back to indexBerean Community Church Sunday Service 6.26.2022
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Alright, good morning. Welcome to Breen Community Church. 00:10:00.600 |
As you guys know, I came back from a short break. 00:10:05.600 |
And at the beginning of that break I was out in India and I wanted to give you a brief update of what's going on. 00:10:10.600 |
And the pastors there sent me a little video, or I was able to get a little video saying 00:10:16.600 |
thank you and hello to our church. And I tried to upload it on the Facebook but it didn't work. 00:10:22.600 |
So Facebook was broken. So when it's no longer broken it should be up. 00:10:26.600 |
Okay? So you can go check it out sometime this week. Hopefully I can get it to work. 00:10:31.600 |
Just a couple things I want you to be aware of. We haven't been able to go out to India for several years 00:10:37.600 |
because of what's been going on. And we are hoping, part of the reason why I wanted to go there is 00:10:42.600 |
obviously I wanted to check up on the pastors and see how they're doing. We needed to get some resources to them 00:10:46.600 |
so that they can use that to support their ministry. But the other reason was I wanted to see if we can 00:10:53.600 |
get back in there. Like is it okay? Is it going to be too hard to travel and to get to the places that we're at? 00:11:00.600 |
And so the conclusion that I came with is that India has actually opened up more than the other Asian countries. 00:11:06.600 |
And so Delta was so severe over there. They informed me that not only Pastor Isaac, who was the main guy 00:11:13.600 |
that was going to take over that ministry, but several of the pastor's wives passed away. 00:11:18.600 |
And then their friends from other ministries, they've also experienced it quite a bit. 00:11:24.600 |
So they said almost everybody there knows somebody who passed from Delta. 00:11:28.600 |
But as a result of that, because it spread so widely and their vaccine kind of got there so late 00:11:33.600 |
that now, you know, there's almost like a herd immunity. The numbers there are pretty low. 00:11:38.600 |
And so it is capable. We are able to come in and travel and do the things that we were doing before. 00:11:44.600 |
And they are not demanding vaccination. They're only demanding that you get tested before you come. 00:11:51.600 |
So as long as you have a negative COVID test, you're able to come into the country and function. 00:11:55.600 |
So we are planning to get back in there in January. And so I know some people have been asking us 00:12:01.600 |
when that's going to happen. And then so within the next couple of months, when we make the final decision 00:12:05.600 |
and we come with solid dates, I'll let you guys know. And even though it is a medical mission, 00:12:10.600 |
you don't have to be a medical doctor. We have eye doctors that come in. That's kind of our primary work. 00:12:16.600 |
And then people come in and do the assisting work. So we need more assistance than the eye doctor. 00:12:21.600 |
We only need about three or four eye doctors. And then everybody else will come and assist their work. 00:12:26.600 |
So the work that we've been doing there has been, again, very helpful because it gives them a platform 00:12:32.600 |
to preach the gospel. And those of you who've been there with us know just how effective it is 00:12:37.600 |
because they're able to get into villages that they would not normally go into. 00:12:41.600 |
In fact, the last time we were there, we had a young pastor, probably in his late 20s, who was a schoolteacher. 00:12:47.600 |
He's more educated than most of the pastors there. And he functioned as one of the translators for us. 00:12:53.600 |
And he was trying to break into this new village, but because he was so young, and it's a very Asian culture, 00:12:58.600 |
and so because he was so young, he was having a hard time even being able to talk to them. 00:13:03.600 |
And obviously because Hinduism is the prominent religion there, they were just kind of brushing him off 00:13:09.600 |
and kind of like, "Who's this young guy coming in here?" And so we were able to set up our medical camp there. 00:13:15.600 |
And you could tell the attitude toward that pastor started changing even while we were there 00:13:20.600 |
because they were so thankful that we were there ministering to them. 00:13:23.600 |
And they're very surprised that even though we're Christians, that we were ministering to the Hindus. 00:13:27.600 |
And that gave them the platform to be able to speak to them. 00:13:31.600 |
And then the information that we got after we left was that the village leaders actually invited him to come 00:13:37.600 |
after we left because they were so thankful. And so he had an opportunity to share the gospel 00:13:42.600 |
and begin church planting in that village. And so one of the things that has happened, 00:13:47.600 |
obviously the Delta and Pastor Isaac passing away as a result, but they're just as active as they were 00:13:54.600 |
spreading the gospel, but the persecution has increased exponentially during the lockdowns. 00:14:01.600 |
And so when we first started going in, they were listed at number 30-something, 00:14:06.600 |
and then by the time we, I think it was locked down, they were ranked number 10, 00:14:10.600 |
the hardest place to be a Christian in the world. 00:14:13.600 |
This is like with Yemen and North Korea and all these countries, and so India is starting to creep up. 00:14:20.600 |
And so I haven't looked at the latest numbers, but from what I've been told, 00:14:24.600 |
that if it was bad two years ago, it's gotten much worse than that. 00:14:29.600 |
And so one of the things that they told us was not only the physical danger that they're in 00:14:34.600 |
when they go into these new villages, is that now the local government has openly declared 00:14:39.600 |
that they're not going to support the Christian families going to public school, 00:14:44.600 |
because they function with some kind of voucher system where the parents get the funding, 00:14:48.600 |
they use that to send their kids to school, but they have openly said that they're not giving it to Christians anymore. 00:14:53.600 |
So I asked them, "So what do you do with your kids?" 00:14:55.600 |
They said, "So some of the parents who have some resources are able to get their kids into some discounted schools, 00:15:01.600 |
like a Catholic school, which gives them some discount, but a lot of the village pastors 00:15:09.600 |
So when they work, their 5-, 6-, 7-, 80-year-old kids are also in the field working with them 00:15:15.600 |
So it's a concerted, long-term effort from the government to weed out Christianity in the country. 00:15:21.600 |
And so they're making it impossible for Christians to raise their children, 00:15:25.600 |
and I think their hope is that by the time those children are adults, that Christianity will be weeded out. 00:15:31.600 |
So the conversation that we've been having, I already brought this up with our leaders, 00:15:35.600 |
and I'm in the midst of talking to trying to get other churches involved in helping us possibly establish a school 00:15:43.600 |
