back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 12.13.2020
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Knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship 00:07:30.000 |
Knowing well that as our hearts begin to worship 00:09:10.000 |
First of all, obviously, that you're probably aware 00:09:21.000 |
that we gave on Facebook and the church page, 00:09:28.000 |
because that's the policy that we're going to be following, 00:09:32.000 |
and what we're asking you to do to let us know 00:09:38.000 |
so we're going to do the best of our ability. 00:09:59.000 |
we temporarily shut that down for the next three weeks 00:10:07.000 |
So we want to make sure that we're keeping everybody safe. 00:10:40.000 |
that we consider others better than ourselves. 00:10:47.000 |
is that if it causes other people to stumble, 00:11:24.000 |
and saying I have the right to do this and that. 00:12:51.000 |
so if you haven't signed up and you're planning to, 00:13:05.000 |
Is today the last day to sign up for the Christmas? 00:13:18.000 |
All right, so I got to correct the first service people. 00:13:35.000 |
and again, a physical offering box is in the back 00:13:43.000 |
we pray for your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, 00:13:50.000 |
Pray that you would search our hearts, Lord God, 00:13:52.000 |
and show us if there's any hurtful ways in us. 00:13:57.000 |
would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart, 00:14:20.000 |
and may it be multiplied for your use in your kingdom. 00:20:40.000 |
♪ In your presence all our fears are washed away ♪ 00:21:35.000 |
♪ Hear the sound of our dreams turning to you ♪ 00:21:50.000 |
♪ When your kingdom broken lies our hope in you ♪ 00:22:07.000 |
♪ When we see you we find strength to face the day ♪ 00:22:13.000 |
♪ In your presence all our fears are washed away ♪ 00:23:17.000 |
♪ When we see you we find strength to face the day ♪ 00:23:26.000 |
♪ In your presence all our fears are washed away ♪ 00:23:33.000 |
♪ When we see you we find strength to face the day ♪ 00:23:40.000 |
♪ In your presence all our fears are washed away ♪ 00:25:17.000 |
♪ I all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand ♪ 00:25:47.000 |
♪ 'Til all that cross has changed the style ♪ 00:28:48.000 |
there's two things I forgot to mention to you 00:28:51.000 |
First of all, next Sunday is our Christmas service, 00:28:56.000 |
Obviously, most people that you're gonna invite 00:28:58.000 |
may come online, so there is an online version. 00:29:01.000 |
You can just cut and paste and invite your friends. 00:29:03.000 |
But again, this is given to you as just a bookmark 00:29:14.000 |
especially Christmas service, and so we want to redeem 00:29:17.000 |
the opportunity that God has given us to do that. 00:29:19.000 |
So next Sunday, when we have a Christmas service 00:29:26.000 |
and why Christ had to come, and so it'd be a good opportunity 00:29:29.000 |
to invite your non-Christian friends or family and friends 00:29:37.000 |
a missions offering, the Lottie Moon missions offering 00:29:44.000 |
of our denomination, and so we're gonna be taking 00:29:47.000 |
mission offerings, so we want you to be prayerful 00:29:49.000 |
about that, and then next Sunday, we will be collecting 00:29:52.000 |
the mission offering, our brother's, Pastor Alex 00:29:56.000 |
and his family, Harry and Linda, they're being supported 00:30:05.000 |
and they'll use that to support the missionaries. 00:30:09.000 |
prayerful, mindful, we'll post that up on our Facebook 00:30:17.000 |
to Hebrews chapter 11, we're gonna be reading 00:30:36.000 |
the promises, was offering up his only begotten son. 00:30:44.000 |
He considered that God is able to raise people 00:30:48.000 |
from the dead, from which he also received him 00:30:53.000 |
Heavenly Father, we pray that you would anoint 00:30:58.000 |
Lord God, that your voice and only your voice 00:31:04.000 |
but not to turn from it to the left or to the right, 00:31:24.000 |
And so I think everybody, to a certain degree, 00:31:31.000 |
what is not essential, and obviously the gathering 00:31:49.000 |
Now along with that, whether you are a leader 00:31:54.000 |
probably has been asking that question, right? 00:31:57.000 |
I hear that the toilet paper is starting to disappear, 00:32:02.000 |
what was going on in March, people are going, 00:32:04.000 |
"Just in case, we don't know what's going to happen." 00:32:20.000 |
Are you going to, you know, do you have a car 00:32:24.000 |
What are the essentials that you would gather? 00:32:33.000 |
