Transcription downloaded from https://services.pcumc.org/sermons/27369/november-8-2015/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Good morning everybody. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad. Many kids want to come up and sing. They're welcome to join us. This is the day that the Lord has made. [0:20] Let us rejoice and be glad in Him. This is the day that the Lord has made. [0:37] Let us rejoice and be glad in Him. This is the day that the Lord has made. [0:50] Good morning. Welcome to our church. We have a gift for our visitors at the Connection site. Please fill out your friendship card for any prayers or concern or just so we can get to know you. [1:04] It's fun to be part of the welcoming committee here at Hamilton Center. We are glad to have you here with us this morning. If you're a visitor, we've got a gift for you back at the Connection site this morning. [1:15] I did want to mention our clipboard opportunity. There's only one today and that's for the hanging of the greens. Which is decorating the church basically. But we're also going to have a dinner, bake cookies, do some children's activities. [1:27] So you can look on there and see if there's some things you'd like to be a part of. That's going to be the end of the month of November on Sunday, November 29th. Tomorrow night, our district superintendent's wife, Molly Butler, is going to be here for our UNI program to share about her trip to Africa. [1:42] That sounds like that would be interesting. And in your little good news, you're going to see a little article about families who need help at Thanksgiving. We try to put together a lot of baskets of food to help the families at Thanksgiving. [1:54] And if you can help with that, you can bring a turkey or mashed potatoes or a pie or whatever. You can see the list is in there. I'd love you to bring those. We'll get those to some families in our congregation and in our community that are in need. [2:09] The last thing I want to mention is you're going to see kind of a web-looking thing out in the back of the sanctuary. What that is is that the kids are putting together this blessing thing. So for the month of November, they'd like you to write blessings on a card and clip them on one of those strings. [2:24] And we'll see if we can't fill it up with all kinds of blessings. Let's turn our hearts to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Dear Lord, we pray that you'd bless us, that you'd send your spirit upon us to touch us, to be with us, to strengthen us, to guide us, to love us. [2:37] As we offer up our whole lives to you in worship this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you're able, I'm going to invite you to stand as we sing together. Oh, Jesus, I have promised. [2:59] To serve it in the end. [3:22] When you're in this happenstance. [3:36] you can perform. He will be my God. [3:48] Oh, let me fear thee, Lord. The world is glad or given. I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I heed. [4:04] My hopes are ever given, I'm hungry and with me. But Jesus, drop me deeper and shield my soul from sin. [4:21] Oh, that fear is me, he lands its fear and still. Above the storms of mission, the mountains of self-wing. [4:37] Oh, sleep to reassure me, to raise an ark of joy. Oh, sleep and then we listen, oh, God, it all my soul. [4:55] Oh, Jesus, love has promised to follow the maelowin the Lord be with you. [5:18] Oh, give me grace to God, my master and my friend. The Lord be with you. [5:31] Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor with the peace of the Spirit. Anybody know what this is? It's a phone, yeah. Could a phone do a lot of things? [5:45] Can it do it by itself? What does it need? It needs a person, right? A phone without a person is nothing. In fact, if we leave it over there for a little while, it won't even be alive, it'll just be nothing, right? [6:00] Because phones need people to make them worthwhile, don't they? Make them worth doing something. You know, we're the same way. We need God. Without God, we're really nothing. There's no even reason why we're around. [6:12] Because our whole purpose in life is just to glorify God. So we need to keep God in our lives and then we'll be something, just like this phone. It's cool. We're made. We can be great for God. Okay? [6:23] What do you think for this morning? My mom. Friends and family. My cat and dog. My brothers and sisters. [6:37] My brothers and sisters. My mom and dad. Grandma. Okay. Lord, we thank you for the many blessings you've given to us, for our families, for our friends, for the love that you share. [6:58] In Jesus' name, amen. You guys can all go off to church school. Well, me and Leeds have not been having a good relationship this last couple of days. [7:11] The elegies are kicking in. We'll see if I lose my voice before the service is over. Working on it. I do want to invite Jennifer to come on up. We have a mission moment in our bulletin. This is to help with Veterans Ministries and the things they do to help our veterans. [7:25] So Jennifer's going to come and share with us. Good morning. Thank you for having me come back. I was here last year, the week of Veterans Day, so thank you. [7:36] And thank you for the donations that