[0:00] Thank you.
[0:30] Thank you.
[1:00] Thank you.
[1:30] Thank you.
[1:59] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[2:35] Thank you. Thank you.
[3:07] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[3:19] Thank you. Thank you.
[3:53] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. O Jesus, I have promised to serve thee till the end.
[4:20] May thou forever near me, my pastor and my friend. I shall not fear the battle, if thou art by my side.
[4:41] Nor run the ramp of bread, if thou wilt be my guide. Oh, let me feel thee near me, the world is ever near.
[5:00] I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear. My foes are ever near me, all round me and within.
[5:19] But Jesus, draw thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin.
[5:30] O Jesus, thou hast promised to all who follow thee, that with a lot in glory, there shall thy servant be.
[5:50] And Jesus, I have promised to serve thee till the end.
[6:01] O give me grace to follow, my master and my friend.
[6:11] The Lord be with you. And also with you. Please be seated. We do have two clipboards for you this morning. One is for our Vacation Bible School.
[6:22] We've got about 300 young people coming for Vacation Bible School. And I think they want you to help with something. So if you could help with something, we'd appreciate that. The other is if you want to sponsor flowers or bulletins.
[6:34] And we're going to start that on the far side over here. But that one should go around the whole sanctuary, if at all possible. Now I'm going to ask you to do me a favor this morning. You know how they say in that little video to take out your friendship cards?
[6:47] Take them out, please. I'd like to ask you to do me a favor and actually write your name on it this week. Because I don't know if you've noticed, but Pastor Tom is on his own. And I know that Pastor Sherry's going to ask me, were they there?
[6:59] And Pastor Lisa is going to say, were they there? And all kinds of people are going to ask me. Julie isn't here. Nobody's here. We've got Kate playing for us, which is wonderful. Thank you, Kate. Everybody decided to take this week off.
[7:11] You see, when it gets sunny, we end up with the fair weather Christians. Thank you for coming to church today. So please take out your card. You don't have to fill out all the stuff. Just put your name on it.
[7:21] That would really kind of cover me a lot. I appreciate that. Because I'm going to be trying to remember everybody and everything. And it's not going to work as well as it should.
[7:31] So anyways, this morning we have what choice to share? What blessings going on in our congregation? Yes, Jackie. Cooper Allen Dabb.
[7:46] Wonderful. Great nephew. Excellent. June. June. You got a new grandson or great-grandson? June. Oh, okay.
[7:57] Never mind. I'm on yesterday's news. She showed me the picture today. So, you know, I just assume it. Yes. Oh, okay. That's great.
[8:10] Kim was into it. Well, that's a joy. That's a joy to share. Yes, Becky. Wonderful. Wonderful.
[8:25] So the kids are actually taking leadership roles. You know, I'll tell you, our young people are fabulous. They do amazing things in this church. And sometimes they do a lot more than even our adults do.
[8:36] In leadership. And that really is excellent. That's to the credit of this church. Other joys that we want to share. Yes. Mom's going home. Well, I know that that's a joy because that means she's doing better.
[8:49] So we're glad to hear that. Great, Elizabeth. Yes. You're going to be a grandpa by Valentine's Day. That would be a great Valentine's Day present, right? Excellent. Wonderful, Jim.
[9:00] Anybody else have anything going on that we want to celebrate with God about? Okay. If you happen to have a child who's eight or under and you'd like them to go out to our children's program, you can meet me in the back of the sanctuary and we'd be glad to get them over to our program next door.
[9:19] In the meantime, let's share our thanksgivings and our blessings and our tithes and offerings with our Lord. Thank you. Thank you.
[9:55] Thank you.
[10:25] Thank you. Thank you.
[10:55] Thank you. Thank you.
[11:07] Thank you.
[11:37] Thank you.
[12:07] Thank you.
[12:37] Thank you.
[13:07] Dear God, receive these gifts. Just a portion back of the blessings you've given to us.
[13:18] Touch them, Lord, and magnify them to do amazing things for your grace in this world. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. Let's turn our hearts to the Lord in prayer, shall we?
[13:35] Dear God, breathe into this place. Breathe your Holy Spirit to touch the needs of our hearts.