and this condemned, the building that he was in, 00:33:09.000 |
So he literally, like, we know what was in his heart. 00:33:20.000 |
obviously there's some physical things that you'll get. 00:33:36.000 |
And that's why, again, that we're gathering together 00:33:44.000 |
Faith is what connects us to this eternal life, 00:34:01.000 |
Without faith, there is no relationship with God. 00:34:12.000 |
So Abraham, he says he's the father of faith. 00:34:15.000 |
He's the father of faith because God initiated 00:34:18.000 |
a covenant relationship with the nation of Israel 00:34:23.000 |
where through them, he's going to bless the world. 00:36:40.000 |
every suffering that Abraham had to suffer through, 00:37:06.000 |
That's not what makes you a mature Christian. 00:37:22.000 |
the greater the connection that we have with God. 00:37:38.000 |
Toyotas and Camrys are usually more expensive. 00:37:46.000 |
that they can possibly go up to 200,000, 300,000 miles, 00:37:54.000 |
if a car passed 100,000 miles or 150,000 miles, 00:38:09.000 |
I don't know if you've ever tried to look for a used car now. 00:38:12.000 |
Now they have people who are selling their cars 00:38:27.000 |
there's a possibility you can go over another 100,000 miles. 00:38:39.000 |
it doesn't matter how much experience that we have, 00:38:50.000 |
Anyone that God is going to use for his glory, 00:38:53.000 |
that faith is first and foremost tested, proven. 00:38:57.000 |
To make sure, because the strength of who we are 00:38:59.000 |
is directly linked to the strength of the faith 00:39:04.000 |
It starts off by saying that Abraham's faith was tested. 00:39:09.000 |
Obviously, God asked him to offer up his son. 00:39:14.000 |
There's two things that I want to highlight here 00:39:21.000 |
First of all, the test was to make sure that Abraham 00:39:29.000 |
That his faith was founded upon the promises of God. 00:39:33.000 |
That he recognized the fulfillment of the promise 00:39:46.000 |
"offered up Isaac, and he had received the promises, 00:40:09.000 |
"So doesn't that mean that he was created by God?" 00:40:13.000 |
Well, that word begotten does not mean that at all. 00:40:19.000 |
The word mono genus, well, you get the word mono 00:40:26.000 |
The literal meaning of that is he's the only one, unique. 00:40:33.000 |
it kind of explains, maybe in better English term, 00:41:01.000 |
When he said that Isaac was his son, his only son, 00:41:26.000 |
He's talking about his unique, begotten, only son, unique, 00:41:30.000 |
because that's the line in which God was going to fulfill his covenant. 00:41:38.000 |
"It was he to whom it was said, 'In Isaac your descendants shall be called.'" 00:41:46.000 |
because that's the line in which God was going to fulfill 00:41:50.000 |
all the promises that he made to Abraham and Sarah. 00:42:04.000 |
that everything that you have abandoned to follow me, 00:42:07.000 |
where I am going to fulfill all your descendants, 00:42:10.000 |
everything that I said to you in Genesis chapter 12, 1-3, 00:42:17.000 |
All your descendants are going to come through this guy. 00:42:27.000 |
Well, if he said, "You know what? Offer him up, because I have another child coming." 00:42:31.000 |
You know, they made the mistake the first time, 00:42:42.000 |
and they said, "No, that's not the one," and God gives Isaac, 00:42:48.000 |
But that's not what he said. No, he's that child. He's your only begotten son. 00:42:52.000 |
Your descendant, everything I promised you, is going to come through that line, 00:42:56.000 |
and it's that child I'm commanding you to sacrifice. 00:43:05.000 |
God was testing Abraham, again, to prove his faith, 00:43:10.000 |
that is your confidence on the gift or the giver? 00:43:15.000 |
Is the hope that you have, the covenant that God made with you, 00:43:20.000 |
is that covenant based upon the promise of God, 00:43:28.000 |
Now, on the surface, it doesn't make any sense that God would command to offer up 00:43:32.000 |
what he said he's going to use to fulfill a promise, 00:43:43.000 |
You know, there are things that God places in our lives 00:43:51.000 |
Just like if you go to a hospital, and you sprained your ankle, 00:43:55.000 |
or you broke your leg, and they'll put a cast on, 00:44:03.000 |
In fact, it's even necessary to help you to walk. 00:44:07.000 |
But imagine if you went in and said, "You know, I like this crutch. 00:44:13.000 |
So, well, it's been three months, your leg is fine. 00:44:16.000 |
It's like, "No, no, no, it's not fine. I'd rather have the crutch." 00:44:19.000 |
