back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 4/6/2025
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Good morning, church family. Happy Lord's Day. We will now begin our service. 00:12:06.700 |
All right. So that was just a brief video. We have actually a great relationship with our neighbor right across the street. They've been very generous in letting us use the spot. But I know it's convenient to walk across that grass, but they've made a special request to stay off that. And they're actually renewing a lot of their lawn and stuff. So please make sure. Just make your walk around, etc. And then, you know, let's stop. 00:12:35.540 |
So a couple of announcements for us with a lot of things happening in the near season. As the Passion Week is approaching, the outreach team is having some extra opportunities to go out and evangelize. 00:12:48.280 |
So we'll be going to the nearby Irvine spectrum on Saturday, the 12th and the 19th at 1 p.m. You can sign up for that and come out with us to share the gospel, invite people to church. So please take advantage of those opportunities. 00:13:03.460 |
Additionally, on Saturday, April 26th at 9 a.m., we have All Church Cleaning Day. So if you're available, please mark that on your calendar. Sign up. We'd love to join together, do spring cleaning, and make sure we take care of the facilities that we have. 00:13:18.800 |
Also, please note that all members' meeting and service fair is happening May 4th. It's at 2 p.m., so we'll have some short time to go grab—or actually, lunch is going to be—there's going to be a fundraiser lunch that day, so you won't have to go off campus. 00:13:35.000 |
But please make sure to mark that. It's an important time for us to come, and then we'll be having that special service fair outside where you can greet and meet some of the various departments and teams, find out what's going on and how to get involved. 00:13:47.220 |
Also, there's an open invite to participate in the men's softball tournament that will take place on May 24th. 00:13:55.720 |
So this is a special fundraiser for our missions programs. Please sign up. All skill levels are welcome. 00:14:02.980 |
We typically have multiple teams, and we'll be competing against other churches. It's a lot of fun. Please make sure to sign up for that. 00:14:08.940 |
Finally, we have been announcing our all-church retreat, and the registration is now open. 00:14:17.140 |
Just to help you guys out, we actually have a booth set up outside. You probably saw it as you were entering in. 00:14:21.960 |
After the service, stop by to register you and the whole family. 00:14:25.820 |
The dates there are August 1st through August 3rd. 00:14:31.040 |
We're going to be having a great speaker, somebody who's visited us a lot, Pastor Ray Cosley, on the topic of being set apart for his glory. 00:14:38.100 |
So please make sure you sign up for that, and if you have any questions, you can direct them over to Justin. 00:14:43.740 |
Okay, so after our worship time, today we'll have the privilege of hearing Imogene's testimony and seeing her be baptized. 00:14:52.760 |
For offering, please do continue to give it digitally, or if you have a check, we have a box right there at the entrance on your way out. 00:15:08.460 |
Father, we are in many ways, and in every way, indebted to you. 00:15:13.440 |
For all that we have, God, you have given to us. 00:15:16.660 |
I pray, Lord, that in this time as we give to you our worship, our song, 00:15:22.080 |
God, we would continue to express just how much we love you, 00:15:25.920 |
and how thankful we are for the lavishing grace you've given. 00:15:28.460 |
Let this time, Father God, be honoring to you, but also nourishing to our soul. 00:15:33.540 |
From the word that we hear, from the fellowship, from the songs that we sing, 00:15:39.700 |
And also, Lord God, the offering that we give. 00:15:43.680 |
God, that it would be used for your purposes, 00:15:46.220 |
that ultimately it would be used for the ministry that is yours and the furthering of your kingdom. 00:15:51.800 |
We thank you, God, and bless you this morning. 00:16:27.500 |
Let us all rise and spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. 00:17:17.480 |
Let us all rise and spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. 00:17:21.480 |
Let us all rise and spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us. 00:17:23.480 |
Let us all rise and see the neighbors around us. 00:17:25.480 |
Let us all rise and see the neighbors around us. 00:17:27.480 |
Let us all rise and see the neighbors around us. 00:17:29.480 |
Let us all rise and see the neighbors around us. 00:17:31.480 |
Let us all rise and see the neighbors around us. 00:37:10.500 |
No, nevertheless, my word prevailed against Joab. 00:37:15.500 |
Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem. 00:37:19.500 |
Joab gave the number of the census of all the people of David. 00:37:23.500 |
In all Israel were a million and a hundred thousand men who drew the sword. 00:37:29.500 |
And Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword. 00:37:34.500 |
But he, that's Joab, didn't number Levi and Benjamin among them. 00:37:42.500 |
Basically, he was doing it, doing it, doing it, and then he stopped. 00:37:56.500 |
You had a million five hundred seventy thousand soldiers. 00:38:01.500 |
We're not talking about just the people in his kingdom. 00:38:04.500 |
We're talking about military capable fighting men. 00:38:07.500 |
Maybe not active service, but people who could fight for you. 00:38:14.500 |
As the podcaster, I would hype him up and be like, oh my gosh! 00:38:19.500 |
Because, did you know at that time, Egypt was a superpower. 00:38:26.500 |
So Egypt, at max during the time of King David, had like a hundred twenty thousand soldiers. 00:38:36.500 |
But Philistia, Aram, all these nations around them, they maybe had seven to ten thousand soldiers. 00:38:50.500 |
It's got eleven hundred, twelve hundred, thirteen hundred people. 00:39:26.500 |
Sometimes we get so, like, engrossed in our accomplishments. 00:39:31.500 |
It's not even about impressing other people anymore. 00:39:37.500 |
And so we have a situation where it is incredibly impressed. 00:40:05.500 |
So I said to God, God, I have sinned greatly. 00:40:11.500 |
But now please take away the iniquity of your servant. 00:40:32.500 |
He is a servant of the king, but a servant of God. 00:40:40.500 |
Choose for yourself one of them, which I will do. 00:40:48.500 |
Take for yourself either three years of famine. 00:40:52.500 |
Or three months to be swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtake you. 00:41:00.500 |
Even pestilence in the land and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel. 00:41:06.500 |
Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me. 00:41:16.500 |
God did one of those things where do you want the belt, the wooden stick, or my hand? 00:41:23.500 |
God made you choose the instrument of your discipline? 00:41:36.500 |
It was three years of famine, three years of other nations, or three days of God's hand. 00:42:00.500 |
Imagine a hurricane in his mind and in his heart. 00:42:07.500 |
And he says, please, let me fall into the hand of the Lord. 00:42:13.500 |
For his mercies are very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man. 00:42:26.500 |
King David, I'm so glad that you just repented immediately. 00:42:30.500 |
You said I sinned and you asked God to forgive you. 00:42:35.500 |
You kind of, you didn't really answer, did you? 00:42:52.500 |
And probably King David will say, yeah, you know, whenever we sin, my first inclination is to run away. 00:43:09.500 |
Whenever we sin, brothers and sisters, our first inclination is to run away and hide because we feel ashamed. 00:43:22.500 |
For I know that even in the moment of discipline, your mercies are still greater than man's. 00:43:29.500 |
There is no mercy to be found in your closet. 00:43:40.500 |
When you sin and you think it's better in your shame just to go walk away. 00:44:29.500 |
And you guys know, at max capacity, how many people can fit into Dodger Stadium? 00:44:40.500 |
The Lakers Stadium fits a little over 20,000. 00:44:51.500 |
So God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. 00:44:57.500 |
As he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and was sorry over the calamity and said to the destroying angel, "It is enough! 00:45:06.500 |
And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornion, the Jebusite. 00:45:14.500 |
We're going to get introduced to Ornion, the Jebusite, later. 00:45:26.500 |
Then I, David, lifted my eyes up and saw the angels of the Lord standing between earth and heaven. 00:45:34.500 |
With his drawn sword and his hands stretched over Jerusalem. 00:45:38.500 |
So I, David, and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on our faces. 00:45:50.500 |
God opened your eyes and let you see the angel of destruction. 00:46:08.500 |
He had one sword and he was about to destroy your entire city. 00:46:15.500 |
You know, King David, like, we were studying in our Bible study in 1 Samuel 3. 00:46:21.500 |
God had a word of destruction and judgment against Eli. 00:46:26.500 |
And he said, "I will do my judgment from beginning to end." 00:46:37.500 |
There are times when God finishes what he started. 00:46:46.500 |
Can you imagine if God allowed three full days? 00:46:51.500 |
Can you imagine if God allowed the angel of destruction to go three full days? 00:47:27.500 |
I said to God, "Is it not I who commanded the count of the people? 00:47:32.500 |
Indeed, I am the one who sinned and done very wickedly. 00:47:39.500 |
Oh, Lord, my God, please let your hand be against me and my father's household, 00:47:44.500 |
but not against your people, that they should be plagued." 00:48:04.500 |
And he got into my head and he just moved me to do the stuff. 00:48:17.500 |
You know, brothers and sisters, it is our normal pattern. 00:48:21.500 |
Sometimes when we sin, I could almost hear it in my head. 00:48:26.500 |
It's like, "Oh, I'm so frustrated with myself. 00:48:39.500 |