[13:47] There are people in our lives that we have great concern about, Lord. Heart attacks and cancer and just age. Lord, we just pray that you would find a way to help all these people who are so worried about.
[14:08] Help them to find your healing. Touch them. Fill them with a special presence of God to give them strength through the struggles that they're going through. People have lost someone they love.
[14:25] Lord, it's so hard. Even though we celebrate in their eternal life, we struggle with the fact that we'll miss them. Lord, bless us and comfort our hearts and fill them with your advocate.
[14:44] Lord, there are people in this congregation that are troubled about many things. Finances, health, relationships.
[14:55] You know what they are, Lord. Lord, take a moment and listen as each of your children praise their concerns to you. Now, dear God, lift from us our worries, our thoughts, our troubles, our concerns, all the things that cloud our mind and keep us from you.
[15:30] And just pour into us an opportunity that we might feel, that we might experience, that we might learn what you have decided for us this morning.
[15:41] Lord, let this be a moment that the cares of our lives, the cares of our country, the cares of the world will go away. We give them over to you, Lord.
[15:53] Bless the world and all her people. And bless us, Lord. Bless us today and always as we pray in Jesus' holy name.
[16:26] Amen. Now shall we listen to the word of God. Good morning. Today's scripture is from Romans, chapter 7, verses 14 through 25.
[16:38] We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate to do.
[16:54] What I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
[17:07] For I know that good itself does not dwell in me. That is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
[17:17] For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
[17:32] Excuse me. So I find this law at work. Although I want to be good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law.
[17:44] But I see another law at work in me. Waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am.
[17:57] Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
[18:15] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Elizabeth. Through the summertime, we've decided to look at the book of Romans, to take a little closer look at some of the theology of the Christian faith, because we do know that our most committed Christians come to church in the summer.
[18:34] And so, we're looking at this passage we finally got to in chapter 7, where we get Frank Sinatra theology. Do-be-do-be-do. Do-do-do-do. Elizabeth did a great job with it.
[18:45] I do not do what I want to do. I want to do what the evil I do not want to do. I do what I keep on doing. And if I do, I do. It's enough to make you crazy. What is he talking about? We're actually going to start with our look at an Old Testament character.
[19:01] This could be ripped from the headlines, actually. Somebody who everybody thought was a great guy, a good guy, a leader, important, powerful man, took advantage of a young woman who wasn't his wife.
[19:17] And so, we've got two people, and I'm going to give you one hint. It has something to do with taking a bath on a rooftop. Anybody know who we're talking about? David and Bathsheba.
[19:31] Yes. David and Bathsheba. David, remember him? He was the wonder boy. We talked about him two or three weeks ago. The great king. The hero who killed the giant.
[19:42] The one who led the troops out into battle. A rock star. He could sing like you can't even imagine. And by the way, ladies, the Bible says several times, he was really good looking. But that's not the story today.
[20:00] It was spring, it said in the scriptures, when kings go off to war. But David wasn't at war. He was in Jerusalem. And he's wandering around up on his palace roof, looking down to see what he can see.
[20:15] And there's Bathsheba taking a bath on the roof. Now, some would say, what was she doing taking a bath on the roof? But remember, it was spring when all the men were supposed to be off war.
[20:27] Except for this one guy. This guy who happens to not just be a regular fellow, but he's king. He's the one who everybody thinks is wonderful.
[20:40] He's like the superhero of their day. It even says that he was a man after God's own heart. He had it all. And he sees Bathsheba and he says to his guards, who is that?
[20:55] And he said, well, that's Uriah's wife. He says, bring her to me. I won't go any further on the details of it. It's in the book. You can read it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably too young.
[21:07] You can ask your parents at home. Let's just say it wasn't what they were supposed to be doing. And so, a little while later, Bathsheba finds herself pregnant.
[21:22] And David sent her husband, Uriah, into the heat of battle so that he would die. He pretended it wasn't murder, but we all knew it was.
[21:33] And Bathsheba moved in and became David's new queen. David was a man after God's own heart.