you sent in. Very generous. Thank you very much. Serve Niagara is a 501c3. We're located in Lockport and we support Niagara County's homeless and disabled veterans and their families. [7:52] Niagara County has the highest concentration of veterans per capita in the state and we also have the least amount of services. So our organization provides, tries to fill in the gaps of what's missing. [8:03] We recently opened up housing for veterans and their families. We have two buildings. They're both in Lockport. One has apartments for the families and the other one is the therapeutic sober home for the men. [8:14] And the houses are just a couple doors down from one another. We have a KSAC program that we fund. It's a scholarship program. There's a shortage of veteran counselors who are in recovery from substance abuse to help other veterans coming back that have issues to deal with. [8:30] And so we have funded that scholarship program with some of your donations that you sent in. We have a 100% success rate with that scholarship. The veterans that we've given the scholarships to have gotten jobs even before they graduated. [8:44] So we're very proud of that program and we're going to continue that on. We also have a Thanksgiving dinner. Last year we provided 125 children with Christmas gifts and all of those things there are some of the programs and services that we have funded with donations like yours. [9:00] And quickly, just so everybody knows, we are a 100% volunteer-based organization. No donations go to pay for salaries. So everything goes to who it needs to go to. [9:12] So thank you very much. And one more quick thing. Can I just get a show of hands how many veterans are here? Thank you for your service. [9:26] Thank you for your service. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. And as we continue in our worship and celebrating all that God has blessed us with, let's bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings. [9:40] among the same of hosts. So and and Thank you. [10:28] Thank you. [10:58] Thank you. [11:28] Thank you. [11:58] Thank you. [12:28] Thank you. [12:58] Thank you. [13:28] Thank you. [13:58] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. [14:09] Amen. Thank you. Thank you. [14:45] Thank you. And we're going to be here. And we're going to be here. [15:00] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [15:32] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [16:14] Thank you. Thank you. [17:14] be with us. Thank you. For the rest of the month of the blood of the blood of the blood of the blood of the blood of the blood of the blood. them into wholeness, Lord. Draw them into your presence. We pray for those who are sick and are infirm, Lord God. [17:29] We just ask in Jesus' name for their doctors to have wisdom. [17:42] We pray for those grieving losses. Oh Lord, how hard it can be when those people that we love and we care for are gone from us. [17:59] Whether they're gone from us, Lord, from their physical bodies and they have just gone to be with you, they have gone and left this world. Those who have left in other ways, who are just absent from us. [18:16] Absent from relationship. God, we pray in Jesus' name that you will bring comfort. Comfort to each and every one. [18:29] Help all of the caregivers, Lord, of those who are sick and those who are grieving. Help those people to have compassionate hearts. [18:41] Touch them with your compassion and your peace. Lord, we ask that you would bless us as we go into our communities, as we see those things that need to change. [18:55] we pray in Jesus' name that you would help us to know what to say and who to say it to, how to say it, so that we can bring your light, the light of truth, the light of love into all kinds of situations. [19:14] pray for those who don't know you, that they would be drawn by your Holy Spirit to come into your presence, that we would be a shining light and we would have words that come from you that will reach their hearts, that will touch them. [19:39] help us, Lord. Help us to be your church. We can't do it by ourselves. [19:52] We need your grace, we need your power, we need your loving mercy. Now, Lord, as we hear your word, give us eyes to see and ears to hear in hearts and minds to understand and receive all that you have for us this day. [20:13] Let it wash over us and transform us. Be with Pastor Tom as he delivers the message that you've given him. Anoint him, Lord God, and let it be a blessing to him and to us. [20:27] And Lord God, help us to always be mindful. We want our worship to be a blessing to you. In Jesus' name we pray. [20:39] Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? Good morning. Our scripture reading today is taken from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 18, verses 18 to 30. [20:58] Hear these words of the Lord. A certain ruler asked Jesus, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call me good? [21:10] Jesus answered. No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. [21:20] Do not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother. All these I have kept since I was a boy, he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, You still lack one