for these Christian children, and I've already had a brief conversation with them, 00:15:49.600 |
like are they able to run a school if we provided the support and bought land and made the building 00:15:55.600 |
and gave the financial support, and they said they are able to. 00:15:58.600 |
So we're hoping that that would be our next project, that we're engaging, along with our medical missions that we're doing. 00:16:04.600 |
There are other things that I'd like to update, but for the sake of time, I'll just leave that for now. 00:16:09.600 |
But the work in India will reopen, and again, if you are praying about going back out with us, 00:16:16.600 |
in about a month or two, we'll give a formal announcement for you to sign up. 00:16:20.600 |
And again, we can only take anywhere from 12 to 13 people, so if you are praying about it, 00:16:26.600 |
make sure when we give the announcements to try to sign up as soon as you can. 00:16:30.600 |
All right, along with that, today there's a newcomer's lunch happening at 115, so if you signed up for that, 00:16:36.600 |
please stick around in the sanctuary, and lunch will be had here. 00:16:42.600 |
Summer Maintenance Day, so today is a church cleanup day, so if you are free around 3.30, 00:16:47.600 |
whether you signed up or didn't sign up and you're free at 3.30, 3.30 to 6 o'clock, 00:16:52.600 |
you'll be given some guidance as how to implement this, so if you can just come back to church at 3.30, 00:17:00.600 |
Berean membership class, a new round of membership classes happening starting from July 10th at 9 a.m. 00:17:05.600 |
It's an eight-week course, and so that will take place during our first service at 9 a.m., so please sign up for that. 00:17:11.600 |
And then child care safety training, if you are working with children or planning to work with children, 00:17:16.600 |
in our Sunday school, July 3rd at 1 p.m., there is a mandatory training for you, so please come to that. 00:17:22.600 |
And then finally, on July 10th at 1 p.m., we have a seasoned community group fellowship, seasoned meaning you're 50 or over. 00:17:31.600 |
Previously, we said 40 and over, but 40 is no longer seasoned, okay, so we moved that up, okay, 00:17:37.600 |
so you need a little bit more time to be seasoned, so 50 and over, so if you're in that category, please sign up for that. 00:17:43.600 |
It'll be on the church website, or you can contact me directly. 00:17:47.600 |
The lunch fee is going to be $10, and I mentioned this before. We have people who are over 50. 00:17:53.600 |
When you first enter the church, we just—first reaction is, "Oh, man, this is a church filled with college students," 00:17:58.600 |
and then you get to know the church a little bit. It's like, "Oh, there's a lot of young adults in here," 00:18:02.600 |
but you'd be surprised. We have over 70 people, over 50, at our church. 00:18:06.600 |
Even I was surprised by that, you know, and so we're going to—again, if you're a part of that, you don't have to be a member. 00:18:12.600 |
If you want to come and participate in the fellowship, please sign up for that, and again, the lunch price will be $10, okay? 00:18:20.600 |
All right, so let me pray for us for the offering, and then after that, our brother Brayden Woo is going to come give his testimony. 00:18:31.600 |
Gracious Father, we thank you for your mercy and grace for God that sustains us. 00:18:36.600 |
I pray that no matter what we've been distracted by this week, this month, help us to give our full attention to worshiping you, 00:18:45.600 |
to calibrate our hearts, our thoughts, our hopes to be in Christ and Christ alone. 00:18:53.600 |
I pray that you would bless this offering. May it be multiplied for your use, for your kingdom, for the spreading of the gospel. 00:19:43.600 |
Church family, would you please stand with us as we continue our worship? 00:27:33.600 |
Hi, my name is Braden Wu and I am a finished second year at UCI studying business admin. 00:27:40.600 |
Growing up, I was born into a Christian home and I went to church pretty much every Sunday. 00:27:46.600 |
My mom was a Sunday school teacher and my dad was pretty involved in the church too, 00:27:50.600 |
so I had known a lot about all the Bible stories and what the right answers were. 00:27:55.600 |
When I was in first or second grade, my mom gave me a gospel presentation 00:28:00.600 |
and walked me through what it took to believe. 00:28:03.600 |
Partly because I wanted to be a part of the club my big sister was in, 00:28:07.600 |
and partly because I wasn't sure what it meant, and partly because I was scared of death, 00:28:11.600 |
I prayed a prayer and superficially asked Jesus into my heart. 00:28:14.600 |
I continued going to church throughout elementary school, 00:28:17.600 |
and through my conduct outside of church, it was pretty evident that I had not been truly saved. 00:28:22.600 |
The life I had lived had been only to serve myself and to truly pursue all that I felt that I wanted. 00:28:27.600 |
I turned away from everything I had said I wanted to believe in, and I lived in a worldly life. 00:28:32.600 |
I didn't care how I treated others, and I only lived to do things that made me happy. 00:28:38.600 |
It didn't help that around this time I started to competitively play hockey, 00:28:42.600 |
and I would have to drive about an hour to and from practice three to four times a week, 00:28:46.600 |
which meant that I had not a lot of time to focus on church or that part of my life. 00:28:51.600 |
And more than just simply focusing on something else, it was focusing on myself, 00:28:56.600 |
choosing to indulge in what I wanted to do, and turning my back on attending weekly service. 00:29:01.600 |
Pairing this with the fact that my family had recently started attending a new church 00:29:05.600 |
meant that I had a few, not many friends there, and it just led me to not wanting to attend church all that much. 00:29:11.600 |
I continued in this mindset up through middle school, and even though I still considered myself a Christian, 00:29:16.600 |
I had no understanding of what that truly meant. 00:29:18.600 |
Through God's great grace, it turned out that I would begin to realize what following Christ truly meant through hockey. 00:29:25.600 |
In the summer, entering high school, I attended a hockey camp run by Christians, 00:29:30.600 |
and one of the nights when we were singing for worship, it dawned on me that I was a sinner, 00:29:35.600 |
a truly terrible person, and I was in need of a savior. 00:29:37.600 |
I saw the grace that God had given us, and how through the death of Jesus Christ I could receive this grace through faith. 00:29:44.600 |
Ephesians 2, 4-5 says, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 00:29:50.600 |
even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. 00:29:56.600 |
And 1 Timothy 1-15 says, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, 00:30:00.600 |
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." 00:30:05.600 |
These two verses sum up a lot of what I realized at that time, 00:30:08.600 |
knowing that I was a dead sinner, the worst even, 00:30:11.600 |
but that I could receive grace from a perfectly loving God through Jesus' death and life through his resurrection. 00:30:18.600 |