[21:45] Why did he do this? Why do any of us do this? Why do good people sin? Verse 23 says to us, I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
[22:03] The very thing that I would do, I don't do. And the thing that I want to do, why is it? Why do we sin? Because there's a battle within our soul between what we talked about last week, the old man in Adam and the new one in Christ.
[22:19] The struggle we have with sin. Remember? Last week I talked about how Paul refers to sin with a small s and sin with a big s.
[22:30] Sin with a small s are the things we do wrong. I did something today that was wrong. I sin. But sin with a big s, as Paul talks about it, is a force.
[22:41] It's a power of evil that works within our lives to cause us to do the very things we don't really want to do as people committed to Christ.
[22:54] You see, there are powers in our life that are greater than us. We sometimes tend to think that we can overcome everything, but we can't. We can't.
[23:08] It's like we were going into battle with a foreign nation. We were taking on the leader of Venezuela on our own.
[23:21] We won't win. That's the problem. And so we feel temptation. Temptation, which then leads, when it's full-blown, into sin when we give in to it.
[23:35] Now, temptation in and of itself isn't bad. Okay. Temptation is a test. How many of you like tests? I didn't think so. Most people don't like tests, right?
[23:47] One of the things we like about being out of school is, no more tests! We like learning. We don't like tests. But tests are there to show whether we really have achieved anything.
[23:58] And temptation is a test from God to help to see whether or not our faith has effectively changed us. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote in his book, Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial or temptation.
[24:15] Having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. It's a test. And we're supposed to pass it.
[24:26] Yesterday, they had a funeral luncheon. There's a long line at the food table. I usually like to go last. I have a philosophy that the Bible says the first will be last and the last will be first.
[24:39] So I'll be last on earth here for all of my life and then I'll be first in glory. No, I'm just kidding. I really just want to make sure there's enough food for everybody before I eat. And so I happened to be waiting and where I was standing was right next to the dessert table.
[24:56] And I'm telling you, we're not talking about a couple of desserts. We're talking about a whole table full of desserts. As I was standing there, my hand slipped over and reached for a chocolate chip cookie.
[25:09] It wasn't my fault. It was my hand did it, right? And as I was pulling the chocolate chip cookie to my mouth, one of our parishioners said, I got a video of this. I'm going to show it to your wife. Busted!
[25:22] Busted! For those of you who aren't aware of it, I struggle a little bit with what they call pre-diabetes, which means if I really mess this up, I could end up in some serious health issues.
[25:34] But if I do this right, I could actually be fine. So if I know I shouldn't eat the cookie, why do I eat the cookie?
[25:44] Why did David end up with Bathsheba? 1 Corinthians chapter 10 has an often misquoted verse.
[25:56] It says, No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to other people. There's not temptations you're going to face that are unique and unusual and hard.
[26:07] They're going to be the kind of things everybody struggles with. If God is going to test you, He's going to test you with regular things. He tests everybody with. And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
[26:19] And when you are tempted, He will provide you a way out so you can endure it. He gave me a way out. Don't eat the cookie. But I did.
[26:32] Of course I did. Why do I do this? The very thing that I would do I don't do. And the thing that I don't want to do, that's what I do. What's wrong? Some people have quoted that verse to say we'll never have a problem we can't handle.
[26:46] You will have problems that you will struggle to handle. Let me tell you that. We can be attacked by powers that are so great that they can hurt us. It doesn't do anyone a blessing to tell them that when they are being attacked in some horrible way, that somehow God is testing them.
[27:03] The temptation is a test of your faith that God wants you to and gives you the ability to pass. Attacks are different. And there are powers, as I said before, that are greater than us in this world.
[27:14] We will struggle with them. But this is about temptation. Jesus was talking to a group of disciples about this. And they turned to him and John, they said, what should we do?
[27:28] What do we need to do to do the things that God wants from us? So we turn to Philippians. One of Paul's other writings where he says, I haven't already obtained all this or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
[27:51] Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Jesus Christ.
[28:05] What are we doing? How are we contributing to the blessing instead of contributing to the problem?
[28:17] In the Methodist church, we refer to this as sanctification, which is a big word that just means working in our lives to grow closer to God, to become nearer to God, to be what God wants us to be.
