Harvest Church Arroyo Grande

God's Affection Overcomes Our Afflictions and Gives Us Affirmation That We Are His

0 (2s): Christmas every month. And if you're getting in the holiday spirit, welcome to Harvest Church my name is Cheryl and I'm so glad you're here. Yeah. Feel free to stand if you're able and during Us hello to everyone on campus and those watching at home, we're so glad that you are worshiping with us together this morning. Let's just take some time to go into his presence and prayer and just welcome him. And we do welcome you today. As we make room in our hearts and help us to sit still all of the noise in our hearts. 0 (42s): So we can hear your voice this morning. We want to hear from you. Jesus. We want to learn from you want to come in and do your prisons. There's a boldness in our hearts, Thanksgiving, the, this morning, you know that sometimes we think we have to like have ourselves all like cleaned up and perfect to come into God's presence. But I was reminded that he came as a baby into a stinky manger, surrounded by animals and a noisy chaotic barn. 0 (1m 22s): And that's our savior. He comes into the mess into the chaos and his presence is here. Love is available for you in the midst of whatever's going on in your heart and life right now. And so father, we just say, come and have your way in this place. We've come to adore you. Praise the Lord. 0 (1m 48s): 1 (11m 56s): . 1 (12m 43s): 2 (16m 52s): Praise you this morning. It gives us great joy to worship you by your Holy spirit. Thank you Lord, for giving us your gift, give to the Holy spirit. We pray that you would fill us, continue to lead us thankful for this place to gather place, to be safe. 2 (17m 34s): And in the shadow of your wings, worship you in jesus' name. Amen. 1 (17m 45s): Thank you 2 (17m 45s): Guys for singing coming this morning. Let's all take a little 3 (17m 50s): Time to love one another fellowship with one another. We'll you're back here with announcements, the pinnacle of the day, just momentarily. 4 (18m 3s): All right. Good morning. Go ahead and find a seat. That'd be great. All right. One a welcome, everyone. Those of you that are gathered in the sanctuary in the loft, in the patio, I want to welcome everyone. That's viewing online as well, and also want to let you know, we do have a new venue that we've just opened up recently, and it's a mask only venue, and it's in the parsonage. So if, if you, or you know, someone that's inclined to you, you still want to be around other people that are wearing masks and things. 4 (18m 43s): You can venture up to the parsonage. And that's what that is dedicated for up there. And so again, if, if it's your first time to Harvest, Church, we're really happy you're here today. Maybe you've been visiting a few times. If you make your way up to the information center, we have a gift for you. So go ahead and head up there, introduce yourself. And then also, if you would like you can fill out a communication card. We want to be really diligent about communicating with everyone, all the things that are going on, changes that are happening. We sent out a weekly email update to make sure that everybody knows exactly what's happening here at Harvest Church and I'm okay. I got a F did you hear what Jim folk had said a moment ago about the announcements being the pinnacle of the, of the service? 4 (19m 26s): Did you guys catch that? That's true. And one of the announcements that I have for you is there's a men's breakfast that's planned. So men would love to have you show up this next Saturday. So Saturday the 12th show up here at Church and eight o'clock. We're going to gather in the loft, which is the building right behind us here. We're going to have breakfast together. We're going to have just a fun time of fellowship there's you don't need to sign up. You don't need to bring any money. How good is that? Just show up and be hungry. And we're going to have a great time of fellowship with the men. So with that, there's a men's retreat. That's also planned. The men's retreat is scheduled for January 8th and ninth, and it's going to be held up at the granite Ridge camp. 4 (20m 9s): It's up in Creston. So just North of us a little bit, you need to get signed up though. So the deadline to sign up for the men's retreat is what is it? December 15th. Okay, there you got it. December 15th is the deadline. So guys would encourage you to get signed up for the men's retreat. You can sign up at the info center, or you can go on our Church app, go online, or you can go directly to granite Ridge camp ground, and you can sign up that way as well. So guys would love to have him be a part of that. So every year in the village, there's a parade and there's this whole big hoopla thing that happens Christmas. It's not happening tonight because of the shutdown and stuff. 4 (20m 52s): So one of the things that happens during, during the parade and, and those events typically is the tree. The tree in front of the sanctuary is the village Christmas tree. And so we're still going to have a little bit of a get together tonight, a ceremony, if you want to call it that, where we're going to, here's what we're going to do. We are going to have some caroling. We're going to have a nativity reading, and we're going to have the lighting of the Christmas tree right up front here. It's going to be at six o'clock tonight. Love to have you bring the whole family. It's going to be outside. So it's probably going to be cold. So dress warmly, guaranteed. Not to snow though. I will let you know about that. So come on out tonight, it would be really great to have the whole family gathered together. 4 (21m 32s): So for Christmas, we are collecting some donations for some food baskets that we're putting together through our pantry ministry. So if you would like to donate some items, you can go up to the info center and they'll let you know what items we're going to be collecting. Or if you get our weekly email, the list is in there as well. And you can bring the items and they're due. When are they do? They are due next Sunday, which is December 13th. So if you'd like be a part of that, you can bring them by the office as well. And we'll go ahead and collect those. We've been announcing that we're doing a coat drive. In addition, the coat drive actually has been canceled because of the event that they were going to do to hand, hand the coats out to the needy in our community. 4 (22m 16s): It's been canceled. So if you have some codes that you've been collecting, you could go ahead and take them to the thrift store. Just give them to somebody on your own. That'd be fine. So the last thing I want to share with you, probably the most important of all there is a new year's Eve young professionals, pajama party and game night. Okay. So I asked this question to one of the planners. What is the age group for a young professional? So they told me 20 to 40. All right. Pretty pretty broad age. This again, this is a 5 (22m 50s): New year's Eve. Yup. 4 (22m 52s): Professionals, pajama party, and game night, you guys need to get signed up and it's going to be from six to nine is can mean the loft it's going to have a taco truck is going to be catered with a taco truck. So there is a price involved it's 10 bucks. And if you want to sign up, you can do it on the app, go online and, and, and all that good stuff. But one last thing, I was cleaning out one of my closets in my house this week, and I found my son's dinosaur one Z say a head to toe one Z pajama suit. So I announced it at first service as well. So if you want the dinosaur one Z, you gotta let me know. It's it's, it's, it's a F it's free to the first person who wants the onesy, but okay. 4 (23m 36s): You're, you're older than 40. I'm sorry, sir. Okay. 5 (23m 42s): I will not 4 (23m 43s): Be wearing the dinosaur suit, but thank you for asking. All right. So with that, I'm going to invite Dave to come up and he's going to be in first Thessalonians chapter two. So if you want to go ahead and turn in your Bible to first Thessalonians chapter two, that'd be great. Let's welcome, Dave. 6 (23m 58s): 7 (24m 9s): There we go. You know, and at times like this, that we're facing now, it's, it's easy to feel afflicted, you know, it's with COVID and shutdowns and, and being told that we shouldn't be gathering together and, and that we shouldn't be connecting with each other and that, and it just, and the fact that it's been going on for nine months now just kind of feels oppressing. And, and, but yet this is nothing like what the Church and Tesla Annika felt that we're Paul is writing to hear. 7 (24m 49s): And, and this time I'm going to cover quite a bit of ground today, because most of what this is, is narrative. I'm starting with the chapter two verse 17, and I'm going to preach all the way through chapters three. And I hope to be done by three o'clock. But the, but the whole thing in here is looking at it being it's mostly narrative, but there's still some, some great stuff in here. Paul Paul is very personal in this letter, if you read it. And there is, there's just a ton of narrative. There's some teaching, but it's mostly, he S he's writing words of comfort. 7 (25m 30s): He's writing words of, of hope. He's writing words, just telling him how he's feeling and how he's hoping they're doing. Whereas Romans is very theological. And first Corinthians and Galatians are very much dealing with problems and the church. This is so personal. And we really see a lot in here about Paul and about the Thessaloniki. And Church Paul is he's got deep affection for the people there. And, and, and, and Paul's affection for them is, is just mirroring. God's love for them. And, but in the midst of this, what he's so concerned about, and this is what persecution is, what Afflictions, they might be enduring. 7 (26m 17s): The things that they're experiencing as a followers of Jesus in a very, very intolerant situation. A very, very matter of fact, antagonistic situation. If you remember, Paul was driven out of Fessel, Anika, they, they had, when they couldn't find him, they pulled somebody else who was in the Church out and they, they beat him up and they took him before the, and made them pay a huge bail to get out and all of this while they investigated. And, and the Church said, DePaul, better scoop need to get out. And so they left, but so we see Paul's affection. 7 (26m 59s): We see their affliction, which we all face. We face the same kinds of Afflictions today. And, but through that, we see God's Affirmation that we are loved. We are cared for even when things are hard. And We, we might ask the question, where is God, when we're going through this, and he's right there with you, and he loves you and nothing can separate you from his love. So I'm going to break this passage up into three parts. The first part is going to be starting with a, in chapter two. And I'm just reading the starting at verse 17 and reading through the end of the chapter, please stand let's let's pray before we get started with this. 7 (27m 48s): And we'll go from there, Laura, God, I thank you so much that you are God, that you are the Lord of all that you love, the creation that you have made, and you especially love mankind 6 (28m 8s): Because 7 (28m 8s): You made us in your image and likeness. You set us up to be the caretakers of what you have made the stewards of, of your kingdom, of your creation, the stewards of all that you have set apart that we might have dominion, and then we spit in your eye. So God today we come to you as broken. We come to you as those who don't deserve to receive your love, but nonetheless are loved through Jesus Christ. 7 (28m 52s): Come speak to our hearts today, Lord, come speak and, and, and we desire Lord God, to be transformed by your word at living and active word that is sharper than any two-edged sword to divide soul and spirit joints and marrow. And to reveal the intentions of our hearts 6 (29m 18s): Come 7 (29m 19s): Revealed the intentions of our hearts today, Lord, and shape us more into the image of Jesus. God use me as your vessel here to speak your truth. And I pray Jesus, that you would have your way with what is spoken here and with what received here. And I know from all the years, I've preached that there are so many who hear something that I didn't say because you were speaking. So say to our hearts, what it is that you know, We to here, fill us with your spirit and the joy that comes from knowing we are loved in your name. 7 (30m 7s): We pray. Amen. And amen. So today I'm calling this a CA I say, I always used to just give one word titles are very, you know, very brief phrase, but Steve does these long ones. So, so I got to come up with something has lots of words in it, but that really highlights what it is we're talking about here. And, and so today's sermon, I'm calling God's Affection Overcomes Our Afflictions and Gives Us Affirmation That we are His God's affection. Overcomes Our Afflictions and Gives Us Affirmation that we are His. So peer, we see this, this first piece, this Affection of that Paul has for the Thessaloniki sins that is mirroring God's love. 7 (30m 55s): So I'm going to read verses 17 through 20 here of chapter two. This is God's word. Since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time in person, not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you. I Paul, again and again, but Satan hindered us for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus. It is coming. Is it not you for you are our glory and joy. 7 (31m 35s): It's talking to you folks. Paul is writing this, but the Holy spirit is speaking to you. You remember from acts 17. As I mentioned before, Paul was, was driven out of vessel, Anika by jealous and, and wicked men who were threatened by the message of the gospel and jealous of the following that Paul was getting, they were the, wanted to be the arbiters of the truth. They wanted to be the ones who determined what was right and what was wrong. And then those who were idolaters were just livid and, and trying to drive them away because they were cutting into their profits. 7 (32m 17s): But this is what he was referring to. And he said he was torn away from them. It was like a That in the Greek. It literally means T he was orphaned from them. Just like if a conquering force would come in and they would rip the children out of the parent's arms and cause those children to become orphans, because then the parents would just sense this great loss. And the children would be who was whose, where are my parents what's going on with them? Or they might even see them cut down in front of them. And so the children automatically become orphans than hauled off into slavery. This is what Paul was feeling. I feel as if I've been orphaned from you, I am so cut off. 7 (32m 58s): I'm so taken away from you. And he feels that this, this deep love that he has for them, this deep concern that he has for them is just tearing it as hard, because he's concerned about what they're facing. This is Paul, the Pharisee of farracies, as he says, in his pedigree and one of the other epistles. And, you know, as to the law, I was blameless. I was, I sat at the feet of Gamaliel. I was the one, he was the greatest teacher and to sit at his feet was to be the greatest pupil. This is Paul, he's the Hebrew of Hebrews and lover of everything, Hebrew and hater of everything Gentile until God got ahold of him and God transformed his heart, that he might show his love through Paul, to those that around him. 7 (33m 51s): And he had this special affection for the Fessel onions. There is Are next to His except the message of his gospel and God's demonstration of its power. Through Paul, they caused, they caused him to love them with a deep and abiding love through Paul came. He had come through Apollonia and Hierapolis I think is the town from Philippi had been run out of Philippi, went through two towns to get to festival. And nothing happened in those two towns. And it wasn't like he just was passing through. I'm sure everywhere, every place he went, Paul tried to share the gospel, but there was nothing there, nothing recorded about what, what happened in those cities. 7 (34m 37s): But when he got to Fessel and ICA, he went and he reasoned in the synagogue and he reasoned there and people were being transformed. People were coming to faith in Jesus. People were receiving the gospel with their whole heart, and it was started taking effect until the point that people got jealous, their religious folks got jealous. And so all of this stuff started going on and, and all this persecution and, and Paul so loved them that he said, you are my glory and my joy, because I'm going to present. You say, these are the ones you gave me. God, isn't a great, they stayed strong. 7 (35m 17s): Isn't it great. They loved you. Isn't it great. They just hold fast to Jesus. Isn't this super. And thank you that I got to be part of their coming to faith in you. That's Paul's love for them. And it's the same Affection God has for you as his dearly beloved child. See, when he removed you from the kingdom of darkness and adapted, you adapted you to be his own. He did. So because he loves you. If he does and says he chose you from before the foundation of the war, 6 (35m 59s): Isn't that amazing. 7 (36m 5s): And he does. So because he loves you and wants you to know that he loves you. You see the, the Affection here. We think about God's unconditional love. God's love. God's so loved the world and this overarching love. But sometimes that can feel kind of distant. Sometimes that can feel like we're really, God loves us, but he's kind of out there, but there's a real affection here. Something that that's so close and that love that you have for your children. You get that little baby and hold him in your arms for the first time. 7 (36m 44s): When, when, gosh, I remember that when our girls were born, kind of, cause I'm getting old, but I do remember much more recently when our grandsons were born. And when our first grandson was born, Cyrus is 13. And we met him when he was about 45 minutes old. And, and I held him and I just looked at this little one that I had not seen or ever met before anticipated is coming, but, but just had never seen him. And I had so much love for this little one that I just put my eyes on for the first time. 7 (37m 25s): And what was really great about that is I had none of the responsibility for him, but, but I had this little one that I just so deeply loved. And that's the way Paul felt about the Thessaloniki as they were his children in the Lord. And they, he loved them deeply and was so concerned about all that we're going through. See God took you out of that kingdom of darkness. He wants you to know that you are loved. And Paul writes in Romans, Romans eight, 15, he says for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry Abba father, he says, God is, is our loving father who loves to pick us up. 7 (38m 17s): And dandle, Us on his knees and, and hold us clothes. That's the affection that we're seeing here. And he says, you're not slave subject to God's whim. You're not those who are forced to do things outside of your will, but he loves you so that you want to love him back. You want to do what he wants. He wraps you in his arms of loving care and his passion for you is 8 (38m 44s): Deep. You know, even 7 (38m 47s): To Israel, the prophet, Jeremiah spoke and remember Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, Jeremiah didn't have a whole lot of good stuff to say about God's people other than what could be if they would repent. But he preached to them a lot about just how they are falling away, how they're neglecting, God how they are turning their backs on him and following after idols. But it's what does he say to them? God speaks to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31, three and says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, I have continued my faithfulness to you. 7 (39m 27s): See, he still loves us. Even when we mess up, he still is faithful to us, even when we are desperately in need of discipline. 8 (39m 37s): And he does 7 (39m 37s): Discipline us if he loved, because we are 8 (39m 40s): Loved. See, 7 (39m 42s): Paul reminds them that even though they're physically separated, his heart will never leave them 8 (39m 49s): Because he loves them. So his heart 7 (39m 52s): We'll never leave the Fest Slovenians and neither physical distance nor Satan's hindrances. He's remember, he says, Satan hindered me from coming to you can, they CA, nothing can keep Paul from loving them and desiring their good and their wellbeing. 8 (40m 9s): That's that's 7 (40m 10s): What Paul is so concerned about that they would, 8 (40m 13s): That they would find 7 (40m 16s): Good of life. They would find the best of life or not. And I'm not talking about stuff and, you know, comfort and that sort of thing. Talking about their relationship with Jesus, their relationship with knowing him and standing with him and knowing that we're going to spend eternity with him. 8 (40m 35s): Sorry. 7 (40m 35s): Note here about Satan's hindrances. This is a little excursus we're going to set over to this side. You can put it in your hip pocket. We could probably spend several weeks talking about Satan's hindrances, but just, I want you to know, and I want you to hold onto this. 8 (40m 51s): Satan 7 (40m 52s): Can only hinder us with God's permission. 8 (40m 57s): We tend 7 (40m 57s): To give him far more power than he deserves. It is not two equal forces fighting one another. This isn't yin and yang. This isn't, you know, one pit it against the other and hopes that the scales are gonna fall on God's side. 8 (41m 15s): Okay? No, 7 (41m 18s): God is in control and Satan can do nothing that is not allowed by God. 8 (41m 26s): And if he allows it, it's so 7 (41m 29s): Holy to accomplish his divine purpose and his divine plan in your life and in his kingdom. And it's as true today as it was in the first century and has been from the beginning, remember Jobe, Satan couldn't do anything to job that God didn't allow. And he said, you can go this far and no farther and Satan, didn't not because he's obedient, but because that's all he can do Is Martin Luther. The great reformer once said after all he is God's devil. And so Satan's hindrance of Paul here was allowed by God for the Thessaloniki and Christians ultimate good. 7 (42m 15s): And for Paul's good. And his hindrance is hindrances towards us is for our good, 6 (42m 25s): Remember 7 (42m 26s): All things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to their purposes. That's why in everything you can give. Thanks because God is using everything for your advancement and just the same way he was doing for the Fessel Aloni church here. And Paul was busy being mother hen. I'm so worried about you. I don't want you to fail. I don't want you to fall. See Afflictions can't diminish. God's love for us. His his deep abiding affection. It cannot eliminate it. Can't delete it. Paul says this in again in Romans chapter eight, this, this passage is so familiar to all of us, but think about it in the context that when we face hardships, this is His, God what God does. 7 (43m 19s): What shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against God's elect it's God who justifies, who is to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake, we are being killed all day long, were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered for God's sake because it's accomplishing his purpose. 7 (44m 9s): Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for, I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come nor powers nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord, hallelujah. Those Afflictions come to make us stronger. So the next thing we need to look at is the Afflictions of the Thessaloniki and Church as they pertain to our lives today. So let's look then, and now at chapter three, verse one, we're going to read the first five verses. 7 (44m 49s): Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind it, Athens alone. And we sent Timothy our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you and your faith that no one be moved by these Afflictions for you yourself. Know that we're destined for this for when we were with you. We kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction just as it has come to pass and justice. You know, for this reason when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter attempted you and our labor would be in vain. Paul says, I know what you're going through because it's the same thing. 7 (45m 31s): I was going. 6 (45m 31s): 7 (45m 39s): Bullying violence, persecution of all kinds. And Paul wanted to make sure that none of these new believers were moved is the word he uses here and moved by these affections. And you know, when you can imagine moved to, you know, taken off of, off of base and knocked off a center, moved sideways, move backwards or forwards or up or down, but somehow or another, not standing firm. And this word moved really kind of has three levels to it in the Greek. And first, the first level is kind of be seduced to compromise, seduced, to compromise your beliefs. 7 (46m 19s): seduced to step away and may be not commit so much only commit this much instead of everything, Just to refer to it as having just enough, Jesus got just enough Jesus to be saved. That's all I need. That's all I'm going to worry about. And then I'm going to live, just live in my life. I think one way we really see that happening in the church today in America is we're seduced to think that, 6 (46m 59s): Well, 7 (46m 59s): We can go to church when we can get there. And I always joke about it and say, unless we get a better offer, but it's, it's not that as much as this world has us so busy and so concerned about other things and creature comforts and schedules and all that kind of thing that we kind of think that, well, you know, we can't make it this week, cause this has come up, but Church will always be there. It'll be there next week, this to the point where in our culture today and evangelical Christianity, the pillars of the faith make it the Church twice a month, 15 years ago, it was 60% of the time. 7 (47m 44s): It's down to less than 50% of the time now. And we're seduced into thinking, well, that's okay. The second level of that is where to be per perturbed or agitated into confusion. We start, you know, darts start coming in and saying, well, I was telling selling, did God really say, is this really true? Or can things like the, I CA, I can't remember his first name Dawkins. He's a famous atheist. Is it Richard Dawkins? I was thinking Richard Dawkins was, you know, a family feud, but state, well there's Stephen Hawking, but then there's somebody Richard Dawkins Are yeah. 7 (48m 33s): Well, whatever, whoever he is, this famous atheist who I can't remember, his name tries to yeah. Tries to tell us that faith is foolishness that trusting in God is believing in the fairytales. You know, and that's, that's a, that's a pretty good job. And then, you know, lays out all of what he calls evidence. And it gets to the point where we can kind of say, Oh, you know, and we get agitated. And it says, well, I know the scripture says this, but all the, the evidence here seems to be pointing towards that and what am I going to do with this? 7 (49m 15s): And it shakes us. And then the third level of this is literally, it means to be the way it was described in my lexicon is to be wrought upon, which means to be put in the fire and hammered on an Advil to reshape us into something different. And I think that's kind of what you see. You go to places like China and North Korea, where they send you to reeducation camps. If you become a Christian 8 (49m 40s): And shaped into something else. 7 (49m 44s): So you, because of Paul's affection for them, he was deeply concerned that the persecution they would face would be driving them away from their faith and that they would have walked away due to incessant opposition. You know, at time where you just say, I'm just not going to put up with this anymore. Heck with it and leave it behind. And I'm tired of this hard road Lynn and I will often say to each other, and boy, I just hate that. I have to take the high road all the time. And I just want to take the low road for once. You know? And, but no, you get tired of that. And it would be so easy to walk away, but Paul had warned them that they would be facing this kind of thing. 7 (50m 30s): Verse three of this passage, this is for you yourselves know that we are destined for this. It's going to happen. This is not the kind of verse that you have printed on a magnet and put on your refrigerator. This promise, no, it's, we're destined for this. When we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction just as it has come to pass. And just as you know, See persecution of the church is four told in the new Testament, Jesus himself, and in John chapter 15, you know, they're on their way to the, the garden of gets Semini. They've left the upper room. They're on the way to the gardener gets Semini where Jesus is going to pray and then be betrayed. 7 (51m 14s): And Jesus says to them, if the world hates, you know, that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, but because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you? A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute 6 (51m 39s): You 7 (51m 42s): Again. Another verse we don't put on the refrigerator at home, You know, we've been so blessed to live in a country where we're free to follow Jesus and public who publicly worship. That's a great blessing. Unfortunately, that blessing as becomes a means of weakening the resolve for orthodoxy among those who followed Jesus. Grace has become easy. Grace has become cheap. 6 (52m 19s): Okay? 7 (52m 19s): I wish I had taken up the time to look at the quote of the definition of cheap grace that Dietrich Bonhoeffer Bonhoeffer gave in one of his books where he talks about, you know, it's, it's the crown without a cross it's Jesus without repentance. It's, it's all of these things because, and we get at that and then we have no foundation and no strength to stand. I would say in modern day, American culture, we've been moved by That seductive pers persecution and affliction we faced. 7 (52m 59s): And we're starting to get some of those jabs coming in, but it's not, we're not being on the put on the Advil yet. And we might be, 6 (53m 12s): Yeah, 7 (53m 12s): We don't want that to happen. Folks. If we want to see our country turnaround, if we want to see people changed by God, we want to see revival come in. Then we have to go with what God spoke to Solomon. When he was dedicating the temple. If my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. You know, we forget about the turning from our wicked ways part. We like to leave that one out, humble, humble myself. 7 (53m 53s): And while maybe I'll pray. How's that I'll pray and seek God's face. I just love being with Jesus. Don't tell me anything about sin. Don't tell me anything about repentance. Don't say anything about humbling myself, but God I'm praying. So fix it. No, it's it's it's it's that recognition that we don't deserve. God's love. We don't deserve God's ability to save, but acknowledging the love that he has 2 (54m 27s): For us, 7 (54m 29s): You might still face persecution. Even if we do this, even if we follow that admonition from God, but you'll receive an affirmation that you are 2 (54m 43s): Loved, 7 (54m 45s): That God will care for you, that God will sustain you. That God will uphold you. That God will give you the strength to face, whatever it is that comes your way, he will give you the grace that is necessary to face the trials and tribulations. Even to the point of martyrdom, he will give you the grace for that. If you have to face it, he will give you the strength. In the moment. God told Israel when they were coming through the desert desert as your day. So shall your strength be whatever it is you have to face. God will give you the strength for it. 7 (55m 26s): And remember that these Afflictions are actually beneficial to your faith because they help us to appreciate and comprehend the truth of God's word more fully. Ken Martin Luther said the devil and temptations also do give occasion unto us somewhat to learn and understand the scriptures by experience and practice without trials and temptations. We should never understand anything thereof. No, not. Although we diligently read and heard the same, because when you experience those difficulties, when you experience those hardships, when you experience persecution, when you experience sickness, when you experienced trials, when you experience the bad things that can come from the world at you, it opens the door to the scriptures to appreciate God's promises. 7 (56m 22s): It opens doors to the scriptures. So I can S I can look at that and say, Oh God, yes. Now I understand what this is, and I'm going to hold onto you. I'm going to hold fast to you. I'm going to stick with you and God. I know I can't do that in my own strength. Give me the power of your Holy spirit. Let that be enlivened. Inmate. Let it be quickened in my heart that I might stand with you, that I might hold fast to you. That I might remain unchanged and be faithful, no matter what it is that I face. See. So as we live our lives and the promise of God's affection, that he shows toward us and the certainty that we will face affliction in this life. 7 (57m 13s): And if, for no other reason that we live in a fallen and sinful world, It's hold fast to the Affirmation of God. That he's pleased with us when we hold fast to him and, and know that he, 8 (57m 34s): He keeps us as we stick with him. 7 (57m 41s): So let's look at this last section here 8 (57m 45s): Told you 7 (57m 45s): I'd be done by three. 8 (57m 49s): This is brief. Okay. 7 (57m 51s): But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us. As we long to see you for this reason brothers and all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith for now. We live, if you are standing fast and God Paul felt as if he was dying, because he wasn't sure about 8 (58m 21s): Awesome. 7 (58m 25s): What Thanksgiving can we return to God for you for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day, that we may see you face to face and supply. What is lacking in your faith. Now may Are God and father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound and love for one another. And for all, as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before Are God and father at the coming of our Lord Jesus, with all his saints, Paul's almost giddy because they're standing firm. 7 (59m 8s): He felt like there was so much left for him to teach them when he, when he had to leave, but they're standing firm and the faith that they've had, and he had sent Timothy back and they had preached more to them and they saw great 8 (59m 24s): Results 7 (59m 25s): On the part of the festival Ionians to, to stand firm in their faith. And so Paul's joy, overflows, and even more love for them. He wants to go back and see them again. He wants that all the more to be with them and knowing that they could have come to hate him because of the message that they gave him and that he gave them, I should say. And the persecution that followed that transforming method message, they could have come to despise Paul, that look what he brought on Us but no, they love it 8 (59m 57s): Of Paul, because look what he gave to us 7 (1h 0m 2s): Brought the message of the gospel. He brought the message of hope in Christ Jesus, and they held fast to the gospel, just like the 12 disciples did in John six, when the rest of the crowds deserted him, remember in John six, Jesus is talking about, if you want to, any part in me, you have to eat my flesh. You have to drink my blood and to the Jews, that was an abomination. And they left. This is a hard saying, and they left and it says, starting in verse 66, after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? 7 (1h 0m 44s): And Simon, Peter answered him Lord to whom 8 (1h 0m 47s): Shall we go? You have the word 7 (1h 0m 50s): Words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy one. 8 (1h 0m 56s): God 7 (1h 0m 59s): I see Paul bringing the message of the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ gave the Thessalonians the very words of eternal life. Every time you share the gospel with someone, you're giving them the very words of eternal life. And this is the joy that we bring to God. When we stand in the face of persecution, when we continually draw our strength for him to withstand Satan's on the slot, 8 (1h 1m 27s): Whether 7 (1h 1m 27s): It's subtle or an obvious jab or a full-out frontal assault, God affirms his deep love for us. 8 (1h 1m 35s): Always, always. Yeah. 7 (1h 1m 39s): Whether the conditions of our lives are smooth sailing or in the middle of a hurricane, 8 (1h 1m 46s): God is 7 (1h 1m 47s): Still with us affirming his love and his promise that he'll never leave us or forsake us stands most strongly when we're clinging to him in the midst of our Afflictions, 8 (1h 1m 60s): He even, 7 (1h 2m 0s): And pronounces a blessing on us in the midst of their trials. Look at the verses 11 through 13 here, once again, now my Are God and father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you one so that Paul can come in and share with them. And they, because he loves them and wants to see them face to face. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before Are God and father at the coming of our Lord Jesus, with all his saints, see God will cause us to be into increase and abound and love for him for Are brothers and sisters in the church for our community. 7 (1h 2m 43s): And even for the world that brings our Afflictions upon us. God will cause us to love him. And he'll establish our hearts blameless in a holiness before him keeping us steadfast to either the end of our lives or until Christ returns. Whichever happens first, You have the assurance that God has genuine affection towards you today. 8 (1h 3m 13s): Are you walking with Jesus? 7 (1h 3m 16s): If you Are, he does have genuine affection for you. He loves you and loves to be with you and loves to fellowship with you. If you don't know Jesus, 8 (1h 3m 31s): He's as close as the mention of his name. He's right here. 7 (1h 3m 37s): Say, Jesus. I want to know you. I don't know. I want to know what this assurance of your love is. I want to know that you have affection for me. And even when I go through difficult times and affliction, you give me an affirmation that I am yours. That's what's available to you in Christ. Jesus. You come to him and say, Lord, I know I'm a sinner. And, and I can't do this on my own. 8 (1h 3m 58s): I need you. That's what's set before you right now. 7 (1h 4m 5s): God does have affection toward you. And if you're facing difficulties and hardships and trials and persecution of any kind, even so he will never stop loving you. If you're saying right now, where is God? He's right there. Because if he wasn't with you right now, you think you're going through difficulty. Now, if God wasn't with you, I can't even begin to 8 (1h 4m 31s): Imagine 7 (1h 4m 36s): What are the Afflictions that you're facing at the moment? Is it That clever seduction? Did God really say, is it kind of an obvious jab? You're getting poked. Your faith is getting poked. Your faith is getting challenged. Are you on the Advil? Somebody trying to reshape you and take you away from being shaped like Jesus, 8 (1h 5m 5s): God still with you. Nonetheless 7 (1h 5m 8s): Affirming his love for you, affirming that you belong to him and that nothing can pluck you out of his hand. 8 (1h 5m 19s): Have you opened your eyes, 7 (1h 5m 20s): Heart to receive the blessing of that? Affirmation because sometimes we get to the point where we feel well, I'm not worthy. God well, you're right. We're not. But he says, I love you anyway. I love you anyway, because of Jesus. When I look at you, I see Jesus. When I look at you, I see the righteousness of God poured out all over you. I see you as if you had never even had a sin nature, let alone committed a sin. I see you as Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall. That's the way Jesus looks at. Are God. The father looks at you because of what Jesus did for you. 8 (1h 5m 60s): He loves you and he's offering it to you. You're the Apple of his eye. 7 (1h 6m 11s): And he has established you as a joint heir of his kingdom 8 (1h 6m 16s): And with our big brother, Jesus, let's pray 7 (1h 6m 25s): Lord our God. I thank you. I thank you for your love. I thank you for your care. That never stops. That even when we don't see you working, even when we can't feel your presence, even when it seems like you're a million miles away, you still love Us and you're still here in those times, help us to stand on there. The faith that you have given us that marvelous gift of saving faith in Jesus and God. I pray that when we face affliction, that we would cry out to you, knowing that you will hold us fast. That even if we face all the way up to martyrdom, you will give us the grace and the strength necessary to face whatever trials come before us and help us never to be so overcome by the world. 7 (1h 7m 17s): And so it feels so afflicted in that we get tired of it and say, forget it. I'm walking away. Keep us close, help us to keep our eyes on you and for any here today, Lord who need to know you just give them the assurance that they are loved as they turn to you and repentance that you indeed will make them your own to the praise of your glory in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. 2 (1h 7m 54s): Stan. 0 (1h 11m 22s): 2 (1h 17m 48s): We can never deserve it. You never forsake us. It gives us peace. During these times to know that you are trustworthy, that your word will come to pass. And then we have no reason to fear. Pray that you'd be with each one of us, give everyone here strength that each one would have with the peace that only comes from knowing you being filled with your spirit. 2 (1h 18m 34s): Praise, the Lord Jesus name. Amen. 3 (1h 18m 43s): Yeah, guys, for coming to church, 2 (1h 18m 47s): It's an amazing thing. 3 (1h 18m 51s): Amen. And if anybody needs a prayer come forward, we'll have people up here that can pray with you. Have a great week.

Where do you Find Courage in the Face of Trouble?

