Harvest Church Arroyo Grande

The Making of a True Disciple of Christ

2 (3s): Hello. Hello, welcome. Welcome. Good to have you all here. Wow. This is kind of surreal our last Sunday of, of being doing churches. We've done it for a long time. And so next Sunday, we will be in the worship center, just down the road. Yeah. So we got our permitting to assemble and everything this last week. So we are all good to go. So very exciting stuff just for the parents. So zero through 23 months, we have kids classes over at the worship center and then all the kids up from that next, this is next week. All the kids up from that are going to be still in their same classes here. 2 (47s): So, but today is family Sunday. So kids first grade and up will be in service with their families. And then, yeah, so first grade and up, we'll be in service with your families. And we've also got donuts out on the, by the patio there. So definitely go check those out and that's all I got for you. So we got a video here and we'll get that going. 4 (1m 40s): God brought me to this school and this school brought me to gun. 5 (1m 43s): I like her school because it's a lot easier to connect and grow closer to God. 6 (1m 46s): I have teachers and Christian friends at this school that I can talk to 7 (1m 49s): For once. I feel like I belong. 8 (2m 9s): I like CCS because I feel accepted as myself. 9 (2m 12s): I'm here because I get to see other people connect 10 (2m 15s): With God. I like how the school gives me good influences. 11 (2m 18s): This school has shown me how to love God and not follow the world. 12 (2m 22s): The teachers are always open to talk about God and problems. He with 7 (2m 25s): You can feel his presence all over this place. Jesus picked me, chose me and loved me for a reason. And being here has made that reason more clear. 10 (2m 40s): I'm excited to build a better relationship with God. He's like my best friend. 13 (2m 45s): He's going to love me no matter what I've done, he does 14 (2m 47s): Keep his promises, any promises, good things. 13 (2m 50s): I want to show others the way he moved to me so they can see that he's real and he's there and he can change your life just as much as she's changed mine. 15 (3m 4s): Well, good morning. My name is Tom . I'm the head of school here for coastal Christian school. And I just appreciate so much that your church has been a great supporter of our school and a partner with us. And many of your people here have been a part of the work that God does at coastal Christian school. And that video that was just made how was filmed during COVID, which means kids can still have fun out there in this world. And even during that time of the craziness, but it shows you that our school just isn't a kind of a normal Christian school is more of a Christian experience. There's other ministries that kind of feed into what we do. There's a church influence. Obviously we have chapels and Bible classes. 15 (3m 45s): We have a camp kind of influence when we go to spiritual emphasis. And, and so it's, it's a Christian experience. And so during these, these years here, it coastal Christian, we're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. Yes. And it's really a celebration of God's faithfulness to that work. And I define Christian education this way. It's I define it as having truth and wisdom, saturating their knowledge and truth is obviously Jesus. He is the way the truth and the life. And so we want God's word to just permeate. What, what they're hearing in, help them develop a biblical worldview, where they're actually taking the word of God and creating that as the lens to see the world, because you guys know education's not neutral anymore. 15 (4m 33s): There's an agenda at everything. I have an agenda. I want these kids to know Jesus and be able to have a personal relationship with him and be able to go forth into this world, knowing their mission and, and be able to think well and everything. So we're kind of like a think of our school is like a five legged stool. There's there's we have our mission, our philosophy. We have really our, our academic program. We have our kind of business model that we operate out of there. We have our strategic planning and then we also have a, a kind of a community that we want to nurture. And so we've grown, we've added another campus. We're actually renting from new life. 15 (5m 14s): We have a trail that goes up the hill for us that connects the two campuses. We've seen performing arts grow. We're using the Clark center to do some performances there. Sports have grown because the Lord has just blessed the school during this time, in this last year to illuminate what we're doing in a lot of families have said, you know what? I want to have my kids be a part of that. And so if you're interested to learn more about our school, I'll have a little table out back and just connect with you. Be able to share with you some more information about our school. Cause I'd love to be able to have you guys come on campus to see this goal for yourself and experienced coastal Christian. So thank you so much for the time. 2 (5m 56s): Thank you, Tom. Awesome. All right. Well, I'm just going to go ahead and pray and we'll get into worship. So if you'll stand with me, that'd be great, Lord, Jesus. We just want to come before you this morning and we just want to open ourselves up to you. We want to worship you this morning. Jesus. And so you're the reason we're here. We just pray that, that you would fill this whole place that you'd fill every venue where people are meeting and the people who are meeting online. Jesus, we, we are here. We avail ourselves to you. And we just ask that you would fill us that you would minister our minds, hearts, souls, body, spirit, every part of us. Jesus. And we just come before you Jesus name. 2 (6m 38s): Amen. 17 (7m 7s): We worship the God. We worship the God. We worship the God who ever ball. He open the prison doors. 17 (7m 21s): We see the God. 17 (8m 8s): We see the God On that cross that he rose up from that gray And we were the bag. 17 (8m 56s): Now we were the press. Now we all forget, except his friends, that the house of the We are forgiven by his grace, the house There's joy in the house, just in the house. 17 (9m 45s): We won't be quiet In the house. God is shot. We won't be quiet. You worship you this morning. 17 (10m 55s): Jesus. There's a name that metal smell Comes out high. We used to see, I've seen it's powered Rob of bad. I've seen his praise and rabid right off the giant falling strongholds. 17 (12m 11s): Greg DASA palate. she Oh, Oh Nothing else. 17 (20m 8s): 21 (20m 28s): Or we're so humbled by your presence today. And we thank you that we've had the opportunity that we've got the opportunity to gather in this place that has been our church home for the last 17 years and will continue to be our church home, but it's bitter and sweet that we're gonna be moving next week into new worship center and solar. We just want to say thank you for the many miracles that we've seen over these last 19 years, but especially here the last 17 that we've been just on this campus. And now Lord, as we expand, we pray Lord that our ability to be salted lights is the only reason for expansion as kingdom people is that we might have a broader reach, a greater reach, deeper reach in the kingdom and in the world that you've called us to bring your kingdom to. 21 (21m 23s): So Lord God, we, we realize Lord that if you've given us more space, Lord, it is the expansion of your kingdom and all for your glory and for your purposes and God, you get all the credits. And we say, thank you, Lord, God, you've been so faithful. As we've been working on that project for these last 55 weeks, Lord, you have been so good to us. And Lord, we just, as we get ready to launch that next week, we pray God that all of the little details we get wrapped up and all of the little things we get finished and that as we move into that space or that our ability to disciple people, to see people come into the kingdom and see people baptized and see whole family lives and families and generations be impacted with the gospel or we pray. 21 (22m 16s): That would be the case. Lord, we thank you for the, the growth that coastal Christian school has experienced in these last couple of years, Lord, you've taken this crazy COVID thing and you've made it a blessing in so many ways, Lord to that school. And it's been hard and yet good. And it's just all of the above Lord. So we just pray blessing upon CCS Lord upon their, their effort to partner with families, to see their people, their young people discipled, and to become strong leaders and followers of followers of you first and strong leaders within the kingdom, within the community. Lord God. 21 (22m 56s): So strengthen their work. We pray where Jesus, God, I'm so grateful for the young people who are going out to think about Eva. Kessler is going to be on mission this summer. And I think if Jacob Erdman who will be on mission this summer, he's already gone. And so we bless those young people or God, we bless them as they, as they sacrifice in a sense, air quotes sacrifice their summer so that they can be equipped and to release into the culture, to make a difference, Lord God, to be salt and light. So bless, bless them. I pray that this experience would transform their thinking and their understanding about you and about their role in the culture and that they would have new found purpose Lord as a result. 21 (23m 43s): So bless Jacob and Eva and others. She would be traveling this summer to do missions work, bless them. Lord God. We pray blessing upon our dear friend, Darlene Buchanan, who has been with us for these last 10 years or 12 years or so, whatever it's been, it's been so glorious. Lord God, she gets ready to move to Washington states to be closer to family and friends. Lord bless her. Lord, bless her. We are so thankful for her. We love her so much, Lord God. And we've walked through a lot of hard seasons as she's lost her husband. 21 (24m 28s): And we've just as a church have done our best to come alongside her. So bless Darlene Lord. As she transitions, we will see her again. You're there or in the air. We will see her again, Lauren, and think about Andrew and Stephanie who were moving to Idaho and the Martins, Lord blessed the Martins or God and so many people in transition. Lord God, I just, we just pray blessing upon your family here at harvest church, whether we're here or somewhere else in the world, Lord, we just pray that we would take the kingdom with us, the gospel with us, and that we'd be salt and light wherever we go or Jesus, thank you, Lord. For who you are. Lord, we pray for the health of People like David Rue. 21 (25m 10s): She was just battling cancer. People like candy welt shoes, just recovering from heart surgery and Shaun bath. My cousin who's recovering from surgery and is in a deal, did great deal of pain. We pray blessing and grace upon these people, Lord, for all, I know that we could spend an hour just naming people or God. And so we just pray God for the health Of our people here at harvest church, your grace upon our lives or God that you would bless families. Lord God, especially those who are struggling right now that you would strengthen them and bless them and help them and encourage them more. 21 (25m 52s): God got to remind us that prayer is so powerful. Lord, it's not a last resort. It's a first resort. It's what we have the privilege to do and the opportunity to do, to enter into times of prayer for the people in our lives for our loved ones. Lord God. So thank you Lord, for this time, pray God that you would be ministering to every soul in this place. And every buddy gathered on this campus and everybody tuned in online, Lord God, we pray that just a release of healing power know so many people deal with chronic pain and sickness and we just pray God for your divine grace, upon our bodies, Lord, that healing would be just experienced and enjoyed. 21 (26m 35s): And there be a blessing of healing, physical, physical healing, Lord God, upon our bodies that mental and emotional and spiritual in every way, Lord, that we'd be experiencing your grace in a fresh new way. So Lord do wonderful and supernatural things. As we gather, Lord God, give us grace and faith for the seasons that we enjoy and endures both or it. And so Lord help us. We pray bless this time. As we open up the word as we've worshiped, as we've fellowshipped, as we prayed, Lord, continue to move powerfully in our midst Lord, we ask Jesus name Jesus name, amen, turn and greet someone. That's you have never ever greeted before. 21 (27m 17s): And we will come on right back. 21 (28m 34s): Good morning. There it is. Hey, did everybody receive communion elements as you came in, we're going to be taking community's family Sunday. So for Sunday, the month donuts and communion, all of these things to enjoy and as well as kids jokes, we've got some kids jokes today. Look at this. I came into my office Monday, I think. And I had these two little envelopes in my stackable there where I received my mail and I said, well, what are these to receive some jokes from Tessa? And she said, dear, pastor Steve, my name is Tessa. 21 (29m 17s): I go to church with my grandma, Tracy. Here's some, here's some jokes for, for Sunday sermon. So I'm going to be using some of Tess's jokes. And if Tesla's here as promised, I do have a $5 bill for her. Sometimes you just gotta pay for resource. You know, you've got to pay for resources. So I'm willing to do that. If you're, you know, you know, under 18, if you're over 18, then you just got to get them to me free. And, and that that's all right too. So we're taking, we're done with Hebrews. And so we were going to start a new series today in James, but it seemed more, more appropriate to start that James series in our new worship center. 21 (30m 2s): So interesting story in 2002, before we planted this church, we were in prayer about what to do with our lives as a family. Cause we just wrapped up a tenure stint at another church. And so we were just prayerful about what Lord wanted us to do. So we, we were just having a small Bible study in a friend's home and, and as a precursor to planning this church, I was teaching through the book of James. And so it's really interesting that, and I've taught through James since then as well, but it'll be really interesting to and fund as we kind of experienced maybe a little bit of a rebirth in our new space to teach through James again. 21 (30m 44s): So I'll touch on it a little bit today, but mostly we'll get going on that in the next week or two. And so it'll be really, really fun, but they were in Matthew chapter seven and we'll be looking at some passages. They're just kind of a topical message we're teaching through the scripture there, but title of the message today, the making of a true disciple of Christ, kind of on the heels of what we learned last week and really all through our Hebrews study and really kind of in preparation for James, James is going to get our attention and it will challenge us in ways that maybe we've not been challenged in a long way. 21 (31m 29s): So get ready for that. I would encourage you is five chapters. I would encourage you to read ahead. And you just, as a primer for the study, just read through all the five chapters. It won't take you very long. You can get it done and you know, 30 or 40 minutes, but read through that. And, but before we go there, let's say this, let's do this. What did the horse, why did the horse cross to the cross? The street? I'm trying to remember. I'm trying to read the writing, pour a little test. Your, what did, why did the CRA horse cross the street To visit his neighbor? 21 (32m 12s): Here we go. Jim said, I want to build a gigantic boat, but I'll need some help. Bob said, well, I just happened to know a guy. I love kids jokes. I've got more. I'm going to save them for next family Sunday. And if I use them again, if I use her jokes against you, you get five bucks next family, Sunday as well. So the making of a true disciple of Christ, what does a disciple? What, before we kind of get into this topic, it's helpful for us to understand what a disciple is. It's kind of old language. 21 (32m 52s): We don't use it in our culture per se. We're not Jewish. So we don't fully understand some of us are Jewish, but we don't fully understand discipleship and what that terminology is and what that means for us as Gentiles. But Jesus said, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit. So what is he asking us to do? What is a disciple of Christ? A disciple is literally a learner. Someone who follows the teachings of another saved or unsaved, we are all disciples of someone. 21 (33m 33s): So we're all learning. And in that respect, emulating, copying the behavior of others around us, whether it's celebrities or, or sports stars or teachers, or just people that we admire or respect, we're emulating, we're copying the behavior. We're learning from others and then imitating their lives. When we give our lives to Jesus, we become Christians term really is little Christs. We often talk about being Jesus with skin on meaning we're to represent him in the flesh in this world, in our culture and our lives were to represent Jesus, the Christ. 21 (34m 16s): We, this is the transition that takes place when it would be when we become born again, we literally are born a new we've got new purpose, new life, new focus, and a new power to do what God has called us to do. So when we give our lives to Jesus, we become Christians, little Christs to denounce the teachings of this fallen world system and adhere to the instructions found in the Bible. So it's a total transition that takes place. That's meant to take place. When we give our lives to Jesus, our, our lives are meant to be focused completely on something different disciples or followers of Jesus who learned from him, how to live and love and lead others to him. 21 (35m 3s): So when we're called to be disciples, we're actually called to go out and help others to follow Jesus. They are imitators of their teacher, mimickers of their master, the Lord Jesus Christ, Easton, Bible dictionary, Easton's Bible dictionary defines a disciple of Christ as one who believes his doctrine. So as we come to faith in Jesus, we declare that we actually believe what he taught. We believe his doctrine. We rest on his sacrifice. We fully trust that the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross at Calvary is it was, it is. 21 (35m 48s): And it will always be absolutely sufficient. So we, we rest on his sacrifice. Eastern goes on to say that person imbibes his spirit. We don't use that word. Imbibes very much, but it means to drink or to absorb. So we're to drink in or absorb the spirits of the living. God, we're promised that when we come to faith, that we are filled with the spirit of the living God. And then that spirit is in us to convict us of righteousness, to teach us, to instruct us, to comfort us. The spirit is the comforter and the convictor. 21 (36m 29s): He's the one who is within us, constantly in us. And we're to drink him into soak, absorb the spirit of the living. God, Ephesians five talks about continually being filled with the holy spirit of God. So we have this responsibility to continually invite God in. So we're saying spirit filming, overwhelming. I want to drink you in. I want to absorb you and your life. And then we're to imitate his example. So as, as disciples, we're to imitate Christ's example in John 8 31, the king James version, it's not on the screen, but it says, this then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him. 21 (37m 12s): If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples in deed. So there's a way to determine whether or not we are disciples. If we continue in his word and understanding and applying and obedience to his word, then indeed we are his disciples. So we need to examine our lives and evaluate our lives all the time. And I love to do that. As I open up the scripture every day, I say, okay, Lord is my life in alignment with your word? And what I'm reading is it, does it reflect who I am? I want to be a proper disciple, a follower. 21 (37m 52s): And once you mimic who you are and what your word says, the disciple of Christ is not simply a believer in Jesus, but one who actually obeys what Jesus says, disciples embody the message. James can Fe conveys to the elders of the, of the church there. He said, be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves, sorta be hearers and doers, be doers of the word. So we hear it. And we could argue that we're not actually hearing if we're not actually doing so, we can hear something go in one ear and out the other. 21 (38m 38s): But we demonstrate that we've heard when we do what God has asked us to do. So be doers of the word, not hearers, only deceiving your own selves, James 1 22. So let's get into our text here in Matthew, chapter seven, verses 21 through 29, Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount here, he said, not everyone who calls out to me, Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do. And here it is, again, only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter that. Interesting. Let me read it again. Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord will actually enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 (39m 19s): Only those who actually do the will of my father in heaven will enter. So number one, in your notes, true disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. It's it's it's in the definition of what a disciple is that we are actually to do the will of the father, Matthew 7 22 on judgment day. And we talk about this a lot. When we will stand before the Lord and give an account for our lives. Jesus talks about this in Matthew 7 22 on judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name, but I will reply. 21 (40m 8s): I never knew you get away from me. You who break God's laws. None of us want to be in that position. We want to hear well done, enter into your rest. This is what we want to hear when we stand before Jesus, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into your rest. We will do that as we've trusted Jesus for our salvation. And as we become genuine disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So it's separates in a sense, the sheep from the goats, from those who declare but live differently from those who are lukewarm or just playing the Christian game. 21 (40m 54s): I played that for a number of years, got saved, I guess, in junior high school. But then I kind of, I've shared this story before, but I I've asked slated and I didn't really know what to do with my faith. And so by junior year of high school, I was still doing the same thing. And one day I felt like the Lord drew a line in the sand and said, you have to choose, will you choose me or the world? And it was like, the Lord was saying, you can no longer live your life this way. You have to choose. And by God's grace, I chose to follow him. Not perfectly, none of us do it perfectly, but that was the decision. And so maybe you're here today and you're at that same crossroads where you're saying, I just, I am done teetering and having a foot in the church and a foot in the world I'm done with being confused about who I am and about what God has called me to do. 21 (41m 50s): And I just know that I need to follow Jesus. How would encourage you to choose Jesus today? You become a disciple. Maybe you're struggling and vacillating and feeling lukewarm because you've given your life to Jesus, but you haven't understood what God is actually calling you into. He's calling you into a new life of servitude. I've following him. Jesus said to his disciples, come follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Leave, leave all of that previous life behind and come and focus on something completely different. I never knew you. It speaks to the desire that Jesus has to have an intimate connection, knowledge and knowledge of his followers in an intimate relationship with us in all of our brokenness, his grace is sufficient and he calls us into intimacy with him. 21 (42m 44s): I never knew you get away from me. You who break God's slob, breaking God's law is actually the opposite of true discipleship. If we follow Jesus example, we will do what the father calls us to do. We will obey the laws of God and John five 19. So Jesus explained, I tell you the truth. The son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the father doing whatever the father does. The son also does. So he's establishing who he is. 21 (43m 26s): I am the son of the father, and I will only do what I see the father doing. I will only say what I hear the father saying. I'm so intimately connected to God's plan and purpose for my life. I will emulate and follow him. And I will only do those things that I see him doing. George Mueller wrote. There was a day when I died, died to self my opinions, preferences tastes and will died to the world it's approval, or since your died to the approval or blame even of my brethren or friends. 21 (44m 21s): And since then, I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. Mueller's speaks of living his life before an audience of one, not disregarding others' opinions, his own desires, his own plans, whatever, what others thought of him. And he said, I will do the will of the father. I have studied only to show myself approved unto God. So he's looked at the scripture and said, I'm going to do that. I he's filled with the spirit of God. And he's determined by God's grace to do the will of the father back to Matthew seven, verse 24. 21 (45m 6s): It says anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise. Jesus said like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. So the person who listens to what Jesus is speaking and communicating and his word and follows it, that person is wise like a person who's building their house on solid rock. So we're all building our house on something. We're all establishing our lives on something. Jesus said the only way that you're actually going to build your lives, your house on solid rock is by listening and obeying everything else is like building your house on the sand. 21 (45m 49s): You know what happens when the St you build your house on the sand, the waters come and erodes the sand. There's no solid or permanence about that. There's nothing solid or permanent about them. The foundation of sand is shifting constantly. And so it's constantly moving. You can't build your life on something that is that unstable. Anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. So what's the foundation of your life and of your spiritual house. What is the foundation of your spiritual life? What are you building your life upon? God calls us to build. 21 (46m 29s): And we obviously play a part in this. We build on a solid foundation by listening and obeying by hearing what Jesus has called us to do, and then just doing it. I tell you, it makes life a lot simpler. If we're not wrestling all of the time with what God says, if we're not constantly evaluating and deciding, am I going to do, am I going to do the will of the Lord in this area of my life or in this area of my life or in this area of my life? If the answer is always yes, Lord, that it just simplifies life. And it, it clarifies the life and it, and it makes life so much easier to live because we know that we're just going to do the will of the father. 21 (47m 11s): And so when we are confused about the will of the father, God's been so gracious to give us these 66 books of the Bible, 39 old Testament books, 27 new Testament books, books that communicate the heart and the mind of God so that we know what we are to anyone who listens to my teachings and follows it is wise like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Number one, true disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. Number two, true disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Well, their foundation is solid rock, right? 21 (47m 55s): Solid rock. They're able to endure storms because their foundation is firm. It's not shifting. It's not questionable. It's, it's filled with integrity because God's word is filled with integrity. And it strengthens the, and builds into the foundation of our life. Something of strengthened and something that will not shift. Sure. Disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. I've watched it over and over again in the church. People who are solid in their faith, things come difficult, things come, and they just endure year after year, decade after decade, a friend of mine, Benny Katz, who I've known for a better part of 30, 40 years, he's home taking care of his wife. 21 (48m 42s): They've been coming to this church for years and Ethel's got hip issues and she can't walk very well. And so, but they're watching, they're probably tuned in right now watching, Hey, Benny, Hey Ethel. So we, we go back decades. And when Benny came to church to visit, I don't know, probably six weeks ago, man, there was just something about his countenance and his character. I just w I had to pray with him. You know, I just wanted some of that to rub off on me. And so we do the parking lot by his car, and we just prayed together. And man, I tell you the anointing of God, the power of God on that guy's life, the presence of God on that guy's life had carried me the rest of the day. 21 (49m 31s): I was just, I came into the office. I'm like, I just pray with Benny man. It was just the greatest thing. It was just the most powerful thing. And so there's something about godly people who carry godly character and intentionality, they're determined to do the will of the father. And they endure storms, physical storms, financial storms, relational storms, whatever they may be. They just endure. And they continue. We a year after year, decade after decade to stay focused on Jesus. I, I think about men like that, women like that who have invested their whole lives to follow Jesus and they carry something. They may, they carry something that's, that's attractive and contagious and strong and wonderful and something that we all absolutely can learn from. 21 (50m 22s): True disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Why, why do they endure again? Because they build their lives on a solid foundation of hearing God and responding with obedience to God. So it's not like I'm reading the word and I'm deciding, am I going to do this? Now you read the word and you say, oh, I'm not doing this. I'm going to do this. It's not optional. Right? It's like, I'm just going to align my life with Jesus and his word. They have built their lives on a solid foundation of hearing God and responding in first, John two, three through six says this, and we can be sure that we know him. 21 (51m 5s): If we obey his commandments, if someone claims, I know God, but doesn't obey. God's commandments. That person is a liar. It is not living in the truth. But those who obey God's word surely show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did. So John, the apostle wrote this brief book first, John second, John third, John revelation. 21 (51m 47s): So they tried to kill John because they didn't like his message. He didn't like what he stood for. So they try to kill him. What do they do? They boil him in oil. Hm. He survives. If God's not done with you, they cannot kill you. And so they can't, they don't know what to do with John. So they exile him to an island and he endures hardship as a faithful faithful man of God. And while he's on that island and angel, the Lord appears to him and speaks to him, gives him the book of the revelation. 21 (52m 34s): So he's exiled, but he's a man of integrity. He's able to endure hardship. And in the midst of hardship, do incredible and wonderful things for God, because he's just figured out how to endure because he's a disciple, a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Those who say they live in God shall live their lives. As Jesus did, Jesus was faithful and was able to endure the storms of life. And his 33 years of life endured, obviously the last three years, especially he endured some hardship. 21 (53m 18s): If he was faithful and enabled and able to endure the storm storms of rejection, maybe you can identify with some of these storms, storms of rejection storms of Tim Taishan says he was tempted in every way, but without sin, he endured the storm of temptation storms of ridicule, storms of false accusations, storms of abandonment, storms of pain and humiliation. 21 (54m 0s): Finally, the storm of death, he went to death as a faithful, as a faithful servant of God. He on the cross, he's told one of the thieves hanging next to him today, you will be with me in paradise. He was always about the father's business because no matter what was thrown at him, he was able to endure because his life was built on a solid foundation. So no matter what is being thrown at us, we have a responsibility and opportunity, a even an obligation to make sure that God is glorified in the midst of the storm. 21 (54m 42s): If we can only glorify God when things are good, are we really his disciples that we really built on a solid foundation? If, if our good works are the fruit of our life is only dependent on the good things that are happening in our lives. And we're, we're not really demonstrating a solid foundation. We're demonstrating that anybody can do good when things are good. What do we do when things are bad? When really things are really bad, we endure because of the solid foundation. If we haven't been able to endure, we need to go back and look at our foundation. What is the foundation of our lives? Is it Jesus, his word? Is it obedience to Jesus? 21 (55m 22s): And to his word, Jesus was faithful and was able to endure the storms because he was here to do the will of his father. He was here to do the will of his father. Maybe we're not here to do the will of our father. And so our ability to endure during the storms is questionable. But if we understand what our purpose in life is, as believers in Jesus Christ, then we are here to do the will of the father. And to only do the will of the father. Now God blesses us with the ability to do other wonderful things, but foundationally speaking, our role as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ as disciples, is to make disciples, to make sure that our lives reflect that priority in every arena of our lives, that we are building a solid foundation of understanding that we are here as God's kids with God's purpose, with God's understanding and power to do the things that he's called us to do. 21 (56m 30s): So we have to figure out how to endure. The only way we can endure is by having a solid foundation. The only way we can have a solid foundation is by just constantly being in the word of God, by constantly praying. So we pray without ceasing. I don't know if you've tried that lately, but it's really powerful. It's like, really? Life-giving, it's really good. It's just, you're just walking around whatever you're doing, you're driving your work. And you're just praying, always inviting God in always asking for the power of the holy spirit in your lives, always seeking the wisdom of God, availing yourself to the word of God so that you can do the will of God. This is just what God has called us to. He's called us to be in constant communion, intimacy with him, availing ourselves to his plans and his purposes. 21 (57m 12s): No matter what, if we do that, we will endure the storms back to Matthew seven, verse 25, though, the rain comes and the rain always comes. If you're not in a rain storm right now, you will be soon. It just always comes as part of the fallen nature of the sin sick world that we live in, though, the rain comes and torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house. It won't collapse because it is built on bedrock. It's built on bedrock, Matthew 7, 26, but anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obeyed is foolish. 21 (57m 57s): Like a person who builds a house on sand. We watched these old repair shows. And last night we were watching shows about these old a hundred year old houses that you know, all over the country and people are wanting to restore these old houses. You know, these houses have survived the, the, the decades and even more than a century because they built, been built on a solid foundation. There there's something of stability and strength in the foundation of these houses that allow them to stand after a hundred or 200 years. And these people are able to come through and refurbish and rebuild and fix so that they last another hundred or 200 years. 21 (58m 44s): There's something about the stability of a good foundation that each of us need. And when we don't have it, we're always vacillating. We're always confused. We're always lukewarm or always half in and half out. We're always just marginal in what we believe in. And our convictions are marginal and our obedience is marginal and it's dependent on what's going on externally instead of the decision that says, no matter what's going on externally, I'm just going to make Jesus my priority. I'm going to be obedient to his word. This is what Jesus has called us to when the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, the house built on Santa will collapse with a mighty crash. 21 (59m 26s): We don't want that because storms are promised in this Christian life storms are promise. We will experience storms. And so we might as well get ready by building our foundation on bedrock on solid stone. When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowd were amazed at his teachings. People were always amazed at what Jesus said, because he spoke. He spoke with such wisdom when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teachings for, he taught with real authority, quite unlike their teachers of religious law. 21 (1h 0m 11s): Why did Jesus speak with authority? Because he knew what his purpose in the earth was, what he was called to do. His mission was to make disciples to die for the sins of the world. Go to be with the father and forever, make intercession for the saints. Number one, shoe disciples of Christ. Do the will of the father. Number two, true disciples of Christ are able to endure storms and number three, true disciples of Christ submit to God's authority. We cannot be true disciples of Christ. If we're not willing to submit our lives to God's authority, what does submitting to someone's authority look like? 21 (1h 0m 59s): Let's take a look at Roman Matthew eight, the faith of a Roman officer. You probably read this story before Matthew eight, five through 10, when Jesus returned to Capernaum, may Roman officer came and pleaded with him. Lord, my, my young servant lies in bed paralyzed and in terrible pain, Jesus said, I will come and heal him. But the officers said, Lord, I'm not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are. And my servant will be healed. I know this because I under the authority of my superior officers and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need you say, go. And they go or come. 21 (1h 1m 40s): And they come in. If I say to my slaves, do this, they do it. This Roman soldier understood something of about authority. And Jesus said, Matthew, eight, 10. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him. He said, I tell you the truth. I haven't seen faith like this in all of Israel and all Israel. When, when God is our authority, when God is your authority, he oversees every arena and area of our, he is our authority. 21 (1h 2m 23s): His plan is what we follow is just he's our authority. So we follow his plan. His purpose is now our chief purpose. The word slave do loss in the Greek is the, in this verse is the word the apostles use for themselves that the apostles understood that they were slaves of God. They were bond servants of God. They were do loss. They were slaves. And so, because they understood their place, they had no problem doing the will of God. Sometimes we forget who we are. We are sons and daughters, but we're also bond servants. 21 (1h 3m 4s): We have decided to come under the authority of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We have that responsibility, that calling to be not just sons and daughters, but slaves of God to do loss is a slave of God. If you don't want to be God's slave, you have signed up for the wrong God, because old Testament, new Testament, this is the message that we are called to be servants. I do loss of God, Romans one, one. This letter is from Paul, a slave. 21 (1h 3m 47s): I do loss, a slave of the Lord, Jesus Christ, James. One, one. This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord, Jesus Christ, Paul and James. They understood their role, their purpose. And it wasn't a, it wasn't even like a demeaning thing. It was like a life giving thing. Like I've got purpose. I'm here to serve the king. I know what my life is about. I'm not confused about my purpose and my calling. I know who I am and to whom I belong. And so I will serve Jesus with joy and with peace and with gratitude and appreciation. There's nothing oppressive about it. It's life-giving and good. What's oppressive is when we're trying to balance our affairs with God's affairs. 21 (1h 4m 32s): And we're trying to figure out who it is that we're serving Paul and James and Peter. Second Peter, one, one, this letter is from Simon Peter's slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, Jude Jude. One, one. This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James and revelation. One, one, John writes, this is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants. His do loss, the, the events that must soon take place. So John understood. 21 (1h 5m 13s): He was writing to the church, the people of God who are the servants of God, the do loss of God. We are bond servants. We have decided. And if we haven't decided to be the bond servants, the due loss of God, then we haven't decided to follow Jesus. That's the reality. If we haven't decided to be a servant of God, then we haven't decided to serve Jesus where to do what Jesus did. You just said, I didn't come to serve or to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. So do we understand the authority of Jesus in our lives? Do we submit to his authority in our lives? 21 (1h 5m 55s): And if not, where in our lives are we not submitted to the authority of God? And what are we going to do about that? We will constantly be made aware of the areas where we're not submitted to his authority. And the answer is, yes, Lord. I want to submit, I want to align. I want to fix repent of and follow you Lord. There was a blind spot in my life, in my understanding, in my experience and Lord, I am seeing clearly now that you would have me to be a servant, and that means every arena of my life. It's all under your authority. Lord, I submit to you in all things, whereas Jesus authority not recognized in our lives. 21 (1h 6m 40s): What are we doing about that? We can't really see clearly on this. We just open up the word all the time and avail ourselves to the truth of God's word. Be students of the Bible and that you can't call yourself a student. If you're just showing up here and listening to me, teach or going to a Bible study where somebody else is teaching or where you're tuned into a podcast or to a radio station or to a TV station to let somebody else teach you. You're a student of God's word. When you open up the word yourself, when you decide I'm going to learn the Bible, I'm going to figure out what God has communicated through the pages of scripture. 21 (1h 7m 24s): And I'm going to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. So you just have to open up the scripture and just see what God will say. Maybe you're not a very good reader. I tell you you'll become a great reader. If you just commit yourself to reading the scripture, maybe you don't know how to read it all, just get Bible on tape or whatever it is. There's plenty of that. Just figure out how to get that word in your soul and your heart. And in your mind, are we disciples of Christ or do we just go to church? Are we disciples of Christ or would he just kind of keep Christ marginalized in our lives? 21 (1h 8m 6s): The making of a true disciple of Christ, true disciples of Christ, do the will of the father. So we ask ourselves this question, am I a disciple? We all need to ask ourselves this question. Am I disciple? Do I follow? Do I do the will of the father? Am I able to endure storms? Because my life is built on a solid foundation or my wishy-washy and lukewarm and tossed to and fro constantly confused, disappointed, frustrated in sin, doing the wrong stuff because my life is built on sand. Only. You can answer that question. Sure. Disciples of Christ are able to endure storms. Number three, true disciples of Christ submit to God's authority are we submitted? 21 (1h 8m 51s): And if not, let's get submitted, we're gonna take communion. And so hopefully everybody received their elements. I'm going to be reading out of first Corinthians 11. So listen, communion is a celebration of the cross and what Jesus accomplished on the cross 2000 years ago, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and for my sin. So we celebrate communion. We break bread as it were. We drink juice. We do this in remembrance of Jesus. So if you are a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ take communion today. 21 (1h 9m 33s): If you are not, please don't take communion today. Communion is for believers, disciples of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so maybe it's a moment for people in the room who have figured out. I'm not really a disciple, but Lord, I want it to be a disciple. So maybe this is your prayer. As we bow our heads, Lord, I, I haven't been a very good disciple. I, your, your word, the teaching this morning is, has helped me to see that I've been about my own agenda. 21 (1h 10m 15s): Fill with my own desires, following my own lead and doing the stuff that I shouldn't be doing. I, I haven't been submitted to your authority. I have I'm wishy-washy I, I, the storms blow me around. I'm not really doing what you've asked me to do Lord. So God, I repent. I I'm changing my mind about how I'm living. God. I give my life to you. I want to do this. I want it to be a disciple, a true disciple of yours, Lord God. So if that's your prayer today, maybe you've prayed that prayer for the first time. Maybe you've prayed for a thousands of time. God hears the humble, broken and contracts. 21 (1h 10m 58s): Prayers of people. He, he hears in his heart is to help you to do what you're created to do and belonging to do as a result of his, this understanding of what it means to be a disciple. So have you here today and you are a disciple of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Let's go ahead and take communion. Paul wrote in first Corinthians for I pass onto you. What I received from the Lord himself 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 has given for you. 21 (1h 11m 39s): Do this to remember me. Let's take the wafer. Thank you though. You allowed yourself to be beaten, crucified pierced, Because I am a sinner in need of redemption. Thank you for the redemptive work on the cross. 21 (1h 12m 21s): Thank you Lord. 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. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it 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 the cup. 21 (1h 13m 1s): Thank you, Lord. For the juice that represents the blood, that was spilled because I'm a sinner because I need your forgiveness. Yeah, we are centers. We have missed the mark. The Bible says there's none righteous. No, not one. So Lord, thank you that on the cross, Because of the cross, because Of your body and blood, God, you've imputed righteousness to us. 21 (1h 13m 46s): Our sin was imputed to you and your righteousness has been imputed to us. That means we have become the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. When we are covered by your blood and filled with your spirit and adopted into your family and called servants of the living. God. So thank you, Lord God, that you've imputed your righteousness to me and to those who have come under your authority and Lordship and leadership. So Lord we say, thank you. We honor you today. We bless you today. We're so humbled by your presence and your grace and your love. Florida's we get ready to worship, pray God that you would just be glorified by our hearts. 21 (1h 14m 27s): Lord, let us worship in spirit and in truth. And then as we go over to the open house, the new worship center, I pray that it would be a time of celebration and just thankfulness Lord. So thank you for who you are. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go ahead and stand and we will worship some more. 25 (1h 15m 10s): Speed. speed. To speak the name of Jesus, Dark addictions Declaring there is hope and there is free speech. 17 (1h 16m 2s): Your name is Your name is your name. 17 (1h 17m 30s): shine through this Jesus. Jesus for my family. High speed the whole day. 25 (1h 19m 30s): In the name of Jesus. We have hope we have peace. We have love, we have power. We have authority. And I just pray that we would just go this week with the name of Jesus. Ready on our lips. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Holy spirit for your sweet presence here this morning In Jesus name. Amen.