[28:30] Because we have far too many people that think that they can just get so far and stop. But one of the struggles we have in life is that what gets us to where we are isn't usually what will get us to where we need to go.
[28:43] Sometimes I refer to it as staying one step ahead of the devil. Maybe you've realized it, maybe you haven't. But the truth is, even the good things of our life, even the things that we do for blessings, something that was really good years ago now can become a curse.
[29:03] I learned how to use a cell phone. But if I don't keep up with it, I'll be stuck. And I may even find myself with a problem where the broken phone, which this is broken, by the way, doesn't work.
[29:19] I need to get it fixed and move on. We need to keep growing because if you're not growing, you're dying. We're living organisms, and living organisms are either growing or they're dying.
[29:31] And God is calling us to grow. How do we do that? Well, you know the answer to that. We do it by loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
[29:49] With all our mind. The Bible is a guide for us to understand what God wants us to understand. It's an old book. I understand that.
[30:00] That's why we read it with other people. That's why we talk about it together, and we discern our understanding using the mind that God has given to us. But the Bible is 5,000 years of God revealing his wisdom to people.
[30:16] And so we read it so that we can understand it. As it says in verse 16, the law is good. The law is something that helps us. Shows us what's right and wrong.
[30:29] We need to read it. We need to know it. Because otherwise, we get mixed up on what's good and what's not. There's so many different voices in our culture today telling us what is good.
[30:42] We have the schools tell us what's good. We have the government tells us what's good. We have our friends tell us what's good. We have TV stations telling us what's good. Reporters telling us what's good. The newspaper telling us what's good.
[30:54] We have everybody telling us what's good. But they don't determine what's good. The only one that determines what's good is the one who is good.
[31:06] God is good. God is good, the scripture says. So we need to know what God wants. We need to learn about it. We need to love the Lord our God with all our minds. Because sin isn't defined by what people around us say.
[31:20] It isn't even defined by what our parents said. It isn't defined by what the television has told us. And you might not like this, but it's not even necessarily defined by what the government says. Not that those are bad.
[31:34] Those are good things. They usually help us. They often guide us in the right way. Because we're founded in principles from this book, We tend to, as a society, turn back here.
[31:47] But you really know what it says. And if you don't, then you already have a problem. Because you don't know when you're doing right or wrong.
[32:04] And who assists you on the journey? In Matthew chapter 18, it says, If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault. Just between the two of you, if they listen to you, you have won them over.
[32:16] Who is a good enough friend who loves you enough to say, Don't eat that cookie. Do you follow? That person wasn't doing something mean to me.
[32:29] They weren't doing something wrong for me. They were trying to help me. Who do you have like that in your life? See, the problem with David is he thought he got away with everything.
[32:45] Uriah's gone. Nobody knows what really happened except a couple of guards. He can pay them off. Bathsheba's living with him as his wife now. He's got it all figured out.
[32:58] But there was a prophet named Nathan. Nathan came into his court and he says, You know, I want to tell you a story, King David. And he says, Okay. He says, There was a man who had a hundred sheep.
[33:14] A huge herd of sheep. And there was another man who had one. He loved that little sheep. It was like a pet to him. Like a part of his family. And the man with a hundred sheep decided to have a big party.
[33:29] So what he did was he went to the man who had one sheep. And he took his sheep to slaughter it for the party. David said, Whoever that man is, you let me know.
[33:40] And I am going to punish him so bad. He deserves to die. And Nathan said, That man is you. Busted.
[33:55] And you know, at that point, David didn't say, But you don't understand. He didn't say, Oh, you misunderstood. He didn't say you got the story wrong. He said, You're right.
[34:05] I've sinned. You're right. It wasn't easy for him. Are you kidding? He's the king. But who do you have who will point that out to you?
[34:21] Not in a way to hurt you. Just between the two of you. That fellow in our church didn't make a public announcement. Pastor Tom is eating a cookie. Everybody watch.
[34:32] Right? He was talking to me. Because he wasn't doing it to embarrass me. He was doing it to help me. Do you have people in your life that are willing to take the chance?