That night I prayed that I would turn from all the various sins that I had been living in, and that I would be forgiven. 00:30:23.600 |
This was only the beginning of my understanding, because although the desire was there, 00:30:27.600 |
I felt that I kept being set back through a lack of consistent Bible reading and continually falling into sin. 00:30:32.600 |
Thankfully God was still able to work in me, and although at the time I couldn't see it, 00:30:36.600 |
getting cut from the highest level of hockey was one of the biggest blessings in my life. 00:30:39.600 |
It afforded me more time to go to church, growing in my friendships, but more importantly in spirit. 00:30:44.600 |
Around the same time I was going through some high school, 00:30:47.600 |
a drama which concluded with the realization that God had a perfect plan for me, and that I could trust him with my future. 00:30:53.600 |
A verse that I kept with me from that time was Matthew 6, 33-34, from the Sermon on the Mount. 00:30:58.600 |
The verse reads, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 00:31:03.600 |
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." 00:31:08.600 |
That verse encouraged me that I didn't need to live in anxiousness, 00:31:13.600 |
because ultimately all I needed would be provided as I strived to live in his righteousness. 00:31:17.600 |
I sought out discipleship at my home church and slowly began to grow as I learned more and more about God's person and my own sin. 00:31:23.600 |
Bible reading became more consistent and I saw growth in the way that I learned to pray. 00:31:28.600 |
Today, by God's grace, I have been able to find a church in which I feel that I am growing a lot. 00:31:32.600 |
I am challenged every day to live every moment for the glory of God, and I have continued to grow in my spiritual disciplines. 00:31:38.600 |
Romans 12, 1-2 summarizes a lot of what I have been learning this year. 00:31:41.600 |
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, 00:31:49.600 |
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, 00:31:53.600 |
so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." 00:31:58.600 |
I see how good he is, and I desire to glorify him in all that I do, 00:32:01.600 |
walking faithfully day by day, being sanctified, and continuing to humble myself in submission and obedience to God. 00:32:07.600 |
I had been hesitant in the past about being baptized because I felt that I had to be a better Christian, 00:32:12.600 |
but I have come to learn that baptism isn't about being the perfect Christian, 00:32:15.600 |
but rather being obedient to Christ and a public profession that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. 00:33:08.600 |
Thank you, Brayden, for that great testimony, and for all you college students. 00:33:14.600 |
They're almost cultic, the way they stick together. 00:33:22.600 |
If you could turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 1, verse 39 to verse 46, 00:33:28.600 |
and I'm going to read the whole of it, reading out of the NASB. 00:33:37.600 |
"Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, 00:33:42.600 |
and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 00:33:45.600 |
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, 00:33:49.600 |
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, and she cried out with a loud voice and said, 00:33:54.600 |
'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 00:33:57.600 |
And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? 00:34:01.600 |
For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. 00:34:08.600 |
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to her by the Lord. 00:34:15.600 |
Mary said, 'My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 00:34:20.600 |
For he has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave. 00:34:23.600 |
For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed. 00:34:27.600 |
For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 00:34:33.600 |
And his mercy is upon generation after generation, for those who fear him. 00:34:40.600 |
He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their heart. 00:34:43.600 |
He has brought down the rulers from their thrones and exalted those who are humble. 00:34:48.600 |
He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed. 00:34:52.600 |
He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy, 00:34:55.600 |
as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. 00:34:59.600 |
And Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home.'" 00:35:09.600 |
Help us to glean and understand more than just thoughts, but your very heart. 00:35:15.600 |
Help us, Lord God, to be moldable as you are the potter and we are the clay. 00:35:22.600 |
You know, as I start and jump back into the book of Luke, 00:35:26.600 |
I wanted to highlight, and it is kind of related to the text that we're at, 00:35:32.600 |
If you notice in Luke chapter 1, as Elizabeth is speaking to Mary, 00:35:39.600 |
the way she says, "The baby inside of her leaped." 00:35:42.600 |
And she was about six months pregnant already when this happens. 00:35:46.600 |
And she recognizes that Mary is pregnant with the child of God, the son of God. 00:35:52.600 |
I want to highlight here, because of something spectacular that has happened this week. 00:36:04.600 |
And those of you who have been Christian for a while, 00:36:06.600 |
you know the struggle that Christians have had for over 50 years. 00:36:12.600 |
Because if there is one law we can say with confidence was evil, was this law. 00:36:19.600 |
Because it was a specific targeting of a child. 00:36:23.600 |
And it has progressively gotten more evil through the years 00:36:26.600 |
because more and more there's been conversations about even terminating that baby 00:36:34.600 |
Because if the intention was to kill the baby, it is not a baby, even after it was born. 00:36:40.600 |
I don't know how a Christian could possibly defend that. 00:36:45.600 |
But to my shock and surprise, in the last few years, 00:36:48.600 |
we've had Christians, sometimes even leadership, 00:36:56.600 |
And so, again, it shouldn't be a shock if we've been seeing the degradation of the church, 00:37:04.600 |
where right and wrong has no longer been centralized in the scripture. 00:37:09.600 |
It's more of what you're hearing from society, 00:37:11.600 |
that even the church leaders are more concerned about how non-Christians who do not obey God, 00:37:17.600 |
how they would be offended by certain positions that we take, 00:37:23.600 |
When we say we are a God-centered worshiping church, 00:37:29.600 |
That our first concern is that we live in such a way where we honor God. 00:37:37.600 |
Not the fears of our culture, not the fear of ramification, 00:37:41.600 |
of certain decisions that we make or certain things that we say. 00:37:45.600 |
This issue of abortion is not a debatable issue in the church. 00:37:53.600 |
That there's nobody in this church where they say, 00:37:56.600 |
"Oh, you know, I know some Christians who don't think so." 00:38:01.600 |
because the Bible makes it absolutely crystal clear, 00:38:06.600 |
And the only reason why he sent his only begotten son is because he has such high view of life. 00:38:12.600 |