thing. [21:34] Sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me. When he heard this, he became very sad because he was a man of great wealth. [21:48] Jesus looked at him and said, How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. [22:02] Those who heard this asked, Who then can be saved? Jesus replied, What is impossible with men is possible with God. Peter said to him, We have left all we had to follow you. [22:17] I tell you the truth, Jesus said to them. No one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and in the age to come eternal life. [22:35] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Laurie. We're going to look at passages to answer the question over the next few weeks of what does Jesus want? [22:53] What does God want from us? This fellow comes up to Jesus and said, What do I need to do to make a claim on eternal life so that I can be sure I have eternal life? [23:08] He's a successful guy. And the way in which we measure success, nowadays people are wondering, Can we count on the American dream anymore? Will our children be better off than us? [23:19] There's all kinds of questions about what success would be. This guy is successful. It says that he's a ruler. He serves his community. He must be popular. [23:30] He's very wealthy. And he's what we would call good. But Jesus says, Keep the commandments. And he rattles off about four or five of them that have to do with people. [23:43] Don't commit adultery. Don't lie. Don't bear false testimony. These kind of things. And the guy says, I've kept all of these since I was a child. Wow. [23:53] How many of us could say we've kept the Ten Commandments? All of them. I know. I can't say I've kept them all since I was a child. Never did anything wrong like that. [24:07] Jesus says, You lack one thing. Not good enough is basically what he says to them. [24:18] Don't you hate that? Not quite measuring up. Still something broken about you. How good is good enough? [24:31] I have to tell you, you know, years ago, as a young man, as a teenager, I did a lot of things that weren't really right. I don't talk too much about it because people tell me I'm giving teenagers the wrong ideas. I did a lot of things wrong. [24:45] Over the years, I've tried to make my life better. I've tried to live up to be the person that a pastor's supposed to be. But every so often, when I start to feel like I'm getting where I need to be, God shows me something wrong with me. [25:03] How about the rest of you? I find that every time I overcome something that I think is wrong with my life and I think I'm starting to get to be okay, God says, Oh, by the way, let me show you that you say the wrong things. [25:16] You do the wrong things or you're acting wrong here or somehow you've got to change who and what you are. And I go, Wow, I never saw that before. [25:31] I think God does that because if he dumped everything wrong with us on us all at once, we'd probably collapse down into a puddle going, Right? So God gives us a little piece at a time. [25:43] This is what you focus on now. Later, I'm going to tell you what's wrong here. I don't think anybody ever gets there where everything is good. I think even this guy lacked more than one thing. [25:58] But Jesus says, You lack one thing. And you can almost feel the disappointment of the guy. Really? All I've been doing and something still isn't right? [26:11] We've got this frustration in our lives, in our culture where it feels like things just never are quite exactly the way we picture them. [26:25] We've got this ideal of what life is going to be, but it's never quite as good, as complete, as successful as we thought it would be. [26:39] I don't know how many of you are on this Facebook thing. But this thing is the moralizer. You go on there and everybody's having a good time. Have you noticed that? [26:50] My wife takes pictures of me and puts them on Facebook. And I'm always smiling and having a great time. If you went by my Facebook page, you would think, All I do is goof off and have a ball. [27:03] Everybody on Facebook is having a good time. Everybody on Facebook is successful. Everybody on Facebook is taking that trip you want to take. Everybody's having a blast but you. And you're going, Can I put it on Facebook? [27:16] That'll make me look good. Ah! We've come to have this idea in our mind of what success is, of what it would mean to achieve the ultimate goal. [27:31] So even a football player just won the Super Bowl. And some reporter comes up to him and says, Now that you've won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do? [27:43] And they say, I'm going to Disney World. In life, making family memories can be nothing short of incredible. [27:54] Guys, we're going to Disneyland right now. Right now. Now! Right now! What do you think? And Disney memories, they're magic things you can hold on to for all time. [28:08] Yay! Read to the girls what that fox says. Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! [28:18] Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! [28:29] Disney memories keep our children young in our hearts for the rest of our lives and color our tomorrows with the best of our yesterdays. They sing to us whenever we need them to and dance for us in our dreams, which is why they're so important. [28:45] Well, here's the very best part. I am so excited! Your Disney memory can begin this very moment. We're getting on the plane right now. [28:55] I'm going to Disneyland. I don't know what I'd say. You're close! We're going to California. