, the verses prior, and after the verse that you're reading, you want to understand what is being communicated and there's nothing better to interpret scripture than scripture itself. 3 (1h 5m 21s): And so there's the immediate context. What is written just prior and just after the verse that you're trying to understand, and then there's the wider context. And so we're gonna be in first Peter. And so if you come across a verse in first, Peter, that you're not fully grasping, so you look at the immediate context, but then you look at the wider context. What is the writer of Peter trying to communicate? What's the message of first Peter. And so as you read through that difficult passage, you can begin to consider not just the immediate, but the wider context and begin to get some better understanding of that verse. And then as you are still maybe still struggling and you wanna make sure that the way you understand the verse is actually the way God intended for us to understand the verse. 3 (1h 6m 9s): Then we need to look at the complete context of the word of God, the old and the new Testament. So this synthesis process or, or, or program will help us to understand the scripture. And so, as we read the scripture and as we decide what it is that we believe about the scripture, we need to make sure that our theology, because we've all got a theology about God theology is the study of the nature of God. And so we all have a theology about God. We all believe something about God. So we need to make sure that our theology, what we're believing our doctrine is communicated in the scriptures of the old and the new Testament, the, the scriptures and the old and the new Testament, all speak a message. 3 (1h 6m 53s): And that message points us to Jesus and there's understandings throughout the old and the new Testament that will help us serve Jesus. And so that's why, when we talked about the different types of laws a few weeks ago, we talked about the ceremonial laws. We talked about the civil laws and we talked about the moral laws. And so we, in an effort to understand what our obligation is as believers, we really applied that synthesis model. And we just, we know from that model, from that type of ex, at least that portion of, of exegesis, we know that the ceremonial laws for a were for a time, but when Christ came, all of that ended, we know that the civil laws were for the people in Palestine and the, the people of Israel, they were there. 3 (1h 7m 41s): A lot of them are transferable today and they kind of share space with moral laws. And so we see some of the civil laws and we covered those a couple weeks ago, actually are moral laws as well. And so we looked at the moral laws and we know that those moral laws are seen in the old, the new testaments and that Jesus affirms them. The, the apostles affirmed them, the writers of the new Jess reform them in the scripture. And so as we kind of study the word of God, I'll share more kind of tidbits about exegesis and about how to study the Bible as we move forward. Because I, I think it's just gonna help us to continue to grow in our understanding. I think we all desire to understand the Bible, to grow in our ability, to read, understand, and apply the truth. 3 (1h 8m 26s): And so it'll be my effort to try to share different tidbits like that from time to time, just to kind of give us a little more information as we open up the scripture. So again, we must examine a passage in relation to its immediate context. What was the next one wider context? And then beyond that it's complete context, right? So immediate, wider, and complete context. We need to understand that the Bible does not contradict itself. Sometimes we read the scripture and it appears that the Bible is contradicting itself, but we know that the Bible does not contradict itself. 3 (1h 9m 7s): And so we need to be faithful to understand those difficult passages in light of those of the context of the word of God. And as we do that, we will have greater confidence in the Bible, greater confidence in who we are as Christians, as believers. And we will be able to trust God moving forward. So let's look at the first couple verses in first Peter chapter one, and then we're just gonna unpack things from there. And I'm, I look like I've got about 30 minutes left. Is that 30 or three? I think I might have three minutes left. So I'm not sure actually how far we will get today. Cuz we actually have another service that we gotta get to. 3 (1h 9m 47s): But maybe I'll just tell you what I'm gonna tell you. And then next week I'll tell you what I'm gonna tell you. How's that sounds good. So first Peter one, one and two, this is greetings from Peter. So what do we know about Peter? Peter was kind of reckless, right? He was kind of this gruff and tough guy. He was always speaking up when he probably should have been quiet. He was always just a little bit rambunctious and headstrong, but God uses people who are rambunctious and headstrong for his kingdom purposes. And he also uses people who are more timid and quiet and soft spoken. 3 (1h 10m 27s): He uses all of us with our personalities as he gives us gifts and talents to Edify, to build up the body of Christ. And so that we might be salt and light. So I love Peter because he steps all over his own tongue and he gets himself in trouble. But Peter learns, he learns from his mistakes and don't, we all need to have that perspective. Like man, I misstep there or I misspoke there. I need to back up a little bit, reconsider my life, my motivations, my words, and then think clearly about what God would have me to do. 3 (1h 11m 7s): So Peter he's all over the place. But in acts, we read that as Peter preached, how many people came to faith in Jesus, the thousands, right? Thousands come to faith in Jesus Christ because of Peter's newfound clarity and unction. He's filled with the holy spirit and he's speaking the truth with passion and clarity and people are responding. This letter is from Peter in apostle of Jesus Christ. So he was one of the ones where Jesus said, Peter, come follow me and I will make you a Fisher of men. So Jesus identified Peter as a man that he wanted in his inner circle because he had purpose for him. 3 (1h 11m 47s): And so Peter lives the rest of his life, serving, honoring and giving himself to Jesus. Ultimately Peter's crucified upside down. He has martyred like most of the other apostles and he gives his life all the way through and through for the gospel I'm writing to God's chosen people. He writes and we see it kind of a similar greeting in, in James chapter one, as James writes to his listener, Peter writes to his listener, this letters from Peter and apostle of Jesus Christ. I'm writing to God's chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pius Galatia, captia Asia and Bethia. 