(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) - All right, good morning, church family.

Happy Lord's Day. It is good to see everyone again. So we will now begin with our worship service. And so let's pray. Let's praise our Lord together by singing a song, "You are my all in all." (soft music) ♪ You are my strength when I am weak ♪ ♪ You are the treasure that I seek ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Seeking you as a precious jewel ♪ ♪ Lord to give up I'd be a fool ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ Sing that one more time.

♪ You are my strength when I am weak ♪ ♪ You are the treasure that I seek ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Seeking you as a precious jewel ♪ ♪ Lord to give up I'd be a fool ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Taking my sin, my cross, my shame ♪ ♪ Rising again I bless your name ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ When I fall down you pick me up ♪ ♪ When I am dry you fill my cup ♪ ♪ You are my all in all ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ Sing Jesus, Lamb of God.

♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lamb of God ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ ♪ Worthy is your name ♪ - All right, good morning. Welcome to Bering Community Church. Let me get to a few announcements.

So again, first, before we get started. As I mentioned last week, our annual support for our Indian pastors, we're gonna start taking sign-ups today. So again, if you've been supporting throughout the year, we're asking you to re-sign up for that. So it'll be from June to May next year.

And it's $50 per month. And so when we started supporting the pastors, I think they started around 40, 45 people. Right now they have 60. Because of the support that we're giving, they're able to expand their work. And as I mentioned before, they are actively trying to go into areas that the gospel has not been reached, has not gone in yet.

And so they're doing great work. And so every penny that we spend for that, every dollar we spend for that, is put to good use. So if you have been signing up, we encourage you to sign up again. If you haven't signed up, you can do that now. And then you'll receive an email just to kind of reminder to give for that.

Okay? For summer VBS, for our children, July 11th through 15th, the sign-ups are taking place now. And so the fee, if you have multiple children, the first child will be $40, and the second child will be $30, second, third on. And so our brother and sister, Tim and Patticus Irving, they're the ones who charge the program.

But the registration is taking place with Mara Mobley directing it. And so if you desire to participate in that, please find that on the website, or there is a sign-up table. So please go there, and please sign up for that as well. And one last thing before, there's other things, but rest of the announcement, I'm going to refer you to the website and different things.

Family Ministry Retreat is happening Friday through Sunday, August 12th through the 14th. That's Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And sign-up table is outside. So as you're going through the cafe area, there is a sign-up table to the left. So please sign up for that if you're part of the Family Ministry.

During that weekend, we have regular service here. So obviously we have college and young adults that are still here. So that Friday, Saturday, Sunday, sorry, that Sunday, we'll have regular service at 9 o'clock and 11 o'clock. And so nothing is going to change for you if you're not going up to the retreat just to give you a heads up, okay?

All right, so before I get into the prayer offering, this morning we have our brother, Tony. He's going to come up after our worship time. And he's going to give his testimony and he'll be baptized this morning. So let me pray for us and give you an opportunity to give the offering electronically.

And those of you who want to give physically, there's an offering basket right underneath that big clock as you're walking out, all right? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for your blessing over this time. Lord, whatever it is that we have gone through, whatever distractions that we have, Lord God, living on this earth, I pray, Father God, that you would give us strength that the things that you teach us would become more and more of a reality each day.

I pray that our affection for you would grow the more we understand your word. We pray, Father, that this worship would truly be given to you in spirit and in truth. And even this offering, help us, Lord God, to give as an act of worship, may it be multiplied 30, 60, 100-fold for your kingdom and for your glory.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) - Church family, would you please stand with us as we continue our worship? (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music) ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ A land that is plentiful ♪ ♪ Where streams of abundance flow ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ I'm found in the desert place ♪ ♪ Though I walk through the wilderness ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Every blessing you pour out ♪ ♪ I'll turn back to praise ♪ ♪ When the darkness closes in, Lord ♪ ♪ Still I will say ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be the name of the Lord ♪ ♪ Blessed be your glorious name ♪ ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ The sun's shining down on me ♪ ♪ When the world's all as it should be ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ The road marked with suffering ♪ ♪ Though there's pain in the offering ♪ ♪ Blessed be your name ♪ ♪ Every blessing ♪ Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to pray.

When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I will say, blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name.

You give and take. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name. Every blessing you pour out, I'll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in, Lord, still I'm gonna say, blessed be the name of the Lord.

Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be your glorious name. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ O Sovereign God, O Matchless King, ♪ ♪ The saints adore, the angels sing, ♪ ♪ And fall before the throne of grace, ♪ ♪ To you belongs the highest praise.

♪ ♪ ♪ These sufferings, this passing time, ♪ ♪ Under your wings I will abide, ♪ ♪ And every enemy shall flee, ♪ ♪ You are my hope and victory. ♪ ♪ Praise the Father, praise the Son, ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one, ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace, ♪ ♪ The name above all other names.