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh! What? Are you excited? Oh, my God! [29:06] Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Are you excited? You better be. I just mortgaged the house and took out a $20,000 loan so I could take you to some fancy amusement park that's just near you and Lake on steroids. [29:20] Really. It's all it is. When we were kids, we just wanted to go to Crystal Beach. Yeah, Crystal Beach is now condos, you know. I've been to Disney World. [29:31] It's a great place. It really is. It's a lot of fun. My wife's cousin used to work there, so we used to get them free. So we'd go there pretty much every year. So I can tell you all about Disney. [29:42] Last time we went, my wife and I walked around looking at the flowers more than going on the rides. I know you say that's crazy, right? But it's just an amusement park. It is not the goal of life. [29:55] And when you leave there, your kids will go, ah, ah, ah, ah. You know, they don't show that picture, do they? I don't want to go home. Yeah, well. [30:08] The goal of life is not to get to Disneyland. It's not even to get wealthy. It's not even to have a wonderful family or successful career. [30:21] The goal of this life is to get to the next one, right? What must I do to inherit eternal life? The guy asks a very simple question. [30:33] I want to be able to be sure that I can claim eternity. What do I have to do? Because I've done most everything. Jesus says, take all your wealth and give it to the poor and come and follow me. [30:50] That guy goes, ah, really? Now, just in case you're wondering, there's no other place in the Bible where God asks somebody to give away all their money and I'm not suggesting you should do that. [31:03] And in fact, please don't give all your money to the church because I don't want to have to take care of you, all right? This isn't about that. There's all kinds of ways we can give to show that our money is not more important than God to us. [31:17] And that's the point of this passage. Something he put above God. And when Jesus is telling this or doing this with his disciples right there, he turns to them and he says, how hard it is for a rich person to get into the kingdom of heaven. [31:36] It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. It's interesting how people make up all kinds of things about some needle gate in Jerusalem or this or that. It's meant to be a great big camel going through a tiny little eye of a needle because it's impossible. [31:52] Not hard, not a little difficult, not problematic. It's impossible. And they were like blown away. [32:05] Then how can anybody make it? Because you see, in their mind, if you were rich, you must be blessed by God. Because God wouldn't give you that money unless you were good. So if the good people can't make it, we're all done. [32:19] If this guy who's kept all the commandments can't make it, how can any of us make it? We do the same thing. We associate what our culture tells us is the good life with success and with what's important. [32:34] what do we brag about when we talk about our kids or our grandkids or our parents or our families or even our own lives? Let me tell you about the job my kid has. [32:46] Let me show you pictures of the house that they just built. Let me tell you the grades my kid got in school. Do you know how many sporting events they've won? [32:58] We really think that if you've got the good life you're blessed just like they do. But Jesus started this whole thing off by saying no one's good. [33:15] No one. Think about that. No one's good. Not you or you or you or you or you or me. None of us are good. [33:28] I know for some of you that's a big disappointment because you've been trying so hard to be good. And once you mess up you make excuses. We've even gone in our culture to say that what's wrong is not wrong anymore so that we don't have to be bad. [33:44] We've come up with all kinds of ways of trying to be perfect. For me it's like thank God I'm not good and nobody else is. That's a load off. [33:57] Because I know I know I mess up and I bet you do too. And this just says to me none of us can measure up to that perfection. [34:08] Not because people haven't tried because it can't be done. Jesus says to this guy you lack one thing. Could you imagine there's only one thing wrong with your life? [34:20] I can't even imagine such a thing. The Bible has the Apostle Paul. He tried to be perfect. He said I'm a Pharisee among Pharisees. I've kept every rule in the book. [34:32] But it wasn't good enough. Martin Luther the great reformer that started the Protestant Reformation he was so good that when he went into confession to his confessor to confess his sins the guy one time said to him Martin I wish you'd go out and do something really wrong. [34:48] You come in here to tell me you've passed gas in the kitchen. Really seriously. Go out and do something bad so you've got something to confess. the rich young ruler who wasn't