Jesus as Our Truth

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to open them to Genesis chapter 3. And as you're turning there, I want to remind us of where we've been in our 'Know the Way' series. Two weeks ago, we looked at Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 16, where God calls His people to 'stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’ This passage challenged us to consider: Are we truly seeking God's way or are we determined to forge our own path? And this matters deeply because the way we choose determines the life we live. It's not just about getting from point A to point B—,it’s about who we become along the journey.

I want to ask you a question as we begin, but don't answer too quickly: Where do you look for truth in your life? Now take a moment to think about it. What makes something true? When you need to know what's real, what's right, what matters—where do you turn? Just this week around the dinner table we were having this discussion about schools around our area and one of our kids made a comment that this one school in our area has nothing but teachers with no college education. And so, Alicia and I asked, is that even possible? Because from Alicia and I’d perspectives we know that you just can’t get a teaching position without a degree. Yes, we have paraprofessionals, but to be a certified teacher, there are requirements by the state and the school. So we asked our kids, how do you know this to be true? And their answer,…. my friend told me. And isn't that telling about how we often determine truth? We hear something that sounds plausible—maybe even something that confirms what we already think or feel—and we accept it as truth without investigating further. Our source of truth becomes whatever feels right or whatever someone we trust has told us. This happens with our kids, but let's be honest—as adults, we can do the same thing. We read something online, hear it from a trusted friend, see it on our preferred news channel, and we accept it as truth without really examining the source or testing its reliability. And in our world today, determining what's true has become increasingly complicated. We're bombarded with information from countless sources. Social media.. nothings really official until we see it on Facebook.. right? news outlets, trusted friends, family, coworkers—all offering their version of reality. And more and more, our culture tells us that truth is subjective—that what's true for you might not be true for me. And So think about this… Trying to find truth has been a dilemma since Eden?

Look with me to Genesis 3, verses 1-5. Here's where it all began: Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You can't eat from any tree in the garden’?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’" "No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman. "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.’ Now, Look at what's happening here! Eve has to figure out who to believe. Does she trust what God said, or does she go with what this serpent is suggesting? If you remember, its the same with Jeremiah and Israel in Chapter 6… Do you hear what the Lord says? Do you stand and look and ask which way is the good way? Then take it? Or do you answer like Israel? No we won’t. What we notice in the very beginning, right before the fall of mankind, Eve is at this crossroads. And the serpent—he's crafty, right? He starts with this innocent-sounding question: "Did God really say...?" Then he flat-out contradicts God: "You won't die!" And finally, he dangles this promise: "You'll be like God, knowing good and evil. He's basically telling Eve, "Hey, don't let God tell you what's true. You figure it out for yourself. You be the boss of your own life. You live your truth. You’re here, in this moment, living your life.. What feels good in this moment, that must be true. And isn't that exactly what we hear everywhere today? "You do you." "Follow your heart." "Live your truth." It sounds so good, doesn't it? It’s freeing. Feels Authentic…. If I can feel it, it must be true. And so, this question isn’t just a simple question, that would allow us to jump in without truly thinking about it… where are you looking or truth?

This is the same question the disciples were facing that night when Jesus was telling them He was leaving. Their world was about to be turned upside down. Everything they thought they knew was about to be challenged. And in that moment of confusion and fear, they needed to know where to look for truth. And what was Jesus's answer?

Well, lets go back to where we left off two weeks ago in John 14… and look at verse 6. Jesus told them, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

Now, here is what’s interesting… Jesus is not just claiming to know the truth or speak the truth—in this moment, look at what he is claiming…. to BE the truth. Jesus is saying, 'When everything is shifting and changing around you, I remain constant. When you don't know what to believe or who to trust, you can believe Me and trust Me. When you’re at a crossroads, stand, look, ask for the good way, and walk in it. Right, at every crossroads in life there’s opportunity to choose.

Here's what's so powerful about this: In the garden, Eve chose to be her own authority. She decided she would determine what was true based on what she could see and understand. And that decision led to separation from God. This is the moment sin is injected into the human soul, and heart. Every moment of suffering in human history can be traced back to this fundamental problem: we've rejected God's truth and appointed ourselves as the authority. And I’ll say it again, is that not the center of our sin. That I appoint my truth over God’s truth. This is what sin actually is at its core. It's not just breaking rules or missing the mark. It's saying, 'I know better than God. I'll decide what's true for me.' It's putting ourselves in God's place. And what's the result? Look around. Look at our world—divided, confused, hurting. Look at our own lives—our anxieties, our fears, our broken relationships. When we try to create our own truth, we end up lost and disconnected from the source of life itself.

So this brings us to another crucial question: Who is the authority in your life? Let me put it another way—who do you really listen to when you have to make a decision? When you're trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong, where do you turn? Jesus makes this incredible claim in Matthew 28:18. He says, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.’ Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus says all authority? Think about what that means for a minute. The same Jesus who says 'I am the truth' is also saying 'I have complete authority over everything.' Over every nation, every leader, every situation—and yes, over your life and my life. I remember, our first time we lived in Colorado, and I came home one Wednesday afternoon with my office packed into a cardboard box, and I walked through the door, Alicia just broke down crying and she sat down knowing that I had just been laid off.. Can you imagine our anxious hearts? God, What now? Will we become homeless? Will me need to move back east? Did you not hear our prayers for safety and security? Do you not see our struggles? Ya know… one thing I learned through all of our struggles and uncertainties in our marriage is that, We cannot avoid uncertainty in this life, but we can respond to it in a Christ-honoring way. And that's where Jesus's authority and truth intersect with our everyday lives. When Jesus says 'I am the truth' and 'All authority has been given to me,' He's offering us a foundation that doesn't shift when our circumstances do. Think about what Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Right, the book of wisdom… look at what it says, God says, 'Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.’ This doesn't mean God will make our paths easy or problem-free. But it does mean He'll make them straight—leading us where we need to go, even when the journey is difficult. But it does mean, he leads us.

So let me ask you, church—who has authority in your life? If Jesus isn’t the authority, then you are. Let that sink in… who’s the authority in your life… you are. You’re choosing your path. If Jesus isn’t the authority, then you are. And if you’re the one calling the shots, the one navigating your own way, where is that taking you? Where has it gotten you so far? Can I just share with you why Jesus is the answer to this question? Because you and I can say, 'Jesus is the antidote. Jesus is the answer.' But do we believe it deep enough that when life gets hard, when things fall apart, when temptation hits, our very souls cry out, 'Help!'? Think about the Psalms. Think about David. Over and over again, his plea is, 'Help! Help me, Lord! Help me in this moment! 'But I want you to notice something. David isn’t obsessed with the source of his problem; he’s fixated on the Source of his solution. He’s not dwelling on the battle; he’s anchoring himself in the One who fights for him. Listen to Psalm 25:1-3:

In you, Lord my God,I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.I put my trust. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame but shame will come on those who are treacherous without cause. Psalm 25:1-3

What is David asking for? Yes protection. We all cry for that… but his cries go deeper than that… something much more deeper than just protection. When he prays, “do not let me be put to shame” and declares by faith that “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame,” he is asking God to protect the glory of his name in protecting him. He believes that God's reputation is tied to the outcome of his life. That’s not a self-centered prayer. That’s a God-centered cry. David’s saying, 'God, my life is wrapped up in Your reputation. If I’m trusting You and You don’t come through, it’s not just my name that’s on the line—it’s Yours.' That’s not a self-centered prayer. That’s a God-centered cry. That’s what happens when Jesus is the authority. You stop focusing on the problem, and you start anchoring yourself in the One who holds the solution. You stop worrying about your own reputation, and you start caring more about the reputation of the One who saved you. And that’s the heart of abiding. That’s what it means to truly trust. To surrender. To say, 'Jesus, You lead. I follow. Your name, Your reputation, Your glory—that’s what matters most.’

Here it is. You turn to Jesus’ authority. You stop fighting for control. You stop wrestling to be the king of your own life. You lay it down. You acknowledge that He is Lord—not just with your lips but with your life. You say, 'Jesus, You have the authority. You are the way, the truth, and the life. Not me. Not my ideas. Not my plans. You.' And you trust Him. You trust Him when it doesn’t make sense. When everything in you wants to grab the reins and steer your own way—you trust Him. You trust Him when life is falling apart. When the diagnosis is bad. When the bills are piling up. When the marriage feels like it’s hanging by a thread. You trust that His ways are higher than your ways, that His thoughts are higher than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). You trust that He is working all things together for your good and His glory (Romans 8:28). But hear me, church—trusting doesn’t mean the pain vanishes. Trusting doesn’t mean the storm suddenly stops. It means you’re anchored in the One who holds you steady in the midst of it all. It means you’re leaning into His authority, even when the ground beneath you is shaking. And that’s what abiding looks like. That’s what surrender looks like. It’s saying, 'Jesus, You lead. I follow. Your reputation, not mine. Your glory, not mine. Your will, not mine.’ So, where are you struggling to surrender? Where are you still holding on to control? Where are you still saying, 'God, I trust You… but let me handle this one part’? Because the call is not partial surrender. The call is complete surrender. The call is to let go. To trust that Jesus is not just able to lead—you trust that He is good as He leads.

You’ve got to take that step of faith and say, 'Jesus, I trust that Your righteousness is enough. I trust that Your blood covers me. I trust that Your life is now my life. That You became sin so that I could become the righteousness of God.' That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:21 is all about: 'God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ Listen, church—you and I do not become righteous in ourselves. We only become righteous in Christ. But let’s not move too quickly past this. Because before you can truly trust in His righteousness, you’ve got to confront your own unrighteousness. You’ve got to come face to face with the ways you’ve asserted your authority over God’s. The ways you’ve elevated your thoughts above His. The ways you’ve believed you know better than God what is best for your life. And that right there—that’s the core of our sin. That’s unrighteousness. And until you lay that down, you can’t pick up the righteousness of Christ. Let’s sit in this truth for a moment. Jesus didn’t just die for your sins. He became sin for you. He took on the fullness of your guilt, your shame, your unrighteousness—He bore it all on that cross. And in exchange, He clothes you in His righteousness. Not a borrowed righteousness, but a righteousness that is now your own because of what He has done. And a righteousness He puts within you because He is in you.

This is why Romans 8:1 is so crucial to understand…. Paul is declaring.. , 'There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ In Christ. Those two words show up again and again in Paul’s letters. In Christ, you are abiding. In Christ, you are desiring. In Christ, you are pursuing. This is more than a Sunday-morning tradition. This is truth and life being offered to you. Because when God looks at you, He no longer sees the sinner. He sees the righteousness of His Son. He sees the perfection of Jesus. And that means you don’t have to strive to prove yourself worthy. You don’t have to work to earn God’s approval. You already have it—in Christ. But don’t stop there. Because trust without action is empty. You’ve got to follow His Word. You’ve got to open this Book and let it shape your life. You don’t just glance at it and walk away.’ You dive into it. You meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:2). You let it be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path (Psalm 119:105).

Look with me real quick to the gospel of John, and watch this. In John 8, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, and He’s being very direct. Starting in verse 21, He says, 'I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.' Did you catch that? Jesus is telling them, 'You’re gonna look for me, but you’re not gonna find me. You’re gonna die in your sin.' It’s a hard word. It’s a confrontational word. But why is Jesus saying this? Because they’re trusting in their own righteousness. They’re banking on their religious traditions. Their Sunday morning routines. They’re convinced they’re good without God—missing the very One who can save them. Jesus is saying, 'You’re refusing to believe in me, and because of that, you’re going to die in your sin.’ There’s no abiding in Christ like Paul talks about in Romans. There’s no following. There’s just self-reliance and empty religion. And church, listen—how many of us are guilty of the same thing? How many of us are content with knowing about Jesus but not actually knowing Him? How many of us are clinging to a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5)? Jesus isn’t looking for people who know how to play church. He’s looking for people who know how to be the church—people who aren’t just nodding along but actually walking in His truth, abiding in His Word, living under His authority.

And then, in verse 24, Jesus says, 'If you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.' That’s heavy. Jesus isn’t saying, 'Try harder.' He isn’t saying, 'Do more religious stuff.' He’s saying, 'If you don’t believe that I am who I say I am, you’re still in your sins. Still lost. Still blind.’ But watch this. Watch the shift that happens in verse 30. 'Even as he spoke, many believed in him.' 'Even as he spoke, many believed in him.

Did you catch that? Even as He spoke, many believed in Him. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Look at what He says next, starting in verse 31: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”’ First there’s faith in him..you relive in him, and because you are saved, there’s what? There Freedom. That’s the promise. But it’s not just about believing in Jesus. It’s about holding to His teaching. Continuing in His word. Not just agreeing with it. Not just nodding along. But abiding in it. Grasp it. Love it. Desire it. Live it. Because trust without action is empty. Faith without action is hollow. Ir as James puts it… its dead.

And that’s where Jeremiah 6:16 comes in. Remember? It’s the same call: Stand. Look. Ask. Then what? Walk. It’s not just hearing. It’s walking. It’s not just saying, 'I believe.’ It’s living it out, every single day. That’s what it means to abide. That’s what it means to be truly free.

And church, I need you to hear this… This world is desperate for people who are not just playing church but living under the authority of Jesus, trusting in His righteousness, walking in obedience to His Word. This world is crying out for something real. People are drowning in a sea of confusion, searching for truth, grasping for an identity that isn’t real, reaching for life. And what are we doing, church? We’re trying to be comfortable! We show up Sunday after Sunday, sitting in chairs, singing songs—but how many of us are walking right back out those doors unchanged? How many of us are content with a faith that stirs our emotions but doesn’t transform our lives? How many of us have a form of godliness but deny its power? (2 Timothy 3:5). Listen! Listen to me! The world doesn’t need more people who know how to play church. The world needs people who know how to be the church. People who say, 'Jesus, You are my authority. Your righteousness is my covering. Your Word is my compass.' People who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and cannot keep silent about it! And that’s the call today, church. That’s the urgency! The world is waiting. Your neighbors are waiting. Your co-workers are waiting. Your children are waiting. Your spouse is waiting. And God Almighty has placed the Spirit of His Son inside of you to shine forth His glory. But listen to me—you can’t show the truth if you’re not living in it. You can’t lead people to freedom if you’re still shackled by the same chain as the world is. You can’t offer the world hope if you’re drowning in your own confusion, living a life of compromise and complacency. So what are you going to do, church? What are you going to do with what you’ve heard today? Will you keep going through the motions? Will you keep playing church? Will you keep chasing empty pleasures, empty promises, empty pursuits? Or are you going to rise up as a church of Christ? A community of Christ. Will you step out, by faith? Will you walk in the truth of God’s Word? Because when you do, when you surrender to His authority, trust in His righteousness, and follow His Word, your life becomes a beacon of truth—a blazing light in a dark and desperate world that says, you’re truth is whatever makes you feel better.

So, here’s the call, church—repent, believe, and follow! Now listen,. As Peter comes up… The call has been made clear. Jesus has laid it out. 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' (John 8:31-32) So the question is—will you hold to it? Will you cling to His Word like your life depends on it? Because it does. Will you walk in that truth? Will you let it set you free? See, the world doesn’t need another Sunday morning Christian. It’s got plenty of those kinds of playing playing church. The world doesn’t need people who can quote the Word but don’t live the Word. The world needs disciples. Followers. People who are so captivated by Jesus that they can’t help but shine His light wherever they go.

, I want to ask you this: Where are you? Are you standing at the crossroads, looking, asking, but not walking? Are you holding onto your sin, your pride, your own way, while the Savior is calling you to come and be free? You see next week we’re going to talk about life, but there is no life unless you handle the truth and authority issue in you life today. Today is the day to step out. Today is the day to say, 'Jesus, I’m done playing church. I’m done going through the motions. I’m done with empty religion. I want to follow You. I want to walk in Your truth. I want to be set free.’ And if that’s you, don’t leave this place the same. If you’re here today and you’re ready to step out of the shadows, if you’re tired of playing church and you’re ready to be the church, this is your moment. Come. Don’t wait. Don’t worry about who’s watching. Don’t worry about what they might think. Just come. If you need to surrender something to Jesus, come. If you need to repent of sin, come. If you need to lay down your pride, your fear, your doubt—come. This is the place where chains break, where lives are changed, where freedom is found. Let’s pray, and as we do, if that’s you, come forward and let God meet you right here, right now. This is your moment. Don’t let it pass by.

Father, we come before You now, hearts open, hands lifted, surrendering everything. We confess our complacency, our empty religion, our going through the motions. Forgive us, Lord. Break every chain. Tear down every wall. Open our eyes to see You, Jesus—the One who sets us free. We don’t want to leave this place the same. We don’t want to keep playing church. We want to be the church. We want to walk in Your truth, abide in Your Word, and shine Your light in a dark and desperate world. Holy Spirit, move in this place. Draw every heart that’s been holding back. Give courage to those who need to step forward, to lay down their sin, their fear, their pride. Pour out Your grace. Pour out Your mercy. Transform us, Lord. Make us more like You. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And we thank You for the freedom that only comes from You. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. *

Honesty - Sunday Message

I want to invite you to open your bibles with me to Romans chapter 7, and find with me verse 15. It’s only one verse for today, Romans chapter 7, and find verse 15 with me. Before I read this verse, I just want to encourage you to bring your bibles with you. Whether by phone for physical Bible, and if you need one, let me know. I’ll buy you a really nice one.

But its really important that we as a body of believers, open our bibles together. Romans chapter 6, verse 15.. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. (the law means God’s word, it means what God says is good and what God says is bad.) 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18 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. 19 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. 20 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.

(Romans 7:15-20). The last two nights I’ve been out in the middle of nowhere, with barely any internet with roughly 18 pre-teens as the main speaker for their retreat called, “honesty.” And so, this is kind of the afterglow from being with them this weekend. I told them when I left, that I was going to back to my church and tell the people that God is still changing lives. That God is still forgiving people of their sin.

That God is still passionately pursuing people. That relationships can be fixed, that friendships can be reconciled, but theres usually just one thing standing in the way and that’s being honest. Do you wanna know how important honesty is to God? Important enough that one of the 10 commandments speaks on being honest in our relationships. Exodus 20 verse 16 says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” And that’s interesting because who’s my neighbor?

When I think of neighbor, I think of our friends the Baxters who lives across the road from us. Or the young family living behind us. But if we really dig in to what this word neighbor means, what we would discover is that it means everyone and anyone we come into contact with. So that guy or gal walking down the street, that is a stranger, they are your neighbor.

That young kid with purple or green hair, who is different than you, they are your neighbor. The person you work with, who annoys the world out of you, they are your neighbor. And Jesus helps us to understand who our neighbor is by telling us what is the greatest commandment. Remember when the scribe asked, Jesus who is the greatest commandment? And Jesus gave them the Shema? That you should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And what? You should love your neighbor as you love yourself. So when we read, you shouldn’t bear false witness against your neighbor, Now we can read it is like this… you shouldn’t bear false witness with anyone you come into contact with. You shouldn’t bear false witness against them. But yet, we do sometimes. Sometimes we’re not totally honest. I believe there are three areas in our life where we’re not always totally honest.

And I want to discuss them you. The first area is our personal life. We struggle to be honest with ourselves. I don’t know why, but there are times I feel really guilty for doing something. Or for saying something. Sometimes it’s easier to point out others faults, and other people short comings than it is to look into a mirror and see my own faults. For most of my christian life, it seems to have been a struggle.

I struggled with wanting to read my Bible. I struggled with prayer. I struggled with giving. I wrestled with self doubt. Believing that I wasn’t worth anything, to anyone. But yet, I had a desire to please God, but that desire seems to meet a wall of inconsistency in my spiritual life. In Romans chapter 7, Paul was struggling. Remember he said, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. It’s as if there is a war going on in my inner being. Theres this desire to do what is good, but the action never follows that up. Or another issue is that that people try to do good, they try to do the right thing and what is true, but then they begin to sprinkle little lies in.

And if you notice, most often when little lies are sprinkled in, those are lies will always try to make the person look good. We call that being deceptive. Deceptive means, a person is giving the appearance of something being true, but then they’re trying to mislead someone from seeing the real, honest, and full truth of it. And so Paul; writes, theres this war going on within my inner being.

King David writes, God delights when truth reigns in my innermost being. He says, when truth is the king of my inner most being, God is delighting. And so what I’ve found to be true in other peoples lives, and even my own. Is that the hardest part about speaking truth into a heart that refuses truth is a heart that won’t be honest with itself. Our lives improve only when we take chances – and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves.

Sometimes, we’re not hones tight ourselves because we have low integrity. Solomon had a lot to say about integrity. Proverbs, 10: 9 says, Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out. Chapter 12, verse 17says, “An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies.” And so, I think what we can say is this, Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.

Thomas Jefferson once said, Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. We’ve got to come to a moment in our life where we’re honest with ourselves and where we truly are. The second area where we’re not totally honest with is in our relationships with others. We struggle with being honest with others. God takes honesty so serious that he desires for us to be honest not only with ourselves, but also with others.

James said, confess your sins with one another. It’s really hard to confess a sin to someone else, when were too busy confessing the hurt they caused us to others. Amen? We want to be justified for what wrong has been done to us. We want the other person to come into the knowledge of what we think they’ve done to us. Do you wanna know a phrase I don’t really like.

They’ll get whats coming. Or how about this one, Karma will get them. I just believe those are not very Christlike phrases. I don’t think Jesus ever said, you’ll get whats coming to you one day. I don’t ever read in the scriptures where Jesus goes, Karma’s gonna get you. We’re people of justice. We want to see others get what they deserve. And sometimes, that kind of mentality isn’t love.

It’s not filled with grace. Do you wanna know how one can tell whether or not a heart is growing in Christ, Seeing someone love their enemies. Do you want to know whats hard… Loving those who are hurting you. Loving those who are trying to assimilate your character. Loving those who are believe you’ve caused this ruin, or you caused harm to them. Ya know, most church hurt isn’t really church hurt.

Most often what some might think is a person being hurt by the church, or by the pastor is just the church or the pastor holding that person accountable to what they say or what they do. I’ll never forget the time Alicia and I were going to a church and they pulled me in as the youth pastor and I made it for about 6 months as the youth pastor.

They brought me in prematurely. I wasn’t ready, and the church wasn’t ready. But I do want to say something before I continue… God lead our family there, and it I believe it was God's will for us to go through what we dis. But, bringing me in as the youth pastor without really the church being ready and myself being ready, caused animosity between the pastor, me and one of the members.

I was arrogant, young and naive. The teens went from 5 to over 20, but the person I replaced didn’t know they were being replaced. They weren’t called into pastoral ministry, they were just serving in a role and then one day, here comes our family. Move over, let me show you how this is done… I just spent 3 years in the Denver area where teen ministry thrives… let me show you what I've learned.

