back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 9/12/2021
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This morning we have quite a few announcements, 00:14:26.000 |
So this announcement is from Women's Ministry 00:14:32.000 |
We're gonna be having another round of T-TIME, 00:14:40.000 |
and this is where sisters from various life stages 00:14:50.000 |
during, sorry, oh, and meet over tea and some snacks. 00:14:58.000 |
but we'll also post it on the various media forms. 00:15:05.000 |
If you have any questions, please refer them to Grace Kim, 00:15:08.000 |
and her email will be in the announcements as well. 00:15:14.000 |
that they've been wanting to meet other sisters 00:15:16.000 |
in different life stages and different ministries, 00:15:19.000 |
so we highly recommend all of you to sign up. 00:15:24.000 |
Okay, if you want more information about that, 00:15:26.000 |
it'll be on the website and our church Facebook page. 00:15:39.000 |
Pastor Nate has said that the college welcome table 00:15:42.000 |
will be stationed next to the normal welcome table 00:15:46.000 |
so that's gonna be set up here for probably about a month 00:16:00.000 |
and I think especially in the last--next couple weeks, 00:16:03.000 |
because of the college students that are coming in, 00:16:12.000 |
and you'll be able to get more information about that. 00:16:15.000 |
This coming Friday, we have our praise and prayer, 00:16:19.000 |
home group Bible study, will not be taking place, 00:16:22.000 |
so we encourage you to be at church earlier than 730, 00:16:26.000 |
and so we will have our praise and prayer time together 00:16:35.000 |
If you are interested in becoming a member of the church, 00:16:38.000 |
our next session is starting on September 26th at 9 a.m., 00:16:49.000 |
is to go to the other side of the parking lot, 00:16:59.000 |
so if you are planning to become a member and you sign up, 00:17:05.000 |
led by the various leaders of the church, okay? 00:17:12.000 |
and he'll give you more directions about that. 00:17:26.000 |
and they'll give you an e-vite to come to that. 00:17:42.000 |
and you want to know what the church is about 00:17:46.000 |
then this is the lunch that you want to come. 00:17:58.000 |
And then also, ACBC Counseling Mini Conference. 00:18:20.000 |
I want you to kind of get a broad understanding of it. 00:18:52.000 |
We're asking, the sign up fee is going to be $20, 00:20:46.000 |
or you're in the process of becoming a member. 00:20:52.000 |
is going to be officially changed to Legends League. 00:20:55.000 |
So basically, if you have bad knees, bad back, 00:21:17.000 |
So today is the last day to sign up for that, 00:21:25.000 |
at the Great Park starting from in a few weeks. 00:21:37.000 |
our physical offering box is in the back over there. 00:21:46.000 |
we'll give you a minute to give your offering. 00:21:53.000 |
Heavenly Father, I pray that this time of worship 00:22:12.000 |
of the powerful work that you are doing in us. 00:22:15.000 |
We pray for your grace to continue to sustain us, 00:23:42.000 |
- Church family, would you please stand with us 00:25:26.000 |
♪ You lead us in the song of your salvation ♪ 00:26:02.000 |
is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace. Your grace. Your grace 00:26:18.160 |
is enough. Your grace is enough. Your grace is enough for me. So remember your people. 00:26:36.640 |
Remember your children. Remember your promise, oh God. Your grace is enough. Your grace 00:26:54.480 |
is enough. Your grace is enough for me. Your grace is enough. Heaven reaches out to us. 00:27:12.480 |
Your grace is enough for me. God I say your grace is enough. I'm covered in your love. 00:27:48.480 |
There is no song we could sing to honor the weight of your glory. There are no words we 00:28:12.480 |
could speak to capture the depth of your beauty. Jesus there's no one like you. Jesus would 00:28:28.480 |
love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus would love you, ever adore you. 00:28:52.480 |
There is no sin up beyond the infinite stretch of your mercy. How can we thank you enough 00:29:08.480 |
for how you have loved us completely. Jesus there's no one like you. Jesus would love you, 00:29:24.480 |
ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus would love you, ever adore you. There's no 00:29:38.480 |
one like you. Jesus would love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus would 00:29:54.480 |
love you, ever adore you. All we have, all we need, all we want is you. All we need is 00:30:22.480 |
you. All we have, all we need, all we want is you. All we have, all we need, all we want 00:30:48.480 |
is you. Jesus there's no one like you. Jesus would love you, ever adore you. There's no 00:31:14.480 |
one like you. Jesus would love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. Jesus would 00:31:38.480 |
love you, ever adore you. There's no one like you. 00:32:01.480 |
All right, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12. We're going to be 00:32:11.480 |
finishing up this session, section together. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 25 through 29. And 00:32:17.480 |
our focus this morning is going to be on verse 28 and 29. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 25 through 00:32:24.480 |
29. I'm going to be reading out of the NASB. See to it that you do not refuse him who is 00:32:31.480 |
speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, 00:32:36.480 |
much less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven. And his voice shook 00:32:42.480 |
the earth then, but now he has promised saying, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, 00:32:47.480 |
but also the heaven. This expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things 00:32:51.480 |
