back to index

Berean Community Church Sunday Service 10.31.21


Whisper Transcript | Transcript Only Page

00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:07.000 | Jesus, Lord of Heaven, I do not deserve
00:00:18.000 | The grace that You have given
00:00:23.000 | Or the promise of Your Word
00:00:29.000 | Lord, I stand in wonder
00:00:34.000 | At the sacrifice You've made
00:00:40.000 | With mercy beyond measure
00:00:45.000 | My high debt You freely pay
00:00:51.000 | And Your love is deeper
00:00:58.000 | Than any ocean higher
00:01:04.000 | Than the heavens reaching
00:01:09.000 | Beyond the stars in the sky
00:01:16.000 | Jesus, Your love has no bounds
00:01:22.000 | Jesus, Your love has no bounds
00:01:28.000 | Jesus, Lord of Heaven, I do not deserve
00:01:39.000 | The grace that You have given
00:01:44.000 | Or the promise of Your Word
00:01:50.000 | Lord, I stand in wonder
00:01:55.000 | At the sacrifice You've made
00:02:01.000 | With mercy beyond measure
00:02:06.000 | My high debt You freely pay
00:02:14.000 | And Your love is deeper
00:02:20.000 | Than any ocean higher
00:02:25.000 | Than the heavens reaching
00:02:30.000 | Beyond the stars in the sky
00:02:37.000 | Your love is deeper
00:02:42.000 | Than any ocean higher
00:02:47.000 | Than the heavens reaching
00:02:52.000 | Beyond the stars in the sky
00:03:00.000 | Jesus, Your love has no bounds
00:03:05.000 | Jesus, Your love has no bounds
00:03:12.000 | Hi, good morning. Welcome to Breen Community Church.
00:03:20.000 | We're going to get started. We have an announcement from our family ministry
00:03:23.000 | about our Christmas events that are going on.
00:03:25.000 | So Dean's going to come up and he's going to give the announcements.
00:03:32.000 | Hi, good morning, everyone. I'm Dean Shin.
00:03:35.000 | I'm part of the family ministry logistics team.
00:03:38.000 | So this year for the family ministry for Christmas,
00:03:41.000 | rather than having a large gathering,
00:03:43.000 | what we will do, you know, with the church getting bigger and whatnot,
00:03:46.000 | is have smaller, cozier, more intimate gatherings.
00:03:50.000 | So it will be at individual people's homes.
00:03:53.000 | Okay, so this is kind of going to be ongoing.
00:03:56.000 | So as you sign up, you'll be asked if you are willing to open up your home
00:04:00.000 | both to host and to facilitate.
00:04:03.000 | So we are asking if you live in Irvine or Tustin or kind of closer to church,
00:04:09.000 | if you would pray about it and see if you are willing to open up your home.
00:04:12.000 | That way people can sort of come in and maybe don't have to travel as far of a distance.
00:04:18.000 | If you do have to travel a little bit, hopefully you'll be okay with that.
00:04:21.000 | But, you know, people are often asking, like, how can I serve?
00:04:24.000 | How can I be involved?
00:04:25.000 | So this is really a great way for you to serve the church and show hospitality.
00:04:30.000 | And in Exodus 36, there's a time when Moses is gathering things for the tabernacle,
00:04:38.000 | and he has to actually stop the people.
00:04:40.000 | He has to refrain--he has to restrain them because they're giving so much, right?
00:04:44.000 | So my prayer and hope is that so many of you will be moved to open up your homes,
00:04:48.000 | that we'll have too many homes, and we'll say, "Thank you for your heart.
00:04:51.000 | God sees it, but we don't need your home this time around."
00:04:54.000 | If you have any questions about it, please let me know.
00:04:57.000 | My email is in the announcement, right?
00:05:00.000 | It's my name, D-E-A-N-S-Y-N@gmail.com.
00:05:03.000 | You can find me on Facebook.
00:05:05.000 | I'm one of maybe two people with that name on Facebook, so really easy to find.
00:05:09.000 | And Family Ministry Logistics will help you, you know, with suggestions and guidance and whatnot
00:05:14.000 | if you want to host, okay, so you're not going to be left totally on your own.
00:05:17.000 | But at the same time, we do ask you to sort of take the ball and run with it.
00:05:20.000 | Think of it as if you would prepare a gathering for your own, you know, biological family,
00:05:26.000 | but this is for your spiritual family, okay?
00:05:28.000 | So again, if you have any questions, please let me know.
00:05:30.000 | Okay, thank you.
00:05:31.000 | [applause]
00:05:36.000 | Okay, just a reminder again, if you signed up for the evangelism outing that's taking place
00:05:40.000 | this coming Saturday from 1 to 2, and if you still desire to participate,
00:05:46.000 | please let the proper people know.
00:05:48.000 | Again, sign up and all this stuff will be on the Facebook and our church app.
00:05:52.000 | And also the Bible Study Lab starting next Sunday,
00:05:55.000 | Pastor Mark is leading a Bible Study Lab that will kind of help you through how to do
00:05:59.000 | inductive Bible study, which is what's going on during Wednesday in the home groups.
00:06:02.000 | And so if you want to sign up for that, the first session is starting next Sunday at 2 p.m.
00:06:08.000 | And then again, the holiday outreaches that are taking place that our Sisters Ministry is leading,
00:06:13.000 | again, if you go outside, you'll see all the booths there.
00:06:15.000 | So if you haven't visited there, you want to find out what's going on,
00:06:18.000 | they'll give you all the information.
00:06:20.000 | And if you want to participate in that, you can sign up at those tables after the service.
00:06:24.000 | And then next Sunday we have Orphan Sunday.
00:06:28.000 | We're going to have a guest speaker that's going to come, and he has, again,
00:06:31.000 | personal knowledge of foster caring and then adoption through that and all the ups and downs.
00:06:37.000 | And obviously it is Orphan Sunday all throughout the country,
00:06:40.000 | and so we wanted to take that opportunity to kind of inform the church, inspire the church,
00:06:45.000 | encourage the church to consider adopting going forward.
00:06:48.000 | And then there's various other ministries that will be coming to set up booths outside
00:06:52.000 | during the first and the second service.
00:06:54.000 | So if you're at the first service, the booths will also be there,
00:06:57.000 | and so we have various things that are planned to do that.
00:07:00.000 | But as I mentioned, we are going to be taking special offering for that,
00:07:04.000 | and so this is for families who are planning to adopt in the future,
00:07:08.000 | and this will be a scholarship for them.
00:07:10.000 | So after they adopt, we will assist some to be able to assist some of the people.
00:07:15.000 | And again, this is to encourage the families to consider that
00:07:18.000 | if that's something that the Lord lays on your heart.
00:07:21.000 | So again, next week when we do have offering, we ask you to just prepare
00:07:25.000 | and make sure that in your offering that you designate separately from your regular offering
00:07:29.000 | so that our accounting people who are doing accounting will be able to separate that
00:07:33.000 | and then lay that aside for future adoption purposes.
00:07:37.000 | Today, as you guys know, we have trunk formation.
00:07:40.000 | Today is Reformation Sunday for us as Christians,
00:07:43.000 | and so after service, I don't think anybody usually parks on this side,
00:07:49.000 | but if you do happen to have a car out here, we need to get that moved,
00:07:52.000 | and then all the stuff are going to be set up out here.
00:07:56.000 | And then if you do happen to come to church for whatever reason,
00:07:58.000 | please do not park in this area.
00:08:00.000 | And then they're going to try to start sharply at 4 o'clock,
00:08:04.000 | so try to come maybe a little bit before that so that you'll be ready to go
00:08:09.000 | when 4 o'clock starts, and then it'll be done by 6 o'clock.
00:08:12.000 | So if you're setting up your car, the trunk formation, and all this stuff,
00:08:16.000 | the church will be open after the second service,
00:08:18.000 | and as soon as the people are gone from this,
00:08:22.000 | you can just start setting up your trunk formation.
00:08:25.000 | All right, let me pray for us for the offering,
00:08:28.000 | and then for those of you who are new to the church,
00:08:31.000 | we have a physical offering box in the back,
00:08:33.000 | and it looks like a little birdhouse, and it'll say "Offering Box."
00:08:37.000 | So after the service, you can go there and drop off your physical offering,
00:08:40.000 | and for the rest of us, we'll give you a minute to give the electronic offering.
00:08:45.000 | All right, let me pray for us.
00:08:50.000 | Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing that we have
00:08:53.000 | to be able to call you our Abba Father.
00:08:57.000 | Lord, no matter what distractions that we may have brought into this room,
00:09:01.000 | I pray that our singing, your word, even in our giving, Lord God,
00:09:06.000 | may it be an act of worship in spirit and in truth.
00:09:09.000 | We ask, Lord, that you would bless this time.
00:09:12.000 | Help us, Lord God, to lift up our eyes,
00:09:14.000 | to know where our hope and help truly comes from.
00:09:18.000 | May the offering that we give you this time be multiplied,
00:09:21.000 | 30, 60, 100-fold for the sake of your glory.
00:09:24.000 | In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:09:28.000 | [piano music]
00:09:32.000 | [piano music]
00:09:35.000 | [piano music]
00:09:39.000 | [piano music]
00:09:42.000 | [piano music]
00:09:54.000 | [piano music]
00:10:07.000 | [piano music]
00:10:10.000 | [piano music]
00:10:20.000 | All right, as we continue our worship,
00:10:27.000 | just a quick reminder for those sitting outside in the courtyard,
00:10:30.000 | would you please just remain seated during worship,
00:10:32.000 | as it's helpful for everyone to see the screen.