Arrogance on my part. Needless to say, within 6 months, the conclusion from the senior pastor was, it’s either you or me, and I was let forced to either be fired, or resign. I had reason to say, I’m done. I moved my family here because you wanted me here. You’re the one that hired me. You’re the one that said I was in charge. And now, you’re firing me. Because the person I replaced was a board member, a heavy tither, and they were bitter over what had happened.

I wanted to leave. I looked at Alicia and I said, if they don’t want me as a youth pastor, well guess what, there a church down the road thats been looking for a youth pastor. Let’s go there… And Alicia said, no. we’re staying here. I don’t think I would be here today if it wasn’t for Alicia saying no. Do you know what happened? We ended up reconciling the relationship that was broken by staying, and being honest with the ones that we’ve hurt, and who have hurt us.

James says, be honest with one another and confess your sins to one another. That takes humility… but it also takes accountability. It’s called being honest with others so that they can be honest with you. Do you know something… even as a pastor, or even a friend, I cant help someone who won’t be honest. Have you ever been around someone like that. The kind of person that is never wrong.

The kind of person that wont admit a mistake. Or how about this… how about when it comes to saying I’m sorry, they kind of say, oh well, I'm sorry you didn’t like, or im sorry you didn’t see it this way, or that wya. They kind of give a false, or fake hearted apology? The reality is, if you can't be honest about mistakes, you're never going to get free from the inner war going on within your inner being.

There are three types of people in the Bible. Wise, foolish and evil. A wise person is one you can correct, and they become wiser. In fact, you can take truth to a wise man, and the wise man will correct themselves to the truth. The second is the foolish person. A foolish person never admits mistakes. A foolish person, many times, will turn it around on you. Instead of being held accountable, they try to show it was your fault.

And sometimes, they will go so far as to hurting others around them, to make sure their foolishness is seen as truth. But they reject truth, and what you recognize is that the foolish person adapts the truth to themselves. Proverbs 9:8 says, "Do not correct a scoffer", a foolish person, "lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Then there is the evil person. This is a person that is either wise or foolish.

They reject truth all together. Their people of deceit. They are people that live one life in public, and another in private. And sometimes they cant help themselves. They’ve got to come to a point where they reconize they’ve got to be honest with where they are. And heres the thing… I can pastor two of them. I can pastor, a wise person and a foolish person… but an evil person, I can’t.

Not until they are honest about where they are. Not until they are honest. They need to be Be fully transparent and vulnerable with God and with others. The last area of our life is that we struggle being honest with God. If we cant be honest with ourselves, and we cant be honest with others… how do we ever expect to be honest with God? I mean think about it…

The god who knitted a person in their mothers womb. David writes, Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16 The god who knows the heart, and knows what the heart wants. You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. Psalm 139:1 The God who loves us in our sin, and calls us from our sin.

Who pursues us, even when we’re walking away form him, in His great love, and patience he still comes after us. And yet, we struggle to be honest with God. Did you know that when we are honest with God, joy becomes avaible? Turn with me to Psalm 32. David writes, How joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit!

What David is saying is that there is joy in being honest and being forgiven. Theres no joy in dishonesty... only fear. What are we fearing? Well we fear someone will find out the lie. We fear God wont bless us. We fear losing friends. And so fewer causes us to live in deceit. And theres a key phrase in these verses for when it comes to joy… the Psalm says in verse 2, In whose Spirit is no deceit!

In your spirit. David would write in another Psalm, Psalm 51, “God delights when truth reigns in our inmost being.” Paul, in our Scripture this morning would write, “For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” And then he would go on to say, oh what a wretched man that I am. You see, Paul is being honest and recognizing his constant tendency and temptation to turn from GOd and be dishonest with himself.

It’s like a magnet, or a light to a bug. He recognizes that he has an urge to turn from God and die what he doesn’t want to do. And so, he cries out… God! What should I do. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? David writes, back in Psalm 32, When I keep silent, my bones become brittle from my groaning all day long.

I’m heavy. I’ve lost the strength. I’m tired… I cant hold this wretchedness in my any longer. I believe Paul and David were both experiencing the same thing… Honesty with oneself, and honesty with others, should always draw us to being hornet with God who saves us. You see, David would go on to say in verse 5, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave me for my sins, Do you remember what Paul does?

In verse 25 of Romans 7 Paul writes, 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! He turns to Jesus. As our worship team comes up… I want us this morning to recognizes that everyone of us struggle with honesty on some level. Maybe it’s being honest with yourself. Maybe you don’t think your beautiful. Or maybe you might not think your worthy. Just this morning I got a text from a friend at the pre-teen retreat thanking me for being there.

I write back… I think I needed to be just as much as the kids. Because I too have been hurt, and told that I'm not as good as someone else, or I’m not doing well as a pastor. This weekend, after the first altar call and all the kids came to the altar, I had to leave. I went outside because theres a tendency to want to take the glory from GOd.

And thats sin. And so, I had to be honest with God and say, God, Forgive me. Maybe you’re not being honest with others. Maybe you’ve struggled with lying about someone. Maybe you just want others to respect you.. or see you as someone that is smart, or beautiful, or better than what you really are. Maybe you’re living one life in public but another at home? Sin that is left unchecked with grow roots not only in your life, but will at some point begin to reach out into the lives of those around you.

And sometimes, we see people with a lot of briars thats been overgrowing for years. Hurting others. Maybe you just need to be honest with God this morning… I’ve always heard this… when it comes to repenting of our sins, or asking for forgiveness, its not you coming and telling God something he doesn’t already know. He knows it already.. Repentance is us coming to a God who already knows, who’s just waiting for us to be honest with him that now, we know and that we understand, and we also know there us only one thing we can do, and that is to come, and to turn to a loving God and ask for his grace and forgives…

so that he can place the Spirit of His Son within us, to care for us, and to guide us, and walk with us… Paul goes, this war that is waging within me… I need it to stop. I need peace. David says, this desire to keep silent, to hide my deceit… I need relief. And so they both turn to God. Will you this morning….. will you turn to him, or will you tune him out…

That decision is for you to make… not me. *

We Wrestle

ZI would like for you to turn your attention to the book of Ephesians and find with me chapter 6, and once you find chapter 6 would you be so kind, if your able, to stand with me in honor of God’s Word. I will be reading our verse today from the King James Version and find with me verse 12. Hear the word of the Lord.. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Now turn with me to the book of Psalms and find with me, Psalm 65. From Psalm 65, find verse 3. 3 Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. Father, I thank You for Your wonderful presence. May Your Word be planted deep in our spirit. Strengthen us to meditate on Your Word and build our life upon the rock of Your truth. In Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

He would be humbled by all the kind words you’ve shared about his life. I’m truly thankful for all the help from those who stepped in with the service, and by my wife, Alicia who came over and moved chairs and set up the sanctuary. And for everyone who’s had a hand in preparing for this moment. Truly, ministry is about working together. I sense there’s a lot of compassion from all of you, coming together to serve the needs of others, and that is one of the greatest expressions of his life.

He was truly a man of compassion. He served everyone no matter who you were. From the widow to the married, to the young and the old, he lived a life of humility through servitude and compassion. Even in his death, there is a certificate in front of me that is proof of his willingness to give to all and any who needed help. There’s no doubt in my heart that he loved Jesus, and he loved his mother, and his brothers and his family.

I hope hearing these words encourages you. Because The love of Christ was always evident in his heart. I could see it and I am sure you all saw it as well. But I also know how hard it is at times to see and witness Christ in us for ourselves. Perhaps that is why Jesus makes an emphasis of us loving one another. But I dunno why it’s hard at times to realize that Christ’s compassion and love is oozing out of us because he is in us.

I don’t understand why we just don’t have a meter designed within us showing us how full we truly are of Jesus. But perhaps that the beauty of faith. I find comfort in Pauls words found in our Scripture today. Paul writes, We wrestle. We wrestle. It’s true… we wrestle. We wrestle with life everyday. The Bible is filled with people who wrestled… Job wrestled when he experienced immense suffering and wrestled with the questions of why he was facing such trials.

But yet, Job is recored as saying although you slay me, I trust in you. Paul was no stranger to wrestling. Paul struggled with a "thorn in the flesh," which was a source of suffering. But yet, as he wrestled he knew that the thorn wasn’t the issue but the fact that through this suffering if it brought God more glory, so be it! I am sure Paul would agree, that in the greatness of our troubles there may often be space for the greater display of the goodness of God.

Because he writes, although I am weak, Christ is strong. The fact is, We wrestle. We face trials and we wrestle in those trials. Think of what James writes. He says in chapter 1 verse 2, 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, How? I mean does that mean that when trials comes crashing down our first words to ourselves when we were asked by those who are our friends, “how’s life going, and we’re wrestling with some big trials and hardships?

How should we answer? “ well brother, it’s nothing but Pure joy!. Well sister, I’m just Considering it all joy!” But yet were wrestling in the weight our troubles? How many times we say things like, I am blessed and highly favored, but yet We’re being overwhelmed in our circumstances. I think of Davids song in the Psalm we read this afternoon. David said, Though we are overwhelmed by our sins…

David was overwhelmed. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wrestled with life and felt overwhelmed. There’s another place in the book of Psalms that David tells of being overwhelmed…and it’s found in Psalm 94. David laments, “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” Psalm 94:19 (ESV) ”The word “consolation” means “a person or thing providing comfort to a person who has suffered.” To be honest, he has often been that person for me in my suffering.

He’s been a prayerful comfort in my life, and a listening ear to my troubles. Many times he would just smile and I would know I’m not alone in my own personal struggles. But yet, life overwhelms us. As I wrestle with deep issues and filled with feelings that are overwhelming in my life, I’m learning that the words “I am overwhelmed” that have been habitually placed in my vocabulary can softly be replaced by a truer confession: “Heavenly Father, I am not allowing Your comforts, and presences to unburden my heavy soul.

You see, Feeling deeply overwhelmed in life is a signal, It’s first a single for the need for prayer. But it’s also a signal signal that we have been trying to carry them alone, and for many of us, one of our problems in life is that we’ve been carrying them for far too long. I’m learning to let my overwhelmed heart be a path toward confessing my lack of dependence on God.

When my heart is overwhelmed and Im wrestling with life troubles and I witness my tears brimming to the edge from any small bump in my life, I’ve come to learn to run to the Lord and confess I have been carrying my burdens alone, just as we’re instructed in 1 Peter 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV).Pauls speaking of Jesus you know. Isn’t that what makes Christ even more breathtaking?

David said, Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. In Christ Jesus we find forgiveness of our sins. Did you look at what did David wrote next? 3 Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. "What joy for those you choose to bring near, those who live in your holy courts.” What we find in our overwhelmed life, and as we wrestle in this world, we’re simply asked to turn our gaze upon Jesus, and it is there, we can find the joy James spoke of.

IN the most darkness of valleys, and in our loneliness and wresting and the overwhelming of life, we learn that.. Jesus becomes the antidote to our isolation and struggles in this life. And Jesus desires to be near us. Emmanuel is more than a Christmas name that we celebrate, but a very present name in any troubles we face, even in the troubles we face today with his sudden passing.

The name of Emmanual is a promise of nearness. As Jesus tells his disciples, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” God is with us always. There’s no expiration date on His presence in our lives. David would remind us in Psalm 23, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” ~Psalm 23:4 Have you ever taken time to think about the words to this verse?

Although I walk through the Vally of the shadow of death…. The key word here is through. It’s a promise just as Jesus promised the disciples, Follow me, and let’s get into the boat and go to the other side. They had no clue that the dark valley of a dangerous storm would come upon them, and the waves would crash upon the very boats they were in. They simply had to walk by faith, following Jesus onto the boat, and yet we still read in Scripture, that although they wrestled in that storm, when we call upon the name of Jesus in our troubles, he calms not just the storm, but he also calmed his disciples, and guides them to the other side.

It’s the same with our valleys that tend to overwhelm us and that we wrestle with in this life. Can I just pause for a moment for you to hear this… our valley of darkness is never the end for us. The deep darkness of any valley is never our final resting place. It’s always a hallway leading elsewhere. David is surrounded by enemies, he’s surrounded by his darkness, he’s surrounded by uncertainty, he is overwhelmed and wrestling, but he knows that he will walk through it, because Jesus is always there, even in the moments we sense him not.

Emmanuel is there, being present with us in every moment of our lives. I am encouraged with that truth. Jesus comes for his beloved. Last night as we placed his ashes on the altar and after everyone had left, I sat alone on the front row wrestling with God. My heart wanted to know that he was with Jesus. I wanted to be reminded of the hope we have in knowing that we have a savior that cares and comes.

And so I prayed, and asked, and I believe that prayer was answered this morning. Before I left the church last night after praying, I turned all the lights off except for dimly lit cross, and I placed upon all the tv’s in the sanctuary a YouTube channel that plays non stop hymnals of praise with lyrics. My expectation was that through the darkness of night, this room, this sanctuary will be one of praise.

I woke the next morning to gaze out the back door of our home to a red sky, reminding me that new mercies are new each day. The blood is sufficient for all of our sins and the new day reminded me of the resurrection of Christ. Alicia came out into the living room later this morning and asked, Were all the lights on in the church? I said no, just the dim light of the cross and the tv’s playing hymns.

She looked confused, and then she said to me, that before she went to bed, the church was lit up so bright as if every light was on in the church. She had thought o come over to turn them off but the cross lights, but she decided to come to bed. I believe that was an answered prayer. There’s a verse in the hymn were about to sing that goes, And then I cried, "Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit, And somehow Jesus came and brought to me the victory.

I believe the overwhelming light Alicia saw was Jesus reminding me that he had brought him to victory. I do not doubt my saviors promise that he wold return for us, because he has prepared a place for us. That’s a promise I cling to today. And I pray, if you’re struggling too, if your wrestling and overwhelmed… would you Just consider putting your faith in Jesus, and come to him with your burdens.

The good news is that there is, victory in Jesus! O God, you have ordered this wonderful world and know all things in earth and in heaven. Give us such faith that by day and by night, at all times and in all places, we may without fear commit ourselves and those dear to us to your never-failing love, in this life and in the life to come.

We commend your son in sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Let; us stand for the Benediction. May God give to you and all whom you love his comfort and his peace, his light and his joy, in this world and the next; and the blessing of God almighty, the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you, and remain with you this day and for ever.

Amen.*

Remembering Together

I want to invite you to open you bibles with me to Philippians chapter 1. Theres a lot of emotion surrounding my heart today because this will be the last message I bring to you as the Momentum Congregation. Next week, I’d like to gather too pray and worship, and to take our final communion together as the body of Christ. This morning, Id like to read to you from Philippians chapter 1, verses 3-6, and then i’d like to share with you an excerpt of my journal entry from August 7th.

“I give thanks to my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you in my every prayer, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Journal Entry, August 7th, 2024. I write theses words at the Philadelphia Pre-Teen Camp during our time of prayer together.

In my heart, I am being readied too let go. I feel that the work is coming to an end at momentum for me. I sense God moving me in a different, and new direction. I am ready to say yes. My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body whether by life or death.

Deo Volente. Whatever God wants. When apostle Paul came to Philipi, This city was known for two things. The infamous, Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. The city which was smaller than the cities of Corinth and Thessilonica was about 10,000 people, and founded roughly 350 years before Jesus came onto the scene. Alexander the Great conquered the town and named it after a person named Philip II of Macedon, which was the father of Alexander the Great.

Then, in about 168 bc, the romans came in and conquered the city and around 42 bc, there was a famous battle that happened when the armies of Brutus and Cassius, who had assassinated Julius Caesar, met and fought the armies of Marc Antony and Octavian. This city was important because it was the gateway between Europe and Asia… But unless your a history buff, you may not of known those two facts, and you may be someone who knows of this city because of something even greater…

Jesus. Philippi is the place where Paul, would end up visiting and establishing a church, and there is where you get the book of Philippines. I share this with you because I want you to know you will always be a part of my life. Paul writes in verse 3, I thank my God every time I remember you. I think of how Paul loved Jesus and how the Spirit of God took him on this journey to the known world to plant churches, and I think about how hard it must have been for him to make connections, and build relationships with people, and baptize them, and share bread, and communion with them, and grow in their relationship together, all for Paul, who had to know he woiukldnt be there long, would need to leave, because his calling was to plant churches.

Paul had a heart to take the gospel as far as Spain, but the beauty is, by the time he reaches Rome, he would be surprised that the gospel was already growing and going before him. But he remembers them. I'm thankful God would have designed us in a way that memory is a part of our life. We remember. What a phrase. We remember the past. We remember the smells and the people we’ve met throughout our life.

We remember words. Think of the Bible. Most of the OT is Israel remembering. Remembering God’s faithfulness. Remembering the promises. Remembering the faithfulness of God and how God forgives and loves and pursues us even in the moments we stop pursuing him. And I imagine Paul is sitting there writing to the philiiapsians remembering all of these things as he writes. Do you remember? Do you remember when you first heard your child cry?

Do you remember the first time you met someone you’ve love. Do you remember when the little feet would pitter patter across the floor, and the giggles, and the smiles. I think of these moments and often times in prayer, I think GOd says that to us.. do you remember… Do you remember when you cried out for help. Do you remember when you prayed to get pregnant, or you prayed for this situation, or that situation.

I sense God at times when I slow down my life, and I sense God saying to me.. remember when I…… And you can place your own story here…. But there are moments in our walk of faith where God has shown up… and says to us.. Remember when I showed myself too be faithful. Remember when I when showed myself to be kind and loving towards you. Remember when I showed and revealed my only son, Jesus, to your heart.

Remember that time you believed and the Spirt of Christ was born within you… Do you remember? When we slow down our life, and we take time to remember, its not just reminiscing of our past, but in reality, its receiving an invitation to praise God, in his very presence in the present. He’s inviting us to remember. We always want God to speak something new to us. We always want God to do something.

To change something. And we should–after all, He is God. He invites His children to ask Him, to call upon Him day and night. But there is something so sacred and so holy about just pausing to remember what He has already done. The more we remember, the more we can trust Him. The more we can rest in Him. The more we know how very near He is. David wrote, “I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.” Psalm 77: 11-12 What was David meaning when he said, to muse.. it means to saturate yourself with thoughts of GOd. To rememberer what he has done, but to also remember and trust in what he’s; already doing. Paul was remembering the people that God had touched. They were partners in the gospel.. thats what he says in verse 5..

you’ve been partners with me.. From he first day to the last… till now, till my departure, we ahvce been partners. Thats what we have been over the last few years. We’ve been partners. Working together in the gospel. I remember the joy, and the sadness we have experienced together. I remember our little celebrations and prayers for help, and for God to be a very presents help in our troubles.

I remember, all the quirky mishaps, and all of the many, many technical difficulties we had with our sound system. I remember baptizing you, and walking with you in your journey of faith… and I celebrate with you, over our love for Christ together. But just like Paul, as God would call him to the next town or even when God called him to be imprisoned and chained for God’s glory, God has called me to move on.

Not for my own gain, but for the gospel to which I am indebted to. And I imagine these moments with Paul had to be tough. They had to be filled with all kinds emotions. I shared my journal entry with you because I was filled with all kinds of emotions too… IN my Bible, on that day I wrote this in my journal, I wrote the word.. ready. I’m ready.

And it amazed me how fast things have moved once I say to God, I’m ready. I don’t think for a moment, we can hinder God’s plan.. but we can hinder our own involvement at times when we let fear take over and we’re afraid to say yes to GOd, and take steps or even leaps foreword by faith. We cant let fear keep us from letting go and letting God work…

I remember at Erma teen camp, there was this phrase that came up.. it was, If I say yes, God will do the rest. Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, “There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth … A right time to hold on and another to let go.” Ecclesiastes 3:1, 6b (MSG) Life is full of change. Life is full of transitions. For instance, there are natural transitions…

Like our kids growing up. We cant stop that. I was telling Alicia the other day, I miss our kids being little. Then theres the transitions with jobs, and moving, and the changing of our friendships at times. Then there are unexpected c change… Divorce. And illness and death. Poor choices we make at times in life. And every transition comes with a roller coaster ride of emotions. But listen to Solomon’s wisdom..

he says, Theres a time to hold on, and a time to let go. The first time I read these words, I remember saying in prayer, Father, I’m ready. IM ready to let go. That is what I needed to stop the roller coaster of emotions and the fear of moving on…. I need to know what to hold on to and what to let go of. Think about that for a moment…

when it becomes clear to us in our life, what we need to hold on to, and what we need to let go… When we have that clarity, I believe we make progress. To many times, through ministry I’ve seen a lot of people refusing to let go and a lot of people holding on to things that hurt them and others… mainly unforgivness.. We struggle with letting go of past hurts, and we even struggle with letting go of the good things that bring nostalgia.

And things like tradition… Often times, I believe that if we can learn to let go, and Let God, we’ll see some amazing changes in our journey when it comes time for us to let go to move forward. And Think about this… letting go means were redirecting our trust. Its like yesterday as we sat around tables for the birthday party, and we shared stories with one another.. remembering, and talking…

when it was time to leave, we were filled with tears.. because our family was about to leave, and take a journey far away to Colorado. But with every embrace, and hug, there was a moment where we had to let go.. and trust that God would care for them, as he would care for us. Letting go is an act of trust… Paul writes in verse 6, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

For me, letting go was saying.. God this is your church…. Not mine. And not just this church.,., but this life… this body.. I have…..its yours. You’ve called me to advance the gospel. You’ve called me proclaim the good news. And through trusting in your word… I am able to let go knowing that you will continue to complete the good work he had started… not just at momentum church… the church may be closed, or it may not be..

I dunno. But the work isn’t the building… its us. He’s working in us… growing us… perfecting us. I had to learn that myself… the work isn’t growing the building… its guiding people with the truth of the Word and watching God grow the body of Christ, because his Spirit dwells within us. But it all happens when we are willing to let go, and when we’re learning to hold on to what is good and profitable for us.

I’m letting go… and I’m holding on to God trusting that he will be faithful to to complete the work he has begun in you…. Until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. I join Paul in knowing this… God isn’t done with you… God isn’t done writing your story, for his glory. It may be here, or it may be at another church… I dunno… but I do know this…

Before you say untying.. make sure you know what you need to let go of… and what you need to hold on to… My prayer for you today is this… its the same prayer Paul says to the Philippians… and it comes form verse 9 and this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Let us pray together.. Heavily Father.. you have begun a work in all of us. And you’ve been faithful. You’ve been patient in times when we were unwilling to let go of things that hinder our growth. You’ve pursued us, listened to us, cared for us, and walled with us….. and there are time where we do not know or understand life, but you promise us that you would be there from the beginning to the end…

I pray that you will open our eyes to what we need to let go of, and to hold on to. I pray that you will grow within each of us a desire to know you more. I lift this congregation up in full submission to you, and pray for any healing that may need to happen. Care for any of my mistakes, and lead these people into the future with confidence in you, and the gospel they mist carry themselves.