0 (1s): Well, good morning, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving weekend. Hope you had a wonderful time celebrating. Thanks for joining us here today. 1 (11s): Whether you're here on campus or watching at home so glad to be together and worship, would you stand with me if you're able and we'll take a moment just to pray by it. The Lord's presence to me in our midst, as we worship the Lord, we just bring our hearts of banks this morning. Even as the season, we focus on the things that we're grateful for him. God, when our hearts just bubble over just with thanks and praise for who you are in all the things you've done for us and the blessings that you've given us. So God, I just pray for anyone this morning, maybe who's hurting or lonely or does just concerns weighing upon their hearts. 1 (58s): How would you need us in this place? In this moment, you would your spirit come and fill our hearts with all that we have need of this morning. Would you help us to praise you in good times and bad times? God, you're always worthy of our praise. There's always a reason to praise your name. So do you think you 0 (1m 28s): ? Yes. Well, sitting in my heart is happy. All my digs. Oh yes. 0 (1m 50s): the same guy. Who's never, the same guy. 0 (3m 29s): 1 (11m 20s): Would you help us? Do you receive your love this morning? All that you have for us? God, even at first service, I had this picture of just like us holding our hands, like little kids receiving a gift this morning. If you want to do that, just as a symbol to the Lord to say, I want to receive the love, the mercy, the grace that you have for me today, Lord, I'm just holding my hands open wide outstretched to receive on the heart. 0 (11m 52s): It's a gift for you today. yeah, the single praise. 0 (14m 55s): Your name forever. 0 (14m 58s): where do you praise your name today? 0 (16m 32s): Gather here to adore our King. The Lord. Thank you. That we know that we do get to praise your name forever around your throne for all eternity, with all the angels singing. Holy Holy Holy is the Lord. God almighty, who was in his, in his to come. We stand on Holy ground this morning. Once again, just as the hearts of gratitude. Thanks every eye and heart just focused on you. 0 (17m 17s): Jesus. You're the reason we're here and we love you with all our hearts in your name. Amen. Amen. Church so good. Well, we're just going to share that love of Jesus with each other, for a few moments. Do you want to say hello to someone around you? You just pass on that. Love this morning, pulled back with some announcements soon. 2 (17m 41s): Good morning. Harvest Church welcome. We're awfully glad to have you here. Good to see everybody morning. 3 (17m 51s): Hopefully you are over your trip to fan coma and are bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning. Ready to ready to worship the Lord. I could hear you when I was outside and it just sounds fantastic to hear you all lifting up your voices. And that's just super, do you have a few announcements this morning? I'm pastor day, one of the, the pastors on staff here and glad to have you with us and whether you're here in the sanctuary or you're with us in the loft on the patio, we're glad you're here. Or if you're watching online, this is a great way, you know, I'm sorry. I'm not holding the mic in. I'm used to wearing Steve's daily, but the that's the technical term when you're my age, it is. 3 (18m 47s): I just going to say that, you know, Curtis just did our a report on how many views we're getting on our online for our, for those of you who are watching online, we have averaged last month, over 700 devices every week tuning in and watching our service, whether it's on Sunday morning or whether it's right now, if you're watching right now, or if you're watching this delayed either way, we had over 2,800 views last month. So that was really, and that's, I don't know how many people per device, they probably all gathered around their phones, you know, eight or 10 kids. And they've right. 3 (19m 28s): But if you are here with us for the first time, sorry, I'm taking Steve's time here, but if you're here, Where this for the first time this morning, we'd love to have you up at the stop up at the info center. What, what I call the Google of Harvest Church, that's where you find all things out and, and Curtis will help you out up there, but stop up there. They've got a special gift for you. They've got, as, as Ron said, last week, can't tell you what it is, but it looks a lot like a coffee mug and a, and there's some goodies and stuff in it too. And, and information about the Church. And so we'd love to have you stop up there and pick that up. 3 (20m 9s): Let's see. I gotta use, there we go. Okay, man, couple of things starting or on separately, timber on December 12th, we're having a men's breakfast. We realized that it had been quite a while since we'd had one with COVID, everything's been shut down and we really wanted to gather the men together. So two weeks from yesterday, the 12th of December at eight o'clock, we're gonna meet in the loft and enjoy men's breakfast together. And it's a good thing. 3 (20m 50s): You've been eating a lot. These past few days, stretch out your stomach because that's the amount of food you will be getting men. So keep stretching. Also, we have a retreat coming up on January 8th and ninth. We're calling it throttling back. It's all about slowing down. Being able to listen for God's voice, to being able to grow and be effective in your walk in Christ to be used of him, to not be tied down with so many of the things of this world that just hold you back. So encourage you to sign up for that. You sign up for that online. You go to either the website, AIG harvest.org or the Harvest app, which is a G Harvest. 3 (21m 32s): You just look that up at, in your app store and you'll be able to connect there, click on the information about the, the men's retreat. And that will take you directly to the camp website because that's where all of the registration is. So please, please do that. We want sign ups by the 15th of the, of next month. We're going to have a Christmas tree lighting ceremony here one week from today at six o'clock out on the front lawn, we're going to have carols out here, setup on the, on the front stoop of the church. And we're going to sing Christmas carols. 3 (22m 13s): We're going to like the Christmas tree. It's just going to be a great night to be together. And I know Steve was going to share more about that here in a little bit, so he can give you more details, but encourage you to come out for that. It's a great, great night. We'll be having Christmas food, basket donations starting anytime. You're ready to bring them in. Now I know we just finished up with Thanksgiving and you did so well bringing stuff in for Thanksgiving. We had so much food, got to bless a lot of people. We want to bless a lot of people for Christmas, where our goal is that we need 50 hams. And as I told them in the first service that doesn't include Steve and I. 3 (22m 57s): And so we just need to have plenty of food for Christmas and sign up up in the, at the info center or we're going to have a wagon out there every week with the food basket that you can fill in. Also one new thing starting this week on Thursday morning at eight o'clock we're resuming our midweek prayer eight o'clock in the loft on Thursday morning, the folks who were involved in that before just came to me and said, we can't not do this anymore. We shut it down for COVID and, but people are wanting to get back to the price. So we're coming in on Thursday mornings at eight o'clock in the loft. 3 (23m 37s): If you are available and would love to pray, come out and pray for an hour. And it's, it's amazing to me, how fast an hour when I'm there and one more and then Steve can come up. You know, he's chomping at the bit over there. He just seemed like in the starting gate, waiting for them to blow that bugle and open the gate. But Mark your calendars too, for Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24th, less than four weeks from now, we will be having three Christmas Eve services this year at three, four, and five, and encourage you to come out. And in the last year was our first year participating on Christmas Eve. 3 (24m 20s): And it's, it's such a sweet service come and sing Christmas carols. We have a Christmas story for the kids and, and Steve will be sharing the word. And it's just a wonderful evening to get centered in and focused on why it is that we celebrate Christmas. And it's not about trees in presence. So encourage you to come out for that. And with that, I will pass this on to Steve. 4 (24m 48s): Yeah. Sounds good. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dave. Good morning. Welcome. How many enjoy Thanksgiving? Was it good? Do you have a lots of food? Lots of good stuff. All right. With that, I've got some Thanksgiving jokes, Thanksgiving jokes. What kind of key will not open any door? A Turkey. Very, very good. Very, very good. A Turkey Turk knock, knock. 4 (25m 28s): I'm not sure if I can do this knock, knock. I can't remember. Let me see you. I'm going to get you there though. Here we go. Knock, knock. Arthur. Are there any leftovers? I know, I know. I know my family keeps telling me no more Thanksgiving jokes. I told them I, I just can't quit cold Turkey, and now we're done. The party is over. We're going to pray and be done. Just getting let's go and stand up and pray those. 4 (26m 10s): So you might hear those again next Thanksgiving holiday season, but you will, maybe you forgotten them by then. So we'll see what happens, Lord. We thank you for the opportunity to be studying your word today. Lord, we're going to be in first Thessalonians again, Lord. And so we just pray that you'd speak to us through your word. God, we invite your Holy spirit to fill this place and to fill us Lord. And whoever's got watching. I pray blessing upon them. Lord God, wherever they are on campus or online Lord, we just pray for your blessing upon each person. God encouragement would go out to them. Lord grace and peace and mercy 5 (26m 44s): Would go out to them in Jesus name, God that you would just do wonderful and profound things in this service. The balance of this service, we pray, Lord, it's in your name. We ask these things. Jesus. Amen. Amen. You can be seated. So first Thessalonians chapter two verses one through 16, where do you find courage in the face of trouble? That's the title of the message today? Where do you Find Courage in the face of Trouble. I think if we're going to find out the answer to this, it's good to go to a person who's experienced. Trouble like if nobody's ever experienced Trouble and they tried to help you to Find Courage in the face of trouble that person's got no credibility, but Paul, the apostle Paul, he's got some, the ability why? Because his life was riddled riddled with Trouble years ago, I talked to my father-in-law he's he's getting older. 5 (27m 32s): And I said, Hey Mark, do you have any regrets in life? Anything that you can pass on? And we had a great conversation out of that and to glean something from someone who'd been around a while, Paul Paul is speaking to us from this profound, the experience that he's had with the Lord, this profound experience that he's had as a minister of the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so from Paul's experience and wealth of knowledge and understanding of God, we're going to answer that question. Where do you Find Courage in the face of Trouble quick, quick story though. I was just a little guy going back many years and I was living down in Southern California and was with a sitter, a babysitter, and my brother and I, and the babysitter. 5 (28m 16s): We were at the beach and we go out to the water and I go deeper and deeper into the water and get kind of pulled out into the ocean and I can't swim. And so I'm out there and I find my pet kind of get my way over to the piling on the pier and I hold on for dear life. And so as you can imagine the waters going up over my head and then down. And when it, when the water goes down, I do everything within me just to yell out, help, right? I mean, I'm dying out there. Literally I'm drowning under the water. And it was, it was a time in my life where I didn't know, God didn't know who he was. And so I was just calling out to whoever would listen, just calling out. 5 (29m 1s): And then I believe that God sent the lifeguard with the life preserver and he saved my life that day. But it was in a time of desperate trouble. When I was calling out to anybody maybe been there, you just, you're in a desperate place. You just calling out to anybody. I, I, I want to share with you a few things today that will help you to find the courage that you need for the circumstance that you face. Let's take a look at first Thessalonians, chapter two verses one through 16, Paul rate's you yourselves know, do your brothers and sisters that are visits. You was not a failure. He's declaring something to this Church and maybe to himself. 5 (29m 44s): Cause I know at times it feels like the ministry that God calls us to is ineffective. Sometimes we feel like what we're doing is not fruitful, not helpful. And I'm sure Paul and his human has wondered at times whether what he was doing was actually fruitful and helpful and had eternal, eternal fruitfulness attached to it. But we know from first Thessalonians chapter one, verse nine, that the Thessaloniki and Church these people in this church had turned away from their idols to serve the living. And only God, they had turned from idolatry and the culture of two or 300,000 people in their town where idolatry was part of the deal. 5 (30m 27s): It was just part of the culture. And so you can imagine how the culture was surprised when this group of people heard the gospel message, the message about this person, Jesus Christ. And they turned away from their idols to serve the living and true God you yourselves know, do your brothers and sisters that are visits you is not a failure. He's establishing that the gospel message went out and effectively produce fruit for the kingdom of God. Verse two, he says, you know how badly we had been treated in Philippi at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Remember we talked about the Philippian jailer last week in acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas are in prison for their stance on the gospel for preaching the gospel. 5 (31m 15s): And they were beaten with rods and they were imprisoned. And about midnight, the Bible says they were praying and singing to the Lord. And about that time, a big earthquake hit the prison, hit the jail and the doors were opened and the chains fell off of them. And they all stayed the jailer awakens from his stupor and realized that the doors are open. And he's just assumes that the prisoners are gone. So he goes to kill himself. And Paul says, stop. Don't kill yourself. We're all still here. God had a plan for that Philippian jailer. So we know that Paul had experienced difficulty before going to this place. He had been beaten with a rod and in prison, he said, you know how badly we've been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there yet. 5 (32m 0s): God yet our God gave us the Courage in our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly in spite of great opposition, the temptation would be, Hey, we got into trouble. The last city we were in, let's kind of settle down this time, right? Let's just kind of fly below the radar. Let's not draw attention to ourselves. It's not fun to get beat with rods and thrown in jail. So let's just kind of fly below the radar. But Dodd God had called them. He had equipped them. He had given them purpose. Yes. And therefore God gave them Courage to do what they were called to do to proclaim the yet our God gave us the courage to declare his good news to you boldly in spite of great opposition. 5 (32m 47s): Where do you find courage in the face of Trouble number one in your notes, God will give you Courage. 6 (32m 54s): Yeah, that's great news. I think that's incredible news that if we just call out to the Lord, I mean, I think about myself bobbing up and down, clinging onto that piling with no buddy to call out to except for the open air. Like Al I'm dying here. I'm struggling here. But the reality is, now that I know God, I've got someone to cry out to. Maybe you're here today and you don't know God, you can call out to the same God, you can call out to the true and living God. And he will respond to you. He will listen to you. He will, he will come to your aid. God will give you Courage. He and Paul and Silas were beaten and 5 (33m 31s): In prison at some point, no matter how brave 6 (33m 33s): You are, Courage begins to evaporate, right? I mean, you go up against difficulty at every turn in your Courage begins to 4 (33m 42s): Great, but God, but 6 (33m 46s): God, God is faithful. And we will simply even in a faint whisper call out to him, Lord. 4 (33m 53s): Well, he responds, you were saying 5 (33m 56s): Child after all you've been created in his image, 6 (33m 59s): She's adopted you into his family. He's died for you. He loves you. He cares about you. You read resurrect from the dead. So they might know you and have a relationship with you. So by God's grace, he in his goodness. And because he loves you, he responds. If you will just simply by faith, 4 (34m 17s): Whisper, cry 6 (34m 18s): It out, yell it out, whatever it is, Lord help me. I need your grace in this moment. 5 (34m 25s): God will give you the Courage. What do you do when you're up against a difficult troubling situation, I would just challenge you to go to God and ask for what you need 4 (34m 38s): And he will give it to you. Right? 5 (34m 41s): I was reading this this morning. It's a book called on this day in Christian history. It's a great book by Robert J. Morgan. And it just takes you through the year and tells you what happened in Christian history on that particular day, in a particular year. So I read for this last week, I'm going to read from it again this week because it's a great, there's a great story. Dated November 29th. So we're going to today's November 29th. So we're going to read this story. It says when James Gilmore sailed for China in 1870, he was young, strong and in need of a wife, for sure. Right? He 6 (35m 17s): Plunged into reopening the London missionary 5 (35m 19s): Societies work in Mongolia, but with no one to lean on quote companions, I can scarcely hope to meet. He wrote and the feeling of being alone comes over me as laborers increased. So did loneliness. He continues today. I felt a good deal like Elijah in the wilderness. He told his journal. He, he prayed that he might die. I felt drawn towards suicide. Two missionaries should always go together. Oh, the intense loneliness, the pain deep in when his proposal to a Scottish girl was rejected. 5 (36m 1s): I then put myself and the direction of this affair. I mean the finding of it, the wife into God's hands asking him to look me out. Good one too. He said in 1873, Gilmore visited friends in peaking and mr. And mrs. Meech seeing a picture of mrs. Mitch's sister, Emily pranks heard James asked about her as his hostess described. Emily James found himself falling in love. He gazed at her picture, saw some of her letters and asked more and more or questions early. The next year, James wrote to Emily proposing marriage in his first letter buy the same mail. 5 (36m 47s): He informed his parents in Scotland. I have written in a proposed to a girl in England. It is true. I've never seen her. And I know very little about her, but I have put the whole matter into the hands of him. God asking him if it'd be best to bring her, if it be not best to keep her away and he can manage the whole thing. Well, what a great perspective receiving Gilmore's letter. Emily took it at once to the throne of grace later, Gilmore re recall the first letter I wrote her was to propose. And the first letter she wrote to me was to accept by autumn. Emily was in China, arriving on this day, November 29th, 1874 a week later, they were married. 5 (37m 33s): Gilmore acquired both wife and colleague and they labored faithfully side-by-side for years reaching Northern China for Christ. This guy was in a dark place. You ever been there? You know, through this whole COVID experience, I read a medical journal yesterday. A statistic says that one in four young people are suicidal as a result of the lockdown, the shutdown, the, the, the reality that we can't be together. Like we watch you work together. It's a, it's a devastating impact of COVID on our culture around the world. What, what do you do? Where do you go? You find the Courage in the face of Trouble. 5 (38m 14s): I would just encourage you to Courage out to the Lord and watch what he will do. What do you need to Courage to overcome? Is it loneliness? Is it anxiety? Is it fear and uncertain future ask God for Courage and watch what he will do when we walk, when we with God and honor him, he gives us what we need every time. Every time first three says, so you can see, we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives 7 (38m 47s): Trickery. There 5 (38m 52s): from a pure motivation. Those outside of the church may have been questioning their motivation because they were drawing people away from idolatry into to serve this new living and true God as many turned from idols to serve the one and living true God, there may have been some jealousy, some confusion, or even anger from the townspeople. I remember I grew up in this town, so people know me. They know, they know what I was like before I knew Christ, and now they know what I'm like now. And so I, in junior high school, I gave my life to the Lord, but I didn't know what to do with my faith until I was about 17 years old, a junior in high school. And so about 17 years old as a junior in high school, I decided to give my whole life to the Lord, meaning that my life would reflect my decision to serve Jesus. 5 (39m 43s): I had made the decision to serve Jesus as a junior higher, but my life didn't reflect that decision. It took a few years. And so when I changed, people were perplexed about it because they would say is isn't that Steve, the guy that we used to smoke pot with, isn't that Steve, the guy that we used to ditch school with and go surfing with isn't that the same guy that we used to get into trouble with. Right? And now what happened to him? There's been, there's been a change. There's been, he's not the same guy that he used to be. Thank God for that. But there needs to be a change right? In our lives, in our beef before Christ days in our, after Christ days, there needs to be a transformation. And when that transformation happens, people question it they'll question the sincerity of it. 5 (40m 26s): They will question whether it's real and then they will stick around and wait to see if it lasts. So Paul, with the preaching of the gospel was upsetting the norm. He was causing people to be transformed by the message of the gospel. 7 (40m 43s): Okay. 5 (40m 44s): You know, people were probably perplexed when Paul was converted, CA was converted as well. And he, because one day he's persecuting the church and the next day he's a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. One day, he's killing people for following Jesus. The next day he's following Jesus in. And the church were, they were perplexed by the people in his circle. They were perplexed by it. So Paul's not unfamiliar with the reality that the gospel is going to upset the Apple card. It's going to change people and change and change people for the good. So he's, he's waiting for this to happen. And he's seeing this happen in cultures, as he's preaching the gospel, wherever he goes, people are questioning his motivation, questioning the method. 5 (41m 27s): The message are questioning everything, but Paul's motivation was pure. Verse four says for, we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose is to please God, 6 (41m 43s): Not people. He 5 (41m 44s): Alone examines the motives of our hearts. Where do you go? What do you find? Courage on the face of Trouble number one, 6 (41m 53s): God will give you Courage. But also number two, clear purpose produces Courage clear purpose produces. Courage do you have a clear purpose for your life? The purpose of our church is that we're going to impact our community and our world. What the life changing message of Jesus Christ. This is what we're here to do. Our, our visions. We want to impact our community and our world with the life changing message of Jesus Christ. That's what we're measuring everything against. And so when we hear the analytics that we've got, not only people from our church coming to church, but people outside of the community and around the world tuning in hundreds of week, hundreds of people a week tuning in where we were grateful that we're fulfilling what we feel called to fulfill. 6 (42m 41s): Where impacting our community and our world 5 (42m 43s): With the life changing message of 6 (42m 45s): Jesus Christ. What is your purpose statement? My personal purpose, 5 (42m 50s): Basically the same as our purpose statement for the Church 6 (42m 53s): Church I want to, I want to have an impact. I, I want to get to the end of my life and think about my life and one and, and realize I want to, I want to with great humility 5 (43m 5s): Say thank you, Lord, that 6 (43m 6s): There's been impact, right? I wanna, I wanna know that my life, I want to know, like Paul, I want to know 5 (43m 12s): That I finished. Well, then I ran the race and I finished the race, 6 (43m 16s): You know? And you can know that you can, you can do that. And what I want for you is I want you to know that, but you will never know that if you don't know what your purpose is, you'll never get to the end of your life and be able to hold on to that purpose and say, it is finished. I've done it by God's grace, right? Only by God's grace, because he is good. Not because we're good, but, but he works through us wonderfully in zebra. Now, supernaturally, he works through us. I want us to know when it's all said and done that God did something through us. Like there was something tangible and, and, and, and wonderful and supernatural. That happened as a result of the way that we lived our lives. And that's very possible. That's why we have purpose statements as a church. And that's why corporates, corporate businesses and others have mission statements because they want to know that what they're doing is, is actually accomplishing something. 6 (44m 3s): And there's a way to measure it. Are we impacting our community and our world of the life changing message of Jesus Christ. This is why church is open. Part of, part of my purpose statement is I want to create, I wrote it down. I'll just see if I can find it here. Part of my purpose is to create space for people to gather and worship corporately. So when Trouble comes and they want to shut us down, my courage comes from clarity about my purpose and our purpose. Our purpose, my purpose is to create a space 5 (44m 32s): Where people can gather, I believe were necessary, that were essential, that the church is essential. And so I want to create a place, a space for us to worship. And so that's why we're open. And that's what we're going to stay open by. God's grace, right? We're going to stay open by God's grace, clear purpose produces Courage where do you need courage in your life? If you attach purpose to that area of your life, all of a sudden you'll find Courage. If it's, if it's God's centered purpose, if God's planted something in your soul and is given you something to live for, then all of a sudden you're going to have Courage to accomplish those things. It will impact the way that, you know, 4 (45m 13s): You spend your time, your talent and your treasure will impact your whole life. It will in the best possible meaning of the word. It will wreck your life. You will make your life completely different than it's ever, ever been clear. Purpose produces. Courage what's your purpose. 5 (45m 33s): You could, because again, I want you to get to the end of your life, whether that's in a year from now or 20 years from now or 40 years from now, I want you to get to the end of it. And I want us as a church to be able to say this was this been my, my life, 4 (45m 45s): The purpose. And I realized it to the best, 5 (45m 49s): The best of my ability by God's grace, because he's good at that because I'm good. There was something wonderful and supernatural. 4 (45m 55s): It was accomplished in, in me and with me and through me. And then I just want to close my eyes and go be with Jesus. Amen. That's the best possible way to go, goodness. And all along the way. Cause you never know what's going to happen. Get step off the curb. And then you were with Jesus, right? And then what are you going to have to give an account for your life? Right? So you can't wait until you're, you know, out of high school to do this. You can't wait until you finish with college to do this. You can't wait until you're, you know, raise your kids to do this. 4 (46m 36s): Or until you have kids, you can't wait until you're, you know, retired to do this. You can't, you can't wait. You can't wait. What's your purpose. Now, 5 (46m 46s): Maybe as you grow and you get older, that purpose might change a little bit. Might get a little more defined 4 (46m 53s): Like you have kids. And then you're saying, man, my purpose is to make sure my kids serve the Lord 5 (46m 59s): That I live in such a way in relationship with them, that they fall in love with Jesus, like 4 (47m 3s): With Jesus, right? That becomes your purpose. You get married. 5 (47m 9s): You're like, man, I want my marriage to reflect the goodness of God. I want people to see in my marriage, the goodness of God, the love of God, the grace of God. I want people to 4 (47m 19s): See that in my life and marriage, 5 (47m 22s): Whatever season of life that you're in, God will give you purpose. 4 (47m 25s): This. That'll get you up in the morning. That will give you Courage tackle the things that God has called you to tackle. Paul was serious about his purpose and he understood it and he didn't play games with it. Never once. First five, 6 (47m 42s): Never once. Did we try to win you with flattery as you well know? And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends, just to get your money. As for human praise, we've never sought it from you or anyone else. Paul was living and serving for an audience of one. He was focused on God and he wanted to make sure that what he did properly reflected the person of God, the love of God, the grace of God, that the work of God, he wanted to make sure that it was like a mirror. Like you could look at his life and see the goodness of God through and through as apostles of Christ, verse seven says we certainly had a right to make some demands of you. 6 (48m 25s): But instead we were like children, that, that word means gentle like children. We were like children with you. We were gentle like children among you, or we like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you. Not only God's good news, but our own lives too. It wasn't, it wasn't this preaching thing. Wasn't a vocation for Paul. It wasn't like, this is what I do in my nine to five. And then I turned it off. I turned it on and turn it off. It wasn't, it just wasn't that, that it was his whole life. And he said, I'm giving you the gospel and I'm giving you my whole life, giving you the gospel. And I'm giving you my life. There's something powerful about Paul's connection to his purpose. 6 (49m 8s): He understood what he was here in the earth to do. He was connected to his purpose. What is your purpose? Are you connected to it? Do you know who you are? And do you know whose you are? Do you know where you belong and to whom you belong when you figure that kind of stuff out, 4 (49m 26s): It makes just, it makes life so much better. And it's just so much more fun. 6 (49m 32s): You wake up and you know, Hey, I know what I'm doing this week. I'm gonna impact my community, my world with a life changing the gospel message of Jesus Christ. I'm going to do something for Jesus this, this day, this week, I don't know what it is, but I know God's going to use me. And then you get to define things a little bit more clearly. And you, as you walk with the Lord, you say, I know that I'm called to this, this arena, this area of ministry, this arena, this area of service too, to the world with the gospel. I know that I'm called. And then you get, there you go. You get really good at it. You get it. You get the opportunity to practice and, and continue to drill down in that gift set and use your gifts for kingdom, 4 (50m 15s): The buses. So you're not going to start out very strong. Probably you just not remember. I was 18 years old and I was asked to preach a sermon going back before then I was about 17 years old and I was asked to do my grandfather's Memorial service to officiate my grandfather's Memorial service. That was a terrible idea. By the way, it was a terrible idea. I was grieving and trying to proclaim the gospel to my family as I'm trying to do as a Memorial, sir, it was, it was not a good idea, not a good idea, 6 (50m 58s): But it was the beginning. It was, it was what God, you know, 4 (51m 2s): You used to begin to shape me into, to teach me how to communicate. And then I got a chance to, like I said, when I was 18 to do a little sermon in front of the singles group of our church. And, and then over the years you got to do different things and, and, and there's just, God, God just kind of opened the doors. And I feel like, I feel like I'm still a rookie of that. As you know, I still feel like I'm just trying to figure things out. But I, I do have a confidence that God is doing something. God is doing something. And it's a confidence that God has had to teach me because we want to, there's a point to my sharing there. 4 (51m 45s): There's 6 (51m 45s): We, we, we want to diminish 4 (51m 48s): Our impact out of a false humility. And it's not God's design. If God's using us, we want to say, thank you God for using, thank you for using me. I, I don't want to say or do anything apart from your word or your will. So Lord just stick right with me as I'm doing what I'm doing, you know, you never want to be in your own steam. As I talked about last week, talking out of it in your own steam ministering in your own steam, a minister, doing the things that God has called you to do in your own steam. You always want to be prayerful and asking God for help. So now I can say that I've got confidence that when I get up to speak, God's going to do something. 4 (52m 32s): And I'm always surprised. I'm always surprised. I'm always surprised. Number one, when I can write a message and I tell this to Jolene almost weekly, I say, well, finished another one. I don't know how, but I wrote another sermon. And then I preach it. And after church, I say, well, there's another one of the can. And, and God did something good because people come up to me and say, how did you know, that's what I was going through? And I said, I don't know. I've no idea what you're going through other than what you maybe you've shared with me, but God knew. And so when people say great message, I say, isn't God good. 4 (53m 13s): Right? Isn't God good. Right? Or if it's a bad message, I say, yeah, I didn't get much sleep 6 (53m 18s): The last night, whatever it is. My point in sharing this up is don't your 5 (53m 26s): Impact on the world that you live, you are called to have an impact with your friends and your family. So don't say it. What was me? I can't do that. 7 (53m 36s): Yes, you can. By God's grace. 5 (53m 40s): Yes, you can. So that should be the answer. Yeah. I can do that Lord, because I know you're going to be with me and it's not an arrogant thing at all. It's but yeah, Laura, I can do that. Yeah. Yeah. You'll be with me. Yeah. And so God's getting all the credit, all the glory, and all we're doing is just kind of going along with his plan. Right. So it's not an arrogant thing to say, yeah, I can do this. I can, I can, I can go minister. I can, God's giving you an assignment. Say, yeah, I can go do that. Right? Teaching, teaching Bible college or Bible school classes, whatever it is, teach teaching in a small group, Bible study, praying with a neighbor, your neighbor comes to you and says, man, I I'm, I'm fearful. Well, can I pray for you? And just, and just pray. 5 (54m 21s): And then you say, Lord, help me to pray. And then you pray and you say, thank you, Lord, that you want me to pray. Right? You take it all back to the Lord. Right? And then he does something great. And you say, thank you, Lord, for what you're doing. Right? Cause that person comes back later and says, man, you won't believe how much that prayer impact in my life. And you say, well, God's faithful. Thank you, Lord. Right. That's just what it's all about. That's what Paul was doing. He was all about the kingdom. He's the smartest guy in town, but it's all about just giving God all the glory and all the credit, because that's what, in his own strength, he was not going to do anything for the Lord. Don't you remember? 5 (55m 1s): Verse nine, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among United in the day, we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preach. God's good news to you. You yourselves are our witnesses. And so is God that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you toward all of you believers. Where do you find courage in the face of Trouble will God will give it to you, but also clear purpose produces Courage and then number three, a clean conscience yields. Courage a clean conscience yields. Courage Paul clarify, clarified a few things in verse three. We won't go back and read the verse, but I'll just tell you what he clarified in. 5 (55m 43s): Verse three Said in verse three, his message was not deceptive, but true. Paul wasn't playing games, trying to deceive anybody. He was bringing the real gospel. Number two, his motivation was not in pure, but clean. His motivation was pure. He was all about Jesus. He wasn't trying to build anything. He wasn't trying to establish his reputation. He wasn't trying to do anything apart from what God had called him to do, his, his motivation was pure. His method was not to trick or to see, but to be straightforward, it wasn't trying to be impressive. Eloquent, smart. 4 (56m 26s): Wasn't trying to trick or look good or deceive. He was straightforward with the message and his conscience was clear. His conscience was clear, a solely conscience hinders Courage 7 (56m 41s): So deal with it. Deal with your solely conscience, deal with him. How do you deal with it? 4 (56m 48s): If you confess your sin, he is faithful. And just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, that's how you deal with it. Just confess it. Maybe, maybe there's areas of your life, where your conscience isn't so clean, A guilty conscience, clouds, our clarity in and robs us of any Courage to do the things that God has called us to do. So maybe you're here and you've been wrestling with something. That's something that the Lord is asking you to do and you haven't done it. So I say, Lord, I'm sorry for that. I haven't done that yet. I'm going to do it now. That's how you clear your conscience. Sorry that I haven't done it yet. Lord, I'm going to do it. Now. Part of repentance is changing your mind about something, right? You're you're saying I don't believe that anymore, or I don't want to be disobedient anymore. 4 (57m 33s): So, so sorry Lord, that I didn't do it. I'm going to do it now in your conscience. It will be clear when you do that, right? How's your conscience. Do you need to do something to clear your conscience? 7 (57m 50s): Okay. 4 (57m 50s): Do you need to pay back a debt? Do you need to repent of sin? 7 (57m 58s): And again, 4 (57m 58s): Sin. Repenting is not just saying, sorry about that. And then continuing in it, repenting is saying, sorry about that. I don't ever want to do it again. You actually change your mind about it and you turn and go the opposite direction. Do you need to have a tough conversation in order to clear your conscience? Do you need to say, sorry, 7 (58m 21s): Do you need 4 (58m 22s): To humble yourself? Do you need to admit around 7 (58m 24s): Long? 4 (58m 27s): God wants you to live with a clear conscience because you are empowered. And you're courageous. When you've had a clear conscience, you are empowered and courageous to do the things that God has called you to do. When your conscience is clear. When you know, by God's grace, you've done everything that he's asked you to do. And when you fall in short, you've quickly, you felt short accounts where the Lord and say, God, forgive me. I'm going to do it next time. And then when he asks you to do it again, you do it because you've repented of not doing it the first time. And by God's grace, you want to do it the next time. Because in our humanness, sometimes we get fearful and we are disobedient and we don't do what God has asked us to do. 4 (59m 7s): So he gives us a second chance. And then another chance we clear our conscience. When, when we say yes, you're right, Lord, I, I, I heard you and I disobeyed not making excuses. I heard you and I disobeyed, but I'm not to disobey anymore. I'm not going to do it. Paul lived in ministered with a clear conscience because this is true. We had the courage, he needed to face the Trouble that he faced, including false accusations and slander and beatings and imprisonment, verse 11. You know, and you know that we treated each of you as a father, treats his own children. 4 (59m 47s): Look at the depth of commitment and the relationship with the connection that he has with his people that he's serving. We pleaded with you, encouraged you and urge you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy, free, called you to share in his kingdom and glory at your part of your purpose, right there, he's called you to share in his kingdom and his glory. Therefore, we never stopped thanking God that when we received, when you received this his message from us, you didn't think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God, which of course it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe 7 (1h 0m 29s): . 4 (1h 0m 33s): So all we have to do is humbly obediently, open our mouth and do what God has asked us to do. And God will work through us, but we have to humbly and obediently open our mouth so that God can work through us. Like that's our parts. Yes, Lord. I'm going to be humble and obedient and I'm going to be available to speak whatever it is so that you can speak through me or simply conduit conduit. That's what I am. That's what you are. We're conduit for God. And then do your brothers and sisters. You suffered persecution from our own, from your own countrymen. And in this way, you imitated the believers in God's church, in Judea, who, because of their belief in Christ, Jesus suffered for, from their own people that you use. 4 (1h 1m 16s): So persecution will be part of the deal, but are we living for God? Are we living for the approval of man? That's what we got to decide. What is our purpose? Are we living for God? Are we living for the approval of man? Are we living before an audience of one says, God, your will be done. Not my will be done, or are we living to please the people around us? Because we're living to please the people around us, we will not please God sell them. Do they agree? 7 (1h 1m 45s): 4 (1h 1m 51s): For some of the Jews killed the prophets and some even killed the Lord. Jesus. Now they've persecuted us too. They failed to please God and work against all humanity. As they try to keep us from preaching. The good news of salvation to the Gentiles, by doing this, they continue to pile up their sins. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last 7 (1h 2m 14s): Kind 4 (1h 2m 14s): Of uncertain what Paul is referring to there. It could be referring to a lot of things, but John three 30, the writer there talks about the angry judgment against the unbeliever and the disobedient. So maybe there's just, this is just a general judgment that Paul is referring 8 (1h 2m 28s): To, 4 (1h 2m 31s): But the anger of God has caught up with them. At last, the people that were persecuting them, 6 (1h 2m 39s): They didn't believe, and they didn't want others to believe they weren't content. Just not to believe themselves. They didn't want others to believe like Paul self-righteous Pharisee, who didn't want to believe and didn't want others to believe. 4 (1h 2m 53s): And then the Lord got ahold of him and changed his life, changed his life forever and ever. Where do you find Courage on the face of Trouble Where Where did Paul Find Courage in the face of his Trouble. Well, God gave him Courage 6 (1h 3m 9s): His clear purpose produced Courage and then his clean conscience yielded Courage they all kind of worked together and it's a beautiful thing. And it's a powerful thing. And it's something that God wants to usher 4 (1h 3m 25s): You into and bring you into and make you 6 (1h 3m 27s): A part of. I'm grateful that when I'm in trouble, I've got a person, the living God, to cry out to you. I think about holding onto that piling and having that water go help water up, like what? I'm in trouble. Now I can call out to the living and true God and get an answer every time, every time, because he's, he's never gonna 4 (1h 3m 45s): Do you mean, or for sake, we just won't do it. The Bible says it's true and it's not been my experience. My experience is that he's only been faithful and that's what God says to him. He is not in his nature to be unfaithful. He's going to be faithful. So what, what is your purpose? You know, as we wrap up another year, we're coming up on December 1st, pretty quick. What is your purpose? I do talk about this every year. It's core to, to who I believe God has called me to understand purpose and to help people understand purpose. I, so I, what do you wake up in the morning on your mind to do what is his kingdom purpose attached to your daily routine? 4 (1h 4m 29s): And you're in the way that you spend your time, talent and treasure. Are you, are you intimately acquainted with the living God in such a way that he's got, he's got say over the way that you live your life, is he in charge? Is he, Lord, is he, is he the boss simple terms. You see the boss. If he's the boss, then he gets to tell you how to live your life. If you're the boss, then you get to, till you get to determine how you live your life. I've been the boss of my own life. I didn't do a very good job. Maybe you'll do a better job than me, 6 (1h 5m 5s): But I'm grateful 4 (1h 5m 6s): That I'm and what I'm in trouble. I've got the living God, the boss, who I can call out to you and he's faithful to meet me and to give me Courage with that, I'm gonna invite the worship team forward. So last couple of weeks, I asked you to come up with 12 things that you're thankful for this week. I'm asking you to write a statement, a purpose statement for your own life. What is, what is your purpose? Write that down in the margin of your Bible or on a sheet of paper or on your device and reference that from time to time on a regular basis, to see what God will say and how he might use you and how your life might change as a result. 4 (1h 5m 49s): So with that, let's go ahead and stand up. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity to hear your message, hear your truth. I believe that you speak through it by, by your grace, the Lord, because you are good. And so thank you for what you've done. Continue that good work. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's worship. 0 (1h 6m 17s): Bring it all of the storms around me. 0 (1h 6m 27s): your name is 1 (1h 11m 34s): Amazing. Grace. 0 (1h 11m 36s): 1 (1h 14m 50s): The first verse together. One 0 (1h 14m 52s): More time. 1 (1h 15m 28s): Thank you that we see you a little more clearly this morning, having spent time in your presence and in your word, I had a spray that you would speak to each of us this week about the purpose and plan for our, each of our lives. God, thank you for this time to be together. I look forward to what you want to do in and through us this week ahead. So he laid out our lives. Give you our hearts today in Jesus name. Amen. Amen shirts. Well, we just want to say that we're always wanting time to pray with you. If there is something that we can pray with you this morning about come on forward. Love to do that. 1 (1h 16m 8s): Otherwise have a wonderful week, say hello to somebody on your way out and enjoy the beautiful sunshine day. We'll see you next Sunday. Take care.

How did Paul Maintain a Godly Attitude and Perspective?

