Harvest Church Arroyo Grande

Live Your Life on Mission

0 (0s): Good morning. Welcome to church. Will you stand as we begin to worship and good morning to everyone who's in our other locations and visiting us online or with the sunlight. 0 (8s): thank you. 0 (4m 34s): Jesus. We praise you. Worship your name this morning. 0 (4m 41s): Jesus. 0 (13m 41s): We thank you so much this morning. We lift your name. Amen. Thank you so much. 1 (13m 58s): Good morning. And you go ahead and have a seat. That would be great. My name is Ron and I will be your host today. Whatever that means. I just made that up by the way I needed up here. Thanks Dave. Hey, what we decided to do this year 2021 is on family Sunday. So today's family Sunday, the fourth, Sunday of each month, which we designate for a couple of things. One is we have communion together on family Sunday. So we're going to be enjoying convenient together today. In fact, if you didn't get the communion cup, when you came in, like to ask the greeters in each venue, sanctuary loft, and also in the patio to get and grab the, grab the tray and walk around and make sure everybody's got a communion cup. 1 (14m 45s): Cause we're going to be, as I said, having communion today as a, as a group, and then also what we do on communion Sunday, family Sunday is we encourage families to worship together. So we don't have our normal classes for first grade and up. We do have class available for those under first grade. So if you've got some kids that for whatever reason, you want to have them in class, you can take them there and that'd be fine. Or if you want to keep them with you, that'd be great. One of the things that, that we feel is sort of a, a symptom of a, a vibrant growing church is a sound of kids could be crying. Kids could be fussy kids. We love kids. 1 (15m 26s): And so, yeah, as long as they're not, you know, distracting me, that's fine. We love them. Also, what we've done this year is the mission. The missionaries that we support and we support about a dozen is we designate each, each family Sundays. We want to introduce you to a missionary that we are involved with. That could be financial, certainly prayerfully, and the couple of money to introduce you to in just a moment. We've actually been involved with them for a long, long time. And so I'll let them tell you their stories. I'd like to go ahead and invite chef Cheryl and land up to the front. So Sherrilyn Lynn, come on up. 1 (16m 7s): And Dave, where did you put your mic? It's oh, here it is. There it is. Okay, so let's give a warm welcome when you is this one. Here you go then. All right. Is that good height? Do you want it lowered? You good? All right. Okay. All right. 2 (16m 32s): I don't want it to fall over. Well, good morning, everybody. It's really a blessing for us to be here. I mean, you know, we're in Israel. Most of the time we have been, except for when this COVID hit. And I was in Israel when the COVID hit and I had to come back to the states when I was in Texas, I was in Israel and I had to first extend my stay in Israel. And then there were no flights. So I was waiting and waiting for a flight, but I didn't want to end up in one of those quarantines and New York and New Jersey where they fly you into. So I was just praying because I thought if I ended up in the hospital, I'll never get out. They'll find something wrong. So anyway, I had this window of time. 2 (17m 14s): I got the flight and June 18th of last year and I got back and lympic me up in Dallas. I didn't have to quarantine. Few days later, they started the quarantine again in New York, New Jersey. So God is good. Yeah. What's good about doing mission field or doing any ministry. And a lot of you're involved in ministry. You get to see the Lord working through you and working around you. You know, it's like watching them. I'm sure the apostles disciples were when they were following them. They'd probably wake them go, oh, I wonder what he's going to do today. And that's how we feel is like, what is he going to do today? And so many different surprises happen, you know, from attacks to people getting saved. The last two days were ministry days for us and they were long and we needed more sleep than we got. 2 (17m 58s): But you know, it was good. It was really good. We got to pray with our brothers and all kinds of good stuff happened. Okay. I'll stop talking. What I'd like to do is tell you that the ministry that we're involved in, that we do is called love without borders. And it started with a smiley who was a Muslim, became a Christian. And we worked together to go to these different Muslims, especially and tell them about the Lord. And they were coming in the kingdom like that. It was fun. You know, they would walk up to me and goes, I wonder to be baptized, you know, like, whoa, okay. You know, you go down, they believe you. They go down as a Muslim. They come up as a Christian. Not that that's their theology or whatever you want to call it. 2 (18m 39s): But they have to do that first after wash all that off and come up. And when they come up out of the water, they're just shining like crazy, you know, it's wonderful. So that's, you know, Jesus said, you know, not what food I have. You know, like when he was at the whale, when some area I have food over there and then knows this, you just get so invigorated, you forget about eating. You forget about sleeping and you just go and do the ministry. So anyways, a little bit, our borders doesn't just go to Muslims or go to arrows. But it also goes to the Jewish people. So we have a mixture. We were doing more Muslims and Jews. And now it's like mix secular Jews, ultra Orthodox Jews, regular Orthodox Jews, and just you name it all kinds. 2 (19m 21s): So it's a fun ministry. And the Lord just kind of puts us in their path. We don't go looking for them. They just come in our path and then we minister to them. So Len is going to share a little bit and while I rest. And so he's just got something to say to you, and then I will finish 3 (19m 38s): Up. Thank you. Okay, good morning. I'm going to start with something just a little off the ball. Since we moved to Texas from Israel by way of California. And when, when we first moved to Texas, I would hear people say y'all and I thought it meant y'all. But what y'all means in Texas is y'all one person y'all. So if I were to address everyone here, it's all y'all. And that was my reaction. 3 (20m 20s): So that gets me to relax a little bit. Thank you. So, as Cheryl said, it's and it's whoever the Lord brings in front of us, that's who we minister to. And, and so that's what we have to be open to wherever we're at in the United States, England, but in Israel. So I want to focus on the Jewish people in Israel now and the Jewish community. So what the Lord revealed to me a couple of years ago, a few years ago, was that the Jewish community ultra Orthodox, Orthodox Jews read scripture pretty obvious. 3 (21m 6s): But what was interesting to me is that they read portions of scripture every week around the world, the same portions. And so the Lord revealed to me in my little brain, why don't you read the same portions for a couple of reasons? One, I was blessed, but two, it gave me an opportunity to open a small door, to start speaking to the ultra Orthodox and Orthodox Jews, which in general, you feel like there's a little bit of a wall there. It broke open the wall. 3 (21m 47s): All I had to do was ask a question. What do you think of? And man, when you ask that question, the it's like a flood gate and they love to talk about scripture and argue. So, but yeah, it also gave us an opportunity to share the Lord. It's somewhat of a struggle. We do this a lot, but it's there. And it opens up that opportunity. And it just turns out that yesterday was the beginning of the next portion. I'll call it biblical portion. 3 (22m 26s): And they started reading Deuteronomy 3 23 through seven 11, and every Orthodox and ultra Orthodox Jews in the world is right now reading and studying with their families. The same scripture, the same. Yeah. All of them. Thank you. The same scripture. So that's what I started doing. And yesterday we started studying that scripture and buried in the scripture, not buried obvious to him, to me in the scripture is Jesus. 3 (23m 10s): So our prayer is that God uses his word to reveal Jesus to all of the Jewish people. That, especially those that are reading his word. Yeah. So if I were to ask everyone to, to pray for Israel, that's what I would first ask, pray into the word that God will reveal himself to the Jewish people. Thank you. Thank you. Wow. Okay. That turned out really good 2 (23m 45s): Reinforcement. I need, we use each other a lot. It has been a real blessing. We got married in 2014 and well, I mean the relationship grows all the time. And I found out about his sense of humor when I was in Israel stuck and I got back and he's joking with all the neighbors and I'm just watching this going, oh my gosh, she's funny. And now we get to have a funny time. So it's great. Love it. Okay. So what we just want to say is that tour portion or the biblical portion that he's referring to, we have an update. We put out every month and in that update, we put the portions. So if anybody wants to follow along, they know what the Jews are reading that week around the world. 2 (24m 29s): And if you run across a Jew, even on an airplane or something, you can just sit down and go, Hey, what about that in book? You know, what do you think about that? And you're right there with them on the same scripture. And it does open those doors. So we're going to have a table out in the middle, somewhere up there and we'll have the, we'll have the, no, we won't have the Torah portions out there now. Okay. So we have stuff on the table. Things you can take and cards and you know, information. So just please do that. If you can't, oh, by the way, we do have a sign up sheet. So if you want those tour portions, we call them Torah portions in Israel. So it's what I'm used to. But anyways, our biblical Bible portions, if you want that, we put that in our update. 2 (25m 12s): You can come and sign your email address there, and you will get that every month now in the update is not just that, but it's about what God's doing, what guys doing in our lives, maybe a little personal section. And then I put paragraphs of news because our cover in Israel is we're journalists. You can't be a missionary in Israel. As a matter of fact, I talked to this massaged agent and I had no idea that he was in my computer because I was babysitting his kid two kids. And anyway, she went in my computer to see who I was, you know, and do a background check on me. And he told me in 2018 in front of land, what happened? We checked me out in 2005 or six, whatever it was. And he kept seeing the word mission and mission this and mesh it. 2 (25m 55s): And he said in Israel, that means operation. And so he thought we were doing an operation tourist operation. So don't write mission to me, don't get me in trouble. But anyways, it's really fun to be over there. And we have this cover as a journalist, but we really have to do the work. So I'm on the government press office list. I get all the emails, all the Presley releases that come out in a day. I get all the press releases that come out in from the white house every day also. So I get all this news what's really happening before it goes into the paper. And some of it doesn't even make the paper. It's amazing. What does not make the paper? So that's our cover. And we tell all the people we go to minister to, they say, what are you doing here? 2 (26m 35s): We can't say missionary. So we say, we're doing journalism. We have to turn in our work at the ministry of interior. So they can see that we're actually doing journalism. We have our credentials, our press credentials in both America and in Israel. So that's pretty cool to have that. And the Lord opened the doors so that we could get journalists fuses. We're not on journalists abuses now because when you go in and you get an automatic three months in Israel, we bought a house as Len said in Texas, because we couldn't afford one here. And I miss it here. Oh my gosh, I miss it. I love California. I was born in California, but we needed a place we can come to. And God knew that the COVID was going to hit because in 2019, we bought the house, went back to Israel and the COVID hit. 2 (27m 20s): And we would have had to stay in hotels or with friends or family here in America, because we didn't have anything before this. So now we have a home where we have all our things out of the storage units. What timing God is good. I see it all the time. So yeah, so we write articles. We do television, we do radio and we're traveling around well, this time we're traveling up and down California, but we speak in England and Canada and Australia, wherever we're invited. We go to these places and speak about Israel. What's happening there. Current affairs, biblical prophecies, and how the current affairs match what's in the Bible and you're going to go, oh my gosh, I get, we'll leave. They're getting so close. And wow. Yeah, there's a lot to tell you guys what's going on. 2 (28m 1s): And it takes longer than what we can do up here. So what we're going to do on Friday, the 30th is we're going to be in the loft in the evening. We're going to start at five 30. We're going to have snacks. People can come and do it like a meet and greet thing. And then at six o'clock, we're going to have music. One gentlemen is going to come and he's going to be singing in Hebrew. He's going to sing the national Anthem in Hebrew, the Israeli national Anthem. And he's got the words he's going to hand out. So you can see in English and in Hebrew, what it is. And then he's going to do Psalm 23 and Hebrew. And it's beautiful. It's beautiful. And then DJ will be coming and she's going to lead worship. And she's going to do Hebrew and English songs among some others. 2 (28m 42s): I think. So maybe Gary is going to join her. I don't know. She said something about Gary will be playing with her. So then we'll talk, we'll do a PowerPoint presentation so people can see pictures. What's going on. We're going to cover current affairs. And then we're going to do a question time and discussion because people want to know what's going on. How does America match with peers or what's going on? Since both, we have two new administrations, one in Israel, one here, and there's a lot going on and a lot festering up right now. And we're going to let you know what all those things are. So Friday you can go up. You're welcome to come. Anybody's welcome to come on that table. We have flyers. So you can come up and get a flyer. It has all the details, but I just gave them to you. 2 (29m 25s): It'll be a little off. We start at five 30 program starts at six. Please come. If you're interested in what's going on in Israel, you're more than welcome. And I think that's about it. I think I covered everything right. 3 (29m 37s): I think so. Okay. 2 (29m 38s): So yeah. So we're going to go ahead and sit down and enjoy the service ourselves for a change. And hopefully we'll see you on Friday, but we'll be out there at the table if you want to talk to us. Okay. Thank you. 1 (29m 55s): Thank you, Lynn. Thank you, Cheryl. Today is really sweet sweet day for, for me in particular. And here's why, so Amanda, who is leading worship this morning, I've known her parents, Jim and Kim Coles before she was born. She is their first born of seven. And so I've got to see Amanda since day one girl up and now she's, you know, loving the Lord, serving the Lord, leading us in worship, and that's really special for sure. And then, so Cheryl began attending a church that I was a part of pastoring and Avalon beach, the Applebee's Christian fellowship. She started, she gave her life to the Lord in 1989 and began coming to the church novela back then. 1 (30m 39s): And so we have a lot of history. We helped get her on the mission field. She came to me one day and said, you know, I really believe the Lord is asking me, calling me to move to Israel. And so we talked about that and what I encouraged her to do is just go on a, going a tourist trip, go to Israel and spend some time there and, and see if God, you know, confirms that. And I think she went maybe twice as, as a tourist. And then she sold everything and moved full time to Israel. And again, that was in the we, that was in the early nineties when she did that. And so it's really special for me to be a part of seeing what God is doing in, in the lives of, of, of people that are friends of mine. 1 (31m 26s): And, and so what I want to do this morning, again, a little background, oh, by the way, did everybody get a communion cup? Is there anybody that did not get one? Okay. If you didn't get one, raise your hand and Kay, Amanda, could you grab the communion tray right there and kind of wander around and, and in the other venues, if you need to get one, there is communion tray there as well. Because as I mentioned, we are going to be having communion this morning. So Cheryl gave you a little bit of her background. I came to know Len later because they got married a little bit later. And so we have a lot of history. Cheryl used to work at Diablo canyon and she's from California. She mentioned that both Lennon and Charlotte, both from California. 1 (32m 7s): And so th you know, this is their life. This is what they know, their, their history, their background. So here, here's my question. I'm going to be asking a few questions this morning. The first question is this, why would Cheryl and LAN leave the central coast of California to move to Israel? Okay. Many of you know, Daniel and Solvay kinda, so Daniel is from here. He was born and raised in Santa Maria. Central coast grew up here. Solvay actually is from Denmark. She was born in the Faroe islands, just off the coast of Denmark. So think about Daniel for a minute. 1 (32m 48s): So he, you know, again had good career here in California, and yet God put a call upon his life. Now his original call, if he was up for telling you was actually to go to Uganda and now why would God send Daniel? This is pre pre-sold by days. He sent Daniel to Uganda. And so Daniel spent about seven years in Uganda doing mission work there, and guess who he met in Uganda. He met Sylvia from Denmark and Uganda. So they got married there and then got a bigger work, a bigger calling for them. So the two of them together moved to green. And in fact, I have a few pictures. I want to show you just to kind of refresh your memory of Daniel and Solvay. 1 (33m 32s): So what do we have here? So this is Daniel. So VI, this is their home in the village of Casa yang wit I can say it, I cannot spell it. And then the next picture is this is the village that they live in, in Greenland, Casa yang wit, and jumped to the next one, where is Greenland. And so the lower circle is where we are California. And you go all the way, you see Canada above us, and then to the east, that's where Greenland is. And I circled the area where they live and then jump to the next slide. Okay. I talked to take that one down just for a moment. So on Friday, this last Friday, Daniel had told me that they were going to be taking a trip. 1 (34m 17s): You know, they own a boat together. Daniel, the self I do, and the purpose of the boat is to be able to get to the villages in Greenland to minister there. And so he, he told me that he had a couple of young men, that he was going to be baptizing. And then he was going to be taking a trip. He and Sova and two crew to another village to show the gospel there. And so a Friday. So just a few days ago, I was at home and I get a phone call and I see that Daniels. So I take the phone call. Now this is sort of just a side note. So here I am in California, erode grand Grandy, and he's seven miles off the coast in Greenland. In fact, go back to that map. He's he's on his journey on his boat going along the coast of Greenland. 1 (35m 0s): And here we are talking, it was though he was sitting like in the same room. Isn't that amazing? Truly amazing. So what he did first, so this is the journey in the Southern or the lower portion that sort of that's the V the village they live in cosying with, through that little inlet there, and they're going to a village up on the top, but for, they did that, show me the next picture. As I said, they did some baptizing. This is Ian. So that's Daniel baptizing, Ian in a lake near where they live. And then the next one is Ian coming up out of the water, new creation in Christ. Isn't that awesome. All right. Jump back now. Okay. That's the boat. The, yeah, jumped back to the boat. 1 (35m 41s): That'd be good. The common leak. So that means the light. All right. So here's, here's my question. You can take the picture down now. So why would Daniel and Daniel particular move from central California? Sell everything, pack up, move to Greenland. We're going to look at that question. Yeah. And answer that question this morning. Many of you met maybe for the first time, or you got to see Shane Coke come up front. Steve invited him up front. He's been fellowshipping here for a number of years. So the Lord has called him on a five month missions trip to Zimbabwe, whereas Zimbabwe. 1 (36m 27s): Okay. Here's a map of Africa and I circled Zimbabwe for you. So you could get, get an idea of where it is. Okay. So Shane he's from here, he's from the central coast of California. So for the next five months, he's going to be in some Bob way, Africa sharing the gospel there with Mike and Cindy, Madam, some of you know, Mike and Cindy. All right. So the answer to this question actually is found in the title of this morning's message. So why would someone Lennon Cheryl, Daniel and Solvay Shane move from where they were settled, where their roots, where their foundation and move to a distant, distant country. So the answer is actually the title of the messages live your life on mission. 1 (37m 13s): Now that's, that's actually the answer live your life on mission, but we want to unpack that just a little bit for you this morning and to do that, we need to look at a few scriptures. So before we get into the scripture, let's pray for a moment. Lord, we just look to you. Holy spirit. We're thankful that you are the teacher. And so as I speak, and as we look through the script, sure, Lord, we want our heart to be impacted by you. We want to be touched by you. We want to hear your voice and, and the calling that you have on us. Lord, there's a calling on you. Each of us, Lord, help us to discover that calling and help us to respond to that calling. And so Lord, our time together this morning to you in Jesus' name, we pray. 1 (37m 55s): Amen. So you remember this story in mark chapter one, beginning with verse 16, Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee. So this is in the Northern part of Israel. And he saw Simon, Andrew, his brother casting a net into the sea for, they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, follow me. And I will make you become fishers of men. So they immediately left their nets and followed him. So we see Simon and Andrew Simon, Peter. So we're talking about Peter here. Another verse in Matthew chapter nine, verse nine, Jesus was walking along and he saw a man named Matthew, sitting at his tax collector's booth. 1 (38m 39s): And he said, follow me and be my disciple. Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him, Simon, Peter, and Andrew. They were fishermen by trade fact, the story it shows that they were actually with, with their dad. I mean, it's a family business. Well-rooted in the Galilee area, fishermen by trade. And Matthew was a tax collector. When Jesus called them, they left their occupation. They left their situation and they followed him. Cheryl had a career. As I mentioned earlier, working at Diablo canyon. She had a pretty awesome position there if I have it right, Cheryl, I think I do. 1 (39m 22s): She was insecurity at Diablo canyon for many years. In fact, she actually got to carry a weapon. I mean, how cool is that? Right? Blonde, a blonde girl, like her carrying a weapon out of Debola canyon, Supreme, scary Daniel. On the other hand, he was in the aerospace industry doing very, very well here. Then something happened to them. Jesus calls them. And they said, yes. And then he gave them a new direction. He gave them a new purpose in life, a different, a different calling in their life. 1 (40m 3s): So Jesus was, he was with his disciples. You guys, you know the story it's just before his Ascension. So he had already been to the cross. He had been put in a tomb and he had been raised from the dead. And we're in that interim time before his Ascension into heaven. And so this is what he said to the disciples, as they were gathered together, be being assembled together, acts chapter one, verse four, Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait two, wait for the promise of the father, which he said, you have heard from me for John, truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the holy spirit, not many days from now. 1 (40m 49s): So he was looking ahead to the day of Pentecost when they would be gathered together in that upper room. And the holy spirit would be given. Now, this was a very unique experience because prior to this time of the giving of the holy spirit at Pentecost, the holy spirit would come upon people. But from the day of Pentecost forward, he would dwell, he would indwell and live within believers. So Jesus continues that conversation in verse eight, he said, you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea Samaria and to the end of the earth. 1 (41m 37s): So back to my original question, why would a person leave the comfort? It's comfortable here, central coast to California, it's comfortable. Why would a person leave their comfort in their current life and make that radical change and take a completely new direction in life. A new mission, a new mission in life. So there's really only one answer to that question. And here's, here's the answer. When a person makes the decision to believe in and to follow Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, the holy spirit begins a supernatural work in the life of that person. 1 (42m 25s): And it affects everything. Every area of life is touched by the work of the holy spirit. God gives us. Now I'm talking about us. Those of us who are followers and believers, Jesus Christ is our savior. And Lord God gives us a far greater purpose in life and eternal purpose. And as a result of that, that's a radical change. We tend to look at at life differently, but maybe more importantly, we see people differently. 1 (43m 5s): You see what happens when the holy spirit is in us. We now see people through God's eyes, the way God sees people. We discover we have a mission. We live our lives on mission. We discover our mission in life, beyond our occupation, beyond our current situation. If you are a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, you are on mission that there's, there's no, no question in that. You may or may not have realized it yet. 1 (43m 47s): Today's your day. You are in fact a missionary. Now, when we think of missionaries, we think of like the apostle Paul type of people that, you know, went on these fast campaigns and, and that may occur. It has occurred in Lennon. Cheryl's life, Daniel's life, Shane's life. Your, your mission field may be entirely different. So to be clear, you may not be called to move to a foreign country. And I know many of us, it's like one of the first things we think about as we become a Christian, like, oh Lord, don't call me to Africa. No, don't call me there. 1 (44m 34s): You may not be called to a foreign misfit mission field like Len and Cheryl and Daniels Solvay and, and Shane. But wherever you are are is your mission field, wherever you are, by the way, you don't, you, you may not have to leave your current job, your current situation to be on the mission field because you're on the mission field. So that the key is serve him right where you are. I love what Cheryl said about how God just brings people to her and Len, and then he, he opens those doors to speak about eternal things. I've found that's often what God will do. 1 (45m 15s): So the fear factor is alone. I, you know, I got, I can't talk to people and all that. And yeah, what God will do is he'll bring people to you, you know, open a door, a conversation. So you're just, you're just speaking into their lives words. Yeah. Of eternal life. So your current situation may not change. You serve them right where you are. What does that mean? So being on missions really means this, that you are an evangelist. What does an evangelist do? And evangelists, proclaims declares the things God has said about himself and about, about people. We share truth with people. 1 (45m 57s): So we're on mission, right? Where we are. We live on mission. So what does that mean? Well, it means evangelize your kids. It means evangelize your coworkers person. You're a student in elementary, junior, senior college evangelize your fellow students, your neighbors evangelize your parents. If they don't know the Lord evangelize your, your friends and, and your siblings, maybe your siblings don't don't know him, your extended family. So, and I want to say this as a word of encouragement, don't ever limit what God can do through you. 1 (46m 39s): God, God is an expert at using weak and broken people to accomplish his purposes. If there is a secret in all this, I think, I think the secret is this. When God calls you and he will call you, I promise you that he may lead you. The answer is always the same name. Yes, Lord. That's the answer. Now God knows human nature. We may struggle. We may resist him. We may fight him. I'm a bit, let him win. 1 (47m 19s): Let him win it. It's no, no greater life, no greater joy in life than to be on mission for the Lord, Jesus Christ. And to be able impact people for now and for eternity. You know, of course, there's a transformation that occurs when we see a person come to Christ and it's like, there's this amazing change that occurs, but they also get to go to heaven. And we've, we've played a part in that and how awesome that is. So one of the verses that I read a moment ago, it was act chapter one, verse eight, where Jesus, again is speaking. You shall receive power. When the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and Judea and Sumeria to the end of the earth. 1 (48m 4s): He was speaking to a crowd that lived there that was home base. Pentecost was in Jerusalem things saying, Hey, start local. I'm going to call many of you to be local, but I'm going to call some of you broader. So Jerusalem would be for us, maybe the five cities local Judea could be, I don't know, St. Louis county and beyond a bigger part of California. Samira could be all of California, maybe even, maybe even the entire west coast. And the ends of the earth is the ends of the earth. I mentioned that because we have to think in terms of what is God's heart, what is the desire of God's heart, his, his overall plan, and it's this to get as many people into his kingdom as possible before the end of the church hates. 1 (49m 3s): That's what we live. We live in a church, H there's gonna come a time where the church age is going to end. And depending on how you look at eschatology, it could be at the time of the rapture of the church. It's when the tribulation period begins. There's that seven year tribulation period. And then after that is the millennial kingdom, but we're, we live here. We're in the church age, God wants to use us to reach as many people as possible with a gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, so that we can take as many people as possible into his eternal kingdom. So wherever life takes you, wherever God leads. You just like the disciples you were born. You've been born for greater purpose than just, you know, the mundane status quo more than just working more than just surviving, more than just living for yourself. 1 (49m 58s): I know that's, that's a human dilemma. We're pretty selfish creatures. It's more than just living for ourselves. You may never leave the central coast as I mentioned, but don't, don't be close to the possibility that God might call you out. And wherever he calls you, it's going to be amazing. It's going to be great. It's for sure. Going to be an adventure of the lifetime, perhaps God is calling you to go. We don't know. I don't know. God will show you. God will speak you. I promise you that God has given each and every one of us, a mission field. And, and it's, it's it's here. It starts here. It's right before us, right where we are right now. 1 (50m 40s): So why, why would God call people like us imperfect, broken, messed up people. We're all the same. Really? Why does, why would God call people like us to be his evangelists, to be his missionaries going forth, to answer that question, we'll look at a scripture. It's in second Corinthians. Chapter five begins with verse 17. Here's what it says. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new. Now, all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 1 (51m 31s): And that is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. And he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. What does that mean? Now? Then we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteous righteousness of God in him. 1 (52m 15s): So God calls his people on mission because people are dying without knowing him. And he's given us a word for them, a message for them before they die. God calls us on mission because people are dying without knowing him. People are dying without knowing what God has provided for them through Jesus Christ. Maybe they've never heard the gospel. Maybe you're the perfect person. You've got that relationship, that open door to share the gospel with them. They may not listen to anybody else, but they'll listen to you, which is why he's given each of us a ministry emission. 1 (52m 60s): So it's, it's it's what is the ministry? I mean, if you could define it it's it's this what I just read? It's the ministry of reconciliation. What does that even mean? Well, it really that, that ministry of reconciliation, it really, in essence, it is, it is the gospel here at harvest church. We try to talk a lot about the gospel, but more, we need to know what the gospel is. It's super important that if we are given the ministry of reconciliation and we are that we're able to, to both know the gospel and articulate it to another person, to communicate it to another person. 1 (53m 40s): I want to give you a homework assignment that is to use whatever resource you need to, or just go to the scripture and try to try to discover what the gospel is. And there's some key verses that really seemed to summarize it super well. And I'm going to leave you on your own, define what those scriptures are, but I think it's a really good idea to memorize those scriptures. Just make them part of, part of your mind, part of your heart so that when you have opportunity and you may not have your Bible with you, you can't, well, let me, let me, let me look that up, but it's, it's coming out of you and you can communicate the gospel, you know, at, at, at the drop of a hat, anytime, anywhere I can tell and what the gospel is. 1 (54m 26s): So that's your homework assignment, but I am going to give you a little bit of the gospel. Okay. There's more about them to give you some of, well, by definition, the gospel is good news, but that, that just seems so minor. Okay. Good news. All right. Well, what, what does that mean? Well, it's, it's, here's what it is. And it's back to the verse. I read a moment ago. It's second Corinthians 5 21. Again, this is just one place you can find. And the gospel for he, that he, there that's God, the father for he made him that him that's Jesus, the Messiah for the father, God, the father made Jesus. 1 (55m 6s): The son who knew no sin. So Jesus was a spotless sinless person. The lamb of God, God, the father made Jesus. The son who knew no sin to be sin for us. What does that even mean? We think about it on the cross. Jesus, some of the, the things that occurred on the cross when Jesus was nailed to the cross, it says that the sins of the world were placed upon him in effect. They were, they were nailed to him. Our sins were put upon him. 1 (55m 47s): And in effect, he became sin. He that knew no sin sin. Our sin was placed upon him on the cross. Why did he do that? Why did God do that to his son? Well, again, it tells us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him, in Jesus Christ. This is a, this is a wonderful, amazing thing. And yeah, as you unpack it, as you understand the gospel to a greater degree, you're going to realize not only this good news, I mean, this is the best news. The, yeah, that ever could be that literally the picture is this, that we were lost in sin and death. 1 (56m 35s): We had a curse, a death sentence upon us, no relationship with God, no place in his kingdom. And then Jesus came and he died on the cross for us. He was buried Nina rose again and that as we place our faith and hope and trust in him, that my sin was put upon him on the cross. The supernatural thing that happens is that we're now made spiritually alive. The curse has gone. It's been lifted. And now we have a place reserved in heaven by the power of God. That's undefiled that cannot be taken away. So the gospel is really all about this from God's perspective. 1 (57m 17s): I think it's all about this. It's it's the restoring of a broken relationship. God loves you so much. He loves people so much. He sent his son. It's not that he just allowed his son to go to the cross. He sent his son to the cross. That's why Jesus came to restore a broken relationship. Our relationship with God was broken because as of sin in Christ based and through Christ, our relationship with God has been restored. We're we're back with him. We're one with him. We're reconciled. That's what that word means. The ministry of reconciliation, the word of reconciliation. 1 (57m 60s): We're reconciled to God, the father through Jesus, the son by the work of the holy spirit, it in us. So I mentioned earlier that we're going to be having communion. So in a moment, we're going to have community together. So we often call it communion or the Lord's supper. And I'm gonna read a verse about that. Then we're going to in a moment, have communion together. So Matthew chapter, sorry, in mark chapter 14, beginning with verse 22, as they were eating. So they're gathered together. This would be like the last supper before Jesus was going to be taken into custody and tortured, and then ultimately put on the cross as they were eating. 1 (58m 46s): So they're having to go Passover together. Jesus took bread and he blessed it and he broke it and he gave it to them and said, take eat. This is my body. And then he took the cup. And when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it. And he said to them, this is my blood, the new covenant, which is shed for many assuredly. I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. So communion, if we think about it, it's really meant to be an illustration. It's a picture. It's a picture of what God has provided for us through, through his son, Perry. 1 (59m 32s): I don't have a communion cup. Could you go grab one for me, please? Thank you very much. So it's a picture of what God has. Thank you. Perry has provided for us through, through Jesus Christ, his son. So I'm going to go ahead and take out the wafer. It's kind of tough to get to and be careful. Don't once you get the wafer out, don't spill the juice on your lap. Not good, no bueno, go ahead and open up the juice so that we're ready to go. 1 (1h 0m 18s): I long for the good old days, when we used to just pass the cumin and trays, right? We didn't have to do this. Maybe we'll go back to that someday. So the bread, that's what we have right now. The bread, it's a picture of Christ body. And the fact that his body was broken, what does that mean? Well, when he was taken captive in the garden of guests Semini he was beaten. He was, well, he has beard plucked out. He had a crown of thorns put upon his head. 1 (1h 1m 0s): He was whipped. He was scorched. They put a robe on him after they scourged him and mocked him. As you know, you call yourself the king of the Jews and look at you and then they rip the robo off. So he, his body was, the Bible, says his, his visage, his appearance was marred more than any man. He suffered deeply on the cross. And that's what this represents what he went through to purchase for us, our salvation. Why? Thank you. Thank you. As we, you know, we can't fully, fully comprehend what you did for us, but we know that you, you gladly went to the cross for the joy that was set before him. 1 (1h 1m 50s): He endured the cross. The solar was so thankful that you did that for us. So Lord, we, as we partake of what represents your body, your broken body, Lord help us to comprehend in a deeper way, understanding a deeper way, all that you did for us and purchasing for us, our salvation. We'll go ahead and take the away. So the juice represents shut the Passover feast. There were four cups of wine. When Jesus picked up the cup that he shared at communion, it was called the cup of redemption. 1 (1h 2m 35s): He was in the process of redeeming us, buying us back, literally from slavery, from bondage. The wine is a picture of the blood that he shed. So I'm sure, you know, not only the crown of thorns was a put upon his head, but as he was nailed to the cross, his side was pierced the sword. And it says that blood and water came out. So this picture is the blood that he shed for us. It's a picture of the sacrifice that he made as a spotless lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 1 (1h 3m 15s): Lord, thank you that you were faithful unto death, even the death of the cross. Lord, help us to understand more fully, all that you did and provided for us by purchasing for us. Our salvation. Thank you Lord. So Jesus held up that cup. I'm going to just talk about it a little bit more. He said, this is my blood of the new covenant. So it's interesting. He brings up a term that many of us might not fully understand very well. This is my blood of the new covenant. What is a covenant? 1 (1h 3m 56s): A covenant covenant is a pledge. It is a promise that has been made. The covenant is a promise that God made. So if we go back and we look at some of the covenants that God made, there's a covenant that God made to Noah. And the promise that the pledge that he gave us this, I won't destroy the earth with a flood ever again. That was a covenant he made with Noah. God made a covenant with Abraham, and here's the promise he made to Ammar Abraham through your seed, Abraham, through your seed, your kids, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. 1 (1h 4m 37s): He's still in the process of fulfilling that God made a covenant with Moses that through Moses God gave the nation of Israel, the law, which was in effect that conditions that were necessary so that the people could approach him. So the covenant with Moses gave the people a way to have relationship with God, the father, but Jesus here, he says, I'm going, I'm, I'm fulfilling something profound, the new covenant and new, it's not new in the sense that it's, it's never been seen before done before. It's new in the fact that it's, it's the completion. 1 (1h 5m 17s): It's a completion of all the covenant that God has made. And when he went to the cross and shed his blood and died for us, the covenant was complete. It's been fully ratified and fulfilled. The promise has been complete. So all these covenants that I mentioned a moment ago, all these promises really were given directly to the people of Israel, not to people that aren't Jewish by birth. So what about us? What about us? Those of us that are not Jews by birth, as it turns out there is another covenant or maybe an addition to the covenant. 1 (1h 5m 58s): Another promise given in scripture, I want to, I want to share this one with when I found this one, it was like, my eyes just kind of opened my understanding Isaiah chapter 42, verse six, that God speaking. And here again, it's it's God the father speaking to Jesus, the son, he says, I, the Lord have called you. I got the father. The Lord have called you my son in righteousness. And I will hold your hand and I will keep you. And I will give you, he's talking about the cross. I will give you as a covenant to the people, not just the Jewish people. 1 (1h 6m 42s): It goes on as a light to the Gentiles, the Gentiles, or all the other people, non Jews. I'm going to give you Jesus, my son, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison. And those who sit in darkness from the prison house. It's like, I've come. The covenant is fulfilled. When Jesus held up that cup and said, this is the blood of the new covenant. This is what he was talking about. I've come to set the captive free and to open the prison doors to those who are bound up. 1 (1h 7m 22s): So this is why this is why Jesus came into the world. Not only for the Jewish people, but for everyone to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners, to deliver those who are in darkness to fulfill the covenant. The promise that God had previously given. Now, how did Jesus, the Messiah accomplished this? The fulfillment? So there's a few key verses in Isaiah chapter 53. I'm going to look at, we're going to be closing out just a couple of minutes, Isaiah chapter 53, verse five. When it says he he's talking about Jesus, the son, the Messiah, he was wounded for our transgressions. 1 (1h 8m 4s): He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed talking about the whipping, the beating, the scorching, the torture by his stripes, by what he endured, we are healed. You know, I think a bit from God's perspective, why would God, the father asked his son to do this? You know, Jesus didn't have to go to the cross. He was obedient to go to the cross on our behalf. Why did God allow his son to endure such suffering while we're told why? 1 (1h 8m 46s): And Isaiah chapter 53, verse 10, it says it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased God to Bruce, his son. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul and offering for sin, he shall see his seed. I think he was talking about us. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. God, the father shall see the labor of his son. 1 (1h 9m 28s): He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. And by his knowledge, my righteous servant, Jesus shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. You see God sent his son into the world for the purpose of setting us free and restoring that broken relationship. So back to the verse in Matthew 14, for a moment, Jesus said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many as surely I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day. He's talking about a specific day until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God, I think, I think he's talking about the marriage, supper of the lamb. 1 (1h 10m 17s): We shall see. But when I say what I want to say to you this morning, I want to say this was absolute certainty. Jesus is coming back again to bring us home, to take us to heaven, to assure you and I into his eternal kingdom. And this could happen at any time. It might happen at the day of your death because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We don't know when we're going to die. We may be feeling great today this morning. And we just don't know what a day is going to bring forth. 1 (1h 10m 60s): Could happen anytime at our day of our death, perhaps, or this could happen at the time of the rapture of the church. The point is this, are you ready? Are you ready to meet God? Are you ready to meet him face to face? Because we're going to stand before God saved and unsaved alike. We're going to stand before God. And we're going to give an account. The account that we give as believers in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Why should I let you into my kingdom? Because Jesus paid for my sin on the card. Cross of Calvary. That's the only reason why. So Jesus in John chapter one, it says he came to his own. 1 (1h 11m 42s): He came to the Jewish people, his own people in his own people didn't receive him. Some did, but most did not. But as many as received him to them, he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. I want to urge you this morning. If you've never believed in Jesus before, believe in him today, as many as received him. So then he gave the privilege the right to become children of God. Even to those who believe in his name, Romans chapter 10. This is one of those places where the gospel is quite clear. 1 (1h 12m 26s): Romans 10 verse nine. If you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is the Lord. And if you believe in your heart, that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved for it as well. I believing in your heart that you're made right with God. And it's by confessing with your mouth that you are saved in Romans 10, 13. You guys know it. Well, everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So there's believing and there's confessing. Believing is like an internal thing. I don't fully understand. We never will, but I believe Jesus, that you did go to the cross. And I believe that my sin was placed upon you on the cross. 1 (1h 13m 6s): So I, I believe it with everything that I can muster it. I understand by faith, I believe this to be true. And then the confession is part is it's weak. First confessed to God, Lord, I, I need you. I ask you to come into my life to be my Lord and savior. We're confessing our belief to God. And then I think, I believe we confess it to others. It's a powerful thing. When we tell another person I gave my life to Jesus Christ and he is my Lord and savior. It's like, it's feels it seals. It seals the deal. And then the transformation begins and it's awesome. 1 (1h 13m 47s): It's great. You'll never regret it. I promise you that. So Jeremy mentioned earlier, invite the worship team to go ahead and come on up. Now that we have a baptism planned today and we've got some folks are going to be baptized right after this service, we're going to baptize some folks. And then at right after a second service, we're going to baptize some folks as well. Why am I mentioning this? So in the book of acts, the book of acts, it was common. The common thing was for those who made a decision to believe in and to follow Jesus Christ, they were baptized immediately. It wasn't like months later years later decades later, it was I believe, and I want to get baptized. 1 (1h 14m 30s): So baptism is really, it's a, it's a, it's a declaration. Maybe that's the confession part. I'm going to go in the water road represents I'm, I'm dead. I've died with Christ. And even as Christ raised from the dead, I'm, I'm rising again out of the water to new life. So if you've made this decision today to follow Jesus as your Lord and savior, and you've never been baptized, I would encourage you to do that today. Go up to the patio area. We're going to, we've got towels for you, shorts for you, shirt for you and a place to change all for you. Before you do that, though, you got to give your life to Jesus Christ. 1 (1h 15m 10s): And it's actually super simple. And I kind of modeled it a moment ago. Lord, I need you. I don't understand, but I know that Jesus went to the cross for me. And so I invite you into my life to give me new direction, to set me free in Jesus name. Amen Lord. Thank you. Thank you for all that. You did what? I pray for those here in the sanctuary, the loft and the patio and those online Lord, that many will call upon your name for the first time. 1 (1h 15m 52s): Many will be saved and the Lord we are on mission. Our life is on mission. Lord, confirm that calling in us, show 0 (1h 15m 59s): Us open, open up for us 1 (1h 16m 3s): And understanding of what our mission is and the mission field that is before us. Lord, thank you so much so we can impact lives both now and for eternity in Jesus name, we pray God's people said 0 (1h 16m 28s): thank you. 0 (1h 23m 11s): That you have made the way through Jesus by the blood of the cross, by his body. Given that and lunch today, Lord Jesus. Fill us with your spirit. Let us be on mission for you just for your glory. Bless you in Jesus name. Amen. And today, if you have made that decision to follow Christ, God has been speaking into your heart and you need to come to faith in Jesus. 0 (1h 23m 54s): We're going to have prayer teams up here. Ready for you. If you have other needs, maybe God's calling you to the mission field. Maybe there's something on your heart that God is working in you, and you want to respond to that. Do you want to, you want to let somebody know. Today is the day you come forward. You need healing. You need a touch from God, any reason at all that you have for healing, please come. If you don't need prayer right now, go up and celebrate the baptisms. I know there's at least three after this service. I don't know what about second service, but have a great time. And Lord bless you and we'll see you all next week. 0 (1h 24m 43s): .