Imagine if you kept the crutch for six months to a year, 00:44:25.000 |
For the rest of your life, you said, "I can't walk without this crutch." 00:44:28.000 |
So that very crutch that God gave you to help you 00:44:34.000 |
Because the purpose of the crutch was to get you to be healed and to be whole. 00:44:41.000 |
There's a lot of things that we do in our life where we thank God for the gift, 00:45:00.000 |
While they were in college, they had a leader, a follower, 00:45:03.000 |
and they had certain kind of freshmen, and older brother, younger sister, 00:45:07.000 |
and discipleship, and they experienced this Christian life in this bubble. 00:45:11.000 |
And then when they graduate, they can't function. 00:45:17.000 |
In order for me to have God, "Where's my leader? Who's my follower? 00:45:20.000 |
Who's my this? And how come the organization is this way and that way?" 00:45:24.000 |
And they made this crutch a necessity for their walk with God. 00:45:31.000 |
The purpose of why He gave the church is to bring us to God. 00:45:35.000 |
Think how often we make the gift that God has given us 00:45:46.000 |
It's great to have the church, great to have the fellowship, 00:45:55.000 |
Remember in John 5, 39-40, you search the scriptures 00:45:58.000 |
because you think that in them you have eternal life. 00:46:02.000 |
How often does the Word of God become a burden 00:46:05.000 |
because this is something that every good Christian should do? 00:46:15.000 |
If you're a good Christian, you need to pray 15 minutes, an hour, 00:46:18.000 |
you need to do it in the morning, you need to memorize, 00:46:24.000 |
So when you have this, you think, "Oh, that's a good Christian 00:46:27.000 |
because he's read the Bible so many times and knows his systematic theology, 00:46:31.000 |
he knows how to exegete, he knows how to teach other people." 00:46:34.000 |
But Jesus is saying you're looking through scriptures thinking that somehow 00:46:37.000 |
if you look at it and obey it, that's where eternal life is. 00:46:40.000 |
It's a no, but purpose of this is to bring you to Christ. 00:46:45.000 |
So you can spend all your life maturing in knowledge and experience 00:46:53.000 |
and never have greater and increasing faith in Christ. 00:47:00.000 |
You look to scripture because you think that in them you have eternal life. 00:47:06.000 |
And you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. 00:47:12.000 |
He wanted to make sure that Isaac was not his hope. 00:47:16.000 |
He wanted to make sure that he wasn't hanging all his hopes upon his health. 00:47:21.000 |
Imagine if Isaac was everything hinged upon Isaac. 00:47:31.000 |
You know, I mean, you'd freak out every time he gets sick. 00:47:36.000 |
If any of his brothers somehow, you know, incringes upon anything, 00:47:40.000 |
it's like, "Oh, you're not just protecting your son. You're protecting your hope." 00:47:45.000 |
He wanted to make sure that he didn't make Isaac his idol. 00:47:51.000 |
Look at the way that the Pharisees approached the Sabbath. 00:47:56.000 |
God told them to keep the Sabbath holy, but they wanted to keep it so holy 00:47:59.000 |
that they created additional laws on top of what God said. 00:48:03.000 |
So they kept on accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. 00:48:12.000 |
The tradition that they created saying, "You know what? 00:48:15.000 |
Keeping the Sabbath means that you can go this far, 00:48:17.000 |
but if you go beyond that, you're breaking the Sabbath." 00:48:21.000 |
So they were judging people based upon what they thought breaking the Sabbath meant. 00:48:25.000 |
Not what the Bible said, but what they thought breaking the Sabbath meant. 00:48:30.000 |
So they kept on saying, "Why are you breaking the Sabbath? 00:48:36.000 |
Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. 00:48:54.000 |
And instead of finding rest and making Christ Lord of the Sabbath, 00:48:59.000 |
it becomes an additional burden for you to carry out. 00:49:04.000 |
Instead of bringing you to Christ, it's keeping you away from Christ. 00:49:08.000 |
And that's what he was saying. He was reversing that. 00:49:10.000 |
He said, "You missed the whole point of the Sabbath. 00:49:13.000 |
Sabbath was made for you so that you can recuperate, 00:49:30.000 |
That's exactly what John was trying to say in the book of John. 00:49:34.000 |
What Jesus was saying with the seven "I am" statements. 00:49:38.000 |
People were coming to Him and said, "You're eating bread and you want more bread." 00:49:48.000 |