It's definitely less than full repentance, isn't it? 00:48:46.500 |
What King David is saying, all he's saying is, "I deserved this." 00:48:54.500 |
As frightening as it may be, I deserved this. 00:49:01.500 |
So God, again, I placed myself into your hand. 00:49:10.500 |
So when you confess this way, when you humble yourself, what does God say to you? 00:49:20.500 |
So the angel of the Lord commanded God to say to me that I should go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 00:49:34.500 |
I went up at the word of God, which he spoke in the name of the Lord. 00:49:40.500 |
And his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 00:49:50.500 |
Ornan looked and saw me and went out on the fledgling floor and prostrated himself before me and with his face to the ground. 00:49:57.500 |
So I said to Ornan, "Give me, please, the site of this threshing floor that I may build on it an altar to the Lord. 00:50:03.500 |
For the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be restrained from the people." 00:50:12.500 |
Take it for yourself and let my Lord the King do what is good in your sight. 00:50:16.500 |
See, I will give an oxen for burnt offerings and threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering. 00:50:29.500 |
Chapter 24 of 2 Samuel has this exact scenario and exact story, full chapter, giving all the details. 00:50:38.500 |
But it leaves out the detail that Ornan and his sons saw the angel. 00:50:43.500 |
So originally when I read 2 Samuel, I was like, "Dang, this guy. 00:50:47.500 |
He has reverence and he loves his king and he's like, "This is my land and this is my livelihood, but take it! 00:50:53.500 |
You know, take the offering and take the oxen." 00:50:55.500 |
And then I realized, actually, he and his boys saw the angel. 00:50:59.500 |
So there's kind of like a comedic scene where they're doing their work and all of a sudden they're like, "Oh my gosh." 00:51:08.500 |
And then Ornan's like, "Take it! Just do it!" 00:51:12.500 |
You want the oxen, take it! You want the wheat, take it! You want the tools, do it! Just the wood, everything, just take it! 00:51:18.500 |
Because he knows what's happening here is King David has to sacrifice to God. 00:51:36.500 |
I will surely buy it for full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which cost me nothing." 00:51:48.500 |
So I gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site." 00:52:00.500 |
Honestly, King David, like, I would have just assumed God's providing. 00:52:04.500 |
Just like, you show up on scene, he tells you what to do, and he always provides, God's the provider. 00:52:17.500 |
You know, King David, like, sometimes when I read and stuff like that, I've been learning, you can't have a debtor's ethic. 00:52:24.500 |
You can't be like, "Let me pay God for what I did, I feel so bad." 00:52:31.500 |
Do you think that's what his attitude is now? 00:52:37.500 |
I think King David would say, "Are you kidding me? 00:52:44.500 |
Logically, there's no way we're paying for what just happened. 00:53:00.500 |
You can't, like, not feel like you owe God everything. 00:53:05.500 |
I believe what's happening is, he is so contrite, this is true repentance. 00:53:12.500 |
You know, in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, Scripture tells us that there is two paths. 00:53:19.500 |
Whenever you sin, we'll all feel sorrow, but there is a sorrow of the world that changes nothing. 00:53:28.500 |
You'll feel bad, but you keep going there, because nothing's changed. 00:53:37.500 |
But then there is a kind of sorrow that leads to life. 00:53:41.500 |
And so in 2 Corinthians chapter 7, it says in verse 10, 00:53:45.500 |
"For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, 00:53:50.500 |
leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 00:53:56.500 |
For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow has produced in you. 00:54:03.500 |
What vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, 00:54:10.500 |
what avenging of wrong in everything you demonstrate yourself to be innocent in the matter." 00:54:19.500 |
King David is actually, truly, sincerely contrite. 00:54:24.500 |
A moment ago, he's looking, saying, "Look at all I have." 00:54:28.500 |
And then now he's just like, "This is all yours." 00:54:34.500 |
I'm not going to conveniently just walk in here. 00:54:37.500 |
I'm not going to just take it and say, "Oh, sweet!" 00:54:44.500 |
There's a man who is truly repentant and broken. 00:55:02.500 |
So I, David, I built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 00:55:08.500 |
And I called to the Lord and he answered me with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 00:55:16.500 |
The Lord commanded the angel and he put back his sword into his sheath. 00:55:20.500 |
And at that time, when I saw that the Lord had answered me on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, I offered sacrifice there. 00:55:40.500 |
If I could talk to him, I would say, "This is... 00:55:48.500 |
And essentially, you saw near death of you and everybody you loved. 00:56:04.500 |