What Does a Disciple Look Like?

0 (0s): Father God, I thank you for this morning. I think you, that we are here to worship you and here to praise you. And so we just bless your name. God, we take this time and we just, we want to sing to you. Jesus. Amen. 1 (20s): he can move by God. 1 (3m 24s): He is mighty to save. He is Jesus . 2 (13m 42s): Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you for the privilege that you've given us that new and living way. So we can enter in to the holy of Holies by the blood of our savior and Lord Jesus Christ. Or thank you that as we gather in your name, as we come near you and draw near to you, Lord, you've given us the promise that you are with us, that you are in our midst. And so we welcome you Lord. And as you are here, you've come to heal. You've come to set us free. You've come to bring salvation. You've come to deliver us from all the things in this life that would hold us down and hold us in bondage. The solar. We welcome you to bring that deliverance to our lives, Lord, to open up our hearts, to see you as you truly are lo we, we often come to you with sort of veiled, veiled, vision, not really seeing the glory and the power and the authority that you are. 2 (14m 35s): The Lord open our eyes to you today. Open our, understanding our hearts, our minds, our will, our emotion to who you are today. Lord give us that, that desire for more. We want more of you, Lord. We're not satisfied with just where we are. The status quo Lord. We desire the power of your holy spirit, working in us from glory to glory, transforming us into your image and allowing us to walk in the victory that you have provided for us. But we want to abide in Christ or that's that secret place of the most high that you referred to. And Lord, that's where we want to be today. We bless you. We thank you in Jesus name. We pray God's people said, amen. 2 (15m 17s): Amen. Go ahead and have a seat please. All right. So what I want to do this morning, I want to go ahead and welcome someone up to the podium this morning. He is, I guess you'd call him our guest speaker, although he's not a guest is he's one of us. So Stacy and Tanya Harman have been fellowship with us for, I'm going to guess maybe five years, four years, four or five years, something like that. And so what we want to do today is I'm going to invite Stacy to come on up and he's going to be sharing the word with us today. So let's give a warm welcome to Stacey Harmon. 2 (15m 57s): Okay? All right, 3 (16m 5s): Everybody it's pleasure to be here. I'm good to see you all. And I just had lunch with Steve a couple of months ago and said I wanted to preach someday. And he said, how about July 18th? And I said, okay, well that's that's real date. That's the time I got to make some efforts to get this together. And I thought about, you know, how he usually tells a joke when he gets up here. And I thought there's no way I could ever approach the quality of his jokes. So I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell you a joke. I would like you to turn with me. If you would, to two familiar passages in your Bibles or on your devices, John 14 six is where we're going to start. 3 (16m 50s): And we're also going to talk about Matthew 18 or it's 5 28, 18 through 20. And John 14, six is very familiar passage to us, but there's really an outrageous claim made there by Jesus. If you think about it, this is where he's talking to his disciples. He's telling them that he's going to go away. He was trying to encourage them that he's going to go prepare a mansion's for them. And they don't understand what he's talking about, where he's going. And he says, and they ask him, where's this way. What, what are you talking about this way? He says, I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father, but through me and that's before the cross, obviously before they scatter, of course, after his crucifixion. 3 (17m 33s): And if you go to Matthew 28, 18 through 20, he says, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and holy spirit teaching to deserve all that I commanded you. And lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So that's after the cross. Right? But those are really outrageous claims. If you think about it, he's saying he's the way. And he's also saying that all authority on heaven and earth has been given to him. So I would like to drill down a little bit on this idea about the way and the followers of the way, which are disciples and what they look like. 3 (18m 15s): But first let me ask you a question. I'll step over here. She'd get a good look at me. Do I look like an architect? Well, I'm glad that's like, you're like, what kind of question is that? Right? That's a ridiculous question. What's an architect look like it's kind of a running joke between Tonya and I. She was describing a woman's husband to me and she said, well, it looks like an architect. And I'm like, huh? I don't really know. I don't have a reference for that. I don't really know what that means. I'm not sure I could pick them out of a crowd if he looks like an architect. But what about a doctor? What's a doctor looked like actually happened to be a doctor. 3 (18m 56s): I'm an ER doctor, but maybe gray hair and old guy. Yeah, that's a doctor. But the point I'm making is you have a reference for that. You don't have a reference for an architect. You have a reference for a doctor, right? If I had a long white coat on, you might say, oh, that's a doctor. Or you could say it's a butcher, I guess, or a scientist or, or maybe it's maybe it's their cousin, someone that the cosmetic counter Macy's right with a long white coat. But if I put a stethoscope around my neck, then you're like, okay, that's looking more like a doctor. Or if I had an ID badge on that said, you know my name and I was affiliated with a hospital then, okay. That might be a doctor. And, and what about if I, as the setting that I'm in, if I've in scrubs, right? 3 (19m 38s): You come into the ER, I'm wearing scrubs, like, okay, that must be the doctor, but you don't really ask me for my credentials. Right? You don't say, let me see your diploma. Let me see your board certification. What about your license? Do you have a license? You have a framework that you understand what a doctor kind of looks like. And once you sort of figured that out, you're pretty comfortable that that's, that's the doctor so much so that you would literally trust your life with me after meeting me like two minutes within two minutes, right? If you come to the emergency department, I would have the authority, right? And I am the way I have the authority to take, to admit you to the hospital, to decide what's going to be done with you. 3 (20m 22s): And I'm the way that you get to the hospital, get the medicines you need or get what you need. Right. That's and you've decided just based on a little bit of information that that's the authority and that's who I am as a doctor. And then you have to also deal with what your impressions of doctors are. Right? You, you might think of Dr. Dr. McDreamy, right. But, or, or you might think, oh, I love my doctor was great to my kids or he delivered my babies or, or she helped my mom when, when she was in really bad straights when she was older, or you might think doctors are arrogant and condescending. And I really hate doctors. In fact, I've walked into rooms and that's the first thing someone says to me, I hate doctors. 3 (21m 5s): And I usually say, well, so do I. So let's, let's get busy, but what can I do for you so that it does it, but, but literally I have the authority and I'm the way in the ER. Right? So let's talk about spiritual thing. Let's switch to spiritual thing. So the question I have too, is what's a Christian look like, or a disciple or a Messiah, right? What's a Messiah look like, clearly it wasn't what Jesus looked like. Right? Because they said, ah, that's Joseph's son, right? Can't be a Messiah. Or he's just a carpenter, right? How about nothing good can come from Nazareth. Right? 3 (21m 45s): That was their image of a Messiah. Their idea didn't match what they were seeing with Jesus. And then he, he goes on to do miracles, right? Healed. Well, he healed on the Sabbath. He healed somebody on Saturday. That's against the law. He can't be the Messiah. Let's just forget about the miracle part. Right. But it's not fitting my little mold about what he is. He, he did work on Saturday. He can't be the Messiah. Even though he did a miracle, I'm dismissing the miracle from my fixed idea about what a Messiah represents. He was teaching with authority. He had knowledge of the scriptures. He did miracles of healings. He healed epileptics. Paralytics he raised Lazarus from the dead folks. 3 (22m 28s): Right. And they still didn't buy it. They still, still didn't work. It had such a strong bias against what it, or what it should look like. And it just didn't match. They still crucified him. Right. He didn't look like a Messiah. And they said, we want a sign. He said, well, you're going to get the sign of Jonah. And what's the sign of Jonah. Jonah was in the belly of the fish. Well, whatever you want to call it for three days, right. Jesus is saying, the sign of Jonah is all you're going to get, I'm going to be in the grave for three days. And the resurrection is what you're going to get as a sign. So that's the ultimate credential, right? 3 (23m 8s): So he says, he says, he says that he is, has all authority. And he's the way, well, what is his credentials? It's the resurrection, right? The resurrection card is the ultimate credential. Correct. Now he says, I am the way the truth. The life, no one comes to the father. Through me. All authority has been given to me on heaven on earth. So it's the, it's the, it's the way to enter heaven through him and the way to live on earth, the way to enter and the way to live all authority is his, because of his resurrection credential. 3 (23m 48s): Right? So the way back to God is through Jesus right first. So you have to ask yourself, well, what am I here for? What's the meaning of life? Why am I here? Where am I going? What's life mean? And then are these credentials good enough for you? Good enough for you to follow the way his credentials and plenty of flavor weighed in on this subject about what life's about. Right? If you ask Sigmund Freud, he'd say, life's about pleasure. If you have Carl Young, he'd say it's about power. If you have Victor Frankl who survived a concentration camp, he'd say it's about meaning. 3 (24m 29s): And you know what? Those actually, it's funny that all these experts have come up with all these ideas about what life's all about, but those are actually biblical principles. And how do I know that if you look in Genesis 1 27, God said to Adam and Eve, you subdue the earth. Awesome. Thank you very much. SI. I'm used to nurses pushing me around. Thank you. Looking out for me, actually appreciate it. So they said to subdue and rule the earth and be fruitful and multiply, right? 3 (25m 11s): That's power and pleasure. Right now, the meaning part is based on our relationship with God, they walked hand in hand with God in the garden. That was a meaning. That was meaning. That was the relationship they had. So if you think about it yet, you still can pursue power, pleasure and meaning in their life. But the, but the power and the pleasure have to be with a clear conscience, right? You can't do things that are, that are going to violate your conscience. And you have to have to realize what God has definitions of those things are there's power in weakness, right? There's pleasure in service, right? And there's meaning in relationship with God, right? 3 (25m 54s): So that leads us back to this idea of the way, the way to enter heaven, the way to live and the way back to God. Because remember, remember this in Genesis 3 24, what did God do? When he threw Adam and Eve out of the garden, he blocked away. He put cherubim at the garden so they couldn't get back in the way was blocked. Sin had separated them from God, kicked us out of the garden. The way was blocked for that meaningful relationship with God is now gone. That, that idea that we have a, we can walk with God is gone. So the way was blocked by sin. The way back is Jesus. And the way to live is through Jesus. 3 (26m 36s): This idea of the way is what is, is how the early Christians are. The disciples ran their lives. That that was how they followed Jesus. In fact, if you looked in acts nine Paul, before he was converted, it was basically a Hitman for the Sanhedrin, right? He was going out, he got permission to go out, bring Christians shackled back to face charges, basically for following the way. And he says, it says he persecuted those belonging to the way. So who are those following the way they're, they're called disciples, right? 3 (27m 17s): And here's my microphone. And if I can't drop this mic, but who's fired, they weren't Christians. This is what I mean. Wait a second. That term wasn't even used yet. Jesus never heard the term Christian Christians in acts 1126. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch. That's 30 years later, 30 years. They were disciples following the way before they were ever called Christians. And some scholars even believed that that term might've been even been derogatory. Oh, that's those Christians. Right? 3 (27m 57s): Right. So there were disciples following the way, all that time. But they were first called Christians at Antioch. I had a friend of mine, a colleague of mine, call me a Chrysler one time. Are you one of those Chryslers? And I went, Hmm, well, yes I am. But I don't think I like the way you mean it. You know, I, he called me a Chrysler, which is like maybe what they were calling them Christians, right? The point I'm making is that they were disciples along the way. And then they were labeled Christians at some point in time. And what I'm, what I'm getting at is that calling yourself a Christian means something to people, just like a doctor or the Messiah. 3 (28m 38s): Right? So if you're a Christian, you might know what that means. And you have an idea of what that means, but somebody else might think, oh, you're a Catholic. Or maybe you're a Jehovah's witness or you're a TV evangelist, or a Mormon or a health and wealth gospel, or you're a boss at work who goes to church on Sundays and then acts inappropriate the whole week. That's a big umbrella to be under, as Christian. And we just have, is nothing wrong with calling yourself a Christian don't get me wrong, but we just have to understand that what it means to us, what we think it means and what, what someone else interprets that as me could be two very different things. 3 (29m 20s): So perhaps sort of getting back to our roots and calling ourselves disciples, or at least thinking like that might be helpful when we try to figure out who we are and how we should live as well as communicate to others and try to bring them to Christ. Right. And discipleship is kind of a lifelong process, correct? It's not like it's something you do your whole life. It's kind of like, like martial arts when you have a white belt and then you go progress to black belt and you can just gradually make your way through all these different stages and things become, you become better and better at this. But what's funny about martial arts is the people that are the most skilled are usually the most humble, right? 3 (30m 5s): You, you learn so much as you go along that you're actually more humble and more grounded and more rooted and, and a better person towards the end than you are in the beginning. Right? And that's a whole nother topic discipleship. We could spend hours on that. But what I like to do is get back to this idea about the way and what a few characteristics of a disciple living out the way. So the first one is under the disciples, understand worship and certainly worship involves what we're doing today is corporate worship, where we get together. And we think songs and we sing hymns and songs and spiritual songs where he preaching and teaching and prayer. And we take the Lord's supper. 3 (30m 46s): And you know, this corporate idea of worship is certainly part of what we do and who we are. But what I'd like to look at is acts 2 42 through 43. So this is after Peter is spoken on in Pentecost and there's 3000 people have been baptized. And they, it says they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread. And to prayer, everyone kept feeling a sense of awe and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. 3 (31m 27s): The part I would like to emphasis is this idea of a sense of awe. I think we need to recapture that, right? I think that this idea that we worship is something we do instead of something that comes out of us is what we have to sort of undo. As we think of ourselves, as Christians as disciples, the sense of awe is, is what motivated all that other stuff, all the other worship that came out of that. So it's easy. I mean, I get bogged down. It's easy to check boxes in your life, right? I prayed today. I contributed to that. I went to church, whatever it is, the box that you check, it's easy to do that, but I think we have to start changing our attitude about worship is something is something about who we are and not what we do. 3 (32m 17s): And if you look in Romans 12, one through 12, it says, if I went to two, rather hired you, therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is. That which is good and perfect or acceptable and perfect. So it's, do you realize that when you're walking around your day-to-day life and you're trying to be a non-conformist to the world and that you are presenting your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice, you're, that's an act of worship every day, while you're walking around what you're doing, when you're trying to control what your thoughts and your actions and that's that's because you have who you are. 3 (33m 12s): You're a disciple who you're following the way. You're the path you're on Matthew 12, seven says I desire compassion and not sacrifice. That's where Jesus condemned the Pharisees for being so hung up on the law, that they forgot the meaning behind it, that it was there more, they were more concerned about religion and people are religion and ritual than they were the people he says in Matthew 5 23. If you were at the author to present your offering and you realize your brother has something against you, go make that right first, then come back. So what are the, what's the two, the two commandments that are sum up everything. 3 (33m 56s): Love. God, love your neighbor. So if you have something that's not right with your neighbor and you come to the house of God, you gotta make that right first, before you come to stand before God, he wants you to love him and love your neighbor. The relationship is more important than the ritual or the theology, the relationship with him, the, with his children and the relationship with mankind in general, that's, that's what we do as disciples James, 1 27 says this is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and father to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world. 3 (34m 39s): So to be in the world, but not of the world and to take care of other people and their needs, right? That's part of the way of the disciple. Next is disciples have integrity. And this is, if you, if you looked up that word in Webster, it would say adherence to a code and soundness. And if you look at Matthew five and we're not going to go on, but that's a 5, 6, 7 is the sermon on the Mount. And this is where Jesus is talking to them in the beatitudes. Initially telling them, you know, things are rough, but they're going to be a better. But then he gets into Matthew five. 3 (35m 24s): And this that's the part where you hear the, but I say, right, but I say, you've heard it said you shouldn't commit murder, but I say, don't even be angry. You've heard it said, don't commit adultery, but I don't even lust. Right? You've heard it said, don't make false vows, but I say, make no vowel at all. In other words, let your word be your word. And I for, and I versus turn the other cheek, love they neighbor and hate your enemies. But I say, love your enemies. This is all the kind of integrity or the kind of person that we're striving to become. Now it's impossible to do that without God and grace and you it's, it's always, you're always falling in and out of keeping that together. 3 (36m 9s): But the point is we have integrity. It's who we are in out there in the real world, working on your heart is what we're talking about. And then he talks about in Matthew six righteousness is between you and God. This is because he's, he's condemning the, the Pharisees for, for wanting to get all this attention, right? Wearing all these brightly colored outfits and, and calling attention to themselves. He says, you should give in secret. If you will give your arms in secret, no fanfare that's integrity, right? Pray in private, not to be seen. 3 (36m 49s): Don't pray with meaningless repetition, but with intimacy, with God, fast, with a smile on your face, store up treasure in heaven and live today without anxiety. That's all in that chapter. I've heard it said, if you consider the worst case scenario and then it happens, you've lived it twice. So that's the problem with anxiety. And the other thing I've found out in my own life is 90% of the things we worry about never happen anyway. So you've just wasted all this energy and an angst on, on this emotion, this anxiety. 3 (37m 31s): And then he goes on into Matthew seven, a one through five. And this is where disciples make judgments, but they're not judgmental. There's a subtle difference there, correct? I mean, you make a judgment. Every time you come up to a red light, you can make an, a judgment as to whether you're going to stop or not. Whether it's a good idea to weighing everything and making a judgment. But in Matthew seven one through five, Jesus says, do not judge less. You be judged for in the way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your, in your eye. 3 (38m 11s): How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye. And behold, the log is in your own eye. You hypocrite first, take the log out of your own eye. And then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Take the log out before the spec. He's not saying you don't make a judgment. It's taking work on yourself first, get the log out first, before you start looking other places. And he also said, he's also saying that you're not the standard. It's, you're not the standards. When you make a judgment based on righteous judgment. Cause he goes on to say, be aware of false teachers, right? You'll judge them by their fruits. So wait a minute. That's confusing. Wait, you told me not to be judgmental. Then you told me to judge them by their fruits. 3 (38m 53s): Well, it's not confusing if you think about it, it's you, it's not your standard. You're judging by God's standard. And, and it's not you saying, Hey, you know, you, you, you know, get that log out of your IRA, speck out of your eye. It's not you, it's not your own standard. I like the way that this, what does he, Dr. Phil, he'll say to somebody how's that working out for you. That's a good way to approach somebody, right? When you take the log out of your eye and you see a speck, how's that working out for you, maybe there's a better way versus, you know, you're an idiot, right? That's just not the way to do it. 3 (39m 38s): And disciples, the next point is disciples have bigger fish to fry. And what do I mean by that? I mean that, that they're not going to get bogged down on a lot of details and things to take them away from their mission. And so I want you to consider something considered this original crew that Jesus picked in Matthew ten two through four, but the 12 originals. Right? Think of these people in a room together, Peter and his brother, Andrew, we didn't know much about Andrew, right? Peter. We know a lot about from later on, but he's pretty, pretty impulsive guy. Yeah. Matthew was a tax collector. 3 (40m 19s): Now tax cokers were, were really viewed as horrible people. There, there are Jews working for the Roman government and they're skimming off the top and explain their own people. In other words, the Roman comes says, Hey, we want to 8% tax. And they sit. And so they charged 10 and get their own cut. And then they're there and they're skimming off the top to, for their own benefit. So they were hated by their own people. And then you have Simon, the zealot in the same room. Now the zealots were Jews who advocated overthrowing the Roman government by military force. So Simon, the zealot and Matthew whose work, I mean the tax collector working for the Roman government. 3 (41m 5s): He wants to kill that guy and throw overthrow the government that he's talking about. So those are two people in the same room. Then you got Judas, who's a thief, right? We know how here you have Thomas. Who's a skeptic. You have James and his brother, John, the one Jesus loved. Now, I don't know where that sort of was figured out the one that and how that he was loved more. But I'm just wondering how that would, the other guys would feel about that. Right? You got Phillip Bartholomew, James, the son of Alpheus Thaddeus. And then what about later on you have John. I mean, you think about other people like John, the Baptist, John, the Baptist wore animal skins and was a wild man eating locusts and honey. 3 (41m 51s): And then you have Paul later on, who's a persecutor of the church. And then he converts and becomes an, an impossible basically. How does that work out with the people that are, I mean, I don't get me wrong, but I think I would be a little bit like, Hmm, I'm going to sit over here. And that Paul Guy can sit over there. And then what about just Gentiles in general? Ultimately there's these, the Christianity, you start off with Jews, right? And then ultimately incorporated the whole Gentiles, which are dogs. They're viewed as dogs by the Jews. So the got this whole group together now. Right? But what happens is they put aside their differences to achieve a common goal. 3 (42m 35s): We live in a culture that thrives on just the opposite of that, that everybody that's on, it's thrives on divisiveness and conflict and individualism and hate. Our culture is just the opposite of putting aside your differences to achieve a common goal. That's how Matthew, the tax collector could be in the same room as Simon, the zealot, because they had bigger fish to fry there. They were trying to spread the gospel, right? Mark nine 40. Jesus is telling his apostles because they said, Hey, we found some people over here. They're doing some stuff in your name. Do you want us to make him stop? And he said, no. 3 (43m 16s): For he, who is not against us is for us. That's a pretty faffed call, right? If it's not against you, he's for you. There's at least some common ground there. I'm not saying we don't have standards or we should overlook sin to be inclusive. That's not what I'm saying, but I am saying that we need to have bigger fish to fry because some of the things we get upset about, or we get under our skin or cause division are really not worth sacrificing. The bigger picture, the bigger goal we have to agree on the ones. What I mean by that is in Ephesians four, four says there is one body and one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and one father, God, and father. 3 (44m 3s): We have to agree on those ones. But after that, I think we can just get a little more flexible and not so rigid and, and also, and be more committed to the ultimate goal versus our own little agendas. Right? And besides you have to have a relationship with somebody to influence them. You can't say, you know what, until you X, Y, or Z, or until you this, this or that, I'm not gonna have anything to do with you. If you don't have a relationship with somebody, there's no way you're going to influence them. So we do have bigger fish to fry. 3 (44m 44s): My next one is, oh, is that we have the disciples stay in the game. And here's what I want you think about. Think about Judas and Peter, right? So Judas betrayed Jesus for money and Peter betrayed Jesus out of fear, right? Just for him mentally. I didn't know the guy three times, do you just felt guilt and remorse. Peter felt guilt and remorse. So what's Juice's solution. He kills himself. Peter solution. He repented resolve to do better, came back and then went on to be Peter. 3 (45m 28s): Who's the rock that his confession was the rock that the church was built on two guys at the same juncture in life. Right? So no matter what you face, you have to decide whether you're going to be a Peter or a Judas. What if Judas had repented? You know, it'd be a whole different story, but do you think the Lord would have welcomed him back? Like he did Peter, you have to say yes, right? His solution was to kill himself. And so many of us do that spiritually is we just get too discouraged and we just fall away or we just stop doing what we know we should be doing. 3 (46m 9s): And, and then versus Peter, who said, you know what? I, I, I really did mess up and I feel bad, but I'm going to get back in the game. So they stay in the game, disciple, stay in the game, resolve to stay in the game and they stay in the boat. And this is a, this is the scripture acts 27, 14 through 40, where this is where Paul is being transported to Rome on a ship. And he's shackled basically to a Roman guard who is, and some of you might already know this, but if you're a Roman guard transporting a prisoner, if the prisoner escapes, then you kill yourself, right. 3 (46m 55s): You and your basically your life for that life. So Paul is on a ship. You've got a Roman guard with him there. They're sailing to Rome and there's like 200 people on the, on the boat. And they come into this storm. And this storm is like two weeks long storm. And the experts on the boat, the conventional wisdom is, wow, we got to lighten the load. We got to throw off our food. We got to throw off the, eventually they throw off the tackle and the rigging of the boat. Eventually they say lowering the lifeboats. We got our abandoned ship. We've got to get off this shit. That's, that's the experts. That's the conventional wisdom of the day. 3 (47m 35s): That's the seasoned sailors telling them what to do. And Paul says in verse 31, unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved. He had been a hit. God has spoken to him, said, no, I want everybody to stay on the ship, stay in the boat. What's the first thing people do or you do, or I do either emotionally or sometimes physically when things in life aren't going so good. Well, you know, I really don't feel like going to church or man, I, I know those people they're, they're better than me. I, I shouldn't go. Or people fall away. 3 (48m 17s): They jump ship, right? You leave the stay in the boat. Don't jump ship. Because what happened is eventually this a boat runs the ground. They get off everybody's survives, but it was completely against all their thinking process, all their wisdom, all their decisions to what you do. When, when, when you're in a storm like this, you get rid of all this stuff. And this is how, this is how we do it. So stay in the boat, disciples, stay in the game and they stay in the boat. This is the boat right here. We're in the boat. We're all in the same boat, trying to work things through, go get through life together. Disciples, bear, each other's burdens, but you got to stay in the boat. 3 (48m 59s): It's so much easier for you or us to help each other. If we're in the boat versus trying to get you out of the water. The next point I would like to make is that disciples believe in miracles, but they don't rely on them. Here's what I mean. Second Corinthians 12 verses eight and nine. This is Paul speaking. He's talking about his thorn in the flesh, which is some condition. We don't really know what it is, but it's some physical ailment. He says, concerning this. I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. For power is perfected in weakness. Paul couldn't heal himself. 3 (49m 42s): Right? He could heal other people miraculously, but he couldn't heal himself. God said his gracious, sufficient. And Paul goes on to say, I'm content with my weakness. If so, because God decides how, when, where and why the holy spirit is distributed. Here's what God guarantees us. He guarantees this Providence, but not miracles. Providence means that he's going to take care of us. He's going to make everything work out. Okay. He always will be with us. But if you're holding out for, or you require a miraculous event or a sign or a gift before you're faithful, then you're going to be disappointed. 3 (50m 26s): And maybe even bitter that might happen. But disciples believe in miracles, but they don't rely on them. Right? Romans 8 28. We've heard this scripture a lot. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose. He doesn't say all things will be good, but if you're called to his purpose, he says, all things were turn out for the good, right? His Providence is guaranteed. 3 (51m 6s): Finally disciples are baptized member, go back to Matthew 28. It says by definition, that's what a disciple is. I don't want you to get hung up on this comma because in the Greek, there's actually no commas. But some people say, well, no, you have to be discipled before you're baptized now because they know you, you become a disciple when you're baptized. It doesn't really matter. The doctrine of it. The theology of it, the point of it is it's what Jesus commanded disciples are baptized. Just like Nike, just do it, right? Just do it. Every believer in the book of acts is baptized. And you can make a commitment that he was talking about reading a chapter day, read the book of acts. 3 (51m 50s): And some people were baptized more than once. Acts 2 38, 3000 people were baptized because they realized that they had been part of the crew that had crucified Jesus. And now he was in heaven because that miracle of them hearing Peter preach in their own language, right? You had different people from different cultures and different languages. They're on Pentecost. And it's like, if I was speaking to you and you only spoke Spanish right now, you'd hear Spanish and you heard English or you're here to French or whatever that was like, wait a minute. We're hearing them in our own language, hearing him in our language, how's that possible? And Peter says, well, he said that he was going to go away. 3 (52m 32s): And when he went away, he was going to send a helper and the helpers here. So that means he's where he said he was in heaven to help us here. He's in heaven. That's confirmed. And then they said, well, what should we do? And he said, repent, and be baptized. Some were baptized more than once. If they're baptized into John, they got rebaptized. Some people had received the holy spirit had not received the holy spirit and then got baptized into Jesus and received the holy spirit. Others Gentiles that were presumably left out of the whole program had received the holy spirit and the apostles go well, wait a minute. They had the holy spirit. So they must be concluded. 3 (53m 14s): Then we shouldn't withhold baptism. So they got baptized as well. The Ethiopian unique in the chariot says there's water. What hinders me from being baptized? That's what I would ask you. If you haven't been baptized, what's hindering you. What hinders you from becoming a disciple? First, Peter 3 21 says in corresponding to that, meaning Noah's Ark or the water saved people. Baptism now saves you not the removal of dirt from the flesh. It's not, it's not a bath, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 3 (53m 54s): Who is that? The right hand of God, having gone to heaven after angels and authorities and powers have been subjected to him. There's that all authority again, right? He has all authority. He has to the he's the way to become a disciple. The way to clear conscience, Galatians 3 27, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. So what does this disciple look like? The disciple looks like you and me trying to live in this crazy world, clothed in Christ, holding onto the way, trying to stay in the game, staying in the boat. 3 (54m 42s): And then so maybe you've never decided to follow Jesus. Maybe you've jumped out of the boat. Maybe you have a doubt. I challenge you to go back to Matthew 28 and look at verse 17. This is right before. If you're, if you have a Bible, we'll go hook your device. Go ahead and open up that verse. This is right before Jesus says, gives the great commission. It says. And when they saw him and when they saw him means he's risen from the dead there. He's with them again. It says. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, which is appropriate, right? 3 (55m 24s): Wouldn't you do that if you just saw the risen Lord, but some were doubtful is what it says. Some there's only 11 of them, right? Some is more than one. So more than one of the 11 were doubtful. These are the guys that walked with him, thought his death, burial, and resurrection, and now see him alive. It says some were doubtful. So what I'm saying to you is doubt is normal. We all have doubt. There always be there. You cannot have faith without doubt, just like you can't have courage without fear. 3 (56m 8s): Courage is what you do when you overcome fear. Faith is what you do when you overcome doubt. So it's really okay to doubt and be insecure. The question is, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do? Jesus says in that chapter, in that, in that passage we started with at the end of it, Jesus says, lo I am with you always. So do you believe that? Is he with you always, no matter what you face, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how much doubt you have, whether your faith is weak or do you need courage? So lesson is yours. I'd like you to just please make your needs known. We're here to, I guess I should have invited the worship team back up, right? 3 (56m 51s): Come back. Sorry. Rookie mistake. But I would like you to, to make your needs known. We're here to pray for you. Study with you. You can be baptized. You can put on, be Christ, put on Christ. If you can, you can become a disciple today. Let's stand and worship. 1 (57m 57s): beautiful. 1 (1h 4m 21s): you didn't want . 0 (1h 7m 31s): If you father, we praise you today. God, we thank you that we get to be in your house today. God, we thank you for the word, Lord, Jesus. And I pray that as we leave this place today, Lord, that we would just take something away. And when that we would hold onto it this week, Lord God. And we would find ourselves in your word. And so we thank you and we praise you and it's in your most precious name. We pray. Amen. Have a wonderful day. If you need prayer, we have a prayer team up front. So feel free to make your way forward.