The text that we're looking at, again, that's not the point of the sermon this morning. 00:38:16.600 |
It makes it clear that the baby, the human being in the life of Elizabeth, jumped for joy. 00:38:23.600 |
And they recognized the baby in Mary, who was just conceived. 00:38:29.600 |
That the life in there recognized the life in the other human being. 00:38:35.600 |
Now, if you've been a Christian for any period of time, 00:38:38.600 |
I know that you've been talking, debating, and maybe, you know, maybe even within the church, 00:38:52.600 |
In our culture, life is sacred, whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian. 00:38:56.600 |
We all universally believe, and obviously as Christians, 00:39:00.600 |
we believe that God has inputted that inside every human being, 00:39:03.600 |
a sense of moral compass, even though the world has gotten lost, 00:39:10.600 |
And because there is sacredness to life, if there is a possibility of harming a human being, 00:39:17.600 |
you can get arrested and put into jail for that purpose if you intended that. 00:39:20.600 |
If somebody comes in this room and shoots a gun off, and it didn't hit anybody, 00:39:25.600 |
but there was a possibility of hitting a human being, 00:39:28.600 |
you would be guilty of that, not because you murdered, 00:39:30.600 |
but because there was a possibility that you could have murdered. 00:39:34.600 |
You know, the argument that they've been saying is like, 00:39:38.600 |
"Well, you know, is it really life when they're conceived?" 00:39:42.600 |
At minimum, whether Christian or non-Christian, there has always been a debate, right? 00:39:49.600 |
Christian or non-Christian, that there is a possibility of life. 00:39:53.600 |
There's a reason why, whether you're a Christian or not, 00:40:00.600 |
and they say that there's life in that individual. 00:40:05.600 |
Only when they decide to terminate it, they stop calling it a baby. 00:40:10.600 |
So, is it a sound argument to say that at minimum, there's a possibility that that's a child? 00:40:21.600 |
And if that's a possibility that's a child, that is enough to get you indicted, to terminate that. 00:40:27.600 |
And yet, that's the argument that has been made, 00:40:30.600 |
and it has been progressively that even with the child completely formed in the mother's body, 00:40:35.600 |
that somehow, the conscience of our world has been seared to the point 00:40:43.600 |
their lawmakers in this country have been debating that we could terminate that 00:40:47.600 |
because if our intention was to kill the baby, the baby is no longer a real baby. 00:40:56.600 |
What has been disturbing me is that the church has become so secular 00:41:01.600 |
that even within the church, I've been hearing within the last year or so 00:41:10.600 |
There is nothing more arrogant than to even to use the term 00:41:16.600 |
that if a woman gets pregnant, that it is her choice. 00:41:25.600 |
Even if it's a possibility of a child, you are not sovereign over that life. 00:41:31.600 |
So as Roe v. Wade has been overturned, it is a cause to celebrate. 00:41:38.600 |
But I also want to caution all of us that just because that has been overturned, 00:41:47.600 |
People are not more receptive to the gospel because of that. 00:41:50.600 |
In fact, the people who have been fighting for pro-choice are probably even more angered. 00:41:57.600 |
In fact, all the churches have been put on notice that if you start preaching against this, 00:42:04.600 |
So we've been seeing on the news churches being targeted, protested, coming inside the church. 00:42:22.600 |
Christians can have that view and not have this view. 00:42:26.600 |
It is crystal clear that God has a very clear view of what is life and what that life means to God. 00:42:37.600 |
We are cautious that we don't think that the fight is over. 00:42:43.600 |
As long as we live in this dark world, the fight is going to continue. 00:42:47.600 |
But as we fight for this, because we live in a free country, 00:42:52.600 |
we have to also recognize that the only way that people truly change is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:42:59.600 |
We can change all the laws to reflect who God is and the scriptural principles, 00:43:05.600 |
but nothing will change other than the law unless the gospel penetrates into the hearts of people. 00:43:13.600 |
which again, I know many Christians have been fighting, praying over this for many, many years, 00:43:18.600 |
that all the more that we need to commit to the gospel getting to the remotest part of the world. 00:43:24.600 |
Now again, this is not the point of my sermon this morning. 00:43:27.600 |
I'm hoping maybe out in the future that we can spend more time, 00:43:31.600 |
because I've spent so many countless hours debating and researching and talking in the last 30, 40 years 00:43:38.600 |
of talking to non-Christians and sometimes trying to explain to young Christians 00:43:42.600 |
why this is such an important issue, because once you denigrate life, 00:43:48.600 |
everything else falls apart with that. It's not just one law. 00:43:54.600 |
We are already in rebellion against God, but this is the ultimate shaking of fists toward God 00:43:59.600 |
that life does not belong to you. I do whatever I want with it. 00:44:03.600 |
And so again, this is not the point of the sermon, but again, 00:44:07.600 |
you don't have to do deep theological search to find out that this ought to be Christian view. 00:44:13.600 |
Just from this text alone, God recognizes there's life in that, in both of these women. 00:44:18.600 |
One woman who's six months, another woman who just got pregnant. 00:44:21.600 |
Both of them, it's explained that there's a child in them. 00:44:27.600 |
Now having said that, Mary has this encounter, and this next section in verse 46 to 56, 00:44:38.600 |
And they call this Mary's Magnificat because the word "magnificat" basically means to magnify. 00:44:43.600 |
And so this section is Mary just spontaneously breaking out into worship. 00:44:49.600 |
And you and I already know that every Sunday we have prescribed worship. 00:44:56.600 |
So on Sunday at 9 o'clock, 11 o'clock, depending on which service you go to. 00:45:00.600 |
And then when you come, you know what to expect. 00:45:02.600 |
Sometimes we have baptism, testimony, we'll sing some songs, give offering, 00:45:06.600 |
and then you'll hear a sermon, and then you'll hear benediction, and then we go home. 00:45:16.600 |
But if you've been a Christian long enough, you know that the best worship sometimes is not prescribed. 00:45:28.600 |
Maybe it was an answered prayer, maybe something happened. 00:45:31.600 |
Or you just came to a revelation of God's presence, and you just break out into worship. 00:45:35.600 |
And it doesn't have to be Sunday morning, right? 00:45:40.600 |
It could be while you're driving, and you just break out into genuine worship. 00:45:45.600 |
Some of the best worship is spontaneous, and that's exactly what's happening here, 00:45:49.600 |
where Mary recognizes God's blessing upon her, and she just breaks out into worship. 00:45:55.600 |
Verse 46, "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. 00:46:00.600 |
For he has had regard for the humble state of the bond slave. 00:46:04.600 |