Even More Practical Faith Living

1 (2s): Good morning. Welcome to church. Will you stand as we worship this morning, it's good to be in the house of the Lord this morning. Would you raise your faith? Would you lift your voice as be safe? we thank you for your presence. 2 (4m 24s): All right. Hey church. How's it going this morning? All right. Awesome. Awesome. That's great to see all, all of your faces here. Love you guys, and just got a couple of announcements for ya. My name's Curtis, by the way, so glad to have you here. If you need anything at all, the info center is the spot for you. So it's just up the driveway. Go check that out. If you want to sign up for anything again, more connected. Otherwise we do have a quick parking update that next door we've had some parking issues with other businesses and stuff. So just know that if you're parking behind these businesses over here, you can only park in the something different or the Anderson Burton spots. 2 (5m 7s): All the other ones are our businesses are using the on Sunday mornings. And we just want to be conscious of that. In addition to that, we've got right now media, we subscribe to it as a church for each and every person who wants to, to watch the videos and grow in their faith and their amazing discipleship videos, or just learning platform for anything that you can imagine in our Christian walk. So if you'd like to get connected with that, you can sign up on our website, just fill out a connect form and give us your email and just let us know that you want to sign up for that. Or you can stop by the info center. So with that, let's pray and we'll get back into worship. 2 (5m 47s): Jesus. We love you. We're so grateful for the opportunity to worship you this morning. We just pray that that your holy spirit would penetrate each heart. That's here in any building and every space that the people of the Lord are captured on this campus. Jesus, we just pray that that your word would penetrate through bone and marrow and Jesus that we would just focus on you wholeheartedly this morning. So God, we love you so much and we love worshiping you Jesus' name. Amen. 0 (6m 29s): The word . Now what a beautiful name. 0 (7m 16s): nothing. 0 (8m 12s): with my 4 (15m 32s): Lord. Thank you. 0 (15m 34s): God, 4 (15m 39s): God, that our praise would be fit for a king in Jesus name, God that our lives, The content of our lives, God, that there would be fit for a king Lord, that there would be God that our lives would speak of our adoration. Speak of our Love for you and our commitment to you. God, that we would be anxious To fall in line with your plans and purposes for our lives. 4 (16m 21s): Lord God, to say yes to you, Lord God that we'd be hungry For your will and for your word, Lord God, that we would, that we would long for your presence. God, not just on Sunday morning and when we gathered corporately, but God that we would long for your presence every day, Lord, every moment of the day, God, that we'd pray without ceasing Constantly in your presence Constantly checked in with you and looking for your leadership and your wisdom and your counsel. God, that would be we'd be filled with the peace of God and the joy of God that we'd be hungry, hungry for the things of God. 4 (17m 8s): So Lord, as we gathered today, We thank you Lord, that we have this freedom and this opportunity and this privilege to gather as the church and Lord for everybody gathered here on this campus or for those watching online Lord, I pray that you would reveal yourself and just tangible and powerful and profound ways. Lord God, for those who have been distant from you, I pray that you would reveal yourself to them, your plans, your purpose, your grace, your love, Lord God, that we're where we need to be challenged in our souls and our lives. 4 (17m 50s): Lord, we just avail ourselves to you. God, we say convict challenge, speak, teach lead guide, Phyllis, Lord God, to overflowing. I got to help our lives or every part of us Lord, to just align with your plans and purposes. God. So do you do something supernatural in us that maybe, maybe we've been trying to break get breakthrough in the natural in the flesh. Maybe we've been trying to get a victory over addictions or a bitch will sins. Lord, I pray God that supernatural, you would just do a work Lord God. And that the desire for those things would just be gone because of the work that you're doing in us. 4 (18m 37s): And because of the love that we have for you, God, that love would overshadow and make our love for those other things seem like hatred that we, we, we would just love you so much that those things would seem like what? How could we ever be distracted by those things, Lord God. So Lord do what you want to do today. Lord, I'm convinced that you're up to something good and powerful. And so your will be done. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Greet somebody. We'll come on back in a minute. 0 (20m 32s): Jesus Cruz. 4 (21m 60s): Alrighty, come on back. Let me fix this really quick. Something happened there. Thank you. Oh, welcome. How is everyone doing? Good. Good. I've got to figure out what to do with this bottle here. I need like a little cup holder or something, I guess. Ah, man, it's been a, it's been a good week. I had most of the last like week off or so. And man, it was really, really refreshing in some ways, in some ways it was just a challenge, but we're getting ready to go on this. 4 (22m 44s): I don't know why I want to talk about this backpacking trip, but we're getting ready to my son and my son-in-law. We're getting ready to go on this backpacking trip. And so I spent most of the day yesterday kind of getting my backpack ready to go for my birthday in April. I got this really light backpack. Remember the first time we went backpacking, I carried like 50 pounds. I'm like, this is net you can't backpack with. I mean, I can I, so the next time it was down to like 40 pounds and then 35 and yesterday I packed everything in there except some water and a couple other little things. And I'm at 20, just under 25 pounds. So I'm getting, getting there and it got me thinking about life a little bit and just wondering, what are we packing around? 4 (23m 26s): You know, how much do we pack around in our lives? It just kind of weigh us down and wear us out and make really the journey. So, so much more difficult because we're just loaded down with stuff. And I feel like, I feel like in our culture, we're loaded down with all kinds of stuff, just culturally speaking. And then life, life is challenging for so many people. Life is glorious for others and, but there's just, there's just heaviness that we carry. So my prayer for us as a church is that we would leave all of those heavy, heavy burdens just at the foot of the cross, know that we would just offload those things. 4 (24m 16s): And the, the result of that is just a greater capacity to, to, to do what God has asked us to do. It's it's a greater joy. I don't know when you're, when you're carrying around all this stuff, it's hard to have the joy of the Lord and the peace of God. You just feel this burden all of the time. So my prayer is that we would live in such a way that we would recognize when we're starting to get weighed down and burdened down and just get that stuff dealt with, confess the sin, whatever it is, deal with that heaviness that burden the enemy is always trying to heap condemnation on us. 4 (24m 59s): I woke up a couple of days ago what's today, Sunday. So I woke up on Friday and I was just feeling kind of out of sorts with the Lord. I said, Lord, I didn't, it took me like 24 hours to figure out to, to pray, you know, cause I'm just trying to figure it out, you know? And, and then sad, I think it was yesterday, maybe it was Thursday or Friday. I don't know whenever it was, but I I'm like Lord, I finally just awaken to the reality that God is, God, God can do something about this. You know, sometimes we live our lives and we forget that actually God's got the power to lift burdens and speak clarity and give us victory over things. And so I said, Lord, I don't know what I'm sensing. 4 (25m 41s): I'm trying to figure it out. If I've, you know, whatever I said, Lord, if this is from you, then show me if it's not, then just let it get away. You know, just, I rebuke it in Jesus' name and just immediately was gone. And I don't know how many times I've done that throughout the course of my life, but it's enough. And I was surprised that it took me like 24 hours to figure out, Hey, I just need to go to the Lord with this. So encouragement to you, to us, to always just, just be going to the Lord, praying without ceasing and just watch it with the Lord will do. We're talking about practical faith living today. 4 (26m 21s): The, the faith life is, is supernatural, but it's also very practical and we do the practical things that God calls us to do as he empowers us supernaturally through his word and through his spirit. And we actually can't do the practical things that he called us to do without the power of God at work in our lives. We just can't do it. We can muster it for a day or a moment, but we can't do it regularly and throughout the course of our lives. So that those practical faith things that we're talking about, mark our life and we're identified, we've known, we're known for those things. We can't muster it. And really why would we want to win the power of God to give us the grace to do what he's asked us to do is so present and available to us. 4 (27m 11s): We just have this power that is supernatural and wonderful. So we've talked and as we kind of looked at Hebrews chapter 13 and week one, practical faith living, we talked about loving each other and more specifically loving strangers, loving the forgotten, loving our spouse. And in all of that, we said, love all of these things, but don't love. Don't love money. Don't love money. Don't live in fear and, and then love your leaders was the seventh point there. And then week two, two weeks ago, more practical faith living. We said, keep focused on the changeless perfection of Jesus. 4 (27m 55s): And we said, live boldly and be willing to look the fool for Jesus. And then number three, we said, demonstrate faithful allegiance to Jesus. And this week as we look at the end of Hebrews chapter 13, and I know Ron preached the end of the same passage last week, but I, as I was trying to figure out where to go, I was going to be going into James. And I just kind of felt drawn back to Hebrews chapter 13, to wrap it up. He, Ron did a phenomenal job. I think he talked about me way too much last week, but, but he did a phenomenal job teaching through the last part of Hebrews chapter 13. And I was super honored by the way he taught that and what he communicated. 4 (28m 39s): But I, I want to go back and just kind of relook at it, not to correct anything that he said, but just to look at it from a different angle. So this will be Hebrews chapter 13, verses 17 through 25. Again, I promise you, Ron did a better job than I will ever do with this passage, but I'm going to give him my best shot here. So this week, even more practical faith living and we see in Ron talked about spiritual leaders last week, but number one, support your spiritual leaders. And so Ron talked about me a lot last week and I'm so blessed and honored that he did. And I was embarrassed as I was watching it at home, the first service last week. And Ron and I had been working together for 14 years and we've known each other for longer than that. 4 (29m 23s): And for him to say what he said was very, very, very humbling. And I appreciate it. So we'll talk about supporting your spiritual leaders today. What does that look like as we get into Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17, the word says this obey Hebrews 13, 17, the first part there says obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say again. So Ron said is probably more appropriate for him to speak that truth. And for me to speak that truth, but I want to broaden that a little bit and broaden the, the thought of spiritual leadership. Just just a little bit, but, but first of all, Hebrews 13, 17, obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. 4 (30m 8s): Why, why does the writer of Hebrews challenges readers to do this while their work, the verse says is to your spiritual leaders, their work is to watch over your souls. And they are accountable to God who as a big deal, right? I mean like our work as spiritual leaders is to watch over your souls and we are accountable to God. So who, who is the spiritual leader? Well, obviously pastors and elders, they're spiritual leaders, but beyond pastors and elders, we have other spiritual leaders in our lives. 4 (30m 59s): I, I didn't have this in my notes until this morning, but I like to read Ephesians five 15 through 33 because it broadens for us. This thought about spiritual leaders. I think the most, probably some of the most important spiritual leadership is, is in the home. We relegate spiritual leadership to people who are in spiritual leadership at church and that sort of thing. And that's all very good and appropriate, but, but the best opportunity to be spiritual leaders that we have is with our family, with our kids and with our grandkids. 4 (31m 40s): And so Hebrews chapter or Ephesians chapter five talks about the responsibility of especially dads, fathers, dads have a significant and, and a much more, much more opportunity than like pastors or elders. Cause you guys, you live with your kids. For those of you who have young kids. And for those of you have older kids, you, you have lifelong access. Like I've had lots of pastors in my life and I've got relationships with most of them still, but they don't speak into my life like they once did. But as a dad with my four kids, I ever raised four kids, two are, men are in the thirties already. 4 (32m 25s): So, and then I got grandkids. So my spiritual responsibility as a father continues and will continue all the days of my life. We've got that spiritual responsibility. And so it starts when the kids are young, but it continues. And so I, I just want to challenge us with Ephesians chapter five, verses 15 through 33. I'm just gonna read about half the chapter and it's not on the screen cause I just added it this morning, but I think it's pertinent. I think it's important. I think it's powerful for, for, for our understanding that we, that we hear this and that we apply it to our lives. 4 (33m 6s): It's just so it says, so be careful how you live. We could preach a whole sermon series on that one little line, be, be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. So don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life instead, be filled with the holy spirit, singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves and making music to the Lord in your hearts, that powerful making music to the Lord in your hearts. 4 (34m 1s): So there's something very personal and internal. It, it's not just about what comes out of our mouth, but it's about what comes out of our hearts. We, we have this responsibility to worship the Lord from our heart and that's from a place of sincerity and honesty. And it's, it's, it's really the deepest place in our lives. And this is the place that we're meant to worship the Lord from and give thanks for everything to God, the father in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And then we get into verse 21. 4 (34m 41s): It says and further submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. What does this mean? Husbands and wives for wives. This means submit to your husbands as to the Lord for a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He's the savior of his body. The church has the church submits to Christ. So you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. So that's a heavy statement for men, for husbands and for wives for husbands be because you've got to live. We, we have to live in such a way that we have the ability to lead spiritually in our homes. 4 (35m 22s): I mean, this is what Paul is telling us as men, that we are the spiritual leaders of our homes. And that, that means we as men are going to stand before the Lord and give an account to God, the way that we've spiritually led in our homes. So how, how are we doing in that regard? Now I know there are women here who don't have husbands who are men of God and, and the scripture teach, teach, you know, speaks to that. And in some cases, women, by default, they just have to be the spiritual leader because that's just the way it is. 4 (36m 5s): But man, we have this profound responsibility to be leading. And so that's a 24 7 responsibility that we will give an account to God for. We will stand before God and we will give an account for our lives. And he will look at how we've led in our homes spiritually. We, he will examine our lives and look at how we've been leading in our homes spiritually. So for husbands, what does spiritual leadership look like? 4 (36m 46s): This means love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church, without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead she will be holy and without fault in the same way. Husbands ought to love their wives. As they love their own bodies for a man who loves his wife, actually shows love for himself. And no one hates his own body, but feeds and cares for it just as Christ cares for the church. 4 (37m 28s): And we are members of his body. So a woman submitting to her husband actually is it won't be difficult when the man, when the man is loving his wife, as Christ loved the church, just the way it works. God, God has put it in the hearts of men and women to live in this way. And so man, if you're loving your wife, as Christ loved the church and serving her as Christ, serve the church and giving yourself to her as Christ gave himself to the church, your wives will have no problems submitting to you by and large. 4 (38m 13s): I mean, there's always a, you know, exceptions to the rule, but we, we have this profound opportunity to lead. I th I think about past generations, I've thought about this a lot lately, the, the impact of past generations, we are, we were watching a show last night about this ranch family. They've I don't know why this speaks to me. So, so, so much so impactfully. So, but so eight generations ago, this land was deeded or given to this family. 4 (38m 53s): Eight generations go thousands and thousands of acres in long poke in the Lompoc valley there. And eight generations later, they're still working the land and still do so. My point is that something happened generations ago. That's still blessing the families today. So I think about our opportunity and responsibility as men, men of God, to impact future generations, by the way that we live our lives today, we often think in, in terms of the here and now, but when we think about 50 years from now, if we, if we think about 10 years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now, a hundred years from now, how will our impact in this earth impact our family for generations to come? 4 (39m 44s): I pray almost every day that every future generation that that's coming out of me will, will serve Jesus every future. So like until Jesus returns like every future generation. And so we have this opportunity to invest in the future generations. This is more important than your job guys. It's more important than your hobbies. You're going to be on your death bed one day and you're not gonna, you're not gonna have regrets about anything other than your family. If you don't get that right, you're not going to say, oh, I wish I would have played more golf. And you've heard this before. I'm I wish I would've gotten more trips when we're on our deathbed guys, we're gonna think back missed opportunities. 4 (40m 32s): Did I take advantage of every opportunity? You, you are spiritual leaders and this is your first and foremost priority. So you can drop your kids off to Sunday school and we will do our best to partner with you. You can drop your kids off to fifth and sixth grade, high, high junior high high school. You can do it, but if you are not taking this serious responsibility of discipling your kids, there's nothing. There's not much we can do as a church. Our job is to help reinforce and partner with you to disciple the next generation. We're doing our best to make that happen, but we need to reevaluate everything. And this goes for women too. 4 (41m 12s): We met wives. We, you have a profound opportunity to disciple the next degeneration of kids and boys and girls that are coming up in your home. I, I, I don't think we talk about this enough. We get so busy in our culture. We're, we're busy taking our kids to soccer and baseball, all of these extracurricular activities. And we're barely, barely investing in them spiritually, maybe praying before meals, but are we really speaking life and truth and grace into our kids? Are we, are we like communicating hard and good trues with our kids? 4 (41m 53s): We, if we don't do it, they won't get it. And so we have this profound. So when we talk about spiritual leadership, it doesn't just fall on my shoulders. Thank God for that. It falls on all of our shoulders. And if we're not, if we're not even just talking about our kids, we're talking about other people who see us as spiritual leaders, people that are in our Bible study groups, people that are in our neighborhoods, we all have spiritual leadership responsibilities because we're all called to go and make disciples of all nations. We're all called to go and make disciples. 4 (42m 35s): Meaning we go and it's our responsibility to exercise with grace, our spiritual leadership and people's lives. And we will stand before the Lord and we will have to give an account for the way we've spent our time. What does I talked two weeks ago about our allegiance? What do we, what are we by our lives demonstrating our allegiance to, is it to the culture? To I, we could fill in the blank with a thousand distractions, A thousand distractions that are keeping us from doing the one thing that Jesus told us to do to go make disciples of all nations. 4 (43m 20s): So this begins with our kids and it continues with our grandkids and our great-grandkids. And the job is never ends until we stop breathing. Brisbane's this means, love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish and said she will be holy and without fault in the same way, husbands ought to love their wives. 4 (44m 4s): As they love their own bodies for a man who loves his wife, actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body, but feeds and cares for it just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body as the scripture, Sabres 31, a man leaves his father and mother, and is joined to his wife. And the two are United into one. This is a great mystery, but it's an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again, I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself. And the wife must respect her husband. 6 (44m 41s): Hm. 4 (44m 45s): Spiritual leadership falls on all of us. So what are we doing as spiritual leaders to make sure that those following our leadership are getting a good example and seeing what they need to see are, are we modeling for them integrity in the way that we speak and the way that we live and the way that we respond to God and act in response to his word, we just have to examine our lives because God will examine our lives. 4 (45m 26s): When it's all said and done our lives will be examined. God's keeping record. He's keeping everything is Before the Lord. How do we support our spiritual leaders by, by obeying them? We are to bear spiritual leaders according to scripture. What w how, what does that even look like? So as a spiritual leader, 6 (45m 55s): If, 4 (45m 56s): If your spiritual leader is telling you something that isn't aligned with the word of God, then you should obey your spiritual leader. If your spiritual leader is telling you to do something, that's contrary to the word of God, you're off the hook, because our first allegiance is to God. God's given us his word as an outline, a plan for life. And so our first allegiance is to God and God's put spiritual leaders in our lives to help us navigate life. And so we're to walk in obedience before our spiritual leader. So you, you have actually the responsibility to discern and to be knowledgeable of the word of God, so that when you're hearing something from me or from other, another spiritual leader, you say, was this aligned with the word, but it doesn't align with the word you're off the hook, but if it aligns with the word, then your responsibility is obedience. 4 (46m 54s): Just like my responsibility to my spiritual leaders is obedience. I've got elders in the church who are my spiritual authority. And if I come with the great idea that I think is a great idea, and they say, no, then we just abandon it. We There's there, there has to be authority in all of our lives. Men especially need that kind of authority, spiritual authority, cause we can become, and women, we all need that spiritual authority, people that were Hearing from and learning from and growing as a result of the apostle Peter under the inspiration of the holy spirit, wrote some words of wisdom for church elders. 4 (47m 41s): So now it's moved back to pastors and elders and because it helps us as spiritual leaders to understand that kind of our role and our responsibility. First Peter five, one through five says, and now a word to you who are elders in the churches. I, I too am an elder and I witness and a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And I too will share in the glory when he is revealed to the whole world as a fellow elder, I appeal to you care for the flock that God has entrusted to you care for the flock. So you imagine cheap. We were in, we'd been in Israel a couple of times and we see there are still shepherds in the fields watching over their flocks. 4 (48m 24s): And that's just their job. Their job is to live and to watch over and to care for their flocks, protecting them from bad water that they might drink from predators that might try to eat them from bad food, bad scenarios, dangerous situations. So our responsibility as spiritual leaders is to care for the flock care for the flock that God has entrusted to you watch over it willingly, not grudgingly, not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God, don't Lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example. And when the great shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of never ending glory and honor in the same way you younger men must accept the authority of the elders and all of you serve each other in humility for God, opposes the proud, but favors the humble. 4 (49m 16s): So place a spiritual authority is never about hierarchy. It's never about lording over. It's never about any of that stuff. It's about tender care with humility, recognizing our responsibility, doing what God has called us to do with the power of God and the spirit of God and the grace of God. So that people under our leadership don't have any problem obeying what we're asking them to do. So supports your spiritual leaders through obedience, Hebrews 13, 17 B again, their work is to watch over your souls and they are accountable to God support your spiritual leaders through obedience, but also be gracious to them. 4 (50m 6s): Hebrews 13, 17, the third part says, give them a reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That was certainly not be for your benefit. So that just simply means as we're under spiritual authority or spiritual leadership, we just need to be humble and teachable. And as spiritual leaders, we need to be humble and teachable, and we'll never get people to be humble and teachable. And unless we're humble and teachable, we do people will model or will live their lives and follow our example. So we have to be humble and teachable as we submit to authority. 4 (50m 51s): And then how else can we support our spiritual leaders? We can pray for them. Hebrews 1318 says, pray for us. Pray for us. For our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. And especially pray that I will be able to come back to you soon. So you can hear the, the heart of the writer to the Hebrews. He, he needs prayer. He's acknowledging his need for prayer. So he's being humble and he wants to be back with people. Why? Because it's his responsibility to care for the flock. And so he wants to be with them. So pray that your spiritual leaders stay spiritually strong, pray for your spiritual leaders, protection, pray, pray that God protects them. 4 (51m 35s): I, I pray all the time that people are praying for me. And I asked you all of the time to pray for me. Pray, pray, pray. It's a, it's a job, right? Pray that your spiritual leaders stay spiritually strong and pray for God's protection over them and pray that they would have God's wisdom for leading. I was been reading in the old Testament and been in first Kings and Solomon prayed for wisdom to lead the people of Israel. He said, man, who, who am I demonstrating his humility? He found that humility and saw that humility and his father, David David was a humble man is a Solomon saw that and emulated that he said, who am I? 4 (52m 24s): And God gave him the wisdom that he needed so desperately. And you see throughout the course of Solomon's life, for the most part, he, he was a godly man, stumbled, but godly in his approach to his leadership, pray that we'd be healthy and humble and kind and tenderhearted filled with the joy of the Lord. Faith filled and obedient to the Lord. These are all things that you can pray for your spiritual leaders. So support your spiritual leaders. Number one, number two, even more practical faith living allow God to equip you. So all of these things that we're talking about require that God equipped us. 4 (53m 6s): First of all, with the desire. First of all, maybe before that the knowledge that we have a responsibility, maybe you're here today. And for the first time, you're really waking up to the reality that you've got a spiritual responsibility as a spiritual leader in somebody's life, your kids, your coworkers, your employees, your family, yeah. You have a spiritual responsibility and this can start really at any age. It doesn't have to start when you're 25 or 35 or 50, you, you carry a mantle of spiritual leadership when you're just walking humbly before the Lord. 4 (53m 52s): And it starts you, you can actually see it on people's lives when they carry that, that mantle, that spiritual authority, that, that mantle of authority. And so whatever your age is, you're not too young. You're just not C and you're not too old. So just begin to walk in that, begin to be that man, that woman, that God has created you to be, because we're all called to go make disciples of all nations. So allow God to equip you say, I'm not prepared for what you're asking me to do. Well, none of us are prepared ever until God equips us. 4 (54m 36s): And then by his grace, he gives us the boldness and the, the ability to do what he's asked us to do. But there's an equipping process. Our whole life is about equipping growing. Tell my leaders around us at the staff level all the time. I say, guys, we're never done growing. And if we're, if we're done growing, we just need to get out of the ministry because we're just going to get set and we're not going to be all that effective. We've got to constantly be growing in grace, growing in truth, learning how to love people, learning to obey God, learning, how to lead people with tenderness and, and, and passion and conviction. So it's, it's a, it's a learning it's it's. 4 (55m 20s): I was reading in first Kings this morning and I, I was late to church because I, I just was, I was, I didn't want to stop reading Kings because I'm learning from what Solomon was doing as the second king of the people of Israel. And I, I just think this is what God has called us to do. Equip, allow God to equip you. So we see the benediction here in Hebrews 13, 20 and 21. And now may the God of peace who brought up from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep and ratified in eternal covenant with his blood. 4 (56m 1s): May he equip you with all you need? And so we read all through Hebrews and really the scriptures of the old and the new Testament. And we see that God equips people to do the work that he calls them to do. What is the equipping as for the verse goes on for doing his will, he's equipping us for doing his will because his will is above and more important than any other agenda, or will your, will your agenda it's it needs to be submitted to God's will and his agenda. So God equips us to do his will and we're to live our lives, perpetually doing the will of God perpetually you don't get a vacation from it because it's just something that God has perpetually doing in us. 4 (56m 54s): And through us, it's just, it becomes a lifestyle. So Christianity, isn't some appendage that we attach to ourselves. Some thing that we do on the weekend or something that we do part it's, it's an all-consuming born again. Life changing life altering forever. Never. You'll never be the same. So allow God to equip you for doing as well. Once while Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden, he was asked, what, what would you do if you suddenly learn? What would you do if you suddenly learned that you were to die at sunset today? 4 (57m 38s): Hmm. He replied, I w I would finish hoeing my garden. Why would he say that? I mean, doesn't, he have things to do like important things to do. I think Francis of Assisi was able to say that because he'd been busy doing all of the important things. He'd been busy as whole life doing all of the important things. So if I die at sunset, I'm going to hoe get this part done. Cause I reading into it a little bit. I no regrets. I, if the news that you were going to die today at sunset, radically changed the way you thought or acted, then there's some things that need to be changed right now. 4 (58m 29s): Often we're S we will say, ah, I want to wait until I get out of high school or no, I'm going to wait until I get out of college to do what God wants me to do. Cause you know, I want to play. I'll wait till I have kids before I kind of get serious about the Lord, because then, you know, I got some responsibilities there. And then, you know, one excuse leads to another, excuse, leads to decades of lost opportunities. Instead We can right where we are right in the here and now begin to do what God has asked us to do, allowing God to equip us to do his will. 4 (59m 9s): So what is his will for your life? Are you going to wait until tomorrow? Because if you're going to wait until tomorrow to do his will for your life, you're probably going to put it off longer than just tomorrow. I'd probably wait until next week. Next year, we're half about halfway, the year 2020 to mid may. We're halfway through another year of our lives. I've been doing this long enough. I know that there are some in the room who won't make it till the end of the year. He just won't. Some will be dead because that is the journey of life. We it's appointed once for man to die. And then the judgment. 4 (59m 50s): And so somebody in this room will be dead. Maybe many will be dead. I don't know. Maybe I'll be dead. I don't want to die. Nobody wants to die, But you're going to die and I'm going to die. So are you ready to die? I mean, I want to go be with Jesus, right? I, But I, 6 (1h 0m 23s): I 4 (1h 0m 24s): Want to do what God's work is for me here and now. So if you knew that at sunset, you were going to be dead. What would you do differently? And why not just do that anyway? Is there somebody that you need to make amends with? Well, why not just go make amends with that person? Is there a step of obedience that you need to take? Why not? Why not just do that? You're gonna be dead soon, physically dead soon. You will. 4 (1h 1m 6s): You're going to be dead soon. What do you want? What in the world are we waiting for? We're going to wait for Retirement. Are we going to wait till what? What's, what w what is the excuse that you're using right now? And why not just eliminate that to do what God has called you to do, you know, this time next year, another year will have gone by and how will your life be different? Why not make a different right now? I mean, what's the harm and just saying, I'm doing this now, and then just stepping into it. 4 (1h 1m 47s): And maybe you're, maybe you're afraid to you. You sh you shouldn't be afraid to do anything that God calls you to do without his equipping. You should be afraid because you're not. You're up to your eyeballs in that's good. It's a good place to be, to be up to your eyeballs in your unpreparedness, because God will prepare you to do what he's called you to do Love your neighbor, serve God, making, manage, share the gospel. What do you need to do? God's desires to equip you for, to please him. Hebrews 13, 21 continues. May he produce in you through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that pleases that is pleasing to him, that's not, that's not really interested in your agenda besides that while he's not interested in your agenda or my agenda, because his agenda is just better. 4 (1h 2m 44s): It's like when your kid says, you have like, you know, whatever, you're like, you know, I've got a better plan for you than that, right? But we've got this limited, the kid perspective. What pleases God, well, first Timothy two says, praying for others, pleases God for some of the five taking care of elderly parents, pleases God for speed or for suffering. Sometimes pleases God. If you're suffering for the right reasons, God desires to equip you to glorify him. Verse 21 continues all glory to him forever and ever. 4 (1h 3m 26s): Amen. This is what, this is what Christianity is all about doing his will for his glory period, doing his will for his glory period. If you're not willing to do his will for his glory period, you've gotten into the wrong faith. Leave Christianity, because you're not actually living proper Christianity. And that's not meant to be critical. It's just a statement of fact, if your life isn't meant for doing his will for his glory, then you've, you've totally missed it. When Jesus called the disciples, he said, come follow me. I'll make you fishers of men. Like leave everything and follow me, leave it and follow me. 4 (1h 4m 10s): I don't know what that means in your life, but there's some things that probably need to be left so that you can follow him. Practical faith, living number three, pay attention to God's written instruction. Hebrews 1322. I urge you dear brothers and sisters. You pay attention to what I've written in this brief exportation. So the writer of Hebrews is referencing all of Hebrews and on a larger scale, he's referencing all of God's word, the scriptures of the old and the new new Testament. So paying attention means actually doing, I mean like you can hear, we can hear all day long, but we're not doing, we're not actually paying attention. 4 (1h 4m 58s): We need to be doing what is written and following the instruction. The word of God has written so that it's like, it's like a mirror held up to our face and the fool reads it and walks away from it. And there's no change and no transformation. Verse 23. I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released from jail. Why is he in jail? Doing the will of the Lord for the glory of God and suffering, being willing to suffer. If he comes here soon, I will bring him with me to see you greet all your leaders and all the believers there. 4 (1h 5m 43s): The believers from Italy send you their greetings. May God's grace be with you all. Let's go ahead and stand up and invite the team forward. What I don't want to happen today is I don't want us to leave and do nothing. That would be a tragedy. 4 (1h 6m 26s): That would be a tragedy Lord. I pray that we would do and live God. The very breath of our being would be to do your will. And to glorify you, God, that we would be saturated in that desire. And as a result, Lord, I just know that we'll be transformed. And the things of this world will begin to fade and pale in comparison to doing your will for your glory. 4 (1h 7m 10s): Lord, God, wake us up, wake me up, wake us, Lord, God, God. We've got to people all around us culture, all around us. You who don't know you, Lord, I pray that we would start helping people to know you, that we use our spiritual gifts for the edification of the body of Christ. Lord God. So that people might be encouraged to, to know you and to, to walk with you, Lord, I don't know what you want to do, Lauren, but I know that if we will avail ourselves to you every day and every moment of the day that we would pray without ceasing, that we would stay in the spirits and listen that you will direct our steps. 4 (1h 7m 60s): You will cause us to pray for our enemies and love those who have been hard to love. You'll give us a hunger for the souls of people and a desire to minister it'll. It'll come out of the overflow of our lives. Lord God, thank you, Lauren. We are spiritual leaders to someone pray that we'd be spiritual leaders. The way that you've called us to be spiritual leaders. Lord, thank you for your grace Lord. We love you in Jesus name. Amen. You can leave it up. There is. 0 (1h 9m 2s): How has I've got a one with my aunts. 0 (1h 10m 24s): 1 (1h 13m 20s): Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. That we are here. Singing holiday. Thank you that we are here listening to your word. God, we want to go deeper. We want to grow in faith. We want to grow in our, in our spiritual walks with you. So we worship you. We give you things, you deserve all of our gratitude. You deserve all of our worship, all of our moments, all of the minutes in our days. So we surrender again. 1 (1h 13m 60s): We reminded of the cross. We are reminded after your salvage of salvation, God, your death and resurrection. We love you. Jesus is in your name. We pray. Amen.