which can be shaken as of created things so that those things which cannot be shaken may 00:32:56.480 |
remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude 00:33:01.480 |
by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and all for our God 00:33:07.480 |
is a consuming fire. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that your word would be open 00:33:15.480 |
to us, speak to us, convict us, reveal the things in our hearts and our lives, Lord God, 00:33:22.480 |
that we may truly be able to give you worship that you deserve. May your word and your word 00:33:27.480 |
only go forth. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. As most of you guys know, yesterday we celebrated 00:33:35.480 |
as a country the 20th year anniversary or remembrance of 9/11. Some of you may remember 00:33:43.480 |
exactly what happened that day. Some of you may have been a bit too young for you to remember. 00:33:49.480 |
It's just kind of a news to you, but those of you who remember, and I remember very specifically 00:33:54.480 |
I was in my house in Corona early in the morning and I got a phone call from one of my former 00:34:00.480 |
students, high school students, and she was so distraught and it was so strange because 00:34:06.480 |
it was like 7 or 7/20 and she was telling me that a plane hit the tower and it was just 00:34:14.480 |
confusing. We don't know what to do and I remember turning on the TV and the plane that 00:34:19.480 |
hit it and no one knew exactly what was going on. At the minimum it looked like a horrific 00:34:25.480 |
accident and then while the TV was on we saw the second plane go into the second building 00:34:31.480 |
and immediately we knew, okay, this was no accident. This was an orchestrated attack 00:34:37.480 |
and then there was news that another plane hit the Pentagon and another one was headed 00:34:41.480 |
toward the White House and so everything got shut down. And we remember very specifically 00:34:48.480 |
thinking that we're at war. We didn't know it was going to be just the planes. Is there 00:34:54.480 |
going to be an actual, you know, soldiers coming into the United States? Is there going 00:34:58.480 |
to be a nuclear bomb going off? And so there was a period of terror, literally, and so 00:35:04.480 |
all the airplanes, so whoever was on, in the sky flying, they just landed wherever they 00:35:10.480 |
were at and then they were stranded for a period and so all this security checks and 00:35:15.480 |
stuff that we have to go through now has been implemented because of that. And again, you 00:35:22.480 |
may remember years ago we were able to go into Canada and Mexico without a passport. 00:35:26.480 |
Remember? We would just kind of go in with our driver's license and come back and after 00:35:30.480 |
that they changed the law so that now we have to have a passport because they wanted to 00:35:34.480 |
be a bit more careful with the border control. That's been 20 years, you know, and so I remember 00:35:42.480 |
very specifically the mantra of that time is we will never forget that we are under 00:35:48.480 |
attack. And for the first time, at least in the history of the United States that I remember, 00:35:54.480 |
again, prior to Pearl Harbor, where American land was literally attacked and we knew that 00:36:00.480 |
there were terrorists outside of the borders of the United States but the fact that they 00:36:04.480 |
were able to come into this country and kill senselessly almost 3,000 people kind of gave 00:36:13.480 |
it reality that if these people had their hands in a nuclear bomb, they wouldn't hesitate 00:36:19.480 |
to use it. And so that fear caused everybody in the United States to come together. And 00:36:27.480 |
I remember very specifically that Republicans and Democrats, they, at least from what I 00:36:33.480 |
remember, they've never really got along, you know, but nothing like it is today. But 00:36:37.480 |
even back then, they were constantly bickering and I remember very specifically in Capitol 00:36:41.480 |
Hill, they stood arm to arm saying that we're at war with these terrorists and that you've 00:36:49.480 |
attacked us so now we're going to war and that's what started all this war in Afghanistan 00:36:53.480 |
and then into Iraq and war against terrorism. But again, I remember the very specific mantra 00:36:58.480 |
we will never forget. I think most of us will agree that we have forgotten, right? It's 00:37:07.480 |
just a memory. And so every year when there's a commemoration, obviously it was the 20th 00:37:12.480 |
year so it was bigger than the previous years. But the reason why I say all of this is because 00:37:19.480 |
that particular event caused people who went through that and saw that, caused us to see 00:37:24.480 |
the world differently. That this wasn't the same United States that prior to 9/11, you 00:37:30.480 |
know, how we felt before and how we felt afterwards caused us to see. And it wasn't because 00:37:36.480 |
evil was created by 9/11. It just kind of reminded us there are people who are willing 00:37:42.480 |
to do that if you give them an opportunity. So we need to be constantly vigilant and be 00:37:47.480 |
ready. I say all of this because the Bible tells us that not just there's a physical 00:37:54.480 |
war going on, he says we have an enemy who's the devil, it's like a roaring lion seeking 00:38:00.480 |
someone to devour. And Paul says in Galatians or Ephesians that we are in this spiritual 00:38:07.480 |
battle constantly at war. And the moment that we forget that and we relax, that's when 00:38:12.480 |
we are the most vulnerable. And we need to recognize the Bible clearly tells us that 00:38:19.480 |
we're just passing through. This is not permanent. However great, however peaceful, however great 00:38:24.480 |