♪ ♪ ♪ To the valley for my soul, ♪ ♪ Thy great descent has made me whole, ♪ ♪ Your word my heart has welcomed home, ♪ ♪ Now peace like water ever flows. ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Father, praise the Son, ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one, ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace, ♪ ♪ The name above all other names.

♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Father, praise the Son, ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one, ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace, ♪ ♪ The name above all other names. ♪ ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom, ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory, ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory forever.

♪ ♪ ♪ Yours is the kingdom, ♪ ♪ Yours is the power, ♪ ♪ Yours is the glory forever. ♪ ♪ ♪ Oh, praise the Father, praise the Son, ♪ ♪ Praise the Spirit, three in one, ♪ ♪ Clothed in power and in grace, ♪ ♪ The name above all other names.

♪ ♪ The name above all other names. ♪ Amen. You may be seated. Hi. Can you hear me, Matt? I can be quiet, so I know I should lean in. All right. I'll trust you, Matt. I'll trust you. I'm in your hands. All right. Hi. My name is Tony.

I've been baptized today. And I feel like I was supposed to say something else. I had something really clever to say, but let me just read this. Hi. My name is Tony. Now I'm 24 years old. Sorry. Give me a second. Hi. My name is Tony, and I was 24 years old when I heard the gospel for the first time.

I'll tell you why. I had a very blessed life growing up. I look back, and I take it for granted, but... I took it for granted, but my parents were able to give me and my brothers just a lot of things that they didn't have as kids, like road trips, music, lessons, camping.

I went to a good school. I never got bullied. I mostly got along with my brothers, and I loved my parents. I was a good kid, supposedly. And I was very rarely challenged to think about things beyond school and sports and stuff. My family attended church regularly. We were on good terms with everyone.

And the first couple decades of my life were generally untroubled. I graduated high school. In 2016, I joined a Christian fellowship at UCSC called AACF. And again, it was a good time. I met people who walked and talked like me. It was the first time I'd ever had Christian peers.

First time in my life that there were Christians in my life that I looked up to. And then 2018 came around. So 2018, I transferred to UCI. I was away from home for the first time in my life. And I had--the world was my oyster. I had true agency, and my choices were my own.

I got to learn how to live with my choices and the consequences of those actions. And it was a good time. It was a good time. You know, I--I have pretty boring hobbies, so it wasn't the most wild of times. But one thing is clear, is that I look back and I know I was living for myself.

And during this season, I was also--this time I had come in and we used the term, like, "taking your faith seriously." And I was pretty--I was actually--I came in kind of still skeptical about Christianity and religion. You know, I--most of the Christians in my life were very nice people.

But I--to me, a big blocker was maybe more philosophical questions. But at this time, I picked up C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity," Lee Strobel's "Case for Miracles," and I also started coming out to Berean. Fun fact, actually, I didn't like Berean when I first came. Sorry, P. Kim. Their teaching was solid.

Their writing was solid. And I just remember at this time, I was like--I was like, "Oh, my God is real." Like, "Oh, I--I have--this is real, and if I accept that Jesus is who he says he is, or what I thought Jesus is who he says he is, I need to start--I need to start living a Christian life, a capital C Christian life." And so for the next three years, I was very dedicated to being Christian.

I went to church. I went to Bible studies. I hung out with the right people. I said all the right things. I tell you all this because I think at this time, I was very good at--I don't know how to put this. I'm very good at putting things on pedestals, like people, career.

And these three years, I just know that I was--I was saying, "Oh, if I only do this, then I'll be happy. If I only do this, then things will make sense." And at the end, I was--I was disillusioned. I was disappointed, and I was frustrated. Living for myself had only produced emptiness.

Putting my hope into people had only led to frustration. Putting my hope into even AACF had ended with a mixed bag. I thought I was doing everything right. I thought I had checked all the boxes. I was like, "I believe God's real. That's pretty clear to me. Jesus is who he says he was." I know that I have--I know that I have all this, like, theology and head knowledge, and still things weren't clear.

And that's when I think I heard the gospel for the first time. I can't pinpoint a date or a time, but I've gone through Romans before. And a well-intentioned friend once sat me down, and we went through chapter by chapter. I just remember being like, "Oh, that's cool." It didn't really mean anything to me at the time, but for some reason, just this past year, I sat down again.

I read Romans 3, just Romans 3, and I was pierced. It really cut me. And Romans 3 is the one that says, "I do the things I do not want to do, and I do not do the things that I want to do." Maybe to wrap it up, what I'm saying is that I realized that I am a sinner at the time.

There's a lot more to say, but I think that when I sat down to write this, I thought I would be able to say, "Oh, I did this." And then I read that book, and then I went to that Bible study, and then it all made sense. And what I'm getting at is that I realize, and I'm very humbled by this, is that when I look back, I see myself, and I see that my eyes are closed, and then at some point, my eyes were open.