And just like God used the clouds and the light, 00:49:53.000 |
you're looking for the Messiah to come and shed light. 00:49:59.000 |
You're looking for, like, you know, which, where do we go? 00:50:08.000 |
They were begging Him, "Won't You come and make sure that our brother Lazarus 00:50:12.000 |
lives a little bit longer? Make him healthy so that he doesn't die." 00:50:15.000 |
And Jesus allows him to die so that He can make it point. 00:50:22.000 |
These are the people who are looking for leaders to guide them and lead them. 00:50:25.000 |
Who should we follow? The Pharisees or the Sadducees? 00:50:31.000 |
Where do we go? If you leave us, where are we going to go? 00:50:34.000 |
He says, "I am the way and the truth and the life." 00:50:39.000 |
Well, if you leave us, how are we going to bear fruit? 00:50:42.000 |
How are we going to know what to do? Jesus says, "I am the vine." 00:50:46.000 |
Every one of these "I am" statements is to shatter through the idols 00:50:52.000 |
that they were hanging their hats on and then saying, "I am." 00:50:57.000 |
That's exactly what He was trying to teach Abraham. 00:51:01.000 |
Even though Isaac is the promised child, the only begotten child, 00:51:05.000 |
the promise isn't based upon Isaac and his health and how long he's going to live, 00:51:10.000 |
how many children he's going to have, because there's going to come times 00:51:16.000 |
He may come to the verge of death, but you should not be shaken. 00:51:21.000 |
He might even die, but your faith should not be shaken. 00:51:27.000 |
Because the promise is not based upon him, but God. 00:51:37.000 |
That was not the faith that he had. He believed in God enough to walk out, 00:51:40.000 |
but that's not the faith that he had early on. 00:51:43.000 |
Remember early on, he was like, "How come it's taking so long?" 00:51:48.000 |
He was going to fulfill it himself because he couldn't see what God was going to do. 00:51:53.000 |
It was hard in the beginning, but after 25 years, when he turned 100, 00:51:58.000 |
his wife was 90 years old, now it's impossible. 00:52:01.000 |
But by this time, what does he say? Genesis 22.3, when God told him, 00:52:04.000 |
he just said, "Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and just left." 00:52:09.000 |
Now, I'm not sure if Abraham said anything because it's not recorded, 00:52:12.000 |
but all it says was he believed God and he just did it. 00:52:16.000 |
Because he believed that even if he dies, he can raise him. 00:52:22.000 |
In other words, I trust him. He's proven himself to me. 00:52:28.000 |
When times I didn't believe him and I questioned him, 00:52:31.000 |
and I self-willed myself to fulfill this promise, 00:52:35.000 |
he broke into all of that and he showed me to trust him. 00:52:38.000 |
And that's what he was trying to fulfill here. 00:52:40.000 |
And that's why in Psalm 20.7, the psalmist says, 00:52:44.000 |
"Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we trust the name of the Lord." 00:52:52.000 |
So that's a lesson that every person of faith not only needs to have, 00:53:01.000 |
That the stability and foundation of the refuge 00:53:04.000 |
does not base upon who's around us, promises of the economy, 00:53:09.000 |
who's going to be the leader, how much money did you save for retirement, 00:53:12.000 |
do you have enough friends around you, what community do you belong to, 00:53:15.000 |
but in the end, all that God promises hinges upon his faithfulness 00:53:24.000 |
Secondly, the test is to prove something even deeper than that. 00:53:34.000 |
It says in Genesis 22, 1-2, "Now it came about after these things 00:53:38.000 |
that God tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham,' and he said, 'Here I am.' 00:53:41.000 |
And he said, 'Take now your son, your only son,'" 00:53:44.000 |
and then he has "whom you love," and "offer him." 00:53:51.000 |
I mean, can you imagine how much this child was loved? 00:53:57.000 |
They left everything, risked everything, and they waited for so long. 00:54:05.000 |
Every once in a while, you'll--and maybe some of you are in that category 00:54:10.000 |
where you wanted a child for so long, and you prayed and prayed, 00:54:14.000 |
and you thought maybe you weren't going to have a child, 00:54:17.000 |
and you saw all the other people having children, 00:54:19.000 |
and the pain that kind of comes with that, like, "Why isn't God blessing me?" 00:54:23.000 |
And then when you lost all hope, and then you have a child, right? 00:54:27.000 |