What Does God Expect from Your Faith in Christ? Part 2

0 (0s): So would you use this time as we center our hearts and our attention on you to transform us from the inside out, it would be more like Jesus that you have reflection your heart, your love your mercy to the world around us in Jesus name. 0 (22s): stop. 0 (7m 40s): Stop, stop. Stop. you bet. 0 (10m 31s): You're the God of miracles. God of wonders and the God of the impossible. you are. You parked the waters. You split the sea, you car pathways through the desert. let's pray for anyone this morning. God, it just needs to know that you're near who needs to feel your presence, who needs healing, who needs provision, who needs encouragement? God, would you lift your eyes to where our help comes from this morning, help comes from you. 0 (11m 13s): The maker, heavens and the earth. We look to you this morning. We don't look to our circumstance. You're the rock we stand upon when everything else is shifting stirring and chaotic. Thank you that we can depend on your faith. God . 1 (16m 10s): Thank you, Lord. Thank you that the weak are made strong in the Savior's love. Thank you, Lord, and pray that you strengthen this today. Even as we talk about being strong God today and strong in the power of your mind and the strength that you make available to us providing to us. Lord, we just want to walk in it today. So strengthen each of us, Lord, spiritually guys strengthen us, physically strengthen us in every way that we need strength today. Lord, we pray for those who need encouragement for those who need friendship, companionship, Lord God, we just pray that you would meet and minister each person. 1 (16m 55s): Lord God prayed. There'd be real connection today. Lord, not just with you, although we desperately need that connection with you, but also just a connection with one to another Lord, God. So we pray for both a deep and abiding connection with you and just a wonderful connection. One to another Lord. So for those who are just needing to connect today for prayer, for encouragement, I pray that that would happen for those who have a word of encouragement who have the ability to, to pray and minister, Lord pray that every person would be doing that using their gifts and talents to bless the body of Christ, to build up the church, to Edify the church Lord. 1 (17m 35s): So thank you for this time. As we get into your word today, pray that you would be glorified. Thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. God bless you guys. How are you? We're good. Thank you. Worship team. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, where's Shane Shane. Is he here? Shane there. Shane come on out and Shane is going to Zimbabwe 2 (17m 59s): Leaving in 10 days and let's 1 (18m 2s): Get Shane and Mike, can we steal this microphone here? Thank you. So Shane, tell us what you're going to do in Zimbabwe and when you leave and when you're coming 3 (18m 10s): Back, I'm going for about five months. I'm going to Zimbabwe and go and stay with some indigenous natives out there that have established ministry through bold faith. We're going to be sharing the gospel, preaching and ministries and yeah, I just want to thank, thank the church I've been coming here for about two years and the Lord has really done so much in my life. I was, yeah, I'm grateful. And don't think you have to go on a mission to serve God. You can be, your mission can be wherever you are. Yeah. And to whoever and I'm just grateful. Awesome. 1 (18m 48s): Do you still need financial support for your trip? I'm sure. Yeah. If you'd like to support Shane just right. It's making sure check out the harvest church, put Shane in the, in the memo there and we'll make sure he gets that before he leaves in 10 days. How's that? Can we pray for you? Yes, please. Lord. We pray for our brother. We thank you for who he is and for what you've called him to do in Jesus name. We pray that you would give him safe passage to Zimbabwe as he is there. And then coming back Lord and we pray for great fruitfulness, God that as he speaks, that there would just be power upon his words, power from the holy spirit. And as he speaks the eternal word of truth from the Bible Lord that there would just be power as people hear it and the people would be saved and healed and added to the kingdom Lord. 1 (19m 36s): So bless him, bless his team. Those who he will be ministering with Lord, we pray that this would be an amazing and fruitful time for the kingdom and that it would just be a time where Shane is encouraged and ex and further excited about his faith and that it would just be a time of real growth in him and in and real fruitfulness for him as well. So blessed our friend, our brother, we pray Lord in Jesus name. 3 (20m 2s): Amen. Amen. Yeah. Thank you. And, and any, any continued prayers would be much appreciated. 1 (20m 8s): Yeah. So yeah. You're gonna be gone for five months. So pray, put them on your calendar and pray for him over the next five months. That'd be awesome. We'll try to get updates as well over these five months to see, just to kind of communicate. What's what God's been doing through Shane. So it should be really good. 4 (20m 32s): So this guy was, yeah, I didn't even tell the joke and you guys were laughing. I liked it. He was, he was pushing this 1 (20m 43s): Line in this witch into a wardrobe. Somebody asked him, what are you? He said, none of your business, none of your business, Narnia your business, whatever. Yeah. When you have to give the punchline three times, it's not, not good. Good. Someone us got it. Hey, we're in second Timothy chapter two verses one through 14 today. And we're going to be just getting through half, half of the text, half of the chapter today, last week we talked about God's expectations of his people. 1 (21m 23s): He said, God expects bold faith, a holy life and faithfulness this week we continue. What does God expect from your faith in Christ part two, number one, God expects strength, God expects strength. And we see that in the text as Paul encourages Timothy, this is kind of Paul's Swan song, his final letter to Timothy soon, he'll be executed and he's in prison in Rome for the second time. So he's about to lose his life for the sake of the gospel. And he's just got a little bit of time left to communicate truth to the church. 1 (22m 8s): As he writes this letter to Timothy who pastors the church at Ephesus. And, and as we study today, Timothy second Timothy Paul's second letter to Timothy. We were going to sense the urgency within Paul's hearts and his mind to, as he communicates this message. I think about what you might communicate. If you were close to death, if you just had a few weeks or a few months to live, what would you communicate and think about the urgency of that communication. You wouldn't waste your time with small talk, most likely, but you in your conversations with people would go deep. 1 (22m 48s): You would say the things that you meant to say all along that are hard to say. Maybe you would tell some, tell somebody how much you love them. You would give words of advice to the people in your life. Things that you've learned and gleaned from the Lord. There would be a sense of excitement and urgency connected to what you're communicating because you know, your time is wrapping up. Often we put things off because we think, well, I'll say that next time I see that person. Or next time we gather and Paul said, Hey, there's not going to be a next time. And so 2 (23m 25s): He's communicating truth to Timothy Timothy. My dear son, he said in verse one first Timothy chapter two, verse one, Timothy, my dear son be Strang through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. Be straight through the grace that God gives you in Christ. Jesus, Paul speaking, as a man with experience, he has had to be strong through the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And now he is able with passion and with credibility, with power, passion, and credibility is able to say, Timothy, my dear son be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus, Paul warns, Timothy of the difficulties of the ministry. 2 (24m 9s): I mean, it's difficult in the ministry, especially in the first century, Paul's in jail because of his ministry in Christ Jesus. So Paul warns, Timothy of the difficulties of the ministry and urges him to be strong in contrast to those who have defected. We read about those who have defected from the faith last year, weak. Where does that strength come from? Paul saying, Hey, be strong. He says, and then he says, this is where it comes from. Be, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ. Jesus. What does that mean? That grace, how do we define that word? Grace? It's the word Charisse, which is means a number of different things means with the support of God's unmerited favor, not reliance on our natural ability work to be strong. 2 (25m 3s): So we're strong in the reality and the knowledge that God's grace is sufficient for our lives. That in itself will give us strength and confidence because we know that God's grace is sufficient to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, no matter what our past has been, no matter what our mistakes have been, God's grace is sufficient, but then beyond that, there's a grace upon our lives as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, race that is available to us in him to stand strong. And we're going to unpack that a little bit. As we move, move forward, Ephesians six, 10 says this, a final word, be strong in the Lord. 2 (25m 47s): And in his mighty power, his mighty power is a grace gift that God has given to us. There's power available to us in Christ. And that power is a grace gift that is extended to us because of Christ. His mighty power is a grace gift in Luke chapter two, verse 40. Speaking of Jesus, it says as the child grew and waxed strong in the spirit filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Now that's not grace that forgives sin because Jesus was without sin. 2 (26m 29s): So there was no grace needed to be extended to Jesus. So the grace that is talked about is the grace that we're talking about this morning, that grace, that gives strength and that hope and clarity and peace, all of those things. So this isn't a grace that forgives it was a grace that extended, how are they gave us power to do what God would have us to do in Luke chapter one, verse 30 speaking to Mary, the mother of Jesus and the angel said unto her fear, not Mary for thou has found favor with God. That word favor is that word , which is the word grace. And so the angel is telling her, you found favor, you found grace with the Lord with God. 2 (27m 15s): And so Mary found favor with the Lord. She found grace in that what we need in our lives, we need the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I pray that all the time over our church, whether it's, you know, we're talking about a new project or just our impact in the community, or as we like Shane goes out on the mission field, we pray for favor and grace, we just ask the Lord's protection and covering for that person or for a price object. And this is what strengthens us. This gives us the ability to remain strong, even when we're up against difficulty. And especially when we're up against difficulty. Sometimes we're trying to muster strength, but what God expects he provides when God expects us to be strong. 2 (28m 1s): It is through the grace that we have in the Lord. Jesus Christ. First one again, Timothy, my dear son be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus. So we find our strength to stand firm in Christ, by standing firm in Christ. Let me read that again. So we find our strength to stand firm in Christ, by standing firm in Christ, by his grace. Strength comes by his grace power comes by his grace favor comes by his grace. Don't forget. Also forgiveness comes by his grace life in Christ is live from Starbucks to finish because of his grace, grace for salvation grace for godly living th that we would have the strength to live godly in Christ Jesus, that strength and that desire comes from God. 2 (29m 1s): It comes from the Godhead. We receive that from God and then we're able to live it out. God gives what he expects. He gives us what he expects from us. All we have to do is agree with him and say, God, I, I want this. I want it to be strong in the power of your mind, through the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And as we agree with God, we are able to walk in it. Strength comes by his grace power comes by his grace favor comes by his grace, grace for salvation, for godly living grace restraints. If, when we need it, number one, God expects strength from us, but it's not just this unattainable strength is strength. 2 (29m 46s): That's out of reach. God actually gives what he expects. What kind of strength do you need for your season of life and what kind of grace do you need right now for the relationships that you're in for your financial needs, for the things that you're facing in life? What kind of strength do you need? There's grace for it? I find that the grace that God extends is usually practical. Grace realized through just the practical walking out of our faith as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, doing what he's asked us to do, getting involved in small groups, getting involved with the body of Christ. 2 (30m 29s): That's why, as we prayed open opening the service, we prayed that God would connect people. That people would be connected because often the strength that we need comes from that connection that we have one with another. So what kind of strength do you need when I'm lacking strength? I'll talk to my wife or I'll talk to a staff member or I'll talk to a pastor in the area and I'll, I'll find the strength that I need through that fellowship, connecting one to another. So what does that practical step that you need to take to connect with others so that you find the strength that you need to do, what you need to do in Christ? Jesus, we all kinds of small groups available at the church designed to strengthen people in their faith, small groups designed to help people against temptation against addiction. 2 (31m 19s): I've got men's group Bible study, men's groups, Bible, study groups, journey groups, pure desire groups, all kinds of groups designed to strengthen men in their faith so that they're able to stand strong because that is what God is expecting of us. But he provides the way to that, that, that path of strength we've got women's groups, Bible, study groups, journey groups. We've got youth groups for junior high and high school meeting weekly. We've got kids groups from fifth to, from fifth and sixth graders. We've got, we hosted in a group on Thursday nights up in the shop. And dozens of people show up for the NAA group every week. 2 (31m 60s): And dozens of people show up for the peer desire groups and dozens of people show up for the journey groups and the Bible study groups. All of these groups are grace groups designed to give us strength. It's, it's a very practical way, very easy way to receive the strength that is needed. We just have to be willing to step into it and to begin to be a part of the God expects strength, but he gives us the grace to do and to live what he expects of you. We're struggling in an area of your life. Needing strength just happened to the Lord, say, God, what is the next practical step that I take? 2 (32m 40s): Who do I need to talk to? What group do I need to join? What, what do I need to be a part of so that I can get strength for the journey ahead of me? We're not, we're never meant to be in this alone. Paul communicates truth, encouraging Timothy to be strong because Timothy probably needed that word of encouragement from Paul. And it's interesting that Paul who is in prison is the one encouraging Timothy, who was not. So maybe you're in a precarious position yourself, but God wants to use you to speak into the life of someone else. And you think, well, who am I to speak that life to someone else I'd got this past, or I'm in this circumstance where I'm up against this challenge? 2 (33m 23s): Well, forget about all that. Just do what God has asked you to do. And then out of that, obedience, you'll find strength. As you encourage others, you find strength as you allow yourself to be encouraged by others, you will find strength back to for a second. Timothy chapter two verse two says, you may, you have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these trues to others, to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. Number one, God expects strength, but also number two, God expects us to teach others that interesting Jesus said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. How did he make disciples? 2 (34m 3s): Who was he? Who was God spot speaking to? And who was Jesus speaking to anyway, speaking to the 12, right? Speaking to the disciples. But who else? He's speaking to the church. He's speaking to all of us, all of us have this responsibility, this expectation to go make disciples. How do you make a disciple? A disciple maker is just someone who goes and teaches truth to others so that they understand truth about who God is. And so God has this expectation. Paul's communicating this expectation. He says, you have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach now we see the discipleship process here. Now teach these trues to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. 2 (34m 48s): So we're not mad to just be a bucket, collecting all of this truth. We're meant to be a stream where the, the truth comes into us, flows into our lives and bubbles out and flows into other people's lives. All of us. So we're just holding onto this truth. Like we were carrying around a five gallon pail of all this truth and we never spill it out in anybody else's lives. God expects us to teach others. Remember God gives what he expects. If you are new in the faith, you can still teach others. You can say, God has forgiven my sins. 2 (35m 30s): And let me tell you about my experience. And when you tell somebody else about your experience, how God is forgiving, your sins are teaching someone about the goodness and the compassion and the kindness of God. Last week, during second service, I challenged the church to go tell someone about Jesus. I said, sometime in the next month and the next week, sometime soon, go and tell somebody about Jesus. And so I said, Hey, I'm going to jump into this challenge as well. And so sometime this week, I'm going to share the gospel with someone outside of harvest church. It's easy to share the gospel with people who are in the camp already, right? 2 (36m 14s): It's not really what God intended my job to preach and do, do we equip the church, the saints to do the work of the ministry, Ephesians four 11. So I said, I will go find somebody to share the gospel with. Who's not easy to share the gospel with. Right? And so I did. And so this week I kind of forgot about it the first couple of days. And I remembered, oh man, I gotta step up to this challenge. And so I began to pray for God to open up an opportunity to kind of pave the way and Jolene and I were down in Southern California for a few days this week, just kind of getting a little break. And, and while we were in a mall down in thousand Oaks, I said, okay, Jolene was at a store and I'm just kinda hanging around. 2 (36m 56s): And I realized, Hey, my phone needs a new, new cover on it. So it's all cracked and it just needs a new, you know, clear cover. So I was just looking around and I felt like the Lord said, go get your phone fixed and then share the gospel with that guy at that kiosk. So I said, okay, God, but you've got to pave the way. Right? So God makes a way for what he wants us to do. So I said, all right, Laura. So I had been reading my Bible while I was waiting for Jolene. So I had him, my screensaver on my phone, a passage from John. And so I thought, I'm just going to leave this open, what I pass over my phone to this guy. And it talks about how to get saved, you know? 2 (37m 37s): So I give him that and he could tell, he read it for a minute and then he's turned it off because he didn't want to read it. And then he re repaired my phone. And I just simply said, Hey, I want you to know that Jesus loves you and that he died for your sins. He's like, well, that's very kind. Thank you. I said, no, really like, Jesus really, really loves. You cares about you and he died for your sins. He said, well, that's very kind. Thank you. And so that's as far as it went, but what did I do? I planted seeds. And now what am I doing? I told Jolene what I had done. And, and, and I said, I told her, I said, now I'm praying for not only him, but for his whole family. 2 (38m 19s): And for his whole influence that everybody that he comes in contact with once he gives his life to the Lord would be saved also. And this is what I'm expecting. This is what I'm expecting. Big picture. I'm expecting you to get to heaven and have this guy come up to me and say, Hey, member at that thousand Oaks, small, when you, the gospel with me, look at all these people who also got saved as a result of that seed that you planted. That's my expectation. Why? Because we're meant to have kingdom expectations because God is doing kingdom sized things within our lives. And so sometimes we can get burdened down and say, ah, I don't want to do this. But man, think about the fruitfulness that is possible in Christ Jesus, when we're simply willing to extend truth and communicate truth to people willing to do what God expects. 2 (39m 5s): You think that God expects, she did teach the answer's yes. Not a trick question. Go make disciples. How do you make disciples? You communicate truth. You teach truth. So you go make disciples of all nations, Zimbabwe included and teaching them to obey everything that teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded. That's that's the expectation for, for believers. The expectation for believers is that we would teach others and make disciples of other people. When you tell people about Jesus, you are essentially teaching again. I'm about Jesus. 2 (39m 46s): So have you told anybody about Jesus recently to the difficult people like, you know, your gardener or the person at the shopping center or your doctor or your attorney? Have you shared the gospel with those people in your life? If you haven't know, encourage you to do so. I challenged second service last week to do it by the next week. So I'm encouraging you guys to do the same thing and I'll get into second service and encourage them for those who didn't do it. You forgot about it. Cause I forgot about it for the first couple of days, but I would encourage each of you to do the same thing to share the gospel just, and it doesn't need to be a weird thing. 2 (40m 29s): In fact, it shouldn't be a weird thing. It should be just a natural thing. You may, you may feel a little weird because you haven't done it before, but just begin to do it. And like anything else it's like riding a bike. Once you figure it out, she just kind of, it becomes easy. You just say, Jesus loves you. And you say it was sincerity. Do you know that Jesus died for your sins? He just loves you and it, and if they take it, if they want to talk more about it, then you can do that. And you can just say, yeah, you know, 20 years ago, when I gave my life to Jesus, I was a mess and God just rescued me. It's been an incredible journey. Or man, last year or two years ago, I got saved and God's been working in my life and doing great stuff. 2 (41m 10s): He's showing me his genuine care for me is abundant grace for me that he loves me unconditionally. You just share your story and watch what God will do. So how many times for accountability, how many this week? And I'll throw my hat in the ring again this week. How many we'll share the gospel this week? Go and raise your hand. Yeah. Can raise it high. Like, cause you want to be like convicted about it, right? Like I man, I'm going to do this. Cool. How many need prayer for boldness that you'll share the gospel this week. 2 (41m 52s): All right, sounds good. I'm going to pray right now in Jesus' name, Lord for the, those who need boldness, everybody raising their hand, watching online. I don't care, Lord. It doesn't matter if this person is watching and 10 years from now and an archive online, I pray that that person would raise their hand and say, yes, I'm going to share the gospel. So I pray for boldness God you've, you've given us this directive, this, this clearly communicated expectation that we will share the gospel that we will teach others. And so I pray that you give us boldness and then words to speak in Jesus name. Thank you, Lord. Amen. So I'm going to check in with you next week. Not next week. I'll check in with you in the next couple of weeks and let you know or talk about whether, whether or not you did what you said you were going to do. 2 (42m 38s): So how many again are going to do it? All right. Sounds good. I appreciate that. People who keep their hands down, honestly, just because I'm thinking they just need more encouragement. They're not ready to do it. And that's okay. Let's see. Where are we here? God expects us to teach others. God gives us the grace to do what he expects. Number three, God expects us to endure suffering. Yeah, I know. Right? Endure suffering. So Paul speaking with authority about this area of suffering. 2 (43m 20s): So he's not just, you know, in an ivory tower somewhere communicating his truth. He's been suffering into our suffering. Along with me, Paul wrote as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. So Paul uses a soldier. As his example, soldiers enter the military with the expectation that suffering or danger or harm may come their way. It's the nature of the life chosen. So the life of a follower of Jesus Christ is similar to that of a life of a soldier. We're enlisting have been enlisted, have been called into the army of God. 2 (44m 5s): And the expectation I know as, as, as boring as it may sound, the expectation is that we would endure suffering. Soldiers are on a mission. What do they do? They're there to fight the enemy to defend the country. They're there to do what is expected civilians on the other hand are consumed with civilian life civilians forgets. There is an army civilians are thinking about their own lives. Civilians, do what they want to do. So do you align yourself more after that description, that little brief description, do you align yourself more? 2 (44m 46s): Do you see yourself more as a soldier or as a civilian? Paul is saying, Hey, you are called as a believer as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. You are a soldier in God's army. Don't get distracted by civilian life. So stand strong against the enemy and, and endure the suffering that is before you followers of Jesus or like soldiers stand strong against the enemy. That's what you're called to do. We wrestle not against flesh and blood enemies, but against principalities of darkness, right? So we need to stand strong against the enemy. The Bible says that the enemy walks about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. 2 (45m 27s): So he's out there. He's looking to destroy you to devour you, to discourage you, to hinder you. So stand strong. It's helpful to remember that we're in this battle. So when we experience suffering or persecution or temptation or whatever it may be, it's helpful to remember. This is just par for the course, it goes with the territory. Followers of Jesus are to live like soldiers. So stand strong against the enemy, teach others about the kingdom of God and do what it is expected by God's grace. Part of what is expected is that we didn't do our suffering in Romans five, three and four in the NIV. 2 (46m 10s): It says not only. So we also glory in our sufferings. We glory in our sufferings. Often we're not glory in our sufferings. We're like complaining in our suffering. There's like, Lord deliver me from my sufferings. And here they're glorying in their suffering. Having been counted were the, to suffer for the gospel. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, character, hope, personally, perseverance character, and hope all derive from our suffering experiences. 2 (46m 52s): So need perseverance. If you need character, if you need hope, don't be sorry. Surprised if you get a little suffering to kind of buffet your flesh and to prepare you for what God has for you. First five, second, Timothy two says and athletes. So we've talked about soldiers. Now we're talking about athletes and athletes cannot win the prize unless they follow the rules. And so on Sunday morning, we talk about the rules, the four engagement. What does God expect? What does God require of us so that we might win the prize. First Corinthians 9, 24 through 27, says this, do you not know in a race? All the runners run, but only one gets the prize. 2 (47m 34s): And so we're actually in a race not to get a participation ribbon. Okay? I don't know anybody who joins her race to get a participation ribbon, right? Everybody runs the race to win, right? You don't. I used to run races. I would never run to even get second place. I did not want, I didn't want it. I was okay if I got it, but I didn't run for second. I ran to win. I wanted to, to win. There was this gal during this strawberry stampede every year she would, for two years, she would catch me and pass me in the race. Finally, the third year it occurred to me that this gal was probably going to try to do the same thing again this year. 2 (48m 20s): And so the third year, about the last half a mile, I look back and sure enough, Kristin is on my tail again. And I told her, I said, not this year here, Christian. And I just pushed it and left her in my, in my dusts. And I, I needed that encouragement to win the race, right. Even if my win was only over Christian, right? So cannot let her win. Beat me again. Come on. Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize run in such a way as to get the prize. 2 (48m 60s): Yeah. If you get second place, celebrate it. But man, don't run. Like you're just trying to get run to win. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly. And that's part of the reason I challenge us to run with intentionality. So what's the intention this week, we're going to share the gospel with someone, right? Jesus loves you. You get your coffee. I was helping a guy load refrigerator yesterday and I was praying. I said, Lord, help us to get this. 2 (49m 40s): I said, I said, Jesus, help us. You know, I'm just any way I can get the word of the Lord out. And you know, the gal gal kind of just smirked and she thought it was probably a little crazy, but I seriously, I needed Jesus up to get that refrigerator up on that truck. So find an opportunity to tell people about Jesus and see what God will do. It will become life-giving for you. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly. I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. Now I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I've preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the price. So you're in it to win it. 2 (50m 19s): Competition is inherent in sports. You play to win. So think about your faith this way. Like, Hey, I'm in it to win the crown. I want to finish. Well, like Paul talks about second to me, the two six and hard-working farmers. So we talked about soldiers and athletes. Now we're going to be talking about farmers second, Timothy two, six, and hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor. So hardworking farmers are the ones who are to enjoy the, the, the fruit of their labor. If you don't put your effort into it, there's going to be little fruit to enjoy. But there for the hard working person, the farmer there's fruit to be enjoyed. So you can have this expectation that God will bless you with the fruits of your labor. 2 (51m 4s): And you will enjoy that fruit here in this life and in the life to come. So in other words, it's not all hard work. There is reward. What's the fruit of your efforts. Well, some people are going to get saved. Some people are going to get healed because you're going to say, Hey, you know what? To someone who's okay, injured or sick. Hey, you know what I believe Jesus is a healer. The God that I serve is a healer. So I'd like to pray for you and just maybe God will heal you. And so you take the opportunity to share the gospel that way. And you're teaching someone that way. You're teaching something about Jesus. He's a healer. He's the great physician. 2 (51m 45s): He loves you. And so, and just set up saying, Hey, I'll pray for you or something like that. Say, Hey, I'm praying in Jesus' name because God's a healer and just be bold about your faith. So there's going to be all kinds of all kinds of fruit, salvation, people healed, but also internal strength. There's just something about a strength that Wells up within us and a boldness that Wells up within us when we're doing what God has called us to do, working hard as a soldier, an athlete, a farmer, great pictures of, of hardworking people. So you'll find strength boldness for Christ. 2 (52m 26s): You'll, you'll find yourself steadfast in the faith. Like you won't struggle nearly as much and you won't wander off course nearly as much when you're playing by God's rules, competing by the rules, doing what God has asked us to do. And then you'll have this fearlessness. You'll have the spear. Lessness. I remember when first sharing the gospel I was in living in Louisiana, we would go down to new Orleans and we'd pack lunches for the homeless and we'd share the gospel with them. It was terrifying. It was terrified before that actually we would pack lunches and go to San Louis and share the gospel with homeless people in San Louis. And it was terrifying. 2 (53m 6s): One day, one day, they wanted me to do some open air preaching. You know what open air preaching is like in front of everybody at the park, he just started preaching. I was scared third to death. And so fortunately they didn't make me do it. Cause it would have been a train wreck. Right. But we did share the gospel. I just wasn't about to do some open air preaching at that season of my life. I might do it now. I'd probably do it now because the fearlessness of God is I've grown in my boldness because I've just been doing it for a long time. So it's just like anything you don't, you're not afraid to get on the bike. If you've been riding your bike your whole life, because you just, you know how to ride a bike. You're not bragging about it. You just know how to ride a bike. So you get on your right. You're not bragging. 2 (53m 46s): Oh, let me ride my bike. It's just natural. Right? You just, you just get up there and do it. So you begin to share the gospel and you're not bragging about your ability. You just say I do this all the time. So of course it's going to be a little easier for me. You'll see an increased faith and faithfulness you'll experience. Peace, a close walk with Jesus. All of this is the fruit that you'll experience as you, as you do these things that we're talking about as we get ready to ride up here. Second Timothy two verse seven says, Paul says, think about what well I'm saying the Lord will help you understand all these things. So maybe in your own mind you say, Lord, what do you want me to pull from this? What is it that you expect me to do as a result of this message? First eight, always remember that Jesus Christ a descendant of king David. 2 (54m 29s): It was raised from the dead. This is the good news that I preach. So just to be clear, this is what Paul is saying. This is the gospel that I preach. And because I preach this good news, I'm suffering and have been changed again, like a criminal, but the word of God cannot be changed. Be clear about what you're preaching. I was at 1 0 2, the new worship center this week. And a guy came in and nice guy. And he's like, oh, I'm so excited that your church is going to be here. I said, oh, thanks man. Come by any time. And he said, you know what? I believe I said, no, what do you believe? He said, I believe that the 12 apostles went out to buy two and two became Mormons. Two became Jehovah's witnesses. 2 (55m 9s): Two became bow. And he just, you know, I I'm thinking to myself, this is not the gospel that we preach. We preach that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. That you can only come to faith in Jesus Christ. No man comes to the father except through him. So it's not a convoluted, confusing faith. We preach Jesus Christ and him crucified in him, resurrected from the dead and him returning in Jesus' name. This is what we preach. So let's figure out who we are in Christ and then preach that gospel truth. Otherwise it's confusing. And it doesn't lead people anywhere, but to a path of destruction. 2 (55m 52s): And because I preach this good news, Paul says, I'm suffering. You won't suffer. You say two of the apostles were Mormons too, or Muslims too, or Jehovah's witnesses. You want to suffer anything because nobody gives a what's the word I should use here. Nobody cares. Nobody cares that you're preaching. That kind of gospel. It doesn't bum anybody out. It doesn't confront anybody with truth. What confronts people with the truth is the fact that Jesus died for their sins. And apart from him, they are, they're heading to this one place called hell and in Christ, we have eternal life. That's what gets people's attention. 2 (56m 33s): So Paul was preaching some, you know, some confused gospel. He wouldn't be in jail. They wouldn't care. So I'm willing to endure anything. If it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. This is a trustworthy saying, if we die with him, we will also live with him. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. I love this part. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful for, he cannot deny who he is. Remind everyone about these things and command them in God's presence to stop fighting. Over words, such arguments are useless and they can ruin those who hear them. 2 (57m 14s): What does God expect from your faith in Christ? Jesus part two, number one, God expects strength. He expects you to teach others and he expects you to endure suffering with that. That's my divorce, your team back. We're going to stand and we're going to sing some more songs. And so B write down in your, in your calendar. This is how I get things on. I write it, my calendar. So what I'll write my calendar is share the gospel with somebody this week. Someone who's not easy to share the gospel with, write it down and then pray over your day and ask the Lord for clarity about that. So let's go and stand up. Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing for her, what you're speaking and for what you've called us to you. 2 (57m 55s): Thank you that you've put expectations on our life Lord, but with the expectation, the power to do what you've asked us to do the ability by your grace to do those things. So help us. We pray Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Let's worship 0 (58m 16s): When Jesus . I see , your presence here with us this day. 0 (1h 6m 59s): Thank you for filling our tape that we received this morning and be a vessel to those around us who are lost and hurting. We want to be good clay in the hands of a good Potter and make us instruments of your peace, salt, and light. Jesus. Amen. Amen. We're 5 (1h 7m 32s): Going to have an opportunity now for you to come forward for prayer. If you're, if you're interested, if you have any needs this morning, but just as Steve was preaching, I was really struck with verse seven that says, think over what I say for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. What Steve shared with us this morning, the call of the gospel, the call to share the truth, the call to walk in righteousness and holiness the call as we've been over these past few weeks. And I just feel like there's some of you who really you think about it. Now, you don't think about what I say. Think about what was preached. Think about what God spoke to you. And then we walk out the door and we get busy with life. 5 (1h 8m 16s): If you really want to think about it, if you really want to, to move forward in obedience to what God has said this morning, if you want reassurance and reminder, I encourage you to come and get prayer. If you have a need for healing, if you have a need for God's intervention in your life, this is the time to come. We've been, I've been getting praise reports back on, on things that we've been praying for. Whether it's here or in the, on the prayer chain, God's working. He answers prayer. If you're hurting, if you need anything, I encourage you to come forward. Prayer teams will be up here and ready to pray with you. If you don't need prayer, go out, have a great day, go up to the baptisms and then buzz down and take a look at 1 0 2. 5 (1h 9m 1s): It's going to be a great day. Great day in the Lord. Hallelujah.

What Does God Expect from our Faith in Christ?

What Has God Promised Through Faith in Christ?