Healthy Church Leadership

1 (4s): Good morning harvest church. We're so excited that you're here with us today. We invite you to stand and wish a very happy mother's day to all you moms out there. 2 (4m 13s): All right. Awesome. Welcome to church everybody. How are we doing? Good. All right. Awesome. Well, I just want to say thank you so much to all the moms out there, and we love you and all that. You've all that you've done in our lives. It's just such, it's such a example of the gospel, I think, and selfless giving and love constantly, even when you don't get it back sometimes. And so we love you guys. Thank you so much. Also we've got M six coming up tomorrow night for men. So if you want to join us for that, it's out a thousand Hills range at six, and then we've got email updates. 2 (4m 54s): So if you want to keep up to date with just things that are happening around the church, you can sign up for email updates by going by the info center or signing up online at the connect tab. And a final thing is that we have a exciting update about the worship center, an opening date next week. So you want to be here next week to hear about when we're going to officially be opening. So, so stay tuned, you know, so come back next week and you'll hear about it. All right, Jesus. We love you so much. Thank you for just the season that we're in and thank you for the mothers that are in the house today. We just pray a special blessing on them. 2 (5m 34s): God, we just ask that you would bless them with more energy and favor and just the ability to minister to the kids and the people who are like children to them in their lives. Lord, we just love them so much. I just pray that your holy spirit would minister today over each, each person here. God, we we're here for you. We want to hear from you and Lord. We want to, we want you to change our lives. We want you to minister to us in Jesus name. Amen. 3 (8m 50s): The 4 (10m 52s): Cherish this morning. We're going to sing a newer song that talks about the power of the name of the Lord. He is so powerful. He is so much He is present. When we call on his name. 3 (11m 54s): Right off the That's the power of your name? Just and your power is . 0 (13m 58s): Can you 3 (14m 0s): Still do you do, why do you use For your, the same now as you 4 (15m 22s): You are all powerful and you are all good. We worship you in this place. We love you in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Church. You can go ahead and have a seat and direct your attention to the screens. We have a mother's day video. 7 (15m 40s): Just give me one second. Sorry. 6 (15m 43s): Hey. Hi, 7 (15m 45s): Two minutes. Thank you. Hi, good afternoon. Sorry about that. 8 (15m 56s): Hi. Nice to meet. 7 (15m 57s): Nice to meet you as well. You ever done one of these interviews over the camera for now? Let me tell you a little bit about the job to get started with. It's not just a job. It's sort of probably the most important job. The title that we have going right now is director of operations, but it's really kind of so much more than that. Responsibilities and requirements are, are really quite extensive. First category for the requirements would be mobility. This job requires that you must be able to work standing up most or really all of the time, constantly on your feet, constantly bending over constantly exerting yourself a high level of stamina. 9 (16m 37s): Okay. That's a lot 10 (16m 39s): For how many, like for how many hours? 7 (16m 41s): 135 hours to unlimited hours a week. It's basically 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 11 (16m 47s): Sure. You'll have a chance from time to time to maybe just sit down here and there. Yeah. 7 (16m 51s): Oh you mean like a break? Yeah, no, there are no breaks available. 8 (16m 56s): Is that even legal? 7 (16m 58s): Yeah, of course. Yeah. 8 (16m 59s): So like no lunch. 7 (17m 0s): You can have lunch, but only when the associate is done eating their lunch. 9 (17m 7s): I think that's a little intense. No, 7 (17m 9s): No, no 6 (17m 9s): Past. 7 (17m 10s): Now this position requires excellent negotiation and interpersonal skills. We're really looking for someone that might have a degree in medicine in finance and the culinary arts. You must be able to wear several hats, associate needs, constant attention. Sometimes they have to stay up with an associate throughout the night and able to work in a chaotic environment. If you, if you had a life, we'd ask you to sort of give that life up. No vacations. In fact, Thanksgiving, Christmas, new year's on holidays. The workload is going to go up and we demand that with, with the happy disposition. 12 (17m 42s): That's almost cruel. That's almost a, a very, very sick twisted, 11 (17m 47s): But when there's time to sleep 7 (17m 49s): Or oh, no time to sleep. 13 (17m 52s): Yeah. All encompassing 7 (17m 53s): Almost. That's exactly right. 14 (17m 55s): 365 days a year. Yes. No, that's that's inhumane. 12 (17m 59s): That's, that's very insane. 7 (18m 1s): The meaningful connections that you make and the feeling that you get from really helping your associate are even measurable. Also let's cover the salary. The position is going to pay absolutely nothing. 4 (18m 15s): Excuse me. 14 (18m 16s): No, nobody's doing that for 7 (18m 19s): Yeah. Pro bono completely for free. What if I told you there's someone that actually currently holds this position right now? Billions of people actually moms. 0 (18m 34s): Yeah. 7 (18m 35s): Yeah. Moms. That's awesome. And they meet every requirement. Don't 16 (18m 51s): Are the best. 10 (18m 52s): Yeah. There's no pain there. 24 hours always there. 17 (18m 56s): Now I'm thinking about my mom. 7 (18m 57s): Yeah. And what are you thinking about her? I'm thinking 17 (18m 59s): About all those nights and everything. 12 (19m 1s): Thank you so much for everything you do. I know it doesn't seem like I appreciate all of it, but I definitely do. 14 (19m 7s): So mama want to say thank you for everything that you've done. I love you very much. You've been there through thick and thin. My mom is just awesome. She's awesome. 19 (19m 32s): So when I first saw that video, kind of like you guys, I'm thinking, you know, I'm not, I'm, I'm not really tracking with this. And, and then of course he has, he gets into it and go, oh, okay. I understand now. And so I know Curtis prayed for moms just a little bit ago, but I want to make a couple comments on a pray for moms as well. And especially for moms that as the gal mentioned, that are in the thick of it. So think of it. Meaning you got little ones that are at home right now and they outnumber you. And so my wife and I, so one child was, you know, doable, two kids, pretty challenging three kids. It's out of control by the fourth. 19 (20m 14s): It's I gain I, yeah. They're they outnumber us. So it doesn't even matter anymore. But so a couple months ago, I don't know how long ago I was going through heading home, going through the radio dial stations. And I came across this country, Western song. I don't listen to a lot of country, but this friend really captured my attention. And it's by trace Atkins. And the name of it is you're going to miss this. And of course, having been through the child, rearing and mainland, I'm talking about my wife predominantly and, and looking back. So our kids are all grown now. And, and you know, so to moms that are in the thick of it, you're going to miss this. 19 (20m 58s): I know right now it's, it's overwhelming. There's, there's no question, but I do want to say this, the investment that you're making in your kids, it is any eternal investment that will bring about phenomenal rewards and, and getting through this time in life where the kids are little and, and it seems to be just getting through one day at a time is, is just monumental. Not only will you miss this, but in the, in the course of time, you're making investment that that God will reward. 19 (21m 37s): And the fruit of your labor is, is going to be, it's going to impact not only your kids, but, but other people, you know, we're, we're really investing in the next generation. So that's what you're doing. Moms you're investing in the next generation. And so good job, keep up the good work. God will give you all that you need as you're going through this time. And so Lord, I, I disagree with Curtis that you would indeed just pour out your spirit upon moms in particular, especially those that have little ones at home right now that just are struggling to get through each day, wondering, am I doing this right? 19 (22m 24s): Or feeling like I'm failing at motherhood, Lord, breathe into them. A fresh confidence of fresh, just understanding that you are with them. And, and you are the one ultimately that is, that is investing in those kids through, through the mothers, through moms. So Lord bless them, give them all that we need. We just stand in agreement with, with you. And we bless you. And we thank you, Lord, in Jesus name. God's people said, amen. So good morning. My name's Ron. And it's my privilege to share God's word with you today. Pastor Steve is away for a little bit getting, I guess I can tell you this, he's not out of town, so that's, that would be considered staycation. 19 (23m 13s): Right? Okay. So what I want to talk about today, we're actually gonna, gonna finish up the book of Hebrews. So if you want to turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews, we're going to be in chapter 13. So pastor Steve ended up last week in chapter 13, verse 16. So I'm going to pick it up in verse 17. And so if you have your, your physical Bible with you, if you want to turn to it on your tablet, whatever device you choose to use. So the subject, the main topic of what I want to talk about today is healthy church leadership, healthy church leadership. And there's really two verses that I want to focus on and sort of bring out this idea of healthy church leadership and they are verses 17. 19 (23m 56s): So he was 13, 17. And then we're going to jump back just a little bit 10 verses, right before that in verse seven, I want to look at those two verses primarily and, and look and see what, what the writer of Hebrews has to say about healthy church leadership. And so Lord, as we open up your word, as we dive into the scriptures where we expect you to teach us to instruct us, our hearts are open to you. We desire to grow and to mature and to become the men of God, the women of God that you desire for us to be in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, just a PS. I was struggling with a cold earlier this week. 19 (24m 38s): I'm not contagious. Okay. So, and I took a COVID test. I don't have COVID. And so bear with me. If I, if I seemed just a little congested, that's why, so Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17 says this, obey those who rule over you and be submissive for, they watch out for your souls as those who must give account, let them do so with joy and not with grief for that would be unprofitable for you. And then the verse it coincides with that. If you go up just a little verse seven, remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. 19 (25m 25s): So again, we're talking about church leadership today, those who rule over the, over us, those who lead us, you know, at first glance looking at this, it might seem a little bit self-serving. So what do I mean by that? So the writer of the book of Hebrews is himself, a church leader, and he's challenging the church church people to submit and obey church leaders. So it's almost like, in fact, I'm glad Steve's gone today because now I can talk freely about him as, as our lead pastor. In fact, I think it's, it's more appropriate that I would talk about this rather than, than him, because it might seem self-serving that he would be talking about, you know, obeying and submitting to church leaders. 19 (26m 15s): And so I don't mind talking behind Steve's back today. Maybe that's not the right words, but you know, he can, he can watch it. He might be watching it right now. I don't know. He can, you know, it's archived, he can go back and watch it, watch it later. So I want to talk about church leadership. And in, in light of this, a couple of things we have to think about first of all, Before Jesus went to the cross just very soon before he went to the cross, there's this prayer that's recorded in John chapter 17. And he prays for a number of things. He's praying for the disciples that he'd spent over three years with, but he also is looking down through generations through human history. 19 (27m 1s): And he's actually praying for us as well. This is what he says in John chapter 17, beginning with verse 20. He says, I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, talking about the disciples word, that they all may be one as you father are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me. And so everything that we're going to talk about as far as church leadership, it has to do with the oneness that, that Jesus prayed for. There there's meant to be a unity in the body of Christ. 19 (27m 43s): That is so supernatural. So desirable that even, even as unbelievers who don't know Jesus experience, what we get to experience in a community of believers, it is compelling in and of itself to want to become a follower of Jesus Christ. So number one, church leadership is God's idea. So this isn't something that, you know, people put together and said, okay, we got this church thing going on now. And beginning with the early church, let's see how we can figure out to, you know, create some sort of hierarchy leadership model to do this church leadership it's God's idea. 19 (28m 25s): So if we look at Ephesians chapter four, beginning with verse 11, you guys are probably very familiar with this verse. It says he himself. So God himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers it's for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So when we talk about church leadership, number one it's God's idea, and number two, in terms of, of what church leadership looks like, we need to look to Jesus as he laid out for us, this style for leadership or, or the responsibilities for those who lead the church. 19 (29m 9s): So in Matthew chapter, sorry, in mark chapter four, they were having this conversation, the disciples and they're, and they're walking they're together, spent a lot of time together. And they're having these conversations about various things and it was not uncommon for the disciples to sorta, you know, banter among themselves and say, well, you know what, I'm, I'm going to be the main leader. I'm going to sit next to Jesus in his kingdom. You know, I'm going to be a button. You know, there was this, this challenging one another about who's, who's going to be the best, the best leader. And Jesus called the disciples together, mark chapter 10, verse 42. And he said to them, you know that the rulers in this world, Lord it over their people and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 19 (29m 56s): But among you, it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. And whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. So what do we see here while secondly, we see that that a church leader is first and foremost, a servant leader. So the church then talking about this idea of leadership in the church, it's not meant to have a corporate structure where the pastor is at the top and everyone else is below the leader. 19 (30m 46s): The pastor, the pastor is supposed to serve the church as an example of how Christ laid, laid down his life for the church. So a church leader is a servant leader. So what does servant leadership look like? So picture this it's it's the last supper, it's the last meal, the last Passover celebration that Jesus is spending with his disciples. It's, you know, a precious time. He knows right after this meal, he's going to go to the garden. He's going to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. 19 (31m 29s): He's going to be beaten and scorched, and he's going to go to the cross and give his life for the world, the sins of the world the next day. And so in that upper room experience in John chapter 13, beginning with verse four, it says Jesus got up from the table and he took off his robe and he wrapped a towel around his waist and he poured water into a basin. And then he began to wash the disciples feet, drying them with the towel that he had around him. And after washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, do you understand what I was doing? You call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, because that's what I am. 19 (32m 12s): And since I, your Lord and teacher have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. Give I've given you an example to follow and do as I have done to you. So he's speaking to his disciples, which would go on to be initially the leadership within the early church. He's talking to church leaders here, future church leaders, and he's giving them this example, which was in that culture in that day, the only one that would wash someone's feet when they come into their home would be a slave would be a servant. It was like the lowest of the low. 19 (32m 55s): And so he's giving them this example of servant leadership. So as we think about this, Christian leaders are called by God to serve, not to be served. Church leaders are called by God to take the very lowest position and not the highest position. And again, all this kind of seems counterintuitive. And I don't know how long you guys have been around churches in various churches, in your, in your walk with the Lord. Often we experienced all kinds of church styles of leadership in various churches. It might not look anything like this, but I'm just, I'm giving us, this is, this is biblical church leadership. 19 (33m 42s): So now let's talk about pastor Steve. So I've served with Steve. I've been on staff here for 14 years. And so I've had a chance to spend a lot of time with Steve. We, we, we, you know, we serve together. And in fact, sometimes there's this question about, about title. So pastor Steve goes by the title lead pastor I'm. I have the title of associate pastor, and then, you know, sometimes. So if you ever wonder, what's the difference between, you know, the lead pastor, the associate pastor and assistant pastor. I mean, I don't understand. So basically an assistant pastor is someone who's kind of in training a pastor in training, who's assisting those who are leading and associate pastor, which is what I am. 19 (34m 30s): And, and we have others on staff that are associates as well is we're basically sort of at the same level as, as Steve, but we're, we're, we're assisting in the ministry at the same level because one person can't do it all. And so pastor Steve, as the lead pastor, he's the main, the main leader that we look to as we talk about servant leadership. So before I started working at harvest church 14 years ago, I knew Stephen Jolene quite well because our kids went to school together at coastal Christian. And he was serving another church in the community as, as, as I was. So we got to know each other in different pastor gatherings. 19 (35m 11s): And, and I always, I always liked Steve. He's always a friendly guy, but you know, when, when you're friends with someone and now you're working for this person, it's not always the same. Right? Fortunately, my experience in working with pastor Steve has really been phenomenal. It's been wonderful. So pastor Steve has set a good example for me. He set a good example. I feel for us. And, and we talk about, as I mentioned earlier, church leaders are called to serve, not to be served. Church leaders are called by God to take the very lowest position and not the highest position. Here's how, here's how Steve operates. If something needs to get done, he just gets it done. 19 (35m 54s): If he's walking around the property and he sees, you know, there's some trash that spilled out over here, whatever, he just gets in there, he picks it up and he gets it done. Some of this is so I don't know commonplace, but you know, if a toilet overflows he'll get the plunger and he'll plunge it. Okay. If someone needs visiting, if someone's hurting, he's there for them. As much as he, as, as he can be, whatever the need is, pastor Steve takes care of it. So what that has done for us as a, as a, as a team, as a church staff, is it set a good example for us in that we're, we're just working together. 19 (36m 35s): We're serving God together. We're serving God's people and whatever needs to get done to serve God's people. That's what we're going to do. And we help each other, you know? Yeah. We, we each have job description, but, but our job description when it's all said and done is we're just helping serve God's people together. We're willing to do whatever it takes In Romans chapter 12. There's this picture past that, that the, the apostle Paul is giving in Romans chapter 12. He says, I want you to rejoice with those who rejoice. And I want you to weep with those who weep be of the same mind towards one another. 19 (37m 18s): Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble and do not be wise in your own opinion. I think that's a good example of pastor Steve. He is approachable. He is, he's not full of himself. In fact, a lot of times when he shares things from the pulpit, I'm like, why are you talking about that? So Steve keeps some things private. He just doesn't do that. He's not full of himself. He's he's, he's one of us. So what that means is yes, we, we see the position that God has put on pastor. See, but he's very relatable. 19 (37m 59s): You can, you can come up, you can talk to him. He's one of us. And what you see is what you get. I've traveled all over the world with Steve, been to Israel, number of times, with them in different, different ministry times and things. And you know, what you see is what you get. He's just the same in public as he is in private or in private as he is in public. So again, I'm looking at Hebrews chapter 13, verses 17, and then verse seven, again. So back to verse seven, for a moment, it says, remember those who rule over you has spoken the word of God to you, whose faith, you should follow considering the outcome of their conduct. 19 (38m 42s): So those was spoken the word of God to you. Again, I'm talking about church leadership, number three, a church leader among other things is primarily a Bible teacher. What is the Bible teacher? It is one who affirms and reaffirms the things that God has spoken in his word that would be in the old Testament. And in the new Testament, they, they rightly divide the word of truth. They help make sense of what the scripture says so that it's understandable to us. It's relatable to us. We see how God's word applies in our lives personally, in thinking about this. 19 (39m 22s): So the apostle Paul, one of his people that he was a great mentor to was Timothy and Timothy actually was a pastor himself, a church leader leader at, at the church in Ephesus that Paul founded. So he's talking to Timothy here in second, Timothy chapter four. And he says this. He says, I charge you Timothy before God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Here's what he says to Timothy, preach the word, Timothy, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convince rebuke exhort with all long suffering and teaching. 19 (40m 7s): So a church leader among other things is primarily a Bible teacher. And so in thinking about that, a couple of comments, if your pastor is a man of God who is teaching the word of God, then you are to obey the word of God as he has given it to you. Another comment a Bible teachers should teach us to submit to God, not to himself being a pastor, a church leader. It's kind of a dangerous thing because you know, you're typically in front of a lot of people and you can get a lot of influence and you can get in this place where it can be Lord, I'm building my kingdom. 19 (40m 50s): You know, these are my people. That's not what it's about at all. Again, we're talking about leadership. A Bible teachers should teach us to submit to God and not to himself. So back to verse seven, again, whose faith you should follow. So number four, church leaders should be an example to those. They are leading church leaders should be an example to those. They are leading. And again, Paul's exhorting Timothy. Who's the pastor of the church in Ephesus. He was a young man and he's got this big responsibility there in first Timothy chapter four, beginning with verse 12, he says this to him. He says, be an example, be an example to the believers in word in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity, he says, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine and do not neglect the gift that is in you, meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all take heed to yourself and to the doctrine, continue in them for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. 19 (42m 13s): So the one another thing I really appreciate about Steve is he's, he's intentional about growing in his maturity, in his understanding of the Bible. And in fact, you know, not that many years ago, I don't know. He decided, you know, I need to get my, my Bible education finished. He hadn't finished it up up to that point. And so he went back to Bible school and he got his degree in, in ministry, in, in theology. And then, and then he followed it up with a master's I believe. So why, why was he doing that? He was doing that for himself, but he's also doing it for us. So that kind of like Paul's telling Timothy so that your progress may be evident. 19 (42m 58s): So imagine, so pastor Steve and Jolene, they planted the church 19 years ago. And you know, as a pastor and you're up in front of people a lot, you kind of say, you can repeat yourself a lot. And he, if he's not growing in the word and in his spiritual life personally, it's like, he doesn't really have a lot of fresh stuff to give to us, but because he's intentional about growing in his own personal walk with the Lord, it's like, there's, there's more that comes out. There's more depth to him. And he gets to continue to help us grow. Even those of us that have been under his leadership for decades. And that's a wonderful thing. 19 (43m 38s): And so Peter, he's also on the same point first Peter chapter five, verse two, it says, he says, speaking to leaders, he says, shepherd, the flock of God, which is among you serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly nor as being lores over those entrusted to you. But being an example, being examples to the flock. Now, granted, pastor Steve he's, he's not a perfect example. He's got flaws, just like we all have flaws, but he's honest and open about those flaws, which I really appreciate appreciate about him. 19 (44m 23s): He's a work in process, just like we're a work in process, right? And that's why he's relatable. Oh, he's just like me going through trials and struggles and you know, ups and downs in life. So again, back to verse seven and in verse 17 as well, it says that we are to obey them. We're we're to obey church leaders and to submit to them. So obey and submit. Those are tough words. Again, the writer of Hebrews, I want you to obey them and I want you to be submissive to them. So what is he talking about there? So both these words can be difficult. 19 (45m 3s): What does this mean? And why should we obey and submit to church leaders? Well, what that really means is this that we're called to listen to them, you know, give attention to what they're saying. Not only in their word, but in their life, in their example, we're to listen and we're to yield. I hear what you're saying and I, and I want to do what you're doing. I want to follow. I want to follow your lead. One of the ways I believe you can really tell a good a church leader is, is people are following them. Don't have to follow them, but they are following them because there's something there that they desire to follow about them and about their teaching, about their life. 19 (45m 44s): So to abandon and submit really means I want to follow your leadership. I want to submit to your leadership. And again, back to verse 17, why? Because it says church leaders, they watch out for your soul and they must give an account to God for their leadership. So number five, church leaders are watching out for your soul. So what does that mean? Well, Jesus, you know, is commonly described in the Bible as a shepherd. In fact, he's often called the chief shepherd and church leaders. If you really think about it, what they are they're, they're under shepherds. Jesus is the head of the church. He's the chief shepherd church leaders just fall underneath that. 19 (46m 25s): They're under shepherds. What does a shepherd do? A shepherd cares for the flock. A shepherd cares for God's people watching out for them, watching out for the flock, protecting the flock, loving the flock, pouring their lives into God's people. The flock A little bit about this and acts chapter 20 verse 28. It says, therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock. Again, he's talking about God's people among which the holy spirit has made you overseers. 19 (47m 6s): So this is a work of the holy spirit in the leader to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. I think about the responsibility of that. Jesus shed his blood to set us free from the law of sin and death. So we're free in Christ. And now these under shepherds come along and they are too nurture us and help us grow in that walk where God has purchased us with his own blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So again, a church leader in, in our kind of day and age is, is commonly called the pastor, but actually a better translation of that word in the scripture. 19 (47m 51s): The word pastor is the word shepherd. In fact, there's only one occasion in the new Testament where, where the word is translated. Pastor everywhere else in the new Testament is translated shepherd. So that's what a church leader does. They shepherd us, they shepherd the flock. They watch out for your soul and they must give an account to God for their leadership. Number six church leaders must give an account to God for their leadership. In other words, church leaders, church leadership. It is, it is a stewardship, a stewardship. What do I mean by that? So in Titus chapter one, beginning with verse seven, he's talking about a Bishop. 19 (48m 36s): Now a Bishop is an overseer, a church leader. It says a Bishop must be blameless as a steward of God. Not self-willed not quick tempered, not addicted to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable a lover of what is good. Sober-minded just wholly and self controlled. Those are big shoes to fill. So that's the, the qualifications of church leaders. And it's as a stewardship, a steward of God in another place. 19 (49m 17s): Paul talks about those. He says, moreover, it is required among stewards that a man be found faithful. Paul talks more about this in second Corinthians, five, 10. He says for, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Every one of us that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. So a church leader, who's someone who's called to that position to lead God's people. The flock of God, pastor Steve has to give an account for his leadership. Any, any church leader has to give an account to God for their leadership in verse 17, let them do so with joy and not with grief. 19 (50m 4s): So to some degree, I don't know how much as pastor Steve stands before God and gives an account. We somehow play a part in that. Have we made his leadership, you know, easier, or have we made his leadership much more difficult? Number seven, a church with godly leadership should be a place that is filled with the joy of the Lord. The love of God. And it is a profound blessing to be a part of this church churches with good godly church leaders. 19 (50m 46s): Again, Paul speaks to this in first Thessalonians chapter two, he says for what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing. It is not even you in the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ at his coming for you are our glory and joy. So Paul, the church leader, he's looking ahead and he's saying, you know, when, when we stand before God, when we are in his kingdom, you know what part of my crown of rejoicing is going to be, it's going to be you guys, because I got to lead you. And you, you listened, you submitted, we all grew together. 19 (51m 27s): We're growing together. And now look at the reward that we have together in, in God's kingdom. So for those of you who are new, newer to harvest church, or maybe you're thinking about, do I want to get plugged in here or not? Or maybe you're here and you've decided harvester is your church home. Here's what you should expect from those who lead us. This is sort of the culture, the culture of our church. Number one, we teach the Bible. Number two, we all serve together. So whether it's people that are on staff, the staff team, the volunteer team, those who are leading life groups or, or whatever function you may have part you may have at harvest church, we're all serving together. 19 (52m 14s): There is no hierarchy where someone, you know is higher than we're just serving God together. We strive to honor each other to love each other, to show grace towards each other, patients towards each other. We take serving God very seriously. While we try to have a lot of fun doing ministry together, think about serving God and the impact we have on people's lives. That's a serious thing, but, but we got to have a lot of joy and, and fun doing it at the same time. And lastly, at harvest church, we make it our aim to properly represent Jesus Christ to our community. 19 (52m 58s): That's so important as harvest church. You guys probably know this already, but as, as we're out and about in the town and the community, and we go to restaurants, we go to work, we go out and about doing our thing. And peop people watch us. They watch you. They go, oh, I know them. Yeah. They, they go to harvest church and then, and then they're thinking they will never say this probably. But if I ever wanted to be a Christian, do I want to be like that person? They want to know? Are we representing Christ well in our community? 19 (53m 38s): And we can have a lot of impact on people who make that distance. Like, you know what? I liked them. I loved them. I like what I see in them. I want to be a Christian, like they are. So, and finally kind of trying to wrap up, wrap all of this as first, first Thessalonians, chapter five, verse 12, he says, we urge you brethren to recognize those who labor among you talking about church leaders and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very, very highly in love for their work's sake and be at peace among yourselves. So one of the, the side benefits, so the evidence of good church leadership is there is what he calls peace among yourselves. 19 (54m 19s): You know, nobody wants a church full of drama and you know, problems, you know, just being a peace with one another, loving each other, enjoying what we get to do together as fellow believers in Christ. And he concludes this is Hebrews chapter 13, verse 18 and 19. He concludes here the writer of Hebrews. He says, pray for us. If we are confident that we have a good conscience in all things designed to live honorably, but I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. So he's saying apparently he was someplace, maybe in jail, maybe in prison, he couldn't get back to the believers he's writing to. 19 (55m 2s): He says, could you pray for me because I want to get back to you. And he's, he's what he's suggesting is their prayers actually have the, the power or the authority to get him out so that he could come back and spend time with his friends. So the writer of Hebrew briefs believed that the prayers of God's people would open doors, open doors and bring down obstacles. You believe that today the prayers of God's people will open doors and bring down obstacles that are in our way. So again, the writer, he was, he's going to close out by. He wants to speak a blessing upon these people that he loves so much, he's praying for them. 19 (55m 46s): And I want to say this prayer, that, that he's going to pray for them. It's for us as well. It's for you and me. Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 22, 3 22. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you. What is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And I appealed to you brethren bear with the word of exhortation for four. I have written to you in few words. And lastly, he closes no that our brother Timothy has been set free with whom I shall see you. 19 (56m 32s): If he comes shortly, greet all those who rule over you in all the saints, those from Italy, greet you, grace, be with you all. Amen. So I want to invite the worship team to come up at this time. As, as I get ready to close, I just wanna Let you know about a conversation I had with somebody on Easter. So I'm on ago, month ago, already Easter time, There was a gentleman there who I'd seen at church a number of times, And it was just a good opportunity before the service got started. I saw him, I said, Hey, I got a question for you. Have you made the decision yet to give your life to Jesus Christ? 19 (57m 19s): And he said to me said, well, no, I haven't. He says, I'm, I'm what you would call an agnostic. So an agnostic is somebody would basically say by debt. I don't know. I don't know if there is a God, I don't know, but I'm open. He says, I'm really kind of waiting to have this kind of like burning Bush experience. I just want to have some big sign that God would, you know, where I can, where I can, I can believe in him. And I said, well, let me, let me give you a suggestion instead of doing that, why don't you do this? And instead just say, God, I want to believe. And so I'm going to open up my heart to the reality that Jesus Christ is the Lord and that he went to the cross for me. 19 (58m 5s): And so Lord, I'm going to open up my heart to you so that you can reveal yourself to me. Now he didn't respond to that. He didn't say, yes, I'll do that or whatever, but here's where I want to go with this today. So I don't know where you are in your walk with the Lord here in the sanctuary or in the loft or the patio, or maybe streaming in online. But here's ultimately what, what I want to encourage you to do. And that is to number one, admit to God that you have sinned against him, Acknowledged that there is a God Who is righteous and holy and you've sinned against him. 19 (58m 46s): And then you, what you do. In fact, the word is repent. I want to turn. And secondly, believe that God has sent his son Jesus, as the Messiah to take upon himself, the penalty for your sin. That's what the gospel is all about. That's why it's called the good news that God sent his son into the world to go to the cross and die and take upon himself, our penalty, our judgment. And then the last thing I want to encourage all of us to do. But those of you who have not done it yet is to confess to God that you have chosen to believe in the gospel. 19 (59m 29s): And that is again, that's the death, the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord. And if you would do that, if you would acknowledge him and believe in him and confess him, even if you have areas in your life where, where you you've got unbelief, or I just need some proof, or I don't know about this yet, I believe in my experiences has been a few open up your heart to him. He will come in and the holy spirit will, will begin to take root in your life. And, and your eyes will begin to be opened. Your spirit, your soul will begin to be open to the things of God and he will show you that he indeed is the Lord Lord. 19 (1h 0m 13s): We so thank you for what we get to experience as part of the church family, the church community, the flock of God, Lord, thank you. What a privilege it is to be part of your kingdom, to be part of this church harvest church. Lord, we pray for Steve. Those who lead us, Lord, I pray for Steve that you would just continue to give him encouragement and strength and confidence and, and just that ability to endure and to just continue to be excited about the place that you have in the role that you haven't been. As, as our leader, Lord, help him, help us to honor him, help us to lift up his arms in the battle, help us Lord as just a gathering of believers. 19 (1h 0m 56s): Lord, we want to, most of all, we want to honor you. Lord help us to do that. Lord, what a joy and privilege it is to walk with you every day in Jesus name God's people said, amen. Let's go ahead and stand. We're going to continue to worship the Lord this morning. 3 (1h 1m 20s): Used to do all the same. God. Now Your spirit breaking out your kingdom movie. 3 (1h 1m 51s): 4 (1h 3m 13s): Thank you Jesus, for your power. Thank you that you are mighty. Thank you that you are holy God. We thank you for leadership. We thank you for church leadership. We thank you for your scripture. That gives us direction and your holy spirit. That gives us insight. We love you, Jesus. And it's in your name. We pray. Amen.