For behold, from that time on, all generations will count me blessed. 00:46:08.600 |
For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is His name, 00:46:11.600 |
and His mercy is upon generation after generation for those who fear Him." 00:46:17.600 |
So in this magnificat, in this exaltation of God, I want to highlight two things that Mary says, 00:46:28.600 |
We're in this--I'm not going to go line for line and tell you what the meaning behind it is, 00:46:32.600 |
but in summary of what she says in this text, there's two things that she highlights 00:46:37.600 |
to say that this is the reason why she is blessed and why she's breaking out into worship. 00:46:42.600 |
One, Mary was blessed because she believed, simply because she believed. 00:46:49.600 |
In Luke 1:45, it says, "Blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment 00:46:59.600 |
Now remember what that means because prior to that, remember the story before that, 00:47:04.600 |
where the angel Gabriel tells Zacharias and Elizabeth that you're going to have a child. 00:47:11.600 |
And remember, because he had a hard time believing. 00:47:14.600 |
We're of old age. Even though we've been praying for this all our life, 00:47:18.600 |
my wife is beyond age of childbirth, and so am I. 00:47:25.600 |
And so because of his unbelief, he was basically--he couldn't speak for nine months. 00:47:31.600 |
But can you imagine if that was hard to believe? 00:47:37.600 |
If that was hard to believe, the angel Gabriel basically told Mary that you, a virgin, 00:47:44.600 |
if it's impossible for somebody who's that age to have a child, 00:47:53.600 |
The incredible part is that it's going to be the Messiah. 00:47:56.600 |
And it's not just the Messiah, it's the Son of God who's going to come through your womb. 00:48:01.600 |
So if it was impossible, difficult for Zacharias to believe that, 00:48:04.600 |
can you imagine how difficult that would have been for Mary to believe that? 00:48:08.600 |
And so Gabriel speaks to her and says, "Nothing is impossible with God." 00:48:13.600 |
And Mary responds in verse 38, "Behold, the bond slave of the Lord may it be done to me 00:48:23.600 |
As difficult as that prophecy was, she believes it with all her heart. 00:48:27.600 |
And then it is because of this belief, she breaks out into what will happen. 00:48:45.600 |
All that has happened was that there was a prophecy given to her, that you've been chosen, 00:48:53.600 |
And because she believes, she breaks out into spontaneous worship. 00:48:58.600 |
The basis of Christian worship is always faith. 00:49:05.600 |
Our worship is only dependent upon when something good happens. 00:49:11.600 |
We were sick and we prayed and then God answered our prayers. 00:49:20.600 |
You had some financial struggle and you found a job. 00:49:23.600 |
And so all of those things are reasons for praising God. 00:49:27.600 |
But true worship, spontaneous worship, is based upon God's promise. 00:49:35.600 |
See, when she broke into this praise, nothing has happened yet. 00:49:40.600 |
Our worship is not contingent upon the goodness that we see with our eyes. 00:49:47.600 |
Our worship is based upon the promise that He has made. 00:49:52.600 |
That no matter what happens during this lifetime, that God of glory is coming. 00:49:59.600 |
That because Christ died for us and we've been covered by the blood of Christ, 00:50:05.600 |
And when He is glorified, we will be glorified with Him in eternity. 00:50:08.600 |
He will wipe away our tears. He will wipe away our tears. 00:50:13.600 |
Though you may be crying now, He says He will one day wipe away your tears. 00:50:18.600 |
You may be sick now, but one day you will be whole. 00:50:21.600 |
You may have experienced tragedy and you may not find resolution during this lifetime. 00:50:28.600 |
But because you believe in the promise of God, true life, true joy is coming with Christ. 00:50:36.600 |
So our worship is not based upon simply answered prayer here. 00:50:41.600 |
Our worship is not simply because we see good things and blessings happening, 00:50:45.600 |
simply because we got married or had kids or our business is doing well. 00:50:54.600 |
In fact, Hebrews 11 verse 1 says, "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for." 00:50:59.600 |
Hoped for. Not things that we see, not because it's happening, 00:51:03.600 |
but because we hope and we believe in the promise that God has made to us, 00:51:11.600 |
So if our joy is only dependent on what we see and what's happening around us now, 00:51:20.600 |
You're worshiping one day, questioning God another day. 00:51:24.600 |
Things are great when you're financially good, 00:51:27.600 |
and then when things are difficult, where are you? 00:51:30.600 |
I have no reason to praise God because He's not answering my prayer. 00:51:34.600 |
Mary's worship and her blessedness came directly as a result because she believed. 00:51:40.600 |
She believed this fantastic thing that the angel has said. 00:51:44.600 |
In fact, Hebrews 11 verse 6, it goes on and says, 00:51:47.600 |
"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, 00:51:49.600 |
for he who comes to God must believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." 00:51:58.600 |
Yeah, you know, I work hard at church and I share the gospel and I'm serving, 00:52:02.600 |
I'm raising my children, I'm doing all these things. 00:52:05.600 |
But the central question to a Christian is, do you believe? 00:52:19.600 |
In Romans 4, 3, it says, "For what does the Scripture say? 00:52:22.600 |
Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." 00:52:26.600 |
Not because he forsook everything and left and as a result he became a righteous man. 00:52:31.600 |
He said because he was righteous because of faith, he did righteous things. 00:52:35.600 |
The whole book of chapter 11 describes people because of faith, what they ended up doing. 00:52:43.600 |
I mean, we have to caution here because whenever we talk about salvation by faith alone, 00:52:48.600 |
we always have a contingent of people who hear that and say, 00:52:54.600 |
So anybody who talks about how we need to be disciplined and strive after God, that's legalism. 00:52:59.600 |
The whole chapter 11 of Hebrews describes because of faith, they walked in faith. 00:53:07.600 |
Verse 7, "By faith, Noah being warned by God about things not yet seen, 00:53:11.600 |
in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household." 00:53:14.600 |
Noah just, "Oh, I have faith so I can just sit here and then because of faith, 00:53:19.600 |
He said because of faith, he acted in obedience. 00:53:23.600 |
The proof of his faith was his life, but the cause of righteousness was his faith. 00:53:28.600 |
By faith, Abraham when he was called, obeyed. 00:53:32.600 |
So the central question that we have in our worship, in our walk toward God is do we believe? 00:53:51.600 |
Is our hard work and discipline and pursuit of holiness and righteousness, 00:54:01.600 |
It may sound like semantics, but the difference is night and day. 00:54:05.600 |
The end result and what it produces is night and day. 00:54:08.600 |
You know, when you're in the world, you have all these things like we're going to build, 00:54:15.600 |