00:10:35.000 | And as for those in here, would you please stand for worship?
00:10:38.000 | [upbeat music]
00:10:44.000 | ♪ Great is your faithfulness ♪
00:11:04.000 | ♪ Great is your faithfulness ♪
00:11:07.000 | ♪ You never change ♪
00:11:10.000 | ♪ You never fail, O God ♪
00:11:14.000 | ♪ True are your promises ♪
00:11:17.000 | ♪ True are your promises ♪
00:11:20.000 | ♪ True are your promises ♪
00:11:25.000 | ♪ You never change ♪
00:11:28.000 | ♪ You never fail, O God ♪
00:11:33.000 | ♪ So we raise up holy hands ♪
00:11:37.000 | ♪ To praise the Holy One ♪
00:11:41.000 | ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪
00:11:46.000 | ♪ What is your love and grace ♪
00:11:55.000 | ♪ What is your love and grace ♪
00:12:00.000 | ♪ You never change ♪
00:12:02.000 | ♪ You never fail, O God ♪
00:12:06.000 | ♪ What is your love ♪
00:12:09.000 | ♪ What is your love and grace ♪
00:12:13.000 | ♪ What is your love and grace ♪
00:12:18.000 | ♪ You never change ♪
00:12:21.000 | ♪ You never fail, O God ♪
00:12:28.000 | ♪ So we raise up holy hands ♪
00:12:32.000 | ♪ To praise the Holy One ♪
00:12:37.000 | ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪
00:12:42.000 | ♪ Yeah, we raise up holy hands ♪
00:12:50.000 | ♪ To praise the Holy One ♪
00:12:56.000 | ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪
00:13:24.000 | ♪ You were, you are, you will always be ♪
00:13:32.000 | ♪ You were, you are, you will always be ♪
00:13:40.000 | ♪ You were, you were, you are, you will always be ♪
00:13:51.000 | ♪ You were, you are, you will always be ♪
00:13:59.000 | ♪ So we raise up holy hands ♪
00:14:04.000 | ♪ To praise the Holy One ♪
00:14:08.000 | ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪
00:14:17.000 | ♪ Yeah, we raise up holy hands ♪
00:14:22.000 | ♪ To praise the Holy One ♪
00:14:26.000 | ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪
00:14:35.000 | ♪ Who was and is and is to come ♪
00:14:44.000 | [instrumental]
00:14:47.000 | ♪ Who has held the oceans in His hands? ♪
00:15:12.000 | ♪ Who has numbered every grain of sand? ♪
00:15:17.000 | ♪ Kings and nations tremble at His voice ♪
00:15:23.000 | ♪ All creation rises to rejoin ♪
00:15:30.000 | [instrumental]
00:15:35.000 | [instrumental]
00:15:38.000 | ♪ Who has given counsel to the low? ♪
00:15:49.000 | ♪ Who can question any of His words? ♪
00:15:55.000 | ♪ Who can teach the one who knows all things? ♪
00:16:02.000 | ♪ Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds? ♪
00:16:09.000 | ♪ Behold our God seated on His throne ♪
00:16:17.000 | ♪ Come let us adore Him ♪
00:16:21.000 | ♪ Behold our King ♪
00:16:26.000 | ♪ Nothing can compare ♪
00:16:31.000 | ♪ Come let us adore Him ♪
00:16:37.000 | [instrumental]
00:16:41.000 | ♪ Who has felt ♪
00:16:47.000 | ♪ Who has felt the nails upon His hands? ♪
00:16:53.000 | ♪ Bearing all the guilt of sinful man ♪
00:17:00.000 | ♪ God eternal humble to the grave ♪
00:17:06.000 | ♪ Jesus Savior risen now to reign ♪
00:17:12.000 | ♪ God eternal humble to the grave ♪
00:17:18.000 | ♪ Jesus Savior risen now to reign ♪
00:17:25.000 | ♪ Behold our God seated on His throne ♪
00:17:33.000 | ♪ Come let us adore Him ♪
00:17:37.000 | ♪ Behold our King ♪
00:17:42.000 | ♪ Nothing can compare ♪
00:17:45.000 | ♪ Come let us adore Him ♪
00:17:54.000 | ś You will reign forever
00:18:06.040 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:18:20.180 | ś You will reign forever ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:18:48.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:18:55.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:08.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:29.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:46.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:47.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:48.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:49.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:50.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:51.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:52.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:53.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:54.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:55.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:56.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:57.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:19:58.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:19:59.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:00.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:01.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:02.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:03.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:04.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:05.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:06.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:07.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:08.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:09.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:10.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:11.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:12.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:13.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:14.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:15.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:16.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:17.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:18.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:19.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:20.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:21.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:22.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:23.520 | ś Let your glory fill the Earth
00:20:24.520 | ś You will reign forever
00:20:25.520 | - Reading out of the NASB.
00:20:30.520 | Remember those who led you,
00:20:31.700 | who spoke the word of God to you,
00:20:33.320 | and considering the result of their conduct,
00:20:35.120 | imitate their faith.
00:20:36.880 | Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
00:20:40.600 | Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings,
00:20:43.000 | for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace,
00:20:45.560 | not by foods, through which those who were so occupied
00:20:48.720 | were not benefited.
00:20:50.520 | Let's pray.
00:20:54.640 | Heavenly Father, we lift up this time to you,
00:20:57.280 | asking you to anoint it, Lord God,
00:20:58.760 | by your word and your spirit.
00:21:01.200 | Cause us, Lord, to have a greater vision of who you are,
00:21:04.560 | that your glory, Lord, would shine,
00:21:07.800 | that we would be sanctified
00:21:09.200 | the more we understand who you are and who your son is,
00:21:12.920 | and by your spirit, that you would grip our hearts,
00:21:14.800 | our lives, our thoughts, our emotions, our will.
00:21:18.080 | May it all be surrendered to you for the sake of your name.
00:21:20.440 | In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:21:23.440 | Amen.
00:21:26.440 | Today is, again, the last day of October.
00:21:30.760 | We're getting into November,
00:21:31.720 | and around this time of the year,
00:21:33.120 | we do a lot of evaluations of what's going on
00:21:35.400 | and what are some things that need to be improved
00:21:37.800 | and changed next year.
00:21:39.920 | And so even, not just in church,
00:21:42.280 | but I'm sure every one of us,
00:21:44.160 | when the year kind of starts to wrap down
00:21:47.280 | or wind down and then next year comes around,
00:21:49.880 | what are some things that we want to change?
00:21:52.760 | All right, so maybe we want to be in better health.
00:21:55.600 | So this is the time of the year
00:21:56.800 | where you start to make plans,
00:21:58.080 | and possibly at the beginning of next year,
00:22:00.600 | you get gym membership,
00:22:02.400 | and then you say, "We're gonna do this,"
00:22:04.440 | at least for a few weeks, right?
00:22:07.040 | At least we're determined we're gonna do this.
00:22:08.560 | Or maybe you're considering a job change,
00:22:11.360 | and you want improvement in that.
00:22:13.000 | Maybe certain relationships that you're trying to work on.
00:22:16.240 | Obviously, with the pandemic
00:22:17.680 | and with the various things that's been going on,
00:22:20.360 | we're hoping that next year things will,
00:22:22.560 | whatever normal is,
00:22:24.320 | that we would be able to go back
00:22:25.680 | to some semblance of what we were able to do.
00:22:29.200 | We're eagerly waiting for India to open up
00:22:31.640 | so that we can go and visit them,
00:22:33.240 | 'cause we have stuff that we want to take,
00:22:34.680 | and we haven't seen our pastors there in a couple years,
00:22:37.560 | so we're hoping that things will change
00:22:40.000 | and that the country will be able to open to do that.
00:22:42.840 | So as much as we look forward to some changes,
00:22:46.360 | there are some things that we really hope doesn't change.
00:22:50.920 | And some of the things that we don't want change
00:22:52.640 | are things that probably that we value the most, right?
00:22:56.680 | Maybe our families, right?
00:22:59.440 | Certain things that we value,
00:23:00.920 | and we're hoping that it will continue
00:23:04.120 | from the past to present and the future.
00:23:06.520 | But the reality is there's nothing that doesn't change
00:23:11.120 | from human experience.
00:23:14.200 | Relationships change.
00:23:15.720 | We change, right?
00:23:17.720 | I think we're playing the basketball and BBA
00:23:20.680 | and the legends, and a lot of us,
00:23:23.480 | our favorite word is used to.
00:23:25.000 | I used to do this, I used to do that.
00:23:28.240 | Not that it was just me.
00:23:29.200 | I mean, we got a room full of people used to people, right?
00:23:32.240 | So things have changed.
00:23:33.120 | Things are continuing to change.
00:23:35.440 | But things that really matter,
00:23:38.000 | we hope and desire that it would not change.
00:23:41.800 | Because when we anchor ourselves
00:23:44.200 | to things that are important to us,
00:23:45.720 | we're anchoring to things that we're hoping won't change.
00:23:49.200 | I mean, the whole book of Hebrews,
00:23:51.840 | the theme is to be anchored in Christ
00:23:53.920 | so that we do not drift.