[34:46] Of saying, Maybe you want to rethink this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. With the people that you know and you care and care about you.
[34:59] And love the Lord your God with all your strength. What do you do with your time? You ever hear the phrase, Idle hands are the devil's tools. Because you know, the truth is, if you're busy doing what you're supposed to be doing, you won't have as much problem.
[35:15] Matthew chapter 6 says to us, The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But it also says, If your eyes are full of sin, that's what you're going to do.
[35:26] And you'll be filled with darkness. What are you looking at? What are you spending your time with? What are you doing? If you're spending your time doing what you're supposed to be doing. Doing what God has called you to do.
[35:37] Doing what you were made and created to do. What will actually make your soul sing. You won't have time to get yourself in trouble. It was spring. When kings are supposed to be off to war with their soldiers.
[35:48] And David was in Jerusalem. He wasn't where he belonged. He wasn't doing what he's supposed to do. He's wandering around looking for trouble.
[36:03] And he got it. He found it. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength. And in the process, we become more sanctified, closer to God.
[36:15] More what God wants us to be. And we become blessed. And we can overcome the temptation. Or at least, we can be better.
[36:29] But that doesn't mean we're necessarily going to get exactly where we want to be. Because the very thing that I don't want to do, I still find myself doing.
[36:43] One of our problems is, is that we think somehow, in our own abilities, in our own strength, in our own understanding, if we can just get our mind right, our actions right, and our relationships right, everything will work.
[37:00] And yet it still doesn't seem to fit. It's an arrogance that we've generated. And speaking of arrogant people, anybody ever watch a show with a big bang?
[37:14] There's a guy on there by the name of Sheldon. He didn't start out that way, you know, when he was like 40 years old. This started when he was a kid. So what do you think the odds are that God exists?
[37:30] I think there's zero. I believe in science. So you don't think science and religion can go hand in hand? Science is facts. Religion is faith.
[37:41] I prefer facts. Okay, what God means to me. Who'd like to go first? Billy. I'd like to go third.
[37:53] Alrighty. Who's feeling brave? Missy. I'll go second. Great. Does anybody want to go first? I'll go. Okay.
[38:04] Come on up here, Sheldon. Let's hear what you got. I've spent the last week studying what people believe. And I've come to a conclusion. And what's that?
[38:15] I'm starting my own religion. I'm sorry, what? I'm calling it mathology. It's based on a universal binary system. That's terrific, Sheldon. But this is a Baptist Sunday school.
[38:25] I know. I'm here to convert everybody. Any takers. Okay. Let's go have a talk with your mom. The only sin in mathology is being stupid. If we're just smart enough, we can make the world perfect.
[38:42] There was a theology most of you probably have no knowledge about. And it started in the late 1800s. It was called classic liberal theology. And the name has nothing to do with what we talk about with those terms today.
[38:58] It was based on the idea that if we just work hard at it, if we just do the right thing, if we learn enough, if we love God with all our mind, with all our heart, with all our strength, we can bring heaven on earth.
[39:14] It sounds great. It was the same time that we had Darwinism, the theory that our species is evolving and getting better little by little. It was the same time that we started having socialism and communism where they said we could just get the right kind of economic system where we share our wealth.
[39:31] It was based on the idea that we could just learn more. We could just grow. We could just understand if we just got smart enough. So we started sending everybody to school.
[39:44] There's nothing wrong with these things. They're all good. But the problem is we thought that they would fix everything. We even went to war. And the war, we called it the war to end all wars.
[40:03] After that war, all the armies of the world disbanded. They threw away all their weapons, all their ships, all their tanks, all their everything. And we all know what came next, right?
[40:14] What we call World War II. Holocaust, killing fields in Cambodia, EDMN. We can go on and on with the list of atrocities that people did to each other.
[40:28] We discovered something very quickly. Very tragically. Deep down, there's something wrong with us. And even if we get smart, all we do is become more sophisticated at some of the bad we do.
[40:44] And even if we get a lot of good relationships, sometimes we just find ourselves being influenced in the wrong way. And even if we work our hardest, sometimes we just create the possibilities for greater damage.