good enough. [35:02] And if this guy isn't good enough how do we make it? He says no one is good except God alone. So Paul says this in Romans what a wretched man I am. [35:16] Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. That's where salvation comes. God saves us. [35:29] We don't save ourselves. We don't make our own way. We can't be good enough to put a claim on God to say we have a right to it. [35:39] we're saved by a gift from God. What must I do? There's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can possibly accomplish to be good enough to be perfect. [35:57] Only by God accepting us broken as we are anyways do we find eternal life. So we can't inherit it. We can't put a claim on it. [36:08] We can't walk up to God and say you have to let me in. God wants us to say will you please let me in. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. [36:21] Acts chapter 16. Not just you but your whole household with you. What's impossible with people Jesus said is possible with God. [36:36] It's impossible for any of us to find salvation. He wasn't just talking about rich people. The only reason why he mentioned rich people is because rich people have a tendency to be more concerned about their money than poor people believe it or not. [36:53] And so he offers us impossible grace. Amazing grace. A grace so phenomenal grace. That only God can do it. [37:06] Break the divide between sinful people and a perfect God. What does Jesus want? He wants you to believe that he will do this for you to trust God and to make God your God. [37:23] God so Paul says in chapter 6 well should we say that? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase? [37:33] By no means we die to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Part of the problem is some people think it's just about grace from God's side which it is. [37:47] Only God can save us and yet that doesn't mean we stop there. We don't get baptized and that's it. We're done. We don't come up to the altar rail and give our life to Jesus and it's finished and we go do whatever we want. [38:01] God expects us to change because he said and come and follow me. Believing is to be living for God. [38:15] That's what believing means. Believing that's just up here is not a real belief. A real belief is one where you put feet to your ideas. And why do we do it? [38:28] We do it because God's done such an amazing thing for us. To give us an attitude of gratitude. The problem in our culture is we have an attitude of entitlement. [38:42] We think we're owed something by somebody somewhere that just for the very fact of breathing we should have everything given to us. And we're supposed to have an attitude of gratitude. [38:56] And by the way an attitude of entitlement comes largely from getting too much because you don't appreciate what it is to have a good life. [39:11] When my wife and I were young and we had a little baby we were poor. Not poor like we couldn't eat but we ate Kraft Macaroni and Cheese always a name brand because you know Kraft Macaroni and Cheese really no. [39:29] They didn't have the generic stuff back then okay. We ate Kraft Macaroni and Cheese five nights a week. The only way we got meat was we'd go over to our parents house and bum some food off of them and eat with them on Saturday and Sunday. [39:44] That's how they got us to visit. We couldn't go out. We couldn't afford to even take the car and drive around the block. We didn't have the money for gas even if it was 30 cents. [39:58] We didn't have enough money to pay our bills. I was working 50 hours a week and we were making about 150 bucks and I needed about 170. [40:11] Every single month. I'd watch it go a little bit south. For a young man that's so frustrating. Causes ulcers and worry and concern. [40:24] A friend of mine called me up on the phone and says hey Tom you should come work for the company that I'm working for. Their name is Kemwon. I've never heard of such a thing. [40:36] What's a Kemwon? He says they got jobs. They take care of you. The way he made it sound it was like going to Disney World. So I said okay. I came over and I applied. [40:48] The day they hired me they tripled my salary. Holy cats. These people are crazy. They're paying enormous wages. They gave me benefits. [40:59] We didn't have any benefits. They gave me health insurance. They gave me uniforms to wear. They sent us on trips. They gave us a pension. Who the heck are these people? The first three months that I was there, about every month they come up to me and tell me that I had earned a raise that I didn't know that I was eligible for and that they had forgotten to put in the paperwork so it was about a month old so they were going to give me a check to make up for it. [41:24] They're sorry that they didn't give me the money sooner. I'm like seriously, what is wrong with these people? They keep giving me money. By the way, I was only working about three days a week because it was going in time, right? [41:37] People are nuts. The next spring, they asked me to go out and work 90 hours a week. Have you ever worked 90 hours a week? Week after week after week after week. [41:51] You go home and you take a choice between eating your dinner or showering or falling asleep in