we're going to work hard, we're going to do all these things, 00:54:19.600 |
And sometimes if we're not careful, you've taken all of those principles 00:54:22.600 |
and all you've done is transferred it into the church. 00:54:30.600 |
You're still working hard, but it's not simply because you believe. 00:54:33.600 |
It just happens that your culture and your community happens to be around Christians. 00:54:41.600 |
So when you are working hard in that context, 00:54:44.600 |
all you have to do is change their circumstance and they're no longer working. 00:54:49.600 |
They're no longer striving because their labor wasn't because of faith. 00:54:57.600 |
And so Mary's worship, it breaks out in praising and thanking God because she believed. 00:55:04.600 |
But I want to spend more time on the second part of it 00:55:06.600 |
because this is something that we all know, we all recognize, 00:55:17.600 |
If there's any place where I feel like there's a universal blind spot is this. 00:55:28.600 |
Not despite that she was humble, because she was humble. 00:55:31.600 |
We may look at Mary and say, you know, despite the fact that she was young, 00:55:35.600 |
despite the fact that she comes from this obscure city, 00:55:38.600 |
despite the fact that she doesn't have any recognition or education, 00:55:46.600 |
In fact, the scripture says over and over again it's because she was humble. 00:55:51.600 |
Verse 48 says, "For he has had regard for me, for the humble state of his bond slave. 00:55:57.600 |
For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed." 00:56:01.600 |
And then she goes further on and describes basically redemptive history, 00:56:06.600 |
"For the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name, 00:56:09.600 |
and his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him." 00:56:16.600 |
Who does God work with? People who recognize who he is and who fear him. 00:56:20.600 |
And then it goes, Mary's worship says, "He has done mighty deeds with his arm." 00:56:27.600 |
"He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their heart. 00:56:32.600 |
He has brought down the rulers from their thrones, 00:56:37.600 |
He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich empty-handed." 00:56:42.600 |
Mary is not describing a small portion of redemptive history. 00:56:47.600 |
Mary is describing the promise that the Messiah, the Son of God, was going to come, 00:56:55.600 |
and she bursts out explaining what God has been doing and what he's coming to do. 00:57:02.600 |
That Christ is going to come, and he's going to humble the proud and raise up the humble. 00:57:10.600 |
We see a perfect picture of that in John chapter 3 and John chapter 4. 00:57:14.600 |
You have Nicodemus who's at the peak of his religious success, 00:57:17.600 |
and God, Jesus Christ, just shuts the door on him. 00:57:22.600 |
Unless you are born again, you cannot enter the kingdom." 00:57:26.600 |
In other words, all your righteous deeds, everything that you have achieved, 00:57:32.600 |
Then he talks to a Samaritan woman, a sinner, adulteress, 00:57:36.600 |
who's even embarrassed for Jesus, for even talking to him, talking to her during the day. 00:57:42.600 |
And then he pursues her, deals with her sin, and then invites her into the kingdom. 00:57:49.600 |
She becomes the first evangelist to the Samaritans. 00:57:52.600 |
So you see the high, how he humbles them, and he brings the low, and then he raises them up. 00:57:58.600 |
And that's, in essence, how the gospel is described to us. 00:58:04.600 |
Spurgeon says, of humility, this is what he says, 00:58:08.600 |
"Every Christian has a choice of being humble or being humbled." 00:58:18.600 |
Every Christian has a choice of being humble or being humbled. 00:58:37.600 |
All of you, 100%, look better here than you are at home. 00:58:44.600 |
Because every time we walk out, we're aware of other people's views on us, 00:58:48.600 |
so everything that we do, even something trivial as doing our hair and brushing our teeth. 00:58:54.600 |
Because we want to present ourselves in a certain way. 00:59:08.600 |
Why do we have to have a certain amount of money, 00:59:15.600 |
Even in the way we raise our children, you need to succeed. 00:59:20.600 |
Almost every aspect of our life has been tainted by this desire to exalt ourselves, 00:59:26.600 |
and exalting ourselves is at the core of human sin. 00:59:33.600 |
We were created to worship God, to adore God, to reflect God, 00:59:38.600 |
and at the core of human rebellion is desiring that some of that attention comes to me. 00:59:45.600 |
And so whether we realize that or not, every part of our thought, 00:59:50.600 |
whether you say it loudly or you say it quietly, 01:00:00.600 |
I'm perfectly fine until I meet somebody else who seems a little bit better, 01:00:08.600 |
In fact, all other sins stem from this--coveting, lying, murder. 01:00:17.600 |
All other sins come from this desire for self-exaltation. 01:00:21.600 |
In fact, God describes the sin of Israel this way, Hosea 13, 5 through 6, 01:00:27.600 |
"I cared for you in the wilderness, in the land of the drought. 01:00:30.600 |
As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, 01:00:33.600 |
and being satisfied, their heart became proud. 01:00:42.600 |
God blesses them, and then they begin to think, like, maybe I did this, 01:00:58.600 |
That's why Jesus says it's hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven 01:01:02.600 |
because in all his riches, it's easy for him to think, I did it. 01:01:11.600 |
I got the right job, made the right decisions. 01:01:14.600 |
I bought crypto early, bought the house when it was dipping, 01:01:28.600 |
And so all of these good things happened because of my work, 01:01:31.600 |
and as a result of that, quietly, we don't need him. 01:01:36.600 |
So God simply becomes a figurehead, a figurehead in the church, 01:01:43.600 |
And so he's a figurehead in the church, but he's not the one that we submit to. 01:01:53.600 |
Simply, they just became proud because things are going well. 01:02:00.600 |
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 01:02:06.600 |
Imagine how much time and effort that we put into our life so that we can be better. 01:02:13.600 |
How much time and effort and energy and emotions and thoughts and finances 01:02:18.600 |
go into making our life better in the next stage in this life? 01:02:23.600 |
And then yet God says, "If you are actively seeking to promote yourself, 01:02:37.600 |
So much of what we do is following the pattern of this world so that we can get 01:02:41.600 |
to the next stage, so that our children can get to the next stage, 01:02:44.600 |
and then yet God says, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 01:02:52.600 |
Remember when people were following around saying, "We want to be disciples"? 01:02:58.600 |
"If you want to follow after me, deny yourself. 01:03:02.600 |
Pick up your cross and follow me because before I go to glory, I go to the cross, 01:03:11.600 |
So Christian sanctification is not bettering ourselves so that we can be masters 01:03:17.600 |
at Scripture and putting more time in prayer, and all of these things are things 01:03:24.600 |
But the primary call of a Christian sanctification is to become less, 01:03:30.600 |