0 (2s): Thank you look forward to what you want to do in our hearts this morning. Would you give us ears to hear and eyes to see? We want to know you. We want to come close to you. We want to experience your power and your presence, your mercy and forgiveness this morning. Even as we celebrate at the Lord's table today, God, you just cleanse us from all the things that kind of get in the way of our relationship with you. G purify our hearts and draw us into yourself. So kind of be in our MIS as we sing the songs would you would have our praises. 0 (42s): We love you, Jesus. And your precious name. Amen. 0 (59s): break the chains that have hi, our living hope. 0 (18m 1s): Thank you. That's out of the grave. There is victory in Jesus name. Thank you for the victory. God, we just pray for continued communications to our hearts and souls and minds today. Lord God, that there's victory in Jesus, God, that we would hear it. We would believe the gospels for us, that we would internalize it, that we do live it. Lord, in Jesus name 1 (18m 37s): God, where, where we're struggling to believe that the gospel is for us. 0 (18m 41s): I pray God that you would remind us and affirm to us. Speak to us in your loving and gracious way. Lord, it's your kindness that calls people causes people to pretend some more God. So speak to us. Lord, we pray minister to us. We pray Lord in Jesus name Jesus. Amen. You may be seated. You may be seated. 1 (19m 11s): Good morning, everyone. How is everyone? You know, it's interesting as we were singing this last song, I was, I don't even know why I'm going to share this with you, but I'm going to, but I had this dream last night and I felt compelled to share it. I don't even know why, but maybe in the sharing, it'll kind of become clear, have this dream that I'm walking around without any pants on last night and DMI. I know I realize that, but I'm walking around and it's strange to me that I'm walking around this way, but it's not, doesn't seem to be strange to anyone else. 1 (19m 59s): And so I, at one point in the dream, I asked my son, I said, Curtis, can you get me a pair of shorts? And he said, dad, you've already got shorts on. I looked down and I had shorts on. I felt lost. Interesting. I wonder what, what that was all about. And another part of the dream, I had been loading up my truck with some stuff I'm just giving you bits and pieces of the dream 2 (20m 22s): Bits and pieces of the dream. 1 (20m 23s): I, I see this truck began to roll without anybody in the, in the driver's seat. And I thought it was my truck. So I started running after the truck. And then I realized as I'm running after the truck, it's not my truck. It's another truck. It's, it's a different truck. It's a bigger truck. And it's running out of control and it crashes into another truck. And I thought, well, that's weird. I thought that was my truck, but my truck was just fine full of all the junk that I needed to throw away, but there was all kinds, but the truck was fine. And, and so then I thought, well, what, what does this dream mean? What does, what does it mean anything? Or did I just eat a bad burrito or something? What we, we did have, we did have some takeout last night. So maybe that was the deal. 1 (21m 4s): It was the broccoli. There we go. And, but I was feeling heavy about the dream. And then as we're singing this song, like the burden just kind of lifted off of me. It was like, I realized that the gospel stuff that's us free in the, the world in all kinds of different ways, tries to weigh us down and wear us out. And so maybe through the dream, I was, you know, the enemy or whatever it was, was attempting to kind of wear me down and wear me out. But the reality is, is that 2 (21m 36s): That I had my shorts on 1 (21m 38s): And my truck was just fine. I think that maybe the truth that God wants to speak to us, we have this perception about ourselves or this idea that maybe somebody has put upon us to weigh us down and to wear us out. 2 (21m 54s): But as we look down, 1 (21m 56s): All is good. We've got our shorts on or truck's fine. So maybe, maybe you've been wrestling with something that's wearing you out and wearing you down. And it's lot from the enemy that God wants to lift off of you. And so I'm just going to pray for us that the Lord would lift that off of us. And so Lord, we pray for that Lord all over the campus. Whoever's listening Lord that you would lift the burdens in Jesus name. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So there's not meant be any burden of heaviness. There's the conviction of the holy spirit, but we're, we, we understand the difference. And so Lord, I pray that if there's something that we need to confess and repent of that we would do that. But then as we do that, as we sincerely confess and repent Lord that that burden would be lifted. 1 (22m 39s): And if there's something that's of the world, the flesh or the devil Lord, we pray that that would be lifted off of us as well, Lord. So we're going to be looking at some things today. God's promises to us through faith in Christ. And I pray that as we do that, we're just be a revelation of joy, a revelation of peace that we would renew our experience and the grace and mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And that if there are those here today who have never experienced the grace and mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that that would be experienced and new life would be given and salvation would be added and adoption would take place Lord. And that great things would what happened as that person moves forward. 1 (23m 22s): So Lord, I pray that you would eliminate anything of the world, the flesh of the devil that might try to hinder what you want to speak to us today, whether it be through false, accurate the, the, the enemy is the accuser of the, of the flash of the brethren. He's a, he's constantly accusing lying to us. His native tongue is that he just speaks lies constantly. So Lord pray that we wouldn't be believing lies and that we wouldn't be sucked into his accusations, Lord God. But that we would know that we have been adopted. If we are in Christ, we are in his family. Our sins are forgiven. His grace is sufficient. 1 (24m 3s): His mercy is plentiful. And our salvation is, is sure because Jesus is sure. So thank you, Lord, do what you need to do in each of us. Lord, we pray. We just want to be available. Speak to us. We ask Lord in Jesus name. Amen, amen. What do you call a man with no body and no nose? Nobody knows. Speaking of noses, you know, you're getting old. When the barber spends more time on your nose than on your head. If you don't own, I'm talking about, then you will know. 1 (24m 43s): Eventually you will know eventually, Hey, we're in second Timothy chapter one verses one through seven, and we're going to be jumping into second Timothy and answering the question. What has God promised through faith in Christ? What has God promised through faith in Christ? Do you believe that God has made some promises to us? For those of us, you are in Christ. He's made, he's made promises to us. And we're an unpack five of those promises today. And maybe there'll be a part two next week, but we're going to leak look at least five promises today. As we just kind of look at Paul's greeting to his, his son in the faith, Timothy, who was a young pastor, the church of emphasis, there's this greeting and it's, it's filled with connection. 2 (25m 34s): It's 1 (25m 34s): Not some, some just quick little greeting. That's lacking connection and love. And it's this greeting that's just filled with connection. It's some greeting cards 2 (25m 54s): Are 1 (25m 56s): General greeting cards. You know, the kind that you get for people who are distant from you, but you feel obligated to get a greeting card for, so you get them one that may be, it was just kind of general. But then there are those greeting cards that really speak to your hearts. My wife got me a father's day card last week. And man, it was just rich with encouragement and, and goodness. And so there's, there's a difference in the type of green. Paul is rich with love for Timothy. As he reaches out to him and writes this letter, what does God promise through faith in Christ? 1 (26m 37s): Let's find out verse one second. Timothy chapter one verse one says this letter is from Paul, chosen the will of God to be an apostle of Christ. Jesus. I have been sent out to tell others about the life here. It is the life he has promised through faith in Christ Jesus, the life he has promised. So Paul's telling others about the life that he has promised that God has promised through faith in Jesus Christ. He says, I'm writing to Timothy. My dear son. Number one in your notes, he's promised a new kind of spiritual family. Not exciting. Some of us are come from broken families and distant families, hard families. 1 (27m 20s): The truth of the matter is, is that God has given us in Christ, a new kind of spiritual family. Timothy is Paul's spiritual son. Paul is Timothy's spiritual father. So Paul probably didn't lead Timothy to the Lord. And we're we'll know that he probably got his faith from his mother and his grandmother, but there was a, there was a leadership that Paul had intimidate his life, where he probably discipled him where he trained him to be a leader in the church and taught him out of what it really meant to follow Jesus. So Timothy is Paul's spiritual son. 1 (28m 0s): Paul is Timothy's spiritual father. Each of us should have one of those by the way. Or we should all have a spiritual mother or father. We should all have someone who's speaking into our lives ministering to us downloading truth QS. We all need someone like that in our lives. And then we all need someone that we're pouring into as well. Someone that we're speaking into communicating truth to life and, and counsel to. And so this is kind of what is modeled here in this new kind of spiritual family. We've got this responsibility and this honor to connect one another. I, I met my pastor in Colorado at my stepmother's Moore Memorial service. 1 (28m 43s): And immediately there was a kinship, 2 (28m 46s): Right? Because immediately 1 (28m 48s): We know that we're both followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we never met. Personally, we had talked on the phone a couple of times leading up to the service as soon as we see each other and MBB beyond that, as soon as we talked on the phone with, there was just this, this kinship, this connection because we're brothers in the Lord, meaning we are believers. We believe on the name on the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And we will spend eternity together with each other, with the Lord. And there's just this 2 (29m 16s): Connection 1 (29m 19s): That takes the relationship a deeper than just meeting someone that you aren't connected to in any other way. It's it takes your blood relatives, blood relationships, different and deeper as well. My natural daughters, I've got two daughters who are also my sisters 2 (29m 40s): In the Lord. 1 (29m 42s): And so we can relate as father daughter, but we can also relate as brothers and sisters in the Lord. There's this, there's the connection. I total stranger who believes in the Lord is my spiritual. Relative is your spiritual relative. And honestly, sometimes we feel closer to our spiritual family than we do to our natural family. We belong to each other. God has created something of a family connection in the body of Christ. We belong to each other, a spiritual family, and we belong to God who is our heavenly father. It's interesting that dynamic, that relationship, depending on your relationship with your earthly father, you connect to your spiritual father really well or not. 1 (30m 30s): So well, it just depends on how you connected with your earthly father. Romans eight, 14 through 16, says this for all, who are led by the spirit of God are children of God. 2 (30m 45s): So you've not received 1 (30m 46s): A spirit that makes you fearful slaves. So it's not a servant master relationship. Although we are bond servants of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We are choosing to serve him and give our lives to him. But Jesus calls us friends. The father calls us sons and daughters. You've not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves and said, you received God's spirit. When he adopted you as his, his own children. Now we call him Abba father, which just means daddy. 2 (31m 18s): So there's this intimate 1 (31m 19s): Connection that we can have that we're designed to have. I have with God, the father in this spiritual family that God has designed and has given to us. He is our Bubba father for his spirit, joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. We need to kind of that resonate with us a little bit. The reality that we are God's children. I was talking to a guy last week and he was talking about doing something that was questionable. And I said, well, I said, I, I would have I'm doing that. He said, well, I'm not worried about it. Cause when I get to heaven, God's got a lie. He's going to straighten me out on a lot of different things. 1 (32m 1s): It's like that perspective that says, as soon as I see God, he's going to give me a little spanking, right? He's going to give me a time out. He's going to discipline me for something because I know that I've messed up somewhere along the line, but I don't know about you, but when there's a healthy dynamic, elder relationship between kids and parents, kids, father, and child, that's not, you know, I'm not waiting to come down on my kids. I'm waiting to give him a hug. Right? I'm waiting to see them so I can, you know, they don't like a lot of kisses, but I like to kiss my kids, you know, and my grandkids and they're kinda like grandpa knock it off. But that's, I mean, the heart of a is to love on his kids and grandkids. 1 (32m 42s): And so sometimes our perspective is that boy, as soon as I get to heaven and God's going to kind of, you know, discipline me, he's going to come after me. Jesus took all of that. You took all of that on the cross. And so we belong to God because of what Jesus has made possible. And we belong to one another. Isn't that sweet. That's why church is so amazing. We come together and we can love on one another and pray for one another, laugh together. Just be together, give each other a hard time when necessary and just kind of beats together as a big family, we belong to God and we belong to one another. So maybe you're feeling like you're disconnected from your earthly family. 1 (33m 26s): You don't have to be disconnected from your spiritual family. Be a part of what's going on. That's why I'm so glad that we're all back in church. It's hard to connect through zoom or through FaceTime. It's hard to connect, right? There's there's a, there's something missing. There's something missing. We belong to God. We belong to one. Another. Number one, he has promised a new kind of spiritual family. Number two, he's promised grace mercy and peace. Let's unpack those a little bit. First two continues. May God, the father and Christ Jesus. Our Lord gave you grace, mercy and peace. This is Paul's greeting to Timothy. What a greeting. 1 (34m 7s): It's a reminder of the foundations of our faith, faith, grace, mercy, and peace. Grace is God's unmerited here that we hear it a lot, but we need to hear it again. Grace is God's unmerited, unmerited favor. It means we do not deserve it. If we deserve it, it wouldn't be grace, 2 (34m 29s): Right? We 1 (34m 31s): Go along. Sometimes we think, ah, we shift somewhere and we go from great. I used to work. We feel like if we don't do certain things, we're not, we're not in good standing with the Lord. But grace is given to us as God's unmerited favor, Ephesians two eight says, God saved you by his grace 2 (34m 52s): When you believed and you 1 (34m 55s): Can't take credit for it now, wherever you can't take credit for it, it is a gift from God. So we're saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. It's just an amazing theological truth that we need to constantly revisit. Maybe you've had a bad day and you need to revisit, is it the doctrine of grace And be refreshed in the truth of God's grace? That it's sufficient. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, his grace is sufficient. Then there's the mercy of God. 1 (35m 35s): Robert Robinson has had been saved out of a life of sin through George Whitfield's ministry in England. Shortly after that, at the age of 23, Robinson wrote the ham come thou fount of every blessing, streams of mercy, never ceasing sad. Lee Robinson wandered far from those streams and like the prodigal son journey journeyed into a life of carnality. And one day he was traveling by stagecoach and sitting beside a young woman and grossed in her book. She ran across a verse. She thought was beautiful and asked him what he thought of it. This is the quote prone to wander Lord. 1 (36m 18s): I feel it 2 (36m 20s): Prone to leave the God. I love 1 (36m 24s): Bursting into tears. Robinson said ma'am ma'am, I'm the poor unhappy man who wrote that him many years ago. And I would give a thousand worlds. If I could enjoy that feeling I had then although greatly surprised she reassured him that the streams of mercy mentioned in the, his songs still flowed. Mr. Robinson was deeply touched turning his wandering heart to the Lord. He was restored to full fellowship. Yeah. Anybody need a little mercy today. 1 (37m 6s): Streams of mercy still flow and they flow for you. They do. They flow for you. Streams of mercy flow for you. This God's good streams of mercy are available. 2 (37m 22s): Just 1 (37m 24s): Soak that up a little bit. Maybe you've had a rough season and you need to refresh yourself in that truth. Grace and mercy are abundant in God's kingdom and grace and mercy lead to the peace of God, grace and mercy and peace. Peace is what is experienced when we abide in Christ and he abides in us. There's peace that is experiencing Christ, but it requires that we abide in him that we, we make an intentional effort to abide in him. 2 (38m 2s): We're making 1 (38m 3s): Him our highest priority. Let's see, we're allowing him to be our highest priority. John 14, 27, Jesus said, peace. I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world, not as the world gives. Do I give to you? Let not your hearts be troubled. Neither let them be afraid. So the opposite of peace would be troubled 2 (38m 35s): And fear, feeling troubled and fearful. The Messiah's peace is based on his grace and his mercy. 1 (38m 47s): So let that grace and mercy leads you to the peace of God. Peace. I leave with you. My peace I 2 (38m 56s): Give to you, not 1 (38m 59s): As the word world gives the world gives it's. It's very conditional piece. If everything's going good, or as I expect, then I'm 2 (39m 9s): At peace. 1 (39m 11s): If I have what I think I need, then I have peace. If I have the relationships that I think I need, then I am at peace. It's very conditional. 2 (39m 20s): It's very conditional. 1 (39m 22s): The peace of God is based on his grace and mercy. And we experienced that as we abide in him, but we can drift from him, right? We drift maybe like the writer of this ham. We drift and maybe go a long time without experiencing his grace and mercy. And so there's no peace. Maybe you're even going to church and seemingly doing all of the right things, but you're lacking a peace in your life. Maybe there's a lack of abiding. There's plenty of doing, but there's a lack of abiding in him. Abiding just simply means, Lord, I'm going to wake up every day and just be with you, be in close proximity with you. So Lord, I want my life to just stay cozied right up to your life. 1 (40m 7s): And so that means I want to invite you into everything and, and Lord, I want your wisdom for, for my decisions. I want your guidance through your word and through your spirits. Peace. I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, do I give to you, let not your hearts be troubled. How's your heart today. Are your hearts troubled? Afraid. I think that's what that dream was meant to do is meant to stir up fear in me, anxiety 2 (40m 34s): In me. But what happened 1 (40m 36s): Is, as soon as I got in the presence of the Lord, especially singing that final song, it's like peace was restored. Peace was restored. Let God do what he wants to do in your life. It'll you, you will be surprised at the peace that that comes to you. The Messiah's peace is based on his grace and mercy. Here's a solid definition of peace. It's the tranquil state, eight 2 (40m 59s): Of a soul assured 1 (41m 1s): Of its salvation through Christ. 2 (41m 5s): And so 1 (41m 5s): Fearing hear this. And so fearing nothing from God. Not that we don't have a healthy respect and fear and all of God, but fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly. Lot of whatsoever sword. That is that's 2 (41m 22s): The peace of God says that I'm okay, 1 (41m 27s): Good with God because of his grace and mercy. I'm in the family of God because of his grace and mercy. He's adopted me in my sins are forgiven because of his grace and mercy. I have a new life in Christ because of his grace and mercy. And because of all of that is true. I have peace, 2 (41m 45s): Peace in Jesus. 1 (41m 47s): He's promised us grace, mercy and peace. And number three, he's promised us to clear conscience. 2 (41m 52s): And then interesting. Paul talks about a clear conscience. I clear conscious. 1 (41m 59s): He said, Timothy, I think God for you for God that the God I serve Timothy. I thank God for you. The God I serve with a clear conscience just as my ancestors did night and day. I constantly excuse me. I didn't day. I constantly remember you in my prayers. I longed to see you again for, I remember your tears as we parted and I will be filled with joy when we are together. Again, that's that family relationship that we're talking about. But before that, we got to that. 2 (42m 31s): Paul talks about his clear conscience. 1 (42m 35s): I mean, outcome Paul have a clear conscience after all. I mean, before Christ, he was a persecutor of the church. He was going after believers in the way followers of the way he was going after Christians persecuting and killing Christians. I mean, how can a guy like that to have a clear conscience? 2 (42m 57s): I mean, 1 (42m 57s): Shouldn't, shouldn't he carry that burden all the days of his life. Shouldn't be, I mean, he was a horrible man and abusive man, a terrible person. You fought against Christ. So shouldn't you carry that burden all the days of his life and Christ of course not in Christ. Of course not in Christ. That's 2 (43m 22s): Never the expectation. Remember grace, mercy and peace. Remember 1 (43m 28s): Your before Christ days? I remember my BC days. What about after becoming a believer? Did Paul do everything perfectly? I mean, how can he have a clear conscience after all? Was he a perfect man again, 2 (43m 45s): Of course, knots. 1 (43m 47s): Did he ever make a mistake or commit a sin? Of course he did. Let's read about, Paul's struggle with sin in Romans seven 14 through 25. 2 (43m 58s): I'm always perplexed by this passage, by the way, 3 (44m 1s): Maybe you are as well, or maybe you've got a better handle on it than I do. That's very possible. 1 (44m 5s): Romans seven, 14 through 25 says, so the trouble is not with a law for it is spiritual and good. That trouble is with me for I'm all to humanist slave to sin. I don't really understand myself. I'm saying that in the text is saying that I don't really understand myself where I want to do what is right, but I don't do it instead. I do. I hate, but if I know that what I am doing is wrong, shows that I agree that the law is good. Good. 1 (44m 47s): I am not the one doing wrong. It's sin living in me that does it. I don't think Paul's not taking responsibility. Just saying there's there are, there's a war within a war within that causes me to do the things that I don't want to do. I want to do what's right. But I can't, 2 (45m 12s): I'm battling constant, certainly the corruption within 1 (45m 19s): The one doing wrong. It's it, doesn't it feel like a separate entity within you? Like when you're feeling tempted and you just, can't not sin, you just feel like there's something internally that's dragging you against your own will. 2 (45m 35s): There's that 1 (45m 36s): Spiritual battle within us, that Paul is describing here. 2 (45m 42s): It's sin 1 (45m 44s): Living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in me that apart from the spirit of God, that is in my sinful nature, 2 (45m 53s): I want to do what is right. But I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't, 1 (46m 1s): I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. I'm really grateful for this taxed. It, it makes the gospel 2 (46m 18s): Attainable. Doesn't make it so out of reach because we, 1 (46m 26s): In a daily bat, we are in a daily battle against sin, the world, the flesh and the devils bombarding us. I want to do what is good, but I don't, I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if, if I do, I don't want to do, I'm not really the one doing it, doing wrong. It is sin living in me. Yeah, it does. It. We'll have to ask Paul to expand on this. Read, read a couple of commentaries that were not helpful. I don't know that anybody knows what to do with this text. 2 (47m 1s): Paul will explain it. When we get there. One day, I have discovered 1 (47m 5s): This principle of life that when I want to do what is right, 2 (47m 9s): I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my hearts. Most 1 (47m 14s): Of us would say the same thing. I love God. I love his law with all my heart. Somehow I keep doing the wrong thing, but there's another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that still within 2 (47m 30s): Me. Oh, what a miserable person I am, 1 (47m 37s): Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin. And thank God we haven't answers Christ. Jesus, thank God. The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is in my mind. I really want to obey God's law. But because of my sinful nature, I'm a slave to sin. Thank God for his grace 2 (47m 59s): And his mercy. 1 (48m 1s): It's through this grace and mercy that we can have peace and a clear conscience with God. 2 (48m 8s): We beat ourselves 1 (48m 9s): Up. And maybe to some point, we need to pay attention to what we're doing and not give ourselves permission to send, not using the grace of God as an excuse to sin. But at the same time, recognizing that we've got this battle within us and some days we're just gonna Dumble and allow the grace of God, the mercy of God to get. We were talking about this in our journey group. Friday morning at 6:00 AM were just talking about sin and temptation. And someone reminded me. I think it was Jim Pennington reminded me. He said, God knew all of that stuff was gonna happen before it happened, right? Because he's not he's outside of time. Right? So it's like he sees the parade of life from the beginning 2 (48m 53s): To the end. He sees everything that happens in between the lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world. Meaning it was the plan because we would need it. 1 (49m 8s): God's grace and mercy through Jesus Christ gave Pauly clear conscience and 2 (49m 13s): Peace. So if you're wrestling with condemnation, a muddled conscience, relax, repents, give it to Jesus and rest in that grace and mercy and experiences. Peace. You can have a clear 1 (49m 31s): Conscience. You can have a clear conscience. 2 (49m 35s): You be say, well, you 1 (49m 37s): Don't know what I've done. Paul called himself the chief of sinners because he had done some pretty gnarly 2 (49m 45s): Stuff. 1 (49m 47s): God's grace is sufficient. So just let it go. 2 (49m 50s): Let it go. Let it go. And 1 (49m 53s): When the enemy reminds you of it again, 2 (49m 56s): Let it go say it's under the grace and mercy of the Lord. Jesus Christ 1 (50m 4s): Take every thought captive until the obedience of Christ. So our thoughts are going to bombard us. Wow. What 2 (50m 10s): About that? Or you shouldn't have done that. I use it's all his stuff he's promised at clear conscience. 1 (50m 19s): And then he's verse number four. He's promised a life of faith. I remember your genuine faith. Paul writes verse five for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother, Lois, and your mother Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. So it appears that Paul is commending his salvation, that he acquired by faith, but also his life that he lives by faith is trusting in God. Paul is recognizing that Timothy saved by Grayson is or saved by faith in the finished work of Christ, but it was also living out a faith life. 1 (50m 59s): So again, as Christians, we're saved by grace through faith, and then we live out our lives by faith. That that is the only way that God has called us to live our lives. As followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We receive the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. So it's the gateway into life with Christ, his faith in the finished work of Christ. That's the gateway. And then we don't just stop there and stop exercising. Our faith. It's actually introductory it's faith. One-on-one that gets us in by God's grace. And then we live our lives by faith 2 (51m 37s): For the rest of our lives, Hebrews 1 (51m 40s): 11 one. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. So faith is the substance. It's the raw material. It's the ingredients, right? That's what faith is. It's the raw material. The ingredients of things, hope for the evidence of things not seen. So were it wouldn't be faith. If we could see it, right? It wouldn't be faith. If we could see it, we can't actually see it. Oh God, we, we he's invisible. And so we have faith in him. Faith is the raw material. It's the evidence faith, because what is required to be follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, Hebrews 11, six says, but without faith, it's impossible to please him. 1 (52m 25s): God, for he who comes to God must believe that he is, that he exists. And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So we're saved as we put our faith in Christ and that saving faith begins a new life of faith in Jesus Christ. So what we're talking about is not just fire insurance. Like you get, you know, like life insurance, you pay for it, and then you, you have it. It's no, you it's a life that God is ushering us into where we're actually called to live differently as a result of our new faith life. And so with that, how has your life changed as a result of your faith experience in faith, walk with God, 2 (53m 8s): How has your life changed? 1 (53m 9s): Does that change? Does your faith change the way you think is it changed the way you live? Does it change the way you believe? Does it change the way you speak and think and all of those things, which change that? And I think it needs to be tangible. I think we need to be able to say this changed. I actually live my life differently in this arena because of my faith. If I heard a quote this week, bye, a guy that I'm surprised. And, and I even questioned whether it actually came from him, but mark, Walberg made this quote. He said, God never gives you a dream that matches your budget. 1 (53m 54s): He's not checking your bank account. He's checking your faith 2 (53m 59s): And then interesting. Okay. God 1 (54m 1s): Never gives you a dream. Whether he wrote it or not. 2 (54m 3s): It's true. Whether he said it or not, it's true. God 1 (54m 7s): Never gives us a dream that matches our budget. He's not checking your bank account. 2 (54m 12s): He's checking your faith. God 1 (54m 16s): Is always going to be calling us into a life of faith. He just always just the way he works. So he's going to be putting us into circumstances and situations where we are above our capacity, where the job required is required, requires more of us than we actually naturally have. He's going to put us in certain circumstances where we have to give in ways that we never thought imagined recently this week, somebody gave me a letter written by Rick or Rick Warren. I don't know what you think about Rick Warren, but doesn't matter. He, this is what, this is his story. Rick Warren, pastor Saddleback church, down in Southern California and years ago, years ago, when they were getting ready to build their new building, he was praying. 1 (55m 2s): He said, he's basically said what? I always say, praying, be obedient. Do what you Lord's asking you to do. So he prayed and he felt like the Lord was asking him to give a hundred thousand dollars over a three-year period. 2 (55m 17s): Well, it 1 (55m 17s): Was an impossible ask from the Lord. He didn't have that kind of money in that season of his life. But the Lord asked him to give a hundred thousand dollars over a three-year period. And he felt compelled to tell the church. He said, I don't know how, 2 (55m 35s): But 1 (55m 36s): This is what I'm going to commit to by faith. The very next week, he gets a call from, I think the publisher was Zondervan and they said, Hey, we'd like you to write the book, purpose driven life. And we're going to give you $150,000 advance to write the book. And so he came to church the following week and said, you remember what I said last week? I said, I don't have the money. I just got this book deal. And now I'm going to be able to do it. This is, this is how God operates. So he, he didn't have the resource before he committed to giving what the Lord had asked him to give. But he knew by faith that the Lord was asking him to give, where is it in your life that the Lord is asking you to do something that you don't have the resource for or the talent for, or ability for, or the time for what is God asking you to do that? 1 (56m 28s): You're saying no to, because in the natural, you don't see where the resources coming from. Time, talent, treasure. I don't have enough time to do that. Lord. I don't have enough wisdom to do that. Lord. I don't have the training to do that. The education to do that, Lord, what, how is this possible? But the Lord has planted a dream in your life. He's planted something within you that requires faith. And if you don't step into it, you'll never realize the fulfillment of that dream. The people of Israel coming out of Egypt, we've talked about these stories all the time, what they had to get Pharaoh in the chicken, his chariot and soldiers there, they're pursuing 2 (57m 15s): Israel. And they're up against the what? The red sea, right? And 1 (57m 20s): Said, God, what do we do? What did God say? He said, get moving. Right? You got to step into the red sea and see what I will do. But if you don't step into the red sea, you'll never see what I can do. So after they get through the red sea and they're in their wilderness, they're in there for 40 years because of their lack of faith, a whole generation had to die off. Now they got to go into the promised land and where do they have to cross there? Right? So what is happening in the Jordan? They need to pass through the Jordan to get to the promised land, but nothing would happen until they stepped into the Jordan. 1 (58m 3s): And then when the Jew, they stepped into it, the water began to back up and they pass through on dry ground again, 2 (58m 10s): Where what's 1 (58m 11s): Your red sea? What's your Jordan river? What do you need to step into? In order we experience the supernatural plan that God has for you. This is just the way this is the faith life. It's just, if you want to do anything for God, it's going to be done by faith. Faith requires commitment. Faith requires commitment before the miracle is do with that. What you will do with that, what you will back to Timothy. Second Timothy, one six. Do with that. What you will, is that really what I want 2 (58m 50s): To say there? Yeah, I'll leave it there 1 (58m 55s): Back to second Timothy, one six. This is why I remind you to fan into flames. The spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. So essentially saying the same thing. You've been received something by faith. Now, fan that into flames, fan it. And what does it, have you ever been camping? We've all been camping. Well, Moses has been camping, right? And your, your fire goes down and it's just a little of cold, just like a little bit of hot coals, right? What do you got to do to breathe that, breathe life back into that fire. You gotta get down there and breathe on it. 2 (59m 32s): Nicole's began to get red and there's some smoke that begins and then boom, a little flame pops up. 1 (59m 40s): And then what do you do after you fan that flame? Now you start feeding it, right? And then as soon you've got this big blazing fire, but the blazing fire is not going to last forever. You got to keep feeding it. And when it dies down and you gotta breathe into it, breathe life back into it. So Paul is telling Timothy to do it reminds you to fan into flames, your spiritual gift. God gave you. When I laid my hands on you forgot has not given us a spirit, fear and timidity, but of power love. And self-discipline number five. What has God promised? He has promised power over fear. 1 (1h 0m 22s): Timothy was, yeah. Obviously deer dealing with some kind of fear or else Paul wouldn't have written about fear 2 (1h 0m 29s): Forgot. It's not 1 (1h 0m 30s): Given us a spirit of fear and timidity, Timothy, but of power love. And self-discipline 2 (1h 0m 38s): Where do we get 1 (1h 0m 38s): The power to overcome fear? I mean, if this is promised to us, if God has promised power over fear, where do we get 2 (1h 0m 45s): It? Well, we get 1 (1h 0m 48s): This power over fear by believing in who we are in Christ. Paul saying fan into the flame, into flame, the spiritual gift. You have been gifted Timothy, but it's not going to just happen. You've gotta, you gotta fan it. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta step into it. You gotta live it. 2 (1h 1m 11s): Believe who you 1 (1h 1m 12s): Are in Christ. You've been blessed with spiritual gifts to be used. Every believer in the scripture, it says, has been given a spiritual gift to be used for the building up of the body of Christ, the edification of the body of Christ. So what's your spiritual gift that you need to flame our fan into flames. Maybe it's hospitality, 2 (1h 1m 32s): Maybe it's generosity. Maybe it's teaching. Maybe it's shepherding you name it. There's a whole host of them. 1 (1h 1m 44s): This God wanting you to fan in to flames. You're you're fearful. Well, maybe about doing it. Well, we're all fearful about stepping into God's supernatural plans. 2 (1h 1m 54s): It's just natural to be fearful, but 1 (1h 1m 58s): Natural doesn't mean it's right to stop and never step into it. Then fear is natural fears. 2 (1h 2m 8s): Fear is just natural. It's it's, it's just, 1 (1h 2m 13s): You know, we get into this new building next door, we signed a five-year lease. 2 (1h 2m 18s): And then I, 1 (1h 2m 18s): The way I up the next day, I'm like, what do we just do? I know we're supposed to do that, but now what do we do? 2 (1h 2m 27s): You know, we plant a church and 1 (1h 2m 29s): Nobody shows up and what do we do? 2 (1h 2m 32s): Very few people show up. You know, we, we 1 (1h 2m 35s): Hire staff and the money's not there. Everything that God has asked us to do in the course of these 18 years, as a church plant has been a faith journey because we didn't have the people, money, resources, gift talent. I had never done it before. I never preached weekly on a Sunday morning. I, I just, I'd been an associate pastor. I've been at church chaplain jail chaplain. That was the extent of my, but God said, go plant the church. 2 (1h 3m 3s): I said, okay, we'll go plant a church. What, what 1 (1h 3m 7s): Are you doing? Planting a church. You have no idea how to plant a church. I don't know what I'm doing, but God told me to go plant a church. I still don't know what I'm doing, but we're still moving forward. I've been blessed with spiritual gifts to be used. If you don't use them, they will never develop and produce the kind of fruit God intended them to produce. Use fanning. The flames means don't let the fire go out. 2 (1h 3m 39s): Don't let your fire burn out. Believe 1 (1h 3m 42s): What God has done in you and go for it for God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power love. And self-discipline. This is what I wrote. You will have power. You will have power over fear when you choose to believe God's plan and purpose and gifting for your life and walk in it. In spite of opposites, 2 (1h 4m 5s): Power over fear, power over fear. Believe, 1 (1h 4m 9s): Believe God's plan, purpose, and gifting in your life 2 (1h 4m 14s): And walk in it. In spite of opposition, there's always going to be opposition. There's always 1 (1h 4m 21s): Going to be opposition. People told me 2 (1h 4m 24s): When we planted the church, we don't need any more churches. Please don't plant another church. All right. 1 (1h 4m 33s): People told me you don't have the stamina. You will never make it as, as a pastor of a church. You just don't have it. So you it's not in you. All right. Opposition is natural because the enemy knows. He's got a pretty good sense about what God wants to 3 (1h 4m 56s): Do with us. And so he's going to do everything he can to throw away on that. 1 (1h 5m 0s): Where's he throwing water. And where are you letting him throw water on? You're on God's plan for your life. 2 (1h 5m 8s): If you're, we are 1 (1h 5m 10s): Full and timid about what God has called you to do, 2 (1h 5m 14s): Just stop and decide to move forward and watch what God will do. 1 (1h 5m 24s): What has God promised through faith in Christ? He's promised a new kind of spiritual family. So you're not in, you're not in it alone. You're in it together. We're all in this together. He's promised grace, mercy and 2 (1h 5m 35s): Peace. 1 (1h 5m 37s): He has promised a clear conscience life, a life of faith and tower over fear with that. We're going to take communion. I mean, by the worship team to come forward, hopefully you received your communion elements. If you did not raise your hand and we will get you communion elements. 2 (1h 5m 57s): And yeah, 1 (1h 6m 2s): Communion is just an opportunity to remember what Jesus has done for us. Extending grace and mercy and peace to us. And maybe today as you take communion, as we take communion, maybe today is the day where you say God I'm to, I'm not going to be fearful or timid any longer. I'm going to do what you've asked me to do by faith. And I'm going to conquer my fear with the power of God. Okay? Everybody knows how to open these things. Two layers of cellophane, the first layer on wraps, the, 3 (1h 6m 44s): The wafer we, we like to call it styrofoam. It's pretty accurate. But if you get, if you work up some saliva first, before you put it in, then 2 (1h 6m 56s): It'll help. It'll help. Just a little 1 (1h 7m 1s): Experience there for I pass 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 to then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me. 3 (1h 7m 17s): Let's go ahead and take the wafer. Oh, we're so thankful, Lord. We're so thankful that you allowed your body to be crucified pierced on that cross for my sin Lord for our sin. We're so, so eternally grateful, so forever grateful. And so Lord, on this family, Sunday, as we do every family, Sunday, we stop Lord. And we say, thank you. We refresh our minds in the truth of what it costs for our salvation. 3 (1h 7m 60s): And we say with great gratitude, thank you so much. Jesus. Thank you so much, Jesus. 1 (1h 8m 8s): In the same way, he took the cup of wine. After supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his and agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes 3 (1h 8m 29s): Again. Let's take the Jews. Thank you, Lord. We, we, we announced your death. Lord. We announced your victory over sin and death. We announced the gospel that it is 1 (1h 8m 55s): True and rights and we believe it today. Like we've 3 (1h 8m 58s): Always believed at Lord and I pray that you would convince people of the gospel in Jesus name, God, that you would convince people of the truth of the gospel and that each of us would believe that the truth of the gospel is for us. The grace, mercy and peace is for us eternal life and salvation is for us. We thank you, Lord. That'd be glorified as we continue to worship in song. Thank you for this time. We love you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 0 (1h 9m 30s): father. 0 (1h 13m 32s): We love you and praise you. We are your children. We are your Kindle. We thank you for the honor is that we get to be in your presence. When we get to worship you, we love you. Maybe go out with a stay with heads, held high and the smiles on our faces because you are so good in your most precious name. We pray. Amen.