00:23:56.000 | No matter what happens, no matter what trials,
00:23:58.120 | no matter what relationship,
00:23:59.320 | no matter what hardship may come,
00:24:01.520 | no matter what government, no matter what leadership,
00:24:05.520 | that our anchoring is not in the circumstance
00:24:08.600 | or the people that are around us, but in Christ.
00:24:10.720 | And that's why he says today,
00:24:12.800 | to not to drift and to be anchored in Christ
00:24:15.960 | who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:24:20.360 | Last week, we talked about in verse seven,
00:24:23.000 | how he says, "In order for us not to this,
00:24:25.360 | "remember those who led you,
00:24:26.920 | "who spoke the word of God to you
00:24:28.200 | "and considering the result of their conduct,
00:24:30.000 | "imitate their faith.
00:24:32.360 | "These are people who have gone before them
00:24:34.840 | "who may have been persecuted and possibly put to death.
00:24:38.400 | "And as a result of that, they were afraid,
00:24:40.960 | "they were concerned."
00:24:42.960 | And so he's reminding them, but consider carefully,
00:24:45.040 | these people who spoke the word of God to you,
00:24:46.360 | the end result of their life,
00:24:47.920 | how it brought glory to God and strengthened the church
00:24:50.600 | and spread the gospel, imitate their faith.
00:24:52.840 | And then how seven and eight is connected
00:24:56.000 | is the motivation behind
00:24:59.840 | why they were able to persevere to the end
00:25:01.800 | is because they were anchored to Christ
00:25:05.320 | who was the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.
00:25:08.480 | And so he's telling them to not to drift.
00:25:13.640 | In fact, that's the main point that he was trying to make
00:25:15.800 | in Hebrews chapter 10, 32 to 36,
00:25:18.080 | describing how they were in the past.
00:25:20.880 | Remember the former days when after being enlightened,
00:25:23.640 | you endured a great conflict of suffering,
00:25:26.480 | partly by being made a public spectacle
00:25:28.280 | through reproaches and tribulation,
00:25:29.880 | and partly by becoming the sharers
00:25:32.000 | with those who were so treated.
00:25:34.440 | For you showed sympathy to the prisoners,
00:25:36.120 | accepted joyfully the seizure of your property,
00:25:37.960 | knowing that you have for yourselves
00:25:39.640 | a better possession and a lasting one.
00:25:42.280 | Now, if they were anchored and they stayed there,
00:25:45.760 | this would have been a model church.
00:25:47.960 | But the reason why the whole book of,
00:25:51.000 | whole letter of Hebrews is written
00:25:52.440 | is because they didn't stay there.
00:25:54.840 | They started drifting back into their old way of life.
00:25:58.120 | They started trying to compromise with old Judaism,
00:26:00.880 | with the new faith in Christ.
00:26:03.080 | And so they started drifting.
00:26:04.400 | So he's reminding them, remember,
00:26:06.920 | remember how you used to,
00:26:07.840 | remember when you first accepted Christ
00:26:09.560 | and you were willing to suffer for Christ.
00:26:11.880 | You fellowship with those who were in prison.
00:26:13.640 | You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property
00:26:17.200 | in the midst of intense persecution.
00:26:19.120 | Remember that.
00:26:19.960 | And the reason why he's telling them to remember that
00:26:22.040 | is so that they can remember and continue.
00:26:25.280 | And that's exactly what he says in Revelation 2, verse five,
00:26:30.600 | when the letter is written to the church of Ephesus.
00:26:33.900 | He says, you've drifted from your first love, right?
00:26:37.960 | And he says, you need to restore that
00:26:39.480 | 'cause if you don't restore that,
00:26:41.480 | Jesus says he's gonna take away the lamp stand.
00:26:43.840 | And the remedy for that, he says,
00:26:46.200 | remember from where you have fallen and repent
00:26:49.000 | and do the deeds you did at first.
00:26:52.820 | Remember.
00:26:54.280 | So the whole text that we're looking at here,
00:26:56.640 | as the author is summarizing and concluding
00:27:00.700 | the whole purpose of this text,
00:27:02.240 | he's trying to, again, wrap it up in a nice package
00:27:06.540 | to not to drift.
00:27:07.760 | Look at the people who've gone ahead of us.
00:27:09.800 | And the reason why they were able to persevere
00:27:12.280 | in their faith is because they anchored themselves in Christ.
00:27:15.040 | So the whole point that he's trying to make
00:27:16.360 | is you ought to also anchor yourself in Christ.
00:27:20.040 | In fact, that's exactly what he says
00:27:22.760 | in Hebrews chapter one, 10 through 12.
00:27:24.960 | From the very get-go, this was his point.
00:27:27.560 | You, Lord, in the beginning,
00:27:29.880 | lay the foundation of the earth
00:27:31.040 | and the heavens are the works of your hands.
00:27:32.700 | They will perish, but you will remain.
00:27:35.200 | You see, all of creation, everything that tempts us,
00:27:38.760 | everything that entangles us,
00:27:40.480 | you created, but all of that eventually will perish,
00:27:45.480 | but you will remain.
00:27:47.020 | They all will become old like a garment
00:27:50.440 | and like a mantle, you will roll them up like a garment.
00:27:53.020 | They will also be changed, but you are the same
00:27:55.320 | and your years will not come to an end.
00:27:58.820 | So he started with this.
00:28:01.400 | He started by reminding us
00:28:03.320 | the reason why we need to anchor ourselves in Christ
00:28:05.520 | is because everything that we pursue,
00:28:08.880 | everything that we're tempted by,
00:28:11.220 | all of it is going to pass away,
00:28:12.680 | but only Christ will remain the same.
00:28:15.080 | And now as he is concluding this letter,
00:28:17.820 | he's reminding us everything I told you,
00:28:21.360 | why we need to anchor with him,
00:28:22.860 | and now the only thing that's gonna sustain you
00:28:25.640 | past, present, and future
00:28:27.200 | is the one who remains the same past, present, and future.
00:28:31.160 | This statement here in verse eight
00:28:34.280 | is not just a casual statement.
00:28:36.760 | Only God can make this statement.
00:28:38.440 | In fact, all throughout the Old Testament,
00:28:40.840 | God is described as having an immutable character,
00:28:45.480 | that every part of who he is is immutable.
00:28:47.800 | Only God can claim this.
00:28:49.720 | Only God himself can claim to never change.
00:28:55.120 | So this morning what I wanna do
00:28:56.680 | is I wanna describe four things
00:28:58.760 | that are connected to immutability.
00:29:01.000 | In order for this to be true of an individual,
00:29:04.480 | there needs to be four other characters
00:29:06.160 | that exist in that being
00:29:08.080 | in order for them to be immutable.
00:29:10.000 | And then at the conclusion,
00:29:11.920 | I wanna connect the dots for us at the end,
00:29:13.800 | why this is so important,
00:29:15.120 | why he's saying what he is saying.
00:29:16.760 | 'Cause he's talking to a bunch of people
00:29:19.080 | who are fatigued, who are tired,
00:29:21.200 | maybe some of them compromised, ready to quit,
00:29:24.000 | and then he says,
00:29:24.840 | "But God is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
00:29:28.080 | If you see that in isolation and context,
00:29:30.200 | how does that give you strength to persevere?
00:29:32.000 | God's the same.
00:29:33.320 | Man, I'm struggling, I'm tempted, I'm about to quit.
00:29:37.640 | Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:29:40.360 | If you don't understand the context
00:29:41.920 | and the application of that,
00:29:43.120 | it just sounds like theology.
00:29:45.160 | So what I wanna do is I wanna present to you
00:29:46.920 | why this is important,
00:29:48.960 | why this is a description of only God,
00:29:53.020 | and then how that directly applies to our perseverance.
00:29:56.160 | Okay, so one, Jesus is immutable.
00:29:59.240 | In order for Jesus to be immutable,
00:30:00.960 | he needs to be completely independent.
00:30:03.620 | There's what the theologians called
00:30:07.000 | the doctrine of aseity,
00:30:09.000 | where in John 8, 55, Jesus says of himself,
00:30:13.000 | "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."
00:30:17.840 | And that is a direct quote that he's making,
00:30:20.760 | saying that that same God who introduced himself
00:30:24.240 | to Moses and Israel in Exodus chapter three,
00:30:27.980 | Jesus is claiming that title for himself.
00:30:31.640 | I am.
00:30:32.480 | In Exodus 3, 13 or 14, it says,
00:30:35.080 | "Then Moses said to God,
00:30:35.920 | 'Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel,
00:30:38.320 | and I will say to them,
00:30:39.160 | 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.
00:30:41.080 | Now they may say to me, 'What is his name?
00:30:44.560 | What shall I say to them?'
00:30:45.680 | God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.'
00:30:49.120 | And he says, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel,
00:30:51.160 | 'I am has sent me to you.'"
00:30:53.360 | I am.
00:30:54.640 | What does that even mean, I am?
00:30:56.960 | Right?
00:30:57.800 | So I don't know how many of you grew up
00:30:58.980 | watching Popeye the Sailor Man,
00:31:00.380 | that's what he used to say.
00:31:02.380 | I am who I am, and that is all that I am.
00:31:05.340 | I didn't realize how blasphemous that was.
00:31:07.740 | (congregation laughing)
00:31:08.780 | Because that's a title that God used for himself.
00:31:11.940 | I am who I am.
00:31:13.980 | And the meaning behind that, that he is self-sufficient.
00:31:17.220 | He's the only being who is completely independent
00:31:21.300 | of everything else.