the economy may be, this is all going to pass one day. And that Christ is going to come 00:38:31.480 |
in his full glory and judgment is going to come with him and he's going to shake the 00:38:35.480 |
earth and only those that remain he will be with in eternity. I remember again back then 00:38:43.480 |
after 9/11 a few months, maybe about six, seven months afterwards, I was on campus at 00:38:48.480 |
UCI and I was sharing the gospel and I met this young man and I started to share the 00:38:53.480 |
gospel with him and his immediate response, and this was a common response from a lot 00:38:58.480 |
of non-Christians at that time, "How can I believe in your God when you say he is so 00:39:04.480 |
loving, how can a loving God allow 9/11 to happen?" And that was his response. And he 00:39:09.480 |
was not the only person that said that. Anytime we would try to share the gospel, you probably 00:39:14.480 |
have heard that too. If your God is so loving, why would he allow so much suffering in the 00:39:18.480 |
world and at that particular time because the whole world was shaken up by what happened, 00:39:23.480 |
how can God allow that? So I remember spending about 15 minutes trying to explain to him, 00:39:31.480 |
"The God or the gospel that you heard is an incomplete gospel. In fact, the Bible does 00:39:36.480 |
not start out by telling us how much he loves us. The Bible actually starts out by telling 00:39:41.480 |
us how angry he is with the sinful world. He says, 'All have sinned and fall short of 00:39:47.480 |
the glory of God. Wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness.'" And as a 00:39:52.480 |
result of that, if we die in our natural state that we're going to meet this holy God, then 00:39:56.480 |
there's eternal judgment waiting. And so however tragic that may be or even more tragic 00:40:02.480 |
things that you may have seen, the Bible says that's just a glimpse of what it means to 00:40:08.480 |
live in this fallen world. And the judgment that's coming is going to be far more terrifying 00:40:12.480 |
than anything that you have possibly imagined in human history. The Bible tells us that 00:40:17.480 |
that's the state that mankind is in. But the gospel comes in. The good news is that 00:40:23.480 |
despite that, that God sent his only begotten Son and absorbed the wrath that you and I 00:40:28.480 |
deserved upon the body of Jesus Christ. And he offers us that if we confess our sins, 00:40:36.480 |
that he is faithful and just to forgive us of all our unrighteousness, that he will absorb 00:40:40.480 |
that sin and give us eternal life and make us his adopted children. But when we understand 00:40:46.480 |
the grace of God outside of the context of God's wrath, that question is the logical 00:40:52.480 |
question that will come up. If he loves us so much, why did he create hell? If he loves 00:40:58.480 |
us so much, why does 9/11 happen? If he loves us so much, why are there so many people 00:41:03.480 |
suffering? Why are there sex trafficking? If he loves us so much. We have preached the 00:41:09.480 |
gospel in fear of how people would respond and as a result of that, watered down the 00:41:17.480 |
message of the cross to the point where it no longer makes logical sense. And in the 00:41:23.480 |
church, we repeat it to each other so many times and it makes sense to us, but as soon 00:41:28.480 |
as we go out on the street, we start challenging people and they start pushing back. We say, 00:41:32.480 |
"Oh yeah, I never thought about that." But the problem is, the majority of the people 00:41:36.480 |
in the church never engage in the non-Christian world, so you don't know what kind of holes 00:41:40.480 |
you have in your logic. God is not universally, unconditionally satisfied with mankind. If 00:41:53.480 |
we don't understand this, the gospel itself does not make sense. That's why even in the 00:41:58.480 |
text that we're looking at, after explaining the grace of God to us, that we're not going 00:42:03.480 |
to Mount Sinai, but we're headed to Mount Zion where there's a celebration of angels 00:42:07.480 |
and multitudes gather together to worship Him, He concludes that section by saying, 00:42:13.480 |
"Do not refuse Him." If those who refused Him, who spoke from earth, had serious consequences, 00:42:23.480 |
how much more if you refuse Him who's speaking from heaven, who will shake not only the earth, 00:42:28.480 |
but the heavens itself, that He will come and He will shake all things and bring judgment, 00:42:34.480 |
how much more if we refuse Him and just kind of nonchalantly continue to neglect and to 00:42:39.480 |
just drift away from Him? So, the proper response to grace that we were looking at is that we 00:42:48.480 |
do not refuse Him. We take His word seriously. We understand the grace that we have in Christ. 00:42:54.480 |
And secondly, that we live for things that are not shakable. And then thirdly, the proper 00:43:02.480 |
response to this grace is gratitude. In verse 28 it says, "Therefore, since we receive 00:43:09.480 |
a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude." The proper response is gratitude. 00:43:15.480 |
So, what I want to look at this morning is in this text it says, "What is the gratitude 00:43:19.480 |
of Christians based on?" And it says clearly here, "Christian gratitude is not based 00:43:25.480 |
on circumstance. It's not based upon material blessings that come and go. It's not based 00:43:33.480 |
upon good health. It's not based upon a good relationship, your business doing well." 00:43:42.480 |
See, the world knows how to be gracious and to have thanksgiving. And so, usually during 00:43:48.480 |
thanksgiving when you say, "Well, what are you thankful for?" "Oh, I'm thankful 00:43:52.480 |