0 (0s): Well, glad to have you here at Harvest this morning. I'm a pastor Dave. And if this is your first time with us, we're glad you're here. You'll hear more about that in a little bit. But this morning we're entering into God's presence. We've come here to worship often think of that, that som come and let us go into the mountain, into the house of our God. And this morning, as we start out, we're saying a lot about Jesus today. And I found something here a couple of months ago that I liked the quote so much that I, I printed it off and stuck it on the wall in my office. But I want to share it with you this morning. It says the name of Jesus is not only light, but also food. 0 (45s): It is also oil without which all food of the soul is dry. It is salt without whose seasoning, whatever is set before us is insipid. Finally, it is honey and the mouth melody in the ear, rejoicing in the heart. And at the same time medicine, every discourse in which his name is not spoken is without savor the name of Jesus. It transforms us, it shapes us. It is power. So let's get our hearts ready. We're going to pray now. 0 (1m 25s): And then we're going to get started worshiping the Lord, our Lord Jesus. Let's pray, Lord our God. I thank you. And I praise you this day that you are Lord of all that you are Holy, that you are a completely other, and yet at the same time, you love us. You know what it is to be a man. You know what it is, Lord Jesus, because you came and were tempted in every way, such as we are yet without sin, that you might pay the price that we owe and that we might bring glory and honor to you and power our hearts by your spirit this morning, Lord empower your hearts that we might worship you in spirit. 0 (2m 18s): And in truth that we might lift up that name of Jesus, that at your name, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Our father. Thank you, Lord Jesus. In your name, we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's worship. 1 (2m 39s): We're going to sing a song about God's peace this morning. I teach you the chorus. Some of you might know this might be new to some of you. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Jeez, silence. Jesus. Geez. Geez, geez storms. 1 (3m 23s): cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese. 1 (4m 13s): Jesus. 1 (6m 14s): . 1 (8m 10s): We do call upon your names, the name above every other name that every knee will bow. Every tongue confess to you. You're the only one worthy of our praise. There's a whole lot of stuff in the world. Vies for our attention or affection or worthy. thoughts on you this morning, your faith in generations. 1 (9m 7s): where they have all the praise we do. 1 (15m 27s): You want to be more like you got your love BR from foundation that we build our life upon. We pray that people would see you in us, that we would reflect your love, your heart. To those that we can contact with thinking of that Christmas, Carol, that says let every heart prepare him room and how I just keep thinking how there's just so much in the world that tries to crowd out. 1 (16m 9s): Jesus. There's so much in our lives is constantly just crowding out space for him. Plus, let's be intentional this morning to make room for God in our lives to make room for Jesus in our hearts to make room for the spirit at work. In our midst, you prepare remarried hearts. As we head into this holiday season, even Lord that we wouldn't get so caught in all the busy-ness and all the plans that we forget why we're celebrating. So we surrender our will to yours and we say, come your . 1 (17m 4s): This is my Subaru. This is my it's your kingdom come and your will be done. 1 (22m 39s): We make room for you. We open our hearts to receive all that. You give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see Jesus name. Awesome. Church let's share some of that love of Jesus with each other this morning, by saying hello to someone around you. We'll be back and just a few moments this morning. 2 (23m 13s): All right. Good morning. Harvest Church good morning. Glad to see you all. Hey, my name is Jeremy. I'm the youth CA youth and family pastor here at Harvest and Hey, welcome. Glad to see you all. If you're joining us online, want to say welcome as well. Thanks for, thanks for tuning in Hey, today is family Sunday, and that means that we have donuts. The maple bars I'm told are all taken. I'm sorry. I'll have to change the order for that one, but a what family center is, is kids. First grade and up are here in, in the service with us. So if you are standing or sitting next to a student, tell them welcome because they're not just an instructor 3 (23m 55s): Part of the Church. They are a part of the Church. All right. Okay. 2 (23m 59s): So we're glad to have him in service with us. Hey, if you're you're new here with us, feel free to stop by the info center to get the find out ways to get plugged in, find out more about us. We also have a free gift for you, and you can also do that on the Harvest website, as well as on our app as well, man, exciting news. We are, the registration is open for our men's retreat in January, January 8th and ninth. And we're calling it throttling back, which is a interesting you normally I think men's retreats are like full bore or something, but throttling back this year is, is the theme. And I was thinking about this week and a few years ago, as some friends and I went from Apple Valley to Las Vegas on dirt bikes. 2 (24m 44s): And we took all dirt trails. We weave in our way through the desert. We came to this dry Lake bed, huge Lake bed. And I gave my friend my camera. I said, Hey, Jay, wait here and take a picture of me as I go by. So I went out about a mile or so, and CA came back and just ran to the gears, throw a full open throttle, flew by him at 93 miles an hour. And what am I, my vision do my vision went tunnel vision. I was just concentrating on right where I needed to go to buzz him, but not hit him. And as I pulled off the throttle, all of a sudden everything kind of comes into focus and every, you know, every everything comes alive and it's, and it's like that. I think with this retreat, I'm really excited about is our, our focus sometimes in life becomes so narrow that as we kind of throttle back, we get to see the big picture and the, and the big vision vision comes into paint. 2 (25m 33s): It gives us more Perspective so men you to sign up for that January 8th and ninth, and the signups are due by December 15th. Great job this year with Thanksgiving meal donations. Really? We did an, 3 (25m 48s): Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Breakfast in a while. So we are scheduling. 2 (25m 59s): We haven't had a men's breakfast in a while, so we're scheduling that for December 12th. Okay. So that keep, keep a look on your Bolton's for that email. So a Thanksgiving meal donations were awesome this year. We re we, we, the generosity this this year was above and beyond we've ever had. So thank you so much for, for showing up and giving to those families in need. Not surprisingly, it's been a different year. I think we all know that. So because of that, our Christmas ceremonies are going to look a little different. Our Christmas tree lighting ceremony is going to be Sunday, December 6th. Okay. Sunday, December six. 2 (26m 39s): And if you didn't know that the pine tree in front of our church is actually a donut or a designated the village Christmas tree. So we'll be lightened that, that guy up, seeing it some Christmas carols, Ron, we pulled the trigger and pulling the lights and doing the lights on. So join us for that. There'll be more information as a, as, as the time gets closer. And then one of the thing I forgot to mention before I show this a video clip is obviously we have the sanctuary open. We have a loft open, we have the patio, but we've made a new venue and that's in the parsonage and that's a mass only as designated zone. So if you only feel comfortable wearing a mask, the parsonage is for that in the lastly talks about the men's throttle back retreat. 2 (27m 24s): The sisterhood night of worship was incredible. My wife came back and my two older daughters came back was super-stoked. It was an amazing night. So we have a video to show that, and then pastor CA will come up. 1 (27m 37s): 2 (28m 60s): I never remember that. Here we go. Good joke. Here we go. You guys ready for a good solid joke? Yes. All right. Sweet. All right. So God told John come forth and receive eternal life. John came fifth, got a toaster. I tried, I knew it wasn't a good joke. I knew it was a bad joke in fact, but I tried to preface it with positiveness and it still fell flat. So whoever gave that joke to me, no five bucks for you. I did pay off a $5 debt that I have this morning. So I made this deal that if you give me a joke and I should actually qualify 4 (29m 43s): If I, if you give me a joke that I use and that people laugh at, not like a pathetic laugh, but like a real laugh, then you'll make five bucks. So there you go. Welcome. We're in first Thessalonians today. So we're starting a brand new series. And so as has been our kind of our has been typical for us with the last couple of studies that we've done. We've started out with the Bible project video, the Bible project videos kind of illustrate for us what the whole study is going to be about, kind of from start to finish. It kind of gives us the, the, the mile high view of the book that we are studying. So with that, let's take a few minutes and watch the Bible project video on first Thessalonians 5 (30m 28s): Paul's first letter to the festival. Ionians this is most likely the earliest letter that we have from Paul and the backstory for it is found in the book of acts. It's where Paul and his coworker, Silas went to the ancient Greek city of Thessaloniki. And after just one month of telling people the good news about Jesus, a large number of Jewish and Greek people gave their allegiance to Jesus. And they formed the first Church community there, but trouble was brewing Paul's announcement of the risen Jesus as the true Lord of the world, it led to a suspicion. So the Christians in Thessaloniki were eventually accused of defying Caesar, the Roman emperor, when they said that there is a, another King Jesus, and this led to a persecution that got so intense. 5 (31m 11s): Paul and Silas actually had to flee from the city, and this was painful for them because they love the people there so much. And so this letter is Paul's attempt to reconnect with the Christians in Thessaloniki. After he got a report from Timothy, that they were doing more than, okay, they were flourishing despite this intense persecution, he designed the letter to have two main movements. First is a celebration of their faithfulness to Jesus. And then he challenges them to keep growing as followers of Jesus. And then these two movements are surrounded by three prayers. The letter opens with the Thanksgiving prayer. The two movements are linked together by a transitional prayer. And then the whole thing is concluded with a final prayer. 5 (31m 51s): It's a beautiful design Paul opens by giving thanks and celebrating the Thessalonians, faith, their love for others and their hope in Jesus. Despite persecution, he goes on to retell the story of their conversion, how they used to be idolatrous polytheists. And they were living in a culture where all of life was permeated by institutions and practices that honored the Greek and Roman gods. And Paul talks about how they turned away from those idols to serve the living and true God. And that they're now waiting for the coming of God's son from heaven. So in a city like Thessalonica, transferring your allegiance to the creator, God of Israel, and to King Jesus. This came at a cost isolation from your neighbors, hostility from your family, but for the Thessaloniki ones, the overwhelming love of Jesus who died for, and the hope of his return, it made it all worth it. 5 (32m 43s): Paul then retells the story of his mission in Thessaloniki and of the dear friendships. He formed with the people he uses really intimate metaphors here. They treated him like their child, and he became like their mother and like their father. He says, we were happy to share with you not only the good news from God, but our very selves, because we came to dearly. Love you. Paul reminds us here that the essence of Christian leadership is not about power and having influence it's about healthy relationships and humble, loving service. He reminds them that he never asked for money. He simply came to love and serve them in the name of Jesus. And so Paul moves on to reflect on their common persecution, just like Jesus was rejected and killed by his own people. 5 (33m 29s): So now Paul is persecuted by his fellow Jews and the Thessalonians are facing hostility from their Greek neighbors. And Paul draws a strange comfort from knowing that together, their sufferings are a way of participating in the story of Jesus's own life and death. Paul then shares about the anguish he experienced when he heard of the hardships the Thessalonians had after he and Silas fled. So he sent Timothy to support them and see how they were doing. And to his joy, Timothy discovered that they were going strong. They were faithful to Jesus. They were full of love for God and their neighbors. And they long to see Paul as much as he longed to see them. And so Paul concludes with a prayer for endurance. 5 (34m 9s): And what's cool is that he introduces here the topics he's going to address in the letter. Second half, he prays that God will grow their capacity to love that he'll strengthen their commitment to holiness as they fix their hope on the return of King Jesus. So he opens the letter second movement by challenging them to a life that's consistent with the teachings of Jesus. So this means, first of all, a serious commitment to holiness and sexual purity in contrast to the promiscuous sexually destructive culture around with them, they are to follow. Jesus is teaching about experiencing the beauty and the power of sex within the Haven of a committed marriage, covenant relationship, God takes sexual misbehavior. 5 (34m 49s): Seriously. Paul says it dishonors and destroys people and their dignity following Jesus also means a commitment to loving and serving others. So Paul instructs them that Christian should be known in the city as a reliable people who work really hard, not just to make a money, but so that they can have resources to provide for themselves and to generously share with people who are in need after this Paul addresses a number of questions that Thessalonians had raised about the future hope of Jesus's return. So some Christians in the church had recently died, most likely killed as martyrs and their friends and family are wondering about their fate when Jesus returns. And so Paul makes it clear that despite their grief and loss, not even death can separate Christians from the love of Jesus. 5 (35m 36s): When he returns as King, he will call both the living and the dead to himself. And Paul uses a really cool image here. He uses language that would normally describe how a city subject to the Roman Caesar would send out a delegation to welcome or meet his arrival. Paul then applies this imagery to the arrival of King Jesus. He too will be greeted by a delegation of his people who will go to meet the Lord in the air as they welcome and escort him back to this world where he'll establish his kingdom of justice and peace. Paul then wants a testimonial to see how this hope should motivate faithfulness to Jesus. So he pokes fun at the famous Roman propaganda that it Cesar, who brings peace and security. 5 (36m 20s): Of course, Rome's peace came through violence through enslaving their enemies and military occupation. And Paul warns that Jesus will return as King one day and confront this kind of injustice followers of King Jesus should live in the present as if that future day is already here. Despite the nighttime of human evil around them, they should stay sober and awake as the light of God's kingdom dawns here on earth, as it is in heaven. Paul closes all of these exhortations. Like he began with a hopeful prayer that God would permeate their lives with his holiness, that he would set them apart to be completely devoted and blameless until the return of King. 5 (37m 1s): Jesus. First Thessalonians reminds us that from the very beginning, following Jesus, as King has produced a truly counter-cultural or Holy way of life, and this will sometimes generate suspicion and conflict among our neighbors. But the response of jesus' followers to such hostility should always be love meeting opposition with grace and generosity and this way of life. It's motivated by hope and the coming kingdom of Jesus that has already begun in his resurrection from the dead. And so holiness love and future hope. That's what first Thessalonians is all about 4 (37m 42s): Review for us. And if you're studying any book of the Bible, I'm pretty sure the Bible project people have videos for every book of the Bible. Most of them, if they don't have all of them by now, so you can always type in Bible project and then they a book of acts or Matthew or Galatians or whatever it is that you're studying, and you will get that type of an overview. And it just helpful for context, when you start reading the Bible, you kind of know what it's doing and what it's saying and where it's going. So, so this is one of Paul's earlier epistles. He wrote it pretty early on, but he had already experienced quite a bit of persecution in acts chapter 17. 4 (38m 25s): We read, we read about Paul's preaching to this church and planting a R P preaching to these people in the, in the town of festival. And I, I call it a festival and Annika, you can call it. I'm not sure the correct pronunciation. I've heard it both ways, but a Paul was there in a vessel Anika. And he was preaching there. And many people came to faith. And so they planted a church. But if you go back a chapter in acts chapter 16, we see that Paul and Silas were both imprisoned for their faith, for what were they doing? They were preaching the gospel. And so it tells us in acts chapter 16, that they were beaten with rods and that they were in prison. So it wasn't like a light duty persecution. It was heavy duty persecution. 4 (39m 6s): So we're not supposed to be having Church right now. I don't know if you knew that or purple. And so we humbly decided as an elder team to go ahead and have Church met with the team this week and went around each of the elders and asked, what do you guys want to do in light of this new closure for the church? And we all agreed one at a time that we would go ahead and have Church and continue to do what we've been doing since this whole thing started. Well, we, we kind of closed Church a little bit for a few, a couple of months during the beginning, then we realized we don't want to do that. So we're continuing on. So we might, you know, we're, we're kind of experiencing maybe a little bit a persecution when they say that retail stores can stay open, but churches have to close. 4 (39m 51s): There's something spiritual going on. So there might be some kind of persecution going on, but this is just a light persecution with more to come. It's a slippery slope when they start closing churches down and more persecution is likely to be coming down the road. So we we've yet to be beaten with rods, at least in this country and in prison. But in other countries that's commonplace for Christians. There's persecution, there's martyrdom, all kinds of stuff going on. So back to acts chapter 16, Paul had experienced some significant persecution while he's in prison. God does amazing things. We'll get to that. But, but I wondered as I was reading this and I've been, as I've been teaching through the epistles, I, I wondered how did Paul, Maintain a Godly Attitude and Perspective with all of the junk that he was going through. 4 (40m 42s): Th w that's the title of our message to you and the form of a question. How did Paul Maintain Godly Attitude and Perspective. And we see from this chapter, that's the first Thessalonians that he did about five different things really well, that kept him focused. That kept him maintaining his Godly Attitude and Perspective. And so we'll just get into first Thessalonians chapter one, and just kind of unpack it a little bit at a time. But before we do that, it's good. And stand up and pray. We're going to stand and ask the Lord's blessing as we open up the word. So Lord, we stand in honor of you, you and honor of your you Lord in a and an honor of your word, and we say, God, your will be done. I pray God that you would speak today to each of us. We need you to speak to us, Lord, and God, we're grateful that we can be here to have Church all over this campus and online, as well as people tune in and listen, I pray that wherever people are tuned in God, that you would speak God, that you'd move 6 (41m 34s): God that you would do what only you can do. God, thank you for this time. Thank you for your grace in Jesus name. Amen. You can be seated all over the place. You can be seated. 4 (41m 46s): First Thessalonians chapter one, greetings from Paul. This letter is from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. If you, if you read acts in the epistles, you see that guys like Paul and Timothy traveled with and ministered with Paul. These guys were active partners in his ministry. And so this letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy. He said, we are writing to the church and festival and Nika to you who belong to God, the father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's identifying who his audience is. He speaking to those who belong to God, the father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. If you're here today and you belong to God and the Lord Jesus Christ, then God is speaking to you through Paul's letter as well. 4 (42m 26s): He said, may God give you grace and peace. Interesting. Paul says this in most of his letters, he says that this is kind of his typical greeting. May God give you grace and peace? This is Paul's Godly Perspective and Attitude. He wanted to extend grace and peace. This unmerited favor of God, which is grace and the Shalom of God, which is his peace. I find that those two carry the grace and the peace of God are actually able to extend that grace and peace to others. There's something that they carry, especially a guy like Paul, he'd been persecuted, he'd been in prison. He had been in all kinds of trouble as a diss, as an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ, as a preacher of the gospel, he had been in all kinds of trouble. 4 (43m 14s): And yet he's able to experience grace and peace in his own life. The unmerited, 6 (43m 20s): The favor of God and the Shalom, the peace of God, just saying that word Shalom. It has a calming effect. As I say it, it's like, Oh, praise the Lord. 4 (43m 31s): There's the peace of God that just kind of settles into your soul. So he's he had it. He experienced it supernaturally. So, and we're going to find out How but he had it, but he was also able to extend it. I thought this is a, this is a great heart check for me. Number one, do I have it? Do I have grace and peace? And if I do have it, am I able to extend it to others? It's easy to extend it to people who love me. It's more difficult to extend it to people who have, who are at odds with me. So I have this difficult conversation this week and I just been studying first Thessalonians. And so this whole idea of grace and peace was fresh in my heart and in my mind. 4 (44m 11s): And so, as I was having this difficult conversation, I remembered grace and peace. And so I, I actually communicated that to this person on the phone. I said, Hey, grace and peace to you. And then I prayed with them. And it was just, it was like a, it was like a bomb, a healing on my heart as I had this difficult conversation. And I didn't carry that difficult conversation with me after that conversation, I, we hung up the phone. I just felt that peace. I had what I extended. I had the grace and the peace of God, but it took some intentionality on my part. I had to say, I'm not sure I want to say this because I'm not sure that I want this for this person, but that's my flesh. 4 (44m 55s): I know that much, my spirit wants this for this person, my spirit, this thing that has been born again in Christ, this thing that has been filled with the Holy spirit, I, my spirit wants this for this person that I was talking to you and my spirit. I think like Paul wants this for every person that he comes in contact with. So it was a great, great challenge for me, a kind of a heart check. I love it. When I'm reading the scripture, maybe you do this too, but do you come across something? And you're like, Oh, that kinda like sticks in my, in my soul a little bit. It kind of grabs my heart. I'm like, Lord, what are you? What are you saying when that happens? What are you trying to communicate to me when that happens? And usually the Lord is trying to do a work, a heart work in me or some sort of work. 4 (45m 40s): And so I was able to say grace and peace and hang up the phone smile and had grace and peace. So I challenge you to be able to think about that too, to do that. I think sometimes we, we kind of gloss over statements in the scripture, especially opening statements. Paul says grace and peace, grace, mercy, and peace. He says these things a lot in his epistles. And so we can tend to gloss over them and miss what God wants to say. But I believe that every word of God is inspired and it's powerful and it's meant to communicate life and truth and grace to us. So it will slow down. I said, this last week, sometimes we just need to stop and just read one verse and just really allow the spirit of God to use that verse, to speak to us, to minister to us. 4 (46m 26s): So maybe this week, it's a, the grace and peace verse is yours, where you're just holding onto that and thinking about that and seeing what God will do. I think this communicates clearly where Paul's heart was as a minister of the gospel, as one who had been through very difficult, very difficult circumstances in his life in ministry. He was able throughout all of his epistles. Mostly I actually haven't checked all of them, but every one that I checked and said in some format in Timothy, he said, may grace, mercy and peace to Timothy my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God, the father and Christ Jesus, our Lord first Timothy one, two, two Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from who? 7 (47m 17s): Where does it come from? God, 4 (47m 20s): It comes from God, the father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you're struggling this morning with grace, mercy and peace, go to the source of that, go the Lord, go to God and say, God, I, I need it for myself. And I need to extend it to others. And watch what will happen is you supernaturally receive that gift because this is the kind of thing that you, if you asked for the Lord, the Lord's gonna give it to you. And if, if you're struggling to receive it, he'll show you why you're struggling to receive it. Maybe there's a hardness of heart. Maybe there's unforgiveness. Maybe there's anger in your soul. And God wants to address that. But if we ask the giver of this good gift, we know in the Bible that it says every good gift comes down from the father of lights from God. 4 (48m 3s): And so this is a good gift that he wants to give 6 (48m 6s): Grace mercy and peace again. What a great filter is. I read that Lord, how's my soul or how's my heart. Is there anybody in my life that I don't want to extend that to? Is there anybody in my life that I don't want to say that too? And just do 4 (48m 27s): There's some personal inventory. And, and then if there is somebody that comes to mind and sometimes it'll just come, right? It's just come. And then other times it'll take some time and maybe you'll come across somebody. And you're like, Oh, that's the person, no way do I want grace and mercy a piece on that person? And then you get a chance to do some heart investigation and allow the Lord to do some heart 6 (48m 47s): Surgery. Can you say that to everyone? May God give you a grace and peace. How did Paul Maintain 4 (48m 54s): Godly Attitude and Perspective when people are picking at him, persecuting him, complaining about him, having a hard time with his ministry, misjudging him. 6 (49m 5s): Paul did five things. Number one, he remained thankful. 4 (49m 12s): First to first Thessalonians chapter one says, we all 6 (49m 15s): Thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly Paul remained thankful. He was 4 (49m 24s): Thankful. Not because his circumstances were awesome 6 (49m 27s): Because his hope was solid. He had a solid hope 4 (49m 33s): In the person of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And he believes solidly that the work that he was doing was kingdom work that had eternal value. And so he was willing to suffer as it were for a season. So that the message, the eternal message of the gospel might have an opportunity to go out. His hope was Christ and the eternal kingdom of God. There's a few things that hinder gratitude. There's a few things that hinder thankfulness, a critical spirit will hinder thankfulness. You ever experienced that like a critical spirit, like just critical spirit, is this you just kind of, you're critical of everybody and the critical of everything that will hinder a gratitude that will hinder thankfulness. 4 (50m 16s): But on the other hand, thankfulness and gratitude will cure a critical spirit. If we just determined, I'm going to have a good day, I'm going to be thankful for what I have in my life and for what is doing in my life. It over shadows, that critical spirit and all of a sudden we're able to enjoy life. We're able to have grace and peace and mercy in our own lives. And then all of a sudden, because we, we have it in us, we're able to extend grace and mercy and peace. So there's just something powerful that happens when we decide in jesus' name. I'm not saying we decided in our own strength, I'm saying in jesus' name, in the power of the Holy spirit, where determining to be thankful to have gratitude last week, I said, I, I said, we, we need to make a list of things that we can be grateful for a gratitude list. 4 (51m 5s): How many made their list? You don't have to write it down, but I just encourage you to think about it, right? What am I thankful for? And then just kinda make a mental note, or maybe you write it down. This is what I encourage you to do. Think about 12 things, because that really forces us to think about all the things that we're grateful for. Right? So we can come up with a few off the top of our heads, but when we really have to stop and think about 12 and come up with a list of 12, that really causes us to do some personal inventory and come up with some things that are really important to us, but maybe we have 6 (51m 37s): Taken for granted. We can take things for granted pretty easily, right? 4 (51m 41s): Like things that have always been kind of good. 6 (51m 43s): We kind of take it for granted, but if we can just stop, just say, thank you, Lord, for whatever it is. Like, I've never missed a meal in my life, right? But every meal we say, thanks, right? Thankfully I've never had to miss a meal, but every meal we say, thank you because we are genuinely thankful, Lord, thanks a few that we've not missed a meal that we don't have to miss a meal that we have provision. Thank you, Lord. We were praying on the way into church this morning. Thank you that we have a church to go to you and that we have a roof over our head that we've got cars to drive. You know, you could think about all kinds of things. W when you, when you're forced to come up with 12, you get past all of those kinds of easy things that come to mind and you really get down to the nitty gritty. 6 (52m 24s): And then, and then something beautiful begins to happen. And your soul, you become grateful in that critical spirit just begins to make its exits. So a critical spirits hinders gratitude, unforgiveness, jealousy, disappointments 4 (52m 42s): It's Thanksgiving week. Let's determine this week to be, 6 (52m 45s): Be grateful to have a thankful heart. We talked about gratitude last week. We're talking about it this week, make a list, make a list and see what the Lord will do in your hearts. Paul did five things to maintain a Godly Attitude and Perspective number one a year. 4 (53m 3s): Thankful. Number two, he prayed 6 (53m 6s): Constantly. We see that in verse two. Also, we all 4 (53m 9s): Thank God for all of you and pray for you. How often constantly, right? Prayer is the lifeblood. It's like I said, last week. And a lack of breath will cause us to die. Physically. A lack of prayer will cause us to die spiritually. We absolutely to pray. It's the lifeblood in everything that we do. And when we are praying, we have the capacity to go through any season of life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And we maintain a level of trust. Sometimes we go through hard stuff and it shipwrecks our faith hard stuff is not meant to shipwreck our faith. Hard stuff has meant to solidify our faith. We're saying, Lord, I see your faithfulness in the midst of hard stuff. 4 (53m 52s): I believe you even more. I determined to trust you even more. So hard stuff is not meant to shipwreck us hard stuff is meant to solidify, to help us to find a way 6 (54m 3s): Feet on solid ground. Spiritually life is full of heart stuff. If we will pray constantly 4 (54m 12s): Without ceasing, like never stop praying. If we will pray, God will meet us. So we just pray. And I 6 (54m 22s): Said, I said this all the time, when I'm up here 4 (54m 24s): Preaching, I'm sometimes praying as I'm preaching. As I was praying a few minutes ago for the service, I was praying out loud and then praying to myself, kind of Lord, help me get this message out the way it needs to get out. Like I'm praying what you can hear. And I'm praying things that God can hear that, and God hears it all. So there's just something about that humble desperation where you're saying, God, I need you. I need you to show up in this relationship and this decision at work, I need you to show up in my personal life. I just need you to show up. When we do that, 6 (54m 59s): God will do wonderful and supernatural things. Giving us the ability to cope in the most devastating of circumstances. I have this book it's titled what happened this day in Christian history. So today's November 20 seconds. And in November, 1873, something happened. And I'd like to read that story. Just take a moment. 4 (55m 21s): In November, 1873, Chicago, lawyer Horatio. 6 (55m 25s): She Spafford took his wife and four daughters, Maggie to Netta Annie and Bessie to New York and boarded them on the luxurious French liner. SS Vila do a whore brain. I think that's how you say that 4 (55m 42s): The great Chicago fire had destroyed everything 6 (55m 45s): They owned and Spafford was sending his girls to an English Academy until the Chicago schools and his own life could be rebuilt. As he saw his family settled into their cabin and unease filled his mind and he moved them to a room closer to the bow of the ship. Then he said goodbye, promising to join them later in France, during the small hours of November 22nd, 1873, as the ship Godly glided over smooth seize, the passengers were suddenly thrown from their bunks in a jolt. The ship had collided with an iron sailing vessel. The low Shern water poured in like Niagara and the ship tilted, dangerously, screams, and prayers and Oh, submerged into a nightmare of unmeasured terror passengers losing their footing, clung to posts, rumbled through darkness and were drenched by powerful currents of IC in rushing. 6 (56m 44s): See loved ones fell from each other's grasps and vanished into foaming blackness. Within two hours, the mighty ship disappeared beneath the nocturnal waters. The 226 fatalities included Maggie to Netta, Annie and Bessie. Ms. Spafford was found nearly unconscious cleaning to a piece of the wreckage. Nine days later, when the survivors landed in Cardiff Wales, she cabled, her husband saved alone. He immediately booked passage to join his wife on the way over on the way over on a cold December night, the captain called him aside and said, I, I believe we are now passing over the place where the ship went down. 6 (57m 34s): Spafford went to his cabin, but found it hard to sleep. He said to himself, it is well, the will of God be done in later. He wrote this famous him based on his words when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot that was taught me to say it as well. It as well with my soul, Her ratio survived that experience because he knew God. We don't know for sure, but I would imagine that he was a man of prayer who developed trust in the face of the most difficult of life, circumstances and situations. 6 (58m 26s): He prayed constantly. We assume. And we know that he was faithful. When the worst of circumstances hit his life. I don't know how you can survive the worst of his circumstances that hit your life apart from a constant prayer life. Have you learned to pray and trust and with confidence in God, through all the seasons, it's easy to pray with trust and confidence in God and when the seasons are good. But what about the rest of the seasons? Paul prayed constantly in good times and in bad. And I wonder if we decided to do the same, have we decided to trust God in the same way? 6 (59m 12s): Praying constantly, no matter what we're up against. How did Paul? Maintain a Godly Attitude and Perspective number three. He focused on the good, 4 (59m 23s): We live in a culture that mostly focuses on the bad shit on the news. It's mostly bad news, mostly bad news. The news agencies would be out of business. If it weren't for a mad news, they report it constantly. Paul focused on the good. He loved the church. She loved the people of God. He called the Church, this this'll Thessalonians Church he called it his pride and joy chapter two verse 20. In fact, he wanted to visit again after he got rushed out of there and acts chapter 17, but it says in acts chapter two, or excuse me, in Thessaloniki and chapter, chapter two, verse 18, he wanted to return, but Satan prevented him. 4 (1h 0m 4s): Isn't that interesting. We have an adversary. The devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. You would think that with Paul's credentials, his work with the Lord, that nothing could keep him from doing that, what that, what he wanted to do and felt called to do. But certainly Satan was able to keep him. And so Paul did the next best thing and he wrote a letter. And thankfully he did, because we study that letter that epistle to this day Paul did what he could do. He wrote a letter focusing on their good works Paul needed to, we had to hold onto his optimism, his hopefulness for his own good. And for the good of those, he served, it wouldn't have done anybody, any good of Paul lost his, his optimism and his hopefulness, but he held onto it so that he might continue to minister most effectively. 4 (1h 0m 55s): God's God wants you to hold onto your hopefulness as well, because it's out of that place of hopefulness optimism, trusting God that you're able to minister most effectively. If you've lost all hope and lost all faith as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ, you're not able to be salt and light in the earth. Paul decided to focus on the good, he focused on the good and he focused on the good things that they were doing. And this is what it says in verse three, as we pray to our God and father about you, we think about your faithful work. I wonder what faithful work he's talking about. Well, Paul, Paul's faithful work in acts. Chapter 17 is he went to the city in Thessalonica festival and ICA and he preached and people got saved and they planted a church. 4 (1h 1m 39s): So I would imagine that the faithful work that Paul is talking about is that this is a continuation of the good work that Paul started, that we read about knack or that we read about in acts chapter 17. They continued the very good work and that's really what God has called us to do. He said, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit. We've got a responsibility to do what this Church did. As a church. We get to do faithful work that God has called us to do. So Paul focused on the faithful work and their loving deeds. Now this is a church that suffered persecution, and yet they were known for their loving deeds. This is not a supernatural, I think a supernatural. I don't think we can do that. 4 (1h 2m 20s): Apart from the supernatural power of God at work within us. Like, I can't love people that are mean to me unless the Holy spirit gives me grace to do so. Like I want to be mean to people who are mean to me, that's my natural human inclination, right? But that's not what God wants me to do. You asked me to have loving deeds, loving action, loving heart toward people who don't like me. We can't do that apart from God, right? We need to be empowered. We're going to talk about that next. We need to be empowered by the Holy spirit. As we're empowered by the Holy spirit, we can do those supernatural things that God asks us to do. And listen to everything that God asks us to do is supernatural. 4 (1h 3m 1s): It requires his power. We don't want to do it in our own strength. We do not want to do it in our own strength. Verse four says, we know dear your brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. So now through the difficulties that they're having, let me go back to a verse three. As we pray to our God and father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds and your enduring hope in the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. That is true about you. God absolutely loves you. And he's called you and has chosen you to be his own people. 3 (1h 3m 46s): Commercial break. There's no need to ignore the obvious. Got 4 (1h 3m 56s): It. Sweet. All right, let's continue. 3 (1h 4m 3s): Oh, thank God for technology. 4 (1h 4m 7s): Train of thought. Here we go. Trying to find it. Here we go. Yes. Yes. Yes. So Paul focused on the good things that this church was doing and he encouraged them with truth. Listen, when we have a Godly Perspective and Attitude, we can do the same thing. We can focus on the good that others are doing. And then we can speak life and encouragement to them. Jesus loves you. Jesus. He loves you. Jesus loves you. And you are his chosen people. He loves you and he's chosen you to be his own people. It's rather easy to focus on the good with people in circumstances that we like. 4 (1h 4m 48s): It's really difficult to focus on the good in circumstances that we don't like. And with people that we don't like, but maybe, maybe this is what God wants us to do. Paul had difficult circumstances, difficult people around him, but he was filled with the Holy spirits were in chains, but we can pray and sing. Like they can't take that away from us, 3 (1h 5m 16s): Right? We're up against 6 (1h 5m 18s): Difficulty. Paul 4 (1h 5m 20s): Silas in a prison, but we can pray and sing songs and hymns, 6 (1h 5m 28s): The jailer is maybe unfair as they're in prison. 4 (1h 5m 33s): But the truth is God loves that guy. 6 (1h 5m 37s): And 4 (1h 5m 37s): Paul had a vision possibly for this guy because the jailer ends up getting saved. So the story is Paul and Silas are in jail. It's a late night, there's singing and praying. And this major earthquake hits the jail and it rattles that the chains on them. So they come off and the doors swing open and the jailer, the Philippian jailer, he thinks that surely it's, everybody's gone, the doors are open. And so he's going to kill himself because all of his prisoners have escaped. But Paul cried out to him. Stop. Don't take your own life. We're all still here. And that opened the door for Paul to be able to preach the gospel. 4 (1h 6m 20s): He and his whole family got saved and baptized that night powerful stuff, right? Because Paul's, Perspective kind of Godly Perspective and Attitude. And so we had a expectation. He believed that God was going to do something. When we're filled with the Holy spirit, we have a God-sized expectation like this isn't a possible scenario, but I'm believing for impossible answers from God. God comes through in the impossible, because he's the God of the impossible. And we see this over and over again in the scripture, this situation seems unjust, but God is on the throne. I mean, Paul, he could have gone all kinds of different places. Lord, you know, we're doing all this good stuff for you. Why, why are we in jail? 4 (1h 7m 1s): Why are we being persecuted? Why, why, why? But he didn't knew that he said, you know what? I'm going to pray and I'm going to sing and just leave the rest to the Lord and watch. And God did that. God opened up the doors and there was a great Harvest of, of, of souls added to the kingdom that night. How did Paul Maintain Godly Attitude Attitude and Perspective number four. He was empowered by God. Hallelujah. Right? I mean like, this is the best part of being a Christian besides salvation. We've got the Holy spirit in us. We're empowered by the living. God who gives us wisdom and compassion and grace and clarity when we need it. 4 (1h 7m 43s): He is forever with us for when we brought you the good news. Paul wrote in verse five, he was not only with words, but also with power Paul didn't minister out of his own steam. Often we're trying to do stuff out of our own steam. We're trying to minister out of our own steam. We're trying to do life out of our own steam. Paul didn't preach at him, his own steam. He didn't write letters in his own steam. He didn't live his life out of his own steam. He lives as a man who was filled with the Holy spirit. The Bible says, if you're saved, if you're in Christ, you've got the gift of Holy spirit. The paraklete the helper, the one who is forever with you in your life, Paul was filled up. 4 (1h 8m 25s): Some of us need to get refilled up, right? Apparently we leak. I say that all the time, but it's true. We somehow leak and we need to be continually filled with the Holy spirit. Paul understood that he did it and get filled up with God and get the grace that you need for your life and for your circumstance, get the love that you need. It's it's a holiday season. So you're going to be seeing family that maybe you haven't seen since last holiday season, and it could be good or it can be very difficult, right? So get the grace that you need for the people that you will be seeing so that you are salt and light to them so that your grace and mercy and peace to them, you're experiencing it. 4 (1h 9m 10s): And you're able to give it by God's grace. If we brought you the good news, it was not only with words, but also with power for the Holy spirit gave you a full assurance. Listen, when the Holy spirit is in you, he's going to empower what he's doing and then he's going to give a shore. And so if you're sharing the gospel with somebody through the power of the Holy spirit, then God will cause the person that you're speaking to to be, to be ministered to, they will resonate. And they will begin to understand that truth. That may take a lot of conversations and a lot of prayer, but God will do the work with you. He is leading in the process for the Holy spirit gave you full assurance. That's what he did in this Church that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. 4 (1h 9m 52s): So their lives reflected the gospel. There was consistency in the way that they lived among the believers are the believers and the non-believers there. And they did an amazing work. Again, Paul didn't speak in his own steam. He didn't live that way. He didn't write that way. The spirit of God filled him and affirmed his work. We can't do anything God asks us to do unless he's filled us with his spirit 9 (1h 10m 17s): And listen, we don't even want to try. Even when we 4 (1h 10m 20s): Figure something out, like sometimes we we've been doing something for a long time. We've like, figured it out. Look, okay. I know how to do this Lord. Aye. And we kind of lose sight of our desperate need for him. Like our desperate need for his power to speak through us because we need him. We need him, whether we're teaching Sunday school or whatever it is that we're teaching or whether we're praying with somebody, we don't even want to pray without the power of the Holy spirit, because we don't know how to pray without the power of the Holy spirit. We just pray out of our hand. We can, we don't pray out of our spirit when we're not filled with the Holy spirit. We're just praying Lord help this person. We're not, we're not getting a hold necessarily of what God wants to say. Maybe the Lord wants to speak something powerfully through you in your prayer time with a person. 4 (1h 11m 3s): And so you're saying, Lord, would you pray through me? Would you show me how to pray? Would you teach me? Would you show me something that I can, that will touch this person's life? So that it's just not words Paul, didn't come with empty words. He came with empowered words and that's why they've stood the test of time. It's it's the, it's the Bible. It's God's word for us. We, we can speak with a four T and Jesus, when we're filled with the Holy spirit, there's just something about it. So don't do anything. Even if you did think, you know how to do it, just say, Lord, I think I know how to do this, but I don't want to do it without you, whatever it is that you're doing. Like I've been married for 40 years, Lori, and I think I know how to do this, but I don't want to do it without you, Lord. 4 (1h 11m 44s): I I've been whatever I've been doing this job for 50 years. I, I think I don't want to do it without you Lord, whatever it may be. Just continue to get humbled before the Lord and get desperate before him and watch what he will do. It'll be wonderful and supernatural stuff that only he can do ask God for it. Ask God for it. Ask again and again and again, how to Paul Maintain a Godly Attitude and Perspective number five. As we get ready to wrap up, he celebrated the success of others. Paul wasn't all about himself. He was celebrating the success of others. There's something wonderful about that. There's something powerful about that. When we can celebrate the success of others, this is what he wrote in verse six. 4 (1h 12m 29s): So you received the message with joy from the Holy spirit, in spite of severe suffering, it brought you wow. They received it with joy. In spite of the severe suffering, they received it with joy in spite of the severe suffering. I'm not sure that we have in the Western church. We have the capacity for that yet, but we may have to develop the capacity for that to receive the message, to do what God has called us to do with great joy. In spite of the severe suffering in this way, you would limit you imitated both us and the Lord, listen to suffering and sacrifice as a part of the call, suffering and sacrifice as part of the call, suffering and sacrifice is part of the gall. 4 (1h 13m 15s): It's it's it's not so much in this nation yet, but it's common. It's common. And if we're not ready, we're not going to be ready, but we can get it ready and say, Lord, We need to declare before it even happens, Lord, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what's coming down the pike, but I'm going to stand for you no matter what, no matter what the persecution, whatever that looks like I was, I was a bit nervous coming into this weekend. And I'll be honest with you. I was nervous. I, I dunno why I was more nervous this time than the last time we made the decision. I just, I just was feeling anxious about it. I was like, Lord, even though we had full support of the elder team, everybody was in unanimous agreement to go ahead and open up. 4 (1h 13m 56s): I just felt nervous. I talked to my brother last night and he said, Hey, I talked to a, we've got a mutual friend who is a local politician. And he said, I talked to, I talked to so-and-so, I'm going to leave this person anonymous. But he said, I, I talked to so-and-so and I asked, are you going to shut our Church 6 (1h 14m 12s): Down? And this person said, Nope, we're not going to follow the, the guidelines the governor set out. And when I heard that, I thought that's, I needed to hear that know, we were talking about this, this Shalom of God earlier, man. That was like the peace, the Shalom that I needed. I was like, ah, 4 (1h 14m 29s): I mean, I like, I'm not afraid of people, but I'm afraid of people, you know, that sort of thing. It's like, I am a humanist. I want to stand strong. But there's times when I'm afraid. Right? And I don't know how to stand strong sometimes. But when the Lord 6 (1h 14m 43s): Gave me that, I was like, okay, I can let this go. We're going to have Church and we're not alone there. Other churches in the community who are doing the same thing that we're doing, I've heard of a couple of others. 4 (1h 14m 53s): Church is. And there's probably more just people doing the same thing 6 (1h 14m 57s): That we're doing. Having Church a triangle 4 (1h 14m 60s): Trusted the Lord in the midst of it. Not in any way, are we trying to be arrogant about it? Got it. 6 (1h 15m 6s): But God's not impressed with that. We're just trying to be humbly doing what God has called us to do. We're not boasting about it to anybody. We're not being critical of others who aren't doing it. We're just saying, you know what, for us, for Harvest Church, we're going to have Church inside, outside, online, everywhere we can. We're going to have Church. They received the message. In spite of the severe suffering, they received it with joy. As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece, throughout both Macedonia and a K. Yeah. This 4 (1h 15m 40s): Church exemplified true discipleship. 6 (1h 15m 43s): And the result was 4 (1h 15m 44s): First eight. And now the whole, the word of the Lord is, is ringing out from you to people everywhere. Even beyond 6 (1h 15m 52s): Macedonia in a yeah, for wherever 4 (1h 15m 55s): We go, we find people telling us about your faith in God. Like the faith of this church was, was resounding all over the region. We don't need to tell them about it for, they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. So that's a lot. I go, this is a big city, probably a couple, a hundred thousand people bigger than our area, a couple, a hundred thousand people. And so there was, there was a diversity, there all kinds of different idolatrous things, things that were were temptations to this church and they were sick of it. They were like over it. They knew that all of the things that the world had to offer was leaving that empty. 4 (1h 16m 37s): And so when Paul came and preached the gospel and told them about the Messiah, they were like, this is real. This is genuine. The person who preaches it is real and genuine. And this message is real and genuine. They keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God. But they understood something about turning away from their idols to the living. God, they turned away from something so that they might turn to the living. We have to do the same thing. We have to decide to turn away from our idols in this culture. We've got all kinds of idols as well, all kinds of things that get our attention and keep our attention. 4 (1h 17m 20s): And I wonder if we're willing to turn away from things that are getting our attention, maybe it's money. Maybe it's just stuff that you've accumulated and liked to collect. Maybe it's a relationship or a hobby or a sport. 6 (1h 17m 35s): What is it? 4 (1h 17m 36s): If anything that the Lord is saying, Hey, you you're, you're spending way too much time and attention that you can't, you can't serve God. And anything else you can't serve God in any thing else, verse 10 says, and they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God's son from heaven. Jesus whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgment. Jesus is coming again and there's a coming judgment. Are you, are you ready for that? Are you ready for that? There's going to be a judgment that leads to a, a, a, you know, a, a Jew for those who aren't saved, there's going to be the great white throne judgment where those who are judged there will go into eternal fire hell. 4 (1h 18m 22s): And then there's a judgment upon believers as well. That will determine the rewards that we receive in heaven. We're going to be, our lives will be judged. Did we live our lives according to God's plans and purposes? Or did we live them for ourselves? We might. Some of us might have fire insurance. Well, I'm not totally sure that that's a biblical thing because the requirements for salvation is that we trust Jesus as Lord, Lord, and savior. So he wants not 30% of our life, like, okay, what's what's one seventh of the week. He doesn't like what one seventh, right? He's not like wanting your Sunday. 4 (1h 19m 3s): He wants your Sunday, your Monday, your Tuesday or Wednesday, your Thursday or Friday. And yes, your Saturday, he wants your Saturday. He wants 24, seven Sunday through Saturday. Pretty sure he wants it all. He wants it all. He wants a 24 seven. He wants it all because that's what Lordship is. When some, when you're owned by somebody, they own you all, they own all of you. Right? Right. We are bond servants, servants by choice to God. So he owns us. We've been bought with a price Calvary. We're going to be taking communion here shortly. We, we need to live in such a way that we are owned by God, that we've been bought with a price that we've been adopted into his family, that he loves us. 4 (1h 19m 48s): And that he's wants to lead our every area and arena of our 6 (1h 19m 52s): Lives. Does that make sense? It's hard stuff though, right? Like not really though. Let's just be honest. It's not really that hard. 4 (1h 20m 3s): If you do these five things, it's not really a hard remain. Thankful, pray, constantly 6 (1h 20m 10s): Focus on the good, be empowered by God. Celebrate the success of others. It's just when, when we just get up and decide by God's grace and then repent quickly when we fall short, it's not that difficult. I don't mean to oversimplify it, but it's just not that what's makes it difficult is when we don't want to give up the things of the world, when I don't want to give up that thing, then it's difficult. Then it becomes this big wrestling match. But when I say, God, I give it to you and I want to continue to give it to you. And I know we've got addictions in our lives. We've got things. People have addiction and people have difficult things that are, that are nagging at them and lifelong stuff. 6 (1h 20m 50s): All of that stuff is navigate. Navigate. We can navigate it when we've got the power of the Holy spirit at work in our lives. I don't mean to make light of it. I know people go through hard stuff. I've been through hard stuff, but, but when we decide that we're all in, God gives us the grace to do what he's called us to do anyway, enough of that heaviness there and a half of that let's invite the worship team forward. And we're going to take communion. Can I get an element? Can I who's passing out elements today? Can I get one of those? Thanks very much. Thank you, pastor Ron. Okay. One, one. It is. So we get a chance to take communion on the fourth, Sunday of every month on family Sunday. 6 (1h 21m 34s): And it's just an opportunity to reflect on 0 (1h 21m 37s): What Jesus has done for us. And 6 (1h 21m 39s): So through COVID we've got these fancy little individual servings. So go ahead and get started by peeling off the very top layer of clear plastic. And that will give you 0 (1h 21m 50s): The wafer first Corinthians 1123 says for, I pass on to you. What I received from the Lord himself 6 (1h 22m 5s): On the night, when he was betrayed the Lord, Jesus took some bread 0 (1h 22m 8s): Ed and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke 6 (1h 22m 12s): Pieces and said, this is my body, which has given me 0 (1h 22m 15s): For you. Do this to remember me. It's take the for, thank you for the wafer that represents your body, your body, that was crucified, nailed to a cross and Pierce. Thank you that you did that for me. I did that for us. The wages of sin is death. Thank you that you died in my place in our place. The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. 0 (1h 22m 56s): Our Lord. Thank you for that learning in the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me. As often as you drink it for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Squinting the juice. Thank you so much, Lord, thank you for the juice that represents the blood that was spilled so that our sins might be forgiven. 0 (1h 23m 48s): I don't know how to understand it. Other than theologically that's God's design that his blood was spilled and it's got cleansing properties, cleansing power. The blood of Christ makes us as white, as snow clean, cleansing us from every sin. Every failure, every mistake. If you're here today and you've never received the grace and the mercy of the Lord, Jesus Christ. You can, you, whether you're watching online or on campus somewhere, you simply acknowledge your need for Jesus. And when you do, you say something like this Lord, I need you. 0 (1h 24m 31s): I, I need you. I need you to forgive me. I need you to cleanse me. There's some here that just feel dirty. And God wants to cleanse you from that experience. And you need to believe that when God covers your sin, he cleanses your sin. He forgives your sin. He races your sin. He eliminates your sin and he no longer holds it against you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you Lord. 0 (1h 25m 12s): For those who are receiving your grace gift for the first time, bless them, Lord, God bless them with new life. Fill them with your Holy spirits. God, for those who need to renew their faith commitment to you, Lord, I pray that that would be happening now as well. And some people who are renewing, they feel dirty Lord. And I pray God that that would be eliminated in Jesus name. The enemy is a liar. He's always trying to deceive us, making us feel bad about ourselves, lying to us all the time. If we confess our sin, he is faithful. And just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that's what the Bible says. 0 (1h 25m 54s): That's the truth. Thank you for that truth. So confess your sin and watch what God will do. Lord. We love you. We thank you for your mercy, your grace. We thank you that you've saved us. That you've sanctified us. Lord. You're in the process of sanctifying us and making us more and more like you. We love you and we need it. Lord, thank you for this time. Bless us as we continue to worship, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go ahead and stand and worship. 1 (1h 26m 39s): I see , your presence here with a brand that you would go with this all to where we just fill our hearts and we can reflect your love. 1 (1h 30m 50s): Everyone. It's a safe and healthy until we meet together again. And Jesus, thanks so much for joining us today. If anyone has needed a prayer this morning, please don't leave without getting some come on forward and we'll have some folks love to pray with you today. Otherwise I have a wonderful day to worship together. Again, next time. Take care.

How to Pray 101

0 (0s): Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to Harvest. My name is Sherrilyn. If we haven't met yet, delighted to worship together with you all this morning, you may notice if you're in the house, we have an extra cameraman floating. We're just capturing some video. That can be part of a welcome video for folks to go to our website and are kind of looking for a picture of what it's like to worship here. So yeah, he'll be floating around, but do you just worship and you don't even have to mind him. We're just going to dive in this morning. Would you stand with me? And we'll pray. We'll dive in today. Solar. We're just so grateful just for the freedom. 0 (41s): We have to come into your house and worship. God, thank you so much for everyone who is here on campus and tuned in from home or wherever they're watching. We are one body we gathered together as sons and daughters to worship you this morning. As surely as the sun rises, God, you are faithful every morning. Great is your faithfulness towards us. So we worship you today. When we sit our hearts, our attention, our affection on Jesus this morning, we asked you to be in our midst that you would change us and she would make us more like you draws near to your heart today in Jesus name. 0 (1m 25s): Amen. 0 (1m 26s): we're not orphans anymore. 0 (12m 17s): Bod, with the prize rescue, you might know this old little chorus. Geez, geez. let's try that again. 0 (12m 59s): for your great lift for us. 0 (13m 45s): Amazing grace. 0 (13m 49s): missing that first together, still beautiful voice. 0 (17m 29s): Now we see clearly you see the receipt on Marcy's graceful. Give us the eyes to see what you're doing in and around us. I was to see what the father is doing and we can come alongside and joining you and bringing your kingdom on the earth. Just open our hearts to receive all that you have for us this morning. We welcome to your presence in Jesus name. 0 (18m 11s): Amen. It's good to see your faces. Why don't you say hello to someone around you and I'll have some announcements coming in just a few moments. 1 (18m 22s): Well, of course, those who are sitting here in the sanctuary and in the loft and behind the patio and those who tuned in online, it's amazing how, you know, we can reach out to the entire planet with live stream. And so, anyway, we want to welcome you. Hey, if it's your first time to Harvest Church or maybe you're new here, I would encourage you to go by the info center, which is just up the driveway right here and talk to the people there. They've got to give for you. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it looks like a coffee cup, but she can put other things in it besides coffee that's up to you. Yeah. So go up to the info center. And while you're there, if you wouldn't mind filling out a communication card, we love to be able to communicate with everybody that that is, you know, Harvest is your Church home. 1 (19m 9s): And then if you, if you don't want to actually fill out a actual card, you can go online to our website. That is yeah. AIG Harvest app. And you can, you can fill it out that way as well. So the, the holidays are upon us. We've got Thanksgiving coming up real soon. We got Christmas right around the corner. So we are kind of in that, that zone of working to help out people in our community that are in need. So I've got a couple of opportunities for you. So the first one of course is Thanksgiving, which is coming up like a week and a half or something like that. So we've been putting the word out. I know many of you have contributed to our food pantry cause we're putting together a Thanksgiving baskets for families in need. 1 (19m 53s): If you remember to bring your stuff today, see today's the deadline. So if you're hearing this for the first time, you got to get up and get to the store and get back here quickly. If you forgot about it, or this is your first time hearing about it, you want to be a part of it. Go ahead and bring any items. If you, if you obviously can't get them here today, you can bring, bring them by the Church office tomorrow. And I will be there. Some of us others will be there and we can go ahead and, and have 'em collected that way. So if you want to come by the Church office, we're here between nine and four. That would be great as well. Okay. What else? Oh, back to that, if you did bring some items, drop them off at the info center, which is again, right up the driveway. 1 (20m 35s): So one of the other things we're participating in, in our community, it's called blessings to local foster adoptive families. And so we're partnering with other local churches to provide local foster and adoptive families with a meal and with gift cards for Thanksgiving. So you can check out our weekly email updates to get more information about how you can purchase a bait in that. But we love to be a blessing to foster adoptive families in our community. And then the last thing I want to make mention of, and this is sort of more looking towards Christmas is we are participating in operation Christmas child. It's a ministry under the umbrella of Samaritan's purse. Maybe you've heard about it. It's it's been going on for many years. 1 (21m 16s): So what they do is they put necessities and toys in a shoe box and then they're shipped all over the world. So with COVID the way they're doing it now is a little different than, than normal in the past. So what you would do is you would go to their website, operation Christmas child, and you can actually select the items on their website that you would like included in the box. And they've got a team of people in different places across the country. They put those boxes together on your behalf and ship them out to various people in need kids predominantly in need. And it's it's if you've ever seen the videos, in fact on their website, probably have some videos of these kids receiving these shoe boxes. You know, it's, it's, it's really stunning the impact we can have. 1 (21m 58s): And of course they include in those boxes, a presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So that's all I have for you today, Steve. Let's welcome. Steve, come on up here. 2 (22m 11s): Morning. Welcome. I'm approaching from a different side of the room today. Tricking you welcome where Colossians chapter four today, galoshes chapter four verses two through 18. How about a quick joke? I was ready for a quick joke. It's a good one. This time. Trust me. So this, these two lifelong friends, Archie and Jack, they had been arguing their whole life about the color of Jesus. Archie was convinced that Jesus is black and Jack is convinced that Jesus is white. So they're arguing about this their whole life. It just so happens. They die on the same day and they get up to the pearly Gates and they go on inside and they asked st. 2 (22m 55s): Peter, Peter, tell us, we've been arguing about this for our whole life. Is Jesus black or is Jesus white? And about that time, Jesus walked up and said, Buenos D'usse Jesus, isn't black or white he's act he's middle Eastern. He's a, he's like his swarthy dark skinned man. So if you look at Rolando Rojas, that's probably what Jesus looked like. There we go. Now it's going to be hard to Pray without thinking about Rolando. But anyway, we are talking about prayer today. It's going to be a good day. How to pray one Oh one we're in Colossians chapter four, verse two. 2 (23m 40s): How to Pray one Oh one. Let's go ahead and stand up and pray as we get ready to talk about praying and we'll have Church today. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to gather, to have church, to be in your presence. Lord God, we pray that you would speak to us God, that our hearts will be open and that we, we would be responsive and receptive and happy to receive your truth. The revelation that you reveal to us Lord. So thank you for the opportunity to gather. So Lord, on the patio, in the loft, in the sanctuary, on the worldwide web, we just pray God that your word would go out with power and with clarity. 2 (24m 20s): Thank you for this time, Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Just as you get seated, we've got people in Greenland, our missionaries, Daniel, and Solvay, they're actually watching online in Greenland. So we just want to say hello to them. We've got a big audience in India as well, for some reason, big audience in India. And we've got literally thousands of people who tune in every week and watch what we're doing to participate from around the globe. And so it's kind of fun to it kind of makes the world a little bit smaller. Doesn't it? That we can have an impact all over the globe by just what we're doing here on the central coast of California. It's really, really good. 3 (24m 58s): How to pray one Oh one. 2 (24m 60s): The definition that the very definition of one Oh one means basic. It means introduction. It's kind of the beginner's guide. And so we're going to be talking about prayer today. Prayer is where you start, but also prayer is what get things gets, things done spiritually. So we never get to mature spiritually to S so we stopped praying. We pray when we get saved. When we come to faith in Christ, we pray before we know Christ that we'd come to know Christ. We, we pray all the days of our lives. If we want to continue to grow and mature in our faith. So don't ever get away from the basics. I was playing golf yesterday, actually played golf three times this week. 2 (25m 41s): I never play golf three times in the same week, but it just like everything happened. I kept getting invited to go play golf. So I was at home yesterday and I had nothing to do all day, which was a delightful problem to have. And my son called me up and said, Hey, I want to go play nine holes of black Lake. Do you want to go? And I'm like, sure, let's go play golf. So we played and we got on one particular hole. 3 (25m 59s): I am hacking it. I'm absolutely hacking it on the third hole. And 2 (26m 5s): I walked away. I started to get mad, but then I walked away and I said, you know why? I love this game. I told my son, you know why I love this game because you can't just get up there and fake it. You have to eat, you got to be present. You got to pay attention to the bank. You got to keep your head down. Like every time I bought your shot, what did I do? I lifted my head. Right, right. I'm trying to see where the ball went before. I actually had a chance to hit the ball. So I hit the ground and the ball goes two feet. And I'm hitting three before I even know. So there's something about the basics, keeping our 3 (26m 36s): Eye on the ball. That is it 2 (26m 38s): Never, ever changes. Like I could play golf for another 20 years. And what do still have to do? I still have to keep my head down. If I want to hit the ball. If I lift my head, I'm going to say, I'm going to chunk the ball all every time. Every single time, prayer is spiritually seeking. Speaking about the most important thing that we can do as followers of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Prayer is the most basic thing, but it's also the most important thing. It is super, super important. Prayer keeps our eyes on Jesus. Chapter four, verse two, Paul said devote yourselves to prayer. 2 (27m 19s): Colossians four, two devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind, and a thankful hearts to devote means to persist in like never give up, continue to pray, to pray, devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray one Oh one number one. Pray with an alert mind. When I think about that, I thought, what does it mean to pray with an alert mind? Well, in my coach training, when I was training to be a coach, a life coach, they would talk about being present with people as you coach them, duh, right? The most basic thing in the world. 2 (27m 59s): Like you have to listen, you have to be paying attention to what somebody is telling you in order to effectively coach them. Well, that's true in any relationship. And it's obvious when somebody is to begin to drift in the relationship or in the conversation, right? So we're having a staff meeting this earlier this week and, and we're all talking about details of ministry and that sort of thing. And one of the staff members piped up with the question and we all kind of looked at him like, have you not been a part of this conversation? And then you realized, Oh man, I've been, I've been. So I've been drifting in my thoughts. And I miss part of the conversation. And that's kind of what happens if we're not present in a conversation where we start thinking about other things and we miss the important things that are being communicated in a message. 2 (28m 42s): And everybody knows when, when you are in a conversation with someone you begin to drift, you begin to look around, you begin to your mind and, and things get lost in the conversation. The same can happen and does happen in our prayer time with the Lord. We begin to drift. And so what I do, cause I know that I'm prone to drifting. I, I can drift with the best of them. And so when I know that I've got to go on a walk, I've got, I got to do something that will keep my mind focused on the Lord. So I'll just go out into our neighborhood. Or if I'm at the office here, I'll just walk around the village and just pray. I'm saying, Lord, I need to focus. So I just, I don't know why walking helps me to focus. 2 (29m 23s): Maybe that would be distracting to you, but for me, it helps me to focus. So whatever you need to do to not drift, but to be present in this conversation that you're having with the Lord to stay alert, then doing the world and the flesh and the devil is doing everything they can to get us distracted, to interrupt our alert mind. So do what you need to do to stay alert. God has got great things to communicate to us. And when we're alert, we can pay attention to those things. We can pay attention to that. Still small voice. I think sometimes we're so distracted. We're not giving God. 2 (30m 3s): We're just kind of going through our shopping lists with the Lord, right? Laura, I need this and I need this. And Lord, would you do this? And would you do that? And those things are bad, but he also wants to talk, right? It's a two way street. It's a conversation where we're saying, Lord, I need this in my life. Or I want this for someone else or Lord, I'm praying for the health of another person. And maybe just maybe the Lord will in that still small voice, download 4 (30m 27s): Comfort to us. Truth to us, 2 (30m 30s): Answers to us. If we'll just stop long enough to give him an opportunity and just listen and be present with what the Lord is saying, maybe you're up against a very difficult situation. And you're just kind of rambling at the Lord. Lord, I am so tired of this. This has been so difficult. I just need to get through this and you don't give the Lord a chance to speak. And so he isn't have the opportunity to bring 4 (30m 54s): Comfort to your soul 2 (30m 57s): Because it doesn't matter if a storm is raging. If the Lord has given you comfort, 4 (31m 1s): The storm can rage. There's comfort. Sometimes God will stop the storm. 2 (31m 5s): Most of the time, he's just going to give you a comfort in the midst of the storm, he is going to reassure you. He is going to, I love the song. Jesus loves me. 4 (31m 14s): I, that 2 (31m 16s): Is the basics, 4 (31m 18s): Right? And yet when 2 (31m 20s): We sing it, it's like, it's like food to our soul, like water to our spirits. I mean, it just refreshing 4 (31m 28s): Cash is us in such a powerful way, right? 2 (31m 31s): This same opportunity is with us. When we pray, Lord, I'm really struggling here. Lord, 4 (31m 37s): Would you do something? And then just wait. Instead of 2 (31m 40s): You're going to the next item on the list, just wait and see what the Lord will do. And then maybe take it to the next level and just journal Lord. This is what I think. 4 (31m 50s): I feel like you're doing. This is what I feel like you're saying. This is the sense I get when I'm praying about this situation. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for clarity. 2 (32m 4s): And all of a sudden we're getting answers or we're at least getting comfort to we're at least getting peace in the midst of whatever it is that we're going through. As we Pray with an alert mine, 4 (32m 19s): It's, it's difficult to focus when we're praying. It really is. And we were praying to somebody who's invisible. 2 (32m 26s): He's not like, like I can have a conversation 4 (32m 29s): With a person and it's easier, but God is invisible to us. And so we have to count on our other senses and pay attention to what the Lord will say to us, speak to us. 2 (32m 40s): And we have to be disciplined to do that and intentional about doing that. 4 (32m 46s): Stay alert, stay alert to how you're feeling as you Pray. If you're, if you're, if you're 2 (32m 53s): Feeling anxious, asked the Lord about that, say, God is I pray about this every time I do. I'm anxious. Lord, am I, am I lacking faith? Or am I lacking confidence in you? If I am Lord, I don't want to, I didn't want to pray from a place of anxiety. I want to pray from a place of faith and then God will give you the grace to do that. All something will happen in your spirit. God will meet that need. And all of a sudden you'll have a different perspective and you'll be able to pray from a different place. And instead of being anxious 4 (33m 23s): Or fearful, man, 2 (33m 26s): All of a sudden Lord nothing's changed in the circumstance, but I just have a different person 4 (33m 30s): Perspective. I can pray with faith, 2 (33m 34s): Faith that God is at work. Even though I don't necessarily see what he's doing. Faith, believing that even if he's not doing anything that I can see or perceive, now there's something coming because God loves me. God's caring about, he cares about my needs, right? He's never left me nor forsake me. So I can believe that if I've got a need, he is going to take care of it. Sometimes we pray for the same thing. For years before we see an answer, we pray for a loved one for years before we see an answer, we pray for a friend or a neighbor for years before we see an answer, we pray for somebody who's sick for months before we see an answer, God is doing something. 2 (34m 18s): So pay attention to what the Lord is doing. As you pray, pay attention to how you're feeling and what's going on. And then to address those things, maybe you're angry in your prayer, just maybe you're angry at the Lord. And that's kind of surfacing just feeling some anger because maybe the Lord hasn't done what you thought he should do. And so maybe in that anger, you just address it. Cause God knows. And you say, Lord, I I'm feeling angry about this. Like I expected something 4 (34m 47s): Else. Like why didn't why Lord, 2 (34m 52s): Just to say, Lord, I'm angry, but I don't want to be angry. I'm I'm angry, but I didn't want to live my life like this. And so you can say, Lord, forgive my anger. I confess my anger. I'm deciding to not be angry. Right? There's got to be, you got to come full circle with it. You gotta, you gotta acknowledge it and then get out of it. Like you got to acknowledge what's going on. And then just by faith, say, I'm not going to be angry anymore, or I'm not going to be unforgiving anymore, or I'm not going to be faithless anymore. And you declare that over your prayer time, over your circumstance and situation Pray with an alert mind and just watch what God will do as he kind of unpacks things and peels back layers of emotions and, and just all kinds of stuff in your life. 2 (35m 40s): Number one, Pray with an alert mind and then number two, pray with a thankful heart, all of this from birth to, 5 (35m 49s): I think it's important that, that I say to that because we're looking at 2 (35m 54s): One verse so far and God's already given us so much to consider and to ponder some, so many things, devote yourselves to prayer with an alert, mind, a thankful heart, just simple little verse B. There's so much richness there. It's true. When we pray as well in our simple 5 (36m 10s): Little quiet 2 (36m 13s): Prayer time with the Lord, there's just so much richness, so much for us to gather and to, to benefit from. And it's true with the word too. Sometimes we're just rushing through the scripture and it's better some days just to focus in on one verse 5 (36m 30s): And ask the Lord, God, what are you speaking to me 2 (36m 33s): In this one verse? I'll be honest. When I read through this text, I thought, man, I'm going to have a hard time writing a sermon out of this text because I was just kind of quickly going through it. I'm looking for something high points. And, and, and then I started talking with Jolene about the texts and she's like, man, I'm really excited about Colossians chapter four this week. I'm like, you are why. 5 (36m 53s): And so we just began to talk about it. And then 2 (36m 56s): I came back to it with a fresh perspective. I'm Molly, I'm a she's right. There's so much here. And so she wrote my sermon this week. Isn't that great. She's never written my sermons ever. So thanks. I know they, some weeks they come out so good. You think who somebody else must have wrote? It must be Jolene writing his sermon. 5 (37m 15s): We knew it all along 2 (37m 19s): First, Thessalonians five 16 in the ESV says region 5 (37m 23s): Joyce always rejoice. Always 2 (37m 30s): First Thessalonians five 17 in the ESV says Pray without 5 (37m 34s): Ceasing . 2 (37m 37s): These are easy verses to memorize by the way, five 16, rejoice always. That's the verse. Rejoice always verse 17, pray without ceasing first Thessalonians five 18. Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you pray with a thankful heart. This is actually the will of God for you. You ever wonder what the will of God for you is this is part of the will of God for you give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus 5 (38m 10s): For you. If 2 (38m 12s): You're having our time with gratitude reasons to be thankful while you pray, 5 (38m 17s): Make a list. 2 (38m 19s): I met in met with an older couple this week. Haven't seen him for a few months. They used to come to the church, but they'd been home, home bound and sick in bed for well, the, the, the, the woman has, and the husband's declining as well with, with issues of his own. And so I sat with them and just in, in the bedroom there, we sat on the bed and just chatted. And I just asked how they were doing. And instead of complaining that they're stuck in bed, stuck at home, can't drive, can't get out like they used to. They said, and this is what they said. We're just thankful that we're alive. 2 (39m 1s): We're thankful that God has given us breath, right? Listen, no matter what you're going through in life, I would encourage you to make a list of all of the things that you're thankful for. I think we tend to lean toward the negative and think about all the things that we wish were different in our lives. 5 (39m 21s): If you're having a hard time, start with that. If you're having a hard time 2 (39m 27s): Being thankful, start with being thankful for your breath. I 5 (39m 31s): God, I thank you that I have breath. 2 (39m 35s): Thank you Lord that I have family. If you've got family thankful Lord for family, thank you for the roof over my head. If you've got a roof over your head, say thank you, Lord, thank you for that. Yeah. Thank you for my health. Even if you're sick, you can still thankful Lord for the health that you do have for employment. I talked with a guy on the golf course. This must have been a Friday cause I play three times this week. So, 5 (40m 4s): Okay. 2 (40m 5s): I had a great time this week playing golf. I didn't even play very well, but I had so much fun. 5 (40m 10s): Anyway, this guy had been, he's been lately 2 (40m 13s): Since about March and he's. So he's been unemployed since March and he's been struggling to try to find a job. So be thankful for your employment. If you've got a job and pray for others who don't have jobs To be thankful for your mind, if you can think and process. And remember just did a Memorial service for my friend, Dave Fletcher, who he just at the end of his life for the last four years, he just, he wasn't able with through dementia, just wasn't able to remember things. Wasn't able to remember people or recall events. He just, his mind just began to go over the last four years of his life. 2 (40m 53s): So if you, if your mind is sharp or even if it's not as sharp as it used to be, it's you still got to be thankful for that. Say thank you, Lord. If you have the ability to walk thankful, Lord, if you have the ability to see, thank the Lord, talked to the guy last week, he's here. And he's like I said, are you completely blind? And he said, well, there's this one spot in my eye. 5 (41m 18s): So if I look this way, I can see you. He's thankful for that. 2 (41m 24s): He's mostly blind, but he can see just a little bit. We can, we can find all kinds of things to be thankful for. 5 (41m 35s): So if you can tell, 2 (41m 36s): Talk, and play and work and eat and travel and smile. Yeah, 5 (41m 39s): They'll be thankful. Be thankful. 2 (41m 43s): The Psalmist wrote in Psalm one 11, verse one, praise the Lord. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. This almost understood. And this is not someone who never experienced trouble in his life, but at someone, someone who decided with my whole heart, I'm going to be thankful. I'm going to give thanks to the Lord. Psalm one 11 two in the ESB says great, are the works of the Lord. This is why he was thankful because great are the works of the Lord. I encourage you to go back and read Psalm all of one Psalm one 11 after Church street, all of Psalm one 11, especially if you're having a hard time with gratitude, you'll be filled with gratitude. After that, be thankful for God, for his faithful newness, for your salvation, for God's love, 5 (42m 32s): Thankful that you don't 2 (42m 33s): Get what you deserve. Jolene and I were talking about this, the mercy of God, 5 (42m 38s): Thankful that 2 (42m 38s): We don't get what we deserve thankful for his mercy and for his grace don't ever get away from the basics. Pray with an alert, mind, pray with a thankful heart. 5 (42m 49s): Why are, why are we to pray? God, God tells us to. 2 (42m 59s): It's a really good plan. It really it's a really, really good plan as how many times I, I just, I realize I I'm dry spiritually. If I just go Pray, there's the refreshing that comes. If I'm nervous about something and I pray about it, the nerves lift, Whatever the case may be. If I just go pray about it, all of a sudden I've got clarity. Maybe I don't have all the answers that I need, but I, I have clarity and usually confidence. It's budget time for the church. And so we're, CA hashing over numbers every year we get to budget time and I'm always nervous about budget time. 2 (43m 41s): But I told Julie, I said, no matter what the Lord has always been faithful. We've been here for going on 18 years. This is like our 18th budget, I guess. And every year we've watched the Lord be faithful in the budgeting process and in the provision that is needed for our budget. It's just been, it's profound and supernatural. And so when we're nervous about the budget, we just pray. When we're nervous about anything in life, we just pray. And then we watched the Lord just bring confidence or clarity or a change. He might say, well, do this or do that. And redirects, redirects our path. 5 (44m 20s): Okay. 2 (44m 21s): One person said prayer is as essential to our spiritual health as breathing is to our physical body. 5 (44m 29s): So if we stop breathing, we dying 2 (44m 32s): Physically, right? If we stop praying, we start dying spiritually. There's a direct correlation, a direct correlation. Pray prayer. Prayer is not optional. 5 (44m 51s): Okay? 2 (44m 51s): Prayer is essential to spiritual health and growth. Back to first Thessalonians five 17 in the new living translation. It says never stop praying, never stop praying. Another easy verse to memorize, never stop praying don't ever get away from the basics. Pray with an alert mind, pray with a thankful heart and number three, pray for other people. Pray for other people. Colossians four, three, Paul writes pray for us to, I love Paul's humility. And the fact that he recognized a couple of things, he recognized the power of prayer. 2 (45m 34s): Remember he's in chains, he's imprisoned right now, maybe going through some hard stuff in his life. So he says, pray, pray 5 (45m 46s): For us. Pray 2 (45m 48s): For us to that. God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning 5 (45m 52s): Christ he's 2 (45m 54s): In chains. And he wants more opportunity to speak about this mysterious plan. Mysterious plan about Christ is that he's the God of the Jews and the Gentiles. He's the guy, 5 (46m 3s): The whole wide world. And Paul's looking for 2 (46m 9s): Opportunity to Pray for opportunity while we're here. Pray for opportunity that we'll have the ability to speak the truth to preach the gospel. That's why I'm here in chains. He said, pray that I will proclaim the message. Verse four, as clearly as I should. 5 (46m 30s): Okay. 2 (46m 30s): Pray that I will proclaim the message as clearly as I should 5 (46m 35s): Pray for others. Pray for others, 2 (46m 40s): Especially in these toxic times that we're in Pray for those you disagree with and pray for those who disagree with you, man, it will soften your hearts. It will tend to raise you a little bit. It's hard to be mad at somebody that you're praying for. When I say Pray, I mean, pray for not Pray against brave for Pray for pray, for 5 (47m 5s): Pray for 2 (47m 7s): Especially those, with whom you disagree. And it's hard to be mad or at odds with people when we're praying for them, we just find a tenderness. 5 (47m 16s): Yes. And to love 2 (47m 19s): And the supernatural it's something that God does. I ran into a guy this week, who I used to have to be at odds with. And 5 (47m 30s): I was 2 (47m 30s): So grateful that the Lord had done a work in our relationship that both of us just, we saw each other and we, we hugged and we laughed and we talked like nothing ever happened. It was like the supernatural moment. I, I I'm I'm there. It was surreal in the moment. Cause I'm like, you know, not too long ago, we were kind of at odds with each other. We didn't really care for each other, but God did something. He did something in him and he did something in me. He did something in the relationship and we were able to hug on each other and talk like nothing had ever happened. Why? Because love keeps no record of wrong. I think I've read that somewhere. Love keeps no record of wrongs. 2 (48m 14s): So there was this, this refreshing move of God. As we talked, I walked away. I was like, Holy cow, that was a wonderful conversation. That's what heaven's going to be like. That's what heaven's going to be like. Just grace covered grace filled wonderful relationship and connection Beyond prayer. Paul gives instruction for daily living in verse five and following he said, this live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most of every opportunity live wisely. 2 (48m 54s): Make the most of every opportunity. 5 (48m 56s): Pray pray for pray for those in your life who are not yet believers. Pray for them. 2 (49m 8s): You might pray for them for a decade or two or five, but pray for them and watch what the Lord will do. And then love on them. Love on them. Be gracious to them. Live wisely among those who are not believers and make the most of every opportunity. Verse six, let your conversations be gracious and attractive. That that verse means seasoned with salt. 5 (49m 34s): Well, that's your 2 (49m 36s): Appreciation be gracious and attractive seasoned with salt so that you will have the right response for everyone seasoned with salt. We had some stew last night and we're eating the stew and it's it's okay. Julian says this needs some salt, man. Yeah. That's okay. We keep beating this dude. Like yeah, you're right. I need some salt. So he puts some salt on there, like, Oh, all of a sudden, this is pretty good stew. Right? Just need a little salt, little salt goes a long way. 5 (50m 7s): Okay. 2 (50m 7s): Your conversations to be seasoned with salt. I often pray. Lord, let my words be seasoned with salt lit, especially when going into a difficult conversation, because I can say the wrong thing, like stepping off this curb. I mean, it just doesn't take any effort at all. I can say the wrong thing. And so, but I pray and I make it my attention to speak words that are seasoned with salt, something, God just does something there. And when maybe when I want to react, I don't react. Or when I want to overreact, I don't. And then sometimes my words just plainly are not seasoned with salt. And God's grace is sufficient, but make it your intention. 2 (50m 49s): If we make it our intention, that our words, our conversation to seasoned with salt so that we have the right response for everyone. Lord, what is, how do I respond in this situation? We live in a toxic environment. How do we respond in these situations that are so difficult when people maybe disagree with us about, well, you name it, religious perspectives, beliefs, political perspectives. There's, there's a lot to disagree about. Or what is my response with this person right now? Maybe you have a healthy conversation about religion or politics. 2 (51m 31s): Maybe you don't, you just love the person. Maybe they are on a completely different track than you are, but you just love them. 5 (51m 40s): Because 2 (51m 41s): Cause being right is not the biggest deal. It's not, I mean, that's not the goal. I like to be bright. I don't have to be right when I have conversations. I, the most important thing that God has called us to do is to love people. So why don't we, why don't we have to fight? Why don't we just love on each other and let God worry about 5 (52m 4s): Our society is polarized. 2 (52m 8s): God has an assignment for us and I'll get specific. God has an assignment for you in this polarized society that we live a live wisely, live wisely among those who are not believers. That's your assignment as believers. This is your assignment to live wisely. It's going to be different for every scenario and every situation that you're in. But if it's your, if it's your heart and mind to live wisely, you just say, Lord, I, I don't know how, what would you show me a be make the most of every opportunity. 2 (52m 54s): God is going to bring people to your path. Lord make what's the best way to make the most out of this opportunity. I don't know what to do. Lord, if you ever been, I don't know what to say. I don't know how to have a connection, a conversation with this person, make those be prayerful. This is why prayer is so crucial to who we are as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. You can be having a conversation to be praying at the same time. I'm often up here praying as I'm preaching because I'm in desperate need of the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ to do what I do. So I'm praying. 5 (53m 28s): And then I'm preaching talking. And then 2 (53m 32s): I'm praying. I asking the Lord for his help to, to get this word clearly out, making the most of every opportunity. See, let your conversations be gracious and attractive against seasoned with salt so that you will have the right response for everyone. A, B and C a B, and C. All of these seemingly impossible things are possible. When our lives are filled with prayer and love, 5 (54m 2s): The more we Pray 2 (54m 3s): For people, the more we'll have the capacity to love them. Last week, we looked at 14 ways. Husbands can love their wives. That's a great list. 14 ways how'd you guys do this week. 5 (54m 22s): We'll talk later. 2 (54m 25s): This list is actually a great list to keep an eye on. When loving people in general, Prayer makes this 14, this list of 14 things doable, possible. 5 (54m 45s): How can 2 (54m 45s): And we live wisely making the most of every opportunity and have the right response for everyone. W we have to remember to pray for people and love people. Love is patient. We were running late this morning and I was in the car waiting. And Jolene was just running late and get in the car and later to go, I'm like you ready to go? She's like, Oh, I need to get something. I said, well, we're in no hurry just to get what you need. She said, thanks for being patient with me. And I said, well, love is patient, 5 (55m 17s): Right? 2 (55m 17s): Some days I really nail it. Other days I totally missed the Mark. I, my arrow goes Well. That was basically, but I knew I was going to be talking about it today. So I knew that I had to be on my best 5 (55m 33s): Love is patient love is kind. 2 (55m 38s): Love is not jealous. It's not boastful. 5 (55m 45s): Love is not proud, is not rude. 2 (55m 51s): Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable. Love keeps no record of being wronged does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices. When the truth, when the truth wins out, love never gives up. Love, never loses. Faith. Love is always hopeful. Love endures through every tall order, impossible in the natural impossible. Just if we're relying on our own natural strength, our own sinful man, but very possible. 2 (56m 35s): All of these things are very possible when we're prayerful and filled with the love of God, then we can love people. The way that God's asked us to love people, Because it's not boastful or proud or rude, it's just tender. And it can be direct at times, but it's not boastful or proud or rude keeps no record of being wronged. All of those things are key to healthy relationships between friends and neighbors, coworkers, spouses, siblings, you name it. 2 (57m 21s): So we wrap up here, let's look at Paul's final instruction and greetings verse seven, Paul mentions 10 people by name 10 people by name who were with him. People partnering with him, people who prayed for him and those Paul prayed for and people that he did life with. Paul did life with people. As far as we know, he's a single man during his ministry, but he was surrounded by people tickets for seven, writing to the church. , we'll give you a full report about how I'm getting along. He's a beloved brother and faithful helper who serves with me in the Lord's work. 2 (58m 5s): I have sent him to you for this purpose to let you know how we are doing and to encourage you. Paul's Paul's in chains and he's writing a letter to encourage the church. It's because it's all about life is all about perspective. It can be in chains and be thrashed, or we can be in chains and be filled with the Holy 5 (58m 25s): Spirit and not thrashed at all. 2 (58m 27s): Just so thankful. Got my breast still. I can still write letters. I can still pray. I can still do all of these things. That was Paul's perspective. It must have been there. Otherwise he wouldn't have the capacity to want to encourage others, but he did. He didn't care about the chains. He was there because he was preaching. The gospel counted worthy to suffer for the, for the King. 5 (58m 53s): It was wonderful. 2 (58m 57s): It's balls and change is he and he's encouraging them. And again, I believe this response is a result of purpleness and great love. Paul prayed for the church. He prayed for the church. He loved the church. He loved the people. Verse nine. I am sending also, I'm also sending a, Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother, one of your own people. He and will tell you everything that's happening here. So he's, he just wanted to do, to give a report. This is what's going on during the week, this last week, Daniel, and Solvay a video chatted in and got a chance. They got a chance to talk with their, their board Daniel. And Solvay kinda, they minister in Greenland. They're living in Greenland, taking the gospel to the top of the world. 2 (59m 40s): And they're yet connected to us. And they're watching on Sunday morning, the, the preaching and the service, and then they're encouraging people in their village to do the same thing. So we've got people on this Greenlandic village who are watching what we're doing here on Sunday morning. So we, we love you guys. We bless you. We love Daniel. And Solvay they called in to just give an update on what's going on. The people that they're praying for and their people that they're ministering to and the people that they're serving in their community. Why? Because we're called to do life in community. Even if we're in a Greenlandic village on the top of the world, there's connection there there's prayer exchanged. I'll often get messages from Daniel and Salva. 2 (1h 0m 21s): Hey, we're praying for you and I'll respond. I'm praying for you. God's doing good stuff all over the world. Aaron Stark is firsthand who was in prison with me. So Paul is not alone. Send you his greetings. And so does Mark Barnabas cousin, as you were instructed before, make Mark welcome. If he comes your way to Mark surface, March, the guy that Paul and Barnabas were traveling with on their missions acts chapter 13, John Mark, he went home, he went back to Jerusalem. He's like, I'm not going to continue on in the mission. And Paul was pretty tweaked by that. He's like Mark, can't travel with us any longer. And that's when Paul and Barnabas split up and went their separate way. 2 (1h 1m 5s): Something happened. Maybe like my friendship with a guy that I ran into there, there was a healing there. Why? Because, because of prayerfulness and love being extended and exchanged, remember the story. I mean, there was a, it's a big deal. It's often cited in acts. I think it's chapter 15 where they say, Hey, we're done. We're not traveling together. We're not ministering together. But here in this scenario, 4 (1h 1m 38s): Paul saying, Hey, take, take care of my brother, Mark. 2 (1h 1m 42s): We endure hardship better when we are in it with others. So we don't have time for petty disagreements. 4 (1h 1m 49s): We are brothers and sisters in the Lord. We are 2 (1h 1m 53s): Connected. We are friends. We need each other. And when we extend grace and love to one another, when we pray for one, another, man, things can happen and we can go sideways. But man, God God's, grace is sufficient. We can come back together. 4 (1h 2m 10s): We endure 2 (1h 2m 10s): Hardship better when we are in it with others. Let's talk about friendship for a minute. If you need a friend to do do these four things. If you need a friend, some of us are just lacking friendship where like, I don't have any friends in my life. Do you do four things? I started out with two. I added two more. So we have four forgive people. If you need a friend, just start forgiving, be friendly. Number two, number three, love people. Number four, pray for a friend. Paul had many friends as is evidence in this final instruction. Verse 11, Jesus. The one they call justice also sends his greetings. 2 (1h 2m 52s): These are the only Jewish believers among my coworkers. They are working with me here for the kingdom of God and what a comfort they have been. a member of your own fellowship, probably the guy who planted this church in Colossae and in Colossi at the first a member of your own fellowship and a servant of Christ. Jesus send you his greetings. He always prays earnestly for you. I love it. When people tell me that, Hey, I'm praying for your church. I'm praying earnestly for your church, asking God to make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the will of God. God responds to prayer. Prayer will make you strong and perfect, fully confident that you are doing the will of God. 2 (1h 3m 33s): The word perfect means to complete and mature. This is God's desire that we'd be complete and mature, confident that we're doing the will of God, that we know the will of God. As we pray for people are we're making them strong. As we pray for people, we're making them strong in Jesus name, perfect, fully confident that they are doing the will of God. Verse 13. I can assure you that he prays hard for you and also for the believers in Laodicea and higher opera. Hieropolis Luke, the beloved doctor sends his greetings. And so does Demas. Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house. 2 (1h 4m 17s): After you've read this letter, pass it on to the church at Laodicea so they can read it too. And you should read the letter I wrote to them. That's why we teach through these letters because they're meant to be read and understood and say to R-CHOP is to be sure to carry out the ministry. The Lord gave you a little bit of challenge there. Say to R-CHOP is to be sure to carry out the ministry of the Lord gave you. As I read that, I thought that's for somebody here 4 (1h 4m 39s): Today, 2 (1h 4m 42s): Maybe the Lord's given you a ministry to carry out. Okay? 4 (1h 4m 45s): And you've been unresponsive, unwilling, maybe even disobedient. I'll just say this. 2 (1h 4m 59s): Be sure to carry out the ministry. 4 (1h 5m 2s): The Lord gave you. 2 (1h 5m 6s): Here's my greeting in my own handwriting. Paul, remember my chains. May God's grace 4 (1h 5m 11s): Be with you 2 (1h 5m 14s): Don't ever get away from the basics. Pray with an alert mind with a thankful heart and pray for other people. And remember your assignments live wisely among those who are not believers, make the most of every opportunity and let your conversations be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone with that. Let's go ahead and Pray let's invite the worship team forward and we're going to continue with Church Lord. Thank you for Church. Thank you for the opportunity to gather, to sing, to pray, to hear a message, to open our hearts and to avail ourselves to you. Lord, we just need you to continue to speak to us as we worship, God, help us to worship in spirit, being present with you. 2 (1h 5m 58s): And in truth, being honest with you, with you and honest with you, help us to be with you and honest with you, Lord, thank you Jesus. For that. God, we love you. And we, we know that you're going to continue to minister. As we open up our hearts and saying, and give ourselves as we make an offer a sacrificial offering of our singing to you, or thank you. Thank you for taking care of Harvest Church we love you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Let's sing 0 (1h 6m 33s): To, to do it. here is where I lay it down is where lay it down. 0 (1h 7m 28s): Every burden, every crown. This is my silver and this is my . This is my servant. I'll make room. 0 (1h 7m 50s): crown. 0 (1h 8m 30s): This is my son. This is my son. He is where every lie and every doubt, this is my son. 0 (1h 8m 50s): I'm going to say shake up to the ground of our tradition. 0 (1h 9m 44s): Break down the laws of our religion. Here we go. 0 (1h 9m 46s): you want your will to be done in our lives. 0 (1h 11m 20s): Would you lead us? Would you guide us? 0 (1h 11m 47s): you are close. 0 (1h 13m 2s): I've known you as a all my life who have been, who have been. 0 (1h 15m 2s): So would you stir our hearts? 0 (1h 16m 12s): Help us to hear you speak as we need to guide us. Pray pray for others. Speak with hearts seasoned with salt. Thank you for being in our midst here today. We love you and we look forward to worshiping, speak to you in there again next week in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for being with us both online and here on campus. We can't wait to see you next Sunday. Have a wonderful day. If anyone would like prayer, feel free to come forward. We would love to pray with you. There'll be some staff or others available to meet with you. Thanks so much.