[41:01] There's nothing wrong with these things. We should work our hardest to make this world better. We should be loving towards each other.
[41:12] We should find a way to distribute our blessings amongst people. We should try to educate people. We should try to do all these things. But in the end, the very thing that we would do is not what we end up doing.
[41:28] Because if all we do is love God with all our heart and with all our strength and with all our mind, we're not much different than any other organization in this world.
[41:44] That great theologian, Matt Kofall, once said to me, the only difference between other organizations and the church is what you're doing right now.
[41:58] Worshiping God. Otherwise, we could be the Kiwanis. We could be the VA. We could be anything. We could be any organization. They get together socially. They do nice things.
[42:08] They help other people. They have all sorts of educational programs. Some of them even do fish rice. Not as good as ours, of course. But the difference is that we love the Lord our God with all our soul.
[42:27] Because worship helps us remember whose we are and who we love. And when we forget who we love, that's when it falls apart.
[42:38] In the book of Revelation, Jesus was writing some letters to some churches. And he wrote a letter to the church at Ephesus. I hold this against you. You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen.
[42:50] Repent or turn around and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its places. You've forgotten what you love.
[43:04] And I would submit to you that what we really need to fix the problems we have when we struggle with temptation and sin, when we struggle in our lives, is to regain our passion.
[43:16] I read a story about an old German guy. And, you know, his wife said to him, how come you never say you love me to me? He said, well, I told you I loved you when we got married, didn't I?
[43:27] She said, yeah. He says, well, if it ever changes, I'll let you know. Does that work, ladies? No. Doesn't work for the men either, by the way.
[43:38] We need to affirm it, not just for the people to hear it, but for us to hear it to ourselves. Stalled Christians, complacency.
[43:50] We need to change. We need to grow. John Wesley said we need not one conversion, but multiple conversions. Because what gets us to where we are is not necessarily what's going to get us to where we need to go.
[44:02] We need to stay one step ahead of the devil. We need to grow into what God wants us to be. We need to not get stuck where we were. Yes, it's wonderful if you've achieved and grown to this point in your faith, but God wants so much more for you.
[44:19] And if we're not growing, we're dying. Let's look back at David. You know what drives me crazy about this story about David? David was married.
[44:31] Not to one wife. Not to three wives. He had six wives at home. Two of them were bonafide, card-carrying princesses. One, Abigail, was so beautiful, the Bible says, that there were 400 men charging into battle on their horses.
[44:48] And Abigail was standing in the middle of the road. And these angry men were, oh, hello, darling. That's how beautiful Abigail was. She's got 400 angry, charging men.
[44:59] That's who was waiting for David at home. He'd forgotten his love.
[45:11] You know, if you're personally, madly in love with your spouse, you're not going to be looking for somebody else.
[45:25] That's just how it works. If you're not going to be looking for somebody else. If you're not going to be looking for somebody else. If you're not going to be looking for somebody else. If you are passionately, completely head over heels in love, you won't be looking for a problem.
[45:37] Why do I do the thing I don't want to do? Well, I would submit to you. It's because you really don't know what you want.
[45:52] Kate played for us this little song from Psalm 42. As the deer pants for the water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
[46:03] When can I go and meet with God? This was written by a person who couldn't go to worship anymore. Not didn't because it was a beautiful day outside.
[46:14] Couldn't go to worship anymore. God bless you. And he will. That you've come to worship God. With your soul.
[46:26] It's time to restart, recommit, repent. And fall passionately in love with God. Again. Amen? And not just in our own lives, which we need.
[46:40] But in our church and our churches. And I would submit to you, I think it could fix even our entire nation. In the book of Chronicles we read, It is essential that you love people.
[47:05] And love God with all your heart. With all your mind. And with all your strength. We need to be the force that changes this world for good and for love and for grace.
[47:17] But in verse 24 it says, What a wretched person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[47:28] What we discovered. What we discovered. After those episodes in history is that we cannot bring heaven on earth.
[47:39] We can't even fix ourselves. There's a brokenness. There's a darkness deep inside each of us. And the only way we can get over that is if we are rescued. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
[47:56] Is what 1 John chapter 4 tells us. It is the power of God working within us that will give us the ability to overcome all evil.