And at that point, all I can say is, "Praise the Lord." And I look back at--I'm going through Matthew. Sorry, I don't know. There's a story in the Bible. There's a story in the Bible. It's the rich young ruler, and he approaches Jesus, and he says-- I think he thinks he's hot stuff.

He's like, "I do this, and I do that. I know everything. I know everything." And he has this posture of, "Jesus, what do I do? I want this good thing you're offering me. What do I do? Tell me what it is. Climb a mountain, walk 100 miles. What do I do?" And I look back, and I know that that story ends with Jesus telling him, "Sell everything," and then the rich young ruler is like, "I can't do that." And he's very sorrowful.

I say all that because I'm here today because I have seen that no amount of effort on my part can earn salvation, that I'm a sinner, that I do things that I don't want to do, that I don't do things that I want to do, and that it-- Sorry.

I don't do things I want to do. And Jesus has said, "You don't need to climb a mountain. You don't need to walk 100 miles. You just need to follow me." And that is why I am getting baptized this morning. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Tony, for your great testimony and for not leaving the church despite.

If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke 1, and I'll be reading from verse 8 through 17. Luke 1, verse 8 through 17. "Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

And a whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'" Let's pray.

Gracious Father, we pray for your blessing. May your words speak to us, transform us, renew us, that we may hear your voice and your voice alone. Bless us this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. As you guys know, today is Mother's Day, so happy Mother's Day.

Every year, in the previous years, we had lunches prepared for our mothers, but as the church is getting bigger, it's getting harder and harder to organize that, so we do have pictures. We go outside. There's a gift prepared for all the mothers. You don't have to be a member to participate in that.

You just go to the table there. There's a place you can take pictures with your children, and then there is, I think, a picture frame, from what I remember. Yeah. So they have a gift for your mother, so make sure that, even if you don't take pictures, to swing by and pick up your gift this afternoon.

You know, if you look at the Ten Commandments, it's divided into two parts. It has a vertical relationship with God, which is the first four commandments, which begins with, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and then the second part of it is the horizontal relationship that we have with one another, and the first of that commandment is, "Honor your father and mother if you want to live a long life." So among the four, in the vertical relationship, the most important and the most prominent is, "Have no other gods," but in the horizontal relationship, all the different commandments that are given, the greatest of the horizontal relationship is to honor your father and mother if you want to live a long life.

I think Mother's Day and Father's Day, obviously, that's coming, is important because God's mandate for creation was to be fruitful and multiply, and if you break down the family structure, if you break down God's intent for marriage, whatever it means to be a husband, whatever it means to be a mother, a wife, then you break down God's intent for creation itself.

So it's important for us as Christians, when we think about redemption, where does it practically have its effect the greatest? It's usually at the home, relationship between husband and wife, relationship between children and their parents. And so days like this, Mother's Day, especially for Christians, it's important for us that we take time to honor our mothers and to recognize that this is a God-ordained relationship, that if we are to take the worship of our God seriously, that this is something that needs to be restored in our generation.

Now as I say that, I know that Mother's Day is very painful for a lot of people because according to statistics, they said one in ten in our culture, in our generation, has a hard time or are not able to have children. When we're young, we don't think twice about having children.

When we get married, we just assume that's going to happen, but as we get older, we see that that's not the case. One in ten, possibly more than that, up to 15% of married people have difficult time having children. So it's a very painful experience every time Mother's Day comes around.

So as we celebrate Mother's Day, we try very hard to be sensitive that this is not the case for many people. It's very painful for a lot of people. At the same time, we don't want to ignore the importance of this day. But you know what's really interesting is when you look at redemptive history, God's intent to save mankind very specifically happens through the nation of Israel.

God says in Genesis 12, verse 2 to Abraham, "I will make you a great nation and I will bless you." And further on, later on in Genesis 12, He says that the descendants are going to outnumber the sand and the stars. And so by multiplying His generation and His descendants, that through that nation, He's going to be a blessing to all the other nations.

So in other words, God's redemptive plan specifically is that Abraham will bear many children, becomes a nation, and through that nation, God's glory is going to be manifested to the world. Now, you would think that if that was God's plan, the next part of the redemptive history is Abraham had 6,000 children.

You know what I mean? And then their generation had another 5,000 children. And they just couldn't stop having babies. Because just like God said, it just began to multiply. Instead, He chooses a couple that couldn't have children. Genesis 11, 30 says Sarai was barren. She had no child. And we know the story, right?

They struggled through having children and said, "Wow, that's a strange couple to choose in order to multiply His generation." But it doesn't stop with Sarah. The next generation, Genesis 25, 21, "Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. And the Lord answered him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived." Not only Sarai, but the next generation where the line was coming, she's also barren.