for this new house that we bought. I thank you for my children who just got all A's. 00:43:57.480 |
I thank you for this stock that I invested in. It just went through the roof. I thank 00:44:03.480 |
you for God answering my prayer who, you know, my brother, sister, mother, dad who was sick 00:44:08.480 |
and they're not sick anymore." And so, if we're not careful, our attitude of gratitude 00:44:14.480 |
is no different than the rest of the world. But he said, "Christian gratitude is based 00:44:19.480 |
upon receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken." Eternal things, not things that come and go. 00:44:29.480 |
For one period it's true and one period it's not. He said, "Our gratitude is based 00:44:34.480 |
upon a kingdom that cannot be shaken." Daniel 2, 244, it says, "In the days of those 00:44:39.480 |
kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And that kingdom 00:44:45.480 |
will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end of all these kingdoms, 00:44:50.480 |
but it will itself endure forever." How much confidence do we put in the United States? 00:44:59.480 |
In any kingdom? Maybe our family, our bank account. No, Christian gratitude is based 00:45:04.480 |
upon things that are eternal, his kingdom. Hebrews 1, 8 it says, "But of the Son, he 00:45:09.480 |
says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is of his kingdom." 00:45:16.480 |
I mean, right now there's just so much uncertainty. Is the housing market going to crash or not? 00:45:23.480 |
How about the economy? The inflation is through the roof. How can the stock market keep going 00:45:28.480 |
up the way it is right now? So everybody's predicting maybe the economy is going to crash. 00:45:33.480 |
Are the Republicans and Democrats ever going to be able to come together? I mean, the chasm 00:45:38.480 |
between the two, it seems so far out that the logical conclusion to this seems like 00:45:44.480 |
some kind of a divorce. So is the United States going to be able to come together at some 00:45:51.480 |
point? There's a lot of things that are more personal to you, your family, your health, 00:45:59.480 |
your school, this pandemic. It's so many things that are uncertain. And our emotion, 00:46:07.480 |
if our hope is attached to these things, will go up and down, up and down based upon the 00:46:14.480 |
local news, based upon your stock market, based upon your health and how your children 00:46:19.480 |
are doing. But he says here, the natural response, the correct response to God's grace 00:46:30.480 |
is gratitude. In Isaiah 40, 28-31, it says, "Do you not know, have you not heard, the 00:46:37.480 |
everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, does not become weary 00:46:41.480 |
or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, and to him 00:46:47.480 |
who lacks might, he increases power. Though youth grow weary and tired, and vigorous young 00:46:52.480 |
men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength." What does 00:46:57.480 |
it mean to wait for the Lord? Just sit and do nothing? Does it mean wait for the Lord? 00:47:02.480 |
It's like, don't do anything, don't move, don't say anything, just stay still. Well, 00:47:06.480 |
the wait for the Lord here is related to the term in John chapter 15 when it says, "If 00:47:13.480 |
you want to bear fruit, to remain in me, to be connected to him, to rely on him, to continue 00:47:19.480 |
with him." So to wait upon the Lord basically means to not to anchor yourself to anything 00:47:25.480 |
else, other than God and His promises. And those who have anchored their faith, anchored 00:47:33.480 |
their life, anchored their joy in God, he says, they will renew their strength. They 00:47:40.480 |
will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk 00:47:44.480 |
and not become weary. When you read the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament, 00:47:52.480 |
they are not simple predictions. They're not predictions. God is not in His omniscient, 00:48:00.480 |
looked way down in the history, and He saw the unfolding of human history, and He just 00:48:05.480 |
wrote it down and said, "Hey, this is what's going to happen." That's not prophecy. That's 00:48:10.480 |
the way you and I may naturally think. But prophecy in the Bible is basically God telling 00:48:15.480 |
us what He's going to do. You see, if you've been in the political circle for any period, 00:48:23.480 |
you probably lost confidence. Those of you who are new to voting and following politics 00:48:31.480 |
and the next politician comes up and says, "I'm going to change the world. You don't 00:48:35.480 |
have money. I'll give it to you. Your business isn't working. It's because of this guy. 00:48:39.480 |
But when I come in, it's going to change. Our lifespan is going to be longer. All the 00:48:47.480 |
other countries are going to respect us. We're going to defeat all the other." I mean, they 00:48:51.480 |
make promises like they're Jesus Himself. But if you've been in the political circle 00:48:55.480 |
long enough, they say all of these things, and some of them may be very sincere. But 00:49:01.480 |
once they get in to the office, every single one of them realize just how daunting this 00:49:07.480 |
task is. They realize that they don't have as much control as they thought. The problem 00:49:13.480 |
seems always simple until you actually try to deal with it. And I want you guys to remember 00:49:19.480 |
that. This is kind of a side point. If you have a lot of opinions on things that you 00:49:25.480 |
haven't ever really done yourself, I would say be humble. Because every politician that 00:49:33.480 |
before they go into office, somebody's like, "Oh, just do this, one, two, three, and four, 00:49:37.480 |