How do we follow God's Word?

0 (0s): Good morning. Welcome everybody. Let's all stand together, Lord. We thank you for this morning. We thank you for providing us reign. We pray that you'd be here with us, that our worship would be pleasing to you. 1 (31s): for all that you've done. 1 (3m 15s): gray. 1 (4m 5s): for all that you done for me? Jesus. 1 (4m 46s): For all that, you've done. Fool. Oh, razor razor, razor. 1 (5m 31s): me. humble ourselves worthy of 0 (14m 52s): Praise and honor, we worship you this morning. Pray in Jesus name. Amen. So like for the past eight weeks Charlene's been here and she's really polished at getting you guys to talk to one another, but I'm back. And so it's okay to be awkward. You just got to turn around and make friends, you know, it's a time to fellowship. Amen. 0 (15m 32s): Amen. All right. Good morning. Harvest Church good morning. It's a rowdy bunch this morning. 2 (15m 44s): It has it's. It's nice. It's a little chilly outside, but nice and warm in here. Hey, just want to say welcome. Glad you're here each and every one of you. Thanks for joining us online as well. Hey, if it's your first time joining us, I just wanted to let you know that we have a gift for you. If you go over to the info center right here in the breezeway between the lofts and sanctuary, we have a gift for you. We would love for you to fill out info cards. Find out more about you, just ways to plug in and just got a couple announcements. First one is the Thanksgiving baskets. Food baskets are being collected by next Sunday. Next Sunday is your last day to turn those in. So there's a list where we're just trying to love on the community of the families in our community that, you know, need a little extra help this Thanksgiving. 2 (16m 30s): So if, if, if, if you've got, if you're willing, there's a, there's a list of different food items that we're trying to collect, and that will be due by next Sunday, November 20, November 15th, next announcement. And we have this sisterhood night of worship, and that will be just Friday, November 13th at six 30 here in the sanctuary. And that is for women of all ages all the way from they said grade school to grandma's are invited to come for that. It's going to be worship sharing a fellowship and fun details can be found at AGU harvest.org/sisterhood. And it's, it's gonna be a great night. I'm excited for you. Gals. 2 (17m 11s): Next is just a few opportunities to plug in and we have some, we have a welcome team, cleaning team, kids, ministry, team safety team, and then, and then a group host or facilitator. There's all different ways to plug into Harvest Church and to get connected, you can, you can find out how to connect by going to our app or a website and plug it in that way. Dave gave me this little sheet. There is a volunteer for holiday wind ensemble as well. Dave has all the details on that. I just have a simple slip of paper. So talk to Dave, if you're interested or do you have the skills to play in the wind ensemble? I do not. So I should not talk to Dave about that. And then lastly, we Wednesday is the veteran's day. 2 (17m 53s): So we want to honor those who have served in our country. And so if you have served, we actually asked you at this time to stand up both in the loft and here in the sanctuary, just come on, keep standing up, standing, remain, standing, remain standing. We want to just take this time. We want to take this time to honor you and thank you for your service. And let's, let's just say a moment of prayer, all right, for them, Lord, we thank you for those who have served, who have put their lives at risk to protect the freedoms of those. They, they, they haven't even known Lord. 2 (18m 33s): We thank you for all those in, in this room, at home, in a line and, and throughout this country, Lord, and what do we do? We lift up this country to you at this time, Lord, with all the craziness in our, in our nation. Lord, we just ask for wisdom and direction. Lord God, thank you for those who have served in jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Thanks. You all. That's all. That's all I got. Thank you, brother. Appreciate it. 3 (19m 2s): There are flannels all over the building today, all over the campus. It's a flannel Sunday. Isn't it? It's it's been kind of cold. Hey, you notice we got some of our plumbing back in place, so that's good, right? It's good to good to have plumbing in a developed nation. It's good to have money. So we have one of the think Mike Apadaca for coming in and making sure that the black top was all fixed for us so we could drive in and out and here. So thanks to Mike and thanks to rich Brown and his crew for getting the plumbing done. They're still working on it, but we have plumbing in this building and in the loft and in the U building, we do not have plumbing yet in the parsonage, but we're getting there. So be patient with us. We we're, we're just, it's just a slow process, but the water main is fixed and the sewage line is fixed. 3 (19m 48s): And so things are getting better. We'll get rid of the port-a-potties this week. So that'll be good. Porta-potties are great if you're at a fair, but they're not growing or a carnival or something. Hey, since we've had such a wonderful time with our plumbers recently, I've got a plumbers joke. You guys ready for a plumber's joke. So this guy hires a plumber. He's got a leak under a Sikh under his sink and the guy the plumber shows up and he's underneath the sink and comes out after about an hour. And he hands the guy that hired him, a bill for $400. And the guy said, man, I'm an attorney. And I don't make that kind of money. You've been here for less than an hour. The plumber said, yeah, when I was an attorney, I didn't make that kind of money either. 3 (20m 33s): Do you guys get that? It's it's bad. Right? Okay. Good. Somebody gave that to me. I did not pay them for that joke though. So that was, that was good. We had the title of the message today as we get into Colossians, chapter three is how do we 4 (20m 48s): Follow God's word? How do we, how do we follow God's word? That's the, that's the, the million dollar question as we open up, God's word, how do we follow it? How do we do that? So let's go ahead and stand up. But we're going to pray and ask the Lord for gifts to give us wisdom as we open up the scripture. And so Laura, we want to know, we want to know how do we follow your Word as we open it up on a regular basis and try to find instruction, therefore, our lives. So often, it's just hard to walk it out. Lord, easy to read about things, hard to live it out Lord. And so I know it's my desire, and I know that it's our desire as a church to want to be able to live it out. We want to know what it means to follow and how to do that. 4 (21m 30s): So Lord, I pray that there would be really practical tools given to us today, practical and helpful tools that will give us the ability that capacity, the understanding how to, how to actually follow your Word. So God as we open our hearts and minds to that, I pray that there would just be a download from heaven God that whatever blinders we have on would be, would be would, they would just fall off Lord like cataracts. They would just fall off our eyes, Lord, whatever hardness we have in our heart around the word. And just maybe our lack of understanding about how to walk it out or our frustration with it. Lord, I pray that that would just go away as well. 4 (22m 10s): That would just melt away in jesus' name. And our hearts will be tender and ready in our minds to be excited. And we'd be hungry Lord for the things for the word of God, for the things of God. And so help us, Lord, we pray. Thank you for your presence here today. God we've already felt it in worship, Holly. That was just so powerful and so good. And, and I am praying that the balance of the service has we open up your word would be, would be the same, would just be powerful and good. And then as we wrap up with more song God that it would just, it would just put a big old exclamation Mark on this day and give us the grace to follow you and to trust you wholeheartedly. So bless us. We pray, help us. We ask Lord in Jesus name, amen. 4 (22m 51s): You can be seated and you can be, 3 (22m 53s): How do we follow God's word, number one, we're going to get right to the first point. We have to understand what the word says. When I say the word it's capital w God's word. We have to understand what the Bible says. That's, that's kind of where we, we have to start. We have to understand what it says. We're going to get into some pretty tough texts today. If you've read ahead, you, you know that it's, it's difficult stuff that we're going to be talking about today, but it's not impossible stuff. It just requires that we understand what the word says so that we can do what the word says. So we're going to do our best to explain what the Bible says about these areas of submission 4 (23m 34s): And that this text is talking about today. Nobody likes submission really. I mean, it's difficult. I kind of grates against our flesh. When we have to submit to one another, whether it be to a boss or to an 3 (23m 46s): Elder or to a spouse, we don't really run toward the idea of submission, but it is God's 4 (23m 55s): Best plan for us. 3 (23m 57s): It is absolutely God's best plan for us when we understand what God means when he tells us to do certain things. So out of the gate, I'm just going to jump into Colossians chapter three, verse 18. We're going to take a few minutes to talk about 18 and then 19, and just, and just unpack the whole chapter all the way to chapter four, verse one. That's what we're going to end up today. It says this 4 (24m 21s): Wives, you know where I'm going, right? 3 (24m 25s): Submit to your 4 (24m 27s): Husbands. 3 (24m 31s): So no tomatoes. That was wonderful. Thank you for not throwing tomatoes at me. Cause I didn't write this. I'm just happened to be preaching it today. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting for those who belong to 4 (24m 45s): The Lord. 3 (24m 47s): I'm just going to say, and I wrote out some things because I wanted to make sure that I say that I say them properly. This is the proper order. Two things. When it comes to husbands and wives, we can't apologize for that. And we don't actually have to apologize for it. When we do, when we do what God asks us to do the right way, he's actually got a plan. He didn't just throw this out there, spitballing some, some random idea about marriage relationship. He actually has a plan that he wants us to understand for our marriage relationships. So this is the proper order to things. When it comes to husbands and wives, we can't apologize for that because when done right, there is nothing to apologize for. 3 (25m 33s): So wives submits, she submits not as one who is inferior to him. So we're not talking about superiority versus inferiority. We're not taking, talking about position. We're just talking about order of things, the order of things. So she submits not as one who is inferior. So I want us to understand that that women are not inferior to men. 4 (25m 56s): And anyway, do you hear me? 3 (25m 59s): Women are not inferior to men in any way 4 (26m 3s): Way. 3 (26m 6s): So she submits that as one who is inferior to him, nor in violation of a Christian ethics, but honoring her husband's responsibility and authority as head of the household. So God has actually placed men in charge of the household. And so that's the order of things. And we're going to understand more about what that looks like as we unpack this text, the amplified Bible says, wives, be subject to your husbands out of respect for their position as protector and their accountability to God. So men are actually what will be held accountable for our relationship with our spouse in way that we lead our wives. So wives be subject to your husbands out of respect for their position as protector and their accountability, accountability to God as is proper and fitting in the Lord. 3 (26m 57s): So God has made the man head of his wife. We don't have a slide for this next verse, but it says this first Corinthians 11 three says, but I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ. So men have a head who is Christ. The head of why of a wife is her husband. And the head of Christ is God, is there is there is God superior to the son. No they're equal. They're equal in God, they're equal in the Godhead, but yet there's an order of things. There's a submission there where Christ is submitted to the father. And we see that throughout his whole earthly life in ministry, we see him constantly submitted. 3 (27m 40s): He said, I only do what the father tells me to do. I only say what the father tells me to say. He is completely submitted, even though there's total equality at the Godhead totally equality between the father, son and the Holy spirit. How do we follow God's word? We have to understand what the word says. This is the order of things so that there can be peace and leadership, proper leadership in the home. If there's no clear leadership, strife and unrest is the result. I've seen this over and over again where there's a weather where there's a lack of leadership. There is always strife in the home. There's strife and unrest in the home when there's a lack of proper leadership, but where there is godly, loving, humble leadership, there is peace. 3 (28m 30s): So when I think of healthy male leadership and marriage, I think of pastor Ron D I do. You guys have been married for 40 years. He's got a great marriage after 40 years of being married. And if you look at Ron's life, so I've been working with Ron for about 12 or 14 years, pretty full time here at the church. And so I have a, I've had a chance to watch his life for more than a decade. And I've been so impressed with his leadership. So while Ron is the head of his household, he is so incredibly gentle. He's gentle and strong at the same time, his gentleness and his strength makes it easy for his wife DJ to submit to him most of the time. 3 (29m 14s): I'm sure even DJ has a hard time submitting at times, but because Ron is gentle and strong at the same time, it makes it easier for his wife to submit to him. Ron is also gracious. He is humble, he's loving and he's fun. And Ron is the same person in the office that he isn't at his home. He's, he's just, he's just faithful through and through. He's a godly man full of grace. That means he extends grace. And so because all of these things are true, it makes it easier for his wife to submit to him. I would say that Ron is a great model for us as men, as husbands, man, we will do well to model our leadership after pastor Ron. 3 (30m 2s): I think it's just helpful to have a real life person that we can look to and model our leadership after our role, as leader of the home. 4 (30m 12s): All right. What does submission look like? 3 (30m 16s): And what does submission look like? Wives are to submit to their husbands as long as submission, as long as submission doesn't cause disobedience or compromise to God and his word. So women have a responsibility to submit to their husbands. As long as that submission doesn't violate their submission, their ultimate submission, 4 (30m 34s): Two God 3 (30m 38s): Wives are to submit to their husbands voluntarily. It should be done as, as an active obedience to the word of God, to the person of God. And I also want to say that even as wives submit volunteer voluntarily to their husbands, they're not to submit to men in general that that's not what the Bible says. It doesn't say that women are to submit to men in general. Now, if there's a leadership thing that requires a woman to submit to a man, that's fine. But there's also times when there's there's men who need to submit to the leadership of a woman. What the scripture is talking about here in Colassians. It's not saying, Hey, women are submitted to, or to be submitted to all men. 3 (31m 21s): It says that women are to be submitted to their husbands. That's what the scripture says. So the wife is to submit volunteer voluntarily to her husband, not to men in general. This is kind of what submission looks like. Submission is not to be abandoned when the husband makes a mistake. In other words, per perfection is not the make or break factor. When deciding to submit, sometimes women will submit as long as their husband is doing well or making wise choices, your husband is not going to be perfect. I'm a husband for the last 30 years. I can, I can tell you that we're not going to be perfect across the board, but even when in our imperfection, it's important that wives submit to their husbands, trusting that the Lord is leading the man. 3 (32m 3s): Even if he's making mistakes, there's ultimately God's plan we'll we'll we'll come to fruition or we can trust that God will will help. Even when our husbands are making mistakes, even when men are making misses. 4 (32m 16s): I hope I said that correctly. All right, husbands, you're next? You thought you were getting off the hook today, right? You were so on the hook today. So 3 (32m 28s): Even as I talked about the role of a godly husband and, and, and pointing to Ron, as an example, husbands verse 19 says you're to love your wives and never them harshly. What if you love your wife as Christ loved the church and never treat her harshly, she won't have much problem submitting 4 (32m 48s): To you. She just won't. 3 (32m 51s): She is won't most, most women want to submit to a godly man who loves them and treats them well. The amplified Bible says this in Colossians three 19, husbands love your wives with an affectionate sympathetic, selfless love. That always seeks the best for them, Then that good man, we have this huge responsibility as leaders of our home to make sure that we're leading the way that God would have us to leave and do not be in a lead in the way that God would have us to lead and do not be in bittered. The amplified continues do not be in bittered or resentful toward them towards your wife. 3 (33m 34s): Because of the responsibility 4 (33m 35s): Marriage, we have a huge responsibility is as husband. 3 (33m 42s): How do we follow God's word? We have to understand what the word says. Number one, number two, we have to approach the word with humility and teachability. As we rely on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace to follow. This is part of the deal. We will never effectively follow God's word. If we don't approach the word of God with humility, with teachability, relying on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace 4 (34m 8s): To follow. So husbands, if you're having a hard time, loving your wife, pray, pray, and then obey. 3 (34m 19s): I'm going to give you a 14 different ways that you can love your wife. 14 tangible ways that you can love your wife. So get out your pen. 4 (34m 29s): So I write this down and I, 3 (34m 35s): We should've put your name in the, in the place of love. So I put love is love is love is 14 times. And so I'm going to say for me, I'm going to put the, my name in there. So where it says love is patient. 4 (34m 49s): I'm going to say Steve is patient. Alright. Mike is patient. Rod is patient. Larry is patient. Love is patient. Love is patient love is patience. It requires a great deal of patience to express the kind of love that God would have us love our wives with we, we have to be patient. Yeah. 3 (35m 17s): With our spouses. They're different people than we are. They think differently. Not worse, not better, just different 4 (35m 24s): Love is patient. So put your name in there. I will be patient love is kind. Steve is kind, that's my, that's my directive, the Lord that I will be patient. And I will be kind. When you figure out how to be kind to your wife, the sky's the limit, your, your marriage will be amazing. Some men are just jerks to their wives. We don't treat our wives the way that they deserve to be treated. We must be kind to them. 4 (36m 6s): We must absolutely be kind to our wives. So Steve is kind, love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud. Love is not rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable as guys, sometimes we give ourselves permission to do all of these things. We've had a rough day, so I'm irritable. 4 (36m 47s): You don't have permission to be irritable. So when you're irritable, acknowledge the fact that you're irritable and get over yourself because God is bigger than your irritability. I'm telling you from experience. I used to be more irritable than I am now. I'm not perfect, but I'm not quietly. Quite as irritable as I used to be right, is I recognize that I can't be irritable to my wife and expect her to lovingly submit to me. And I can't be irritable to my wife and expect to have a good marriage. She's not, it's just may have an okay marriage. We may get by and not go through a divorce. 4 (37m 29s): But as that though, the high water Mark that we want is that we, we just want to not divorce. Holy cow, their marriage is meant to be delightful and wonderful and life giving your spouse is actually meant to be your very best friend, the person that you want to be with more than any other person. 0 (37m 57s): Yeah. 4 (37m 57s): And yet we're irritable and rude and proud at times. If you catch yourself in that place, catch yourself and don't give yourself permission to be in that place any longer. Maybe you need to take a longer path home, but drive home so that you can kind of get all of the junk from the Workday out of your system. Pray through, say, Lord, I'm going to, I'm getting ready to go home. And I don't want to be irritable. When I get home, I've had a terrible day. I don't want to carry this into my, my home life. So you pray on your way home, turn off the radio. When you pray or turn on Christian worship music and you worship, but out of your system, but you can't go home irritable 0 (38m 39s): Or rude and expect your marriage to be good. You want your, 4 (38m 44s): We should be good. Do you want your sex life to be good? Fix 0 (38m 46s): All that stuff. I'm telling you, 4 (38m 49s): Everything gets fixed. When you go home with the right attitude, 0 (38m 56s): It's not irritable. 4 (38m 57s): It keeps no record of being wronged. Keeping a ledger, mentally, emotionally in your hearts, 0 (39m 7s): Keeping 4 (39m 7s): A ledger of all the time did you've been wrong? Burned that thing. It is. It is like a cancer in your relationship. Love keeps no record of being wrong. Love does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices when the truth wins out. So love does not say I told you 0 (39m 28s): So 4 (39m 31s): There's no room for that kind of garbage in our relationship. That kind of ah, love rejoices. When the truth wins out, we're not trying to catch each other misstepping or making a mistake. We're not trying to catch each other, doing the wrong thing. We're trying to catch each other, doing the right thing and celebrate that leverage choices when the truth wins out. So when you see your spouse doing something, that's great. Thank them. And praise them for that. 0 (39m 59s): Spouse makes you breakfast. Say thank you, 4 (40m 6s): Your spouse, presses your underwear. Say thank you. Say thank you. Just be grateful, 0 (40m 19s): Right? Have 4 (40m 19s): An attitude of gratitude with everything in your relationship. Just say, just say, thank you. Thank you. Goes a long way. Hey, thanks babe. For making me a lunch. 0 (40m 29s): Right? Thanks 4 (40m 31s): For irony. My shirt. Thanks for keeping the house clean. I noticed you. You cleaned the house today. Thank you. Hey, thanks for taking such good care of our kids by really appreciate how you love our grandkids, 0 (40m 47s): How you invest 4 (40m 48s): In them. That just means so much to me. 0 (40m 49s): Thank you for that. Acknowledge out loud, 4 (40m 54s): The wonderful parts of your partner acknowledge out loud to them and let them know how much you value them and care for them. Love never gives up. You say I've tried all of this stuff and it just keeps backfiring. Keep going, keep going. Pray for a tender heart for your spouse and women wives. When you, when you begin to see your husband change and begin to adopt some of this truth, this revelation from the, from God's word, man, run to it. The ways that I'm asking men to love their wives, wives, I'm asking you to love your husbands the same way. So while I'm putting them in on the hook here, I'm also putting you on the hook. 4 (41m 37s): Your marriage will be amazing. It will be better than it's ever been. 0 (41m 44s): 4 (41m 50s): 30 years of marriage. I tell you, our marriage is better than it's ever been. 30 years. Sometimes we think it just kind of winds down till we die. Just kind of like, Hey, it started out good. It's this kind of white, white wine itself down. No, man, it can be ramping up. Never gives up. Never loses. Faith is always hopeful. Love endures through every circumstance. I wish I could say I made all these up, but they're right in first Corinthians 13, first Corinthians 13 helps us to understand what it means to love one another. 4 (42m 31s): This is the way that God loves us. And he said, I love you this way. Go and love others this way. How do we follow God's word? We have to understand what the word says. It means we have to crack it open. We have to get that Bible opened up every day and understand what it says. And even if you're only reading a little bit, get it in your heart, get it in your mind. We have to approach it. We have to open up God's word. We have to get into it with humility and teachability, not checking a box saying, Hey, I read my proverb of the day or my Psalm of the day. I check the box. What did it say? And what did it speak to your soul? 4 (43m 12s): What does it speak to your spirit? Approach it with humility and teachability is we rely on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace to follow. I say this all the time. Everything that God asks us to do in his word requires the supernatural power of the Holy spirit at work in us to get it done. I can't love my wife this way, this way, unless God's loving through me. And last I'm also experiencing the love of God this way and acknowledging and recognizing it that his, he is so patient with me. God, God has never been rude or irritable with me. 4 (43m 53s): He just isn't. He's just not that way. He challenges me through the Word and through the spirit, he'll convict my, my, my life of sin of bad judgment. He'll he'll challenge me, but I never feel beat up by the process. I'm always like Lord. Yes. Thank you. Right? That's that's we don't have to roll over with our spouses, but man, when we, when there's time to bring correction or challenge or a hard conversation, but it needs to be done with love. Don't be irritable. Won't serve your purposes. It won't won't help your marriage. Next first we're done with husbands and wives. 4 (44m 37s): Can we all breathe? There's enough there to last us for the rest for the next 30 years. Amen. Children obey your parents for this pleases, the Lord children obey, always obey your parents for this pleases, the Lord. And then the kids are like, God got it. I thought I was going to get out of this and not have to be held, held accountable here. What does obedience look like? As far as it pleases the Lord children always obey your parents as far as long as it pleases the Lord. If a parent is asking a child to do something immoral, illegal, the child has absolutely has absolutely has the responsibility to disobey, to not do what their parents are asking him to do to do this is God's design. 4 (45m 26s): This is what I think God's design is. God's design is that godly parents would lead well. Their children with integrity, humility, kindness, and good boundaries. And by the way, those 14 things, you can love your kids the same way you love your kids the same way. Let me read that again. God's design is that godly parents would lead well, their children with integrity, humility, kindness, and good boundaries so that children will grow up understanding godliness and the biblical difference between right and wrong parents. You want to lead in such a way that you parents, you want to lead in such a way that you would want your kids to grow up and treat and raise your grandchildren the same way. 4 (46m 12s): I've got five grandkids. And I want my kids to raise my grandkids really well. And they're doing a great job by the way. 0 (46m 20s): 4 (46m 27s): Parents in such a way that your kids though, they may disagree or not understand. Now we'll be able to one day see that you were right. So right now they don't have the capacity to, to see the reasons for the decisions that are made. They just don't. They don't, they don't see any more than, than we understand all of God's ways for, for the way that he parents us. We just don't understand. We don't have the capacity. So don't parent haphazardly. Don't love conditionally don't have favorites or show favoritism, be consistent, be humble, be loving, be gracious. 4 (47m 9s): Verse 21 says, fathers do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. It's tough to parent. It's tough to figure out how to parent kids who are going through adolescents and going through hard stuff. It's tough to parent, little toddlers who were getting into everything. It's tough to parents, kids through all of their stages of life, but God's grace will give us the ability to do it in such a way that they won't be discouraged. They can get corrected, but not be discouraged. They can, they can have boundaries, but not be discouraged. They can understand, even as a, as a young child, they can understand. 4 (47m 53s): And through adolescents that they're being disciplined because they are loved. They're being raised in a, in a loving atmosphere, Ephesians six, four in the amplified, it says fathers do not provoke your children to anger. Do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive, nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them in difference, but bring them up tenderly with loving kindness in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 0 (48m 28s): Okay, 4 (48m 28s): This is heavy stuff. Isn't it? It's like really strong directives for us in our relationships. It's not easy stuff, but it's what the Bible says. And if we give it an opportunity, we'll have great families. And maybe you're here today. And you say, man, I've already blown it. It's too late. Start doing all of this stuff now with your adult kids, with your, with your grown kids. And if it's too late and they just don't want to have anything to do, we do with you just let the grace of God wash over you. Just repent of it. We've all sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard. So just say, Lord, I, man, I wish I would have, I I've. I limit some of the things that I did as a young parent Lord. I wish I would have raised my kids differently. 4 (49m 8s): In some areas I do God's grace was sufficient and they turned out really well, but I'm wishing, I wish I would've done some things differently, but God's grace is sufficient and I've had to go back and apologize to my kids. For some things. My daughter brought it up recently a few years ago, we, we all sat our kids, my wife and I, we sat our kids down. I forgot we had done this, but she brought it up to me and we sat and they were all adults at that point. And we just apologize for any pressure that we, we might've put them put on them as, as pastors, kids, kids have enough pressures without having pressure from because of what their parents do. Holy cow. 4 (49m 49s): And so we, we weren't sure if we had put any undue pressure on them, but we want to make sure that we apologize in case we had. So we said, well, we don't, we don't know if we did a great job with you guys. Well, I'm sure we made some mistakes. And so we just want, we just want to say, sorry, will you forgive us? And, and there was grace extended there and, and health restored, maybe in areas where health needed to be restored. So maybe you've made mistakes. You have, if you're human, you made mistakes. You do, you have a pulse. Yeah, you do. You've made a mistake. So, so just be humble and apologize for that and watch what the Lord will do to restore relationships. 4 (50m 32s): Maybe you've got a broken relationship with adult kids that have been going on for, for decades. I grew up with an absentee father, absentee father, and he was just, he was gone my whole life, some, a couple of times growing up and, and he's, he's kind of in his own way. Apologize. It has been helpful. It's kind of acknowledged, you know, and he made some knucklehead moves along the way and, and in his own way, he's kind of apologized and that has to be good enough. Right. And he's listening in dads. So that's, Hey dad, that's good enough. He always listens to my sermons, talk about him. 4 (51m 16s): And he's like, Hey, you probably didn't want me listening in today. Did you? I said, no, I want you to listening in dad. So in his own ways, he apologized for his own past mistakes. And that's good enough. We need to extend grace because even some of the policy, some even sometimes we don't even know how to apologize. Well, but if we can just get to the heart of what's being tried, we have, what is being said is just extended grace, your relationships with your parents and your grandparents and your kids and your grandkids will just be better. Children will have a much easier time obeying if they're obeying good and godly parents, not perfect parents, but good and godly parents. And they'll know the difference. They may not understand it now, but as they get older, they will understand the difference. 4 (52m 1s): Children. Even if your parents aren't good and godly, you still need to obey them. 0 (52m 7s): I do 4 (52m 10s): Obey them with humility, with humility and trust as you obey God's direction for your life. No perfect parents. So trust the Lord as you do his will. All right, let's get off the family a little bit and talk about slaves. 0 (52m 29s): How much time we have, we got time. 4 (52m 32s): 22 Colossians three says slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything that you do, try to please them all the time. Not just when they are watching you serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. So slavery in our culture is not really a thing. Although in the, in the world, it's a thing. It's a, it's a very real thing. One commentator wrote while slavery is certainly undesirable. And I would S I would add slavery is not just undesirable. Slavery is it's it's deplorable. No person should own another person. The commentator wrote while slavery is certainly undesirable undesirable. 4 (53m 14s): Paul goes, Paul's goals did not include restructuring social institutions. So we often wonder why didn't Paul directly attack the institution of slavery. Well, God had other goals for him. This is what I wrote. 3 (53m 30s): God's goal. Isn't always to restructure social institutions. His goal is to make disciples who will through their godliness point, people to a better way of living. And in that call some to the work of restructuring social institutions. 4 (53m 44s): Well, my thoughts go to William Wilberforce, 3 (53m 49s): William Wilberforce, as a British politician, philanthropists, and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade and native of York Shire. He began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent member of parliaments in 1785. He became an evangelical Christian, 4 (54m 9s): Which 3 (54m 9s): Resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern 4 (54m 13s): For reform. Yes, 3 (54m 17s): God is first and foremost concerned for the reform of individually 4 (54m 23s): God 3 (54m 24s): God is concerned for the reform of individuals. And he knows that the reform of culture can follow. As individuals are reformed. Paul's major concern was not restructuring social institutions. His major concern was the discipleship of 4 (54m 38s): Men and women. And 3 (54m 40s): Out of that, out of that, God would call people to reform social 4 (54m 45s): S social issues. And so 3 (54m 51s): Some of you are called to reform social injustices, and some are called to other things. And I would just ask you to figure out what you're called to Paul understood what he was called to. And he kept that in his sights, 4 (55m 6s): Listen to what he wrote 3 (55m 7s): In first Corinthians seven, seven through 24, 4 (55m 11s): He said, 3 (55m 12s): Verse 17, excuse me. He said, each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all of them 4 (55m 24s): Churches, for instance, a man who was circumcised 3 (55m 27s): Before he became a believer, should not try to reverse it. And the man who was uncircumcised when he became a believer should not be circumcised 4 (55m 35s): Now 3 (55m 37s): For it makes no difference whether or not a man has been circumcised. The important thing is that he keeps God's commandments. Yes. Each of you should remain as you were, when God called you, 4 (55m 47s): Are you a slave? Don't let that worry you. But if you get a chance to be free, take it. 3 (55m 55s): And remember, if you were a slave, when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you are free, when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ. God paid a high price for, you said, don't be enslaved by the world. Each of you, dear brothers and sisters should remain. As you were when God has called, when God first called, 4 (56m 14s): How do we follow God's word? We have 3 (56m 16s): To understand what the word says. We have to invest our heart and mind in the word, and we have to do it. We have to approach that Word word of God with humility and teachability is we rely on the power of the Holy spirit to give us the grace to follow it. Number three, we have to believe the Word that we have a master in heaven. Often. We don't believe that this is true. We're going to see this in the text. We have a master in heaven, and we have a Lord in heaven. We come to faith in Jesus. If we confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart, that God has raised him from the dead. We shall be saved. If we confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that's the first step of being saved. Confessing the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We have a master in heaven. Who's, who's telling us how to live our lives, and it's not negotiable. 3 (57m 2s): It's not a pick and choose scenario. We read the Bible, we understand it. We do what it tells us to do. That's just the way God designed the scripture for us sees everything. And he knows everything. And he's just in fare. And he's given us things to do hard things to do. These are, these are not these. This has not been an easy text to preach through. These are hard things that God asks us to do, and they require real heart change, real transformational change so that we can align our lives with his word back to Colossians. Paul wrote work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord, rather than for people. 3 (57m 48s): And so we're not in a slavery economy of slavery situation in our culture, but we all have employers. Most of us are working and we have people that we work for. So we can overlay this verse in our risk, in our responsibility to our employers, work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord often, we're like, I'm not, I'm not doing a good job because I don't like my boss as a Christian. That's not, that's not even an option as a Christian. That is not even an option. You have to work as though you're working for the Lord. Christians should be the best possible employees in a, in a workplace often. 3 (58m 33s): It's not the case though. Christians aren't having good erect. We don't have a good reputation in the workplace because sometimes we can be lazy or we, we excuse our behavior because we don't like our boss or the circumstances. Listen, we need to work as though we're working for the Lord, rather than for people remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the master you are serving as Christ. So it's not just a Sunday morning. I submit to God scenario. It's a 24 seven. I submit to God scenario. It's 24 seven. Like I always submit to God, that's the goal like the Lord I'm going to submit to you no matter what. So whoever I'm working for, I'm going to submit to that person and work for them as though I'm working for you, Lord, because you're my, you're 0 (59m 22s): My master. First one, 4 (59m 25s): If I, but if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you've done for God has no favorites. And then our last verse, Colossians four, one masters, be just and fair to your slaves. Remember that you also have a master in heaven. So there's two sides to every coin wives. You gotta submit to your husbands husbands. You have to love your wives. Following those 14 things that I talked about in first Corinthians from first Corinthians 13, 0 (1h 0m 3s): 4 (1h 0m 7s): We have this powerful responsibility and powerful opportunity to align our relationships in such a way that God has honored in such a way that divorce isn't an option divorce isn't even on the table because we're so in love with each other, that it's not even something that we would consider. It's not always easy to follow God's word, 0 (1h 0m 33s): But 4 (1h 0m 33s): If you will try to understand it and approach it with humility and teachability, while relying on the power of the Holy spirit, to give you the grace to follow, we can trust that our master in heaven will take care of all of our needs. So some of us are married to hard people. 0 (1h 0m 55s): So this stuff isn't easy. 4 (1h 0m 58s): I don't pretend that it's easy. Everything that God asks us to do requires the power of the Holy spirit at work in our lives. It's doable when we've got the power of God at work in us and with us and through us, it's doable. It's doable. All of the impossible things or the seemingly impossible things that we read in scripture are doable. When the power of the Holy Spirit's at work in our lives, all of these things are possible. All of the things that God leads us to do in his word from Genesis to revelation are doable and possible. When we rely on the power of the Holy spirit, when we're approaching the word of God with humility and teachability filled with the Holy spirit. 4 (1h 1m 40s): So maybe you're here today and you just need a fresh infilling of the Holy spirit. I'm just going to pray that over us, that we'll be freshly filled Ephesians five talks about our need to be constantly filled with the Holy spirit. Somehow we leak, I guess we leak and we need to be refilled. So I'm going to pray that the Holy spirit will fill us to overflowing so that we can have the capacity to believe God for the things that he's instructed us in his word. Does that sound good? Go ahead and stand up. And if you're here and you need a new filling of the Holy spirit, just raise your hand. I'm not gonna make you come forward, but if you're here and you just say, Lord, I pray for those whose hands are up. God my hands are up. 4 (1h 2m 23s): God I, I feel like I need it like multiple times throughout the day. I just need to be refilled. Somebody cuts me off on the freeway and I'm angry and I need to be refilled. Lord, forgive me for that. Lord does have a bad thought, Lord, forgive me for that Lord. I'm up against a hard situation. I need to be refilled with the Holy spirit. God, do you know the scenario of everybody's life here? The relationships that they're in, the problems that they're face, the difficulties that they, that they're up against Lord. I just pray that each, each person would just feel in a real, tangible it, if possible, just physically and spiritually, that we would feel your presence. 4 (1h 3m 8s): Just filling us with grace and power to do what you've asked us to do. Lord and, and belief and confidence and faith Lord in the things that you've asked us to do, believing God that ultimately it will, it will, it will be good for us Lord. So God, each of us, we, we have our hands up and we just ask God that as we stand here, prayerful Lord, that you would fill us and that's, you would continue to fill us daily as often as we need it. Lord God for the task, for the responsibilities in front of us, God help us to be great husbands and great wives and great employees. 4 (1h 3m 53s): Great employers, Lord, help us to be just incredible Lord. And as we trust you with our lives, Lord God, as we worship, help us to worship Lord in spirit and in truth. And I there's just something powerful that happens when we worship, when there's just, there's just an anointing, a filling that happens, Lord, I just pray God that you would fill us and anoint us for your good works. The good works that you've called us to today. Pray that none of us would be overwhelmed, but we just have the strength to do it. We'd have the faith to do it. So help us, Lord. We pray. Thank you for this time. Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Let's worship 1 (1h 4m 36s): was ballroom God has the with the melody, with deliverance from me. 1 (1h 11m 13s): I'm no, Lord. 1 (1h 15m 19s): It's only by some crazy miracle. It's hard for us. We receive Steve Bray. We asked for your power to walk in your ways to live. As you want us to live to love people. As you want us to look, we asked for your power this morning. We thank you. We praise you Jesus name. Amen. 1 (1h 16m 0s): Thank you guys for coming to church today for tuning in online, have a great week.

