Harvest Church Arroyo Grande

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.

What Does Faith Look Like?

We believe for victory by faith. We see victory Lord by faith. We know that you're at work in our lives. Moving in our circumstances, you're meeting our every need by faith. We believe that you will always meet our, every need. Our emotional needs God, for those, with real significant emotional needs today, we pray that you rest on them and speak to them and bless them. Lord, thank you that they're here in church, where they might receive the grace and the goodness of God and God's people or God, I pray that you'd minister to your people. For those who need a physical touch, emotional touch, just a spiritual touch, relational touch, Lord. 1 (15m 4s): Whatever's going on, Lord. We just pray that she'd be ministering all over the campus. Lord, for those who are watching online, we just pray God that you would be ministering powerfully. Lord God, thank you for who you are and for who we are in you by faith. We know that we are your adopted sons and daughters. If we've come to you by faith, we know that you take us in that your grace is sufficient. Your mercy is unending. Your love is unconditional. Your kindness is supernatural. Lord God, we just thank you Lord by faith. We just want to walk in all of that truth and that reality Lord will help us to do so today, Lord. And then as we kind of getting our heads around that and our hearts around that and our lives around that truth, Lord help us to walk in that all the days of our lives. 1 (15m 52s): Lord, thank you, Jesus, God, thank you for who you are and for what you're doing at harvest church and all over the central coast, wherever the name of Jesus is being lifted up all over the world. Wherever the name of Jesus is being lifted up. You're doing wonderful and profound things. So thank you, Lord God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your grace. For those struggling. We know we've got lots of brothers and sisters in the Ukraine, People just struggling right now. Lord, we just pray that you would strengthen them and help them to protect the innocent Lord and work supernaturally in that place. 1 (16m 37s): Like we already know that you are Lord. I pray that you would bring, bring the conflict to an end Lord, a peaceful and God that you'd be glorified, that we would see the supernatural hand of God quelling that and stopping that and ending that and bringing health and healing and freedom in Jesus name. So Lord God, we pray for your grace upon our world and our nation, our community and our church. Lord, we need you. Thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Turn and say hello to somebody that you've never ever, ever met. 1 (17m 23s): Excellent. And you just start first place. You just different place. Yes he did. I love Nancy. Thank you for that. Where did you see Nancy? Oh, Clark center. Oh, next time you see her, just give me a, give her a hug for me and just tell her how much I love her. 1 (18m 3s): And she does when she was Ron's assistant. I interacted with her. 1 (18m 49s): It's always hard to bring people back after the greeting time. It's easier just to let's just keep going. Right? Come on back here. People have been asking me why don't you take your glasses off when you get up to speak. And I really hate, I don't like hate is a strong word, so I'll use it. I hate these things. So what I did is on my iPad, the beauty of an iPad is you can make the font really, really big. So I'm going to set these here on the front row. Don't confuse those with yours cause you won't like trifocals as much, but Hey, we're, we're going to do some things a little bit different today. 1 (19m 31s): I'm going to preach and teach for a bit and we're talking about faith. And so as an illustration of faith, so last week we had Fred crop coming up and he came up and he spoke to us about one act of obedience, his book that he's writing and the things that kind of stir or spurred that on. And so as we teach through Hebrews 11, the heroes of faith, I think it's important that we think in the 21st century, in terms of what does it mean to be heroes of faith, people of faith who were just excited about doing the will of the Lord? I think that's really what heroes of faith are. There. They come in all shapes and sizes. 1 (20m 11s): And in fact, Don gainer, a lot of you remember Don gainer, but before he passed, he was writing a book about all of these unknown heroes of faith, right in our community. And some, maybe somebody will pick up the Baton and, and be able to complete that work. But it's so true. People are doing all kinds of incredible faith things behind the scenes. And most of us never hear about them, but those I'm, I'm convinced that those are the heroes of faith that we're going to be celebrating in heaven when we get there. And we're going to say, man, I had no, I D I what was going on the scenes. And so as we think about our lives, as people of faith in a, a religion, for lack of a better term of faith, where God has called us by his great grace to be people of faith. 1 (21m 4s): I mean, you think about it. We, by faith, we trust an invisible God for his grace to forgive us, to cleanse us, to set us free from the bondage of sin, we trust the invisible God who does visible work in our lives. But we attributed to him by faith, believing that he is omnipresent omnipotent, that he is everywhere, president one at once ministering in our very needs. And so we're talking about faith. I looked at Hebrews 11 in my notes and I taught on Hebrews 11, four weeks in a row back about a year ago. 1 (21m 46s): And as we were getting ready to go into 1 0 2, 1 0 2 is our new worship center. We should be in the next month. Maybe I say, you know, whole everything kind of loosely, you know, but our new worship center is up the road. And, and as we got ready to take on that challenge, I just thought felt it was important to talk about faith and build us up and our most holy faith. And, and then almost a year later, we're almost done with the project and we spent way more money than we expected, but God has been so faithful. And so by faith, we continue to get the project done and we'll be in there hopefully in April, but our whole lives are about faith. And so when we think about our faith lives, we're gonna be interviewing Shane here shortly, who just got back from Africa, spent six months in Africa. 1 (22m 31s): I don't know if you remember, but we prayed him out about seven months ago and he'd been back for a few weeks now. And, and I, I, it's easy to think, okay, I'm in Africa, I'm, I'm here to minister by faith and to do all of these things. And that's like one of our greatest fears right in the world, like, Lord, I want to serve you, but I don't, I don't want to go to Africa. Like, please do not send me to Africa. Right? But listen, if God sends you to Africa is because he's got work for you to do, and he'll prepare your heart and your life. And when you get there, it's going to be like a hand and a glove. It just fits who you are, your gifts set and all of that sort of stuff. So most likely, God won't send you to Africa. But if he does where then wherever he sends you or whatever he asks you to do in your neighborhood and your place of work, faith is a part of every response to God. 1 (23m 22s): As you're sitting here today, you're by faith asking the Lord, Lord, speak to me. I know you can hear me by faith Lord. And so you're believing God to speak to you. I was talking to a woman in between services and this is the anniversary of her husband's passing and her daughter's passing. And she's here in her brokenness, my faith, believing that God's going to minister to her. I talked with a woman as I was out in the U area and Kelly, Wade. She has her little bundle wrapped up next to her body. 1 (24m 4s): And it's this precious little girl that they brought into their lives by faith. I said, how many does that make? And she said, well, that's number seven, number seven. I said the number of completion. So, so maybe this or that, I don't know. Anyway, I think she's hoping for that. Anyway. So number seven she's by faith, just she and Tom had brought this precious little baby into their lives, hoping to make it a permanent thing, believing God for great stuff or that little, little, little baby. So on the macro level, on the micro level, we walk by faith doing what God has asked us to do. So we're going to answer the question today. What is faith look like part of the way that we grow in our faith just by being plugged in, in church and Bible study throughout the week. 1 (24m 52s): And there's lots of great stuff going on. So get involved in a small group, the journey groups are kicking off. I did the journey last year and spent nine months in that. And it was just an incredible opportunity to grow in my faith as a believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ to grow, to grow in my ability to just comprehend God on a new level. It's just, it was powerful. It was powerful. I've been hearing all of these testimonies about people going through the journey and just half of their lives have been transformed. And a lot of people just keep going through it over and over again. So there's, women's groups, there's men's groups. If you're interested in joining the journey group, just fill out a communication card, let us know. And we'll, we'll get you in touch with the right people. Sound good. 1 (25m 32s): Do you, do you do the necessary things to build yourself up? And your role is totally faith and watch what God will do powerfully in you. So we're going to ask you the question today. What is faith look like before we answer that question? Let's first define the word faith. And we define it right from the scripture in Hebrews 11. One where it says faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen. It gives us a short sense about things. We cannot say it with me. See if we can see it. It doesn't require faith, right? But if we can't see it, that's when faith is required. And so everything about God and everything about his plan for us requires faith to believe him for things we can not see. 1 (26m 20s): And so we were to pray without ceasing, where to walk in relationship with Jesus, filled with the spirit and allowing God to direct our steps, to direct our conversation. So that by faith, we might do what he has called us to do by faith. We might speak the life-changing words that we need to speak by faith. We might pray the life changing prayers that need to be prayed over somebody's life. But where does his faith come from? Where does all this good stuff come from? This strong faith come from where it comes right from the scripture in Romans 10, 17, we're told. So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so we're built up in our most holy faith. 1 (27m 3s): We're strengthened in our faith as we turn our attention to the word of God as we, and that's our hope, every time we teach or preach is that people will be built up in their faith so they can move forward as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ in their faith to encounter the world, to conquer the world for Jesus and to do great things for Jesus. And so faith, faith comes from it's like the reading of the word, like in Jack sass with faith and confidence in God, we read stories about the people of old, like Hebrews 11 talks about, we read stories about what those who have gone before us have done, and it builds us up and it gives us courage to do what God is asking us to do in the simplicity of our own lives and the complexity of our own lives. 1 (27m 53s): What is God asking us to do? So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So if you're struggling in an area of your life to have faith in an area of her life, if you're struggling with a relationship to have faith that God is working and reconciling healing and restoring, just turn your attention to the word of God and ask the Lord to speak to you. I still do this to this day. Lord. As I opened up the scripture, would you speak to me through your word? Would you, would you bring truth to illuminate truth to my understanding so that I might understand what you're saying to me and how I might apply it to my life. And then as I am able to do that, I'm built up. If I neglect the word, if I neglect time with, with, with my father, if I do that, my faith begins to wane a bit. 1 (28m 34s): I began to struggle, but when I come into relationship with him and read his word, faith is it's injected again. It's powerful. So what does faith look like? Number one. And I'm going to give you the first point to the message today. And we'll wrap up the rest of the points next week. Cause I want to leave time to have a conversation with Shane and the clock never got started. So it's may go along today because I have no idea how long I've been up here. Right? Has it been five minutes? Has it been 25 minutes? Do I have five minutes left? Do I have 25 minutes left? I have no idea. So we might have to order in some lunch fellowship around some food and take little naps. We'll get little blankets and that sort of thing. So what does faith look like? 1 (29m 16s): Faith is obedience to God. Faith is obedience to God, especially when God directs us to do something we don't fully understand. And it's been my experience that God usually directs us in a, in an arena, in an area to do something we don't fully understand. I don't fully understand preaching. If I'm honest, I think why can't people just read the Bible? What's the point of somebody expounding and preaching and leading in that way. I'm always perplexed by it. My Lord, it must be a supernatural thing. Cause I'm just a normal guy up here trying to teach and preach and trying to explain some things and God, for whatever reason does something with it beyond any of my capacity or ability. 1 (30m 5s): So there's all kinds of things that God does supernaturally. When we just surrender ourselves to him. Shane, we'll be talking about that today. So faith is obedience to God. It will be in Scott, especially when God directs us to do something. We don't fully understand God's plan. They don't always make human sense. Has that been your experience like Lord, I don't understand why you want me to do this. Like I've already got six kids. Why, why do I need a seventh kid? Right? Like, like I I'm getting older and I just want to chill right in this season of my life. Why are you asking me to do this uncomfortable thing? This thing that takes me out of my comfort zone or God, I'm just a kid. Why would you want to use me? I was having a conversation between services with a five-year-old and I asked him, I said, have you given your life to Jesus yet? 1 (30m 51s): He's like, no, I'm going to wait until I'm 12. I said, I said, why 12? And we talked about baptism or something like his plan is to get baptized at 12. I said, well, why don't you just accept the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ right now? And he said, ah, I will, when I'm 12, I said, do you know what the grace of God is like I, so I explain it to him. And I've known this kid since birth and now he's five. And anyway, so I'm just sharing the gospel with this guy. And he's listening patiently and being just polite with me probably. But, but I'm sharing the gospel with him. Cause I'm like, man, if you can get it at five years old, why wait till you're 12 years old? Like right now. So if you can get the gospel now in your season of life, why would you wait? 1 (31m 31s): Why would we wait to by faith? Just welcome the goodness and the grace and the kindness of Jesus. If you are beginning to understand the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ, his welcome his message in his life, into your life and watch what will happen. God's plan. Doesn't always make human sense. It can be even counter-intuitive like, like this is not something I would normally do. Lord God's plan will always test your faith. God's plan, always tests our faith. We're gonna be talking about a man, Abraham, who is tested in his faith and who came through it with flying colors, by the way. And we're gonna learn some stuff from him and God's plan for his people always requires faith. 1 (32m 16s): So picking up or pastor Jeremy left off last week, we're in Hebrews 11, 17. We're just going to get through a couple of verses today. It says this in Hebrews 11, 17, it was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him, Abraham who had received God's promise was ready to sacrifice his only Isaac, even though God had told him, and this is a quote from Genesis 2112, Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted. So Abraham and Sarah received this revelation as child lists people, they received this revelation from God, go to this land that I will show you. 1 (33m 5s): And I will make you the father of many nations, like the sand of the seashore and the stars in the sky. That will be the number of your descendants. So their child lists, Sarah is barren, unable to have kids. And so time goes on and then Sarah's like, Hey, take my servant Hagar and go, you know, do the thing. And maybe God will provide a descendant through her. And so she was born that God reiterate, this is not the son of promise. So that's not as pro center promises, born supernaturally wonderfully. So Abraham was a hundred years old. 1 (33m 48s): Maybe your family time is maybe you got some more family. Sarah was 90. Abraham was a hundred. So if you're in that rate range, maybe you've got another kid coming. I don't know. I don't know. I don't pretend to know these things, but Isaac was the son of promise. And he was the only son that Sarah gave to Abraham. And so Isaac, the only son of Sarah and Abraham, God is being, is asking them to sacrifice him. Literally, literally speaking, literally sacrificing their son. And so they make plans. 1 (34m 28s): I love the story because it's a hard ask. Would you, I mean, maybe you've got asked you to sacrifice one of your kids. It wouldn't be so hard, but this was the son of promise, right? This was the son of promise. This was the son of promise. And so this was a hard ask and there, all right, so there's not like a plan B like we could try, but probably not going to have another kid. He's the son of promise. And so he had to decide, Abraham had to decide what, what am I going to do with this direction from the Lord? And he did what all of us should do with the direction of God. And we say, yes, Lord, because no Lord is not actually it's, it's, it's a contradiction in terms when we say no Lord, because Lord means Lord ship leadership priority. 1 (35m 27s): So if we say no Lord, it means he has no, actually no longer Lord, but something else is. And so he said, what he and all of us should say, yes, Lord, yes, Lord verse 13. This is what Abraham did or shoot me first, 19 Hebrews 11, 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead. Why? Because the moment that God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac was as good as dead in his mind because the answer was of course, yes, Lord. 1 (36m 7s): I don't understand. But yes, Lord, I will do what you've asked me to do. Believing that God is supernatural by faith. Believing that God, if the son died, God could resurrect him from the dead. And so this true story, the historical account of what happened in the life of this family might remind us of another story in the Bible. This story points us to the reality of the sacrifice God made in sending his only son to die for the sins of humanity. There are similarities. Genesis 22 tells us that it was a three-day journey for Abraham and Isaac to get to the land of Moriah, the place of the sacrifice. 1 (36m 52s): And so immediately hearing the voice of God, the plan of God, the direction of God in Abraham's mind, Isaac was dead because that was the plan took him three days. So in his mind, Isaac is dead. Now for three days in his mind, because this is what God directed. You might consider it conclude that Abraham had walked in such obedience that his son was considered dead. And so after three days, when the sacrifice, the Ram caught in the thicket to sacrifice, to replace the sun, it was like a resurrection. It was like a life giving resurrection, even as Jesus was dead three days before the Rez resurrection, it was, there was something about this and we see old Testament stories. 1 (37m 39s): Pictures of that point is to Jesus in the new Testament. Really that's what the old Testament is all about. The old Testament is all about preparation, pointing people for 39 books, pointing people to Jesus, the resurrected Lord in the new Testament. We see the same example in the story of Jonah. When we read Matthew 1240, it says for, as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights. So will the son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. Faith is all about obedience. I want to invite Shane up right now and we're going to hear about his faith journey, his obedience and all of that stuff. 1 (38m 25s): So let's turn our attention to the front with Shane Shane. Why? Once you introduce yourself, let me give you a microphone first and 3 (38m 35s): Then you good morning, everyone. My name's Shane. 1 (38m 38s): Hey Shane. Yeah. Shane, thanks for, for joining us today. When you showed up. So three weeks ago, when, when Shane got back three weeks ago, I think it was three weeks ago today, right? So we're having church in. I know Shane's in Africa. I know he's coming back soon, but he just shows up and he's sitting over there and I'm like, what's going on? So he told me he flew 25 hours and then drove three hours from lax to get to church that morning. So if you had a rough day getting to church, it didn't require 28 hours of inflight and on the road travel. 1 (39m 21s): So welcome. I've been trying to figure out a way to get you up here because six months plus ago, so almost seven months ago, we prayed you out and we've been praying for you. And we've been excited to hear your updates. So tell us kind of your story. How, how did you end up experiencing this fear that we've all had about being sent to Africa? What, what did God do to present that to you and to get you there? What does that all look like? Sure. Let me 3 (39m 50s): Rewind back to 2018. When I started coming to harvest, I joined a men's group and Lou was actually in that group. Yeah. And Mike Maddie also, he started the bold faith journey, which is how I went to Africa, the door that opened. And so Mike started a S a zoom group that we would meet seven days a week for 30 minutes each day. And pray through the Bible. We would read a scripture and pray. I'm still doing that. And it's been three years, two years, two years. I've been on three years. That they've been all right. So, so how did that then? 1 (40m 31s): Yeah. What, when did you hear thus sayeth the Lord go to Africa. That's where 3 (40m 35s): That, that's how the Lord that happened. When I, when I read the scripture that it says to go and make disciples. Okay. 1 (40m 43s): And so to you, that meant go to Africa. 3 (40m 46s): Yeah. Well, to me that means my neighbor, you know, meant to be willing to serve wherever I am with whatever I have. You know, I think a lot of us think that we have to be educated or have to have something special. Yeah. But me, I, I can't even speak very good, 1 (41m 5s): Like Moses. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. 3 (41m 6s): Good. Yeah. But you know, I just wanted to get out of my, get out of my comfort zone and see the world, see what God's doing in the world. Yeah. Through me, it's not about me. It's about what God's doing. So yeah. 1 (41m 21s): Well, faith is all about obedience, surrender, all that kind of stuff. So what happened when you got there? Yeah. 3 (41m 26s): Yeah. I got to a village in Zimbabwe or a student Zimbabwe for four months and we share, we shared the gospel to a, a village of about 6,000 people. Only about 300 people would come. Okay. But 300, 6,000 people didn't have running water or electricity, sewage. So we would take them the gospel and, and water. So we call it a water ministry twice a week. We'd bring two, 3000 liter trucks full of water. They would line up their buckets and we'd fill them up. They would carry them home. And that's how they drank washed dishes, showered, anything. 3 (42m 10s): They lived out of a bucket. Yeah. 1 (42m 11s): What was the result if you didn't bring that water? How far did they have to walk? 3 (42m 14s): Probably a mile, mile and a half. Okay. Pretty far. All right. Yeah. Round, round trip to two miles. Yeah. Wow. 1 (42m 22s): So what did that do for the people when you met their most basic need for water? 3 (42m 28s): Yeah. Water is a blessing to them. They were really blessed and happy to do have that. And 1 (42m 35s): I love that you went not only to bless them spiritually, but to bless them in a real, tangible, and physical way as well. I think that's really consistent with what we see in the scripture and with what God has called us to that we're meant to minister to the whole person, body, soul, and spirit. And when we can do that, I think we have the greatest impact. So tell me about leading. How did you guys tell people about Jesus besides the water ministry? You talked earlier about going door to door and knocking on doors 3 (43m 6s): And that sort of thing. Yeah. Pastor shepherd would share. He's a, he was our shepherd, he was our name. He was our mission. 1 (43m 12s): So it's like pastor, pastor or shepherd shepherd. Right. Okay. I 3 (43m 17s): Should have a name like that. Here's our missionary family. And, and so he would teach and preach and yeah. And I would share a message once in a while to 1 (43m 29s): That's awesome. So when you knocked on the door, tell us about those cubes. Those, 3 (43m 34s): Yeah. So we had a Vanji cube. It's a little block and it's kind of the size of Ruby. Cute Rubik's cube. Yeah. And it would fold out and had images on it. And we would share scriptures with each image and explain a story. And it took about five minutes to go through and share the gospel. Wow. And before I would even finish, they would be ready to accept Jesus. And so it's called the Vanji cube. Huh. 1 (43m 60s): So if so, so simplistic, but yet so powerful. 3 (44m 3s): Yeah. They were very receptive. I didn't have, people are just open to hearing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1 (44m 10s): So we talked earlier and that's, that kind of got a little pre privy information, but Y so you talked about the intentional spiritual warfare. So talk, we'll talk about a couple of things. Talk about the witchdoctors that you encountered and kind of the culture spiritually in that place. 3 (44m 29s): So which doctors are kind like their preacher, their religion is ancestral worship. They believe in spirits. And so they would consult a witch doctor and they would perform spells if they wanted a spell cast on somebody, they could do that. The witchdoctors very powerful. They would could cause illnesses, death, and very oppression. Oppressed. Dark. 1 (44m 58s): Yeah. So what about the gospel do you think? I mean, cause they, they're obviously part of a culture where there's just darkness and oppressive spiritual stuff going on. What, what, what about the simplicity of that five minute presentation spoke to, 3 (45m 12s): We spoke to two witchdoctors while I was there. They were receptive to the gospel. I was so nervous more than I am right now. And I just couldn't believe that she, it was two, two women which doctors and they were just receptive to the gospel and I was, yeah. 1 (45m 35s): Yeah. So I think part of what makes people receptive is just the preparation and the spirit realm. So talk about the hour, a day. Prayer that I believe is what prepares people to hear the gospel message. 3 (45m 53s): Yes. We would go in or they would wait, I didn't always do this, but they would wake up and pray for an hour at 3:00 AM or 4:00 AM. Wow. And, and also, yeah, it was just to break the demonic spirits, the plans of the enemy each night. Cause the darkness spirits operate in the dark realms of dark also dark. Yeah. 1 (46m 16s): Yeah, absolutely. So they would, they understanding the culture and the spiritual battle. We wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies, but against principalities and darkness. And so they understood something about that. I think we can learn from what they're doing and their culture and their lives. They recognize now spiritual darkness here looks different than spiritual darkness there in their culture, but it's spiritual darkness, all of the same. And so there are generational things that we need to break through. There are things that we need to pray through and ask God for grace and strength and opportunity to share the gospel. And so that's essentially what these guys are doing. They're saying, Hey, because the enemy has got authority where he's been given authority, he's, he's able to possess what he's been given to possess. 1 (47m 1s): And so we need to break all of that in the spiritual realm and there's too much to go into it today, but, but there's really something that needs to be addressed in the spiritual realm that opens people up to the gospel. And so when we do that spiritual battle, God has an opportunity. We have the opportunity to speak life and grace. And so as you spoke to the witch doctors and they, what does it mean that they were receptive or responsive? What 3 (47m 27s): Does that mean? They listened to everything and then they wanted to accept Jesus. And so they're going to have the pastor, the local pastor there in that village. It was a very rural area. It took us about three hours to get to wow. And driving on dirt roads doesn't even look like a road. Yeah. And so the pastor there is going to follow up with them. Okay, 1 (47m 49s): Good. Yeah. Very good. Good. Again. What was your highlight? The highlight of your experience there? Oh, 3 (47m 54s): Do you have any do make it, yeah, just to everything that God planned for me, I, I didn't really plan anything and I always had somewhere to sleep and ate better than I've ever eaten. Yeah. And what do they eat there? A lot of corn maze. Yeah. And, and organic everything's organic beef. Okay. The cattle walk around the streets and grazed it's green. So they just eat grass everywhere. Yeah. 1 (48m 25s): So then when it's time to eat, they grab one of those cows and that's it. Yeah. There we go. Okay. Good. Good, good. And you've got some pictures and so let's throw some, the first picture up here and you just kind of talk us through and walk us through. 3 (48m 38s): Yeah. So the first week I got to, we went to PA I was staying with pastor ZQ. So after Zimbabwe, I went up to, I went to South Africa, then Tanzania. So this is Tanzania. We went to pastor ZKO, who was my missionary family in Tanzania. This is his in-laws. We went to their house and stayed for a week. And we would also, we would go to the third church six days a week and pray for an hour at 6:00 AM. And, and then at night we would eat dinner together and then pray and have a teaching, a Bible study. And then we would sing songs and it was just very centered around God. 3 (49m 20s): That was my initial initiate first week there. So it was very, 1 (49m 24s): I'm kind of, I'm got to stuck at the thought of staying with my in-laws for a week. 3 (49m 29s): It wasn't like that. They were it's when you're it's you're always with family there. Yeah. And it's not like, okay, when are they going to leave? That's kinda how I felt like I, you know, but yeah, but they don't, their family is everything to them. Yeah. Yeah. 1 (49m 46s): So they, the a stay for together for a week, pray and worship and just enjoy life. Let's see, didn't know 3 (49m 51s): The next picture here. This is where we set up Jesus, a Jesus film. It's a projector stand and we can project a movie on to it. So we would show Jesus film and they could learn about who Jesus was. This is in rural, rural, a rural area village. And there's about 200 people there that showed up for this one. 1 (50m 11s): Talk about the speakers that draw the people. 3 (50m 12s): Yeah. The speakers is a very loud, they can amplify and reach about two, a mile, a mile away. Very they're very loud. And so people just hear and they come curious, what's what's going on. And then they'll just sit and watch and then out yes. In their language. Yeah. And then people would get saved afterwards and it was just very powerful. 1 (50m 35s): Yeah. So how many pastors equals the one that plants all the churches, right? Yeah. 3 (50m 38s): Zip pastor's EQL has been planting churches for 20 years. He's planted about 27 churches. Wow, 1 (50m 47s): Incredible. Yeah. And there just seems to be such a hunger there. What do you attribute the spiritual hunger to? 3 (50m 55s): They just, they don't have anything they don't have, they don't know where their provisions are coming from. So they depend on the Lord and they believe in God, but they don't know about Jesus. Many of them don't. Yeah. 1 (51m 7s): Tanzania. Okay. So when you present the gospel to them yes. Yeah. Wonder how transferable that is in this nation and our town and our neighborhood. What in your, with your experience there and knowing the culture here, what, what can, I mean, what can we do? Can we expect similar, I mean responses or what's it going to look like for us? 3 (51m 30s): Sure. To go into Africa or just for us in 1 (51m 33s): This ring light to our neighbors in our community here in Asia. 3 (51m 36s): Yeah. Definitely. I encourage where wherever you are. You know, I, I have a short story to share that I sharing the gospel. I try to share it wherever I go. Yeah. Whenever I have a couple of minutes and I had just chaired my, with my tax accountant guy. Yeah. On online, I said, do you know Jesus? He said, yes. You know, so something so simple as that taking a risk, you know? 1 (52m 1s): Yeah. Just bringing Jesus into the conversation or the story. I think it was a week or so ago, a guy just given his life to Jesus and it was trying to find a job. And so he was at a job place and he walks in and says, Hey, I've just rededicated my life to Jesus. And I'm trying to find a job I'm like, that is so bold. Right. I mean, it was so bold. And so the gal was a Christian as well. And so she was grateful to hear that, but I think we miss opportunities to bring Jesus into the conversation. That's what pastor Fred was talking about last week. And I went to lunch with pastor Fred and Pam last week. And sure enough, you shared the gospel with the cashier and that's just because I was there and he's trying to display it or anything, but it was just because that's who he was and that's who they are. 1 (52m 42s): So I think we've got missed opportunities all around us, if we'll just slow down, pay attention. And if you would go back 3 (52m 49s): So win. When we first heard about Jesus, somebody was bold enough to share with us. Yeah. Like me, I'd heard about Jesus before, but nobody really told me about the gospel. And so 2017, I met somebody who was bold enough and, and then got me. Yeah. Just kept pressing and saying, Hey, check, you know, look into this. Yeah. 1 (53m 12s): That's awesome. Yeah. The 3 (53m 14s): Next, next slide. Yeah. A lot of the kids there hadn't had never seen a white person before. So they were, these kids weren't scared, but many times little babies or kids, young kids would see me and they would cry because they would be scared. I had that same effect on people. So what are they doing here? They're just what's happening here. Yeah. We were just playing. I spent about a few hours. I was there in this village for three days and I spent about three hours with them just playing. 3 (53m 58s): And they were showing me all kinds of little games that are simple without you don't need anything, but like with rocks and just, just so simple, how, how they have fun. That's obviously without a PlayStation. That's awesome. This is the youth group at the church. That's to meiny, which means hope in Swahili. And he was very good with the kids. He also led the Jesus film. He's a pastor as equals assistant. Okay. Okay. Next slide. This is how they get around on motorcycle for people on the next slide. 3 (54m 40s): There's me with his granddaughter and or with the guy in the motorcycle. That's his granddaughter. Next slide. There's me with as pastor Zico watching Jesus film on my phone next. And there's, we're praying for a lady. Next slide. We're just going to go through these kind of fast because a time next, this is me sharing with the college students at a university and pastor ZKO prepared a message or a teaching on a drug and alcohol. Next slide. There's where Buendia is. 3 (55m 20s): That's where we went for our three day trip. And then we went up to another town called meiny meiny, which is a mining town. Gold. They have a lot of gold there. And the Hills it's about two hours from where I was staying. Next slide. They're singing God. There there's none other like you. And I just thought their, their voice is so beautiful. The way you could start it over. If you can Hmm. 3 (56m 3s): You could play it again. Akuna come away. Way God. There is no So this church is a church that is eco planted on a hill of granite, no roads, all trails. And they carry up the bricks to my hand. Wow. To build any the houses and churches. Next slide, please. 3 (56m 44s): This is the village. One of the side streets. There's 4 million people in this town. Next slide. This is a little market where they sell beans and goods. That's oil in the, in the bottles, cooking oil. Next. This is when we were sharing the gospel and we were just going around. 3 (57m 28s): So you could go next slide. Next. This is them praying. We prayed for an hour in church and they just walked back and forth and pray or some lay down and pray. So it's a month. It's January is a month of prayer. And, and to prepare the next slide. Yeah. On the, on the buses there, they have a glory to God and Jesus. Yeah. So very God is very real. And, and for those who have, have heard Jesus there display it everywhere. 3 (58m 13s): So what's next for you? I would like to go back to Africa after I finished the job at it. Out of Diablo canyon. Yeah. Yeah. And what's, what's the longterm plan. I would just like to get, get equipped, go to a Bible college and get equipped and go back out to Africa and wherever the Lord sends me. Yeah. Yeah. Huh. What's the biggest challenge about going to a place like that? For me, it was just finances. I, I really pastor Zeke hill, his biggest obstacle was finances. Yeah. For me it didn't, I didn't, it wasn't about, I don't need the money. 3 (58m 53s): Yeah. I'm going to work so I can help as equal out. And he is just such, such a big vision and dream for a, what he wants to see happen in Africa. And I think finances is the only thing that's the obstacle, right? Yeah. So we're just waiting on God's timing. Yeah. He's faithful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a theme running through what we're talking about and just your, your, your surrender and your trust and your faith and just your availability and all that, that 1 (59m 21s): Sort thing. And I think that is transferable to us as well, surrender faith availability, you know, to our point earlier obedience, and then just watch what God does with all of that raw material. Like you said, you know, we've, we feel like we need to be S we have certain gifts or talents or abilities, but God really just works best with the raw material of an obedient, faithful, willing person. So thanks for being that person. And thanks for sharing your story with us really, really appreciate you. I want to pray for you as we get ready to release you here, Lord. So Jesus, we just want to pray for Shane. We thank you for what you're doing in his life, Lord and God that he's available. 1 (1h 0m 4s): And it's just holding onto his life loosely, ready to go, where you would call him to go show us how to do that. Lord, not all of us are single and able to do, you know, at the drop of a hat, what Jane's been able to do. Lord, show us Lord in our contacts with our kids and grandkids and jobs and responsibilities. Lord, show us how to do what you've called us to do to live by faith Lord. So thank you for the opportunity to hear this story and to be a part of this man's life bless. And we pray in Jesus name. Amen.  Thank you, Jesus. The battle belongs to you. Thank you that you have gone before us. Thank you for the faith that we have in you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your protection. Thank you for salvation. Thank you that we get to be your hands and feet on, on this earth. God, and that the gospel gets to spread spread wide. We love you. Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