Help them to conduct themselves worthy of the gospel. Help them to stand firm in your Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel. Grant to us this one request… Help us to be still, and know…. That you are our God. In Jesus name, amen. *

Is What We Do Worship?

I want to invite you to open your bibles with me to Psalm 84. We’re going to take a little detour today. For the last few weeks, we’ve been looking at compassion. But I can’t get away from this longing in my heart to speak about worship. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Pastor, we worship every Sunday. We sing the songs, we pray the prayers, we do the whole thing." And you're right – we do. But here's my question: Is what we're doing really worship, or is it just religious routine? Let me ask you something, and I want you to be honest with yourself, not with me. Why did you come to church today? Now don't give me the Sunday School answer – "To worship Jesus!" That's true, but dig deeper. When you woke up this morning, when you were getting dressed, when you were rushing to get here on time – how much were you actually thinking about meeting with God? Did you come because it's Sunday and that's what Christians do? Did you come because someone expected you to be here? Or did you come because you were genuinely excited to encounter the living God? Here's what I've learned in 8 years of pastoral ministry: routine is the enemy of relationship. And worship, at its core, is about relationship with God.

Church, can I just be real with you for a minute? Week after week I look out at this congregation. I visit you, I spend time with you, I lead you, I serve with you, and I love you — and I see people who love Jesus. I really do. There is no doubt you love Jesus. But, I also see something in our culture and world that scares me. Because when I read the Bible, and I think about the heaviness of people making churhf a routine, I realize how easy it is for any one of us — myself included — to slip into this pattern. We come to church, we sing the songs, we check the box, and we think we’ve worshiped. And sometimes, even on Sunday mornings, we say all the right words — we say things that sound biblical, things that sound caring. But often, if we’re honest, those words don’t really carry into the week. And that scares me. And I think.. man, its so easy for God’s people to fall into this religious routine. Think about it, All throughout history – and I mean from the very beginning – God's people have had this tendency to turn worship into routine. It's true... we see it all throughout Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation. They go through the motions. They keep the rituals. They sing all the songs. But God looks down and says, "This isn't honoring Me. This isn't even close to what I want.” In fact, God has a word for this kind of worship – He calls it "vain worship." Empty worship. Meaningless worship. And friends, this should terrify us. Because we can be sitting right here, in this room, singing these songs, and God could be looking at us saying, "Your worship is meaningless to Me.

Let me show you exactly what I'm talking about. Look at Isaiah 29:13. This is God speaking, not my words, but his words to the people of Israel: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Stop. Just stop right there and think about this with me. Can you picture it? Here are people saying all the right words – "Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Glory to God!" They're singing all the right songs. They're doing everything that looks right on the outside. They're doing everything they learned from their parents and grandparents and teachers. But their worship is false. Why? Because their hearts are not ready. Worship has become routine. In Matthew 15:8, Lok at what Jesus says, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Do you hear the warning? Listen, church… The moment worship becomes routine, it stops being about relationship and starts being performance lead. And this is the danger of empty worship. This is the difference between a heart that longs for God and a life that only imitates worship, because thats what we’ve learned and been taught. And hear me on this—I am not saying that when we raise our hands in worship on Sunday it isn’t an encounter with the Holy Spirit. I believe it can be. I believe it often is. God meets us in those moments. He stirs our hearts. He fills us with joy. But what I am saying is this: if that encounter….. that you have on Sunday morning…. doesn’t overflow beyond Sunday… if that passion doesn’t follow us into Monday morning at work, or Wednesday evening at home, or Friday when temptation comes knocking—then is it possible we’re only experiencing a glimpse of worship…… without living a life of worship. And I got to ask this question too… if that is possible… then is our hearts so hard that theres no room for transformation? Because isn’t that the purpose of the services on Sunday? To see gods people witness God, to worship him with our hearts captivated on his glory, and sense a weakening within our own hearts that we have not been who we’ve said we are… we’ve been living two lives and God is calling us deeper still. Because here's what I see that can happen in anyones life—Its so easy….. for Gods people to become comfortable with the disconnect. Where the people have made peace with living two different lives. And if… that is true,… then thats not biblical Christianity. That's not the gospel. That's spiritual schizophrenia.

So, all of this has been a real heaviness on my heart, and I want to share it with you in the way that matters most — by letting God’s Word speak. I’ve asked one of our leaders to come and read Psalm 84 for us. Would you follow along in your Bibles as he leads us into God’s Word? And when he finishes, we’ll respond together and say: Amen. and Respond, and all of God’s people said.. amen.

Thank you… Man, so much imagery here…. Psalm 84…. really breaks into three sections — and what we can do is this… we can almost take verses 1-4 and make it one book end, and then verses 9-12 and make it another… and then theres this amazing section in the middle that shows a worshipers overflow into the hardship of life. The first bookend is verses 1–4. Here we see a worshiper who is longing to stay in the presence of God. He’s been in the temple, he’s encountered the living God, and his heart has been changed. And now he can’t imagine leaving. Right.. get this… he’s more excited about staying in God’s presence than going to eat pot roast after church. And now, Look with me… in verse 2.. Verse 2 gives us these verbs that are past tense… he longed… he yearned. He’s saying, “Oh how I loved being in this place." It’s special to me, it’s what we would say, this place is near and dear to my heart. It’s important that I be there. It’s important that I stay and cherish everything that I am experiencing. To breath in the grace, and to exhale praise. And I can’t help but to think of grandparents and grandkids. How theres so much longing and yearning to see them. To love on them, to see how much they have grown, and to hear of their adventures, and be caught up in their stories. Then we find in Verses 3-4, and he begins to get jealous. Right? Like, he sees the birds nesting on the porches and the eaves of the temple. And he imagines. “what it would be like, or how amazing it would be to remain there forever.” And so, what we see is that he is longing to stay in in the very presence of God. And he ends this first book end with these words, Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise. Do you hear the longing in that? Do you feel the ache in his heart? He's looking at these birds—these simple sparrows and swallows—and he's thinking, "They get to live here. They get to wake up every morning in the presence of God. They get to make their nests in the very courts of the Almighty." And there's this beautiful jealousy, this holy envy, where he's saying, "I wish I could be like them. I wish I could stay here forever. And here's what breaks my heart as I read this: The psalmist recognizes something that many of us have forgotten—that proximity to God should produce perpetual praise. Lets put this in practical senes… if God is living within you… should not there be praise overflowing out of you… This is what authentic worship does to us. It ruins us for ordinary living. It creates in us a holy homesickness for heaven, a deep dissatisfaction with anything less than God Himself. And the question for us is: When we leave this place today, will we carry that same longing? Or will our cup run dry by the time we enter our cars?

Now, The other bookend, or the ending part of this Psalm goes from longing to stay, to longing to return. Look at Verse 9 with me: “Look upon the face of Your anointed.” In my notes, I wrote, don’t look away Lord. Also, we have a tendency to get back to our own life after church and forgot that we just spent a few hours looking for and to GOd. But seeking is the heart of worship, ….wanting to be seen, known, and loved by God. Then verse 10: “Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Here’s the bottom line: One day with God is better than a thousand without Him. The psalmist says, “I’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” Even the lowest place in God’s presence is better than the highest place without Him. Verse 11 tells us why: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Circle those words: sun and shield. Sun means He gives me life. Shield means He gives me protection. Favor means He lifts me up. Honor means He gives me worth. And then He promises: no good thing will He withhold from His people. Man… what promises. The sin, shield favor and honor. And it all comes together in verse 12: “Blessed is the one who trusts in You.” Here’s the key: worship isn’t about performance — it’s about presence. And presence is sustained by trust.

But here’s the question: what does that kind of worship actually look like? How do we live it out, not just on Sunday but every single day? Thats what I wan too know…. Pastor, its true.. its easy for my mind and heart to wonder. For that, I want us to turn to one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible: Isaiah chapter 6. Because every time I read it, I’m reminded of our eternal calling — to be true worshipers. You and I were made for this. We were designed by God, fashioned in His image, created with this purpose written into our very souls: to worship Him. And Isaiah 6 shows us the pattern. Within chapter 6 and in verses 1-8 we find three transaction that misuse happen when a worshiper engages in worship. Three holy transactions. If you witness these three things… they are… an indication that you truly worshipped. Transaction number one — God wants us to see the sheer awesomeness of who He is. He says in verse 1, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Just stop, and drink this image in. Isaiah doesn’t say, “I saw heaven.” He doesn’t even say, “I saw glory.” He says, “I saw the Lord.” The Sovereign One. Seated. Not pacing the floor. Not wringing His hands. Sitting. Ruling. Reigning. High and lifted up. And then Isaiah notices His robe. Not His crown. Not His face. Just the hem — just the train — and it fills the temple. Do you feel the weight of that? In Isaiah’s culture, the length of a king’s robe displayed the measure of his victory. Every time a king conquered another, he cut off a piece of the defeated king’s robe and sewed it onto his own. The longer the robe, the greater the king. And here is God — His robe doesn’t trail behind Him. His robe doesn’t just cover the floor. The train of His robe fills the whole temple. Which means: He has conquered every rival. Every power. Every enemy. Every kingdom. Every king. There is no one above Him. No one beside Him. No one who can threaten Him. He is absolute. He is sovereign. He is the King of kings. And Isaiah says, “I saw Him.” That is worship. When the eyes of your heart are opened to the greatness of God, when you see Him in His majesty, and everything else in your life shrinks down to size — that’s worship. That’s the beginning. The second transition is the one we all struggle with. And one that I believe so many chrisitnas coming to church doesn’t see worships overflow out of the church. Isaiah sees the holiness of God, and what’s his first response? Verse 5: “Woe is me! For I am lost; I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” This is so important. He doesn’t clap. He doesn’t cheer. He doesn’t even sing all the heavenly host are singing praises…. Why doesn’t that lead him to do that… why does Isiah… collapse. Why does he come undone. His life is literally a the majesty of God’s presence, he’s unraveled — like the threads of a garment coming apart. When the holiness of God shines in, Isaiah sees the darkness of his own heart. And church, that’s true worship. It’s not just singing louder or raising your hands higher. It’s when the greatness of God’s purity collides with the reality of our sin, and all we can say is, Oh God, I’m ruined. I can’t stand before You. Peter did this at his calling… DO you remember.. depart from me for I am a sinful man. But watch what God does. The seraphim takes a coal from the altar, touches Isaiah’s lips, and says, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for Oh, don’t miss this: the God who should have destroyed him, remember, no king… not even the king of my life, my greatest idol, myself… can not even stand in his presence… and God, cleanses him. Isaiah should have been consumed. The Bible says, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Holiness and sin cannot coexist. Isaiah knows this. That’s why he cries, “Woe is me, I am undone!” But instead of consuming him, God cleanses him. The angel touches his lips with a coal from the altar and says, “Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7). Do you see it? The very God who should have destroyed him forgives him. That’s grace. That’s the gospel. The holy God takes guilty sinners and, by His atonement, makes them clean. “The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). And that’s why Transaction Number Two is this: worship always leads to repentance. Always. You cannot see His holiness without seeing your sin. You cannot see His beauty without confessing your brokenness True worship always includes, authentic repentance.

Look what happens next in verse 8: “And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’” Do you see the flow? God reveals His glory — Isaiah is floored. God reveals Isaiah’s sin — Isaiah repents. God reveals His mission — and Isaiah surrenders. That’s the rhythm of true worship: awe, repentance, mission. Because, listen, you can’t miss this… worship is not complete until it overflows. It’s not just “I saw the Lord,” it’s also “Here am I, send me.” Jesus Himself said in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” Real worshippers always become real witnesses. So here’s another bottom line: If your worship doesn’t send you, it hasn’t changed you. True worshippers are sent ones. Now let’s get real for a moment. Every Sunday… is that what you witness? Awe? Repentance? Mission? That’s the rhythm of true worship. And listen — God’s church was never meant to be a church of maintenance. We don’t gather just to keep things running smoothly or polish what we already have. Worship is about overflow — the overflow of our encounter with Him.

So why am I sharing all of this? Because Psalm 84 isn’t just about longing to stay in God’s presence (the opening verses). And it’s not just about longing to return to His presence (the closing verses). The middle section — verses 5 through 7 — shows us what happens in between. And here’s the theme I want you to see: “True worshipers are called to pave blessings out of the harsh conditions of life so that others can experience the life-giving presence of Jesus.” That’s the missional call. The worship you express here in the sanctuary — it’s meant to overflow into your daily life. But here’s the question: what happens when that worship collides with reality? When the Monday morning grind hits, when the valley feels dry, when life doesn’t feel like a temple but more like a wilderness? Because we know it’ll happen. I would bet, there some kind of wilderness meeting you right now out those doors. Some life event. Some struggle. Im not trying to sugar coat it… Jesus said, in this life there will be trouble. That’s a promise, but he also gives us another… he tells us in John 16:33, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.” And remember, how he started Pslam 84? , “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord!” But now, he’s back in the real world with real problems. So what does he do? Here’s what I love about this passage: instead of getting discouraged, he does something practical. Since his strength is in the Lord, he starts paving highways — highways in his heart that lead himself and others back into the presence of God. Look at verse 5: “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” Now let me explain that in simple terms. Zion was the hill in Jerusalem where God’s temple stood. Zion represents God’s presence. So having “highways to Zion in your heart” means two things. First, it’s personal. The psalmist wants a straight shot back to God’s presence. Not a detour, not a back road — but an express lane. He’s saying, “When life wears me down, I want the quickest road possible back to the place where my soul finds peace.” And I can’t help but think of driving up I-25 to Denver and seeing those HOV lanes — you know, the fast lane, but you’ve got to have 3 or more people with you. Now, That image leads right into the second point. Second, it’s about others. The psalmist isn’t just thinking about himself. He wants others to find the way too. It’s like he’s saying, “If I can’t live in the temple forever, then I’ll spend my life helping others get there.”\ hink about it — when you find a great restaurant, you don’t keep it to yourself. You text your friends. You post about it. You want them to taste what you’ve tasted. When you encounter something good, the natural response is to share it. The same is true when you’ve truly encountered God. And here’s the joy: Ecclesiastes 4:9 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.”There’s something special about not walking alone, about sharing the journey, about saying to a brother or sister, “Come on, let’s go together.” And I know…. Friday nights are hard…. I see it in the eyes of everyone who shows up… but there can be joy in it all. Because were together. So here’s the principle I don’t want you to miss.: Worship is not complete until it overflows and invites others to join you in treasuring God’s glory. Now, comes verse 6, and this is where it gets real. “As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.” Now, what’s the Valley of Baca? The word Baca isn’t some Appalachian way of saying tobacco… Like, im going to use some chewing baca. baca means “weeping” or “barrenness.” It was a dry, arid, lifeless place. The psalmist is saying: this is what the journey is like sometimes. Life isn’t always temple courts and songs of praise. Sometimes it’s dry valleys. Sometimes it’s tears. Sometimes it’s barrenness and hardship. But here’s the miracle: true worshippers don’t just endure the valley — they transform it. Looks at what ot says “As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs.” Do you hear that? They make it a place of springs. How? Because they carry the presence of the living God with them. Jesus said in John 7:38, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” That’s what Psalm 84 is describing. When worshippers walk through the dry places, the Spirit of God within them turns barrenness into blessing. So here’s the truth: True worshipers don’t just survive the wilderness — they bring refreshment into it. I think about moments in our lives when we’ve had misunderstandings. Maybe with a friend. Maybe in your marriage. Maybe even here in the church. And in those moments, you feel hurt. Offended. And if we’re honest — bitterness feels justified. You think, “I was wronged. I have every reason to hold onto this. Every reason to walk away.” But here’s the thing: bitterness is a barren valley. It dries you up on the inside. It poisons relationships. It turns the Valley of Baca into a desert. And its like the dead sea, just salty. And its easy to carry bitterness. It takes no effort at all. But it takes faith to say, “Lord, I trust You enough to forgive. I trust You enough to let grace flow here instead of anger.”And when you do, you don’t just refresh yourself — you create a spring for someone else to drink from too. How can I explain this in a practical way… how can we live this out here in community. What if I said this… what if, That circle of people you meet with during the week — that’s not just a Bible study. That’s a well in the wilderness. A place where someone who’s dry and discouraged can come and drink living water. I was talking to a mentor of mine yesterday and they were talking about their small group and how they invite people on the edge of life… people needing grace. And I’ll be honest with you — my first thought was, “Well, did you invite them to church?” Because that’s what we do, right? We want people here, in this room, singing these songs, hearing God’s Word together. But as soon as I thought that, I realized something. For someone who’s broken, someone who’s hurting, someone who’s been burned by church before, walking into a room full of us crazy Jesus-loving people… that might be overwhelming. Maybe too much too soon. And after my mentor left, I got convicted. Because the Spirit whispered to me, “Matthew… this isn’t about growing the church. This is about creating a well — one place at a time — where people can drink.” Church, that’s the mission. Every single one of you is a part of that. Wells aren’t just built in sanctuaries; they’re built in living rooms, coffee shops, break rooms, and kitchen tables. And listen — if you’re not in a small group yet, let’s change that. Because this isn’t just about what you get; it’s about what you help create. When you’re in community, you’re helping dig wells all over this city, places where people who are dry and weary can come and taste the living water of Jesus. And finally as our worship team comes up and prepares, look in verse 7… And then look at verse 7: “They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.” I love that line. The psalmist is saying, “This journey isn’t about running out of gas — it’s about being renewed at every step.” When you walk with God, you don’t just collapse in the valley. You move from one well to the next. From one strength to another. Can I just say somehtigh… going fro well to well isn’t about planting churches.. its not that we plan this church, and then we plant another and another… a missional church is a church that digs wells wherever we are… in our homes, in our workplaces… at ball games..and why not… we are carrying living water within us..

And this brings me to a very important question for our closing: What kind of worshiper are you? Are you digging wells, or are you digging pits? Are you just going with the flow, or are you on mission? There are really only two types. Type 1: are what I call, Maintenance-Mode Christians. These are people who show up to church, sing the songs, listen to the message, and go home. They think, “I got my weekly dose of God, I’m good until next Sunday.” But their faith is all about them. And if that’s true — if worship is just about consuming an experience — how will they ever build highways for others? How will you ever help your small group leaders dig wells? The second Typeare this… Mission-Mode Christians. These are people who encounter God and can’t help but overflow. They think, “God has been so good to me, I can’t keep this to myself — I’ve got to tell others!” They don’t just attend church, they become the church. They build highways to help others find God. These are the people in awe of God… repent and too the mission. So which type are you? Paul said in Romans 1:14, “I am a debtor.” What did he mean? That he owed a debt he could never repay for what Jesus had done. And the only way he could live in response was gratitude — gratitude that overflows into mission. Think about it: if someone saved your child’s life, you’d never stop telling that story. You’d never stop honoring that hero. Jesus didn’t just save your child’s life — He saved you for eternal life. How could we not share that? So how do we get “highways to Zion” in our hearts? Let me give you three simple steps: Start with worship that leads to gratitude. True worship always awakens gratitude for what God has done. Look for opportunities to serve others. In your Valley of Baca — in your hard times — ask, “How can I turn this into a well for someone else?” Share your story. You don’t need a theology degree. You just need to open your mouth and say, “Here’s what God has done for me.” So here’s my challenge: Don’t settle for maintenance-mode Christianity. God hasn’t saved you just to have a good church experience once a week. He’s saved you to be a highway builder — someone who makes it easier for others to find their way to God. He’s saved you to be a spring in the valley — someone who brings life and hope into the darkest moments. This is not just for pastors and missionaries. This is for every Christian. Every single one of us who has been touched by God’s grace has the responsibility — and the privilege — of helping others find that same grace. Having highways to Zion in your heart means your worship doesn’t stop when the music ends. It means you walk out of church looking for opportunities to build bridges that lead people to God. It means when you go through tough times, you don’t waste your pain — you use it to become a source of strength and hope for others. If you remember.. thats compassion. That’s what it means to walk in the strength of the Lord. That’s what it means to be blessed. Not because life gets easier, but because your life starts making an eternal difference. So the question is: Are you ready to move from maintenance mode to mission mode? Are you ready to let God use your life to build highways and dig wells that lead others to His amazing grace? Lets’s stand…. “Church, the Word is clear: God is not looking for maintenance-mode Christians. He’s calling for mission-mode worshipers. People who say, ‘Here am I, send me.’ So today, I want to give you a chance to respond. If the Spirit is stirring your heart, if you’re saying, ‘I don’t want to just sing songs. I want to live sent. I want highways to Zion in my heart,’ then I want you to come and kneel before the Lord. Don’t wait for someone else to move. Step out in faith. Say with your body what you’re saying in your heart: ‘Lord, I’m Yours. Send me.’” This is not about growing a church. This is about building wells — one heart at a time, one life at a time. Don’t settle for maintenance mode when the King of glory is inviting you into mission. So come. Come while there’s time. Come while the Spirit is calling. And let’s say together, ‘Here am I, Lord. Send me., so that, we, together can bring the gospel to every heart, every neighborhood, and every generation, one relationship at a time.*

Good Shepherd

I want to continue our message from last week as we together look back in the book of John, and find with me chapter 10. Chapter 10.. and as your finding chapter 10.. and if its ok, let me start with this… God is a restorer. Let me say that again, God is a restorer. I’ve been reading the book of Psalms for my morning devotional time, along with a podcast called, “Hidden Streams” and, since of course we’re looking at John 10 and Jesus as our Good shepherd I’ve been praying through Psalm 23.

Let me read it for you, even though I know many of you have it memorized… but if you do have it memorized, would you just close your eyes and.. would you just imagine with me this, that, this is the very first time you’re hearing it. And not just that, but would you stand with me, if you can, in honoring of God’s word… as we hear God's word together.

Paslam 23, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And all of God's people said, Amen. You may be seated. God is a restorer. There’s a verse in psalm 23 that I sometimes overlook. And in preparation for this Sunday, for today. I’ve been reading this Psalm and for whatever reason, I tend to over look this phrase.

It’s never caught my eyes or my attention until now… In this Pslam, there are Four simple words in English. Two simple words in Hebrew that I tend to overlook. And I don’t know why I over look this phrase. I think, maybe I tend to glaze over it because I’m so focused on the hardships and trials that I am in. That I tend to lean more on, the verses of…

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” or the verse, “although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” But this week, I found comfort in these words, from verse 3… It says, He restores my soul. And what we have before us in Pslam 23, the image of a shepherd, before his flock. The images in verse 2 are clear. We can see the lush pastures beside the quiet stream where the flock finds comfort and food.