New Life Equals New Perspective

0 (1s): We got some worshipers ready in the room, man. I love it. Let's all stand together around campus. If you're able to hello to everyone who's watching from home, we welcome you. It's good to be together. Harvest Church and worship the Lord together this morning. So thanks for being with us wherever you're watching or tuning in. 1 (22s): Let's 0 (22s): Just take a moment and center our hearts on him this morning. Would you pray with me before? 1 (28s): Okay. 0 (31s): We just ask for your presence to be in our midst, or we know that when we gather in your name, you promise to come. And so we just make space for you this morning in our hearts and our homes in this place. So come and have your way. Holy spirit. 1 (49s): We welcome you. We want you need you. Let me choose to praise you this morning. Tap 0 (58s): Into the well that never runs dry. 1 (1m 2s): Meet us in 0 (1m 3s): This place this morning. We love you Lord in Jesus 1 (1m 5s): Name. Amen. 1 (1m 9s): yes. 1 (10m 19s): We just declare your praise this morning. Thank you for everything you've done for us. Thank you. That you're the guy who makes a way through the desert pathways through the sea. For us. You are here. You are here working in this place. 1 (10m 58s): you were here. 1 (11m 8s): 0 (11m 57s): I in the dark. Oh my God. 1 (12m 1s): 0 (13m 56s): I don't see it to work. And even when I don't feel it, you're working. You never stop and never stop work. And it never stopped. He never stopped. Or even when I don't see it Joburg even may not feel it again. You never stop. You never stop. You never stop in 1 (14m 23s): yes. 1 (16m 17s): That's our guy. Thank you. Jesus. Put our hope in you. God. When everything else is shifting sand, we know 0 (16m 28s): That we can depend on you. We can lean into 1 (16m 30s): You. You are our hope, our foundation. 0 (16m 40s): Thank you for your presence here. Just pray that there wouldn't be any heart. Leave this place without knowing your love, knowing your healing, knowing your reading 1 (16m 50s): Damn shit, your freedom, your mercy. Let it flow through our hearts. Today. We 0 (17m 0s): All stand in need of a savior this 1 (17m 3s): Morning. Thank you. And we 0 (17m 6s): Can receive the gift that you gave so freely. 1 (17m 11s): You don't have to jump through hoops. We just have to receive it. 0 (17m 17s): So the receive the love of the father today, 1 (17m 26s): Maybe 0 (17m 27s): Some of you this morning that just really need that word. Just receive the love of the father. 1 (17m 35s): he loves, he loves you completely 0 (17m 46s): Not because of what you've done. Just you're his sons and daughters, sons and daughters. Yes. So we do receive your lap this morning. Thank you for your presence here. We don't take it for granted. When you come and you meet with us, you speak to our hearts, that manna for today that our soul desperately needs. And we look forward to these times. We get to be together in your presence as brothers and sisters and be reminded of your faithfulness towards us. 0 (18m 31s): Amen. Amen. So good family to worship together. Let's take a few moments just to greet someone around you and say hello. We're going to be back here in just a few moments with some announcements that stick around. 2 (18m 48s): Hi. Good morning. Good morning. 0 (18m 56s): Good morning. Church 2 (18m 60s): All right. You guys are routing today. Y'all rowdy. All right. If you guys can take a seat. Hello. Church my name is Jeremy. I'm one of the pastors here and what I need is everybody to free up your hand. So two hands, give me two hands. All right. Two hands. This is, this is going to bring you back to Sunday school day. All right. Do you ans interlock your fingers like this? We go like this. Here's the church. Here's the steeple. Open the doors and you see all the people are right. So that's what we were taught, but is the, Church this, the building now the church is us. The people, this is the church. 2 (19m 41s): So I'm so glad to be joining with you guys here. Welcome if you're joining us for the first time. If you're joining us in person or sorry, online, we're glad to have you as well, but this is the Church. I'm gonna pull the scout. Oh, that's loud. Sorry. We we're just glad that you're joining us here. If you're joining us for the first time, we have a gift for you just to go swing by the info station and grab your gifts and yeah. Fill out info cards so we can learn more about you, find out your story and get connected in that way. Hope we're glad you're here and glad you joined us. So we have a, we have a website as well as a app for your phone. 2 (20m 21s): So those are just other ways to get connected and plugged in. We have a celebration of life for Dave Fletcher. Dave Fletcher passed away earlier this year. The COVID times have been really strange. So we're, we're going to finally have a celebration of life coming up here, November 7th at 1:00 PM. And that will be here at Church and all are welcome for that as well. There there'll be a reception to follow on the patio. So come celebrate Dave Fletcher and his Life. Another way to serve is, is our Thanksgiving food basket collection. We are gathering up Christmas or, sorry, not Christmas. Not yet. We're gonna have Thanksgiving dinners for those in our community that are in need. 2 (21m 4s): And so th we're collection items kind of a specific list. So that's sent out in the weekly email as well as you can get that information on at the info station, but there's some specific items that we're looking for. You can pick up that there and donations. We're trying to collect them by November 15th, so you can drop those off at the info center or at the Church office. And then, you know, Jesus talk a lot about leadership, but specifically servant leadership. The greatest way to lead was to be a servant leader. And so there's some awesome ways to plug in and to serve in the life of our church. A few of those are the welcome team, cleaning team, kids, ministry team, as well as safety team. So those are some ways to plug in, to get connected to our church, as well as we are going to be starting up some Life groups in January. 2 (21m 52s): And so if you're interested in hosting at your house, a Life group, it's a great way to serve others, go to the info station and sign up for that as well. With that, I want to invite up Sherrilyn she's going to come and announce the sisterhood night of worship. 0 (22m 8s): Thank you, Jeremy. Awesome. So I just have a special invite for all the ladies in the house. We're going to have a special gathering called the sisterhood night of worship, and we're going to be doing some sisterhood nights, hopefully quarterly coming up this fall and then through the new year. And we just like it to be all generations kind of gathering together. So we're inviting gals from grade school to grandma's and everything in between. And we just want to rub shoulders together as young women and older women. And when we can all learn from each other, come here in the sanctuary Friday night, November 13th at 6:30 PM. And we're going to gather and worship, hear a testimony, kind of get vision cast for the new year together as Harvest women. And then we're going to have an after party in the Life. 0 (22m 49s): There's going to be lots of fun. There's gonna be door prizes and all kinds of things. They're not gonna wanna miss it. So you can RSVP to just help us out, go to the website, AIG harvest.org/sisterhood. And you can find us there. Some of you might've got a card on the way in, if you didn't stop by the info center and you can get a little invite card or even grab extras to hand out to your friends, be sure to pass it on and invite all your neighbors and friends. Can't wait to see you there. 3 (23m 17s): Chapter three today, turn to Colossus chapter three. As you came in today, you probably notice that the property is torn up and have we got, we got plumbing issues galore. We had a person from the city come and talk to us about 10 days ago. And they said, Hey, you're blowing through thousands of gallons of water and we need to turn off your water. So we had the water turned off and we got a leak detection company out there. And they literally, they were able to detect the leak and draw a square on the black top about the size of this podium. And they said, that's where your leak is. And so we got a plumber out there and he cut into the black top and sure enough, our water main is busted as well as our sewage drain. 3 (24m 1s): So sewage main is busted as well. So we're the process of getting that fixed. And so hopefully we'll get that done and get the bathrooms reopened and get water back on. And we're at we're out of coffee because we had to have coffee made outside of the area outside of our church. And so we're running into all kinds of snags and they were having technical difficulties on top of that, but that's all right, we're going to get through the day by God's grace. And by next week, I think the bathrooms are going to be open. We're going to have plenty of coffee and the words to the, to the songs are going to be up on the screen. Does that sound good? Gotta deal. Okay. Sounds good. That'll be the plan before we turn into cautious chapter three, you've got a couple of jokes for you. You guys ready for a couple of jokes here? I've got a short one and another short one. 3 (24m 42s): Did you hear that the Energizer bunny got arrested? He was charged with battery. 4 (24m 51s): So that 3 (24m 51s): Came from Emily, a little young gal, about 10 or 12 years old and our Church. And so she gets five bucks. Cause I said last week that if you give me a joke that I use, that I actually use on Sunday morning, I'll give you five bucks. So somebody told me a pretty bad joke after first service that I will not be using. So that person will not be getting five bucks. So that five bucks is not guaranteed, but one more joke. And this also came from somebody in our church. Did you hear that Washington DC was so cold yesterday that we actually saw a politician with his hands in his own pockets. 4 (25m 25s): So I know it's, it's, it's the season. It's the season to vote. 3 (25m 34s): That actually came from my wife so that she gets five bucks. 4 (25m 39s): Yeah. So it is 3 (25m 42s): The time devotes. Probably a lot of us have already voted, but get out there and vote by Tuesday, November 3rd. And then we'll just trust the Lord for the outcome. It it's. We can trust the Lord. Amen. No matter what happens on Tuesday and following, we can trust the Lord Colossians chapter three, the title of the message today. New Life, Equals New Perspective how many could use a Perspective shift in the course of their life? Like, like we need a new set of lenses from time to time. I know when I started wearing glasses, I was so like I realized I couldn't see before and I get new glasses on and I'm like, wow, I can actually, I can actually see. And anytime I have to go back to the doctor and get new lenses, I'm always surprised at how bad my vision has gotten with those old set of glasses. 3 (26m 27s): We just need a new set of lenses from time to time to see things with crystal clarity, American pastor Rick Warren said he used to think that life was a series of battles. Life was a series of battles followed by times of blessings. That makes sense. But he's come to realize that Life is actually on two tracks. One track is blessing and the, the other is battle and they run concurrently blessings and battles run concurrently. We, we endure both. We put up with both by God's grace. And as we look at the scripture today, God's going to challenge us. 3 (27m 7s): And as we look at our lives today, God is going to challenge us. And the challenge is too find the blessing in the midst of the battle. I was just talking with somebody after first service and we've got a couple in our church. You've got a downs boy who they've who's about 25 now. And, and it is a 24 seven job. And as I thought about that, I thought, where do you find the blessing in that battle? Right? I mean, it's just a tough, tough life to be true on 24 seven caring for precious, a young man with down syndrome. But I know this couple well enough. If I were to ask them that question, they would say there's been blessings upon blessings upon blessings because of God's faithfulness over these last 25 years. 3 (27m 51s): And I think that's, that's true of all of us. We can all point to seasons of our lives, where things have been just really difficult, but God, but God has been faithful to show himself strong on our behalf. Yeah. Faithful to meet our needs in time of need. He's been faithful to you be there when we've absolutely desperately needed him to be there. Blessings and battles run concurrently. Your life can be filled with blessings, but the battles don't let up. We need a new Perspective. We need a new perspective. New life in Christ. Equals New Perspective it means this means that as, as a born again, person, you have the CA to see life through a new lens. 3 (28m 34s): And so I just really want you to do that today and begin to do that today. And then if you are having a hard time doing that, just ask the Lord, say, God, I need a new lens. I need a new perspective because Life right now is, is challenging. Some things have come up that have been unexpected things. Haven't worked out quite the way that I thought they would work out. I need a break. New Perspective the battles may come, but your life in Christ is born. Do you guys believe that? Do you believe that? If you're not, if you're not a Christian here today, I just want to make that promise to you that when the battles CA, when you're in Christ, your life is blessed. God will bless your life. He will take care of you, right? We may face battles, but God is with you with us. 3 (29m 16s): We may go through hard times, but God is faithful times may be lean financially, but I love what King David said. He said, I've been young and now I'm old now, but I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread. He has seen the faithfulness of God. So you can have that same confidence that King David had thousands of years ago. He saw the faithfulness of God. Then we can see the faithfulness of God now because Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And so he's reliable forever and ever a man New Life Equals New Perspective Colossians chapter three, verse one says this since you have been raised to new life with Christ, how many of you that you've been raised to new life with Christ since you had been raised to new life with Christ sets your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. 3 (30m 9s): So we've been raised to new life. How have we been raised to new life in Christ? Well, we can go back to Colossus chapter two, verses 12 and 13. And it helps us to understand how we've been raised to new life in Christ. This is what Clausius chapter two verses 12 and 13 says for you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. So baptism is a picture of being buried with Christ and with him, you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because of your sinful nature was not yet cut away. We talked last week about spiritual circumcision, the cutting away of our carnal nature. That's what we talked about last week and go back and listen to that message for you were buried with Christ when you were baptized and with him, you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised him from the dead. 3 (30m 57s): You were dead, spiritually, dead, separated from God. You were spiritually dead because of your sins because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ for he forgave all your sins that should in itself lift a burden off of us. The fact that our sins have been completely forgiven, that everything that we've ever done wrong has been eliminated from our record. He has expunged our record. He has forgiven all of our sins in Christ. You have been buried with him in baptism and raised to new life because you trusted him. God made you alive with Christ. When he forgave your sins, we read in Romans six, five through 10. 3 (31m 39s): It says this. Since we've been United with him in his death, you will also be raised to life as he is. We know that our old sinful cells were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. Some of us need to hear that we feel at times like we are slaves to the bad things that we do, but God has declared that if we're in Christ, we're no longer slaves to sin. That means we've had this spiritual circumcision. Our carnal nature has been cut out of us and that we, we have the power, like God, over God's power in us to overcome sin and to stand firm in him as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. 3 (32m 21s): For when we died with Christ, we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die. Again. Death, no longer has any power over him. Verse 10, when he died, died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus, same N your new life is actually hidden, encapsulated in Christ. When the father looks at you, he sees you the righteousness of God. 3 (33m 2s): He sees the purity of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He sees us that our sins are forgiven and that we've been adopted into the family of God. And that we're blameless before him because, because God is good. Not because we're good. Your new life is hidden in Christ. Your new identity is Christ. Some of us need to hear that. I needed to hear that this week is because I was kind of evaluating my life and thinking about things that I didn't get done or haven't gotten done yet. I thought, man, if I failed in these areas of my life, are there some things I want to see happen in my life in ministry? If I failed in these areas and I started to feel bad about these things, and I realized, well, I asked myself the question, why do I feel so bad about these areas, these things? 3 (33m 44s): And I thought, well, because my identity is wrapped up. My identity is wrapped up in these things and instead of Christ. So I realized that I needed to confess that repent of that and make sure that my identity is found in Christ so that it doesn't matter how big the church is or how small the church is. It doesn't matter what problems we come up against in a family and our family doesn't matter what our kids go through. It doesn't matter. What, what things look like on the outside. My identity is in Christ. And with that, I have great confidence. Amen. You know, all, all kinds of things can become our identity. Our past failures, past mistakes, past, past, it's usually things in the past, things that happened in our past, they become our identity. 3 (34m 27s): They begin to define us. If we're not careful, let the crucifixion of Christ define you, let the power of the resurrected savior. Define you. Let the reality that he is forgiven your sins, define you. That let the reality that you've been adopted into his family and that you are loved just the way you are. Let that define who you are as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And then when you do that, everything else just begins to fade. Oh way, your sins are forgiven because of price. And your new life is hidden in, in Christ. I want this new identity to penetrate your body, soul, and spirit. That means your total being Bible says that we're body, soul, and spirit. 3 (35m 7s): So this new identity needs to penetrate needs to, we need to be convinced on every level that this is our new identity. Colossians three, two says that that our thoughts should actually change as a result of this new life, this new identity, Colossians three, two says this. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. Think about the things that haven't not the things of earth. So the things of heaven are, are good. And they're eternal. You think about the joy that heaven's going to be the peace that heaven's going to be. Think about health in heaven. There's not going to be any sickness in heaven. 3 (35m 47s): So thinking about the eternal things in heaven, things on earth are temporal. Anxiety is temporal. War is temporal. Sickness is temporal. Think about w w when we think about, when we think only about this, Life, we're left with fear. But when we think about the reality of heaven, we have confidence. When I think about heaven in light of all of the challenges that we go through on, on, in this life, I think God is on the throne. God is on the throne. Matter what happens on Tuesday, who's still on the throne, got us all on the throne. So we, we, we vote our conscience, hopefully according to biblical our biblical awareness and instruction. 3 (36m 32s): But at the end of the day, we can believe that God is on the throne. We can believe that God has overcome, that he has defeated the enemy. Verse three, Colossians three says for you died to this life and your real life is hidden with Christ in God, your real life. Sometimes we can't get past this ex this current Life. We think this is the a real thing. Listen, this is a brief time. These 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, a hundred years that we get here in the earth, whatever they may be. They are a little line in the long line of eternity. Think about eternity. It never ends. And so this brief time that we have on the earth, the thing that we feel is so real is actually not as real as eternity. 3 (37m 17s): And so what we do in this life echoes into eternity. What we do in this life impacts eternity, and that people are saved or not based on how we've lived our lives. We receive rewards or not based on how we live our lives here on the earth. We're saved by grace, but God has given us responsibility, sees our gifts and our talents much like Jeremy was talking about using our gifts and talents for his kingdom purposes. For you died to this life in your real life. Your real life is hidden with Christ in God, maybe as you're going through difficult times, you can say, Lord, I, I feel like I'm way too caught up in this life, in this little slice that I'm living right now. 3 (37m 57s): Lord, give me a kingdom perspective and eternal perspective and help me to think about eternity and how, how my life right now can impact eternity can impact somebody else's eternity can impact somebody else's life. And Lord help me to live there in that place for you died to this life and your real life is hidden with Christ in God, where all your sins are forgiven, where you have eternal life. That again, this Life is only temporal, a better life, awaits you. One commentator wrote the word hidden that our life is hidden in Christ. The word hidden implies both concealment and safety, both in visibility and security. You're not glorified yet, but you're safe and secure in Christ. 3 (38m 39s): The Bible says we're going to be glorified with him. What, when, when will we be glorified? Well, when Christ appears after rapture, believers will appear with him and be glorified. We read about that in a first Thessalonians four chapter chapter four verses 16 through 18. It says this for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shouts. Isn't not going to be a good day with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up, caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 3 (39m 19s): Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words. Listen, when that happens, everything that we've gone through here in the earth will pale. It's going to be like, that was no big deal. He is suffering difficulty. It all pales in comparison to what will happen when we are raptured and caught up with the Lord in the sky, black back to Colossians three, verse four, it says. And when Christ, who is your life is revealed 5 (39m 44s): The whole world you will share in all his glory. 3 (39m 48s): New Life, Equals, New Perspective 5 (39m 52s): Number one in our notes. Number one we need, 3 (39m 55s): Yeah. Think about the things of heaven. More than the things 5 (39m 59s): Of the earth easier said than done, right? 3 (40m 5s): We need to think about the things of heaven, more than the things of earth, not easy, but doable. What's most naturally consumes our thoughts in this life. What most naturally, like when we're just not like in a spiritual place, but we're just in this normal place that's maybe carnal or whatever. What, what most naturally consumes our thoughts in this Life I wrote down a few things, 5 (40m 26s): Fear, fear just naturally wants to creep in right at every turn 3 (40m 31s): There's fear that wants to creep in, and then there's anxiety. And then there's the future. That's my list. Those are the things that naturally want to creep in when I'm not on guard. How about, how about yours? What's what's your list, as you think about that, let's work off my list because I think it probably has a lot to do with your list. Most what most consumes my thoughts when I'm in a bad place, will fear, fear about what fear about money. Anybody have thoughts about that fear about the Church fear about family, and then there's anxiety over decisions, uncertainties the unknown. Then there's the future retirement finishing. Well, et cetera. We've got all of these fears and anxieties about the unknown and the future is a big part of that retirement finishing well, et cetera. 3 (41m 17s): I've realized that most of these things I can do very little about, I can do very little about most of these things when I'm in a good place spiritually, when I'm got my mind fixed on Christ. And I'm thinking more about heaven than I'm thinking about the earth, what most consumes my thoughts then? Well, what most consumes my thoughts when I'm in a good place is, Hey, I'm going to heaven. So everything else pales in comparison to that, I'm going to heaven. And I want to take as many people with me as possible. So that's why I do what I do. I want to go to heaven and take as many people with me as possible. But at the end of the day, when my head's in a good place and when my heart's in the right place with the Lord, I know that God will take care of all my needs. 3 (41m 58s): Right. I know that God loves me. And I know that God knows all things. We were, we got that cough or the visit from the city. And then we had the plumber come out and he said, the plumber said, you know, it can be 50 or $60,000 to fix this problem that you have, have I said, okay. And I just said, well, let's just, you know, kind of continue to explore and see if that's really the case. So I really, I, I was, I was in, I was surprised by my lack of anxiety around that, because what I've seen with the Lord over the, over these last 17 years at the church, almost 18 years of the church has been going in the last 40 years that I've been walking with the Lord in the last 30 years of marriage and raising family. 3 (42m 44s): I've always seen the faithfulness of the Lord. Not because I'm good, but because he's good, he's just faithful with his family, with his people. And so as we hear this, we're like, wow, that's a lot of money, but if that's what it's going to cost, and that's what it's going to cost, and we'll be able to take care of that. And that's just the B it'll be what it'll be. We'll just trust the Lord. Right? So we just, the plumbers, who's a Christian. He said, why don't you pray and ask the Lord to make this not so bad. And, and we'll just see what the Lord does tomorrow when we re-investigate this whole thing. So we came back to the next day and I get here and they've been working for about 30 minutes. By the time I get here. And he said, you know what? You must have been praying all that long because now it's not going to be 50 or $60,000. It's only gonna be about a $10,000 bill right now. 3 (43m 26s): If you were to hit me with $10,000 in the beginning, it would've been like, wow, that's a lot of money. But when you can, when you're thinking about comparing it to 50 or $60,000, it's not that big of a deal. Right. That's Robin probably why he did it. Yeah. And so now we're just like, okay, we're going to get a whole new water line. New new sewage. It's all going to be good for the next foreseeable future. And it's only going to cost us $10,000. Now we'll probably have a $10,000 water bill as well, because we were going through thousands and thousands and thousands of gallons of water, the water, we were wondering where the water was going, because nothing was bubbling up. Nothing was surfacing. We didn't have any wet spots or anything. So we realized that the water main was lost it right next to the sewer main bust. 3 (44m 9s): And so all of the water from the water main was going right into the sewer. Yeah. And then interesting. So we, we, could've had a lot more damage if water was coming up and causing flooding and buildings or wherever, but even in, in, in that we could see the hand of the Lord protecting us. It's not going to be 50 or $60,000. It's going to be about 10,000 plus maybe another 10,000 water bill. But, but God has been faithful. I told that to Ron. And he said, well, thank God. We've got some extra money right now. We can take care of that. And we just, we, we, when we've got an eternal heavens heavenly Perspective, we can trust God for whatever goes sideways in our lives. 3 (44m 50s): We, we can believe God for what he wants to do in our lives. So when my head's in the right place and when I'm trusting the Lord, I know that God will take care of all of my needs. I know that God loves me. Isn't that good news. God loves me. He need to say that because it's true of you as well. God loves me. God loves me. That's an important thing. And God knows the result. The first list, fear, anxiety, the unknown of the future brings heartburn. Right? When I think about those things, it just gives me heartburn. 3 (45m 32s): And the results of the second list brings peace. The Shalom of God. So we have to intentionally change our thinking. We have to intentionally change our perspective. The reality of the new life needs to impact our body, soul, and spirit. The reality of our new identity in Christ needs to impact our total being so that we were thinking differently about the problems that we face. The obstacles that are before us, our whole being should be different as a result of our new life, our new identity in Christ. So again, we have to intentionally change our thinking so that we are thinking more about heaven than this earth. What might change if we're thinking more about heaven than the earth? 3 (46m 13s): Well, again, peace instead of heartburn, I could use some of that. Amen. We could all use some of that. We'll probably spend our time differently. Maybe not work as much because we're not so anxious about the future anxious about resources. So maybe we don't work as much. And we spend more time in kingdom work, mission strips ministry in the church ministry to our neighbors, et cetera. Maybe we use our talents differently. We use our talents to instead of, to work and make money or to serve our own personal needs. We use our talents to serve God, to help others and to help and to help serve others. We'll probably use our resources differently as well, helping others giving to the work of the ministry and the church or missions or food pantries or the homeless, et cetera. 3 (46m 59s): We have a food pantry here. And I was just curious, what was going on during this whole pandemic? What are we doing? Are we still actively serving people? And we've had conversations about that. And just out of the blue, I ran into the people who are doing the food pantry at our church. And I asked him, I said, can you just give me a list? Because they were talking about some of the stuff they were doing. I say, can you just give me a list of all of the things that we're doing as a food pantry ministry? So I wanted to talk about this because in a time when we could be hunkered down and fearful and staying away from people, this is stretching outside their boundaries and actually serving a lot of people in their time of need. So this is what they wrote. 5 (47m 37s): I said, just bullet pointed. So bold 3 (47m 39s): Bullet point it for me so that I can know what we're doing. And so I can share it with the Church. So this is why they said we're picking up food and delivering it to over a hundred people, weekly, a hundred people, weekly families and elderly up from 15 in the last six weeks. So they've gone. CA maybe six weeks ago, they were doing this with 15 people. Now they're up to over a hundred people. They're providing food for a captive hearts ministries. When they have access, they're collecting canned goods and 25 turkeys to hand out to current families and households that we support weekly. We're partnering with the foster youth program to support foster families with food for Thanksgiving alongside. 3 (48m 20s): And I love this part alongside with grace Bible and the salvation army. So grace Bible and AIG Harvest Church and salvation army, or I'll call elaborating working together. Why? Because we're all one, Church no matter where we meet we're all the body of Christ. And so we're collaborating, working together to meet the needs of those in our community. We continue to feed Church members who call an advance or show up on Thursdays. And then they said, we will be collect. We will be collecting funds and handing out gift cards on November 21st at grace Bible to the foster families who sign up for the holiday program, the event will be advertised on KSB Y and the foster youth website. 3 (49m 0s): And thanks to our sponsors, including Harvest Church in the village. So we get to help sponsor all of that good work, because people are using their resources, their time, talent, and treasure to step outside of their fearful little bubbles, maybe that they're in and say, Hey, we want, we know that there's people in need, and we need to serve those people in need, blessings and battles, run concurrently. 5 (49m 23s): Instead 3 (49m 23s): Of hunkering down, there are people who are really working to serve the needs of the people around them. I wonder how that might be speaking to us as a church. I mean, we're part of that, but in our own sphere, in our own neighborhoods, I wonder if there are people that God would ask us to serve the COVID battle is real, but so was the opportunity to bless others during this time. New Life, Equals, New Perspective number one. We need you to think about the things of heaven, more than the things of the earth. What does God want from you during this time, during this COVID time, some of us are using it as an excuse to stay home from church and stay home from other important responsibilities. 3 (50m 4s): And, and God's wanting to kind of change our perspective. He's wanting to kind of change our lens and help us to see that there are things that we can be doing to be a blessing. Even during this time, I promise whatever God asks of you. It will be followed by blessings. Anytime we're obedient, obedient to the Lord, there's a blessing that follows, but we have to battle through some stuff to get to the blessing. So put to death, the sinful earthly things lurking within your, in verse five. So put to death, the sinful earthly things lurking within you. What are those sinful earthly things? Lurking. I just wrote down fear and faithlessness. Anything of the flesh. 3 (50m 44s): We need to put those things to death. And then verse five continues. Having nothing, have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy for a greedy person is an idolater worshiping the things of this world. And I'll just say, if God doesn't have access to your money, then money might be your God and you can't serve God and money. So if you're hunkered down, holding onto all of your resources, because you're fearful, you can trust the Lord, give where the Lord asks you to give, give faithfully and watch what God will do to bless your life. There are people around you who will be blessed by your generosity. 3 (51m 25s): Amen. Amen. I don't get a lot of amens when I start talking about money, but I talk about it anyway. From time to time, verse six says because of the, he sends the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when you're lying. Life was still part of this world, but now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Wow, it's a pretty good list. Now is the time to get rid of anger. We live in a pretty angry culture. Don't we there's so much divisiveness, so much division, and we need to work against that, right? The culture of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, dirty language. 3 (52m 9s): We need to, we need to work against that by reflecting properly, the person and work of the Lord. Jesus Christ. If you're angry, don't, don't stay angry. Ask the Lord, why am I so angry? Especially in political times, like we're in, we can be so angry at people who disagree with us or people who are doing things that we don't understand. And all it does is take up, take up heart space and cause us to be hard-hearted and, and in a bad place spiritually. So if you're angry, ask the Lord to help you to forgive. Now is the time to get rid of it. Anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. 3 (52m 51s): Don't lie to each other. Verse nine says for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. And so it says, put on your new nature and be renewed. As you learn to know your creator and become like him. You've got so like waking up in the morning, you're just, you're deciding to go to your closet. You say, I'm going to put on this pair of pants in, and I'm going to put on this shirt, I'm going to wear these socks and these shoes, and this is what I'm going to wear for the day. I would encourage you instead of doing that well, you got to do that because you know, you don't want to go out undressed. So figure out what you're going to wear, but also decide to put on the righteousness, God, put on that New nature that God would have you to put on, make it a conscious decision. 3 (53m 31s): Like you do the wardrobe that you wear for the day where the stuff that God would have you to wear, put on your new nature, have a fresh perspective and see what the Lord will do. Be renewed. As you learn to know your creator and become like him in this new life. It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or Gentile, circumcised, or uncircumcised, barbarian, uncivilized slave, or free Christ is all that matters. And he lives in all of us. I've often said the church is about the only place where people of diverse backgrounds, well, maybe the Church and a bar can people can come together in diverse from diverse backgrounds and find friendship and find a community. 3 (54m 15s): I've told the story about the ex-con and his friendship, where they retired prison warden, but I've never told this story. I don't think I had a friend decades back and his name was Danny Barabis. And some of you remember Danny Barabis from days gone by with Danny was on the FBI's top 10 wanted list. Did you know that he was a felon in deep trouble with the FBI? He was on the FBI's top 10 wanted lists, but something happened with, with Danny brevis and he gave his life to the Lord. And, and Danny's life was radically transformed, such that when you knew him in Church after his is conversion, you didn't never, yeah, it never was suspect that Danny was on the top 10 FBI wanted list. 3 (54m 59s): He was such a tender tender, man. He loved people. He loved serving people. He cared about people. You'd see him. And yeah, you always want to give you a big hug and he'd show up. And he was in his suit and all dressed up and ready for church. And he was just ready to encounter the living. God. He had been transformed by the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He had a new garment of praise, garment of praise, garment of beauty that he wore in his life. Danny was the most meek humble and kind man that she had meat. And when I went to his Memorial service and the place was packed, it was filled with people who were going to miss this man of God. 3 (55m 41s): Danny had been transformed. And this man who was once on the FBI's top 10 wants list was now good friends with law enforcement officers throughout the church and throughout the community. Why? Because new life brings new perspective. New life brings new purpose. And this was going on in his life. We need to think about the things of heaven, more than the things of the earth. Number two, we need to look like we belong to God. Danny brevis looked like he belonged to God. His life was completely changed and that's what God desires for each of us. And I see God doing that in a lot of our lives. Our lives are being transformed by the grace of God. First 12 sense, God verse 12 says, since God chose you to be the Holy people, he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted, mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 3 (56m 34s): We need to look like we belong to God, make allowance for each other's faults and forgive anyone who offends. You remember the Lord forgave you. So you must forgive 5 (56m 45s): Others. There's a class going 3 (56m 47s): On right now. And the Church office has called 70 times seven. And it's all about forgiveness. And it's a very difficult class, right? Because it's like a time to mine, your heart, to investigate your heart and to see if there's any unforgiveness there so that God can restore you to a place where you're able to forgive the person or people that you have bitterness toward unforgiveness toward. It's a wonderful opportunity to learn, to be like God, to begin to look like God. When you're able to forgive those who have offended you, when you're able to forgive those who have hurt you intentionally or otherwise, it's a great opportunity to begin to look like God. 3 (57m 29s): When we choose to forgive those who have offended us, we need to look like we belong to God. Number two, number three, we need to live with a God-sized peace and gratitude. And that is 5 (57m 42s): Totally possible. Living 3 (57m 44s): With a God-sized peace and gratitude. Verse 15 says this and let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts for as members of one body, you are called to live in peace and always be thankful, peace and gratitude. Let the message about Christ in all its richness, fill your lives with peace and thankfulness, with peace and gratitude, teach and counsel each other. With all the wisdom he gives, seeing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. When we sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, our lives will be filled with peace. 3 (58m 27s): Our lives will be filled with thankfulness and gratitude and whatever you do or say, especially in the midst of the battle, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ giving. Thanks through him to God, the father and trust this, that blessings will flow. New Life Equals New Perspective God's word reveals that to us. And I want to pray that as we wrap this up, that our new life in Christ would be filled with God-sized peace and gratitude that we, as the body of Christ would begin to look more 5 (58m 58s): And more. We continue to look more and more 3 (59m 0s): Look like God, and that we would think about things of heaven, more than the things of the earth. And so with that, let's go ahead and pray and invite the worship team forward. 5 (59m 8s): Lord, thank you for your word. 3 (59m 10s): Thank you that your spirit speaks to us through your word and I pray and thank you God that you confront our humanness, our sinfulness, God, you confront our lives so that we might be redeemed and think differently and have a different perspective, a new perspective, a born again. Perspective Lord. I pray that each of us, God, we think differently. I pray that we would look more and more like you in our daily lives. God, I pray that we'd be filled with peace and gratitude. And then when we're struggling with peace and gratitude, God that we would start to sing. Psalms Lord hymns and spiritual songs for your glorious purposes. God that we might have our perspective shifted and changed. 3 (59m 51s): Lord. So thank you for what you're doing with us and innocent through us. We love you Lord. And as we sing, whether we've got words on the screen or not, God help us to sing with all of our hearts as much as possible, or we love you. And we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go and stand up. 1 (1h 0m 48s): great. 1 (1h 5m 16s): Is your faith today, yesterday? 1 (1h 6m 46s): Yeah. Let's just still our hearts for just a moment. Maybe even close your eyes. If you need to, to just kind of tune out the noise and tune into his heart, his voice need to be reminded that he's the guy and he can move mountains for you. I mean, there's an area of your life. Are you trying out for breakthrough? You feel discouraged, man. I felt the Lord just wants to just stir you this morning. Just with hope. 1 (1h 7m 19s): smooth songs of praise do you shake? 1 (1h 7m 37s): good to see you, mate. 1 (1h 8m 29s): you made you songs to shape wrong. 1 (1h 10m 39s): 0 (1h 11m 31s): Love you. Thank you for your presence here with us today. Then as we head into this election week, may you be the rock we stand upon? And we put our hope in Jesus, God, we don't put our hope in the outcome of the election. We hope in Jesus. So just let that be our private suite. Let me look to you. We trust you. We lean into you. Just give us peace in the midst of the storm and certainty garbage. You are aware of every circumstance and you're always in control. We love you Jesus, and mean to you, pray for your will to be done and your kingdom in Jesus name. 0 (1h 12m 15s): Amen. Amen. Whew. Awesome guys. Well, we just want to make sure you always know there's someone here to pray with you. If you have any needs, please feel free to come forward and there'll be some folks to meet you. Other than that, have a wonderful Sunday, enjoy the beautiful day and we'll see you next week. Have a great one.