One Act of Obedience

0 (0s): Happy Sunday to you guys. Good to see you all. I'm filling in for Amanda. If you guys didn't know, she, she got married last week to, to Steven pastor. Steve is going to tell a story later about how him and his family want the dance off. Please don't believe him. He's lying. I was there. He doesn't dance as well as you think you can, but yeah. Excited to worship with you guys this morning. So let's let's think together. 2 (51s): Christ Jesus. Believe in the resurrection that we will arise. 2 (1m 34s): And And now we get that chance. 2 (8m 3s): The same swing wide. You heavenly gates is the people of the Lord enter into praise him. That's what we're here for this morning. Praise our Lord and savior. Let the praise go up as the walls. 2 (10m 42s): Oh, geez. Fred is king. 3 (11m 26s): We were waiting without hope without from him. There was You rose all of his breath to that. 3 (13m 46s): Stone was moved for good for land. And the dead was from there too. And just for the 4 (15m 46s): Got we bless you, Lord. Yes, Lord. We bless you, Lord. We love you, God. We're so grateful for your presence. Holy God, God fall fresh on us in a special and a profound, in a powerful way. We pray, Lord, we thank you God for your holiness. God, we thank you. God that you've imputed your righteousness. God you've made us the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, by your grace, Lord God, you filled us. You've overcome the world in us. God, you've obliterated the sin in our lives. Lord, God, we're so thankful. God, we invite you to continue that work of sanctification, that work of holiness, God that we would say yes and amen to everything that you want to do in our lives. Lord, God, we are so thankful for who you are. 4 (16m 28s): Jesus. So thankful. Holy spirit. Fill this place. We pray. Lord. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your grace. Thank you. 4 (17m 20s): Got for every, for every person gathered Lord, we just pray for got the touch that is needed. God, that you administer God, grace and healing and deliverance, encouragement. God that you would set people free today and welcome people into your kingdom. Lord God, the souls will be added to the kingdom as a result of this service Lord, this time of worship and prayer and time in the word and hearing testimonies, Lord God, we just want, we invite, you got to do supernaturally abundantly above everything that we might hope or imagining Christ Jesus, God, that we would just be surprised. 4 (18m 5s): And yet we shouldn't be surprised, but we will be surprised by your goodness, Lord God. So continue to surprise us and work in our lives in our church and God for every church that lifts up the name of Jesus here on the central coast here in this area, Lord, we just bless them. Lord, we bless them. We pray grace upon them. Lord God provision for them. God that the power of God would fall heavily and substantially Lord God and move wonderfully. So in the hearts and lives of our brothers and sisters and churches all over the central coast, Lord God, we bless your name, Lord God. We love you. We thank you for this time. Jesus, your name. We pray Lord. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. You may be seated. So we're going to do things just a little bit differently today. 4 (18m 47s): We're going to take communion up front before the service is preached. The sermon is preached. And so if you need elements, go and raise your hand. If you need communion elements, raise your hand. We have runners who will get those to you. So who are runners? We got runners. Good. Thank you. We might need another runner. We might need another runner. Levi. Why don't you do that? Once you be a runner Levi, you want to be a runner. Elements should be over there. There we go. And Jack thrown his brother under the bus. It's no fun. 4 (19m 28s): We're getting them. Keep your hands up. If you need them, keep your hands up. Here we go. Fourth, Sunday of the month we take him union remembering just the grace and the goodness of our savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. We've been singing about him all morning and we're going to celebrate him some more as we take in union. All right, did we get everybody? I think we got everybody. All right. Paul wrote in first Corinthians 1123 and following he says 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. 4 (20m 16s): 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 way for the bread. Thank you, Jesus. We remember Lord, we remember our desperate, desperate need for your grace. 4 (20m 58s): If you're here today and you've never accepted the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, but you know, you need it. I would just say, reach out, pray to the Lord. And he will come into your life. He will forgive your sins. If you simply say Jesus, I need you. I don't even know why I need you, but I know that I need you. I need you to come into my life and I need you to forgive. My sins. Need you to make me whole again, need you to guide and direct me to take over the leadership of my life. As you declare your heart to the Lord and the quietness of your own mind and hearts, God hears. And he responds and he, he runs to you as you run to him. So Lord, we just invite you to move today. And for those who have maybe been hesitant about accepting the grace and the mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I pray that today would be the day of salvation God, over all over this campus, Lord God. 4 (21m 49s): And for those who watch online, Lord God, we thank you, Lord. We thank you, Lord God, thank you for salvation. If you've received the grace message, the mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ and the blood of Christ has washed over your sins. And it's a peculiar, supernatural, wonderful thing that God does. We don't fully grasp it, but we can fully appreciate it and live in it. And so thank you Lord, for what you're doing. Thank you, Lord Verse 25, first Corinthians 11 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 (22m 45s): 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 these use God. We're so refreshed by your grace. It never gets old. The goodness of God, the grace of God, the patience and the forgiveness of God. 4 (23m 29s): It just never, ever gets old. And we never run out of need to have it Lord. And so we thank you that you are patient with us. She love us. Your grace is sufficient. Your love is unconditional. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Lord, help us to walk in the new life that we've been given and the power that we've been filled with with a grace that has washed over us. Lord, we love you, Lord. We bless you, Lord. Thank you for this time. And for the balance of this service we just gave you. We give you permission control authority. 4 (24m 12s): We asked for you to reign and rule Supreme in our space, all over the campus, online Lord in our hearts and in our lives. We pray. Thank you Lord, for your goodness. We love you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Now stand up and then meet somebody that you've never ever met before. And we'll come back and just a few minutes. 4 (26m 4s): And you met somebody new brand new. All right. So a third of a part of you did the job, right? Thank you for that. Welcome back. So my son and his wife are now married off. They've been married for a week and a day. So I tried to call my son yesterday just to check in on him, you know, right to voicemail, right to voicemail. So a few minutes later he texted me, Hey dad, everything. All right, what's up? I'm like, no, I'm good. I'm just checking in on you. He said, Hey dad, we're still in the honeymoon phase. So we're not taking phone calls. 4 (26m 44s): Like whatever, whatever do your thing while they're home now, they're home. Now. They went, they spent three nights in Cambria and then like four nights down in Palm Springs. And so they're back now. We had a wonderful time. And some of you, some of you may have heard of the dance off at the wedding. There's been a bit of a rumors going about, about this dance off. And so the, the tradition with the Coles, which is Amanda's family, they've married off for their, for their kids now I believe. And so every wedding, they have a choreographed dance and there's a dance off between the parents of the bride and the parents of the groom. So we got sucked into that. And, and so the results of the dance off, of course the Henrys killed it and we, they would tell you different, but we had a wonderful celebration last Saturday. 4 (27m 36s): It was just so, so good. So, Hey, remember to pray for our youth. There, there are 39 young people and six adults up leaders up in the mountains at a camp right now. I think there may be heading back today. So I remember God really supernaturally touching my life in junior high school is where I formerly gave my life. Formally, gave my life to the Lord and under Gary Tucker's leadership here and God's been faithful. So my prayer, every time youth go off is that they would just be slammed by God's goodness and filled with his presence and his spirit. And that God would do wonderful life changing life, altering things. And so life altering things alternating, probably not a word and altering things. 4 (28m 16s): So, Hey, today we've got a good friend of mine. Fred and Pam are they're here. They've been Fred and Pam, come on up for it. They've been in this area for in fact, Pam going to come up as well. These guys have been here since 2016. I remember the day that I met Fred at a pastor's gathering and we've been connected for the last 16 years. We met each other in Hawaii, a number of years ago and just connected there. And I was talking with Fred recently. I needed some counsel about some things. So I said, Hey, Fred, what do you think? And, and then we started talking and he wrote a book and he's going to tell you all about that. And the book really is about modern day heroes of faith. 4 (29m 2s): And we just went through the first half of Hebrews 11, talking about the heroes of faith. And next week I'll finish up Hebrews 11, finishing the stories there in Hebrews 11. But I thought in the middle, it would be a great idea just to have Fred come and share just 21st century stories about how God uses someone who's available just to do his work and his will to accomplish his plans and his purposes. So here we are, we've got Fred and Pam here. So I just want to pray over them, pray, blessing upon them. And why don't you extend your hand and just bless them. So Lord be blessed. These guys, we are so thankful for Fred and Pam Lord, and for who they are in this region. Lord, they love you. 4 (29m 42s): They've served you faithfully. And in this new season, a new life of ministry, we pray God that you would strengthen them, continue to give them clarity and vision and wisdom and open doors. We pray Lord open doors for a ministry all over the central coast, all over the state, all over the country and all over the world. Lord God. So we just pray blessing upon them. Bless this work. This book that has been written, pray that it would touch a million souls Lord. We wanted to touch a million souls, Lord God. So we just invite you to do that. Be glorified. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 5 (30m 30s): Well, we really love pastor Steve and Jolene, and they've been such good friends to us through all the years over here. We, we used to have a small group of pastors. We met for three years every week, getting together and this such a special, special time and really appreciate. And Hey, Hey, I was going to begin by telling you how great I was, but I decided not to waste your time and instead tell you about how great Jesus is, but I want to pray. And then the Lord has given me a word for someone here. 5 (31m 13s): And so let's just pray right now, father, we thank you again for the convenient. We just had celebrating what you did for us. We thank you for the power of the blood of Jesus and your body that was given so that we might be made whole. We thank you for that. We thank you. Holy spirit that you're here and we acknowledge you right now. Holy spirit, come on, everybody acknowledge him. He's right here in this room with us and holy spirit. There's some things you want to do. And some things you want to say, and we just submit to you and relinquish ourselves to you and have your way in our lives. Let my words be spirit in life to everyone that hears. I pray that in Jesus name. 5 (31m 53s): If you agree with that same man. Well, I got a word for this brother right here on the front row, in the middle. If we met before, okay. Would you stand up? What's your name? Noah. Noah. Well, there you go. I'm going to get in the boat with Noah. How about you Noah? I was just sitting over there and the Lord just highlighted you to me and gave me this verse of scripture for you. You may not be, you're probably not unfamiliar with it, but it's in found in second Chronicles, 16 verse nine. It says this. This is for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth. 5 (32m 38s): It says seeking to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is holy. His and the Lord said to me that you're that man, that the eyes of the Lord, I have been searching all over the earth and his eye is on you right now. And, and I just see, I don't know what that means that I know it's going to be powerful through your life. God's really going to use you because he's found a heart in you that just wants to be his heart. Is that right? You want his, your heart to be in his heart. So I want to pray for you, Noah father. I thank you for Noah. And I see that you've been through a lot of hurtful things in the past, but God says, forget those things. 5 (33m 23s): Let them go. Forget the past because there's a new day ahead for you. And it's a big day. It's a powerful day. And because he's found his heart in you, his heart is wholly yours. Your heart is holy his, I mean, and so Lord, I pray a blessing over him and I pray for an increase in his life. I prayed that for a whole new ability. As you read the word of God, it's going to open up to you. Like never before. It's going to be like, you're reading the Bible and God's going to be speaking directly to you over and over again through the word of God. I pray that in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's give Jesus a clap for that one. 5 (34m 9s): Well, today my assignment is to talk to you. Not, I guess I did write a book, actually. I wasn't planning on writing a book. It started in March of last year, this last year I was being interviewed on a national network and they were just interviewing me. And I was just sharing stories. And I kept talking about one act of obedience, one act of obedience. And the person that was interviewing me said, you gotta to write a book about this. And I thought, yeah, I should. And then as I realized, oh, it's really the Lord telling me to write this book. 5 (34m 53s): So I began to write and it just flowed. It was just like easy to write and I'm writing the book and then I'm thinking, well, I'm going to publish this book. I have a daughter in Berkeley who is a novelist. So she's published some novels and so on, but I'm like, okay, how am I supposed to publish my book? And then I, all of a sudden, I come across an advertisement from Trinity broadcasting network TBN saying they looking for new authors and especially if it had to do with evangelism. And so I called him on the phone and I said, Hey, I'm writing this book. And they said, well, you know, we don't know if we want to publish your book or not, but send us a couple chapters and we'll get back to you. 5 (35m 34s): So I sent him a couple chapters and seven days later, they called me and said, we want to publish her book. And so it just went off to the publishing company just this week. Actually I was waiting to get acknowledgements, but pastor Steve wouldn't acknowledge me, but I'm like, okay, I'm sending it in anyhow. Now I'm just kidding. And so, and so it's off and the title of the book, I'm kind of debating there. I titled it one simple act of obedience, but the really the phrase God gave me was one act of obedience. And I'll show you where it came from. It's found in it's going to be on the screen here in Romans five verse 19, Romans five verse 19. 5 (36m 18s): Notice this, it says as by the one man's disobedience talking about Adam many were made sinners. So by the one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. Now the one man, some versions do it different. You know, the man is talking about Jesus through the disobedience of Adam. We all became sinners. We're not sinners because we sin. We sin because we were born into sin. Right, right. No, just checking. Okay. And, and so, but then it says through one man's obedience, which is Jesus, perfect obedience, many will be made righteous, but I got caught with the phrase one active obedience. 5 (37m 2s): I saw, you know, how many of you think we might be living in the last days? Three people. Okay. The rest of you are in for a surprise. Okay. And, and so the question should be for every one of us, what should I be doing? What should I be doing? Well, I don't think we even have to wait for the last days to know what to do, but what should I be doing for sure right now? And so my wife and I were in Israel in 2017 and it was, I've been in I've ministered in 41 different countries, but I'd never been to Israel. 5 (37m 42s): So we were in Israel. And while we were there, kind of give you a little background here. We had, we were just turning our church over to a young guy. And so we were stepping out of being pastors. We were pastors for 32 years and I traveled in ministry for a number of years, been in full-time ministry, whatever you want to call it for forty one forty two years. But we're in Israel. And while we were there, God said, I want you to call your ministry, that what you're going to do now, as you go ministries, as you go ministries now share kind of how that came about. 5 (38m 23s): And so I came back from Israel and while I was there, it's just like, if you've ever been to Israel, the land speaks to you wherever you go. It's just, you hear the voice of God speaking to you over and over and over again. And so I came back and I had a renewed desire to study Matthew 24. Now Matthew 24. How many of you ever read Matthew? 24, same three people. Okay. Now at the 24 is where Jesus disciples ask him, tell us what the signs of the end times will be before you come back, tell us the science. So you've probably, most of us here have heard this. 5 (39m 5s): Well, there'll be wars. Oh my gosh. And rumors of wars, there'll be earthquakes. Just had one yesterday. Bank-to-bank went all the way around the world. There was an earthquake that happened in multiple places around the world. There will be pestilence or sickness and diseases that will come. There will be, it says, people will hate one another. Don't look at anybody right now. People will hate one another. And here's another one. The science many will be offended. Come on. I'm about to offend you today. So you might as well get ready to forgive me ahead of time. 5 (39m 47s): May have you ever seen, at least in my lifetime, I'd never seen anything like how many people are so easily offended today. No matter what you say, you know, that offends me well, get over it, grow up, stop it. And so, and then Jesus, here's the last sign, this numbers at the end of the list, here's all the signs that are going to happen. And then he gives one more sign. And here's what it is going to be on the screen here, Matthew 24 14, Jesus said this and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations. 5 (40m 32s): And then the end will come. You all see that? And then so we're like, okay, what? We got the wars, we've got the rumors of wars. We got the sickness, we got the hating, one another, we got the people being persecuted. We got all these things happening, but the one thing that's going to end it all is going to be this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the nations and then the end will come. So I just got arrested. I come back from Israel and I'm just looking at Matthew 24. And I just landed on this verse, like God said, this is this. You got to get this. 5 (41m 12s): So, you know, throughout my history with the Lord, I've been, I got saved in 1970 on the side of the mountain and lake Tahoe, Nevada. I was a hippie drug addict and just had a sovereign encounter with the Lord. But all, you know, and by the way, do I have any ex hippies here? Any ex hippies? Okay. I got a couple of us hippie Christians when we got saved in 1970, we heard about this book came out called the late great planet earth, my hell, Lindsey. It was all about that. The rapture was about to come. So we were fixated on the end times I knew I was going to be raptured at any moment. I was afraid. 5 (41m 52s): I didn't know if I felt anything, got to shaking her though. I hope here we go. We're out of here. And, and so we were because of that, we were desperate about getting people saved. We believed that Jesus was coming back. We're going to be raptured and so on. And so throughout my years, as a pastor seems strange to me. I don't know if you do this, Steve, that I keep having to come back and to the gospel and say, do I really understand the gospel? And to keep asking my, I have to go back and say, okay, do I really get it? And so here in this passage, Jesus says the major sign of my coming back is that this gospel, not just any gospel of the kingdom, everybody say of the kingdom, this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed or preached in all the nations. 5 (42m 49s): And then the end will come. So I'm focusing on that and I'm like, okay, I got to get this Lord. What is the gospel of the kingdom? And the Lord led me to another passage, which is found, we're going to put it on the screen here in Matthew 10 verses seven, eight. So we might Pam and I have a ministry, the name of our ministry, what we're still, we still are, are part of our church. We turned our church over to a young guy three years ago and the church has moved to, to Santa Maria. It's exploded. We're there every week. I tell you, I didn't tell you this, but I think I told you this, you know, we have nine speakers that rotate at our church nine. 5 (43m 35s): I was talking to the pastor today. He only preached once this last month, we were like, we'll get back to you for a password right now. We're preaching and both men and women. And it's awesome. Anyhow, I don't know why I went there, but anyhow, so this gospel of the kingdom. So I had to go back and say, well, what is the gospel of the kingdom? And it's found in Matthew chapter 10, verses seven and eight. So Jesus is now assigning his disciples to go out and preach the gospel y'all with me. And so here's what he says. He says, and this is the name of our ministry. 5 (44m 17s): And as you go like, whoa, okay, as you go proclaim, the kingdom of heaven is at hand heal. The sick cleanse, the lepers raise the dead cast out demons freely you ever received freely give. And so my understanding of the gospel of the kingdom is that is, it is a show and tell, gospel a show and tell it's not just words, although words are important. I, I hear people quoting this quote all the time and I, it makes me angry actually, just to be honest with you, they're saying, you know, by all means, preach the gospel and if necessary use words, okay, that sounds really spiritual, but it's totally wrong. 5 (45m 2s): Totally unbiblical because the gospel is words. And then they say St. Francis of Assisi said it. And the fact is, he didn't say it. I don't know who said it, but they needed an, I do know who said it was actually a writer back in the early 19 hundreds here in America. And he was just telling Christians, you ought to act like Christians. And, and so that the gospel of the kingdom is a demonstration of the reality of the react resurrection of Jesus and the power of Jesus being manifest with the preaching of the word of God, of the declaration, that there is a kingdom and it's Jesus' kingdom, the God who was raised from the dead who's alive right now. 5 (45m 46s): And, and so, so I, you know, I'm just honing in on that. And, and then I began to kind of, when I started getting into this book, I realized that's kind of what God's been doing with me for many, many years. I began, I would demonstrate the kingdom. Not that I, although were sent out to, to do that. And I would demonstrate the kingdom and then see people get saved at the encounter they would have with Jesus. And it came in all different forms and different ways. And so on. Now, one of the things, this is last verse, I'm going to share as I just want to share some stories with you. So as I talk to Christians, let me back up here. 5 (46m 31s): Let me just tell you what's wrong in America. They may come on CNN, Fox news. Everybody's telling you what's wrong when America that I'm going to tell you the truth what's wrong in America is the, is the average Christian, whatever that means stopped sharing Jesus with people in America. We would not be in the situation we're in right now because the enemy saw the open door. The enemy saw, okay, the church is backing off. So I'm moving in and Hey, you know what? The first service told me that you guys were there like the on fire ones. 5 (47m 14s): I was just wanting to double check here. And so we it's actually possible for a Christian to get saved, born again, go through their whole life die and never share Jesus with anybody else. So God, when he says what's wrong with a nation, he says this in second Chronicles, seven 14. If my people that are called by my name will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will heal their land and I will forget. So the problem in America is not the leftist or the rightest or the, any of that. It's the church it's us. 5 (47m 55s): We've got the answer. America was founded to be actually a nation that would be a Christian nation. And somehow I'm not, I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about all those other Christians out there. Somehow we have lost our way and for God about our responsibility to represent Jesus every day in our lives. So let me, so I was talking to one of my past friends years ago, and he's been a missionary in difference of the world and all this. And so we're talking on the phone just a week ago. And I was just talking about this thing about sharing Jesus with people and so on. He says, well, you know, I'm really not called to be an evangelist. 5 (48m 39s): And I'm like, what is, yeah, that's not my gift. I said, well, wait a minute, let's stop here. I totally disagree with you. Yes. You're not called to be an evangelist, but second Corinthians, let's put it on the screen. Chapter five verses 18 through 20 says this. And God has given who, okay. Turn to your neighbor and say, we as us, God has given us, ask us the task of reconciling people to him for God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. 5 (49m 20s): And here it is, again, case we didn't get the first one. He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation, this the gospel. So we are Christ ambassadors. God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ. When we plead, come back to God. Now, I don't know if you know this, I'm assuming you do. I'm trying to assume some things here. You know that the Bible tells us in Genesis chapter one, that all people were created in the image of God, in the image of God, they were created both male and female and God gave them dominion in the earth. 5 (50m 3s): So God's original intention was to have a people that represented him on the year. Ambassadors. An ambassador is someone that represents their country and they have authority and they have a responsibility to represent their country in a foreign land. In case you haven't checked lately, we're in a foreign land. If you're a born again, Christian, you're not of world. Come on, you are on another kingdom. We come from God's kingdom. We've been born into a completely new species of people. You know what I discovered the other day. Now you're even a while back that I believe in aliens. 5 (50m 47s): I pastor, if you taught on aliens, I hope you have. I believe in aliens. It's just that I believe that we are the aliens. We're not of this world. We're here to represent the kingdom of God wherever we go every day, come on and go tell your neighbor. Did you know I was an alien? And so understanding that then I, so in, as God gave us this ministry, as you go proclaim, the kingdom of God is at hand heal. The sick cleanse leper cast out demons, raise the dead freely, received freely. Give as God gave us that, I realized that what then God said to me, I want you to activate in America, 1 million Christians in lifestyle Christianity. 5 (51m 40s): Now, what do I mean by lifestyle Christianity? It's not going to church on Sunday. It's representing Jesus on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday. And yes, on Sunday, we are to a lifestyle. Christianity is Jesus is my life. Watch Bernie. If you've ever read any of his books, somebody asked him to define what a Christian is. And he says a Christian he's is Galatians two 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 5 (52m 23s): A Christian is Christ. Living his life through my life are y'all with me. It's like, we can come to church for this. Yes you did. So what does that look like? So my book is simply a 22 chapters of stories of how that's happened through my life. Not that I've been perfect. I've messed up. I missed it. I missed all divine opportunities, all that. I don't want to paint myself as anything, but I'll just give you a couple of examples. How am I doing on time? 5 (53m 3s): Okay. I got another hour. Is that what it's okay. All right. Well, they didn't say that in the first service who give me five minutes, raise your hand. 5, 10, 15, 20. So just what happened to me. So it's not about me. It's about, so my goal is in this book, what I mean activate is that I want to get 1 million Christians in America who will do acts of obedience. They'll do acts of obedience. And the thing the Lord showed me is that it says through one man's active obedience, many will be made righteous through your act of obedience. 5 (53m 50s): It's going to make somebody else righteous. Come on. So well, are you telling me to go door to door and witness? No. Unless God tells you to do that. When I am telling you to do is to obey the holy spirit. Oh baby. I'll look for the opportunity. I'll explain all that. So let me give you an example. So I get saved. I know before I got saved, when I was in high school, before I was in high school, when I was a little kid, we had this neighbor friend, Amy Piedmont. She was the wildest one. She could have outdanced pastor Steve. She was the wildest woman in our neighborhood. She could, she could drink bourbon, smoke a cigar and Gantz all at the same time. 5 (54m 31s): That was wild back then. And my mom came home. They were friends with my mom and dad, and she came home one night, one day. And she said to me that Amy is no fun anymore. She's got religion, which was my mom's interpretation of Amy got saved. So I didn't think anything about it until I was in high school. Freshman year, I'm walking to school and I made the mistake. I thought of walking down Amy street, I'm walking down the street as I'm going past her house. Eight o'clock in the morning. Amy walks out of her house, walked into the middle of the street, grabs me by the arm. And she's trying to put some little booklet in my hand telling me I need God. And I looked at her and I shook her off and I ran down the street and I yelled back. 5 (55m 17s): Amy, you're a fanatic. And I determined to never go down Aimee street ever again. And I never did until at the age of 22. And I had an encounter with God on the side of a mountain. I got born again, folks, I got saved and I lost all my friends. I was part of a commune. Somebody, you don't know what that means. But then I was hippie drug addict that blah, blah, blah. And I get saved. And I lose all my hippie friends. They think he's had this God encounter. It's weird and stay away from him. And so I didn't know who to talk to. And then I remembered Amy Piedmont went over her house, knocked on the door. 5 (55m 58s): She comes to the door here. I am standing with buckskin clothes beads, you know, and I have a new added attraction. I'm wearing a big wooden cross hanging around my neck. And I said, hi, Amy. I'm a fanatic too. And she got a, took two steps back and count, looked up, looked me up and down. She will come in here and tell me about this. So I shared with her and she just started balling. She says, Fred been, you've been born again. You've you've encountered Jesus. And she became my mentor for the next six months. I was over her house every day after work. And she would pray with me. She would teach me, she would show me things in the Bible and so on. I'm totally indebted to an Amy Piedmont who did one act of obedience, like coming out on the street, taking that risk of being rejected, not caring about that. 5 (56m 49s): Loving me enough to risk her time, risk her life, risk her rejection to tell me that I needed Jesus in my life. I only had three people like that in my entire life that ever did that kind of thing. And so what we need is more Amy Piedmont's right. We need to realize that you are the supernatural answer to your neighbor's condition right now. She does. Jesus said this. He said, he said, the harvest is what harvest is not that good. No, he said the harvest is ripe. 5 (57m 29s): But the problem is there's few workers. There's not many workers willing to, to represent the kingdom of God. And so I'm on a mission. We're on a mission to activate people. And so you guys are the first victims this week and to activate us. So let me just tell you a couple more stories here. This one. So I have lots of these special, Steve would tell you I got a boatload of these, but so this happened several years ago. I was, I was in Wisconsin and I was teaching in churches and stuff in Wisconsin. And I was going to have went back to the airport in Milwaukee to go home. 5 (58m 12s): And it was only going to have like a couple of days at home. And then I had a fly out again and so on. So I get to the airport and the fog comes in and they keep announcing the plane is delayed till 12 o'clock the plane is delayed till two. O'clock the plane's delayed to four o'clock. So I started getting the idea that the plane isn't going anywhere. So I went to the counter and I just said, Hey, let's be honest here. We're not flying out of here today. Right? They go, right. I said, well, listen, I know what's going to happen. Everybody's going to be looking for a hotel room, get me a hotel. And so I went and stayed in a hotel and I was mad. I was angry with God. I was kicking the walls literally. 5 (58m 53s): And like, God, I only had a couple of days home. And now I'm stuck here in Milwaukee and I want to go home. And I, this is not fair God. And so, you know, I had my little tantrum and got over it, but so the next day I go to the airport, they start the same thing over again. Well, the flights written, I'm like, oh no. And then they go, okay, the fog is lifting. We're going to fly on like, oh, LA loo. And so I'm just so excited. I'm going to get to go home. And so I go get on the plane and I just go to my seat. I'm like, I'm so happy because I get to go home. And so I'm sitting there and there's nobody sitting next to me. 5 (59m 34s): And I happened to, you know, when you fly a lot, you look down the island, you just observed people coming in. Well, this big old guy comes in, looks like Paul Bunyan. You know, he's got the beard. He's just a huge guy, six foot seven. I don't know what and big and he's drunk. And he's literally banging his way down the aisle, bumping into people and talking really loud. And I'm watching this guy. And I think, man, I feel sorry for whoever that guy sitting next to him. Now you got it already. It was me. So he comes in, he gets on the plane. He sits next to me and I literally looking up at him and he turns around, he goes, I want to talk. 5 (1h 0m 18s): I'm like, oh. So he proceeds to tell me what a mean guy. He is, how he's beats up people. And he's talking about all this stuff. And he, he caught his wife at a bar with was, was there with two other guys. And he's telling me, I knocked one guy out with a cue ball, the other guy through the plate, glass window in the front of the bar. And he says, he's just going on and on about what a mean mad, terrible guy he is. And so I'm sitting there and his name is bill. And as he's going along, I said, well, bill, why are you in here in Milwaukee? And I sure heard a little crack in his voice. And he says, well, I'm my nephew got ahold of me and said, you know, uncle, bill, are you ever going to come and go fishing with me or something like that. 5 (1h 1m 3s): So I heard this little crack crack. And then, so then I'm sitting there. And then I think, I think I got to confront this guy. And so I turned to bill and I put my finger right in his chest. And I'm thinking I'm not ever going to see this finger again. I said, I said, bill, you need Jesus. And to my shock, I'm getting ready to like get pummeled. He breaks down and starts balling. And he said, you know, there's this guy at work. And he's been talking to me about Jesus. And, and he gave me a Bible and I've been reading this Bible and all that stuff. 5 (1h 1m 47s): And right there on that plane bill gets born again, received Jesus as his savior. And he, we get to the airport and Kansas city is where we're going to, we get there. He grabs me because my mom's coming here. He's razzing KV, mom, mom, look at this preacher guy, man. He just blessed me to Jesus. You know, he's all changes. He's got, she's shiny. And he's doing all this stuff. Now. Here's the significant thing about that. God changed the weather. God changed my schedule because of one person that he wanted to bring into the kingdom of God. 5 (1h 2m 27s): It was. Then I began to understand, whoa, this is a bigger deal than we ever thought about. God will move mountains for one person, but we've got to be on the move. We've gotta be what Isaiah one 19 says, willing and obedient so we can eat the good of the land now. So again, I have lots of these stories, but let me move forward. And I'll just tell you a current story I shared in the first service. So Pam and I, we lived in Nepal for the whole time. We've been here since 2006 and then three years ago, we bought a town home in Santa Maria and we moved to Santa Maria. All my Navajo people said, no, you don't want to go to Santa Maria. 5 (1h 3m 8s): It's a terrible place. You don't want to go there. And, but we've kept feeling God want us to go there. And by the way, eventually our church, we were pastoring moved to Santa Maria is now within a mile of where we live. And just so God set it all up. So anyhow, so we moved to this condo and then a little while after we're there, this young couple moves in next door with the adjoining wall on the other side of our are not Nakano, but townhome. And so, okay, great. This is exciting. We got this young couple moving in. The only, only issue was that they really liked music. I mean, they really liked music. 5 (1h 3m 48s): They liked for everybody in the whole block to like their music and we've got the adjoining wall and especially their base. And so I would be trying to take a nap, but the bed is vibrating from the base. You know what you call it, waves coming through the wall and everything. And then I thought, oh man, I'm going to have to say something. So having met him yet. So I go over, knock on the door, the young husband comes into the door and I said, Hey, welcome to the neighborhood. But I I'm not enjoying your music. Might as quite as much as you, I didn't say it that way. But I just said, would you mind turning the music down, which they did? 5 (1h 4m 28s): And they have was great. Especially when I had my gun strapped to my side of us. I knew that they would comply. I'm just kidding. So some time goes by and then I pull, our drivers are right next to each other. So I pull in one day and there's an older man standing in the driveway at which I later find out is the, is the young man's father. And he's got a brace on his knee. And so I get out of the car, I see him. And I go, I just yell across the driveways. Hey, what happened to your knee? He said, oh, I've blown my knee next week. I'm going in. And I'm having an operation on my knee. 5 (1h 5m 8s): And I said, well, how about if I just come and pray for you right now? And he's like, sure. So I go over into his driveway. I kneeled in front of the guy and I grabbed his knee and I just began to speak healing into his knee. Don't see anything dramatic happen. And that was it. So then I went on into my house and so a couple of weeks later, I see him, he's there in the driveway. Again, it doesn't have the brace on. I said, well, what, tell me, how's your knee doing? He says, oh, I went to get the surgery. And they said, you don't need any surgery. And he's fine. I'm like, cool, thank you, Jesus. 5 (1h 5m 50s): And so then period of time goes by. And now we're in 2020 during the beginning of the COVID situation, I was around November, something like that. I get a knock on my door. I go to the door and it's the, it's the son. And he's standing there and he goes, Hey, can I borrow an egg? I'm like, sure. I'll give you two. And so I go in and get a couple eggs and, and so I go out, I give them the eggs and he goes, well, he says really what it is. I need you to pray for me. He said, I've been in bed for over a month in depression. Cause I lost my job and all this and I don't know what to do. 5 (1h 6m 32s): And so I just put my arm around him and said, Hey, just like a dad would, you're going to be okay. This is no big deal. Yeah. We have things that happened, but you're going to be all right. And all that. He looks at me. He says, you don't tear in his eyes. He goes, you don't understand. God made me come over here for you to pray for me. And so no problem. I said, I got faith for jobs. And so I just laid hands on him. And I prayed that God would give him a great job and blah, blah, blah, blah. I didn't see him again for like three weeks. So three weeks later I see him and he, and he goes, I go, Hey, how you doing? Oh, he says, I'm so sorry. 5 (1h 7m 12s): I didn't tell you. He said the very next day I got offered three major jobs that I didn't even apply for. And I took them. I'm doing great. They even started paying me ahead to take care of us for this job. I'm like, cool. Then we'd come up to again, 2020. And we come up to December and here it is right at Christmas time again, another knock on the door. Here's the dad and the son standing at the door with a big gift basket and they go, Hey, we just, we just wanted to come over and give you this. We don't do this for anybody else, but we love you. 5 (1h 7m 53s): Now. They're coming to our church. Come on. And so you know, this, those are just a couple of examples and there's, and you, you gotta understand you're the miracle that then is waiting to happen for the people that around you. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as what I'm talking about. I threw some fairly dramatic ones out there. It could be a text. It could be I'm praying for you. Or it could be give them a little money. You're standing at the gas pump. Hey, can I buy your gas and all kinds of ways. But the key is one act of obedience. 5 (1h 8m 37s): You just obey. Now you say, well, as soon as God talks to me, I'll all day. Well, he doesn't have to talk to you. You can just be moved with compassion. I was in, I walked my neighborhood and pray over everybody there. And the other day I'm walking on and there's a lady in her garage and I noticed that she has a brace on her knee. So I thought, well, I don't want to like yell at, I'll take another lap around and I'll come back around. She's still there. I'll come back around. And she's still standing there and I go, Hey, killed this lady in her garage. Hey, what's wrong with your leg? She goes, I have cancer knowing that this has been the worst year of my life. This year, my parents died. My son died. 5 (1h 9m 17s): And they told me I had cancer. I said, well, can I pray for you? She said, yeah. So I laid hands on her. The next week. She went to LA for special clinic to get some tests done on her cancer and all that. So I didn't see her for a couple a week or so. And I see her and I said, Hey, how are you doing? She said, they tell me I don't have any cancer. So God's just looking for us. You don't have to have, I didn't have God speak to me. You ought to talk to that lady. I was just moved by compassion, seeing her situation, by the way, that's how God talks to us. Many times. He just moves our heart with compassion. So I want to end with this. I want to give you some simple steps that will help you to begin to activate one act of obedience through your life. 5 (1h 10m 2s): Here. They are there on the screen. Number one, acknowledge that it is our responsibility to demonstrate the kingdom of God. You don't have to be an evangelist. If you're a Christian and by a Christian, I mean, you have God living in you. It's your responsibility. It's my responsibility to demonstrate the kingdom of God. Number two, ask the Lord to fill you with love. For the lost gave you a heart for the loss. Number three, stay filled with the holy spirit. Ephesians chapter five says we are to be being filled with the spirit, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart for the Lord. 5 (1h 10m 43s): So it isn't just a one-time lay. I got baptized in the holy spirit or filled the holy spirit back in 1972. Now I need the holy spirit every day. I need to get filled. Why? Cause we all leak, right? We got to get refilled because it's really the holy spirit working through you. That's what's happening. Number four, present your body. This is Romans 12 one. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body, right? Present your body, a living and holy sacrifice. God's not looking for dead people. He's looking for live people. One of my chapters, as I mentioned in the first service is the title is God wants your bod. 5 (1h 11m 26s): God wants your bod. Well, I gave him my money on Sunday. I gave him like, you know, an hour and 15 minutes on Sunday. I mean, c'mon no, he wants your body on Monday and on Tuesday on Wednesday and Thursday. And so on. God wants your body ever five walk around with the eyes of your heart open. We've got to break out of this. My world, my bubble, all I see is what's happening with me and we need to lift up. Jesus said, lift up your eyes and see the harvest is ripe, right? To told his disciples that twice, lift up your eyes and see the harvest is ripe. So we just need to walk through life with our eyes open and look around us. 5 (1h 12m 8s): There's plenty of need out there right now. Let me just tell you the harvest is super ripe right now. People are desperate for someone that will just look at him and say, you know what? You're going to be okay. I believe in you. I believe God's going to do something great in your life and you don't have to just go in there and blast them with the gospel necessarily. You're going to get to that, but you're you just want to approach them and say, how are you doing? Tell me your story. What's going on in your life. And then listen for the need and say, can I just pray for you right now? Number 6, 5, 6, be willing to take faith risks. So somebody said one time, how do you spell faith? 5 (1h 12m 50s): It's spelled R I S K. Faith is a risk. And you, you and I, if we're going to see God got by the way God works through moving objects, not through objects that are like, I'm immovable. I'm just going to heal. If God wants me, I'll be watching TV. He can get ahold of me. Now. He works through moving objects as we're w when we see the opportunity or there's a line in front of us. And on this side of the line, we're afraid, or I don't know what to say here, or I don't want to do it, or I don't want to take the time, or I don't feel like it right now, Lord. But if we'll step across the line, his grace will come upon us and his power will become off on us. 5 (1h 13m 32s): And we'll become a different kind of person. We'll be, we'll have a boldness we didn't know before. So let's all stand. I want to just end with this. I want to pray over us. I hope this message was convicting. If it isn't, then I'm in the right church. Come on. Then we need to get this message out to everybody else that needs to hear this message, right? That's all. I want to pray for us and pray for myself. You know, I just want to, you know, the Bible says we're to redeem the time for the days are evil. What is redeem timing? It means bringing natural time into time. 5 (1h 14m 13s): It breeds to bring natural time into kingdom time. It means it means to buy the word actually means to buy time, to buy back time. And so, I don't know how many years you have. I dunno how many years I have left, but I want to make sure I'm using the, doing the best use of the time while I have on this planet are y'all with me. How many of you say I'm in for that? Listen, if you're over 60 or 70, you're like, I'd better be into that. So father, I'm going to pray for you. If you want to receive prayer, just lift your hands to the Lord right now, father, I thank you for the precious people of harvest church, saints, people that know you and want to make you known God. 5 (1h 14m 58s): I pray for just your word says when we come together in Hebrews chapter 10, where to stimulate one another, stir up one another into love and good deeds. God, I pray for a whole new level of divine appointments. I pray for a whole new level of acts of obedience to be released upon the people of harvest church. I pray for a grace. I pray for a power of the holy spirit to come upon them. And they're going to have a new level of boldness and confidence, and they're going to be miracle workers. Lord, I decree that over them in the name of Jesus. If you receive that, say, amen, let's say you a shout. Amen. 0 (1h 15m 42s): And then what guys as we finish up this morning. Yeah, I left my phone over there and there was a thing I was going to have on my phone. There was deep and moving. I can't remember it now, but we did this, this, this, some we're going to finish with this morning is called fresh wind. And it was, you know, several relatable to what Fred was saying earlier. But the way that, you know, the worship pastors who wrote it when they were saying is they really feel like there is a time right now, I'm just in a world in our country that we're just dying, where we're calling out for this, this loyalty of the holy spirit in this new kind of wave of his presence, just to fall upon us. That's what this song is about. It's, you know, asking and it's declaring like, Lord, give us a fresh wind. 0 (1h 16m 23s): Give us a new, exciting opportunity to, to just to worship you. It's honor to have you in our, in our midst. So just think of that. As we, as we sing this out, as we worship to, to close up on 3 (1h 16m 55s): , As we repent and turn from sin revival And see 0 (1h 21m 37s): Father. That is our, not our prayer this morning that you would just pour your spirit out. Father, Lord, be with us as we, as we leave this place and go back into this as well, father, that would lead change. Lord, just knowing that we have just encountered the true and living, God has placed this morning. Lord Jesus, that we would go out into this are an unbelieving world largest as believers seeking to just enter your kingdom in this place. But the, you would just blow through this nation Lord low through this state, through this town father, the people who were once far from the Lord, which are close to you. 0 (1h 22m 18s): Jesus, we thank you. Thank you that you are a God of miracles. You are a God who wants to fill us father and Lord see your work and your kingdom. Come in this place. Jesus, on how fast you seek to further your kingdom. We thank you, Lord. Thank you for this time. Let me thank you just for, for a touch of heaven. They were able to experience this load. We just, we lift these things off and we give you thanks father, and your precious, precious name. Amen.