00:31:22.340 | If you've taken any philosophy class,
00:31:24.980 | you know one of the main arguments
00:31:26.420 | is everything has cause and effect.
00:31:29.060 | When you see a certain effect,
00:31:30.740 | you say, "Well, what caused that?"
00:31:32.940 | If you see certain things happening in history,
00:31:34.660 | "Well, what caused that?
00:31:35.580 | Why is this happening?"
00:31:36.820 | And you usually kind of try to connect the dots.
00:31:38.940 | What was the cause that created this effect?
00:31:43.940 | Well, Bible tells us that God is the ultimate cause.
00:31:49.140 | That he himself is independent of any change
00:31:54.100 | because he is not dependent on anything.
00:31:56.700 | I mean, think about who we are, right?
00:32:00.860 | I mean, you meet friends that you met from 10 years ago,
00:32:03.580 | and they look similar.
00:32:05.060 | I mean, obviously, they get gray hair,
00:32:06.340 | and they look a little bit different.
00:32:08.220 | But you meet them, it's like there are certain things
00:32:09.780 | that are similar, but people go through change all the time.
00:32:13.740 | We're never the same.
00:32:14.660 | 10 years ago, last year, we're constantly changing.
00:32:17.980 | I was thinking about my own life, how I shared with you.
00:32:21.380 | I was born in Korea, and I was thinking,
00:32:25.140 | my life now, who I am, is completely different
00:32:28.580 | than what I remember from my childhood
00:32:30.700 | because I was given a Korean name,
00:32:34.220 | and Korea was a third-world country at that time,
00:32:36.380 | and almost everybody went to the bathroom in the outhouse.
00:32:40.180 | Every once in a while, we would travel
00:32:41.380 | and go to certain parts of the world
00:32:42.880 | where they use the outhouse.
00:32:43.720 | It's like, "Oh, we're so uncomfortable."
00:32:46.300 | But that's what our life was like when we were young.
00:32:49.540 | Didn't speak English till I was about seven or eight years old.
00:32:52.580 | Even our name was given to us by a pastor.
00:32:55.820 | And I think they gave my older brother, Paul,
00:33:00.100 | because he's the leader, he's the oldest,
00:33:02.700 | and then he gave Philip his name
00:33:04.540 | because he's the youngest one, right?
00:33:08.300 | And I think he named me Peter
00:33:09.380 | because I look like a troublemaker, right?
00:33:13.020 | A lot of action.
00:33:14.660 | And so, even my name was given to me later on in life.
00:33:19.520 | But every once in a while, I think,
00:33:21.180 | "What would I have been like
00:33:22.340 | "if I never came to the United States?"
00:33:24.780 | I would have been a completely different person.
00:33:27.460 | Every different stage of our life, something happens.
00:33:30.660 | Maybe something good happens, something bad happens.
00:33:33.360 | Kind of career you choose.
00:33:36.780 | Where you go to school.
00:33:39.060 | Kind of friends you hang out with.
00:33:41.180 | What church you go to.
00:33:42.460 | All of these things affect the way we are,
00:33:45.540 | how we think and how we respond to things.
00:33:48.380 | So every single one of us, our circumstance,
00:33:51.160 | our experience, our relationships,
00:33:53.620 | all of it affects who we are.
00:33:56.840 | Every once in a while, somebody who hears me online
00:34:00.560 | and have never met me, they say, "Hey, you have an accent."
00:34:03.560 | I don't know if you hear it, but I've heard that enough.
00:34:07.320 | And they said, "It's kind of fobby."
00:34:09.160 | Kind of fobby, but it's not quite fobby.
00:34:13.000 | I kind of hear a little bit of New Jersey.
00:34:16.640 | (audience laughing)
00:34:17.560 | A little bit of the South and Midwest.
00:34:19.840 | And they can't quite figure it out,
00:34:22.200 | but it's not normal, basically, that's what they mean.
00:34:25.520 | That's because we lived in the East Coast at one point.
00:34:29.320 | And then my parents moved to the Midwest at one point.
00:34:32.560 | And then we lived in the South for a period.
00:34:35.260 | Then went back to Korea and came back,
00:34:36.700 | so our family was nomadic.
00:34:39.020 | So I think each one of those places,
00:34:40.540 | I picked up a little bit of accent.
00:34:42.280 | So I don't even know what it is,
00:34:44.680 | but they said people who hear me online saying,
00:34:46.520 | "You have something, I just can't make it out."
00:34:50.040 | So even I don't know, but my circumstances
00:34:52.560 | had affected even my speech, right?
00:34:55.280 | Even the way maybe I say things.
00:34:57.120 | Every single one of us is affected by our circumstance.
00:35:02.120 | And that's part of the reason why we are always changing.
00:35:05.400 | In order for a being to be immutable,
00:35:11.200 | he cannot be affected by his circumstance.
00:35:15.420 | God is the ultimate cause.
00:35:17.480 | He's completely independent.
00:35:20.400 | And that's what he means when he says, "I am who I am."
00:35:24.240 | Not I will be, not I was, but I am.
00:35:27.680 | Secondly, Jesus is immutable because he is perfect.
00:35:32.020 | In order for something to remain the same,
00:35:35.620 | there needs to be continuation, right?
00:35:39.480 | He needs to be perfect.
00:35:40.740 | In Numbers 23, 19, he says, "God is not man,
00:35:43.200 | "that he should lie, nor the Son of Man,
00:35:44.980 | "that he should repent."
00:35:46.120 | In other words, to change.
00:35:47.920 | "Has he said, and will he not do it?
00:35:49.800 | "Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?"
00:35:52.680 | God is immutable because he never makes judgment
00:35:56.400 | that is wrong.
00:35:57.400 | He is perfect.
00:35:59.500 | James 1, 17, it says, "Every good thing given,
00:36:02.380 | "and every perfect gift is from above,
00:36:04.320 | "coming down from the Father of lights,
00:36:06.120 | "with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."
00:36:10.020 | God, in his very nature,
00:36:12.600 | in order for somebody to be immutable,
00:36:14.520 | there has to be perfection in him already.
00:36:17.660 | Without that perfection, we may do things
00:36:20.200 | and then end up regretting it.
00:36:21.320 | Oh, maybe that was not the right thing.
00:36:22.880 | Or we may know what's right to do,
00:36:25.040 | and then not to do it.
00:36:26.240 | You know, one of the things that we talk about
00:36:28.640 | in marriage counseling is the key to
00:36:31.160 | having a good relationship,
00:36:32.160 | one of the keys to a good relationship,
00:36:33.700 | having good biblical communication, right?
00:36:37.240 | Biblical communication isn't technique, right?
00:36:40.480 | When she says this, do this.
00:36:43.220 | Make sure you say this.
00:36:44.300 | Happy wife, happy life.
00:36:45.460 | How do you make her happy?
00:36:46.820 | It's not about technique.
00:36:48.740 | The reason why communication has broken down
00:36:51.100 | is because it always comes through a sinful filter.
00:36:54.000 | If I say this, what is she gonna think?
00:36:57.180 | Well, I don't want her to know everything.
00:36:59.240 | So everything that we say comes through
00:37:00.860 | a some sort of sinful filter.
00:37:02.540 | You hurt me, so I'm gonna hurt you, right?
00:37:05.240 | I don't want you to know this.
00:37:06.620 | Or I want you to think of me in this way,
00:37:08.600 | so we exaggerate certain things and minimize other things.
00:37:12.380 | Like Jesus said, what comes out of us,
00:37:15.660 | what comes out of our mouth is what's inside of us.
00:37:17.900 | It's not what we eat that corrupts us,
00:37:19.280 | it's what comes out of us that corrupts us.
00:37:21.180 | And so what comes out of us in our words
00:37:23.240 | and our communication comes through a sinful filter.
00:37:26.780 | So basically what he is saying is
00:37:28.740 | we have a corrupt nature through which
00:37:31.380 | all communication comes out of.
00:37:34.580 | So part of the things that we study in marriage counseling
00:37:37.660 | is recognizing what they are
00:37:40.460 | and then try to be sanctified
00:37:42.420 | knowing that these things are coming up for these reasons.
00:37:47.060 | So those of you who went through marriage counseling
00:37:48.860 | with me recently, talking about how
00:37:51.300 | make sure you're a good listener, you understand,
00:37:53.300 | make sure that you don't react,
00:37:54.960 | and make sure that what you say is not exaggerated
00:37:59.460 | when you say it, and then learn how to speak the truth
00:38:01.980 | in love, that you never compromise both.
00:38:04.540 | But in the end, you can know all of that
00:38:07.780 | and then be in front of your wife and your husband
00:38:10.540 | knowing that you shouldn't say this,
00:38:12.060 | knowing that this is probably not the right thing to do,
00:38:14.420 | and then do it anyway.
00:38:15.580 | Like why, why do you know if this is going to,
00:38:19.300 | if this is not good, and this is gonna start,
00:38:22.020 | this is gonna hurt her, why would you do it anyway?
00:38:24.560 | Because she hurt me.
00:38:25.620 | That you know the right thing to do
00:38:29.820 | and you won't do it anyway
00:38:31.220 | because it hurts your pride,
00:38:34.460 | because you're somehow weighing the scale
00:38:37.100 | and she said, well, she did it to me,
00:38:38.580 | so I'm gonna do this to her.
00:38:40.380 | So even though we would have all the knowledge,
00:38:42.740 | we choose to do what's wrong
00:38:44.180 | because there's something corrupt in us.