Guard What God Has Entrusted to You

0 (1s): Would you stand with us? Why don't we pray as we begin, Lord, we just look to you this morning to the author and perfecter of our faith. God, we just pray that you would meet us in this space. As we've gathered here to worship you this morning, that you would just dwell in each heart, that you would comfort every soul that you would heal every body in need of healing and Lord that you would rescue, redeem and restore. Would you lead us beside those still waters? 0 (41s): Again today we all stand just an equal footing in need of a savior today. So we thank you for your great love for us. Thank you that we don't have to be afraid in this chaotic world that we can be at peace in your presence this morning. So we walk without fear. Lord, we look to you this morning for everything that we need in Jesus name. Amen. In June my head like, gosh, you . 0 (10m 48s): He is Jesus Tonga. 0 (11m 6s): my God. 0 (15m 12s): Jesus. Jesus. Thank you, Lord. 1 (15m 49s): Thank you that you have conquered the grave. You've given us new life, new hope, peace and joy, new confidence in you. Lord, you have done so many things and continue to do so many things and we're so grateful. We're grateful God that you're a good father, that you are liable. Your, your love for us is unconditional. You were faithful. 1 (16m 29s): You're kind and good. God. Did you have healthy expectations for us? Thank you that you call us your sons and your daughters. You have adopted a sincere family. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God. I pray that you would just bless every father gathered today and thank you for the work of fathers in our families and our culture and our church. 1 (17m 12s): Thank you God, for the way that they faithfully lead their families, Lord, and thank you for the role of fathers within the church, within the family Lord, you've given us profound opportunity and profound responsibility, and then you give us the grace to do what you ask us to do. And you strengthen us for the good work ahead, Lord. We're so thankful, Lord God, we honor dads today. I thank you for my dad. Bless each dad. And for those who have lost their fathers, Lord, we just pray for comforting peace upon each person today, for those who have a difficult relationship with their fathers, Lord, that you would minister God where there needs to be grace extended and forgiveness, extended Lord, where there needs to be reconciliation. 1 (18m 9s): Pray that that would happen. Also, Lord God, that you would work to bring reconciliation and restored relationship. Jesus, thank you God that you're always at work and it's never too late. You're you're available to do the good work that is needed in our lives. Reconciliation. We're bringing reconciliation and hope and joy and peace and Lord, as we've gathered for church today, we thank you Lord, that we've had the opportunity to sing and that we're praying and that we've got the opportunity to open up the word and, and that we're going to laugh some today. Lord, there's just a lot going on Lord. We're so thankful Lord. And so as we have gathered this father's day be glorified. 1 (18m 53s): As we saying, as we've been singing Lord, as we open up your word, be glorified. We pray in Jesus' name. Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. You can be seated 2 (19m 3s): Happy father's day. 3 (19m 5s): How many dads are in the room? How many dads were in the room? Raise your hand. Right? How many dads? Four or five. There's gotta be more than one. Ray. Real real. There we go. There we go. Good. Good. Good. Thanks for all you guys do. Thank you for being dads in this critical culture that we live in. Thanks for being good dads. We have it. Typically I opened, opened my sermon with some kind of a joke and I say some kind of a joke because sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're not so funny, but today we have, we have dad jokes for you. So let's go ahead and roll the video here. Pay attention. That's going to be, I think it's going to be funny. So let's see what let's let's find out here, 4 (19m 49s): Curtis. Yeah. What do you call a fake noodle? Good. Tell you it in pasta. You got to say that with that Boston accent pass. Tim, do I enjoy making courthouse? Punts guilty? Do you ever get cold? Just stand in the corner. 4 (20m 29s): They're usually 90 degrees. Wow. What did the drummer call his twin daughters. Did you hear about the kidnapping at school? It's fine. You woke up that one could have gotten dark fast. I ordered a chicken and an egg online. 4 (21m 9s): I'll let you know what came first. The chicken, which one comes in first. I'll let you I'll let you know. Okay, good. No one came a little late average, average joke. I don't know. I once wrote a song about a tortilla, but it's more of a wrap. Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy. Why can't you ever run through a campsite? 4 (21m 56s): You can only ran. It's always pest ticks. Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon? No. Great food. No atmosphere. Dad jokes. Number one. What do sprinters eat before a race? Nada. Nothing. They fast? Alright. I thought about going on an all almond diet, but that's just nuts. 4 (22m 43s): Why are balloons so expensive? Inflation? What does the noisy pepper do? It gets jalapeno business. The older crowd. They're like, yeah. I used to run a dating service for chickens, but I was struggling to make ends meet spring is here. 4 (23m 37s): Is that the joke? 0 (23m 55s): I got so excited to wet my pants. 4 (24m 10s): I got so excited. It wasn't pants. All right, here we go. You're American. When you go into a bathroom and when you come out book, what are you while you're in the bathroom? You're being 3 (24m 43s): So that's enough jokes to last the rest of the year. 2 (24m 46s): So I have got to get a job. 3 (24m 53s): This is my job. This isn't this great. Isn't this great. Oh, we should pray after that Lord, as we know, as we get into the word, Lord, your will be done. Speak to us. Thank you so much for the ability to laugh. Laughter is good medicine. As we get into first Timothy chapter six today, as we wrap up first, Timothy chapter six, you just pray that you would speak to us. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Amen. How is everyone? Good. Good, good. Hey, we've just a quick update on 1 0 2. We're going to refer to our new worship center 1 0 2 until we actually get in there maybe, but our new worship center building 1 0 2 west branches coming along. 3 (25m 35s): And what I failed to do last week is show this, these pictures, both services. So let's go ahead and show the pictures up so everybody can see what, so that's the exterior of 1 0 2. It's just a minutes. Walk, not even a minute. It's on the sidewalk here. It's about 45 seconds walk and, and that's kind of what it's going to look like, except for that we're changing the exterior colors, but we took off those canopies over those other windows and the exterior color is going to be basically whites with black trim and it's going to really, really look good. So Dan Hennessy put these pictures together for us. Let's look at the next shot here. This is the inside. 3 (26m 15s): This is what it's going to look like. And so far we've got the stage, the stage being worked on the, the sound booth, framed the couple one partition wall framed. We're making progress a few weeks. We're going to have air conditioning done. We've got plans for plumbing, electrical, all kinds of stuff going on there. So I just want to thank Dan for putting that together. So many people have already been a part of the project beginning with our Workday. You guys remember the work day where we had like 40 or 50 show up to do the demo. We took out, I think eight dump trailers full of stuff on that day. That was about three weeks ago or so. And then this last week we took out two more dump trailers, full of junk out of that place. 3 (26m 55s): There's just so much stuff. So many people have been involved. Jerry Shaw, it has helped with design as well for the, for the building inside and out, been very helpful. MW architects, Wayne and Derek. They're donating a lot of their time and a lot of their effort to get our, our plans drawn that we've got lands that are just about completed, just about ready to be submitted to the city. And then the city will be taking about two weeks to get our building permits. But in the meantime they said, you can keep working and just leave things open so that we can inspect everything. So de Bedford's been in there framing up everything and yeah, Perry's been doing all kinds of stuff. 3 (27m 36s): My brother Larry's been working on painting for us. He did the painting on the parsonage up the, up the driveway, just this last week, Jim Owens in charge of the electrical work he's been doing that Aaron looters is in charge of the technical side of things. We've got a guy Sean D blue, who comes around to do cleanup, anytime that we need him to do cleanup. And it's just been, it's been really, really good to see just the body of Christ come together. And, and so I sent out a letter this week just to kind of let everybody know kind of where we are. So if you didn't get a letter, get, make sure you get your email to address to us through a communication card. You can do that online or through paper communication cards. And we will get that letter to you just say this, give us your email address and then say, Hey, I'd like to have the letter that pastor Steve sent out. 3 (28m 21s): So then we'll get that letter to you. So anyway, that's the update we're hoping to be in sometime fall. My wife said, don't give a hard date and I know that's wise, but so I'm going to say fall in September, October, hopefully around there, we'll be in there. 2 (28m 37s): Step up. 3 (28m 38s): I know we're Jeremy thinks we'll be in, I think September 19. So he's, he's the man of faith in our staff. So we're going to say September 19th, let's hold Jeremy to that. All right. September 19th. Okay. So we're in first Timothy chapter six, this week, sermon title guard, what God has entrusted to you. This was actually what Paul told Timothy in this letter. As he wraps up these six chapters, Paul told Timothy guard what God has entrusted to you. So that is the title of our message today. That's what we're going to be challenged with today to literally guard what God has entrusted to us. So what does that mean? If you're in Christ, then God has given you a new beginning. He's given you new life and purpose and understanding and hope all of these new things are yours in Christ Jesus, but they've got to be held onto you. 3 (29m 29s): Guarded protected. He's given us Grace Love kindness and mercy and these things we need to in our culture, especially in down throughout, not just our culture, not just the Western culture and the 21st century, but down throughout history. I mean, beginning of the first century here where people were challenged to guard this incredible gift, this incredible revelation, this incredible truth that God has given to us. And so these amazing gifts that God has given, they, they need to be guarded. Otherwise we can tend to forget what God has done for us. 3 (30m 10s): Maybe we've been in the faith for many decades and we can continue. We can, you know, forget, we can kind of forget what God has done. We can forget the mercy that he is given to us, the grace that was so desperately needed. And we can forget that he just loves us every day, that he's kind to us every day. He's merciful to us every single day. So we need to guard our perspective about those things and then guard our faith around those things. They need to be guarded and guard what God has entrusted to you. How do we do this? Number one. And we're going to pull these seven points right from the text this morning, the first point. And we talked a little about a little bit about this last week, but don't let money distract you. 3 (30m 53s): Number one, don't let money distract you, guarding what God has entrusted to you. That a lot of the pitfalls around the brown faith is money. It sets it's finance. And so number one, Paul's very clear. It's a Timothy about money. And he said, and he basically saying, Hey, don't let money distract you, Timothy. And as you lead others, challenge them not to let money distract them. So again, we covered these first few verses last week, but for the sake of context, we're going to read them again. So first Timothy chapter six verse six says yet true, true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. 3 (31m 37s): So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be intense. Find contentment to be one of the biggest gifts, the greatest gifts that God gives us the capacity to walk in. When we figure out how to be content with whatever it is that God has given to us. There's just a great deal of joy that follows that we eliminate the striving. We eliminate the anxiety. We eliminate the, the, the temptation to overwork and to try to make more and get more. 3 (32m 18s): There's something that happens in our souls, in our lives. And I think it happens. There's a, there's a resting in our minds as a resting in our hearts. There's a resting in our lives and we by God's grace make the decision to be consents. Lord help us to be consented. I think we live in a culture where we're always going after more. We're always trying to get, trying to move forward. And, and there's something to be said for just resting in the Lord last week, we said, we must honor God with our ability to be content taking things a step further this week. I believe this verse is telling us that great wealth, real wealth is defined by godliness and contentment. 3 (33m 0s): Meaning we can have everything in the world, all the stuff in the world and still be feeling empty real world in the kingdom of God and in the world is godliness with contentment. If we try to stuff, anything else in that whole called godliness and contentment, and we try to stuff, anything else in that it's going to leave us lacking and lead it, leave us wanting more. It's not a bad thing to have some resources, but it's how we think about those resources that can get us into trouble. So it's okay to have some resource. 3 (33m 41s): I encourage you to have some resource, but how we think about those resources, we'll, we'll kind of direct the course of our life. Sometimes we think a little bit more and I will be okay if I just have a little bit more, I will be okay. Or sometimes we have this perspective that says I'm secure because I have enough. Our security can never be okay. And the stuff that we have as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, our security needs to be in the person and the finished work of Jesus Christ. If our focus is on resource, then we have a fear around losing those resources and that fear around resources about keeping those resources keeps us from being generous. 3 (34m 30s): We want to hold on to it because after all we've worked so hard to acquire and accumulate resource. Now we have to be careful and we're fearful about losing them. And so we, we fail to be generous when the Lord asks us to be generous, fear around resources makes those resources a person's God, right? Proverbs 23. There's no slide for this, but Proverbs 23, 4 and five says, don't wear yourself out, trying to get rich. Be wise enough to know when to quit and that good wisdom in the blink of an eye wealth disappears for it will sprout wings and fly away like an Eagle off the top of my head. 3 (35m 12s): I can think of two people, two friends of mine who have lost a great deal, a great deal of resource in their life. One guy through a bad investment, through one bad investment, lost his whole life savings, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in one bad move in with an investment. He lost everything that he had acquired. And he had acquired quite a bit at that stage in his life. He was only in his forties, but he had lost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. But because he chose not to be not to be worn out by that, I mean, it was hard and it was difficult and that sort of thing, but he, the guy turned his eyes on the Lord and say, okay, God, where do we go from here? 3 (35m 60s): How do we move forward from here? And over the last 20 years, he's been able to rebuild. And, and in my perspective, my I've known this guy for decades, probably for decades. In my perspective, this guy is more grounded and more godly and has a better perspective on wealth. And he's ever had is when you lose it all and have to rebuild it reestablishes. Hopefully if you're your faith in God and his ability to, to sustain you, it changes your perspective about those things, because you know how quickly wealth can disappear. It just changes everything about your perspective. Another guy, a friend of a friend of mine lost literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, upwards of a million dollars in one bad business transaction. 3 (36m 49s): So the first guy lost his money to a bad investment. The second guy lost his money in a bad business deal. And I'm like the first guy, the second guy chose to just focus on the Lord and just believe that God was going to is going to take care of them. And that's exactly what happened. It's interesting when bad things happen to good people, because at times, bad things happen to good people. What we do with that experience tells something about us. These two men decided not to give up on God, not to give up on, on their dreams and ambitions, but to just move forward with a different perspective. 3 (37m 34s): And they, they both have grown tremendously in their ability to trust the Lord through their experiences. They both recovered just fine because their confidence was in Fry's back to first Timothy chapter six, but people who long to be rich, fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. People long to be rich, fall into all kinds of traps. Workaholism is a temptation for people in the Western culture. If we just work a little bit more, a little bit harder. If I work on the Sabbath, if I work on Sunday, if I just work, keep working, then I will be able to acquire what I need to acquire. 3 (38m 20s): So workaholism is one temptation when people long for wealth materialism is, is, is the result of workaholism and the desire to be rich. We live in a culture where workaholism and is rampant. And so we just have to fight against it. We just have to fight against it. Verse 10 says for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. So not money itself, but the love of money, right? The love of money. And some people craving money have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows, the, of Nam and the got of money as a harsh task master. 3 (39m 4s): If we're living our lives for money for ma'am and the Bible says, you can't serve God and money, you can't serve God and mammon. If we're living our lives for money, doing everything we can to acquire money, we're going to realize eventually that mammon money is a harsh taskmaster with very little reward and it doesn't doesn't last and it doesn't bring any kind of real peace or joy. We'll have a lot. They're fearful. They're going to lose it when they have little they're fearful, fearful. They're not going to have enough, but when God is the focus, when we do what the scripture says, seek first, the kingdom of God and his rights is this. 3 (39m 46s): Everything else will be added unto us. When we trust God and believe him, we can relax. And just trust that God's got our best interest in mind. So God, what God has entrusted to you. Number one, don't let money distract you. Number two, remember who you are in a crazy world that we live in. It's it's easy to forget who we are. Who are you? Paul told Timothy, but you Timothy are a man of God. How many of us would say, I'm a woman of God. I'm a man of God. How many would I identify themselves that way? Right, right. We can, we can say, I'm a man of God. I'm a woman of God. But are we really living, believing that that's our identity. 3 (40m 26s): I living like Paul told Timothy to live live like LIS lived this way because you Timothy are a man of God. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we are men and women of God. That means if we're in Christ, our sins have been forgiven. We've been adopted into his family. We actually belong to the living God. So we need to remember who we are. And then also remember whose we are. If you're in Christ, you're a man or woman of God. You belong to God. Remember who you are and then live out of that identity. It's easy. You're to say on Sunday morning, Hey, I'm a man of God. I'm a woman of God. But you live out of that identity and allow that identity to dictate how you live your life. 3 (41m 11s): That's a wholly different wholly, totally different scenario. In story, we need to allow the ID, our identity as men and women of God to shape our life and our decisions. So Paul was reminding Timothy of his identity so that he would avoid the pitfalls of life. If we ID our debt, if we are identifying ourselves as people of the world that going to live like people of the world. But if we identify ourselves as people of God, that we're going to live, like God would direct us to live. So allow that identity as a matter of woman of God, to shape your life and decisions. If you're here today, and you're saying, I'm not a man of God, or I'm not a woman of God, maybe to one of two things needs to happen. Number one, maybe you don't know Jesus at all. 3 (41m 53s): Maybe you haven't had your sins forgiven. Maybe you haven't been adopted into the family of God. If you want to be considered a man or a woman of God, if you want to be God's kid God's child, then just simply invite the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ into your life and say, Lord, I need you. I want you. I want that to be my identity. I want you to be a man of God. I wants to be a woman of God or maybe you're saved, but you're just not identifying. You're not thinking of yourself in the right terms, in the right context. You're not thinking I am a man of God. I am a woman of God. And so that actually changes the way that I speak. It changes the way that I think it changes the way that I make decisions and the way that I live my life. 3 (42m 36s): Why? Because it's not an arrogant thing to say, I'm a man of God. You're just stating the obvious. If you are in Christ, then you are a man. You are a woman of God. So don't think that that's an arrogant statement. You're just saying, Hey, it's like saying, it's like me saying, Hey, I'm, I'm the, I'm the son of my father. I mean, it just stating the obvious. So I'm my dad's kid. You know, I'm stating the obvious. So if you're in Christ, you're just stating the obvious. It's not an arrogant thing. And it never should be an arrogant thing because we're saved by grace because he's good. Not because we're good. Paul is reminding Timothy of his, of his identity so that he would avoid the pitfalls of this life, greediness and worldly things so that he might pursue righteousness. 3 (43m 18s): What does it mean to pursue righteousness guard? What God has entrusted to you? Number three, run from evil. By pursuing righteousness, run from evil, by pursuing righteousness. Righteousness is simply things that are right in God's sight, things that are right according to the word of God and things that are right according to the spirit of God and God never contradicts himself. So if we open up the word of God and live our lives, according to the word of God, then we're pursuing righteousness. Because those things that we're pursuing our rights in God's sight. I wonder if in our lives, we're pursuing the wrong things. 3 (44m 2s): And we don't even realize that we're pursuing the wrong things because we haven't opened up the word and allowed the word of God, the Bible to shape our perspective. Verse 11 continues so run from all these evil things, Timothy pursue righteousness and a godly life along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. So righteousness is a pursuit. It's something that we have to be intentional about. We don't just wake up and pursue. We wake up with the wrong perspective some days and we're we're grumpy or we've had a bad dream or whatever. We have to set our mind, fix our thoughts on the right stuff and begin to pursue rights as this out of the gate every morning. 3 (44m 47s): So run for all these evil things. How many know that we have to run? Paul said, fleet youthful, lusts. We, we have we're in a culture. That's bombarding us with temptations. You know, the world, the flesh and the devil is pumped bombarded with temptation. So we have to run from these evil things, pursuing righteousness. So we have a responsibility and action to take pursue righteousness in a godly life. Along with faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Remember first Timothy one 19 through 20. There's no slide for this, but it says, as we back up in first Timothy one, he says clean to your faith in Christ and keep your conscience clear for some people have deliberately violated. 3 (45m 29s): Their conscience is as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. And then Paul gives a couple of examples. and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out. Paul said, I threw them out and handed them over to Satan. So they might learn not to bless FIM God. So from the first century to the 21st century, we have this responsibility to run from evil and pursue righteousness. And it will be like that until Jesus returns. We're going to have to have this perspective. Maybe, you know, someone who has shipwrecked their faith. If you just look at the decisions that were made along the way, you can see how it was easy for that person to shipwreck their faith, because they weren't pursuing a righteousness. 3 (46m 13s): They were wrapped up and enveloped in the world. Maybe you've been there. Maybe you're there. Now you feel like man, I've shipwrecked my faith by my decisions. You know, the good thing about the gospel is that the Bible says that his mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we can come back into a right relationship with God. All right, faith with God. Re-establish our walk with the Lord by simply confessing our sins and the deciding to do these things, deciding to run from evil, by pursuing righteousness. What evil do you need to run from? 3 (46m 57s): What righteousness do you need to pursue? What area of in your life do you need to run from evil and pursue righteousness? Usually it's not your whole life, right? It's like a lot of good going on, but then there's those gnarly things as dark things in your life that just need to be obliterated. They need do you need to run from those things by pursuing a righteousness guard, what God has entrusted to you? Number four, fight the good fight of faith. That's what verse 12 says, fight the good fight for the true faith. So fight that requires intentional living, fighting the good fight of faith, like being all in. 3 (47m 38s): And I imagine showing up for a fight because you're in a fight, whether you like it or not, whether you realize or not imagined showing up for a fight unprepared, you're going to get pummeled. And you're going to get obliterated by that by your opponent. And so be prepared for the battle that says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood enemies, but against the principalities of darkness or the enemy Satan and his minions are fighting against us. And so we have to realize that we're in this battle, this fight. And so we have to fight the good fight of faith, of the true faith. We have to fight to hold on to our faith, right? If we don't fight to hold onto our faith, it just kind of slips away, right? How do we fight holding on to hold onto our fate? 3 (48m 19s): We, we, we fight by thinking about the right things by choosing the right things, by keeping our eyes on the Lord. If we don't fight the culture and resist the culture, we'll be swept up in the culture. It's just the way it is. If you don't fight it, we get swept up in it. If we don't fight the flesh, if we don't fight temptation, if we don't fight these things that are trying to draw us away, then we'll get swept away in it. So how do we fight? Well, the simple answer is just do what the Bible says. We're to abide in Christ. We're to be with Christ and have him be in us. So abiding Christ and, and in that relationship, you'll bear much spiritual fruit. 3 (49m 0s): So you just simply abiding Christ. He wake up every morning and say, God, I'm all yours today. And throughout the course of the day, you're saying I'm all yours today. Lord, what do you want to do? What do you want to do? Sometimes we go into autopilot and we're not thinking about God. We're just kind of living our lives. But then circumstances come up where we need God. And we're calling back out to him. Why not just abiding Christ all day long. Number one, abiding Christ. How do we fight? We abide in Christ. Number two, pray without ceasing. That's what the scripture says. Pray without ceasing. How do you do that? We just do it all day long. Lord, I feeling tempted right now. I need your help. God. I'm feeling grateful right now. 3 (49m 41s): Thank you, God. I am so happy that I, I, where I'm at my season of life. Lord. Thank you, God. Thank you for the hard work that you've given me to do, Lord, thank you so much. And it's just about constantly just turning our attention to the Lord. Thank you Lord. For that, that, that, that transaction that just went through. Thank you for the ability to think wisely about this business deal that, I mean, thank you, Lord, that you're, you've made my marriage better Lord. That you've made my, my relationship with my kids better than just an attitude of prayerfulness and thankfulness. Pray without ceasing. And then read your Bible daily. Just kind of getting back to the basics. How do we find you got to read your Bible. You get up, you get up and you, you feel off throughout the day. 3 (50m 24s): You gotta open up the word of God. I can't. I stress that enough to us. We got to open up the word of God and read two or three chapters of God's Bible of the word. Don't just read a verse. A verse is good, but if a verses good, two or three chapters is even better, right? I mean, we will see then hours listening to radio or podcasts or watching television or whatever it is that we will do or reading anything else, but the Bible, but we won't spend 20 minutes reading two or three chapters. Cause that's really all it takes. It's not meant to be a heavy thing. It's just a reality check. We don't spend enough time reading the Bible. 3 (51m 4s): And so we're distracted by all these things because we're not allowing our mind to be shaped by the scripture, by the truth of who God is. If you're feeling discouraged and you take the time to read the Bible with an open mind and an open heart, you will be encouraged, right? If you're feeling tempted and you open up the Bible and you with an open heart and an open mind, read the Bible, the temptation will dissipate. If you're in need of any kind and you open up that scripture and just read a couple of chapters, two or three chapters with an open mind and open heart, God will give you the answers that you need. You'll restore peace to you, confidence to you, joy to you. You'll walk away thing saying thank you, Jesus. 3 (51m 46s): I'm grateful Lord for your word. Now I know every more, more than never that I needed your word. And you do that every single day. And God will show up for you every single day. Biting Christ, pray without ceasing. Read your Bible daily. Be continually filled with the holy spirits. We must lead because Ephesians five says that we must be continually filled with those guys. What else is the answer? I mean, we leak, right? We're like we, we need to be constantly filled with the holy spirit and then number five, stay humble and teachable. That's how you fight. That's how you fight abiding Christ. Pray without ceasing. Read your Bible daily. 3 (52m 28s): Be continually filled with the holy spirit and stay humble and teachable. Number five, hold tightly to your new life. First 12 continues. It says hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. How do you hold tightly? All of the things that we just talked about, those five things that we hope that we just talked about. That's how you, that's how you hold tightly. That's how you hold tightly. You remember that God has given you a new life. Hold tightly to that. The temptation is to be excited about it for a month and then forget about it. When trials come, we're forget about it. 3 (53m 8s): When a seemingly better offer comes along in the form of a temptation that is meant to destroy your life. Remember that God has given you a new life. Remember you're not your own. You've been bought with a price, hold tightly to your new life in Christ. Make God your priority in every decision. This is how you hold tightly. You hold, you make God your priority in every decision. And then you re resist temptation. You keep your eyes on Jesus. These are, this is, this is how you hold tightly to your new life in Jesus. If you don't hold tightly, you will slip away. Not because the gospel's fragile, but because you're fragile, the gospel is powerful. 3 (53m 51s): But in our humanists, we are fragile in our own strength. We are fragile, but in Christ we can do all things. And so we in Christ, we hold on and we keep our focus on him and we make our decisions all about him. We keep our, with our eyes on Jesus, number six lives so that no one can find fault in you. Verse 13, Paul told Timothy and I charge you before God. He wasn't saying, Hey Timothy, this is just a good idea, right? I charge you before God who gives us life to all. And before Christ Jesus who gave a good testimony before Pontius pilot, that you obey this command without wavering, then no one can find fault with you from now on from now until our Lord, Jesus Christ comes again. 3 (54m 44s): Remember Jesus before Pontius, pilot, Pontius, pilot could not find anything wrong with Jesus. And so he washed his hands, turned him over to those who wanted to kill him. And they killed Jesus. Jesus declared before Pontius pilot. I am the Messiah. I am the Lord. Jesus was our prime example. He lived a life above reproach, fully God and fully man. He lived a life beyond reproach, resisting temptation, the temptation to be disgruntled with people. 3 (55m 24s): He, he would heal people. He would heal 10 lepers and nine of the 10 would just go away and forget all about him. One would come back. This was his, this was the deal. Jesus said, didn't I heal 10 of you. Why is there only one that came back? But that's what he dealt with constantly. He worked miracles in front of people and they refuse to believe that he was the Messiah. So the temptation was probably too hard in his heart toward people because that's the temptation to harden our hearts toward people. But Jesus resisted that temptation. He lived above reproach, chose to love people unconditionally, and he gave his life as a ransom for all. 3 (56m 5s): So how do you live? So no one can find fault in you have a genuine faith. That's where it all begins. It's, it's a faith that is genuine. That is not for show. It is like, this is who I am like from the, my toes to the top of my head inside out. This is who I am in Jesus. I mean, this needs to be our perspective. Like every part of me, a hundred percent of me is in Christ. At genuine. Faith will keep you from living above reproach, keeping your, your life above reproach so that no one can find fault in you. And then out of that, you'll have integrity, have integrity. 3 (56m 50s): What does that mean? It means to be honest, the men and women of integrity be, be honest with every transaction and every conversation be honest, I had was here at the office on Friday and I was studying, prepping for some, for Sunday for this message. And this guy, this homeless guy, he started kept knocking at the door and I'm like, Lord, I don't have time to talk to this homeless guy right now. I've got a sermon to write, right? And so I ignored him, knocked the first time I ignored him knocked the second time. I'm like, okay, I'll get up. And I thought to myself, if he asks me why didn't answer the door the first time, I'm just going to be honest with him. 3 (57m 33s): I'm going to say, dude, I am busy right now. I don't have time to talk every time that you knock on the door. I love the guy, but I can't stop every time. So I had this wrestling match. I could say, well, I didn't hear, but that would lack integrity. The honest thing is I just didn't have time. So he never asked me why I didn't answer the door the first time, because we finally chatted and that sort of thing, but it was all good. And we got things handled, but I thought, you know, the temptation is to be dishonest. Oh, I was, I must've been in the bathroom or Hey, I must've been outside or Hey, I must've been upstairs. I didn't hear you knock. But the truth is God's worthy of our very best. And when it, just to be honest about things, have a genuine faith, not for show, have integrity, be honest. 3 (58m 15s): I remember a number of years ago, we had some taxes down. I shared this story before and there was a big, big fat tax mistake made on our taxes. And so the following year I had to pay an additional $7,000. I'm like, well, I'm the only one who knows about this tax mistake. I could just forget about it, but I'm not the only one who knows about his tax mistake. My God knows about this tax mistake. So I have to be honest about the stacks mistakes. So I ended up volunteering that information to my CPA and I paid the additional 7,000 bucks. 3 (58m 56s): I would rather pay $7,000 and have a clear conscience than hold onto that 7,000 bucks and have a JD conscience. I just don't want, I don't want to think about that 10 years later or 15 years later or five minutes later and have regrets. So be honest, tell the truth. Be the same person in every situation. I'm not saying I've got this nailed. I don't have this nailed. All you gotta do is ask who are close to me. I am trying to get this nailed. And that's all God's asking us to. He said, just work toward this. Be people of integrity, be people of integrity. And when you mess up own it and walk forward with integrity guard, what God has entrusted to you. 3 (59m 37s): Number seven, live anticipating Jesus return. I think sometimes we're only living for this life. We're only living for this life for these 67, the 80 90 years that we have a hundred years that we have we're okay. Only living for this life. We can guard effectively what God has entrusted to us by having this anticipation that Jesus will return and then help others do the same for adjust the right time. Verse 15 says it just the right time. Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed only almighty God, the king of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords. This is how it all wraps up. Like Jesus will return. 3 (1h 0m 18s): He is coming back. He alone can never die. Speaking of God and he lives in light store, brilliance became God that no human can approach him. No human eyes ever seen him nor ever will all honor and power to him forever and ever. Amen. One commentator wrote such a Lord deserves. It was an awesome reverence combined with complete humility. We, the return of price for some of us is so far in the back of our minds that we're not even thinking about it. And so it doesn't impact the way that we live our lives. We hold on to our, our faith. When we realize that Jesus could return at any moments, he alone, I'll read verse 15 again for just the right time. 3 (1h 1m 0s): Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God. The king of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords is surely assuredly. As he came, he will come again. Are we ready for him? Are we living our lives every day? So we're ready. No matter what happens, we're ready to, to meet him. Verse 17 says, trust those who are rich or teach those who are rich in this world, not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Isn't that interesting. He richly gives us all we need for our necessities. 3 (1h 1m 43s): Is that what it says? I mean, it's true, but is that all it says? He says he originally gives us all we need for our enjoyment and that interesting. I think we think sometimes that God is only going to give me the bare minimum and I've have to be happy with that. Well, we need to learn to be content with the bare minimum, but I I've watched God over the course of my life. Richly bless our family and take care of not just our necessities, but our desires. We're going to North Carolina this, this summer or in the fall to go to our niece's wedding. 3 (1h 2m 28s): And so I told Julia in North Carolina, that's the east coast. I said, we'd never been to New York. We got to go. We got to drive the six hours. We got to go up to New York and see New York. We've never been up there. We're going to see Niagara falls and, you know, see, we want this part of the country. We've never been to before. We've never seen before. And so we were talking about it and I, you know, she's, we're wrestling about, you know, talking through how we're going to do it. Now we're going to pay for it. So God will, God will do it. He will do it. I just know he will. I just, there's something about just trusting, not in a irresponsible way, but when you feel like the Lord's in something that you would just do it by God's grace. 3 (1h 3m 11s): I remember a number of years ago, I wanted to take my whole clan to Hawaii and it was going to be a really expensive trip, but I just knew that it was the right thing to do. My kids were getting older. That, that one point we had one grandkid little Levi's. So he traveled with us and I just knew it was the right thing to do. So I said, Hey guys, we're going to take you to Hawaii. All of you, we're going to go and spend some time in Hawaii. And so we did that and God provided for the trip. He took care of the trip. We had amazing sushi in that, remember that restaurant. And it was just amazing sushi and great experiences together. 3 (1h 3m 51s): And the Lord just handle it all through creative financing ways. He just gave us all we needed for that trip. And it was one of the best shifts our family has ever taken. So we have that, that memory, that experience together, there's just, there's something about trusting God with your whole life. And when he calls you to do something, whether it's whatever ministry related or just to bless your family, we can have confidence that he will give us those things. Now we don't want to be irresponsible about it and just flippantly. But when we sense a peace from the Lord, we go for it. We go for it. 3 (1h 4m 31s): Why? Because we walk by faith. We live by faith. We serve God and he can be trusted. So when we're talking about this new building over here, 1 0 2, I believe that that's going to be a beautiful worship center for us. Somebody said recently, I don't want to worship in a warehouse because they look at it. Now it looks like a warehouse. Trust me, I don't want to worship in a warehouse either. It's going to be beautiful over there. Why? Because I just know that God's going to give us what we need to beautify that place to make it a place of worship. So when people come in, they're like, wow, God is here. It's beautiful in here. And it's just going to be a great place to worship. We're going to be able to get a bunch of people in there that can worship together. It's just going to be really fun. 3 (1h 5m 13s): So I'm not, I'm not telling everybody, Hey, cut. Every nickel, watch every dime. Be careful. Don't spend that. I'm just not doing that. I'm saying let's do what is best for the, for God's house. Let's do it with wisdom, but let's do it with excellence. And then we'll see what God does. I think God is worthy of our very best. And so we're, we're not going to be chincy about it. We're going to put in good equipment. We're going to put in really nice lighting, really nice flooring, really nice decorations. It's going to be really, really great all because we believe that God wants to do it that way. 3 (1h 5m 57s): We have people come onto our property all the time. They say, man, you guys maintain this place really well. You know, why do we maintain this place really well? Because it represents who we are in Christ. I don't want people walking onto our property and say, man, this place is run down. Needs, paint, needs paving. I don't want that. I don't want that for my house. And I don't want it for the church. You wouldn't want it for your own house. I'll run down and you didn't needing to be repaired everywhere. I want this place to reflect the beauty of God, the glory of God, not overdone, not opulent, but right, right. The right balance. And so that's what we're all about. So when we, when we fix up buildings, we do it well, when we support missions works, we do, we do well. 3 (1h 6m 40s): When we do ministry by God's grace, we try to do it really well because God's worthy of our very best. Their trust should be in God who originally gives us all we need for our enjoyment, tell them to use their money to do good. Verse. 18 says they should be rich in good works and generous to those in need. Always being ready to share with others, by doing this, they will be storing up their treasures as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life Timothy guard. What God has entrusted to you, avoid godless foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. Some people have wandered from the faith by following such foolishness. 3 (1h 7m 21s): May God's grace be with you all? That's the end of first Timothy, and we'll be in second Timothy next week with that, I want to pray with that. I want to have a stand. And with that, I'm gonna invite the worship team forward and we're gonna sing some more. And it's my desire that we would give God our very best in our worship that we would worship in spirit and in truth. And that we would expect the very best from him because he is the giver of the very best. And so Lord, I pray that we would change that we would allow the 1 (1h 7m 55s): Scripture sure. To change our minds about you. Lord personally, I have great expectations, great expectations because I serve a great God. It would be foolish and ridiculous to have low expectations of the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords. It would just be ridiculous. It doesn't make any sense. It's not rational, Lord. It's not anything. It just doesn't make any sense. It's a lie of the enemy is what that is. It's a lie of the enemy. So Lord, I pray that you would confront the lies that we've been believing. The fear that we've been feeling in God, that we would move forward as bold servants of the king of Kings and the Lord of Lords that we'd hold tightly to our faith in Jesus name, God, that we would do the hard work to hold tightly, to be faithful, to be sincere, to do the right stuff. 1 (1h 8m 47s): Lord God, to honor you with our every business decision, with every transaction, with every dollar, with every thought you got with everything that we want to honor you Lord God. And by doing so, holding tightly Lord holding tightly, guarding what you have entrusted to us. Lord. We love you. Lord make us men and women of faith, men and women of God. Maybe you're here today. And you just need to confess an area of fear in your life. And, and I'm not going to have you come up to do it. 1 (1h 9m 28s): I'll just have you just, just give a one or two word answer and then I'll repeat it. So everybody, everybody can hear it. What is an area that you're just saying, God, I need to submit this and surrender this to you. What area of fear? We'll just focus on fear. What's your fear. And then just speak it out. And we're going to pray over everybody's who's got fear and anxiety around the Lord. Go ahead. Fear of losing a loved one through bad health. Yes. Yeah. 1 (1h 10m 13s): Fear the future in general. Fear of not having enough fear. Fear of feeling in school. Yeah. Real stuff. You're fearless. You're not being the man of God that he's called you to be yeah. Good, good. 1 (1h 10m 58s): I was praying this morning and I just, I realized about 10 minutes into my prayer walk that I was praying all of these anxious prayers. And it's like the holy spirit just stopped. Say, why, why are you anxious? Prayers, anxious prayers are fear. Prayers. They're worry prayers. They're there. They're not faith prayers. And, and I felt like the Lord, well, the scripture says don't be anxious about anything, but pray about everything. And so I just began to pray differently and maybe that's what the Lord is wanting us to do. Just begin to pray differently and just say, Lord, thank you that as I work hard, I'm going to, I'm going to do well in school. 1 (1h 11m 46s): Thank you Lord. As I keep my eyes on you, I'm going to be the man of God that you want me to be Lord. As I trust you, Lord, I'm going to trust you with the future and with my provision Lord, as I keep my eyes on you and, and believe you got, I'm going to believe that it's a pointed. Every person has a certain span of life appointed by you Lord. And I'm going to trust you that when this person's time is up, it will be REITs. And you're going to give peace and grace for that season. But I'm also going to trust you, Lord God that you're a healer and that you have the capacity and the grace to heal. And so I'm going to ask you to heal as well. Lord God, God, that you will bless my future. 1 (1h 12m 27s): So Lord, thank you that you've got a plan to bless my future. Thank you God, that as I turn my eyes on you and do what you've asked me to do, God, I don't know. I've got nothing to fear. You have nothing to be anxious about your faithful Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, God that you're the God of the impossible. When we're up against impossible things, God, that's where you shine. And so Lord help us to keep our eyes on you, Lord, for relationships and for finances and for spiritual health and mental health and physical health. Lord God, thank you, Lord God build us up in our most holy faith. Like never before we pray, Jesus build us up, Lord God, get us focused on you. 1 (1h 13m 9s): We pray Jesus, thank you. As we sing, we're going to be singing words of truth and words of praise, words that have the power to transform our thinking. And so let's sing with faithful hearts, believing hearts, excited hearts, help us to seem that way Boulevard. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's worship. 0 (1h 13m 47s): smooth. singing new songs of the Lord bubbling up in our souls. 0 (1h 21m 14s): Thank you Lord. yes. He didn't want heaven without us. 0 (1h 21m 50s): .

Honoring God in the Testing Times

0 (0s): Thanks for joining us wherever you're at on campus here, outside in loft, the beautiful sanctuary. That's pretty packed for the nine o'clock. Thanks for coming guys. And, and if you're joining online, but regardless we're going to worship 1 (28s): and he . 1 (4m 35s): She says so with you and all that, she says, so , individually. 1 (7m 9s): That means you need to like sing out something. That's your own song. You just need to like sit there and just realize all of these things on a whole new level today, God, that you would speak to us in those areas of our lives, 2 (15m 29s): Where we are fearful, doubtful, faithless in need of just a assurance of your presence, of your power, your ability, Lord God, whether it be relationship or finances or work or other relationships, Lord God, whatever, whatever the case may be. We know God. And we want to know Lord God that you are faithful. And so show us, Lord help us. Lord. That has been so good to be in your presence and pray God that as we open up the word that it would just be a sweet time, sweet time, a time of celebration, time to revelation, Lord God, a time of exploration, Lord and God that you would just do great things. 2 (16m 19s): As we open up our hearts and our minds to your word. Thank you for this time in Jesus name, Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. Thanks guys. Thanks very much. 3 (16m 32s): We'll welcome her to a story recently by these two guys who went to Alaska, who's been to Alaska before few people have been to Alaska. These guys wanted to go to Alaska because they wanted to do some hunting and Alaska and something. They did most years. And so they go to Alaska and they hire a Bush pilot to take them deep into the wilderness so they can get their elk. And they only anticipated getting one elk, but they got two elk this year too. And the Bush pilot flies in to rescue these guys and pull them out. And he's like, Hey, there's no possible way that we can put two elk on this Bush plane and get you out of here. 3 (17m 18s): And the plane just isn't powerful enough. And the guys were like, no, no, no. This happened last year as well. This happened last year, we, we got to ALK last year unexpectedly and we had a smaller plane and he took us out of here. And so we're confident that you can do this. We're confident that you can get us out of here. So reluctantly, the Bush pilots said, all right, well, let's put the elk on there and climb in and see what happens. And so they're cheering him on and he's trying to get out of there trying to lift off the water and it's right. I mean, he's got all this weight. It's difficult, but they lift off in there where their head right toward a mountain. And he's getting cheered on is as they get and they're gaining altitude, they're getting higher and higher. 3 (18m 1s): And, and they, they they're about at the tip of the mountain and they, they almost made it, but they crash. And these two hunters, one talked to the other, said, Hey, 4 (18m 12s): His name was John. And he said, Hey, 3 (18m 14s): Hey John, how do we do? He said, well, you made it about 200 yards farther than we did last year. Terrible story. Right? So I've actually got a story of success. So last week, last week we invited everybody all over the congregation to be praying for our parking situation. You guys remember that how many were praying this week? Like we were praying this week, right? Well, the results of hundreds of people praying is that I, so the city had a meeting apart from me on Monday, they just gathered with their city managers and they had a meeting. And then I get this long email from the city stating that we're still short parking spaces and blah, blah, blah. 3 (18m 57s): So I'm like, ah, where what's going to happen. So they say, we want to get a meeting with you on Thursday this week. And so I went down for a meeting Thursday morning at nine 30. And at, after the Monday information, I, we sent out a reminder to everybody to keep praying and we'll just believe God for what he wants to do. And so sure enough, it was the craziest thing. I show up to the meeting on Thursday morning at nine 30 and it's with two city officials. And they, they said yes to everything. It was like this crazy thing that I was like, totally a appraise moment where they said, Hey, I, I said, Hey, you guys have miscounted. He deleted the number of parking spaces that we have. 3 (19m 37s): We, we actually have, according to the regulation, 10 extra parking spaces, then, then we are actually required to have. And they, they looked at the numbers again and said, yeah, you're right. You're right. Actually you're right. And so they gave us the green lights too, do the projects. They gave us the green light to start the framing and to continue the framing inside there. They said, just don't close it up. Cause we want to be able to, you know, inspect it all. And that sort of thing. They gave us the green light basically to start this week on painting. So I think we should start painting outside this week. I asked them, I said, because we've got a preliminary set of plans. This is another praise the Lord as well. The first architect that we went that we hired to do the project said, you know, I can't get to it for two months and it's going to take two or three months after that to get through the city and blah, blah, blah. 3 (20m 28s): And so we hired another architect and this architect got it done. And he got a preliminary set of plans done for us in about 10 days. And so we've got a preliminary set of plans and they're going out to the subcontractors. The process is a subcontractors have to draw an electrical and plumbing and, and fire sprinklers and all that sort of thing. And then hopefully next this coming week, we'll be able to submit those plans, worst case w w we'll be able to submit those plans. I asked them this guys at the city, I said, how long will it take for them plans to turn around? And so that you can issue a permit because initially the, the, our architect, our first architects said it would take two to three months for the city to turn those plans around. They said, it'll be two weeks, but we're going to try to get it done in 10 days. 3 (21m 10s): So we are months ahead of our original, our, our, our secondary kind of timeframe. And so really good news. Let's throw up some pictures there. We've got some mock-up, this is kind of what the inside of that building will look like shares there's. You can see kind of the back toward the bottom of the screen. You, you walk in that's where the front door you go in and you get their platform and the, the partition wall in the back there, let's go look at the front there next. So that's kind of what it will look like, except for we're changing the color scheme. And the color scheme will be pretty much an off-white on the building with the black trim. 3 (21m 51s): And, and so the reality is, is that we could, we could be in there if everything goes as planned the next like three to four months, as opposed to like six months or whatever it was going to be. So that's really good news on the good news front. We actually, we were able to refinance all of this property. We, we bought it a number of years ago and the rates were higher than they are now. So we were actually able to refinance and drop like two and a quarter points off of the, the, the interest that we were paying. And so with that transaction, we're actually going to be able to pay off the second mortgage that we you have, and yeah, really good news. 3 (22m 32s): And we're going to reduce our monthly by $2,000 a month. Our monthly mortgage will be less 2000, $2,000 less a month, and that second mortgage will get paid off. So, so really good news. So it frees us up to be able to really focus on this, that project to raise up the money that we need to get for that project. And so I did some calculations and I, as I said, last week, then the number initially was it's like 1 25. And then we met with a bunch of contractors and got some bids. And it was it it's going to be closer to 2 25, 220 $5,000 for that remodel, which if we didn't have people in the church volunteering to do a lot of the work that's being done in there, it'd probably be twice that it'd be twice that. 3 (23m 15s): So it's going to be about $225,000. There's roughly, we've raised about $27,000. So we have roughly another 200,000 or so there's always surprises. So we're not sure exactly the hard number, but it's roughly another 200,000. It needs to come in. So now instead of needing it to come in in the next six months, we needed in the next three months. And so this is the deal I, I cracked it down or did I know it's easier like to digest smaller numbers. It's easier for me anyway. And so I said, okay, what is the, if we've got 300 families in the church, what is the number? And the number's about $700 per family. If so, if everybody gave $700, every family gave 700 bucks, we'd be at that mark and be able to get the project paid, bought and paid for in the next few months. 3 (24m 3s): So I know a lot of you have already bought chairs and squares. I've already bought chairs and squares, but in light of this new information, our family is going to give at least that 700 and we're going to do everything we can. And so I'm just asking you to pray about doing the same thing, if you can great, some will be able to do more than that. And that will be great because some won't be able to do anything at all, just because of circumstances and that sort of thing. So again, just pray, say, Lord, do you want me to participate in this? And if so, how much is it? 700? Is it 1400 2100, some will be able to give more in the past, we've had people give $30,000 to projects like this $50,000 to projects like this. 3 (24m 43s): So whatever you want to do, I believe at the end of the three months or four months or so, we'll get that project done, bought and paid for without any debt. And that's going to be really important. So anyway, so I'm going to pray for that and pray for our tax. We're back in first, Timothy chapter six today, continuing our study in first Timothy. And so why don't we go and stand up and I know we've already prayed and that sort of thing, we're going to pray some more. In fact, if you would like to, if you feel compelled to come and pray over this whole project, I want to give us a minute or so to do that, but you have to come up to speaking to Vox one again. So we're not going to take a ton of time to do this, but I just want to give people an opportunity to pray over this and pray into it. 3 (25m 27s): And so if that's you, then I'll start and you come on up and speak into it. If not, no big deal. We'll just continue on with the message. But Lord, we just want to pray. We thank you God for open doors for answered prayer, Lord. It's amazing what happens when hundreds of people just decide to pray and to believe for your hand to move in difficult and, and really seemingly impossible situations. Lord God. So we say, thank you for that Lord. Thank you. It it's it's, it's, it's, it's amazing what you will do. Somebody said last week, it's a Jericho moment for our church. And as we prayed, and as we believed the, the walls came down and we were able to, we're able to get in and access and, and make progress with this new space that we have. 3 (26m 14s): Lord God. So we say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. We believe God that you're in this. We believe that this will give us a greater opportunity to impact our community and our world with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. And so we say yes and amen to your plans. We thank you for your plan and we believe God you're in it. And that you're going to provide for us. So your will be done. We pray. Thank you, Jesus. Anybody else wanna be bold? Damn. This is so surprising. It's you're being bold. Here will be required. 0 (26m 52s): We're going to be required. Lord. As, as these people come into this new facility, Lord to love on them, to show them Jesus, Lord, help us to do that. Lord, the project's going to happen. The funds are going to come in, but there's one thing that we cannot buy. Lord, it's your presence. We need your anointing on this place. Lord, we need you to walk the aisles. Lord. We need you to put your hands on people, Lord, and set them free Lord and open their eyes that they might receive the word and be saved. Lord father. We just place it in your hands. Lord in Jesus name. Thank you, man. 0 (27m 32s): Thank you, Lord. Thanks Dave. Anybody else? 4 (27m 40s): All right, well thank you Lord. We're so grateful and we're, 3 (27m 43s): We're going to continue to pray and ask and seek and knock Lord God, and then do what you've asked us to do and just trust you for the outcome, Lord God. And so thank you for this time. God bless the word to our hearing. We prayed Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. First, Timothy chapter six, we actually took a break from our first Timothy study for a number of weeks to talk about faith and all kinds of stuff. And so faith will obviously be weaved into everything that we do because without faith, it's impossible to please God. And so he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And so we want to always honor him with our faith. So we've covered a lot so far in our study and I just kind of, to kind of recap here. 3 (28m 26s): Remember we spent two weeks asking God, two questions. What do you want me to do today? That was the first question. And then Lord, what do you want to do through me today? So there's similar questions, but what do you want me to do today? What do you want to do through me today were a couple of questions that we spent a couple of weeks talking about. Also we asked what does godliness look like? And you can go back and listen to the messages and get all of these, all of this information. But these are just kind of the highlights we declared faith in. Jesus changes everything. We talked about integrity. We warned against false teachers. We talked about the mercy of God. We received instruction about worship. 3 (29m 7s): We talked about leadership within the church. We received wisdom in dealing with widows and elders all from first Timothy and today as we wrap up, well, actually we'll take a couple of weeks to rock up first, Timothy chapter six. Today we'll learn how to respond to difficult situations. We will look at what promotes godly living and we'll see how to avoid snares concerning money. So the message is titled today, honoring God in the testing times, honoring God, the testing time, if you've ever been through a test before I talked with a guy yesterday who was going through a pretty legitimate test and after long, long conversation with him, he realized that he just needed to humble himself in the midst of the test, trusting that God is sovereign trusting that God sees him and has seen his progress in his life and that he could, he can trust God and not worry about what men think. 3 (30m 11s): And so at the end of the day with his test, he decided to keep his eyes on God, not get welled up sometimes in a test, if we're being falsely accused or whatever the case may be, we can kind of well up with pride or get angry or get frustrated or get disappointed. But the test I've found in my life. And as we see through scripture, the tests always reveal something about us and it's an opportunity for God to shape us, to, to refine us and to make us into the men and women that he desires for us to be so honoring God in the testing time. It's this is the most important time in our lives where we need to figure out how to honor the Lord. 3 (30m 55s): And so we're going to look at some circumstances here in first, Timothy chapter six, and try to figure some stuff out today. So number one, we must honor God. Especially when in a test, we must honor God, especially within a test. I've noticed that God doesn't always deliver us from the test he will deliver ultimately, but it's not until we learn the lesson that the test is designed to teach us. Have you noticed that? And if we get through the task without having learned the lesson that the test was designed to teach us, we just find ourselves in that same test over and over again until because God is good. 3 (31m 36s): He wants us to learn lessons. He'll just take us through the ringer one more time and help us out of his great love so that we might learn from the test. The thing that we need to learn from the test, why? Because the next test is going to require what we learned from the last test. And I was, as I was sharing with this guy yesterday and talking with this guy yesterday, actually my wife and I were both talking with him. We said, this is a unique test, meaning that this isn't something that you could foresee. And that often is the test. It's like, this is something that I couldn't foresee, something I really couldn't prepare for. But previous tests in this man's life were preparing him for this unique test. 3 (32m 18s): And I wonder what your unique test is. We must honor God. Especially when in a tests, God doesn't deliver us from the test. Usually just gives us the instructions about how to navigate the test. And he's teaching us something through the test. Israel was in Egypt for 400 years. It was a big long 400 year that God delivered them. Eventually he did. He delivered them eventually taking them through the wilderness. They were in the wilderness for 40 years because they couldn't figure out how to pass the test. And so God kept them in the test until, until they figured it out. And they, they were able to trust the Lord. 3 (32m 59s): And so Joshua was able to take them into the promised land. Last week, we talked about the testing of the early church, the apostles specifically how each of them suffered physically in their physical bodies for their faith. It was a test. Remember the test prior to the cross, when Jesus gets arrested, what happened? Everybody's scattered, right? It was a test. It was a test. What do you do when there's opposition? What do you do when things are unfolding differently than you expected, will you pass the test? And so many of them failed the test. It seems like the only ones who pass the test are the women around Jesus. They were painful to Jesus when he was arrested at the cross. 3 (33m 41s): And it seemed like everybody else, especially the man they scattered, but they learned something in that testing about sticktuitiveness about obedience, about faithfulness, about trust. And so after the crucifixion, after the resurrection, after the Ascension, when Jesus sent them out, they had a new boldness. They were filled with the holy spirit, right power was in them. And they had this new boldness so that when the test hit them again, when opposition hit them again, not with somebody else, but in their own physical bodies, they were able to endure. And most of them died, suffering persecution for their faith. 3 (34m 24s): All of them suffered persecution. And most of them actually ended up dying at the hand of their enemies. So we look at verse one in first, Timothy chapter six, we're talking about slaves for a moment here for a few, few minutes. And as I honestly was thinking about slavery and maybe your text says servants, first one says, all slaves, maybe your text says servants, same word should show full respect for their masters. They w so they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teachings. It was difficult for me. I spent four days thinking about this, this one verse wrestling with this idea of slavery and why isn't God speak differently about slavery? 3 (35m 10s): What's what's the backstory here? Why, why are people instructed to live honorably in this dishonorable relationship? And so I've discovered some things and worked through some things. And I figured some things out and was able to write a halfway, hopefully coherent message that speaks to us in this 21st century world, where we're not in this culture. In other cultures around the world, there is slavery. There is that type of oppression, but we don't necessarily see it. Although there are in the sex trade, their sex slaves in our culture, in our communities, in our country. 3 (35m 54s): And so there is that sort of thing, but it's kind of veil that's behind closed doors. We don't necessarily, we're not necessarily impacted or participating in it, but it's happening. So it's difficult to hae the instruction in a difficult situation. And so I just spent four days praying about it and thinking about it and I'm writing about it so that we might hopefully come away today with some understanding without glossing over anything. So slaves, the word slave into Greek is do loss. It's it means servant or slave do loss in the vines. 3 (36m 33s): Expository dictionary says this. It means bond man or bond made from the word de IO to bind a slave. Originally the lowest term in the scale of servitude came also to me. And one who gives him self up to the will of another. You can read about that first Corinthians seven or Roman six, and do a lot of became the most common and general word for the word servant in Matthew eight and nine nine. And it became a meaning of defining a servant, but without bondage, without, without the type of slavery con you know, things that we kind of conjure up in our head, you know, civil war, slavery type stuff. 3 (37m 15s): So it became, it started out, you know, slavery and kind of changed and morphed into this word servant. In fact, in calling himself a bond slave of Jesus, Paul recognized that he was a servant, a do loss, a bond slave of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He talks about that in Romans one, one. Then he had been formerly a bond slave of Satan, and that having been brought to a bought by Christ, he was now a willing bond slave to a new master. So do loss is a word for slave or servant one person owning another. As I broke it down, I thought this is one person owning, and this is difficult to, for us to digest and to understand why, why didn't the script, why don't the scriptures address it differently. 3 (38m 5s): And we're going to understand that here as we go forward. So do the last one person owning another one person controlling the life of another one person in charge of another so difficult situation, difficult place. If you're the slave to try to figure out how to honor the Lord in that relationship. But this is a, as I thought about it, I realized this is a clear picture of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Again, Paul declared Romans one and Peter declared this to be true. Second Peter, one, one Peter said this letter is from Simon, Peter, a slave that same word, do loss and apostle of Jesus Christ. So Peter, the one who abandoned Christ now identifies himself as a slave of Christ and an apostle of Christ. 3 (38m 52s): He realized that his life needed to be a hundred percent God's in order for him to be faithful to the calling that was upon his life and faithful to the sacrifice that Jesus made on his behalf. So Peter declared Paul declared, they declared this about themselves, that they are slaves of God, slaves of God. It said, we, we are owned as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We are owned by God. This is, this is what Christianity means. This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. We are owned by God, one person owning and other Jesus owns us. We've been bought with a price. So as I thought about slavery, it kind of put, it helped me to understand it from a different context. 3 (39m 35s): And I've talked through this before and I've wrestled with it before, and I've understood some things before, but it was just, I wrestled with it again in this go around, do loss. One person can owning another one person controlling the life of another. That's really what Jesus has called us into. He's called us into a life where we're filled with the spirit of God and controlled by the spirit of God. The Jesus actually is meant to have control of our lives through the power of the holy spirit. One person owning another controlling the life of another one person in charge of another, as Christians, we are to submit to the leadership of Jesus Christ, but then there's the institution of slavery. How are slaves and slave owners to relate to one another? 3 (40m 17s): And we read again, first I made the six one, all slaves should show full respect for their masters. So they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching that that's strong language flavor to show respect so that they don't bring shame. So God, so yeah, you're Paul instructs slaves to show full respect for their masters. John F Woolford wrote under normal circumstances, slaves and masters had no association outside the institution of slavery with the advent of the gospel, with the preaching of the gospel. However, these two groups found themselves thrown together in the congregation in, in new ways, creating problems. 3 (41m 1s): The apostles were forced to deal with repeatedly. So here Paul instructs slaves, how to show full respect for their masters. First Corinthians seven 20 and 22. Paul puts the Christian life into perspective. The slave life into perspective, whether slave or free we are slaves of God, let's read first Corinthians 7, 20, 22. You in the, again, Paul puts things into perspective here. He says, yes, each of you should remain. As you were, when God called you, are you a slave? Don't let that worry you. But if you get a chance to be free, take it and run. Amber. If you were a slave, when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord, right? 3 (41m 43s): It's it's, it's almost an oxymoron. We're free. We're free in the Lord in the sense that we're from underneath this type of slavery, but were instead choosing to be slaves of the Lord, Jesus Christ. But with that comes great freedom. It's, it's, it's, it's a difficult concept for us to understand. There's freedom. Someone say that there's freedom and we're able to do whatever it is that we want to do. But all that kind of life creates in us is bondage. We become slaves to the things that we obey. And so if we're, if we're saying I feel most free when I'm able to do whatever I want to do, we're believing a lie because the reality is all that that life does is entrap us and enslave us. 3 (42m 28s): W what we're told in the scripture is that if we're in Christ, where we find freedom and Liberty, because we serve a good master, whose first desire is to bless us and to save us and to forgive us and to redeem us and to set us free in it, to adopt us into his family. I remember if you were a slave, when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free, when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. Isn't that interesting? It's it changes the paradigm a little bit. It's a, it's a bit of a paradox. I mean, I know I wrestled with this question. Why didn't Paul just speak out against the institution of slavery? 3 (43m 8s): Why didn't he just speak out against it? I mean, it's obviously deplorable, but the truth, this slavery was so a part of the Roman culture and down throughout history, it was enshrined in Roman law. If Paul went after this institution of slavery, he would have had to devote his whole life to the overturning of this institution. But instead he realized that if he would just preach the gospel, if you would take the gospel to the region and to the area, then, then freedom would ultimately be the results. Paul spent all this time calling people to recognize Jesus leadership. 3 (43m 51s): So slave and, and master. He spent all of his time calling people to recognize Jesus leadership and Lordship so that they might come under his authority. Paul knew that the reign of king Jesus would resolve all injustices. And that's what we look forward to. But we've got to have a kingdom purpose, a kingdom perspective, believing that submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God, and to his reign and his rulership will well, we will begin to handle all injustices because when the heart of a person changes, whether it be a master or a slave, God begins to change the way that they their lives. 3 (44m 34s): But Paul didn't tell slaves again, first Corinthians 7 21. If you can get a chance to be free, take it like that. If you can get out of that desperate situation, get out of it. But in the meantime, Paul gives instruction. This is about the relationship of slaves to their master. This is good instruction for employees, as well as slaves. And so maybe this is where it kind of bridges over to our lives because most of us are employed somehow where we re we, we report to someone. So maybe we can read verse one, all slaves, servants, employees, et cetera, should show full respect for their masters. So they will not bring shame on the name of God. 3 (45m 16s): And his teachings words were to do everything is unto the Lord. Even if we've got a boss, a manager, an overseer who's unjust, who's not easy to work for. Who's not fun to be employed by. We have a biblical responsibility to honor that person, those people, that company, that respect, possibility that we have within the company. We have a responsibility to honor it, where to do everything that we do as onto the Lord. So this is a difficult thing. If you're a slave, if you're also, if you work for a difficult person, this is, this is hard to do. 3 (45m 58s): But if we can't honor the Lord in the testing times, there are, there's not, there's probably not much two hours faith, right? Especially if we keep going around the same band. And so maybe you're in a bad situation at work. And the Lord's trying to show you something, just sit, commit to his plan, submit to what he's trying to show you and watch the beauty beautiful work that he will accomplish in your life. So if you work at a job that you do not enjoy, if you work for a person, a difficult person that you don't enjoy, just ask the Lord, Lord, how do I honor you? And honor my employer in this situation showing full respect act means a number of things. 3 (46m 44s): I just wrote down a handful of them. What does it mean to show full respect? If we're, this is what God has called us to do. What does that look like? I wrote down. Number one, do you do the job you're paid for basics? Right? Sometimes though when we're disgruntled, we try to, we get in there and we do the very minimum, but we actually dishonor God when we do that, because he's told us that we're actually working for him. And where did you? Everything is under him and not as the men. So we actually have a holy calling as, as hours of the Lord, Jesus Christ, a holy calling to do to the job that we're paid for, with excellence, what work diligent D work diligently, all of the hours were paid for. 3 (47m 29s): So no lunches showing up late, no going home early, do the work that you're paid for. And then be on time. When we hire a new person at harvest, I sent him into Ron's office. I say, Ron, tell them how we operate around here. And so Ron gives them the rundown. He's like, you don't ever want to be late, right? Because I don't like it when somebody is late, they'll argue. What if you're late? Well, I'm not sure actually late cause the meeting doesn't start till I get there. Right? So, so I use my own justification cause I'm, I'm a late at times, but there are in every work culture. 3 (48m 14s): There's an expectation, right? Do the job you're paid for work diligently all the hours you're paid for beyond time, have a good attitude, go the extra mile. These are all things that every employer values and expects from their people. So maybe your boss is your test. I've had plenty of those in my work life. Your boss is your test. Maybe your job is your tests. Maybe your circumstances or your tests. What is, what is your task? What is God wanting to teach you so that you can graduate from that test? W we're in graduation season, and God wants you to graduate from that test so that he can take you into another test. But with the test, come maturity, depth strength with the tests there there's growth and there's progress. 3 (49m 11s): And we get unstuck. When we graduate from a test and we get promoted into other things, things test help us to see our blind spots, tests, strengthen our faith tests, I guess rely on God to remind us that we need him honoring God in the testing time. Number one, we must honor God. Especially when in a test re closely related to this one is the second point here. We must honor God. When dealing with people very much like I just talked about, but slightly different. It says if the masters are believers, that is no excuse for being disrespectful. 3 (49m 52s): Verse two, those slaves should work all the harder because they're, their efforts are helping other believers. You are well loved. So when the master and the slave share the same faith, sometimes there can be. And especially if they go to the same church, part of the same fellowship, you can sometimes as a worker, as a servant, as an employee, get a little slack, right? Because there's familiarity and friendship, right? So you can actually become a burden to the person that you're working for because you've gotten too close to them. And you've decided you've decided that just because they're there because they're your friends or brother or sister in Christ that you don't need to work as hard because they won't get rid of you. 3 (50m 43s): I fired, I fired plenty of people who were brothers in the Lord, sisters in the Lord when they weren't doing their job because there's no room for it in God's kingdom. There's just no room for it. We're called to work as unto the Lord. And when we don't work as unto the Lord, the result is that you lose your job. It's just the way it works in the, in the world. And that's how it works everywhere. And it's how it works around here. If the masters are believers, there's no excuse for being disrespectful. Disrespect would be, Hey, showing up late, not working your hours, leaving early, being lazy and not going the extra mile servants should work all the more diligently to bless the believer they work for, right? 3 (51m 36s): Whether the, your employer or boss is a believer or not, the servant should work as unto the Lord and not unto men. First time of the six to second part talks about false teachers and cheer riches says this, teach these things, Timothy, teach what things to me, the wall, all this stuff that he's been talking about in this book. And first Timothy, and up to this point and verse six, teach these things. Timothy, encourage everyone to obey them. Some people may contradict our teachings, but these are the wholesome teachings of the Lord. Jesus Christ. They, these teachings promote a godly life. 3 (52m 16s): So Paul's instruction to young Timothy as he pastored the church and emphasis is to help people to live a godly life. But there's other people with a different agenda with different motivation. So Paul's instructing Timothy as Paul is Timothy spiritual father and overseer. He's instructing them. He's instructing Timothy to teach these things that he wrote about in the first letter to Timothy his teachings promote a godly life. The verse says, and this is what's always the motivation of a good teacher promoting a godly life. This is the desire. This is the desire that is within a good Bible teacher. They want to promote godly living. 3 (52m 58s): They feel a call to promote godly living. So number three, in our notes, we must honor God with what we teach and believe most honored God with what we teach and believe. So perfect example of this is that how many have heard of any grand personality too? Yes. Few of us. Right. Well, so we, as a staff started investigating and, and, and kind of helping to understand personalities. We, we started researching Enneagrams and personality tests so that we might help. So we might be helped in understanding how to relate one to another, but this is the problem we just found out recently that it's it's origins is the new age of movement. 3 (53m 42s): We had no idea. And so we're done with any Agram. Yeah. It's not from the lowered and we didn't realize it. We just thought it's just a personality test while bot and somebody highlighted it to us. I said, Hey, have you looked into any grams deeper? And we said, no. And they said, well, here here's a podcast. And so we listened to it. And so we're no longer, we don't want to use anything. That's not from the word of God. And if we're, if we make a mistake and we, we, we realized that we're thinking about things differently. Or if I'm not a biblical perspective or believing something, that's not biblical than we than we are. We, we, we have to change our minds. 3 (54m 23s): And I wonder if maybe coming out of, you know, the world, we come into the church and we, we bring with us worldly things that aren't from God. And we try to merge them or marry them, or hold on to them as we try to follow Jesus. And as we realize that those things are from God, we have this responsibility in the scripture, people involved in the occult, they brought their books, their sorcery books, and they burned them to the tune of millions of dollars in sorcery. But they burned them because they knew that they weren't from the Lord and they needed to get rid of them. 3 (55m 5s): So maybe you've got some stuff in your life that you need to burn. Maybe it's pornography, maybe it's I was getting this wrong astrology. Is that astrology the signs. And is it astrology or is it astronomy? It's astrology, right? I never get that. Right. Maybe you're reading that every day in the paper. It's it's new age, it's cult type stuff that you shouldn't, you need to be looking to God's word, to direct your steps and to direct your life, not to the local, you know, the recent astrology stuff, is it that God is trying to strip out of your life because it's, it's not from him. It's something that you're holding onto. I don't know what it is. 3 (55m 46s): Only. You can know that only God only, but when you have the responsibility to do what we did, when we figured out we were on the wrong path regarding this, any grant thing we, we scrapped did immediately. Like we didn't have to have a conversation with God about it. We realized this is not from the Lord. So we got to scrap it for anyone who teaches something different is arrogant and lax understanding. Be careful for God, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. If what you're doing is swelling you with arrogance, be careful, be careful, such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. 3 (56m 30s): I've seen this happen over and over again. And it's divisive people within the church, quibbling over marginal doctrinal, things that cause division people in the greater church, the, of the church in the community, in the world, people squabbling over things that are unimportant, that is causing division within the church. It stirs up arguments ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt and they have turned their backs on the truth to them. A show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. 3 (57m 11s): I remember. Yeah. Sincere teacher of God's word. The desire of that man or woman is that they would help people grow in godliness. It's always about pointing people to Jesus. It's always about pointing people to the word it's always about by God's grace. Doing what God has asked us to do. Paul addressed the same issue in chapter one. It's like, he's come full circle. If you go back and read first Timothy chapter one, we've come full circle where Paul's addressing false teachers within the church. Paul's teachings are designed to promote a godly life. These others are causing people to divide within the church causing problems. 3 (57m 57s): Verse four. Again, such a person has an unhealthy desire to quibble over the meaning of words. The serves up arguments, ending it ending in jealousy, division, slander, and evil suspicions. These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt and they have turned their backs on the truth to them. And show of godliness is just a way to become wealthy. So a person's motivation and teaching should be to point people to Jesus, not for some kind of gain to make people aware of their need for his grace. To help people have a kingdom perspective, to encourage people, to share their faith, to challenge people, to live for Jesus, to do what we are doing today, encouraging people to honor God in everything. 3 (58m 40s): If a person's motivation is personal it's for, if it's for gain to be heard, their motivation is skewed and unhealthy and the result won't be good and godly. So number four, we must honor God with our ability to be content as we wrap up these last few verses. So we're, we've got this opportunity to honor God in all these areas of our lives. And the last area for today is our ability to be content correct. 10 men in a consumer-driven culture is very difficult like that. 3 (59m 20s): Every ad, every television commercial, everything that we read about or hear about is, is, is to create Discontentment in our lives. Like, Hey, you can have this new truck. I use that illustration because I'm always looking at new trucks, right? I don't need a new truck. Right. But I'm always admiring new trucks. You can have this new thing, this new shiny gadget. You can have one, you can have all of these things. Right. I saw David Apadaca his new Harley Davidson. I'm like, I get to have a new Harley Davidson, but I don't need a Harley. My wife doesn't want me to have early, so I'll probably never get early. So there you go. But it's another shiny thing. I'll ride yours. Thank you very much. 3 (59m 60s): I appreciate that. We just have to be careful that we're not always running to the next shiny thing because it gets us distracted from God's plan for his life. For our lives. I've noticed that being content leads to peace, being content leads to peace, being discontent, always kind of keeps you anxious. Right? Verse six says yet true godliness with contentment is itself. Great wealth. I don't think you can actually have contentment without true godliness because true godliness gives us that perspective that, Hey, I'm not living for this life. My life is not my own. I belong to the Lord. 3 (1h 0m 40s): My stuff belongs to the Lord. So yet true godliness with contentment is, is self great wealth. That's where we find the true wealth in life. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world and we can't take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. That's probably one of the hardest verses in scripture, right? We have enough food and clothing. Let us speak intent. Especially in our culture where we are consumers as a rule, it's hard to think about the basics of food and clothing and being content with those things. The only thing we take with us when we die, our, our good works. 3 (1h 1m 21s): That's it. That's it. You don't get to take your Harley with ya. I don't get to take my truck with me. I don't get to take my guns with me or whatever it is that I've got. The only thing I get to take is my good works. Everything else is wood, hay and stubble. Like the farmer had too many crops. He's like, Hey, build bigger barns, right? Bigger barns, bigger bank accounts, bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger, whatever. And the scripture says, you fool it tonight. You're very tonight that you're very, your life is, is required of you. 3 (1h 2m 2s): I don't know. I just continue. Mint brings a balance and a piece to life like nothing else, but people verse nine says, but people who long to be rich, fall into temptation are trapped many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people creating money have wandered from the true faith and prac pierced themselves with many sorrows. People do that with dads, you know, do it all kinds of different ways. You have to have something, you go get it. It just requires maintenance and work and debt and all kinds of stuff. 3 (1h 2m 47s): I talked with a buddy of mine a few years ago and I said, why don't you, why aren't, why aren't you in church? Why, what what's going on? You you've been out of church for so long. Why aren't you in church? And he said, you know, why not church? Because I don't want to let go of my money. I appreciated his honesty. I don't want to tie the said, I don't want to. If I go to church, I know they're going to talk to me about money buying. All right, we'll stay at a church. Then you can't serve God money. So you made your choice. The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, honoring God in the testing times. Number one, we must honor God. 3 (1h 3m 27s): Especially when in a tests, when dealing with people with what we teach and believe and with our ability to be content. So how do we respond to difficult situations? We need to honor God, right? Let's invite the worship team out and we're going to sing some more songs. How do we deal with difficult situations? That's one of the questions that we said we talked about in the beginning. We just choose to honor God by putting him first, by doing what he asks us to do, what promotes godly living. That's one of the other questions that we said we'd highlight biblical and godly teaching is what ti what promotes godly living. So get under some good biblical and godly teaching and watch your life become more godly. 3 (1h 4m 8s): How do we avoid snares concerning money? Love God more than you love your money. That's just basically the bottom line. So with that, why don't we go and stand up? And we're going to worship some more and honor the Lord with our singing. Amen. Amen, Lord. Thank you for this time. Thank you God, for your word, for what it has taught us, pray that it would sink deep in our souls and continue to convict us and change us. Challenge us God that it would show us your great love for us in Jesus name. Amen. Let's worship. 1 (1h 4m 54s): my eye to see that you're shaping my to trust what you say. 1 (1h 7m 28s): you say you're the inside. 1 (1h 9m 23s): If you Baila one final breath. 1 (1h 11m 31s): The son of God. we seeing her. 1 (1h 13m 41s): We see, we see, we see, we see, we see them. we see, we see, 0 (1h 16m 39s): We see, thank you God, for just faithfully meeting us whenever we never, we step in and we invite you. You show up God, thank you for, for just opening your word and giving us truth this morning. And I just bless this as we go Lord and keep us, keep, keep our gaze ever on you. As we, as we depart this morning and, and all that Jesus name. Amen.