Living by Faith Between the Shadow and the Cloud

0 (0s): And I'm so excited to worship with you all this morning. I'm in Psalm 104, the where it says I were to enter his gates with Thanksgiving and enter his courts with praise. So I want to take a moment and let's just, let's just thank God for what he's doing in our, in our, in our lives. Whether it's big or small, just 2 (4m 49s): and call. They fall to our lives. All the, all the things we did at first, you're clearing out your cleaning out We are your people. 2 (5m 27s): You see all the nation call to pray. 2 (6m 52s): 1 (7m 9s): Your 2 (7m 9s): Hearts. Oh Lord. Our shepherd. You to all things. 2 (8m 51s): We come in. We're not, oh God, we need your service. come in. Not walking. God, we need me servant. God, we need reserves. 2 (11m 18s): So we re surrender your car. We're coming or not. We're running that. We need research. We research. 1 (12m 1s): I see. 2 (12m 3s): When I lock eyes with 1 (12m 5s): You, I feel you. 2 (12m 10s): I love to get 1 (12m 14s): Your, 2 (12m 15s): My obsession when I log. 1 (12m 28s): I see . 2 (13m 56s): I see 1 (13m 57s): I don't care. 1 (15m 22s): I don't care what it does. 1 (15m 26s): is you just, you just, 0 (17m 14s): Yes, Lord. Let that be our prayer and our worship this morning. We just love you, Lord. We want more of you and always sees all we need is your all we need to in this life, you you're you're you provide every extra thing that we ever could need in Florida. Your provider, your, You are a salvation. You are a God. We worship you. Jesus. 1 (17m 59s): Thank you, Lord Jesus in Jesus name. Amen. 3 (18m 9s): All right. Good morning. Harvest church. I am. My name is Jeremy. I'm normally the announcement guy, but this week I get to bring the word, be the, bring the word guy I got promoted. Hey, I could definitely use your prayer, huge prayer requests. Next weekend. I'll be trapped on a bus with 39 youth headed up to the mountains. Now the youth group is next week is headed. Next weekend is headed to Heartland Christian camp, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or rented a 48 passenger bus. We got 39 students going six liters, be praying for us that the goddess just, just reaches those students. 3 (18m 55s): During that time up there, it's a really neat testimony is one of the junior high boys that's going. His dad went to Heartland Christian camp when he was in junior high and gave his Lord to give his life to Lord at that camp. So it's going to be a special time. We're really looking forward to it. Been planning for months. So it's, it's, it's really neat to see the fruit of that coming out. We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11 this morning. Steve's let me pick up right where he left off. I feel like the bases are loaded in a, in a sense. Everybody knows chapter 11, the hall of faith. So I'm going to bring, do my best to bring the word this morning, but let me geek out with you on a few things. 3 (19m 37s): I I'm a nerd. Okay. I used to be more of a math and science nerd, but lately it's been more literature nerd. I love these chapters. I love the word of God. I've grown in my just love of English, literature, poetry. And so let me just geek out first for a second with you. The word Smith there's wordsmithing that goes on in Hebrews is phenomenal. We know that it's God breathed. It's inspired by the holy spirit. God does use these authors to write this, but if you go back, think back really quickly to Jen, sorry. See Hebrews chapter 10. It starts out this way. Verse one for the law, having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things that the law, the old Testament was a shadow of things to come. 3 (20m 30s): And so I think we read through that so quickly. We just think, oh yeah. Shadow. Okay. Yeah. Think about it for a second. You're out on a sunny day. Not now because it's cloudy, but John was saying, Hey, and you look down and you don't see a shadow either it's noon and the shot, the sun is directly overhead or something's wrong, right. That shadowed. But that shadows are always following us around. And yet there, they don't have an actual substance. It's an outline of our, our bodies that are laid out depending on whatever the sun is. But you can deduce a few things from a shadow. If you, if you went outside and just walk up strangely behind somebody and look at their shadow, but don't actually look at who it is. 3 (21m 13s): You might be able to figure it out by their shadow, who it is. Especially if you know a few people around here, you might be able to do this, but it doesn't give their exact skin eye, hair color. There's no, all the details are lost. One of my classes at UCFB was a class on photo interpretation. And that's where they, these, these airplanes from above would take pictures over the ground. And then often there were times farmers use them within their fields of, for looking at crops and stuff. But also we got to look at some unclassified photos of area 51, and it was really cool. Cause we had like over the decades, we got to see like area 51 from the fifties and the sixties and the seventies. 3 (21m 59s): And you get to analyze like what's changed over time. So you get to see the runways that were lengthened. Like why, why an extra 5,000 feet on that Renu? Why do you need, you know, that's interesting or you get to see where buildings are are, are, are either buildings were built or whether they're added onto the, in their elevation and what you could. The beginning of the details that emerge from those photo interpretations was if you knew what time and what date that photo was taken. And he knew the elevation of that airplane that took that photo, you could find out actually a lot of details depending on the angle of the sun, as myth from the date and time you could say, well, the sun was at this angle that way, this shadow from the building cast a 60 foot long shadow. 3 (22m 47s): And at that angle, well that means that building is six, six stories tall. And so then all of a sudden these do, you can pull out little details, which help when you're looking at your enemies and trying to figure out, well, what do you, why, why do you have a missile? That's nine. You know, all these different things. You can pull out some details, but you'll never looking at area 51. You'll never know what's inside those buildings. You can figure out the height. Then you can figure out a few things, but you'll never, the details are lost. And the same with the shadow, the shadow of the things to come in the law, the outline is there, but there's the details were somehow lost. They were, they were just darkened. Compare that contrast chapter 10, with chapter 12, the next chapter we'll be looking at chapter 12, starts out with this. 3 (23m 34s): Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. So when from a shadows to now clouds, I love that the word play that's going on. The clouds are interesting because clouds can cast a shadow, but clouds can also block the shadows from happening and in a sense clouds or something, that's kind of a theorial there. They're real, but they're not. They're kind of they're there, but they're not. And this is, this is from this morning, driving into work. I live in Santa Maria. I was crossing the Santa Maria bridge, a, a car going about 90 miles an hour with Arizona license plate flew by me. 3 (24m 16s): And right after the bridge, there was this big fog bank. I don't know if any of you experienced that. There's this big fog bank and this, this, this Arizona licensed plated car, all of a sudden you can just see him hitting the brakes. He didn't know what to make of this fog. And he put on his flashers, like he needed to do that. I guess Arizona drivers don't know what Tulley fog is. You know, for those of you who've ever driven the central California as because there's, this fog was so thick and it was about, I had a, maybe a hundred yard visibility. It was a, it was a thick cloud. Or maybe it's like this when you're flying in one of those small passenger airplanes, you know, like the Cessna, you know, those little four-seater airplanes had a chance a year, a few years ago to go with a pilot and we're flying. 3 (24m 59s): And on our course was going to take us right through a cloud. And as you're approaching the cloud, you want to, I wanted to like, Ooh, you know, like we're going to, we're going to hit the cloud. We're going to have to go. And then all of a sudden the cloud, we just pass right through the cloud. It's there, but it's not. It's the strangest thing. So that is the cloud of witnesses that are cheering us on. They're in a sense, they're there, but they're, they're not, you know, so between the shadow of the things that come and the cloud of witnesses, we find ourselves in the hall of face, this chapter 11, living by faith between the shadow and the cloud chapter 10 ends with how to live by faith. 3 (25m 39s): And that's going to give us a number of examples of how patriarchs and how people from the past are ancient heroes. Show us how to do that, how to live by faith. Let's pray this morning, heavenly father, we thank you Lord, for your word of God. That's open on our laps. Lord. It's living, it's acting active. It's sharper than any two-edged sword Lord. So will you cut to the joints? And the marrow is a division that only you can do through your scriptures. Lord illuminate your word of God to us this morning in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. There's a number of different chapter titles that have been given to chapter 11. 3 (26m 23s): I I'll refer to it as the hall of faith, as in like, you know, baseball hall of fame, the legends of the sports, those, those people are kind of like solidified in there. You know, he got babe Ruth, Pete rose was, but then he wasn't right. And all that drama, but the different titles titles that have come out of this chapter, I like, it's just interesting to follow. So the new king James version says titles. This chapter by faith. We understand by faith, we understand the NIV says just simply by faith, newly living translation says faith and action. I kind of liked that this is how they showed their lived out by living in action by faith and action, the way mouth and older translation. 3 (27m 5s): He's he called it faith and his ancient heroes kind of like that one faith in his engine heroes. Cause I like picture books. Anybody else? Like picture books, love, picture books, even reading to my daughters, the picture books. It's fun as especially the beautifully illustrated ones. There's this fun to follow along. But recently as my girls have been good, getting older, we've kind of trans, you know, we're, we're still reading some picture books, but we're starting to get into some novels. So I've been recently reading the Chronicles of Narnia with my daughters. And I think we're on book four or five and it's so fun. And so my girls will be up in their beds and they're kind of playing with their dolls and doing different stuff while I'm reading out loud to them every once in a while, you as you're, as you're opening through the book or you're reading through the book, there's a little black and white sketch. 3 (27m 53s): And my girls are always like dad. If, if there's a picture, we want to see it like stop. Like just, you have to stop reading. We have to take this and show us the page because they want to know if what they're hearing is is, is, is what the art, the artist or the writer was portraying. They want to see that it aligns up. And that's why I love the old Testament. And that's why the Hebrews that he author is pointing back to the old Testament patriarchs because the old Testament is a picture book of new Testament truths. The old Testament is a picture book. It's, it's how it's lived out of new Testament truths. It makes tangible, it makes faith a tangible thing. 3 (28m 34s): It shows us encouraged us of examples, of those who have gone before us and encouraged us to live in that way. Now faith is verse one. What faith is now, faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. This chapter starts out with almost a working definition of what faith is. It's the substance of things. Hope for the evidence of things not seen. And another definition of faith would be what can be believed in a state of certainty with regard to belief. And this definition that the book of Hebrews gives is, is twofold. 3 (29m 16s): In relation to one, in relation to the future, faith is the substance of things hope for, so the things that are yet to come and in relation to that right now, the invisible it's the evidence of things not seen. That is what faith is and that word substance. It's an interesting word. It's almost like substance is something that you're able to tangibly grasp a hold and different translators translated that Greek word. That's only used five times. The new Testament is called Hoopa. Stacy's it's only translated five times. It's only in the new Testament five times and it's translated a little differently. Sometimes it's translated to assurance or confidence or reality and the biblical usage. 3 (29m 59s): It has this, this picture of a steadfastness from resolute much like the, like the foundation of a home. That's, that's how this substance is used. The substance of our faith. It's this foundation. So over the years, I've, I've loved doing construction. Most of my jobs have been remodeling. So kind of fixing what's already there. But my dream is to someday build my own home. And you start out with a blueprint. You, you design your home on a blueprint and then you take that page and then you, then you have the concrete foundation poured and is from that foundation that then you can walk on. 3 (30m 39s): You can stand on that foundation, begin to see all my walls are going to go here. The window's going to open up to that viewpoint. Okay? This is, this is where the different things are we, and it becomes really it's this it's the substance that's there. It's the foundation it's underlying of all the building that's going to take place next. And that's what that word substance speaks to is tangible. It's the reality. And it's the reality of things yet. Hope for you walk onto that foundation. You begin to see the things that you're hoping for, that this house to turn out this way, you can begin to see it in your mind's eye. Second Corinthians says that this is how we are to walk. We walk by faith, not by sight, walk by faith, not by sight. 3 (31m 23s): And then first Corinthians 13 says this now and now abide faith, hope, and love. And these three, but the greatest of these three is love. Why is love the greatest of faith and hope? 'cause when you're standing on that finished house, inside the finished house, as dry walled and furnished, you don't have to have faith that this is how, how the house is going to turn out. You don't have to have hope that it's going to turn out this way. You are standing within a Fe finished house on the foundation that you placed because it's it's there. You just do. You love your house. Now you don't have to have faith or hope in these things. 3 (32m 3s): And that is the foundation of we're called in our Christian life. Someday, when we meet Jesus face to face, we won't have to say, well, I hope I get to see Jesus. No, we will see him face to face. We won't have to say, well, I have faith that this is going to happen. No, we will be in the presence of God. That's why those faith and hope are just going to pass away and there's going to be love. They won't be needed. So it's the substance of things. Hope for, and as the evidence of things not seen, it speaks to future award. It speaks to a furnished proof. It's it's a police officer takes evidence, takes substance from a crime scene stores away. 3 (32m 46s): And then at the court trial later, when bringing it to court, he would produce that evidence. But you don't take an empty bag of evidence and say, well, this is my evidence. Now you have to have firm evidence. You have to have some kind of substance. And that's our faith, our substances, the things hope for the evidence of things, not seen the way Mount translation translates this verse this way. He says now faith is a confident assurance of that, for which we hope a conviction of the reality of things we do not see. Do you have that conviction for the things we do not see this morning? Verse two says for by it, the elders obtained a good testimony and those elders that is speaking of our, that chapter 12, those in the Coliseum that are surrounding us and saying, go go, you can do this. 3 (33m 36s): We were able to do this by God's grace. You can do it. Go in there. They're encouraging us on by faith. They have a testimony. Now they're here to cheer us on verse three gives us now, but what faith does, what does faith do? Faith verse three says by faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. So heavy verse faith understands is what faith starts with. Faith understands. Fifth understands that the worlds that all that we can see was framed by the world. 3 (34m 16s): God, that God created that. And if you've ever read the haul of this, this chapter and been like, man, I wonder if my story could fit in there or do I have the faith to be in Hebrews chapter 11? Guess what you do? Do you notice who that, that first, where it starts off the list, what faith does it says by faith, we understand who is that as us. If you believe that this whole universe, the ages that the worlds were made and created by God and for him that puts us right top and central into the hall of faith. I think that's amazing having not even been, been born yet when he rose was written, we, we are included in that list by faith because we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God, you and I, and that word worlds speaks of the Greek word, a on its universe, it's its ages. 3 (35m 16s): It's all that we can see. And it was all created in Quip. It goes back to Genesis one when God created the heavens and the earth, we are included in that list. And what I love about the Bible is it's not, it's not a science book, but when it speaks about science, it's a hundred percent accurate. No matter what the current thought is at the time of this was written. The understanding of what all matter was made of was very different and the different theories. And, and in fact, 500 years before the book of Hebrews was written, they said everything was one substance. That was their understanding 500 years before that everything was one substance. 3 (35m 59s): And then about 500 years before the book of Hebrews a philosopher came on the scene and he said, well, if you take a rock and you split that rock into, you have two halves, well, let's just take that half and split that in half. And then you have half of the half, and then, then you have that. And then all the way down until you have these small indivisible, polar particles, or little, little things, little tiny things that you can't quite see, but they're there. And that is an Adam. That's what we're made of these, the small indivisible particles. That was the thought. But if you dig into this, we in what we've come to know is that the Adam is not the smallest of things Adam's are made of electrons, protons, neutrons, and then those things are made of corks and matter. 3 (36m 52s): Anti-matter all of these crazy stuff. And yet at the core and Adam, if you, if you were to take an electron cloud of an atom, it has a radius 10,000 times greater than a nucleus nucleus follow me. I know you didn't, you weren't expecting a science lesson, but the electron has electron cloud, which is the electron is like the free floating negative charge. And that's floating around the knee, the nutrient, the nucleus, and the proton neutron to proton. And it has a thousand times greater radius than the nucleus. And that was according to Los Alamos national laboratory. So to make that into a tangible way, if the proton, if the center of the atom was the size of a basketball, the electron would be circling three miles away. 3 (37m 42s): That's a lot of space facts. There's more of nothing than there is actual substance in our world that we see. And we look at is what the Bible was saying. It has been saying all along, there's more of nothing than actual substance Genesis. One says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And he created that science says 13.7 billion years ago. There was a clump of mass that was so tightly compressed and it exploded. And that's what created all that we see. And it was some say the title, the size of a pinhead is what all that the universe would encompass if all that space was taken out. 3 (38m 24s): So the Bible says that all that we see is made from stuff that we cannot see, new living translation says this first it's translated by. It says, by faith, we understand the entire universe was formed at God's command. And that we now see, sorry, what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. ESV says by faith, we understand the universe was created by the word of God. So that it seen that what is seen is not made of things which are visible. Young's living translation from 1862 says this by faith. We understand the ages to have been prepared by a sane of God, in regard to the things not having the in regard to the things seen, having not come out of things that appeared Websters in 1833 S wrote this. 3 (39m 19s): He said through faith, we understand that the worlds were not framed by the word of God. So the things which are seen were not made of things, which appeared that is us. That is what we believe that God created the heavens and the earth. And if you look up the word Bible and in the Webster's English language from 1828, he was an amazing man. It may surprise you. This is what he wrote about. If you, if you read the entry Bible, this is what he said. He says the Bible, the book by way of eminence, the sacred volume in which are contained the revelations of God, the principles of Christian faith and the rules of practice, it consists of two parts called the old and new testaments. 3 (40m 6s): The Bible should be the standard of language, as well as a faith. That's what no Webster had to say in his dictionary in 1828. And he was also often called the father of American scholarship and education. Webster took 26 years to complete his dictionary in the process of learning 28 languages, including Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. And he knew so much after writing his dictionary, that he wrote his own translation. And five years later, the Webster's Bible in 1833. And he wanted the difficult king James version to be understood by schoolchildren. And it's one of the reasons why he wrote the dictionary in the first place. 3 (40m 47s): He felt inspired by the holy spirit to write the Webster's dictionary so that people could read the Bible and understand it. And he, in his own words, he said, education is useless without the Bible. And I think, man, how far have we come from from that? And now we're going to get into the exciting part. Sh the examples of the faith, not only are we on the list by implication of believing that God created the heavens the earth, but now it's going to give out how some characters in the Bible actually respond to that examples of the faith verse four says by faith, Abel offered to God and more excellent sacrifice than Cain through which he obtained witness, that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. 3 (41m 28s): And through it, through it, he being dead still speaks. So faith offers it's the Firth first encouragement is faith offers. And what did Kane offer Keene offered, but some of the fruit of the ground, and he'd worked for that. He'd worked for that fruit he'd toiled and pluck in the weeds and preparing the soil and all the hard work that went, that goes involved with farming, the sweat off his brow, the blood, and often his hands. You know, he has his, his labor, his work in his hand of his hands. His effort is what he offered to God as a sacrifice. And it wasn't accepted, but evil. 3 (42m 12s): What does evil offer? Well, he offered the first, the best in the bloodied. Why did evil offer sheep that time? Why was able even a keeper of the sheep at that time, man, it wasn't until after the flood that man be candy, eat meat. So why did Abel even keep sheep in the first place? Why did he spend all this time? Keeping sheep? Well, it would have been for covering you go back to Genesis chapter three, verse 21. We find this scripture that says this, you see, God had just laid out the consequences of the fall of man's sin and their choices thereof. 3 (42m 57s): And while they're still in the garden, it says, and also for Adam and his wife, the Lord, God made tunics of skin and clothed them. So they're in the garden before they had to leave the garden to protect them from eating the tree of life. God looks at their condition and they've sinned. They've messed up and they've done what's best. They took of some of the plant around them, the fig leaves. And they covered themselves with that. And fig leaves, if you know, they are scratchy and itchy, I could not imagine having fig leaf clothing, they would break apart. They would tear up, it would just be gone in no time, but that's what they use to try to cover their sin because they knew that they were naked. And so God says, I got something better for you, but God, in the garden of Eden says he made tunics of skin. 3 (43m 45s): I don't think God just called a tunic of skin and Vina. I think in that first temple on the garden of Eden, God took an innocent lamb and he sacrificed that lamb in a sense, and then took of the skin of that lamb and then covered Adam and Eve. So when Kane said, I need to make an offering for sacrifice, this is what God's called me to do. He knew the pattern already that the pattern of the bid set an Abel speaking, not only of the pattern that the covering of sin was, was made, that God had made the covering of skin and clothed them. That, that one days, someday soon he would look forward to the coming lamb of God that would come and sacrifice on his part. 3 (44m 28s): In honor of heart, he was looking forward to something and that still speaks. Abel looked forward to the sacrifice of the lamb of God. And we look back on it that still speaks back to Hebrews 11, verse five. We come to one of my heroes of the faith by faith. Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death. And he was not found because God had taken him. And for before he was taken, he had this testimony that he pleased God, faith, pleases God, that was his testimony that he pleased God. He was just this strange guy that he, he walked with God. 3 (45m 8s): And then he was not for God, took him. He simply continued his walk, his journey with the Lord, forgetting about his contemporaries, keeping his eyes on God, just continue that walk of faith until he was raptured up, he was caught up into heaven. You see, he was a prophet of righteousness. Jude would say he was prophesied to his generation of the judgment. That was to come namely the flood that he would never have to see because he was raptured out of it. He was, he was walking to be above the ways of his fellow man, the culture around. And he chose to walk with God, not with his friends as the how Enoch pleased God by faith for six says the ness is the necessity of faith. 3 (45m 55s): It says by without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. If you, if you take that into account, that's really serious. But without faith, it is impossible to please God, how do we please? God, only by faith, not our, at our works, not our attitudes, not the things that we can do towards or for him. It is by faith alone. Ephesians two eight says for by grace, you have been saved through faith and is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. So not only is it impossible to please God, without faith. It also, we come to God in a certain way. 3 (46m 37s): For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. And that of those who diligently seek him. So we believe that God is that he rewards and that we, he can be sought out. And as our God, maybe this morning, you want to be, you're building the foundation of your faith. If you're just starting to set that foundation. If you're reading the blueprint of the word of God and you say, I wanna, I want to start building that house of faith. A few resources, just from our church. Our provost wrote a 600 page book. He assembled it called what is your foundation for life? 3 (47m 17s): And in it, he pulls all these different science and mathematics and all these things to point that we have a good trader God and I have that available in my office. If anybody is interested, shin shin, Sharon Dutcher also wrote a book called new beginnings. She, she goes to our church and just on the foundations of faith, that's what you're building. Look, because God can be sought after so many atheists like CS Lewis, Lee Strobel sought to disprove God. They said, I'm going to disprove the Bible. I'm a disproved God. And in fact, they ha they ended up proving God and coming to God, love CS Lewis love his books. 3 (48m 2s): So we have these continued examples. Continue on in verse seven, we have the example of Noah. Noah listened. It says by faith being divinely warned of things, not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an Ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness, which is according to faith, faith, and listens. And he surfers out there. You ever been in on the water and you hear somebody yell outside. It doesn't mean that you're out of doors and you're just enjoying the outside. Outside means there's you are in the set waves currently, but there is a wave that's breaking and it's bigger than any other wave. 3 (48m 49s): And it's coming right at you. So you yell outside. And the thought is to warn everybody else that there's this big wave coming out. And if you don't start paddling out, out in PA, try to get past that wave. Then it's going to take you out. So y'all outside. And that was what Noah was doing to his generation. At that time, no one had ever seen rain. It had never flooded. And so God is listening to God and God warning him a things to come. He moves with godly fear. He yells outside to his contemporaries and begins building an arc. And he began building his arc for not only himself, but his first household. 3 (49m 33s): It cost him. Everything cost him. His reputation. People would have called him silly, dumb. What, what are you? This thing? That's that's coming. Rain sucking, arranged or rained. We have the do that comes other ground at waters. The grass, no, that's not going to fall from the heavens. That would be ridiculous. Building large ships was not known as occupation before that. So it cost him everything. If you think of the timeline and this, this, this, this gives me a little bit of curiosity. But if you think of the timeline, the Bible says in Genesis seven, that the floods came upon the earth. 3 (50m 14s): When Noah was 600 years old, Noah's sons were born to him when he was 500 years old in Genesis five, but Genesis six, verse three, we find this verse. It says, the Lord said, spirit shall not strive with man forever for he is indeed flesh. Yet. His days shall be 120 years now, does that mean the limits of us are only going to be 120 years old? I believe it was God speaking in 120 years because of the condition of mankind. I'm going to bring a flood. So if you do the math that puts the flood at when no one was that puts God warning, making that warning, making that call the prophecy that he was gonna be 480 years old. 3 (50m 57s): That's 20 years before his kids were even born. It was God giving him a prophesied. Noah, your don't have kids yet, but you are going to have kids. You're going to have sons. And if you want to prepare you, if you want to save you and your household, then begin building this arc begin preparing for the future. No heard that. And he moved with godly fear. He didn't wait. He didn't delay. Think we have an amazing example of how faith listens to God and moves. Verse eight says now Abraham obeyed, when he was called to go out of the place from which he would receive as an inheritance. 3 (51m 39s): And he went out not knowing where he was going. Abraham gives us the example of faith, obeys, faith, obeys, faith, obeys, the voice of God. And most likely he had an inheritance inheritance in his own land, in the land of earth, the Kaldi's and it was probably would have been a great inheritance. Early. The Kaldi's was known to be a place of a luxury living. It was a place where there's many temples to different gods. It was, it was a place where a lot was happening. It was a metropolis. It was a place where hot tubs were invented. God says, Abraham, I want you to leave your hot tub. And I'm going to bring you to this special place where you're going to live call to leave that place and go out faith, obeys and faith obeys. 3 (52m 27s): Even during that time, you don't leave a family. Moving was not something that was common in that culture. You would have to move away from your family, your land security, all those were tied up from where you were yet. Faith obeys, hearing the voice of God, not knowing where he was going. But once he was there, verse nine says by faith, he is an Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city, which has his foundations, whose builder and maker is God, what example? 3 (53m 11s): Faith lives it out. He had to live it out day to day. He had to live in a tent. The rest of his life, traveling around. I go backpacking from time to time. Living in a tent is not a comfortable thing. He had to leave his, the wealth land of earth. And didn't now live in tense, waiting for that promise that God was going to give him in 1859. The third hottest temperature on record that we have on record was recorded in Santa Barbara, 133 degrees. 3 (53m 51s): You can fact checks me 133 degrees in 1859 in Santa Barbara. according to documents. And at it began to blowing this warm, warm air off the off from, from Arizona. And by the time it was four or five in the afternoon, it was 133 degrees. You can imagine there's a pre air conditioning. So people are trying to get out of this heat. And that was recorded on a schooner ship out in the Harbor, 130 to three trees on the water. So you can only imagine how hot it was on the shores. 3 (54m 32s): And people did everything to try to escape the heat. They, they, they, they tried jumping down their Wells and some people died down there. The, the, the trees were scorched on one side from this hot wind cattle died out, out in the, out in the pastures. It was a ho. It was, it was called the day that hell came to Santa Barbara, 1859. But a lot of people were able to survive because they went into their Adobe homes and those Adobe homes helped buffer the heat. And they were able to survive because they had those thick walls. And that was the same thick walls that Abraham had to leave and earth that he went to now live in a tent. And if you've ever woken up in the morning, out in a tent on the backpacking, you know that the second that sun hits that tent is blazing hot. 3 (55m 20s): So there Abraham and his sons are sitting in the shade of their tent and they're have their fans out in the heat of the day. And they're talking and his son says Abraham or dad, why can't we live in a house like everyone else? Why couldn't we build a house? We have the resources we're rich beyond measure. Why can't we build a solid house? And Abraham would have to remind them, no, these are our promises. God has promised us this, that we have a foundation we're waiting for heaven. There's something greater than building our home here. God is making a city for us, which has this foundation to builder and maker is God. And I look at the way that I try to raise my own girls. 3 (56m 0s): And I think of all the times they said, dad, why can't we watch this movie? Or why can't we go this place? Or why can't we do that? I'd have to say, well, that's because we need to listen, obey God for his plan for our life. Sometimes there's things we can't do. There's sometimes it won't do because we're looking forward to our future home for seven, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. And she bore a child when she was past age, because she judged him. Faithful who had promised faith, receives faith, receives the promises of God. Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth to Isaac. 3 (56m 42s): And yet she looked not to herself, but she looked to God as the promised her. So she received that, that, that blessing because she received that blessing. She was able to pass on to her husband and ultimately the world, therefore verse 12 from one man, and then him as good as dead were born. As many as the stars of the sky in multitude, in numerable is a sand, which is by the sea soar. He goes on to say in verse 13 and all these, they died in faith, not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off. And they were assured of them, they embrace them and they confess them. How do you embrace a promise where you believe it? You embrace it by faith. 3 (57m 24s): They embraced them in the confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a Homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come, they would have had the opportunity opportunity to return. They're looking forward to this country, the promises that God has, if they had a chance like, like lot's wife to look back and with wishful thoughts to go back to that place. And she turned into a pillar of salt, no, they kept their eyes forward. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they kept their eyes forward. They said, no, there's a better place, verse 16. But now they desire a better. That is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for. He has prepared a city for them. 3 (58m 10s): Very much reminds me of a young missionary man named Jim Elliot, Jim Elliot, when he was 18 or 19 wrote in his journal, a quote. And I, my dad wrote in his Bible and I've since then re written it in mind, but it says this. It says he is no fool. This is from my dad's Bible. He is no fool who gives what? He cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Jim Elliot, as a, as a young man realized that there were things that in this world that he was not going to be able to keep. When you go to heaven, there's no limousine or all your, you whole stuff going with you, right? 3 (58m 51s): He's no fool gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. He looked towards heaven and all that was there waiting for him. And he went to down to south America, to a head hunting tribe and lost his life for the Lord because he said, what I have on this earth is temporary. It's fleeting. But what heaven offers is much far greater. These all died in faith because they desired something better. Do you seek that Homeland? I guess I look my bookshelf and I'm like, man, I, my, my, my balance is so off. I have probably 500 books in my office and only two books are on heaven. And my first thought of heaven and forgive me. 3 (59m 33s): But I think of chubby baby angels floating on clouds. My friends growing up, his mom loved to have these little baby chubby baby angels floating on clouds in her house. And that was what just always stuck. Okay. That's heaven. Okay. Heaven's a eternal worship service and my arms are going to get sore. But yet all these patriarchs of the faith will looked forward to heaven because it was so far greater. What are your thoughts on heaven? I think that will shape how you live now. How real is heaven to you? Is it a tangible thing? Every once in a while, I feel like God gives us those little glimpses. 3 (1h 0m 14s): I, and I can remember randomly being in the garage with my brother as a kid. And we were just tinkering replaying. There was just, we were just having the best time. I'm like, man, I wonder if this is what heaven's going to be like, maybe it's outside hiking or maybe it's in the water. Like what is, is cannot be so good. But why do I only have two books at a 500 on this topic of heaven? All these patriarchs. They, they show us examples by faith. They understood by faith. They offered by faith. 3 (1h 0m 55s): They please God, by faith, they listened by faith. They obeyed by faith. They lived out by faith. They received by faith. We can live as strangers and pilgrims and that's expressed by their, by their will and by our will, by the choices that we make, do we have that heavenly hope? Pray. The Lord, give that to us in Jesus name, let's pray. Or we desire that heavenly hope Lord for a place whose foundations will not crumble for a builder that has been building for thousands of years, this eternal home for us Lord, where this, everything of this world that we seem to know is just going to fade away the sin, the death, that pain, the cancer, the, the hurt caused by others. 3 (1h 1m 51s): All that's going to fade away Lord until we are in the presence of you in your immeasurable love in our resurrected bodies, in a physical place, thorn eating the best of foods or God just give us that hope of heaven that these patriarchs have. Lord Jesus name. We pray. Amen. 1 (1h 2m 24s): Oh, I has gone. Bursey feels this coupon Tuesday walk with there will be a day when all about we saved through job and on that day, we joined the resurrection stand beside the heroes with one invoice 0 (1h 6m 43s): Thank you, God, that you are holy. And we just look forward to that day. When we get to stand face to face with, with Jesus who died and rose again for us, made her made our way so we could be there. So we have that hope, that constant assurance, Lord, thank you for just the truth of your word and the hope that it brings Lord to our lives. Very helpless to walk it out and walk in faith as we leave today. Thank you for all this in Jesus name.