It doesn't stop there. The next generation after that, Genesis 29, 31, "Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren." So three generations in a row. And this is the family that He chose to multiply to make a great nation. Now was this by accident that God just didn't have the foresight?

He picked this family who's going to have problem conceiving generation after generation after generation? Or was that on purpose? Clearly we know that our God is sovereign. There must be a purpose behind that. Now it doesn't spell out that this is what God did. The reason why He chose them was for this reason.

But it's pretty clear if you look consistently in Scripture. Our tendency is to give glory to man rather than God. That's our natural tendency. That's what it says in Genesis chapter 1. So God is breaking in to make sure that from each generation, that God's promise is not just going to happen because they were hard workers.

God just happened to choose a man who was wiser and smarter and wealthier than other people. God chose somebody who couldn't have children. Physically impossible. And He breaks in to the suffering of this family so that people know that the covenant that He keeps is a supernatural covenant. That He just didn't choose the best of the best.

He didn't just choose people who had potential. But He chose people that could not physically fulfill that promise. So that when God fulfills His promise, we know that it was God 100%. But along with that, God breaks in to the suffering of these families. This pain of not being able to bear children.

Because at that time, as I mentioned last week and the week before, to be barren basically meant to be cursed by God. It wasn't just a physical pain. It was spiritually. We looked at it as, "You must be barren because God has not blessed you. You must have done something wrong.

Or maybe your ancestors must have done something wrong." God breaks in to that and He reverses this curse in this home. That the very thing that the world saw as a curse became the greatest blessing in this home and in this family. And see, that pattern you see over and over again in redemptive history.

That not only does He supernaturally do what He does, what we cannot do, but everything He does, what seems to be ugly, what seems to be a curse, when God touches it, becomes the greatest blessing. That's exactly what happens with Zachariah and Elizabeth. He breaks in to this family that on paper seems like, "Well, I mean, why are they even there?" God clearly breaks in to that.

Sees an angel and He's scared. He's scared because this is not a natural occurring. It's not like the priest went in there to pray and then every time they came out, they said, "I saw an angel." This was not normal. And that's why He was scared, because it was supernatural.

And He said, "Your prayers have been heard." What must Zachariah have been praying for? Now, we know what they prayed nationally, because all the priests outside were praying for the Messiah to come, for redemption to happen to the nation of Israel. And that's probably what Zachariah was praying also.

But along with that, imagine if you've been praying for a child all your life and you get one opportunity to go in to pray representing the nation, what do you think you would be praying for? My guess is, Zachariah, as he was praying for the nation, he was also praying for his wife.

The angel breaks in and says, "Do not be scared. Your wife will have a son." And he says, "Your son's name will be John." Which that in and of itself is unusual, because at that time, if you had a male child, you would typically name them after the father, grandfather, somebody in your family, in order to continue whatever blessing that may be in that home would continue in that life.

But the angel himself chooses a name that's not in their family, because God was supernaturally breaking in to whatever was happening in that family. And the meaning of that name, John, is that God will be gracious. And his father's name, remember Zacharias' name? God will remember again. Just by their names, it kind of gives us a glimpse of what God is about to do.

So in this text, as John is being presented to us, his birth story is being presented to us, and as the angel tells us that this is what John is being sent to do, there's three things that I want to highlight, just so that you can kind of follow along.

One is, the angel says, "John is being sent to bring joy and gladness." Number one. Two, "John is going to turn people back to God." Number two. Three, "John will be great in the sight of the Lord." And that's basically the outline that we're going to follow this morning.

First of all, "John will bring great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth." Now, take a step back, and when you think of John, do you think of a life with a party? When you think of John, what do you think of? What do you know about John through the Gospels?

Somebody dead serious, you know what I mean? There are some people you want to be around when you want to have fun, and there are some people you want to be around when you're praying. Right? Which one does John fall into? Right? John's the serious guy. John's the guy that, you know, is a sackcloth, and he's eating grasshoppers, right?

And he's pulling people away to the river. And then, remember his primary message? Rejoice always. Well, that's not his message. What's his primary message? Repent! Imagine going to a party and everybody's having fun. Happy birthday. Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Not only was his primary message, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," but when the Pharisees came and said, "I want to be baptized," remember what he says?

"Bear fruit!" Don't make your repentance fake. Your repentance is fake! John is not somebody, when we think about it, it's like, "Oh, he came to bring joy." So everybody would rejoice. But it's no different with Jesus. You know, oftentimes we picture Jesus sitting up on top of the mountain, and children sitting on his lap, and everybody's happy.

Not to say that that's not true, but when we think of Jesus, whenever Jesus' humanity in his life is mentioned, always suffering is mentioned. How he suffered to be with us. How he humbled himself. How he emptied himself. The majority of Jesus' life was filled with anguish, hurt, isolation, loneliness, physical pain, rejection, and all of that is accumulated at the cross, and he suffers, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Those words were not just at the cross.