Nourishment and rest, is what we see. The sheep scattered throughout the land with no care in the world, their safe, and secure under the watchful eye of the shepherd. David, in a moments turns the attention from grazing sheep to a person. This is the painting that we see David carefully envisioning with every word that pours out from the well spring of his heart.… David has shifted his gaze from the sheep to the shepherd.

And he sings, with great love and joy in his heart… “He restores my soul.” That’s what a good shepherd does….. a good shepherd restores his sheep. I imagine David in this moment, seeing himself as a sheep of the flock and eating, and resting, and then looking up and seeing the shepherd there wit him, and when he sees the shepherd, his heart is secured. Knowing that trouble is ahead, knowing that life gets tough, knowing that although we walk through difficult valleys that bring about the shadow of death…

But yet, still knowing that, ”The darkness is never so deep that the light of love cannot penetrate it.” He’s connecting with his shepherd. We see it in our world all the time.. Just Yesterday I was watching a video of a cross country meet and the boy was running behind, but the mom got up and went to the roped off line and began yelling his name, and began encouraging her son, and when her son locked eyes with his mother, arms began to pump harder, legs began pound the ground faster and he began to overtake others competitors towards the finish line.

We’ve got to learn that, Knowing and recognizing His presence is our greatest victory. We all need someone to anchor us like that… David is anchoring himself in His god.. in the good shepherd of the flock. And so, I say to you this morning… God is a restorer! The whole Bible, from start to finish is God looking to restore his people. We say it all the time in our christian circles, the Bible is a love story of God…

loving us so much, that he sent his only son Jesus to the cross to restore us. John 3:16 is a reminder of that.. the greatest Christmas verse is John 3:16.. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Love came down…. So that love would restore. God is a restorer… he restores our souls.

We were dead in our trespasses and sins, and the Good Shepherd gives us new life. The sheep that are weak and injured, he heals and binds them up. He restores them to full life so that they are once again able to stand and walk and feed, to hold their own as part of the flock. Our old life left us not only dead in our sins but weak, sick, and damaged by our sins.

Why go back to that life? The good Shepherd finds the lost, he finds the one, he seeks to restore the lame and hurting… and he offers to them life. Not just any kind of life, but real, authentic enteral life. David writes, He restores my soul.. my nephesh. Our soul is the seat of our desires. It’s the seat of our appetites. In restoring our souls, He makes us hunger and thirst for righteousness.

He feeds that hunger. He quenches that thirst. There just so many anemic christians running around malnourished because they have yet to learn to stop looking and chasing everything else, they only need to just look up! To get their face out of whatever it is they're pursuing, and just look up.. And then they’ll see the good shepherd looking back at them. That’s why, when David looks to the shepherd, and when their eyes meet, he has peace in his heart for the hard times ahead, because he knows everything that shepherd has, he has with abundance.

I have what he has, all because I belong to the shepherd. I belong to him. God is a restorer. And that’s the same in our story. If you recall, Jesus is restoring the disciples. He corrected them about the blind man. It was his or his parents sin the made him blind, but he was blind to bring glory to God. Jesus restored the blind man. He restored him in two ways.

He restored his sight, and then when the pharisees rejected him back into community, Jesus restored him into His kingdom. If you recall from last week, once they threw him out… to be casted away from the community, Jesus went looking for the blind man. Think about what Jesus said to the blind man when we restore him… Verse 35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked.

“Tell me so that I may believe in him.”37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Did you hear what Jesus just said t him???? You have now seen him. You were once blind but now, through Jesus, and in Jesus you too, just like David, jut like the sheep of the fold can now look up and see the good shepherd standing there…

God is a restorer. What does it mean to be a good shepherd? Let’s read chapter 10, in the book of John and find out. Jesus say’s in verse, 14, 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.

I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. What does it mean when Jesus says, I am the good shepherd? Well first we need to understand something… when Jesus says he’s good, It’s an outward description of his inward heart. It’s not, like when we say, Good job, or Good Luck, or good morning… But, the Bible tells us that the word ‘good’ actually means holy, pure and righteousness.

It’s intertwined with this word holiness. Goodness is the fruit produces from a heart that is pure and holy. Jesus tells us, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The aim of Jesus Christ is not to reform the manners of society, but to change the hearts of sinful mankind. He's after your heart. He’s seeking to change it. To make it alive. To make it beat in the same rhythm as his own.

But Why the heart? Well, the heart is the center of all we do. It’s our motivation headquarters. What ever your heart loves and desires, that is what it will pursue. It’s what defines and directs you. That’s why Solomon in all of his wisdom tells us to: Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. The heart is where life gets it purpose. If you want to know what kind of person you are, all you need to do is find what your heart wants and where it leads you in all circumstance in life, that’s the center of your heart.

And to save you the trouble, most often you’ll realize the center of your own heart is you. That’s the center of sin…it’s exchanging the glory of God for mere idols. And the greatest idol in the life of man is ourselves. Our wants, our needs, our desires… we want to be fulfilled people. And so we fulfill our desires with everything in life, but often not of God. I believe that with all of my heart.

Because that’s what I wanted before I came to know Jesus. I wanted to fulfill my life in the way I wanted. I wanted to be satisfied. But I never realized that what I pursued for my own satisfaction was leading me to death. I thought I was living. I thought I was living my best life now… but in all reality I was living a life that lead no where but eternal separation.

Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. His goodness is the outward fruit of his inward heart. What does his heart look like? That’s a very interesting question because, did you know, in all four gospels, which includes 89 chapters, there is only one place, and one time where Jesus tells us about his own heart. DO you know where its found? It’s found in Matthew chapter 11, where he says, I am gentle and lowly in heart.

This is the only place where Jesus pulls back the veil and lets us peer way down into the core of who he is. His heart drives his goodness. Look now to what Jesus continues to say, , “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.

There an intimacy that Jesus has for his flock. I’ve said it before, Intimacy is us knowing God and God knowing us. It’s not knowing about God, it’s a mutual relationship. And regardless of our part, God always is faithful to pursue and to know us 100 % of the time. He has a willing heart. Isn’t it better to know that we have someone loving us, not out of duty but out of willingness?

My wife loves me because she’s willing to love me. I love her not because I have a duty to care and to protect, but I willingly do it because I love her. I think of all the overtime in the oil and gas industry, the torn knee that comes with a life long disability, the broken back, the scars on my hands and body. I think of the long drives that took over an hour to get to the yard, and one time I was so tired that I only got 15 minutes from our home heading towards work and in a terrifying moment, I forgot who I was and where I was going.

I was so stressed and tired that I lost all reality. I lost my mind, and my surroundings. I had to pull over because my mind had left me. It was a willing heart to provide and care for my wife and kids. My family will never know the full extent to the hardships I’ve endured to provide for our family. But they know this.. I did it, willingly because I love them.

God isn’t impress with your duty. Jesus never went to the cross out of duty. He went to the cross fueled by love. Each nail that pieced his hands and feet bled and poured out love. Each prick, cut and splinter from the crown of thorns bled upon the brow of Christ, that was love. The very breath in his lungs as he took one final breath and breathed his last, was out of love.

He says, I am the good shepherd, and I know my own and mine own know me just as the father knows me and I know the father… and I willingly lay down my very life for them. What a wonderful reminder it is to know in my time of trouble, in my time of regret and in my time of need, I can look up, and see my savior looking back at me.

It’s a promise! It’s a promise that he is always faithful. Don't you remember, Stephen? The book of acts tells us that as he was being Stoned to death, “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” He looked up!

And there in all of His glory he saw the good shepherd staring back at him… and led him into glory. I am his and he is mine. I have no other care in the world because I know, Just as David knew, jsut as Stephen knew, that not matter how broken I become, no matter how hard this world becomes, He restores my soul with one look into the eyes of the good shepherd.

He restores me! He has a willing heart if you would but trust him. He has a willing heart. His whole soul and Spirit is thrusted into his sheep. Everything he has and owns is given to his sheep. There is goodness and tenderness and willingness in his care. What a great encouragement that is that Jesus cares. And if Jesus is so pleased to be my shepherd, let me be just as equally pleased to be his sheep.

Because all that Jesus is and all that he offers is made available to me as a sheep of his fold. Do you know how important that is for you to know? That intimacy is loves ways of saying, I am willing. Without doubt.. without hesitation. Without thinking about it… Once my sheep looks to me… I am willing. What is he willing to do? Well, Look with me back in verse 15, Jesus says, and I lay down my life for the sheep Do you know what this greek word, “life” means?

It means, to his very last breath. Now hear it this way, I will lay down my life, my very last breath for my sheep. Jesus is pointing us to the cross in this moment where he actually will lay down his life. Jesus is the only one able to lay his life down and pick it up again. Because he tells us that in verse 18, 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” Listen church, do you really give your life to your faith? Im not asking if you give yourself to coming to church. Im not asking I you give money in the plate. Im not even asking if you serve the poor with moments of servitude. Im asking.. have you given your whole self to the good Shepherd?

Jesus says, I give my entire life, for my sheep. The very precious breath, that is in my lungs, my everything that is within me, is thrusted to you, to care for you. All you need to do us look up, and see that he is there. Do you, give the same to Him? DO you really give your life to the faith you believe? I pray today, that today would become a day where you’re sanctified completely.

Where there wold be no more talk or wonder who’s our shepherd is. David Writes in Psalm 34, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” This nearness is from a love only a shepherd has for his flock. And so this morning, as we close on this day of love.

I want to challenge you to ask yourself.. is your love for your shepherd the same as the love that he has for you? Because There is no brokenness in life that the love of God can not restore. Jesus took the love within him, and poured it out for all to see.. he paid it all for you for you, to be restored. *

For Others at Work

Let’s open our bibles together to 2nd Corinthians, and find with me chapter 2 and verse 14. 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.

And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. Last week week we began the ending of our 10 week series together, with the emphasis on “for others" in our Neighborhood. We examined in Marks gospel how Jesus sent out the disciples ,two by two to proclaim the gospel, and call people to repent.

One truth we explored last week was this, If your walk with Jesus is always about your comfort, you’ll never call yourself out of your own comfort zone to seek the lost. This morning, I want to look this theme, For others in our workplaces. When it comes to sharing the gospel, Every single person, believes and shares a gospel. IN our Scripture this is the aroma that Paul is speaking of.

What aroma are you giving off. The question is it the true gospel that we find in God’s word? Everybody knows something has gone terribly wrong, both in our soul, but also in our society. If you don’t believe me, just turn on the news. There’s fighting & wars, Famines, droughts, and don’t get me started on the whole political scene and how messed up that is. And so, we know there’s something deeply wrong with this world and so all of us, because we know something terrible has happened, we’re trying to put our hope into something or someone as the solution.

Pastor Tim Keller who just passed away this year, he mentioned that as long as you have breathe in your lungs, shows that you have hope and faith in something. And what we realize is that if that hope is on anything else other than God, eventually that hope will let you down. One reason, if you want to write this down or put it in your memory bank… one reason why we share the good news is because we have a hope that will never let us down.

We share the good news because Jesus is our hope. And so, we share the gospel of Jesus with others, when we share Jesus we share unshakable hope. But here’s the thing about the gospel. What gospel are you preaching and believing yourself? What would you say if I told you that today you preach some sort of gospel with your life? I learned this from a pastor named, Caleb Martinez who shared this information.

He teaches that there are three gospels we put our hope in and share with others. First, we spoke a little last week over it.. 55% in our community do not believe. They don’t believe in a religion at all but yet there is a gospel that they believe and we would call this, the secular gospel. This gospel is still a gospel but it’s not one that points others to the creator of all things.

It’s very human. It seeks to put human satisfaction and happiness first. It’s a gospel that says, I am the center of the universe. When we live for a secular gospel we tend to reject sin, and say things like. I’m not so bad. We exchange preachers for therapist. Now, I not saying therapist are bad, I seek mental help from therapy from time to time. What I’m saying is that secular gospel would not preach the message of turning from sin.

Instead, the secular gospel would preach, don’t worry about turning from sin, just turn within. Follow your truth. Follow what you believe. Be you. Be an individual. And although it seems to be harmless, or even helpful but actually it’s very hollow inside. It’s hollow because we exchanged holiness for happiness. Now, I need to make a disclaimer here. I am not saying that you’ll not find joy in your life.

What I am saying is this, to be happy, in a god given way is to become holy, but you can’t experience joy without holiness. Because happiness is found in my circumstances, while in holiness we find our joy in Jesus. Far too often we find ourselves stressed because we’re pursing some sort of happiness in life. And we learn that in this secular gospel, that my happiness is me chasing everything else but God.

Prayer is moved aside for more sleep. Bible reading is moved aside for more time scrolling our phones. We fill our lives with so many commitments that we don’t realize that our commitments are the cause of our stress. So when it comes to coming to church on a Sunday or being together in mid week, we replace being together with every other life pursuits. Our happiness is finding contemned through business, but what we do not realize is that it causes us to have a never ending cycle of anxiety.

The second gospel is one all of us may have been a part of, it’s called the American gospel. Now, before you grab your pitchforks I need to explain why many people within the church are actually believing in this false gospel. One component of the American gospel is that you need to be saved from hell. Now, that’s true. This gospel, you can find it in the scriptures but I believe it is incomplete because it does not make any emphasis on Jesus living in your life, and transforming your life.

That’s why you have people who knock on your door and say, Hi, how are you. What’s your name. I am so and so, let me ask you a question. If you were to die tonight, where would you go? Heaven or hell? I cringe when I would hear people say this… and honestly, this is what turned me off from continuing with the farmers association at the fair. They would sit in the tent, and yell at people as they walked by, “If you were to die today would you go to heaven or hell?" Let me just say…

that is not a good conversation starter. That is a poor way to evangelize to people in todays culture. It’s not a good way to get invited into someones house, or a good way to get people invited into the tent to hear the gospel. Because in my experience when I was preaching at the farmers association tent, once a person was led to Christ, they put their name on a pice of paper, and then sent them off with a walking stick to fend for themselves.

And so, here’s one of the issues with this kind of evangelism… it gives off the impression that it has everything to do with eternity, or your last day on earth, and not so much as becoming holy right now, and in this life, on this side of heaven. It’s about quantity more than seeing a life change in a person. So the question, what is salvation when it comes to the American gospel is this, “Salvation is living in heaven forever when we die.” “We’re not perfect.

We’re never gonna really transform on this side of heaven.”But when we die, we’ll be glorified. Everything will be better. No more tears, no more crying. And what a great gospel to believe in. Because, look we have a lot of conversions. We have a lot of people coming to Christ but that’s the whole point, and usually the only point. There’s usually only Conversions over discipleship. When I was helping the farmers association, that was my greatest issue with that they were doing.

There was no, let’s direct them to a church, or let’s get their information for a follow up, or to even lead them to baptism. Their idea of this American gospel they preached was to lead as many eternity without there being a need for Jesus outside of salvation. And so the American gospel doesn’t promote, in my opinion, a holiness that is possible on this side of heaven. It’s a tremendous strategy for making converts, but it’s terrible at making disciples.

I hope you see what I am saying, that although the American gospel preaches eternity, it has no real plan for longevity of seeing the person grow as a disciple in the present. The American gospel does not seek to see lives transformed. It becomes about sin management. It’s very individualistic. You just worry, am I gonna go to heaven? It’s just me and Jesus and there is no desire ot be with the body of Christ.

As long as I’m saved once, I am saved forever. This gospel can be found in the Scriptures with some elements of truth, But the emphasis on the American gospel is this, There’s eternity but no internal change or discipleship needed. It’s the once saved always saved mentality. And that is not the gospel we believe in. The third gospel that we live out in our lives is this, the biblical gospel.

The secular gospel rejects eternity and says that the end of life is for the happiness of man. As long as I get to the end of my human life, and I am happy, I have achieved and lived a good life. The American gospel focuses on eternity with Christ, but rejects the growth of the disciple. The biblical gospel is what we find in the Bible that combines salvation, with internal change, and eternity with Jesus.

It’s lived out in everyday life, and with an everyday sanctification looking froward to Christ as our perfecter of faith, and our anchor of hope. What do I mean by sanctification? Sanctification is this process of us growing and changing on this side of heaven to become more like Jesus, and the outcome is becoming holy people. The Biblical gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy.

But the gospel doesn’t stop there… the gospel is also the belief that those who have put there faith in Jesus now have His Spirit residing within them. And the Spirit as we have learned is forming us into His likeness. So the reality is, we never outgrow our need of the gospel. This isn’t like the American gospel where you put your faith in Jesus and now wait for death to be with Jesus..

no the biblical gospel is our everyday aroma from being with Jesus because Jesus is and has become our everyday life. John Piper writes, You never, never, never outgrow your need for this gospel. You don’t begin the Christian life with this and then leave it behind and get stronger with something else. God strengthens us with the gospel to the day we die.” What we learn is that in everyday life, this gospel we believe always produces a new direction in this age, and it always produces a newer person, everyday, if you remember in 2nd corinthians, we are changing, every day, from one glory to another.

So the biblical gospels is this emphasis on daily change into the likeness of Jesus. I want to encourage us this morning to ponder this question… what is the gospel aroma are we giving to others? Here’s where I want to go back into our Scripture. Look with me back in verse 14. Paul write, But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

A life in Christ spreads the aroma of Him everywhere. Can you imagine trying to spread the aroma of Christ if we lived a secular gospel? Where you can read of Jesus, and know about Jesus and even know about eternal life, but still reject him as Lord over your life. Because I believe there are many who believe they are Christians and live that life. That would mean we’re trying to spread this aroma from within ourselves.

The gospel is dependent upon our happiness, and when I am unhappy, I lose all joy and mostly I lose all hope as well. What about the American gospel? Where the gospel is Repent and believe and have eternal life secured but it allows for your life to live in sin. Your just living for eternity to happen one day, but there is not emphasis on relationship or discipleship. And again, I believe this comes with comfort.

It’s easier to accept an eternity than it the fact that Christ calls us to be changed in the present. Then there is the biblical gospel. Where holiness and sanctification is our goal. Where eternity’s not our reward, but Christ Jesus himself is our reward. You see, “Jesus’s gospel is proven to produce disciples.” Not just followers, but disciples. As and disciples we are called to be the fragrance of Christ wherever we go.

That’s verse 15, look with me in verse 15. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. In a very real sense, believers make Christ present on earth, as He is in them. Everywhere they travel, they symbolically "give off the smell" of the Savior to fellow Christians and unbelievers alike.

It's an aroma that is received differently depending on one's eternal status. It’s living out this life of faith to everyone. And let me just say, if you remember last week, people can and will reject the gospel. I want to finish our message today with some practical truths. There are four aroma’s that God loves most. First, it’s the aroma of prayer. Just as the beginning of discplsipleshi is proximity, its the same with prayer.

I think of Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” I also thin of Psalm 77:13 the in the passion transition, It's here in your presence, in your sanctuary, where I learn more of your ways, for holiness is revealed in everything you do.

Lord, you're the one and only, the great and glorious God! Prayer is seeking to be in His presence. I want to dwell in HIs house. This is the foundation of of prayer.. to be in his presence, in his throne room, in the sanctuary of God. I want to gaze upon him. I sat in my room the other day, seeking, and pleading, and asking questions. I want to inquire of him for this decision and that decision.

I want to bask in his presence. Prayer is the foundation of presence. Prayer is the breath of a Christian. TO ask a Christina to stop praying is asking a christians to die. The second aroma is this, Repentance. Listen. This is very important. You can’t just confess your sins. That does nothing. Confession does nothing if there is no repentance. Because confession without repentance is nothing but bragging about your sin.

David cries out, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. IN David’s life, and in his confession was the reality that his Spirit was broken over his sin. There must be a sorrow over your sin. But here’s the danger, sorrow over sin must lead us to Christ who died for our sin. If we allow sorrow to settle in and then believe that there is no hope for us, we allow the enemy to trick us into believing that Christ, upon the cross of calvary, and his resurrection was not enough to defeat our sin.

And if the is true, then every person who has confessed in Christ is enterally lost. That’s a lie.That’s a lie.That’s a lie. Sorrow must lead the heart of the persons to confession. Confession should not look to mitigate, to lesson, or excuse, or rationalize or blame. Genuine confession takes ownership of the pain that our sin has caused and it thrusts it upon the only person who can save us from it…

and that is Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that we must not only repent but that we must also actively turn from the sins we commit. And here’s the key, repentance never feels good. and if it does, you’re doing it wrong. Our need for repentance is what reminds us of our need for grace while displaying our growth in grace to the world around us. That’s an aroma that is pleasing to God and will be pleasing to others.

The third aroma is of your witness. In our Scripture Paul charges Christians to spread “the fragrance of the knowledge of everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.” This knowledge that Paul speaks of, that we proclaim ,is that Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of mankind, and all who repent and appropriate his sacrificial death on the cross through faith will be saved by God’s grace.

Paul write to the Ephesians, 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. And unforntualy, not everyone likes this scent of truth even when it’s spoken “with gentleness and respect,” as it always ought to be. ‘ Understand this, nothing is more pleasant to the Father than to see his Son glorified in the courageous testimonies of those he came to save.

And if the Lord is pleased with us, “what can man do?” And finally, the aroma of our love. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” As Christ-followers, we are called to give no less (Ephesians 5:2) — not that we are called to die for others’ sins. But we are called to demonstrate Christ’s suffering and sacrifice through our own emotional, spiritual, and even physical sufferings on behalf of others, however that may look in our daily lives (Colossians 1:24).

What aroma are you giving off to others? *

I Am - Peace

I want to invite you to open your bibles with me to John Chapter 10. We're in the 5th week of a 7 week teaching called "I Am." WE’VE been looking at the "I am" statements of Jesus, and then coupling them with the thanksgiving and advent season. Last Sunday, we discovered how Jesus is the light of the world - how His presence illuminates our darkness. And today, as we continue our journey through Advent, focusing on peace, Jesus gives us another powerful 'I AM' statement.

Lets read together, beginning in John chapter 10, and beginning in verse 11. 11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them. 13 This happens because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care about the sheep.

Now, lets keep going into verse 14, he says it again.. But this time, theres a difference to how he describes how the good shepherd treats the flock… verse 14.. 14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

Then there will be one flock, one shepherd. You know, as I was preparing for this message about peace, I couldn't help but laugh at this video. You may have already seen it, But every time I think of sheep, I think of this video. Now, if we're really honest with ourselves, we've all been that sheep, haven't we? I mean, think about it. How many times have we finally found some peace in our lives, only to jump right back into the very thing that was stressing us out in the first place?