How Do We Persevere as Christians

2 (15m 20s): Thank you God. For your power to save, to protect, to redeem, to heal your power, to sanctify, to make holy those things that desperately needs sanctification and holiness. Thank you that you've got the power to work in our lives and profound in wonderful ways. Thank you God, that you've got the power to teach us, to instruct us God, the power to live within us and live through us. Lord God, we invite your power in Jesus name. We invite you to do profound and wonderful things today. God, God, we invite you to surprise us by your power to surprise us by your presence. 2 (16m 4s): Lord God, that we'd be overwhelmed in Jesus name by your goodness and grace, God, that we would be touched like we've met. Maybe never been touched before, or maybe like we haven't been touched in a long time. God, that we would be touched by your spirit, by your word, by your power, Lord God, that we would be transformed by your grace and power in Jesus name. Lord, help us to know that there's power in your name. Jesus, there's real, real power in the name of Jesus. Lord God. I pray for our endurances today, Lord, that we would stand firm and stand strong in Jesus name God, where we're tempted to give up or throw in the towel or be frustrated or be anxious. 2 (16m 50s): I pray in Jesus name that we would grab, hold, grab, hold of you. Grab hold of your truth that we would determine by your grace to stand strong as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, God that we would take this love and this message of the gospel to our friends and family, to our community and that wonderful and profound things would happen as results. God, we invite you to work in this community. Jesus, we invite you to work among your people, God, to bring revival to this community, to point people to you in Jesus name, God, work through us to accomplish those things. We pray be glorified. We ask in Jesus name in Jesus name. 2 (17m 31s): Amen. You may be seated there. You may be seated. So speaking about the power, look at this girl lifting. This is a heavy, heavy pulpit, and Amanda just picks it up. Like I can barely move it, but she's just it like the said that she is, and she's getting married in six days. Where, where does she go? There's you know? Yeah, go ahead and stand up. Go on. Both of you guys stand up, Steven and Amanda, Stephen YouTube getting married. They've they've only known each other for about two weeks or so, but they're so excited to get married and move forward. 2 (18m 17s): It's going to be really, really good. No, I'm just kidding. But they, the truth is they on their wedding day on February 19th is the one-year anniversary of them actually meeting for the first time. So they just kind of knew, you know, you know, when you know, and you just go and that's what they're doing, they know, and they're going so congratulations you guys. And you know, speaking about the power of God before we get into Hebrews chapter 10 today, I got this email from this prayer ministry and they were sending it out just kind of an email blast to, I guess, Christians everywhere. And it was an encouragement to pray because there are these Satanist gatherings springing up all over the country and there's one happening in Arizona. 2 (19m 0s): There's in Washington state and they're just beginning to spring up all over the place. And what has happened is that when Christians have prayed, it's essentially nullified a lot of what they've, what they're attempting to do by gathering. They, they host these on, it's like an unholy nights where they bring people in and it's just this dark, demonic night of activity. I'll let you imagine what that's all about. And it's just, it's it's darkness and people show up to these meetings because they're intrigued, they hear about it. And so it's like a little hook, so they show up and then they're just overwhelmed by the demonic activity in there. 2 (19m 41s): It's so, so we've been challenged to just pray for our, for that, against that, and pray for against just the demonic activity in our world, but also to pray and press in for our communities and our civic leaders and that sort of thing. So I was doing that on a Wednesday and I was just really, really pressing it. Oh, it was Thursday. I'm sorry. I was really pressing and just praying like crazy. And, and I just feel like it's effective for us to just get like an assignment like that and pray, like we need to pray over our homes. We need to pray over our businesses over our church. And I've walked every building in this facility from front to back and anointed every door and prayed over every building over the years, over and over again. 2 (20m 25s): And I've done the same thing in my house. I think I need to do it again. There's just, we just need to pray. I was talking to a buddy of mine after first service and he was talking about, he lives up on the Mason. He was just talking about one night. He went out to go start his generator. It had gone off and he needed to add gas to it. And he got out there to the generator. He just felt this dark heaviness around him. He just, he just felt like this oppressive force was around him. And so once he got the generator started, he just yelled out. Jay's he just yelled out like in all four directions, you know? And it just felt like it just dissipated. And he went in the house and hung out with his family, but there's power in the name of Jesus. 2 (21m 5s): We have to remember that in realize that and walk in it and we will get victory over darkness. We will get victory over temptation. We will get victory over all kinds of things. When we recognize that the person of the Lord, Jesus Christ, his spirit lives within us, he has saved us that he might know us, that he might sanctify us, that he might deliver us, that he might set us free in Jesus name. And so we're not talking about much of that stuff today, but we are, we are talking about endure and sin. A lot of what we've been talking about is about in, during, through the difficult seasons of life in doing pressing in and pressing on and never ever giving up. 2 (21m 56s): I just learned this about, you know, the Monarch butterflies over here in Pismo beach. They gather in those eucalyptus trees, their migration begins in the Colorado Rocky mountains. And when it starting to get cold in the winter time, they migrate from Colorado to Pismo beach because it's nice here. I mean, if you look outside, right, it's so nice. Even the butterflies want to be here, right? So they come here so they can survive the winter. But imagine the work and the effort, I mean, it takes about 16, 18 hours to drive the distance. Imagine these little butterfly they're they're, you know, they're just going with everything they got. 2 (22m 38s): And I don't know if it takes weeks or what, but they get here with just sure. Endurance because they want to live. Right. And they want to procreate. They've got purpose. And so we, we have to learn something from these butterflies about endurance and when the difficulties come and we just determine I'm not quitting, man, I'm not giving up. I'm standing firm in Jesus on Jesus. I'm going to allow the spirit of God to fill me to minister through me, to live through me. And we're just going to press on in Jesus name. Amen. So let's talk about in Dewar and today, how do Christians, how do we as Christians endure persevere? 2 (23m 24s): That's the word actually? Sorry. How do we persevere as Christians endurance, same word. We have the power to persevere in Jesus name. We're going to see examples of those in the early church, they were going through exceedingly difficult times. This is why this letter to the Hebrews was written because of the persecution of this first century Jews who had made the decision to trust Jesus as their savior, going against culture, going against their synagogue, going against their rabbis, going against the leaders of their day, being ostracized from friends and family and community things that would happen because they decided to choose Jesus. 2 (24m 13s): And so in Hebrews, we're learning about how they are struggling with that decision. And maybe you're here today as well, struggling with that decision. What do I do with Jesus? I, I know him. I love him. I think I want to follow him, but I'm not sure how to do that. I, and we wrestle and vacillate in our faith. So I want to give us three principles from scripture. Things that we'll get right from Hebrews chapter 10, that help us to endure, to stand firm, to move forward as followers of the joy of the Lord, Jesus Christ, to persevere as believers as kind of a foundation before we get to those points. 2 (24m 55s): And before we really unpack it, I want to read through Hebrews chapter 10 verses one through 18, because it can, those that passage of scripture continues to talk about the new covenant, the new covenant versus the old covenant talks about our great high priest who has made a way for us. And so we've been talking about that for a number of weeks now, as we've been teaching through Hebrews. And so as just a refresher, before we move on to this new topic, I just want to reread Hebrews chapter 10 verses one through 18, just read through it, not comment on it much, but read it. And then we'll get into chapter chapter 10 verse 19 through the end of the chapter. 2 (25m 38s): And then we'll be in chapter 11 next week, next week, the heroes of the faith, the next couple of weeks, we'll be talking about the heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11. We get to read about and kind of witness the lives of those who have gone before us who have persevered, who have endured in Jesus name. And so it's going to be an application really to what we teach on today, to what I'm going to be teaching on today. So how do we persevere as Christians before we get there? And it's kind of a foundation let's read Hebrews 10, one through 18. It says the old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves, the sacrifice, the sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 2 (26m 33s): If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time. And their feelings of would have disappeared, but instead they're sack, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year after year for it's not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That's why when Christ came into the world, he said to God, you did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings, but you have given me a body to offer you are not pleased with burnt offerings where other offerings for sin. 2 (27m 16s): Then I said, look, I have come to do your will. Oh God. As it is written about me in the scriptures, first Christ said, we're in verse eight. First Christ said you did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. No, nor were you pleased with them though. They are required by the law of Moses. Then he said, look, I have come to do your will. He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect for God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ. Once for all time, under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 2 (28m 12s): But our high priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins. Good for all time. Then he sat down in a place of honor at God's right hand there, he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet for by that one offering he forever made perfect. Those who are being made holy and the holy spirit also testifies that this is so for, he says, this is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord, I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds. 2 (28m 54s): Then he says, I will never again, remember their sins and lawless deeds. And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. This is the message of the new covenant. This is the message of Hebrews. This is the challenge to the church to believe in the sacrificial toning work of price that it makes us holy, that now we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, that the righteousness of God has been imputed to us. We have been made righteous and holy because of the sacrifice and the offering of Jesus on the cross. 2 (29m 35s): So how do we persevere as Christians, as we press into this truth? And as we try to figure out how to live life in a broken world, a fallen world, a corrupt world, how do we live as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ in a world that is filled with compromise and temptation and difficulty. There are actually things that we can do that those who have gone before us have done that have allowed them to remain strong, to persevere all the way until the answer. We're going to read about those guys, those guys and gals in Hebrews chapter 11. But we're also going to unpack and look at some of those people as we get toward the end of this message today, how do we persevere as Christians? 2 (30m 21s): Number one, we go boldly into the presence of God. We hear that we go boldly. Some of us are very timid. When we go into the presence of God, we're like, Hey God, are you home? Is this all right? Is this good timing, right? Can I talk to you now? And we go, we go kind of timidly into the presence of God when God has given us an invitation and invitation to his presence so that we can walk in anytime and boldly go into the presence of the living. God it's like when my kids come by the office and my grandkids and I'm upstairs in the office, they don't have to ask anybody. They don't have to stop thinking, run in head right upstairs and meet with me. 2 (31m 7s): No invitation needed because it's implied. They are my kids and my grandkids. So they're welcome any time when we're going to our family's house, we just, we just walk right in. We just, we're just we're we're we're together. We're family. It's not always the case that when I would go visit my dad in Colorado, I, we had kind of a different relationship. So I'd go to his door and knock, right. Is this a good time for me to come in? It's totally different with our heavenly father. It's totally, we got these imitations. Come on over, spend as much time as you want. In fact, I go with you. I feel you I'm with you all the time. So we go boldly into the presence of God. 2 (31m 50s): It says here in Hebrews 10, 19. And so dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly. Why? Because Jesus has made a way we can boldly answer. Heaven's most holy place because of the blood of Jesus by his death, Jesus opened a new and life giving way through the curtain, into the most holy place. We have significant privilege. Imagine having access to a president or a king, a great leader because of relationship. You just got access. Other people have to make an appointment, have to ask permission, but we who are connected to the king. 2 (32m 30s): We can just walk right in. We have significant privilege associated with our new life in Christ, under the old covenant, only the high priest, and only once a year. Could they go into the most holy place once a year and only the high priest, they would go in to offer sacrifices and they would tie a rope or something, a cord around his ankle. So that if he went in with sin, unconfessed sin, and he was judged and died in the presence of God, they could, they could pull him out. Otherwise he's got to stay in there for the next year. Then, you know, it could get kind of stinky in there. 2 (33m 10s): So they pull him out and cause nobody is allowed to go under the old covenant, into the presence of God, except for the high priest. And only once a year because of Christ's work on our behalf. We have access and we should access God with confidence, not in who we are, but in the all sufficiency of Jesus, it gives us confidence that we can go right into the presence of God. Our sins, if we are in Christ have been forgiven. As far as the east is from the west, they've been removed from us. 2 (33m 52s): We are completely cleansed from those things. We are the holiness of God, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, we have access and we should be boldly with confidence, not in us, but because he is good. Not because we are good. We have access and confidence to go into the presence of God for whatever the need is. 24 7. In fact, we're told in scripture to pray without ceasing, how do we pray without ceasing? If we don't have access, if we don't go boldly with confidence. But the reality is is that we have that access as believers, blood covered, spirit filled followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We have access and we can boldly go in. And so we pray about everything and anything, Lord, I don't know what I should do this morning. 2 (34m 36s): I'm driving to church and I'm tempted to speed, right? Because it's what I like to do. And so I'm about to pull out from this guy in the slow lane and go around him. And I felt like the Lord said, stay right there. I'm like, all right. So I stayed right there within a half a mile. We're coming up this hill and there's this CHP officer on a motorcycle with his, with his, his gay, you know, his, his, whatever, that thing is speed, whatever it is. And I'm like, I just told Jolie. I said, I was just about to pass this guy. And I would have been nailed right there. But the Lord told me, just stay still. Where's the Lord telling you to stay still. 2 (35m 17s): Maybe you're attempted to move tempted to run tempted, to react, tempted, to decide maybe the Lord just saying, Hey wait, it's the hardest thing to do. Right? Cause it's by faith, Lord. I don't know why you're asking me to wait. God knows why I don't see the future. I don't see what's coming. But God asks us, asks us to wait and just to trust and just to rest and just to relax, to believe that he is in control. So we have access 24 7 to pray without ceasing. We don't, we don't have to go into a certain place. I mean, it's wonderful for us to gather as the believers. 2 (35m 57s): And we'll talk about that as we get to Hebrews 10 25, it's wonderful, but we don't have to gather or go through a human a person to get to God as believers in the Lord. Jesus Christ. Our mediator is Jesus. And he gives us access to the father. And so we through Jesus because we've been forgiven, we go right into the presence of God. So no matter, no matter where you are, you go right into the presence of God. If you're fearful, you go right into the presence of God. You bring that fear to the Lord. If you're anxious, feeling tempted, discouraged, angry, just take it right into the presence of the Lord. If you're happy, just take it right into the presence of the Lord. And you say, thank you, God, thank you God, for provision, for your kindness, for your goodness, whatever's going on. 2 (36m 42s): You just go right into the presence of the Lord and give him praise or offer up your petitions with faith, believing that God hears us. And he responds to us and he's faithful to minister to our needs. Just pray with Diego this morning. You've been praying about a job for weeks or months or whatever it's been. And he just found out he got the job. And so we got a chance to pray for him and celebrate with him. He, he starts tomorrow on Valentine's day. So it was like this gift from the Lord, this Valentine's gift to Diego, he got his job and we're celebrating with him and he's been waiting and serving faithfully, just asking the Lord for this thing in his life. So whatever it is that God wants to do, just bring it to the Lord. 2 (37m 23s): Go boldly into the presence of God first 21. And since we have a great high priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God. This is how we do it with sincere hearts, fully trusting him, sincere heart. So we get to check our hearts. Lord, am I fully trusting you? And my sincere in my pursuit of you, am I really going to do what you ask me to do? Or am I just wanting your 2 cents and my wanting your wisdom and direction? Or am I just wanting your input? So a sincere heart says, God, no matter what you tell me, I'm in the answer is yes. Before I hear the instruction, a sincere heart wants to do the will of God, no matter what the will of God is. 2 (38m 9s): And so we just surrender ourselves before we even go into his presence and we say, God, I don't know what's going on with my life right now, but I'm going into your presence. Sincerely wanting your wisdom, your counsel, your instruction, the next steps for my life. And we fully trust him that he is good and that he is faithful and that he will give us the desires of his heart, of our heart and that he will walk with us through every season of life. So let us go into the presence of God was sincere hearts fully, fully trusting him for our guilty conscience is have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean. And our bodies have been washed with pure water. So the essence, the truth there is that the cleansing is thorough. 2 (38m 55s): We have been thoroughly cleansed by God's grace. We have been washed by his goodness by the, by the pure water of his grace. We have been washed inside and outside by his goodness. And so, because that is true, not because we're good or because we've earned it or we've had a good stretch of, you know, victory. It's not, it has nothing. It has everything to do with his sufficiency and nothing to do with our insufficiency. Do you believe that? Oh, we got to believe it. We have to believe it. We have to drill deep into this truth and build our foundation on this reality because it is the reality for believers in the Lord. 2 (39m 38s): Jesus Christ. So number one, how do we persevere as Christians? We go boldly. I want you to practice that this week boldly not, not arrogantly because that's God opposes the proud his grace to the humble is to go in with a sincere heart, fully trusting God. I think it's going to be a hurdle for some of us and maybe for all of us, depending on the circumstance, sincerely, fully trusting God. And I, I, I bet you're going to be blown away and surprised by God's goodness and his response to you. So go, go boldly into the presence of God. Number one, and number two, we hold tightly to our hope. We see that right here in the text, Hebrews 10 23, let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 2 (40m 31s): So when things are difficult, what do we do? We hold on, right? It's like, you're hanging from a cliff to a rope. That is the difference between life and death. That's the seriousness, the intensity of holding on to the hope that we have. So when things are good, we're holding on when things or when things are bad, when things are good, what are we doing? Or still holding on, right? Sometimes when things are going good, we're like, ah, you know, bills are big. Relationships are good, I've got to cruising through life. And so we kind of let you know our, our passion, our intensity about Jesus kind of wane a little bit because after all everything's going good. 2 (41m 14s): And so we begin to let loose. And it's just a matter of time where things begin to drift our relationships, drift our relationship with the Lord. And then all of a sudden we realized we're not holding on at all. And then we're easy picking. Temptation comes, difficulty comes and we're swept away with all kinds of stuff. And so it's imperative that in the good times and in the bad times that we hold on equally, what are we holding on to hope? It's not some kind of a thing that's, that's hard to grasp or hard to get her mind. The hope that we're talking about is the person and finished work of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 2 (41m 58s): We're holding on to him and for, and for, and holding onto what he has accomplished for us. So our, our hope isn't fragile and unstable it's Jesus. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's the solid foundation, the rock on which we build our lives, the unshakeable foundation that is ours in Christ. So he's not fragile unstable. It's not change our hope doesn't change no matter what circumstances, good, bad or ugly, our hope is always in Jesus. It's not elusive or vague or imagined. 2 (42m 42s): It's the person of Jesus Christ. Our hope is in the finished work of Christ. So party part of holding on tightly is, you know, about our own lives, thinking about our own struggles and circumstances. And so we're holding firm, but also being aware of what others are going through, thinking about others struggles and their needs and their troubles and their temptations, and, and then throwing a life vest to them, a lifesaver to them so that you might help them hold on for dear life, to the hope who is Christ the Lord. This is why we gather this is why it's imperative that we gather. 2 (43m 22s): We'll talk about that some more in a moment, but we gather so that we can be built up in our most holy faith so that we can pray together so that we can be encourage, but so that we might be able to encourage others so that we might step out of our own circumstances and recognize the struggles of others that we might encourage them to. Don't give up, don't quit, hold on in Jesus' name. And so people come all the time and they need prayer. And so we're praying for people. We're encouraging people, we're speaking life and truth over people. 2 (44m 5s): And that is every one of our job and responsibility. Every one of us have this responsibility to do that. If he's in four 11, says that we are called the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, our job, we are called to equip the saints. What are the saints? Anybody's in Christ, right? If you're in Christ, you're a Saint. So it's my job, our job to equip you to do the work of the ministry. So when people up you're up, you'll be able to pray for somebody so much more effectively than I can pray. Maybe because of your experience, your life has taken you down a certain path that is prepared. 2 (44m 45s): You equipped you to minister effectively to somebody who is going maybe through a similar circumstance. So you can pray with greater understanding, greater empathy and compassion, greater love. You can press in and, and just go walk the path with the person that you're this you're praying for and encourage them over the long haul. This is part of our job. And so we show up to church and we go to home groups and we do all that kind of stuff because we love each other and we've got great coffee. And on the fourth, Sunday of the month, we got great donuts and we're taking community. We're doing all this stuff, but at the end of the day, we're gathering to get equipped and released into the work of the ministry. 2 (45m 30s): So your job is to minister love on one another. Somebody asked me recently, they said, Hey, I want to go visit this person and minister to them. Do I have your permission? I'm like, you don't need my permission. Just go for it. You know, go have fun minister and do what God has called and equipped you specifically to do first 24, let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works so we can encourage, pray and speak life and truth and grace and let people know I'm with you. 2 (46m 12s): I'm for you. And God is with you and God has for you. And when we need to speak hard truth and challenge, sin or destructive decisions in lifestyles, we can do that with the grace and the truth of the Lord, Jesus Christ. As we're filled with the holy spirit, we can say, we can speak the truth in love and challenge a person say, amen, that the choices that you're making are destroying you. They're filling you with anxiety and fear, and they're wrecking your ability to have faith in Jesus. And so you say, man, can I, can I walk with you and show you a better way? Can I pray with you? And nine times out of 10, maybe you've been there and you're saying, man, I have been where you are. 2 (46m 54s): And God walked with me and sent somebody else to walk with me to minister through to me through that season of life. So let's think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. How do we persevere as Christians? Number one, we go boldly, say that with me, we go boldly into the presence of God. Then we hold tightly to our hope. And then number three, we consistently assemble. We consistently assemble. We consistently can assemble, gathered together in one place for a common purpose to be built up in our most holy faith to worship in a corporate gathering, lifting up holy hands to the Lord, declaring his greatness, his power, his majesty to come alongside like-minded people to, to move forward as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ verse 25, Hebrews 10 says, and let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another. 2 (48m 0s): Especially now that the day of his return is drawing near every day. We're a day closer to the return of Christ. My father-in-law likes to say every day, I'm closer to death because I'm closer today than I was yesterday, right? We are closer today than we were yesterday to the return of Christ to the coming of his kingdom. And we have this wonderful opportunity to know Jesus now, and to point people to Jesus, to be disciples and to be disciple makers, to point people to the goodness and the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 2 (48m 42s): So let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another. Especially now that the day of his return is drawing near, we will persevere. If we remember and practice these things outlined in this chapter, if we fail to practice these things, our ability to persevere will greatly be hindered. The result of not persevering is actually back sliding and maybe even a pasta. See the actual denial of the faith. I, I can't tell you how many people, sadly, how many people that I grew up with in this area. 2 (49m 25s): People that I went to Bible college with seminary, people that I've known, people who have been teachers of the word leaders in the church, people who have known Jesus, and I've watched them because not practicing this person, these perseverance things, just watch them, let go little by little, get more and more distant walk away from the church, walk away from the Lord, walk away from God's purposes. And before you know, it they've completely walked away from all that God has for them. This is it's, it's, it's important that we persevere the result of not persevering is backsliding moving away from God. 2 (50m 11s): And I, again, I've just known too many people who have abandoned their faith. First 26 and Hebrews 10 says, dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after, after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. So imagine the context, historical context in the first century, these Jewish messianic believers, these Jewish people who had decided that Jesus is the Lord, that he is their savior. As they begin to question that and begin to deny that and begin to walk away from that, the writer of Hebrews is saying, listen, there is no sacrifice beyond Jesus that can cleanse you from your sins. 2 (51m 0s): You can not go back to the old way of living. It's it's an old covenant. It's an old way of relating to God. Jesus is the new covenant, the right way, the new way of relating to God. So you can't actually move away from Jesus and hope to have any eternal life. Any relationship with God Christ is the only all sufficient sacrifice that can cleanse people of their sins. If we reject Christ, we reject any opportunity to be saved from God's judgment. What is God's judgment? We don't often talk about God's judgment, but every time the Bible talks about God's judgment, we are talking about God's judgment. 2 (51m 40s): This is what it says as a warning to those who are vacillating beginning to backslide, beginning to wonder, beginning to question their faith. This is what it says in verse 27. There's only the terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies for anyone who refuse to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled, listen to the language, trampled on the son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy as if it were common and unholy and have insulted and disdained. 2 (52m 33s): The holy spirit who brings God's mercy to us, the language does not get any more clear. It is crystal clear communication that the writer of Hebrews is, is as put into ink for us communicating this truth to us so that we are fully aware that if we choose to backslide, if we choose to minimize what God has done, essentially insulting the finished work of price. Disdaining the holy spirit who brings God's mercy to us. If we walk away, there is no salvation available for, we know the one who said, I will take revenge. 2 (53m 15s): Verse 30 says I will pay them back. He also said, the Lord will judge his own people. It's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living. God, unless you are hidden in Christ, think back. And so there's a challenge to think back on your early days when you were a follower and believer in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Think back on those early days, when you first learned about Christ, we can all do this, right? Remembering, remember how you remained faithful, even though it meant terrible suffering. So culturally in the day, if these Jewish men and women decided to follow Jesus, they were ex-communicated from fellowship in the synagogue. 2 (53m 58s): They were ex-communicated from their families. They were criticized and ridiculed. They were, they were, they were sentenced to separation from the rest of the Jews. Think back on those days, when you first learned about Christ, remember how you remain faithful, even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten. And sometimes you helped others who are suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who are thrown into jail. And when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. 2 (54m 38s): You knew, you knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever. Jesus warned in his earthly life and ministry. He warned his followers of, of this type of persecution. It happened to Jesus and it would happen to his followers. Jesus spoken Matthew 10, 16 through 18. He says, look, I'm sending you out. As she among wolves. This is the reality of what we are. We are sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd, as snakes and harmless as doves, but be aware for you will be handed over to the courts. 2 (55m 21s): And w we'll be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and Kings because you are my followers, but this will be your opportunity to tell others, to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. So persecution is an opportunity to be salt and light so that others might hear the reason that you're being persecuted in acts chapter five. After the high council flogged the apostles, they ordered the never again to speak in the name of Jesus. They were. So the people were so threatened. 2 (56m 2s): The religious leaders were so threatened by that powerful name of Jesus, that they did everything in their power to stop the apostles from teaching in that name of Jesus acts 5 41 says the apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer for that name of Jesus. In acts chapter seven, Stephen addresses the council, telling them of their own history and their rebelliousness and their hard-hearted. Hardheartedness toward a God in the spirit. As he communicates this truth to the religious leaders in acts 7 54 through 60, it says the Jewish leaders were infuriated by Steven's accusations. 2 (56m 50s): And they shook their fits their fists at him in a rage. But Stephen full of the holy spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God. And he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God's right hands. I mean like the heavens must have opened up for Steve and as he's getting ready to give his life for his faith and he sees the glory that is awaiting him, he knows that all of this is coming to fruition. It's all coming to an end. He will give his life for his faith and he will stand before the Lord very soon. And he told them, look, I, I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing in the place of honor at God's right hand, then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. 2 (57m 38s): They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. And in acts chapter nine, Saul would encounter the living Jesus and in acts chapter nine, Saul would give his life to Jesus. And I bet you, God used this stoning situation. This incident in Steven's life to begin to awaken Saul of Tarsus, to the reality of the gospel. So even in our suffering, we have the privilege and the opportunity to point people to Jesus. 2 (58m 23s): First 59, as they stoned him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. He fell to his knees, shouting Lord. Don't charge them with this sin. And with that, he died and Hebrews 10 35, as we get back to our main text, it says, so do not throw away this confidence trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward. It brings you patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God's will then you will receive all that he is promised for in just a little while the coming one will come and not delay. 2 (59m 9s): And my righteous ones will live by faith, but I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away, but we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones. The writer reminds his audience. We are the faithful ones whose souls will be saved. We need to persevere and never give up. We need to not be ashamed of who we are, but bold in our faith. Declare with confidence in humility, the gospel of grace till the end, Saul became Paul Saul of Tarsus became Paul, the apostle, and he wrote two thirds of the new Testament. 2 (59m 58s): And in Romans chapter one verses 16 and 17, he wrote for, I am not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of this good news about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes that you first and also the Gentile, this good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the scripture say it is through faith that a righteous righteous person has life. So we live by faith. We're saved by faith and we endure and persevere. As we put into practice, these principles that we see throughout the scripture, we could go throughout the old Testament and the new Testament and find principles that will help us to persevere. 2 (1h 0m 46s): But we have to be people who put into practice those principles in order to endure, maybe you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus. The gospel is the good news that saves us. That redeems us, that rescues us from the judgment of God and ushers us into the family of God. If you're here today, you've never accepted the grace of the Lord. Jesus Christ. You can do that in the quietness of your own heart, or you can come forward after the service and get some help praying. But this is what you do. You just simply say, God, I, I need your grace. 2 (1h 1m 27s): And maybe in your heart and mind, you're saying that even now I need your grace. Lord, I need your forgiveness. Lord. I need you to come into my life. I need you to forgive my sin and fill my life with your power and your presence and your spirits. I've tried it my way for way too long. I'm tired of stumbling. I'm tired of tripping along Lord. I'm tired of missing, missing you and not understanding life. God, I invite you into my life and I invite your power and your grace and your love and your presence in Jesus' name. Or maybe you're here. And you've been considering backsliding with everybody's eyes closed. Let's just, maybe you're here. 2 (1h 2m 7s): And you've been considering just kind of slipping away, slipping out the back door, slip it up, just kind of slowly, just kind of drifting away. God wants to challenge you in Jesus name, to hold firm, to purse SERVIR to put into practice. These things that we see in the scripture, he will strengthen you in the power of his might. He will fill you with his, his eternal spirit. He will give you a new hearts, a new strength, a new ability to press on in Jesus. But you've got to ask him, you got to boldly, enter into the presence of God and invite him in and then a whole lawn for the ride and see what God will do. And then get around believers. 2 (1h 2m 47s): Others who are like-minded in the faith and get around and, and, and encourage and be encouraged by the body of believers who are after the same thing as your after Is everybody stands. Lord, I just want to thank you for the challenge. Go ahead and stand up. Is it Lord, thank you for the challenge from your word. It speaks clearly pointedly specifically to us, to the challenges that we face to the challenges that were faced from the first century on Lord God, we invite you to continue to speak to us. We need you Lord. As we worship now in song, I pray that we would got, make some decisions today to stand firm, to persevere in Jesus name, help us to do so in the power of your minds in Jesus name. 2 (1h 3m 36s): Amen. Let's worship 3 (1h 8m 22s): We praise you. Lord. We praise you that you are the king of Kings. We come boldly before you today. We thank you for your word. We thank you that we get to worship you in spirit and in truth in Jesus name, we pray. Amen.