00:38:46.180 | See, if in order for God to be,
00:38:50.060 | Jesus to be immutable and perfect,
00:38:53.340 | he himself needs to be perfect,
00:38:55.460 | that he can't do something and then just,
00:38:58.180 | ah, forget it, I don't wanna do it.
00:39:00.140 | If I make a promise to you,
00:39:02.020 | I may have all intention today
00:39:04.580 | that I'm gonna fulfill this promise
00:39:05.940 | and then tomorrow I change my mind.
00:39:08.300 | You know, maybe you said something,
00:39:10.660 | maybe you did something,
00:39:12.260 | maybe I'm just not in the mood, you know,
00:39:14.540 | maybe I'm tempted by something.
00:39:16.540 | So one of the most arrogant things
00:39:20.020 | that a human being can say is I will, right?
00:39:24.220 | There's a reason why Jesus says,
00:39:26.260 | don't say I'm going to go to this city or that city,
00:39:28.820 | is that if the Lord wills.
00:39:30.580 | And basically what he's telling us,
00:39:32.620 | you don't have control over yourself.
00:39:34.740 | You don't have control over the circumstance.
00:39:37.180 | You don't have control over your own will.
00:39:38.860 | You may be perfectly willed today,
00:39:41.540 | but tomorrow say forget it.
00:39:42.900 | In order for him to be immutable,
00:39:45.780 | he himself needs to be perfect.
00:39:47.500 | First John 1.5, this is the message we have heard from him
00:39:50.300 | and announced to you that God is light
00:39:52.420 | and in him there is no darkness at all.
00:39:54.860 | So in order for him to be immutable,
00:39:57.580 | he needs to be completely independent from any circumstance
00:40:02.540 | and he needs to remain the same
00:40:03.780 | no matter what situation, no matter when,
00:40:06.540 | and he himself needs to be without corruption.
00:40:09.300 | Third, Jesus is immutable because he is omnipotent,
00:40:13.900 | all powerful.
00:40:16.220 | Isaiah 40.28, do you not know, have you not heard?
00:40:20.340 | The everlasting God, the Lord,
00:40:21.740 | the creator of the ends of the earth
00:40:23.420 | does not become weary or tired.
00:40:24.860 | His understanding is inscrutable.
00:40:27.500 | We don't have the power to fulfill what we desire.
00:40:33.700 | We may be successful in some things,
00:40:36.600 | but there's a reason why he said not to make oaths.
00:40:40.540 | I mean, let alone years and years of history of this,
00:40:45.820 | but for man to be able to say I will do this,
00:40:49.140 | you have to have the ability to carry that out.
00:40:52.620 | I can tell you that next year, next week,
00:40:55.860 | I was gonna be here and that's my,
00:40:57.620 | you can look at the probability, right,
00:41:00.420 | of all the years of what we experienced,
00:41:02.500 | but is it guaranteed 100%?
00:41:04.420 | Nothing is guaranteed.
00:41:06.740 | I may get in a car accident, there's something might happen,
00:41:10.420 | or the streets may get shut down, we don't know.
00:41:13.180 | I don't have that power.
00:41:15.940 | So the best that I can do is say I'm gonna do my best.
00:41:20.540 | I'm gonna do my best.
00:41:21.780 | But I don't have the power to guarantee that.
00:41:25.380 | See, when God says he's gonna do something,
00:41:27.500 | he's not simply predicting.
00:41:29.740 | He's not looking down at history, he's like,
00:41:31.340 | I wish this will happen.
00:41:32.780 | That's not what he's doing.
00:41:34.500 | If God is not all powerful, if he's not omnipotent,
00:41:38.500 | all he can say is I hope this happens.
00:41:42.300 | I hope this happens.
00:41:44.060 | And I hope that my son will come one day
00:41:46.660 | and do what I hope he will do.
00:41:48.540 | I hope he doesn't change his mind.
00:41:51.020 | I hope the circumstances work out.
00:41:53.540 | But the reason why he says it definitively
00:41:56.620 | is because the one who makes the promise
00:41:58.820 | is powerful enough to fulfill it,
00:42:01.020 | and he's the only one who can do that.
00:42:03.500 | So in order for him to be immutable,
00:42:06.340 | he needs to also be all powerful.
00:42:09.060 | He needs to be above politics.
00:42:12.100 | He needs to be above the weather.
00:42:14.540 | He needs to be above whatever challenges may come
00:42:17.500 | that he is powerful enough to fulfill his purpose.
00:42:20.340 | Isaiah 43, 13 says, "Even from eternity I am he.
00:42:25.620 | "There is none who can deliver out of my hand.
00:42:27.780 | "I act, and who can reverse it?"
00:42:31.060 | He said, "I act, and who can reverse it?"
00:42:33.940 | What he desired, what he has planned, what he has promised,
00:42:37.220 | only he can fulfill 100%.
00:42:40.500 | That's why we can bank on him.
00:42:42.500 | That's why we anchor in him
00:42:44.340 | that whatever promises that he has made,
00:42:46.540 | he will fulfill if you believe it.
00:42:49.260 | Colossians 1, 16 through 17,
00:42:51.740 | "For by him all things were created,
00:42:54.260 | "both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
00:42:56.220 | "whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authority.
00:42:58.300 | "All things have been created through him, for him.
00:43:01.460 | "He is before all things,
00:43:02.500 | "and in him all things hold together."
00:43:04.740 | The same power that created the universe by his word
00:43:11.020 | is the same power that sustains us today.
00:43:14.580 | He didn't get tired.
00:43:16.580 | He said, "Well, he created the universe in six days,
00:43:19.940 | "and then he rested on the seventh day."
00:43:22.740 | So he must have gotten tired.
00:43:25.060 | He needed to recover.
00:43:25.900 | Even God needed to rest.
00:43:28.740 | It's blasphemy.
00:43:29.780 | That Sabbath that he's talking about,
00:43:32.340 | isn't he resting so he should recuperate
00:43:34.340 | because like us, we get tired and we need to take a nap.
00:43:39.340 | We need to re-energize so he can start over on Monday.
00:43:41.540 | That's not what Sabbath means.
00:43:44.500 | Sabbath means that he is spiritually,
00:43:47.580 | in every way, he's resting.
00:43:48.900 | It doesn't mean he's not working.
00:43:50.180 | It doesn't mean that he needs to recuperate.
00:43:52.020 | It means that there is peace.
00:43:55.180 | Peace, that's what he created.
00:43:56.860 | That's what he brought us into,
00:43:58.580 | and that's what was broken, peace.
00:44:01.380 | Now where this immutability is so important,
00:44:05.980 | or immutability and his omnipotence is so important,
00:44:09.020 | you know, when you desire something so much,
00:44:11.380 | and you can't fulfill it by your own power,
00:44:15.420 | that's when we become desperate for Christ, right?
00:44:18.940 | Somebody is sick, and you're crying out to God
00:44:22.180 | because you have no power.
00:44:24.900 | If you've raised children, you know,
00:44:27.020 | I remember when our children were younger,
00:44:29.640 | and they would come back from school and say,
00:44:31.260 | "Hey, somebody picked on me."
00:44:33.860 | And again, being from an immigrant family,
00:44:36.660 | moving at a new school every single year,
00:44:39.100 | and having to defend myself, and so hyper-sensitive to that.
00:44:42.940 | And I remember like, what can I do to help?
00:44:47.540 | You know, I wanted to teach them how to box.
00:44:51.940 | If MMA was popular, then I would teach them some MMA moves,
00:44:55.060 | that this is what I would do.
00:44:57.060 | But at the core of who we are,
00:44:59.220 | like, I wish I could take your place.
00:45:01.060 | I wish I could take away your pain.
00:45:04.340 | I wish I could change your circumstance.
00:45:06.780 | There's stuff that even now,
00:45:08.920 | that some of you guys are going through,
00:45:11.340 | some of the struggles that you have.
00:45:13.140 | And as we pray, and as we wrestle,
00:45:15.940 | I wish I could somehow just click a button,
00:45:19.200 | and do something, and take away some of that pain,
00:45:21.620 | and have no power.
00:45:23.340 | As much as I care, as much as I desire,
00:45:29.220 | I don't have that power.
00:45:30.560 | And the longer I live, the more I'm aware of that.
00:45:36.640 | See, in order for God to be able to fulfill his promise,
00:45:40.000 | he has to be omnipotent, and only God is omnipotent.
00:45:43.100 | And in order for him to be immutable,
00:45:44.700 | he needs to be omnipotent as well.
00:45:46.700 | But fourth and finally, Jesus is immutable
00:45:48.900 | because he is all-knowing, he is omniscient.
00:45:51.100 | He knows all things.
00:45:52.860 | Psalm 147, verse five said,
00:45:55.260 | "Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength.
00:45:57.300 | His understanding is infinite."
00:46:00.180 | Everything that he has done was based upon all knowledge.
00:46:05.720 | There's nothing that surprises him because he is omniscient.
00:46:09.940 | So everything that he has promised in the past,
00:46:14.480 | everything he is doing now,
00:46:16.020 | and everything he will fulfill in the future,
00:46:18.340 | is based upon all knowledge because he is omniscient.
00:46:23.340 | If it was not based on his omniscience,
00:46:27.300 | the more he finds out about the future,
00:46:29.460 | the more understanding that he has,
00:46:31.700 | he'll change his mind, just like we do, right?
00:46:34.620 | How many of us, if we were to turn the clock back 10 years,
00:46:40.040 | would do things differently?