I've walked with some people who went through that. 00:54:30.000 |
I had a friend who actually was a pastor of a church nearby, 00:54:33.000 |
and he prayed for over 10, 11 years, and didn't have a child. 00:54:39.000 |
And they were almost kind of getting ready to, like, 00:54:41.000 |
"Okay, maybe that's just going to be our lot in life," 00:54:44.000 |
and he was ready to move on, and for 10 years, that's what he was praying for, 00:54:52.000 |
And I don't even have to describe to you the kind of joy that fell on this family. 00:54:57.000 |
Can you imagine how much joy was brought to this family? 00:55:02.000 |
Sarai was barren before she trusted God, and waited years, 00:55:08.000 |
and when they tried to fulfill it, it caused all kinds of problems with Ishmael. 00:55:16.000 |
And they actually named the son Isaac because it was so hard to believe. 00:55:24.000 |
I think the name Isaac laughed is given for two reasons. 00:55:27.000 |
One, because in unbelief, they turned around, they laughed. 00:55:37.000 |
Isaac was the fulfillment of that joy and delight. 00:55:40.000 |
That's why he's named Isaac, because of the way they reacted 00:55:44.000 |
and because of what God intended to bring into that home. 00:55:49.000 |
So I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he was very, very, very loved. 00:55:57.000 |
In fact, I don't think, again, it's an exaggeration. 00:56:00.000 |
I think we would all agree he was probably the most precious thing that they had. 00:56:05.000 |
And God not only said he's the fulfillment of your promise, 00:56:09.000 |
he's something that you love more than anything else. 00:56:20.000 |
Not only is sacrificing Isaac means the future and everything else that God said, 00:56:29.000 |
even if he wasn't the fulfillment of all of that, 00:56:33.000 |
just offering up your son that you love so much, 00:56:37.000 |
that you enjoyed so much, brought so much delight into your lives, 00:56:44.000 |
God was not only testing to see his faith, he was testing to see his affection. 00:56:50.000 |
Who do you love? What do you love more than anything else? 00:56:54.000 |
I mean, the Bible clearly says the greatest command that God desires from us 00:56:58.000 |
is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:57:01.000 |
That's what he desires more than anything else. 00:57:03.000 |
That's why in the book of Revelation, when he talks to the church of Ephesus, 00:57:06.000 |
he says you have right doctrine, you persevere, you have a lot of good works. 00:57:11.000 |
On the surface, they have everything that a good church should have. 00:57:15.000 |
And he says, yet I have this one thing against you. 00:57:25.000 |
Protos is not the word that they would use to describe first, second, third, or fourth. 00:57:37.000 |
he's basically saying you're doing all the externally, you're doing all of these things, 00:57:50.000 |
I think most Christians will say that we love God to a certain degree. 00:57:54.000 |
Whether it's small love or big love, we say we love God. 00:58:08.000 |
Remember when Peter denies Christ and then after the resurrection, 00:58:13.000 |
he sees them at the shore and he restores Peter. 00:58:20.000 |
So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 00:58:23.000 |
Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? 00:58:28.000 |
He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. 00:58:34.000 |
He said to him again a second time, Simon son of John, do you love me? 00:58:37.000 |
He said to him, yes Lord, you know that I love you. 00:58:42.000 |
He said to him a third time, Simon son of John, do you love me? 00:58:45.000 |
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? 00:58:48.000 |
And he said to him, Lord, you know all things. 00:58:54.000 |
Some people have taken this tax and said, you know what, 00:58:57.000 |
the reason why he asked him three times is because Peter answered wrong. 00:59:01.000 |
So in the Greek, Jesus asked, do you agape me? 00:59:04.000 |
And the first time he says, yes Lord, you know I phileo you. 00:59:09.000 |
And then the second time Jesus says, do you agape me? 00:59:11.000 |
And he says, yes Lord, you know I phileo you. 00:59:14.000 |
Third time Jesus says, do you really phileo me? 00:59:21.000 |
So some people have looked at that and said, you know, God was asking for agape 00:59:30.000 |
Clearly you're not going to agape me, so do you phileo me? 00:59:33.000 |
I'm going to accept a lesser love, phileo, so he said yes. 00:59:37.000 |
That's how some people look at that, and I don't think that's what's going on. 00:59:41.000 |