What Is God’s Good and Perfect Will

1 (19s): I wasn't lost, but he brought me, you know, his love, oh, here's the book. Me who 0 (56s): Well, 1 (57s): I was asleep in Jesus. 2 (3m 11s): We worship you this morning. We praise you Church this morning. We're going to sing a newer song. And in first, Peter, two nine, the word of the Lord says that you are a chosen people, a Royal priesthood, a holy nation. God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you were not just have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So this morning, I want you to know that you are chosen people in a holy priesthood. We're going to sing a song that talks about surrender and research render. 2 (3m 51s): And so this morning, as we worship let's, let's sing that lesson. Let's declare that. Amen. Thank you. Jesus worship you. 1 (4m 9s): No, the tables. the things we did have. You Make us whole the, like you You see a holy nation, a chosen generation of people call to pray. 1 (5m 16s): So help us, God, please. You where all need. You can see every mall that are saying Ah, your people, you are our 0 (5m 37s): God, 1 (5m 39s): We are your temple. Make us holy. Like you. We are your children. You set us up. God, you . 1 (6m 35s): You do all things well, To Greece. We are your people. 1 (7m 19s): You make us holy. Like you are your children. 1 (8m 10s): We're coming dot balk. And God, we need the servant and comments. We're not walking. God, we need be servant. we're not walking. We're running. God. We need research to be research your call. 1 (8m 51s): Then we're come in. We're not blocking God. God we need Not walking. 1 (10m 33s): God. We need research. balk. God. Thank you. Jesus Spirits. 1 (11m 20s): Brushing fire of God. Holy. He goes very breath of God. Fantasy to the fragrance of spirit. 1 (12m 4s): Holly refine spot. Strengthen what mains. So we the church And see, we can hear the wind blowing we can hear the wind we can hear the and we need a fresh wind. 1 (14m 48s): The fragrance of and we need a fresh . 3 (15m 45s): Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Oh, I just wanted to keep singing. Thank you, Lord. God, we just, as we pray, we just continue to say yes to you to welcome you. We declare our allegiance to you. We say that you are our king and our Lord and our leader, our savior, our Redeemer, the one who forgives our sin and gives us new life salvation in you. Lord God, we thank you for this truth, Lord God, for the reality of those truths that we get to live here and now Lord and into all of eternity. 3 (16m 30s): Lord, thank you that your grace is sufficient. Lord. You are so good to us. Lord. I pray today that where we're struggling with faith, God, that we would get a fresh glimpse of your goodness, Lord God, that that fresh glimpse of your presence would drown out everything else that's pulling at us and causing doubts and insecurities or whatever. Lord God, we just invite you to do wonderful and profound and supernatural things. So Lord, as we open up Hebrews chapter nine today, as we allow your spirit to teach us, and as we avail ourselves to your truth, God help us to receive what you have for us to allow it to sink deep within our hearts and minds deeper within our understanding, and then help us to just live it out and, and by faith, believe God that it's all true. 3 (17m 28s): And it's all good. And it's all right. And you're good. And you're true and you're right, Lord. So build us up in our most holy faith. We pray. Thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Turn and greet someone that you'd never have greeted before you doing man. Carlos Please. 3 (19m 15s): Welcome. Welcome. Welcome, man. We just had the greatest time after the first service at the new open house summer, how many you remembered that we've got an open house after second service. It's gotta be so good. It's yeah, there's great progress being made next door after like 10 months of just working, working, working. But I, you know, I just talked with a gal who just, who works at lifeline crisis pregnancy center and they just opened up their new space in the, in, in Grover beach and they took two years to build that out. So if we're a year all total and this one, man, that's, that's, that's really actually pretty, pretty good and pretty quick. So check it out. I think all the dry walls just about done, they got to do a little bit of work, but next week the drywall will get primed. 3 (19m 60s): And then the trim will start. Doors will be installed, baseboards trim around the windows. And then once that's done, the paint will go and that will take a couple of weeks and then the floors go down and, and then we start just putting in all the lights that need to go up and switch plates and plugs and all that tech stuff, all this stuff, you know, it has to go up. And so we are making really, really good progress. So go check it out after a second service. And thanks for continuing to pray. I tell you it's been quite a journey since March last year, and we're just excited to see what God will do to bring that thing to fruition, everybody, anybody ready for that thing to be done? 3 (20m 44s): I know I am totally ready for that thing to be done, but it's like anything you just, you know, you do it, all these buildings we've had to renovate and they take months and, and then when they're done, you feel like, oh, it's kind of like childbirth. You forget all about it. It wasn't that bad. Right? It wasn't that hard. Let's do it again. Oh my goodness. Speaking of childbirth, my oldest daughter is expecting her fifth child. So Kaitlyn and Logan, they have three little boys and a little precious girl. They're all precious. But if you look at her, she's got this little Ponce right here. And so she's ready to pop in the summertime, I think July or so. 3 (21m 24s): She's going to be giving us our sixth grandchild. And so we're super excited about that. And it's just really good Jedediah that one of their kids just turned seven. This last week, we had a birthday party for him on Friday and he got a joke book. So that means, you know what that means. Right? You got a joke book. So that means I finally have fresh material. So I've actually got two jokes. I think I'll just say I'll do one this week because they're hard to come by. So then I'll do the next one next week. And then I don't know how long I'll have until I get another good one. But knock, knock Alaska. I'll ask the questions around here. 3 (22m 5s): Totally crazy. Kind of silly. But if you're seven years old, those kids go into a belly, laugh thinking about those jokes. So, oh mercy. So we're in Hebrews chapter nine. We're going to get through Hebrews chapter nine and then next week I'm going to do my very best to get through all the way through Hebrews chapter 10. And we're just going to continue to watch the Lord teach us. And today we're going to learn what does God's good and perfect. Will. What is God's good and perfect will. So we're talking about macro picture, big picture. What does, God's good and perfect will for humanity? What does he want for us as his church? And so we'll unpack that today. After this point, we've talked pretty extensively about the new covenant and Christ defending the superiority of the new covenant compared to the old covenant. 3 (22m 55s): Hebrews is written to a group of people who were questioning, whether Jesus was truly the Messiah. They had committed their lives to Jesus, but then just through cultural pressure life that hits us, they began to, they begin to question and doubt and, and kind of backslide into their old way of relating to God, their old way of living. And, but I think as 21st century Christians, we can relate to that. Sometimes we just go through hard staff. We begin to question Jesus question, his goodness question, the reality of his plan and all of those things. Then we begin to maybe backslide into things that, that are just not good for us. 3 (23m 36s): Just not healthy. I was going to share this later in the sermon, but I'll, I'll share it now as reading an Exodus 15 this morning and Exodus 15, this text where the people of Israel had left Egypt, they're on their way out. And they come up against the red sea and they're starting to get nervous. And Moses is like, Lord, what do we do? And the Lord said, just get moving. And so he lifted his arms in the red sea. The east wind began to blow and just created this opening and the red seas that they pass through on dry ground. And so these millions of Israelites are passing through the red sea on dry ground and they get to the other side and the Egyptians are following them. 3 (24m 19s): And, but even as the Egyptians were on the dry ground, in the midst of the red sea, God caused the water to crash down over them and drowned all their enemies and that sort of thing. And so the Israelites were so ecstatic, as you can imagine, they thought they were done. They thought they were dead and God rescued them. And so they celebrated. And as you read, they wrote songs to God about his faithfulness, about his power, about his goodness. And they're spending all this time, just glorifying God because of the, the, the miracle that just took place in the deliverance that they just experience. So then Moses leads them out into the wilderness. And for three days they can't find water. So on the third day, they're starting to grumble and complain wondering why God, why Moses did you bring us out here to die? 3 (25m 6s): And they just start grumbling and complaining. I thought this is human nature right here. One moment. We're so excited about God and we're celebrating his faithfulness and his goodness. And it doesn't take long, but just a few days may be of some challenging circumstances, difficulties. And we begin to question and we can begin to wonder, and God would just challenge us today to trust his plan. I think it's actually really helpful for us to go through difficulties in our life and we go through them, whether we want them or not, but it's important that we go through them because it reminds us of God's goodness and faithfulness and kindness over over the years, my wife and I, over 32 years, almost 32 years of marriage and four kids. 3 (25m 55s): And all of the things in life that you go through, we've had really good seasons and really difficult seasons, really prosperous seasons and really desperate financial seasons. And what we realize is that God has been faithful through all of that. We look back at the course of our life and we think we've always had a place to live. And I know that's not true for everybody, but just thinking about God's faithfulness, we've never had our lights or our gas turned off. I know that's not true for everybody, but we just look, we've always had food in the cupboard and we've always had resource to live on from day to day. And we might only have resource for the day, but we've got resource for the day. 3 (26m 38s): And over 32 years, we've just watched God's faithfulness. And so those lean times really caused us to be thankful, to reflect on the goodness of God in this church for 19 years now, we've been going and we've planted and we've done all kinds of stuff. And we've had really lean seasons financially and really profitably, you know, fluent seasons or whatever, where there's enough. And I remember years ago, the bookkeeper was saying, Hey, we don't have enough for payroll next week. I said, do we have enough for today? Like, do we have enough to keep the doors open and the lights on today? And she said, yes. I said, well, that's all God promised. So let's not worry about tomorrow. And we've never missed payroll or missed payments on anything. 3 (27m 20s): God's been faithful at these last 19 years. And we started seeing that at 1 0 2. And we're seeing that just in the day to day course of our lives as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He is faithful. So let's unpack his good and perfect plan for humanity humanity today. So again, up to this point, we've talked extensively about the new covenant in tryst, defending it superiority compared to the old covenant that that has ended. The old covenant has ended Christ's death, ratified confirmed and authorize the new covenant, the new covenant or the new Testament is the promise that God makes with humanity, that he will forgive sin, that he will restore fellowship, that he will be kind and gracious and good to those who confess Jesus as Lord, that he will love us and be with us for those whose hearts are turned toward him and whose lives belong to him. 3 (28m 20s): Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant and his death on the cross is the basis of that promise. And we see that reality throughout the old Testament and in the new Testament in Luke 22, 20 after supper, he, Jesus took another cup of wine and said, this cup, Jesus is speaking. This cup is the new covenant, new covenant between God and his people and agreement. We read this all the time and agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. So we look at those verses and we know that Jesus is speaking about what is, what is coming when he goes to the cross and pours out his blood, his life so that we might enter into a brand new covenant, a brand new relationship with him. 3 (29m 14s): As we learned last week, the new covenant was predicted while the old covenant was still in effect. The prophets, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, easier you'll they all spoke of what was to come. They were speaking about this new covenant. We talked about it last week. There were, there are roughly 300 prophetic words, messages in the old Testament that points to the birth, the ministry, the life, the sacrifice of the Messiah, Jesus, the Lord. We're going to be in Hebrews nine, 16 through 28 at the end of the chapter today. And we'll just jump in here in verse 16. It says this. Now, when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that the person who made it is dead in that true. 3 (30m 1s): So like my kids, they can't kick me out of my house and take all my stuff until I'm dead. Right. They got to wait. They want, they want probably to do it sooner. Right. But they can't. They got to wait until I'm dead and then they can have my goods. Right? They can't do it ahead of time. Now, when someone leaves a will, it is necessary to prove that that person who made it is dead. So God's will, what is God's will God's will is God's new covenant. This is his will his plan. The word will in this verse can be substituted with the word covenant. And the Greek word is and that word means covenant. 3 (30m 43s): It means Testament. It means will Diaz. They came means covenant Tesmer well, and we'll see in the w we see this word over and over again in the, in the, this book that we're studying in Hebrews, but we also see it throughout the new Testament, this word, DF, they K speaking of God's covenant, his will, his Testament, his plans for us, his desires for us, he's got a plan and desires and a will for us and Hebrews 7 22. It says, because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better dyadic, K, this covenant with God because of this. Oh, the Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God and Hebrews eight, six says, but now Jesus, our high priest has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood for a, he is the one who mediates. 3 (31m 36s): And we talked about mediation. He is the one who mediates for us a far better covenant with God based on better promises. So we see the old covenant, the old Testament, the prophets speaking for telling events that will happen hundreds of years later, thousands of years later. And then we see in the new covenant after the life work and ministry and sacrifice of Jesus, we see the writers writing about what happened. So this covenant is the will. This covenant is God's plan it's God's will. And his plan that has been fulfilled at the death of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And again, we see the same word used in our communion verses that we always use first Corinthians 1125 in the same way. 3 (32m 23s): He took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant will Testament Kay between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood, do this in remembrance of me, as often as you drink it. So in the old Testament, the saints of God were saved by the same grace of the Lord. Jesus Christ that we're saved by in the new covenant. The difference is that the saints of God in the old Testament were looking forward to what would happen as Jesus. The Messiah would come on the scene and make a sacrifice for the sin of all mankind. We in the new Testament and the new covenant, we're looking back and remembering what Jesus done. 3 (33m 6s): So it's the all of humanity, all of the Bible, all of the old and the new Testament, all it's all about Jesus, everything points to Jesus and the ultimate work that he would accomplish. And we're reminded about it over and over again in the scriptures. And it's pretty redundant because I think we need it. We need to be re re we need to be reminded over and over again about this covenant, this good news, this good plan that God has established and made a way for us to experience back to Hebrews nine, verse 17. It says the will goes into effect only after the person's death while the person who made it is still alive, the will cannot be put into effect. 3 (33m 50s): So it took the death of Jesus to activate the second covenant, the new will and plan, or the eternal will. And plan of God. Verse 18 says, this is why even the first covenant was put into effect with the blood of an animal for after Moses had read each of God's commands our commandments to all the people. He took the blood of calves and goats, along with water and sprinkled both the book of God's law and all the people using hyssop branches and Scarlet wool. Then he said, this blood confirms the covenant God has made with you. 3 (34m 30s): I would encourage you to go back and read Exodus chapter 24 to get the rest of the story. And then I would encourage you to read all of Exodus to get the whole story. Exodus speaks to us about this plan of God, to deliver us out of slavery, as represented by the people of Israel who were escorted by God's grace, out of their slavery, their Egypt, their captivity, their bondage call it what you will. He escorted them out so that they might enter into the promised land. So it's a picture of God's goodness with his people, escorting us out of bondage and slavery out of our old life, into new life in Christ. It's called being born again. 3 (35m 10s): But it's, it's interesting, even as I share that story out of Exodus 15, we, we often forget. And I think that's why the redundancy is so important. We forget. And we begin to question or maybe even backslid a little bit. And so God reminds us of his goodness of his faithfulness, of his kindness, of his plans, of his purpose, his good and perfect plan for our lives. So go back and read Exodus. It's just really good to refresh our understanding. In fact, I would you to read all of the old Testament, read all of the new Testament every year and just be refreshed in the truth of who God is. First 21, Hebrews nine says, and in the same way, he sprinkled blood on the tabernacle on, on everything used for worship. 3 (35m 53s): In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood for, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. That is why the tabernacle and everything in it, which were copies of things in heaven had to be purified by the blood of animals. But the real thing and heaven had to be purified with far better sacrifices than the blood of animals for Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now, before God on our behalf, I loved that last part. 3 (36m 38s): Those last words on our behalf, we forget that God has for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us, Jesus, the son is that the right hand of the father on our behalf, we've learned that he's making intercession for us. He's there for us, defending us as his sons and daughters, as those who have been adopted into his family on our behalf. Why? Because his purpose, his redemption, his purpose is to redeem us redemption defined is this it's the purchase back of something that had been lost by the payment of a ransom. 3 (37m 24s): And this is exactly what Jesus has done. Mark 10 45 says for this, says this for even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many to give his life as a ransom for many, this is precisely what God has come to do too. This is part of his good and perfect plan. Number one God's will is to secure our redemption. Hebrews nine 12 says what the, with his own blood, not the blood of goats and calves. He entered the most holy place once for all time and secured our redemption for ever a few years ago, we were in need of some more cats around our property because our cats died or run away or something like that. 3 (38m 13s): So we have gophers and mice and rats and all kinds of stuff outside. And so we needed some more cats to track down the gophers and rats and mice and all that kind of stuff. So we went down to the humane society in Santa Maria, and there were two little kittens, the only two kittens that they had, and they were in this little cage and, and one was very skiddish. Very, did not want to be touched. The other one was very loving. It just wanted to be rubbed and picked up and held and that sort of thing. So we paid the price to redeem them out of their circumstance. They had been caged in this little room and we redeem them so that they could come live with us forever, as long as, as long as they wanted to hang around. 3 (39m 3s): It's a picture of God's redemption. We, we were in desperate need of redemption, even if we didn't fully understand that God in his goodness has redeemed us. Now, some of us maybe like Vick, the skiddish cat are a little bit nervous about, about God, or he was nervous about me. It took him a long time to warm up to me. I think we're alike a lot like that with God. We're, we're like, we've been redeemed. It's obvious, but we're still skiddish about God. We're still uncomfortable with God. We're sure we're still unsure about his goodness and about his plan and about the reality of our redemption. 3 (39m 46s): Is this real? Is this what God has done? Is this the reality of my life now? And so we've had Vic and Franklin now forever up to just about a month or so ago. Maybe two months ago, Vic just disappeared. Just, I don't know what happened, but we haven't seen Vic, but we've been able to redeem another cat. This is the story. So this little feral cat that's been hanging around our property, we call him or her. We don't know what it is. Bulls-eye because on the side of the cat, there's a big bulls-eye. So that's the name? We had a cat name, gray rock because the cat was gray and the kids that said he looked like, he looks like a great rock. 3 (40m 27s): So that's what the name was. So anyway, that was years ago. Poor. Gray's no longer with us. So now we've, we've been able to redeem this bulls-eye cat. He used to hide out underneath the car and I'd put food out and Franklin would co course come over and eat and Vic would wait until we disappeared. And then he'd come out and eat as well. Or excuse me, bulls-eye would wait. And then he'd come out and eat well over time. He's warmed up to us a little bit and we'll put out the food and now he's right there, but he's still skiddish of us. But sometimes he's so hungry. They'll just go right for the food. And we'll just get a little rub in here, right? And then he's like, ah, you know, and this is what God is wanting to do. He's wanting to show his kindness to us, but we get skiddish. 3 (41m 9s): And we're like, you know, we, we put up our defenses and we want him to stay away. God's desire is to redeem humanity, to rescue us and to give us a new forever home. That's his plan. That's his idea because he is good. Not because we are good. This is what God does for people. Verse 25, it says, and he did not enter heaven to offer himself again. And again, like the high priest on earth who enters the most holy place year after year with the blood of an animal, if that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. 3 (41m 50s): But now once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death and sacrifice. What has God's good and perfect will. Number one God's will is to secure our redemption. And number two God's will is to remove our sin, remove it like completely getting rid of it out of our lives, cleansing us from all unrighteousness says, but now once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death. As a sacrifice. I love Psalm 1 0 3, because in Psalm 1 0 3, David, he speaks and writes eloquently about the grace of the Lord and the goodness of God. 3 (42m 39s): And he writes about it in Psalm 1 0 3, verses three through 14. This is what David wrote old covenant, old Testament before Christ, but he was understanding something of the grace of God. He forgives all my sins. Verse three says and heals all my diseases. We all need to have that level of confidence, not in our own righteousness or goodness, but in the righteousness and the goodness of God, we all need to be able to say with confidence, he forgives all my sins and we're not all there. Some of us think while there's still a few that he's thinking about, right, is pondering. Whether he's going to forgive that because that was a pretty big deal. 3 (43m 20s): But the truth is he forgives all our sins and he heals all our diseases. And there's that word again? Verse four. He redeems me from death. If I didn't redeem those cats and nobody else came along to redeem them, they would have been euthanized. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Our Lord. So David knew something about the redemptive power and plan and purpose of God. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the Eagles, the Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. 3 (44m 4s): He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel. This is why I encourage, we got to read the old Testament. We got to understand how God was faithful to the people in the days of old. And when we study Hebrews 11 and we're going to read and study about all kinds of people that were faithful to God and who God was faithful to in the heroes of faith, he revealed his character to Moses. God is the same. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He's eternal. His character is the same. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. So the things that David writes about are things that we can grab a hold of and believe for our own personal lives. 3 (44m 48s): The Lord verse eight says the Lord is compassionate and merciful. Get this slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry for ever. We talked about conscience last week. Remember that we understand this truth that is written about in scripture. Our conscience will be clear, but the enemy is a liar and a deceiver. And he's always trying to weigh us down and wear us out with lies and condemnation and, and filling our conscience with all kinds of regrets. Jesus has forgiven all of our sins. 3 (45m 28s): That's his good and perfect plan for all eternity. Often when I preach on Sunday, I'll get into the week and either Sunday, afternoon, or Monday or Tuesday or whatever, I'll get, I'll get a tat in whatever area I was preaching about. So if I was preaching about love, it'll be really hard for me to love people that week. Speaking about grace is going to be really hard for me to be gracious that week. It's just things happen. And the enemy is just a scoundrel and always trying to mess with us. So on Monday and on Tuesday, I was feeling this heaviness like this condemnation of my soul and spirit, I was like, Lord, what's going on? And so I began to realize it, it was just the enemy kind of heap, heap and stuff on me trying to cloud my conscience. 3 (46m 10s): And I'm like, Lord, goodness, what'd you do battle on my behalf. And I just began to pray that God would lift that and that he would battle for me. And then my Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning, I can't remember which I just felt like I was like, oh, it's gone. You know, it's like we are, we wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies. We're in a spiritual battle. So the enemy is trying to rip us off all the time, lying to us all the time. And we've, we've got this God who fills us. The spirit of God fills us as believers. And we've got this power in us to recognize deception and lies and destructive patterns and thinking in order to move forward in victory. And so, as soon as I brought God into the equation, there was just clarity. 3 (46m 52s): And all of a sudden, I, the joy of the Lord was my strength. My strength is renewed. The grace of God was on me. And I was like, let's just move forward. You know, the enemy is a liar, enemies, a liar. Don't don't get sucked into his constant accusations because God says he will not constantly accuse nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins. Verse 10 says he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve for his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed to get that he has removed our sins. 3 (47m 33s): As far as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tendering, compassionate to those who fear him for. He knows how weak we are here. Remembers we are only dust created from dust. We will return to dust. So in the meantime, our body's wearing out or getting, if, if you looked at a picture of yourself five years ago, or 10 years ago, you looked a lot better than you do right now. Right? We were looking at old pictures and we've got a son getting married in a couple of weeks since we were looking at old pictures and thinking about just kind of reminiscing and thank you. I thought, man, we used to look a lot better than we do now. 3 (48m 15s): Jolene, my wife she's always looked amazing, but me, on the other hand, I, I had more hair back in the day. Holy cow, I, I, I, everything. I didn't have varicose veins. I got varicose veins. Did you know that guys can get varicose veins? I thought only pregnant women got varicose veins. And all of a sudden from all my running over there, I got varicose veins. I'm going to have to go see a vein specialist and get those things taken care of Paul, sorry, too much daring. Probably Paul caught called our bodies tents that are, that are just wearing out. You know, he describes us, you know, these are our tent or tabernacle that are just wearing out. 3 (48m 57s): But thank God in heaven, we have a new body coming, who new experience, new life, goodness is coming verse 27. And just as each person is destined to die. There it is once and after that comes judgment. So also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people, he will come again and we need to hear this, not to deal with our sins. Our sins were dealt with on the cross at Calvary 2000 years ago. So he's not coming back to deal with our sins. 3 (49m 39s): They have been dealt with in Christ. Our sins have been forgiven if we're indeed in Christ, but to bring salvation. That's what he's coming for to bring salvation to all who eagerly await his coming to all who are eagerly waiting for him. So what does God's good and perfect will not. Number one God's will is to secure our redemption. Number two God's will is to remove our sin. And number three God's will is to bring us into salvation. So there's a present salvation and there's a future salvation present. Salvation is us enjoying God right now, enjoying intimacy with God, enjoying his grace, his kindness, and his love, the fruits of his presence in our lives. 3 (50m 31s): The fruit of his goodness. So that's the present. The future is the same. It's connected to the present, but it just what it's going to look like in all eternity, when we're not dealing with the world, the flesh and the devil temptation and all that brokenness in this life and in this world, the future salvation is what will come to us at the return of Christ. When there's a new heaven and a new earth, I'll just read this. And there's a future salvation. The sum of benefits and blessings, which the Christians redeemed from all earthly ills will enjoy after the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and eternal kingdom of God. 3 (51m 16s): I am looking forward to that more than I'm looking forward to 1 0 2 being done. I'm looking for like, like quick Lord, like today's mine. If we never get to 1 0 2 that's all right, I'm just ready to go. We can read in revelation 21. And I love this passage of scripture in revelation 21 verses one through seven. I read it at most Memorial services because it reminds people of the hope that we have in Christ and what we can expect as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It speaks of God's goodness and his perfect plan for us revelation 21, 1 through seven says this, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old heaven. And the old earth has disappeared. 3 (51m 58s): And the sea was also gone. And I saw a holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, like a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. Her, I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All of these things are gone forever. 3 (52m 38s): It's going to be a good, good day when that happens. This is the future salvation that we have to look forward to, but it all begins right now in the present. What does God want to reveal to you about his character right now? Where are you struggling right now? Where are you battling right now? God wants to reveal something of his character like he's been doing for thousands of years through the old Testament and the new Testament, something of his character, his goodness of his good and eternal plans for us is good and perfect plans for us. What does God need to reveal to you in your area of darkness, in your life area of doubt in your life area of struggle, temptation, weakness, whatever, allow God to shed his light, to bring his strength, to fill you, to overflowing with this spirit, to open up your heart and mind to his word so that you can be trained in instruction in righteousness and allow God to lift those burdens off of you. 3 (53m 40s): This is what he wants to do in this part of the spiritual battle that we're always in forever. And I just talked about what happened to me last Monday and Tuesday. That's part of the spiritual battle. We constantly need the light of God's grace, his word, and his truth to overshadow us, to cover us, to fill us and give us renewed hope. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. Every week. Somebody in the car creation has lost someone. Someone in our lives have passed every week. We go through the heartache of hearing of loss and difficulty and challenge. 3 (54m 23s): Man, that's such an earthly problem. It's a, it's an earthly problem that we will not experience in heaven. And in eternity, our future salvation glorious first five says, and the one sitting on the throne and said, look, I'm making everything new. And then he said to me, write this down for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also said it is finished. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end to all who are thirsty. I will give freely from the Springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all of these things and I will be their God and they will be my children. 3 (55m 6s): So what does, God's good and perfect. Will our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins, salvation. That's in a macro sense. What life is all about? He's showing us who we are showing us our need for him leading us in the paths of righteousness. Maybe you're here today and you've never given your life to Jesus. You've never experienced redemption. You've never experienced the forgiveness of your sin. Never understood what salvation is all about. We come to faith in Jesus by simply acknowledging all of those things. 3 (55m 47s): I don't know, redemption is I'm not even sure I know what sin is, but I know I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. The Bible calls those mistakes sin. Anything that anything that doesn't meet God's righteous standard is called sin and work Bible says all have sinned, all false shorts. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus. Our Lord says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And so if you want that burden, that weight of sin lifted off of you. Just welcome God into the middle of your life and say something like this. Let's pray. Say, I need you. I, I don't even know all the reasons why I need you, but I know that I've got an emptiness in me that can't be filled by anything else in this world. 3 (56m 36s): And so I, I need you Lord to fill this emptiness, to meet me where I am to forgive all my failures and mistakes, my sin, I need you Lord with everybody's eyes still closed. As, as, as we declare that, as we make that reality known to God from a tender, sincere hearts, God responds. He's just responsive, caring, and gracious and good. And what he does is that he forgives our sin. 3 (57m 17s): Then he fills us with his presence. He adopts us into his family, redeeming us, removing our sin, and then giving us salvation new life in him. And that new life starts now it's called being born again. So if you need that today, just make that your prayer. If you need to talk to somebody after service, there'll be prayer teams up here available. Maybe you're here though. And you've done that before, and you've been struggling in your commitment to the Lord. You've been struggling just in life. 3 (57m 58s): God wants to welcome you and to restore you and to redeem you and to help you and to minister to you. So welcome him into your circumstance. Maybe you're feeling just gnarly and bad about life decisions and circumstances. Let God just heal all of that and restore all of that and fix all of that. Let them come into your life fully a hundred percent Lord as we hear your word and worship, you got to, we just want to re-establish connection with you and give our lives fully to you. 3 (58m 38s): God minister powerfully as we sing. And as we worship in Jesus name, amen, 1 (59m 25s): Through your holy spirit can see being Christ, Jesus And crisis. I believe in the holy spirit. God is three in one, I believe in the resurrection that we will rise. 1 (59m 58s): Ah, judge Cruz and give this Decent to darkness you Rosie . 1 (1h 0m 59s): I believe in the resurrection that we will rise In I believe in the safe, I believe in the resurrection that we will rise. 1 (1h 2m 58s): .