More Practical Faith Living

1 (1s): Welcome to churchy stand. As we worship this morning, how beautiful it is to be in the house of the Lord. 0 (14s): Finding the nine. She Oh, to him. 0 (1m 35s): And before the I stand complete, Jesus died. She To him. 0 (3m 11s): I see. And have that to cramped and stayed. He watched Jesus, paid it 2 (3m 27s): All 0 (3m 28s): To him. I 2 (3m 31s): See 0 (3m 32s): Dan had left a crazy insane. He watched, he washed, he washed it a wide as, 3 (3m 52s): Hey, everybody. Welcome to harvest church. My name is Curtis and I just got a couple of announcements for you. But first you should know that the info center is like the hub around here. So if you want to get connected, then that's the way that's where you should go from here. You just go up the driveway. If you're in the patio, you go down the driveway. If you're in the left, you'd like to the left. You'll you'll figure it out. It's got big signs. Can't miss it. So if you want to get connected with any life groups, there's life groups for men and women, recreational groups, there's every kind of group you can imagine. So please, if you want to get further connected, you can join a life group there. Let's say, if you want to give, you can give in here at the collection boxes in every venue at the collection box or online at the gift task. 3 (4m 37s): So with that, let's just pray. And also if you have kids sixth grade and up visit six fifth, and they're going to be released after worship. So just be aware of that. So Lord Jesus, we just thank you so much that you paid it all. Lord, you paid it all on our behalf. Jesus, and you have given you gave everything so that we could have life in you so we can have relationship with you. And so that we don't have to feel condemnation because of her sins because of her doing so Jesus, we are so eternally grateful for setting us free for giving us new purpose in you and God. 3 (5m 21s): So we just want to worship you with everything in us. And we just, we just praise you, Lord Jesus name. Amen. 1 (5m 35s): Where should you this morning? Jesus. We are expecting God. You are here. You are. So this morning we, we don't waste time depressing. We know that you were the king of Kings and the Lord 0 (6m 4s): The people see The people. 2 (6m 38s): See 4 (10m 54s): I just want to speak the name of Jesus, Every heart and every mind. Cause I know there is peace within your breasts. I speak G I just want to speak the name of Jesus. Every God Declare me there is hope and there is free. 4 (11m 38s): I speak G Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. 4 (13m 36s): In the dark, every yen I fam I span the whole 5 (15m 14s): Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the power. That is the name of Jesus. Goodness. I think we forget sometimes Lord, the power of your name to break through strongholds Lord. As we speak the power with the name of Jesus, the person and the work finished work of the Lord Jesus over our lives and families. Lord there's there's hope. There's the ability to endure Lord God in your name. Jesus. So Lord God, give us a glimpse of your power. The resurrection power of Jesus that heals the sick and raises the dead and sets people free. Thank you, Lord God. 5 (15m 54s): We're wherever we need to be healed in Jesus' name. We pray that your power would just touch our lives. Lord God, I think about pastor Rick at Calvary chapel in Nepal, Mo and Cheryl are missionary to Israel. Lord, both of them battling cancer right now, we just got, we just ask Lord God that you would release your power in their bodies. Lord God, for the host of others who are dealing with chronic illness and pain and discomfort in their bodies, Lord God cancer and sickness and disease. Lord, I just pray in Jesus name God that you would work powerfully and intentionally in our lives. Lord God, there would just be a healing outpour of your power and your grace. 5 (16m 35s): Lord God. So minister, Lord to minister, to our friends and family who are in need today. Bless pastor Rick Jenkins, Lord touch every spot in his body. Those five areas that he's got cancer. We just pray that you would touch him and heal him. God, that you would encourage his wife, Tina encourage their congregation. I'd pray their church in Nepal Mo bless them with hope and encouragement, guidance, provision, and direction. Lord for Cheryl Lord as she's she's been so faithful Lord to preach the gospel, to proclaim the good news in Israel and everywhere she goes, Lord God. We just pray to God that you'd bless her Buster with healing and grace and power for what she's needed, what for what she needs in her body. 5 (17m 22s): Lord God do wonderful and supernatural things. Lord things that only you can do, God, God, we call out to you for things that only you can do. And we ask that you would do that now. Lord, thank you for your grace. We love you, Lord. Thank you for loving us in Jesus name. Amen. Turn to greet your neighbor. We'll come right back. 8 (18m 38s): The words 5 (19m 47s): Alrighty. Welcome back. Yeah. I had to get a little throat lozenge. My throat was I'm not cooperating and the while I'm back there, my son's on the, on the command central back there and he gave me just this amazing little massage just now. So that's why I was taking a while. He's like, let me get it. He's just digging into me. Have you ever gotten a good back rub, whatever We're in Hebrews chapter 13 today and the title of the message. More practical faith livings. We talked about practical faith living last week. We're talking about even more practical faith, this, this week more practical faith living and kind of be covering some verses. 5 (20m 31s): So Thank you Lord. 9 (20m 38s): Yeah, I feel like we should, 5 (20m 39s): Again, Lord, we just invite your presence. God, God, that we've, we've all kind of greeted and worshiped and prayed together Lord, and we're praying together some more Lord. I just pray that you would have opened our hearts to you. God, I, I just know that you're going to speak something to us and encourage us and challenge us. And we want you to do that. Lord. We want you to do all of those things, building us up in our most holy faith Lord. So God do what you want to do. Lord will, will be submitted to that. Lord harvest church is your church and where your people. So we want to hear your, your, your word today. So bless us as we do in Jesus name. Amen. 5 (21m 20s): More practical faith living Hebrews 13, eight says keep focused on the changeless or excuse me, Jesus. That's the first title. Go ahead and put it up there. First point. Keep, I just preach this message. Do you think I'd have it like down right now, but I got, I think I got distracted from that neck rub. So I've got to get focused again. Number one in your notes, keep focused on the changeless. Perfection of Jesus. Hebrews 13, eight says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. I grew up in a Foursquare Foursquare church for about six years. And that's like their theme verse as Hebrews 13, eight, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's immutable. 5 (22m 1s): He doesn't change. He is faithful. He is reliable. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's our past sacrifice for sin yesterday. Like he died for our sins past present and future sins. He is our present intercessor today. Like he's at the right hand of the throne of God, constantly making intercession for us. He's praying for you. He's praying for me. So he's died for us, cleansing us of our sin, removing sin from our lives and then he's interceding for us. And he is our future forever. 5 (22m 43s): He is the purpose of our lives. Not before we know him, but when we come to faith in him, we realize that he is the purpose for our lives. He saves us out of darkness and he plants our feet on a solid foundation who is Christ the Lord. And then he gives us purpose in the earth. When we come to faith in Jesus, we begin to realize that whatever it was before, it's not it now, whatever our focus and our priorities were before now, Jesus takes the throne of our lives and he is our priority and our focus. And honestly he makes everything else better. So if you're your family was your priority for make Jesus your priority, your family will be better than ever. 5 (23m 24s): If your marriage was your priority before make Jesus your priority and your marriage will be better than ever. If your vocation was your priority before make Jesus your priority. And you'll bless that area of your life as well, seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else, everything else will be added unto you. The scripture says, so we need to keep focused on the changeless perfection of Jesus. So the writer of Hebrews is challenging the people to stay focused in a world that is full of distractions. Then, and now we have to constantly be thinking about Jesus, making him our priority, keeping focused on the change of this perfection of Jesus. 5 (24m 7s): Jesus Christ is changeless and perfect in every way. His sacrifice on the cross is the only answer to man's sin. So he met our needs. He, he is constantly interceding for us on our behalf and he's got this incredible eternal plan. Jesus, his sacrifice, intercession, his plan. It's all about Jesus. And it's all because of Jesus, his plan, his purpose, his way. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He's immutable, eternal and final. He is the judge. He's the bedrock of our faith. And so we always need to come back to Jesus, right? 5 (24m 47s): We never graduate and beyond Jesus, we never moved beyond Jesus. We're always in this state of dependence on him, where we need to forever make him our priority and the foundation of every area and arena of our lives in a culture that says you're the most important person in a culture that says your needs are the most important needs in a culture that says you are your own little God. We confront that culture with the reality that Jesus has God in Jesus is Lord of our lives. And when we come to faith in him, scripture says, if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart, that God has raised him from the dead. You will be saved. 5 (25m 29s): And so we're talking about Lordship leadership. I mean, he gets to tell me what to do. He gets to tell me how to do it. He gets to tell me how to spend my life, gets to tell, tell me how to spend my time, my money, everything he gets to tell me whatever he wants to tell me, because I've submitted my life. I've come under the authority of the person of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I wonder if we fully grasp our need for Jesus and his gospel or is Jesus and the gospel something we've just kind of added to our lives. It's an appendage. We carry it around with us or has it been all consuming? Has, has Jesus made himself so real in our needs? So of him so real that we've just, we've taken him in and breathed him in and we've consumed him and we've allowed him to consume us. 5 (26m 14s): If we haven't done that, then we probably are missing the reality of the situation that we are desperately lost without him. We are not good at all in a culture that tells us we're good. The Bible says there is none righteous. No, not one, not even one. John Calvin wrote only those who have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves and to be confounded shame at their wretchedness, truly understand the Christian gospel. We don't like the word shame, but, but as we look at the sinfulness of our lives, we need to be ashamed of that. 5 (26m 58s): We need to, we need to have a humble disgust Discontentment with our lives. I'll read that again. Only those two have learned well to be earnestly dissatisfied with themselves and to be confounded with shame at their wretchedness, truly understand the Christian gospel next verse, Hebrews 13, nine. So do not be attracted by strange new ideas then. And now the church has to be challenged, not to be attracted and distracted by strange new ideas. The enemy will always try to attract us to strange new ideas and the enemies pretty. 5 (27m 43s): I was actually reading this recently. The enemy is actually pretty good at delivering on his promise for a moment. Like if you do this sin, that will feel good and he's right for a moment. Right? But, but we don't see the full cost of that decision because the enemy is not going to show us that I was reading a story about a pastor who had many, many affairs extramarital affairs. And you know, the temptation is if it feels good, do it. And it feels good for a moment, whatever it is. But the price tag is unbearable. 5 (28m 26s): So for that guy, the price tag was his marriage for that guy. The price tag was his children for that guy, that price tag was his grandchildren for that guy. The price tag was his church and his ministry and his life as he knew it. And so the enemy will deliver on his promise to please you for a moment. But we got to remember the wages of sin is death. The penalty is always death. There's always a price to be paid. What are we willing to pay? So, Nope, don't be attracted by strange new ideas. Your strength comes from God's grace, not from rules about food, which don't help those who follow them. So let's look at these two, this verse in two sections, the first part of this verse. 5 (29m 10s): So do not be attracted by strange new ideas. First of all, there's nothing new under the sun. So everything that we're being tempted with today, the enemy has been tempting. People for generations, for thousands of years, strange or new stranger, new would be anything contrary or foreign to God's plan of salvation, anything different than the good news that Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross provided that Jesus provided the means of forgiveness and eternal life. If we're beginning to build our lives on anything else we're missing the mark, the enemy will always try to introduce subtle changes to sound doctrine. 5 (29m 50s): Why? Because if your doctrine can be corrupted, then your conduct can be corrupted. And if your conduct can be corrupted, your lives can be destroyed. And that's the goal is to steal, kill, and destroy. That's his purpose in the earth is steal, kill and destroy the apostle Paul address. This problem in gold, in the Galatians church in Galatians one six through eight, he wrote, I'm shocked that you are turning away so soon from God who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. They began to fall back into their old ways of relating to God and maybe earning God's favor that they begin to move back into the old covenant way of thinking the old law way of thinking and Paul so surprised, but I kind of get it. 5 (30m 47s): You know, we can kind of manage the law in our, you know, when we're delusional and think we can actually keep the law. The Bible says, if you break one part of the law, you're guilty of breaking all the laws. So the reality is that we can't keep any of the law, even if we're good in one area, we broken the other. And so we're guilty of breaking the whole law. So, but we, we kind of come up with this convoluted idea that I can do a, B and C one, two and three. And so the enemy gets us focused on those things, but in doing so where we've divorced ourselves from our need for Christ, whose grace is sufficient, who said, Hey, because you weren't or enabled to keep the whole law because you weren't able to attain righteousness in your own works. I came and it became your sacrifice. 5 (31m 28s): Your final sacrifice, you were following a different way. Paul said that pretends to be the good news, but it's not the good news at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. And this is the reality. Every other faith, every other religion under the sun will always twist the truth about who Jesus is. So they describe him and define him in a lesser way than this. Holy scripture is define and describe him. They will always limit him. He will always be less than what the scriptures declare him to be. 5 (32m 10s): So he's not the king of all Kings. He's not God incarnate. He's a God. The Jehovah's witnesses will say, he's not the king of the eternal one. He's the spirit brother of Lucifer Mormons will say new agers will say that he was a good teacher, that he was an enlightened leader, but that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says he is king. That is eternal. And that he is the one way to the father. Jesus said, I am the way the truth and the life. And no man comes to the father except through me. Every other faith in the world, humanism secularism in any ism will, will define and describe Jesus in lesser terms than what the scripture describes and defines Jesus. 5 (32m 55s): And so this is why we always go back to the scripture. We always find our theology and our, our beliefs about who God is through the word of God, not even internal sources, although some external sources will help us understand the word of God, but that's the word of God that ultimately speaks to our understanding. Galatians one continues, let God's curse fall on anyone, including us, or even an angel from heaven who preaches a different kind of a good news than the one we preach to you. I say it again. What we have said before, if anyone preaches any other good news, then the one you welcome. Let that person be cursed because that person is leading people astray. 5 (33m 42s): God's coming, that we might have life and life abundantly. People preaching a different gospel. Once you lay heavy burdens on us and distract us from the life that God has called us to live. Second part of verse nine says your strength comes from God's grace, not from rules about food, which don't help. Those who followed them. Paul explains to Timothy in first Timothy four, one through five. Now the holy spirit tells us clearly that in the last times, in the last days, some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 5 (34m 22s): So I'm going to say something it's unpopular. Every other faith in the world that isn't about Christ is demonic. It's it's, it's, it's, it's in their religion and their experiences. Four is informed by the enemy of our soul. It's demonic. Even those who seem like they're doing some incredible work. It is. It's an invention of Satan. It's a counterfeit, it's demonic. And this is what we see here. I'll read it again. Now the holy spirit tells us clearly that in the last times, in the last days, some will turn away from the true faith and they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 5 (35m 8s): These are people, these people are hypocrites and liars and their consciences are dead. They will say it's wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods, but God created those foods to be eaten with. Thanks by faithful people who know the truth, since everything God created is good. We should not reject any of it, but receive it with thanks for, we notice made acceptable by the word of God and prayer. So there's this temptation to become a POS state, to begin to move away from the truth of the gospel, to begin to dilute and to redefine what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. And we begin to mix in like, it's our option to mix in new age philosophies and ideologies and thinking and other religious and worldly things we get. 5 (35m 56s): We think we can kind of mixed all that in and serve Jesus. When the reality is that we need to examine our lives, eliminate everything that is godless and new age and contrary to the scripture and eliminate it and just make the word of God, our focus and our priority. So there's this apostasy, this kind of falling away. We see it. More people just begin to slip, begin to compromise, begin to change, begin to fall away from the truth. It's demonic. It's this apostasy is falling away. It's demonic, it's deceptive. And it's distorted in its origin. 5 (36m 38s): These deceiving spirits are evil and work in individuals to promote chaos and to seduce them into believing false doctrines concerning God, Jesus concerning the church concerning the Bible and especially the way of salvation. So the enemy is constantly trying to confuse us about the truth. And so we just need to be constantly opening up the word of God. Every time I open up the Bible old or new Testament, I get clarity. No matter what I'm dealing with. If it's an old Testament passage or a new Testament passage is I open up the scripture and just avail myself to the word of God, my heart, my mind, my spirit. I just get clarity about things. I get clarity about who I am in Christ. 5 (37m 20s): I get clarity about who God is and about what he's doing in the world. I get peace. I get, I get joy. I get clarity because of the truth that is spoken to me. So our spiritual strength comes from God's grace, which is communicated to us through God's word, not from religious rules, that demand conformity, but lack any ability to spiritually strengthen or give eternal life. I mean, that's what the religious elite in Jesus' day were all about. The Sadducees and the Pharisees. They were about he being expectations on the people, never lifting a finger to actually help them work called as the body of Christ to use our gifts, to Edify, to build up the church, to build people up in their most holy faith. 5 (38m 0s): And so God has called us to do what he's doing. He's speaking to people to lighten their load. Jesus said, come to me, all you who labor and every lady I will, I will give you rest of your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So anything that's contrary to scripture, maybe you're feeling experiencing it. If you're, if you're feeling the weight of something on your, your shoulders or in your soul, you need to figure out what it is. Maybe the Lord's trying to convict you. Sometimes conviction and condemnation seem very similar. But the difference is that when we ask the Lord, what's going on, am I feeling convicted? Or am I condemned? And the Lord will show us, he'll show you a sin that you're being convicted about, or he'll show you that it's the enemy of your shoulder trying to condemn you. 5 (38m 43s): And so if it's the enemy of your soul, trying to condemn you, then you just need to cast that out in Jesus name. I just say, Lord, would you get rid of that in Jesus' name? That's not from you. I don't want to carry that around. And if it's a conviction for a sin or something, I've in word thought or deed, I've done. I say, Lord, forgive me. And then we just move forward. I always encourage us to keep short accounts with Jesus, keep short accounts. If you stumble, acknowledge it, admit it, repent of it and move forward. That's the gospel. That's your whole life. You'll be doing that until you go to meet Jesus until he arrives until he takes us home, we will be doing that same thing. Get used to it, get humble about it. Get excited about it. 5 (39m 23s): Because when we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, our spiritual strength comes from God's grace that is communicated through his word and his, the reality of who we are in Christ, Romans 14, 17 says this for the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the holy spirit. When you're walking with Jesus, the way that God has invited us to walk with him, this is what you'll be experiencing life of goodness and peace and joy in the holy spirit, goodness, and peace and joy in the holy spirit. And that our aim like I wanna, I wanna experience that. 5 (40m 6s): Well, w the way you experience it as just by honoring Jesus, by walking with Jesus, to just be with the Lord, constantly be praying with, without ceasing. You're just, you're, you know, I was out in the garden yesterday, pruning things, and I'm just praying the whole time. And I, it just, there's just something about that lifestyle. Yeah. I don't do it perfectly, but there's something about it that brings goodness and peace and joy in the holy spirit. Verse 18. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, in that great news. We're always wondering how do I please, God, right? This is how you please God living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the holy spirit. 5 (40m 49s): If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God and others will approve of YouTube verse 19. So then let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up harmony in the church when we're operating out of any other priority, out of any other motivation, there's going to be pride in our lives. I don't know about you, but well, pride I'm con I'm like harsh with people and critical of people think I'm better than I really am. And then God gets my attention. Then I realize, and then all of a sudden, out of that reality, that truth I'm I I'm able to extend grace and I'm able to do what God has called me to do in my life. 5 (41m 30s): Not just as a leader, pastor, but as a father, husband, grandfather, all of us things let's continue. Continue in Hebrews 13, 10. It says we have an altar from which the priests in the tabernacle have no right to eat. Why? Because that old system, that old religious system is dead. It's obsolete. Jesus has made it dead and obsolete. So the writer's making a clear distinction here, the old and the new system, Jesus has called us into this new covenant, whereby we are saved by grace through faith, and that he has offered himself as the final sacrifice. 5 (42m 13s): And so these priests who are stuck in the old system have no access to this. Alter the priest under the operating under the old system, have no access to the altar of the Lord. Jesus Christ. When we're operating out of works and trying to please God through our good works, we've got no access to the grace of Lord Jesus Christ. We're saying, Hey, I'm choosing works. We need to choose Jesus Christ offered his life on the altar of sacrifice once for all time, making final atonement for the sins of man once. And for all the old covenant is obsolete. Hebrews 1311 says that under the old system, under the old system, the high priest brought the blood of animals into the holy place as a sacrifice for sin. 5 (43m 1s): And the bodies of the animals were burned outside the camp. Under the old covenant, constant sacrifice was needed to atone for the sins of the people. Hebrews 7 23 says this. There were many priests under the old system for death, prevented them from, from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever. He's eternal. His priesthood lasts forever there for, he is able once and forever to save to save. And that word means to save completely. The word is so Zoho. It means to save completely, to make whole and to heal. This is the power of the salvation that's available to us in Christ. 5 (43m 44s): He's able to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. Hebrews seven continues. He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven. Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did. They did this for their own sins first and then for the sins of the people, but Jesus, but Jesus did this once for all. When he offered himself as a sacrifice for the people's sins, as we serve God, it's imperative that we keep focused on the changeless perfection of Jesus. 5 (44m 30s): There's a thousand things that try to distract us. Why do we need to stay focused on the changeless perfection of Jesus? Because our strength comes from his grace. Our strength comes from the reality of who he is and the reality of who we have become as followers of Jesus. Hebrews four 16 says, so let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There, we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it. Most. Number two more practical, faith living number two, live boldly, and be willing to look the fool for Jesus, Live boldly and be willing to look the fool for Jesus. 5 (45m 13s): Most of us aren't willing to do that. We're uncomfortable even bringing up the name of Jesus. If we're honest, most of us would have a hard time even telling somebody that Jesus loves them, let alone look the fool for Jesus, but really that's what he's called us to do to live completely devoted and committed to him, Willing to say, do, go wherever, whatever the Lord would have us to do. Verse 12 says, so also Jesus suffered and died outside the city gates to make his people holy by means of his own blood. So Jesus is crucified out side. The city, a picture may be of his separation from the old religious system. 5 (45m 57s): Normally the priests Could eat, whatever was left over after the sacrifice was made. But on the day of a Toma, the leftover sacrifice is taken outside the city to be burned. Jesus' atoning work was accomplished outside the city, outside the religious system of the day. So verse 13 says, so let us go out to him outside the camp and bear the disgrace. He bore. What disgrace did he bear? He hung naked on a cross 9 (46m 27s): Scorned, 5 (46m 28s): Beaten, pierced Crucified for my sin. He hung there naked in front of everybody dying for my sin. And I'm afraid to even tell somebody about him. 9 (46m 43s): There's 5 (46m 43s): Something's got to shake loose in us, Whereby we decide in Jesus' name, that we're not going to be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ whereby we're. We're going to stand firm as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And we're going to point people to him. We're, we're declaring to the world, to our friends, with our family, with, with tastes, but with kindness and love and with conviction, we're declaring that Jesus is his Lord. So let us go out to him outside the camp and bear the disgrace Gracie board. We should be willing to at least emulate the one we follow. Maybe this will change your mind. The Bible says here in verse 14 for this world is not our permanent home. 5 (47m 26s): This world is not our permanent home. We are looking forward to a home yet to come. And yet we're so settled in into this life. We're trying to make this life so comfortable and so amazing. We're not even thinking about the world to come. So we're not thinking about our friends and family who will die one day apart from Christ and go straight to their judgment straight into the fiery pits of hell. We're not thinking about that because we're just trying to, we're just trying to make this life comfortable. We're just trying to make investments so that we can retire someday and travel and do all of the things that we want to do. Not once thinking about the people around us, I was talking to a friend of mine over lunch on Friday, and he was saying, my dentist, that I've been going to for 25 years passed away. 5 (48m 12s): And I realized when I heard that he passed that I had never once shared the gospel with him. And I'm thinking to myself, I've never once shared the gospel with my dentist. You know, we've got these people in our lives and we compartmentalize them. Like I'm here for a checkup. I'm not going to bring Jesus into the conversation. I'm just here for this or my gardeners here to cut the lawn. I'm not going to bring Jesus into the conversation or my coworkers, or I've been working with them for decades, but I'm not going to bring Jesus into the conversation. I don't want things to become awkward. I don't want things to be come uncomfortable. The gospel is awkward. 5 (48m 52s): It's uncomfortable. It confronts our sinfulness and it needs to confront our sinfulness. I'm so glad that the gospel was communicated to me. It radically changed my life forever and all my descendants forever. It's changed my life. So glad somebody decided to broach that uncomfortable conversation. Tell me that I'm a sinner in need Jesus. We want to soft pedal it. Jesus will make your life great. And you give your life to Jesus is going to be like one of the hardest things did you ever do? Trying to walk that out, trying to remain faithful, opening up the word every day. Praying constantly. I'm reading the scripture in the old Testament king David, before he's anointed king, but he's not there yet. 5 (49m 35s): He becomes king at age 30, but as he's working his way there, he's praying at every turn about battles about confrontations, Lord, what do you want me to do? It's just, it's this life of surrender to God where we're saying, God, is this what you want for my life? Is this the path? Is this the conversation? Is this the confrontation? Whatever it is, Lord, I w I'm willing to do that. So we can't soft pedal it because soon as things get difficult for people like we know it gets difficult for people. Is it ever been difficult for you as a follower of Jesus? Absolutely. So don't say it's going to be easy and all you're going to receive as God's grace. I mean, that's, you'll receive God's grace, but you're entering into a battle. That's worth it. It's like you've got enlisted into the Marine Corps and you're going to the front lines. 5 (50m 20s): So we need to be honest about the truth of what's going on. Hey, you need Jesus. He died for your sins. Give him control of your, and he will radically change your life forever. That's really what it's all about, right? It's not about just showing up to church on a Sunday morning, click in that box. And it's about giving your life to Jesus. If you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord, how do we miss that Lord over everything. My time, my talent, my treasure, my whole life. Jesus. I'm surrendered to you. My whole life belongs to you. Nothing is withheld. That's that's the call. Jesus said to his disciples, come and follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. 5 (51m 2s): Leave your boats, leave your family, come and follow me. And I will give you a whole new purpose in life. We had Christianity like it's an appendage or like something in our tool belt. Like it's something, you know, and we totally miss it. And I wonder, we've never felt passionate about sharing the gospel with people. It's, hasn't really impacted our lives very much. When Jesus begins to impact your life, you'll start telling people about him. Cause he matters to you. He's transformed your life. I was talking to a friend of mine earlier this last week and she was talking about a pastor in north county. His name is pastor Pete. Before he got saved. 5 (51m 42s): His name was pistol. Pete. Not because it's cute, but because he had 15 felonies on his record and he earned his nickname, pistol, Pete. Now they call him pastor Pete, because his life has been completely transformed. I don't think that needs to be. That's not like the rare thing. That's like the thing. This is what God does. He trans forms our lives. And if he hasn't transformed your life, you've got to go back to the drawing board. Yes, he got I'm I'm coming back because I don't feel like I'm getting it. My life has not been transformed. I'm still watching the same stuff. I still talk the same way. I still entertained by the same things. 5 (52m 22s): I'm still having sex outside of marriage. I'm still lying on my taxes. I'm still cheating my employer. I'm still doing all these things. My life hasn't changed. Go back to the drawing board and confess and just let Jesus know that you've missed it because you have, you can't do those things and follow Jesus. You can't do those things and follow Jesus. It's oxymoron. It's your swimming up. There's two separate places you're trying to go. And you're gonna just be miserable For this world is not our permanent home. 5 (53m 3s): God will bless us with places to live and roof and all of those things, but that's not the priority. Jesus. And the kingdom is his priority. I was reading in second Samuel chapter six recently. And in this chapter king, David is bringing in the Ark of the covenant back into, into Jerusalem. And he's so excited. He's so excited that the presence of God, the Ark represents the presence and the power and the blessing of God. He's so excited that the arc of the covenant is coming back into Jerusalem. He's dancing and celebrating as the arc is ushered in. 5 (53m 44s): This is the king of Israel, but he realizes he's not the king, but Jesus is the king. He's the king of Israel, but God is the king of all Kings. And he will be submitted and live his life before the Lord. David's wife was embarrassed by his adoration of the Lord. Why was she embarrassed? Because she didn't know God, she'd never been touched and encountered the God of king David. So she said in first 16, first Samuel six, it's not up there, but it's an Ark of the Lord to enter the city of David. Michael, the daughter of Saul looked down from her window. And when she saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she was filled with contempt for him. 5 (54m 30s): That's, that's what the world will think about us for a while, till Jesus shows up and they're going to think completely different about us. And if we haven't shared the gospel with people, with love and grace and conviction and, and truth and compassion, w w w David was, was willing to live boldly and he was willing to look the fool for Jesus. Number three, more practical faith living demonstrate faithful allegiance to Jesus. It's kind of what we've been talking about. 5 (55m 12s): Demonstrate faithful allegiance to Jesus. Therefore, first 15, let us offer through Jesus. A continual sacrifice of praise to God proclaiming our allegiance to his name. Our praise should proclaim our allegiance. It has to be focused and our praise should be committed to the focus and the allegiance of Jesus or a love for him. Verse 16 says, don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please, God, person's greatest need salvation. 5 (55m 53s): Everything else is secondary and temporal. Person's greatest need is salvation. They need the gospel. Everything else is secondary and temporary. The gospel is what is primary and eternal. Our actions should proclaim our allegiance. The way that we live should demonstrate that our allegiance is to Jesus. And yet we live as if our allegiance is our retirement accounts. Our next vacation, our family, our kids are animals. 5 (56m 34s): Our hobbies are sports, anything but Jesus and people look at our calendars and they see church from nine to 10 on Sunday morning that doesn't demonstrate allegiance to Jesus because the other hours of the week are focused on everything else. It's not to be a condemning message. It's just to wake us up in this culture. What is our allegiance to is our allegiance to Jesus, or is it to everything else in our lives? Does Jesus get to decide what we do with our lives? With our time, our talent and our treasure? Does Jesus get to the side or are we just deciding and hoping he blesses it? 5 (57m 14s): Does Jesus get to the side is again, as David would go into battle before he would even go into battle, he'd say, Lord, is this the direction that you would have me to go before I move into a town? Lord, is this the town that you want me to go before? I have this conversation? Is this the conversation that you want me to have? And you let God be God, and you let him direct. You you'll save yourself a whole lot of heartache. If you let God be God in your life, you've come to Jesus. I've come to Jesus because I can't be God in my own life. I've messed it up from start to finish. Jesus comes in and everything gets put in his proper place. And don't forget to do good and to share with those in need. 5 (57m 54s): These are the sacrifices that please God. So our actions should proclaim our allegiance. Our words, thoughts and deeds should demonstrate our faithful allegiance to Jesus. The use of our time, our talent and treasure should demonstrate faithful allegiance to Jesus time. I don't know what the statistics are at harvest church, but everybody should have a ministry in their lives. God has equipped each of us with a, a talent that's to be used for the kingdom. So maybe it's work within the church. Maybe it's work within ministries like lifeline or whatever it is, but you've gotta be using your gifts for kingdom work. 5 (58m 40s): And so none of us should be here without being a part of it. Like every one of us should have a job, like a responsibility within the kingdom, within the body of Christ time, reflecting our allegiance to Jesus. We spend our time doing everything else, making time for everything else, except for Jesus time talent using our gifts to do what Jesus has called us to do our treasure. What are you doing with your money? 5 (59m 21s): Is it demonstrating your allegiance to Jesus? Where is it demonstrating your allegiance to your next vacation, your retirement? What's your priority with your resources? I, from the earliest time I talked to my kids about tithing giving 10% of your income. I was show them, check, see, this is what tide looks like. Here's my paycheck. Here's my tie. That's 10% at least of what I make I'm giving to the work of the kingdom, because I want to disciple my kids in truth. So many young people are growing up and they're not giving their time, talent or treasure to the kingdom. So many old people are living life, not giving anything of their time, talent, or treasure to the kingdom. 5 (1h 0m 2s): It demonstrates your allegiance to the world. When you live like that, it doesn't demonstrate your allegiance to Jesus. What are you doing with your time, talent, your treasure? Does it reflect your allegiance to Jesus time? Are you investing yourself talent, using your talents to expand the kingdom? We pray every, every day, every morning, Jolene and I pray and we pray that everything we do, we would just expand the kingdom that we would use our gifts and talents to expand the kingdom. We've been praying that not just for, since we've been in vocational ministry, but since we've been married for the last 32 years, we just pray this all the time. We want the kingdom to be expanded. Not because we're professional ministers, pastors, not because I'm a pastor. 5 (1h 0m 42s): I've done this my whole life. Since I knew Jesus. Since I've known Jesus, we're all called to do what God has called us to do. What has God called you to do are using your time talent? Your treasure ties means 10%. So if you make a thousand bucks, a hundred bucks goes into kingdom work. That's how that works. 10%, not 1% or 2% or 3%, 10%. That's just, that's what the ties means. Say, well, I don't believe in the tithe. Well then you don't believe in the Bible. Not saying it God's bus. Do what you want with this information, but I hope I've at least triggered something in your soul that helps you to realize, helps me to realize that Jesus, I, every part of my life needs to be reflect my allegiance to him. 5 (1h 1m 34s): So I could preach a softer message that would fill seats. But you don't want to hear that. I don't want to preach that kind of stuff. My job is to preach the gospel. And if you get mad at me, it's okay. It's probably good. I got kicked out of puppet ministry when I was in high school. Junior high school. Yeah. I joined the puppet ministry cause Jolene was in a puppet ministry, but my life wasn't quite squared away with the Lord. And so I was partying on the weekends and doing all kinds of stupid stuff. And my youth pastor said, you can't do puppet ministry until you get your life squared away. 5 (1h 2m 15s): And I was mad about it. It's like, you can't do that. And he's like, I just did. All right. We need people to yank our chains from time to time. It's not gonna do any good. If I just stand up here and both smoke, you need to hear the gospel need to hear the truth and your life needs to reflect your allegiance. So don't leave here and just go back to life. As it is, go back and reflect and think, how is my life reflecting? Jesus. We've got work to do. I don't want to do it alone. I know I'm not, but what has God called you to do? What has God called you to do with that? Let's go and stand up and invite the worship team. 5 (1h 2m 56s): More practical, faith living Lord, if we need it, thank you for it. Lord convict us where we need conviction. Encourage us, where we need encouragement, help us, where we need help. Lord, forgive us where our faith is. Small. Forgive us for our lack of belief. Our lack of obedience. God, we repent in Jesus name. Repent means I'm not doing that anymore. So I pray God from the youngest to the oldest, everybody would use their gifts, their time, talent, and treasure to honor you to reflect the allegiance. Thank you, Lord. Proper allegiance. 5 (1h 3m 37s): Amen. 0 (1h 3m 45s): Jesus paid it 2 (1h 3m 50s): All 0 (1h 3m 51s): To him. I see it had led to cribs and Steed. He washed . She says 1 (1h 5m 44s): Thank you, Jesus, that you have washed our sin away. Thank you that you have made us clean. Thank you for the cross for salvation That we get to have a hope in eternity because of your son. Thank you. That we got to be in the house this morning and worship your name In Jesus name. We pray. Amen. If you would like prayer this morning, we have a prayer team at Fred, so you can make your way forever forward. Otherwise have a wonderful day and we'll see you next week.

Easter 2022 - Hope Resurrected

1 (2s): Happy Easter. What'd you stand as we worship marking this morning. 2 (2m 23s): I give my to this by the lamb who was 4 (4m 44s): All right. Good morning. Good, welcome. Welcome to Horace church outdoor Easter service. Hey, my name is Jeremy. I'm the youth and family pastor here at harvest church. And we just want to say welcome. Thank you for joining us. And there's been a long standing tradition in the church that is to say he is arisen, and then you respond with, he is risen. Indeed. Can we do that? All right. So he is risen. Amen. That is the, that is the day that we celebrate today. The risen savior. So, so welcome. Hey, just a few announcements this morning. We've got some great stuff on. Normally we meet at 1 0 2 west branch street right there in the village, and that's our normal service, but sooner agree, moving to 1 0 2 west branch. 4 (5m 28s): The something's different location. That's be our new worship center will be in there shortly, but we're excited about that. Just to let you know the lay of the land. We have the info center back here, and you can get all the find out all about CA harvest church and ways to plug in. We have our coffee and water over here as well, as well as the bathrooms are right back there. So you want to know where those things are. That's where they well, that's where they are. But we just want to say thank you. If you're joining us for the first time, feel free to go back to the info center and fill out a communication card. We'd love to find out more about you and ways to get plugged into harvest church. And for those kids that are here, we're so glad you're here in, in service with us. 4 (6m 11s): Normally we have an amazing kids program, but this morning, it's family Sunday. What a great day to celebrate Easter with a family. So kids are in service parents. If you just keep an eye on your kids, that the service has been amazing, but the kids afterwards, we have a special egg hunt for you guys. So there'll be more on that in a bit. And then lastly, Hey, we're going to be having some baptisms today. We're believing that there's going to be some people who are going to make their decision to follow Jesus for the first time this morning. So after service, pastor Steve is going to give the, the invite and we have a baptism tank right over here. We can baptize you today, fully immerse you in water, just like Jesus was. 4 (6m 51s): And it's going to be an exciting Sunday. We already have a bunch of people signed up. So it's going to be a, it's going to be an incredible day to see, see that that take place in the life of the, of the believers. So we're going to have baptisms after service. And if you're thinking, well, I didn't bring my shirt. I didn't bring shorts. I didn't bring a towel. Put those things aside because we have all those things ready for you. We got, we got stuff to go. So if you've never been baptized and you believe in the Jesus as your Lord and savior, we want to baptize you today. So amen. Let's say he is risen. Amen. Let's worship again. 2 (7m 52s): The stars just shy. They're half screen moms to have the words to see There is it time to see Jesus. 2 (12m 24s): This song is food. 6 (12m 55s): I cast my, my two Cauvery with And Todd for me, I see his, his hands, his fee. I say, if you're corsetry His body and dressed, and two, they laid him down and Josephs to the streets. 6 (13m 39s): You buy Haffey stone. 6 (15m 27s): In robes of why the blazing shall Pierce. The hand-eye will ride among the same. My gaze transfixed on Jesus. 7 (17m 55s): We are so grateful. So grateful for sunshine and overwhelmed by your goodness. Every time we do an outdoor service, you just make things happen for us. Thank you, God, that you are in charge of the weather and overseeing all things in life for God. And so we just invite your presence. Lord, we invite you to eat to us, to continue to move among us. God, every person's in a different season of life, dealing with different challenges and struggles. And as we've gathered, Lord, you've got the capacity and the desire to speak to each of us, to minister, to each of us. 7 (18m 39s): And so we invite you to do that and just a powerful and profound way. Do what only you can do work supernaturally in every soul gathered Lord, we prayed. We are so thankful for your love. So, so thankful for your goodness. We bless you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Hey man, he is raised in say seated. He is risen. He is risen. Indeed remain standing. And we're going to read from Matthew 28 drinks. Yes, sorry. Please stay on Matthew 28 verses one through seven. It says this early on Sunday morning as the new day was dawning Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. 7 (19m 23s): Suddenly there was a great earthquake for an angel of the Lord, came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone and sat on it. His face shown like lightning and his clothing was as white as snow. The guards shook with fear when they saw him and they fell into a dead faint. Then the angel spoke to the women. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He said, I know you're looking for Jesus. Who was crucified. He isn't here. He is risen from the dead, just as he said, what happened? He has risen from the dead just as he said, what happened? 7 (20m 4s): Come, come see where his body was lying. And now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you? The angel said, don't be afraid. He has risen from the dead. Amen. Amen. Turn and greet somebody. And we will come right back in just a moment. Say hello to your neighbor. We'll come right back. 7 (21m 10s): Alrighty, come on back. Come on back. I'm going to met somebody new today. Somebody, anybody being in a brand new. Good, good, good. That's the idea. Welcome. So I've got a joke to kick us off here as we kind of get things rolling again. I'm told that everybody loves my jokes. And so here we go. Did you hear, did you hear about the Jewish guy who sold his family tomb? His wife was furious with him. This family tomb had been in the family for generations and she assumed rightfully so that she would be buried there, that her husband would be buried there. 7 (21m 51s): And that generations following would be buried there. So she asked him, who did you sell the family tomb to? She said, he said, well, it was this guy named Jesus, but he told me that he only needed it for three days. That's as good as it gets research. Sorry guys, we're talking about hope today. Hope resurrected in order for something to be resurrected, someone or something to be resurrected. And obviously it has to be dead first. So when we talk about hope being resurrected, we're talking about something that has been dead, a person, a plan, a purpose, something has died. 7 (22m 38s): And we're here today to talk about the resurrection power of the Lord, Jesus Christ. As we talk about the resurrection of the person of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the historic person, Jesus Christ. We're also talking about the resurrection of the hope that he is. He is the hope of the world. He is absolutely the hope of the world. So we're talking about Jesus, who is our hope being resurrected from the dead, but we're also talking about the hope we can experience in light of the reality of Christ's resurrection. So hope is a noun and a verb. We have hope and we exercise hope. 7 (23m 19s): We have hope in the person and the work of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And we exercise hope. We put our hope in him. Those who know the Lord, we already have hope. And for those of you who are here today, and you don't know Jesus, if you're here, just kind of checking things out, you can know Jesus, you can choose hope today. Have you ever felt hopeless in your life? I felt that times, maybe my earliest memory of feeling hopeless was in 1980, in 1980, I was 11 years old and we were visiting friends in Ventura. And on the day that we were supposed to leave to come back to this area, my mom sent me off for a quart of milk at the storm. 7 (24m 5s): And so I go to the store. I find my way there. I get the milk and I've got a terrible sense of direction. So I come out the wrong door and I had the wrong direction. And I spend the next 12 hours looking for the place that I'm supposed to be returning to. The street that I was looking for was Amherst. The street that I thought I needed to be heading toward was I, I thought I was heading toward Ash. So if you look on a map, Ash street in Amhurst and Ventura is about four and a half miles apart. So I spent the day wandering, looking for the wrong place. I was looking for the wrong streets. 7 (24m 48s): And when did it occur to me that I could probably find my way back by remembering the store that I had gone to initially I began to have some hope. So I began to ask the question to people around me, Hey, how do you get to this market? I can't remember the name of the market now, but I began to ask, how do I get back to this market? And they said, are you sure you want to go to that market? That's like way across town. I said, no, that is that's the spot I need to get back to that market. And so over time I made my way back to the markets. And from there made my way to my friend's house, where we were staying. And 12 hours later, I made it home. And, but I was completely hopeless until I realized the direction that I needed to head. 7 (25m 32s): And once I had that direction, I just felt revitalized in my hope. And I, I knew that I was moving in the right direction and I knew eventually I would make it back to the place I started. How is hope resurrected in our lives? I believe hope is resurrected in our lives. And we have clarity about the direction of our lives when we're lacking clarity about the direction of our lives. We lack hope. We're not sure what tomorrow brings. We're not sure how to move forward. We're not sure who we are and what we're supposed to be about in this life. Especially given these last two years with COVID, it kind of wrecked the world and we're all kind of wondering and scratching our heads and trying to figure out how does this thing end. 7 (26m 14s): And here we are two years into it. And we're grateful that we can gather as a church, the people of God, people in the community on Easter service. But, but we, we, we, we needed in the midst of all that, to know somehow that this was going to come to an animal. We're so grateful that it's kind of wrapping up hope resurrected when Jesus was born and lives and was crucified and buried in that tomb, his followers were utterly hopeless. They had given everything away, they've sold everything. They had abandoned everything so that they might follow Jesus. 7 (26m 57s): Jesus would call them on the shores of the sea of Galilee. And they would say he was a common follow me. I will make you fishers of men. Like I'm going to change your whole life. Like, I don't want you to focus on what you've been focusing on up to this point. I want you to follow me and I will change your life. And even though Jesus had told them, listen, I'm going to die. And then on the third day, I will be resurrected. When it, it actually happened. His people were confused and lost and even angry. I would imagine. And just distraught at the reality that this Jesus that they gave everything for and were following for three years was dead. 7 (27m 40s): He was crucified unjustly, so and wrapped and put into a tomb. I mean, that's pretty final, right? It's, it's pretty final unless we're talking about God, unless we're talking about God. If we're talking about God, then nothing is final until God says it is final. When, when Jesus came out of that grave, hope was restored when they saw him. And the scripture says that 500 plus people saw him after his resurrection. It's a historical fact that Jesus resurrected from the dead, his disciples, his followers held on to that reality of that truth and gave their lives for the reality of that truth. 7 (28m 24s): They would not buckle. They would not change course because they knew that their savior had been resurrected from the dead. And so they gave their lives so that others might hear that message. Maybe you're here today and you don't know Jesus. Maybe you've never heard a gospel presentation. The gospel presentation is just Jesus. This is it's. This Jesus loves you. God, God lavish you. He's absolutely in love with you. And he wants to forgive your sins and welcome you into his family. He wants to bless your life and challenge you to follow him all the days of your life. I often say it like this. 7 (29m 5s): It's God has made it incredibly easy to walk in new life with him as a believer, as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. But it's the hardest thing you'll ever do. As you follow him, the very, the rest of your life, his grace is a free gift, but walking after him is the hardest thing that you will ever have to do. But it's the thing in life that makes everything in life worthwhile. Maybe you're here today and you don't know who Jesus is. The good news is that you can know him and he wants to know you and he wants to come into your life. But who is this? Jesus let's understand first. 7 (29m 46s): Who is this? Jesus? Well, most people are familiar with the name. Jesus few people truly know who he is and knowing Jesus identity and his mission are important because there are ramifications that are eternal connected to what we know and what we believe about Jesus. The ramifications are eternal. It doesn't just touch this life. Although it touches this life, it touches all of eternity. So the best source of information about Jesus is in the Bible. And the Bible tells us that Jesus is God. 7 (30m 26s): He is not a God. He is the God. Someone say that Jesus was a good teacher. And I would agree with you, but he wasn't just a good teacher. He was the teacher, the very best teacher. He was a rabbi, but he wasn't just a rabbi. He was the eternal God. The magnificent one who has been there since, before the foundation of the earth. He's eternal. He's eternal. He's certainly not just to clear some things up. He's not the new age. Jesus. They just have a different perspective. New agers don't believe that Jesus has God all mighty. And the second person of the Trinity, rather new agers reduce Jesus to a mere man who attained spiritual enlightenment through a cultic activity and involvements new age G new agers reduce Jesus. 7 (31m 18s): And number him among the so-called masters. Like the Buddha who offer a way to offer a way. But Jesus said in John 14, six, he said, I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through me. So Jesus is not just a way. And if we think he's a way, then we're missing the point all together. He is actually the only way to the father. So he's not a Buddha. He's not an enlightened wan. He's not an enlightened master. He is God, some have said, he's a good man, but he's not just a good man. And honestly, he's probably not a good man. If we don't believe what he says about himself, if we don't believe that he is God and he is claiming to be God, then he's probably a lunatic. 7 (32m 4s): So we got to figure out what we believe about Jesus. He is God. And that's who he claims to be. He's fully God and fully man in the incarnation. He is not at all. He is here. This, he is not at all the spirit brother of Lucifer. That's not, that's not who Jesus is. You never married. And he never fathered children. He just never did those things. We need to read. The scripture. Charles Spurgeon wrote discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It's knowing the difference between rights and almost right. So we need to open up the scripture and understand who this Jesus is because it's the Jesus that we celebrate on Easter is the Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas. It's the Jesus. 7 (32m 45s): This Jesus, you came into the world so that we might have new life. He is eternal. He existed before his physical birth. And even before time began, he is the creator of everything that exists. He is the perfect reflection of the invisible God we see in Colossians one 15 through 17. It says Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is Supreme over all creation for through him. God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we cannot see such as Thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world, everything was created through him and for him. 7 (33m 32s): He existed before anything else. And he holds listen. He holds all creation together. Jesus is God. Jesus is the eternal king of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is God. He has the power to forgive sins. And his followers worshiped him. He, he is worthy of worship. Think about, think about this. The all-powerful eternal son of God, coming to earth as an infant. Imagine him lying in a manger, built with trees that he created. Imagine him under the stars that he created in flung into space. 7 (34m 17s): He's reduced to an infant child so that he might come and that we might know him and be saved through him. Scripture makes it clear that he was no ordinary baby. He's the savior of the world. The Bible declares that there's only one way to eternal life. And that is through faith in Jesus Christ. As savior acts four 12 says this salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. Jesus was given so that we might be saved. 7 (34m 57s): God is working in the world today. And I'm so thankful that idea, that reality should give us hope that he's Supreme over all things in the earth. He is working in the earth and he's always been working in the earth. He is working to bring us to himself by faith. Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. It's the assurance of things we can not see. Hebrews 12 two says this through their faith. The people in days of old earned a good reputation through their faith, the people have days of older and a good reputation. So let's talk about a couple of people from days old. 7 (35m 37s): We're going to talk about Abraham and Sarah for a few minutes. So there's a guy in the Bible named Abraham and his wife's name is Sarah. When Abraham was 75 years old, the Lord made a promise to him at 75. The Lord said to him, this in Genesis 12 two, I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous. And you will be a blessing to others. So Abraham is like, okay, but there's a problem, Lord. There's a problem. It's all about impossible. You see I'm an old man. And my wife is barren. She can't have children. 7 (36m 19s): So it's an impossible word from the Lord. But listen, nothing is impossible with God. And when he declares something to be true, it will come to pass again. Abram's wife was barren. She wasn't able to have children. So where with this, where this nation come from, we read in Romans four 18. It says even when there was no reason for hope, have you been there even like, there was no reason for hope. Abraham kept hoping, believing that he would become the father of many nations for God had said to him, that was good enough for Abraham. God had said to him, that's how many descendants you will have. 7 (37m 2s): God's promise of children. Resurrected is hope. Because up to this point, 75 years old, he's got no descendants, nothing that a nation could be built around or be established through. He's got no descendants before then because of their age and inability to have children, they had no hope of children of a future, especially that type of future. But because they chose to believe God, they chose against all odds. They chose to believe God, their hope was resurrected. So number one hope is resurrected. When we choose to believe God against all odds, hope is resurrected. 7 (37m 45s): When we choose to believe God against all odds, where do you need to believe God against all odds in your life? Maybe you're up against a physical infirmity. That seems impossible. Maybe you're in a relationship that seems like it's going to and, and, and not well, where do you need the Lord to speak a word, a promise to you from his word, where do you need to be built up? Where do you need your hope resurrected? I've watched God heal people against all odds. We've seen it happen over and over again. I've watched God restore marriages against all odds. 7 (38m 26s): We've seen it happen over and over again. I graduated from college and grad school against all odds. If you know me, that's a miracle, right? That's a supernatural miracle, but it happened by God's grace. I've been married for 32 years to the same woman. That's a miracle. Again. If you know me, you know, that's a miracle. That's just, that should not have happened. I pastored the same church for 19 years against all odds. And we've watched God do wonderful and supernatural things. Hey Abraham, he waited 25 years for God's promised to come to pass. It's a long time. Sometimes we're in this waiting season where we we've heard something, we felt the Lord leading. 7 (39m 9s): We know that God has spoken and directed, but we've been in a season of waiting. This is God's emo. And he's what he does. He, he speaks and in the waiting, he builds us up in our faith. He challenges us to believe and to continue to hope in him and Romans four 19, it says, and Abraham's faith did not weaken. Even though at about a hundred years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead. And so was Sarah's womb. So now he's not 75, he's a hundred and still nothing, but he never wavered. He continued to believe God. 7 (39m 49s): Abraham kept believing God against all odds. Verse 20 says Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger. Isn't that amazing? His faith grew stronger. And in this, he brought glory to God. Listen, if you wait in your season of waiting and believe God and allow your faith to grow stronger, you will, you will enjoy life more. You will honor the Lord. You will glorify God. And then you will get to see God do what he told you he would do. So open up the scripture and find out what the Lord has told you. 7 (40m 29s): He will do. And we're going to be talking about some of the promises of God here in just a moment. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. Verse 21. Are you, are you fully convinced? I think we, we need to get there. As people, as believers, we need to be fully convinced that God is who he said. He, he is that Jesus is who he said he is. And that he is going to do what he said he would do. We needed to be fully convinced how hope is resurrected when we choose, we have to choose to believe God against all odds. And so it's not easy. It's not an easy thing to do, but by God's grace, if we, as we continue to look to him and believe him and put our faith in him, hope is resurrected. 7 (41m 10s): Hope is resurrected. When we choose to believe God against all odds. Number two hope is resurrected. And when we, when we keep our eyes on God and on his promises, I, I noticed in my life that when there's problems, that's where I'm focused. Like I'm, I'm focused on the problems instead of the one who can bring the solution to the problem we were thinking about this service. We've been thinking about it for months, planning on it for months and, and inevitably, no matter what is happening in the weather, there's always rain like right around, right around the time that we're supposed to gather as a church outside the, you know, the one time a year that we gather outside. And so yesterday or Friday, when I'm writing this portion of my message, it was Friday at 1:29 PM. 7 (41m 56s): And I'm looking at the weather for Saturday because we got out here early yesterday and spent the day setting up and there was a 60% chance of rain. And so we thought, well, we're just going to go for it. And we're just going to pray. And we're just going to believe that God will bring out the sun and part the clouds and allow us to meet. And that's precisely what he has done. We've we believed God and looked to him as the, whether he's the weatherman. He can change the weather. He can do whatever it is that he wants to do. Friday 1 29, 60% chance of rain yesterday. So there's rain in the, in the early, early morning hours, and then we're setting up and then it starts to sprinkle on us. And we're like, you know what? 7 (42m 36s): It doesn't matter. We're just going to keep going. We're just going to keep going. And by God's grace, we set it up. And here we are. The temptation again, is to get our eyes on the problem, the obstacle, the battle, the, the need in front of us. We, we focus on that when we really need to get our eyes on God, who is able to bring solutions for all of those things, we were worried about the weather. We, we didn't get a promise. We didn't get a promise from the Lord that the weather would be good, but we sense that this was the right direction for us. And so we moved in that direction. We believe God not having a promise that the weather would be good, but believing that if God has called us out here, then he would make it plausible for us to have an outdoor service. 7 (43m 23s): So we moved forward. He trusted God for good weather, listen and believing. God doesn't mean we don't have doubts. It means we move forward despite our doubts, because we're all filled with doubt at different times. Like we're hearing something, we're reading the scripture, we're trying to move forward, but we've got doubts and fears and anxieties. So faith having hope is it doesn't mean we don't experience those things, but we have the grace and the strength to move forward. In spite of those things, hope is resurrected. Hope is resurrected. When we choose to believe God against all odds. Number one, number two hope is resurrected. When we keep our eyes on God and on his promises. Now let's look at some of God's promises to people of faith. 7 (44m 8s): Romans 4 22 says. And because of Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous to be righteous, just means to be in right. Standing with God is not a good idea to like be in right standing with the creator and the judge of the universe and be like, I want to be in right standing with him. But I know in my own ability, in my own strength, in my own works, I can never get there. But by God's grace, he's imputed righteousness to those who believe. And so because of God and his goodness and not because of me and my goodness, because God, in his goodness, not because of you in your goodness, he will impure righteousness. When we believe because of Abraham Abraham's faith, God counted him as righteous. 7 (44m 49s): So again, to be righteous, it's just to be in right standing with God. And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was recorded for our benefit to assuring us that God will also count us righteous. If we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus, our Lord from the dead. So, so what are we believing about God? Is it a belief that brings us humbly to a place of acknowledging our need for salvation, for the forgiveness of sins? What are we believing about Jesus? And are we believing in the right Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. It's important that we understand Jesus from the context of the scripture that we have opened up the Bible and understand Jesus in light of scripture, Romans 4 25 says he, Jesus, he, Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins. 7 (45m 41s): And he was raised to life to make us right with God Romans five one, therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight, there's that word? Righteousness. Therefore, since we've been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God. So that is a promise. That's one of the promises that we can have as followers of the Lord. Jesus Christ. We can have peace. Now, if you've lived at all with any part of your life without peace, you w you really understand and value peace. A few years ago, I was really struggling with a lack of peace and I couldn't figure out what was going on in my life. I was, I just couldn't get happy. I couldn't get satisfied. He couldn't get fulfilled in, in any arena, Amy, any area of my life, I wanted to quit the ministry. 7 (46m 22s): I wanted to just do anything, but do what I was doing. I was just so unhappy. So my wife, with all of her wisdom, she said, Hey, do you have this symptom? And this symptom and this symptom and this symptom. And she went down a list of symptoms that she had downloaded from the internet. And I didn't realize, I thought, man, you've been paying close attention to my life. You know exactly what I'm going through. She said, no, these are just symptoms of depression. She said, I think you're depressed. I'm like, yeah, I think you're right. And so with some therapy and some prayer and some I'm medicated by the way. 7 (47m 4s): So little medication never hurt anybody, but I was able to get back to a place where I could put the full weight of my trust in God and believe him, there was something chemically going on in me. That was hindering me from doing that. So through the wisdom of my wife and doctors, I began to discover what was going on in and by God's grace, by God's grace. The hope of God, the peace of God, the grace of God just began to flow through my life. Once again, therefore, since we've been made right in God's sight, we've been made righteous by faith. We have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 7 (47m 44s): Listen, I don't care how many meds you're on. If you don't know Jesus as your Lord, you'll never have peace meds. Don't equal peace. It might be meds. Plus Jesus equals peace in my case, but you need Jesus. That's the, you need Jesus. And God is faithful to meet you and, and fill you with hope and to fill you with peace because of our faith. Christ has brought us into a place of undeserved privilege. That's another promise undeserved privilege. What does that look like? Well, we've been saved by his grace and adopted into his family when we, by faith, trust him. So we get actually adopted into his family. That's undeserved privilege where kids of the king, where we now stand and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. 7 (48m 29s): We understand where we're going. When it's all said and done, those are some of the promises of God. So number one, hope is resurrected. When we choose to believe God, it gets to all odds. Number two hope is resurrected. When we keep our eyes on God and on his promises. And number three, as we get ready to wrap up here, hope is resurrected. When we believe we are made right with God, by faith, maybe you're hearing you're wrestling. Cause you know, you're not right with God. If you will believe by faith and put your trust in God, you can have that sense of security. That sense of peace. That sense of joy, knowing that you're made right with God, Jesus was born. He lived, he died in resin, resurrected from the dead. 7 (49m 10s): So we might have new life so that we might be right with God so that we might have peace so that we can confidently enjoy fully, look forward to sharing God's glory. Whatever has you feeling hopeless God by his grace and goodness can resurrect your hope. Choose to believe God against all odds. Keep your eyes on God. And his promises believe that you can be made right with God by faith. No matter what you've done, no matter what you have done. If you, if you do these things, God will resurrect your hope. When Jesus died and was buried, his followers lost all hope. 7 (49m 54s): When Jesus resurrected, he restored their hope, their purpose and their joy. When I was lost as an 11 year old boy, my hope was restored. When I finally remembered where I needed to go, Jesus is calling you home. He's calling us home. What will you do with that invitation? That opportunity? Well, I want you to go ahead and stand and I'm going to pray you. And as we get ready to wrap up the service with some more prayer and song, I just want to invite you to do something with this invitation to receive the grace and the mercy of the Lord. 7 (50m 41s): Jesus Christ. Maybe you've heard the message over and over again. Maybe you've heard it here. You've heard it. Other places. Maybe you've been told the message, the gospel that Jesus loves you, that he died for you. That you might have new life in him. If you're here today and you want to say yes to Jesus, I just want you to pray this prayer and the quietness of your heart. You say, Jesus, I need you. Jesus. I welcome you into my life. Lord. I want you to be Lord and king and ruler of my life. I need you to forgive my sins. I need you to come into my life. And as you by faith, declare that prayer to the Lord, God hears. 7 (51m 22s): And he responds. He welcomes you into his family and he gives you new purpose for your life. It gives you new purpose, new identity, and he calls you like he called the original 12 common and follow me. That means you're gonna look at your life completely different from now on. You're going to be looking at your life through the lens, this lens. I'm a follower of the Lord. Jesus Christ in my life is for him. If you've done that today, at some point after the service, if you've given your life to the Lord today, at some point after the service, I'm going to direct you over to the baptism tent. Not so that you can get baptized necessarily, but we've got a, we've got a new believers bag of information for you. 7 (52m 5s): But if you like to get baptized, as Jeremy said earlier, we've got t-shirts and shorts and towels that you can have, and we'll baptize you over there. So as we wrap up this part of the service, the band will be leading us. The band will be leading us. And as the band is leading us in worship, we're going to begin to assemble over there for those who want to be baptized and so make your way over there. And then the baptism will actually be on the screen as well. So Lord, with that, we just invite you. We invite you. We invite your presence. We thank you, Lord. We thank you for your goodness. Thank you for what you're doing. Lord in Jesus name. 7 (52m 47s): If you would like to receive prayer, there's, there'd be people over there ready to pray for you as well. People who love Jesus and who will love on you. So if you'd like to get prayer, receive a new believers pack. If you like to get baptized, head over there as we sing this last song. Amen. Let's worship. 9 (53m 7s): Let's sing this together. 6 (54m 42s): Yeah. Strange. His name is one It's a dome that you hoppy trouble. Hold your head up high. Don't feel the Big guys. 6 (55m 24s): 2 (1h 0m 12s): We To the Virgin came though. to that stone was moved forward for the land who was Yes, we magnify Jesus. 2 (1h 13m 46s): This song is a thousand hot and 9 (1h 14m 2s): Thank you Jesus so much for just a beautiful Easter Sunday morning, Lord. Thank you that you are saving us. Thank you that you sent your son Jesus to die a horrible death on the cross so that we could be right with you so we can have forgiveness of our sins. Lord, thank you for the resurrection. Thank you. That you're resurrecting hope in us today. And I just pray that as we go, would you just, would you just do that in, in hearts and minds today? Lord, in our communities and our families, Lord, would you be resurrecting hope where there might not be any? So we thank you for all this in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. 11 (1h 14m 47s): All right. Thank you all for joining us today. Happy Easter. Before you go, we have a for birth to four year olds and five to 10 year olds over here to your left. So be sure to head over there. We're going to be doing the acorns starting in a few minutes. So head on over, if you have kids that are birth to 10 years old, all right. Happy Easter. He is risen.