Because in the Greek, the word agape and phileo is often used interchangeably, 00:59:48.000 |
Because when Jesus asked you agape me, Peter doesn't say, no, I phileo you. 01:00:08.000 |
If he was answering wrong, right, he said, why would he get hurt? 01:00:16.000 |
Clearly I'm asking you agape, you're saying phileo, and Jesus gave in. 01:00:20.000 |
He said, no, it was being used interchangeably. 01:00:27.000 |
Because the number three is the number of completion. 01:00:31.000 |
So if you read in the Bible, it says where two or three are gathered together. 01:00:35.000 |
Do not entertain an accusation against it unless there's two or three. 01:00:39.000 |
The number three Jesus was crucified was resurrected on the third day 01:00:43.000 |
to make sure that he actually was dead so that the resurrection was actually a resurrection. 01:00:48.000 |
So the number three is the number of completion, of completeness. 01:00:54.000 |
So when Peter denied Jesus, he said he denied him how many times? 01:01:04.000 |
Maybe if he denied once, he'd say, oh, that was a slip of his tongue. 01:01:11.000 |
He said, no, he denied him three times, meaning that it was a very willful rejection. 01:01:17.000 |
So in order to restore him, he restores him three times. 01:01:24.000 |
Just as it was confirmed that he denied Christ, it is confirmed his love for him. 01:01:32.000 |
If he failed that exam to be loyal to Christ, you would think that that's what he would say. 01:01:39.000 |
Especially if he's going to be established to feed the sheep. 01:01:46.000 |
When I was going to the cross, it was a test. 01:01:57.000 |
Now this one's going to count for all your grade. 01:02:01.000 |
So you failed that time, so don't fail this time. 01:02:08.000 |
You would think that that's what Jesus would be asking. 01:02:22.000 |
Because after I leave and you fall, James and John's going to fall. 01:02:34.000 |
They're all going to fall, so you better get this right. 01:02:40.000 |
In order to establish him, to use him, the only thing that he checks is, 01:03:12.000 |
But not only does he ask him, "Do you love me?" 01:03:17.000 |
So there's a debate as to what the "these" he's talking about. 01:03:20.000 |
Obviously, he was fishing, so some people say he's pointing to the fish. 01:03:30.000 |
So some people say maybe that's one of the interpretations. 01:03:34.000 |
That because Jesus was referring to Peter's statement before he went to the cross, 01:03:41.000 |
he said, "You know, all of them are going to fail you, but I will not." 01:03:45.000 |
So it could be that Jesus is pointing to the disciples. 01:03:55.000 |
I thought that that was a better interpretation. 01:03:58.000 |
But I think there's a reason why that's left ambiguous. 01:04:05.000 |
Because I don't think he was necessarily referring to one particular thing. 01:04:11.000 |
When he says "these," he's talking about everything else, 01:04:33.000 |
I believe that that's what Jesus was asking him. 01:04:39.000 |
He's not simply saving us so that we don't go to hell. 01:04:42.000 |
That in and of itself, we should be praising God. 01:04:45.000 |
The fact that he knows our name alone should cause us to be all in worshiping God. 01:04:56.000 |
so that we can come into the inner chamber of God and call him our Abba Father, 01:05:01.000 |
to enter the throne of grace with confidence. 01:05:08.000 |
He's not pursuing a proper legal standing in eternity. 01:05:24.000 |
Isn't that the greatest reward if you, you know, 01:05:26.000 |
like people in our church are adopting children, 01:05:30.000 |
The greatest reward of adopting a child is not he become an Olympic champion, 01:05:34.000 |
and one day I'm going to be famous because of this child. 01:05:38.000 |
Imagine the pressure that that child is under. 01:05:41.000 |
That he's going to be a famous baseball star. 01:05:44.000 |
That he's going to found another Facebook, and he's going to become a millionaire. 01:05:48.000 |
Imagine if somebody actually adopted a child with that intent. 01:05:54.000 |
It would have been better for him to be orphaned. 01:05:56.000 |
No, the greatest reward that a child can give to parents who adopted him is what? 01:06:06.000 |
To love them as much as they loved that child. 01:06:13.000 |
It's clear that that's what God is pursuing with us. 01:06:16.000 |
That's why even when Paul told Timothy to teach certain men not to teach false doctrines, 01:06:21.000 |
he makes sure he qualifies that because he's sending him to battle, and he says, 01:06:30.000 |