00:46:41.440 | Every single one of us.
00:46:43.320 | There's a reason why we have New Year's resolution,
00:46:47.260 | because based upon the knowledge that I have now,
00:46:50.380 | I would do things differently.
00:46:51.880 | And usually the people who have the biggest opinions,
00:46:55.720 | the seniors in college, right,
00:46:59.260 | have so much to say to the freshmen,
00:47:01.260 | because you've experienced four years of college,
00:47:05.300 | and it's like, "Don't do that.
00:47:07.060 | Don't take 20 units, right?
00:47:09.740 | Don't get classes at 8 a.m.
00:47:11.440 | You're not gonna make it."
00:47:12.740 | (audience laughing)
00:47:14.420 | And so, because they have four years,
00:47:15.860 | so if they were to reverse the clock back,
00:47:17.620 | they would probably live their freshman year
00:47:19.140 | a little bit differently.
00:47:21.020 | Those of you who graduated and who are working,
00:47:23.380 | now that you know what work life is like,
00:47:25.420 | hold on to college for dear life.
00:47:29.340 | Don't be so eager to get out.
00:47:31.700 | It was so good then, right?
00:47:33.580 | Every stage of life, we look back,
00:47:35.220 | because you have gained more knowledge, right?
00:47:38.820 | You get married, and then you tell the singles,
00:47:40.540 | "Hey, don't be so eager."
00:47:42.020 | Not that marriage is bad.
00:47:46.020 | But singleness is good, too, right?
00:47:49.300 | They say, "Oh, we wanna have kids."
00:47:50.700 | It's like, "Hey, don't rush it.
00:47:52.740 | Enjoy what you have."
00:47:53.660 | So every stage of life, we have things that,
00:47:56.180 | because we've gained more knowledge, more experience,
00:47:59.220 | we look back and it says,
00:48:00.500 | "That knowledge caused us to look at that circumstance,
00:48:04.100 | and I would do things differently."
00:48:06.660 | Even in our deathbed, every single person
00:48:08.460 | will look back at their life and say,
00:48:10.160 | "Now that I've accumulated this knowledge,
00:48:12.540 | I would live my life differently."
00:48:14.860 | Because we didn't have that knowledge at that time.
00:48:17.540 | In order for an individual to be immutable,
00:48:19.820 | he needs to have all knowledge.
00:48:22.380 | That he doesn't have more knowledge
00:48:24.180 | a thousand years later, 10,000 years later,
00:48:26.500 | because everything that he does
00:48:28.180 | is based upon perfect knowledge.
00:48:30.700 | He is omniscient.
00:48:32.300 | And that's why it says, 1 John 3:20,
00:48:34.260 | "In whatever heart condemns us,
00:48:36.260 | our God is greater than our hearts and knows all things."
00:48:40.940 | He knows all things.
00:48:41.860 | Psalm 139, verse four,
00:48:42.920 | "Even before there is a word on my tongue,
00:48:44.640 | behold, O Lord, you know it all."
00:48:47.300 | He does not change.
00:48:51.700 | Now, all of these four qualities
00:48:54.220 | are necessary for God to be immutable.
00:48:57.360 | He needs to be independent, he needs to be perfect.
00:49:01.300 | He needs to be omnipotent, and he needs to be omniscient.
00:49:04.180 | So that's why that statement in verse eight
00:49:06.260 | can only be applied to God himself,
00:49:08.700 | 'cause only God himself is immutable.
00:49:12.860 | So what does this have to do with what he's trying to say
00:49:14.720 | here, not to drift?
00:49:16.020 | Everything that we know of Christ
00:49:22.120 | and his sacrifice for us means it's immutable.
00:49:26.020 | His love for us is immutable.
00:49:30.240 | His love for us is based upon his perfection.
00:49:35.140 | In Malachi 3, 6, it says,
00:49:38.720 | "For I, the Lord, do not change.
00:49:40.280 | Therefore, you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."
00:49:43.460 | Because he didn't change his mind,
00:49:45.740 | he didn't make a decision,
00:49:47.220 | and then something inside of him is like,
00:49:48.300 | "I don't love these people anymore.
00:49:50.260 | I'm so tired of this."
00:49:51.620 | So his love for us, his choosing of us, is immutable.
00:49:56.780 | That's why even though you can misapply it
00:49:59.860 | and people abuse this term,
00:50:02.340 | but the statement in itself is true.
00:50:04.660 | One saved, always saved.
00:50:07.680 | Because our salvation justification
00:50:10.560 | is based upon his perfection.
00:50:13.380 | And he doesn't change, he doesn't change his mind
00:50:17.500 | 10 years later, 15 years later.
00:50:19.200 | So his love for us is immutable because he is perfect.
00:50:23.320 | God's love for us does not change because of circumstance.
00:50:28.320 | When Jesus says, "I will build my church
00:50:32.520 | and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."
00:50:35.920 | If you think about church history,
00:50:37.820 | if it was based upon our will, our purpose,
00:50:43.680 | I mean, God would have changed his mind a long time ago.
00:50:46.840 | I don't think we would have ever made it
00:50:48.100 | out of the first century.
00:50:49.340 | We would have never made it out.
00:50:51.660 | But think about how in the 2,000 years of church history,
00:50:54.780 | the kind of chaos that we've seen.
00:50:57.500 | Church actually killed people
00:51:00.160 | who wanted to translate the Bible for us,
00:51:02.780 | burned them at the stake.
00:51:03.900 | And if anybody questioned them,
00:51:05.260 | they brought in the Inquisition.
00:51:07.140 | And if you go against us, we'll torture you.
00:51:09.700 | And then because they were greedy for gain,
00:51:11.700 | they started selling indulgences
00:51:13.180 | so that they can become rich.
00:51:14.720 | All kinds of stuff came inside the church.
00:51:16.500 | And even today, there's all kinds of chaos in the church.
00:51:19.220 | If it was based upon us,
00:51:20.540 | that promise would have been broken.
00:51:22.800 | It would have never made it out the first century.
00:51:25.700 | But God's purpose does not change based on circumstance.
00:51:30.940 | And we anchor with his promise because he is immutable,
00:51:35.260 | because he is independent, because he is I am.
00:51:39.160 | And what he says, he fulfills because he does not change.
00:51:44.200 | God's love for us is sustained by his power.
00:51:49.700 | Isaiah 46, 9 through 11 says,
00:51:52.620 | "Remember the former things long past,
00:51:54.380 | "for I am God and there is no other.
00:51:57.360 | "I am God and there is no one like me,
00:51:59.020 | "declaring the end from the beginning
00:52:00.560 | "and from ancient times things which have not been done,
00:52:03.940 | "saying my purpose will be established
00:52:06.380 | "and I will accomplish my good pleasure.
00:52:08.880 | "Calling a bird, pray from the east,
00:52:10.500 | "a man of my purpose from far country.
00:52:13.220 | "Truly I have spoken, truly I will bring to pass.
00:52:15.560 | "I have planned it, surely I will do it."
00:52:18.900 | No being can ever say this.
00:52:23.780 | I can say, I hope this happens.
00:52:26.400 | I'm gonna do my best that this will happen.
00:52:29.860 | But only God says, I will do it.
00:52:32.440 | You can bank on this, you can anchor yourself on this,
00:52:34.980 | because God is all powerful.
00:52:36.520 | Only he can promise it and fulfill it all the time.
00:52:42.080 | That's why when he speaks, whether it is in Genesis
00:52:45.520 | and whether it is in the last chapter of Revelation,
00:52:48.080 | it's fulfilled.
00:52:49.260 | You can bank on it, because he's the only being
00:52:53.800 | who has that kind of power.
00:52:54.980 | So when he says,
00:52:58.160 | "If you confess your sins and your faithful
00:52:59.820 | "and just forgive you of all wrongs,"
00:53:01.160 | he has the power.
00:53:02.200 | He has the power, only he has the power.
00:53:06.080 | First Peter one through to five, he says,
00:53:08.040 | "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
00:53:10.300 | "who according to his great mercy
00:53:12.260 | "has caused us to be born again,
00:53:15.180 | "to a living hope,
00:53:17.460 | "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
00:53:19.260 | "to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable,
00:53:22.740 | "undefiled, and will not fade,
00:53:25.560 | "reserved in heaven for you."
00:53:27.600 | The reason why the hope that we have,
00:53:29.480 | the salvation that we have is imperishable,
00:53:32.000 | undefiled, and does not fade,
00:53:33.780 | is because God is the one who sustains it.
00:53:37.720 | He does not change.
00:53:41.160 | He doesn't drift because of circumstance.
00:53:44.600 | He doesn't get tired.
00:53:46.900 | He says, "Who are protected by the power of God
00:53:49.720 | "through faith for salvation,
00:53:50.880 | "ready to be revealed in the last time."
00:53:52.960 | Only God is all powerful
00:53:55.400 | and is able to fulfill what he desires.
00:53:58.060 | Fourth and finally, God's love for us
00:54:00.840 | is based on all knowledge, past, present, and future.
00:54:05.140 | I want you to think about that.
00:54:08.440 | When God justified us,
00:54:11.400 | he justified us based upon
00:54:15.480 | all that he knew of you and me,
00:54:17.940 | past, present, and future.
00:54:20.700 | He didn't look at us and say,
00:54:23.480 | "Well, he's worth investing in.
00:54:25.700 | "Let's see what happens."