His whole life was suffering. So when we think of Jesus, we don't think about life abundant, rejoicing. In fact, remember what Jesus, when you think of Jesus, he says, "You want to follow me?" What does he say? "Deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me." Let's go party.

Let's have some fun. We want everybody to be happy. Everybody that went to Jesus, went home dancing, and it's like, "I'm glad I met Jesus," or, "I'm glad I met John the Baptist." And yet he says the reason why he's coming is to bring gladness. Jesus himself says in John 10:10, "I came to give life, and to give this life abundantly." The word "life" here is not talking about the length of life.

That word typically that is used is "bios." Here is "zoe." "Zoe" basically is talking about the quality of life, because everybody has eternal life. It's just a matter of where you're going to spend this eternal life. We don't die and then just disappear. We all will exist for eternity, but it's the quality of eternity he's talking about.

So he's not talking about that eternal life that you're going to live forever. He's talking about eternal quality of life, "zoe." So that word "zoe" in Greek is the equivalent term to the word we use for joy. He came so that you may have abundant life. So he's not talking about a superficial, you know, band-aid putting on pain.

He's talking about the true joy that you can only have at the other side of the cross to deliver us from death that sin has brought in so that we can be truly living on the other side of the cross. That's what it means in 1 Peter 1, 8-9.

It says, "And though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory." Their joy did not come from circumstance. The whole 1 Peter is about being righteous in the context of suffering.

So the rejoicing here isn't because they changed circumstances. Rejoicing he's referring to here is talking about rejoicing that the world does not understand. That's why he says to rejoice always in 1 Thessalonians 5-16. Philippians 4-4, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, 'Rejoice.'" Rejoicing is commanded.

We're not talking about the superficial, silly smile that we pretend to have in the midst of suffering because that's what righteous people do. You're in pain. Your child is going through difficulties. Your business is failing. Maybe something horrible is happening in your life. You say, "Well, rejoice always." Sometimes as Christians we pretend because we think that that's what this means.

Rejoice always. The rejoicing he's talking about is a kind of rejoicing that no one can take away. No circumstance can break because God is in his hands. That we have been adopted into his kingdom by the blood of Christ. That's why when we're not rejoicing in heart, when we're not focused on what it is that we have in Christ, we naturally focus in on what it is that we don't have.

That's where the grumbling, complaining, the anxiety, the stress comes from is because we have forgotten to rejoice in Christ, what we have in Christ. Do you remember the parable in Luke chapter 15? The Pharisees are rebuking Jesus, "Why are you hanging out with these sinners?" In rebuke of their rebuke, Jesus tells the three stories, three parables.

The first one, the 99 sheep, and then he puts them behind and he goes after the one, and then he comes back, and remember what they do? After he comes back with the sheep, remember how it ends? They celebrate. Now, let me make a side comment here about proper hermeneutics.

Don't ever dig too deep into parables because the purpose of the parables is to make a point. So if you understand the point, that's enough. Because if you dig and you say, "Well, what does this mean? Why did he do this?" They come back and celebrate, and how did people celebrate at that time?

They slaughtered lambs, you know what I mean? So don't dig too deep. The next parable is the coin. They go and loses a coin, and she sweeps the whole house, finds a coin, and then what happens? They celebrate. They have a party. Guess what they have to do? They have to use the coin.

They have to use their money to celebrate, right? But the point of that is celebration, right? And then the point of the next parable is the prodigal son who goes and blows all his money. He comes back, and then he receives him back into the house, and guess how it ends?

They celebrate. Well, how do they celebrate? They kill the lamb and use the coins, you know what I mean? So if you go too deep, you're going to get lost in the weeds. But the point of each one of these stories is that each one of them represents the soul that God is pursuing.

And when they are found, there is rejoicing in the kingdom. That's the point. There's rejoicing in the kingdom. In Matthew 13, 44-46, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid again. And from joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." He sells all that he has and buys that field.

He says that's what the kingdom of heaven is like. It's like rejoicing. You know, typically, when you don't understand the joy that we have in Christ, it just becomes a religious duty. If you're righteous, you're more disciplined than others. You're more serious than others. You're more sacrificial than others.

You evangelize more than others. You pray more than others. You do more Bible study than others. That's what we think sometimes righteousness is. But if that's all righteousness is, what a miserable state to be in. Because not only do you have to walk and live in this earth, paying bills, taking care of children, having relational issues, having health problems, and on top of that, you have to sacrifice the church.

You have to give up your hard-earned money. You have to sell all that you love so that you can be a good Christian. That's not what it says here. He said he saw the treasure hidden in the field, and he hid it, and he sold everything for what purpose?

Because he found the treasure to be more valuable than the things that he was pursuing. So no one told him to do that. He volunteered to do that. He was trading everything that he had because he found the treasure in the kingdom. Again, in verse 45, "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking the pearls.