and everything will be great." But I think once they go in, they realize it's not as 00:49:41.480 |
simple as they thought. The government is way more dysfunctional than they could possibly 00:49:45.480 |
imagine. And you have two groups in power who is actively trying to destroy one another. 00:49:51.480 |
And they're like, "I'm not going to deal with that. I'm going to be true to it." But 00:49:55.480 |
it's harder than they think. They get in there, and their human nature steps in. And 00:50:03.480 |
they're afraid that if they say the wrong thing or not do the right thing, then they're 00:50:07.480 |
not going to be elected for the next time that election comes. So they work very, very 00:50:12.480 |
hard to politically stay safe so that they can get elected the next time. And that's 00:50:17.480 |
the problem. And so whatever the reason is, whether they deliberately lied or whether 00:50:23.480 |
they had good intention, once they get into power, they realize that they don't have a 00:50:27.480 |
lot of control, even over themselves. I can tell you that next Sunday, I'll see you. And 00:50:34.480 |
I guarantee I'm going to be here. Now, I may fully mean it, but I can't guarantee you. 00:50:42.480 |
Because I may get in a car accident today. I may have a heart attack. I may just change 00:50:48.480 |
my mind. I'm not sure. I'm determined today, but tomorrow I wake up and say, "Ah, forget 00:50:55.480 |
it. I don't want to do this anymore." So anything that is created, anything that man 00:51:02.480 |
promises, is not on solid ground. That's why in the book of Titus, the text that we're 00:51:10.480 |
studying together, it says in verse 1 and 2, "Paul, a bondservant of God, apostle of 00:51:14.480 |
Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God, and the knowledge of the truth which 00:51:18.480 |
is according to Godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised 00:51:23.480 |
long ages ago." That this salvation was given to us by an almighty, omniscient, omnipotent 00:51:31.480 |
God, who cannot lie. Why is he saying that? He's telling us you can bank on it. That 00:51:41.480 |
his promises were not just predictions. They're not wishful thoughts. He's telling us this 00:51:47.480 |
is going to happen. So if you believe that, anchor yourself to that. If you don't believe 00:51:53.480 |
it, obviously you're not going to anchor yourself. And that's what separates believers 00:51:58.480 |
from unbelievers. True believers versus posers. You can say it, but your life and joy and 00:52:06.480 |
hope is not really anchored in that. Hebrews chapter 6, 17, and 19, it says, "In the 00:52:11.480 |
same way, God desiring even more to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness 00:52:16.480 |
of his purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it 00:52:22.480 |
is impossible for God to lie." Two things. His purpose and what he says cannot be changed 00:52:31.480 |
because God cannot lie. "We who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to 00:52:36.480 |
take hold of the hope that's set before us. Hope we have as an anchor of the soul, 00:52:42.480 |
a hope both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil." Christian gratitude 00:52:48.480 |
is anchored in this hope. Our Thanksgiving isn't something that we try to look up every 00:52:55.480 |
Thanksgiving time, like, "Oh, what am I thankful for?" Right? I'm thankful for my children, 00:52:59.480 |
I'm thankful for this weather, I'm thankful for our leadership, I'm thankful for the 00:53:03.480 |
church, and we're thankful for all these things that if we're not careful are just 00:53:09.480 |
temporary. Ultimately, the core, the foundation of Christian gratitude is God and his kingdom 00:53:17.480 |
that is unshakable. It will not change, even if the economy crashes. Maybe you just bought 00:53:24.480 |
a house and the housing market tanks. Maybe you bought cryptocurrency and it goes to zero. 00:53:30.480 |
Maybe you've been putting money into your retirement and the stock market just tanks. 00:53:36.480 |
Maybe the U.S. government, because communism is rising, is no longer going to be the superpower 00:53:42.480 |
and communism begins to come in. God forbid, but even if our worst nightmares happen, 00:53:50.480 |
our anchor is secure in Christ. Our gratitude cannot be shaken. 00:53:57.480 |
See, in Luke chapter 10, 17-20, Jesus sends out the 70 disciples, two by two. 00:54:05.480 |
They come back skipping and rejoicing. It says, "The 70 return with joy, saying, 00:54:11.480 |
'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.'" Imagine that. 00:54:16.480 |
Put yourself in their shoes. These are just commoners, fishermen, they weren't people of prominence. 00:54:23.480 |
The first time they were practically experiencing spiritual power, demons were shaking 00:54:32.480 |
at their presence when they were praying. "Lord, even the demons are subject to your name." 00:54:38.480 |
And Jesus said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 00:54:42.480 |
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the powers of the enemy, 00:54:48.480 |
and nothing will injure you." Imagine that excitement. Imagine if you came to Jesus excited about 00:54:54.480 |
casting out demons and he says, "Scorpions." Like all the stuff, the satanic things that he's going to throw at you. 00:55:00.480 |
I've given you authority to overpower them. Can you imagine that? 00:55:05.480 |
If Jesus said that to me, I would be walking through scorpions just to test this out. 00:55:11.480 |
You know what I mean? It's like, "Pipe me." It's like, "Oh, look at that." 00:55:17.480 |
"But," he says, "nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, 00:55:24.480 |
but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." 00:55:35.480 |