3 (1h 12m 31s): These are all Roman provinces that are now located in a place called Turkey. So Turkey, we just heard about Igar in Azure by Jean. And if you look on the map, like we just had up there, you'll see that Azure by John's just east of Turkey. And so this letter is written to people in this part of the world. And so I'm so excited that we get to support the work of the gospel in Azure, by John. So to reinforce that we need to be praying for Igar. As Curtis said, we need like 87 full-time missionaries for that one area, that one region to be saturated with the gospel. 3 (1h 13m 12s): And so for 2000 years, the gospel has been communicated to this region gospel. God's been trying to reach the people of this region. And to this day, we're still trying to reach the people of that region. Verse two God. The father knew you and shows you long ago and his spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ made God, give you more and more grace and peace. So again, who is Peter writing to verse one, I am writing to God's chosen people. 3 (1h 13m 56s): That's the new living translation of that verse. The NIV, the new international version says I'm writing to God's elect. The SV says to those who are elect, what does it mean to be elect? So when you, you go to a, a polling station and it's midterms or whatever the election season is, and you're casting your vote, you are hoping to elect the next person in the office. So the elect are those who are chosen. They are pit. They are chosen by God for a purpose and for salvation. 3 (1h 14m 39s): So Christ has elected. God has elected those who will be saved. And so now we get into all kinds of murky water and I'm down to 49 seconds. Now who put it back up now I had 8 51. You guys are so confusing me. Did I? Negative eight? Is that a negative? My eyes are so bad. Here we go. I am overdue. Okay. So this is what we're gonna talk about next week. Next week, we're gonna answer the question. Did we choose God or did God choose us? 3 (1h 15m 21s): And we're gonna be looking at the difference between Calvinism and our manism, John Calvin coined, what we, or what's the word kind of described what he believes about God and his sovereignty and about his foreknowledge. And, and then his student, Jacob Armenian, who was a Calvinist because of his tutelage under John Calvin, he, after getting into the ministry, he decided to think differently and began to read the scripture and think differently about God and his sovereignty and his foreknowledge. 3 (1h 16m 5s): And so we're gonna unpack it. I, I, I'm so anxious to get to this right now. And I was really hoping we could get to it today, but there's just so much going on. So next week I'm gonna tell you, we're gonna get into this Calvinism versus our manism and we're gonna unpack this thing. And hopefully by the end of the week, next week into the service next week, we'll have some clarity about who God is about his four knowledge about election, about what God is doing in the world. Amen. Amen. Let's with that, go ahead and stand up. We're gonna invite the worship team back and sorry to tease you with that, but we're going to have to pick it up next week. And so Lord, as we continue to worship God, we, we thank you Lord. 3 (1h 16m 50s): And, and we're grateful Lord for your word that it teaches us Lord and that so many amazing things happened, and we're just grateful for who you are. And so Lord, as we get ready to take communion, we just want to reflect on what happened on that cross 2000 years ago, Lord, we want to remember God who you are and what you're all about. And so God, we, we, once a month, Lord, we stop. We pause and we reflect on that sacrifice that you made when Calvary 2000 years ago. 3 (1h 17m 33s): And we read from first Corinthians chapter 11, where it says for, I pass on to you. What I received from the Lord himself, Paul writes on the night when he was betrayed, the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me. Let's go ahead and take the bread. 3 (1h 18m 21s): Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you Lord, for your body. That was crucified, pierced whipped S scourge beaten for me in my place. The wages of sin is death, But the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus of the Lord. And so thank you for paying the penalty for my sin, for our sin individually, collectively corporately God you've died for our sins. And we believe that we honor you for that sacrifice today. We love you Lord in Jesus name in the same way, verse 25, he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood. 3 (1h 19m 8s): Do this to remember me, as often as you drink, if for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's take this use Lord, thank you for the opportunity to be refreshed by the juice as it represents your blood. And your blood is what cleanses us. 3 (1h 19m 48s): There's no remission of sins without the shedding, your blood Lord. There's no forgiveness without the shedding. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ our Lord. So you gave your body and your blood and we praise you for that. We thank you for that. We thank you, Lord for your grace and God. As we, we worship you with these, with this last set of worship, this last song, we pray that you would be glorified as we, as we align our lives with you. As we confess our sin, as we allow you to be Lord and leader of our lives, Lord God today, and every day, Lord be glorified. If you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus, Jesus died for you. 3 (1h 20m 29s): He loves you. Bible calls us all sinners. We've all sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard. And that wage of sin, the penalty for that sin is death. And so Jesus came to die for us paying the penalty, taking the sins of humanity upon himself so that we might be forgiven and walk in newness of life called being born again. And so Lord, we thank you for that gift. Pray that whoever's here today, who has never made that decision to make you Lord and leader of their lives to receive your grace and your mercy and your love. God, I pray. They do that now. Thank you, Lord God. We love you. As we worship, help us to just continue to worship and spirit and the truth. Be glorified. We pray in Jesus name. 3 (1h 21m 10s): Amen. Amen. Let's worship 2 (1h 21m 27s): One with God time hitting what? A beautiful, what a beautiful, the name. What a, what a beautiful name. 2 (1h 22m 10s): It's so she was great. You love was great. Wonderful name, nothing. 0 (1h 24m 9s): The 18 (1h 26m 45s): Thank you Jesus for your powerful name. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for this morning in church. And for the time we took to take communion and the time we took to honor people, God, we thank you for your presence. We thank you for your love. We thank you for your truth. We just give you the rest of our days, the rest of our weeks and your precious new praying. Amen.