[48:07] And bring us the victory. But we have to be willing. We have to be willing. To fall in love with God again.
[48:17] And to accept what he wants to give us. My wife had a party. A street party out at Silver Lake. It was really kind of cool. She got the whole street to show up just about.
[48:29] There's like 30, 35 people. And I discovered that the street party was actually our front porch party. I didn't realize that's what we were doing. But okay. So they're all there, right? 30 some people standing on our front porch.
[48:41] So they decided to have a picture. And they all got up. Stood in one spot. And I heard, Crack! Thank you. That's what I wanted. Thanks for breaking my porch, folks. They all scattered like mice.
[48:54] They were gone. Like jumping off a sinking ship. Except one young fellow. 20 something years old. He helped me put a little temporary support under the porch.
[49:07] And then he said, You know, I'm not working this summer. So if you want help fixing this, I can give you three, four days. Now I've got to tell you, my male pride said, Oh, I can do this myself.
[49:18] I don't know how to fix a porch. But I'm older now. And I said, Thank you. When can we put it on the calendar? Right? Because we have to learn.
[49:30] God didn't make us able to do everything. He made us needing each other. And most of all, needing God.
[49:41] Especially if we want that victory that Jesus can give to us. That ability to overcome all brokenness. 1 Corinthians says it to us this way. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true.
[49:57] Death has been swelled up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God.
[50:08] He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He went to the cross. Jesus went to the cross to destroy sin. To destroy the power of evil.
[50:20] To destroy death. And all he asks us to do is turn our hearts back to him. Turn to that cross.
[50:32] And let God change us. Transform us. Break the power of sin. Savior, I come.
[51:03] Remember, redemption's here.
[51:17] Where your blood was filled. Oh, my ransom. Everything I once said to him.
[51:33] I counted all as all. Lead me to the cross where your love poured out.
[51:45] Bring me to my knees, Lord. I lay me down. I lay me down. Rid me of myself. I belong to you.
[51:59] Oh, lead me. Lead me to the cross.
[52:11] 者 Are you enjoy.
[52:24] As I tempted and tried You were mine Would He came fast For my sin and death Now You're risen Everything I want so deep I'm out in all the laws Lead me to the cross Where Your love goes down Bring me to my knees Lord, I'm living now Bring me of myself I belong to You Oh, lead me Lead me to the cross
[53:31] Lead me to the cross Lead me to your heart Lead me to your heart Lead me to your heart Lead me to your heart Lead me to the cross Where Your love goes down Bring me to my knees I belong to You I belong to You Lead me to the cross I belong to you I belong to you Lead me to my knees
[55:00] He was willing to say That what He had done Was wrong That's the same for all of us We don't ever get healed Until we admit we have a problem So I invite you to pray with me Dear God in heaven Dear God in heaven I have sinned I have sinned I've broken Your laws I've broken Your laws I've broken Your heart I've broken Your heart I've hurt other people I've hurt other people Even people I love Even people I love Forgive me, Lord Forgive me, Lord Change me Change me Transform me Transform me Renew Renew Your love in me Forgive me, Lord Forgive me, Lord And make me what I need to be Make me what I need to be In Jesus' name we pray In Jesus' name we pray Amen Amen It's God that changes us It's not us That takes the burden off, doesn't it?
[55:57] We don't have to do it all We just have to let God help us Like a 25-year-old boy Helping me Young man Helping me, right?
[56:09] We need to let God step in And change us And He wants to In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen Amen Lord, I come I can rest Now in Him I find my rest Without You I fall apart You're the one That guides my heart Lord, I need You Oh, I need You
[57:13] Every hour I need You My honor and defense My righteousness Oh, God, how I need You In my seat Your grace is born Your grace is found It is where You are Where You are Lord, I am free Holy thanks His trust in me Oh, I need You Lord, I need You Oh, I need You
[58:13] Every hour I need You Every hour I need You My wonder and defense My righteousness Oh, God, how I need You To teach my soul To rise to You When temptation Comes my way When I cannot stand I'll fall on You Jesus Jesus, You're my hopes Jesus, You're my payment Jesus, You're my hope Jesus, You're my mercy Lord, I need you Lord, I need You Oh, I need You Oh, I need You Every hour I need You
[59:14] Every hour I need you. My one defense, my righteousness.