For me.. That's exactly why Jesus uses this imagery of being a shepherd. He knows us. He gets us. And when He says 'I am the Good Shepherd,' He's speaking to something deep inside all of us - this need for someone who won't give up on us, even when we keep jumping back into our own holes. Now, what's fascinating about sheep - and stick with me here because this gets really interesting - is that they have four distinct characteristics that might hit a little close to home.

And when I learned about these, I started understanding why Jesus chose this metaphor, and what it means for our peace. The first thing about sheep is they're prone to wander. And if that doesn't hit close to home, I don't know what does. I am reminded of this old hymn that was written back in 1757, some of you probably know it… - 'Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.' The guy who wrote it, Robert Robinson, was just 22 years old.

And there's this line in it that gets me every time: 'Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love.’ Can I be really honest with you for a moment? I feel that way sometimes. There are days when I find myself completely distracted, drifting away from the very peace I'm preaching about right now. I mean, I'm your pastor, and yet there are times when instead of having my heart and mind focused on Jesus - the One who literally gave His life for me - I'm...

wandering. Anyone else ever feel that way? Like you don't even mean to drift, but somehow you find yourself far from where you want to be? Do you know what's amazing though? Robinson wrote those words over 250 years ago, and they still ring true today. Why? Because this tendency to wander is part of who we are as sheep, its a part of our nature. Even King David, who wrote Psalm 119, prayed, 'With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!’ But Here is the beautiful thing though - and this is where it comes back to Jesus as our Good Shepherd.

Jesus knows this about us. He knows we're prone to wander. That's exactly why He says, 'I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own.' He doesn't just know our names - He knows our nature. He knows that like that sheep in the video, we might need rescuing from the same hole multiple times. But it's not just our wandering that makes us need a shepherd…” The second thing about sheep - and this one is kind of humbling - is that they're completely defenseless.

I mean, think about it. Most animals have some kind of natural defense mechanism, right? Bears have claws, porcupines have quills, skunks have... well, you know. But sheep? What do they got? Their only defense is being a big fluffy pillow. They’ve got nothing. Their not fast. They can't outrun predators, they can't fight back, they can't even blend into their surroundings very well. And in the face of danger, you know what their primary defense strategy is?

They panic. Anyone else feeling a little called out right now? Because if we're honest, isn't this exactly how we often feel when our peace is threatened? When life throws something unexpected our way, or when we're facing problems bigger than ourselves, we realize just how defenseless we really are. There are so many things in this life that we just cant battle alone. And we shouldn’t have to battle them alone.

When we learn that there’s peace in presence, I believe that should enable all of us that where the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we should never let people battle anything alone. Remember a couple weeks ago when Jeuss encountered and healed the blind man, and the gatekeepers, the pharisees kicked him out, what did Jesus do? He went after him. Last week, I reminded all of us, that we are the light of Christ.

We are living and moving sanctuaries brining the very presence of Jesus to others who live in darkness. And you know what's beautiful about this? When we understand that we're defenseless on our own, but we carry the very presence of Christ within us, it changes everything. It changes how we face our own battles, and it changes how we show up for others in their battles. Do you know what it means to show up?

What it means to show up into other peoples lives? Let me read this to you… (Read book) Did you hear that… The most single objective of being presence filled, and relational evangelism all comes down to one objective… to care. To care - it's that simple, and yet that extreme. When we're defenseless, Jesus, our Good Shepherd, doesn't just protect us - He cares for us. And now, filled with His presence, we get to do the same for others.

We get to be the physical representation of the Shepherd's care in someone else's moment of defenselessness. I call that… being compassionate. That’s what it means to care. There's a third thing about sheep that really helps us understand why we need the Good Shepherd's peace so much. You see, sheep are incredibly stubborn. Now, don’t look at your spouse right now. Play it cool. My wife is starting right at me.

(Hahah) There are actually documented cases of sheep getting themselves stuck between rocks and refusing to back up. Instead of just backing up to get out, They’d just keep pushing forward, getting more and more stuck. Let me tell you something fascinating about sheep and stubbornness - and this is where it gets really interesting. When sheep get stuck, it's not just that they don't know how to back up. It's that their stubbornness is actually a defense mechanism.

They're trying to protect themselves, even though they're making things worse. listen to this, being stubborn is having or showing persistent determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something, esp. in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so. Difficult to move, remove, or cure. You know, there's this quote by Neil Gaiman in his book, American Gods that says, 'There's none so blind as those who will not listen.' And isn't that true of us?

Sometimes our biggest obstacle to peace isn't our circumstances - it's our own stubbornness. In my years of ministry, I've seen this play out in so many ways. And I'll be honest - I've seen it in myself too. We build these walls, thinking we're protecting ourselves, but really, we're just getting more stuck. Think about it - stubbornness shows up as: Acting like we've got it all figured out Refusing to ask for help Staying silent when we should speak up Or maybe just refusing to change, even when we know we should But here's what's amazing - remember, God knows this about us.

In Ezekiel 11:19, He makes this incredible promise. He says, 'I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart.’ And isn't this exactly what Jesus, our Good Shepherd, does? When we're stuck in our stubbornness, when we've built all these walls thinking they'll protect us, He doesn't just leave us there. He comes after us. He offers us something better than our defensive walls - He offers us His peace…

Because, what does a shepherd do? First, he guides. Psalm 23:3 tells us, 'He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake.' But what's fascinating is how He does this. When we look at John 10, and go back to the begging of the chapter to verses 3-4, we get this beautiful picture: 'The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.’ Voices are interesting. I can walk into a room of 50 woman blindfolded, and I promise you, if my wife is talking, I can recognize her voice. Its true… I had learned her voice. . Its the same with our kids…

Alicia and I both know the voice and laughter and cries of our kids. But after 19 years of marriage and a 17, 16 and 12 year old, if I couldn’t can't recognize their voice, it's usually for one of two reasons: either I don't know them, or I haven't spent enough time with them. And it's the same with Jesus. If we're having trouble hearing His voice, if we're struggling to find His peace, maybe it's because we don't know Him well enough yet, or we haven't been spending enough time with Him.

There's this powerful moment in John 6 where Jesus turns to His disciples and asks them, 'You do not want to leave too, do you?' It's such a simple question, but it hits right at the heart of what it means to follow the Shepherd. Because true peace isn't just about believing in Jesus - it's about walking with Him. Its about following him… It's about that bold, reckless commitment to follow wherever He leads.

Maybe you're sitting here today, and you're wondering what it looks like to trust His guidance like that. Maybe you're at a crossroads, facing decisions that seem overwhelming. Just remember, Peace comes when we follow His lead, not our own logic" He also provides for us. I was reading something this week that really hit home. It said, 'Where God guides, He provides. Where He leads, He supplies all needs.' And it got me thinking about all the times in my life when I've sat at the dining room table, staring at bills, trying to figure out which one could be late so the lights would stay on.

Anyone ever been there? Maybe you're there right now - checking your account at the gas pump, trying to calculate exactly how much you can put in? Life happens, doesn't it? And sometimes it happens fast. But here's what's amazing about our Good Shepherd - He always provides. Now, here's the catch - and this is important - He doesn't always provide in the way we think He should. Sometimes we're praying for someone to give us money, but instead, we discover there was an error on our last bill payment, and suddenly we have a credit.

Or we're worried about how far we can stretch that quarter tank of gas, and unexpectedly, half our errands for the week get cancelled. Or, why not say this… How many of you ever prayed to win the lottery? I know I have. But instead, I’d wake up the next morning just to find someone else had won… You know who really understood this? Abraham. There's this incredible story in Genesis 22 where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac.

Can you imagine? But Abraham trusted that God would provide - and at the last possible moment, God did. He provided a ram caught in the thicket. The Hebrew name for God in this story is Jehovah-Jireh - 'The Lord Will Provide.' And you know what I'm learning? He's still Jehovah-Jireh today. He provides. Not always in the way we expect, and rarely in the way we demand, but always in the way we need.

That’s why Jesus is called good. Peace isn't in having everything we want, but in trusting the One who knows what we need. The third thing our Good Shepherd does - HE CORRECTS. Now, if I'm being honest, this isn't usually our favorite part of having a Good Shepherd. I mean, who sits around thinking, 'Oh, I hope God corrects me today!’ I had a friend last night send me these photos, and I told her, I can relate and I know she can too.

There's this fascinating passage in Job that completely changed how I view God's correction. In Job 5:17-18, it says 'Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal.’ Now, in Hebrew, this word for 'correct' - yasar' - it's such rich in meaning. It's not just about punishment or discipline.

It literally means 'to instruct while forming.' Like a potter shaping clay, or a shepherd guiding his sheep. It's correction with purpose, it’s correction that transforms. How many times in your life as you’ve grown in your faith, that God has used correction, or hardship to transform your faith? You know, I used to think correction was just about punishment - about God pointing out what I did wrong. But there's this verse in Hebrews that changed everything for me.

It says, 'No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.’ Did you catch that? The purpose of correction isn't punishment - it's peace. It's righteousness. It's transformation. Maybe you're in one of those seasons right now. Maybe you're facing something difficult and wondering, 'God, what are you doing?' How does this help?

Let me tell you something - The Good Shepherd never corrects without purpose. He never allows pain without planning for peace. It's like what happens with my own kids. Nobody celebrates when I say 'You're grounded!' Nobody jumps for joy and says, 'Oh praise the Lord, I'm getting disciplined!' But as a parent, I know that temporary discomfort is worth it if it keeps them from greater harm. And if we, as imperfect parents, know how to correct our children for their good, how much more does our perfect good Shepherd know exactly what we need to be transformed into who He's calling us to be?

When it comes to peace, Peace is found in surrendering to His shaping, not resisting His direction. Our final point is this - HE PROTECTS. Everybody say it with me - 'He protects.’ You know what David writes in Psalm 23? He says, 'Even though I walk through the darkest valley - I mean the valley of the shadow of death - I will fear no evil.' Now why would he say that?

Because his Good Shepherd was with him! When He is with you, what do you have to fear? When He is with you, your soul can be at rest. When He is with you, you know He's working everything - even the hard stuff - for your good. You know, Alicia tells me all the time... 'I can't sleep at night knowing you're not near.' When I was traveling state to state with my oil and gas job, or whenever I'd go somewhere away from her...

she'd tell me how she struggles to sleep knowing I'm not there. There's this feeling of protection she knows when I'm near. She knows that if there was an intruder I would throw down. And if we, as humans, can feel that kind of peace just knowing someone we love is near, how much more peace should we have knowing that Jesus is always with us? He never takes a business trip.

He never steps away. He's always right there. Look at what else David writes - 'Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ Now, let me tell you something interesting about these tools. The rod wasn't just some walking stick - it was a weapon! The shepherd would use it to fight off anything that tried to harm his sheep. And that staff with the hook on the end? That was for rescuing sheep when they fell into ravines or got tangled up in trouble.

You know what I love about this? The very things that bring comfort to the sheep are the shepherd's tools for protection. Think about that - when the sheep sees the rod and staff in the shepherd's hands, they don't think 'Oh no, what's he going to do with those?' They think 'Oh good, he's equipped to take care of me.’ And whew I know I’m protected, I know I can be at peace.

As I close… and ask Peter to come up. You know what amazes me most about our Good Shepherd? All these things we've talked about - His guidance, His provision, His correction, His protection - He never meant for us to keep them to ourselves. Jesus says something fascinating in John 10:16. Its one of my pastoral life verses. He says, 'I have other sheep that are not of this pen.

I must bring them also.' Did you catch that? He didn't say 'I might bring them' or 'I'll think about bringing them.' He said 'I MUST bring them.’ It reminds me of that sheep we saw in the video at the beginning - you remember? The one that kept jumping back into the hole? Sometimes I look around and see people doing the same thing in their lives. Maybe you know someone like that.

Maybe you are that someone. I know I was that sheep that just keeps jumping back into holes God has rescued me from. Lets’s be really honest for a moment? We've all been that sheep at some point. We've all been stuck in holes we couldn't get out of on our own. But here's the beautiful thing - the Good Shepherd, Jesus didn't just rescue us and move on. He's still out there, still looking, still seeking.

And get this - He wants to use us in that seeking. Think about it - you know what it's like to be lost. You know what it's like to need guidance, to need provision, to need correction, to need protection. And now that you've experienced His peace? You're perfectly positioned to help someone else find it too. So let me ask you something - where are you in this story today?

Are you that sheep who needs to let the Shepherd find you? No shame in that - we've all been there. Or maybe you're already in the fold, and He's nudging your heart about someone else who needs to know about His peace? Because here's what I know - there's always room in the fold for one more sheep. We were once lost sheep We’ve been found Now, we're called to help find others And bring them and show them, the good Shepherd.

*

I Am the Resurrection

Let’s open our bibles together to John chapter 11. We’re five weeks into our series called, I am. And our aim is to look at the 7 I am statements that Jesus had said, through the book of John. Through these I am statements, we coupled them with opposite feelings and emotions that we deal with as human beings. Over the past four week we looked at, desires in our life, There are so many things in this world that competes with our desires, but Jesus wants to be our only and greatest desire.

Our discovery in week two was that there is no darkness that we can witness in this world that the love of Jesus cannot penetrate. We moved into week three and talked about shame. Shame wants to shackle us. And if left untreated, Buried shame grows roots in us until we don’t recognize ourselves anymore. But Jesus says, I am the gate. I believe our greatest realization thou Jesus as the door, or Jesus as the gate, is the fact that he calls for us to knock, and the door will be open for you.

Seek and you will find. Often, we knock but shame tends to make us believe that were unworthy, so we run from Jesus.. And that leads us into week four, last week we read Jesus say, I am the good Shepherd. We made a huge emphasis on what? What did we say together? We affirmed that, God is a restorer. The good shepherd, goes after the sheep. The good shepherd loves and protects the sheep.

David writes in Psalm 23, the good shepherd “restores my soul.” There is never a moment in our life that Jesus isn’t running after us. And we concluded that, Knowing, recognizing and walking in God’s presence by faith, is our greatest victory in this life. My goal as your pastor, is to help you grow in Christ. But you as God’s sheep need to be willing to grow. Today, I want to look at John chapter 11.

And Let me just warn you. Studying for this sermon got really deep for me, and it might be hard for us as a chruch. It’s been hard to pray and study all week long because we just witnessed another funeral this week for a dear teacher of our community. And of course, we’ve lost a real dear friend just a few weeks ago… So, if you dont mind.. before I read our Scripture, can we just bow our heads and prepare our hearts this morning?

Can we do that? And then, I’ll pray and we can begin. Heavenly Father, Our hearts are heavy this morning. Because for many of us, we’re still mourning the loss of those we love and those we miss. I want to pray, Father, lead our hearts this morning to find in Jesus… rest. Guide us, as a church to grieve, but to grieve trusting you. In the name of Jesus I pray…

amen Let’s read together, John chapter 11, and find with me verse 17. 17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Now, find with me verse 32… A little context.. Jesus has just met Martha, and now Mary comes with the crowd following her. She is going to where Jesus is. Here is the conversation that Mary has with Jesus. 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” I want to begin this morning, not with a statement like last week where we affirmed together, that God is a restorer, but today, I want to ask a question..

Are you trusting Jesus Christ as your life? The story of Martha, Mary and Lazarus is a fascinating one. I want skip Martha’s interaction with Jesus for jsut right nwo… and lets take a moment to look at Mary and Jesus. Mary comes running up to Jesus and she’s weeping. Listen to Mary’s words, in John 11:32: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” And what’s fascinating is this…

do you notice how Jesus dealt with her in her grief? Like we know what happens.. and if you dont know the story, spoiler alert, Jesus in a few verses ahead will eventually go to the tomb of Lazarus and he would call out his name, and Lazarus would come alive again and walk out of the tomb. Jesus literally brings him back to life. But here in this moment, we find something fascinating in Jesus’s interaction with Mary…

although Jesus knows what he’s about to do… it never gets in the way of being present with people. If we look in Verse 33 says, “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” Then, our Bible tells us… Jesus wept. And Im fascinated by it because here’s the question I’m wanting to ask..

Why does Jesus weep when He knows He’s about to remove the whole reason for weeping? He knows. If you ever wanted to see what perfected love looks like…. This is it. This Christmas, and every Christmas we get to celebrate the fact that Christ came to earth. And while he was here, on earth, Emmanuel, was love embodied in flesh. When we think of love, Christmas is a reminder that love came down.

Love could be touched, Love could be felt and hugged, and held. And in this moment, in Marys grief, we read that Love wept. Because Love was present. Grief is a really interesting emotion. I’ve learned this week that each persons grief is as unique as thier fingerprint. And I’ve witnessed as a pastor, that people grieve differently. Some weep loudly, and some grieve silently. I’ll never forget the cries of my mother the night my step father passed away just a few short years ago.

They were tears and groans of deep anguish as she mourned in her bedroom. And when you study grief, there’s two things you’ll learn that are common in anyone that grieves. First, no matter how anyone would grieve, they share a need for their grief to be witnessed. And second, we all grieve because love was evident and love was real in their life. You can not have grief without love.

They are intertwined together. And if your plan is to go through life avoiding grief, you can most certainly do so, but the cost to a Grief-less life is to run from love. I don’t know about you, but a life without love is like a river without water. There is not one person, that I know of in this world, that doesn’t want to love and also feel loved by others.

The issue is… for most of us when we experience rejection in our life we become afraid to love and to let others love us. But look to where Mary and Martha runs… they run to Jesus and Jesus does what… he weeps with them. They Run to Jesus. How often in this world, when we go through hard times we run to eventing else to find peace. We run to alcohol just to have it numb the pain, but then it comes back.

We seek out drugs, we look at unhealthy intimacy to subside the pain we have in our hearts. Think of how amazing it is, that in this verse we find Jesus, who is God in the flesh, Who knows everything is about to change for them, but still he takes the time to weep with them. Did you notice what Mary and Martha did? They shared their need to grieve and for it to be witnessed, and if their grieve is but an echo of a love now gone, they go to the source of love.

Jesus has the Power to Take Our Tears Away. We know this.. we have hope of this from the resurrection to come. John would write that in the book of revelation.. think about what he writes, He (Speaking of Jesus) will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” What we see in this moment is that God makes it crystal clear to us, that when we weep, he undeniably weeps with us.

When we hurt, he hurts with us. And he will one day wipe the tears form our eyes… but to do so… we must first run to him in our grief. And so, this morning, I dont know the depth of your grief, or the hurt you’ve ezplreinced. Whether it be the loss of a loved one, or maybe you felt alone and abandoned, betrayed and discouraged. With whatever it is you’re dealing with, Jesus is witnessing your pain, and he loves you perfectly where you are, and he weeps with you.

Jesus weeps, but then he brings truth. You see, it’s not just being there witnessing our pain, but it’s also bringing truth in our pain. It’s Inviting God Into Our Pain and hearing what he says about our pain.. That’s always the first step to healing. And when I say heal, I am not saying we forget our grief, or we forget those we have once loved, what I am saying is this…

Healing can never begin unless were real and honest about why we grieve. One of the resources and books I’ve been looking into has been David Kessler’s book called, “Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief.” And in this book, Kessler writes, “Healing doesn’t mean the loss didn’t happen. It means that it no longer controls us.” When we grieve, we need truth. Martha comes up to Jesus and says “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” If Jesus would have been there…

this story would have been different, but not, Lazarus has died. But yet, in this moment, hear the truth that Jesus says to her… “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” Do you realize what Jesus just said? Jesus just said He has the power to make it all untrue.

He has the power to turn all of it around. Now, I thought about this truth this week and the only way I can explain it is like this.. You know that feeling when you’re asleep and you have a nightmare? You have a whole bunch of feelings and emotions that race through your mind and body. I remember one as a kid where wolves were chasing me. I can to this day recall how scared I was.

I remember the sounds, and my fears, and I vividly remember how I felt. But then, I also know how I felt when I woke up. How safe I felt once my mind realized that it was all a dream. I remember feeling different once truth was realized. Now, what about those moments where you weren’t asleep. Those moments where something really bad did happen to you. It’s not a dream and you just sit there in your grief, and you pinch yourself to make sure you’re not sleeping.

How many times in our grief and we just say things like, I wish this was a dream. This, can’t be true, and you just wish what had happened would be undone. This is the truth of what Jesus is saying to Martha. He goes, I have the power to undo what grieves you. I have the power to undo it all… where it would be just like waking from a dream.

And listen Church, if that is true…. If Jesus has the power to undo what has been broken. then that means death is not the end of the story—and that changes everything. Jesus was sharing truth into their conversation… and then… listen to that Jesus says next… Do you believe this? Martha responds, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Her word for Christ here is actually her saying, I believe you are the Messiah.

You are the promised one. The one we’ve been waiting for… the one we celebrate today, in this season of advent. You’re our long awaited Hope! Why? Why do we need hope? Why is Jesus our hope? DO you understand the implications of what it means that the long awaited Messiah has come? Man and woman were made by God, but they sinned against Him. They did what all of us have done—they turned from God and His ways to ourselves and our own ways.

As a result of sin, they were separated from God. The penalty for sin is death, both physical death in this world and everlasting judgment in eternity beyond this world. But we call the Bible and the gospel good news because death doesn’t have the last word, when we turn to Jesus Christ. The Bible is that God loves us and has not left us alone in a world of sin, separation, suffering and death.

God promised to send His Son, Jesus, to do what none of us could ever do. This is what Martha is saying when she says, You are the Christ.. you are the messiah… Jesus lived the life we have not and could not live, a life of no sin. Then He died the death we deserved to die. We deserve our death. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for the sins of anyone who puts their trust in Him.

Then, three days later Jesus did what no one else has ever done or could ever do. He conquered death itself, the enemy we cannot conquer. Jesus rose from the grave. He is the resurrection and the life. And he looks to Martha and says to her…I am the resurrection and the life… Do you believe it? The greatest invitation we could ever receive is the invitation to enteral life in Jesus and he simply hands it to you in words of love and says, do you believe it?

Martha, says yes, but she doesn’t understand. Just like so many people who hear this gospel today and refuse it because they don’t understand. So many times our truth prevents us from hearing His truth. Our minds are limited.. they are.. the smartest person in this world can’t run and hide from death, but they can run into death and find life in Jesus. They Can.. and you can too… but you’ve got to hear the invitation this morning..

do you believe this. Are you trusting Jesus with your life? I know grief is hard.. I know life is hard. I now grief is hard because Jesus wept. I believe he wept over Mary and Martha’s pain, but I also beleive he wept because he truly loved Lazarus. He loved his dipcplsiples who would one day, in the Holy Spirit take this message of resurrection and life to the ends of the earth.