Faith Believes God is Sovereign

0 (3s): Holy spirit. What'd you just come now and just calm our hearts and minds to help us to just take captive. Every anxious thought this morning, we welcome you to your way. Thank you. You promise to be in our midst when we gather, and when we worship you, as we lift our hearts and our voices, all of our cares and concerns to you, God, would you meet us with your presence? Power change. Set us free. 0 (44s): Want to draw near, see you this morning and experience your holiness and goodness, your grace and your mercy. 0 (1m 4s): might be hard to believe what we're singing. 0 (11m 33s): Do you believe he's good today? Do you believe he's never going to let you down? Maybe some of you do feel like God let you down, you know, and that's okay. I love that. Actually, the Bible gives us that example on the song, this David songs, if you read one song to the next there's one song where like you're a good God and the next one he's like, Lord, I am in the pit. My enemies are surrounding me. Where are you? Right. So I don't think God's afraid of our doubts. I think he encourages us to bring our doubts to him, to be honest with them, about where we're at and the crowd to him from the pit and invite his rescue. 0 (12m 18s): And to believe that he is faithful and he will pull us out. I just want you to know that I have moments even today, where I struggle with a battle is happening in my own mind of do I believe he's good this morning? I believe he's never gonna let me down. I just want you to know you're not alone. And if you're in that space today and there's there's room for that here for you to say, God, I'm hurting this morning, I do feel like I need breakthrough in an area I've been crying out and praying and asking him begging for change. And I haven't seen it yet. He welcomes us to call it what happened to him? Good hearts seasoned near to the broken hearted and the crushed in spirit. 0 (13m 1s): So if you're crushed in spirit this morning, that's why these mirror to you. So lean in to him this morning. I'm leaning in with you even as my own soul, sometimes as doubts and questions. I trust that he is God. I trust that he is faithful. 0 (13m 46s): Try that again. 0 (13m 58s): that you love us. 0 (18m 7s): Lord. 1 (18m 10s): Thank you that you are thinking about us this very moment. Your love is very real, very present. I pray that every person would experience that maybe some for the first time, experiencing your love and a real profound and obvious way. Lord God, for those who are hurting today, we pray God that you would just show yourself faithful. Thank you that you do that, Lord God, we are humbled by your presence. I love it, Lord, that when we feel the least deserving, you show up with your great love. 1 (18m 54s): I think we see that throughout the scripture. This thinking about that woman with the issue of blood, just sick, her whole life and unclean feeling just outside and unwelcome and unloved. But yet if she, she knew that if she just could push through, press through and touch the hem of your garment, that something might happen and something did happen. The power of God that went out from Jesus' body that flooded her life, changed her forever. 1 (19m 36s): She experienced love from Jesus, grace, from Jesus power from Jesus and, and she was no longer an outcast, no longer unclean, no longer sick, but she was brand new in Jesus name. I pray for each of us. Lord that we'd be brand new in Jesus name, be brand new in Jesus name, Lord God, whatever it is that we're up against have been up against, have dealt with, have failed in Lord God. We are in you now. And that's what matters, Lord God. So if you're here today and you, you, you need Jesus. Just call out to him. 1 (20m 18s): He's as near as your next breath, your next word, you call him the name of the Lord. Jesus Christ. You shall be saved, welcomed into his family and loved unconditionally and wonderfully. So let Jesus know that you need him and that you want him and then walk them into your life. Maybe you need to welcome him into your life. A fresh today because circumstantially you've been distant him or even Cheryl Lynn talked about, maybe disappointed, disgruntled, welcome him in welcoming, back into your life. 1 (20m 59s): He promises never to leave you nor forsake you. He loves you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We love you. Thank you for this time. Lord bless the word and we pray, blessed it to our spirits Lord and bless it to our minds and bless it to our lives. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. You can be seated. Thanks team. Appreciate that. Very much. Very powerful word. We're continuing our study on faith today. So title of the message is faith believes God is sovereign. And so in light of those things, I'm going to talk about a couple of things in light of the fact that we believe as believers, as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, that he is sovereign, that God is sovereign. 1 (21m 46s): That simply means he's the Supreme ruler over all things. That means nothing is outside of his control. Nothing is outside of his realm to influence to direct. And so we're asking God to do a couple things today. We're, we'll be talking to you about our new space at one oh two west branch, one minute walk from here. It's the old something different building before that it was the wardrobe building before that it was bank of America back to 1952 when it was built. And so more in the process of kind of navigating some stuff with the city right now. So this is what I want you to pray about specifically. Remember I've said, Hey, can we pray every day? Like every day for this process, because things just come up and we need to pray through the process. 1 (22m 30s): And so the hurdle that we're up against now is a hurdle that I thought we had squared away. It was the parking hurdle because the city needs to make sure there's enough parking for that new space over there. They're saying, Hey, you need to come up with 60 parking spaces. And so we thought we had remedied with parking the parking lot across the street. But now they're saying that shared parking on Sunday morning. So anyway, I have gone back and forth with the city no less than like 20 times. And I'm a bit exasperated at this point. I don't know if you've ever been there. So I wrote an email to the city. 1 (23m 10s): I prayed about it first. I said, Lord, what do I do? Right? Like, what's next? Right? So I praying, I'm saying Lord, so this is me typing an email. So I said, Patrick, he's our planner, good guy, by the way, very good guy. This parking situation is getting ridiculous period. The truth is, I said, I'm still typing my email. I said, the truth is our people who will be attending Sunday morning services will be parking where they have been parking parking for the last 16 years at our spot at one 24 west branch, which is place here and at the village center village center has given us parking on Sunday mornings for free for the last 16 years. 1 (23m 52s): So I said, the truth is that's where our people will be parking. So there's not actually a real need for additional parking. So I'm asking that you guys would reconsider and think through your position because with a simple decision from the city, we can move past this and get moving with our project. So I said, sincerely, Steve. And so a few hours go by and I don't, I don't hear from Patrick. And then so like maybe I overstepped, but I prayed. So I'm thinking I'm okay. So, and I was gracious. I wasn't angry in the email. I wasn't, I was gracious. 1 (24m 32s): I was gracious. So he responds back, Steve, I totally understand you're there. You're frustrated with this situation. He said, I'm going to call a meeting with the city managers on Monday that's tomorrow, so that we can try to navigate this with you, for you so that you can, so we can move past this. And so with that, I want us to pray together today that God would open the door for that. One of our partner ministries ministry that we partner is coastal Christian school. They're also up against a situation with their facility and they're asking that people sign a petition. So this petition is actually available out there at the welcome center. It's a petition to approve an expansion of their conditional use permit, which allows them to put an, a gym on their property and multipurpose buildings and that sort of thing. 1 (25m 22s): So we're gonna pray for them. And I'm going to ask you to go out and sign there. They're looking for a thousand signatures from churches across the central coast, which I don't think it'll be a problem at all, but if you can sign the petition and then pray for them as well, that would be great. So with that, let's go ahead and stand up is what I'm going to ask of you. I'm going to ask that you would pray for CCS and pray for the parking meeting tomorrow for harvest shirt and, and ask that you would come up here and do it. So come up to Vox one 21. This is box one, by the way, box ones. 1 (26m 3s): There it is. So if you're in the campus somewhere else, like at the loft or in the, on the patio and you'd like to come pray, I'd like people to come and pray into the microphone, into the screen so that people at the rest of the campus can see what we're doing and see online and know what we're feeling know what's going on. Otherwise 2 (26m 22s): It's just kind of a dead noise and people can't hear what's going on. So I'm going to pray. And then I'm going to invite you guys to come up and fray into the microphone on the platform and nothing to be worried about 1 (26m 34s): The world wide 2 (26m 36s): Web, we'll be recording everything that you say, 1 (26m 39s): And everybody who's watching online 2 (26m 41s): Will be ridiculing and criticized or your prayers. Now I'm just kidding. 1 (26m 45s): They will be praying with you in agreement 2 (26m 48s): With your prayer. So as I pray, I want to invite you guys to come up forward, come forward and do the same thing. We're just going to take a few minutes to pray and just trust the Lord here. So Lord, we pray right now in Jesus name for his coastal Christian school, we pray that they would get their thousands of signatures on their petition and beyond that, that they would get their approval for their conditional use permit to add to their campus so that they can have the space that they need and be able to expand as their, their capacity. The number of students that they have, I think has doubled in the last year. And so they're in desperate need of more space. And so we pray that you'd bless 1 (27m 23s): Them with more space, with resources 2 (27m 26s): To build on their current property and blessings from the city and the county, Lord God. So take care of them. We pray Lord. And we pray for this meeting tomorrow with the city managers, whoever they may be. I, I don't know who is all going to be involved in the meeting, but for this me, this parking meeting tomorrow, we pray the God that you would remedy that for us in Jesus name, we pray that you would give us favor that you would go before us God, that you would open the doors and, and just, just pave the way for us to move forward with our project. Lord God. And as we have a new architect on the, on the project, Lord, we pray that you would bless him, that his company would be able to turn the plans around quickly. 2 (28m 6s): Lord, that would be able to get, get those into the city and that the city would give us our building permits. And we built be able to move forward with the plan, with the idea, the hope to be opened by Christmas Eve, Lord. So we just pray for your wisdom. We thank you for it, Lord. Thank you. Who else be bold? Come on up here. Don't make me wait. Just get up here. There we go. Gary Tucker. So here you got to stand right here up on the platform. Father. We just thank you, Lord, that your word tells us there is nothing too hard for you and you will do exceeding, abundantly above all that we could ask or imagine Lord, you are God almighty. As we sung this morning and we pray, you'd move the hearts of everybody involved Lord in this decision. 2 (28m 52s): And we trust God, you're going to allow us to move forward. Or parking is nothing for you. You own the whole world Lord. So we just pray father that you would work it out and have them agree that we're going to be able to still park where we haven't been parking more. And we're trusting you for the rest in Jesus name. 1 (29m 13s): Thanks Gary. Who else? Who else? Who else get up here? Don't make Berio come on up. You got a word for us too, David. All right. Speaking to that. 2 (29m 26s): Awesome. Cool. So Lord, we just cleaned to your word right now. God, because we know that your promises are true. And so in John 14, 11 through 14, God, you say, believe me, when I say I am in the father and the father's in me or at themselves, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I've been doing. And they will do even greater works than these because I'm going to the father and I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the father may be glorified in the son. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. Father. We know that you say ask and you shall receive God seeking. You will find knock and the door will be open. God. We know that if we ask for a stone, you won't give us a serpent. God. So father right now is your children. 2 (30m 6s): God, we just petition have him saying, Lord, we know that you want to partner with us. God, we know you want to partner with us in the expansion of what you're doing here. God, because you know, this is kingdom business. God. So father, we just commit this project to you. We already know it's in your hands Lord that you are the God of the impossible Jesus father. We know that we've seen time and time again, where things seemed impossible that you came through, like after the destruction of Solomon's temple, Godwin was unable to be built again, Lord, with the few workers and the few materials you were the one who rebuilt it. God. So Jesus, we trust this with you. God, we say this is nothing like the last guy. This is nothing for you, father. We don't even break a sweat because we trust our father. 2 (30m 48s): So God we thank you for the grace and the meeting tomorrow. God, we thank you that you would just move their hearts with your holy spirit Jesus in Jesus name. Amen. 1 (30m 58s): Hey man. Thanks brother. Appreciate it. Who's next? Who's next? Come on. Up here. Right, Diego. Right there. There we go, 2 (31m 13s): Father. I just want to thank you for harvest campus. I want to thank you for coastal Christian and the work that you've already done at each campus. Lord and father, father expansion is coming. It's your expansion, Lord father. I thank you again for the work that you've done and father, I thank you ahead of time that this expansion will come. I think you ahead of time that your kingdom is coming, that your kingdom is expanding father. 2 (31m 56s): Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Amen. Come on up. Stand up here. 3 (32m 12s): Thank you father. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My heart is bubbling and full of joy because the city knows we're going to grow and they're worried about where are they going to put us? Praise you, father praise you, father, that you are letting this town know that you are on the move or God, I just praise you. I praise you. I praise you. I can't wait to see. I can't wait to see all the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. You're going to bring both here and to coastal Christian academy, praise your name, father 1 (32m 45s): More. Anybody else? Linda, come on. What'd you stand right up here. Here we go, 3 (33m 3s): Father, God, I am just so excited because maybe the world sees us as a problem. But this is an answer to prayer because we have been praying that the work of harvest would go forth through the city and it airs and it has, and we keep growing and growing because of your grace, Lord God. And so we're not looking at this as a trial, even Lord, because this is part of the joy that we are experiencing because of your growth. And we know that you have answered our prayer and desires to continue to let us grow Lord. And so we know that you're going to provide a way for us to expand. And so far this event, Lord. So we just stand in agreement together, everyone right now, who is praying, we stand in agreement against anything the enemy would try to do to prevent this from happening. 3 (33m 53s): Lord, we stand together and you have told us where two or more are gathered. There you are in our midst Lord and where we got a lot more than two or morally here, Lord. So we stand together. We praise you. We honor you. And we say, Lord, bring the blessings. We receive it in your name. 1 (34m 10s): Amen. Joy. Come on up. Thanks Sheila or Linda. Sheila's the other one. 3 (34m 20s): God, you're awesome. You're a mighty God. Your control. We praise your name and we thank you. We thank you for this opportunity. It's who cut to worship you and to grow our faith. God would you, would you deepen our faith and brute us in your love that our church would grow and be on fire for you? God that this, this is so this is so little as it, as it's been mentioned before it God, this is so nothing is just a drop in the bucket, but God, this is a way to grow our faith. And I pray that you would, you would grow us as a church. You would encourage us through this, that you would strengthen our pastors and our elders and deacons through this there, this trial, God that you you're in control God, you are unstoppable. 3 (35m 11s): This whole nuts top here where your word. So we praise your name now. 1 (35m 16s): Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Let's give the Lord anybody, anybody. All right. So my, my, my belief is that I'll come back next Sunday with a good report. So be seriously being praying all week long, but especially today and tomorrow, I'm not sure what time the meeting is, but be praying and the Lord do what he's going to do. Amen. And then yeah, you can be seated. There we go. You can be seated. God bless you guys. So as I mentioned in the prayer, we've got a new architect. The original architect was great. Christian loves Jesus, but so busy. So she said, Hey, I'm a couple of months out before I can even get to it. 1 (35m 57s): So then I met another architect last Saturday, just by accident, kind of happenstance, if there's any such thing. And he said, Hey, I can turn this project around quickly. And so he had a meeting with him and talked with the other architect and she said, yeah, if he can do it quicker, let him let him do it. And so he took it over and it's in the works now. So now we're hoping to get some plans here in the next couple of weeks versus a couple of months. And then those plans go to the city for plan approval and for permit issuing. And so we're hoping that doesn't take three months, like they're saying it could possibly take three months, but ultimately our plan is to be in the new kind of thought. 1 (36m 37s): It would be like Christmas Eve would be a great opportunity entity to have Christmas Eve service in there. So that's like six months away. It's already six months into this year. So time goes so incredibly fast. So in, in the beginning I was a little frustrated, but six months is quick. It's going to get there before we know it. So be praying for God's timing, but then also God's provision. So all along, we've just said, if you feel like you want to be a part of it, then here, here from the Lord and just be obedient. The price actually is, has gone up significantly. I don't know about you guys, but every time we do a remodel, the price goes from one number to another number we Jolene and I, we remodeled our house a couple of years ago, price doubled in the time of the remodel. 1 (37m 22s): When we remodeled this sanctuary 16 years ago, the price started out at like 35,000 and went up to like $85,000. So we're looking probably closer to $225,000 for that remodel. Originally it was like 125. Now it's probably closer to two 25 cost of materials. Everything is high right now. If you've done any kind of building right now, you know, everything is very, very expensive. Yeah. So, so, but we believe that God is faithful. Just like he was when we did this project, 16 years ago, we had 60 people on the jury 16 years ago and we did the project. Debt-free now we've got more than 10 times that, and we're believing for God to do the same thing. So if you'd like to join us and be a part of that, just, you know, be a part of what God is doing. 1 (38m 8s): God has been so faithful. I don't know if you guys realize God's faithfulness through your obedience. The church, when we planted the church, our budget, literally our budget every month was $1,500. Cause we rented a little school and I was working full time and we had a worship leader that we gave a stipend to, but it was really like 1500 bucks a whole month. Like it took him and we were like some months wondering if that was going happen, right? This, this year, we're watching God as he's been doing it every year for the last 16 years just increase what he provides for us this year. On average, we brought in $95,000 a month. 1 (38m 51s): So was like, you know, our old budget or original budget was 1500 for the month. Now it's bringing more than $3,000 every single day of the month. And so it's kind of interesting to see God's faithfulness. This last month was our, I think our biggest month ever, we brought in like $128,000. So, so God has response. I share that to say that God is responding to the need and there's a big need. So if you'd like to be a part of that, that then jump in, be a part of what, what God will do and watch what, how he blesses it. And anyway, with that, let's jump into Hebrews and continue to talk about faith. They amen. This'll be, we'll be wrapping up our faith study of Hebrews, be weaving it into the messages going forward. 1 (39m 31s): But Hebrews chapter 11 verses 35 through 40, as part of the examples of faith that we've been studying. We see one more story of God's faithfulness to his people of faith. So we pick it up in verse 35 and then we go into 36, 37, 38, 39 40 in those closing verses of chapter 11 are pretty difficult. In fact, I didn't want to preach this message today because like I said, Lord, I want to encourage the people with faith. And I don't want you to discourage them with the last part of Hebrews 11, but there's, there's a purpose in us communicating the whole counsel of God's word. 1 (40m 12s): And so we communicate the whole counsel of God's word because God uses the whole counsel of his word to instruct us and to grow us up in our most holy faith. And so as we get to the end of Hebrews 11, we're going to see examples of God's faithfulness to his people of faith that looks different than we might imagine. Like we so far we've been studying about God's profound impact in the world because people of faith have stepped up. We're going to actually see the people of God go under severe persecution for their faith. Many of them giving their lives for their faith. And in the midst of that, we see the faithfulness of God because we don't carry just a temporal earthly perspective. 1 (40m 56s): We carry this eternal perspective where we believe that this life in the earth is important, but also what we do for eternity matters. And so we're living not just for this life, but for the life eternal as well. And so when we have that kind of perspective, it changes things. So the long game is that we don't live for this life alone, but for the one to come also even more so, but we'll get there in a few minutes. Let's look at Hebrews 1135 as we wrap up this study of faith and God's faithfulness. So, so far we've talked about all kinds of people, right? We've talked about Abel Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses parents. 1 (41m 37s): We've talked about Moses. We've talked about the people of Israel, Ray Hab, Daniel Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. We've talked about Gideon and we've talked about all of these people of faith. And now we'll spend some time on the story of this nameless widow in verse 35. Oh and Elijah. We'll talk about Elijah. In fact, we're going to talk a lot about Elijah as we get into this text. So Hebrews 1135 says, and again, this is after all of those other stories of faith, he says women received their loved ones back again from death. So let's take, take a look at one of those stories relating to this, this verse first Kings chapter 17. It says this now Elijah, who is from Tisha and Gilly ad told king Ahab. 1 (42m 23s): As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, the God I serve, listen to his competence, right? This was a man of faith. He understood that he heard from God and he was committed to obeying God. So he said, listen. As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel lives, the God I serve, there will be no Dew or rain the next few years until I give the word, no, do no rain for the next few years until I give the word. So we declares this to the king and stands firm. Why? Because he's heard, I heard from the Lord, number one, God directs the elements. 1 (43m 10s): We, we have to believe that God is sovereignly in charge of everything, or he's not sovereignly in charge of anything, right? We believe that God directs the elements he told. He told the prophet, it's not going to do. There's not going to be any Dew or rain for the next few years until you the word we, we, we have to expand our capacity to believe God for things that maybe we wouldn't have believed God for in the past, God directs the element. Remember Jesus calmed the storm, right? Because he directs the album. Remember when Jesus walked on the water because he controls the elements. 1 (43m 51s): So he's in charge of everything. He controls everything. Then the Lord said to Elijah, go to the east and hide by Karath Brook near where it enters the Jordan river, drink from the Brook and eat Raven, eat what you want the Ravens bring you for. I have commanded them to bring you food. That verse tells me that God directs the wildlife. He doesn't just direct the elements, but he directs the wildlife. So he's Elijah. Here's some, the Lord and God tells me to go by this body of water, this Brook and eat what the Ravens give you, because God's gonna provide for you through the Ravens and through this water. 1 (44m 35s): And so God directs the wildlife. How do we know this is true. Look at Noah's Ark. You ever wonder how all those animals got into the arc? I mean, how much work would it have had been if Noah had to go around and gather up all of the animals, right? But this is what it says in Genesis six 20 God told Noah pairs of every kind of bird and every kind of animal and every kind of small animal that scurries along the ground, we'll come to you. We'll come to you to be kept alive. God directs the elements and he directs wildlife. He can direct every aspect and element of your life. If you just let him, if you just trust him, he can direct and provide and take care of all of your needs. 1 (45m 16s): Back to first Kings verse five, five says, so we lied. Yah did, as the Lord told him it can't beside Kira Brook, Easton. Jordan. What happened you suppose is brought him bread and meat each morning and evening. So I think about the people of Israel wandering through the wilderness for how long, 40 years and every day they wake up and there's fresh manna on the ground. Why? Because God is faithful to do what he says. He's going to do. He's he's providing for this prophet through the Raven to bring bread and meat every day. And he drank from the Brook. But after a while, the Brook dried up, why did the Brook dry up? 1 (45m 59s): Because there was no more do and no more rain because God stopped the do. And he stopped the rain and it wasn't going to come back until Eliza spoke the word. And so everything that God says in his word is unfolding before our very eyes. And this is true. Whether we see it in our own personal lives or not, we can see the faithfulness of God unfold as we trust him and believe him doing what he asks us to do. But after a while, the Brook dried up for there was no rainfall call anywhere in the land. Number three, we're seeing how God is speaking to Elijah. Number three, in your notes, God directs people he's speaks to people. 1 (46m 43s): Then the Lord said to Elijah, verse eight, then the Lord said to Elijah, what has God been saying to you lately? What has he been speaking to you lately? What has he been communicating for your soul lately? I think God wants to speak to us. I think he wants to speak to you. Then the Lord said to Elijah, go and live in the village of Zerephath near the city of side-on. I have instructed a widow there to feed you. So now no longer is the bird of the Raven going to feed him. But this widow is going to feed him and it, and it doesn't even make sense that this widow would meet him because the winter doesn't have a resource to feed him. But this is what happened. So he went to zero path and see arrived at the gates of the village. 1 (47m 25s): He saw a widow because God was speaking to him. And so it wasn't coincidence that he saw a widow, God spoken, directed that widow to do what she was doing so that when the prophet showed up, Elijah sees the widow. See, he arrived at the gates of the, of the village. He saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, would you please bring me a little water in a cup? And she was going to, as she was going to get it, he called to her, bring me a bite of bread. But she said first, well, I swear by the Lord, your God that I don't have a single piece of bread in the house. 1 (48m 9s): Okay. Why would God direct Elijah to this widow who didn't have any bread? If she was the one responsible to feed him while he was there, he's unfolding his plan. He's unfolding his plan. It's like the, the, the offerings of the, of the widow. She, she gave all that. She had, she, she provided the Lord everything that she had as an act of worship. And now this widow, woman's going to have the opportunity. We need to do the same thing. I swear by the Lord, your God, that I don't have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking wheel in the bottom of the jug. 1 (48m 53s): I was just gathering if you six to cook the last meal and then my son and I will die. But Elijah said to her, don't be afraid. You're you're out your external circumstances, your outward circumstances. Don't have to dictate how you deal with life. We need to who in those desperate moments, reach it, cry out to the Lord and say, okay, God, I'm in this desperate place, much like Carolyn was talking about I'm in this desperate place. What are you going to do now? And then just watch what the Lord will do and obey, listen and obey. Don't be afraid. Go ahead and do just what you said, but make a little bread for me first. 1 (49m 35s): How selfish is Elijah? Right? I know you're going to die. I know you only got a little bit, but make me a little bread, right? Do you think that was a lie, led you to being selfish? This was Alijah being used by the Lord to test her faith all throughout scripture in the old and the new Testament, we're called to give God our very best. The very first fruit of our offering. We're called to do what he's asked us to do with obedience and faith. Believing that he's going to come through in a supernatural way. He said, then use, what's left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says. 1 (50m 17s): There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again, there will always be all of oil and flour for how long, as long as the Lord wills. It said it wasn't gonna rain for a few years. And so God was going to take this meager bit of loyal and flour and multiply it because this is what he always does. And we always see that he's in charge of number four. God has power over in animate objects, lifeless objects. 1 (50m 59s): God has power. Even over those things. We see it. When he feeds the multitudes, he feeds the multitudes twice. One time, he feeds 5,000 plus women and children. The next time he feeds 4,000 plus women and children. Each time they gathered up baskets of leftovers. Yeah. Beers that they actually gathered up more at the end than they had in the beginning, because God has power over in adamant. Yes, we need to believe that he will provide supernaturally. When he asks us to do something, our tendency is like, Lord, I'm I'm down to the end of it. 1 (51m 39s): Like, this is all I've got. Whether it be money or time or whatever it is, Lord, I don't have the ability to give. And it's probably in that moment that he asks you to give. In fact, I love it. I'll just say, Lord, I don't want to be tested in this, but I do love when sometimes I say stuff and I get tested on it, like immediately. And so I'm putting a disclaimer, Lord, I don't want to be tested in this area, but I love it. Like when we're at the end of our resource, either as a church search or in our family and the Lord says, give what you have leftover, give it away and watch what I will do. 1 (52m 19s): So, number of years ago, we were trying to buy this property and we tried to raise money and we couldn't raise any money. I've shared this story before, but I'll share it again because it's fun. So we had worked hard. We tried to raise money. This is like two, $2 million property or whatever. And we're trying to raise money. We need at least 15 or 20% down or whatever. So that all of our money, we raised $15,000. Boy, they all of our money. That's all we get raised, right? Hardly anything. It doesn't put a dent in things, but CCS is also raising money for their facility. So we said, let's take our $15,000 and give it to CCS. Clearly we don't have enough money to do anything, but maybe it will help them. 1 (53m 3s): So we go down the road a little bit longer and, and this place, we were raising money for this place when it did come available, but it still wasn't available to us. But the house next door became available and we needed to raise, I don't know, a hundred thousand dollars or something like that to, to buy that house next door. Cause it was like $470,000 or whatever. So we needed to raise like, I dunno like 8,000, whatever the number was. It does. It doesn't matter. God provided that money. Like immediately. It's like there was no effort needed at all. We, we had, after we gave that money to CCS, we just started raising money again. And all of a sudden we had a hundred thousand dollars. We're like 98,000 bucks or something like that. So when we needed money, my coffee, when we needed money for that place, God provided it for us because we, we took our measly $15,000 that we had, which wasn't a much DAS, but it blessed them. 1 (53m 56s): And we gave it away and God provided and, and took care of the need for that. And then when a couple of years later, when this place became available, we needed it. We had remodeled that place and the value went up like, I don't know, 150 or $200,000. And so the value of increase, they're putting these properties together. We hardly had to raise any money at all. We raised a little bit of money that we did need to raise so that we could put the down payment on this property. So God love it, leverage that property. So we get out, buy this property. Now we owe, we own like $3 million in property in the beginning. Remember our budget was $1,500 every month, right? 1 (54m 37s): And, and then I'm going to camp out on this for a bit here. We, we wanted to rent this facility. It wasn't for sale. Yet. We wanted to rent this space and it was $3,000 a month, 3000 that's twice what our budget was 3000 bucks. And we were still renting the school because we needed a place to meet while we were renovating this place. So now we're at 4,500 bucks. About the same time we started renting other space. And at the same time that board said, Hey, we need you on full time to, to run the projects we're remodeling and building and painting and doing all that kind of stuff. So I came on full-time when the church has 60 people in it and the church was able to pay me plus pay this plus pay for everything else that we were doing. 1 (55m 24s): And we've never looked back. That was 16 years ago that we made the decisions to move here. And we've been able to renovate space and build space and all kinds of stuff. So God's been faithful because this is what God had done as period is faithful period. And he will call us to do unreasonable things so that he might do supernatural things. Let's go back to first Kings. I'm totally out of time here. It says a matter. And we're going to keep going. Let's order some pizza in, and then I'll just keep preaching until like three years, verse 15. 1 (56m 5s): So she did, as Elijah said, she, this is where it starts. Like, what is the Lord saying? This widow who was on her last meal, preparing to die. She did, as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. There was always enough flour and all of oil left in the containers. Just as the Lord had promised through Elijah, sometime later, the woman's son became sick. He grew worse and worse. And finally he died. Then she said to Elijah, oh man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son. But Elijah replied, give me your son. 1 (56m 45s): Then he took the child's body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying and laid the body on his bed. Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, oh Lord, my God. Why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me causing her son to die. And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, oh Lord my God. Please let this child's life return to him. What happened? The Lord heard Elijah's prayer, right? The Lord heard Elijah's prayer and the life of the child returned. And he revived. Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. 1 (57m 24s): Look. He said, your son is alive. Have you ever been in the room when somebody died? And when somebody has expired, it's not awesome. The person is dead lifeless. The warmth of their body is leaving them. And they're becoming this cold lifeless shell. It's not fun. This is what happened to this woman, her son, she's a widow. She's already lost her home. He's dead. And then God shows up and got it. 1 (58m 5s): The stores him saying, man, it brings the back to him. And he said, look, your son is alive. I share that because God has the power over life and death. And I want to say physically, but also spiritually. And some of us need to hear that spiritually. He's got power over life and desk because some of you are feeling dead spiritually, and God wants to resurrect your, your spiritual life. God wants to resurrect your spiritual life so that you're feeling alive again. But this is how it's going to happen. It's going to happen as you step out in faith, in obedience to do whatever it is that God has asked you to do. So what I'm, I'm not even talking about the building. I don't care about the building. 1 (58m 45s): I know that God's going to take care of the building. What I'm saying is whatever God has asked you to do. The last thing he's asked you to do to go back to that thing and then watch as you will be gently do what he's asked you to do. Watch the spiritual life in you. Refresh. I talked with a guy yesterday, Friday, talked to the guy Friday and heard from a guy Friday. He was sharing kind of a story. And he had gone through a terrible divorce. His wife left him, took his sons, moved out of state. He had no custody. He had no ability to see his kids. And, and it went on like this for, for a decade. I think it was a decade. He was driving in his truck one day and he felt like the Lord said, you need to call your wife's husband and apologize to him for the way that you have treated him during this, this time. 1 (59m 33s): And oh, by the way, you need to apologize to your wife as well. And he's like, you have got to be kidding me. And he decided to do it. So he calls the son to get a stepdad's his son stepdad's phone number. And he said, Hey, God's done a work in my life. And I just want to call and apologize to you for the way that I've acted and the way that I've lived before you. And if it's all right with you, I'd like to call your wife, my ex-wife and apologize to her as well. And he did. And the Lord completely reconciled that family. You didn't get remarried to his wife, none of that. But they, they had a relationship. 1 (1h 0m 15s): He was able to be at his son's high school graduation, sitting at the family table. There was his son was able to forgive him. His son had been angry with him for a decade, I think is what he said for a decade, for the way that his father had been acting in God, through that obedience reconciled the whole family. What is God asking you to do? That seems impossible. That doesn't seem like it's going to bear any fruit. And it seems like something that you're not even interested in doing. If God is asking you to do it, go back to that. You might be feeling spiritually separated from God. Spiel is spiritually dry because you're just flat refusing to be obedience. God cannot bless disobedience. He will not bless disobedience. 1 (1h 0m 56s): God can resurrect your spiritual life. He's got power over life and death physically, spiritually Jesus raised gyrus daughter from the dead mark five raised a widow's son from the dead in Luke chapter seven, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and John chapter 11, Jesus himself was raised from the dead. And we see Elijah raising this widow woman's son from the dead. Then the woman told Elijah, I know for sure that you are a man of God and that the Lord surely speaks through you. So we've heard a lot of amazing stories of God's faithfulness, but the reality is number six, in your notes God's plan. Doesn't always unfold. As we expect God's plan. 1 (1h 1m 37s): Doesn't always unfold as we expect. So let's take a look at how, how his plan, and I'll say his plan unfolded in the, in the lives of these people. So now I'm not saying that God had caused what happened with he allowed it and he's been glorified through it. Others who didn't experience the victory, like we've been talking about others, tortured refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They place their hope and a better life. After the resurrection, somewhere jeered at and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons, some died by stonings and were sawed in half and others were killed with the somewhat about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute, and oppressed and mistreated. 1 (1h 2m 25s): They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground around just as a for instance, this is how the 12 apostles died. And I'm going to give you kind of the rundown here real quickly though. I hear so often I want a first century Christ experience like people like I want to do you really want a first century Christ experience because what you will get is what they got. Some of our hardest decisions as Christians is, do I go to the nine o'clock service or do I go to the 11 o'clock service? Right? Do I go to, you know, out to her Mexican food after order? 1 (1h 3m 7s): Or do I get pizza afterward? You know, what, what sporting event do I watch on the television afterward? You know, where, where do I, my wife and I go out to dinner. I mean, those are, these are the things that we wrestle with. This is not first century Christianity. This is first century Christianity. This is how the 12 apostles died. Ad. This is from the, the voice of the martyrs or excuse me, Fox's book of martyrs to book. Andrew was crucified, but he wasn't just, he was crucified in an X shaped cross and he wasn't nailed to the X shape cross. He was actually tied to the cross to, to extend the time that it would take for him to actually die because you're, you're hanging and it's causing you to suffocate and you have to push up to get a breath. 1 (1h 3m 58s): And then you're useless. He just suffocate. So while he was dying and it took days for him to die, what was he doing? He was preaching to passers by people who would go by watch and mock him. He was preaching the gospel. Andrew was crucified, Bartholomew beaten, then crucified, James son of Alphaeus was stoned to death. Others think that James son of Alphaeus was actually crucified in lower Egypt and then sod in pieces. So it wasn't good enough that they crucified him. They cut him in pieces. You really want to first century Christianity, this is what you're going to get here. 1 (1h 4m 42s): James son of Zebedee was beheaded, just like the apostle. Paul says Paul John exile for his faith died of an old age, but they did try to kill him. They put them in a VAT of oil, boiling oil, trying to kill him, but like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace, nothing happened to him. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fiery furnaces. They didn't even smell like a barbecue, but they'd been in the furnace, right? John, the apostle John Kent comes out of the boiling oil. He's got no, no injuries. He will not die while he's in the Calder. And his historian said that while he was there, he was actually preaching the gospel. 1 (1h 5m 22s): They're like, get him out of there. Exile him to the island of Patmos, where he can't have anybody preach to you. So while he's there though, God's got a purpose for them. Jesus reveals that revelation to him. He writes revelation, the book of revelation and the rest is history out of an old age. But after living his whole life for Jesus Judas, not a scary. He was stoned to death. Matthew was speared to death. Peter crucified upside down, Phillip was crucified. Simon crucified, Thomas, a spirits of death and Matthias was stoned to death. So that's kind of, that's what happens. All these people earned a good reputation. 1 (1h 6m 2s): The scripture says verse 30 and all these people are in a good reputation because of their faith. Yet none of them received all that God had promised forgot. It's something better in mind for us so that they would not reach perfection without us remember back in Hebrews chapter 11, verses 13 through 16. I think we covered this week too, in our studies in Hebrew and Hebrews, it says, all these people died. Still believing what God is. I promised them they did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on the earth. And that that's the perspective of the first century church and needs to be our perspective of the 21st century church that we are. 1 (1h 6m 44s): This is not our home. We are foreigners and nomads were passing through with the sole purpose of glorifying God in our lives waves for the life to come for all eternity. They were foreigners and nomads here on the earth. Obviously, people who say such things are looking forward to a country. They called their own. If they had long for the country, they came from, they could have gone back, but they were looking for a better place, a heavenly Homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God for. He has repaired a city for them. So number six, God's planned. Isn't always what we expect it to be. Let me get there again. God's plan is not always, does not always unfold as we expect, but number seven in your notes, as we wrap this thing up, God's plan can always be trusted. 1 (1h 7m 34s): God's plan can always be trusted. So if you're at a crossroads in your life and you're just perplexed by God and what he has done or what he has allowed, go back to your big picture, long game plan and perspective and say, okay, God, clearly things are unfolding for me the way I think that they should unfold. What is your long game? I've been praying for the Methodist camp for 16 years. You guys have been praying with me for the Methodist camp that God would give us that Methodist. It's 29 acres back there for 16 years. And God hasn't seen fit to give it to us yet. Right? Things don't always unfold. The way that we hope that they would unfold difficult, have hit our family, things that we didn't expect or wouldn't welcome in, in a million years, but things have happened. 1 (1h 8m 22s): And we got to believe that God is in control. He is unfolding things. So don't lose heart before you see the answer. Don't lose heart. Before you see the answer. Did I read Hebrews 11, 13 through 16? Did I finish that? I didn't. Okay. They were looking for a better place at heavenly Homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God for. He has prepared a city for them. God is what has got up to in your life. I know what he's up to you. I think in the church and I'm trying to figure out what he's up to in my life as well. What does he have to in your life two weeks ago? 1 (1h 9m 4s): I said by faith, we will, by faith, I will. We asked you and challenge you to fill in the blank. And then we had people come up and talk about my faith. They will. What is it that by faith, God is taking you through and you will do, will you choose to be obedient? We choose to love him. We, she used to be faithful to him. Will you choose to do what he's asked you to do? Whatever that ask may be. I promise you this. If you do that, your spirit, your spirit spiritually, you will come alive again, where you've been struggling spiritually. You will, you will begin to come alive. Like you've never been alive before. Just simply confess your sin and say, Lord, I I've not done. What you asked me to do. 1 (1h 9m 45s): I'm going back to what you asked me to do. And I'm going to do that thing. And then moving forward, I'm going to do what you asked me to do was with that. Let's go and stand up because really that's what Christianity is all about. We follow Jesus. He says something. We obey it. That's Christianity. There's if it's, if your Christianity is something other than that, it's not Christianity. It's just not Christianity. So what is it that God is asking you to do? Speak it out? Anybody? What is it that God is asking you to do? Serve him. Good. Yeah. Specifically? What does that look like? Anything specifically? 1 (1h 10m 28s): Yeah. All right. Good. How about perfect. Perfect. Who else? There you go. All right. What else? Serving children. Good. Who else? Serving marriages. How long are you going to do that? Until I die? He says, what else? Healing. The sick. Awesome. What else? Preach the gospel. So real quick. David's the one that prayed for my knee. I'm running. I've been running ever since. So it's a win brother. Good for you. Good for God. 1 (1h 11m 8s): What else? Teaching Bible says, is there anything new that you like Lord's put on your heart? Anything new? Okay. All right. All right. Giving, giving more each week to what God is doing in the church. I repeat so that people online can hear and see people at other places. What else? All right. Awesome. Awesome. Just make yourself available for media skills, mediation. 1 (1h 11m 49s): Okay. Now. Okay. Good mediation. Well, thank you very much. What's your name? Donna. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. What else? Anybody else? It's gotta be something burning in you right now that you're afraid to say. You're afraid to say it, that's it? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. A cattle helping people helping to be a catalyst that people might share the gospel downtown. Very good. Something else is burning in your soul that, you know, if you don't say it, you're not going to be obedient to it, helping with the coffee. 1 (1h 12m 32s): So that's wonderful. We need more of that by the way more, more coffee. Elbers anybody else on the platform? Anybody come on, there's gotta be one more like big thing that the Lord has said. One more, one more. Who is it? Great. Good, wonderful, good stuff, Laura. Thank you for what you're speaking to us. We want to say by faith, we're going to do that for eating those things that lie behind straining forward. The things that lie I had, Lord God. So we just pray Jesus, that you would help us by faith to step into those supernatural plans. 1 (1h 13m 15s): Lord use us mightily. We pray, help us smiley. We pray. Thank you for your grace in Jesus name amen. Hey man, let's worship. 1 (1h 13m 22s): 0 (1h 14m 25s): . 0 (1h 17m 45s): helping you this morning to lead us this week. 0 (1h 22m 10s): Take those steps towards those things are challenging us to be brave, to be bold, to make a difference, to be salt and light in the earth, to extend your love to those around us. We thank you for this time to reset her off hurts on you to be ready to ground it in your word. Spend time in your presence and with one another to each other's burdens and reminding each other the truth. So would you seal these things upon our heart? We love you. Thank you for this time when your precious.