Christianity 101

0 (2s): Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome. We're glad you're here with us. It's a little damp and gloomy out there, but I think it's going to clear up and be a pretty day. So I'm excited to lead with you guys again here. It's been a little while, so Sherilyn and doing everything. So it's fun to be back up here. If you guys could stand with this, maybe up on the patio, we welcome you and the loft online. We're going to get a chance to worship with you. And I'm excited about that. So let me pray for us. We'll get started. Oh Lord God. It is such a special time. When we gather as a church here on Sunday, Lord, we're just here together, Lord, for a purpose to receive from you, Lord. 0 (47s): And we're going to give you praise first Lord. We're going to usher you in this place. We're going to sing these songs Lord, with everything that we have. We just want your presence take over the whole campus. Lord, the children's classrooms everywhere. Just leave. No doubt that you're here with us today, Lord. So bless this time. It's in your name. We pray. Amen. 1 (1m 15s): present system thank you, Lord. 1 (16m 36s): That you are faithful. We put our hope in you this morning. God, we pray that you would just be here in our midst. Just touching every heart healing. Every body just calming every anxiety. Your perfect love. Just cast out for you this morning. Let me just center our hearts, our affection or attention on Jesus today to give us ears, to hear you and eyes, to see you hearts of wide enough to receive all that you have for us. We pray this in Jesus beautiful name. Amen you man. So good. 1 (17m 16s): Church to be together. We're going to continue just to worship by saying hello to each other. So high fives, handshakes, whatever you feel comfortable with. Say hello to someone way back in a few minutes with some announcements, 3 (17m 30s): Right? Good morning. Harvest Church Hey, nice shirt Perry. Thanks. Good morning. Harvest Church so glad to be here with y'all. Hey, I'm Jeremy. I'm one of the pastors here and I just got a few announcements for us two minutes. That's it. I'll try. 4 (17m 51s): All right, so, Hey, welcome. If you're, if you're new here, if you're joining us online, want to say a big welcome to you. We'd love for you to stop by the info center. Get plugged in, fill out a communication card. Just find out what's going on here at Church next. We have a exciting, so next week 9:00 AM service. We'll start our kids classes again from birth to kindergarten we'll resume. Next week 9:00 AM service as well as 11. O'clock our full youth program, fifth grade, sixth grade youth, junior high and high school. All that will be next week as well. And don't forget, next week is time change Sunday. 2 (18m 30s): Oh, 4 (18m 33s): You get an, Oh, you get an hour. So it's good. Okay. Okay. All right, so, so it's good. Next next week you might be early or late, depending on when you come. So there's a, another way, a new way to connect with us. If you have an iPhone or Android device, we have Harvest app and there's a new button on there, a new link and it's called connect and that's on our website as well. And that's just a way to connect with us, to give us some prayer requests, sign up for classes or events, volunteer, all that stuff. That's all found on the connect link. And then lastly, we have a Thanksgiving food basket collection that we're starting. The Wiki weekly email update gives a list of items that they're looking for, that they're hoping for. 4 (19m 15s): And you can pick that up at the info center or look for it on the updates and donations are needed by November 15th. So those will be available. Now we get to watch the baptism video from last week. So if you, if you missed it, here's a sweet recap, Kristen, amazing job editing it all, put it together. And I think you're gonna be blessed. It was a great, great day. So here we go. 2 (19m 42s): we, that shoes shoes. 6 (23m 53s): I've said this before. Some of the, some of the best ministry happens when I'm not in town. So I wasn't there. I didn't get a chance to be a part of it, but I'm watching it. So this is the first time I've seen. I got a chance to see what was going on. And we baptized, I think 15 people had a couple hundred people out to, to watch and participate in worship and really, really powerful stuff. So it's, it's hard to, hard to top that, but we're going to be in a Colossus chapter two today. So go ahead and turn there and welcome. I'm I'm back after being gone for a couple of weeks. It is great. It is really great to, to go on vacation, but then it's always just so wonderful to be back. And so I've missed you guys. I love you. 6 (24m 33s): And I'm really grateful to be back here at Harvest Church. Thank you, brother. Appreciate that very much. We're going to be in Colossus chapter two, verses 11 through 23 today. Quick joke. You guys ready for a joke. I kind of made this one up. I should have told you that after the fact, but I kind of made it up. So there's three, three guys stranded on a desert, a deserted Island kind of know where this is going, where these guys are out there for quite a while and they come upon this genie's lamp and they find this genie's lamp. And they're so excited because they're rubbing on this thing and this genie comes out and he's offering to give each of these men one wish. And they're, they're very excited. 6 (25m 13s): The first guy's a doctor, he's missing home. He has got patients who need his attention. He's been out there for a long time and he said, Hey, I've got, I got stuff to do. I got to get home. My, I wish that I would get off this Island and get back to my practice. Boom, he's gone next. Guy's a college professor. And he's like, Hey man, I've got we're mid mid-semester. I'm right in the middle of my duties. As a professor, I need to get back to my students. My wish is that I would get off of this Island and get back to the college campus. Boom, he's gone. The next guy's retired. And he's got enjoying his time on this deserted Island. 6 (25m 54s): And he realizes as his buddies go get, you know, get exported off the Island that he kinda misses them. And so he says, Hey, can you bring those guys back? That's pretty good. Huh? All right. Good, good, good. I'll go back to my other source for jokes. Hey, we've titled the passage today. Christianity one Oh one. It's funny. Cause I titled this message on Thursday, on my prep day. And then on Thursday afternoon, I'm listening to another message. And that guy titled his message. Christianity one Oh one. So we're onto something here. Something's going on. So totally different contexts, totally different points and totally different texts. But there's something important about going back to the basics of our faith. 6 (26m 39s): The basics are important in any, any field, whether it be sports or business. The basics are very, very important. I remember when I was training to run long distances, there were a few things that absolutely had to happen in order for me to effectively run a long race. I had to eat right the day before had to get plenty of sleep. I had to hydrate. And then I had to pace myself. Those things absolutely needed to happen. I remember one race. I was scheduled to run a marathon and it, the schedule of the marathon was I had something else come up and I was going to be traveling on that day of the marathon. So I said, I called my son, Curtis. I said, Hey, would you just pace me? I'm going to go out and run this mayor. 6 (27m 19s): I've been training. I, I need to go run this marathon. So I said, would you ride a bike and just pace me and make sure I've got, you know, hydration and that sort of thing. And, and so he did. And so I run, I get up to S from Oceana and get up to San Louis and I'm on my way back. And by all 18, I have to use the restroom. You know, it's a long you're drinking the whole time and you're trying to stay hydrated. So I stop in Avalon beach to use the restroom. And when I started to run again, I cramped up so bad. I couldn't run the rest of the race. So it was, it was a bit heartbreaking and I never went back and finished a full marathon, but I, I walked the rest of the way and finished it that way. 6 (28m 0s): But there was something broke down in my training. Something broke down in my preparation. I wasn't able to finish 7 (28m 7s): The race. We 6 (28m 9s): Talk about the, the essentials, the basics, getting back to the, the essentials and the basics because we want to finish, well, we want to finish this race. And some of us are just going to limp across the finish line. And that's, that's going to get you there. Others are going to run and run all the way through. I want us all to finish the race. So we're talking about Christianity one Oh one today so that we can finish the race. Colossians chapter two verses 11 through 23 says this verse 11 says, when you, when you came to Christ, you were circumcised, but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision, the cutting away of your sinful nature. 6 (28m 53s): If you're in Christ, if you're a Christian today, if you've been saved by the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, this has actually taken place in your life. You've, you've undergone a, you've undergone an operation as spiritual circumcision, where God has accomplished something in your heart, a cutting away of your sinful nature. He's done this for you so that you can run the race and finish the race. 7 (29m 17s): I 6 (29m 17s): Love Romans two 28 and three 29. It says this for you are not a true Jew because you were born of Jewish parents, or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision, Noah trued, you is one whose heart is right with God. That's what God does for us. A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law. Rather. It is a change 4 (29m 43s): Of heart produced by the spirit capitalist spirit, the Holy spirit, and a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God. Not from people with that. Let's go ahead and stand up. And we're going to pray and ask the Lord's blessing upon the message today. Lord God, we stand in prayer and adoration of you because you are God. And because you are good. And because you are King your Lord, you are the savior. The one who has circumcised, our hearts cut away, cutting away our sinful nature, those desires of the flesh, Lord God. And I pray that as we come face to face with this truth, this revelation, this understanding, Lord God, that our lives would be transformed God, that it would set us on a different trajectory, a healthy trajectory, a godly God honoring trajectory for the rest of our lives. 4 (30m 32s): God, that we would just realize truth and live differently out of that truth. God that you would fill us with your Holy spirit. As we read your, as your, as we read your, your anointed word and God speak to us, everybody's coming from a different place today. Lord, some of them, some are excited to be here. Some are feeling just a little bit beat up by the world. Some are feeling just overwhelmed emotionally. And I just pray God, whatever the case may be, that you would speak to us. God that you administer to us and God that you would speak through me. You're humble vessel this morning. God, I I'm I'm. I want to be used to encourage, to Edify, to build up the saints in their most Holy faith. 4 (31m 15s): And I want to be built up Lord. I want to be built up in my most Holy faith. So do that good work. We pray in jesus' name. 6 (31m 21s): Amen. Hey man, you can be seated. 4 (31m 24s): I, I changed hearts. A circumcised heart no longer wants to please 6 (31m 32s): People. 4 (31m 34s): This is how, you know, if, if God's working in your heart and of God has done something, there's a, there's a, there's a change. There's a change in your soul and in your heart. Number one in your notes, a changed heart wants to please, God, that's just the reality. But when we've had an encounter with God, when we've welcomed him into our lives, when he's had the opportunity to perform that spiritual circumcision, our minds changed about the way that we live our lives. We no longer care about being people, pleasers our desires that we want to please, God, we are our desires to please the Lord. Some of us are having a hard time, kind of 6 (32m 11s): Getting there. We 4 (32m 13s): Have all of these great desires. We want to please the Lord. But we are caught up on in people pleasing. We want to please the people in our lives. And that is hindering us from pleasing the God in our lives. Like I want to read the Bible, but I keep getting interrupted by people like by emails, 6 (32m 34s): Like by text 4 (32m 35s): Messages and phone calls, et cetera, I want to do this right thing. I want to get and make God my priority. But I keep getting interrupted by all of these people demands in my life. I want to pray, but I keep getting interrupted by people. All of these people demands in my life. I want to go to church, but I keep getting interrupted by people. I want to serve God. I want to do all of these things, but I keep getting interrupted by people. Romans eight, two 29, again says in a person with a changed heart, seeks praise from God, not from people. So if we continue to get interrupted, we need to radically shake up the way that we're living our lives and radically change our priorities so that we're able to do the things that God is calling us to do. 4 (33m 22s): As followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ, we're running a race. And if we don't prepare properly and if we don't get ourselves in spiritual shape, we're not going to finish the race. We're not going to do well. And we're not going to enjoy the journey. God wants us to finish. He wants us to enjoy the journey. He wants us to enjoy him. And so there's a time in our life. When we recognize that there's too many distractions and most of those distractions come in the form of people through internet distractions, through text messages, through emails, through phone calls, through all kinds of different things, where people are trying to they're vying for our attention. They don't realize it. And then there's no harm intended, but unless we keep those things in proper balance in our lives, we're never going to do the things that God has called us to do and live the way that God has called us to live. 4 (34m 17s): We can have a change tart, but lack, self control and focus, right? We can have a changed heart, meaning God has cut away that carnal nature, that sinful nature, but we lack focus. And self-control we lack those things that will help us to grow in our faith as followers of the Lord. Jesus. So I would just say this, ask God to help you to remove those distractions. Maybe turn off your phone. I just read a book. It's called ruthlessly. The, the ruthless elimination of hurry by John Mark Homer and our staff is actually reading it. It was recommended to me and I started to getting into it. And then I said, Hey, the team, we're going to read this thing and just kind of learn together the ruthless elimination of hurry. 4 (34m 58s): Cause our, our culinary culture, we're just hurried. We're rushing everywhere, where we're driving faster than the speed limit because we're in a hurry. Even if we're not going anywhere, we're in a hurry to get there, right? We don't even know why we're in a hurry, but we're constantly in or hurry in in that book. John Mark Homer recommends turning off your phone. He's he? They've got young kids at the house and some of us do some of us don't. He said that when my kids go to bed, I put my phone to bed and I don't wake my phone back up until after I've done my morning devotions, isn't that powerful. So he's keeping in check those devices that are so often distracting us and keeping us from doing the things that God have us to do. 4 (35m 38s): So turn 6 (35m 38s): Off our phones, turn off your phone, close your computer. Don't look at social media, stop playing your games. Give God your full attention. I hear this all the time, but I'd never hear from God. I never hear God speak what God can't speak to us unless he's got our full attention. So we need to power down the devices, focus on God 8 (35m 58s): And 6 (35m 59s): Exercise some self control in our relationship with God, with him, give God our full attention. So Christ performed a spiritual circumcision, the cutting away of your sinful nature. So your, your sinful nature is cut away. Meaning you no longer enjoy sin like you did at one time, who can identify with that? I remember before Christ, I could send them till the cows came home and it didn't really bother me. I mean, I I'd get maybe a ting of guilt in my conscience. I'd feel a little bad from time to time. But, but trust me, the, the, the, the sin, it didn't stop. I wasn't bothered to the point where I was actually stopped. 6 (36m 40s): I didn't actually have the power to stop sending. And so I enjoyed it. But what happened is when I gave my life to Jesus, everything changed that spiritual circumcision took place. And now I can no longer enjoy sin. Still stumbled from time to time and sin from time to time. But I couldn't enjoy it any longer. Why? Because there was a spiritual circumcision that took place. There was a cutting away of that flesh. 8 (37m 9s): You're new in Christ, 6 (37m 12s): New and Christ with your spiritual circumcision, but we can slip back into old patterns and old ways of doing things. We need to remember a changed heart wants to please God. And so if you're in a place where your heart is not wanting to please, God, I would just challenge you today. Challenge you today to return to your first love, to ask the Lord to again, change your hearts. A changed heart wants to please God, number one. But number two, temptation is always going to be present. Have you guys noticed that in your walk with the Lord, 8 (37m 50s): Is it just me? 6 (37m 51s): Anybody else noticed that temptation is going to be present? We stumble at times in sin because of the temptation to sin, but because God has changed our hearts, we don't want to sin. That's the difference. We've been spiritually circumcised, so we no longer want to sin. When we sin as Christians, we grieve and we regret the action of our sinful decision. Sin is followed by repentance. Proving. Maybe you're here today. And you're saying, man, I just don't feel like I'm even a Christian because I, I keep falling into the same pit. I keep falling into the same mistakes and making the same and causing the same problems in my life. Listen, if you're feeling regrets after those decisions of sinfulness, you it's proof 4 (38m 36s): That the Holy spirit has cut away. That Jesus has cut away. That, that carnal nature and you're, you're wrestling. You're in this wrestling match. The temptation is overwhelming, but I promise you, if you begin to train for the battle at hand and prepare yourself, you will begin to get victory over those things. How do you train for that? You can't just go out and run a marathon without preparation, and you can't just go out and try to serve Jesus in a fallen world without preparation, without the preparation, you're going to continue to fall into the same old bad habits and bad patterns of sin that you've always fallen into. 6 (39m 11s): But when you 4 (39m 11s): Strengthen yourself in God's word and strengthen yourself through the spirit of God, through the Holy spirit, then you've got the power and the grace to say no to those things 6 (39m 19s): Keep tripping you up. King David was a man after God's own heart and he got distracted, right? He got distracted and, 4 (39m 30s): And that's something that's been plaguing humanity since their creation distraction, he got distracted and he fell into sin with Bathsheba and had Uriah. The Hittite, her husband killed 6 (39m 43s): Because he wanted to kind of cover up his sin. But he was a man after God's own heart. And when he was confronted with his own sinfulness and that interesting, he was a man after God's own heart. And yet he committed adultery and murder. 4 (40m 4s): This is the difference when he was confronted with his sinfulness, he repented. So I'm 51 is all about 6 (40m 11s): Is repentance. This is what he said, have mercy on me. Oh God, wow. This is not 4 (40m 22s): Just lip service. Like Lord, forgive me. 6 (40m 24s): I messed up again. He said, have mercy on me. Oh God, 4 (40m 28s): Because of your unfailing love because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of 6 (40m 34s): My sins. He, 4 (40m 38s): The weight, the gravity, the IM the, the importance of repentance and doing it wholeheartedly. He certainly sinned wholeheartedly. He went into it head first, sin wholeheartedly. So now he needs to repent wholeheartedly with the same level of passion and commitment. He said, wash me clean from my guilt and purify me from my sin. I think we send way too flippantly. And there, there are acceptable sins within the church. There are acceptable sins within the Church meaning sins that we don't pay too much attention to. I was talking to summer, somebody earlier in the day in the morning this morning, and she talked about the sin of gluttony. 4 (41m 20s): There's a sin called gluttony. There's a white lies that we just kind of dismiss. 6 (41m 27s): There's pride 4 (41m 28s): That we tend to just dismiss these things that we don't take seriously 6 (41m 34s): In our walk with Jesus. David understood the weight and the gravity of the sin in his life. Wash me clean from my guilt, purify me for my sin for, I recognize my rebellion. It haunts me day and night against you and you alone. Have I sinned? I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say in your judgment against me as just meaning you're right. I'm wrong. And your judgment is just often when we sin, we were pants and then we don't want to reap any consequences for our actions. And often the change comes because of the consequences for our actions. 6 (42m 16s): We're forgiven, but there's consequences. David had a lifelong experience with those consequences for his sins. I was born a sinner. He said, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me, but you desire honesty from the womb. Teaching me wisdom. Even there purify me for my sins and I will be clean wash me and I will be whiter than snow. He recognizes the power of the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ, the power of the grace of God to wash over. He knew that if he confessed his sins, that he would be white as snow, that he would be forgiven. So he didn't wallow in it longer than he needed to. 6 (42m 56s): Sometimes we repent and we continue to repent for the same sin that we committed a year ago or five years ago or 10 years ago. So there's a balance that we need to strike here. We need to repent quickly hold short accounts with God repenting quickly for our sin, but then recognizing the power and the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ to wash us as white as snow. David understood the grace and the mercy of the Lord. Jesus Christ. 7 (43m 22s): Okay. 6 (43m 25s): David had a walk with the Lord, a relationship with the Lord so that when he sinned, it grieved him deeply. When he sinned, he knew he needed to repent, honestly. And sincerely. So Psalm 51. If you're in a place where you need to repent to repent is to recognize God, you are right. I am wrong. I have sinned against you and you Lord you alone. Lord, have I sinned against? And I need to change my mind to repent means to literally change your mind and to move in a different direction. Some of us are here today. We need to do that. Maybe because of the sins of lying, maybe it's the sin of pride. 6 (44m 5s): Maybe it's a sin of gluttony. You fill in the blank, whatever the sin may be and be careful about those socially acceptable sins as well read through Psalm 51 and model David's prayer of repentance in your own life. We see a profound change in somebody's life. Who's been circumcised. Who's experienced a spiritual circumcise. We see a profound change in 4 (44m 32s): Their lives. They just live differently. You guys are examples of that. I'm an example of that. My BC days might be Christ. Days are way different than my salvation days. If they weren't, there'd be a problem. If, if you're living the same way that you were living before you knew Christ, there's a problem. There there's a problem that needs to be addressed. And so the challenge is Lord, how is my life being transformed? How is my life becoming more? How am I becoming more and more like you, there needs to be a profound, a change. The old man sinned and kept sending no regrets, maybe a tinge of guilt, little conscience action going on there. But the new man stumbles into sin and then is broken 6 (45m 12s): Regrets. One commentator wrote what people were in Adam. The first Adam sinful fallen and corrupt was destroyed by Christ. The second Adam 4 (45m 25s): Now in Christ, a believer is a new creation read second Corinthians five 17, and having a new head capital H head new. The Bible says that Jesus is the head of his body. He's Christ. As the head of the church, having a new head, a new leader, a new person that we're responsible to having a new head of believer has a new authority for his life. Not the law of Moses, but the 6 (45m 48s): Law of Christ. 4 (45m 50s): So spiritual circumcision is heart proof of your life in Christ. It is proof of the internal stuff, the stuff that's happening, internal and the eternal change. The old life has gone. A new life has begun. Is that good news? That's what the gospel is all about. So if you think you are a Christian and you can send without regret either number one, you're not really a Christian. If you are a Christian and you think you can sin and you can send without regrets, number one, you're not really a Christian or a number two you've backslidden 6 (46m 22s): And hardened your heart to God. And you no longer experience the conviction of sin. If you're 4 (46m 29s): Christian and you stumble. And when you stumble there's conviction, there's deep regret. Then you know that 6 (46m 34s): Things are, are good with your heart. And you confess your sin like David did in Psalm 51. 4 (46m 41s): Spiritual circumcision is proof of a changed life. Baptism is further. 6 (46m 47s): I love when we get a chance to baptize people, we baptize people. And when we were having a service up at the camp a few months ago, and, and I was surprised to hear that there were 15 more people that needed 4 (46m 58s): That want it to be baptized and there's. And I think there's more people in the room that, that want to be baptized that needed to be baptized. Listen, if you're here and you're a believer in Christ, and you've never been baptized Jesus model for it, he commanded it. He asked his disciples to go into all the nations, baptizing people in the name of the father, the son, the Holy spirit. We actually it's part of our Christian experience. It's a, it's a demonstration of our faith in Jesus Christ. Baptism is further proof of a changed life. You're making a public declaration of your faith. First verse 12 says this for you are buried with when you were baptized and with him, you were raised to new life. And because you trusted the mighty power of God who raised Christ from the dead baptism is an external demonstration of your cha change life. 4 (47m 45s): The spiritual circumcision is internal. There's something that happens that that reflects in our external life. Externally, we get baptized to prove that we are followers of the Lord. Jesus Christ is our public declaration of, of our faith in 6 (47m 60s): Jesus. Again, 4 (48m 2s): Part of the great commission is to baptize people in the faith, Matthew 28, 19, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy spirit 6 (48m 13s): Spirits. Someone asked me recently, actually it wasn't recently, I guess it was a couple of years ago. They said, why 4 (48m 19s): Do you send out missionaries to other parts of the world when there's so much need in our own country? 6 (48m 24s): Why do you send out missionaries? Well, 4 (48m 26s): We do it because Jesus told us to, he said, go make disciples of all nations, 6 (48m 30s): Baptizing them in the name of the father, the son of the Holy spirit we baptized for the same reason. Jesus told us to 4 (48m 38s): This is how we live our lives as submitted followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We do what Jesus tells us to do. We baptize, we evangelize. We do all of these things because that is what Jesus asked us to do. 6 (48m 53s): Jesus came to give us life. That's 4 (48m 58s): Part of the spiritual circumcision. That's part of the demonstration 6 (49m 1s): Of our, our, our, our baptism. We we're we're. Yeah, 4 (49m 4s): We, we go down signifies our, our death, our old man dying. And we're resurrected into new life. We are baptized because as a picture of our old man dying and our new man resurrecting from the dead, we were literally spiritually dead. Apart from Christ, literally spiritually dead. Apart from Christ. Verse 13 says you were dead. That word means separated. Not annihilated. It means you were spiritually dead cut off from spiritual life. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away, then God made you alive with Christ. For he forgave all your sins. 4 (49m 46s): We can stop right there. That's really good news. He has forgiven all of our sins. So you were resurrected in Christ from spiritual death. Born again, made alive when Christ cut away your sinful nature. And when he forgave your sins born again, new life in Jesus Christ before Christ intervenes in a person's life, they are sinners, spiritually, dead, without hope, destined for judgment, destined for destruction. 6 (50m 14s): But God thank God for God, for his merciful plan of action that rescues us for God. So loved the world that he gave. His only begotten son that whoever, whoever believes 4 (50m 28s): In him should not perish, but have ever lasting life. Christianity one Oh one right there in John three 16. When we believe the gospel, when we believe the good news, there is forgiveness, we are accepted. We are adopted. We are welcomed into the family of God. We are literally born again. This is what happens. Verse 14. He says he canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Some of us are walking around with old baggage, old sin that we're carrying over our shoulders. That's weighing us down and wearing us out because we don't believe what the scripture says. 4 (51m 9s): We don't believe that God can forgive our sins. We don't believe that. What is written here in this text is true about us. We may believe that it's true about everybody else, but we don't believe that it's true about us. I just want to say, if you're in Christ, if you're a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. If you've accepted his grace in his mercy, then this is true about you. He canceled the record of the charges against you and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 8 (51m 39s): He took it away 4 (51m 40s): In this way. He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. Listen. Bible says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood ruler of flesh and blood enemies, but we wrestle against the principalities of darkness. And so those principalities who are led by Satan, who is a liar and the father of lies is trying to heap guilt on you for sins that have already been forgiven. He's trying to remind you of past failures and mistakes. Things that have already been forgiven already under the blood of Christ already been nailed to the cross so that they can be forgiven. He is there. The enemy is trying to remind you of things. Don't let him have that head space or a heart space in your life. In this way. He disarmed Jesus disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. 4 (52m 21s): He shamed them by publicly shamed them publicly by his victory, over them on the cross. 8 (52m 28s): A changed 4 (52m 29s): Heart wants to please God, number one, but temptation is always going to be present, but number three, but God, God canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross, man. That's good news. We need to hear that and we need to hear it often. We need to believe it. Often we are saved by grace. We are saved through faith. We are not saved because we have done good. We are saved because Christ is good because God is good. So after we come to Christ as a temptation to sin, because temptation is always there, this side of heaven. Anyway, so there's a temptation to sin. You know, all of the things that we see as sin, but there's also a temptation to begin to earn our way, earn God's favor. 4 (53m 16s): There's a temptation to start doing good for the wrong motivation, trying to earn God's favor, temptation to earn our good standing with 6 (53m 26s): God, by keeping the law. I want to read Romans three 19 through 2019 through 22, because it helps us understand the gospel. Listen, if you're confused about what you believe, I just encourage you to open up the scripture because it makes it really crystal clear what we believe as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We think about the law and we think about God's expectations. And this is what, this is what Paul wrote in Romans chapter three, verses 19 and following, he said, obviously the law applies to those, to whom it was given for it's purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to show that the entire world is guilty before God the law was given so that the whole world would know that we are guilty before God, meaning we can't. 6 (54m 10s): We can never measure up by keeping the law. The Bible says, if you break one part of the law, you're actually guilty of breaking all of it. So even if you do great with 99.9% of it, you're guilty of breaking all of the law for no one can ever be made right with God, by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows how sinful we are. That's what the law is designed to do. It's helped us. It helps us to see how sinful we are so that we can see how desperately we need God. All right. So that's, that's it. And then verse 21 says, but now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago, we are made right with God verse 22. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. 7 (54m 54s): Some 6 (54m 55s): Of you have been really wrestling with your relationship with God, feeling unworthy all by yourself. You're unworthy. But what you need to realize, what we need to realize is that the blood of Christ covers us and that blood washes us, such that we are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We are the righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. 7 (55m 22s): So the burden can be lifted. 6 (55m 25s): Some of us are carrying baggage is about old, old mistakes, divorces relationships decisions. When we were young decisions, when we were old decisions that that just haunt us. 7 (55m 42s): Okay? 6 (55m 42s): Don't let those things where you out trust that the Bible is true for 16 says, so don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or if not celebrating certain Holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths for these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come and Christ himself is that reality Christ himself is that reality. I read this. A shadow is only an image cast by an object, which represents its form. Once you find once one, once one finds Christ, he no longer needs to follow the old shadow. Why? Because we have the form. We have the person. 6 (56m 23s): So the versus don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on self, on pious self, or a worship of angels saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful mindset made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ the head of the body for he holds the whole body together, which is joint with its joints and ligaments. And it grows as God nourishes it. 8 (56m 46s): You have died with Christ 6 (56m 49s): And he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as don't handle don't taste, don't touch such rules or a mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use 8 (57m 3s): Them. These 6 (57m 5s): Rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious, self denial, and severe bodily discipline, but they prove they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires. 8 (57m 17s): Paul 6 (57m 17s): Said basically, essentially neglecting the body does not nourish the spirits. When I was in college, my freshman year of college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I spent every Tuesday and Thursday fasting. And I don't remember why, why I fasted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but, but what it did ultimately is it became a burden for me because I think in my youthful zeal, I was trying to please, God, I was trying to, in my, to the best of my ability, I think I was trying to honor the Lord, but it just wore me down physically. And it wore me down spiritually. And I, at some point realized that I, I needed to change the way that I was thinking about things. 6 (58m 1s): And so now some years later I need, I'm constantly evaluating my spiritual disciplines. Why am 8 (58m 8s): I doing these things? Am 6 (58m 11s): I doing these things? Because I feel guilty on some level and I'm trying to get rid of that guilt. I think sometimes we're doing our spiritual disciplines, praying, reading the Bible, fasting, you know, tithing, serving. We're doing all of these things because we feel some level of guilt and God wants to, wants to eliminate that from your life. He died on the cross to take away that guilt. So sometimes we're doing our spiritual disciplines because we feel guilty. Sometimes we're trying to earn God's favor. Like maybe God will, you know, it's like, you know, a genie lamp or something. If we, you know, handle the just right, you know, we'll get our wishes answered, but that's not how it works either. 6 (58m 54s): God wants us doing our spiritual disciplines because they help us draw close to him. They help us to understand what it means to walk with him and to love him and to trust him and to believe him. Because I think a lot of us are in relationship with him, but we don't, we don't trust him in that. We read the Bible and we think maybe it applies to others, but we don't think it applies to us. We don't believe him on some levels where else, where else our lives would be different. They'd be emptied of the guilt and the condemnation that we often sense in experience as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And so now I still fail at times. 6 (59m 35s): Cause in my humanist, I still want to try to impress God, anybody else? There I go, Lord, I read all of this scripture. Aren't you impressed with me now. Not impressed, but when I'm reading the scripture or praying or devoting myself in some way so that I might know him that are deeper greater, then I'm not looking for an attaboy. I just, I I've automatically got this connection with the Lord. I've automatically got this relationship with the Lord. This the grace of the Lord, Jesus Christ is just present in my life. And with that peace and with that confidence in who he is and not in who I am, Christianity one Oh one. 6 (1h 0m 20s): Isn't about works. It's about a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's about a relationship that requires our investments much like a, a marathon run. We need to be invested in order to finish the race. We need to take serious this life as followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ. We need to take serious what God has called us to do. And what he's asked us to do, if at all, if at all amounts to just a list of duties, we've totally missed the Mark. We've totally missed what God has for us. I would just encourage us today to examine our lives. 6 (1h 1m 1s): Someone said an unexamined life is not worth living. So we need to always be examining our lives and say, Lord, why am I doing these things? And if you're like me from time to time, you realize that you were doing it with the wrong motivation. And then at that moment, say, Lord, I don't want to be motivated by the wrong stuff any longer. I want to be motivated purely by my relationship with you. I want to finish. Well, I want to run the race with confidence. I want to do what you've called me to do with humility and with integrity. And so God, I want to stay as close to you as humanly possible. Christianity Christianity one Oh to change. Chart wants to please God, but temptation is always going to be present. 6 (1h 1m 41s): So we have to be ready to battle that temptation, even though temptation is present, sometimes we sin God canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. We celebrate what Jesus nailed to the cross. We celebrate our salvation. The fact that Jesus died, shed his blood for us, was crucified for us. We celebrate communion the Lord's table on the fourth, Sunday of every month. And today's the fourth, Sunday of the month. And so we're going to be taking communion. Hopefully everybody received communion elements. When you came in, if you need communion elements, go ahead and raise your hand and we'll get you those elements there. Go, and Deb's going to work on that for you. 6 (1h 2m 22s): Can we get somebody else to help Deb? There, there we go. Thanks, Jim. Appreciate that. Yeah. Keep your, keep your hands up until everybody has the elements. And then when now, now once you've got the elements, go ahead and get prepared. Meaning trying to locate the clear plastic cellophane on top of the wafer. Try to find that there. And then when you do go ahead and peel that back and get ready and then get started with the next one as well. And just kind of peel that back a little bit and make sure you don't spill it on yourself or your neighbor. And, and then I'm going to read out a first Corinthians 11. 6 (1h 3m 6s): Now communion is a time to refresh ourselves in the Lord. Listen, God has done all of the heavy lifting. When he died on the cross, when God resurrected him from the dead, he did all of the heavy lifting. So if you come heavy to the throne of grace, offload that by simply repenting of your sin, say, Jesus, I, I I'm feeling this burden. And I just want to offload that. Thank you that your grace is sufficient. Maybe you're here today. You've never accepted the grace of the Lord. Jesus Christ. That grace is as close as the words that you speak. If you simply say Jesus, I need your grace. I need your forgiveness. 6 (1h 3m 46s): I need your life in mine. I need your new life. Would you come into my life? Would you forgive my sin as you do that? God is faithful to respond as you faithfully pray, and you are born again as a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ. When you make your profession of faith, first Corinthians 1123 says for, I pass onto you. What I received from the Lord himself on the night when he was betrayed the Lord, Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, this is my body, which has given for you. Do this to remember me. Let's go ahead and take the wafer. 7 (1h 4m 33s): Thank you, Jesus. Thank you 6 (1h 4m 37s): That you submitted your body to be nailed to the cross 7 (1h 4m 41s): As the perfect sinless spotless lamb of God. You sacrificed your body and poured out your blood for us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for that Lauren. 6 (1h 4m 57s): And the same way he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between God and his people and agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me, as often as you drink it's for every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. Let's go ahead and take the juice. 2 (1h 5m 27s): Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord God. We're grateful for 6 (1h 5m 38s): The opportunity to remember what you've done for us. And then to go back and look at the scripture in Colossians and Romans and Psalm 51 and, and learn what it means to honor you with our lives and to trust you with our lives, to understand doctrine and theology Lord, so that we can walk with a clear hearts and clear mind following after you. God, we love you. We thank you for this time. Lord it's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Amen. Let's go ahead and stand up and Hey, as we get ready to worship, I just want to say that this is Jim and Judy's last Sunday with us. 6 (1h 6m 20s): And so Jim and Judy both have been man faithful. They've rescued us a number of times. Where's Judy, she around here somewhere here. Okay, good. There she is, have been faithful friends for the last six years, I guess on and yeah, and then you got to lead some songs, right? And we've got a gift over there for you and I'm going to give it to you a second service because if I gave it to you, I'd have to take it back to give it to you your second. So I guess I could do two and a. So we just want to express gratitude for you and Judy, Judy, CA come on up here. 6 (1h 7m 0s): I want to pray over you guys and just love on you. And we are so grateful. So Jim and Judy moved over North, North County and their families over there. And so they're going to be going to church in North County and, and using their gifts and talents over there. And so Lord, we lift them up to you and we pray God that you bless them in Jesus name. God that you'd watch over them in Jesus name, thank you for their gifts and talents, Lord God. And for who they are as human beings, our brothers and our brother and sister in the Lord. We love them. We're thankful for the relationship that we've enjoyed over these last six years. 6 (1h 7m 41s): And we know that that's going to go on for eternity because Christian relationships go on for eternity. And so this is not goodbye. This is just see you later or see us around town and see around bouts. And so we thank you for them. Lord bless them. They are jewels. They're wonderful. And we honor them for all of that. They do. And for who they are, we bless them Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Love you guys. Let me love you a here. 2 (1h 8m 15s): Now you get to try lead worship. 1 (1h 8m 24s): 0 (1h 13m 50s): It's it's been a special one. I think for us here, for me, it has been, but I got this feeling today that it says all the things that I want to say to you guys. It says, I feel loved. I feel safe. And I feel Jesus in this place. And you guys have always made me feel loved and safe and I've always felt Jesus here. I felt Jesus. I feel Jesus pleasure. Every time I'm up here now I'm shaking. And in the last lines I shall be released. I feel like it's just a new season. There's something out there for Judy and I in a new place, new adventures. 0 (1h 14m 36s): And I'm so grateful to finish. Well, I hope 1 (1h 14m 48s): . 9 (1h 19m 46s): Thank you, Lord. Thank you for your presence here in this place today. And God, we do just release Jim and we blessed him and GED into this next season. God, and just pray that they would just feel like a wave of love. Just wash over them. Even as they leave this place today, they would have sent just you going with them. You go before them, behind them. Thank you for what they've invested here. And God thank you for this church family. I thank you for every household represented, pray God that you would just fill us with your love that we would truly just kind of leak Jesus throughout the week to everyone that we come in contact with that they would just know that we've been in your presence. They would know we're Christians because we love. 9 (1h 20m 27s): So we just bless you. Thank you for your presence in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Awesome guy. Well we yeah, go for it and celebrate. Yeah. So good. Well, we don't. I want to go without saying that if you need prayer this morning, please come on forward. We'd love to have a moment to pray with you. If any needs to come on for Boston staff or volunteers, we'll be here to pray with you, but have a great morning. Make sure to give Jim and Judy lots of love on your way out today. And we'll see you next week. Have a great Sunday.