Practical Faith Living

1 (2s): Welcome harvest 2 (3s): Church. Welcome this morning. Stand and worship with us. 1 (1m 48s): . 1 (3m 4s): I am who you say you are for me? Not against me. I am who you say hi. I am chosen show. Who's not foresee. Can you say you love for me? 1 (3m 43s): Not against me. I am who you say you love for the kids? 1 (4m 3s): 4 (4m 54s): Good morning, everybody. Go ahead and have a seat on no. Okay. Hold on a second. I'm good. I'm good. Okay. I was on, but I wasn't on whatever that means. So good morning. Welcome. Love to have you all gathered together today, a beautiful day out. So want to welcome you, those of you in the sanctuary, also in the loft and the patio, and those are tuning in online. So my name is Ron and I have a few pieces of information you might be interested in. So the first of which is today is, is what we call family Sunday. So the fourth, Sunday of each month, what we do is we encourage families to worship together. 4 (5m 36s): And so if you have kids that are first grade and up, they don't have class today. They're they're in with mom and dad with a family. And if you have kids younger than first grade, if you want to keep them with you in church, that's totally fine. We encourage that. But if you want to take them to class, we do have class for the little ones. So you'll feel, feel free to do that. Also on family Sunday, it's popular because we have donuts. So I head up the driveway, right near the info center. You're going to find a bunch of donuts, feel free to help yourself. There's coffee up there, and just a fun time to gather together and have coffee and donuts. But more importantly, today, we also have communion. And so towards the end of Steve's message, he will be inviting us to partake of communion and have communion together as, as the family of God. 4 (6m 22s): So we can look forward to that. If you're new to harvest church, we want to welcome you super happy to have you with us today. And if you have, if you'd like any information you need about harvest church, you can head up the driveway to the info center. There's some folks who would love to talk to you about what's going on here. Or if you prefer, you can go onto our website or our church app, and you can find out what's going on that way as well. So what we do three or four, three times a year, we have life groups that we start up. I should know this, right? If I'm making the album is I should know about this. So what we have is, is a new flyer. We put together about the different life groups that are coming up quickly. 4 (7m 2s): It beginning in may. So a life group is simply a small group of folks that gathered together in somebody's home may be here on campus, smaller venues during the week. And we w we really encourage everybody to get involved in a life group, a small group, because that's where you really get connected with people. And you really get into the, you know, the life of the church and make relationships and all that kind of good step. So feel free to pick one of these up there, up again at the info center, but just to let you know, we've got groups going on in a row grand day, we've got groups in Grover beach and a Pomo. We've got a couple of different men's groups that are happening. A bunch of women's groups that are happening as well. Probably the most important group of all. We've got a prayer group that meets on Thursday mornings would encourage you to be a part of that. 4 (7m 45s): There's a singles Bible study, and there is what we call recreational groups. So this is the good yarn club. So they get together and have fellowship and, and knit things, which is super fun. So check that out. Okay. What else is going on? So I want to update everybody on the worship center. That's just down the street at 1 0 2 branch. Okay. So here's, what's going on. We're getting close to Mo moving into the worship center. We will. I'm going to say we're definitely going to be in there in may. We're not exactly sure which Sunday in may, but we're, we're fairly positive about that final preparations are, are being made and getting, you know, getting the final permit on everything permission to occupy it. 4 (8m 26s): So we're gonna announce it in the future, the exact date, as soon as these things come together. So we're going to be shuffling around some different things. And with, with things like this comes some change. Okay. So sometimes change is a little difficult to, you know, get, get, get a handle on. Most of us don't really like change, but here's what's happening. Okay. So the new worship center is going to be called the east campus because it's east, this, this campus is going to be called west campus. And so here's a couple of other things. So the worship center is at 1 0 2. So whenever we talk about the worship center, that's what we're talking about. The east campus at 1 0 2 and over there, it's also, they're also going to have an outdoor courtyard venue where we're going to have coffee there. 4 (9m 12s): We're going to have some seating out there, some TVs to watch what's going on inside. It's a really cool garden area. If you hadn't had a chance to check it out. And also in the new worship center, we're going to have a nursery with his birth through two years. And we're going to have a mother's room over there as well. So at the west campus, we are actually changing the name of the sanctuary to our chapel. So we're going to have a chapel livestream happening here, right here in this venue. So if you prefer to hang out here, you're welcome to do so at the, the chapel live stream. So the, the kids' worship center is going to be moving into the loft. 4 (9m 54s): So again, the lock, which is right behind me is give me the new kids' worship center and kids classes, ages three, and up as well as youth classes are going to stay put right where they are currently. So that's, what's happening. As soon as we get to our, our new space. And as we open up the new worship center, we're going to need a lot more volunteers for various things that are happening because we're growing. So, for example, if you would like to get involved in, in the coffee ministry, greeting ministry, safety team, worship, team tech, team, kids, team, youth team, and many, many other things are going on. So what, when we get there, we're gonna have a better idea of all the things that we need to fill. So what you will find is if you get involved in a ministry team at church, it's super fun. 4 (10m 41s): You're going to get to know a lot of new people and, and it's a way to serve the Lord. So it encouraged you to get involved again, to, to volunteer for any of those things. You can go on our website and click on the connect tab, and that's what we're going to do. All right. So last Sunday, what happened last Sunday? Oh, that's right Eastern the park. We have a little clip. We want to share with you so you can see what, what went on last Sunday. Okay. You ready? Okay. 5 (13m 19s): And I invite you to stand in. As we continue to worship, we're going to introduce a new song this morning. It's called strong God. It's taken from verses in Psalm 68. And those verses are father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home. He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. This has God in his holy place, 1 (13m 52s): Father to the fatherless 5 (13m 56s): Defender 1 (13m 57s): Of the weak Freedom for the prison. We see this is God in his holy 7 (20m 45s): God, you are surely great. And we're humbled your presence here today. Lord is so as we've gathered to pray, and as we've gathered to worship God, we've gathered for you to remember you, to worship you, to be in your presence. Lord God, as the family of God, we want to be with you, Lord God, we want to be in your presence, Lord God. And as we teach your word today, Lord, we want to take it in and believe it. So Lord God give us faith where we lack faith, give us clarity where we lack clarity, give us the help that we need. Lord God, to believe you, Lord, to believe your promises, to walk in those promises, Lord God, that our lives would be actually changed and transformed as a result of your word, your promises, your guidance, your direction. 7 (21m 36s): So Lord lead us. We pray. We humble ourselves before you today. We say, we need you. We say, we love you. We, so we say, we're so thankful, Lord God, that you've adopted us into your family. We think we're thankful that your grace is sufficient. Lord God. And so I pray that your grace would be extended all over this campus Lord, for whoever needs it, especially this morning, Lord, we all need it. But there are those who especially need just to an extra dose of your grace, Lord God, a truth to saturate their hearts and lives. Lord God. And so for those who are doubting fearful, unbelieving, Lord, we pray that you would reveal yourself in powerful and significant ways. 7 (22m 16s): God, that there would just be a move of God in each of our lives today, Lord all over this campus. And God, we just want to say thank you for our new worship center for what you're doing there. Lord, it's been a, it's been a long time in the, in the, in the making Lord, God, we're so thankful Lord for the way you've are bringing that to fruition and making that possible for us. Lord, we just continue to give that to you, God, for the expansion of your kingdom Lord. So we just want to honor you with that space. So be glorified Lord. Thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Turning green. Somebody will come right back. 7 (23m 44s): I got a feeling it's going to get 8 (23m 45s): Rowdy. 7 (24m 13s): Alrighty, come on in and grab your chair. How's everyone I'm blessed and no less is what I keep hearing. Hey, I'm so grateful for every person who came out last week to help us get that space set up. But when we were setting up the chairs and when we were cleaning up the chairs, I didn't think we would ever end. I mean, those chairs just continued. They were, they were just a ton of them. I'm not sure how many we had set up. It was almost 900. And so it was really, really good. And then the sound and audio video stuff. It's all, man. It all just came together. We were having so many technical challenges on Saturday. 7 (24m 55s): It was ridiculous. We didn't, we weren't sure what was going to happen, but, but our team got it together and I need a bigger podium is what I need. I've got all this stuff. Can we work on that? Like a four by just getting so thanks for that to everyone. Yeah. Great turnout. It was so good to be back at the, at the park. After two years through COVID of not being able to be out there. It was, I mean, we had a great time last year at our back lot back here, but we just love being in that park. Love the opportunity to be salt and light and in the neighborhood there in our community. And so we're just really, really grateful for that. 7 (25m 38s): And we're going to be in Hebrews 13 today kind of wrapping up in the next few weeks, our study through Hebrews. And we're just going to continue to March right through the rest of the new Testament. And so we'll be teaching through revelation here in a few months and I think it'll be really, it's really good timing, I think to get into a study through revelation and so wanted to let you know that that is coming. I, I taught last through revelation 15 years ago in that crazy. Yeah. I was looking at my old notes and I thought, man, it's been 15 years since I've taught through that. So a lot has changed in our world and last 15 years. So it's time for an update and the word of God never changes, but our culture, our circumstances certainly change don't they speaking of change, my son Curtis got engaged yesterday, go ahead and stand up. 7 (26m 30s): Curtis Curtis St. Clark. So we just did a wedding for Steven and Amanda a few months ago and our cup two and a half, three months ago or whatever it's been now. And, and so now we get to plan for another one. So the more the merrier. And so we're excited about that. So congratulations to you too. And you guys want to just get married now you want to just go, I happen to know somebody you can make that happen for you. So it would be zebra. I know, right? Get things done. What are the cupcakes say to the frosting? 7 (27m 13s): I'd be muffin without you. There we go. Told you, I'd tell you a joke on family Sunday. Hey, a lot of us, thousands of people throughout the state went up to Sacramento last Monday and Tuesday to, to lobby against assembly bill 2, 2, 2, 3. And I mean, it was just a huge outpouring of people throughout the states who showed up and, and people from other states. And so sadly the assembly health committee passed AB T T two three last week. 7 (27m 55s): So the bill will go next to the assembly appropriations committee before making its way to the assembly floor. So continue to pray, just continue to pray. It's re if you've done any research at all, you know that this assembly bill is, is heinous and it's, it's so grieves the heart of God to see this type of legislation making its way through and into, into, into law. I mean, it's not just California, there's other states who are trying to do the same thing. So anyway, take a look at it. We don't often talk about political things, but this is not just a political thing. It's a political thing, but it's a moral thing first and foremost. 7 (28m 36s): And so that when we're talking about moral things that contradict the word of God and God's direction for our lives, then we talk about it and we encourage action. So do some research, pray, pray, pray that this thing gets stopped in its tracks. And so we're going to just pray right now for that. And then we'll get into Hebrews 13, one through seven Lord. We do pray, God, God, we ask Lord God for it's just a supernatural intervention here, Lord God that she would stop this bill, this proposed bill or God that it would not become law. 7 (29m 17s): Lord God, that you would not allow it to become law. That born babies would not be allowed to legally be killed in our state Lord God. And as goes California as goes the nation. So it goes the nation, Lord God. And so we pray God that this would be stopped here. And then it would be a message to the rest of the nation that we, we don't, we don't want to stand for this kind of stuff and we will not stand for this kind of stuff. So Lord, I pray that the, the, the people of our nation be aware of what's going on, that these, this type of legislation is being moved forward. Lord, I pray that we would be alert. 7 (29m 58s): That'd be that we'd be wise to what's going on in our world and that we would be prayerful and lobby against things like this. It's our, our responsibility Lord. And so I pray God that we would take serious this responsibility, remember to pray and trust you, Lord God. So speak to those who will be deciding in this next step, Lord, God, speak to their hearts. Thank you Lord, for the opportunity to pray and to petition and to lobby against things like this, help us. We pray Lord in Jesus name. Amen. So last Tuesday we were walking through the buildings. We were out in front of the Capitol, on the lawn there. 7 (30m 40s): And then we were walking through and being able to, which we were trying to lobby the people who are a part of the part of the assembly health committee. And they wouldn't even open the doors for us. We would go knock on their door and they would say, Hey, we're not taking guests at the moment. And so just dozens and dozens of people would just pray outside of their doors in the hallways. And so we went to each office and just prayed and petitioned by God's grace, that, that things would change here. And so let's continue to do that and that we wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies, but we're in a spiritual battle. 7 (31m 23s): And so let's continue to fight against things like AB 2, 2, 2, 3. Amen. Hey, we're in Hebrews chapter 13, we're going to be looking at verses one through seven, the title of the message today, practical faith living. So it will be in Hebrews chapter three verses one through seven. The book of Hebrews is all about challenging your religious activity and tradition so that genuine faith life can be experienced and lived. And I think we need to do that all throughout the course of our lives. We need to be challenging religious activity, things that seem good, but are actually a hindrance to our intimate walk and commitment to Jesus Christ. 7 (32m 8s): So the book of Hebrews is all about challenging religious activity. It was written to Jews. This, we don't know who the author of Hebrews is, but it was written to Jews who had made a decision to trust Jesus as their Messiah. And they were breaking away from a religious tradition, a tradition of lots of works and that sort of thing. And so this book is written to this group of people, giving them practical insight. These are the things as we wrap up Hebrews, this, these are the things that we should be doing. These are the things that should mark the lives of believers, the lives of people in God's church. 7 (32m 53s): So Hebrews three 13 brings to light, very practical things that mark the life of a follower of Jesus Christ. And so as we look at the first seven verses of Hebrews 13, we find seven points that define for us practical faith, living seven points in seven verses. And so it's going to take us about three weeks to get through Hebrews 13. And, and then we'll, we'll just jump right in with number one, practical, faith, living, number one, love each other. We see that throughout the scripture that God has called us to love each other. We see that in Hebrews 13, one says, keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. 7 (33m 36s): And so the author saying, Hey, keep this up. You're doing it. The marks of a godly person is that we would continue to love one another. So love each other. The transliteration of the Greek word for love here is Philadelphia. The city of Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, right? If you've ever been to Philadelphia, you have, I'd never been there, but I've, I've heard that it's not necessarily living up to its name. I don't know, but in 1994 at Gallup poll named Philadelphia, America's most hostile place. So maybe there's some truth to what I'm hearing. 7 (34m 17s): So good intentions only take us so far. So the founders of that city had great intentions. Let's call this place, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love with the expectation that the goal that this place would be marked by brotherly love. And instead though it's become hostile and one of Philadelphia America's most hostile plays. So good intentions only take you so far. Have you experienced that? Like I'm gonna do better. I'm going to love this person better. And then we fall short, listen, we can't love people effectively unless we're filled with the grace of God, the presence of God and the power of God, because some people are just very difficult to love, but by God's grace, he gives us the ability and even the desire he refreshes our hearts and minds so that we actually have the desire to love people who are on lovely. 7 (35m 11s): How do we love each other? Romans 12, 10 says this love each other with genuine affection. So now we're kind of getting some action points here, genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. So we're to love one another with genuine affection honoring each other. I would just reading in first Samuel this morning, and I was reading about the relationship between Jonathan, the King's son and David, the newly anointed king, who was yet to take the throne. But as we read through first Samuel, we see the, the, the love relationship that David and Jonathan had. 7 (35m 57s): There was, there was a sacrificial commitment to one, another to protect one another. And you can see how Jonathan over and over again, protected David from Saul's wrath. Saul was jealous of David and Saul was envious of David saw was, was, was angry at David. And so over and over again, Saul was trying to kill David and Jonathan would step up over and over again to protect him. He had, he had genuine love and affection for David and he honored him. And so there's, there's great examples in the scripture and there's great examples in our own lives. Maybe where people have loved us with genuine affection. 7 (36m 40s): And with honor, I can think back in my life about different people who have loved me. So well, my wife, for sure, being one of them for the last 32 years, she just loved me really, really well, genuine affection and honor. And I really do think that's part of like the recipe for longevity in marriage is that we would love and honor one another, a genuine affection can only come from a genuine heart. And so we need to regularly ask the Lord, God, what's going on with my heart. Why, why am I having a hard time loving this person? Maybe it's your spouse. You're having a hard time loving you. 7 (37m 21s): Say, Lord, what's going on with my heart because we can't love when we can fake it, but we can only love people with genuine affection. And honor, when we have a pure hearts, when our hearts are in the right place, we've, we've got to guard our hearts and make sure that we've confessed sin, that we've forgiven, that we're walking in purity and honor before the Lord so that we can lovingly serve others and love others with a genuine affection and honor. So genuine affection can only come from a genuine heart. And honor only comes from a humble heart. So we need to check ourselves. What's the condition of our heart. 7 (38m 2s): Are we being, are we being humble? Are we pure in our heart? Or are we do we have guile and unforgiveness and hatred in our heart brother and sister Lee love can only happen when we choose to extend grace from a genuine and humble heart. So part of doing what anything God has called us to do, what it requires that we're empowered by God, but that we always extend grace. If we think about our relationship with God, what is he always doing with us? I don't know about you, but he's always, always grace to me, right? I mean, I think about the person who loves me more than anybody who has the capacity to love me more than anybody that's God. 7 (38m 45s): And he knows all of my failures and shortcomings, but he genuinely loves me. And he genuinely loves you with affection. And he honors us in that relationship by loving us unconditionally. So in order for us to love, like, God loves us to love others. Like God loves us. We need to, we need to be constantly extending grace to the people in our lives. If you've been alive for any amount of time, you know that you need to extend grace to people constantly in work relationships and marriage, relationships and sibling relationships. And in every relationship, there's going to be opportunity for you to be offended or for you to offend others. 7 (39m 30s): And so there needs to be that constant extension of grace, constant extension of grace meets you. You to me, we, to each other, we just constantly extend grace. The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians four 13 for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. So maybe you're here today. And you're like, this is like a really impossible thing. There's this person in my life that I just don't like at all. I don't respect this person. I don't like this person. This person gets under my skin every time I see him or her. And so Lord, I don't know how all things are possible. When we submit our hearts to the Lord, we can love people. 7 (40m 11s): I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. God will give you the strength to forgive great story. When the first missionaries arrived in Alberta, Canada, a young chief of the Cree Indians named Masco opportun, savaged, savagely, opposed them. But he later responded to the gospel and accepted Christ shortly afterward. A member of the Blackfoot tribe killed his father mascot. Batoon rode into the village where the murderer lived and demanded that he be brought before him confronting the guilty man. 7 (40m 51s): He said, you have killed my father. So now you must be my father. You shall ride my best horse and wear my best clothes in utter amazement and remorse his enemy exclaimed. My son. Now you have killed me. He meant, of course, that the hates in his own heart had been completely erased by the forgiveness and kindness of the Indian chief. This is the power of the gospel. When we've been touched by the grace of God, we, we find capacity. 7 (41m 33s): Expend extend that same grace to others. Even those who have done us rate great harm. God's grace, as we're filled with the spirit of God and the word of God, the truth that God gives us the capacity to extend grace to others in Luke 10 27, the most important commandment says this. You must love the Lord, your God with all your hearts, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbor as your self over and over again. We see this in the scripture. We see that God calls us to love others. The world. We will know that we are his disciples by our love one for another. 7 (42m 17s): So the love that we're exposed to be feeling for one another and extending to one another is constantly under attack. The enemy wants us to be at odds with one another, because then we're not properly representing the person of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Jesus was gracious in all that. He did. He extended grace and love to everybody. Even to those who executed him on the cross. Jesus tells us in his sermon on the mountain, Matthew 5 21 through 24, he says, you have heard that our ancestors were told you must not murder. 7 (42m 59s): If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. But I say, if you were even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. If you call someone an idiot, you're in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. So if you verse 23 are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the temple. And you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar, go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and off your sacrifice to God. You think God is serious about what he's talking about in his word. He's very serious. 7 (43m 40s): He modeled it for us. He communicates it and the old and the new Testament, he's very serious that we would love one another. So that means we've got to constantly be forgiving, extending grace like 70 times seven. That means essentially that there's no limit to the number of times that we will extend grace and forgiveness. Number one, love each other. Number two, love strangers. So now we're getting a little more specific, loves strangers. We see that in verse two, don't forget to show hospitality to strangers for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. That's kind of a neat thought, huh? Well, some, some of us have entertained angels without realizing it. 7 (44m 22s): Have you ever wondered about that in your own life? Like, was that an angel? I wonder like, was that a messenger of God that I just entertained? Like, I didn't know who that person was and I haven't seen him since. I wonder if that was an angel of the Lord, that text refers to what happened to Abraham to lot and to Gideon in the old Testament, Genesis 18 Genesis, 19 judges, six and 13, they all entertained angels unaware. They were ministering to angels as they reached out with love to these strangers. One of the best pictures of a person loving a stranger, seen of the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 when Jesus was asked and who is my neighbor? 7 (45m 13s): So that's the question. I'm like, okay, if I'm supposed to love my neighbor, then who is my neighbor? Right? We're always looking for loopholes, right? Luke 10 30 says this Jesus replied with a story. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and left him half dead beside the road by chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed by him. Also a temple assistant Levi gets walked over and looked at him, lying there, but he also passed by on the other side of the road, then a despised Samaritan. 7 (46m 1s): So Samaritans were half blood, half blood use. They were, they were a mixed race and they were despised by the Jewish people. Then despise Samaritan came along. And when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with all of oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an end where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, two silver coins to denari were essentially the wage for two late to two days of labor in the day. So he had an two days of work of pay to continue to take care of him, take care of this, man. 7 (46m 46s): If this bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here. So this despised Samaritan served this stranger paid for his well and made sure that he was going to be taking care of until he was completely healthy. Now, which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits? Jesus asked the man replied the one who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, yes. Now go and do the same. So we have an opportunity to, in a practical way, love those who we don't know as we see people in need. 7 (47m 33s): Now we can't help everybody in need, but we do have the responsibility to help people in need. So we need to pray as we know of people in need and say, Lord, what is my role here? What is my place with this person? How can I serve this person? How am I supposed to serve this person? And as the Lord leads, you, you can minister to that person, but we've got to be prayerful, listening, responsive obedience so that we can do the things that God has called us to do. So there are going to be people in your life that are going to require your love. People that you don't know, maybe people don't like, but God has given you an assignment responsibility to serve them. 7 (48m 21s): Being essentially Jesus with skin on practical, faith living involves loving strangers, but also number three, loving the forgotten, loving the forgotten verse three says, remember those in prison as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own body. Often we think about people who are incarcerated. We think, well, they deserve to be there. Well, we, if the truth were told, if we all got busted for things that we have done throughout the course of our life, then we would probably be in there as well. 7 (49m 3s): Truth, be told we've gotten away with a lot of stuff over the course of our lives and found out we might all be in that same place. I often say that apart from Jesus, that I rather either be dead in prison or addicted to something. I mean, apart from Jesus that's, that would be my lot. I just know myself way too well. And I know my life before Jesus came in, remember those in prison. One of my first ministries was to those who were incarcerated. And so we had ministries at the county jail. We had three services on Sunday morning. We had a service for the men's side of the jail and then a service for the women's side of the jail. 7 (49m 43s): And then we'd go over to the honor farm and we would have a service over there. So Sunday mornings, we have three services over there and it was a pleasure to minister and to serve those who are incarcerated. And in my early sales life, as an outside sales rep for a company might part of my territory included me service going into and serving those in prisons. And so I would go in to, I think I had six or seven or eight prisons that I would go into on a regular basis. And what I realized with a few exceptions, most of the people that I was seeing in these prisons, they, they had just made mistakes and they serving their time. 7 (50m 29s): And the truth is they were, they were worthy of love. They were worthy of respect and what I treated them with love and respect that was returned to me. And now I know that's not the case across the board, but overwhelmingly. So that was the case. It's only went to San Quentin prison. San Quentin prison was an altogether different scenario. I walked in that place and it was dark and cold and scary. It was scary. I went in there. I spent about half a day at San Quentin prison once and I decided never to step foot in his hand, Quentin prison. 7 (51m 9s): Again, it was a scary place for me. I didn't want to go back and it was my choice to go in or not. And so I decided not to. So I continued to serve the other prisons, but at San Quentin, I decided to stay away. Now I've heard it's gotten easier at San Quentin, but all the same, I steer steer clear. So we need to remember those in prison. Sometimes we, we think, well, they're not, you know, they're, they're incarcerated. We have an incredible opportunity. Mike and Sharon do tra take their curriculum into prisons and jails all over the country. And they're having a huge impact inside the walls of jails. Now, people who are there, most likely they deserve to be there. 7 (51m 49s): They're not all innocent. Like they would probably say, but we need to take the opportunity to serve people who are forgotten. And remember, remember also those being mistreated as if you felt their pain in your own body, we need to with empathy, remember those who are being mistreated. And so that's why we stand up for bills against bills like AB 2, 2, 2, 3. We believe in life. And we believe that those who are born and the unborn deserve life. And so AB 2, 2, 2, 3 is just another step that eliminates life in our nation. 7 (52m 39s): We need to remember those who are forgotten. There's a young man in our community. He's a homeless guy and he we've known him for years and he doesn't work around the church from time to time. And we've helped him from time to time. And he came to me recently and he said, Hey, I'm trying to get my life back in order. Would you help me get to teen challenge? And so I said, absolutely, we'll get, we'll help you get to teen challenge. And so we gave him a train ticket to get over to Shafter, and we helped him to get there. And we it's important that we are for people who are trying to get their lives back in order. 7 (53m 20s): And so he wanted to go to this Christian program and get his life back in order. So we sent him over there earlier this month and I've been praying for him. And then I got a text from him yesterday. He said, I got kicked out for fighting. So he's out. But that doesn't mean we stop trying. I mean, often we'll try stuff. And in our estimation, from our perspective, it looks like it failed, but it's just maybe another step in the journey that people are taking. And we need to continue to give grace and extend mercy. So he asked me for a train ticket back to the coast and I told him, you are on your own. 7 (54m 4s): He got kicked out. So now the rubber meets the road and he's got to figure out his own path forward. And so we'll figure out, we gotta figure out with good boundaries and good grace, how to serve people, but not enable people. So there's a lot there. We could probably talk about it for a very, very long, a long time. So number three, love the forgotten. Number four, love your spouse. That's actually in the Bible of your spouse, mess something we should just do naturally. Right? We should just love our spouse. We get engaged because we're in love. We get, we want to spend the rest of our lives together because we're in love. And so why is it so hard for us to love our spouse? 7 (54m 44s): Well, typically people coming together to get married are completely opposite of for whatever reason opposites attract. And so there begins to be a rub. Maybe you've never experienced it. And then in your own marriage, but there can be a rub sometimes in marriage, right? I mean, you guys are brand new, married if you guys experienced any rub. Never. Okay, good. So Amanda saying yes. Even saying no. So there's going to be a rub. Whether you've been married for two days or 20 years or 40 years, there's always going to be some kind of an opportunity to love our spouse. When there's a disagreement verse four says, give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage. 7 (55m 30s): God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. So how do we love our spouse? Well, we give them honor. We honor them find different ways to honor your spouse. What is your spouse enjoy? What is your spouse? Not enjoy. Figure out those things, answer those questions and then honor them when the way that you live in relationship with them, speak with respects, with tenderness, with kindness, I've heard some men talk to their end vice-a-versa spot, talk to their spouse and very damning and hurtful dishonoring ways. 7 (56m 17s): And so those things need to be, we need to pay attention. Sometimes we can get comfortable in our relationships and we get sloppy about the way we communicate. We get insensitive about the needs of our spouse. And for as long as we're married, we need to be working on honoring one another. Speaking with tenderness, with respect, with kindness, with humility, and just watch what the Lord will do to heal up. Whatever's going on in your marriage remain faithful. So someone's heard this quote recently when a man says yes to a particular woman, he is saying no to every other woman out there. 7 (57m 5s): And that's true for women, either women too. When, when a woman says yes to a particular man, that means she is saying no to every other man out there. So that's part of the deal. We, we honor one another by loving one another and saying, faithful remaining, faithful to one another. Then you make your spouse, your priority, make your spouse your priority. Often in life, everything else becomes priority. The kids that becomes priority. But what happens when your kids grow up? Like your kids are all grown up and maybe you spent the last 20 years making your kids your priority. And then now you're just kind of stuck. 7 (57m 46s): Just the two of you, right? Like now what do we do with each other? Right. Often people get divorced after their kids are raised because they've spent the last 20 years making their S their kids a priority and really everything else, a priority. And so when it's just the two of them in the house, it's, it's like, what do we do with each other? I couldn't wait for my kids to get out of house. It just, the two of us, you know, my wife and I, we, we just, I love my kids, but at 18 it's time for them to go, right. We raised them to be independence. Self-sufficient relying on God, loving Jesus and getting out of the house. 7 (58m 27s): Like they can show up anytime they wanted, they need food or laundry done while they have to do their own laundry. But if they need, they can rate my cupboards. If they need money, I'll give them whatever I have, but they need to be out. Right. Because I just, I want to hang out with my bride. We got, we got married in 11 months and three weeks later we had Caitlin, right? So like, there's no honeymoon period. Like she got pregnant immediately. And then 14, 15 months later, Steven was born. And then like 16 months later, Curtis was born. And like two years later, Leslie was born. So I'm like, Hey, I've done my duty. 7 (59m 7s): Right. Lights out. Time to go. And so no Jolene and I can walk around the house naked. It's wonderful. She would never do that. Me on the other hand, I might buy the house is right. So let's enjoy. Let's enjoy what God has given to us. I forgot his family Sunday, but sorry. Lastly, my daughter's dying over there. He's like, we need to love our spouse. And like, like I, I believe, and like after decades of marriage, that the spark can still be there and be magical and wonderful. 7 (59m 52s): And it needs to be there. It needs to absolutely be there. And if it's not there, work on it, get it back, begin to date your spouse again. All right. Let's take a look at things that hinder our ability to love love of money will hinder our ability to love others. So number five, don't love money. Money is a terrible thing to love. It's it's a one way street. I verse five says don't love money. Be satisfied with what you have for God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. 7 (1h 0m 34s): When money is a person's focus. Inevitably God loses first place in that person's life. And when God loses first place in a person's life, everything else begins to diminish as well. Loving money is the ultimate selfish thing. I mean, it's, it's about making sure that I have what I need, that I have my safety, my provision. I have everything that I need. And so it's all about me and my money. And, and so then we're not allowing God to be on the throne of our lives. We're not honoring our spouse and others and loving others with our resources because it's all selfishly belongs to me. 7 (1h 1m 20s): The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It's the root of all kinds of evil. So don't love your money, money. This prob I think he's a proverb says, man, it's just like, takes on wings like an Eagle and just flies away. It's just, it's temporary. You can't take it with you. It doesn't bring lasting satisfaction. It's not helpful for most things in life. I mean, we can be thankful that, you know, we've got homes and food and things like that, that things that money buy, but man money can never be our priority. Our driving force, the kingdom of God has to be our driving force, doing what God has called us to do in the scripture. That needs to be our driving force, getting up every morning and making sure that Jesus is the Lord Lord of our lives. 7 (1h 2m 5s): That needs to be our driving force. Matthew 6 24, no one can serve two masters for you will hate one and love the other. You will devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil money can be a blessing when handled properly. And it can be a curse. I've watched so many families over the course of my life and ministry get blown up over, over money. 7 (1h 2m 45s): Inheritances. They divide families, squabbling over possessions. I'm just, I, I, I'm sick to my stomach of the stories that I hear when money gets introduced into a family and there begins the squabble. It's like, oh, we love each other until money shows up and you're not getting mine, man. I tell ya, I I've been so blessed by my, my brother in Denver. He's my half-brother. So my dad passed away six months ago or eight months ago. It's been awhile now, number of months and six months before that, my dad's second wife passed away. 7 (1h 3m 30s): My step-mom. And so my brother who lives in Denver, where my dad lived is handling the estate. And he's been so completely gracious with the way he's handled everything. I, I just tell him all the time I'm so Shane I'm so thankful for the way that you're handling all of this, because the last thing we want is for our family to be blown up because of a few bucks, right? It's not worth it. Relationships. We, we need one another. Am I done with time? How far over am I? I still got like 14 points left. Here we go. 7 (1h 4m 10s): I got five minutes. Thank you very much, Amanda. Here we go. So don't let the love of money. Dictate whom you will love the antidote for the love of money is contentment. Contentment. Godliness with contentment is great. Gain our culture. We don't understand contentment. We see the next new shiny thing. We want it. We, we, we need to have that next thing and I'm can be just as guilty as the rest. So we need to learn to find this place of contentment. Verse five. Again, for God has said, I will never fail you. I will never abandon you. 7 (1h 4m 51s): So that's where our focus, our hope our priority is has God. He, he will never fail you. He will never abandoned. You'd often were hoarding money or save, hold on to stuff because we're afraid of the future and the world's a crazy place. And so we're afraid. And boy, if, if, if we just honor the Lord seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, everything else will be added on to us. Someone said, if you fear God, you've got nothing else to fear, right? Like fearing God means to obey him, to honor him to do what he's called us to do. We put that kind of priority in our lives. Everything else will be taken care of. 7 (1h 5m 30s): Everything else will be taken care of. Another hindrance to love is fear. Don't live in fear, verse six. So we can say with confidence and we'll wrap this up quick. The Lord is my helper. So I will have no fear what can mere people do to me. So the writer of Hebrews is writing to people who are under persecution, Jewish people who have said I'm breaking away from Judaism to honor Christ to enter into this covenant relationship with the Lord. Jesus Christ. I recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. Well, this was a threat to the church, the Jewish church. 7 (1h 6m 14s): This was a threat to the church. And so there was persecution, the Orthodox religious use of the days, guys like Saul of Tarsus before his conversion were persecuting the church, pressuring the people to follow the laws of Moses. And so they were feeling fear. And so the writer is saying, Hey, you've got nothing to fear in light of eternity, which is where we're going to be spending. Most of our time. This, this life here is a blip on the screen of eternity. It's just a blip. It's an important blip. Jesus died for this blip that we might live for him, that we might take as many people with us to heaven as possible. 7 (1h 6m 57s): So it's an important blip, but, but it's not the whole thing. We'll spend eternity with the Lord or not depending on how and what we choose in this life. 9 (1h 7m 11s): Ah, 7 (1h 7m 12s): What can I skip here? This is good. An adverse or number seven, practical faith living number seven verse seven says, remember your leaders who taught you the word of God, think of all the good that has come from their lives and follow the example of their faith. So how do we, how do we love our leaders? We've all got leaders. I've got to leaders, you've got leaders, we've all got leaders. And so we have this responsibility. I submit to my elders. I submit to their leadership in my life. 7 (1h 7m 54s): We all have people that we must submit to because we all have leaders in our lives. So how do we, how do we love our leaders? I w I would say guard against criticism. It's easy to get critical of leaders. Often. We don't understand what our leaders are going through. The decisions that they're facing, the expectations that are upon. So if we can just be careful to extend grace and avoid criticism, and if we can pray for our leaders, that's governmental leaders, that's church leaders. We need to pray, pray, pray for our leaders. Often I'll ask the church. Will you remember to pray for our elders, our staff, our, our church. 7 (1h 8m 34s): Would you remember to pray for me specifically when we praying for people praying for the operative word, they're praying for people, not against people like Lord help his car to crash into that telephone pole. That's not praying for that's bringing again. So don't pray for Lord that they would be blessed and walking in grace and experiencing your clarity. That's what we need to be praying for. People decide to extend grace, understand our human limitations. I think we need to be able to look back at the, of our lives and be able to speak well of people that have led us currently and in the past. And if there's things sticking in our crawl a little bit about past leaders, we need to pray for them and watch the Lord change our hearts. 7 (1h 9m 16s): And then we begin to see their human limitations and begin to see the things that they were up against. And we can extend grace so that we're living in harmony with those who are in leadership over us. I don't think we can honor our earthly leaders very well. Let me, how do I say this? I think we really are. We begin to honor our earthly leaders really well when we figured out how to honor our heavenly leader. When we figured out how to honor the Lord, there's just something that of a work of God in our lives that allows us to honor our leaders and really everybody in our lives. So love each other. Love strangers, love the forgotten and love your spouse. Don't love money. Don't live in fear and love your leaders. Hey, let's take communion. 7 (1h 9m 57s): So thankful for communion. I, once a month, we remember what the Lord has done, and hopefully often more often than that, but especially once a month on family Sunday, we remember. And even as I flipped my elements, I'm like, that was the wrong thing to do. So I don't mean to take it. Forgive me for that. I it's really, we need to honor what God has given us in this active worship that we would honor the Lord. So I'm going to read first Corinthians 1123. 7 (1h 10m 39s): And then as I get ready to read that, just get your hearts, pray that you get your hearts in the right place. And that be a time of confession, time of humility, time of brokenness and contrition that we would go humbly before the throne of grace and say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for salvation for new life and forgiveness for I pass on to you. What I receive from the Lord himself, this first grand thing is 1123 on the night when he was betrayed, the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. 7 (1h 11m 22s): Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me. It's taken away from Got I'm filled with joy, and I'm also perplex. Lord. I I'm grateful that you Allowed your body to be nailed to a cross. Allow your board, your blood to be poured out for my sins. Lord God, I'm perplexed. Lord God that you would love us me enough to do that. Lord, I, I, I don't have the capacity to understand why you would do that Florida, But thank you. 7 (1h 12m 10s): Thank you Lord. For your grace. It is sufficient Verse 25 in the same way. 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. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's go ahead and take the cup. Thank you, Lord. 7 (1h 12m 51s): Thank you for your blood. Thank you that you poured out your blood for my sins. You took the wrath of God that belonged to me upon yourself. And you gave me an exchange. Your righteousness. You gave us an exchange, your righteousness. If you're here today and you need the righteousness of God in your life. If you need God to take that weight of burden from sins and mistakes and failures and shortcomings, if you need God to lift those things off you and you want to enter into a relationship with God, a saving a life, changing, born again, relationship with God you say, Lord, I, I need you to lift this burden of sin. 7 (1h 13m 32s): I need you to forgive me. I repent. I change my mind about the way that I've been living and I'm going to turn and live for you. I'm going to turn and follow you. I want you to be the Lord and the leader of my life. I will submit to you in all things. I will follow you in all things. And I will love you always Lord by your grace. So Lord come into my life, forgive my sin and help me to follow you all the rest of the days of my life. And as you do that, you, you began, you began a journey of being a follower of the Lord. Jesus Christ. It's not about getting sins forgiven. 7 (1h 14m 14s): And then you move on. It's about submitting your life to Jesus and following God, the rest of your life into eternity forever and ever. Amen. It's about allowing God to transition your life from what it was to new life in him. To allow you to be born again into the kingdom of God, adopted into his family. So Lord, this is a life altering transaction that we're believing you for, help us to walk in that life-changing way. We pray this way that you have designed for us. We love you Lord in Jesus name. 7 (1h 14m 54s): Amen. Let's go out and stand up and worship. 1 (1h 15m 22s): You give you a green light to the job 0 (1h 15m 34s): You 1 (1h 15m 35s): Restore and every house that is . It's your breath in? praise. Praise. It's your breath. You bring right John? 1 (1h 16m 33s): Oh, hi. That is Oh, the wish shout shoe tricks cry. 1 (1h 18m 20s): These bones 2 (1h 19m 51s): Lord. You are great. You are awesome. And mighty, we praise you this morning as we go about the rest of our week. Lord, we just pray that you'd be filling us with your holy spirit so that we can shine light to the rest of the world. And everybody we come in contact with. We can glorify you in everything that we do in Jesus name. Amen.