I believed he loved the crowd that was here watching. And I believe he loves you.. right now. And he stand at the door of your heart asking you.. do you believe in this truth…. But how do we deal with the pain right now? I’ve thought long and hard on how I would end our service today, because I know this topic hits home for all of us. But, for those of you who are in Christ…

Can I give you some encouragement for our ending? I feel like I should encourage you before we end. Can I do that? I want to share with you what I’ve learned about grief in light of the gospel of Jesus. First, Don’t add to your burden by thinking grief is foreign to the heart of God’s children. It’s not foreign. Listen, suffering proves that we are real. Suffering proves we are alive and breathing.

Suffering is promised in the Bible. I Thessalonians in the Bible says, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep” — He’s speaking on death — “that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” The Bible doesn’t teach us that we will never taste death, but it does tell us that we would grieve differently than those who have no hope.

It’s being alive when we grieve. So what do we do when suffering comes? Well, secondly, learn to eat fruit of sorrow even if it’s bitter. I know this sounds hard. It’s like watching abby swallow night quill before bed. But as her parents we know it’s going to help her cough, and help her sleep at night. It’s sort of the same with affliction. Think of when David says, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word,” And when he says, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.” In seasons of affliction there are nutrients we draw from that strengthen our hope.

When I look back into seasons of my life, and I see all the moments where I cried out to God in my affliction. Moments where I wept sitting at my bedside asking GOd, why, moments where I’ve been deeply hurt by others, or situations. Those moments drew me closer to Him. They strengthened my soul and hardened the bones of my faith. And so, I say this with love… eat it.

Eat your suffering. Eat it for as long as God keeps you in that season, and don’t waste it by wishing. Eat it, and grow your faith in Christ. Begin to see suffering not as a burden but as a path that leads you ever so deeply to Jesus. Thirdly, Understand that God is always near the broken hearted. There’s a promise most of us have heard from David… He writes, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” I dunno about you, but every time I read something in the Bible that says, Cast your anxieties on Him, because he cares, and the Lord is near those who are brokenhearted.

There’s a special promised nearness we experience. I’ve come to yearn for it and sadly, often it comes in affliction and suffering. What if your suffering could mean you’ll witness God’s presence even greater than ever? I think of Mary and Martha running to Jesus in thier grief. I’ve learned this week that grief comes when our love for another is broken. It’s why I’ve shed many tears over people that have left my life.

Whether it be by death or by choice. But Jesus never says, I will leave you when you cry… he says, I am nearer to you. When you love Jesus, and I mean really love him… his nearness means everything to you. Often times, our suffering does lead us to Christ. Fourthly, our nearness brings us into this reality, God heals all wounds. Hear that agina… God Heals all wounds. Every one of them…

there is no wound that un unhealable in Christ. There is no sickness that is terminal… when we are in Christ we are promised life. You’ve heard, by his stripes we are healed. What I love about this truth is this… it may not happen quick, but healing does happen in God’s timing. IN our gospels, Jesus had healed a lot of people when he was here on earth, but some of them didn’t get instant healing.

The blind man two chapters before John 11 was only healed when he obeyed, and washed his face. Perhaps the Lord is waiting for you to come and trust in him, because its by faith you are healed. And speaking of God’s timing… this is the fifth and final truth. Wait………. Wait for God. Wait for his timing and restoration. David writes something very interesting about waiting in our affliction, in our grief, and depression.

Do you know this verse, “His anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Do you know what it means that joy will come in the morning? How many times have you gone to bed in your grief, and woke up the next morning and it was still there. Where’s the joy you promised, Lord…

where’s the joy that’s supposed to come in the morning? Joy will come in the morning, doesn’t mean morning, like in our 24 hour day, but yet, God does not leave his children indefinitely in the depths of sorrow. What it means is that Joy comes when dawn comes, and it comes in God’s timing. God will lift you in His timing. But that doesn’t mean God doesn’t hear your cries for help.

There’s another Psalm, Psalm 40 that’s been very close to my heart during my seasons of affliction. And I wait. David writes in Psalm 40, I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. Here’s a question I have for you. How long did David wait in the pit? It doesn’t say. But what I do know, is that he waited. Church.. What are you waiting for? Here the invitation… do you believe in this? Don’t grief along, Be like Mary and Martha this morning… and run to love himself. Trust in Him, Trust in Jesus…

and celebrate communion today knowing you have a living hope. *

Treasuring Christ Together

I want to invite you to open you bibles with me to the book of Philippians. There is something I’d like to say this morning about this moment. Every Sunday, this will be our weekly invitation, to open our bibles together. Whether you bring a physical Bible, or you use an electronic device with a Bible app… every Sunday I will invite you to open the word with me. I believe there is something special, and unifying about coming to church, gathering with the body and opening up God’s word together.

And to do so with joy. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been praying over these three words…. Father, Lead us by your Spirit, to Treasure Christ Together. That’s my prayer for us. To be a body that treasures Christ together… and theres a reason why I pray that… I pray that because I believe in three words… Jesus… together.. for others. Those are three words that sum up my ministry.

Jesus… means holiness. We pursue it… we dig for it.. we strive for it… we desire it. Everyone of us.. seeks to surrender our lives to Christ. Together means we pursue discipleship. We learn together… Strive together, struggle together. For others…. Means mission. We’re missional people. Thats the Nazarene way. Holiness and discipleship always leads the believer into being missional. And so, when we focus on these three things, Jesus, together for others…

we become a body that treasures Christ together. Let’s read, Philippians chapter 3, starting in verse 10. “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection.

But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things.

If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made.” Philippians 3:10-16 NLT When it comes to treasuring Christ it begins with Pauls words in verse 10, “I want know Christ.” That's where treasuring Christ truly begins… but begins by knowing Jesus. That’s the pin that holds everything of our faith together…It’s an intimate pursuit to know Jesus, more and more each day.

I am telling you now… No one is going to grow in their knowledge of Christ if there is no change in them. To know Christ is to be changed. Or in other words, to be transformed. Paul had a change in his life. We also know that his heart had to change as well. And now, we are seeing him write to the Philippines encouraging them to put their faith in Christ.

And he tells them, I want to know Christ. I want to know HIm. Paul doesn’t say, “That I might know about Him,” but, “That I may know him” intimately. I day dream sometimes about meeting Jesus personally, face to face for the first time. And I often wonder, how sad will it be to meet and recognize Jesus but I do not know Him personally. How awkward it would be to speak Jesus, to read about Jesus, to tell others about Jesus…

but yet I dont know him personally myself. Have you ever had one of those moments when someone else called out your name and you were like… you look familiar, you sound familiar, but you begin to squint and yore like…. Do I know you? And many times if your as awkward as I am.. you kind of agree with them…. Ph hey… it’s.. you… Oh man, wow. It’s been so long I almost forgot about you…..

how’s… life? I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of people disappointed when they meet Jesus for the first time face to face and go…. You seem familiar, but I just can’t put my finger on who you are. When I get to heaven, I want to meet someone face to face that I know heart to heart. Paul desired nothing else but to know Jesus personally. There’s a story about a pastor and a broadway actor.

They were at a place and both of them were asked to perform something. So after discussion between the pastor and the actor, it was decided that they wold both recite Psalm 23. The actor went first, and boy did he give them a great show. His voice raised and lowered at each opportune moment. He paused for effect and intensity at each jot and tiddle and comma and period. He brought the crowd into every word.

After he was done, the crowed cheered and waved and went crazy with excitement. Until…. The pastor, came up to the stage and recited the same Pslam. Pslam 23. At the end, the crowd was silent and in tears. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone who was cheering now, was sobbing. The rousing happy mood had be sucked out of the room as fast as if someone had popped a balloon and the air escaped immediately.

Some time had passed and A person came to the actor and asked, How come when you performed, the crowd cheered, but when the pastor received the Psalm, the people wept? The actor replied, I know Psalm 23 by memory, but the pastor knows the Shepard by heart. You see, Paul wanted to know Christ intimately. And He wasn’t just satisfied with knowing about Christ, he wanted Christ as his life.

Jesus changed Pauls perspective, Jesus changed Pauls thinking,… Jesus changed Paul from a persecutor with a past, to a instrument of salvation for others in the present and future. And not only that… He changed Pauls’s life so much that he no longer looked in the past for the answers, but he began to look forward to Christ. You see, church…. All Paul wanted, was to be satisfied in Jesus.… He tells us in verse 8, Surpassing value of knowing Christ…..

He goes on to say, I want to know Him, and be found “In Him.” He’s reminding those reading this letter, that he wants to treasure Jesus as the ultimate treasure of life. That is what I want… I want to know Jesus like that.. and I want to imitate and be like Paul, and to know Christ and to experience the mighty power that saved Him from the dead. I want to see that in those around me too.

Because as a Christian my whole faith falls apart if there is no salvation from death, and no eternity with God. There will be people who will know a whole lot about Jesus… but who also do not know him…. And this sets the tone for treasuring Christ together. Everything we are, and everything we do as a church all depends upon our decision on whether or not, we’re all going all in to know Christ.

But what does going all in look like? It looks like this this… Look with me in verse 12: 12: “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.” Philippians 3:12 NLT Did you hear what he just said… I’m not perfect… but I press on…

I can guarantee you I make mistakes… Just this morning… I made a mistake… I poured milk into my coffee and not creamer… When we arrived here the day before we moved things in… I made the mistake of turning the wrong way making our drive even longer to get to the parsonage to put the animals to bed. I make mistakes. We all do. The key to overcoming mistakes is this…

to not give up, find forgiveness thats offered thorough Christ, and to keep pressing on, in Him. My bibles in the CSB says, to make every effort…. Did you know that there are no permanent victories in life? There will never be a point in this life where you have totally arrived to total completion OF PERFECTION. And not only that, but One of the most disturbing lessons of life is to discover the illusion of arriving.

What does that mean when I say, the illusion of arriving. Arriving means you have set your goal and you accomplish it, you have achieved it, you have arrived at the intended goal and end. But that’s never the end? Because every time we arrive to the end of something, we find out that it’s never the end but the beginning to something new. Paul is saying, I have yet to achieve perfection, I haven’t even reached perfection..

but guess what. I still press on towards it. I make every effort to keep going. I wrote in my journal notes, “that to press on means that there is life. Because if you are pressing on, that means you are moving forward. life always moves forwards. Life never moves backwards. Life never stays put, life must and always moves forward.” And if there is life to press on, then that means there the probability for the need to expect change and growth in our Christian lives.

I’ve come to learn in ministry and in life in general, that I am constantly coming to a cross sections where when I arrive to a certain point, and when I am at these intersections for life and decision. That they are moments where I am born into a new direction, that brings new challenges and opportunities. These cross sections may be challenging and require us to make difficult decisions, but they also offer us the opportunity for growth and transformation.

If we would embrace these moments, I assure you, they can lead us down a path of growing in Christ together. I think of a caterpillar. Remember, God’s reflection is in his creation. He gives us glimpses of himself each and every day that he is king and that he is good and faithful. But a caterpillar comes to the end of the intersection and then metamorphoses into a butterfly. If we go up to a chrysalis and you see a butterfly struggling to get out, and you slit it open so the butterfly doesn’t struggle to free itself, There is a good chance that you killed that butterfly.

Because in the process of pushing and struggling, and in this process of adversity and moving forward, A chemical is made that fills the wings of the butterfly. If it doesn't struggle, this chemical doesn’t get made. You see, it’s not the end for the caterpillar, but a new beginning. The caterpillar presses on, and as long as there is life in it, it will continue to move forward. Just keep in mind when you go through hard situations..

theres always an opportunity to begin again. As long as theres life, there’s always an opportunity for new beginnings. Like the caterpillar, we need to learn to press on through adversity. Just remember, change leads us into adversity, and adversity enables growth. And since we are ;uprising to know Christ intimately, we know that wherever we arrive, it’s not the end, but the beginning for something new. Our victory’s in life are never our end, but they become our badges of faith that we get to show others in our new beginnings.

Don't stop growing… don't become complacent in your walk. Press on… Make every effort to keep moving on… and keep encouraging others around you to keep going. Do not let the past keep you from where GOd is leading you… Look with me in verse 13: “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,” Philippians 3:13 NLT If life is always moving forward, then we need to understand that anytime that we look back, we slow down, and the danger of slowing down is that we can become stagnate, apathetic and even comfortable where we are in our life.

It’s the same with running. If we are running in a race, and we begin to get fixed on what is behind us. You’re body needs to adjust to the direction that you’re looking. Have you ever drove your car, and you fixed on what was on the billboard, or the side of the road.. what happened? Well you begin to drift where you’re eyes are turned and focused on. Paul is reminding us that by looking back in the past, that is not where the goal is.

The goal to know and treasure Christ, and we see how Christ has worked in our past, and that should fuel our faith for the future. That is why we have this word nostalgia. Nostalgia is a sentimental longing or longing affection for the past. Nostalgia is not faith, but longing for the things of our past can become the enemy to our faith if we fixate on what we used to have, and not where God is trying to change and lead us towards.

And hear me when I say this.. Forgetting our past doesn't mean we forget the good and bad times we’ve shared with others, and where we used to be… it means we don't dwell on them or let them hold us back from moving forward in our journey with Christ. I believe we all need to learn to acknowledge and appreciate our past experiences, but even in appreciation of our past, it should never define our life or limit us in our pursuit of Christ.

If anything, we should be like Paul and say, that Christ is lifted in my weakness, and Christ is exalted in my shortcomings. That I am going to let go of my past so that that I can have open arms for what new God is leading me into for the future. When we let go of the past, we free ourselves to fully embrace the present and anticipate the future that God has in store for us.

That’s the truth for all of us… even those listening online… If we’re fixated on the past, we’re not going to be focused on the future, Because treasuring Christ together is looking forward to our hope in Christ, together. So how can we leave today with some practical things for our life when it comes to treasuring Christ…. Well for one: 1: Face your faults. Be honest about who you are and your walk with Christ.

Paul in verse 12 does this… He’s honest about his faults. He said, I haven’t achieved it yet, I’m not there. I don't have it all together.… Maybe there are some of you who feel that somehow you have arrived, or that you’re done or finished. That’s an illusion. Retirment doesn't mean you retire from faith. No, a growing Christian pressing on is never satisfied with his or her spiritual attainment.

If you’re growing in your faith, you’re never going to be satisfied where you are. Just don’t fall into the trap of putting your satisfaction into your past, even your eternal security of what you have attained in the present. Because what is the point of having security in your possessions if you’re never challenged to grow in your faith that God will provide? The bottom line is this.. Growth starts where pretense stops.

that means, growth begins when we’re honest where we are, and our need for Jesus every day, in every moment of our lives. 2: Forget your failures. Face your faults and forget your failures. You and I cannot live life looking over our shoulder at our past mistakes and our regrets. It’s one thing to recognize our faults, but it is another thing to be chained by our failures. Take your failures; bury them in the grave of God’s forgetfulness; ask God to forgive you;, seek to forgive those around you, and ask God to unchain you from things in your life where the failure hurts.

That’s the hardest part.. is to let go. Because there is always going to be people in your life who want you to remember that you’re a failure .Failure does not need not be final. The Apostle Paul had failed, but he said, “I forget those things which are behind.” That doesn’t mean that he was satisfied, but it does mean that he refused to be haunted by the ghost of guilt and shame.

He put that past in the grave of God’s forgetfulness. Failure is never final. Just remember this… , You always have the ability to begin, again. You will be given the ability to never give up, and to restart again. The question is, How different would that look, if you were truly a part of a church that instead of reminding others of their failures, that those who treasure Christ with you would pick you up and encouraged you to begin again….

Wouldn’t you say That’s living a sanctified life, that loves GOd and loves others? The bottom line: Your failures are events, not your identity. And thirdly: Focus your faith. Look with me real quick in Philippaisns 3:13: 3No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: If you mark in your Bible, underline that phrase, I focus on this one thing. This is a beautiful reminder with a laser beam focus.

Paul took everything in his life, and dropped it so that he can have this one life burning desire…to say, I do only this one thing and Look forward towards it. It being laser beamed focused. He’s looking ahead and focusing his life on this one thing… and I believing it came from verse 10… so that I may know Christ, intimately. If you are going to focus your faith.. you need to have a desire to narrow all of your interest, Jesus tells us in Matthew, that there are two paths to choose from in life: the wide gate that leads to destruction, and the narrow gate that leads to life.

To focus your faith means to narrow the things in your life that pull you from living Christ, and those around you. There needs to be discipline in our life, and when we narrow and become discipline, then set a direction forwards while not being fixated on the past. The bottom line is this.. Theres One aim, One game, and One name - Jesus” Face your faults: you’re not what you ought to be.

Forget your failures: God will forgive those failures. And then, focus your faith with, a desire, and a discipline, and a direction, where you say, “This one thing I do, no matter what the cost, my one aim, the one game and the one name I desire, is Jesus.” Could you do that.. If you willing to do that.. then I believe that we will be a church that treasures Christ, together.

Amen? Let us pray… *

A Clean Heart

Why do we want a clean heart? A clean heart is often associated with feelings of inner peace, joy, and contentment. When our hearts are pure and free from negative emotions such as anger, greed, or jealousy, we are more likely to feel a sense of well-being and fulfillment. A clean heart allows us to have more authentic and meaningful relationships with others. When our hearts are pure, we are more likely to be kind, compassionate, and understanding towards others, which can lead to deeper and more fulfilling connections with those around us.

A clean heart can help us to feel closer to God or a higher power. Many people believe that a pure heart is necessary in order to have a meaningful relationship with God or to feel a sense of spiritual connection. A clean heart can give us the courage and strength to live a life that is true to our values and beliefs. When our hearts are pure, we are more likely to be true to ourselves and to follow our own moral compass, even when it is difficult or unpopular to do so.

A clean heart can help us to feel more confident and self-assured. When we are free from the guilt and shame that can come from wrong actions or thoughts, we are more likely to feel a sense of self-worth and self-acceptance. Here are some scriptural references that relate to the five points above: Inner peace, joy, and contentment: Psalm 51:12 says, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." John 15:11 states, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." Authentic and meaningful relationships: Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Closer relationship with God: Psalm 24:4 says, "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully." Psalm 66:18 states, "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." Living a life true to one's values and beliefs: Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Self-confidence and self-acceptance: Psalm 51:10 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, As we reflect on the good news of Jesus Christ, it is easy to focus on the forgiveness of our sins and the removal of our shame.

And make no mistake, this is an essential aspect of the gospel. We all have offended an all-knowing and all-powerful God, and the relief of being forgiven is indeed powerful. But let us not forget that the good news of the gospel does not stop with forgiveness. God's grace is not simply a big eraser for our wrongdoings, but rather it is a means of replacing what was once broken, wicked, and dead with love, faithfulness, and life.

The gospel does not just rescue us from hell, but it also makes us new. Grace not only helps us shed the weight of past sins, it empowers us to live and feel differently. As we read in Psalm 51, even King David, a man after God's own heart, recognized the depth of his sin and the evil that infected his very being. But he also knew something greater than all his sin - the steadfast love and abundant mercy of God.

David came boldly before God, not based on anything he had done to make things right, but on the Lord's love and mercy. And he did not stop at asking for forgiveness, but he also prayed for a clean heart and a right spirit within him. This pattern of grace as both forgiveness and transformation is seen throughout the Bible. In Philippians, we see that Christ humbled himself to the point of death on a cross, not only to save us, but also to empower us to live more and more like him.

And in 1 Peter, we see that the glory of God in our salvation includes not only the forgiveness of our sins, but also the fact that we have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dear friends, let us not stop at simply being forgiven. Let us embrace the fullness of the gospel, which includes the transformative power of grace to make us new.

Let us pray for clean hearts and right spirits within us, that we may love what is right and good, and live differently, loving like God loves. And let us give thanks for this amazing grace, which is greater than all our sin. Amen. Today I want to talk to you about the importance of having a clean heart. What do I mean by a clean heart? I mean a heart that is pure, honest, and free from sin.

As we all know, the heart is the center of our being. It is where our emotions, thoughts, and desires reside. And just as a physical heart that is clogged with plaque or infected with disease can lead to physical problems, a heart that is clogged with sin or infected with evil can lead to spiritual problems. The Bible tells us that "out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34) This means that what is in our hearts will eventually come out in our words and actions.

If our hearts are full of hate, envy, and selfishness, that is what we will express to the world. But if our hearts are full of love, compassion, and selflessness, that is what we will share with others. So how do we keep our hearts clean? First and foremost, we must turn to God and ask for His help. As the Psalmist says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." (Psalm 51:10) God is the only one who can truly cleanse our hearts and make them pure.

We must also be willing to confess our sins and turn away from them. As it says in 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When we admit our wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness, God is faithful to forgive us and make us new. But it's not just a one-time thing. We must also strive to keep our hearts clean on a daily basis.

This means being mindful of our thoughts and actions and making sure that they align with God's will. It means being willing to put others before ourselves and choosing love over hatred. It means being humble and recognizing our own flaws and weaknesses, and turning to God for help in overcoming them. In conclusion, friends, having a clean heart is essential for living a fulfilling and meaningful life. It's not always easy, but with God's help, it is possible.

Let us strive to keep our hearts pure and free from sin, and let us share the love and joy that comes from a clean heart with those around us. May God bless you and keep your hearts clean. Amen.*

Jesus Came

Let’s stand as we read Psalm 95 together. … (Read verses 1-7) You may be seated. Would you open your Hymn books with me… and find Hymn 113 again. Would you, where you are, sing with me once again, verse one only… let’s sing verse 1, three times. Amen. Psalm 95 is about whole self worship. Not “self” worship.

Not worship that asks, how do I prefer to worship… but to whole heartedly with all of my heart, my soul, & my mind. How do I rightly focus on Jesus and worship Him? The very hymn that we just sung together was that reminder… That we have come. And we have come to a place. A place we call his house… the house of the lOrd, and we’ve come to gather in HIs name…

to worship him. Christ the Lord. What’s remarkable about this verse is that it reminds the worshipper that there is a journey ahead of them. There’s a direction & there’s a path. But there is one thing we must remember… at some point in this journey and on this path… we come to a crossroads. We come to an intersection. In the very first verse the Psalmist writes, “Oh Come, let us sing to the Lord.” When we dive into the meaning of this word Oh come.

In the Hebrew language… it is pronounced Haw-Lak. Which means to come, too physically show up. To be present. To go.. it’s a verb there’s an action. It can be meant to make a journey…. Let’s turn in our bibles to verses 4-7. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) Jesus said, "I have to go to Samaria. And he didn’t linger, so the very next verses says, so he came.