God's Call and Promise

0 (11s): Okay. I sing praises to your praises to your name that so much. Hi. Oh, . 0 (9m 38s): Thank you for your presence here this morning. Thank you for the joy in our hearts is welcoming you to come into move, to speak. This, make a life to refresh our souls latest beside those still waters. Thank you for mercies that are new today, your grace follows us coming out of your way in our hearts and our lives. 0 (10m 25s): We welcome you. We were all one Sloss, but now we're all found. And so we thank you, Lord reskilling, your amazing, amazing grace. We sing amazing grace together. Amazing how soon we see end first. 0 (14m 57s): One more time. 1 (15m 42s): Lord God, we come before you. Now we thank you for that amazing grace for it. Wasn't for your grace Lord, we would not be here. We would be nothing but the objects of your wrath. God, you pour out your grace abundantly upon us to bring us to faith in you and to sustain us from day to day, you pour out your grace in general, Lord God, over the whole world, you rain on the just, and the unjust we come our way. Thank you for that. Amazing, amazing grace. The penalty paid by Jesus that we might walk in freedom. 1 (16m 26s): Our chains gone and being, being set free. Thank you God that we can enter into your presence. We can boldly approach the throne of grace. We can come before you, Lord God, as your dearly, dearly beloved children. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Amen. And amen. Take two minutes. Steve gave you a five. I only get to preach once in a while. So you get the whole load today. 1 (17m 7s): So you only get two minutes to greet each other. So All right. 1 (18m 42s): Let's let's bring it back in. We're glad you're here this morning. If you're with us here in the sanctuary on the patio and the loft, or if you're watching us online, we, we really appreciate that you're with us today. I am Dave . I'm associate pastor here and pastor Steve and Jolene are taking some well-deserved time off. And so just kicking back and enjoying on this holiday weekend. Can you believe it's Memorial day boy, it comes around in a hurry, comes around in a hurry this morning, I'm going to be continuing with the theme of faith that Steve has been on. 1 (19m 26s): He's been preaching through Hebrews 11. I'm jumping back into the old Testament this morning and the prophet had guy and we're going to be looking at what God is speaking to the people of Israel. And I think it's a word for us for today. It's so easy folks to, to look at some of the things that have happened in the past. As you read scripture, as you are going through the word and, and you, you look at it as simply as a historical event, but you know, God is still speaking to us through those historical events and those words are still applicable to us today. 1 (20m 8s): So we want to look at what the prophet has to say here. Hey guy was a prophet during the time of the return to the promised land after the Babylonian captivity. And he and the Zechariah were the ones who were prophesying when the people had come back into the land and they're starting to get settled. And, and so here we're, we're picking up in our, in our story here about where the people are back there, settled in. They, they came and they, they kinda got things cleared a little bit, but they also got established. You know, we got to got to get there and you gotta start your farm, or you got to take over and get that vineyard cleaned out. 1 (20m 52s): So you can start producing again, those orchards, whatever it is that you're doing, we've got to get our sheep together, figure out what all this stuff clears some areas. So they've got placed to graze. It's not just, you know, living among the rubble and that sort of thing. And, and we got to have a place to live. And so we got to hear them, got to build their houses, and we've got to do all this kind of thing. And that this is what's been going on now for years and God sends the prophet to them. And he says, you know, you need to, if you notice how, when you, when you, you go, you scatter your seed. And when it comes harvest, you're expecting a lot. And there's only a little and you notice how there's blight and mildew and how your, your crops get knocked down by the weather. 1 (21m 40s): How you go to gather up the wine and there's not near as much as what you thought there was going to be. Yeah, you need to get busy about the business of God. You need to get busy about the, the kingdom of God and not just living your life, not just, not just go on around your day-to-day routine and everything and forgetting to build what I've called you to build. So he does that. The people obey and they start the process and then God comes back and he speaks to them a second time. 1 (22m 21s): And so we're going to pick up there in chapter two of hat guy, the first nine verses, here's the word of the Lord in the seventh month on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai, the prophet speak now to Zerubbabel son of Sheltie, Al governor of Judah and to Joshua son of Jozadak the high priest and to all the remnant of the people and say, who is left among you? Who saw this house in its former glory? They're starting to rebuild the temple. How do you see it now? Is it as nothing in your eyes yet? Now be strong as the rebel declares, the Lord be strong, oh, Josh have a Joshua son of Jehovah deck. 1 (23m 5s): The high priest be strong. All you people of the land declares, the Lord work for, I am with you declares the Lord of hosts. According to the covenant that I made with you. When you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. Fear, not for thus says the Lord of hosts yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine. And the gold is mine declares. The Lord of hosts. 1 (23m 45s): The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former says the Lord of hosts. And in this place, I will give peace declares. The Lord of hosts. God, we thank you for your word. Pray God that you would anoint it to our hearts, that you would speak down deep into us. Lord, even into me as I deliver this, I pray God that you would speak through me, that you would speak to the hearts of these who are are here right now. Lord, I know sometimes you speak words that I don't say and that's okay, but speak Lord, because we need to feast upon your word. 1 (24m 36s): We need to be nourished by you. Send us forth, Lord God, full of your word, full of your spirit, full of your truth, full of your love that we might see this world transformed and let us walk in faith to the praise of your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So God, here we see God's call and then God's promise. We're going to be looking at those two aspects of, of this today. And God's calling to his people here. There's a threefold. All right, we've already talked about they're back there. 1 (25m 18s): Now there they've been back for a long time. God's on them and said, Hey, let's get about the business that you're supposed to be doing here. And they get started building the temple. And so he gives them a three-fold call as encouragement to get started. Be strong, do the work fear not, or as I like to put it from looking at it from the other direction, have faith be strong, fear not have faith. So the first part of this calling he gives is to be strong. He gives them the word that they can do this because he has enabled them. God has given them all that they need to, to do the work that's ahead of them. 1 (26m 3s): He's giving them, given them the abilities he's given them. The, the, the strength that is there for them. That's why he says be strong. It's there already be strong walk in it. Walk in the strength that I have given you be strong as a rebel declares, the Lord be strong. Oh, Joshua son of Jozadak the high priest be strong. All you people of the land declares. The Lord notice here. God is calling every level of Hebrew society. He's calling Zerubbabel Zerubbabel's Bellm. My secretary at my old church, grew up the church and said, when she was little, the pastor who was there was whenever you come to those, those names, you can't pronounce just say tea, kettle. 1 (26m 50s): And so what teakettle son of teakettle well, no, it was the Ruby bell was, was there. He was direct descendant in the line of David through David's son. Nathan, you read it. He's he's in the genealogy of Joseph. He is, if there had been no captivity, he is one who is eligible to be sitting on the throne of David. He is there and, and that was known. And that's why when Cyrus sent them back to the land, told them they could go back and rebuild the temple. He was made governor because he was really in line to be king. 1 (27m 33s): And then Joshua, he says, be strong. Oh, Joshua Joshua was the high priest directly from errands line. He was next in line at if the Solomon's temple was still there, he would have been the high priest. So he was given that authority. First thing they did when they got back as built the altar. So they could start the sacrificial system again, even before they had the temple in place, but they had this system that, and now they're working and he's saying be strong. And we see Zerubbabel as, as the governor, as, as the king figure, you know, in our, in our church, say we can compare that to our elders, Steve and Ron and Neil and Jim and Gary, they carry the mantle of the leadership in the church today. 1 (28m 27s): They carry the mantle of, of having to discern the will of God for our body. And it's, it's a mantle that God has given them, but it's also a great responsibility and it's easy to be overwhelmed when you're in that position. I know I've been there and it's it's really, as you, you are trying to discern the mind of Christ. That's it? That's it huge. Wait. So we say, it's not a burden it's, but it is a weight. And, and as you, you carry that weight, you need to be strong. 1 (29m 8s): So God is calling Zerubbabel to be strong as the governance in the land, Josh, the high priest, I kind of likened him to the rest of the staff at church work Joshua's that he ministered before God and, and to the people, you know, he's the, the man in between going to God, going to the people and the, and as they do this, that's the function of a priest to do that, to stand, be the intermarriage intermediary between God and man, while the, the elders kind of give direction. And we mediate that to the people. And then, you know, sometimes we hear stuff and we bring it to the elders and bring back and we tattle on you, we test, but we take good things. 1 (29m 56s): We say, Hey, this is what we're hearing. I don't know if you're hearing this, but just, we need to be in communication one with another. And we've, as we carry out the ministry, as we do all the functions of the things that are going on in the church, and then there's the call for all the people of the land. You to be strong, walk in the strength and the enablement that God has given you, as we move forward. As we, we, we carry out the business of the kingdom of God, as we work towards the goals that our God has given us, this is what we're called to do. 1 (30m 41s): See Israel had been living just a fairly routine life, not unlike us today. We got back and this includes, I mean, the high priest was going about his business. was the governor he's going about his administrative business. People are going about their business farming store, owners, market, all this stuff. There probably weren't any computer specialists then, but other than that, there was, you know, all the normal day-to-day stuff of life, it was going on. And as they're doing this, they're pursuing their business. 1 (31m 23s): They're taking care of their own things. They're watching over their own houses. They're putting themselves and their needs before anything else. And unintentionally, as a result before God, we don't ever mean to put stuff before God, as followers of Jesus, we, we know what it is to be removed from, from the carrying the burden of sin. We have the weight of the responsibility of a follower of Jesus. But, but we understand that God is on the throne. God is Lord of all, God has made a way, but yet we're still dealing with this. 1 (32m 3s): And it's so easy to get caught up in the routine. And God kind of gets shoved to the side. We put him in his God box, we get them out each morning. When we open up our Bibles and spend a few, few minutes in prayer and in the word, we get them out again and let them stay out longer on Sundays. But other than that, he goes back in the God box and we get busy with life. see it's such typical behavior because our flesh wants to rise up. We get ourselves the rhythm of the world and we go with the flow of life and we follow the path of limited, if not least resistance, because there's a lot of resistance out there. 1 (32m 55s): And we do what Israel said over in chapter one that God spoke to them and said, yeah, you've got people here who were saying, it's just not time. Yet. At that time to build yet the church I served in South Carolina, every time the subject of expansion or building or anything came up, he always got out his book when it's time not to build. And it just senior pastor told me, he said, you know, Kenneth is going to get out his book again at our meeting this week, because we're talking about expansion. We're talking about what we need to do to grow, because we say it's just not quite time yet. Just let me finish the project they've got. 1 (33m 36s): And then we'll start with kingdom work. Just let me take care of this or let me make sure that I can build up some funds so I can afford it. And then I can help out with kingdom work. Yeah. Oh, it says just the opposite. He says, seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added to you. You see, we were upside down. We speak about the kingdom as being upside down, but we're the ones who are upside down when Paul was there in, in Ephesus and the craftsman, all of a sudden this guy who's turning the world upside down is here. 1 (34m 22s): No, it's turning the world right side up. And so it doesn't make sense to say, okay, we're going to put God first. We're going to take care of all this first. I'm going to go neglect my business. I'm going to neglect and we're not really neglecting it. But we automatically, our flesh takes us to the opposite end and we start digging our heels in because it's not just seek me first out, take care of everything else. I will see to it. That things are taken care of. You will see the blessing of God. If you put me first, if you make me an afterthought, well, I won't kill you, huh? 1 (35m 8s): But she'll just scrape by. Why not walk in the abundance I have for you? If you put me first, rather than you walking in my afterthoughts, God never calls you to a task without supplying what you need to complete. It. That's so hard for us to grasp sometimes, you know, and here again, this is where we talk about the be strong what's going on. They they've been at it for about three and a half weeks. The first prophecy that hat guy brought, the people were convicted. 1 (35m 52s): They went to work. It took three and a half weeks to get started. But we're talking, we're not talking about, you know, rapid communication here. They had to get the word out to everyone who back in Israel and say, Hey, we're starting on the temple three and a half weeks. They're at it. Now it's been another three and a half weeks. They'd been working. And you know, when you've got a big project and you get about three and a half weeks in and it looks like nothing has happened. Yes. Yeah, yeah. A little dirt moved around. We've got some of these rocks and some of this rebel pulled out of the way and we can kind of see where things are, are starting. 1 (36m 33s): And we see the outline of what's going on. But boy, this is overwhelming. Will this ever get done? And so God brings this word once again, be strong. Those, the rebel be strong. Oh, Joshua, be strong. All the people of the land declares the Lord, see the people needed the encouragement to continue. I needed to move forward. Clearing rebel by hand takes time. And you know, these big projects take mind. Numbing amounts of time. You think about the cathedrals in Europe, those, those big old Gothic cathedrals hundred and 50 years, 200 years to build. 1 (37m 20s): That's a lot of work that continues and continues and continues and continues and it's will it ever end? So he says, be strong. When we built in, when I was in Kansas, we built it a church building and we had to bring a soils engineer out and he had to, to look at the ground and, and, you know, study the compaction of it and everything. You were brown ground penetrating radar and out and figured out, oh well we're 88% compaction. So, oh, wow. That's great. It needs to be 95. 1 (38m 2s): And so they had to come and they, they had to dig out for the foundation. Fortunately we're farmers, everybody has heavy equipment and yeah, hallelujah. So you dig out that where the church was going to be that where the building was gonna gonna stand. And then we had a young teenager who was more than happy to come in and just, they had a sheep's foot, what they call a sheep's foot, which has compacts the soil. And they had one on the farm. So he brought it in and he spent two days driving back and forth through the whole ad in a little, put a little dirt back in driving back and forth through the hole, but a little dirt back in two days. 1 (38m 48s): And it's like one, I don't know how he stood just being in there, just driving back and forth on that same half a block. And I talk about mind numbing, but it feels like nothing's happening, but it's what makes everything ready. All the prep work. All the doing people needed to be strong in order to continue to persevere. They were enabled. God says, walk into your enablement. Second part of God's calling to us is to do the work. 1 (39m 29s): He has empowered us. He's given us the strength that we need. He's given us the abilities that we need. He's given us all that we need to do. We just need to do it. He says, work. This is in verses four B and start in the middle of the middle of verse four. Work for, I am with you declares the Lord of hosts. According to the covenant that I made with you. When I, when you came out of Egypt is not only is there an aspect of calling. There's a promise with it. There's encouragement with it. Yes. Do this. But know that I am with you. Work. I am alongside you when God calls us he not only supplies what's needed to complete the work he works with us. 1 (40m 15s): God is our yoke fellow. God, as a matter of fact is the master builder to our common laborer. God does the majority of the work. He gives us the privilege of working alongside him. See if we try to do that in our own strength. If we tried to do it on our own, it's not going to work. What is someone 27 first verse, unless the Lord builds the house. Those who build it labor in vain, unless the Lord watches over the city, the Watchman stays awake in vain. 1 (41m 1s): It's all gone. Okay. This is not to say that we sit back and watch God do the work. God specifically says to work. And at the same time he blesses us abundantly. He, God magnifies the work of your hands. As you, as you're leaning on him, as you are, are working in his strength, we're called to be strong. As we're in his power, doing the work he somehow or another in God's economy, he manages, well, it doesn't manage. 1 (41m 43s): He just declares. It manages. Sounds like he's got, has to figure out a plan. He's already knows what it is. God takes what we do and makes it more, don't know how he does it, but he does it. The third aspect of our calling is to fear not, or from looking at it from the other direction, have faith. See the opposite. Opposite of faith is an unbelief. The opposite of faith is fear. 1 (42m 24s): When you, when you get afraid, it's because you are looking forward into life, looking at the scenario without the benefit of the presence of God. In that scenario, this is what is called you. Look ahead and your mind starts thinking what's going to happen if this, if this, if this is, this is if this, and if we don't put God into the mix, income, be good. But when we know that God is with us, that God has empowered us, that God has enabled us. And that God is doing the work alongside of us. We can be encouraged and move forward. 1 (43m 10s): And then we don't have to walk in fear. He says, my spirit remains in your midst. Fear, not isn't it. The greatest encouragement of all that God is with us. That God remains in our myths. And not only in our midst, but in us, Jesus promised his disciples and thereby us. When he's speaking to his disciples, he's talking to us. He says, the holy spirit is with you, but would be, can you, the holy spirit is in you. 1 (43m 50s): You are a follower of Jesus Christ. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the spirit of the living, God lives in you. And the spirit is given without measure. You have all that God has for you in the holy spirit, living in you right now. Why should we be afraid? Psalm 27. It's not on the screen, but the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. I've home. Shall I be afraid? We have no need to fear because God is with us. We can walk in faith. 1 (44m 33s): So you haven't. So, or we have so infinitely better than what Israel did you think about Israel in the wilderness? They had the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. And we think wouldn't that be so cool? Wouldn't it be so cool to stand at the foot of Sinai and just be kind of afraid because God's up there talking to Moses and there's thunder and lightening and fire and smoke and all of this stuff. And, and, and we, we crave and experience in our flesh. We have better than an experience in our flesh. We have the spirit of God in us. And so we can walk forward in faith. 1 (45m 20s): See we have the witness of the indwelling spirit of the living God in our hearts, Romans six 16 tells us the spirit himself, bears witness with our spirits, that we are children of God. Okay? And our heavenly father is attentive and caring and kind and loving and compassionate towards his children. He calls you to be strong and he will strengthen you. He calls you to work. He will empower you. And he calls you to have faith in him. 1 (45m 60s): And he promises. He will never leave us or forsake us be strong. Do the work have faith. So where is that taking us harvest church? Let's take a look at God's promise. God's promise to his people is that he would be with them just that he has always been. So God asks this question through Pega, to the people who is left among you, who saw this house in its former glory. 1 (46m 42s): How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? They looked at the foundations that was there and, and those who were older and they saw where the new foundation was starting to be laid. And these older ones who had seen it before the exile to Babylon were grieved in their hearts. It was going to be different. It was going to be less glorious, but at the same time, the younger ones were overjoyed and they were shouting for joy. And this second temple was just nothing like Solomon's temple. 1 (47m 22s): It was plain. Where's the gold and the silver and the bronze. Where's all the, the car of decoration. Where is all this other ornamented beauty that just reminded us of who God was and what he had done for us. And that he was the creator of all that. He brought us out of Egypt, that all of this was happening. And now we do well it's stone . But then again, the young ones had never seen the temple and they were, it was amazing for them. You go back to the book of Ezra. You read about this as a chapter three, starting at the 10th verse. 1 (48m 2s): It says in when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets and the Levi sites, the sons of ASF with cymbals to praise the Lord, according to the direction of David King of Israel. In other words, we've looked back at the scriptures. This is what we're supposed to do. And they sang responsively, praising and giving. Thanks to God for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever towards Israel and all the people shouted with a great shout and they praise the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, but many of the priests and Levites, and the heads of fathers houses, old men who had seen the first house wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of peoples weeping for the people shouted with a great shout and the sound was heard far away. 1 (49m 3s): So often the case, younger ones, rejoice at something new and different and fresh. And we who have, so we say more years behind us than ahead of us. I don't expect to live to 128, but we grieve when there's change. We grieve when something is different seems when you're young and your life is spread out ahead of you, everything is fresh and new and exciting and interesting. And then when we become a little more mature, we embrace the past and the familiar and the safe and the secure you see, this is why God not only calls us to do things he provides for it. 1 (49m 60s): And he makes a promise with the calling, that word of encouragement, that word of strengthening that word of hope, that word, that doesn't make any difference where we are. I am with you. God not only reminds the people in our passage that he will continue to be faithful to his covenant promise that he made. When they left Egypt, go back to Exodus 27 and says this, I will dwell among the people of Israel and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord, their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord, their God. 1 (50m 42s): That's the promise that he made as they were coming out of Egypt. He further promises that what seems different and new and uncomfortable will be truly more glorious than what was familiar and stable and safe. Okay. Nine, the glory of this house shall be greater than the former. The glory of this house shall be greater than the former says the Lord of hosts. And in this place, I will give peace declares. The Lord of hosts. You know, he also promises them. 1 (51m 23s): Not only that their space would be more glorious than the old space. He promises them. Look, once again, in just a little while, I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth and the seas and the dry lands and all nations and all the treasure of the nations will come to you. The silver is mine. The gold is mine. I will take care of it. If you're obedient, then just do what I've called you to do. You don't have to worry about it. I love worshiping in this space. You know, this is part of what drew us here when we came, because it's it's well, well, yeah, reminded me of myself. 1 (52m 13s): It's old, but it's, it's cozy and it's comfortable. And there's a spirit of love here. A spirit of worship here, not just a spirit of worship that gets it's gets us around the temple and, and, you know, having a good time in Jesus. But we entered into the holy of Holies where we can fall on our face before God, that just really, really drew us. That was part of, of why we came. We looked at other places after I retired from my old church and we found places that were good and the word was being preached. But in worship, we kind of felt like we never really quite entered in. 1 (52m 53s): And, and we felt that here, and we felt the love of the people here. We felt like this is a place we can fit. And, and our space had a lot to do with it. I think I shared with you before. I used to think that was the loft terminology, but God has seen fit to cause us to outgrow this space holiday weekend. So we've got some empty chairs right now, but, but God has been blessing and blessing and blessing to the point where we we've outgrown it. 1 (53m 38s): The truth is that on Sunday mornings, especially in second service, over half of our congregation is in the other venues. We don't realize that here in the sanctuary, because we come in there, get here early enough. So we get a seat and it feels like this is us and it's full and it feels so good. And, but we don't realize that over half of our congregation is out there between our two services. There's 80 or 160 to 190 people that meet here in the sanctuary and two services. But there's 220 to 250 in the other space. 1 (54m 19s): Okay. I meet new people every Sunday. I see new faces every Sunday. People I have never seen before here. And some of them have been coming here far longer than I have, but I don't get to see them because they're in different places. I asked many people, oh, is this your first Sunday here? No, I've been here for seven years. I was having a tough enough time learning all of your names. And now we've got all these new people. Praise, God, see, I got white hair. I don't have to remember everybody's names, but God is doing great things here. 1 (55m 9s): No, from a nuts and bolts of ministry standpoint, just from a state of practicality, we don't have room here to do the ministry that God is calling us to. Jeremy mentioned in the, in the announcements this morning about our prayer ministry. You know, you can be on our prayer chain, 52 email addresses on our prayer chain that when we get requests that I send out, we have a, the prayer group that meets on Thursday morning. Small. I'd love to see many more of you be a part of that eight o'clock. Some people say eight o'clock is too early. I get there. And that's a, that's a big deal, but it's, and then we have people who are ready to pray with you every Sunday. 1 (56m 2s): At the end of the service, we like to invite people to come forward. If they have a need of prayer, if they need to respond to the word that was given, or if there's some other special need, we have people assigned to pray when the elders or most of them come to second service, but they're here. We're ready to pray. And very rarely do people come because when they do come there, isn't room and people are walking by and it's gets interrupted and whatnot. We need more space. You already have heard that we're having to turn kids away from Sunday school. 1 (56m 46s): So we need to expand. God has bigger things in store for us, bigger things in congregational growth. And it's not just about being bigger. We talk about this all the time in staff. We've had a lot of folks transfer in from other churches, and we're so glad to have you glad you're here, but God's kingdom. Isn't about moving sheep from one pasture to another. We need to go out and find the lost sheep and bring them in. Jesus says, I have sheep, not of this fold. 1 (57m 28s): And they need to be found and brought back and brought in. And so, as we're limited in space here, we need more rooms so we can grow. We can do bigger things in ministry and prayer and training and evangelism. We can do much bigger things in missions, both at home and abroad. We can do much better things in ministering to our community. And all these things will be easier and more practically facilitated. If we have that space over there at one oh two west branch, and you know, we have a five-year lease there. And what I've been praying is, oh Lord, when that five years is up, I pray that that's not enough space. 1 (58m 12s): I pray. We have to move again. I think I've shared with some of you before a friend of mine told me, he says, you know, Dave, you'd be hard pressed to find it in scripture, but I'm sure there will be moving in hell. We have lived in our married life. We have lived in 10 different places, done a lot of moving in our ministry years. We have been involved in three church building projects and one church moving project. You get into those new spaces and it's uncomfortable for a little while to kind of feel like, oh yeah, it's kind of exciting to be here, but I'm not even sure exactly where which cupboard to put the canned goods in, in the kitchen. 1 (59m 0s): How, how are we going to arrange the closets? How are we going to do this? What's what about that in the new churches as well? Yeah, we kind of think this is the way Sunday school is going to be laid out in those new classrooms, but chances are we're going to have to rearrange and do other things. And it's, it feels a little bumpy for a little while, but soon home, it doesn't take long because home isn't about the space. Home is about the people who are gathered there. The people that fill the space, that's what home is about. 1 (59m 40s): We've. And so what will be with us, God never changes. Remember Hebrews 13, eight, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever, but he is an agent of change in our lives. He constantly is working in us to change, to, to, to transform us, to grow us, to renew us, to change us, as it says in second Corinthians, from one degree of glory to another. And until that one day when he will glorify us, when we cross over and then at the resurrection, get our glorified bodies and we'll be like, Jesus, have a body like Jesus. 1 (1h 0m 24s): Like he could, you know, walk through a door or walk through walls was great, showed up in the, with the apostles in the upper room and the night of his resurrection. And when all the doors were bolted and locked, he was just there. That'd be kind of cool. Just squat, walk out this way. And this upcoming move that we're making as part of that process of being transformed and grown and renewed and changed for the advancement of the kingdom of God, be strong, do the work be full of faith. 1 (1h 1m 10s): Let's pray. And I want you to make a note of this, to pray this week and continue while we're in the process. Building projects take notoriously longer than what the time budgeted it is. Thanks worship team. When we built in Kansas, after all that driving back and forth with the sheep's foot, they promise that we started in August and they promised us we'd be in at the end of the year, the end of March, I finally told the contractor, says we are dedication is scheduled for next week. We will be in and they finished. So be patient. 1 (1h 1m 52s): This is where it can get discouraging. When things take longer than what we think they're going to take, oh, I would love to say, we're going to be in the next month. I doubt it, but know that God can do it and work around all the hoops that have to be jumped through and get the work done. So be strong. Do the work, have faith and have willing hearts to follow after what God is doing. Let's pray, God, we come to you now and we pray for strength. You said, be strong. So Lord, we know as we come to you and pray for strength, you will strengthen us because it's your will for us. 1 (1h 2m 33s): It's your word to us that we would do so thank you, Lord goddess that to help us to persevere in the tasks, because you have enabled us to do all that you're calling us to do help us Lord Jesus, to do the work, the work that needs to be done, whether it's on the building or whether it's in the ministry or whether it's in reaching out and doing the work of the kingdom, just loving our neighbors. As we love ourselves and loving you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, Lord God, you have empowered us by your spirit to do that. So we will do the work, help us and Lord help us to be full of faith, to not walk in fear that we might overcome any intimidation and any opposition that we might face. 1 (1h 3m 34s): Thank you, God, that, that promise of your spirit, the guarantee that you put in our hearts, that your spirit bearing witness with our spirit, that gives us the encouragement to stand in the face of opposition. And finally, Lord give us willing hearts, willing hearts that we might follow after your leading and that we would trust you that we would not look ahead and worry that we would not look back in grief, but that we would look forward to all you're doing and what you have done and take the history of what you've done and that you will embolden us to live up to this calling that you've given us because of the promise that you have made to us. 1 (1h 4m 34s): Pray. If there are any here who don't know what it is to be filled with your spirit, don't know what it is to be born. Again, made new in Jesus Christ to be a new creature in Christ, new creation in Christ Jesus, because they're still bound in sin because they have never responded to the truth of the gospel. I just pray that your spirit would speak to them this morning and draw them to yourself because you are God and you loved them and you want them to be your children. Thank you, Jesus. We pray all this in your holy name. 1 (1h 5m 16s): Amen. And amen. Let's worship. And then if, if you need prayer for anything, there will be people up here after, after we worship this morning. So let's go to the Lord. 0 (1h 5m 34s): the song. I am yes. 0 (1h 11m 19s): but I might bring you in to the kingdom of God that will strengthen your and thinking that'll bring you forward. 0 (1h 12m 6s): It's through. 0 (1h 12m 53s): There was a moment when the lights went out oh, geez. 0 (1h 17m 37s): Oh geez. Oh, geez. oh, geez. Oh, geez. 1 (1h 18m 20s): It's feel there's somebody here on campus today. I don't know if you're here in the sanctuary or if you're in the loft or on the patio, but you need to be set free that we've been singing about breaking bonds and breaking chains and being set free. And you just feel like I'm not free. Do you know you've been trapped in darkness. You've been trapped in a place of where you feel as if you thought you were free, but you're, you've been in a dungeon. So reminded of Charles Wesley's old him where one of the verses says I was in the darkness of night trapped in nature's night bound in chains. 1 (1h 19m 12s): I can't remember the words now, but you came and you set us free. Lord, God, you set us free. And for you, if you're out there and you feel bondage, if you feel something is holding you back, if you sense the weight of your sin, and even if you feel like, oh, what I have done is far beyond God could never forgive me. Don't let the enemy live to you like that. He's saying that to you because he doesn't want to lose you out of his kingdom, into the kingdom of God. You can never be too. God God's arm is not too short. If you need to know Jesus today, just, just come to him in your heart. 1 (1h 19m 56s): You just speak from your heart. You can even speak without moving your mouth. If you need to, but just say, Lord Jesus, I need you. I'm a sinner. And I know I'm lost. I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but would you come in and forgive me anyway? And he will, and he'll make you new. And if you've done that today, I want you to tell somebody, look for a staff member. If you're here in the sanctuary, you come tell me if you're in the patio or the loft. 1 (1h 20m 38s): Look for one of the staff members, tell them, you know, today, I just feel like I need to be set free and they'll talk to you and just give you more information to help you get started. Thank you God, for your grace. Once again, an amazing, amazing grace man.