I mean, clearly, it's not the notorious sin of David. 00:56:18.500 |
And I checked in to see, like, how are the men doing? 00:56:39.500 |
And then he raised me up to be his chosen king. 00:56:53.500 |
In 2 Samuel, chapter 7, starting from verse 12. 00:56:58.500 |
This, you guys should know, as a pivotal passage in scripture, 00:57:20.500 |
"So when your days are complete, you'll lie down with your fathers. 00:57:23.500 |
But I will raise up your descendants after you, 00:57:27.500 |
who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 00:57:40.500 |
So your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me. 00:57:52.500 |
King David actually doesn't even have to worry how many men he has. 00:58:02.500 |
So I, I went in and sat before the Lord, and I said, 00:58:08.500 |
O Lord God, what is my house that you have brought me this far?" 00:58:17.500 |
"And this was insignificant in your eyes, O Lord God, 00:58:20.500 |
for you have spoken also of the house of your servant concerning the distant future. 00:58:30.500 |
"For you know your servant, O Lord God, for the sake of your word, 00:58:36.500 |
and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness to let your servant know. 00:58:52.500 |
And according to all that we have heard with our ears, 00:58:57.500 |
and what one nation on earth is like your people Israel, 00:59:00.500 |
whom God went to redeem for himself as a people, 00:59:12.500 |
before your people whom you have redeemed for yourself from Egypt, 00:59:34.500 |
I was a fool to count them like they were my own. 00:59:47.500 |
He's not just this unstable force in the universe, 00:59:59.500 |
God told me that the number of my men didn't matter. 01:00:05.500 |
Because God was doing a work for his own name. 01:00:38.500 |
if you're now in like a season of incredible success, 01:00:45.500 |
you will think this was the work of my own hand. 01:00:54.500 |
I don't think God cares so much whether you're rich or you're poor. 01:01:00.500 |
He cares if your eyes start to think I deserve credit for this. 01:01:10.500 |
And he knows David's heart through and through. 01:01:31.500 |
But thank you for sharing how convicted you are. 01:01:38.500 |
Take a look at verse 25 of 2 Samuel chapter 7. 01:01:42.500 |
2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 25 in David's defense. 01:01:52.500 |
the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house, 01:02:15.500 |
And may the house of your servant David be established before you. 01:02:47.500 |
Like he's just ushering people into the kingdom, 01:03:10.500 |
then he knows immediately that when he went in, 01:04:20.500 |
and he'll glorify his name through a small church. 01:04:38.500 |
and he's going to give his support to Solomon as well. 01:04:47.500 |
So if you turn your eyes over to 1 Chronicles chapter 29, 01:04:56.500 |
So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly. 01:05:03.500 |
"Blessed are you, O Lord God of Israel, our Father, 01:05:09.500 |
is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. 01:05:13.500 |
Indeed, everything that is in the heavens and the earth, 01:05:31.500 |
And it lies in your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. 01:05:35.500 |
Now, therefore, God, we thank you and praise your glorious name." 01:05:50.500 |
We do recognize, Lord, that we are susceptible. 01:06:03.500 |
and wanting to count our own accomplishments. 01:06:12.500 |
When our pride and our selfishness or ambition, 01:06:15.500 |
our sense of our own worth and our own power rise, 01:06:19.500 |
I pray, Father God, that you would help us to know your name is great alone 01:06:27.500 |
We thank you, Father, for this day, for giving us conviction. 01:06:30.500 |
We pray, Father God, that throughout our days, 01:06:33.500 |
Lord, we would continue to see you as exalted. 01:07:26.500 |
The Father will to crush Him as a sacrifice for sin. 01:07:40.500 |
He'll satisfy God's justice, and a victory will rise again. 01:07:52.500 |
Highly exalted, name above all names, worthy of all praise. 01:09:56.500 |
Over everything, started to the highest place. 01:10:07.660 |
Give in the name of the Lord, all the other names. 01:10:16.600 |
Our knees will bow, our top proclaim that you are Lord of all. 01:10:32.820 |
Our knees will bow, our tops proclaim that you are Lord of all. 01:10:46.860 |
Our knees will bow, our tops proclaim that you are Lord of all. 01:10:58.880 |
Our knees will bow, our tops proclaim that you are Lord of all. 01:12:12.940 |
Just like King David said, Lord, you are so great to let us know, to remind us that it is both appropriate and right, God, that you, the Lord of all, should be exalted and we be at your service. 01:12:27.040 |
Remind us, Father God, and help us to truly know that even if we get tempted to be boastful, to be self-reliant, God, give us this conviction that then we are at our absolute weakest. 01:12:39.240 |
But God, even in this week, help us to trust you more. 01:12:44.680 |
For there are some who boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God.