It is temporary. God was, Jesus was trying to train them to rely on him. 00:55:40.480 |
But the rejoicing should not be in the fruits of your ministry, 00:55:45.480 |
because they come and they go. Just like money, they come, they go. 00:55:50.480 |
Security comes and it goes. Relationships will come and it goes. 00:55:55.480 |
Whatever that is here, once God shakes things, nothing is permanent. 00:56:01.480 |
And you know, if you've lived any period of time, when you're young, anything good, 00:56:06.480 |
you feel like you're going to have it forever, you live a little. 00:56:08.480 |
There's a reason why older people are more jaded, right? 00:56:17.480 |
And so older people are filled with disappointment. 00:56:22.480 |
So you don't see young people who are grizzled. It's usually old men who are grizzled. 00:56:28.480 |
You ever see, this is just off tangent for a little bit. 00:56:35.480 |
There's reasons why your parents don't have a lot of friends. 00:56:41.480 |
They had a lot of friends when they were young, just like you. 00:56:46.480 |
They had freshman gatherings, sophomore, sister appreciation night, brother appreciation. 00:56:57.480 |
Somebody disappointed them. Somebody moved away from them. 00:57:01.480 |
Their heart was broken. The job that they were promised wasn't given to them. 00:57:10.480 |
And so year after year after year of disappointment after disappointment after disappointment, 00:57:16.480 |
and then one day you wake up, it's like, I don't trust anybody. 00:57:20.480 |
And if we're not careful, even when somebody comes to Christ, it's like, well, let's see. 00:57:28.480 |
That's years and years of disappointment from this world, from people, from economy, from politicians. 00:57:36.480 |
And he said, that's true, because the Bible says don't rejoice over that. 00:57:42.480 |
Because when it gets shaken, all of it will remind you it's temporary. 00:57:47.480 |
The reason why we get grizzled is because we place our confidence in things that we shouldn't have put confidence in. 00:57:54.480 |
He said, rejoice if you're going to rejoice that your name is recorded in heaven. 00:58:00.480 |
C.S. Lewis in his book Weight of Glory says, "If we consider the unblushing promises of reward 00:58:05.480 |
and the staggering nature of rewards promised in the Gospels, 00:58:08.480 |
it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. 00:58:13.480 |
We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us. 00:58:20.480 |
Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum 00:58:24.480 |
because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at a sea, 00:58:38.480 |
If the proper response to grace is gratitude because we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, 00:58:48.480 |
how much of our rejoicing in Christ comes anywhere close to when your sports team wins a championship? 00:59:08.480 |
Because winning a championship in your favorite sports team is the mud pie. 00:59:33.480 |
In relation to our worship before God, when we think of what He has given us, 00:59:39.480 |
what has been sacrificed in order for you and I to be here to worship Him, 00:59:48.480 |
In Psalm 1611 it says, "You will make known to me the path of life. 00:59:55.480 |
In your right hand there are pleasures forever." 00:59:59.480 |
If you believe that statement, you will anchor yourself to the statement 01:00:07.480 |
Because ultimately the greatest satisfaction, the greatest refuge, is found in the unshakable promise of Christ. 01:00:15.480 |
Because the King is unshakable, so therefore the kingdom is unshakable. 01:00:30.480 |
Not because the right person is in leadership. 01:00:32.480 |
But because I have a King who rules over a kingdom that cannot be shaken. 01:00:41.480 |
If we understand that, if we embrace that, what does this gratitude lead to? 01:00:46.480 |
He says, "Therefore since we have received a kingdom which cannot be shaken, 01:00:49.480 |
let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe, 01:00:58.480 |
The grounds in which we have gratitude is an unshakable kingdom. 01:01:03.480 |
But once we have gratitude, he says, it leads to by which we offer to God an acceptable service. 01:01:11.480 |
The word for service here is the word "Letruo." 01:01:15.480 |
So if you've been here for a while, you know that I've given this message probably about two or three times in the church. 01:01:21.480 |
The most prominent word for worship in the Greek is "proskeneo." 01:01:29.480 |
It's kind of a scene of somebody bowing down and kissing the feet of the King. 01:01:34.480 |
Because you're in awe of something greater than you. 01:01:37.480 |
Most of the times when you see the word "worship" in the New Testament, it's that word "proskeneo." 01:01:44.480 |
You are beyond what I can imagine, and that's proskeneo. 01:01:51.480 |
Sabomai basically means to have reverence, internal reverence and awe toward God. 01:01:56.480 |
So when the Bible says, "Render more than your garments, but your very hearts," 01:02:01.480 |
that's what he's referring to, that proper adoration ought to be more than just external service. 01:02:07.480 |
The word here, "letruo," has an idea of the actual service. 01:02:12.480 |
In the Old Testament, in the Septuagint, the word that was used here 01:02:16.480 |
to describe the service at the temple by the priest was the word "letruo." 01:02:21.480 |
In the New Testament, that word is described as our Christian living, as an act of worship. 01:02:28.480 |
And that's what's described in Romans 12, verse 1. 01:02:32.480 |
It says, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, 01:02:38.480 |
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, letruo." 01:02:44.480 |
So, if gratitude is what leads to acceptable service, ingratitude is what leads to unacceptable service. 01:03:01.480 |