Jesus the Messiah

4 (9m 35s): Good morning church. How are we doing? Good. Everybody doing good? Yeah. Sweet. Sweet. I got a few announcements for ya if you're ready for it. So, you know, just hang onto your seats here. We got some good stuff here going on. My name is Curtis, first of all, and I work here at church. I do branding and design and stuff like that. So I'm very blessed to work here. And so this year we've got Easter celebrations happening next Sunday. It's going to be at 10:00 AM. And please, please, please. On your way out, grab a flyer, invite a friend, invite a coworker, invite a neighbor. We've got them at all the exits all the entrances. So please grab a flyer on your way out and invite somebody. 4 (10m 18s): I was actually at, I was going to pick up some faucets for the worship center about a week and a half ago, and the person who was helping me, I just had it on my heart that I should invite them. So I gave her a flyer and she was like so excited and so thankful to receive it. And so if you're, you know, if you're hesitant about it, just, you know, trust the Lord and he'll guide you, it's going to be really good. So also, if you want to sign up for serving for Easter on Saturday, set up or clean up or whatever you want to do, we'll have a QR code on the screen that you can scan and sign up there. Or you can sign up at the info center up the driveway. 4 (10m 59s): Also, if you'd like to be baptized on Easter, we'd love to baptize you. So you can also get more information on that, on the baptism tab, on the website or at the info center as well. And then we had an amazing, amazing cleanup day yesterday. So we had a great turnout, I think 35, 40 people or something like that and got a lot done there. That was great energy. It was super exciting and really fun and just a great time to connect together. So it went really well. And so we're excited about the progress that's happening at the worship center and yeah, it's all, it's all going great. And then M six men's gathering is happening tomorrow night at 6:00 PM. 4 (11m 44s): So a thousand Hills ranch. So if you're a guy and you want to connect with some other guys, it's a great, great opportunity to do that. So with that, let's worship some more 1 (19m 26s): You're faithful. God. We're so thankful Lord for your presence here today. And for the privilege that it is to gather as friends, brothers, and sisters in the Lord, the family of God. Yeah. We just pray that every person gathered would feel your presence. God, that each person gathered would just feel welcomed and loved by the people of God. But also you Lord, that people would just feel your love for them and your grace for them. Lord God. So Lord, we just invite your power and your presence. Lord, we invite you to do supernaturally abundantly above everything that we might hope or imagining Christ Jesus, Lord, that there would just be life changing worship today. 1 (20m 12s): Life-changing prayer today life-changing fellowship today. God, that you'd be glorified. God, we're so honored by your presence. And I pray God that you would fill every room on this campus, every space Lord inside and outside, Lord, God, God, that we would just experience your presence. God, that even as people walk by the front on the sidewalk, Lord, they would just be drawn by your spirit. They would just feel something of your power in your presence. Lord God, that would draw them by your holy spirit. And so Lord, for those who are wondering about you today, I prayed you would reveal yourself to those people in powerful and profound ways. 1 (20m 53s): God, that you would affirm and confirm your existence. Jesus, your love for them, your kindness toward them, your plan for them or Jesus. So bless we pray. Every person gathered young and old everybody. Lord, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Hey man, you may be seated. I'm going to cover a couple things and then we'll take a little break and then we'll introduce our speaker today. First and foremost, I just want to acknowledge Danny and Norma Gaddis. Can we get Danny enormous picture up there on the screen these guys have been serving. They are, they've been a part of our church for the better part of two decades. And they've been serving our community in the food pantry ministry for years and years and have served literally hundreds and hundreds of families. 1 (21m 44s): They're the people behind all of the baskets at Christmas and Thanksgiving. And they've been out there on Thursdays, passing out food at our food bank for literally years and years and years just they've been a huge blessing and it's their season now to kind of retire from that ministry. So we just wanted to honor them and bless them. It's actually being taken over by a pastor at grace Bible church. And so it's kept, we're seeing a little bit of a transition there. We'll see what happens here at harvest as we move forward. But pastor Mario over at tag grace Bible church is just doing a phenomenal job and providing food for people here and over in Guadalupe. 1 (22m 27s): And so we're really grateful for that partnership that we have with grace Bible and we loved them and grateful for what God has been able to do as we've collaborated together over the years, we wanted to bless them. Also, I wanted to just highlight something for everybody's. There's a new assembly bill that's coming out. It's called AB two, two to three. How many are familiar with AB 2, 2, 2, 3. So let's go ahead and throw up the first slide there. AB 2, 2, 2, 3, it's new legislation that's legalized as self abortion at any stage of pregnancy and it essentially legalizes infanticide in California. 1 (23m 9s): So this bill has been changed. They've been, they've added to this bill so that you can actually, it's going to be legal if it passes to kill your babies up to depending on how you define what they're talking about, but at least up to seven days. But some, some definitions speak of up to a year that you're able to kill your baby up to a year. So it was just as new language added to AB 2, 2, 2, 3 last week revealed that the, a tent, the proposed legislation would shield a mother from civil and criminal charges for any actions or omissions related to her pregnancy, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion or perinatal. 1 (24m 1s): So that's the word, perinatal death at word is defined differently depending on where you look, but it means, you know, the five months or so leading up to delivery and then up to depending on where it's defined and where you look up to a year after. So you can give birth and have a kid at your house for six months and decide you don't want the kid. You can kill the kid and there's no legal recourse or equal there. So, so what we're doing is we're just asking everybody to be aware of this. And if you would like to call, let's put up the next slide here, where it's at right now on April 5th, 2022, the bill passed the assembly judiciary committee. 1 (24m 44s): The next step is the assembly health committee and it's most likely going to be happening on April 19th. So that's this the Tuesday following Easter. And so a lot of people will be at the state Capitol, myself included. And a lot of our staff will be there at the state Capitol on Tuesday, the 19th to pray and to protest this horrific bill. And so let's go and throw up the next slide. I think it gives us a phone number on the next slide. Hopefully. Yeah. So Buffy wicks is a politician up in the bay area. Who's kind of offering this and driving this. And so if you can call and just express your perspective on this, I called yesterday and with great clarity expressed my disapproval. 1 (25m 34s): So if you would like to call and express your opinion, then please call that number (916) 319-2015. I'll have that number as well. So we just want to take a moment to pray and ask the Lord to protect our states. And this is kind of something is happening in New York. And I think, I believe in Washington and California, and then there's another state somewhere, but it's happening. So we just have to be aware. This is a moral outrage is what this is. The scripture is clear about the value of human life we're made in the image of God. And so we have as a church, as a, as believers, as people of faith have to stand up and oppose this type of legislation, these types of laws, they're, they're, they're insane. 1 (26m 20s): So let's go ahead and stand up and pray. And we're going to agree together. Lord, we just agree together in Jesus' name that you would not allow this assembly. Bill 2, 2, 2, 3, to be approved, Lord God, in Jesus' name, we pray God that you would protect kids, protects our, our state and our nation from this type of law being allowed. And so we, we pray in Jesus name and we break the powers of darkness. It's the enemy of our souls is Satan, who is trying to drive this thing through Satan, who hates life and us. 1 (27m 0s): We pray in Jesus' name God that you would be victorious in Sacramento on the 19th, God, that you would protect this state from this atrocity, from this terrible, terrible bill Lord. So we pray God that you would remind us to pray and remind us to participate in the process. Lord, that we might stop this type of thing from happening in our state. Lord God, that we would always pray that your will would be done in our state Lord God, that we would trust you God, for your divine plans and purposes in this state and in this, in this nation, we pray. Thank you Lord, for who you are. Thank you that we have an opportunity to express our opinion and to let governing officials know where we stand. 1 (27m 43s): So help us to do so with clarity and with passion. We pray. Thank you, Lord. Let us remember to pray. We pray every day. Lord, help us remember to pray every day throughout the day for this bill, Lord. And we love you. And we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So with that to go ahead and turn and greet your neighbor and we'll come right back here. And just a moment 9 (28m 57s): Oh, geez. Oh, geez. Oh, 1 (29m 42s): It's like, Cheryl's got some breakfast for us here. He's got a little applesauce. It looks like he's got some greens. Are you going to make us an omelet? Okay. There'll be a treat. Good, good, good. And so this is cereal. I'll stand down here with serum. So cereals he's been here. This is, I think Cyril's third time with this presentation or similar presentation and it's been five years or so 2017. Okay. So it's been a while since Xero's been here. And so he reached out to me and we talked in the last, I dunno, a few months and there's some music. I liked the music. 1 (30m 23s): Yeah, that's good. Yeah. That's not bad. Right? So we want to welcome Cyril and just, he's going to give us a Jewish perspective. He's a Jewish man completed you. He believes that Jesus is the Messiah. And so Cyril is going to give us his perspective and hopefully a little bit of his testimony I get got saved at USB, right? UCS beam. 11 (30m 45s): No, actually. 1 (30m 47s): Okay. You fill us in. Yeah. Yeah. I'm misremembering already. So let's pray for Sierra and then we'll let him go for it here, Lord. Thank you Jesus. For what Sierra role will bring to us today, we pray that it will enrich our Bible knowledge, our souls, our hearts and minds. Lord God that we would be enriched in every way. Bless our brother. As he brings this message in this word, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 11 (31m 11s): Hey man. Hey man. Thank you brother. All right. Am I coming in? Great. What a joy to be back here. I was so looking forward to this really. I love you guys. I missed you. It's been five years. I've been in the battlefield in Los Angeles, AKA Gomorrah, Who knows where sodomy is North San Francisco. That's right. Wow. Never thought I'd be speaking in churches. Coming from a Jewish background. I was born in France, grew up in San Francisco. We were the only Jews and an Italian Catholic neighborhood Went to UC. 11 (31m 54s): Santa Barbara got tired of the party scene by my sophomore year. I said, there's gotta be more to life. Started searching gut. But of course I went where you're not supposed to go as a Jew Eastern religion. So I became a Jew BU And dabbled in all that. Eventually went back to my Jewish roots. When I came to see that the Bible is truly of God. When I studied with rabbis in Jerusalem and became a modern Orthodox Jew from 1988 to 93. And in my search, I had a dream and assume me a vision of Jesus and a roadway to heaven and the desert back in Joshua tree. It's a long story, but basically in my search for after this vision, I kept getting the wrong Jesus for four years. 11 (32m 44s): You know that my rabbi said he was a revolutionary, the psychics I was going to said he was some ascended master books. I read said he escaped the crucifixion and went to Southern Europe and had a family. And his kids became the Kings of Europe. I mean just whatever. Finally though, thank God I met a true Christian here in the central coast and my brother was going to Cal poly and I was down here helping him move. And the lady he was renting from was a Christian. And we talked and I saw her Bible and I was looking through it and it had the old and the new Testament in it. I'm like, what's this Gentile doing with my Bible? 11 (33m 26s): And it was all written up. And, and you, I mean, she, it was a Bible and she, we went out to pizza and she shared the gospel with me. And I don't remember a word she said, but I do remember the spiritual piece that she had and I didn't, and I'm supposed to be from the koans and the Levites, I'm an Orthodox Jew something's missing. Anyway, I go back to San Francisco two weeks later, she sends me a big box of books and a five page letter. And I'm like, oh, she's got a crush on me, But I read the letter. And it, what it was was she saw that I was searching and I was thirsting for living water. 11 (34m 8s): And it was these books about the real Jesus evidence that demands a verdict by Josh McDowell, more than a carpenter. And I started reading these books. I was not against Jesus at this time because I'd had this vision of him. And then the next night I had this dream of visitation of a being in such that it is such glory and I's like welding torches. I couldn't even look at them. I thought it was going to die in his presence. It doesn't say anything, but he holds out this parchment with all this writing on it and I couldn't read it, but I knew in my spirit, it was my whole life up to that time. And in big bold letters and a bottom, it said it's time to come home. 11 (34m 49s): And I woke up and I said, something's going to happen to me. So I told my rabbi, who I was studying Kabbalah with. And he tried to give me some crazy answer and that's not it. I finally picked up the Josh McDowell books. And through that, I saw how Jesus fulfilled the many prophecies from the old Testament. These are hidden from my Jewish people, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 is that gray night. I'm like, why didn't anyone show this to me? And I learned from this a book that you needed a blood of Toman for forgiveness of sin. My Jewish people are not taught this anymore. The rabbis teach, if you fast and pray on Yom Kippur, you're good to go for a year. That didn't work. 11 (35m 29s): So I went through the four spiritual laws, made sure it was okay that it was kosher. And I knew I was a sinner was not a problem. I was an Orthodox Jew. I, you know, I was face-to-face with my sins every day. And I prayed to receive Jesus as my Lord and savior by myself in my kitchen. And it was like a brick house lifted from me. I was a tangible darkness and I knew that I was white as snow, that I was completely forgiven finally. And I was so excited. I was on that phone. What some, you know, I was trying to call all the people I thought were Christians that I knew. And they, most of them thought I was nuts. 11 (36m 10s): Finally, I met one guy and he told me you've been born again. So that was the Lord just did a very quick work in me. I did a 180 didn't need to party anymore. I didn't need to chase girls anymore. I didn't need to take drugs anymore. Everything went out the window. Everything was Jesus. After that. And the Lord sent me to Hawaii, sold everything and got discipled out there for two years. You know, that's where God sends Jews to get discipled. The Lord gave me a passion for souls right away. And I just couldn't stop talking about Jesus. And soon after that, I went to Israel, became a citizen. 11 (36m 51s): Did Alia did evangelism, frontline evangelism out there for two years and came back here, did frontline evangelism in San Francisco. And for three years then got married and went to a Southern California where I've been since 2000. So it's been quite an adventure. If you like testimonies. My wife and I did write a small pamphlet called match by Messiah. And that's a, you get two for one, two Jews for the price of one. And my wife's extra Jewish. Cause she's from Brooklyn. Anyways, we did pass over every year in my house in San Francisco. 11 (37m 32s): My grandmother made the best lamb. I just loved it, but it was a tradition. We just did it because we were supposed to do it. But now that I've been born again, it's alive. It has, the meeting is so much richer. Like all the biblical holidays that the Lord gave my people, they are about reminding us who God is and what he's done, because the Lord knows how apt we are to forget and get complacent. That's why I actually love sharing my testimony. I'll share it every day. If I have to, because it reminds me of the mud ache I came out of. And I don't want to take that lightly. So Passover is a seven day holiday. It happens this time of year. 11 (38m 12s): I think it starts on the 15th this year and it revolves around 11. We're not allowed to eat any 11. We're only allowed to eat unleavened bread Motsa and we get very creative with this. You see 11 in a Bible, symbolic of sin because just as it's used to puff up cakes and cookies and breads sin puffs us up with pride, which separates us from God. And The first night of Passover is a Seder. When the whole family comes over and ushers in the Passover the week, and you cannot have a Passover. If you have any 11 in your house, you have to do a major house cleaning. It's a time of the year. When you clean all the places in your house that you don't normally clean the rest of the year under the fridge, under the couches and the, in the, you know, the pillow under the pillows and under the cabinets, wherever a crumb could be hiding, you got to get it, or you cannot have a Passover. 11 (39m 8s): In fact, you cannot have any bread cakes or cookies in your house during Passover. So we're supposed to take it and burn it. And if you go to Jerusalem before the Passover, it's not unusual to smell burnt toast in a year because people are taking their bread to the park and they're having a bread bonfire. But here in America, they don't do that so much. What they usually do is they bag up their cakes and cookies and they give them to their Gentile neighbors to hold. So after the Passover, I'm pretty sure that my grandma, she bagged it all up and stuck it in the freezer downstairs, but we're supposed to burn it once the 11 is out of the house, the whole family comes over and the head of the house is going to wear a special prayer shawl. 11 (39m 52s): If any of you been to a synagogue or a bar mitzvah, it's the men will wear these prayer shawls. They have tassels on the corners. It's a commandment of my Jewish people to remember the covenant we made with God at Mount Sinai. It goes over like this, But instead of wearing the usual yamaka or skull cap, as a sign of respect to God, the night of Passover, the man of the house is going to wear something a little more elaborate symbolic of a crown because the night of Passover, the main of the house is the king of the house. And in a, And in a Jewish family, it's the only night of the year that he's figured out. 11 (40m 43s): At least it's not an Italian family where he's never king of the house. And as the king of the house, he's going to guide his family through the traditional Passover Seder Seder means order. Cause there's an order to this using four cups of grape juice and a Seder plate that has six different food items that are going to help us tell the story of Passover. And he's going to do that. Using this book called a Haggadah, which means the telling, because it's all about telling a story. So the evening we'll begin with the lighting of candles. This is the honor and duty of the oldest woman of the house. 11 (41m 24s): She would light the candles. Where's my wife. And she will say a prayer and make this motion to welcome the holy spirit, the raw codec to the evening. And it's appropriate that the woman of the house light the candles because the Bible is very clear that it would be through a woman that the Messiah would come. And the enemy knew this. Look at the matriarchs of the Jewish people, Rebecca, Sarah, Rachel, they were all barren. The enemy said, Hey, got you. 11 (42m 4s): No Messiah is coming from here. Well, the Lord opened all those wounds. In fact, my wife, when we got married, the doctors said we would never have children. She had a condition ovarian syndrome and they said, you're never going to have children. We have three. So who's in charge folks. So the candles are lit at this point, the head of the house is going to lift up the first cup, the cup of sanctification. This cup sets the night apart from all the other nights, he'll hold it like this and say a Hebrew prayer that goes like this. hello? Hey, new fan, ah, man, which translates into Bless it. 11 (42m 58s): Are you a Lord? Our God king of the universe, creator of the fruit of the vine, the cup of sanctification sets quite apart from all the other nights. After that, the head of the house is going to move over to the Seder plate. And he's going to start to tell the story of Passover. And it starts with Jacob, the patriarch of the Jewish people. He lived in the promised land in Atlanta Cain, and he had 12 sons and his, his favorite was little Joseph, one of the youngest. And he wasn't shy about letting everybody know. This was very annoying to the older brothers, especially later on, Jacob sent Joseph to go and spy on the older brothers who were taking care of the sheep and the goats out in the fields. 11 (43m 40s): So when the older brothers saw little Joseph coming to spy on them, they were very annoyed. They seized them and they sold them to some slave traders and some on the way to Egypt, a couple hundred miles away, and then lie to Jacob and said, poor Joseph was killed by a wild animal. Jacob was devastated and went into a deep, deep mourning at would not be consoled. This wasn't bad enough for poor Joseph serving his master faithfully in Egypt for several years, several years later, the master's wife falsely accused them and he was sent to prison for life, but God was with Joseph and he gave him the gift of interpreting dreams. 11 (44m 23s): And it wasn't long before the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt had two dreams that nobody could interpret. None of his psychics or sourcers could interpret these dreams. And they tormented him. And he soon learned of Joseph's gift of interpreting dreams. And he called him out of prison and he asked him, can you interpret these dreams that are tormenting me? And he said, no, but my God will. And sure enough, he did. They were prophetic. They foretold of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of worldwide famine. Pharaoh saw that God was with Joseph. He made him his right-hand man, put him in charge of all the grain of Egypt. And God gave Joseph wisdom to stash away. 11 (45m 4s): 20% of the grain that came in during the seven years of plenty, for sure enough, when he eighth year hit famine, hit the whole world. And it wasn't long before peoples from all around, were coming to Egypt to buy grain. Well guess who showed up? After a couple of years, Jacob's brothers, Jacob sent them to Egypt to buy grain. They were starving and there they were in front of their brother to buy grain. Well, guess what? They didn't recognize it. He was dressed like an Egyptian. He spoke at , but he recognized that. So he decided to make him sweat a little bit. 11 (45m 44s): But after a while, when he saw that they were repentant for what they did, he couldn't hold back and he had to reveal himself. And he said, I am Joseph, what was the reaction? They were horrified. This is the brother they betrayed and sold into slavery. Now he was the right-hand man of Egypt. He could squish him in a second, but there was a forgiveness that was poured out. And the brothers were reconciled, kind of reminds me of when I came to faith and discovered that Jesus wasn't just a rabbi or an ascended master, that he was God in the flesh. I was horrified. I'd been using his name as a swear word my whole life, but the Lord's forgiveness was poured out and I was reconciled to God. 11 (46m 29s): So the brothers are reconciled. They have Pharaoh, Pharaoh has favor on the Hebrew people and he invites them to come and dwell in Egypt. God shows Jacob that it's okay, go to Egypt because one day I'll bring you back to the promised land. So Jacob goes, he's overjoyed to know that Joseph lives and that he has a couple of grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh. And so Jacob and his whole clan come to Egypt and there they dwell and prosper and multiply so much. So that later on, when the new Pharaoh takes over, who doesn't know Joseph, he decides to deal shrewdly with the Hebrews and make them slaves, not just for 10, 20 years folks, we're talking several hundred years of hard bitter bondage. 11 (47m 19s): And we remember this as we lift up the first item of the Seder plate, fresh parsley, symbolic of life, and it's dipped in salt water, symbolic of tears to make tears, to remind us that a life of slavery is a life filled with tears. After this, we move over to the second item, a horseradish root. This is a very bitter root, and it's a visual reminder of the bitterness of life. As a slave. The third item, my favorite fresh ground horseradish. 11 (47m 59s): We're supposed to eat a whole teaspoon of this stuff. You know what happens when you do that? Usually you turn red and start crying. Well, we cannot proceed with this Passover Seder presentation and we have three volunteers that are gutsy enough to try the horseradish. Who's ready for that. Come out, come on up. Young lady. Anyone else? We need two more. Come on. Or we're stuck here. Two more. Come on, go on. There's gotta be a brave soul in here. They'll come on up. Let's give him a hand. Okay. One more, one more. Come on up. Come on up. Okay. Fantastic. Now, since my Lord is merciful, I thought I'd be merciful and give it to them with some Motsa. 11 (48m 44s): Is that okay with you guys? No. Give it to him straight. Yes. Okay. Okay. All of you stand right in front here. We're going to set you up. Okay. There you go. Don't take it yet. Yeah. Okay. There you go. Right next to her. Good. Okay. All right. There you go. All right. All right there. Okay. Now this is supposed to be the taste of slavery. Does anyone know the prayer for last rights? 11 (49m 26s): Okay. On 3 1, 2, 3. . Thank you, my man. Good job. Thank you. Let me shake your hand. Thank you. Thank you. I knew there were some brave souls at this church. We can now proceed with the Passover Seder. After that the head of the house is going to lift up the fourth item. It's called . It's a sweet mixture of apples, honey cinnamon almonds. 11 (50m 8s): And it's supposed to remind us of the mortar or the cement that we were forced to make us slaves for many years in Egypt. But why use a sweet mixture for that? Well, we had the promise of God that he would bring us back to the promised land and that kept us going 17 (50m 25s): Rosa, 11 (50m 27s): Good. After that, the head of the house will lift up the fifth item, the huggy guy, or hard boiled egg. Now we have to understand about half of what I'm going to show you this morning. We believe that Jesus did that with the disciples in the last supper. There's everything else is traditions that came later like this, this came later because this is a symbol of mourning for the Jewish people. It reminds us of the temple in Jerusalem that was destroyed and burned to the ground by the Romans. Yeah. And it's placed over the fire to remind us that the temple was burned to the ground by the Romans in 70 Ady. 11 (51m 10s): And the Jewish people were dispersed all over the world. But for Jews, for believers like us, this is a symbol that reminds us that Jesus was a hundred percent accurate when it came to prophecy. You see, he foretold that this magnificent temple that took 40 years to build would come down and not one stone left on another and they mocked him. But folks that's exactly what happened. The huggy guy after this, the head of the house is going to move over to the second cup, the cup of plagues. And here we remember how God chose Moses to go to Pharaoh, to say, let my people go. But Pharaoh said, no, not just once, but 10 times. 11 (51m 50s): And every time he did, God had to pour out a plague on Egypt. We remember these plagues as the head of the house would dip his finger in the grape juice and let 10 drops fall on to his plate. As the 10 plagues are remembered anyone, remember what some of those plagues were Riverdale, blood frogs, flies, lights, lice, locusts boils, darkness, Hale, modifier to more Death of the firstborn. And finally the pestilence, the animals died, the Egypt in the Egypt, but the animals in the Jews didn't die. It's funny. 11 (52m 30s): It's really amazing. Whenever I ask people always say the frogs first and the pestilence lasts. It's amazing. What's interesting about this second cup is it reminds us that this was a showdown folks between the God of Israel and the false gods of Egypt. You see the Egyptians used to worship the Nile river. God made it useless, turned it blood. They used to worship the sun. God turned it off for three days. They used to worship the beasts of the field. They all died except for the ones in the of the Hebrew people. In fact, did you know that the Pharaoh was everyone, all the firstborn of Egypt were consecrated to worship Pharaoh as God. 11 (53m 14s): And when the last plague death of the firstborn, God did away with Pharaoh worship in one day, if he can't protect his only firstborn son, he's not God you see the goal of the Passover was to show not only the Egyptians, but the Hebrews that the God of Israel is the one true God cup of plagues. After that, the head of the house is going to move over to the last item of the Seder plate. There's ROA or Lambo. And here we remember how God made a provision to spare his people. Death of the firstborn was coming to Egypt and the Lord told the Jewish people to take a perfect lamb or go. 11 (53m 58s): You had to live with, live with it for four days. And after that, the poor thing had to be killed. And it's innocent blood placed on the doorpost for when death visited Egypt and saw the blood. It passed over those houses. And everyone that was in those houses was spared. That's where we get the name Passover. And this also reminds us of the three food items, items we're supposed to eat. A Passover bread, unleavened bread, lamb, and bitter herbs. There's ROA good. Well, that's the six items at the Seder plate. After that, the head of the house is going to move over to this pouch where there's three pieces of unleavened bread, but only the middle one is pulled out. We believe it's it's that it's because the three symbolizes the father, the son, the holy spirit, but the rabbis will say, it's symbolic of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 11 (54m 47s): But we believe it's the son because the son of God is the aspect of God that dwelled among us. It's taken out of the pouch, broken in half placed in a white pouch and hidden away because later on all the children are sent out to find it. They tear the house apart cause they know the one that finds it gets a big prize. When it's found everyone rejoices into pulled out of the pouch for everyone to see broken up and shared with everybody. And that's when the third cup is raised. The cup of redemption. Does this look familiar? This is where we get communion. Jesus ushered the communion in during the last supper with the third cup, because it's the cup of redemption and he is the Redeemer you see, before I came to faith, when sin came knocking on my door, I was like, come on in let's party. 11 (55m 38s): I couldn't say no, but now I got a big sign on my front door, says no soliciting. I can say no to sin. I'm no longer a slave. So Jews that don't know Jesus they'll think of Moses and how God used him to set us free from physical slavery. But Jesus took it and magnified and said, now you're going to remember with the new covenant, how God set you free from spiritual slavery cup of redemption. Amen. Now the matzah is unleaven just as Jesus was without sin, it's broken just like Jesus was broken. It's hidden in a white cloth. As he was wrapped in white linen. 11 (56m 19s): It's hidden away. God says you must be as a child to know me. The children are sent out to find it. When it's found everyone rejoices. When we're found the angels rejoice, it's pulled out of the pouch for everyone to see just as Jesus was risen from the dead. After three days witnessed by over 500 Jews, broken into pieces and shared with everyone just as Jesus is the bread of life. It looks like the gospel message to me folks. But my Jewish people don't see this. If you ask the rabbi, Hey, what's the deal with hiding the Matsa and the kids finding it, getting a prize. They usually say it's just a game to keep the kids occupied. We think it's a tradition that came from the first church in Jerusalem and got somehow mixed up with mainstream. 11 (57m 2s): Good will. After the third cup, the head of the house is going to lift up the fourth cup, the cup of praise, the cup of Hallel and here we praise God for his faithfulness to bring the people out of slavery and back to the promised land. The cup of Hallel good. Well, that's the four cups, sanctification, plagues, redemption, and praise. We run the home stretch folks. There's this fancy looking cup we haven't talked about yet. The cup of Elijah and at every Seder table, there's an empty place setting with this cup because the Jewish people know that before the coming of the Messiah, God would send a Lija to tell them who the Messiah is. So at the end of the Passover, the youngest child present center, the front door, everyone will look as he opens it. 11 (57m 46s): And they're hoping and praying that Elijah will come walking in to tell them who the Messiah is. So if you're driving around town the night of Passover and you see some doors go flying open, go on in, Have a seat. Tell them who the Messiah is. We know who Elijah is, right? John, the Baptist Jesus said he is Alijah. Who has come to prepare the way of the Lord. Amen. All right. Well, I'm going to give all of you a hand for surviving a Passover Seder And quickly, I'm going to give you a window into my world before we close. 11 (58m 29s): We got those slides. All right, we're going to just zip through this folks. Okay. This is me before I got saved, like I said, I was in bondage. Go ahead. The devil thought he had me, but thankfully I was set free by the power of the blood of Jesus. Go ahead. The Lord sent me to Venice. It's the enemy's camp. It's the second most visited place in California, behind Disneyland. Thousands of people go there every day. A lot of people don't know that. Go ahead. This is what go ahead. This is what Venice looks like. It's a walkway, a mile and a half long thousands of people just strolling back and forth. Go ahead. Here's another picture of the walkway. 11 (59m 10s): Go ahead. Another picture. Go ahead. The end of the road for a lot of people, folks, you know, people come to LA, they try to make it big and they get beat up and ended up homeless drug addicts, alcoholics, whatever. And they end up sleeping on the beach at Venice. Go ahead. And the enemies there every day, you got the tarot card readers. Go ahead. You got the marijuana. Go ahead. You got the Hindus. Go ahead. And you got the psychics. You know, I lived at Venice for three months when I was going to UC Santa Barbara. When I graduated, I was an artist. I did painting. I had a big show. There lived on a roof for three months and I was searching. 11 (59m 50s): I'd walk up and down that walkway never ran into a ministry or a Christian, but the psychics were there. Come on in. And I ended up getting deceived. You got the Krishnas. Are there, go ahead. You got the devil shows up now and then you got to rebuke him in the name of Jesus. Go ahead. You got the warlocks. Go ahead. You got the witches. This is not Halloween folks. You got the Colts. This guy's part of a black Hebrew, Colt Israelites. And they're very violent. There's a whole, I got whole stories about that. Believe me. Now I'm not going to be able to get into too, too, too much detail this morning. But if you want to be in the trenches, if you have a heart for, in California souls in California, you want to sign up with this clipboard at the back table and you'll be put in the trenches where all the action is at Venice beach. 11 (1h 0m 44s): My praise reports are short and sweet. There are no fluff. You're going to get the good, the bad and the ugly. Go ahead. Where are we at? Okay. Yeah, you cannot be like little Bo peep at Venice beach. You'll get beat up and you'll never come back. Go ahead. You gotta be like this guy. You gotta be ready for battle with your sword of the spirit, your shield of faith and your helmet of salvation. I love that picture. You he's not going anywhere. He's got his foot planted there and he's not going to run. Where are we there? Okay. Yeah. So here we are. We're at Venice beach with our Jesus loves you shirts and our show FARs. And when the enemy shows up, that's what we blow the show far. 11 (1h 1m 28s): Hallelujah. The Bible says in numbers, chapter 10, verse nine, he instructed Moses to say, when you go to the enemy and when you go into your land and the enemies harassing you, you blow your show far and I will fight your battles. And that's who we trust to fight our battles. Go ahead. We set up a canopy with a table with free English, Spanish and Hebrew, new testaments. And people just come to our table all day long. We don't have to go hog tie anybody. They are just coming all day long. We have a trained volunteer ministry team that comes out with me every time, Jews and Gentiles serving God together. We waive the Israeli flag so that Israelis know that it's a safe place and Israelis love going to Venice. 11 (1h 2m 13s): And they come by our table all the time. And a lot of Christians come by for prayer. Go ahead. We got these people came by for prayer. This lady was digging for cans and the garbage came back for prayer. Go ahead. Another guy came by for prayer. Go ahead. Prayer. Another woman for prayer. Go ahead another man for prayer. Go ahead another man for prayer. Go ahead. Prayer. Prayer, prayer, prayer. Go ahead. Another one for prayer. Go ahead. This lady was happy to get new testaments for her kids. Go ahead. The whole family came by for prayer and Bibles. Go ahead. A little kids. Get Bibles. Go ahead, kids reading Bibles. 11 (1h 2m 56s): Go ahead. The hippies. Come by now and then go ahead. And some people just ready to get into God's word. And we're doing that with this young man. Go ahead. Here's this guy came to faith named Aaron. Some people were just ready to give their life to God. We've calculated that 2,700 people a year will stop by our table. 1600 of them will take new testaments and over 70 will come to faith. I don't know where else you can get that kind of exposure. Go ahead. There's a Muslim that came by. Got the gospel. Go ahead. Here's a trans trans us transvestite. He came by his name's Eve. Jenny. He came by and got the gospel. 11 (1h 3m 36s): We've been praying for him for years. Go ahead. Israelis coming all the time. 12 to 24 every time. Go ahead. Another Israeli, getting the gospel. Go ahead. Another Israeli getting the gospel and the Bible. Go ahead. Another one. Go ahead. And my dog Moodles, This is rainy was ready to get into God's word and we're showing them the prophecies. Go ahead. Here's a local Jew. Getting the gospel. Go ahead. And a homeless Jew from Pennsylvania got the gospel and the Bible. Go ahead. So it's seeds, sowing, seed sowing. This guy was an Israeli tank battalion. He came by and got the gospels named Joseph. Go ahead. 11 (1h 4m 17s): Whole group of Israeli soldiers came by. They were so moved by what we heard. They heard that they asked us to pray for them and we blew the show far for them and they left with Hebrew new testaments. Go ahead. Orthodox Jew came by big animated discussion with him. Go ahead. And finally, this guy's name's Mandy. He was a guy who was struggling with sexual identity. He was on his way to get a sex change came by our table, gave his life to the Lord, left with the new Testament, showed up three months later. Go ahead with a beard. Amen. He canceled his operation. 11 (1h 4m 57s): Now he's reading his Bible every day. So praise God for Mandy. Go ahead. This was, we got teams from churches coming to Venice beach now getting trained, getting experience, and they're taking it back to their churches. Go ahead. Go ahead. And finally, this is a picture of my wonderful family. My wife, Rhonda, my daughter, Gabriela, Daniel, and Yossi. So folks never adult day serving the Lord. All right, well, we're going to wrap this up. If you have any questions, come see me at the table in the back. Don't forget to sign up for our praise reports. If you want to be in the trenches. And if you want to give, if God's moving you to help support this ministry and be a part of it, I did. 11 (1h 5m 38s): And, but you didn't come prepared. I can take credit cards at the back table. So God bless you. I'm going to say a prayer. As we close, I personalize the, our father prayer. And I want to share it with you because it means so much to me for me now, I don't know you to get to the part where it says lead me not into temptation. It always sounded like God was trying to tempt me, but God doesn't tempt us, right? The real meaning is this Lord don't let me give into temptation. So let's say the, our father together, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you for giving me my daily bread. 11 (1h 6m 21s): Forgive my sins. As I forgive those who sin against me, don't let me give into temptation, but deliver me from evil for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory. Amen. God bless. 2 (1h 6m 45s): Awesome. Church. Will you stand as we worship? I think it's only appropriate that we sing about our savior and we sing about his coming and his time on earth and how we get to praise his name. 7 (1h 7m 26s): . Hi, And transfixed all in cheese.