Christ Has the Power to Cleanse Your Sin and your Conscience

1 (17s): Going to see You take what the enemy meant? 1 (2m 13s): Can you turn it? You turn it. 3 (7m 1s): It says in Psalm 119, it's the swing wide. You heavenly gates. The people that the Lord may answer in and bring him praises, sing that that's all I do is doing and why the gates of heaven let the praise as the walls. again, swing wide. Here we go. 0 (7m 41s): jeez, his jeans. 1 (10m 24s): God. Through your holy spirit. Conceiving Christ. Jesus. Leaving. God. 1 (10m 49s): I believe in, I believe in the same. 1 (13m 26s): 4 (14m 32s): Thank you, Lord. For times in our corporate gathering, we can just sing with everything. We've got Lord and praise and honor, and adoration to our king, to our savior, our Redeemer. Thank you so much, Lord God, we just invite your presence. I think we've already done that Lord, but we will continue to invite your presence. We need your presence, Lord, in our corporate gatherings Lord, but we need your presence in our daily walk and just in everything that we experienced and encountering go through in life. Lord God. So fill us with your presence, your spirit, to overflowing God that we might live out of that reality, Lord God. 4 (15m 15s): So for those who are just kind of worn out today, Lord, I pray blessings and grace, Lord God of filling in Jesus name for those who are discouraged. God, we just ask God that you would encourage them in the spirit, in the natural, in every way possible, or build them up in their most holy faith in Jesus' name, Lord God, for those who need a physical touch of healing, we just pray in Jesus' name God that you would work a miracle in the lives of your saints here, gather all over and for anybody tuned in Lord God, we pray healing, power and healing grace upon their lives as well. We're thankful, Lord God, for what you're doing in our lives. We're thankful that Ken's back and healed up and do them better. Lord God, we just pray God. 4 (15m 56s): For all of those, he represents so many have gone through the fire and gone through sickness and all kinds of stuff. Floor beaches, pray Lord that you would just continue to work and minister and just do wonderful and profound things. God, we love you. We thank you for what you will do as you teach us through your scripture today. Anoint me. I pray, speak through me. I pray. I don't want to do it without you Lord. So anointed speak through me and then prepare our hearts and our ears. Lord God, to receive your message. We love you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hey, turn around. Sail out to someone that you never have met before. 4 (18m 14s): To get some water. Come on. I had to get some water and a something to help my throat because I was singing sing. First service preach for a servicing. Second service, try to preach second service. Welcome. We're in Hebrews chapter nine and we're going to get through about halfway through it. I was thinking about my sermon yesterday as I was spraying Roundup, this weed killer. I sprayed up, I sprayed like 12 gallons of, yeah, maybe that's the deal. I should have wore a mask or something, but yeah, maybe that's the deal got to get out and get in on that class action lawsuit. 4 (18m 55s): That's going on anyway. Nevermind another story. But I was spraying that thing and I'm like, you know what? I'm going to have to come out and do this in about two more months because it's like soon as I spray it, it kills it, it rains, it suns comes out and I got an eight shines and everything just grows right back. I thought, I'm glad God's grace. Isn't like that. I'm so grateful for the atonement. Once for all time, Christ died for us interred that holy of holy places offered himself as our atonement, our forever sacrifice and died. And we don't, we don't have to go through all of that. 4 (19m 38s): Again. We're saved by grace, through faith once and for all time, God made atonement for us. And we're going to be talking about that today. God's ability through Christ to cleanse our sins, but also to cleanse our conscience. Because sometimes we, we realize that God on some level has cleansed our sins, but it hasn't allowed us to walk with a clear conscience. And so it's, it's like condemnation, heaviness, guilt. We're carrying around things that God never intended for us to carry. Jesus said, come to me, all you who are labor and heavy Laden, I will give you rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light, but some of us feel guilty about everything. 4 (20m 27s): We recount past mistakes, reliving past conversations, rehashing past relationships, reviving past decisions. And we kind of rehearse over and over again our past. And maybe, maybe that past was yesterday. Maybe that past was 10 years ago or 50 years, but we're constantly rehashing the past, right? Christ has the power to cleanse us from our sins and this conscience that is constantly getting worn out by pass, by thinking about the past, by regretting the past, by wishing we could go back and change the past and what I've realized. 4 (21m 9s): Cause I, I I've been there and there are still some things I wish I could go back and change. But what I've realized is that God uses all of those past experiences, all of that past brokenness, all of those past mistakes, he uses it in such a beautiful way to equip us for the incredible work that he's got for us today. So now, because of those mistakes and all of those imperfections, we have greater capacity to empathize with people, to feel the pain of others and what they're going through to identify with people and to pray with real sincerity, for those who are going through hard stuff. 4 (21m 58s): I tell you what, after COVID I prayed on a different level for people going through it because I had empathy. I was like, holy cow, I wouldn't wish this on anybody. Right? Those experiences in life, relational, spiritual, whatever they may be, God is in his wonderful and supernatural way. He is putting all of those ingredients together with his grace, his love and that transformational work that he accomplishes in us. And then he prepares us through all of those ingredients to go do the wonderful things that God has called us to do. So sometimes we think our past failures disqualify us. 4 (22m 40s): I think in so many ways they qualify us. They have prepared us. They prepared us for what God wants to do in us and with us and through us, I felt called to the ministry when I was about 17. And I thought, for sure, God was just going to usher me right in and blah, blah, blah. But he had a whole different path for my life. Put me into the business world for about 10 years before going into vocational ministry. And man, I learned so much through those experiences in sales and marketing and just doing business in the world. And, and those things have helped me. They've they've I said this recently, as much as Bible college and seminary has helped me, I would say that my business experience in the, in the marketplace has helped me in all of the things that God taught me about. 4 (23m 29s): People, about working with people about being reliable. So whatever God's got you going through right now, or whatever you're experiencing, just trust that what the enemy, if it's bad stuff, it's trust that if what's what the enemies is used for evil, God will use it for good. If it's just experiential stuff and your God is using all of those things to equip you for your incredible work and through all of that, he's wanting to use you anyway, no matter what your station in life is. So quit recounting past mistakes with such regret, quit reliving, past conversations and real past relationships and quit reviving past decisions and just trust the Lord moving forward in Jesus name. 4 (24m 12s): So we're going to be in Hebrews chapter nine today and Hebrews chapter nine talks about our conscience. And hopefully we fix the points. We had the word conscious instead of the word conscience. There's a difference. I don't know if you know that, but there's a difference. So somebody pointed that out, thankfully. So hopefully we got the points fixed, but we're talking about conscience and not conscious today. So as we wrapped up Hebrews eight last week, I love what Hebrews eight 13 says. It says this when God speaks of a new covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It's now out of date and will soon disappear. 4 (24m 56s): It's a beautiful statement. The old covenant did not have the power to do what the new covenant has the power to do God through this second covenant, this new covenant that it's been designed by Christ and upheld by Christ has the power to transform our lives. The new covenant in Christ has the power to cleanse people of their sins and therefore cleanse our conscience so that we no longer carry the burden of our sin. The first covenant was a shadow of things to come. The first covenant points to our desperate need for God, for his grace, it points out the reality of our sin. 4 (25m 40s): That's why the, the law was given so that we would recognize our desperate need for his grace. It wasn't given so that we'd somehow measure up. It was given so that we would realize, holy cow, I can never measure up and I need God's grace. So the first covenant was a shadow of things to come. The earthly tabernacle is a shadow of things to come. I just ask you, please don't get left in the shadow. Let's move into the marvelous lights of our glorious God and move in our understanding and grow in our understanding of his incredible grace. Let's examine the first covenant in light of the second covenant, Hebrews nine one talks about the first covenant. And this is kind of the theme, the priesthood of Christ it be the theme kind of through about halfway through chapter 10. 4 (26m 23s): So it's a bit redundant maybe, but I found whenever there's redundancy in scripture, it's meant to enhance and highlight and remind us because I don't know about you, but I need redundancy. I can read the same passage over and over again. And Mike, oh, that's right. I've read that a thousand times, but I needed a and one, right? They really get it to really have it sink in Hebrews nine one says the first covenant between God and Israel had regulations for worship and a place of worship here on earth, there were two rooms. And so now we're going to describe the earthly tabernacle. It's basically a tent and many say it was just kind of like the tents that the Israelites would carry and that they would live in. 4 (27m 6s): But these tents were, this tent was designed to as a place of worship and a place of offering sacrifice. So there are two rooms in this tabernacle in the first room were a lampstand, a table and sacred loaves of bread on the table in this room was called the holy place. So this is where the priests would go in and offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Then there was a curtain behind this first room that took you as you go through that first curtain, you go into the second room and it says here there was a curtain. And behind the curtain was the second room called the most holy place in that room. We're a gold incense alter and a wooden chest called the Ark of the covenant. 4 (27m 49s): And we'll unpack the arc here. Just a moment. The Ark of the covenant, which was covered with gold and all sides inside the Ark were a gold jar containing Manoj errands staff, that sprouted leaves and the stone tablets of the covenant. So again, there's three things inside the Ark of the covenant. We're going to unpack those three things because they help us understand the purpose of the old covenant, the purpose of the old Testament. They help us to understand God's heart in the old covenant, hoping to point us to the new. So everything in the arc pointed to Israel's desperate need for God's grace, the manna manna, by the way means, what is it? 4 (28m 32s): So when the people of Israel woke up the first day that man has settled on the ground, there was all of this like Dew and they was sparkling and the people are like, what is it? So that's what the man is. And so the people would go out and they picked it up and they gathered under the instruction from the Lord gathered. I think it was two quarts per person per day. And don't gather anymore. Well, like most of us might be thinking, why not? If two quarts is enough, why not get three chords? We got a little extra for midnight snack or in the morning or whatever. Right. But what happened is whatever they gathered over, what was instructed, turned into maggots and had a wretched smell. 4 (29m 16s): And really it's a picture of what our disobedience looks like in our faithlessness looks like before God, they gathered extra because they were afraid they wouldn't have any for the next day. So God spoke to them about it. The provision of the man represented the provision of the Lord. And that reminder was also a reminder of Israel's fearlessness and belief. And so they've got manna in there to remind the people through the generations of Israel's disbelief in fearfulness, but also the Lord's provision. Exodus 16 says that the man was like quarry ant white coriander seed. 4 (29m 58s): And it tasted like honey wafers exited a 1633 sounds like good stuff. You know, kind of make a little breakfast and can make man of bread, ManTech, Kati, Manoj, whatever you want. I know, I know it's Keith Green, some are old enough in the room to know my reference though. The people of Israel complained to God out of fear that he had forgotten about them. And, and that's what the man represented. Aaron staff represent the represented the rebellion of God's people in the judgment of God. You can read about that story in number 16 and 17, go back and re read number 16 and 17 because it talks about God's judgment against those who rebelled against him. 4 (30m 49s): It says the earth opened up and swallowed the people and close back up and they were just gone judgment. Aaron staff represented the rebellion of God's people in the judgment of God, Aaron staff sprouted. This is interesting. So imagine I've got a staff in my office that somebody made for me, it's this tall eucalyptus staff and it's dead, right? Nobody expects it to do anything, but stand in the corner and I'll take it on a walks with me from time to time, but errands staff, because God was speaking his truth, administering his revelation is his staff sprouted and budded and blossomed and produced ripe almonds. 4 (31m 31s): Isn't that awesome. You see that number 17, eight. So Aaron staff representative rebellion of God's people and the judgment of God, the stone tablets represented God's law. And Israel's inability to keep the law, the stone tablets inscribed, what the terms of the covenant were written with the very finger of God. We know that from Exodus 31, 8 and a few other verses. So we look at the contents of the Ark of the covenant and everything in the, within this cut, this box represented Israels and humanity's desperate need for the grace of God. 4 (32m 12s): There are things in our lives today that remind us of our desperate need for God's grace. My wife will often tell me, you desperately need the grace of God. And I said, I know you've been telling me no, she never says that, but I know what she's thinking, but mistakes. And so she's actually never said that before to be clear, sorry, mistakes and sins from our past and our present, remind us of our need for God's grace. So the new covenant is God's response to that desperate need. The old covenant was good in that it was a shadow of things to come, but it was, it was incomplete to the old covenant, teaches us about sin and our need for God's grace and the old covenant points. 4 (33m 2s): Us. The old Testament points us to a promised new covenant. He would come through that would come through Christ Jesus, the Lord, Hebrews eight references. This passage in Jeremiah 31 that I'm going to read. So it will sound familiar to you because we just went through it a couple of weeks ago. It says this in Jeremiah 31 33 through 34, the day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. So this is a six, 700 years before the time of Christ. The Jeremiah is writing this day is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah, this covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors. When I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. 4 (33m 46s): They broke that covenant though. I love them. As a husband, loves his wife, says the Lord verse 33, but this is the new covenant. This is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel. After those days says the Lord, I will put my instructions deep within them. I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God. And they will be my people and they will not need to teach their neighbors nor will they need to teach their relatives saying you should know the Lord for everyone from the least to the greatest will know me already says the Lord and listen, this, I love this last part. And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins. 4 (34m 29s): That's the promise of God that was fulfilled in Christ. I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins. So God has the capacity and the grace to forgive our sins and to cleanse our conscience. They should go hand in hand, but sometimes we get hung up and we feel guilty about stuff that we've already confessed, that God has already forgiven. And we're just thinking about it and rehashing it. And the enemy is using it to distract us and to wear us out and to wear us down and discourage our progress. Our forward progress as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So the Ark representing the old covenant is filled with reminders of Israel's failures, reminders of humanity's failures. 4 (35m 13s): The cross representing the new covenant is a wonderful reminder of God's grace, his love and his forgiveness, the arcs cover. There was a car cover over the arch and it was called the place of atonement or the mercy seat. And it's a picture of what is needed to cover or a tone for the sins represented inside the arc. So inside the arc is reminders of our sin, Israel sin, the arc, the arts cover. The mercy seat is a picture of the atonement that is needed. In other words, as one writer puts it, the arc by its contents, declare the divine holiness by which all stand condemned and by its form, especially the atonement cover declared the divine, redeeming mercy through the shed, blood old covenant, the shed blood of animals, new covenant once for all time, the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest who is our mediator. 4 (36m 14s): The one who is forever interceding for us, the one who loves us unconditionally above the arc, above the arch, where the cherubim of divine glory, whose wings stretched out over the arch cover the place of atonement. But we cannot explain these things in detail. Now the author says, I think he kind of already did, but maybe there's more. Anyway, the arc is a picture. It's an illustration declaring for humanity. God's holiness, man's sinfulness, and God's plan to redeem humanity through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. The old Testament speaks clearly about our need for God's grace. 4 (36m 54s): The old Testament also tells us, tells God's people of God's answer to our need in the person and finished work of Jesus, the Messiah. So in the old Testament, we have roughly 300 prophecies speaking about the coming Messiah hundreds, and even thousands of years before Jesus was born and Jesus was on the scene profits, God spoke to profits and they spoke about the coming Messiah. So they knew their desperate need for God's grace. And they were all, all of Israel and Judah were waiting for their Messiah. Why? Because they had read the prophets, they understood God's plan and they had been waiting. 4 (37m 37s): So it's perplexing to realize that when Jesus shows up on the scene and he's fulfilling the prophecies, that the people of Israel and Judah still mostly refused to believe, things changed as time went on and people in Israel are still believing to this day, putting their faith in the mercy and the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and an article written by Mary Fairchild. She writes the book of the old Testament. The books of the old Testament contain many passages about the Messiah, all prophecies, Jesus Christ fulfill. For instance, the crucifixion of Jesus was foretold in Psalm 22, 1 6 through 18, approximately a thousand years before Christ was born long before this method of execution was even practice. 4 (38m 30s): So this method of execution through crucifixion was not practiced when this was written after Christ resurrection preachers of the new Testament church began to declare officially that Jesus was the Messiah by divine appointment. We see that in Paul's writings in Romans one, one through four, Paul is servant of Christ. Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David, according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection, from the dead Jesus Christ, our Lord. 4 (39m 11s): So the apostle Paul who wrote two thirds of the new Testament pointing back to the prophetic words that were uttered in the old Testament, pointing to what Jesus accomplished in his earthly life and ministry. So again, some Bible scholars suggest that there are more than 300 old Testament, prophetic scriptures completed in the life of Jesus Christ, such as his birthplace prophecies about his birthplace, his lineage method of execution. These things were all beyond tryst control and could not have been accidentally or deliberately fulfilled. This is God's divine plan unfolding in the universe on a macro scale. 4 (39m 56s): If God can pull all of that together on a macro scale, we can trust him on a micro scale with our lives. We need to understand that God has a plan that is unfolding. We can trust his plan to bring it to fruition. He is completely capable, completely desiring to bring those plans to fruition in our lives. Let's talk about statistical probability or in probability concerning the fulfillment of these prophecies that were spoken in the old Testament fulfilled in the new Testament of the person and work of the Lord. Jesus Christ. The chance of just eight. 4 (40m 38s): So there's about 300, the chance of just eight prophecies being fulfilled. This is the kind of the math. It's one in the 10th, one in 10 in this two in the 17th power, one in 10 to the 17th power. So this is kind of what that looks like if you ever been to Texas. So I was driving back from Louisiana years and years ago, and we're driving long, long days. It took us two full days to get through Texas driving all day long. We thought we're never going to make it to the other side of taxes. 4 (41m 21s): This place is eternal, right? So it's a huge state. So imagine taking silver dollars and covering the whole state of Texas two feet deep, two feet deep. That's a lot, a lot of silver dollars. Now imagine marking one of those silver dollars and shucking it somewhere in the state of Texas, mixing them all together, and then imagine blindfolding someone and telling them they can travel anywhere in the state of Texas, but they have to grab that one silver dollar that has been marked and declared. 4 (42m 5s): This is the one, one the 10th 17 happened. I was saying that right, Jim, one in 10 to the 17th power. There we go. One to 10th to the 17th power. That is the probability of eight prophecies coming true. There were 300. This is evidence of the divinity, the Messiah ship. The reality of who Jesus was and is that he is the Messiah. He is the Messiah. So the mathematical probability of 300 or 47, or even just eight fulfilled prophecies of Jesus stands as evidence of his messiahship prophecies about him being born of a woman Genesis three 15, that he would be born of a Virgin Isaiah seven, 14, that he would come from the tribe of Judah. 4 (43m 11s): We talked about that in our Hebrew study, Genesis 49, 10, that his throne would be anointed and eternal Psalm 45, Daniel chapter two, there's a bunch of your Messiah would be rejected by his own people, Psalm 69, Isaiah 53, that he'd be a prophet that he'd be proceeded by Elijah, that he would be declared the son of God. That he'd be called a Nazareen. It goes on and on and on that Messiah would be a priest. After the order of Melchizedek. We studied that as in our study of Hebrews chapter seven, that he would be called king Psalm two, that he would enter Jerusalem on a donkey Zachariah 11, that Messiah would be praised by little children, Psalm eight, verse two, all of these specific things were spoken of the Messiah hundreds and even thousands of years prior to his arrival that he would resurrect from the dead Psalm 16 and Psalm 49, that he'd be seated at God's right hand, that the Messiah would be a sacrifice for sin, that he would return a second time and on and on and on these and many other old Testament verses about Israel's Messiah or fulfilled in the new Testament, in the new covenant, in the new Testament life of Jesus Christ collectively, they form the leading proof of his deity of Christ deity. 4 (44m 49s): As Jesus went about his ministry, he knew he knew that he was fulfilling these prophecies and he pointed, especially the religious leaders. You understood the prophetic writings, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. He pointed them to the old covenant, the old Testament, the writings of the prophets. And this is what he said in Luke 24, 25 through 27. And then Jesus said to them, you foolish people. You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn't a clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory. Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the profits explaining from all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. 4 (45m 37s): He said in John 5 39 through 40 says you search the scripture, speaking to the religious leaders. And when he's talking about scripture, he's talking about the old Testament. You search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the scriptures point to me, Jesus said, yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. Some of us have had so much evidence pointing to the reality and the goodness and the sufficiency of Christ. And yet we still refuse to believe what is it going to take for us to finally believe some of us have believed on the salvation, but a lot of us are struggling to believe that God is good in our day-to-day lives that God can sufficiently provide for us in our day-to-day lives. 4 (46m 25s): That God wants to cleanse our conscience so that we can move forward with peace and power and confidence, not in who we are, but in who Jesus is. When we understand who Jesus is, we can move forward with greater confidence, greater passion, with greater compassion because of what Jesus has revealed to us and has accomplished in our lives. Let's move out of the shadows and believe that God is capable. That he's all powerful. That he's omnipresent. That he's very good. And his love is unconditional. Let's move forward in our faith as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, where in your life do you need to move forward as a, as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 4 (47m 12s): Where's your faith life struggling, dry. Where do you need to invite God in so that you might walk with greater enthusiasm, greater confidence, greater surety, invite God in and watch what he will do. It will be supernatural, just like all of the works of God through the old and the new Testament, watch what God will do. What you got to invite him in, invite him in and watch what he will do. Let's get back to Hebrews nine. And we've got a few things to talk about before we wrap up here in the next few minutes, when these things were all in place, Hebrews nine, six, speaking of the tabernacle, the priest regularly entered the first room as they perform their religious duties, but only the high priest Everett entered the most holy place and only once a year. 4 (48m 3s): And he always offered blood for his own sins. And for the sins, the people had committed and ignorance. Isn't that interesting? So we all sin and word thought or deed daily, but then there are things that we do in ignorance and isn't it good that the grace of God is sufficient for those things that we've done in ignorance, a thought, a word, an action. God's grace is sufficient to cover all of those things by these regulations. The holy spirit revealed that the entrance to the most holy place was not freely open. As long as the tabernacle and the system at represented were still in use. This is an illustration. 4 (48m 43s): The writer says pointing to the present time then, and now first century and 21st century for the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the conscience of the people who bring them. So there was a covering, but it was incomplete. Christ has the power to cleanse your sins and your conscience. Our conscience is as you know, that inner feeling or voice, it's the guide to the rightness or wrongness of our behavior. Our conscience gives us a sense of right or wrong. 4 (49m 25s): And so we've got to be careful to guard our conscience because as we think about our conscience, the scripture tells us that we can be in a good place or bad place. First Timothy four, two, number one, our conscience can be dead or seared. Do we fix this? Oh, we fixed it. Good. He used to say conscious. Now it says conscience, here we go. Now we can move forward. Here we go. Hopefully the rest of the points are fixed as well. Our conscience can be dead or seared. First Timothy four two says now the holy spirit tells us clearly that in the last times, some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 4 (50m 9s): These people are hypocrites and liars and their conscience is, are dead. So we can have a dead conscience and that we don't, we no longer feel what we used to feel regarding right and wrong. Maybe it's been seared or killed because we've ignored our conscience. One too many times, we've been rebellious against God when too many times we've allowed that same sin or the same, whatever in our lives over and over and over again, we've justified this somehow we've just seared our conscience. So we don't feel any anxiety, any approval. We don't feel anything around areas of our lives. So we need to be careful that our consciouses aren't dead or seared. 4 (50m 50s): And how do we fix it? We simply, we go to the Lord and say, God, my, I feel like my conscience in this area, or maybe just my conscience in general is seared. I, I, I barely feel anything anymore around my decision-making. I just don't understand right and wrong. And so Lord, I need you to restore my conscience. It's God's gift to us that we, that we use, that we have, that we operate with so that we can know the difference between right and wrong. And it works in collaboration with the holy spirit, through the word, as we understand truth and are filled with the power of God. And so we understand right and wrong, but sometimes we were so seared and dead in our conscience that we don't have the perspective and the capacity. 4 (51m 30s): So just ask God to heal your conscience, ask God to come in and just cleanse you. And to set you free in whatever area you need to be set free. Number one, our conscious can be dead or sear. Number two, our conscience can be defiled, right? Titus one 15 says everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure, but nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving because their minds and consciousnesses are corrupted. If you ever hung around somebody and you tell them a story, and they always coming up with the perverted, that perverted a part of the story, they're always trying to take it down a dark path, a dirty path. They're always trying to tell dirty jokes or tell dirty stories or, or their everything about their life has got this filter of uncleanliness there. 4 (52m 19s): They've got a polluted mind, a polluted conscience it's defiled. And so everything that comes through their filter is broken. We've. We've got to be careful that we hang around. People who build us up in our most holy faith, that Titus one 15 in the new king James version is not on the screen, but it says this to the pure, all things are pure. But to those who are defiled or corrupted and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and conscious conscience are defiled. Titus. One 16 says they, the corrupted and defiled, they profess to know God, but in works. 4 (52m 59s): They deny him being a balm, Annabelle, this obedient and disqualified for every good works we got, we've got to be careful that we're not allowing our conscience to be defiled through the things that we watch read encounters that we have close friends, that we keep, we need to be careful, bad company, corrupts, good character. So the people you spend time with that we spend time with either help our character or our character they're their, their help, our conscience, or corrupt our conscience. So our continents can be dead defiled. And number three, our consciousness can be guilty. And this is really what the whole message is all about. Hebrews 10, 21 and 22 talks about the conscience. It says in, since we have a high, a great high priest who rules over God's house, let us go right into the presence of God. 4 (53m 45s): With sincere hearts, fully trusting him for our guilty conscience is have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean. And our bodies have been washed with pure water. Listen, Christ has the power to cleanse our sins and to cleanse our conscience. The new system set up by God has the power to set us free from a guilty conscience. You guys believe in this stuff. It is absolutely true. Let's look at the last few verses. As we wrap up here, Hebrews nine 10 says for that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies, physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. 4 (54m 27s): So Christ has now become the high priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered the greater more perfect tabernacle in heaven, which is not made by human hands. It is not part of the created world with his own blood, not with the blood of goats and calves. He entered the most holy place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bowls and the ashes of the heifer could cleanse people's bodies from ceremonial impurities. Just think verse 14, just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify. Our conscience is from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God for, by the power of the eternal spirit. 4 (55m 12s): Christ offered himself to God as a sacrifice for our sins. That is why verse 15. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people. So that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance. God has promised them for Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins. They had committed under that first covenant. Isn't it great to know that Christ has the power to cleanse our sins and to cleanse our conscience with that. As we invite the worship team up, we're going to worship some more. I just encourage you to think about areas of your life, that need attention areas of your life, where there's confession needed, brokenness needed, contrition needed, and just invite God to work in your heart, to cleanse your sin and to cleanse your conscience. 4 (56m 7s): If you're here for, and you don't know anything about Christ, but you know that you've made mistakes. The Bible calls those mistakes sin and outlines it in the old and the new Testament. If you're here today and you want to be forgiven for your sins, Jesus will forgive your sins. If you confess your sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So you simply let's close our eyes and prayers. We stand up. We simply say, Lord, forgive my sins. Go ahead and stand up, Lord, forgive my sins. I need your grace. I need your love. I don't understand who you are and what you're all about, but I know that I need to grace from you, the great high priest. 4 (56m 51s): So forgive me for my sin. Fill me with your spirits and show me your love. And as you pray, those things, what will happen is the holy spirit will come into your life. Your sins will be forgiven. And then you get adopted into God's family. You become a son or a daughter within the family of God, and you've just begun a new walk with God. The Bible calls it being born again. So you've got a new life and you're now going to follow Jesus. That's the goal. That's the plan that we recognize our need for him. We give ourselves to him. We follow him all the days of our lives. 4 (57m 32s): So Lord, as we do our best to follow you all the days of our lives, be glorified Lord. As we sing, help us to worship in spirit and in truth with great honesty and humility, we ask in Jesus name, amen, amen. Let's worship 3 (57m 46s): And mentioned it. So we're actually, we're going to do a new song as we close up and kind of how pastor Steve is talking about that. Just the confidence that we have in that new covenant is the confidence that we also have that, you know, we have a eternity to spend with our Lord and our savior. And this one, this song is called him of heaven. And it, it speaks to that. It speaks to, you know, just declaring our excitement about being with the Lord and just being surrounded by his glory. So yeah, the same listings one together guys. 3 (1h 2m 41s): Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly father, Lord, we thank you. That, that is our declaration this morning, father, Lord, we long to sing that with you father. We long to be in your presence and in worship alongside you, Lord Jesus, the spend eternity by your side, but whilst we're here on earth, father, Lord, we just pray for your, your protection loading for you for your goodness, just to be alongside of us Lord this week as we leave this, this place, Lord, you would just come alongside of each and every one of us, but give us confidence to be bold in your presence, to be bold in your name. Jesus Lord, we thank you. And where we, where should be father. Maybe you never forget that. Especially as we walk through our day-to-day lives father, when we just cling to the hope that we have in you, Jesus, we love you father. 3 (1h 3m 24s): We lift up your name and praising me. Where, why should we pray these things in your precious name, father? Amen.