God of the Insignificant and Ordinary Part 2

0 (1s): Well, good morning. Welcome everyone. Welcome to Harvest. My name is Cheryl Lynn, and we're just so excited that you guys are here to worship this morning and hello to everyone watching around campus and at home. I hope you're all doing well. If you're able to, why don't you stand with me as we begin, we'll take a moment. Pray and just invite the Lord's presence to be in our midst here this morning. 1 (33s): Let's go before him. 0 (35s): Thank you, Lord. We do just welcome your presence. Holy spirit. We want to meet with you this morning. I just want to come into your presence with boldness and courage, the springing to your hearts, to speed vulnerable before you to be real knowing we don't have to have it all put together or all figured out. We don't have to be perfectly polished to come into your presence. That's exactly why you died on the cross that you covered it all for us, Jesus, that we could come messy and Rogan and hurting and real before you. And so we just bring you our hearts this morning and worship you bring you our tears. 0 (1m 17s): We bring you our discouragement. We bring our doubts and our questions. Thank you, Lord that you meet us there 1 (1m 25s): As we just, 0 (1m 26s): Or auto Harts and praise. And thanks as we remember who you are and what you've done for us. 1 (1m 39s): where Jesus and died for me. I see independent on the cheek. 0 (13m 7s): Great. Is your faithfulness to us. Thank you, Laura. That we can truly depend on you. That's you're the one thing that never falters that never fails. Everything else in this world fills us breaks. Deserts, us abandons us, runs the dry, but you never do unless you're the weld. It never 1 (13m 36s): Thank you. 0 (13m 36s): And so we just happened to that. Well, this morning, the well, and your faithfulness, your goodness, your kindness and your mercy, we need it. God 1 (13m 47s): Thank you. 0 (13m 50s): And we actually want to teach you a new song this morning, all about God's faith. He talks about him. He's the God who could make mountains. If you know that story in the Bible, even when they're singing and the person, 1 (14m 4s): The reason and the doors come open as they worship 0 (14m 10s): And they marched around the walls of Jericho. And when they worshiped walls came tumbling down, I just feel like the Lord wants to remind us Church that there's power only worship. As we invite his presence. As we focus on him, there's the power. Let me praise. Sometimes we have to speak to our own fear and preach to our own souls reminders. 1 (14m 36s): God's goodness. And that's a lot. What the song is about this morning. 0 (14m 39s): I hope you'll join. And as you can, of course goes like this 1 (14m 54s): To shake and walls. I wouldn't speak to my fear. I will preach to you a favor. 1 (15m 7s): God you are the God who makes the mountains move. 1 (19m 4s): The God who heals, rescues, redeems. The sets are feet upon the rock. Remind us of your faithfulness and your goodness today. And mine is that there's never anything out of your sight. 0 (19m 23s): That's going on in our lives. You're you're not aware of you're a detail oriented. God you know everything about it. 1 (19m 34s): You made each of us uniquely site, the spray that you would need everyone who's here today or watching online and she would speak to their hearts. So that still small voice to bring encouragement, to bring hope, cast, vision, to give us purpose. We need you, or would you continue to just be in our midst today 0 (20m 8s): And our hearts to receive all that you have for us? It's your kingdom come 1 (20m 15s): Jesus' name. Amen. So good celebrates. I love it. 0 (20m 25s): Yeah. Never be afraid to praise and celebrate him. That's awesome. Well, let's take a moment to 1 (20m 29s): The new worshiping by saying hello to somebody just spreading some love 0 (20m 33s): Of some waves, fist bumps, elbow bumps, whatever you feel comfortable with. We'll gather back for some announcements. 1 (20m 42s): Good morning. My name is Ron. And what want to do first is 2 (20m 48s): Just welcome everyone here. So whether you're in the sanctuary or the law for the patio area, or maybe you tuning in online, we're super happy to have you here today. And by the way, if you happen to be new to Harvest Church, we do have a gift for you and you just head up to the info center and meet up with the people up there. And they'll be happy to hand off that gift to you. And while you're there, if you wouldn't mind, there's no strings attached, but if you want to fill out a communication card that just helps us to have you on the list where we can communicate to you, all the updates and things that are going on here at Harvest Church, that would be super helpful. And, and just as a friend for your information's ever since covert happened, we don't pass the bags anymore for communication cards or offering or anything like that. 2 (21m 36s): But we do have collection boxes here in the sanctuary and the loft in the patio area. So we want to make it easy for everybody. Hey, just want to say a couple of things just starting out today. Yesterday was a very special day for a couple reasons. One is yesterday morning, we were hearing the sanctuary. We had a Memorial service for a young man named Michael . So he died at 38, he had cancer. And so myself and another, another fellow kind of walked him through that journey. And, you know, he loved the Lord. And so it was kind of a family reunion yesterday. It's about a hundred people here. A lot of people came in from out of town and it, you know, it's a time of, of grieving for sure, but it's also time of celebration, you know, when a believer graduates and goes to heaven. 2 (22m 24s): And so we had the Memorial service here and then the reception in the patio area. So that was really uplifting actually. And then afterwards at four o'clock we had on the beach, we had a bonfire and baptism and I heard I didn't get to go, but I heard there was between 200 and 250 people there. Thankfully there were enough hot dogs to go around. So that was the big answer to prayer. Especially since I talked to a young man just a little bit ago, who will rename unnamed? His name is not Nathan, just in case. You're wondering, I said, how many hotdogs did you eat yesterday? He said, yes. 1 (23m 2s): Eight. 2 (23m 5s): I said, you can't fit eight hot dogs in there. You said, well, I didn't eat the buns. I told Nathan that does not count. Okay. But thankfully there were enough hotdogs to go around, but more importantly, we baptized 15 believers, 15 people yesterday. 1 (23m 22s): Yeah. Yeah. So 2 (23m 27s): Super wonderful time at the beach. So those of you that were part of that, it was, it was thanks for being there. One of the things we do a few times a year, we call growth track. And so that is where people that are newer to Harvest Church or maybe been here for awhile. You just want to learn more about who we are, meaning what, what makes us unique from the other churches, great churches in our community. So you're gonna learn a little bit about that, but more importantly, we're going to help you to, to discover your spiritual gifts and to give you opportunity and encourage you to get involved. Not only here at Harvest Church, but you know, our gifts are not only for Church ministry, but as for community ministry, we want to help you on that journey. 2 (24m 8s): And so the growth track we're offering, it's going to begin next Sunday. So Sunday, October 11th, it'd be 11 o'clock during the 11th clock service. And it's going to be in the office space, which is just up the road here, but we need to just sign up. Now here's the catch. It is four consecutive Sundays. So this is not sort of like a onetime thing. You can have opportunity to gather with other believers, four consecutive Sundays during the 11 o'clock service, you're going to get to know the other people in the group really well. And that's just a side benefit and a, but you need to sign up so you can sign up a couple of different ways. In fact, we want to make it really easy for you. We actually have 'em the Harvest Church app. So in fact, I got to jump ahead. 2 (24m 50s): So to AIG Harvest app, and then we added a new feature to our app. Recently we call it the connect link. So if you go to the connect link on our Harvest Church app, you can sign up that way four, the growth track, or you can just walk up the Hill to the info center it's right next to the coffee. So if you like coffee, boom, you're there. All right. So go ahead and sign up for the growth track, if you would like to participate in that. And as I mention, and we have this new connect way of communicating and, you know, in a, in a group of believers, it's really helpful to communicate things, right? In fact, I'm going to just read this to you because it's new to me as well. We have a new place on the AIG Harvest app for you to communicate anything and everything with our staff at Harvest simply click CA simply click on the connect link and fill out the form to let us know prayer requests, sign up for classes, events, volunteer for help, to help out or et cetera. 2 (25m 44s): So we'd love to hear from you. And that's true. We, we, we want to encourage you. If you have something to say, sign up for, be involved in, you know, we love to make that easy for everybody to do. And then as a last thing I want to mention this morning, our children's program has kind of been rebooting now that we're kind of getting a little bit further away from COVID. And so we've got the children's ministry going four, the 11 o'clock service, but we're going to start it up again for the nine o'clock walk as well. So the, the CA, the kids classes will resume for the nine o'clock service on November 1st. So just want to let you know about that. If you have kids and you prefer to go to the early, early service, that's going to be available to you and it's not too late to volunteer. 2 (26m 26s): So if you'd like to help out ministering to the young people of our church in my mind, that is one of the most important ministries that we can have pouring our lives into the young people. And so if you want to be a part of that, it's not too late. Go ahead and sign up at the info table. Or again, that connect link would be a good way to help 3 (26m 44s): Us out as well. All right. That's all I have to say. I'm going to invite Jeremy up. He's going to share the word to us this morning and thank you. Thank you. One last thing. Sorry. I have one more thing. Stay here. The, the youth are standing in today because Jeremy's their youth leader and Oh, there they are. Okay. Alright. I'm done. 3 (27m 38s): Check, check. Oh, there it is. There's the check. I apologize. My name is Jeremy. I'm the youth and family pastor. Hello youth. Yeah, so we baptized 13 youth yesterday. It was, it was amazing. And the weather was perfect. You know, it was a, it was really low tide. So it was, it was fun to, to actually have to get as deep as we had to go to actually dunk a person, half, half of the people there. It was just we're in the water and it was, it was a really special time. So we'll have some pictures and videos to show for those who didn't make it. Yeah, it was, it was, it was powerful if you're just joining us this week. 3 (28m 22s): This is my second part of the book of Ruth, the God of the Insignificant and Ordinary Part. And so we're gonna kind of jump into the middle of Ruth Ruth three and four is what we'll, we'll kind of try to finish off today. We ended it, we, we, we started with some big things last week, kind of whittled away from starting from looking at Ruth as it emphasized the whole as the whole of nation, the nation. And then we kind of looked at a family and then went down to a couple individuals. So we're going to start this week with those individuals and kind of work our way back out. But before I jump in, let me just start with the word of prayer. 3 (29m 9s): We were S we were so grateful Lord for what you are doing and the plan that you are unfolding. And we're, we're thankful that you are the almighty sovereign God Lord. And yet you, you know, and you care for the estate of, of your people. Lord, I pray that just today, we would learn to trust and to obey you the Lord to you, to, to even a further degree, Lord teach us from your word Lord, just using the simple narrative, this, the simple love story, comfort our hearts Lord in Jesus name, we pray. 3 (29m 51s): Amen. So there's a lot, the book of Ruth isn't ma it's one of my favorite books. It is humanity and four chapters. And so with only having two weeks to teach it, there's a lot that I've have to kind of kept under the table. I haven't, I've, haven't been able to bring up to the surface to bring up to the light. So just know that as we're, there's a lot of things I ha I have to, for sake of time floss over, you know, growing up in our garage, there was a band saw and a number of other woodworking tools. And, and funny enough, it wasn't my dad's band. It was my mom's band saw my mom was the woodworker of the family. 3 (30m 33s): And we grew up on the mission field when I was, I was born in the mission field. And then my parents worked for a missions organization back here and the States. And because of that, my dad did the bookkeeping and accounting, but we were always trying to fundraise and try to keep support for our family. And it was one of the ways that my mom kind of provided help, provide help, kind of subside our income is she would do these little woodworking. So our friend had a woodworking arts and craft shop, and she would widdle and she made little Noah's arcs with little characters and paint them. It was, it was really cool. So I grew up with her, you know, whittling away at would and doing stuff with wood. And, and sometimes every once in a while, she'd whittle all the way, a little bit too much and have to Chuck it. 3 (31m 17s): And I was driving in this morning. I'm like, Oh man, I hope I haven't whittled away too much to the book of Ruth. That was, that was my fear. But with that said, let's just, let's just dive in. I want to recap for those of you who weren't here last week, just, just to try to bring you up to quick speed, but you know, we, the book of Ruth starts out in a very dark place. It's it? It takes place in the book of, during the period of the judges and in the period of judges, it was like everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no King. And so we were introduced to there's a famine land of Israel, and it narrows down to this family of Elimelech and Elimelech had a wife, Naomi, and in two sons, one was named Mehan and the other was Chilean and their names mean CIC and pining away. 3 (32m 5s): So it kind of shows you what was happening in that day in time and, and impossibly to save his family. He, what he does is he ends up taking them to a land of Moab. He traveled six 70 miles over the mountains and, and, and to a place that where they weren't supposed to go, but yet he's trying to save his family. So he takes him to land a Moabite Moab, and the F Elimelech ends up dying in a far away place, away from family and way from friends and their, his, his sons are left with his, his widowed and, and they, over the course of time, his sons take Moabite wives. And in the course of time, both of those sons died. 3 (32m 45s): So now we're left in MOA with three widows Naomie, the mom, here's the thing that they're there, that there's bread back at home. And so she, she goes from Moab to start to leave, to return to her, her town of Bethlehem. And on the way Orpah decides to stay with her own people. One of her daughter laws remains, but Ruth clings to Naomi, and she makes this statement like mine, your God will be my God. Your people mind people. And, and we, we, we find them back in Bethlehem and, and we find them not staying idle. Ruth does not stay idle. So she leaves walks out her front door and simply looks North, South East and West and decides, well, I need to do something. 3 (33m 28s): I need to go glean. I need to provide some out. And so she finds herself in this field and the Bible says it just so happened that she ends up in Boaz field. And from there, we see that over the course of time that there's this budding relationship between Ruth and Boaz. And she was simply obedient to say, I need to do something. And she found herself in this field of Boaz. So one of the important things that we need to to understand, and as we're reading through the book of Ruth is that, that this was written to very different culture. And, and, and we have to understand a bit of the context with which the Bible was written. Our, our Western postmodern understanding doesn't often help us understand this very Jewish culture sometimes. 3 (34m 14s): And sometimes I think we forget that Jesus was this middle Eastern Jewish rabbi. And so, so many of the things that Jesus said and did while he was doing his ministry go right over our head. But it was like, if you were a Jewish, or if you understand the culture and the context, you're like, Whoa, this is, that's what he's saying. Kind of blows your mind. As you begin to understand the culture. And what that does is it opens up these different patterns of the Bible that begins to emerge from these narratives. That's why this narrative is the story of Ruth is in the Bible. Our understanding our Western understanding says that there's prophecy and fulfillment. The thing that's called out, and then it's fulfilled. 3 (34m 57s): But the Jewish understanding is that there's these pro there's a prophecy given. And then there's these partial fulfillment along the way, pointing the way to an ultimate complete fulfilling of that, of that prophecy. So we get these partial, we get these patterns or types that emerge from the word of God. And the part of that pattern, part of those types will emerge from Naomi, Ruth and Boaz and who they represent. So chapter three, Let's jump in. How about that chapter three, verse one, it says, then Naomi mother-in-law said to her, my daughter, shall I not seek security for you? 3 (35m 42s): That it may be well with you, Naomi, the mother-in-law. And she wants to seek security and rest, which she was, she knows God has designed to be found in marriage. And it's within that culture, that Naomi is actually sacrificed in her own, right? The law of the love, right? It was, it was Naomi's right. But, but so that her daughter law will succeed. Naomi, stepping back and saying, I want you to succeed. I want you to be provided for, I want, I care about you. And so she's going to start to work and as a good mother-in-law or a good mother, and she's going to set up her daughter for success, she wants to set them up. 3 (36m 26s): All right. My wife loves to set other gals up. She loves to create these marriage, create these love stories. And so Naomi is going to do that for her daughter in law, Ruth, she wants to seek security and rest. And it leads to a question. I love asking the Bible questions and often, and the, on the margins, all the right questions. Well, why this, or why that? And some things I know will not be answered and tell it, tell her an attorney, but some of the things I'm like, well, I'll say this question for labor are stored in a little file cabinet, wait for later. And one of those questions that I've asked for a long time is why is Boaz single Naomi's, it's going to set up Ruth. So that there's this, the love story gets completed with Boaz, but why was Ruth? 3 (37m 11s): Why was Boaz single? You know, in that culture to be a single older man is, is, was like a . And yet we find that he had a great reputation among his, his employees running the community. He was a man of great wealth. The Bible speaks. Why was he single? And there's a few different thoughts. You know, what was he married? And his wife had passed away is one of the prominent ones that come out that's, that's understandable. And it's yet after reading and studying and, and really looking at the full picture of scripture. This is my personal opinion. My personal opinion was that was that Boaz was untouchable. 3 (37m 58s): He was untouchable. He was in touch long, the way that his mother-in-law had, maybe his, sorry, his mother had put up maybe a scar on him. You see boys, his father was one of the men that marched around Jericho, and that blew the trumpets. And the walls came tumbling down except where Ray had the harlot was and her family and Boaz, his father had taken Rayhab the harlot as his wife, Matthew records that in the genealogy. So it's my personal, if you knew that, that, although Boaz was a great and amazing man that he was still, there was still some stigma in the community and said, well, I don't want my daughter to marry this man. 3 (38m 43s): Who's only half Jewish. And so somehow there was this divine protection that now that God would orchestrate another foreign woman to come into his life, It says in verse two, now, Boaz whose young woman or we're with you, is he not our relative in the army? He says, in fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor, the threshing floor was the saddle on the Hill where the grain and the shaft for separate owners would take their grain and they would, they would, they would kind of crush it and you'd throw it up in the air and allow the wind to kind of blow off the shelf. The shelf was the light stuff, the whole, and the, and the grain would fall in place. 3 (39m 24s): And so it was a great celebration. It was a great time of like, yes, look at my pile of grain, look at what God has provided. Look what he's done. And so what you do either, it'd be just a big celebration. There'd be feast, there'd be excitement. And you wanted to protect that. So the, so the men would gather around and they'd lay on these piles to protect it. So that some fee for bandit wouldn't come and steal from their, from their CA their take at night. And so, and so Naomi's like, I know what's going on. I know where he'll be. And so she gives these specific instructions to Ruth. She says, therefore, wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor. 3 (40m 5s): Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be when he lies down that you shall notice the place where he lies and you shall go in and uncover his feet and lie down. And he will tell you what you should do, Remove taking her best garment and putting our best God wasn't as much as getting fancy as it was removing her clothes of her widowhood. She's now saying Ruth, you are on the market, go dress like it. 5 (40m 36s): And the fees 3 (40m 37s): And the parties that would have gone on, and the eating and drinking was not in a way of access. So you remember the men are there to protect their grain. So if they, if, if you want to read into this, that, Oh, the, that Boaz got drunk. That's, that's just simply not in the text. Bose is there he's feces. He's exciting. There's joy to be found, but then he's going to lay down to protect his grade. And had he been at completely inebriated, then he wouldn't be able to protect if somebody came in. So Boaz and I love the scene is being excessive in his moderation. When he came to drink, be excessive in your moderation, because when he's laying down, he wants to protect what's there. And now, as Naomi is like, Ruth, this is what I want to do. 3 (41m 17s): These are the steps to take, say, tell him, or when you, when he wakes up, he will tell you what to do. And this is putting the ball in Ruth and Boaz this court. And it's a vulnerable position to be put in, especially as a woman, it's a foreign woman in those days. And yet Ruth said all that you say to me, I will do. Now we've got to hold up there, especially cause of the youth you guys are in here. And you're maybe thinking about someday, you want to meet a guy or a gal, and I'm going to say that don't be spiritual or biblical and say, Oh, I'm going to be like Ruth and go find a guy after party. Who's had a little celebration go find and uncover his feet and see what happens. 3 (41m 60s): Like don't do that. Okay, don't do that. That is, that is not what is saying. Is there a little bit of scandal on this as possibly, there's a little bit of scandalous, but there's nothing sinful going on here. This is once again, the culture and the context, and these are two people who that night keep their Virtu and keep their character. It's important in their, in their seeking out of love and seeking out of this marriage. There's still character and virtue to be kept. So Ruth does all that. So her mother-in-law's asked and it says that after Boaz in verse seven had eaten and drunk that his heart was cheerful. 3 (42m 42s): He is he's excited. The Lord has provided the Lord has returned to his people and given them green. And he laid down at the end of the heap of grain and she came softly and he, and she uncovered his feet and he laid down. Now I'm thankful that Hollywood has not tried to remake this into some kind of movie because they would for sure bring some things that aren't biblical and bring some scandal into it. They would botch it for sure. You think of, of, of Boaz. He had been working all day sweating. You know, his feet are dirty, stinky, sweating. She, and she's now laying by them. There's nothing attractive about that. And yet there's something significant that she goes in, uncover his feet and had she gone and tapped him on the shoulder. 3 (43m 28s): He might've jumped up ready for battle, ready to take somebody out. And he's trying to come out his grain, but instead she just simply softly uncover his feet. And there's the significance. And that this has more to do with the hem of his garment than any kind of uncovering we might think. So somewhere back in my genealogy, you might find I'm from Scotland. My last name is from Scott and there's a little village up in Scotland that bears my name Sutherland and the Scots don't wear skirts. They were kilts. Okay. Men back then didn't wear dresses. They wore tunics. Okay. And on the bottom, on the hem of that, tunic was part of it. 3 (44m 8s): There was embroidered into it a lot. And it said it had to do with your genealogy, your, your inheritance, the hem of your garment was something that was showed your authority or your protection, your lineage. It's the reason David, when he was being chased by Saul, he went and hidden the cave with all of his men and saw needing a little reprieve from the sun and needed a little rest, goes into that cave. Not knowing that David is hidden behind and David's men are like there saw, you can take him out. He's been chasing you. You're that you're supposed to be the next King. You've been anointed King. You can take him out. 3 (44m 48s): Now this has God has done this. And David's like, no, no, no. I could never do that to the Lord. And I did. But he, then he went and what did he, what did he cut off at the hem of salts? The hem of his garment. And David still felt guilty about cutting the head of his garment because the hem of God, wasn't just simply a piece of cloth. It's it's stood for the authority that Saul had been given Jesus on his way to heal gyrus. His daughter 12 year old daughter is surrounded by a crowd and a woman with a flow of blood for 12 years reaches out. And what does she touch the hem of his garden garment. 3 (45m 33s): It was this authority in her and she was healed instantly. And Jesus knew that there's power that had left. Why? Because it's this Ruth asking Boaz to take me under your, under your covering under your protection under your provision, verse eight. Now it happened at midnight that the man startled and turned himself and there was a woman lying at his feet. And she S and he said to her, who are you? Remember? There's the dark. There's no streetlights. There's, there's, there's the little light from the is. And maybe there's a moon out. And he says, who are you? And she says, I am Ruth. Your maid servant, take your maid servant under your wing for you are a close relative. The, the Hebrew word is go El. 3 (46m 15s): Or we also are translated into the kinsman Redeemer. And the girl had three aspects to them. He had to be a relative. He had to be related. He had to be able to redeem, and he had to be willing as well to redeem. And she kind of goes off, off her mother-in-law script. You know, Ruth says, well, he'll tell you what to do, but she says, I am Ruth, your maid servant, take your mates over. And under her wing, she is proposing marriage. Ruth had proposing, take me under your covering she requests. 3 (46m 55s): And she's doing this, redeem the land and fulfill the law of the lever marriage. And he says, bless her to you. My Lord of the Lord, my daughter for you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich, it seems like she had options. And now my daughter do not fear for all that. You, you requests for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman. Remember that night, they both kept their virtue. They're both kept their, their character. He says, now it's true. I am a close relative. However, there's a relative closer than I now hold up. 3 (47m 35s): Where did that come from? Right? The guy that's where there's drama suspense. There's a closer relative in the story. Boys was introduced way back in chapter two. And it was just kind of briefly mentioned. And now, now the author is choosing to reveal. It there's even close relative. What's this about? That's not supposed to happen. And so now Boaz begins to tell her what to do. Just like Naomi said, he says, stay the night in the morning. It shall be that if you will perform the duty of a close relative, do you good? Let him do it. But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you as the Lord lives, lie down until morning. 3 (48m 16s): So they both are laying there. I doubt either of them slept. Ruth is thinking there's a wedding tomorrow, but I don't know to who, but as this thinking, okay, how am I going to make this happen? There's someone closer, but I got, how can I, how can I do this? First 15 says, and also he said, bring the Shaw that is on you and hold it in which he held it. He measured six of barley and laid it on her. Then she went into this city and when she came in to her, her mother in law said, is it, that is that you my daughter? 3 (48m 57s): And she told her all that the man had done for. And he, and she said, these six of barley, he gave me, he gave me for, he said to me, do not go empty handed to your mother-in-law. He's sending a code. And there's two things that he's seen with this six measures of two important things. One is Naomi remember had, had, had allowed Ruth to go for, go for Boaz. She didn't claim her right to Boaz. Naomi was laying her sight aside her right to Redeemer by seeking security for both Ruth's wellbeing. But now both Boaz is showing that his concern and care that he will provide for Naomi as well. He's providing for her as well. 3 (49m 41s): He seen you could have come at me and demanded that I do the law of love, right with you. But instead he chose the same roof. And now I'm going to take care of you nail me. Don't worry. I'm going to take care of you, but she's also sending another message or he's sending another message through this verse. 18 says is still my daughter and tell you no how the matter will turn out for the man will not rest until you is concluded. The matter of this day, think about that. Here's six ethos of barley free mother, and I'll give her those to you. And the man will not rest. You think of something has to do is six and then rest God's creation, right? 3 (50m 27s): God created in six days. And then he chose to rest the seventh. That was his message. That was a secret code to Naomi, like Naomi, I got this, here's your six ethos, but now just know that you can rest and rest. And I, there was probably a lot of concern and warring going on back in that house. Like what's going to happen. Who's the wedding going to be too, but they were told to rest. And that just enters into my mind, all the, what ifs have you ever read those books? I grew up with these books that you read, you know, part of a chapter. And then it would say, well, if the character chooses to go into the jungle, or if the character chooses to go to the forest, choose which way they go. 3 (51m 7s): And you say, okay, you know, forest is page 10 and, and the jungles page 20. And it leads you into the story of all these little different what ifs. And so you kind of, you can lead your character through these books, into these, these innumerable different little ways, and finally the bookends. And then you say, well, I want to see what happened if he went the other way. And so you go back and you reread it and it's all these what ifs and the what ifs start to haunt the story, or make me think that the story, all the, what ifs, what if Elimelech had never left? What if he had kept his sons there? 3 (51m 47s): What if that, what if his sons hadn't chose to, to marry these Moabite woman? What if Ruth hadn't decided to return with her? Mother-in-law what if Ruth had stayed in the house and said, you know, I'm too tired for this long journey. I don't really feel like going out. I just hope somebody will bring us some food. What if she never went out to the field? What if she'd gone to a different field? What if Boaz was not a kind and generous and man of character? 3 (52m 28s): What if he was a cruel and didn't want to fulfill the law that God had said for the law of gleaning and allow his corners of his grain to be Glen gleaned. There's so many what ifs. And you think about God, who knows in his, all the sovereignty seems to know all these what ifs, but yet he's working. He's unfolding his perfect plans through our choices, through these freewill decisions that we're given we're given. And yet they don't get outside of his ultimate plan. Cause now we're going to see, as it continues on now, Boaz verse, chapter four, verse one. Now he goes up to the gate and all night he'd been doing the what ifs. What if I go to the gate? And nobody comes by what if I go to the gate? 3 (53m 10s): And he doesn't want to sit down and be, what are all these what F so now Boaz went to the gate and he sat down and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken, came by and Boaz said, come aside, my friend, sit down here. And so he came and he sat beside and sat down. And this enters into the scene. Now another person unnamed relative, right? This man will go down in the history. Books is unnamed, which is a protection during the time that this was first written, they would have known who this man was, but the author chose to keep him out of the pages, book, the book. 3 (53m 51s): And it says, and he took 10 men are the elders of the city. And he said, sit down here. And they sat down and it seems like Boaz has this way of commanding respect. Now Boaz is setting up the scene. He has all these people around and you can imagine to see his heart beating out of his chest. Okay? Okay. How's this going to go? What's going to happen. He said to the close relative, Naomi has come back from the country of Moab is sold the piece of land, which belonged to our brother a liberal check. And it wasn't as much of a selling as it was a loaning or releasing. It was like a lease on the land. The land belonged to the family, but you could lease out if you were poor, if you needed extra cash, you could lease out parts of your land. 3 (54m 35s): And that's what Elimelech had to do. He had to lease out his family land because he couldn't keep the crops. There was just something that happened. And so in, in those scripts of, of, as the land got transferred, there's also this, the right to be able to buy the land back. And so now Boaz in his strategy is saying, okay, this close relative here. I want to remind you that this piece has been sold, but it needs to be redeemed verse Fortnite. And I thought to inform you, save and buy it back. And the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know for there's none. There's no one like you to redeem it. 3 (55m 16s): And then I am after you. And so the man says all redeem it. That's not the plan. I will redeem it and Boaz. Okay. So he's been strategy. He's been thinking about all this night, all night, and he says this. He says, on the day that you buy the fuel from the land of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth. The Moabitess, the wife of the dead to perpetuate, or the name of the dead through his inheritance. It was a reminder that you're not just redeeming the land. It's not just about the physical land, but there's also the redeeming of the lineage and the inheritance, which was part of their culture. And the close relative says, I cannot redeem it for myself. 3 (55m 57s): Lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself. I cannot redeem it. So yes, he was a kinsmen and he was able, but he was not willing. It says, now this was the custom in former times and Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. And you'd give a sandal off your foot. The close relative in verse eight said to Boaz, buy it for yourself. So he took off his sandal. It was the giving away have the right of the land. And, and this has the implication of, of Deuteronomy 1124 and Joshua one three that wherever the sole of your foot treads, that's where your land will be, that you have to actually walk into it and walk onto it. 3 (56m 41s): And that reminds us of, of this is a part of a pattern of our Christian life. There's so many abundant promises in the scripture and in the word of God, there's an abundance wealth out there, but we have to, as Christians, we have to step on it and we have to step into those things into those promises of God. We have to take those as ourself for ourself. We need to step in our sole of our foot. Our feet of faith need to like walk onto these promises of God. So the CA the sandal symbolize that. Now you can see in verse nine, that Boaz is probably holding up that sandal. And he says to elder the people, you are witnesses this day, I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chileans. 3 (57m 27s): And Mahons from the hand of Naomi, he is, he is redeeming the land from Leviticus 25. And he says, Gomorrah over the Ruth, the Moabitess the widow of may hon. I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brother. And, and from the position at the gate, you are witnesses of this at this day. So now he was taking the Deuteronomy 25 of redeeming his bride to the left right marriage. And it says all the people who are out the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord, make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. 3 (58m 11s): And may you prosper and epitaph as well as, and be famous in Bethlehem. So they're going to give, they're going to give Boaz now two blessings, and they're kind of interesting blesses. You have to kind of read and the survey, you have to know what was going on in this first class. And they're going back to Rachel and Leah of the house of Israel. And they're reminding that God promised that a Messiah would come through his people. And so there's, there is simply saying like the Messiah will CA, this will be part of the lineage of the Messiah. Micah five, two talks about Bethlehem being that Citi. And it talks about how he will be famous and you will be famous. 3 (58m 59s): He'll be famous in that space. Then they give a second blessing, which is interesting. Especially if you know the culture, the context of it, it says, may your house be the house of Perez who Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring, which the Lord will give you from this young woman. So without going very deep into Genesis 38, this is an interesting blessing. You see, Judah had three sons and he sought a wife and he found a wife for his first son that son ended up passing away. And so he wanted his second son and marry that woman. Then the second, second son rejected that, and God rejected him. And so he also passed away. 3 (59m 40s): And then the third son, Judah was like, well, I don't want that same thing to happen to him. So he held him back and that left Tamar in a very vulnerable position as a widow unprotected in that culture. And Tamar does something that's super skinless. She puts on the clothes of a prostitute, gets pregnant and bears a son to her. Father-in-law, it's sad that this is even in the Bible, but it shows the human condition. And the fact that this is Jesus, his lineage even is even blows my mind even more. And so the son that Judah BOR Perez, who is a relative of Boaz is illegitimate and God, and in Deuteronomy 23 had laid out in the law that 10 generations will be disinherited from entering into the temple to worship. 3 (1h 0m 38s): And so they're saying, may your house be like Perez who Tamar boarded Judah. That sounds like the weirdest kind of blessing to give to this man Boaz. Who's about ready to get married. And I'll circle back on that at the end. So Boaz took Ruth and he became his, and she became his wife. And when they went in and he went into and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son, the barren woman brings forth a sun. And the woman said to Naomi blessed, be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative. And may his name be famous and Israel, and it was famous. Do you notice that same fields that were Boaz Ruth, those same fields? There were some shepherds watching their sheep at night and the sky was opened up and the angels came down in their glory, singing about a Messiah that was born in Bethlehem. 3 (1h 1m 29s): Those are those fields it'll be fit. His name will be famous for 15, and maybe he be a restore of life and a nourisher of you and your old age for your daughter law, who loves you is better to you than seven sons. And they only took the child later on her was them and became a nurse to him. She became a caretaker. She, this, this little child, his little baby obeyed became her like adopted son and away. 3 (1h 2m 9s): And I have one of those women in my life. I, so I was born in Hong Kong and I was born in Hong Kong. My parents were missionaries in South China and in McCalla, South China and Macau was not known for the best hospitals. And so my parents were like, we want to, you know, we want, we want to have our baby in Hong Kong. And so my parents traveled to Hong Kong, which has across the Harbor. And they stayed with this missionary lady and her name was Hazel Kline top. I call her Tutu for grandma and Tutu was one of the ones who every birthday, she, you know, for my, for my second birthday, she sent me $2 bill. You know, for my 14th birthday, she'd sent me $14. She prayed for me your whole life. 3 (1h 2m 49s): I'm so grateful her she's the sweetest lady, but my parents were coming back and they bring you back from the hospital. And she just felt like the Lord had spoken to her while, while, while I was in the hospital, like, don't let him go and sleep back in the guestroom where my parents had been staying. So she had just had a little two room apartment there and in Hong Kong. And so my parents came back home. They bring me in there. They're like, Oh, you moved the beds around. And she's like, no, no, no. I want you to take the master bedroom. And she's sleeping with the baby. And I'm like, Oh no, the guest room was fine. It was comfortable. And she's like, she just insists. And the Lord made it clear. You are not duty that the first night I'm back from the hospital to, to sleep in the room. 3 (1h 3m 31s): And she gets like, here's this noise. And what had happened is these rats had come in through the window, big rats, big, big rats, urban overseas, you see these big rats had come into the window and she's like, they would have, who knows what would happen? There's like this, this protection and to do was that, that amazing woman of faith. And now Naomi is holding this baby and she's realizing, she thought she went out four and came back flat and empty. And now she's seen all the blessings come back through this little baby. And she, and, and the name obeyed. And now it gives the genealogy. We're going to finish for the book of genie, the genealogy. And this is important because it says, now this is the genealogy of Paris. 3 (1h 4m 13s): Remember that illegitimate son Perez we've got Hezron has, rhombi got Ram. Randy got Neisha. And he got Solomon, Solomon begot, Boaz, Boaz. We got Obad. OB got Jesse and Jesse, we got David lists, 10 generations. There's 10 generations that illegitimate sons generations were to be disinherited. Now it's closing the loop. And it's saying, this is my son. And David was going to be that, that, that one. So in closing, this is that Ruth leaves, no detail overlooked, No promise, unkept, no prophecy that will not go unfulfilled. 3 (1h 5m 0s): Jesus said not one jot or tittle will by no means pass away. Jesus will complete it all. And what started out as a big nation, focusing in the nation that everyone was doing and what was right in their own eyes and, and how that led to tragedy and death. And now closing, we focus on a few individuals who are chosen to trust and obey and honor the Lord, despite the conditions that surround them, that we see this joy and birth that come in and not just for them personally, but for the family. And then also ultimately for the nation into the world. 3 (1h 5m 40s): And so looking at these characters, Ruth Bo Boaz and Naomi, where did they put their trust? And my question is where do you put your trust? Will you trust in yourself? And, and the good things that you do, your bank account, your 401k, your career. Do we trust in someone that someone will carry us through the, the hard times that some thing, some activity, but I wanted to say that Ruth was putting her whole trust into the God of Israel forsaken her own tribe and Mo and the mobile site has God. 3 (1h 6m 20s): I mean, what if, what if Ruth had just decided on that journey back? Well, I'm forsaking my God. I'm going to go to this God of Israel, and maybe, maybe I should just be at play a little safe. And I'll just take one of my little idols with me. I'll just take a little God with me that way. If anything really bad starts to happen, I can just pull out my little God and pray to this. God, what if she had kept something back? But I don't see that in Ruth. She abandoned everything completely. Totally. It was all putting her trust in it, into God. She was completely forsaken everything back home. And do you obey God and honor him with your day to day decisions? What if Boaz had not obeyed and honored God with his crops and obeying God with the law of, of gleaning? 3 (1h 7m 5s): What if Boaz had said, well, there's been a famine. I need to keep all this. I need to keep it for myself. And he instructs his Gleaners to glean everything. Don't let anything, we left here and get the corners. Don't let don't let anything fall. Like, what if you'd been that guy who said, I need everything that I'm simply not gonna let anybody have anything. And he's been just so held onto it, but he doesn't. We see him being obedient to God and to be generous to others. See the Lord knows every detail because he is the God of the ordinary and Insignificant, and in that God chose over the scope of humanity to narrow into a Bethlehem farmer and a foreign widowed woman. 3 (1h 7m 54s): And he brings us the book of Ruth. I'm going to pray Psalm 20 for a closing prayer. Believe it's applicable very ahead and close your eyes with me. Psalm 20 may the Lord answer you. And the day of trouble may the name of God, of Jacob defend you may he send you help from the sanctuary and he strengthened you out of Zion. May he remember all your offerings and accept your bird sacrifice? May he grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your purpose? 3 (1h 8m 37s): We will rejoice in your salvation and the name of our God. We will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions? Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his Holy heaven, with the saving strength and his right hand, some trust in chariots and some trust in horses. But we will remember the name of the Lord, our God, they have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen in. We stand upright, save Lord, may the King and stress. When we call having the fire, that is our prayer. You're good. God Lord. For any of those that might be here, who are carrying those extra bear burdens who are holding onto something who are holding on the trust to something that they shouldn't be doing Lord and not putting it in you Lord, pray. 3 (1h 9m 26s): They'd lay those burdens down. Lord, find the complete hope and trust in you. Jesus name. 1 (1h 9m 32s): Hey man. Why don't we all stand together? As we worship in response to what we've heard. You hear moving worship, worship, worship, worship. 1 (1h 10m 14s): God and then I don't feel it. 1 (1h 13m 8s): You working, you never stop. You never stop. Never stop. We never stop. I don't see he even man, I don't feel it. Never stop. Never stop. Never stop and stop. 1 (1h 13m 29s): 0 (1h 19m 43s): You were so good. You said faith full. Thank you. God for all that you've done for us. And he's continued to do to work in our, Thank you for the word that you brought today. I pray that it would take root in our hearts and fruit. Would you fill our cup for the week ahead? And we would overflow Jesus and to everyone, we come in contact with, make us more like you God The students to be together worshiping with here on campus and at home, just bless every family represent 1 (1h 20m 17s): That's your kingdom. Come in our lives in Jesus name. Amen and amen. Awesome. Such a great morning. 0 (1h 20m 26s): And any of you would like prayer. We would love to pray with you. Come on forward. We have some volunteers and staff that would be glad to pray with you. Have any needs. Have a wonderful week. Take a moment to say hi to somebody on your way out, and we'll see you next Sunday. Have a great day.

God of the Insignificant and Ordinary

0 (0s): Well, good morning. Welcome to Harvest. Church thanks for coming this morning. Hello to everyone. 1 (6s): And then the loft and up on the patio, it's everyone watching at home. 0 (10s): It's awesome to be together. All one big family. So welcome wherever you're watching from with those of you here with me on campus, I'd like to stand and we'll begin standing. If you're able and let's invite the Lord's presence and praise, we begin. Thank you, Lord, that when we gather in your name that you promise to be in our list. And so we welcome you. Holy spirit, just to come in this time is to minister to every heart. Let's pray, especially for anyone who's just hurting this morning. Maybe hurting physically, maybe hurting within the city. 1 (49s): How would you meet us? Right where we hurt, 0 (52s): Or how would you meet us in our and our need and our brokenness? God, I asked for healing and restoration just to wash over us. Just let your love just cast out all anxiety and fear this week And this how much you care for us. 1 (1m 13s): Thank you. 0 (1m 17s): And we're going to sing a new song this morning and the song talks a lot about how God makes away. And there seems to be no way. And he's the God who parts the seize for us. He's the God who moves mountains. Some of you might know this, and I hope she can. The chorus goes like this way, man. 1 (1m 39s): Promise keeper lied in the darkness by God. That is soon Tom is the guy in the dark and my God and when I feel it's work and can never stop, never stop. 1 (5m 41s): Never stop. Never stop. by God. 1 (8m 22s): Sometimes you just put a new song and you put words upon our lips. 0 (8m 27s): So God we just flipped our praises to you this morning. 1 (8m 35s): God in this crazy world. 1 (19m 4s): What? The world, the world needs more. You want more of you in our lives. We want to reflect you. Jesus. 0 (19m 16s): 1 (19m 31s): Yeah, just soak in his presence. Just a moment. If you want to shut your eyes and just welcome him renewed, just pray with Jesus. 1 (20m 15s): You continue to minister to our hearts is so easy to just grow weary. It's so easy to forget. So help us to remember your faithfulness. 0 (20m 38s): I just pray that you would open our hearts to receive your word this morning. Let's pray a blessing over Jeremy, as he brings the word today, and that you would flow mightily through him and God would you be in our fellowship as we lift each other up, you share each other's burdens. That's pretty the, you give us courage just to reach out to someone this morning, we're hurting and to ask for prayer where you give us courage to reach out to someone and say, can I pray for you, God, that you would be the body of Christ working together to see your kingdom come here in our city and on the earth we ask all of this beautiful negative. 0 (21m 28s): Amen. Good stuff. Church awesome. Yeah. And we're going to take time to greet some folks around you. So please take a minute to say hi to somebody and we'll be back in just a few minutes with some announcement. 2 (21m 44s): Hey everyone. Welcome. We're all having so much fun talking to each other. This is great. All right. I love how social everyone is. It's so fun. So fun to see a welcome, everyone. Welcome to all of you that are joining us online and joining us from the laughed from the patio, from the sanctuary. It's so fun to see all of your guys, the smiling faces. Okay. I have a lot of things to announce. So bear with me. Okay. If you are new or if you have a question or if you want to know about a group or need any sort of information about Harvest Church visit the info table. 2 (22m 29s): It is a, there's a big sign that says welcome across the front of it. There are big banners that show you where it is. It's halfway up the driveway, or if you're elsewhere, then halfway up from the sanctuary. Okay. Let's see. We would love to have you fill out a communication card. You can do that by filling out. There should be a card in front of you in a seat in front of you or at one of the tables by one of the venues, fill this out and turn it into a collection box or to the welcome booth table. And you will get weekly emails. People will reach out to you about a group. If you want to join a group, or if you want to volunteer for kid's ministry, I'm the kid's ministry director. 2 (23m 12s): I highly recommend it. I'm also a plug for that real fast. If you want to volunteer for kid's ministry, but you're like, I don't know enough about the Bible. I'm not smart. And whatever the case is, you don't have to know everything. Cause if you did, no one would be eligible. No one would be able to do it. And so if you go, if you're, if that's your concern or if you're worried about, if you're a man and you're like, I want to volunteer in kid's ministry. And you're like, but I can't because I'm a man, not the case. We have lots of guys, the volunteering kids ministry, my plug is over a visit the info booth. If you want to volunteer, okay. Murder, mystery night, the deadline for that is today. So if you haven't signed up for that yet, and then you have to do it today by the end of the day. 2 (23m 54s): Cause if you don't, then it's literally, it's cut off at the end of the day. So that's for ages 20 to 40. And it's going to be on October 30th in the loft from six to 9:00 PM. And it's $5 to be a part of that. So it's going to be a super fun, exciting night, baptism and bonfire. So the baptism and the bonfire are happening on the same night. It's a week from yesterday. So it's next Saturday, October 17th at 4:00 PM. At the end of Grande just on the beach, straight out from where Grande Avenue ends. They are doing a baptism class for that right now. So if you're interested in being baptized, they're meeting right now in the Church office, which is up the Hill. 2 (24m 34s): So if you guys, if any of you want to get baptized, just go ahead and run up the Hill right now. And you can be a part of that if you want to get baptized and you're decided tomorrow and the baptism classes over reach out to us and we will figure out a way to make it happen. Okay? Let's see. 3 (24m 52s): Oh, 2 (24m 52s): Baptism and bonfire. Sorry. One more thing. There will be hot dogs. There will be smores and there will be hot chocolate. So bring a beach chair, bring a blanket, bring beach toys, bring the whole family and come and enjoy. I'm so bad at this guys. I apologize. Okay. Growth track. Moving out. If you are new to Harvest Church or newer, and you've never been a part of the growth track, it is a great opportunity to learn about Harvest. Church learn about the history, learn what we're all about, learn about why we're non-genetic denominational, why we're Bible based. All of the things. It is a great thing to be a part of. It's a four week class. 2 (25m 33s): It meets on Sunday mornings during the 11:00 AM service starting on October 25th. So sign up for that at the info table. Okay. We are doing a celebration of life service for Mike on October 17th, this upcoming Saturday at 11:00 AM here at the Church we're in need of some, either strong men or strong women to help set up. We need, we need people who can lift chairs off of chair rocks, who can lift tables. If you're a man, you can do that. Great sign up, please. If you're a woman and you can do that. Awesome. Please sign up. We need help with that for the celebration of life specifically, it's at 11:00 AM this upcoming Saturday. 2 (26m 14s): So if you're sign up for that, you're only signing up for like an hour next Saturday and that's it so, really easy and it's fun. So yeah, sign up for that at the info table as well. Okay. We're done. All right. Thank you for bearing with me. All of you who actually did, and pastor Jeremy is going to be bringing us the word today. 3 (26m 37s): Thanks, Leslie. 5 (26m 45s): Awesome. Great, great announcements. Thank you. I heard it said past month or so that we need more precedent in times, right? We keep seeing all over the news that there's all these, this is unprecedented times and in our, with our health and economy and, and, and the presidential candidates and, and they keep saying, this is unprecedented. I think we need more precedent at times, right? Would you guys agree with me? 4 (27m 11s): And I'm so, cause I get to be a 5 (27m 15s): Getting do, bring the word these next two weeks, pastor Steve has been leading us through this, this COVID crisis. He has his, he's taking the brunt of a lot of, just a lot of things. And so we are just stoked that we were able to as a staff and, and just to be able to send them out and get some refreshment or encouragement vision. And so he's out there meeting with the Lord. And, and so we're, we're just going to, we're going to pray for him this morning and then we'll pray for the, the time and the word this morning. So pray with him please. Heavenly father. We thank you that, that pastor Steve has led from the front Lord. 5 (27m 55s): And during these times, Lord, we thank you for, for this church that the doors are open. That, that, that we are Church that we're meeting here, Lord, and, and that we're, we're meeting with each other, the fellowship that the lien hands on a prayer, all those things they'll worship Lord, that, that, that goes on Lord. We thank you for that Lord. And it's and it has what it has. It come at a cost for pastor Steve. So the Lord will you be with him, Lord, will you pour into him this next week or so? And just a refresh his spirit. We thank you, Lord, that he gets to go out Lord and, and, and do that Lord. So, but with us here, Lord, I believe that you just have a message. Lord, you just have a, you have a word for each of us this morning and, and, and next week as well or God. 5 (28m 37s): And when you speak to us, we speak to our hearts. We use just speaking to our condition, Jesus name, we pray. Amen. So we're going to be in the book of Ruth this next two weeks. I get two, I get two weeks and the book of Ruth, we're going to try to accomplish a Ruth chapters one and two this week. And, and we're gonna have three and four next week. And with that, Ruth is my, is one of my favorite books. The Bible we have Genesis, I think is like my, my, my ultimate favorite and Ruth would be a close second to that. You know, we, we, we see in the book of Ruth that it, I like to say it's Ruth is humanity. And four chapters, 85 verses just a little over, just a little under 2,700 words. 5 (29m 22s): Hebrew words is found the book of Ruth and each word is just skillfully crafted it's and it's not just a beautiful story, cause there's so much that's happening underneath the surface that you can just kind of floss over when you read through the book of Ruth in the matter of 15, 20 minutes. So I'm excited to kind of jump in. We're going to take a very distant approach and kind of just dive in a few spots, dive in where I think the Lord wants to reach us today. But what I would, I hope we will all walk out is that God is he's the God of the Insignificant and Ordinary he's the God of the and Insignificant Ordinary and why. And, and the current that we see under the book of Ruth is this Providence of God. 5 (30m 6s): God sovereignty mixes somehow matches with our freewill and God is working out things in our life and through our lives, you see just at face value, read it through the book of Ruth and the beautiful story that comes out. You have all these things that come up, you have grief, you have joy, you have sorrow friendship, family, betrayal, redemption, you have drama, you have loneliness, compassion, romance, scandal, bravery, faith, grace, love, you have weddings and you have death. That's just, it just all their humanity in four chapters. And so what I want to show is that there's no such thing as an insignificant detail to our Lord and our understanding of God is so framed by what we think of God is God just the God of the big things is God just the God of, of, of the important, the, the, the things that we might think, Oh, well, God only cares about those big, those important things or has God also so intimately acquainted our lives. 5 (31m 16s): There was a German theologian. He said this, tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you. So often the bigger we think of God, Oh gosh, this is this big, he's this cosmic force, all the things, the less intimate, the less we think he has to do with us. Tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you these two weeks. We're only going to scrape the surface and maybe, maybe you, Steve gave me the glimmer of hope. Maybe we can jump into some, some things later on down the road, go into depth, but let's jump into the book of Ruth chapter one. 5 (31m 57s): It answers one of the questions of this is in the darkest of times, how does a person live a life that makes a difference? And the darkest of times, how does one live a life that makes a difference? And, and Ruth is going to show us, and he's going to show us and the simple things and the way we treat others and our business dealings and preparing a meal for a family, for your family, washing dishes, doing the laundry. It's the simple day to day things Insignificant as the main thing to us aren't to God first one starts out. It says, now it came to pass. And the day's when the judges ruled that there was a famine in the land. And that's so that's, that's up the time period with which the book of Ruth was written. 5 (32m 37s): It was in the time of the judges and, and the book of judges ends with this verse. And it's it's it's right where we're at. It says in those days there was no King in Israel. Everyone did what was right in the eye, in his own eyes, there was no King and everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. I can relate to that. I think we can all relate to that. Remember the time when my parents left my brother and I home alone for the first time and ride, what no parents around this is awesome. What are we going to do? We're going to have a BB gun wore in the house. 3 (33m 13s): 5 (33m 16s): I don't, I don't, I don't suggest that I don't suggest cutting a Q-tip and half and putting it in your seven 60 pump master, and then pump it up a few times and shooting your brother and the leg. I don't, I don't remember that may or may not have happened may or may not have left a hole in my brother. And he may or may not have chased me around the house the next 20, 30 minutes. So the authority wasn't home. So we did what we wanted. And our times we, you know, we've taken God out of our government, out of our schools, out of the public spheres. And, and, and there's even the sense of trying to take God out of churches. And it feels, it's just, this is where we're at. And it's like, everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes. 5 (33m 57s): Yeah. I grew up with the sane. My friend said over and over in junior high and high school, it says, if it feels good, do it. If it feels good doing, and I watched my friends who listened to that and who went down that path of, Hey, if it feels good, they did it. I believe there's a famine. There's a drought in our land now, too. It was a famine of, of, of truth, of common sense of compassion, of love for calling men. Those, the things that seem to be lacking in our time and this time that they were in the time of judges, there was a famine and there was a drought. 5 (34m 40s): And that led to the lack of food for the nation of Israel. See God him. And Deuteronomy 11 had promised that as long as the, the Israelites were obedient, there would always be plenty. And so it seems like this is a dark, dark time. And even in the book of judges, that there was a famine in that, that there was this lack of, of just doing what was right as a nation. And so as the book of Ruth narrows it down, it goes from the nation is how the nation was doing as a whole. Now it's going to go to a family because God uses individuals. He uses families. So verse one and two is the name of the man was Elimelech. And the name of his wife was Naomi. And the names of their two sons were may Hahn and Chilean and their from Bethlehem. 5 (35m 25s): And they went to the country of Moab and they remained there. So they leave the land of Israel, the leave, the land of promise. And they go to, to journey to this land of Moab, because they were trying to find food and find the bed. Now, Bethlehem, interestingly enough means house of bread. That's what Bethlehem means. The house of red. And Elimelech his name means my God is King. So my God is King D decides to uproot his family out of the land. And they go and they travel to Moab and he takes with him, his wife and her name is pleasant or pleasant. One. That's what Naomi means. And the significance of those names. She was pleasant. And maybe this shows the, the, the names of they gave their son the show's the times and the difficulties and the struggles they were having their family cause a male, a Hawn or Mohan. 5 (36m 14s): His name means SIC. And his brother chili on his, his name actually means pining or wasting away. So we have Elimelech and his wife, Naomi, and their two sons pining and wasting away and show the condition, show the struggles that that family was going, going through. And so they think they come down two and they think the best thing to do is to leave the house of bread and to go Sojourn in another country. And that sojourning turned into the remaining and it turning into, into settling down. And so often I think people try to hit it. Elimelech why would you leave the land of promise? 5 (36m 54s): Why would you leave the house of bread? And yet, I think he's just a father trying to do what's best. As he's watching his two sons waste away and the drought and the family, and that's brought on and they go to the faraway land, Elimelech ends up dying and Naomi's husband died. And she was left with her two sons. That's a lot to happen in a far away land to lose a spouse, to lose the, the, the, the covering the head of the family. She was now widowed now. And we found herself in a place of, she was being witty. 5 (37m 35s): She was widowed in the foreign land, and they took two wives, or the other woman of Moab, the sons did. And the name of the first was Orpah. And the name of the other was Ruth. And they dwelt there about 10 years. So you have orphan and her name actually means neck or, or like gazelle. Something about her neck stood out and Ruth, her name means friend. And what I'll, what I'll dive into deeper next week is the picture that's going on here. You have the beautiful story, but there's a picture that God's weaving in. It was, it's actually prophetic because Naomi is a picture of the nation of Israel. And now we have Ruth and Ruth has a friend. 5 (38m 19s): Well, Jesus called us friends. He says, you are no longer slaves, but you're friends. And they, they, they, they went there dwelled there about 10 years. And so they're there for 10 years and they're in a foreign land. There's no father. So the two sons, and it says, and as it came to pass verse five, the both Mahan and chili on died. So the woman survived her two sons and her husband. I mean, just sit in that loss for a little bit. All of Naomi's hopes, all of her dreams, all of her protection have all now died. 5 (39m 2s): The hurt, the pain, no family there to support no, no, no comfort, no community of God to support her in this time. So we have left as a house with three widows in it. Naomi has no children left. They both passed away. And now we have two women who are bearing two women. Who've been married with their husbands for 10 years and, and not have had any offspring had any children to, to pass on that line of, of Elimelech. And not much has made her that, that Ruth is barren, but the end of the book, there's this glimmer. Cause, cause that's what the beauty of this narrative is that in the end, we're going to see Ruth. This is Barry woman in the beginning that we see Ruth as a, as a, as a barrier in the end, we're going to see that the Lord opens her womb and now it's going from the family. 5 (39m 52s): And now we're going to, we're going to even narrow it and close. And we're going to go from the family to the individuals. And so Naomi arises with her daughters in law that they might return from the country of Moab. And for she heard in the country of Moab, that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread, bread had returned to the house of bread. So she arises a Rose from her losses. She realizing all the pain and all the while she still has to move on, she still has to do something, just the travel and of 70 miles over, over a mountain, across the river dangers. I mean all that stuff there because God y'all way God had visited his people and theirs. 5 (40m 34s): Therefore, she went out from the place where she was and her two daughters went with her and, and she, she looks at her two times and she's like, you don't need to follow me. I am nothing. And she, she talks about the, that the Lord's hand had gone against her. She says, go return each to her mother's house. And verse eight, the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with me, dealt with the dead. And with me, those years of pain and grief and loss route, and Naomi had been milled down, she had been crushed. She feels like if there's nothing left, like there's no hope why you girls don't need to come with me. 5 (41m 16s): But verse nine, she says that she, that the Lord may grant you rest, that you may find arrest each in the house of her husband. And that is one of the designs of marriage. That marriage be a place of rest that is God's design. And so she desires that for her, her, her two daughter and loss go find rest and the house of her husband. So she kissed them and lift up. So the, so she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept. And surely we return with you as these people, you know, to your people. And it was a nice sentiment, but they weren't both willing to go there. And often in our grief and our loss, people try to reach out and people try to help. 5 (41m 58s): But when I, when I lost my dad to cancer, I remember a specific conversation and I, I understand the heart, but, but she's like, Oh, you know, trying to, trying to find words. And she's like, well, I understand what you're going through. Cause I just lost my dog. And there was two, there was like, I want to say some things. And the other was like, I just, I realized, I realized you're trying to empathize. And, and I just, you just have to take for face value. But I, I like how job's friends handled it. When Joe went through all of his losses, at least for the S the first part of it job, his friends came and sat with him in silence, in the midst of all of his lost for seven days. 5 (42m 43s): For seven days, they just sat there with Jobe and the friends that have, have comforted me and walked through my losses in my life. They were there. Just the ones that, Hey, I'm here for you. I don't know what to say. I don't have the right words, but I'm just here for you. If you need anything, just let me know. So you, after seven days, that's when job's friends opened their mouth and that's when it just went downhill, right? This went downhill. So Naomi says the second 10, and turn back my daughters, why don't you go with me? But there's still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands. And she's, she's talking about the law of the love, right. Marriage. And we'll leave that for later. So she views and she understands that God has come against her. 5 (43m 24s): She says, the hand of the Lord has come up, has come against her. And if she only knew we have, we I've redone as, as getting to overlook the whole book of Ruth and having read it. And haven't understood the gospel message and all that stuff. We know that God has awesome and amazing plans for new home. And she doesn't in that moment of grief and loss and pain and hurt all that stuff. She just thinks that the Lord has come against her. If somebody could just whisper into her ear, Jeremiah 29 11 for, I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans to give you a hope and the future. Can you imagine that? 5 (44m 4s): And her daughter-in-laws, they lifted up their voice and they wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her or putt goes back off the pages of scripture and into, into oblivion. We never hear of her again. And they always seen an believe. She says to Ruth, now this is the third time she urges her. Go back, go back to your people. Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods return after your sister-in-law that's significant. You see back to she's saying, go back to your gods, go back to Chemosh. That was the God that the Moabites worshiped go back to the, the, the destroyer, the subdued. 5 (44m 47s): That's what, that's what she washed meant. She must was the God that accepted human sacrifice. She says, look, I have nothing left. And she washed, maybe Chemosh will be kinder than my God. Y'all the way the show's her, her, her just her hurt and her pain in Ruth hearing that will not turn back for. There's something that she's seen. And Naomi and Ruth said, and this is some of my fear versus the book of Ruth 16 and 17. 5 (45m 27s): But Ruth said, intrigued me not to leave you or to turn back from following you forever, where you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge your people shall be my people in my, and your God, my God, where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. This is her statement of faith and that it, they, they, they have stay this and colleges. It's just a beautiful, beautiful literary work. And it has that Adam and Eve ring to it as well from Genesis two, where Adam says, this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Ruth is like, I will not leave you. 5 (46m 7s): I have clung to Ruth. She, where does she get this faith? She was raised in a gentle idol worshiping country. And now she's ready to abandon everything that she knew. Her family, her friends, her community, all of that is to follow after Naomi and to have Naomi's God be her God. How could that be? When Naomi had nothing but loss and pain and hurt. And I believe that it's because as Naomi was being crushed, there was something sweet that was still coming out of her. The way you create fragrance or perfume is you actually take the herb or the plant and you crush it. You grind it up so that it gives its full aroma. 5 (46m 50s): Paul would say later in the second Corinthians for, we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved. And among those who are perishing to the one, we are a realm of death, Lena death, and to other, the aroma of life leading the life we can in our times of crushing, still be that aroma to Christ that, that lead other the other say, I don't know what it is about you. You're going through some tough stuff, but there is something in you. There's something I desire. And that's what Ruth was doing. She was, she was like, despite the crushing, she was still said, your people are my people, your God, my God. So when they only saw ruse determination, she just moved on. 5 (47m 34s): And it says, as they came to Bethlehem and verse 19, all the city was excited because then they see two figures, two women returning from Moab. And it had been many years has been at least 10 years. And they look and they're looking, they're excited. And they said, Oh, is this Naomi life has been hard on her. Is this Naomi? And she says, I don't call me. Naomi, call me, Mara. See Naomi means pleasant, but she's now she's saying, call me, Mara for Mara means better. We can see where she's at. She's in a place of bitterness. She said, I went out full of verse 21. 5 (48m 15s): It and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi? Why do you call me pleasant? Since the Lord has testified against me? And the almighty almighty has afflicted me and I I'm, I'm thankful for it. Cause she, she has a way of speaking her mind. She has a way of going, Oh yeah, I lost everything, but I'm okay. I'm good. She doesn't do that. She's like, she's in this place of bitterness and God will still meet her there. And the people will meet her there. How often do we get asked? How are you doing? And we say, Oh, I'm good. I'm smiling when we're hurting inside the church. And I think our, this community should be a place of just authentic community. And it's my personal belief. 5 (48m 56s): And this, this, this is my understanding. As I've read through the story and traders say, I think that Naomi had a lot to do with them leaving Israel and the first place. I think I, my it's my personal belief that Naomi was like, Elimelech look at our sons. Why are we staying in this godforsaken place of Bethlehem? Why we need to leave this place? Look at our sons. They're dying. If we don't do something there, they're going to waste away. And so sh maybe she was positive. My thought she was the one, the impetus of pushing them out into the land of Moab. We have to go find food for our kids. We have to do something. And so now she's come back and she feels like she's just completely empty is because she, maybe it's my thought that she was the one who's pushing for that. 5 (49m 42s): And she's like, board's gone against me. I was the one who wanted this. Now the Lord is coming against me. Just think back to those evening conversations when the boys were in their beds and the husband and wife, a little luck, and now we're just talking. So I think, I think it's way. And it's obviously weighing heavy on Naomi. So Naomi returned in the us and Ruth and mobilize her Don law, went with her and verse 22, you and who returned from the country MOBE. And now they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest. This is, this is the season ender. This is the last episode like, Oh wait, why, why? There's like something's changing. 5 (50m 22s): The barley harvest has mentioned, food has not been mentioned this whole time, other than the lack of food. And now we have the barley harvest. The barley harvest has mentioned this. Okay. There's, there's a glimmer of hope. There's something happening. And it doesn't, God always give us those little glimmers of hope in the, in the loss and the hurt and the pain. And there's those little glimmers of hope that just get us, get us by just sometimes day by day, sometimes hour by hour, minute by minute, the loss of my dad was just at times unbearable. He was 51. 5 (51m 2s): I was, I had just turned 24 and I didn't know how I was going to make it. So we grew up in the central Valley and up in the, up in this year as there, there was this mountain that for whatever reason, I was always drawn to look at. This is Sawtooth peak and it's this diamond shape peak that just kind of stands out in the mountains. And, and it was like whenever there was a clear day, I could just see Sawtooth peak, whether it was snow on it or whether it was the evening sun and the setting on it. It was, it was just, it was, I loved looking at Sawtooth peak and it was like one day I woke up in that mountain was just gone. My dad was no longer there. And the, that loss that just hurt and every like the Lord has carried us through Florida's Curtis through the, it was like the little acts like our Church would come and help us out with little projects. 5 (51m 57s): My mom w with my dad had had in his, in God, given him foresight had, had had a life insurance policy that allowed my mom to buy it, the house over the fixer upper of her dreams. And there's like this little, like these little shimmers of, of, of God just, just so I'm here, I'm here. I'm still working. I'm not done. And that'd be the end of chapter one. We have this little glimmer, but let's quickly get into route two. Now. I don't know why verse one. I do not know why this has mentioned, but it says there was a relative. So we just go from the darkness the, the hard times, and there a glimmer of hope of the bar of the Harvest and now it mentions in verse one. 5 (52m 39s): Now there's a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth of the family of Elimelech and his name was Boaz. Well, full stop. Why is that in there? Why do you, why, why does that get added right there at the beginning of chapter two, right? And the narrative. Why does that get plucked in there? And we there's so many questions we should ask Bo ass. Who is Bo ass? Why was he mentioned? Well, he's a family of Elimelech. So he's a kinsmen to the family. He's the man of great wealth Boaz. His name is means in him, his strength in him, his strength, Solomon as he's building his temple later on would have two pillars at the front of the temple. 5 (53m 20s): One of those tent, one of those pillars, he named Boaz. And if you're single and the reason this maybe is say, is he married? Why isn't he married? I don't know. We'll get him. Maybe we will talk about that next week. So you've got it now. Okay. So Boaz, this guy, this guy that was introduced into the narrative. Okay. Put that aside. Let's continue on with Ruth and Naomi. Cause that's where we're at. Right? So Ruth inverse to the Ruth, the Moabite has said, and only please let me go out to the fields and glean heads of grain after him in whom site I may find favor. And she said, go, my daughter Russi Ruth. Didn't want to remain static. She wasn't just going to stay there. 5 (54m 0s): She just knew that she had to go do something. There was no welfare system to take care of them. There was no one God who was going to bring food to the door. She had to go out and do something. And this is where God in his, in his sovereignty. And his foresight had had put in the law of gleaning and allowed the reapers as they gleaned the harvest fields to only make one passed through. And they had to leave the corners and the reapers also, whatever they spilled or left was left was there for the widow's and the destitute. So if your bag, if you're lifting up your bag and it spills out the bottom, you had to leave that whole pile there. You couldn't take, you couldn't take it with you In verse three. 5 (54m 44s): And then she left. So Ruth goes out, she looks North, she looks South. She looks East, she looks West. Where's she going to go? There's fields surrounding Bethlehem. Where is she going to go? First three. And she left and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And it says, and she just happened to come to the part of the field, belonging to Boaz, who was the family of Elimelech second mention. It says she happened. Or the King James says she just so happened. The Bible God's sovereignty. Things just don't just happen. But it also doesn't say anything about some light coming and shining on that field, like Ruth steps out. 5 (55m 28s): And it goes, where should I go? And there's like this spotlight from heaven, there was no, there was no like being pushed along by some unseen force. She just simply stepped out in faith and said, I need to, to say, I need to do something. And where do I go? And the sovereignty of God in the freewill of her to choose where she wanted to go. She just so happened that she ended up in this field and it was idleness that says, I can't just stay idle. I need to, I need to go out and provide, I need to do something. And then I mentioned Boaz and Boaz is brought into the story. He says, he comes to his Reaper's in the field and says the Lord be with you. And they said, in response, the Lord bless you. And that just shows Boaz his character, that he is the Lord of the harvest that he takes care of his workers. 5 (56m 14s): And his workers just love him in return. And Boaz said to his servant, who was in charge of the reapers whose young woman is this, this unnamed servant gives her, him the report that, Hey, yeah, that's, that's Ruth. She returned with the mobile. She's the mobile fetus she returned with Naomi. And that she asked, Hey, can I come glean in your field? After the reapers? She was plaintiff. She didn't just say, there's a law allows me to do this. She said, can I do this? So she's polite. She's hard working, not demanding. And also probably very tired from the 70 mile journey that she had just gone on. So Boaz goes and speak to her specifically. He says, Boaz. He says to Ruth in verse eight, you listen to my daughter. 5 (56m 57s): Will you not do not go glean in another field nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes beyond the field, which they reap and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And then if you're thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn. And so in response, Ruth falls on her face, first 10 bows down the ground and says, why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take? Notice of me since I am a foreigner, that Hebrew word for grace is Kaine. And it's a, it's a meany of grace or favor. See, grace is the basis by which she's given all these blessings, this unearned undeserved favor as a mobile just woman, the law would keep her out, but grace would bring her in the law, keeps out, but grace is brought, brought her in and Boaz, recounts, like it's been fully reported of all that you've done for your, for your mother-in-law, for your, for your, your, your deceased husband and, and how you've left everything to come here. 5 (58m 4s): Your, your reputation has preceded you. And he says, in verse 12, the Lord repay you and full reward. Be given by the Lord of the God of Israel under hoons wings, you shall come for refuge. She CA Ruth had left her father's protection. Ruth had left her husband, his protection. He had died. And after the loss of my dad, the loss of my mom, the Psalm 65 was my GoTo verse for a long time. And that says a father to the fatherless and a defender of the widow is God. And his Holy habitation. God is the protector. 5 (58m 44s): And Ruth, you have come under your way as God. And he will protect and provide for you. And she said, let me find favor in your sight. My Lord for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to me. And then at mealtime Boaz does something that was not in the law. You didn't have to invite people, the forerunner into your home to share a meal. And yet she does that at mealtime, at lunchtime, come here. He says, and eat the bread and dip your peace and joy and the tip of your piece of bread in the vinegar. And so she sat beside the reapers and he passed parched greens, her and she ate and was satisfied. One of those little details that we missed, that the Bible doesn't miss the Bible does the, there's no word he reword. 5 (59m 27s): That goes unspoken. That Hebrew word for vinegar is climates helmets. And that is a vinegar of wine. So here we have Boaz offering to Ruth, essentially wine and bread, the communion elements, amazing. And Ruth just takes, she, she, she accepts it and then she keeps them back thinking of her mother in law, back at home. So she Rose up to glean and, and it's like, you know, a 30 minute lunch break. 5 (1h 0m 8s): And she leaves a little bit early. She gets up to go to work and, and Boaz has the time to sit there at his, at the lunch break with his men in the, and the reapers. And he gives these, these commandments for her. And he says also, verse 16, let grains of the bundles fall purposely for her and leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her. See, now grace has turned into gifts, letter, verse 15. I missed that. Let her even glean among the sheaves and do not reproach her. He is now just giving her gifts upon gifts. The new King, James ranch renders it handfuls on purpose or handfuls of purpose. 5 (1h 0m 48s): And I love this cause it w w what was Ruth thinking as she's began to glean out in the field and like, Oh, wow, they miss this whole stock. Oh, wow. There's a, there's a clump of, of, of a barley here. Wow. This is hardly. And those are good workers. Like, they're like, why are they leaving so much behind? This is amazing. And it seems like it just all goes right over her head. She's just picking what she has right there in front of her. Maybe she's a little ditzy, maybe not my sister. I love my sister. And I asked her for permission, but she took a, one of her classes in high school. There she was, and she walks into a classroom and she was like, mr. 5 (1h 1m 31s): Parker, the teacher, mr. Parker, that who's the teacher. And she's like, mr. Parker, I didn't realize there was a basement in this classroom. And he's like, Oh yeah. That's where we keep all the wine for school. And it's nice and cool down there. She's like, I didn't realize there's been a basement. So I've been coming to his classroom for a whole year. I didn't realize there's a basement. She sat down and like, everybody started chuckling. She's like what? It was a door that was just on the ground. She thought it was a she'd walked into class thinking it was a basement. It was just a door on the ground. And maybe Ruth was having them on those moments. Like, wow, I just don't understand all this grain on the screen. Well, Naomi's going to help her figure it out. Cause she what she ends up doing. She goes, she goes and beats it all out and takes all that. 5 (1h 2m 14s): She gleans, it. She has a whole barley and that was a good measure. And it says, then she took it up. What she, and she went into this city and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought out and gave it to her. What she'd kept back after she'd been satisfied. It was huge. This was not a gleaning you would normally get in one day. And her mother in law said to her, where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed to be the one who took notice of you. And so she took her mother-in-law. And so she told her mother-in-law who'd, she'd been working with that day. And she said the man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz in him. His strength is Boaz. See Ruth had been completely oblivious to what had happened all that day. 5 (1h 2m 55s): Naomi was not Naomi that knew that there was something going on the Lord. And then Naomi said in verse 20, the daughters in law blessed to be he of the Lord who has not forsaken his kindness to the living and the dead. And Naomi said to her, this man is a relation of ours. One of our close relatives. He is our Goel, our kinsmen Redeemer. And all of a sudden the woman who'd went out full and come back empty is all of a sudden realizing the plan that she's in the middle of. Oh my goodness, this is incredible. This man is showing you great favor. We left full, but we came back empty, but really she came back full this go, and this is a kinsman Redeemer. 5 (1h 3m 44s): And she encourages Ruth don't don't don't don't go anywhere else. Go to that field, go to that, go to Boaz field, stay by those workers. There's protection in that. And as she says, it is good. My daughter that you go out with this young woman and that people do not meet you in any, any other fool field. So verse 23. So she stayed close by the young women of Boaz to glean until the end of barley Harvest and we'd Harvest. And she'd dwelt with her. Mother-in-law the barley harvest was the time of Passover. The weed harvest wen all the way through until the time of Pentecost. The first fruits of the wheat harvest were presented to God at CA the Pentecost. And now we begin to see the Providence of God unfolding, and we're not done. 5 (1h 4m 27s): This is just a glimmer of the hope. And now the thing is, things are in motion and things are gonna happen in the book of Ruth and what, what it goes to shows that being faithful to the very little things that God puts in front of, you got a reward that in those Insignificant details that we just floss over and think, Ugh, that's not much. No. See Jesus said, the very hairs on your head are numbered. That's incredible. That shows how intimate it's not, he's not some big, all powerful way out there got his intimate God that would know each and every hair on my head, each and every hair on your head. There's nothing missed. 5 (1h 5m 14s): I had a chance this a couple of couple weeks ago, and a couple came into the church for prayer and the, the guy that I was my friend that we were praying with for this couple, he he's just said, I believe the Lord has a few things that he wants to speak to you. And, and, and to, especially for her. And he began just speaking little things. I don't think you've told anybody about this, but, and he just started going into some really minutiae details. The God had revealed to my friend for her, and she just started bright. She broke down crying, and I've never told anyone this stuff. 5 (1h 5m 59s): She had come as a partner to help to help her, her, her guy, fiance, tail, her fiance. She come as like, Oh, I'm just, he's, he's here to help. But then God began revealing and speaking things into her life. And she just melted because all of a sudden she realized God knew every little thought and intended for heart. And how incredible is that? That God, there's no detail too small for our, for our God. Tell me how lofty God is for you. And I will tell you how little he means to you. How about tell me how, how much God knows how God knows the hairs on our head and how much he loves you. 5 (1h 6m 46s): I think when we simply obey the Lord and inner faithful to the task, bigger, small, that brought to pass before us, God will lead and guide our way. Even in these, even in these darkest of times, let me pray. 3 (1h 6m 59s): 5 (1h 7m 13s): Lord. As we sing in that first set, the shoe or the way maker that even when we don't see it, we know that you're still working. Lord God, I believe that's a song Ruth and Naomi might've been able to sing at this moment. The thought you turned your hand was against them. And yet your hand was not. Your hand was for them. You were going before them Lord. And how, how often are you going before us? And we just miss it. Lord, God help us to see Lord speak, speak words of life into us. Lord God, as the darkest of times, start to encroach around and give us that faith. Just to simply take it step by step. 5 (1h 7m 54s): This, this walk of faith that you've given us Lord to be obedient and the little things as well as the big, the big things Lord God or do you are working in our midst. Thank you, Lord Jesus name. We pray 3 (1h 8m 10s): 1 (1h 8m 41s): magnify and exalt your name, 0 (1h 18m 49s): Our affection, and our devotion. We bring to you very live 1 (1h 18m 54s): Because he laid down 0 (1h 18m 59s): And maybe be forever changed because we've been in your presence because words 17 deeply into our hearts, God, and took root. We pray that a bit. Bear good fruit this year, 1 (1h 19m 12s): Help us 0 (1h 19m 12s): The love of those. We come in contact with your kind of 1 (1h 19m 19s): Low from our hearts. 0 (1h 19m 23s): I thank you for our church family. We just lift up everyone who's watching right now. And who's here on this campus. How would you strengthen us? Would you give us wisdom and discernment to walk out this crazy time of life? There's so much going on in the world. And so many distractions. God, we look to you and we listen for your voice, your leading your team. 1 (1h 19m 48s): So we welcome you 0 (1h 19m 50s): To work in our lives all this week and pray the chief, keep us all safe and healthy until we gathered together again. The precious name of Jesus. Somebody say, amen. Amen. Oh, it's so good. Church yeah. 1 (1h 20m 6s): Awesome. 0 (1h 20m 8s): Well, if anyone would like some prayer this morning, there'll be staff and other volunteers. We'd love to pray for you. Come right on up. Otherwise, have a great week. We'll see you next Sunday.