Running Strong Part 2

Running Strong

4 (14m 56s): Thank you, Lord. For your spirit, your power, your grace Lord. We need it desperately. We thank you that you meet us in those desperate places and you bless us with your spirits and your grace and your power. What? I pray that we would be refreshed in that today for those, especially who maybe have been struggling, trying to find their way. Lord, we just pray in Jesus' name. God that you would guide. Show yourself faithful. As you have in the scriptures of the old and the new Testament, you have shown yourself faithful. And as we study the people, those who have gone before us Lord, as we study their lives and remember how you work so powerfully in them. 4 (15m 43s): Lord, we have courage that we do can run the race, faithfully and fruitfully and long-term Lord till death to his part. Lord, we can run the race set before us. So Lord give us strength or give us stamina in Jesus' name. Give us desire in Jesus' name. Give us perspective in Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord God for your help right now in Jesus name all over the campus. Lord, we invite your presence all over the central coast, where people are gathered to lift up the name of Jesus. We, we invite your presence. Lord God, your grace, your protection, your help upon every person. 4 (16m 23s): Lord God. So minister powerfully Lord, we pray. Thank you for your goodness, Lord. We love you, Lord. We're excited about what you will do today in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Turn to greet somebody that you never have greeted before and we'll come on back. 4 (19m 14s): Hey, welcome back. It's a communion Sunday. So hopefully every buddy received their elements. If you did not receive your elements, go ahead and raise your hand. And pastor Ron will grab the elements. Somebody will deal. We'll grab the elements and we'll get those things to you. Do yourself a favor ahead of time. So there's a little piece of saran wrap on top. Work that up a little bit. Give yourself a chance to get, you know, stay with us because it's really sometimes very tricky. We started using these because of COVID and we're sticking with them. It looks like. So here we are. What's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? 4 (19m 58s): What's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile one you'll see later the other you'll see in a while I know. Well I know these jokes keep getting better and better. So this is the deal students, not for adult students, only 18 and under students. Cause some of us have been, students are like our whole life, but I'm 18 and under. If you have a good we'll call them dad jokes. If you have a good dad joke that can be used on Sunday morning. And if I use it on Sunday morning, I'm going to try to have a dad joke for every family Sunday. I tried to do it every Sunday and it's just too much. I, I just don't have the material for that. 4 (20m 39s): So if you do, I will give you five bucks, but I got to use it and you got to get it to me during the week so that I a chance to think about it for Sunday. So don't show up to me on Sunday morning because I'm not going to use that morning probably unless it's really good. And then I will find a way then I will find a way, ah, running strong. We're talking about running today, running strong in light of what we've been studying. And Hebrews 11, as we've looked at all of the heroes of faith, men and women who have just been faithful, imperfect, but faithful. I think that's good news for us because we're a room full of imperfect people, starting with me where a room full of imperfect people, whom God has called to be faithful. 4 (21m 26s): And so God calls imperfect people to be faithful and we are allowed and enabled, empowered to be faithful by his grace, by his spirit, by his calling upon our lives. He's called us all into the work of ministry, whether it be in a secular, you know, environments or a church environment, we're all called to have an impact in our community. So I love talking about running because I was a runner growing up and I there's, it just resonates with me. I love the idea of running. I still run a little bit, but I don't run. Like I used to. And I just love the idea of running. I remember a number of years ago, I was running the strawberry stampede out here. 4 (22m 9s): I think it was a 10 K and I ran it for like three or four or five years in a row. And I've shared this story before, but there's this friend of mine, Kristen, she's on the city council. So Christian, if you're listening, this is anyway, Kristin's been a friend for years. And so she would always, she would always sneak up like the last half mile and pass me. And I was too worn out at that point to do anything about it. I would just have to watch her go by and I, I just, I stored that information away and then she, I forgot about it. And then she did it again the next year, two years in a row, she did that. So then I'm like, okay, next year, this is not, is not happening. 4 (22m 50s): Not going to happen. So half mile before the race is over, I look over my shoulder, who's there Kristen. And she's like pouring it on. You know, she's like trying to do three times in a row and she's already done to me twice. So I poured it on and I did not let her beat me. And I haven't talked to her since I think she might be a little, little, little hurt. I don't know. But anyway, she'll need to lose with grace next time. Not that I was losing with grace I'll I'll I was just getting kind of uptight, you know, anyway, we're talking today about running strong running with focused endurance is our first points. We, this is part of the deal. If you've ever competed in any sport running or whatever it is, you need to compete with focused Endura. 4 (23m 35s): And if you expect to finish well to compete well, if you expect to leave it all out there on the field or in the court, you need to, when you need to run or, or compete with focused endurance. And this is what we see in the scripture. Again in light, we just spent four weeks studying Hebrews 11 and just real quick, we didn't get to like the last five verses of Hebrews 11. And so my plan this weekend was to teach through those last five verses. And then Friday or Saturday, I can't remember. I think it was Friday. It occurred to me it's family Sunday. So we're going to have all bunch of kids in the services. And, and so the end of Hebrews 11 talks about the unsavory ways that some of the early church passed away. 4 (24m 15s): So I can't talk about, you know, how people got sod in half and that's where I just can't talk about that stuff in a sermon. So if you would like to learn more about that, I will teach on those verses another time or you can email me and I'll send you my message from that is prepared for that. And anyway, so we won't be talking about people getting ending their lives. That way. We're going to talk about it. The things we're gonna talk about running strong. So sorry, we didn't get a chance to preach on those last few verses, but go back and read it and you'll understand why the children's ministry director is very clear that I shouldn't talk about that kind of stuff. So here we go run with focused in Durance Hebrews 12, we're going to get through verses one, one through about first 15 eight, the first part of 15. 4 (25m 3s): It says this. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge, huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up and let us run with endurance. The race God has set before us with that. Let's pray for a moment. Lord, we just invite your presence. God, as we talked about running the race that is set before us today, Laura, we want to engage in your word and in your spirit with your spirit and we want to be instructed or what are those things that are hindering us, those weights, those sins, those things that are just tripping us up over and over again. 4 (25m 53s): Lord, we just invite you to speak to us about those things, Lord, and that we might hear. And as that, there will be evidence that we've heard Lord, because there's action. After we've heard Lord that we've not just hearing, but we're doing, we're responding. We're listening and responding, listening and obeying. So help us to do so. Lord, I just humbly ask that you would speak your message through me, Lord God, that it would just be what the people need to hear. I know it's what I need to hear. Every time I prepare a message, Lord, I'm like, ah, this is for me, but I know that you've got a message for the rest of us as well. So bless us as we open up the scripture and learn and grow as followers of yours, Lord, for those of the, for those people who are here, they're just trying to figure out, do I want to serve Jesus? 4 (26m 45s): What's this Jesus all about. I pray God that you would bless those people who are searching and still unsure, still doubting and prince. You bless them with your presence and with your grace and ultimately with salvation. Thank you Lord, for your goodness in Jesus' name, amen. Run with focused in Durance. It's an interesting thought that we've got this crowd. Your, your version might say cloud of witnesses, same thing. It's like these, this crowd in the cloud, people who have gone before us, people that we've been studying and reading about in Hebrews chapter 11, that those and many, many others, those who have gone before us who have run the race, those who have finished the race, those who hear as they stand before the Lord will hear and do hear well done. 4 (27m 35s): Good and faithful servants. We are to run within Durance this race that God has called us to. And I, I love that though. There are those who have gone before us who have showed us the way who have let us know that it is possible because there are days when I I'm afraid. It feels like we just, we can't go on it. Doesn't feel like we've got the grace and the strength and the capacity to continue to press on in this race. As we battle temptation and sin and the world, the flesh and the devil, all of these things, it's helpful to read the scripture old and the new Testament and be refreshed in the reality that it is indeed possible to run with endurance. 4 (28m 19s): So these people that we've been studying in Hebrews 11, they were imperfect people, but man, they did wonderful and profound in supernatural things, things that were worthy to be put in the pages of scripture so that we might throughout the generations that would follow that. We might learn something from them, grow in our understanding because of them and move forward with greater confidence with greater endurance because they did, they did it. And they were people just like you and me. People broken people in need of God's grace who received God's grace and then walked in that grace, as we understand their race, as we understand how they endured through the end, we, we, we, we, we bear witness to the reality that we to by God's grace can do what they did. 4 (29m 20s): As we understand their race. We compete with greater strength in our own race. That's really what the scripture is all about. That's what that the reading of the scripture is all about. That's what the preaching of the scripture is all about. That we might be built up in our most holy faith so that we could run so that we can run the race with endurance and finish the race that God has called us to. So we look their lives and we say, man, there, they're not perfect, but they were still counted among the faithful. That should give us all a reason to say thank you Lord, because none of us are perfect. But somehow God sees the incredible work that he accomplishes in our lives. And he's glorified in those things. 4 (30m 1s): And we can be counted among the faithful. How do, how do we run with endurance while we need to run unencumbered? The scripture says we need to run unencumbered. Verse one says we are to strip off every weight. If you ever tried to run with too much weight, I know there's people who run with weights. I see guys carrying weights and they're trying to try to build up their endurance, but in a real race, you don't run with weights. You're, you're stripped down, you've got shorts, tank, top shoes, and you're going for it because you want it to be unencumbered. You don't want to wear anything. It's going to slow you down. And so that's the analogy here. We need to strip off anything that will hinder our ability to run and to run effectively and to run fruitfully and to run the way that God has called us to run. 4 (30m 50s): So we're to strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And so we see two different things here that we're to shed that we're to eliminate from our lives, the weights and these things aren't necessarily sin. Although they can be, and they can become sin, but it may be like the love of pleasure. Like I, I'm having a hard time serving Jesus because I just love, pleasure. I love getting what I like and pursuing the things that I like. And so that's got me Duplessis in my perspective, I'm I want to do God's will, but I also want to do my will. I want to accomplish God's plans, but I also want to accomplish my plans. 4 (31m 32s): When you put your plans in God's plans together, there's a scripture that says seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything else will be added unto you. Like if you make God your priority, he will make sure that your life is filled and fulfilled. And in ways that you, you can never understand apart from God's will it's, it's more, it's brighter and fuller. It's more satisfying and life-giving than anything that we can pursue in the natural, in our own strength without God's grace. Maybe it's a love of pleasure. Maybe it's a love of comfort, love of security. All of these things are weights hindrances to our ability to really move forward as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ like unencumbered by God. 4 (32m 13s): I'm all yours. I'm not allowing anything of this life to slow me down to hinder me, to keep me from doing what you've called me to do to accomplish the stuff that you have called me to do. So we need to get rid of those weighty things. And then the sin, a sin that so easily besets us sin is direct violation against God's law. So anything that we see in scripture that we're told not to do, and we do it. That's a sin. Sin is falling short of God's plans and purposes and goodness, and all of the design that he has for us. When we fall short in a thousand different ways, we are sending against God and those things hinder us. They slow us down. 4 (32m 54s): I wonder what sins might be in our lives that are hindering our ability to have the grace to keep moving forward, to have the desire, to keep moving forward, the strength to keep moving forward. What are those things that continue to trip us up? And what do we need to do about those things? We need to deal with those things. We need to acknowledge they're real and repent and confess our sins, knowing that he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we have the ability to connect with God, confessing our sin. When you sang a song about nothing standing between us, we have this mediator who is Christ the Lord. He was died on the cross for our sins. We're gonna be celebrating his death. 4 (33m 36s): When we take communion here in just a little bit, we need to confess those things that are hindering. So maybe they're sins of commission or sins of omission, sins of commission, things that we're doing, that we shouldn't be doing. Sins of omission, things that we aren't doing, that we should be doing. So we've got sins, both commission and omission. So what are we not doing that we should be doing? And what are we doing that we shouldn't be doing? And let's address those sin issues and move forward. Either type of sin begins to Dole us spiritually. And that's your experience as well? I know it is. I, I we've been at this too long. We know that sin doles, our spiritual life, it begins to affect negatively our ability to run as successfully. 4 (34m 26s): We are to run on encumbered. And so that means a constant inventory. Lord, what's going on in my life. Am I running unencumbered? Am I running faithfully? Am I doing what you've asked me to do? If I'm running encumbered, then I want to deal with that. If I'm running with trying to manage cinema my life, I don't want to manage cinema my life. I want to confess my sin. And that's often what we're trying to do. We're just trying to manage sin, trying not to get too close to it. Try not to let it consume too much of our lives. Instead of that, we just need to confess our sin and run from it to confess it. Repenting means to turn and run a getting away from that as quickly as possible, sorta where to run unencumbered. If we're to run with success, we're to we're running cumbered by keeping completely focused. 4 (35m 11s): We run unencumbered by keeping completely focused on God. Hebrews 12 two says we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus. How do we get rid of those weights? And those sins? We keep our eyes on Jesus. The champion who initiates and perfects our faith. We were just singing there's there's another in the fire. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were in the fire under the judgment. And Jesus is walking in there with them. There's a there's in the water, holding back the waves, the water there's Jesus is there in the midst of the trial. He is present. We run unencumbered by keeping our eyes on Jesus, by remembering that he's the author and finisher and Perfector of our faith, Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. 4 (35m 58s): The verse says because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. So we need good run, completely focused on Jesus. So every day we get up and say, Jesus, this is a new day. Thank you that your mercies are new every morning. Great. Is your faithfulness. God, what do you want to do with my life today? That's the perspective. What do you want to do with my life today? And maybe it's a Sabbath day of rest. And Lord says, just rest, because we need times of rest where we're just resting in the Lord. I was telling my wife yesterday. I said, Hey, when this project is done, this new worship, the center, I need like two weeks off. 4 (36m 39s): She's like, where are you going to go? I said, I don't care. Wherever I can't be reached. Right? Like we just need those times of rest. So there's times where we're really pushing hard and accomplishing wonderful things for the kingdom, but then it's just time to rest so that we can go again so that we can continue to do those supernatural things that God has called us to. So there's time for rest. And maybe that's a good season of rest for a season or for you for a season. But now maybe it's time to get moving again because of the joy awaiting him. Who's the joy you me. He thought about us in our need for grace, salvation, redemption, healing, new life. 4 (37m 21s): And so, because we were on his mind, he endured the cross and all of its shame. And now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. We got to keep our eyes on Jesus. Why? Because he is the champion. He's the champion who already finished the race for the same reason that we read the scripture and read about those who have gone before us. There are champions in the faith who have finished the race. Jesus finished the faith race. Then he calls you and he calls me into that race. And then Jesus perfects us in that faith race. And so he calls imperfect people into this race and he's affecting us along the way as we stumble, he's working in our lives. 4 (38m 5s): As we doubt he's working in our minds. As we, as we get fearful, he's working in our hearts, she's working out his good and perfect plan in our lives. As we move forward, as we do the things that God has us to do because of the joy awaiting him here, endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne. So even now Jesus cheers us on from heaven. Even now he's cheering us on like the cloud of witnesses, the crowd of witnesses they're cheering us on. He is seated next to the father forever making intercession for us, Hebrews 7 25. 4 (38m 44s): He lives Jesus. He lives forever to intercede with God on our behalf, on their behalf. He's praying for us interceding for us. He's cheering us on from that place that finished work, where you sit on the cross, it is finished. He finished the race. He finished his call and he ascended. And now he's given us responsibility and the great commission go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. That's why we highlight missionaries missions, organizations that we support and partner with once a month so that we can hear about what's going on. We know what's going on in our own community for the most part, but we need to hear about what's going on in other communities that we're having a part in, in, in, in other parts of the world that we're impacting. 4 (39m 27s): So we run focused on Jesus awning cumbered and we don't give up. Verse three says, think of all the hostility he, he endured from sinful people. Then you won't become weary and give up. So we run and don't give up. Jesus faced all kinds of hostility from angry people, false accusations, his friends abandoning him, foes all around him, but he kept his eyes on the father. He would often get away to the father because he needed to be refreshing as spirit as a man, as the God, Nan, he needed to get with a father and just have communion with the father. We can do the same thing we get with, with the father through Jesus filled with the holy spirit. 4 (40m 9s): And we get refreshed and renewed in our ability to run with stamina, with endurance, the race that is set before us, we run and we do not give up. Sometimes we grow weary and we want to give up because things aren't always going well, good indication that you're in the race. If things aren't going great, because anytime you're in a race, you're going to come across difficult. You're going to get tired and worn down. If you're not getting tired and worn down, you may not be in the race. You might be in the sidelines at present, you know, at the event, but you may not actually be in the race. And so expect your yourself to, you know, get tired and, and, and, and, and in need of God's grace to sustain you. 4 (40m 53s): It's just part of the deal. I mean, you run a race, you're going to get thirsty, right? You're going to get fatigued in your physical body. You're going to get fatigued. You're going to feel like you're in the race. Like you're actually doing something. And so we need to refresh ourselves and take times of rest and then get back out there. A number of years ago, my cousin was in this fundraising event where she was trying to raise money for cancer. And they were doing 20 miles a day, walking 20 miles a day for three days. And it's a lot of walking. So the second day she's like lying in her tent, trying to psych herself up because two days, 20 miles, a day, day three coming, another 20 miles. 4 (41m 39s): She had to psych herself up. Why? Because she's been exerting herself. She's been committed to this fundraising effort and she was not going to give up. She was focused on the finish line, on the purpose of the race. He was focused on why she was there and that allowed her to continue. And to go that third day, I'm psyching myself up. She said, I'm psyching myself up. Like I got to get ready. Like I I've got to finish. Like some days you're gonna wake up. And you're like, man, I, I got nothing. I got, I'm not sure I can do this again today, Lord, whatever it may be that God has called you to, would you say, Lord, I'm just, I can't, I can't give up. 4 (42m 27s): That's not an option. I don't want to give up Lord. That's that's not what you've called me to do to give up. I want to press on and never give up. And so you just like Paul, when I'm weak, God's strength is made perfect in my weakness. And I just rest in him and allow his grace to give me the endurance that I need. So we run with focused endurance. Number one, number two, we run with focus perspective, run with focused perspective, a quick perspective story. Dear Abby, our son was married January five months later, his wife had a 10 pound baby girl. 4 (43m 9s): They set the baby was premature. Tell me, can a baby. This big, be that early signed, wondering, dear wondering the baby was on time. The wedding was late. Forget about it. Sometimes we disqualify ourselves because maybe we fall in shorts. We've sinned. We haven't lived the way that God would have us to live. We haven't measured up to the, even our own expectations. Let alone God's expectations. If we were to take a poll in this room and ask that question, how many have fallen short of your own expectations? And don't raise your hand because that would be everybody. 4 (43m 49s): But, and then how many have fallen short of God's expectations, but our everybody's hands would be up, right? So with grace, we move forward realizing that his grace is sufficient, that when we mess up, the perspective needs to be that his grace is sufficient. If our perspective is anything other than that, we will quit. We will count ourselves out of the race. Don't allow your past mistakes to hinder you from running run with focused perspective. 4 (44m 31s): And part of that is run running even when you're struggling. So you're struggling with something, a friend of mine years ago, I don't even understand what he means by it, but it kind of communicates. He said, if I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall forward. Like toward the cross. I'm like, huh? I'm not sure how that works, but I get it kind of like I'm going to, I'm going to at least make progress in my falling. I'm not sure theologically if it's even sound, but I get his mind, you know, he's like, I just want to be close to Jesus. And if I make mistake, I just still want to be close to Jesus. I think was his point. I, I just want to fall forward toward Jesus. And that's what I would call all of us to. If we've blown, it just, just fall toward Jesus. Come to the foot of the cross and know that his grace is sufficient. 4 (45m 12s): He loves you unconditionally. He wants you to confess your sin to repent of your sin because he wants you to get that out of your life. He wants you to run from that so that you can run toward him and run with endurance. The race that is set before you so run. Even when you're struggling, after all verse four says you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin. Like we're still here. Got pulls. I haven't given my life yet. I may. One day you may, one day, we all may one day, but we haven't given up our lives yet. And so we have purpose to move forward, moving for even moving forward. Even as we struggle, I'm still alive. 4 (45m 54s): I might as well keep going. We talk about this all the time. If you've got a pulse, you've got a purpose. So keep going. Don't stop repent and go get clear. Get clear with the Lord, you know, come clean with the Lord and then just get moving. His grace is sufficient. Keep moving forward. Even as you struggle in your faith, run, struggling again is an indicator that you're actually in the race, the world, the flesh and the devil are coming against us in our run. If the world, the flesh and the devil is not coming against us, it means we're probably not running. We're not being effective. We're not really doing anything for the kingdom, but in the race that God has called us to, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, using our gifts and talents that God has given us to be salt and light in the earth. 4 (46m 43s): If we're doing those things in whatever capacity that the Lord has given us grace to do those things, then we're going to come up against difficulties, hard things. So run when you're struggling run during times of failure, verse five says, and have you forgotten the encouraging words? God spoke to you as his children. He said, my child don't make light of the Lord's discipline. And don't give up when he corrects you. So if you're failing the Lord's going to correct you, he's going to discipline you. I, when I think about my kids, when they were young, I would discipline them so that they would learn how to live. Right, right. And hopefully it wasn't out of anger. I'm sure there was some of that as well in my human is, but you hope that you're disciplining them so that they stay on the right path. 4 (47m 30s): I threatened to discipline them now, but they're bigger than me. So I, I don't go there, go there anymore. I used to be able to take my boys. I got two boys there. Well, there's one right there, tall bearded guy there. And where's another one. There's another one wandering around with a camera. So I used to be able to wrestle them, like flinging them, like, you know, no problem. And there came a day when I couldn't do, I couldn't do that anymore. So I'm like, all right, time out. I gave up UN. And so I haven't wrestled with them like that because I'm afraid they're gonna hurt me. They, every time they get a hold of me now, they, they they're, they're bigger and stronger and rougher than I am. 4 (48m 11s): And so anyway, so you discipline them when they're young, because when they get older, you can't do. But for adults, God is bigger than all of us. Right? And he's, his grace is sufficient. He does disciplines us like a good father because he wants to show us the right path. My child don't make light of the Lord's discipline. And don't give up. When he corrects you. Sometimes we beat ourselves up. When God's not beating us up, he's just disciplining us. He's correcting us. He's bringing correction to our lives so that we can keep moving forward. That's his goal. It's not to condemn us. It's to build us up and to strengthen us in our holy faith, our most holy faith so that we can be strong doing the right stuff. 4 (48m 53s): We're not strong when we're doing the wrong stuff or we're weak when we're doing the wrong stuff. So we correct sin, disciplines, us out of his great love for us. You're his child. You're his child. He loves you. Of course, he's going to discipline you. If he doesn't discipline you, it means you don't belong to him. But because you belong to him, he going to discipline you run when you're struggling and run. When you're failing and run with confidence that God accepts you. He accepts you. Not because you're good, but because he's good. Not because you're faithful, but because he's faithful. 4 (49m 33s): Although he's called us to a life of goodness and righteousness and faithfulness, he doesn't love us based on our merit. He loves us based on his own, his own merit. His grace is sufficient. His power is what transforms our lives. He calls us to run and he empowers us to run with confidence that we're his we've been adopted as part of the it's part of the new covenant is part of the gospel message that we've been adopted into his family. When we come to him as children and recognize our desperate need for him, he forgives us and adopts us into his family. And he calls us his own for the Lord disciplines, verse six, those he loves. 4 (50m 13s): And he punishes each one. He accepts as his child, as you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own child, who, whoever heard of a child who has never disciplined by his father, if God doesn't you, as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the father, of our spirits and live forever for our earthly fathers, disciplined us for a few years, doing the best. They knew how, but God's discipline is always good for us so that we might share in his holiness run with focused endurance run with focused perspective and run with number three focused faith run with focused faith. 4 (51m 7s): We've been talking about faith. Faith is the confidence that what we hope for a while actually happened. It's the assurance of things we can not see. So we have this call, this responsibility, this opportunity to run with focused faith, faith on Jesus, faith in Jesus, eyes on Jesus, trusting him to fill us, strengthen us, give us what we need to move forward. As followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ run with knowledge that God is helping you. We see that in the verse. No discipline is enjoyable while it's happening, it's painful. But afterwards, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living. This is God's desire. This is a person's desire, disciplines, their children, peaceful harvest of right living. 4 (51m 51s): Don't we discipline because we want our kids to do well in life. We want them to avoid pitfalls. Some of the same pitfalls that we fell into. We want them to avoid those pitfalls. So we discipline our children. God is wanting us to experience a peaceful harvest of right living. And when we are right with God, there is a peaceful harvest of right living. We just feel right with God. We feel at peace, confident, not in, not in anything, but God's grace to bring us to this place where we're choosing healthy things and righteous things and good things and blessed things. We have this peaceful harvest of right living. There's something powerful that happens. 4 (52m 32s): The opposite is true. We also, when we're not choosing those right things where we are, we are not at peace. We are anxious, fearful, filled with doubt. We are a mess, mind, emotion. Everything's just kind of out of, out of, out of sorts. And we're out of cahoots and we're just not feeling right, but there's great. Peace that accompanies right living. I think it takes us a while to figure that out right in the beginning we get saved and we're still wrestling. And I, this was my deal. I got saved in junior high school at a camp and I hadn't really know what to do with my faith. 4 (53m 14s): I got saved. I, you know, I probably have fire insurance, but that was the extent of it. And I didn't really know what to do as a follower of Jesus. I didn't know what it meant to be a believer. I didn't know what it meant to be a Christian. I just, I had heard the message over and over again. And I said yes to it. And then I just wrestled trying to figure out what to do next and how to live out this Christianity. Did I really want to live out this Christianity or did I want to go after the things of the world? And it was a difficult five years for me and four or five years. And then about my junior year of high school, I had experienced enough of this, like doing well with the Lord and experiencing that peace, just feeling right with things with the Lord and like, everything's good. 4 (53m 59s): Like I've got this piece and then I'd be a knucklehead and I'd go off and, you know, explore things of the world. And all of a sudden, because I had tasted the goodness of God, I was no longer able to have fun in the world. So it was appealing to me and drawing me because that's what sin does. It's what the flesh, just what the world, the flesh and the devil does. It's drawing is trying to draw us into this place of destruction. And so I'd go into that place. And I just feel gnarly. Like, what am I doing? I did this for like four or five years. I'm a very slow learner. Right? Very slow learner. And then finally, my junior year of high school, I knew I either need to go full blown into the world, or I need to go full blown following Jesus and thankfully, and not perfectly by any stretch. 4 (54m 46s): Just ask my mom. I have not done it perfectly, but I have tried to follow Jesus ever since. And you don't have to just ask them. You can ask my staff been imperfect. You can ask my kids been imperfect. You can have, oh my wife, of course you can ask her. That's my neighbor. Who else can you ask? You can ask. You can ask pretty much anybody. If you hang around long enough, you'll see my imperfections, thank you for your grace by the way. But we move forward as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, even as we struggle and, and, and make mistakes, we just continue to move forward. And we allow the peace of God to fill us. We allow the peace of God to direct us level. 4 (55m 29s): When people are praying for wisdom, for direction, Neil, you're famous for saying this. I'm going to follow the piece. I just want to follow the piece. Like God's going to show me the piece. And when people don't have the peace of God for a decision, then they, they, they know which direction to go. They know what the decision is. And we honor that. We bless that. So we need to run strong in the power of his might filled with faith. Verse 12 says, so take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. So the writer of Hebrews understand something of the nature of what it means to follow Jesus. 4 (56m 11s): It's going to be hard at times. It's going to be glorious and hard all at the same time. Sometimes it's going to be hard and then sometimes it's glorious. And sometimes there's a blend. So the writer knows from experience and from watching the church that people will get tired. And so he writes, so take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. You will get tired, expect it, expect it. Don't be dismayed by it. Think about running. I'm going to get tired physically and spiritually. So how do you take a new grip with your tired hands? 4 (56m 51s): How do you strengthen your weak knees by faith and by faith? We believe God, we follow God and we open up his word and we allow that word to speak to us. I was reading the word this morning and Proverbs four. And I came across these verses verses 18 through 27. And it spoke to the message. It's it's supports the message. And so it's not going to be on the screen because I just put it in this morning. But this is what it says. The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of Dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day. That it's just a beautiful picture of the way of the rice. 4 (57m 33s): It's late. It's like the first gleam of Dawn. It's just refreshing. It's life-giving but the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they're stumbling over. And that's the contrast, the way of the righteous, the way of the wicked beautiful lights, total darkness, my child pay attention to what I say, listen carefully to my words. Don't, don't lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart for they bring life to those who find them and healing to their whole body guard your heart above all else for, for it determines the course of your life. 4 (58m 24s): Avoid all perverse talk. Stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you mark out a straight path for your feet, stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked. Keep your feet from following evil. So when, when not, if, but when you get tired, take a new grip with your tired hands, know that those who have gone before you have had to do the same thing, you're not less than you're not inferior to those who have gone before. Take a new grip with your tired and strengthen your weak knees. 4 (59m 4s): Do what the scripture tells you to do re refreshed with the word and the spirit Abraham and Sarah failed failed. It's shocking as you read through the patriarchs and the people that have gone before us, their mistakes and how God still able to work through them, Abraham and Sarah failed along the way, but they believe God and they received the promise. So they didn't quit. They continued even in light of failure, they just kept moving forward by faith that God had given a promise that they would receive the promise king David failed, but he repented and he's described in scripture as a man after God's own heart. 4 (59m 49s): Wow. Read his story. And you'll be surprised by that statement. Israel failed over and over and over and over and over. And we could do that until the cows come home and still not have enough overs that they just fail over and over again. But God still identifies them as his people. Hmm. I don't understand God's grace, but I appreciate it. And I need it. Don't be discouraged. Don't be fearful. Don't be too hard on yourselves. You know, some people are harder on themselves than God is then God is hard on you. So don't be a tool of the enemy in your own life by just resting and condemnation, confess your sin, move forward, confess your sin, move forward. 4 (1h 0m 38s): Confess your sin. Move forward. I think I got to do this. Like every single day, sometimes like multiple times a day. I'm like, Lord, I shouldn't have had that thought. Forgive me. I want to move forward, Lord. I shouldn't have said that. Lord, forgive me. Move forward, Lord. Sorry about that. You know, some guy cut me off up here and I was like, It turns out it was one of my kids' kindergarten teachers. So I'm like, Now what I wanted to do, I'm like, are you getting me right now? You just got me. Forgive me, Lord. I didn't, I should've been like, forgive me, Lord. I've just gonna move forward. Run the final point to this final point, run with other runners in mind. 4 (1h 1m 23s): You know that your life, my life impacts those that we encounter. People are watching crowd of witnesses, cloud of witnesses. People are watching in the heavens and in the earth, people are watching. So we need to run with other runners in mind. If, if I'm running, like Kristen just kept passing me up. She gave me the grace to just keep running, to dig deep. If everybody's quitting around you in a race, you're like, ah, maybe I can't make it either. And so you just kind of stop potentially First 13 says mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall, but become strong. 4 (1h 2m 3s): We're get living in peace with everyone and work at living a holy life. For those who are not, holy will not. Excuse me, work at living in peace with everyone and work at living a holy life. For those who are not, holy will not see the Lord look after each so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. So we have the ability to encourage one another. And that's my hope. Every time I stand up in the pulpit is to encourage us. I get encouraged as I prepare for the message. And my hope is that you would be encouraged that you would be challenged, built up in your faith, equipped to move forward as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, doing the things that he's accomplished or caused you to accomplish. 4 (1h 2m 44s): So run, run strong with endurance, with perspective and with faith, I'm gonna invite the worst of team up and we're gonna take communion. And so as they come up, we're going to pray and just ask the Lord direct our time and communion and that we would just humbly come before the Lord. So Lord, we humbly come before you. And we, we say thank you that you died on the cross. Your body was pinned to a cross. Your side pierced your blood flowed. You died a criminal's death for me. 4 (1h 3m 25s): You took my guilt upon yourself and you died for me. So that righteousness might be imputed to me and to the world to all who would say yes to you. So thank you for your sacrifice. We commemorates. And we remember your sacrifice. We thank you for your sacrifice. We humbly take communion today, having repented of our sins, having a recognized our need for you. And maybe if you're here today and you don't feel ready to confess your sins, you, you don't feel ready to Say thank you to the Lord. 4 (1h 4m 8s): If you're not, if you're not in that place, I just maybe just let this moment Pass you by for don't. Don't take the elements unless your heart's right with the Lord. You've said yes to him and you've confessed your sin to him and you've you've run to him. And now this is just a celebration of all of those things. And so thank you, Lauren. Paul wrote for, I passed on to you. What I received from the Lord himself On the night, when he was betrayed the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. 4 (1h 4m 49s): Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me. Let's take the wafer. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. Jesus. First 25 says in the same way, 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. 4 (1h 5m 31s): Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. It's take the juice Got. Thank you for all of those years ago, God, that you saved me and got for whatever, whatever the time line is in our own lives. 4 (1h 6m 17s): Lord, we want to go back to that time and say, thank you. Maybe today's the time where you're saying I'm ready for God's grace. I'm ready for him to forgive me. If you're here today and you want to receive the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. You, you just simply acknowledge to the Lord, your need. You say, Lord, I, I, I need you. I, I, I need your grace and forgiveness in my life. I need you to come into my life and I want, I want to be adopted into your family. I want to run this race that we've been talking about. I want to have eternal purpose for my life and I want to have eternal life. I want to live with you God, forever and ever. 4 (1h 6m 58s): Amen. Lord, if there's anybody here today, I pray that they would make the bold step of accepting your grace And experiencing this new life that is in you and God that they would enter the race, Run with a Durance Lord, God run with endurance. Thank you Lord, for what you're doing. And in each of our lives, we trust God that wherever we are in our journey of faith or God that you are with us and directing us and helping us. So Lord help us to trust you and believe you, Lord. We love you. Thank you for this time. 4 (1h 7m 38s): As we get ready to worship, Lord, pray God that she'd be glorified in this final time of worship. And in the prayer time after be glorified, we ask him pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be. You may stand up 3 (1h 14m 53s): Thank you, Jesus. That we can re surrender every day that we can fall before you at the cross And that in your grace, you catch us. Thank you that we get to run this race with endurance Lord, you are the prize. We fix our eyes on you. You are the goal. So thank you for everyone in this room. I thank you for everyone watching online. Thank you for those on the patio, wherever they find themselves hearing this message this morning, I pray that something would resonate And ring true this week. God, We love you. 3 (1h 15m 35s): Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