your dinner because that's really about what it is. I didn't care. Are you kidding? [42:02] These people saved my world. Do you follow? I had an attitude of gratitude and anything they wanted, they got. That's just money. [42:16] That's just the job. God does far more than that. God gives us life eternal. He gives us a purpose in this world. [42:28] He keeps us from ever being alone. He gives us a community of people to love us and to love. Gives us joy. Gives us hope. He gives us everything. [42:44] When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. you remember that little what was you, a cricket? [42:58] Jiminy cricket, yeah. When you wish, you get your heart's desire. If you could have anything in life, if you could have one wish, what would you wish for? [43:14] What would you want it to be? A new car? A new house? Who's so low? Maybe a bazillion dollars. Millions kind of low. Let's go for a bazillion, right? [43:26] That would make us really rich, right? Somebody to love. A family. A good job. [43:40] Maybe something for our children. And what if God asked you for that? What if God asked you for that? He said, one thing I want you to do is to give up the very thing that you've been hoping for and living for. [43:58] Because that's what happened to this guy. You see, God asked for the very thing that we put between us and him. The most important things in our lives. And what do we say? [44:09] What do we say to God? He asked it throughout the Bible. Abraham. All he wanted was a son, Isaac. [44:21] And the son is born, he gets to a certain height, and God says, give him back to me. Can you imagine how crushed Abraham was? But he did it. And God gave him everything. [44:34] Jacob. He wanted his inheritance from Grandpa Abraham. That's all he wanted. And God said, you're not going to get that. And God gave him the inheritance of all the people of faith. [44:49] How about Peter? He says, we gave up everything for you, Lord. Didn't you like that? We gave up everything for you, God. Not really. He had his boats in dry dock. [45:03] He had a house and a family. He gave up everything. Then how come he could go fishing with a commercial fishing boat? After Jesus rose from the dead, Peter was there on the lakeshore. [45:16] In the book of John, Jesus says to him, do you love me more than this stuff you hid away from me? Paul, his prestige to be the great leader of Israel, this rich young ruler. [45:32] What do we worship more than God? What does Jesus want? he wants everything? You know, I've been wondering, like if somebody came from outer space for 10,000 years from now, they studied our society, would they think that we were a mouse cult? [45:53] You know, we worship the mouse, we put them on our ties, got earrings for them, wear them around our neck, and we make pilgrimages to the house of the mouse, right? [46:04] We've got movies about the mouse, we've got cartoons to train our kids about the mouse, because we all have to give homage to the mouse. Oh, Mighty Mouse, right? [46:15] I think there was a Mighty Mouse, wasn't there? Wasn't him? Wasn't him? That guy's gone. This mouse survived. I love Disney World. [46:26] I think it's a great place. I hope you're not hearing me knock Disney, because I think it's a wonderful place. If you have the opportunity to go there, you should go and enjoy it. It's just an amusement park. That's all it is. [46:37] It's not something to live your life for. Nothing, nothing should be between God. You can't buy eternal life. [46:50] You can't even earn eternal life. So the next step is that God wants us to follow him in such a way that everything comes beneath him. [47:02] Oh, it's a bare necessity. It's a simple bare necessity. Forget about your worries and your strife. Could we get by with just the bare necessities? [47:16] What if God asked us to give it all up and just get down to the bare necessities of life? I was working for Kemlon. [47:28] We had a lot of time to think, walking across people's backyards all day, walking miles, real good shape. One day, God actually talked to me. [47:39] He says, okay, it's time. Time for what? Time for a break? No, it's time. Time for you to go to school. Quit your job, sell your house, go to school, become a pastor. [47:52] Yeah, right. Right. You're looking at the guy in the next yard because you ain't talking to me. I know who I am. You know who I am. We argued for about a week or so. [48:06] Friday said, okay, God, here's the deal. I'm willing to be a pastor for you. After I make the money I need and I'm retired about the age of 72, I'm ready to be a pastor. [48:24] Is that a deal? No. I'll give you two years. Get your stuff together. Seriously. You think God doesn't talk to you, but he does. [48:37] Two years. In that time, I was figuring it out, trying to study it. I even talked to the church. I wanted to know, can I work when I go to school? No. Can you give me a church so I could be a pastor out and make a little money? [48:51] I got a family. No, we don't have a church for you. Really? Seriously, dude? What do you want me to do here? Got down to crunch time. [49:02] We sold our house. I quit my job. And we're just going to move on. The church finally offered me a church. I got two little churches. I made $75 a week. [49:15] Yoo-hoo! Living the large life, right? $75 a week. We were poor again. Did I give it all up? [49:26] Heck no, I took a truck full of stuff with me. I had the money I got from selling the house. I had money from investing because I started investing when I was 20. Good idea if you're young. [49:37] Start when you're 20. By the time I was done with school that was all gone. God wanted it all. God wanted it all. [49:52] He gave me a life filled with blessing. See, God wants to bless us. He wants to bless us. [50:03] First, we have to be his. In the book of John, we got this amazing verse where Jesus says, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it'll be given to you. [50:18] This is my father's glory that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples. I want you to do well. But the problem is all we see is whatever you wish will be given to you and we forget about remaining in God, don't we? [50:35] Do we wish what does God want us to wish for? [50:49] What's most important to us? What do you brag about when you talk about your family and your friends and when you're on Facebook? People always are bragging at my age you start bragging about the kids or grandkids you know? [51:05] And there's lots of things we can talk about and there's lots of ways I'm proud about my family. But the proudest moment was one time when I was at this pastor's luncheon and this guy named Jim Cimbala tells us that he's going to do an altar call that evening and 70% of the congregation is going to come to the rail. [51:24] We're all like dude that doesn't happen right? He says no it'll work you'll see it'll happen. So Jackie and I went here we are two pastors sitting up in the nose bleak seats we're watching all this couple thousand people there most of them around our age to be honest with you because that's what most churches are made of we have a very different church with all the young people we have most of these people were about our age maybe a little older and he gets up and he says you have a child or a grandchild that doesn't love Jesus the way you do doesn't care about having God in their life they don't go to church it doesn't seem to matter to them does it break your heart I want you to come down here if you have something like that and we're going to pray for them the place stood up like one person all these people are going down with real tears coming down their faces my wife and I looked at each other and said daughter no we're good we're good we've got this one proudest day of my life not because [52:34] I consider them unsuccessful in other areas but because the most important thing in this life the purpose of this life is to get the next one to have God in our life and when we make God the main thing God pours out the rest Jesus Jesus Jesus turned to Peter and he said anybody who's given up family or friends or money or wealth or homes or any of that stuff for me I will give them more in eternal life and in this life blessed to be a blessing what does Jesus want what does he really want he wants to bless you he wants to bless you in this life and he wants to bless you for all eternity but he wants first place not second or third some other point on the line God wants it all for a thousand times I've failed still your mercy remains should I stumble again still I'm caught in your grace everlasting your night will shine when all else fades and ripping your glory goes beyond all fame your will above all else my purpose remains without losing myself in bringing new praise everlasting your light will shine when all else fades never ending your glory goes beyond all fame my heart and my soul [54:58] I give you control consume me from the inside of Lord let justice and praise be from my embrace to love you from the inside out everlasting your light will shine when all else fades never ending your glory goes beyond all fame and the cry of my heart is to bring you praise from the inside out for my soul present my heart and my soul I give you control consume me from the inside out Lord let justice and praise become my embrace to love you from the inside out everlasting your light will shine when all else fades never end your glory goes beyond all fame and the cry of my heart is to bring you praise from the inside out [56:31] Lord my soul rise out from the inside out Lord my soul rise out to you Lord we bow our hearts we bend our knees oh spirit come make us humble we turn our eyes from evil things oh Lord we cast down our idols so give us clean hands and give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another oh [57:44] God let us be a generation that sees who see your face oh God of Jacob oh God let speak a generation that sees to seek your face oh God of Jacob we bow our hearts we bend our knees oh spirit come take us humble we turn our eyes from evil things oh Lord we cast down our idols so give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another oh [58:53] God let us be a generation that seeks to seek your face oh God of Jacob oh God let us be a generation that seeks to seek your face oh God of Jacob so give us clean hands give us pure hearts let us not lift our souls to another please be seated you know the starting point of our faith is to recognize