Jesus Completed His Work and He Continues His Work

0 (16s): don't let your job. your eyes on God is madly in love with you. 0 (1m 2s): Courage. Hold on. 0 (1m 7s): 1 (9m 50s): Whenever you're going through today, Join in this moment. We are here to worship Jesus. We set everything else aside. You need to lift your hands, lift your hands. You need to go on your knees, going to turn the patio of your home. Wherever you find yourself. Right now, you put Jesus first We worship you. 1 (14m 33s): Jesus. We thank you. How do we get to be here? Lift your name. Hi, 2 (14m 38s): Hallelujah. Or we are grateful, grateful for the victory. Lord, do you made a way for us finished work on Calvary makes it possible for AF for us to have access for us, to enjoy your presence, to worship you in spirit and in truth, Lord God, your life crucifixion, your death. Your resurrection makes victory possible for us and not just possible, but the outcome for our lives as we trust you and follow you, Lord God. 2 (15m 22s): So we thank you, Lord. I pray that we would connect with that and believe that Lord and walk in that truth. God, thank you for what you're doing. Lord God, as we open up your word today, and as we take communion, and as we baptize people, as we continue to pray and praise and fellowship, Lord, I just want you to be glorified. We want you to be glorified, Lord God, and a breakthrough into areas of our life. God, where we're dealing with fear or anxiety, doubts, anger, disbelief, unbelief, whatever it is, Lord God that we would allow a breakthrough in our lives. Lord God, that we would usher in a breakthrough by faith. 2 (16m 2s): As the gracious presence of the living, God will fill us and minister to us Lord. So we're where we've been holding you back. Lord, keeping you out. Lord, I pray that we would open up and allow you in Jesus name, that we would open up and allow your grace. Allow your love. Allow your goodness Lord to permeate every part of us. Lord God, to just blanket us. Lord. Thank you, Lord. You've done so much for us already and you continue to minister to us. 2 (16m 47s): You've seated. You've been seated at the right hand of God because your atoning work is complete, but you continue to minister you. You are our mediator. You are the one who makes all things possible. New life possible forgiveness possible. Grace possible. Thank you Lord. They give you thank you that you are a good priest, a good high priest. God, we worship you. You are a prophet priest and king. You are God incarnate the creator and sustainer of all things. 2 (17m 30s): You are Jehovah Gyra, our provider. You are our banner, our Lord. We surrendered submits you in all things. Lord, be glorified in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you, sir. We're in Hebrews chapter eight today. Thanks Barry. Hebrews chapter eight. Go ahead and turn. There. We'll have stuff up on the screen as well, but a Hebrews chapter eight and then we we'll be taking communion at the end and we'll be baptizing people at the end if you've never been baptized, man, if you're a, if you are a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, it is time to get, don't do this time to go into the waters of baptism. 2 (18m 17s): And so if you want to get kind of spontaneous, when I think of spontaneous baptism, I think about spontaneous combustion and it just kind of there's something I don't know. But if you would like to get spontaneously baptized today, we've got shorts and t-shirts and all kinds of stuff available to you. If you'd like to get dunked and I promise you will not combust. You will not spontaneously combust, but Hey, the title of the message today is Jesus completed his work and he continues his work. Doesn't that feel like life like we continue. We complete something and then we have still more work to do. It feels like that's kind of our been our motto for 19 years at harvest church, we complete a project. 2 (19m 0s): Then we move on to the next project because there's always work to be done. We're going to see in Hebrews chapter eight, that Jesus actually, he completed his work, but then he continues the work. Maybe it's like us with salvation. The work of salvation is complete in us, but God's called us to continue to press on and do the work that he has called us to do called us and equipped us to do so. The finished work of redemption has taken place, but then God calls us to move forward in the work that he's called us in equipped us for. So whatever's going on in your life? God's got, he's got redemptive work for you to partner participate in. And I just invite you into that. 2 (19m 41s): It's not always easy. In fact, most of the time, it's, it's not easy at all. It's, it's a challenge. It's difficult and it comes with all kinds of hurdles, but it is so worth it when we press in and press on and allow God to do what he wants to do. So Jesus completed his work and he continues his work Hebrews chapter eight. We're going to continue to talk about the priesthood of the Lord, Jesus Christ. The priesthood. This theme continues on into about Hebrews 10, 18. So for this chapter, a next chapter and halfway through Hebrews chapter 10, and we'll be talking about the priesthood of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Remember we're talking about the priesthood because the writer of Hebrews is pointing to the finished work of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the finished work of our great high priest. 2 (20m 29s): He's reminding people who are vacillating in their faith, particularly Hebrews in the first century, Jewish people in the first century who are vacillating in their faith about the Lord, Jesus Christ. Is he really who he said he is? And maybe we do the same thing in our lives as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We, we question is Jesus who he claims to be. Is he really has. He really accomplished all that he claims to have accomplished? I mean, he's just Jesus really real. And so that's first century issues that the church was dealing with. And 21st century issues that the church deals with, we wrestle with the goodness of God and the finished work of God through Christ Jesus. 2 (21m 16s): We, we wrestle with these things. And so we need to continue to come back to the word of God, allowing ourselves to be filled with the spirit of God so that we see the truth of God. And we're able to apply it to our lives as we study the word of God. So Christ is our high priest. The theme will be continued through Hebrews 10, 18. We covered this a little bit last week, but we'll cover all of Hebrews chapter eight this week in verse one, it says, here's the main points. I love that. It says that here's the main point is like, okay, pay attention, right? This is the deal. Like we need to pay attention to what the writer is about to communicate. Here's the main points. We have a high priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. 2 (22m 6s): So we have Jesus, Jesus. He completed his work and he continue his work. Number one, he is seated. What does that mean? That he is seated? Why did Jesus sit down? Well, it's kind of a recap of what we read in Hebrews chapter one, verse three, it says the sun radiates God's own glory and expresses the very character of God. And he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven, Jesus sat down after he had finished his atoning work. 2 (22m 50s): After the work of atonement was complete. He sat down and he sat down because he finished the work necessary to redeem people, to redeem human beings, to redeem you and me. So if you're worried about the redemption, the power of God to redeem you, we need, you need to understand. We need to be reminded that Jesus sits down and he sat down because his work was complete. Hebrews 10, 11, and 12 says this under the old covenant, the priest stands. Why, what we're going to see. He stands in ministers before the altar day, after day offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 2 (23m 40s): But our high priest offered himself to God. Jesus, our high priest offered to God as a single sacrifice for sins. Good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand. He sat down because his one and only sacrifice was sufficient for all sin for all times. So if you're wondering if your sin can be covered, can be forgiven. Hebrews tells us. Absolutely. Absolutely. So stop wrestling with past sins and then get victory over present sins know that God has given his life so that we might be forgiven, but that we also might get the victory over sin. 2 (24m 29s): So whatever you're struggling with God will give you the grace to get through it and get over it. Hebrews 12 two says because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross disregarding its shame. Now he is seated at the place of honor beside God's throne. If you're wondering if God wants to forgive you, you were the joy that was set before him for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. He wanted to see us forgiven and redeemed. 2 (25m 10s): It's always been a God's. It's always been God's idea to redeem humanity. We're going to read here just a little bit about how God it took the Israelites by the hand and led them out of Egypt. There's that intimate connection that God has with his people. Even in the old covenant, there's this connection, a heart connection that God has with his people. God wants to take his people by the hand and lead them out of, for the Israelites. Egypt represented slavery and bondage for us. Egypt represents our old life. Our old experience. God wants to take us by the hand. This is the beauty of this new covenant. 2 (25m 50s): This is why the, the writer of Hebrews is so impactfully communicating this truth so that the people who are tempted to drift back into legalism and the law, people who are tempted to drift back into an old way of relating to God, they can begin to see the truth again, and God can begin to draw them by his love and by his spirit, by his grace and by his goodness to come and follow him and to trust him, he, he is seated because he has finished the work of redemption. Some of us are still trying to work at getting that thing done in our own flesh. You know, we're, we're doing all kinds of stuff in the flesh, you know, doing, trying to earn God's favor and we're trying to figure out our God has you won't figure it out. 2 (26m 39s): There's a new covenant because people couldn't figure it out. They were broken in their sin, broken in their rebellion and God took them by the hand and ushered them out. God wants to take you by the hand, take us by the hand and assure us out because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God's throne, Hebrews eight two, there he ministers in the heavenly tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. And so we're beginning to see a contrast here. 2 (27m 20s): So Jesus is ministering in the heavenly tabernacle. As the people traveled through the wilderness, they erected a tabernacle, a place of worship. This place that the priest would offer sacrifices and it was to be built and constructed specifically, we'll get into that more next week, but it was to be built specifically to God's design. So we're beginning to see that this contrast again, where there there's this earthly tabernacle that was used for a moment, but it's just a shadow of what was to come now, Jesus, again, declaring the superiority of his ministry. 2 (28m 2s): He's ministering from this heavenly tabernacle that has been built by God and not by human hands. We're often trying to build something of a, of a religious experience by our own hands. And we're leaving God out of it all together by just trying to do all of the right stuff. And we're not connected. We're not connected at the heart to the living. God, we're not connected in our soul to God. We're just trying to, we've got all these external things going on, but it's not stuff that God is interested in. He's interested in, in an intimacy, a connection to a, a love relationship with him. 2 (28m 43s): He, he, that's what he's interested in. He, he continues to minister to, to that end, to draw us by his spirits. He is ministering, continually ministering everything and Hebrews points to the permanence of Jesus as our high priest. And it stands in contrast to the temporal ministry of the Levitical priest to the Levitical priests would minister to for a time they would die. New priests would come in. Jesus is our eternal priest forever. He ministers can end. He continues to minister as our high priest forever. 2 (29m 25s): What does his ministry look like? It's it gets interesting to me that that Jesus, Jesus, God, in the flesh, the incarnate eternal God, the creator sustainer of all things continues to minister. He's ministering to us. Eh, he's present with us in our lives. What does his ministry look like? Hebrews 7 23 through 25 says this. There were men again, comparing the old to the new. There were many priests under the old system for death, prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. 2 (30m 9s): Therefore he is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. It's pretty cool that God is interceding for us, that he is praying for us. I don't think we connect to that truth. Well enough to believe that God God knows us because it it's it's the indication is that if he's praying for us, he knows us so that he knows you you're you you've never been forgotten by God. You've never drifted so far that he's forgotten about you, that he, he knows you intimately in loves you intimately. 2 (30m 49s): And he's interceding for you, praying for you. God knows us. And he cares about us. There's this intimacy that, that we're believing from scripture and understanding from scripture and that he's willing to help us. He's he's we don't have to beg him to help us. A lot of our prayers come from a place of total lack of faith. We're saying, Lord, please. And we're begging God to help us when we don't even realize that it's his idea to intercede for us in the first place, into inter and to minister, to us out of his great love and connection to us, God is he knows us. 2 (31m 31s): He cares about us. He's willing to help us and he's and he's able to help. Plus, I mean, this is the, he is without he is without into his resource. And he's able to help us in the journey. It's a discipleship program for men and women in our church and really around the globe. We like to say, God knows God cares. And God is willing. And God is able. I mean, that's just the most simplistic way to talk about the intimate relationship that God desires to have with us. He knows he cares. 2 (32m 14s): He's willing. And that's where maybe we wrestle, you know, God are you really, are you wanting to help? Are you interested in helping? He's willing? And he's completely able to help. Prayer is a powerful weapon, especially, especially when Jesus is praying, especially. And we're not going to understand on this side of heaven, I don't think all of the theological implications of Jesus as praying to God, the father, let's just trust that there's power in it, but there's power in the reality that God is ministering to us. 2 (32m 54s): He's ministering to us in somebody's profound ways we pray and he's listening. That's ministry. Once you feel ministered to, and you're, you're pouring out your heart to someone and they're just listening, right? They're just listening. It's just, it's so therapeutic and spiritually so good when somebody just will listen, we cry out to the living God all of the time. And he listens because he cares. He cares about us. There's ministry happening when he touches our bodies or encourages our spirits or reconciles our relationship when he continues to forgive us and to cast our sin, as far as the east is from the west and choosing not to remember that against us any longer there's incredible ministry. 2 (33m 49s): So it wasn't one and done. I mean, in, in the sense that we were have been redeemed, the finished work of Christ happened, and that was one. But, but then he continues. He finished his work and he continues his work. He finished it and he continues it. Maybe, maybe you're here today and you kind of gave your life to the Lord at some point, but you haven't continued on in that relationship with the Lord, he's called you to a lifetime, an eternity of walking with him and trusting him. He Romans 8 31 through 34, kind of reiterate some and communicates powerfully that the truth that I've been trying to communicate, what shall we say about such wonderful things is as these, if God is for us, who can ever be against us since he did not even spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. 2 (34m 45s): Won't he also give us everything else who dares accused us, whom God has chosen for his own. No one for God himself has given us right. Standing with himself who then will condemn us. No one for Christ. Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us. And he is sitting in the place of honor at God's right hand pleading for us. Isn't that great news, right? We live under such heavy guilt and condemnation at times. And, and, and when we allow ourselves to stay there, it minimizes and diminishes the finished work of the Lord. 2 (35m 28s): Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, if you're feeling guilty about perpetual sin, get that dealt, get that confessed, get move on from that by God's grace, be done with that by by God's grace and in Jesus name, but then allow the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash over you. Don't don't allow the enemy to fill you with condemnation and, and feelings of heaviness and guilt. Once it's dealt with it's still with verse three, it says, it says incense, every high priest. Again, this is a comparison to earthly priestly system and their heavenly priestly system. 2 (36m 10s): And since every high priest is required to offer gifts and sacrifices, our high priest must make an offering to Dunn. You made did he is he is that done. Hebrews seven tells us Jesus offered himself for the people's sins. That is the sacrifice. But again, there's no comparison between the two that earthly priests continue to offer sacrifices. One year after year one, after the other, Jesus offered himself once. And for all, in fact, we're going to see that Jesus wouldn't even make it in the earthly system because he was of the tribe of Judah. And he wasn't he wasn't of the Levi tribe. It says here in verse four, if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest. 2 (36m 50s): Since there are already priests who offer the gifts required by the law, they serve in a system of worship. That's only a copy, a shadow of the real one and a heaven. It's it's not even a comparison. It's not even a comparison. What Jesus has accomplished in the new covenant, in the new system compared to the old there's no, it's the old system is a copy. It's a shadow. It's, it's a placeholder pointing us to what would come in Christ and what would be fulfilled in Christ. And so for working, if we're trusting God, believing God in some kind of with some kind of human effort to keep the law by trying to do everything just right. 2 (37m 33s): We've missed it altogether. If we, if we're trying to secure righteousness by keeping the law it's it's futile it's and, and this was the problem with the old system, keeping the law didn't make anybody righteous. Nobody was able to do it. They serve in a system of worship. That is a copy, a shadow of the real one in heaven for when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle. God gave him this warning. Be sure that you make everything according to the pattern. I've shown you here, the mountain and, and access 25. You can read the next verse 25. 2 (38m 12s): God is giving Moses kind of the blueprint for the tabernacle and everything that was going to go into it. He said, be sure that you make everything according to the pattern. I have shown you here on the mountain. We'll talk more about the Tabernacles we get into Hebrews chapter nine next week. We'll kind of unpack that some more and the symbolism of everything that's in there, but Hebrews eight, six says, but now Jesus, our high priest has been given a ministry that is far superior to the old priesthood for he is the one who mediates for us at far better covenant with God based on better promises, I can't help, but think there, there might be people in the room who are operating in a human it through human effort, trying to connect to God, kind of our broken down old way of thinking, religious kind of way of thinking. 2 (39m 16s): There's there are people who are trying to connect to God that way. And Jesus has made it Uber clear that that old system, it was a placeholder. It was never meant to be the permanent thing. But we in the church, even though we get super legalistic about things and we get hung up on things and we, we want to relate to God, maybe in a way that is historically familiar with us, but we're not in all of that. We're not connected to the living work and the living person of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 2 (39m 59s): And this is what God is calling us to Hebrews eight, six, but now Jesus, our high priest has been given a ministry that is superior to the old priesthood for he is the one who mediates a far better covenant with God based on better promises. Number three, he's our mediator. He is our mediator. He is our go between. He's our go between during the civil war, a soldier was trying to get a meeting with Abraham Lincoln. He was trying to get permission, not to be enlisted into the armed forces, due to personal circumstances with his family. 2 (40m 46s): And so he made an appointment with the president and the day that he was scheduled to go have the appointment with the president, he went to the white house and, and they, I didn't have him on record or in the schedule. And so they turned them away. And so this young man went to the park nearby and was just sitting on a bench and, and he was dejected. He was sad. He, he missed his opportunity to speak to the president. Well, this little boy came up and noticed that he was sad and, and asked him what was going on. And so the guy just poured out his heart to this, this little boy and explained to him that he was supposed to meet with the, that he needed to meet with the president to get this waiver for service in the military. 2 (41m 39s): And he was just dejected. And Sadie said, Hey, the little boy said, Hey, come follow me. It's a little boy led him up to the white house around the back door, passing by security. And everybody, everybody just kind of waving at him and just letting him through. He walks into the white house and he walks right into the oval office. And there's the precedent. So this little boy walks up to the president and the president says, well, Hey tad, how are you? What can I do for you son? And he said, Hey dad, there's this guy who needs to talk to you. 2 (42m 22s): And that's what Jesus has done for us as our mediator. He, he gets us around all of the blue tape, all our red, what does it re red tape, whatever it's called. What's blue tape. Oh, blue tape is painter's tape. I was using, I was thinking blue tape because I was over at 1 0 2 and we were moving this vault door. So it's an old bank, right? And so there's this vault door that has been, we took it off nine months ago and it's been sitting in the middle of the room for nine months because it's 3,500 pounds, 3,500 pounds. So we finally get a forklift in and I did something. 2 (43m 2s): I cut my finger and I, I, I, we had to keep moving. And so I wrapped it with blue tape and that's what I was thinking, blue tape. So anyway, blue tape is not a good bandage, by the way, I was bleeding all over the place. And so a little tad gets this man right to the precedent. Jesus gets us right to the father. He's our mediator. We make it so complicated. And we got to do all these things. But if we just connect to the mediator, follow the mediator, we get right to the father. This is the power of the gospel, the simplicity of the gospel. 2 (43m 45s): We have access to the father through the son and it's because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross. He died so that we might be connected, have relationship to and with and live eternally with the Lord. It's easy to convolute things and confuse things. And, and the enemy wants to make things very complicated for us so that we lose track and lose touch with the simplicity of what Jesus has done. 2 (44m 25s): First Timothy two five says for, there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile and humanity. The man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. Hebrews eight seven says if the first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need for a second covenant to replace it. But when God found fault with the people he said, the day is coming, says the Lord, I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. So this new covenant pastor David music describes is a covenant of grace and not of works. 2 (45m 13s): It's a covenant marked by believing and receiving instead of by earning and deserving. I think that's the point I was trying to make earlier. It's a covenant based on believing and receiving as opposed to earning and deserving. Hebrews eight, nine says this covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors. When I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. Again, it God's initiative. He delivered the people out of their slavery at God's initiative. He's wanting to take us today by the hand and lead us out of our old life. 2 (45m 55s): Verse continues. They did not remain faithful to my covenant. So I turned my back on them says the Lord, it sounds harsh. But a covenant normally involves the full cooperation of both parties. If one party defaults, the covenant becomes invalid. So this is virtually what happened to the old covenant. The Israelites did not continue in the covenant, which means that they broke away from its conditions. And when God says, I turn my back on, not on them, it's not to be understood as an arbitrary act of rejection or disinterest, but is as in the end inevitable consequence of his people turning their backs on the covenant that he made for their benefit and blessing. 2 (46m 42s): It was a broken system. So God brings a new system, verse 10, but this new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds. So this is the covenant he made with the people of Israel. I will put my laws in their minds and I will write them on their hearts. What was the law before was on tablets of stone, external. Where is the law? Now it's internal. It's again communicating the superiority of this new covenant, the laws in our hearts. And in our minds, he's written them there. I will be their God and they will be my people and they will not need to teach their neighbors nor will they need to teach their relatives saying you should know the Lord for everyone from the least to the greatest will know me all ready. 2 (47m 29s): So God is changing the higher red, a hierarchical system where the people must rely on a priest or a scribe to explain to them the truth that God is putting that truth in their hearts so that they understand the truth of God. And now they can relate to God. One to one through the mediator, through the Lord, Jesus Christ, the finished work there they can connect with. And so it changes this old system of the law and moves it from this outward works-based system into this intimate connection with the Lord where he's putting this, this law in their hearts. 2 (48m 12s): So Jesus is our mediator. He's our high priest. He's our go between. He's our minister. And he is the one who completed the work of redemption for humanity. So he's calling us into this place and he said, and I will forgive their wickedness. And we'll never again, remember their sins. This is the covenant by which Jesus has the power to forgive sins. Never to remember them again. When God speaks of a new covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete and it's now out of date and will soon disappear. And that thing disappeared at ADC and 80 70, when the temple was destroyed, animal sacrifices ceased, it disappeared to this day when we were in Israel a couple of years ago, w our tour guide was a Jewish man in his they're talking about gathering materials to rebuild the temple. 2 (49m 10s): And he's hoping that he will be chosen to be one who goes into the temple to offer sacrifices. There they're disconnected from the reality. Choose not to believe in the reality that Jesus is the Messiah and that he finished the work and ushered in a new covenant. We need to stop striving in our flash and trust the finished work of the Lord, Jesus Christ, whatever that means to you as the Lord, where am I striving? Where am I lacking faith in that finished work? I know I'm striving when I'm really begging God for something. 2 (49m 54s): And I'm like, Lord, you gotta do this. I it's, I, I recognize that it's not prayers of faith, but it's prayers of desperation. And then I changed my prayer and say, thank you, Lord, for what you will do in this situation. Thank you, God that you're working in this situation. Thank you God that you know about this situation. Thank you, God, that you are doing something in this situation. Even if I don't see it. Thank you, Lord God, I pray that you would just give me peace as I walked through it. And then all of a sudden it just shifts everything. I'm no longer anxious, no longer angry, no longer frustrated, but I'm just trusting Jesus. 2 (50m 35s): Jesus completed his work and he continues his work. He's seated. He is ministering. He is our mediator. And today is family Sunday for Sunday of the month, we take communion. And so I'm going to invite Jean up. She's going to lead us in communion today. And then after the service, we're going to have baptisms available. So as Jean comes forward, we're going to borrow this microphone. Come on on Jean. So alive. Give that a try there and see if that's live. 3 (51m 11s): Hello. That's a bit too much, right? Good morning. I just want to talk a little bit about community. And this morning community in is one of two sacraments that was taught by Jesus. The first was baptism, which we're doing today, which is an outward sign of one's entrance into God's family, by your faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ God's son. And the second sacrament is communion, which denotes your sanctification to be sanctified is to be consecrated. The bow of the dictionary says to be dedicated, to be made holy. So this is a holy feast, a sacrament. 3 (51m 55s): Now the word sacrament was first used by the Romans. It was called sacramentum and it was when a Roman soldier pledged to serve his nation. He made a sacrament and we do the same thing. We pledge our allegiance to Jesus and to the gospel and to God's covenant promise, which we learned about this morning to us. So it's a serious remembrance that Jesus initiated at the last supper with his disciples before his death. When after breaking the bread, he said, this is my body broken. Feel, do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way after supper, he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. 3 (52m 38s): So the last supper was a celebration of the Passover, which was a joyous remembrance of the saving of the lives of the Israelites. When the death angel passed over the land of Egypt, killing all the first born. So our death has also been passed over for a born into an eternal life. And this is the new covenant which Jesus made and which we celebrate each month. So we are also warned also not to take this feast unworthily, but to examine ourselves less, we participate and become sick. One Corinthians chapter 11. So there are five images to communion. 3 (53m 19s): The first is Thanksgiving to the father. And then that first century, right up and towards the end of the middle ages, which is around the 15 hundreds, communion was a joyful celebration. It wasn't the solemn thing that it became after that. Okay. Where are we? So we actually gave grateful things for the life that Jesus laid down to become the first fruits of God's family of which we are apart. The second is that we commemorate Christ as we remember just who he is and what he achieved through his death and resurrection, that he is the Lord that he never leaves nor forsakes us. That we are cleansed from all of our sins and our shortcomings. 3 (54m 4s): The third is that we sacrifice ourselves, which is our reasonable act of service. According to Paul in Romans chapter 12, we are made holy we've been cleansed for a purpose, fourthly that we love one another in acts 2 42 that says he steadfastly devoted themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles to the Lord's supper and prayer. We need to be participators, enjoy togetherness and care for one another. Lastly, this celebration is a foretaste of things to come. When we celebrate in heaven, the wedding feast of the lamb. When we, as Christ bride join in union with him, face-to-face forever. 3 (54m 49s): So before I invite you to take the elements and share the celebration with family, with friends or even somebody you don't yet know, I'd like to share a poem that the Lord gave me about communion. We gather here together to remember what took place to save mankind from death and hell has got offered us, his grace, his precious son, the holy Christ was part of God. You see? So it was also God, the father's pain that day at Calvary together, they designed and made this universe for man, but evil reared, its ugly head fouling up the plan. 3 (55m 29s): The father, God though sat and devised another way, chose Abraham to form a race known as the Jews today. Alas, the sinful nature kept its iron grip on man. And God revealed through profits that he had a better plan. They prophesied a Savior's birth to be in Bethlehem. Your shoer made his entrance son of God and son of man through the years that followed, he proved that he was God with teachings and miracles. No one else had done before and then embraced his destiny to Calvary. He came battered, bleeding, naked. He bore the awful shame. 3 (56m 10s): He died an agonizing death to appease the holy God, the punishment that we deserve. He took upon himself. The veil in the holy place, separated man from God was ripped from top to bottom, giving access to the Lord Jesus, death and resurrection made a pathway. We can tread and enter into life with him a life that has no end. So as we take this bread and cup with truly grateful hearts, let's stop. Be still and ponder the cost until I Lord and take this life. He's given us to focus on what's true to love and serve our precious Lord today and all life through. 3 (56m 53s): This is a celebration of the greatest sacrifice. The glorious son of God, most high laying down his life. Let's take the bread. As we just remember our laws, body broken for us And to compete. I holy feast, we, we take this a little bit of juice, but you know, it's it represents such a huge thing about it. Jesus Christ cleanses you from all your sin. 3 (57m 37s): As Steve mentioned this morning, God bless you all. 2 (57m 56s): Thank you gene. Thank you, Lord. Let's invite the worship team forward and this praise they come forward. And Lord, thank you for communion for the opportunity to be reminded where to take communion as often as we remember. So Lord, we thank you that we're reminded today of your, your great goodness, your great grace. We love you. God help us never to take it lightly, but see it as an opportunity. This act of worship taking communion Lord, that we would see that as an opportunity to refresh ourselves in you receive fresh grace, God, to recommit our lives to you. 2 (58m 55s): If you're here today and you've never accepted the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, it's really a simple, yet profound and powerful thing that God calls us to. He calls us to recognize our sinfulness are all of our mistakes and failures recognize that we have missed the mark fallen short of God's glorious standard and that we need his forgiveness and his grace. The Bible says that if we confess our sin, he is faithful. 2 (59m 37s): And just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So if you're here today and you need the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ for your sin, if you need forgiveness, go and ask the Lord, ask the Lord for forgiveness, For his love and for his grace. And as you experience that forgiveness and his love and his grace, you also experience the adoption of God. You will be adopted into the family of God and you'll be no longer outside of the family, but you will be a child of God, a son or a daughter. 2 (1h 0m 19s): And then I encourage you. If you've made that decision, I would encourage you to get baptized today. Again, we will have shorts and t-shirts available in towels. And so that will be on that back patio right after service. And so Lord, we just pray God that you would just continue the good work Lord. Thank you for your grace. Thank you, Lord. I feel compelled if you are here today and you've given your life to Jesus, but you've never been baptized make today your day. Thank you for your grace. Jesus. Amen. Let's worship 1 (1h 5m 47s): Thank you, Jesus. That we get to praise your name. We lift your name. Hi, thank you for your presence in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. If you'd like prayer this morning, we have a prayer team, so you can make your way forward. If you'd like to get baptized, we have an info team out front, so you can make your way up there and sign up for that for today. Have a wonderful day.