What does God want for His Church?

0 (0s): When does it begin to see your smiling faces? Let's pray as we begin and just invite God's presence. You're so good to us. You're so faithful. God, we depend on you. All that we have need of this morning. 0 (30s): We pray that you would meet us. Let's pray that your love would wash over every hurting heart. Every anxious thoughts set our minds on Jesus today. There's a whole lot of stuff going on in the world around us, but we focus our hearts on Jesus. We seek your kingdom. 0 (56s): Jesus died for me. I see is 2 (5m 28s): 1 (5m 30s): . 0 (9m 20s): I just had this sense today that the Lord wants to remind us that he knows this each by name. It just seem that reminder that human tells us that he knows the number of hairs on our tears in a bottle. One of them is touched the ground. So do you think God does not know about you you're wrong? 0 (9m 50s): He knows your whole story. There's nothing that's been out of his sight. He's near to us now. 0 (9m 59s): 1 (14m 50s): 0 (15m 16s): Yeah, it's a choice. Choose him to love him to follow him. You decided to follow Jesus, Lord. There's no turning back. The hardware's going to follow you wherever you need us. We're going to praise your name through the good times in the bath, ms. Lord, we know that she loved us and you care for us carrying us through those hardest times. Thank you that we can depend on you. It's your faithful. She love us more than we could ever comprehend higher than the heavens wider than the sea. 0 (15m 55s): He gets his love for us. Just pray that you would help us just to experience your love and account of your presence all through this morning. And His we receive your word this morning is Steve brings a message that you would just open our hearts to receive all that you have for us. We ask this in Jesus name, amen, woof, rollover so much. You're here. Would you take a moment to just say hello to someone around you? And then we'll be back in just a few moments with some announcements. 3 (16m 29s): So if you're new here, there's a, this is the sanctuary where I'm, where I'm speaking. And then behind us is the loft in between that as the breezeway and there's, that's where the bathrooms are. There's sometimes there's a little confusion with that. There's bathrooms are in the breezeway. We have the loft and we also have a third outdoor service that's in the patio. So a few different ways. If you want to come and visit us in person, but not comfortable to be in, in a building it, so those are there for you upcoming. We have a growth track that's coming up. It's, it's our way of connecting you to the, to the body. 3 (17m 0s): It's it's a way to find out the history of Harvest Church, it's a way to figure out what's going on and how you can plug in. So that's the God growth track. It's a four weeks course, and it's, it's, it's just a small intimate group that you get together and find out what's happening at Harvest Church and how you can plug in. If you're interested, you can sign up for that at the info station as well. Or you can send email to kristy@aigharvest.org to sign up. Thirdly, we have the care team. So Hey, if your spiritual gift is either helps or serving, we would love for you to plug in and to be part of the body of Christ. 3 (17m 40s): Here, we have a number of Memorial services that are coming up, and it's just a great way to bless those families. Who've gone through a lot of loss and that's just, isn't sometimes the service just involves setting up tables, loving them, them, helping bring, you know, bring meals, all that stuff. So if, if service or gifts is one of your serving or helps is one of your spiritual gifts, let us know. Or, or if that's just like, Hey, I want to do that. Let us know you can, you can, you can sign up for that at info at AIG Harvest or go by the info booth. 3 (18m 10s): And lastly, just to reminder, next weekend will be the, or sorry, October 17th will be the beach bonfire and baptisms. And we're going to be down at the end of Grande having some worship music, having a, just a time of fellowship around a bonfire. It's going to be at the beach. So I mean, it doesn't get better than that, but we're also going to be having some baptisms. So next week, next Sunday, we'll be having a baptism class. If you have not yet been baptized. And God's putting that on your heart, we'd love to walk you through the steps, what it means to be baptized, why all that stuff. 3 (18m 42s): So that's also, you can sign up for that at the info station. So without further ado, come on up, Steve, 4 (18m 49s): Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nice. You see that? She went, boom. She knows. She knows what's going on. Welcome one other announcement. So I, last week I announced that we needed a 30 more, where am I going to put this 30 more Sunday school teachers and we got five. So now we need 25. It takes 60 Sunday school volunteers to man the Sunday school department. So if you are still interested in being a part of that, but haven't signed up, please sign up and we will put you on the team. 4 (19m 23s): It's a easy one Sunday, a month. And that you got your part covered and Sunday school is covered. So that's, that's it. That's it. Hello? How's everyone. Yeah. Is it cool down out there a little bit? It has been hot. Goodness gracious. You guys ready for a joke? It seems like a very quiet group. Very, very quiet. Maybe I should just whisper. So there's this woman. No. So the joke is I'm going to try to bring everybody up a little bit. 4 (19m 53s): So this woman, this old woman, it goes to the grocery store and she doesn't realize, but she shops and she comes back out and her keys are locked in the car while she finds a coat hanger and she's working hard for about 15 or 20 minutes trying to get the car unlocked and she can't figure it out. So she prays Lord, please bring someone to help me get into my car, right about that time, this Haggard looking guy on a motorcycle pulls up, he's tatted up all over the place. He's got a skull cap on, he's looking pretty rough. 4 (20m 23s): And he's like, Hey, I can get you into your cars. So he helps her out. And within 15 seconds, she's in. And she's like, Oh, praise the Lord. She gives me a big hug. And she's so thankful that the Lord has brought this, this, this capable young man. And he said, or this good young man. And he said, Hey, I'm not good. In fact, I was just released from prison for auto. 5 (20m 48s): It seems like, Oh my goodness. And she gives the guy another big hug. And she's so thankful for you. 4 (20m 53s): You said, Lord, you even sent me a professional. 5 (20m 57s): There you go. 4 (21m 0s): Hey, listen. When you're optimistic, when you're, when your head's in the right place, you can be grateful for anything, right. Things happen. And we can find gratitude in the most crazy of circumstances. Hey, why don't we go in and stand up? We're going to be in Colossians chapter two verses one through 10 today. And I'm so I'm going to have you stand. I'm going to read through the 10 verses and then we'll pray. And then I'll unpack them one at a time. Does that sound good? Here we go. Cautious to listen. Along as I read verses one through 10, Paul writes, I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea and for the many other believers who have never met me personally, I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. 4 (21m 46s): I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself in him in Christ lie, hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge I'm telling you this. So no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments for though. I am far away from you. My heart is with you and I rejoice that you are living as you should. And that's your faith in Christ is strong, verse six. 4 (22m 18s): And now just as you accepted Christ Jesus, as your Lord, you must continue to follow him, let your roots grow down into him and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ for in Christ lives, all the fullness of God in a human body. 4 (22m 48s): So you also are complete through your, you, your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority, Clawson stew one through 10 Lord. We pray as we open up the word that you would speak to us. God I know that you've had a message for each of us and it will be slightly different for each of us, but you know what we need to hear and I'm praying and I'm believing God and asking God that you will speak that truth to us. Whether we need encouragement or strength for the journey, whether we need wisdom to fight temptation or whatever it may be, whether we just need more love in our hearts for difficult people. 4 (23m 27s): I pray God that you would accomplish those wonderful, miraculous and supernatural things that we need you to accomplish in our lives and in our circumstances. So bring our bring peace and wisdom to our lives in every arena we ask Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. You can be What. Does God want for His Church that's the title of the message today What does God want for His Church do you believe God wants something for us? When I say Church, I mean, the people of God people that make up the, the corporate gathering of believers, I believe God's got something for his church. 4 (24m 6s): And so I'm just going to give you the answers out of the Gates. I'll give you the first, the three points that I'll be teaching out teaching from today. I'll give you those. And then I will go back and hit them one at a time. So what does God want for his Church number one, he wants the church to be encouraged. He wants the church to be encouraged. Number two, he wants the Church unified and number three, he wants the church confidence. God wants this for the church. He wants this for you and for me, and because God wants this, get this because God wants it. 4 (24m 41s): Paul wants it. Paul's writing under the inspiration of the Holy spirit, but his heart aligns with God. And because God wants something for the church, the apostle Paul also also wants this for the church. There's something powerful in that understanding. When we begin to understand what God wants, it's really, really wise to align our lives with the things that God wants. It's really, really wise. It's a good idea. That to get on board with God's plans for his church, do you want what God wants? 4 (25m 15s): I think we do. I think that's why we're here. I think we're at church every week because we want to know what God wants and we want to implement that in our lives. How do you know what God wants? Let's say in his word, these three points that we're looking at today and kind of dissecting today, all come from verse two, Colossians two, two, all three points come from Colossians two, two. So there's a lot crammed. There's a lot packed into one verse. And so as we read the scripture, sometimes we can gloss over certain areas because they seem like, well, I've read this before. 4 (25m 53s): I've studied this before. And God sometimes just wants us to slow down because I can't tell you how many times I've read Colossians chapter two, but it's been a lot over the course of my life. And every time I go to teach a familiar passage, I begin to say, Lord, show me what it is that you want me to see and understand from this revelation, from this truth that you've communicated to us, show me, and then show me what the church needs so that I can communicate what the church needs. I can stand up here all day and say all kinds of stuff. 4 (26m 23s): But if God is not speaking through me, then it's not going to be revelation. And man, it's not going to be what you need for your spiritual lives. And that's what I want. I want you to have. And I wa I want, I want to have that as well. I want what I need for my spiritual life. So we get to know what God wants through his word. And we get to know what he wants through prayer. And I'm not talking about, give me prayers, like, Hey, Lord gave me this and give me that. And I need that. And I need this, but it's the kind of prayers that touch the heart of God. If you prayed a sincere prayers, you're touching the heart of God, no matter what your request is, but there's something that God wants to do deeper within our spirits, deeper within our souls, deeper within our lives. 4 (27m 4s): He wants us to touch the heart of God and, and go to the father through the, through the purse of the Lord, Jesus Christ filled with the Holy spirit. He wants us to know, go to God wanting what God wants, and we will figure that out as we just go through the word. And as we spend time with the Lord in prayer, and often our prayers are busy, we're asking and we're, you know, thinking about a million things and we're distracted. And God sometimes just wants us to be with him. 4 (27m 36s): Not even saying a lot, but just doing our best to listen. I have a really hard time doing that, by the way. I'm so easily distracted. So what I have to do is I have to go on walks and go in nature because walks in nature helped me to focus on the attributes of God. The goodness of God helps me to understand who he is. And when I do that, I'm able to be grateful maple, to understand maybe what God is trying to communicate with me. He won't do it in a hurry. I mean, I'm usually, I mean, if you, if, if, if it needs to come in a hurry, he'll give it to you. 4 (28m 8s): But usually the answers that we're looking for come over time and maybe we prayed about it, but we don't get anything right at the moment. But over the next day or two days or week or month, the Lord will begin to show us what we needed. So we begin to figure out what God wants as we, as we pray, as we read the word. And then as we read the word and pray, we begin to trust him. It's, it's the best thing in the world to know that you can trust God, imagine you're going through the worst possible scenario. And your reaction is, but God, I trust you. 4 (28m 41s): There's just a load is lifted. All of a sudden, when you can say, when we can say, I trust you, something is lifted out of our souls. A heaviness that is on us is lifted off of our shoulders and we're able to rest in him and we can trust him. We learn to walk with him. That means we're inviting him and we're wanting to follow him. And everywhere we go, we're wanting God's presence there. So the word prayer trust, walking with him, all of these things help us to understand what God wants for his church, for his bride, for the body of Christ. 4 (29m 17s): But we have to check our mindset. So I'll ask you this question. What is your mind sets toward God? What is your mindset toward God? There's really only two mindsets in life. There is a fixed mindset and there is a growth mindset. A fixed mindset says, ah, I'm probably as smart as I'm ever going to be. I'm probably as good at golf as I'm ever going be. I'm probably as spiritual as I'm ever going to be. Probably not going to grow much more throughout the course of my life. 4 (29m 50s): It's this fixed mindset that says I'm probably not going to move beyond. There's a big, I can't attach to a fixed mindset. I can't go any further in life. A growth mindset is absolutely just the opposite, a growth mindset. 7 (30m 9s): It says that improvement is possible. 4 (30m 13s): A growth mindset says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. There's this 7 (30m 20s): Math class in Alaska math class in Alaska, that was dead last 4 (30m 26s): In math scores in the whole state of Alaska, they were dead last. They probably had a fixed mindset that said, Hey, mom was bad at math. Dad was bad at math. I'm going to be bad at math. I'm always going to be bad at math, right? A fixed mindset that says I'm never going to be any good at math. But what happened is some, some well intentioned people went into that classroom and they begin to challenge that mindset. And it began to speak truth and begin to teach, 7 (30m 56s): Teach, and coach the students so that the beginning 4 (30m 59s): And understand little by little, they begin to understand math. Like they'd never understood math before. So before long. And when the program kind of wrapped up, they were not 7 (31m 11s): Dead. Last class in 4 (31m 13s): A math class, in the state, they were the first rated class, first ranked class in all of Alaska. Pretty cool stuff, right. That's possible for us. So when I was a little guy, my mom enrolled and signed me up for little league baseball. Well, I had never played baseball before. I'd never even really watched baseball before I was raised by my mom and she wasn't interested in baseball. And so I sign up and I'm out there and I have no idea what to do. I have no idea. Somehow I had a glove and I got a cap and they gave me my uniform. 4 (31m 46s): And I said, I don't even know how to put the socks on. You know, the special, a little baseball socks. I had no idea how to put those on. So I'm watching my buddy put his on. I'm like, Oh, put the white socks on first, then the socks. So I figured it out. Well, I was obviously the worst player on the team. I didn't know how to throw. I didn't know how to catch. I didn't know how to hit. I didn't know how to ground a ball. I didn't know how to do anything. It just was clueless. But one of the coaches would pull me aside. Every practice, the rest of the team would be at the baseball diamond and they were practicing and playing and actually played the game. 4 (32m 20s): Well, and I was off with the coach out in left field or right field, wherever we were. And he began to just coach me on the basics. This is how you throw the ball. This is how you catch the ball. This is how you hit the ball. This is how you feel the ground. Or this is how you catch a pop fly. This is how, and just little by little, so a couple of years of playing a little league baseball, I actually got chosen to be on the all star team. And it wasn't because I was special. I didn't know anything about the game, but somebody changed my mind. 4 (32m 53s): I went from a fixed mindset. Like I'm always going to be the knucklehead on the team, right? The worst guy on the team, my, my coach saw something that could be different in me. And I'm so grateful. So he taught me how to play baseball. And I played baseball for a long time. And I'm so, so grateful for that. There's the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A growth mindset makes change possible and improvement possible. How's your mind today? How's your mindset in Christ? Are you thinking, man? 4 (33m 23s): I'm, I'm about a spiritual as I'm ever going to be. I mean, I've read the Bible. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And so I'm not going to try to figure it out. I would say that if you're in that mindset, God wants to change your mind. He wants to flip the switch. He wants to help you understand that you can actually understand there's something powerful about God what God will do. The Holy spirit will actually begin to teach us when we're serious about learning what the Bible says. The Holy spirit will begin to teach us into this great Bible study tools that if we just we'll apply our selves, we can actually learn the Bible. 4 (33m 56s): When I was in junior high school, Randy or Gary Tucker was my, Randy was my high school pastor. Gary Tucker was my junior high youth pastor. And I would sit and in youth group and I'd look at his Bible and it was all marked up. Like he'd read that thing a thousand times. And I thought, man, I know nothing about the Bible. And just over time, God gave me the grace to have a hunger for it. And, and now for some reason, they've got me up here teaching it. I have no idea why, but this year I am. So I'm just saying that you don't start out in life having all of the answers. 4 (34m 29s): You know, you don't start out in life. Knowing what to do. Paul is wanting something for this. Church, he's writing something to this church because he desires something from them. Now they're, they're not even a bad Church. We read in the Bible about some of the churches that are bad. They've grown cold and they've lost their first love. Paul said in verse five, I rejoiced that you are living as you, 8 (34m 53s): You should. 4 (34m 56s): And that your faith in Christ is strong. So maybe you're here today and you're doing pretty well. I would just say if you're here today and you're doing pretty well, praise the Lord. Stay humble, stay teachable, right? That's probably the best advice I can give you in life. Stay humble, stay teachable. Maybe you're here struggling today. What's the answer there. Stay humble. Stay teachable. Depending on the day, depending on the day, we're all in both places, depending on the day, stay humble, stay teachable and watch what God will do. 4 (35m 27s): Paul wanted something for this church because God wanted, wanted something for this. Church what does God want for you individually? And then what does God want for our church? These are questions that we should always be asking ourselves and asking of the Lord, God, what is it that you want of me today? Or what is it that you want for me today? We're getting ready to wrap up this whole year. It's October already. I cannot believe we're in October, 2020. It was nothing like any of us expected, right? And so we're wrapping up 2020. 4 (35m 59s): And maybe we're just down to the last few months. Maybe we need to be asking the Lord, okay, Lord 2020 was nothing. Like I expected nothing that we expected. What is it that you want to do with us individually and corporately? What do you want to do with us? What do you want to show us? What do you want to teach us? What do you have for us Lord? And when, just with that openness, that perspective, that lens, God will begin to show you things. As you read the scripture, as you pray, as you trust him, as you walk with him, God will begin to show you those things. 4 (36m 30s): First one, Colossians two. I want you, 9 (36m 32s): You don't know how much I've agonized for, 4 (36m 34s): For you and for the church at Laodicea. Paul is agonizing. We assume in prayer for these churches, he's under house arrest. He can't do much more other than just agonize for this people and in prayer. So it's for this church and this collage and Church, but also for the Church that layer to see, which is about 10 miles away. So it's a neighboring city, a neighboring church. And Paul is agonizing for this group of people. He said, I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea. 4 (37m 5s): And for many other believers who have never met me personally. So he didn't plant this church. 9 (37m 12s): He didn't, he didn't know 4 (37m 15s): No, the people in the church. And yet, for some reason, he had agonized. He knew the guy who did found the Church and he agonized for these people. What did he want for these people? What was Paul agonizing over verse two tells us I want them to be encouraged. I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan, which is Christ himself in him lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 (37m 55s): So let's take these things one at a time. Number one, he wants the church to be encouraged. God wants the church to be encouraged. Sometimes we can. We can think about encouragement and think, well, I'm just, I'm surprised. Paul's not praying for something more spiritual than encouragement, but if we're discouraged as individuals, and if we're discouraged as the Church or very much hindered in our ability to trust God, we're very much hindered in our ability to believe God, to follow him. 4 (38m 26s): We're in a dark place, not really functioning the way that God would have us to function. So this is why Paul agonized for Church so that they would be encouraged. The Greek word for encouraged means to call to one's side, to call to what's a great picture, isn't it. So if Doug's discouraged, you're on the front row and I called Doug up and put my arm around him, or if I'm discouraged and Doug comes up and puts his arm around me and just loves on me a bit, then I'm encouraged often. 4 (38m 59s): It doesn't take much, right? Just a little bit of human touch, an inappropriate word spoken to at the right time. And then all of a sudden there's encouragement, flooding our lives to call to one's side. It's signifying such ideas as comfort, encouragement, and exhortation. So Paul's passion for the Church was, was that the people would be encouraged and it, and it went way beyond the people that he knew personally. And it, when I read that, it challenges me to remember, to pray for all of our missionaries who are out in foreign soil, sharing the gospel, taking the gospel to dangerous places. 4 (39m 41s): And I think, I don't know the people that they're ministering to, but man, I need to pray for them fervently and passionately agonizing for them in prayer like Paul does. He didn't know them personally. He never met these people, but he loved them intensely. Anyway, you can sense that in his writing, he loves them with an intensity. So as I think about our missionaries in Greenland, I think man, we need, I need to be praying more fervently for these missionaries and for the, the, the people that they're ministering to. 4 (40m 13s): We've got missionaries who are serving in Mexico and Israel and Azerbaijan. I just got an invitation to partner with a couple who are going to Papa new Guinea. They're going to go there for 15 years. That's their goal. We're going to go for 15 years. We're going to live among the people. We're going to learn their language. We're going to translate the Bible in their heart language. And we're going to stay with them until a church is planted. And until indigenous people can run the church and pastor the church and shepherd the people. This is their 15 year plan. 4 (40m 44s): It's powerful. Just, just their, their vision alone makes me want to get on board with them. I don't even know who they are. Somehow we got on their mailing list. They're from a, Church the pastorals Bible church. And in Pasa Robles in the North County don't know who they are, but I'm excited about maybe partnering with them. Not because I know who they are because I'm excited about their vision, about what God is doing. I think that's what Paul's doing here. He's showing us how to love people intensely. Even if we don't know them. I wonder when was the last time we prayed so fervently for total strangers. 4 (41m 16s): Sometimes we don't do that. And I think we're encouraged in the scripture. What does God want for us? He wants to be praying for, he wants us to be praying for people that we don't even know. And I, I'm kind of a knucklehead. Sometimes I'll be driving down the road and something will happen and somebody will catch my eye. And I'll just pray for their salvation. I say, Lord, I know who they are, but I think they need you. So would you just, would you help them maybe? Cause they cut me off on the road. I don't know about it, but I just pray for them. It's better than getting mad at them. Right? So I just begin to pray for them. Why do God's people need to be encouraged? 10 (41m 47s): Well, we're in a battle. We're in a battle. 4 (41m 50s): It's a spiritual battle. 2020 has been a crazy a year. People with differing differing ideas and plans. And it's just, it's just a hard thing. So we need to call people to our side and we need people to call us to their side for encouragement. We need people to come alongside us and we need to come alongside others and help them and encourage them to stay focused on the Lord. So life is full of disappointment. We need comfort. 4 (42m 22s): We don't always understand God's plans. We need encouragement. Sometimes we want to give up. We need people to exhort us to exhort, needs to appeal, to council, to speak truth, to appeal, to counsel, to speak truth. We sometimes I just need somebody to say, Hey dude, you're struggling. You need to knock it off or Hey, you need to get, you know, get over this because you know, it's time for the Lord to use you in a new way. We need to be exhorted. It's like somebody helping us to get our feet out of the Myrie clay and get us on a solid foundation against so that we can move forward. 4 (42m 54s): Sometimes we just need strong words, spoken to us in love so that we can do that. God wants you in courage. He wants you to enjoy your Christian experience. He wants you to enjoy your relationship with him. He wants you to experience a shift in your mindset, moving from a fixed, nothing will ever change mindset to a growth. All things are possible. Mindset. Philippians four 13 in the new King James version, it says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 4 (43m 25s): I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If you've got a fixed mindset, you don't believe this. If you've got a growth mindset, all of a sudden you believe it, you read the scripture. And you're like, I believe that I believe it. Maybe I haven't been living it up to this point, but I got a growth mindset now and I believe it. And I'm going to start doing some things about it. He wants the church to be encouraged. Number one, number two, he wants the church unified again. We're seeing all of these in verse two, verse two. I want them to be encouraged. Number one and number two knit together by strong ties of love. 4 (43m 56s): We're just calling it unified. God wants his church unified knit together by strong ties of love. The message Bible says this. I want you woven into a tapestry of love. Isn't that a beautiful picture. Once you woven into a tapestry of love, if you look at a tapestry and you turn it around, it's just a mess, right? There's all kinds of thread and yarn going all these different directions. But then when you turn it around and you've got this beautiful picture of this piece of art, well, that's the body of Christ. 4 (44m 33s): All of us coming from different backgrounds and different places. And we're working together by the grace of God to accomplish as the purposes of the plans of God to create something beautiful. And that's what happens. We're all coming together from different places, wanting to honor the Lord and doing our best to, to, to affectively unified unified in a unified approach, attempt to make things beautiful in the world. God's love allows people from diverse backgrounds to unify under the banner of Christ. 4 (45m 5s): People from different socioeconomic backgrounds, people from different walks of life, people of different education levels. I know our retired prison warden. Who's very, very good friend is an ex-con that used to be in his prison. Why is, how is that possible? I mean, what is an ex con have to do? I mean, what kind of, what do they have in common with a retired prison ward and what, you know, what they have in common? Jesus. Yeah. They just have Jesus in common. 4 (45m 37s): And so now they're good friends and they actually tell their story together and testify to the goodness of Jesus, the goodness of God in a person's life. And so they share their story together and it doesn't matter their past because Jesus is in their lives now. And they're moved together with the Lord. He is their banner over them. When Christ is the common denominator, all people fit together and Jesus prayed that we would be one. He prayed that we would be United together even as he and the father are United. 4 (46m 9s): It says here in John, 17, 20 and 21, I am praying not only for these people, this is Jesus. I'm praying not only for these disciples, but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. So he's praying for the original 12, right? And he's praying for us because we've believed as a result of their message as their other proclamation of their message. I pray that they will be one. I pray that 11 (46m 34s): They will all be one just as you and 4 (46m 37s): Are one as you are in me, father and I, 11 (46m 41s): I am in you and may they be in us 4 (46m 44s): That the world will believe you sent me. So one God, three persons, right? The Trinity one, God, three persons, one Church many members. We are United. If we're in Christ, we belong to God. So even I, even if you've never met somebody, but they're in Christ, your brothers like their brotherhood or sisterhood there's family, there's a family connection there. I, wherever I travel in the world, whether you know, locally or abroad and I meet a believer, there's just this common ground that we share. 4 (47m 17s): And we can pray together. Even if we've never met together, we can give hugs and high fives. And there's just this connection. There's just this connection that takes place because we're all in Christ. So many people, Many different people carrying different responsibilities. I wrote this different roles, same goals. We have people doing different roles, playing different roles, but we all have the same goals. We want to honor God and glorify him. Different people, same purpose, different churches, same commitment. 4 (47m 48s): When I say churches, I mean small CA churches. We're all part of the big C church, different churches, same commitment monthly. You guys know this. I meet with pastors from all over the, all over the central coast once a month. And we're going to meet this Wednesday and it could be 25, 30, 40 guys that come together and we just come together to eat together and pray together and enjoy company together, encouraging one another. And there's just something beautiful about that unity, because it allows us to be more effectively salt and light here on the central coast. 4 (48m 19s): When we're getting along, he wants the church to be encouraged and he wants the church United number three, he wants the Church confident. He doesn't want the Church arrogant, but he wants to, Church confident. It's okay to have confidence. Jolene gave me some fish to cook up yesterday and I did a really good job. And she's like, Hey, the fish is really good. I said, well, I know how to barbecue. 12 (48m 46s): I said, 4 (48m 47s): I've been barbecuing for the last 30 years. I, so I, I know that you can probably give me any kind of meat and I'll actually do a good job with it. Right. Jolene does all the heavy lifting. She does all the seasoning and all of the work before and she gives it to me and I put it on the grill for 30 minutes, then it's good. Right. So if I'd been grilling for 30 years and didn't know how to barbecue, I'd probably need to give up the grill. Right? So I'm not saying it in an arrogant way at all. I'm just saying, of course, if I've been grilling for 30 years, my mom knows how to make great pies. Right? So it'd be silly for her to say, no, I don't know how to bake. 4 (49m 17s): She wins all the bake, the pie baking contest. Right? So it's not an arrogant position to say I understand something or I know how to do something. Maybe you've been doing the same job for the last 10 years, 15 years. You're like, I kind of got this down. It's okay to, yeah. I know how to paint. I know how to fix cars or whatever it may be. I know how to do these things. So the Lord wants us confident in Colossians four 12. Epaphras one of the guy who actually probably founded this church that says this in Colossians four, 12 Epaphras is a member of your own fellowship and servant of Christ. 4 (49m 52s): Jesus send you His greetings. He always prays earnestly for you, asking God to make you strong and perfect. That we're perfect is the word mature, strong and perfect, fully confident that you are following the whole will of God, fully confident. There's nothing wrong with some confidence. Like if you've been walking with the Lord for five years, you should have some confidence that you've understood some things in those five years. If you're brand new to the faith, you should have this expectation. And then a year from now, you're going to have some greater confidence because you've spent that year. 4 (50m 25s): Reading the Bible you spent that year, you've spent that year investigating. If you've been a Christian for 10 or 15 or 20 years, you probably need to be leading some others in the faith, encouraging others and helping them to understand who they are, giving them confidence about who they are in Christ. Paul was passionate that the people of God will be confidence because with confidence, not arrogance, arrogance turns people off. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. 4 (50m 55s): We're not talking about arrogance at all, but we're talking about saying, Hey, you know, having the attitude that says, Hey, if God calls me to this, I'm going to give it my best by his grace. I, every time I get up to preach, I say, God, I've done this a bunch, but I don't want to do anything apart from your will. It doesn't matter if I do this for 50 years, I never want to get up there and be disconnected from you. So it's that kind of thing. It says I can preach. I can get up there and speak and teach and do those things. But I never want to do it apart from God's God's in his presence, his power, all of those things. That's what I'm talking about. 4 (51m 25s): So God, I can do this, but I don't want to do it without you. I'm ready to move forward, but I don't want to do it without you. That's the kind of confidence that God is looking for. Verse four, I'm telling you this. So no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments when you're confident, because you've invested yourself and you understand some things, no one can deceive you with well-crafted arguments for though. I am far away from you. Paul writes, my heart is with you and I rejoice that you are living as you should. And that's your faith in Christ is strong. And now just as you accepted Christ Jesus, as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 4 (51m 57s): So there's this responsibility that we have. We come to faith in Christ. We give our lives to him and then we continue all the days of our lives throughout all eternity. We're following him till he takes us home and into eternity. We're following. He is our Lord. We submit to him. He is God. We continue to follow him. That means we have to be intentional. Sometimes we put it in autopilot and we think, Oh, I've been doing this a long time, but we can't ever put it in autopilot. I'm just telling you, as soon as we put it on autopilot, we begin to drift. 4 (52m 30s): We need to be intentional with the Lord. Meaning every day, getting up and reading the word, spending your time with the Lord and allowing him to speak. And when you miss a day, you get right back to it. You miss a week, you get right back to it because life gets busy sometimes, right? So don't beat yourself up. Just get right back to it. I used to, when I'd miss my daily reading, I used to try to go back and play, catch up. I don't do that anymore. If I miss a day, I just pick it up where I left off. And God's grace is sufficient and I'll catch it next time around. So listen, it takes intentionality though. 4 (53m 1s): It takes intentionality to be doing what God would have us to do. He said, lets your roots grow down deep into him and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness. The most grounded people in the faith, the most competent people in the faith I find are the most grateful people in the faith. We just, there's just an overwhelming gratitude. Yeah. 4 (53m 31s): Cause you know, apart from God you can do, you can do no good thing. And when God is with you, you can do wonderful things and powerful things. But there's just an attitude of gratitude when God is walking with his people. And when people are being used by the Lord to do great things, he said, don't let anyone capture you. Verse eight. Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ, everything that we understand about God should come from Christ through his word. 4 (54m 2s): We should have our, our revelation and our information from the Bible and through the power of the Holy spirit. So don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ for in Christ lives, all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. So these verses should give us confidence, confidence in Christ that we are complete in him. 4 (54m 35s): He's done all the heavy lifting and he continues to do all of the heavy lifting. That means he makes our lives fruitful. When we're walking with him, he's working through us and in us, he's encouraging us. He's he's unifying his body and he's giving us confidence to do what he's called us to do. Paul couldn't have written two thirds of the new Testament and unless he had a level of confidence that God was up to something, right? He couldn't have written two thirds of the new Testament to the first century church. If he didn't know that God was speaking through him, right? 4 (55m 5s): He wasn't waffling about what God was doing. He heard and recorded what the Lord wanted him to record so that we could be reading it 2000 years later. What is it that God wants to do with you and in you and through you? What kind of confidence are you supposed to have doing the work that God has called you to do? Don't be timid, trying to be humble, missing out on your calling. All right. Let me say that again. Don't be timid trying to be humble and miss out on your calling. 4 (55m 36s): Right? Sometimes in our timidity, in our effort to stay humble, we don't do what we know we're equipped to do and what we're passionate to do. And so we miss out on, on the calling of God upon our lives. Don't let that false humility or sense of humility. Keep you from doing what God has called you to do. At some point, you're gonna have to step up and lead, right? You will, you'll have to step up and lead. And that's what God has called you to do the longer you're with the Lord. The more equipped you should be to lead. So what's your mindset spiritually. 4 (56m 7s): Do you have a fixed mindset or do you have a growth mindset? I believe God wants us to have a growth mindset. How many are committed? This, the balance of this year to have a growth mindset? I mean pick an area. Hopefully it's spiritually spiritual. Hopefully it's maybe in the area of relationships, maybe in the area of finances, it may be, but a growth mindset What does God want for His Church he wants us to be encouraged. He wants us to be unified and he wants the Church confident with that. Let's invite the worship team forward and we're going to sing and worship with a few more songs and then we'll get out of here and enjoy the day, the rest of the day. 4 (56m 43s): So worship team come forward. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for what you're doing at Harvest Church Lord and not just Harvest Church but your church here on the central coast, locally and globally, Lord God, we're so thankful, thankful that we get to be a part of it. Thankful that you've called us to be a part of it. Thankful that we get to be used in the midst of it all. So God used us. We want to be doing what you would have us to do. Lord. We want, we know that you've got stuff for us and you want stuff for us. So help us to walk in that. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's go and stand up. 1 (57m 18s): Awesome. That's so great. Thanks Steve. We just love you. We pray that you would just meet us in this moment. Just pray that you would really minister to people's hearts. Just that everything they just heard would just really take root. That seeds that have been planted and would truly bear fruit in our lives this week. 1 (57m 50s): So come Holy spirit things have means the 0 (1h 8m 55s): Thank you for your goodness towards us. Your safeness, your mercies that are new for this week, pray that you would lead and guide us every step of the way. No, we would overflow with your love in the world around us. The people would say no we're Christians because of the way that we love. We have patience, kindness, goodness, all those things God reflect who you are. So thank you. What you've done here in our hearts today is as you would to seal it upon our hearts to keep us safe until we come together again, you ask this in jesus' name. 0 (1h 9m 35s): Amen man. Church woo. You can celebrate. So I saw a few of you go for the clap. Yeah, that's a great morning. Thanks for being here with us today. We'll see you guys next Sunday. If anyone would like prayer this morning, we'll have some volunteers we'll be up at the front or any staff. We'd love to pray with you. Have a great week.