that we're not as good as we think we are we're not even as good as we want to be the only way we're going to find perfection is through the power of God himself the one who is perfect can make us perfect so we don't make excuses we don't try to explain it away we don't say wrong is right we just say [60:03] God I'm broken that's what our confession is about shall we pray dear God in heaven I have sinned I've not measured up to what you want me to be I have things I sometimes put ahead of you forgive me Lord fill me with your spirit help me to live for you that I might be yours to be a blessing in this world in Jesus name we pray amen in the name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven glory to God amen this is my desire to honor you [61:22] Lord with all my heart I worship you Lord with all my heart I worship you and give you praise all that I adore is in you Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you alone every breath that I take every moment I'm awake Lord have your way in me [62:23] Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you Lord every breath that I take every moment I'm awake Lord have your way in me me I have your way Lord I give you my heart I give you my soul I live for you alone every breath that I take every moment will ever and I give you to des executed [63:34] God loves you so much. [63:46] All of us. He invites us to his table so that we can meet with him. Is it your desire to honor God, to be with God, to love God, to put God first? [64:04] God put you first. God put me first. When he went to the cross, it used to be said, if you were the only one who needed salvation from sin, Jesus would have died just for you. [64:21] I think that's true. When we come to the table, we not only remember how God put us first and died for us, but we can receive him in a new and fresh and special way today. [64:42] So come to the table. Everyone is welcome. If you love God, earnestly repent of your sin and seek to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ in peace, you are welcome at the table this morning. [64:58] come and be with us. Come and be with God. The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. [65:11] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. [65:25] By your appointment, the seasons come and go. You bring forth bread from the earth and create the fruit of the vine. [65:36] You formed us in your image and made us stewards of your world. Earth has yielded its treasure and from your hand we have received blessing on blessing. [65:50] And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn. Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. [66:07] 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. [66:18] Christ, though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor. When hungry and tempted, he refused to make bread for himself that he might be the bread of life for others. [66:35] When the multitudes were hungry, he fed them. He broke bread with the outcast, but drove the greedy from the temple. By the baptism of his suffering, death and resurrection, 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. [66:56] And on the night in which he gave himself up for us, Jesus took bread and he gave thanks to you. He broke the bread and he gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat. [67:10] This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. [67:27] And when the supper was over, he took the cup and he gave thanks to you and he gave it to his disciples and he said, drink from this all of you. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant poured out for you, poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sin. [67:47] Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. And so, in remembrance of these, your 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. [68:12] Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Pour out your Holy Spirit on 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. [68:35] Father, 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 his heavenly banquet. [68:50] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your Holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen. [69:00] Shall we pray together with the confidence of children of God the prayer Jesus taught us? Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. [69:13] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done 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. [69:34] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. Will those serving please come forward. Amen. Amen. [70:02] Amen. Amen. Amen. [70:13] Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you. [70:44] Thank you. [71:14] Thank you. [71:44] Thank you. [72:14] Thank you. [72:44] Thank you. Thank you. [73:44] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [74:16] Thank you. Thank you. [74:48] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [75:00] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [75:13] Sanchez. We're We're saving you. Thank you. I think we're playing very soon. [75:24] Happy for you. God. And God will do that. May the Lord be with you, watch over you, care for you, take care of you, and take all these allergies away. [75:37] Amen. Amen. [76:26] Amen.