Not simple purity, not simple doctrinal correctness. 01:06:37.000 |
To make sure that when you enter into this battle, that you examine yourself. 01:06:41.000 |
You make sure that this goal, the end product of it, isn't simply we got the right doctrine, 01:06:45.000 |
we're doing the right thing, we're organized a certain way, 01:06:47.000 |
but that what comes out of that is greater love. 01:06:53.000 |
You know, I'm starting to get at that age where one by one, my close friends that I have, 01:07:00.000 |
they have had children a little bit before me, are starting to have kids who are getting married, 01:07:05.000 |
and then some of them, a few of them, are starting to have grandkids. 01:07:12.000 |
It's not like when we first got married, we'd say, you know, we were young, 01:07:16.000 |
And, "Well, that person got married, this person got married." 01:07:18.000 |
So I have roommates and I have friends that we've known for a long time, 01:07:22.000 |
and now, you know, their kids are a little bit older, they're in their mid to late 20s, 01:07:25.000 |
and so now they're having kids, and so I asked them, "So what is it like being a grandparent?" 01:07:32.000 |
And they said, "Most of the time, it's awesome." 01:07:40.000 |
we were so busy raising the kids that we didn't enjoy them. 01:07:48.000 |
We love our grandkids as much as we love our own children, 01:07:52.000 |
but we didn't enjoy our kids like we enjoy the grandkids." 01:08:04.000 |
we get so wrapped up in trying to be good Christians, 01:08:07.000 |
and we miss the whole point of why God saved us. 01:08:12.000 |
We get caught up in trying to fix the church, 01:08:15.000 |
not realizing the church is a gift to us to enjoy. 01:08:19.000 |
We get so caught up preaching the gospel that we don't celebrate the gospel. 01:08:24.000 |
We get so caught up in trying to make godly marriages 01:08:32.000 |
We work so hard to be obedient and follow God 01:08:36.000 |
that we don't actually enjoy God and worship God. 01:08:42.000 |
He came to give life and to give life abundantly. 01:08:48.000 |
The best way to thank God is to enjoy the life that He has given us 01:08:57.000 |
And so church is an avenue for us to do that. 01:09:02.000 |
We study the Word of God so that would take us so that we could love God. 01:09:07.000 |
But if we're not careful, we can make all that God has given us, 01:09:14.000 |
Be burdened by the church, burdened by the fellowship, burdened by commands. 01:09:19.000 |
And if the central thing that you and I have fallen short of is the glory of God, 01:09:26.000 |
shouldn't the primary thing that God restores is His glory? 01:09:44.000 |
What happened? What is it about God that He would love God that much? 01:09:49.000 |
But if we're not careful, we make idols of the gift that God has given us, 01:09:56.000 |
and we give so much of our energy, hope, into the crutch that God may have given 01:10:09.000 |
See, Isaac, he loved more than anything else. 01:10:16.000 |
But remember the covenant that God made with Abraham was not to be burdensome 01:10:26.000 |
You know, when two people get married, the Christian answer that we give, 01:10:31.000 |
"For the glory of God, two are better than one." 01:10:35.000 |
We work better. It's kind of like, you know, you put two horses together, they work harder. 01:10:48.000 |
And that's the answer that we give because we're programmed to give theologically correct answers. 01:10:55.000 |
But if you ask people, like, "Why do you get married?" 01:11:08.000 |
Like the way she looked, the way she tied her ponytail, like the way she smells. 01:11:18.000 |
You get married because you want to get married. 01:11:24.000 |
You get married because you want to get married. 01:11:26.000 |
You want to because you're happy when you're with her. 01:11:29.000 |
You'd rather be with her than your smelly friends. 01:11:49.000 |
And instead of thanking him and loving him for the gift that he's given, 01:11:58.000 |
and completely forget the central reason why he saved us. 01:12:09.000 |
To make sure that his faith is founded upon his word, 01:12:14.000 |
that our greatest love is where we get the greatest joy. 01:12:24.000 |
communion table is meant for celebration, right, 01:12:27.000 |
for those who committed their life to Christ, 01:12:31.000 |
So again, I want to remind you, the communion table is for the baptized believers. 01:12:35.000 |
So if you have not been baptized, please come see one of the leaders, 01:12:38.000 |
and we'll walk you through if you need to be baptized. 01:12:41.000 |