to die, so that after we have done the work, nobody recognizes who you are. 01:03:39.600 |
He gave his whole life to prepare for Christ, and as soon as Christ shows up, 01:03:43.600 |
he says, "He must increase, I must decrease," and he's never heard again. 01:03:48.600 |
All we know about John the Baptist is that he was kind of eccentric. 01:04:00.600 |
He did things that Jesus would do, and then as soon as he showed up, 01:04:07.600 |
There's no record of what he did, his genealogy. 01:04:12.600 |
Only thing we know of him was that he prepared for Christ's coming. 01:04:18.600 |
You and I have been called for the same thing. 01:04:26.600 |
If I die and nobody remembers me, but they know the Christ that I loved, 01:04:36.600 |
But if I pass and you talk about me for generations, 01:04:41.600 |
then maybe I worked a little bit too hard to leave my legacy. 01:04:47.600 |
God didn't call me for that, and he didn't call you for that. 01:04:51.600 |
C.S. Lewis says, "As long as you are proud, you cannot know God." 01:04:57.600 |
A proud man is always looking down on things and people. 01:05:01.600 |
And, of course, as long as you are looking down, 01:05:11.600 |
always looks at things that are not up to your par. 01:05:16.600 |
So you cannot know God because you're always looking down. 01:05:18.600 |
1 Peter 5:6 says, "Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, 01:05:26.600 |
We have a habit of honoring the proud and dismissing the humble. 01:05:32.600 |
You know, some of the most challenging testimonies I've ever heard 01:05:36.600 |
are people who had nothing, from uneducated people. 01:05:41.600 |
I mean, you talk about the faith of these men in the villages, 01:05:50.600 |
They don't know--they've never read systematic theology. 01:05:53.600 |
They weren't properly trained in how to make disciples 01:05:59.600 |
They've never been--they came, heard the gospels, 01:06:05.600 |
and just started following the other pastors. 01:06:07.600 |
And even in the midst of persecution and trouble, 01:06:14.600 |
Because of their faith, their kids can't even go to school. 01:06:23.600 |
than even our celebrity pastors in our culture. 01:06:27.600 |
Why are they more powerful? Why are they bearing more fruit? 01:06:39.600 |
working with the homeless, and this guy that I met, 01:06:46.600 |
If you met him, you wouldn't know that he was homeless. 01:06:49.600 |
But we would set up and feed, and he would sit down, 01:06:53.600 |
And basically what happened was he was part of a gang, 01:06:55.600 |
and he was selling drugs, and he was coming in and out of prison constantly. 01:07:02.600 |
his family said, "I don't want anything to do with him. 01:07:06.600 |
So by the time he came out of prison, after about six months, 01:07:16.600 |
and trying to get a job and to save up enough money 01:07:20.600 |
And it was during that short period of time that I met him. 01:07:29.600 |
but then this particular Tuesday, I mean, he was beaming. 01:07:37.600 |
He said, "You know, on the way here, I got robbed." 01:07:40.600 |
I said, "Okay, so you got robbed. What happened?" 01:07:49.600 |
and I had nothing in my pocket, and they didn't believe me. 01:07:51.600 |
And so I started walking away, and they didn't believe me, 01:07:53.600 |
so they chased me down, and they took a bottle, 01:08:12.600 |
Outside of that, what do you want me to see?" 01:08:24.600 |
That guy broke a bottle over my head, and I didn't get cut." 01:08:28.600 |
He said, "Praise God, because he protected me. 01:08:32.600 |
Even in the midst of a broken bottle over my head, 01:08:43.600 |
You know, a man who's been broken to the point, 01:08:46.600 |
who's humble to the point, has nothing to be proud, 01:08:49.600 |
and he knew God's love and grace to the point 01:08:52.600 |
that even being robbed and having a broken bottle over his head 01:09:13.600 |
You didn't get the promotion that you wanted. 01:09:17.600 |
It's like, "I have a hard time worshiping God because of this." 01:09:21.600 |
Yet a man who is humble and understands what he has in Christ 01:09:40.600 |
There's a reason why Ephesians 2:8 and 9 says, 01:09:42.600 |
"For by grace you have been saved through faith that is not of yourselves, 01:09:44.600 |
but is a gift of God, so that no one may boast." 01:09:51.600 |
because the core of Christianity is to say we could not and He did. 01:09:57.600 |
So how can a man who praises and worships and memorizes 01:10:08.600 |
how can the core of Christianity teach that and be proud at the same time? 01:10:14.600 |
He said, "He saved us by grace so that no one may boast." 01:10:23.600 |
You ever see a man who is trying so hard to be recognized? 01:10:29.600 |
My achievements, what I have done, churches I planted, people I've discipled. 01:10:38.600 |
If you've been watching the news, you've probably seen it yourself. 01:10:44.600 |
Whenever you see somebody do that in a large scale or small scale, 01:10:50.600 |
The first response that you'll see is everybody trying hard to knock him off that pedestal. 01:11:04.600 |
"Do you know who I am?" "Yeah, I know who you are, you're a jerk." 01:11:17.600 |
You know, there's a story about this rooster, right? 01:11:22.600 |
So don't wake up now and say, "Abbas and Peter's quoting weird things." 01:11:29.600 |
All his life he's crowing, and he has convinced himself that the sun rises because of him. 01:11:42.600 |
Well, one day there's a massive disaster coming in, 01:11:46.600 |
and so the eagles decided to have mercy on these farm animals, 01:11:50.600 |
and he swoops down and he tells them, "You're going to have to grab onto me, 01:11:57.600 |
So the small animals are attached, because obviously they can't do that with their little legs. 01:12:04.600 |
So he said, "You're going to have to bite my wings, 01:12:07.600 |
and then I'm going to lift you up, and I'm going to start taking you to safety." 01:12:12.600 |
So all the little animals come, and they cling on to him, 01:12:15.600 |
and the crow comes, and he bites onto the eagle, 01:12:18.600 |
and the eagle starts flying, taking them out. 01:12:21.600 |
And as he is flying, and they're headed toward safety, high up in the sky, 01:12:29.600 |
And so the other eagles are like, "Wow, the magnificence of the sun. 01:12:38.600 |
Day after day, this beauty of the glory of the sun being raised. 01:12:46.600 |
And the crow, with his mouth clenched to the eagle for survival, 01:12:52.600 |
is thinking to himself, "I did it! I did it!" 01:12:55.600 |
But he can't say anything, because the moment he says it, he's going to fall. 01:13:01.600 |
And as the time goes, they just can't--it overwhelms them. 01:13:07.600 |
And the crow just finally couldn't stand it anymore, 01:13:22.600 |
It's something that I heard when I was a little kid that I remembered. 01:13:27.600 |
How much of human life is captured in that silly story? 01:13:35.600 |
We try so hard to become somebody, sometimes even in the church, 01:13:41.600 |
when God has been telling us, history after history, 01:13:51.600 |
passage after passage, example after example, 01:14:03.600 |
To become a nobody, so that He can become a somebody. 01:14:09.600 |
So that when He comes in glory, that we wait for our glory when He comes in glory. 01:14:14.600 |