Faith in Action

0 (0s): I mean, it's good to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Good to lift his name. It's going to take time to sing and to praise 2 (24s): The passion Oh, With that to fulfill the law to Virgin came To 3 (9m 13s): This next song we're going to sing comes from the Apostle's creed. And in the apostles, creed talks about the Trinity, the father, the 4 (9m 20s): Son, and the holy spirit. 3 (9m 22s): And this song is a declaration of our faith 4 (9m 26s): To get 6 (13m 39s): Oh God. We believe in you. We believe that you're present with us, Lord, that you care about us, that you love us, that you've got plan and purpose for us, Lord, God, and God, we, we thank you. We know that you are with us. Lord. You are with Gideon and Joshua, Moses you're with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. God, you were with Your early church and you're with us Lord here with us Lord, and we welcome you tonight to the today. We welcome you, Lord God, to be in our presence and to speak and to move. 6 (14m 19s): And God, as we exercise faith by listening and obeying Lord, we pray that above everything else above anything else, God, that you would be glorified in our lives. We would honor you. And in our lives, we would point people to you. So Lord, thank you for who you are and for the things that you are doing and the ways that you empower us to do your work here in the earth. We need you. We need your power. We need your presence. We thank you for it in Jesus name. Amen. Hey man, attorney grease somebody and we will get back here in just a moment. 6 (16m 49s): Well, good morning. Good morning to those on the patio, those in the lofts, those online good morning and welcome. Welcome to our 11 o'clock service at harvest church. It's it's been, it's been a good morning. It's been a fun morning. So excited about what God will do this service. Interestingly, first service we had. So we bought this property from a family about, I dunno, how many years ago it was a while ago. Anyway, we, we moved in here 17 years ago. And so clam and Amanda Lambert and their family will not claim because he's passed, but Amanda and her family were here on the second row this morning. 6 (17m 32s): And so we got a chance to honor them because because 17 years ago we were driving through, I was driving through the village and I saw a sign up on the front lawn that said the place was for lease. And so we had been praying because our church had been a meeting at a high school up on the Mesa Lopez high school. So we'd been praying that God would give us a space in the village. And so I'm driving through. And so I I've lived in this community since fifth grade, but I'd never noticed this building, this church kind of setback. And so that day I drove through and I noticed there's a church in the village were actually praying that God would give us a church building in the village. And so I stopped by and met Amanda for the first time against he was here. 6 (18m 12s): Second, first service. And I said, Hey, Amanda, we're, we're just a small church looking to move from the Mesa into town. You've got this amazing facility here. Would you be interested in leasing it to us? And just in that conversation on a handshake, a handshake, she said, yes. And so we started the process and we raised the money to renovate stuff. And, and then one by one, we just kind of took over all these buildings and were able to buy them. So we're talking about faith this morning and it was just such a great illustration of what God will do with people who are just saying, being willing to say, yes, Lord being obedient to do what God has called us to do. And they were obedient. They, they, you know, we were a church of 60 people. 6 (18m 51s): We didn't have a lot going on in any way financially at all, but it was just a total faith venture. And I told her all of that and she said, well, it needs to be a church and we want to work with you. And so a lot of you are here back in the day. And a lot of you are hearing this story for the first time, but it was God working through the Lamberts to give us favor. And then God working through our current geishas to provide resource and everything that's been needed over these last 17 years that we've been here. And so God has blessed us. And now we're getting ready to add to our space over at 1 0 2 west branch, the new worship center there. I was just in there this morning and the painters just about all wrapped up and it's going to really start looking like something pretty quick. 6 (19m 36s): I mean, it kind of does, but it's just kind of messy right now, but it's getting there. It's getting there. So we've been discovering what faith looks like as we've studied through Hebrews chapter 11, the heroes of faith. And recently we, we said faith is obedience to God. We said, faith is trusting. God's timing for me. That's probably the hardest thing. Obedience is not as hard as trusting as timing. They're both hard, but trusting his timing is always been hard for me. So faith is trusting. God's timing that he will unfold his plan when he's ready to unfold his plan. And we can trust that. We can believe that God is good and that he's unfolding something wonderful for our lives. 6 (20m 17s): And so faith is trusting that timing. And then faith, faith is following your God-given destiny. So we believe that God creates people with purpose, giving gifts and talents. Every believer has a gift, a talent that God has given. Every person is created for purpose, that we might know God and walk in those eternal purposes that he has for us. So, so as we look at the rest of Hebrews 11, we'll get through the rest of Hebrews 11 today. We'll discover more trues about the faith. As we look at more examples, people that have gone before us real life, historical people who have gone before us, you've demonstrated faith, exercised faith. The title of the message today is faith in action. 6 (21m 0s): And really it could be faith equals action because faith without action is not faith at all. It's just a, it's just a word. But faith inaction is what God implied in mince and spoke and demonstrated through his people throughout the scriptures of the old and the new Testament early church. And up to this point in our lives today, faith is action. Faith inaction is what God wants to say. Faith equals action. So if we say we have faith, we must follow that faith with some actions, some things that God has called us to and has invited us into. 6 (21m 41s): So where does faith come from? Again? Romans 10, 7, 17 says, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So as we study the word, it's not just an academic exercise, but it's a spiritual exercise as well. So it's academic, but it's also spiritual. And it's meant to encourage us and form us, compel us to do what God has asked us to do. And following the examples of those who have gone before us do what they've done, because we've seen God be faithful in their lives and in their circumstances. So we believe that God will be faithful in our lives and in our circumstances because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. 6 (22m 23s): So as his attributes, haven't changed, she is a faithful God who calls his people to be faithful in response. So we're going to look at a lot of scripture today. Hebrews 1130 through 34 will kick us off here. It says it was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days and the walls came crashing down. We've a lot of us have read the story. You've heard the story in Sunday school or in sermons. And if we take a serious look at this, it seems crazy. The whole story. It seems like, God, this really, this is your plan, but by faith, number one in your notes by faith, Joshua believed God's promise. 6 (23m 7s): God made a promise to Joshua, to the people of Israel. What was that promise? We see that in Joshua six one and two, it says now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. They had witnessed what God had done for the people of Israel. And so they were afraid no one was allowed to go out or in. But the Lord said to Joshua, I have given you Jericho its king and all its strong warriors. So by faith, Joshua will believe God's promise the first generation of Israelites that left Egypt failed to believe the promise. 6 (23m 47s): And so they failed to receive the promise. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until that whole generation of unbelievers died off. And after Moses died, Joshua became the leader of Israel and he was the leading. He was, he was the one charged with leading the people with fresh faith in God. I think we need that from time to time in our lives like Lord, I need fresh faith. I'm feeling tired or worn down, or I'm not exercising. The faith that I think that you've asked me to exercise. And so Lord, would you refresh my faith? And then God will begin to refresh our faith. Just supernaturally. Well, all of a sudden have courage for the stuff that we didn't have courage for in the past. 6 (24m 33s): We'll have energy for the stuff that God has called us to we'll have fresh faith for the things that God calls us into. So after Moses died, Joshua became the leader of Israel and he was leading the people with fresh faith in God, the first-generation again, failed to believe. And so they failed to receive the blessings of the promise land. The second generation shows that, and this is the decision that all of us need to make in every season and situation of our lives. We need to choose to believe God, we need to choose faith. The second generation chose to believe so they receive the blessing of the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. 6 (25m 13s): This place of rest that God had promised his people. Interestingly, for 40 years, the people of Israel ate manna and this manna sustained them. They would get up six days a week and the man that would be there on the sixth day, they would grab enough for the next day. And they would gather enough to eat. And for 40 years, the Lord provided manna for them to sustain them. Manoj was used by God to bless the people, to sustain the people. But the fat of the land was to bless the people in the new promised land that God provided. So when the people of Israel moved into the promised land, the man is stopped and the people were able to eat from the fat of the land. 6 (25m 58s): So Manoj was to sustain the people. The fat of the land was to bless the people. Sometimes we're in a man, a season, sometimes we're in a man, a season where we get sustained by the Lord. But there's not a lot beyond that. We were kind of in this season of just kind of waiting, trusting, believing, obeying, believing that God's going to provide for us. And he does. So sometimes we're in that man, a season, other times, we're in the fat of the land season. Like everything is going our way. Financially things are flowing our way. We've got our health and our relationships and things are just amazing. 6 (26m 38s): So there's, there's a test to our faith in both situations in the manna season, it's a test. Will we continue to trust the Lord? He's met my needs today. I'm going to trust him to meet my needs tomorrow. And so it's a test of our faith. Where were we? Where are we putting our faith for our provision in the fat of the land season of our lives. It's also a test of our faith because often when we've got the fat of the land and everything's going well, we've got ample resource. We can get our eyes on those things and not on the Lord. And so it's a test of our faith is God, really our source in our resource, no matter what, no matter whether we have plenty or little, our focus is on God is our focus on God. 6 (27m 23s): And that's the, the tests. And that's probably been the test through most of our lives, different seasons. We've had plenty different seasons we've been lacking or just had enough. And it's been a test of our faith. What we continue to trust the Lord, no matter what's both seasons are a test of our faith. Number one by faith, Josh you'll believe God's promise. Number two by faith, Israel followed God's plan. So Joshua, their leader was hearing from the Lord and he was leaning them. But would the people of Israel would they rebel like they did against Moses or would they believe and follow their new leader? Joshua by faith, Israel followed God's plan. 6 (28m 5s): They decided to believe Joshua six, three says you and your fighting men should March around the town Jericho. That is once a day for six days, seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark. Each carrying a Ram's horn. On the seventh day, you are to March around the town, seven times with the priests blowing the horns. And when you hear the priest, give one last blast on the Ram's horn, have all the people shout as loud as they can. So this is God's war strategy, March around Ram's horn, and then shout. Alright, really Lord. 6 (28m 47s): Then the walls of the town will collapse and the people can charge straight into the town. What we see in scripture and what we probably would have noticed in our own lives is that God's plan. Doesn't always make human sense. Often his plan is counter intuitive. His plan is always a test of our faith. If his plan is not testing our faith, I would question whether it's his plan. His plan is normally counter-intuitive, it's not what we would come up with, but it always grows us in our faith. So God's plan for his people, needed it to be followed by faith. 6 (29m 27s): They did not want another wilderness experience. And maybe you're here today and you're thinking the same thing, man, I've been in a wilderness experience where I've had a wilderness experience and I do not want to see that repeated God by God's grace. As we yield to him, as we obey him, as we listen and believe and follow and trust, he will lead us into amazing things. Wonderful. Not that there won't be challenges along the way, because it's in the challenges that we have our faith tested and built up and challenged, and it's like a muscle, you know, you got to work it or else it gets weak. And so we work that faith muscle, God works that faith muscle to build us up, to strengthen us so that we can do what he's called us to do. 6 (30m 16s): So they didn't want another wilderness experience. So by faith, Israel followed God's plan. No faith is the only way someone can follow God's plan kind of alluded to that. But faith is the only way someone can follow God's plan that interesting without faith, it's impossible to please, God, right? So he's called us into this life of faith and it's by faith as the only way that we can follow God's plan back to Hebrews 1131, it says it was by faith that rehab, the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refuse to obey God for she had given a friendly welcome to the spice. You never think you'd see a prostitute in the hall of faith. 6 (30m 56s): So these are the powerful men and women in the scripture, in the history of God's people who have demonstrated faith. So Hebrews 11 kind of points out incredible people who have been people of faith. And so in our natural understanding, we would never think that God would point out a prostitute, but this is exactly who he points out in this, in this chapter. Number three, in your notes by faith, Rahab, trusted God's protection. Let's figure out what the story saying here in Joshua, two 18 to eight to 13, it says before the spies went to sleep that night rehab went up to the roof to talk with them. 6 (31m 37s): I know the Lord has given you this land. She told them we are all afraid of you. Every one of the land is living in terror. Why? Because they had seen what the God of Israel did to protect and deliver the people into the promised land. For, we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the red sea when you left Egypt. And we know that you, what you did to see on an awe that you Amorite Kings east of the Jordan river, whose people you completely destroyed now. No wonder our hearts have melted in fear. No one has the courage to fight. After hearing such things for the Lord, your God is the Supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. Now, swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family. 6 (32m 22s): Since I have helped you give me some guarantee that when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters and all of their families. So Joshua was six 17. Joshua told the people, Jericho and everything, and it must be completely destroyed as an offering to the Lord only rehab the prostitutes and the others in her house will be spared for. She protected the spies. I love that God is no respecter of persons. One of the 12 that he called was a tax collector, despised tax collector, a scoundrel, and a guy who would steal from his own people and was used to gather money for the enemy. 6 (33m 13s): And yet God chose Matthew Joe's fishermen who really didn't have a lot of understanding. A lot of education, a lot of political or religious clouds. He's no respecter of persons. Rehab. A prostitute is an example of faith to all people. Maybe you think your past precludes you from believing God and your past the things. If I went around the room, we'd see that every one of us have a past, right? All of us have a past that we wish we could go back and change things that we regrets are embarrassed by things that we wish we could get a do over with. 6 (33m 58s): But we, we, we don't get the do overs. In fact, I believe that God uses and we see it throughout our lives that God uses our past mistakes and failures to prepare us to minister, to others who might be going through the same thing. Maybe you think your past precludes you from believing God, don't let your past prevent you from living a faith filled blessed life. God is a God whose mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So if we're on a new path as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and we've got a past, let it go repent. 6 (34m 40s): If you haven't let it go, forgive yourself. If you haven't let it go and watch what God will do as you let that go so that you can hold on to God, move forward in those supernatural plans that God has for you. Believe that God's grace is sufficient back to Hebrews, Hebrews 1132. How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of faith, of the faith of Gideon Barak, Samson, Jephthah David, Samuel, and all the profits by faith. These people overthrew kingdoms rural with justice and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched, the flames of fire and escape death. 6 (35m 24s): By the edge of the sword, their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put a whole army the flight. And so we're going to kind of unpack these last verses here and talk about the faith of some of these people that did what the writer is about here. So number four, in your notes by faith, Daniel shut the mouths of the lions. My faith, Daniel shut the mouths of the lion. So king Derrius was tricked. King Derrius was a friend of Daniel, but he was tricked into signing a law that prohibited anyone for 30 days, from praying to anyone human or divine. If the law was broken, you would go into the lion's den. So typically people will be thrown into the lion's den. 6 (36m 5s): The lions would grab hold of them and consume them immediately. This is just the way it was. They were ravenous animals and they would destroy their victims quickly, killing them and eating them quickly. So if the law was broken off to the lion, Dan's you, lion's Dan, you go, Daniel, Daniel refused. He refused to submit to the law. That would hinder him from praying as was his custom. So the King's men tried to kill him. They wanted, they threw him into the lion's den. The king loved Daniel and was grieved by the law he had signed. And so he was up all night. He was tricked and his friend was now in the den of lions and the Daniel six, 19 through 22, very early, the next morning, the king got up, been hurried out to the lion's den. 6 (36m 59s): When he got there, he called out in anguish, Daniel servant of the living, God, where's your God whom you serve. So faithfully able to rescue you from the lions. Daniel answered he's alive, long lamb, the king, my God sent his angel to shut the lion's mouth. So they would not hurt me for, I had been found innocence in his sight and I have not wronged you, your majesty. So a real story, historical real God is able to protect his people. Do we believe that God is able to protect us? 6 (37m 43s): Not that we won't go through difficult seasons of life, but it's when it's in his purposes to deliver us and to protect us, he will deliver us and he will protect us. We have to believe this is true. God can, and he will protect his people. Is that was looking at this point and thinking about it. I, it reminded me of the spring of 1967 before I was born. By the way, most of you were around, but me, I was not born yet. And by the spring of 1967, following close to a decade of relative calm, Israel found itself poise for war against four Arab neighbors. 6 (38m 25s): So four Arab neighbors were getting ready to invade Israel, but God had a different plan. And it didn't matter if the whole world, which it seemed like the whole world against them, but it wouldn't matter if the whole world was against them. There were miracles in that six day war, eye witness accounts that demonstrate that God was with his people, protecting his people. So I'm going to read a few of those accounts to us today, just to remind us of God's faithfulness. This first one, this first eye witness account is titled 18 Egyptians against two IDF soldiers, yest rail, the cab driver, who was drafted to fight in the six day war as part of the paratroop unit assigned with conquering. 6 (39m 11s): The straits of Tiran told the following upon his return. So you got a cab driver, the Israeli soldiers didn't have to parachute out of the Nord airplanes, which took them into the Taran straights. They landed like spoiled tourists in the airport because the Egyptian regiment, which was on guard there fled before the Israel, Israeli troops were visible on the horizon. After landing, I was sent with another reserve, soldier and electricians. So you've got a cab driver and electrician there to fight the war, to patrol the area. When we had distance ourselves, two kilometers in Egyptian, half track appeared before us filled with soldiers. 6 (39m 54s): And now two with machine guns. On every side, we had only light weapons with a few bullets that could couldn't stop the half track of for a second. So we couldn't turn back. They said, he said, so we stood there in despair, waited for the first shot. And for lack of a better idea, aimed our guns at them two against 18 heavily, heavily outnumbered, and, and not able to defend themselves in the natural, but the shots they didn't come. The half track came to a halt and we decided to cautiously approach it. We found 18 armed inside sitting with guns in hand with a petrified look on their faces. 6 (40m 39s): They looked at us with great fears though, begging for mercy. I shouted hands up. Can you imagine this new found courage hands up as we are marked sitting am I had returned to a state of calm. I asked the Egyptian Sergeant next to me, tell me why didn't you shoot at us? He answered, I don't know. My arms froze. They became paralyzed. My whole body was paralyzed. I don't know why it turned out that these soldiers didn't know that the straights of Turan were already in Israeli hands. Why didn't they eliminate us? I don't have an answer. 6 (41m 21s): How can one say that? God didn't help us. Another story titled the finger of God idea of director of operations. Major general ESER Wiseman was asked by Mr. Lebanon, the father of a fallen pilot, how he explains the fact that for three straight hours, Israel air force planes flew from the one Egypt airstrip to another destroying the enemy planes. Yet the Egyptians did not radio ahead to inform their own forces of the oncoming Israeli attack. Easier Wiseman later, who, who later served as president of the state of Israel was silent. Then he lifted his head and exclaimed the finger of God, a secular newspaper, the Haaretz newspaper titled bottom line, following his blow by blow analysis. 6 (42m 14s): The military correspondent for the secular Haaretz newspaper summed up the six day war with the admission. Even a non-religious person must admit this war was fought with the help from heaven, the German viewpoints, the German journalists summarize nothing like this has happened in history of force, including a thousand tanks, hundreds of artillery, cannons, many rockets and fighter jets, and a hundred thousand soldiers armed from head to toe was destroyed in two days in an area covering a hundred hundreds of kilometers filled with reinforced outposts and installations. And this victory was carried out by a force that lost many soldiers and much equipment positions in vehicles. 6 (42m 59s): No military logic or natural cause can explain this monumental occurrence. So the whole world can fight against God's people, but if God's not ready for Israel will be taken out, then they won't be taken out. And so that's what, when people battle against Israel, it's just a losing scenario. And that's why it's important that America stays connected to and stays allies with Israel. Number five, by faith, three men quench the flames of fire Jewish guys, three Jewish guys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They quenched the flames of fire. These three guys refused about out a Kings navigate as a statue. 6 (43m 42s): The statue is 90 feet tall, nine feet wide. So imagine this ceiling's about 30 feet tall. So imagine three times this that's who, who needs a 90 foot statue, by the way, what kind of a person requires a night? I don't know. Never can ask her apparently. So the statue is 90 feet, tall, nine feet wide, and it was gold, solid gold. Well, these three guys refused about down to the Kings statue in Daniel three 19 through 25 says Nebuchadnezzar was so furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego that his face became distorted with rage. We're going to do some things as believers that make other people upset, uncomfortable, even angry, distorted with rage in our obedience to God, we're, we're going to be offensive to people, but our purpose in life is to be obedient to God and, and do what he's called us to do. 6 (44m 39s): And so that's what these guys did. He commanded that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. Then he ordered some of the strongest men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into a blazing furnace, throw them into the blazing furnace. So they tied them up and threw them into the furnace, fully dressed in their pants, turbines, robes, and other garments. And because the king in his anger had demanded such a hot fire in the furnace. The flames killed the soldiers as they threw the three men in. So Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego securely tied, fell into the roaring flames, but suddenly, suddenly Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and exclaimed to his advisors. 6 (45m 23s): Didn't we tie up three men and throw them into the furnace. Yes, your majesty. We certainly did. They replied look, Nebuchadnezzar shouted. I see four men Unbound and walking around in the fire unharmed. And the fourth looks like a, a God. My faith is three men quench the fires, the flames of fire. And we read later in the story that they came out and didn't even smell like smoke. So I know when I walked by a barbecue, I'm picking up the scent and got home. My wife's like, Hey, you smell like a barbecue. Right? Imagine being inside this furnace and coming out unharmed and a while inside walking around and having fellowship with the Lord, you know, the Lord is with us in our times of trial. 6 (46m 11s): And we forget that. We, we think sometimes that we're all alone, but when we can believe, and we can know that God is with us, he gives us a great deal of courage and confidence to do what he's asked us to do by faith. These three men quenched the flames of fire up against impossible scenarios. God is faithful. Number six, by faith Gideons, a weakness was turned to strength. Maybe you're here today. And you identify with Gideon. You just feel weak and insignificant and unimportant and the wrong guy for the job, the wrong person for the job. I think those are the best people. Those are the kinds of people that God wants to use. 6 (46m 53s): Because as we'll see in Gideon's case, when using people like that, broken and humble and contract people, God gets all the glory. And so we will see what happened with Gideon here. Judges six, 12 through 16, says the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, mighty hero. The Lord is with you is getting like, you're talking to me. Do you know who you're talking to? Mighty hero? The Lord is with you. So God sees in us what we don't see in ourselves, right? So we need to learn to see what God sees in us and walk in those things by faith, walk in that identity by faith, giving glory to God, sir, Gideon replied. 6 (47m 39s): If the Lord is with us, why has all of this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn't they say, the Lord brought us up out of Egypt, but now the Lord has abandoned us and the Midianites. And sometimes we have that same sense. Lord, where are you? Like, why have you not come through? This was Gideon's perspective. He was struggling with his faith in the Lord, turned to him and said, go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you. So I love it. That the strength that we have with the presence of God brings the victory. 6 (48m 24s): So we don't feel like we've got a lot of strength in us. Naturally. We're feel like Lord, these battles are too big for us. These circumstances, whether way over my head, I don't, I don't know how to walk in this. I don't know how to believe you through this. I don't know how to trust you and honor you in my life right now. God says, go in the strength that you have. And I will be with you when God through Christ, who gives us strength. He is faithful to meet us and to lead us and to guide us and to protect us and to provide for us, go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you, but the Lord, but Lord Gideon replied. 6 (49m 5s): How, how can I rescue Israel? We sometimes look at our own lives and think, Lord, how can I do what you're asking me to do? Well, you got to get your eyes off of yourself and onto the Lord, we will never have faith for the supernatural things that God is calling us to. If we are watch looking at ourselves, watching ourselves, but if we keep our eyes on the Lord, he will lead us and he will go with us and we will have the victory. Lord, how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh. And I am the least in my entire family. 6 (49m 45s): The Lord said to him, I will be with you and you will destroy the Midianites as if you are fighting against one man. Long story short Gideon defeated the Midianites with 300 soldiers because God caused a panic in immediate and camp and they kill each other. So if we read the whole story, we see that Gideon started with 32,000 warriors, 32,000 men who are ready to go to battle. But God knew that if Gideon went to war with 32,000 troops, and if he got the victory, then he would take the credit for the victory. He would say, look what our strong men have done. Look what we have accomplished. Look, we have conquered. 6 (50m 25s): So it got whittled down the army whittled down Gideon's troops down to 300 so that when they did get the victory, they would recognize that it was God who gave them the victory. God won't share his glory with anyone. He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So when we, when we trust him and we're filled with his presence and his spirit, and we do the supernatural things that God calls us to do, it will be a mere, miraculous things happening, unfolding God's plan, unfolding God's plan happening. It's it's something that we just kind of get to go along with by his grace, trusting him, believing him and being part of that wonderful and supernatural plan that God has by faith. 6 (51m 15s): Joshua believed God's promise by faith. Israel followed God's plan by faith. Ray Hab trusted God's protection by faith. Daniel shut the mouths of the lions by faith. Three men quenched the flames of fire by faith. Gideon's weakness was turned to strength. Number seven, what will you do by faith? So we can read scripture and grow in our knowledge and our understanding of the word of God and the principles of God. But if we don't apply them, then it's been just an academic exercise and God's not interested in academic exercises. 6 (51m 56s): He's interested in life transformation. So what will we do by faith for God's kingdom? What is God calling us to do? Now? I think about that question corporately for harvest church. I think about that question individually for my life and for my family. And I, I challenge us to do the same thing. Each of you to do the same thing. What will you do by faith? If you can figure out and do ministry in your own strength, then you're not. You're probably not where God would have you to be. But if you're in over your head, that's probably a good indication that you're where God would have you to be. 6 (52m 42s): Because without faith, it's impossible to please God. And by faith, we follow God. And by faith, we believe God. And by faith, we trust God. Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. It's the assurance of things we can not see. So by definition, faith requires faith, trust confidence in not ourselves, but in the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords. We, we, we need to humble ourselves and recognize the greatness of God that wants to work through us. And as we humble ourselves and recognize the greatness of God who wants to work through us, then he will do wonderful and supernatural things in our lives will, they will never be the same. 6 (53m 27s): They will never be the same with that. I want to invite the worship team up and invite you to stand. We're going to pray. And then we're going to worship two more and then we'll be dismissed into our mission field, where we get to do by faith, the stuff that God has called us to do. So Lord, we love you. We thank you for your word. I've got nothing to say up here without your word. So thank you Lord, for your word and for how it speaks to us and how you minister to us. Lord, we're humbled by your presence. Every time we gather we're humbled by what you will do with us and innocent through us. As we humbly obey and submit and trusting your timing and trusting your plan and your purpose, Lord God fulfilling the destiny that you put within us to fulfill. 6 (54m 16s): So Lord, as we worship, God, continue to stir us and to speak to us and to direct us and point us in the direction that we're supposed to go. God, be glorified. We pray as we listen and obey in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's worship. 9 (54m 43s): Bless you. And keep you Make his face shine upon face to And 3 (1h 0m 25s): Thank you, Jesus, that we get to say amen, over and over again. Let it be God, have your way in our lives. Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your salvation. That is, that is new. Every day. God, I pray that we would be a people who seek you each and every single day that we would know your word and we would know your truth. God, that we would hide it in our hearts. So here, ready to fight the good fight of faith. Thank you Jesus. For your presence. We thank you for this house. It's in your precious name. 3 (1h 1m 5s): We pray. Amen.