00:54:27.120 | Let me justify him now,
00:54:29.640 | and then hopefully he's not gonna screw up.
00:54:33.480 | His justification, his choosing of us
00:54:36.840 | was based upon all knowledge,
00:54:38.800 | past, present, and future.
00:54:40.880 | So there is no shock.
00:54:43.880 | Some of us may be sitting here,
00:54:46.480 | it's like, "Yeah, but you don't know what I've done.
00:54:49.080 | "You don't know how far I've drifted."
00:54:53.160 | His love for us, his choosing of us,
00:54:54.760 | his justification of us was based upon
00:54:56.880 | all perfect knowledge, past, present, and future.
00:55:00.180 | So there's nothing that you have done.
00:55:02.360 | There's nothing that you have done
00:55:05.840 | that he did not know.
00:55:07.400 | Psalm 139, one through 12.
00:55:11.120 | This is a passage that we look at,
00:55:14.360 | and typically we think this is
00:55:17.100 | the psalmist trying to hide from God.
00:55:19.400 | It sounds negative in the beginning.
00:55:21.680 | This is what he says.
00:55:23.000 | "Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.
00:55:24.640 | "You know when I sit down and when I rise up.
00:55:27.920 | "You understand my thoughts from afar.
00:55:29.840 | "You scrutinize my path and lying down."
00:55:32.280 | Scrutinize, like he examines, he knows all things.
00:55:35.680 | "Intimately acquainted with all my ways."
00:55:38.240 | Think about that.
00:55:40.280 | Every single one of us, we try to hide.
00:55:45.320 | It doesn't matter if you're an introvert or an extrovert.
00:55:51.640 | Nobody is perfectly open, even with our wives,
00:55:56.000 | even with our husbands.
00:55:57.320 | There are things that you don't share perfectly
00:55:59.440 | with even your husband and wife.
00:56:01.480 | Sometimes we get into trouble because they find out
00:56:04.460 | whether you want to or not, but nobody is perfectly open
00:56:07.300 | because there are things that we want to hide.
00:56:09.140 | But he said before God, there's nothing hidden.
00:56:10.840 | He scrutinizes everything.
00:56:13.200 | "Intimately acquainted with all my ways,
00:56:14.760 | "even before there's a word on my tongue.
00:56:16.680 | "Behold, oh Lord, you know it all.
00:56:18.440 | "You have enclosed me behind and before,
00:56:21.300 | "and laid your hand upon me.
00:56:22.440 | "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
00:56:24.140 | "It is too high, I cannot attain it."
00:56:26.120 | Imagine if we try so hard to hide,
00:56:28.560 | even from somebody that loves us,
00:56:30.800 | made a covenant relationship, and yet he says, "God knows."
00:56:34.600 | We try so hard to present ourselves a certain way.
00:56:40.480 | We want you to see what we're good at.
00:56:42.000 | We try so hard to hide the things that we're not good at,
00:56:44.000 | and he said, "We stand before God, there's nothing hidden,
00:56:46.040 | "even the things that you do not know."
00:56:49.560 | Even your blind spots, God knows.
00:56:51.340 | Even before you open your mouth, God already knew.
00:56:54.620 | Does that make you nervous?
00:56:56.060 | And this is an all-powerful, almighty, holy, holy, holy God
00:57:00.500 | that knows every part of who you are.
00:57:03.220 | So when we read this, our natural reaction isn't like,
00:57:08.220 | "Oh, that's good."
00:57:10.860 | No, it's like, "Does that make you nervous?
00:57:14.700 | "I can't hide from this God?"
00:57:18.020 | That's what he said, verse seven,
00:57:19.520 | "Where can I go from your spirit?
00:57:21.560 | "Where can I flee from your presence?
00:57:23.820 | "If I ascend to heaven, you are there.
00:57:25.360 | "If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there.
00:57:27.740 | "If I take the wings of the dawn,
00:57:29.280 | "if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
00:57:31.700 | "even there, your hand will lead me,
00:57:33.920 | "and your right hand will lay hold of me."
00:57:35.760 | Did you get that?
00:57:36.740 | He says, "I can go everywhere, I can hide,
00:57:40.620 | "I can do all the things, but even there, you are there."
00:57:43.160 | Why is he there?
00:57:44.960 | He says, "Even after knowing everything that you know,
00:57:47.920 | "even after I try to hide from you
00:57:50.160 | "as to the darkest of seas,"
00:57:53.340 | he says, what does he say?
00:57:55.000 | "You hold me in your right hand."
00:57:59.120 | You know everything.
00:58:02.440 | You know everything.
00:58:05.320 | And you hold me with your right hand.
00:58:08.580 | "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
00:58:12.060 | "and the light from around me will be night,'
00:58:14.860 | "even the darkness is not dark to you,
00:58:16.340 | "and the night is not bright as the day,
00:58:17.780 | "darkness and light are like to you.
00:58:19.920 | "Even though you know everything of me
00:58:22.540 | "from past, present, and future,
00:58:24.700 | "you hold me with your right hand."
00:58:27.220 | You would think that after, it's like,
00:58:30.020 | you know everything, even before I speak,
00:58:32.040 | even the things I try so hard to hide,
00:58:34.800 | even the things that I don't tell my wife
00:58:36.640 | or don't tell my husband, nobody knows this,
00:58:40.040 | and you know all things.
00:58:42.360 | Where can I go from your spirit?
00:58:44.780 | What darkness is going to hide me?
00:58:47.480 | And yet you know all this,
00:58:49.260 | and you hold me with your right hand.
00:58:51.760 | His love for us, his justification,
00:58:56.480 | is based upon all knowledge, past, present, and future.
00:59:00.720 | A holy God cannot invite us to himself
00:59:05.360 | if it is not covered by his perfect love.
00:59:08.840 | He cannot say, "Come to me, all who are weary
00:59:12.080 | "and heavy laden, and I will give you rest,"
00:59:14.620 | if we are not covered by his perfect love.
00:59:17.540 | You know, one of the passages that I share a lot
00:59:22.580 | is because it sustained me for so many years.
00:59:26.360 | In Luke chapter 22, verse 31 and 34,
00:59:29.940 | before Jesus goes to the cross,
00:59:31.800 | he tells Peter, "Simon, Simon,
00:59:34.700 | "behold, Satan has demanded permission
00:59:36.140 | "to sift you like wheat,
00:59:38.120 | "but I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail."
00:59:42.280 | Jesus says, "Satan has to get permission
00:59:44.900 | "to attack you and sift you, basically destroy you."
00:59:48.240 | Peter said, "I prayed for you so your faith will not fail."
00:59:51.240 | But then right after that, he says,
00:59:54.240 | "When once you have turned again,
00:59:57.280 | "strengthen your brothers."
00:59:58.340 | Turned again, what is he referring to?
01:00:00.240 | Turned again, I thought he just prayed
01:00:03.020 | that he wouldn't fail.
01:00:04.480 | And he says, "When you turn."
01:00:05.640 | Turn from what?
01:00:06.480 | Turn from his failure.
01:00:07.980 | And he tells him, and Peter says,
01:00:10.220 | "Lord, with you I am ready to go,
01:00:11.720 | "both to prison and to death."
01:00:13.920 | Peter understood what he meant.
01:00:15.680 | "You just told me that you prayed that I would not fail,
01:00:17.620 | "and then you just told me I'm gonna fail, which is it?"
01:00:20.160 | And Peter says,
01:00:21.220 | "Matthew, the tax collector, yeah, I can see that guy."
01:00:26.840 | Right?
01:00:27.660 | Soon as he gets pressured,
01:00:28.600 | I mean, he's gonna go back collecting taxes.
01:00:31.360 | James and John, these guys can't control their temper.
01:00:35.040 | Right, they wanted to kill anyway.
01:00:36.880 | Soon as he gets pressured, yeah, I can see them going.
01:00:39.640 | Right?
01:00:40.600 | And he said, "All of these may go, but I will not."
01:00:44.080 | And I think Peter meant it.
01:00:45.960 | And we see that the Garden of Gethsemane,
01:00:48.280 | when the soldiers of the temple come,
01:00:49.820 | and he took out his little knife, "Let's go."
01:00:53.560 | He meant it.
01:00:54.540 | But Jesus knew exactly what was gonna happen,
01:00:57.720 | because he knows all things.
01:00:59.460 | But he says to Peter,
01:01:02.540 | "Today, you will deny me three times."
01:01:05.940 | Not only would he fail, he will fail miserably.
01:01:09.520 | And he will fail in a grander scale
01:01:12.000 | than all the other disciples.
01:01:13.540 | 'Cause he was there, and he said,
01:01:15.360 | "I don't know him," to his face.
01:01:17.440 | After everything that Jesus has done,
01:01:20.680 | after spending three years walking with him,
01:01:23.960 | talking with him,
01:01:25.120 | showing, seeing all the miracles that he saw firsthand,
01:01:29.240 | and when it came down to
01:01:32.920 | when Jesus needed his disciples the most,
01:01:38.360 | they failed him miserably.
01:01:40.040 | So I remember looking at this passage,
01:01:43.360 | and doing quiet time as a young Christian,
01:01:45.600 | I said, "I don't get this."
01:01:47.200 | He said, "I said, 'I will pray for you,
01:01:50.120 | "'for you won't fail,'"
01:01:51.760 | and then he said, "But you will fail miserably."
01:01:54.120 | And it dawned on me,
01:01:57.320 | when he said, "I pray you wouldn't fail,"
01:02:00.360 | he's not talking about this failure.