Jesus is Absolutely Enough

0 (0s): Good morning if you're on the patio or you're at home, would you also stand as we worshiped 1 (21s): I 0 (21s): Was lost, but he brought me in no, his, his I was asleep to, since Jesus died. 1 (1m 4s): There's 0 (2m 59s): A place. Yes. 2 (3m 12s): Because as we worship you, we are your children. We thank you that we get to worship you this morning church. We're going to sing a new song this morning. And in that song, we declare that we believe in the word of God. We declare that he is true and that we sing this out with that. 0 (3m 37s): Do your speed. Can see being Christ. Jesus I believe in the resurrection that will, we will rise. 0 (4m 22s): Ah, I believe in resurrection when Jesus I believe in God. 0 (7m 5s): I believe in Christ 1 (8m 17s): we cry. 1 (10m 23s): We cry. 3 (10m 51s): Thank you, Lord. You are indeed. Holy And by your grace, you have imputed holiness to us. It's incredible. You have forgiven our sins washed us, made us as white as snow pure and your sites because of the shed blood of Christ on our behalf. We thank you, Lord, that you are holy and you have made a way for us to ensure into your holy presence by forgiving us, redeeming us. This promise, this process of sanctify sanctification. You're sanctifying us Lord. You're doing such wonderful and profound and powerful things in our lives. 3 (11m 37s): Lord God, I pray God that we would God find a firm foundation. God, for those of us who have been waffling questioning, wondering doubting Lord, I pray that we would set our feet on a firm. The, the firm foundation, who is Christ the Lord, and that we would stand firm, that the truth of the scripture would anchor our lives. Anchor our souls. Lord, the revelation of God would be sufficient for us for our lives. We love you. We trust you, God. We believe you. And we praise you in Jesus name. 3 (12m 17s): Amen. Amen. Hey, go and turn around and greet and neighbor and we'll come right back here in just a moment. I'll get it. I got it. 1 (12m 26s): my back. 3 (13m 53s): Come on back. Good morning. We're in Hebrews chapter seven. Today you can be seated and turns you Hebrews chapter seven. I'm just going to warn you up front. I got a ton of material to go through today. I got a ton of stuff. So for historical context, we'll be looking at well, we look well steady all the way through Hebrews chapter seven, but we'll be looking at chapter six, chapter eight and chapter nine as well, just to kind of lay some groundwork. But before that, we'll just kind of go through some information. And the title of the message today is Jesus is absolutely enough. 3 (14m 36s): He's absolutely enough. And we walk with Jesus for any length of time, whether we're brand new and cry in the Lord, or I've been doing this walking with the Lord for decades, we realize that Jesus is absolutely enough, but then, but then circumstances happen. Sometimes we begin to waffle in that we begin to wonder about that. We begin to question that. And so really that's why Hebrews has been written to reaffirm, to believers in the Lord. Jesus Christ, that he is absolutely enough. That station is to fall back into an old way of thinking old system of believing a way of working things out with the Lord where the truth is. He's absolutely not for this life. 3 (15m 17s): He's come that we might have life and life abundantly, but then also for our eternal life. So we have a hope in Christ for this life and for the next this life. And for the next it'd be a total bummer if we didn't have hope in this life as well. But God by his grace has given us a bundle of mercy and goodness and gifts and favor for this life. And then it just carries on into eternity. God is absolutely good. I just want to cover a few things before we get into our text today. Some of us wonder because of maybe background experiences, choices we've made is God sufficient. 3 (15m 58s): Is he absolutely enough to save me, to redeem me? And I just want to tell you, man, no matter who you are, God is absolutely enough. Jesus is absolutely enough to redeem you. He's able to cleanse you of your sins to make you a brand new person to sanctify your life so that you look, you look totally different in your new life than you did in your old life. He's actually made it possible for you to be born again spiritually with the implication, meaning that you're going to be a brand new person in the Lord. Jesus Christ. 3 (16m 38s): Jesus is enough to save us. Jesus, Jesus has by one sacrifice made perfect forever. Those who are being made. Holy, we read that in Hebrews 10, 14, Peter preach that there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. We see that in acts chapter four, verse 12, there is literally no one and nothing else that we could add to Christ to aid in our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith because he is good. 3 (17m 21s): Not because we are good. He finished the work on the cross. And what he did is enough to save us John 1930. So Jesus is enough to save us and that should set a foundation in our lives to build upon that informs our lives and encourage us. Us encourages us to believe that he is absolutely enough for every other arena of our lives. Jesus is enough to save us. Jesus is enough to provide for us. Paul wrote in Philippians four 19, and my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 3 (18m 6s): So Jesus is absolutely enough. He's absolutely enough to bless us as well. Paul said that God blessed us in interest with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, Ephesians one three, he didn't say a few spiritual blessings. He said every spiritual blessing. And since we can't add anything more to every Jesus is truly enough for every spiritual need we have. So we see that God is sufficient, absolutely sufficient, absolutely enough for every area of our lives. Jesus is enough to equip us. 3 (18m 46s): I say this all the time that God calls and God equips people to do the work in the world that he has for us to do at whatever level he's calling us. And he's equipping us. Jesus is enough to equip us. We have the promise that God's divine power has bestowed on us. Absolutely everything necessary for a dynamic spiritual life and godliness. Second, Peter one three says by his divine power, by his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. You wonder how to live a godly life. Stay close to Jesus. 3 (19m 27s): Be filled with the holy spirit, open up the word of God, allow it to inform you. You will live a godly life by his grace. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. So he hasn't called us into a religious system. He's called us into a relationship with him by which she pours out and bestows upon us. All kinds of amazing gifts here in this life and in the life to come, Jesus is enough to strengthen us. Maybe you're feeling weary. It's only halfway through January in the new year, but maybe you're feeling weary. God is actually able to strengthen you in whatever scenario that you're facing in your life for Jesus is enough to strengthen us. 3 (20m 16s): When Paul prayed three times to the Lord to remove the thorn from his flesh, the response was my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. So when we are weak, Jesus' strength is enough to carry us onward. In fact, our weakness only perfects his power, which leaves no room for adding another power source. Jesus is all we need. 3 (20m 56s): There is nothing and no one to add to Christ his person and his work are perfect. He is the way he is the truth and he is the life. John 14 six. He is the only one who can save. He's the only one who can provide for us, bless us, equip us and strengthen us. Having faith in Christ involves trusting. This is the challenge for us. Having faith in God involves trusting in his complete sufficiency. Having faith in God involves trusting in his complete sufficiency for our salvation and for our life in the here. 3 (21m 39s): And now he's come that we might have life in life, abundance, you that he Hewitt wrote. I need no other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. There's something about that truth that should resonate with us as believers. If you're hearing this truth for the first time, you need to know by God's grace, he wants to come into your life. He wants to forgive you. He wants to set you free. He wants to lavish on you. The kind of love that you've never experienced before he wants to lead you through life leads you out of danger, leads you into eternal life with him. He wants to be your Lord, your king, your Redeemer, and your saver. 3 (22m 21s): Why? Because he's absolutely enough. Jesus is absolutely enough. So before we get into Hebrews chapter seven, that was just kind of get us, get us prepared for that to get some historical context. Like I said, we're gonna look at the last couple of verses of Hebrews chapter six. We're going to look at the first couple of verses of Hebrews chapter eight. And then we're going to look at a number of verses in Hebrews chapter nine because all of those verses is a lot, but all of those verses give us context, historical context to understand what's happening in Hebrews chapter seven, Hebrews chapter seven is it is a challenging chapter and some people skip it. And, but I just like to go through the whole text of scripture. 3 (23m 2s): And so we're gonna do our best to teach their Hebrews chapter seven today, before we do that, let's get into Hebrews chapter six. I feel like we should pray. Here we go, Lord, we're gonna pray one more time. There's a lot of information ahead of us. I pray God that we hang in there, that we don't glaze over and check out, but that we hear the truth that are, that we need to hear in our spirits Lord in our souls, in our minds, in our lives, God. And that we would hear it and not just hear it, but believe it, maybe at a whole new level, maybe for the first time, but that we would believe God that you are absolutely all that we need. Jesus. And so he works efficient, absolutely sufficient. 3 (23m 44s): So help us to believe that and hear that and see that in the passage of scriptures that we read through today in Jesus name. Amen. Here we go. Hebrews six, you guys ready? Historical contexts, Hebrews six, 19 through 20. You can just jot these down and look at them later, but there'll be up on the screen as well. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. What's the hope that we're talking about all of the hope that we've been talking about, right? I hope for eternal life in Jesus, new life in Jesus here on the here and now. So this hope is what we're talking about. And Hebrews chapter six, this hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It means when we are building our life on this truth, that anchors of the truth anchors us and keeps us from getting too far away from God and too far away from God's planet keeps us right where we need to be. 3 (24m 34s): It leads us this hope, this, it leads us through the curtain, into God's inner sanctuary in the tabernacle. There was the holy place and the most holy place. This is where the priests of God did business with God, where they offered sacrifices for themselves. And for the people of God who had sinned, they're offering animal sacrifices, old covenant, old Testament stuff. This is what was going on, but Jesus has already gone in there for us. And he has become our eternal high priest. In the order of milk has a deck. Let's jump to Hebrews chapter eight, skip skipping chapter seven for a moment, Hebrews chapter eight verses one and two says this here is the main point. 3 (25m 17s): So as you read through Hebrews 5, 6, 7, as you read through Hebrews, you get to Hebrews chapter eight. And it says, here is the main point when it says here is the main point. It's time to pay attention because this is the main point, right? So we want to pay attention. So if you're asking, what's the main point, here's the main point. We have a high priest who sat down in the place of honor beside the throne of the majestic God in heaven. What does it mean that he sat down and we said it is finished, right? It is just right. Like the work, the sacrifice has been accomplished. 3 (25m 58s): It is finished. The work is done. So he sits down at the right hand of the father. There, he ministers in the heavenly tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. We'll talk about that as we go through our study through Hebrew. So the fact that Jesus is at the right hand of the throne of God and he's interceding for us indicates that he hasn't called us into a religious practice. He's called us into a relationship with him. And some of us pay lip service to that relationship, but we never really maybe injured into it. 3 (26m 39s): Or we don't handle that very well. We kind of maybe keep God at a distance or we, you know, talk to them or pray to them on Sundays or when we're in trouble and that sort of thing. But he's actually called us into a close and intimate relationship with him. And he's, he's invested. He made the way for our salvation for just an amazing life here in the earth. Even with all of the difficulties that we go through, he is with us. He sustains us, he strengthens us. He provides for us. So he's done all of that to come that again, that we might have life and life abundance, but then also he's gone to the father. He sits there and he's interceding for us. So he's engaged with us. He's thinking about us, he's aware of what we're going through. 3 (27m 20s): So when we're going through stuff, we can go to him and bring our petitions to him. And he will intercede for us, strengthening us in what he has called us to do and what he's taking us through. There, he ministers and the heavily tabernacle, the true place of worship that was built by the Lord and not by human hands. Jesus is absolutely enough. Number one, because he has completed the necessary work of securing our salvation. Wow. He has completed the necessary work of securing our salvation. 3 (28m 1s): He has pleaded the necessary work of securing our salvation. Some of us seem to understand that on a whole new level, like a transformational level, that changes the way that we think and relate to God and live in this life. It's Jesus plus absolutely nothing that equals salvation. So Jesus by his grace, because he is good. Not because we are good, he saves us. And then he takes us on this amazing journey. That's reflective of our connection with him, our intimacy with him. He takes us on this journey of sanctification. I was just talking to a couple of this morning after first service. 3 (28m 42s): And they said they were separated and they were distant from God. And then when they decided to get serious about their relationship with God, again, because they had drifted and backslidden God brought them back together and his reconciling their relationship, sanctifying their relationship, bringing them back together and together now they will follow Jesus together. This is what Jesus does. He's absolutely sufficient to save us. And then to take us down this path of sanctification, whereby we look totally different, totally different as we move forward. Then when we did, when we were younger, I did a Memorial service for my friend. 3 (29m 23s): I don't know, last year, sometime friend from junior high school. And so all these are all buddies from junior high and high school people that I've known forever. And a lot of them I haven't seen for decades, like since then know. So it's been a few that few decades. So when I get done, you know, bringing the message and talking about my friend who passed away, some friends came up to me who hadn't seen me since high school. They're like, man, you're totally different than you used to be my best. That's the plan, right? Like if I'm born again, but stay, if we're born again, but never grow. If we never grow up in our most holy faith in what's the point, God has designed us to mature and grow and be sanctified by his grace so that his work is constantly happening within us and changing us and transforming us Jesus plus nothing equals salvation that we go on this amazing journey called sanctification. 3 (30m 18s): Jesus is sufficient. He's completely enough. So this important information for the believers in the first century needed to be reiterated and communicated to them so that they might wake up because they began to backslide away from it begin to not believe it begin to fall away from this truth. And so this first century group of believers, Jewish believers needed to hear this information again. And I, I think down through the centuries, down through the centuries, we've all needed to be hearing this information again. So it's my job to bring this information, this revelation to us again, so that we have a firm foundation and an effective walk with Jesus, many people. 3 (31m 1s): We, we wrestle in our seasons of life with whether the truth is that Jesus isn't, we, we, we wonder is Jesus enough. And we need to be reminded by the scripture. This is why I'm always telling us open up your Bible, get to church, stay informed with the word of God. Hebrews was written to a group of people who were backsliding or struggling. We've all been in that place where we've been struggling with what we really believe. So Hebrews now to us is reminding us as followers of Jesus, that he is enough. This information and revelation are difficult for some to hang on to, but if we just continue to come back to it, we will be able to hang onto it. 3 (31m 43s): I think some of us get saved and we're distant from the Lord. And so we never quite experienced victory on this side of heaven. And so we're dealing with guilt and condemnation and there's something about there's something about in the first century, something about the religious experience that the people wanted to sometime somehow participate in their salvation, into their sanctification. So that's why they kind of drifted back into like the animal sacrifices where literally they would sacrifice the bulls and goats and, and the blood of those animals would, were meant to cover sin until a time all of that stuff was going on. But, and so we're disconnected from that. 3 (32m 23s): But the reality is, is that in the 21st century, we want Jesus. Plus my good works it's Jesus. Plus my Bible reading it's Jesus. Plus my giving my tithing, whatever it may be. It's Jesus plus something else that brings me into a place of favor with God. And that God wants to shake all that up. He wants to shake all that up. Not that he's not going to grow you and make you different, but it's Jesus plus nothing else that equals your salvation. Jesus is enough. Meaning no more beating yourself up for past mistakes. Jesus is enough. Some of us are thinking back to our life when they, oh Lord. 3 (33m 4s): Back in 1945, I did this right back in 2020. I did this last week. Lord, I did this. I got to say, my grace is sufficient. If you confess your sins, God is faithful. And just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So no more guilt over past mistakes, no more condemnation because Jesus has forgiven your sins. We love the new system, but our flesh likes the old system. So we slipped back into a system of works. Paul addressed this issue to the church in Glacia Galatians one six. He said, I am shocked. I'm shocked that you're turning away so soon from God who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. 3 (33m 49s): You're following a different way. That pretends to be the good news, but it's not the good news at all. So let's look at Hebrews chapter nine because Hebrews chapter nine helps us understand the old system. This is what would happen in the old covenant. Under the old, in the old Testament before Christ came, this is what was going on. When these things were in place, the old system, the old covenant, the priests, the Levi priest regularly entered the first room, which is the holy place as they perform their religious duties. But only the high priests Everett enter the injured, the most holy place, which is behind another curtain in the tabernacle and only once a year. 3 (34m 33s): And he always offered blood for his own sins. And for the sins that people had committed in ignorance by these regulations, the holy spirit revealed that the entrance to the most holy place was not freely open. As long as the tabernacle and the system that old system is, is represented, represent represented. We're still in use right about that verse nine. This is an illustration pointing to the present time. So now we're talking about what God has done, what Jesus has done. This is an illustration pointing to the present time for the gifts and sacrifices that the priests offer are not able to cleanse the consciouses of the people who bring them for that old system deals only with food and drink and various cleansing ceremonies, physical regulations that were in effect only until a better system could be established. 3 (35m 32s): What is that better system that has been established Jesus, right? Christ the better system Christ is the better system. He's the perfect and final sacrifice. And so these people had believed the first century believers, Jewish believers had believed, but then begin to slip back into old ways of thinking. So that's why this letter is written verse 11 says, so Christ has now become the high priest language that they would understand over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. 3 (36m 14s): So now let's get into Hebrews chapter seven. Is that clock set? Okay, good to set. I got to, I need to know how much time I've got left here. I just need to take a breath and what I need to do. So I'm trying to get a lot in here. I told my wife, I said, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get all of Hebrews seven in there. She said, we'll break it up. Of course I didn't break it up here. We are. So now as we get into Hebrews chapter seven, we're going to be learning about this mysterious person named Mel Kesa deck. All right. Again, the whole purpose of this letter is to inform and to encourage and to remind the Jewish believers that Jesus is absolutely enough. 3 (36m 57s): And so this person, Mel Kazakh interacted with Abraham. So we're talking 4,000 years ago, 2000 years before Christ Marchesa deck and Abraham are having this interaction. It was a setup 4,000 years ago to prepare the people, the Jewish people, especially, and as Gentiles, it was to prepare them for a better system that would be revealed 4,000 years later. So we will learn about this mysterious person though, because we've kind of hinted about him leading up to this point. So we're going to learn some stuff about milk as a deck and realize Marquez deck is greater than Abraham, but Jesus is greater than has a deck. 3 (37m 42s): Here we go, because the deck is both a king and a priest who foreshadowed Jesus. So the Levitical priests were just priest. They weren't Kings as well. They were just priest. So cause a king. He's the king of Salem, which is ancient Jerusalem. So he's king and priest, but we know that Jesus is a prophet priest and king. So he trumps milk has a deck and Marchesa deck trumps Abraham. So Jesus trumps them all. Here we go. Mel Kazakh prepared the Jewish people for a different type of priesthood. Something that would be instituted thousands of years later, God use mal Kesey deck. It seems as an example of what was to come in Christ. 3 (38m 24s): So mal Kuznick foreshadowed the work ministry and life of the Lord. Jesus Christ. We will see that now is greater than Abraham, but Jesus is greater than milk has it at Hebrews chapter seven one, shall we get into verse one? All right, here we go. This milk mill Cassa deck was king of the city of Salem, ancient Jerusalem, and also a priest of God. Most high when Abraham was returning home, after winning a great battle against the Kings milk, met him and blessed him. Then Abraham took a 10th of all. He had captured in battle and gave it to milk. Heza deck the name now Kesey deck means king of justice and king of Salem means king of peace. 3 (39m 8s): And so when we study this guy, Mel Kesey deck, we see that there's some similarities. Some people would say that milk Kesey deck was a Krzysztof mini, a an old Testament personification of Jesus. I don't believe that. I don't think that's the case. I think no deck was used. Maybe he was an angelic being who ruled over Salem, Jerusalem. I don't know who he is. We won't know this side of heaven, but we will meet him in eternity. Right? Cause he remains a priest forever. Like the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. We're looking at milk as a deck. There are plenty of similarities to Jesus, our great high priest, by the way, is just a priest and Jesus is the great high priest. 3 (39m 53s): All right, here we go. No charismatic is just says that he's just, and Jesus is just first John one nine. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful. And what just, he is faithful. And just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. So who is the one who is just unable to forgive? Well, Jesus is right. We see it in the scripture and ex or excuse me, John first, John one seven says, but if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other and the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin. So if you wonder if Jesus is enough, absolutely enough to forgive you and to save you. 3 (40m 39s): We we've got evidence from the scripture. Hebrews seven two says again, the name means king of justice and king of Salem means king of peace. So ML Kesey deck as king of Salem is also known as the king of peace. Who else do we know in the scripture is related to peace? Jesus, he's the prince of peace, right? Isaiah nine, six, a popular passage for Christmas time says this for a child is born to us. A son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and prince of peace, right? 3 (41m 22s): He's the prince of peace. Isaiah nine, seven. Speaking of Jesus says his government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and there it is again, justice from the throne of his ancestor, David, for all eternity, the passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's armies will make this happen. So what else do we know about milk has a deck? Well, there's no record. This is interesting, right? Is there's no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors, no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever resembling the son of God. 3 (42m 4s): So that Greek word translated resembling in Hebrews chapter verse seven, chapter seven, verse three, it just simply means a copy or a facsimile. It means to be made like, or to render similar. So we see that milk has a deck is a priest forever resembling the son of God. I don't think he's across Christophe and at Christ often, if you think so, no problem. We won't have to talk about it after church, but I think he's probably just an angelic being or some somebody that God chose to use to point us to a new system, to the person in the work of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 3 (42m 48s): So there's no record of his family. Lineage is important. If you want to serve as a priest, you needed to prove that you were part of the right family, that you were indeed a Levi's. So we see begin to see a shifts. So God calls Melchizedek priest forever, but he's not a Levi. It only errands descendants. The it's could be priests. So we see a shift. We know that Jesus, wasn't a Levis, but he's called our great high priest. Jesus was of what tribe Judah. So that's a totally different tribe. Nowhere in all of scripture were people from Judas tribe priests. 3 (43m 28s): So we've got Mel Cassie, who's pointing people to a new system. Jesus is God using Melchizedek to point us to a new system pointing to something better that's coming. So he used the McKesson and 4,000 years ago to kind of foreshadow Jesus, you came 2000 year, goes years ago so that we get to hear about him today, 2000 years later, God's God's got this big picture plan that is unholy. So if you're worried about your life and what's going on in your life and you're like 30 years old right now, God's got it handled. Maybe you're a hundred years old. God is good. He's got it handled, right? He's not on this. Time-space continue. He's not worried. He's outside of time. He's got you handle. He's absolutely capable of handling your life. 3 (44m 9s): So there's no record of his family. We know who Jesus, father and mother are, but Jesus, again, our great high priest is not a Levi he's of the tribe of Judah. According to verse three, Mel and Jesus are both priests forever. I don't know how to work that out. Theologically. We'll figure it out when we get there. But according to the scripture, that's the case and they're priests forever. So typically a Levi would serve for a time they would die. And then a new Levi would come in and serve as priest. But Jesus is our great high priest for forever and ever and ever consider then how great this milk has. 3 (44m 52s): The deck was even Abraham. The great patriarch of Israel recognize this by giving a 10th of what he had taken in battle. So again, we're trying to elevate the reality that McKesson had good points is to Jesus is actually superior to father Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation. He's been elevated as their father, spiritually and relationally. And, and, and through whom the promise of God has come, but there's something beyond that. And so the writers pointing this out, even Abraham, the gate, rape patriarch recognize this by giving him a 10th of what he had taken in battle. Now the law of Moses required that priests who are descendants of Levi must collect a tie from the rest of the people of Israel who are also descendants of Abraham. 3 (45m 37s): But now Cassa, DEC, who was not a descendant of Levi collected a 10th from Abraham and no Kesa Dick placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promise Genesis 12. And without question, the person who has the power to give a blessing is greater than the one who is blessed. Verse eight, the priests who collect ties are men who die. So Mel Kesa Dick is greater than they are because we are told that he lives on. In addition, we might even say that these Levi's and I, I love this rationale here, this, this language here. In addition, we might even say that these Levi's the ones who collected the ties, paid tied to milk has a deck when their ancestor, Abraham paid a tie to him for although Levi wasn't born yet, the seed from which he came was in Abraham's body. 3 (46m 28s): When deck collected the tithe from him, you have to think about that one. So if the priesthood of Levi in which the law was based could have achieved, this is important. Verse 11, if the priesthood of Levi in which the law was based, the old covenant, the old system could have achieved the perfection, God intended. Why did God needs? You establish a different priesthood with a priest in the order of instead of the, instead of the order of Levi and Erin, right? There's a transition happening. The old covenant was given the law was given. So we, we might recognize how desperately in need of God's grace. We are like obey the 10 commandments. 3 (47m 10s): Nobody could do it. Nobody could keep the commandments. In fact, scripture says that we break one part of the law. We're guilty of breaking all of the loss. So in every scenario with every person, we all need the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so the message throughout the scripture in the old and the new Testament points us to Jesus. Hebrews chapter points us to Jesus first wealth. And if the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed to permit it for the priests. We are talking about belong to a different tribe whose members have never served at the alter as priest. What I, what I mean is our Lord came from the tribe of Judah and Moses never mentioned priests coming from that tribe. 3 (47m 57s): This change has been made very clear since a different priest who was like Mel Kesa. Dick has appeared. Jesus became a priest, not by meeting the physical requirements by belonging, to the tribe of Levi Levi, but by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed as a Psalm was pointed out. When he prophesied you are a priest forever. In the order of Melchizedek, Jesus is absolutely enough. Number one, because he has completed the necessary work of securing our salvation and number two, and we'll wrap this left part up very quickly because he is a priest forever, and he guarantees a better covenant with God. 3 (48m 41s): So the old covenant was based on works obedience to the law Jesus and the new covenant guarantees by his sacrificial work on the cross. He guarantees a better covenant with God by grace. Are we saved through faith as nothing to do with ourselves, Ephesians 2 8, 9. It's all a gift of, of, of the Lord by grace. Are we saved through faith? Jesus guarantees a better covenant with God. Yes. The old requirement about the priesthood was set aside because it was weak and useless. Do you guys hear that? And this is what the people were beginning to slip back into. They were blinded to the effectiveness of what Christ had done, and they were slipping back into an old system for the law. 3 (49m 24s): Never made anything perfect, but now we have confidence in a better hope through which we draw near to God. This new system was established with a solemn oath. Era's descendants became priest without such an oath, but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, the Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow. You are a priest forever. So this will never change. This will never change because of this oath. Verse 22, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. You can't guarantee a better covenant with God through your good works. You can't guarantee a better relationship with God through your good works. 3 (50m 5s): You will enjoy maybe greater intimacy with God because of your obedience to him. You will enjoy a closer relationship with God, maybe because of your obedience, but you will never guarantee a better covenant relationship with him based on those things. Jesus secured that for you. Verse 23, there were many priests under the old system for death, prevented them from remaining in office, but because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able once and forever to save those who come to God through him, he lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. Jesus is absolutely enough. Number one, because he has completed the necessary work of securing our salvation. 3 (50m 46s): Number two, because he is a priest forever. And he guarantees a better covenant with God. Number three, because he is holy and blameless unstained by sin. He is holy and blameless. Imagine holy and blameless. The Lord, Jesus Christ. God who created the heavens and the earth took on human flesh in the, in the incarnation became a child raised, preached, taught, lived, died, raised from the dead all for you and me. 3 (51m 26s): Not because of his sin, but because of our sin, he is the kind of high Friess we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from centers and has been given the highest place of honor and heaven. Unlike those other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices every day. They did this for their own sins and first, and then for the sins of the people. But Jesus did this once for all. Get this once for all. Don't keep going back, just receive the grace of the Lord. Jesus tries to, if you mess up, say, Lord, forgive me. I don't want to walk down that path, but don't go back from things that you've already been forgiven for. 3 (52m 7s): You're feeling guilty and condemnation about just, just receive the grace of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Maybe you're here today and you've never received the grace of the Lord. Jesus Christ healed. Jesus loves you. His grace is efficient. Receive it a fresh brand new today and watch what God will do in your life. The law pointed high priests who were limited by human weakness, but after the law was given God appointed his son with an oath and his son has been made the perfect high priest forever. Jesus has absolutely enough for your life now and for your eternity, build your spiritual foundation on that truth. 3 (52m 52s): And 2022 will be for you a time of amazing growth, spiritually amazing growth in the area of faith and confidence in trusting God and amazing things. Transformational things will begin to take place in your life, but we got to place our confidence solely in Jesus. He's absolutely enough with that. Let's go ahead and stand up and we're going to sing and worship a little bit more and then we'll get out of here. Lord. Thank you for this time. Thank you for your word for the historical context of your word. Thank you for speaking us. I pray God with all of that information. God that we would've absorbed something that builds us up in our most holy faith that we would have grabbed hold of something that will transform us and change us and encourage us Lord. 3 (53m 40s): So bless us. Help us. We pray Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's worship. 2 (56m 50s): Hi. Holy holy holy. And we cry. Holy holy today. And God we know that in eternity. We can cry. Holy holy, holy, thank you. That you are good. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your church. We love you. Jesus. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.