So at the core of everything that we do, if it is not an overflow of appreciation of what God has done, 01:03:08.480 |
so therefore I volunteer to give worship through this way, 01:03:13.480 |
and if you're doing this, "I've got to do this, I've got to do that," that's not worship. 01:03:22.480 |
I've been in Bible studies where, I mean, I probably had -- 01:03:28.480 |
I remember one time I was in Bible study in Garden Grove and I went to somebody's apartment, 01:03:32.480 |
and I could tell not a single person there wanted to be in the Bible study. 01:03:40.480 |
None of you were there, so don't worry, okay? 01:03:44.480 |
And I could tell as soon as I walked in, they wanted to get that over with. 01:03:48.480 |
Even before we started, get it over with because they had plans to do something. 01:03:54.480 |
And so I'm like opening up the Bible study, and like right off the bat I'm like, "Oh, my gosh. 01:04:01.480 |
This next hour and a half is going to be torturous." 01:04:05.480 |
Sure enough, right off the bat, just a glazed look. 01:04:09.480 |
If I said anything that sounded like I was going to go a little bit longer, 01:04:16.480 |
I could have literally just mumbled for the next 30 minutes, and it would have made a difference, 01:04:23.480 |
It was just torture, torture for them, torture for me. 01:04:26.480 |
I've given sermons like that at churches where people are flipping through magazines while I was preaching. 01:04:33.480 |
And usually I would try to mix up the sermon and try to get their attention, but I just had no desire. 01:04:52.480 |
But there's the difference between a worship that is given out of gratitude versus something that you're like, "You better do it. 01:05:06.480 |
So he says it is by this gratitude, recognizing what it is that we have in Christ, is what leads to acceptable worship. 01:05:18.480 |
That's why what God wants is a cheerful giver, not just a giver, not just the amount, a cheerful giver, 01:05:28.480 |
And Psalm 104 to 5 is, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. 01:05:32.480 |
Give thanks and bless his name, for the Lord is good. 01:05:35.480 |
His loving kindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations." 01:05:41.480 |
In Luke 17, 17-19, that's the story that Jesus gives about he meets 10 lepers, 01:05:49.480 |
and then he tells the 10 that they're begging, "Lord, please, please heal us, heal us." 01:05:53.480 |
And Jesus says, "Go show yourself to the priests at the temple." 01:05:57.480 |
So if you remember the book of Leviticus, it says that in order for the lepers to enter back into society, 01:06:03.480 |
the lepers had to be examined by the priests, and the priests have to give a stamp of approval, 01:06:08.480 |
saying that, "Okay, the healing has taken place." 01:06:11.480 |
And once they are approved by the priests, then they're able to come back into worship and into regular society. 01:06:20.480 |
Jesus says to the 10 lepers, "Go and show yourself to the priests," and on their way, they all receive healing. 01:06:26.480 |
The 10 of them continue to go, and they just disappear. 01:06:29.480 |
One of them, if you remember, he comes back, and he thanks Jesus. 01:06:35.480 |
If you look at verse 17, it says, "Jesus answered and said, 'Were there not 10 cleansed, but the 9? Where are they? 01:06:42.480 |
Was no one found to return to give glory to God except the foreigner?' 01:06:47.480 |
And he said to him, 'Stand up and go. Your faith has made you well.'" 01:06:55.480 |
Why does he say to just that one that returned? 01:07:01.480 |
Clearly, he's not talking about just his physical healing. 01:07:05.480 |
His gratitude that he returned back to give God the glory was evidence of true healing. 01:07:15.480 |
Gratitude is the proper response in which we give acceptable worship. 01:07:20.480 |
Isn't that exactly what it says in John 4:23? 01:07:23.480 |
"An hour is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. 01:07:28.480 |
For such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. 01:07:32.480 |
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." 01:07:44.480 |
He's not looking for the hardest worker or the most experienced. 01:07:49.480 |
People who recognize what they have in Christ. 01:07:53.480 |
People who've seen and experienced the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 01:07:58.480 |
And so all that they do is a response to that. 01:08:20.480 |
In fact, God chose you because you were dumb. 01:08:28.480 |
You guys are all trying to one up each other, trying to be so smart. 01:08:41.480 |
And you're trying to be somebody in the church, and that's what's causing all this division. 01:09:02.480 |
But the primary thing that he's looking for are people who have been affected by this grace. 01:09:12.480 |
By this gratitude, you serve him and you worship him in spirit and in truth. 01:09:19.480 |
But the greatest struggle that you and I have is the constant, constant distraction from this world. 01:09:29.480 |
John Piper, in his book, "Hunger for God," we read that as a church. 01:09:33.480 |
He says this, "The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. 01:09:40.480 |
It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. 01:09:45.480 |
It is not the X-rated video but the prime-time drivel of triviality we drink in every night." 01:09:53.480 |
It is a constant distraction that makes the things that are glorious just mundane. 01:10:19.480 |
The word "holy" literally means to be set apart. 01:10:23.480 |
When we typically think of holy, we think morally holy. 01:10:26.480 |
But the word in itself simply means to be set apart. 01:10:28.480 |
That's why in the Old Testament, God would take a bowl and dedicate it to the temple, and it became holy. 01:10:35.480 |