For those of us who are celebrating, the purpose of this is to remind us to recalibrate. 01:12:49.000 |
if we've, again, made the walk with God a burden 01:12:55.000 |
that we come to celebrate. It's not by our works. 01:12:57.000 |
We don't participate in this because we're righteous. 01:13:00.000 |
We don't participate in this because you were good this week. 01:13:03.000 |
We participate in this because of the gift that he has given us. 01:13:09.000 |
and then we're going to open up the communion table, 01:13:13.000 |
So what I would like you to do is to take a few minutes in preparation. 01:13:20.000 |
"For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, 01:13:23.000 |
that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. 01:13:27.000 |
And when he had given things, he broke it and said, 01:13:30.000 |
'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' 01:13:33.000 |
In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, 01:13:36.000 |
saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood. 01:13:39.000 |
Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. 01:13:42.000 |
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, 01:13:45.000 |
you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.'" 01:13:50.000 |
we're going to have communion music in the back, 01:13:56.000 |
to really pray and examine our hearts so that we don't put spinning on worthy men. 01:14:00.000 |
If you have sense to confess, take some time to confess. 01:14:04.000 |
If you have a relationship that's been broken that you need to restore, 01:14:09.000 |
take some time to really come before the Lord and say, 01:14:15.000 |
I want to be obedient to you, I want to honor you, 01:14:23.000 |
and afterwards, I will pray and we will all do it together. 01:14:27.000 |
So don't do it now, at the end of that we'll do it together, 01:14:30.000 |
and then the worship team will lead us to the end of the communion service. 01:14:48.000 |
♪ Take a long look inside and tell me what you see ♪ 01:15:19.000 |
♪ This is the cup that holds the wine of a new covenant ♪ 01:15:47.000 |
♪ Take a long look inside and tell me what you see ♪ 01:16:14.000 |
If you can pick up with me, if you take the first part of it. 01:16:18.000 |
You've got to pick up with me this before you know it. 01:16:22.000 |
You want to take the leafer out and take the second part. 01:16:25.000 |
♪ I will remember the cross that you bore for me ♪ 01:16:32.000 |
♪ I will remember the crown that you wore for me ♪ 01:16:39.000 |
♪ I will remember the reason you suffered and died ♪ 01:17:03.000 |
Because you loved us, that we would also practice this love. 01:17:07.000 |
First and foremost with you, with those who are nearest to us, 01:17:12.000 |
to the strangers around us, to our neighbors, 01:17:16.000 |
but even to those, Lord God, that have hurt us. 01:17:20.000 |
Teach us to practice this love that you've given us 01:17:26.000 |
May your sacrifice return to you 30, 60, 100 fold 01:19:10.000 |
♪ Eat and remember those that heal the dead ♪ 01:19:16.000 |
♪ That brings us life, paid the price to make us one ♪ 01:20:04.000 |
♪ The blood that cleanses every stain of sin ♪ 01:20:18.000 |
♪ He drained death's cup that all may enter in ♪ 01:21:09.000 |
♪ And so with thankfulness and faith we rise to respond ♪ 01:21:19.000 |
♪ And to remember our call to follow in the steps of Christ ♪ 01:22:17.000 |
Father, you are worthy of our trust, our faith, our confidence. 01:22:26.000 |
Not the promises of man, not our bank account, not our politicians. 01:22:38.000 |
That we would build our lives, Lord, on solid foundation of who you are and your promises. 01:22:55.000 |
Help us, Lord God, to worship you because we adore you. 01:23:00.000 |
Help us to come to your word that we may know you more. 01:23:05.000 |
Help us to be disciples, Lord God, because we want to be like you. 01:23:10.000 |
Help us to be evangelists, Lord God, because we want others to know this and to love you as well. 01:23:18.000 |
So we pray, Father God, that the word that you've implanted in us would bear fruit. 01:23:25.000 |
Especially, Lord, as the world gets darker and there's increase in wickedness. 01:23:32.000 |
Spare us, Lord God, from temptation, that our love would not grow cold, but rather be flamed stronger than ever. 01:23:43.000 |
Help us to be anchored in Christ this week as we continue to walk a life of faith for your glory. 01:24:18.000 |
To buy my body, an empty grave is there to give a Savior's name. 01:25:03.000 |
And life is worth the living just because he lives.