Next we see a woman who was a Samaritan coming is way. Verse 7 says, she came to draw water. I often wondered… what was on her mind as she approached the well. Was it another ordinary day in Sychar. Did it begin like every other day? There in her ordinary life. Skipping the crowds of other, more nobler women gathering water because she’s the harlot of harlots. She’s a woman of disgrace.

A promiscuous woman. A woman on the outside of the social status of the community. I often wondered.. what was she thinking as she came to the well? Was she thinking to her self, oh no, there’s someone at the well when I’m usually there alone. I can understand that… sometimes I don’t want to be engaged by someone else. Sometimes I want to stay in my bubble of solitude because I feel safe there.

Or I rather not be bothered. Was she thinking, I don’t feel like talking to anyone else? Was she thinking, I’m not in the mood for the drama of what this jew might say or do, or even what other Samaritans who might see me engaging with this jew. What kind of rumors and hurtful comment might they say if they see me interacting with this jewish man. I don’t know what she was thinking, but I do know this…

Regardless of anything that could have been on her mind… she still came. And Jesus engages her asking her for a drink… I remember the day I met Jesus at the alter where and when he altered my life. It was an ordinary day just like today. I got up, showered and then dressed. I probably skipped breakfast that day like I usually did. I got into my car and I drove to church to be with a girl that I was trying to date.

And Jesus was there waiting for me… I still remember that day of when Jesus had to go to a little southern baptist church in Nutterfort. And so he came. He made that journey. The king of kings. The prince of peace… Emmanuel.. sent his presence to this small, insignificant southern baptist church.. and I showed up with the wrong intentions and the wrong motives. But I still came and guess what…

Jesus engaged me too. Little did I know, Jesus in his abundant grace was going to meet me at the well of salvation… and change my life forever. I didn’t show up for Christ, but I showed up and Christ met me in my sin, in my filth. I didn’t deserve it.., But he loved me and he pursued me. I believe he would have said, that he had to go.

5 So he came to a town in Nutter fort for Matthew. I would like for all of us to imagine this is our story like the woman at the well… Did we come today to church with the willingness to be engaged by Jesus? … Think of this.. as we sing the next verse… Alicia shared this with me yesterday… she reminded me that it wasn’t for a drink of water Jesus came …..

Jesus came for the woman. And this morning Jesus’s presence is here as well… for you and for me… the question is did you showed up with the willingness to let him engage you? Denny. Would you where you are…. Would you lead us in singing verse 1, one time, and verse 2, two times. As we sing this hymn together… Lt’s all of us take the time to ask… Am I engaging with Jesus?

So forget about yourself, and concentrate on him and worship him… (Singing) Pslam 95 verse 2 says: “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” What’s unique is that this word come in verse 2.. is different than the the world com in verse one. In Hebrew the second word come is Kaw-dam. It means to come or to be in front of, to meet.

The Psalmist is saying, I’ve come to show up ( Haw-Lak) , but I also come to be in His presence (Kaw-dam ). It simply means that he’s aligning his mind and his heart to focus only on God and to be before God. It’s the same as what we just sang. Forget about yourself and concentrate on Him and worship HIm. The Psalmist is Coming into God’s presence and aligning his heart and mind to think of nothing else but God.

Let’s go back to the book of John and see what happens at the crossroads where Jesus and the woman have met at the well. Read - Verse 9 - 15. What we find is two things. Jesus engages her mind. She begins in verse 9 by trying to understand what Jesus is even talking to her. She’s stuck… she’s stuck in tradition. She’s stuck on what others think and she’s stuck on the cultural norm.

Jews and Samaritans hated each other. It was so bad, that if a jew drank water at a Samaritan well. The jews believed it was as bad as eating the flesh of a pig… Which of course is not kosher. So, Jesus needs to break through what tradition says, and what the culture says. So he replies with a simple gift… he replies with a phrase that gets us every time…

“if you only knew…” How many times have you had a secrete and someone who doesn’t know the full story or the full issue and you come alone and hear their limited perspective but you know more information than them… what do you say to yourself when they speak of their limited information… You say, … “oh man… if you only knew..” Jesus just opened her curiosity. But she’s still stuck in what her tradition says.

So Jesus lets her in on the secrete.. is says, if you only knew… what.. what is it Jesus? Jesus says, if you only knew that anyone who drinks the water I offer them will never be thirsty again. Her reply… please!!!.. give me some of that. In but a moment Jesus breaks through culture and tradition and he’s got her mind centering him and his words. The second thing Jesus goes after is now her heart.

Why? Why the mind first and then the heart? Because the mind serves the heart. If her heart is burning with affection but her mind does not know why.. the mind tells the heart it’s not real. So many people come to church day in and day out with the mindset that they are saved and that they believe but there hearts are dead. There’s no real joy, there’s no real affection for Jesus.

The furnace of affection is starved of prayer and seeking Christ as the treasure of the Bible. And Because of sin, neither the heart nor the mind does what it is supposed to do. So Jesus needs to redirect them both , the heart and the mind for her to understand how true worshippers will worship in spirit. Not on this mountain, or that mountain. Not with this Genre or that Genre.

Not because this generation is better than the last or the next. So, Jesus has got her attention, but now he needs to get her heart affections on him. ( Read John 4:16-24) It curious the Jesus brings up the Womans husband. We might think for a moment that this is kind personal. But remember, Jesus is seeking a bride. And we might think this is personal, but see if for what it is…

One reason I believe Jesus mentions her promiscuous life and calls her bluff on her being unmarried… is that he’s letting her know that he knows her past. Because of sin, neither the heart nor the mind does what it is supposed to do. So he needs her to know that he knows. We all have a past. And sometimes our past prevents us from truly trusting in Jesus and moving forward.

We’ve been hurt by others, we’ve been hurt by the church, we’ve been cheated on, ridiculed, and let down… but the truth is… Jesus already knows that and he wants us to know that he knows. One of the greatest tings I’ve learned about sin is that there is nothing we can do to hide our past, nor is there anything we can do to hide what our life is like from GOd.

He already knows our faults. But what I’ve learned is that confession isn’t me telling God something he does not know. Confession and repentance is me agreeing, it’s me aligning up to what he already knows about me and applying the grace he gives to draw me closer to Jesus. Jesus is aligning her mind and her heart into one focus… and that’s to be all on him so that when he drops the mic with what true worship is…

her thoughts are not of herself and her affection is not finding homes with other men… but her thoughts and affection is focused on Christ. I think of it like this… when I fold my hands I prayer, it reminds me that I am taking my mind, and I am taking my heart and I am aligning them together to focus solely on Christ. Only on Christ… Christ is looking for a bride.

And the bride needs to be pure. The bride needs to be faithful. The bride needs to yearn for Christ and have this desire to please only the bridegroom. There’s a Scripture in Revelation that reminds me of the Spirit and the Bride.. it’s Revelation 22:17: The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

Let them come… And so it’s an invitation of Christ to come, to align ourselves on him and receive the water of life that he offers. But there’s an issue. So many times we come into this sanctuary and our hearts and minds are no where near where they need to be to worship Jesus. Our minds wonder to the pot roast roasting in our ovens and the family gatherings after church.

Our minds are often already thinking of 2 or three of more hours ahead… and all were doing is coming to church to check off the, I showed up to church box. That’s got to count for something. Our minds think of every other thing but Jesus Christ when we are here. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10:5, 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

When we pray, and our mind wonders, we take it captive and make it obedient to Christ. When we find ourselves face to face with our culture that says what we should follow, we take it captive and make it obedient to Christ. It’s the same with our hearts. If our hearts are not finding this burning affection in worship… Then are we truly treasuring Christ as much as we say we do?

Are we forgetting about our self and concentrating on Him and worshipping him? The question now is this.. now that we have come… Are we willing to let Jesus infiltrate our hearts and minds this morning? Would you, where you are, sing with me verse 1 and 2, and then let’s sing verse 3, two times. As we sing this hymn together… Lt’s all of us take the time to ask…

Am I forgetting me.. am I forgetting what I want and what I desire in this world, even myself and focusing on centering myself on his presence? The last part of our Psalm is Pslam 95 and verse 6. The first come is to come and to show up (Haw-Lak), the second come is to align our hearts and minds for worship ( Kaw-dom ), but the third come is a simple Hebrew word called, ( Bo ).

Bo means to bring it to pass. To apply. To be blessed. I want to finished our time together with that truth. When we come, and we align and we praise… we apply and worship with hearts and minds that kneel and bow. Let us lift up holy hands, and magnify his name and worship him…. Only a soul that is burning with joyful affection for Jesus and a mind that is held captive to Christ and centered on Christ can worship like this.

Let’s go back to Johns gospel. Verse 25 gives us one of the most amazing parts of this conversation… she realizes that Jesus is the messiah.. and she drops everything and she goes to tell others. Read John 4: 25-29 What was her response when she realized that Jesus was the messiah… did you hear verse 29… she goes.. comes and see. Why didn’t Jesus start here? Why didn’t Jesus just say.

I am the Messiah give me some water. I believe it’s because she would have never of believed it… her heart and her mind were not tuned to hearing that message. She was focused on her self, She was focused on her culture, what was right or wrong between jews and Samaritans. Even the Disciples came back wondering why in the world is Jesus talking to this Samaritan. Jesus is talking to her because he’s showing that you can never be to far in sin for the son of God, to save you from your sin.

And ya know.. I always thought this was interesting… Jesus disciples go into town and nothing is mentioned that they bring one person to him. But Jesus spends some time ministering with a woman that everyone else overlooks. And next thing you know… she bringing he entire town with her to meet Jesus. Hebrews 13: 15-16 says: 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. She shared what she had…. And that was Jesus because she came, she aligned and she worshipped. I want to do one last thing but before we do… I want us to see the warning that the Psalmist gives… he says in verse 7 and into 8….

If you hear his voice.. don’t harden your heart. We’re going to close out with one final song.. It’s a contemporary song… but it’s a song that draws the hearer to focus only on the name of Jesus. Would you as we sing this final song… would you drop every pre conceived idea you have of church. Would you just let go of all the things you cling to that is about worship and how we worship..

and focus strictly on who we worship… Because I guarneee….. if you focus on who we worship… You’ll learn real quick…how we do it fades away. *

There and Back Again

Let’s open our bibles to Psalm 84. Find with me Psalm 84. Let’ Stand and read it together. (Read Psalm 84 - ESV) And all of Gods people said together, amen. Have you ever been somewhere that you had a hard time leaving and coming home? I would like for you to think back to a time where you’ve gone somewhere, perhaps it’s to a family members house as a kid.

Or, perhaps it’s a destination like Disney, or some other type of vacation you’ve gone on. Now, as your thinking of this place. How did you feel on the last night you were there, knowing, that in the morning you were going to prepare for the journey back home, and back into the life you left behind. Sometimes I’ve gone on vacation and I had an amazing time. But I was ready for my own bed.

I was ready for the comforts that I had bought for our homes that I had to go without for a week. Like those moments you go camping, and you long for your shower. We long for those comforts we have at home. But, What about those times when you’ve went somewhere and had this magical amazing time, and now the night before it sinks in that you’re leaving in the morning, and it becomes this bitter sweet moment of celebrating the joy you’ve experienced, but at the same time your sad that you have to go back to the real world.

Alicia and I would probably say, that was our Puerto Rico experience. Our Puerto Rico experience was so impactful on our lives, that Alicia was trying to find a church for me to work at, a house for us to live and a job so we could just stay and live in Puerto Rico. UNfotnualy, we had to return my mom home and pick up our dogs. But Her experience caused her to desire to stay in this place of joy.

What we find most times, is that when it comes to vacations and our experiences away from our home. The road back home is often a hard one to travel because we long to be back where we were, because we experienced something amazing. And To be honest, I mope a little bit when we begin to head back home. Usually, the car is quiet with the kids passed out in the back.

And I am sitting there driving looking over to Alicia knowing what she’s thinking. Most times, I believe she’s thinking “Why can’t we just live there? Right? When we were leaving family camp this past year, Gabe said to us in the car… we should move here. Most times I believe if it wasn’t for us coming home to get our dogs from the sitter, Alicia might try to convince me to not come home at all and to replant in Cape May or even Puerto Rico.

This is probably the closest many of us will come to understand of what is happening in this Psalm. Because instead of the Psalmist being on vacation. What we’re reading is that they have just experienced an amazing time of worship in the house of the Lord. And it wasn’t just any experience, but it was a joyful one. It was an experience of being in the very presence of God, and they were overflowing with joy.

But, many of us don’t think of worship as joyful. Honestly, a lot of the time we come to church with a vague sense of obligation. Like, I got to go to church today because I’ve gotta teach or I got to do something. It’s like serving in the church has become this obligation instead of an opportunity. It’s no longer, “WOW! I have the opportunity to come to the House of the Lord.

I have the opportunity to be in his glorious presence with others seeking His presence. Or the opportunity to love on others who may not of had a good week, or a worst week than I had and I get the oppomritty to uplift and encourage someone else. We feel like we are supposed to go but we will use whatever excuse we can find not to go. If there is literally anything else that we could do instead, many times we find reasons to do it so we can skip church.

I believe, if we drill down or get to the root of why this is true. What we would find is that many times we show up to church without the expectation of service today being ,transformative. We don’t expect to be changed. And perhaps we do not expect change because we truly, do not want to be changed. One of the first signs of a prideful selfish life? Is a life that says, I can’t grow anymore.

That I’ve have arrived to where God wants us to be. And the danger of this kind of mindset will turn a person from growth, to maintenance. And instead of coming to church, to meet God and to experience Him and His goodness and to grow in relationship wit God and with others, we come to church expecting church to meet us and our needs. Francis chan spoke one time that he had a church member come up to him after service and say, “I just didn’t like worship today, I didn’t like any of the music.

And Francis looks at them and goes, Well Good… because we didn’t come to worship you.” It’s really easy for us to reject change, and comfortably live in maintenance mode. Psalm 84 is encouraging the worshipper to re-center their lives on seeking God and this Psalm begins by doing this in corporate worship, or in the temple, or as we would say, at church. Really this Psalms begins by showing us how important it is to gather together for His strength in corporate worship.

And we know that God’s presence and activity are not confined to any one place, whether it be a temple or a church, or whatever, but what is remarkable about when we gather for worship is that God’s inspiration flows from the places where he is more obviously found. That is why in Hebrews 10:25, we are told not to forsake the assembly of believers. We need worship. It reboots our lives and keeps us pointed in the right direction and running forward towards the prize set before us.

So, how do we leave a place where we undeniably come to worship and meet God but head back out into the real world where life happens and the atmosphere in our life can be harsh and unforgiving experiences? Well the Psalmist teaches us that we “Must Dig blessings out of the Harsh Conditions of our Lives.” Look with me in Psalm 84 verses 5. 5 “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” The worshipper realizes that as he leaves the temple that he isn’t leaving the presence of God.

God’s presence is going with him and giving him strength. Get this: His body is full of the strength of God. Meaning I am physically able to do what God is calling me to do. Blessed are those who’s strength is in you he writes. And why am I doing it? Because His mind is full of the remembrance of his time in the Temple. He’s been changed. God impacted his life and he has worshipped, and God’s presence is changing him and he doesn’t want to be who he once was.

But he knows that going back into his old life, he’s going to experience the harshness of life. Right? How many of you would love your church walk to be the same as your home walk! We’re so much more confident when we are in church. We’re much more prone to worship and pray and read our Bible and mingle with a christlike hearts at the temple, at church… but that hardly ever carries over into our private life.

So what does he do? Well, here is the key… he creates wells on the ways home and where he lives. Now watch this.. he’s leaving and heading back home. He’s going through the Valley of Baca… Verse 6 says, As they go through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. Baca means two things. No it’s not some hillbilly slang for Levi Garret or Copenhagen…

It either means a shrub that withstands the harshness of dessert life. Or it means weeping. So, as he journeys away from the temple and he walks in this what? This valley of harshness and weeping…. he realizes that going back into his old life can be sad, full of weeping and he also finds it to be spiritually dry and harsh. Like, why can’t my worship at home be as vibrant and amazing as it was at the temple.

So, In the midst of this dryness and weeping, the presence of God that has gone with him from the temple calls him to dig wells. He makes it a place of Springs, meaning he’s going to need to dig these springs where he lives. We learn that Springs and wells are places of presence. God met Hagar at a well. Jesus met the Samaritan Woman at the well. They are places where we are gaining strength.

And for those two ladies, they gained more than strength, they gained God’s presence. Many communities would built cities around the well. It was a community meeting place. But here’s the thing.. wells don’t just dig themselves. They require planning and hard work. And perhaps that’s why many christians experience Spiritually dry spells when they leave for home after worship. Have you ever heard the phrase.. I come to church to get filled up for the week.

or I come to mid week services to get refilled? Every time I hear that phrase, my heart breaks. I get sad because, I personally don’t need to come to church to get filled. I’m filled all week long. Most Christians only experience a deeper relationship here, at church, because this is the only well they draw from in their life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying church is useless…

because in Psalm 84, although God calls him to dig spiritual wells, he still longs to be in the house of the Lord. As should we. We should be longing to be in church. Because this well is refreshing, and cool, and kind, and where we worship with our community and it should be where we draw others in. But the biggest problem with todays Christianity is that the only time most Christians drink from the well is on Sunday morning in church.

The problem is, is when sometimes we say things like, I need church, or a mid week service because I need to fill up. If that analogy is true, then the problem isn’t you’re running dry throughout the week. The real and more deeper problem is, is that you haven’t built wells where you live. You’re leaving church and going out in the dry and parched land, and perhaps with hearts singing…

wow what an amazing worship service.. wow what an amazing word form the pastor. and then as you walk this world, you’re becoming weary because there’s no wells in your home, or at your work, or where you take your kids to activities. Because if there was, You’d be filled and overflowing all the time. I sense the greatest problem with our culture today is that our homes, our jobs and where we do life are actually places that are shallow with fakes wells.

We have scriptures on our walls as decoration, we have bibles laying around our house, we have everything we need for our homes to look like this amazing well of God, but it’s actually just a hole in the ground with some bricks to look nice. We can’t draw living water form imitation wells. When I was kid, my mom took me to the dollar store and there was this trumpet.

Now, growing up, I was a boy scout. And I saw this bugle at the dollar store and I begged my mom for it. I wanted it sooo bad, and I was already telling her how I was going to play with it, and practice and how awesome it would be to use it at boy scout camp. But she wouldn’t let me have it. She said no because my mother said, it was fake.

It was an imitation bugle. And I was like no.. it’s real mom. Finally I broke her down and she gave me the money to go in and get it.. but guess what… it was just a wall decoration. Even if I had bought it… I could only use it as a decoration. Real music comes from a real bugle. And it the same with wells… real living water only comes from real life giving sources.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m not talking about literal wells. I’m taking about So he does two things and it has a result. Highway to God and Builds wells. And the result is growth. Have you ever heard the phrase.. I come to church to get filled up for the week. or I come to mid week services to get refilled? I believe that statement is one of the worst theological statements a christian can believe.

If you are born again Christian, with the indwelling presence of Christ within you, we’ve got to stop this whole idea that church is a filling station. You wanna know why people feel drained and they believe that they are filled up per say at church? They feel this way because at church, it’s the only well in their life they ever draw from. I sense the greatest problem with our culture today is that our homes, our jobs and where we do life are actually places that have no wells or imitation wells.

Wells draws people in. And someone can even say, well what about church? Can a church dry up… you bet.. you wanna know how? Churches become ghost towns because the wells of the people attending that church have dried up. It’s been capped off, the water no longer is fresh living water, but it’s stagnant. It needs stirred and it needs fresh living water to pour into it. When a church goes into maintenance mode instead of mission mode.

It because a dry well. Communities can’t thrive off of wells that are stagnate, bitter or empty. So how do we dig wells? Well first it’s by prayer. Oswald chambers wrote: “The purpose of prayer is to reveal the presence of God, equally present at all times and in every condition.” Prayer is what saturates the soul in God’s presence. It’s where the mouth of this living water begins. Our wells at home and at work and out in the community will always be dry if we’re not bathing ourselves in prayer.

Second, by faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” When I think of faith I think of the hard work of digging wells. The water, or perhaps gods presence many times isn’t always seen, until we do the work. Living faith is faith that is active and moving. Dead faith is faith that is just that… dead. Thirdly, trust.

The Psalmist closed this Psalm by saying, “O Lord of host, blessed is the one who trust in you.” True Worshippers are called dig blessings out of the harsh conditions of life so that others can gather to experience the life giving presence of Jesus. So what happens when we pave highways and we dig wells in our homes and communities and we lead people to church. Well, look with me for my final thought…

Verse 7.. they go from strength to strength each one appears before God in Zion. When I first read this I thought it was saying, when you leave the temple, you create highways and dig wells so you can go from well to well to gain strength. And ya know… that could be true. BUt strength to strength means this… It means to becoming *

Stronger Dads - Stronger Homes

Let’s open up our bibles to Psalm 127. Find with me, Psalm 127 and when you find it, just hold your place there for a moment.I’ll let you know here in a moment when it’s time to stand together. Psalm 127 is one off the two recorded Psalms that have been accredited to King Solomon. I can’t remember if I mentioned it last week. But I do find it interesting that King Solomon was known for his superior intellect and wisdom.

But he still failed God. All throughout the Bible, we find great men of God who fail. Adam in Genesis, the first of a line of failures failed to lead his wife to reject the fruit and to rely on God alone. Abraham a man of superior faith, failed to love and protect his wife and failed her and others. King David was known as a man of worship and a man after God’s own heart.

He was in love with God and we see that love being lived out in the book of Psalms, but he had moral failures. Sampson had immense physical strength, but with a sinful disregard for his parents and for God. His strength ended in collapse. Peter in the New Testament was overly confident in His leadership, but yet he allowed Satan to use him to try and derail the mission of Christ to go to the cross.

Solomon had all the wisdom in the world, making him the wisest man of his day who would write proverbs that still relate to us today. Solon was wise and he was loved by God. There is a Scripture in I Chronicles 28 found in verse 6 that says, “I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father” No one in the world would hear that line until Jesus came and began his ministry.

But yet, Solomon sinned greatly against the Lord. He married pagan wives, built pagan altars for them, and even participated in pagan worship himself. And the only reason God didn’t take the kingdom from him was because of the promise God gave to David. Solomon failed miserably. I just want all the men to hear today. We can have all the extremes… faith, strength, wisdom, love and courage in our walk with God, and still fail in our walk.

We can have faith, but fail to trust God. We can have strength, but still be weak in your walk with God. We can have a heart for worship, but fail God. As I sat in my study this week, I kept thinking. If all of these men drastically failed God, then what hope is there for me. A man who wrestles with sin, and anxiety, and even self worth every day.