[59:26] Oh God, how I need you. My one defense, my righteousness.
[59:39] Oh God, how I need you. And now as forgiven children of God, let's greet our neighbor with the peace of the Holy Spirit.
[60:09] The jazz version. Awesome offertory. The jazz version of As the Deer.
[60:22] What? The jazz version. Sound awesome. Awesome. Sanctuary.
[60:40] Yeah. Sanctuary. Yeah. Yeah. Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you Lead me on, Lord, from temptation Purify me from within Oh, my heart and your Holy Spirit
[61:46] Take away all my sin Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you Jesus Christ invites you to the table of the Lord It's open to everyone who seeks after him Whether you've been here for years or this is your first time ever in a church If you want Jesus Christ in your life You're welcome to come and join us at the table this morning The Lord be with you And also with you Lift up your hearts
[62:46] We lift them up unto the Lord Let us give thanks to the Lord our God It is right to give our thanks and praise It is right and a good and joyful thing And always and everywhere to give thanks to God He is the one who has blessed us He is the one who has given us life itself He is the one who gives us the power To overcome all darkness and brokenness And so with all the people on earth And all the angels in heaven We praise his name And join their unending hymn And sang Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ When the world was filled with sin You sent him to lead us back to you But many resisted him And condemned him to death By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection
[63:50] You gave birth to your church Delivered us from slavery to sin and death And made with us a new covenant By water and the Spirit On the night in which he gave himself up for us He took bread He gave thanks to you And he broke the bread And he gave it to his disciples And said, take, eat This is my body which is given for you Do this in remembrance of me When the supper was over He took the cup He gave thanks to God And he gave it to his disciples And he said, drink from this all of you This is my blood of the new covenant It's poured out for you and for many For the forgiveness of sin Drink of this, remembering me And so in remembrance of these mighty acts In Jesus Christ We offer ourselves In praise and thanksgiving As a holy and living sacrifice In union with Christ's offering for us As we proclaim the mystery of faith
[64:51] Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit In us gathered here And on these gifts Of bread and wine Make them be for us The body and blood of Christ That we may be for the world The body of Christ Redeemed by his blood The world is weary And heavenly burdened And Christ offer us rest And Christ offer us rest By your spirit Make us one with Christ One with each other And one in ministry To all the world Until Christ comes In final victory And we feast at the heavenly banquet Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit And your holy church All honor and glory Is yours almighty father Now and forever Amen And now as confident children of God Let us pray as our Lord has taught us And sang Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done
[65:51] On earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread And forgive us our trespasses As we forgive those who trespass against us And lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen The body of Christ The bread of heaven Broken for you And for me For the forgiveness Of our sins Glory be to God The blood of Christ The cup of salvation Shed for you And for me For the forgiveness Of our sins Glory be to God And now if you're assisting with communion Would you come forward at this time please May the Lord預ved
[67:04] To death withdraw Yoga Root 내What interpretedcakes zero 이번에 Ale 그렇 sides 할� Jewel He적인 Whipセ He Hon Thank you.
[68:00] Thank you.
[68:30] Thank you.
[69:00] Thank you. Thank you.
[70:00] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
[70:32] Thank you. Thank you. May your presence be in them. May your healing be upon them. May you work with the medical people that all that they can do, they will do.
[70:43] Bless him, be with him, and give him your strength and peace today and always. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. It is not a sign of weakness to say that we can't do it all.
[70:54] It's a sign of faith. We have faith in each other and we have faith in our God. Sometimes we need a little help. You notice I brought in an extra pastor. It's Pastor Sherry's in England and Pastor Lisa's in Michigan.
[71:08] And so Pastor Jackie came to join us today. That's okay. That's good. Because I'm kind of passionately in love with her and with Jesus.
[71:19] So go out and live that way and love that way and be that way. And may God bless you today and always. Amen. Amen.
[72:26] Amen. Amen.
[73:26] Amen.