And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." You notice here, even though it was a sacrifice, it wasn't a sacrifice. It was a trade-in. God is not telling us that if you want to be a good Christian, make sure you sacrifice, and you do hard things, and you suffer, turn the other cheek.

All that may be true superficially, but all God is asking is to trade in your superficial comfort with true comfort. Your superficial treasure with true treasure. Your superficial life with true life, with true peace. When we don't recognize that, and all it is is just religion, it's a miserable place to be.

So we go through the motion, and we do the minimum necessary to jump through the hoops. So some of us are A Christians, some of us are B Christians, some of us are F Christians. You know, we kind of rate ourselves, and to see who are the A's with us and who are the B's with us, and you miss the whole point.

Because the Pharisees were A+ students, but they all missed the whole point. They didn't know Christ when He came. See, Luke was sent to restore joy. The kingdom of heaven is about restoring that life we lost because of sin. And John was going to come and restore that, because he's preparing the way for Christ.

Second, John will return, turn people to God. And it is a direct fulfillment in Malachi 4, 6, "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." This is a direct fulfillment.

It says in verse 17. "He will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit of the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and to disobey the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready people prepared for the Lord." He said he's going to return the hearts of the fathers back to the children.

Like, in our generation, if we want fathers to be good fathers, what do we do? We have seminars. Right? We have seminars. That is what a good father does. Spend some time, make sure it's father and son time, father and daughter time. Go out and, you know. Well, how do you become a good husband?

Because, you know, men are from Mars and women are from Venus, and this is what you need. We have a seminar. Well, John was sent to restore the fathers to their children. Do you remember a single thing he says about fatherhood? Maybe he said it. Maybe it wasn't written.

No. He doesn't say a single thing. There's not even one. But he said that's what he came to do. He said he's going to return the children to their fathers. Do you remember a single word that he said to the children about what it means to be obedient? To honor your father and mother?

Do you remember a single thing that he says about that? No, he doesn't. There's no seminar. He said, "Come to my seminar, you know, by the Jordan River." And then after you do these four-point seminars about being a good father and, you know, obedient and being a good mother or husband or wife, and then I'll baptize you.

No. What does he mean by that? The relationships have been distorted and broken because of sin. Because of sin. So what he's saying is he's going to be the forerunner of the person who's going to deal with sin. And if our sin is dealt with, fathers are restored, mothers are restored.

You know, just as a practical note, especially a relationship between husband and wife is difficult. Let's be honest. We're born selfish, and we struggle with selfishness. You know what I mean? Anybody who denies that, yeah, you got all kinds of problems in your home, right? The first step is to acknowledge that.

We're all selfish, right? You may be -- some may be more selfish than others, but we're all selfish. When we get into a relationship, especially with your husband and wife, because we're intimate, right? Any other relationship, if you don't like them, what do you tend to do, right? You just kind of stiff-arm them, keep them at a distance.

So there are some people that are easier to deal with, so we kind of like -- it's easier to deal with them, so we kind of maintain some relationship. But because we're godly Christians, we can't ever, you know, say, "I'm never going to have it." But we just keep them at an arm's length, so we don't have to deal with them.

Which means that we don't have to deal with what's happening in me either. But once you get married, you can't run. So your natural instinct, if you've been in the habit of stiff-arming people, all of a sudden, when you want to stiff-arm your husband or your wife, you can't do it.

Because they're sleeping on your bed. You know what I mean? There's nowhere to go. You're getting a big -- before, when you're dating, you're getting a big fight, and then you go home, cool off, and then you call each other, and you're -- now you get married, you get in a fight, and then you've got to go to sleep together.

Raise children together. So the frustration comes in in the home, and our natural thought is, if my husband was different, it would be so much easier. If my wife treated me like Jesus, like she is called to do as a church, right, it would be so much easier. Or maybe the wife is like, "If my husband acted like Jesus, it would be so much easier to honor him." Not thinking, maybe.

Maybe the frustration is coming because we're not acting like Jesus. You want to be treated like Jesus when you're not acting like Jesus. Or to the wife, you maybe complain, "Oh, my husband's not acting like Jesus. Only if he was more like Jesus, I could easily follow him." But what about the Jesus that you already have in your life?

What about the perfect Jesus that's in your life? So if you're ignoring and not obeying the perfect Jesus that's already in your life, but you think that somehow the intermediate, if he acted more like Jesus, I would be honoring him? No. The answer is always get right with Christ.

Get right with Christ. And that's exactly what he's referring to. That John is going to come, not because he has special words, or he found some technique, or he's going to run some seminar. He's going to get people right with God. He's going to deal with the selfishness and the sin that causes this rift.

To consider each other better than themselves. So you know who the best father is? Not the one who had the best training. Not the one who came from the best family. But the best Christian is always the best father. The best Christian is the best mother. The best Christian is the best child.