A bowl became holy because it was set apart from that which was common. 01:10:40.480 |
You would take an animal that was just hanging around with all the other animals, 01:10:45.480 |
and all of a sudden you set it apart as a sacrifice to God, and then it became holy. 01:10:50.480 |
So no one was able to touch that because once it was set apart, it belonged to God. 01:11:00.480 |
So everything that we do that just becomes a habit is no longer holy. 01:11:13.480 |
Worship is not something that we give because you showed up. 01:11:16.480 |
Worship is something that we give because we've been affected by His glory. 01:11:28.480 |
That when we beheld His glory, we saw something that was very serious. 01:11:38.480 |
So the word "holy" and the word "glory," the word in and of itself, 01:11:44.480 |
causes us to be set apart from everything that is common, everything that is habitual. 01:11:59.480 |
In fact, I have friends who think I'm weird for wearing suits. 01:12:05.480 |
They say, "Just take it off. Don't be so legalistic." 01:12:13.480 |
nine out of ten times I have a black T-shirt on with a jean or a gray one. 01:12:24.480 |
To me, it's just a waste of time to think about what I'm going to put on, 01:12:33.480 |
the only thing that enters my mind is, "What didn't I not wear last week?" 01:12:36.480 |
That's the only thought that enters my mind when I choose which suit to wear. 01:12:43.480 |
And I've had somebody tell me, "Hey, man, calm down. 01:12:56.480 |
I don't want the handling of the Word of God to be common. 01:13:01.480 |
I don't want our corporate worship to be no different 01:13:14.480 |
We shouldn't walk in here like you walk into any assembly. 01:13:18.480 |
This is a gathering of the ones who have been set apart 01:13:30.480 |
And so when we recognize who it is that we worship, 01:13:33.480 |
and His glory affects us, and it causes us to be grateful, 01:13:39.480 |
and this gratefulness causes me to pursue sanctification, 01:13:49.480 |
He is actively looking for people who will worship in spirit 01:14:01.480 |
He said, "Okay, His grace affects us in this way." 01:14:06.480 |
But then here, He ends it with, "To give an acceptable service, 01:14:09.480 |
which with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire." 01:14:14.480 |
That's a weird way to end the response to grace, 01:14:32.480 |
Because we worship in gratitude because He's given us grace 01:14:35.480 |
in His unshakable kingdom because our God is a campfire. 01:14:51.480 |
Consuming fire in the Bible refers to His judgment, 01:14:57.480 |
It almost is like, "Huh, that's a weird way to end that." 01:15:01.480 |
If your understanding of grace of God was outside of the 01:15:05.480 |
understanding, the wrath, and the holiness of God, 01:15:08.480 |
then the natural question that you probably is asking, 01:15:14.480 |
Just like that non-Christian, why would a loving God cause us 01:15:17.480 |
to say He's a consuming fire at the end of telling us how 01:15:24.480 |
See, His grace and His love must be understood in the context of 01:15:28.480 |
His wrath and His judgment or else His grace is just cheap grace. 01:15:39.480 |
"For this reason, after Jesus has humbled Himself and was 01:15:43.480 |
crucified on the cross, for this reason also God highly exalted 01:15:47.480 |
Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name so 01:15:50.480 |
that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, 01:15:53.480 |
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 01:15:55.480 |
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is 01:16:01.480 |
So then, so then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, 01:16:06.480 |
not as in my presence only but much more in my absence, 01:16:10.480 |
work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God 01:16:16.480 |
who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure." 01:16:20.480 |
I don't know how many conversations I've had with 01:16:23.480 |
people who said, "That cannot mean this because it doesn't fit 01:16:31.480 |
It doesn't fit the idea that they've created in their own 01:16:35.480 |
Why would He tell New Testament, New Covenant people who have 01:16:39.480 |
been washed in the blood of Christ to work out your 01:16:46.480 |
Possibly the gospel that you have heard was not complete. 01:16:52.480 |
Possibly the idea that you have of God wasn't complete. 01:16:58.480 |
The grace of God has to be understood in the consuming 01:17:05.480 |
And that's why he says, "Considering this grace, 01:17:08.480 |
do not refuse Him who is speaking from heaven because as 01:17:12.480 |
He shakes the earth and the heavens," and we recognize that 01:17:17.480 |
at the end of this we have been given a kingdom that cannot be 01:17:27.480 |
which is the basis of acceptable worship in spirit of awe and 01:17:33.480 |
reverence because our God is a consuming fire. 01:17:40.480 |
Do not take the grace of God for granted or else you will turn 01:17:45.480 |
the grace of God into cheap grace and nothing more. 01:18:10.480 |
our walk with God habitual, if the mud pies in our life bring 01:18:21.480 |
let's take some time to pray and ask the Lord, 01:18:27.480 |
I want to worship you in spirit and in truth," and ask the Lord's 01:18:32.480 |
So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us. 01:24:18.480 |
Psalm 121 says, "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. 01:24:25.480 |
My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. 01:24:33.480 |
Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 01:24:40.480 |
The sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night. 01:24:48.480 |
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in 01:25:02.480 |
That we would not neglect or drift away, Father God, 01:25:06.480 |
May Christ and his name be magnified wherever you send us this week.