01:02:02.640 | He was telling him to get up.
01:02:07.840 | When you fail, get back up.
01:02:10.360 | When you're disappointed in yourself,
01:02:15.680 | and you feel like you've exhausted his love for you,
01:02:18.520 | get back up.
01:02:20.360 | Get back up.
01:02:22.560 | Jesus says, "If you confess your sins,
01:02:27.020 | "he is faithful and just to forgive you
01:02:28.480 | "of all your unrighteousness."
01:02:30.260 | He already knew, 'cause he has all knowledge,
01:02:34.000 | past, present, and future.
01:02:37.040 | You know, all these years of doing ministry,
01:02:40.760 | you know, I have years and years of scars in my heart,
01:02:45.760 | memories of pain, of dealing with sinners, like you.
01:02:50.440 | Yeah, I'm talking about you.
01:02:52.960 | But with all the stuff that I can think of,
01:02:58.960 | my greatest struggle hasn't been you.
01:03:00.800 | My greatest struggle has always been me.
01:03:06.960 | My own corruption.
01:03:08.260 | My own greed, my own coveting, my own lust.
01:03:12.480 | Trying to remain in Christ, trying to persevere,
01:03:17.600 | trying to practice the love that he gave me,
01:03:21.520 | and struggling to practice this.
01:03:23.680 | And there've been time and time again,
01:03:27.560 | not simply because I'm disappointed in the church,
01:03:30.960 | but this is too hard for me.
01:03:32.440 | And yet I persevere because I know
01:03:36.520 | that it is not my righteousness that calls me up here.
01:03:39.540 | I persevere because of his righteousness.
01:03:44.040 | I stand here and tell you of his mercy,
01:03:47.840 | of his endurance, of his justification,
01:03:52.080 | of his sanctification, of his glorification.
01:03:54.960 | So his love for us is immutable, does not change.
01:04:03.440 | Preserved with power, based upon all knowledge.
01:04:07.200 | That's why he says, "Fix your eyes upon Jesus,
01:04:12.320 | "the author, the beginner, and the finisher,
01:04:15.160 | "the perfecter of our faith."
01:04:17.280 | That's why the only way we can persevere
01:04:20.240 | if we're anchored to this God, amen?
01:04:22.800 | Anchored to this God.
01:04:25.160 | I don't know where you are in your faith.
01:04:27.520 | I don't know what discouragement you brought into this room.
01:04:30.500 | I don't know what frustration,
01:04:31.760 | I don't know what bitterness
01:04:32.600 | that you may have brought into this room.
01:04:34.480 | But the only way that you and I will persevere
01:04:37.700 | is recognizing Jesus Christ,
01:04:40.640 | who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
01:04:44.180 | And we will persevere in him.
01:04:46.400 | Let's pray.
01:04:47.240 | Gracious Father, we come before you
01:04:56.520 | needing your mercy and grace.
01:05:01.920 | Remembering, Lord God, when you called us.
01:05:04.120 | Knowing, Father, that it is only by your grace
01:05:08.080 | that we are able to be covered by your blood.
01:05:11.280 | I pray, Father God, if we've drifted from that,
01:05:16.360 | we have forgotten the preciousness
01:05:19.720 | of what Christ has done for us and who he is to us.
01:05:23.140 | Help us to remember the height from which we have fallen,
01:05:27.760 | to repent and redo the things that you've given us
01:05:31.360 | that we may remain in him, continue with him,
01:05:33.480 | trust him, follow him, and to be anchored with him.
01:05:36.780 | That we may bear all fruit for the sake of your name.
01:05:40.400 | Lord, we eagerly wait for the coming of Christ.
01:05:43.400 | Like despite all our weaknesses, Lord,
01:05:46.480 | that you challenge us to persevere.
01:05:49.320 | If we have fallen as you challenged, Peter,
01:05:52.840 | help us, Lord, to get up.
01:05:54.160 | Help us, Lord God, to ask for forgiveness,
01:05:57.780 | to be restored and persevere
01:06:00.400 | by the grace that you've given us,
01:06:02.200 | past, present, and future.
01:06:04.640 | In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
01:06:06.400 | Let's all stand up for the closing praise.
01:06:09.520 | (gentle piano music)
01:06:15.160 | - As we continue our worship,
01:06:16.040 | let us sing of his great faithfulness.
01:06:18.160 | (gentle piano music)
01:06:21.240 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:06:35.420 | ♪ O God my Father ♪
01:06:40.280 | ♪ There is no shadow ♪
01:06:44.960 | ♪ Turning with thee ♪
01:06:49.800 | ♪ Thou changest not ♪
01:06:53.400 | ♪ Thy compassions they fail not ♪
01:06:58.400 | ♪ As thou hast been ♪
01:07:03.000 | ♪ Thou forever will be ♪
01:07:11.520 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:07:16.280 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:07:21.080 | ♪ Morning by morning ♪
01:07:25.080 | ♪ New mercies I see ♪
01:07:30.080 | ♪ All I have needed ♪
01:07:34.720 | ♪ Thy hand hath provided ♪
01:07:40.320 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:07:45.120 | ♪ Lord unto me ♪
01:07:47.700 | - Summer and winter.
01:07:55.080 | ♪ Summer and winter ♪
01:08:01.960 | ♪ And springtime and harvest ♪
01:08:06.680 | ♪ The moon and stars ♪
01:08:10.320 | ♪ In their courses above ♪
01:08:15.320 | ♪ Joined with all nature ♪
01:08:20.360 | ♪ In manifold witness ♪
01:08:25.360 | ♪ To thy great faithfulness ♪
01:08:30.720 | ♪ Mercy and love ♪
01:08:35.200 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:08:37.920 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:08:42.680 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:08:47.480 | ♪ Morning by morning ♪
01:08:51.520 | ♪ New mercies I see ♪
01:08:56.520 | ♪ All I have needed ♪
01:09:01.080 | ♪ Thy hand hath provided ♪
01:09:06.080 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:09:11.520 | ♪ Lord unto me ♪
01:09:14.100 | - Pardon for sin.
01:09:22.260 | ♪ Pardon for sin ♪
01:09:28.560 | ♪ Grace that endureth ♪
01:09:33.200 | ♪ Thy own dear presence ♪
01:09:37.160 | ♪ To cheer and to guide ♪
01:09:42.160 | ♪ Strength for today ♪
01:09:46.360 | ♪ And bright hope for tomorrow ♪
01:09:51.360 | ♪ Blessings of mine ♪
01:09:55.960 | ♪ With 10,000 beside ♪
01:10:00.960 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:10:06.640 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:10:11.400 | ♪ Morning by morning ♪
01:10:15.400 | ♪ New mercies I see ♪
01:10:20.400 | ♪ All I have needed ♪
01:10:25.040 | ♪ Thy hand hath provided ♪
01:10:30.040 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:10:35.360 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:10:40.160 | ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪
01:10:45.000 | ♪ Lord unto me ♪
01:10:54.320 | - Let's pray.
01:10:55.160 | Hebrews chapter 6, 17 to 20.
01:10:58.920 | In the same way God desiring even more to show
01:11:01.440 | to the heirs of the promise,
01:11:02.800 | the unchangeableness of his purpose,
01:11:05.160 | interpose with an oath,
01:11:06.920 | so that by two unchangeable things
01:11:08.400 | in which it is impossible for God to lie,
01:11:10.920 | we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement
01:11:13.640 | to take hold of the hope set before us.
01:11:16.320 | This hope we have as an anchor of the soul,
01:11:18.680 | a hope both sure and steadfast,
01:11:21.180 | one which enters within the veil,
01:11:23.400 | where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us,
01:11:25.960 | having become a high priest forever,
01:11:28.700 | according to the order of Melchizedek.
01:11:31.740 | Heavenly Father, help us Lord God to remain sober,
01:11:35.640 | to be anchored in Christ,
01:11:37.920 | knowing Father God that this world will pass away,
01:11:40.440 | that no matter how much we covet,
01:11:42.680 | no matter how much we desire,
01:11:44.880 | that at the end of the day, Father God,
01:11:46.960 | that only the things that are eternal that matters,
01:11:49.760 | help us Lord this week to fix our eyes upon Christ,
01:11:53.000 | to be anchored in him and not to drift,
01:11:55.520 | that not only us, but all that is around us,
01:11:58.360 | all the people Lord God that you have placed in our lives,
01:12:01.180 | that they too will know
01:12:03.000 | that there is hope in the name of Jesus Christ.
01:12:05.960 | May your name be magnified wherever you send us this week.
01:12:08.800 | In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
01:12:10.780 | ♪ God sent his son ♪
01:12:17.240 | ♪ They called him Jesus ♪
01:12:22.280 | ♪ He came to love ♪
01:12:26.920 | ♪ He lay in for fear ♪
01:12:31.720 | ♪ He lived and died ♪
01:12:36.440 | ♪ To buy my pardon ♪
01:12:41.360 | ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪
01:12:46.360 | ♪ My Savior lived ♪
01:12:50.920 | ♪ Because he lived ♪
01:12:55.680 | ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪
01:13:00.520 | ♪ Because he lived ♪
01:13:05.320 | ♪ All fear is gone ♪
01:13:10.000 | ♪ Because I know ♪
01:13:14.840 | ♪ He holds the future ♪
01:13:19.640 | ♪ And life is worth the living ♪
01:13:23.960 | ♪ Just because he lived ♪