And then the Lord reminded me of Ephesians 6:10.. Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. The Lord laid on my heart, Be strong. Not in anyone else. Not in your appearance, or car, or money or even my wife in kids. Lay your treasures down at the foot of the cross, take upon yourself the yoke of Jesus, for it’s easy and be strong in Him, and in his power and might.

What I’ve learned in my personal walk with Christ is that Often one’s strength or weaknesses isn’t obvious until challenges arise, but I can be strong in the Lord anytime by faithfully believing God’s Word, being sensitive to His Spirit within me and then trusting him, by faith to live in His abundant grace. This morning, I want to share with you, on this Father’s Day how to be men and even women of God.

Psalm 127 gives us ways and exercises to help us become stronger dads to build stronger homes. Let’s stand together and read Psalm 127. Psalm 127:1-5… Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. 5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. And all of God’s people said together… Amen. You may be seated. This week Gabriel and I went to Walmart to buy a tire tube for his bicycle.

When we got home he had asked me if I could help him put it on. It was a heart filled moment for me because although he is 15, to ask dad to come and help meant I was going to get to go out, teach him something and spend some amazing time with him. He had already taken the tire off, which of course is the easy part. But then came the hard part of removing the inner tube and replacing the old one with the new one and then putting the tire back on the rim.

After some struggle I got everything situated and it was time to pump the tire up. So, I held the tire in place and he began to pump the tire with air. And as he was doing that, I was praying that I didn’t poke a hole in the new tube with my flat head screwdriver. But before long, the tire was filled, and everything was done and Gabriel was able to ride off and everything worked as planned.

After all was said and done, i went over to my office and I began to think back. There was a time when he wasn’t strong enough to push down bicycle pump without my help. As men, and women of God, we can very easily do whatever it is God lays on our heart without the help of God. There’s a lot of Christians who live practical atheistic lives. It’s true.

There’s a lot of people who come into churches every Sunday who are faced with some sort of problem, and instead of turning to God, they instinctively turn to themselves to fix the issue without God’s help. I’ve noticed even in my life at times, that walking by faith is easy until I am required to trust in God. I can believe in God, I can know God exist, I can even do the work that God calls me to do, but even with those truths, I can still live a life where I do not trust God in all circumstances.

Again, it is a reminder to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. It’s a call for me to always remember that all things has the fingerprint of God on them for Him. Solomon in Psalm 127 verses 1-2 is teaching us that. He reminds us that apart from God we do everything in vain. I can go out and build a porch and forget that God has given me the very breathe that helps my body have the strength to do the job.

He has given me a weekly job to pay for the material that is needed. He has given me knowledge and life experiences to give me the mental picture on how to build it. And when it’s all said and done, I can very easily stand there on the finished porch, look to my wife and kids and say, “Look at my amazing work, Lets celebrate by firing up the grill, cook some steaks and crack open an ice cold root beer.” I can do all of those things, and still forget that God’s hand was involved in every step and forget to thank God in my work.

God wants us to work hard at our jobs. He wants us to be hard workers. But not at the expense of forgetting his amazing presence in our lives. That even though we work hard at our jobs, we ultimately must work them for him. Did you know we’re called to work for Him? No, Im not talking about those just in ministry. I am talking about us, ordinary blue color people who are called to go to work every day to work for the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23-25 reminds us: 23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24 Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. 25 But if you do what is wrong, you will be paid back for the wrong you have done. For God has no favorites. What’s interesting is that in Colossians we are called to work, but it never tells us what our specifics work is to be.

It only says, whatever it is, whatever you do… do your work willingly as if you doing it for the Lord… even if it’s as simple as washing the dishes. One of my favored books to read is Practicing the presence of God written in the 1500’s by a man called, brother Lawrence. Day after day, and over the course of his life, this once French soldier turned into a priest, would retreat to a place in his heart where the love of God made every detail of his life dedicated to loving God.

His biography tells us how he hated kitchen work. And of course, it seems that there’s always these people who are above us that seem they have this personal vendetta against us. What do they do? They always assign us the job no one wants. So, Brother Lawrence would be assigned to wash dishes and prepare food. And he hated it, but among the steaming pots and pans, he would often have conversations with God.

And so, as he washed dishes he would turn his drudgery into satisfied devotion. We’re called to work, and we’re called to work hard at our job. But we’re never called to work so hard that we forget God. And were never called to work so hard that we forget our family either. Sometimes the only time we hear job well done in anything we do, is when we know from our own hearts, that we accomplished our work for the Lord and when we do it for him, he always says..

great job. But here is something else we also learn from Solomon. We’re called to work hard, as if were working for the Lord. But we’re also called to rest often and take advantage of our time off. Just as it’s easy to forget God in our work, it’s also easy to forget God in our rest. I can’t tell you how many times I’d come home from work in the gas company to just want to veg out in front of my PlayStation and ignore my family.

It was so bad, that not only was I neglecting my wife, but I was also neglecting our kids. Just recently we were talking around the dinner table about being together and Chloe told me she remembers the hours I would spend on my play station and not playing with them. Talk about a knife to the heart when your daughter remembers you doing something that didn’t involve them when I should have come home and been the father I never had.

I’ve always heard the phrase, work hard, play hard. We can also say, work hard, rest hard. But don’t rest so hard that you neglect those around you that love you and that you love. Resting is just as important as working. Solomon might not have been a great Psalm writer like his father David, but he was defiantly a man of wisdom. Proverbs 23:4-5. Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.

Be wise enough to know when to quit.5 In the blink of an eye wealth disappears, for it will sprout wings and fly away like an eagle. He reminds us that life is fleeting and meaningless if we just live to get rich. Learn how to quit and learn when to quit. Learn when to find rest. And stop trying to gain the world.. because in the end. We gain nothing if our soul has been lost.

Jesus taught, what do we benefit if we gain the whole world but lose our own soul? It’s so easy for us to forget God in our work, but it’s also easy for us to be lazy and expect God to do everything and we do nothing while we seek to find rest elsewhere. As I remember helping my son fix his tire this week, I was also reminded of when he was little, and we needed to pump up the tire to his little bike.

He realized that he couldn’t overcome the differential pressure and push down the tire pump. I then gently put my hand between his to help. Once he realized I was doing most of the work, he would let go and run off to play. Expecting me to finish the work for him. He figured that since I was pumping the tire, he didn’t need to, and he would go and find something more interesting to do.

I think we can do that with God sometimes. We can ask for help, and once he puts his divine hand on our situation, we have a tendency to go and let God and we walk away expecting God to just finish the job. What we learn is that we must rest often and take advantage of it because God is preparing us for greater things to come. And most times, those things that strengthen us require to be rested so that we can do what God calls us to do.

Not for us.. but for his purposes in expanding the kingdom. We’re given grace to give grace. we’re given strength to give strength. And we’re given rest to prepare us for the work of compassion God is calling us into. This truth is best taught in Marks gospel. In Mark chapter 6. Jesus send outs the disciples. They head out and begin telling others to repent from their sins. During this time of work, Mark includes the story of the beheading of John the Baptist.

Word reaches Jesus of Johns beheading and the disciples return from their ministry work. So Jesus says in verse 30, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest for awhile.” SO they head out into the Sea of Galilee to find rest with one another. As soon as they rest and land the boat, people are there on shore waiting for Jesus. And Jesus saw the crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like a sheep without a Shepard.

As Jesus ministries to the crowd it begins to get late. So the disciples come to Jesus and tell him, hey, it’s getting late, these people need to go back and find food. So, Jesus looks at them and says, no… You feed them. Listen church, don’t let your mind wonder off because there is going to be some real spiritual truths being laid out for you in this moment. The disciples wanted to call it a day, and rightly so.

They were tired. They worked all day. They’ve been helping Jesus and serving the people and working hard at their jobs. Their job was to be servants of Jesus for Jesus. I can imagine serving all day had to be exhausting… But Jesus wanted to involve them into the ministry of compassion. You see, I believe Jesus worked the strength and pride out of them. Because to see the compassion of Jesus..

they had to be weak so they could witness the power of Jesus. Henry Nouwen reminds us, that the compassion of Jesus requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.” The story goes on that they find fish and bread and then they serve that to the people and there was enough for for everyone.

Sometimes we can work so hard in our regular day to day job that when we fail to see our work for God, and we fail to rest with him. When we fail to rest in Jesus we fail to know what Jesus wants from us. Many times we fail to see the need of compassion for others because we fail to find rest with Jesus. So, rest is needed. But do not neglect rest with Jesus because that rest is always going to lead us into moments of compassion for our family and for others.

And that’s my final thought… Solomon calls us *

Arch of Prayer

Let’s open our bibles together and find with me Psalms chapter 1. As you find Psalms chapter 1. Would you stand as we read the word of the God. This morning I would like to focus on Psalm chapter 1 verses 1-2, and If you do not mind. I would like to skip over to chapter 2 and finish our reading together in verse 12. I wont read all of Psalm 1 and 2, but I do want to give two anchor points to where the Lord has been leading me this week.

So, Psalm 1: 1-2, and Then flip the page and find with me Psalm chapter 2, verse 12. Say amen when you’re ready. Psalm 1 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

Now flip over one chapter and find chapter 2 and head all the way to the end of chapter 2 and find with me verse 12. 12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And all of God’s people said together, Amen. You may be seated.

Today we begin a new series called, Summer in the Psalms. I still believe that the Lord is leading us into being commitment to prayer. And to be honest with you, I still believe prayer is where we need to be as a follower of Christ, but also as a church. Over the course of the summer, what we will be diving into is the practicality of having a tangible prayer life.

Meaning, to have a prayer life that is real, and it's growing and thriving and taking us even out of our comfort Zones to be men and woman of prayer. So, Let’s ask probably one of most important anchoring questions into this series… What is the book of Psalms? The book of Psalms as we just witness is found in the Old Testament. And it’s full of these lyrical poems written by multiple authors.

Most of us know that King David wrote many of the Psalms.. My favorite Psalm, Psalm 42 which is as the Deer pants for the stream… it was written by David. King David, If I remember has wrote a little over 70 of the current known Psalms. Asaph wrote twelve, Korah wrote around 10 and even David’s son, King Solomon, is known to of written one or two of these Psalms.

So, Psalms are these lyrical ancient hymns of God’s people. there are a total of 150 Psalms in the book of Psalms and these 150 Psalms are organized into five different books or 5 different sections within this one book. I would like to give you, kind of a mental picture of how I personally see the book of Psalms in my life. I see mentally the book of Psalms as this amazing rose garden of prayer.

Because there is so much we can find and learn in the book of Psalms that can help us with daily life. I believe every situation any person will deal with in life, there’s a Psalm for it. The best way to explain how I see this rose garden is from a book I ‘ve read a little from this week on roses. This book is called, “A Book about Roses”..

can you guess what this book was about.. (Ha ha)!! It was written by an Anglican priests who’s name was, Samuel Reynolds’s Hole. Samuel was well known throughout the UK in the mid 1800’s for having the most amazing rose garden. People from all over the UK would ride to see his garden and ask him, how they could imitate his rose garden. So, in 1869 he wrote a book to share with others on how to care for rose gardens.

Listen to this excerpt about faith and roses… he writes: “Over time these roses of faith with great care become beds of beauty. Beds of roses, with fountains of roses, banks of roses, bowers of roses, hedges of roses, edgings of roses, pillars of roses, vistas and alleys of the roses. There are White Roses, Striped Roses, Blush Roses, Pink Roses, Rose Roses, Carmine Roses, Crimson Roses, Scarlet Roses, Vermilion Roses, Maroon Roses, Purple Roses, Roses almost black, and Roses of a glowing gold.

What a diversity, and yet what a harmony, of outline!” This is how I imagine what the garden of prayer is like in the book of Psalms. It’s a place with all these amazing roses laid out in difference colors and presented in different ways. It’s like each rose and each color of a rose represents each life’s trial we face. And every time we are triumphal at coming into the garden of prayer with a lament, or an issue.

God just pulls out the thistle of doubt, and fear, and sin, and replaces it with a rose of joy, and the rose gentleness, and compassion. And before long, after a life long pursuit of being in the garden of prayer, we find beds of roses, and fountains of roses. And I love even the thought that once a rose is planted in my life, I’m share the seed of faith, love and joy, down through the ages and into the next generation.

And can you imagine the aroma of walking through a rose garden like that? Just filled from one edge to the other with beautiful roses giving off their beautiful aromatics that just draws in life. So, the book of Psalms is this book of expressed worship and when we open up this book of Psalms, what we find is that is a garden of encouragement, and praise, and worship that illuminate with it’s beauty, the greatness of our God, They affirm His faithfulness to us in times of trouble, and they remind us of the absolute centrality of His Word.

And.. they point us to this amazing relationship with Jesus. But, Unless we intentionally walk into the garden, we will never experience the full capacity, beauty and aroma of prayer. NO, we must come and enter into and experience the garden for ourselves. So, where do we begin? Well think of this. We must enter into the garden of prayer through the archway. This is a picture of the entrance into Disney land.

No one can experience first hand Disney without first coming into the park. Yeah, we can admire it’s beauty from afar. We can admire the beauty in books and magazines and websites, We can admire and watch the excitement of those coming in and out of the park but there is nothing like actually experiencing the flying dumbo’s, or the haunted mansion, or the paddle boat ride, or even seeing the joy in our kids faces without experiencing the park itself.

We experience the park with the hearing the laughter and joy, and seeing the people watch their kids run and giggle with delight, and tasting of the amazing dole whip treats and churros. We smell the amazing aroma’s from street car vendors and places to eat. We feel the excitement first hand deep within our hearts as we see the characters we cherish and love. But no one can experience those things first hand unless unless they drive through the archway to go into the park.

It’s the same with the book of Psalms. To experience the Psalms and to enter this amazing garden of prayer, we first must begin by coming through the archway. For Disney, when driving through the archway it sets the tone for everything we would experience. You’re expecting to experience Magic and imagination as you drive through the archway. If the Psalms are the garden of Prayer, then Psalm 1 and 2 are the archway into the garden.

How can we have a more intimate and meaningful experience in the garden of prayer? Well, it begins with the first half of the archway. The first half of the archway comes from Psalm 1: We enter the garden of prayer with the word of God on our hearts and minds. Psalm 1 reminds us of this: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” The writer reminds us that the word of God is essential to coming into the garden of prayer.

Psalm 1 reminds us that we must delight in the word. We delight in the law and we meditate on his law. So, how can we delight in the word of God? Well it begins by asking God to give us new tastebuds on the tongue of our heart as we meditate with our mind his glorious word. When our kids were little. We would feed them all kinds of baby food.

Peaches, and green beans and spaghetti. And it was always kind of funny when we would try to feed our kids a food They didn’t like, we would watch them spit it out. We would scoop it back off of their lower lip with the baby spoon and then shove it back in. They didn’t like the mashed up green bean baby food. But we knew it was good for them.

I also think of the period of time when Gabriel was in his chicken nugget phase. Every where we would go, it was always chicken nuggets. We would go to the zoo, chicken nuggets. We would go to the fair, chicken nuggets, we would send him to Nana’s.. chocolate chip cookies for breakfast. And you can imagine I had to have a talk with my mom about that one. Then, one day.

Gabriel decided he was going to try a hamburger. And he ate that hamburger and his face lit up and he was like, wow this is sooo good. Of course, mom and I was like. We’ve tried to feed you hamburgers before. And he would go, yeah but now I love them. Something clicked and now his taste buds rejoiced over hamburgers. Why do we struggle reading the word of God…

I think it’s because our hearts crave every thing else the world has to offer and it’s got to learn to crave the goodness of God’s word. A recent survey from 2021 found that only 11 percent of Americans read the Bible daily. 11%! But yet, 56% have a desire to read the Bible. The sad news is this: the study shows a consistent decline in that 11% and a decline in the desire to read it.

So, what we learn is that over time, our taste buds change. But are they changing to desire or to reject the word of God? The Psalmist wrote in 119 verse 103, “How sweet are your words to my taste” (Psalm 119:103) He also wrote, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18) He prayer was that he would desire Spiritual eyes to see the glory of God, or for God to give him spiritual tastebuds on the tongue of his heart, because to taste and see that the Lord is good, is a gift from God.

We do not naturally hunger for, and delight in, God and his wisdom. We do not naturally seek the goodness of God and delight in him. For many, when they come to the word of God they spit out the wisdom because it goes against their personal wisdom. It goes against theirs desire. But when we are able to open up our bibles, what we need is to learn to lay down our need to be strong, smart and independent.

We must learn to have focused affection and prayerful dependence, and God gives the understanding. and the comfort, and the healing for all wounds. Even lingering bitter wounds. He gives us the breakthrough in fighting sin, he gives us the insight for difficult relationships and situations, and one of the greatest realities and most of all, we obtain an awe inspired and wonder of beholding His beauty over and over and over.

Think of this, God is not only sitting next to us when we read His word, but he’s within us, for those of us born again by His spirit. And so, to walk into this garden of prayer, we need to have a heart and mind that finds delight in God’s word. The second half of this archway comes from Psalm chapter 2 and it’s this: We enter into the garden of prayer with Christ on our minds.

If we delight in God’s word, we must also delight in God’s Son. Matthew Henry’s commentary interprets Psalm 2, verses 1–6 as viewed as threats against Christ's kingdom. It’s a continuation from Psalm 1. If you notice, Psalm one begins with a positive, delighting and meditating on God‘s word, and it follows this path of concerns for those who reject his word. Those who are wicked will be scattered like chaff in the wind, those who are wicked walk the path of destruction, those who are wicked will be judged.

Then you get to chapter two and it continues on this path of threats against God’s kingdom. But then it begins to get better because. Verses 7–9 Shows us a promise of Christ to be the head of this kingdom, and verses 10–12 as counsel to all to serve Christ as the head of the church and head of this kingdom. What we realize in Psalm 2 is that God’s kingdom is going to be established with Christ as King.

It’s a promise, but also a celebration for those delighting in His word, walking in His way and blessed are those who take refuge in the Son! We come into this garden of prayer delighting, and honoring and loving and seeking to have Christ above all else in our life. We find delight as we take refuge in Christ, the head of the church. So, do we delight in Christ? I ask because our life is a life that must pursue to delight in the son in all things in life.

Our sanctification and holiness is not to just receive blessing after blessing after blessing, but it’s all to lead us to the one giving out and dishing out the blessing. Holiness is simply delighting in the son to be transferred into the sons likeness. It’s simply Jesus in me, manifesting through me. It’s to lead us in praise and honor and glory for the giver and not just the gift. Do we read God’s word to find delight in the Son?

Do we pray to find God’s direction, and revelation to find the kings will in all things? I want to remind you of what I said before… I believe it is possible to read the Bible with very selfish intentions. And for the most part that is because we don’t read the Bible through prayer. remember, prayer is what interrupts our personal ambition. It redirects us back to God and off of ourselves.

One of the greatest love scriptures in the Bible is John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That’s love being given..It’s selfish of us… to only read that verse and go.. I get something… i get eternal life. Because I believe in Jesus, the son of God, i get enteral life. I have receive Jesus, so now I get eternal life.

It’s selfish of us to read that without knowing, that is not what eternal life means. Eternal life isn’t me getting life for me, eternally. Eternal life isn’t me going to heaven and playing golf for eternity. Eternal life isn’t me gaining health, wealth and comfort in this life to prepare me for an eternity in heaven. No, we can only define eternal life through Christ, through His word. What’s this gift, that we receives that cost the Son’s life?

The definition of Eternal life comes from John 17:3… “This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” That they know you… Do you see it!!!! To know God is to love God. To know God is to be known by Him. To love God is to be focused on the Son, so that his glory is reflected out into the world and back to Him.

One of the greatest realities is when we pray… Our chief end is to glorify God, to know Him and to exalt the Son. That’s eternal life: to know Jesus, to know him forever, to know him with increasing knowledge, and increasing admiration, and increasing wonder, and increasing joy and increasing delight. That’s eternal life. Now reread John 3:16 with the understanding that Jesus is to always be on our mind…

For God so loved the world (you and me that is in the world), that he gave his only Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in him (Jesus) should not perish (that means death away from God in hell, a part from his presence) but have eternal life (meaning a life that knows God and knows the one that God has sent.) Our life is to be reflections of his hope to a community that has no hope as we live out eternal life at this moment by admiring the son who gives eternal life and is our eternal life.

Prayer without Chrsit in mind is only prayer that aims to achieve to satisfy my longing for comfort. But!, and I say that with a big but…. If my desire is to come into the garden of prayer with Christ in mind, then my desire must not be distant from His presence, and my desire is to know more of king who rules his kingdom with love and justice , and my longing is to know Christ more intimately, not in eternity afar, not in eternity after death, but for eternity and eternity is being lived out right now for you and me at this very moment.

To walk into this garden of prayer, this rose garden of prayer, to learn from the entirety of the Book of Psalms. We must come through the archway of having delight in God’s word and delight in knowing Gods son as our king, so that we can enjoy the amazing beauty for what the garden truly is, and delight in the amazing aroma of diverse unity that we witness together as we pray together.

Do you want to know what aroma is pleasing to God? !!!! The aroma that is pleasing to God is a church, delighting in God’s word and desiring Christ above all to pray together in unity inside of the garden of prayer. Now… my final thought is this. Do we ever leave the garden of prayer.. Well, no. Our life is to be a constant life of prayer. Paul reminds us to; “Pray without ceasing,” He said, “in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Quench not the Spirit.” (1 Thes. 5:17–19.) We give thanks. We pray without ceasing. What we learn is that prayer is realizing that we are carrying the presence of God with us wherever we go. And so, our prayer life changes. We no longer pray with anxiety but we pray with calmness: Colossians 3:15-17 We no longer pray with fear of rejection but now we pray with boldness and courage. And we no longer have indifference to others and the world but we pray with compassion and to have compassion for both.

And what we find when we exit our time of prayer is that we do not get up with burdens, or pain, or anxiety, but we get up and walk a life with praise. Let’s do that today! Let’s stand together as I give our benediction. As you stand, turn with me to Psalm 150. You see, if the Psalms is a garden of prayer, and Psalm 1 and 2 are the archway.

Then the final Psalm in this book show us an example of a life that lives in the garden. Let me read it with you… Read Psalm 150 As you leave here today, praise him. Show the world why you praise him in the storm. Show the world why you praise him when life seems tough. Show the world why your love for His word and His son, our King is important…

Show the world your daily walk in the garden of prayer by praising Him, by praise the one true king, by praising Jesus with your life. Praise him… and let the aroma of prayerful unity saturate every life you come into contact with this week. Let’s pray. *