All the qualities that make the best father are all the qualities that make you a good Christian. There aren't two separate lists. And so when it says John is going to be sent to restore the family, he's basically saying he's going to prepare for Christ to come and deal with the sin that is reigning over mankind.

Third and finally, it says John is going to be great in the sight of God. It's an understatement because Jesus explains this further. The angel says he's going to be great in the sight of God, but Jesus says in Luke 7, 28, I say to you among those born of woman, there is no one greater than John, yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Well he says up to that point, John is the greatest. Up to that point. Right? What made John so great? I mean think about that. What made John so great? Think about who he is greater than. Abraham, the father of Israel. Father of Israel. He's saying John is greater than Abraham.

Moses, who saw the glory, his glory passing by. And all of the covenant, all of the laws were given to Moses. And he leads this stiff-necked people throughout the desert. He's greater than Moses. He's greater than Joshua. He's greater than David. What made John so great? Now we know that he was beheaded for righteousness and truth, but there's tons of people who are martyred for their faith.

We know that he was faithful, but there's other people who are faithful. In fact, John's life, other than his birth, and other than him baptizing, there's not much written about him. If he was the greatest, you would think that there would be tons of things that are written so that we can examine his life so that we can follow what he did.

And we can repeat what he said, because he's the greatest. Now we know that he's saying he's the greatest, and now the new covenant is coming. And in the new covenant, he's the least because now he's transitioning. But what made him the greatest even in the old covenant? It doesn't spell it out here, but I think it's pretty obvious.

What made John the greatest was the proximity that he had to Jesus. It was what he was called to do, where he was in this redemptive history. It's the proximity that he had to Jesus. It says in verse 17 that John would go as a forerunner to the Messiah, meaning that his whole life purpose is to prepare for the coming of Christ.

He said he's going to come in power, he said, of the Holy Spirit, and he was anointed even in the womb. When we think of power, we say, okay, where's this power? And we might look for maybe did he heal people that wasn't recorded? Maybe he walked on water like Jesus?

Did he raise somebody but it's not recorded? No, there's no mention of any miracle that John performed. So what does he mean by power? All we know about John the Baptist was his words to prepare for the coming of Christ. Power isn't just about walking on water and miracles.

It's by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was speaking through him with power. And when he spoke, the reason why he was such a great prophet is because the power of God convicted sinners to repent, and he was baptizing them. He was becoming so famous that Jewish leaders were coming to go see him.

It's not because anything in particular that he was doing. There was a power upon him and his proximity to Christ. You know, I never really thought about this until I was preparing for this message that maybe John even looked like Jesus, maybe. They were cousins, remember? When I think about my family, I have my daughter Faith, right?

And each one of my kids look very distinctly different. But when I think about who my daughter looks the most like, she looks most like her cousin, Jonathan. I'm not going to explain right now, but at least in our family, we universally agree that if Jonathan and Faith said they were brother and sister, I think it wouldn't be a hard sell because they look more alike than they do with my other siblings, right?

Whether you agree with me or not, that's what we think in our family, right? They're cousins in our church right now, that if we close our eyes and we listen to them speak, they sound exactly the same. Some of you guys know exactly who I'm talking about, right? They had blood mixed in, so maybe, again, this is just something that I was just thinking that John the Baptist, maybe he had some traits, physical traits that Jesus had.

Maybe his voice sounded similar. I don't know. That's just my thinking, right? Don't get me in trouble. This is not in the Bible, right? But John the Baptist is who he is the greatest because of his proximity to prepare for Christ and the new covenant coming. In fact, even his preaching was exactly what Jesus said.

Matthew 3, 1-2, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus comes on the scene, Matthew 4, 17, from that time, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So John the Baptist was sent, maybe even looking like Jesus, sounding like Jesus, and preaching the same thing as Jesus.

In fact, John the Baptist did such a great job that the very first disciples were John the Baptist's disciples. Andrew was John's disciple, and Andrew and John introduces Peter and James to Jesus. So the first disciples of Jesus were people who followed and were discipled by John the Baptist.

And so, if you look at that scene, you know, Jesus shows up on the scene, and then John is like, "He's the one that I've been preparing you for." Remember what they do? They said, "Okay," and they just walked off. They just walked off. Reading that scene, it's like, "Wait a second.

All that time I've invested in you? Yeah, I've been preparing, but like, let him get his own disciples." Well, John did such a great job. When Jesus showed up, they're like, "Oh, okay," and they just left. In fact, he did such a great job when Jesus asked, "Who do men say I am?" Remember what they say?

Some say, "John the Baptist," because he sounded the same. He acted the same. He preached the same. He raised the disciples and didn't blink. There wasn't like this big transition. Everything he did, he did so well that when Jesus showed up, he just disappeared, and Jesus just kind of took the baton he took over.