How much of our trouble, how much of our anxiety, 01:14:23.600 |
how much of our difficulty with children stem from this? 01:14:33.600 |
And as a result, we have become impotent in the things of God. 01:14:40.600 |
God is looking for humble people that He may be exalted. 01:14:54.600 |
there's one lesson that I've learned like almost a punch in the face. 01:14:59.600 |
You know, I started out ministry at 19, 20, and I started speaking. 01:15:05.600 |
I spoke outside the church way more than I do now. 01:15:08.600 |
Part of the reason why I asked my wife Esther to change from being a pharmacist 01:15:15.600 |
to a schoolteacher is because pharmacists have to work year-round. 01:15:20.600 |
So my thought was, and again, as a young pastor thinking like, 01:15:22.600 |
and since I'm going and traveling so much, I asked her, 01:15:25.600 |
it's like if you become a schoolteacher, you know, 01:15:27.600 |
you get off school a little bit earlier and you have the whole summer off, 01:15:31.600 |
And then eventually, maybe if you don't have to work, you don't have to work. 01:15:34.600 |
But that was my thinking, right, at that perspective. 01:15:39.600 |
And so I experienced, you know, what you would call, 01:15:46.600 |
Because I was speaking a lot and I was going to places, you know, 01:15:58.600 |
The fruit didn't turn out the way I wanted it to turn out. 01:16:02.600 |
All the sacrifices, labor that I felt like I was putting in, 01:16:08.600 |
And I started thinking, like, am I going to have the same life that my parents lived? 01:16:13.600 |
The very thing that I couldn't stand, like I don't want to do this. 01:16:19.600 |
And so when this church first got started, I had no vision. 01:16:26.600 |
Just a few of the kids, I mean, there were kids at that time, 01:16:30.600 |
like I'm just going to be faithful and try to take care of them. 01:16:37.600 |
Not to my surprise, it wasn't a big surprise because at that time the 01:16:40.600 |
Seeker Friendly Movement was just taking off. 01:16:43.600 |
And so every church was like their mega churches are popping up left and right. 01:16:50.600 |
And so I remember during that period my friends who were, you know, 01:16:56.600 |
All of a sudden, Peter, why are you doing that? 01:16:58.600 |
You can go to this large church and you can do this. 01:17:12.600 |
And I just wanted it like -- I thought it would be noble even if it's just 01:17:15.600 |
10 of them to commit to them and at least it's worthwhile. 01:17:19.600 |
And I don't know if I'm going to keep doing this, 01:17:21.600 |
but I'm just going to do that for the time being. 01:17:24.600 |
I remember during that period every friend, every mentor that I knew said, 01:17:34.600 |
I've heard that so many times I know that for a fact. 01:17:39.600 |
If I'm convicted about something, like I will not move. 01:17:42.600 |
You have to show me why I need to move, but I'm not going to move just because 01:17:45.600 |
you said it because, you know, I've heard it enough. 01:17:48.600 |
No amount of pressure you're going to put on me is going to get me to change 01:17:52.600 |
But then all of a sudden, again, you know, make a long story short, 01:17:56.600 |
at some point, six, seven years down the line the church started actually 01:18:01.600 |
You know, what's really interesting was during that period when the church 01:18:05.600 |
wasn't growing I started reading a lot of books about church growth and, like, 01:18:08.600 |
how to do church because I don't know how to do church. 01:18:10.600 |
I was just -- I know how to preach, right, and I know how to, like, 01:18:13.600 |
do discipleship, but I don't know how to run a church. 01:18:16.600 |
And I remember reading this book about church growth, and in that book it says, 01:18:20.600 |
"If you plant the church and it doesn't grow in the first two years, 01:18:27.600 |
And I read that about five years into the church. 01:18:37.600 |
Now, if I started with a vision for a large church, 01:18:42.600 |
But I had no vision to begin with, so it didn't really bother me that much. 01:18:48.600 |
But I've accepted that's the way it's going to be, you know, 01:18:52.600 |
And then when the church started growing, all of a sudden the same people were 01:19:07.600 |
I mean, they started asking me all these questions, and my answer to them is, 01:19:12.600 |
Everything that you were telling me about not being stubborn the first five, 01:19:15.600 |
six years is the exact same thing that we're doing." 01:19:18.600 |
And they would just walk away and say, "Peter doesn't want to share." 01:19:28.600 |
It's just that God saw fit early on to keep us that way, 01:19:34.600 |
And if there's one thing that I learned, and I'm still learning, 01:19:48.600 |
So the worst thing that I can do is to get in the way, to get the credit. 01:19:54.600 |
And once I do that, then I have a God who is actively opposing me. 01:20:00.600 |
So if I want God to be exalted, I got to get out of the way. 01:20:06.600 |
That's the one lesson that I've learned over the years, over and over again, 01:20:10.600 |
that if somebody meets Christ, that they meet Christ, not me, 01:20:16.600 |
not the leaders, not the organization, not the elders, not the pastors, 01:20:25.600 |
And then if I die and you don't remember me, but you love Christ, 01:20:28.600 |
then I've done what I've been called to do, to introduce you to Christ. 01:20:37.600 |
I don't want you -- I don't want, after I die, examining my life and say, 01:20:43.600 |
What was he like?" I don't want you examining my life. 01:20:50.600 |
You know how many people tell me how bad my English is? 01:20:56.600 |
I admit I'm a partial fop, and I embrace it with all my heart. 01:21:15.600 |
I struggle like everybody else to want some of that. 01:21:21.600 |
But if you look at me carefully, you're not going to celebrate me 01:21:27.600 |
because I don't want you looking at me closely. 01:21:30.600 |
I want you to look through me to see the Christ who saved me. 01:21:41.600 |
wanting to be at the center and on a pedestal. 01:21:50.600 |
not realizing that that is what's causing God to oppose us. 01:21:59.600 |
Mary was chosen because of her humble circumstance. 01:22:03.600 |
Let me give you seven quick things as a wrap-up. 01:22:14.600 |
Because Christ did it, their heart is always thankful, 01:22:18.600 |
Two, they are eager to listen more than to speak. 01:22:26.600 |
But as soon as other people have something to say, 01:22:31.600 |
A humble person is eager to listen more than to speak. 01:22:36.600 |
Again, there's nobody who qualifies 100% with this. 01:22:45.600 |
because you and I stand because we're forgiven. 01:23:07.600 |
I got a PhD in this, and I can't learn from that guy. 01:23:17.600 |
Anything that reflects Christ, you can learn from. 01:23:51.600 |
humble people rest in the sovereignty of God. 01:24:03.600 |
because we're never in control to begin with. 01:24:08.600 |
it's like, "Oh my gosh, things are out of whack." 01:24:11.600 |
because we were never in control to begin with. 01:24:15.600 |
God saved us from something we could not control, 01:25:49.600 |
Thank You, Father, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 01:25:51.600 |
Why don't we all stand up for the closing praise?