Faith Activates Everything in God's Kingdom

Happy mother's day while we're taking a break from our first Timothy study. So we're going to be in Hebrews chapter 11. We're talking about faith this week. Last week, we talked about miracles in light of, especially this new building that we're, we've leased over one Oh two West branch. And today we're talking about faith and how it activates everything. God's kingdom, faith activates everything in God's kingdom. That's the title of our message. And it's the focus of our message. And it's really the reality of our faith as followers of the Lord. 3 (15m 3s): Jesus Christ. I mean think about it. We were saved by 4 (15m 8s): God 3 (15m 9s): Because we put our faith in him in his ability to save us, to forgive us, to cleanse us and to adopt us into his family. So by faith, we are experienced salvation and new life in him. And then by faith, we pray to this. God that's invisible. We can't see him. We can sense him. And we know that he's real. And we know that his word is real. So we can sense something in our spirit that God is real, but he's invisible. And so by faith, we pray. And then by faith, we have great expectations of a great God. And I would say, we need to have great expectations because we serve a great and powerful and all sufficient God. 3 (15m 55s): And so everything is activated in Christianity, in God's kingdom, by faith, without faith. We're going to read here in just a little bit or talk about without faith. It's impossible to please God. And we need to believe that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So we're going to talk about how faith activates everything in God's kingdom. And we're going to answer the question. What does biblical faith, what does that look like? And hopefully at the end of the message, we're going to have some clarity about faith and what that means for our lives, because it's not something that just a select few experience or are expected to operate in. 3 (16m 37s): It's actually for the church, every one of us, young, young and old everybody's expected to operate by faith. And we see that in the old Testament, as we look at he heroes of faith and his word, continuing to teach, we're going to see God's example through these heroes of faith and where we can actually read about them and then mimic and copy their behavior and become the people that God has called us to be. So what is biblical faith? Hebrews 11 one says this faith shows, faith shows the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we cannot see hope for cannot see both invisible. 3 (17m 22s): Faith is the reality of those things. Faith shows us the reality of what we hope for. It is the evidence of things we can not see. The living Bible paraphrase says this in Hebrews 11 one, it says, what is faith? It is the confident assurance. And this is the kind of attitude that we should have before the living God, this confident assurance as we walk this life of faith, that God is up to something and he's going to do something in us and with us and through us, it is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. So if you've ever been in the place, I know you have, if you have been walking with the Lord for even a day or a week or a month or 10 years or 50 years, God puts something, a vision within us that requires faith. 3 (18m 12s): Maybe, maybe you're praying for relationship. Maybe you're praying for a family member. Maybe you're praying for resources. Maybe you're praying for a job, whatever it is. God has placed something in us that allows us to operate in this place of faith. We're saying, God, I don't know how this is going to happen. I think about the people of Israel coming out of Egypt after slavery, and there was no path before them. They come up against the sea and they're so God, the scripture says, made a way where there was 5 (18m 40s): No way. There 3 (18m 43s): Is no path forward until God opens up the sea and gives us the path forward. What is faith is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is a certain, it is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us. Even though we cannot see it up ahead. Someone said a weak faith, a weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes. Where is a strong faith is strengthened by them. So where's your faith. Today? Is your faith strengthened by difficulty, by challenges in your life? 3 (19m 25s): Or is it weekend? I would say that God wants to strengthen your faith on every level. Now, like most of us, we have faith in some areas of our life, but not so much in other areas of our lives. Some areas we have just like either no faith or just a very little bit of faith. If we even have a mustard seed of faith, we can do amazing things. We moved mountains. The scripture says, so God will use the tiniest bit of faith in our lives. When we step into it and out of obedience and trusting God, exercise that faith and do what he's asked us to do wonderful and supernatural things will happen, but we've got to step into it. 3 (20m 5s): The people of Israel needed to step into the water. They needed to move forward before the water actually opened up and they were able to pass through on dry land. And that's what we see. We see God requiring us to take a step of faith. Before, before we actually see the answers, see the provision before we actually receive what he has for us. He's actually calling us into a place of faith. A weak faith is weakened by predicament and catastrophes. Whereas a strong faith is strengthened by them through their faith. Verse two, Hebrews 11, two through their faith that people in days of old earned a good reputation. 3 (20m 48s): There's something about the kingdom of God. When we see people within the kingdom of God, exercising, faith, they earned a good reputation. Why? Because they're, they're doing stuff for God. They believe God. And they're actually stepping into the, his supernatural plans for their life. And so we honor, and we esteem those who have faith because it's those people who have faith, who are doing the things that God has called them to do. But listen, it's not for special people. It's for all of us, God has called all of us to be people of faith so that we might step into those supernatural plans that he's called us to. So whatever it is that stirring within your life, within your soul begin to step into it. 3 (21m 31s): Even if you've only got a little bit of confidence. 2 (21m 36s): We, as we thought about 3 (21m 37s): One Oh two, we've been thinking about for months. When I, when I say one Oh two, that's the new worship space over there. So just for ease of saying that we were going to call it one Oh two for now, but it's the new worship space. When we started thinking months ago, 2 (21m 52s): Probably more than months ago, 3 (21m 55s): Maybe over a year ago, we started thinking about what, where do we grow from here? What do we do from here? What's next for us? And so we started looking at spaces. We looked at a few spaces, there's a space over here. It's just too small for us. And then this space at one Oh two 2 (22m 8s): Available. And we thought, well, this is, this is kind of impossible. 3 (22m 16s): We, we can't afford it. It's going to take a ton of money for renovations. It's really, it's not doable butts, but we begin to exercise just a little bit of faith. And so I made a phone call and I called doc John, hi Ashley. I said, John, I said, we'd like to look at your space. We're a church. We'd like to make it a worship center. What do you think? He said, yeah, come on down. We'll take a look at it. He said, he said, it's no problem. The city is going to let you in there. And I said, okay, well, we'll see what happens when I call the city. And the city said, Nope, the city said, we're not allowing any new churches in the downtown village Corps. I said, is that legal? And they said, I think so. I said, well, it's actually illegal because I had a letter in my possession from an attorney from Pacific justice Institute who wrote me a five page letter, citing law and other cases where the courts overturned a decision to prohibit churches from being in downtown village, core area type areas. 3 (23m 16s): And so I said, Hey Patrick, this is one of the planters down in the village or in the city. I said, Hey, can I send you this letter that I have for my attorney? He said, yes, send it over. This was a Friday. He said, send it over. I said, and we'll have our city attorney tech, you know, take a look at it. So I sent it over to him on Friday afternoon, Monday morning, I get a letter back from the Villa, the city of Aurora grantee. And they said, Hey, your attorney's with PJI Pacific justice Institute are accurate in their assessment. This space, we are ready to move forward. All you need is a, just a use permit and we can accommodate your needs in the village. So what seemed impossible God, through a five-page letter from an attorney turned around and made possible for us, but then we're thinking, can we afford it? 6 (24m 5s): Can we move 3 (24m 7s): Forward? But by God's grace, we've just began to take steps in that direction. And so when I said that, God never really shows you the picture until you step into it. The God has begin to show us the picture. So I was, I got a bid for, we have to put fire sprinklers in that building over there and the, the underground. So you have to tie into the city's water main. It's a big deal. You have to cut into the streets and sidewalks and all that sort of thing. So it was a big deal. A friend of mine gave me a price of $30,000 for that job. And this is a friend of mine. So he was like, Hey, this is the good guy price. It's $30,000. So I'm like kind of limiting the price and wondering where that money is going to come from. 3 (24m 48s): And then I'm talking in a circle of friends after church last Sunday, and a guy who I know does underground work said, Hey, I do that kind of work. I said, you, you do that kind of work. I know you do underground stuff. I didn't realize you do that kind of work. And he said, yeah, that's actually what we do. Most of the time we do that kind of work, we tie into the city's water main. And we, we put in check valves and that sort of thing, he said, I'll just do it. I'll just take care of it for you. So I called him up a couple of days later and I said, 6 (25m 17s): Hey, what did you mean 3 (25m 20s): When you said, I'll just do it. I said, how much is this going to cost us? He said, well, have I ever charged you for anything in the past? And the answer is no, he's never charged us for anything in the past. So we'll probably have to buy some materials and that sort of thing, but that went away. I needed, we need a ton of electrical work done in the space. And so I'm at the space at one Oh two on Friday. And I decided to walk over to village, grill for a sandwich. I get a big old burger with greasy, all kinds of goodness on it. So while I'm over there, I run into a guy and his family from the church and he said, Hey, do you need any electrical work done at the new building? I said, yeah, but it's big commercial stuff. 3 (26m 2s): It's going to require a ton of work. Are you up for that kind of work? He said, we do it all the time. It's no big deal. He said, well, I'll just me. And my son will go in there and we'll just do it. We'll just do it. So the electrical is taken care of. I got a painter who's taking care of the painting. It may cost us a little bit for the paint, but electrical. We're getting a good deal on the underground. We've got a great deal on the fire sprinklers on the inside of the building, great deal on HVAC. I'm missing something. There was something else that I was going to throw in there. But God, what we're seeing is we stepped out and said, okay, Lord, this is what we want to do is what we feel called to do. And we prayed about it. So don't just ready. Fire aim. Think about what you're doing and get some confirmation from the Holy spirit. 3 (26m 43s): Think through what you're doing. You know, don't be reckless. God will show you, but then he'll, he'll bring confirmation to an affirmation to you about things that you feel called to do. And maybe, maybe it takes weeks or months or years before things come to fruition, but God will, will show you what to do. So I had talked about it with my staff and elders and we prayed about it and thought about it and all that sort of thing. And finally, that's when we decided to move forward. So it wasn't like ready fire aim. It was like, man, is this what the Lord has for us? And that's what we felt like together unified that we feel like the Lord has got this for us. So through their faith that people have old in days of old and earned a good reputation by, by faith back to Hebrews 11, three by faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command. 3 (27m 36s): The entire universe was formed at God's command. That what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. So often what we do is we hear in our spirit, right? So don't, don't allow your head to get in the way of what God is saying in your spirit. Now God has given us a brain and we think through everything, we budget for stuff. We figure stuff out, but don't let your head get in the way of what God is speaking to you in your spirit, because this is what we don't happen to your head. I talked about this last week, I think in your head, you argue with God in your head, you are fearful, anxious, nervous. You can't see it in your head. You're disobedient to God, but in your spirit, when you know when your soul, like in your guts, that God has called you to do something and you step into it. 3 (28m 22s): That's where the victory comes. That's where the provision comes. That's where God shows up amazing miracles. When we just with that mustard seed of faith, step into it, let's see if he can speak the universe into existence by the word, by just speaking. It's often what we'll do is we'll look at the raw material of our lives, our ability, our resources, what we can do in the natural. And we dismiss everything that God wants to do. We're like, I know God, you probably want to do this, but I don't got the money. I don't got the time. I don't got the ability. I it's, I don't have any that you, so what if I'm calling you to it? Okay. What if I've got plans for you and purpose for you? 3 (29m 4s): He speaks to the universe into existence. By his words, I think he can take our rough raw materials or our absence, raw materials and do something wonderful with it. He wants to do that with our lives personally and our families. And with our by faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command. That what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen. Verse four. It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to then Cain did Abel's offering, gave evidence that he was a righteous man and God showed his approval of his gifts. 3 (29m 52s): Although Abel is although able is long dead. He still speaks to us by his example of faith. He's long dead, but we're still talking about Abel and his faith. Let's look at the story about Cain and Abel in Genesis chapter four, some of the slides are messed up. We're going to go into Genesis now, but then we're going to go back to Hebrews. I think some of them say Genesis, when they should say Hebrews, I'll try to keep you up to speed on that. Here we go. Genesis chapter four verses one through five. Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve and she became pregnant. And when she gave birth to Cain, she said with the Lord's help, I have produced a man later. She gave birth to his brother and named him Abel, when they grew up, Abel became a shepherd while cane cultivated the ground. 3 (30m 36s): When it was time for the harvest cane presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. The ESV says in verse three, in the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the ground. So it seems like from the context of what we're reading about, because Hebrews 11 is all about faith. People's exercise of faith in the scripture. And so in that context, through that lens, we need to interpret what is happening here with Cain and Abel, I think, and it seems from the texts that came, brought an offering, but he brought it in his own timing and he brought, it seems whatever is left over from his crops. 3 (31m 31s): So he brought his offering, but it was in his own timing and whatever was left over from his crops since he brought some of his crops able on the other hand, brought the best portion of the firstborn lambs from his flock. So Abel brought the first and the best. It appears that Cain brought whenever he felt like it, whatever was left over Genesis four, four says Abel also brought a gift. The best portion of the first born lambs from his flock, the Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept cane and his gift. 3 (32m 17s): This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected. Abel brought his first and best Cain brought whenever it was convenient for him, whatever was left over. That's the difference. And that's why God received Abel's offering. And he did not receive canes offering. We either bring God the best and the first, or we bring God our leftovers. There's no middle ground there. We either bring God the best in first. Or we bring him our leftovers and we see how it worked out for Cain and Abel. This story is highlighted in the hall of faith because it's a story about faith. 3 (33m 2s): It was Abel's faith that allowed him to bring his first and his best. He wanted to honor God by faith with his first and his best. He wanted to make sure God was honored and worshiped with his giving before he did anything else. It seems like Cain's offering was given once everything else was kind of taken care of whenever he felt like it, he gave his offering. Whatever it was that was left over Abel's offering was given in faith. Cain's gift was given as the leftover God accepted Abel's offering and rejected. Cain's essentially Abel's offering was given by faith. 3 (33m 45s): Keynes was not. So when we ask you to give toward a project like this or whatever we want it to be done out of faith, in fact, the Bible says he desires a joyful giver. So hold onto your resources until you're ready to give it joyfully and then give whatever you want to give. As the Lord leads, I believe 10% is the beginning. 7 (34m 12s): Some would argue 3 (34m 13s): That's an old Testament principle. I think it's a through and through principle. So give whatever the Lord would ask you to give or sell and chairs and squares, not really selling them, but that's that didn't sound right where we got chairs and squares available for this new space. So a chair is a chair and a square is a square square footage of flooring. So that's kinda what we're, we're giving people an opportunity to enter into this program or this, this process, this faith process by buying a chair in a square. So we have this gal in our church who said, I want to buy, not only for me, but I want to buy for my kids and my grandkids who attend the church. So I think there's six of them. So she bought six chairs and six squares. 3 (34m 53s): So I thought what a great idea. I've got a clan of 12 here. So maybe I'll buy 12 squares and 12 chairs for my clan. And I had this idea and then I share it with Jolene. And I haven't gotten your read on that yet. We'll we'll, we'll talk, we'll talk. That's just an idea. 7 (35m 9s): We'll talk. The idea 3 (35m 11s): Is to create opportunity for all of us to enjoy what God has called us into. This is the beauty of God in his kingdom is he actually invites us people into his kingdom work so that we can be blessed through the process and grow in our faith through the process. And somebody said, you know, if we buy a chair, do we get our name on it? 7 (35m 32s): And no, unless 3 (35m 34s): You want to Mark it with a marker underneath the chair, that would be fine, but no names on the chairs most likely. And so we're just going to move forward. Believing that guy will provide for 2 (35m 43s): Thing. Number one, 3 (35m 48s): Faith gives the best. And 2 (35m 50s): First of everything, number two, 3 (35m 54s): Faith changes the way we live 2 (35m 58s): Back to Hebrews 3 (35m 59s): Chapter 11, verse five, it says it was by faith. That Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying. He disappeared because God took him for before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. And it is impossible to please God, without faith. So we know that Enoch was a man of faith because it says that he please God, and it is impossible actually to please God, unless we're operating with faith. And so we know that Enoch was a man of faith and it says anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists. That's a faith belief and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 3 (36m 43s): So we believe that he exists and he is a rewarder of those who sincerely seek him. Faith changes the way that we live, Equinox, faith, please, God, and God, God was pleased with him because of his faith. And you not believe God existed. And he knocked, sincerely sought after God. And then God just took him. Let's take a look. Genesis five 21 through 24. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters thus, all the days of Enoch were 365 years. He knocked walk with God and he was not for God took him. 3 (37m 27s): Isn't that great? What a cool thing to be so close in age intimate with the Lord that he decides one day, I'm going to take you up. You don't have to go through the dying process because that's kind of a bummer. You don't have to die at all. You just get taken up, right? You just get taken up. And all of a sudden you're in the presence of the Lord. Faith changed the way that Enoch lived his life. He lived as a man of faith. We know very little about ENR, except that he was a guy who pleased the Lord and we can deduce from that. But he was a man of faith. He's in the hall of faith after all Hebrews chapter 11. So we know he was a man of faith. We know that he pleased God because he pleased God and walked with God. 3 (38m 9s): He took him up. He watched me God for 300 years. 2 (38m 12s): That's a long time, 3 (38m 13s): Right? That's a long time. That's not like a flash in the pan. Like I'm going to walk with God for a few weeks or a few months or a few years. And he walked with God for 300 2 (38m 26s): Years 3 (38m 27s): And God took him. That's faithful. And this that speaks to us that we have the capacity to faithfully walk with God and faithfully the Lord for hundreds and hundreds of years should the Lord tarry. Although we're not going to be given that many years, but for all the days 2 (38m 43s): Of your life, faith gives the best. And first 3 (38m 48s): Everything faith changes the way we live in. Number three, faith moves people to action. Faith moves people to action. Why? Because faith without works is dead. Right? Faith apart from works is not faith at all. Faith always leaves people to action to works because that's how God works in the universe. Hebrews 11 seven. It was my faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God who warned them about things that had never happened before. 3 (39m 29s): He obeyed God about things that had never happened before. It had never flooded in the earth before it had never rained in the earth before. But God warns Noah that a flood is coming. A flood is coming by his faith. Noah condemned the rest of the world. And he received the righteousness that comes by faith. So the length of the boat, the arc was 300 cubits. A cubit is 18 inches. So the boat was 450 feet long. So it wasn't just this little dinghy, this little raft that he was hoping to navigate the storm with. He built this monstrosity, this, this big old 450 foot boats that was 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. 3 (40m 17s): So about the dimension, the dimensions of this property from that wall out there to that wall on the outside of the exterior walls, all the way up is about 450 2 (40m 27s): By 75 feet. Not interesting. 70 measured it out long time ago, and we're just going with it. 3 (40m 34s): 450 feet long, 70 feet wide. It took him roughly a hundred years. Someone say one 20 someone says he was 80 by 100 years 2 (40m 44s): For argument's sake, but 3 (40m 45s): A hundred years. So sometimes we're like obedient to the Lord for a week. And we're like, Lord, where are you? I need you to come through, right? Or we're we're obedience Lord for a month or a year. And Noah was obedient to the Lord for a hundred years doing something that people were ridiculing him for because he was in a wicked land. He was the only righteous man. He was in a wicked land, building a boats where there was no water. How do you get a 450 foot boats to the water? They didn't have cranes. It was ridiculous, right? It was totally ridiculous. But he did it. Philip Yancey wrote faith means trusting in advance. 3 (41m 28s): What will only make sense in reverse? So we read this story where like, he builds the boats, the rains come, he survives right. New life for no one, his family. Right? So it's easy to ex you know, we can read through the whole story in a few minutes, but what about the a hundred years of building and with expectation, believing that God's going to come through that there's really going to be a rainstorm that there's really going to be a flood that really everybody's going to die. Who's not on the boats. Like he had to believe. Long-term, that's how it is. A lot of times, as we raise kids, we're raising kids with a long view in mind. We're like, man, I got 1825 years with these kids. 3 (42m 8s): I got a plug to them. Maybe they're struggling. But man, I got faith for my kids. Right? I got faith that they're going to come through that they're going to continue to serve Jesus. And we do it. Long-term maybe you're in a long-term marriage. And you're like, man, I need faith for my marriage right now. So you just hang in there and you just keep praying and just keep loving your spouse. You keep serving your spouse. And in the long run, we'll be, we'll see the beauty of what God wants to accomplish in those relationships. But we got to exercise. Some faith. Faith means stressing in advance. What will only make sense in reverse, right? We don't get the benefit of the reverse. Number four. Faith causes people to trust God with the unknown. 3 (42m 50s): Let's talk about Abraham. It was my faith that Abraham obeyed, when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. So he's leaving his home as a 75 year old dude with a 65 year old wife going somewhere that the Lord would show him. But he would live there as a man of faith. And even when he reached the land, God promised him. He lived there by faith, where he was like a foreigner living in tense. And so did Isaac and Jacob who inherited the same promise. 3 (43m 34s): Faith causes people to trust God with the unknown Elisabeth. Elliot said, Shrew, faith goes into operation. When there are no answers, have any unknowns in your life. We've all got unknown. It's like, Lord, am I going to wake up in the morning? We believe by faith that we're gonna wake up in the morning. Right? Unknown. No, my going to get, am I going to get my next breath by so much of life is about faith in the unknown. Oh, there it is. Good. Okay. Came. Oh, there it is again. Okay, good. Good. We're not guaranteed that next breath. 3 (44m 14s): God gives us the next breath where he doesn't. But by faith we believe, and by faith we move forward. And when he's ready to give us our last breath and we by faith move forward and into eternal life with him and God's good. And God's faithful. True. Faith goes into operation. There are no answers. Hebrews 11, 10 says Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. Number, number five, faith keeps people focused on heaven. Faith keeps people focused on heaven, Abraham. He didn't care where God called him because that's not his end game. God's anger and game for Abraham was eternity was with Abraham would spend eternity with the Lord. 3 (44m 58s): So tell me where, tell me to go wherever it doesn't matter. I'm here on this earth for a short time. And then I'm with you. So tell me to go wherever it doesn't matter, right? Because the end game is eternity. His focus was eternity. His focus was on what God had for him. Faith keeps people focused on heaven. Abraham's focus was heaven. His faith in God, freed him to live for God in the earth because his main focus was not earthly, but heavenly when our main focus is earth and earthly things, earthly relationships, possessions. When our main focus is the earth, we can't be freed up to do the eternal things. 3 (45m 42s): They haven't the things that God has called us into. So God is always trying to pry our hands off of temporal things, right? He's always trying to pry our hands loose of things that we can't control. Anyway, we can't control most of our life. And so God's trying in his wisdom to get us, to loosen our grip and to trust him so that we can be freed up to do what God has asked us to do. Some are so focused, maybe only focused on earthly things that they are bound up, bound up and afraid to trust God and live with an eternal perspective. If you're bound up and afraid, you're living with a temporal perspective, that's just the reality. 3 (46m 27s): If you're bound up and afraid, you need to shift your focus, allow God to tell you whatever he wants to tell you to move you wherever he wants to move you to direct wherever he wants to direct you because you're living for the King. And ultimately this is just a, this is just a blink 2 (46m 44s): In eternity this time. 3 (46m 46s): It's just a it's it's over in a blink over. We were looking at pictures last night, we were celebrating my son's 29th birthday. And we were looking at pictures and we said, what were we doing? 2 (46m 57s): 29 years ago? And now here we are. 29 years later, all of those kids that we were having are all grown up. It's just been a blink 31 years of marriage, just life just we're in May, 2021. We in 2021, 22 in may, 3 (47m 26s): We could be in 20, 22 already by now. I don't know. It just goes so quick. Verse 11. It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child though. She was barren and was too 2 (47m 37s): Old. Again, 3 (47m 40s): We take a personal inventory of our lives and say, I have barren God. I've never had kids. I'm too old 2 (47m 46s): Barren and too old. 3 (47m 49s): She was, Sarah was 90 years old when she had her first kid 2 (47m 52s): 90, got the promise at 60, 65 years old, 25 years, 3 (47m 58s): She has her first. I think I got the math right on that. Sarah was 90 and Abraham, Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born, she believed that God would keep his promise. She believed that God would keep his promise. And so a whole nation came from this one, man, who was as good as dead And nation was so many people that like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count 2 (48m 26s): Them. Number six, 3 (48m 28s): Faith allows people to believe for the impossible. What has God asked you to believe for what's the impossible that God has asked you to 2 (48m 36s): Believe for? Is he giving 3 (48m 38s): You as he burdened you with a dream for your life, for your family? What has God asked you to believe for the impossible that God has asked you to believe for, for years, decades, over a decade, I've wanted to have a training location, a seminary location here between LA and the Bay. Because if you want to go into seminary, you have to go to LA or the Bay. And that's really your only options inside the state of California. So I've always wanted for more than a decade. Now I've wanted to have a place on the central coast for people to be trained for the ministry. So we've attempted to do things over the years, just kind of dipping our foot and our toes in the water. 3 (49m 20s): So we've had know Bible school on wheels, which is a certificate program where I think you go through 10 classes and you get a certificate. We're still operating those classes. They're great classes. We also just now are launching, it's called a certificate and life development course certificate program through Western seminary. And so it's a four class seminary level without all the homework. I mean, there's still a little bit of homework, but it's not for credit. So it's not all of the extra, you know, book reading and writing papers and that sort of thing. So, but it's a, it's a four class certificate program. But my long-term goal is to offer a full-blown seminary experience here on the central coast. 3 (50m 2s): So my plan is in the fall, God willing, I'm going to start a, another master's program, do a master's in applied biblical leadership with Western seminary, with the end goal of either getting a doctorate in ministry or a PhD so that we can offer Western seminary courses or some kind of seminary courses here for credit. So that I would allow people to get trained, equipped, and released into 2 (50m 28s): The ministry. I haven't shared that with very many people, but that's what I am just 3 (50m 35s): Praying for. And I feel in my soul that God wants to do here on the central coast. You know, I, you know, it's been, he won't leave 2 (50m 42s): Me. It's is 3 (50m 44s): Stuck with me for more than a decade. So I I'm just believing that God's going to open the door for that. What is, what is God speaking to you? And what is guys speaking to 2 (50m 56s): You? Faith 3 (50m 58s): Allows people to believe for the impossible verse 13, as we wrap up here, all these people died, still believing what God had promised them. 2 (51m 9s): They did not receive. What was it 3 (51m 11s): Promise, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. There may be some things that you you've got that got us put within you, that you're a partner with, but you won't see in your lifetime, but future generations will. Future generations will we'll see. And, and, and, and realize those dreams. But you're all in because of your kingdom perspective, they agree that they were foreigners and nomads here on the earth. Obviously, people who say such things are looking forward to a country. They call their own. If they had longed for the country, they came from, they could have gone back, but they were looking for a better place, a heavenly Homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God for. 3 (51m 53s): He has prepared a city for them. Number seven. So we wrap up faith keeps us believing that God is for us. You believe that God has for you. It says here, that is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, because there are people of faith. Faith keeps us believing that God is for us. And that he has a plan for our existence in the earth. What is God's plan for your existence in the earth? 2 (52m 17s): You're 3 (52m 17s): Not just here by accident. Do you believe God has a plan for you? Listen, if you hear this message, you're all of a sudden accountable, you're accountable for your life and how you're going to live your life before God. Your, your, this is truth from God's word that he has a plan for you. So now it's your job. Maybe it's the first time you're hearing this. Now it's your job to figure that out and joyfully and faithfully, walk that out. 2 (52m 46s): God has a plan 3 (52m 47s): For you here in the earth. 2 (52m 49s): Faith gives the best. And first of everything, faith changes the way we live. Faith moves people to action, faith. 3 (53m 2s): There's people to trust God with the unknown faith keeps us focused on having faith allows people to believe for the impossible 2 (53m 13s): And faith keeps 3 (53m 15s): Us believing that God is for us. And that he has a plan for our existence here in the earth. We'll pick it up and Hebrews 11, 17 next week, just to be clear, we're moving our worship center over there, but we're going to be utilizing all of this space. It's a one minute walk from here to there. So we'll still be parking where we park. There's still, there's additional parking over there, but we'll mostly be parking where we park. We'll be dropping off our kids where they get dropped off. Although we'll have a couple of classrooms over there for nursery and for a mother's room and that sort of thing, but mostly it'll be just normal drop off your kids here. You'll walk them in and over there. And we have church and you walk them in and back. 3 (53m 55s): And that's where it goes. I think we're probably going to give this sanctuary to the youth ministry. Someone said, they're going to destroy ours. Our sanctuary, 0 (54m 3s): Well, 3 (54m 5s): We're not here. Big for buildings, right? We're not here for buildings. We're here for kingdom stuff for souls. And if we can add young people soul to the, to the kingdom and get them saved and sanctified and filled with the Holy spirit, then that's what we want to do. So we've got to change that carpenter chairs. I don't care. I just want our people on the central coast or young people reach for the kingdom. So it'll look a little bit different when you come on campus, but mostly we're going to video feed still to the loft on Sunday morning. So if you want to drop your kids off and still be in the loft venue, for those of you who are in the loft, you don't have to go anywhere. You can just stay there, but we encourage you to go check out the space. 3 (54m 47s): So literally it's a one minute walk from here. You just go down to one or two down in the corner. You know, the village grill is right before that, the building was before this something different, that something different sign is still up there. So go check it out. We spent all day along yesterday, demoing the building, taking out walls and all kinds of stuff. And we took seven dump trucks or seven dump trailers full of stuff out of there yesterday. So it's really coming together. So with that, let's go and stand up with that. Let's go invite the worship team. We're going to worship. And then if you're a part of the prayer team and you want to pray for people, make sure it makes sure you're you're available for that as well. And, and then when it's all said and done, just take the time to walk over and see that new space. 3 (55m 31s): It's going to be really worthwhile. Thank you Lord, for what you're doing for who you are. We love you pray that we be people of faith in every area and arena of our lives. We love you and Jesus Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 0 (56m 7s): take our feelings. 0 (57m 46s): you said 1 (1h 5m 24s): Thank you, God. We love you. Jesus. We give you our hearts this morning. Would you bless us throughout this week and remind us that you are faithful Lord, that you are always with us every step of the way. And so we look to you, Jesus, for those leaps of faith, God, would you remind us that you are carrying us, that you cover us under the shadow of your wing. You provide for our needs. God, you give us those mercies that are new for each day. And so thank you for meeting us here this morning. 0 (1h 5m 55s): In this hour, we love 1 (1h 5m 57s): You. Give you a hearts in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Well, happy mother's day. Hope you enjoy the rest of your day. If anyone would like some prayer this morning, we have prayer team. I'd love to pray with you. So feel free to head on forward. Some folks will meet you here. Otherwise say hello to somebody and have a beautiful day. We'll see you next week.