Isn't that what Jesus calls us to do, like as ambassadors of Christ? That if we do a good job as Christians, that they begin to forget who we are, and they fall in love with Christ. Not with the man, not with the church, not with some program, not a certain type of teaching, not the way the church is organized, just Jesus.

And that's exactly what John did. As soon as Jesus shows up, he says, "He must increase, and I must decrease," and then he just disappears. That's a good ambassador. See, sometimes we think of spiritual maturity as accumulating, maybe not wealth, knowledge, discipline, disciples, fruit. He said, "That must be a man of God, because that guy knows Scripture.

That guy has a PhD in this. That guy has a large church. That guy has a large following. He wrote so many books." But true maturity, true sanctification is when we decrease and he increases. And the more effective we are as ambassadors of Christ, less they see us, and the more they see him.

So when people fall in love with Christ, they don't mention the messenger. Yeah, God uses messengers, but that messenger is just a messenger. John did his job. When Christ came, he just disappeared. Luke 3, 15-17, "Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, 'As for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thongs of his sandals.

He will baptize you with the spirit of fire.'" I don't think John the Baptist was a humble man. I don't think he said, "You know what? He's such a man of character that he chose to go to the background," because he knew who Jesus was. If you play basketball and Michael Jordan, and some of you say Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan or whoever, but anyway, when Michael Jordan shows up, do you have to humble yourself on the court?

Do you have to be a man of character to say, "You know what? Maybe I shouldn't be dribbling the ball. Maybe I'll just give it to him." Is it a man of character that's on the court with Michael Jordan and say, "I must decrease and he must increase," because you're a man of character?

No! That just happens because you got humbled. You would look foolish to be on that court and say, "Can I have some? You know what I mean? I know he can dunk, but I can dribble." Pride comes from being distant from Christ. That we somehow think that we can kind of like, "Let me sit on the left or to the right." When you get glorified, when God of the universe gets glorified, "Can I sit on the left or to the right?" You know what the arrogance of even that question?

No. John the Baptist knew who Jesus was. When he comes, I'm naturally going to fade. All I'm doing is pointing you to him. That's my job. That's your job. That we exalt Christ, and then when it's time for us to go, go. If we bore true fruit, they will love Christ.

They will love Christ. The strength of this church is not me, it's not you, it's not our program, it's not our history, it's not our discipline, it's not our knowledge, it's not our organization, it's not our pastors, it's not our elders, but it's Christ. It's Christ. He's that good.

He's that good that when Christ is exalted, we naturally disappear. We naturally disappear. Apostle Paul lived a tragic life. He had money, Roman citizenship, accolade of his countrymen. He had a promising future. He was a student of the greatest scholar of his generation. He meets Christ, gets beaten, thrown in jail, then at the end of his life, his friends disappear, and he gets beheaded.

That's his life. If you don't know Christ, if you don't know who he is, if your eyes have not been opened, what a tragic life. Who would want to follow this man? And yet he says, in light of the surpassing glory of knowing Jesus Christ, it became rubbish. It became rubbish.

So the challenge for us, as we study through the Gospel of Luke, that Jesus isn't just a figurehead in the distance who fulfills the promise of the Old Testament, but that you would come to know this sympathetic high priest so that you would come to him, that you would obey him, that you would love him, that you would worship him, that you would adore him, that you would proclaim him.

Let's pray. Lord, open our eyes to see the precious gift that we already have in you. Lord, if we've been distracted with temporary foolish things, Lord God, that causes us to be blinded to the truth of what it is that you've given us, I pray, Father, that the study of your word would open our eyes, soften our hearts, that we may understand and fellowship with Apostle Paul, that in light of the surpassing knowledge of knowing Jesus Christ, that all things will become rubbish, and as John pointed to Christ, that he may increase, that we may decrease, that that would be the testimony of our lives as well.

We love you. We want to follow you. We want to honor you. We want to please you. Strengthen us, Lord God, in our weakness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Why don't we all stand up for the closing praise? I once was lost in darkest night, yet thought I knew the way.

The sin that promised joy in life had led me to the grave. I had no hope that you would own a rebel to your will. And if you had not loved me first, I would refuse you still. But as I ran my hell-bound race, indifferent to the cost, you looked upon my helpless state and led me to the cross.

And I beheld God's love displayed. You suffered in my place. You bore the wrath reserved for me. Now all I know is grace. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life. Now Lord, I would be yours alone and live so all might see.

The strength to follow your commands could never come from me. Oh, Father, use my ransom life in any way you choose. And let my song forever be my only boast is you. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah.

Jesus is my life. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life. Let's pray. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, we pray that you would fill us with the eternal and unchanging love of God the Father. Rest, restore, strengthen, rebuke, encourage and build us up that wherever you send us this week, that Christ's aroma may be made clear.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ♪ For the dawn of time ♪ (light music)